Chirping of birds and a bright light shining through the slightly closed curtains were all it took to wake Elias from his comfy and warm slumber. After reaching his families cabin in the mountains, he had unpacked everything and had settled down for a nap. Judging from his clock, it was 9:03am. With a groan and creak, the couch he was laying on made itself known as he stood, it's aged springs returning to their original position, albeit begrudgingly.

He stretched and stifled a yawn before he made his way to the kitchen to microwave a breakfast burrito before preparing for the hike he had packed for. He got a bit of a head start as his food cooked and made sure his hiking pack had all the necessities he'd need for the morning and afternoon. Satisfied and hearing the loud beeping of the microwave, he smiled and sat down to enjoy his radiation warmed food tube.

As he chewed and looked out the kitchen window, he watched birds fly by and a few squirrels chatter at him before they went along their way. This area of the mountains had always been his favorite spot when him and his family would go on vacation. Now however it was just him. He didn't have any other family left, which was why he had made the trip in the first place. He had come here to spread his mom's ashes in the same place they had done for his dad and brother. While his reason for being here was somewhat sad, it was still an incredible and beautiful area and was more than worth the effort of driving to.

With his food finished, he slid on his hiking boots and threw a few bags of trail mix in with his gear before throwing it over his shoulders. With a satisfied smile, he grabbed his hiking poles and stepped out the door. He took a deep breath of the cool mountain air as he locked the cabin and made his way to the summit trail. He could see the sun rising higher to his right and stood to watch for a bit before making his way ahead.

The walk to the summit of this particular mountaintop wasn't necessarily a long one, but it still took a few hours to get there and a few hours to get back. As he went, he kept an eye out for the old family trail markers that he and his brother had set up so many years ago. After a while he reached their self labeled halfway point. It was marked with a solitary sign that stated Pearsons Peak, Halfway Point, under it was a few doodles that we had added for fun.

He took a seat and decided to relax for a minute, setting the urn he carried to the side, he pulled out some trail mix and began munching. Overall he wasn't too tired but for some reason he was starting to feel heavier. Strangely so as it continued to increase to the point of making him very uncomfortable. With a startled yelp he was yanked back and before he could grab anything, he fell. He watched helplessly as he tumbled away from the urn that remained sitting where he had placed it.

He fell into what seemed to be a hole, blackness surrounding him before he slammed into a hard surface, causing him to black out.

* * *

When Elias was able to open his eye's again, he found himself staring up at the canopy of some very tall tropical tree's. He simply laid there and stared at it, trying to comprehend what had happened and why he was currently staring at tree's that should not be on a mountain. It wasn't until he heard the seagulls that he bolted to an upright sitting position and looked through a gap in the tree's.

There in front of him was nothing but ocean, the wave's rolling in pleasantly despite his now rising panic. A quiet "What the fuck?" was muttered as he stumbled through the sand, sinking to his knee's near the water's edge. As confusing as this was, it definitely didn't upset him. It certainly had spooked him when he fell, but life had started to lose meaning to him anyway. He had done a lot before hitting the age of 28. More than most people could say. So the fact that something new, and completely unprecedented had happened to him, it drove him into a near mania with excitement.

His mom would have to deal with staying where he had left her, as he was sure that due to the elevation he was at, he was either in a different part of the world, or a different world altogether. Both prospects held his curiosity for a bit as he daydreamed while staring out at the ocean. He had watched a lot of videos back home of survival and how to manage it no matter the climate. While the information helped immensely, it wouldn't be of any use until he started to use it.

The first thing he knew that he needed to do was find a source of water. He wouldn't have to check the ocean as the smell of salt waft from it's waves in abundance. Standing back up, he looked up and down the beach he was on. Often times one could find bits of driftwood and other miscellaneous things washed up ashore. However what he was looking for was his hiking pack. It had definitely fallen with him and it had some food and gear that would help greatly in his situation. As he couldn't see it here, he turned back the way he came and followed his footprints in the sand and entered the jungle.

There appeared to be a large circle of trees that were simply missing from this patch of jungle. In it's place was the burnt outline of himself. There to the right of it sat his pack, a charred ring around it as well. He let out a happy sigh that it was unharmed. It was rather small as far as hiking bags went, and it only held a blanket, some snacks, a few bottles of water, his knife with flint, a small hatchet, some five-fifty cord, extra socks and some gloves. As far as survival equipment, though lackluster, it was more than most people would think to have.

