| Arwen-Undomiel.com http://www.arwen-undomiel.com/forum/ |
|
| A Journal of Belonging http://www.arwen-undomiel.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=48&t=17144 |
Page 1 of 1 |
| Author: | Jax Nova [ November 27th, 2007, 12:47 pm ] |
| Post subject: | A Journal of Belonging |
Ok this one is written out allready so I will post parts every now and then. Hope you guys like it, let me know what you think. A Journal Of Belonging: Entry 1: JAX-599 The cold night air filtered through my open window as I woke that night. Once again a wrestles night kept me awake. “What is it about me that makes it so no one can relate? Why can’t I ever belong?” I thought wishfully. I got out of my bed and walked slowly over to the window, planning on closing it. But something caught my eye, something outside the window. There just outside of my dark clean room, out the smudged window I saw a forest. “That’s impossible!” I knew it was, the house was located in a large open yard! Hurriedly I opened the window further, expecting the “elusion” to disappear at any moment. But to my utter astonishment it did not disappear as I reached out and grabbed a leaf from a near by tree. I looked back at the rest of my room, the look of shock pasted on my face as I looked over my bed, white sheets and a blue pillow. My wood desk setting on the hard wood floor and my dresser with it’s usual items laying on top of it. Everything was normal… except the forest outside my bedroom window. It was amazing! I ran across the cool floor and rummaged through my dresser drawer until I cam up with a pair of jeans, a T-shirt, and my jacket. I grabbed my pocket knife, a package of nuts that set on the top of my dresser, a bottle of water, and then headed back to the window. Taking one last look back into my room I climbed out the window. I lowered myself to the ground, crunching leaves and twigs under my feet. The forest stretched for as far as the eye could see. The thinly spaced trees grew wide and tall, groundcover filling in the many gaps between the trees. I didn’t know where to go… What to do. The orphanage that I left behind certainly didn’t appeal any more than this however. My mind raced with amazement as I viewed the astounding sights that filled the dimly lit view that my eyes absorbed. The wind dropped it’s tear drops from the sky as it cried through the trees with a strong momentum, it’s effects, however were undetected by my skin as the trees sheltered me down below from the winds harsh drive. I had walked for a minute… or two. Maybe ten or more, I couldn’t really say. When I looked back it was apparent, however, that I had walked far enough that my room was no longer in sight. The solitary window that hung there in mid air had vanished or escaped deep into the woods. Either way, whether I had walked far enough to engulf it in this forest, or whether it had vanished as mysteriously as it had appeared, it was no where to be seen. I seemed to walk for miles, passing the tall and enormous trees, vastly diverse undercover, and a few open spaces. A face of light brown hair, deep brown eyes, and slightly tanned skin stared back at me as I looked aimlessly into a small pond, it’s surface shining with the light of the new arrival of the moon to the night sky. A smile graced the face as I stepped closer to the edge. My full form of five foot and eight inches seemed a bit taller in the reflection. It was as if I had been set free from the troubles of life, gifted a place of solitude where, for once in my life, I could escape my troubles. Now all I needed to worry about was finding food. I had the bag of nuts, but that would last a total of three days if rationed properly. Fortunately I had always been fascinated with nature and recognized many of the plants, several of which were eatable. Many of them, nevertheless, were utterly repulsive in taste. It would do. “It will have to.” I knew, if I was to survive. The night’s cool air rolled in as the waters reflections remained strong in the moonlight. The fresh night air smelled pleasing and clean with a hint of rain. “I might as well get some sleep.” Who knew what creatures would be lurking around in these woods. I decided against sleeping on the ground and climbed a tree instead. This particular tree, it’s long and dangling branches were accompanied by a strong vine. The two worked excellently for weaving myself a little bed in the branches. “I should…” I thought but I lost my line. There was something else… “What was it?” I couldn’t even be sure I was thinking about… What was I thinking about?! The confusion faded away with my consciousness. The next thing I knew I was waking that morning in my bed that I had made, hanging high in the trees. “I must have fallen asleep before I finished.” I thought as I looked at the large whole near my feet. I didn’t remember. No matter, though, it did fine for the night. Climbing down the tree I looked around diligently to see if I could see anything new in the welcomed light that the morning sun brought as it bled through the trees. The cool air filtered through my lungs as I jumped the last three feet to the ground. “I wonder if the water is clean enough to drink?” There was only one way to find out. I needed a drink! My throat was as dry as sand paper. Skin clung to skin down the tube of my throat. The small twenty two once bottle of water did little to quench my thirst. At the far end of the small pond was a stream running out. The pool must have been fed by an underground spring. The two foot wide creek that ran out of it appeared clean. I knew that this would be the cleanest water I would find without boiling it somehow. So, for now, this pond would have to do. I drank my fill of the cool running water. Once gain I could swallow without feeling as though parts of my skin was being pealed from my throat. I filled my bottle with water, as full as it could go. Then once more I drank from the stream, as much as I could possibly hold. Not only would it keep me from feeling as hungry as I already did, but I had no way of knowing when