Since this is the official place for fanfics, this is probably the place to post my BG&E story too. I've been posting this story on the Ubi.com forum as well. In small parts, because my writing speed is *very* low, and because writing it in English isn't very easy. I'll just put everything I posted there in here. My story is NOT a sequel story like all the other fanfics, it is the original story retold, just because I felt like it. An obvious thing to say now would be this: DO NOT READ THIS STORY IF YOU HAVEN'T PLAYED THE GAME YET!!!. That's just in case someone comes here to read about the game, because someone else(or something) made him interested in it. I'm using my strategy guide, the speedrun and the game(with fraps to make screenshots)in order to make descriptions of environments, creatures and dialogues as faithful as possible. However, I will make changes in the story when it comes to dialogue, I shall try to make the DomZ creatures scarier and I want to have more backgroundstories with the characters. The first part of the story happens before the beginning of the game. I'm about to start writing the part of the DomZ attack on the lighthouse, but it will take a while before you'll read that. I hope you'll enjoy this story. And I hope I'll be able to continue it soon, and start writing the attack on the lighthouse part. But you're still a few pages away from that part, so don't expect to read that soon.
Beyond Good & Evil: The Search For Truth by Dennis Meijer
captured by the unknown
Jade opened her eyes, it was dark all around her and she was floating in mid-air. She wasn't in the lighthouse anymore. Where was she? How did she get here? Did the DomZ attack them? Jade couldn't remember anything about an attack, but she couldn't figure out what else could have happened either. She wondered what happened to the kids and uncle Pey'j. Were they captured too? Jade began to worry, she would do anything to protect them, but now she was here without even the faintest idea of how she got there. Those DomZ bastards must have attacked the lighthouse when they were asleep, Jade couldn't have done anything to stop them. But how could she have slept through an attack? The shield was on; nothing could penetrate the energy shield, not without making a huge racket anyway. And then there's the air raid warning, she couldn't possibly have slept through an attack. She stared into the darkness while pondering what might have happened to her, when suddenly a small, green light appeared in the distance. Whatever it was, it approached Jade slowly. When it was only about ten meters away, Jade heard a voice speaking. Jade still couldn't see anything else but the light, but the voice came from that direction. The voice was very heavy and although Jade couldn't understand what it was saying, it sounded hostile.
`Khaühl OempaKanh.'
Jade didn't understand the words, but she got a very unpleasant feeling. She heard this voice before, these words sounded strangely familiar. If only she could remember where she heard it before.
`Shauni Ourhbaïths métheud.'
Shauni? Jade somehow realized that Shauni was a name. This voice was calling her Shauni. But her name's Jade, she wanted to speak but she couldn't open her mouth. Jade wanted to tell the voice that it mistook her for someone else, but she couldn't do anything. She was paralyzed, but not from fear. Something had her under control, something that thought she was a person called Shauni. What was it going to do to her? The green light was very close now, revealing more of itself as it drew near. The bright light was completely surrounded by ten large, dark green tentacles bended towards each other. The tentacles looked like bones and they didn't look like they were coming from a living thing. If it weren't for the smooth movements, proving that these things were indeed alive, Jade would have thought these were actual bones glued together. The six tentacles on the sides were long and sharp. The remaining tentacles above and below were shorter, but they had the same sharp end. In thick drops, green slime left the upper tentacles at the sharp ends and at the middle parts of the lower ones, and fell down into the endless darkness. Jade couldn't hear the drops fall on the ground, because the ground was too far away. But Jade wasn't paying attention at the filthy slime coming from the tentacles as soon as the light was only three meters away from her face. The bright light revealed more of itself now. The light was coming from a large bowl, which was embedded in the same dark green flesh as from the tentacles. Small, slimy branches were coming out of the flesh surrounding the bowl of light, embracing the bowl from the front, making sure it wouldn't fall out. The tentacles were coming out of the back, making the whole look like a giant claw, with a staring eye in the middle. The creature finally stopped moving, the eye being only one meter away from Jade's face. Jade was blinded by it, she wanted to turn her face away, but she still couldn't move. The stench coming from the creature was unbearable, the slime dripping from its tentacles just barely missed her. It wasn't doing anything; it was just staring at her, making growling noises. Jade began to feel weak, the creature was doing something to her she couldn't explain. It was like all life was seeping out of her, slowly but surely. She began to feel cold, but soon she wouldn't feel anything anymore. She felt like she was falling down into a cold, empty, bottomless pit. Just before the end she knew that she wasn't floating in mid-air at all, large and thick tentacles were holding her. It was doing to her what it had already done to probably hundreds of other people. It was killing her, and on this moment the children and her uncle were suffering the same fate somewhere nearby.
