The following morning greeted the island with a thick layer of fog, veiling everything in a ghostly mist. The sun was just a glow behind the clouds, barely lighting the path ahead as Nate stood near the dock, gripping the rusted journal they recovered.
He hadn't slept much. The pages inside weren't just notes—they were confessions. Drawings. Letters never sent. His father had written about the treasure, yes, but also about a boy. A boy meant to follow his path… or break it.
"Nate," Ava called softly, walking up behind him. "You okay?"
He didn't turn right away. "He knew I'd find this. He wanted me to. This whole time, I thought I was chasing some legend, but I've been chasing a ghost."
Ava stepped closer, her presence grounding. "Then let's find out what kind of ghost he really was."
They regrouped with Kaito and Ryuji at the harbor, where Ryuji had tracked down an old smuggler who once sailed with Nate's father. The man was grizzled, half-blind, but remembered more than he let on.
"The treasure's real," he rasped. "But it's cursed. Everyone who gets close loses something. Gold. Blood. Sanity. You wanna find it? Then prepare to lose what matters most."
The warning echoed in their minds as they boarded a stolen skiff and headed toward a hidden cove detailed in the journal. The sea was calm, but something felt off—as if the ocean itself was watching them.
As they neared the cove, a thick fog rolled in again, denser this time. Visibility dropped, and the skiff slowed to a crawl.
Suddenly—BANG—a gunshot echoed through the mist.
Kaito hit the deck, clutching his side. "Sniper—!" he grunted.
"Get down!" Nate shouted, dragging Ava and Ryuji behind the skiff's engine block.
Through the mist, faint outlines of another boat approached fast—black sails, no flags. Whoever they were, they weren't here to talk.
"Ryuji, cover fire," Nate barked.
Ryuji nodded, pulled out a flare gun they'd modified, and launched a blinding red light toward the enemy boat. It burst in a brilliant flash, buying them a few precious seconds.
Ava helped Kaito apply pressure to his wound. "It's not deep, but we need to get to shore."
Nate took the helm. "Hold on."
He gunned the engine and shot toward the rocks of the cove. The boat scraped hard against the shallows, but they made it. They leapt off and scrambled into the trees.
Behind them, the attackers docked, shouting in an unknown tongue.
Deep in the jungle, breathless and bruised, they collapsed behind a fallen tree.
Kaito hissed in pain. "What the hell was that?"
"Someone else is reading this map too," Nate said grimly, looking down at the journal. "But they're not after treasure—they're after us."
Ava locked eyes with Nate. "Then we move faster."
Nate nodded, chest heaving, but in his heart… he knew this was just the beginning.
Whatever waited for them at the end of the trail wasn't just gold or glory. It was truth. And truth always came with a price.