07/05/2015, 01:42 AM #628 Thought I'd drop this here for opinions. This is the first serious attempt in constructing EG into a full fledged story. oh and Chapter 1 isn't done.
Mirror Sea
Spoiler
[h="1"]Prologue[/h]Here’s what I do know:
I’m in the middle of nowhere. Grass fields to my right and lush evergreen forests to my left. I woke up next to a pond lying underneath this rocky overhang. I know that my name is Aion and that I am extremely hungry. Unfortunately, something tells me that finding food is going to be the least of my worries, especially as I watch a tree grow, bloom, die, and then disintegrate to dust in a matter of seconds. No, locating food is the least of my worries.
[h="1"]Chapter 1[/h]Dua might be known to the humans as New Earth but there are still parts of it that shall forever remain Venturian in nature. The Mirror Sea is one such part. Bounded by a chasm and riddled with Gaia Radiation, it is impossible to study what really happens over the perfectly still waters. Flying over it is impossible. Those that enter by ship have never returned.
– Vatian Publication on the Mysteries of Helios System
Reference Year 109,150
There is a saying that many use when they are told an incredulous story: I’ll believe it when I see it. Aion knew the phrase, and the other day he might have said that to anyone that told him there existed a place where things lived and died in the blink of an eye, where some things remained stationary and forever immortalized, where time was in utter chaos. He was in that place, and he still couldn’t believe it. He sat pondering the fantastical landscape that surrounded him, wondering why he was there and how he was going to survive. As far as he was concerned, there were no other beings in this realm that he could seek refuge with or gain some insight as to where he was. He was on his own.
“Alright, where to first?” Aion glanced from the vast forest to the great plains, mulling over which of the two terrains would help him survive. The forest was enticing but the unseen dangers within made him wary. The plains offered visibility. Too much visibility. He looked back to the forest and something deep within him told him that it was the safer alternative. Places to hide and find food. Sure, other beings might be hiding in wait for a meal, but two can play at that game and I know how to play it. He wasted no time in getting up and starting the hike into the unknown.
The forest was dense and dimly lit by glowing mushrooms giving it a mystical atmosphere. Navigating the forest floor was tough, no thanks to the bulging roots of the massive trees. Aion grumbled something he vaguely recalled as being an expression of frustration. “Fricten ruivics.” The roots, or ruivics, didn’t care what he had to say. He chose this path. I can manage. I’ve dealt with worse. Did he? Aion felt that it was an odd thought. He just woke up with no memory of his past, yet somehow his subconscious fed him clues to what it was. That bothered him slightly. Knowing but not knowing. He was in the wild where there could be life-or-death situations and now uncertainty ate away at him. I have to rely on instinct. Don’t think about it, just act.
That realization came right as a cliff suddenly formed in front of him. The scouring action of the river he came to had been accelerated to form a canyon about twenty meters wide. That’s what I get for cursing out nature. Aion gazed down into the chasm cautiously as he rubbed his left temple as if hoping that it would accelerate his memory recall. Instead of another glimpse into his past, he saw something that piqued his curiosity. Moving his head from side-to-side, Aion noted that it was as if he was viewing the canyon through a crystal. Chronorift. The word rang through his mind like an alarm. He didn’t know what it meant but he understood clearly the dread he felt at the recollection. It was something his past-self had once said to avoid, and that was enough for him to think better of trying to enter the area.
“Chronorift… are you the phenomena I just saw or- ” Aion stopped as if the mushrooms were now a novelty to behold. But it wasn’t the fungus that had caught his eye. No, it was this place. He looked around him slowly, perceiving things that he didn’t a moment ago. He understood what was happening around him. Chronorift isn’t a phenomenon. It’s a place. It’s this place. This is Chronorift. And I’m trapped in it. The dread he felt now solidified in him. He was in the last place he ever wanted to be. Aion hastened his pace through the forest as escape now became his priority. Where he was heading didn’t matter; all he could think about was to get anywhere that might be safer. Instinct now took the reins while Aion sprinted through the twisted forest. His panicked rush came to an abrupt halt as he burst out of the woods into a clearing. At first he thought he had gone full circle and made it back to the plains. The trees that blocked his view of the horizon told him otherwise.
Dominating the center of the clearing was a strange structure that reminded Aion of a lighthouse. If there’s something like this here, then that means there could be life. Had he been anywhere else, that thought would have worried him. He sought out the entrance of the lighthouse, a simple hinged wooden door, watching for any signs that could confirm if anyone else was here. Seeing that the door was wide open, Aion grimaced. Either there was someone living here, or they showed up just before me. He walked in with caution.
The interior of the Lighthouse was defined by warm earth tones in contrast with its cold stony exterior. Wooden furnishings filed along the wall of the main room, from bookcases lined with weathered books to open chests loaded to the brim with trinkets. Ever wary, Aion kept an eye out for any part of the building that could be used as a hiding place. After sweeping the second floor and finding no one hidden in the main part of the building, he relaxed and began looking at what supplies he could find. Starting in the master bedroom, he took a look in a wardrobe to see if there was anything warmer than his thin tunic and pants.
“Too flashy… too bulky… too restricting… too- Deivag. What is that?!” Aion stared at the gaudy outfit that simply was lacking in coverage. “What man in their right mind would wear this?” He dropped the eyesore of clothing with no ceremony. Next in the wardrobe was a jacket vest which he was about to skip over, but what he felt in it made him double-back. Pulling out the silver jacket, Aion noticed that it was heavier than it should be. The flexible cloth had a layer of ballistic gel and chain mail embedded within. Stylish and functional. Well, I could live with that. To his surprise, the vest fit comfortably and didn’t even feel like armor. He continued digging through the wardrobe, finding a pair of black pants with pouches attached to the belt. Then he came across a dark-green, red-detailed body suit with a control unit attached at the lower back. He flipped a switch on the unit and he found that the inside of the suit quickly became cooler. Climate controlled suit? Well that will be useful. Now if only there were some weapons here. Aion changed into the suit, vest, and pants before beginning to search the rest of the lighthouse.
