Meuka - True Past Unveiled

"Hmmm…I wonder how far the nearest Lodge is…," Miika, a red Meerca, said to himself. He looked around and saw only trees and wilderness - there was no civilization in sight, let alone a Lodge. Miika had always been fond of exploration and adventures so decided to have one himself. But he had no idea what troubles he was heading straight for.

      Adventure, in Miika's opinion could be achieved by traveling blindly in dense woods and forests, which, if you have heard the adventures Jeran and Hannah, was completely wrong. Miika looked at his map (which he was holding upside-down), thought for a while and finally spoke. "Hmmm…It seems that I have probably taken a wrong turning," he said in a very professional manner, pointing at a long stream on his map, which he thought was the turning he had missed.

      Retracing his steps was no use as a forest looks exactly the same no matter where you are. At long last Miika gave up and decided to camp out where he was. Miika hurriedly took out his sleeping bag from his back pack and lit a fire as sky was becoming darker by the minute and there was no more time to lose because there are no lights in a forest.

      "Another uneventful day," Miika told himself in an unsatisfied whisper. "Maybe there'll be some adventure tomorrow! "Just think about all the fun stuff adventurers do! Rescuing dames, fighting bad guys, saving villages from monsters…Yeah! Adventurers get all the fame and fortune and some day, I'm gonna be one of them…" Miika's voice was soon replaced by the sound of snores and a few murmurs of "Take that foul creature" or "No, no, Madam. It was my job to save you!" and it was obvious that he was having pleasant dreams.

      ****

      Miika woke, panting and drenched with cold sweat. He tried to recall what had happened but, he couldn't. All he knew was that there had been some sort of shrill noise - a scream - that had woken him.

      Just as Miika had started to calm down, the screaming started again. It shattered the silence of the lonely forest like the glass of a window being broken by a hammer. It was a terrible sound that wasn't the sort of noise the Pant Devil would make - it was the sound of a poor, lost soul being tortured. The terrifying sound that seemed to pierce Miika's heart as it went on and on, never stopping, like one long note on a musical instrument. Every second he heard the unbearable scream, Miika felt as though his heartstrings were being plucked like the strings of a harp.

      And then, just as abruptly as it had started, it ended.

      There was something about the sound Miika had just heard that gave him the urge to go and look for the poor soul who had uttered the scream and, maybe, help him. This urge wasn't because he had a dream to be a hero - it just was… Suddenly, Miika found himself on his feet, with all his stuff in his back pack, walking blindly in the dark…

      "Wherever you are, I will find you, and help you," Miika said bravely though the bravery was not his own. It seemed miraculous that Miika was going to look for somebody when he had just heard such a terrible cry in the middle of a forest, late at night. Miika was really cowardly inside; he had just set off for adventure to show his friends that he was not afraid.

      ****

      How long he had been walking, Miika did not know. All he did know was that he had started his search in the middle of the night and that now it was midday. He also knew that he had to get to the person in trouble before it was too late. He, Miika, was tired and thirsty and hungry and still he did not give up his desperate search.

      "It's no use," Miika sobbed, as he dragged his feet one by one, walking slowly across the never-ending forest. "It's really no use…I have failed whoever was in trouble. I deserve to be -"

      But exactly what he deserved to be, he never said for in front of the Meerca was a mass of trees, and towering over it was something that couldn't obviously be anything other than a -

      "Turret! A turret!" Miika yelled, overwhelmed with joy, rubbing his bloodshot eyes with his paws to reassure himself of what he was seeing. "Oh, I'm saved! Turrets belong to castles! Oh, thank goodness! I'm saved! I'm saved!" And then, with all the energy left in him, Miika ran towards the turret until he came to the door of a humungous castle. Yelling with delight, he wrenched the door, which fortunately was not locked.

      "Shade at last," Miika sighed with relief because even though forests have a canopy of tree leaves, the light that does pass them is really scorching.

      Reaching inside, Miika saw a vast entrance hall and two huge marble staircases leading to the hundreds of rooms and landings of the castle. Feeling curious, Miika set off exploring the huge place. He tried to remember the path he was taking so that he could find his way out but it was too hard; there were too many turnings. At last he came to a long corridor with ten doors on both sides and a very large door on the front. Miika, feeling curious again, tried every door but it seemed that all of them were locked. Now, the only door left was the freakishly large one. Knowing it wouldn't hurt to take a peek, he put one hand on it. The door, being lighter than it looked, opened a bit just as he touched it with his hand. Miika placed his head close to the door and, to his surprise, heard voices (five voices to be precise)…

      "You have been caught trespassing prohibited areas. Am I correct?"

