Thread: Island of the Lost - Survivor00 & Cheshire Pup

Elliot wasn??t sure exactly what brought him back to consciousness first, the aches that jabbed through his body, or the rocking motions that seemed to tug against his wrists and ankles. It took his weary brain several long moments to comprehend that he was bound by ropes of some sort. He cracked his eyes open to gaze upon the muddy ground that was moving by below him. He felt the scrape of wood chafing against his arms, legs, and back, and as he lifted his head to see what had happened, he saw a little girl?with the tail of a snake? His eyes widened and is mouth opened, but her scream pierced the jungle as she darted away from him. The post he had been tied to jerked once, making his head bounce, and pain swim around in his skull once more, but his heart was racing. What was that? Strange sounds, hissing noises as rasped words, filtered into his ears yet he could not understand them. But then the motion stopped, leaving him hanging there, wishing that he had never woken up. Two figures returned the child, and a proud-looking woman who also slithered on a snake-like body. The fact that she was completely exposed did little to him right now, too afraid to take notice of her nakedness. His eyes were quickly drawn away from her form when the twisted dagger came into his view. He struggled against his bonds, his eyes wide. Savages! They were going to kill him! When she raised the dagger, he turned his head away and closed his eyes, not wanting to see his death coming. The dagger struck something ?? he could hear it ?? but there was no pain. After a long, heartstopping moment, he noticed that he had been separated from the procession of dead men, watching as the strange, snake-women carried them away? For what purpose? Seeing them trussed up as though they were to be roasted on a spit gave him a chilling idea of what they intended to do? But what of him? He was alive when he certainly should not have been? And the fact that he was now in the middle of the jungle, with what he assumed was their ??leader??, the child, and another female ?? wielding a dagger ?? did not give him any comfort. His blood chilled at the grin the sapphire-scaled woman gave him, watching as she turned to the other woman. She approached him with the dagger, and he could do nothing to escape his bonds. He felt the dagger??s cold blade press against the skin of his belly, before the woman expertly slid it downward, not cutting him, but leaving a trail of goosebumps down his flesh. As the knife reached the ties of his pants, he squirmed again. ??What are you doing?!? He coughed out, his eyes wide with panic, but she simply stripped the fabric away from him, cutting away his pants and underwear, exposing him to them. The humid jungle air pressed against his skin, and he shuddered, confused. Was this a test by God? His mind retreated back to the story of Eve being tricked by the serpent into eating the apple. Were these serpent-women supposed to represent seduction? Why would they have stripped him? But he watched her as the ??leader?? retrieved a strange bag of some sort, opening it to reveal some kind of paste? Scooping it onto their fingertips, the serpent-women painted it onto his flesh, as he winced at the sudden itchiness that it left. Squirming, he heard them hissing, much like snakes, as they painted. But as they continued to paint his flesh in foreign runes, their serpentine hisses began to change. They became more pronounceable, less like snakes, and more like human tongues. Soon, he could understand them completely, although he feared what manner of witchcraft was used to make it so. The runes disappeared from his skin, leaving him once again, naked. The young creature spoke first, and he looked at her, still horribly confused and scared by the events that were taking place. His throat felt as though it was stuffed with cotton, and he could not speak. He could understand her as she spoke to him in now-familiar tongues, but still he could not respond. She spoke of a dead man, one from 20 years before?the woman looked unnaturally young for her age? He felt the rope loop around his neck like a leash, and he made a noise of surprise, but he held his tongue. Then the ropes were undone and he found himself falling into the mud, coughing as he pushed himself up from the dirty ground. Dragging himself to his unsteady feet, he walked after the woman, apparently not having much choice in the matter.