| The man sighs and looks you over. He crosses his arms over his chest and sighs once more. "Well, I guess since this faery you speak of has befriended you, you shouldn't be that annoying." The man says and you see that he is not joking. You ask him what he means by that, but all he does is wave his hand to dismiss the question. A sudden idea flares up in the man, for you see his eyes brighten a bit. The sun is rising as you stand there with this man and minute by minute you see more of his features. You feeler safer in the light, for now you can see what he does, and be able to defend yourself should this dangerous man turn upon you. "Well," the man starts, "I have a proposal. If I answer your questions, I can tell your curious, will you leave sometime before night falls once again upon this island?" An odd question, but you follow along with it. You can tell that this man rarely has visitors and is unused to the idea. You nod your assent, and he walks towards the mountain after beckoning you to follow. You follow his footsteps among wide bushes, and large rocks jutting every now and then. The wind has died down, and the threat of cold has dropped its tormenting hand. The man ahead of you does not stop until the two of you reach the base of the strange mountain. Up close you see that the color is a dark sooty black, and rocks making strange forms are strewn about it's face. Seeing you eyes play upon the mountain side, the man says, "So, you are interested in volcanoes I see. Maybe later I shall take you to the top." A smirk comes upon his face, and look at the volcanoe in a different light. Yes, now that you think about it, you see that the rocks surrounding the volcanoe are indeed lava rocks. You curse your stupidity and turn towards once again to the strange man. "My home is not much further," he says and begins walking along the base of the volcanoe. You ask the man about the volcanoe's status, wondering whether or not you might get caught in the eruption. "The volcanoe once went off while lived here." He goes no further on his explanation and you ask him no more, and you are slightly afraid of what could happen. Within minutes you find yourself standing in front of a small house near the edge of a small cliff, jetting out over the ocean. Here the wind is faster, and the air is considerably cooler. The sun finds you easier, and you find this area more homely than the rest of the island. The walls made out of trees from the forest, and the roof thatched with grass and leaves, you know that the man has made this all on his own. Without even asking the young man, you know that he is the only one living on this island. He approaches it and opens the door. He holds it open for you and he ushers you inside. The house is small, if it can be called a house at all, and is barely furnished. A small makeshift bed take up one side of the room, and underneath that is several chests. A small table with only one chair are pushed to the side wall for they are not used very often. The man pulls the table into the middle along with the chair and motions you to sit with a curt move with his hand. You sit down, somewhat angered with how he treats you with such haste. You ignore his attitude and focus on the questions you should ask him. Then man sits upon the edge of the makeshift bed, and faces you. Your first question you ask him his about his name and how he came to this island. "Well," he pauses slightly to think before he fully answers, "my name is Alec. I grew up in a small mountain community, but when I grew older I had to move into a neighboring city. I soon realized how crowded those places were, and that I found everything better when I was alone to myself. I raised some money, and then set out upon the world. I wanted to find a place where I could live peacefully alone, without anyone to bother me. Along my travels, I happened upon the beach with the pier that you have already seen. I saw the island and knew that that was the perfect place for me," Alec's eyes glittered with happiness with the memory of that day long ago. "I came here and made myself this home, and have lived in peace for almost a year now." Alec finishes his small story, and you understand why Alec had first met you with a sword drawn. Now that you understood Alec, you liked him even more, and his small mysteries made him even more interesting. You then inquire as to whether or not he gets lonely on this island. Looking over to a corner of the house, you see a small nest. Looking closer and you see a small white dragon. "Oh, this guy is Haplo. He is a Chesmu.. They are like miniature dragons. I have heard that they make great pets for dragons, so I adopted one. Hopefully if I am lucky enough to get a dragon, the two can be companions." Deciding that you should be able to explore some of this island, you ask if Alec could take you to the top of the volcanoe. He pushes the table and chair back where they were before once you stood up. He opens the door and ushers you outside, just like he did before. He leads you to the back of his ramshackle house and there you see the faints outlines of a trail in the dark dirt. Alec steps upon this trail and you do to, glad that the path is easily marked for a change. He looks over his shoulder to make sure that you are still there, and begins to walk along the trail. The trail slants at a slight upward angle among rocks and edges along the volcanoes face. After walking along the trail a bit, and you can no longer see Alec's house, you realize that the path curves around the volcanoe, thus making it so that the trail will not be too steep. You thank the stars that the hike will not be difficult. Alec sees your happinness and mutters to himself while shaking his head. Also you notice that the black soot like sand only covers one side of the volcanoe, the side away from Alec's home. After following the slow curves of