When I woke up again, I felt sick. My stomach rebelled and I felt dizzy. I already felt that before I had even opened my eyes. When I then opened my eyes, I found myself frighteningly in a completely strange room.

I was in a small room with wood paneling on the walls, only a few pieces of furniture all attached to the walls, and a small round window. Everything seemed to be rocking. And the worst part was, I was alone and had no fucking idea where Yibo was or where I was.

When I tried to get up and find out where I was and where my boyfriend had gone, my legs gave way under me and I landed straight on the cold floor. And this rocking, I wasn't sure if it just seemed that way to me or if it was really rocking, only made my stomach rebel even more.

I slid on the floor to the door, then pulled myself up by a small cupboard and wanted to open the door, but it was locked! I was locked in this room! I tried not to panic and worked my way up to the small round window, supporting myself everywhere. But when I tried to look out, I saw nothing but water!

Although I was feeling really bad and it seemed to be getting worse, my mind was still working very well and I realized that we were on the high seas. But where exactly? And how did I get there? Who locked me in that room? And where the hell was Yibo?

I worked my way back to the door and knocked on it. I tried to call out for Yibo, but all which came out of my throat was a gasp. My throat ached from the attempt and even brought tears to my eyes. While I couldn't call out for Yibo, I could keep banging on the door. At least for a moment longer, until my legs gave way again and I was back on the floor, losing consciousness once more.

When I next became conscious, I heard Yibo discussing with two other men outside the door. I remembered Haikuan and his boyfriend. I opened my eyes with difficulty, the door was still closed. I was lying in bed again and someone had changed my clothes. My throat was still sore and my stomach was not better yet.

I heard Yibo say, "Damn it, give me the key back! I won't let you lock Zhan up anymore! He had woken up earlier and God knows what could have happened if I hadn't found him in time."

"I'm against it! We all saw that thing do something to your boyfriend and after that your boyfriend was super bad. I'm certainly not going to risk getting infected with whatever." Said a voice I didn't know. I assumed it was the voice of Haikuan's boyfriend.

"A-Yao I understand you. But Yibo is also right. For one thing, we don't know what Zhan has, because it could be a normal flu, and for another, it could have ended badly. Zhan was unconscious, lying on the floor and vomiting. He could have suffocated. Do you want to be blamed for the death of a human being?" I heard Haikuan ask.

"Just give me back the key already. I swear to you, if you don't give it to me right now, I will use force to get it back!" Said Yibo in a tone of voice I hadn't heard from him before.

A moment of silence followed and then I heard the rattle of a key and the unlocking of a lock. The next moment I saw Yibo coming through the door and hurriedly approaching me. He threw his arms around me, hugged me tightly and said with relief, "Oh thank God, you're awake!"

Unable to speak because every attempt felt like sharp knives were having a murder party in my throat, I just clung to Yibo and looked past him to Haikuan, who was smiling at me, and his boyfriend Meng Yao, who was looking at me like he wanted to kill me with his own hands. But I didn't care at that moment. All that mattered to me was Yibo.

After this intimate embrace, Yibo asked me, "What was going on between you and that creature?"

I indicated to him that I could not speak because it hurt too much, and Haikuan handed me a writing pad and a pen. I wrote, "It sniffed me and called me friend. He helped you because of me." I preferred not to write anything about the bite. Firstly, because I already touched my neck and could not feel anything there. And on the other hand, because I thought, then they really throw me overboard.

None of the three said anything about what I had written. Yibo replied instead, "The main thing is that you are better now. You were unconscious for three days and had a high fever. Please don't ever scare me like that again." I nodded and immediately clung to Yibo again.

Haikuan and his boyfriend withdrew and Yibo lay down in bed next to me. I lay with my head on his chest and listened to his heartbeat, which calmed me. Meanwhile, Yibo stroked my arm and softly hummed a song that he knew I liked very much. And finally I fell asleep again. But this time I was really just asleep and not unconscious again.

When I woke up again, Yibo was still with me and I was still lying with my head on his chest. I only guessed that hours had passed, because nothing but darkness could be seen through the small round window and a small table lamp was shining in our small room.

Yibo helped me sit up and fed me lukewarm chicken soup. He even wiped my mouth. And because I had, as he said, eaten quite well my soup, I got an ice cream as a reward. That did wonders for my throat. At least I could talk to Yibo in a whisper again.

"Where are we?" I asked him softly and hoarsely.

