Lost Paradise

The breeze was warm and soothing, carrying the hint of salt in the air. Lifting her face to the breeze, Arrow took a deep relaxing breath that came out as a sigh. It had been a week since she had woke up on the strange island. With the help of Amil and Honora, she had gotten to know the villagers and slowly began to learn their way of life. Amil taught her how to spear fish in the reefs and Honora taught her the ways of the forest, the beauty of nature and how to pick medicinal herbs and vitamins.

During this time, she had a made a friend. Isola was the beauty of the island with her thick wavy black hair and her striking pacific blue eyes and tanned skin. In the village, she was Honora's apprentice in training to become the next Healer. She had a quirky personality and a kind nature and was a great friend to have.

Amil and Honora introduced her to their family including the elders and their children. Ranging from ages from four to twenty five, all four of their children were polite, well behaved and well mannered.

Little Kit followed Arrow everywhere she went happily, drawn to her and loved when she sat down and told him stories before bed. With the dark hair of his parents and the eyes of his father, Arrow decided he was going to be a heartbreaker one day.

Rayne held a promising beauty at the tender age of thirteen with her waist length ebony hair and her mother's eyes and kind smile.

Tokken was the jester of the family with his wide, teasing grin and mischevious eyes. No matter the mood of the people around him, he always made the villagers laugh with his light, cheery personality.

The oldest of their children, Talon, was a grown man and the heir in line to be Chief. He was tall with broad shoulders and a lean, strong body with his father's handsome good looks and unique eyes that differed from the rest of his families. When he smiled, it made the female villagers swoon and fawn over him, and his depthless aquatic eyes made their knees weak and their hearts flutter. Even the elderly sent him sulty quips and smouldering glances. He was a hard worker and always took care of the villagers, rebuilding homes and making sure everyone was comfortable and well fed. When the storms came, he was the first one outside protecting his people with a fierceness of a lion, and the locals believed he was a demi-god sent to guard them.

Arrow sighed once more as her face drew into a frown. When it came to Talon, she didn't know what she felt because he seemed to enjoy picking on her and never seemed to enjoy her company. He didn't take well to outsiders, especially since their island was supposed to be protected by the Great Barrier Amil had told her about.

The island's barrier was said to be an invincible force that kept outsiders from coming and ruining their way of life. Amil had told her the legends of the Gods and how they were disappointed with the world and what the human race was doing to it. They disapproved of the race killing the planet for disturbing, non important reasons and created an island to start anew. They had been so impressed with their work, they did not want to expose their new creation to the rest of the world in fear of ruining it with their ways and created an invisible barier to protect the island and its inhabitants.

"Did you know that in the outside world, people who have boated out this way or even flew into the Bermuda Triangle have disappeared, never to come back home?" she had said at the end of his story, and Amil had smiled knowingly.

"That's the point of the barrier. Those who come in, do not go out. Come, there are a few people I'd like you to meet."

He had led her to a separate part of the island where the homes were built slightly different with more modern looks and Arrow realised that these people came from outside the barrier like her. She was just as surprised as they were when they were introduced. The Outsiders began shooting off questions about home and what was happening in the outside world, asking about their families and what it was like now since they had disappeared.

"Arrow?" The meldious voice drew her back from her memories and she noticed she was still standing on the beach looking out to sea. Turning, she smiled when she Isola standing next to her, watching her with worry, her ebony tresses wisping around her face in the breeze.

"Sorry, I was just thinking," she apologized and lifted her face to the sun with a smile.

Isola gave a crooked smile and looked out over the water. "Let me guess, you miss your home?"

The soft question startled Arrow as she turned to stare at her friend in surprise, her heart jumping unsettlingly. She had not even thought of home since she had been here and now the guilt crept up into her heart and she blew out a sigh when her friend regarded her carefully.

"Actually, I haven't thought of home since I woke up. That sounds terrible," she said quietly with the shake of her head as she pushed back her flaming red hair from her face.

