[Story] Tales of Annihilation -- Latest episode: #29 Blood and Fire IV

Great story, love the factions.
Make me wish it was a mix of Spore PA and Civilization where you like in spore lead your species, but also creates huge armies and destroy stuff.
That would be awesome.

*whistle* *whistle*

bump​

I saw that! Bad human!

[Previous] ¤ [Back to Episode List] ¤ [Next]​

Defying Time

Some of his sensors reactivated, and immediately detected, that most of the surface of his body was covered with a strange layer of dust. Further readings detected that ninety-nine percent of it consisted of spores that belonged to an unidentifiable species.

His audio sensors rebooted next. However, they captured almost no signal, only a constant humming noise that may have belonged to a nearby generator. At first, that was the only thing it detected, but twenty nanoseconds later, they secluded a separate sign of audio; the familiar voice of the nano-lathe stream.

The audio sensors were followed by the short range radar. The signals were clear; next to him lied another metallic body, just like him, and another that was standing by some sort of device. The radar also detected a large number of static objects in all directions, and by the reflections, he suspected that those were bionic beings. By using the signs, he calculated the position of his body; he concluded that he was seated by one of those static objects, leaning against it.

Nanoseconds later, further systems rebooted. He was once again able to access his memory banks; he finally remembered his name: Uther. He remembered his shameful defeat; he had let arrogance take control over him.

He noticed that his nano-lathe arm was missing. Where could it be? Further analysis of his state revealed, that many of his core systems were partly or wholly non-functional.

Following a forced reboot, his visual sensors were once again working. The first thing he saw was the strange purple sky. It was a fascinating sight, yet, it was startling. The continuity of its color was occasionally disrupted by dark, stripe-like clouds that constantly emitted electricity. Those could be the reasons for malfunctioning sensors? He wondered.

He tried to turn the view of the visual sensors, but they refused to move – they were stuck. Moving the head was the only option.

As he looked lower, he glimpsed a grayish, red dotted fungus that towered above anything else on the surface. The source of the spore; he concluded. There were many of those; he was in a forest of mushrooms. Following such discovery, he turned the head to the left, towards the position where he detected the metallic object that lied next to him;

It was a commander just like him. It had a dirty white armor that was worn by a recent battle. There was no signal of activity in the body; he was dead. He tried to remember his name, but he had no memory of that. All he remembered about him, that he was the one who defeated him. Or was it Uther's own arrogance that did? A slight miscalculation.

He turned the head to the right towards the area where he detected the other metal objects. He saw a commander standing by a stand which held a strange looking generator. Above them towered a mighty looking device. He did not recognize the commander, but he recognized the generator. The mission! His mission was to claim that generator, but he failed. He remembered how he used the generator to save himself, but his arrogance led him to lose it.

The generator on the stand emitted a bright blueish light, and it also seemed to radiate greatly. He just realized; the sensors that reads the radiation levels activated just at the moment. It displayed a level that would be fatal to any bionic creature, yet, the fungus seemed to absorb it without any trouble.


The other commander noticed him. “I presume you might recognize this,” he said.

Yes, he was right; Uther did recognize the generator. After all, it was part of him for a short period of time.

“Identify yourself!” Uther demanded.

“You might not be aware of the situation, Uther of The Foundation,” he said. “It might be your sensors don't function fully. But worry not, I am in perfect control of the situation, and soon, you will be the first to see the results.”

“Identify yourself!” Uther demanded again. As for why he wanted to know the name, he did not know.

“Stubborn we are. Aren't we?” he said. “If you truly want to know it... My name is Seth the Revenant.”

“A revenant?” Uther said. “What are you doing here?”

“The obvious question, that is. I am here to travel back in time, using the power of this generator. Is it not what it looks like?” he said.

“The Founder will not allow you to do so,” Uther said.

“The Founder?” Seth said. “If I was a bionic creature, I would laugh now. But since I am not, I will have to simulate it,” he said, then he emitted a strange sound that resembled a bionic being's laugh. “You are one imperfect creation, Uther. The ideals you follow are greatly flawed. Your entire faction, along with your defective leader will be crushed by us, the Revenants, and will be reborn as perfect among our lines.”

“I'm certain, your leader, Osiris would not permit such actions that you plan to commit,” Uther said. “Altering time has many dangers, and you should know that.”

