Are you Ready?

Today, would be the day of change, for many many people. To the Island People, however, nothing different had happened that stirred their notice - just yet. The Tribal Kingdom living on the Islands, were only going about their normal daily routine. Now that it was high noon, they were out of their houses, kneeling before the Gods. It was a tradition that had been practiced for years, a demand passed on throughout the ages of human life, and it was expected to be followed. To disobey the traditions, was to go against the Gods. The Gods would surely devour someone, if they were not given the respect that they had earned with their long lives of living there. Every man, women or child there who belonged to the Kingdom, knelt, and prayed aloud, speaking in the language of the Ancients, to their Gods.

The giant structures seemed to stretch for miles if one were to be looking upwards towards where the Tribe's Shaman now made an appearance. A beautiful being covered in thin skins, exposing almost all of their body, now danced and hummed aloud at the opening of the main entrance. This was where the Tribe's leaders sat - the people responsible for speaking to the Gods. Beating drums and playing some steady music, others followed the Shaman's hums, with their own. All bowing their heads and looking upwards towards where the dancing Shaman stood.

The Shaman had no shoes on, and pranced about with braces around their ankles. They were made of sea shells and animal bones, much like the arm bands, hand and finger pieces and necklaces they wore were. At the top of the Shaman's head, was a massive skull with two huge horns - most likely a ram or goat skull from the forests down below. Behind it, and attached to it were massive feathers, ripped off some kind of huge bird, or a Wyvern that had feathers.

The Shaman's eyes were covered, shielded by their long, flowing white hair, that moved with their swaying body, and the winds brought on from nature herself. The Shaman's hands and arms swayed, and as they moved, the skins covering their body, moved slightly too. This Shaman was pale, sheet-white for having been out in the sun as much as the people had. Unable to make out the Shaman's gender, the people beneath them continued to chant their daily chant, and hum their vibrant hums to the Gods surrounding them.

The people would continue praying, following their Shaman - until something would force them to stop. When the Shaman pulled back their headdress to reveal eyes of a pale blue, it was clear to see through their markings - that amazement, was to be had. There, just beyond the Shaman's vision, and circling around over the trees about a mile or two from their reach - was the Skybird.


"Look! Over there!" People said, the Shaman gesturing and pointing, getting to their knees to pray and thank the God for his appearance. The people did the same, and then they all got up a moment later.

Another person appeared, this one being the Tribe Leader. People stood immediately, then all bowed at the same time. The Shaman stopped their dance, and slid to his knees, bowing his face to the flooring, in which their Leader stood. Nothing needed to be said, but by the Leader's spear being pointed towards the direction of the God, it was clear what needed to be done.

Someone was here, and that someone - had attracted their God's attention. Obviously, the Kingdom, needed to see just who, had smashed into their island this time....

It was a ship like no other. One to have been built better, faster, stronger than any ship built before. An homage to such a technological pearl of the century. A ship which could easily carry a couple thousand people, not including the crew itself. This would be its maiden voyage, a cruise liner heading and stopping at some of the most beautiful ports in the world; reserved for only a few. A thousand people were allowed passage onto this ship for its first time. Most of the people aboard were rich, able to pay the handsome few to board such a vessel, few were lucky winners of draws and raffles, tournaments and challenges, to gain access to such a prize. The voyage was making headliners everywhere, no other ship had, had such a following since the Titanic sailed many, many years ago. There were endless buffets of whatever your heart desired, plenty of forms of entertainments, bars, clubs, shows, you name it this glorious ship had it. This was a luxury liner to be desired. No spare expense was made, anything you wanted to do, was on this ship. Pools lined the sides of the boat, some small, the size of hot tubs, others, like the one on the back) wrapped for what seemed like forever, all made out of glass so it gave the impression you were swimming over nothing and could see directly below. Parts of the water the ship would travel through were so crystal clear that you could go towards the bottom levels of the ship and look out its large glass windows to see the sea life all around the ship. Dinner theater was held every night, you could go, sit and watch an entertaining live show all while enjoying whatever you desired off a seemingly endless menu. There wasn't a drink you couldn't have at any bar, any restaurant, even room service. The ship had its own mall where, once you hit a certain area over seas, everything was tax free and you could spend all that you wished for. If you had spent to much, you could try your hand at gambling in one of the casino's to attempt to win your money back, win even more, or lose it all.

This was a dream-liner. The largest and first of its kind.

The ship had been out sailing for a couple days already, the passengers living their dreams to be too worried as to where the ship was heading, careless to the notion that it may have gone off course. These were not worries to be held by the passengers, rather they were there to enjoy themselves and nothing more. Among these passengers, a set of twins, a male and female both with vibrant red hair and eyes, unnatural as they may be, they were born with it. Along with them, family friends who had shared in the company. One tall and rather depressing, always wearing nothing but black, he was the richest of the four and happened to by them all tickets to this luxury liner, for whatever his reason may have been to go to such an expense. The fourth, always seemed to be adorn in golds and yellows, shining where ever he had gone.

They had lived it up on this island, always out having fun. Careless to their actions and only living for the moment. Who knew when they would be able to sure in such pleasures again? This was certainly a once in a lifetime experience.

