Appy Posted October 26, 2004 Report Posted October 26, 2004 (edited) ~ This is something started on an old guildboard in the role-playing section, which quickly turned into a longer story/world written purely by me and my friend Chaoslord... that was almost 4 years ago. Recently we started adding again, but are now a bit stuck (mainly me heh) .. so either I force myself through the block, or we start over. The latter option seems the better one so we can take out all the AM referrences Here's the thing so far... ~ Might contain 'strong' language!! The Story Continues... A dark figure walks in an even darker alley. His pace is slow, his steps are large. His boots make a sharp clicking sound as he walks. He seems perfectly calm in a neighbourhood which isn't all to pleasant to say the least. Under his arm he seems to have a round shaped thing. At the end of the narrow road a streetlight shines its orange glow. Distorting all colours as if it wants to eat them, and only with reluctance does it let some colour go. The figure is dressed in a perfectly fitting black leather suit. Black, the only colour which seems unbothered by the devouring streetlight. He reaches the end of the road and takes a right turn and two hundred meters further he knocks on a thick wooden door. A face appears behind a small window. "Wha' ya want?", the face asks. "I have come to make a purchase," a voice answers. The voice is strong yet elegant. Some heavy locks are opened and the door, creaking on his hinges, swings inwards. The black figure enters. The person who let him in, the face behind the window, looks around in the street to see if anyone is there. Anyone who might have followed the figure and who could connect him to the dark one. The door closes. The place is smaller than it's outside appearance would suggest. A simple rectangular room, perhaps four by six meters. As small as the room is, as big is it's smell. It looks and smells like a garbagedump on a hot day. Food is scattered in the corners and rats have gathered around these places. The floor is slippery with motor-oil. On one side an old and worn couch has taken it's residence. Accompanied by an even older television. The concentration of rats seems largest in that corner of the room. The dark one looks around and shrugs. He walks to the back of the room where something is hidden under a once white blanket. "Yep ther' it is, freshly stolen", the inhabitant of this shithole says, "now wher' is me money?". "First I'll inspect the merchandise," the other one responds, "you'll get paid, don't worry." He grabs the blanket and pulls it away. From under the sheet a shinny black motorcycle appears. "A Duc just as you ordered, now pay me!, yes?" "Perfect,", grins the stranger, "you have outdone yourself. The key perhaps??" The man throws the key at the stranger, who catches it. He inserts the key, turns it and presses the starter. The engine comes alive quickly and throws out a deep ROAR. "And now for your payment." The stranger places the round thing he was carrying, which turns out to be a helmet with a grinning joker on the back, on the saddle of the bike. He turns around to face the now nervous man. Perhaps he is sensing that something is wrong, so terribly wrong, like a wild animal sensing danger. Then things happen really fast. The stranger jumps to the thief with amazing speed, carefully avoiding all the oilslicks. In his run he takes two bloodcursed daggers out of sheaths attached to his wrists, concealed under his suit. With one dagger in each hand he lunges at the poor man. There was no fight. Gurgling a torso falls to the ground. Blood pouring from all his limbs and neck. The daggers don't even seem tainted. The poor mans blood just slides of, leaving perfectly clean blades. "Keep the change." The stranger turns, tucks away the blades and walks to the bike. If there had been any sounds of the struggle or any screams, the sound coming out of the two carbon exhausts would have drowned them out anyway. He takes two leather gloves out of the inside of the helmet, puts both helmet and gloves on and takes place on the saddle of the bike. "Perfect just perfect." The stranger revs up the engine, kicks the bike in first gear and releases the clutch. The bike jumps of like a deer being hunted by a pack of wolves. The Duc races towards the bolted door. A fireball begins to appear on the left hand of the driver. With a throwing motion the fireball flies at the door, completely shattering it. They quickly clear the house and take a sharp left turn (?). The stranger kicks the bike in second gear, opens the throttle and on one wheel he disappears into the night from which he came. ------------------------------------------------ A long street, scarcely lit by neonlights, the clock strikes 12, ghosthour begins. In the middle of the road someone is barely walking. Every step seems to take endless seconds. Feet hardly loose touch with the pavement. The figure groans and bends over even deeper, tries to take another step and collapses. It starts raining softly. ------------------------------------------- Chaos is riding through the city, lost in his thoughts. Grey asphalt races beneath him. A sudden sting in his head makes him hit the breaks hard. The breaks lock both wheels into a dangerous skid and he almost loses his balance. Blue smoke emerges from the wheels as the bikes slides to a halt and a long black skidmark adorns the street. The pain in his head is almost making him lose his mind. "What the hell, aargh!" For an instant Chaos thinks he is going to lose consciousness, but then the pain seems to subside and something else enters his mind. Not a thought but a picture starts to form before his minds eye. He sees a street not far from here, a figure lying in the middle of the road. Abandoned buildings flank the sides of the street. Some people have gathered around the shapeless form and seem to be talking to each other. Chaos gathers his wit and decides to go to the figure. A loud thunder approaches as the black Duc comes closer. The two small blinding headlights of the bike