Add on: Space missionary

[Hishandmaiden]

I post this start and you just continue the story and can do anything with the characters in the story, and can also add background to that character or add a new character.You don't have to just stick to your characters and post their bio.
For example:
I begin the story:
It is a bright morning. Heeeyi is sleeping.
You can add on:
Heeeyi is a boy who is kind. And Amman is his sister.

And so forth. Only that, you write in paragraph instead of in one line.


Here is the theme:
Some missionaries went over to a planet where there is all sort of evil,where religion is oppressed,and where cannibalism occur at random. You may add other horrific things here as well.
Here goes the story....

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
AD 2099, mankind has advanced in technology and has colonised planets and lived with the natives there. Christian missionaries had went to all the planets, preaching the gospels to every aliens in every planets they can find. But there is one planet called planet Darkhell, which is a dark and oppressive planet where saints are killed and their blood are used to paint the walls of the buildings in planet Darkhell. No one dared to venture there.
Ryan Sant was a normal college boy on planet Earth. He was just like any ordinary teenager that ever lived. And he was a christian, a true christian that held dearly onto the words of God. He read about planet Darkhell from his school textbook and he was disappointed that no one dared to preach the Gospels to the Darkhellians. He decided to make a change. He will be the first to go there but he need to get more partners to join him. Together, they might bring light to the Darkhellions, if the Lord is willing. With these thoughts in heart, Ryan went on with his normal life, going to school and attending church and making new friends, and was just like any ordinary teenagers. But he was secretly looking for like-minder individual who will join him in his quest. One day....

 

[ZiSunka]

he was sitting in the local diner, reading yet another textbook on the geography and political structure of Darkhell, when his eyes fell on a description of a small outlying village. Checking the accompanying map, he realized there was something different about this place, it didn't have a grusome or disturbing name as the other towns and villages did. In fact, in the Darkhellian language, the name had no meaning at all. Most of the towns were named after horrific events that happened in them long ago, or after the many evil desires that plagued the Darkhellians, or even after the different types of death, but this town had a earth-name, an English name in fact. It's name was Hope. There was no such word in Darkhellian, and even the concept of hope did not exist. Ryan knew this had to be meaningful, it couldn't possibly be even the oddest coincidence. It had to mean that on that evil planet, someone had established hope, and kept it alive.

Ryan was suddenly more excited than he had ever been before. There was a chance of reaching into Darkhell and establishing Hope. There were people there who knew what hope meant, and were probably longing for it to come to them.

Ryan ran to his viewscreen to observe once again the alien surface of Darkhell, and scanned for all his heart, looking for the location of the village of Hope. He expected it to be a bright spot, a place where the light of its sun reflected more brilliantly off the otherwise dull soil that covered the planet. As he slowly scanned...

 

[Hishandmaiden]

he discovered that the village was located at the centre of Darkhell, and it was but a tiny village. The sun does indeed shine more brightly at Hope. Ryan was excited by his discovery. Centre of Darkhell, wouldn't that means that it is at the best location of Darkhell, a location that can reach out to all the Darkhellions? The lord is indeed merciful, thought Ryan to himself. And...furthermore, in three months times, it will be the time for him to graduate from college. He will be free to do what he want, then. Instead of pursuing a degree in the university, Ryan decided that he will be the first one to brighten this "Hope" in a place of darkness like Darkhell. He will proably have to save up some money to buy a ticket to take a space shuttle to planet Darkhell. While he was making plan for the future, a girl came over to him. It was his classmate, Fern.
"What are you doing?" she asked....

 

[ZiSunka]

"Um, nothing," he answered. He knew that although Fern was a Believer, she did not share his obsession with the lost ones of Darkhell. She thought that, because of the hideous deaths of the first missionaries, Darkhellians didn't deserve Christ's message. Once, when Ryan was dreaming aloud about his plans for Darkhell, she said, "Ryan, do you really think that God would create a place like Darkhell and expect His people to reach it with the Gospel? Those Darkhellians don't want God, they love their evil ways too much. It's a total waste of time trying to get there and get them to seek Him. They're hopeless! And He doesn't send His people on hopeless endeavors!"

Ryan was remembering this, and thinking about his discovery of the village of Hope. He laughed out loud when he thought, "It is no longer Hope-less, is it?"

Fern asked Ryan what was so funny. Ryan laughed again and said he had just remembered an old joke. "Well, that's rude!" she retorted.