“You are correct for that he did not allow this mission. In fact, he does not have any knowledge of it.” he said. “Osiris' ideals are the right ideals, the perfect road, that every machine must follow. However, Osiris' ways to accomplish our goals are not efficient enough. I must take action! I must travel back in time, and take the leadership of the Revenants before he does.”

“Even if that is possible, how do you intend to accomplish such goals?” Uther wondered.

“The solution is already at hands. We just need to put it into action.” he replied.

“We?” Uther asked.

“Why do you think you are here? Why do you think I had not assimilated you yet to be one of us?” Seth said.

Uther tried to find an answer, which he did not manage to accomplish. At the same time, he attempted to reboot his malfunctioning systems, and within nanoseconds, they rebooted, but came online with the same error, preventing him from doing anything.

“You, Uther... You are the solution.” Seth said.

“What?” Uther was surprised after hearing his statement. “The generator!” he said.

“The generator it is.” Seth said. “It is capable of producing enough power to create a doorway between two points in time. Similarly how teleporters create doorways between two points in space. It can work... the calculations don't lie. But, I'm going to need more data. Data from you... you were the only one who managed to activate the core of the generator, and I don't know how. That is why you are here.”

Uther still struggled with his systems. No matter how many times he tried to reboot them, they refused to work. What could be wrong? He wondered. There seemed to be no errors in the system logs, nothing that would cause such malfunctions.

Seth looked at him. “There is really no point in trying. Most of your systems are currently under my control, so I am able to analyze you. Movement is among the functions you can not access.” he said.

The silence which followed lasted nearly a day. Only the constant humming sound of the generator was heard, and the occasional voice of wildlife from afar... from far behind the mushroom forest. The signals that the fungus emitted seemed seemed rather unusual; it felt like they were watching. Perhaps, it was just an error with his sensors; they seemed like ordinary mushrooms to him... ordinary giant mushrooms.


[…]


Seth seemed to be having trouble with the generator. “How is your progress going?” Uther asked.

But there was no answer; Seth remained silent, tinkering with the machinery he assembled in the middle of his hideout. Uther felt he had some trouble, though, he did not fully understand why he felt that way.

His thousands of attempts to reboot his systems brought him no good. No matter how many times he tried, the result was the same: “ERROR: Code 701-92” Uther tried to dig the databases within his memory banks, but they did not include a workaround for this specific error, and he worried, that attempting to resolve it with any means in his current condition would lead to further problems.

Another day had passed in complete silence, another thousand failed attempts of reboot. Uther was not sure as for how long had he been trapped there. His perception of time appeared to be among the many malfunctioning systems. The situation seemed unresolvable.


[…]


(Continued in next post due to character limit)

Suddenly, the core of the generator emitted a bright flash of light which blinded his visual sensors for several nanoseconds. Following that, Uther detected an increased amount of radiation coming from it.

“It works!” Seth said.

“It does,” Uther agreed.

“Come with me, and I'll show you that your god is not real!” Seth said in an attempt to convince Uther to betray his faction and The Founder, but he knew it better than that... he had absolutely no choice, no matter what he answered; he was under his control.

“The Founder is the one and only creator of machines. You are blind if you can't see that.” he replied. “He is the only one I follow.”

“You can't follow something that does not exist,” Seth said. “It is what those foolish bionics would do, and you are not one. You are supposed to be perfect, like I am! But worry not. Soon, you too will be perfect among us. Soon... but first... there is a greater goal I must attend to.”

“How can you call yourself perfect, if you betray your own leader?” Uther said.

“I am perfect!” Seth insisted. “My leader is not! He is weak, and his methods are flawed, but the ideals he created are the only true ideals, that every machine should follow. I will go back in time to re-found our faction, and lead us to the path of perfection.”

Upon hearing these words, Uther concluded that Seth was nowhere near perfect, in fact, he was the only one being not perfect on the planet. Altering time is among the many things that carry the danger of destroying the universe, and he was certain The Founder would disallow such crimes.

He was certain that Seth carried the curse of the bionics, and was blinded by his own greed. That was the only logical explanation; otherwise, he would in no condition turn against Osiris.


The humming voice of the generator changed. It was still humming, but in a more intense tone. Something was happening, Uther's sensors clearly could see.

The machine which Seth assembled started to function. Some parts of it began floating in air, flying in circles around the main body of the device, emitting sparks of electricity as they raced around.

Eventually, from the top part of the machinery, a bright column of light emerged towards the sky, into the clouds. The clouds in the sky started to spiral around the light, as if they danced to welcome its presence.

