#10

The next day Ara awoke with a start, sweat beading on her forehead. She looked beside her only to find the sand was deserted. She stood up and frantically called for Zacknue. To her relief she saw him emerging from the water, but there was something slightly different about him, his misty gaze was gone and he seemed to walk more confidently, no longer gazing about him like the whole world was a mystery to him.

“Good morning,” she said wearily sifting the sand around with her feet. He gazed up at her, giving a tremendous grin that made her smile.

“Good morning to you, is something troubling you?”

“That vision Zackue, who was that.”

“I don’t rightly know, but I have a vague understanding.”

“And what is this understanding?”

“Well, it was not a creature of this world. Meaning, it was not made by the hand of god. And the mist I believe are the souls of an extinct race. However, they are not good souls, they are what I would describe as being pure evil. In short, it was the collective hate a million lost souls. I do sense where it is as of now, but I do see it causing a tremendous amount of trouble in the near future, which is why we must do our best to prepare.”

Ara said nothing. For a while, both of them just stared out at the waves. Crashing and getting sucked back out to sea. They are a peculiar thing waves, they seem to come in patterns yet each one never truly meets timing with the one previous. Ara then noticed the island far out to the distance, she had forgotten it was there.

“What about that?” She said, pointing out to the distant mountains.

“I swam there this morning, I did not stay long but I caught a glimpse of the terrain. It is rocky and treacherous. There are numerous shrubs and grasses, but no trees. It seemed quite habitable, if you like we could visit.”

“I think it would be a good idea, I feel it may be where the being lies.”

“I agree, it would not be totally out of the question. It was here we saw the vision.’’

So they waded into the water, and one after another, they dove in. Speeding down and down, they flapped their fins to propel them. The water was deep and dark below them, but above the sun shone through the surface making patterns on their backs. Zacknue had never liked the deep waters, there tribe had always lived in shallow areas. The dark water beings were angry and cruel, their faces were not beautiful like theirs, their faces were twisted and looked more fishlike than anything. They were also very sharp, everything on their body was either barbed or pointed like little needles. He had been the only one that was respected by them, but all that ended after the visions started. They drove them out with sharp spears and iron blades that would cut through their scales like butter. Unlike the deep water beings that called themselves the Vorlocks, his tribe could breath out of the water, a gift that he believed the Vorlocks were jealous of.

Zacknue was surprised to see the ocean floor suddenly surge towards them as they approached the island. The swam faster, eventually reaching an area where the rocky bottom turned to a flat sandy area that was covered in tiny black pebbles, each the same size and shape but scattered randomly about.

#9

Sleep came fast, and soon the two found themselves in a suspended state of thought. At first the peaceful serenity of deep sleep had overtaken them, but they were soon awoken. The awakening was not however of this reality, they awoke to find themselves in a vision. They both stood in an empty plane of grass, perfectly flat and infinite in all directions. The sky was in a sort of permanent twilight. The center of the sky was like night, however on all sides its seemed as if the sun had just barely slipped below the horizon. With no way to pinpoint direction, they soon found they were dreaming.

“What is this Zacknue?” Asked Ara, not scared but curious. Zacknue did not respond, instead he began walking. Ara ran up beside him, looking in the direction he was walking. He then stopped and pointed. On the horizon was a shimmering line that stretched across the plain. Within moments, it seemed as if the line was growing.

“It’s the sea Ara, its moving closer.” Ara clutched his arm, the ground below them begame soggy and gelatinous. Soon they found the ground sinking beneath them into the water that surged forth from underneath. By the time it had reached there waists, the orange glow on every horizon had thickened and brightened. Then it stopped, the waters remained motionless. Like glass the strange sea stretched on forever over the horizon. And they saw something, a reddish glow coming up from the water just feet from them. Ara backed away, but zacknue assured her, “We are safe, it is merely a vision.” She loosened up and leaned towards the glow. It became brighter, small bubbles surfacing. And then, as the glow reached its peak, a figure surged out of the water. It rose higher and higher until it was suspended above the water. The thing was nothing they had ever seen. On its head was a large glowing orb that shimmered and pulsated. The glowing made them feel uneasy, as if there was great evil hidden behind the pulsating red light. The rest of the being was relatively humanoid in form, but it was made up of strange composition. Its skin was like roots from a tree, vines that wrapped its frame in a twisted formation. The things hands were like claws. Its fingers were knobby and malformed, but they ended in thin needle-like points. Below the creature was a dark mist that hung above the water. At a closer look, one could see tiny faces that twisted and turned with the wind.

And the creature made an awful noise. Not coming from the being itself, but echoing from the distant horizon. At this moment, the black mist began to swirl and spin like a tornado. It reached up like fingers and wrapped itself against the figure, each face moaning in everlasting torture. The mist wove itself tightly onto the creatures flesh until it was like a dark shadow had been cast down on the being. Its face was now completely dark except for two slits that seemed to be eyes, yet they glowed and pulsated like the orb. And then the creature made another noise, like a gurgling cough. With that, the waters retreated and the creature touched down on solid ground. Then it vomited, a thick black substance that spread on the earth and killed the grass that it touched. It then spoke, a deep rumble that chilled through to Zacknue’s very soul.

“The world has changed much I see. The soil sings a joyful tune of rebirth. But at what cost one might ask? The world should have been cleaned of this long ago. We must have made an error my friends, but fear not, we can sweep away the dust and take back what is rightfully ours. We who are born of the glorious machine shall wipe away the mud to reveal a stainless metal surface, the wonderful age of iron that man so strongly began.” With this he disappeared.