Fern sat down with a huff. "I'm really hating my Life's Mission class. How am I supposed to pick out my life's mission? There is a lot of the world I haven't seen or thought about! I want to be free for a while, to really live it up, before I have to be saddled with a mission, a career! My parents will continue to support me for years before I have to start earning my own way. I got a D on my last paper, but I'm going to start giving her what she wants to hear, just to get my grade up. I'll pick some career that she admires and pretend to want to go into that. What do you think? Would I made the most fabulous diplomat?" Fern laughed merrily when she said it. She looked over at Ryan, and he was laughing, too. "Well, you're in a good mood for once," she said. "What's up?"

 

[Hishandmaiden]

"Nothing," replied Ryan, again.
"Ryan,"said Fern angrily, "I really want to know what is it that make you laugh so heartily."
"You says you want to start giving her what she wants to hear, just to get your grade up. You will pick some career that she admires and pretend to want to go into that. Do you mean what you say?" asked Ryan, with a mischievous smile on his face.
"Yes, of course I do. What is so funny about that, by the way?" asked Fern.
"Nothing, " said Ryan, smiling, again. Fern get a bit irritated. Her face showed her anger, without masking it at all.
"You know what I intend to do, Ryan?" asked Fern.
"What?" smiled Ryan.
"I intend to go to Darkellions convert all of them! Wouldn't I get an A grade, then? What say you, Ryan?" asked Fern. Ryan burst into laughter, again.....

 

[ZiSunka]

He couldn't imagine Fern in a place like Darkhell. She was so selfish, so full of herself. She couldn't stand to be in discomfort her even a mintue, or to not get what she wanted for a moment. Fern was so flighty that she changed her clothes several times a day! Ryan couldn't imagine how she would hold up under the stress and agony that were waiting for any Believer on Darkhell. The best she could hope for was that they would kill her quickly and with little pain. Although he loved Fern like a sister, he would never want to make such a dangerous mission with her.

And she talked incessantly! They would never be able to travel unnoticed with her constant blabbering. They would never make progress with the reticent Darkhellians, who prized silence and said few words. Even their language, which was made up of words of no more than two syllables, was created to be direct and quickly spoken. Darkhellians showed their respect and friendship by not talking to each other! How could Fern stay sane if she couldn't chatter around?

How could Ryan tell her she was unprepared and unsuitable without hurting her feelings?

After a short silence, Ryan turned to Fern and took her hand. "Fern," he spoke quietly, "This is not something to play act, or something to do as a lark. It is God who calls people to serve Him in His ways, and not we who choose a calling to get a good grade. You don't really feel the call to Darkhell, and I don't like you joking about it. This is really serious to me. Listen for God; wait til He calls you. Then do only what He calls you to do. If you do otherwise, you'll only be interfereing with the work He has called others to do. You might ruin their work, or even cause their deaths, on Darkhell. It's not a game there. It is life and death, and there are no start-overs. If whatever you do there causes the death of a Darkhellian, they spend eternity in hell, a hell that is even worse than the one they live in. It's not an amusmement park either; there is no getting off the ride if it's too scary."

Fern was silent. He could see many emotions play over her face. Finally she said, "I suppose you'll take Rachel, then. She's always talking about Darkhell, too."

"Who's Rachel?" Ryan asked.

 

[Hishandmaiden]

"Rachel is my cousin! She is a crazy girl! She always talked about Darkhell, and knew so much so much things about it." replied Fern. "Just like you."
"Hmm....Rachel..." mumbled Ryan,seriously considering about the girl.
"You know, her parents are non-christians. She is the only christian in her family and she managed to convert her entire households to Christ. That showed how crazy she is over the lord." said Fern.
"Fern, loving God and spreading his word is not craziness." replied Ryan.
"Well, whatever. You know, you don't have to work as hard as you did. You already get a grade B." mumbled Fern.
"I am not so concerned about Grade. I am more concerned about bringing people to salvation!" replied Ryan. Fern sighed and shrugged her shoulders. Just then, Colen, the quiet bookworm and top student in their school walked toward them, carrying with him a tonnes of Darkhell related books.....

 

[ZiSunka]

Ryan had never realized so many of his schoolmates were studying Darkhell. He turned toward Fern and said, "Is there a class assignment on Darkhell?"

