According to a very ancient fable, present in various southern regions scattered around the world, every many years in special alignments of stars and planets, a singular event and place occur. Because both; event and place, do not always manifest themselves, except for an event where the great essences – which would be the most pristine in this world – gather to dialogue in a sacred council to make the great pacts of the Earth. And it is precisely in this decade (2020-2030) according to the fable, that a complete cycle would be fulfilled since the last great encounter that would have occurred in this same place (where it always occurs).

       On a wandering island – which is not the only one that moves through the seas, but it is the only one that appears only around the years of this meeting-. Its name?; It wouldn’t be a great mystery, not at all! No need to guess, if I told you that the name of this island is as obvious as the high concentration of rarities inhabiting it, the countless varieties within its varieties, grouping a wide range of beauty. Yes, and today we can all find it on physical and digital maps around the world, because it has appeared very recently.

     Reunion Island; that’s what it’s called (and here is where you look for it on your mobile devices and on illustrated maps before it disappears again, because it also tends to hide on colored paper maps). A place of all kinds of species and living beings united, as well as geographical accidents and vegetations concentrated in dense floating kilometers. With giant mountains and volcanoes from which vapors with an exquisite and powerful vanilla smell emanate eternally, perfuming the entire atmosphere surrounding the island for kilometers. Inside, you can find waterfalls defying and complying with gravity, clays, and multicolored animals, like multiple living beings taking refuge as if this were an ark. Coexisting with a mixture of human races and religions from all over the world, both Western and Eastern.

     Here is; according to the myth in the tale, and according to a legend carved on a stone on Mount Piton, – one of the widest high lookouts on this wandering piece of land -, where it is told in attractive pictograms how light, darkness, air, water, fire, as well as the great chosen ones from the worlds of flora, fauna, and human beings, gather to discuss the future of the world.

     Every few hundred years, this meeting is celebrated privately in the same way; locked away with no witnesses or participants other than the destined ones, in a conclave for several days in the «Trou de Feu» (The Hell’s Gorge), a gigantic pit nestled in the middle of the roughest valley of its mountain range. A giant hole at the top, where waterfalls make access to its bottom impossible. In this inhospitable place, the Earth’s superiors gather to converse, with each meeting being different from the others, except that this time; many locals believe that the conditions are somewhat similar to the previous one; because approximately two hundred years ago – which was the last time the conjunction of seven stars pointed over the pit – there were very similar issues to those of today, which is why in the last pact it is said that all the deities unanimously decided to interfere in the life of our world, producing in an act of concomitance, that snow froze half of three continents to stop the advance of a powerful conqueror of small stature and giant ambition. That’s what is rumored, according to the legend on the island.

     But all of the above is already part of the history in the fable, because what is interesting and returning to today, is that, with a route and destination very close to Reunion Island, a few months ago a large vessel appeared in the eastern ocean – in a rarely similar way – a drifting cargo ship without any crew. An immense metal high-sea monster, almost three hundred meters long, cutting with a fin under its keel, twelve meters below the saltwater. Which without any sound of machines or any kind of persuasion appeared amidst a dense fog in an evanescent way, so much so that it seemed to float in the air. In the middle of the waters of the Indian Ocean off the coast of the Middle East it appeared sailing like this without further ado, smooth and completely inert, this is because no trace of any kind of life on board was found, being piloted only by the currents and the wind.

     It was a cargo ship that had set sail six months earlier from Trinidad Island, in Argentina. And unlike today; with a lot of people on board and with «valuable» goods in its inventory. Close to two hundred people in total were guarding more than four hundred containers of all types on its deck, of which – men and cargo – nothing has been known to date of writing this story. Not so with the records, though. Route and crew logs, as well as laboratory reports, and other notes such as drawings and letters, which build the story of a strange journey. A story on papers was all that was rescued.

      They reported on a cargo with a wide variety of types and origins. Not so much in destination, because everything from the American continent was being transported towards the east, but the majority of the total containers were wildlife cargo. The main mission and purpose of this journey.

     Very limited natural specimens, a scientific cargo, heading to a conservation and biodiversity institute on the western coast of Sri Lanka. Mainly animals and wild species, endangered or very exotic, even newly discovered. All confined in very well-made and equipped steel crates depending on the variety contained inside. Containers that generally only showed darkness and almost always sedated and static silhouettes. In summary, not at all a traditional cargo, considering that it was collected over five years of expeditions in all types of American jungles, seas, and mountains, to then be grouped on this ship, now adrift and strangely empty.

     Therefore, the crew of the ship was not very usual either. It was made up of groups of hunters, animal activists, many veterinarians, microbiologists, entomologists, ornithologists, and many other types of scientists. As well as native people accompanying each of their typologies, from every corner of origin in America.