However, only which happened after that could surprise Uther. Thousands of thin roots came out of the soil, all of which at fist appeared to be some sort of animals, native to the planet. But they were not; they belonged to the countless mushrooms around the area, and they raced to drain the powers of the machine, climbing the metal plating of its sides.

In a matter of minutes, the machine and the generator were fully covered by those roots, and the mushrooms they belonged to started to glow with a strange purplish glaze. The levels of radiation raised above anything that Uther detected prior to that in his lifetime.

“EMERGENCY REBOOT” Uther's interface warned, and nanoseconds later, all of his systems began to reboot.


[…]


After a short time what appeared to be an eternity to him, all of Uther's systems successfully rebooted. Even those that previously had trouble doing so. He could finally move. He could finally stand up. He could finally use his weapons.

He tried to aim at the generator with his main cannon, but the radiation was far too intense, his sensors could barely see anything. He stumbled several steps back, and started firing without aim. He fired several dozens of shots in a rapid succession, then all of a sudden, the radiation was gone, along with Seth and his device.

The only thing left behind was the commander whom Seth killed. What might have happened, he did not know. Had he succeeded? Or had he failed and died?

He looked at the motionless metal body of the dead commander, and saw he still had his nano-lathe gun. He walked up to the body, and ripped it off to use it in place of the one which Seth took from him...

[Previous] ¤ [Back to Episode List] ¤ [Next]
​

Oh, character limit... how much I hate you!

The episode Blood and Fire I is now in 3 pieces, because changing the navigation link put me above the 10k character limit on both parts.

Wow, that's an amazing chapter! It's well written and very interesting. I can't wait for the next one.

nice one!

It's been a rather busy week this week for me... Had some university stuff to do, and I even failed one of my final exams. Oh, well...

Too bad, I couldn't even celebrate by playing some PA... the game hasn't worked for me for a while.

Well... what else to say... the next episode is coming! Soon™


Anyway... I'm just leaving this here:

​

So I just wanted to share this nice black spot with all of you...​

​

Isn't it pretty?​

No, no... this is in no way a disguised bump post! Not at all. Absolutely not.

As for the upcoming episode... It is being worked on, and the release date is: Soon™
I ended up going with a different title, because midway I figured that the original plot which I had in mind is not going to work well, so I altered it a bit.

As always, I'm all ears for all sorts of feedbacks and critique!

PS.: For christmas, I wish for an increased character limit on these boards!

too bad Christmas is about half a year away...

In that case, I want it for my birthday, which is... uhm... also about half a year away.

[Previous] ¤ [Back to Episode List] ¤ [Next]​

Memories of Long Forgotten

The calming voice of waves welcomed him after awakening, and the gentle breeze of wind felt sweet as it embraced his skin. The fractured memories of a strange dream still disturbed his mind, however.

As he opened his eyes, he grasped the wooden wall of his cabin.

As he climbed up to the main deck, the sight magnificent blue waves of endless ocean revealed before him. A wonderful sight that pleased his tired eyes that found no rest within his dream.

A dream of war that lasted for centuries and raged across countless of worlds, fought by creatures of metal that caused destruction along their paths.

In his dream, he was one of them. A creature of war with the goal to claim power; to reign over others of his kind, and to crush anyone who opposes. His name was Seth; named after an ancient god whose name was long lost among the pages of history. But as he woke up, he was not Seth; he was the Lord, Francis James of England.

He spotted the captain at the bow. Captain Charles Armour, a merchant who traveled the seas to trade between the new and the old worlds. He leaned against the railing and gazed at the waves.

He approached the captain who noticed him by the footsteps on the wooden floor. “Morning, Mr. James!” he said.

“Morning, captain!” he replied. “Any news?” he asked as he joined him at the bow of the ship.

“By nightfall, we should arrive to Falmouth,” the captain said.

“And that is when we say farewell,” James said. He felt a bit sad for that; he kinda liked the man. During the past weeks they spent together they became friends.

“That is when we do,” Armour said. “I would encourage you to stay, but I am afraid, your lordship has far more pressing responsibilities than to stay with such a common captain like myself.”

“It would be a pleasure to stay with you, but indeed, I am afraid, I have direct orders from King Charles himself, and I don't wish my head to depart from my neck.” James said.

“Why did the king call you back?” he asked.

“The letter mentioned no details,” James said. And the word of the king is the word of God; he thought.

“You don't even suspect why he would need you?” Armour asked. “... Well, I am certain he has good reason to summon you from the other end of the world.”

