| Sea of Bodies; -A JOURNEY OF DOOM- | |
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| Tweet Topic Started: Oct 24 2008, 11:24 PM (1,498 Views) | |
Topmonhit
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Nov 2 2008, 03:33 PM Post #11 |
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Prying it our I slashed the rope Um. I could probably comment on more but don't feel like it. >_> |
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| Warlyte | Nov 2 2008, 03:38 PM Post #12 |
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Capsule J2
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Typo, whoop de do, we're not supposed to correct anything anyway. Did you actually READ the whole thing? |
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Topmonhit
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Nov 2 2008, 03:53 PM Post #13 |
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Yes. Yes I did. |
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| Warlyte | Nov 2 2008, 08:10 PM Post #14 |
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Capsule J2
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The Part I Wrote On November 2nd “We made it somewhere!” I tied the rope to the top of the Hawk’s Nest and jumped off. “GUYS, LAAAND!!!” Unfortunately the rope was too short, and it frayed and snapped, sending me straight into the deck. Suddenly I realized there WAS no rope as I should have untied myself days ago. “That was weird.” Seth stared at me oddly. “What are you doing?” “I saw land!” I exclaimed. “That means we’ll be fine in just a little while!” “I see water, for real this time,” Matt pointed out. “We’ll find food soon, guys!” It had actually been days upon days of hard traveling with only a meager amount of supplies, nearly dead. They had managed to survive from fruits growing on some odd cactuses. But now, all seemed to be well. Mark peered into it. “Yes, there are large beasts drinking from it. It’s time to have our first meat in quite some time, eh?” Matt and Emily ran excitedly, shooting magic pulses at the... wait, what sort of large beasts live in the desert? I’m guessing camels or something. So they killed the camels. Suddenly a pack of wolves came charging out and promptly devoured the dead camels, and the other camels had already started running away. Only I’m pretty sure camels are kinda slow. I guess they could be something else considering it’s another world. But the pack of wolves is important enough, anyway. Another thing that was important? Erik’s position in Hell’s government. The one that gave him the power to stop Anna and Eibmoz from passing through. You see, he didn’t like their motivations, since he had his own that would never be fulfilled. That’s what he wanted to tell them that day. “I couldn’t go to Earth to see my love. Why should I let you go to the passage to Pama in Wrerga, to go and see yours?” The emperor stood in shadows. And now it’s time for me to practically cheat, since this story was already written. But I’ll be summarizing it anyway. It’s Erik’s life story which is sort of boring but it’s good enough since I can’t think of much else to write about today. Erik was a normal kid in high school when one day, out of the blue, he and a girl named Alyssa fell in love. However, her weirdo evil-seeming friends hated him utterly. He wasn’t sure why until he overheard that Alyssa was a werewolf. To protect his life, she broke up with him. In anger, he trained for a few weeks up to the full moon, then went to her house and challenged her. He encountered several SWAT-like soldiers and beat them up, then sacrificed his life to cure her werewolfness. He woke up in a place called Afterworld, where the government had decided to give him a new body. However, he wasn’t allowed to go back to Earth without Death’s permission. So, he went to talk to Death, and it became a fight. Surprisingly, Erik outsmarted the ages-old, rusty-in-fighting old thing, destroying it and absorbing all of its powers. However, it seemed that its powers did NOT include going back to Earth. Instead, he had to rule both Afterworld and the sector of Hell that was associated with it. He spent more time in Hell because the neighboring province had more interworld access but wouldn’t give him any for some reason. Demons are like that. And then these two came in, far below him, trying to do much the same thing he was. Eibmoz had an idea. “Erik? How about you join up with us? Take a few retainers and such, and we can all begin a campaign to find our lost loves. The place we’re going has a path to Earth, so it would work out for all of us. Are you interested?” I CAN’T THINK OF A WAY TO MAKE THIS TRANSITION SIMILAR! A few minutes later, the ship slammed rudely into the rocks. “Well, we found some land, but it looks a little deserted,” I commented, climbing over the side and onto the rocks. “Actually, there are some people around here. But you must be from far away.” The voice came down from a much higher cliff. The man was wearing what looked like a kung-fu sort of robe, and he jumped down to land next to me with a flip. “Name’s Saul. I work with the Tritrite Militia. You and your, uh, ship crew back there look like a little lost, but I bet you’d be good fighter. So I’ll strike up a deal–I get you guys some supplies now, and you join the Militia when we get back to the base. Deal?” Some people might think this was a fishy