“This expedition of yours sounds crazy, Theo, how much do you think it will cost?”
“Well, the board already rejected my proposition for a full scale expedition. However, we both could provide the funds for a smaller one.”
“And how much would I have to contribute?”
“About ten DecGP…”
“Theo, that’s almost half of my total saving. “
“It’s a worthwhile expedition, Julia, the new discoveries we will make will outweigh the costs. I’m putting everything I have of value into it, even my house.”
“But Theo, this is the Asya Mountain range we are making our expedition to. It’d been explored multiple times already and no new vaults have been found. You’re going to go all in for that?”
“It’s not a vault I’m looking for, the vaults only hold secondhand information on Alchemy. The information on Alchemy other corporations gather from them does not further our knowledge on Alchemic sequencing, but rather just give us sequences to slap onto things without knowing the inner workings.”
“So what are you going to be searching for?”
“I’ve been reading books about the local mythology of the area. You do know of the Guardians, correct?”
“Yes, the ancient missionaries.”
“Well, there seems to be many sightings of them around the Asya Mountain Range and these sightings have been going on for millennia according to the folk lore.”
“What are you suggesting?”
“I’m suggesting that there is Guardian base hidden in the mountains and if we could find it we could possibly learn how to formulate our own sequences there.”
“So what’s your plan on getting to this hidden base? The Guardians are often seen flying. What if the only entrance to their base is on the side of a cliff?”
“Based on what I have read, there aren’t many holes in the sides of the Asya Mountains, and the ones that have been discovered have already been explored for vaults. I have a feeling that the entrance to their base is hidden in the deep forests, under the cover of the canopy.”
“So what’s your plan on getting there? Hiring explorers with the expertise of treasure hunting often is what costs corporations the most.”
“I will go by myself, since I know what to look for, saving the cost of employing the treasure hunter. I’ve also made a possible arrangement with Sword Master Horace Smith to be the security head. When there, I can hire local mercenaries to bulk up my security some more. I could also hire a local translator and physician, possibly a shaman. Hiring locally will get us a cheap alternative with the experience of multiple expeditions.”
“Quite a plan, Theo, how did you get Horace to come?”
“He’s no longer in his prime. He told me that this will serve as a last adventure before he would retire his sword.”
“Your plan sounds risky, however the corporations that I had invested in never gave me the option of going along with their expeditions. I’ll put my money toward your cause if and only if you let me tag along.”
“You’re going to come along-” He pauses in thought. “It might be easy to incorporate you into it the expedition, let me see…” He goes back into thought seeing how he could fit her in.
“You can figure out how to work me into the schedule another time Theo, tell me how we will get there
“Oh right, I think I can get us an airship to take up there within a month. Once again I’d like to let you know how grateful I am that you are actually sponsoring this expedition. I didn’t expect you to.”
“Don’t mention it. You better make this an exciting adventure Theo.”
“I hope it just goes according to plan.”
“So, there are twelve different species, or races, that live on two different planets?”
“Actually there are more, but the twelve are the base races that have many sub-races within them. There are alsoraces that aren’t connected to the base twelve. But those usually live in the deep wilderness.” said the Ursin as they walked along the dirt path that led to a settlement in the distance.
“Now how do you know that there are multiple planets?”
“We do have telescopes, you know, we aren’t as advanced as this Earth you described, but our combined skills in astronomy and alchemy can still create very power telescopes. Besides, we really didn’t need telescopes to know that this was a biplanar system. We did have the warp gates connecting the worlds.”
“Yes, until the destruction of the rifts inside the gates that you told me about. It makes me wonder if we can use these warp gates to get me back to Earth.”
“No one knows how to control the gates, not even the guardians. What we know about the gates is that they can displace matter without actually moving the matter across space.”
“By what you have told me about alchemy, anything can be done.”
“Not creating portals, it goes against how the universe works.”
“You said that most of the alchemic knowledge gathered is found within vaults. Perhaps there is a vault with a sequence to create portals. Perhaps these guardians you tell me the whereabouts of one of these vaults.”
“The guardians had no play in the making of the vaults. They were created by an empire millennia ago.”
“But you said that the guardians trained you in alchemy. You also said that the guardians kept you to a strict code of secrecy about the alchemy they taught you. Maybe they kept some secrets from you.”
“They taught me the workings of the universe, since it is intertwined with alchemy, and based on what they taught me there is no possible way for a portal to exist.”
“Yet the warp gates existed. Obviously there must be a way.”
“They didn’t know how the warp gates worked, though.”
“When you were there, did you even question people about how they worked?”
“No, I tried not to ask questions since they trained me with other guardians and I was obviously out of place.”
“If we go back, we might be able to find out how we can get me home!”
“Aeneas, the guardians live in the mountains in the deep wilderness. You obviously have no experience in the outdoors. You won’t be able to make the trip and I can’t afford to leave you alone at one of these settlements. You most likely will get captured again and I don’t feel like negotiating with bandits anymore.”
