Cypher Island

PROLOGUE

The sun shone down over Grayson’s face as he returned home with a stack of books in his arms. The one he was most excited to read was about the history of the Cypher surrounding Altros island. His friends and him had been planning this summer trip for forever. Staying at the cottage and seeing the Cypher on Altros would surely be the highlight of all four of their summers. Except maybe for Hudson, who seemed to usually have something more expensive and grand planned. Yet he had decided to come. Why?

CHAPTER 1

“We can’t do this! Were all going to die!” shouted Ben. “We haven’t even reached the Cypher yet!” Grayson retorted. Ben clung to the mass of the boat shivering with his body wrapped underneath several layers of rope.

The sun's rays bounced across each wave as they steered along the river. Hudson stood with his arms crossed in front of where Grayson sat, looking out at the horizon. “What’s wrong?” asked Grayson. Hudson glared down at him. “Nothing”. “Ok” Grayson replied in disbelief.

“Do you think we’ll see any climbers?” asked Grayson. Hudson raised an eyebrow. “Climbers?”: “Guarders I mean, the sea slugs”. He shrugged. Their friend Rian came down from where the captain steered.

“Captain says we're almost at Altros island” he said. Grayson smiled. Hudson took off his leather tunique and layed it where he sat. It was expensive looking, nothing Grayson could afford. Grayson stood up and leaned over the railing of the boat and sighed. His family wouldn’t be able to send him on trips like this soon enough.

 All of a sudden the ship jolted violently sending Grayson out of his daze and onto the deck. Ben had rolled all the way over to the opposite side of the deck.

“Try not to cream your necks!” the captain yelled from the bow. Another jolt went through the ship before everything turned upside down for Grayson. The mass sprouted out of the sky; his friends flew through the air. It was as if they were flying.

Grayson briefly heard something skidding across the Cypher, moving, alive.

Suddenly everything went black.

Grayson woke inside of a small room that smelt of flowers. He sat up to realize he was on a white bed that was decorated with flower art. To his right was a white bookshelf with scented candles sitting lit at the top. He ran his fingers through his thick brown hair before standing up and exploring the room.

He opened the blinds letting in the sun’s piercing glare. Outside of the window he saw he was in a two story building surrounded by an oak wood fence. “Ey, your Mason right?” said a deep voice from behind him. Grayson turned around to see the captain standing in the open doorway. “My name’s Grayson,” he corrected.

“Anyway, your mates are downstairs, you took quite the hit when we reached the Cypher” he said. Grayson followed the captain back downstairs to where his friends sat in a kitchen. Hudson had a small bump on the underside of his blond locks that an old lady was dabbing with a wet cloth.

“Are you all alright?” he asked. Hudson winced at the pain. “Overall. Ben and I thought you and Rian got the worst of it. Turns out it was just Rian, guess Ben’s sissyness paid off”.

Grayson frowned and sat down at the table. “What became of the boat?” he asked the captain who stood off to the wall. He shifted uncomfortably. “She won’t be going anywhere anytime soon” he answered.

The door to the cottage opened, and in came a girl about their age, with short thin ginger hair in a white blouse. “Hey Nana!” she exclaimed. The old lady treating Hudson smiled. “And where were you?” the lady asked. “Just at the beach” the girl replied.

“Sorry to intrude on your grandmother and your house, these boys are supposed to be staying at a cottage a mile away from here.” he said. “Yeah and the boat’s supposed to be floating so we don’t always get what we--owwe” said Hudson giving Ben a look.

The girl nodded, coming over to give her grandmother a kiss on her forehead. “Nice to meet you,” she said to the group.

Hudson stared off through the window, watching her leave.

“That was my granddaughter Ellison,” the woman said. “She seems nice,” said Grayson. The captain appeared at the stairs with Rian, Grayson had not even heard him leave. “Hey “ said Rian.

“How are you feeling?” asked Grayson. “Like shit” he replied. He came down the stairs and joined them at the table. “You boys better get going now! This lady has been very kind” he said.

CHAPTER 2

“Who was that cutie?” asked Rian as they trekked down the pathway. “Her name’s Ellison” said Grayson. “And she lives here on Altros?” he asked. “Guess so” Grayson answered. They boys took a left going onto a separate path. “Just up the hill he said,” said Hudson.

As they hiked up the path, Grayson looked over the cottage, It was painted white on the outside just as Ellison and her grandmother’s had been. The building was only one story tall with stained glass windows complete with a chimney.

Grayson opened the door and they stepped inside. “Not too shabby,” said Hudson. Inside to their immediate left was the living room, strangely empty except for a small metal box on the floor.

Rian and Ben passed the kitchen and went upstairs. “Where the hell are we supposed to sit?” asked Hudson outloud. “On our beds...or in the kitchen” Grayson said. ‘Great”.