deal, but when you’re hungry it’s quite frankly hard to think about much else. So, I shook Saul’s hand. Biggest mistake of my life. Maybe. Emily stopped Matt from killing the wolves. Most rewarding decision of her life. Maybe. “They’re brutal killers and ruthless scrapfeeders, one and all! What are you doing?” Emily sighed. “I don’t want you to kill them. I... couldn’t bear to see it.” He growled in frustration. “You let me kill the camels!” She turned around, quivering in fear. Would she have to tell him the secret? Rather than think about that anymore, she turned and ran into the middle of the pack on all fours. The wolves growled at her, but she barked and howled like one of them. She turned, and the boys saw that her eyes and face, too, had changed. She was a beast herself. “That’s kinda creepy,” Matt said. Mark didn’t say what he was thinking–how hot that was. “Who knows? It probably serves some purpose. Maybe she’s part wolf or something.” “My love, Alyssa, was part wolf,” Erik said. “Yours are partially different from your own kinds as well, aren’t they? I suppose we’re alike in many ways. Thank you very much for telling me about the passage. I don’t exactly have a lot of forces, even from Afterworld, that tiny excuse for a planet that it is.” “You outsmarted Death and you didn’t even know about your surrounding networks?” Anna asked. “What is wrong with you?” “It was only a few years ago, in that incident, that I became aware of anything of the supernatural. And it took a while before I was the least bit interested in my post here.” Eibmoz shook his head. “I really wish I had this Death-destroyer as an ally in some much greater enterprise. Of course, Lynn is entirely worth it.” “Ein is much greater, though,” Anna said, thinking of him again. “Lynn and Ein? Those names sound familiar,” Erik said. “Like my high school days.” “Lynn, Ein, Seth,” Saul addressed each of us as we headed through the little village. “You guys are going to start in testing and training. At your age, it’s a lot like high school. Wait. Never mind, people here don’t know what that means.” We all laughed. I shook my head. “Man, interworld travelers must be everywhere. And I thought I was getting OUT of high school with that.” “No such luck, my friend,” Saul told me. “Thought I was among the few. Where do you hail from, then?” He asked interestedly. “Earth,” Lynn told him simply. “I’m from Cor Luminox,” Seth reminded us. Saul nodded. “Both very famous for their internal conflicts. Much like this Wrerga we’re in. Why must the universe be such a depressing place? I’m from a planet called Syllody, and it’s pretty much one empire. Came over as an emissary to that island Morla, since it’s thought to contain immense magical powers. Not as much as the Lost Derriga one. Your Earth Legends use the term Atlantis, but it’s supposed to be much the same.” Now, I’ve run out of inspiration for the day I suppose and I’m well behind today’s word count. Mind you, I’m much ahead still when added to yesterday’s, but that doesn’t make me very happy. Tomorrow, during school, I’ll probably spend a lot of time plotting and such. |
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Topmonhit
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Nov 2 2008, 09:19 PM Post #15 |
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There a reason Erik didn't have to play a stupid game with Death like Limbo or Monopoly or Twister or Mario Kart? I remember in Sheep in the Big City their narrator, Ben Plotz, had some problems with transitions sometimes. ;o |
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| Warlyte | Nov 3 2008, 05:15 PM Post #16 |
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Capsule J2
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Well it's a reference to a short story I wrote a looong time ago. And randomly decided that since they're in Hell anyway to give him an appearance. And now it'll probably escalate to some importance. Tonight's will hopefully be among the more interesting. |
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| Warlyte | Nov 3 2008, 09:45 PM Post #17 |
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Capsule J2
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The Part I Wrote On November 3rd Emily barked at Matt and Mark, beckoning at the both of them to join her. Mark hesitated. “Shall we, erm...” Without replying Matt dropped down like Emily, running towards the pack with a fake howl. The wolves didn’t like that, but Emily barked a few things at them and, reluctantly, they calmed down. Mark copied Matt’s actions a bit more slowly. “You’d think, if she’s part-wolf and you her brother...” Matt sighed. “There is a reason she is different. I’ve kept it a secret for a while, but she’s–“ The wolves all went charging in one direction. Emily howled and began heading after them. “Her traveling armor is built well for that,” Mark commented. “She’s also quite skilled.” “Mark, get a few pairs of gauntlets and some leather to keep our knees protected, like she does. Drop your bag after that–you won’t need it–and catch up to our trail. We’re hunting today.” With that, Matt got up and ran after them. Mark blinked and grabbed his bag. “I’ll make sure of it.” Saul stopped in front of the tiny little excuse for a building. “Make sure you sort all your luggage. The left wall is for metallic objects, the back is for magical ones, and the right is