Hello and welcome to the culmination of my time, I plan to continue this for the foreseeable future. It started off as a decision to join in on a round-robin type of story thread, strangely enough I grew fond of the story-line I had created and wanted to go solo. Constructive criticism is welcome; however, any malicious comments will be removed or ignored. Thanks for taking a look and I hope you enjoy the work of my brain-juices. *New bits will be put up on sundays when I get the time, follow me to get an alert when it gets dropped in here!* *Look down below, in my second post, for a few short 'mini-stories'!* *I will also be putting up extra spurts of additional chapters from time to time, follow me or the thread to stay updated!* *Hey, people, (looking at those 300+ views) if you like my work shoot me a reply or leave me a like! It helps me gauge interest and gives me a fuzzy feeling when people like my work, heck, even if you notice something small it helps!* *If you see spelling or grammar mistakes, say something! While I do search for mistakes when I move the chapters over to the forum I still find miniscule errors here and there. If you see something that doesn't seem right let me know!* Old Ghosts Chapter 1 *~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~* Lou's, Unknown location As I walked into the bar I noticed a few more faces than usual. I didn't think much of it and continued to the counter and took a seat at my normal place and waved over the barkeep. "What can I get ya?" he asked. "I'll take a rum and coke, Lou," I replied with an indifferent tone while I leaned forward, placed my elbows on the meticulous bar and brought my hands together in front of my mouth. "I know that look, and you always order that when something happens. Anything I should be concerned about? Like some angry aliens popping in to say 'hi'?" Lou asked as he reached under the counter to prepare my drink. "Lou, just because I-" I start but he cuts me off. "Spec, you've come to this place for five years. I think I know what kind of drinks you like when you're in that mood. Tell me, what happened?" He asked. As Lou mixes my drink and places the concoction onto the bar, I pick it up and take a swig. "It's about a woman," I start. "Hah! I knew it, what's she like?" Lou interrupts. "What was she like, you mean." Lou shut up and gave me a funny look. "Her name was Lily, Doctor Lily Carias, and she was a Floran. She hired me on as protection along with another guy, He called himself Chase. We were to protect her while she collected samples of plants on a hostile planet. It was going well until we were attacked. About ten men opened fire on us, we were able to hide in a cave and fend them off. However, Chase, the one person I didn't expect, turned and shot a single bolt, right through her heart. He then walked right out and left with the assailants. The doctor hired her own murderer." I took another swig as I let all of what I said sink in for Lou. "Then what happened?" he asked, obviously interested in my story. "I walked over to her and with her dying breath she handed me this-" I reached into one of the many pockets in my coat and produced a small cube, about an inch on each side, shiny like a ball bearing. "-and this" I put the cube away and brought out a small vial with metal stoppers on both ends, a gently blue glowing liquid oozing inside. I put it away and look back at Lou. "She told me I had to get it to somewhere, and that the cube would tell me where to go," I explained. "So are you going to do it?" "I don't even know how to work this thing." I picked up the glass and was about to take another swig, when suddenly the door burst open. A man dressed in full power armor, a energy pistol strapped to his leg, walked in. Flanking him were five other men, all in power suits, rifles at the ready. I turned my head forward, This wasn't the cleanest bar in the galaxy, they could be after anyone in here. A few Apex in the back stood up, the soldiers replied by aiming their weapons at them, and they smartly decided to sit back down. The man in front continued towards the bar. I decided that I'd help these guys if their quarry tried to run, maybe make a few pixels in gratitude. "Hello, Spectre," a familiar voice called out. A small shiver ran down my spine, I recognized the voice. I didn't know his name, but I knew his reputation. I took the final swig from the drink I was holding. "What do you want?" I asked the voice. He gave a small 'heh' and started, "You are under arrest by the order of the galactic senate, you will be detained and relieved of all of your possessions and taken for questioning." "On what grounds?" I ask. "The murder of a Doctor Carias." I stop for a moment, hardly believing what he said. I focus and turn my hooded head in his direction. "I did not kill Lily." I growled at him. "It doesn't matter, you are to be detained and processed, along with all of your possessions," He retorted. I look at him, noticing his armor didn't have any markings of the senate. Turning to Lou, I give him a small wink, which he returned. "Fine," I say. " I'll come with you, but I keep my stuff." "I can't let you do that, surrender your equipment, or we will have to take you by force," He replied, anger creeping into his voice. He was obviously tiring of my games. As I put my hands onto the bar to get up I take a quick look around, noticing the Apex crowd that tried to leave when the men crashed the party. I gave them a small nod which one of them returned and starting talking to his buddies. As I get up from the bar I gave myself a little stretch, my arms, neck and fingers all cracking loudly, covering for the knives I was shifting into place. I look to the leader, who was watching me with caution and a bit of fear. Good, they know how dangerous I am, Can't hurt to have a little fun. I think to myself. As I walk with him to the exit, I look towards him and start to disappear. "Bye." Chapter 2 *~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~* Popping back into existance, I took stock of my surroundings. That should give me a few minutes. I thought I started off along the corridor, it appeared to be one of the maintenance tunnels that ran through the station. Now to find a ship and get away from these people, they're obviously going to be watching the ship I came here on. Stopping at a hatch, I hit the cycler and leapt through. I found myself in a passage not far from the docks. Looking around turned up nothing, except the empty hallway. I stopped myself for a second, I leant on the wall next to me and let the wave of naseau roll through me. After a few minutes it subsided. Still not used to that. I thought as I shook the last bit of feeling off. As I started off down the hallway, I reached into my coat. I retrieved the cube and gave it a look over, trying to find some sort of opening or a way to activate it. I've never been the best with tech, and I prefer solid ground to hollow metal shells. After a few moments I noticed that I had a pursuer, I stowed the cube into one of my numerous pockets and started to speed up. The figure behind me matched my pace. I loosened a knife into my palm, took a deep breath and erased myself from existence. I silently appeared behind my follower, reached for their neck and put them into a choke hold while resting my dagger near their throat. "Why are you following me!?" I hissed In response all I received was gagging and choking so I loosened my grip. After a few coughs a female voice replied "Because I want to help!" "I don't need anyones' help" I shot back. "And how do you expect to leave? They already disabled your ship." "I'll find some way" I replied "You won't, not unless you can breathe in space!" She was right, and if she had a ship that was my ticket out of here. I let her go and returned my knife to it's sleeve "Do you have a name?" I asked her as she adjusted her hood. "Yes, Sapphire" "And you said you have a ship?" "Yes, and we might want to leave before they start watching all of the ports for your exit." She rubbed her neck and remarked "You really know how to treat a lady..." "Spectre's my name." "I can guess why, teleportation is pretty cool" "Short-range its useful, anything more than what I did now makes me lose my lunch, not something you want to do surrounded by enemies." "I bet not, now, let's hurry." She started off and I had no choice but to follow. We travelled through the winding corridors, not meeting a single soul. I noticed she was bringing us to the auxiliary port. As she was about to walk around a corner, the slight noise of marching boots hit my ears. I grabbed a handful of Sapphire's cloak and pulled her to the wall behind me, she made a noise in protest but I quickly shushed her by looking at her and putting my finger to my lips. She nodded her head under her hood. I peeked around the corner for a second and