Story The Flower child (chapters 0-5)

Hello... So I've been playing starbound for quite a while now and have had this story stewing for a long time. This is my first "real" attempt at writing literature, so don't expect Neil Gaiman quality stuff here. Just the dark undertone. Criticism and feedback is much appreciated and without further ado, here is "the flower child"
(WARNING: This story is not for the faint of heart... If you are sensitive to violence and extremely dark topics, I suggest you turn away to some other story... Like Substellar Vagary! That one's great! Or Night Sky!)

The Flower Child

Prologue
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There was a human that went by the name of Paul Roberts. He was a simple man, an explorer and low-level bounty hunter. He had had his fair share of misadventures, but it was mostly for profit motives. occasionally he would scrape a few pixels off a small bounty or pick off the remains of a ruined village. He lived alone in his dinky ship, by himself, living off of the cheap outpost foods. He knew nobody at the outpost, and only spoke up if he was buying from the merchants or discussing a bounty, but was familiar enough with the place to know his Avians from his Apexes.

Life was simple and he was content. But something was missing and he didn't know what it was. He had money (granted, it wasn't much, but it was enough), he had a working ship and enough food. Fame wasn't important to him, and he felt perfectly happy living on his own. He had inherited a reformation vat registered to him, so he had no fear of death. What was missing? What aspect of his life did he need to fill? And with what? But one day, something new happened, something different, something that would change Paul's life forever.

PART ONE
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I
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August 23rd, 2104

1:43 PM


Paul here! Just left FTL and have arrived at another planet. Decided to step up my game and try out a "mostly harmless" one this time. Hopefully I'll find something interesting or valuable. check back later! Paul out.


END OF LINE


Paul touched down and was immediately greeted with a fire breathing rabbit. It was certainly more difficult than his normal foes, but still not too dangerous. He dealt with it swiftly and looked about to get his bearings. It was a very dense and lush forest planet. It looked like it was fairly late in the morning with a slight breeze. Paul felt quite nice in the humid air. He set out towards polar east, perpendicular to the rising sun, in the hopes that he would find something interesting.


Several hours of walking later, after a brief escapade through an abandoned sewer and some washing up at a friendly glitch's home, he was ambushed by a Floran hunting party. They bound him in vines and took him to their main base, where they stripped him of most of his gear and left him in an unlocked cage, the high-noon sun streaming between the bars. Guarded by a single Floran, he struggled, threatened, and tried to bribe himself out but to no avail. Tired out, he watched and listened to what was going on outside of his cage. He looked through the bars and saw what appeared to be a large pot of liquid poison being set over a large fire. Listening, he heard sounds of celebration and was able to pick out some of the words spoken:"Petal-chaser catch meat-man!"


"I ssstabed legs, bone-gnawer gets legsss!"


"Matri! Fruit-finger wants oculemonsss! Meat man has oculemons in his see holes! Can fruit-finger have meat-man's tasty oculemons?!"


After hearing these snippets of conversation, Paul realized that these were not like the friendly Florans he would normally see around the outpost, these were savage and uncivilized Florans who probably had plans to kill, cook, and eat him. About two more hours later, he still thinking of a plan when he heard the panicked screams of his Floran captors. Through the shouting and panic, he saw it. The spinning saucer shape, the concentrated ion cannon, and the droves of penguins that warped in from the ship itself. He recognized it instantly. This was the ship of the feared "Dreadwing the Pirate". He watched with mixed emotions as the tanks and machine guns tore through the tribe of Florans. In the commotion, he escaped his cage to hide in one of the huts. This was not the life he was looking for as an adventurer, hiding for his life while hundreds of innocent lives were slaughtered like a field of dry grass before a raging wildfire. But he had no choice. He crouched underneath the straw bed and shut his eyes, waiting for the shouts to die out along with the many lives that had uttered them. He waited, and waited, and waited for the silence that would follow the screams…


After what felt like days, he heard it. The sound of a charging FTL drive and the sonic boom that followed. When he opened his eyes and uncovered himself from the straw blanket, he was greeted with the sight and smell of ash and burning plant matter. Standing up and brushing himself off, he carefully looked outside. What he saw was the ruined remains of the village, burned to the ground, and corpses strewn about. Walking through the ruins, the sight was more than the poor human's mind could bare. He slipped into a silent breakdown and started crying to himself, the sounds of crying echoing throughout the remains of the village. However, while the spilled tears belonged to him, the sounds of crying, he eventually realized, were not his own. Standing up again, he searched the ashen ruins for the source of the sound, and eventually found a partially collapsed house. When he opened its door, he was greeted with the scene of a dead Floran, a hole torn through its chest, slumped against a bed, cradling its child. He assumed the Floran to be a mother who died still cradling its child. He went over to the dead Floran and picked up the crying baby. As Paul rocked it, it quieted and looked up at him with sad eyes. As Paul held it, he watched it fall asleep. The scene of the orphan and its mother had made him realize just how cruel the universe is. The child would need to be cared for and raised. It was in this moment, cradling the sleeping Floran, that Paul decided he would need to find a proper parent to raise the child. Retrieving whatever gear had survived the bombardment, he initiated the short range teleporter and beamed himself and the Floran up to the ship. Paul created a makeshift cradle for the Floran, whom he decided mostly masculine, and watched him as he slept, thinking about the new occupant and what was to be done about him.

