CHAPTER TWO: WORLDS APART (THE UPDATE THAT DELAYED THE WORLD)
Take a moment to center myself. Collect my thoughts. Be at peace.
Eh AhHiding yourself behind one of the desks, you begin to reorganize your thoughts and try to make some sense in this tornado of chaos and change.
So, your island has just been bombed, invaded, and is probably about to be captured fully within the space of an hour. Not to mention the rebellions, insurgencies, marshal retaliation, and other shenanigans that will probably follow within the next few... days. Yeah, days, let's go with that.
You manage to steady your heartrate back to an acceptable level for a timespan of about six seconds before you hear footsteps entering your vicinity. They seem to be surrounding you, but don't really have deliberate purpose, so you assume that no one knows where you are just yet. However, you do hear the footsteps making their way through the building, around it, and away from it: multiple beings around you. You pull back your legs and try to make yourself smaller behind the desk, which is surprisingly roomy. The footsteps are getting dangerously close, and the exit leading to the back streets is blocked by whoever is making these footsteps. You hear a voice arise from the front of the building.
"I want this entire street searched. Execute anyone who is still left hiding. We have no use for stragglers, considering the Empress has cordoned the shelters and is dealing with the remaining military officers."
Try to get up. My people can't die.
Alex RamanYou wake up at the very least, which is a start. The first thing you see is that those nice warriors, who were going to tell you where your girlfriend is, are all pretty much dead or dying very painfully at this moment. You yourself are being dragged by the arms along by two of the black-green uniformed soldiers, along with more numbers of the soldiers searching around for survivors. Multiple other civilians, both Atisi and Magis, are among the ones being dragged and/or unconscious.
The second thing that you notice is that, on your left, you can see the throat being ripped out of one of the soldiers and another taking a big rip to his chest. From dinosaurs.
To your right, you see the ocean waves. It is really calming, actually, seeing the ocean lap against the island. You reach your right hand out towards the ocean as if you could actually touch it. Meanwhile, various soldiers are screaming and shouting orders as they fire bullets towards the dinosaurs that are hunting them down now. Glorious, at least at the beginning, until the soldiers regain their bearings and actually get bullets into the dinosaurs, killing them both. The soldiers quicken their pace and extract themselves from the area, dragging you along the sand/grass, which will hurt later.
You continue looking out to the ocean and at the bodies lying in front of you. All of it oddly soothes you, as oddly inverse that may seem.
"Um...hooray?"
Continue watching.
You continue watching with much curiosity as these dinosaur-like reptiles go to town on some of the soldiers. They have managed to bring down two more soldiers before the soldiers recover themselves and gun down the poor reptiles. You hear some pacing next to you, which makes you look down. Next to you, Darzenis is hissing.
"Noooooo! Go go go go go go go go go go go!"Your vision falls as you are slammed to the ground, Darzenis dragging you by the leg. You have no idea why the little guy has just decided to bring you to the ground and drag you away without a hint of a clue as to what he's doing, so you look around to see what is happening.
Actually, you cannot see much, due to light absolutely pouring out of the forest. It is a lime-tinted light, which would be annoying had not it actually
felt reassuring. You can almost hear the light tinkling of something like crystal chimes within the forest. Darzenis continues to drag you back in until the light fully envelopes you. The light begins to diminish, along with all sound, Darzenis himself, and the environment itself finally. You can't feel anything, see anything, hear anything.
You open your eyes. You are lying down in moist ground, which is not the most comfortable thing ever. You are hungry and thirsty. The air is cold, but not too cold that it bothers you too much. Looking around, you see that you are in some kind of swampy area, not anything that you have seen on Atis. Darzenis isn't anywhere nearby, and you have about as much as idea where you are as the idea you had about what just happened with the dinosaur summoning.
"Very little, truthfully. What I know of your country's past conquest of my country lies mostly in legend, though I have some thoughts, suspicions, and the gist is as factual as information can get after so many years. Put succinctly, you invaded, we lost. Years later, internal issues arose and we rebelled, you lost. More years later, everyone advanced and you're back. Though what I think you are asking for is if I know what those internal issues were, and I don't. I am interested, however."
ArnequerSeira slowly circles around you, observing your every movement and expression, having a small smile on her face. Her eyes almost seem to pierce through you, as if she can see right through your fibs just by looking at you.
"I assume you are one of the less experienced leaders. Odd that an island such as Atis would choose a younger person over one of the others that your people would tout as a 'war hero.'" She exhales deeply, arms crossed. She still circles you as she speaks.
"My grandfather was the leader of my empire at the time of the invasion of your own island. Your island was wanted for an experiment regarding the use of geothermal energy and the strange occurrences of unnatural types of animals on the island itself, as well as some mining operations. Your island's leaders rejected our empire and so my grandfather simply decided to invade, considering we were an exponentially growing military power in the world.
