Country of Countrymen [Yandere! Males! X F! Reader] | under editing

Cᴀʀᴇꜱ ᴀɴᴅ Cᴏɴᴄᴇʀɴꜱ

            The sun hung in the sky brightly, casting down hellish heat to the ones below. High temperature lingered in the air, which also affected the land and the water. A lonely boat sailed slowly under the ruthless heat of the sun, its passengers sweating and hydrating themselves constantly with water.

Ade sat behind [F/n] and held a parasol over their heads, providing them with their needed shade. They had traveled the ocean since dawn, but still, they saw no sign of an island nearby. Blue water; blue sky; it was a dull scenario as time ticked by.

[F/n] yawned, covering her mouth as her eyelids weighed heavily over her drowsy orbs. She did not catch a wink of sleep since last night, making her feel irritable and uncomfortable. Add another problem: the items that they needed to find Annette. It gave her a mild headache.

Seeing that she was bothered by something, Ade felt utterly distressed as well. Combined with the lack of sleep, improper diet, and concern for the journey, he was carrying every adjective in his very face. "You can sleep for now," he said quietly. "I'll wake you up when we arrive."

For a while, [F/n] was quiet, her eyes holding a distant look in them. "I'm thinking about what just happened in the island," she mumbled, going silent once again. She recalled Lyrah's face and her song; it was very fortunate that Lyrah's voice was stored in the top hat, or else [F/n] might forget everything that they needed to acquire.

"What did happen?" He asked, assessing her profile, his eyes portraying great distress in them.

Not having enough energy to explain everything, she reached into the hat and searched for Lyrah's voice. It felt warm in her hands as she pulled it out, a glowing ball floating above her palm as she presented it to him. "Listen to this carefully."

At the sight of the small bright object, Ade's eyes widened in surprise, stretching his hand as the radiance floated above his own palm. Once he stared at it in enthrallment, a voice began to sing in his ears.

"Aphiel the greedy had made the air and water
but she wanted more power from father.
She was punished and breathed her last,
then Aphiel turned to water, alas!

"So you, my dear, give me a vial of both..."

The song went on, which continued to mesmerize him. After the song ended, he gave it back to [F/n]. While she put the glow back in the hat, the lyrics sounded clear in his mind, but he couldn't process them properly because of exhaustion.

"What do you think?" She required, her shoulders slumping over as she showed signs of wearisome. "I've just heard it once, but what got stuck in my head is that we need a vial of water and air... it's something related to Aphiel... I think Lyrah wants us to collect Aphiel's remains after she turned to air and water."

"Very sharp interpretation," he praised, smiling at her. "Casina, the second creation, created land..." Ade mumbled to himself, looking at the sandy color of the boat and raising his eyes to meet hers. "And from it, Zabez shaped Dikar the first man... but I want a handful of sand that was once a woman... sand that was once a woman..." As he dwelled upon the matter, his mind forced itself to function. However, he could not concentrate his thoughts.

[F/n]'s mind flashed back to Abbey's remains, which was washed away when they arrived on the island. "I think Abbey's sand could have qualified as a requirement," she voiced out, somehow concluding that Abbey's death was for a reason. And perhaps it's for the reason that her remains could complete their requirements...?