Chapter One: Before
A warm late Augusts’ evening was upon Hultimore, the secret area which humans that held no gem upon their left palm were not able to see. Gemmers believed that if they visited this area for any amount of time at least once in life, they will be born a zaidi powerful Gemmer after death.
No one stepped upon the streets of Hultimore after dark. It was forbidden. Most obeyed this rule and stayed indoors. Yet, the silence of Hultimore was broken, as a lone traveller stepped out across the barrier between dry, barren land and a city full of magic.
His footsteps echoed in the empty mitaani, mtaa he walked on. He turned a corner, his big black boots stepping slowly towards a small white house with a miniature front garden with a rather lonely looking daffodil in a concrete maua, ua pot. He smiled to himself.
A woman was inside this little house. Her bobbed dark hair sat on her shoulders, and violet eyes shone. She sat in a small room with cream carpet and red walls, a little glass vision box, au what Nogems would call a “television” au “TV”, a low wooden meza, jedwali and a few pictures of this woman and her family on the wall, all smiling and breathing out of their frames. And, a black leather armchair, in which this woman was perched, a large pregnant belly ballooning out as she stacked the third empty plate onto the wooden table, and licked her fingers.
She was eating zaidi and zaidi each day, and the Pregnancy Advisor told her she was due to give birth tomorrow, and she was hoping that she wouldn’t come out the same size she goes in after eating so much.
He knocked the door once.
Carol groaned and heaved herself out of her chair, stumbling a little.
He knocked the door twice.
Carol struggled into the hallway.
He knocked the door three times.
“Okay! I’m coming!” she shouted. Just then the door burst open. Carol squealed and clutched her belly, and staggered backwards as wood and splinters flew out towards her. She held her arms over her head and glanced up.
A man in a dark kofia stood there, black vazi, pazia billowing at his feet. His face was covered kwa the hood. Carol was tired of strange men dressed in black. Last time she met one... well, actually she doesn’t remember what happened the last time she met a man dressed in black.
But she was pretty sure they were the one who got her pregnant, seeing as she found she was with child about a week after the man knocked on her door, once, then twice, just before she’d opened the door.
...
Carol’s eyes widened at the dark figure. She didn’t know what happened to her that night, but she sure didn’t want it to happen again.
“Who are you? What do wewe want?” she said, sounding stronger than she felt.
“I am a combination of Death and Satan. I am the shadows in the corner of the room. I am the feeling wewe have when wewe are alone at night. I am Evil.” He alisema eerily. Carol gasped and started to back away from the figure. Evil was the Gemmer world’s worst nightmare. He raped and killed women for pleasure; he travels the world, taking the truth out of everyone’s lips with force. If they are no use to him, he will kill them. He has his Followers in the United Kingdom, keeping a lookout for any plotters. These followers were brutal women, sneering men, and frightened, yet bratty children, all across the country.
“What are wewe doing here?” Carol asked weakly.
“I have come for the child.” He said. Carol blinked then glanced down at her ballooning stomach.
“My baby? Why do wewe want my baby?” she asked.
“Because your child is a threat to my power. She will shun me down, and she will eventually kill me, so I must stop this happening and bring her up with my ways.”
“But it’s an unborn child how do wewe know of this?” Carol kept on backing away from Evil, her moyo was racing. Her pregnant belly kept getting in the way. She had no idea what to do; Evil kept taking one step closer to her every time she took a step away from him.
“I’ve been told.” He said. Carol furrowed her eyebrows.
“Told? kwa a Prophet? But how did wewe get a Prophet to work for you?” Evil laughed. His laugh was cold and empty, with no humour. Carol caught a glimpse of yellow teeth and thin lips.
“Please, silly woman, don’t mock me. I am the most powerful Gemmer in the world. I carry a teardrop zumaridi, zamaradi on my palm; I can get anyone to do my bidding. Just like I made wewe nine months ago.” Carol gulped. Knowing that her baby held Evil’s blood in its veins she feared for her child’s fate. She did not know whether her child would be like Evil, au herself.
“I suspected so.” She whispered. She glanced down at her belly, the unborn child that was protected kwa a layer of skin and kept salama in a soft bag of water held a fate of death, hope, destruction and love. She knew she could not care for her child, but she wished to hand her child into loving, trusting arms.
