#angus grimaldi

Sometime in March, about a month before term ended, Madison was made aware of an opportunity of a lifetime. There was a research vessel that was looking for helping hands, and a family friend was able to get her connected to the opportunity. Madison had to prove herself to get the job, but luckily enough she had made quite the impression on the captain, Conrad Roth. Roth was an English man in his early fifties with white, thinning hair. He had a rugged look to him, and Madison was sure that he was quite the explorer.

Madison’s first few weeks on the Endurance went better than she had expected it to be. When she had first began, the young woman often played gopher; doing tasks that she was told to do. As time went on, she also became one of the researchers, and then came the true opportunity.

James Whitman was a famed archaeologist, known for his television show called Whitman’s World. At the time, Madison didn’t know who he was but she heard a few things about the man. She knew that his show was facing cancellation, and she knew that he had hired the Endurance for the third season. While Madison was at first unsure, she slowly found excitement in it...until Whitman’s World was cancelled.

When Madison first heard about the setback, she was unsure on what was going to happen next. She figured that the expedition Whitman had envisioned would be cancelled. However, Madison was soon informed that Whitman and Roth were trying to find funding for the voyage to continue.

Madison soon found herself understanding why they wanted to continue. Whitman’s third season was going to be based on finding the Lost Kingdom of Yamatai. When Madison had first found out what they were searching for, she did not know much about it. All she knew was that Yamatai was a small island somewhere in the Pacific Ocean and that it was lost. (Hence, the Lost Kingdom.) Madison also knew that some of the crew doubted of the existence, and truth be told Madison couldn’t blame them. In modern history there is nothing to prove that the place even existed.

Madison wouldn’t voice her doubts on Yamatai’s existence. The main reason was because of Whitman. Like the rest of the crew, Madison couldn’t stand the man and his condescending attitude. He was annoying yet here she was: part time gopher for him, and part time colleague with him, along with Lara Croft. Madison liked Lara. The recent ULC graduate was nice to her, and they had quickly become friends. This was Lara’s first real expedition post university, and Madison could tell just how bad the young woman wanted to discover Yamatai. Madison would have felt bad if she were to squash Lara’s ambition. Besides, there was always the chance of Yamatai existing, right? Madison shouldn’t doubt it unless there was cold hard evidence.

Of course, funding was hard to get. They were so close yet so far; very far. Madison had thought that the expedition would be a bust until Samantha Nishimura came into the picture.

Samantha, or Sam, was Lara’s best friend from college who was a film major and came from a very wealthy family. Lara had contacted her friend, asking for help in funding the trip. In the end Sam’s uncle helped cover the expenses in exchange for a cut. That, and Sam was to be the director, film-maker, and editor of the documentary of the expedition. The deal was sealed, and the Endurance sailed off to find the Lost Kingdom of Yamatai.

* * * * *

As the Endurance went into a month of the Lost Kingdom expedition, the crew became more antsy by the day. Even if Sam’s family was help funding the expenses, they all knew that the money would no longer be in their hands.

That’s one of the reasons why Lara had been busting her ass off. Even from the beginning Madison knew that the graduate was onto something; it was just at the tip of her tongue. Whitman was no help while Madison was able to point out the simple yet obvious missing pieces of Lara’s thought process. Madison would not take any of the credit in Lara’s theory, because Lara had figured it out all on her own. Besides, Lara’s theory had made complete sense to Madison: what if they pursued east, not west? As much as Japan was westernized, it still wasn’t in the west.

Whitman didn’t agree.

Madison remembers that day in the Endurance kitchen quite well. She was sitting at the table, writing in her personal journal while Reyes, the mechanic sat next to her, toying with something in her hands while Alex, the technician, was busy on his laptop. Sam was at the other end of the table, reading a book. Jonah, the ship’s chef was busy cooking something in a rather large pot (which Madison had no doubt that he was going to ask for her help soon) while Roth and Grim, the helmsman, were busy listening to the radio. Whitman was standing right behind her, which she did not like, with Lara as they argued about Lara’s idea.

“How can you suggest that I’m not serious about this expedition, Lara?” Whitman had asked. “It’s not just Sam’s family funding us, I’ve put my savings on the line too.”

“We’ve all got some kind of stake in this,” Reyes piped up, looking up to lead archaeologist. “The funding won’t last forever, Whitman.”