About four days into such a pleasure cruise, the day had been like any other. Most were off doing various activities on the boat, whether that be eating, excersizing dancing, partying, drinking, whatever; when the waves began to get a little rough. This was nothing out of the ordinary for the open water. Fact of the matter was, all passengers were told before boarding, and after boarding, the ship that while on open waters, the ship would do routine checks on the engine, which included testing the speeds, so the ride may have gotten a little bumpy, so no one thought anything of it. That was, until it had gotten a little to rough and passengers began to have a hard time standing on their own. (Not including the drunken passengers who had long already fallen and were unable to stand up) The boat had begun rocking back and forth as the sizes of the waves began to pick up with it. There was no such warning, no sign of any storm, no other boat that could have possibly (though unlikely) cause such waves. Soon enough, the waves sent the boat into uncontrollable thrashes and rocks that sent many things, and people, over board. Tables, chairs, umbrellas, food, people, you name it, things started to fall off the ship as it began to nearly tip over with every blast of a wave. Then, the ship started to fall apart, the smoke stacks, wires, lights, all started snapping, some of the wiring swung so fast, so quick it sliced through people without a pause, killing many of the passengers atop. Smoke stacks began snapping, splitting in half and tumbling down onto the ship, crushing anyone it landed on. They rolled over the ship, breaking and crushing anything in their path until with one fierce rock, they too fell off the ship, sinking deep into the depths of the water.

The waves were unrelentlessness and only became more fierce. That was when something collided with the middle of the ship. In the chaos, no one saw what it may have been, maybe a rock, maybe a whale, maybe one of the smoke stacks, no one knows for certain. Yet, whatever it was, tore a hole through the ship. The sound it made was sickening, crunching, peeling, metal shredding apart lie cheese on a grater. It was louder than any of the screams echoing from whatever survivors were left.  But the torment didn't end simply there. There had come another crash, the ship hit something else, or something had hit it, and tore through the boat once more. However, even before the ship could properly react a large wave capsized the ship, sending it over on its side. Many would drown, sink down with the ship and never be seen again. Some would grasp onto whatever objects remain floating and hope that the waves wouldn't catch them and send them down with the ship. Others would black out, be washed away, never knowing if they would survived or drown.

If you had been lucky, so to speak, you would have washed up on an island not so very far away, where you would wake up; hopefully not too injured to move.

All the while, if you could stand still long enough, fight the crushing waves, the rocking boat, the death by flailing wires. If you could stare at the water for more than a few minutes, you may have been able to see what lay underneath. Perhaps if you were on the bottom level of the ship, where you would, without a doubt, die when the ship sunk; you could have possibly seen something swimming through the water. Something much larger than any ship ever built. Something so ancient, something so unbelievable, no matter how long you stared at it, you wouldn't believe you weren't in a nightmare. A leviathan, swimming deep below the water, raising only high enough that its fins, with a single push, created the waves that tore the boat, that its rock solid body was what collided with the ship not once, but twice, causing it to sink. Surely, it was something out of a nightmare and nothing real at all, right?

Of the first to wash up on the shore, were a set of lads, with brightly-colored hair. Though, in this particular moment however, it was surely far from bright anymore. Least, not with all that seaweed on it. Axel and Siax dragged their selves upwards and onto the beach, coughing and throwing up sea water, that had found its way into their lungs. Axel then got to his feet, only to collapse a moment later, onto some kind of raft that had been torn completely apart and flatted. His companion Siax, crawled up to his mate, and coughed, laying down on the male with the red hair.

"A-Axel, w-what are we gonna d-do?" He asked, shaking and shivering. The water had been cold, and even in the sun, they weren't warming up fast enough.

Axel wrapped an arm around his boyfriend, and peered up at the catty male. "Hey, at least we're alive. Heh, what we will do, is lay here for at least ten more minutes, and then fucking get up and see if anyone else made it." He said, wincing but still managing a light laugh. Axel wasn't about to tell Siax, that he was positive he had several broken ribs. Right then, he was just thankful he was alive.

"R-Right... yeah..."

Not far from the two males, was another male, who had lost his brother to the crash. This was a man with black hair, and sad, sad hazel eyes. He punched the beach angrily, furious that somehow he hadn't much more than scratches on him. His brother's body lay a few feet from him, covered with a torn-up tarp, and this man's sweater. He cursed loudly as he cried, then halted and sucked in his tears - when he heard the voice of someone else.

"Heeeeeeeelp! Please someone! Heeelp meeee!"

Shadow looked up from his brother's body, and got to his feet, immediately scanning the area. All around were floating bodies, and some people swimming to shore. But the screaming that caught his attention was a bit further out - and it was coming from a kid. Not even wasting a moment, he dove back into that water that had killed his brother, desperately trying to save the little boy who was about to drown in the sea. Moving his arms and hands through the water, he fought the rough currents and dove under them when needed. When he surfaced for air he could see the boy, trapped in some sort of fishing net probably used to hold the rafts or catch huge game.

"Shit! Hold on kid - hold on!" He yelled, doing his best to make it there faster. It wasn't until he saw the boy's head go under, that his heart skipped a beat, then raced. "FUCK!"

Shadow dove beneath the water again, swimming faster now. The little boy wasn't strugging anymore, and was probably wrapped in the netting. He did his best to grab at it, missing a few times before he got lucky. Reaching around to his pants, he felt around and thanked the skies above, that his knife had still been attached to his utility belt. Cutting the netting away he was able to grab the kid, and swim with him back to the shore. As soon as he got there, he did whatever he knew how to get that kid to wake up and throw up the water stuck in his throat.

Axel and Siax saw what was going on, and made it to where Shadow and this boy was now. Both helped guide Shadow into proper CPR, and then when the kid came back to life, everyone breathed a sigh of relief.

"Hey, good job man. Good fucking job." Axel said, offering the mysterious man a hand. He helped Shadow to his feet, while watching Siax sit the boy up. "The name's Axel. What's yours mate?"

"Auran, but... everyone calls me Shadow. It's a long story." Shadow replied, bending at the knees to catch his breath. "Who's, you?" He asked, stupidly gesturing to the other male who looked kinda girly for being a male.