enter the street in which the figure has collapsed and everyone is blinded by the sudden increase in illumination. More people have gathered around. The low drum of the bike sounds menacing and a few run away in fear. ChaosLord stops and gets off. "LEAVE!!," he roars. All flee. Chaos uses his right hand to grabs the stranger by his neck. He yanks the figure upright which seemingly doesn't cost him any effort. To his surprise he’s looking at a woman. Quickly recovering he yells: "How and why did you call me, you witch?" No reply. He throws the woman to the side of the street like she has no weight. After flying about six meters she hits a building, and falls to the floor, lying there like a broken ragdoll. The wooden door of the abandoned warehouse shatters beneath the impact of Chaos' boot. He drags her inside out of the now pouring rain and starts a small fire. The woman was close to death and throwing her around didn't do her much good. If he wants to find out more, she better stay alive. He looks around and finds an old and dusty blanket. He throws this over the woman. From his inside pocket he removes a small pouch of herbs, opens it and grabs a small amount of it's contents. He puts the green and grey herbs in the mouth of the woman together with some water. She won't need much to recover. The herbs are very potent. Leaning against the side of his bike which he wheeled now, Chaos looks into the fire while waiting for the herbs to do there healing work. ---------------------------------------------- Slowly Joker regains consciousness. Not opening her eyes she starts too feel. Her wounds are almost gone, so that's a good sign. What she doesn't like though is the smell off leather and gazoline. Thinking she is found by a motorgang she keeps as still as possible and just listens. After a while it becomes clear to her there's only one other person in the room with her. Thinking to herself she wonders: "Who could've possible heard my cry for help? There shouldn’t be anyone left who can. But this wasn't just someone who drove by, there were already people standing around me I remember. And I felt someone responding..." Not able to restrain a shiver of her body because of the cold setteled in her bones she sais with a silent, low voice: "No point in pretending I'm not awake now" Opening her eyes she looks straight into his. ------------------------------------------ His right hand is resting on the wrist of his left, close to the blade. If she would make a suspicious move, he would jump up, slice her head of and be on his way long before her head would hit the ground. But then he wouldn't know any answers. And answers is what he is hoping to get from her. "Good you are awake, or at least not pretending to be asleep anymore," he responded to her questioning stare. "The herbs should have healed you a few hours ago, I'm surprised you didn't move sooner." His demeanour suddenly changed. He seemed to be growing impatient. The truth was, he hadn't been around a living person in a long time and the last time it had been in another time and he had been another person. "I want some answers and I want them now!" Joker stayed quiet, not really knowing what to make of this strange creature. Creature, cause he didn't seem human yet he appeared so. She tried to study his face, trying to find out what was going on inside him, but she couldn't figure much out. Suddenly things started to speed up, like a movie in fast forward. Chaos lost his patience and lunged towards her. She could clearly see that he drew a blade from under his suit. He was ten feet away, now five, three, two… She was in extreme fear and confusion. What was this? Her new found saviour trying to kill her? Trying to protect her body from the sharp blade she placed her hands in front of her, as if she could push her attacker away. A seemingly futile attempt, but something odd happened. Chaos flew backward crashing into the brick wall with a large bang, knocking over some crates in the process. Dizzy he shook his head, the dark unshining blade still in his right hand. Joker couldn't believe her eyes. Did she just do that? Chaos got up, rage burning in his eyes, almost making his eyes grow red. But that must be her imagination playing tricks on her. He looked at her and grew calmer, but a spark of flame remained, like a soft simmering fire ready to blaze again if you give it some fresh wood. The blade disappeared under his suit again. He walked back to her and sat down in the same place where he had been sitting when she woke up. It seemed as if nothing had happened, but something had. "Who are you?" ---------------------------------------- Still confused about what had happened, Joker tried to get a grip on herself by examining the room around her. To her left there was a wall, the wallpaper torn off at some places, and there was a huge wet spot on the ceiling just above. To her right she saw another door, and the front door. Both were closed, looking old and battered, the front door’s lock destroyed by the violent kick from Chaos’ boot. Looking towards her inquisitor she saw he grew impatient again, and slowly she tried to speak. "M..my name" she croaked. After clearing her throat and a deep sigh her voice sounded steady again. "They call me Joker, Wild Joker. Or at least, they used to..." At this point she couldn't hold down a snicker of grief, but looking up and seeing the flicker of rage in Chaos’ eyes, she continued. "They all died you know, I'm the only survivor of a large tribe We just went our way, only trying to stay alive when suddenly another tribe started chasing us, killing our people. They claimed our teritory, and tried to kill me aswell, but I escaped, even though I was barely alive.... If you hadn't turned up, I would've been dead by now, so I guess you saved me. What I'm not sure about is why." At this point Joker felt confident enough to sit straight again. Afterall she had managed to survive a massacre, and she just did something to save her life again. Although she wasn't sure what she had done, she felt she could do it again. Looking