the next time I would find water would be. “I wonder if there is any intelligent life in this world?” I thought to myself as I walked along for yet another long day. I was alone, hungry, and getting thirsty again. But these were not new to me. The feeling of emptiness that rings in your core when you haven’t heard a kind word, or perhaps no word at all from another living soul for days. The tightening not in my stomach that grew and growled with sharpening strikes of pain as I walked onwards. The distinct dry feeling that I continually tried to erase from the back of my throat by swallowing my spit. None of this was new, not for me. Finally, my second day in this strange world, I got a break in the harsh reality of surviving in the wild. A fruit tree! They looked, to me, like mangoes. They tasted like mangoes. I decided to eat some, as well as dry as much as I could over the fire that night to take with me. I assumed, since I woke up that morning, that the fruit was not harmful. A third day passed by, my water was nearly gone now and my throat was still dry. Half my nuts were gone and a couple pieces of dried fruit. Fortunately another break, berries. The food and the juice were welcomed greatly by my hungry and thirsty body! None the less, I was enjoying my exploration. I had decided on my long walk that given the chance again I would still exit through my window, perhaps with some extra provisions however. The fourth day brought me thankfully to another stream. The clear cool water was a welcomed sight as it refilled my water bottle and my dry flesh. But then I noticed something in the stream, something shiny. The elongated object moved around curiously, shining and shimmering under the water’s surface. Suddenly I noticed, it was a fish! The strange little fish had a back that lit up as bright as a star in the night sky. I camped by the river that night and decided against catching the fish with the wooden spear I had carved with my pocket knife. I had no way of knowing whether it was poisonous or not. But the morning light that woke up with the sunrise in the east provided a new form of food. A rabbit bent down by the water to drink. I saw half of it sticking out from behind a large rock. I grabbed my spear slowly and walked silently towards the rabbit. I threw, hard and fast, but accurate. The spear struck the back half of the rabbit and pinned him momentarily to the ground. But in his frantic attempt to flee he broke free, drug my spear with him for a few feet, then took off on his own. I grabbed the spear on the run, chasing after my prey with eagerness. It would be good if I could have something to eat besides dried fruit or left over berries. Following the drops of blood I stumbled over the dead body just behind a bush. With a smile I grabbed the animal and brought him back to my camp site. Impatiently I skinned and gutted the thing. It took little effort to restart the coals that once formed the flames of my camp fire. Then I set one of the legs, skewered on the end of my stick to roast over the fire. As the smell of cooking meat tormented me I broke open the skull of the creature. Digging the brains out I applied them to the hide and stretched it out on the trunk of a tree, using the tendons from the rabbit to hold it tight. This process would tan the hide and make it soft and flexible, as opposed to it’s hardened and stiff state it would dry in otherwise. “I wonder what I can make out of it.” my mind worked as the rabbit leg cooked and I created a rack to place above the fire and dry what meat from the rabbit I could. My few pockets were starting to get filled between the berries, dried fruit, and my water bottle. Perhaps I could make a small pouch out of the skin. A sling would certainly do me no good, no better than the wood spear I already had. A small pouch, I decided would be what the rabbit hide would provide, as I ate the leg meat with satisfaction. “It’s not to bad out here.” I said softly to myself with a smile on my face. “I just hope winter is a long ways off…” the thought crossing my mind made me think of the shelter I would probably need. If I was fortunate the winters would be mild. But there was no way for me to tell until they came. I would need to be prepared as soon as possible. The meat was almost done drying when I heard a rustling in the brush. A flash of gray disappeared behind on of the shrubs. “Wolf!” was the first thing that bounced into my mind. No doubt something would have smelled the meat drying over the fire. I grasped my spear handle and waited. It was known that wolves didn’t like fire… But was it a wolf? The night came, and the sounds lessoned. To my dreadful horror I found myself waking up from falling asleep as something dashed in towards the camp! I jumped to my feet just in time to see the wolf coming in. It was a wolf! I threw my spear at it, hitting it in the left shoulder hard enough to knock it down. The canine predator yelped in pain and raced off to the east up the river. Apparently the pack was inclined to follow as I heard a great number of creatures leaving with him. That next morning I forced open my eyes and once again made myself feel bloated by drinking all the water I could eat. The last of the meat was dry and the second leg was cooked. I could now start traveling. I packed on my things, found another stick suitable for a spear and began carving the end to a point as I walked up stream to the east. To my shock I was startled by a growling sound and a snapping wolf lunging at me out of a nearby brush. Thanks to my reflexes the wolf bit the stick that I held in my hand instead of my leg. The blood on it’s shoulder divulged the reasons why it was here, alone. And why it was attacking me. It was wounded, by my spear. It probably recognized my smell and singled me out as a threat. I simply got to close. A thrust of my stick sent the wolf into the stream and my stick out of his mouth. But he was not ready to give up, he lunged at me again. Backing up I devised a strategy to fight this vicious predator. I let it bite the