Honour among the Replicate

Author's note (10/03/2018 - 26/03/2018 - 10/04/2018):

This is the story I planned/wrote back c. April or May 2015. If you aren't aware, I have drawn some concept art for this book - mainly the main character Chrisus. I have also drawn concepts of Narku, for example the pixel character you see below.
I have drawn a paper drawing of him, but I honestly can't be bothered to scan the thing in.

A bit of backstory into this story's making: 

In early April 2015, after completing the great SNES game 'Terrainigma' I was completely awe-struck of how amazing the story was and I was full of inspiration to create something like it. At the time I didn't have very much game development resources, so I decided to create a new "IP" that existed along with "Ratchet and Sinro" in the form of a book

The book was meant to be released around October 2017 , but I lacked the motivation and ideas to finish it. I thought of what I would have liked the end result to be, but lacked the direction to make it a reality and gave up a month on. I then went back to this idea becoming a game, full circle indeed.

With hindsight, what I was making wasn't a story; it was a fantasy, like that scene in a movie or a game where you think "HOLY CRAP! THAT WAS SO AWESOME!". I may expound as much ideas as I can find in a later blog. The result of this was a generic Disney-princess "I want to go out and see the world" kind of story with the Ratchetwombax* tradition of action scenes that are tedious, boring, repetitive and make 0% contribution/advancement to the story and are pretty much filler.
It also has the most abrupt ending ever (because that's all I wrote before giving up).


Regarding my reasons why I didn't make this an actual game,
I was pretty reluctant to using game engines since I was one of those people who think that everything programmed on languages such as C++ were far better than games made on Unity, GameMaker or the such like. Now, as someone who uses both Unity and C++, I know that's far from the truth, there are bad games made with both custom engines and 3rd party engines like the ones I've just mentioned. 

Later in June/July 2015 I envisioned this game's gameplay be like another game I played then which was"Chaos Seed", which was about resurrecting the world - similar to Terringma except the gameplay felt more intuitive to the whole theme of resurrecting the world. I envisioned the gameplay to be like that game.

Another thing to add was that instead of actually making the game, I wanted to wait for the 'right' time to make it and SOMEHOW get a programmer to write the code for the game.
I know it's stupid. That's not how successful games, let alone products are ever made. In retrospect, I'm glad I never made the game because I would have spent 5+ years trying to implement the first area as well as learn to write code, create an engine from scrach and let alone make a good game! These harsh lessons were taught to me when I worked on the infamous "Amalginment", which was cancelled.

But who knows? I might consider giving this project a revival, similarly to how I did with my unfinished 2013 game "Redler Adventures" which turned into "RedBlue Adventures: Crash n' Brawl" released on 20/03/2018. 

The funny thing is, I see tons of these kinds of ambitious, time consuming crowd-funded/early access titles everywhere and I found them cool back a few years back - but now, I'm honestly sick of them. I feel like most of them are trying to be the same thing and using a "throwback to the 80s/90s" as a marketing technique rather than a genuine factor.

I'm not sure if I should settle on projects like these (once I have stronger programming/design capital) or completely put the idea down.
Only time will tell...

Prologue

85 billion years ago there were two gods called Animaia and Demaia, who came to be known as Light Gaia and Dark Gaia. They created two universes, one being the light universe and the other being the dark universe. Light Gaia and Dark Gaia had very powerful wills. Light Gaia possessed life and wisdom while Dark Gaia possessed death and sorrow. 25 billion years later, Light Gaia created the planets and named one Earth, on which life was formed. Dark Gaia, jealous of this new life, created dark replicas of the planets and their life. A few billion years after that, a mysterious creature created by Dark Gaia landed on Earth, in the light universe, and dug its way into the core, where it remained thereafter. It released a gas known as “Replia”, the vapour formed from the decomposing bodies of replicas, which was very deadly and killed 99.9% of life on Earth. The core continues to release Replia every 300 years. The 0.1% of Earth not destroyed was Jerumila, a holy village protected by Light Gaia; it was the only place the Light Gaia was able to defend with its power. The rest of Earth was lifeless.

