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I will now tell you the events as I understood them.
I am currently the only one left to tell this story, so please...
listen closely.

It was the day the guests first came to this island – and the
first time the people here had ever seen outsiders.

I'm not really sure how they went about introducing
themselves, but...

... they wasted no time.

That said, I don't think
it's possible for two worlds
to overlap like that
without repercussions.

It's given that certain
elements from those
worlds will seek each
other out. And when they
find each other...

... they will create a completely new world.

And that could be good.

And it could be bad.

The arrival of the ship and the guests was not dangerous in
itself. Neither was their cargo, which they soon began to
transport inland to offer as a gift to their new hosts.

The danger was the untimely meeting of those two girls, who
would provoke each other's immature potential into action
too soon.

But nobody could have known that then.
Maybe I could have... but I was curious to see what they would
say to one another.

...

Did you know I do quite good impersonations?
I will recall their conversation:

“...”

“...Papa says we’re from
everywhere. We’re all
that’s left outside your
island.”

“The one up ahead with the cape and the receding hairline.”

“Is that one with the stick his loved one?”

“That’s Mama.”

“And the little one?”

“Yalla.”

“... Gigi.”

“Hello! I saw you on top of
the boat in that beautiful
cloak.”

“I've never seen anyone
like you before. Where do
you come from?”

“Who’s Papa?”

“And how about you?”

“I'm Pip. My grandmother used to take care of
everyone here. Now I live all by myself.”

I should have stopped them there and then.
But I watched on, unseen.

I suspected that Pip living
alone had something to
do with the man who was
Leader back then, a
strange man.

There could be no doubt
she was lonely, or that
her dome was her world...

... and what else would
someone like that want to
do than share that world
with a new friend?

“...I've been collecting beautiful things all my life...”

I'm not sure what making
a little girl live in solitude
was meant to achieve,
especially after her loss.

“So what do you think?”

And that's who Pip was then. She had lost the most important
person in the world to her, and she filled the gap with things.

“I know! wait until you see
this! There's nothing like
it anywhere!”

“It's the most wonderful thing in the world...”

And those things had become a sort of magic in her head – a
magic that kept her from becoming who she was meant to be.

However, Gigi didn't see the sensitive side of the matter.

hehe HAHAHAHA

You only had to look at
Gigi to know that she had
problems of her own.

Troubled children like
that sometimes develop
a natural kindness to
others...

... but not in this case.

Gigi was hurt herself and
radiated that pain to
others.

So, just a typical bully.

SLAM!

But I'll get to her later.

Because this was exactly the pain that Pip needed.

What she thought was
special wasn't.

And all that was left was
her.

The anger that one feels when they realise they've been
fooling themselves is an anger that reaches right into the gut
and squeezes.

And Pip squeezed right
back.

I had heard that human
children could be very
destructive, but until
then I had no idea.

And so the time had come for me to intervene.

“Tell me Pip, what will you do now?”

“Who's there?”

“You may call me
Morgan.”

“I am your spirit guide...

...and an ant.”

“You've done well in
destroying all of your
possessions. In time you'll
realise that they were, in
fact, possessing y–”

“How can you talk? You're an ant”

“... I am an ant, yes. But I
am unique among an-”

“Why are you unique?”

“I will now tell you.”

“As ants, we naturally work and live close to the centre of the
world, the heart and home of all magic.”

“One day, several
workers were lost when a
tunnel collapsed into a
deep cavern.”

“And although that
cavern was emitting a
unearthly glow, a rescue
party was sent out to
search for survivors. I
was that rescue party.”

“No-ant had survived.
But when I returned from
that strange hole, My
body had morphed and
my mind had blossomed a
thousandfold – making me a particularly sensitive
ant.”

“But it was not all good
news. The colony did not welcome my new
progressive views,
political savvy, or
outlandish body
structure.”

“For my own peace and
theirs, I left that place,
and am now a rogue
spiritual agent, watching
over this island.”

“Pip, you must undergo the same transformation I did – by
defeating the sealed spirit at the white oak!”

“No!”

“You may be scared, but
remember – your grandmother was never
in that egg, never in
those pictures or things.”

“She offered up her own
spirit to seal that beast.
And that is where her
spirit remains. You alone
can free her.”

“So what do you say?”

“Gigi...”

“Why all the tears?”

“I... I think I might be a
bad person.

I cry a lot, I'm mean to
people who are kind to
me...”

“and I nearly dropped
your daughter into the
ocean!”

