The first thing Subterra Shiver saw when she opened her eyes was the brilliant ball of light in the sky high above her, bearing down over her like some kind of vicious deity, slowly preparing her for a meal as she cooked away in her now lifeless boat.
She got up and shook her head, then recoiled as she touched her left arm. Her skin was hot to touch and she realized she must’ve been out here for quite some time to be like this. Jumping out of the boat, she trudged through shallow water, sand rows and rows of trash as she raced for the closest building, which, by the looks of it, was some kind of establishment for drinks.
“What happened?” she asked herself along the way. “Where am I? Why am I here?”
She prodded the side of her head with two fingers, but for some reason, she could recall nothing except for her name: Subterra Shiver.
“I came here by boat…” She looked back at her vehicle and proceeded on. “I didn’t bring any belongings. Did I need something…?”
She winced and clutched at her shoulder. When she looked down, she was shocked to see that her skin had blackened around a crater on her shoulder through a hole in her white shirt. She pressed a finger into it and hissed when it hurt.
People began to watch as she stumbled into the bar, propping herself up against the counter as the bartender eyed her suspiciously. Everyone here smelled of something foreign to her and whatever it was, it burned her nostrils.
“Who are you supposed to be?” the man behind the counter asked her. He had darker skin and a pair of jagged sunglasses.
“I wish I knew…” Subterra groaned and put a fist on the counter. “I can’t remember anything. I don’t know why I’m here.”
“Girl, perhaps you’ve had too much to drink, man. You look young too much to drink.” The man whipped out a cloth and began wiping down one of many empty glass cups. “But you look like you’ve had too much to drink, man.”
“I… I can’t remember.” Subterra shook her head sadly. “Could I ask, where am I?”
“Where you are, man?” He waved a hand towards the beach. “The island of Bora Bora, a popular tourist destination. You must be one too.”
“A… popular tourist destination?”
The man lifted the corner of his mouth. “A tourist, man.”
Subterra could only shrug. Then rubbed at her stomach. Whatever it was, it seemed she hadn’t eaten or drunk anything for some time. “What do I do for a glass of water?”
The bartender poured out water from a tap into one of the glasses he was cleaning, then slapped it on the counter in front of Subterra’s face. She grabbed it and quickly downed its contents, never so glad to have water to drink in her life, or at least, she didn’t remember if she ever had been.
“That will be seventeen dollars, man.” He reached a hand out.
“Money?” Subterra felt around her attire, but there was nothing in her pockets. “I don’t… have anything.”
The man sighed and removed the glass from the counter. “If not for the inflation, I would give you more on the house. You’re better off elsewhere, man.”
He waved her off and Subterra slowly got off the stool and slinked out of the shelter, back into the sun as more patrons began eyeing her. “What am I supposed to do now?”
Her stomach still rumbled, but she didn’t have anything to offer anyone for food. She picked at her shirt and grimaced. She didn’t even have anything to get a proper outfit. She was going to have to try something else.
“Why bother with money, Subterra? You can always… just take it all.”
She stopped and glanced around. The voice sounded like it had come right next to her ear, but there was no one that close. “W-Who said that?”
“You might’ve forgotten about me, but your abilities remain, Subterra Shiver.”
She whipped her whole body around so fast that she tumbled to the ground, but still she saw no one close to her.
She planted a hand to the side of her head, then ran a finger down to her right ear. “Are you… inside my head?”
“You could say that.”
Subterra wanted to continue questioning it, but her stomach rumbled again and one of her hands shot to her gut.
“You should find something to eat. But you should also get out of your outfit. You’ll want to blend in better.”
“Clothes, huh?” Subterra pulled at her white shirt.
It was true. Her shirt was in tatters and both it and her pants were stained with dried mud and grass. That was probably why people were giving her such weird looks.
She trudged on through the place, finding out it was some kind of seaside resort for people from all over the world. There was a section of land that had been cleared away for two swimming pools, and there was a cave between the both of them that had a diving board at the top. The pools seemed to be filled with way too many people, but Subterra couldn’t blame them; she wouldn’t want to go swim at the beach either, seeing as it was full of trash. Not only was it disgusting, it smelled terrible too.
There were two lifeguard stations, one facing the beach and one facing the pool, and beside it was a small shack that was selling floats, swimming gear, little statues and…
“Clothes!” Subterra hobbled for the building, wincing each time her bare feet pattered against the hot stony floor.
The clouds overhead were scattered and few in number, allowing the sun’s rays to burn through the sky, heating up everything around her.
Subterra quickly made her way into the little shack, where there were two other people browsing the store’s many treasures.
“But how can I afford these? I don’t have anything,” she whispered to the voice in her head as she took out a sleeveless turquoise vest with a hood. It had luminous light strips on its collars, and an insignia on the chest that looked like stalagmites and stalactites.
“Do you think a place like this has any security?” her voice answered her. “Grab what you want. Do it. Do it. Do it. Do it. Do it. Do it.”
Without much more thinking, Subterra squinted her eyes and grabbed a white and purple striped shirt, a pair of pale purple shorts and a black pair of shoes that would be used for walking through water. Then looking around to make sure no one was looking, she darted out and away from the shack, running for a trio of large rocks by the beach shore further north.
Her breath ragged and her heart racing, Subterra Shiver pressed her back to the rocky surface to take a breather, keeping her head slightly tilted past the rocks to see if anyone was coming her way. Once she felt safe enough, she swapped out her clothes before stuffing her old attire under a sizable rock.