“Why are wewe here now? I am still pregnant.” Carol said. Evil glanced down to Carol’s belly automatically.
“For the child is due soon.” He said.
“But it’s not due ‘till tomorrow.” Carol said. Evil grinned wickedly.
“You have your dates wrong Caroline.” Carol frowned, ignoring that Evil has not heard her name once, and yet he had spoken it.
“What do wewe mean?” she asked. Evil chuckled. Carol licked her lips, frightened to her very wits, using all she had not to onyesha it.
“I mean that your water will break any sekunde now, and wewe will give birth in this very house, on the floor, and I will take your child and bring it up with my ways, my doing, and we will walk this earth, every step we take will be zaidi powerful than the next. We shall make every person we come across tremble, we will be the ultimate rulers of the earth. Me and my child, both zaidi powerful than every average Gemmer. And then, when the child is born, wewe will die on this floor, in this house, tonight.”
“But why this child? How do wewe know it will be powerful?” Evil slapped Carol across the face; she cried out, and fell to the ground, she held a hand to her cheek and let warm tears roll down her face as she lay on the floor, looking up at Satan incarnate stand over her with a wicked glint in his dark green eyes. His patience was wearing thin. Evil despised women. He thought of them as those that will drag him down, to the bottom of the chakula chain. They were pathetic, weak, and had to have men to think for them.
“You mock my abilities again, woman, do wewe not know who I am? Have I not explained to wewe who I am? I could get every Prophet on the planet to do my bidding and each one I’ve been to has told me a nyota will be born on the sekunde of August, 1996, at eleven fifty eight pm.”
“A St-Star?” Evil glanced up at the clock on the wall. It was ten-to twelve. He had eight minutes; her water had to break soon.
“Yes, stupid woman. I am an impatient man, Caroline, and I do not have this night to waste.”
“Then please can wewe go.” She alisema weakly.
“NO! This is of high important ignorant scum!” he alisema menacingly. Carol swallowed and let zaidi warm tears trickle down her face.
“I – I really don’t understand. What do wewe mean kwa Star?”
“Caroline wewe stupid girl, the child will be the First Born Star. Its palm will kubeba a nyota Gem, an zumaridi, zamaradi I presume, seeing as children should take after their fathers and not their mothers.”
Caroline didn’t mention that she took after her mother, who was a Ruby, and not her father, who was a Topaz. Just then she had this weird feeling, a feeling of dampness, as if she’d just wet herself. Her water had broken.
“Ah, now things will speed up a little.” Carol had no idea how Evil knew her water had broke, but she ignored this as the pain kicked in almost instantly. Twisting, thumping agony. She chewed the inside of her cheeks so she wouldn’t cry out. Gemmers are usually able to give birth almost instantly, instead of a long process of contractions and waiting, but they usually have help to get them to the Healer’s Block.
She closed her eyes as Evil bent down towards her; she ignored what he was doing, and pain was kicking in now. She screamed. She heard crying, and then everything went black.
Chapter Two: Hooded Stranger
A man stood over Caroline’s unconscious body. His face was not visible under his hat, but he cast a golden barrier between Evil, holding a naked child, and Caroline. Evil glanced at him from underneath his hood. The stranger smiled and nodded his head.
“Do wewe not know who I am vermin?” Evil said.
“I know perfectly well who wewe are, Fur.” alisema the stranger. Evil’s eyes widened.
“This won’t be the end. I will kill her, and I’ll hunt wewe down and wewe will watch her die, then I will let wewe weep, letting wewe suffer, then I shall come and kill you, like the merciful ruler I am.” alisema Evil. The stranger smiled.
“Well, Fur, let’s hope we don’t meet again, shall we? Leave Caroline Beech alone.” Evil’s eyes narrowed, but the naked child in his arms was screaming, and he needed to leave quickly. So, in a bright blue flash, he was gone.
The stranger stared down at Carol, her hair was stuck to her forehead with sweat, and he could hear the child’s crying and –
The stranger stopped his train of thought, as he realised that if Evil had left with the child, then how could he still hear the infant’s cries?
Some things were meant to be, and others just happen.
