Hours earlier, the sun scorched Samir's skin.
He raced toward what he heard. A snarl from afar. A loud chewing that emanated through the forest.
He carried the red flare gun, which had a black tint on the barrel, as it was at the point of breaking. Sweat dripped down his face, and it flooded his palms as he kept a tight grip on the gun.
I've spent around two years on that ship, and not once have I heard a creature of this magnitude. Cyrus always warned me of such noises, but now that I'm here, in a place where if I die and get swallowed, nobody is coming to rescue me.
I remember its name being mentioned once at a military ceremony the old man took me to. They once called the classified creatures the Still- . . . damn it, I'm not getting enough oxygen to my brain right now. I just gotta keep moving.
His heart pounded rapidly. His eyes scanned the forest frantically. Goosebumps crawled across him. Soon enough, he knew that he would be devoured if he wasn't careful.
Never in my life had I thought that I would encounter such a thing here, as such a thing should only belong in fantasy, but it's all too real . . .
It's been about two days since we reached this place. I imagine the others are safe, but given the nature of this island, I'm starting to really question why we split up.
But for now, I have to be on watch. I'm alone, so if anything, I'm the least guarded amongst the rest.
Samir could still hear the creature chowing down on hard flesh as bones cracked under its maw.
He hid behind the tall trees. He avoided taking a single audible breath. Slowly, it crept closer. It sounded like it was dragging something large with it, and it was spewing out blood like a sprinkler.
It had a ferocious, jagged breath, and each step pinched Samir's ears. His heart pounded further, and he desired to run away, but his body refused. He waited each second to make sure that it gave him the perfect chance to end the beast's life.
For my honor, for my rank, this is another stone in the road. I've come across many tribulations, and this shall be yet another. I will do it. I have to.
Samir recited a mantra from Mala. He once remembered Cyrus repeating it to himself at times. Repeating it slowly calmed his nerves. He peeked the barrel of the black-tipped flare gun out from the tree, following the chewing noise.
Its shadow began to unveil itself past a tree. Samir could sense that it was behind it, but wondered if it could also sense he was there. He waited for what felt like eons.
Then, under the harsh shade, it revealed itself. Samir silently gulped. Even the sunlight didn't dare cast its light upon it. The abomination stood double the size of a regular man. It had the headless corpse of a Malan soldier grasped in its thick pincers.
Samir recognized the uniform, and he avoided making any noise, not even a slight breath.
Hollowed-out eyes, rotten teeth, grey skin, unusually broad shoulders, with an uncannily robust face. It was missing a nose, yet that didn't stop it from sniffing out the smell of fresh blood in Samir's veins.
Even the trees, which would usually have a line of sorrowful black ants and joyful red ants, lacked them around this behemoth. Yellow and green leaves of near autumn fell heavily without resistance from the wind.
It stomped, nearing the tree Samir was behind. It inched closer, but it didn't seem to identify him completely yet. Its face was that of a rotting leviathan on the body of a giant with odd proportions.
It walked by its two large hands and used its feet as support, as if it were some form of primate.
Samir peeked his eye out from the corner of the tree and made immediate eye contact with it.
His fingers trembled on the trigger. He was hesitant to do so, as he was frozen in shock at the sight of it.
Then, after a second of staring each other down, the beast's eyes flared, and it unhinged its ugly jaw, revealing rows upon rows of rotten teeth with ridges.
Slamming the ground with its large hands, it began to cry profusely, as if having a tantrum.
After spilling buckets of tears, it waited. It analyzed Samir, and its bones cracked with each grotesque movement it made.
All of a sudden, it charged like thunder toward him, unhinging its maw to the point where it could swallow Samir and the tree he hid behind.
Its pincers unfurled, intending to gore the Messenger of Mala.
Within that very second, Samir didn't hesitate any longer. He stepped back, pouring sweat. That didn't stop him.
He pressed the trigger with full force, nearly breaking it.
His eyes followed the hope of the flare, its red-and-black glory traveling toward the beast as it neared him.
In that instant—
The beast swallowed the flare head-on and was violently knocked back. It fell on its back as smoke clouded from its throat.