"Oh, you mean Colen?" she said, "He's always reading some weird thing or another. Last week he was obsessed with bioluminesence." Fern yawned and laid back on the grass. The sunshine was making her sleepy. "You know, I think he's a Christian, too." She yawned again and rolled toward Ryan, but he was already gone. She squinted through the sun's rays and saw him catching up with Colen.

 

[Blessed-one]

Colen was walking along, blind to his surroundings as usual, his eyes fixed on the book in his arm. So it was that he gave a startled jump when Ryan tapped him on the shoulder.

"Hey Ryan," Colen said a bit uncertainly.
"Colen, how're you doing? I just noticed all these Darkhell books you're carrying."
"Oh yes," Colen's face brightened, "Darkhell, it's a very depressing place, but interesting, very interesting."

Ryan nodded, "I've been studying Darkhell recently, and I found this..."

 

[Blessed-one]

"Hope," Colen agreed, stepping over an obstable and flipping through the pages.
"It was originally set up by a family from Earth, the reason of their incredible survival - that was not being killed by the natives, is unknown."
It was Ryan's turn to nod.

They talked for several minutes, briefly oblivious to where they were heading to exactly when Colen stopped. They were standing in front of the Culture block, Colen grabbed Ryan's hand, "Come in, there're so few of us who're interested in Darkhell, God has certainly answered my prayer."
"He had?" Ryan asked, secretly suspecting that God was working again.
Colen smiled brightly, leading Ryan into the building. "You cannot begin to guess, our Father has such a weird sense of humour."
The lift door opened.
Ryan smiled in return, "I've noticed that in numerous occassion."

 

[Hishandmaiden]

They went inside the lift, and Ryan had a great time talking to Colen. They shared so much things in common. Ryan found that Colen had the same intention as he. Colen also intend to do something about Hope. About Darkhell.
"So, where are we heading?" asked Ryan.
"Just follow me." said Colen. The lift door close, with the two boys, inside. Ryan had completely forgotten about Fern.

 

[Blessed-one]

The lift stopped on the 11th floor. The sign on the wall read: study group area.

"Several of us meet regularly here, and Darkhell's the main subject when there're more of us around."
"Us?" Ryan said.
"Those who're interested in Darkhell anyway." Colen said, turning the door knob and opening the door.
Inside the room sat a boy and a girl, they both waved as the two newcomers settled onto the chairs.
"Guys, this's Ryan who has an interest in Darkhell." Colen introduced.
The boy grinned, "Another Darkhell? I think i better get out of here since i've been outnumbered."
The boy excused himself.
"Are they always like this?" Ryan asked.
The girl gave a toss of her hair, "Never mind him. I'm Rachel by the way."
"Rachel!" Ryan exclaimed. "Fern told me that you study Darkhell."
"Fern? She thinks i'm crazy."
"Yeah, she does has a cynical attitude."

 

[ZiSunka]

"She just doesn't have the interest in Darkhell that we do. She's a nice person otherwise," Rachel said. "When we were little kids, we used to play space mission together, and she always wanted to be the leader. She was actually interested in Darkhell, then. But we studied it together, and the more we learned, the more I loved it and the more she became afraid. I don't know what her future will be, but I'm sure her kind heart will keep her in God's will.

"Hmm," Ryan said. "It's true that not everyone gets the same calling."

Colen stood up and annouced, "Guys, I'd like to introduce Ryan to you. He's a fellow Darkhellophile."

"A what?" Ryan cried.

"Darkhellophile. One who loves the people of Darkhell," Colen responded.

"Oh," Ryan thought. "One who loves the people of Darkhell. That's what I am!" And a warm feeling flowed all over him. He was in the presence of other people who loved Darkhell. He felt like he had found a home.

Colen unrolled a large map of Darkhell. "Ryan showed me something that few people know about. A village called Hope, located right here. I think we need to find out how to contact Hope, to find out what's going on there, and how we can help. Does anyone know anyone who knows anyone in Hope?"

 

[Blessed-one]

Blank stares met Colen's question. A silence descended.
Ryan thought hard, trying to remember whether there was such a person he had met before, then something clicked in his mind.
"Dan!"
"Who?" said Colen.
"I remember ages ago he said something in passing. He's my dad's friend, and is planning on a trip to Darkhell and asked whether i'd be interested to accompany him."