     All these led by a single person; Nahuel B. Romuan, a legend among wildlife communities worldwide, an expert in all types of jungle and marine forms. An exceptional hunter who had lived his entire life with most of the natives and Amazonian peoples from northern Brazil, through Ecuador, Bolivia, and reaching Peru. Respected and affectionately named by all hunting peoples as «Curipira,» a term that alludes to an ancestral and mythological demon of the Amazon. A hunter and protector of the jungle, a white demon as the forest and water guardian spirits are called. Who, in white, actually has very little, because he has red matted hair and skin toughened and hard as stone, very dark in tone like the jungle mud itself. The same with which he spent almost three years covered in the jungles of Ecuador, hunting and studying species with the Ashuar, a tribe of intrepid forest and river people.

     In the list of these rare species brought by his entourage, there were more than a hundred types. Among which stood out animals rarely seen by ordinary people; among some species, the Rock-shell Turtle, the Golden Lion of Brazil, the Fire-tailed Monkey, the Worm Salamander, the Pink Dolphin, the tall and slender Crin Wolf, a pair of Canadian Giant Wolves, (taller than a human), as well as a pair of four-meter-high Moose. Also a couple of Australian Whale calves from Argentina, like a dozen Arctic Sea Unicorn (Narwhals), the latter also in giant monitored pools. Poisonous inchworms like living carpets of 1 meter in length, as well as many other insects and flora of all kinds heading eastward. This cargo ship full of life was going to this biological conservation institute, without first making a small scheduled stop at the docks of Cape Town in South Africa, where the second and last cargo would be carried out.

     Docking maneuvers during the night shift at the port of that city in South Africa were recorded in the ship’s logbooks. Along with the provision of one hundred and twenty thousand liters of crude fuel, as it had been twenty-six days since departing from Argentina before this stop. Details of the definitive boarding of sixty-six men in the entourage and nearly one hundred containers, in which many other species were added to the list, were also noted. A couple of new breeds of felines like white tigers and the golden cat (recently appeared), a Swazi Dragon Lizard, Thin-snouted Crocodiles, as well as a pair of strange Shoebill birds, with a prehistoric appearance. As well as the boarding of a heavily worn thick steel container with strange marks resembling «W’s» on each side, which enclosed an immense animal, which in the cargo manifest had a crossed-out space for the name, but not in the description, which had a few handwritten references; «Iwia» Weight; close to thirteen hundred kg.

     The handwriting and signature on the cargo manifest of this, as well as all African goods, belonged to «Waresi,» who was in charge and caring for the specimens from this continent. A woman as well known on her continent as Nahuel in America, a nomad, hunter, and preserver of ancient African land knowledge. Embania Waresi, who this time personally and very attentively guarded the steel container of the animal with the lateral marks in its cage.

     When they met, she and Nahuel greeted each other warmly and talked for quite a while, as did several African natives with natives from South America. They laughed as they greeted each other and exchanged words, artifacts, and gifts among themselves, an old custom among peoples and hunters. They did this while inspecting the boxes, knots, and locks tied to the external rigging, performing the final coordinated hoisting operations on the deck, organizing and securing the most delicate containers. Everyone collaborated throughout the night to continue the journey the next morning. Before the end of the tasks, they presented themselves to the captain and inspected the ship’s facilities. The logbook pages speak of that long day. It was already 02:40 in the morning of the following day when everyone gathered in the mess halls located on the second level of the cargo ship, a large space designated for this entire traveling entourage.

     Nearly five hundred plates for the entire general crew were what came out of the ship’s kitchen that early morning. Fifteen people in the kitchen were in charge of feeding this eclectic entourage throughout the journey, which on that evening before setting sail from Cape Town, were the reason for a great meal. A pseudo-banquet for a single general shift. A grand dinner celebration and welcome for the people of the African continent, during which the captain shared a few words in several languages with his special passengers, breaking a glass on the floor at the end of his speech, as an ancient custom among some sailors, as a sign of good fortune and to ward off the ship’s bad luck before embarking on the sea voyage.

     Already underway, it was the fourth day and a few hours since leaving Cape Town. And just after a peaceful journey across the ocean, when the clock struck eleven in the morning on the ship’s black box, an unexpected caution alert was registered, a forecast of bad weather that came through the Asian satellite channel. It was an unexpected storm front that began to accumulate statically to the south and west of the great island of Madagascar. An unexpected storm that would likely greet them in the early hours of the next day. This forced the activation of the protocol regarding navigation integrity and the cargo of the biocontainers. Thus, throughout the following hours of that day, a dozen emergency generators were prepared to assist, supporting the monitors and the air conditioning system of each of the most delicate species on board. As well as a sedation plan by gas for some of the more troublesome beasts and animals in case their crates were accidentally opened.

