The boundless darkness was spreading out before my eyes. I was in the middle of the void. It was impossible to find anything to judge the distance. I searched for light but couldn’t even see my body moving. There was nothing below my feet. Nothing was holding me up. And then I fell. Fell… Deeper and deeper I sank into the void… Further and further away…
No, that wasn’t it… Rather, it felt like darkness was closing in on me. It was approaching with terrifying speed. But there was no sound. Yet it was creeping closer and closer…
And finally… It penetrated me. I couldn’t get rid of it. It seeped into me completely… It was strange, but I felt some kind of pleasant sensation… like I`d been waiting for that moment…
The blackness invaded and settled inside me. And it swallowed me up, never to be parted again.
I was becoming the darkness. The darkness was becoming me. My body was becoming the darkness itself…
The void was endless, it had no ceiling. Nothing existed to cover it. It was an abyss.
Everything was buried in the pitch black. The darkness of the night was crushing me.
That is how…
Everyone dies.
I was dying.
I was dead.
Death.
Finally….
….
….
….. The bright daylight had struck my eyes.
‘Wh… what the…?’
My head was still spinning from the boat rocking, but little by little I started regaining consciousness. It took me a while to remember where the hell I was.
I looked around. The scenery before me looked like a tropical island. If I couldn’t remember where I was, I would have assumed I was in a resort somewhere. Unfortunately, however, I remembered everything… in great detail.
“Storm…”
Thunderstorm, rain, silhouettes drifting away… and then… a blackout.
And I woke up here. Thoughts raced wildly in my head. Trying to pull myself together, I began to sort through my things.
The first thing I did was check my bag. Surprisingly, all its contents were undamaged. The same couldn’t be said for the boat.
I turned and looked around again. The ocean. The sandy beach. The forest.
“A holiday in the Maldives is the peace and tranquillity, solitude and romance: turquoise waters, golden sandy beaches, a fantastic underwater world…”
However, this was not at all about me - I was standing on the sand in wet shoes, wheezing and trying to soothe my burned throat with greedy breaths of hot air. Most likely, I had swallowed ocean water, which, as you know, was saltier than seawater.
I opened my phone. It was about 1 p.m. I tried to check the connection… But instead of signal bars, there was a thick cross on the screen.
“Oh…… what a shame… I guess this means I can’t order myself a bunch of pizzas then…” – I chuckled.
I don’t know why I was thinking about pizza at such a moment. Probably because one may start behaving inadequately in extreme situations, or maybe I was just hungry.
As time went on, my anxiety started increasing gradually and I began going mad little by little…
“No... I must... pull myself together”.
I took a look around me once more. It looked like I had no choice but to go into the forest. I gathered all my luggage, put my knife into a pocket in case I ran into a wild animal (although I knew that it would likely not help anyway) and started venturing into the forest. After all, staying here won’t help me, and the place where I will find food would most likely be elsewhere…
…
…
The forest, or rather a jungle, was quite peculiar. Initially, I was expecting to see something in the style of the tropics, which was more familiar to me because when I went on a trip with my family, this type of forest was most typical. This jungle, however, strongly resembled my home… or at least one of them. For half of my life, our family didn`t live in the capital because of my father’s job, so we lived in a small, humble town. I even remember going camping with my friends and seeing the same kind of nature: lush grass, thick bushes, vines hanging from trees, huge tree trunks with fungus growing around them… the sounds of birds and cicadas. A carving that looks like a dragon`s head…
“What a funny-looking piece of wood…”
That was nostalgic. The only difference is due to the tropical climate it was really hot.
“Wait”.
I stared at the miniature figure that sat on top of the moss-covered rock and examined it closer. It was a bit rough, but overall very well made.
‘Speaking of which… could this thing be human-made? It better be…’
….
….
“No good… I just can’t find anyone. How long have I been walking? Wait… Which side did I come from? Damn! I forgot to open the compass on my phone! Great. Now I’m lost.”