"I'm Siax, Axel's boyfrien-"

"He's just a buddy of mine, don't mind him." Axel said, preparing mentally for gay comments. But to his shock, Auran said nothing of the sort.

"Thanks for the help guys, appreciate it." Shadow said, nodding to them. He walked over to the kid, and messed up his blond hair. "Hey there kiddo, what's your name?" He asked with a half-hearted smile.

"I'm... A-Ayase..." The boy said almost sadly.

"Ayase, you got some parents with ya, or anything?" Siax asked, gently holding the kid upright.

The boy shook his head and sniffled. "Nope... they all died.. I seen the smoke thing fall on the table where they sat." He began to cry, bursting into tears immediately. Siax and Axel looked at each other solemly, then sighed, feeling horrid.

Shadow took the boy's hand, and softly explained to him that he also lost someone. His brother. He explained to the lad that everyone there had probably lost somebody, but that they would try to contact someone, somehow, to get them all safely home. He picked the kid up and set him atop his shoulders, offering Axel and Siax a hand to their feet to follow him. Together the four of them walked towards the other people, coming off of the crash sight. What they would all see.. would have been as bad as pure bloodshed.

And if that wasn't bad enough - there was a pair of eyes miles into the skies above, that watched them now. Silently, slicing through the air, the Skybird, peered down at them all. Thankfully, like it had for most animals, the billowing smoke from the parts of the ship still left burning, currently kept him in the air, away from them. Besides, it wasn't the Skybird, that they would have to worry about just yet.

The crashing of water rang in his ears still or perhaps he was no longer awake. It seemed like it had happened to fast and before he’d known it he was battling the water, crying for his friend without knowledge if they were in the water with them or if the ship was dragging them down into the deep. He hadn’t known what to do, he’d tried so hard to swim but it seemed like the waves were timed against him, they threw water into his mouth whenever he came up to breath. Yet it didn’t stop him swimming, he kept going until slammed against a rock he was knocked unconscious with the screams of those sinking into the deep ringing in his ears.

The sand was rough on the blondes skin, as he opened his eyes they stung with the salt water. It was shallow here, he found he could kneel in the water and stare down at it. The coughing came suddenly however, throwing water up out of his lungs until it felt he was never going to get to take a breath in again, was he in hell? Was this his punishment? Eventually his breath found him however and he sat back on his feet, staring across the beach with dull eyes. Where he was, it was a mystery to him. In the water bodies bobbed lifeless at the will of the waves… yet… he was alive, among all these dead he was alive. Turning his head he looked back to see, the waves brought other bodies… Sebastian, was he among them. Stomach churning he pulled himself to his feet wandered to the nearest body and gripped its arm. Then began to drag. Over and over body after body he dragged them into a line in search.

He didn’t care how sodden his clothes were, he didn’t care that his throat burned with salt, he just wanted to find out if he was alone. Yet everybody he pulled out of the water was dead, the water had sucked warmth from their body and even CPR would most likely not bring them back. Somewhere down the beach he could hear yelling, people, he wasn’t alone. Yet… it wasn’t his friends voice so he just kept searching not knowing why he was bothering to try anyway. It wasn’t like they would be a help to him, knowing ‘Bastian he’d probably just lie on the beach and whine about how hard life is. It was then that he spotted him, splayed on their side, hair a mess around them moving in the water as it flowed back past him. Dead? Matt abandoned the other bodies, took no notice of the man further down the beach that was just crawling out of the water and quickly rolled his friend onto their back. Their one good eye stared back at him weakly.

‘Bas had thought he was dead, cold, miserable dead. For a few minutes now after having struggled ashore he’d simply lain there watching other bodies drift ashore. Everything felt so heavy and cold, it all ached from attempting to fight. Why had he bothered, he was going to die anyway. But now Matt was there standing over him, clutching at his clothes and saying something that, ‘but we’re dead’ he thought not bothering to move. Too tired to move he didn’t want too. Wait… Matt was pulling at his jacket and had now tossed it aside… arms linked under his own and he was dragged up the beach. Hypothermia, that was the problem here. The sand was warmer than that water though, through his shirt he could feel its dim heat and tried to wriggle deeper into that warmer.

It was a minute or two until the numbness wore off, looking down the beach he spent his time watching a tall man in a fancy coat purple pull seaweed from his slivery hair. The man seemed strangely familiar yet he couldn’t put his tongue on who they were. If only he could see their face. They were walking towards them now loudly complaining about something or another and managing to grab some determination of his own he pushed himself to sitting. Immediately his blond friend had him in a death grip hug though. Still Matt didn’t seem to have noticed the man who had joined them. Standing over them hands on hips they hmpfed loudly. ”Excuse me, now you’re little reunion is done would either of you care to tell me where I am. I need to have a shower and get into some new clothes. This is absolutely unfabulous.”

And there we go the name popped into ‘Bastian’s mind and before his friend could tell the other man to fuck off he reached out to pull at their trousers.
”Do you think we know where we are? Hang your clothes over a branch and loot some bodies for clothes if you really need too.” he was surprised by how rough and quiet his voice with. The salt water must of not done him much good either, ”Hmm, you certainly have a point there. I’m Maximillion Pegasus, whom may I ask are you and why did I have to be stranded on an island with you.”

