“Do you think we should head back to camp?” Eddie said.

“Why? Do the savages scare you?” Raymond asked, a slight smile of amusement forming in his face.

“No, I just think that we should start heading back before it gets dark.”

Raymond scoffed, “We’ve got plenty of time, come on now. Keep up.”

Eddie continued to follow Raymond trough the dense jungle, he felt like the whole place was closing in every hour that past. He tightly held onto his rifle and made sure to place his foot carefully as he walked.

“So, Eddie.” Mason said, stepping over a fallen tree that was in the path. “You really think the Koh’heimah are out there?”

“Why wouldn’t they be? We are on one of their islands.”

“If they are here, they’ll know best to leave us alone.” Raymond said, annoyed by Eddie’s trembling. He served his whole life in the Orianan military and saw countless battles until being transferred to the United Sorim Fleet, Eddie was just an annoying, scared little boy in his eyes. He would much rather be with the Mossan regiment fighting the Congalese pirates than be in this scorching island heat listening to this new recruit tremble in fear, “Stop that shaking, you’re gonna shoot me in the back if you’re not careful.” he snapped.

Eddie held the gun down and steadied his grip, “Sorry, won’t happen again, sir.”

“See that it doesn't.” Raymond grumbled, using a machete to hack away at tree branches and other plants blocking the path.

“What about the Shayton Aquashi? You believe in those stories?” Mason asked.

“Yes, I’ve been told stories of creatures that come from the waters to feast on humans.”

Raymond laughed, “You really believe those stories from when you were still suckling on your mother’s teats?”

“Well, yes. The Aquashi are an important piece of history.”

“They were stories, myths made up by the golden-haired demons, Eddie. Nothing more. If they did exist, they’re long dead. No one has seen them since the fall of the First Empire.”

Eddie, being the lover of history he was objected, “Bu- but there’s numerous accounts of the Aquashi engaged in battle with the Zarosian navy. There’s hundreds of Zarosian ships at the bottom of the ocean near the Leothean Islands. And even reports of one of the last remaining titans lies with the ships just waiting to be revived.”

Raymond had quite enough of these tales. He turned around and said coldly, “I am ordering you to take the rear and be as quiet as humanly possible. Is that clear?”

Eddie froze, “Yes sir.” he said.

Eddie walked to the rear of the group. Mason took Eddie’s spot in the middle and the group headed deeper into the jungle. It was almost nightfall when they finally stopped, the jungle seemed like it was encompassing them as the light slowly faded away. They were many miles away from the fleet, from any other human except for the constant threat of the Koh’heimah breathing down their necks. But they knew they weren't stranded if night fell, Mason had been leaving behind a trail of rocks coated with a substance that glows at night.

Raymond didn’t care one bit, he wasn’t afraid of anything. Mason, who had been in the fleet longer than the others was in numerous islands like this one, he did have feelings of unease but he made sure not to show it. The one prevalent thing the group was afraid of was Eddie’s hair; his hair was a bright ginger color and his skin was very pale. He was a moving target, essentially. Sure, the three all wore the standard fleet-soldier helmet and uniform of dark green with a blend of brown and light green, which was supposed to make them less of a target. But the ginger haired lad’s face remained uncovered and stuck out like a sore thumb. “Knew we should’ve given him face paint.” Raymond thought realizing he had painted his face but not the lad’s.

The group reached the area they were headed. It was a flat area mostly clear of any trees, pretty unremarkable except for the large pyramid that stood in the middle made of stone and covered in foliage. The top of the pyramid was a square-shaped structure with wide stairs leading up to it.

Raymond let out a chuckle, “Looks like our intel was correct. It is here.”

Mason wasn’t exactly awed by it, simply letting out a light humph. Eddie was amazed, he had never seen anything like this back in Oriana, “It’s amazing.”

“Mason, Eddie, set up the marker a few feet away from the temple and once we’re done, we can head back to camp.” Raymond ordered.

Mason and Eddie walked at least one hundred feet towards the direction of the temple. They stopped and pulled out spades from their backpacks and began to dig. They dug a hole around a foot deep and put in it a metal cylinder-shaped device that half of it sticking out of the hole. The top of the device activated with a strobing red light. “There we go.” Mason said with an exhale. “I think we’re done here.”

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Just then, a loud, blood-curdling scream rang out from the top of the temple, spooking the men and causing them to grab their guns and run to hide behind a nearby tree.

“What the hell was that?” asked Eddie, keeping his rifle at the ready.

“I don’t know, it sounded like a scream.”

“Should we go check it out?”

“I don’t know, could’ve been a wild animal.”

“That didn’t sound like any animal. It came from that temple.”

“Alright, you check it out.” Mason suggested.

“Me? Why me?”

“I don’t see Raymond anywhere, I’m gonna go look for him. You investigate what’s up there.”