I leaned against a nearby tree and put my bag down. For a while I just sat without moving, then I stared up at the sky.
“I wanted to die at some point in my life but… really man? That’s the way I will go? From starvation and dehydration in the middle of nowhere? How absolutely embarrassing.
No… It’s too soon to give up! All I have to do is just get some rest. Yeah, that’s right. Just a rest… and then keep searching. This island probably must be too big. I should check my survival guide... crap why the hell didn`t I do it sooner!? Dumbass…”
I assumed the posture most comfortable for me and tried to relax…
…
…
In my nap, I was having some kind of dream. This time though, it wasn’t about anything sinister or psychedelic: I’m a child again, presumably the age of the boy I have met on the ship, and I’m lying comfortably in my bed…
“…ey… Wa… up…”
“Wha… a… doing … ere…’
‘Hmm… who’s there?’
“Wake up…”
‘Oh, I know, that’s probably my mum waking me up for school…’
“Muuuum… it`s only six o’clock…”
“I SAID GET UP AND SHINE!!!”
“Holy!... How?... What?... ”
I jumped up as if I was stung… and froze in shock once again. This time, however, the reason was completely different…
’WH-… WHAT THE FUCK!?”
“Grrr…”
I stared at the growling ‘alarm clock’… and felt a strong urge to run away. Was I starting to hallucinate from hunger and stress? Or maybe I`ve just overplayed my “Pokémon” in recent days? Or maybe a combination of both? But one thing was clear: what was in front of my eyes... was not of this world.
Meanwhile, the “thing” had switched its pose from “aggressive” to “arrogant”.
“Hmph! You humans never change! Especially those of you who invade my territory!”
For a moment I was contemplating what the hell I should say. I had read nothing.
“I’m… um… sorry?”
“Hey!”
“Y-yes!?”
“It’s that way!”
He pointed in the direction.
“O-oh… T-thank you?”
I tried to get as far away from this ‘anomaly’ as I could. “Hey!”
‘Now what!?’
“You forgot your bag … or whatever it is”.
‘Damn, am I getting stupid!?’
I grabbed my luggage bag and hurried out of this place.
….
….
“What the hell was that just now!?”
At first glance it was an anthropomorphous dragon… no, dragons normally have wings. More like an Argonian. I`d never played “The elder scrolls” games, but I’d seen my sister play them, and if anything, he was similar to “Argonians” – reptilian-like creatures in their game world.
“No… he looked too cartoonish for an Argonian. More like a character from a “Disney” movie, or a Miyadzaki anime, or from the Pokémon universe…”
Overall, barring the “creepiness” factor, this creature was… actually... uh… kinda cute? As I mentioned before, it looked like a giant anthropomorphous dragon or lizard-man… well, not THAT giant but definitely much bigger than a normal human being (including me). All in scale, he had a strong muscular body. Most parts of it was green, but the part from the bottom of his maw to its torso was beige. The crocodile-like muzzle was very adorable, even with that “what the hell you have pinned here” expression. He had two white horns on his head, with a black ‘Mohawk’ hairdo between them. And, judging by its appearance I’m pretty sure it was male. He was even wearing clothes such as a leather vest and leather underpants.
I could talk about this thing for hours. But despite how shocking it was I had to move on.
“Still, the dragon in this world… I bet my mind was playing tricks on me… Yup, there was no other explanation. I am so stressed and exhausted that I probably imagined the whole thing”.
‘Sooo… which way do I go now?’
“Hey!”
I froze again.
‘This thing… Again! What the hell he wants from me now!?’
“U-umm, yessss?”
‘So it wasn’t an illusion, it really WAS a dragon!’
“Tsk…..”
The creature clicked its tongue irritably, making a gesture very similar to ‘face-palm’.
“Is your pathetic human brain made of beetle dung or something? I told you it was that way!”
“*Excuse me???*”
‘What the hell IS this guy’s problem!?’
