Chapter 12

The island of Dakur

I found Dakur.

I was high above the volcanic island. Ambiguous shapes of beasts roamed, hid and traversed the rocky terrain. It looked like hell if there ever was one on Xenobia.

The island changed as the sun went down and brought darkness onto it’s crusty lands. It was dark, no shape or form recognizable.

I started falling into the darkness, I heard a beast roar. I looked, but nothing was around me.

My feet landed on ground. Still uncertain where I was. I walked, hesitantly into the darkness.

A small light was in the distance and as I kept walking it enlarged until I could see it was some giant beast, sleeping, yet the shape of it still indiscernible, curled up into a ball. The image flew past me at a speed which dizzied me and the floor disappeared beneath my feet. Again I was falling.

I let myself fall, waiting for the ground to hit me again.

For what seemed like an eternity of falling, I stopped, motion was a mere idea, for I felt nothing now.

Voices came to me, Ares, Xeres and Celentine. They were speaking to each other. All I knew is that Ares will keep me safe. Xeres promised to look after me and Celentine promised good luck. But they knew luck was merely an idea. And so were the other’s gifts: ideas, postulates, luck and fortune.

They seemed to laugh, but knowledge came to me like a past memory long forgotten.

I know that this is a dream, that dreams are not always real, yet some can be more real than life.

I know there is a stream of fate, that fate will bring me to the end, yet some have the power to change fate and lead the lives of many, comfortably through its tumultuous waters, to the end.

I got the feeling of falling and stopping again. I looked over to find an underground stream just ahead of me.

I felt myself walking again, getting closer to the stream.

There was a wooden sign at the stream. It told me, to the right is the end, to the left is the beginning.

I looked to see if there were any reference points. Where am I now? Nobody else was on or near the stream. I went to the left. The stream continued for ages. Nothing appeared except for memories that I didn’t think were mine. Ares’s memories most likely. Taunting, but I paid no heed to the memories and kept walking. It was endless, nothing that I could do to find anyone or anything.

I stepped into the water, there was nowhere else to go. The stream carried me, fast and fluent, past the signs I had arrived at and further. It carried me on and on until I sped past another sign. I could barely manage to make it out to say, “The End” it said. Another one and another one flew past until I had reached it.

“The End” was a large pool with many other entry points, other streams leading to the same pool at the end. Yet nobody else was coming down them.

I sat there in the pool thinking about the meaning of all this. The end is the same for us all?

I swam around and looked at the walls, the only notation was an carved arrow in the rock pointing down, followed by a sun just beneath it.

I took the tiny notch’s advice and swam down. Further and further. And at the bottom of it all was another light, sunlight this time. I was glad I had found it. Nighttime was over and I found the familiar sound of birds outside my window, the smell and immersive feeling of living in my carved stone temple. Daytime had arrived, or I arrived to it, and I noted another beginning.

———

My meat had been smoked outside and the coals were left just warm sitting under layers of fine ashes. I took the meat and threw it into a bag, big enough for more than a week’s worth of traveling. Next stop was the western beach.

I set out early that morning, headed to the island of Dakur, gnawing on a piece of warm dried meat. I wasted no time and hurriedly set out to arrive at the beach before sunset. I’ve taken the path before, and I know it is directly west of the village. Being very young the first and last time I had gone was exaggeratedly slow. This time I had jumped from tree to tree, trying now to make it by midday.

The forest thinned out and I found myself running along the top of ridges, leaping over streams and bushes and making my way west very quickly.

I made it just after midday. I needed a ferry, someone to take me to Dakur. There were ferries waiting, taking people off shore at regular times.

I walked up to the Murid standing in front of a gangway. “Do you go to Dakur?” I asked him.

“Never heard of it.” He said as he punched another’s ticket.

“Dakur? One of the islands to the west?”

“Nope. Never been there, heard of it, or seen it. If you need help there are maps inside most of the stores. If you need a world map you may have to bribe the librarian.”

“Thanks.” I mumbled as I turned and walked away. There was another Ferry a couple blocks down.

An Amphibian was standing there punching tickets as well.

“Do you know of an island called Dakur?” I asked him.

He looked up blankly at the sky, “No, thought I might have heard it in a fairytale.”

I left him as well, it couldn’t be impossible to find an island.

There was hope. I sealed my bag and dove into the water.