The flare had hit it in its open esophagus. The creature flailed its large arms, hoping to grab Samir as a last-ditch effort, but it simply looked like a child after having its toy taken away.
It coughed multiple times, gasping for air. Sprawling its body, it cried loudly as it rolled in agony. Tears spilled from the hollows of its eyes like dark rivers.
Its body convulsed, and it screamed as a sizzling sound emerged from inside it. Abruptly, its chest melted open, revealing a ribcage with a decomposing heart. The flare's effects ate at its organs, leaving only bones and bits of flesh behind.
After minutes of constant bellowing, it finally stopped. Samir came closer to it and kicked it to make sure it was dead.
Looking into its open chest cavity, its heart was the inverse color of a human's, as it had a greyish tint to it. Samir stared at it, nearly gagging, and the color reminded him of Malik's eyes.
He shook his head, mumbling to himself, "I shouldn't associate him with those things . . ."
Rubbing his eyes after seeing such an ugly sight, Samir pushed forward.
I must find the others. It's been too long, and now it's been made clear that this place is an uninhabited hellspawn. Nothing good will come out of it.
He moved forward, ignoring the beast, until he encountered it: the corpse which the beast held in its maw.
Its head was gone, and the blood had already dried on the body. It appeared to be an adult male, around the same size as Samir.
He didn't feel disgust; rather, a frown carved itself into his face. He put a hand on his heart and gave a moment of silence out of utter respect for the man.
You were probably a soldier like me, climbing up the ranks, but unfortunately you were never able to make it. Though I never met you, I promise I'll make it out of here for your sake.
Samir bowed. A tear began to form in his eyes, and he allowed it to run down his cheek.
Quickly, he gave one last glance at the corpse and moved forward. Shoving aside the thick bushes that were in his way, Samir felt his body cool as he saw a coast nearby.
A buzzing emerged from the distance. Rustling through more bushes, the ground beyond them was gouged, torn, and churned. Marks of man's footprints and the beast's footprints stood next to one another.
Samir smiled. The wind was warm, yet it smelled like blood. Small red droplets fell off the nearby leaves, seeping into his uniform.
He embraced the sight of the battle's aftermath and moved closer toward the buzzing.
Moving more greenery aside, he saw it: a tactical radio that sounded with muffled static.
Samir twisted a knob on the radio, and it made a loud screech until the audio finally picked up. He leaned closer to listen to it. The sun baked his skin as he waited for anybody on the other side.
After a minute of waiting, something finally picked up. It was a man's timid voice in a staticky tone.
"Amongst the undiscovered islands, there is one that has human cell traffic between the realms of Ishkana and Mala or Zi Jin Cheng. I have worked inside a team monitoring the island, and I declare that the island belongs to whoever has the will to take it!"
Then, a robotic feminine voice read a set of coordinates.
"44°04′04″N, 144°04′04″E."
The timid man paused as the audio was muffled. "I will send the coordinates to all databases via the realm-wide signal . . . T-this is . . . f-for m-my r-r-real-"
The audio cut out. Only the distant soft breeze that blew through the leaves remained.
Samir stood up, dusting off his military uniform, but he heard a harsh wave pass by. Looking at the coast, he saw something beyond it.
His heart jolted, and his muscles tensed. He saw the monolith that rested in the blue ocean.
Its long snout looked like a spear that could pierce him from afar, and its bulky structure was layered in chrome-steel alloy. People in complete armored uniforms stood at the bow.
Samir froze as he recognized it.
The Monolith of Messengers . . . I thought they were a myth.
A captain wearing a wide grey cape stepped forward and raised his hand to Samir.
He didn't know how to respond. It was surreal to him.
If I run, that'll be an admission of guilt. Maybe if I copy him, it'll look like I'm with them, as I understand their signals.
Samir merely raised his arm, mimicking the man's motion.
He waited for the captain's next movement.
Patiently.
The shade of the leaves above made his face hard to discern from this far away, but given the distance of the ship from Samir's position, the crew aboard the ship were little more than blurs.
