Chapter 1 The Island
Cassian I Day 127 ( The Footpaw)
"Are you the one I've been waiting for?"
A feminine, distant voice cut through the emptiness of his mind. The man, surrounded by foreign words, attempted to make sense of his dream.
"You might be. I hope so. It's been so many cycles…"
The voice sounded so clear, yet distant. It began to fade, drowned out by the sound of the ocean and waves.
"Do I even still remember hope… the odds… I've been losing faith. The more the voice spoke, the louder the waves became until the man could only make out a few phrases.
"You must reach me… master this world… make allies of its many creatures…explore this world as I did before…Cassian."
And with that, the man's eyes opened as sunlight instantly greeted him. The smell of sharp salt and the sensation of warm sand welcomed him. He quickly stood up to find the woman, only to find a massive creature staring back at him. He yelped and darted away from what seemed to be a massive... turtle? The man stood up, cursing his cowardice, and stared down the beast. If he were to die, he was to die with his manhood intact.
And the beast stared back at him with disinterest too before shuffling away toward the sea. Insulted Cassian looked far into the distance into which the sea extended itself. He was on an island. as if that would answer any of his questions. Where was he? Who was that voice? And who is Cassian? Was it him? The name felt like his. Either way, questions will not keep him alive in this place. First, he must find food.
A massive rumble rang out as a three-horned beast lumbered slowly across the nearby forest. Again, the beast seemed not to care about Cassian's existence. And why would it? He was pretty much naked and unarmed. Not for long, Cassian thought to himself. He sought a weapon, a tool, and thus he stumbled across both: a stick, man's mightiest tool of mass destruction. It wasn't just any stick, but a sturdy one as well. In the corner of his eye, something moved.
A group of birds, each about a foot tall, walked aimlessly about the beach. Were they chickens? What is a chicken? Have I seen a chicken before? Again, these are unnecessary questions. Cassian decided to hold them off later as he observed the group hobbling towards him. The way they swung their little tails almost made Cassian smile. A childlike feeling of innocence swarmed his body. He almost leaned down to pet one of them. No. Cassian shook his head in disgust. He gripped his stick and strolled along the beach, and lo and behold, in the distance, stood a great behemoth. Its neck was taller than the trees. Every step it took shook the earth. Everywhere he looked, something more interesting seemed to follow suit, it seemed. He raised his arm to shield the sun and looked up to see a group of flying horned animals. Pteranodons wyvernus. He jumped as he heard the woman's voice again. "Who the hell was that?" No answer came. " Hello?" No answer came.
Curiously, he caught up to the small birds and stared at them, expecting the voice. Nothing came. Cassian knew better to give up, however. He stretched his arm again to shield his eyes when his blood turned cold. Below his left hand was a queer metal object, embedded deeply in his arm. He thought of pulling it out, but luckily his wits came upon him as he realized whatever it was, it was more than skin deep. Instead, Cassian decided to reveal the object to the dodo. It glowed in response. The Dodo bird
He repeated the same process to the turtle he originally stumbled across. Carbonemys obibmus.
" Carbo- Carbone- Carbonem- screw it I'll just call you turtle." Now, where was that tri-horned beast he stumbled across earlier? He looked around for footprints and found large imprints in the sand. Tracking the footprints he came across a Lystrosaurus. And then a Moschops. He even met a Parasaur along the way. As he got deeper into the mini peninsula he found the tri-horned beast feeding on the ferns. Pointing his arm to the animal, Cassian made sure to read the creature's body language. One swift move and he'd become a kebab within seconds. What the hell was a kebab? A thought for another time.
The object glowed in color, Triceratops styrax. Before he placed his arm down, he noticed a holographic image of the creature along with the text.
" Temperament, short-tempered.. Herbivore." He noticed other words that appeared, some imposing others unimportant. But one captured his interest. Taming. These beasts could be tamed. He thought of what the woman said in his dream.
Make allies of its many creatures.
