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 Posted: Sat Aug 11, 2007 4:25 pm
Our world is far older that any of us could possibly imagine in our wildest dreams.
The Story of Terraphim begins not now, but 80,000 years ago, in a small part of the world known as Martania. This is were most believe life began on our world. The earliest known humans began here, as did many of the dragon kin. Even the angelicans and demonites could trace their roots here, to the Great war of the Gods of this world. It was here, in this now forgotten place, that the second age of Terraphim began.
It was a simple thing, a death of a woman. She had been killed by an angelican named Katan, and her body was lost down the falls of the Snake God's river. Unfortunately for Katan, the woman was chosen by the same gods that helped forge the lives on this world, to give birth to the eternal guardian of our world. Katan ended her life prematurely and so, the gods, seeing the error of their creations, decided that they all would be granted the curse of a shorter life. The mortals, after realizing that the gods were going to kill them off by letting them expire before bearing any children, fought against their creators. In the end, it was a compromise, between the mortals and the gods, that ended the war. While still mortal, their lives were extended. In return, one mortal was chosen, to gather the souls of those that departed.
Those that were judged 'good', according to the god or gods they followed, were allowed into the gather place for the departed for each one. Those that were judged 'evil' by their gods, were given to the once mortal angelican to fuel his immortality, against his will. The man chosen was the one that started it all, Katan Freeborn.
Now, we bring the world forward, to as we knew it 20 years ago. The world was once more in the hands of war, the Drow trying to rise up against surface dwellers, to take the Northern continent by force. The battles reached as far as the Sun elf city of Astarii, where captives of conquered lands were sold into slavery. When most of the nation of Crecentia was taken, a resident of the city of Caraita was sold to a mining company in Astarii. The man's name, was Ralf Bouncer. Tattooed with markings to label him as a slave, Ralf was forced to work in the mines the company ran, learning what he could about the ore they were mining called magistone.
The element, when carved with the right runes, could create any spell known to exist, and occasionally, make new ones. That was when, in an effort to free himself, Ralf began learning all he could about the rune casting art form, as well as smuggling out small fragments of the element, and occasionally, larger chunks. After a year of captivity, the young man has enough of the stone to cast his spell. The end result, was an explosion large enough to take out a good portion of the Drow occupants of the northern continent, allowing the four remaining nations to overtake them. The Dwarves, the Sun elves, the darklings, and the Crecentians. The continent was divided once more, and the neutral lands at the continental bridge were founded into the city of Crosswater, with representatives from all over the world coming there to help guide the world. Ralf was decorated as a hero, and given a substantial reward for his efforts. With it, he was able to bribe his way into Astarii, becoming the first human to go into the main city in 15,000 years. There, he also learned of the Great sky nation, and arranged transport there with a cargo craft.
Investigating and making note of both the technological and magical progress both nations possessed, Ralf decided that it had to be possible to combine magic and technology, and set to doing so, after finding a rather large deposit of the ore in the Shirosirae Mountains. After the first few months, Ralf found he was slowly spending his money in mining fees and transport to his home city. Moving to the city of Duece Falls, and renting out a large building on the edge of town across from the local watering hole, Ralf founded a company called Mercenaries Incorporated, better known as Mercs Inc. It was a group of a couple of guys, hired out to do the jobs that no one else would. He even managed to take one of the females that joined his crew as his wife, fathering a little girl 16 years ago.
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25 years ago...:
On the path to the dusty town of Duece Falls, a lone figure walks the road to this place, holding a small compass like device in the palm of his hand. The needle in the compass was spinning like mad, and a casual grin came to the red haired man's features.
"Finally, I found the jackpot. I just hope I brought enough money to make a difference on this place."
Looking up from walking, the young man, whose thin arms and legs hid the natural strength he carried with him. Many a man had taken a fight with him for granted, underestimating him for his appearance. But it was the strongest muscle of the body he was gifted, his mind.
In front of him, was the small town of Duece Falls. Named for the natural falls that came into the local lake that was near the town, this place seemed normal enough, but that was to an untrained eye. Mountains, lakeside, plains, crisp air like that of a desert...the whole town was in flux. there was magistone ore here, and loads of it. Most likely the biggest vein of it on Terraphim. And he was the only one that knew about it.
The simple thought if that send goose bumps up his arms. The possibility for wealth was enormous. The real trick would be to figure out where to set up operations and keep nosy folks out.
As the edge of town was reached, it seemed simple enough. The local in, with it's sign out front with a crudely panted red dragon on it, breathing flames, gave authority to it's claim of being the Fire Dragon Tavern. If it wasn't for half a dozen places all over this planet that made that claim, he might have been impressed.
Other buildings were there as well. A blacksmith, what looked like a warehouse, the typical businesses one found in a small town. The part that the young man found amusing, was that the entire town would have fit in the guest wing of his family's manor back in Xiang Po.
When it had been standing, at any rate.
Brushing that memory aside for a moment, the steps of the tavern creaked with his arrival, the old wood feeling like they were barely holding under his weight. The Boots he wore , while heavily modified from his experiments, just as his gloves were, they shouldn't have made that big an impact.
Opening the door to the barroom, it was dank and musty. Just as he'd figured it'd be. Very few people this far out on the western frontier had ever used soap and cleaning materials, much less used them in everyday life.
A rather large man came over to the thinner man's chosen table, wiping his hands in his apron. Asking what the pale boy wanted, the response was no food or drink, but a simple inquiry as to who owned the warehouse across the way. Seemed the blacksmith was the holder of the deed on the place. That would work to his advantage.
Unfortunately, three of the locals seemed to notice the detailed, and somewhat over sized, footwear and gloves of the traveler, and taking into account that they were three big men, and this was one skinny kid, logic said that they should have his shoes that were laced with shiny metal, easily sold at market.
Tapping the journeyman on the shoulder, the tallest of the men spoke through a near toothless grin, about liking the man's clothes. The redhead knew where this was heading, and politely thanked the man for his compliment, but that he only wished to be alone for now.