The Pisces, they should know.

I swam out a quarter of a mile and found one fishing as the pisces do, spears and nets, swishing back and forth rounding up the fish.

I asked him, “Dakur? Do you know of an island called Dakur?”

He cocked his head, looking at me from the corner of his eyes. “Are you a Feline? Swimming? Do they…” He looked confused and felt for his bag around his waist. “I didn’t take that one today.” He laughed to himself. “Sorry darling, Felines swim now?”

“I do, and I’m looking for directions to the island of Dakur.”

He laughed. You’ll have to ask Poseidon about that. It’s a myth. Dangerous place too, as the myths go.”

“Where is the castle?”

“Of Poseidon?” He pointed further off to sea. “Thataway.” He said laughing to himself. “They’ll have a riot when I tell them I saw a swimming Feline today. And underwater, had a whole conversation. Told her where the castle was, but who cares, if she can make…”

His voice trailed off as I swam further out to sea. Deeper and deeper. I found a glimpse of the magnificent underwater palace, residence of the Pisces King, Poseidon. Last time I was here I didn’t get to see much, it was also darker and just a quick visit.

I attempted entering the castle but the guards had stopped me. “State your business?”

They had nearly the same reaction as the old fisher, confused.

“I am here to meet with Poseidon, just a quick visit.”

“What is the purpose of such quick visit?”

“I need to ask him for directions to Dakur.”

He nearly laughed, “Well, if anyone knows where and how to get there it’d be him. Follow me.”

We entered the palace and he led me into the lounge in front of Poseidon’s room, and after a few minutes, there was a gasp of excitement, “Swimming Feline?…Dawn, the Huntress?”

The guard rushed into the lounge where I sat, “What is your name Feline?”

“Dawn, The Huntress.”

He checked an official looking list from his pocket, moving his fingers down the list rapidly, he turned the page over. “Ah right, Feline, Huntress, Dawn. Right?”

“That is correct.”

“You should have told me earlier. You have unlimited access down here. I’ll lead you in as we’re all here.” He said tiredly, and he let me into the hall and down the corridor to the King’s chambers.

Poseidon was sitting in his room thinking about something deep and shifting his eyes from his book and to empty space.

“Ahem. Your Majesty, Dawn, The Huntress of the Felines is here to see you.”

He got up quickly, closing his book and coming over to meet me. “Thank you Charles.” He said in a liquid-bubbly baritone. “How can I help you Dawn?” He said sweetly as he put his glasses down and rose to greet me.

“Hello your majesty, I had been set on a quest. I need to find the Island of Dakur, and since this is your territory I thought you may know where it is.”

“Ha, I do know where it is, but, if nearly impossible to find, it is impossible to scale the walls of it’s cliffs and set foot on the evil land above the water.”

He walked over to a book case and took a very old, dusty book down. He opened it and flipped through, looking for pictures that depicted the island.

“Here is the island.”

I looked at it, it could have been the same island I saw in my dreams, but this picture was drawn from the viewpoint of being under the water.

I glanced over the writing, all of it in a language I don’t know, Pisces.

Poseidon read me the instructions, an odd set of instructions, but nonetheless, they told me how to get there.

“Is there someone who can take me?” I asked the King.

He thought for a second and said, “I’m afraid that if I did he wouldn’t be able to help you get onto the island. The walls of the cliffs are impenetrable.”

“And for a Feline?”

“Nay, there are more climbing hazards than just vertical slopes, the waves corroded the cliffs and it seems to be just impossible. You’d have to be an Aves to get above, but to get there by air would be impossible too.”

I thought about this task of getting to the island, up the cliffs and onto the island to take our rightful heirloom back form the beasts that stole it. Everything seems impossible.

“Have you ever seen the stream of fate, Poseidon?”

“The stream of fate, what’s that?”

“Never mind.” I said, trying to think of my dream where I saw it and getting there in reverse. Maybe the dream…It wouldn’t work. “Read me the instructions one more time please.” I asked.

“First, you must head west, past Cyrus Island. Second, head south until it gets warmer, and continue south until the water is freezing cold, ice covers the surface of the water and darkness pervades the soul. Third, once you find the ice, continue to it’s center, you will know as this is were the ice meets the ocean floor and in the vicinity will be an arch. Fourth, from the center swim through the arch and into the cavern below. There will be changes of gravity, pools of water and caverns of dank musty air. Follow the path, taking every entrance down and find that you’ve been swimming up the entire time to find the island of Dakur on the horizon.”