Chaos’ in the eyes she asked: "And who are you? And where did you get that bike? I know it. Or, more precisely, I knew the former owner." --------------------------------------------- "Who am I?" Anger boiled up. What was she thinking! He was asking the questions here. He regained his calm for the sake of getting more information. Plus, he was still a bit confused by his unplanned flight through the room. There was no doubt in his mind she had done that, could do that again, and more. She had the Gift, no doubt about it. But was that possible, another one like him? And how did she get it? "I, I...," he stammered. It looked as if he didn't know who he was. "They call me Chaos. And about my bike, I didn't know the former owner. I bought it from some lowlife." Strange, she knew the bike, was this meant to be? He had stopped believing in fate, or Fate, a long time ago. There was no divine plan, he knew that, just..... Chaos. But why did he caught himself thinking these things then? Vaguely a thought formed, but it didn't pierce through to Chaos consciousness. It remained there on the edge of his mind, like a word on the tip of your tong. He shook it off. Chaos got up and walked to the Duc, opened a small compartment under the seat and grabbed a bottle of water. He turned to Joker and threw her the bottle. She catched it and gulped it down after a close examination of both his eyes and the bottle. "You don't by any change have something to eat in there as well?" she asked. "No, but there is a cafeteria around the corner, you can eat there." He offered her a hand to get up. As she took it, thoughts came, images. He could see her tribe. Faces he didn't knew, but seemed familiar. He could see her family clearly, all with a similar appearance. Then a different group of people came. They started the killing. Joker 's group was greatly outnumbered and fled, but there was no escaping. One by one they found them, no matter how far they went. More questions. Why this senseless slaughter and why did he feel sorry for them? He, the one who slaughtered so many innocent. Why this weakness? He almost buckled under the flood of long forgotten emotions, but steadied himself quickly. "You ok?" she asked. "Fine, mind your own business." They walked out the front door and took a right. -------------------------------------------------- Joker spotted the man the moment they walked into the cafeteria. She got a weird look from Chaos as she hastily walked to his other side to stay out of the man's sight. Being as hungry as she was, she wouldn't let one man scare her away. The mark on his jacket was there though, and with the sight of it memories flooded back in, memories she had blocked out so she was able to use her wits to stay alive.... From behind the crate Joker could see her people fighting. There was no hope of any of them surviving, but they fought with a ferosity you wouldn't expect from their appearance. Two men in ragged clothes tried to fend off three men in leather suits, who in turn were trying to get to an old man lying on the ground, a small girl at his side. The two men fell simultaniously, and even before they hit the ground two of the three men rushed to the little girl grabbing her, while the other one started to kick the old man. His cries died out slowely as the blood splattered around more and more. The girl, forced to look by her foes, stared in shock, not even able to scream. While the old man died, the men forced themselves on the girl. She appeared only to watch at the stars. Then Joker heard it in her head:"RUN Joker, RUN!!! I can't be saved anymore, stay alive and tell our story!" The last thing Joker saw were the girls eyes, begging her to run, just before they eyes went blank. The girl had killed herself with an arsenicumpill hidden in her mouth. Joker ran.......... Not realizing she had even closed her eyes, she opened them again to find herself lying on the kitchenfloor of the cafeteria, a worried waitress depping at her forehead with a damp towel. Joker sat upright, startling the waitress, who gave her an odd look. Ignoring the waitress she looked at Chaos, who was leaning against a workingbench. "What happened?" "You passed out, the waitress insisted you were brought here" Chaos answered with a hard look at the waitress, who shrunk two inches under his stare Turning his eyes on her again he said: "Are you gonna do that often? Cause I can't use that!" "I saw one of ….Them. He's in the cafetaria, and I couldn't stop the memories at the sight of him. We should get away, but I'm so hungry" With those last words Joker looked at the chef who, through his own surprise, said:"I'll make you some sandwiches to go, they're on the house." He seemed to be looking forward to be rid of this strange woman and the menacing looking guy dressed all in leather. While Joker munched on her first sandwich they heard a huge commotion outside the kitchen. A waitress screamed and it sounded like chairs were falling. Suddenly people started bursting through the kitchen door, overrunning the chef who had just wanted to go out to see what was going on. Automaticly Joker rolled up to a ball, while Chaos turned around to fight whatever was comming. There was a huge explosion. Heat entered the kitchen as a huge flameball hurled through the diner, destroying everything and everyone. The inner wall started to buckle and burst into the kitchen, just missing Chaos who had jumped behind a counter at the first sound of the fireball. There was a long, drawn out silence.... -------------------------------------- Chaos got up, tense, like a bow pulled back to it's limit about to release it's arrow, fury burning inside. An emotion very familiar to him, a feeling he loved so much. He looked into the cafeteria or what was left of it. Everything in ruin, scorched bodies lying everywhere, those unfortunate souls who hadn't been able to get out on time. Three men faced him on the opposite side of the room. All stood proud, with straight backs. They were tall men, with strange markings on there leather coats. Chaos looked directly at