“I’m kinda lost you haven’t got it yet, you know?”
“*Sigh*… you are not very capable even for a mere human being”.
‘Shut up!’ – I was about to shout, but I managed.
“Tsk… Come!”
‘Huh. He wants me to follow him now? Well, I guess I don’t mind as long as he not gonna eat me alive or sexually assault me… wait, what the hell am I even thinking about!?’
“Hurry up, man, or I`ll leave you behind.”
“…whatever makes you happy”.
‘Actually, it would be better if he *did* leave me behind…’
I carefully followed. While my left hand was holding a luggage bag, the other was in my pocket where my penknife was… in case things turned suddenly bad.
…
…
As we drove along, I took a good look at him once again. It turned out that his Mohawk ran down his back all the way to the top, where he was transformed into a mane. Also, his body reminded me of a ninja turtle, except he was more muscular, had no shell and had five fingers and toes on his limbs, just like humans do. Apart from his vest and trousers, he was naked and barefoot. Oh, and did I mention that he had another pair of horns… that were sticking right from his elbows? Kinda creepy, to be honest.
As we walked, my thoughts drifted off in a totally irrelevant direction. That happens to me sometimes, especially in moments of extreme unrest.
’I wonder what type of dragon is it? If I remember correctly from the talk with my geek friends, they could be divided into either “Valiant protectors” or “Merciless predators”. Spyro, for instance, was a protector, because he fought the baddies for the sake of his friends… wait, now that I think about it, was he really a protector? I mean, he killed hundreds of innocent creatures whether they were of the Gnorc species or Ripto minions, he destroyed everything from flowers to tents, and he took every treasure he came across!
Well, Alduin from Skyrim was definitely the bad guy. Wait… But if he hadn’t saved Dovakhin from the executioner at the very beginning, maybe the world would have been doomed?’
I desperately wanted to become less complicated and stop thinking in lame internet theories from the gaming forums, though my thoughts appeared one by one, completely silly, out of place, as if taken from a monologue of a videogame nerd.
“Hey human!”
“Um, you *DO* realize that I have a name, right?
“So you think I should guess it?”
“I mean…”
“Then tell me it already!”
‘What an attitude, Jesus fucking Christ.
For a second I wondered how I should introduce myself this time around, and chose the banalest option I had.
“It’s Leon. My name is Leon”.
A short silence followed.
“Goro…” – he said then.
“’Goro’? Really man? That’s actually your name?” – I chuckled.
“Do you have a problem with it?”
‘I mean, that’s even sillier than my name but… eh, whatever I guess’.
“Hmph… you do your best to remember the owner of this island, human!”
‘Owner, huh? Now that’s a *very* interesting way to put it…’
As we treaded carefully past the tree trunk branching out of the ground, I noticed how Goro seemed to be avoiding them, ever so casually. I tried to keep up, yet kept my distance. His big tail was constantly swinging from side to side as he walked.
‘I wonder if it’s his reflex. What a weird creature… I bet no one would ever believe that such thing exists in this world.’
Despite his irritating attitude, I wanted to ask him quite a few questions in general. I mean, the dragons can’t exist in the real world, right. But… something told me it was better to keep my mouth shut.
We’d been walking for a while now when I finally asked...
“Um…Goro, where *exactly* are we going?”
“To the beach, of course, where else?”
“I mean… thanks and stuff… my boat is kinda busted, you know? So I’m afraid I’m not going to leave your property any time soon.”
“None of my business!”
I felt my blood start to boil.
‘He *SERIOUSLY* makes me mad!’
“How the hell it *isn’t* your concern??? Don’t you understand that’s I can’t get out of here on my own, you know!”
“Useless human. It’s none of my business how you will get out of here”.
“Perhaps it’s *MY* business, you lowlife cunt!!!” – I snapped. I didn’t care whether or not I will aggravate him or not at this point.
To my surprise, however, the creature recoiled back and stared at me: seems like it didn’t expect this kind of response.
