A scoff and a doubtful look followed.
<
“<
<< I don’t know, did he kill the guy's dog or something?>>
<< Not even. Apparently he said something nasty to a random old lady who bumped into him on the way to her bazaar stall. And the urchin took it very, very seriously>>
<< Uh. I guess overconfidence will get us all someday. After all, you never know who stands before you .>> "
Dialogue between two Residents, undisclosed source, undisclosed location.
Killing the bear proved more than satisfying.
It was heavenly.
Two years of effort were rewarded with a gruesome prize.
Blood, sweat, and pain mixed in a pool at his feet, and yet, the boy was light, like an unbearable weight just got lifted from his back.
The beast lay before Omri, who, basking in his victory, approached it, not wanting to waste any time.
He set off to work.
“Too bad I had to poison it... That's a lot of meat that is going straight into the trash,” he sadly thought, as his blade was rending swathes of flesh from the animal's thick skin.
In the end, the spine, skull, and ribcage were too heavy to carry, so he forced himself to make a choice, looking down at the assorted bounty.
He settled for the fur, the majority of tendons, the claws, and a couple of the longest bones of the creature, leaving the rest behind for the scavengers to find.
Around noon, he managed to return to camp, a long day of work still ahead of him, hunting the beast only the first item on his schedule.
Storing his loot in his main safe house, he went to the river, washed himself and his equipment, and decided to take a minute to gather his thoughts.
He didn’t plan on meeting anyone, but the rotting stench of mud, blood, and humors, caked in the sweat of a tropical two-mile walk, was wafting off him in almost palpable waves, and it felt like it would kill him much quicker than any beast could.
Once clean and fresh, he set out again.
The mystery of the calling tug in his body had never left his mind in those years, and now that the bear's presence was no longer an issue, his curiosity burned even brighter.
Reaching the cave, Omri pushed inside, torch in hand, confidently navigating toward the unoccupied den.
A pleasant surprise awaited him.
“The remains are still here!“
“The owner's presence lingers, and nothing on the island wants to deal with that. A bit of luck for the future, I guess. ”
A reassuring thought for Omri, who looked at the small fortune as the first thing he didn’t have to fight for during his stay on the island.
“More resources are always welcome!”
The moss-lit cavern was always an incredible sight, but the young warrior did not care at this time.
Finding the other entrance was not difficult, the large wall opening half-covered behind one of the many stalagmites jutting up from the floor.
The circular entrance gave way to a wide and round bifurcated tunnel, its regular shape and almost smooth walls confusing the boy.
Stepping into the shaft, Omri saw what seemed like small grooves going throughout its length, with larger claw marks catching his attention here and there.
“Wait, it dug its way down to here? The tunnel is the right size for such a beast, but the shape doesn’t match, and it is also too uniform…”
Glancing to his right and left, he had a choice to make. Go deeper or reach for the surface.
The answer was easy, his musings were not.
Thus, he explored, the questions keeping him company, as the young warrior dove into the earth’s depths.
“And, why dig? Did it feel the same pull as I do? Maybe all the beasts can feel it?
After a couple of bends, the tunnel became steeper, and a quick, brisk walk away was enough for him to reach what he thought was the source of his feeling, still whispering incessantly in his soul.
Surprise rose on Omri’s face as sunlight shone, hiding between the circular walls, the faint sound of water streaming in the distance calling to him as the pull strengthened.
His eyes, adapted to the damp darkness of the cave system, didn’t have time to adjust to the sudden brightness, and shielding them with one arm, he made his way into the light.
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A breathtaking sight lay displayed before the boy’s gaze.
An azure sky dotted with fluffy clouds greeted him in wonder, as he now overlooked the beauty of an inland valley, sheltered by sharp spikes that encircled the verdant basin like a crown.
Above the treetops, dozens of large silhouettes circled into the clear expanse.
Impossible to glimpse from the outside, this remote forest was a secret paradise within a paradise, thriving with life in its untamed wildness.
“Those are quite far,” Omri mused, looking at the flying figures.
One swooped down in its dance, the figure enlarging to massive proportions as it got lower to the treetops. He mentally compared this new addition with his colorful acquaintances back in the fig clearing.
The math was clear. A sharp sigh left his lips.
“Well, great, even bigger birds”.
With that thought, the boy pushed into the new forest cautiously, unease in his mind, not wanting to break the idyllic equilibrium of this hidden jungle.
By now he knew that on the island, beauty and peril often came together.
After a couple of hours of aimless wandering, the tug pressure was stronger than ever, but its powerful presence no longer pulled him in a specific direction.
The presence came from all around him, the trees, the earth below his feet, all the small
streams… even the air seemed suffused with some kind of feeling, something faint, but noticeable.
Every breath invigorated him, a calming breeze that tussled with his long hair, as he made his way through the idyllic landscape.
Even something so beautiful quickly lost its allure, as frustration mounted in the youngster's chest, the always-present tug almost mocking him during the trip.
