Scene 1
The white man in the woods finally encountered what
he was looking for. His dirty brown pants did not tear when he slipped off the
small cliff. Slowly with one hand on the ground, he climbed up and perched his
head to see if it was there and then he saw it. The beast with the black fur,
blood in its eyes and canines grinding each other took a step back, attained
the position to attack and roared.
Although this was what exactly he was hoping to see
for years, yet his blood froze with fear. In the same instant he recalled the
first time he heard the story of the Serpent Wolf of the White Woods and how he
discarded it. Being a renowned zoologist, and a specialist on Evolution of
dogs, he laughed at the story and was certain that it is a myth or at most a
delusion of a drug addict.
And the beast took a step back, attained the
position and roared and with the roar, drops of beast's saliva encountered Sau
Rabh, otherwise known as 'The Archaic Kangaroo or TAK, face. The Archaic
Kangaroo was a name owing to his old fashioned looks and all time jacket
attire, the front pocket of which loaded with all the things needed to survive.
With the cold touch of saliva on his face, his
senses came back to present and he realized that the beast is ready to attack.
He blinked and the instant his vision made sense, he leaped out off the cliff.
Thankful, he was, to his more than human reflexes. But he cannot be lucky all
the times and for that matter only, he has to concentrate. TAK knew if he runs,
he is dead. If he panicks, he is dead. If he looks away, he is dead. He decided
to hold his ground. He bent over his pelvic, lowered one of his knees,
straightened his head and stared back furiously at the beast. This was when he
realized how magnificent the Serpent wolf or whatever this creature, was.
Fierce cold black eyes, which shine like Silver in
night, ghostly demeanour and the ready to kill stance along with the razor
sharp steel claws, not to forget the canines gave it the attire of every bit of
beast. TAK had seen and studied a variety of dog families, which are present or
were present at any point of time. This beast seemed no different in the dark,
yet there was something, which fascinated him to the core.
Whatever the case, either a new species or not,
right now his first priority was to save himself from this one and its
pack.
“Wait, where is the pack? The beast has not growled
and signalled for the pack yet. It would be better if I can escape before the pack
arrives or even before there is a signal. The only weapon I possess right now
is an Army knife (one of the two things needed to survive) and that is strictly
for my survival”, he said to himself.
He moved almost as fast as he thought in his brain,
reached his survival pocket in the jacket, took out his cell phone and pressed
123#, the code to activate a particular frequency of infrasound, which only
some animals including Dogs can hear. Different frequencies can make them
exhibit different behaviour. TAK got an infrared device fitted in there, just
for such cases. The Beast moved a step back, opened its leathery wings and
disappeared into the woods. He knew it would come back and probably it can
track him.
Back in the tent, which was on an anchored boat,
still floating in the water, distant enough to avoid getting attacked by these
so called Serpent Wolves, TAK was brainstorming. He was not sure after
encountering the beast once, whether the arrangements he made to avoid these
creatures are sufficient or not. The fact remains that these dense humid
forests are present on the small island of Kiokaku, which appeared
suddenly on the map of the earth in mid eighties, in Pacific Ocean. It was not
that, they were there and nobody discovered them in all those years of
expedition by Spanish and British sailors, especially when these islands lie on
the stretch between Australia and Japan. Probably these islands miraculously
appeared as a result of underwater volcanic explosion. The only bunch of
Japanese sailors which arrived there after getting stuck in sea storm, were the
first and the only people to report about the myth. They were thought to be
missing for five months, after which they arrived back, all alive except one
and with them came the mysterious stories of SERPENT WOLVES.
Geological evidence suggests the age of island, no
more than 25 years. In 25 years after its birth, the island has groomed itself
with mangrove vegetation and a variety of bird species. Still it is not enough
to maintain a population of beast like a wolf or serpent wolf or whatever I
saw, on this island.
The nearest inhabited land is the southernmost
islands of Japan, which are 500 nautical miles away which is a long distance to
cover for anything and no such creature exist in Japan.
Scene 2
The captain of the fisherman troop was a man of
reason. He has never believed in myths of the sea, which most sailors do, such
as beautiful and poisonous mermaids, who will lure the sailors into illusion
and then feed on them or ghostly islands or suddenly appearing rocks to be
crushed with. He has always believed that all these visions are a manifestation
of spending a long time away from land and has nothing to do with sensible
reason. A man too long away from family and company creates his own world to
entertain in and does not even realise when he starts believing in it. For the
same reason he refused to believe in, what his own eyes experienced.
The serpent wolf
The first and only humans to land and survive were the
sailors with this captain. Some of them saw serpents while others saw wolves.
The beast was fiery red eyed, said one of them. It was swift and wicked
exclaimed another.
