A new age of Divinity: Theomachy

Mysterious Island

Beth groaned and took her face off the sand as she looked around at her surroundings. She got up to her knees and looked around at her friends all sprawled out unconscious. Beth stood up and as she looked down at her friends, she noticed something. Nate was nowhere to be seen! She turned and tried to find him, hoping he had just washed up somewhere else on the beach. As she frantically began looking around, the rest of her friends woke up.
Mikayla spit out a bunch of sand and groaned "Well, that thing can go right to Hell."
"You are the one who angered it," Eden reminded her as she turned over onto her back.
"Yeah, yeah, I'm aware," Mikayla retorted as she got back up "Hey, Beth! What are you doing?"
"Where is Nate!?" Beth exclaimed "He was on the boat with us. Where is he?"
"Oh, you did not see, did you?" Kenneth asked as he got up and walked over "Nate fell overboard. When the Umibozu split the ship, he fell to the waves below. For all we know, he is still drifting through the sea."
"I... know, I can not believe we have lost him. And there is no way he is dead. He would never die in such a pathetic way."
"Pathetic? Beth, we were in a fight with a gigantic ghost thing. I think he'd be quite fine dying to that."
"We only had to fight it because you decided to piss it off," Beth reminded her.
"Yes, I get it! Listen, I had just woken up, and those things are really cool to me. I just got excited."
"And in doing so, caused Nate to possibly lose his life!" Beth snapped.
"Both of you, please," Eden sighed as she stood between the two "I get it, we are all on edge right now, but we need to gain some ground first. Listen, how about Mikayla and I go scout this place out and you two... maybe try to build some kind of shelter. I have a feeling we will be here for a few days at the very least."
"Yeah, that sounds good," Beth groaned, having calmed down a little bit "Please stay safe, you two." They nodded and walked into the forest, leaving Beth and Kenneth to stare out at the ocean for a bit.
"Hey, Beth? Can I tell you something I have been keeping in for a while?"
Beth sighed and sat down, still staring out at the vast, glistening ocean, and replied "We do not have anything else to do, so why not?"
"I wanted to apologize for my outburst at the hotel."
"Kenneth, that was almost a month ago. Are you still bothered by that?"
"Yes, because what I said was unfair, and it was untrue. This is not your fault. I just do not understand what your mother's problem is."
"She sees everyone as too uncontrolled and wants complete order," She replied with a sad sigh "I can understand what she means, but at the same time, she is going about helping everyone all wrong. It is sad because she is smart enough to help every..." They heard two sets of footsteps running back to them "Wait, what?" Beth got up and she turned with Kenneth to find Eden and Mikayla running back to them.
"Wait, why are you two back so soon?"
"And what the hell? What happened to you two?" Beth added.
"Guys, both of you listen," Mikayla panted "We found a really cool looking palace. It looked really familiar for some reason, but we walked up to the door. When we knocked, the doors opened and we just barely escaped whatever power was inside."
"What was in there?" Kenneth asked.
"Look, since we left home we have faced a lot of foes from pretty much any place you can think of. We have fought Gods, that monster, even the weather. You know everything we have gone up against, but whatever this was, we did not even have a chance."
"What was in there?"
"A woman!" Mikayla exclaimed.
"What?" Kenneth groaned.
"Okay, just look."
Mikayla began to explain what happened... but something about the story sounded slightly off. She explained that the small crew had found the palace hidden in the jungle. When the doors opened, a voice had beckoned them in. The voice had seemingly little if any malicious intent, so they stepped in. Once they did, they found what looked like a glorious spa. Nymphs were bathing and getting massages, and food was aplenty. The woman told them to sit wherever they'd like, maybe grab a bite to eat. After all, they must have been tired from everything they'd been through. The crew began to eat, but Eden and Mikayla merely sat down. While those who began to eat were transformed into animals, the girls were attacked by another type of magic from below. They managed to escape, but the others were left behind and...
"Wait, hold on. We never had anyone else on the ship," Beth told them slowly, and in that moment, she knew these were imposters "Where are they?" Kenneth and Beth raised their weapons as Mikayla and Eden stared blankly at them.
"What are you two talking about?" Eden asked.
"Yeah, we need to go back and kick her ass!" Mikayla added "With four of us, there's no way she can take us all on."
Beth was about to object... when an idea struck her, and she replied "Yeah, you know what? I would love to go have a word with this woman." She put her weapon on her hip and gestured to Kenneth to do the same.
"Great, we'll show you the way," Eden told them as the girls turned to go back.
"Beth, please explain to me what you are doing," Kenneth pleaded as he grabbed her arm to stop her.
"Look, there are several legends about magic islands filled with devious tricksters. It is likely, no, it is guaranteed that we landed on one. Did you not notice what Eden said just now?"
"She said she would take us... wait..."
"Yeah, she used a contraction."
"Okay, yeah, that makes sense. But even then, what is your plan?"
"We will go into the palace they were talking about and show whoever is in there what happens when they mess with us."
"Beth, if there is some God here, you will likely only piss them off, you may even lose your life to them. If that happens, we will have no way to escape this island or whatever strife the magic wielder has planned. Please, for our sake and yours, remember how dangerous the divine plane is."
They began to follow Mikayla and Eden and Beth replied "Listen, I still know there are good Gods. I believe that we can talk this one down if we just continue to be kind and speak from the heart. No bullshit, no lies."
"But what if the truth just gets us all torn to pieces?" Kenneth asked.
"Hey, where is this coming from?" Beth asked as she stopped, still making sure to keep an eye on the girls.
"Beth, I trust you, I really do, but I do not think I can watch one more friend die. Nate was the brother I thought I would never do without."
"And now you doubt that he could get himself out of that?"
They continued walking as Kenneth answered "Elizabeth, how much longer until this luck of ours starts to run out? Nate has already fallen, Hayden is stuck in the Underworld, of his own volition but still, our friends are either captured or killed by some creature, and Marc is completely unreachable right now. We can not keep counting on wit to get us through our problems like this, because the more blows we take, the more desperate we will become. That will only lead to one more snake breaking free, and who knows? Maybe next, we will have to survive Ragnarök at this rate."
"Look, Kenneth. I get that we are all tired and beaten down, but you forget, we have face so much already. We have been at war with my mother for a while now and have always come out of it. If you would like to talk about this more, maybe we should do it-"
"While we are not standing outside of some jungle temple?" Kenneth asked as they came to the front door, Mikayla and Eden walking briskly in before them.
"Yeah, pretty much," Beth replied slowly "Keep on guard." They both took their weapons out of their holsters and walked inside with their "friends."