​

II
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August 24th, 2104
2:46 AM

*ugg...* paul here... Just checking in, the day went very badly... First I had to go through some nasty sewers, then I was captured by Florans, and then Dreadwing the pirate had decided to pop in and leave his signature "ruined village".*Yaaaawwn...* after the attack there were no survivors, save one. A small child. Looks to be no more than two. I decided "well,He's only a kid, and there's no way he would be able to survive on his own. I don't think there's a law against it. What's the harm in finding the poor tyke some new parents.". He's sleeping right now, and looks awfully cute! But there's no way I can take care of him. I have no idea how to raise a child, let alone one from an entirely different species. I will be arriving at the outpost soon. I plan on leaving in a few hours so I can catch up on some sleep. Paul out.

END OF LINE

As he was drifting off, his mind wandered to the orphan. He knew that he was totally incapable of raising the child, and he certainly needed some down-time to recover from the horrific events that occurred. And he would certainly need more time if he had any chance of avenging the Floran village, whose occupants screams of fear had imprinted themselves onto his mind. A village that he knew so little about and had spent very little time in, but felt so very responsible for its destruction at the cannon of Dreadwing. As these thoughts were stewing about the corridors of his mind, Paul slept. And when he had finally slipped into deep unconsciousness, he dreamt. It was a very odd one, reliving the events of the previous day, not from his own perspective, but instead from the eyes of the Floran child. "Wake Dewleaf!" He heard the mother say "Petal-chaser bringssss live human!" She then picked him up, and carries him out into the bright sunlight. "Sssee? See the human? That's going to be night-meal today!" The human, Paul saw, was most certainly himself. He found the dream all very strange, and the perspective even stranger, but continued to go along with it anyway. It was actually quite pleasant, the happiness he felt of being close to his mother, the excitement of getting to try a new food. paul felt happy as Dewleaf had. Until it happened again.
The same sounds, the same vicious penguins, the same death throes of dying Florans. It was all too surreal, feeling what must have been the same fear and panic that Dewleaf must have felt. He even caught a glimpse of himself as he broke free of the cage. And then he watched as his mother, bleeding from a machine gun wound, carried him to the hut, sat in the corner, and slowly started to rock him. He felt his mother's embrace and began to feel calmer, less panicked, but still very scared. It was not to last, however, as the wound the mother had sustained was bleeding profusely was finally starting to take its toll. "Be strong Dewleaf, don't be sad for grass-blade, be happy. Because grass-blade is happy for you..." And with that, she expired. Paul was shocked and had no idea how to react, he was awash with the sickening feeling of grief. He cried for what felt like hours as the ship flew off, until he heard footsteps outside, but it did not matter whether he lived or died, his mother was dead and that was all that he cared about, he was alone in the universe and that was all he felt. When the door opened, he did not notice until he felt himself being picked up and rocked by caring hands. He opened his tear stained eyes, hoping that when he opened them his mother would be there and everything that had happened was just a nightmare, but when he opened them, staring back at him were the oculemon eyes of the human from earlier. He then shut his tired eyes, relaxed in Paul's arms, and fell asleep. And then Paul woke from his dream. Confused by what he had dreamt, he got up out of his bed and went over to the sleeping child. He knew that they had been bonded by trauma, and that this bond, despite their differing species, would be what would forever connect as father and son.

September 14th, 2104
3:56 PM

paul here... The engine's busted. Apparently Mr. Dreadwing decided to sabotage the thrusters on the way out. I managed to cruise the ship to the closest solar system, but I won't be going anywhere without functioning thrusters and a depleted FTL drive. S. A. I. L. Tells me that I'll need about twenty fragments from the planet below. Shouldn't be too hard, it will probably take a few days. Unfortunately, I will have to leave dewleaf, the floran, on his own while I'm mining. My main concern, however, is repairing my FTL drive. According to S. A. I. L. I need twenty uncut erchius crystals in order to jumpstart the drive again. Where the hell am I supposed to get that much erchius?! In the mean time, I'm heading down to the planet's surface, hopefully I might be able to find something useful. If all goes well, I should be able to fly to the nearest outpost and see if can find someone who can supply me with erchius and take care of Dewleaf when I can't. Anyway, Paul out.

