#Torel's uncle and mom were only heard in a phone call

[makoto-nihil]

The Ocean Hunter: Eyes of Truth - Log Entry 02-01

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==June 14, Year 10==

***The following morning, Father departed for his trip to Luna Sea without seeing me for one last time.***

"He left just a few minutes ago. He didn't mention if he'll stop by your friend's place to see you before his flight later this morning," Their uncle Roger's voice spoke on the other end of the line, still cheerful as ever. "But don't you worry about your father, boy."

Torel twisted the cord connecting the handset receiver to the wall-mounted telephone with one hand as they held the receiver with the other against their ear. The morning sunlight in the living room area on the other side of where Torel was in the apartment was peeking through the closed window blinds, but it still felt too early to be awake at seven in the morning, especially on a weekend.

A few minutes ago, their peaceful slumber was interrupted by the wall-mounted telephone ringing across where they were in the living room area of the apartment's main room in the dining room area. Since Torel was sleeping on the couch in the living room area last night, their earbuds were immediately subjected to the loud noise the moment the phone rang. At first they'd thought it was for Taka, since Chris had mentioned that in the past people would sometimes call him directly in the early hours before the auto shop opened to schedule appointments for repairs and maintenance ahead of time, much to his chagrin and annoyance. They'd pulled the pillow over their ears and tried go back to sleep in spite of the loud noise. A minute later, they'd heard Taka grumbling from his room, which was near the dining room area, followed by some shuffling, and then his door opening and him dragging himself to answer the phone and muttering to himself, accompanied by the sound of a metal crutch clacking against the hardwood floor. Another minute passed along with a small conversation muffled by the pillow over their ears before Torel heard Taka walk over, them hearing the crutch coming closer and clacking against the floor first before they felt him shake them by their shoulder with a gruff, "It's your uncle calling for you." Torel made sure to thank Taka before the older man headed back into his room to go back to sleep.

"Why, when we were young lads, we once got lost in the woods behind the family manor! I was scared out of my wits, being in the middle of nowhere, and your aunt, who had the entire woods mapped out in her brilliant and bright mind, was busy helping your grandmother with some historical records. But your father kept his chin up and remained absolute that we would find our way back home! Just when we thought we found the path we'd took earlier to head back home, a huge bear suddenly appeared and-."

"Roger, please!" Lady Murdoch's voice snapped in the background, interrupting Roger.

Torel heard his uncle's and mother's voice become muffled on other end of the line, as if his uncle had put a hand over the receiver to discuss something with her. "At least tell him to come home right now!" and "He'll come home when he feels like it" were what Torel managed to make out from the muffled discussion. A couple minutes passed before they heard their uncle get back to them.

"Anyways, I'm sure Samuel will be just fine," Roger said reassuringly.

"I guess so," was all Torel could mumble in reply.

***Despite how I felt about Father back then, even back since I was younger, I still felt a little worried about him. This was the first research expedition he'd done after he and his research institution were forced to stop five years ago because of what happened at North Sea. I thought about what if something happens during the trip? More importantly, would he return home like he'd always done in his previous trips?***

***Even so, I pushed those worried thoughts to the back of my mind.***

After his uncle wished them a good weekend before hanging up, Torel put the receiver back on the phone box and dragged themself back to the couch. As soon as they get some more sleep, they and Chris (who was still sound asleep despite all the noise outside his room) would continue with their study session for the upcoming exams which, as a result of their impromptu decision to stay over at Chris's apartment for the weekend yesterday, something they looked forward to at this point and would be for the rest of the weekend. They flopped back onto the couch and instantly fell back asleep the moment their head hit the pillow. The last thing they heard before their lights went out was the low whirring hum of the small rotating fan that sat on a chair next to the couch and towards them.

