The Man in Black dug and dug, obsessed with finding whatever was on the other side. Some of the men told him that it would lead to a way off the island. The secret to getting off of the island lies somewhere in its core. He only wished Jacob would help him. But he gave up on Jacob years ago. They spent their first fourteen years of life together and went their separate ways. They still met occasionally, but Jacob didn't want to leave Mother. He was always loyal to her, even though she wasn't the one who gave birth to them. Mother had murdered the woman who gave birth to them… had bashed her head in right after he came out of her. She didn't plan on giving birth to twins, and only had one name chosen. Jacob came out first, so he was given that name. Her head was bashed in before she could give Him a name.
And so he had always been the Unnamed one. The other people on the island had given him names, but he never cared for any of them. Never liked any of them. He was content with being nameless.
Maybe when he finally found his way off the island, he would allow himself the luxury of a name. But for now, only one thought occupied his mind: DIG.
Little did he know that the core of the island would actually contain the answers to time itself. It wouldn't just be a portal to the outside world, it would be a portal through time and space. He was aware that the island brought people to it via the sea, but never via time itself.
He had seen plenty of strange things, including the spirit of his birth mother. But nothing could have prepared him for seeing HER. Perhaps the island knew that he was lonely without Jacob. Perhaps the island knew that she was lonely without her family. The island brought the two of them together in the strangest ways.
And so it came to pass that one day, while digging, he found his way off the island. It wasn't a ship. It wasn't a flying carriage. It wasn't a tunnel that led across the sea.
It was a pair of eyes. A pair of eyes that would haunt him for the rest of eternity.
It took him awhile, but he eventually managed to build a contraption which would allow him to harness the electromagnetic energy of the island. Of course, in those days, the concept of electromagnetic energy wasn't understood. It was simply "power" or "life energy". Some called it "mana". He didn't care what it was. To him, it was a means off the island. And he intended to use it and take advantage of it.
Mother didn't like it.
She had been the island's caretaker for thousands of years. She had been there when the Egyptians came. When the Chinese came. When the Africans came. And, more recently, when the Romans and Greeks came.
She came before all of them, with the Sumerians. The Hebrews were already present when they arrived. They had claimed that they were descended from the first man and first woman who lived there, and that the island was cursed because of them.
They had somehow offended their God. Whether that was true or not, she didn't know. Nor did she care. She just did her job. That was 5,000 years ago. Most had either left or died. Cultures came and went. They built their statues and prayed to their gods. But none of them had any interest in taking her place.
Until one, lone pregnant woman came. The guardian took care of her until she gave birth, not to just one baby, but two. The first one the woman named Jacob. He had a lightness in his eyes. The woman didn't name the second one. She only had one name picked out. This one was different. His eyes were a deep, dark gray, yet there was a darkness in them. There was something unhuman about him.
IT was then that she decided that she wanted to take care of these babies herself. She would raise them up to take her place as guardians, so that she could finally be free of her duty. Two of them would do just fine. The task was difficult for one person. She should know. So why not let TWO people take over?
Yes, that's what she would do. The island was under her care. These children were born on HER island, therefore they were HER children. With that thought, she grabbed a rock and began beating the mother in the head, over and over, with madness, until her blood and brains were splattered over the place. When she was finished, she noticed that much of the blood had splattered on the second one – the dark child.
And 40 years later, that dark child had grown into a dark man. His eyes were still deep and steely gray, but his hair was dark. His clothes were dark. He was at around six feet, which was fairly tall for a Roman. Jacob was taller, but more gentle. Jacob was golden-haired and still had light in his eyes. The few women who lived on the island wanted them both, but neither had any interest. Jacob didn't because he was wary of any humans. The nameless one didn't because the only thing he desired was power and freedom.
Jacob was content with living his life on the island. The nameless one was not. He only wanted to see the world, though he didn't know why. He yearned to get off the island. His real mother had come from a place called Rome when he was still in her womb. Why his island Mother wouldn't let him return to Rome, she never explained, though he suspected that she was wanting to manipulate him and Jacob to do something for her. Well, let her manipulate naive, innocent Jacob. She wouldn't manipulate him!
He managed to harness the energy, though he wasn't sure how to use it just yet. He only knew how to accumulate it.
And because of an accident, or perhaps fate, she came to him. He didn't know what he did to bring her to him, but there she was, standing in front of him, looking at him with eyes to which he felt a connection. He knew those eyes somehow, even though it was his first time staring into them.
"Esau". She said, her voice a mixture of familiarity and shock.
It was then that he noticed that there was more to her than her eyes. She looked to be at least fifteen years younger than him. Her hair was thick and wavy. Though she was taller than the other women on the island, she was still small compared to him. The top of her pretty head only reached his chin.
And she was dressed strangely. Like somebody from a different world… a different time.
"Esau" she repeated. And then she put her hand up to her mouth and gasped. She looked around in both horror and realization, as if she knew exactly where she was, but couldn't believe that she was there.
And the next thing she did surprised him. Before he could ask her what she meant by calling him "Esau", she actually had the audacity to LEAP onto him, throwing her small arms around his neck, and almost toppling him over. If nearly 30 years of digging hadn't made him so strong, she probably WOULD have knocked him over.
His first thought was surprise, his second thought was to push her away in anger, and his third thought, which shocked him, was that her body actually felt nice pressed up against his. Her face was pressed into his neck. Her hair tickled his chin.
For the first time in his life, he actually felt aroused. With the exception of Jacob, he knew that the other males on the island felt aroused at times. They disgusted him. Up until this point, he had been an asexual being. Now, having this strange little female pressed up against him, he felt desire for her AND disgusted with himself for desiring her.
"I've missed you! Why did you leave me and Richard?" Being a 1st century Roman and all, he didn't understand American-English. Still, he found himself strangely connected with her voice, just as he had with her eyes. He finally found himself touching her back, placing large, dirty hands on her arms, letting them linger for a second before pushing her away… probably more roughly than he should have, but he had no experience with women, after all.
She looked up at him in surprise as she stumbled back. She came closer to toppling over than he did when she first threw herself at him. He hadn't realized he had pushed her so roughly, and wasn't for sure why he actually cared.
"Esau?" She asked hesitatingly.