END OF LINE

Dewleaf was silently sitting in his crib, watching as Paul said his goodbyes and vanished in a flash of light. Once again, Dewleaf was alone. Of course he was too young to understand it fully, but he felt very scared, as if some dark presence was waiting just outside even though there was nothing to fear. He stood up and tried to peer out of the window to see the threat, and then he saw it. Empty darkness as far as his fear-filled eyes could see, an endless void as if he was blind, threatening to swallow his existence and loose himself in the infinite expanse. But in this darkness he saw something, pinpricks of light shining through the void. he watched as there seemed to be more lights among the dark, lanterns in a scary cave, islands in a sea of evil. And as he continued to look, he saw other lights among the shadow, wispy streaks of color like rivers, huge floating fruits , and a great flaming orb of light at the core of it all! It was beautiful, more so than he had ever seen before in his life, more than he believed he ever could see in life.
But somehow, he knew there was more out there for him to see, he just needed to reach out, like calling forth the beauty, and it would come to him. But as he reached out his hand, he found it to be blocked. And then he realized that nothing could be simply called forth, he would have to find it first. He looked out into the blackness once more, out into the infinite expanse of the universe, and realized he was looking at more than just outwards, more than just stars against the canvas of space, he was looking into himself. That despite the darkness of trauma was all that could be seen, it was merely a canvas against which the good within him could be seen ever more brightly than if he had been without the evil within. And as he looked within himself, he saw more and more good inside against the backdrop of fear. He continued to do this for a few more hours. Pouring over what he saw about himself and what he didn't understand, such as the violence of the tribe, why he saw himself so differently from the other floran seedlings, why the universe is so big, and most confusing of all, why he felt so attached to the human. he was, after all, only a child. When he returned to reality, it was at the sight of Paul returning in another flash of light. Seeing the human reminded him that he did not have to be alone, that people did not have to be evil, and that the universe did not have to be so very cruel.

​

III
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November 16th, 2104

12:29 PM


paul here. Today I finally returned from what should be my last mining trip! Luckily the planet We ended up parking over was very small with a negilable threat level. I managed to eventually strike the outer heart of the planet and aquired plenty of core fragments. During my long trip, I also managed to get myself a set of steel scavenger armor! Along with the armor, I bought myself a fancy new shotgun from a strange mushroom person. I couldn't understand a word he said, but the price he offered on the gun was too good to pass up! it does shoot standard bullets, but man does it shoot! This thing has a pretty concentrated spread, so it should be alot better than most shotguns at medium ranges. I also found a bone sword that Dewleaf may like when he grows into it. It's Dulled of course, but it will be a sword for him to practice sword fighting with if he would prefer that over archery or firearms. Speaking of Dewleaf, I recently spoke to sail about him. He is apparently masculine (though not male as all Florans are asexual) at 3' 4" 22lbs was born on February 4th, 2102. Meaning he is almost 3 years old, meaning he should be starting preschool soon, meaning I need to find a tutor rather soon. Anyway, I'm currently taking a break from working on the warp engine repairs, should take one more day before the ship's ready to fly again. But one it is, I plan on heading to the closest outpost gate. Once I'm there I should be able to find someone who may be able tos upply me with the erchius I need as well as someone to babysit and properly teach Dewleaf. I've taught him some of the galactic alphabet, but he needs someone who can actually teach him how to speak and write, someone to teach him basic mathematics, and someone who can teach him to fight. I can't afford to send him to a school, but I'm sure that there are some private tutors there that I can hire at a, hopefully, reasonable price. Anyway, Paul out!


END OF LINE


This was it! He was finally going to be able to leave this stupid hunk of bedrock and magma. Shame he was leaving now, as the part of the planet where he was working was finally starting to warm up, but it mattered not. His ship's engine was fixed, and that was the only subject of importance at the moment. He had not shown Dewleaf his gift yet, but that was for another time. He turned on the SAIL and prayed that thrusters were fixed. And when sail blipped up all systems as "operational" (with the exception of FTL) Paul leapt for joy. "This is it Dewleaf! Were finally leaving!" Of course, Dewleaf didn't understand a thing Paul said, but he thought what he said was good and smiled his sharp-toothed smile back. And with that, he watched as Paul turned around and reved up the engines. He set course for the nearest outpost gate and pushed the big red "GO" button. As he heard the low rumble of the engines start to intensify, Paul went over to the startled Floran and picked him up. "Come on Dewleaf! You'll want to see this!" He sat the child down on his lap in front of the shielded pilot window. In deep fascination Dewleaf watched as the world below seemed to move to behind them, the ship pointing towards what seemed like distant emptiness in the depths of space. Suddenly, everything started to bend and warp as the engines roared to life and in a flash, in front of them appeared a strange structure. Very small and concealed in some sort of bubble. "Look Dewleaf! The outpost gate!" Dewleaf continued to look at the strange thing with confusion. There was nothing there! Just a broken arch with an elevated, glowing, circlular, pad underneath it. Paul then promptly picked him up, set him in a makeshift baby-back-sling, strapped him onto the humans back, and carried him to the ship's short-range teleporter pad. "Ready?" Asked Paul. Taking Dewleaf's confused look as a yes, he shifted Dewleaf's weight and pushed a button on the wall with his elbow. Dewleaf shut his eyes in fear and started to panic when he and Paul were surrounded with light, but as Paul softly shushed him and looked back at the frightened Floran with his kind and trusting eyes, he calmed down and opened his eyes as the world seemed to melt away around them, replaced by another in a different place. "There! Now was that so bad?" Said Paul. Though when he looked back at the Floran he found him, to his surprise, to have completely dozed off mid teleportation! Paul was about to panic when he realized that he really had simply fallen asleep, and was breathing softly onto the human's back. Readjusting his weight, paul stepped onto the gate's teleporter pad, pushed a button on a console, and stepped through the opened portal into the outpost. As it closed behind him, Paul looked up to see the familiar stars that he had not seen in so long.