By the time the alarm clock in Taka's room went off an hour later, Torel was still fast asleep.

~~~~~~~

==June 16==

***Soon enough, the exams had came and gone, and summer break finally arrived.***

"Finally, it's over!" Torel exclaimed, exhausted. They stretched their arms up as they spoke, only for exhaustion to catch up to them and causing them to suddenly slump onto Chris, who was walking next to them. They managed to sling their left arm around his shoulder before their body almost gave way.

The two were walking through a huge crowd of students flooding out of the front doors of the school building. Chris blinked down at their now-tired queer platonic partner before wrapping his right arm around their right shoulder to pull them up and turning his attention back to the book open in his left hand - Moby Dick - while keeping an eye on the path ahead. As the crowd around them started to scatter off to different directions, Torel leaned against their partner and walked alongside him for a few more minutes before they finally realized Chris hadn't said anything to their earlier proclamation. They lifted their head slightly up to look at him.

"Hey, aren't you glad the exams are over?" they asked, still feeling exhausted.

"Hm?" Chris's eyes flickered towards Torel. "Yeah."

Torel tilted their head a bit. Chris didn't look as tired as they were; in fact, he looks rather relaxed and calm. "Really? 'Cause you were looking extremely focused and tense during the exams, so I'd thought you'd be happy to be done with them."

"I am. I just didn't devote my entire brain power into completing them, unlike you." Chris then lightly tapped the book against Torel's head. Torel exclaimed in surprise and lazily swatted at him with their free hand while Chris cracked a small smile at them.

Torel then noticed some of the upperclasspeople nearby being surrounded by Torel's and Chris's fellow current year students. The crowded students were being wished by the underclasspeople good luck with getting into the colleges or universities of their dreams, their future endeavors and whatnot.

"You know, it's really sad to see them go," they remarked as they scanned the crowded upperclasspeople to find a familiar face. "It's kinda hard to see them depart for college or other ventures after all the studying sessions and support for each other and us underclasspeople for the whole year, except for the jerks of course. Even though there's a chance that they'll come back to the city to visit whenever they can."

Chris hummed in assent, looking up in the same direction as Torel was. Before he could say anything, he felt someone glomp onto his right side and squeeze his right arm tightly. He glanced over to see a familiar dark-skinned girl with dark short hair clinging onto his right arm. Torel too was glancing over to see who it was, this time standing upright instead of slouching. Chris sighed and turned his left hand to lightly tap his book on her head. "Hey, Kayla," he mumbled.

"It's...sad," she mumbled.

"Sad?" Chris inquired.

"They're leaving. They kept saying they're going for their dreams, but it's just an excuse for something else..."

"Like...hunting sea monsters?" Torel guessed.

"Hm?" She looked over at them with her emerald green eyes.

"Well, it's no surprise, Kayla." Torel, Chris, and Kayla turned around to see a tall, fair-skinned upperclassman with short brown hair approaching them from behind. "Considering the bounties on the Seven Great Monsters' heads had increased just yesterday, it's no doubt people like them would be enticed and distracted from their otherwise stated goals to try to claim the big prize," the upperclassman continued.

"Why would they, though?" Torel asked.

"Even though many others have tried and failed in the past?" Kayla followed.

"Who knows?" The upperclassman shrugged. "Maybe they think their futures aren't worth it in the long run and that hunting sea monsters for their bounties sounds more exciting and prospective."

"Well, maybe it's something else besides that. Maybe they just want to get glory and fame faster?" Torel pointed out.

"Or maybe it's for personal vengeance," Chris guessed.

Silence quickly fell over the four young adults. The chatter and noise from the other students around them continued on.

"So what about you, Charles?" Torel asked the upperclassman a minute later. "What do you really plan to do now that you're done with A-levels?"

"Me?" The upperclassman immediately straightened up and stood with his arms crossed. "Well, I ain't fishing anytime soon. Ain't got the time for that!" he declared. A bold smile streaked across his face.

"So, you're still going for it?" Torel inquired excitedly.

"Definitely!" His face was now beaming with confidence and his bright purple eyes twinkled with excitement. "In three to four years, depending on your perspective, England will hear from the next Charles Dickens, the most awesome writer of all time - Charles Radcliffe!" he proclaimed, extending his hand to the air with a flourish. "I just have to decide which of the many universities that accepted my application I would attend," he added, lowering his hand a bit.

"Well, guess that means we'll have to wait for more than three to four years for your first novel," Chris said in a jokingly half-resigned and half-nonchalant voice.

Kayla giggled with a hand over her smile.

"Chris~!," Torel whined with a sweat drop rolling down the side of their face.

"What?"

"Why you got to bring down the mood?"

"I wasn't."

Charles laughed and playfully cuffed Torel and Kayla by their shoulders, causing both Torel and Chris to bonk each other in the head and almost throwing Kayla off-balance. "Oh, I'm so going to miss y'all. But hey, my ol' pop sent my final manuscript of my short story to his friends at a literary magazine publisher just yesterday," he added with a wink. "With any luck, my months of drafts should pay off soon and you'll definitely see my first work before the semester starts."

