Chapter 5

Abduction:

The shores of Xuxux held great awe amongst all who passed their ancient glory. Made up of a multitude of glimmering pyramid structures intended as the safe guards of long dead kings, Xuxux played host to all that was sacred and holy. So it was unusual that at this hour a boy would be found lying on the shore just several feet from the base of one of the small triangular temples. His dark locks were pasted to his face covering most of his features as he lay in a sleep that overcame him from pure exhaustion. The skin on his chest was clearly tinged with a greenish color, which differed drastically from the rest of his body, as though it might be undergoing some transformation. Had the boy been alert to his surroundings he would have noticed these observations were not being made by any of the local guards but rather by a grotesque looking creature that observed him quite carefully.

The creature appeared somewhat bat like in formation, with a set of snarling rotted teeth that jutted out constantly, unconcealed even when closing its mouth. The red eyes dilated quite unnaturally and scanned methodically across its unusual find. The idea of such a horrific looking creature completing a methodic and analytic task looked quite odd indeed, and as the boy stirred slightly out of his sleep he almost recognized the creature as familiar, except for these strange methodical habits. Unable to bear himself up the boy lay with eyes slightly, but unnoticeably open trying to make sense of his surroundings, the ghoulish creature included. His mind drifted back trying to recall what circumstances had landed him here and as he thought the blur of images began to form into a clear track of events.

He was aboard the Gabreeze, or rather stowed aboard for purposes unknown to him, attempting to make passage to the very island he had come to rest on. He was not sure how he was to get off the ship and attain access to the island but had been told that it would all be looked after, taken care of. He had to be secretive, things had to be just right, and his existence had to be unknown. Suddenly there was a commotion up above, that was clearly hysteric panic and when he crept out he was met with the unpleasant horror of men being swallowed alive and the ship about to be ripped beneath the waves and he knew this was a sign to spring into action. In all the commotion he had not been noticed, he hoped, storing into a life boat and making his way, despite his own sense of panic, towards the gleaming pyramids in the distance.

Despite the aid in his departure from the Gabreeze his journey was one of great peril and at one point he could have sworn it safer to stay aboard the ship. The waves from the disaster almost engulfed him on several occasions leaving his skin soaked and shivering. Then he felt the pain, a familiar pain that sent him into a panic. He was quite close to shore and had reached into his pocket to obtain a liquid that would put his panic at ease. Grasping the bottle and taking the cap off he began to swallow, and had gotten perhaps a few drops into his mouth when to his surprise a wave rocked the boat violently, sending the bottle of precious antidote into the sea and out of his site. He had not ingested enough to sustain himself from undergoing the further pain for too much longer. As he wait in confused anticipation the craft he was aboard was hit with a wave much bigger than any before it, sent from the final engulfing of the Gabreeze. Suddenly he was thrust from his boat into a roaring rage of water and all went black and he could remember no more.

He woke up now to find himself on the shore of his intended location, a fact that was quite relieving to say the least, but overshadowed by two other obvious situations: For one, his consumption of such a small amount of his medicine was not preventing his skin from mottling, and two there was a familiar, yet odd behaving creature monitoring him while he slept. Had the creature been behaving devilishly as he had remembered it from the depths of Gorgossium he might not have noticed much, but the plain fact that it acted more like a scientist from a lab than a hell bent creature made him somewhat suspicious of its origins. One would think the mere form of the creature would be enough concern, but he had handled these before and knew their weaknesses, but of course this creature wasn't what it appeared to be. This creature was an imposter.

Gaining a little more strength the weary deserter took the chance to sit up to face his query. When he did so it backed off somewhat, intoning a behavior far less aggressive than he had expected, seemingly more concerned with its safety than an outright attack. Seeing that the creature wasn't an immediate threat and by no means intended to attack him for dinner, the boy got up to survey the surrounding temples. He had to get back on track, get busy accomplishing the feat he was sent here to do. As he begun to walk he turned his head to check behind him, to see if the creature would follow, but all he could see was an empty shore line. The creature had taken off no doubt frightened by the idea that this boy wasn't a floating corpse to provide an easy meal. It obviously hadn't entailed a fight to get what it wanted and felt it easier to look elsewhere. There were other shorelines that surely had easier prey to scavenge off than he.

So on towards the pyramid structures he went, he would just have to pray that he hadn't been spotted by any locals and that he could make the journey before his pain increased and he no longer appeared human himself. As he neared the corner of the gleaming base he heard a high pitched screech coming from around the corner and was unable to distinguish who or what created the ear piercing noise. He considered turning back and running to the shore, but then what would he be running to. No he would have to just deal with what was beyond the corner of the pyramid, die trying, because he would surely die if he left with the job undone. His vision was so focused in the direction of the noise that he failed to hear a whizzing hum zooming from behind, until it was too late.

This time he felt a pain again, but it was different, it felt like a pin stabbing into his neck. Sharp and burning. Whirling around in confusion, he focused his last site on the creature that had backed down in defeat, or so it wanted him to believe. His hand went up to the nape of his neck and felt a stinger lodged into the flesh. The creature was staring at him with its former observational manner restored waiting for it's stinger to take effect. Before he could remove the needle and flee to run the boy collapsed unconscious once again leaving himself an easy target.

The creature waited but a few more seconds and moved in close to extend one of its appendages forward to nudge the sleeping target, to make sure there was no movement. Upon assurance that the boy was indeed not a threat the creatures body began to transform. Where it once had just a smooth belly, a set of legs, six of them in bug like stature, had lowered down to gather up its bundle. Instead of lifting its prize to its mouth to begin devouring the daily meal, as one knowledgeable of the habits of this particular night beast would assume would happen, the now "batesque" and bugged legged monster simply rose in the air and flew off carrying its load to the location as per instructed.

Hey everyone let me know how you're liking the story so far, please RandR

Lis.