He kept his arm raised as the people on the ship watched, analyzing his movements. Ultimately, the captain waved his arm, and the rest went back to their duties.
He only gave a faint thumbs-up, turned around, and motioned for the ship to move. In that instant, the ship turned around rapidly and went full throttle as it sliced through the waves with each rotation of its razor-like turbines.
Samir's heart nearly escaped his chest as he instantly ran away the second their focus was taken off him. His blood spiked heavily, giving him a boost of energy.
I imagined this island to be uninhabited . . . but if they found it already, there should be no reason for them to just leave.
From the tales I heard of the Monoliths, they were like stalkers, making their targets feel uncomfortable until they strike. But what happened just now makes no sense to me.
But that motion I did just now—since I don't know their signals—what in the world could I have told them by just raising my arm?
Samir ran for minutes, as the adrenaline hadn't run out yet. His heart beat wildly, but in his mind he sensed a ticking clock ever since he raised his arm.
The clock was like sand falling through an hourglass, and he ran faster, dodging thick trees and leaves as the timer raced him.
He could feel it catching up. Though his body could barely handle such a pace for a prolonged period, the image of the worst outcomes stapled itself into his psyche.
A dread pulsed through his veins, one he couldn't identify. The more he tried to think about what he did, the more it terrified him.
Then, he stopped and took a moment to breathe, but time didn't wait for him as it moved onward. Samir wiped the sweat off his face and dried himself with the sleeves of his uniform.
He repeated the mantra of the Messengers to himself once more, soothing his nerves again.
This should've been great news . . . the fact that the realms are arriving should make me ecstatic. Yet for some reason, that felt off. Not even for a second did I feel relief, even when I saw people from my own military.
I wonder if I should trust my gut, or if I'm just imagining things. After all, that golden book I looked into the other day really warped my way of thinking.
I should just lay down and let my brain rest, just for a minute. Yeah . . .
Back when I was in training, they drilled into our heads that the mind is the most important messenger, as it transports messages to oneself faster than any military can, so they say to guard it with your life.
Samir hummed, opening his airways, and practically meditated in the midst of the tall, dark forest. He enjoyed the presence of nature around him, as, for now, it allowed him to think.
The breeze wasn't too warm, nor too cold. Now it felt just right. It calmed him, as his thoughts slowly began to become coherent again.
After a second of thought, he laughed out loud, to the point where he coughed harshly. Nevertheless, he continued to cackle. He was in a sudden state of euphoria.
In this state, a whirr rang out. It sounded like the humming of the ship. Samir opened his eyes and listened closer to make sure his mind wasn't playing tricks on him.
Then, muffled screams emerged, echoing. They were echoes of familiar voices that Samir missed. He thought it to be an illusion, but he quickly stood up, not wasting the opportunity.
He didn't run; he tiptoed, carefully listening to make sure the voices he heard were not a figment of his imagination.
Making sure not to rustle a single leaf, his ears flared as his focus wavered. He removed the sound of all other intruding thoughts that would distract him, and solely paid attention to this very moment.
All of a sudden, the voice was all too clear.
"Stop!"
Two voices yelled, one masculine, one feminine. Samir instantly recognized them.
He raced faster than he had before, narrowly dodging trees and breaking any shrub that stood in his path.
The forest became darker, eerie, and ominous. Samir double-checked his surroundings to make sure he didn't accidentally enter a new biome.
Immediately, a cave ruptured into his vision that he didn't expect. He nearly ran into it, as it blended in so well with the environment.
He stared at the entrance, surrounded by darkness, a shadow that lurked like black tentacles, as if it were to grab one by the ankles and drag them away.
Then, he shook his head, cocked his flare gun, and entered it.
His heart skipped a beat.
Then another.
Dread.
Sorrow.
One second away.
Upon laying his eyes on it, he saw the image for a split second, and his finger instinctively pulled the trigger, launching the massive flare straight ahead.
Unfortunately, as soon as he pulled it, the flare gun dismantled right in his hands. Springs and bits of dilapidated plastic fell to the ground.
Samir saw the ball of red sparks travel toward it, but in that moment, he couldn't forget what he had just seen that made him fire.
