-Fort Tocobago-

    The light of the night had just started to fade as darkness crept over the horizon. Nights always seemed so much more depressing since the damp air seemed to pull every thing out of itself. Even the bugs felt too heavy to fly at night in Tampa.

The small village of Tampa just seemed to grow straight from the earth itself.
Tree’s loomed over the towns buildings though some had been cut back in order to make room for the development of the church that was originally going to be at the center of the village. The church ended up being settled near the outer ring of the village. Being that the entire village was surrounded by a wall it was hard to see into the goings on of it. The center of the village was Fort Tocobago. It was said that the old fort was built on top of a settlement of ‘elementals’ who felt the intrusion onto their grounds a grand insult.

The forts walls went up with out a hitch so did the buildings but when people started to settle inside it that’s when the trouble started. At first the soldiers were told to just dismiss all of the strange noises at night as animals tramping about the grounds. As time went on the forts walls grew to encompass the families of the soldiers on duty there. Families came and went and so did
the trades from the various bloodlines that passed through the walls of Fort Tocobago. Soon enough many tradesmen got tired of having to move about the small squabble of towns and villages and set up a shop in the walls of the fort. With the shops starting in the families of the soldiers soon found it easier to live in the village of Tampa and stayed there indefinitely.

All this history is just noise… a preoccupancy for you the reader to hook you in as the true story takes place. Walking along the wall of the fort two soldiers stopped momentarily and looked around. “Is that him?” One said glancing off into the dusk light at a small blur of a man walking up towards the forts large main gate. “It must be him. Who else would come in such long robes?” His companion stated as the figure drew closer.


For two months the newly crested town of Tampa had been with out a padre to console and lead its weary Christian gatherings. The town next to them, Hernando, had come across the news of a ‘wandering’ priest looking for a place to settle. Tampa welcomed the news and of the priest. It had been two months since the last priest decided to run from Tampa. He hadn’t given any other reason other then that he couldn’t stand the place any further then he could throw it.

As the figure stopped in front of the gates he looked up with a kind smile that seemed to radiate joy and happiness outward in waves. One of the guards looked down at the man. "State your business in Tampa."

"I'm here to herd your withered masses and heal your woes. My name is Father Roman
Raquiest and I have that your town is in dire need of a priest." The priest said never loosing contact with either guards eyes. Not noticing it a door to the side of the gate had opened. A man on the doors other side cleared his throat catching Raquiest's attention almost immediately as his gaze snapped to the door way

There stood the Commander of Fort Tocobago, who not only commanded the land of Fort
Tocobago but also stood guard over Tampa, in his pristine uniform. Blue from top to twain black from the waist down the commander had badges and metals of all colors and forms.
The commander stood there for a moment before gesturing to Raquiest to enter. "Please sir come in its better then staying in the wild a moment longer. My name is Carlos Ragas I am Commander here in Tocobago and overseer to Tampa."

Raquiest nodded politely and entered through the doorway. Ragas went on and apologized
for having to cut his greeting so short but would ask a resident to show him around before the night set in. "Don’t worry commander I am very well suited to see to myself. Though I may need some help finding my own residence."

Ragas smirked and nodded in return. "As you wish Father and please feel free to call me Ragas or Carlos. I will have one of my privates show you to your home shortly for the time being though please come with me. I'm sure you wish to familiarize yourself with the town." Ragas said as he stepped aside allowing Raquiest by.

"Oh! Of course I would love to see the town. I always enjoy learning the history of a place be it bad or good." Raquiest said cheerily as he strode along side Ragas looking about the town.

To this Ragas chuckled a bit. "Well there is a very good spirit here now with you here Father
I can assure you of that. At least we'll have some better sleep with you around here." Ragas added silently as the two walked around town.