took a quick survey of the hangar then turned back to explain. "Two guards between us and your ship, I'm going to take them out, when I do you'll need to run and start it up." "How are you going to reach them?" I responded by reaching into a compartment in my jacket that was near the small of my back. After rummaging I produced a doubled up bent pole shaped object. I felt Sapphire looking out from under her hood with confusion. I adjusted my grip, flicked my wrist and the two halves snapped together with an audible click. I lowered it to the ground, pulled out a four foot long string with loops on the ends and strung it. "A bow!?" She practically yelled at me. "Yes, do you have a problem with that?" I said after I shushed her "Why don't you use a gun?" She asked a little quieter. "Because guns are loud, this is silent." I retorted. With a small hmph she let me continue. I reached back into my jacket and brought out two long arrows ending in white feathers. I placed one of them into a sling ready to take the first's at a moment's notice. I drew back the string back as I nocked the arrow. "Ready?" I whispered "Yes, go" Stepping around the corner I took aim at the man on the right and in one fluid motion: I let the arrow fly, strung the second, took aim and sent the second towards it's target. Chapter 3 *~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~* The second man barely had the time to gasp at the fall of the other guard as he received an arrow cleanly through his throat. They both fell within seconds of each other with echoed muffled thumps. As I returned my equipment to its proper place I turned to see two startlingly wide and blue eyes stared back at me. Sapphire had removed her hood and was staring at me with a look of complete shock. Her mouth was slightly agape at the feat I had just performed. Well, I think I know why she's called Sapphire, though I had no clue she was Floran. I thought to myself before refocusing on the situation. "Move! I told you to start the ship!" She shook her head, nodded and we both sprinted across the wide open hangar towards the ship. I stopped over the bodies for a second, while she continued. I leant down to retrieve the arrows, marveling for a second at my accuracy. As I removed the second arrow from the man's neck I noticed something peculiar on his throat. I grabbed the corpse's face and turned it around to see the back of it's neck. Clearly printed with shining black ink was a barcode. Clones, thats not a good sign. Sapphire reached the ship and darted inside as the ramp touched the floor. As I started off an alarm bursted to life, filling my ears with an intense wailing noise. I dashed to the ramp and jumped inside as it closed behind me. As I joined her in the cockpit she was hitting switches and buttons readying the craft for our escape. "Get us out of here, they'll be right behind us!" I told her "I'm trying as fast as I can, I didn't set it up for a quick start-up" She replied a tinge of fear hinting in her words. "They must of had bio-sensors in them, there's no other way they could have noticed that fast." "They were clones" "That explains that, but not why they were there in the first place." The engines hummed to life and the ship rose off the ground and flew through the shield and out into space, leaving Lou's behind along with the assailants. As we escaped I sat myself in the co-pilots chair and tried to make sense of it all. The mission, Lily's murder, my attempted arrest and their use of clones. It didn't make any sort of sense. I'm sure over the years I had made enemies, but none that would risk this much to have me killed. They could have easily shot me or rigged my ship, but they didn't. All of my thoughts led me back to the two small trinkets resting in my pockets. As it donned on me Sapphire slowed the ship and let it drift. "So, where to, boss?" She asked as she turned to me. "I don't know.." I stated flatly. A frown appeared on her face, with a twinge of anger. "What do you mean you don't know?" I looked away from her gaze and produced the metallic cube. "I was told this would show me the way." "Lemme see-" I opened up my palm and she snatched it from my grasp. She gave it a quick once over then pulled back her sleeve to show a softly glowing device strapped to her wrist and a bit up her arm. She slotted the cube into the machine and it beeped in recognition. As she let her fingers dance across the screen her eyes slowly started growing in surprise. All of a sudden she stopped. Her arms slumped to her sides in seemingly defeat. The resulting silence was deafening. The seconds led to minutes that felt like hours. "Saph-" I started "She's dead, isn't she?" She said as she cut me off. I sat for a few moments as my gaze centered on the floor. "Yes" I whispered, barely audible over the humming of the ship's engines. She turned to the controls without a sound, pressed a few buttons and the engines hummed loudly to life. She continued to push more buttons and an orange auto-pilot light flashed on the console. While she leaned over to her left she starting punching numbers into a keypad to her left. "Were jumping to FTL." She said in a finite and flat tone, the emotion barely contained in her words. She pushed another button and the stars started whizzing by. Sapphire raised herself from her chair without even glancing at me or saying a word. As she started off towards what I supposed was her bunk she stopped and said: "We'll be there in a while, make sure you're ready." She didn't even give me chance to respond before disappearing into the room, leaving me in complete silence. Chapter 4 *~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~* I sat there for a few moments, soaking in what had transpired. She must of known Lily personally to elicit a response like that. I put the thought to the back of my mind for the moment and started cleaning the arrows and took a look over my gear. After finishing I stowed away everything and pulled back my hood as I got up from the chair. I wandered over to her door. As I brought my hand up to knock, I heard the sound of her sobbing softly, I continued to reach for her door and knocked twice with my knuckles, the echoing sound resonated around the ship. I heard the sound of her moving around in her room. "What?" She responded with a small sob. "I'm sorry to interrupt, but where are we headed?" "Just give me a few minutes and I'll explain." I obliged and returned to my seat, as I did I removed a knife from its sheathe and balanced it on my finger. I heard the door whoosh quietly open and listened to her boots lightly move across the metal floor. Accompanying the noise was a small chorus of metallic taps. I turned to figure what the noise was and saw her walking over with a small basketball shaped silvery machine while she was flanked by a spider-like robot with four legs. "What the hell is that?" I said as I turned to her, knife ready to throw. "Oh, him? Thats just Galileo, hes my pet." She said while giving me a confused look. I recomposed myself and re-sheathed the knife. "As long as it doesn't attack me..." I said as I eyed it. "He's harmless, I disabled all of the systems that have anything to do with combat." She walked past me and placed the machine between us. Galileo stopped in front of my chair and regarded me for a moment, it's eyes made small whirring noises as they focused on me. After it had finished sizing me up it clanked its way behind Sapphire's chair and sat down. After a few seconds she looked up at me and explained: "This is a star map console, it reads them and displays them visually." She removed the cube from her wrist computer and placed it into the machine. "And the object you brought is a star map, a very old one that Lily made. Luckily she taught me how to read them." "About Lily..." I trailed off. She looked towards the floor and crossed her arms. "She was like a sister to me, She took me in and taught me everything I know." "Saph, I'm sorry." "It's not your fault." I winced inwardly as she said that. "Not directly." She looked into my eyes, I told her exactly what I told Lou what felt like days ago. "Like I said, it wasn't your fault." She said softly and pressed a button on the map reader. The room exploded with millions of small brilliant white, red, orange, and blue dots. After they had all settled I noticed my mouth was slightly open. "That really is something." I remarked. "Thats the universe, beautiful, but deadly." she said with a small smile. She reached for the machine and punched a few keys. Most of the stars separated and disappeared while a small system steadily zoomed into view. After a few more button presses the view centered on a spire with spinning rings going up and down the length of it. It appeared to be based on a very old human built station. "Been there before?" She asked me. "No, never." I replied "Why?" "No