“That’s precisely why we should push east, not west!” Lara argued.

“It makes sense,” Madison commented.

Whitman scoffed. “No one believes Yamatai’s that far east. The books simply don’t support it!”

Madison was about to refute, but Sam had beat her to it.

“Well, whoever wrote those books never found Yamatai,” the filmmaker added.

“Thank you!” Madison said, acknowledging Sam with a grateful gesture. Sam gave her a smile of acknowledgement in return.

“I’ve talked to Roth about this,” Lara continued her argument with Whitman, as she made the old man look at the map she had marked out. “There’s no point in following other people’s steps, Doctor Whitman.”

It was silent. Then….

“I refuse to bet my reputation on your hunch!”

Madison rolled her eyes. She wasn’t sure how long she could hold back until she snapped at the man.

“I’m the lead archaeologist here.”

That’s i-

“And when were you last in the field without a TV crew behind you?” Grim snipped. Madison had to cover her mouth with her hand as she fought the urge to laugh out loud at the helmsman’s remark. She saw Reyes give her a look from the corner of her eye.

“I’ve got thirty years’ experience, two PhDs, one in East Asian history. So why don’t you stick to boats, Mr. Grim?”

“Ship, Doctor Whitman. It’s a ship. Don’t need a PhD to know that.” Grim grumbled heavily in his Scottish accent.

“Look, going east will take his directly into the Dragon’s Triangle. That’s where we need to go,” Lara started up once more. Madison couldn’t help but feel sorry for Lara, because Whitman was never going to listen to her.

“After all, it’s East Asian history.” Whitman did not look happy at her comment, but Madison heard Sam and Alex snicker at her sass. Reyes shot her a disapproving look, this time more apparent. While this happened, Jonah had appeared at the table, telling Lara that the place had a bad energy to it.

“Bad storms more like; makes the Bermuda Triangle look like Disney World. Sign me up.” Alex finally spoke. Everyone looked towards him. Madison almost grimaced. If what Alex said was true….

“The stories about Queen Himiko say she could summon storms. Myths are usually based on some version of the truth. What if Yamatai was somewhere in the Triangle itself?”

By the time Lara had finished, Alex had successfully hacked into the satellites and showed the group at the table what the screen was showing him.

“Look, this is the satellite imagery from inside the Dragon’s Triangle.”

Both Reyes and Madison leaned in closer to look at the footage. Madison had to adjust her glasses to make sure she was seeing correctly. This was when Madison, along with the rest of the crew, realized that Alex wasn’t being dramatic about how bad the storms were.

“Oh shit,” Madison swore. They were thinking about sailing into that?

“That doesn’t look good,” Sam added.

“If it’s wet, I can sail on it,” Grim said lowly. Madison almost jumped at the sound of his voice, not realizing how close he was to her.

“Oh, don’t tell me you’re seriously cons--” Whitman began, but Roth cut him off.

“Enough!” the captain had snapped, getting up from his seat. “Reyes is right, we don’t have enough funds to piss about. It’s now or never. Lara’s offering fresh ideas and a plan. I’m the captain here, it’s my decision. We’re going into the Dragon’s Triangle.”

“Why am I even here?” Whitman huffed, leaving the table.

Madison smiled, satisfied in knowing that Whitman had lost this argument.

However, the closer they got to the Dragon’s Triangle, the more Madison felt dread seeping into her system. She couldn’t help but think that something awful was going to happen.

* * * * *

Madison was awoken by the sounds of alarms and someone shaking her fervently.

“Maddie! Maddie, get up! Come on!”

“Wha…?” Madison mumbled, pushing her roommate’s hand away, as she slowly sat up in her bunk. Slowly but surely, Madison recognized the distress and the blaring sounds of the ship’s alarms. “What’s happening?”

“I don’t know but something is really wrong. I think we’re evacuating!”

“Oh shit!” Madison swore, as she made sure her converse were secured on her feet. She sprang up, grabbing her crossbody purse before throwing her phone and a few other things in it, before running out into the hallways with her roommate. They weren’t together for long, though, as they soon got separated by the chaos going on around them.

Now, Madison wasn’t exactly sure what was going on but by judging the loud cackles of the sky and sea, and the blaring of the alarms with the emergency lights flickering, she was pretty sure that they needed to abandon ship.