“That’s all?” I asked, making sure. I wouldn’t want to have to come back after all that.”

“That’s all. Though I tried to help translate some of it into something that made sense. Lots of it is very poetic and elusive. Not to mention written in Pisces. Hard to translate directly.”

“Thank you Poseidon. I’ll will find my way.”

“What makes you so determined Dawn?” He asked, questioning me before I left.

“This is my job. There is now way out of it, my Felines need me to guide them through the stream of fate. If I cannot prove myself, than how will I do that?”

“This is another world Dawn, a place where not many enter, none come back alive, the beasts devour all who tread on their soil. It is said that long ago a prince with many treasures and had built himself an empire of slaves who kill any intruder as this prince sits on his throne guarding his treasures. Perhaps a prisoner unto his own gold. His name was Dacoit.” He paused seeming to remember the horror and tragedy the book had described. “If this is really what you must do, I will give you a gift for your travels, I hope you stay safe.”

“Thank you Poseidon.”

“Don’t thank me yet.” He called for his guard and sent him to make a meal called daram. The guard came back and Poseidon handed it to me.

“What is this?” I asked. It was a solid piece of jelly, wrapped up in seaweed.

“This is daram. A traditional food made for travelers under the water. We take it for voyages, battles and such. Just one bite will fill your stomach for a day. Fish may not be available where you are going, and your land food won’t last either.”

“Thank you again, Poseidon.”

He walked over to his armory. “One more thing I must give you. It is not my favorite, but something I can give as a gift to a young Feline with eyes on the mountain.”

He gave me a spear, shining silver.

“Just like the guards outside.” I said.

“Yes, and no. But this is what I can give you. Something that will make me feel that I’ve tried.”

“You don’t have to mourn for me. I haven’t even left.”

“But I cannot trust that one like you will come back. Many others have gone. Just like the fairytale that this island is; they have become. Fairytales.”

I nodded and gave him respect as I left the door, carrying spear and daram, a new meal for the journey.

I left the palace and headed for the western most island. I may need to see the Bovines before I go.

I swam until the daylight left and had just made it to the island. I found nobody on the beach and curled up to go to sleep finding peace in the sandy beaches and the soft sand of the surf.

Royal Road is the home of this novel. Visit there to read the original and support the author.

Noisy birds woke me up the next day and I stretched, finding the bird just above me in a tree. Maybe he’d make a good meal. I’ve never tried one like this. He was darker than the birds in the jungle and seemed to be making piercing noises more than calling like they do in the jungle.

I climbed the tree carefully and grabbed him right off the top branch. He didn’t notice until my paws were around him. But food is food.

I decided to walk the island all the way through to the west. I could swim, but staying on land for a bit would make me feel better as I’ll be swimming for a long time.

After just getting off of the beach and into land I found the Bovine. A sparse forest of pine trees populated the lands, wide fields followed.

I greeted a Bovine and he looked up at me in disinterest until he saw that I was a Feline.

He stood up and pointed a finger. “Feline!” He shouted and ran off. The others heard, and herd instincts carried them away and into their village. I followed and kept a close eye in case they had felt it upon themselves to attack me.

Venturing into the village, five Bovine came out warning me not to get closer. They had pitchforks and heavy looking batons in their hands.

“Feline, Leave our village now or you will be sent to the underworld.”

“I don’t come to harm.” I shouted over the distance.

“State your purpose Feline.”

“I am Dawn, I am traveling to Dakur The lost island.”

One of them put his pitchfork down. Another one tapped him to keep it up.

“There is no such island. You fool us. Leave now or we will force you into submission.”

Another Bovine came from behind them. He was wearing wooden painted beads around his neck and arms, rings on his fingers. He parted the crowd in front of me. “What did you call yourself Feline?”

“I am Dawn, The Huntress of the Felines.”

He motioned for them to put their weapons down. “Dawn, we have met before.” He spoke apologetically, “Excuse our manners but we are an isolated species. Other Xenos don’t step foot on our island. You gave us a fright.”

I could see that. I came closer as he walked towards me.

“What brings you here? I heard that you were going to find the lost island of Dakur.”

“That is right.”

