As Aaron stared at the torn remnants of the missing pages of the diary, he felt as if at any moment something disastrous could occur.

  Closing the book, he noticed a pouch that was badly stitched to the cover, which contained a small coin without any symbols.

  This must be the coin she wrote about in the diary…

  Aaron quickly put the coin in his pocket, planning to study it later when he returned to his ship.

  He stared outside at the gentle snowfall that enveloped the island. He was at a loss for why snow was falling on a tropical island; still, he kept his guard up in case of anything unusual.

  After reading the diary, he had his speculations on what had happened on the island. It seemed like the chief who discovered the ancient horn of a sea terror studied it in secret, which unleashed a curse on the whole island.

  Knowing that he would soon become a terror of unimaginable proportions, he sent everyone off the island. He then prepared to take his own life to prevent the curse from turning him into a monster.

  He succeeded in stopping the curse; however, his body began to deteriorate. It formed a pool of liquid, which was what he had seen inside the town hall, along with the corpse of the chief.

  Aaron, having concluded, decided that the curse wasn’t completely dispelled and that it still posed a threat to him and the island.

  Furthermore, the dates written in the notebook were dated a year ago, leading to the assumption that if the curse hadn’t activated before, now that the body had seemingly vanished, the possibility of it happening was higher.

  With this realization, Aaron decided to quickly return to the ship before whatever was fated to happen left him in deep water due to some old village chief's mistake.

  Walking out from under the canopy, he felt the snow that fell onto his hair with an ice-cold touch.

  Aaron’s head suddenly began to itch, accompanied by a stinging feeling. He reached up to scratch his head, which led to only a moment of relief. He pulled his hand back and froze. What he saw terrified him.

  Blood.

  His hands were drenched in blood, slowly freezing on his palms, causing agonizing pain. The pain from his head rapidly expanded, feeling as if his skull was about to explode, with his arms gaining the weight of an anvil.

  Gripped by pain, Aaron bolted to the forest to avoid whatever the snow was causing him to experience, yet the pain didn’t fade even in the tree cover.

  Blood began dripping from his head down to his hands in thick clumps, with hair strewn in. Reaching breakneck speed, he came to a small cavern dug under a tree, taking refuge from the snow that seemed more like acid than frozen water.

  The throbbing agony in his head finally faded as the snow began to melt off his head.

  You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story.

  What the hell was that?! Was that an effect of the curse? How terrifying… Something as simple as snow had the properties of acid.

  Aaron began to think of what he should do, but before he could come up with a solid plan, he heard a deep growl from deeper within the cavern.

  Standing less than three meters away from him stood the beastly Manticore. He suspected it wouldn’t be as friendly towards him as it was to the previous residents of the island.

  “You dare intrude upon my lair, human?” snarled the manticore with pure malice.

  The bloodied-headed boy, in complete shock, remembered that manticores were said to be cunning speakers to communicate with humans, allowing them to co-exist in peace for hundreds of years.

  “I-I was s-simply hiding from the poison s-snow,” stuttered Aaron, who was on the verge of complete shock.

  “Indeed, the snow is dangerous here; however, this does not change the fact that you have intruded on my nest. You should be well aware of what will soon befall this island. If you were truly intelligent, you would’ve left the second you saw snow on a tropical island,” sneered the manticore as he slowly walked closer to Aaron.

  Aaron, who was frozen in fear, could only inch backwards, not daring to stand up in case the manticore pounced on him immediately.

  “M-Mr. Manticore, sir… is there any way you’ll forgive me?” He said, in hopes the manticore would let him leave if he did something for it.

  “The only thing you have of value is your pathetic life; you would be enough food to sustain me for another week if I conserve my food. All other life on this island is dead, due to the acid snow, so I have been slowly starving. A juicy meal like you might be my last cuisine—before ‘it’ fully takes effect.”

  “I-It?” Aaron asked.

  “The curse, you fool! I watched the humans here flee while overhearing them talk about such a thing. Foolish pests bring death and disease wherever they go. Perhaps I should take your life right now in revenge for them ruining mine…” the manticore said while licking his lips and showing his sharp teeth, changing his expression to a menacing grin.

  As the manticore was about to pounce at him, he felt a deep rumble shaking the whole island, stopping the manticore in his tracks.

  The manticore turned around and ran deep into its cave without another word, its face marked by a deep fear.

  Not missing the clear chance, he sprang up and ran outside the cave, even with the snow burning his scalp and arms down to what felt like the bone.

  The rumblings became louder and louder, toppling trees across his path, preventing him from getting back to his ship faster.

  Reaching the edge of the dense jungle, he spotted his Ghostship floating out in the sea. However, the ocean around the boat wasn’t as pristine as the ship. Waves the size of Aaron himself crashed against the shore, leaving a sticky black substance in their wake.

  He noticed the currents around the island rapidly strengthening, creating a whirlpool.

  It must be this island's native sea terror, Gharr the Devourer of Waves!”

  Aaron attempted to find an opening in the rough waves; however, to his dismay, they kept strengthening, pushing the black substance further up the beach.

  Suddenly, the blank coin in his pocket began to glow with a deep purple light.

  “Eh?” Aaron muttered as he gently took out the strange coin from his pants.

  The coin began to spin within his palm as if it had a mind of its own. Out of nowhere, it started to float, then shot out of his hand towards his boat, which was being rocked by the rough waves and current.

  Meanwhile, a small crab stood atop the cannon facing the island. Its small peg legs, formed of gold, clattered against the rusted surface, leading to the gold being dirtied. As the crab stared at the island, it suddenly noticed a small purple light coming towards it at rapid speed.

  The crab looked up and jumped with incredible dexterity, grabbing the coin out of midair. It dropped down onto the deck, vanishing into the cannon with the coin in its claw.