The local didn't want to take no for an answer.
Grabbing the lad by his shoulder, he was picked up, and spun around in place, all the while, not noticing the finger of the man tracing the simple rune carvings on one of the glove's metal supports.
"I told you, boy, I said I like those shiny clothes, and I think I'll take them now!"
"I think not."
The palm of the hand thrust out at the midsection of the attacking man, and was braced. The next thing that happened was like nothing those men had ever seen. The was a bubble of force that erupted out of the glove, surrounding the red haired man, and sent the taller man across the tavern, and into the wall. While sliding down, a rune was traced on the boot worn by the apparent mageling.
"I am sorry, lads, but this is about to get rather unsettling."
Raising the tip of the boot a little, it was brought down swiftly, and a shock wave spread forth, knocking foe and barman to their backsides. The three men that had shown an interest in the clothes soon found themselves running for the door, leaving the gangly stranger standing there, the light from the door shadowing his form.
The barman looked up from behind the bar, a slight tremor in his voice, as he asked a question.
"What the gods was that? And who the hells are you?!"
"That...was a simple earth spell. Be thankful I only raised my toes, or we'd be picking pieces of you establishment out of our hair and skin. As for who I am..."
Walking toward the door, the young man looked out of the corner of his eye back at the scared tavern merchant.
"The name is Ralfard Artimus Bouncer...but my friends call me Ralf...I suggest you remember that."
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The building was simple enough, in Ralf's opinion. The main storage facility took up most of the warehouse, with a small apartment/office taking up a part of the second floor. Some simple furnishings still remained, and a lot of raw material, which came with the place.
"It's perfect."
The young man stood there in the doorway of the main building, hands resting on his hips, as the blacksmith, owner of the building, stood there scratching his head.
"Let me get this straight. You want to flat out buy...this run down piece of junk?"
"Not so much for the room as for the location, my stereotypically large friend. Quiet frankly. I'll probably only be here to get what I came for, and be on my way. I can't afford to be away from Xiang Po for too long. There are some in the government who'd love nothing more than my head on a magistone pike, and being away gives them time to figure out how to do it."
Stepping into the building as he spoke, heavy boots kicked at a small pile of metal, revealing what looked to be a suit of armor. For a woman?
"Tell me...why would a woman need a suit of armor in these parts. I was to understand women stayed in the home here...however backward that may be."
The smith walked up behind Ralf, towering over him, then bending to pick up the gauntlet.
"It was being made for my daughter...my only child. She was to wear it in the local games, and would have done well, but she's been attacked by one of the darkchylds...Vampires, some call them. They inhabit a lot of the forests and shadows here, and as such..the armor found it's way here. She has no use for it where she is now, gods rest her soul."
The full suit was there, save for the helmet, which wasn't a necessity per say, the rune casting abilities he'd gained over the past couple years would allow him to work on one after he'd done the rest of his research.
"I don't suppose you'd let me purchase the armor with the building?"
"Go ahead and take it, lad, it brings up too many memories..."
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The sounds of pounding metal could be heard for days coming from the old warehouse across from the tavern. Many people thought that the blacksmith had sold his operation to the newcomer, when it could be further from the truth. Ralf was a bit of a metal worker in his own right, just at finer details. Gold molding, he had no problem, making a sword, that was a bit harder.
"Mr. Bouncer?"
Ralf looked up from the forge he'd had set up in the place, seeing the barman from across the way. He'd worked it out that certain things, such as mail and news, was to come to the bar first, and then to him.
"Yes, what is it?"
"You have set up residence here for a while, and all business owners are required to pay a visit to the lordship of our nation after a few days. Lord Robert Groves sent a summons this morning...and there is a letter from someone named Horatio in Xiang Po?"
Walking over, Ralf knew the summons was coming soon enough. This was simply a formality, so the locals knew who they were dealing with. The letter was what bothered him more. Opening it and reading, he recognized his friend's handwriting at once...
"Dear Ralf,
I bring you most terrible news. It seems you experiments have reached the ears of the Emperor here in Xiang Po. It seems he is still holding to his ban on mixing technology and magic..I'm sorry, but your sister was taken by the local magistrate, and your bother is...no longer with the living.
"Your parents most likely perished as well, when they set fire to the estate. I am sorry, old friend, but the most I was able to do, was get your sister Maria free. They say she was exhibiting abilities not of magic. Two guards were found frozen solid. Stories are spreading here, talk of beings called metas..neither magic nor cursed. Some say the magistone mines are causing it.
"Maria was supposed to be on her way to see you, but my traders have given me little word. I hope to have better news for you soon.
My sincere condolences,
Horatio"
This complicated matters. While Ralf wasn't really close to his family, he'd not wished them ill. The fact his sister was now missing, despite best efforts, made it worse...that and to be sure, his lands and fortune would likely have been seized.
"Looks like I will have to take matters into my own hands...Barkeep, give notice to the local mercenaries, that I am putting up shop. In exchange for their services, they will be provided room and board, and given notification of bounties and missions that suit their abilities."
Looking the letter once over, the mention of the word meta...Ralf had thought they existed for years, but the fact that if they were out there, it was hidden well. Now that Maria might be one...she'd need help to control her powers.
"And give word to this 'Lord Robert Groves' that I will be more than happy to talk to him, but that my experiments do not allow me to leave at the moment, but I will welcome him in, if he choses to visit. And one last thing..."
"Yes sir?"
"In the chest in the corner...is a substantial pile of gains, if you get my meaning...I'm buying your tavern. I'm in need of lunch..and there will be a few changes..."
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Posted: Sat Aug 11, 2007 4:26 pm
Now, in present day, Mercs has grown to one of the largest companies on Terraphim, supplying it's home nation of Crecentia with basic technology created by Ralf, as well as access to what has been dubbed the Mercs network, with information being distributed over most of the Northern Continent. Meanwhile, the little inn and bar was bought by a woman claiming to be from the nation of Xiang Po, going by the name of Jamalia Kuran. She managed to turn the business into one of the most popular places to come to on the Northern continent, with foods that were local fare, as well as dishes for any palette.
