This story is based on of two games I played with Virtual Villagers 4. The majority of it is one game with someone actually named Parau while the ending is based on of another game the ended up with someone who looked like Parau.
This is basically my first Virtual Villagers story, maybe not my last. I might base stories off of my games, but they might not always come since I sometimes quit Virtual Villagers after I get tired of them die and pick up a new game later on.
Anyway this story kinda shows my game strategies and what frustrates and happens to people when I use these game strategies. On to the story!
Parau was only a baby when his mother, Pangai, was selected to go on an expedition for their tribe. Parau was only a baby when he and his mother had to leave behind Parau's father behind. Parau was only a baby when the small expedition group got lost and found a large dying banyan tree.
The group decided to build a new village and worked to help themselves survive and try to save the tree. They believed the tree was the source of nature and magic of their island, Isola. If the tree died, they believed that Isola died. So everyone was working hard to save Isola.
As for Pangai, she married another man named Miro. Pangai became in charge of producing children to make the village more populated. Little Parau had more siblings.
When Parau was sixteen, a master farmer named Paiva taught him how to farm. He learned to farm blackberries and hard fruit. Although Parau wanted to farm, he always wanted to play with the two younger children, Aloha and Tontiki. He would quit working to play with them. He would literally drop the fruit he was carrying to splatter on the ground while he ran off to play with the kids. The tribe ended up having less food than it should had.
Paiva noticed this and talked to Parau. "Parau, you need to help harvest food for the tribe. Don't you realise we are starving? Don't you see that if we all starve, we all die. There will be no one to save the tree. There will be no one to save Isola. We are all working hard for this."
Parau rolled his eyes. "Paiva, why can't I take a break once in a while? I can't do all the work. Besides, Aloha and Tontiki get to play all the time."
"Actually Parau, you're not doing ANY work! It's ok to take breaks, but you do it more frequently. Aloha and Tontiki are only nine and eleven. They are too young to understand the real danger and value. But you understand Parau. We're going to die if you don't help. You need to make sacrifices for the good of the tribe," Paiva explained.
"It's not like you've made any sacrifices, Paiva!" Parau argued.
"Parau, you can make a really small sacrifice," Paive's face then darkened. "I'm...I'm in love, Parau."
Parau stared at Paiva.
Paiva sighed. "I'm in love with Uto." Uto was a master builder. He was always building new huts and clearing the stream. "We want to get married, Parau..." tears filled Paiva's eyes, "But we need to work to save the tribe. If we stop now, the tribe will be hopeless. We will get married someday, after the tribe is heading in a safer direction. We're going to starve, Parau. I just hope I can marry him before it's too late." Paiva walked away with tears streaming down her face.
Parau walked off to the food bin, where the food was stored. It was hopelessly empty. Parau saw something terrible. His mother, Parau, was being comforted by Miro. Uto walked over to comfort Paiva. A girl named Upauga also stared at the food bin sadly. Parau actually wanted to marry Upauga. Upauga was actually ten years older than him, but he could not deny his feelings. Tontiki and Aloha were playing on the beach nearby, but Parau could see fear in their eyes. Parau did not want everyone to die.
He did not want Pangai to die.
He did not want Miro to die.
He did not want Paiva to die.
He did not want Uto to die.
He did not want Aloha and Tontiki to die.
He did not want Upauga to die.
He did not want to die.
Parau stared at the fruit trees and the bushes. He knew what he had to do.
Parau carried the fish to the now overflowing food bin. He stared around at the progress the tribe made.
Parau was now twenty years old. The tribe was able to make fishing nets and fished at the coast of the village. Yet there was more work to be done.
Parau tried to marry Upauga. But she rejected his proposal. Parau decided that maybe someday he could just try again, but for now he and Upauga were both single. Meanwhile, Parau's younger siblings have grown up. Tontiki was learning how to build from Uto and Aloha was learning science from Miro.
Even though Parau's life seemed to be going fine, there was just one problem: His mother, Pangai.