Chapter 1: The Fated Day

On a lovely late evening, Chrisus was out and stargazing at the shimmering stars like an owl. Chrisus was a young, long purple-haired 15-year old girl who lived in the village of Jerumila. She was raised by a caring Elder named Ekar who was very knowledgeable in magic; he even taught her some of his magic skills. Usually at this time, Ekar would be asleep like a sloth, not aware of Chrisus’ absence, and she would always return home when the morning rises.

Gazing at the stars, Chrisus whispered, “This is remarkable… but I wish I could be brave enough to go outside of this village. Maybe only going a little way out of town won’t hurt.”

Chrisus then scurried off, without anyone noticing, to the entrance of the village.

“But the Elder said to never exit through the entrance to the village, as it is dangerous,” worried Chrisus as she stepped outside. The outside place looked like a wasteland full of dreary grass and dark brown swollen trees with no leaves.

“This place sure looks ugly! No wonder the Elder told me not to go out here - but who knows, I might find something interesting!” hoped Chrisus as she ran into the dead forest. On her way she saw a tree that looked like it had more life than the rest.

“This tree looks more alive than the rest, eh? It is the only thing in this forest that stands out!”

 The Elder, who was peacefully snoozing until that moment, woke up and quickly staggered outside.

“Chrisus! Stop! Where are you?” yelled the Elder many times like an owner extremely worried about his dog. He scurried into the forest like an old monkey.

“No… this is not POSSIBLE! Chrisus!” yelled the Elder.

“I knew this wasn’t a good idea…” muttered Chrisus as the Elder found her and grabbed her like a kidnapper.

“This is no playground! You know how dangerous the outside of this village is, you may get lost and starve!” yelled Ekar harshly, “And don’t you ever go near that tree again!”

“But it looked so beautiful!” whined Chrisus sulkily.

“I will tell you about it tomorrow. When we get home, you go to bed!” replied Ekar.

“Oh, alright…” muttered Chrisus. The Elder safely walked home with Chrisus and they both slept. The next day Chrisus woke up and went to the Elder’s room.

“Good morning, sweetheart,” said the Elder, “Have a good day, make sure you get back home early because I need to talk to you about something serious.”

“Ok! See ya!” replied Chrisus cheerfully as she closed the door. The village had a very small population and they did all they could to keep the village alive. As Chrisus walked around the village many people greeted her with pleasure. Chrisus’ part time job in the village was to run a store for several hours. She did not really enjoy it too much but she liked looking at the things they sell. Several hours later she returned to the Elder.

“Welcome back my sweet Chrisus,” greeted the Elder kindly, “Now… about what I promised to tell you this morning…”

“Yeah?” replied Chrisus inquisitively.

“There was a legend my ancestors passed down about the dark and light universe.”

“Dark universe? Light universe? What have they got to do with that tree I saw?” asked Chrisus.

“The tree was a portal to the dark world” replied the Elder, “This world we live in is the light world, which was almost completely devastated by a creature that lives in the Earth’s core, even up to this day.”

“So that’s why the outside of this village was all dead and whatnot, huh?” replied Chrisus.

“This village was protected by the creator of the light world, Animaia, also known as Light Gaia,” explained the Elder, “The creature emits a deadly gas, Replia, created from the remains of dark beings.”

“Interesting … Well, can I look into that tree and see what the Dark world is like? It’s better than doing nothing in this village for another 15 years,” asked Chrisus.

“Well if you are so curious... you can go” replied the Elder, “But – you will not go without my assistance because I care about you very much and I cannot think of you dying at this age.”

“Yay!” cheered Chrisus.

“I will give you my old scythe, it is a useful weapon in case any danger comes,” replied the Elder as he handed over the scythe. Both of them went outside of the village.

“What about the other villagers? Shouldn’t we tell them?” asked Chrisus.

“Don’t worry, we will be back soon” replied the Elder. The two arrived at the green tree.

“The legends say that you need to touch the tree and close your eyes and you will enter the dark world” explained the Elder, “like this.”

The Elder softly put his hands on the tree and closed his eyes; suddenly, he was gone.

