Author's Note

What you are reading is an updated, if not corrected version of my old Rayman story, Rayman VS Serena, which I originally finished in 2003. The original had an insane amount of grammar fail, and I've also tried to make it a bit more canonically correct than it was, though it still has fancharacters making it about as canon as Premier Clics. Enjoy anyway, this is my deprived imagination after all.

In a vast void of darkness, a voice was heard. "It's dark", it told in a sinister manner, "but there is light at the end. Follow it, limbless one, follow it!"

Rayman did as he was told. As he stepped closer to the light in hesitation, it grew larger and larger, until it suddenly enveloped him with a blinding flash. All remained dark again for a brief pause. Then, Rayman gradually opened his eyes. Before him was a stream of crystal clear water, flowing underneath a golden stone bridge that he had been lying down on. Beside it was a short marble pillar, where a butterfly stood atop. Rayman cast his sight skyward, and saw an early sunset painting the sky in yellow and pink.

He sat himself up, and quietly asked himself, "Where am I?"

He looked around, and somehow, this place reminded him of the Woods of Light. There was a waterfall, a small lake and plenty of flowers and fruit bearing trees, but there were no stones of thought, and he didn't recall marble pillars being there. Nonetheless, he decided to explore the area, but in haste, his foot slipped and he fell in the water.

Undeterred by how wet he was, he stood himself up and began to explore this familiar place. It was awfully quiet, except for the sound of a breeze coming down from the sky. Hardly any life apart from butterflies could be seen or heard, no birds, no other insects, nothing. Rayman was starting to get suspicious, but he soon came to realise that he was far from home – he was on a floating island high in the heavens.

Could this be… heaven? Rayman couldn't believe what he was seeing, neither did he want to. With nobody else around to tell him where he actually was, he could only assume that he was now dead on Earth. Despite being such a beautiful place to spend an eternal afterlife, he began to wonder if this was the heaven he had been told so many times about. He expected at least a few others to be there, but for now, he had to think harder. Would his friends eventually show up to join him when their lives end as well?

After a while, Rayman started to look around for the advantages of this place. He saw that there were trees bearing irresistible fruit, but he didn't want to eat. He was however, a little thirsty, and turned back to the lake to take a sip of the water – fresher than any water he had drunk on Earth. When he had finished, he leaned back on a tree and gazed into the sky as the sun kept on sinking into the clouds. He carried on thinking about how the world below would cope without him, and whether or not being here could be a reward for the good deeds he had done in his life. "Maybe some day", he whispered to himself, "we could all be together again".

Even more time passed, and Rayman grew tired. As night was beginning to break through, a cloud appeared beside the bridge, and slowly took the shape of a bed. Perhaps that would be where he could sleep for the night, it looked comfortable enough. So Rayman climbed on it, and was beginning to fall asleep. As he was about to close his eyes, he felt something fall on his nose. Somehow, it was starting to rain.

Suddenly, the sound of thunder boomed as if angels were banging on timpani, as the sky became engulfed in the darkest clouds anyone had ever seen. The rain fell harder, and suddenly, the cloud Rayman was about to sleep on disappeared, causing him to fall on top of the bridge, which had turned to cold, solid steel. Rayman scrambled underneath it to take cover from the rain, but in seconds, a flash of lightning bolt shot down and reduced it to nothing.

The flowers quickly withered and were washed away as the water in the stream became a torrent of black sludge. Gale force winds swooped down and blew the trees and bushed off course, like the dead of a ship being thrown overboard. Worst of all, the ground was breaking apart as if the place was struck by an earthquake, revealing a bottomless pit ending with lava. This was no longer heaven; in that short space of time it had become hell.

At the mere sight of the lava, Rayman grabbed hold of the last remaining tree that stood, as tightly as he could, and attempted to climb as far away from the pit as possible. But the wind grew stronger, and the tree was weakening so fast that it was bending over the pit. Rayman soldiered on with all his strength to get back on safe land, but the elements fought harder. Eventually, the tree snapped, and that, along with Rayman, plummeted into the lava. He could do no more for himself but to scream at the top of his voice.

As soon as he fell into the lava, a sudden shock struck him. He immediately opened his eyes – he was no longer high up in the heavens. He was in a dark room with just the light of a small lamp, but he wasn't alone. Globox and his wife Uglette were around him, as were a few of their children sitting on his lap, looking delighted to see him awake. "Oh Rayman, we're so glad you've finally come around", Uglette cried with glee.

So it was only a dream after all. Rayman never felt more relieved, but he had many questions to ask. "Where am I now", he asked, "and what happened?"

"Everyone heard you scream in the forest", Uglette began to explain, "but by the time we found you, you already hit the ground. You wouldn't wake up, until now. Ly should be coming very soon to give you red Lums."

She then left the room, to bring Rayman something to eat. As the Globox children huddled up to him, he tried hard to remember these events for himself, but somehow, he couldn't. Soon, Globox picked his babies off of the bed, as his wife presented Rayman with a bowl of vegetable soup and two slices of bread. Though he still didn't feel too hungry, he thanked her, and slowly ate. "Take your time," Globox said.

A short while later, Ly the fairy finally arrived, carrying lots of red Lums in her arms. She too was glad to see Rayman had woken up, and proceeded to harvest the energy from the little lights to his bruised body using her own magic. Rayman was soon feeling refreshed, and his wounds were fading. "There you go Rayman", Ly calmly said, "When you've finished eating, I'll take you home".

* * *

A few days had passed, and Rayman was now fully rested, and full of energy. He felt so much better, that he fancied a race through the meadows with none other than Ly. So, he proceeded to pay her a visit at her house in the Eastern Plains. Eventually he got there, rang the bell, and waited for her to emerge, but there was no reply. He tried again after a minute, but to no avail. She must have already gone, probably to meditate deep in the forest.

Slightly disappointed by her absence, Rayman set off to the village and visit some of his other friends.