Rian stood in one of the bedrooms smiling in glee. Before him was a king sized bed which he could hardly see with one of his eyes swollen shut. He leaped up in the air and landed back first on the blue comforter. “Ahh, this is amazing,” he said.

The windows were covered by pink blinds decorated with abstract designs.

Smells of the river and of nearby food cooking filled the room.

 Rian turned himself to the right where he saw something that made him nearly scream. A severed hand was sitting on the bedside table next to him.

 Casually rotting away before his eyes. His eyes followed the table down to where scratch marks stained in red came off of the table, onto the wall and then down to the floor where they led to an open window in the hallway between the bedroom he was in and the others. He sat frozen, trapped in his own body. No, he thought. I’m not going anywhere.

Hudson stood on the roof of the cottage with the metal box in his hands. He had climbed up using a ladder he had found in the shed a few acres away from the property. The box felt light in his hands. The metal of the box curved around as if someone had fused a squid tentacle to it.

Nothing he had tried would break the box. And none of the keys would open it.

But this had to do it. He closed his eyes saying a silent prayer and let it go. He listened to the box crashing into the ground, opening his eyes he realized he had finally done it. The box had opened.

Hudson climbed down the ladder as fast as he could. The crash had sent the exquisite lock a feet away into mud. Reaching his hand inside, he pulled out a piece of parchment and unfolded it.

A letter. It read: Dear reader, this island is tainted by cannibals. You must leave now, don’t bother alerting your loved ones, just go, run and live your life before they get their hands on you and never let go. Sincerely Anonymous.

Hudson processed this. Cannibals? The only people he had seen so far were the beat up captain who was in no shape to fight, the ginger beauty who had come inside of the cottage  and an old grandma. Cannibals? Yeah, ok. 

He thought about rubbing it into Grayson but instead decided to keep the letter a secret.

CHAPTER 3

Grayson watched through the stained glass window of the cottage as it receded down below the river. Night was among them.

He checked out his bedroom which was surprisingly huge. A red comforter was spread out over the bed. A king size at that. He closed the black blinds and layed down over his bed. Ben appeared at the doorway. “How’s she feel?” he asked. “Spectacular!” he said, spreading his arms out in a dramatic fashion.

“I know right? Have you seen Rian?” he asked. Grayson thought about it. “Not since we got here, I thought he was with you,” said Grayson. “We were checking out the bedrooms, then he vanished”.

Grayson stood up. Should he try and find Rian? No doubt he would turn up eventually. Besides, why would he want to appear even more useless than he already felt if he didn’t. He may have gone with Hudson. Maybe even going to talk to that girl, Ellison.

Then he heard a knock on the door.

Grayson hurried down the stairs and opened the door. Ellison was standing in front of him smiling, wearing a crimson coloured dress.. Something felt off about her, but he couldn’t tell what it was. “It’s Ellison right?” Grayson said. “Yes, and you’re?” she asked. “Grayson,” he said. “Nice to meet you,” she said.

“I was just coming to see if any of you wanted to join me at Heldsworth tower tonight, it is on the beach not far from here” she said. “Umm sure i’ll go, I just have to go and ask Ben and--” “actually now that I think about it the tower is pretty closed in, more than two people might be too much”.

Her sea colorured eyes stared at him. They looked like they were analyzing, testing. She moved out of the way so he could step outside and close the door. He would figure her out by the end of the night he thought. If there was anything that interested him more than books, it was a good mystery.

Hudson trotted along the pathway back to the docks where the remains of the shipwreck would be. The truth was, he wasn’t totally convinced that the Cypher would have been enough to damage the ship. Something else was going on. He intended to figure it out at the docks.

He reached them and waited until midnight. By then the docks were clear of workers and fisherman. He tiptoed out of the bushes he was hiding behind and came up behind the dock house. The windows were steamed up, all he could make out was that there was a light inside.

He came around the edge and kept his back to the stone wall. He creeped around towards the door and gave it a quick knock before disappearing back behind the bushes again. Nothing. Good.

He came back out and sprinted down the dock towards the shipwreck. Wooden planks form the ship floated off down the river in groups. The mass had nearly split in half, with only a small portion of grains holding it all together.

He pulled off his shirt and pulled down his trousers before jumping in the water. It sent a shock through his body. He opened his eyes and swam towards the wreck. The darkness made it near impossible to find a purchase point. He flailed around, scratching his arms off planks and what he assumed were nails. He swam more to the left and felt outward with his feet. He couldn’t get up that way.

He swam upward for a breath and then went back down. He came around the back of the haul and kept going. He rose up for air once more. Everything around him was consumed by shadows. He had gotten inside. He felt around and felt something tough like rope. A ladder maybe? He found his footing and climbed up the ladder. “Well, time to do some exploring”.

