Anthropomorphic Creature - Short Story

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Legend has it that there once was a little island in the western part of the North Atlantic Ocean, in the place that is now called the Bermuda Triangle. On this island, there was a small village of … how do I put this… creatures… who were few, but lived happily. There was a gang of assorted stuffies, a poor giant squid who lost a few of her tentacles, a fierce fire breathing dragon no taller than a pencil, and of course, Vella. Vella was an oddity among oddities, as she was a walking, talking, (if not quite living), skeleton. Despite her frightening appearance, Vella was one of the sweetest people you could ever meet, and she wouldn’t hurt a fly. She lived peacefully in the village with a little under a hundred other people; well, at least until that one fateful day.

Vella was sitting on the rocks by the edge of the sea in the early hours of the morning watching a handful of people swimming with the dolphins, when a terrible, earsplitting shriek shattered the morning air. Voices came from the town, shouting, “The humans are here! They’ve found us!”, followed by more screams. Vella knew that some of the people on the island had a bad history with the humans, since the humans liked to hunt anything unusual. Vella shot to her feet, just in time to see one of those filthy, murdering humans charge towards her, a sword pointed at her chest! She dodged the slashing blade and sprinted for the Village Square, her cloak flying out behind her. What she saw there was enough to stop her in her tracks. Carnage. Destruction. Blood. Everywhere blood. The stones were slick with it. Puddles of it lay around the dead. Vella staggered over to where a small teddy bear lay on the ground. A huge gash had ripped the poor thing open, and white fluff spilled out of the cut onto the ground, soaking up the blood. She heard rapid footsteps behind her, but was in too much shock to turn around.

A ripping sound made her look down. The tip of a sword was poking out through her stomach! When she didn’t fall, the human behind her let out a surprised sound, then yelled something in a language she didn’t understand. Quick as lightning, Vella reached behind her and pulled out the sword, then turned to face the human. He shouted something in that strange language when he saw Vella’s face, then took a long dagger from his coat and attacked her again. Something inside Vella broke, like a glass ball shattering, and she fought the human away from the village with fresh anger. How dare this human come to her island and kill her people! She kicked him in the chest and he stumbled backwards, fell, and hit his head on the scattered rocks that surrounded the beach.

Amazingly, the human got right back up again. Vella slammed the hilt of her sword into his temple, yet his only reaction was to shake his head as if to clear it. He must have had an incredibly thick skull. He backed up a bit, then, wobbling slightly, charged towards her again. She neatly sidestepped, then stuck her foot out and tripped him. He didn’t get up a third time. Vella examined the sword in her hands. It was a long cutlass, slightly curved and wickedly sharp. It had a soft leather grip, and a beautiful silver handle with pieces of jade flashing in the sun. She decided to keep it, and not a moment too soon, because, not twenty meters away, came half a dozen humans, swords in hand, yelling battle cries in that strange language. Vella unbuckled the sheath from the unconscious man’s waist, then deftly fitted it to her own belt, under her cloak. Sliding the cutlass in, she ran towards the water's edge, then, wading past the shallows, dove smoothly into the blue waves. Water quickly filled her skull, rushing in through her empty eye sockets, flowing through her rib cage. She swam down, deeper than any human could ever go, lest they crumple like a tin can, and drifted down to rest on the sand, wishing she were able to cry.

Vella didn’t know how long she had been down there, sitting on the seabed, but after a while, she spotted a large shape swimming towards her. As it got closer, she realized that it was Salazar, one of her friends from the island! Salazar waved at her with one clawed hand, then motioned for her to follow. Vella swam eagerly after him, until, finally, they reached a colossal chunk of rock, where Salazar swam underneath an out-jutting piece, and promptly disappeared. Cautiously, Vella did the same, looked up, and saw a hole above her. She kicked upwards, and emerged in a vast cavern, the ceiling covered in stalagmites. An underwater cave! This one was bigger than any she had seen before, and its size intimidated her. She glanced in a corner of the cave and saw five more people from the island, who greeted her and began to tell her the story of how they all escaped from the humans.

Before you go on, let me tell you a little bit about Vella’s strange friends.

Salazar​ ​was​ ​a​ ​marine​ ​iguana,​ ​able​ ​to​ ​talk​ ​and​ ​roughly​ ​five​ ​meters​ ​long,​ ​equipped​ ​with​ ​small,

pointed​ ​teeth​, ​long​ ​claws and thick skin that was almost impossible to penetrate.​ ​Esmerelda​ ​and​ ​Ebony​ ​were​ ​identical twin​ ​sisters​ ​with​ ​fangs,​ ​forked​ ​tongues, and​ ​green​ ​scales​ ​coating​ ​every​ ​inch​ ​of​ ​their​ ​bodies.​ ​Olle​ ​was​ ​a​ ​tiny​ ​dragon with​ ​deep​ ​blue​ ​scales,​ ​sharp​ ​horns​ ​and​ claws,​ ​little​ ​wings,​ ​and​ ​was​ ​able​ ​to​ ​shoot​ ​flames​ ​from​ ​his mouth.​ ​Azakiel​ ​was​ ​a​ ​huge​ ​ram,​ ​with​ ​the​ ​torso​ ​and​ ​arms​ ​of​ ​a​ ​human,​ ​shaggy​ ​white​ ​hair​ ​covering him​ ​from​ ​head​ ​to​ ​foot,​ ​massive,​ ​curved​ ​horns​ ​atop​ ​his​ ​head,​ ​and​ ​cloven​ ​hooves​ ​in​ ​place​ ​of​ ​feet. Lorenzo...well,​ ​no​ ​one​ ​quite​ ​knew​ ​what​ ​Lorenzo​ ​was.​ ​He​ ​might​ ​have​ ​been​ ​able​ ​to​ ​pass​ ​for​ ​a human,​ ​if​ ​it​ ​weren’t​ ​for​ ​his​ ​leathery​ ​gray​ ​skin,​ ​canine​ ​teeth,​ ​and,​ ​of​ ​course,​ ​the ​gigantic​ ​bat​ ​wings sprouting​ ​from​ ​his​ ​back.​ ​

