I would like to say that I own Starcraft. But I don't. Dang.
--------
The whole idea was weird. Why would somebody send the Protoss a letter in German since they don't understand it? Someone playing a mind game, trying to see if they could decipher it? That didn't seem likely. But then I had a thought. Perhaps the letter was not for the Protoss at all...
I got to work. It took me a very long time, because of my short attention span. And then there was the compound words. The work was tedious, but fortunately the message was not so long. I held, after much work, a copy of the message, in English, scrawled out in my ugly handwriting. I began to read, shocked that the message contained my name; it was for me, apparently from someone who knew I would be here.
It read:
"Greetings. By now the Protoss should have taken you in, and you're sitting at the desk now, reading this. The Protoss are suspicious of you, so watch what you say in front of them. They watch you for lies and inconsistencies. But don't worry. That is merely bigotism. You are going to be fine.
Listen to me. By now you have been wondering how you are to get home. That is not going to be a problem. The Protoss have not told you this, but you are powerful, more so than they can imagine. Thus they fear you, and Aldaris has made you wear the green amulet. This prohibits your abilities while you wear it. You may note that you have never before noticed these powers. That is because your powers simply do not exist at home.
These powers should allow you to find the exits, even with the amulet on. The exits occur every so often on Aiur, and there are five in the city of your present location. You will know when you find them; a strange sensation will draw you. The nearest one is at the Gardens of Adun. Jump through it when you want to leave.
You wonder if you should tell them. You know what I'm talking about. That is entirely up to you. Their future isn't good, but will your warning affect anything? Time will tell, if you risk it.
Closest of friends, Harleynte"
I was enraptured by the bizarreness. Who was this 'Harleynte'? Why was she my closest friend? Mindlessly, I tore up the paper and the translation. Of course, tearing up the German page would be irrelevent, because the Protoss likely had a copy of it somewhere else. I sat blankly. What should I do?
Thinking about the last bit of the message, I realized Harleynte was talking about Duran. Should I tell the Protoss about him and his plans? It would sound so crazy to them...
The door suddenly opened, and in came Zearenal with the guards.
"Well," he asked. "what does the message mean?"
I just stared at the desktop.
"Child?"
"Call up the Conclave."
"What?"
"Have them gather, as soon as possible. I have something to tell them." I looked up at the bewildered Protoss. "It is imperitive that they hear of this immediately. Go. Now."
Zearenal said something to the guards, or at least I think he did. It's sort of hard to tell when you aren't psionic, or at least this ability is impeded by a green amulet. They gave me a funny look, then left, locking the door behind themselves.
I got ready to leave. My words probably wouldn't affect the Conclave's opinion of anything, except to make me that much more insane in their minds. So I'd have to make my exit before they decided to lock me up in a stasis cell.
While I was being interrogated, someone must have cleaned my original clothes, then left them for me. I put these on quickly. My books I swept quickly into my backpack, adding two of the Protoss gowns. Hey, they were pretty, and I don't think they'd mind too much if I took them. But feeling sort of guilty, I declined to take a third. I am such a hypocrite sometimes.
So the nearest exit was in the gardens of Adun, eh? I looked out my window, spotting a patch of color in about the center of the city. But was that the right garden? Taking off the amulet, I found it was so.
I broke open the window lock, then swung it open. Testing the limits of my abilities, I carefully and quickly forced my backpack to the exit, which was mostly just blurred bushes from my point of view. It landed, as I later found out, perfectly into the exit.
Then the window was shut. I had nothing to do but wait until Zearenal let me out. My LOTR books were in my pack. Suddenly I got these strange feelings in my head. I tried to figure out what it was, confused until I heard footsteps outside. Somebody was coming.
I hurriedly snapped on the amulet, and sat quietly on the bed. The door unlocked and opened just as I sat. In came Judicator Aldaris. What was this?
"It seems you now exercise power over the Conclave, small one." he began. "Ordering it about when you wish."
"Hey, I've got some important stuff for y'all to know, and it's best I tell you right away."
"Why did you not mention this earlier?"
"Well, I wasn't sure I should. It's a bit insane, especially from your perspective."
Aldaris's eyes turned a sort of pale red shade. "Why?"
"You'll just have to wait until the Conclave meets. I don't really feel like repeating myself."
"I will be unable to attend, as there are other things to accomplish today."
I grinned a bit. "Sounds like a personal problem to me."
He gave me a look.
"Alright, I'll tell you a little bit. Um....well, okay. The Confederacy has been keeping some bizarre secrets, or, more specifically, an important power in the Confederacy. Apparently, they're getting a bit creative with the use of the zerg they've captured. Eh...have there been any reports of Protoss suddenly disappearing? Or getting captured by the Confederates?"
