Stranded On Altaria

By Eshan Ray

GAMEMASTER- The plan is working perfectly, the kids have already been trapped on the island… the second phase will commence on the summer solstice, three days from now, he will be released…

I woke up on the beach, I had a few stitches on my forearm and a few on my legs, I was wearing a leather jacket and a white shirt, I also wore a pair of jeans, anything before me waking up I couldn’t remember, my mind just knew one thing, I need to survive. I stood up, a blue screen opened up in front of me, like a hologram, It said, “Hello, Owen, think of this as a game, the name being, survive, there may or may not be some other players on this island, there are all sorts of resources you can use too, some that can help you, some that can kill you. For now, build a shelter, find some food and water, and stay out of the way of those things,” the hologram pointed towards the right. As soon as I saw it, fear overcame me, my raw instincts told me that this is a great point to run with all my might, the creature was maybe a hundred yards away, it was a huge black human-like figure with a giant scythe it had the face of a wyvern and a tail that looked like a snake. I looked back and saw the figure chasing me, it pointed its scythe towards me and shrieked, at that point I was hyperventilating. I saw a huge tree, no, a pointed hill, I slid under and the figure hit himself, that bought me some time. I ran into the woods, that’s when I noticed a chasm that was not very deep and was pretty good for a starting point, I jumped in and made sure it was safe, what was that thing, that chased me? And why am I here? I couldn’t remember anything, I was breathing easily but when I turned, my life changed. I saw a tunnel, and while I was scared, curiosity got the best of me, I walked in, it led me to a small cave, inside, was a campfire, hunting equipment, meat and two benches. As soon as I turned around I saw two people. A girl, probably sixteen years of age and a boy who was probably my age, eighteen years. The girl was wearing a brown skirt and a formal checkered shirt.She had long, blonde hair and green eyes. And the boy was wearing a green shirt with polka dots and a pair of black jeans like me. He had brown eyes and a crew cut, he also looked like he hadn’t slept for at least a month. They both held a long spear in their hands and pointed towards me. The boy asked me “Who are you and why are you here?” “I-I-I am Owen, Owen Maestro”. Then the girl spoke “You must be another survivor”. “Oh, yes the hologram said there is another survivor. After that they decided that we should choose peace instead of trying to shred me into a million different pieces.  They made me sit on the ground cross-legged. I decided I should probably start a conversation “So, what are your names?” The girl answered first, my name is Hazel, Hazel Reno. I got stuck on this island a few days ago, he was with me”. She pointed to the boy, then he spoke “My name is Ronan, I woke up with her on the beach, we were both about twenty yards away. And that hologram thing told us everything., We decided to stick together. If we’ve learned anything in the past couple of days it is to not go out during the night, the day is safe, the night is not, at night the reapers come out they don’t really like to see people” they seemed a bit friendlier now. Hazel spoke, “Look Owen, I can tell you don’t really trust us right now, but you have to, you have no choice go out and you will most definitely die. Something big is going to happen in the next three days on the summer solstice, we’ve seen signs, someone or something will be released, and it won’t be safe” “We need to be ready when that happens, unless we want to die”. After Hazel was done making me more and more frightened, Ronan spoke “The more you try to understand that the harder it is going to get for you to understand, it is better to just go to sleep while you can”. With that I knocked myself out. I woke up at around 10 AM, that is if their clock was working properly, which I am still skeptical of.  Ronan was eating something that looked like either mutton or raw monkey meat, I asked him where Hazel was and he said she was training Maia to fly. I was about to ask him who Maia was when my question got answered by her riding a ten-foot long winged lizard in the sky and plunging back down. I said “So that’s who Maia is.” That’s when the hologram thing appeared in front of my face, giving me the scare of a lifetime, it said “Nice job, Owen, you found the other survivors you must be asking yourself how you will get out of here, well that’s where I can help you. On the summer solstice, two days from now, Zion will be released you shall start your adventure today at midday, reach the center of the island camp there till the solstice, on that fateful day you shall fight with Zion, the three headed lion, the king of Altaria. After that you shall be free, of course you can choose to live here forever instead too. When that the hologram disappeared, Ronan looked at me in disbelief, “W-w-we can get out!” right after, Hazel appeared, she started to say “Well, that’s interesting news, looks like we need to prepare for the journey, she opened the storage bin, she made and took her sword a shield and a necklace. Ronan picked up a quiver of arrows and a silver bow he whistled for maybe two seconds and I started to hear large footsteps on top of us. That’s Akira, his soul creature. A few seconds later a huge tiger with blood red eyes and long tusks dropped down into the chasm, Ronan got on and rode out of the cave. Hazel asked me “Where is your soul creature Owen”. I said, “Now, I may sound dumb but, I have a soul creature?, How do I summon it!”. “Just whistle or something he should come”. With that I whistled, a few seconds later I heard Ronan screaming “Tsunami, incoming!” he jumped into the chasm with Akira. And we heard a loud rumbling.When we got out I saw something that may or may not be a giant, flying, demonic toothed, shark that was flying. And the worst part was that he was my soul creature. Both of my new found companions were looking at me in disbelief. The shark then levitated me up to its back, considering I am scared of heights you should be able to understand my problem. As soon as I reached up there, my shark decided it was too big to fly and transformed into a sword and gave me a pair of wings. I started flying to my friends who were still dumbfounded and frozen in confusion. After that they chose to not think of it and we started to get towards the center. It took us about a day of traveling, we camped in another cave for the night and reached the center at about Quarter to twelve, midday. The center was marked with a huge blue crystal with an opening in it, big enough to let a few blue whales inside. As soon as we looked inside, we saw a huge arena intricately designed with gold and silver. I guessed this is where we will fight the lion. As soon as it hit twelve, a huge hologram opened up and it read “Welcome, warriors I hope you are prepared because today you will be facing the king of Altaria himself, the great Zion!. In front of us a gate opened, and out walked a huge lion with three heads and a long tail, riding him was a man, no, not a man, it was just bits of armor that formed a humanoid figure. Hazel was the first to attack, she got up on Maia and flew into the air. Zion pounced into the air with its legs but Ronan shot him down, inside of me, anger blew up. I flew into the sky and threw my daggers down at him. They deflected right off his tough skin, I rushed down while Maia was firing fireballs at Zion. Ronan had let Akira loose and was shooting arrow after arrow at Zion. While he was distracted I took out my sword and slid under, beneath the lion, and slit his abdomen. Though right after it healed. I was confused, my mind started to slow down and analyze the situation, look at the details and I found it. I noticed on every shot the lion defended his heads, that means they are his weakness. My mind focused, I zoned in and I took out my sword and flew up again. The lion was charging at Ronan, I saw Akira who was battered and bruised laying on the floor. I could see Ronan’s anger. I flew in with my sword and aimed for his head. I managed to topple over the armor pieces and sliced off his head. I slammed onto the wall at full speed, the lion screamed in pain. Hazel understood now and so did Ronan, he tucked in a special arrow. It had some green gel at the end. he shot it straight at the lion and it hit the lion. The lion was shortly paralyzed, Hazel flew in and ripped one of the heads off with Maia. The lion was stunned I saw my chance and I took it, I ran towards him with my sword which was red hot because of the heat generated by my grip. I held it up and sliced his last head clean off. All three of us screamed in joy. Soon the hologram appeared, this time it said, “Well done, warriors, as promised we shall send you back, almost all of us were near death but we all came together and hugged each other. We closed our eyes and when I opened my eyes I was in bed at my home, happy and as a warrior. Now I hope there exist my two brave warrior friends Ronan and Hazel in reality.

By Eshan Ray