Hall, who is majoring in creative writing and advertising/public relations, and his brother Horacio are enabling Zeek on his journey, and recently received an offer of help from Charlotte Hornets basketball player Johnny O’Bryant III.

If this all sounds like fantasy mixed with reality – it is.

The brothers from South Miami Heights are real, but Zeek resides in the new manga comic Stratum 21, soon to be released by O’Bryant’s creative agency, Noir Caesar, which produces creative art, fashion and music.

Hall said a Noir Caesar representative saw images of their characters on Stratum 21’s Instagram and reported back to O’Bryant, owner and founder of the company, who arranged to carry the brothers’ first comic series on the company’s website. O’Bryant has been in the NBA since 2014 and he started his company to intertwine Japanese anime culture with African-American street wear and hip-hop culture.

The first chapter of the story is scheduled to come out Sept. 21. Stratum 21 takes place thousands of years after a cataclysmic event shattered the planet Strata into 20 pieces. The inhabitants have rebuilt society but three factions are fighting for control. Main character Zeek knows little about the world he lives in until he meets a Seeker and learns what life entails. Aspiring to join their ranks, he leaves his swamp home in search of life’s greater purpose while joining forces against the dark side that despises the Seekers.

“Stratum 21 is exactly the title we were looking for to add to the fall lineup. It’s about adventure and discovering yourself in a world that’s fallen off the brink,” said Corey Mikell, production manager for Noir Caesar. “It’s a timeless tale of self-discovery and the pursuit of happiness in an unfavorable situation. It teaches people to keep moving forward, no matter the setback.”

Hall said physical copies of the manga will be released every seven chapters.

“These books are special because they can be read as any other comic would, but if one were to download the app, Stratum21+, which is in the works, and put their phone camera over the images on the page, the panels will begin to animate on the mobile device,” he said.

Branden, 21, is the team’s writer, while Horacio, 24, an illustration/animation graduate of the College for Creative Studies in Detroit, is the artist. The brothers enlisted the help of a friend, Grant Price, as editor. They describe the art as similar to the comics Boondocks and Avatar: The Last Airbender.

Branden Hall also likes to rap, write children’s and short stories, is working on a movie script and works on The Cypress Dome Society, Â鶹ӳ»­´«Ă˝â€™s undergraduate literary organization.

Horacio Hall said he started drawing because their other brothers used to draw comics and watch anime.  “I used to practice drawing the characters from those shows,” Horacio said. “I started reading comics in the fifth grade when (anime character) Inyuasha became popular.”

Another brother, rapper Ty, will appear on the animated version of Stratum 21’s title sequence.

Brendan Hall said he credits his writing development to Â鶹ӳ»­´«Ă˝ English professors Laurie Uttich, Susan Jardeneh, Kevin Meehan, Jocelyn Bartkevicius, Obi Nwakanm and Terry Thaxton.

“I couldn’t even write an interesting paragraph of a story before I came to Â鶹ӳ»­´«Ă˝,” he said.

To keep up to date on Zeek’s journey, go to .

The Â鶹ӳ»­´«Ă˝ senior meets regularly with Henry, Barbara, Christine and others at an Oviedo nursing home to meticulously transcribe their oral stories of emotion and adventure. Sometimes their yarns are light and lively, such as the Hula-Hooping woman who buys her clothes at a circus, but sometimes the stories bring Spicer to tears, such as the woman who told of letting go and dying by climbing onto bubbles and floating away.

“This segment of society often is locked behind doors, but there’s no reason they can’t have opportunities to make a difference in the world,” said Spicer, who is working on a creative-writing major with a minor in digital media. “They have a totally different way of seeing the world, which I think would appeal to the general public. We’re so organized in our lives in a predictive way, this would touch our brains in a way we don’t normally do.”

The story collection was started three years ago as a student service-learning project by Terry Thaxton, an associate professor of English whose Literary Arts Partnership at Â鶹ӳ»­´«Ă˝ takes classroom concepts into the community to benefit others. Spicer, a student in one of Thaxton’s classes last year, became so interested in working with people with mid- to late-stage dementia conditions that Thaxton turned the project over to her.

