Hello again. There is something wrong with this island.

The big one I mentioned last time. I got here bright and early this morning, and this whole place is weird.

First of all, the entire island is surrounded by high cliffs. There are no beaches, there are no docks, the rock all the way around the island forms a single dense and smooth curtain of stone the vanishes deep into the waves, and rises high into the sky. 

This single massive stone formation curves unnaturally inwards. Like a huge bowl. Or the maw of some ridiculously huge creature.

While the outside is smooth stone, the inside of this curious formation is rough and jagged. Small ridges, just enough to get a finger or toehold on, are lipped with razor sharp stone. These tiny ridges are the only places to get a grip, and they cover the entire inner surface in tiny rippling waves of blades Combine that with the inwardly curving wall, and climbing out becomes less of a trial and more of a torture.

Every grip cutting into your flesh, and a fall onto ripping and tearing blades below. Unless you got up high enough I suppose. Then you'd just fall straight to the ground far below.

The dead barren ground. The looming wall keeps the edges of the island in near permanent shadow. Choking the life from anything seeking to grow near the wall. Keeping any would be climbers from getting an easy headstart with a nicely placed tree.

It doesn't look like any natural stone formation I have ever seen. It looks like it was specifically designed to keep something, or someone, inside of it. Judging from the discolored rust like patches and streaks on the stone, I would say it has been successful. Rotted bones litter the barren ground around the wall. All the way around. Hundreds of thousands of things have died right on the borders of this massive island.

So, yeah, that's weird right?

Right.

I landed at the base of this wall, looking up to see its curved bulk cover the sky, and stomping some ancient skulls to dust by accident. Turning around to look inwards. At the next oddity.

The Jungle. I have seen lots of trees before. Everflame Forest comes to mind as the oddest. Well, not anymore. Everflame Forest just lost that honor.

The trees are black. Not just the bark, or the leaves, everything is black. Down to the roots and the sap. Pitch black, and dull. Seeming to simultaneously reject and devour any light that comes in from the outside world. The trunks and branches are twisted things, the latter wrapping round one another in a vicious struggle towards the hated light and further growth. The husks of the losers of these battles lie forgotten on the forest floor. Covered in fungi that, I swear, look like brains, and pulse.

Which is very offputting.

I wandered into this twisted and fouled black jungle in good spirits. Strange place that promises a horrible and sudden death? Sign me right up! As I ducked under the low branches at the edge of the black jungle I took a look around. 

Small burrows and tunnels cover the island under the cover of the trees. Some I could barely squirm inside if I wanted to. Not that I do. A foul and punguent odor wafts from each tunnel. It is familiar, but I can't place it for the life of me. Where have I smelled that before... It wasn't terribly long ago, I think. Ugh, getting another headache. I'll worry about that later.

Something must be moving on this island, though I have seen no sign of any animal. Which is really weird by the way. There are small trails weaving drunkenly through the black jungle.

The light under the strange trees is dull and gray, making it hard to make out details and distances, and making me see things that aren't there. A grasping skeletal claw becomes a fallen tree branch.  A dragon, frozen mid-roar, turns out to be a oddly shaped boulder.

Stolen novel; please report.

I swear I saw Lena, but it became just a swirl in the steadily thickening fog. That brought me to tears. To see little Lena, even just for a second, filled me with the purest crystalization of joy. Having that snatched away was devastating.

I had a little cry and got back to wandering. Any joy of discovering the oddities doused like a drunk in a rain barrel. My thought turned to my lost companions. I hope they are all well. 

Lena should be fine at least. We were in the water, presumably, when everything went to shit. So she had a clear advantage over the rest of us. I hope she managed to save the rest, but as long as she is fine. That is what matters. I cannot blame her for failing to save the others from the calamity I have a bad feeling I caused.

Julius isn't a strong swimmer, but he could probably still use his fire underwater, just muted, unlike me. That core and nexus deal was a true double edged sword. So he should be able to steam away. If I recall right he was in Lenas lap when we were going into the whirlpool. So that is encouraging.

Onica is probably the most worrisome. She is certainly a strong swimmer, but she lacks the distinct advantage of being able to cheat at life like the rest of us. Then again, I have seen her do things that make no sense. She stopped a rolling boulder once with a single hand. And without budging an inch. It must have outweighed her a dozen times over, but he stopped it cold. That does seem less than normal.

Fen should be fine. Hats don't breath after all, and he can make air bubbles for the others if necessary. He might complain about how difficult it would be, but he always comes through in a pinch. 

Still lost in thought I headed deeper.

It was getting colder and darker the further I wandered into the black jungle. So I summoned a fire in my hand, to keep the dark and cold at bay. The flickering firelight cast strange and menacing shadows. Skittering things seem to shift just at the edges of my vision. Shadows of monsters that defy description dancing across the ground arund me. The trees seemed to loom over me, leering closer to the light, the warmth, the life. 

It was eerie and unsettling. So much so that I actually extinguished my fire.

Then something stroked the back of my neck.

I won't lie. I kinda panicked there. No, honestly, I freaked out completely. Entirely forgetting I could fly, or that I could burn this whole place to cinders. A single emotion desperately seized control of my mind and body. Fear, locking away all thoughts of any kind, and pressing me into a sprint through the winding and narrow trails among the dread black trees.

I kept looking behind me, hearing mocking laughter and pained screaming behind my gasping breaths. Desperate and afraid, I ran.

I have no idea how long, or in what direction I fled. At some point everything else faded away, becoming meaningless. Thoughts? Will those save me from the terrors? No? Then go away! I just ran. Pursued by invisible demons, hounded by my fear, my feet pounded their bare soles against the grit in a pleading staccato.

Finally, it ended. I looked behind me one last time, certain of my pursuers existence, and when I looked forward again, it was just in time to crash headfirst into a black obelisk.

I knocked myself out.

Super embarrassing

When I came to I had a fiendish headache, and a desperate thirst. My ragged remnants of clothes were soaked in my sweat, a great big goose-egg forming on my forehead, and a feeling of folly in my heart.

My panic and fear seeming so foolish and embarrassing in the wake of their choking grip that I was tempted to laugh. Something lightly touched the back of my neck, and I panic so hard I knock myself out on a big shiny rock? 

So I did. I sat there, in the shadow of an ominous black obelisk, damn near dead center of this strange island. Covered in dirt and sweat, with a ringing headache and a split forehead. Laughing my ass off.

I needed that.

After some quick flash fires to wipe off the sweat and close my gashed forehead I chugged as much water as my stomach could handle. 

Finally emotionally stable (or as much so as I ever am), and physically centered I looked at my undesired destination. The obelisk was smooth, heavy, cold, black stone.  There were no trees near it. Forming a strangely perfect ring about twenty feet away from the stone. There was a single word, carved smoothly into all four sides of it.

Rotguard

No idea what the hey that is supposed to mean. But the sun is down, and after what happened last time I know better than to travel at night. That is how I got into this mess in the first place after all. Plunging off a cliff into a river at night.

Ugh, it seemed like a good idea at the time!

Well, I think I will settle here, next to the obelisk. Make a fire, eat some dinner, then I can continue checking out this weird island in the morning light. 

I think I will fly this time though. Thinking about walking through those black trunks again sends a shudder down my spine.Something did touch me, and I did hear things when I was running bravely away. 

I did. 

Goodnight.