Pegasus was not at all pleasured with this situation, he himself was not a terribly good swimmer, he knew how too of course but didn’t like to do so because the whole gasping for breath thing seemed so horribly unfabulous. To avoid swimming he’d clung to some debris which to his luck had taken him to the island without much effort. In fact he didn’t feel that exhausted at all just, very, very grumpy. He really should of known that a ship that would be doing testing would have a risk of doing this but nooooo he just had to go out of his way to buy a ticket for this fantastic, phantasmal, dream fulfilling ship. Slowly the blond boy helped his friend to stand and Pegasus rested his hands on his hips, one did one of them half to be taller than him. ”Matt… my names Matt.” the blond mumbled. Why, these two looked like commoners, then again the blond was wearing a rather nice suit so perhaps not. ”Sebastian…” the other muttered.

Pegasus simply stared at the two strangers.

Tall boy ‘Bastian was missing an eye, his long hair the opposite colour to Pegasus’ own. The clothes he wore made them look like someone who’d normally be a rebellious teenager type but the pale of their skin and blue of their lips made it clear they weren’t exactly fit to be doing that shit at the moment. The blond however, he looked like a ladies man, while at the same time… at least in the current situation, he looked like a stern caregiver it was hard to place a label on them actually so he gave up. Pegasus imagined he himself looked just as bad. ”We’re not the only ones alive.” the blond responded to Pegasus’ staring, ”I heard some yelling earlier, somewhere further down the beach, I just had to find Sebastian first. Just to know.”

Pegasus turned his gaze down the beach, not alone then, that was good. ”How about you two find yourselves some other clothes? Well actually all that you’ll find is going to be wet isn’t it. Gather some anyway. No use wasting clothes on the dead. Besides, might find some nice stuff among them, we could sell it when someone comes to rescue us, oh yes that will be simply delightful. I already can smell the wine I’ll buy.”

The rich man stared down the beach and the two watched him blankly, it was comforting to know that weren’t alone but still, if they were going to be stuck with that fool ‘Bastian was already thinking about throwing himself back in the ocean.

The people of the Island would move fast though the forested areas. They just had to know what the Skybird was watching. Had to. By now the God was low enough that it was possibly seen, though everyone on the ground, seemed to worry more about each other, than be looking up into the skies above. The bird remained strangely silent, as though it were just observing the newcomers for now. Circling around the island it maneuvered slowly yet effortlessly, flying around, covered in island, and moss. The Tribe took the initiative to go exploring, preparing to get close to these strange people they'd never seen before. Surely, there had been others - that had crashed into one of the many Islands there. All of them had been dealt with. Fed to the Gods, sacrificed, or enslaved and forced to breed for the Tribes people. All depended on what was needed, and what the Tribe's Gods, were up to.

The Tribe Leader, remained back in the ancient structures that were built some strange amount of years ago. There, he sat atop a massive stone throne, the Shaman in between his legs, facing his lap. Dancing or making strange gestures, and doing whatever it took to appease the Leader. Standing guards with strange animal hides or the armor of the Flyers (animals that flew through there, generally looking more Draconian), stood there on either side of the Leader, only watching and making sure no one else unfamiliar was present.

A moment or so later, a massive set of shadowy wings blotted out the sun, and flew over the two towers that belonged to the Tribe Leader. The two towers were so massive, that they linked two islands together, making it easy, for the islands to cross one another, and work together under the same Lead. A massive blue Wyvern flew overhead, and landed before the Tribe Leader, a rider atop his back. The rider was dressed similarly to the Shaman, just her hair, was the color of the skies.

Sliding down off of the beast she only gently patted his head, and whispered in a strange tongue to the Wyvern. The beast lowered it's head, then moved to one side, and slapped away a guard, that got too close. The girl strode over to the Leader barefoot, wearing nothing but something to just cover her waist, and multitudes of blue and green feathers atop her head. She had on a bone necklace, and her long light-sapphire hair, was left to cover most of her chest, where the harness she wore, just barely had. As she approached, the Shaman got to their feet, and then bowed to the Rider, and Dragon Whisperer (As they called her in the Tribe). He got to his knees, and leaned over, and kissed her feet, which only touched tribal grounds lest she not riding her sacredly trained beast.

The Rider softly ran her fingers through the Shaman's hair, offering them to stand, and then adhere to a slight embrace. The Shaman then silent wandered back into the massive room, that was located behind the Tribe Leader's throne of sorts. It was a room for their Leader to rest, along with his closest companions or guards.

The Dragon Whisperer walked over to the Leader, her hips naturally in sway with her body. Gently, and seductively, she climbed into the Leader's lap, facing him, and lifting his giant multi-colored Devil Mask. When she looked upon his blazing blue eyes she smiled, and gently kissed him with complete and utter passion.

"What will you have me do with our new Sacrifices, my love?" She would ask, in their strange language. She turned her face to kiss the side of his, slowly resting her hands atop his broad shoulders. "The Skybird is alert, and watching them, but he doesn't seem to wish to attack them. Perhaps we shouldn't?" She wondered, softly into his ear.

The Tribe Leader looked upon the female, and his searing glaze met hers. "We don't befriend the Outsiders. They were sent here from the Gods, to become sacrifices." He hissed, his long fangish teeth showing with threat. "Go. Blend with them, and lead them to us. The Gods are only testing us, waiting for us... to make our move before them." He said with a harsh and heavy tone.

The girl looked on from the Leader, out into the skies above, watching the Skybird. "Does our Leader, think that the Skybird wishes for collection of some? Perhaps anything of value to the Leader, or the God himself?" She purred, gently nuzzling the side of the Lead's neck.

The Tribe Leader would smirk, and turn the girl's face to his. "Bring them all before me. Those who fight, are to be executed. But. I would prefer, that they all meet the Sacrificial Stones, here, before us. I will take ones who... appease to my nature. Or, if there are females. The tribe could use more of them." He hissed, licking the side of the girl's face, smearing one of her bluish markings. "There are things, from the last crash, in the Tombs, go and get them. Perhaps if you dress like one, they will better trust you, my dear." He sneered.

