Lore Submission Thread

5 parts for August Lore

The Ancient Greece Redemption - Part 1

That morning something different happened: through the bars of my cell I saw the jailer approach, but this time he was not alone … someone with a hooded robe was accompanying him, which did not allow me to see his face … they stayed a few meters from me cell, and the stranger gave the jailer a handful of peds, apparently to be alone … Moments later, the stranger pulled the hood back, and I could finally see his face.

Desmond … the bloody traitor had come to see me … He came over, looked at me with a scowl of hatred on his mouth, and spoke.

-Hi Dante … Long time since you left me abandoned in that damn pyramid … ago … mmm … 8 or 9 months? -He was staring at me.

-Desmond … How could you … We were friends before your betrayal … - I hit the bars with all the accumulated anger.

That got him out of control.

-Treason? Treason, he says … the same one who left me to die in that nest of robots. - Hatred was evident in his words.

He looked at me for a long time … It seemed that he was ordering his thoughts … At last he spoke again.

-Listen, that planetary teleporting was the beginning of great wealth for the Stel, and now that’s just junk.

-Desmond, but don’t you understand that that would have been the beginning of the end of the Entropy Quadrant? … The robots would have invaded everything sooner or later - It was incredible that Desmond did not see the danger that that represented.

-No, it would have been impossible … Once you and that Simon had finished with the robots, my other VIP colleagues Stel would have arrived and hacked the System, to avoid new communications with Calypso’s robots … It would have been OUR … and you would have too participated … - An expression of pain passed over his face - And instead of helping, you left me abandoned to a thousand deaths …

A thousand deaths … what was Desmond referring to?

-Listen, Desmond, in the end you are alive, only that your plans have not come out … But instead of going back, you end up with Simon and you set me up with your boyfriend to blame me … -If it weren’t for the bars of the cell , I would have killed Desmond with my bare hands.

Desmond looked at me … his eyes showed a shadow of madness, but also of that intelligence that characterized him … I wanted to know more …

-How did you kill Simon? And how did you prevent him from resurrecting? And my weapon? Who shot it? - I had many questions, and I wanted to know everything before they executed me …

-Dante, it’s fair that you know everything … Simon was not killed by me, but by you … it is your weapon, a CDF Edition bound to its owner, no one else can use it … unless I take advantage of the fact that you are unconscious, take your hand with the pistol wielded, and press your finger on the trigger … and the gun you have fired, with a little help, of course … -He smiled mockingly …

I can’t believe it… he used me to fire my gun and kill Simon… but how come he didn’t resurrect?

-Of course I guess what you are thinking now … you see … you were both unconscious after the roof of the house fell on you … Mark and I searched you and saw that your friend had an access card to the TP systems, no doubt he used it to follow us … when we used it, we saw that he had sufficient credentials to enter the DNA system … and we took the opportunity to terminate Simon … His death would be permanent.

Of course … the card and keys that his friend who worked in the TP had given him to be able to follow Mark … Damn Desmond … and on top of that it makes me look guilty …

-And now you’ll be thinking why I didn’t kill you too … so that you would suffer a minimum of what I suffered in that damn pyramid … -his eyes showed evil, but … he also looked scared …

-Desmond … what happened to you in the pyramid? - He was curious about what had happened to him …

-Thousands of deaths, Dante, that’s what happened … listen …


The Ancient Greece Redemption - Part 2 - Desmond’s Story

I woke up in the dark … I couldn’t see anything … I just smelled of burning metal, and I heard electrical sounds … short circuits … Those sparks guided me … I was in the anteroom of the hangar …

The hangar door was almost ripped off its hinges, and I could see inside: Only junk remained from the planetary TP… You and Simon had undoubtedly destroyed the system.

When I took inventory, I realized that you had taken everything from me: the TP chip, the Healing chip, my weapons, and the survival rations … I had nothing …

Hours later, orienting myself by the sparks and lights of some systems and screens that were still on, I arrived at the exit of the pyramid, to discover the horror: the huge armored door was blocked, and the opening and closing system destroyed … Well done, Dante… you made sure I couldn’t get out.

I started looking for another way out … nothing, there was no way … I explored the whole place from end to end, and hours later I was aware of the situation: I could not go out, I could not teleport or heal, and I had no food or drink …

Four days, Dante … four days going crazy looking for a way to escape, and the thirst driving me … from a droka I got the cooling liquid, and I drank it … it was liquid and it quenched my thirst, but … it gave me a dysentery that left me dehydrated … I was dying … and I didn’t know if I could appear in a Revive or, on the contrary, I would end up completely dead … Thank you Dante, thank you very much …

Two days later, weakened to exhaustion, I couldn’t take it anymore: with a sharp edge of metal I opened my veins … I committed suicide, I wanted to end it, and my mind flew, with one last thought to Mark, my Mark …

I blinked… opened my eyes… where am I? A Revive? Where?

I couldn’t believe it … the Revives network was working despite the shielding … My joy lasted just long until I discovered that the Revive was right there, INSIDE THE PYRAMID … Damn it !!! He couldn’t get out, and he would go through everything again … Why would robots put a Revive inside?

Well, at least I had another three days until thirst consumed me again… in three days I could find a way out.

There was no way out … and thirst and hunger killed me again … I committed suicide again …

By the fifth time I already knew what I had to do: I had three days before I was too weak to be able to find a way to escape from there … if I did not succeed, I would have to commit suicide again and again another opportunity …

Do you know how many times I died, Dante? I don’t know … I just knew that in those three days I had to prepare everything for the next attempt … Die to stay alive … Magnificent …

Over the weeks I was looking for tools, energy cells, some transport system to help me … I set up my own workshop … I repaired some screens and power systems, and so I was able to mount a lighting system … it was very rudimentary, but at the less I could see and illuminate much of the installation … I also managed to build a system with energy cells to be able to use tools, and to recharge them …

I began to attack the huge entrance door … the robot tools were perfect, but the door had enormous armor … and with so much work in a couple of days I was exhausted … back to suicide …

Months, Dante, months … months preparing everything, months using tools to break the door, months committing suicide, months resurrecting, months without Mark … and you, Dante? What did you do in those months? Ah, I forgot, you were dedicated to saving the planet from a lot of animals … what a hero …

Finally, one night I was able to open a hole in the doorjamb, and I saw the outside … I saw the sky, and the stars … and I was able to pass my body and go out …

But I have not told you the worst … now I know, because I recovered little by little … but so much fear, so much suicide, so much resurrection, so much hardship had destroyed my mind … Now I know that at that time I was crazy, and that my body responded as if he had an Automatic Pilot: work, die, resurrect … work, die, resurrect … but Desmond did not exist …

From what I could find out, a couple of days later some Resa discovered me dying again, but now far from the place … They took me to the camp, and before my ravings, they thought that I was pretending, that I was making fun of them … in that kind of the mist that unleashed the madness, I felt the beatings and the blows, I heard the laughter of the Resa … But I did not exist …

And one day, suddenly, I opened my eyes in that Resa prison … and I remembered … It was Desmond, a VIP Stel … months had passed, I had left the pyramid, I had lost my boyfriend, and the guilty of my misfortunes, you and that damn Resa, you would be having drinks in the bars of Next Island …

That night I pretended to be crazy again, until they left and left me alone … and I escaped … I fled … I didn’t know where I was, so I jumped down a ravine … I died, and I finally appeared in a Revive in Morion Outpost … I already had a reference point … you already know the rest …

He walked away down the hall … a moment before walking out the door, he turned and said …

A thousand deaths, Dante, a thousand deaths … you’re only going to have one death tomorrow, but it will be the final one … I swear …


The Ancient Greece Redemption - Part 3

It is the day … A few minutes ago the guards of Queen Pentesílea appeared with the jailer in front … they opened the cell and I was able to leave … the jailer put some shackles on my wrists and, immediately afterwards, I was pushed without much consideration by the hoplites to the release from Thebes prison …

A crowd gathered around the square … there was a kind of corridor flanked by Amazons to the center, where there was a wooden scaffold where everything was supposed to happen …

I went down the hall while the villains cursed me, spit, scold and threw rotten fruit and even excrement … I was a murderer and I was going to be executed …

I climbed the steps of that makeshift stage and faced the crowd … Gods, if that looked like one of those old “Autos de Fe” where they burned heretics and witches in the past …

On one side a representative of the VIP Stel … It was one with whom I had interviewed along with Simon to receive payment for the durasteel of the robots … Now I know that he and his partner were some of those who knew about the planetary teleporter … he looked mockingly as his lips silently formed the words “you’re dead” … In his hands a Revives and DNA controller … they were going to erase me from the data banks …

On the other side the representatives of Queen Pentesílea, flanked by a series of hoplites and a huge warrior with a huge falcata in his hands … I would bet my head that he is the one in charge of cutting it off …

-People of Greece … travelers from other worlds … this morning we will deliver justice on behalf of Queen Pentesílea on this settler, accused of murdering another settler who was also a friend …

A lot of howls interrupted his spiel: the people clamored for my blood at the magnitude of my actions, and more now, that the people of Greece had discovered the resurrection thanks to the Revives of the “travelers from other worlds” … The representative cleared his throat and continued with his sentence …

-That is why he is condemned to death, for the life he took … His head will be cut off, but before that, to prevent him from being resurrected, his people will erase the memories of his existence …

A simple way for those minds of the past to explain that he was going to be erased from the DNA banks …

The VIP came forward … he showed his controller to the crowd that was huddled there, and he switched it on … Some lights flickered, and my photo appeared on the screen … the people howled with even more fervor …

The Stel pressed a button, and my photo on the screen started to flash red… He looked at the Greek representative, who nodded at him… The Stel pressed the button a second time and…

A lash of pain ran through my body … it was the disconnection of the DNA banks … I did not remember that deadly sensation that I experienced years ago in Calypso when I was connected … it was the same pain, but with a different purpose …

Between gasps, I looked at the audience … and saw them …

Katalina was there, with a hooded cloak that hid part of her face, but I saw her … and next to her was a figure that could not hide part of the turban that encircled her forehead … Moustapha the Toulano … what they did there?

I saw them both… but I didn’t see any pity on Katalina’s face, nor on Moustapha’s… I saw determination, nervousness… what were they up to?

The executioner came forward amidst roars from the audience … he opened his arms receiving the cheers of the public as he showed the huge falcata … at the same time, the hoplites had made me kneel while my head was in a low position … I looked at Katalina for the last time …

What are these crazy people doing ??? Katalina and Moustapha opened their capes showing their perfectly repaired armor … and some long-range weapons …

The huge executioner raised the falcata and began its downward movement to my neck …

BLAM !!! An accurate shot smashed the weapon in the giant’s hands … only the hilt remained before the perplexed look of the executioner …

The panic began … the people detached themselves from the side of my two rescuers … they could already see their weapons in their hands firing into the air … The hoplites let go of me while they readied their egidas as defense and pointed with their sarissas …

Katalina and Moustapha fired at their egidas… they were strong shields but they had nothing to deal with the BLP shots… The hoplites took cover…

And I while there, alone, chained, in the midst of the general panic and the shots … and suddenly I saw them … A group of Stel guards approached, undoubtedly the VIP escort who had to erase me … well armed and looking to conquer the world … Katalina and Moustapha were lost… There was no time to lose…. I turned to my right and with a great impulse, I gave a head butt to the jaw of the VIP, who collapsed unconscious … I threw myself in the middle of some barrels of goods … now I had to be very careful, because a shot could definitely kill me …

The shots raged on both sides in the now deserted square of Thebes … how were we going to escape from there?

A huge roar made my eyes look up: An Arkadian Dropship was about to land while its hold was being opened… in that ship there was space for up to eight people, but who was driving that ship?

The dropship landed and I didn’t think about it: I ran to the open door of the cellar and dove headfirst, while Katalina and Moustapha covered me with their shots … Seconds later, they too entered as the doors closed … From the cabin came a voice well known to me …

-Grab you all, welcome to JoseGaltor Airlines !!!

-Damn crazy … Jose, Jose … what are you doing here? - I couldn’t believe that my old friend left his adventures with him and his RockTropía Vixen to come and save me …

-What do I do? Save your ass, as always … thank your pretty wife and your friend in the turban …

The ship just took off and launched at high speed, gliding over fields and rivers … Now we were outlaws on Next Island and Ancient Greece …


The Ancient Greece Redemption - Part 4

That night we took refuge in the fields of Ancient Greece … My friends and I were uneasy: we were outlaws on the planet, and also a death sentence weighed on my head … As if that were not enough, I was now a mere mortal, since I had been deletion of DNA banks.

Katalina told me what I needed to know. Once I was arrested and the charges for my conviction were read, she was on her way… she quickly flew to Toulan in search of Moustapha, and they both created possible escape plans.

But due to the strong security measures, and the surveillance to which she was subjected as the wife of the condemned, there was no possible way to get me out of her prison.

-So your little wife got in touch with me… With how happy I was in Rocktropia surrounded by pretty Vixen and betting on Thief’s fights… -The one who spoke like that was my friend JoseGaltor.

We met Jose a long time ago in Calypso, when we were rookies … But he went to Arkadia, and had great luck mining and hunting in the Underground … in fact, he was very rich, but he did not invest in land or shops: he enjoyed the life.

-As you suppose, dear Fenix ​​- He always called me that, in memory of other times - the only way to save you was the day of the execution, but of course … where they were going to get a pilot crazy enough to land near a scaffold in the middle of a crossfire with a ship the size of an Arkadian Dropship that, by the way, is stolen !!!

Definitely, I have been lucky enough to surround myself with good friends and colleagues … I’m sorry that Simon is no longer among us, but now the main thing is to unmask Desmond and be able to prove my innocence and clear my name …

Moustapha began to sort out our alternatives:

-Now we can’t get close to the Stel, because they would hand us over… Desmond is missing, and his boyfriend Mark too… The Resa will hate you because Dante is supposed to have killed one of their own, and we have to flee Ancient Greece.

-Right - Katalina intervened- Queen Penthesilea will declare us fugitives from the law, so we can’t expect help from her …

I was thoughtful for a moment … I didn’t see any kind of solution to the situation … Although at the moment the main thing was to get out of there …

The next morning we left the stolen ship and approached Thebes Market again… it was abuzz with both Greek and Stel soldiers… everyone was looking for us…

We went through some alleys that led to the houses of the villagers … near a patio we heard the voice of a woman, singing something … Katalina approached carefully and saw her … she was laying out the laundry, a lot of robes, chitón and layers … Katalina made us a gesture of silence.

The woman finished her task and returned to the house … Quickly, Katalina came out of her hiding place and went to the clothes hanging … a moment later she threw us some Greek robes and capes with which we muffled ourselves to be able to camouflage ourselves among the people of Thebes.

We left from there to the field, and we walked a long way avoiding Arges, Mirinians and others … Finally, after a good while walking and circling the area, we arrived at Orpheus Cave … To discover that there was a squad of hoplites guarding who entered and who came out of there …

There was no way to pass through there without being seen … Surely our faces were already on all holo-screens, so the only way to pass would be by shooting.

We got closer on the road … there was a movement of people back and forth although in a more leisurely way than other times, undoubtedly due to access control.

Under our robes and capes we had our weapons loaned … Each time we were closer, we could already see the faces of the hoplites scrutinizing the faces of the people, asking for documents … There were barely two or three people left in front of us, and …

One of the hoplites looked up, looked at us for a second, and looked down again at the documentation that a guy was giving him … suddenly, he froze, and looked at us again with wide eyes: He had recognized us .

Voices, screams, Sarissas at the ready… The four of us launched ourselves like titans towards the hoplites. Moustapha made quick movements with her Twin, while Jose took out a Khulokar Dagger from Arkadia … I had to be more careful since I could die forever, but still, flanked by Katalina, I took down two hoplites …

In a few seconds the hoplite contingent was on the ground, some unconscious, others injured, and some dead that in a short time would dematerialize and appear in a Revive Terminal … It was time to go to Next Island, and then we would see …

Moustaphá crossed the Orpheus Cave TP, followed by a JoseGaltor who, with a gesture, pointed us to a new group of hoplites that was approaching … Katalina and I had just enough time … I didn’t think about it, with a push I launched her into the TP seconds before the hoplites appeared at the entrance of the cave …

Finally, I entered the TP and prepared to be Teleported … Wait, it doesn’t work … what’s wrong?

The hoplites looked at each other smiling as they circled the TP with me in the center …

Damn it… how did we not realize it before ??? Without my data in the DNA banks, the Teleporters were not working for me … I was trapped in Ancient Greece again … and this time, maybe I’ll be executed right now …


The Ancient Greece Redemption - Part 5

Prisoner again … But this time it’s different, something has changed … Once the hoplites captured me at the Orpheus Cave TP, they put me on a wagon that swayed along roads and highways … My hands had been tied, my eyes were blindfolded and gagged, and I didn’t know where they were taking me, But …

Thebes was very close to Orpheus, I don’t understand why it took us so long to get there … It seems as if they took me another way …

After a few hours, the wagon stopped … they grabbed me and threw me out of the carriage in a bad way … I hit the ground hard. Damn Greeks !!! They don’t take care of anything …

-Is he? - A distorted voice asked the hoplites … Without a doubt he had a vocoder or some kind of voice distorter … I remember my grandfather watching an old Videovision series of robots called “Cylons” … this voice sounded the same.

-Yes, he is the murderer … But we should have taken him to the Queen - The hoplite spoke uncertainly … Without a doubt they were going to do something illegal with me.

-Listen, Greek … Here is the agreed payment, 10k peds … You distribute it among your men and you say that it escaped you, or whatever … But the murderer comes with me. -The voice denoted someone used to command

-Foreigner, if the queen discovers us we will not be worth anything … and there are 6 of us in the patrol … some more money would come in handy, I don’t know if you understand me … - The Greek undoubtedly wanted to get something more for my sale.

There was a pause … The stranger would be considering what to do … He sighed …

-Okay … 2k more peds … okay? -Another pause …

I could see in my mind the Greek wondering if he was okay … looking at his companions …

-Okay, foreigner … take the murderer and go.

The footsteps of the Greeks were heard as they approached the wagon … sounds of getting up and settling, and then starting off … Funny, I didn’t know there were horses in Greece, come on, in fact I had never seen any.

The sounds receded, and I was still bound and gagged, waiting …

-Well, friend, now it’s our turn. - The distorted voice addressed me, no doubt.

I heard how he was looking for something, sounds … possibly he was looking for something in a backpack or something similar … I heard how he was armed with something metallic … a weapon? Was he going to execute me?

He grabbed my clothes and pulled … the tunic ripped at my shoulder, leaving him naked … He leaned something cold metallic on it and …

A wave of pain … enormous … As if my body were ripped from the inside out … Agonizing pain … like …

Like when I was deleted from the DNA databases … or when I was connected to the databases in Calypso years ago …

Have I been reconnected to DNA and TP banks?