reason. Its weird, this place was the site of multiple nuclear strikes, why would she want to go here?" "I have no idea, how long ago was this picture taken?" "It should be pretty recent" "Maybe someone changed it?" "Possibly, but for what reason? To hide something?" "We won't know until we get there. Honestly, I was hoping for a planet." I remarked. She removed the cube and put the map reader in a compartment on the wall. "So whats your story? Someone as interesting as you must have one hell of a tale." She asked as she got comfortable in her seat. I gave a small sigh and started. "It all began on Earth, about twenty-odd years ago. This was around the time we created the first star ship that would be able to travel across galaxies. I had been retired from the military since the world was unified and decided to join the crew. While there had been a few other military based ships sent out, this was the largest and it was accepting civilians. I was hired on as a scout and special operative due to my skills. A few weeks before we were to depart, I was selected to take part in an experiment to make me a super soldier, which I refused. They decided I was too valuable to let go and they detained me regardless. They then proceeded to toy with my DNA like a kitten with string." Sapphire gave a low whistle "Thats quite an ordeal." "I haven't even gotten to the best part, after they made the changes they tested me like a lab rat. My body was more durable, I was faster, stronger and all around better than before. The strange thing is a week after they altered my genes I started performing worse. They took a sample and found that my DNA was reconstructing itself back into its previous form, save one strain that appeared out of nowhere." I scratched my chin and thought for a moment. "After that is a bit fuzzy, but I assume they took samples and sent me on my way. The day of the expedition the six hundred some people boarded the shuttles to ferry us to the starship, I can't remember it's name. As soon as we left the solar system we got a broadcast from Earth, the planet was gone, obliterated by some unknown force, along with every human that was living on it. The people left alive on the ship and the few scattered around the galaxy were the last of my kind." "Im sorry, it must have been hard." Sapphire said. "Yeah, it was. I still miss my family, luckily I was on the ship instead of strapped to a machine." "So when did you discover your ability?" She asked with a curious look in her eye. "I was sitting in Lou's, it was pretty empty. I imagined myself standing next to Lou, then suddenly I was there, that scared everyone involved, including myself." I gave a little chuckle. "Someone suggested trying to do it while touching another person. It worked, but the strain had us both rearranging the pattern of the tile with the contents of our stomachs." Sapphire gave a small disgusted face at that. "That day I learned a few things: don't teleport on a full stomach, and that its more like a muscle; it can be stretched and if pushed too far, it can hurt, a lot." "What does it feel like?" "It's much like how I expect death to be. Imagine walking through a freezer with no clothes on and frozen in place. The silence is really what unnerves me and Its almost if there is a pair of eyes watching me." "Sounds like fun." Sapphire remarked. "It has it's moments" "Yeah, I know, painful moments." She said as she rubbed her neck. "You can't blame me, you were following me pretty suspiciously." "My mistake, I'll make sure to not be so suspicious next time." She said with sarcasm dripping from her words. Chapter 5 *~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~* "Anyways, why are you so low-tech? You're the first person I've seen use a bow besides natives." "Technology has a funny habit of malfunctioning around me" I explained "My father had to get a prosthetic arm back when I was a kid. He showed it to me and it went haywire, mangling some of his arm. I just like to keep my distance. I almost forgot, my cryo-pod on the ship decided to wake me up in time to hear the broadcast about Earth." "I get it, I feel bad for you, this little thing-" She showed me her watch "-Is amazing, It can do practically anything, including reading that old star map of yours." "Speaking of which, how did you know what it was?" "Lily invented them, but she never had them mass-produced. I'm the only one with the way to read them now." "Interesting" I said "What?" "Nothing." I said flatly. Before she could respond the console beside her lit up and announced we were about to drop out of FTL. She swung her chair around and started reading the multiple dials and readouts. "Seems like sensors are picking up company." "When we drop out, go silent." Shortly after we left FTL she shut down all of the systems besides the life support. The first thing I noticed was the massive metal station that dominated our view and almost blocked the sun behind it. As our eyes adjusted I noticed dozens upon dozens of small bits of metal and other materials drifting around our ship and scattered around. "I'm going to bring the sensors online to scan for our friends." She whispered to me as she leant for the controls. "Wait." I had a feeling that we weren't alone. "What for? its a graveyard, theres nobody here." She was looking at me with confusion. I glanced at her then turned back to the window. "Look again" I said, while pointing outside of our craft. Barely noticeable among the debris was another ship. While it was surrounded by the rubble and chunks of metal it was almost completely invisible. "They're here to mop up survivors, no doubt, and to keep people like us from escaping." I explained as I was leaning back in my chair and crossing my arms. "Well, what do we do?" She sounded a little taken aback at my observation and lucky guess. "Since they haven't opened fire on us they probably haven't seen us yet." Sapphire leaned forward and grabbed a small glass rectangle from the dashboard. She brought it in front of her and hovered it over our friends. I could see from my seat that it was some sort of camera or imaging device. "It's a mini-scanner, undetectable by sensors." After a few moments she put it down and looked at me. "They're about to jump, as soon as they leave I'll get us online and we'll investigate." I gave a small nod, I turned back to the ship and watched it while leaning forward my elbows bracing my arms as they held up my face. They obviously didn't cause this with a ship that small. scavengers? or pirates? or something worse? whatever or whomever they are, we don't want to cross them. I sat still as they started up their engines and moved into position to jump. As they disappeared into the blue light, Sapphire let out a sigh of relief and started booting up the systems. "Any ideas why they were here?" "Not a clue, but they weren't here for a tea party." "What?" "Nothing, any signs of life on this hunk of metal?" She glanced into a small screen. "Only a few, the signal is faint, though." "Is there air?" "Seems to be, I don't know if there are breaches in it's hull." "Go ahead and dock us, one of them might know what happened." As the docking clamps clanked into place, I rose from my seat and started off towards the air lock. Sapphire was about to follow me but I waved her back into her chair. "I need you to stay here and watch for new ships." "But-" She was about to argue but I cut her off "And you're the only one who knows how to fly this bucket." She grumbled as she slumped into her seat. "Fine, but take this, It'll let us stay in touch." She handed me a small ear piece which I slipped into place. I started off again towards the air lock. As the seal hissed closed behind me Sapphire's voice sounded in my ear. "I'm going to open the door, be careful, I have no idea whats beyond it." "Right, go ahead." I pulled my hood back over my head, once again cloaking my face in darkness, and adjusted my gloves. As the air lock cycled, orange emergency lighting spilled into the small chamber accompanied by blaring alarms. Chapter 6 *~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~* A soothing but synthetic voice was repeating: "Warning, multiple hull breaches have been detected, containment cells six through eleven have been compromised, excercise extreme caution. Personnel are advised to board escape craft." I warily leaned in and peeked down the corridors, not a single soul was to be found down either of the orange washed grey monotone hallways. "It seems like the survivor is to your right." I started off down the empty hallway at a brisk jog. I was focused, ready for anything. While I was running Sapphire lead me to the survivor who was hopefully still alive. "The blip is just down the corridor to your left." I swung around, following the directions and could barely believe my eyes. There was a person lying against the