“Don’t want to help me!? Fine! Then I will find a way out of your “property” on my own! Happy!?”
Enraged, I spun around on my hills and went away. Looking back now, it wasn’t the wisest decision, since it made me an even easier target than I already was. However…
“W… wait!” – it suddenly replied but I didn’t stop.
“I said stay where you are!”
Feeling that it could only get worse, I quickly tossed away my bag, turned back around and was about to ready up my knife when… suddenly, I realized that the land beneath my legs started to subside. I barely managed to grab onto the edge and felt like it was about to go down too! Closing my eyes in fear, I prepared to fall… but then I felt that something soft grab me. I opened my eyes… it was him.
I was in such a shock that I needed time to recover. What the hell was that even? A trap!?
“Stupid human! How could you not have noticed there was…”
“How in the world I was supposed to do that!? Do I look like a mind reader or anything like that to you!?”
I felt like the anger started to burn inside me.
“You better watch your manners human, or else…”
“You are the one who should watch your manners, stupid lizard!”
“Wha… What did you just say!?”
“What were you expecting to hear from me, you asshole!? Did you, like, though that I will simply swallow all of your crap and answer nothing…”
“ARE YOU SICK OF LIVING!?”
At that moment my knife was already unsheathed inside my pocket with my right hand, which was ready to make a guard stance at any moment…
…but then I realized that it wasn’t the wisest choice… there is no way I could defeat this creature in open battle with my knife alone.
‘God… I hate it. Why did nature make humans so damn weak!?’
For a moment I was considering my actions. I really didn’t want this creature abusing on my slide, and yet I really didn’t want to feel myself on the edge of his claws. Fortunately, then he spoke up on its own:
“Tch… fine. I will take care of you… for now. Your death here will cause me more problems anyway”.
I didn’t even know what to say.
‘So first you literally shower me with shit and now you’re just going to take me? Just like that? What’s *WRONG* with you!?’
Then it dawned on me.
‘Oh… I get it. He`s just a generic bully archetype with someone needing to stand up to him… well, if that’s what he wants, then that`s exactly what I’m going to do’.
Even though I thought so, I actually had no idea exactly how I was going to do that all the while not getting transformed into Swiss cheese in the process.
‘Well, guess I will play it by ear'.
“Hmph… come”.
…
…
He continued to lead me somewhere, while I slowly waddled after him. To tell you the truth, our walking started to tire me really badly. How long have we been walking anyway?
“You’re slowing down! Keep walking human!”
‘Shut up'.
Finally, we have reached a small meadow.
“Stop! We’re here.”
‘Finally!’ I collapsed on the grass with my ill-fated bag beside me.
“Wait here!”
He walked away, and I was left lying on the grass. After a while, I looked at the stuff around me. The place seemed to be a little different from the rest of the forest.
‘Looks like a campfire?’
Yes, indeed, there was some sort of dead bonfire next to me.
‘Seems like he`s been living here alone for quite some time now… he actually knows how to make gestures like human beings, and the most common one, apart from the facepalm, was the tendency to cross his arms across his chest, which must mean something…’
“Hey, human! Get up!”
‘Well, that was fast’.
“Here!”
I watched as he held out his large sharp-clawed hand (or was it a paw after all?) as he handed me a large fruit. It was a watermelon. Wow… where did he even get it?
“Be glad that I’m giving this to you, human!”
‘Fuck off’.
As soon as I put my hands to take the big fruit from him, I was about to get my knife and mercilessly crack it with but… I was able to halt myself in time. Something told me it was better not to show it to him. At least not yet.
“What? Not good enough for you, human?”
“No. I need it wide open.”
He performed his face-palm gesture. Again.
“Am I your personal servant?”
“No. But you agreed to ‘take care’ of me yourself right now, so hurry up and do it!”
For a moment he stared at me angrily, but I responded with what seemed to me to be exactly the same expression on my face.
“Grr! Fine! Give it here!”