“You call destroying an entire fort negotiating? Why did you free me, anyway?”
“I felt bad about leaving you alone in the forest. So I looked around for you until a Lupin told me you were kidnapped by bandits.”
“Well I’m glad you did. I didn’t know what they would do with me when they realized I couldn’t be held for ransom.”
“They would of sold you to a slaver, get at least some value out of you.”
“That would have been bad… So about the guardians, will you take me to them? It would be our best bet at seeing how I could get home.”
“If we are going to see what they know, then I am going alone. It would be dangerous for you to go without more protection than just myself. I will try to find you someone I can truct to leave you with so I can go.”
“Fine,” said Aeneas with a bit of frustration in his voice.
Within a few hours the sun, known as the star Lucifer, was high in the sky when they reached the settlement. Olelia was mostly a frontier boom town, featuring log cabins and canvas tents. Most of the settlement’s residents were hunters, making it one of the most prominent trading posts in area. As they were walking through the main road, a Lupin approached them from his position of sitting against the side of a log cabin, his attention directed towards Kam.
“Excuse me mam, you don’t happen to be a physician or healer, are you?” asked the Lupin.
“What do you want?” She said stopping in her tracks, Aeneas following. “If you need me to cure a measly illness that your mother or sister has, then I can’t help you.”
“I am looking for a physician for an expedition into the wilds. I have heard that almost all Ursin are great with medicines.”
“No thanks. I’m not going to waste my time overseeing a rich man’s vacation into the wild.” She starts walking away from the Lupin with Aeneas following behind. The Lupin, not giving up on this opportunity, follows after her.
“It’s not a vacation, but an expedition for discovery! Did I mention that there would be good payment in it for you?
“I don’t care about payment.” She says not even looking at the Lupin.
“We will be traveling near the Asya Mountains. I’ve heard they have beautiful scenes.”
Aeneas juts in, “Kam, wait.” Kamellia stops and turns to Aeneas. “Could you give us one second of secrecy, sir?”
“Sure, no problem.” The Lupin backs away far enough to let Aeneas and Kam whisper without being heard by him.
“He says he’s going to the Asya Mountains. That’s where you trained with the Guardians, right?” Aeneas whispered.
“Yes…”
“Well, we could go with him to the mountains and while there we could meet up with the Guardians.”
“I don’t know if we can trust him. Most expeditions I see are usually led by men not so… er… scrawny and weak as this one. It would be a waste of our time if he was to wimp out halfway and turn back.”
“It may be our only chance of learning how to get me home.”
“I’ll see if he is legitimate about this and then we’ll decide.” She then called him back. “I’m still uncertain on a few more things. How large will your expedition be and how do you plan to go through with it?”
“We’re going to have a total of ten coming with up, including yourself if you were to come. I have already three mercenaries, an able scout, a rather learned translator, a master swords man, my sponsor, my sponser’s butler, and myself. We will travel along an already establish route used by previous expeditions, therefore not being risky since we only have a small group.” responded the Lupin.
“I see that you are deviating from the regular expeditions I see. However, just taking a group of random individuals into the wilds doesn’t guarantee success. Pardon me but you look like a civilized prick from overseas who thinks that the east is just some kind of playground.“
“Mam, I’ve invested all my worth into this expedition, my sponsor also paid a hefty sum of the expeditions costs which means she will make me pull through on my promises even to my death.”
“Hmm, you sold me on coming then. However, I’m bringing along this little Human I have with me, no exceptions.”
“No problem mam, he shouldn’t be much of a hassle to add onto the group. We won’t supply him any of our rations. You will be paid 5 GPs for your assistance and this could go towards supporting the Human. We will be starting our expedition two days from now. Could I have your word that you will come?”
“You have my word. However to make things easier just buy extra rations with my pay, I wouldn’t use the money anyway.”
“I could arrange that, mam.” He held out his hand to shake her hand. She just stared at him causing him to withdraw his hand after a few awkward seconds. “Glad to see you coming aboard.” He turned around and walked off.
Law System 782333565(∞); Multiverse p3514903981742(∞); Universe v579246624037500(∞); Galaxy Maelstrom; System Lucifer-Belinda; Satellites Daichi-Daiki (Time Verse dr1579751047110[~]); Continent Daiki: Concenterra ; Governmental Body None; Organism Animalia Mammalia Carnivora Ursidae Homo Sapie; Age dr1184960; Social Title Uorlris Shadowmaw. STATUS: Purgatory
As the large door slid open without a sound, the light from behind cast a slowly spreading beam upon what seemed to be a smooth stone floor. A single body was sitting barely out of reach of the light when a form appeared at the door’s opening. The form walked over the Ursin who remained still, staring into the floor which he sat on.
