Learn to See Not Just Look

     It is a dry, barren, rocky wasteland, perpetually covered in fog that casts a shadow over the area even in the daytime. Giant and small bones of every kind litter the landscape. The area is geothermally active, containing many steam vents.

     Some say the Bone Vault is visible from several places as shadowy area. It has been speculated - well, it is more like a circulation of rumour among the scared and superstitious - that part of the reason the Bone Vault is such a terrible place is because Mutants live there!

     Of course, this is just a nasty, and arguably a bit mean spirited rumour. Mutants are different and, in some cases, treated quite differently from others; but let's face it: most of the Neopian never really met a Mutant in person, never really had a chance to know them, to understand them, just heard… things from a friend’s friend’s friend who in turn met someone who knew a guy, whose cousin once seen a Mutant from afar, and tho’ it not really done anything it was scary and different.

     Sadly for some, this is usually enough to form their own “opinion” Or prejudices.

     But luckily, there are always those who would never do such a thing!

     The young and brave star (well one of them) of this story is such a Neopet, and that's why he is now wandering among the giant bones and in the mist in the darkness of the Bone Vault

     Scared? Yes. Yes, he is. Thrice now, he jumped with a racing heart when a thin bone cracked under his paw, no matter how carefully he tiptoed among the piles of bones, tried to find the dull greyish brown rocky surface. Sometimes a steam vent erupted near him, sometimes the earth rubbled and cracked to reveal the blazing red lava flows below before closing up again… and sometimes the wind was like howls or laughter. Or at least he strongly hoped it was the wind…

     Yes, the Bone Vault was a very scary place!

     With shaking paws, he opened his backpack and sat down to drink some water from his flask and eat a few bites when he felt it.

     Someone watched him.

     The young Neopet gulped and slowly turned his head. The mist parted a bit, revealing a cave entrance among two very large bones. And in the darkness, a pair of yellow eyes glowed; stared at him

     „You are far from home, kid…”

     Came a low growling, a bit annoyed voice from inside.

     He gathered all of his courage and stood up, and nodded, tired to hide his shaking paws behind his back

     „Y-Y-Yes S-S-Sir… I… I… I wanted to… to… ask a few questions!”

     The… thing (our young hero wasn’t even sure if it was a Neopet or not) nodded

      “Ask!”

     „Well… uhm… sir… I…. I…. I just want to know… well… uhm… whats happened? Why are you living out here?”

      “I see…” he paused a bit, watching him from the darkness of his cave. “I am not alone out here, you know. Lots of us found a home and friends among these ancient bones in the caves.”

      “We… are not alone?” the young Neopet looked around nervously

      “Kid, if any of us wanted to cause harm to you, do you really think we would be talking right now? You would be part of the Bone Vault!” He growled with a little anger in his voice but then continued a bit quietly. “No, kid. We might look monstrous, but we are not monsters”

     The young lad gulped again as the other slowly revealed himself, carefully, not to scare the kid. Claws, fangs, spikes… the other was clearly a Gelert. Once. A Gelert who went through a corrupting and, without a doubt, painful metamorphosis that took the basic concept of his species and twisted it into something else; his long ears and tail has turned into tentacles as additional spikes grown all over its back and top of its head, while his paws now hid sharp claws and his lean body became a bit more muscular or hyena-like, while his eyes changed and became sinister looking yellow. He was still recognisable as a member of the Gelert species, yet now had an aura of... maliciousness - there is no better word for it - around him thanks to his twisted visage. His mutation made him look more "evil".

     Tho' none of us will probably ever be able to truly comprehend what Dr. Sloth thinks, the Gelert mutated form is probably what he thinks a Gelert should look like!

     The Mutant Gelert looked down at the kid with his almost blazing, glowing yellow eyes; and when he talked, the young Neopet could clearly smell his acidic breath and see the fangs of a frightening predator.

      “We are Neopets, just like you! We maybe look different. We maybe sound and smell different, we are scary or outright painful to look at… but once, we all were like the others! And inside, we are still Neopets. Lots of us came here to live in peace… not to bother or frighten the others. But we still miss our friends. Our family. For us, this is Home. This place is like us.”

      “Yeah, scary.” It just blurred out, and the young Neopet covered his mouth with his paws with panic. He did not mean to be offensive or anything like that. But the Mutant Gelert just nodded, and a bit smiled

      “Yeah. Scary. But look around!”

      “Uhm…. bones, mist, shadows… s-s-scary t-things… uhh….”

      “You are looking, but not seeing…”

      He tried again and looked around. Then he saw it. Seen what he had not noticed before. There were little rays of sunlight. Among the bones and rocks, flowers bloomed, and sometimes butterflies fluttered. The Bone Vault wasn’t just grey and brown rocks and white or yellowish bones. There were colours. Serenity and beauty. Puddles and trickling streams of water. Bushes with strange fruits. The dead and scary place was full of life and wasn’t scary at all. It was all in his head.

      “Now you can see, not just look. Go home kid… your friends and family are probably wondering where you are.”

      “Can… can I have one last question sir?”

      “…yes.”

      “Can I come back with my friends to talk with you and your friends? To… to know you?”

     The Mutant Gelert smiled

      “It would be our pleasure”

     Writer's Notes: The hero of the story is not named and doesn’t have a definite species (well he does have gender and paws, I must admit), I thought it would be easier for the reader to identify with the character. And because any of us or our pets could or should be him :)