1 - Rise

Sun-scorched and well-cured, I awoke on an unfamiliar shore under unfamiliar skies. My senses were flooded with uncertainty. I wouldn’t have bet a dollar on where I had washed up, let alone who I was supposed to be. The salty ocean waters had smoothed my mind like a pebble until only a well-worn sense of self remained.

First, I opened my mouth; I expunged a conglomeration of seawater and sandy bits. Tiny crystals stuck to my tongue as I continued to vomit dry air. My nose was flooded, too. The mud in my nostrils flew out with a quick sneeze.

Next on my agenda was finding my limbs; I couldn’t feel a thing where I thought they should be. My propioception wasn’t working, but I willed myself to motion without it. My fingers began to tingle, somewhere to my sides. They were trapped under moist layers of beach.

I flexed and I flexed, with all my might, until the strength returned to my hands. I kept willing myself to life, animating my arms, my legs, my feet, and my torso. All my pieces worked in tandem, digging my body out of the grimy tomb where it had been buried.

Finally, my corpse free once more, I pushed myself onto my back and opened my sandy eyes.

The sky was aflame in a riot of colors; golden ambers clashed with murky blues. The sun sat lazily on the edge of the horizon, a great fiery yacht falling off the edge of the world. I was unsure whether it was coming or going, but the cool sand beneath my back gave me hope it was the former.

Vestiges of constellations lingered in the sky; nothing was familiar. I saw no swans, no scorpions, and no ladles of soup. I thought it strange to look for such icons in the sky; the fact that they weren’t there upset me, nonetheless.

There wasn’t a soul in sight or sound, but I could tell without fear that I wasn’t alone. The land was throbbing with life; its pulse traveled through the well-packed sands, permeating my weary bones. It drove me to stand and move, beating a foreign rhythm in my stringent heart.

Gazing inland, I saw topography unlike any I could have possibly imagined. I saw a bright blue mountain penetrate the sky, disappearing behind a veil of serpentine clouds. Near its base, the peak suddenly dropped away into excitedly purple crags. An impossibly lush forest crawled up to the foot of the cliffs. Hundreds of species of trees and plants were growing together in harmony; their leaves ranged from aquamarine to emerald to ruby, creating a thick mosaic of foliage.

Adorning the mountain and permeating the forest was a thick, sepia mist; the way it settled so casually made me feel it was a sinister beast, daring me to brave its lair. The rising warmth behind me told me that it would soon burn away, but I did not trust myself to return from a journey into the forest at this juncture.

Instead, I listened to the rhythm of the sand and traveled along the beach. I slowly moved south, every step a rediscovery of myself. I would have sworn that some devil had broken off my original limbs and reattached a new pair from a popular rag doll. My feet felt the vibrations between every grain of sand grinding against each other. The pulses and waves made their way up into my belly as I realized the depths of my hunger.

It felt as though my stomach had appeared out of nowhere, desperately begging for donations. I looked down to see a sunken gut, slightly distended. The ripples of its desire spread through my body, its desperation manifesting as unbearable pain and upset yowls; I doubled over, falling to my tender knees.

Food had suddenly become an inimitable priority.

A second wind lifted my legs, as the pulse of the sands intensified. In the distance, I could see a small shelter on the sea’s edge; a small dock nearby indicated habitation. I dragged myself onward, never quite running, never quite falling.

The brown speck loomed ever closer, slowly congealing into the shape of a beach shack. Weatherbeaten and rickety, it looked hardly more than a outhouse from the outside. The dock was abandoned; I feared that this shack would be just as desolate. I crept closer and knocked on the shabby door, taking care not to destroy the whole abode.

“Hello, is there anybody home?”

I waited for several minutes, but found no reply.

Mustering all the courage my hungry bones could manage, I grabbed the door handle and slowly pushed the entrance open. I couldn’t believe my eyes.

The inside of the shack belonged to a much grander quarter. My mind briefly shorted while trying to fit the large room inside the tiny shack, but my attention was quickly drawn elsewhere. Three walls were lined with shelves packed with odds and ends. Books and bottles and bouncing bears, each owned a third of the room. The fourth wall, opposite the entrance, had a full hearth, subtly illuminating the room. A table at the center of the space was covered in a holey, maroon tablecloth; a great wooden chair sat slightly open to the table. All of this was lost to me.

