Post by Starkle on Sept 28, 2014 11:50:33 GMT -5
Garny stood at the gates, looking out into darkness. Anybody else in this situation would probably have had a little cry round about now, but Garny was used to this feeling of despair and disappointment. It was the norm' for him. He decided to practice some of the dark magic he had aquired since living with Grendella.
For you see, Garny had picked up some spells and could do a little magic of his own, after he had 'imprinted' from the dark fairy, although he didn't understand what it meant or how he could do it. With a click of his fingers he could produce a tiny blue flame to help him see in the darkness. He was used to keeping to the shadows usually, blending into his environment and staying out of the witch's way especially if she was in a bad mood. He could also move things with his mind if he concentrated hard enough, but that took it out of him and left him exhausted. He was also very good at pick-pocketing, stealing things for his mistress when she allowed him to venture into the woods after lonely travellers. Garny was an expert at stealthiness and creeping up on people and she had taught him well.
Garny wondered if it was these skills that Stinky required of him. He didn't like to do any of the dark stuff really, it was required of him but he felt incredible amounts of guilt about it all.
Stinky came back not long after, and unlocked the door. He lead Garny down the corridor, where he could now see tired and scared looking faces staring out of the darkness at him. Remarkably all these beings looked very similar to him. All black, small, some with wings, some with horns, long black silky looking hair and a variety of silvery white power marks tattooed across their bodies and limbs. Who were they, and why did Stinky have all these dark little creatures down here in the dark. Garny barely had time to take it all in, before he was now in a dark chamber with a light far up above him.
'Now, here's what I want you to do, little Garny. You are to climb your way upwards towards that light, be careful not to fall, and you are to watch and observe the creatures on the land above. Make sure you are not seen, and definitely do not get caught. They are savage and vicious creatures up there, who will torture and punish you so be wary and alert at all times. I want you to spy on these creatures and report back to me.'
Garny was not surprised. After Grindella made him steal items from traveller's bags and pockets, Garny figured that Stinky must want him to become a scout and thief, to watch other beasts and report back any information on Stinky's enemies.
So, Garny did as he was told and began the epic trek in near darkness, clambering his way up the jagged rocks and slippery slopes up towards the roof of the cave, high up above him. It took him several hours, and two almost catastrophic accidents to make it to the apex. The light up here hurt his eyes immensely, and he shielded his eyes from the bright sunlight as he pulled himself through the crack in the floor.
The light surrounded him, and he immediately scuttled towards a big rock, in case there were strangers around and to check his bearings. He was in a strange and brightly coloured land, everywhere there were bright green plants, meadows, trees and hills for miles around. There were flowers of every colour imaginable that Garny had never ever seen anything like that before, he stopped and smelled and touched and listened. This was a million miles from what he was used to. The grass, the sky, the trees - everything was alien-like to him. Garny stood open mouthed, taking it all in. What kind of place was this?
He was used to the dark and damp swamps and forests of doom and gloom, and this strange colourful exotic world was the exact opposite. He could feel the sunlight on his skin, it was warm and cosy without burning him, and for a minute or two he forgot what his mission actually was, and jumped off the rock onto the springy grass, and smelled the delicious aromas from the flowers that bent towards him and danced in the cool breeze. Garny smiled for the first time in a very long time, and instantly felt guilty. He finally remembered his quest to seek out the deadly vicious creatures that lived around here, and he bacame serious and stealthy again. Garny dropped down to his knees, flattened his hair down and kept as quiet and still as he could, whilst he thought of a plan.
Keeping under the cover of the foliage, he moved slowly and carefully through the grasses and bushes, making sure he wasn't seen by anyone. He crept onwards on his journey until he came to the edge of the meadows and looked for signs of life. The sounds of laughter and noise from nearby, made him feeze instantly. Those savage creatures must be nearby!?!
Meanwhile at the edge of the meadows of the west, was a place called the Split Ends Forest where several Zelfs were gathered, having a pic-nic and playing games.
'Oh Elfa, you picked the most glorious spot for our lovely pic-nic!' Dorothy Doe said admiringly as she reclined on the blanket, with an assortment of delicious cakes and treats surrounding her. Next to her Manny, Dandy Lion and Lunanne were arranged around the food basket, pouring drinks and eating sandwiches. Not too far, Elfa was climbing the trees.
'Be careful honey, you might fall!' said a worried Buttershy as she watched her friend, race up through the branches.
'As if!' Elfa replied, brushing through the foliage and gathering leaves in her hair. Nearby Catsby was having a snooze on a fallen log, with one eye open he kept an eye on proceedings.