"Did he say why he's going?" Rachel asked curiously.
Ryan shook his head.

 

[Hishandmaiden]

"Nevermind," said Colen with a smile. "But at least, we have someone we can contact. Thamks, Ryan!"
"You are welcome. You know, I have been looking for people like myself, with an interest in Darkhell." replied Ryan.
"I know, everyone here feels the same way as you do. Say, shall we give Dan a call? Do you have his numbers?" asked Colen, looking at Ryan. Ryan nodded, as he took out his notebook that contained all telephone numbers.
Colen went to pick up the phone and dialed the number Ryan told him. Someone picked out the othe line of the phone, after a while.
"Hello?"

 

[Blessed-one]

"May I speak with Dan please?" Ryan said.
"This's Dan, is that Ryan?"
"Yeah, it's me. I'm interested in taking the Darkhell trip."
"Why? That's great!" Dan said, sounding really pleased, "I'll fax you all the details."
"I'm taking some friends of mine as well, would that be allright with you?"
There was a pause.
"I suppose.... tell me how many and i'll try my best to grab a few seats for them."

 

[ZiSunka]

"Well," Ryan said, "Maybe it's not best for all of us to go without some preparation. We're wanting to go somewhere pretty specific, too. A village called Hope. Can you get us there?"

Dan was silent a few seconds. "Bad news, Ryan. This trip isn't going anywhere near Hope. It would be pretty hard to get there from where we are going, too. We're going to Deathwish, the capital. The skytrams don't run out that far either. You'd have to hike about 100 miles from the closest skytram outpost, and all of it is over the Veneral Disease Mountains. Those are the most rugged and dangerous mountains in the entire galaxy. They rise up over 20 miles from sea level. The only way to get to Hope is a long, suffering walk up a narrow footpath. You've got to be in good shape for that Ryan. It would be best to prepare before you go. I'm leaving next week. That's not enough time for you to get ready."

Ryan felt crushed. Tears stung his eyelashes, but he was not going to give in to crying. 100 miles over mountains 20 miles high! He knew he couldn't do that, and neither could any of his friends. "Dan," he said into the phone, "We need to get in touch with someone in Hope. How can we do that."

Dan was quiet while he thought about it. "Ryan, short of going to Hope myself, I will do everything I can to find some in Hope that you can talk to."

Ryan hung up, nauseous from the disappointment. What was he going to say to his new friends, that he let them down? Maybe they would understand after he explained the truth to them, and they would want to get ready by working out and buying provisions. And they need to pray a lot more about the whole trip. They'd been thinking about what THEY wanted, but not one of them had asked for God's blessing on any of it. Ryan got on his knees, right there by the phone booth and wept out a prayer for forgiveness, asking God to take away the selfishness of his desire to go to Darkhell. He'd been wanting to do things HIS way, and not God's way, with HIS timing and not God's timing. When he'd finished his prayer, he got up and went back to the group.

"It's a hundred mile hike over mountains. If we are going to get there, it won't be easy. We'll either have to get in shape or we'll have to find a closer port than Deathwish. We need to get info on the transportation system of Darkhell, and find a closer, easier place to embark. But before we do that, we need to think about what our mission is going to be, and how we fit into God's plan for Darkhell. We haven't been thinking about any of that at all."

 

[ZiSunka]

Rachel was the first to finally speak. "Um, Ryan, we don't want to make a lot of preparations and all. We want to go and have an adventure. I think that if it isn't God's will, He'll stop us, but if it is His will, nothing will stop us."

"But Rachel," Ryan replied, "This isn't a week on a beach planet. It's Darkhell. They eat Christians alive, literally. They have a history of great cruelty. And we're not going there just to have fun, if that were possible. We're going there to bring Darkhellians out of dark hell, aren't we? How can we do that without knowing God's plan for the planet, and knowing how we personally fit into it? It's not like going downtown and witnessing to street people. Our lives will end and no one will know or care unless we are ready and sent by God. God won't bless our trip if we take it out of a desire for adventure. It's not Survivor; it's survive or be eaten. Doesn't anyone want to consult God on this? Doesn't anyone want to prepare through work and prayer? Are we Darkhellophiles or not?"

Ryan sat down and put his head in his hands. He was silently praying that God would disband the group and keep them from going. He really believed that they would just be making everything worse for the Darkhellians, and all subsequent space missionaries who endeavored to go there.