The town's streets where paved with the ballast stones of many ships that had come into the bay of Tampa. Tragedy though it happened little to never served a purpose even in Tampa.
Many of the more ill-fated ships ended up surrendering their timber bodies to the foundation of many of the buildings in town. Cloths from torn sails were re-sewn into flags and canopies. Though not all built in Tampa came from ship wrecks. Wrought iron gates and sign posts lined many houses and adorned many shops. Stained glass shimmered brilliantly in the windows of the church and in the commanders own house. Many roofs were thatched but on occasion sheets of shale stone laid down on the rooftops looking almost like scales.
The bay just outside the western gates of Tampa was beautiful. The water shown like jewels it was guarded by two of the finest ships in the Spanish Armada that had shown up in Florida.

Stopping at one of the barracks in the center of the town Ragas called out one of his privates.
A young boy, probably not but 17 or 18 years of age, stepped out in his uniform and saluted both Ragas and Raquiest. "Private Jose Gaspar reporting for duty sir!"

Ragas turned to Raquiest and smiled. "Private Gaspar will show you to your lodge Father."

He turned to Jose and smiled. "Please ensure that Father Raquiest gets to his lodge quickly before nightfall. Oh and Father if you need any food the backer and butcher usually keep some dried goods with them. We all share cooked food around here those that have the cooking profession usually leave a good mess of food on a window sill tray in the mornings. You needn’t worry about any pests getting into the food on the window sill it will be covered."

Raquiest nodded softly and smiled, “Well if there isn’t very much else you wish to talk about then I guess I’ll have to take my leave and go onto the lodge.”

Jose nodded and took hold of Raquiest’s hand and began leading him. Ragas watched the both of them walk off and disappear behind the corner of his building before sinking back into his tower.

The streets seemed alone and somber as Jose and the Father roamed down. Jose pointed out the various different shops and some of the stories behind them. They passed a house which had been made from the wood from the bow of a boat. The house was monstrous in size but the windows near the galley door showed how warm looking inside it was as a fire pushed up through grayed wood of he bottom of the bow. Coming to the end of a street Father Raquiest noticed a house that had been made with a foundation of old ballast stone below a patchwork of different timbers from the ships most of which happened to have fragments of ships names on them. From the outstretching canopy of the entrance hung a multitude of ‘Gods Eyes’ “Here is where you’ll be residing Father.” Jose said.

“Thank you … Jose was it?” Jose nodded. “Well then thank you Jose I hope to see you in the morning at the church.”

Jose smiled. “I’ll be right here in the morning to show you around further so that you can better know theses streets.” At this Jose left after giving his goodbyes to Raquiest and walked back to the barracks.

The sun sunk deep and slow over the horizon of the wooden fence that surrounded the village. The guards’ silhouette was the last thing that the last days light as day disappeared into night. Being that this was one of the newer settlements in the area the only light that came at night, besides that of the moon, was from the candles in the houses near the windows. Shadows danced with fireflies in the thick darkness that seemed to crowd around the outside of Tampa.

Inside his house Raquiest slumped down in a chair and placed his satchel of belongings down beside him on the table. He watched as the shadow of a moth which had trapped itself inside the oil lamp danced whimsically around on the walls before he opened up his bible and began reading. Time seemed to blur around Raquiest as he read on for what seemed hours before he fell asleep and let the bible slip down into his lap. A loud thud on his roof woke the Father with a jolt making him sit bolt up right in his chair. “Wha... Who’s there?” He uttered still half asleep into the darkness. He heard something heavy drag across the roof before it seemed to fly off. Hearing this Raquiest ran to the window and looked up at the sky scanning it for even a small wayward shadow blur. Nothing… not even a slight whisper of a breeze.

The night crept on slowly and Raquiest didn’t get a wink in during the many hours that poured passed him. As the suns light cracked over the eastern walls Raquiest opened his door and saw a crowd around his houses entrance looking up at his roof. Jose was there at the forefront of the crowd which was emitting a low mumble. Raquiest walked out and stood next to Jose to see just what the crowd was looking at. It was something out of a nightmare. A large smear of blood stained the wooden tiles of the roof. “Dear God! What happened here?!” Raquiest said in shock.

Jose looked at him with a somber face. “The reason we don’t have a priest here happened… This land is cursed by both those savage natives and apparently the elements themselves… Your house was marked. A pair of the village chickens happened to be torn from their cages during the night.” Jose sighed and shook his head as he went through the crowd. “Come on Father I need to get you to the church.” With Raquiest in tow after him Jose wound through the town explaining the old stories and legends of the land.