Isola smiled. "It's not horrible, it just means you are enjoying yourself. It gives us villagers pride that you have adapted so well to island life. Some believe you have a bit of islander blood in you," she said with a wink and nudged her friendly with her elbow, and Arrow laughed softly.

"Arrow!" Both women turned at the sound of Amil's voice and Arrow gave a startled squeak, unable to speak as she stepped away.

Beside Amil walked a muscular black jaguar with intelligent golden eyes, his body reaching up to Amil's waist. A low rumble sounded in its chest when it saw Arrow's step back and sat back on its hunches to stare at her knowingly.

"O-Oh my god!" she breathed in horror, her heart racing wildly in her chest as she took another step back when Amil lifted his hands in a peaceful gesture and smiled softly.

"It's okay, Arrow, he won't hurt you. I wanted to introduce you and give you another lesson on village life here on the island," he explained soothingly, not liking the paleness in the young woman's face or the brightness of her eyes.

Isola on the other hand smiled and held out her hands as she stepped toward the massive sleek black beast without fear.

"Awe, you can't be afraid of little old Zephyr!" she crooned as she knelt down before the beast and took his head in her hands, stroking his furr while he began to purr with the loud rumble of a motorboat, clearly enjoying the attention.

Arrow just stared, frozen in shock. While she had been rested and unable to open her eyes, she remembered the name being said out loud. She remembered the silence when he moved, the low grumble she had heard on many occassions and realised that it made sense. Still didn't mean it wasn't frightening and quite odd and unheard of.

The golden eyes pierced straight into her soul and she held her breath, having the odd feeling her very soul was being drawn into the golden orbs filled with humour.

"Amil, I think I frightened her," he said, his mouth unmoving as he lifted his head to look at the Chief standing next to him, and Amil sighed and ran a hand through his hair.

"It would seem that way. I should have introduced you more slowly," he said with a frown, feeling guilty at the deathly pale face of Arrow, who didn't know heads from tails at that moment.

"I remember you," she spoke slowly when she regained herself. "You talked to me when I couldn't."

The beast lowered his head in recognition. "Yes."

She looked around, blowing out all the air she had in her body in hopes to calm her thundering heart. "Animals aren't supposed to talk."

The humour reappeared. "I don't."

Confused, she looked at him strangely. "Yes you do, or I wouldn't be listening to you right now."

He shook his head and lifted his feet to shake the sand from his black fur before pinning her with an intense stare.

"Here it is known as Spirit Merging. Each member of this village and animal on this island is born at the same time, one villager to one animal. The island is filled and surrounded by a Lifeforce that joins the souls from animal to human. From that, an eternal bond grows until together, they die. We are all connected."

Overwhelmed, Arrow shook her head and turned away to gaze out over the calm ocean. Wherever she was, it was nothing like the real world where cities were filled with busy people, cars and other transportation filled the streets that were lined with buildings of many sizes. Being on the island was like being in another universe, another realm.

"Come, we shall show you," the beast said in his baritone voice and Arrow gave a squeak and jumped when she felt a tug on the back of her shirt. She stiffened with fear as the gold eyes were mere inches from her face, holding her shirt loosely in his mouth. "Come."

Frowning and feeling on the verge of having a heart attack, or fainting, she allowed the big cat to lead her back into the village and around the island. He showed her the villagers as they went about their usual duties and Arrow was surprised when she saw each villager had a creature of some species following them around and saw the connection they had.

They passed the current Healer and saw her telling a story with the village children, a large white parrot resting on her shoulder. The bird flapped its wings and the woman laughed and stroked her white feathers lovingly while the birds eyes were trained on her and filled with a high amount of intelligence and seemed to be filled with laughter as it squawked.

Looking around, Arrow watched the villagers and animals ranging from birds to large cats walking around freely in harmony and the women with feathered wings rested on their backs. Taking a deep breath, she tried to wrap her head around everything she was seeing with her own eyes and found it extremely hard to be possible.

I must be dead because this can't be real. Can it?