A replicant. A machine that had the appearance of a man. It had paper-white skin and shiny metal pauldrons imprinted on its shoulders. It was ready to shoot its volvern cannon, connected to its arm, into Lias's face. Amaya and Kamil were helpless, only watching.
The replicant saw the flare and tried to move out of the way. It lifted its arm, attempting to shoot Samir with the black-green orb in the canister of its arm.
However, the flare landed. It dissolved the robotic figure of the replicant into liquid metal. It didn't scream nor resist. It gave a passive surrender as it melted in silence. Its face was too human, too real, yet it showed no emotion.
It then spoke, breaking up, "For the Head-Bear . . ."
It crashed, slowly closing its eyelids as the black-and-red liquid from the flare ate at its body.
The three turned their heads toward the opening of the cave. A glow in their eyes illuminated the cave as they saw him.
Unanimously, like children seeing their father return from war, they gleamed.
"Samir!"
The flare-wielding soldier of Mala ran up to them and held up Lias.
"What the hell happened here?"
Lias tried to answer, but he felt a sudden pain in his chest that he couldn't bear.
Kamil responded for him, his face breaking out of the shock.
"Lias accidentally triggered something in the cave wall, and then it opened a door right there." He pointed, his finger shaking.
Samir turned around and saw an open room leading to a white control room with silver-tiled floorboards.
Amaya added, "That thing came out . . . it apprehended us. Lias tried to fight it, and it went after him first." She reached into her white lab coat and frantically grabbed pieces of gauze from her pocket.
Looking at Lias, he had slash wounds on his neck, nearly piercing an artery. Samir stepped back, and Amaya carefully applied the gauze as Lias groaned. Eventually, the bleeding stopped.
Kamil slowly got up, barely recovering. He was pressed against the cave wall and cracked his back, still mumbling under his breath.
He followed Samir into the open room, which masked its appearance with the cave wall, attempting to blend in.
Lias spoke, tightly holding his chest.
"I-I felt the ridges of a door on the wall, and I-I heard that hum. I'm guessing that me pressing it set off some signal and opened it, leading to all this . . ."
He groaned in pain as Amaya finished applying the gauze. It looked like a collar wrapped around him.
"Can you move?" Amaya asked with a worried expression.
Lias nodded, slowly getting up as Amaya assisted him.
After a moment, they both entered the room after the others. Looking around, test tubes were sprawled about, and machinery and wires grazed their scalps as they traveled through it.
It wasn't necessarily a large room, but the sheer quantity of technology within it made their jaws drop. Blinking screens were placed in arrays, with different cameras exploring different angles.
Kamil stepped back.
"Before it started to attack us, I heard it press some button beforehand. After that, the air went warm, and it smelled odd. I have a feeling it released something."
Amaya peered at the test tubes of vast colors until she remembered something. She went out of the room and retrieved her blue cooler. Securing it inside the room, she asked,
"Should we close this door in case more of those things arrive?"
Samir stared at the screens and, below them, saw a keyboard with all kinds of characters in a military language.
He spoke out loud.
"This is Zi Jin Cheng's code phrasing . . . I learned a bit, but maybe if I-"
The screens all across the room warped into a new perspective.
They all transferred to videos of something soaring through the air gracefully.
White wings flapped on both sides of each screen. Some landed on branches and watched as some sort of thin yellow fog was released from the stumps of the trees.
A sudden robotic cry rang through the room as the cameras zoomed in on the gases being released.
Samir pressed a button that he believed to be a voice-command initiator. Pressing down on it, he avoided stuttering his words.
"Shift perspective to third person," he said firmly.
It warped once more, forming a whirlpool of images until it unblurred.
Then, they saw it.
A surge of fear entered their bodies as chills ran across them.
Lias laughed nervously.
"I knew it from the start . . ."
Kamil facepalmed.
"I wish you were wrong."
Amaya merely looked away, pretending that it wasn't there.
Samir simply stared in surprise.
On the screen, the seagulls stared directly at where the camera was placed.
They didn't cry mechanically.
They laughed mockingly.
All of them did.