“And that's only
because...”

“Gigi! I don't want to
think what might have
happened if you hadn't
held on to Yalla as long as you did.”

“... You have a bigger
heart than you think,
Gigi, but it's just so big
that you don't have the
strength to lift all of it
yet.”

“... I need to be stronger too. Mind if I sit with you?”

“I'd heard that there
were healers living on this
island that would be able
to help mama...”

“But Leader told me
there's never been
anyone like that here. I
came here for nothing.”

“I'm Pip. My grandmother used to take care of
everyone here. Now I live all by myself.”

“Hey! That's not true! I
met someone today who
said their grandma used
to take care of everyone.
Maybe she can help!”

“But...”

“... there's something I've got to do first!”

Portrait panel - pip looking at a tree pip profile pip looks down to right, asks morgan what to do morgan looking up, answers pip straight on. determined.
pip eyes closed. abstract imagery. more. figures more. writing.
pip + morgan overhead silhouette tree in fg, pip + morgan bg
pip, eyes wide open surprised

“... so what do I do now?”

“Quiet your mind and
speak from your heart –
you'll hear the words.

It's like poetry.”

“Okay…”

𐑿 𐑑𐑫𐑒 𐑥𐑲𐑯 𐑩𐑢𐑱 𐑓𐑮𐑳𐑥 𐑥𐑰
𐑨𐑯𐑛 𐑕𐑐𐑤𐑦𐑑 𐑩𐑐𐑸𐑑
𐑘𐑹 𐑤𐑰𐑓𐑰 𐑒𐑮𐑬𐑯
𐑣𐑨𐑟 𐑐𐑫𐑑 𐑥𐑰 𐑪𐑯 𐑞𐑩 𐑮𐑴𐑛 𐑑𐑵 𐑿
𐑨𐑯𐑛 𐑲 𐑩𐑥 𐑣𐑽
𐑑𐑵 𐑒𐑳𐑑 𐑿 𐑛𐑬𐑯

“Pip!”

pip in fg, gigi in bg

“I'm sorry I'm such a bad person! I'm horrible and I need your help! You ca–”

Gigi showing up wasn't
something I had
anticipated. How could
she be so consistently
surprising to me? Pip was my primary concern,
but...

pip looking shocked

So I let her stay. And by
doing so, I put her life at
risk as well.

Gigi freaking out at the shaking

There was something
about Gigi, something
strange and strong...
maybe they had a better
chance of making it
together?

Leaf smiling
oak leaf secretary smiling

𐑛𐑵 𐑿 𐑣𐑨𐑝 𐑩𐑯 𐑩𐑐𐑶𐑯𐑑𐑥𐑧𐑩𐑯𐑑 𐑩𐑯𐑛 𐑒𐑩𐑯 𐑲 𐑣𐑧𐑤𐑐 𐑿 𐑕𐑻?
𐑢𐑫𐑛 𐑿 𐑤𐑲𐑒 𐑑𐑵 𐑕𐑐𐑰𐑒 𐑑𐑵 𐑥𐑰 𐑑𐑵 𐑕𐑰 𐑦𐑓 ·𐑣𐑰 𐑢𐑫𐑛 𐑥𐑰𐑑 𐑢𐑦𐑞 𐑣𐑻?

morgan looking serious

𐑣𐑽 𐑦𐑑 𐑦𐑟! 𐑢𐑰 𐑣𐑨𐑛 𐑿 𐑐𐑧𐑯𐑕𐑦𐑤𐑛 𐑦𐑯
𐑕𐑳𐑯𐑛𐑬𐑯 – 𐑢𐑦𐑯𐑑𐑻𐑟 𐑧𐑯𐑛
𐑢𐑰𐑝 𐑚𐑦𐑯 𐑧𐑒𐑕𐑐𐑧𐑒𐑑𐑦𐑙 𐑿 𐑓𐑹 𐑕𐑐𐑦𐑯𐑦𐑙 𐑥𐑵𐑯𐑟
𐑨𐑯𐑛 𐑲𐑥 𐑜𐑤𐑨𐑛 𐑑𐑵 𐑕𐑰
𐑖𐑰 𐑚𐑮𐑷𐑑 𐑩 𐑓𐑮𐑧𐑯𐑛!!!

And it was the biggest
mistake I've ever made.

leaf sec. smiling
tree begins to tear itself in two
a crevasse opens up beneath gigi and pip
overhead shot of a massive sinkhole