     Before their usual teatime, the ship’s captain called all the teams of scientists and senior officers of his crew to alert them about the approaching storm. Informing them that it was of considerable size, but they were already halfway there, and there was nothing more to do than to move forward.

     So everyone then distributed tasks. There were teams of scientists, technicians, and hunters moving all over the ship, squads and cranes shoring up the large metal boxes against each other, wedging them with hard pieces of wood between them, «padding» them, so that they would not collide with the sways of the sea that would surely hit the cargo ship in the early morning, from about seven to eight hours later.

      Nahuel and Waresi also joined the group of officers in charge of the movements on the ship’s deck, giving instructions to safeguard the entire civilian crew in their quarters, except for the most necessary, while the cargo ship had already moved away from the eastern African coasts as well as a little and quite a bit from Madagascar to the south; away from the encounter with currents, this meant that the ship would sway only laterally, without cutting through the waves head-on, saving power in the engines, to then enter the storm head-on into these stronger waves. Masses of water that could already be measured on the level maps drawn by satellite reference buoy signals, at about ninety nearby miles, which in travel time would be two and a half hours, at about twenty-five knots of speed.

     No precautionary measure was too small; everything was done according to procedures while the technicians did all they could, already overwhelmed by the night. Meanwhile, electric clouds and waves up to eight meters high were already awaiting them in a few hours.

     Once the operations and system and cargo securing protocol was completed, everyone took their positions and secured their belongings. Not a single object on the ship was left unsecured, as they entered the early and eventful dawn of that fifth day.

     Thus, the announced bad weather began to be felt in the atmosphere, causing some beasts to become restless. Not as much as the more sensitive species, those reacting to tiny pressure changes. These were mostly birds, insects, and also a rare population of marine bacteria called Venus’s Hair, which began to become very hyperactive, moving in oscillating and unusual patterns, similar to a living white carpet of noodles, with millions of filaments vibrating non-stop.

     At 03:11 am, it was recorded that on the bridge, already somewhat lost in the darkness, the captain was connecting auxiliary lights to better illuminate the ship. A yellowish and powerful light was added throughout the cargo ship, along with red flashing lights at the bow and stern, used to maintain the ship’s length from the command post. Also, incredible high-sea spotlights were added, illuminating the path like highway headlights, only this highway was made of rising tons of water illuminated incredibly by these lights over two hundred meters away. And this was just the beginning of the storm because in a very distant background on the horizon that was lost every time the tip of the ship sank into the waves, illuminated electrical strikes could be seen, of those that are shown in bursts of microseconds, like a neon advertisement for a difficult and wet day.

     In an apparent advance, and already cutting through the waves at a powerful 35 knots, it seemed as if the storm was getting closer to them than they were to it because they seemed to never progress. They just remained glued on top of a passing and passing of waves when in this incessant charge solid walls of saltwater, suddenly, a deafening thunder was heard that struck the ocean. Like a steel hammer in the environment using the entire sea as an anvil, leaving everyone somewhat bewildered. After a good while, it repeated itself once more, but this time much, much closer, as if it had been the epicenter of thunder on a high point on the same ship. An explosion under the clouds that made the ship vibrate a little more and completely, so much so that it suddenly silenced everything, nothing but the sound of the ocean could be heard, while the steel of the hull still oscillated from such a blow received. No animal or human was talking, everyone overwhelmed by the violent resonating in the storm. Then the most intriguing thing happened for everyone, especially with the third metallic thunder; that no lightning flash was ever seen anticipating these tremendous sonic bursts surrounding the ship. Suddenly, these gigantic noises were heard, one after another.

     The African natives from all parts of the ship just looked at each other, and others approached Waresi, like children approaching a mother for comfort, who commented on something with evident nervousness in their faces. It was when Nahuel from the monitoring room noticed it too and made some signs to Embania, to meet at the center of the platform under the main bridge crane, feeling just at that moment a fourth deafening roar in the sky.

     No one knew what was happening that stormy night, it was an exacerbated gallop of the ship over a rolling of waves that were already reaching respectable heights of eight to nine meters, while under the deck in a warehouse area; the youngest assistant in the kitchen crew wrote a few lines in his new recipe and culinary advice notebook describing this situation somewhat. He mentioned having seen a monumental shadow emerge through the skylights of the hold – sunk below the water level – just at the moment of the last thundering noises in the sky, the same that many saw from the engine room of the freighter and communicated through the internal radio channel to the captain’s control room.

