This was going to be a tweet, but this story has been a weird one. First, a quick history lesson: I used to write a ton of vampire stories, from “The Bloodlust of the Vampyre” to “Deadhead” (before I heard Benn). However, there was one story that I always felt sad about losing: “The Truth in Her Eyes.
Lost to Time.
So, The Truth in Her Eyes was my first attempt at writing a love story. I had just gone through my first of many breakups, and a song called “Decode” was stuck in my head throughout the whole ordeal. Twilight was all the craze at the time, but I had moved on to different vampire novels and had watched both Forever Knight and Blood Ties. All of these elements combined in my mind and I began writing a story.
I felt like this was going to be my masterpiece. I wrote about 5 chapters, but fate intervened, and the USB drive I had the manuscript stored on was fried. I lost everything, and despite my best efforts to rewrite it using my notes, I couldn’t recapture the magic. I eventually put the manuscript aside, but even now, over 10 years later, whenever I hear “Decode,” I think of what that story could have been. God, I feel old right now.
Old Friend.
This is where it gets creepy, so some of you may know I’ve been working on Z.FG for quite some time, with the whole Investigation System… i.e. Audio Diaries and Text Logs. I decided that, with some adjustments, I could put little short stories for you to find the pages and read. As a way of organizing both the inventory, the characters’ stories, and all the intel, I used a similar system I used for both Project Agarthia and The Xiled Ones. For the last few days, I’ve had this music video on. I don’t know why the song has me hooked, but it’s a fan-made thing that mixed Forever Knight with the song. It’s a “what-if” the ending of the series was different, and in a few shots, it made me want to write something like “Truth In Her Eyes.”
So, I was going to write an ending for the game, something you have to interact with, and then you would have to go into the game files to find the story. It was going to be a happy ending for the game, like Knight and Michelle reuniting and living happily ever after… I quickly scrapped that idea. So, I went on the database, looking at the short stories section, ready to write a new story with the idea I had in mind. And what do I find?
I don’t remember ever putting it on there, and so you will see it in the game. It won’t be complete. It’ll be something I will slowly piece together because I can’t remember the story, and maybe it’ll stay that way, but I will write something for it. I know two scenes I really want to write, and I want you to hunt them down in the game.
The main premise of the story is about two friends, Jared and Carrie, who fall out. They both miss each other, but Jared was never gone. He would be an observer, but the pain of being away from her led to the end of his life. But someone brought him across to the world of the undead. Jared would again be an observer/protector to Carrie, but something will lead to her joining him as a vampire. However, she would be his anchor from his rebellion, and her abilities would be something extraordinary, even to vampires.