Garny watched these creatures with great interest. He took in their small, delicate frames, their individual characteristics, ears, horns, and great colourful tufts of hair on top of their heads. He wondered who they could be, and what did they do? Silently he observed, as they played, laughed, ate and interacted with each other. When the yellow one slipped back down to the forest floor to eat with the others, Garny slipped nearer to have a closer look. He was now hiding in the trees above them, watching from his hiding place in the branches.
They certainly didn't look or act like vicious, savage creatures at all to him. In fact they were terribly polite and refined. Helpful and courteous, they offered their tasty looking treats around, talked about nice things like the weather and the village celebrations, and the upcoming Hallyween, which Garny had no idea about, but it sounded terribly exciting. He was confused now as to why Stinky would think them horrible creatures, when they seemed to him to be perfectly civilised and downright kind. He continued to watch their activities, which included a short walk after dinner, gathering some berries in baskets and now they were about to play a game of hide and seek.
Manny took first count, and covered his eyes with his hands as he called out the numbers, whilst his playmates all ran for cover, scattering in different directions. Garny couldn't keep a track of them all at once, he watched as Elfa shot up a tree a few metres away, and Dorothy Doe nimbly leapt over tree roots. Buttershy flitted in the air for a second, debating which way to go before heading off towards a strawberry bush and Dandy Lion simply curled up inside the picnic basket, managing to fit in rather snugly whilst the green Zelf counted up to 100.
'Hello?' a voice in Garny's ear made him jump and yell.
'Aaiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii!' he span around in shock, coming face to face with a blue Zelf with white and yellow hair who was hovering just to his right, looking at him inquisitvely.
'Who are you? I don't think I've seen you here before have I?' she said with a smile.
Garny, absolutely terrified at being seen, wondered if she was smiling because she was about to eat him. He dashed off through the branches, hoping that his little legs would carry him far away and fast. No sooner had he leapt from tree branch to tree branch, that he almost crashed head-first into the yellow Zelf with leaves in her hair.
'What the???........' she said, reaching out to stop him crashing into her. Garny saw her outstretched arms, and thinking that she meant to grab him, ducked over her and changed direction.
After he had run for a few minutes, he paused to catch his breath. He heard a thud behind him.
'Bonjour mon ami.' the pale aqua/purple cat like Zelf landed on his feet a metre or so behind him, licking his paw.
Garny kept on running, only everwhere he ran he seemed to run into another Zelf. They were fast, almost playing with him and seemed determined to catch their prey. Stinky was right about these creatures! He fell out of the tree, using his little wings to drift down to the forest floor, and feeling afraid that he would be caught, ran away as fast as he could.
He heard them calling out. 'Wait!' 'Come Back!' and other things but he was in no mood to stop and listen. They wanted to capture and beat him, he was sure!
After a mile or two, he found the cracked floor by the rock, and waited a few minutes in case they had followed him before slipping back through and making the perilous climb back down to Stinky and the cages.
Once again, he found himself in the corridor with the strange dark creatures with the black hair, that watched his every move as he tip-toed down the tunnel. He stopped at the last cage and looked at its occupant. There was something eerie about this place, almost like he was looking into a mirrored image of himself. He realised that these prisoners were in fact the same as him, maybe he was related to them somehow, although they each had their own differences. One had droopy ears like him and tall long black hair, another had similar wings to his, one had protusions on its head and small sharp spikey teeth, another had two long horns and another had antenna and big almost glass like wings. At first he thought they were some sort of monsters, but now he felt sorry for them all, here in the dark, all alone like him.
'Who are you people?' he rasped quietly into the gloom.
Before he could get a response, he heard Stinky coming, or rather he smelled him heading towards him. A moment later Stinky came scuttling down the corridor.
'What are you doing back so soon?' he yelled angrily as Garny froze.
'I'm sorry!' he cowered, covering his head, afraid Stinky would beat him.
'Don't be sorry, get back up there! You useless lump of coal! I want you to spy on them!' Stinky was hopping mad now.
'B...but they nearly captured me!' Garny exclaimed. 'They were going to torture me!'
'Good! I want them to capture you, then they'll tell you all their secrets. Get out of my sight! Go back up there and do your job properly this time! Let them think you are on their side! Make them feel sorry for you. Then when they've got you where they want you, that's when I'll attack them, along with my Dark Zelfs! Aahahhahahahhahhahaha!' he screeched, laughing manically.
'Dark Zelfs?' Garny asked a little frightened. If Stinky had an army of Dark Zelfs, then what did those above land have at their disposal? Something much worse?