He set off to walk towards some bright lights in the distance. After walking for about a quarter of a mile, he came to the outpost and the "infinity express" convenience store. 'First thing's first.' He thought to himself. 'Finding someone to look after Dewleaf.' He opened the door to the outpost and stepped inside. Upon entering, immediately and accidentally, attracted the attention of everybody in the outpost as bringing a child to the outpost is something that is almost never done. After the initial shock, everyone slowly returned to their activities, though some were conversing about the odd person that carried a child into the outpost and how even stranger was the fact that it was a human with a Floran child. He continued walking, until he came to find who he was looking for. It was a very nice Floran lady dressed in human garments, he had met her a while ago when she had asked him to do a quick errand of finding a "cool jacket" for her in exchange for a antique cap. He was very interested in human culture, and even used to be a teacher at a human preschool (at least, until she "was fired for eating the class pet that the students got me. How was I supposed to know it was a pet? I always rabbit for night mea- *'scuse me* dinner. ) They didn't really know each other, though they did converse for a while after he got her the jacket. Paul approached her and said in the friendliest manner he could "Hello again! I see you're still wearing that jacket I gave you." "Wha? Oh yes! I absolutely LOVE IT!" She replied. Paul was about to reply when Dewleaf leaned forward and proceeded to gnaw on his shoulder and drool all over his shirt. "Oh my gosh! Is that a baby?! Can I hold him? Please?" "Sure!" Said paul as he made an attempt to pry of the sleeping Floran without waking him. He managed to pass him off (though not before getting just right shoulder thoroughly soaked) "He is so cute! Where did you find him?" Questioned the former teacher "I found him orphaned in a ruined Floran village. The work of Dreadwing the pirate unfortunately." "Oh no! the poor thing. So what's his name?" "Dewleaf. By the way, last we met you spoke of being a preschool teacher." "Yes. And not just preschool. Before that, I was a 3rd through 6th grade elementary teacher for a several years. After the ‘Mr. Coco-Bun’ incident, I decided to move on to teach at a High School for about ten years as an English 9 and 11 teacher. And then I eventually retired at the age of 40. And here I am now, a happy Floran at the young age of 43. So, what can I do for you?" After recovering from the shock of her quick yet brief speech, Paul asked her "So, how much would it cost for you to look after and teach Dewleaf?" Towhich she replied, "well, normally I'm not a tutor unless I'm occasionally trying to help one of my students. But since you asked so nicely, expected to have to pay, and because this little guy is just too darn cute! I'll teach him at the cheap price of 1000 pixels per year! On weekdays from 11:30 to 5:30 old earth time. Just drop him off here with me and i can take care of him." "Wow! You really mean it?!" "Yup! Though you will have to be supplying him with lunch." Said the Floran teacher as she handed back the, now awake, Dewleaf. "That will be no problem! Thanks a bunch!" Said Paul, taking back Dewleaf and handing over the 10000 pixels. "His first lesson will be tomorrow, Monday the 17th. Be there at around 12:15!" replied the teacher "Thank you! And good bye miss..." "Blossom. Sun-Blossom. And thank you too!" With the teacher/caretaker out of the way, all he had left to do was find someone who could supply him with erchius.
It did not take long, as there was somebody who was looking for help. “Help! I need somebody!” when the guy found paul and begged him for help, paul replied “first of all, what do you need help with. second of all, what are you offering?” to which the frantic scientist replied “I've received a distress signal from a lunar mining facility near here and I'm worried. You look like you’re prepared and experienced, im sure you wouldnt have any problem checking on the erchius miners. if they are in a dire situation, they shouldn’t have any problems with parting with some of their erchuis.” After considering this, Paul gave him his response. “sure, ill go and see what’s wrong as soon as i drop off my kid tomorrow at twelve fifteen.” “Well, im sure the miners can hold out for just a bit longer. here, take this nanosuit augment as preimbursement. it will allow you to breathe incase the O2 supply is down or damaged.-! Oh my good lord! what the hell is that on your back?!” cried the startled scientist as he spotted dewleaf peering over Paul’s shoulder. “Well excuse me sir! but this thing is my son!” exclaimed paul. “now, ill take your nanosuit, but make anymore remarks about dewleaf and the barrel of this gun will be the last thing you see!” “very well…take care!” said the scientist as he suddenly needed to use the closest bathroom stall. “what a weirdo.” remarked Paul as he turned to leave towards the door. Tomorrow was going to be a big day, and Paul was going to be ready for it.”