for supplies and such. It’s a procedure you’ll go through one at a time whenever you enter.” I nodded. “What about something metallic AND magical?” Put it in as magical. When you’re done you ought to be just wearing your clothes, and head in the front here. It’ll all be taken care of by this system. See you around, maybe in a classroom, maybe in my office.” He grinned and walked into the outhouse-sized building, closing the door behind him. “Is this a joke?” Lynn wondered. Seth shook his head. “The geniuses on Earth would have discovered all of this by now, if its atmosphere contained mana.” We both looked at him quizzically. “This stuff is imported from a very advanced planet,” he continued. “Such as Syllody–did he say where he was from?” I sighed. “Seth, are you losing memory? He said he was an EMISSARY of Syllody, trying to take power here. Did you lose some brainpower when you died for a while?” He looked at me with his blood red eyes. I didn’t remember what color they’d been before I had accidentally killed him. The revival had been a miraculous success, but... he wasn’t the same after that. Maybe the new environment. “Of course. That was him, wasn’t it? I haven’t been able to sleep well lately. Sorry.” “Really, I can hardly sleep at night, knowing that she is so far away,” Eibmoz said, leaning on a fence separating two of Hell’s provinces. “It’s as if my senses themselves are attuned to simply finding her, my mind refusing to think of anything else.” Anna nodded. “I can understand that. We’re all so obsessed with them we’re abandoning our lives.” Eibmoz turned to her. “Smack me.” “What.” “Smack me and see if I’m still thinking the same.” She almost laughed, turning away. “That’s too easy. You haven’t provoked me in such a long time.” “Are you afraid it won’t hurt?” She spun with her hand, palm striking his dark face. He whirled back and fell to the floor. Getting up, he rubbed his head, where silver blood was flowing out. Nothing unusual, as he was a Dark Elf, with jet black skin and white hair. “That didn’t help. Let’s armor up.” Mark finished preparing his armor for the wolf-run, then got some other things for Matt’s sake. “Wait,” called a man’s voice. “Don’t leave me behind.” A Guardian Spirit, dressed in traveler’s cloak and a rather odd hat, appeared next to Mark. “You need my power. But we must hurry, as the pack is far ahead. Will you let me help you get there faster?” “Sure,” Mark replied, nodding. The Guardian Summon morphed into a gust of wind and surrounded Mark. He went down to all fours, leaving his bag behind. He made a leap forward, suddenly fluid and quick, moving like one of the beasts himself. It’s like a superpower, he realized. Only, it’s not inside me. “Bet this thing takes power like there’s now tomorrow,” Seth said, the first person to unload his many, many belongings. He opened the door and stepped in. Lynn followed suit with very few supplies, and I went last with a moderate amount. I found only a dark-cloaked man inside. “Tell me your name, from where you hail, and your purpose here.” “I am Ein Hedgington of Earth, and I am here to join the Tritrite Militia.” The door opened behind the cloaked man. “Enter the Assessment Chamber. I did as he said and walked into a huge, brightly lit dome. It looked really high-tech and stuff. The door behind me closed. A female, robotic voice spoke. “Initializing weapon placement.” My arrowspear was placed in the room on a floating platform. “Loading environment.” The walls transformed into a dark cave filled with stalactites and such. Slowly. “Slow loading times. Some things never change. Come ON! LOAD FASTER! IT’S THE INTERNET ALL OVER AGAIN!” “Initializing enemy computer placement.” Several purple monkeys with wings generated and flew around the cave. “Mission: Neutralize all enemies.” “So kill the purple monkeys, huh?” “Our mission is to sneak past the wall,” Erik stated. “Right. I assume that means blast the foundations and crawl under?” Eibmoz asked. Erik laughed. “Repairs are being arranged from a previous, um, incident similar to the one you described.” He showed them the hole, covered with and illusion. “Hurry on through, guys. We have to get to Wrerga with all speed!” Now this is traveling with speed! Mark dashed along the dunes at a crazy pace, his hands and legs adapting to the method with the newfound power. He saw the pack from one vantage point at the top of a dune. It wasn’t long before his energy began to fail. He headed down the dune, sand blurring around him in a solid streak of running. “SHIKAKA!” he yelled, inspired for no reason. By the time he got down there, he was absolutely exhausted and couldn’t keep his Guardian Spirit any longer. The pack had already finished its hunt and was dividing up the meat from what appeared to be more camels. Matt and Emily were taking their shares, and one camel was being eaten only by one small cub. Or at least, it was TRYING to eat the meat. It had a rather hard time. Mark started eating... raw camel. Which I can’t imagine that it tastes any good. But maybe it does. Maybe you should ask him. Once everyone had taken their fill, the pack pressed on. Mark stood up, taking deep breaths and handing Matt the armor pieces. He noticed that the wolves seemed angry at him. Waiting a little while, he followed on his two feet farther behind. “Man, they really don’t like me.” “I imagine the monkeys don’t like me,” I decided, jumping up to grab