The Strat Player

Neires grew up in an oasis in the Desert of Fate and Falling Stars with his father and his twin brother. He was overly dependent upon his father and the oasis was his whole life. The only fun thing to do was to climb and play games in the palm trees.

One night he snuck away and found a guitar! He fell in love with the exotic sounds that it made and started practicing very hard. Neires thought if he practiced enough he could make a living in Errandia. Quickly he became skilled. When his father found out that Neires had been disobedient to his will, he cast him out of the oasis.

Neires took his Strat and traversed the vast desert toward Errandia. He became very athletic and learned many survival skills on his journey across the Desert of Fate and Falling Stars.

When he played on the streets of Errandia to earn money, no one would listen to him or drop change in his bowl!

Following is an excerpt from the Lyraka book:

Chapter 7
Neires

I tried to swallow my pride from having led an existence up until now that didn't require money but I was quickly growing spiteful as I browsed the market of Errandia. Being the inward person that I was, I managed to hold my tongue in the face of overwhelming negativity. Various vendors had their goods on display and were coaxing in potential customers with flagrant solicitations. I felt a churning hunger that gnawed at my insides and so I decided to scrounge any overly ripe fruit that the vendors would have seen fit to discard. In my naivete, I had stopped at quite a few fruit stands with my petition and was mightily discouraged by the demeanor of those around me. One could arguably deduct from the odds of several such encounters that the great majority of these villagers were inexorably bound to avarice with not the faintest glimmer of charity in their summation. They regarded me as an exotic, virulent strain threatening to undermine their very life force; that to even touch their products without the ability to pay was in and of itself some degree of pillage; that my hand could magically taint their goods with some subliminally perceptible form of rot. It came to my attention via an empty threat ejected from a lingering, nosy consumer that Queen Lilliput had already established a classification for people like me. Soon thereafter I was called an obscenity and was directed to leave.

In the hot sun I proceeded to rummage through a near by trash can. I held my breath to avoid inhaling the airborne particles from the festering rubbish. Finally I happened upon a few black, sodden bananas. They looked safe enough to eat, however, so I took my meager findings to a shady doorstep. I hesitantly consumed the rotting fuit and nearly choked as the entrance to the characterless adobe hut swung open forcefully and knocked me aback. A scowling, deep-creased face popped at me like a wind-up children's toy. I was in awe at the vehement way in which the bobbing head spouted profanities at me. My head bobbed along with his until he finally paused in his onslaught. It was then that I couldn't help a bit of annoyed inflection in my own voice as I agreed to leave his well-defended property.

To my chagrin I could not exit Errandia without re-entering the money-grubbing marketplace. My original plan of cutting across the man's unkempt yard would have been appealing had it not been for his two shady eyes leering at me predaciously through his jagged window.

Then one night he had a dream. Someone was calling him from the sea...a beautiful voice as if from a conch shell. A mystical face come out of the water at him. She caressed his cheek with a pale hand. The dark-haired young maiden in the water was beckoning him, promising that he'd be okay if he'd just come to her.

When he awoke, the same hauntingly eery sound was drifting into Errandia from the sea. He ventured closer to the sound and saw a tall woman standing on a platform, listening to the voice. The woman then raised a horn to her lips. She seemed to be communicating back to her.

Neires has taken his Strat to the water and has embarcked 'pon a journey to find the one in his dreams. He floats on with his magic Strat, continuously questing and endlessly thirsting for his heart's desire.

Excerpt from the screenplay

NEIRES

I'm looking for just one chance
To find the one that's in my dreams
I know she's part of the deep blue sea
I hope she'll tell me what that means

Thought that I could make it
But that only goes so far
Now I need her love to fill
The hole that's in my heart

With these mystical dreams I can see
And she's out there I've no doubt
I will take this Strat with me on the sea
And I will find my mysterious queen

Saw her at night, called it a dream
Now I know the truth! It was all reality
You're more than a vision, brighter than fire
For you are the flame of my heart's desire

Does Neires' guitar keep him afloat in a sea of homelessness? Find out in the 3D computer-animated movie!

TheEmpressofMermaids@verizon.net