Chapter 1: life at the lighthouse
Pey'j was always a bit grumpy in the morning, but this time he was in a very bad mood. Yesterday, when he was working in his workshop, there was an explosion in the hangar. When he rushed out of the workshop to check it out, there were large clouds of smoke coming out of the hovercraft's engine. It finally broke down after so many missions of Jade-Reporting and Co. After the last mission was ended successfully less than a week ago, a few DomZ battleships ambushed Jade. The hovercraft was hit a couple of times before she made it to safety. Pey'j did all he could to fix it, but it obviously wasn't enough. Grumbling he went to bed that evening, and grumbling he woke up again the next morning. As usual, Jade wasn't worried at all, and that made Pey'j even grumpier. As always when he gets grumpy, he began talking to himself.
`We'll just go to the Mammago Garage and have it fixed, simple as that, she said. Yeah sure, let's go to those scoundrels. Why not? What she forgot to mention is that we don't have any money at all, and even if we did, it wouldn't do us any good 'cause those swindlers only take pearls as means of payment. Of course they will tell ya it can't be fixed, so they will replace the engine with a new one for ten pearls, no doubt.'
Pey'j kept on nagging as he went up the stairs to the bathroom on the first floor of the lighthouse, talking louder and louder with each step he took. The kids were still asleep; at least, that's what Pey'j thought. They were lying there in their bed with their eyes closed, but the grins on their faces revealed that they were actually listening to Pey'j's amusing grumbling. `Sure we can try to buy a few pearls in town, but that's gonna be pretty hard without hovercraft and money. I think my lil' darling needs to keep her head on straight and think about our problems, 'cause it ain't gonna be pretty when we're cut off from the rest of the world and the DomZ come crashing down on us. Now that would be really nasty, flagnammit!' Right after Pey'j said that, he closed the door of the bathroom. The kids, who were giggling for a while now, burst out into laughing. Because the bathroom was right next to the kid's room, Pey'j heard them and he realized that they were awake the whole time. He decided to keep his mouth shut and just pretend he didn't hear them laughing. But he did feel a little embarrassed about behaving himself like that in front of the kids. It was pretty much in his nature to behave like that. Pey'j looked at himself in the mirror, his big snout, and his little eyes with a scar on his right eye, his few remaining large teeth with large fangs and his floppy ears. Pey'j was a Sus Sapiens, in common people's language a pig-man: half-man, half-hog. As far as Pey'j knew, he was the only one of his kind on the planet Hillys. He would be surprised if he wasn't, he came to this planet many years ago, and it was a very long journey. The people back home said he wouldn't make it, that the DomZ would intercept his ship and kill him. But he told them that he wouldn't let that happen, he couldn't. He made a promise to his best friends that he would protect their daughter. An aggressive alien race called the DomZ, was taking over his home planet. Pey'j knew that if he and his friends stayed there, things would turn sour for them. As soon as they learned the truth about the situation, Pey'j's friends entrusted their daughter to him, they wanted to stay and fight the DomZ invaders. Pey'j left the planet with their baby girl and he travelled for what seemed to have been an eternity. When the ship's oxygen tanks were almost depleted, Pey'j came across this mining planet in system 4. He decided to stay here. He didn't have a choice anyway; the ship couldn't take off again. The flight stabilizers and the thrusters were down because of the many hits the ship had taken from the asteroid fields he had to travel through, and he would never get the funds to fix them. Pey'j was relieved that there was no sign of the DomZ on Hillys. His home planet was in war with the DomZ for many years, and the peace on Hillys soothed him. He watched over his friend's daughter and became her adoptive uncle. Sometimes he still thinks about them, what could have happened to them? Since the DomZ had reached this planet on their road of destruction, the chance of his friends still being alive was very small. But Pey'j has kept his promise, he watched over their little girl, and he was still doing that. Jade was a Homo Sapiens, and she grew up to be a strong and courageous young woman, just like her parents. And also just like her parents, she had a strong sense of curiosity. As a kid she always wanted to know what the truth was behind everything, she drove Pey'j nuts with all of her questions. At one point he said to her: 'Darn it, if ya wanna know sumthin', just find out for yourself from now on.' And so Jade decided to become a reporter, she bought a camera and since then she showed up everywhere with it to make pictures of anything unusual. Apparently, everything in the lighthouse looked unusual to Jade in the beginning, and so she still drove Pey'j nuts showing up unexpected everywhere he went. When the DomZ finally came to Hillys, Pey'j was worried sick. He didn't know what to do anymore. Leave again? Keep running? No, he had his responsibilities on Hillys, Jade for one. But it was Jade he was worried about in particular. But when he watched her sneaking around the lighthouse with her camera, carefully watching her surroundings and ready to take pictures, he knew that she'd be all right. Like her parents, she was careful and she knew