"If you understand neither the enemy nor yourself, you will always lose." Sunzi.
The Primitive Species
Prologue
A thick fog engulfed the night sea, spiraling its clouds upon a drifting boat. A small raft of a feeble frame, its sail was badly torn, and a man was slumped down on the deck, his body motionless and deeply wounded, its blood crusted to form large, ugly scars.
The man was breathing, however, every wisp of oxygen filling into his lungs, yet barely noticeable from its low resonance. His body was lain down as if it has been drained of energy, and the only thing remaining being fatigue and the necessities of water and food. The boat carrying the figure was flowing down the small currents of the sea, its directions outside the boundaries of a compass. The thick mist gave the sea a damp, inexplicable atmosphere.
Suddenly, an abrupt sound broke through the trance-like ambiance. A truly unfathomable sound, it was high pitched, a shrill, almost resembling the vibration of a tuned off machine. Yet, it also possessed the perplex similarity to the scream of men.
Then as if in accordance, the waves began rising violently. The wrath of the sea lifted the feeble boat to its will, rocking it back and forth. The bitter taste of salt water splashed against the figure's face, as the boat began to sway uncontrollably. With a huge splash of water the boat was flung into the air as a tiny insect and, after a seemingly frozen moment in time, it crashed onto a shore escaping narrowly to be landed on the jagged rocks nearby. The figure was thrown off of his transportation and rolled on the sandy coast as a dead carcass. His head slowly moved, and his eyelids opened just enough for sight. The man saw eyes through his own...large, brown eyes of another creature. And then, darkness.