wall, pointing a pistol at a mass of pitch black tar looking goo. I stood there, stock still, waiting for one of them to move. "Whats there?" Sapphire asked into my ear. I responded with silence, still watching the two forms for any sign of movement. After a few moments I worked up the courage to act, I silently crept up to the slumped figure. The pool's lack of visible depth was giving me a wierd vibe and I was sure it wasn't for nothing. As I knelt by the body I noticed a few things, they were breathing, and they were male and he was visibly unharmed. I reached out my arm and rested it on the person's shoulder. As soon as my hand brushed against him the pistol whipped around and stopped right in front of my forehead. I stiffened up and removed my hand and brought them up with my palms towards towards him, indicating that I was friendly. The man pushed the pistol through the darkness of my hood and pushed against my head. A small click sounded as he flipped off the safety. I slowly reached my hands back and removed my hood, revealing my face. The weapon slowly receeded from my face and returned to the black abyss. He put a finger to his helmet to indicate that we should be quiet. He must of noticed the look of confusion in my eyes so he turned his head to look at the bottomless pool. While he pointed to it a shrill whistle emanated from inside of his helmet. I turned to see the pool of black, flat moments before, now bubbling slightly. In a moment it subsided. Suddenly, a humanoid figure slowly rose from it's inky depths. My instincts took over and in one fluid motion my arm flipped out and swung a dagger at the figure, It passed cleanly through the creature and clinked against the metal wall behind it. The figure fell apart and reformed into the pool it was before. The knife I threw made no sound as it fell onto the ground beside the liquid. The stranger got to his feet and I followed suit. I slowly started off towards the passages that I came from. I had no intentions of staying anywhere near that thing. As my new companion and I walked back to the ship we noticed more and more of the pools. I put them to the back of my mind and sped up my pace. As we turned the last corridor before the air lock we both skidded to a stop. My companion gave a low whistle. The length of the corridor was cloaked in darkness, seemingly covered in the goo from before. "Persistant little buggers aren't they?" The man asked rhetorically. A few of the spots started to bubble in reaction to his comment. "You haven't had anything to eat recently, have you?" "No, why? Wait, what are you doing!?" He tried to back off as I grasped the front of his suit. The darkness in the corridor was writhing and I could barely make out a few figures starting to form. I strengthed my grip on his shirt and I took a step foward. The familiar feeling washed over me, chilling me to the bone. I took another step, willing us onto Sapphire's ship. Nothing happened. Something is very, very wrong. I tried to open my mouth, to call for help, but the entirety of my body was frozen. My vision was locked foward, forcing me to gaze into the darkness. After what felt like years the horizon started to brighten, transcending into a brilliant and just barely bearable psuedo-sunrise. A figure appeared from the light and seemed to walk towards me, I could tell by it's silhouette that its was a similar shape to the creatures we escaped only moment before. In a moment it appeared before me, I could feel it watching me even though it has no discernable eyes. It brought its dark and pulsating arm up. As it rested it's fingers towards my cheek I could feel sheer cold emanating from it. It was enough to send a chill up my spine. All of a sudden a single thought permeated my mind, overwhelming every single one of my thoughts. Us. Then everything went dark. Chapter 7 *~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~* I pushed myself upwards and gasped for air. My body felt numb, almost painfully. My eyes opened to a small and cramped room with a few beds and cabinets. A large red plus dominated the space above the closed door. I reached around my body, feeling for oddities, of which I found none. The only mementos left from my ordeal were the memories, the numbness that was starting to recede and the vague feeling of dread. I heard some noise and was battered from the side by a tight hug, "Spectre! You're alive!" Sapphire practically yelled as she buried her face into my shoulder. She recoiled a moment afterwards and shivered a bit. "You're freezing! I didn't know you could even live while being that cold!" "I-" My voice sounded hoarse and I noticed that my throat was dry. She handed me a glass of water which I gulped down. "I don't feel it, are you sure?" I replied. "Trust me, you're insanely cold, it's strange!" She gave me a small poke and rubbed her chin. "Strange..." She repeated as she walked around me. "So what happened? Aside from you knocking yourself out for sixteen hours?" I turned to respond and noticed the look of concern on her face shadowed by a twinge of inquisitiveness. I relayed the whole ordeal, she hung on my every word up until I told her what happened when I jumped. "And that's never happened before?" "No, never, there's always been a small pause, but nothing like that." "And those creatures, what were they like?" "Inky black and they pulsed and writhed like they were liquid, almost like shadows with a form." "Strange, I've never heard of anything like that. At least we don't have to worry about them anymore." "Right, so where is the guy I saved? Was he out like I was?" "Actually, you were the only one passed out. He was fine and he's on the bridge, waiting to introduce himself." I nodded and and turned my body to get up from the bed, as I did I noticed my body was sore all over as the numbness subsided. I pushed the feeling aside and followed Sapphire to the bridge. As the door slid into the ceiling I noticed someone sitting in the chair I had previously occupied. The only visible feature was an impressive tangle of curly brown hair blanketing the sides, top and back of his head. "Ah, my savior. It's great to finally meet you on better terms." He said as he raised himself from himself from the chair. His voice had an accent that was similar to a token British man. He turned and rushed over while extending his hand in greeting. As he walked over I sized him up, without his helmet he was incredibly less intimidating with his green impish eyes, prominent chin and strikingly sharp nose. His whole face seemed to grin, it was unnerving. When he closed the gap he reached to shake my hand. "Vernes the name, pleased to make your acquaintance, Spectre, and thank you for saving my life." I returned his offer and we shook hands, his grip was firm but not painfully tight. "I was stationed on that crate as a guard, had no idea what I was to be protecting until it was already too late. Then some pirates decided to crash the party, but decided to split when they got a good look at the dangers onboard. I wasn't so lucky and got stuck in the predicament you saved me from." He had a genuine smile on his face, happy that he could help. It unsettled me, but I shoved the feeling down. Sapphire walked past us and fired up the engines, she then rotated her chair, sat down and faced us. "Our next destination is a planet called Dalara, the only inhabitants are a few scattered Avian tribes." "Should be easy enough, I'd much rather be on a planet." I said with noticable relief. Vernes clapped me on the shoulder and chuckled. "What? Don't like space?" he said with humor in his voice. "Not particurarly, it lacks air." He ignored my stab and patted me on the shoulder again. "That it does, anyways what are we looking for?" "We have no idea, we're following clues left by Lily." Sapphire explained "Lily, eh? Hows the ol' gal handling? I haven't talked to her in ages, she went off in search of some medicine or other." "She's dead, killed by a mercenary that she hired." I said flatly while not looking at him. Vernes gave a small sigh. "The universe lost a great scholar and a beautiful woman." "It has" I agreed "Saph, do you know exactly what we're looking for?" "Actually, yes, a specific plant. It doesn't have a name, but I know what to look for." "How long until we get there?" I asked as I looked at her. "Just about an hour." She turned to the console and started up the warp drive. "So, Vernes, what can you do?" I asked him. "We'll I'm a crack shot..." He turned to me and continued "And I'm great with machines, I can fix practically anything, I was the unofficial handyman on the station." We moved around the ship, gearing up for our excursion. Sapphire decided to lock herself in her room as we wandered the ship. The inside felt like it was larger than it seemed from the outside. Vernes showed me how to use the 3d printer Sapphire had