Chapter 1
"Run, Dad, run!" I screamed. My father was practically tripping over his own feet as he ran from our pursuer. Around and around we ran, the stadium roaring with the cheers of onlookers. and I saw some of them betting on me, or whatever it was that was chasing me. A titanic claw raked the ground where I would have been standing mere seconds ago. (Line Break.)
Maybe I should back up. My name is Gomar. I was once a hero, now a criminal worth no more than the ground on which I walk. My friends are Jamia and Jono. When it comes to someone threatening their life, I'm not exactly the conversational type and someone was about to cause them pain. And I wasn't pleased. So I did what any sensible person would do, I punched his lights out. Apparently he told a very false tale about me, which I will speak of later on. (LB)
So there I was, running for my life to entertain these people. If I got out alive I would get him, no questions asked! I did not know what the creature chasing me was called, but there was another creature there that I did know. It was a miasma (a seemingly single organism made of many) known as the Jokno Beetle. Just then, I noticed something very important about this particular swarm of Jokno. Something that was very well emphasized in the textbooks I read in school. Since the match began, the Jokno hadn't separated and surrounded me, which was the usual Jokno hunting tactic. This is when I realized this was a Jokno that could no longer separate into the millions of Jokno it was once made of. As the textbook said, when they were in this state, touching them in any way would mutate and physically bond them to your anatomy. You are able to lift three hundred times your own weight, and with the bond you would grow pincers on your arms, strong and sharp enough to chop through steel. This would be the best thing to ever happen to you, except for the unholy monster you become. (LB)
But I had to take my chances or meet my death by whatever was chasing me. Lucky me, the Jokno was heading straight for me, so I charged it. Praying this would work, I touched its skin; it felt dry, soft, and slightly furry. In the span of the few seconds it took to transform, there was unimaginable pain! I tried to scream, but the transformation was too fast for the thought to scream to get from my mind to my lips. Then there was nothing to make a sound with, for my mouth was replaced by insectoid jaws. I heard the beetle slurping into my entire anatomy. When it was over, my skin was so hard I hadn?t even noticed that the creature that had been chasing me had bitten me. (LB)
Then I grabbed it by the snout and threw it to the other side of the stadium punching a hole through the wall. When the dust settled I was ready to pound it again, and again, the adrenaline pumping through my system. Amazed at what I did, I looked at the beast as it lay limp, dead. I ran through the hole so fast I almost flew. My father was still standing there, bug-eyed, (Literally or figuratively?) muttering something to the effect of, "I saw nothing!" I then hid in shame of my hideousness, taking advantage of the darkness provided by a filthy alleyway, then dreamt of before all this came to be. (LB)
It started on Roku* Island, my home. Reportedly, islands and land masses were spontaneously becoming lifeless. and I, Being an adventurer I was, I was curious. So I studied the pattern in which that the islands were dying, in and realized the one right beside us was next! That evening, I rowed my old boat out there and waited. It was midnight when I finally saw it. Like a silvery orb with an ominous glow, it sped toward the island I was on. It never even touched the water, simply hovering in the air. I stared in awe. This was what was doing all this, and I doubted it could be stopped. Fearing that my island was next, I jumped in my boat and I swear it was the first time it was in the air, not even touching the water. I told the elders what I had seen. and the Blood drained form their faces, as they had gone white with fear! Immediately they went into action, preparing the islanders to evacuate.
I stayed behind to coordinate the evacuation, and was preparing to leave when was rushing everyone to the evacuation boats in the last minutes of the escape when a little boy tripped, and falling so hard that he broke his leg. Checking to ensure everything was still going smoothly, I I saw the escape was going smoothly so I ran over to him. and picked him up inches from The orb had arrived, looming dangerously close to the shore. I found his mother, and it was a very joyous reunion. The evacuation had completed, with everyone on the boat Everyone got off the island seconds before the orb swallowed it whole! They called me a hero. I saved the boy's life seconds from death, and didn't even not knowing I could have met my own end also.
After sucking the life from the island, it lifted away like a ball of molten gold, (Didn't you say silver two paragraphs ago?) hovering above the now lifeless land. The devastation was crushing. The trees, animals... Gone. My old home. Everything laid in silence, just a mountain of rock jutting from the ocean. As we drifted toward the open ocean, I managed a glance at the orb. I could have sworn that if it had eyes, it was looking at me. (LB)
We were now on a new island, ready to begin a new life. There were trees with fruits we did not know anything about. Luckily, everything on the island was quite edible. We couldn't seem to find anything that was poisonous, fortunately for us. Everything was different and new. for It was a land that had not yet been mapped, a whole new chapter in our textbooks, and our lives. As I settled into my new home, I remembered There was something that mother of the child I had saved handed to me. It was a fruit from our island, my home. A Rachtl*, the most expensive delicacy on Roku Island. The mother said that this was her way of thanking me, and gave me the only part of our island that was left. The elders believed in starting new for this island, not bringing home with us. It would merely cause sadness and depression. (LB)
No one knew what this orb wanted or what it was, but I had a feeling that the elders knew that and more. They were the wisest of our village. and If they didn't know, nobody did. I went to the hut of the elders, the first one built. for They are the most important people in the village. Accordingly, their hut was quite large. Large enough to accommodate everyone in the village until the other houses were made. The elders were inside of their hut when we (Who's the we?) walked up to their conference table to ask why the orb was here, and what it was. They said the orb was known as Dakun, or It was also known as "The Devourer." It had been going through the process of devouring the life of all the land masses of land for centuries. This kept happening because life kept returning to these dead islands unknowingly, so it had found a supposedly infinite food source. I never wanted this to happen, but now it was. (Really? "I never wanted the complete end to life to happen." Had he forseen it and now feels guilty? I feel like this line is just weird.) My greatest nightmare was realized and brought to life. I went to my cot on the floor, feeling sad and hopeless. (LB)
I began to think about the trip (which?) over, and how very tense the journey was. No one else dared to venture to the other side of the isle, for fearing dangers what we didn't find on this side would be found on the other. I jumped into my own boat, which that I towed along for personal use. I took my boat and went around the island, in search of other life. I got about halfway around the island when I saw movement in the bushes. If I came up close to it, and it would jumped away. again. I ran after it, and it kept retreating. I ran and ran and ran, until it brought me to the middle of the island, which housed a volcano. (LB)
