Early Arrivals

Paradise.

Paradise was a place where you could sink your feet into warm, white sands and soak up the sun’s rays like a sponge. Paradise was a place where there were crystal clear waters to step into and sigh in relief as it washes away sweat and stress.

And, as always when Brandon went to beautiful places like these, there were tourist traps. It came in many forms: gift shops hawking fake as hell leis and colored rocks said to heal disease, people pretending to act like shamans and screaming about the spirit of greed consuming all of mankind, and the most sinful one of all: restaurants. Restaurants like Paradise at Ponderosa’s, where the food was on par with Meh Burger while the prices were comparable to a four star restaurant.

Brandon’s skin crawled as he looked at Paradise at Ponderosa’s. He made that mistake yesterday. He would not make the same mistake today.

Instead of hanging around the Times Square of Kuwahawi, Brandon opted to walk around the outskirts of the city. The Kobber Kabana wasn’t open quite yet, anyway.

“May 1^st is the lucky day, you silly!” he recalled a girl saying as she held a wispy gray cat in her arms. “And you can’t get in at 11:59, either! 12 AM on the dot, or I’mma tell Ishnabel and you’re gonna be in TROUUUUBLEEEE!”

As he walked farther and farther away from the more tourist-y part of the city, he encountered a few sidewalk stands. Some were filled with legitimate leis, women weaving flowers together slowly, but surely. Some had art, depicting nature in all its glory with detail Brandon could only dream of achieving. Pottery, magical objects, animal skulls… all of it was here in this part of the city.

He was ogling at a painting of what he could assume were water spirits when the smell of fried chicken filled the air. Brandon made a mental note to come back to this vendor ASAP to snag that painting before following the scent to a cart. The cart had a combination of things he saw from the individual stands, in addition to a rainbow of fruits and vegetables, fresh herbs, and homemade bread. None, however, excited him more than what was happening behind the cart: a man in a bamboo hat stir-frying something in a wok over an open fire, sitting in a chair that was comically small compared to his bulk. In his other hand, he held a wooden staff, the top carved into the shape of a goat’s head.

Brandon stared with a hungry look on his face for a good minute before the man turned to him and grinned as he said, “Another hungry customer, eh?”

“WH-what? Me?!” Brandon sputtered out, taken off guard. “Um, maybe, sort of, kinda? N-not really?”

The man grinned a little more when he heard the grumble of an empty stomach. “I think someone is telling you otherwise, my friend.”

Brandon blushed redder than a tomato as he looked down at the floor and said, “Y-yes. Yes, I am.”

“Well then, you’re in luck! $5 gets you a plate full of stir-fried cockatrice and rice-“

The vendor didn’t even have to finish his sentence before Brandon pulled out a $5 bill and slammed it on the side of the cart. Within a few minutes, he was chowing down with a gusto to match Sarah’s. The vendor chuckled as he stood up with the help of his staff. Brandon would have been slightly scared at the fact that the man was a good foot taller than he was, were he not shoveling down this stir-fry like today was the last day of his life.

“Glad to see you’re enjoying yourself!” he said heartily as he took a seat on a taller stool closer to the cart, setting his staff aside and taking a fan off the cart. “It isn’t too often that we see anyone aside from the locals wander over here!”

Brandon cringed a little as the stench of sweat filled the air, but he refrained from saying anything. “That’s a shame,” he said, shaking his head a tiny bit before taking another bite of cockatrice. “There’s a whole lot of wonderful things here! But I guess the tourist trappers sunk their fangs deep in here, huh?”

The man held his head in his hand, grumpy as one could be as he grumbled, “Of course they did. They heard the siren song of money and gullible tourists on an unknown island and seized that soon as they could find out where we were on the map. They made damn sure to make themselves more visible than everyone else, and louder too, with those pathetic ‘shamans’ on the streets.” He sighed, swinging his right leg to and fro as he continued, “Worst part of it is that none of the money is actually going to the local tribes, so we’re competing against people who aren’t even here to spread awareness about us. Only one person’s trying to give us a hand. One. Not even a whole company, one person.”

Brandon nearly choked on some rice when the man mentioned it, his eyes flying wide open with shock. “That… that’s crazy! One person’s doing the job of an entire company? Isn’t that a little… extreme?”

“Mmmm… maybe I exaggerated juuust a little,” the man said, scratching at his head of long, black hair underneath his hat. “There’s an organization that’s coming to give us a hand, but from what I heard from their representative, they’ve been having issues with their members. So for right now, she’s a one-woman tourism machine.” He frowned a little and sighed again, pulling out a bottle of water and taking a sip. “Gotta admire her determination, but she’s getting run ragged. I just hope they send some backup before too long.”

After a moment of awkward silence, the man grinned again and said, “But enough of that! What brings you to the island?”

There’s not a hint of hesitation as Brandon replied, “Some much needed R&R,” with a dead-eyed look. Not long after the man raises an eyebrow, Brandon added hastily, “Th-that, and Kobbers. I’m kinda, sorta with them. Sorta.”

“Ah, another one waiting for them to show up?” the man smiled and sat up as he fanned himself. “That makes five of us! My apprentice and I are excited- or at least, I am! It isn’t every day you get to meet heroes like those, unless some sort of calamity’s about to befall you. Our little tourism lady can’t stop talking about how much good they’ll do overall and wants to be the first one through the door when the cabana opens.”

Brandon wondered, for a split second, if it would be a wise idea to compete for “first in the cabana” with this woman, but judging from what the man said about her so far, he feared she’d wrestle him for the spot.

“And finally, there’s an odd demon who’s been standing on a cliff near the beach for days now. Spoke to him once, and he said something about not missing the Kobbers’s arrival. Last I saw him, he was still standing, taking a nice long snooze.” The man shrugged for a moment before he continued, “Either way, we’re gonna see a lot of each other soon, if we’re in it for the same reason! I’d say I can’t wait, but I’m probably going to be snoozing in my own tent by the time they get here. Not like many of them will be here so early in the morning, anyway.” He paused for a moment, placing a finger on his chin before he grinned and added, “Since we’re gonna be seeing each other a lot, let’s get introductions out of the way! The name’s Wicasa, one of the shamans on this island. And you are?”

“My name’s Brandon! It’s nice to meet you, Wicasa!” Brandon said cheerfully before his phone started to beep. A tad bit embarrassed, he checked it and paled. “Oh, god, I nearly forgot about a commission I was doing! I really, really, REALLY need to get going-”

“Cbnedc ypuja, you forgot about something like that?” Wicasa said with a shocked look on his face. “Go like the wind, and get to it! There’ll be plenty of time for us to chat later! Until then, take care of yourself!”

Brandon wished there was more time to take care of himself as he rushed back to the hotel, finishing off the last bits of his stir-fry before expertly tossing the plate in the trash.

On the bright side, at least he didn’t have to deal with the likes of Julia, Justin, and Josh.

…At least, not yet.