onboard. We copied one of my daggers, but it was dull and off balance, I was unimpressed and made a mental note to not rely on anything made this way. We made our way to the canteen and had a meal of 3d printed food, it was horribly bland but I forced it down. After all nourishment is nourishment. While we ate I brought Vernes up to speed. "So you say the creature spoke to you?" he asked in between chomps. "Yeah, but not with words, it spoke straight into my mind." I replied. "It's kind of strange that those things think that you're one of them." "What do you mean?" "Well, for one, you instantly travel, they don't. And you can't forget the fact that you aren't a liquid." I rubbed my chin, thinking back to the stand-off. "You may be right, but they are pretty similar to me, maybe they changed?" Vernes shrugged and finished off his food. The moment he finished, Sapphire burst into the room. "Spec, I found out about your friends on the Uninet." She sat down next to me and showed me a tablet with a picture very similar to the liquid men. Vernes leaned over to catch a glimpse. "Yeah, thats them, I won't forget how they look." Vernes said. "The site says they're an exctinct race that used to worship darkness." Sapphire started to explain. "That seem pretty backwards, but it fits" Vernes interrupted. Sapphire ignored him and continued. "They idolize the lack of light. A few of them were able to do what you can, Spectre, but a bit different. It says here that they were called 'Void Striders', they were sent to places to assassinate important targets and guard dignitaries and priests. They could also travel vast distances in moments." I let her finish then said "Well, I can't go quite that far." "No, but maybe you aren't fully them, you could of had your genes changed to be similar." "Well, at least I'm not making myself liquid." Sapphire was about retort but the ship alerted us it was about to leave FTL before she had a chance. We cleaned up and met her on the bridge. When we gathered we all stared in awe of the beautiful planet before us. "Makes you miss Earth, doesn't it? Vernes said without looking over to me. "Yeah..." I replied softly, remembering my family. The planet was mostly oceanic with a few large land masses. Even from this distance you could make out the massive forests blanketing the land interspersed with smaller grey building-like structures. "Are you guys ready?" We both replied with a yes and Sapphire continued. "There should be a few tribes of Avians on this planet, but be careful, I wouldn't bet on our trip going smoothly." "Come now, do you really think anything can beat us?" Vernes asked her as he gave me a small punch on the shoulder. "We do have a trump card after all." He said with a chuckle. I rolled my eyes and got ready to be beamed onto the planet. I hated the feeling it gave me, like my body was recovering from being numb, it felt nothing like when I did it myself. We touched down on a large stone dias that was covered in dozens of inscriptions. The humongous trees surrounded us, they seemed to reach for the sun as they swallowed all but a few thin shafts of light. They easily reached a thousand feet into the air with vines as think as my arm tangled everywhere. "Welcome the the jungle." Vernes said jokingly. Sapphire gave him a funny look and I pinched the bridge of my nose. She looked to me for an explanation. "It's a song..." I said, she shook her head and started walking off into the brush, Vernes on her trail, humming to himself the rest of the song. I let out a small sigh and followed my friends. Chapter 8 *~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~* The forest was completely silent except for the sighing of the wind as it flowed through the trees. I could feel dozens of eyes on us, my senses were on edge, we were being watched. I sped up to catch up to Sapphire and whispered to her. "We have company." "Where?" She asked. "Everywhere." "Great, thanks." She replied sarcastically. I ignored her and let Vernes know. "They may be friendly, don't show any sort of agression, it might tick them off." We continued walking for a while, but the feeling persisted. We stopped on my command and they both looked to me for an explanation. "I don't like this, if they were animals they would have attacked, and if they were human or something else they would have contacted us by now." I said in a hushed tone. "Well, how do we talk to them?" Sapphire whispered. "I don't know, let me try something." I took a few steps forward, to seperate myself from my friends, and stood completely still, letting my ears adjust to the silence. The sounds slowly started to become clearer, I was able to discern noises that I hadn't been able to before. I could hear the wind tickling the leaves and the bushes, the very slight groaning of the massive trees as they swayed, and in the distance I could hear a argument taking place with hushed tones. I was unable to make out any specific words from this distance, but I was able to form an aproximate location. From the voice I could tell they were about a hundred feet away from us, sitting in a bush, It was too far for me to jump and surprise them. I decided, after a few moments, that the best course of action would be to force them to play their hand. I took a deep breath and yelled out. "We mean you no harm, we only want to talk!" The quiet swallowed my words and left us waiting. A few seconds later I could hear the group arguing again, a few squawks were audible here and there. All of a sudden the brush about fifty feet away from us rustled and a figure was seemingly shoved out. It was a little shorter than Sapphire and clothed and deep brown leather adorned with dozens upon dozens of feathers of all shapes and sizes that were all shades of green. The effect was akin to camoflage. The Avian turned around and spoke fast in it's native tongue to it's friends in the bush, a single unintelligable word was the reply and the Avian turned to us, looking a bit defeated. "If you don't mean harm, why are you here?" The Avian locked his deep green eyes onto mine. "We are here because Lily sent us." I replied. "but-" Sapphire was about to interject, but I stopped her before she could say anything. A flicker of recognition went over the Avian's face. "You know her?" I asked. "Yes, she taught a few of us your tongue, now, what do you want of us?" Sapphire stepped forward "We're here because Lily wanted us to retrieve a particular flower." The young Avian gave a click of aknowledgement. "You must mean the-" He made a few unintelligable sounds that were similar to a cross between an eagle and a few other birds. "What did she call it..." He looked deep in thought for a few moments. "blood lotus, that was it!" He looked pleased with himself for a minute then his expression darkened. "Only the chieftain and the shamans may witness the lotus, you say you come on the behalf of her, but this is not proof enough." He gave a small signal to his friends in the bush and they emerged. They wore similar clothing to the translator but with more aggressive looks. The spears they carried menaced with jet black tips that looked similar to obsidian. As the trio marched us towards what was probably their home, they argued among themselves in their own language. I turned to the translator and asked him "What are you talking about." "The weather, how the hunting has been, and how they want to leave you, dead, for mentioning our sacred treasure." I gave him a look that would spoil the freshest of milk. He replied with a laugh that would put a crow to shame. Vernes laughed at my response and Sapphire rolled her eyes at the exchange and continued to scan the flora around us. The group decided to send one of the warriors ahead to announce out arrival. The whole situation had me on edge, I pulled Sapphire back, moving us out of ear shot. "Saph, I don't like this, it seems too easy." I whispered while watching around us. "You worry too much, you need to relax, it's not like anything can hurt us here." She sped up and returned to the group. I can't be the only one. I sighed and swallowed my instincts and rejoined the group. "So, where are we headed?" I said, trying to gather as much information as I could. "You will be presented to our chief, he will decide your fate." He seemed to hold his tongue, as if he wanted to say more but stopped himself. "And what is he like?" He turned to me with a suspicious look in his eyes. "Why the sudden curiosity?" He asked. I shrugged "No reason, I'm just wondering, honest." He made a noise I couldn't place and stopped before a wall of greenery, it seemed to stretch from the ground and disappear into the tops of the trees and outwards for miles until it disappeared into the shadows. The other Avian yelled in his own language towards the wall, moments later an echo replied. The ground rumbled and shook as the wall