A strong jerk and the gag tore off … a snap and the ropes that linked my hands were cut … The stranger was releasing me …

I raised my hands and was able to remove the blindfold … I blinked when the light hit my eyes, and I saw him …

A strange black armor, impenetrable… imposing-looking… He reached his right hand to his neck, under the full-face helmet that covered his head, and removed something that he threw to the ground… A portable voice distortion.

I looked at him … something about his bearing seemed familiar to me, but I didn’t quite know who he really was …

Finally, he reached his hand to the armor control, pressed it, and the helmet folded up … At last I could see his face …

-Hi Dante … ready to go back to work?

I couldn’t believe it… a star-shaped hologram projected over his head as he smiled at me.

-Chief Socrates !!! What’s going on???

3 Likes

I will pop all 4 parts in the one post this time, to save the spam. This is for august. Thanks

A wanderer lost.

It was another long hot day on Next island. The sun baked down on our weary explorer, yet it was hard not be in love with this place. The cool turquoise waters, tropical forests and enchanting wildlife was certain not something you tire of quickly. Bonnie had been exploring the final parts of the Island she had not been to yet, whilst contemplating returning to Ancient Greece. She was reminded of the stranger in at Thebes, who had encouraged her to come visit this place, but as of yet was left wondering why. Sure it had been lots of fun exploring, the locals and wildlife were certainly unique!, but she was left with a feeling like she was missing something.

The museum at Conqs Rest was full of clues of the factions and creatures who inhabited these lands, but there was a sense something was missing, or that she had not yet found. On her travels and conversations with the locals, the friendly ones that is, she had learned of the great exodus and the legend of the Pillars of Ether, and for as much as it made for some nice history of the people here, it did not help explain the dark forces which seemed to be at work in these lands. Each factions story of events varied, it was hard to know who to trust. Her instinct for adventure and exploration, was firmly set from her space exploration days, and as much as she longed to head back to the stars, she knew she had to finish what she started here, and find the Haruspex Elder.

The sun was beginning to set, the red and purple sky looking very fitting for this island paradise. As the air cooled, Bonnie mustered up the energy to continue the search. “Tanzanite” She read aloud from her map, “surely there must be some sort of clue there!”

The Stolen Gift.

Bonnie travelled across the map before finally arriving in Tanzanite. It was much a kin to some of there other places she had visited before. A few buildings here and some palms there. Bonnie sighed, deflated in her lack of finding anything of much interest. Just as she was about to leave, the winds picked up, spiralling dust all around the teleporter she was going to use, she glanced over to the swaying of the palm trees, when she was struck to see a faint green glow. “What on earth, or should I say Next Island, is that” thought Bonnie.

The winds settled as she approached the now still tree, and to her great wonder there it was, a glowing orb, like the kind she had seen before in Orpheus.

It was an elder, of the Haruspex. Although it would usually seem odd conversing with an orb, there was not much surprising these days! The elder spoke of a great tragedy and that they needed help. The Haruspex had been busy creating a new armour set, as a thank to the human colony for the continued assistance. " A very powerful armour" the Elder emphasized. “However, unbeknownst to us, they have apparently been corrupted by the influence of the Demra, and that has persuaded them to keep the armours. They have stolen our gift to you.” He continued.

“Wait” Bonnie interjected, “who is Demra?” She asked trying to make sense of it all. It turned it it wasn’t a who at all, but a what, a molecule that might hold all the answers in these strange and beautiful lands. Bonnie had the feeling she was only scratching the surface of what really went on here.

“The molochs are very powerful, and with this armour, they may attempt to take that world, especially it they are under the influence of the Demra corruption. We need you to stop them, to fight them in their depths and retake the gift.” The elder warned.
The elder passed her the details of the ways to get to the depths, and the blood sacrifices that will be required. “It is time to take back what is ours” Bonnie shouted to the elder and she rushed off to the teleport to begin this new and exciting quest.

Blood on your hands.

Unfurling the paper she had stuffed in her arm guards, Bonnie tried to make sense of her smudged list. It was her notes she had made whilst speaking with the Haruspex elder, the details of all the items she would need to get into the depths where the Molochs were, and of course what creatures will need to be sacrificed. She had met many of them on her travels, so had an inkling where they each might live, yet it did seem like an awful lot of blood was to be spilled for this.

Arriving at the beautiful beach under the shadow of the cliff side settlement of Crystal peaks, she chatted with the local gatherers, who were busy secreting the sweat from the large blue birds to later sell on. Bonnie was impressed by not only their patience, but the military precision in which they encircled the creatures to ensure maximum efficiency in the process.

She was careful to keep away from the birds, or screechers as they were known locally, the group were working on, and soon enough she had her sacrifices of the screechers checked off the list, and it was time to move onto the desert.

“These ones are mine!” an angry voice called in the distance, before her teleportation chip had even a chance to cool down. “I guess I am not the only one the Elder has sent” Bonnie chuckled to herself, moving away from the disgruntled hunter. The desert to the north was vast, but the creature herds not so much! The little desert crawlers certainly lived up to their name, but finding let alone killing 2000 of them seemed to be more challenging that she first imagined. “It’s too hot here anyway” Bonnie grumbled, " to hunt during the day anyway, I’ll come back at dusk" Bonnie reasoned with herself, deciding it was time to go swimming in those beautiful waters instead. “How hard can killing a few sharks be?” She continued, leaving the blistering heat behind.

Shark bait

The cool water was a pleasant change from the burning sand, as she made her way down the beach and onto the shore line. The sea in front was vast, but seemingly surrounded almost on all sides by land. They waters were as deep as the sea lochs she remembered from her time on ancient earth, yet much warmer! “Should be easy enough to hunt here” Bonnie thought as she slipped under the water.

Using electricity under water to kill things, whilst you are also under water… doesn’t usually sound like the best idea, however Bonnies mindforce implant protected her from the dangers of self destruction. A few zapped sharks later, Bonnie was sure she saw something much larger in the water from the corner of her eye.

Her eyes darted to each of the creatures in visible range. “No, they are all the same” She thought as she studied each one meticulously". " Must have just been a shadow" She re-assured herself.
Then it happened again, something moved, something huge! In the distance, there was an enormous shadowy shape swimming through the waters. Bonnie immediately called for backup from her crew who were also in the area completing the mission.

A small group of hunters assembled. “What is it?” one of them asked. “Whatever it is, its huge!” another replied." Well lets find out, shall we?" Said the admiral as his warning shot hurtled through the water toward the great beast. In that very instance, it turned and raced through the depths at break neck speed towards them. For such a mammoth creature it could move as though the water parted in front of it. “MEGALADON!!” Bonnie yelled as they all braced for impact. The sheer force of the creature on the water surrounding them knocked them all off kilter. Regaining their positions they opened fire on the fearsome mob, jostling to stay in position against its ferocious onslaught. Eventually the group gained the upper hand, and the beast was no more. “Now I know which ones not to shoot.” Bonnie joked to her team mates, as they each went in separate directions, hoping all to meet again when they can each gain entry to the Molochs Depths.

3 Likes

Here once again the 5 Stories for August. As you may see the magical forest instance lore really captured my immagination and I hope there will be more news , lore especially about the ape and the spirit of the blue menace:

Finding the lonely ape

Although I got up today with a terrible headache from my night at the Beach Bar, I still remember a conversation I had with one of the locals about the lonely ape. In fact, since the ape never was seen near a civilisation of Next Island and according to the description lives where not many people pass by, the local insisted to rather call him a very lonely ape. From the description I got the local told me to go to Hillside Hideout and travel north from there on.

After some time of traveling with my Sleipnir I finally arrived at Hillside Hideout, there was a small Shed where Joan the Gentle stood firm, but he told me to mind my own business, so I moved on the slope up the mountain. Always checking my compass that I should be heading north. When I reached the top of the slope, I enjoyed the view back and, in the distance, I could see a river crossing the planes. After a small break I went on passing through mountains in the middle of nowhere. I checked my compass once again since I wasn’t sure anymore if I was heading to the right direction. Suddenly a tower appeared in the far distance and a big pillar, I was not sure if this was a natural rock pillar or if it was human shaped. Anyways I got into my Sleipnir and flew across the canyon.

To my surprise when I reached the big pillar, I suddenly explored a teleport in this deserted place. The Death Valley Teleport seemed to be a fitting name for a teleport where you could fall down a cliff in almost all directions. There was only one path leading down from my location and to it’s right there was a natural platform. And there I saw the lonely ape just standing near the edge.

Decipher the Inscriptions of the Pyramid

Despite my genuine interest of solving that old Next Island mystery, my mining addiction carries me away from time to time, especially when it looks like there are many claims that like to be discovered in a deserted place. Instead of speaking to the lonely monkey near Death Valley Teleporter as intended yesterday, I dropped a mining probe, since I instantly hit a lysterium deposit. I pressed on and did a big mining run all the way from Death Valley teleporter across the river and up again to Conq’s Rest. When I arrived there in the late afternoon, I needed a rest myself and sort all the ores I have mined.

Today I was fresh and ready for finally solving that mystery. I ported to Death Valley and spoke to the very lonely ape. Surprisingly the ape was already expecting me to ask him about the pyramid. He said I look as if an interesting question was about to leavy my lips. Something is strange with this ape, because the next thing that he said was: “Most people who pass me by have nothing to say that I want to hear”. This sounds to me as if this ape can read minds. How is he otherwise supposed to know what people that are passing by would want to say without them even speaking to him. As well before I even asked my question, he knew I was different, and I had something special on my mind.

After my question and the short conversation, he told me to go back to the pyramid and decipher the text. I ported back to shadow hill and made my way back to the pyramid. This time when I approached the symbols of the pyramid, I could finally read them, but I still could not really make sense of them. I guess I must think about them while drinking a Black Mamba at the bar. Maybe it will inspire me for some smart idea that will make sense of these words.

Wild thoughts about the mysterious Pyramid

“Spirits of the blue menace, this we build for you. You who seem to move through dimensions and possess others, this we build for you. We wish you now give us peace, since this was built for you.” This is the inscription on the pyramid. As for now it’s hard to make sense of these word but yesterday I had several ideas at the bar how I could interpret them.

My first thought was not about the writing itself but why did this lonely ape know how to read the ciphers on the pyramid. There are three options:

  1. He witnessed those spirits of the blue menace

  2. He was part of the group that was originally building the pyramid

  3. He is a spirit of the blue menace

Let’s pick all those theories apart one by one.

  1. If he just was witnessing either the building of the pyramid or the spirit of the blue menace it would still not explain why he can read their language. From this standpoint he needed to at least have interacted with either the spirits or the group that built the pyramid. When he interacted with the spirits it would be strange that he would not be affected by such powerful beings. Only explanation for this theory would be that he was trading with the group that built the pyramid and therefore knew their language.

  2. What supports the theory that he was helping in building the pyramid is that he knew how to read all those signs. He knew about the pyramid from the start. In this case I would assume that he and all other Papoos on Next Island might have been smart beings before they started to get possessed by this spirit of the blue menace. Going by this theory this lonely ape and Sebastian would be some of the only ones that got not possessed and therefore are still able to speak and express themselves.

  3. He is himself a spirit of the blue menace or is possessed by one of these. What supports this theory is mainly a feeling… the feeling that from my first interaction with him it did feel as if he could read my mind.

Despite my theorizing I think finally there is no other way of finding out what this pyramid is all about than confronting this lonely ape again. I really hope I will get some more information after we talk.

The cluster of pillars I

Since I couldn’t find any more information about this pyramid, I visited the lonely ape again. When I approached him, he told me that there is no reason for me to speak. This was quite an odd way to start a conversation, or was it more stopping a conversation, but since I met him before I knew he can be a bit strange. He went on telling me that he already knows what I want to know and that he can’t answer my question and is not sure that anybody could. Still, he provided me with the information that I should look for something old and out of place on the planet. And before I got to ask him where I should start my search or what exactly I should look for, I remembered that I think I have read something about it somewhere in the northern part of the desert.

This time I didn’t search the northern desert around Shatterrock. Instead, I started my search just south of flashpoint and explored around the coast of this desert if I find any of those pillars. I went a long way along the shore and after some time I reached Salvation Outpost, I haven’t really found any special pillars but at least the view of the big lake in the middle of Next Island accompanied me along the way. I made a short rest and pressed on towards Kamba Outpost, crossed a small river on they way and arrived in Kamba Outpost a bit later.

Since I already covered over half of the north of the desert, I thought I go and ask some locals if they have heard or seen those strange pillars. Even tough I didn’t get any helpful information Hiresh hired me to kill some Arges and promised me some crystals I can choose from as reward. Since I needed to kill some Arges anyways for my Ascalaris Mission, I got side-tracked once again and made a trip to Ancient Greece for the rest of the day.

The cluster of pillars II

Today was finally the day I found the cluster of pillars. After having a sleep and getting my rewards from Hiresh in the Mmrning, I went to the west of Kamba Outpost near the cost. After a short time, I realized that there are many wild boars in the distance. I went out of reach on a ledge and soon saw a forest in the distance, when I realized that to my left there seemed to be some pillars below me. I stopped took and slowly approached them. After all this talk with the ape and thoughts about the spirit of the blue menace, I was cautious to not make any dumb moves. As I approached, I saw something between the pillars, it did strike me quite odd to see something growing in the middle of nowhere. Something different than the usual trees that have acclimated themselves to the desert.

In the middle of those pillars there was a big mushroom, with a strange fog around it. Not only the fog was strange, but the size of the mushroom was really impressing as well, also from the distance I could tell that he was quite a bit taller than I am. Quite near the mushroom there was a broken cartwheel that looked to be quite old from a long forgotten time. In this moment I realized that I have seen some sign like that mushroom on the pyramid. I went on and touched the mushroom and had a feeling that reminded me of my first travel to Ancient Greece, but I didn’t teleport away. Something still seems to be missing. I may need a teleportation key that this mushroom works.

I decided to go back to the pyramid and have again a close look at the signs and there I saw some symbols that were familiar. It looks like I would need some magic flowers, amazon legs, chimera hearts and cyclops wrist guards. From the paintings I need them all when I go to the mushroom.

Some of those ingredients I already have in my storage, but I am afraid some of them like the amazon legs still are missing. I am not as confident as I was before in revelling this mystery after knowing that I need a leg of a creature that outright kills me when I go near them. For now I have come far with the mystery, but I might wait a few months till I can hunt amazons myself, before I will attempt to solve this mystery completely.

3 Likes

Harriot’s lore for September.

The Gorgon’s Lair
Entry #107

Before we could even speak a pack of angry mutant boars descended on us. I managed to quickly shove Charlotte in the direction of the stone structure where she found a place to hide. With her out of the way, I could fight to my hearts content. They were fast, but I was much faster, dispatching them with little effort. When the last boar hit the ground, Charlotte emerged slowly.

“Is that all of them?” Charlotte had a sheepish look on her face.

“For now. We need to get moving, the other boars would have heard the commotion.”

Charlotte nodded her head readily as we made our way back to safety.

Back at the cave Charlotte was looking over her tattered map frowning at it as if it would magically show her the answers. A small smirk crossed my face. She must have noticed as her enquiry was now on me and not the map. Her steely look was at times intimidated; she was turning into a fine member of the Resa.

“You know something right? You seem too calm about this whole situation.”

“I have a feeling I found the right place while you were still fast asleep. But I didn’t travel beyond the cave entrance so what awaits us there, I have no clue. I’m not even sure if we are fully prepared for what’s waiting on the other side.”

Charlotte’s eyes were brighter than the night stars, she was almost jumping with excitement.

“Well, what are we waiting for! I’ve spent many years studying and researching for this moment. I can’t wait a second longer.”

This time round the cave was almost too easy to find. I almost didn’t even need the markers I had left to find the way. Charlotte was jotting things down and taking in the scenery. Stopping at every moment to examine things, I had never seen someone so excited over broken remains.

Once we reached the cave entrance, I didn’t have time to warn Charlotte of the strange effect it had. For a moment I hoped it was just a one-time thing, but once again that dizzy drunken feeling washed over both me and Charlotte. Sending us stumbling into the cave. I sat for a moment waiting for the dizzy spell to pass, Charlotte however, looked as bright and chipper as always.

“I guess you can’t handle a drink either then, someday I’ll take you out for a proper drink. But first, look at this place…” She was noting things down as if they would vanish into thin air. Her eyes grew wide when she turned around and saw the mosaic.

“Wait, that looks like a Teleporter. I wonder if it still works.” Before I could even get my bearings, she vanished before my eyes.

I sat staring at the empty space she left behind. A thought crossed my mind. I had gotten her this far; it didn’t mean I had to follow her into the unknown. I had no clue where that teleporter leaded to, or even if it were only a one-way system. But despite my better judgment, I couldn’t leave Charlotte alone. How she had lived this long was beyond me.

The Gorgon’s Lair
Entry #108

Charlotte was nowhere to be seen on the other side. I was in a cave, the Haruspex Elder seemed to glare at me and for a magical glowing ball I didn’t think that was even possible. Just as I was about to approach it, Charlotte came bounding into the cave.

“You have to see this, come on. There’s no time to waste.” She dragged me to the entrance of the cave. My eyes had to adjust to the sunlight as it beamed over the harbour. Ships that bore the Haruspex symbol laid wait at the harbour as if awaiting adventure. Perfect white buildings stood proudly across from us. For something named ‘Ancient’ this place looked as if everything had just been built.

“I can’t believe it, it’s actually real. I’m going to run ahead; I’ll meet you on the other side.” Before I could stop her, she sprinted off into the distance. This place was not on any map I had, I needed to be careful. Just in case, I started to mark trees as I went along so that I could find my way back.

Without warning, I was ambushed. A scary warrior-like woman came bounding down the hill. Myrinian. I had seen a few from a very far distance on Next Island but this was my first time seeing one up close and personal. I was about to ready myself to the imminent attack, but before I could draw my sword an arrow came flitting through the air, landing a devastating blow to the Myrinian.

“You’d better be careful around these parts.” Charlotte was trailing after the warrior that had just saved me. “Now who are you? I haven’t seen you around here before. You from the mainland? I mean you look like you are.”

“I’m Charlotte, this is my companion Harriot, she’s not much of a talker.”

“I’m Byron, you’re lucky my hunting party was passing by here. Ancient Greece is full of dangers. You’d best watch your step.” The man standing before us wore no symbols of any Next Island faction instead he wore strange armour that I had never seen before. In his hands he held the most magnificent bow which I had never seen anyone own such a weapon.

“Well, maybe you could help us Byron, have you heard of the Gorgon. I know in Ancient Greek mythology, she was known to be able to turn men to stone. I also recall there being 3 of them in total…” Charlotte took a moment to assess the strange glare Byron had given her. “Sorry I talk a lot, I haven’t spoken with many people for a long time.”

“Yeah, doesn’t show much… Anyways I know of the creature you speak of; you’d best go talk to Bat, he’ll give you the full story on that place.”