"None have disappeared. And the Confederacy is more prone to destruction than capture. Why do you ask?"
"That's where you're wrong then. The Confederacy doesn't always kill available prisoners."
A very strange, almost bewildered expression appeared on Aldaris's face. "Does this have anything to do with 'the creative use of zerg' you have spoken of?"
"Ah, indeed. See, there's this guy in the Confederacy, I don't know his real name, but he's intending to create something to bring about some sort of ancient power, or so he says."
"How do you know this?"
"Eh, I know a lot of things I shouldn't know."
The door opened again. Zearenal and the guard appeared.
"It is time to go, young one." said Zearenal. "The Conclave has gathered, and will hear you now."
"Good." I hopped down the bed. "Sorry Judicator, you'll just have to wait to find out more."
So I approached the guard, and they began to escort me away. But before we left, I turned back to Aldaris.
"Kerrigan controls the Matriarch. You don't understand it now, but you will later. Remember."
Thus we left for the Conclave. It wasn't too long a way. They didn't want to alert the general public, I guess, because we drove about in some sort of a covered vehicle. This was a big disappointment to me; I wanted to see the city. Oh well, I'd see it later. My plans of the first chapter were already formed in my mind.
You know where the story goes from here. Just reread chapter one. As it reveals, after a time with the Conclave, I found the exit and jumped through. I made it to the back of the stone church, as if I had never left. My backpack was there waiting for me. I ran off toward home.
----perspective change----
"The girl is running down the street, H'avoln."
"We have certainly messed up this one. Such anomalies cannot be allowed. How did she find the time whisp in the first place?"
"Unknown. But we are going to be in trouble for this. Do you know where she went?"
"The scans are inconclusive. I could scan longer, but we might never find out. But she seems to be no worse for wear, Harleynte."
"H'avoln, look at this. Notice how the girl has paused in her run. With each step she had taken, she forgot more and more of her adventure through the rip. Now she wonders why she runs."
"Yes, but she will never completely forget. Look at her wrist. That amulet thing she wears she did not have when she went into the whisp. And her subconscious mind will ever hold the events of her travel. She will remember sometime."
"Perfect."
"What?"
"The girl is perfect. If she could pass through the whisp this unharmed, she will be of great use to our group. We could give her a few years to grow, then send her back to the beginning. She would certainly help."
"That girl in the Xel'Naga? How do you know she could help us?"
Harleynte gave a little grin. "I know a lot of things I shouldn't know."
--------
The whole idea was weird. Why would somebody send the Protoss a letter in German since they don't understand it? Someone playing a mind game, trying to see if they could decipher it? That didn't seem likely. But then I had a thought. Perhaps the letter was not for the Protoss at all...
I got to work. It took me a very long time, because of my short attention span. And then there was the compound words. The work was tedious, but fortunately the message was not so long. I held, after much work, a copy of the message, in English, scrawled out in my ugly handwriting. I began to read, shocked that the message contained my name; it was for me, apparently from someone who knew I would be here.
It read:
"Greetings. By now the Protoss should have taken you in, and you're sitting at the desk now, reading this. The Protoss are suspicious of you, so watch what you say in front of them. They watch you for lies and inconsistencies. But don't worry. That is merely bigotism. You are going to be fine.
Listen to me. By now you have been wondering how you are to get home. That is not going to be a problem. The Protoss have not told you this, but you are powerful, more so than they can imagine. Thus they fear you, and Aldaris has made you wear the green amulet. This prohibits your abilities while you wear it. You may note that you have never before noticed these powers. That is because your powers simply do not exist at home.
These powers should allow you to find the exits, even with the amulet on. The exits occur every so often on Aiur, and there are five in the city of your present location. You will know when you find them; a strange sensation will draw you. The nearest one is at the Gardens of Adun. Jump through it when you want to leave.
You wonder if you should tell them. You know what I'm talking about. That is entirely up to you. Their future isn't good, but will your warning affect anything? Time will tell, if you risk it.
Closest of friends, Harleynte"
I was enraptured by the bizarreness. Who was this 'Harleynte'? Why was she my closest friend? Mindlessly, I tore up the paper and the translation. Of course, tearing up the German page would be irrelevent, because the Protoss likely had a copy of it somewhere else. I sat blankly. What should I do?
Thinking about the last bit of the message, I realized Harleynte was talking about Duran. Should I tell the Protoss about him and his plans? It would sound so crazy to them...
The door suddenly opened, and in came Zearenal with the guards.
"Well," he asked. "what does the message mean?"
I just stared at the desktop.
"Child?"
"Call up the Conclave."
"What?"
"Have them gather, as soon as possible. I have something to tell them." I looked up at the bewildered Protoss. "It is imperitive that they hear of this immediately. Go. Now."