“She’s using creativity as a way to capture their imaginations,” Thaxton said. “We’re not focused on forcing them to remember things, but rather allowing their memories to become part of who they are at present. We’re interested in celebrating who they are.”

Each week, Spicer takes a photo to Emeritus Care in Oviedo, where usually six to 10 residents in a group are given the opportunity to tell a story about what they see in the picture. The photo could be a pensive woman sitting at a table, a colorful apartment building, kids playing a game, or a mannequin head.

Spicer said she asks questions about the photos, but she never knows where the stories are headed in the next 30 to 60 minutes.

“They’re being original, there’s not an internal sensor. A lot of times we have to tell them they’re not lying just because they’re making it up,” she said. “This relieves the stress of accessing memory, which they have increasing difficulty to do.”

Nearly 100 collected stories have been posted on the project’s website, . The stories are not permitted to be used for commercial ventures and the project also is not intended to hold up the residents to undue exposure, Spicer said, but rather to provide them a way to connect.

Many residents with dementia often spend their days sitting by themselves, staring at television or sleeping. “Even at our workshop they may not remember their name or career or families, but in that moment they are a storyteller and that is their identity. They embrace it and they love it,” Spicer said.

Denise LaSota, executive director at Emeritus, said she enjoys reading all of the residents’ stories and has noticed that the contributors exhibit a brief emotional lift after the sessions.

“They like the opportunity of reliving some of the things they’re talking about,” she said. “They like the opportunity to share.”

Some of the residents’ families also are moved by the stories they read afterward, and often are able to identify which sentence or phrase their loved one contributed.

This leads Spicer to surmise that writing projects like this may someday lead researchers to uncover some sort of “emotional memory.”

“There’s some kind of retention there that we just can’t put a finger on,” she said.

Thaxton said the story collectors draw some conclusions in terms of creativity and imagination, but don’t analyze the psychological aspects of the stories. The ultimate goal of the project, she said, is to allow the storytellers to feel validation rather than pressure to remember.

“We meet our storytellers where they are, not where they have been.”

To read about “Mrs. Butler’s Adventure into Animal World,” “Music is the Best Medicine,” “A Cat and a Fish,” “Dizzy, Dizzy, Dizzy,” and dozens of other stories collected through the Literary Arts Partnership, go to .

Courses are designed to teach the skills and techniques used by professional creative writers to create fiction, poetry and non-fiction.  Each class will consist of a lecture, discussion and workshop where participants will learn new techniques, create original works and receive feedback.

Classes for teens from 9 to 11 a.m. start Monday, July 11, and run through Friday, July 15. Adult classes will be held every Thursday from 6 to 8 p.m. June 16 through July 21.  All classes will be held in Â鶹ӳ»­´«Ă˝â€™s Continuing Education building in the Central Florida Research Park (12565 Research Parkway, Suite 390) next to Â鶹ӳ»­´«Ă˝â€™s main campus.

“We are going to provide the technical aspects and strategies,” said Associate Professor Terry Thaxton of Â鶹ӳ»­´«Ă˝â€™s English Department. “All students need to bring is their imagination.”

Students will learn how to brainstorm story ideas, structure stories and critique their own writing.

In the adult course, an optional critique enables writers to electronically submit manuscripts to get feedback and suggestions for revision.

Each class will be taught by Sarah Prevatt, whose work has appeared in many literary magazines, including Vestal Review, Hawai’i Pacific Review, The Chaffin Journal and Saw Palm: Florida Literature and Art.  She has an MFA in Creative Writing and has taught at Â鶹ӳ»­´«Ă˝ and Miami-Dade College.

Registration for either the teen or adult course is $150. Continuing education credits are available for teachers who complete the course.  There are additional fees for credits, manuscript critique and late registration after June 10.

Registration fees will help fund Â鶹ӳ»­´«Ă˝â€™s Literary Arts Partnership, a program that provides free workshops in public schools, prisons, shelters, assisted living facilities, foster homes and community centers.  The program teaches the use of creative writing as a positive outlet for self-expression.

For more information or to register, visit http://www.ce.ucf.edu/Program-Search/1367/Creative-Writing-Workshop. Those interested in the workshop for teens can register here.