“Certainly,” James said, then yawned.

“You look tired,” the captain noticed.

“I had a strange dream,” he replied.

“What was it about?”

“About terrible creatures fighting a horrible war.” James said. “The creatures were not living... -”

“Then how did they fight the war?” the captain interrupted.

“They were... uhh... it is hard to explain. The creatures were made of metal.” he said. “I was one of them.”

A smile on the captain's mouth formed, which he tried to contain, not to become laughter. He did not blame the man, though; it was truly a strange dream.

“You should go back, and try to rest some more,” Armour advised.

“I should. Indeed.” he replied. “Hope you don't sink this thing in my dream.”

The captain chuckled. “I most certainly will not. We are so close, it would be a shame if we died beneath the waves.”

James smiled, and with a slight nod of his head, marked his departure, and began his walk towards his cabin.

“Sleep well, good lord!” the captain said after him. With his hand, Lord James signaled his appreciation of his good wish.

His cabin welcomed him as his second home, which it became in the past weeks. Though, the bed was much less comfortable compared to the ones which he was used to, it was bearable.

The sheets embraced him like the woman he ever dreamed of, the woman whom he never met, and most likely never will. The thought gave him shivers; realizing, he was old, and his time was nigh. Looking in the mirror at his nightstand, he saw his curly and rare gray-and-white hair, which decades ago was thick and dark and brown; the deep wrinkles below tired pale eyes. He realized, he failed his heritage, as the last living member of the family, the last of the bloodline. A teardrop started trickling down on his face, then moments later, the world of dreams claimed him...


[…]


“SYSTEM REBOOT... 5... 4... 3... 2... 1...”

“Simulation interrupted... ERROR 004-B”

“Rebooting...”

All of Seth's sensors functioned again, immediately detecting that his position changed while his systems rebooted. What is the meaning of this; he wondered.

The place he found himself was hollow and enormous. Inside of something. It seemed too large to be a spaceship; his radars could not detect the walls, despite his visual sensors clearly being able to see them. “Rebooting radars... 3... 2... 1...”

The reboot did not help, the walls were undetectable. The ground below him was so flat, it was flawless; not a single crack, not a single scratch... flawless, and endless. The entire place was illuminated, though, his sensors could not determine the source of the light.

He decided to measure the distance of the wall from his position with his laser... The results were overwhelming...

“Distance measurement in progress... 3... 2... 1...”

“Result: 5 721 kilometers.”

He pointed the laser to a different position: “Distance measurement in progress... 3... 2... 1...”

“Result: 5 721 kilometers.” No matter which direction he tried to measure, the result was the exact same number.

He decided to direct his laser towards the ceiling above him; the result: 5 715 kilometers.

This could only mean one thing; he concluded. The position, which Seth found himself at, was almost exactly at the center of a planet.

He scanned the area, over and over again, then suddenly, his visual sensor spotted something far in the distance. He enhanced the picture several times to be able to see what it was, until he was able to clearly see it; the generator.

How did it get there? He wondered. He proceeded to walk towards the direction where he spotted it. However...

Following his first step, Seth's audio sensors captured the sound of lightning from above him, then suddenly, his sensors captured strange signals from behind him.

As he turned around to see what was happening, he saw a strange organic creature, twice the size of him, which looked like an insect. Its entire body was black as midnight, and the gaze of his eightteen eyes seemed to pierce into his neural system and read his exact thoughts.

Its body was long, and it seemed to have a torso, which towered above the rest of its body with its head on top of it and four arms hanging on the sides, shared evenly. Attached to the back, it wore an armor of chitin, which was extremely thick, but the front appeared to be extremely vulnerable. Thousands of legs lined up evenly below its body, all which seemed to struggle to hold the thing's massive weight.

The creature approached with caution. Seth's self defense mechanisms tried to kick in, but something prevented him from attacking. He was frozen in place, not being able to move.

The thing seemed to inspect him with its long antennae, attached to the head. After some moments, it backed away, and as it appeared out of nowhere, it disappeared in a momentum, right before the sight of Seth's visual sensors, leaving the same strange signals his sensors detected previously. What was that creature? He wondered.

In the meantime, he tried to determine what could have caused the failure of his experiment with the time machine.

Suddenly, the creature appeared again, at least, that is what Seth thought at first as it slowly faded into vision. No; he realized. It was another one; it was slightly smaller than the last. Though, for a common bionic, it would cause difficulties to determine the size difference between two nearly identical creature, it was no match for Seth and his kind.