how to survive. Jade taught herself how to fight, and her weapon of choice was a powerful Daï-Jo stick. When Pey'j watched her practice martial arts all by herself, he was amazed at how quick and agile she was. He knew that she had a great energy inside of her, but he didn't know what to expect from it. She mastered a few powerful fighting moves, and it proved to be enough practice when the DomZ meteors came crashing down on the lighthouse for the first time. She quickly dealt with the DomZ creatures coming out of the meteors, and Pey'j was sure that they would be okay on Hillys, for now at least. But it was that day that he ordered an energy shield in town, to protect the lighthouse itself at least, because even Jade wouldn't be able to stop the meteors from damaging the walls and windows. It still remained a good purchase, as most meteors couldn't penetrate the shield. Pey'j looked at the bathtub next to him, it was big and round, just like him. In fact, he fitted perfectly in there. Something that Jade thought was pretty funny. When they renovated the bathroom, at Jade's request, Pey'j definitely wanted a bathtub in there. He always loved a nice, warm bath in the evening back on his home planet, after a long day of hard work. But he made the big mistake to leave the building plans to Jade. As soon as Jade announced that the bathroom was done, Pey'j ran upstairs enthusiastically. Pey'j thought he could fit in there. He was right about that, sort of. He sat down in the tub and said that it was quite comfortable. Jade had a big smile on her face when she said: `come on, old fart. You can't admire my beautifully designed bathroom all day.' Pey'j tried to get out, but he was stuck. He never heard Jade laughing so loud before. He didn't understand what was so funny about designing a bathtub exactly the size of his bottom. Afterwards, Pey'j found out that the renovation of the bathroom was part of Jade's special plan, and the small bathtub was also part of it. When she asked Pey'j to move his bedroom downstairs, he became suspicious.
`Come on, you don't need all that space, do you?' she said.
`It depends on what ya want to use it for instead.' Pey'j responded.
And so Jade told him about her idea of taking care of the little orphans who were now wandering the streets of Hillys, having lost their parents due to the DomZ kidnappings every day and having no place to go. She was redesigning the lighthouse to make it a perfect place for children to live in too. Pey'j was pleasantly surprised about her plans, and he thought it would do them good to take care of these orphans. It would take their minds off things. Pey'j agreed on her plan, and thus the lighthouse became an orphanage. It was even on TV, the news reporter Fehn Digler announced it on Hillyan News to all people of Hillys. Pey'j and Jade both became well-known all around Hillys. But they didn't do it for the fame and fortune; they did it for the children. Although it wasn't entirely inconvenient for Jade to suddenly have so many assignments for Jade-Reporting and Co. due to her fame. They could sure use the money with these children to take care of. Jade took on a heavy task taking care of these children at the age of 18. But she pulled it off, and she cared so much for them. Now Jade's 20, and she's grown accustomed to this way of living. Even though they're always short of money and the threat of a DomZ attack lingers every day, they have everything they need right there. And those little rascals of children are a joy to have around. Pey'j smiled, he never gets emotional this early in the morning. Hell, he never gets emotional, and he wasn't about to do it now. `Flagnammit!' he yelled at his reflection in the mirror.
It took Jade a few seconds to fully realize that she was back in the lighthouse, safe and sound. It was just a nightmare, a horrible nightmare. But it wasn't a regular one. She had these nightmares frequently the past few months, and they were starting to get worse. This time, she felt like she was really dying. And the creature spoke to her for the first time as well. Those words, they sounded so familiar. Jade shook her head, as if she wanted to shake away the memories to these nightmares. But it didn't work; the image of the creature with that terrifying, staring eye was still there. Suddenly a huge figure appeared at the side of her bed, it held a sharp object in its right hand, and it looked like it was about to strike. `Are you alright, Jade?' asked Pey'j. `I heard you scream.' Jade was relieved to hear her uncle's voice, and she quickly turned the light on. Pey'j stood there with his razor held up high, ready to strike anything that could have been hurting Jade. `Calm down, uncle Pey'j,' she said. `It was just a nightmare, you scared the hell out of me appearing at the side of my bed like that.' Pey'j looked at his hand holding the razor and it finally occurred to him that he looked just like one of those serial killers from a bad horror movie. Jade burst out into laughing when she saw the startled look on Pey'j's face when he saw his hand above his head. Pey'j's grumpiness had disappeared. He laughed with her and asked again if she was all right.
`Don't worry, uncle Pey'j. I'm fine.'
`Sure, that's what you said last time, and as soon as you got out of bed you fainted.'
`It was just a nightmare.'
`I know that wasn't "just" a nightmare, Jade. It was that DomZ creature again, wasn't it?'
`I'm not sure what kind of creature it is, uncle Pey'j. But they're just bad dreams. With this war going on making everybody live in fear every, single day, I'm sure I'm not the only one who's got these nightmares.