#8

After a long night of walking, they came to a great ridge that sliced through earth. In the middle of the ridge was a large gash that seperated the ridge into two. The sun had just begun to rise, outlining the treeline behind them.

They set out into the chasm at a slow jog, keeping a wary eye out. The canyon shimmered with the golden light of the morning. In the west a few stars remained suspended in the blackness of night. A warm ocean breeze howled through the gorge. The canyon was slanted so that the rocky path became steep. The path was mostly lit by sunlight, but some areas were dark with the shadows that were cast by the steep mountains.

Eventually, they came to the end. The rocky gruound was now blanketed in a thin layer of grass. The ridge slid smoothly down a hill and into a grassy meadow. The grassy meadow came to a stop at another tall rocky ridge that was also divided by a split. After the ridge was the ocean, wide and tempered as it was. The sun had fully risen so that the sky was a sharp pale blue.

"there," said zacknue pointing to the ocean. Without further information, they briskly made there way down the ridge.

At the shore, the ridge cast a long shadow onto the beach. This beach was rather small. The shoreline was cut off on both side by thick rocky pillers that slid down into the reef. On the horizon, there was a second island. It was very far away, but one could still make out the mountains that rose up into the sky.

#7

The next morning was overcast, yet the clouds were high and promised no rain. Ara was the first to wake up. For a while she just sat and looked at Zacknue. He has not been himself since they had reached the island. He seemed confused, like he was searching for something and had gone someplace that Ara could not see. She concentrated on these thoughts, praying for answers. None came, so Ara made up her mind and woke him up.

“Zacknue.” Zacknue grumbled and covered his eyes,

“What?” He said as he rose and let out a yawn/

“We should go walk, we need to find a place to settle down. Maybe then you’ll find what you’re looking for.”

Zacknue rose from his bed of leaves and walked along side Ara. They walked out into the woods. For a while they were completely silent, only stopping to observe a strange fruit or climb over an obstacle. By midday they had come to a large clearing, a meadow of sorts.

“Stop.” Said Zackue. “Look”.

“What I don’t see…” Suddenly Ara saw what he had pointed at. In the middle of the field was an object that lay half buried in the ground. IT was very large, about 10 feet high. “What is it?”

“ I don’t know.” The object was a dingy yellowish color. The sides were metal that had decayed far beyond rust. The rest was glass, but not the strange bottles that they used to find on the ocean floor, this was far different. The glass was stretched across a frame, so that it made up the entire objects surface. The overall shape of the object was the strangest part. It was like two arches that attached in the middle, making the shape of an M.

“What do you suppose it means,” Said Ara, who stroked the smooth surface.

“I…I don’t know. But I think we should keep moving.

***INSERT CHAPTERS*****

The meadow ended at a large river that rushed like great torrents. Great currents of white foam billowed up in sprays of mist. Ara took his hand and together they waded into the rushing rapids. The rapids tore at them with angry intent. It swirled up in great pillers that threatened to wash them away. Zacknue made his way slowly clutching the rocky outcrops one after another. After a good ten minutes, they climbed out of the torrents and onto the sandy shoreline. On the other side of the river, thick pine woods sourrounded a flat grassy meadow. On the far side of the meadow, the land rose up into a rocky cliff as the water fell down into a deep canyon.

"I like it here.". Said zacknue, sitting down on a mossy rock, sopping wet.

"me too, there's plenty of room for all of us and it's a nice place for children to grow up.".

"I bet you further down there's a lagoon. It would make nice fishing."

"zacknue, we should go back and fetch the others."

"no need, they'll know. But you and me have buisness elsewhere."

" and where is that?"

" the other side, we need to reach the west by noon tommirow. If we start now, we could be there by sunset."

Without another word, they set off into the woods at a brisk pace.

The woods were very thick and dark. With each step they bounced upon the spongy layer of pine needles that had piled upon the ground. The woods were very quiet, no birds sung and no squirrels nested in the branches.

"zacknue. I feel very uneasy. We should not be here."

"something is following us, I can here see it moving in the treeline up ahead. As long as we keep moving, we'll be fine."

The woods came to a strange clearing. The trees grew out across the area so that the branches intertwined, no sunlight was let through. Zacknue walked into the tall grass and then stopped, smelling the air.

"ara, when I say so, duck."

"ok, but...". Just then, a large shadowy form lept from behind them.

"duck!". The beast leaped over ara, grazing her back and slicing through the skin. It smacked into his side, throwing him onto the ground. Zacnue rolled over and mounted the creature. It swung it's head around and around, threatening to throw him off. The creature spun around, rearing onto it's hind legs. It's stood A good nine feet tall on it's hind legs. It's form was undefined in the dim light. The only features that could be seen were the horns that shimmered s if metallic. Zacknue steared the creauture out of the way as it attempted to to ram into ara. As it began turn away, it slipped on the grass and collided into the ground. With a deafening howl, it struggled to stand back up. Before it could, zacknue twisted it's head quickly. It's neck snapped, the creature went limp. Zacknue got up and wiped the blood off his hands.

"are you ok?". He asked ara, still wiping his hands

"I'm fine, just a couple scratches where it's claws grazed me.".

"that thing was not a beast of this earth. I could smell it, it gave off a musty air, an evil sort of air. The beast was sent to kill us."

" but why?"

"I don't know. But I can smell the air. The west coast is not far, but there is something evil on the breeze."