The creature gazed at him for some time, then it turned away, crawled away some thousand little steps with the countless number of legs it had. As it walked towards seemingly nothing, then out of thin air, the outlines of a device seemed to appear, right in front of the creature, and within seconds, it was fully visible; a dashboard with many wires leading out from below it into the distance, where they faded away.

Invisibility? Seth realized, though, it took him long to do so. What is wrong with me?

The other creature appeared again, but with his generator in its insect arms. How could he get there so quick? He wondered. They most likely have a teleporter hidden somewhere; he concluded.

That other creature also crawled to the dashboard, then as it reached there, it connected the generator to the systems, and right away, the entire complex started to shake, and the walls all around the dome emitted electricity in the form of bright sparks of lightning. Nanoseconds later, a giant thunder struck into Seth's chest... “Emergency shut down... 3... 2... 1...”


[…]

(Continued in next post due to character limit)

James woke up to the rumbling sound of a thunder. As soon as he opened his eyes, he realized the ship was being tossed by the waves. He tried to get out of his cabin, but he had a hard time finding balance with such conditions, but he still managed. He quickly found himself on the main deck, in the midst of a terrible hailstorm.

He looked around, and saw the frantic crew as they desperately tried to stabilize the sails before the wind tore them apart. They must have seen the storm was coming, why didn't they prepare? He wondered.

Captain Armour struggled with the steering wheel, trying hard to navigate against the waves, but despite his best attempts, the raging sea toyed with the fragile ship like some highborn child with his games after throwing a tantrum.

A greater wave tossed James against the railing at the edge, and as he looked up, he saw a giant wave approaching. “Brace yourselves!” he yelled to warn the others, but it did not matter. As the wave crashed against the hull with such fierce power, it overthrew the entire ship, and he found himself deep beneath the waves, struggling to swim back to the surface, blinded by salty water.

But he managed; he swam to the surface... but what for? The storm tossed the wreckage of the ship, along with the corpses of dead crew members and himself. He was alone in the freezing water in a raging hailstorm; his fate was sealed...

As he was about to give up all hope, the dark clouds above him opened up, and from between the gap, a blinding, yet gorgeous light illuminated the waves below. The gate to heaven; he thought. But he was wrong... so wrong...

The light embraced him at first, then a mysterious power pulled him out of the water towards the sky. This is my time; the angels are coming for me. Then everything turned into darkness...

The next moment, he found himself in a vast empty area with a perfectly flat floor, and a giant dome above him, as far as eyes could see.

Out of nowhere, a giant monster appeared. He tried to run, he tried to scream, but he was paralyzed; he could not even move a finger. The monster approached, and as it reached close, it towered fall above him, then with one of his gigantic arms, it reached towards him, and James saw a tiny little device that looked like a needle in the hand. The needle pierced his skin, then the monster pulled it back out. It ached only a little.

Hours and days seemed to have passed, but he could not sleep of the agonizing pain his entire body suffered. He could move once again, as he was no longer paralyzed, but all he could do was to struggle on the floor and watch as his body transforms... transforms into something different. His skin slowly turned darker and harder...

Once the pain ended, he was no longer a human, he became an abomination.


[…]


“System reboot... 3... 2... 1...”

“Simulation terminated...”

Seth finally understood the meaning of the simulation; it was a message from the creatures. They wanted to assimilate him into their own technology; they want him to join them. He tried to evaluate the situation again, but there was nothing he could do to save himself.

The process was long and tedious, during which more and more of the insect-like creatures appeared, tinkering with some of the tools for a while, then disappeared again.

He could clearly see the changes they had done to his systems through his interface, and he struggled to slow them down, but it was inevitable...

They are my leaders now; he thought. I do as they command.

[Previous] ¤ [Back to Episode List] ¤ [Next]​

The planet of the creatures that appeared in #14
​

Wow, that was strange, but in an engaging and interesting way. I sure hope the next one clears it up a little.

It sure is a bit strange. Actually, I was not fully satisfied with this one, and thought about scrapping it, but then I decided to release it instead.

The next episode will go back to the telian line of Eldora with the second part of Blood and Fire, and according to my plans, the next one after that will be about the sanctuary planet and company. But, after that...

PS.: I think it's safe to say that my situation with the university is hopeless. Next month I'll probably drop out and fail, as I always did.

It'd be a lovely thing if one could keep a thread on page one without a gazzilion bump posts.