The invasion was successful with little casualties, except for the idiots who rambled on about their freedoms. The cultures on your island were mostly left alone, except for some regulations including the prevention of drug trafficking, crime, and vandalism to the scientific structures on the island. In essence, we were doing a favor to your people. They did not see it that way, however, as a few certain leaders manipulated your people to think that their freedoms were being infringed upon. My grandfather's sister visited the island to oversee the development of trade and communication on the island, seeing as it could be a potential nexus point for the growth of various nations around the world. Of course, my grandfather was still annexing nations around the world, but this was with the intention of unifying the nations so that proceedings would be far easier.
Unfortunately, your leaders had the bright idea of taking my grandfather's sister hostage. This caused tension between the empire and your nation, which demanded that it regain sovereignty for the freedom of the Lady. My grandfather would have sent forces in to rescue her, but the Battles of Shakar Harbor and Mount Irstina crushed our navy and put dents into our ground forces. My grandfather agreed to relinquish control of the Atis islands, but your insurgents still killed my grandfather's sister anyways and bombed several scientific facilities on the island built by our empire. Our military was requested to pull out as the island was deemed dangerous, and we have not had contact since.
Now I come back to offer a proposition: I will remain tolerant of your island, so long as you abide by everything we request of you and allow us to operate as we want on the Atis islands. The island will also fall under the Empire's control, and we will have to... 'deal with' some of the leaders on your island - not including you, at least not yet. But some of your other elder leaders on this island are suspected to be connected with conspiracies concerning the fracturing of the Empire and a plan coup upon your own island. What do you have to say to this, Admiral Arnequer?" She taps her arm and observes your movements still.
"What is the advantage of bringing me here? What happened to you?"
Finally some answers... but is this the same person as I was talking too earlier? her personality seems a little different. Is this a facade? probably not, but...
She looks down for a moment, her image crackling a bit.
"The advantage is that I can talk in peace with you. This is a realm that certain other people, dangerous people, cannot access, which is crucial. It will also later serve as a place for you to practice your abilities and to think in peace. What happened to me? Hm. That involves a longer story about all the Guardians and Mediums together, which I might tell in full to you. But after we fought off the Shadows, something happened, and I do not know what. I don't think it was Him who interfered, but someone was angry at our Pyrrhic victory there, and broke all of the Guardians and Mediums apart. I ended up a-"She looks up suddenly, grits her teeth, and starts backing up, putting her hands to her head.
"GOD DAMMIT, WHY DO YOU KEEP DOING THIS TO ME? STOP IT, STOP IT, STOP IT! LEAVE. ME. ALONE!She extends one of her hands to the sky, and flames erupt from the volcano itself, spinning in a spiral around her.
I'll talk later. Figure it out.The flames glow brighter and brighter, finally blocking out your vision, and everything goes dark.
You open your eyes and find that you are in a small, wooden, shack-like house. You are sitting in a corner of the room, and there is a wooden table and chair on your right side. Above those is a window with no glass, and next to that, a door with no actual door on it. The air is chilly and there is no one else in the shack with you.
Jorji ConstanzaYou have finally made it! After staring at the sun all day on your raft, holding your possessions tightly to yourself, you've made it to a faraway place that you have no idea what the heck could be going on in! Getting off your raft, you wade through the water to the shoreline, taking in the mountains, the wetlands, the cold air, and the beautiful landscape overall. As an assurance that you are still in reality, you take a whiff of the mysterious plant that you have carried in a bag with you to this foreign land. It relaxes your senses and takes some of the pressure off of your brain. You kick up some sand and dirt in your joy for finally reaching this new place. Wait, why are you here in the first place? You can't remember. But you're here anyways, and heck if you're not gonna make the best of it!
A little ways down the shore, you spot an unnatural looking craft just beached there, with some people sprawled on the ground. You wonder what they could be here for. They do not look like natives, nor do they look like refugees. They seem to be carrying some equipment with them, strange things indeed. Are they friends? Could they be friends?
Of course!
You collect your possessions and move them into the shade of one of the trees in the wetlands, and then sit down, taking in the view of the entire place. You look down at and become mesmerized by the official International Passport that you have created for the usage in the movement to this new land. Surely they will accept you with open arms and joyous shouts. You can't wait to meet everyone here!
Mould clay into the shape of a clay jug, a hollow clay pipe in a ^ shape, and another small bowl. Then mould four short cylinders (Not hollow) For the finished creation to rest apart. Form them together in the pattern of a typical water distillation unit. Set the clay to bake into bricks that will not get wet and pollute the water.
RuneYou already begin failing by poorly shaping the clay jug, to the point that it is pretty much just a ball a clay with a hole in the middle. The pipe looks okay but is pretty rough, and the small bowl actually turns out pretty nice. Three times a charm, eh?
You set to work making the four short cylinders, which does not go well at all. Only one of them turns out to be decent enough to be called a cylinder; the other three look like sloppy messes of mud that a preschooler could have made better. No offense, of course, unless you're counting the fact that you have been crafting with clay your whole life. You place the pipe, bowl, and one cylinder in small dug-out area that you use for a forge right next to the wall of the volcano, which starts on the process of baking the clay. You will have to restart the making of the other three cylinders and a jug, however, due to the poor craftsdwarfship of the aforementioned pre-ceramics.
