A Story I'm Writing: The Darkest Sunset: The First Two Pages

[Feather Gem 967]

The planet called Tramentor is almost the same as your own planet – Earth. But the creatures of this world are creatures that you will never see. And most of them you shall never know. This is a different universe. Some of these creatures can resemble the animals on your Earth, such as the shalas, whose story shall be told in this book.

Shalas look like horses – almost. Some of them have horns and wings, although most commonly do not. But these creatures are much more colorful then your own little animal friends. Even though they look like horses, their muzzles are smaller and they are also smaller then your horses. Their eyes are large and bright.

They have wrists, and they prefer to stand on their four hooves. But they are also able to stand up like a human. Their hoof isn’t flat and solid; it can bend and grip something. They have different skin, mane and tail colors. They are very beautiful.

Their legs are bigger, but much shorter then horses legs, as are their ears. They tend to grow out longer manes and tails and have small bodies. They even slightly resemble cats although if you tried to name what about them resembled a cat, you would not be able to. If you said it is the way they walk, you would doubt it afterwards, then if you were to say it was their eyes, you would go back to thinking it was their walk.

They cannot speak your language but they can speak to each other all the same. They do not neigh or whistle, chirp or bark, but they speak a language like English, French or Spanish. It’s their own language and if a human tried to mimic them, they would fail. It is impossible.

But don’t worry. Their words have been translated to English.

Somewhere on Tramentor is a little land called Maskandro. Or at least, that is what we English users call it. Maskandro is where the shalas live. It is called Maskandro based on the English word, mask. The shalas discovered this word and decided to use it. They use the word, mask, because some shalas look like they have a mask on.

Shalas have magical powers. They gain these powers when they have done something great. When they do something very special for a friend, a design appears on their face. Usually, the design resembles a mask which only covers the eye area. Each design is different and beautiful. Like a snowflake. Not one is alike which makes them unique. They gain even more magic when they almost die for a friend.

Shall I explain?

The most important thing for a shala is their brilliant friendship. Their friendship is the strongest in the whole universe. It’s stronger than the strongest metal. Maybe because that’s all they have. Shalas cannot feel love because there are no males in Maskandro. Strange but impossibly true. No one knows how the shalas were born. They just came to be. Only God knows that answer. No one knows their ages either. They just live and live for a long time. They themselves do not know when they were born.

They could not remember their past until one day, they just started to remember the recent past, and as they live on, they still remember that past, going on until the present. Before this time where they are ‘born’, they are very prone and vulnerable. They are able to think, but very slightly.

It may have very well been a meteor with an odd mind erasing gas in it that crashed into their land. Who knows. I surely don’t.

Their friends are chosen carefully. Once they find one or two perfect friends, they recite a spell to make them into a group. Groups can have any number of shalin but usually there are only two or three in one group.

The shalas can’t die from the lack of food or any known illness. They can only die if someone or something else kills them, or if they have a lack of air. But the problem is that they want to die.

Maskandro is like your world a long time ago. They don’t have any technology such as telephones and computers. They do have a few cars but not many shalas have enough money to afford them. Not many shalas have homes or food. Even though they can’t die from the lack of food or water, that doesn’t mean they can’t feel the pain – the increasing hunger and thirst. Most shalas try to drown themselves, but the Queen had put borders around the land so they could not get near the water. Even then she cannot prevent the other creatures of the night from feasting on the things that come to them in fear of the incoming darkness, yet the hope of better light. She can try to get rid of the creatures, but they live there, too, don’t they?

The Shalas are miserable. They are homeless, cold and hungry all the time. And the most horrible thing of all is that some of these Shalas lost their friendship. To lose your friendship on Maskandro is losing everything. You lose your happiness and every other good feeling and in replace of those is sadness. Deep sadness and misery.

And when that happens, all you want to do is die. You get the picture.

Every month though, a boat comes. The boat will take fifteen shalas off to find a new island where they may find peace. An island to increase the size of the Queens land. The problem is that there is no island anywhere, so the shalas only go upon this boat to die out at sea, because sooner or later there will be a storm to tip over the boat. And once the boat tips over, you will be lost to the creatures of the sea.

To pick the shalas, the Queen will pick shalas at random and those shalas will be sent a ticket. On the day the boat comes, the shalas will hurry to their death cruise and since they have the tickets, they will be the ones to go on the boat. The Queen always picks at random, right? Well there is nothing random about these choices.

Every Shala in this group have had their friendship broken. All but one actually.

 

(Don't look at me like that! I came up with this before FiM even existed!)