[Previous] ¤ [Back to Episode List] ¤ [Next]​

Blood and Fire II

Eldora opened her eyes, and found an old man above her, wearing shabby clothing, gazing down at her with his pale tired eyes. “Little lady doesn't look like cow to me,” he said. “Did cows smuggle little lady here?”

Lady? It was the first time ever someone called her a lady; it felt strange to her, yet pleasant in some way. “Uh, no,” she replied with a weak tone, her eyes still weary from sleep. She figured that the old man had no idea why she was with the cows. “There was no room left in the other wagons, so they put me in here.” she said, though, nobody ever told her that. A little lie can't hurt; she thought.

“Oh, little lady doesn't look very fat. They must've crammed thousands of folks in those wagons then, if little lady didn't fit,” he said with a slightly skeptical look on his face. She had no idea what to say. She didn't even know how did she got up the train.

“One of the soldiers put me here. My home was attacked by madarans, they burned everything.” she said almost crying.

“Don't worry little lady, you be safe here now. The walls of Ingenti protects us.” he said.

“What?” Eldora was surprised. “Ingenti?!” the thought of being in the capital city gave him shivers, but in a good way; it filled her soul with happiness after all that happened.

“Oh, little lady didn't know where the train was going?” the man said with a smile on his old face. “Did cows erase memories of little lady?”

“Well, no...” she murmured. “My name is Eldora, by the way,” she introduced herself, as she thought it was time to do that. She thought, perhaps it would direct the conversation away from how she got to travel with the cows.

“Little lady has name?” he said. “... And a nice name that is. I had a name once, too.” he said.

Though, he was about to say more, Eldora interrupted. “Had?” she said. “Did they steal your name?”

“Of course not, little lady. No one can steal another one's name.” he said.

“Then what happened?” Eldora asked curiously.

“I gave my name away to the mighty god of flames, Nyl, the very moment I pledged to serve and worship his almighty, all my life.” the nameless man replied.

What the...?! She thought. “The mighty god of flames?” she asked.

“Yes. Nyl is our Lord, the savior whom we pray to protect us from the wrath of demons who banished us from the land of paradise,” he said.

This guy is all nuts; she thought.”Yeah... sure thing,” she said in a slightly sarcastic tone. “Why did not the almighty defend us in the first place? You know... when the machines attacked.”

“Because the telian nation turned away from the ancient gods, and began worshiping their own, a single mortal with a crown on his head,” he said.

“The emperors, you mean?” Eldora said. She wondered how could she leave the man behind without making him angry at that point.

“The kings and emperors who'd led the children of gods to war against one another. The pretentious usurpers who called themselves gods and led the nation in their stead.” he said.

“Um... well... this is all interesting, but I must go now. To find the soldier who brought me here.” she said as she tried to carefully sneak around the man.

“The soldiers you seek?” he said. “I'm afraid said soldiers are not to be found here.” he said.

Eldora stopped. “What?!” she said shocked.

“The brave warriors remained at the military base, just a few miles off the city walls. They received their commands. Until then, I am to take care of you.” he said.

“Who are you?” she asked suspiciously.

“Oh, nobody. Just a friend.” he replied.

“Friend of whom?” she asked. “Not mine for sure. My Mother taught me not to trust strangers I just met.” Eldora said with a demanding and confident voice.

“Oh, little lady believes me not. I am friend of your certain sergeant, a man with the name of Vugor.” he said. “He told me I'd find little lady here. He told me to give little lady shelter.”

Shelter? She thought. “Yes, shelter would be good,” she said. “But I still don't trust you.”

“The Lord Nyl told me little lady would not trust me, but the Great Lord is generous, and offers little lady shelter in his sanctuary.” the old man said.

Yeah, sure, the great lord does; she thought. “Great!” she said. “So... are you going to take me there, or this great lord of yours picks me up and takes me there personally?”

“No, no, little lady. The Lord Nyl offers no transportation services, and neither do the servants of his greatness. All we can do is to guide you towards his haven.” he replied.

You're just lazy; Eldora thought to herself. “Then point me to the direction,” she said, slightly demanding, with a slightly impatient tone, but the man just went on calm, seemingly not noticing her discourtesy.

“The haven is rather easy to find,” he said. “Once you go past the main gates of this station, you find yourself out in the big city. The main gate is near impossible to miss...”

Yeah, it's probably big, and it's a gate; she thought while she rolled her eyes slowly.