~~~~~~~

Much later, the group had relocated to the city park. Since it was still early in the afternoon, the park wasn't very crowded when they arrived, and so they were able to find a spot in the grassy parts of the park to sit together under the warm afternoon sun. Torel and Chris sat next to each other, their satchels placed behind them to act as cushions, while Charles sat a bit from Torel's side and Kayla close by Chris's side and still clinging onto his left arm. For a while, the four friends did nothing but gaze out to the blue sea beyond while the the sounds of chatter and kids playing around them in the distance and the seagulls cawing above carried on.

But, it didn't take long for the calm and tranquility of the park, or rather the peaceful silence between the group, to be interrupted by loud chanting and shouting behind them in the distance.

"Them again?" Torel sighed in annoyance. They didn't bother to look over their shoulder to see where the source of the unexpected commotion came from - rather, everyone in the park and in the vicinity of the noise knew very well where it's coming from.

"Who? That group over there?" Charles inquired, looking behind him and pointing his thumb at the group of figures in black cloaks walking into the park.

"Who else?"

"Oh, the Vox maris Dei-whatever. That fanatic sea monster cult."

While Torel and Charles were chatting, Chris had quickly grabbed his satchel as soon as he heard the loud commotion behind them in the distance and got up, pulling Kayla with him in the process, considering that she was still clinging onto his arm and her satchel still slung on her shoulder, but she nevertheless willing to follow where he goes. Torel didn't notice this until they caught them by the corner of their eye heading down the hill. They looked back to where the cult group was and just then noticed the path the cultists were starting to walk down on would lead down close to where they and their friends were sitting. Quickly connecting the dots, Torel quickly picked up their satchel and followed after them with a "Hey, wait up!", Charles following suit.

The cult group soon walked past the four's original sitting spot, chanting loudly a disarray of phrases and gibberish. Some of the parkgoers looked at them, a few in annoyance and even shaking their heads. The rest were pulling their children towards them and away from the cultists while covering their ears. Eventually, the cultists reached the end of the path and were walking away from the park, much to the relief of every parkgoer, and the parkgoers resumed their activities before they were interrupted earlier. In the case of Torel, Chris, Kayla, and Charles, however, they remained at their new spot further down the hill and past the promenade and near the park's lighthouse.

"They seem to be going around more often than they used to," Kayla noted as she watched the cultists disappear from view. "Even though no-one listens to them at all."

"Well, who'd listen to them?" Charles remarked. "Scream and yell the same fanatical crap all the time, and people are bound to detest you, even ignore you completely. Though, it's not like that's ever stopped them from bothering everyone else they come across."

"Father and the other scientists at his research institute have had a few bad run-ins with the cult because of their work," Torel said, adding to the conversation. "Those fanatics have been harassing them for years, for 'disrupting the harmony and well-being of the Seven Seas'. What they don't understand is that Father - and my family in that matter - and the other scientists have been doing the opposite for a long time, even before the Seven Great Monsters came."

"But, as to why they'd been more active lately," Charles noted, "it's probably cause of this so-called 'doomsday' that's supposedly coming up."

"Huh?!" Kayla tightened her grip on Chris's arm as she and Torel whipped their heads towards the older young adult. Chris, for his part, grunted in pain and patted Kayla's shoulder to get her to loosen up her grip, which she promptly does, before turning his head to look at Charles.