Garny stood there, incredibly scared and worried. He didn't know what he should do.
'Are you still here?,' Stinky bellowed at him. 'Get up there you little cretin', he pulled Garny by the ear back to the rock face. 'Do as I say, or mark my words, you will never ever see the light of another day!' Stinky pushed Garny hard against the rocks. Trying to keep his composure, Garny held in his tears and pain and began crawling back up towards the surface.
Half way up, and sure Stinky had gone away, Garny stopped for a rest. So his new master, wanted him to get caught and punished by the rainbow creatures above so that he could gather information for Stinky, who was planning to attack with his army. Garny didn't know what to do, so sat on the ledge thinking about all the possible scenarios, that went round and round in his head.
He wondered if he should just run away from it all, but was frightened that Stinky and his army would come after him. He thought of maybe trying to go up above and begging the colourful creatures not to kill him or hurt him, but didn't think that they would be the sort to listen anyway. He was definitely trapped between a rock and a hard place, literally and figuratively.
An hour later, the little dark creature in the nearest prison cell heard a noise outside her gates. A click, and suddenly she wasn't alone anymore.
'Pssssst', a voice whispered. 'Hello my name is Garny. Whats yours?' he quietly asked.
'My name is Webina. What are you doing?' she asked surprised.
'I'm breaking you all free, would you like to come with me?' he whispered.
'Yes, yes I'm sure we would. But what about Stinky?' she asked, gathering up her belongings.
'I figured if we all go together up to the surface, we stand a better chance together, than alone.' Garny suggested.
'Stinky has an army down here. You are all prisoners down here, aren't you?' he asked.
'Yes we are. Stinky has been kidnapping and collecting us for a while now.' Webina answered quietly, so as not to be heard.
Carefully Garny opened the cages of all the five prisoners down here. He figured that if they formed a team, maybe they could get far away from Stinky and his soldiers. They introduced themselves as Spellinda, Dolly, Flint, Marina and Vampula. They were all black haired and small like him.
'We are getting out of here. Please say you will come with me.' he asked them. The others did not want to be down here any longer, they were tired, scared and wary but Stinky had treated them all terribly and they longed to escape but had never found the chance to before. Garny unlocked the prison cells and they followed him as quietly as they could. They helped each other to climb, holding hands and using ropes and their wings to make the momentous climb to the top of the steep rock face.
Reaching the top, Garny slowly pulled them all out one by one. Webina came first, her eyes blinded by the sun, Garny could see her more clearly now. She had small black lumps on her head, silky smooth hair and a tattoo of spiders webs on her tummy. She blinked and smiled at him, showing him dazzling white pointy teeth.
'Thankyou Garny. You saved us all.' she gave him a hug. Garny beamed with pride. He had never been shown compassion or kindness before.
They then pulled out the others, each one slightly different from the rest. Spellinda had a cat and stars on her leg, Dolly had a moth shape on her black tummy, Flint had a bell power mark and horns, Marina had a dragon, and Vampula had bat wings and shapes. Then amazingly, they began to change right in front of his eyes. The dirt and black dust evaporated right from their skin, in black swirls and clouds, and their hair stood on end and began to change colours. Spellinda became a rich teal colour, with black and magenta hair, her power marks became more defined. Garny turned and watched as each one transformed slightly in the sunlight. It was incredibly powerful to watch as Dolly added white and pink to her blackness, Flint turned dove grey and wisps of green to his hair, little cracks of stone running across his smooth skin like veins. Marina, and her dragon became enveloped in shades of azure and silver, scales appearing across her arms and legs like a lizard and finally Vampula turned a lovely shade of rose pink, her wings and hair also metamorphasing into brilliant pink shades.
'Wow.' said Garny as he watched them. He turned to Webina to find she had also changed into hot pink and black, becoming less scary and more cuter.
'Look Garny look!' she said pointing at him excitedly. Garny watched the blackness of his skin disappear like droplets of rain, and he saw his arms and legs and tummy become a dark shade of purple, he could see the tattoos across his middle standing out in silver and violet much clearer than he'd ever seen before.
'What's happening? Why are we changing?' asked Dolly.
'It must be this land!' said Vampula. 'Maybe its magic?'.
They watched each other, and felt nothing but warmth and comfort from this strange coloured world above the dark scary caves.
'Well Garny, what do we do now?' asked Flint.
Garny wasn't sure at first. These dark creatures he had just rescued, suddenly looked a bit like those creatures he had seen earlier on his travels. Maybe, just maybe they should go and seek out these individuals and ask them?