split and opened inwards. What we saw inside was breathtaking. Chapter 9 *~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~* Before us was a huge clearing, dotted with multiple stone brick buildings, the whole area was dominated by a gigantic square step pyramid. Among the buildings were dozens of Avians of all colors, sizes and ages, all working and playing. A small group of children was playing a game similar to hopscotch a little ways off. I glanced to my companions to see Sapphire snapping pictures left and right with a small device and Vernes was looking to me with a smile. After a few moments the translator pushed past us and turned to speak. "Welcome to our home! Come, you'll meet the chief." He led us through the village, stopping a few times to greet the curious children who decided to follow us all the way to the chief's hut. It was slightly bigger than the others and instead of a tanned, brown leather flap, it had a shiny black pelt as a door. Our guide held open the makeshift door and we entered. Inside was a small, round room with a large stone chair facing the entrance. Perched upon it was a single Avian, from his seat he eyed us with a look of apprehension that was over powered by relief. He was a little shorter than Sapphire and had a shimmering deep blue plumage. He spoke a few words in his tongue and gestured to the translator. "The feathers have fortold of your arrival. I know of what you seek and of how you will attain it." I stepped foward "Great, we'll be taking it now then, thanks." My retort was relayed and the chief shook his head. "It is the will of Kluex that you shall pass the trials, the prophecy has said so." he replied through the translator. "Prophecy? what are you talking about?" I questioned. "I cannot say, for it to come to be you must act without knowledge of the future." "Fine, I'll take the trial, let's get this over with." I sighed in defeat. "The trials will take place tommorow, tonight we feast in celebration of your arrival!" The chief clicked his tongue in dismissal and our guide led us out. I stopped him for a moment. "Do you have a name? I want to know who to ask for." "Yes, in your language my name is Daze of the moonlight, but you may call me Daze. They'll know who you mean if you say it." He replied. "Great, thanks, so what now?" "Well, tonight you'll be led to your rooms to clean up and change for the feast tonight and then prepared for the trials tommorow." Daze explained. As he left us in the care of a trio of Avian women, he looked back at me and said "Good luck, you will need it." I nodded in response and we split up, each following an Avian to our hut. After leading me into the building she gestured to a set of clothes and a bowl full of water, indicating I was to freshen up and change. I nodded and she left me to my thoughts. As I removed my coat, I thought back to what the chief had said, that I wasn't supposed to know what would happen for it to happen. He does have a point, I thought, If I knew I was about to die, I'd try to stop it, or if I was going to do something I'd be stuck wondering how. I gave a small shrug and continued changing. They were surprisingly soft and comfortable, probably made from some plant fiber. Though they felt nice, the short sleeves would make it impossible to smuggle in my arm knife-feeders, so I settled for strapping a blade and it's sheathe to my back, under the shirt. Not the best, but it'll have to do. I stashed my gear under the bed and splashed some water on my face, wiped it off and stepped outside. I was greeted with the sight of dozens of Avians of all ages, genders, colors and sizes all rushing to prepare for the festivity. An Avian noticed me stading there and rushed to greet me. "I'm to tell you you that you can freely wander our village, the feast will be after dark." I looked up a noticed that by the dimming light I had about twenty minutes. I turned back to the Avian and said my thanks, he hurried of to help prepare. A glance around didn't tell me much about the village. I decided to go to the top of the pyramid. Two steps and I was there, surveying the land. I looked back to where I was a moment ago, a few villagers were shocked at my disappearance. I yelled and a few of them looked up, they waved and cheered, but quickly returned to their work. As I observed the Avians going about their business I noticed a figure leave a hut. I took a step off the ledge and appeared next to her. "You look great in that dress, Saph." I said with a smile as she started at my sudden presence. "Jeez, do you really have to do that?" She said with annoyance. "No, but it's fun." I replied with a laugh. She crossed her arms with a 'humph'. "C'mon lighten up, things are finally going our way." "For now, but we have no idea what you'll have to do." She said as her face shadowed with concern. "Don't worry, I can take anything they throw at me." I could see she wasn't convinced, so I gently grabbed her shoulder. "I'll be fine, we'll get the flower and then we'll search for the next location." "I guess..." As she said this Daze called out and joined the two of us. "The feast will begin in a moment, follow me to the table." He led us through and around the huts and into a large clearing, filled with tons of Avians, either sitting at the long table, milling about , moving baskets piled with a variety of foods or setting up a set of huge drums. They were all chatting with each other in their own language, creating a beautiful cacophony of noises that seemed to resonate within my ears. As we entered the clearing the group let out a simultaneous cheer then went back to their work. We were led to a pair of logs that were similar to the others used by all of the others. We sat down and Daze went off to go help. I leaned over to Saph and whispered into her ear "Did you see Vernes?" She turned and replied "No, we were all led to seperate huts, I didn't see where he went." I turned to the Avian next to me "We came here with a third person, where is he?" His response was a cascade of words and sounds I couldn't understand. That isn't reassuring. I turned back to Sapphire and was about to speak when a booming horn went off, drowning all of the noise from the village. The chief appeared from his hut and strided gracefully over to the extravagantly decorated throne. He started speaking over the dead silence, small cheers rose up every so often whenever he paused for a moment. He then spoke for a while, his tone slowly getting more and more serious and then he gestured to us, the cheer that resulted put all of the others to shame. All we could do in response is sit sheepishly and watch. After a few minutes the chief shushed them and seemed to announce that feast. The food wasn't half bad, definitely better than the 3d printed food I had a while ago. There was an animal that tasted like chicken, but wasn't a bird, a fruit that had the taste of an apple but looked like a tomato. We filled up on all of the different delicacies. Daze reappeared and led us on a walk to digest. "So, what did he say?" "He did say a lot, anything specific?" "Yeah, when he motioned to us, everyone cheered, what was he saying?" I asked "He was telling the tribe about what you are and what you're going to do." "And what is that?" "I can't tell you, you'll have to find out yourself." "Well, where is our friend then?" "He said he wanted to be alone so he is. Now, here are your quarters, make sure you have a good rest for tommorow, you'll need it." He turned to Sapphire "If you'll follow me I'll lead you to your place." She nodded and waved to me as they walked off. I entered the hut, it was the same one that I had changed clothes in, my gear was still under the bed. I walked over to it and collapsed onto it's soft and comfortable sheets. I wonder what the trials have in store for me. I thought as I drifted into unconciousness. Chapter 10 *~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~* My dreamless sleep was broken by an Avian child who was sent to gather me. As I got up she pelted me with questions of where I was from and who I was. I politely answered all of her seemingly unending queries. In a pause, while she was thinking of another question, I asked "Where is Daze?" she looked to me "Oh, my dad? He's with the chief " She looked deep in thought for a moment. "how old are you?" I reached over and ruffled her head-feathers. "I'm twenty nine." "You're so old!" She exclaimed with wonder. "Okay, go ahead and wait outside, it won't take me too long." She skipped out of the hut and I started changing. I retrieved my equipment from under the bed and laid it on top of the sheets. Among the covers was a multitude of useful objects and items, namely my bow, an array of knives, a medical kit, an old rebreather and my armor. I started changing into my favored clothing; black camo fatigues, still relatively clean. Next came my