Although Pangai was married to Miro, she seemed to be closer to the other men in the village. Parau caught her trying to drag them to the Love Hut, the special hut where couples plan on marriage and children. Parau realised Pangai was cheating on Miro. What worried him the most was that she especially was cheating with Uto. Uto and Paiva were still not able to marry, but Paiva said they were close to. Uto would usually run away from crazy Pangai, but Parau was concerned.
One day, Parau was harvesting fish when he saw Pangai running towards him. Parau panicked. She had a crazy look to her face. Soon, Pangai hugged Parau tightly. She held a sharp cutting tool up to Pangai's head.
"Marry me," she said to her son.
The wind whistled through the pipes. It blew on Pangai's hair as she sat stiff and silent.
After Pangai tried to drag Parau to the Love Hut, the whole tribe knew Pangai has gone insane. She became obsessed with trying marry all the men in the village. Miro, disgusted, decided to divorce Pangai. So she was punished by being forced to meditate for a long period of time at the meditation spot, a high cliff where giant flute heads were planted into the ground and could be heard when the wind passed through them. Everyone hoped that Pangai's mind would be cleared or that she would stay mentally locked up.
Parau stared at his still mother. Her craziness got in the way of the tribe's survival and progress in saving the tree. Parau realised his mother needed to learn the same lesson he learned when he was a farmer in training so long ago. He made small self-sacrifices. Pangai needed to learn that if she kept trying to force marriage with all the men, the people could not work. This also caused heartbreak for Miro, Paiva, Uto, and Parau.
Parau was talking a walk by the stream when Pangai's eyes opened. Parau was nearby and saw this. He alerted the tribe.
"My mother is awake! My mother is awake!" he cried.
Instead of putting her back to meditation, the tribe forced Pangai to keep the stream clear of debris. Her days of giving birth were over. Everyone decided to remove her of her former job as an adept parent. She was forced to a never-ending job, since the stream was always being clogged by debris.
Parau watched Pangai silently as she stood knee-deep in the rushing stream while she pushed rocks and sticks out of the stream. Pangai was being watched over by Tontiki, now an adept builder, who made sure she did her job.
"I'm sorry, mother. It's for your own good," Parau said.
"At least you're not the one forcing her," Tontiki replied, for he was still one of Parau's children she had with Miro. Tontiki, being the same age Parau was when he was a trainee farmer, had a hard time dealing with his parent's divource and his mother's new position.
"Self-sacrifice," Parau muttered as he looked down at the rest of the village from the higher cliff where the stream flowed from as a waterfall. He watched Paiva and Uto talk together. Then he remembered. Today was the day. Paiva and Uto were finally going to be married. Parau and Tontiki left Pangai and ran down to the Love Hut to watch the wedding. When the arrived, Parau saw Paiva suddenly collapse to the ground. He ran over to her. He felt her head. It was burning. Uto was screaming
"Doctor! I need a doctor!"
Parau stared at the mausoleum. Then he looked over to the piles of bodies.
Parau was now fifty. The past years were too painful. He was trying to forget them. But he could not.
The disease that caught Paiva spread. Parau watched as everyone caught it. All the kids and all the adults. The only people who did not catch the disease still died of old age. Parau watched everyone die. Tontiki. Aloha. Miro. Paiva. Uto. Even Pangai. Everyone in the tribe died. He was the only one left. As he carried their bodies to bury them deep within the stone mausoleum built into the side of a mountain. Parau knew his time was soon too. He was only fifty, but on Isola that was considered to be very old.
When Parau was done, he sat at the now dried up-stream and cried. It was over. He looked up at the still alive but sick banyan tree. The tribe was close to saving it. They were close to saving Isola. Now it was only him. If he died, so did the tree and Isola. He did not know if he could save the tree.
Suddenly, Parau heard another crying voice. A child's crying voice. Parau looked up and saw a little girl on her knees. He recognized her at once.
