Tower of God: The Flower of Earth (Slow Updates)

Chapter Forty

Noe silently and desperately searched the water for her teammate, not seeing the bright blonde, but more of yellow, haired teenager anywhere in the water.

"Dustin!" She screamed once more.

"Shut up! They got him and he is dead and now we are cornered on this stupid boat and we can't complete the challenge!" One barked at her, their sword at their side.

Noe froze and turned to look at them with the darkest look in her eyes. "What? Did? You? Just? Say? To? Me?" She spoke through gritted teeth, standing up and walking over to them one step at a time.

A few of the regulars that immediately recognized her as a Khun stepped back, hiding in fear. The one who had spoken soon realized their mistake and paled from an already pale tan to sheet white, as if they were in a black and white movie. She reached for her sword, but Noe was quicker and her whip snapped it out of her hand painfully, going flying.

"You don't tell me what to do. You know what I think I should do? I should throw you down to those Hydrarctosisa Caffiosa and use your body as a tiny boat to paddle to shore. Now what do you think of that?" She hissed, not even stammering over the species name as everyone else alive had.

The girl shook her head no frantically, terrified.

"No? Well, then rather than being a complete idiot and jerk, how about YOU shut up and we find a way to save him?!" She barked. "Cause nobody's going anywhere, without Dustin!" She growled at them all, her whip giving a snap in her hand and began sparkling with electricity.

There was a splash and a gasp for breath. Noe quickly raced to the side and saw Dustin. "Dustin!" She removed the lightning from the whip and smacked it down, wrapping it around his torso a few times before lifting him up to the deck.

He landed and was in a crawling position on his hands and knees as he coughed and spat up the salty ocean water, drenched from head to toe. He shivered madly, cold from the nearly icy death that he would have drowned in. Noe gently rubbed his back, trying to help ease out the water.

"I-I'm ok." He breathed heavily. "Gah that was cold."
"I bet... You were under for three minutes..." She watched him worried as he struggled to get up to his feet due to the shaking. "You're shaking really badly... I think you have hypothermia..." She bit her lip worried, and looked for a place on the broken ship to see if she could start a fire. The rest of the Regulars were shaking as well, though she did not know whether it was because they were freezing in their half dry clothes or if they were still terrified of her.

She found a small area of slabs of stone, used for a fire before, and started to gather broken, dry boards before starting a small fire. It was growing dark, and even if they tried to find shore, they would not be able to see where they were going, let alone if there was anything dangerous on dry land.

She stirred it with a stick. "You all better get rest. And don't worry, I am not going to slit your throats in your sleep."

"We... We won't sleep..." One mumbled.

"SLEEP!" Noe ordered.
"GOODNIGHT MISS!" They all quickly laid down in their makeshift beds, shaking in fear.
Noe chuckled and kept the fire going. She saw Dustin was the only one still sitting up, wide awake. "You need to rest too Dustin."
"I c-c-can't..." His teeth chattered as he held himself, wrapped up in a blanket they had found. "T-too cold...."
"Come here." She pulled him closer to the fire. He winced as the ashes blew right up into their faces.

Noe shielded them, still letting the heat come over.

"Goodnight Dustin."
"Goodnight Noe." He sighed and slept, using his bare arm as a pillow. The tank top he wore was still soaked to the final thread, and his pants were even colder.

Noe sighed tiredly around what appeared to be midnight, and gently shook one of the kids awake. "Your turn. If you slit mine or my friend's throat, you will regret it. Understood?" She warned.
"Y-yes Miss Khun..." The boy shook shakily. Noe laid down and snored softly, falling asleep almost instantly.

She dreamt of the good days, before climbing the Tower. It was her and her brother.
But he didn't get to climb.

Only she did.

She felt someone shaking her, attempting to awake her, as she looked around in the bright light, seeing the sun was rising and that Dustin was the one who woke her.

"Land ho!" One of the Regulars shouted, laughing relieved. They saw the land not too far off.

"We have to go, now, or the Caffiosa will get us. This is the time of day when they are the least active." One of the ones who knew looked at the cloudless sky, trying to determine what time it was.

"Alright. Let's hurry." Another nodded.

"Dustin, can you do that trick again?" Noe asked, stomping out the fire.

"No, I can't. I still am pretty tired from doing that. But I can swim quick enough." He nodded, holding Ironwood ready as he looked down at the sleeping Caffiosa, and the very few that were swimming around awake.

"Alright, let's go." Noe nodded in acknowledgement. She took a breath, before going ahead and diving down into the ocean. She quickly began swimming away from the ship towards the shore, as some of the Caffiosa followed her. She raced onto land, the others following close behind Dustin once he started swimming, avoiding the eel-like creatures that would mean certain death.

Noe watched nervously, before one of the Regulars screamed in pain and fear while the others raced onto sand quickly. One of the others raced back to assist, but it was already too late, as the Regular was deceased.

Noe looked behind them, to see faint wisps of smoke. "I am scared to see what the land had out for us..."