The Beast of the Lost Island

For my final project in my Mythology class I created my own mythical creature and had to write a creative short story about it.  Soooo... here it is. :) (oh and I also made a visual which was a stuffed animal version of my creature)

The Beast of the Lost Island


            In the days of Zeus, legends were not just mere tales, but rather warnings and reminders.  It is told that Hecate, goddess of many things including lunar lore, the night sky, and the sea had a child in secret.  It was a terrifying beast that scared even its mother.  It had the body of a ferocious lion and bird-like talons and beak.  Its wings were those of a bat and its eyes totaled four.  Hecate, terrified of what her child might do to people trapped it on an island.  To make it difficult for people to find the island populated with the beast, Hecate made the island disappear.  However, Hecate was still weak from childbirth.  The island stayed hidden for a while but then began to shift back and forth from being hidden and being visible.

Rumors whispered in the dark alleys of Delos told of a mysterious island which was sometimes seen off the coast.   This island, off the eastern coast of Delos was strange in the fact that it was only visible some of the time.  It was almost as if it was a vanishing island.  The populous of Delos decided to venture out to the island when it was visible and investigate it.  A small boat with five men set out to the nearby island.  They pulled ashore and discovered it to be a very beautiful place, with tall trees, long beaches, and a large mountain towards the center of the island. The men set out towards the center of the island to see what they could find.  As they drew closer to the mountain one of the men, Sigurd, thought he heard something cry out from the cave on the top of the mountain, something between the call of a bird and the screech of a bat.  He carried on however and the men soon made camp near the base of the mountain.  The sky grew dark and all of the men went to sleep except Sigurd, who sat watching the fire.  He thought he heard the cry from earlier, but disregarded it as a flashback.  He listened to the quiet of the island around him, until he heard rocks shifting on the mountainside next to him.  He thought he heard movement and looked up.  On the mountainside, way above him was a figure, clearly visible; whose four devilish spider-like eyes were watching his every move.  He picked up a log from the fire for safety and tried waking up the other men.  As they stumbled out of their shelters the beast swooped down and grabbed one of them with its long horrible talons and carried him off to his cave.  The rest of the men ran from the mountain in a scramble to get back to the boat.  The beast returned and with talons extended swooped at Sigurd, but he ducked and the beast instead left with one of the other men.  By the time the men made it back to the boat another man had been snatched and only two of them were left, Sigurd and his friend Ermete.  As they clambered into the boat and set off they finally turned around to see if the beast was after them.  It was on the beach, watching them as it paced back and forth. 
Once Sigurd and Ermete arrived back at Delos they warned the city of the terrible beast that dwelled on the island.  They gave the creature the name The Taloned Trómdelos and dubbed the island itself The Lost Island.  Sigurd and Ermete’s words live on in legend and myth as a warning and a reminder to the people of Delos and the surrounding lands to beware the island that disappears and reappears.  
Trómdelos:
 (Trómos –terror, Delos- the island the explorers were from) meaning the terror of Delos

Sigurd:
Sigurd was the hero of the Norse legend the 'Volsungasaga', which tells how his foster-father Regin sent him to recover a hoard of gold guarded by the dragon Fafnir. After slaying the dragon Sigurd tasted some of its blood, enabling him to understand the language of birds. By listening to the birds Sigurd learned that Regin was planning to betray him.
Ermete:
“Hermes” in Italian.  Hermes was a Greek god associated with speed and good luck, who served as a messenger to Zeus.

And here's the stuffed animal version of the Trómdelos!




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