Zearenal said something to the guards, or at least I think he did. It's sort of hard to tell when you aren't psionic, or at least this ability is impeded by a green amulet. They gave me a funny look, then left, locking the door behind themselves.
I got ready to leave. My words probably wouldn't affect the Conclave's opinion of anything, except to make me that much more insane in their minds. So I'd have to make my exit before they decided to lock me up in a stasis cell.
While I was being interrogated, someone must have cleaned my original clothes, then left them for me. I put these on quickly. My books I swept quickly into my backpack, adding two of the Protoss gowns. Hey, they were pretty, and I don't think they'd mind too much if I took them. But feeling sort of guilty, I declined to take a third. I am such a hypocrite sometimes.
So the nearest exit was in the gardens of Adun, eh? I looked out my window, spotting a patch of color in about the center of the city. But was that the right garden? Taking off the amulet, I found it was so.
I broke open the window lock, then swung it open. Testing the limits of my abilities, I carefully and quickly forced my backpack to the exit, which was mostly just blurred bushes from my point of view. It landed, as I later found out, perfectly into the exit.
Then the window was shut. I had nothing to do but wait until Zearenal let me out. My LOTR books were in my pack. Suddenly I got these strange feelings in my head. I tried to figure out what it was, confused until I heard footsteps outside. Somebody was coming.
I hurriedly snapped on the amulet, and sat quietly on the bed. The door unlocked and opened just as I sat. In came Judicator Aldaris. What was this?
"It seems you now exercise power over the Conclave, small one." he began. "Ordering it about when you wish."
"Hey, I've got some important stuff for y'all to know, and it's best I tell you right away."
"Why did you not mention this earlier?"
"Well, I wasn't sure I should. It's a bit insane, especially from your perspective."
Aldaris's eyes turned a sort of pale red shade. "Why?"
"You'll just have to wait until the Conclave meets. I don't really feel like repeating myself."
"I will be unable to attend, as there are other things to accomplish today."
I grinned a bit. "Sounds like a personal problem to me."
He gave me a look.
"Alright, I'll tell you a little bit. Um....well, okay. The Confederacy has been keeping some bizarre secrets, or, more specifically, an important power in the Confederacy. Apparently, they're getting a bit creative with the use of the zerg they've captured. Eh...have there been any reports of Protoss suddenly disappearing? Or getting captured by the Confederates?"
"None have disappeared. And the Confederacy is more prone to destruction than capture. Why do you ask?"
"That's where you're wrong then. The Confederacy doesn't always kill available prisoners."
A very strange, almost bewildered expression appeared on Aldaris's face. "Does this have anything to do with 'the creative use of zerg' you have spoken of?"
"Ah, indeed. See, there's this guy in the Confederacy, I don't know his real name, but he's intending to create something to bring about some sort of ancient power, or so he says."
"How do you know this?"
"Eh, I know a lot of things I shouldn't know."
The door opened again. Zearenal and the guard appeared.
"It is time to go, young one." said Zearenal. "The Conclave has gathered, and will hear you now."
"Good." I hopped down the bed. "Sorry Judicator, you'll just have to wait to find out more."
So I approached the guard, and they began to escort me away. But before we left, I turned back to Aldaris.
"Kerrigan controls the Matriarch. You don't understand it now, but you will later. Remember."
Thus we left for the Conclave. It wasn't too long a way. They didn't want to alert the general public, I guess, because we drove about in some sort of a covered vehicle. This was a big disappointment to me; I wanted to see the city. Oh well, I'd see it later. My plans of the first chapter were already formed in my mind.
You know where the story goes from here. Just reread chapter one. As it reveals, after a time with the Conclave, I found the exit and jumped through. I made it to the back of the stone church, as if I had never left. My backpack was there waiting for me. I ran off toward home.
----perspective change----
"The girl is running down the street, H'avoln."
"We have certainly messed up this one. Such anomalies cannot be allowed. How did she find the time whisp in the first place?"
"Unknown. But we are going to be in trouble for this. Do you know where she went?"
"The scans are inconclusive. I could scan longer, but we might never find out. But she seems to be no worse for wear, Harleynte."
"H'avoln, look at this. Notice how the girl has paused in her run. With each step she had taken, she forgot more and more of her adventure through the rip. Now she wonders why she runs."
"Yes, but she will never completely forget. Look at her wrist. That amulet thing she wears she did not have when she went into the whisp. And her subconscious mind will ever hold the events of her travel. She will remember sometime."
"Perfect."
"What?"
"The girl is perfect. If she could pass through the whisp this unharmed, she will be of great use to our group. We could give her a few years to grow, then send her back to the beginning. She would certainly help."
"That girl in the Xel'Naga? How do you know she could help us?"
Harleynte gave a little grin. "I know a lot of things I shouldn't know."