Pey'j grumbled a little when he walked back to the bathroom. Neither he nor Jade believed that these nightmares were just common nightmares, caused by fear of the DomZ. The creature Jade saw in her dreams was one she had never seen in real life, and it visited her in her sleep at least once a week. Pey'j still panicked every time she woke up screaming. Maybe he was just a little too protective, or he was just nervous. More and more strange creatures have been sighted wandering Hillys at night, and the number of DomZ attacks every week seemed to increase. Pey'j feared for the wellbeing of Jade and the children.
Was Jade having another bad dream? Fehn heard a scream, and almost immediately after that he heard Pey'j running out of the bathroom. He heard Jade and Pey'j talking, but he couldn't hear what they were saying. After a while, Pey'j returned to the bathroom and he closed the door. Fehn jumped up from the bed. He had loads of energy this morning, and he was in a very good mood, thanks to Pey'j's morning mood. For Fehn it was the perfect way to start the day, hearing Pey'j talking to himself. It never ceased to amuse him, the other children couldn't get enough of it either. Next to Fehn, Kip was lying with his back towards him. Fehn was sure he heard Kip laughing too, but he must have dozed off again. On the large bed at the end of the kid's room, Fehn saw a blue figure lying behind the bed's curtains. It was Yoa, the shy girl who was found only three weeks ago. Jade told them about her meeting with Yoa. Jade found her sitting on the side of the fountain in Fountain Plaza. According to Jade, she was just staring at the water, as if she was enchanted by it. When Jade asked here what her name was, she didn't answer. Jade asked several people in town who she was, but no one knew. This strange girl had a light blue skin, and long, dark blue hair. She was wearing a long, beautiful white dress with green stripes on the sides. Her face was narrow, and under each of her dark eyes, she had two horizontal, white stripes. It was obvious that she wasn't from this planet, and that she was alone. No one knew her, or where she was from. Jade walked up to her and she took her hand. The girl looked up, she had a sad look in her face. `Pathon tomee khael,' said the girl. Jade pointed at herself and said: `My name is Jade.' Then she pointed at the girl. `What's your name?' she asked. The girl seemed to understand her, she replied `Yoa.' Jade didn't know how she was going make Yoa understand that she wanted to take her to the lighthouse. Jade just spoke to her with a friendly voice, she said: `do you want to come with me to the lighthouse, Yoa? There are other children there, they were alone just like you.' Yoa didn't respond. She just sat there with that sad expression on her face. Jade decided that she should go back to the lighthouse and ask Pey'j what to do. She told Yoa that she would be back soon, knowing that Yoa wouldn't understand what she said. Maybe just talking to her would make Yoa trust her a bit, letting her know that she was a friend. Jade walked away, feeling bad about leaving the girl all by herself again. But she couldn't force Yoa to come with her. Suddenly a small hand grabbed her left hand, and Jade looked down. It was Yoa walking beside her. She looked straight ahead, but Jade knew that she had gained Yoa's trust, and so they walked hand in hand to the hovercraft. When they reached the lighthouse, Jade guided Yoa to the kid's room, and she introduced her to Fehn and the others. She told them that Yoa was a bit shy, and then she asked them to look after her a bit, as she always did when a new child came to the lighthouse. Fehn thought it was difficult to be friends with her, since she couldn't speak their language. She separated herself from the other children quite often, and she always slept on the large bed instead of the mattresses on the floor where the other children slept.
The large bed was where Jade slept sometimes, when Fehn and the others were scared because there had been another attack from the DomZ. Or sometimes Jade would sit there cross-legged and tell stories in the evening. Fehn liked those evenings, he and the other children would climb on the bed and sit in front of Jade and listen quietly to her wonderful stories about other worlds where there was peace. But she would also tell them stories about air pirates, noble knights, terrifying creatures, valiant warriors and powerful wizards. All these stories included a hero and a villain, and they were all about a struggle between good and evil. Fehn loved this, he wanted to be a hero himself and fight evil villains. He was already practicing sword fighting, with a stick he found under the large tree outside. And he would pretend he was one of the knights in Jade's stories, saving damsels in distress and fighting large dragons. But his greatest heroes weren't from Jade's stories; they were the soldiers in the army. He had spent a lot of hours sitting downstairs, listening to the radio and hear what courageous things the soldiers in the army had done lately to protect the citizens of Hillys from the DomZ. He dreamed of becoming a soldier, and he would be the greatest soldier ever, a true hero. But Fehn knew he had to practice his fighting skills and train a lot first. They wouldn't accept him in the army if he was skinny and without any muscles, so he wouldn't even be able to wear that awesome armor they wore, or lift those wicked T-hammers