It was black like midnight darkness and had a split
tongue and razor sharp teeth.
Stop putting your imagination there, shouted the
first one, ‘Seems like you saw a serpent’. We are talking about a four legged
beast here, ‘Black fur, red eyes and extremely ferocious, a wolf’.
Soon all sailors were divided into two bunches
except a few and all they were arguing was about it being a serpent or a wolf.
Few others saw beasts of different sort. It was a
huge monster, one of the few exclaimed. It had wings. The others from this rare
group had their own opinions about it. Nevertheless nobody from the two large
groups paid heed to this useless crowd. But all of them agreed that there is a
beast on this island and it is ruthless. They were all surprised that none of
them was dead though. Every single one of them felt broken to the core of their
soul. On the shore they made a huge pyre which the coast guards followed and
rescued these broken souls. On their return voyage the myth of serpent wolf was
born and the island of KioKaKu became the forgotten and abandoned island even
before it was properly discovered.
Three days back, when The AK arrived, he had enough
food and other appropriate things with him. For three days TAK tried and roamed
around most of the island but could not spot any beast. There were no pug marks
or faeces or anything, which would point towards the existence of a beast as
described by sailors. On the third day, he found some burnt bones. He took some
in a sample bag and kept in his belt. Tired, he returned to his boat only to
find it upside down. AK rushed towards the boat, turned it back with all
his remaining energy and then started looking for the food bags. Everything was
gone. Tired enough to hunt, he tried to sleep.
The AK has to either hunt or search for food on
this lonely island in order to survive. He forgot about his search and instead
started looking for something to eat. He made traps, but was unable to catch
the prey. Hungry, tired and frustrated he shouted in the dark. He recalled the
times when he was too busy with his obsession.
‘Do you want something to eat now’, his wife asked?
‘How many times I have to tell you, not to come to
me’, he shouted back.
But you must be hungry.
Just leave the damn food here and leave.
The AK recollected the day his daughter left him.
He did not bother to ask her to stay. If TAK has ever loved anybody beyond
understanding, it was her. She turned to him with watery eyes. He looked away,
plugged ear phones, and turned the sound to maximum. I don’t have time for your
emotional crap. Whenever you are back in your right state of mind, you will
come back. His daughter uttered something; TAK saw her lips move but could not
hear her.
‘I am getting late’, he shouted, shoved her off to
the door and thumped the door on her face.
TAK recollected the last bit once more.
I love you, Daddy. I will always love you. His daughter uttered.
Irked with himself, he shouted and slipped off the
small cliff and this was when he saw the beast.
Scene 3
Ensconced in his boat, his thoughts kept wavering.
It was not really the beast which bothered him. The thoughts of his wife and
daughter bothered him. It has never happened before. Hungry, tired, frustrated
and unable to concentrate further on the evident danger, he shouted once again.
To his dismay, the beast appeared on the boat, the next moment. He looked
around, the tent was not torn anywhere. It became dark and all he could see was
the anger in the beast’s red eyes. The beast roared. He was scared. It is time.
“I love you, Daddy. I will always love you.”
The beast disappeared and the lights appeared.
Next morning he collected some roots to eat and
caught some fishes and started his journey back home.
Scene 4
The beast is a part of us. It unleashes in
different forms. The beast is just an outer reflection of what hides beneath
our skin. In everyday life we carry smiles on our faces in the public sphere,
while in our evolved brains which some refer to as mind, we analyse, judge and
plot, sometimes unconsciously, but with a specific purpose in mind.
The beast had no pack. This is why it was alone and
that’s why it did not call for its pack. The anger, jealousy and pride can be a
manifestation of circumstances but once the beast reveals itself there is
nobody to be blamed. It’s the beast itself and it has to face the brutality of
being the beast by being lonely, more lonely than ever before.
The beast has no patience, has a sharp tongue and
is extremely unstable. It comes out there just to destroy.
Yet, as all other beasts this one can also be
tamed. The dragon can be kept under the bridge with the virtue of silence and
patience. The Archaic Kangaroo simply glazed at the moon. He is not without
sins and he saw his own inner beast as Dragon owing to his conversations with
all those sailors and his imagination which probably was influenced by all the
fantasy works he likes to read. He reminisced the times his daughter used to
stare the moon and ask, 'Daddy, when will I become like the moon.' He looked up
again and the serene look of the moon appeased him down.
The beast is a part of our inner self. The one
sailor that was weak enough to survive his own beast was consumed by his own
friends when hunger unleashed the beast within them. The bones which TAK found
matched the deceased. He realized that the only humans having spent time on this
island were the same band of sailors and no animal but humans cook their food
on fire. The burden of consuming one of their own destroyed their souls and the
beast of the island laughed in its victory.
TAK.
