Character: Dalia Vivian
Month: August
5 Lore Submissions:
Entry #21
Where did I get it wrong? I was naive to think that this time everything would go well and that I wouldn’t make the same mistakes I made the first time. I had even decided to take seriously the advice of the man in the Scheecher’s cave not to go too far North or too far West, and so I had decided not to leave our quadrant. But in order not to go back to Tanzanite this time instead of exploring the Northeast area I chose to go to the Northwest.
I just didn’t imagine that those bad guys from Resa were there too. They ambushed me, took my things and kept me prisoner. But soon they got some kind of communication… it looks like there were problems… we went by boat to Resa Docks. Resa’s men seemed so confident that those docks were safe, but the fact is that in a short time the “problems” showed up.
Anyway, what meant trouble for them, turned out to be an escape for me. The New Elysian Order! In theory I knew about them… and in practice I was supposed to… I mean, if things hadn’t been the way they turned out… maybe, actually it’s very likely that I … well, that’s a long story…
About what happened at the docks, I can only say that I wasn’t expecting to see something like that. I refuse to believe that they are bad people. They must have had a good reason to do that. I don’t know the details and I don’t need to know. I only know that they were looking for something specific that Resa stole from the Haruspex: the continuum transf-something, or a weird name like that!
Luckily Alice was there and recognized me. But the mission was not successful, as they did not find the device they wanted. So we came to Sypherton Gardens in a kind of rusty flying vehicle, which from what I understand it was made by the Stel but it was in Resa’s hands at Drusy Blue Ridge and NEO stole it so they could get into the docks.
Entry #22
“Now, no matter what, you need to go through the portal! Run! Don’t look back! I want to see you enter first!”, that’s what my mother said, after kissing me and reassuring me that they loved me very much.
This was my second night here at Sypherton Gardens and I keep having the same dream. Well, it’s not just a dream, they are the memories of that day.
After everything that happened at the docks and now being with these people again… it’s normal that those memories are coming back… the noises, the gunshots, the confusion, the screams…
It’s like I can still feel my mother carrying me in her strong arms, as she ran quickly through the corridor, in the middle of the commotion… I remember so vividly hearing father’s voice talking to her on the communicator:
– Have you reached the chamber yet?
– We’re almost there. – she replied.
– Good. I have already contacted everyone under my command, they are on their way. … I… I’ll only feel safe when I know the two of you have made it through the portal.
– … What does that … You’re not thinking about …
– Dear…
– No! You cannot do this! Mr. Spencer has already given the order for all of us to go through the portal! Post and his soldiers will keep the place safe for us to go!
– Yes… well… no, this is hell!… they won’t be able to…
Mom hugged me tighter at that moment!
– I… I’ll leave Dalia safe and come back to help you…
– No! You do not come! Eleanor, I am your commandant and this is an order: you two go through the portal now!
And it was at that moment that we arrived in the chamber.
“We can’t change our past, but what we do today can change our future!”, thinking this way always helped me to move forward and not give up. And the memories of that day were never something I wanted to forget. They’re just something I can’t change. So why do they seem to be bothering me now?
Entry #23
Today I woke up early to see the sunrise. Well, it’s not like I was actually sleeping, with all these memories flooding my mind…
Even the smell in this place seems the same… How is that possible? Our soldiers also have armor and weapons, even me, I’ve already got my own new armor. So why is there this metallic smell here? The same I used to smell at home when my parents were cleaning and preparing their weapons and armor? Why does this remind me of the scent Dad used to bring when he came home after a day at work and hugged me?
Anyway, today is a new day. Alice convinced me to stay here for a little longer and said that someone, who will arrive today, will be able to show me the region. That grumpy soldier, who almost shot me, left yesterday. He was assigned to another outpost, Flash Point was what they called it.
I need to try to deal with all these feelings better. The landscape here calms me down. It’s quite different from the green, well-watered territory I usually see. The mountains are dry and the terrain is very rough. But it’s still very beautiful! I can feel peace in this silence, looking at the same bright blue sky.
“Look at these colors, Dalia! We don’t know if we’ll ever see them here again. The blue sky, the green of Earth’s vegetation, the light of our Sun! This is Earth’s sun. Where are we going today we will see a new sun and a new world!” We were looking at the blue sky for the last time together. It was supposed to be a good day, the day everyone had been waiting for so long…
I really wish they had the opportunity to see how beautiful this world is… they would have been happy to at least know that. I know how much they believed that this world would be a wonderful place!
Entry #24
I’m so happy! Today I met an old friend, Nathan! He’s a bit older than I am, but our parents were pretty close, so we used to be together all the time.
He came with Major Hoffman to meet Alice. He seems to be nice, the Major. He insisted on getting to know me and said that he worked with my father for many years. “You have the same curious eyes he had! I bet you ended up here because you are determined to explore the whole world!”, he laughed. It’s not that he’s wrong…but how did he know? I didn’t even tell Alice about the reason for my trip.
So Major and Alice are working on a new NEO training program and Nathan has been assigned to this base. But first he needs to go check out some places to help prepare the tests, as the two officers are too busy to go explore the terrain. So I can go with Nathan and get to know the region better.
The purpose of the test is to check some skills more than strength. Of course, it will have to include some hunting mission, but before that the person must prove to be someone intelligent, able to follow clues, locate lost objects, understand enigmas, be an explorer, be willing to go to distant and dangerous places and even have good communication and persuasion skills. (I bet most soldiers I’ve come across so far would fail this one!)
Today we’ve already been checking the area around here. There are some unusual rock formations nearby, south of here. But what really made us more curious was the forest to the southeast, which in a small space has a wide variety of different and unique trees! The Major was quite happy with the place and asked us for a full report.
Tomorrow will be a great day: we’re going to explore more distant places to try to find locations where the terrain has peculiar characteristics and leave clues for future trainees.
Entry #25
Oh! I never imagined it would be so difficult to travel in these lands! It’s so hot, it must be 20 degrees warmer here than on crystal beach. How I would like to be there, swimming in those refreshing waters right now. Even my little LARA is making weird noises!
– Did you put oil in it? – Nathan said, while picking her up in the air as if she were a toy.
– Nobody said to oil it. What are you doing? Don’t scare her!
– This thing is metal so it must need oil.
– She is not a thing! Don’t talk like that, she’ll be sad. Give me my LARA back! – then I took her but she is still heavy! Nathan lifted her up so easily!
– So do you think this is your puppy now? What should I call your pet so “she” doesn’t get “sad"? You must be happy, you wanted so much to have a puppy when you were little and that was not allowed!
Well, Nathan was right about something: I wasn’t being a good owner… with so much confusion the last few days, I wasn’t paying much attention to my pet, I hadn’t even given her a name yet!
– Right! You must also be happy to be here exploring the land… with me… who would have thought? – Nathan added. I didn’t get if he was somehow trying to be ironic about the situation, but of course I was happy despite everything!
– Nathan, do you remember when we were imagining what it would be like to explore this whole new world together and make a lot of wonderful discoveries?
– Of course I remember. How naive we were at that time!
“What does he mean?”, I thought. His words weren’t ironic, they sounded really sad. Now that I think about it, he looks so different from the joyful and dreamy Nathan I knew.