onto one. It screeched insanely, clawing at me, but I swung up and kicked it a few times so it would fall. Magically picking up a stalagmite, I had it stab the monkey. “That’s one down.” The stalagmite weapon gave me an idea. I focused hard on the floor below me. Slowly and clumsily, it cracked out and lifted upward. “Yes!” My platform sped upward in a circle, letting me hit a few more monkeys on the way. Then I maneuvered it over to my arrowspear, accelerating into the remaining ones with quick attacks. After destroying the last one, everything disappeared, dropping me on the dome floor. The force sent me through it and into the circuits below. I felt extreme voltage and screamed with its zapping power. Anna gasped. “I can feel something dreadful happening somewhere. Let’s hurry!” She ignored all reason and began sprinting through the border city, attacking anyone that got in her way with her Gladiator Whip. Eibmoz and Erik followed a bit further behind her. The Gate was guarded by several powerful warriors, however, and also locked with a seal. Apparently, few people ever accessed it. Anna growled in frustration and attacked one, surrounded by them almost instantly. Eibmoz’s hands glowed. “Subjugation!” Bolts of power grabbed the warriors, forcing them to step aside. “You two... open the passage and go through... I’ll... hold them...” Erik unsheathed his huge flamberge and struck the seal. The blade resonated with the impact, producing a chilling sound. Slowly, the seal began to disappear. Erik stepped in and faded out, followed closely by Anna. Eibmoz dropped his power, stumbling forward and relying on the confusion caused by his attack. The three of them popped up in a tunnel somewhere. The wolves finally stopped at the entrance to a tunnel, the sun beginning to go low on the horizon. They all situated themselves in a certain pattern. Emily came out and showed Mark where he was supposed to sleep. Right next to her. They turned away from each other, and Matt chuckled to himself as he saw them blush. “You two,” he muttered to himself. “You look perfect together. Wish the same could be said about me and some girl, ya know?” He punched Mark’s shoulder for emphasis. He mumbled incoherently for a few minutes. I babbled incoherently as the system fished me out of its circuits and actually repaired itself. “System malfunction. Contained reboot. Loading assessment statistics.” A hologram showed up in front of me, showing the columns of Skill and Power, with the rows of Martial, Weapon, and Magical. In the table, all of the values were corrupted. “Assessment complete. Formulating class schedule. Preparing quarters.” A door opened on the side of the room. I headed over to it, finding a small room like the one before, only without a person in it. As the door behind me closed, the one in front opened up to a long hallway. Other guys were popping in and out of doors, being social. A couple of them greeted me, perfectly aware that I was new. I suddenly stumbled upon a door that was already labeled Ein Hedgington. “We’re almost there! Soon I’ll be able to see my Ein Hedgington... Eibmoz, where is that crystal that lets us see them? We have to find them, after all.” He nodded and spoke a few words, barely able to summon the energy. “It appears they have joined a group called Tritrite Militia. Which, I believe, has an entrance in every city on the Continent. Let’s go find one.” He trotted along down the tunnel to the light, excitedly, the others following. A few stone buildings lay in the valley below. Eibmoz pointed out the tiny white one, obviously made of a superior material. “There it is!” They all rushed down the hill to get to it. Suddenly the Gatekeepers came charging out of the passage behind them. In a wild frenzy all three piled into the Tritrite Building and closed it. “Invalid access,” said the robotic voice. “You are under arrest.” Each was beamed out of the room separately. |
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Topmonhit
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Nov 3 2008, 10:38 PM Post #18 |
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1. No "your request is being processed" inside joke? 2. FLYING MONKEYS OH NOES IT'S THE WICKED WITCH OF THE WEAST |
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| Warlyte | Nov 4 2008, 10:03 PM Post #19 |
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Capsule J2
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The Part I Wrote November 4th The pack woke up early the next morning and set out for another day. The trio stayed close together in the back of the group, the one cub always at their side. Around midday they stopped at a waterhole. Each took huge drinks of water, thirst practically endless. The largest wolf was the first to begin circling around. Seconds later, the whole pack charged after a slither of snakes, as a friend of mine tells me that a group of snakes is called a slither. And that big enough snakes have meant. Some of the snakes started burrowing into the ground, but the wolves plucked them out. The biggest snake, rather than run, faced off against the wolf leader, the two circling each other carefully. Emily and Matt were doing the same things with their bare hands, odd as it was, and Mark copied with another snake. The snake leader lunged at the great wolf, who stepped aside and hit the snake with a twisting bite. It clawed at the head and began