He pulled out a small handfull of trail mix and ate in peaceful silence. The sounds of the ocean and the jungle mingled in this little circle of his and left him in an even more pleasant mood as he put away his snack. It wouldn't do for him to eat all of it now as he would need it until he found a source of food. He slung his bag over his shoulders and turned towards the deeper part of the jungle. He gripped his hatchet in one hand and his knife in the other, and as he stepped through the foliage, he marked a few of the tree's. He wanted to ensure that, should he need to, he'd be able to find his way back to the briny blue.

The plant life here so far looked as Elias expected it to. It was green, lush and as the sun rose, the jungle left him sweaty and damp. he had taken off a good bit of clothing after he had begun his trek. Heat exhaustion would be a fast way of getting himself killed in this kind of situation. Currently he was holding and sipping from one of the water bottles, this he relegated to a sip ever hour or so. Whenever he had sunlight shining through the thick canopy, he made use of it by clearing away the leaves, bark and other plant debris from the forest floor and using his knife to make a makeshift sundial. This was a pretty reliable method for telling time as he walked.

It wasn't until about six hours later that he started to hear the sound of trickling. He strained his hearing as he tried to get closer to what he now believed could be a source of water. As it got louder, so to did his excitement rise. Nothing was ever this easy back home and he knew it. This still didn't stop him from hoping that what he had come upon was of freshwater origin. When he exited the dense jungle and into the slight open area, he gasped. A somewhat small river gushed between the trees. Carefully, Elias made his way to the water's edge and knelt down. He dipped his empty hand into the water after placing his knife on his belt.

With a frown he spat out the salty water. It was a river all right, but it was a river that flowed in from the ocean. Disappointed he stood up and looked towards where current was flowing. Curious about what could lay ahead, he followed it. As he went, he spotted a few birds in the trees, and some wildlife that moved a little too fast for him to get a good glimpse of. At the moment he was sure that there were some form of ground dwelling birds here that kept running from him as he approached.

He continued to think about them and other things as he followed the meandering waters and before long the sun started to dip below the horizon. With yet another frown, he stopped for the day and set about looking for dry wood to make a fire. Something this area seemed to have an abundance of in the form of small sticks. So with some determination, Elias set about gathering until he had a large bundle of it in his arms.

He made two more trips before he was satisfied with the amount of wood he had. Carefully he made a smaller pile of light tinder that he could spark with his knife and flint. If it hadn't been for having learned this years ago, he probably would have sat here for a while, frustratingly staring at an unlit fire. But Elias was experienced in starting his own fire's, and soon his tinder was glowing. With a few light breath's he had a flame started that he placed on a pile of sticks he had arranged.

Comfortably, he sat there and placed a few more sticks on the flame as it caught, expanding the flames to the rest of the bundle underneath it and warming him as the sun got lower. He quietly stared into his fire, stoking it and munching on some trail mix peanuts before wrapping himself in the blanket and laying on his bag for a pillow. With a sigh, he closed his eye's and allowed himself to drift off to sleep with the sounds of the jungle acting as white noise.

When he woke up the next morning, his fire had gone out and was now just a pile of white ash. It was a little foggy and cool this morning, so as he got up, he wrapped the blanket around his shoulders, and set about starting a small fire. He'd need it for what he had planned and once he had it going, he grabbed a very tight rolled bundle of brush, leaves and sticks that he had made and bundled together with some of the five fifty cord.

He carefully light one end of it until it was smoldering well. It didn't need to be fully on fire now for him to be able to start a new fire at whatever new spot he would find. Satisfied with his bundled cigar, he grabbed his hatchet and knife and continued to follow the river. What he hadn't realized was that as he went, he was being watched and followed. Whoever was following the man managed to stay absolutely silent as they followed him along his path.

The smoke from his fire had drawn what was following and it kept him in it's sights the entire day. It wasn't until he stumbled onto a cave in a raised cliffside that he couldn't see the top of through the canopy, that the strange thing following him made itself known.

"STAY AWAY FROM THERE!" a voice yelled, startling the man. He turned to see who had just yelled at him and looked down at what could only amount to a small technicolor pony. It sat there glaring at him while he stood there staring back.

There was no way it had spoken, had it?

Author's Note

Well, that's the first chapter of what I hope to be a pretty fun story. And for those wondering, It might be quite a few chapters before our Illustrious hero makes anywhere close to off the island. So I hope you bear with me on this because it's an Idea I've wanted to write out for quite a while.

If you have any non spoiler related questions, let me know. Same goes for any spelling or grammar mistakes you guys and gals might find. Please and thank you.

-StormHoof