NOCTURNE
Chapter IV (04): The Island
Akira and Dark have been stranded out at sea for several days now. The food supply they had stored on the boat is slowly running out, and storms that pass from time to time are gradually breaking the boat to pieces. It won't be very long before their little ship is nothing but floating pieces of wood.
Both Dark and Akira are napping on one of the horizontal boards. Neither of them has noticed the island in the distance that is growing every second the closer they get to it.
Several minutes later, the boat slides onto the shore of the large island. Akira slowly wakes up, noticing that the normal rocking of the boat has stopped suddenly. He lifts his head up and notices trees and sand. He stretches, yawns, and steps out of the boat lazily, bringing his sword along just in case. Still quite spaced-out, Akira starts to trudge across the sand to the forest ahead, unaware that he has landed on an island chalk full of gigantic beasts…
While Akira is in the jungle, he hears the faint sound of a hiss. He stops in this tracks and listens more intently. The hissing grows. 'It sounds like a snake,' Akira says to himself. 'Only a really big serpent could make such noise.' Before Akira knows it, just as he assumed, a monstrous snakehead pops from the ground. The snake glares at Akira, knowing it has found food. The snake is at least 300 feet in length, judging from the head, which is bigger than a normal human body. It is a dark gray color, almost like the color of metal, and it has two sharp fangs in its mouth, rowed with more rows of little sharp teeth. It also has two very small arms and two very small legs, probably to help push its massive body around. It also has two stick-like horns on its head that are the color of its bumpy gray skin. Unlike most snakes, this one does not have scales, but bumpy skin like that of a frog. The snake hisses again, making an ear-deafening cry. Akira is not fazed at all by it. The serpent becomes irritated by Akira's staring and decides to eat him. Big mistake. Akira unsheathes his sword from the case on his back and slices at the snake's nostril. The snake pulls back, but the damage has been done. The snake screeches in agony, but Akira isn't done just yet. Akira slices at the air in front of him, as if trying to cut something invisible. The waves from the sword reach the snake and start to cut at it again and again, leaving deep gashes on the snake's body. The snake finally retreats, bleeding profusely and crying in sheer pain. Akira spits at the ground in front of him. He then yells at the withdrawing serpent.
"If you want a rematch, you can find me at the beach. Hehehe."
Akira sheaths his sword and starts to head back to the beach to set off again and to search for fruit on the trees closest to the beach's area.
"This place is too dangerous. I'll look for food when I get back to the boat."
When Akira reaches the shore, he notices that Dark has disappeared… again.
"Damn creature. Why does it always wander off? I'm going to have to teach him something about that…"
Angered, Akira looks all around the shore, but can't find Dark anywhere.
"Must have gone into the jungle. If he was eaten, it was his own damn fault, that idiotic dragon."
Akira heads back into the jungle, rather upset.
Time flies, and before Akira knows it, the sun is starting to set on the horizon, leaving a blood red color in the clouds above and turning the sky as black as Akira's hair.
Just as he is about to give up and leave Dark on the island, he hears a rustling of a bush behind him. Akira keeps his back turned. There is a gruff voice behind him.
"Don't move, or you die."
Akira smirks.
"Die? Are you speaking to me? That's funny."
There is a growl from the talking person. Footsteps on the ground approach Akira, who responds by pulling his sword from his case and keeps it at a 45-degree angle in front of him. The person in front of him is holding an unusual weapon. It looks like a gun, but at the same time, it doesn't look like one. It is much more advanced than the weapons made today. The person holding it has gray skin and gray hair, almost the same color as the giant serpent Akira encountered earlier. Red eyes beam at Akira. The person looks more like a machine than a human.
"Put your weapon away or you will be shot."
"Heh, try me."
"You asked for it, foolish human."
The machine-like man pulls on the gun's trigger. A small laser advances towards Akira, making an annoying whir as it zips as fast as lightning through the air. Fortunately, Akira is faster in reflexes. He bounces back the laser towards its owner by using his sword as a reflector. The projectile goes right through the machine-man's head. Green blood bursts from the wound. The man drops his gun and falls to the ground lifeless.
"Nice try. Now… What the hell are you exactly?"
Akira kneels down on his right knee next to the person's head. He tugs at the man's head… pulling off a mask. A hideous face of a disfigured human is inside the mask. In fact, it looks more fish like than human. There are no eyes or ears. Veins cover the head, and the color of the head is the same as the mask. The mouth is slightly open, revealing rows of small, razor-sharp teeth.
"How odd. An alien, eh? Well, sorry buddy, but your disguise didn't fool me."
There is another rustling sound. Akira feels the presence of a large creature, even bigger and much more powerful than the snake he encountered earlier in the day. There is a loud boom and the ground quakes, as if a bomb had been detonated, and the head of a huge creature looms above Akira from the trees. It looks like a large skeleton with red eyes. On both shoulders there are eyes, making a total of four eyes on the creature. It has a long black tail that splits about midway, making two smaller tails. Its feet are pointed and are as black as the tail, and it has five skeletal-like fingers. The creature has the snout of a dragon and two horns midway between the eyes and the nostrils at the end of its snout: One horn, closer to the nostrils, is bigger and striped like a zebra, and the other horn, which is smaller, is totally white, making it stand out on the monster's gray-and-black face. The creature also has rows upon rows of sharp teeth; two sharp fangs on the top row and two sharp fangs on the jaw. The large monster breathes deeply. Fog is seen being emitted from its mouth every time it exhales.
"Oh boy, isn't this just great? Man oh man, this just keeps getting better and better."
Just when Akira is about to pull out his sword, the large creature bellows and lightning bolts shoot out from all four of its blood-red glowing eyes. Akira jumps high into the air, and just misses being fried by the bolts, which make a massive explosion the second they hit the ground. Debris and ground fly everywhere, as well as pieces of the alien's body.
"Shit! That was too close!"
Akira lands on the ground several meters away from the crater made by the bolts. Shockwaves pulse through the air for several more seconds before they disappear, shaking trees and sending the native birds flying high into the air. Their screams of terror are nowhere near as loud as the explosion was.
"Time to get serious."
Akira pulls out his sword, which starts to glow a faint ruby color. The large skeletal monster roars again and shoots out four more lightning bolts, which zigzag in the air just like lightning.
"Oh no you don't!"
Akira uses his sword to reflect the bolts, just as he did with the alien's laser. The bolts fly in four different directions, causing large explosions and starting fires that light up the night, making the large monster look like a large demon from Hell.
The monster glowers at Akira, who responds by returning the look and screaming aloud.
"DON'T UNDERESTIMATE ME!"
Akira's sword starts to glow brighter than before. The monster's bolts, the fires licking at the sky, and Akira's magical sword seem to be lighting up the night as the battle progresses endlessly into the next day…
NOCTURNE"The highest proof of virtue is to possess boundless power without abusing it." –Lord Macaulay
