The Island

Day 1

We made landfall on the northern side of the island, shortly after noon. The weather has so far remained fair; hopefully this will hold true for the rest of the trip. The crew of the Discovery have anchored just beyond the edge of the lagoon, so it will just be the four of us ashore for the next few weeks. Just like last time. It’s been five years since I last stepped onto this beach. Perhaps I can finally find an answer to the nightmares I’ve suffered in that time, answers to the gaps in my memories and the mysterious deaths of my companions.

 

Day 3

Things have been progressing smoothly. The hike to the ruins took longer than expected given the thick undergrowth, but we ran into no other issues besides that. For the past two days, the island has felt strangely unfamiliar, but as soon as we reached the entrance to the ruins, it was as though I was struck by lightning. A memory of climbing these worn steps with a different group, brief, but as clear as if it had happened only seconds before. Unfortunately, there was nothing else. Perhaps I will remember more when we get deeper inside.

 

Day 5

We’ve set up camp in what appears to be the temple’s inner court. The floor is clearest here and it is central to all of the doors, although only two of them currently remain clear. I can’t recall if that was the case during my last visit, but I’m certain that it mustn’t have been so, for we spent far too long inside the ruins to only have been cataloguing two rooms. The fallen debris must be more recent, although the remaining structure appears to be mostly stable. That said, we can’t be too careful. Alistair nearly broke an ankle when he tried to climb over one of the fallen statues and accidently knocked lose some debris. Still, it appears as though all of the entrances will be eventually accessible, once we’ve cleared the fallen rock.

 

Day 10

Made an odd discovery today. The first two rooms we cleared were of little note, just two plain alcoves decorated only by a simple worn carving (perhaps individual prayers rooms?). The third room appears to be some sort of dining hall for the priests. The furniture is weathered and liable to break under any serious weight, but it was something far more recent that drew my attention. William’s compass, which makes no sense. William loved that compass; it was a gift from his father. He would not have forgotten it. I may not remember many things about that trip, but I do remember that we departed with no particular haste or urgency. William would have had plenty of time to look for it, had he somehow misplaced the device before our departure. It makes no sense for it to be here, rather than on William’s body when it vanished beneath the stormy waves with the piece of deck he’d been standing on. Especially lying out in the open, as if he’d only placed it down for a second.

 

Day 14

Something odd happened again today. We had just cleared the entrance to the second last room, when Alistair found a jacket. I’d told him that it was a gift from my sister. I don’t know why. I don’t have a sister. Nor was it my jacket. It was Harrison’s jacket, and a gift from his sister. But for a moment I thought it was mine.

 

Day 18

Finally cleared the last entrance. The debris was far worse here, but the find is worth it. Instead of a room, the final entrance leads to a staircase that descends far beneath the surface temple into some sort of large antechamber. I can’t remember anything about its structure or contents, nor even if we explored it last time, but the thought of entering fills me with a sort of strange anticipation. This is the source of the mystery, the place for my answers. Whatever they might be.

 

Day 19

The antechamber is at least as wide as the upper temple, the ceiling extending up more than two feet above what the temple does on the surface. The room is unfinished, roughly hewn into the stone to form a lopsided dodecagon. Besides the entrance we came in from, each wall bears an alcove that holds the ruined remains of a statue. Gods? Saints? Some other figure? It’s impossible to tell since all of the statues are badly broken. There’s a large stone dais in the centre, littered with the broken remains of some sort of large crystal. The sight fills me with unease, and I find myself unable to approach the dais, even after Robert and Ian have climbed up there. Something bad happened here, I know it, though I don’t remember what. Ian has collected one of the fragments for further testing; from the fracture lines, he figures that it was hit by some great force, perhaps a sledgehammer. I didn’t say anything, but I don’t agree. If someone broke it from the outside, why are all the pieces thrown outward?

 

Day 22

I haven’t been able to raise myself from my sleeping bag for the last couple of days, exhausted and shaking. Alistair thinks I must have caught some sort of fever, but I know it’s the shock of what I saw in that antechamber. Nightmares plagued my sleep both nights, worse than ever, but for the life of me, I cannot recall a single detail. I fear it was a mistake coming back here.

 

And yet more frightening news. Ian has been testing the crystal fragment while I rested and he cannot identify what manner of mineral he holds. Whatever it is, is hard; even with a steel chisel, he has not been able to scratch the surface despite his best efforts. What sort of force then, was required to shatter it to pieces?

 

Day 25?

Losing track of time. I thought it was just yesterday that Ian told me about his failed attempts to crack the crystal, but he tells me that that was three days ago. I’ve frightened my companions, though I have no recollection of the events that scared them. They said that last night I woke them, trying to climb down to the antechamber in the dark. When they stopped me, I yelled at them in a language none of them had ever heard before and Robert swore he heard something moving below them in response, though nothing ever emerged. Before that, I had been rambling on about Stanford, a place I’ve never been, but know to be William’s hometown. They want to head back to the Discovery, we all do, but someone has damaged the lifeboat we took. Was it me? It’s terrifying that I don’t the answer. Robert and Ian have gone to fix it.

 

Day 27

Robert and Ian haven’t returned. Alistair wants to look for them, but even with his help, I have trouble making it more than twenty feet and neither of us want to risk splitting up. Something moved in the antechamber. I’m sure both of use heard, but neither of us is willing to mention it.

 

Day 28

Alistair is missing. I woke to find him gone. Maybe he finally decided to check on Robert and Ian, but why wouldn’t he have told me? Or did he, and I forgot again? My memories are a cluttered mess; I lose track of time and cannot recall what is dream and what is past. So many lives… There is something very important I’m forgetting…

 

Day ??

I remember now. It was a terrible mistake. I told them not to touch it, that it was dangerous, but the four who came here last time were too curious. They broke the seal by accident. The island was the only reason It still remained confined, but we brought It a ship. A ship that is no longer anchored where its supposed to be and I know I’m too late.

 

It’s already made Its way aboard.

Word Count: 1891
Hours Spent: 5
Software Used: DAZ Studio 4 With IRAY