“Bat? Wait, you have talking bats here?” Charlotte’s naivety was almost endearing. Byron let out a hearty laugh.

“Batiatus, once you know what you’re letting yourselves in for, meet me by the sea near here. I can give you a lift over to the island.”

Batiatus had a lot to say on the matters involving the Gorgon and her Enslaved Daudaomurs. Charlotte listened with intense focus jotting down every word he spoke. I left her to it while I went back to the market place we had passed on our way here.

The Gorgon’s Lair
Entry #109

The Market was bustling with Ancient Greek residents bartering over unique goods. Spices wafted through the air; the scent was so strong it almost made me sneeze. One stall I came across held decorative pots, some looked like the ones I had seen buried around Next Island but there was one that looked practically modern. I found myself caught up hopping from stall to stall, it was nice walking around people that didn’t seem to care what faction I belonged to or where I came from.

I felt a tap on my shoulder, my natural instincts kicked it and I began to draw my sword.

“Woo, it’s just me. No need to cut my head off or anything.” Charlotte was smiling while still jotting down notes in her note pad. “So, this is the market place. Oh, this is pretty. I wonder how they trade for goods here.” Charlotte was holding a pendant that looked as if it were made from clay.

“We don’t have time for this did you get the information you needed.”

“Oh, right yes, got everything I need for my report. Shall we meet Byron now?”

Byron was waiting at the end of the dock. He had a small looking boat tethered to the dock.

“She might not be pretty, but she’ll make it to the Island that holds the Gorgon.”

It was a seemingly long boat trip across the sea, at one point I thought Byron was about to kill us and dump our bodies in the sea.

“There she is, though be careful up there. Lot of nasty things on that island.”

What looked like a spiked fortress came into view. It looked almost imposing, until it clicked that the ‘spikes’ were actually a rock formation. The distant roar of voices could be heard from where the boat came ashore.

“And here’s where I leave ya, I think you’re crazy for venturing up there. There’s a teleport at the top if you get too scared and want to run away.” Byron’s tone was light-hearted as if it were merely a joke but there was a hint of fear in his eyes.

At the entrance stood wounded soldiers from all sides and planets. We hid just before the row of armed guards. A Stel group had just arrived, they were laughing and joking together.

“Don’t worry lads, Perseus will save us. He’s a legend that defeated her once before right.” A roar of laughter could be heard. Perseus, Jerad’s brother. He looked sheepish but joked alongside them. If any warrior were to defeat the Gorgon, Perseus was not my first choice. He seemed to pause for a moment, as if trying to delay the inevitable.

“You guys go ahead; I’m just going to pick up some more supplies.” The Stel warriors gave him a knowing glance.

“Don’t worry we’ll kill her before you get back.”

Perseus seemed to pace outside the entrance for a moment as if trying to talk himself into facing what laid beyond the row of guards.

Before I could stop her Charlotte walked up to him. I planted my back firmly against the rock, one day she’d be the death of me.

The Gorgon’s Lair
Entry #110

“Hi, I’m Charlotte. So, this is her lair then?” She was staring wide-eyed up and the spiked mountains that seemed to reach around as far as the eye could see.

I took a deep breath, Perseus was the least of my worries, if it came to it, I could fend for both me and Charlotte. I found myself doing the thing I thought I would never do. I gave up my cover to try avoid Charlotte walk in on something she had no clue about.

“What did I tell you about talking to strangers?” Perseus looked on edge at my presence.

“I know but does he look like a blood-raging murderer to you?” Perseus looked mildly offended before almost bursting into laughter.

“We’ve met before, right? You were asking about Jerad.” My guard went up. Charlottes ears seemed to perk up.

“Well, that doesn’t matter now.” My words were barely a whisper.

“Wait he’s the one that you found those journals from. I must have read them a thousand time. Oh, don’t mind me, this is my friend Harriot. And assuming by all that teasing before that you are Perseus well not the Perseus of legend but… Sorry I talk too much.” Charlotte and her constant need to talk was a killer for my reputation.

“Harriot… Why does that name seem familiar?” Before he could speak screams came whaling from the Gorgon’s lair. About half a dozen people streamed out of the entrance, some of which were injured. One Stel officer seemed to indicate to Perseus.

“Call for back-up. Your new friends there seem like they came ready to fight, we need all the support we can get.”

The inky black water swished about our feet as we clambered over dead snake bodies and humans a like. Charlotte’s face showed no fear, she jotted down notes almost as if unaware of the battle we could hear raging in the background. Her pen almost fell from her hands when her eyes met the Gorgon’s. But before she could express her excitement, some kind of energy surged towards her, I only barely managed to save her from it.

The Gorgon herself was like nothing I had ever seen. 10 times bigger than the tallest man in her lair. Her body was coiled like a snake, yet there was something majestic about her. Before I could fully admire her more, I dragged Charlotte behind one of the stone statues. A stone statue that looked far too life-like. I hated to admit it but for my own preservation all I could see was a losing battle.

“I don’t know about you but this just seems like a death sentence. There’s no way we’ll get close enough to her let alone get one of those crazy… yup, crazy she has snakes as her hair!” Charlotte pouted at me like a sulking child.

“You have the brawn; I have the knowledge. Together we can win this.” Charlotte has a steely look of determination in her eyes.

“Tell me your idea and I’ll think about it.”

The Ancient One’s Trial
Entry #111

Her idea was maybe just crazy enough to work. While the Gorgon was distracted by a full-on attack, I managed to sneak around the back of her. I thought for sure those snakes in her hair would spot me, but just like Charlotte had told me, she had a blind spot. I readied my sword as I stood in wait to strike at the right moment. Our plan wasn’t to defeat the Gorgon but to cut a snake from her hair while she was distracted. Charlotte had fashioned a lasso onto my sword, all that was needed was the right angle and speed to throw it, then cut and run.

The Gorgon never saw me coming, my heart was beating faster than I ever dared possible. It was now or never. With the strongest highest throw, I could ever manage, the blade sored into the air like a kite. The deadly sharp blade glinted in the light just before the loudest scream could be heard. She had stopped and was now focused fully on me. Now’s the time to run! My mind went blank, I almost forgot to pick up the snake hair strand that was still wriggling on the ground. The moment it was in my hand my legs sprinted as fast as they would carry me. Though during her brief interest in me, the other warriors had taken the chance and attack her with everything they had left. Just as my foot hit the edge of her lair, a loud scream of excitement could be heard.

Perseus was standing shaking by the entrance.

“Don’t think that move got past me. It was stupid and brave and probably wasn’t even intended to give the others a chance to defeat her. Almost reminds me of my…” He grew quiet for a moment. “You’d best leave here before the other Stel find out who you really are. Harriot …”

Charlotte was waiting for me outside the lair. Her eye’s lit up when she saw the snake hair in my hands.

“You got it! I thought for sure that plan would fail… I mean, wow it really worked.”

“Now we need to get out of here before they decided the Gorgon isn’t their only enemy.”

Back at Morion Outpost the boars were on edge as if something had spooked them. Before we could even make one step towards the place we needed, they charged blindly into the awaiting turrets. We spent the entire journey fighting are way to the stagnant pond. The boars seem to have started to congregate here also. But as soon as the black smoke figure appeared once again, the boars seemed to squeal and shy away from the pond.

“I see you are back. By the fact you are still alive I believe you have failed the task I assigned.”

The black smoke almost seemed to grin. Before another word was said the snake hair landed with a loud thud on the ground.

“If you want to really test me, try something more challenging.” My words were strong and taunting, yet I knew I didn’t mean those words, the Gorgon was certainly a match far greater than I had imagined.

Ancient Ground’s
Entry #112

“Maybe I was wrong about you, maybe a ‘Resa’ will bring peace to this land once again. For the sake of this Island, I hope I’m not wrong in trusting you. But for you to truly succeed you must rely on others. The bone’s laid here will lead you to a place known to locals as the Ancient Ruins. We however, have a different name for it.”

Just as the smoke figure said the bones, that looked far smaller than any human bones, lead us straight to the Ancient Ruins. I had been here once or twice before. The place was crawling with Red Papoo’s, Charlottes eyes grew wide when she saw the beaten down building.

“So, this is the place. Somehow I was expecting more mystical stuff like dragons to be guarding such a place.”

“The drakes are more interested in the volcanoes and mountains.”

“Wait so there are dragon’s?”

“Dragon’s, drake’s same difference, right? Can we get this over with now? This place always has a weird feeling about it.”

The bones led us to a spot just behind the building. What looked like golden fireflies floating to the sky stood before us. It was somewhat beautiful and chilling at the same time.

“Now this is more like it.” Charlotte wasted no time at all laying to rest the bones of the Ancient One. A huge gust of wind picked up as the last bone was buried before dying down to a gentle breeze. “I guess that settles it then. So, what’s next?” Charlotte was looking at me as if ready for her next adventure.

“Now, you go home.” My words held nothing but sadness in them.

“Don’t you mean we ?” I turned away before Charlotte could interrogate me more on the matter.

We barely spoke all day in the cave. I had prearranged with my smuggler friend to set up her journey back to Calypso for after we had finished what needed to be done. Part of me regretted following through with the plan, but it was the right time. She had people waiting for her, people that probably worried about her and thought she were dead all these years. If she stayed with me, I couldn’t guarantee she would be alive by the end of the week, heck even I didn’t know what would happen next.

The morning of her departure she woke up early to talk with me.

“Harriot… I don’t know what to say, if you truly don’t want me here, I’ll leave in an instant. But I need to know why.” I let out the longest sigh ever.

“You’re my first ever, friend… Of course, I don’t want you to go, but there are people waiting, your research waiting… If you stay here there’s nothing but a life of hiding and fighting every day to survive. Maybe our paths will cross again, but you have your own path to walk. I can’t block that for you.”

“I understand, I’ll go but not to follow my path. I will work on finding a way for you to not have to fight for your life every day. And I will be back you can count on it. Maybe one day we can even get a proper house here and find a place for all these treasures in the cave.”

2 Likes

TITTLE: Wuthering Halls

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Part 1

I couldn’t believe what i saw: The Planetary Chief Socrates had secretly saved my life … So, he knew that I was innocent, or else he knew about Desmond’s plans …

-Chief Socrates … how is it possible? - I still didn’t believe i was free.

-Dante, remember that I must know EVERYTHING about MY Planet … -Again that strange feeling of possession was seen in the way of talking about Next Island. He sat on the grass next to me.

-Listen… Your wife and your friend the Toulano came to see me and told me everything they knew about your adventures with Simon and Desmond … The planetary TP and the betrayal of some members of the Stel faction … We had to intervene.

-But… why didn’t you intervene in person? You are the Planetary Chief of this area of ​​the Entropy Quadrant.

Chief Socrates looked at me amused, as if he had to explain a lesson to a student.

-Let’s see Dante, this is … Politics … There are several factions in Next Island, and also a kingdom from another time, Ancient Greece … The balance is precarious between all the factions … I can’t intervene in one, because the others would throw themselves like wolves to take the place, and what is worse … that instability would lead to problems with the Central Government of Calypso … there they have their own problems with the robots, and if something happens on a planet in the Entropy Quadrant, they fire the Planetary Chief and put another in his place … and we don’t want that to happen, do we, Dante?

Power games … that’s what I was involved in now because of Desmond, Mark and the handling of some of the VIP Stel.

-So, Dante, we will have to do it in a discreet, hidden way … If the planetary TP is known because of this crisis, there will be chaos between the factions trying to take advantage of the possible advantage if they find the place … We cannot allow it.

-Yeah, Boss … and in this interval we have lost Simon … he was a great help despite our differences, but now he’s dead … -deep down I felt guilty for his death.

-Too bad we couldn’t resuscitate him, -Socrates said.

I was amazed … could it be resurrected despite being removed from the DNA data banks ?. I asked Chief Socrates, who explained to me that with a DNA sample the avatar could be reconstructed with memories up to the moment of death … The bad thing is Desmond was cremated in Ancient Greece once the investigation was finished; Furthermore, when he sold himself as a mercenary, he was very jealous of his privacy and security and, therefore, no one knew where he lived … Maybe in his house there was some DNA residue to be able to reconstruct it.

-I’m sorry Boss, but I don’t know where he lived either … Too bad I couldn’t bring him the Viceroy helmet that I gave him.

-Were you going to give him a helmet? -Socrates asked.

-Yes, he said that Viceroy helmets were his favorites, so I looked for one for him … When we came back from Teleporting I was able to get a contraband one … I showed it to him, he tried it on but it was too big for him, so he left it to me to read. I will change it for another … and with so much trouble with the animals, Desmond and everything else, it stayed in my private storage …

-He tried it on … -Socrates was thoughtful, smiled and immediately said - Dante, we have to go for that helmet, it could be that it had some DNA from him.

-But … let’s see … I can’t go back for my storage … I’m on the run, I’m an outlaw …

-Yeah, but Katalina if she can legally go after your belongings. -Socrates was in everything.

We notified Katalina … in a couple of hours she showed up … We hugged each other tightly while Socrates quietly retreated to the background … After that intimate moment we explained the whole situation to her, and what she had to do: Report to the Stel barracks where we resided and go to my private Storage, which was in the basement of the building. Each Stel has a private Storage that only he can open, unless there is some authorization for a close relative, and that’s what we were going to do… I wonder what is in Katalina’s Private Storage… I’ve never known.

The rest of the afternoon was spent by Socrates and I chatting amiably about the political situation in the Entropy Quadrant, until Katalina appeared in her Quad… She had a package in her hand: It was the famous Viceroy helmet… Socrates took it, went to his backpack and He pulled out the strange device that he had undoubtedly used to reconnect to the DNA Banks.

Katalina and I watched with interest … the strange device launched a bluish beam into the helmet, scanning it … Seconds later, images of the people whose DNA was in the helmet appeared on the screen: A known Arkadian smuggler, me himself, Katalina who had just brought it in her hands, another who would undoubtedly be the Crafter … and someone whose DNA was missing or had been erased … Possibly it was Simon …

We got going … we went to a nearby revive and entered the data of the unknown subject … the Revive stayed for a while processing … and a green light appeared on the terminal: The data had been 99.92% accepted … That is, some failure was possible …

We all looked at each other … Socrates manually activated the “Revive”, and immediately afterwards, a form appeared lying on the ground between great flashes … he was naked, and in his strong muscles you could make out the scar on his belly that I had made with my SI Knife some time ago, before we were friends … He moved … he turned his face with his eyes open, and we saw a spot in the shape of a lightning bolt on his skin, on the left side of his face … Without a doubt, the result of 0.08% of mistake. Simon jerked to his feet, staring into space as he screamed.

-Damn Desmond !!! I’ll take you with me to hell even if it’s the last thing I do !!!

He collapsed backwards giving a strong blow … without a doubt his mind was recreating the moment of his death … We had to give him time, but the important thing is that he was alive and we had a good mercenary in our ranks … Desmond and his dirty dealings had their days numbered …

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Part 2:

-I can’t believe it… I can’t believe it, damn it !!

The one who spoke thus was Simon … once he woke up and could focus his gaze, between the Chief Socrates and I we explained what happened, as well as his resurrection … incredulous, he looked at his image on the screen of one of our tablets … to discover the strange new scar on his face …

-Dante, every time I have to do something with you I end up with a new scar … You are unlucky chasing my butt all over Next Island…

The situation would have been very comical had it not been for the seriousness of the events … when he recovered a bit and his anger passed, Simon told us about the last seconds of his life.

-The roof fell on us, and without a doubt I lost consciousness … I was awakened by a huge, indescribable pain, from the inside out of my body … the pain of the disconnection of the DNA banks … I couldn’t move, that idiot Mark had me held with all his might … And I saw Desmond …

Simon stared at me …

-Dante, you were unconscious, and that bastard was holding your hand with the Chikara in hand … he was pointing at my neck, and his finger is on top of yours on the trigger of the gun … Damn … The very pig shot while cursing him with all my might … explosion on the neck, and all black … until a moment ago …

-Okay Simon, calm down … -Socrates put his hands on his shoulders in a friendly gesture. -It’s all over … you’re back to life, and now we must end this story before Desmond does something dangerous.

Behind us we heard the sound of the teleporting chips materializing … Moustapha appeared and our most recent acquisition, my friend JoseGaltor …

Between greetings and introductions, the six of us sat on the grass and proceeded to summarize the situation.

-The thing is as follows: - the one who spoke like that was Chief Socrates - Simon, Mark and three other VIPS, of which we already know one, know about the Planetary Teleporter, as well as the location … They also know that it is destroyed and useless, and they think they have left Simon and Dante out of the game with the fake murder …

-Then it’s easy: Use the planetary troops, stop them all five and it’s over… We restore Dante’s honor and forget all this nightmare… -Moustapha was a practical man.

-The Planetary Chief cannot choose a faction or there will be an imbalance of power … this must be done discreetly. -Katalina understood the ins and outs of power … without a doubt, its origins, of which I have not yet spoken, helped it.

-Exactly, we cannot destabilize the planet… therefore, we will have to… -The sound of the InterCOM interrupted Socrates - Wait a minute… Chief forward, Roger.

-Chief Socrates, here follow-up … the bird went to the TP directly to Shadow Hill.

-Let’s go there, copy that. -Socrates closed the communication, and addressed us - Gentlemen, it seems that the identified VIP is going to the Teleporting near the pyramid … Why?

It didn’t make sense that … the Planetary Teleporting was destroyed … there was nothing else there. Just scrap, destroyed robots, spare parts in stock…

An idea began to haunt my head …

-Simon… when we were there, we destroyed everything, didn’t we? -I asked for.

-Let’s see Dante, we put the termite charges in the TP and we burst it … -Simon answered looking at me strangely …

-As far as we know, we could not see more of that pyramid … the corridor, the entrance, the gigantic door through which we left, the teleporter type entrance through which we entered … was there only that? -I asked the question. JoseGaltor was the one who answered.

-And if there were more than one teleporter room inside? -That’s it … someone else saw my idea.

-It doesn’t make sense … Desmond would have used her to run away. - Simon cut the possibility … Now it was my turn.

-What Desmond said … “colleagues will come to hack the system” … and those spare parts that were in boxes …

Socrates put words to my suspicions …

-The fellow hackers are the other two unidentified VIPS … and with any spare parts … they will try to rebuild the Planetary Teleporter !!!

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Part 3

With a flash, we appeared in the TP closest to the coordinates we had of the pyramid … Being registered in the DNA banks I was able to enter the Storages network again and recover my weapons and my old Viceroy … With Simon it was something more complicated, because their belongings were already in the previous warehouses for the global auction, due to having “died”… But with the permits and authorizations of Chief Socrates, the bureaucracy fell at our feet.