Garny led the Zelfs, although they didn't know what they were just yet, towards the place where he had last encountered the savages, hoping and praying that now they were bright and colourful, those other creatures would listen to their plight.
A snapping twig told them they weren't alone anymore. All of a sudden out of nowhere, the little band of creatures were surrounded, as soldiers wearing cloaks, with spears in their hands closed in around them and forced them to stop.
'Halt! Who goes there?' one called out.
Garny was scared, and looked back to see the others huddled in a group looking as terrified as he felt.
'My name is Garny. I want to talk to your leader.' he said calmly.
The warriors, took down their hooded cloaks, revealing themselves to be the creatures Garny had encountered previously, he recognised the one with the antlers, one that looked like a cat, one with leaves in her hair and several others he hadn't seen before.
'We don't have a leader really.' a green and brown Zelf with two little horns on his head said calmly. 'Who are you and where do you come from?'
'Now now, Birchy that's no way to treat our guests is it?,' an old looking Zelf shuffled into view, with a walking stick and long white beard.
The soldiers lowered their sticks and looked bemused by the whole situation.
'Hello sir, m.....my name is g....g....Garny sir, and we have come a long way. From deep in the caves below. We escaped from a dark creature called Stinky and.....' Garny stammered, still afraid they would be attacked and tortured at any moment.
'Stinky? You say? I shoulda known that foul fellow was behind this!' Old Grandfather Time muttered. 'Of course it was him. He has been collecting the baby Zelflings!' he said out loud to the other warriors, who muttered and nodded like they knew what he was talking about.
'Well Garny, why don't you and your fellow travellers come with us, and we'll have some nice tea and cakes and you can tell us all about your adventures!' the old man took Garny, gently by the arm.
'You mean you're not going to eat us?' asked Garny amazedly.
'Eat you? Why on Earth would we do that? We're all the same up here. You and your companions are Zelfs like we are!' he said stopping in his tracks.
'Zelfs?' Webina said. 'What are Zelfs?'
'That's who we are. Me, you, him, her. Don't you recognise your own kind?,' Grandfather asked. '
'We are Zelfs and you are Zelfs?' asked Vampula, trying to keep up.
'Yes my dear. We are all Zelfs up here. We live in this beautiful land together, called Zardenia. There is much to learn from one another. You are to live here with us now. We are all family.' he said carrying on down the path.
Garny looked at the others. He recognised the same eyes, and ears in many of these 'Zelfs'. Their hair, although many colours was the same. Maybe they were all Zelfs after all. Had he really found people of his own kind?
Webina and the others didn't take much convincing. He watched as they slowly intergrated themselves with the big group of Zelfs, going arm in arm down the path after Grandfather Time. He couldn't quite believe it.
'Hello there. My name is Angelala.' a voice behind him told him he wasn't on his own.
'Um.... hi. I'm Garny.' he croaked.
'Welcome to Zardenia,' she said smiling at him. She looked very kind to Garny.
'I can't believe this. Is this a dream?' he asked.
'Ha-ha. Nope! This is your new home, and you'll never have to leave here. I'm sure you will like it.'
Garny watched as she skipped on down the path, he didn't know what to do so he followed her.
That night, by the camp fire Grandfather Time listened to their story. How they had been stolen by the pesky Stinky when they had arrived in this world, where he had taken them all as prisoners and locked them up in his dungeons until one day Garny had rescued them all.
'You're awesome.' said a green and pink dragon looking Zelf sat next to Garny, and giving him a friendly punch on the arm.
'You're so brave and heroic.' said the lovely white and silver Angelic looking one. Garny smiled an awkward snaggle-toothed smile at her, complimenting him. Next to her, a little orange flame haired Zelf looked at her gruffly and folded his arms, sulkily.
So, after a time the Dark Zelfs came to realise that because they had been taken away from Zardenia, they hadn't had the chance to become bright, colourful and to use their 'imprinted' powers like the others, but in no time at all, became their true selves and part of the Zelfian society. Nobody treated them any different and they all became one big happy family.
Garny came to accept his place in Zardenia, although he was never truly happy or comfortable. He had severe trouble fitting in completely, having been passed and exchanged and abandoned and unloved, never quite belonging and saddened by the fact that he could have had a completely different life, one without chaos, regret, abuse and suffering and always feeling like he didn't truly deserve a happy ending. Poor little Garny.
They even made him chief of decorating at Halloween, using his dark magic to create cobwebs and spooky decorations at the Halloween Ball, which went down very well. Garny finally found what he had been looking for his whole entire life, to love and be loved in return.