them. The man standing in the midst of them, presumably there leader, said: "Your courage is admirable, for that I'll give you the opportunity to stay alive. Leave now and we'll forget your face." Chaos grinned and said calmly: "Why do you want to forget my face? Don't you think it's handsome?” He stopped grinning: "For that insult I'll kill you." The three men started laughing: "You alone against us three??" The left man stopped laughing and darted towards him. The man moved fast, faster than normal, but not fast enough. Chaos easily avoided the man's punch. Out of balance the attacker was now at his mercy. A quick blow to the man's stomach with his knee send the assailant flying back across the room and landing at the feet of the remaining two men. Gasping for air the man lay on the floor. Feeling the rush of power he always got when he battled, Chaos started to burn, literally. His arms started to glow. First weakly, but quickly gaining in strength until the lower parts of his arms were completely on fire. The second man came, seemingly unafraid of the strange spectacle. This time Chaos didn't wait for his attacker to reach him. He rushed at him and bridged the gap between them quickly. When they reached eachother he quickly punched him in the lower part of his abdomen. His fist burnt right through, destroying everything in it's path, and emerged on the other side, smoking and bloody. Standing there for one moment like a freeze frame his attacker started to comprehend what had just happened, but it was too late. Death entered his face and he went limp. Chaos retracted his arm from the dead man, who had been resting there like a bag. The attacker fell on the floor. The flames, still licking his arms, burned of the blood, leaving a clean arm, and enhancing the foul smell of burned flesh that was already hanging around the place. The flames then died down. The remaining man didn't flinch. He just stood there, looking, studying. He closed his eyes for a second and then opened them again "I could use a man like you." Something moved behind him. "You have great powers. My tribe is very powerful and can give you everything you desire. Name it, anything.” He smiles slyly, “Everyone has his price." "Behind you!" Joker screamed. She had been watching the events from the kitchen. In an instant Chaos grabbed one of his blades and spun around, cutting of the head of the man behind him. Facing the leader again he wanted to say: "Resurrect that!", but the leader had vanished. Annoyed, he faced Wild Joker "Where did he go?” In the street a group of people were coming there way, all of them wearing the now familiar marking on their clothes. "Time for us to leave too," Chaos said. He ran back into the kitchen, grabbed Jokers wrist and dragged her to the backdoor. He kicked it open and a tight alley emerged. Garbage cans were flanking the door, like guards. They looked left and right. "They'll have us surrounded in no time," Joker said. He threw one arm around her waist and instantly they shot up past brick walls. Flying past windows and advertisement signs until they reached the top of the building. The roof looked desolated, only some smoke puffing chimneys seem to inhabit these regions. They landed on the roof and he said "We'll wait here. After the commotion has died down we can leave." !!!!!! "Who was that?" Joker asked. Chaos looked up "He is like you and me, a mage. Mages are very rare and in these last days, I met two. Something is wrong." A silence fell. After a look around, Chaos continued "Let me tell you something about mages. There are five types of mages; Ascendant, Nether, Phantasm, Verdant and Eradication. Ascendant opposes Nether, Nether opposes Eradication, Eradication opposes Verdant and Verdant opposes Ascendant. Phantasm opposes no one or everyone, depending on how you look at it. These are just names and don't say anything about the nature of the mage. For instance an Ascendant mage isn't always good and a Nether mage isn't always bad." Chaos looked at Wild to see how these things sank in and then continued. "A person can only specialise in one type. Specialise is the wrong word though, you can't exactly pick a specialisation, you're born to one. Probably literally. I don't know for sure but I suspect it must be a gene or something which determines if a person is a mage or just an ordinary person. Perhaps science will discover the truth about this matter one day. Anyway which specialisation you are determines the type of spells you can learn. Some spells are specific to one speciality, others can be learned by all mages. You, Wild Joker, will have to find out what kind of mage you are. I can help you with that if you want." "What kind are you?" she asked. "I'm a Nether mage. The other mage you saw today is probably an Ascendant mage, since he could resurrect people, but I don't know for sure. You will have to learn to control your powers. Cloak it, or every mage in the vicinity will sense you. Try to imagine a fire burning inside of you. That's your power as a mage. Now picture the fire and make it smaller, until it's like a candle, but make sure it's ready to burn and rage at your command when you need it." Wild closed her eyes and pictured it. "Yes, much better, our new friend will not be able to find you now. You will have to maintain this all the time." She looked up at him "Don't worry it will become easier in time until you won't even have to think about it. Ofcourse, the stronger the spell you cast, the more your fire will have to burn, the further mages can sense you. But I guess you figured this out already." Chaos looked up into the sky, hoping to see some stars, but all he got was some orange haze hanging over the city. "In times long gone there were many mages." Chaos smiled, a sight Joker hadn't seen before, and which changed his appearance completely. He no longer looked dangerous or hard. "The genes were more common perhaps." The smile disappeared and he turned his back to her. "You can't find any record of these times in history today." Chaos shrugged. "Everything is long gone