A warm late Augusts’ evening was upon Hultimore, the secret area which humans that held no gem upon their left palm were not able to see. Gemmers believed that if they visited this area for any amount of time at least once in life, they will be born a zaidi powerful Gemmer after death.
No one stepped upon the streets of Hultimore after dark. It was forbidden. Most obeyed this rule and stayed indoors. Yet, the silence of Hultimore was broken, as a lone traveller stepped out across the barrier between dry, barren land and a city full of magic.
His footsteps echoed in the empty mitaani, mtaa he walked on. He turned a corner, his big black boots stepping slowly towards a small white house with a miniature front garden with a rather lonely looking daffodil in a concrete maua, ua pot. He smiled to himself.
A woman was inside this little house. Her bobbed dark hair sat on her shoulders, and violet eyes shone. She sat in a small room with cream carpet and red walls, a little glass vision box, au what Nogems would call a “television” au “TV”, a low wooden meza, jedwali and a few pictures of this woman and her family on the wall, all smiling and breathing out of their frames. And, a black leather armchair, in which this woman was perched, a large pregnant belly ballooning out as she stacked the third empty plate onto the wooden table, and licked her fingers.
She was eating zaidi and zaidi each day, and the Pregnancy Advisor told her she was due to give birth tomorrow, and she was hoping that she wouldn’t come out the same size she goes in after eating so much.
He knocked the door once.
Carol groaned and heaved herself out of her chair, stumbling a little.
He knocked the door twice.
Carol struggled into the hallway.
He knocked the door three times.
“Okay! I’m coming!” she shouted. Just then the door burst open. Carol squealed and clutched her belly, and staggered backwards as wood and splinters flew out towards her. She held her arms over her head and glanced up.
A man in a dark kofia stood there, black vazi, pazia billowing at his feet. His face was covered kwa the hood. Carol was tired of strange men dressed in black. Last time she met one... well, actually she doesn’t remember what happened the last time she met a man dressed in black.
But she was pretty sure they were the one who got her pregnant, seeing as she found she was with child about a week after the man knocked on her door, once, then twice, just before she’d opened the door.
...
Carol’s eyes widened at the dark figure. She didn’t know what happened to her that night, but she sure didn’t want it to happen again.
“Who are you? What do wewe want?” she said, sounding stronger than she felt.
“I am a combination of Death and Satan. I am the shadows in the corner of the room. I am the feeling wewe have when wewe are alone at night. I am Evil.” He alisema eerily. Carol gasped and started to back away from the figure. Evil was the Gemmer world’s worst nightmare. He raped and killed women for pleasure; he travels the world, taking the truth out of everyone’s lips with force. If they are no use to him, he will kill them. He has his Followers in the United Kingdom, keeping a lookout for any plotters. These followers were brutal women, sneering men, and frightened, yet bratty children, all across the country.
“What are wewe doing here?” Carol asked weakly.
“I have come for the child.” He said. Carol blinked then glanced down at her ballooning stomach.
“My baby? Why do wewe want my baby?” she asked.
“Because your child is a threat to my power. She will shun me down, and she will eventually kill me, so I must stop this happening and bring her up with my ways.”
“But it’s an unborn child how do wewe know of this?” Carol kept on backing away from Evil, her moyo was racing. Her pregnant belly kept getting in the way. She had no idea what to do; Evil kept taking one step closer to her every time she took a step away from him.
“I’ve been told.” He said. Carol furrowed her eyebrows.
“Told? kwa a Prophet? But how did wewe get a Prophet to work for you?” Evil laughed. His laugh was cold and empty, with no humour. Carol caught a glimpse of yellow teeth and thin lips.
“Please, silly woman, don’t mock me. I am the most powerful Gemmer in the world. I carry a teardrop zumaridi, zamaradi on my palm; I can get anyone to do my bidding. Just like I made wewe nine months ago.” Carol gulped. Knowing that her baby held Evil’s blood in its veins she feared for her child’s fate. She did not know whether her child would be like Evil, au herself.
“I suspected so.” She whispered. She glanced down at her belly, the unborn child that was protected kwa a layer of skin and kept salama in a soft bag of water held a fate of death, hope, destruction and love. She knew she could not care for her child, but she wished to hand her child into loving, trusting arms.