I flinched as he reached out and sliced up the watermelon with his claws.
“You, human beings, are completely useless!”
‘God I swear, he should have been born a troll, not the thing he was born’.
I swallowed another one of his insults and continued to watch as he split the fruit in half with his big lizard-like hands.
Suddenly there was a loud crack from the watermelon.
“Here!”
The once perfectly round fruit was now forcefully splitting into small pieces.
‘So this guy doesn`t only look strong… he is ACTUALLY pretty strong! No good… if I will say something that will upset him again, then it will be my head that he’ll crack next.’
The watermelon turned out to be actually pretty good. Can’t say that it rode me off hunger completely because sweets usually aren’t good at this stuff, but it sure interrupted my appetite. I even wanted to thank him for it, but then remembered all of his mockeries and instantly lost any wish for that.
After I had finished, he spoke again:
‘Stay here and don’t move human’.
I nodded, and soon after it he walked away somewhere. Again.
…
“What the hell. *Is* this thing. Seriously. Gah!”
Everything had been weird since the very beginning, and there were many things that I didn’t understand. The very fact that there is actually a creature that is thought to have been just jumped from Lovecraft’s creation there is already weird enough.
“No, that’s just wrong! This whole situation, my attitude towards what was happening – it’s all wrong by default! After all, just yesterday I chatted nicely with passengers around the ship, and today I was fighting with an otherworldly entity like some kind of whiny teenager from the generic Japanese role-playing videogame! How could I end up in such kind of circumstances!?
No…That’s enough… there is no use thinking about this any longer”.
There weren’t many options in my situation.
Go away? Nope, it wouldn’t work. I won’t survive here all by myself.
Kill time with all my electronic stuff? But that just will attract unnecessary attention from the outside.
Unable to find anything that could help me, I just opened my luggage bag, dropped all of the clothes that I’ve got to make the surface softer, and fell asleep.
…
…
The night enveloped the forest leaving the woods feeling dark and eerie. As I opened my eyes I noticed a large figure had sat beside a small campfire.
Flames flickered and crackled as “Goro” threw in more wood to fuel the flames.
“So… finally awake human?”
‘Captain Obvious? Is that you?’
Suddenly I started to smell something good. As it turned out, it was the fish that he cooked over by the fire.
“It gets cold at night…”
‘No shit’.
Indeed I felt a chill penetrating my hoodie.
“Unless you prefer a cold human, you can stay where you are!”
‘I think I`m starting to lose the plot here. Is he trying to be nice now? But why? Doesn’t he hate me? What exactly is he trying to achieve?’
Cautiously, I moved myself to the opposite side of where he was. It got quite warm… I thought I might as well just put on more clothes and just stay where I was. Honestly, I had absolutely no desire to be *anywhere* near this thing.
That smell again… I could not help but stare at the fish he was eating, as my mouth began to slowly fill with water. He plucked one of the fishes impaled by a stick off the ground. He examined the slightly burnt fish by pinching it in several places. Soon he began eating. Each bite was bigger than the last until there was nothing left. Not even the bones from the fish. Noticing my intense stared, he squinted and said:
“…..you are making my meal taste bad, human.”
‘Is there, by chance, any Dovakhin’s guild nearby? I think I would *really* like to have his help right now’.
“Actually I have got a name if you haven’t already forgotten it”.
He rubbed his Mohawk between his horns.
“Lion… was it?”
‘…Thanks, I hate it’.
I doubt he mispronounced this on purpose, but I was so upset by my new nickname, that I barely resisted my urge to unleash my outburst of uncensored words in my native language. Of course, he wouldn’t understand their meaning, but that didn’t mean that he would not able to guess.
“…on second thought, I guess “human” is fine.”
Suddenly he handled over me some fish.
Honestly, I didn’t even want to take it from it. No matter how hungry I was, at the moment I’d rather get my own food than take ‘gifts’ from *him*.