to consume its prize. The others ate theirs as well. Nice lunch, Mark thought to himself. “Dinner is beginning,” said the robotic voice after I’d spent some time in my room. A door besides the one to the hallway glowed. “This is your teleport room.” I walked in and the door closed behind me. “Take me to dinner,” I said. The other door opened to a cafeteria, packed with all sorts of people and food. I grabbed a tray and headed over to the food, grabbing a couple of plates and stacked them high. I could barely see past it to find the table with Lynn and Seth at it. As I sat down, Lynn leaned over to look at me, a little confused. “Ein,” she said, “What happened to your hair?” I reached up and felt my head–no hair at all. I thought back to the moments spent in the circuit. “I... had a certain incident in the Assessment Chamber.” Not wanting to go on, I started eating my food. Mark finished eating and took another drink. Shortly after, the pack moved on again, the same direction as the day before. It was almost as if they were migrating somewhere. This process began a repeating pattern each long, hot day. The kills near midday were the only things that changed–besides his conversations with Matt and Emily. They discussed what life on the other side of the mountains had to be like. They talked about what they’d do once the wolves circled back towards the mountains for the year. Matt often carved the bones of kills using a knife he had brought. One day he came up with a peculiar sort of product. Fitting it around the cub’s body, he smiled at the makeshift armor he’d made. Over the next week, he made sections for its head and legs. But the little guy was growing, and just afterwards he started to make a bigger suit. And on it continued. Mark and Emily always stayed together during the long journeys and hunts. They became so close that Matt joked once that they were mates. They didn’t even hesitate to stay together at night. In contrast, Matt himself felt oddly alone. He tried to fill the gap with his carvings, and eventually started to feel like the little wolf cub was his best friend. Something’s not right. “That hair thing is just not right,” Lynn said later. She came with me into a teleport room. “Take us to a fashion shop.” I couldn’t have told you a thing about the contents of that place, which I was surprised existed. She pointed out where all of the wigs were displayed. “Let’s get you a cool color, like...” She grabbed a wig that may have been taken from someone’s lawn and put it on me. “I love it,” she giggled, getting a mirror. I looked ridiculous. Taking it off, it occurred to me that I also looked ridiculous bald. I put the green wig back on. “Okay, how do you expect me to pay for this?” A nearby clerk explained, “These things are free for joining.” I shrugged and walked back to the teleport room. “You know, they give us all this stuff just for joining into their troops. We haven’t even signed any sort of contract. I just don’t understand what all it is that they can possibly gain from this, so valuable that they’d spend so much money on us. Are soldiers seriously all they need?” As we teleported to a hang-out place, Seth joined the conversation. “Loyal soldiers, my friend. The theory is that as long as the members are happy, more and more people will want to join, and not a single one will question what they’re being asked to do.” “So,” I considered, “It’s a ploy. A trap of sorts. Never much better than those manipulating candidates for President back in the ol’ U.S.?” Seth nodded. “Exactly. It’s a great analogy, and I’m glad you can recognize it. After all, we have to be careful–or we could become those people you read about in history class that were concerned only with luxury and worldly pleasures. Now that we are officially interworld travelers, we must fight for the sake of the entire universe.” “The entire universe, huh?” I considered that for a long time afterward, as I headed toward the teleport room to get to my quarters to go to bed. “Good night, guys.” “Wait!” Lynn called out. “I didn’t give you a good-night kiss.” She made up for it instantly with a magical kiss. “Good night,” she said. “Good night,” I replied. “Good morning,” said the robotic voice, several hours later. I bolted upright. “Ah! Am I late?” “No. It is time for you to change clothes and go to breakfast. You will then proceed to each of the classes on your schedule.” I changed into one of those ninja-like uniforms and teleported to breakfast. I forgot my wig, but my friends shrugged it off. I probably looked really weird to them either way. Shortly afterward, I teleported to my first class, which turned out to be Tactics 1. The professor seated me in the back and began to diagram on the board about complicated strategies. I didn’t get a word of it, but hopefully I could get some sort of out-of-class help. Only a textbook would probably be less helpful than this. I ignored any details about my teacher, rushing to try and get some notes taken with the supplies I was given. My second class, however, was much more my style, Magical Technique. In fact, I probably seemed like some type of genius or prodigy during the practice sessions. This one was much more active than Tactics, and I was pretty sure it would become my favorite class. The third class was Weapon Technique: Spear. It was of course a small class, as compared to the much larger Sword and even Bow classes. But that came out fine with me, as training became much more involved with the tight group. The fourth one was Mana Studies, which was possibly the most boring class in the academy. I learned about how to conserve energy in battle, basically. It turned out that there was a surprising number of ways to do this. During the class, my tendency to randomly overpower spells really angered my professor, but there was never any way to stop it, really. |