or covered up perhaps.n The mages who live now are all powerful people in high places, who don't want there secrets told." Chaos thought for a second. "We'll need to get you some form of transportation and weapons fast." "We'll get on that first thing in the morning. Get some sleep now, I'll stay on guard." Joker nodded, walked to one of the chimneys and sat against it. Her head was flooded with thoughts about today's events and the things he had said. When she sat down she instantly felt the fatigue brought on by the stress and anxiety of that day though. Closing her eyes she fell into a deep sleep...... ----------------------------------------------------- Joker felt like she surviced a deep, dark lake. She was awake again. Still drifting on the last waves of sleep she started to feel and listen. Something was very wrong. By the feel of the sun on her legs Joker knew it was day, but there was not a single sound suggesting the city was alive. She opened her eyes, stood up slowely, and looked out over the city. Standing on one of the higher buildings in the area she could see the rooftops all the way to the edge of the city. There lay a strange greenish haze over the city. It looked like mist, but Joker knew it was not for it seemed to pulse with a regularity that suggested it was alive. Looking around for Chaos, or any sign of live for that matter, she looked to her right. There, in the midst of the river, Joker saw something that had not been there before. A huge stem, as thick as a skyscraper, stood on a small island in the harbour. Huge branches bore thick leaves, radiating a green light. Which was probably the reason why the strange fog seemed green. The top of the huge tree dissapeared into the atmosphere. She could not see where it might end. A thought struck her and she said it out loud, just to hear something "That looks like Yggdrasil, the Tree of Existence..." While she had spoken like normal it sounded like a whisper. The air felt thick and heavy with magic. Joker could not keep her eyes of the tree, but then again, she didn't want to. It was the most beautiful thing she had ever seen. Suddenly the urge to touch that tree engulfed her and she took a step towards it. The world dissapeared. She knew she stood on something solid, but could not see it. Everything surrounding her was white. When she looked around she saw the tree again, behind her now, hovering in the white. It looked much smaller here. "Well, well, well, what have we here?" A voice said in front of Joker. She quickly spun her head to see a man clad totally in white step out of the background. At least, he made it look that way. Regarding the man's eyes, a shiver ran down Joker's spine. This was the man who killed her friend, this man laughed when they had raped her sister...this man had been at the cafeteria not so long ago.... "I see you recognise me" he said "I must say I am delighted to finally meet you and get to know you...Wild Joker!" A foul smile setteled itself on his lips while his eyes looked her up and down. A bit startled she asked "You know my name?" "Oh but offcourse, it was on the lips of so many people just before they...well, let's say left this world" The man chuckled and Joker felt her rage grow. She realised too late her nails were burrying themselves in her flesh and she relaxed her fists, leaving small red marks on the inside of her hands. This was not the place nor the time to fight him. She knew that somehow. And immediatly she realised he knew that too. "What do you want" Joker demanded with a more confident voice. "I just wanted to know what kind of mage you were, deary" he said with a leer in his voice. "And I must say. Verdancy has always been very interesting to fight." He dared to wink at her and look her up and down. At that, Joker peeked at her clothes and saw she wore a green dress here, not her usual grey. When she looked up again the man had started to walk backwards and he was already blending in with the surroundings. "We will meet again soon, no doubt" he added while he was nothing more then a thin outlining of a humanfigure. The last thing Joker saw was his reappearing hand, snapping it's fingers once... A blue ray engulfed her. It did not hurt but her mind felt strangly clouded, as if it was filled with cottons. Still raging with anger she turned to see were the ray came from and saw a person clad in a blue robe. He was obviously using some magic on her so Joker did the only thing she could think of now. She charged.... Joker woke up screaming and fighting. Her mouth was covered by a gloved hand and another grabbed her punching fist. In a grunting voice, from the effort of restraining her, Chaos hissed in her right ear "Silence! The streets around us are roaming with people! Enemies or not, you have to stay quiet!" Joker relaxed a bit and nodded, her eyes still wide open, a fast determination lurking in its depths. Looking around she saw the city had the color of bare skin, the glow of a rising sun. Immediatly she also heard the sounds of a city awakening to a new day. This releaved her a bit and after a few deep breaths she felt able again to speak "They.." "found you." Chaos said, finishing her sentence. "I know, I felt them searching. Cover your magic. NOW!" Joker tried to concentrate but instead she felt herself crawling backwards, away from those fiery eyes, till her back hit the chimney behind her. Chaos then realised he still held her fist, let go and turned away. "You are not trying hard enough, I can still feel your magic." Joker focused, looking for that flame inside her. But no matter how hard she tried, she could not feel or picture it. Feeling herself turn cold when she thought of the consequences she told Chaos in a trembling voice she could not feel her magic. ------------------------------------------ Looking into Wild’s eyes C knew something was terribly wrong. After asking what happened, Joker quickly explains her dreamvision. "Hum, they found you, we need to get away from here. But first we need to resolve your situation," ChaosLord grabs the forehead of Joker with his