The Island With No Parallel

Sacrificed

But this was not time for doubts. Too much was depending on this.

Together they proceeded into the jungle. Their Unseeable companions wouldn't be joining them. The Dark Ones on the Island would sense them, so they posed the threat of being discovered. Kokl was none too happy about being separated from Shi'ran again, but understood it had to be done.

As they entered the jungle, the air seemed to change, a brisk cold wind changing the atmosphere from warm and inviting to something eerie. Yunara began to understand Kailu's apprehension.

Beside her, Kailu jumped. "Guys, look." With her hands taken up by Luca and Shi'ran, she couldn't point, but she was looking back the way they came.

Yunara turned to see that instead of seeing the beach behind them, there was nothing but more forest and tangling vines that surrounded them.

Instead of frightened, Shi'ran looked enthralled. "I remember reading something like this. According to the account of several Unseeables, this is normal. The beach we saw before is an illusion that the Island presents so now one suspects what's really here. But as you continue forward, understanding what it really is, the illusion is said to fall away and reveal the Place of Dwelling. I would suggest remaining silent from this point on. This should be where we'll see the Dark Ones that inhabit the Island."

Luca said, "You mean we don't have to hear any more of your tedious explanations? Finally."

Shi'ran scowled at him, but no one said anything else after that.

They continued to trek forward, and Shi'ran's words proved true. The first Dark One they happened across was a lumbering giant that went running through the trees and leveled most of them in his wake. Then there was a dragon-like serpent that slithered through the air, just like the ones that kidnapped Cadri, Yunara realized. Then they nearly tripped and fell into a pit where a dozen goblins slept soundly. Yunara felt like she had to hold her breath, she was so deathly afraid of being caught.

She froze as a fat ogre clad in full armor emerged from the shrubbery, speaking in another language and shouting at the goblins that slept. They growled in protest but were silenced by the ogre's heated orders, and soon followed after him.

With a start, Yunara realized their language was the same as that of the Imanu. She supposed it was further proof the the Dark Ones and the Unseeables were ancient creatures that had been around for centuries. No one knew the Dark Ones better than the Unseeables and vice versa. Though the Dark Ones could be killed, it was said they were reborn, after a hundred years, never truly dead. If they were old enough to speak the language of the Ancients, she realized it must have been true.

Eventually it became apparent that the Dark Ones they passed were going in the same direction as they. They passed more frequently and in greater numbers. There were more disturbing-looking varieties the deeper they went in. Creatures with completely pitch black bodies and claws that hung at their sides, reaching to the floor. Flying ones that sounded like screaming women when they opened their mouths. Skeleton bodies were engulfed in flames that didn't affect them or the jungle in any way. All of them were headed in the same direction.

Apparently, there was something going on none of them wanted to miss.

Before long, they saw where smoke started to rise behind the trees. It billowed between the towers of what looked like a black castle. After seeing that the five moved with a newfound vigor. They were in a race against time.

Finally, they found themselves in what looked like a courtyard. Behind it, a huge castle towered, seeming high enough to scrape the sun, casting a huge shadow over the court.