Once prepared, Socrates spoke to us:

-Sirs … from now on I cannot accompany you … The “official” presence of the Chief of Next Island would be counterproductive in the political balance … Therefore, from now on you are alone …

We looked at each other: Moustapha, JoseGaltor, Simon, Katalina and myself … Armed, willing, but in case of a mistake, they would deny knowing our operation … I remembered a former elite corps of covert operations, true shadow heroes but, if something came out wrong, he denied any relationship, knowledge or support. Socrates continued:

-Okay, the orders are as follows: Re-enter the pyramid, destroy a possible second Teleporter or the previous one if it had been rebuilt, destroy the spare parts, everything … regarding Desmond, Mark and the three VIPS, they must be taken prisoner … They will later be taken to the Secret Services of the government of the Entropy Quadrant in Calypso … and they will cease to be our problem.

We nod in silence … we prepare the coordinates of the pyramid in our teleporter chips and …

With a flash, we appeared in the vicinity of the pyramid … there it is, a few hundred meters from us … black, silent … and with several Krakas parked nearby … We were not alone …

We approached carefully … the black mass grew as we got closer … There was no one watching, something logical because no one knew those coordinates except those who were there …

The pyramid had a Teleporter-type upper entrance, which was accessed with the chips that some of the guardian robots had … There was also a huge armored door at the front, almost invisible, whose opening mechanism we had broken to lock Desmond inside … but he had managed to open a hole during the months that he had remained there, and that allowed him to flee … there it was … it was not big, but it was enough to be able to pass inside …

We went inside and turned on the flashlights … the hallway was dark, although we saw remains of Desmond’s work: Abandoned tools, discharged batteries connected to long lines of cables … bloodstains from his suicides … Deep down, Desmond did not deserve the torture at hand. that Simon and I submitted to him.

JoseGaltor gestured to us pointing to a corridor … he remembered it from the other time, so we moved on … there were still traces of our passage: several guards destroyed … we followed the trail of destruction that Simon and I had created until we reached the door where we were going to stop at the Teleporter room …

We looked at each other: If Desmond and the others were there searching for the remains, we should come in by surprise, aim quickly and stop them … Two to the left, two to the right and I to the center … We count: three, two, one …

Now!!! I pushed open the door and we stormed in, shining our flashlights and pointing at possible targets …

-Stop !!! Stop there and drop your weapons !!! -we shouted as we pointed to the air … only the echo of the room answered us … We looked at each other without knowing what to do …

Nothing !!! … there were only remains of the original teleporter that Simon and I had destroyed … Traces of the explosive charges and the combustion of the termite charges … a pile of junk from drokas, drones and Calypso defenders, and the metal skeleton that had been General Kratos, but nothing more …

Where were Desmond, Mark and his henchmen ???

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Part 4

We went back down the corridor we came through, which we hadn’t fully explored now or when we were the first time … several doors opened to various rooms with machinery, boxes of spare parts and other things that we could not identify …

In some rooms we saw traces of the months that Desmond spent there, while other rooms seemed not to have been used at least by human hands …

At the end of the corridor another sliding door opened that led to a ramp that descended to a lower level … We tensed, we did not know what was there …

We put the flashlights on low intensity, so as not to denote our presence, and we slowly descended the ramp, without making noise …

The ramp was quite long, and every so often it turned and fell again, like a spiral staircase.

Suddenly, JoseGaltor, who was in the lead, raised his clenched fist: The universal signal to stop because there was something ahead … slowly we cocked the weapons, trying to keep the BLP strikers not making noise … we advanced a little more, and began to see lighting … A bluish light … and the noise of machines … and in the background, human voices …

A little further down was the last bend in the ramp … we crouched down and looked out very carefully, to see a scene that left us all petrified …

A huge room, cyclopean in size, in the center of which was a second Planetary Teleporter, but in this case of gigantic dimensions … what were you planning to transport? Eomons? Hussks?

In the background a row of monitors, terminals and other electronic devices in which the three VIPS were busy: The two who spoke with Simon and me when they paid us for our service and our silence when they discovered the Teleporter, and the third who was the one who disconnected me from the DNA banks in Ancient Greece …

Voices brought me out of my reverie: Desmond was calling Mark from the Teleporter panel, while he lowered a protective plasma welding mask … Mark was leading a small transport with materials …

We hid…

-Hell, Dante … these guys have built another teleporter … -Simon didn’t get out of his astonishment.

-Let’s see … if it’s technology from Calypso’s robots, most likely they can’t connect it without help … -JoseGaltor was right …

-And this … - Moustapha narrowed his eyes trying to see what was at the bottom of that huge hangar- What’s there at the bottom?

We looked out again… there was something huge in the shadows, but the very darkness of the background did not allow us to see what it was …

-I don’t know, but I think we should throw ourselves against them and try to stop them … -Katalina already wanted to go into combat …

-Mmmm … if I remember correctly, Desmond told me that there was a revival right here … if any of them or us dies, he will appear again in battle … That could be a draw … - I doubted the way to launch us attack…

-Maybe we should try to catch them by surprise -JoseGaltor grabbed a piece of metal from the ground and threw it hard through the gap in the ramp to the opposite side of the monitors …

The metallic “clang” was heard over the noise of the machinery … The three VIPs jumped up, with their short weapons in hand; Mark left the transport and materialized a Plasma rifle, and Desmond raised his welding mask while he stroked the grip of a Sparkbite … they all looked in the direction of the sound, which was just the opposite direction from where we were …

Everything was silent for a moment and, immediately afterwards, the five of us got up in unison with our weapons at the ready, pointing them …

-SET EVERYONE !!! NOBODY MOVE!!!

The five Stel turned to see five guys with a diverse and ferocious appearance, us, pointing them with large caliber weapons … We looked into each other’s eyes … It is curious how conscious one of small details is: a drop of sweat, a corner of the lips twisting, the flexing of the fingers on the triggers …

-Damn Dante !!! Is it that I’m never going to get rid of you ??? -Desmond was looking at me wanting to squash me like a Cyrenea fly.

-Desmond … how could you build this? And in such a short time?

-Little time? I had enough … I did not tell you everything that happened in those months that I was locked up here …

Desmond began to speak …

2 Likes

Part 5:

-Dante, I already told you that I had time to explore all this, and repair lighting and energy systems … the first time I committed suicide I appeared in the Revive that is on that corner … I saw the ramp through which I imagine you have come …

Desmond had a strange look as he thought back to the months locked up there.

-And besides, I found this Planetary Teleporter, but it wasn’t working … in fact, it was under construction … I didn’t have much to do here, except die to live again, so I spent a lot of time trying to repair it in order to escape …

Desmond always had great knowledge of engineering, so despite the misfortune of being locked in the pyramid, surely he took that as a challenge …

-The weeks passed … I learned a lot about this robotic system, so different from the teleporters of the Entropia Quadrant, but … there came a time that with my knowledge I could not do more, I needed to reprogram the computer system, but hacking is not among my skills …

He looked at the ground, perhaps saddened … Mark looked at him with intense love, possibly remembering the months that they were not together …

-When I saw that I could not do more, I decided to get out of here as it were … the weeks of attempts to open the door began … and my mind, already quite deteriorated by the confinement, the suicides and the attempts to repair something that has never been seen, it finally broke … the rest you know …

He looked up and stared at me …

-Dante, we were friends, you could have been part of this …

-Desmond … you don’t betray a planet in this way …

Out of the corner of my eye, I saw a movement … Moustapha saw it too … one of the VIPS raised his gun … The exchange of shots began …

We all took cover, both they and us … the shots ricocheted off the walls, the monitors, the boxes of equipment …

Suddenly, a shot pierced Moustapha’s chest, who fell dead next to us … he began to vibrate and, seconds later, he dematerialized … to appear on the opposite side of the room, where the Revive was …

That led nowhere: When we were mortally wounded, we would reappear … Draw … We knew it, but so did they …

Suddenly, Mark approached one of the terminals and began to type frantically while his companions covered him with the shots … What the hell was he doing?

Finally, we heard a deafening sound … we all stood still, not knowing what was happening … We looked at the dark background, where the noise was produced …

Huge red spotlights lit up in the distance … a sound like metal legs, gears … what was it?

Finally, that thing reached the illuminated area … A huge Vanguard appeared before us, with its metal legs …

Undoubtedly, Kratos had brought that huge robot, but it had not been activated the other time … and Mark had connected it …

The huge robot advanced towards us and pointed its weapons … We stood still, while the five Stel looked at us with sarcasm …

-Now what? -One of the VIPS looked at us mockingly - We have a huge ally to kill you …

Suddenly, the Vanguard spun around and looked at the VIP … he quickly aimed his gun at him and literally tore him apart with a single shot …

The Vanguard was connected, but it was not reprogrammed, so we humans were their enemies … them and us …

-Covered !!! EVERYBODY!!! - Desmond screamed like a man possessed …

It was clear: Our fight could wait, before all of us had to finish off that huge robot …

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Part 6:

We all took cover while we drew our most powerful weapons … I happened to hide near one of the VIPS … we looked at each other … now was not the time for feuds, first we had to finish off that Vanguard …

Desmond appeared on a Skyripper, shooting at that huge robot … While, JoseGaltor and Moustapha machine-gunned the robot’s legs, trying to make it stumble … Katalina fired her Lacerating in bursts trying to damage her weapons …

Simon and I had high-end Armatrix BLPs… we peeked in unison firing every last round, while we watched Mark and the other VIPS firing their guns…

The hangar was a place of destruction … the Vanguard’s shots were destroying everything, including the second teleporter, which was blown to pieces … From his Skyripper, Desmond watched in dismay … all the efforts that he had made for nothing …

A few minutes later, the Vanguard began to lose lubricating fluids and to limp … its lights flickered and, with a great crash, the huge robot collapsed, defeated …

We all stood still for a moment … We looked at each other and, like comrades, we smiled with satisfaction … but it only lasted a moment …

With a leap worthy of a cheetah, Moustapha launched himself on one of the VIPS and engaged in a hand-to-hand fight … The rest of us did the same: the only way to end it, one way or another, was hand-to-hand. .

JoseGaltor was shot down by another VIP, but he managed to keep him at bay … Katalina, with her own SI Knife feint the remaining VIP … Mark advanced towards Simon, and that left me alone with Desmond …

He glared at me as he drew his SparkBite … mine came out, and like two ancient Japanese warriors, sword against sword, we finally faced each other …

The fight was tough … But the VIPS, after all, were simple bureaucrats who had military training and had nothing to do with Katalina, Moustapha and JoseGaltor … in a few minutes the three VIPS were senseless on the ground while my colleagues immobilized and bound them …

Simon hit an already defenseless Mark … the punches were devastating … it would take more than a Regeneration Chip to fix the damage on Mark’s face … with one last blow, he collapsed senselessly at Simon’s feet … some zip ties plastic, and Mark was immobilized …

Desmond kept feinting and striking with his sword … we realized that we were fighting alone, while the others looked at us …

-Dante, you spoiled everything !!!

-You don’t see it yet, Desmond … The robots would have invaded us … give up once …

Desmond glared at me… he swung his sword and slashed through himself… Suicide?

He fell to the ground, and seconds later, his body began to dematerialize … where is the Revive? Of course!!! Now I see it.

-Katalina, go to the Revive !!!

The Revive was near one of the exit doors of the room … without a doubt he wanted to escape …

Indeed, with a flash Desmond appeared in the Revive next to one of the doors … He made a move to run towards the exit, when an iron fist stopped him short …

-I told you that I would take you to hell with me … - Simon had foreseen the play and was able to intercept it …

We all looked at each other… five senseless bodies were at our feet, tied up and ready to hand over to Chief Socrates… We dragged the bodies towards the exit…

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Part 7:

In the teleporter near the pyramid, Chief Socrates was waiting for us … he looked at us all satisfied.

-I knew you could deal with this situation … I suppose this time the Planetary Teleporter has been rendered useless … -It was rather a question addressed to me …

-Sure, Chief … all destroyed and the five prisoners here, for whatever I’m going to do with them …

Desmond looked at Mark for a moment, and then straightened … he looked Socrates in the eye, lowered his head and spat out a bloody phlegm, which ended up splashing on Simon’s boots …

-You’re not going to do anything to us … -His tone of voice was challenging - What do you think?" Send me Calypso, Intelligence? … you’re wrong, Socrates.

-No, I’m not wrong … the Entropy Quadrant Intelligence Center will investigate your actions and you will be judged … -Socrates was clear about what was going to happen.

-We will not be judged, stupid planetary boss … Do you think that all this plot we have thought only between five people? -A smile touched Desmond and Mark’s lips.

Socrates looked at them with a point of insecurity … what did he mean?

-Listen, boss … how do you think we could put a drone in Hadesheim? You know that all Calypso communications are monitored …

We all looked at each other apprehensively… would someone in Calypso know about all this? Would he have helped Desmond and his people? And above all … they were going to allow the robots to possibly invade half the Entropy Quadrant …

-I see that now you are beginning to think … -He spit out a bloody phlegm again, and half a tooth step by step; Simon’s fist was like a hammer. - There are people high up in the Calypso hierarchy who are aware of all this … people who want to remove the Space Guild from the equation …

It couldn’t be … traitors in the Central Government … Socrates clenched his fists with fury, he seemed about to explode … he froze for a second, blew out a breath and spoke:

-That’s none of my business now … my mission is to take Calypso to Central Intelligence … JoseGaltor, do you still have the Dropship you brought available?

-Of course, sir… I abandoned it, but I left its location traceable so I can use it remotely… and I’m ready to take a ride to Calypso with the prisoners… -Jose is always up for anything to entertain him… even if it’s dangerous.

-Okay then … take the five prisoners and go to Calypso with them … I’ll send you later by UpLink the necessary documents and safe-conducts …

Socrates took out of his backpack the device for connecting the DNA banks and, one by one, he passed near the five prisoners and disconnected them … his gestures of pain denoted how painful the process was …

-So you’ll be careful if you try to run away … if you die now, it will be final … remember … -Socrates put the device away while five pairs of eyes looked at him with deep hatred …

Minutes later, the ship landed remotely and opened the hold … with little consideration we pushed the five prisoners … As he closed the hatch, we could still hear Desmond …

-Stupids !!! When our contacts know that we are there, the case will be dismissed and we will return again … it may even be that there is a new Planetary Chief on Next Island … -a nervous laugh initialed his speech …

Jose got into the cockpit, started the engines and the ship took off vertically… he stopped for a moment in the air and made an upward movement…. We all watched the maneuver.

-BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOMMMM !!!

Suddenly, the dropship burst into flames … a shower of debris began to fall as we took cover, just in case …

-What happened?? -Katalina was scared … well, actually we were all …

-I don’t understand -Socrates looked at the explosion in disbelief …

Suddenly, next to us, a glow appeared, and a body was materializing … It was JoseGaltor … We stared, hoping that he had just been reborn to ask him what had happened …

The body appeared upright … it opened its eyes …

-Yesssssssssss !!! Magnificent!!! That H-DNA was of good quality… I just invented a new sport: Resurrecting while you detonate a charge inside the ship you pilot, hahahaha!

I can’t believe it … the very crazy JoseGaltor had detonated the ship with the five conspirators inside … that since they had been disconnected from the DNA banks, they were dead forever …

-But… I… what the hell !!!.. what have you done, Jose? -Socrates was really angry …

-Me? Nothing … I just made sure that these five idiots do not conspire again, much less that they go to Calypso to tell lies about us … -JoseGaltor in the background had saved us a lot of problems …

Socrates lowered his head thoughtfully … no doubt he was considering what had happened, and how it was going to affect Next Island and us …

-Okay … we can’t do anything now … all five are dead, the TP destroyed and this time for real … I think … I think we should forget that this has ever happened … -Socrates began to think about the possibilities that this event offered us …

-But I’m still an outlaw … -I ventured

-No problem … As Planetary Chief I can raise a pardon or … better … we can “lose” some documents and court records … - With Socrates by our side, the bureaucracy would fall like a house of cards …

-And in Ancient Greece? - Katalina wanted to tie up the loose ends …

-Well … er … I will send a messenger to Queen Pentesílea explaining part of the situation … without a doubt she will be understanding and will not want any kind of problems between our worlds …

I looked at them all one by one … loyal friends, who had managed to get me out of this quagmire, and on top of that they had managed to defeat a planetary conspiracy … Oh, if the Space Guild knew how close they have been to losing their business …

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Epilogue: A couple of weeks later.

A few days have passed since the events of the pyramid … now we are as always, having drinks in the beach bars of Next Island …

Moustapha returned to Toulan … great friend, who incidentally takes a few thousand peds to buy his silence … It really was not necessary, Toulan people are loyal with promises, hospitality and friends, but … Socrates did not know that, that now he is a little poorer and Moustapha a little richer …

JoseGaltor had to run to Rocktropia … the owner of the stolen dropship managed to trace him here, and he turned out to be one of Arkadia’s toughest Smugglers … He said goodbye to me and Katalina effusively, grabbed his weapons and went out for a window … because the door was being banged on by an angry Smuggler and three bodyguards that were the size and look of a Maffoid …

Simon drank with me until he lost consciousness, celebrating his return from death … and he jumped for joy when I was able to give him a Viceroy Helmet that fit him perfectly … He approached me and whispered in my ear the coordinates of his house … well, continue being very jealous of his safety for being a mercenary, so … I will not say where he lives …

Socrates is still in charge of Next Island … with a security team he went to the pyramid, they removed the scrap metal, they covered the tracks that denoted what had happened, and today that pyramid is an Instance … more or less, a training ground … yes, the requirements to enter are enormous …

And Katalina and me? Well, the usual: crafting, hunting, mining, earning money and living well on this planet where we are finally creating roots …

Maybe in the future we will have new adventures to tell …

1 Like

Homeward bound
Returning to Tanzanite, hauling the load of precious materials the Haruspex elder had requested, Bonnie reflected on her times so far on Next Island. “What a strange and wonderful land” she thought, glancing out over the tropical paradise she had spent the last few months exploring. This last mission had been quite the test, particularly that run in with the Megalodon, but deep down she longed to return home to Ancient Greece. She knew the next part of her quest would involve Molochs, and it would seem her chance to return home, back through the portal the Haruspex had created, would be now.
Lugging the last of the crystals and oils past the palm tree, she handed them over to the elder. " I hope it is all there" Bonnie joked, as the thousands of crystals tumbled out the bag. Her mission was complete, now it was time to head back to Troy on Ancient Greece, and find these depths where the molochs live.
Arriving in the cave where the portal is, she took one last glance around the Island paradise, took a deep breath, closed her eyes and was instantly transported to a place she was much more familiar with. “Ah that’s more like it!” she declared, opening her eyes and being surrounded by the pillars and art of Ancient Greece. She headed home to Menelausia to drop off the treasures she had collected, and check all was well. The estate was pristine as always, she sighed in relief and took in a deep breath of the fresh sweet smelling are. A mixture of the warm sands, salt from crashing waves, and perfume from the nearby flowers filled the air. “Now this truly is home” she smiled. “But there’s trouble here” Her smile turned to determination. There was a new sense of urgency in her mind. Before she was trying to help save a land for others and reap the rewards, but now it was different, she would not let these Demra fuelled Molochs run riot across these lands if they are allowed to keep this new and powerful armour, whatever it may be.

