As per the deal, 30 of us went while the rest stayed at the ship. We went on a boat and rowed to the shores. At first, it was hard to see as the fog masked the island. However, the closer we were, the better we could see the island.

It looked like a normal island with a normal beach, sand, etc. No wildlife so far, not even small fishes. Angeles had the map and said that our destination is in the middle of the island, the farthest the previous crewmen ventured. All of us were armed to the teeth, with mini guns, knives, machetes, grenades, heavy boots, and bags of food. The soldiers of the great war weren't this well prepared.

Angeles choose the opposite approch. He wore a purple waistcoat, sharp shoes that were awful for running, and he didn't have any weapons on him. How does he expect to survive here?

The climate of the island was humid, and it looked similar to the Amazon rainforest. The jungle was as thick, if not thicker. We all cut through the jungle with our machetes, and progress was slow. All this time, I was anxious. Who knows what's hiding behind the thick jungle?

I remember years ago when I was out hunting with the locals in the Amazon, and just like this, we were cutting through the jungle until a jaguar popped up from the other side and dragged one of us. All we heard was a short yelp, and the man disappeared without a trace, never to be seen again. My heart went into my mouth, thinking of it. God knows what could be on this island. It could be staring at me in the eyes already, and I wouldn't know about it until it sunk its teeth into my flesh.

I lost track of time, but it must've been an hour of daunting cutting, and it felt like we were going in circles. My stomach flipped. All this time, we hadn't encountered anything - no small creatures and no sign of any birds. There was nothing, just pure dead silence.

In my mind, I was thinking that we were being stalked by an apex predator, and no other animal dared to approach. I counted all of us, and there were 29... one was missing. It was Angeles. But as soon as I was about to raise my voice, I heard, "We should rest up a bit." It was Angeles.

He appeared out of nowhere, or maybe he was here this entire time. I just... I shook my head. I'm clearly exhausted.

We sat down and ate our food, which was bacon and fish. I usually keep my distance from the others, but I stayed close, as it was not smart to venture away. Angeles sat beside me.

"I'm surprised you made it this far," I said, teasing him.

"The beginning is always easy. Though, I must say, I'm anxious about moving forward. We're wasting time here."

I rolled my eyes. "Relax, eat." He raised his hand in declination. "I ate before we ventured here." I stared at him and ate some more of my bacon.

I looked around at the plant life and turned to Angeles. "Without context, I would say that this was the Amazon. The plant life looks so normal here." Angeles nodded.

It's normal for plant life to look similar to others, even if they live isolated from the rest of the world. But the animals are certain to be different. Australia and New Zealand are known for their birds, and their isolation has animals that can't be found anywhere else. I assume this island is the same. Instead of birds dominating it, it could be reptiles. I do not believe that mammals roam here.

I looked over at Angeles, who was stroking his mustache.

"You must be in deep thought, eh? The creature that disfigured the previous crewman, what kind of parasite, if it is one could be? The captain's strange disappearance and still not a sign of any living animal." Angeles shook his head. "It's this break that's irritating me." I raised an eyebrow. "Why?"

"These men are weak," he said with disdain. Angeles is an enigma, and once again, there's so much to ask him. I hated talking to him, but I couldn't help but smirk. He piqued my interest. "So they're weak, huh? Well, you picked them, Angeles. You have no one to blame but yourself." Angeles looked at me, not smiling at all. He had a stern expression on his face.

"Blackwood, what is the most powerful animal on land?" An odd, sudden question.

I said, "Well, I would have to say that it's the elephant."

"Wrong, it's the ant."

"What?"

"Ants have walked the planet more than any other land creature. They're disciplined, they have survived a lot, and they will survive much more. But most importantly, they are adaptable. Whatever the situation, they adapt, unlike men who attempt to control nature instead of being part of it. They end up wasting their talent on pointless conflict, which is always irrelevant."

I couldn't believe that I actually agreed with him. He spoke optimistically and fully believed in what he was saying. Yes, he was quite philosophical and the initial question was vague, but I enjoyed listening to him.

"Well, since you're such an animal expert, you shouldn't have called me here," that made Angelus give out a warm, pleasant chuckle. But the warmth didn't last long.

"What the hell is that!?" one of the men yelled, pointing at a tree. We all stood up.

There was a small creature, so bizarre and astonishingly weird that I'm not sure there are enough words in existence to describe it, but I shall try my best.

The creature climbed on the tree, had long slim arms with long fingers that resembled that of an eye-eye primate found in Madagascar. It's as big as two red-tailed squirrels, it was yellow, but its soft underbelly was white. Its whole body resembled that of a... dinosaur, a small dinosaur. But it had no head. At least I think not.

It had a long, slim throat-like thing coming out on top of its body, but there was no head. Instead, there was a ball so small it was easily missable, and on its sides there was the color red.

I have not the faintest idea what it is or its used for. Perhaps it detected vibrations?

On its chest there was a hole that looked like the hole of a sea cucumber but was much smaller, and from it, its pink tongue came out and slurped up ants. This bizarre animal occupied a woodpecker-like niche and was similar to the aforementioned eye-eye despite being worlds apart. They both seem to inherit a similar way of capturing their food. This is convergent evolution.

We all stood there staring at it in complete shock and confusion, some even disgust, until a black ball landed on the creature.

We heard loud bone crunching, and soon a swarm of these black balls flew right towards us. It wasn't until one of them landed on my wrist that I saw what they were: Flying spiders.