And so it begins...
Tradewinds 04: Tranz-Dhttp://www.absolutechaos.net/viewstory.php?sid=10462Summary: Wherein our castaway crew finally leave the Isle of Paradise. Just not the way they expected. Once some doors are opened…
Categories: Original Fiction
Characters: None
Genres: Action, Adventure, Fantasy, Science Fiction
Rated: 18+
Warnings: Death, Graphic Violence, Violence
Series: Tradewinds
Challenges: None
Published: 02/02/11
excerpt, from the Chapter 1:
…During Justin’s quiet reverie, Max had gone ashore and grabbed his gear. He now stood near the edge of the forest; it was his turn this morning to scare up some breakfast.
“I was thinkin’ about the raft last night.” So far, they had come to something of an impasse in their plan to build a seaworthy vessel with which to leave the island. “It might take some work, but maybe if we dragged my wreck over to yours, we could build something around that.”
“You mean to attach the Cyexian ship to the damaged part of yours?”
“Which damaged part? Max, you’re gonna have to be more— What the hell…”
Max turned around at his friend’s abrupt change of tone to see both Justin and Bandit, who was still paddling around merrily a moment ago, drifting toward a growing whirlpool now forming in the middle of the pond. The second or two Justin had paused in confusion proved dangerous; even as he began to thrash away belatedly from the mysterious vortex, it was becoming increasingly obvious he was already trapped in its current. Bandit, having been closer to it even as it formed, was faring no better though he paddled mightily.
Both were slowly losing their battle against the pull.
“Max! Help! ”
Once again, Max’s life was about to take another dramatic change of course, in ways he could never have foreseen, and once again Max rushed off to meet his destiny head-on. If he had not made his move when he did, he may have passed out of this tale entirely, for what would happen to them below would prove to be far more interesting than anything that would take place on the Isle of Paradise any time soon.
Without hesitation, Max finished throwing on his pack absently, for he still had it in hand— taking with him the very tools with which he would enter the next phase of his life— and charged out into the water. Later, he would wonder what the hell he had been thinking, but for now he splashed after Justin with all his might. For no other reason than that he was closer than Bandit.
Justin hardly seemed to notice, struggling against the very boots his friend had suggested wearing in the water to enhance his training and were now dragging him down, as Max caught up with him and started hauling against the pull of the whirlpool. It was a noble idea, but of no avail. Max instead found himself twirled about, replacing his friend as the one closer to the vortex.
Max was a strong swimmer, but the pull of the whirlpool was stronger.
The last thing he remembered over his and Justin’s frantic cries, was seeing Bandit losing his own battle and sliding back into the current as he swirled into the gaping hole that had so recently appeared in the bottom of the pond.
The view into that void was almost hypnotizing…
Chapter 1, in which Max and Justin's day takes a turn for the weird.
From here on out, the pace quickens.