“Why are wewe here now? I am still pregnant.” Carol said. Evil glanced down to Carol’s belly automatically.
“For the child is due soon.” He said.
“But it’s not due ‘till tomorrow.” Carol said. Evil grinned wickedly.
“You have your dates wrong Caroline.” Carol frowned, ignoring that Evil has not heard her name once, and yet he had spoken it.
“What do wewe mean?” she asked. Evil chuckled. Carol licked her lips, frightened to her very wits, using all she had not to onyesha it.
“I mean that your water will break any sekunde now, and wewe will give birth in this very house, on the floor, and I will take your child and bring it up with my ways, my doing, and we will walk this earth, every step we take will be zaidi powerful than the next. We shall make every person we come across tremble, we will be the ultimate rulers of the earth. Me and my child, both zaidi powerful than every average Gemmer. And then, when the child is born, wewe will die on this floor, in this house, tonight.”
“But why this child? How do wewe know it will be powerful?” Evil slapped Carol across the face; she cried out, and fell to the ground, she held a hand to her cheek and let warm tears roll down her face as she lay on the floor, looking up at Satan incarnate stand over her with a wicked glint in his dark green eyes. His patience was wearing thin. Evil despised women. He thought of them as those that will drag him down, to the bottom of the chakula chain. They were pathetic, weak, and had to have men to think for them.
“You mock my abilities again, woman, do wewe not know who I am? Have I not explained to wewe who I am? I could get every Prophet on the planet to do my bidding and each one I’ve been to has told me a nyota will be born on the sekunde of August, 1996, at eleven fifty eight pm.”
“A St-Star?” Evil glanced up at the clock on the wall. It was ten-to twelve. He had eight minutes; her water had to break soon.
“Yes, stupid woman. I am an impatient man, Caroline, and I do not have this night to waste.”
“Then please can wewe go.” She alisema weakly.
“NO! This is of high important ignorant scum!” he alisema menacingly. Carol swallowed and let zaidi warm tears trickle down her face.
“I – I really don’t understand. What do wewe mean kwa Star?”
“Caroline wewe stupid girl, the child will be the First Born Star. Its palm will kubeba a nyota Gem, an zumaridi, zamaradi I presume, seeing as children should take after their fathers and not their mothers.”
Caroline didn’t mention that she took after her mother, who was a Ruby, and not her father, who was a Topaz. Just then she had this weird feeling, a feeling of dampness, as if she’d just wet herself. Her water had broken.
“Ah, now things will speed up a little.” Carol had no idea how Evil knew her water had broke, but she ignored this as the pain kicked in almost instantly. Twisting, thumping agony. She chewed the inside of her cheeks so she wouldn’t cry out. Gemmers are usually able to give birth almost instantly, instead of a long process of contractions and waiting, but they usually have help to get them to the Healer’s Block.
She closed her eyes as Evil bent down towards her; she ignored what he was doing, and pain was kicking in now. She screamed. She heard crying, and then everything went black.
Chapter Two: Hooded Stranger
A man stood over Caroline’s unconscious body. His face was not visible under his hat, but he cast a golden barrier between Evil, holding a naked child, and Caroline. Evil glanced at him from underneath his hood. The stranger smiled and nodded his head.
“Do wewe not know who I am vermin?” Evil said.
“I know perfectly well who wewe are, Fur.” alisema the stranger. Evil’s eyes widened.
“This won’t be the end. I will kill her, and I’ll hunt wewe down and wewe will watch her die, then I will let wewe weep, letting wewe suffer, then I shall come and kill you, like the merciful ruler I am.” alisema Evil. The stranger smiled.
“Well, Fur, let’s hope we don’t meet again, shall we? Leave Caroline Beech alone.” Evil’s eyes narrowed, but the naked child in his arms was screaming, and he needed to leave quickly. So, in a bright blue flash, he was gone.
The stranger stared down at Carol, her hair was stuck to her forehead with sweat, and he could hear the child’s crying and –
The stranger stopped his train of thought, as he realised that if Evil had left with the child, then how could he still hear the infant’s cries?
Some things were meant to be, and others just happen.