The End.
(and as for Stinky, well he's still sat somewhere deep down below, wondering what happened and plotting his return.......)
For you see, Garny had picked up some spells and could do a little magic of his own, after he had 'imprinted' from the dark fairy, although he didn't understand what it meant or how he could do it. With a click of his fingers he could produce a tiny blue flame to help him see in the darkness. He was used to keeping to the shadows usually, blending into his environment and staying out of the witch's way especially if she was in a bad mood. He could also move things with his mind if he concentrated hard enough, but that took it out of him and left him exhausted. He was also very good at pick-pocketing, stealing things for his mistress when she allowed him to venture into the woods after lonely travellers. Garny was an expert at stealthiness and creeping up on people and she had taught him well.
Garny wondered if it was these skills that Stinky required of him. He didn't like to do any of the dark stuff really, it was required of him but he felt incredible amounts of guilt about it all.
Stinky came back not long after, and unlocked the door. He lead Garny down the corridor, where he could now see tired and scared looking faces staring out of the darkness at him. Remarkably all these beings looked very similar to him. All black, small, some with wings, some with horns, long black silky looking hair and a variety of silvery white power marks tattooed across their bodies and limbs. Who were they, and why did Stinky have all these dark little creatures down here in the dark. Garny barely had time to take it all in, before he was now in a dark chamber with a light far up above him.
'Now, here's what I want you to do, little Garny. You are to climb your way upwards towards that light, be careful not to fall, and you are to watch and observe the creatures on the land above. Make sure you are not seen, and definitely do not get caught. They are savage and vicious creatures up there, who will torture and punish you so be wary and alert at all times. I want you to spy on these creatures and report back to me.'
Garny was not surprised. After Grindella made him steal items from traveller's bags and pockets, Garny figured that Stinky must want him to become a scout and thief, to watch other beasts and report back any information on Stinky's enemies.
So, Garny did as he was told and began the epic trek in near darkness, clambering his way up the jagged rocks and slippery slopes up towards the roof of the cave, high up above him. It took him several hours, and two almost catastrophic accidents to make it to the apex. The light up here hurt his eyes immensely, and he shielded his eyes from the bright sunlight as he pulled himself through the crack in the floor.
The light surrounded him, and he immediately scuttled towards a big rock, in case there were strangers around and to check his bearings. He was in a strange and brightly coloured land, everywhere there were bright green plants, meadows, trees and hills for miles around. There were flowers of every colour imaginable that Garny had never ever seen anything like that before, he stopped and smelled and touched and listened. This was a million miles from what he was used to. The grass, the sky, the trees - everything was alien-like to him. Garny stood open mouthed, taking it all in. What kind of place was this?
He was used to the dark and damp swamps and forests of doom and gloom, and this strange colourful exotic world was the exact opposite. He could feel the sunlight on his skin, it was warm and cosy without burning him, and for a minute or two he forgot what his mission actually was, and jumped off the rock onto the springy grass, and smelled the delicious aromas from the flowers that bent towards him and danced in the cool breeze. Garny smiled for the first time in a very long time, and instantly felt guilty. He finally remembered his quest to seek out the deadly vicious creatures that lived around here, and he bacame serious and stealthy again. Garny dropped down to his knees, flattened his hair down and kept as quiet and still as he could, whilst he thought of a plan.
Keeping under the cover of the foliage, he moved slowly and carefully through the grasses and bushes, making sure he wasn't seen by anyone. He crept onwards on his journey until he came to the edge of the meadows and looked for signs of life. The sounds of laughter and noise from nearby, made him feeze instantly. Those savage creatures must be nearby!?!
Meanwhile at the edge of the meadows of the west, was a place called the Split Ends Forest where several Zelfs were gathered, having a pic-nic and playing games.
'Oh Elfa, you picked the most glorious spot for our lovely pic-nic!' Dorothy Doe said admiringly as she reclined on the blanket, with an assortment of delicious cakes and treats surrounding her. Next to her Manny, Dandy Lion and Lunanne were arranged around the food basket, pouring drinks and eating sandwiches. Not too far, Elfa was climbing the trees.
'Be careful honey, you might fall!' said a worried Buttershy as she watched her friend, race up through the branches.
'As if!' Elfa replied, brushing through the foliage and gathering leaves in her hair. Nearby Catsby was having a snooze on a fallen log, with one eye open he kept an eye on proceedings.