Madison began running up to the deck, where Jonah spotted her.

“Maddie! We need to get out of here! Have you seen Lara or Sam?” Jonah had to shout due to how loud the storms were. Jesus, Alex wasn’t lying when he said the storms were massive.

“No, I haven’t!” Madison shouted back. “Where are the--?”

Suddenly, there was a rather large and bright lightning bolt appearing out of nowhere and before Madison could register what was even happening, the Endurance broke in half with a loud, horrific sound. Suddenly, the deck below her was wobbly and cavy and before she could level herself, she practically flew backwards as another strike of lightning hit the ship, sinking into the dark sea.

Madison would never forget this moment as long as she lived. The waters were rough and cold. She could barely swim, for the currents were harsh. She was freezing to the bone. She could feel it in that moment and she knew it would be a thousand times worse if she could get above surface.

Eventually, somehow, Madison was able to get above the surface. She was having trouble breathing, her hair was soaking wet and clinging to her, but she was able to kick her way to the surface. It was in good timing, too, because she spotted one of the lifeboats just mere feet away from her. She saw Reyes first, standing and taking command.

“Reyes!” Madison yelled as loud as she could, as she began swimming over to the lifeboat. (Well, it was more like being pushed by the waves.) She began coughing as she made her way over. She saw some of the people in the boat, but she couldn’t quite make them out, as she didn’t have her contacts in or glasses on. Damn, I hope my glasses are in my purse, she thought.

“Holy shit, is that Madison?” Alex yelled out. That had caught Reyes’ attention and she looked in the direction where the technician and a few others were looking in. She had spotted the young girl almost immediately.

“Madison!” Reyes shouted in what sounded like a panic. “Get over here! Hurry!”

Madison complied, kicking and swimming as fast as she could. It was hard getting to the lifeboat, as the waves knocked into her and she felt heavy due to her wet clothes. Fortunately, Madison was able to make it to the boat and Alex and a deckhand pulled her to safety. Madison was coughing and spluttering at this point, water exiting her lungs. Someone was patting their hand on her back, as if they were supporting her or helping get the water to leave her system.

It was sooner rather than later did the lifeboat finally reach the shore. Practically everyone jumped out, not caring if they got wet. Poor Madison, though. She was tired of that cold, drenched feeling already.

The crew found themselves on the shore. It was dark, so Madison couldn’t make out much of the shadowy structures.

Madison couldn’t afford to think about it now, save for the goal on getting stabilized. One of the crew members were kind enough to drag her out of the boat and place her by the fi--wait, how long had it been since they reached this makeshift campsite? Madison couldn’t remember.

It was chaos on the shore, as the storm continued to be brash and unforgiving. The dark waters of the sea were wild, illuminated every few seconds from the lighting. Madison was also able to see how there seemed to be a lot of wreckage and salvage on the shores of the beach they were on.

Eventually the storms stopped, and all appeared calm...except that it wasn’t.

Madison was able to recover quickly. Her clothes were still a little damp but she was sure that once the sun was up and she was moving she would dry up.

It was a rough night. The crew of Endurance were scattered about. Madison was with Reyes, who acted as leader. Alex was with them too, same with Jonah and eventually, Grim. Whitman was also in their little group as well, which Madison wasn’t too keen on. There were a few other crew members with them but some of them had died.

Some people, however, were unaccounted for. Sam was missing and so was Lara. Madison worried for them. They were her friends and she hoped they were alive and safe. Madison couldn’t help but have a sinking feeling in her stomach. Something was off about the place, and it wasn’t just because their ship had been destroyed, leaving them stranded.

While Sam, Lara, and a few others were unaccounted for, Roth was not. He had contacted the group via radio at some point. After a small chat with the captain, it was decided that the group was going to meetup with him and try to figure out what the hell was going on.

Reyes ordered for them be prepared for anything, which Madison took to heart. Joslin Reyes was a woman who took no nonsense and even in the unknown, seemed to know what she was doing. Whitman acted as second in command but Madison doesn’t trust his judgement. If she had to rank the people she was in on how she trusted them, Whitman would be on the bottom of the list. In her opinion, he was that dumb when it came to safety and survival.

