I heard it.

A call unfamiliar. A voice so alien. It resonated, yet it did not resonate. It was… Wrong.

I was curious. Perhaps too curious. I began leaving my home. But I returned when the call faded to nothing.

But it was then that I heard another call. One that resonated. But that resonance came with a sense of foreboding. A sense of power. It felt like a threat.

I ignored that call. I do not take kindly to threats.

I decided to rest on the island. But the tiny creatures without fur continued to follow me everywhere. And it was largely a nuisance.

There was one, however, who was not. A little one. Little even by their standards. A child, perhaps. She showed me something that looks like me. It was interesting.

This little one does not shout. She does not assault my ears with strange devices. She doesnot attempt to force me to look at her. She only stands watching. Waiting. And when I looked at her, her mouth turns upwards.

She is a nice tiny thing.

I do not mind her presence.

I remember one day, after making two warring creatures go their separate ways, my hands bled. One had teeth which sunk into my flesh. It burned. I washed them in water. But the burn did not leave.

The tiny one climbed onto my hands and poured a strange liquid over them. It burned at first. But soon after the pain retreated. The liquid smelled nice. Like fruit. But it tasted horrible.

The little one helped me. She is a very nice tiny thing.

I let her sit in my hand and held her up to see her. She pointed to the island, and made a gesture with her hand. A touch to her jaw, and a touch to her head. It was odd. But somehow I knew what it meant.

Home.

I returned the gesture, and she clapped her hands and hopped up and down on my palm. She was happy. I was happy. She taught me a way to speak without speaking. To say "home" in her language. Or, whatever language the hand gestures were.

I set her down and she ran away. But she was not gone long.

She and I spent much time together. And I welcomed her presence. It was nice. And different.

I have not had others to spend time with before. The others on the island always want to bite, claw, scream, or run away. Some of them even ignore me. I could squish them. But they ignore me still.

I have been lonely. And I miss my family.

My mother and father. Killed by the slithering ones when I was a baby. My hatred for their kind is never ending. And I shall slaughter all that I find should they crawl up from the holes in the ground again.

Their Alpha is dead.

It slithers no more.

And neither will they.

I can smell them. They yet live. They yet breed.

Someday another may crawl up from the ground. But it will not matter. I will stomp it into oblivion as I did the others.

That's not what concerns me.

What concerns me is that the side of a mountain recently washed away in the rains. It opened a cave I've never seen. Inside the cave I found a hole. And in the hole I heard a noise. The smell coming from it was enough to make me gag. But it was what emerged that surprised me the most.

A giant winged creature strong enough to lift me off the ground emerged and challenged me for supremacy of the island. Its shrieks were loud. Its teeth and claws were sharp. And its wings were powerful. But my fists were louder, sharper, and stronger. I defeated the disgusting beast and threw it back down into its hole.

I wandered the cave further and found something on the walls. A large… Something. What to call it? A moment in time. Forever lasting. Unmoving. I saw one of my kin. It was being attacked by a fanged creature similar to the slithering ones. But it walked on two legs, had a spiky back, and spit blue fire from its mouth.

My kin was falling. The fire burning their chest. They could not rise. Nothing about it makes sense. My kind are strong. Stronger than any other. Fire may burn our fur. But it cannot stop us.

What is this thing? This creature of blue fire?

Was that what called after the other? The threat?

Or was it not a threat at all?

Was it a challenge?

I cannot know.

My head hurts.

I went to rest, but I was interrupted. The tiny things surrounded me and I could smell something. It made me sleepy. And I do not remember anything after.

I woke in a daze. My head was swimming and my body ached. I was hungry. But I had no energy to move to find food. The tiny things were doing something. I heard sounds similar to rocks clashing over and over and over again. My vision was blurred. But I could see dozens of the tiny things gathered around me pointing little sticks at me.

I did not fear this. But I could not react. My nose took in the scent once more, and I fell asleep.

I woke again some time later. How much time? I do not know. But I could sense a change around me. I stood up and stretched my arms. I smelled water and went to drink. But it smelled different. It did not smell of grass, dirt, and air. It smelled… Like nothing. Just water. It also had no taste. Not like the water I knew.

I tried to wander around. But I walked into something. The horizon hit me in the face. And a strange surge flowed through it. I put my hand out, and I felt something hard. A wall. It was fake. The entire horizon was fake. I pounded it with my fist and shattered the veil. It fell away in heaps. And I smashed it again.

Strange red lights began flashing, and a horrible sound made me cover my ears. I saw the tiny things again. And again the scent overwhelmed me. I fell to sleep and awoke in the same spot.

This time, the friendly tiny one was there watching me. She told me what had happened. The other tiny things had built a cage around me. They meant to protect me from the storm that was overcoming the island.

But a cage is not protection.

A cage is a cage.

A cage is a prison.

When the other tiny things came the friendly tiny thing said she had to go. I saw another female, taller and older, making the hand gestures.

They knew the language too.

I could not let them know I understood. If they would cage me, they would use me. I have seen it with other species. They will discover a commonality between each other, and one will use the other before turning on them.

I will not be used.

I don't want to be used.

I am afraid for the friendly tiny one as well. She is ever so small. She is defenseless. She cannot fight the others. She is too weak.

I am strong. But I am too large. If I defend her, she will be in danger.

They must not learn of my understanding.

Time has passed. And the other female has tried signing to me. I recognize the signs. I understand her attempts to commune with me. But she will not know. I will not reply.

She is frustrated. But she will not relent. I must admire her persistence. For persistence is a sign of strength.

The strong yield to no one. Not the evil slithering ones. Not the defiant flying beasts. Not the harshness of the heavens. Nothing.

To be persistent is to be unyielding. And it is how I choose to live.

But I can sense it.

Somewhere deep in my heart I feel the threat of the one who called second. He knows of me. He senses me. And I sense him.

We are strong. We are different. But we are, I feel, the same.

We will not yield.

He wishes to dominate. I wish to be left in peace.

We cannot coexist. I feel this. I understand this.

I believe he feels the same.

He will not let me be. He will not let me rest. He will be watching. Waiting. Sensing.

Should the day ever come when I leave this island and escape the storms, he will come for me. Of this, I am certain.

And if he does, I will not flee. I will not cower. I will not yield.

He may attempt to burn me with fire. I will drown that fire in water.

He may attempt to scream. I will cover my ears.

He may attempt to blind me. I will shield my sight.

He may attempt to bite, claw, and strike me down. I will strike him faster, harder, and more ferociously.

One of us must yield. But I yield to no one.

He will bow to me.