IV​

November 17th, 2104
12:29 PM

paul here. I've got to go soon so I'll make it quick. I've found someone to watch and teach Dewleaf. Her name is sun-blossom and seems pretty nice. She was that former teacher to whom I have the cool jacket to. She used to be a teacher, so she should be reliable for looking after Dewleaf. As for me, I'm going to get the coordinates to a erchius mining facility. Hopefully I'll be able to get the erchius I need without too much hassle. Though just in case, I'm bringing my armor and weapons. Paul out!

END OF LINE

Dewleaf wondered why Paul suddenly decided to wear trash and metal on himself, what was in the brown bag, and why Paul took them back to hut-of-strangers. Last time they went there, they found someone who was like his mommy, but wasn't, and another Paul that was not Paul and seemed very worried about something. As they stepped through the doors, he saw the not-mommy waiting for him by a gigantic metal box with another not-mommy inside it. On the box were the unintelligible sybols "TERA-MART" covered in flowered vines. The two not-mommies were talking to eachother. After they spoke for a bit, the not-mommy from yesterday gave a bunch of the little yellow things that Paul gave her yesterday. after being given the yellow things, the other not-mommy put some red strips into a brown bag which she then gave to the not-mommy from yesterday. "Ah! Hello Paul!" Said the Floran "Glad to see you on time. And I'm guessing that's Dewleaf's lunch in your hand?" "Yeah, it's nothing much. Just some ham, cheese, and a bottle of water." "That should be fine for him. Though, if I may ask, what's with the getup?" Inquired Ms. Blossom "About that, I'm going to be leaving soon to go inspect an erchius mining facility. I'm not sure what to expect from it or how long I'll be gone. So I'll bringing some equipment just in case there's any trouble." Replied Paul "Well... If you won't be coming back soon, I can take care of him until you eventually return." "Thank you very much! Is there anything else you need?" Asked the human "No, no. It's all fine. No problem!" "Thank you!" said Paul as he went off to find the scientist.

Dewleaf, once again, felt alone. This time he was alone with a stranger that he didn't know. He tried to reach out and call Paul back, but all he did was stick out his hand and make a small sound, and all Paul did was look back and wave his hand. Dewleaf didn't know what he should do. He tried to fuss and struggle in the stranger's arms, but no avail. She softly shushed him and carried him to the teleporter gate. There was a familiar flash of light, but instead of taking him to Paul's metal-place like he had hoped, they ended up in a strange place he had never seen before. It was like Paul's metal-hut, but different in some ways. For one thing, there was less stuff everywhere. Instead of things just being scattered about the floor, there were neat boxes along the walls. There was also a little area of dirt where many plants were being grown. Some he had recognized, such as the oculemons and pusplums, while others were very strange indeed. There were fruits that had feathered crowns, some had seeds that looked like a bird's beak. There were a few plump red fruits growing on stalks and others that looked like the red ones but were made of metal. There were other differences as well, it had larger windows, had a sky in the top, and looked like a flowerhouse. There was also a large area behind the teleporter. It had all sorts of things for a child his age to enjoy. There were floating, glowing, cubes with symbols on them; differently shaped objects; lots of toys for him to play with; and a locked, glass, shelf of thin pads that looked like the thing that Paul speaks into every so often, except they weren't glowing like his.