Mason ran out from behind the tree and went behind the temple. Eddie, his whole body shivering in fear, made his way up the steep stairs of the temple. The stairs were so steep, he had to walk in a zig-zag path just to go upwards without falling backwards. He eventually made his way up. Exhausted, Eddie fell to his knees to catch his breath. He then looked around to see the doorway of the top structure, he couldn’t see what was inside due to the lack of light but the sun hadn’t set all the way yet so a little light bled in through another door on the other side of the structure.

Eddie slowly walked into the structure, his weapon at the ready and his edge at its peak. He entered and saw the many paintings on the four walls. The paintings were all made with colors of red, blue, green, black, yellow, and white, each painting had a dominant shape style to the art, which was square and rectangle.

As Eddie looked closely at them, he saw that they recorded different events: The painting on the right wall depicted people communing together under what looked like the sun. The painting on the wall in front depicted hands from the heavens reaching down to the people from one corner and skeletal hands reaching up to the people from the depths of the waters, the people either fought the skeletal hands and fled to the ones from the heavens, or they fled and killed each other in a fit of hysteria. The painting on the left wall depicted war, a brutal and bloody war, where men fought demonic creatures from the underworld. Underneath the battle was a temple with two priests at the top cutting out the heart of a naked woman, her blood pouring down the steps of the temple and into the mouth of a monster with a fish-like head, jagged teeth, and many eyes. The beast was so large, the depiction of its body bled into the next wall behind Eddie, who turned around to face the way he came in. And the painting he saw above the door was of a faceless figure who was depicted as beautiful and bright, a halo of sunlight illuminated from behind the person’s head. This figure was dressed in robes of gold and fire, and wielded a wooden sword with stone spikes in the right hand, and a bow of darkness in another. The arrows from the figure’s bow struck the beast’s skin and hundreds of terrified souls of the dead bled out from its wounds.

“What is all this?” Eddie asked himself. He didn’t know what any of it meant or how to interpret it. But just as he turned around, all of his fear would take hold as he saw a figure standing right in front of him. Eddie screamed like that of a young boy and fell to the ground, “Who are you?” he yelled.

The figure was tall, slim, and had no visible defining features due to the sunlight being too dim. It’s outline however looked almost like a woman with long hair and wider hips. Eddie didn’t care if this figure was friendly or not, he got to his feet and started to hurry down the temple. He went as fast as he could, but had to be careful as to not fall. He made it to the foot of the tower and made a full sprint into the jungle. “I hope the others are ok!” Eddie said to himself, his lungs starting to hurt from the strenuous running. He kept going until he finally had to stop and catch his breath. As he regained his stamina, he realized that he was stranded as darkness had fallen and there was no way he could see what was ahead of him.

“Oh merciful Xenith, help me.” he prayed with a whimper.

Eddie then heard heavy footsteps coming closer. Eddie hastily pulled from his backpack a small flare and a spade. He light the flare and held it with his left hand while wielding the spade like a sword in his right. The footsteps grew closer and closer until finally, the light from the flare revealed a figure towering over Eddie. The figure was tall, muscular, about seven feet in height, and covered from head to toe in hard, scaly armor—wet, pink flesh was visible between the thin gaps in the armor. Its feet were that of a human’s, its hands while humanoid possessed webbed fins in between its long, clawed fingers. His head was nothing like a human’s, having a large, reptile-like jaw lined with two rows of sharp, jagged teeth – the place where the eyes should be were covered by a helmet that resembled a hammerhead shark. The beast snarled and hissed like an animal, drool dripped down from its long, slithery tongue.

Eddie noticed that in the beast’s right hand it wielded a long, spiked spear made from bone, and in its left hand was the severed head of Mason. The sight of his dead comrade’s head filled him with even more despair, even more so after the monster tossed the head to his feet. Eddie took a defensive stance and readied his spade.

“Stay back! You monster!” Eddie screamed, his voice breaking in fear.

The beast started to walk towards Eddie, its spear now in both hands ready to claim another victim. Eddie knew he was gonna die, but he held his ground and prepared for a fight. Just as the beast was about to engage in battle, out of nowhere, Raymond sprung from the darkness, and with a machete in his hand, he struck the monster in the back. The sound of the machete hitting the back of the monster made a loud thudding sound. The monster turned around, rapidly swinging its spear at Raymond, who dodged the attacks and delivered a barrage of stabs and slashes.

“Run! Get out of here!” Raymond commanded. “Go alert the others, now!”

Eddie couldn’t move, he was terrified and didn’t want to leave Raymond behind to die. Raymond demanded him to leave as the beast started to overpower him. Eddie finally snapped out of his frozen state and ran full speed away into a direction he hoped was safety. He could still hear the two struggle, but it was only a matter of time before Raymond met his fate as he still had the flare in his hand, leaving Raymond without a light to see.

“Screw the fleet, I’m getting out of here! I’m taking a boat back to Sorim, damn it all!” Eddie said. “I’ll be branded as a deserter, they’ll hunt me. But who cares about that when the Aquashi are back to bring about the end times?” he rationalized.

To be continued….