As the small group ventured out on the island, Madison had found that her clothes did in fact dry out. Her hair was still a bit damp but that came as no surprise to her, seeing she had thick hair. The group stayed close, occasionally hiding in the bushes when they heard someone come near. In their short time on being on the island, they figured out there were others among them and judging by their looks and conversation, they were not too friendly. Madison made sure that she was with the group as much as she could.

The sun was beginning to set when the radio on Alex sparked to life.

“Reyes? Are you there?”

“Madison, answer him,” Reyes ordered the petite girl.

“Okay,” Madison nodded as Alex handed her the radio. Madison took it, pressing down on a button in order to reply to Roth.

“Roth? It’s me, it’s Madison,” Madison said. “Reyes is busy. Do you need something?”

“Tell her that I had to move location, though not too far from where I was,” Roth said. “Lara is alive too. She’ll be regrouping with us as well. Have you ran into any trouble?”

“Uh, not yet. We’ve been close a few times,” Madison answered. “Have you encountered anyone?”

“No, but I’ve been listening. We’ve got to get off this island, fast. Something’s not right about this place.”

No kidding, Madison thought. If Roth was concerned, then they all should be.

“I agree with that. Tell us where you’re at, and we’ll see you soon.”

Roth told her the new location and signed off the channel. When Madison was about to inform the group what was happening, a new voice came through.

“Hello? Is anybody there?”

Madison answered immediately, stopping in her tracks. “Sam? Is that you?”

“Yes!” Sam replied, relieved. “Are you okay?”

“Yeah, I’m fine. I’m with some of the others but everyone else is scattered around. Where are you? Are you okay?”

“I sprained my ankle, but Mathias patched me up.”

Madison paused, somewhat taken aback. Who was Mathias? She didn’t know anyone by that name who was on the Endurance. Glancing around, she saw that the others were just as perplexed.

“Mathias?” Madison asked.

“He found me straggling. He’s stranded here too, like us.”

Madison looked to Reyes, not knowing what to say next.

“Hand it to me,” Reyes said. Madison nodded.

“Hey, Sam, Reyes wants to talk to you, I’m handing the radio over to her,” Madison informed her friend, before passing the radio to Reyes. She didn’t hear what Sam and Reyes were talking about but as soon as Reyes signed off she informed the group that they were going to get Sam.

“Look out for the smoke, that’s where we’ll find Sam and Mathias,” Reyes informed. Madison looked up to the sky, eyesight adjusting until she saw the symbol they needed.

“I have a bad feeling about this,” Madison muttered, loud enough for Alex to hear.

“You and me both,” Alex agreed.

As the group ventured farther in the woods, Madison couldn’t help but wonder: What the hell are they getting themselves into?

* * * * *

It was dark out. Reyes, Jonah, Alex, Grim, Whitman, and Madison had been walking for about thirty minutes. Everyone was on high alert. Reyes had her pistol in her hands, the end facing down to the ground. Jonah had his shotgun in his hands while Grim appeared to have his own pistol as well. The only people who didn’t have weapons drawn out were Alex, Whitman, and Madison. Alex had a pistol tucked away but close enough to reach if needed. Whitman and Madison didn’t have a weapon to call their own, unless you considered a hairbrush, a few pens and other everyday items Madison had in her purse as weapons of self defense.

It had started raining again, with thunder and lightning appearing every few seconds. It was windy as well. The weather was making Madison shiver. Was it just her, or were these storms...unnatural?

The walk was one with no trouble. Reyes was up front, leading the congregation with Jonah not far behind her. Alex was behind him and in front of Madison. Whitman was behind Madison as Grim was in the back. Grim was a tough old man, so Madison wasn’t worried for him. He was like her grandma, a feisty elder who wasn’t afraid of anything. Despite his old age, Grim could pack a punch like no other. He wasn’t someone Madison wouldn’t want to cross.

As the group of five neared Sam’s location (it was incredibly how the fire was still lit, Madison thought), they all suddenly heard a young woman scream. Alert, the group moved faster, with Reyes almost running up the hill. When she got to the top, the older woman looked back to the group, nodding for them to come along.

“Over here!”

“Reyes!” Madison could hear a young, familiar voice yell out.

“I found Lara!”