The Titans
The sun baked down the the market square at Thebes, Bonnie was collecting the last of the materials she would need on her journey down into the Molochs Depths. Unsure as to what she was about to face, she decided it would be best to meet with her crew, the Titans of Space, the band of interplanetary warriors who she had fought alongside many times before, both here and across the universe.
“If we could manage the Gorgons and blooming Zeus himself, I am sure we can manage some cows… " Bonnie joked. The others were quite sure too, they had all met Molochs previously around the islands, so they had a rough idea what they should expect. “What do you guys know about Demra?” She asked hopefully. “Demra?” Her friend questioned, " clearly not very much” Bonnie teased. “It’s just, well these Molochs are supposed to be under the influence of this stuff, and we don’t seem to know all that much about it. “You think too much” the Admiral taunted her, " lets just go and do what we do best, kill them!” “I sure hope this armour will be worth it” Her friend joked. However deep down Bonnie had that pang again, that feeling that things had changed for her, she was not just here to reap the reward for finding the armour, but taking it off those Demra inspired Molochs would mean they wont have the power to take control of her land… her land… she smiled in spite of her self and how intertwined she had become with this place, something she had never imagined would have been possible after so many years as an interplanetary nomad.
The team gathered the remaining items they needed from the market and made their way to Troy. Bonnie felt glad to be working along side her crew again, each of whom had also completed the same quest from the elder in order to gain access to the molochs depths, and excited about what they may find down there.

Into the Depths
Troy, an ancient legendary city, the site of some of the most epic and well know battles of millennia. But here as Bonnie and the crew arrived and looked around, it was a shadow of its former self. Although For what the city lacked in buildings here, it mimic the legend she remembered from ancient earth of the most with the main building upon the tell, but quite possible more to be found in the valleys and gulley’s surrounding. She followed the path down, and sure as fate would have it a vast valley appeared before them. “This will be it then” she shouted to the others who were following behind. Taking stock of their surroundings, there were cages, which seemed perfectly fit for human size, and a long winding path to a vast set of gates.
The approached the gates and beyond they could see a beautifully structured layered garden. Or so it seemed. Crossing over the gate would be the place where they would be checked for worthiness, it had not been the first time each of them had been struck down by such a gate. Taking a deep breath, Bonnie stepped through ( admittingly closing her eyes). Opening them, hesitantly, she peered around and sighed a huge sigh of relief. The rest of the team filtered through without quite the same hesitation.
Each path led past impressive fires and carefully placed water features. It somehow didn’t quite look like the battle ground they had expected. She pondered on this for a moment, then it became clear. This was never supposed to be a battle ground, it was to be a place where Moloch craftsmen were to perfect their work and create something quite special, until of course the decided to keep it for themselves.
There were 3 shimmering huge doors. Each with what seemed to be an image of the fate that lay beyond, which did not seem all that appealing! However they had got this far, and this was no time to be afraid. It was time to take back what was theirs, once and for all.

The open cage

Drip, drip, drip, the blood dripping from the cages was relentless. They hang they above the heads of all those who dared enter the depths. It splattered the walls, smeared across… everything. “What had happened down here” Bonnie thought, squinting in the darkness trying to make out the shadowy figures approaching.
It was dark, damp and had that smell of a place that had seen a lot of death. Bonnie wondered if those Molochs who had not turned to against the haruspex. had suffered a brutal fate at the hands of their brethren. Or if the cages contained the remains of hapless warriors before her, knowing that the gods of Ancient Greece were using helpfully in resurrecting those who meet an early demise, but down here they may be force to an eternity in a cage. Drip, drip, drip… it continued. Bonnie shuddered.
As her eyes adjusted to the light, she soon realised she was completely surrounded by the Molochs. Oddly none of them seemed to be reacting to her presence, they seemed to be somewhat mindlessly controlled by the Demra. “Alright, lets see how tough these bad boys really are” Bonnie thought whilst charging up her powerful electric mindforce. She hit the first one which immediately turned to attack her. They were mighty and strong with health, but not undefeatable and certainly not with the might of the Gorgons she had fought previously. Upon each death she was able to loot the creatures for what they held, but as of yet none of them had any sort of armour. Checking with her friends they too had not reported finding anything of interest. It seemed they would have to kill many of these creatures to get to the ones who may have already completely built a piece of the armour, and take it before they put it to use. This was not going to be an easy task, but one which must be done none the less.

1 Like

Lores for September
Writing my own experiences in Next Island
Posting all 5 post/parts in one submissions

Noob Adventure

Part I

I like the feel and sounds of my vehicle. I don’t remember when it has changed, as when I was young, I was not able to sleep in the vehicle. But now I can fall sleep as soon as I hit that auto-flying button. Maybe I am just used to riding in this body wrapping seat of my Sleipnir or maybe I have grown old and learned to sleep when I can… I think you know what I mean. The warp is definitely the fastest option to get to the destination, but I do like to take my sweet time riding Sleipnir, because when I wake up, I know I will at my destination, Next Island.

I was seeing the dream, more like a watching a memory of when I was young, just newly born in the world of Entropia Universe. Back then, the mentor and great senior players took me to many different planets. The issue was, I didn’t know which ways are left and right. It has been years since I travel to Next Island, last time it was like a vacation, walked around the beach, looking at the new scenery and relax while the mentor gets his “work” done.

“Voooooommm” Ah, there is the excitement, waking up with the sounds of vehicle slowing down ready to land. This time, I had a plan follow in this beautiful planet as a noob adventurer. “I’m sure I will be ok, I red the guidebook many times over and over.” Many friends let me know about this new guidebook, “NI Helper”. In this book, there was many adventures presented with excitements, challenges, and eye-opening rewards. My plan was to experience as many things as possible, this time, I am on my own and got all time in my hands. “Ok, I’m ready,” telling myself to wash away the anxiety inside of me and I have entered Next Island for second time in my life.

Part II

“Finally, it is great to be on my own feet.” Even though, I love to sleep while on the flight with the sounds of Sleipnir humming, the feeling of landing and standing on my feet can’t be compared. After parking the vehicle, I looked around to see where I have landed. “Hmmm, I don’t remember this… is this a same place?” The landing spot seemed different than what I remembered before. “Has it change or…” maybe I just don’t remember, after all, it has been many years since I last visited Next Island. Paradise landing, the name paradise gives me a warm feeling inside to look forward to. At least I was able to find the sign, guiding me to the way to new arrival area, this is much more friendly for the newcomer than I remember. “Let’s get going!” I was so excited to explore and start on missions the planet got to offer. As I approach the sign, there was a lady who guiding the newcomers. “Please head down to the beach” says the lady. I have looked at the direction she is pointing, then I saw ahead the long wooden stairways. “Oh man…” This is not good, really not good. I have experienced falling from the high ground all way down, crippling myself. Of course, Entropian Goddess revives me as fresh as new, but the scar on mind never heals like body does. I better not fall down this time, even I must walk slowly. I swear it took me over 10 mins just to go down on stairs, well, at least I felt like more than 10 mins. But, guess what? After trying so hard to go down on stairs, I found there is a televator at the bottom of stairs. “Wait, where does this televator takes me to?” I used the televator to go up on the floor and found out where I am. The top of the stairs I just walked down. “Hahahaha” I was laughing so hard I’m sure other Entropians around me may thought I was going crazy. Ok, I guess I am too excited and nervous that I can’t even see the televator.

Part III

After having a good laugh and the respect to the Next Island architects and builders who made a long stair with a televator available. I was finally able to reach the newcomer area. I think this area is new, I have a no memory of the area and I am sure, I never have done the new player missions here at least not the same one. Even though I am noob, I have done the new player missions in other planets. After introducing myself, I was listening to the helpful NPCs explaining each activity I can do on the planet. Yes, I was listening but please let me make an excuse, after traveling to many planets to experience the new player missions, it feels like repeatable mission. It is like I am listening, but words just don’t penetrate my head enough to hit the brain. This was the mistake, YES, this was significant mistake I will recognize later.

New player missions in each planet are always interesting, the gears that is offered are very similar in the use, but the appearance is completely different. I enjoy looking at the gears from each planet and wonder on the background and history of the planet. Next Island, the gun was very cute and then they gave out the item I am unfamiliar to get from the new player mission, a refiner. This is essential tool for a player who want to start their career as a miner and small refiner will come in handy. “Thank you, guys and ladies,” I have smiled and packed all gears I received. There was more than I thought, guns, ammo, finder, excavator, refiner, healing tool and blueprint. “Lesser Elysia… what is this thing, clothes?” Even though I had no idea what blueprint it was for, I just acted as I knew and started on my missions in the planet.

Part IV

New player missions are first missions I like to go through in each planet. It is great ways to find out the entry level activities, enemies, mining findings and all the basics. “Let’s start with the hunting” Feeling and making sure that I can use NI issued gun, I walked toward the location of Papoo that was told by the guide to face the first encounter. “What are they…?” The creature looked like… a monkey, after observing them for a couple minutes, they started to make a chatter. They have noticed me, discussing among themselves, maybe even warning each other. I got to move, before they surround me and becomes too late. Gripping firmly on the handgun, I have walked out from the bush and aimed on the closest Papoo. First shot must hit them good, the Papoo screamed and rushed toward me to fight back or at least tried to. After shooting one down on the ground, I have recognized something. “This guy must be still a kid” Even I am not the professional about my knowledge in Papoo or even animals, I can tell the guy I shot down was very small and thin. I was told to clear them out, but maybe we are the one who is intruding their living… with the sense of a guilt in my heart, I have decided to mindlessly hunt to complete the mission like I was running away from the thought we are the one who is destroying the living of others. It was very quick to take down all Papoos I can find in the area, picking some items and cutting off their useful body parts, I head my way back to report the outcome. “Thank you for completing the mission, now you know how to hunt” says the guide. “Thanks, I will explore to find what kind of creatures I can find” I have smiled to him but started to wonder how it was when first Entropian landed in this planet. “Only if there are way to live with those creatures together” I know it is the only hopeful thinking that will never come true, after all, most of Entropian’s living are coming from hunting in the wild. I have stared at my hand covered with the blood of Papoo and hastily walked my way to the river where I can wash my hand to clean the blood off and also to wash the thoughts away to come back to the reality.

Part V

A mining always has been my favorite work to do in any planet, it is just a relaxing seeing the sight while I find resources. Also, each planet seems to have unique resources which I never seen before. I was always amused by the appearance and how those materials are used by predecessors. I be honest; I have mined at least 10 times more than hunting if not 20 times. I knew what material I was going for, which I been hearing from my friends many times, [Dark Lysterium]. Lysterium is most likely a resource that is most common for miners and of course for me. I am able to find these clean white ores in many planets and locations, which I am often disappointed when I find a resource just to find it is Lysterium. Even though years of mining, I have never saw any other type of Lysterium, so I was very eager to find “Dark” Lysterium. I have equipped finder I got in the newcomer area. Even though the language written on the finder keys are different and I don’t understand exactly what it means, controls are same compared to ones in other planets. “Nice, at least I know how to use it” The finder was for the first time miner which reduces risks of not finding the resource by reducing the number of probes needed to 10% compared to standard finders many miners used. As this finder limit the size and depth, I can look for the resource, I have decided to mine relatively close to newcomer area. I have run at least 300 meters away from the guides to avoid interrupting them on their work, started to drop the probes while running towards the nature. “Boom” … No resource found.

“Boom” … No resource found.

“Boom” … No resource found.

“Boom” … No resource found.

“Boom” … No resource found.

“Wait, is Next Island indoor mining?” I was confused. I have at least dropped probes 10 times for both ores and enmatters together, but no resource was found. Debated to call a friend to ask if I was doing anything wrong, but instead, I decided to walk towards a beach side to few more drops.

“Boom” … bright lights was blinked on the finder. I have found my first claim on Next Island.

It was Lysterium, unfortunately it was not “Dark” one, but I was happy to see the claim at that point. “I guess this can be used for the blueprint that guide gave me earlier” Thinking about trying on crafting with Lysterium as I excavate, I promise myself to continue to mine in the planet to understand the area and to get “Dark” ones next time.

1 Like

The diary of a shopkeeper

Getting a shop

This shopkeeper diary can be found behind the desk of stall 9 below Crystal Peak on Next Island.

Today I did it finally. I was able to get my hands on a house property deed for a small Stall on Next Island. This was quite a journey to get, when they originally started to get sold on auction, I couldn’t acquire one directly, since the wire-transfer was to slow. Although I missed the opportunity, my mentor was fast enough to grab a small booth just below Crystal Peak.

The first few weeks he setup his shop and sold mostly his Next Island loot. But since he just got the VIP Mission finished, he wanted to focus a bit more on hunting rather than taking care of a shop most of the time. This was my chance. We figure out a deal where he could make some profit as well of his initial investment of buying the shop in the first place. Besides the shop he provided me with some ideas for the shop and the information how he has been running the shop and what he sold so far. I did as well with the purchase of the shop acquire some of the items, he still had in hit shop as a starting stack to start off with the shop.

After all the payments and transfers where done. I finally was a little shop owner on Next Island. Besides having a small stall quite near the sweatcircle of Next Island, I as well heard some rumours in the bar, that there might be a nice little surprise when Christmas comes around and you are the owner of a shop on Next Island. But I guess I need to have to wait some months till I see if Santa has something in store for us this year. Anyways I am already really excited for it.

The rest of the day I was busy placing all Items on the shop: Carpets, Ores, Weapons, Sweat, Crystals and much more. I basically tried a bunch of different Items to see what would sell.

My first customer

Today I invested a lot of time to figure out what layout my shop should have. After some serious thinking around it I decided that I will provide in my shop mostly stuff for the daily use like Sweat and Lysterium for the daily crafting missions on the one hand and on the other hand a small stack of wool and animal hides for newcomers that look to get the Elysian Colorator and Bleaching Attachment. The rest consist mostly of Crystals and ores and enmatter that can be found on Next Island as a bonus I did import some Malwood Recruit Eagles from Toulan. As a small eyecatcher I placed some mysterious flower around the shop, that I could already craft but can’t use till I still need to get a better armor to be able to hunt those amazons in Ancient Greece. All I can do now is wait and hope that at least some of my goods will be bought.

I finally made my first sale. Early in the morning someone bought the first 1000 Sweat of me, even tough this is just a very small profit of some pecs, it still is my first profit on the shop so somewhat special to me. I realised that over the next days the demand of sweat was quite good at the shop, and I could make my first few peds. I guess there where people going hard on doing the gorgon wave event or they tried they’re luck on the Moloch Depths.

After the first week all I have sold was Sweat and some Boar Tails. I really hope that more will come into the mix of sold items over the next week. I will monitor the transactions of my shop closely and then decide what I want to go for and advertise my shop around. I just hope that I can somehow use the shop to sell part of my Next Island loot I get from my daily missions.

Advertise the shop

After I made my first sales of sweat my other goods mostly still look untouched, so I decided to start an advertisement offensive for the shop. I need to figure out where to place my advertisement best, so most people can see it. I figured out the following locations and advertisements so far:

I will ask Nikolas if I can hang a small letter on his door, since I guess most miners that mine around Next Island or Ancient Greece will visit him regularly for his Praetonium Challenge. I think the advertisement should be for some mining gear and go something like this: “Want to go mine and go deeper than Moloch Depths and get bigger claims than Gorgon is keeping? Get your ROCTEC M1-LF Finder together with your Level 5 Finder Amplifier now to mine deep and get richer. Find your supplies here at Crystal Peak Stall 9. “

I guess I should as well ask May as well if I could have a small advertisement placed on her wagon, to advertise some of the goods I have mined myself together with some sweat. I will advertise there the following: In need of some Vibrant Sweat and Lysterium Ignots for your daily Lesser Elysium challenge or a visit at Gorgon? Find your supplies at Crystal Peak Stall 9.”

Finally, I should put some advertisement in the local bar near Crystal Bay. I just hope the barkeeper has forgotten that I paid my last tab with a poem instead of solid peds. The advertisement should be aimed on some drunk people; therefore, I will advertise something more special than my usual stuff. “Want to feel like a special snowflake tonight? Get your Stel Holographic Unit to have a party light for every party night! Afraid you drank to much and might spill up in the morning? Prepare now and get some Armor Plate Acid, to protect your armor before your Acid breath destroys it. Find all those useful tools together with a nice Borded Mosaic Carpet to sleep in at Crystal Peak Stall 9.”

I guess tomorrow I will place all those advertisements and see what the future brings.

My first regular customer

Today I made my way to place some advertisements, I first got to Tanzanite View had a quick talk with may and she agreed to let me place my advertisement so more people can help her out with her needs for lesser Elysium Crafting. After that I made my way down to Ancient Greece and was hoping to place my next advertisement near Nikolas.

Nikolas wasn’t as easy going as May, he insisted that if I want to put my advertisement on, I first must prove my value as a miner, otherwise he wouldn’t trust that I can provide good mining tools, if I do not even know how to use them. After a bit forth and back I agreed to provide him his daily dose of Praetonium. Since I wanted to get this done fast, I grabbed an amplifier and did try mining directly on Ancient Greece. I had a quick look at my mininglog, and since I didn’t find any useful information, I decided to start my run at Knossos. Surely there must be some good claims near the legendary Gorgon I thought to myself. My first drop was a blank but already the second drop was a nice Margarian Mist Claim. It went on with quite some claims sadly besides Iron and Crude oil I really didn’t find any Preatonium. I decided to try my luck at Delphi when I suddenly got loads of notification from my shop. There was a customer buying all different kinds of items at my shop from regular sweat over some crystals and boar loot to some of my Malwood Eagles. I quickly sent him a message and wrote my appreciation for supporting my shop. He thanked me as well and said he might come back another time. With my shop half empty of the items, I sell most, I abandoned my mining run and decided to go on a longer journey to Callypso to bring some more supplies to my shop.

A humble customer saving the hangover

Last few weeks have been busy I basically only kept my shop alive by getting supplies from Callypso to Next Island or was hunting on Next Island for new supplies. As it turned out my big bulk buyer from two weeks ago turned into a regular customer who really helped to keep me afloat with the shop, hunting and oil spent traveling from Callypso to Next Island.

Tomorrow I think I can finally finish my advertisement that I neglected the last few weeks because I was busy getting new supplies trading and hunting on Next Island. Luckily in those two Weeks I finished my Praetonium task for Nikolas.

Today I woke up with a terrible headache, I knew it wasn’t a good idea to try the Greek wine from Nikolas before going to the bar on Next Island. But since he let me put up my advertisement, I agreed to have a glass of wine. Which turned in to a bottle between the two of us. I just remember that I at some point told him I need to go back and place some more advertisement, I guess I was already quite drunk when I left him because, there are just random scenes I still remember from last night. Something must have happened at the bar, because I just remember getting escorted outside the bar late last evening. My big mistake was that I did not go to sleep right there but instead decided to restock my shop while I finish my Black Mamba.