"Haven't you heard?" Charles looked at his younger friends' puzzled look. "I know I said that people would usually ignore the cult, but I picked up a few details or so from their ramblings this past week. Supposedly, this 'doomsday' they'd been wailing and crying about nonstop is drawing near, around this summer or fall or something. Course, it doesn't sound like Rahab, who they proclaim to be their so-called god, could ever destroy the world and remake it in his own image, since after all he is just a sea monster. I would say, though, that Great Monster is a better mystery than the other six," he added. "But hey, it's not like the world will end soon."

"What makes you say that?" Torel asked curiously.

"Call me crazy for actually catching on to what the cultists that walked by earlier were yapping about, but supposedly Rahab would have to wait until he and the other monsters find this...thing of sort." Everyone gave him unimpressed looks. "OK, I wasn't that attentive. But the way I see it, and given that it's been ten years ever since the Great Monsters appeared, it'll probably be years before that sorta thing could happen. I would say, though, this 'prophecy' kinda reminds me a bit of this old tale I've heard of before". Charles scratched his hair. "I think it was called, The Man of the Sea, or something..."

Out of the corner of Torel's eye, they noticed Chris perked up a bit.

"But either way, I forgot how the old tale goes," Charles quickly admitted. "It was something I read up on in a book while I was touring one of the universities I applied to over waaaaaayyy back during January break, in the campus library."

"I think I may have also read something like that too in the library back at home, now that you mention it," Torel noted, rubbing their chin. "What about you, Chris?" they asked as they glance over at him.

The moment the attention turned to him, Chris nearly froze. "I, uh...maybe?" was what he managed to stammer out, a sweat drop rolling down the side of his face.

"What do you mean, 'maybe'?" Charles inquired, tilting his head in curiosity.

Chris could still feel everyone looking at him. "It's...just something my Mom used to tell me..." He stopped talking with a sigh.

Torel noticed something flicker in his eyes when he spoke and immediately got the feeling of what it was. A pang of guilt twisted inside them. "Hey, you don't have to continue if it's making you uncomfortable," they quickly said, putting a hand on his shoulder, which they hoped communicated to him as reassuring. "Sorry for asking-."

"No." Chris patted the hand on his shoulder. "I-It's fine. It's fine." He took a deep breath before he continued. "I just...only know the parts of the tale that she remembered." He swallowed and cleared his throat a bit.

"There was once a man who lived with his two children in the sea. The endless ocean was his home, and the creatures were his friends. And they all lived happily together in the sea in peace.

One day, the man fell into a great slumber. But when he woke up, he found destruction...and one of his children gone."

Silence filled the air, save for the whistling winds coming from the direction of the sea far away and the hubbub up the hill where most of the parkgoers were.

"That's...all I know," Chris said apologetically, looking away. He curled his right hand halfway into a fist, if not all the way, had Torel not gently placed a hand on his back and Kayla squeezing his left arm.

"I'm sorry again," Torel apologized.

"I'll be OK," was his response.

A few minutes passed before anyone spoke.

"Well, I think I'll raid the public library and see if I can find the old tale in the folklore section or similar," Charles proclaimed. "If not, then I'll swing by your place, Torel, and raid your library! Kidding!" he exclaimed, laughing, as Torel moved to swat at him while shouting, "As if!"

"But really," Charles pointed out, "it does leave a lot of questions. Like who or what destroyed the sea that the man calls 'home', and what happened to his kids. Ahaha...theories abound!"

Charles pulled out a pen and a notebook from his satchel and started to jot down ideas and theories. As he does that, Chris glanced over at Torel, who had turned their head to look out towards the sea beyond.

"You're worried about your Dad?" he asked.

Torel bit their lip as they contemplated for a bit. They shook their head. "Not really...but a part of me is, as much as I don't really want to," they admitted reluctantly.

"Even after ten years, your ol' pop must be really crazy to go out to to the Seven Seas at a time like this," Charles remarked, lifting his head up as he continued to write. "But, everyone here still respects him, as far as my pop told me."

"Well, it wouldn't be the first time he'd crossed into dangerous territory for the sake of research," Torel shrugged, followed by a sigh, "but, who knows? Maybe he'll come back alive and okay from this trip, just like he always did."

***Or so I thought.***

***I didn't "hear" from Father until a week later...***