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| Warlyte | Nov 5 2008, 09:40 PM Post #20 |
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Capsule J2
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The Part I Wrote November 5th I entered the room for my fifth class, another dome type of thing with a padded floor that looked like a gym. Not a high school kind, the weight-lifting kind. The machines were set off from the center by padded walls. Inside there was only one person. “Who is my one pupil for the one period this season?” asked the familiar voice. Saul turned around to look at me. “Well, lucky you. Each instructor spends one period each day with only one student, often the one with highest potential. You, Ein, are with me, learning the ways of Martial Arts.” He waved around the room. “This is where we shall train of course. You shall refer to me as Tapia-sensei. First I will try to find the reason you were chosen for this. Come and attack me!” I ran up to him and started punching him, each one expertly blocked. “I see,” said Tapia. “You are quick of hand and eye, but you know not how to use them properly.” He began to counter as I instinctively jumped back, keeping my distance until I hit padding. Whirling my body I just barely avoided his every punch and kick. “Good. You are beginning the path of defense. Yet have you not yet learned that it is a waste of work to move your entire body? In addition, it may counteract your balance in battle. It is perfectly acceptable to cut off an attack as it begins.” We spent the rest of the day on things like that, Tapia watching my moves and showing me how to do better. Those five classes became a long daily routine, all building my skills up until even Professor Banthien, the Tactics instructor, was happy. It hadn’t occurred to me that this was only the beginning. After a couple of weeks, Tapia decided, based on my grades, to let me drop Mana Studies in favor of an actual position. I ended up with a prison guard assignment, which gave me a chill as I thought about my own time spent in jail. How long had it been? Several months. It was late summer outside. I realized that my birthday had passed. And Lynn’s and Seth’s for that matter. Seth and I were 16. Lynn was already turning 17. It felt a little weird to suddenly know that. I realized that I was transforming in more than one way. I thought about this as I waited for the Magical Technique class to get out. I had finished my assignment early as usual and had to wait for the next period to begin. Finally the bell rang and the students headed into the various teleport rooms. As I left mine I noticed the contrast of the dark, stony, metal-barred cells versus everything else. Two seconds later, I noticed the occupants of the nearest. Anna and two guys, both of which looked familiar. She screamed and ran up to the bars. “Ein, you finally came to save me, didn’t you? I’m so happy!” I blinked. “Anna, um... why are you here? And how did you know my real name?” She giggled. “I’ve been trying to find you for a long time. And it looks like I finally did.” One of the guys, jet-black-skinned and white-haired, growled. “That’s not fair! You found yours already. And he gets to be with mine every single day.” Anna spun around and kicked him. “You make it sound like we own them, which we don’t. And that really, really sounds bad. Now you either get a better attitude, or shut up, or they’ll never like us at all. Do you understand?” “Well I guess I am slightly motivated by the idea that this guy might release us,” the guy considered. “Alright. My apologies.” I sighed. “I don’t have that kind of power. And anyway, what are you guys in for?” “Trespassing,” said the other man. “They’re very strict.” I suddenly realized I hadn’t left the facility in a while. “How long have you guys been in here? And for that matter I’d like to know who you two are.” “Eibmoz,” stated the black-and-white guy. “I am Erik Skain,” said the other. Suddenly I recognized the name and face. “You went to high school in my hometown some years ago. You supposedly died, and your name was all over the news. What happened?” He sighed, cracking his knuckles... in really sick directions. “The people of Afterworld made me a new body. It has taken me a while to get to this place. Yet now I am trapped, like a rat,” he said, emphasizing his point by shapeshifting into one. I took a step back, and the other guards stared. Sighing, I sighed, “Is there any way we can get them out of there and let them join the Militia?” It only just occurred to me that I had just sighed twice in one sighing sigh. Sigh is a really funny word to read and pronounce. SIGH! The guard next to me suggested, “You could request their trial moved up and advocate for them in the courtroom.” “OBJECTION!” I slammed my hands on the table and pointed at nothing in particular. We were in the courtroom a few days later. “The cameras show that these three were pursued by large creatures! THIS TAPE PROVES