chest armor, it's modifications made it extremely lightweight but still protective enough to stop anything I needed it to. Then came my bracers with thier built in knife feeding system. Over everything came my trenchcoat like jacket, it's multitude of hidden pockets and compartments containing many hidden weapons and tools. My hood stayed down, I had no need for it here. Satisfied with my attire, I turned to leave. The door flap was pushed aside as I headed out into the bright and early morning. The chief as well as Daze and his daughter greeted me. "Let's begin, we'll show you where the entrance is, beyond that you will be on your own." Daze explained. We were all surprised when Sapphire dashed up and wrapped me in a hug. "This will let me help you" She whispered into my ear as she slyly handed me a small sphere. I deftly palmed it and it disappeared into one of my many pockets. She held me at arms-length for a moment before breaking off and running back to her hut. I turned back to the group like nothing happened. "Let's go." We walked to the entrance of the temple in the center of the town, I could feel dozens of eyes watching me from everywhere. They dragged the slab covering the opening and I walked in. I shivered in response to the shadows swallowing me. The stone slammed shut, leaving me alone with the darkness and the swiftly fading echoes. I pulled the silvery sphere out from the pocket I had stashed it and held it out in front of me. It seemed to notice the change in scenery and unfurled and transformed into a small quad-prop hovercraft. It's light flicked on and bathed the area in light. "Need a light?" a familiar voice rang in my ear. "I'm glad you thought ahead for me." I replied. "Thank you, thank you. " I could imagine her taking mock bows. "Focus, I have a feeling that I'm not the only thing in here." Sapphire spun the light around, lighting each part of the cavernous room in turn. "Looks clear-" she turned the beam to a staircase leading down from the area. "-Only one way to go..." I started off towards the passage. Besides my muted footfalls and the mechanical gizmo's whirring, the temple was deathly silent. We reached the bottom of the stairs, our path was blocked by a wall of darkness, unpenetrable even by the craft's intense beam. She tried to fly it through, instead of passing into the surface, the machine bounced off. "Son of a-" She tried again with the same result. "Spectre, can you get through?" I reached my hand to towards the obstruction, it was emanating a bit of heat and hummed with energy. It swallowed my hand up to the wrist, I sat there for a moment, amazed at how I was able to reach into it while Sapphire's machine could not. Amazement quickly morphed into fear as I felt a tug, weak at first, then I was yanked off of my feet. "Spectre!" She yelled into my ear as the shadows swallowed me whole. *~*
One-offs *~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~* These are smaller stories that I can't be bothered to create separate threads for. Heres a mini story I have in the works, read it and tell me what you think! By the way its not Starbound based. A long time ago, back before most of the creatures that had plagued the land were slain, adventurers would roam, far and wide for treasure and excitem- "We heard this one already!" A small voice piqued. The man furrowed his brow and opened his eyes. He brought himself to the present and found that he was surrounded by a few more children than moments ago. They were all watching him expectantly for him to continue his story. The man let his gaze wander, looking for the perpetrator. A few moments later he found the culprit, a young boy of maybe ten or twelve. The storyteller's frown subsided and it quickly formed into a warm smile. He subtly brushed his hand against the plain wooden staff leaning on the gnarled log on which he was resting and drew from it some of it's innate power. He savored the feeling of the current and released it through a deep and rolling chuckle, shaking the immediate area while the leaves of the trees resonated with the sound. The children were delighted with the trick and laughed and pointed at the trees. The boy that had challenged the man still glared at him with a smug look plastered on his face. The man regarded him for a moment, as if to think of what to say, then when he leaned forward he responded in his deep voice: "What makes you think some stories don't start the same way, boy?" The child looked him squarely in the eye and replied: "Because you always tell the same story about the warrior that defeated the lich!" "Do I? It's hard for an old man like me to remember the tales that he has spun, and you have to remember, you aren't the only children I tell my stories to." The storyteller adjusted himself on his log as he thought of another chronicle to tell. As he was about to speak he noticed a figure cloaked in the shade of the trees. "It seems like my time is up." A chorus of protests rose, but he quickly shushed them and replied "How about I give each of you a dragon egg?" They were a small enchantment on a precious stone that mimiced a young dragon for almost a week before fizzing out. They clamored for the small multicolored gems. As the children filed out of the clearing the man turned his attention to the silent watcher. "You do know you can just walk over here, I'm sure the children wouldn't of minded." He said jokingly. The visitor joined the man under the slowly dimming light that was filtered through the trees. "I'd rather not have them telling thier parents about my visit." A female voice replied. "You forget how the people of this town react to my kind, Talynth." "I suppose you are right..." He responded. "So, what brings you so far east?" She sat down on a stump next to him and removed her hood, revealing a tangle of jet black hair, deep green eyes and a pair of sharply tipped ears. "I assure you, it isn't for anything good." She sighed as she put the leather into a small pouch on her hip. "I tracked and defeated some risen skeletons a few miles from the town, they weren't anything like the remnants." Talynth rubbed his graying beard in thought. "This is troubling..." As he said this a young man walked into the clearing, arms piled high with an assortment of supplies and packages that prevented him from seeing straight. "Tal, I got everything you asked." He stated proudly. Talynth looked over the multitude of flasks, packages and bags. "It seems like you did. Forgive my manners, Salyn, this is Taden, my apprentice. Taden, this is Salyn, my niece." Taden placed the objects onto the grass. "Nice to me-" He froze as he looked up and saw the woman. "Your a-" He tried to say but couldn't find the words. "Talynth, if hes going to seize up when he sees a beautiful woman, how is he going to survive?" Salyn said jokingly. "It's not that, you aren't human!" Taden replied. "You haven't told him?" She said to Talynth. "I was getting to that, I decided to train him in the discipline before I told him of the other races, I didn't want him to be overwhelmed." Talynth said. "There are other smarts besides the one gained from books, how do expect him to live?" Salyn retorted. "How many races are there then?" Taden asked him. "Dozens upon dozens." Taden's expression changed, showing the pain he felt at his betrayal. "Anything else not important enough to tell me?" "Oh don't you start with me, I know whats best. Besides, you'll be happy to know we're going on a trip." Taden's face brightened considerably at the news. "I'm finally going to leave this place!" He almost jumped with excitement. "Not until you put away the supplies and give the town leader a message." Talynth thought for a moment. "Tell him that we will be hunting remnants in the area and to stay alert for any trouble that may happen." Taden nodded in response. "Here, and make sure everything is put away nice and neat, you know what happened last time." Talynth handed the boy a small brown leather pouch, secured with a strip of leather near the top. "You still have that thing?" Salyn asked. "Yes, and it still saves me a fortune." Taden walked a bit away from the duo and placed it on the ground. He said a few words, undecipherable in english but they sounded like a short melody. The pouch reacted and in a puff of smoke the outline of it stretched and refomed into a formidable and solid looking redwood door, ornate designs and a brass knocker in the shape of a lion's head adorned it's surface. Taden stood, frozen, admiring the door. "Well go on! We don't have all day!." Talynth reminded him. He snapped out of his stupor and began ferrying the containers into the pocket dimension. "Dimensional rifts make me itchy." Salyn remarked. Talynth chuckled "Your father said the same thing." So yeah, another side-story, a bit of a random idea I had. The first sentence is one that I thought randomly and decided, hey, that sounds cool! Enjoy! *This one IS starbound related!