The First Light of Neopia

     The story you are about to hear is inspired by true neopian lore based off events recorded in the great book of Neopedia.

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     The land is cold and muddy. There is no breathable oxygen, there are no plants, and the skies are filled with smog (poisonous should it be inhaled). Not a sound can be heard from all over the planet expect in one place.Over a ridge and through a cave, down deep into the lowest parts of the planet is a creature. Foul in appearance and stands just over six feet tall. It’s eyes are red with hatred and his skin green and foul; it smelled of sweat. It has a strong solid body, scaly to the touch. No hair on it’s body but three large spikes protruding on its head in a row in line with its spine. Its arms and legs are strong and muscular. On top of the whole body is a black cloak.

     Sounds of screaming echo out through the caverns and into his underground lab. His evil glare looking at the screens that surround his lab, carefully examining the surface above. Behind him, a pile mud, placed in various assorted clumps, sitting atop of a device surrounded by a glass casing. The creature turning around quickly to the pile begins to press a number of buttons. Lasers begin shooting the mud and gas is emitted from below. Chemicals flood from above and begin splashing atop of the mud and soon, the mud begins to move.

      The face on the creature begins to tighten, as if in a grin, bearing it’s sharp and jagged yellow teeth. The mud begins to spread upwards within the chemicals, as if it were reaching out in different directions. A quiet noise begins to come from the mud. An large opening appears upon the side of the mud and starts to emit a high pitched howl. The mud is clearly in pain. The chemicals and the heat from the lasers are clearly affecting it. What once was ground is now becoming a hideous monster.

     This monster, never once existing, now feeling pain and suffering. It’s body is slowly being formed and it is too much pain to bear. It still continues to scream out and is now beginning to thrash around within the container; clearly looking for a way to escape to find some sort of relief.

     Sure enough, the monster gives out one final wail and falls back down into, what it looks like, is a pile of mud. The grin on the creatures face turns into a scowl. “Another failure.” Words come out of its mouth and the screams from down below become silent. It’s voice is deep and crackly. “Erwund, your presence is required.”

     A green creature, covered in fur and long claws walks in. It has a wide set body and long skinny legs which it uses to hold itself upright. It appears as if it has no neck and only a hill stands atop of its body with two beady eyes, a small bump for a nose, and a mouth big enough to fit a small creature. It has to small arms protruding from its back with three appendages it uses to grab objects.

     “Take this filth away from me. Feed it to the other one’s down below.” it says in a cold voice.

      Pressing another button, a video appears on the screen. A creature with similar shape and demeanor appears, only this creature is not as large and is clearly not as strong he begins to speak. “You need to find a place to hide my lord. The Tribunal is traveling the galaxy in hopes to find you. Amass your army, retake Cormara. You must not contact me. You must be safe, you must not be found. Only then will you reign over the galaxy once more. Farewell my lord. Dr. Sloth stay hidden.” The video stops.

      “These things, these things here with me are not strong enough. I need an army. Without it, I will never be able to retake Cormara again.” said the doctor. “Amass your army,” the words kept flowing through the doctors heads. “I need more supplies, I need more samples!”

      Dr. Sloth quickly grabbed a satchel and a mask and ran to the surface. Nothing to be seen for miles. He quickly began to shovel in mud from a nearby bog into his bag. Without warning, something came hurtling down from the sky. A ball of fire in the distance. It crashed far away onto the ground and a puff of dusk exploded from the ground. Sloth looked up, a light began to shine through. A hole pierced the smog in the sky from the fiery object. Light began to flood the ground and immediately plants began to appear and sprout at an alarming rate. There was no screaming, there was no pain but there was life. Smog peeling back in the sky and plants flooding the ground where the light could touch.

          The light began to spread and quickly enough, it touched the doctors skin. His skin began to smoke and a strong burning sensation came over his body. Dr. Sloth’s body became overwhelmed with searing pain. He ran back to the safety of his cave. His body was covered in sores and a trail of ooze was left in his path behind him. The doctor crawling in pain, makes his way the long cavern and made it back to his lab.

      Alarms are ringing all over his lab, “Lifeform detected! Lifeform detected.!” On the monitors videos of plants blooming and then Dr. Sloth, at the corner of his eye, saw a monitor focus in on something moving.

     Sloth, puzzled, turned and walked to the screen. “Who could possibly be here?” Neopia had been a wasteland for as long as he could remember. The screen zoomed in closer, showing a location a couple of miles away. A small dragon-like creature was sitting in a field of grass, with bright light shining down from above. The thick cloud had parted, and Sloth could see trees and rivers around.

      “What is it? WHAT IS IT?” he yelled.

      Sloth sat at the screen with his eyes fixated on the small dragon creature which looked very confused... It was taking in its new surroundings, absorbing every last detail, eyes wide. Sloth continued to watch carefully. Suddenly there was a flash of light and another creature appeared next to the dragon, this one was a smaller creature, a ball of fluff with large feet. It too looked confused.

      “What are these... things..? What are they doing in here?” he was very intrigued, confused, and concerned. The creatures began to formulate sounds and suddenly they took off in different directions. The dragon flew up high into the air and the fluffy creature took off running on the ground; both heading in different directions. Dr. Sloth had to make a choice. He was either going to keep his focus on the dragon or the fluffy creature. He decided to follow the dragon since their would be fewer visual obstructions than if he had his cameras on the fluffy creature.

     The dragon creature landed onto a rocky plateau. There were other creatures around too. Some were furry, walking on four legs. Some walked on two legs, had sharp teeth and long tails. Some had large wings and fangs. There were many different creatures.

     “What is going on here? This planet never had the capabilities to create life without assistance. What has changed?!”

     To be continued...