The female giggled, happy to be suggestive to her Lead, and kissed his forehead. "Very well. I will do as you ask, and bring back those who are at the mercy of my capture." She purred.

"When the sun is down, I wish your presence. And the presence of our General, who seems to have eluded us once again. Find him, but bring back the Sacrifices that you can capture. And do not risk yourself, or the Grand Wyvern." He demanded, very seriously.

The female nodded. "As you wish, my love."

The girl walked over to the Grand Wyvern, whose name was 'Valefor' which meant 'Wyvern of the Tribe' or something to that ideal. It was said, that every thousand years, a Grand Wyvern was born, and given the ability of possessing both genders and breeding Asexually. These special Wyverns had the ability to produce many other Wyverns, just they were far smaller in size once they grew up. This one whose rider happened to be female, was only a few hundred years in age, and somewhat temperamental depending on his day. Valefor, like the Shaman that no one knew much of, was mostly male, but possessed the ability to have children (having the birth passage that made them female as well).

The girl climbed onto the Wyvern, and together they fell over the edge, and spiraled downwards, then caught themselves last minute, to travel over to the Tombs, rather far below. Grazing trees, they eventually landed, where the smaller female, was able to wander inside. She found a pile of things from the previous Sacrifices, and smiled, but then got confused. What would she wear? The girl found a white and pale-blue dress, and figured it was worthy, as it matched the skies above, much as her hair did. Walking out of the Tombs, she then walked around the back of them, to the river that ended in a waterfall with a pond. All of which, was heated and steaming. Valefor would return to the skies, occasionally watching his Rider, making sure she was under no threat of attack.

The blue-haired female then washed off her markings, making herself look like a 'normal human' - whatever that was. She wandered out of the stream fully naked, then slipped the dress on once her hair was dry. Braiding her hair to one side (the left side), she snapped her fingers and released a strange call, seeking out her beast. Minutes later Valefor took her to the skies, and they vanished.

The girl would reappear on her lonesome, completely unarmed and sitting atop a rock on the beach. She looked like a survivor, one with nothing but a white-blue dress on. It was somewhat skin-tight towards the top, then longer towards the bottom. Her hair remained tied up, and she allowed the dress to get wet from the beach water just enough to make it look like she'd been on the ship.

Meanwhile, Valefor would be moving through the trees or hiding in the tallest of them, watching, and making sure she was alright. This was a dangerous mission for the girl, but she had the experience to back it up, so the Tribe Leader remained hopeful.

When her eyes opened, she was staring straight up at the sky, right into the sun. Groaning, she closed her eyes once more and rolled over, getting a mouth full of sand. She cursed and slowly sat upright spitting the sand out and wiping off her mouth with her forearm, which only produced more sand on her face. Are you kidding me? She thought to herself and stood. Turning, she walked for the water and used that to clean off her face before she stood upright and decided to take a look around the area to see what had happened and where she was. She eyed the island behind her and sighed running a hand through her blaze red hair. Of course, she had no idea where they were, or even where they were heading too while they were on the boat.

Yes. The boat. She remembered the events on the boat and shuddered. Yet, thought crossed her mind and she was suddenly looking around, for someone or something.

"RA!" She heard her name call and she turned towards it breathing a sigh of relief. There coming towards her was a male, he had somehow lost his shirt in the accident and was wearing nothing but his pants. Running up to him, she hugged him and breathed yet another sigh of relief. "I'm so happy you're alright." He said and she backed away smiling brightly.

"Yea, I am glad you're alright too. But, where's Darcia?" She asked and he frowned slightly shaking his head. "We need to find him, we can't leave him on his own. Who knows, maybe there are other survivors too." He nodded and they started walking down the beach, looking for anyone or anything. Unfortunately, all they found as they walked were the remains of bodies, and some body parts from the sinking. She frowned as did he, but they didn't give up their search for their other friends.

"So, where did you wake up?'

"About half a mile down the other way. I thought I lost you on the boat, you ran away so fast."

"I was trying to get to one of the boats hoping we could get off there before it snapped in half but..." She trailed off with a frown and paused her step looking towards the water. "I didn't make it and got thrown overboard. Last thing I remember, I was being pulled under water, then I woke up on this beach. Bennu was right with me the whole time and now..." She looked over at him and panicked for a moment. "What if both of them are dead?!"

"Relax, we'll find them, I am sure." He said trying to smile and comfort her, though he knew it would do very little.

Somewhere down the beach...

"Fuck." Bennu growled pushing something heavy off of him and standing up. "Darica, get up." He said pushing his side and he groaned, slowly moving to sit up.

"Where are we?" He asked forcing himself to a stand and Bennu shook his head looking around. "Better yet, where is RA and Cain?" He asked looking over at Bennu who shrugged, then stood brushing the sand off of his clothes.

"No point in standing around chatting about it, come on we should go find them." He said picking a random direction and started walking that way, with Darcia close behind.

They walked for sometime before they saw two others heading there was, two small dots in the distance slowly growing bigger as they walked closer to one another. Soon enough, a smile came to Bennu's face as he watched one of the two start running towards them. Before any words could be said, RA tackled Bennu to the ground which elicited a chuckle from Darcia.

"Glad you two are safe." Cain said shaking Darcia's hand who nodded in return.

"Glad you guys are too. So...now that we found one another, what are we going to do?"

"Keep walking, find shelter, find other survivors? We shouldn't stand around either."

"And food, we need food." Bennu said standing and helping RA stand with him.