they used as close-combat weapons. Fehn wanted to be able to fight like Jade, and be as big as Pey'j (or maybe a little taller and without the large belly). He was sure that they would accept him in the army then. Fehn looked around. Their bed, consisting of several mattresses put together, was a complete mess. Pillows, stuffed animals and toys were lying all over the place. The toy box downstairs was probably empty right now. Jade wanted them to clean their bed and toys up themselves, but Fehn didn't feel like doing it right now. The other kids were already downstairs anyway, except for Kip and Yoa. Fehn didn't want to clean everything up all by himself, so he walked out of the room towards the stairs. The room had no door, so Fehn could walk right into the hallway of the first floor. Suddenly, Fehn heard some weird noises. He turned around, and he looked at the bathroom door. It was only Pey'j humming a song, although it didn't sound very nice. At least he was in a good mood again. Fehn looked at the bedroom, it was at the right side of the bathroom from Fehn's perspective. The mess was even worse from a distance. On the left side of the bathroom was Jade's room. But before you could enter her room, you had to walk past Woof's spot. Woof was Jade's big, white, fluffy dog. Although he liked to sleep a lot, he was very loyal and a good watchdog. If there was any danger near, Woof would awaken in a split second and be prepared to do anything to protect Jade, Pey'j and the children. But on any other occasion, it was pretty unpredictable when he'd wake up. Mostly around dinnertime, and when he wanted to play. Unfortunately for Fehn, Woof had just woken up and he spotted Fehn standing there in front of the stairs. Woof rushed towards Fehn and he jumped up to greet him, causing Fehn to fall down on the floor, with Woof on top of him. Woof was very heavy, because he liked to eat a lot. When Fehn first came to the lighthouse, he was stunned by how quick Woof finished his large bowl of dog food. Poor, little Fehn was almost squished by the enormous beast on top of him, who was maybe even bigger than Pey'j. But Woof was just playing with him, licking his face and drooling all over him. Woof suddenly jumped off and ran downstairs. `That's right, you better run away, evil monster,' yelled Fehn. 'Nothing can beat Sir Fehn the Fantastic, a noble knight and a great swordsman.' By the sound of the screams and laughs downstairs, Fehn knew that the other kids now fell victim to Woof's tongue. Fehn made the wise decision to wait upstairs for a minute; he didn't want Woof to greet him again.
`Good morning, Fehn,' said Jade, who was standing behind Fehn. `I see that you wrestled with that big, hairy mutt again.'
`Anything for you, my lady,' Fehn replied, `I have fought the great beast with all my strength, and I was victorious in the end.'
`Oh thank you, Sir Fehn. You are truly my hero. How can I reward your noble deed?'
`Well, I'm a bit hungry, actually.'
When Jade and Fehn arrived downstairs, it was a huge mess. Kitchenware was scattered all over the place, the carpets were moved to the side and the blankets and pillows from Pey'j's bed had somehow been moved to the kitchen. All kinds of objects were lying on the floor and so were most of the children. It was obvious that Woof jumped everyone, because all the children were covered in drool. `I just wish Woof didn't do that,' said Pablo with an irritated tone in his voice while he was looking for his glasses. He found them lying next to the radio and he put them on. 'I'm afraid he's never going to change, Pablo.' said Jade while she was helping Oumi to get up. `Let's just clean this mess up, and then I'll make breakfast.' The children all helped Jade to clean up the room. The ground floor of the lighthouse consisted of two rooms. One was the living room, which stretched from the beginning of the stairs to the entrance of the lighthouse. The other was the kitchen, which was between the staircase and the entrance. Instead of a wall, the kitchen's counter served to separate the kitchen from the living room. There was a refrigerator with glass doors against the wall, and there was a large old-fashioned stove in the corner. The only thing it was used for is to warm up the Starkos Wafers for breakfast. The living room was fairly small, but large enough for Jade, Pey'j and the children to sit in the evening. There weren't any chairs, because they were hard to come by in town. Instead, Jade had bought several beanbags. Unfortunately for Pey'j, the beanbags weren't strong enough to carry his weight. He always had to sit on his bed, which was by the window in the living room. The fireplace in the corner was empty, but there was still wood in the barrel standing a few meters away from the fireplace. When everything was cleaned up, Jade walked over to the refrigerator, and took a few Starkos Wafers. She lit the stove with a special lighter that Pey'j invented, and she put the Starkos on the grate. Behind Jade, Oumi dusted the kitchen's counter.
`Oumi, you know I'm grateful to you that you're always helping me with housekeeping, but when I'm not away on an assignment, you can just relax and play with the other children.'
`I know Jade. It's just the force of habit. My parents were always away, so I always had to take care of the housekeeping.'
`Well, I'd be more than happy if you and the other children cleaned up your room, other than that I'll take care of everything, deal?'
`Deal!'