black gloved right hand. "This will help you concentrate, but you'll have to purify yourself later to completely get rid of the effects of this spell." He closes his eyes and instantly a faint blue glow starts to shimmer around her head, hardly visible in the morning sun, but there nontheless. After a few seconds the blue halo around Wild dims and disappears. "I feel better," she utters. "Good," Chaos smiles, "now to make our exit." He walks to the edge of the building and looks directly into the sun. "Hah, now to defy you, my immortal fiend," he whispers to himself. ChaosLord raises his arms to the sky, his Nordic height and demeanour contrasted by his jet-black hair which is even more accentuated by this light and pose. Standing there like a daVinci statue carved out of black marmer by the master himself, the sky starts to change. Dense cumulus clouds appear, obliterating the sun and turning the light of day into a day of night. But even more remarkable is the pitch-black fog, rolling into the streets below like a terrible tide wave of darkness. The fog is so thick and heavy it looks and behaves like a fluid liquid. Wild walks up to him and, standing beside him, she looks down. "It looks like water, I can't see anything below." "Our enemies are near and this shroud will aid us in our escape," he replies. Chaos lowers his arms. The black smog has stopped growing and most buildings are now submerged in it. Only the taller buildings stick out like lonely islands in a dark turbulent ocean, ready to be explored by lonely wanderers or ransacked by skirmishing pirates. "Feel ok, Joker?" "Yeah the cotton in my head is almost gone. Thank you for asking, I didn't knew you cared Chaos" she winks at him, obviously amused. A thin smile, the beginning of a grin, appears on his face. He suddenly grabs her wrists and throws her over the edge into the dark abyss below. "What, why, you bastard, aaaaaaaaaaahhh!!!!" Chaos grins fully now and quickly follows after her with a graceful swan dive towards the hard, grey asphalt below. Just before smacking head first into the ground, he summersaults and lands elegantly on his feet like a cat, bending his knees and legs to absorb the force of impact. On ground level the visibility is limited to a few meters. Not only does this shroud of darkness limit the sensory input of the eyes by reducing the visible light, the dark fog is spreading a foul stench of sulphuric acid as well, which stings the eyes and makes them watery. Looking around C has hard time finding Wild. To his left he spots an unusual dense bunch of tangled vines. They smell of green foliage, powerful enough to defy even the dismal sulphur, in the process proclaiming there will always be life and therefore hope, even in a place desolated of all things good. He walks to the vines and looks at the figure lying stupefied on the soft green bed. "What the friggin' hell did you do that for!" the person hisses angrily. On closer examination C finds out it is Joker, completely covered in twigs and leaves. "Come on Wild, no time to relax," he replies irritated. Joker dust herself off and quickly follows C, careful not too loose him in this crafted dark dimension of perpetual twilight. After exiting the alley in which they had landed, they emerge in front of the destroyed cafeteria. The cafeteria hadn't changed much since the day before. Windows shattered, walls scorched black, furniture scattered all over the place. Only the burned bodies were removed. The place seemed even grimmer now with the screams of panicking people in the background. They stop for a second in front of the mutilated building. Joker shudders at the sight of it and asks "Where are we going?" "I don't know," he replies, "I think we should better split up and meet each other in the harbour tonight. I'll stop masking my powers and draw them away. It will be more difficult for them to track you that way. Let's meet up tonight at midnight on dock 11." Quickly they move on, careful not to bump into the people running bewildered in the dark. They soon arrive at the corner of the street. "Here our roads split up," Chaos whispers in Wild’s ear. Looking around he spots a car. He walks up to it and knocks in a side window with a quick blow of his elbow. C opens the door, dives under the dashboard and pulls out some of the wires. After some mucking around the car comes to life with a few grumpy sounds, much like an old man disturbed in his afternoon nap. "Got it. Now get out of here, I still got a little present for our friends." Wild gets in the car and slowly drives off, careful not to hit anything. While driving away she feels a great power growing. In her minds eye, a mode of vision unaffected by the state of grimness that the city block is currently in, she sees ChaosLord standing in the middle of the street, transfixed in a trance, the white of his eyes turning red, pupils gone, red electricity swirling around his body. A berserker in his true form. Building power, rising and rising, seemingly without end. Small stones start defying gravity by flying upward, as if they have a will of there own, never having wanted to exist under the rule of gravity and welcoming the opportunity to follow a different master. Continually building the power to an inevitable climax in the form of a.....of a common punch?!..... But not common at all. At the location where C directed his energy a ripple forms, tearing up the street like a gigantic subterranean worm, moving towards the destroyed caferteria. Asphalt flies around with lethal velocity, hitting innocent bystanders randomly, chaotically, and leaving them in shock on the sidewalks or in the middle of the street. Some of them have enough life in them still to scream frantically for help, their cries drowned out by the density of the air, but most of the time they simply collapse or gurgle, choking on their own blood. But this is nothing compared to the destruction which is about to be bestowed upon the diner which had been such a thriving establishment only a day ago. Unhindered by any obstacle the ripple progresses on