* *DISCLAIMER* There are a few graphically violent scenes and words in this work, please use discretion when reading, thanks! It's not every day you can say that you've pissed off a god. It's definitely going to be the last... Of my days that is, as I lay here, bleeding out from this spear lodged in my gut. I start thinking back to what I had done to deserve this horrible fate. It was only few days ago that we were stationed on this godforsaken planet to protect the valuable 'assets' that had been discovered. I was a part of a team hired to clear out the locals of the various temples and buildings that they held in reverence. I was against this from the start but I needed the money, I was down to my last couple hundred pixels. My partner, A middle-aged kleptomaniac with an eye for the valuable, decided to drag me along into a temple that he had found. As we broke the seal on the entrance I could almost hear the whispers of the long dead inhabitants that rested inside. He pushed ahead of me, not wasting a second on trivial things like patience. We clicked on our flashlights and threw light around the dusty tomb. As I spun around, taking in the cavernous room, the towering statues and the meticulous carvings, he walked on ahead, intent on finding loot. When I was inspecting one of the detailed statues that seemed to breathe I hear a booming clunk. I turned my flashlight over to my friend and saw him frozen in place, a look of horror plastered on his face as he realized he stepped on a pressure plate. After a few moments the echoes subsided and he visibly relaxed. "Maybe it's a dud?" He said with a small, nervous laugh. No such luck. Gears, long since rusted and caked with grime, dust and earth, groaned as they activated the long forgotten trap. A large stone dropped from over the entrance and slammed down,stopping our escape and sealing our doom. The clanking gears, not satisfied with just that continued to groan and spin. A pedestal slowly appeared from the ground in front of my partner, it appeared to have a small device on it. He noticed it and reached for it, still motivated by his greed. I could barely see it from my position, but a cylinder popped from the top about an inch out then quickly disappeared back inside, the result was a brilliant wave of blue light that emanated from the machine. As the light from the blast started to die down we noticed it hadn't done anything visible to us. Our flashlights were not as fortunate, they were fried and unable to emit light. When the blue tinted glow faded we were left in complete and utter darkness and silence, the machine, content with it's work had stopped. I grasped for my tool pouch on my belt and removed one of the flares that I had luckily brought with me. I twisted the cap off and the flare bursted into blinding red-orange light. After my eyes had adjusted to the change I walked over to my partner. "What now?" He asked me. I waved my hand at him to be quiet as a noise sounded from what seemed like deeper in the tomb. As I focused on it I noticed that it was similar to heavy marching. It didn't sound to close, but I didn't like our odds for it to be a coincidence. "Get your weapon ready, we're not alone down here" I said to him as I readied my rifle. He followed my example and unlimbered his trusty shotgun he lovingly dubbed 'Widow-maker'. I knew that the flare I was holding would give our position away, but I didn't care, I'd rather see our assailants. The pounding built up to a crescendo, it sounded like it was in the very room that we were cowering in. Then all of a sudden it stopped, silence once again reigned supreme. A few moments passed in the darkness, time seemed to stand still. "Do you think it ran off?" I shushed him as he spoke, willing the echo to not travel to our company. A loud grinding sound resonated within the chamber as the wall that was only a few feet in front of us receded into the ceiling. A figure stood in the opening, barely discernible features peeked out from the darkness. A light bursted on from above the creature and bathed it in white light. The creature was covered in a shimmering, golden metal that was carved in the form of an Avian, it's arms ended in hands with claws that seemed to disappear into razor sharp points. Whatever this thing is it didn't want to give us a hug. As it regarded us it's beak-like mouth gaped open and ear rending screeches echoed forth, leaving our ears ringing. As suddenly as the noises started they stopped, once again leaving the room in a just as painful quiet. As if noticing we hadn't understood it it spoke in english in a booming tone that shook the foundations of the tomb. "Who dares to trespass into the temple of the Sun God?" It waited for a response, clicking its tongue in impatience. "I do, you fucking bird!" My partner cocked his shotgun and fired a shot into the Avian's chest. The pellets appeared to slow down and were absorbed into the creature's armor, leaving no trace that he had even taken fire. He stood there with a look of confusion on his face, his shotgun limply in his hand. The golden Avian held out a hand towards him. "Shi-" He made a movement as if to run, but was stopped as all of the bones in his body simultaneously cracked in unison, his body fell limp to the floor. The Avian turned to me and spoke in the same deep voice. "Do you wish to face the same fate as that one?" I shook my head and dropped my rifle onto the ground, intent on living through this ordeal. "Regardless, you have attempted to pilfer sanctified relics and your sentence shall be the same." It walked over to one of the stone statues and removed it's spear. "The balance must be kept, this you must know." It said as it threw the spear at me. The head pierced my side and opened up a gash as it knocked me to the floor. The Avian was gone before my body hit the dust. And that brings us full circle, back to my predicament... and my untimely death. The ground is sufficiently painted with my blood, enough that I should have passed out long ago. I shouldn't have followed him into this place, but I couldn't pass up a chance to change my luck, unfortunately it wasn't for the better.
Yeah, I plan on extrapolating about his skills later, walls of text as life stories feel.. out of place. And thanks!
I really liked the story. I am looking forward to future 'chapters' I guess thats the correct term, though there was one thing i didnt like (although its very minor and im just crazy about archery) the correct term is "nocked" not "notched" Sorry its a pet peeve of mine.
Thanks for the feedback, hmm, I'm sorry about the mistake. The only archery that I did was in the Boy Scouts. And thank you for the support and stay tuned for new chapters on sundays, I write it up in paper form and type it up for here *edit* Fixed the notched/nocked in the OP, thanks for the help!
Chapter three is up! Enjoy! (using this as a bump because I don't think edits bump or show on peoples' alerts!)
commas for one. nah I kid But yeah, this is the part where it gets a bit more backstory driven, where we learn a bit more about who Spectre is. Because right now all we, well you guys, know is that hes a mercenary, he uses old tech and he can physically relocate himself. Don't worry though, It'll pick up soon enough, with action and suspense! Stay tuned!
I dont always need supsense im sotrting that on my story i need to calmdown with action i havent ever described the main guy due to a mega fight :/
Sorry about the delay people, I've been busy with college classes and finals are just around the corner. I promise I'll do a triple length update when I have the time! I've already written about 18 more pages on paper to type up! Don't worry I'll make it up to you guys!
Suddenly Chapter 5 mysteriously appears in the middle of the night! DUH DUH DUUUUUUH (As always, enjoy!)
What is this? A new chapter on a Thursday? Nope, definitely not. Nothing to see here people, keep moving! (As always, enjoy!)
Today's chapter is brought to you by the letter V! Want to know why? You'll just have to read! (As always, enjoy!)
once i started reading this story i couldnt put it down. It was on a monitor though so i didn't really pick it up in the first place but my point is its awesome, just keep doing what you're doing fine sir!
Thank you! It really gives me a fuzzy feeling inside when my work is appreciated! You have no idea what it feels like when someone thinks what you do is awesome!
Well, too bad they didn't know that I feed on compliments! They are the life-blood of my drive and determination, my motivation, so to speak. I do it all for you guys, y'know!
Hey guys, instead of a main story update I worked on a bit of a deviant mini-story instead. It started as a single sentence then evolved into what I like to think is pretty good! (As always, enjoy!)