"I don't know where exactly we are now. But I can tell you we're on a sailing yacht. The sailboat Haikuan had wanted to take had been gone when we got to the beach. So we went to the house first, because you had to get into a bed and we had to find a new sailboat first. Haikuan then looked at the two yachts and said one was good for us, the one we both didn't want to take. He somehow managed to get up there and in, found spare keys and then we brought everything here, including you. Since then we have been on the sea and Haikuan is our captain. I don't understand much of what he's saying, but it doesn't matter. The main thing is that we're here."

"Was it hard?" I asked Yibo. Because I could see there was something he hadn't told me.

"Mn. The attacks increased and these winged monsters also arrived at our place. They followed the boats and ships, attacking randomly and killing perhaps hundreds of people who had tried to get out to sea. Haikuan also barely managed to get us safely away from the harbor. But fortunately our sailing yacht is fast and he is an able captain. He dodged the wrecks and got us safely far away from the creatures."

"Where is the spear I was given?"

"It's right here. So, this thing really considered you a friend?" He handed me the lock and I looked at it closely.

"Mn. It sniffed on me and said it was protecting me and I smelled like a friend."

"And it really didn't hurt you?"

I brushed the back of my neck again, wondering if I should keep lying. But I decided to at least tell Yibo the truth. "It bit me very lightly on the neck and licked my blood. After that, it gave me some of its blood to drink."

"Don't tell that to the others Okay?"

"Okay."

"And do you feel strange now or is anything different?"

"No. I feel weak. But that creature said I get strong from his blood."

"Your new blood brother said that?"

"Mn."

"What do you think he might have meant by that?"

"I don't know Yibo."

"At the moment, it doesn't matter either. As long as you don't turn into one of those creatures, it's all good."

"Mn. You Yibo? Can we maybe get some fresh air?"

"Sure. I'll help okay?"

"Yeah." I said. Yibo helped me up and put a jacket on me, then slowly walked with me out of the room and outside. I couldn't see anything all around, but the cool fresh ocean air was really doing me good.

We stood arm in arm on the deck of the sailing yacht and I looked up at the sky. I didn't expect to see stars, because of the colored fog that still covered everything. But they were there! I could actually see the stars and Yibo told me that he could even see the blue sky in the last two days.

"I suppose because because here are no sinkholes from which this fog can rise to the top, the sky here is clear." He explained.

"Yeah, you're probably right." I replied. Then after another five minutes Yibo thought I had had enough fresh air for now and should continue to rest. He took me back to our room, one of two rooms, next to a small living room, a kitchen, and a large bathroom, and put me back on the bed.

Yibo sat on the edge of the bed and washed me with a damp washcloth, since I was too weak to shower. Then he put on my pajamas and lay down next to me. He read to me from the book "Moby Dick" while I lay cuddled up to him and listened with my eyes closed until I fell asleep.

The next morning when I woke up, I felt much better. So well, in fact, that I was able to get up and take a shower without Yibo's help. I even went into the kitchen and made coffee and tea for everyone. Yibo who had also finished showering cut a loaf of bread for all of us and set the breakfast table.

When Haikuan and Meng Yao also came, Haikuan greeted me kindly and said he was glad that I was finally feeling better. Meng Yao didn't speak to me and kept giving me these scornful looks. At least until Haikuan told him to stop acting like a spoiled child.

After breakfast we cleaned everything up and then Yibo and Haikuan showed me around the yacht. Haikuan explained to me a little bit how things worked and then he sent Yibo and me forward to the deck where I was supposed to rest some more in the sunshine to really get fit again.

And then I was laying there like that, looking up at the blue sky, feeling the warm rays of the sun on my skin, having my true love lying next to me and thinking, "Wow, right now my life is just perfect." I had this extreme feeling of happiness inside of me that didn't allow any negativity. It was a wonderful exciting feeling that I hadn't had in a long time.

Of course, I also wondered how things would continue. It's clear we can't stay at sea forever and will have to return to land at some point. And be it only to refuel or to get supplies. So the fact is and remains that we need a good plan, because yes, at some point we have to get back to shore.

But on this wonderful sunny day and with my wonderful boyfriend and where I was finally feeling better, I didn't want to worry about it. Yes, it was in my mind. But, I wasn't going to let it ruin this wonderful day for me.

Until late afternoon that day, we had lain on the front deck on a blanket and enjoyed the day. Haikuan, along with Meng Yao, lay close to us while the sailing yacht was anchored out at sea. There at this spot, we would first anchor for a while and then think where to go next.

A new adventure began for us. And especially for me, because I felt hourly how the power in me grew. Something in me was about to awaken, but I did not yet know what it was.