He read more. To tame the creature he had to knock it out and feed it berries. Sounded brutal to him. He had expected to acquire months and months of getting to know the creature. Cassian stared at his stick. Yeah, good luck with that. Maybe he could knock out those dodo birds. He nodded his head at the creature in respect as he lowered his arm. But upon doing so he beheld an impossible sight. A massive structure in the distance, as large as a skyscraper with a red beam appeared to him in the distance as the trike walked by.
" Where the hell am I?" Cassian whispered to himself.
Cassian stood dumbfounded. He attempted to break from the trance, yet he couldn't. Fear had captured his body and held it prisoner. He would have stared at it for hours if he hadn't heard a scream. The scream of a human. Cassian quickly made haste to what seemed like three nearly naked people fighting two small bipedal lizards. One of the lizards opened its frill and spat some liquid at the survivors hitting the woman in the eye. She screamed in pain. Cassian quickly ran towards the critters with his stick. One of them turned towards him, alerted by his speed. Yet it was too late as Cassian slammed the stick on the small creature's head. The creature went down without a fight. Its accomplice cowardly ran off.
"Thank you, great sir." One of the strangers reached his olive-colored hands towards Cassian. Cassian paid no mind as continued beating the critter, he pummeled it blow after blow until he no longer knew what it was. The sand soaked red. He stretched out his arm.
" Dilophosaurus." He repeated.
Finally, he sighed, took another deep breath and looked at the survivors, and smiled. They looked at him with horrified expressions. "The names Cassian," Cassian said with his southern accent as he shook the man's head still smiling. Terrified, the man uttered "M- my name is Liam." The taller man, fair-skinned with brown hair stared at the corpse and started to bury the creature. "I'm so sorry. You didn't deserve this."
Both Cassian and Liam stared at the man strangely as the man knelt in silence for a solid minute. The man finally stood up and introduced himself. "The name Kane." Cassian nodded. "And what about Miss Squinty over here?" With his bloodied stick he tapped the redhead who was now wiping her eyes with water. "It's Rosa, ya shrub." She swatted away the stick and rose to stare Cassian in the eyes. "And don't ya dare touch me with no bloody stick." Her accent sounded foreign to Cassian.
He smirked and then laughed. He didn't even know why to be honest. And so she swung at him. He dodged her fist and crept behind her as her momentum carried her. With a kick to the back, she fell. Cassian chuckled. Gritting her teeth she charged at him once again, this time Liam held her back as she cursed. Cassian smiled even more. He was beginning to like these people.
Kane attempted to grab Cassian; however, Cassian simply pushed him aside. He had seen enough; these clowns weren't worth his time. He grabbed his stick and walked away. "Hey, where the hell do you think you're going?" Liam asked as he struggled to keep Rosa in place. " There's nothing out there... Dammit, Kane help."
" Liam, let him leave, we're better off on our own anyway."
Cassian stopped and covered his eyes as the sunlight blinded him. It was still day, and from what he had recently learned, not all creatures here were docile. He stared back at the group. The two men successfully calmed Rosa down. Cassian thought to himself. He had his fun, but the fun time was over now he had to survive. Even if it meant staying with these imbeciles. Nodding his head solemnly as he searched for the birds he came across earlier. Finding one nibbling at a bush the bird started innocently into his eyes. It squawked and chirped.
"I'm so sorry. But what I'm about to do to you, well.."
Cassian glanced at the direction in which Kane buried the dilo. The Dilos were larger, however, they seemed to be boney. This dodo was not an ordinary one, it was plump.
"You don't deserve this." And Cassian swung his great stick.
…
" The yellow berries go there." Liam guided Rosa as he pointed at a small hole covered with leaves. She sighed and dropped the berries in the hole, while Kane grabbed the wood and piled them on the campfire, Cassian chewed at the cooked meat while he sharpened the edge of his stick.
Rosa let out another sigh " Remind me why we ought to put these berries in the holes?"