"He's got a point, I am hungry."

"Alright then, let's do that." He said and they all nodded in agreement before they continued walking down the beach. In hopes that they would find others, shelter and possibly any food that might have washed up on the beach with them. Hopefully, all before it got to dark.

The girl that sat atop a rock fingered her long hair, and got up, to look around. There were people coming towards her, that of which she did not know. Thankfully, throughout the years, the girl had read and taught herself more than enough English, to have spoken it correctly. She also had some of the Sacrifices teach and read it to her, before they were given to the great Gods. She looked up, and took notice of the Skybird, who landed somewhere atop the island, becoming part of it once again. Perhaps, this is what he wanted - was for her to intervene. She wandered the beach, her feet going deep into the sand. It wasn't until she decided to stand in the water - that someone dared to show up nearest shore. A few people, actually.

"H-Hey! Hey, are you okay? Were you from the wreck too?" Shadow, a male with all-black clothing on, black and brown hair with white streaks, came over to ask her. The girl watched his eyes almost confusedly, so he backed off just a bit. "We're just trying to find survivors. Are you hurt?" He asked.

The girl looked past him with her large blue eyes, and noted a male with red hair, one of blue hair, and then a young boy between them, with light golden hair and huge sea-colored eyes.

"They're just friends. I'm Auran, but everyone calls me Shadow. That's Ayase, and those two lads are Axel and Siax. They washed up here too." Shadow explained carefully.

"So, I see." The girl said, watching them closely. She was unaware of how antisocial she was being, or of how strange she might have been acting or sounding.

"Would you like to come with us? We're on our way to building shelter somewhere out on the beach. Supposedly others are going to be doing the same. Kinda like a big family screwed by unfortunate events. Cell phones and signals aren't reaching, and the ship sank and has like nothing to gather intel with, so we're kinda forced into making this our home - until rescue finds us." Axel explained, gesturing for the girl to follow them.

"Which hopefully they will, but it's not completely possible, if the ship's beacon is at the bottom of the ocean." Siax groaned.

"Yeah, we're really hoping someone finds us." Shadow said with a sigh. At this point, with how fast everything was happening, he knew it to be unlikely. Shadow knew a bit about how the world worked, and how easily one could be made to disappear...

Blu walked over to the boy, and crouched down in front of him to look upon him. He was beautiful, and somewhat shy from the looks of it. She gently ran her hands through his hair, earning a stare from Axel and Siax that went from each other, just to Shadow. Axel put a hand on Ayase's shoulder, almost protectively, and gripped him slightly.

"You ever have kids before, Miss?" Axel wondered.

The girl stood up and looked at him. "Have I? Oh yes, I do believe I have." She replied, making Siax's face just turn weird.

"English is so not your native language is, it?" Shadow chuckled, and then the two other guys figured it out and rolled their eyes. She was from another country! Clearly! My how wrong they actually were. She probably had a concussion too, from the crash, which would easily explain her derpy behaviors.

Blu smiled and looked at them. "Afraid not, shall we - go to the home then?" She asked. They nodded, and she became a part of their little fraction, with ease.

They had no idea, that the entire time they wandered over to the beach to start finding wood and things to build with - that a watchful pair of eyes, was gazing at them from the very trees they started to cut down. It was with this set of eyes, that perhaps two were watching from, an unexplained mystery of the Ancients who thrived there on that set of Islands. Carefully now, the eyes would watch Blu among the others, making damn sure she wasn't hurt by any one of these folk who'd landed here unfortunately. People would surely have a very nasty rude awakening, were any harm to come to her.

Valefor snorted from the trees abve, and continued to sight-share with the Tribe Leader.

Further down the beach bodies were being stripped, their clothes carefully hung on tree branches on the edge of the forest to dry. Those that were brightly coloured were hung higher up in the hopes that by doing so the colours would catch the attention of any passing ships. Pegasus of course even contemplating helping, he was a much higher status than the two shivering boys. ‘Bastian wrung out his jacket, the water ran down his arms just making him even colder, lucky for him the jacket was black so hopefully it would dry a little quicker than some other items that were dangling on the branches. Shoes off he wandered back and forth from bodies, each time getting a little more covered in sand much too his dissatisfaction.

They’d barely started on this self-assigned task yet he felt so exhausted. His hands shook and he could barely keep his eye open making him stumble on occasion. Swimming when you’re underweight, well it was a bad idea, at least being him since despite no longer feeling numb he just felt so slow and useless. Perhaps lying back down in the tide and letting it take him would be a better course of action then trying to be saved. Matt had piled some of the bodies up and was muttering something about burning them, the smoke would make a good signal fire right. ‘Bastian simply nodded and took the hair tie that was handed to him. The thing was soaked but at least it would stop his hair from making him all the more blind.


As they worked Matt kept a constant stream of talking on, he’d found a flask of whiskey in someone’s pocket as well so had downed that in the hope of placating his nerves but it had only made him talk all the more. At least it had made him feel warmer and was making stripping bodies a much more relaxing activity than it could have been. ‘Bas watched him as he did his own work, the blond would occasionally snicker inappropriately whenever he removed clothing from the dead. Well at least he was finding something amusing about this situation. Hair that had escaped ‘Bastian crude attempt hair tying was batting against his face, it kept distracting him. Too lazy, too tired… he didn’t want to bother attempting to  tie it up again. Pegasus was reluctantly picking at the pockets of bodies now, complaining loudly that it was ‘crude’, ‘unseemly for someone as fabulous as him’. ‘Bastian had to keep himself from throwing a rock at them.

