The island is the mysterious Island of Depravity, pushed up from the ocean floor. It is an isolated island surrounded by a blood red sea, that sometimes takes on the colour of green tea. No humans or animals appear to inhabit this gruesome land. They may once have were driven out by an angry god’s hand. Deep crevices in the barren soil indicate destruction by an earthquake. Just like dead trees knotted together, hanging over a foul-smelling body of water that cannot be called a lake. Dominating the centre is the monstrous marble edifice. Its steps are strewn with human and animal entrails, feces, skin, bones, and blood, decaying in the hot sun and the dirty mud. Whoever and whatever lived here worshipped flesh-eating beasts that chewed up humans and animals as part of their daily feast. Absence of crosses and spires indicate a non-Christian faith just as a dirty, barren earth implies a civilization of humans, animals, and other strange creatures as thin as wraiths. We see signs of worship that are signs of pagan beliefs. Temples and decorations on hillsides that show, grotesque human and animal bas-reliefs. In amongst the dead trees there is a dark, grey, marble building resembling a mausoleum. It is surrounded by a broken and unkempt grave yard that is overgrown with the weed strewn arboretum. Bats and crows circle the entire island overhead, indicating that the island is the site of something dead. Sharks and strange sea monsters are in the island’s ocean waiting for unsuspecting souls to provide them with a tasty meal.
Is this an island where devils, vampires, werewolves, witches and all manner of Frankenstein-like monsters did thrive? Is this an island where humans dressed in black might still be alive? When one looks closer one sees that a civilization does still exist, hidden by the blackness of the building, the sky, and the constant mist. Wooden structures on the coast indicate the docks of a seafaring nation. Its whole fascinating story is waiting to be explored. A land where time and space has become intertwined. Where pagans, Goths, monsters, and pirates reside, in more than one’s mind. As human sacrifice is prevalent, many persons were brought up to the volcano’s mouth and were thrown inside. Many others willingly sacrificed themselves and jumped with pride. The lava often overflows and covers the countryside, just as the ocean often has tidal waves that spill onto the land far and wide.
This island has never known anything but death and destruction. But for some it beckons as a place of seduction. Its blackness pervades everything on it and around it, but this does not discourage those who come because the type of life that they will live there, does not necessarily differ from where they are from. Monsters, whether real or imaginary, may exist within us or in our mind. For some persons the island is a place for those monsters to find.
