Zandier has a minion!

Skelly the Begbones

coding by Chen
layout by buddha617

And so he said...

"You want to know my story? Nobody's ever asked about my story before! I would LOVE to tell you!", the little Kora said, as he was sitting there playing with his favorite toy. This is what he (very excitedly) told me..


It was 4'am, on a dark and foggy evening in Shadowglen, I was walking home to Darkside, as I usually do after visiting Lasky. Our mom, Shaedi, just loves to take him to The Zapper. I had to see what his new appearance was this time.

I usually enjoy my late night walks through Shadowglen, the graveyard has always been mesmerizing, especially on foggy nights like this. It's always so eerily beautiful. Tonight there was something strange about it, something a little more...creepy. A feeling as if there was something present, though there was nobody around. "Come on, it's 4'am, I'm the only crazy that braves the streets of Shadowglen this late. Right?" Just as the thought crossed my mind, I look up and notice that this particular night was a full moon. "Great, something to make it more creepy...", I grumbled to myself.

Rumor has it, weird things happen in Shadowglen on the night of a full moon. I tried asking around about it once but not many people seem to know. The few who do, wont tell you. Truthfully, I think its all hoopla. I decide to walk through the graveyard to prove to myself that there's nothing there, as usual. The headstones in this place, you wouldn't believe how beautiful they are. They quit using this Graveyard a long time ago so the headstones are all amazing, century old art. I mean real art. I could spend hours just walking around looking at everything.

Just as im finishing up my lap and telling myself how silly it was to think those crazy rumors were even slightly true, I notice a particularly artful headstone I had never seen before. Though, this one was more of a tomb than just a headstone. In fact, it was more like a really small house, door and all. The archway over the door had some very old looking scripture carved into it, nothing I could even begin to comprehend, though it was absolutely beautiful. There was a symbol on the door that reminded me of some really old Fae writings I had seen in a book once. As I stepped in to try and identify the symbol (or more like hope it jogged my memory), a very soft glow just to the left of this tomb caught my eye. "Ok, thats a little creepy, but probably nothing. If it's the grave keeper, maybe he knows something about this tomb."

I find myself walking blindly through the fog towards this light, not able to think about anything but the scripture on that tomb and finding out what it means. As I get closer I can finally see the sillouhette of what looks like some Zapper experiment I've never seen before. From where I was standing, it looked like some sort of deformed Kora, "Great, now they're experimenting with my species.." I tried getting their attention in case they couldn't see me through the fog, I was not trying to have a terrified grave keeper on my hands. The whole time I'm walking towards this light saying, "Excuse me, are you the grave keeper? I was wondering about this...oh my.."

I was finally in full view of this thing. It was a Kora alright, but it looked mangled, the flesh from its tails completely gone, only the bones left. It seemed to be missing a chunk of flesh from its foot too, and its ears were all tattered, several deep, rotting gashes throughout its body, as if it had been dead for a long time. It was just sitting there, playing with this ball of light, totally oblivious to me until I got right up to it. As it looked up and smiled its, rather creepy, dead smile, I thought, "Oh man, have I made a huge mistake.." panicking a bit now, "What do I do?!"

It was too late to run, and truthfully I was a bit curious at this point. I froze, having an unintentional staring contest with this little guy for a while before he looked away, down at his ball of light and then back to me as if to say, "Cool huh? Wanna play?" As weird as it sounds, it seemed innocent enough, so I held my hands out to catch this ball of light.

Now, as this thing was coming at me, the closer it gets to me, I realize something is happening. I can't explain it but I was no longer scared, in fact, I was ecstatic. My entire body felt as if it was floating, just as that little ball of light was. I've got it in my hands now, and this thing is beautiful, I mean WOW! You wouldn't think a little ball of light could be so pretty.

I noticed that my body's getting all tingly, feeling as though I'm going to faint, I drop the ball of light on the way to the ground, I just cant keep hold of it anymore. On the way down, half out of it, I think, "Maybe the rumors are true.." then I hit the ground, out like a light.

When I woke up, that little Kora and the ball of light were nowhere to be found. I figured I had just tripped over a grave and dreamt the whole thing while I was knocked out. When I stood up to wipe myself off, I was terrified! Not only had it not been a dream, but now I looked just like that mangled little Kora.

As I stood there wondering if I was still knocked out, or better yet dead considering how I looked, I realized I never wanted to leave the graveyard again. I cant explain it, it was just this 'pull' to stay but I had to go home. I would get all of this sorted out and be back to my old self soon, if I could just get home.

I made it about half way before the feeling started becoming completely unbearable. Whatever was pulling me back to the graveyard seemed to be physical, the farther away from it I got, the more miserable I felt. Another couple of blocks is as far as I got before giving in and turning around, heading right back to where my nightmare began. But this time, the graveyard didn't seem like a nightmare, being so far away from it did.

Telling my family wasn't easy and I only ever made it as far as Lasky's house one more time. At first, my family was just as scared as I was, mom started crying. I'll never forget that day. As time wore on and months passed, my brothers and sisters started visiting me in my new home at the graveyard, guess that's what that little tomb was for, because it sure is comfy! Mom came around faster than everyone else, after a few days she started thinking it fit me, with my love of The Graveyard and all. Now she's here almost every day.

Nowadays I spend most of my time at home, in the comfort of my own art, my graveyard. Oh, and I found that little ball of light too, see, but I won't be giving it up like the last Kora did, I like it here!


He holds up the toy he's been playing with, so I can get a better look at it. I thought it was just a ball at first, but then I notice a subtle silver light swirling around in the ball like glowing, liquid metal. I can imagine how it could have been so beautiful that night! I let the little Kora get back to his ball and head home to Darkside, where he once called home. I happen to live in the very same place he was forced to abandon on that faitful night. One of the neighbors told me that he had just disappeared one day, never to be seen again. Rumor was, some people thought they had seen him in the graveyard, so I made my way to Shadowglen, always eager for a good story, and what I found was much more than a good story, I also found a new friend. He's a little dead, but hey, he's happy.