”Sebastian, found something for you.” Matt called, he’d found a metal container in one of the dead’s pockets. The contents was still dry surprisingly. He didn’t appreciate or prompt the fact his friend smoked on occasion but he thought that perhaps, even if it was just a couple, it would calm the other a bit. They seemed calm enough in the first place but, well it was the thought that counted, working together that sort of shit. ‘Bastian slumped next to him taking the container and shoving it in his pants. ”No use without a lighter, find me a working one and I’m the girl for the next month.” ‘Bas mumbled in an attempt at humour.

Pegasus had wandered back to the treeline now, someone’s phone in his hands he was angrily trying to make it work. There was no signal of course and the two boys watched him spit threats at the object. It seemed so… against his persona that the two couldn’t help but to stare for a while until the man marched off into the woods.

”I’ll take that offer. Look… this seems kind of pointless, do you just want to do some pocket checks then burn this lot… if we can find a lighter in the first place to start a fire that is.” Matt was tapping the empty flask against his knee and ‘Bas looked at it with some amount of longing, he was still cold so alcohol would make his hypothermia come back at this point. Pulling his gaze away he made a slight nod only to be interrupted by a thumb pressing against the corner of his mouth, ”Taste it if you want I wiped up what was left but I dunno when the next time either or us is going to have a chance to have a proper drink so you might as well get a taste.” it was a bit of a strange gesture but ‘Bas took in and chewed lightly on his friends thumb. He was surprised they were letting him do this, plus the whole kind of concept of it was a bit strange.

”All I taste is salt.” ‘Bastian mumbled taking Matt’s hand from his mouth and moving it over his shoulders. ”I think we should head inland, try to find some water. Just gather what you’ve already found.” his gaze stuck to the sand this time, from the corner of his vision he saw Matt get to his feet and felt the back of his shirt get tugged on.

”We should find a bag first, I want to load up some clothing, I don’t want to find out later that this place gets fuck cold at night and only have what’s on my back.”

‘Bastian pushed himself to his feet, nodding he began wandering the shoreline with his partner. Checking the pockets of the dead until they found a bag of use, it was a dull green duffle bag, probably a bit of a pain to be carrying around but it would fit plenty of stuff. The two began shoving stuff into it, a lighter was obtained and they piled up the stripped bodies. Jewellery was removed off of others with the thought of what the man Pegasus had said earlier about selling stuff once they got rescued. They made a crude pier with driftwood and whatever they could find from outskirts of the forest before setting to pile alight. It took a bit of work to get it really going and the smell was putrid but neither seemed to care. These people were dead and they couldn’t do anything about it.

Besides if this saved them then certainly the families of the people wouldn’t care.

”So into the forest?”

”For water and shelter.”

”If things go well we could imagine we’re on a fantasy island get away.”

”Only if I find more alcohol.”

The group had walked on for a while before they stopped to take a break, stopping at a tree line before the beach.  RA sat on the ground beside Bennu while the other two looked around. They hadn't found anyone or anything and all four of them began to grow hungry.

"Let's split up. Two of us set up camp, two of us try to find something to eat." RA suggested and they all agreed to it. Bennu and RA disappeared into the woods while Cain and Darcia attempted to figure out how to set up camp.

"So, how are we going to find food? Not like we have any tools to kill anything." Bennu asked and RA was silent thinking. To be honest, she had no idea at all what to find, not like she had to ever do this before. At least, not since she was a kid and was a girl scout, but even then it was more about making things, sewing things, girly things. Her brother, Bennu spent most of the time lounging around so he knew little as well. "What about these?" He asked and she looked over. They were berries, but she did know, and so did he, some berries were poisonous.

"Grab them, I guess, we will try to find others or something else and see if they know if it's safe to eat or not." She said and he nodded picking them off. They continued searching through the woods, looking for anything, finding a couple more berries and grabbing them, as they did so.

"This is ridiculous, I can't believe--"

"Shh." She said cutting him off suddenly and looking around.

"What?"

"Shut up, listen." She said and he looked around to not hearing anything. "We should get moving, like now." She said quickly, turned and began heading back towards the beach at a hurried pace. Confused, he began to follow. They moved quick through the trees before she suddenly stopped, raised an arm and stopped him too. She stared hard into the treeline before them and didn't move.

Bennu, still confused as ever looked at her then the treeline. Then he heard it, a rustling, something big in the trees before them. Neither of them knew what to do so they stood as still as they could and hoped it would move past them. Birds suddenly shot up towards the sky which caused them to jump and watch them fly away. Still, they knew they weren't alone.

"How far away from the beach do you think we are?" Bennu asked in a whisper and she didn't answer, still stared hard into the treeline. "Come on, maybe we can go around whatever is there." He said grabbing her arm and cutting off to the side, dragging her along. Both of them moved as silent as they could now, trying to just make it back to the beach in one piece.

Back at the beach, Darcia and Cain were struggling to build a camp. Cain had climbed up a tree and grabbed whatever vine and large palm branches he could, hoping to make some sort of tent with them. They used a vine to tie branches together and made some what of a collapsing hut, it looked rather pathetic, but they were sure it would be fine for a night until they got up in the morning to try and search for others tomorrow.

"That looks like shit." Darcia said and Cain shot him a glare.

"It will be fine for a night, I am sure." He grumbled. Neither of them ever had to do this before, so they had no idea what they were doing. Fact was, neither of them even knew if it would stand up for the rest of the night.

As they were collecting sticks to build a fire, the other two returned with the berries, seemingly annoyed and frustrated, like  Cain and Darcia were as well. "Everything go alright?"

"We weren't alone in those woods, there was something else there, something big."

"Like a bear or something?"