“I am Spenser, a Bovine on this island. Please come and enjoy a cup of tea.”

I followed and he led me into to a hut with a fire burning in the middle. The smoke rose and left from a solitary chimney. He took a kettle of water off of the fire and poured water into two mugs. He gave me one as he sipped on the other.

“I have waited for this day, but have failed to tell the others not to be alarmed. Never mind the others, they did what instincts tell them and what they should do.”

“I hope I didn’t scare them too much.”

“They will be fine.”

“Last time we spoke you had been much smaller and just a flicker in the night.”

“True, I hardly remember. Yet I do know you.” I replied.

“You do, as have others.” He said, peacefully stirring his tea.

“What do you do here if there are no enemies, no other Xenos, doesn’t it get lonely?”

“This is they way we live. There are many of us, we have lived here for thousands of years and await the Ancient’s calling, just as the rest of the Xenos, to take us onwards. He is our god, but slay he does not. He lingers in sleep until the time comes.”

“You're not scared of the Ancients?”

“Why be scared? It creates fear and an anxiety to live. Life is but the path you choose. When it is done, it is done.”

I emptied the mug of tea and Spenser filled it up once more.

“Thank you for the tea.” I said.

“May it keep you warm.” He replied with a stained and toothy grin.

“Huntress, we are thankful for the work you do. Threats come over the sea and threaten our lives at times, but you stop them. Your presence keeps them from coming and doing harm.”

“The Ancients? I stop them?”

“Yes, you do. So I will send you on your way soon, to continue your work.”

“Thank you.”

“It is what I can do to trust we are not scared, that the enemy stays at bay. If I kept you and threw you in prison for trespassing; it would not be a good deed, for our fears would come.”

“Thanks you,” I said.

“No, thank you,” he said and smiled, taking another sip of hot tea. “You leave for Dakur?”

“I do.”

“Then take this.” He picked up a horn that was laying on a shelf and handed it to me, still holding onto the stumpy horn of the Bovine. “I hope you know your way, or else this gift would be in vain.” He breathed deeply, closing his eyes and chanting something deep in a language only a Bovine could decipher. “It is a token of gratitude that will keep you safe.”

He let it go.

I took the gift and he tied it around my neck.

“I hope this keeps you safe. It has many uses, but only one that you will find. Xenos like us have a way of finding it soon enough.”

“This is true.” I only hoped.

I set my mug down and left the hut heading west by the sun. Venturing out into he open lonely fields. I looked back to see the bovines slowly coming out again to graze.

I reached the beach on the other side of the island around midday. Spear in hand, food in my bag I was ready to set out onto the next step of this long journey.

I stepped into the ocean and swam a few miles out and finally, after after looking back to see no more island, I swam south.

Night fell and I found myself with the problem of sleeping in the middle of the ocean. Odd, floating on the heavy swell. Maybe, it wasn’t too good of an idea, I might drift off course. No matter, the sun will tell me where south is.

I woke, startled. The feeling of being in the ocean, no land, lonely with the sun waking me. I finally got my bearings again and set off with the sun to my left.

Another day passed. The water was much warmer. I know I’m on the right path.

The next day, the water got colder, just as it felt when I started. Still no sign of any land, no birds. I just kept swimming.

The third night after the island of the Bovine. I woke to be freezing in my fur, not a problem. I felt that it was cold, not just feeling cold.

As I rose on the swell I could see that ice was forming in the distance. I was close.

I swam lower, into the black depths of the sea. Light was gone, but that wasn’t a problem either.

I found the base of the ice, where it meets the bottom. I slowed and got close to it. I put my hand to feel the cold, but my paw was already so close to numb it made no difference. Instead I felt the rough connection between ice and rock.

I turned around to find the arch. The arch must be close.

There was movement. The first of any sign of life. I didn’t know if I should be scared or glad. I moved further away from the ice. The mysterious figure swam around me in the darkness and out of sight.

“Hello?” I called out.

No response.

I made my way closer to where the arch should be.

Huge jaws flashed above my head and I shoved the spear upwards. It clamped down as I pushed away from the danger. Turning around I saw the beast. A leviathan, green with scales, gilded with jewelry and riches.

He bit the spear lodged into his upper jaw and punctured it right though the lower jaw. He writhed away, feeling the pain.

My time to escape. I looked for the arch. Still nowhere to be found.

