“HRNN!... FUUU!... GHAAA!... *SPIT* …fuck…” Ginn sighed in relief as he let go of the wet piece of wood that he was biting down on while pushing his broken shinbone back into pce.

  He then created a rudimentary splint from two pieces of driftwood and some fabric he ripped from his pants. Bandages from that same piece of cloth could be seen wrapped around his waist.

  “I can’t believe I have to thank that fucked-in-the-head doctor for not using any anesthetics when she fixes me up…” Ginn spoke to no one in particur.

  He wasn’t in immediate danger anymore now that he had applied some first-aid, but he would still die on this isnd if he didn’t find a way to escape.

  Looking around, Ginn could see the isnd wasn’t that big, only a few square kilometers by his estimation. A small patch of green in the middle housed some bushes and coconut trees.

  ‘At least I won't starve,’ thought Ginn, eyeing the ripe coconuts on the ground.

  What surprised Ginn though, was that some of the coconuts were split in half… At first, Ginn thought an animal might have washed ashore on this isnd, but he quickly dismissed the notion after spotting a rock next to the opened coconuts with some fibers still on the sharper edge.

  He hobbled toward the mysterious rock to examine it but quickly got distracted after catching a glimpse of something between the bushes at the center of the isnd.

  It was a cross…

  It was a huge wooden cross…

  Although hesitant at first, Ginn reasoned that whoever left this cross behind had probably already left by now, that, or they died here…

  Shaking off that st thought, Ginn decided to expolore the cross first, that rock wasn’t going anywhere anyway.

  Ginn had to wade through a few meters of waist-high shrubbery before reaching the cross, which was quite the challenge on one leg, nonetheless, he managed.

  Upon examination, he saw the cross was made from a single rge coconut tree that was cut in half. The greenery that grew from the dirt underneath the cross was noticeably shorter than other pces on the isnd, Ginn deduced someone probable dug up the ground around it.

  ‘X marks the spot eh?’ He pondered to himself. ‘Well, I’m not that hungry and I’ve got nothing better to do… better start digging.”

  Ginn moved the rge tree stumps out of the way and started digging up dirt with his bare hands.

  Despite extensive excavation efforts, he ultimately found nothing. After digging a hole that was around hip-deep, he decided to take a short break. He crawled back to the coconut trees, cracked open a fresh nut with the sharp stone he spotted earlier, and devoured the liquid and flesh inside.

  ‘That’s good…’ He thought to himself, milk dripping from the corners of his mouth. ‘Now… how to get off this isnd?’

  - 5 months ter -

  “No mister CoCo, I’m not going digging again! You’re just the family butler, you can’t make me! I already gave up on that weeks ago! If I dig the hole any deeper, I’m afraid I won’t be able to pull myself out anymore!... Yes… Yes I know there’s nothing else to do… Alright, Alright fine! But I’m going to use your skull to dig!”

  A young man could be seen crazily holding up one half of a coconut to his ear and pretending to talk to it. The man had a scraggly blonde beard and his once well-defined physique was now withered into a bag of skin stretched over bones.

  That rough-looking man was Ginn. It was a miracle he had survived on this tiny isnd for this long, but clearly, it had taken a toll on him mentally.

  After finishing his conversation with CoCo, he stumbled toward the middle of the isnd, using a stick as a cruth. Although his leg was out of its splint, it clearly hadn’t healed all that well, resulting in a limp.

  Ginn descended some dirt stairs he had fashioned near the hole to be able to dig even deeper, and when he finally lowered himself down to the deepest part, he crouched down and started to scoop out dirt using the half shell of Mister CoCo.

  He dug for hours, continuing to dig until it turned dark, when finally, something happened…

  *CLINK*

  “W-What… am I hallucinating? Have I finally snapped?” Ginn spoke to no one in particur.

  He kept digging around the hard surface he had just discovered, he kept digging, and he kept speeding up. A crazed smile began to appear on his face.

  Ginn gently set Mister CoCo down and marveled at the wooden chest he had just dug up. He looked eted.

  Ginn quickly crawled out of the hole, taking the wooden chest with him and leaving Mister CoCo behind. He was thinking clearly again, he didn’t need CoCo anymore. He found a different kind of hope.

  After transporting the wooden chest to a hideout Ginn had made near the coconut trees, he carefully pced it on the dirt table he had crafted. Treating the relic like a newborn baby.

  He was almost afraid to open it, he was afraid that his st ray of hope would turn out to be nothing more than a bunch of dirt, some sort of sick joke. But Ginn quickly resolved himself and opened the chest.

  Lying inside, Ginn found a single leather-bound journal, titled: Siegfried’s Tale.