Jack-el

Part One

By Robin

FYI: This is an alien reboot of 'Jack Jumped Over the Candlestick'

 JACK-el

 An excerpt from a Tolayi’s journal…

Jack-el was always a wanderer.

That is, until we were enslaved. The Inlivi, a monstrous race that live off of the fear of our species, the Tolayla, captured our entire race and forced us into labor.

 He was a kind person, but not a very a sociable one. He’d wander the desert, coming back at sunset with deer and rabbits to eat.

He was a tall, middle-aged Tolayli, with huge meaty arms that could cut tree down with one swing of an axe.

His rough exoskeleton was covered in deep scars, burned white by the sun. His mandibles were sharp, glistening.

Jack-el was always trying to find a way to escape the Inlivi’s camps. Perhaps that was why he was so covered in scars.

No escaped for a long time. But then, one day, Jack-el jumped the Candle Stick.

The Candle Stick was the nickname for the gargantuan smoke stack that stood in the middle of the factory we were forced to work in.

The only way out would be to somehow climb the Candle Stick and get across to the other side of it, then slide down.

Unfortunately, freedom also meant starving out in the desert.

But Jack-el was a strong Tolayli. One day he fought past the huge guards and climbed his way to the top of the Candle Stick.

More guards had swarmed around the base of the smoke stack. They jeered at him and threw barbed chains at him. The chains wrapped around him and cut him.

But he did not fall or come down. He did an amazing thing. He began to pull the huge Inlivi up to him.

When they were very near the top he let them go and they tumbled down on their comrades.

The old Tolayli raised his hand in farewell, then turned and jumped.

No one saw what happened to him. Some say he never got to the other side. Others said he made it out, but died in the stormy sands.

Others, though, think he’s out there, waiting for the right moment to break us all free.

The Beginning

Chapter One

My name is Jack-el. My story is not a short one, and it isn’t all that happy either.

My only hope is that you understand.

When I was young, the race of the Tolayla was a free one. Now the Tolayli’s are governed by a… superior race.

The Invili greatly outnumber us. They are much larger and, though I regret to say it, smarter.

Sometimes, I pity them. They seem so consumed and eaten up by darkness that they cannot stand to face the light.

Other times, I hate them. They are the creatures that took my family from me. They killed my friends. They tore my village to shreds. They burn-

Fire. Ash. Screams. The flames close in around my families hut. I feel arms around me, but they shake so badly-

-What… I must have… oh! I passed out. Yes… ever since the destruction of Ytriliya, my village, I seem to pass out. I feel almost as if… I don’t know how to explain it.

Anyway, after the Invili took over our nation, they enslaved us in massive factories.

And massive they were. The factories towered above the horizon, belching smoke and fumes, and destroying the surrounding land. In short, what once was a beautiful desert speckled with small villages became a gray, lifeless wasteland, filled with the ghosts of so many loved ones.

The scars that cover my body still burn with fire, but a fire that is different from pain.

It’s sadness. Sadness and anger.  

I still remember, in vivid detail, the day I received the huge, white rents in my exoskeleton.

One of the old women had collapsed one the ground. A hulking guard leered over her frail body. He began to lash her with a whip. Over and over he did this.

The old woman never even flinched.

The Invili got angry. He pulled a knife from out of his belt.

He swung the knife down towards her thin exoskeleton.

He would have killed her if not for me.

I bit him.

Let me explain. For those of you are not of the Tolayla race or know nothing about them, a Tolayla’s bite is highly poisonous. One bite can kill a person in less than 30 seconds.

If you didn’t know that much, you probably know nothing.

Tolayli like me are around five feet tall. Some people say that we are descendents of insects. We have exoskeletons and sharp, mandibles. We do have wings, but they are much too small to lift us off of the ground.

Unfortunately, I have been busy lately, so I must complete this journal at a later date. Farewell