THEY ARE INNOCENT!” I held it up in front of everyone. They stared at it. Maybe I had spent too much time in a certain other courtroom. This sort of thing dragged on as a stale argument between me and someone who simply read me the rules repeatedly. They weren’t very good ones, and enraged, I had Terra possess the wood of the stand my opponent was behind. She slammed it back and pushed him into the wall. The entire courtroom erupted in a frenzy, but the judge used his hammer thing, whatever it’s called, to stop what was going on in the room. “Obviously, Ein here would like to turn this debate into a Challenge.” He pressed a button on his stand, and suddenly the entire room transformed into an arena with the people attending in the audience and the Judge in the referee position. Anna, Eibmoz, Erik, Seth, and Lynn were all together in the front row. I noticed that Eibmoz was getting really close to Lynn. No time for that now, I thought. I could win her over further with a good fight anyway. The opponent threw off his attorney’s jacket. I followed suit, summoning my arrowspear and Terra to my side. In English, I cried, “This ends now!” I jumped forward with the spear, met with skillful sword parries and counters. My opponent’s other hand charged a spell. It is perfectly acceptable to cut off an attack as it begins. My hand flicked, guiding Terra to her destination as she spun around the opponent, the floor beginning to lift and crack with the force. He stepped back in a panic, falling over. The magic overpower continued to destroy the environment around me, rage building up at the absurdity of this man’s claims. I grabbed him by the throat and threw him into the air, using every single move Tapia had ever taught me in a blinded frenzy of fighting strength. My final move had me jump up and grab his neck, flip him over and drop straight down. Into the circuit. “Feel my pain as you meet your end, you brainless fool!” I yelled in English. The power flowing through the wires began to flood outward as I launched off his back and into the air, my own power at its height. For a fraction of a second, at least. I lost it all at once in an explosion of flooring and collapsed on, perhaps, one of the few sections still left. You’re probably wondering why I haven’t mentioned Matt, Mark, and Emily much. Well, the last scene I had them in covered a long period of time, while these scenes with me and my friends cover only short amounts of time. I kind of want to keep them even. So there’s that. Anyway, I woke up to see Anna sitting on the bed. It seemed that I was in some type of recovery room. “Hey, how are you doing?” she asked. I thought this was rather odd. “Shouldn’t Lynn be there, and not you?” She made a face. “No. Ein, you know I’m the one that really loves you. She can’t even make up her mind. That Eibmoz is after her, too, and... you can see the struggle in her eyes. But I thought I’d make it easier for her and for you all at once.” I sighed. “Not really, you’re just doing the same thing to me that she has to go through. I imagine she can actually understand that feeling, unlike you.” She jumped and yelped, surprised. “No, no, I never wanted to... to hurt you. No no no no no. No. NO. NOOO. I’d rather see you happy than... than be with you if you’re unhappy. I mean, I’d really prefer both. That is, to be with you when you are happy. To have you happy with me. I, I don’t really know what came over me those months ago.” “What are you talking about?” She sighed. “Shortly after you escaped, I realized that I couldn’t stay mad at you anymore. You really made me happy when you were there... and even knowing the truth, I was really lonely without you. So, I decided to go after you. Because I... yeah, I’m a sap. I’m an overly romantic girly girl. But I don’t even care about that anymore. I don’t even know why. I can’t even explain what about you is even that great. This never happened before. Even with... with Wary. Even knowing you killed him, too. Yes, I found out everything I could.” Her speech utterly stunned me. “I don’t know if I can make that choice. I mean, the way you think is really nice and all, but... it’s a little creepy at the same time. Like you’d stalk me to the ends of the universe or something. Can’t you see that’s a little tough to handle?” I looked further into the room and saw Lynn talking to Eibmoz. She hesitated for a minute and looked back at me. After a moment, she closed her eyes and turned away from the room, going out. Eibmoz ran after her. I was forced to look at Anna again. “Please, just give me a chance. She’s giving him one, so, I mean, she sort of abandoned you in a way. I’m so sorry she did that to you.” I bit my lip. “You forgave me for doing the exact same thing. It’s... it’s hard, isn’t it?” It felt a little off. I couldn’t quite believe it. “Are you lying to me?” She shook her head resolutely. “I admitted to everything I felt before, no matter how embarrassing, and no matter how awful. I’ve killed a lot of people, I’ve almost killed you, but there’s nothing I’d rather do than make up for it. I’m facing everything. If there was a lie there, I’d do the same for that. Please.” My memory shifted back to the good part of a year ago, another time I had been recovering. Only that time, it had been Lynn talking to me. I’m sorry. I always mess up. And then I thought back just a little further, to my first kiss with Anna. Those memories live