Now the Mercs have spent the past five years adapting their training school for a new breed of sentient species. Beings called metas have begun popping up all over Terraphim, with abilities beyond what the rest of their race can do. Even the daughter of Ralf was altered at birth, granted the power of extra human speed, reaching the speed of sound and faster every day. Now enrolled at the Academy, our tale begins, with Julia and a few of her year mates in the program, being given a tour of the school as first years.
“I'm telling you, Kyvec, this is possibly the most boring class trip I have ever been on. Seriously, I'm going on a tour of my house. How dull is that? Might as well show everyone my room while we're at it.”
The redheaded girl looked at the rest of the class, being lead around by a older man, with darker red hair, and graying sides. His face was scarred, and even though he wasn't carrying all of his weapons, he still made an imposing form, wearing Mercs style body armor, and a white lab coat. However, the creature on her shoulder seemed entranced. She was what was known as a flitter. No bigger than a hose cat in this form, pink in scales, and violet in eyes and spines the folds of her wings had the coloring as well. And she considered herself fortunate to be here in the first place.
“Speak for yourself, Julia. I've never been in this part of the Academy, just your room and your fathers main quarters. It was awfully nice of him to allow me to come here. Most people frown on my kind.”
“That's because yer a tavern rat, Ky. You kind live in holes in the wall, and die either there or at the knife point of a barmaid. Heck, half your species isn't even capable of more than a few words.”
Julia looked up at the young man that had spoken to her friend. He was a meta, like her and Kyvec, calling himself Mars Akashi. But there were rumors that wasn't even his real name. Just one given to him for the records. Even his powers were an unknown, but despite that fact, he was huge, even dwarfing her father as they walked. A giant at 16, and his powers were likely to blame for it. Even so, he had spoke to her friend like he was better than her. And Julia just didn't see that as the case.
Turning away from the black haired man, Kyvec buried her head into Julia's neck, small tears trailing down her scales. Looking down at the crying flitter, Julia gave her a hug, trying to be of some comfort. It was a common opinion, even in the mixed lands of Crecentia. Pets at best, pests at worse, and neither ended well. But Julia fought for the rights of the Gyami family in the tavern across the road from the Academy, and Jamalia decided to follow the young girl's heart. What it lead to was the discovery of not only a strong family, but ones that were metas of their kind, half breeds with elven blood. And the Oldest daughter of the Gyami's soon became best friends with the Mercs Founder's only daughter.
“You just ignore him, Ky. Mars is just a jerk from... well, I don't know where he's from, but they must have a lot of jerks there.”
“He's not the only one that says those things about me, Julie...a lot of the others do...”
The rest of the class seemed to be heading away to another part of the school, and Ralf turned to his daughter, who was dressed in the standard Academy uniform.
“Julia, you and Gyami need to keep with the rest of the class. How is it that a girl so fast can be so constantly late for everything?”
Julia made a face at her father, and unzipped half of her coat, tucking Kyvec inside and zipping it back up, allowing the draconian girl a chance to stick her head outside of the coat. Both girls made a face at Mars, and then Julia turned to her father and the others, waving a little.
“Sorry Daddy, but i really don't have time for the tour...I'll-be-back-in-time-for-dinner!”
There was a blur of motion, as Julia's feet caught up with her mouth, and a second before Ralf could find a way to complain, she and Kyvec were gone, boots clicking on concrete and metal floors. She'd memorized the layout of the hallways, and even figured out how to speed up her vision to make navigating this place as simple as a child's toy. Soon, a door was pushed open, and the light of Terraphim's sun could be seen, a giant yellow star that at this distance, gave this world life. The yellow light was slightly shadowing the light blue that came up on the small patch of plastic that was glued to the top of Julia's hand.
“Julia Anne Bouncer, you get you tail bone back to this class, or so help me, you won't be able to sit on it for a week!”
“Sorry, Dad, I mean, a tour of the house, come on. I've barely ever left the grounds, much less gone farther than the Fire Dragon Tavern across the main street. I know metas are not liked well in some places, but everyone's welcome here, right? Julie sign off!”
Tapping the comm-patch to turn it off, Julia held onto Kyvec tightly, making her way off the grounds, and turning left at the gate, heading for the open fields, toward the large lake she saw from her window every morning. How often she wished she could go to that lake, and see the falls that gave the town it's name. Today was going to be that day.
“Hang on Kyvec...We're about to get a little wet!”
“Julia, wait! You may be ready to not listen to your father, but I'm not-”
Covering the flitter's mouth with her hand, Julia's boots hit the water, and kept running on the surface. She'd picked up enough speed, so she didn't break the water's surface while she ran. This was quickly becoming the best day of her life, and all she had to do was finally leave home to do so. Looking in the distance, Julia saw one of the two great falls that she'd wanted to visit, and the little island that was about 20 feet away from the waterfall's break.
“Julie...please...slowdown. I think I'm gonna be sick...”
Looking down, Kyvec was indeed far paler than normal, even for her, and skidding to a halt on the small island, Kyvec popped out of Julia's coat, and was thrown across the divide between island and waterfall, crashing through the falls and disappearing beyond the water's veil. Julia stood there, laughing for a moment, crossing her arms over her chest.
“Sorry about that, Ky. Maybe the water will help settle your stomach?”
A minute went by, and then two. Soon, Julia started to worry about her friend. She was pretty certain Kyvec knew how to swim, but she was not certain. The water was shallow here for what ever reason, and Julia walked across, soaking her clothes to the bone. A few moments passed as the pink creature didn't come up for air, Leaving the girl more than a little bothered.
"Ky? Kyvec?....Kyvec Gyami, this isn't funny! You better surface right now, or so help me, I'll air tunnel the water right out of this lake!"
Reaching out to the waterfall, she was startled when Kyvec's came out of the falls.