Jonah, Alex, Madison, Whitman, and Grim wasted no time in getting to them. As Madison reached to the level, she saw Reyes point her pistol down in Lara’s direction and fired a shot. Madison was confused but then as she got closer, she saw that Lara’s foot was caught in a bear trap. Madison winced at the sight. That had to hurt.

Jonah knelt down on one knee, prying the jaws of the trap open and helping Lara off the ground.

“It’s good to see you, Little Bird,” Jonah said as he and Reyes helped Lara off the ground.

“Are you okay?” Madison asked.

“I’ll be fine,” Lara said. “Is Sam with you?”

The group was puzzled by Lara’s question.

“She was with you?” Jonah voiced everyone’s perplexment.

“She was here...with that man Mathias but I passed out,” Lara explained as she used her makeshift bow to support herself. That bear trap had to hurt, Madison thought. “When I woke up, they were both gone.”

Uh oh.

“You girls shouldn’t go wandering off!” Grim mumbled but it was loud enough for the group to hear.

“Uh…” Madison couldn’t help but let out. “I don’t think--”

“We need to find them,” Lara finished, interrupting Madison’s thought. Madison closed her mouth, shutting up. Lara was right, they did need to find them. At least, they needed to find Sam. Madison didn’t trust this Mathias character, especially since Sam was most likely with him. He probably kidnapped her.

“Uh, w-wait, what about Roth?” Whitman brought up. Shit, Madison forgot that they were supposed to regroup with him.

Reyes was quick to form a plan. “Okay, let’s split up. One of us go with Lara and meet up with Roth, the rest of us should fan out and look for Sam.”

“I’ll go with her,” Alex volunteered immediately, but Whitman had objected to it.

“No, no...let me,” Whitman said. Madison shot him a weird look, as did Reyes. After a moment, Reyes passed over her pistol to him.

“You know how to use one of these?” Reyes asked.

“It’s...it’s been a while. It-It’s all coming back to me,” Whitman stuttered. Madison rolled her eyes, not believing him for one second. No one paid mind, as Reyes and Jonah began to run off with Grim way ahead of them.

“Get to Roth, we’ll find Sam and this Mathias guy,” Alex said. “Come on, Mads.”

“We’ll see you soon, good luck,” Madison said, waving her left hand to Lara as she departed, catching up with Alex.

“Stay close to me,” Alex ordered. “We need to find something for you a weapon or something.”

“I’ll be fine. I’m sure I can find something in my purse,” Madison assured her older friend.

“Yeah, well, I’m sure you’re going to need something more powerful than a hairbrush,” Alex said. Madison could hear the sarcasm in his tone.

“Hey, you know I hit hard, with or without the hairbrush,” Madison retorted with humor in her voice.

Alex let out a small laugh, knowing what she was referring to. “Yeah, I know. I haven’t forgotten.”

It was silent between the two. It wasn’t an uncomfortable silence, as they have known each other for years. Their parents were close friends, leading to the pair to have a family-type of relationship between them. Alex was like an older brother to her, if she had one. She was the youngest in her family, if you didn’t count her niece and nephew.

Alex and Madison surveyed the area around them. The rain had stopped once more, but the ground was still wet. Madison almost slipped on the stone paths once or twice but was able to keep her footing.

“Do you have any idea where we’re at?” Alex asked.

“You mean where we’re currently at? Or where the hell we crashed at?” Madison asked as she looked around. There was no sign of Sam or the Mathias man. However, there were plentiful of architecture, old and new and plentiful of statues in various states of conditions.

“Either,” Alex said. Both would be good to know.

“Well, I think we’re out of the forest,” Madison began. “We might be on our way to a temple or village of sorts, but I can’t say for sure. Where we wrecked in, I’m not sure. I think we are in Japan’s territory...hell, we might even be on Yamatai.”

“Yamatai?” Alex asked. “You really think the place is real?”

“It could be. Queen Himiko was definitely a real figure. Did you she’s mentioned more in Chinese text than Japan’s?”

“No,” Alex answered truthfully. He was about to say more but then Jonah suddenly came burling through the trees, wheezing.

“Come on, we got to get the hell out of here!” Jonah shouted, stumbling to a stop.

“What? Why?” Madison asked, alarmed. Jonah didn’t need to answer, as the three members of Endurance heard the yells of men.

“Kill them! We can’t have any survivors!”