end of my stick, the pointed end, and thrust, with all my mind, the spear down it’s throat. The wounded wolf soon lay dead, motionless, and cold. After I got over the initial panic of being attacked I skinned it and preformed the same procedure on his hide as I had the rabbit’s. While I waited for the wolf hide to be finished I commenced making my pouch out of the rabbit skin. I sewed it together with the rabbit’s numerous tendons and put a loop that one of the wolf’s teeth would go through to fasten the lid shut on the small leather container. By that time the fire that I started gleamed in what little moonlight shone through the thick trees above. I had no idea what I was going to make out of the wolf hide. I figured I could at least keep it for a small blanket if it were to get cold soon. It would, after all, be better than nothing! But that would not be necessary, I hopped. My thoughts on the subject once again faded away as sleep won yet another battle over my body and mind. That morning I woke, half mad at myself for falling asleep on the ground. I didn’t feel comfortable anymore with sleeping in such a vulnerable spot, not after the wolf attack. But there was nothing to do now but hurry on my way and remember not to do so again. It was nice traveling along the shallow river. It’s calm waters provided a drink whenever I desired and I had no worries about the next time I would find water. Also, I assumed, that if there were any humans on this world they would settle near the river. Perhaps, by following the river, I might find a settlement or city of sorts. The days faded quickly after the first week of traveling. The animal attacks revisited my campsite once or twice and my bed in the trees became less painful to sleep in. The river still flowed as calmly as ever and the trees thinned. My dried fruit and meat was replaced by more dried rabbit meat and the few bird eggs I found along the way. Since I couldn’t cook the eggs I ate them raw. It took some getting used to but it wasn’t that bad. Three, maybe four… or five, six months. I couldn’t be sure. Time passed so suddenly. Where it had all gone, I couldn’t say. How much of it had gone, I could not say either. But finally, for the first time in ages, I saw intelligent life again. But not normal intelligent life. These tall, slender white and gray creatures wore strange garb and had faces much like those of the reported aliens seen by humans on earth. “I’m not on earth anymore.” I reminded myself. So now the question… Where was I? The question of “What are they” referring to these strange creatures was no longer an issue. In fact, it never had been. Kaminoans, without a doubt. The only problem with this? Kaminoans didn’t exist, not in reality. Which would seem to indicate I was no longer in reality. But if these creatures were real then the rest of the creatures known commonly as “Star Wars” creatures must also be real. A simple idea that intoxicated me with fascination. “Excuse me.” I called out to the large white Kaminoan closest to me. “Would you happen to be able to help me? I am stranded here.” The Kaminoan’s head perked up. “Hello.” his strangely hollow voice rang softly with a sideways head cock to accompany it. “How long have you been here?” he inquired of me. “Several months… I think. It’s been so long, I really can’t say.” I admitted. “Please come with me.” he offered with a smile touch his odd mouth. I followed him back to there ship. It seemed they were gathering animal DNA for there genetic experiment research. They would allow me to come back with them but I would have to place myself in the care of one of there clone groups that they were starting on. It seemed a reasonable request since they would feed, cloth, shelter, and train me. What else was I to do? But that… That was a long time ago. Since that time the clone training has been… intense, all consuming. I have no family, no friends, no life. Now I am only a warrior. I am, in every sense of the word, a clone. Just like all the rest of the helmeted faces that surround me during the training. There is no difference between me and the man sitting next to me, not in their eyes. And any more, not in my eyes either. They are my family, my friends, my life. A ring sounded from the door as JAX-599 set down his data pad and filled away what he had been writing in his journal. “It’s open.” his strong voice called out, now sounding much like the voice of a clone… or the voice of the bounty hunter Jango Fet. It had been nearly ten years since JAX had been adopted by the Kaminoans and placed with the clones. Although he didn’t look like them, he was one of them in all senses of the word. And although he was twenty six years old he looked no more than twenty. Presumably, because of the Kaminoan growth reducer he would look, feel, and function as a twenty year old for another ten years. That was the ratio. In ten years he would feel and function like a twenty one year old. In another ten years a twenty two year old, ten more and twenty three year old. “The orders in, were moving out in ten minutes.” a clone troopers voice called from the outside of the door. “Be there in five.” JAX replied. JAX put on his armor, a plain white suite, strapped a pistol to each hip, slid a vibroblade in it’s sheath on his back, grabbed his utility belt, and his blaster rifle. He took one last look at his room that he would never see again. Although the first time he left his room, crawling through his window into this fascinating world was only a blur after ten years he could remember that hesitating feeling. But like last time he knew he had to go on, on to bigger and better things. Sitting in the transport he grabbed back on to his data pad while he waited for the ships to take off and there orders to be given. A Jedi Master, Master Yoda had picked them up on urgent necessity of there services. JAX waited for the rest of his team, the five O first, 501. |
|
| Page 1 of 1 | All times are UTC - 5 hours [ DST ] |
| Powered by phpBB © 2000, 2002, 2005, 2007 phpBB Group http://www.phpbb.com/ |
|