GAIA NEVERLAND STORY
On a quiet and crisp Durem night, a bedroom window sits open to the breeze. Inside a young girl named Wendy sleeps, dreaming of adventure stories and mysteries...
A very bright girl, Wendy spent every moment she could studying and absorbing every fantasy book she could get her hands on. However, her parents feared she wasn’t applying her sharp mind, and would soon take away all of her books. But what happened that night was no fantasy, at least not to Wendy...
She woke to a boy in her room - a flying boy. He was fighting his own shadow that he chased into her bedroom window. Recalling a story she had read, Wendy offered to try sewing it back on. It worked! The flying boy was thrilled, but Wendy seemed to find the moment bittersweet.
“Why are you sad?” He asked. “In a few days my parents will take my books away,” Wendy replied. “They say I spend too much time reading silly stories... I need to grow up.” “No way! Come with me and you can read stories to me and the Lost Boys!” the boy offered, telling her of a magical flying island where she wouldn’t have to grow up.
Wendy accepted. Grinning, the boy introduced himself. “I’m Peter.” “And I’m Wendy.” “Great! Take this,” he said, handing her a small strange looking seed. “It’s from a Casimir tree. It’ll help you fly. Come on!” The two leapt out of the window and flew over the Durem streets and above the clouds.
As they approach the floating island, they meet Tink. The only female member of the Lost Boys, Tink doesn’t exactly seem thrilled with Peter’s new company. She warns them that Hook and his pirates are sailing around the island. They’ll have to be especially careful.
Peter seems flippant toward Tink’s warning and turns to Wendy, boasting, “Hook is the top pirate up here. He controls most of the crime on the island. Most people are real scared of him, but I cut off his hand in a duel and fed it to a dragon.”
Wendy was busy pondering the likeliness of this story, but Hook had already spotted them. He wasted little time and ordered his crew to load and fire a cannon at the three.
Peter grabbed Wendy and pushed her out of the way. “Looks like he saw us. Head for the buildings!” He grabbed her hand and darted toward the island, Tink following close behind. Before Hook’s men could fire again, they were already in the streets of the city.
Peter lead Wendy to the hideout of the Lost Boys, a small gang of urchins that Peter had found and with each, rescued and took to the island. With his leadership they survived the harsh streets and remained safe from Hook, who didn’t approve of their petty, ‘classless’ crime.
The boys welcomed Wendy, and she learned to love and care for them. She prepared medicine for them and wrapped up their wounds. At night, she read thrilling stories of adventure and was slowly teaching Peter how to read.
Wendy had become a Lost Boy. They adored her and most of all, her stories. One night they asked her to tell them a story about the main land... about Gaia. It had been a while since Wendy had even thought about Gaia, but she said she’d try her best.
Unable to find a book with just the right story, Wendy only pretends to read one, making up her own tale instead. In Wendy’s story there was action, adventure, and justice, but also all of the things the Lost Boys dreamed of. It was a story of home.
The Lost Boys were fascinated with Wendy’s story, and as it finished, it was accepted with resounding cheer. Peter, however, seemed less impressed. He sensed that Wendy was remembering what she loved about home. Worried and upset that she’d want to leave, Peter left the hideout in a huff.
But in Peter’s absence, Hook had discovered their hideout and kidnapped Wendy and the Lost Boys. Not finding Peter, Hook took the opportunity to poison the medicine Wendy had left out for Peter.
Peter returned to the hideout to find it ravaged and empty. Overcome with guilt for leaving them alone and losing Wendy, he remembered the medicine Wendy had told him to take before he left. In his anger he ignored her, but now he lifted the bottle to his lips.
On Hook’s ship, Wendy was being held captive in Hook’s quarters. Contrary to the barbaric picture the boys had painted for her, Hook seemed to be dignified and well-studied. At least... so his manners seemed to suggest.
Hook explained plainly that Peter is a cocky, irritating youth, and that she would be better off if she forgot about him. He could give her adventure and knowledge - all that he could steal - as well as a respected position on his crew.
But Peter and Tink came to Wendy’s rescue, attacking Hook’s ship and freeing the Lost Boys. Tink grabbed Wendy while Peter fought the furious pirate.
Their battle escalated to the rigging of the airship, where a familiar ‘Tick-Tock Tick-Tock’ pierced through all the sounds of battle... It was Cartier the Dragon. He apparently had tasted Hook’s flesh as Peter had bragged, and the bloodthirsty dragon was on the hunt for more.
Cartier grabbed Hook in his mighty claws and carried him down into the clouds. It is said that Hook and Cartier’s fight lasted so long, the fatigued dragon landed on Gaia somewhere, where they both continue to hunt each other to this day.
But for Peter and the Lost Boys it meant victory. And it also meant Wendy could go home. Some nights when Wendy would look out of her window into the night, she would still think of Peter, Hook, and the Lost Boys... and so she wrote down her story for others to read. She titled it Neverland.