“Here…”
“You said I was making your dinner taste bad. I can move away if you wish.”
“Hmph… And find your own food during the night? Be my guest. Not that I care.”
‘Die’.
“Give it here”.
I snatched the fish from his hands without even thanking him and started chewing it.
For a few minutes, we continued to sit by the fire in a very uncomfortable silence eating our meal. Such felt like some kind of evil wizard had put an icy barrier between us. Even the warm heat emitting from the fire wasn’t enough to melt it.
‘Somebody, get rid of this atmosphere, please!’
But then I quickly realized that it wasn`t going to happen because there was no one here but us.
‘Well, in that case, I have to do something on my own. But how in the world should I start a conversation with him? Should I thank him for helping me? Or maybe I should ask him to treat me more friendly instead, or maybe both?’
As geeks, my friends and I love to play games, especially roleplaying, and I remember that in some of them you were able to negotiate your way out of trouble against otherworld creatures without any need to raise your weapon.
‘I guess it’s time for me to put my “diplomatic” skills to the test, huh? …Wait, what the hell am I even thinking about!? This isn’t a videogame!!!’
I sighted but have not thought of anything better to do I decided to go ahead and strike a conversation anyway.
“So, Goro…”
“What?”
“What *exactly* are you?
He closed his eyes and wrinkled. I didn’t care about his reaction thought.
“For a puny human, you do ask a lot of inconsiderate questions…”
“Reeeeeealy? I thought it was just a basic human curiosity you know?”
“Whatever. You have eyes, you can guess yourself what I am”.
“That’s *not* what I meant…’
“Then what is it?”
“I mean… you know… everything? What hole did you crawl out of, how did you even get here?”
For some reason, of all my questions, he answered just the last one:
“Around… forty years”.
‘Wooooow… forty years… I want to say that I’m envious, but I’m actually not’.
“And you are all alone?”
“Yes, I am. What’s your deal about it?”
“Mine? Nothing. I just find it hard to believe you, since any normal person in your position would have gone a mad a long time ago because of loneliness. I mean, don’t you feel sad or something about being all alone on this island?”
“Hmph… don’t compare yourself to me, human. Unlike you lesser beings, I have no need for any petty emotions including pathetic things such as sadness”.
‘I wonder what exactly makes him a *higher* being’…
“Well, while your personality completely sucks, at least you helped me… somewhat. I guess I should thank you for that”.
The dragon`s face suddenly glared with furious eyes on me as if I’d said the wrong thing again.
“Don’t think highly of yourself human! If you die on this island you will cause me problems!”
“Okay, then I probably shouldn’t thank you. Never mind”.
’On a side note, I think I know what exactly those ‘problems’ he is referring to are’.
“Say, were you always on that island?”
“Not this again…”
He clearly didn’t want to answer this, but I wasn’t going to leave him like this: I was more curious than scared.
“I guess you could say that I rose normally”.
I couldn’t imagine how the hell this thing was risen ‘normally’ but I haven’t pressed the issue.
“And what happened so you ended up on this island?”
“Let’s just say stuff happened. Satisfied?”.
“Uh-huh, perfectly. Thanks.”
When the conversation ended he stood up and walked away from the place he was sitting. After a few seconds, he lay down, facing the woods. His back was the only visible part that remained as the fire was slowly extinguishing.
As I made a few steps from the camp I heard an angry voice coming toward me.
“Hey, human, where do you think you are going?”
“To get some branches, obviously. Or am I supposed to sleep on the cold ground?”
“Wait… let me bring some for you.”
“I mean… be my guest???”
I really wanted to see him swallowing his own medicine… but to my disappointment, he didn`t react to this phrase.
…
…
“Here”.
Finally, I was able to make the most comfortable bed available in my condition, and soon was sleeping a restless dream.
‘I’m dreaming…. This is all just a bad dream. Tomorrow I will wake up in my cabin and continue on with my journey… please…’
ns 172.71.254.131da2