Apparently, Esmerelda, Ebony, and Salazar were three of the creatures who had been swimming in the morning, and had been chased into deeper waters by the humans after Vella had left. Olle and Lorenzo had been perched on a rooftop when they heard the cries. They flew over the town and saw all the destruction, then landed and tried to help, only to have the humans throw swords and daggers at them. Azakiel had a different story altogether. He had been working in his blacksmith’s shop, when his door was broken down by the humans. In rage, he took a half finished sword and barreled through the Humans blocking his path, and fought them until his sword broke. He then ran to the water’s edge, and, most unwillingly, grabbed a large piece of driftwood and swam away. He drifted until he found a bit of rock he could stand on, and saw Olle and Lorenzo in the sky, who were looking for survivors. They came across Salazar, Ebony and Esmerelda, who discovered the underwater entrance to the cave. Salazar was looking for food when he found Vella, but he was glad he did.

They all agreed that they should try and get their island back, so they started to make a plan. Many ideas were brought forth, but none seemed quite right. Swimming back was not an option, since Azakiel’s fur was not what you would call waterproof, and his hooves made him a terrible swimmer. After hours of plotting and planning, they decided upon this; Lorenzo and Olle would go out and look for any ships going towards the cave, and when they found one, they would wait for it to get close enough, go onboard and try to drive the humans away. The rest of the group would then attempt to climb up.

The plan went into action.

Olle and Lorenzo went different directions, searching for any ships. They searched until the sun went down, but had no luck. The next day, they looked again, and then their luck changed. Olle came back with news that a small ship was headed their way, and that there was only a few humans on board. Olle shot flames into the air, and Lorenzo came quickly back. They all swam out of the cave and waited for the boat to come close enough to capture, with Lorenzo and Olle in the air. When the vessel was right beside them, they heard surprised cries coming from on deck, and they all scampered up a rope ladder hanging down the side of the ship. When Vella jumped over the rail, brandishing her sword, she saw an odd sight. The humans were lowering a rowboat into the water and jumping overboard to get away from little Olle, who was spraying them with spurts of fire and brandishing his tiny claws and teeth.

After celebrating their success, the seven of them searched the ship for more humans, but encountered none. The two sisters found a kitchen, stocked with food, and they gratefully ate for the first time since they left the island. While the others were eating, Vella found a collection of swords and other weapons, from which Lorenzo, Azakiel, and the twins took their pick; Azakiel took an enormous, double-handed broadsword; Lorenzo, a fearsome scimitar; and, Esmerelda and Ebony each took two short, thin swords. Vella decided to keep her cutlass, and after turning the ship in the direction of their island, began to practice wielding their chosen weapons.

There was almost no wind that day, so Esmerelda, Ebony, Azakiel and Lorenzo volunteered to row while Vella steered. Even with four rowing, it was terribly slow progress, but eventually, they made it to the island. They crept around the edge, and hid the boat behind a cluster of palm trees. Vella climbed down the rope ladder and tiptoed over to the first house and gave the all clear to the others. Once they were all beside her, they crept to the Village Square, and saw a human sitting on a wooden crate, sharpening a sword. Lorenzo took off, his wings disturbingly silent, drew his scimitar in mid air, and then landed softly behind the human, slamming the hilt of his blade into the man's head. He toppled sideways, unconscious. They kept going, and saw eight humans sitting around a fire, cooking some sort of bird. Slowly, Vella drew her sword, and saw the others do the same. Vella held up three fingers, then put down one, two, three.

Yelling like banshees, the seven of them charged out from behind the row of houses and attacked the group of humans that had taken over their island. The humans jumped up and, taking out their own weapons, met their assailants in a clashing of blades. Almost immediately, a human fell to the ground, knocked out by Azakiel’s enormous broadsword. Vella was busy fighting a human with a longsword, but out of the corner of her eye, she saw the twins battling two opponents together, and Lorenzo swooping down from the sky and knocking the humans out. Soon, there were six humans lying on the ground, and one running towards the lake with his hair on fire. The other one had disappeared, but no one was worried. Vella saw Esmerelda nursing a shallow cut on her arm, and the tip of Azakiel’s horn had been sliced off, but no one else had sustained any injuries. The island was theirs again!

Or so they thought…

You see, over the years, an underwater volcano had been stewing right beside their island, but they were never in any danger until the humans placed explosives around the volcano and the island. They were intending to wipe it off the map. The human who ran away was telling the others to leave, so they could blow the island up.

As they were celebrating, Vella noticed a huge sailing vessel leaving the island. The rest of the humans were getting away! They couldn’t do anything about it, though, and watched helplessly as the ship sailed almost out of sight. Suddenly, a deafening explosion ripped through the island, turning it to rubble and washing the ocean over it.

In the midst of the explosion, you could almost hear Vella yelling curses out to the humans, promising that they would never be able to come near the sunken island again. They say that this is the reason no human can go near the Bermuda Triangle, this is why their ships sink when they try. They say that you can still hear Vella wailing for her lost island if you dare go close. They say, they say… But you don’t really believe those old legends, do you?

By Genevieve