An Unwelcome Guest

"The name is Ellie Danafall. To my understanding, you're the White Stone… Sky, Dani told me." I nodded.

"Say… Sky, do you remember your last name?" I shook my head, easing my stance on the girl in front of me. Domin's death was still stinging my head and I had a headache because of it.

The snow began to fall from the sky once more. If we didn't move soon, Domin's blood would freeze on the ground.

"Then maybe you aren't him… well, moving on, that axe you have there belongs to me. I left it in the forest for any newcomers to the Isle, but I had no idea that a White Stone would get his hands on it." I told her to stop and give me a second to think. Ellie awkwardly sat against one of the stakes thrown into the ground and scanned our entire base.

Ellie talked to me as if my existence was accidental like I woke up one day and wasn't supposed to.

What was up with that? The more I heard out of her mouth, the more confused I got overall. The more I watched her, the more suspicious I got overall. What secrets was she hiding? Why was she over where Lia directed us to go hunt for food?

"I have questions for you, Ellie." She sat back up from against the stake and smiled, awaiting whatever I wanted to ask.

"What did you mean by, 'I had no idea a White Stone would get his hands on it, exactly?" She put her index finger against the corner of her lip, looking at me next, then specifically at my stone.

"What do you know about this Isle exactly? Other than the fact that there are evil people on it that aren't in your group?" She asked, pointing back towards the forest.

"I know there are animals. There are diseases, there are dangerous animals, there is prey, we have an ocean, a pond in the forest, the statue there, and this axe you left behind. Other than that, I'm oblivious." Ellie walked out of the gate, waving me down to come to join her.

"Let's go into the forest. Dani, Red, you can come as well." I shook my head, "We are burying Domin first before we do anything. Can we bury him in the sand, or should we bury him in the dirt?" I asked her. Ellie pointed to the forest once more, and I nodded in response.

The closer I got to Domin, the more of an emotional response triggered. If I stayed far away, his death didn't hurt but watching his heartbeat and lungs expand for the last time left a scar on the back of my eyelids that wouldn't go away no matter how hard I tried. I picked up his torso and leaned his splattered head against my shoulder, but not even this angle could work. His eyeballs snapped off of the strings connecting them to his head and fell into the sand. I dry-heaved watching it. I would've vomited if there was any food in my stomach.

Ellie helped me lift his body up and together we dragged him out into the forest, leaning his corpse against a tree.

"We used to say a prayer in my hometown to make sure his soul can be delivered to Heaven. Just follow my lead." Ellie began:

"Whatever God resides up in the Heavens, watching down through the clouds through the scope of humanity's eyes, we ask one selfish request in delivering this poor soul without any trouble to the comfortable paradise we call Heaven. We ask that you do not grant this soul eternal torment, as he was only present on the Isle for two days and couldn't have done any evil if he tried. He was a kind soul, please treat him as such."

Ellie lowered her hands clasping together and looked back at me. I don't know how I was supposed to follow, but I had hoped that whatever God would take care of Domin's lost soul.

"Did you find my shovel as well? Or is it still over here?" Ellie walked to the side of the statue and wiped the dirt off of a weak hole in the wall, then pulled out a shovel of the same material as the axe.

"Guess not. You're not too crafty after all." I cracked a smile while holding onto Domin's cold hands.

Everybody but Dani, Red, Ellie, and I stood behind and cleaned up the base, salvaging food from the dead wolves in our base and probably repairing the wall. It didn't really matter to me.

"Now, you need to answer my questions." I turned to Ellie. She started to break the dirt and dig the grave, nodding.

"What did you mean?" Ellie, noticing I was asking the same question from earlier, began to casually talk while digging the grave.

"Every four years, a White Stone will awaken on the beach due south of the Isle. All White Stones get a notification that he has awakened and depending on which White Stone the Isle belongs to, the awakened White Stone will be hunted until he is killed."

My eyes widened, staring at Domin's hand. Is she saying that Domin's death was the result of being born? What kind of sense does that make?

"Domin didn't do anything wrong! Why was he killed in the crossfire?!" The uncontrollable anger was starting to be directed towards Ellie, even if I didn't want it to.

"The people you triggered to come after you are some of the worst people I've ever met. They tried to wipe out the others on the beach that came with you. Had you not sent Dani and Red's group to go get food, everybody would've died in that base. It's only because you decided to split the group up so thinly that the only casualty was Domin." I blinked blankly at his body.

"So either way, no matter what decision I made, somebody was going to die? I couldn't save him?" Ellie shook her head, throwing the shovel into the ground.

"You're on the Isle. We're under Orion's control." I turned my head to her. That name…

"Is Orion the White Stone that sent Lia and Dante to kill me, but instead got Domin killed?" Ellie nodded while staring into the half-dug grave.

"Then so be it. I'll kill him." Ellie shook her head with tears dripping down her face.

"It would be stupid to try. If you want me to be brutally honest, Sky, the easiest way to fight Orion is to kill yourself. I've never heard of a White Stone that could put up a chance against him."