“Well, here goes nothing…” said Chrisus bewilderedly as she did the same thing as the Elder. The instant she opened her eyes she appeared in a forest that looked completely the opposite of what she saw a second ago.

“You are now in the Dark world,” explained the Elder.

“This place looks better than the Light world, like a lot better!” yelled Chrisus.

“It does not mean it’s safer…” replied the Elder.

Meanwhile, in a familiar yet different village…

An 18-year old boy named Narku lives in the village of the Dark world. He also knew magic and his guru made him realise some of his abilities.

“Narku.”

“Yes master?” replied Narku.

“Your time has come.” Explained the guru, “The chosen one has arrived, who is called Chrisus and is chosen to pull the needle that cursed this world and the other world. You are a very strong man, and you need to assist her like a true gentleman.”

“Oh yes! I nearly forgot what you told me about it! But you haven’t taught me all your moves yet” replied Narku.

“You will learn your moves by experience, follow me, there is no time to waste”

Back at the forest Chrisus and the Elder went to the village the same way they would come back to their village in the Light world. They also found a very familiar looking village to theirs.

“Let’s look around this village for a bit” instructed the Elder to Chrisus

The guru stepped outside of his house with Narku, who was peculiarly motivated to see who his partner was. The guru pointed at Chrisus, who was strolling around the village with the Elder.

“She was the chosen one” said the guru as him and Narku stepped up to Chrisus and the Elder.

“Hey, who are you supposed to be?” yelled the Elder with grief.

“So she’s this Chrisus girl that I needed to assist?” asked Narku.                                   

“Indeed my fellow student Narku” replied the elder

“H-Hey! How do you know her name?” demanded the Elder in shock.

“My master told me it” replied Narku, “You supposed to be her guardian or something?”

“Yes I am, and we just wound up in this world” replied the Elder.

 “Who is that other guy who looks a lot like my guardian?” asked Chrisus.

“I am the guru or master of this boy who is called Narku. And you are the chosen one to pull a needle that was a curse set by Dark Gaia that curses the light world not to regenerate and every living being outside this village have turned into monsters” replied the guru.

“So that’s why everywhere outside the village is dead in the light world.” Replied the Elder, “And the legends passed by my ancestors never said Chrisus was the chosen one”

 “Well the legends of this world say that Chrisus is the chosen one.”

“I’m not going to allow Chrisus to go on any quest of this sort, it’s dangerous and she may be killed” replied the elder.

“Do you want to continue to live in the mess of the world you live in or not?” asked the Guru.

“Well… things are very peaceful there and I have been used to it my whole life”

“Believe me, there is a lot to your world than just one village”

“Hmmm I’ll see…. Chrisus are you sure you want to do something dangerous like this?” worried the Elder concern.

“Sure! Don’t worry Elder… I have this scythe with me if any danger comes.” Replied Chrisus cheerfully.

“And my student Narku who knows several magic powers” added the Guru.

“But what if Chrisus dies?” panicked the Elder “If she dies I have no idea what to do with my life”

“Don’t worry she will not die” replied the guru “She has enough power to deal with the harsh conditions and so does Narku”

“If she dies, I’ll deal with you. I may be old but I can pack a punch!” threatened the Elder like and angry champion boxer.

“Hm. Hm. I’d like to see you try” taunted the guru.

Chrisus and Narku set out north of the village. The outside of the village was very Spartan, it had barley anything in it other than grass and a few occasional trees, but the thing that was different about that place than the light world was that it was much more green.

“So… Who are you supposed to be and where did you come from?” asked Narku to Chrisus curiously.

“Me? Well I am a girl who was raised by that old man who was with me, he’s called Ekuar by the way.” replied Chrisus as she then explained to Narku how she ended up in the Dark world and the fact that she came from the Light world.

GOUUAAHHH!!

Several guraks (beetle-like monsters the size of suitcases) surrounded the two. They pounced at Narku like several rugby players talking their target.

“AHH!!” shrieked Narku as he struggled to get up.

Chrisus brandished her scythe at the guraks and stabbed them all. The guraks disintegrated, leaving some mysterious purple balls of energy.

“Thank you for saving us… heh heh…” thanked the purple balls as they levitated up like balloons.