This clearly was not a good idea besides the headache, I realized that I have sold Sweat for 9 PED. Normally I would price 5k Sweat at 8.5 PED. Having a sale of 9 PED could only mean that I mistakenly placed my 50k Sweat at 8.5 PED instead of 5k Sweat. Luckily the buyer of that Sweat was my regular buyer. I got in touch with him and asked if I might have mispriced some of my Sweat. He laughed and said, he saw some cheap sweat in my shop and thought he rather take it out before someone else takes it. It really made my day that he agreed to hand me back 40k of the sweat he bought. Despite my headache hammering in my head while I write this, I am happy to have such an honest and loyal customer.

1 Like

Lore for April. This lore is written by cat from Harriot’s perspective, Dante will be posting a lore written from Dante’s perspective. The events that are about to happen are a crossover of Dante and Harriot meeting for the first time.

The Tale of Waffles (Harriot’s Perspective)
Entry #120

After Charlottes departure I felt lost once again. Somehow the loss of her presence made it unbearable to be alone again. She had promised to return with good news but something just didn’t sit right in my stomach. For starters promises were always made to be broken, something I was beginning to lose focus on. I had put my faith too much in Charlotte. It was 3 days past the date she was supposed to send word. I had be expecting her not to contact me again but a unsettling feeling of worry was beginning to sink in.

I had to get out of the cave, I needed fresh air and time to think over a whole new perspective. My mind kept thinking about Ancient Greece, those stalls held all sorts of wondrous items, some of which Charlotte had expressed an interest in before she had left. I couldn’t stop myself and found myself staring at the stall she had been ogling before she left. The clay necklace with its enamelled pictation of Poseidon, God of the sea. When I overheard a familiar voice. The Bear-Man! He was standing on a Mable box in the middle of the square. People had stopped to gather around him. My curious nature took over.

“You all have to listen, we face a grave threat that could potentially disrupt your peaceful lives here. Sebastian had stolen ancient Tech from us, something that, in the wrong hands, could bring great chaos to all. I heard rumours that the Lonely Ape told of a diary he kept of their endeavours. Once Sebastian heard about it he went crazy and in a rage of fury he ditched these pages to make sure his plans would never be known. Rumour has it that they are scattered across Ancient Greece and the Island.”

Everyone seemed to pass him by as if his words were nothing but the words of a mad-man. I, on-the-other-hand, leaned in closer. The bear-man seemed to spot my curiosity. He jumped off of the box and made his way towards me.

“I know you right? We met, oh where was it… That’s right, I bought some crystals from you. You believe me don’t you?” My eyes glanced across the crowd that had started to form.

“Don’t talk so loudly, so what if I believe you or not? What difference does it make?” The bear-man seemed to have a wry smile on his face. He passed a tattered note to me as he whispered.

“Meet me here at midnight and I’ll explain all the details.” I gave my most intimidating stare I could muster.

“Don’t hold your breath, I haven’t agreed to anything.”

The Tale of Waffles (Harriot’s Perspective)
Entry #121

Midnight came around, faster than I liked. Time seemed to work differently in Ancient Greece. The building he had chosen was off the beaten path and out of view from all others. The house was empty and void of furniture. My first thought being it was a newly built house but the wear and tear was obvious. The bear-man stood at the far back of the house, the lone table the only furniture in the house.

“Come, we don’t have much time.” I held my breath, sword at the ready just in case I had walked into a trap.

“Nice place you got here.” An edge of sarcasm lingered in my voice

“It’s a friend’s place, he’s redecorating can’t you tell?” The bear-man seemed to laugh as if it was the funniest thing on Next Island. “Sorry, that was a joke. Don’t just stand there.”

On the table lay two maps, one of Next Island and one of Ancient Greece. These looked up-to-date unlike the one Charlotte had brought with her.
“Here are all the potential locations of the missing pages. We already found a good portion of them, this one…” He handed me a tattered blood stained page. “Led us to believe he had been illegally experimenting on the new model of Julianna the Loyalists had been working on. We managed to confiscate the modified bot before any real harm had happened. But if he has knowledge of such technology then who knows what he’ll do next.”
My eyes spotting an all too familiar place.

“You believe he hid a page here?” I pointed at a section that was marked in the sea, it held a lot of deadly sharks and was a no rules free-for-all area. I sometimes went there just to mess with visitors.
“Yes, have you heard of the megalodon? No one as of yet has been brave enough to check if that mad ape hid a piece inside of that beast yet. But it may just be a rumour, in any case we are assembling a team later to check it out, you’re free to tag along if you like. I’m pretty sure that sword ain’t just for show.” At the thought of throwing myself back into battle it was enough to readily agree to this mad plan of his.

“So who’s on this ‘team’ of yours.”
“Just some old mates, and a Stel warrior I believe. Seen a lot of battles. Heard he’d be joining us too.”

The Tales of Waffles (Harriot’s Perspective)
Entry #122

A Stel! Of all people, I was trying to avoid A STEL WARRIOR was on the top of that list. The bear-man seemed so nonchalant about it all as if it were an everyday occurrence. My instincts kicked in and were on high alert.

Before I could make it to the door warriors started to filter in. Both men and women dressed ready for a battle. They filled the small barren house in no time at all. I counted 10 in total with myself as the 11th. Something about that number didn’t sit right. I was about to up and abandon the team when a 12th person came through the door. There was no mistaking that aura, he was the Stel warrior for sure. I held my ground readying myself for a battle. He seemed to eye my outfit.
“Who’s the Resa? She better not make any trouble on this hunt. I have a lot riding on this.” The bear-man seemed to shrug before turning to me.
“A Friend.”

The Stel warrior had come prepared, he handed out weapons to the team, some of which didn’t look like standard issue Stel weapons. He eyed me cautiously.
“Make that yourself?” He pointed to the sword on my back. I gave a curt nod, how did this man know I was Resa, I had changed my clothes before coming to Ancient Greece, even adopted the wear of the Athenic Tunic I had picked up at the stalls.
“Mind if I take a look? Don’t worry I ain’t like you, no honour in stealing a team mates weapon. Just need to know if it’s up to the task.” My hand gripped tightly around the hilt of the sword, I was either going to show him how wrong he was by slicing him in two with it or present it as an exhibition of my crafting skill. His eyes seemed to glint at the blade.
“That made with Portal Guardian metal?” I gave a nod as a response. He sighed for a moment as if something pained him. “Damn, why am I trusting my life with a Resa. Seems though you have no trouble taking care of yourself. I’m Dante.”

“Harriot.” Shoot I should have used a fake name. If he somehow recognises my name I could be in a lot of trouble. I was still on a ‘kill on site’ list, to those that still remembered about my mentor I was a traitor to the Stel.

To my luck our interaction was brief as he turned to command the team to the den of the Great White Sharks.

The Tales of Waffles (Harriot’s Perspective)
Entry #123

We made our way over to the lawless zone where people were free to kill anyone that got in their way without reprimand. It was a zone unto itself and was not a safe place for low level people to be. Dante had instructed the team to hunt as many sharks as possible to tempt the creature known as the ‘Megalodon’ out of hiding. My Blade seemed to sing to me as we entered the shark infested waters. It didn’t take long before the Megalodon found us. It was fast and was upon us before we had a chance to react. The team quickly seemed to know what to do before being commanded to do so. I had always hunted alone. Group hunts were a liability, too many people to watch out for. But here I was, hunting beside people that looked like seasoned team hunters and had done this a thousand times.

“Stay strong. Stick together, surround it and focus your firepower on the Megalodon. Ignore the other sharks in the area. Harriot, get up front where I can see you. We have a healer on standby so just fight with all you’ve got”

We had spent hours of killing sharks before the megalodon had showed up and my arm was feeling the strain of that battle. The water seemed denser around the Megalodon as if trying to cut through thick treacle. The other hunters looked powerful compared to my weaken state, no way would I back down or admit I was tired at least not in front of the Stel Warrior. I tried to block out the pain and swung with all my might at the Megalodon. It brought back the bad memories of the time I had spent hacking the Island Sharks, I still had a pile of cured shark meat to go back to that night. The Megalodon was putting up a good fight, something I had been missing for awhile, it was 3 times as big as any shark I had seen so far and 10 times more vicious. The healer had been working tirelessly to keep us all alive.

The ocean fell silent for a moment. A Golden swirl like I’d never seen before engulfed the team. Dante seemed pleased.
“Let’s not celebrate too early, we still need to check if what we came for is here.” The bear-man swam up to the shark, cutting its stomach open with a knife. He stuck his hand into the shark’s stomach and pulled out what looked like a plastic sheet. And sure enough he held a laminated diary page from Sebastian’s diary. We got a brief moment to breathe before the sharks began to surround us. Dante looked over the team as he tucked the page neatly into his armour suit.
“I hope you’re all ready for another round of sharks. We need to fight our way back to land. If you see one person struggling, help them out. That goes for you too Resa! If we get separated, meet back at the house.”

We spent the good part of an afternoon striking down shark after shark till we made it back to the shore. Everyone seemed exhausted but hyped as if they were ready for round 2.

Dante let out a sigh as he looked over the team.
“I don’t know about the rest of you but I need a drink after that. Carolines?”

The Tales of Waffles (Harriot’s Perspective)
Entry #124

I had never been to Caroline’s bar before, it was a place I thought off-limits to me due to always hiding from everyone. And now I was in the middle of a bar with all factions in one place. Something about it put my senses on high alert.
“A round for my team, after today’s profitable hunt I can spare that much.” Dante brought over a tray of drinks. After my experience in the cave I was wary to drink anything.
“It’s not poison, you can drink it.” The stares of the others in the team were making me self conscious. I had to draw attention away from me and took a sip. When I did the team seemed to relax and carried on chatting about the hunt.

Before too long Dante took out the page. He seemed to inspect it for a moment while everyone watched eagerly.
“Let’s see what all the fuss was about shall we.
-Day 50, Experiment 12.
Today I will learn to reprogram the robots of Next Island. I tried to approach Julianna but she shooed me away when I got close. I did however manage to find a Julianna that hadn’t been finished yet. On my time at the ancient ruins I had come to see as my home, I had found what I could only describe as a glowing ball. It was small in size, not much bigger than my palm. Maybe I could use this to reprogram Julianna to get rid of the pesky boar piglets.”

A soft uproar of laughter filled the bar.

“Well that was not what I expected at all” Dante seemed to stare at the page for a moment before handing it to the bear-man.

Dante seemed to order more drinks than one person alone could drink. Bottles of all kinds of imported liquors, most of which I have never heard of along with a case of Next Island beer. I had barely touched my first drink when a message came through. Charlotte had finally replied!

-You better not have trashed the cave while I was gone. I’m coming home!
-Charlotte

I snuck out the bar as quietly as I could, my curiosity had been filled. What happened with the other pages would have to be a quest for someone else. I had no idea what news Charlotte would bring or when she would arrive but I knew for a fact the cave was a mess when I had left that morning. She had been gone for what felt like several months. I had wondered if she would never come back and go back to her life on Calypso as if nothing ever happened. I wouldn’t have blamed her if she did, after all, the world of Next Island was a harsh place that wasn’t forgiving to newcomers. Of course I would never admit to her that I had missed her.

2 Likes

A Next Island Love Story by Pope L’Brung - A new arrival searching for the Haruspex girl that ran off with his heart. Told in first-person narrative by a recent arrival to Next Island.

Chapter 1

Toulan. It was the final day of the Festival. We decided to meet at a cafe called The Enchanted Forest. She said she liked the name because it reminded her of home. We sipped some tea and discussed our mutual love for animals, botany, and songs with a good hand clap.

“Write me something pretty,” she asked.

I grabbed a cocktail napkin and scribbled how I felt.

The air itself is jealous of my adoration for you, That is why I become breathless.

She read the note, giggled, and pulled me closer to her. “I’m going to miss you.” We held each other and kissed.

I didn’t want to think about her leaving.

As we drank more tea, we laughed and shared odd, morbid confessions. Like how she’d received the recent burn on her hand. I admitted to her that I was 27 years old before I realised what the yolk was in a Berycled egg. She teased me about it and we both started laughing.

According to a flirtatious bet we’d made the night before, she would owe me 10 ped (and a dance) if her favourite song, “Woodland Chance” played during lunch. When she wasn’t looking, I attempted to bribe the bartender 20 ped to play the tune on the jukebox but quicky abandoned the mission when he made a nasty comment about the two of us sitting together.

“Is everything OK?” she asked from our quaint booth by the door. I just nodded and brought over our fresh pot of tea.

I was booked for an afternoon warp flight back to Calypso. She wouldn’t tell me how she intended to get home to Next Island.

As lunch ended, she handed me a book of Haruspex poetry. “Read this over the winter,” she whispered and lightly kissed me on the cheek. I looked down at the worn paperback and saw the edge of a 10 ped note sticking out. That’s when the song came on.

Chapter 2 (3 Days Earlier)

I had waited for months to attend the Kindness Festival on Toulan. It would be 3 days of art, music, and culture shared with a diverse collection of peace-loving beings from across the Entropia Universe. A musical celebration of kindness and compassion toward all.

I am Pope L’Brung. A miner from Calypso. Raised by my colonist parents on a small ‘hippie’ commune farm near Shinook Jungle. They were thrifty but not poor. They taught me to conserve rather than waste. None of our community were rich but we all shared our bounty with each other freely and gratefully. I was shown how to harvest from the land. I studied terrain and I studied soil. I had a talent for finding resources. Times have been good to us.

I was now aboard a mothership headed from Calypso to Toulan. My family had suprised me on my birthday with a ticket to the Kindness Festival. They knew how much I loved music and that I never would have purchased such a thing for myself. I was grateful and humbled. And excited.

I checked my Mesage Center to review the Festival schedule. I would arrive on Toulan at 18:05 and the first music act of the night was scheduled for 18:30 - a reggae band from Monria called Secret Cave. I’ve heard some of their stuff before and it was pretty good. I definitely wanted to see them perform live.

18:05. I thanked the Captain and the crew for the free warp and hitched a ride down to Toulan. I checked in at the Information desk and then made my way to Guardian Village. People were already starting to gather and mingle. There was a great vibe in the air.

I spotted a vendor that sold tea and approached. Wow. That was the first time I saw her. She was stunning. Her eyes were like…portals. She worked at the small booth that sold organic teas. She smiled and asked what I wanted.

“Tea, please.” I answered.

“Let me guess,” she said spryly. “Haimoros, right?”

Of course she was right.

Chapter 3

She introduced herself as Jihkanna and said she was from Next Island. I could tell she was Haruspex by the way she looked and spoke.

We chatted about the Festival and she asked about my interests. We had identical taste in music and I suppose that’s when I knew I was hooked. She was absolutely mesmerising.

Luckily for me, her shift at the tea booth was just ending. I desperately wanted to spend more time with her but I was too nervous to ask.

Faint heart never won fair lady.

I took a deep breath and asked her if she’d like to join me to watch a few of the music acts. “I’d love to,” she smiled. She held my hand as I sipped my tea and tried to keep my cool.

I suppose the next few hours were a blur. We listened to music and danced and laughed. Periodically, we snuck away from the crowds to talk. She told me about her home, Next Island. She spoke with such pride about it. We flirted and giggled and she made me promise to never call her a “sprite.” She told me it was a derogatory term and it wasn’t really considered cute or complimentary. I made a mental note.

I told her that I was a miner from Calypso. I tried to impress her with my tales of bravery about stealth mining in toxic zones and avoiding detection. Jihkanna just smiled beautifully and touched my cheek. I could not stop staring into her eyes.

Toward the end of the night we found ourselves sitting on a blanket listening to a mellow, psychedelic band from Arkadia Moon. She pointed to the sky and showed me how to identify the constellations. She told me about Ancient Greece culture and her family’s roots. It was an amazing experience just to be with with her and I already didn’t want it to end.

Chapter 4

Jihkanna and I met up at the Festival grounds the next morning. She wanted me to see an art exhibit that was scheduled for viewing. “Good morning,” she greeted me with a small kiss and a big smile.

“I saw you in my dreams last night,” I shyly confessed.

“I know,” she replied with a clever wink.

She took my hand and led me to a group of small tents that housed various art exhibits. One of the tents featured an artist from Rocktropia that recreated famous album covers on face masks. I then followed her into a tent of Haruspex art. She stood between two easles that held framed mosaics. It was the most intriguing art I had ever seen. One depicted a boar piglet outside of a fence line. A mosaic made of tiny crystals - thousands of them, various colours, all delicately cut and intricately positioned. It was titled ‘Freedom’. The other mosaic was a monkey sitting crossed-legged in a stone temple. It was called ‘Sebastian’.

Jihkanna stood beaming and proud. “What do you think?”

I noticed in the bottom right corner of each mosaic was a small ‘J’ for the signature. This was her art. She wasn’t just beautiful and clever…she was brilliant.

I hugged her tightly and told her that I thought her work was amazing. I continued to look at each of the pieces, drawn in by their detail and lustrous compositon. I asked her a million questions about them such as, “How long did it take?” and “What type of material did you use?” She answered each inquiry proudly and even let me run my finger along the mosaics, feeling the smooth finish of the colourful crystals.

I was fascinated by her. Everything she said and everything she did was enchanting. This was more than a school-boy crush. I was falling for Jihkanna.

Chapter 5

Can you fall in love in 3 days? Of course you can.

The Kindness Festival was wrapping up. The stages, stands, and booths were being dismantled as various vendors were loading their gear into special storage containers designed for space flight. The crowd had thinned out. The last of the Festival goers were hugging and saying goodbyes to each other as they all prepared to return to thier respective home planets.

Planet Toulan had been a perfect host and now it was time for me to return back to Calypso.

I was dreading this moment. Time to say goodbye and part ways with the most beautiful girl in the universe.

Jihkanna and I finished our dance in the cafe. I tucked the book of Haruspex poetry into my backpack and walked outside with her. We held hands as we walked through Guardian Village to the organic tea booth where I had first met her 3 days ago. I helped her and her friends pack up the booth and supplies.

“How are you getting home?” I asked, hoping to sound curious rather than creepy. She just made a silly face and told me not to worry about it. She was coy and much cooler than me.

I received my summons from the mothership. It was time for me to go.

I took a deep breath and hugged her goodbye. I told her that I thought she was the most amazing person that I had ever met. I thanked her for hanging out with me and sharing her art with me. I didn’t know what else to say.

She looked into my eyes, kissed me, and whispered goodbye.

The Captain welcomed everyone aboard and called out the warp route to the passengers.

“Next stop is Rocktropia. We will be then be stopping at Calypso, Cyrene, Arkadia, and Next Island.”

To be honest, it was an easy choice. I knew what I had to do.

