Spin-off: Innovera Yakov vs Earth: Ayana – Day 1: Sin 1
By Jasmine Fisher
Storyline so far:
Innovera Yakov is a beautiful world of crystals that turns under five moons and two brilliant suns that never set. Flitters take care of domestic chores while Starbirds and Starflies soar through the never-ending sunlight of this crystalline world. The Circle of Knowing decides their fate; the forbidden forests of the Dimmer Zone swallow trespassers. And at the very edges of Innovera Yakov there is the terrifying watery darkness of Verheer.
We meet Ayana, the healer and lonely outcast with her scarred face; Vinton, her protector (or is he her imaginary friend?); Gamma and Blu Tara, the beautiful, fiery twins who can kill with one look. These twins are important characters in the book. They could hardly be more different from each other. Krave, beloved by Gamma, hated by Blu Tara, ‘tall and upright as a polished spear with a beautiful crop of golden hair that cascaded down his back in waves’; his ‘brother’ Skylar, pure trouble with ‘muscles on his arms and legs that stood out in lumps’; Ryder with his crystal spear, forever seeking Ayana’s approval although she, refusing to believe she’s worth it, can only wonder, ‘What does he see in me?’
And Ice, mysterious, dangerous, murderous with eyes like bright furnaces who feeds on Innoverans. These young Innoverans are often haunted by a forgotten past recalled only in strange dreams. They form friendships, make enemies and face constant physical and emotional challenges that test them to their limits. They have amazing powers; they can fly, they can communicate through ‘thought-words’, their minds can travel to other worlds. They harbour secrets.
But life is not easy on Innovera Yakov and the young Beings must live in constant fear of Blu Tara; ‘What I want, I have. What I can’t have, I destroy.’ They find that the great powers they are gifted with are nothing compared to the dangers they face. They must shelter from Solar-storms. To fall in love is dangerous. Lovers long to combine to become stronger, better Beings but it can go terribly wrong and when that happens they perish. Their survival is further threatened by Ice, who consumes Innoverans and holds both Blu Tara and Ayana in his control.
Everyone seeks a partner with whom they can ‘merge.’ This desire to ease the passage through life by joining forces with a true companion, is one of the main themes of the story. Love for Blu Tara, is a terrible thing. She tells her sister, ‘It is a curse. You will scoop out your core and abandon it just to have the Being that you love… You will steal another person’s life force if it makes it easier to get it. You will kill or die for it. And you’ll hate yourself for the weakness that it brings on you.’
They are told that they must embark on ‘The Journey’, this journey will be more terrifying than any of them could imagine and a strong leader must be elected from their midst. They are shocked to discover who that leader is, none more so than the chosen one herself. Many of them will perish as they make their way through the watery darkness of Verheer while battling the army of underworld warriors bent on destroying and consuming them.
Finally, diminished in strength and numbers, they reach their journey’s end only to learn the final brutal truth.
AYANA
Hi my name is Ayana and I am from the planet called Innovera Yakov.
Innovera Yakov is a faraway planet in a faraway universe: under five moons and two brilliant suns that never set. At the very edges of Innovera Yakov there is the terrifying watery darkness of Verheer. I am the outsider, forever searching for myself and the truth of this world. Gamma and Blu Tara are beautiful, fiery twins who can kill with one look and Krave…well… he is the most beautiful being I have ever seen. Only he doesn’t notice me much.
Mission: We have been given a deadly task to sneak into earth and to live successfully amongst earthlings for 20 days. We are only here for summer as ‘they’ call it and we must come back (Gamma and myself) with the secret of Earthlings which are the seven deadly sins to see if it could be of any use to us in Innovera Yakov for when we embark on the ‘Journey’.
We have no idea what these sins are but, we cannot wait to find out and besides… how hard can it be to live on earth? We are super human beings and they…well… they don’t really have much powers…anyway wish us luck!
Day 1- Sin 1:
The first thing I notice about Earth is just how noisy it is! On Innovera Yakov there are many sounds – the wind whispering through the deadly leaves of the Golkan tree, students playing, or the soft hum of thoughts being shared. But it is never this loud!
Big, metal boxes hurtle down roads and roar at each other. They move so fast, they create a wind that whips my white hair from my face. I quickly pull it back but, for once, I am too distracted by this strange world to worry about anyone seeing my scars. Blu Tara, at least, is not around to call me by her favourite nickname – Scarface.
Their buildings are different too! They don’t live in Pods, like us. These buildings are mostly big, stone boxes. A few have glass windows at the front and strange figures stand behind them in different clothes – they look like Earthbounds but without faces or hair and they stand very, still, no matter how much I stare. I wonder if they are a different kind of Earthbound?
Curious, I go inside. There is one big room and it is filled with clothes! I have never seen so many different outfits in one room in my life! Giddy, I move around, taking in all the different colours and styles.
I am admiring a pretty green shirt when I notice a young female Earthling, about my own age, tugging at a much older male Earthling’s arm. Her face is screwed up like she is in pain and she is crying and angrily stomping her feet.
“Dad, I want that skirt!” she shouts.
The girl’s father has a very red face and mumbles when he says, “I think we’ve spent enough money today, Sweetie.”
“But I want it!”
The girl’s voice is so loud and screechy, I almost want to clap my hands over my ears so I don’t have to hear it anymore! The girl’s dad must think so too because he takes out a pile of paper and gives it to a female Earthling standing behind a counter. She takes it and then gives the girl the skirt in a bag. I watch the whole exchange with a curious frown.
I need to find out more about this ‘money’ and why the humans seem to love it so much…
Day one completed. Quest completed. Can you guess the name of the first deadly sin? If you can then head over to Twitter and tweet @innoverayakov and @kiagarriques with your guess! You have two weeks from now to submit your guess for a chance to win £10 gift voucher. Get your entries in! You have a better chance of winning if you enter now.
TERMS AND CONDITIONS:
The winner will be announced through Twitter and so please follow @kiagarriques to be eligible for the competition.
After retweeting the correct answer to us, you will get 10 of your friends to retweet your answer in order to win.
If no one manages to get the retweets of their answer, no one wins and we start from scratch in the next two weeks.
The person with the correct answer who has the most retweets through Twitter will win instantly by Thursday 4th July.
The chosen winner is final; there will be no negotiation after this.
And don’t worry if you don’t win this time!
Stick around for the next couple of ‘sin’ competitions as these will be happening every two weeks.
Payment will be made to the winner though Paypal or by way of an Amazon voucher, depending on what the individual prefers.
If you want to read the real story of Innovera Yakov, click here: http://amzn.to/14kxud7
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