Oumi was a female Capra Sapiens, half-goat, half-human. This species was known to run farms mostly, but not Oumi's parents. They were merchants, so they travelled a lot, leaving their daughter at home alone. Oumi learned to take care of herself this way, but Jade thought she was growing up too fast. When Oumi's parents went missing during their last travel, everyone presumed that they were ambushed and taken away by the DomZ. Jade knew them a bit; she spoke to them at the market sometimes. She knew they had a daughter, so she went looking for her. The renovation of the lighthouse was almost finished and Jade was looking for children who had lost their parents and their homes, and needed her care. When she found out where Oumi lived, she immediately went to the place. When Jade arrived, Oumi was sitting on the staircase in front of her house. She hadn't heard the news yet, and she was confused. The only thing she was looking forward to every week was her mother and father coming home at the end of the week, but this time they hadn't come. When Jade approached her, Oumi looked at her and asked: `do you know where my mom and dad are? They didn't come home yesterday.' Jade told Oumi that her mom and dad wouldn't come home anymore.
`But why didn't mom and dad take me with them? Why did they leave me here?'
`They just wanted you to be safe. They knew it was too dangerous for you to travel with them. They loved you, and that's why they wanted you to stay here. Have you ever seen the big lighthouse on the island a small distance from town?
Oumi nodded.
`You can come with me and live at the lighthouse, I'm sure your mom and dad would have wanted the same.'
`But what about the house?'
`Don't worry about the house, somebody else will take care of it.'
And so Oumi agreed to go to the lighthouse with Jade, she was the first. Shortly after Oumi, Pablo came to the lighthouse. Like Jade, he was a regular human being, albeit a remarkably smart one. He took a taxi to the lighthouse, and he explained what happened to Jade and Pey'j when he arrived. His home was destroyed by a DomZ meteor attack and his father didn't make it out in time. His mother died months ago, but he didn't want to talk about that. Pablo heard of the orphanage from people in town, so he took a taxi with the small amount of money he had in his pocket and there he was. So Pablo was the second orphan to come to the lighthouse. He never talked much about his past, but Jade reckoned that his parents must have been mechanics or something. Pablo always liked to talk with Pey'j about mechanical stuff, and he was often found in Pey'j's workshop, watching Pey'j working on his inventions. And so Pablo became Pey'j's pupil in a way, he learned quickly it seemed, already he fixed the radio once. He took it apart completely, and Jade thought it could never be fixed again. But Pablo fixed it and put it together in just one hour. When Jade asked him how he did that, he just replied that it was thanks to Pey'j he got the knowledge to fix things. Pey'j was very proud when he heard that. Pablo looked a little geeky, with his huge glasses and his Mohican haircut. Later on, he also grew a tiny goatee. But he was intelligent and kind, and everyone in the lighthouse liked him, especially Pey'j. A few weeks after Pablo, Kip came to the lighthouse. Kip was rescued by a fishing boat from the remains of a ship, which was hit by the tail of a huge DomZ monster flying around the ocean. The blow of its tail was enough to break the ship into numerous pieces. Kip's parents and his little sister were also on that ship, but they didn't survive the shipwreck. Kip was very quiet in the beginning, but soon he began to make friends with everyone. He just didn't want to be alone. He missed his parents and his little sister. Jade and Pey'j were there for him now, and there were other children to play with. Kip was a human being, but his yellow skin, his jet-black hair and his slit-eyes gave away that he wasn't from Hillys. He never wanted to talk about his background, as was the case with most of the other children.
Almost immediately after Kip, the little goat boy Fehn was brought to the lighthouse. A Capra Sapiens, just like Oumi. Ming Tzu, the shopkeeper in town had found little Fehn playing on the street. His parents were missing, and it was very likely that the DomZ kidnapped them in the attack a few hours earlier. Fehn lived in his own little world. He didn't worry about anything. Jade thought it was his own way to deal with the loss of his parents. But Fehn had a huge amount of imagination too. He always made up stories, but also played characters from Jade's stories. He often played at the large tree swinging around with his little stick. It made Jade happy to see the children play along with Fehn's adventures. Fehn was able to make friends easily. Jade never played with other children when she was little, so for her it was a great sight to see. The other children enjoyed Fehn's enthusiasm; it was easy for them to play along in the great adventures he made up. And then there was Yoa, a great mystery to Jade and Pey'j. She looked like a human being, but her blue skin and dark blue hair weren't seen by anyone before on Hillys. Even Pey'j, who had travelled to many places when he was younger, never saw anyone like Yoa before. She couldn't speak their language when Jade found her, but she was learning from Kip now. Kip was very fond of Yoa, maybe she reminded him a bit of his little sister. Kip and Jade were the first ones Yoa was ready to talk with. Later on, when Kip had taught her a few basic words, she also tried to talk to the other children. She even began to play along with Fehn's stories, although she often didn't understand, and Fehn had a hard time explaining what was going on. Yoa seemed to understand Kip a whole lot better than she understood the other children, maybe it was because of their alien origin. That could explain why Yoa also trusted Jade and followed her to the lighthouse, because Jade was also not from Hillys. The last orphan came quite a while after the other children, only four days ago. It was a little red-haired girl, and she was the shyest one yet. She hadn't even told her name yet. Like Yoa, she separated herself from the others often. She also slept outside, near the large tree. Jade tried to talk to her the first evening, but she didn't say anything. The next morning, the little girl was screaming her lungs out, and Jade rushed outside to see what was wrong. The little girl had a nightmare, and she sat hunched up against the tree, trembling with fear. Jade sat down next to her, and she spoke with her, giving her comforting words. The little girl finally talked to Jade, she said that she dreamed about her parents, and how the DomZ took them away. Her parents screamed when they were captured, but once they were "eaten" and trapped inside the DomZ's bodies, they stopped moving and their eyes got a blank stare. The DomZ creatures turned around and she wanted to go after them, but she couldn't move, she couldn't do anything to stop them. And that's where the nightmare ended. Jade knew instantly that the little girl had witnessed her parents being abducted by the DomZ, she heard stories about the DomZ creatures who ate their victims, and once the captives were inside their transparent bodies, all life was sucked out of them. The poor girl had witnessed this horrible event, and she saw it happen to her own parents. Jade thought it would be best to leave the girl grieving for a while. She asked the girl's name after the girl told her about her nightmare, but the little girl was silent again. Kip also tried to talk to her. Ever since Jade talked to the girl, Kip spent most of his time keeping her company. Yesterday he finally had a short conversation with her, they talked a bit about themselves, and he told her that life at the lighthouse was nice.
