Damian woke up after an unknown amount of time, trapped in a hole in the ground with someone else with him.
"W- What happened?" he said.
His mind was still in a daze, not quite understanding what had happened, at least not in the first few moments he woke up.
"You are an idiot. That's what happened," she said.
The memories came back to him, and Damian agreed with her, "yeah, I am. Fuck. How does the fishing net not break?"
"They have someone who can strengthen objects. Abilities, of course. How else would it be? And that shaman can suppress your abilities, too. Anyway, I am Wendy, you?"
"How do you know my language?"
"I told you, I am not from the tribes. There are around four to five tribes on this island, and I am, just like you, someone who had a plane crash around three years ago," Wendy said.
Damian leaned his back against the hole's wall — basically dirt — and remain motionless. There were some bamboos acting like cell bars above their heads, and he was almost sure those things had been strengthened, just like the fishing net.
So at first glance, there weren't many things for him to do but to speak with Wendy, and hear her story.
"So why didn't you leave this island during these three years?"
Wendy laughed at that, "how? There's no land around us, and not a single boat passed through here during these three years."
That was not something Damian liked to hear. It discouraged him and would do the same with the others who were with him. They kept going, trying their best, all with a single goal in mind: escape the island.
But Wendy had been there for three years, yet not a single boat passed through the island to rescue her.
"We have no way of escaping, then?" Damian said, looking down at the ground, somewhat shaken.
"I didn't say that. The tribes are not the only humans around here. There's a military camp on this island too, and the tribes don't even try to mess with them. I am certain we can find a boat there, or a plane too!"
Those words were like a mermaid's song to Damian's ears, and the unpleasant sensation of being hopeless vanished, replaced by an urge to survive!
"Are you serious about this?"
"I am. Look, I was hoping you and I can work together to leave this place. Is there anyone else with you?"
"Yes. There are others. But first thing first, we need to leave this place. Have any idea about that?"
"Honestly, no. The shaman who can suppress abilities is a pain in the ass. But his weaknesses is that he needs to remain still, channeling the suppression ability. So if we can kill him, then we can leave this place."
"But leaving is almost impossible for those strengthened objects, and who knows how many tribe members here?" Damian said.
"Exactly."
Damian now had a direction to follow, things he had to do to leave the island, but it was still tough, and leaving that hole in the ground was almost impossible.
Wendy sat on the ground, feeling hopeless too, "there are going to sacrifice us to their god tonight."
"God?"
"Yeah. Most of the tribes here worship a giant god or something. Bullshit if you ask me," Wendy said.
Something clicked inside Damian's mind. A possibility, one that he did not want to resort to, but if that was the only thing, then it was better than dying by the hands of that tribe.
'Maybe I can fool them to believe I am a giant, like the god they worship? Wendy would probably link this to an ability and not a giant bloodline or something,' Damian thought.
The first thing he had to do was look more 'tribal', so he stared at Wendy and said, "can you do tribal paints on me? Like the ones this tribe has."
She was surprised by the question, "you are lucky because the paintings this tribe uses are made of blood, which is the only material we have trapped in here."
Then Wendy got to work. It was nighttime when they got kidnapped by the tribe, and based on what Wendy knew, they would sacrifice them the next night, meaning the two had twenty-four hours to work on getting out of there.
It was their best shot, and Damian hoped it would work.
~~~~
"So how do I look?" Damian asked.
Wendy had done a full painting on him using his own blood, and to her surprise, by the end of the session, his wounds were already healed! That was the power of his bloodline.
He looked exactly like a tribal man, especially after taking out his clothes to use a loincloth.
'Wendy said they will take our clothes during the sacrifice, so let me just get half-naked here,' Damian thought.
The plan he had in mind was to turn into a giant right there and fool them.
"So let me get this straight. You have a plan to fool them?"
"I do, yes. Look, I will hide in the corner when they come to get us, and send this clone to my place instead. Make sure this clone gets killed first in the sacrifice, please," Damian said.
It was impossible to use abilities while the shaman was suppressing them, but it did not mean it was impossible to use items like his cloak and slime ring.
Wendy was not quite understanding what Damian had in mind, but there were no other options for them at all, so she trusted in him.
Damian then created a clone of himself, looking like his usual self, not the one with tribal paintings, and turned invisible, hiding in the hole's corner.
When night came, some weak guards of the tribe came to take them, and they did not notice Damian invisible, or that the Damian inside the hole was not the real one.
They took the clone and Wendy, and Damian used the chance to escape from the hole without them noticing.
'I could just leave and be done with it, but letting Wendy die does not feel right to me, and perhaps I can get the help of this tribe,' Damian thought.
"Move them to the altar," one shaman said in an unknown tongue.
Damian hid, waiting for the exact moment he would turn into a giant!
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