" Because we're not savages, Rosa. We ought to stay organized."
" Ya think this is the best way to accomplish it?"
Liam paused before speaking quickly. " Not really but it bothers me whenever they get mixed together." Rosa sighed louder this time and walked off. Cassian grabbed a nearby flintstone, slammed the rock against a stone, and grabbed the smaller sharper piece. Inspecting it, he saw it was good and gave it to Kane. It had been five hours and the group was fully armed, literally and figuratively as they sought to learn as much about their surroundings as possible. Liam had discovered that water was drinkable which was useful information. However, the group quietly agreed not to do so unless forced to. Instead, they had used Coconuts and hide to make cooking pots to boil the water, ridding it of anything unclean. Rosa had discovered that the blackberries inflicted a torpidity as she passed out for twenty minutes. It was Cassian who discovered that the white ones countered the effect.
Despite their relief at her safety, Cassian realized the importance of these "Narcoberries." He had attempted to feed the berries to the trike. Unfortunately for him, the trike proved to have some intelligence, as it did everything it could to avoid it. So violence it is, then.
Cassian considered dipping his spear in narcotic fluid; however, with a careful evaluation of his plan, he concluded that he preferred living. As the unofficial leader of the group, Cassian had made it his goal to get to the large metal structure alive. Of course, they all but Rosa agreed to it because no one else had any other ideas.
The journey proved to be a lot harder than even Cassian expected. As the survivors made their way, they immediately walked into their first challenge. A small bay of water was laid between them and the other side. Rosa didn't hesitate to swim across, but in a matter of seconds, she was bleeding and covered in bite marks.
" There's something in the water. I think I saw some fish-" She groaned in pain as Liam covered her wound with leaves. Cassian attempted to see through the water but found nothing.
Kane glanced at her wounds, raising an eyebrow. " Are you sure?"
" No ya shrub, I just thought it would be funny to cut me self." She groaned in pain. Cassian studied the bite marks. They were definitely deep. About half an inch. Barely had been a while since one was already wounded. Cassian regretted traveling with these people. Frustrated, he walked along the water line further inland.
" I don't need help." Rosa glared at Cassian's hands as he rushed to guide her to her feet.
" I'm not letting you limp around like that. You'll slow me down."
Rosa shook her head while maintaining her glare. " Not from you." Cassian gritted his teeth and clenched his fist. Then in a moment he sighed releasing the tension." Fine. But I swear to the almighty if you ever ask for help again-"
" -I'll help." Liam walked past Cassian and lifted Rosa up." Kane I'm going to need some help. Help me lift her up." He grunted as he struggled to stand her up. " Sorry, you're a lot heavier then I thought." He turned to Rosa.
" I'm good.", Kane replied
Liam sighed in frustration, but continued supporting her.
Eventually, they came across a shallow passing, near a cliff. Cassian smirked as Rosa, sighed in annoyance. Had she only waited five minutes. Cassian made sure to get the point across as he made sure she looked at him pointing at his not so chewed up legs while crossing.
" You're insufferable, you know that."
Cassian nodded, " I try to be. It builds character."
Liam finally let her down as they caught his breath. Cassian scanned the area for any other threats. The beach barely populated. Kane touched, grabbed his berry sack, and started feasting.
" Hungry are we?" Liam noted in a sarcastic tone. Shrugging, Kane continued to eat. Suddenly a rat-like critter ventured toward the survivors. Rose rushed away from it, flinging sand in Kane's eyes.
"What is that thing?" She attempted to stand up despite the pain but only stumbled pathetically. The Creature stared at her while Kane used his implant to scan the creature. " It's a pegomastax." Immediately the creature grabbed Rosa's unattended spear and darted away.
"Shit!" said Cassian.
" That sonofa-" said Kane.