This morning, for the first time, the little girl walked into the living room. She had pulled down the large, green bandana on her head a bit, so her pale face looked even smaller, and her eyes were barely visible. She smiled a bit and then she sat down on the nearest beanbag. Jade kneeled down in front of her.
`Are you hungry? Would you like to eat something?' she asked.
The little girl nodded, the other children looked at her curiously. Jade got up and she smelled the sweet scent coming from the Starkos in the stove.
`Kids, breakfast is ready. Could someone be so kind to wake up Kip?'
`Not necessary, I'm already awake.' Kip strolled down the stairs with sleepy eyes. He jumped on the toy box and sat on top of it.
Jade took the Starkos Wafers out of the stove and broke each one in half. They didn't crumble, because the wafers were soft now. She gave everyone half of a piece, which was more than enough to fill their stomachs. Starkos Wafers were delicious, cheap and on top of that very nutritious. A warm Starkos for breakfast was the perfect way to start the day full of energy. A cold one was good enough for lunch or just for providing energy if someone was tired. Half was enough to feed each kid, but even a whole wafer wasn't nearly enough to satisfy Pey'j. But Pey'j said he was on a diet, so Jade left only one piece on the kitchen counter. Pey'j always took his time in the bathroom. Jade couldn't imagine how long he would take if she had made the bathtub big enough for him to fit in.
`Now kids, if you want to go play now, it's fine by me. But not before you clean up your bed and your toys upstairs.'
The children all ran upstairs, with the new girl slowly following them, still eating her wafer. Jade felt tired, not physically, that was nearly impossible after eating a Starkos Wafer. She felt spiritually tired, and she knew it was caused by her nightmare. The nightmare had made her feel depressed. She needed to have a moment of peace and quiet, sitting on a peaceful spot at the end of the lighthouse island. Meditation would help her to find herself again. Seeing the beautiful, Hillyan sunrise would certainly raise her spirits.
Want to to know what I had in mind for the meditation part? You'll just have to be patient... ;)
It took some time to post this thing, I know. But here it finally is. I hope you'll like it, if not, don't be afraid to say it.
A nice summer breeze was going through the lighthouse island. The sky was still dark, but it was clear, with just a few clouds here and there. Jade stretched her arms and legs in front of the lighthouse entrance, and she started walking towards the large tree. The lighthouse was situated on the highest level of the island, and on the opposite of the lighthouse entrance was the entrance to the hangar, where the hovercraft was docked. The island could be described as one giant rock, although there was soft soil with grass and flowers growing on top of it. But there was narrow path leading towards a lower level of the island, a spot that was surrounded by high rocks on one side, but on the other side there was a magnificent view of the town. On this spot also stood the large tree, which always looked beautiful in the summer, with purple flowers among the leaves. Jade was walking towards the rock where she always sat on to admire the magnificent view of the town, which was surrounded by mountains and huge rocks. The sky above the town area was orange, so the sun was about to come up. There wasn't much traffic in the air. There were just a few airships; probably trading ships. The only other traffic was a flock of seagulls flying over the island. Jade reached the large tree, and she smelled the sweet scent coming from the flowers. She smiled, and continued to the large flat rock at the far end of the island and she sat down cross-legged. She admired the view she had beheld for many times already. The sun was already peeking over the mountaintop, the first rays shined on Jade's face. She closed her eyes, and she raised her arms above her head, one by one. Her mind was now no longer on Hillys. She forgot everything: the war and her nightmares. She was in a different place. A warm place surrounded by nothing but nature. There were no people to bother her and above all: no DomZ. She was in her own little world, a world she created when she was little. There was never anyone to play with on the lighthouse island, so she always made up stories to keep herself busy. That was before she began to train herself to become a reporter. Jade always felt like there was more behind things than she or anyone else on Hillys knew. Pey'j once said to her that it's in her genes, but he never told her much about her parents. It was probably difficult for him to talk about her parents, but Jade knew that they were his closest friends back then. Jade just assumed that they were dead, Pey'j wouldn't confirm or deny that, he'd just say that he didn't know. Jade wasn't feeling the ground anymore, the wind was also gone, but the warmth of the sun remained. She was floating up, very slowly. She opened her eyes and she looked down. She could see herself sitting on the rock, her arms raised above her head. Her green jacket was waving in the wind. Her short black hair was held up by a green bandana. She