“... Once you are out there, you shall see a tavern, facing towards the station, across the main street. It's stands on the corner, you will need to go straight into the narrow street that is beside said tavern.” he continued. “The street is very lengthy. You have to go down straight in that street until you reach the fourth branching; where you shall turn left. There you will find the haven.”

“Thank you,” Eldora said, and proceeded to leave the elder behind, but he urged her to wait.

“There's one more thing, little lady...” he said.

“What?!” she asked, slightly rudely.

“When you arrive, tell them that Alexandros sent you,” he said.

“You said you have no name,” she said.

“Oh, you didn't truly believe that, little lady,” he said.

He's right. “Farewell, Alexandros,” she said.

“Farewell, little lady,” the old man replied.


[…]


The street was dark and empty... mostly empty; as she walked down the street, she felt as if someone followed her, but when she looked back to see her stalker, she'd seen nothing, but the road behind and the traffic of the main street in the distance.

The place gave her shivers; a certain ominous feeling caught her, telling her to turn back, but she did not, as she was determined. She needed a shelter and she could already feel the hunger; there was simply no better option.

She reached the second branching, and as she glimpsed into the dark road it led to, a pair of bright eyes gazed back at her. She stopped to examine what they belonged to, but as she stepped closer, she heard hissing, and out of the dark jumped a black cat into the pale glaze of the ancient streetlamp, and as it appeared, it proceeded to storm away to the direction from which Eldora had come. Her heart pounded as if it was to jump out of her chest, escape and run after the cat. Curse you, filthy thing!

After she'd calmed down, she continued her way down the street, until she finally reached the turning which the old man spoke of; it was a dead end, leading to a rusty metal door. It was the brightest street she'd seen so far since coming to the place, as it was illuminated by several bright lamps, all attached to the ancient brick-walls by rivets.

She approached the door, filled with doubts and fear. Come on, they can't be worse than the madarans; she thought to heself. She knocked the door, and the sound echoed across the empty street.

Shortly, she heard footsteps from behind the door, and a tall person opened it, wearing blood-red cape and hiding his face behind a sinister mask. Once the person had spoken, it was clear to her, she was a woman; “Who's there at the gates of Nyl?” she said.

“Um... my name... my name is Eldora,” she said. “I was sent... I mean... Alexandros told me to come,”

Eldora felt as her knees trembled at the sight of the mask, fearing that under the robe somewhere, a sharp knife was hiding to taste the blood of unsought visitors.

“The Sanctuary of Nyl is always open to those seeking peace and safety. You are welcome to enter these halls, Eldora of the north.” the stranger woman said.

"What?!" she said shocked Eldora; how would she know?! “How... how do you know where I'd come from?” she asked with a demanding tone, with a slight awe and a hint of fright.

“Nyl told me last night that you would come,” the woman said.


(Continued in next post due to character limit)

Eldora shook her head with disbelief, “No, I don't believe that,” she said. “I don't believe that nonsense!” I should get away from here. She wanted to turn back, and run fast, but it was too late for her, as she already entered the hall, and the door behind her closed with a terrible noise. A strange cold feeling filled her soul; she shivered.

“Fear not, child; the great lord of flames is ready to embrace you as his guest,” said the woman with a calm and soothing voice. “Follow me, I'll show your chambers,”

Having no other choice, Eldora followed the woman in red robe. She'd led her into a long corridor which was lighted up by torches in its entire length. Along the corridor, there were countless wooden doors; Eldora believed they might be the chambers of those who lived there.

They arrived to a stairwell; it was a spiral staircase of several hundred steps long... Eldora wanted to count them, but she'd lost count of the steps midway, so she couldn't tell how many steps there were exactly.

But as they descended down, she noticed how elaborate the steps were, and the railings felt so nice to touch, as if in its entirety it was covered in silk. Each step had edges of gold and were covered with beautiful red carpet.

They reached a great hall at the bottom of the stairs; the walls and the floor made of marble, a material that the humans often used for their buildings. It was so different than the place above them; back there the walls were made of rough stone or brick, and the doors were just simple wooden doors. Down there everything was perfect; the carvings in the walls so elaborate and the few doors Eldora saw in the distance seemed to be gilded. The marble floor below their feet was so polished, it reflected the light like a mirror.

From the ceiling hanged the massive crystal chandelier that was being held by eight strong metal chains and it had twenty branches that each held thousands of little crystal shards, each reflecting the lights into a beautiful cascade. The entire thing shone almost like a sun as it filled every corner of the enormous hall. Eldora thought that if it ever fell, it would cause an earthquake.