The Figure at the door then spoke, “God, Immortal… That is what they your people called us, Uorlris, our body is truly immortal. We have stayed alive for three thousand years within this chamber. Well, being alive is what we could have hoped, our mind didn’t know if this eternal chamber was death.” The figure seemed to stare at the Ursin who was still sitting on the floor, staring downward. “Our mirror has been away from the world for so long, so far away from reality. All we had was this darkness. What a hell it must have been at the beginning. But I know we had realized we were not here for a punishment, our mirror had been kept from the dirt of the finite realm.”
“We finally got the door open I suppose? “
“Yes, we could have gotten this door opened much quicker if this mud I found was in better condition to get up here.” The figure then collapses to the ground. “Let’s get on with the mission. We also have our database activated with all the alchemic sequences.”
Uorlris stood up. “Let’s then go test them out.” He walked towards the light, stepping over the decomposing corpse of a Human.
The sunlight pierced into Uorlris’ eyes causing him to squint as he came out of the deep tunnel. The cold mountain wind rustled the hair on his face as he looked out on the alpine environment from the side of a rocky outcrop on the side of a steep hill. Down below was a lake which was emptying its glacier water through a stream.
“Most of our past empire has been erased by the sands of time. We are only a shrouded legend, the way we need it. However one emblem of our past life has remained resistant to erosion, our childhood home.”
“Then we shall finish what time cannot.”
The Ursin then sat down on the rock ledge, crossed his legs, and closed his eyes as he slowly took in deep breaths. The wails of the wind fell silent to Uorlris as he drifted off into a deep meditation. After a few minutes of being in this position, an orb appeared above his lap at chest level. It expanded until his entire body was engulfed.
Uorlris now sat in the center of a great domed room made of stone. All around him were four halls which each ended with a great metal door. Windows that lined the halls showed snow piled up against them. A large circular ocular skylight stood atop the dome allowing anyone in the room an amazing view of the night sky. The entire complex of the room and hallways was warm, although one wouldn’t suppose it to since it appeared abandoned for a great expanse of time. Gears, cogs, bricks, and other various parts were piled in stone bins that surrounded what seemed to be partially completed works. Out of the many objects, there was a line of stone men that, as the line went on, got more complicated and detailed. However, the line ended with a pile of stones and pebbles. Uorlris walked over the last fully formed man in the line and spoke the word “Operate” causing the stone eyes and various lines on the body to bright up. The stone robot walked straight off the line moving awkwardly. It stopped, turned around, and brought its attention to the Ursin with a look of surprise on its face.
“Master Uorl, how was your day?” said the stone man without moving its lips.
“Let me ask you a question Gasper, what makes you a real person?” responded Uorlris
“I was created a person, master, your very hand made me and you made me to be a real person.”
“You may have the appearance and may have the ability to act like one, but do you think that makes you a real person?”
“Why yes, you made me this way.”
“Then you are not one, the only way you can become a person is if you see yourself as one. You’re just a bunch of sequences combined together to mimic a person. Deactivate Gasper.” The stone man’s glow faded as it returned to a state of suspended animation.
“Even as a child we tried to ‘play god.’ Trying to create very sentience ourselves.”
“We believed that we were the only people in the world. So, we tried to create so that we might not be alone.”
“However, we always knew that we were talking to preprogrammed messages. We couldn’t reproduce a self sufficient mind, only a mind bent on following set commands. What we were missing in these bodies was spirit which entices every sentient being.”
“Let’s do what we came here to do. This place is no longer of use.”
Uorlris moved to the center of the domed room and knelt down placing his hand on the ground. He closed his eyes and felt the fabric of matter down to the very atoms. His armed was seared with pain as energy traveled from his chest into the ground causing his body to heat up to temperatures above that of a star’s center , they only thing that stopped his entire body from vaporizing were the runes inscribed throughout his body. He grimaced in pain as the atoms morphed into a soup of subatomic particles which ignited a radius around his body to explode with light causing the entire room, except for the ocular, to become white. Uorlris focused on a singular point in space below his hand causing an intense concentration of gravity then. He removed his hand, stepped away from the still radiating ground, turned around, and started sprinting down one of the hallways. Behind him a small black sphere, no larger than a golf ball, appeared in place of the ground. The stones bins and the mechanisms were the first to fall into the slowly expanding black hole. As Uorlris charged on, the room and the hallway started to collapse in on the hole. The gravity of the hole was catching up with him. He gave himself one last burst of speed, jumped, and slammed himself through the metal doors as the frame drawn back. He regained his footing on the balcony outside of the doors as he felt the force of the black hole starting to work against him. He neared the balcony’s edge and jumped off, seeing as the gravity of the planet as the only escape from the gravity of the black hole.
His body spun around while in freefall, letting him get small glimpses of the black hole devouring the entire peak that the building sat on. He then closed his eyes as the unstable black hole exploded sending all the trapped matter and light it had into the surrounding area causing devastation upon the neighboring peaks and mountain sides. He felt the shockwave accelerate him towards the base of the mountains as he hastily concentrated and conjured a large portal between him and the ground sending him into a black abyss.
nice. there were some fragmented sentences and missing commas and such, but I liked what I saw. Keep it up!
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