2 Likes

Lore for April. This lore is written from Dante’s perspective about cat´s lore… The first crossover between us…

The Tale of Waffles (Dante’s Perspective)…

Part 1
Several weeks have passed since the last events in NI… For now we continue with business, my friends have gone back to their chores and Katalina said she wanted to visit her parents, who were now in Monria… My in-laws… one day I will talk about the Katharine’s origins…
So when my business allowed I went for a walk around Ancient Greece… I thought I’d check out Thebes Market, see if I could find something nice to give her… Not a new armor, not a UL Pistol… something I always know about. give your partner…
I stopped near a clothing stall, in front of another that had handicrafts… I saw a Resa girl looking at what the vendor had and… I don’t know, I think I’ve seen her before… well, here it’s easy to always see the same people…
Suddenly, as if out of nowhere, a man disguised with a kind of bear’s head began to declaim something…
“You all have to listen, we face a serious threat that could potentially disrupt your peaceful lives here. Sebastian had stolen ancient Tech from us, something that, in the wrong hands, could bring great chaos to everything. I heard rumors that the Lonely Ape told of a diary he kept of their endeavours. Once Sebastian heard about it he went crazy and in a rage of fury he ditched these pages to make sure his plans would never be known. Rumor has it that they are scattered across ancient Greece and the island.”
Wow…something about that Monkey Sebastian…Definitely, the genetic engineering of the Entropia quadrant has created curious beings…I have talked to him a few times while trading Elyssia Chips with him…But he said something about a destroyed diary, scattered pages, ancient technology.
He’s done… I felt it… A business opportunity with old technology… It’s time to keep hearing what he has to say…
In that time interval, the Man-Bear had disappeared… Wait! He is in front, and he is talking in a low voice with the Resa girl… I must sneak up on them to see what they are up to… I need to know more…
As I got closer I could only hear a few words:
“Meet me here at midnight and I’ll explain all the details.”
At that moment they separated and each one of them went in a different direction…
Well… if I’m going to get into this business of diary pages, I hope it won’t be as ruinous as the Toulan Pages… But the first thing is to come back at midnight and spy on these two, see what they’re up to…

Part 2
I spent the rest of the day in Ancient Greece… the market, the forum, the palaces… a great sightseeing until night fell… The hours passed slowly until midnight approached…
I stayed hidden around Thebes… There was nobody there, everything was quiet… Anyway, I put on some spectacles that I had recently gotten from a store… Their thermal vision would help me see who I was waiting for.
Yes!!.. Shortly before midnight, a thermal trace appeared near there… It came from the direction of the blacksmith’s house… I went there quickly and saw him…
Despite being muffled in a cloak, his bear head was unmistakable… well, it was my time, so I walked over.
The Man-Bear stopped abruptly, and looked in my direction.
-Who are you? Because you follow me? -He said.
-It doesn’t matter who I am… and you? What is this about the missing pages?
I stood in the shadows while he spoke… The Man-Bear looked in my direction…
-Okay, but at least let me see you…
It seemed right, so I stepped out of the shadows… His eyes looked up at me, widening in amazement.
-You!!! Are you!!!
I was surprised… That guy knew me???
-You’re Dante… the one who defeated the Gorgon along with his wife… and the one who helped in the NI animal crisis… - His look of admiration on him was very eloquent.
-Err… Yes… But how do you know me? -My surprise was genuine.
-In these times we need heroes… and you are one of them… -The night was cold, and the steam from his lips swirled on his bear head. – You are a living legend in Greece, Dante.
I felt overwhelmed… and I who thought I was someone anonymous, now it turns out that I have legions of admirers… But now it was time to get information… I asked the Man-Bear again… he was silent for a moment, and then he began to explain …
-Dante, you are one of the few who have heard my warning… It is necessary to obtain that diary, and above all to prevent it from falling into the wrong hands… After this morning, a few people have been interested in my story, among them some old colleagues , and they are willing to follow me in the search of the pages…
-Do you know where to look? – It was a logical question.
-I have some references, including some other dangerous animal - He said with an enigmatic smile.
-What animal?
-The king of white sharks… The Megalodon.
-How many are you? -I asked for
-About 10… They are good fighters, although their weapons are basic… understand… they are people without opportunities, and suddenly they can be heroes for the sake of NI…
-And with that unarmed troop you want to recover those secrets? – I felt sorry for the Bear Man and those who were going to accompany him… I made a decision.
-Listen… I’ll help you… I’ll provide good weapons and ammunition to your people, but I’ll take the lead… I’m gambling a small fortune on this expedition… - I don’t know what happened to me, suddenly I wanted those pages for myself.
The Bear Man looked at me for a long time, in silence… finally, he spoke…
-Okay, Dante… I’ll go see the last person I’m going to enlist, and then we’ll go to the rendezvous point… These are the coordinates and the time… Take the weapons there, and we’ll get going…

Without saying goodbye, I watched him walk away on the road to Thebes Market… For my part, I felt that I had embarked on a somewhat strange adventure, but perhaps profitable…

Part 3
The schedule placed me in a nearby coordinates in about half an hour… I sat on the steps near the port and waited…
Curiously, I saw a few people go by in the same direction… I imagined that they were the ones who were on the team… their will was not lacking, the armor was not bad, but… weapons were definitely not their forte if they wanted to face the Megalodon.
It was time… I got up and started walking in the direction of the coordinates… It was a fairly spacious house, but from the outside it looked like it had seen better days… It was in need of a good deal of repairs…
Indeed, I saw enter some of those who I saw pass before … I approached and entered the door.
A motley crowd of people, weapons and armor were there… in a corner was the Man-Bear chatting with a girl… The girl who was in the market… A Resa, what are you going to do…
Resa looked at me surprised, and suddenly I noticed that silence had fallen around me… I noticed 11 pairs of eyes looking at my armor, my weapons, everything…
But definitely, Resa was the one who captured my attention… Treacherous beings, I’ve only met one who was worthwhile and with whom I maintain friendship, Simon, and even so sometimes I wonder if one day he won’t take revenge for the enormous scar that I did on our first meeting…
-Who’s the Resa? She better not make any trouble on this hunt. I have a lot riding on this.
The Man-Bear turned and said:
-She Is a friend…
Suddenly I noticed the hilt of the sword that he carried on his back with a baldric… it was well made, but the metal was familiar to me…
-Make that yourself? - I asked for.
He didn’t say anything… he was staring at me, cautiously.
-Mind if I take a look? Don’t worry I ain’t like you, no honor in stealing a team mates weapon. You just need to know if it’s up to the task.
She hesitated for a moment, but she handed me the sword with some reluctance… I picked it up and saw that she was very well balanced… Pray or not, she is definitely a good crafter… But the metal…
-That made with Portal Guardian metal?- I asked…
She nodded silently… Durasteel… the images of the Pyramid, Desmond and everything that happened months before came back to my mind… and this Resa wearing the same metal that she cost us so much…
-Damn, why am I trusting my life with a Resa. Seems though you have no trouble taking care of yourself. I’m Dante. – I finally said.
-Harriot.
Well, I hope that’s her real name… I looked around, saw the pathetic weapons the team was carrying, and knew it was time to make the delivery. A good assortment of Ozpyn and Chikara weaponry materialized in the room… The team moved closer, each picking up one or more weapons, along with Cell and BLP clips…
When I saw that everyone was well armed and ammunition, I thought it convenient to give them a talk about what they were going to find.
-Let’s see, team… where we’re going is the PVP zone, even if it’s not lootable… But sometimes there are guys who are going to bother, and shoot at the hunters or miners, demanding a payment to stop getting in the way… So be alert to that… - I saw nods from some of them, while others patted their weapons with grim smiles.
-Healers… I see two… you are excused from shooting, but I need you 100% preventing us from dying… yes, I know, we resurrect, but in that interval the others must make an extra effort, and in the end they may all fall, so don’t miss out
The two healers checked their healing chips and returned some of the ammunition to their companions, since they weren’t going to need it… They kept the weapons just in case.
-And now, the animals… According to our friend the Man-Bear, the Megalodon is hiding something, or watching something… But it doesn’t come out of its lair until a good amount of other great white sharks have died, so… kill many to make him come out, and at that moment make a circle around him and fry him…
Several satisfied laughs were heard; They were impatient to get into action.
-One last thing: when we are with the Megalodon, leave aside the other sharks, they will only be a distraction that will take us away from the central objective… Our healer friends will be ready…
I looked at the Man-Bear… Our eyes met for a moment, and he gave an almost imperceptible nod. I addressed the group.
-Okay guys… Time to go to the Great White Shark’s lair.

Part 4
The next morning we arrived at the TP near the beaches where the PVP zone began… There were some settlers there, with long-range weapons and baleful eyes, they would undoubtedly wait for someone to go hunting to annoy him and demand payment for leaving him alone…
As soon as I appeared they looked at me, sizing me up… But their smiles disappeared when my companions appeared, with the weapons I had given them… They began to dissimulate and some left the place… We were not easy prey, no…
-Stay strong. Stick together, surround it and focus your firepower on the Megalodon. Ignore the other sharks in the area. Harriot, get up front where I can see you. We have a healers on standby so just fight with all you’ve got.
A short harangue to lift your spirits…
We adjusted the water/air filters in our helmets and started swimming… We couldn’t go by ship or TP since we had to kill some sharks to force the appearance of the Megalodon…
Soon we were surrounded by White Sharks, and we started shooting at will… Those critters had good loot, and some even had their “Global loot” indicators flashing.
And without warning, perhaps too soon, the Megalodon appeared… No doubt someone had passed by before and killed White Sharks, since it seemed to be lying in wait… Immediately, we concentrated our fire on it, ignoring the other animals, while the two of us healers were swimming around us doing their job.
Harriot had some difficulties with his sword… It is not a good weapon to fight against the resistance of the water, but still he hit the Megalodon again and again with great accuracy… It is good, yes…
Our onslaught began to bear fruit… the Megalodon was weakening by the minute, and suddenly, it lay still on its belly… It was dead…
We approach, we touch him and…
The huge whirlpool of “Rare loot” engulfed us all… apart from a good loot, it seemed to have something else… everyone on the team cheered and shouted for joy…
-Let’s not celebrate too early, we still need to check if what we came for is here. –I said… I didn’t want to give false hope…
The Man-Bear approached with a S.I. Knife, and with an expert cut opened the belly of the Megalodon… among the open viscera and remains of previous meals, something out of place appeared: a large sheet of paper, completely laminated and covered with a tight writing…
There was one of the famous diary pages…
Suddenly, more White Sharks appeared and began to surround us… There was no time to lose, I put the page in my armor and went to the team:
-I hope you’re all ready for another round of sharks. We need to fight our way back to land. If you see one person struggling, help them out. That goes for you too Resa! If we get separated, meet back at the house.
The rest of the afternoon was spent swimming to shore while we killed more White Sharks… We even got some new “Global Loot”…
We finally set foot on solid ground… Tired, injured, but with a smile on our face for a job well done… Suddenly I felt very thirsty:
-I don’t know about the rest of you but I need a drink after that. Carolines?”

Part 5
We were finally back… Caroline’s is the perfect place for post-work drinks, especially one like ours.
I mentally saw the result of the expedition: The weapons and ammunition spent was a good amount of Peds, but the hunting of the White Sharks at the beginning of the hunt and when returning to the beach had left us a good booty… My part was substantial and it more than covered the expenses… very much.
So I decided to be generous… I could let them keep the weapons, whatever state they were in, and pay for a few good rounds of drinks along the way… We’d see the topic of the page later…
-A round for my team, after today’s profitable hunt I can spare that much.
Even Harriot dared to have a drink or two, under the watchful eyes of everyone. The conversations about the hunt created a good camaraderie between all of us…
Finally, The Man-Bear looked at me… it was time… I took the laminated page and got ready to read the content… everyone looked at me expectantly…

-Day 50, Experiment 12.
“Today I will learn to reprogram the robots of Next Island. I tried to approach Julianna but she shooed me away when I got close. I did however manage to find a Julianna that hadn’t been finished yet. On my time at the ancient ruins I had come to see as my home, I had found what I could only describe as a glowing ball.
It was small in size, not much bigger than my palm.
Maybe I could use this to reprogram Julianna to get rid of the pesky boar piglets.”

What? What’s this? The diary of a crazy monkey obsessed with boar pidgets? Yes, okay, it talks about a sphere and the robots of the Julianna series, but… that’s it, nothing of a danger for the entire planet…
I looked around me… some laughter sounded among my companions, who looked at me with some sarcasm… From my point of view, this was a failure.
-Well, that was not what I expected at all… -I said as I handed the page back to Man-Bear, who was looking at it with regret…
Well, at least, let’s drink and forget this mess… For the next hour, the trays of drinks kept arriving… At one point, Harriot looked at his communicator, and went out one of the doors of the place… Anyway, no It has been so terrible working with a Resa…
The Man-Bear approached me…
Dante, you see…
-Shut up, shut up… and this is what is going to cause the worst in Next Island? - I was getting angry…
-Listen, Dante – he said calmly – It’s just one of the pages, in the others there may be information that…
-Forget it - I cut him off - I’m out of this mess you’ve made.
He looked at me sadly, as if he felt he should deal alone with whatever he was looking for… After a moment of silence, he spoke…
-Okay… In any case, thanks for the help, and the boys will also appreciate it, since they have new weapons, and they have hunted together with a hero… Anyway, could you do something for me? – He asked me expectantly…
-Okay… tell me…
-Well… if in your travels and adventures you hear something more about the pages of the diary, at least let me know and tell me where, so I can continue the search…
I liked this guy… at least he is tenacious with his convictions, even if I thought he was wrong…
-Okay… I’ll let you know if I see anything that makes me think that the end of Next Island is near because of a few pages of a crazy monkey… -Deep down, I was cruel…
-Thank you, Dante… and, um… perhaps the rumors of the last few days indicate that the end is near…
-Rumours? what rumours? -I said interested.
-Haven’t you heard what happened in the northern cities of Ancient Greece?
-No…
-There are people who have gotten sick, and have died…
-Dead, yes of course, until the next Revive. -I said in a mocking tone…
-No Dante, you’re wrong… The revives couldn’t do anything… They died completely… -He said with a fearful tone…
I couldn’t believe it… the revive technology failing? What the hell was going on?
-It can’t be…- I said incredulously.
-Yes Dante, believe it… some talk about a Pandemic that could spread… Others say it’s the fault of the Gods… and I know that this diary has the answers… Be careful, Dante…

Epilogue…
He leaned out onto the stone balcony… looked down and saw the new souls arriving… well, there was work again… Since in Ancient Greece no one died, only five guys had arrived a few weeks ago…
He looked into the distance to the confines of his kingdom… A dark, silent kingdom, but at least it had always had subjects, until those travelers from other kingdoms appeared, who were able to emulate Zeus himself and resurrect the dead…
He wondered if Zeus did not consider it blasphemous to raise the dead… The behavior of the travelers in that matter was heretical: The living had their world, and the dead theirs, and no one except the Father of the Gods should have prerogatives to change that… And his other brother, would think the same as him…
Because of them, now his work was non-existent… A king who gets bored can be dangerous, because he needs new challenges…
He reflected… The distribution of the world had not been as fair to him as it was to his brothers, but he could not complain… He had servants, pets, a beautiful queen by his side and, before, lots of subjects… now they no longer came… He flow had decreased, until now, a few days ago… Something had changed, although he still didn’t know what…
He caressed the three heads next to him, who were staring at his master… Then, the three heads ran away… in one body… Cerberus…
Meanwhile, he looked beyond, in the distance, to the Stygian lagoon, where Charon was going back to look for more souls…. His dark boat moved away in a silence broken only by the thump of the oar in the Waters of Oblivion.
He smiled… He turned around and went down a few steps towards his palace… Hades, the Lord of the Underworld, had work again…

3 Likes

Isme Isme Gotitt, lore submission

Isme’s Journal, entry #1

Here is a copy of my first article with the times!

                                        The Next Island Times

Hello to all you readers who have an eye for fashion! Have I got a scoop for you! The first peeks of the brand new, hot off the Next Island runway fashion is here!

Can you guess what it is?

Let me set the stage for you dear reader. You have spent a long day out in the wilderness. You have gathered shrapnel and eye oil. You may have even dug in the dirt for minerals or trudged up and down hill sides looking for D…. well, lets just say crafting material… The Sun was hot and there was not a cloud in the sky. You and your armor are dusty, dirty and tired. You may have even sweated yourself in to a lather of sweat- sweating wild beasts!
But now, now you are finally done for the day.

You can peel off your armor and relax. What do you think you will do next? I know!

You go down to the beach and refresh yourself in the beautiful water of Next Island, and what will you wear?
You will put on your new, well fitting, curve hugging NEXT ISLAND BIKINI, or MANKINI! You will be in the newest most desirable swim wear on the market. You can show off those trim, well defined muscles earned in all those missions and from hauling back the abundant rewards. The new swim wear will be the perfect attire for showing off the smooth curves of muscle or even showing off some of your most interesting battle scars.

You can strut yourself on the warm relaxing beaches of Next Island.

This wonderful collection is offered in this year’s hottest color! It is sure to please the discerning consumer!

Look for it soon in a retailer of fine swim wear products near you!

Isme Gotitt
Fashion correspondent
The Next Island Times

1 Like

Isme Isme Gotitt, lore submission

Isme’s Journal entry #2

What a day!!! The days events I feel inspired to write a poem.

                                   **That Night in Ancient Greece**

                                                    A poem

In Ancient Greece one night
while looking for gods to fight
I wandered far from the friendly cave
where all my gear I should have saved

Over pastoral hills of green
came a god both huge and mean
The biggest one I have met
he wanted to kill me too I bet

What was I to do I cried
when with malice he on me spied
I tried to look very brave
and not think of ways back to the cave

Oh that cave where my gear should have been saved
The cave where I SHOULD have stayed

I stood up straight, I stood up tall
I should not have fought him at all
but since I had come looking for a fight
I thought that it was only right

How was I to know
the way the story was to go
I had trained I had grind-ed
all the time I shouldn’t have minded

I shouldn’t have minded that fight a bit
I SHOULDN’T have wanted to up and quit

But that strangely massive god
at once so unusual and odd
was so menacing that
in my armor I had shat!
How undignified it felt
That blow to myself I dealt

the fight had just begun
and already I thought he’d won
To think the fight that I had wanted so
that it might be ended with out a blow

I tried to raise my gun so strong
how could it all feel so wrong
I needed materials for my crafting
but everyone would just be laughing

The only way to save my face
The only way to avoid disgrace
the only hope was to win
that was the only way to avoid chagrin

I needed time, I had to think
it was so hard with the unholy stink
The giant god grew close
I was feeling so morose

My aim went wide
I tried to stepping to the side
He raised his fist and caught a whiff
a deadly blow paused on a sniff

his face turned green to match the hill
I saw him then to become ill
To win by such a mischanced deed
I might still indeed succeed!