on in your heart, and just by me knowing they exist, in a way, they’re in mine too. I thought about what I may have truly meant in those words. I had been faking that speech of course, but at the same time I was unknowingly creating a bond. It was one she might have felt as well. In an inspired moment, I repeated that sentence, placing my hand on her heart as I had done once that day so long ago. “Perv, we’re not married, after all,” she joked. I fell back onto the bed in surprise. Just as I had done the first time she’d teased me for it. “If he really didn’t want her to be there, he could easily have driven her away,” Eibmoz pointed out. “It’s not that I think he hates you. It’s just that bit of uncertainty.” “What would you expect me to do?” she snapped. She looked over at the pair by the bed, unsure of what any of this really meant, Eibmoz’s motives. In a fit of anger she turned away and left Eibmoz behind. He chased after her, like she knew he would, but she simply ignored everything he said. It didn’t add up somehow. There was a missing link. She was pretty sure Eibmoz liked her, but he refused to admit that at any point. He was a rather nervous little man, and his tastes were a bit odd. She was a bit of a punk herself but disagreed with some of his dark tastes. The first incident was in her Basic Magical Techniques class third hour, when Eibmoz had raised his hand and asked, “When are we going to learn about mass killing spells? And what about working with demons and such?” Things like that kept popping up, as he seemed to do the same–EVERYWHERE. Like she couldn’t escape, which was really the most agitating detail. One day, another boy in that same Basic Magical Techniques class, assigned to practice spells against her, said, “Where are you going to be for dinner tonight? Maybe I’ll take you out.” She barely knew the guy. “Um, no, get lost.” In a second he was launched across the room by a spell. The professor turned. “Eibmoz, I thought you of all my students had grasped aiming a spell and were only placed in this class for a lack of discipline. Is it possible that you purposely attacked that boy?” He looked around nervously. “Um, no, Professor, I was simply trying a new type of spell. Obviously didn’t work out too well. I’ll try to do better next time.” ===Only that wasn’t the only incident. It got to the point where no guy could get close to her without Eibmoz getting a little... irritated. Which brought her to the next thing she noticed. Ein, on the other hand, had become much less interested. And suddenly I’m not referring to myself in first person but I guess it’s not really from my perspective anymore. So I’ll leave it. So anyway, EIN seemed to actually be liking that Anna girl. It was like Anna and Eibmoz had worked out some master plan to break them up for their own interests. Which made her even angrier at Eibmoz. And at the same time, she was really angry with Ein for actually going with it. What did he even know about this Anna girl? She remembered fighting with her once over a country. Would she seriously have to fight her over a boy, too? No. She’d never stoop down to her level. She’d just wait, and see what happened. Maybe it would turn out alright somehow anyway. About a week later, she walked out of her room and into the hallway to find cookies laying outside her door. “He didn’t... how could he have brought these in here?” Anna giggled. “Eibmoz had me deliver these to you. I felt I had to do something for you, anyway, considering... I’m sorry. I really didn’t mean to take your boy like that, it’s just... there’s something about him I just can’t resist.” Lynn glared at her, nibbling on a cookie on her way to the main lobby to hang out. It had been a long day at school, and she didn’t feel like passing them up. She took the tray with her, to offer some to her friends. At least, if she had any besides Eibmoz. Ein was becoming more and more attached to that Anna girl. She couldn’t stand to see them together, as if constantly mocking her. Seth, on the other hand, spent most of his time studying the various mechanics of battle. He was probably losing a lot of sleep over it as well, since his skin was starting to turn a weird color, but she never told him that. She sighed in resignation. This was it. Eibmoz was actually more important. How ironic. How terribly, disgustingly ironic. The weird little man, her best friend. What did that say about the friends she had in general? She finished the cookie and was about to offer one to Seth when Eibmoz slapped her hand away. “Lynn! I made those just for you. Which means they’re for you only. And it’s not like there are too many to eat, anyway.” Eibmoz grinned to himself inside. I’m changing to his perspective to reveal that they were actually something he had learned in Alchemy class the day before–love cookies! He had spent many hours just baking them and hoping they would work. The formula was hidden in the very back of his textbook, and the professor hadn’t brought them up at all. “Well, that is a kind gesture, I suppose. And if that’s how you meant it to be, I suppose I’ll respect your wishes.” With that, she took a bite of another cookie. He smiled at her the whole time. “How are they?” She smiled back, the first time she’d ever done so. “Very good. You made these yourself? Nice work, anyway.” She turned away from him. |
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8:01 PM Jul 10