Garny watched these creatures with great interest. He took in their small, delicate frames, their individual characteristics, ears, horns, and great colourful tufts of hair on top of their heads. He wondered who they could be, and what did they do? Silently he observed, as they played, laughed, ate and interacted with each other. When the yellow one slipped back down to the forest floor to eat with the others, Garny slipped nearer to have a closer look. He was now hiding in the trees above them, watching from his hiding place in the branches.
They certainly didn't look or act like vicious, savage creatures at all to him. In fact they were terribly polite and refined. Helpful and courteous, they offered their tasty looking treats around, talked about nice things like the weather and the village celebrations, and the upcoming Hallyween, which Garny had no idea about, but it sounded terribly exciting. He was confused now as to why Stinky would think them horrible creatures, when they seemed to him to be perfectly civilised and downright kind. He continued to watch their activities, which included a short walk after dinner, gathering some berries in baskets and now they were about to play a game of hide and seek.
Manny took first count, and covered his eyes with his hands as he called out the numbers, whilst his playmates all ran for cover, scattering in different directions. Garny couldn't keep a track of them all at once, he watched as Elfa shot up a tree a few metres away, and Dorothy Doe nimbly leapt over tree roots. Buttershy flitted in the air for a second, debating which way to go before heading off towards a strawberry bush and Dandy Lion simply curled up inside the picnic basket, managing to fit in rather snugly whilst the green Zelf counted up to 100.
'Hello?' a voice in Garny's ear made him jump and yell.
'Aaiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii!' he span around in shock, coming face to face with a blue Zelf with white and yellow hair who was hovering just to his right, looking at him inquisitvely.
'Who are you? I don't think I've seen you here before have I?' she said with a smile.
Garny, absolutely terrified at being seen, wondered if she was smiling because she was about to eat him. He dashed off through the branches, hoping that his little legs would carry him far away and fast. No sooner had he leapt from tree branch to tree branch, that he almost crashed head-first into the yellow Zelf with leaves in her hair.
'What the???........' she said, reaching out to stop him crashing into her. Garny saw her outstretched arms, and thinking that she meant to grab him, ducked over her and changed direction.
After he had run for a few minutes, he paused to catch his breath. He heard a thud behind him.
'Bonjour mon ami.' the pale aqua/purple cat like Zelf landed on his feet a metre or so behind him, licking his paw.
Garny kept on running, only everwhere he ran he seemed to run into another Zelf. They were fast, almost playing with him and seemed determined to catch their prey. Stinky was right about these creatures! He fell out of the tree, using his little wings to drift down to the forest floor, and feeling afraid that he would be caught, ran away as fast as he could.
He heard them calling out. 'Wait!' 'Come Back!' and other things but he was in no mood to stop and listen. They wanted to capture and beat him, he was sure!
After a mile or two, he found the cracked floor by the rock, and waited a few minutes in case they had followed him before slipping back through and making the perilous climb back down to Stinky and the cages.
Once again, he found himself in the corridor with the strange dark creatures with the black hair, that watched his every move as he tip-toed down the tunnel. He stopped at the last cage and looked at its occupant. There was something eerie about this place, almost like he was looking into a mirrored image of himself. He realised that these prisoners were in fact the same as him, maybe he was related to them somehow, although they each had their own differences. One had droopy ears like him and tall long black hair, another had similar wings to his, one had protusions on its head and small sharp spikey teeth, another had two long horns and another had antenna and big almost glass like wings. At first he thought they were some sort of monsters, but now he felt sorry for them all, here in the dark, all alone like him.
'Who are you people?' he rasped quietly into the gloom.
Before he could get a response, he heard Stinky coming, or rather he smelled him heading towards him. A moment later Stinky came scuttling down the corridor.
'What are you doing back so soon?' he yelled angrily as Garny froze.
'I'm sorry!' he cowered, covering his head, afraid Stinky would beat him.
'Don't be sorry, get back up there! You useless lump of coal! I want you to spy on them!' Stinky was hopping mad now.
'B...but they nearly captured me!' Garny exclaimed. 'They were going to torture me!'
'Good! I want them to capture you, then they'll tell you all their secrets. Get out of my sight! Go back up there and do your job properly this time! Let them think you are on their side! Make them feel sorry for you. Then when they've got you where they want you, that's when I'll attack them, along with my Dark Zelfs! Aahahhahahahhahhahaha!' he screeched, laughing manically.
'Dark Zelfs?' Garny asked a little frightened. If Stinky had an army of Dark Zelfs, then what did those above land have at their disposal? Something much worse?
Garny stood there, incredibly scared and worried. He didn't know what he should do.