The sea serpent circled around me again. This time coming closer and closer, trapping me, encircling me with it’s long tail. He turned to face me.

“A Feline.” He mumbles through his pained jaw. “What is a Feline doing here, much less—ouch—underwater?”

I looked for an exit through his scaly body circling me. I swam down, but he followed entrapping me still.

“Answer me!”

“I’m going to the island of Dakur. Let me go!” I pleaded.

“Never! This is why I am here. To stop thieves like you.”

He seemed puzzled still, I didn’t answer right.

“I’m no thief.” I yelled.

“Who are you then?” He asked slyly as he squeezed me tight with his constricting tail.

“I am the Huntress.”

“Precisely my point. You are a thief.”

“No! I am not.”

He squeezed tighter. “As I recall, there was a reason I am in these waters. Not simply to guard the island of Dakur, but to kill a few. The Feline Huntress is on that list. Even since the last time I got rid of you!” He squeezed tighter.

He squeezed, I couldn’t even see his face. All I heard was his voice traveling around me. It was getting harder to breathe.

“Huntress, do you know what is on the Island of Dakur?”

I didn’t answer, I couldn’t.

“Riches and gold. More than anyone could ever dream of. The prince did well with his collection. But before the gold, are beast. So many that even one of my family could be overwhelmed. There is no need to try to go any further. I would let you go, but I have to kill you.”

He was tightening his grip, still I couldn’t breathe. Then suddenly he let go. I stayed motionless, unable to make any movements at all.

He charged at me, jaws trying to open, but he merely impaled me, sending me flying backwards.

He charged again, and I moved. I darted down and grabbed for the spear from inside his mouth, pulling, widening the hole, but the spear stayed.

He grunted in pain but closed his jaw on my arm. I winced, expecting the agony of teeth. But it didn’t come. Instead his teeth shattered and split.

The armor!

I let go of the spear and tried getting some space from this monster. He encircled me again, leaving me trapped.

“There is no choice, Huntress you will die, no matter what tricks you have on your sleeves.”

There are more tricks up my sleeve.

He got me into a tight grip with his tail again and squeezed. It was so fast it was hard to keep from fading, but the suit suffered most from the rough scales. I let him squeeze, tighter and tighter.

My last trick. Ungu awoke and took a bite out of him. He squeezed tighter but Ungu dug deeper with each turn.

Finally he was severed deeply through the middle of his body.

He screamed out in pain. Blood oozed out and I could taste it in the water

“Stop your tricks little girl!” He charged me again. I dropped so that he passed just over my head. I grabbed the spear and held on for the ride. He started swishing and swaying, and finally shook like a maniac to get me off. The only thing it succeeded in doing was widen the hole, just enough for me to pull it through and jam it into the underside of his neck.

He swam around like a drunk. “Huntress,” he said. Blood stirred into water. “There are rules to the game: I kill, you succumb.” His speech was slower and becoming incoherent. “Huntress.” His eyes closed and he drifted downward. I know he isn’t dead. An ancient doesn’t die this easily.

I swam to him, getting close to his face.

An eye opened quickly and he tried one last attempt to kill me. He snapped his jaw at me, again, once more, but I let him get a taste. He bit down, breaking more teeth, and yelling out in pain once more.

Like a dog set on a porcupine, he gave up. Painfully.

“Where is the arch?” I asked him.

I came closer and grabbed him by his huge head. My arms couldn’t even reach half way around.

“Where is it?”

Still no answer. Ungu dug into his underside near to where the spear had been. Another push, more and more. Ungu dug deeper and deeper, finding his spine.

His cold heart stopped beating, gills fluttered open, and he sunk, dead weight, towards the bottom.

Slowly, I ventured down to inspect him. I severed one of the larger scales from the top of his head which resembled a horn. Taking a piece as a trophy. I took gold pieces from around his neck as well. A necklace threaded with rings of gold, emeralds and stones that shone. The chain over ten feet long

I left him, drifting lower and lower to the depths of the ocean. His severed body trailing blood. The smaller half of him coming off, just attached by tendons.

If he can recover from that, I know he’ll be coming for me.

I turned around getting my bearings again. Nothing but dark ocean all around me. But I could just barely make out the center where the ice met the ocean floor.