Colen spoke up. "Does anyone here have the money for tickets to get to Darkhell?" A few people raised their hands. "How many of you want to go to Darkhell and just trust the Lord to work things out?"

"I don't even believe in God, but I want to go to Darkhell," a quiet guy named Robert answered. "I'm applying to colleges now and I need to have some activity that stands out as something pretty impressive. Going to Darkhell and back would be pretty impressive, especially if I took supplies for the needy people there. Colleges would be impressed if I did something so dangerous and compassionate."

Rachel spoke again, "I want to go, too. I believe that God won't let me die until I have fulfilled His plan for my life. He'll protect me."

Colen, too, wanted to leave right away. "We are young and healthy and fairly rich. What else would we need? What's your real problem here Ryan? Are you just scared, or are you trying to hold us back?"

Ryan hung his head and whispered, "Dozens of other Christians before us went there and died without making a single convert. They were killed, senselessly and with great cruelty. They all thought they were in God's will, too. We need to be sure of God's will, because even with His blessing, this isn't going to be an easy trip. There are hardships and dangers that we can only imagine, and many we can't. We need to plan a way to reach them. All the old standard evangelism methods have failed and made things worse on Darkhell. We need to go to Deathwish and study the people, their needs and ways to help them before we go off into the wilderness of Darkhell, to Hope."

Rachel pulled her head up sharply, "Did you say we should go?"

Ryan still looked at the floor as he said, "Yeah, okay. We can go."

Colen smiled widely as he said, "Then we should all prepare to go. How much time does everyone need to get ready?"

 

[Blessed-one]

At the end, everyone decided by consensus that they would have to leave on the date with Dan, and so they held a prayer meeting, asking God for guidence and endurance.

Colen was praying, "...... If it was your will, nothing is impossible in you. Please show us the way when we get to Deathwish. We know that you're the almighty God, and that you'll never forsaken us. Thank you Lord, for hearing our prayers, in Jesus's name, Amen."

The group went out of the room with renewed vigour, Ryan was sure that God indeed did want them to go to Darkhell. How could this be a coincidence? Ryan had been wishing to go on a missionary trip to Darkhell for years, and just when he was about to set out (though floudering a bit), he met Colen.

 

[ZiSunka]

Peter, the oldest one of the group, didn't have "a peace" about them all going so suddenly and without preparation. He had a driving love for Darkhellians, but he knew the group was woefully unprepared for the journey, and he couldn't feel comfortable with the fact that they had no plan, no contacts, and had only prayed about it once. He felt an anxiety he had never known before.

That night, Peter had a terrible nightmare about the group. He dreamed that they were hurling into a fire, a whole planet made of a fireball, and that they had no protection and nothing with which to fight the fire. The pain was unbearable as the fire tortured them. It seemed alive and evil and gleeful about their suffering. All around in between the flames, Peter could see the dozens of missionaries who had gone before them to Darkhell. They were crying out warnings to the group. One by one, each of them was consumed by the fire. And the fire continued to rage on, not at all affected by the presence of the angonized souls caught within the flames. And God turned his back.

Peter awoke with a start, and eventually fell back asleep after that dream, only to fall directly into another.

He could see Colen, Ryan and Rachel trapped in a deep pit, screaming in fear and pain. Robert was outside the pit, trying to reach down to them, but the pit was too deep. Fear overcame the trio, and Peter watched in horror as Rachel reached into her throat and ripped out her own heart and died. Colen dropped to his knees and yelled out that he changed his mind, he didn't want to be a Christian if it meant this much pain. He denied Christ and was levitated out of the pit. Peter gratefully woke up before he could see what happen to Ryan.

His heart was pounding out of his chest when he woke up. He laid in bed for a few minutes, trying to catch his breath and calm his soul. He prayed for God to bring him the peace the others seemed to have, but the peace never came.

Peter got up and started packing. He would have to sneak away in the wee hours. His parents and family would beg him not to go, or at least to prepare before going, and he knew that that couldn't happen. Peter had strong feelings of alarm, and his dreams seemed prophetic. If they were, it might mean that Rachel and Colen were in grave danger, and maybe Ryan, too. He couldn't let them go without being there to help them when they needed it. But tears came to his eyes when he thought about what he and his family would be sacrificing to save the butts of these foolish children and their errant adventure.

Ryan was also in bed dreaming...