Day One - Part 2

[Gildarts]

By now, the resourceful outcast had become incredibly thirsty. The oceanic taste of soggy fish was not the most flattering flavor and the film it left on his tongue had yet to be rinsed from his mouth. He eyed the brambles that surrounded him before his gaze fell on the black bag he had been deployed with, courtesy of Karl. Maybe it was time to see what was in store for him? The black shape sure did look ominous and Gildarts hadn't bothered wasting his time opening the zippers of a bag he could barely see last night. Daylight now blazed above him and the Prime had a feeling the sunrise wouldn't be the only action happening on the island today.

Muffling the speakers once more was that same tumultuous ocean gale. Karl was trying to tell Gildarts something important and he had missed it again simply because the winds were blowing the wrong way. A low growl slowly released from his angry throat. It was also safe to say he would not receive the message of who still remained. What's happening out there?

He inched closer to his bag after putting on his crisp and sandy shorts and in one gusting motion he donned the mysterious cape over his existing bandages. After reading the drifting clouds, the immortal decided today was a moving day and this meant taking inventory.

The Prime leaned over his bag and placed his calloused hand on the zipper. "What do we have here...?" It was safe to say he got more of a surprise than he had bargained for.

He felt the touch of something on his shoulder, it had multiple legs and was heavier than three gallons of water. Immediately his startled senses flushed with a swift reaction. The wizard spun around and whatever had attached itself to his back was not shaken by his speed. Acting with instinct, he rushed his body backward and squished the creature into the grating bark of a nearby tree.

After breathing in a gulp of relief, and hearing a thick and sticky crunch from behind his back, he reset his gaze forward only to fill his sight with the dangling of a thin strand of webbing, inches from his nose. The hydrant-sized spider's crushed appendages had left a stain of purple blood on his favorite ruffled garment.

Sparkling round eyes fixed on him from the many branches above, each pair radiated with a menacing gleam of hunger as his own irises darted in all directions. Webbing thicker than twine had been woven into a cage-like pattern in the trees while he had been distracted with the one ambusher. The purple bug had made a noble sacrifice to secure prey for its clan. "Not me, not today." He managed, as his cape flickered once more and he dodged a beam of sticky string spiraling toward him.

Long ranged opponents against a short ranged combatant. Oh Karl, how unoriginal. With a few swishes of his movement, his cloak was pinned against the tree by the frosty webs they had spun. Soon he would become glued to the tree, or worse, their dinner.

"I still have my stick!" He remembered and shouted valiantly as he took a swing that landed him a home-run. After batting away the stray jumpers and skewering those closest to him, many of his pest enemy still remained. They only had to be lucky enough to hit him once and it would disable him. He was loosing his momentum and running out of options and corners to dodge into.

The Prime didn't feel it, but his boot had been glued to the ground and covered in the lush substance that hardened like cement and began to coil and crawl up his leg. In an attempt to lunge left, he was halted by a weighted sensation that kept him in place. The man looked down to see the twine slowly curling up his boot and toward his kneecap.

The intelligent insects saw that he was secured and all piled on him with a weight that would have been enough to crush a weaker man alive. Luckily Karl's collar didn't stop his body from being durable, nor did it restrict his undeniable strength as he reared his silver limb into a group of them and the purple arachnids were flung aside while their shells became attached to the webbing meant for him. More crawled back at him as he flung each of them aside, he readied his fish spear and dealt a lethal blow to the last one... two... three creatures of the forest.

CRAAACK! Went his hard-earned stick.

The loud Splaaaat! that that followed assured him of his victory. A nest of purple spiders, he could take it. Gildarts survived like he played cards, but boy did he wish Cindy was around to cut him out of this one.

The man had managed to free the foot of his boot before it was enveloped in the growing gum-like substance.

As his heavy panting subsided, the Prime had to realize the state of things. It seemed his odds of survival had taken a turn for the worse. He looked once more at the hardening walls and while his direct foe had been vanquished and pieces of their carcasses were sprawled out all around him, the Prime now was surrounded by the suffocating ribbons of expanding string.

Trapped. Or rather, very trapped sounded about right. Soon he would be smothered to death by the strings of the very creatures he had destroyed. His thoughts had perhaps yet to realize his current condition and went right to those he fought to defend, even in spirit. How can I save them if I die now?

Little did Gildarts know, he had more to worry about than his old acquaintances who were battling for their lives against the other Primes on the island, for he had until sundown to escape his patch of land before his collar burst and he would really lose his head!