his juggernaut path, debris and rubble flying in all directions, breaking underground water- and gas lines, until it reaches it's destination: the cafeteria. A moment of timeless silence. The fragile bubble of tranquillity is suddenly raped by the large roar of an inferno. A warm blast of wind brushes everything in a radius of half a mile or more. A fiery typhoon of gargantuan size spirals upward, easily clearing the cloud of despair, which lingers below, and in the eye of this storm is, or more exactly was, the cafeteria and all who had been close to it. C’s knees buckle and devoid of power he collapses. Barely able to steady himself on one knee, he tries to shake of the fatigue and exhaustion. For an outsider it might seem like a virtuous man kneeling for an altar locked in prayer, but this altar is one of doom preluded by a prayer of mayhem. Light starts to regain some of its hold on the void only to reveal a bitter, sad sight for the world to see. After accumulating enough strength Chaos gets up and walks away, pondering what the papers will make of this. Smiling he thinks: "probably a freak gas leak explosion." He finds his motorbike in the same state and place he left it. A short push on the start button brings her to life and a she gives out an eager cry to indicate she is ready to be (ab)used. He kicks his duchess in first and races off, leaving the shards of grey light, which still linger, quickly behind him, reminiscing: "My life is like an endless waltz; it has the three beats of war, peace and revolution woven into it to form a pattern of infinite complexity, sadness.....and colour". ------------------------------------------------------------- A New Beginning----------------------------------------------------------------------- Flinching a bit under the impact of C's spell Joker bends further over the wheel, as if that'd make the car go any faster. Flooring the gaspedal the car groans out it's protest but picks up even more speed. Using more then just her eyes for senses Joker sends the car flying around rubble and through narrow streets, not wanting to present too easy a target by staying on the main road. Always downwards.. that's where the docks should be, she thinks. Immediatly she wonders at that thought. I grew up in this damned city, I should know where the harbor is! A chilling, almost numbing feeling spreads through Joker while she tries to remember the streets of her memory. There's nothing there anymore. Sure, she recognises things as they blur past, and she remembers turns and crossings as soon as she sees them. But her true memory of the city seems gone. Punching the steering wheel Joker curses. "It was Them! They muddled not only my sense of magic, but also my memory." Distracted as she was by these thoughts she almost drove into a big pile of fallen masonry. Only her sense of danger saved her from colliding with it and instead send her crashing through a wooden fence and onto a building site. C is driving to the harbour, taking a detour to throw off any pursuers, though he doubts there are any. The chaos that followed the fire spell should have been enough to quietly slip away. “I wonder where Joker is”, he mumbles. “Prolly getting into trouble.” She IS trouble, C thinks, so why do I bother to help her? Well she does grow on you, he grins turning up the second level highway. Above him the recycled hard plastic roads which make up the level 5 roads and up shine dully. The higher up you go, the richer people you find, the emptier life gets. Besides C likes the feel of solid ground under his boots and it’s easier to get away with things down here. “What was that logo those goons had on their clothing?” “Something tribal like. ?” It reminded C of a creature, a snake or something. ”Yeah a snake, “ C mumbles. It didn’t really stand out, tribal was all the rage these days. Every youth in this god forsaken city had one or more of these tattoes somewhere on their body. A flimsy lead to get some more information about their assailants. “I need a couple of days rest first though, these fire spells drained the shit out of me”, C thinks. “After that we can decide on our next step.” “Our… now there is a word I haven’t used I na long time.” -------------------------------------------------------- The car skidded under her, out of control. It stopped, just a handwidth short of a big container. Joker, still leaning over the steering wheel, took a deep breadth and tried to compose herself. Nothing was going like it should. For one, she was now surrounded by some sort of bushy undergrowth green stuff that had appeared just before she crashed through that fence. It held her tight in place, but as soon as she moved, the stuff moved with her a moment then let go and quickly withered. Where the hell had it come from? Joker sighed: "I better get this magic stuff under control if it's going to be any use to me" "Yes, you should." someone answered, "And fast too." Jerking her head towards the sound on her right she could just see the dissapearing rim of a black cloak behind on of the pillars inside the unfinished building. To her left a little sound told her someone, or something, was sitting on the container. "Shit." -------------------------------------------------- He arrives at dock 11 at a kwarter past 12. Turns the bike’s engine off and lets it roll on it’s leftover momentum. The docks are empty except for some rats playing in the shadows. About the only creatures who could live in such a grissly place and still have the cheeriness to actually play. They scuttle off when Chaos approaches. He takes the bike by hand and hides it behind some discarded oildrums. A badly stained cloth obscures the remaining parts of the machine. No sign of Joker though. Dock 11 is on of the 27 docks in Charcity harbor. They were used 3 decades ago as the main overhaul site of goods toward Charcity, Raghedwood and a dozen other big cities. Yet with the coming of the underground pipelinesystem, a much safer and cheaper transportation system of goods, the docks were decomisioned. Only dock 26 and 27 are still being