It was Sirrah. She was only ten years old. She was the last of Pangai's children. This made her Parau's younger sister. Pangai did not have Sirrah with Miro though...
Parau set out to help Sirrah to live. There's was plenty of food left over. But not much time. He was so old and Sirrah was so young. There was only two people left in the tribe, but Parau knew it would be better if the tribe was full of people again- even if he was not there. They could save Isola after all. But the only person who could have children was little Sirrah. The only man in the tribe was Parau himself.
Parau was fifty years old. Sirrah was ten. Parau cried on his knees. Sirrah stared at him. Parau knew what he had to do. To save Isola, he had to marry his younger sister.
This seemed as wrong as all the adultery crimes Pangai committed. But Parau knew this was the only way to save Isola. This was not a crime. It was a self-sacrifice.
Epilogue
Twenty year old Sirrah held Parau's cold hands. She remembered their last moment together.
A few minutes ago, Parau was still laying on the ground. Sirrah ran to his side.
"Sirrah..." old Parau murmured.
Sirrah's tears washed off his face. "Parau. Are you ok?"
"It's time," Parau whispered.
Sirrah was choking on her tears. "No! Parau don't leave!" Sirrah cried, "The tree! Isola!"
"Forget the tree," Parau said, "Save yourself. Survive."
"Parau!" Sirrah cried, "Remember what you taught me about self-sacrifices?"
"Sirrah."
"I need to save Isola! You cared more about me than yourself. You were weak but you worked hard for me. You helped me survive so I can save the tree! It's a self-sacrifice. Now let me do own myself," Sirrah cried.
"Fine. Save Isola. But what about you?" Parau asked.
"I care about Isola. You taught me to do what benefits others. Put others over myself. That's what I want to do. That's what you did," Sirrah said, wiping her tears.
"But now there are no others," Parau replied.
"Parau..."
Parau was silent.
"I love you," Sirrah whimpered.
"I love you," were the last words Parau said.
After Sirrah buried Parau, she looked around. There was plenty of food left over. There was one hut for her. Sirrah was alone. It was just her and the tree.
Sirrah coughed. She dizzily looked around. It was week after Parau died. That morning, her worst fear came. She had a disease.
Sirrah knew she would die. There's was no hope. It was the same disease that killed everyone a long time ago.
A few days later, Sirrah could no longer move. She wanted to die next to Parau's grave. But she collapsed before she could get there.
Sirrah looked at the great banyan tree one last time. She thought she failed to save it when she heard voices.
"This must be it! This must be where that old expedition went fifty years ago. There's a fire and huts and everything! But there's no one here! Wait, there's someone on the ground over there!"
Sirrah turned her head to see a group of people come from the wilderness into the empty village. They people came closer to her.
"Are you ok?" a man asked her.
Sirrah weakly smiled. A new expedition must have been formed by the old village Parau was born in. There was hope for the tree and Isola after all.
"Save the tree..." she whispered.
Some of the new people looked over at the tree. Suddenly someone gasped.
There was someone coming out of the mausoleum. But they looked more transparent. A ghost.
Everybody looked at the ghost in amazement. Sirrah recognized it. She smiled at him. He smiled back.
"Parau," Sirrah said. Then she took her last breath. She was happy, though. There was new hope for Isola.
THE END
The ending did not actually happen. I did have a separate game with a girl named Sirrah who was all alone after there was someone else left who died. I had Parau in a different game than Sirrah, but I decided to blend their games together since there was someone who helped Sirrah when she was younger who looked like Parau. For Sirrah's game, since she was the last person and got sick, i decided to delete her game and start over. That would have been great if more people suddenly came, but they didn't. As for Parau's game, I had to delete it since I was playing Virtual Villagers on my Android and the app kept crashing so I had to delete the entire app altogether. The whole disease epidemic happened in Sirrah's game and for Parau's game things were actually going really well. It was the most successful game I ever played. Too bad the game crashes when you're population reaches nine on the Android.
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