It's a cold and windy morning. Kyle opens his eyes slowly, closes them, and his mind goes back to the conversation he had with his grandfather before he passed away. “Do you know what the most important thing in the world is?” asked his grandfather, “cheesecakes?” Kyle answered and laughed, his grandfather smiled and looked up and continued “no, well I could use one right now but no.” He sighs and looks down to his feet on the wheelchair. He’s quiet for some time and then proceeds to speak, “I’ll be going soon, and I don’t want you to stay in this small empty town that has left you with nothing but heavy scars.” Kyle sits up and his expression changes. “Listen son” his grandfather continued. “When I’m gone, I want you to go on an adventure, see the world, and when you’re done, start your own family, meet someone, get married, have kids. I want you to feel like you haven’t wasted your life. I’m old, I have lived a full life. When you’ll be 80, sitting down on the porch with your grandkids, I want you to tell them about your adventures, okay?” Kyle stares blankly into the horizon and says, “Now I’m craving cheesecake.” “You little…” said his grandfather while he laughed.

Kyle lived with his grandfather, just out of town. He didn’t know much about his parents, all he knew about them was that his mother was a soldier and his father was a scientist who worked for the government, they died when he was 4, 15 years ago when a drunk driver drove into them. Kyle was the only survivor.

He worked part-time at a bookstore. The bookstore was not selling very well, but he enjoyed working there, mostly because he could read the books in there without paying. He read a lot of fantasy books. Books on magic, elves, dryads, dwarfs etc. He wished he were born in a world where life was that easy. Like his grandfather, he preferred holding a book than scroll through a screen.

Like clockwork, his grandfather passes away. He had requested to be cremated and his ashes to be released into the ocean near his hometown. He always longed for the ocean. Kevin Storm, Kyle’s grandfather, grew up on an island very, very far from here, called Wadriadge.

Kevin Storm was a peculiar old man. Some of the stories he spoke about, that he said happened to him and around him, seemed quite fictional and stories like the ones Kyle enjoyed reading. He spoke about huge fighting sea monsters and large land beasts, ferocious dark elves and long fanged monsters. He called life on the island a paradise he wished he could return to. Kevin was a battle junkie, which means he loved to fight. He taught Kyle everything about fighting, surviving in enemy territory and living off the land. Kyle didn’t know it yet, but he was taught more than what he thought, his grandfather gave him a “magic” bracelet he was told it would protect him if his life was in danger.

Kevin had an accident that led to him being in a wheelchair long before Kyle was born. Even on a wheelchair, he had quite the build. People in town thought he must have been a retired boxer or something that involved fighting and keeping in shape, who was putting his grandson through the same routine he did because Kyle was quite big for his age.

Kevin seldom spoke about growing up surrounded by water and how beautiful the island was. So much so that Kyle wondered why he left but could never ask why after how unresponsive he got the last time he asked, his grandfather was out of touch for almost a week.

Kyle Storm was a tall and well-built young man, he never worked out, but everyone thought he did. He was in the swimming team in high school until his grandfather got sick, so he quit to take care of him. His skin was a bit dark, short sliver-like hair, but he dyed it black and dark blue eyes.

3 months after his grandfather passed away, he quit his job, bought a couple of books to read, and decided to leave the house. He thought he should take his grandfather’s advice. Took an old keychain his grandfather gave him shortly before he passed away, Kevin’s journal, and a backpack with certain essentials. He set off towards Wadriadge. He couldn’t find the island on any map online, nor could he find the port town, but they were clearly depicted on the map his grandfather had in his journal.

He took a plane to the closest town near his destination and thought he’d get a car to the port town. He waited hours for a car with no sign. After several hours of waiting, he started walking, the midday sun beating on him. After walking for what seemed like hours, a small orange van pulled up and stopped for him. Kyle hitched a ride from the old couple. They were travelling towards the port town, where he would take a boat to the island. “You got lucky,” said the old lady with a discolored eye, no one drives this direction.” Kyle was about to ask why when he noticed claw-like marks on the old man’s neck. He didn’t think much of it, he was just grateful he was no longer walking. The old lady looked behind and continued. “You look like you’re not from around here.” The old man looked behind, noticed the keychain around his neck, and his expression changed completely. Kyle hid it under his v-neck shirt and looked through the window.

“Your town doesn’t get many tourists, does it?” Kyle spoke while noticing how empty the road was. The old lady turned around slowly, but not all the way, all he could see was a discolored eye and a heavy smile. He thought to himself that this must be what babies dream about when they just burst up crying out of nowhere. “No, we do not, young one.” He had a blank expression, whilst he was still figuring out what to say, she continued… “Which is why I wonder why you came all the way out here,” she looked ahead and continued, “why did you come here?” Kyle slouched and said he’s just passing through.

He grew his hair out before coming. He was going to a new place, and he had always wanted to grow out his hair. After several hours of driving, they see a road sign that said, Welcome to Porttisburg, Population: 3203. The sign looked weathered and Kyle thought that the sign was probably not to date.