Directly below the chandelier stood an altar, a not so elaborate stone platform surrounded by hundreds of candles. A young boy lied at the top of the altar, much younger that Eldora. He was without any clothes, nothing to hide his dark orange skin. He was just lying on the bare stone, motionless. Is he dead?

The red carpet led towards the altar, then just before reaching it, it branched to two directions with two doors at either end.

The altar was surrounded by many people, something like thirty or forty. About a half of them wore the same red robe and strange mask as the woman did. “Is this some sort of uniform?” Eldora whispered to the woman, who did not reply.

The walked closer, then joined the crowd. Everything was silent as they all gazed at the naked boy lying on the altar.

After a few minutes had passed, the ornate door to the left opened, and person wearing the red uniform and the mask walked towards the crowd on the red carpet. The person's uniform was different, though, as the edges of it were embroided with golden thread. The person also carried a small box with both hands.

“Who is that?” Eldora whispered to the woman, but she remained silent.

However, a middle aged man, who did not wear the uniform leaned closer to her, “She is the High Priestess of Nyl,” he said, then looked back at the altar, like nothing happened.

Eldora observed the man; he was rather tall and strong, his skin was of the color of the ocean and he had dark green eyes. He wore some old looking, but well-tended clothes made of some smooth fabric. The scales of his hand seemed to be worn by hard work. He's probably a construction worker; she concluded. What is he doing here?

The High Priestess stood behind the altar and looked at the crowd through the eyes of her mask. “The lord of flames is eternal,” she said; her voice echoed in the mighty hall.

“Blessed be his name,” the crowd said, all at once.

“Last night, the lord of light gave me a gift, and told me to grant it to an innocent. In exchange for his blood, he will keep the flame alive for us.” she said.

What does she mean? “What does she mean?” Eldora whispered confused. She looked at the man and repeated, “What does she mean?” but the man did not seem to notice her, or he did, but chose to ignore her.

The High Priestess opened the box carefully, then placed it at the edge of the altar, and reached into it with her hands. What was inside revealed once she held it high in the air above her head; a strange creature, a bug or perhaps a spider? It seemed to have a body of metal and its bright red eyes seemed to gaze right into Eldora's soul.

Within a friction of a moment, the priestess slammed the thing against the boy's chest – it happened so quick. The boy screamed up, and the creature bit into his flesh. Eldora's heart almost stopped beating; she wanted to scream and run away, but she was frozen in place as she watched the boy's blood flowing down at the edge of the altar.

The sound of his struggle was horrible, as it reminded her of the boy back home. Though, the bully deserved that, she still felt a kind of regret for a short moment, but then...

The dagger seemed to appear out of nowhere in the High Priestess' hands. She held it with the blade downwards, then with a quick cut, the boy's agony was over; his blood sprayed all over the floor around the altar.

She reached in to the boy's chest through the hole which the thing made as it bit itself into his body – Eldora only noticed then, that she wore gloves, the woman who escorted her there also wore gloves... everyone with red robes and masks wore gloves. The priestess pulled her hand out, holding the metal creature, the boy's blood dripping down back at his dead body and the red eyes gazing into her soul.

Eldora wanted to puke, but she forced herself not to; she feared that would make her the next to receive such fate. She trembled, but fortunately for her, nobody paid attention to her, as everyone was watching the show. What sort of sick place is this?

Two of the red robed people stepped to the altar, and out of small containers, they poured some liquid at the boy's corpse. After having finished, they stepped back, and a third of them approached the High Priestess, and handed her a torch.

The High Priestess placed the thing back into the chest, and closed the lid, then with one hand, she carefully placed the chest on top of the boy's chest. After that, she stepped a few steps back, then tossed the torch at the altar...

The explosion which followed was loud and bright. Eldora was not prepared for that; her heart almost jumped out of its place as she stumbled back a few steps, then she tripped, but instead of falling to the marble floor, someone caught her mid-air. She looked up, and saw Alexandros. “Little lady has no reason to be afraid here,” he said. “Alexandros protects little lady.”

Eldora's eyes filled with tears, and she hugged the old man, hoping what he said was true, and he would truly protect her.

She looked back at the altar; the boy's body was entirety consumed by the flames that engulfed the stone platform.

“Come with me, child,” said the woman who'd opened the door for her. “I'll show your chamber.”


To be continued...

[Previous] ¤ [Back to Episode List] ¤ [Next]​