The only sight for my sore eyes was the bowl of ripe fruit sitting staunchly in the middle of the table. My mouth began to water and my stomach churned and yearned. Without pausing to think, I lunged at the table and began stuffing my face with juicy fruit-flesh.

The fruits were unfamiliar to my eyes, but they were ecstasy for my tongue. Layers of flavors spilled their stories down my gullet, abating my stomach’s pain through their charming delicacy. I swallowed four, five, six fruit in as many minutes, devouring their seeds and stems without a second thought. Orange, cyan, silver, viridian, a culinary rainbow mixed in my gut.

I gulped and glutted until the bowl was empty. Completely sated, my stomach began to relax. I looked down to find it had swelled up to beyond its normal size. My skin was shining brightly, reflecting my inner happiness. As my thoughts slowly peeled away from food, a thundering crash brought me to my feet.

I spun and leapt from the chair. In the doorway loomed a monstrous shadow, buttressed by flares of light from the rising sun. Horrible thoughts vibrated my core. A beast of the darkness had risen from the ocean’s depths, determined to drag me back beneath the ocean waves!

I quickly grabbed the only weapon I could see, the fruit bowl.

“Stay back, fiend! I will not be drowned again!”

“Oh, stop that silliness, young thing. Harrumph!” the shadow bellowed. “Id’a eaten you already if I’d had a mind to.”

The shadow stepped forward, pulling its mass out of the outside light. As its face came forward into the smoother hearth light, its terrible identity was revealed.

A sharp beak protruded from a mass of sunburned, pink flesh which I assumed might be a head. It looked more like a mound of silly putty with two devilish red eyes buried in it. The blob attached by a long, soft neck to a humungous body covered in black feathers; the massive body was supported by a pair of elephantine talons.

Despite the creature’s words, I raised my bowl in defense.

“I refute you, sea-“ I paused, confused. “Erm, stop now, sky devil!”

“Oh, stop it already. Didn’t you hear me?” The great avian shuffled around me and made his way to the fire. “Harrumph! The least you could have done is put another log on the fire.”

He lifted a log from the corner of the room and placed it into the fire. Sparks danced and a flume of smoke wound its way up the shack to a pinhole chimney in the roof. For such a small hole, it sucked the fumes away extremely quickly.

“I’m sorry,” I said, “I didn’t notice the logs there until now.”

The bird shook his head. “Please, don’t worry about it. This is my home, after all. I do know all its little secrets. I can’t expect a stranger to know his way around. Harrumph!”

I felt terribly embarrassed. “I’m so sorry. I didn’t even think about what I was doing. I was so hungry, I never stopped to ponder the consequences. Please forgive me.”

The bird shook his bulbous head. “It’s fine. I always welcome company. The shore can surely be a lonely place sometimes. The name’s Hammond, by the way. What’s yours?”

I nodded politely. “Nice to meet you, Hammond. I’m not exactly sure what my name is, to tell the truth.”

This fact stunned the bird. “What? Harrumph! You can’t remember your name? That’s unfortunate. A true tragedy. Do you remember anything at all?”

“Not specifically. I mean, some things make sense to me. I’ve got my words, when I need them. Well, sometimes. It’s facts and names that are hard to place.”

Hammond bobbed his cranium rapidly. “Harrumph! Conditional amnesia, I think I’ve heard of this before. How did you get to the island, little earthbound beast?”

“I washed up on the shore, pure as the day I was born.”

This answer pleased the bird. “Yes! I knew it. This happens to all the beasts that come in that way. There must be something in the water, yes! Harrumph! That must be it!”

“Um, Hammond, I’m a bit confused. First of all, how did you get here?”

“Well, I flew, of course.”

“Of course, my brain must still be waterlogged. Does that mean you could fly away? Back to wherever you came from?”

“Yes,” Hammond agreed, “I suppose it does. However, I’m not so sure where it is. Harrumph! Or, I suppose, if I would even want to go back. This is quite the nice island, if I do say so myself.”

“Does it have a name?”

“It has many different names, depending on who you ask. I like to call it the Roundabout. But, nobody values the opinions of an old fart like me anymore. Harrumph!”

I nodded, unsure whether or not the bird was being sarcastic. “So there are other people on this island? Err, other creatures.”

“Of course! What kind of backwater atoll do you think this is? Some folks wash up on the shore, just like you. Harrumph! Some folks come from the sky, like me. They’re all scattered about, more inland. Apparently, I’m the only one who can’t get enough of the shore.”