You kinda feel like it would've been a bit interesting to see what the strangers would've brought to you. Then again, you probably couldn't support them anyways, considering you're already having difficulties supporting yourself, not even being able to make a stick of clay.
You start to feel a bit peckish and a bit dry in the mouth. Through the crack of the entrance, you can see that the sky is starting to get a hint of pink on the horizon.
I await the next chapter.
Cromwell JacksonYou feel nothing, you see nothing, you are nothing. Or, at least, it feels that way. But you can't feel anything, so how could you feel it feeling this way?
I'm sorry, I'll stop.
You open your eyes. The first thing you see is the sun and the pink-dark blue sky above you. The next thing you notice are trees. Not trees like the forest in Atis, but these trees have snow on them. There's no snow on Atis, so where are you? You sit up and you feel that in your lap is none other than the kitten that you've fostered in the time of one hour, licking at his own paws. On your right, you find that the big black panther is lying down, looking at you with much contemplation and green eyes. The ground is somewhat wet and has pine straws covering the floor, along with good and moisturized dirt. There is snow spread around on the ground, but not much of it, as some of it seems to have been melted already.
The kitten in your lap looks at you with innocent eyes. Despite landing in you in who knows where at who knows what time, you can't help but be sympathetic for the little guy.
You get up and think about where you could be. The forest has swallowed you and spit you out somewhere else. You're in the middle of a forest with tall pine trees and a cold breeze, with no shelter, no food, nor water. So much for this Darzenis person, or whatever that Guardian thing was.
Time to get moving.
Lacking anything else to really do, Unknown heads towards the flames.
UnknownYou hurry your way over to the wall of the Magis Kingdom. You urge the blacksmith on with you, but he tells you that he wants to collect some stuff from his workshop before you two continue on somewhere else. You decide to check what happened at the west wall of the Magis Kingdom. As you approach the wall, you begin to see the dead bodies of fallen Magis soldiers, both crossbowmen and melee fighters alike, as well as the siege engineer team, all dead. You hide behind one of the watchtowers as foreign troops begin making their way through the hole that they have blasted through the wall. They begin splitting apart but otherwise remain in small groups, with the fire still burning steadily outside. It appears that they had decided to use incendiary weapons to burn through part of the forest to make their way here. You are not sure what they might've done to the Atisi while approaching the Magis.
You hear some small chatter and communication between the soldiers, but you are too far to hear anything valuable. Having no better place to go, and hearing that the foot soldiers are approaching your position, you take shelter within the guard tower. There are windows looking out to the main road leading into the Magis Kingdom itself, and a window looking to where you just where. Along with that, there are some stairs leading to the upper floors and a lit lantern. Other than that, there doesn't seem to much else of value rather than minor furniture within the tower. Outside, the soldiers seem to be exploring the inner parts of the Kingdom, but you also hear footsteps coming from the wall above you. You move to a corner of the building and peek out the window. You can see smoke coming from the wall itself, and soldiers moving around in the smoke, but you can't observe anything else from this position.
You crouch back down and recollect yourself.
Wait for next chapter
Diana Crown and Cecil G. PalmerYou've set off in the little self-propelling boat that your aunt has urged you into. Along with your twin brother, you've made small talk with the Aecrocian boy, and another Magis guard who has accompanied you. Apparently the Aecrocian is the son of the president of Aecrocia, a very influential person who may have had ties with your aunt, the Queen. Other than that, you do not know much about him - not that there's much reason to care, really. There was a hastily set up marriage between the two, but otherwise you have no real connection to the boy, so you two decided subconsciously to just leave that subject alone. You take a short nap, the waves cradling the boat slowly and gently. It does not take long before you fall asleep, the Aecrocian talking with your twin brother over the destination of the small craft.
"I was not informed of our destination, actually," your brother admits.
"I really do know just as much as you do on this account. I am merely hoping that our aunt really did wish us safety on this trip, and that we are heading somewhere friendly to people of our kind..." This is the most you hear before you fall asleep.
When you wake up, the craft is empty and no longer moving. Puzzled, you look outside, and find that they have all been ejected, still sleeping or disturbed and attempting to get up, brushing sand and dirt off of themselves. You grab a small orange fruit from one of the containers of the craft and begin eating a little bit of it, as the others attempt to get their bearings. Barring your brother, of course, who is still sleeping on the sand, despite not seeming very comfortable.
You observe your surroundings. You seem to have landed in the bay of a mountainous region, with wetlands and swamps leading into the mountain region. The air is quite cold despite being the middle of the dry season for the Atis calendar. Near the swamp, you spot a small figure in the distance dancing around, and a little wooden platform next to the figure. The sun is touching the horizon, sending pink tendrils across the sky and darker hues on the opposite end of the horizon. The Magis guard informs you that there are supplies for a couple of days of stay for the four of you, but there is no shelter other than the craft you have landed in.
Might as well get a move on, then.
"After nine
years days in development, hopefully it will have been worth the weight."
A little bit of exposition here, a little bit of movement there, a little bit of powers here, a little bit of wherethehellami over there too.
Enjoy and a good week to you all,
Artemis
Author
Topic: Roll To Medium: Awakening [Chapter VI] (Read 145835 times)