" AAAAGGGGHHHH!" Liam sprinted after the creature with Cassian following him. Somehow, despite their efforts, the creature evaded them. There was no point, they could always find another stick. And flint was abundant on this island. Cassian grabbed Liam's arm to stop him. "This is not worth our life, or at least mine." Agreeing, Liam followed Cassian out of the dense jungle, suddenly aware of how far he ran. A moment later they stumbled across Kane cursing and Rosa using a nearby tree as a crutch. Something was wrong.
" What happened?" Cassian asked. However, Liam already knew. " Oh God no not our supplies. All our cooked meat. What the hell Kane, why didn't you watch our food."
" Hey, hey don't you dare go blaming me for you running away and screaming like a gosh darn lunatic."
" At least I'm not an asshole."
" What did you call me." Kane charged at Liam and shoved him into the sand. Stunned, Liam kicked at Kane's legs sending him crumbling to the sand where they both started throwing punches.
" Have y'all lost your senses?" Rosa shouted. She turned to Cassian, " Stop them, please."
He just stood there watching the two men fight. He shook his head in disgust. How the hell were they supposed to get off this Island, if they couldn't even cooperate? A man can only deal with the cards he's been given. Finally, he stepped in. " Alright, that's enough now." He grabbed Liam away from Kane.
" Let me go." Liam threw his elbow at Cassian's eye, but still, Cassian held on. Liam elbowed him once again, yet Cassian held on. Though Cassian's patience ran thin. " Let me go!" He elbowed him once again. This time Cassian snapped and
snapped and
snapped again.
He found himself suddenly standing over Liam. His hand hurt from bruises and bleeding. Worst of all was Liam's face. His eye was distended and covered in blood and wounds. What have I done? Guilt rushed through his body as he attempted to make out what had happened. Suddenly a shadow moved behind him and Kane tackled him to the ground. Cassian grunted as Kane pummeled him with blow after blow.
" Stop!" Rosa threw sand at Kane snapping him out of his rage. Cassian shoved him off as he rolled onto his hands. " Have we become animals already? Have we lost our wits, that we've come at each other's throats? If any of you imbeciles seem to remember we lost all our food! Man up, grow up, make-up I don't care, go and find some!"
...
Rosa sighed, " There were more of em turns out. They took our stuff and darted in different directions. Smart little critters. Kane didn't want to leave me behind, then you came again."
Kane finally broke the silence, " Cassian, if I saw any of those little things again, don't bury them, don't even eat them."
Cassian grunted in agreement. Why did it need a spear in the first place? He understood the food, but it didn't make sense. Well, they had no supplies but their spears. Except for Rosa, of course; however, she was already uselessly limping about, so that didn't count.
Cassian considered setting camp soon. The sun was no longer at its apex, and the temperature had noticeably dropped. However, he didn't trust the beach. not with those pegs around.
"Let's camp back here." Rosa pointed at the cliff as it slanted toward them.
"We can grab some sticks, some large ones, and tilt them against that cliff." She explained. Liam and Kane nodded as Rosa ordered them to where to place the wood. Cassian gathered fiber to tie the sticks together, along with dried palm leaves. Last, they made beds out of leaves and the remaining hide. Last was the campfire. Assembling the sticks together, Liam started the fire while Cassian and Rosa plucked the feathers of a freshly killed dodos.
…
An hour passed as the group allowed the food to settle while resting outside the tent. Night drew closer as the red light structure glowed brighter in the distance. The four sat in silence, bathing in the sounds of the island and watching the campfire burn.
"You guys ever heard of a cowboy?"
Kane looked at everyone, including Cassian. Rosa and Liam nodded their heads. It was strange. Cassian remembered the word; he could even picture a silhouette of what they looked like, but no faces came to fill that void.
"I think Cassian could be one." "He's quiet, stoic, and always looks like he's looking at the sunset, like now."
Cassian grunted, staring at the campfire. "I did no such thing."
"Yes, you did." "You did it like three times." Kane rebutted.
"Four, I saw him do it while I was tired of fighting him." Rosa pointed out.
