Queen of the Ashes

The Great One

I dreamt of death; fire and destruction laying waste to the island. Castle Rock stood charred and cracked with Lucy's battered and bloody body hung on a cross above the waterfall. Her throat cut open to the bone mixing her blood into the cascading waterfall. Jackie and her tribe danced around cackling while screaming "praise the leviathan, almighty great one." The lake turned putrid and in the glowing red sky I could see a shadow beyond the smoke, the silhouette of an octopus like creature, larger than any kraken id ever seen in lore.

I shot up, drenched in sweat and panting. Rylee was already awake. She was sitting next to the signal fire staring down at our camp. I realized only then that my dream had been right on something, it wasn't our camp. Jackie and the others had ostracized us; or perhaps we ostracized ourselves. Any matter, we were no longer a united front. "Someone put this fire out Blair." Rylee spat bitterly. "Who would do that?"

"I don't know, if we find Lucy maybe she could explain." I gulped, thinking about my dream, I hoped not all of it was based in reality.

"I'm not leaving Castle Rock again. This fire has to stay lit." Judging from the bags under her eyes, Rylee hadn't slept.

"What if I go look and you and Patty can take shifts with the fire?" I proposed. Rylee finally looked at me after a long pause and nodded. This island was starting to break her.

I gathered my bag and the old journal and headed into the forest, I didn't believe that Lucy had headed for the beach. As I followed the path that had led us to the plane I noticed Lucy's half heart shaped, silver locket in the mud. It was dark coming back last night so we missed it. I slipped it into my pocket and kept going.

Once at the plane I decided to rest, rumbling in my stomach had become too loud to ignore. I broke open a coconut and sat in the shade against the old, broken plane. I unzipped my bag and grabbed out the old journal.

Day 1
I am the only survivor of the crash. I don't understand how we didn't see the storm? The day was perfect until we approached the island. It was like a flash hurricane. I could've sworn something was pulling us towards the ocean before we lost altitude. It's the strangest thing, the back side of the plane is dented in, in such a way that it almost supports this theory of some long tentacle reaching from the depths, miles high, craving our demise.

Day 8
I found the graveyard; that's what I'm calling it. Wrecks everywhere on the opposite side of the island, ships, planes, even a submarine! They are from all around the world! How is this island still uncharted?! Did no one survive!? I'm having nightmares. Always the octopus. I'm convinced he brought down our plane. I swear I can hear it sometimes, so faintly. Calling me.

Day 17
I am not alone on this island. He is here, and so are they. He's louder now, and in my dreams I see him, inching those tentacles closer, he wants them around my neck. I can hear them when I get close to the graveyard, chanting manically "hail the leviathan, hail the great one."

I stopped reading. All the air escaped my lungs. The leviathan, this could this man have such similar dreams to me. It was insanity. I flipped forward in the journal, my heart racing.

Day 29
I will die on this island. Not of infection or starvation, I will die from murder. I have refused the great ones call for too long. Debbie the tribes woman told me it was nearly time for the bloodletting. Every month they sacrifice whoever the great one chooses, sometimes multiple people. He can never be satisfied, always hungry for chaos and death. I know I will be his choice. He told me what they would do. I am afraid. I have become a hermit in this plane. My spirit is broken, I have been shown the kind of man I am. I am the kind of man to put morals above survival. I will not kill another. I am at peace with this.

I closed the journal and thought about Lucy. The bruises that looked like an octopus grip, My dreams, and this journal all were tied together no matter how unbelievably insane it sounded. Lucy's voice rang in my head "I'm not crazy, you'll remember that."

Behind the plane a twig snapped. I shot up and darted around to see Lucy ducked down by a tree. She was holding her bleeding arm. "Oh my god, let me put a bandage on that!" I ran back to my bag and pulled out some cloth. Lucy studies me, hard. She reached her arm out and showed me the large gash. "How did this happen?" I asked in an attempt to distract her from the pain.

"He told me to do it." She winced. "You know who I mean. He told me to cut myself and add it to the water. Then he told me to put out the fire. He said it's not time to have the island be found again yet. He told me I could see Megan again if I do everything he says. I know he's lying now."

"How do you know?" I leaned against the plane with my arms crossed, I was suddenly feeling cold.

"The veil is lower here, that's why he has so much power. I saw Megan in my dreams. She is dead. I'll be dead soon too. She died that night on the boat. Do you want to live?" I stared back at her speechless, shivers shooting down my spine. "Would you sacrifice another for yourself." Bile rose up as Amelia's screams rang through my mind.