      "Yes."

      "You were also caught attempting to steal the Royal Jewel?"

      "Yes."

      "And further more, you were trying to kidnap Princess Köln?"

      "Yes."

      Miika had had just about enough of this…Whatever was going on, he had to see. He poked the door once more and it opened wide enough for him to see through. What a scene! A light faerie was sitting on a golden throne, speaking to four people and all of them had one hand (or paw) chained to the wall. All of the people chained up looked pretty much like gangsters. There was a pirate Lupe who had ripped clothes, a Darigan Aisha wearing many jewels, all of which were, no doubt about it, stolen, there was also a nasty looking fire Eyrie and, last but not least, a Kyrii who was wearing weird-looking robes and golden necklace with a skull for a pendant.

      "What's going on?" Miika asked himself but, this was a question he could not answer.

      Suddenly, the Kyrii caught Miika's eye. She smiled, or rather, sneered and started twirling her necklace with her free hand. The skull-shaped pendant of the necklace glowed gold for it was reflecting a sunbeam, which it reflected straight into Miika's eyes…

      He was blind, blinded by the light the necklace had reflected. He knew this was only temporary blindness but it is always painful when one cannot see what they wish to. The blindness from the light subdued as it always does but when Miika looked through the opening in the door again the scene had changed…

      The pretty light faerie had been replaced by an ugly dark faerie and the Lupe, Aisha, Eyrie and Kyrii had also been replaced by better looking ones.

      "Please," the Lupe sobbed. "Please let us go…we were only going to pick some berries from the other side of the forest."

      "Nonsense!" cackled the dark faerie. "I know you mortal peasants like to steal and cheat from your betters. And for lying to me, young Lupe, you shall be punished severely." She raised the staff she was holding in her hand and pointed it at the Lupe. There was a flash and the Lupe shrieked and writhed with pain.

      Miika could bear no more. He took out a tiny little dagger from his pocket, pushed the door open and jumped out in front of the faerie. "Be gone, you foul witch! Torture innocent lives no more!" he bellowed and with this he plunged his knife into the magical part of the dark faerie's staff (the or on top).

      "What is this? Who are you and why are you here?" the faerie said in shock. What was going on? Her voice was changing; it was becoming sweeter and softer. Suddenly Miika's eyes cleared…everything was just as the way it had been in the beginning; there was a light faerie and the chained people looked like bandits.

      "You!" said the light faerie, shaking with anger. "You - how could you? A curse upon you because you have sided with the outlaws!" And with that she lifted her hands and said a few non-understandable words.

           Miika put his knife back in his pocket foolishly and, while doing so, his eyes fell on his hand. It wasn't red any more - it was all green, drippy and slimy. He gasped and felt his face. It felt exactly like his hand felt. Miika's breathe was shallow and unsteady, he twirled around trying to find a mirror to look at himself in. Finally he did and what he saw was horrible.

      Miika saw, not himself, but a green slimy monster, with huge jaws and long sharps claws -

      "NOOOOOOOOO!" he screamed running all over the room and someone miles and years away woke up with a start…

      The "someone" who woke up had been dreaming everything that had just happened. It was Meuka, the slimiest, ugliest, most vicious villain the Haunted woods has ever seen and if you don't know who he is I don't have the time to tell you.

      "It was only a dream," Meuka told himself. "Pull yourself together…After all you're a bad guy"

      But Meuka knew that what he had seen was not just a dream. It had actually happened, in fact, it had happened in Meuka's past. It WAS Meuka's past. Meuka would never forget that he had been a red Meerca. He would never forget how he used to have friend, who would care. He would never forget how he had been made fun of and called "Meuka" when he returned to Neoschool. He would never forget how he gave up and had to run away from home…He had had a good life, a happy life and now it was all gone…

      After his transformation, he found out that the four people chained up in the castle were actually bandits and that the Kyrii had cast a spell on him to blind him from reality so that he could help the outlaws. The thieves had been trying to steal the Royal Jewel when Laeli, the most powerful Light Faerie (Meuka found out about the name after his transformation too) stopped them and took them to her castle. He also found out that the scream he had heard at night, in the forest, had also been conjured up by the Kyrii who was, in fact, a descendant of Edna the Witch…

      All his life, all his happiness had been taken away from him just because he had fought for what was right. But now, he, Meuka, had a mission: he was going to stop people from doing what's right so that they would not have to suffer what he had suffered. It was for their own good…

The End