the trail around the volcanoe, you find yourself getting closer and closer to the top. Soon you find yourself standing on a small ledge, almost unbearable heat washing over you. Below you seethes a giant read mass. It has the looks of a molten lake, and you realize that it is. You stand away from the edge to get a better look of all around and to get out of the heat. Alec sits on a boulder nearby, watching the dark clouds scuttle by. Looking around you, you see water in every direction. The sky has a tinge of gray, darkened further by the gray clouds. Looking at the lay of the island, you realize that there must be other such volcanoes underneath the water nearby. What a magnificent site it would be to see an island be brought to life! You remember something about what Alec said earlier about the volcanoe earlier, and you inquire further into it. Alec looks towards you, his eyes a bit dulled with his past memories. "Yes," he started with a slow drawl which quickly faded as he talked further, "I lived here when the volcanoe blew. I am not sure whether or not it had before that, but there were no signs that I could see. Well, on to my story. I had lived her only a month when it happened. The day was like any other, only that the volcanoe was emitting more smoke than usual. I had never seen a volcanoe before, so I did not pay any attention to the strange behavior. I wish I had done so. I was out fishing down at the beach when a deep tremor shook the ground. Looking towards the volcanoe, I saw that something was indeed wrong. Puffing out smoke into the air, the sky had taken on a dark gray hue. I had no idea what to do, and so I just froze and stood watching the volcanoe. The ground shook once more, and once more the volcanoe reacted. Bright red and orange lava flowed over the lip of the volcanoe, scorching the volcanoe's side as it trailed down. A new face was being carved into the volcanoe as I stood there watching. The lava flowed down mainly one side, and luckily away from my house. But at the time I was not worrying about my home. I quickly located the boat I had previously used to get onto the island, and pushed it out into the sea. I rowed away from the island at a respectable distance, and still be able to watch it. Eventually the lava found its way into the sea, and steam hissed loudly into the sky. The volcanoe was still going as night came along, and I soon fell aseep inside that row boat. When I woke in the morning, the molten lava had stopped flowing, and a new side had been added to the island. Once going back onto the island, I noticed that parts of the volcanoe were still hot and unbearable. The heat was horrible so I found a place on the beach that was uneffected by the explosion. Half of the forest was burned away, and the trees that you see today is all that is left. That is the story about the volcanoe." He finishes his story and becomes quiet again. You enjoyed the story and tell him so. Alec just shruggs and looks away into the distance. Looking towards the sun, you see that it is around twelve o'clock. Remembering your promise to Alec, you ask him to lead you back to shore where your boat is waiting for you. Following Alec back downt he volcanoes side, you watch as the forest in the distance grows ever larger. From where you are walking, the trees blend together to form one giant mass of green and brown, adding color to the dull black and white island. Following Alec down to the ground level, a light rain began to fall upon the ground. It seemed to start without warning and you glance up startedly at the sky. Alec tells you when he sees you looking up, "Light rains fall every now and then, a lot more than it does on land. And usually followed right after is a period of high winds or lots of sun. You surely can say the weather is a bit strange here..." he trails off as he looks towards the sky. Once at the base of the mountain you can no longer see much of the surrounding sites. The trees block the ocean one way, and the volcanoe blocks your view of the ocean the other way. Without even a word, Alec keeps his steady pace towards the beach where where you had first entered upon his peaceful realm. You two reach the beach with barely a word to each other. You reach the row boat and see that it is still in good condition. Looking at the ocean's water, you are glad that the rain is not affecting the water's curents. At least the journey back would not be hard. Before you are able to climb into the boat you hear a small chirping sound coming from the area where you had just come from. You look towards the sound when a black dragon and the white Haplo pop out of the forest. Haplo snakes alongside the black dragon who is pushing a blue ball along the sand. The black dragon walks to Alec and lets the ball sit next to his leg. The dragon looks at Alec inquiringly, and then the dragon realizes that you are standing there. The dragon darts behind Alec's leg and peeks around his legs at you, unsure about you. You ask Alec about the dragon. "This is Jino. She was abondoned, so I decided to take care of her. Since she was abondoned, she does not trust people as easily as before. This blue ball, when you look into it, recalls memories of places that you have been to. Raven gave me this magic ball so I may bond to the dragon easier." Jino still looks at you, still unsure about your presence. Alec bends down and pat her reasurringling on her head and whispered to her comfortingly. Jino seems to feel better and begins to chase Haplo around. Alec helps you push the boat into the ocean, and as you float away, you wave back towards Alec. He does not wave back though. Alec played with Jino and Haplo, passing the blue ball back and forth, all three happily dancing around. You sigh and laugh a bit, and start on your way back towards land, going over the story in your head that you would tell to the faeries back there... |