“Julia...you have to come back here to see this! There's a cave back here, with some kind of door...it looks like something your father would build!”
Blinking, Julia held her hand up, trying to shield herself from the water, failing miserably, but making her way through. Indeed, the back of the falls did open up, and the light coming in through the water showed a double metal door, and what looked like one of her father's double locks. Voice and keypad combined, making the combination nearly impossible to unlock. They had no chance of opening the door that way, and Julia knew it.
“Ky, there is no way we're getting in there. It'd be easier to blow up the door.”
“Julia, knock on the door...it's solid metal, and can be vibrated till it fractures. If you put your hands on it, and start shaking your arms fast enough, the door will fall apart on it's own.”
Julia looked down at her friend, making a face.
“Someone has to be the brains of this outfit.”
Kyvec simply smiled and looked up at Julia, who rolled her eyes and pressed her hands to the metal. Focusing her speed into her arms, the door started to vibrate like she did, and a few moments later, the doors slid open, frost releasing from inside like a crawling fog. Lights were all over the place, surrounding the room in a soft glow. It was cold, like a freezer, and the far end of the room held three chambers, looking like some kind of stasis pods. Julia stepped in, as Kyvec jumped up, flapping her wings to stay off the ground.
“This...is defiantly my father's handiwork. Those are cryopods, used for long term storage. But what would my father by storing in there?”
Walking up to the center pod, Julia wiped away the ice on the glass casing, and gasped. Inside was a humanoid, what looked to be a young boy. He had black hair, and tanned skin. But on his back were wings of ebony, like those of a raven. His ears were slightly pointed, and he looked to be in good shape. Kyvec looked as well, and flew backwards, almost in shock.
“Dear gods...Mister Bouncer has a guy in there!”
Julia was just as surprised, and looked around the equipment. Hoses and wires were connected all over the place, leaving her even more stumped than before. She knew next to nothing about this tech, and other than she was certain that this was magistone based, she had no idea on how to open it, or even where to begin with doing so.
“It's definitely a Mercs pod, so it's magistone based, likely with the rune casting tools inscribed. Unless we knew either the pass code, of the spell counter words, there is little we could do for him...but according to the label on the pod, he's code named Project Starsmore 001. I think one of my father's old friends was named that.”
"Julie....I'm not entirely clear what it is your father was doing here, but this place is old. At least 15 years, maybe longer. And what ever he was making here...it's sentient. Maybe it was a Una or beta android prototype?"
Looking at the stasis pods, there seemed to be three still in use. Looking at each one, they were marked on sequence 0001, 0002, and 0003. Three prototypes? That was a bit odd.
Kyvec finally landed on Julia's shoulder, and tilted her head, looking over the system. She'd already learned a little about magic and rune casting before coming to the school, Jamalia thinking it might be a good idea for her to learn something useful to the Mercs. If this was an ice magic, could it be as simple a counter as what she remembered?
Julia knelled down, tapping the command screen, bringing up the project history, and reading it aloud half to herself, and half to Kyvec.
“Apparently, he was to be part of a weapons program, some kind of living weapon. But apparently it was abandoned in favor of developing something a little less resistant to programming, and eludes to something called Project Unit One. So I guess he had too much free will for my dad's liking. Go figures...he couldn't control it, so he locked it away.”
It was all too familiar a feeling for Julia, having grown up, with the same problem. Would he one day lock her away too? Would she be sealed away from everyone and everything? She found herself suddenly feeling very much alone. That was, till Kyvec spoke.
“Fyringharrianlare.”
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Posted: Sat Aug 11, 2007 4:27 pm
There was a rumbling of the chamber, the magistone core nullifying itself at the mention of the counter word, and Julia fell backwards onto her bottom, ice freezing her skin a little, causing slightly more pain than normal. The other two chambers remained locked, leaving the two girls staring at the glass lifting away, and the cold suddenly dropping away to room temperature.
Small warning alarms went off all over the place, as steam released from the first stasis chamber. Back at the school, a raven haired instructor's comm patch went off in the middle of a class, Blue eyes looked at the message, and read it over. Then patched into the head of the Academy...
"Sir...someone's activated the Starsmore Project. I think it's time..."
And back in the stasis lab, Julia was going nuts.
"Kyvec, what on Terraphim did you do?! Please tell me you didn't let one of these things out?!"
Apparently, Kyvec was just as surprised as Julia. She reviewed the info pages in her mind...name of project...each of the units in stasis, checking unit one...malfunction on containment lock? She'd accidentally triggered the reset, because this thing had been broken for 15 years?
"Shut it off, Ky!"
"I'm trying, I'm trying! This system is almost two decades old, it's not like reading Xiangese, this is actually kinda difficult!"
Small claws tapped away at the keys, managing to lock the other two pods into stasis before they reopened. But there seemed to be very little she could do about the first one. Standing up on the chair, a small amount of magic was conjured in her claws.
"Julie, I'd suggest getting into defense stance, I have no idea what this thing is..."
Both girls looked at the pod, when the door of it slid up, and steam fell away, leaving darkness inside it. Followed by a very resounding thud. When the last of the ice fell away, the young man in the pod sat up slowly, stretching his wings out slightly, leaving Kyvec to gasp. He was far prettier now than when he was locked in the ice cube, and the wings were a nice touch. But moments later, they faded away, seeming to vanish into nothingness.
"By the gods...it's...it's a boy?"
Julia raised an eyebrow at the unconscious kid, who looked to be about the same age as Kyvec, and a little younger than herself. Clothed in a simple lower skin suit, his head lifted, and eyes opened, first a startling blue, which was soon covered over by what looked like the sun contained in his eyes.
“Wha...What am I doing here? Last thing I remember was a room with a bunch of men in it...and then this. Who are you two? Start talking, or so help me..”