“That’s it, Subterra. There was nothing wrong with what you did. Now find some food. You need sustenance.”
“Ouch!” She suddenly pulled her hand out of the water as the tide came in. She looked down at her wrist, which had a small cut along the bone. The salt water must’ve gotten into it, but something about the water felt off. It was as though the concentration of salt was much higher than it was supposed to be.
Screams began making themselves known and Subterra peeked her head out from the rocks to look back at the pools. People were shrieking and clambering out of the pool and there was a lot of thrashing in the waters as they fought to get themselves out as quickly as possible.
“What is happening?” Subterra had a bad feeling about this, but she left her hiding spot to investigate the commotion further.
She could see large splashes coming from the pool area and there were people clambering out of them and a woman started screaming as she threw her hands around her mouth. As Subterra got closer, she could see why.
There was a fairly large man still in the pool, struggling to get to the edge as the color of his face began to change, becoming paler and paler as he swam on.
“Heeh-Help me…!” He sputtered, taking in a mouthful of water.
A woman with short brown hair grabbed a nearby net, holding it by the head as she dangled the pole towards him. He grabbed it and yanked, but he far outweighed her and in his panic to get out, he pulled her back into the pool, head first. Instead of helping her up, the woman shoved her aside in the water, then reached for the edge of the pool, but before his chubby fingers could touch it, he suddenly froze and began floating back, away from the edge.
The woman surfaced, but as his body bumped into her, she gazed into his eyes for a second before screaming her lungs out. “H-He’s dead! He’s dead!”
She just stood there screaming until her voice trailed off and she fell on her back and became unmoving.
“T-The water, it just became so-so… salty…” a woman mumbled as a towel was thrown over her shoulders.
“One of the pipes must’ve burst that leads to the ocean,” another man tried to reason.
But Subterra wasn’t buying it as a mishap. She didn’t know what was going on, but something deep within her was telling her to watch out, to keep alert, that this wasn’t a natural occurrence. Something was happening here and it wasn’t anything good.
“On your toes, Subterra Shiver. The enemy is near.”
“What? What enemy?” she asked the voice in her head.
People began making their way away from the pool, happy to leave their troubles behind, leaving Subterra by herself as she watched her reflection in the churning water. Someone was doing this, she was sure of it, as was the voice in her head, but it said enemy. She couldn’t recall anything since waking up on the beach, but now that she thought about it, her clothes had been in tatters and caked with mud and her body had injuries all over. Perhaps she had been running from something or someone.
“Thought you could get away, did you?”
Subterra jumped, almost falling into the pool and she turned around, spotting a woman with swirly blonde hair that turned orange towards the top, making her look like some sort of strange candle. She wore a bright yellow bikini and had an orange flower attached to her left strap and in one hand, she held a glass of some kind of green beverage.
“Who are you?” Subterra would’ve taken a step back, but that would’ve plunged her right into the pool.
“Who am I? Enough games, Subterra.” She shook her head. “I, Candlewick Dancer, will take you back.”
“I don’t even know who you are,” Subterra said.
“Yeah, right.” Candlewick scoffed. “And I’m the Queen of Scotland.”
A pink and orange shape darted out from Subterra’s left and with a squeal, she ducked back under one of its clawed arms, losing a few strands of hair as the figure splashed into the water. Subterra lifted her arms to shield her face, but as the water touched her arms, it began to sting around her wounds, forcing her back as she yelled out in pain.
“S-Salt!” She stumbled away as the figure rose from the water, its back facing her. It lifted one of its clawed hands and flexed its fingers; Subterra noticed its index and middle fingers had longer claws than its other fingers. “What are you?”
“You really don’t remember any of it, do you?” Candlewick ran a hand under her chin and down her neck. “No matter. I’m here to take you back, Subterra. TWI needs you.”
That name sent shivers down Subterra’s neck, but it was only a bodily response. She couldn’t remember who TWI was or why she wanted her, but she knew enough to know that going back wasn’t an option.
“If you don’t come with me, Subterra, there’s going to be a lot more salt in your wounds…” Candlewick pointed at the pool as she swirled her drink in her other hand. “My Stand, Dead Sea, is able to turn any body of liquid within a twenty meter radius into saltwater. Really salty water. So salty that swimming in it for more than fifteen seconds would cause your heart to give out and your body to shrivel up.”
“Stand?” Subterra repeated as Candlewick’s Dead Sea turned its head to face her.
“Your fighting spirit, an extension of your will.” Candlewick walked closer, shaking her hips wildly. Then she planted a hand on her neck and held her glass to her cheek. “Which you will face if you do not come back with me now.”
“I’m not going anywhere with you,” Subterra said defiantly. “Even if you do have some kind of a weird salt ghost power. You can tell this TWI that if she wants people to go with her, she should be more friendly!”
Subterra tried to get away, but Candlewick Dancer intercepted her and grabbed her around the left arm. She tried to shake her away, but the woman pulled hard and bent back, spinning as she threw Subterra through the air, sending her flying into the pool beside her Stand with a splash.
Immediately, everything began to sting as the salt water invaded her wounds. It wasn’t unbearable, but it did hurt a lot. Her mouth began to feel furry and as she burst through the surface, something slashed at her face and she fell back into the water, feeling a blaze of pain across her right cheek. The water around her took on a red hue as she broke past the surface again, but there was Candlewick Dancer’s Stand, poised and ready to attack once more.