“Why’s that?”

“I guess I’m just that type of bird.”

“What kind of bird is that?”

His ruby eyes glinted with pride. “I, good lad, am an egress.”

“An egress? Really? That doesn’t feel right.”

Hammond placed the mid of his wings where his hips might have gone. “Oh, really? Then why’d you bother asking? Harrumph! You don’t even know your name, but suddenly you’re an expert on birds?”

“No, I didn’t mean that. It’s just that, when I think egress, I don’t think of you.”

“Well, that’s a whole lot clearer, young man. Remember, whatever qualities you ascribed to an egress where you’re from don’t apply here. I am an egress on this island, and that is what really matters here. You’d do well not to forget that rule.”

“Are there other folks like you on this island? Other egresses?”

“Oh sure, I talk to them all the time. Me and the other egresses, we flock together like birds of a feather. Is that what you want to hear? Harrumph! No, boy. That’s highly offensive and racist of you. Don’t just assume things about other folk. That’s how prejudice gets born and spread!”

“I’m sorry, I didn’t mean… I just wanted to know if there were other people on the island.”

“Oh, you mean people like you? Other little naked racists?”

Why, of course! It hadn’t occurred to me before now, but I was entirely indecent. The ocean had swallowed my clothes, but spat me out due to my lack of flavor. I quickly covered myself with the empty fruit bowl as my cheeks flushed.

“I’m so, sorry. I didn’t mean to be rude.”

Hammond seemed puzzled by my words. “Don’t be so uptight, boy. I’m only teasing. It’s not like I’m wearing any pants.”

I quickly noted this fact and tried to keep my eyes on his pudgy face. “That is true, but I’m still a bit embarrassed.”

The bird nodded. “Don’t worry about it. The other little racist I met was the same way, for a while.” He shuffled over to the shelf of stuffed bears and took one down.

“Wait a second. You mean there are others like me here?”

Hammond turned and dropped a pile of clothing on the table. “Put those on. And no, I don’t mean there are others of your kind here. Wingless folk don’t seem to stick around on the island too long. Harrumph. There was one like you, a long time ago. He gave me those clothes for my collection. Said he wanted me to remember him forever.”

“Where is he now?”

The bird shrugged. “He made a raft and took off on a quest for adventure. He disappeared over the horizon, last I saw. Took himself and his hairy, racist body far, far away.”

I had carefully slipped on the clothing during our conversation. I was now wearing a green, leather jacket with bright purple pants; they fit me perfectly. My curiosity could hardly contain itself. “He disappeared into the sea? He didn’t happen to look like me, did he?”

Hammond shook his head. “No, not a tic. Harrumph! He was a big, dark, muscular chap with sandy golden hair. He was nothing like you, shrimp. Harrumph! I bet you couldn’t even lift the trees he used to make his raft.”

I wasn’t convinced. “If he’s so much bigger than me, why do his clothes fit me perfectly?”

The bird shook his head. “Must be the salty sea air. It does that, you know. It’s been years since that boy left.” That was all Hammond would say about the matter of the boy or his raft.

“Well, Mr. Egress, I’m really grateful for your hospitality. I don’t feel particularly welcome taking all this charity. I ate your food and I’m wearing your bear’s outfit. Surely, there must be something I can do to repay you.”

Hammond’s beak popped wide. “Ah, yes! My fruit, I’d completely forgotten you ate them all. Now that you mention it, I’m quite ravished.” His crimson bird-eyes flared hungrily. “Yes, I think that would be the perfect task for you. Go refill my bowl with fruit from the grove out back. It’s a short ways into the forest.”

I nodded; this seemed more than fair. “Just straight into the forest.”

“Yep, just a few hundred yards.”

“A few hundred yards! That’s hardly a short ways. I’ll get lost, for certain.”

“Harrumph!” Hammond sighed. “No, you won’t. Just be sure to make it back by sundown and you’ll be fine. It’s a straight walk I promise.”

Suddenly, I felt less sure about my companion’s intentions. “Do you promise? On threat of death?”

The giant bird made some noise that resembled laughter, but was more akin to pebbles being tossed about a laundry machine. “I promise. But do be careful of the mists. Bad things lurk in the mists, if you catch my drift. Harrumph! Make it a point to get back here by nightfall and you’ll have no trouble.”

He flexed his beak into a smile. “No trouble at all.”

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