'Are you still here?,' Stinky bellowed at him. 'Get up there you little cretin', he pulled Garny by the ear back to the rock face. 'Do as I say, or mark my words, you will never ever see the light of another day!' Stinky pushed Garny hard against the rocks. Trying to keep his composure, Garny held in his tears and pain and began crawling back up towards the surface.
Half way up, and sure Stinky had gone away, Garny stopped for a rest. So his new master, wanted him to get caught and punished by the rainbow creatures above so that he could gather information for Stinky, who was planning to attack with his army. Garny didn't know what to do, so sat on the ledge thinking about all the possible scenarios, that went round and round in his head.
He wondered if he should just run away from it all, but was frightened that Stinky and his army would come after him. He thought of maybe trying to go up above and begging the colourful creatures not to kill him or hurt him, but didn't think that they would be the sort to listen anyway. He was definitely trapped between a rock and a hard place, literally and figuratively.
An hour later, the little dark creature in the nearest prison cell heard a noise outside her gates. A click, and suddenly she wasn't alone anymore.
'Pssssst', a voice whispered. 'Hello my name is Garny. Whats yours?' he quietly asked.
'My name is Webina. What are you doing?' she asked surprised.
'I'm breaking you all free, would you like to come with me?' he whispered.
'Yes, yes I'm sure we would. But what about Stinky?' she asked, gathering up her belongings.
'I figured if we all go together up to the surface, we stand a better chance together, than alone.' Garny suggested.
'Stinky has an army down here. You are all prisoners down here, aren't you?' he asked.
'Yes we are. Stinky has been kidnapping and collecting us for a while now.' Webina answered quietly, so as not to be heard.
Carefully Garny opened the cages of all the five prisoners down here. He figured that if they formed a team, maybe they could get far away from Stinky and his soldiers. They introduced themselves as Spellinda, Dolly, Flint, Marina and Vampula. They were all black haired and small like him.
'We are getting out of here. Please say you will come with me.' he asked them. The others did not want to be down here any longer, they were tired, scared and wary but Stinky had treated them all terribly and they longed to escape but had never found the chance to before. Garny unlocked the prison cells and they followed him as quietly as they could. They helped each other to climb, holding hands and using ropes and their wings to make the momentous climb to the top of the steep rock face.
Reaching the top, Garny slowly pulled them all out one by one. Webina came first, her eyes blinded by the sun, Garny could see her more clearly now. She had small black lumps on her head, silky smooth hair and a tattoo of spiders webs on her tummy. She blinked and smiled at him, showing him dazzling white pointy teeth.
'Thankyou Garny. You saved us all.' she gave him a hug. Garny beamed with pride. He had never been shown compassion or kindness before.
They then pulled out the others, each one slightly different from the rest. Spellinda had a cat and stars on her leg, Dolly had a moth shape on her black tummy, Flint had a bell power mark and horns, Marina had a dragon, and Vampula had bat wings and shapes. Then amazingly, they began to change right in front of his eyes. The dirt and black dust evaporated right from their skin, in black swirls and clouds, and their hair stood on end and began to change colours. Spellinda became a rich teal colour, with black and magenta hair, her power marks became more defined. Garny turned and watched as each one transformed slightly in the sunlight. It was incredibly powerful to watch as Dolly added white and pink to her blackness, Flint turned dove grey and wisps of green to his hair, little cracks of stone running across his smooth skin like veins. Marina, and her dragon became enveloped in shades of azure and silver, scales appearing across her arms and legs like a lizard and finally Vampula turned a lovely shade of rose pink, her wings and hair also metamorphasing into brilliant pink shades.
'Wow.' said Garny as he watched them. He turned to Webina to find she had also changed into hot pink and black, becoming less scary and more cuter.
'Look Garny look!' she said pointing at him excitedly. Garny watched the blackness of his skin disappear like droplets of rain, and he saw his arms and legs and tummy become a dark shade of purple, he could see the tattoos across his middle standing out in silver and violet much clearer than he'd ever seen before.
'What's happening? Why are we changing?' asked Dolly.
'It must be this land!' said Vampula. 'Maybe its magic?'.
They watched each other, and felt nothing but warmth and comfort from this strange coloured world above the dark scary caves.
'Well Garny, what do we do now?' asked Flint.
Garny wasn't sure at first. These dark creatures he had just rescued, suddenly looked a bit like those creatures he had seen earlier on his travels. Maybe, just maybe they should go and seek out these individuals and ask them?
Garny led the Zelfs, although they didn't know what they were just yet, towards the place where he had last encountered the savages, hoping and praying that now they were bright and colourful, those other creatures would listen to their plight.