     And with all the noise together with the movements of the ship, many of the animals had already been snatched from their drowsy sleep. The wolves were already beginning to howl every time another thunder approached, which by the way were just a couple more, but each one longer than the next because then it could not be said that they were thunder, they sounded strangely like squeaks in the sky, as if monumental metallic bodies were frictioning and fitting, scattered behind the concentrated black clouds.

     It was the turning point of the journey, the juncture on this route, because at that moment all kinds of possible sounds from the containers were added; screams, flaps, roars, squawks, growls, neighs, roars, howls, buzzing, even screams of all kinds and in all languages, mixed deafeningly all over the ship for several minutes. Along with an extensive whale song that also joined from the immediate and distant surrounding ocean. It was a deafening whole, everyone seemed to be in tune with something, something that no human being understood, except one. «She.»

     Waresi was the only one not surprised by what was happening. In the midst of this unbalanced situation, she approached Nahuel and spoke to him for a few brief minutes while looking and pointing at the sky, amidst all this water and noise. She said something that no one ever recorded, and then slowly, along with him, moved a few meters away from the cage marked by the side symbols.

     The sound of animals and living beings on the journey and all over the ocean and the ship never stopped again, just as never before had so many spots concentrated around the ship on the radar. Captain noted in his logbook at 04:11 in the morning, along with the description of the thunder in the sky, describing it in his own handwriting as «ballade» in French, a strange noise he had never heard in his long career as a cargo ship captain and sailor throughout his life. That’s what he wrote, among other things, while on deck, Waresi opened the steel container against all safety procedures, just as the last metal strike of the ship’s hull by the strongest explosion heard that night in that turbulent sea occurred. Immediately afterward, and after several minutes during which the freighter stopped shaking its metal, several people could see at a very short distance a being whose skin shone against the lights and the saltwater scattered by the waves. A huge shadow emerging from the darkness of that container, with a translucent vapor and something perceptible in a celestial tone emerging from its body. About thirty people saw «something» emerge from that cage, which was a mix of an immense animal, a kind of giant black jaguar standing on its hind legs, but at the same time seemed to be a person, a very strange being alien to any supposed normality. His silhouette was always accompanied by a thin halo that seemed to melt the environment around him, distorting the landscape like heat does on the surfaces of black asphalt roads or on the sand of deserts and beaches when heated by the yellowest sun. His body radiated living energy, an excess of life that never took away gleaming yellow eyes on Nahuel and Waresi.

     Yellowish eyes on a very dark background, this rare being showed this rare being even sketching an attempt to smile; that’s what Joan wrote and drew, the same kitchen assistant who also wrote again in his recipe notebook, who saw the colossal shadow moving under the water, under the entire freighter emerging. A «stain» that could be seen through all the skylights of the lower decks of the ship, just as the radar registered a couple of seconds before it stopped working. A rare behavior in the seabed, which also affected the ship’s satellite navigation system.

     It was no longer a normal journey; the officers on the exterior bridges and in the engine room communicated by radio with the captain to tell him what was happening, but he never reacted because he was too busy trying to handle the situation and the ship itself from the command cabin with all its pilots, masters, and mates, who also did not understand anything, specifically did not know where the hell they were located.

     The satellite GPS stopped working at 05:05 in the morning of that fifth day, along with the radar and the sonar, which never showed any more underground sea levels. They seemed to be nowhere and totally adrift.

     While many of Waresi and Nahuel’s men surrounded them forming a circle around them and the imposing Iwia, which was how this strange being was described when he boarded the ship. And in the midst of the roaring of the entire sky and everything existing there vibrating, all the hunters and natives from both continents began to intone a phrase that little by little and «crescendo» was heard from different parts of this ship; «Mti wa Nyakati», «Mti wa Nyakati», «Mti wa Nyakati»… That’s what was heard louder and more repetitive while the other sounds of beasts, animals, and storm waves incredibly slowly calmed down.

     That was the last thing that was noted several times in almost all the records. «Mti wa Nyakati», the phrase chanted over and over again by Waresi and Nahuel’s men in the midst of the most intense moments of the storm that night.

     «The tree of times»; that’s the translation of those words evoked in the native language, a very ancient phrase from Africa that refers to an ancestral tale. To other people, other lands, and other times living with us, but not «right here,» but in a magical place. That phrase, along with sketches of a green island with large mountains, with volcanoes smoking, was found recorded on the last pages of Joan’s notebook, the young French kitchen assistant, before noting;

     «And now everything is quieter, we sail silently in thick fog, only a sun glowing red and yellow can be seen in the distance between some green volcanoes. And only an extraordinary and exquisite smell of vanilla is felt in the entire surrounding atmosphere, the most exquisite I have ever felt in my entire life.»