Once more I searched out for the arch. Weaving my way through the water. Finally I had found it, but it was knocked over, entirely broken and crumbled. The entrance was just beneath the rubble, and a hole just fit for me. I lowered myself into it, finding myself in a large tunnel, drifting downwards into a larger cavern.

I must find my way down. I opened the book Poseidon gave me, rereading the instructions given by Poseidon. It was no use, Pisces hieroglyphics. But I remembered the gist of it, keep growing lower, finding that you were always going up… I decided to just go.

It wasn’t too tricky, but one tunnel lead to two or three. I had to back track once or twice, keeping gravity as my constant way down. Nothing too hard, I made my way to Dakur.

I had finally made it. The dim light shone through the tunnel leading me out of this labyrinth. And now the gravity shifted, up was down and down was up.

Here I had trouble, every time I tried to go down, I pushed myself back to where I was. Trying to move down when down was up. I gave up and the shift kept me floating in that one spot. Finally I had figured it out and pushed myself through and up, through another many fathoms of sea and onto the rough swell crashing violently on the surface.

Dakur was a large towering island just off in the distance. A circular megalith rising from the sea.

I swam to it, noticing that scaling the walls might not be as easy as Poseidon said. Impossible.

I came up to the walls, slimy black stone worn away through the ages by the surging sea.

I tried, and put a paw up to find a holding place. But there wasn’t, nothing, nowhere. Every side of the island was just like the rest. There is no entering it from here.

Maybe, an entrance from below? I dove down and searched every inch of the surrounding sea floors. No luck.

There must be a way.

I sat on a small rock jutting out from the seabed, just above the surface, thinking. My resting place above water for a while. I sat, figuring on and on about getting up there. The time passed but the sun hadn’t faded, there was no sun, just light, eternal light. Clouds in the sky dissipated it to an even cloudy gray. Despondent weather as well.

I settled myself to gain my spirit. All is not lost. I sat and daydreamed, imagining I was back home in the temple, laughing with my siblings and finding peace with the world around me.

I reminisced of my friend Roland, the Equine in the fields of the southern plains. The King and Queen and how heartily the rest of the village welcomed me into their own family. The feast. Ares, Xeres, Celentine. But I was forgetting another ally, he who had given me a gift of sorts, Farrow, the flying Aves.

That was it, if you can’t climb, fly. I remember he told me once, “If you ever need my help, just call.”

“Farrow?” I whispered.

That would never do. “Farrow!” I commanded into the vast ocean. “Farrow! I need your help. Farrow!”

I stopped to listen, no reply, no magical and sudden appearance of an Aves flying up form the horizon.

“Farrow! If you can hear me. I need help. I am below the island of Dakur.”

That should do it.

I sat down on my little rock and watched the waves splash onto my feet. The spear laying across my lap, my bag hanging from my shoulder, the horn of the Bovine resting lamely on my chest. There had been no purpose for it. But he had said I will find one. Him and I are good at finding the purpose of things like that, at least that’s what he hinted at.

I left the horn and started looking through my bag. The heavy chains of the monster from the deep, and his horn I cut off. The food Daram, Poseidon gave me, now nibbling the last pieces to conserve the food. I was starving. Fish could be an option, but cold, raw fish. I’m sure I’d build up an appetite soon enough. Another item in the bag, dried meat, soaked. Half of a boar, wasted. I chucked it out to sea. Another item was left in the bottom. The feather I picked up off the ground when Farrow first met me. I played with it and let it dry slowly in the cold winds.

More hours passed by and I found myself asleep, suffering in the cold winds and harsh waves. I slipped down into the ocean once more, somehow more comfortable being in the water now, and took a nap.

I dreamed of Farrow, he doesn’t know the island. “Dakur,” I told him. “The island in the fairy tales. The evil prince Dacoit lives on the island having stolen riches and now, keeping to himself, a prisoner much less a God.”

“I know of no Island called Dakur, Dawn. I must look it up. The Aves must have a way to get there if the Pisces have a way.”

He flew off and left me be.

Me sleeping on the floor with unanswered questions. Nothing promised.

He promised to help if I called.

I awoke and stood by for another forsaken day. Night time came and I slipped under to sleep again.

“Farrow, Can you help me? I am not trapped, ambushed nor imprisoned. I am sitting before the island. If you cannot, please tell me. I will find another way onto this miserable island.”