"That was during the day; that doesn't count," Kane said, shaking his head.
Cassian just grunted once again. Kane darted his eyes from him and Liam. " Hey, Liam." Liam slowly turned his good eye towards Kane. " I just want to apologize for earlier. That's all."
Liam stared back at him with no answer. Not even a sound and then he nodded. Cassian glanced at Rosa. She smiled at the notion. Almost like some damn mother. She nudged Cassian as a way to signal him to apologize. Instead he sneered, stood up, and walked towards the tent.
...
An hour later, the four became tired and took comfort in their makeshift tent. The foundation, which was made out of leaves, wasn't very comfortable, but it did its job of preventing sand from entering their nostrils and others much to Liam's relief. Cassian had called him a baby for it; however, after attempting to demonstrate his point, he had to sleep outside the tent. And so Cassian chose the tent.
"Screw this." Kane popped some of the blackberries in his mouth and fell asleep. Shortly after, Rosa did the same. Only Cassian and Liam remained awake, basking in the ambient noise. Finally, Cassian shattered the silence. "I'm, I'm... sorry...for what happened today." Liam snapped his head up to face him; he must have dozed off.
" Sorry about that," Cassian whispered.
" It's fine. I needed to be alert in case those rat things come here again."
"How's your eye?"
" It's fine."
Liam ended the conversation as quickly as possible, leaving Cassian to his thoughts. he thought about the Island. The dream, the creatures, and the giant structure.
Cassian rubbed some of the redberries on his face, wincing as he felt its burns.
Still hurts like hell. But the pain isn't as bad as before. He gently rubbed his face wounds with the red berries as Liam suggested. It seemed like the black, white, and red berries were the only useful ones. The yellows just tasted sweet while the blue was a bit flavorless. Still, Cassian applauded Liam's ingenuity… silently… in his head of course. They still couldn't guess what he was thinking of them. And somehow he got a kick out of being mysterious. In fact, his own thoughts were often a puzzle to him.
" It's going to be a hell of a walk tomorrow morning." He laid back fully resting on the makeshift bed. He instantly sat back up, startling Liam.
" What the h-"
" Shhh." He held a finger to his lips. At first, nothing could be heard. But then a splash. And the. Another. His blood turned cold. Another splash. Liam reached out to shake Rosa and Kane. Rosa muttered in her sleep, still under the influence of the narco berries. Another splash. And then a sniff. Cassian had hoped it was another group of survivors.
It wasn't. He could barely make out the silhouette. He quickly turned to Liam. " Do not look at your wrist."
At first, he was confused but quickly realized that he was talking about the implant. A moment later, thunder rang above. Taking advantage Cassian tried to slowly crawl across the ground as rain fell upon the ground. Rosa held her breath as though it was no longer necessary. Dragging himself with his arms, fearing he would hit the roof, Cassian peaked his head outside of the tent. At first, he saw nothing and then lightning flashed revealing a frightening form. Baryonyx aquafulger. He looked at his wrist as it glowed.
The beast stared at him with its long jaws, and milk-white eyes, it had no pupils. Cassian retreated back into the tent immediately. Liam's eyes were wide in terror as he shuddered in fear. When the beast slammed its head through his side of the opening, Cassian grasped his shoulder and gestured to the other side of the tent. Rosa was still asleep. Damnit woman. Cassian gritted his teeth and grabbed his spear.
" Liam, look at your wrist!" he complied as a bluish light illuminated the tent. There in the corner layer several bowls of berries. Cassian silently thanked Liam for his strict organization, as he grabbed a handful of the blackberries, squished them, and covered the top of his spear. By now the Baryonyx had made way with Cassian's side of the tent.
Liam scrambled on top of Cassian grabbing a bowl of berries not caring which one. He held some berries to his light. They reflected a light shade of blue, stimberries. He rushed to grab the stimberries and pour them inside Rosa's mouth only to be dragged instantly. In a second he was there and then he was gone. Cassian quickly rolled towards the outside of the tent, his weapon in his hand. He almost exited the tent but Kane held him back.
