Hong Kong Young Writers Anthologies Fiction Group 2 -1 2019 | Page 106

New Tales of the Ming Treasure Voyages - Mystery!
Dulwich College Beijing, Xiong, Tiger - 11
The waves scraped the sky, devouring the moon. Thunder collided with the ocean as our ship, Tao Tie
shook with anxiety. She could not hold it anymore. The sky as black as the sickness of death lightened up
every second. The compass was not working. The map was wet. Life boats dropped one by one. The ship
was panicking.
Suddenly, an unstoppable force blew on the sail, making it flutter and rip into pieces. Now where we are
going to amble is a mystery. Immediately, right after this mayhem, a gargantuan wave demolished the ship
whole. The next thing I knew was darkness…
I found myself lying on sand shimmering in the sun like melted gold. I got up wearily and sat on the sand
looking for human. What I saw nearly made me gasp my lungs out of my chest. It was a skeleton that
looked centuries old. Its clothes were all ragged and torn. Its rib cage was smashed apart and one of its legs
were missing. In its lifeless hand lying on the sand was an artifact. However, the most dreadful thing about it
is that there were teeth, about 10 cm long stuck in the skull. I walked cautiously to him, gradually stepping
on the sand, leaving deep footprints behind me. What kind to beasts could have done this to a human?
Then something hit me. I was stuck on this isolated island in the middle of nowhere with a skeleton. I do
not have any maps, compasses or any other equipment in this remote place.
My thoughts were suddenly interrupted by a deafening roar. It made the palm trees shatter. It made the sand
flee. Whatever just roared is colossal.
All of a sudden, an enormous beast leapt out of the blue. I watched, eyes open in horror as its shadow
loomed over me. Terror rushed upon me, tearing my inquisitive brain apart. The beast looks like a tiger,
except it was as black as the ashes of devils, and as large as a roaring thunder cloud. Right when its claws are
about to rip my skull, I heard an ear-splitting sound of a bullet flying out of a pistol. The bullet soared
through the air, thrashing at the beast, pelting a hole through the beast’s body. It looked like that the darkest
night was suddenly lightened up by millions of crimson stars. I looked in the direction of where the bullet
came from, but all I saw was a shadowy figure. The figure was wearing a shredded hood, but I was certain
that under it was a Chinese man. Out of the obscurity of his hood, he stared at me and walked away. His
legs were oozing with cardinal, while shaking a few drops off with every step. “Wait!” I hollered suddenly.
The man stopped for a second and carried on walking away, deep and deeper into the breathing forest. Who
was he?
Suddenly, I realized all of our treasure from the emperor are sunk at the bottomless abyss of the ocean.
Gems, silk, gold, silver, clothes, pearls, bronze, swords, armor, scrolls and artworks are all lost forever. How
is our emperor going to torture us if we ever see him again?
It hit me another time.
Forgetting all my troubles, I asked myself- what is wrong with this island? Bizarre beasts, skeletons and a
shadowy figure. I need answers. Running as fast as my legs could carry me, I ran into the forest chasing after
the shadowy man. Cardinal blazed around the forest, covering my legs whole because of the scraping thorn
bushes. After some arduous agonizing running, I dashed to a sudden stop, huffing and puffing for air. My
chest sped up and down like complex machinery, filling the place with sounds of breathing. Then every
thing was silent again.
A twig snapped.
My head twisted slowly to direction of where the sound came from. Gradually and slowly, I walked
backwards into a hole to hide from what made the sound. I crouched down into the hole as a gigantic paw
smacked me. The next thing was sapphire blue in front of my eyes and then black.
I did not know how long I have been blacked-out, but when I woke, it was a morning. Everything seemed
fresh, the trees which seemed holding their breath seemed to shake freely. I climbed out the hole, preparing
to walk back to the glistening beach. My legs were still bleeding from the thorns.
A few minutes later, I was walking on the iridescent sand again. I walked to the demolished skeleton that
had been there but something changed about it- it was wearing a torn black hood! How strange… I pulled
the hood off and out of it dropped a substantial thing that clinked while dropping on the sand. With my
heart pumping as loud as a culverin, I picked it up and it was a pistol! I checked the ammo and what I saw
made my jaw drop- all the bullets were fully loaded!