CHAPTER 4

Grayson and Ellison walked along the beach in silence for a while. He couldn’t yet see the tower, and followed Ellison blindly. He wondered how long it would take to fix the ship. All that was on the island were small fishing boats. Not big or strong enough to survive the Cypher.

Grayson noticed the necklace Ellison wore. It had small beads that looked like coconuts. Where would she have gotten those around here? Even Pigmae didn’t have coconut trees. They kept going for 10 minutes until off on the horizon Grayson saw a tall silhouette. Like an enormous sand castle. This was beautiful, he thought. He had the sudden realization that he was walking on the beach alongside the girl his friends were tripping over themselves for.

As they approached the tower, Grayson felt a strange tingling go down the back of his neck. Ellison went up the steps and opened the door, letting him in first.

Inside was completely empty. He looked back at Ellison as she pulled a lever and the tower started to move downward. “What is this?!” he called over to her. “What I wanted to show you...have you ever been inside the Cypher?” she asked.

Grayson sprinted over to the exit but it was too late. The tower had descended beneath the Earth. The sounds of gears turning and an unworldly hum echoed around them.

Hudson reached outward into the darkness.  The shattered wall pieces his only compass. It led him forward. “Ahhh!” he shouted in pain. Something sharp had pierced his foot. He sat down slowly and wrapped his hand around where the pain of his foot was coming from.

His pain only felt that much more overwhelming. But he persisted until whatever it was came out of his foot. Soon after blood began to drip out. He took the piece with him after feeling the unorthodox shape in his hands. This one wasn’t weak enough to...this island is tainted by cannibals. You must leave now.

He dove back into the deep depths of the river and swam toward the docks.

Ben felt insulted that Grayson had left with Ellison, not even bothered to wait for him. They were friends right? As much as the world around him did make him fear for his life, as it should, the darkness of night was not one of those things.

He lied in his bedroom. The candles in his room were all lit to combat against the creeping shadows around him. Darkness was not to be feared. It was what was in that darkness that should be feared. The door opened and Ben shook in fear before regaining his composure.

 “Grayson? Ben?!” Hudson’s voice called from downstairs. Ben came downstairs where Hudson stood with damp blond hair in the living room. In his left hand he held a piece of wood. “I went to the docks” Hudson sounded out of breath. “Why?” Ben asked him. “ Just read this, and please believe me,” he said holding out the wood.

Ben took the piece of wood and gazed down over it. It did indeed read something. Carved into the grains it read: Cannibals don’t have fangs, vampires do - Anonymous.  Ben started to shake again.

“This was at the docks?” Ben asked. “Where’s Rian?” Hudson asked. “I thought he was with you!” exclaimed Ben.

They rushed upstairs to Rian’s room, Hudson turned the doorknob. It was locked. Hudson kicked at the door as hard as he could. Ben rushed away and returned holding a candle. Before Hudson could argue with him, Ben was sprawled out on the floor holding the candle to the door.

Hissing came from inside. The door broke open and Rian came rushing through, faster than either he or Hudson could process. Both of them pushed up on the door, the only border between them and the vampire.

Grayson stood in silence with Ellison. He was paralyzed. She reached out to him. Something had changed in her eyes. They were no longer blue but green. She had not lied, sort of. Grayson could hear the waves of the gigantic whirlpool above the cave.

Up ahead of them was a circle on the ground formed out of an iron border and hardwood surface. “What is that?” Grayson asked. He noticed something at the edge of the cave. A corpse, the size of a giant. Ellison took notice. “It’s why your boat was destroyed...and why we’re here” she said.

She then took his hand and brought him to the circle which turned and rose up from the stone beneath it. Hundreds  of what looked like test tubes or vials, all assorted neatly in a circular slot.

She squeezed his hand and apologized to him. He was too slow to know what happened next. He flew through the air, the last thing he saw were the long snake-like fangs protruding out of Ellison’s mouth. She bit his neck and slit his throat with her mere hand. Blood dribbled into one of the vials.

Grayson didn't see but felt the other presence in the cave. One that he felt coming from multiple different bodies. It was pleased that he was dying. It was eager for every drop of his blood.

He waited to die. He counted every second. Savouring the rest of life. His Mom and Dad. They would be devastated. A minute passed by. Then a few more. Death hadn’t come.

 In fact, he felt adrenaline surging through his veins. Like he would run as fast as a cheetah. Something was forming in his mouth. Like long teeth. Fangs, like Ellison.

What had she done to him? “I saved you,” she said looking down at him. “You owe me”.

The evil presence watched, as a witness to this. It wasn’t from his world. Wherever it came from, even the house of demons would fear.