“What are those?” asked Chrisus.

“It may have been those souls of the other people in this world who were cursed and sealed into monsters, well according to my guru” replied Narku.

“Makes sense. But did you even try to defend yourself back there? If I weren’t there you may have perished!” yelled Chrisus.

“Well… I didn’t expect them to come that suddenly, I’m sorry! I’ll try and be ready next time and use those skills my guru taught me” apologised Narku.

“Well anyway, I can see a very tall light above.” notified Chrisus to Narku, “We’ll follow that light”

“Where? Oh I see that! That’s the needle that my master told us about.”

The two continued walking towards the light through the countryside-like field until they reached a dead end on a cliff and lava was below them. They looked behind them and a horde of monsters like blazik (big floating eyeballs that shoot fire) and more guraks confronted them like a load of bullies. Narku held back his fists and they were being charged up by blue aura, he then constantly strikes with his arms shooting glowing energy ball projectiles at the enemies. The enemies got pummelled by the projectiles and most of them disintegrated into souls. The remaining ones were the blaziks.

 Chrisus spun around with her scythe and Narku shot ice magic at the scythe and Chrisus defeated the blaziks.

“The guru did teach you some pretty useful moves, eh?” explained Chrisus, “My Elder taught me the basic skills and I taught myself some neat tricks like the one I just did now”

“We make a pretty good team huh” praised Narku.

“I think so, but I have the feeling we need to learn a lot more” replied Chrisus.

 “Anyway I just saw a conveniently placed bridge over there” explained Chrisus as she pointed over to the solid rock bridge to the other island. Both walked to the bridge and crossed it. They saw as clear as crystal the big rough rocky mountain that had a sword-like needle nested on top. There was a vine from the bottom to the top of the mountain.

Being bewildered Narku asked Chrisus, “I’ve been noticing something, there always seems to be something on impossible to reach places that makes it then possible”

“Maybe it is a God helping us” assumed Chrisus, “Let’s climb it”

The two climbed the vine like monkeys climbing a tree, all the way to the top where the glowing needle was placed like a legendary sword on a pedestal. Chrisus put her hands on the needle and with all her force she pulled the needle out of the ground as it became brighter and brighter.

WHHHHHRRRRRRRRRRRRR!

The light and the needle dissolved into thin air like water when it gets boiled. A blue seed-like creature floated down to Chrisus and Narku.

“Woah! Thanks for freeing me! Dark Gaia turned me into a needle which was meant to curse both worlds, he used me to sealed the power of growth in the light world and the people of the dark worlds’ normal forms” thanked the blue creature, “Name’s Aidi by the way”

“So now the people in the dark world will regain their forms and the light world will be regenerated?” asked Chrisus, “And I am Chrisus and the boy next to me is Narku”

“I am the messenger of Light Gaia” informed Aidi, “And I am supposed to help the chosen one and it is some girl named Chrisus which happens to be you.”

“That’s what my guru said about her! She was the chosen one!” replied Narku, “Well let’s get back home and tell my guru”

“I’ll be there whenever you need me!” informed Aidi as he disappeared. The two set off to go back home and on their way, there were no sign of monsters, instead there were friendly people that took their place. After 45 minutes of walking, they arrived to the town and the guru went up to Chrisus.

“Well done chosen one.” Congratulated the guru, “You did well and so did you Narku”

“Well can we go home now?” asked the elder.

“Not yet, well at least for another two years.” Replied the guru, “Pulling the needle fast forwards time for 200 light world years which takes two dark world years”

Chrisus and Ekar sunk to the ground like melting ice cream.

“Well at least I can entertain you Chrisus” flattered Narku as he offered Chrisus to go with him“and we can go out places and have fun”

“Yeah… I guess…” replied Chrisus, feeling uneasy as she blindly went along.

2 years (dark world) later.

“Ohh…” yawned Chrisus as she woke up and slumped out of bed like water spilling.

“Chrisus.”

“Hm? What is it elder?”

END OF STORY

Written by Hamza (Pixel Brownie Software)

*Ratchetwombax: my username before I changed to Pixel Brownie Software.