I raised my gun while he tottered
he wobbled like a candle guttered
in my astonishment at his state
my aim returned to its normal straight

My shot went home, both straight and true
his body to the ground, it flew
I went to search it with delight
I would have success that night

When I went to search for loot
I felt as if I ‘d been punched in the snoot
All the trouble, all the toil, all the armor I had soiled
all for shrapnel, and animal muscle oil.

2 Likes

ISME’s JOURNEY lore submission #3

Isme’s Journal entry #3

Look at this, been here on Next Island for over a month now. But its only my 3rd entry. I really have to be better about writing in here. Anyway…

-So. I was so excited to come to Next Island. Getting to work at the Next Island Times was such a huge opportunity! Too bad no one liked my swim wear article. Then after my poem, “That Night in Ancient Greece “, got out,-thanks for nothing Cherry, well, things were not so good at the Times for me anymore. You would think that they would have focused on my successful kill, rather then my soiled armor, but no, the sign on the bulletin board “crappy loots for crappy suits” had everyone laughing their butts off. I hope they crap themselves.

So here I am… friendless, faction-less, and utterly alone. I want to just go out and hunt. I guess I will take my remaining ped, fix my gear and hope for the best. I hope I have enough left…….

-Alright, I had just enough left to repair my gear with 1 whole ped left over. Maybe I can convince a faction to take me in. If I can prove I am worthy to someone. Stupid poem. Maybe someday people will just think its funny and not think I am a coward. Oh well. Time to suck it up and find the Isme positivity I used to be known for. I want to prove it to the world. I NEED to prove it to myself.

Putting on my happy but determined face, and out to hunt I will go. I need to prove to myself and the world that I CAN DO IT. I decided on a plan to begin again on Next Island. Start small and work my way back to Ancient Greece.

Who knows, maybe on my hunt I will find something useful to someone, make a big discovery, find something rare and expensive! That is right, keeping thinking positive Isme. You CAN DO IT!!!

I hope….

1 Like

I don’t know if all this still applies, but as it is my first time participating, here’s the character information:

Character Name: Dalia Vivian

Character Description: Raised to be a Loyalist, Dalia is trying to conciliate her beliefs with her will to explore and learn more.

Images:
thumbnail
banner

Language: English is not my language, so please forgive me if you find something that is not correct or if a part sounds a little weird. I hope it’s not too bad.



And here are the 5 Lore Submissions:


Entry #01

“Today is going to be a wonderful day!”, I thought to myself looking up at the bright blue sky.

The day started fantastic, as always! I woke up early to see the sunrise and when I left the house everyone still seemed to be sleeping. Everyone except Igor: I’m sure that when I woke up, I heard his pet papoo running happily towards the bridge. Either this man takes his job as an Information Officer very seriously or he really enjoys watching the sunrise over the river!

I was watching the fishes, in one of my favorite places: between the crystal beach and the televator to paradise landing. In the distance, I could hear the waves on the beach and the noise of the papoos playing in the bamboo forest. It’s unbelievable how everyone seems to pass by here so many times a day and they don’t stop to appreciate the beauty of this little spot!

“With a day as beautiful as today, nothing could go wrong!”, I repeated to myself. “In fact, here every day is good”, I thought, “every day is… well… the same.”, I sighed. "Wait! What am I thinking? Surely I shouldn’t think about things like that! Everyone is working towards the same goal. … The only problem is that everyone seems to think the same way and … would it really be a bad thing to think differently? Would it be wrong to try to explore other possibilities? … If only I could see somewhere a sign that would help me decide…”

“Just a sign…” I whispered.

“Kaboom”, a scary noise was heard!

At that time I had no idea how different today would become!

It’s late at night, only now I managed to stop and write. I know I’ve been avoiding writing for a long time. But today I finally realized that today was the day to start!

After all, today was a wonderful day!


Entry #02

The sun is already rising! It feels like I fell asleep again on top of the roof at crystal peak…

From here I can still see Igor and his pet papoo at his post between the bridges. Right, yesterday they were there too when it all happened:

It was still very early when I heard the sound of a huge explosion! Smoke rose to the sky, and it seemed to come from exactly where I am now.

Without thinking, I quickly ran towards crystal peak. As I passed the crystal beach houses, sleepy voices in the windows asked what was going on.

“Wait, Dalia! It could be dangerous!”, a familiar voice warned. It was Joe, one of my instructors. They always told me that I’m a little impulsive. “Am I being recklessly as usual?”, I thought, as I now ran after my instructor, struggling to keep up with his speed.

At the top of the stairs was Igor, running towards us.

– What happened? – asked Joe.

– I’m not sure! But the whole earth shook and stones fell from the mountain!

We crossed the bridges, and on the other side we saw smoke coming out of a big hole in the hill. Huge rocks were now blocking the road. We peeked at the entrance to the newly formed cave and who was inside was Mr. and Mrs. Boole.

– I warned you! We cannot invent what does not exist! – protested Mrs. Boole.

– If it already existed, it wouldn’t need to be created! And everything that exists must first be discovered. – replied an angry Mr. Boole.

And the conversation went on like that for a long time: what exists and what doesn’t exist, inventions versus discoveries, the knowledge, the science, experiments, protocols and a lot of other things that I didn’t understand and wouldn’t even know how to pronounce. They were still arguing and Joe was trying unsuccessfully to get them to explain what really happened.

It was at that moment that I finally started to look around me: “Crystals!” There were big crystals inside those walls!


Entry #03

Today I decided to sit inside this cave under crystal peak to write my final resolution: I will leave this place to explore and live my own adventures!

I will never get tired of looking at the crystals in this cave, not only because they are beautiful, but mainly because seeing them is what helped me to finally make this decision.

Mr. and Mrs. Boole are no longer around. It looks like Dr. Shepherd gave them a severe lecture regarding their unauthorized experiments. I think he’ll keep them at Shepherd’s Beach under his supervision for quite a while.

But by the end, the accident wasn’t that serious: no one was hurt and the biggest problem was that the road between crystal beach and crystal peak became blocked by large stones that we are unable to remove. So everyone came together to create a new access through the cave. It took us 2 days to clean the entire space and build the new stairs, but it was worth the effort. This place is wonderful.

Also, seeing everyone working together on a construction was so nice. And for the first time I feel like I really got to participate. When we arrived at this place there were several constructions, but they didn’t let me do much, after all I was just a child. I’m not anymore!

The crystals on these walls have already been cleaned and are now completely exposed. No one has yet been able to explain how they appeared. Did the explosion create them? Or did it just exposed what was already here waiting to be discovered? It is common knowledge that it is possible to collect crystals from the creatures on this planet. But I had never seen this kind of crystals before and neither this big. The research data from Mr. and Mrs. Boole were considered confidential, so even if someone knows the answer, they won’t tell us.

There are so many things to learn! Today is the day! I’m determined to get out of here and tell everyone that I’m going on my own adventures to explore this land!


Entry #04

How did I end up in this situation? While I need to sit here, waiting for my legs to heal, maybe I should reevaluate my decision…

This morning I left the cave at crystal peak determined to tell everyone I was leaving. But as soon as I reached the bridge, I found Igor in a panic, saying that his papoo pet had been kidnapped. To calm him down, I ended up offering myself to bring his pet back.

I tried to follow the same path that the little papoo would have followed. He sent his pet to deliver a message to Undine in Paradise Landing. From there, I went down to the East to get on the road to the First Wave Settlement, because Undine said that she sent the pet to Peyton, and then he didn’t come back. I crossed the small river and climbed the stairs. I knew that after the first waterfall, the path to the right would take me to Peyton, but it was a long walk, so I decided to cross the bridges as it would be faster. As soon as I finished climbing the last flight of stairs, the first house I saw was Ol’Mort’s. “He is a grumpy man. Maybe I shouldn’t go there. But it’s just to ask if he saw the papoo. I’ll try!".

I was crossing the stone bridge, when I heard a noise that I knew very well: it was Igor’s pet. Ol’Mort had kidnapped him! At that time I was so excited to get him back, that I didn’t even think straight and said that I would bring 4 papoos to exchange for the pet.

And now I’m here! Why did I have the idea of ​​trying to catch the pappos with an improvised box, hanging on a bamboo? I should have realized that when i released the rope, instead of catch my target, the box was going to fall and break, attracting two dozen of angry papoos to attack me. Joe ended up saving me, getting rid of the papoos, while Li took me in a hurry to the house to heal from the injuries.

But I can’t give up, if I want to get 3 more pappos I will need a new plan!


Entry #05

I finally managed to climb to the top floor of the ancient ruins. Fortunately these papoos aren’t very good at climbing the ruins’ floors, so I was able to escape them. But I still ended up all scratched up again.

At least my plan worked well: I waited for one of the red papoos to be alone, positioned myself right above him, threw my net, jumped down and tied it up.

The idea of ​​using a net was great to catch the 3 pappos I needed. I thought about that after Joe handed me one of the yellow pappos tied in a net, while muttering that he didn’t understand why I needed it alive.

As I dragged the last of the 4 papoos to Ol’Mort’s, I was muttering the same thing to myself. Looks like a papoo stole Ol’Mort’s sunglasses, so when he saw Igor’s papoo he thought it was him and arrested him. I tried to explain that maybe it was another similar papoo, but he didn’t know that there are papoos of 4 different colors around here. So in exchange for the pet, I was supposed to bring a papoo of each type for him to “inquire”. I don’t know exactly what he thought the papoos would tell him. But by the end, he didn’t want to release the pet.

  • This one has a collar so he is the most similar to the thief, who also wore accessories, a red cap! – he continued insisting.

By this point I was so furious that after all my hard work he wouldn’t keep his promise, that I took one of the big wooden masks he had at home and broke all the little wooden cages where he was holding the pappos.

While I was leaving with the pet, the other papoos were making the biggest mess in the house. “This time he’ll be lucky if he only loses a pair of glasses”, I thought. “A papoo with a red cap and sunglasses? This man is crazy! What will he say next? That there are also papoos that talk around here?”

2 Likes

Isme’s Journey entry #4

Journal Entry #4

Is just gets worse and worse. I was getting prepared to go swunting to replace my depleted ped. I headed to Crystal Beach to look at supplies……. I hopped in the televator and went down. The items I wanted were no longer available so I decided that some perhaps My luck would change if I took in some clean fresh air and used the climb up those long stair cases as a way of clearing my mind and maybe changing my luck. As you know I am not a normally superstitious person but I am starting to get desperate. I will try anything that’s free and wont kill me.

It had started to feel good. No wonder the big exercise equipment companies never had a chance here., all these stairs!

My mind started to clear and I was returning to a genuine feeling of hopefulness. Then while I was glancing up briefly at some passing birds…. I missed a step.

Then I missed a whole lot of them… as I fell ALL THE WAY down.

I don’t remember hitting the last few steps. When I opened my eyes the doctor said it was a miracle I didn’t end up at at revive terminal with permanent damage. Even my armor was not badly damaged.

I am very sore. My head feels funny too. The doctor said it will for awhile. The actual physical injuries were healed by my pulse unit, but it will take time for all the nerves to settle back into regular activity and the overly stretched muscles to resume their normal shape.

Maybe its just the pain in my head still but everything seems somehow different. Like someone turned up the volume on the colors…

Maybe its just the knock on my head, but I keep seeming to sense people or at least a something that seems to be watching me? I dunno. I guess only time will tell.

1 Like

Isme’s Journey #5

Isme’s Journal entry number …… I think 5?

Well I am trying to write things down. I think this is the 5th one. My head…well it doesn’t feel bad any more, just sort of different. Maybe not bad different but different.

My now Extreme dislike for stairs is not fading. And I never noticed, really, how many stairs are on this planet! The televators were being serviced yesterday (yes I know its been like a week since I wrote in this journal last- and why do I talk to this book like I am talking to other people?)
Really Isme….

Any way- my calves were aching so bad! The upside is the cramped muscles made me look a bit like I was wearing high heels even though I wasn’t. My legs don’t look to bad if I do say so myself!.
If I can get back on the financial level again, I am gonna get one of those new Next Island Bikinis.

Down one
___________flight
________________ I go
___________________and
_______________________then
__________________________down
________________________one
___________________more
________________what
_____________did
___________I
______Come
__here
____for. Then on a landing, I am standing, Half way up or half way down?
___________________________________________________Stepping
___________________________________________stepping
______________________________________view
________________________________keeps
________________________changing
____________________Like
________________That
___________cave
______________of times
____________________arranging
___________________________Misty cave not up not down but forward and back.

I think of that cave a lot lately. Not sure why. Especially since I don’t remember there being any stairs there.

Ugh enough about stairs.

I went swunting piglets yesterday. Surprisingly my aim was better then its ever been. I ended up with a lot of tails. You would think that anytime you went hunting you would get a tail per piglet… but that isn’t how it works out. Weird right?

Also I would often feel like I was being watched by something. Maybe I should go back to the orpheous cave. That Haruspex Elder is always so kind. One of the few beings on this planet that know me and still like talking to me.

Wait? How did I go from piglets to the cave? I am losing my mind.

Piglets- so ya, I had the best hunt I have ever had!! lots of shrapnel, and oil, and tails!

I even got a few screechers! Yay!!!

Oh and a minor editor of the Next Island Herlad contacted me. He had heard about my fall, wanted to interview me on the conditions of the stairs in the Crystal Bay area. He even asked how I was feeling and sounded like he was actually glad to hear that I was. Does that make 2 beings on this planet now?
Maybe if I can swing this right I can get a job there? and more importantly a friend!!!

1 Like

Hi, I am known as Fatteus “Fatty” Thorsson. I am the High Prophet of the Church of Tommy (A pretend/for fun church in EU). My character has made a pilgramage to Next Island to share the word of Tommy and research Next Islands Fascinating wild life as well as its characters. I have five Lore submissions and I would love to post my thumbnail and banner image (but new members can’t post pictures, so… work with me?) Anyway, here are my submissions, which I will submit one post at a time. I hope I am still in time to get the piece for April.

Lore Submission #1 For April
The Origins of the Papoo
Short story by Fatteus “Fatty” Thorsson

A bone-rattling explosion rocked the secret laboratory on Next Island. Screeches and howling were heard as a legion of monkeys spilled from the gaping chasm left in the lab’s now exposed interior. A bedraggled man with thin blonde hair and beard, soot covered cheeks, and safety goggles emerged in their wake spitting and coughing through intermittent pleas for the monkeys to come back. How could his experiments go so awry? Of course, what should he have expected? The papoo were even more unruly than he could have predicted. If anything, they were made wilder when he augmented them.

“The things one does to advance science,” he groaned, grabbing his throbbing head, ears still ringing from the turmoil that just occurred. If word got out that he was doing these experiments on the papoo, no doubt half of NEO and even Stel would hunt him down and end his career, in the messiest, cruelest way possible. Stel would execute him for certain. Truth be told, there wouldn’t be many who would protect him if they knew what he had done.

A month earlier, Anthro-biologist Dr. Paul Kylon was presenting his idea to his colleagues. What if man could enhance himself with biological augmentations? The settlers were used to inorganic chips and implants introduced by their new friends from Calypso, but biological ones could integrate so much better than what they were used to. Testing on Humans would be too risky, not to mention unethical, but the local papoo would be good substitutes. The grey and brown varieties were all that existed on Next Island and were mostly found in the jungles in the southeastern corner of the continent. He set out to capture them.

Once Doctor Kylon had captured about twenty of each grey and brown species, he began creating and testing his implants on the mild-mannered creatures. He took notes and soon found that the implants had benefits raising the papoo’s strength and vigor with the unfortunate side effect of changing their temperament, but the kinks could be worked out, he thought to himself. No other scientists had volunteered to help him, not wanting to be associated with such a risky program. But Doctor Kylon was optimistic. One day he discovered that his implants had changed some of them to red or yellow. This was quite a shock, to say the least. He also learned that the biological implants actually changed the creatures right down to their DNA!

As time went on, the papoo became more aggressive and started refusing to eat, smacking any food or drink out of Doctor Kylon’s hands. It was only a matter of time before they rebelled completely, they just needed an opening. And that opening came as Doctor Kylon was cleaning their cages. As he transferred them to new crates, one of them burst out of his reach and started to release all the others!

“Good God!” Dr. Kylon exclaimed, as the violent raging papoo bared down on him, backing him into a corner. One of them started to beat on his generators and it wasn’t long before it exploded magnificently, tearing a hole in the wall of the lab. The papoo were free, and Doctor Paul Kylon was in deep doo-doo. He resolved he would go into hiding. No one really knows what became of him, except maybe one soul, his favorite experiment, an intelligent papoo named Sabastian. Sabastion currently hides in an ancient temple in papoo village and tries to hide his identity by wearing sunglasses and a cap, but that will be a story for another time.

2 Likes

Lore Submission #2 For April
The Origins of Sebastian
Short Story by Fatteus “Fatty” Thorsson

Sebastian rubbed his eyes. For the first time in his short life, he felt conscious. Really conscious. Not just floating from place to place, eating berries and insects, fighting for survival. A kindly young man was cleaning his cage. He looked over at the young man and did what felt natural.

“Oh, hello,” Sebastian said. The man jumped at the shock of hearing a papoo speak.

“Uh, hi. Yes.” The man stuttered and righted himself. “Sebastian. I see you’ve learned speech.”

“I… think so?” Sebastian looked at his palms, which came into focus, still every bit as primitive looking as he was, but he felt more than a mere beast. “It’s hard to find words sometimes, but I naturally know what to say. It’s weird.”

The man adjusted his goggles. “Do you know who you are?”

Sebastian had to think about it. “I am a papoo. My name is Sebastian. I don’t quite know what that means, but it feels right.”

The man grinned broadly. “And do you know who I am?”

Sebastian looked him up and down. He had thin, blonde hair, a stocky figure, and a thin beard. He had seen his face many times, but hadn’t really considered what to call him. “You look like a Daniel to me. I’m not sure what that means, but…”

The man guffawed. “I am Dr. Paul Kylon. I am the reason you are suddenly more self aware. It is because of me that you can talk.”

Sebastian considered this for a moment. “Thanks. For cleaning my cage, I mean.”

“Don’t mention it, Sebastian.” The man went back to his task, smiling and humming a tune.

“So, what is on the agenda for today?” Sebastian inquired, tilting his head.

The man continued to wipe down the bars. “Today we are going to run some tests on your brothers and sisters to see how they are taking to their new organic augmentations.”

“Is the reason I can talk an organic augmentation?”

“Well, sort of. Yes. But not like theirs. It’s difficult to explain. Your implant is deep in your brain. Most of your brothers are augmented in their arms or legs or backs.” Dr. Kylon pointed to each of those places on his body as he said them. “You are special, Sebastian.”

His heart filled with pride. Special. He was special. Sebastian had never been special. In fact, until today, he didn’t even know special was a thing. But it felt good. He wasn’t sure, but he felt that today was going to be a good day…

1 Like