was wearing a pink shirt underneath her jacket, and her pants were the same green color as her jacket. She looked fine in these clothes, but Jade is the kind of girl who would look good in anything. Many people she knew already said that she would probably be one of the most gorgeous young ladies on the entire planet. Jade ignored such comments, because she didn't look at herself that way. She was a strong and independent young woman, capable of taking care of herself just fine. She didn't want to consider herself as some helpless beauty queen. But despite the fact that Jade didn't want to be seen in that kind of way, she was very pretty. It was obvious though, that she came from a different planet, despite the fact that regular human beings like her are the major part of the Hillyan population. Her skin colour was darker than that of the other humans. And her eyes were unusually green. The most peculiar thing about her was the colour of her lips. They were the exact same colour of her eyes. Jade didn't care much about it, she thought it was funny and she adjusted her clothing style to it. Jade saw herself moving beneath her. Slowly she spread her arms and she lowered them. She raised them again, one by one, and repeated the process. She was in a trance, a trance in which she felt happy. There was nothing to worry about anymore. There was only the warmth of the sun and the happiness of her world. Jade believed that an imaginary world of her own was important to have. She believed that a person could fall into a depression very fast without an imaginary world to flee into when problems become too great to bear. It was important to her that she would always remain the positive and bright person that she was, and she wanted to pass it on to the children. That's why she told all of her imaginary stories to them, in the hope that they would develop an imaginary world of their own. Then they would also be able to escape reality and forget all of their troubles for just a few moments, just like her. Little Fehn succeeded in that, and he also seemed to be crazy about her stories. Jade expected Fehn to turn up soon, he joined in with her meditations the last few weeks, probably because he thought it would help him expand his imaginary world. Jade knew that Fehn admired her, especially for the amount of imagination she had. But what Fehn probably didn't know, is that his imagination is most likely far greater than hers. A child's imagination is bigger than that of an adult. Her imaginary world still looked the same as the one she created as a child, but she still loved to be in it. The beautiful forests, the creatures and the vast lakes, as far as the eye could see. If only a world like this really existed. Jade didn't pay attention to her physical form anymore, she now looked at all the things that sprang from her imagination so long ago, and she flew over it. This was HER world, hers alone. There was no one else, yet.
Fehn looked at Jade while she was in a trance, and he sat down beside her. He looked at the Hillyan sunrise like Jade always did before she began to meditate. Fehn looked at the movements Jade made with her arms, he closed his eyes, and he tried to imitate her. It took him some time to move his arms just like Jade did, and he had to open his eyes and peek to see how he should do it. Why can't she just do the same exercise like last time? Fehn thought. I'll never be able to learn this thing if she keeps changing the exercises. Fehn was under the impression, that if he did the meditation exercises like Jade, that he would be able to see what she saw, visit her imaginary world and see the things from her stories. He hadn't succeeded yet, but he was determined to do so. But so far he didn't see anything except for the same darkness he usually saw when he closed his eyes. But at least it's kinda fun! Fehn thought to himself as he raised his arms for the umpteenth time. Fehn could still feel all the energy he had that morning, but he seemed to calm down a bit. Maybe it's finally working! All sound around him began to fade away, the wind was gone, and Fehn just continued to do the exercise. This was it! He knew it! Finally he was going to see Jade's wonderful dream world and the knights and dragons and all the other stuff she told them about in her stories! The ground began to disappear beneath Fehn, and Fehn wasn't expecting that at all. The unexpected things that were happening to him all of the sudden frightened poor Fehn so much he had to open his eyes. The happy feeling was gone, he no longer felt victorious about his breakthrough in meditation. In the end he did not succeed, again. But there was something else why the good feeling had vanished. He looked over to Jade. She wasn't in trance anymore. She had opened her eyes, and she was staring at the morning sky with a suspicious look in her face. Not a second later everything around them turned dark, and now Fehn also turned his attention to the sky. The sky was overcast with green clouds in a split second, and the temperature had decreased dramatically. Suddenly, right in front of the place where the sunrise could be seen just moments before, the sky exploded.
To be continued...
The DomZ attack has already been written partially, expect it soon!