WARNING: If you have not yet finished playing Aveyond: Gates of Night, I suggest you DO NOT CONTINUE. Thank you for your kind cooperation.

~ CHAPTER ONE ~

Alienation - Stella


The Naylithians were happy people.

I could see that, since the day I was born. The Naylithians were happy people. They smiled, they laughed, they polished each others' wings, they chuckled, they made peace.

I was happy, too. My mother would hug me in her arms, and show me the world on my tiny little blue wings. She would comb through my hair when I was little, and polish my wings. I was a happy person, too. I knew that I was happy, that my life would be one of love, joy, peace and beauty...

I thought it would be.

It wasn't long before I realized one thing - other than my own mother, with her beautiful lavender hair and bright blue wings just like mine, nobody ever helped me polish my wings. Nobody helped me comb my hair. Nobody talked to me for more than two sentences. Nobody dared come too near me, either...

"Why, Mother?" I asked. "Is there something wrong?"

"No, there's nothing, little Stella," my mother would have that carefree smile on her lips.

The Naylithians are happy people.

But I wanted to be happy, too... I wanted them to smile at me, pat my head just like the other children, and ask, "Have you had a nice day, Stella?"

Yet, only my own mother actually called me "Stella". The others just called me "girl", "that girl", "that brown Wingless girl"...

"But I do have wings, Mother," I complained.

"They're just joking, Stella," smiled Mother - her eyes glazed over, blank...

And then she would teach me new words by reading me the dictionary. (Pedophile - An older person with a strange liking for small children)

But I couldn't help wondering - what's Mother trying to hide from me? Who is my father? Why am I... Wingless?

The Naylithians are happy people.

I understand now.

"Why... Why..." my mother cried, her eyes brimming with tears. "Why can't you just leave Stella out of this?!"

I stood there, limply. I didn't know if I was in shock, denial, or in the lack of emotion. I could feel the darkness welling up in the pits of my stomach. I struggled to fight back the tears.

"We value peace over everything else!" Theo yelled. "Yet you just have to fall in love with one of those violent Wingless - a magic wielder, none the less! Who knows what kind of violence this girl would grow up to possess? Now we're purposely making it hard for the Wingless to come up here, but it's too late now. You're glad we even let your child stay here!"

Aren't they supposed to be peaceful... Aren't they supposed to be happy people...

Lies, betrayal.

"I tell you - if that girl of yours shows any sign of magic or violence, she leaves!"

The Naylithians are perhaps more complicated than you think...

But I love this place. My home is here. Now that I knew my father was a human mage... My wings are the only things that tie my life to this beloved place of mine.

I just... I just want everybody to be free... and fly like butterflies in the sunlight...


The Naylithians were happy people.

I could see the dark, green, lethal poison flowing in my mother's system. I yelled, screamed - nothing worked. Nobody believed me that she was poisoned - "She's just ill".

And I could feel their eyes on my back, watching me intently, as if waiting for me to do something...

"If you don't do anything, Mother will die!" I cried and screamed at the rest of them. "Don't you care at all?! Even if I might not be... My mother's one of you after all, right?!"

No response.

"Why-..."

I turned back to the fainted body of my dying mother, my tears streaming down my face in rivulets. If only I could have the power to save others... what kind of a blessing that would be...

The colors of the poison continued to dance around in my closed eyes, as I clutched my mother's hand, crying...

I saw the green in my eyes, the green venom in her blood, and I hoped - please turn red again...

And there was a blinding flash. And I had this horrible, dreadful feeling that told me - it's the end. It's all over. You'll never be one of the Naylithians again, Stella, never...

They were surprisingly kind. I was surprised at first.

"Girl - near Naylith, in the Rose Forest outside, there is a cave called the Seer's Cavern. Uh- Apparently there's a powerful orb in it, we want you to guard it because you- well, you are powerful."

I could see my healed mother in the back, shaking her head wildly, telling me no, no...

so be it.

"I will," I said emptily.

I knew this would come. But I'll thank them for their kindness for not throwing me out rudely anyway. At least - at least they're getting rid of me on the pretense of me "guarding a powerful orb".

I dragged my feet out - I felt their fake smiling faces on my back, their eyes crying in joy that I - being a curse - have finally left.

So be it.

I sank my feet into the grass.

The Naylithians are happy people...

They just don't want an alien like me to destroy their happiness.

So be it.

I saw the tunnel of the cave, and I peered into the darkness forth.

Is this where I belong? A dark, deserted cave, with no companions but endless hordes of unfriendly monsters, nobody for me to cry on when I'm sad...

I let myself fall onto the ground, hitting the cold stone, letting my hair fall, and I cried to the ground, why...

Nobody who would talk to me and ask - Stella, you alright...

"Little girl, you alright?"