The Girl with the Galta Tattoo
Chapter One: Arrival
Rebecca was awoken by a persistant noise just by her. She groaned a little. She felt awful, a bit like she had just woken up from a terrible dream and a late night. Yawning, she sat up, opening her eyes.
"No..." she whispered. "This can't be right."
The familiar environment of her bedroom was gone. In fact, her house was nowhere in sight. There were no houses at all...just luxurious land and water as far as the eye could see. Rebecca leapt to her feet and looked around in shock. She then looked down and saw that her clothing had changed, too...a dark shirt and black jacket, with jeans, purple running shoes and a red scarf around her neck. She raised a hand to the top of her head and realised that she was also wearing a hat. Wow...this was all VERY strange. But it felt far too real to be anything Rebecca could have dreamt up. And she had a VERY wide imagination.
Nevertheless, Rebecca could never have expected what happened NEXT.
"Oh, thank goodness! You're awake!" a voice gasped beside her. Rebecca looked around and her eyes settled on a creature like nothing she had ever seen. It LOOKED amphibious, almost like a newt...only it was about 5'8'' in height. It had bright pink, smooth skin and blue-and-yellow fins. Rebecca could only just stop herself from fainting in shock.
"Hello there!" the creature said, grinning. "We were hoping that you'd be ok."
"Wh...who are you?" Rebecca asked, finding her voice at last.
"I am a Magenta Ahea, I have an intellect of 24..." the creature began, then faltered. "But the funniest thing...I don't have a name. What's yours?"
"My name is Rebecca." Rebecca introduced herself as nicely as she could. "I'm a human, um...reasonable intellect...look, I hope I don't sound too crazy when I ask this, but where exactly am I?"
"This is Palora Isle, on the planet Atquati." the creature replied, cheerily. "Funny, I thought you were a resident. Which planet do you come from then? Relcore, perhaps? Scria? Or is ir Reiflem?" Rebecca was confused almost out of her mind.
"I'm not from any of those." she admitted. The creature that was apparently a Magenta Ahea stared at her, wide-eyed.
"No way!" she gasped. "Are you from Uldavi?"
"Uh, no...I've never heard of that place either." Rebecca admitted.
"Wait...so where exactly ARE you from?" the creature asked her.
"Earth." Rebecca replied. "That's my home planet. I fell asleep and when I woke up...I was here."
"Wow..." the Ahea hummed in awe. "That's incredibe! All I know is that I found you unconscious right here and I waited for you to wake up, just to make sure you weren't hurt or anything like that. So, um...I take it you don't know how you got here?" Rebecca shook her head and the Ahea continued.
"Then in that case the first thing to do is to make some friends!" she chanted, grinning. "Friends who can help you get used to being among the four planets. And I kow just where to go to make friends! Follow me!"
The Ahea had led her to the water's edge and Rebecca had realised that the creature clearly intended to swim out into the wide expanse of water. Luckily, as the creature had found out, Rebecca was a strong swimmer and the two started out swimming towards wherever the Ahea was taking them. On the way, the magenta Ahea had asked Rebecca if she could think of a name for her. After suggesting the name 'AuroraGirl' the Ahea had thought it perfect, and so it was settled that that was to be her name. This also apparently meant that AuroraGirl now 'belonged' to Rebecca, though Rebecca didn't want to think of this creature as a pet...more like a helpful friend or guide. After all, how many pets on Earth could speak as well as this Ahea? None that Rebecca could think of.
After a while of swimming and just when Rebecca was beginning to tire, AuroraGirl pointed out a small island that was just ahead.
"That's our destination." she hummed. "The island of the Enchanted Springs. A rare species of creatu lives there that I think you'll like."
When they climbed up onto the island's sandy shores, Rebecca found herself looking upon what looked very much like a scene from a fairy tale book. There was a large pond of bright blue, luminous water and various plants growing around it.
"It's beautiful..." Rebecca murmured. AuroraGirl nodded, brightly.
"That's how everyone reacts when they first see the Enchanted Springs." she said, before turning and peering out over the water. "Hmmm...they should be around here somewhere..." She looked about some more, glanced at Rebecca and looked around again.
"Nice tattoo, by the way." she commented after a moment or two. Rebecca frowned.
"What tattoo?" she asked.
"The one on your left cheek." AuroraGirl replied. Wondering what AuroraGirl meant, Rebecca walked up to the edge of the so-called Enchanted Springs and examined her reflection. Much to her surprise, she found that AuroraGirl was right; there WAS a tattoo on her left cheek. A black silhouette of a creature that vaguely resembled a Manta Ray...but what was it?
"Ah! There they are!" AuroraGirl suddenly chimed, waving her tail excitedly. "Hey, guys! Look! I've brought a new friend!" Looking up, Rebecca saw several creatures that looked a bit like crosses between squids and snails swimming through the bright waters towards her. She had to admit that even though they looked a little odd, they also looked rather cute. The three largest ones in the group were purple, red and creamy-pink in colour. The several smaller ones that followed in their wake were different colours; two were blue, one was creamy-pink like one of the bigger ones, one appeared to be calico in colour and another was silver. Each was chanting happily and they quickly approached AuroraGirl and Rebecca. They each clambered out of the water. They seemed undescribably happy to see the other two beings there. Rebecca felt something tugging gently at her leg, and when she looked down she saw the red creature right by her.
"Why, hello there!" it said, in a friendly female voice. "My name is Missandra. What might your name be?"
"My name is Rebecca." Rebecca replied, doing her best to be friendly to them as the creature was being friendly to her. Much to her surprise, though, the creture leapt up and enveloped her in a many-legged, somewhat slimy hug. The other creatures quickly followed suit.
"Typical Quelis for you!" AuroraGirl laughed. "They just love hugging and making new friends!"
So these creatures were called Quelis? Odd, but Rebecca wasn't one to question it, so she just smiled and hugged each creature back. AuroraGirl quickly filled them in on Rebecca's background, which prompted more friendly conversation and hugging from the many assembled Quelis.
"Miss Rebecca, may I ask you a question?" one of the smaller Quelis asked her, shyly. This was the calico one.
"Of course." Rebecca said.
"What is that tattoo on your face of?" they asked. Rebecca was unsure of how to answer this.
"I don't know, really..." she replied, apologetically. "I just had it done because I thought it looked pretty." Satisfied with her answer, she nodded a little to herself.
"Quite right, too!" the larger of the two cream-coloured Quelis said. "Why not? It's beautiful!" Rebecca blushed and smiled a little. Suddenly, the very smallest of the Quelis, the silver one, gave a shriek.
"Look!" they squealed. "Look in the sky! It's the aurora!" All of them looked up to see the brilliantly coloured lights dancing across the sky, almost as if there was an artist struggling to decide on which colours to put to canvas.
"Incredible..." AuroraGirl breathed.
Rebecca wasn't listening. Her eyes were locked on the small black shape of something a bit like a Manta Ray floating high above them. Suddenly it disappeared, and Rebecca decided not to mention what she had seen to the others.
Little did she know that she had just seen a Galta...
...and that pretty soon she would see it a lot closer up.
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