To his unexpected delight, the stranger set him down in the middle of the room. "We'll arrive at the school in a little while. So sit tight and enjoy yourself, see what you can do with what's around you. Once we get to my house we can begin lessons okay?" Dewleaf simply stared at her. Blossom took his scilence as a positive response, gave him one last smile, left the room, and shut the door behind her. Dewleaf stood up on the colorfully decorated carpet and toddled over to one of the toyboxes, he then peered inside and found many strange things. There was a little not-Paul holding a black stick the wrong way. When it didn't move, he thought it was dead, but when he picked it up, he found it to be oddly hard. He tried biting it to see if that would prompt it to move, but found that it tasted weird. After knawing on it, he accidentally crushed its head into its neck and the thing cried out "target sighted. engaging!" Which caused Dewleaf to throw it in shock and hiss at it. When it didn't move or speak again, he went over to it to see what had happened. He poked it again to see if it would provoke another response, it still didn't react. Then, he picked it up in its hands and tried crushing its head into its neck again. "Retreat and regroup!" It yelled. Dewleaf once again was shocked and dropped it immediately. When he picked it up again, this time expecting a result when he pushed the head. "War is never a pretty thing." Dewleaf wondered what it was talking about. So far, this not-not-Paul was playing dead but only if he wasn't trying to break its neck, and when it would react it would merely cry out but wouldn't struggle at all. This seemed very odd to Dewleaf and fascinated him immensely. He then started experimenting by threatening it inways other than just breaking its neck. He didn't get any more results except when he tried to crush its very inflexible chest and ended up caving in. Suddenly, it came to life and started making loud banging noises as the stick it was holding started flashing a red colored light at the tip. This pleased Dewleaf immensely. Ever more curious, Dewleaf started poking and prodding the figure in whatever place he saw fit. To his childish delight, when he pushed on its back the thing came to life again and started waving its legs and struggling in Dewleaf's grasp. Soon after experimenting with what he had discovered, Dewleaf uncovered another shocking discovery, the thing had a panel on its back above where it was being pushed. Dewleaf used his small clawed fingers to pry off the panel to reveal what was inside of the thing. On the inside of the panel itself, he found what appeared to be some strange symbols extruded on the inside in the shape of, what was it? A triangle? Something like that. He ignored these, however, as what he had found on the inside of the figure intrigued him immensely. There appeared to be a blue not-flat-rectangle that was glowing very brightly. It appeared to have a little blue solar storm on the inside of it, concealed behind another one of those invisible walls that would be on the front of the ship. He carefully removed it from the little-Paul (as he had decided to call it). No sooner had he done so when the figure frantically started screaming some more strange calls. "ALERT! LOW BATTERY! COMBAT CARL NEEDS BATTERIES TO OPERATE! ALERT! LOOoowwww baaaaterrrryyyyy..." the little-Paul's death throes eventually died down, after which Dewleaf tossed the toy aside to divert his attention entirely to the glowing blue thing that he held in his hands. He stared at it, thinking about how strange that something so simple could make him feel so much more happy than something as dead-but-fancy as the little-Paul.

He continued to stare at it as the not-mommy entered the room, completely oblivious to her presence. She eventually caught his attention when she held out her hand for the blue-glowy thing. When he refused, she held up the dead little-Paul. He stared at it, realizing that he had brutally and heartlessly stole its life for the simple pleasure of the soft blue glow, and felt entirely disgusted by this realization. He gave back the blue thing to the not-mommy and watched as she put it back inside of the little-Paul and replaced the panel back on. As it sprung back to life, he smiled at it and waved goodbye as not-mommy picked it up, returned the figure to the toybox and carried Dewleaf out of the room and into the teleporter room. He continued thinking about the confusing morals of taking life and whether or not it is worth killing things for pleasure. 'No, it no good thing!' He thought to him self, that much he knew for sure despite only just about to start school for the first time. When they touched down onto the planet's surface, he saw a hut-of-strangers that much smaller than the other one. The really weird thing when they went inside was there were no other people. Just a large space very similar to the room in the not-mommy's metal-place but much bigger and with a lot more stuff. There were many more boxes of various things, a very brightly colored mat, a birdcage with a bird inside, and a large display embedded in the wall.

V​

November 18th, 2104
[nosmiler]18 am[/nosmile]


"Ooh dear... I hope he's okay." Dewleaf had spent the whole day with Ms. Blossom as she taught him all of the basics of language, much to his delight and fascination as he had taken to learning with an eagerness that she hadn't seen in a long time. They had now returned to the Outpost to wait for Paul, but he never came... Something had happened to make Paul not come back, and it worried them both... While Sun-Blossom would wait for him to return, Dewleaf had dozed off after having some oculemon flavored pussplum laced with a bit of poppy juice to calm him down. Though this wouldn't be the first time he had dozed off. Earlier she had found him quietly crying and sobbing in his sleep, before starting awake with a scream, his eyes blood red with tears... She hugged him and told him that everything would be alright and he eventually fell asleep after eating. His face still remaining sad. As she kept awake with her seventh cup of fresh coffee, or what the little tyke would call "Black Bad", her thoughts kept drifting back to her times as a teacher. Back before... Them... She hated thinking about it, but the memories of the blazing school and the screaming children would never leave her mind. Nor would her time afterwards. Just thinking about going back to being as she was terrified her, but no more so than the prospect of forgetting. How many had she saved? Would it ever outweigh those that she didn't? Those whose deaths she was responsible for? Some indirectly, others not so much... As she felt her eyelids beginning to drift, she noticed a tall Apex soldier carrying a large bag walking towards their table. Her hands instinctively drifted to her inner jacket pocket, but relaxed when she realized the apex held no malicious intent. But something about his expression felt wrong. His eyes gave that of a bearer of bad news. He dropped the bag onto the table. Inside was a bloodstained holotape player with a cracked camera and a damaged projector, a small bone sword perfect for Dewleaf to use, a set of keys, a pixel chit, and a shotgun covered with blood. She looked up at the apex, but neither said nothing. He simply sat down and waited... After a while, the apex spoke... "I am so sorry..." "Excuse me?" "This was all we could recover... I'm sorry to be the bearer of bad news... I'll be on my way now... Once again, I am so very sorry for your loss, but I must speak with those affiliated with the other deceased..." and with that, he stood up and left for the recently installed outpost teleporter... She looked at the items with a tenacious horror and carefully picked up the holotape player... She looked at recent recordings and played the most recent one... The audio crackled to life and played the following message...
November 18th, 2104
12:38 am
P... Paul Robert's final log... *Oh god...* I... The mines... It's worse than any of us could have possibly imagined... The workers, All of them, something happened to them... changed them... Tainted them... Something just... So very horrendous... Whatever it was... Whatever they were... It is spreading... The team members were also affected... The creatures would spew... Something... Like blood, or worse... It would eat at the flesh, cause it to bulge and sag... And then... And then... *sniff* Oh my god... It changed them as well... Out of the seventeen of us that came in, only me, this glitch, and this novakid are the only survivors... Well, sorta... I kinda... *Heh heh* Got hurt...*Ssss* Bad... That would be fine but, well... It was from one of those... Things... We had just found a small refuge when we were getting chased... We got in, but when they found my calf had been hit... They... They took all of my gear save for my shotgun with only one shell, and then locked me outside... One shell to... To... *sobbing can be heard through the speakers* God... I don't want to... I AHHG! *RRnnf* The wound on my leg... It's pulsing... Oh god... Oh god oh god oh god... This can't be happening... If anybody finds this, T-... Tell Dewleaf... Tell him I'm sorry... Paul out... *Much crying and sobbing can be heard before the log ends with a click*