After his sermon at the church Raquiest met Commander Ragas outside of the church. “Not the grandest building but it suits our needs for what it is.” Ragas said in a minor nonchalant tone. “I’m sure you probably wish for me to explain why it is that I didn’t explain the circumstances at which the previous priests left our village.” With out even so much as a blink from Raquiest Ragas nodded and went on. “You see… I doubted that you’d stay if I told you that our village was cursed and I doubt it even more now that you’ll stay now that you do happen to know. I beg of you to forgive my doubts but you see its been so long since our village has had a priest that its rather depressing.”

Raquiest nodded slowly. “I hold no grudge against you nor any of the townsfolk though it would have been nice to hear that I’d be having a rooftop guest in the middle of the night.”

Ragas nodded. “I’m sorry for any inconvenience it might have caused.”

“Inconvenience? Please this is more thrill then I’ve had in months… well weeks if you count that small village I kept at peace with the spirits. Let me tell you hear and now. I’m not like most other priests I do follow the bible but I also listen to what other religions have to say. For the most part all religions have some stories that they all seem to share in common. Noah and his flood don’t appear to be the only flood story out there and I severely doubt it’ll be the last one I hear of Commander. I may be able to help you at least calm these creatures but beyond what I know is a world of things that are unknown and yet to be discovered and understood.”

Ragas sighed a bit and seemed to loosen his rigid body a bit. “Anything we can do to help quell these horrid beasts will be much appreciated by the town’s folk.”

With that Raquiest nodded. “Well then if that is all over with Jose has told me that the elements of this land seemed rather cross at your building on top of their home. We’ll have to give them offerings of peace just as with the spirits. Leave a pitcher of milk and honey and a plate of vegetables and meat that should appease them if they are hungry.”

Ragas looked at Raquiest then shrugged. “We have no other option I suppose other then trying to kill these things which may only anger them further and raise further hostilities from the Earth.”

After the congregation of church goers gave their thanks Raquiest returned back to his home and began scanning over the many regional scriptures he’d gathered on his roam about the known world. He opened a dozen or so and scanned over the pages burning through words with his glance. Symbols and different mantra’s lined the page of each potential answer to the chaos that seemed to envelop the town at night. Every symbol was looked over and carefully studied again and again. Each mantra was read over and over solidifying their words inside his mind and letting them move like water from his tongue.

Night fell slowly dusk hung over the horizon threatening to plummet into dark night. Ragas knocked on the door of the Fathers house and called out to him. “Night is fast approaching Father! The sun seems to taunt us with the threat of plummeting down under the horizon… the skies burn with the color of blood… what havoc awaits us outside those gates?”

“I doubt that havoc will have a place here today Commander.” Raquiest said as he stepped out of his house a journal tucked under his arm notes and bits of paper poking out from pages.

Stepping out into the darkness outside the walls that divided the outer world from Tampa Ragas and Raquiest put down the large platter of food and drink. “That’s it I hope...” Ragas said as he stepped back and watched in shock as the shadows themselves seemed to pounce on the platter and swallow the contents whole leaving nothing but the platter after subsiding back into the swamp surrounding them.

Smiling softly and nodding Raquiest patted Ragas on the shoulders. “We should be fine if we keep this up at least once a week. Give them enough food for that week. To insure that no one else is harmed on either side I’ll mark the gateways to ensure that we are safe along side the elements outside.” Keeping to his word Raquiest inscribed ancient markings on the wooden beams of the archways into Tampa. Harking to the elder scribing the elements kept to the outside of the walls quite content with the offerings that were given to them on a weekly basis.

Decades passed and Fort Tocobago the one thing that kept Tampa from being torn apart by the brutal tribes around them slowly lost its lively hood as more and more came to the shores. As usual trades and travelers slowly passed through the city and with them Tampa’s attention slowly grew away from the elements and more towards expansion. As the village expanded it turned into a town and from there to a city. Long forgotten was the peril that the cities founders faced and their rescuers name now you know this tale you know what happened…