A snapping twig told them they weren't alone anymore. All of a sudden out of nowhere, the little band of creatures were surrounded, as soldiers wearing cloaks, with spears in their hands closed in around them and forced them to stop.
'Halt! Who goes there?' one called out.
Garny was scared, and looked back to see the others huddled in a group looking as terrified as he felt.
'My name is Garny. I want to talk to your leader.' he said calmly.
The warriors, took down their hooded cloaks, revealing themselves to be the creatures Garny had encountered previously, he recognised the one with the antlers, one that looked like a cat, one with leaves in her hair and several others he hadn't seen before.
'We don't have a leader really.' a green and brown Zelf with two little horns on his head said calmly. 'Who are you and where do you come from?'
'Now now, Birchy that's no way to treat our guests is it?,' an old looking Zelf shuffled into view, with a walking stick and long white beard.
The soldiers lowered their sticks and looked bemused by the whole situation.
'Hello sir, m.....my name is g....g....Garny sir, and we have come a long way. From deep in the caves below. We escaped from a dark creature called Stinky and.....' Garny stammered, still afraid they would be attacked and tortured at any moment.
'Stinky? You say? I shoulda known that foul fellow was behind this!' Old Grandfather Time muttered. 'Of course it was him. He has been collecting the baby Zelflings!' he said out loud to the other warriors, who muttered and nodded like they knew what he was talking about.
'Well Garny, why don't you and your fellow travellers come with us, and we'll have some nice tea and cakes and you can tell us all about your adventures!' the old man took Garny, gently by the arm.
'You mean you're not going to eat us?' asked Garny amazedly.
'Eat you? Why on Earth would we do that? We're all the same up here. You and your companions are Zelfs like we are!' he said stopping in his tracks.
'Zelfs?' Webina said. 'What are Zelfs?'
'That's who we are. Me, you, him, her. Don't you recognise your own kind?,' Grandfather asked. '
'We are Zelfs and you are Zelfs?' asked Vampula, trying to keep up.
'Yes my dear. We are all Zelfs up here. We live in this beautiful land together, called Zardenia. There is much to learn from one another. You are to live here with us now. We are all family.' he said carrying on down the path.
Garny looked at the others. He recognised the same eyes, and ears in many of these 'Zelfs'. Their hair, although many colours was the same. Maybe they were all Zelfs after all. Had he really found people of his own kind?
Webina and the others didn't take much convincing. He watched as they slowly intergrated themselves with the big group of Zelfs, going arm in arm down the path after Grandfather Time. He couldn't quite believe it.
'Hello there. My name is Angelala.' a voice behind him told him he wasn't on his own.
'Um.... hi. I'm Garny.' he croaked.
'Welcome to Zardenia,' she said smiling at him. She looked very kind to Garny.
'I can't believe this. Is this a dream?' he asked.
'Ha-ha. Nope! This is your new home, and you'll never have to leave here. I'm sure you will like it.'
Garny watched as she skipped on down the path, he didn't know what to do so he followed her.
That night, by the camp fire Grandfather Time listened to their story. How they had been stolen by the pesky Stinky when they had arrived in this world, where he had taken them all as prisoners and locked them up in his dungeons until one day Garny had rescued them all.
'You're awesome.' said a green and pink dragon looking Zelf sat next to Garny, and giving him a friendly punch on the arm.
'You're so brave and heroic.' said the lovely white and silver Angelic looking one. Garny smiled an awkward snaggle-toothed smile at her, complimenting him. Next to her, a little orange flame haired Zelf looked at her gruffly and folded his arms, sulkily.
So, after a time the Dark Zelfs came to realise that because they had been taken away from Zardenia, they hadn't had the chance to become bright, colourful and to use their 'imprinted' powers like the others, but in no time at all, became their true selves and part of the Zelfian society. Nobody treated them any different and they all became one big happy family.
Garny came to accept his place in Zardenia, although he was never truly happy or comfortable. He had severe trouble fitting in completely, having been passed and exchanged and abandoned and unloved, never quite belonging and saddened by the fact that he could have had a completely different life, one without chaos, regret, abuse and suffering and always feeling like he didn't truly deserve a happy ending. Poor little Garny.
They even made him chief of decorating at Halloween, using his dark magic to create cobwebs and spooky decorations at the Halloween Ball, which went down very well. Garny finally found what he had been looking for his whole entire life, to love and be loved in return.
The End.
(and as for Stinky, well he's still sat somewhere deep down below, wondering what happened and plotting his return.......)
xx
so annoying!