“No fear, Huntress. There is a way. The enlightened one told me of a way. It is not easy. I will come with a team, but we may never reach you. Fairytales are not my province.”

I awoke to the same gloomy sky, eternal light of lifeless, no, derangement. I swam around the waters for some change of pace. Yet everything was the same, The same wall, the same sky, the same ocean. It nearly maddened me even further.

I came back to my rock, now starving and having finished my daram, I had to eat. Fish was scarce but I had a spear and a rumbling stomach.

An exhausting hour later I came back to my rock, skinning and gutting the fish. It was cold, and unappetizing, but the nutrients and protein my body welcomed.

I sat watching the horizon. Waiting for Farrow and his friends to come and save me. I felt feeble, a young Feline waiting for her friends to save her. Sitting on the rock unable to cope for herself. For one to do this for another, I feel the alliance. An Aves helping a Feline. What standards do we live by. What world is it that birds help the cats. Do they do it because I can kill them in a heartbeat? Just a flick of my paw and I can have their jugular between my jaws. Is it that I am so powerful under the veiled face of the Felines only a few know about? I can’t help but wonder, what is my purpose to them.

Hours go by, losing track of any sense of time, I’m exhausted by just sitting, the vitality of life gone, but the purpose still holding me there.

I slip under for another sleep.

“Farrow, are you coming?”

There is no answer. “Farrow?”

I wandered through my dreams, lost, not knowing where I am. Uncharted scenes flash by and I am left at the bottom of the sea again, waking to wait another timeless day. Another fish, more worries. I sit, glaring at the horizon. He said he would come.

I wondered what Farrow’s instructions would be to get to this infernal island. The Pisces’s way wasn’t difficult, but also incomplete, there is no way to the top of the island if you can only swim. Poseidon didn’t tell of the Ancient waiting for me either. Was it not in the book? But the instructions were well enough.

If an Aves can fly here and make it to the top of the island, by Murphy’s law it will be unfeasible, ten-fold. Compared to my trip through the sea. If there are Ancients, or even one in his path, I’d be sure to never see him again.

Another exhausting day passed with no sign of Farrow. Maybe another path is feasible, maybe the Maiden of Truth has knowledge of this island and a way to make it inside. I could ask, but risk losing the possibility of Farrow aiding me.

I slipped down to the ocean floor again, finding the same spot that I slept in for the last few nights.

“Farrow? Have you found the way?”

“Huntress, there are obstacle I have never imagined. I do not know when I—”

He was interrupted. The Ancient I had slain came to me twisting and turning around me once more. “Dawn, that is your name. I know you. You are the one who killed my sister, left us on the ground. Older than the your small family, surpassed in strength only by ourselves. You cheated us and took a step out of line. There are more of us and if you think we are strong, together, our lines will cross and cut you off like the gnat’s hair that you are.”

“You are worthless, you life stealing snake. There are more of us that live. I am not just one Feline, I am them all. The mistake you made was thinking all you could do was slaughter us, your purpose to life, serve the side that kills the most, takes the most lives and feed off generations to come.”

“You do not know me. I am Ophidon. King over land and sea.”

“You are dead.” I quickly replied. “And if you are King, why do you take orders from a prince?”

“That is my own business.” He snapped. “Though you think you are safe where you are, there is trouble that awaits you at every turn. The island of Dakur will kill you. If the beasts do not kill you the prince will and if you escape him, there are other threats. Coming back to your beloved home won’t be as easy. We will haunt you, Dawn, and hunt you down.”

“Ophidon, you are a mere threat. If I can kill you once, you won’t be as difficult to kill again. You are already dead.”

“Lies, I never die. There is more life in me that what you’ve seen. Incarnation is a curse, maddening, enraging. And once I find you, death will be beset upon you.”

“If you speak of incarnations, Ophidon, You are missing the picture.”

I left him and dreamt of Ares.

Once more she found me in the most desolate of places. She felt far away as if she was in another world. I was, but maybe she was. Tending to other divine work.

“I am with you Dawn.” She told me. “Help is on the way.”

A tear crept into the sea and hope restored.

I awoke again. Passing the day like every other. Fishing, waiting, staring now intently upon the horizon. Help is on the way.

Three more of what I call days had passed. An unknown amount of time sleeping, the same for the days. No sun, no way to know the time.

A speck appeared on the horizon.