His explorations didn’t last overmuch, the forest opening up to reveal a spacious clearing beneath the jugged peaks surrounding it.
Traversing the valley had been quicker than he expected, and, looking under the rocky outcrops, he spotted one of the biggest trees he’d seen yet on the island.
Intertwining branches sprouted from the sides and enveloped the smaller flora surrounding it, creating what seemed like a mangrove system casually hanging dozens of feet above ground.
Suddenly, he heard a whistling sound, and something impacted just a few yards to his right, spraying him with wet earth and decaying plant matter, as he roughly fell in surprise.
He instantly got back up and pulled out his sword, frantically searching for the new foe.
It was a rock.
“What the hell,” he softly said, scanning the treetops, looking for something that could make the throw, maybe expecting a new fight with another weird primate, but another whistle got his attention, and glancing up, he saw an entire flock of the giant birds circling around him.
The second rock struck the earth on his left, once again leaving him covered in dirt.
He stood still, the unexpectedness of the moment leaving him frozen, like a small child, hands covered in sugar, discovered putting a honey jar back on its shelf.
More throws came his way, and without wasting a second more, he turned, running towards the protection of the trees behind him.
As he ran, a bone-deep weariness embraced him, an insidious lover wrapping his arms around his shoulders.
“I’m truly, deeply tired by every fucked up situation I find myself in”.
Heavy projectiles struck behind him, and, when he reached safety, the young hunter unwillingly thanked his luck, not a single wound marring his body.
Many of the volatiles perched on the verdant crown he spotted just a minute before they started to bombard him, but just as many kept circling above the meadow, their cackling cries almost sounding like laughter in Omri’s ears.
He reproachfully stared at the still-flying birds, their condor-like figures cutting grey and black silhouettes in the azure sky.
He looked at the massive stones littering the ground, each easily the size of his head, and quickly weighed his options.
He turned, deciding to forget the encounter entirely.
“ Caw,Craa, Craa, Caw, CAw, CrAAH”!”
The cackle didn’t stop him initially, his wise legs deciding they had had enough for the day, but this time, his brain proved to be the winner.
It took a moment for him to register what he heard.
“If those were bird cries, I’m a limbless octopus learning the lute”.
He turned, squeezing his eyes, as his gaze fell on a strange… bird? Ape?
Some kind of hairy humanoid figure was coming down from the tree, a mismatched set of feathers covering it from head to toe.
It clumsily reached the forest floor, still crying out those weird broken sounds that apparently pacified the vulturine creatures, who, madly shrieking on their way, quickly dispersed, leaving only a few perched on the tree’s crown, watching him.
Omri was speechless as the figure approached the middle of the field. The nearer it got, the clearer it was that it was neither ape nor bird.
A human hand rose, caked in dirt, grime, and bird feathers, and it gestured at him.
Omri blinked.“It’s finally there. The madness got me, hook, line, and sinker”.
The gestures got frantic.
“CAw Craah Craah! Caw cAW Craaah!
“It’s a mournful day when sanity finally leaves you”.
Disbelief clear in his features, the boy decided to take the small chance that what he was seeing was not, in fact, a hallucination, but a male human in a birdsuit.
He walked out of the jungle, an eye on the much bigger volatiles still staring at him with murder in mind, the other on the figure now jumping up and down in the clearing, his enthusiasm clear to the young man.
As they got closer, he realized that he was indeed looking at a middle-aged man, with olive skin and brown hairs poking out from a feathered cloak, a mix between a feathered mask and a crown of quills resting on his brow, stitched plumage woven together with a messy mass of chest hair.
All in all, it was quite the sight.
He stopped a few yards outside the man’s reach, his piercing blue eyes meeting the confused, muddy gaze of the fellow human.
With slow, careful movements, the wild figure reached out to him, no weapon showcased, just a startled, uncertain look in his eyes.
He didn’t know why he let him, but as the man touched his now-extended hand, letting out a single excited yelp, the boy felt relief for both of them.
The stranger raised his mask, revealing a weathered face sporting a face-splitting smile, and the situation’s absurdity dawned on him.
“What the fuck?”
“Crah, Caw, Crah” the weird character sagely nodded.
His eyes lost focus, and he adjusted his expectations for the encounter.
Murmuring beneath his breath, a thought left his lips, unbidden.
“Two years on this god-forsaken rock, two years and I discover I’m not alone. And the guy I meet is a bird-suit-wearing maniac who totally lost it.”
His musings were interrupted by a screeching sound, followed by phlegm hitting the ground.
“CRAAuregous boy, or maybe confident,creaah”
The youth's eyes dilated as the man started to mutter to himself.
He made out a mix of bird sounds and questions he asked and answered alone, before addressing him again, his broken speech jarring but understandable.
“Twenty dreadful years I’ve spent there, and you, caw, you are the only blasted Crah they send to rescue me?”
He stood silent for a couple of seconds before addressing the older man.
“Rescue?”