used. Not for freight though but for the luxury flotillas. Near islands offering all the luxures known to man and only offordable by the happy few. Ofcourse docks 26 and 27 look a whole lot better then the rest of the harbor and the flotillas’ exploiters made sure by a good solid concrete wall that their customers never had to see the dilapedated parts. ---------------------------------------------------- While Chaos got ready for what would possibly be a long wait, Joker had bigger problems to think about. One was the steering wheel pinning her in her seat. Some of the vines had pulled hard at it so it would come down, resulting in her legs being stuck beneath it.Some scratching on the roof told her that whatever had been next to her was now on the car. And it didn't sound human. "Think fast" the voice on her right whispered, as if sitting next to her. Joker looked that way. "Very well.." In one smooth motion Joker pulled the handle that slid the chair in lying position, grabbed the other handle that rolled it all the way back and freed her legs by spreading them and rolling backwards over her right shoulder. Crouching on the back of her frontseat she waited a moment to figure out where that thing on top had gone to. Something occured to her then: "Shit, it's a three-door. A friggin three-door!"Looking behind her and seeing only a small window and the smooth lid of the trunk she now knew there was only one easy way out.. and that was through the front window. It would have to be smashed first ofcourse. Moving carefully Joker worked her way up close to the glass and tapped it. A big roar, some heavy shaking of the car and whatever had been on top jumped to the front and smashed at the window with two huge fists. The glass broke at the second impact. 'First problem solved,' she thought. A quick glance from her position at the back of the car told her what she needed to know next. Joker cursed again. The creature hunching on the hood was nothing human. A huge bulking chest and two big arms seemed to make up most of it. A small head with ape like features and two thick, short legs made up for the rest. It appeared to be made of concrete. "Better hurry man" The voice to her right said. Joker ignored it and looked around. An open crate on the backseat caught her attention. 'Thank gods for rebels' she thought, and hoped the creature was as dumb as it looked. She grabbed a grenade from the crate and fumbled for the pin with her teeth. All the while she kept swaying from side to side to keep the creatures attention. Finally she found the ring holding the pin and pulled it. Counting under her breath she slowely swayed to the left, threw the little ball of death and flung herself behind the passenger seat, curling up as small as she could. After the rain of concrete pebbles had somewhat subsided Joker uncurled and forced herself past the remains of the creature. Her left hip hurt and she could feel warm blood trickling down her leg. No time for that now. Slightly limping Joker ran behind the container for cover. "Well now, that has been interesting!" she shouted at whoever had been talking to her before, "but if you don't mind I'll just be going now, having an appointment and all!" "What, so playing with me isn't important?" he said back, "I'll have you know that in fact, you are MY appointment for this evening. And we haven't even considered desert yet" No doubt that if they had been face to face, he would've winked at her. Joker sighed, mumbled "Great" and took a look at her leg. Rubble from the concrete creature, or possibly a piece of glass from the window, had cut her hip. It was bleeding quite badly. Not knowing why she did it, Joker put her hand over the wound and concentrated on the earth, looking for 'something' to help her stop the bleeding. Afterall, if C could do magic so could she according to what he had told her up on the roof.. A faint green light surrounded her all of the sudden. She looked up and saw the world as if through green sunglasses. It flared for a second and blinked out, like it had never been there. Frowning she removed her hand and saw that the bleeding had stopped. For now. She looked around but saw nothing but the concrete skeleton of the new building and the materials used to build it. So, that either meant he can only use the material at hand, or it had been a mere convenience to summon a concrete golem. Not a lot to base a strategy on. Joker sighed again and decided she couldn't stay here much longer. Walking as silently as she could, she ventured further onto the buildingsite, hoping to escape into the city again on the other side. ~(the end of my last post... there should be more inbetween, but that's where I got stuck ) As she sat waiting Joker pondered the last few days, starting with the killing of the last of her tribe. Why didn't she run, or do something? She had been behind that crate for quite long, why hadn't she moved? Because she had been too scared? Somehow Joker didn't believe that, she had eliminated fear some time ago, specially the one for death. So then why, had she known they'd catch her had she moved away? No, she knew now that she could've fled at any moment. With chilling certainty the truth crept upon her. She hadn't fled because she had been fascinated. Fascinated with the blood, with the violence, with the rape. Joker shivered, but not from cold or dread...it was a pleasant shiver, tingling up her spine and exploding in her head. So that's why she was the one to survive, that's why their old man had been scared of her. A sly grin worked its way around her lips, reflecting in her eyes. Revenge was not her thing, but she would try to kill that guy who opposed her nontheless. The red colour of blood would match his suit well. She started to laugh, scattering the few gulls that had gathered nearby. Thus sitting C found her again, the silhouete of a slender girl laughing her heart out with her head in her neck, against the lights of the harbour, and found her changed... ~ Edited October 26, 2004 by Appy
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