END OF LINE
The log ends suddenly and clicks off, leaving the teacher speechless with shock and a sickened feeling in her stomach... Why must the universe be so harsh to it's inhabitants. Why must it torture the child with such unrelenting cruelty. It was only a child. One that she herself would have to raise now. She could not believe it... She looked over to the sleeping child with her own look of pity, picked him up, took the items and carried him over to the teleporter. She inputted the teleport ID and teleported to Paul's ship... As she looked about the decrepit surroundings, she set dewleaf down in the makeshift crib before initiating FTL to the planet where her school and ship were located. As the ship landed upon the grassy earth, she picked up the child, carried him outside and into the school, set him down in the crib where her previous child slept, and set to gently rocking him. Eventually dozing off herself to another dreamless night...

V​

Voices... She could hear voices... "Probably long enough to see the sun again I hope..." "You and me both kid... You and me both..." Voices... Who's were they? She couldn't tell through her closed eyes... Upon realizing this, Sunny awoke with a start, getting up off of the cold metal ground... She frantically looked about her surroundings. She was in a ship, no doubt about that. A small transport ship by the looks of it. She was surrounded by people in different kinds of armor, wielding different weapons... Eight of them, she could take them easily as none have noticed her yet, which struck her as very odd. After looking more carefully, she realized she recognized more than a few of them. An apex that looked related to the one they had seen at the outpost, two novakids both a bright blue hue... One with a lever action rifle and a Ω shaped brand, the other with a lever shotgun and a Θ shaped brand... She'd seen them drinking and gambling at the outpost as well... A red colored floran dressed in thick armor made of bone and carapace wielding a savage looking titanium sawblade. Always getting into brawls and challenging people in the arena that one... There was a female hylotl dressed in light river armor whom she remembered as a racist snob, and a glitch whom she didn't recognize but could have sworn she's seen before. He was dressed in enough durasteel plating to stop a train... The one that stood out to her the most was the human male... Orange shirt, black hair, goatee, plated yet flexible armor, and a rapid pump-action shotgun... Paul M. Roberts... She reached out and tried to speak to him, but her voice would not come out... Suddenly realizing there was another presence, she whirled around and there was Dewleaf, standing there looking at Paul with a sad look... He looked at her with his sad eyes, before turning back to Paul and pointing at him... "Gone?" She felt like she was going to cry... First dream she's had in years and it turns out to be nightmare owned by another... "Say, weren't you that guy that brought in a... A floran?" "Problemssss with floran fissshh?" "Yes, I have many problems with them... Especially if they have no sense of self control..." "Ssssss!" "Save the fightn' fer later y'all!" "We'll be shootn' stuff soon enough..." "They're right, we need to stop fighting you guys... And yes, I adopted a floran... Only survivor of having his entire village burned down... You can teach them not to be savage you know... No offense... Umm..." "Petal Chassser... None taken... Petal like friendly human! " "I beg to differ... What kind of naive fool are you in believing in such a thing as civilized florans?" "Hey... Back off..." "Or what monkey man? You going to hulk smash me?" "Ah'd shoot ya' both 'fore ya hit th' ground!" "That made no sense Benzine..." "I'm tryin' Astatine! I'm tryin'!" "Stupid light bulbs..." "Could everyone please just shut up?!" ".........*Click*......*Whirrrr*......" The sound of the glitch's whirring and clicking is soon the only thing breaking the silence... The ship lurches as it lands... "Alright everyone... Here we are at the lunar erchius mines... The miners are probably in need of help, so if you could get the teleporter repaired so that they could evacuate, that'd be great..." "Where do we find it?" "Bottom level before the deeper mines obviously... Easier for them to evacuate in case there's a cave in..." "What she said... Now, I'm opening the airlock... You organic organisms all have your nanosuits equiped?" "Yesss!" "Of course..." "Affirmative..." "Wait! Hang on! How do I use this thing? I've never had a nanosuit before... The apex gets out of his seat and helps the man seal the nanosuit belt and augment on him before getting back in his seat... "Okay. All set! I think... I hope..." "Great! Alright everyone, back in your seats... Don't want to be sucked out far when the airlock opens... Everyone ready? Good... Opening hatch, good luck everybody..." The airlock opens to the empty lunar atmosphere... Thankfully, that of a dreamscape, as Dewleaf and Sun Blossom are not sucked out and horribly eviscerated... Once the pressure stabilizes, everyone gets out of their seats and exits the ship. First time on the moon, Paul can't help but gasp in awe at this alien landscape... He was visibly in total shock, and Sunny couldn't help but smile at the childish expression plastered upon his face... Not very far from the ship, Sunny and Dewleaf can spot the entrance to the mines, as could everyone else probably... As the group began wordlessly moving towards the mines, she saw Dewleaf following next to Paul... Behind her, she watched the dreamscape fade as Paul went on. Deciding not to see what happens when left behind, she follows the group. When they arrive at the entrance of the mines, they stop and wait for the airlock to open. Nothing happened... Minutes passed, and eventually the hylotl took initiative and manually opened the airlock... Clean on the inside it seemed, though the red emergency light was rather disconcerting. They all stepped into the airlock and manually initiated pressure stabilization. When it finished, they opened the door to the command room. It was dark save for the sunlight streaming through the windows, shining upon the mutilated and blistered corpses littering the room... Not a word was spoken among the group, as they all carefully turned on their lights. They all slowly deactivated their nanosuits, and as Paul turned off his, the smell of blood washed over Sun Blossom like a wave. A smell she was all too accustomed to. Paul promptly retched and heaved from the sickness in the air, as the rest of the group scanned the room...