His eyes seemed to light up, as if he was trying to stare into their souls. Little did they know he was looking more into their minds, unwillingly getting information from them, like one would by looking at an open picture book. Moments later, the girls, scared out of their wits, felt a sudden sense of calm wash over them, and looked up to see the nearly naked boy standing before them.
“Julia...and Kyvec. Human and flitter respectively. Threat level minimal. Allies according to Mercs code 1120.”
Julia tried standing up slowly, nearly slipping a couple times, before regaining her footing, and taking her coat, handed it to the boy. He accepted the coat, pulling it on, and stood there, his eyes almost seeming blank. It was eerie, the way he could look at you, and it felt like you told him your deepest and darkest secret.
“Do you have a name, guy? Or do I just call you Starsmore, like the project name?”
The dark haired man shook his head, indicating he had no name to give, and Julia made a face. Starsmore sounded more like a last name than a first name, and to Kyvec, that seemed to be a similar thing. The flitter was oddly named herself, according to flitter tradition, but just being called Starsmore didn't seem to fit him.
“Ridley...it means forgotten in flitterspeak. I'd say it fits him. Ridley Starsmore.”
Julia smiled at the suggestion, and the boy didn't seem to mind, but instead, was looking past them at the waterfall.
“There are men coming. One, I believe, calls himself Ralf-”
“Bouncer. Oh man, Julie, it's your Dad! We must have set something off when we came in here, and now he's coming to look! Dritt, if he finds us here, we're all dead, and you cannot carry us both, Julie.”
For the first time, Julia felt like she couldn't be fast enough, and started pacing back and forth, with Kyvec floating in the air next to Ridley, both of whom were watching her intently, before Ridley stepped forward, and rested a hand on Julia's shoulder.
“I take it this Ralf finding us would be a bad thing?”
Julia simply nodded, followed by Ridley grabbing Kyvec out of mid air, and then lifting Julie up onto his shoulder, kicking and screaming in both cases. Fists slammed into his back at high speed, sounding like fists hitting stone. Ridley visibly winced at the hits, but kept walking, till they broke free of the waterfall, and he looked up.
“Hang on.”
An instant later, the three of them were airborne. Julia looked down at the lake front, it seeming to fall away from her, and a sense of fear dropped in her throat. Kyvec, however, was loving every second of it, giving rise in her voice at the sheer enjoyment of flying so high. Seeing the Academy and the town in the distance, Ridley altered his decent toward the town's edge, thinking that for Julia and Kyvec, the safest place to be would be there right now.
Meanwhile, back at the waterfall cave, Ralf and a couple others walked in, looking over the now emptied room. Lighting a cigar, Ralf exhaled, and shook his head. Behind him, a white haired man held up his hands, white light glowing in his palms to illuminate in the room.
“I have to say, Ralf. That daughter of yours is going to end up being more trouble that it'll be worth to keep her at the Academy. Freeing the primary weapon, breaking class rules. You'd think she was raised by a wild man.”
“Shut it, Katan. You may be the Soul keeper, but you and I both know this was not her doing. She's about as skilled in magic as a iron brick. No, the flitter was the one that broke the stasis pod. Someone taught her rune magic before coming to the Academy. Dactarii to sweet breads says it was a certain barkeep. What do you think, Jamalia?”
A woman with light brown hair, her arms folded over her stomach, made a face at Ralf, lowering her head.
“I had no idea she'd do this with it, Ralf. I was just trying to give her an edge at the school, I swear. Honestly, her own magic shouldn't have been that strong. Must be something about her species.”
Katan frowned, and looked at the empty tube.
“That was the divinity weapon, wasn't it. The god killer?”
Ralf simply nodded, and walked over to the pod, reaching out to shut it down.
“Yeah, it was the god killer. Honestly, Katan, when I asked for your DNA sample for part of the baseline for the triple helix, I didn't think something like this was going to happen. You neither, Jamalia. Earther DNA has a level of stability terran doesn't.”
“So what do we do now...I mean...is he our son, or..”
Ralf looked to Jamalia, and shook his head again. The truth was, they were the two whose DNA he'd used the most, but he'd borrowed some from dozens of species, and sexes from both sides. The fact he held together at all was a miracle.
“He's his own species, Jama. He has no real parents...but we can try to find him, and knowing Julia, she will try to hide him...just act like we don't know him, and let's see what plays out. Katan, you can inform the other instructors, Jamalia, he will likely be at the Fire dragon with Julia and Kyvec a lot.”
Turning to leave the stasis chamber, Ralf sighed, and tapped his comm-patch.
“Godai...get a transport over to the east falls as soon as possible...we have to move 002 and 003 before someone else finds them. Get them loaded, and back to the Academy before nightfall, and slag the rest. I'll meet you here.”
”Sure thing, boss...OT threat level silence. Godai sign off.”
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Posted: Sat Aug 11, 2007 4:28 pm
Katan started walking out of the cave, followed by Jamalia. It seemed as though both of them had their collective worlds tossed upside down, especially for Jamalia, who could have no children. Something like this was almost like having a son of her own. But she supposed that at least helping keep an eye on him was better than nothing. Katan, however, looked at this from a more business standpoint.
“So, is this the end of the Starsmore project?”
Ralf shook his head, and sighed, flicking away the remains of his cigar.
“No...I'm afraid this is only the beginning....”
It was the journey back to the complex that Ralf was not looking forward to. Seemed that now he was going to have issues with his daughter, a fresh recruit, disobeying a direct order to return, and now, freeing a more than slightly illegal experiment. And if he had his hunches about right..
"Sir, we have the locals on radar, and it's confirmed, The Prime Minister is aboard. Chances are, he's gonna want to know what set off the alarms they had us set up, sir."
Ralf simply nodded at Godai, still running through what he was going to tell the man. Katan looked over at him, and leaned over, whispering to the young tavern owner. She went wide eyed for the moment, and gave Katan a look of incredulity, commenting he'd have to be out of his mind, before consenting to what ever idea he had proposed. There was silence in the low flying hover ship, attempting to circle wide for a landing, before Ralf rested a hand on the shoulder of the pilot.
"Godai, I want you to grant the minister clearance to land at the academy, and that I will await him in the receiving hall of the school. And I will be bringing the cadets responsible for the alarm going off with me. We will also be joined by the owner of the Fire Dragon, and one of my...field agents. After that, go to the main hanger bay, and secure Project Firebird. I'm not ready for the local government to get hold of that kind of firepower yet. Or worse, the Drows to get wind of it."
Godai nodded, and began transmission of the information to the incoming ship, as the hatch for the small craft opened up. The three passengers climbed out, ducking under the hatch, While Katan adjusted the small metal tube on his hip. The whole thing made him nervous, but Jamalia even more so,from what he was proposing.
"You realize, Ralf, your daughter is going to deny ever being there, even if we catch the weapon...or rather, the boy. You did tell me he's sentient, correct?"
Boots clicked onto tile, as they entered the dorm building for freshmen students. This year was the first year, he was allowing student other than metas and humans in, but there might have to be an option to make the dorms coed. There were a lot fewer women, and many of the new recruits were not male humans. A test, perhaps, was in order.
Tapping the comm badge on his wrist while he walked, they made a right turn, hearing the closing of a door from the rooftop, and the sounds of running feet toward his daughter's room.
"Cadet Kata Brande...I need you to make an addendum to the student roster, we'll need to make a new cadet team. Isolated from the others, and specialized in handling alpha level threats. Classified in nature, and limited to ten members for the two squads. I want my daughter and the flitter she had us enlist on it. Edgewater and 9 of his choice on the alpha squad. I'll need you on for observation, slip in five more for beta team, and the transfer student from Xiang Po...Mars Akashi, I think it was?"
"Yes sir...Database updated. Codenamed Alpha and Blue thirteen. Who is the last beta team member, sir?"
"Just enter Project Starsmore for now. We can change it later. Bouncer out."
Coming to a stop at the door of his daughter's room, he could hear rustling of furniture and such inside.
"Not very secretive, is she?"
---------------------------------------------------
5 minutes ago...:
"For the love of all that is good and right in the world, put me DOWN!"
Julia was starting to question the rationality of the whole matter. This was certainly not going to go well with her father, let alone the government, or anyone else for that matter. And now, she was in the sky, in the arms of a strange boy. And Kyvec was loving every minute of it.
"WEEEEEEEEEE!"
"Kyvec! Get off the top of his head this instant!"
The pink scaled dragon was having the time of her life, and holding on for all she was worth. Flying this high was not a possibility for her normally. Not yet, anyway, and with the guy controlling the flight, she barely felt the wind. And was an interesting way to find out Julia was afraid of heights. Ridley, however, was scanning the area with his eyes, almost seeming to move them with a robot like quality.
"Not that I am complaining, but where should I land? I mean, eventually I will have to land. And the hover ship that is getting ready to depart where we were."
Julia narrowed her eyes, and pointed off into the distance toward a building in the distance, near the edge of the woods.
"There...the dorms...we have to get you inside, before anyone notices, especially my father. If he finds out we let you out, I'll be grounded for a month! And Ky...well, he'd kick Ky out of the school for sure! And I just looked down! OH GODS! How high up are we?"
There was a dip in the flight, and Julia let out a slight scream, a few seconds before Ridley's boots tapped softly on the stone roof of the dorm, and Kyvec hopped down, trying not to look upset over what Julie had said. Julia, however, was making a mad dash for the roof door, and waving them to come with her. Ridley evaluated how fast they could each move, and bent down, picking Kyvec back up and carrying her in his arms.
"Come on, Ridley...my room is down the stairs, third floor, 4th room on the right..."
"Room 308. I have the blueprints on my files. But...is it not the girls dorm?"
"Pipe down...Gods, their fast.. I can feel the vibrations of the flight ship landing a bit ago! He's likely already in the building...And on this floor! Oh crap!"
Julia took Ridley's free hand, and dragged him into the hall, making their way into Julia's room a split moment before Ralf had turned the corner, locking the door, and looking about. Silently, she shoved Ridley into her closet, and then tried scooting the table and chairs over, half blocking the door. Kyvec sat in the arms of the young man, in the dark, and at the moment, was having a really hard time trying to keep from doing anything to embarrass herself.
"Julia...open the door, It's your father...we're looking for a young boy...."
Shock crossed onto Julia's face, as her eyes opened wide. Her father was here! And not only did she have a boy in her room, but one that her dad made! Now she was in some serious trouble. In a panic, Julia stood up out of her chair, and called out to her father.
"Just a second , Dad! I'm...um...cleaning up!"
Scrambling to find a hiding spot, Julia seemed frantic, as Kyvec and Ridley watched on. Before Julia could say anything, Ridley grabbed Kyvec, and pulled her close, a rift gate opening below them. The angelican and the flitter fell through, Ridley's wings wrapped about them both as they fell into the teleport spell, winds from it strewing stuff all around.. A moment later, the gate closed, leaving Julia alone, as Ralf bypassed the security lock, the door sliding open.
"Come on now, Julie. I have seen your room way worse than I could imagine..."
------------------------------
As the gate closed, Ridley and Kyvec floated in mid air above the dorm building, Ridley's eyes glowing as he seemed to be focusing on something else, while his wings were still wrapped about them.
"He's in the room...I can sense him. When it's clear, I'll rift us back, ok?"
Kyvec remained silent. She was currently in the arms of a bare chested man, who was reasonably attractive...with a wingspan to rival any dragon she would have a chance with. She could think of worse places to be than where she was. Small arms wrapped around Ridley's waste, as a small purr slipped out of her mouth.
"Kyvec, are you ok? You are making funny noises...."
Freezing for a moment, the flitter sighed and relaxed her grip a little.
"I'm fine...I'm just not good with high places"
-----------------------------
Julia seemed frozen in time as Ralf looked about the room, his arms crossed. Clothes and most everything was everywhere, her entire dorm room was in disarray. Uncrossing the large forearms, Ralf spoke quietly.
"Two days, and I will be in for inspection. Now...I need you to stay in you room other than for classes and meals right now. We think someone has broken into the Academy, and set loose a rather dangerous weapon. I'm trying to keep all the students apprised of the situation, but I don't want anyone to worry. Now, don't go spreading rumors or anything. But suffice to say, it worries me."
Julia stepped toward her father, a curious look on her face.
"How bad could it be? I mean, you have ways to counter your own weapons, right? I mean, what's to worry about with a gun or something? A fractal shield and you are ok, right?"
Ralf shook his head, and sighed.
"This one was different. A kind of smart weapon. If the wrong person found out about it...well, the consequences would be dire indeed."
Julia's mind was racing at the moment. This meant Ridley was far more dangerous than she'd even given thought to.
"Dad...what in the world did you make?"
--------------------------------
"Excuse me, Kyvec, but I have to stop something before it gets out of hand. I think it might be better off if no one knew of me just yet."
Kyvec looked up at the young man, as his eyes shifted from the red and violet, to a shade of yellow, almost like sunlight, as the base seemed to glow.
"Ridley, what are you doing?!"
Ralf's face went blank for a moment, before he walked out of Julia's room, and the door slid closed. The lighting went back to normal all around the base, and, and sparks traveled through the records system. A certain name was being erased from the minds and hard drives of all but four people. Ridley, Julia, Kyvec...and one other. A certain instructor looked up from his texts, and sighed.
"Damn...I didn't think he'd that powerful. I better make sure Ralf assigns them to my sector, or this is going to be trouble."
Standing up, the older man started to walk to the door of his office. He'd have to check to be sure, but he was pretty certain. This was not just some random event. And from what he figured on the time frame, it was just about time...
Later that night....:
"When I agreed to hide him in my room, Ky, I had expected at some point to be able to get some sleep."
It was 3 in the morning, and both Ridley and Kyvec were still awake, and watching the holodisplay programming. And making fun of it. Food containers littered the floor, as the angelican boy sat indian style on the carpet, while Kyvec sat in his lap, pointing at a rather dull news broadcast.
"That guy's head is shaped like a pumpkin!"
Julia sighed, looking at Ridley, who was entertained, and yet turned to look at her, shrugging.
"Sorry, Jules. I apparently don't need sleep, and as for Kyvec, well...Hey ky, do flitters need sleep?"
The small draconian perked a couple of her spines on her head, and turned around, looking up at Ridley, scratching the side of her muzzle.
"Well, most flitters do sleep each day, mostly because anything of interest is only awake at certain hours. But we can go without sleep for a slightly longer length of time if need be...Just a little under a week, and then, a full day of rest and we're good to go. And the way I figure, Ridley would be bored if he had to sit alone at night."
The red haired girl simply shook her head, and flopped onto her bed, pulling her pillows over her head. This really had to be fixed sooner or later, or else it would start to show. The extra food rations. The increased power use. Someone was bound to notice.
Such as the young woman that was bunking in the room next to Julia. Sitting up in the dark, she sighed, and held up her hand, as it took a soft green glow. The noise from next door had been keeping her op for a while now, and she'd had enough.
"Gods, I am gonna strangle that girl."
Standing up, and slipping into a robe and slippers, the girl walked out of the door to her room, and next door to the door to Julia's room, stopping when the door didn't open. The lock was on, which wasn't unusual, but she had had enough. With a flick of her wrist, the locking device detached, and the door slid open.
"Julie, it's Kata. For the love of gods, will you at least turn down...the...screen?"
It was an odd sight. Shasta looked on, as her squad leader's room was in a shambles, and she was in bed, while the flitter girl and a boy with wings sat in the middle of the mess. A boy...with wings.
"Are you aware that Ky and an angelican boy are in your room way past curfew?"
Julia sat straight up when Kata had entered, and just remained there, slack jawed. They'd been found out, and the Dark haired girl just pointed out a very important fact, that for some reason had just not registered in Julia's brain till that moment.
Boy plus her room after curfew equaled serious trouble.
"Kata, it's not as bad as it looks, I swear, he's just here till....Kata?"
The other girl seemed to stare off into space for a moment or two, before turning around, and walking back to her room, the door sliding shut. The room was in silence, save for the holodisplay, when Ridley visibly relaxed. Kyvec chuckled a little, and went back to watching the screen, when Julia crawled to the end of her bed.
"What the hells was that?"
Setting Kyvec on the floor, Ridley stood up, walking toward the table in the corner, to get another drink. Turning with his juice, he shrugged.
"I wiped her memories of seeing us, and told her to sleep till her alarm went off. When she wakes, she'll think she had a good night's sleep, dreaming of some...Freeborn guy. I guess he's a teacher or something here. A bit old for her, from what I understand of the ethics implants in my memory, but a dream of the man shouldn't hurt."
"You violated her mind?"
Ridley raised an eyebrow, and crossed his arms.
"You didn't seem to have a problem with it when your father nearly discovered me, and I had to wipe the minds of the complex. Seriously, I kind of think self preservation is a bit more-"
"You don't go into people's heads, Ridley! Our minds are our most private place of all. When you change her memories, you mess with what makes Kata herself! You can't do that anymore!"
Sighing after she talked, Kyvec stood up, and looked up at the Angel. Closing her eyes, she spoke in a hushed tone.
"Julia is right, Rids. Changing the minds of others can't be good. Might even hurt them in the long run."
"....Well, then we have to figure out an alternate plan. I mean, I can't rift out, because it destroyed your room, and mind wiping just makes you mad. And killing is bad according to my ethics-"
He stopped when Julia turned over, and flopped back on her bed once more. He didn't understand her right that moment, and instead started cleaning the mess, and a few minutes later, Kyvec helped finish by cleaning the trash with a spell. Turning off the screen, she crawled up and onto Ridley's shoulder, and whispered.
"Ridley...let's go for a walk, and I am going to explain a few things to you, ok? Because I think in making you, someone may have left out a few key points."
Turning his head, Ridley gave his companion an odd look, as she patted him on the nose gently.
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Posted: Sat Aug 11, 2007 4:29 pm
A few days later-
"I still don't understand why I have to be dressed like the rest of the cadets here. Technically, I am not a student, I am property. A highly refined weapon of mass destruction. Not some schoolboy in need of teachings."
The whole of the matter had bothered him some what. Julia had managed to break into the main database for the school, and found that she and Kyvec had been transfered to a new squad, as well as Ridley. Though he'd been listed as Project Starsmore. Giving him the name Ridley in the system, Julia thought the best thing was for him to maintain a low profile, if that sort of thing as possible.
The problem was, he didn't see himself like everyone else there. He'd been created with a specific purpose, and since his awakening, he'd not been used for it. There were no nations to attack, no warlord to reign in. Not even so much as an unruly mob.
Ridley was bored. And bored combined with meta powers was not good. But Julia was still trying to figure out how a boy who could read minds, and fly, was supposed to be a weapon, unless it was to confuse the enemy. But that would take a lot of focus, like Kyvec told her he'd shown the other night.
"Becaaaause, if you don't try to blend in, the first thing some one will do is poke and prod you, to see what makes you tick. Ky and I will be expelled from school. And you, my little weapon, will be stuck back in deep freeze. I personally don't feel like having to go through that, and Ky would likely break down-"
"HEY!"
The small dragon was perched atop Ridley's head, looking out over the world, while munching on a small bag of peanuts she'd gotten for breakfast from the Fire Dragon. The look of indignant insult on her face was hard to take seriously, when her cheeks were stuffed like a chipmunk's.
"Face it, Ky, you buckle when my dad gives you the evil eye. Last time he did, I was grounded for a month, because you told him everything we'd ever done since we were 5. "
The small flitter seemingly blushed.
"I couldn't help it...he's scary when he's grumpy."
"He's always grumpy."
"Yes, and he's always scary!"
Walking across the quad, the three friends came upon the other students, gathering for the first real day of classes. Sure, they had been on the trip, but that was more for orientation, and letting the others get to know the school. Now was when the real lessons would begin. Training to really use their abilities, meeting people from other places, and she'd heard this year, maybe even other worlds.
At first, her father had always been against it, but as Terraphim was getting more and more people moving here because of the rift gates he'd stabilized, the decision might be made to allow aliens in.
As the classes gathered, Julia looked about, and saw an instructor waving them over, and Julia took Ridley by the hand, nearly dragging him off his feet.
"You have got to meet this guy! His name is Professor Hinaro, and he looks like he could have been your dad!"
Coming to a stop in front of the taller man, Ridley looked up at him, and saw the older man's eyes were an interesting shade of yellow, like small suns for pupils. His hair was long, pulled back into a loose ponytail, and he wore a black t-shirt, and jeans, with boots and a jacket made of leather. His gloves looked like regular ones, but he felt the palms had some kind of bumpy surface on them when they shook hands.
There was a slight tingle that came over Ridley, like he'd felt weaker after doing so, and the instructor looked a little nauseated too. Julia rested a hand on both men's shoulder, concerned.
"Are you two alright?"
The professor stood up, and smiled, waving a hand off of the subject.
"I'm fine...I just skipped breakfast this morning. I'm gonna head to the Fire Dragon after the classes start to grab a bite. Tell me, I have never met this student. You must be the Ridley Starsmore kid I read about in Katan's squad files."
Kyvec frowned a little.
"You're not gonna be our instructor?"
truth be told, Kyvec did have a slight crush on Professor Hinaro, but Flitter society frowned on inter species dating, primarily because flitters could mate with most anything. It made things...complicated at clutch gatherings. How did one explain the the 6 foot tall human was now part of the family?
Michael smiled and shook his head at the question, and patted Kyved on the head.
" 'Fraid not, Miss Gyami. Professor Katan Freeborn gets that distinction. Mostly because I lost a game of Rock Paper Scissors. He always was better at that than I ma. Living 85 thousand years makes it so you can guess actions pretty well."
"It's only 80 thousand, thank you. Making me five millenia older is not right for anyone, even me."
Katan had walked up to the three students and instructor, his hands in his coat pockets. You'd never know it from looking at him, but he was the oldest living being on the planet, as far as anyone else knew. He'd never explained why that was, but everyone assumed he was some kind of vampire or werewolf. That was the story the students told, anyway.
The truth was much more morbid.
Shaking the older man's hand, Michael smiled with a sort of chuckle you get when you have just been busted for talking badly about someone.
"Come on, Katan. You don't look a day over 40...thousand."
Katan merely walked past, slightly disgruntled.
"Bouncer, Gyami, Starsmore. Follow me...you are to meet your other squad mates, and the other squad you will be training with."
Ridley, stared after, looking back over his shoulder, feeling a little better with his power staring to come back fully. The instructor they had left behind them looked to be feeling better too. Julia, however, was lost in though. Most of the classes didn't meet their instructors till they got to the class. This was unusual for Katan to go out of his way to get them for this.
Arriving where other students were standing, a tall boy in the front stood there, arms crossed over his chest.
“Please tell me these three aren't on my team, professor. Last thing I need is stragglers.”
Katan shook his head, and guided them to the other group of students, so that there was two teams of 10 standing, facing each other. Usually, the teams were of 30 cadets per squad. That theirs was a third of the size was unprecedented.
“No, Cadet Edgewater, they are members of the b-13 Squad, not the a-13 squad. Now fall in and await instructions. Headmaster Bouncer will be making an announcement shortly.”
((This is the introduction. Feel free for anyone to jump in, as this is a freeform setting. After a few posts, I will post again.))
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Posted: Mon Aug 13, 2007 9:24 pm
This is not organized to be an advanced RP but definitely written well enough and voluminous enough to be intermediate.
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School Of Dedicated RPers Captain
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