The old couple said they don’t stay in town, he would have to walk all the way into town. He thanked them and was about to walk away when the old man said something. This would be the first time he was going to say anything to Kyle. “Young man!” He spoke in a calming voice, Kyle stopped and looked behind. “Take care of yourself, I’m not sure what brought you here.” He looked where the keychain would be around his neck, paused a bit, and then continued. “There are so many forces in this world, persevere, no matter where life takes you, always look on the bright side, take the loss and look at the lesson it taught you.” The old man looked at his blank expression and almost broke out of character and smiled. He continued, “forgive me for rumbling, but you look like you’ve lived a hard life.” “Thank you…. I guess?” responded Kyle. The old man looked at him as if he were scanning him, gave him a thumbs up and drove away.

The old lady asked her husband, “you think he’s going to the island, don’t you?” The old man just smiled and continued driving.

Kyle then took his backpack, looked at the map in his grandfather’s journal he took from home and started walking following the road to Wadriadge. “That was weird.” He thought to himself. Whilst he was walking, he felt like someone or something was watching him. He thought to himself, “I hope I’m imagining this.” Two people emerged from the forest a distance behind him, they kept watching him. One of them spoke, “Tourists! Great, as if we didn’t have enough on my table.” “Calm down Talia, it is unbecoming for a person of your statue to get upset at everything” said the other person with her. He looked like a well seasoned warrior and carried a well carved wooden stick. He was clearly some sort of escort. No sane person would ever think to mess with him. She continued, “…but uncle!” “Natalia!” He interrupted her with a commanding voice.

“Look, Natalia, your father entrusted me to bring you here and protect you while you investigate what's causing tremors at the shrine. I hope you realize the importance of this investigation.” She looked down and folded her fist in with frustration. “I know they sent me here because they think there’s nothing here. Most of The Council do not even believe there’s something in this little town. They just want to take me out and watch me fail, so they can have something to talk about.”

His uncle sighed and touched her head and said, “don’t fret, you’re young and still and have plenty of time to prove yourself.”

Natalia Frost was a very beautiful girl, 17 years old, had sky blue eyes, blonde hair and carried a sealed quicker on her back. She had the aura of someone who wanted to prove himself, she could not help but feel agitated when they let Kyle walk pass them because they sensed magic on him.

While talking, they noticed Kyle’s aura had disappeared. Natalia and her uncle looked around, but he was nowhere to be seen. He hid himself, he had gotten good with removing his presence whenever he wanted to because he was a very peculiar built that always stuck out. Her uncle thought they probably shouldn’t have let him pass them. As a seasoned warrior and hunter, he was very good at finding hidden things, but he couldn’t see where that young man went to. “We should find him.” He said. Natalia looked at his shocked face, he was in disbelief. She started to get nervous and excited at the same time.

He finally arrives in town, he starts walking at the pace of the crowd to blend it, but it was too obvious he wasn’t from here. It was more like a fishing town than a port town. Most of the guys his age were either at the docks or out in the sea. He had the scent of a newcomer. One child told his mom, “he smells funny.” She responded saying “don’t look at him, let's go”. She pulled him away.

Kyle is a tall and well-built young man who most people would find intimidating, even though he looked this way, he was a kind and sympathetic young man. He spent the first day indoors sleeping. The next morning, Kyle went on to explorer and gather information. He gets to a place, fishermen were just about to start their day at work. He walks on, and they all just ignore him as he says excuse me. He says it a couple of times and one guy finally responded. “What is it, can’t you see we’re busy here?” “I’m just wondering how I can get to the island.” They all stop what they were doing and start laughing after a brief pause. “Island huh, What island?” Says one of the fisherman while mocking him. “Wadriadge, it should be around here…” Before he could finish, he was interrupted, “listen here son,” another fisherman spoke while he held Kyle’s shoulder, “I’ve been using these waters to feed my family for 30 years, never have I ever met this mysterious island of yours,” his voice started getting stern, and he was clearly getting angry. “I’m tired of you city folks and governments coming to our town and disturbing our peace, I…” before he could finish another man stopped him, “that’s enough Jerry, just let it go… and you, get out of here, we don’t want you government folks coming here with all this nonsense and disturbing us, now get out of here!” Kyle stood there with a calm expression, looked the man in the eyes, shrugged Jerry’s hand off his shoulder and thanked them for their help.

“What’s wrong with these people?” He walks into a store to get something to eat. “Hey Jerry, what was that about?” asks one of the fisherman, “Yeah Jerry, why did you react that way towards that kid?” “You see the color of his hair?” “Yeah, what about it, don’t the city kids paint their hair that way these days?” “I get the feeling he’s trouble, and he’ll bring it upon us.” Says Jerry, the fishermen look at each other and sigh. “Jerry, don’t you start with that nonsense now, let's go to work, people need fish.” They laugh and their voices fade into the distance, while Jerry looks at Kyle as he disappears into a store.