 

Part of chapter 2 is up! Will develop on it when I get the chance.

 

Well, I really like it so far, one advice I can give, though, is that: Try to leave a free space gaps between 4-6 lines of text, walls of text tend to be distracting. Other then that, I will hope that you write more!

 

Would indents every paragraph work? 'Cause a space every paragraph makes it seem a bit too desperate to be long. Unfortunately one can't really indent on an iPhone. Though I may occasionally get a chance to use the computer when I'm home.

 

Nice job! I can't wait to see where this goes next.

 

Chapter II is done! And don't worry, ill probably be making it a bit less sad than it has been. Also, I'll be indenting the whole thing and updating when I can.

 

And here is how the game starts, let's see how the story progresses.

 

YOU THINK THIS JUST A GAME?!

 

Well, I guess it depends on perspective.

 

Chapter three is done. i haven't really proofread it and just wanted to get it out to get some feedback. but i did, proofread the prologue and first chapter! so i think most grammatical errors should be fixed.

now here's a question for you all:
Who's perspective should i focus on next chapter?

• Paul as he ventures into the depths of the erchius mines to see what horrors lie within.

• or Dewleaf as he meets a new friend and teacher as he either fumbles carelessly, or becomes an instant star student. (by preschooler standards of course)

 

Hmm... that's a hard one. I'm gonna go with Dewleaf, because he's a baby and babies are cute.

 

just know, i can't guarantee Paul Roberts will survive for me to write about him. After all... I've already traumatized the boy so much as it is, one more death shouldn't be a problem.

 

I say - start with a Dewleaf, so far the atmosphere in this story was fairly calm, let it stay like that for a little while, and then roll for the Erchius facility.

 

Whats a dewleaf? i know about the character named "Dewleaf", but i didn't know that there was actually something called a dewleaf. (other than leaves with dew on them, but that would be a dewed leaf)
(okay... ill stop now... or will i? )

 

Yeah, I'm confused now!

 

Don't have time to fancify it, but I finally got around to finishing up chapter four. Its plain text, haven't changed it to times new yet. Though I hope you enjoy it for what little it is. (How strange that a four-year-old would have such complex thoughts... )

 

I like it

 

So, there's bit of a problem... Whenever I try an open a file in google docs, it promptly crashes. Meaning, until there's a patch fix, I won't be able to post anything on this story, meaning that you won't know what will happen to Paul during his mission, or what might happen with Sunblossom and Dewleaf. Sorry about this... :/

 

Nuuu ;-;

 

FACTORINGNECRO HERE!