The Adventure Beyond

Joule's Revelation

The Space Parasyte Queen was lowering her head, paying respects to the drider who passed away. She did not know that some beings materialized behind her. She saw Marko, Elyssa, Varasi, and Quandri heeding the familiar voices and running to greet the familiar faces. The beings were the sets of parents, and they had come to answer their children's call.

As she was looking around, Varasi's father and Lords Elmont and Marc approached her, along with the Halcyon High Councilor.

"You must be Joule, if I am right," Lord Elmont said.

"I am," she replied, " What business do you bring, sirs?"

"I believe this man owes you an apology long overdue," Lord Marc replied, gesturing to the High Councilor who stepped forward.

"Joule, my daughter," he said, "I am very sorry."

"For what?" she asked.

"For all the prejudice against you and your kind," he replied, "I know who my daughter is, and I have found her staring right back at me after all these long years."

"Okay?" the Queen, now puzzled, said, "I don't know which time you were living in, but I don't have any memory of my real parents. I was raised in the streets as a child."

"But the picture!" he exclaimed, "The picture along with the note your mother wrote when we handed you away. Are you not aware of that?"

Joule touched her head, and it began to ache a little, but she replied with an "I don't know. I know you're looking for your daughter, but that is not me. I am Joule, the Queen of the Space Parasytes now, not someone else's daughter."

"But you have those blue eyes!" the High Councilor retorted, "Look at the picture. Look at your mother, who was Queen before you!"

"You mean," Joule replied, "Exaria was my mother? I defeated Queen Exaria not knowing out who we were! And then YOU show up telling me that YOU'RE MY FATHER AND EXARIA'S MY MOTHER?!"

"YES!" the high councilor exclaimed, "LISTEN TO ME! YOU DON'T UNDERSTAND! I WAS ALWAYS IN A BITTER MOOD BECAUSE I HAD BEEN LOOKING FOR MY DAUGHTER ALL MY LIFE. WHEN I SAW YOUR BLUE EYES AND YOUR FACE, I WAS AFRAID. I WAS SHOCKED. ALL MY MEMORIES FLOODED BACK TO ME, AND YES, I COUNTERED THEM WITH MY PREJUDICE!"

Suddenly, ex-Queen Exaria appeared behind him. She saw Joule in a very angry mood, arguing with the High Councilor back and forth.

"AND I SWEAR! I WILL NOT ACCEPT THIS UNTIL I HAVE THE RIGHT PROOF!!!!" Joule finally shrieked to the High Councilor, and that's when Exaria spoke.

"Check your pocket," she said.

"I don't take orders from a former enemy," Joule replied, "At least I spared your life, and I still refuse to accept that your my mo---"

"Just do it," Exaria continued, "and do not complain."

With her anger corked up, she checked her shirt pocket. It was a brown folded piece of paper with a faded picture behind it.

Joule looked at the picture first. It displayed a young man, a lady in pink, and a baby girl with blue eyes and brown hair. All of them were smiling at the camera, and the baby had the greatest and widest smile of all --- she was laughing.

Her heart softened, and somewhere in the deep recesses of her highly intellectual mind, dormant nerves fired up.

Joule then looked at the paper and unfolded it. She read out the first line:

To Elixpeth Jouwillia Worzxqamviz-Matrelpatran a.k.a. Joule

She then read the next fifty five lines of a poem. It goes like this: