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Member
Join Date: Apr 2004
Location: England
Posts: 3
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Oruri - please read this! There's a lot of it
Hello again!
I've been inactive for a loooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooong time
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And I wish to share with you two month's work with NO INTERNET! (Sighs)
(Mutters) Bleeding BT...
Anyway it's a kinda sci-fi/fantasy AND THERE IS A LOT OF IT.
You may want to print it off first.
But then, there's the sheer ink & paper cost...
Tell me what you think:
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Oruri - power beyond
MK99J6B7 - Sula system paralell, current time: 6:42 pm, GMT, North European continent, England
A sun was setting over a bustling city in the heart of England. The houses hung over the roads, very closely packed. Cobblestone streets, walked upon by merchants, theives, policemen and other ordinary people in their day-to-day lives. There is an inn on one of those streets. From it can be heard the sound of drunken merriment, and inside, hunched over a drink, a man in a black cowl mutters to himself. Three men, also in black robes, but laden with weapons, approach him and sit down.
"We know what you have" One said.
"Give it to us now before we have to kill you" Another said.
"I don't know what you're talking about, Cain" The man hunched over his drink replied.
"You know damn well what we are talking about, Sepra" Growled a voice that did not sound as if it belonged to any man, human or otherwise.
"I do not" Sepra said.
"Give it to us now!" the creature Cain replied. The demon was getting impatient. Sepra had learned in his time as one of Cain's servants that Cain didn't get impatient unless he wanted something very, very badly.
"Tell me what it is you are looking for, Cain" Sepra remained calm, as always he did.
"The Oruri, Sepra! We know you've got it!"
"Oh, that. I do not have it anymore. I slipped it into the bag of a passing traveller in the middle of the city square. Not even I know where it could be now. I know its power and I am not letting you get your filthy hands on it" Sepra said. He stood up, and Cain's two thugs gripped him on either soldier. Sepra produced two thin daggers from under his robe and sliced both their necks in one sharp movement. The henchmen stayed upright, maintaining their grip. Not a drop of blood emerged from the two deep gashes. All Sepra could see was a dark grey mush under their skin.
"I half expected so, Cain. I thought you could do better than that" Sepra remarked. From under his cloak came two pins, and he stabbed them into either monster's heart. The creatures vanished, their empty robes falling helplessly to the ground.
"Very nice. Now can you do anything apart from a cheap conjurors trick, like giving me what I want? Your excuse did not fool me. If I get the orb now I will spare your life"
Sepra knew the score. If Cain said that, he was very angry. True, he did not kill you, but what he did was much worse. Sepra had seen people kept alive for years in constant torture. He reached inside his robe for the anti-demon weapon he had made.
"Looking for something, Sepra?" Cain twirled the weapon in his dead fingers. Sepra was taken aback. How could he have retrieved it? Cain raised a hand and twisted it left, then right. Sepra was gripped by a pain unlike any other he had felt before, the agony bringing him to his knees. He made a choking noise, and then Cain lowered the hood of his robe. The demon's head was made of dead, zombie-like skin. There was a circular blood-red mouth in the centre, with teeth all the way down. There were four claws pointing inwards toward the mouth from the sides of the face. There was no nose, and small, round, black eyes were scattered around the mouth. Sepra screamed with pain, the pain felt by millions of other tortured souls concentrated into a single bout of agony. He coughed and spluttered helplessly as his chest was tugged forwards and his heart ripped forth from his torso, into the nightmare's mouth. Blood spilled from the open hole as Sepra's body collapsed. The inn had gone quiet, and people began panicking as the creature turned around. A few brave ones drew swords, but most ran from the building. The demon drew his own blade. It was so thin that it could split light and so glowed with the colours of the rainbow, ever changing. The blade itself was black, four feet long and perfectly balanced. The demon fought with ease at his attackers, almost as if in a trance. He moved with an odd slowness, but the blade cloved everything it touched in two. Soon there were four dead bodies on the ground, cut up into several large, bloody peices. The demon laughed coldly and fire spilled out from the back of his robe as he walked out of the inn. The fire began engulfing the rest of the street and slowly, the city. Demon fire was made only more raging by the touch of water, and soon the city of London burned. Another dimension tainted by the Shifter demons.
The man that had received the Oruri unknowingly was on his way out of London on a carriage. He was a travelling merchant, and had only been in London for an hour before leaving for Sussex to meet a man who was supplying him with enough goods to sell for a month. The Shifter Cain tracked him.
The Oruri was a small blue orb about three inches tall and studded with the legendary Humming Diamonds. The Humming Diamonds were priceless, but the most interesting thing about them was that they granted the owner almost godlike ability if used correctly. If misused, they had the power to cause irreversible damage to the dimensional and chronological continuums. This is why the Shifter Cain wanted them. The Shifter race had the innate ability to move between any continuum at will. Their only purpose was to destroy them all.
The merchant heard a strange scrabbling noise coming from the outside of the carriage. He unsheathed his dagger and watched as the handle began to slowly turn. He kicked the door open and saw a demonic form fall off of the carriage. It almost instantly got back up again and moved with inhuman speed toward him. He opened the hatch to the driver.
"Did you see that?" He asked.
"Yep, what was the little bugger?"
"Not a clue, but whatever it is, it's catching up quickly" The merchant climbed through the open door and onto the roof of the carriage. They were in a wood, on a beaten track and the demon was worryingly close now. He reached into the cabin and produced a crossbow. He launched a quarrel, and saw he hit the beast . It fell, rolled on its side, then got up and resumed the chase.
"By god, what is it?" The merchant said aloud. He fell back into the cabin.
The beast launched himself onto the wagon, making it veer dangerously to one side. The merchant saw it's ghastly face appear upside-down at the window of the cabin.
"The Oruri! I know you have it!" It said in an impossibly deep voice. It slid through the cabin wall, flipping itself upright as it did so, and turning around to face the quivering man.
"Take anything you like! Please spare me!" The merchant had retreated into a ball on the floor of the carriage. "I don't know what this thing is, whatever you're talking about"
The demon drew his blade and slid it silently, calmly and slowly into the man's heart. The demon showed no sign of effort in doing so, nor mercy.
"Demon!" An unknown voice shouted."Leave him! Hartarum Kine Lome!" As the spell words took effect the demon was thrown to the back of the rumbling carriage. A soldier in white, shining armour faded from the air into existence. He plunged an arc-shaped blade into the demon's chest and in doing so, the demon began screaming in an agonizingly high pitch. The knight seemed undisturbed by the wailing. The monster burned and vanished. The knight was clad head to foot in blazing white plate armour. He was six feet tall with a heavy build. The armour glinted as he leant down on one knee to the corpse of the merchant. He removed his helm.
"Driver" He asked. "Take me to the nearest place we can make camp"
"Who're you? Where's Harry?" The driver replied.
"Dead, regrettably. The Shifter got to him before I did" The knight's voice was chivalrous, almost fairytale-like.
"Dead? And what the sodding hell is a Shifter?"
"That thing chasing you. When we make camp I shall tell you more, and we may give your friend here a proper burial"
"And who are you?"
"I am Brother Galio. I am a protector of the timelines and a guardian of the dimensions. I had hoped to save your friend"
That night they had found a clearing and tethered the horses to a tree. Earlier on they had dug the merchant a grave, and a wooden cross, made from two sticks, for a headstone. The knight had built a fire and was carefully polishing his armour with asilken cloth.
"So what do you do, then?" The driver asked.
"I am a knight of holy magi divine. We are tasked with the care of the timelines and the dimensions, and we are constantly attacked by the Shifter creatures"
"Timelines? As in past, present, future, sort of thing?"
"Correct"
"And dimensions? What are they?"
"There are many worlds, existing in the same place at the same time. All are different. There is a copy of every person in every dimension. Some have been tainted and infected by the Shifter's magic, but most are safe. For example, in one universe you were killed by that thing back there. In another, I got to your trader companion before he died. In another the Shifter killed me. There is a universe, a dimension, for every choice or possibility that is feasible"
"And what is a Shifter exactly?"
"A demon of black magic. No-one knows where they come from or where they operate from, but they have inhuman strength and agility and can travel between the times and universes at will. For us, it takes a lifetime's learning and practice to cross the many bridges between the worlds, even for those with special talent, as some universes are harder to enter than others"
"Bloody hell. And to think all I worried about was getting back to the warehouse in before friday"
"I also fear that this dimension has been disturbed by the foul creatures. When a dimension has been damaged enough it collapses and is destroyed. The Shifters do so by merely existing in those worlds. Their sorcerous nature harms the fabric of the continuum until it cannot hold itself together and is lost forever. That is the Shifter's purpose; to seek out and destroy every dimension, every timeline, every continuum until all that remains is darkness and void. They are slow in their destruction, but an unknowing jeweller collected the most perfect set of diamonds ever found and had them set in a small blue egg-shaped vessel. This is the Oruri and grants the user power beyond that of any other being. In a Shifter's hands, however, it could mean the end of every world in one fell swoop. Your travelling merchant ally was given the Oruri without him knowing. He holds it now among the cargo in the carriage. The diamonds inlaid on the Oruri are the Humming Diamonds, trapped aeons ago under hundreds of feet of rock to prevent the beasts from ever finding it"
The driver, who's name was Mark,
tried to look at the knight properly for the first time, and found he couldn't. Of course, the man had short blonde hair, a good build and a handsome face, but Mark couldn't quite focus on him. It was like he was not quite there, like he was simply thin air given shape and colour.
"I see you have difficulty in focussing on me, my friend. It is not fault of your own, nor of mine. Men may only exist fully in one realm. If they decide to project themselves to a different continuum a shade of themselves must remain behind, as it is impossible to move fully between the dimensions like the Shifters" The knight said.
The moon hung glowing on a velvet night, as Mark and the knight slowly fell asleep.
L88900P6 - Sol system paralell, current time: 2:30 pm, GMT -5, Northern American continent
In a different continuum, our continuum, in a military base in the centre of a forest, a drill instructor had just recieved a group of new recruits.He had already begun basic training.
"You lot are the biggest buch of spaghetti-armed maggots I have ever seen! I'm gonna put you through the hardest three months of your entire pathetic lives! I'm gonna turn you all into real men, but I think I may have a problem with every weedy one of you!"
"Sir, yes, sir!"
"If I say jump, you say how high! I want you to follow every order of mine with no second thought! Do you hear me!" He shouted.
"Sir, yes, sir!" They chorused.
"Now get your worthless asses to your bunks! I want to see you in full uniform in ten minutes flat! Any soldier not properly dressed will lose their lunch! Go, now, soldiers!"
The recruits jogged back toward the company barracks. The drill instructor smiled inwardly. He put all of his new recruits through this opening speech. It showed 'em who was boss, he thought. He was going to inspect them in five minutes, as he always did to new recruits.
The soldiers changed and ready as the drill instructor kicked the door open. He began looking at each recruit. Most had their uniforms on flawlessly. Some had minor details wrong, and he corrected them. He reached the last man, who was still struggling into his trousers. He grabbed him by the shirt and pulled him toward himself so they were almost touching nose-to-nose.
"Why aren't you ready, soldier!" He asked.
"Sir, you said ten minutes sir" Replied the boy. he looked the youngest one there, probably fresh out of secondary school.
"Those were ten minutes you didn't have, soldier! If I were armed and aggressive you'd be dead by now! Get down and gimme ten!" He screamed. He turned around to face the other soldiers.
"This man is going hungry for imcompetence! He is an example to every single measly one of you! If I say twenty minutes, you do it in ten! If I say ten you do it in five! Do you hear me?"
"Sir, yes, sir!" They shouted in unison.
"Dismissed, go to your lunch!" He replied. The recruits began leaving.
"And you, soldier" The iinstructor said, looking back down at the man doing press-ups, "Will be lucky if one of your friends slips you something to eat after lunch. Let this be a lesson to you. Dismissed!"
The drill instructor's name was Texas, Texas Sharpe. He watched the last soldier get dressed and leave.
"Soldier!" He shouted after him. "I am giving you one last chance to back down and go home. Being in the army isn't easy, and it will be hell if you're not up to it.This is your last and only warning"
"No, sir. I promised my parents I'd do this, to straighten myself out and come home a better person, sir. I'm not going to give up before I've started, sir"
The instructor watched him leave. He admired the boy's persistence.
MK99J6B7 - Sula system paralell, current time: 10:20 am, GMT, North European continent, England
Mark and the knight woke to a cloudless sunrise and the smell of morning dew. They prepared the horses and checked the tethers. They hitched them up to the carriage.
"I must leave you now, but whatever you do, do not handle the Oruri. The Oruri belongs to you now, as it was given to your merchant friend, and inherited by you after his death. But heed my words. If you touch it you will be unable to control it's powers and it will kill you. You shall be trained to channel it's power when the time comes. It could be a week, a year, maybe ten years. But do not touch the Oruri, or let anyone else touch it for that matter. And keep it hidden as the Shifters will search for it mercilessly, and they will kill anyone who dares stop them, or even slow them down. Goodbye" The knight faded back into thin air.
Mark climbed into the driver's seat and carried on toward his original destination.
OPR67512 - Sili system paralell, current time: 8:43 pm, GMT +1, Central European continent. ---NOTE: SHIFTER INFECTED CONTINUUM --> ESTIMATED TIME REMAINING: 33 YEARS, 10 MONTHS, 17 DAYS--- Approaching Critical State. ABANDON
In Ypres, Belgium, a gigantic hovering war machine lumbered over a scorched, bruised, cratered landscape. It burst into flames as a plasma missile hit it's side. The Empire of the West were fighting the Eastern Coalition, and they were fighting a retreat. Many men lay dead already and dozens more lay wounded. The Empire's eastern borders were being overrun by the relentless Coalition troops.
A few bizarre metallic orbs began floating a few feet above the landscape. Several Coalition soldiers quickly surrounded each one. The orbs were made up of thousands of tiny peices of metal. The peices began to slide apart and move. Some detached amd began orbiting the orbs quickly, lots more following suit. The orb was slowly coming apart and the shards were now so fast they could cut a man. Soon the orbs had completely disassembled themselves, and in the centre of each one was an Empire soldier, with strangely disproportionate gloves on. The gloves glowed a faint blue, and a blue translucent energy shield flickered around the soldier as bullets ricocheted off of it.
The ball of flying shards orbiting the man sudenly began to expand, tearing through anything it touched, be it flesh, bone, metal, plastic or solid rock. The blizzard of razors continued for a few minutes before the balls began reassembling themselves. This was the Third World War, in a continuum completely different to ours where the western countries ruled brutally over the poorer middle-eastern and far-eastern countries. The eastern countries had eventually become tired of being vassals and living in poverty, working but as slaves and begging or stealing whatever they could and had revolted. They had formed the Eastern Coalition and waged war against the Western Empire, that had become decadent and corrupt over the centuries. This was half of the world versus the other half. Rumors went that the Empire, even after the decomissioning of all of their weapons of mass destruction many decades ago, had built more, even more deadly and powerful than before.
This is the effect of the Shifter's magic.
It corrupts minds and pitches them against one another, eventually causing the entire Human race to wipe itself out. Then the Shifter would destroy the continuum altogether, relishing in the death and pain, the suffering and disease that it had caused.
One soldier, however, had not been affected by the madness and didn't want to fight. He had been conscripted into the Empire's army, forced to wage war on those who would see it's downfall. He had deserted his company and had escaped into the forest. He was stting on a log, his head in his hands. He had taken his cramped helmet off, and it lay browned in some nearby leaves. The air shimmered and a woman in an ankle-length leather coat appeared. Like the knight, the woman could not be focussed upon properly, and she walked over to the log and sat next to the soldier. The man was surprised by this new arrival, so surprised in fact he fell off of his log.
"Who in the hell are you?" The soldier asked, and quickly got to his feet.
"I'm here to help. You don't want to fight, right?" The lady had a dark, hypnotic voice.
"Yes, madam. But how did you find me? Or how did you get here? No-one can get that close without making any sound"
"Of couse, of course, but the simple fact is, I wasn't here a few seconds ago" The woman was about five foot nine, very attractive and quite slim. she looked in her mid-thirties.
"I don't understand" He said.
"Hmmm. You may find this difficult to take but I am not from this world" She told him.
"So you're an alien?" He replied.
"Not at all. I am merely from another world, another realm"
"Like paralell dimensions, that sort of thing?"
"Yes. I have been instructed to come and collect you. All will be explained when we get back to the Hub"
"The Hub?"
"The centre of the continuums. The conduit through which all other dimensions can be reached"
"Whoa, whoa, whoa. This is too much. Paralell dimensions and women recruiters that come out of thin air? I can't even focus on you properly. How do I know you're not just a hologram?"
The woman put her hand on his head.
"Because holograms cannot touch nor feel. Come with me. I am part of an organization that is trying to stop what's happening to your world, but I don't think we can stop it now" She said.
"And what is happening?" The soldier asked her.
"It is due to a demonic race called the Shifters, that infect your people, my people, with a madness that drives them to war. Eventually damage is done to a continuum so badly, that the continuum is destroyed. It has happened before and doubtless it will occur again somewhere else. You're not affected by the magic, and so I implore you to join us. We may not be able to save your continuum, but we can save many, many more"
The soldier's name was Morgan, Andrew Morgan. He felt compelled to trust this strange, hypnotic woman.
"Magic? Demons? Are you trying to make me take you seriously?" He asked.
"Yes" Came the reply. Andrew paused for a moment, thinking. Any escape from this warzone is fine by me, he thought.
"Fine. I'll come with you. I'm armed, though. This better not be some Coalition trap"
"No" She said. Truth and justice were in her eyes, qualities long since extinct in Andrew's world.
MK99J6B7 - Sula system paralell, current time: 12:00 pm, GMT, North European continent, England
Mark had come to the warehouse after a day and a half. There he talked to some of the merchant's contacts and had found a house to stay in. He had lived alone, jealously guarding the Oruri for seven years. The promised trainer came to his house one day, and told him to prepare for the training. Soon the trainer, Salemet, had taught him how to concentrate his soul and mind and was soon to teach him to project himself between the continuums.
"Mark, focus, clear your mind and ease your soul. Now loosen yourself, project your mind, yourself, in front of you. If you feel you are in a place, you can be there"
Mark relaxed and followed his instructions. He felt himself floating, he opened his eyes and he was somewhere else. There was a grey cliff face, with a waterfall and a river. There was trees, grass, animals, even. He tensed, and felt himself pulled back into his own body.
"So," Salemet asked. "Did you do it?"
"Yes! It was bloody incredible!" He said
'To not put too fine a point on it, I suppose. You are making very good progress. Rarely have my students shown such promise" Salemet said.
"Thanks"
His training continued for a year. He learned to channel his natural energies to move objects with his mind, or telekinesis. He learned to channel pain and anger, harm and sadness and expel them from his body. He could put his hand in fire and come out unscathed. Soon he learned how to use his powers to heal himself and others, and could travel between dimensions almost completely, and could spend a good hour in one before losing his concentration and returning. One day, Salemet gave him two leather gloves.
"Put these on. I think you are ready to channel the Oruri now"
"Do you think? Do I need more practice?" He remembered the knight's stern words. It will kill you.
He went to a floorboard and lifted it up. He brought out a small leather-bound object. He laid it on the floor and carefully unwrapped it. The Oruri stood upright, the inset diamonds vibrating gently.
"Now touch it" Salemt said.
Mark touched it with one finger. A power ran up his arm, feeling like an electric charge. He snapped his arm away.
"Jesus christ. That felt weird" He said. Slowly he reached out to touch the glowing orb again.
"Take all the time you need, Mark. Don't rush it"
Mark touched the orb again. This time he concentrated the energy through his body, welcoming it, but it felt like a sponge attempting to absorb a tidal wave. He grabbed the orb in his other hand, his grip tensing, tightening, and then suddenly the orb crushed and broke. A grey-blue dust floated away as Mark was thrown backwards, sapphire light pouring from his eyes.
OPR67512 - Sili system paralell, current time: 7:31 am, GMT +1, Central European continent. ---NOTE: SHIFTER INFECTED CONTINUUM --> ESTIMATED TIME REMAINING: 33 YEARS, 10 MONTHS, 16 DAYS--- Approaching Critical State. ABANDON
"Hold my hand, and hold tight" She said. Andrew gripped her gloved hand.
AAA00001 - Sul system paralell, --HUB-- current time: 5:46 am, GMT -7, Northern American continent
A flash of light, a sensation of nothingness, then a feeling of solidity once more. Andrew looked up, half-asleep. He wasn't in Ypres anymore. He was on a bed, much like a medical one, and the woman was on the bed next to him. A man in a white lab coat approached him.
"Ah, so we have a newcomer, Mari?" He said.
"Yes, Terr. He is to be a warrior. Give him a room and a lesson time. He has yet to learn to travel between the realms. I couldn't stay there to teach him, it was to unstable. He can stay in his armour if he wishes to" She replied. Andrew swung himself upright as he fully regained conciousness. He grabbed his pistol and unholstered it.
"What the fuck is going on? Where am I? Who're you?" He gestured to the doctor.
The woman said softly, "You are at the Hub, Andrew. This is doctor Terrican Ulo. We have just passed between your dimension and mine"
He holstered the pistol.
"Calm down, I know it can be rather fretful passing over for the first time, erm, Andrew, was it?" The doctor said.
"Yeah. And what's this about 'lesson time'?"
The woman sat down on the bed again. "We will teach you to pass between the continuums at will, Andrew. Doctor Ulo will give you directions to your room. He will also give you a sheet giving you the lesson times. Come to a few, and when you think you're ready to learn, just ask. Don't feel alone. There are dozens of newcomers to our cause, from all different dimensions. Some are like you, technologically advanced, while others come from realms with dark aged technology. You are one of many" She said. She seemed to be capable of talking anyone into doing anything. People like that were scary, Andrew thought. He was on Earth, but while it was technologically advanced, like his world, it was different. He looked out of a window and looked to a sprawling city, stretching further than the eye could see. Occasionally a serpentine machine zipped along one of the many rails that connected various scyscrapers. Hovering vehicles were traveling in horizontal and vertical lanes, and a sun was rising behind tall, black clouds, giving the sky a bruised, purple colour. He was in one of many scyscrapers, each one ending, from what he could see, in a mushroom-like roof.
"Beautiful, isn't it?" The woman had said, from behind him.
"Yes... breathtaking, my lady" He said.
"Don't worry about manners. My name's Mari"
"Okay, Mari. I'm finding this all pretty heavy, you understand"
"I know. It can be a bit much, but your response to the shift was better than some people's I've seen. Anyone from a middle-aged world is convinced this is dark magic and take a lot of reassuring, believe me" Mari replied.
"What am I supposed to do, then? Why am I here, Mari?" Andrew asked.
"You are going to help us fight and kill the Shifters. I never did catch your name"
"Andrew Morgan, at your service. I'm pretty relieved that I'm away from all the fighting. I've got one last question. How did you bring me here, if I don't know how to do the whole travelling thing?"
"That is a good question" The doctor said. He walked over to Andrew and gave him a sheet of paper. "Mari here had a Rift Charger. We only really use them in universes where the Shifters have caused irreversible damage, as the Rift Chargers can possibly destroy the world they are transporting from. They can be used by an agent to totally shift a person from one continuum to another, but the shade of a person left by a projection of one's self must be used as an anchor. They can only be used once"
Andrew studied the sheet the doctor had given him. It had a list of times and room numbers. One of them was labeled 'agent dormitory'.
MK99J6B7 - Sula system paralell, current time: 12:31 pm, GMT, North European continent, England
Mark floated upwards and oriented himself upright.
"This is incredible. I feel so... powerful" He said. His voice had took on a deeper, more menacing tone.
"You have done it. I am not needed anymore" The teacher faded away, just like the knight did.
Mark was glowing blue, hovering a foot above the ground. He roared and the walls of the cabin exploded outwards, the small countyside house falling apart around him. He was in an open field, and he flew upwards, admiring the Earth from above.
He suddenly felt a tugging sensation and then felt like he had exploded.
L88900P6 - Sol system paralell, current time: 7:30 pm, GMT -5, Northern American continent
"Get up, grunts!" The sargeant shouted into the barracks. "Inspection in ten!"
The recruits scrambled out of their beds and into their uniforms.
The drill instructor opened the door five minutes later and began inspecting the soldiers. Once again the young recruit at the end wasn't ready.
"Soldier! You have been warned once! You can forget breakfast this morning" He said.
"Sir" The young man replied.
"Breakfast ends at o-eight hundred hours, men. Get your butts to the rifle range afterwards" He ordered, then left.
A man, of eastern origin, crawled on his belly to a plateau overlooking the training camp. He carried a kalashnikov AK-74 in his hands. He had two more soldiers with him. Behind him was a truck full of troops, all armed and loaded.
"We attack in five minutes, men. Prepare yourselves!"
The men, in camoflage and kevlar, dismounted from the truck and began slowly descending the cliff face. They attached clamps and hooks to the top of the cliff and abseiled down. One two of them carried long cases. They reached the bottom of the cliff and opened them. In one was a pair of wire cutters, the other held an RPG launcher. They readied their guns and stealthily approached the base through some trees. One of the men began opening a hole in the barbed-wire perimeter using the cutters, and one other slid a projectile into it's launcher.
"Men, stay silent. The american pigs must not know we are here. Fire the missile at those barrels there" The head man pointed to a pile of petrol canisters.
The man with the RPG launched the grenade through the hole that been made, the firework noise whistling the tone of destruction as it hit the barrels, metal fragments flying fifty feet into the air in a ball of violent, orange flame. The pile had left a large hole in the motor shop it had lain next to. The soldiers scrambled through the man-sized hole and shot the american troops in the small guard towers that dotted the base. Soon other soldiers had arrived and the air was quickly thick with gunfire. Alarm bells were screaming and the ground was covered in corpses. There were eleven eastern soldiers attacking, three of which had already been shot. The group ran to a nearby building and a few smashed a window, climbing in as the other troops covered their entry. they filtered through, one by one.
The red alarm wailed, and then the drill sargeant heard the shooting. The ran to a nearby telephone and dialed for the command center.
"What in god's name is going on?" He asked into the telephone.
"We're under attack! A group of men broke through the eastern fence and have got hold of the comm building. We're losing men real quick" The man on the other end said.
"Over and out" He hang up. "Jesus christ almighty. Men. Grab a gun and come with me. You're in a frigging rifle range so it shouldn't be that hard"
The soldiers ran to a rack and each picked up a gun. They were FN FNC rifles, and each soldier loaded and cocked the guns. They ran out to behind a building and as they got there an eastern soldier ran into the open toward them. They took aim and fired. Most of the bullets went on dangerous courses, the owners having never fired a gun before, let alone try to shoot someone with one. The soldier went down and writhed on the floor, moaning. Another explosion signalled the arrival of an APC that unloaded yet more eastern militants.
"Retreat! We've lost the base! Run! Every man for himself!" The drill sargeant shouted.
The struggling american soldiers gave up the fight and ran, most being cut down in their escape. The young soldier, the one always shouted at by the instructor, had made it out of the base and was running full pelt into the surrounding forest. His name was Nicholas Butler, he was eighteen, and he was about to meet a Shifter.
AAA00001 - Sul system paralell, --HUB-- current time: 5:46 am, GMT -7, Northern American continent.
Mark found himself suddenly inside a glass tube. He concentrated and it shattered. He moved quickly toward the nearest door, hovering above the ground. He felt a sharp pain in his neck and blacked out.
When he came to he found his arms and legs restrained to a table. A man in a white coat approached him. As usual, Doctor Ulo was looking at a screen or fiddling with some gentic code.
"Don't worry, those clasps 'll be off in a minute. You were pretty angry when you arrived, so we had to sedate you. Everything will be explained in time. One moment"
The doctor said. The table lifted itself up vertically, the clasps clicked open and Mark dropped to the ground.
"Who are you? Where am I?" He asked, his heart racing.
"You are among friends, Mark. I've been expecting you for a very long time, twenty years, in fact. I am doctor Terrican Ulo. The task described to you by your teacher is one you must now meet"
Jesus christ, am I tired or what?
"Who said that?" Mark said aloud.
"What?" Doctor Ulo asked, looking up from his work.
"I just heard a voice in my head" He said.
"Hmmm, strange. Shrug it off, I guess. I can't help you with the magic part of it. The Oruri's power, I mean. I'm a medical practitioner, not a voodoo doctor"
"Medical practitioner? What's that?" Mark asked.
"Oh, dear. I forgot. You come from a middle-aged realm, don't you? Erm, I'm a doctor, a wise man, you know... Herbs and stitches and what have you" Doctor Ulo said.
"Oh. I see. I apologize"
I gotta check this place out better tomorrow, Mari. I'll see you in the morning.
"What is going on? Mr Ulo, I heard that voice again. He mentioned something about a 'Mari'" Mark said
"Hold on, did you just say Mari?" Doctor Ulo said.
"Yes, what is it?" He asked.
"'It' is a person, lad. An assistant of mine. I'll send for her now" Ulo picked up a small machine and spoke into it. A few minutes later a tall, slim woman entered the door.
"Doctor, look at the time. What's going on?" She said.
"Who were you last talking to, Mari?"
"Andrew, you know, the soldier that arrived a few hours ago"
"The one I saw you making eyes at?" Ulo said. He chuckled warmly. Mari blushed.
"Do we have a sample of his genetic code?"
"Yes, I think"
"Good. Dredge it up and run it through the scanner" Doctor Ulo said. He plucked a hair from Mark's scalp.
"Ow! What was that for?" Mark said angrily. His body still glowed a faint blue.
"Need it" Ulo said, without looking up from his current screen. He inserted the hair into a machine. He waited for a few seconds, and then his hand went to his mouth.
"This is incredible! I mean, the odds of that?" He pressed a button and an image appeared on an overhead screen.
"This" Ulo pressed a button. "Is Mark's genetic code" A series of bars and dots appeared on the screen.
"And this" He said, pressing another button. "Is Andrew's"
It was exactly the same.
L88900P6 - Sol system paralell, current time: 11:15 pm, GMT -5, Northern American continent
Nicholas, or Nick as he preferred to be called, was hiding in a cave with two other soldiers.
"Did you just hear that?" One said. There was a deep rattling noise from deeper in the cave.
"That don't sound like no animal, Bob"
"Then what the fuck is it?"
The sound drew closer.
Nick said, "You guys up for finding another cave? I'd rather not hang around to see what that thing is"
"No way. I'm going ta kill it"
"Fuck this. I ain't going down there, not in a million years. It's pitch black in there"
"Chicken"
"I agree with him, Bob" Nick said. "You can do it, but by yourself"
The noise seemed to be in front of them now. A large dark shape in a robe appeared close by. It looked at them. It had a dead face, with small black eyes dotted around it's red mouth, in the centre of a horrifing array of spikes, all pointing inwards.
"Shit, shit, shit! I'm outta here!" The othe rman said. He bolted out of the cave. Nick followed him.
"Joey! We can't just leave him. Let's keep an eye on him"
"Fuck that. Fuck Bob. Didn't you see that thing?"
"Yeah, and that's why we're going back to get him!"
"No way"
There was the sound of gunfire, and then a long scream of agony.
"Jesus fucking holy christ. I'm off, and if you're not coming with me you can let that thing get you" He said. The soldier ran into the thick forest.
Nick loaded his gun and headed back toward the cave.
What he saw next both frightened him and sickened him even more.
AAA00001 - Sul system paralell, --HUB-- current time: 5:46 am, GMT -7, Northern American continent
Mari pressed the buzzer on Andrew's door frantically.
"What? Pack it in, I'm up! I'm up!" He dragged himself to the door.
What? Pack it in, I'm up! I'm up! Mark heard.
"Mari? What's going on?" He asked.
Mark heard all that Andrew said.
"Andrew" Mari said. "You've got to see this. We have found of your counterparts!"
"What in the hell is a counterpart?" Andrew said sluggishly.
"In every continuum is a counterpart of every other person. We've found one of yours"
"Another me? Okay. Is this some sort of bizarre joke?"
"No, Andrew"
"Alright. Take me to him"
"Mari! Andrew! You return!" Doctor Ulo said. "This, Andrew, is Mark. He is not only your counterpart, but he is the one that has channeled the Oruri and it's power. I would like to test something. Andrew, say any sentence you like, but stay in that room" He pointed to a small cubicle to his left. Andrew went in and Ulo closed the door.
"Okay" Ulo said on a speaker in the room. "Say it"
"Fourty-four thousand theives broke into a thespian's festival" Andrew said. This is stupid, he thought.
Doctor Ulo approached Mark.
"What did Mr. Morgan just say, Mark?" He asked.
"He said: Fourty-four thousand theives broke into a thespian's festival" Mark replied.
Ulo seemed delighted at the news. He ran and opened the door to Andrew's cubicle.
"Have you heard any, erm, voices, in your head?" He asked.
"No. What do think I am, some sort of flipping loony?" Andrew replied harshly.
"Hmmm... maybe because Mark was the one that channeled it..." Ulo looked and tinkered with several more screens before coming back to Andrew and Mark.
"Okay. Mark, place your hand on Andrew's arm" Ulo said. Mark did and looked suprised.
"I feel as if someone's gripping me on my arm, doctor" He said.
Andrew interrupted.
"What is this about? I'm tired and cranky and I'm standing here like a fart in a trance looking clueless. Tell me what this is about" He asked. Mari giggled.
"I'm ever so sorry, Andrew" Doctor Ulo said. "Hmm. Where to start... Well I'll guess I'll start with telling you about the Oruri. It was an impossibly powerful artifact, made from diamonds hidden from the Shifters to protect their power. The diamonds in question were the fabled Humming Diamonds, trapped under a mountain by our ancestors to prevent the Shifters getting their hands on them. The diamonds were found by a jeweller and inlaid in a single blue egg, and given to a the Tzar of Russia, on a world differnt from yours, mine or Mark's. The orb has had to have been handled delicately, and kept away from the Shifters at any cost. Many have died to stop it getting into their hands. If they were to have got it, they could have destroyed all the worlds in one blow. Mark here has been the latest recipient, but he was the one prophesised by the religions of the worlds as the saviour, on your world, Andrew, he is the Rilomant's Eyeless One. There is a system called Sol, there they have a group of people, Christians as they call themselves. He is the second son of their god. He has been expected for centuries and now he shall be the one that will turn the tide against the Shifters in our favour"
"Bloody hell. I'm supposed to do all that?" Mrk said.
"Yeah, whatever. What he said. Can I go back to bed now, doctor?"
"Yes, good man. I'm sorry to have disturbed you" Ulo said. "You too Mark. Mari here shall show you to your room. Come back to me in the morning. If you get lost, just ask someone. They'll know me"
L88900P6 - Sol system paralell, current time: 11:27pm, GMT -5, Northern American continent
Nick saw Bob's body lying on the floor with a pit, a hole, where his heart should have been. He saw splintered bone and lung in the hole. He put his fist to his mouth to prevent himself throwing up. He reached down, dropping his own weapon, and picked up Bob's shotgun. Nick heard a noise behind him, twirled around and fired.
All that happened was that a few birds flew into the air.
"Come out! Come on! Show yourself!" He screamed. His heart beating out a tango in his chest, he slowly retreated out of the cave.
"Going so fast, human?" The beast said.
Nick spun around, took aim, fired, and blasted the monster's ugly head clean off of his shoulders, white bone and black blood sent flying, onto the cave walls, the ground reciveing a thick layer of Shifter blood. Nick stood there, his gun smoking, breathing quickly and sweating like a pig.
"Fucking ugly bastard, ain't ya?" He said.
Nick put a new round into the shotgun and walked out of the cave. The gunfire coming from the training camp had ceased
"How the fuck did they get so far in without being detected?" Nick said to himself. He heard shouting from outside.
"Drop your weapon! Get your hands in the air and stay still!" Someone shouted.
A few more american soldiers emerged from the forest.
"Sorry. We thought you were one of those bastards attacking us" One said. His gaze moved from Nick, to the dead monster, and finally to the dead soldier.
"What the flipping hell is that?" He asked.
"I have no idea. It attacked me, private Jenkins and private Llewellyn. Llewellyn got away but as for Jenkins... well, sir, see for yourself" Nick said.
"Oh, god. How in the hell did that happen?" The newcomer said, looking at the hole in Jenkins' chest. "By the way, I'm Lieutenant Harry Reed, these are privates Texas Alicia and Ed Fettrun. We're looking for survivors"
"Private Nicholas Phillips, sir. Well, for a start, Llewellyn ran that way. I haven't seen anyone else, sir"
Reed was in his late thirties, with a bushy moustache and a sort of look you would normally expect on a biker. Alicia had long red hair, and freckles. Fettrun was a young lad with a wispy beard, a small nose, and blonde hair.
"I guess we'll make a move, then. If you're coming with us, fine. We're going to need all the help we can get" Reed said.
"Yes, sir"
AAA00001 - Sul system paralell, --HUB-- current time: 9:01 am, GMT -7, Northern American continent
Andrew awoke to the sound of an alarm. He panicked for a split second, but then realised it was a bedside alarm clock.
He sat up and rubbed his forehead as he swung himself out of bed and looked for the bathroom. He suddenly realised that, in the warfare on his own planet, he hadn't had a proper wash in over a month. After he had run himself a bath and had thoroughly bathed himself, he searched a wardrobe for some clothes.
"Wow. I haven't had a sleep like that in a while" He said to himself absently. "A world without war. My god, it's been a while" He pulled on a pair of faded blue jeans and a white shirt. He had hung his suit of armour in a corner, along with his rifle.
There was a ring as someone pressed a the buzzer on his door.
"Who is it?" Andrew asked.
"It's me, Mari" She said.
"The door's open" He replied. Mari opened the door.
"You want to catch something to eat with me?" She asked.
"Yeah, fine" He said. He pulled on some boots and he and Mari began walking down the hall.
"What have you got to do here? You know, stuff to keep you in shape, or entertained, or whatever?" He asked.
"We've got a gym and a cafeteria on the floor below, and a recreation room on the one above. There's other things too. Just look around"
Mari and Andrew carried on down to the cafeteria together, talking. When they got there, Mari bought him some breakfast, using money he didn't recognise, and she gave him some. They sat down to eat.
"Until you get paid, Andrew, you're going to have to get by on this. They usually send pay packets every other thursday so I'd better talk to someone about getting an account. Go to the top floor. Someone there should be able to help you. I've got to go work with doctor Ulo, so I won't be able to talk to you for a while, okay?" She said, in her sweet, gentle voice.
"Fine. What do I do now, though?" He said.
"First you should see someone about sorting out a bank account. Then come down to the med room for a check-up" Mari told him. "We need to make sure you're free of any illnesses and the like. Then what you want to do next is up to you. I get off work at about five, come meet me" She got up and walked to a door. She waved goodbye. Andrew finished his breakfast and went back to his room.
He heard a wailing alert. The nanotechnology inside him recognised the sound of the siren and prepared him for a fight. He felt full of energy, he became faster, stronger, tougher, his eyesight was clearer, his senses heightened. He grabbed his rifle from the wall. He didn't bother to put on his armour. A message blared out on a loudspeaker:
"Everyone proceed to the nearest security checkpoint immediately. We have a code red emergency. Hostile troops have entered the establishment in sector 53H. All security teams to sector 53H ASAP, repeat, all security teams to sector 53H ASAP" The operator said. Andrew saw four men in blue uniforms running down the hall.
"Hey, you! You've got a gun, come with us!" One of them said. He joined them as they rushed to fight the invaders. He prepared his rifle, it hummed gently under the strain of the plasma charges heating up inside.
"What's your name, soldier?" One of the security guards asked.
"Andrew Morgan. I'm new here, it's my first day. Some impression I'm getting"
The guard chuckled.
"Yeah. This only happens every other week" He said sarcastically. "By the way, name's Damien Tanner" They stopped and put their back to the wall, the halls grey metal with a blue carpet. They could hear gunfire up ahead, accompianied by a high-pitched wailing. While the strange wailing sound may be unfamiliar to some people, Andrew knew it well. It was the sound of energy guns powering. Through the outside wall, made completely of glass, he saw a black, circular, strange-looking machine float downwards into their sight, outside of the window. It had various tentacle-like protusions, and they moved in perfect symmetry to each other.
The security guard's eyes widened.
"Run!" He said.
The machine fired a blue bolt of energy at them and as the men scattered it blew out the glass and wall.
Andrew had already begun firing. During his term fighting for the Empire, he had recieved various implants and modifications. He performed a perfect side flip to dodge a blast, all the time firing at the machine as it bombarded the group with lasers. He saw everything in slow motion, his nanotechnological enhancements heightening his senses to a near godlike state. This was a man built for war. He could take any bullet, and do feats impossible to any ordinary person. He saw the vehicle rotate to face him. All sound seemed to fade in the split second it's sights were trained on him. He leaped out of the window and grabbed onto one of it's tentacles. He swung himself up onto the machine, straddling it and orienting himself.
He gripped two tentacles and felt electricity surge into his body as the machine tried to protect itself.
The augmentations he had recieved to his person stopped the energy flow from doing any damage, and instead had a formed a circuit with the machine. He used the tentacles as reins to turn the thing around. He saw many other machines flying around the scyscraper, and dozens more destroying the city. He was part of it. He found his own brain was the nerve centre of the device, and his superhuman senses plus the alien weaponry meant that the other attackers were soon plummeting to the ground in seething balls of fire. He could move in any direction he fancied, he could turn, he could use the weapon and he found he had an energy shield at his disposal. The security guards inside the building watched him with open mouths.
He felt the name pegasus fitting for his new mount. He remembered what he had said earlier.
"A world without war" He said to no-one in particular. "Shit, what was I kidding myself?" He added.
L88900P6 - Sol system paralell, current time: 12:57pm, GMT -5, Northern American continent
Nick and the other soldiers had made camp. Him and Alicia had taken guard duty, and were due to change shift in an hour.
He heard a voice.
"I'm sure they came this way!"
"You idiot! We're lost now!"
"No, we are not lost"
"Yes we are"
"No we are not"
The two carried on arguing. They both had middle-eastern accents.
"Hey!" Nick whispered to Alicia. "Do you hear them?"
"Yep. Wake the others"
Nick crawled to where the other two were sleeping and nudged them.
"They've found us! Get up!"
"Shit! How many?"
"Just two"
"Try and take 'em out"
Nick crawled back to Alicia, who had taken aim..
"Kill them. I'll take the left one, you the right"
They fired a few shots, and the two eastern soldiers slumped to the ground.
"Hey! There are the americans! Get them!" Nick heard.
"Oh, crap! They've surrounded us! It was a trap!" He said. The other two, lieutenant Reed and private Fettrun, loaded their guns.
"Go, go, go!" The leutenant whispered. They each took a 90-degree angle of their campsite and unleashed hell.
The first few seconds of a battle were always the most dangerous, and several eastern troops fell to the ground almost instantly. There were five more that had gotten to their bellies and had begun firing back.
A bullet caught the lieutenant, blasting a hole in right his shoulder. The man screamed and began writhing around on the floor. Nick shot two more men and then raided his backpack for something to cover the wound. He found a bandage and tended to lieutenant Reed's wounds, taking out the bullet and wrapping the bandage around the bloody hole. Reed had begun hyperventilating, and was certainly out of action. The two others had finished off the three men on their side of the campsite. A ghostly quiet stillness filled the air.
"I'll be okay, I think" Reed said. "We've got to keep moving and try to find civilization again"
In the morning they had covered with soil where they had stayed and were packed up.
"I sure as hell do hope we don't have to do any more fighting" Alicia said. She had several bruises and scrapes from sleeping rough in the forest.
"Right enough. And all those people who 'enjoy' camping out, in a goddamn tent, think these forests are great fun," Nick said while pushing through a hedge and beginning the hike to civilization, "but when you've been sleeping on the ground for six hours a night with rocks up your ass and bugs in your hair you feel like chopping down the whole lot yourself"
There was a general murmur of acknowledgement from the rest of them. It wasn't easy time-sharing six hours of sleep on cold, hard forest floor, with rationed food and a dwindling morale. None of the soldiers knew how much longer they would have to keep doing it before they found someone, or were found themselves. They had a hundred and seventeen bullets between them, after raiding the terrorist's bodies, and had no idea where to go or how long they could last. They certainly couldn't go back to the base, as there were probably dozens of terrorists there already, and when word of the capture got back to any other american military force, the message would be spread and the fell base bombed back to the stone age. America would then probably then start yet another middle-eastern war, using the attack as an excuse to grab more of the rapidly dwindling supplies of oil, the Black Gold. And then american racists would begin lashing out at middle-eastern minorities. Other countries would be suspicious about the USA's reasons for fighting, and then it could escalate, or, more precisely, plummet into a downward spiral of suffering.
The effect of the Shifters has been felt for centuries, but have we noticed?.
The Roman conquests, Genghis Khan and the Mongols, the Crusades, The Hundred Years War, Napoleon's empire, the British Empire's takeover, World War One, World War Two, Pearl harbour, Hiroshima, Nagasaki, the Cold War, Vietnam,The Gulf war, you name it, all the work of the Shifters. They have been infecting our world for as long as Humans have lived on it. Humans on Earth, our Earth, know their effect all too well, even if they are unknowing of the cause.
When Nick had killed the Shifter he encountered, he didn't realise that it had already done it's work.
He didn't know there were others.
He didn't know Earth were headed for another war.
World War Three.
AAA00001 - Sul system paralell, --HUB-- current time: 9:13 am, GMT -7, Northern American continent
Andrew, from his mount, saw men clad in black armour pouring from a vessel that had forced it's way in near the top. He vapourised the transport, flew to the window and dismounted. He levelled his gun and fired a single shot. The person he shot at had a black helmet, the visor identical to the metal around it. The armour-piercing plasma round made mincemeat of the man it hit; A large chunk of his helm and skull was blasted clean away, leaving a clear shot through the hole in his head, for the next unlucky soldier to be killed, Andrew pumping two more rounds into the enemy soldiers through his gory hole.
"Hello" Someone said behind him. Andrew spun around, aiming his rifle directly between the newcomer's eyes. "I see you have met my friends. Terrible loss but at a fair, fair price" This strange person had the same black armour but no helmet, instead having shoulder-length blonde hair, and a pale complexion. He continued speaking, in a downright cheerful tone.
"I shall take great care and pleasure in killing you, and your family, and your friends, and every other heathen devil in this hell-borne cathedral of death. I do not rush my divine work, so you can expect to live a little longer... perhaps" He said.
This guy's a lunatic! Andrew thought. A fucking psychopath! I've gotta kill him...
He fired a few shots in semi-automatic, but the man somehow deflected every bullet.
"The holy one protects me, demon. Daraklidi guards those loyal to him, and punishes those who stray form the Path of Candles. I am his right hand. I am his left hand. I am his Angel of Death, monster. Now, die" He spoke in a perfectly friendly, cheerful tone. He raised his hands, in a prayer motion, holding it for a second. His hands suddenly glowed red. He clapped and a painfully loud booming shattered what remained of the windows. The tower shook and swayed, the superstructure groaning with the motion. Andrew looked out of a hole nearby. He couldn't see the ground below the tower, just a grey, swirling mist.
He switched his rifle to fully-automatic and let fly, the man becoming caught in the gunfire. He doubled over.
"Daraklidi! Save me! You are my protector and saviour! Come to me in my time of need!" He wheezed, before falling to the ground, clutching at a single hole in his stomach.
"Who the hell is 'Daraklidi'?" Andrew asked.
"He" Said the fallen man, "Is your armageddon, maggot!" The man died. His body melted away.
The strange machine Andrew had taken had become docile, floating outside gently.
Andrew remounted and carried on his hunt for more black-armoured invaders to kill.
