The hum of a large aircraft disturbed the calm air. A door opened on the machine's side with red, glowing circles, all in pairs, showing in the darkness of the hull. The circles moved and blinked out as they shifted closer to the opening. One of the pairs moved from the darkness, showing they were actually eyes enhanced by goggles. A bizarre creature leaned out of the plane, peering down at the land he was jumping to.
The creature was completely black-excluding his red eyes-and had jagged teeth and hair. He took a calming breath, checked to make sure he had his parachute, and jumped. He pulled the cord to open the chute and floated down safely. He stripped off the pack and dove into the brush, waiting for nightfall. He hated being out in the light, he needed shadows to camouflage himself. He looked up and watched as his fellow creatures jumped. 'The Strange Folk have landed…' he thought with a small smile.
He watched as the natives busily wandered around doing simple tasks like shopping and farming. A few of the little blue tinted children were playing with a ball. One of them kicked it near the Strange Man, and he shifted in his hiding place uncomfortably. He watched as one of the youths got the ball, and looked at the bush curiously. "Come on Ally, throw the ball back!" one of the children shouted.
Ally nodded and threw it back, but returned her focus back on the bush. She poked her head in the brush, right in front of the Strange Man and looked around. She then retreated and returned to playing, her face tinted with the disappointment that she saw nothing.
The Strange Man blinked and shoved his head above the brush. 'She couldn't see me…?' he thought confusedly. Deciding to check his theory, he crept right behind the children and watched them play, moving so he was constantly looming over the child he stalked. He noted that the children occasionally looked in confusion at his shadow, but didn't seem to notice him. A wonder induced smile spread across his face.
'They can't! Fascinating…This should make studying them so much easier! Perhaps we can even live in piece like these…these…Happy Folk, yes; I shall call them Happy Folk! Perhaps we can live in piece like these Happy Folk!' He thought but such thoughts vanished at the sound of a gun. His eyes widened in horror as he saw one of the older Happy Folk fall, blood seeping from his chest, and a Strange Man was looming over him.
He watched in a mix of mortified horror and fascination as a glowing sphere of light seeped out of the fallen body and flew in a sort of dance to the mountain. The other Strange Man put his gun away and chased after the light. The Strange Man who was watching the children walked up to the dead Happy Man, and bowed his head in respect.
"Why? Who? Who would kill daddy…? Why?" cried the Happy Child Ally.
"I…I am sorry…Can you hear me? I'm Doctor Augment…I…I don't know why he died…but I shall find out…for you…" he said right in Ally's ear. The girl looked up in confusion, tears still streaking down her face.
"Doctor…Augment…?" she muttered, but soon returned to mourning. Dr. Augment stood strait and turned to follow the other Strange Man, intent on giving him a stern scolding. More Strange Folk were chasing dancing lights up the mountain and Dr. Augment couldn't help but feel ill from the knowledge of how the lights were put in the air. He managed to catch the other Strange Man and pinned him down angrily.
"Why?! Why did that Happy Man have to die, Gyro?! We can learn so much from them! We could stop the chaos of our world by mimicking them!" Dr. Augment barked. The other Strange Man Gyro shoved Dr. Augment off.
"It had to be done doctor. They're hiding something in that mountain…Monkey I believe they called it. What ever it is is what will really help our world." Gyro said and trotted off. Dr. Augment sighed but decided to follow out of scientific curiosity. What the Strange Folk found by chasing the lights was a cave filled with beautiful gems. Dr. Augment watched as a light landed on the ground and formed a crystal.
His eyes widened in amazement and he breathed the word fascinating. Gyro grinned manically and began to claw the gems out of the cave walls. "You fool! Can't you tell these shouldn't be disturbed?! They should be studied as is!" he barked and Gyro snorted.
"I'm mining them, not studying them old man! These can be used as great bartering tools! Hell, maybe they can even be made into weapons!" Gyro said as he continued to harvest the stones. Dr. Augment, sickened by his companion's display, decided to head back to the village to carry out his original plan on studying the Happy Folk.
He tailed some of them, writing things down in a completely black journal in white ink on occasion. He followed one family into their home, and observed their sleeping habits. He watched, head tilted, as the Happy Woman he was currently observing tossed and turned restlessly. He wondered what she was dreaming.
Days had passed and he had learned that what was going on in the mine was dangerous. He learned a powerful spirit named Monkey was living in the mountain, and the mining was disturbing it. He rushed o the mountain, and was quickly in the caves. "Stop mining! Stop mining or you'll die!" he shouted frantically at the others. They just looked at him like he was crazy and continued their work.
"You're going to disturb the mountain! It's going to awaken and we're all-" the ground began to shake "going" a rumbling sound could be heard. "TO DIE!!!" was Dr. Augments last words before the loud shrieks of a monkey ripped through the caves. The Strange Folk looked around confusedly as Dr. Augment fell to his knees. "Fools…We could have learned to live as Happy Folk instead of Strange Folk…" Dr. Augment said as he closed his eyes, tears streaming down his face.
The ground began to crack and shake until it exploded with an earth shattering roar. All of the Folk, Strange and Happy, were killed in the blast that was so loud the different Folk around the world looked up confusedly.
"We have committed an unforgivable sin in the land of the Happy Folk, and that is why we are going to die. Should anyone…ANYONE at all…find this log…please remember these words I am about to write.
"To live in peace is a wise way to live, but one must take action to protect that piece as inaction and apathy shall lead to your demise.
"May who ever find this be wise beyond their years,
"Doctor Theodore H. Augment, head researcher of the Strange Folk."
These were the last words written by Dr. Augment. The book, miraculously, survived the fire. It was blasted into the sky, and landed in the ocean. As a researcher's log, the book was built durable and the ink was water resilient. It washed onto the shores of a small island where a young Timid Boy found it. He picked up the log, read it, and cried. "I do not know who you were, sir, but…your words are very true…I shall make sure your message is spread." he said and rushed home in the dense jungle forest.
He took out a pen, paper, ink, and bottles. He wrote furiously, repeating the wise message, on each and every page. Each day when the sun was setting he put the written messages in the bottles and threw them in the sea with the hopes that other Folk will read them. Meanwhile, in a large cloud hidden crater, a strange crystal was growing amongst many happy yellow colored ones. It was pitch black except for two, big, red dots, which when watched seemed to blink out of existence for an instant every now and again.