The Tale of Animalia (Part 4)

Here is part 4 of the tale of Animalia:

Filo made his way to the riverside, where he first saw the strange beast that started all of this. He was overwhelmed, he had no idea where this island was and, crucially, he couldn’t swim. Filo’s late father, Jaspin once went down to the river and ventured out into the shallow depths – only to be snapped up by a crocodile. Since then, his mother had always taught him that rabbits were not meant for the waters and advised them to stay away. Now he was about to venture deep out into the waters, where the battling of carnivorous fish and marine reptiles took place, in deeper currents with high traffic of travelling fish. If he forgot to breathe or slowed down at any point, he would drown. The odds were against him,.

Filo slowly took small steps towards the water, it was bitterly cold and every time he looked down at his reflection he saw how utterly terrified and small he looked under the great blue sky. He paddled for a while as the ground slowly fell from under his feet until he was floating in water.

He decided to head in the direction which he remembered the creature coming from and headed north. He had never swam before, but he imitated the style of many reptiles by moving his legs backwards and forward, to his surprise, he found himself moving efficiently, and he encountered very few problems throughout the first leg of the journey.

As time went on, Filo still saw no sign of any sort of island; as he swam the water got stronger and deeper. He was getting tired, his arms and legs were already strained from his battle with Eglé, he soldiered on, he was approaching the depths where the underwater predators lurked, and they would find an easy lunch with him. The impending sense of hopelessness clouded over him – he was like a frog trying to fly, he just didn’t belong there.

Then in the distance, he saw something coming towards him, it looked big, and was moving very quickly. Suddenly, something bumped into him, followed by something else and again. And he realised too late, it was a frantic, scared shoal of salmon, he was soon surrounded by cursing, panicking fish, he hopelessly tried to get out of the way but another would just bump into him from another direction. The worst thing was that he knew was happening – they must’ve seen a predator and it was coming this way.

Filo saw no choice and ducked underwater below the fleeing shoal. He held his breath, he was now in danger of drowning and underwater. He frantically ran against the floor of the sea. To his relief, the last salmon passed him by and the area was then clear. He quickly bounded back to the top, once there he noticed something else coming towards him in the distance, but this filled him with a sense of dread. Those two yellow, menacing eyes were unmistakeable. It was Alguarve the alligator, leader of the reptiles and one of the most fearsome predators on the planet.

Filo rapidly swam away, still underwater and holding his breath. He knew it was no use, he could picture those fearsome eyes lighting up as that long snout opens revealing those two rows of deadly teeth that could crack his spine with a bite. He looked back and found that Alguarve wasn’t alone.

Alongside him was the ferocious Xalthu the shark. It was a clash of the titan, Xalthu constantly launched himself into Alguarve, while Alguarve lashed out with his teeth and drove him back. This repeated continuously while zooming through the water, they seemed to be oblivious to what was ahead of them. And they were heading straight for Filo.

Filo quickly resurfaced and swam back as fast as his tired legs could carry him, but the predators were strong, could move at great speeds beyond his capabilities and the sheer weight of them as well as their deadly teeth would kill him instantly. Before he knew it, He was blasted into the air.

As he flew up, the two giants noticed what they'd hit and stopped fighting; both opened their jaws wide to be prepared to fight for an easy meal. It didn’t matter which mouth he’d fall into or neither, they would kill him easily. For that brief millisecond, time seemed to stop and Filo was hanging in midair, he took one last look at the sun and then gravity came into effect and he shut his eyes as he fell to his inevitable death, he wouldn't give in and scream.

That’s when something grabbed and closed around him, taking him away from the water and further into the air, the two predators below looked angry and then carried on in their battle. Filo had no idea what was happening and then feared to see that closing around him were a pair of talons that could only be a bird of prey…