"Possibly....maybe bigger. We didn't see it, we just tried avoiding it as best as we could." She said and sat down pulling the berries out of her pocket. "Any of you guys know anything about berries?"

"I might, part of my schooling." Darcia said walking over and looked at the selecting, he threw away a good many of them put there was still enough left over to get something to eat for each of them. So, while they ate, they tried to figure out how to start a fire, hopefully before the sun completely set.

The Tribe Leader sat on his throne, somewhat - amused. And dangerously so. There, standing before him, was a pale, masculine other, who wore a rather fancy tribal dress. Not a dress such as a woman's dress, no more as a sense of status. His shoulders had pads covered with feathering, a thick bone necklace around his neck with a harness of ropes and other twine which exposed his perfect chest. His waist was wrapped in feathers and skins, fabrics and lavish sorts of cloth. His arms were tattooed, as was his back - which had two massive black tribal wings painted over his shoulders on it. Standing tall and regal with a spear of sorts, the Tribe General presented himself, with many others behind him.

The Leader's glaring blue eyes looked behind the bold General, to see that his other fellow tribesmen, had several other humans bound and gagged at their feet. Several of them appeared to be young females, one or two were male, and there were three smaller children among the group.

"So this is where you went. At a time where the Skybird looms, you're openly out for the hunt." The Leader said, getting to his bare feet. Immediately, the other tribesmen dropped to their knees, their slaves cowering in fear.

The General, did now bow, nor show the Leader any direct sign of respect. He only sneered, and leaned towards the Tribe Head, to hiss and slither words into his left ear.

"I do believe, that this is what you wanted, am I correct my King?" He hissed, gently leaning closer, so that his long tongue could touch the side of the other man's face. He pulled his tongue back between his sharpened teeth, and hissed at the others behind him, all daring to cower in further a fear. Turning back to the Tribe Master, the other stood up taller over him, and sneered. "Where is my harlot of a Shaman brother?" He demanded in their native tongue. "Though with as often as he bares you youth, one would suggest he's far from male."

The Leader scoffed at his General, and took his seat boldly, and lazily. Snapping his fingers, he watched, as the Shaman wandered out of the room back behind his throne, and sat gingerly at his feet seconds later. The figure with the long white hair and skull covering his face, pushed back his mask, and looked up at his masculine brother.

"Is there something you are demanding of me, my brother?" A faint whisper with the voice of the winds asked. The Shaman rarely spoke, but it was known he did so to the Head, DragonRider, or the General - upon demand.

Smirking, the other would narrow his eyes at the Shaman and speak in hissing tongues. "Take the slaves and the Tribe Guards to their new confines, and then I wish to see you for my own personal gain afterwards. Best plan on taking off all that clothing, and giving up your pathetic frame for me, little Shaman. I have a lust for you, which you will curate for me." The older twin said in a devious tone. The fact he dared to speak out so boldly in front of the Tribe's Leader, was beyond startling.

The Shaman would pull down his mask, and go back to saying nothing, as he wandered down the stairs with multiple others soon to follow with their captives. While he lead them to the captive areas, and separated the males, from females, and children - his twin brother, their General, was off giving their Leader, proper attention. No one but the Gods watching - would care to take notice of the male feverishly lusting over his King, and tempting him to bed. It would be while they bonded that the Shaman would return, and remove his garments and head-dress, so that the two could share his body over their unison with such Gods through orgasm and other lustful behaviors.

While the two males and the male-female proclaimed their love for one another, their DragonRider sat among a group, with her Wyvern not too far from her grasp. The large set of yellow eyes would move through the trees, observing, safely from a distance inside the tallest of trees.

Sitting among the non-tribals, the girl with sapphire hair pretended to converse, getting along with the lads she had encountered, and giving no inkling of their soon-to-be capture. She oddly seemed to favor the youngest lad, and almost hoped the Leader wouldn't select him for a sacrifice. Children were of the most pure however, so it was completely possible. She did her best to mind her distance, and only move around them when needed.

"Sure hope that this holds." Axel was saying, after having spent several hours building them a house-like structure which consisted of roping-up 4 trees and covering them with huge leaves, loose bark, and tarps from their crash.

Siax sniffed the air, and then smiled at his boyfriend, sweet fruit in his hands. "Take a break Axel. And try some of these." He purred, nuzzling his lover's throat when he got close enough.

"Ayase sure seems to like them." Shadow was saying, patting the top of the boy's head. The fruit on the island was good, and for a moment, he'd almost forgotten how morbid their situation truly was.

Aya wandered over to the blue-haired girl, who seemed to sit closer to the shore. "Here, you wanna try one?" He asked, tapping the girl softly on the shoulder, and offering her a large sweet fruit. "It's really good I promise." He said with a bright smile that could melt hearts.

"Psst, hey. Shadow - uh." Axel pushed Siax off of him, and kinda shoved Shadow to get his attention.

"What?" The other male with the black hair asked.

Axel crossed his arms over his chest, watching Aya hand the girl a fruit. "She's kinda weird - don'tcha think?" He asked, frowning as the female took the fruit slowly from the boy. Now even Siax was paying attention and if he had cat ears, they'd of gone straight up with his eyebrows. "She just... there's something funny about her. Now... I can't put my finger on it... but I do aim to find out. I just can't fight this feeling that something's not right."

"Maybe it's because she's a girl, and you're a faggot." Shadow said casually, making Siax burst with sudden laughter. Axel shoved him to the said, the girl and small boy now looking in their general direction.

Axel made some comment about that being preposterous, and then took his seat beside the campfire that Shadow had carefully built. He began to look around for something to start a fire with, left alone to his thoughts while the others did as they were doing prior.