A blood-curdling scream exited Liam's mouth as the Baryonyx went for his throat.
"No… Kane..Rose…Cass…no..pleas… no..ple..ple…pl."
Shaking him this way and that. Liam's scream suddenly died out, until he was just a rag doll.
" No, oh no no no." Rosa was awake.
Cassian and Kane breathed heavily as the silence became deafening. Rosa shouldn't have stopped him. He could have easily taken it by surprise. Perhaps he still could.
He crawled slowly to the exit again.
Kane shook his head in fear.
Cassian ignored him. He peeled off the tent. He waited, but nothing happened. The rain drizzled. Cassian contemplated his choices: he could rush out and die fighting, giving the others enough time to escape, or he could say no. No, there was no other choice. Dying in a tent was weak. Even if he lived, his dignity wouldn't. No, this was it.
Rosa shrieked as the Baryonyx snatched her thigh from behind. Cassian rolled out with his spear this time and stood in the rain, admiring the predator's size. Liam's body lay in front of him. He turned around quickly. He was about a head shorter than the beast. The creature looked up and glanced at him with its pale..white... eyes. Cassian shivered in response. Was it from the rain? He had no idea.
He had no idea what time it was or where he was. Instead, he focused on the beast while holding out his spear, waiting for it to make its move. And it waited. And waited. And waited.
An idea came to Cassian. Cassian whistled at the beast. The creature snarled and stepped closer. Cassian took a step back, prompting the beast to take another step.
"Narcotic, Stick, Kane, and Rosa's fallen bowl," Cassian whispered.
No reply. He whispered to the tent again and again and again, all the while maintaining eye contact with the beast.
"Narcotic, Stick, Kane, and Rosa's fallen bowl."
He thought he heard shuffling. Thunder echoed as lightning flashed a moment later. The beast vanished for a split second before reappearing, towering over Cassian. Cassian dove into the water away from the tent, smelling the rotten flesh and fish as it lowered its jaws on his head. Taking his spear, he jammed it into the creature's side.
It roared in pain as it grabbed Cassian's arm. Rather than resisting its teeth, Cassian went with the flow, throwing himself on the tent's walls as the roof collapsed.
Out came Kane and Rosa, spears in hand as they charged at the beast. The Baryonyx backed away, but the narcotic effect slowly became apparent. Kane has a spear planted in its neck just an inch deep. The creature roared in pain as it struggled to snap the spear with its jaws. And then Cassian understood. The creature's jaws were too weak. They were made for fish. Its sickle claws, however, were a different story.
Fortunately, the Baryonyx seemed to have forgotten its chief weapon during the conflict. Finally, deeming its survival of greater importance, the Baryonyx fled. Only the sound of the rain remained as water drops leaked through the hut. Kane walked slowly toward Liam's body and started burying it.
Shortly after, Rosa followed.
And shortly after, Cassian followed.
...
Cassian didn't know these people. He barely knew himself. Yet in these moments, they were the only things he could hold onto. Yet Cassian refused to shed a tear. Something told him that this was not the last person he'd bury. He could be the next.
Cassian spoke, " I've been thinking. This Island. This…this place. Obviously, it's man-made, I mean come on these on our wrists, it's a dead giveaway." He chuckled. But his chuckles turned as the light in his eyes dimmed.
Rosa placed a hand on his shoulder causing him to flinch.
" Yeah. Not to mention the creatures here. It's shocking to think of the mind to make a hell like this. I'm not spiritual, but you'd think a person like him would've been sent somewhere… somewhere… anywhere other than this place. I mean how evil could you be?"
Another pause. Kane sighed, raised his hand, and with great effort, laid it on Cassian's shoulder.
" All I'm saying is that he didn't deserve this. He didn't deserve this."