Meanwhile, Mark had been given a room, and was only now beginning to realize the extent of the power the Oruri had granted him. He could hover, had the capabilities of telekinesis, telepathy, empathy, and hypnotic control of minds. The Oruri's power, Mark realized, is that it only amplified existing capabilities. People had the power to do the things he could, but they could not control themselves enough, nor channel their gifts. The vastness of human potential was extraordinary, and the Oruri released that potential. His reflexes were super-enhanced, even to the point of precognition, his strength, agility and senses had been improved to no end, but Mark had found himself to be more snappy, more aggressive and violent. Mark had also found he had limited control of the elements; If he was close to a naked flame he could create blazing balls of fire, if he was close to electrical equipment he could channel voltage through the air, he could freeze and thaw water, and move it in any direction, even to the point of making a current run uphill. If he had access to even a light breeze he could summon massive gusts of wind. He couldn't, however, make more of what was already there; he could only use that available to him. His entire body also radiated an eerie blue light, faintly. He found he preferred floating to walking, as well.
He was astounded at the strange machinations of these people. All this 'technology' was alien to him. He had an open mind, though, which is a very rare trait from someone from the middle ages, and he assured himself he would become familiar with the entirely new civilization he was in.
But first, to make sense of this odd paper he had been given...
He couldn't understand a word of it. He could read english, but not very well, and he hadn't a single clue what the sheet meant.
He walked down a hallway to an opening. Above it hung a sign saying 'INFORMATION'.
"May I help you?" said a young girl.
"Yes, I have here some parchment, but I don't understand what it means"
"Could I see it?" She asked. Mark handed over the paper. "Yes. I see. Erm, okay, go down that corridor until you see a sign saying 'Classrooms 8-13'. Go down that hall until you find a door saying 'Modern Language'. Talk to someone inside"
"Many thanks, m'lady" Mark said graciously. He began to take the route he had been given.
Then the wall behind him, were the girl was, exploded in a shower of hot metal and sparks. Alarms sounded.
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Andrew rose vertically on his machine, picking off more of the black-armoured soldiers on his way up. From where he was they looked like upright ants, with guns. Finally he got to the top level of the huge, looming silver skyscraper. He found that several of the invader's ships had docked there.
Phzzzt. Phzzzt. Two dropships gone, falling victim to his intense plasma weapon.
Phzzzt. Three.
Four, Five.
He watched their plummeting remains burning with bright blue flames, the light from them reflecting off of the scyscraper and causing a kalidoscopic effect of blue flame falling.
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Mark saw a dozen black-armoured warriors rush in from an equally dark vehicle that had created the hole. The girl lay motionless on the floor. One of the invaders levelled a shotgun at Mark's head and fired. The shot ripped into his face, tearing and devouring. Mark screamed, his hands clutching his head. His face then emitted a dazzalingly bright blue light. Mark lowered his hands. He felt like nothing had happened, except for a small red bruise on his forehead. it glowed for a minute, then vanished. The soldiers, terrified, ran down the opposite hallway to him, and he gave chase. He clenched his fists, and blue auras surrounded them. He threw a ball of lightning at the nearest attacker, gathering the voltage from the power wires in the walls. The midnight armour turned blue and red for a moment, then the soldier screamed as thousands of volts of electricity poured into him. Several other atackers fell in this way, then a man appeared, clad in the same black armour but no helmet, instead having shoulder-length blonde hair, and a pale complexion. He was the man Andrew had killed once already.
"Dying" The man began, in an ordinary, cheerful tone, "Is somewhat of an inconvenience, don't you think? I was on my way up here once already and someone shot me! Ha! I really need to have a word with him, you know" He was walking toward Mark, carefully stepping over corpses as he went.
"Who are you?" Mark asked.
"I am the beginning and the end. Yes, yes, I am your life's end, and your pain's beginning!" The strange soldier laughed in a cheerful manner. "But, I know at least some etiqutte, so I shall comply with your final answer to this question: How would you like to be tortured? Ha ha!"
"I do not wish to" Mark replied. He launched a beam of light at the soldier. The man's left arm was vapourised.
The jolly enemy winced a little, then said:
"Bother. Losing a limb is so annoying! Why don't you stupid people just accept that I am in fact immortal? I've died before, many times, but I'm only going to keep coming back! Ha ha ha!" He raised his remaining hand and blasted a red energy at Mark. Mark countered the attack with a sustained beam of his own. Blue and Red met with terrifying force, shaking the skyscraper and producing an eerie purple glow throughout the grey, enclosed hall they were in. The madman kept his slightly dazed smile throughout.
Mark said, "You should know that I am stopping your assault with nought but a heartbeat. Can't you do any better, witch?"
"En garde, then, demon" The darkly-clad soldier replied. He multiplied the force of his attack tenfold, Mark increasing his defence to match him. This tug of war carried on for roughly a minute.
"I tire of this folly, warlock. I don't think you are even trying!" Mark shouted above the deafening roar of the fight; he enjoyed the battle.
"Ha! I do so enjoy a challenge!" His opponent shouted back.
The two fighters rose vertically up into the air, gaining speed, slicing effortlessly through floors as they went.
The power flying around enveloped them, the two locked in a wrestle of energy, the sphere of pure destructive force threatening to consume the city below. Mark then concentrated all his power into a single narrow beam. The projections from his enemy ceased, the colours clearing, revealing a half-foot wide hole in the madman's chest.
"Not again... I really must have a talk with my armourer" The warlock managed, before he died, again. His corpse melted and vanished as it fell groundward.
"Hey!" Mark heard looked around, then saw Andrew on his alien machine.
"How in the hell did you do that? And wasn't he that bastard I shot earlier?" Andrew asked.
"He said he had been killed already, warrior. He also said that he can reincarnate. The warlock and I fought, and I defeated him. You will not believe how powerful I have become" Mark replied.
"I can get a good idea, judging from what I just saw. How are you doing all of this?"
"I don't know. But I am more than any other human can ever be. I feel... stronger. Much stronger, and more in control than I was before"
"Just don't let that power get to your head"
Andrew followed Mark back into the building. They looked similar, both with untidy brown hair and a roman nose. In fact, they had few differences, only Andrew's face looked rougher, older, than Mark's, from all the years Andrew had spent in the Western Empire Army.
L88900P6 - Sol system paralell, current time: 12:57pm, GMT -5, Northern American continent
"Shit! Shit! Shit! Fall back!"
The three soldiers had encountered more terrorists. The attackers, like all the others they had encountered, were swathed in thick clothing, and had a cloth covering their mouths and noses. The strangest thing was no other American soldiers had arrived to take back the base, and even stranger was how no-one knew how the terrorists got so deep into American territory without being detected, and so heavily armed. The soldiers were retreating to their last-fall back position, a ditch on the edge of a cliff. Fettrun lay dead. They were becoming desperate. With Reed wounded and the group having little supplies, Nick didn't know how they were going to survive.
One of the the terrorists shouted something in a language Nick didn't recognise, and the enemy fire stopped. Reed, Nick and Alicia paused firing. The air hung still for a moment, then someone shouted:
"Drop you
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2 Wrongs don't make a right (but 3 lefts do).
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