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sizeo:4/sizeoACT 1: A way home?sizec/sizecsizeo:3/sizeoChapter 1: The endless rabbit holesizec/sizec At first, two figures sprung in sight of the colossal Phantasia-ridden chamber inside of the hall of mirrors, or rather, the colorless desolation that riddled the memories of those who fought and lost in there. The smallest one was Neraine, bruised, exhausted half kneeled over the harsh floor. The other one was tale, the monstrous recollection of her own memories on the unbelievable experiences that succeeded the last hours. It didn't take long for her to reach the conclusion that those memory aberrations could only be the work of her own imagination; For Gelyan and for Sisily, the other two drifters who followed the trail she carved out and called themselves her companions, the memories of their adventure were fond and exciting, full of new friends, opportunities, experiences. She was the only one who looked back at those events and only say a horde of monsters keeping them from the ultimate objective: home. Those fears had taken form of a terrible beast that at the very moment was about to take her down. she pondered. Too tired to even stand, Nera only managed to stare the ice beam coming for her. Maybe because of that unyielding focus she was unable to perceive the last tarot in the battle, the high priestess, coming forth to help. She took the blow on behalf of her master, fading away softly with the promise of redemption. "Gelyan! Now!" Neraine shouted over the shoulder. "Do I have to take myself out to finish this thing?" He asked back, pointing his gun towards Tale, his fingers hugging the trigger with uncertainty. "Using this thing is very... Bothersome." "GELYAN!" She insisted. "Fine!" He replied. "Sislily! Get it distracted for me, I don't want to miss this." "One Tale distraction coming!"Sisily announced, covering Tale with a barrage of electric kisses. The projectiles forced the creature to retreat a few steps, so she warped in to score a few strikes. She managed on, two cuts even before the memory caught her in plain air and threw her towards the nearest wall, knocking her out cold. The distraction was sufficient, however, and Gelyan had already shot his soul pact. The crimson red sting cost Gelyan his conscience, but finally managed to open a wound on the seemingly unbreakable defenses of the memory. Now there were indeed only two figures left, and one had to fall. Neraine set her eyes on the goal, forgetting everything else to achieve maximum performance. What started as a tired stumble quickly progressed into a determined sprint and she noticed Tale was setting up his Broken heaven. The deadly storm of leaves forming around Nera only strengthened her will, informing that it had to end on the next move. Her concentration peaked just a moment before impact, instinct taking over to decide the blade dancer was holding one sword too many. As one of the blades dropped to the floor, both hands enveloped the remaining one to score a deadly perforation on the wounded Tale. But as much eager as Neraine wanted to know right away the result of her desperate strike, the adrenaline rush was quickly fading, permitting the pain and the exhaustion to sink in to the point were not even her muscles dared to respond another command. Not that she needed them anymore: a white blood with a golden shine flourished softly from the wound she had created, and the monstrous Tale Memory fell backwards completely lifeless. Without a body to support on anymore, Nera stabbed the ground with her sword and fell over its hilt, taking a time to catch some breath. This time, the enemy had gotten closer than ever to finishing them off right there and then. Too close, if one would ask her."Yay! We did it! We did it!" Sisily yelled at no one in particular, warping around the place full of joy and rid of her wounds. Tired of having no audience, she summoned the magician and hugged it tightly. "Good work, wormy!""My patience has never been tested so much." The magician mumbled to himself. And albeit Emi and Gelyan didn't share the same energy of their space-warping, tarot-hugging partner, they also seemed pretty satisfied with the hard-earned victory. Only one person didn't seem completely fulfilled:"That's enough." Neraine whispered under her panting."Did you say something, Nera?" Gelyan asked while glancing at her for a moment."I said " Nera's shout quickly grabbed the attention of the others, silencing the commemorations. "These memory drifts are getting us nowhere! It's like you've forgotten completely what we're here for!" To her, the real problem were exactly the motivations. "I think there's still too much you haven't told us, Gelyan.""Well, there's something, but..." Gelyan begun before being interrupted again by Neraine:"I don't want to hear any 'but' from you anymore. My patience is gone, and this is your last chance, boy.""That's exactly what I was about to say." He explained. "You're so hell bent on leading the way by yourself that you forgot to even consult us before giving Tosl the wrong egg, again and again. If you did, I'd gladly tell you that the devil egg is probably much closer to where Reciful went that this holy egg that shackpot gave us. But then gain, would you really listen to me?""While we're at it," Sisily argued in the background. "Does anyone have any idea why they use eggs as keys? I mean, they're cute and all, but they don't look much like a key to me.""Let me leave something clear here, Gelyan." Nera threatened Gely while grabbing his collar. "If you want to think that the universe is your personal playground, I couldn't care less. But my life, and Sisi's and Emi's over there, are your toys. Right now we need to get back home, and if there's anything you can do to help us with that, then you do exactly that. As soon as you do that you get rid of us and can save your universe from Reciful. How does that sound to you?""Like a deal, honey." Gelyan answered."Do you think that the egg can hatch a key-chicken?" Sisily suggested."What is a chicken?" Emi asked in reply."I'm surrounded by children." Neraine grumbled to herself. "So we should get out of here and try the devil egg, you say?"Actually, it seems like an even better opportunity showed up." Gelyan noticed, nodding towards Tale's final resting spot.The memory realms all had a certain degree of instability in their reality's fabric, but the defeat of the greatest of them all had provoked some unique anomaly which was eating away the very ground around the aberration's lifeless body. Underneath the ground, a thick grey fog made it impossible to observe what lied beyond without ever making its way out of the hole. The crack in reality grew rapidly until it reached a few meters of width and stopped just as suddenly as it began."What... Is that?" Sisily questioned, standing at the edge to try and see further. She slipped and would have fallen onto it if it weren't for her warp blade."That is an instability in the boundaries of this dimension." Gelyan explained. "It shows up sometimes when we handle dangerous artifacts like the book of fate, but I'd take a risk and say it had more to do with that amazing lady who saved us from my old partner's madness. Or it could be related to Tale itself, I can't say for sure. In any case, if this crack is like any other that showed up before, we'd be very well set going down there.""So you want me to just jump in this grey mess?" Neraine replied, skeptical. "No way. I'm not going in there, and there's nothing you can say to convince me to go.""Oh yeah?" Gely inquired with a playful smirk. "Hey Sisi, there's some candy down the hole. And fluffy, squishy little bunnies as well.""Yay!" Sisi exclaimed, jumping into the void without a second thought."See you down here, my lady!" He added before jumping in after her."Son of gun, he did it." Nera complained before glancing at Emi. "Well, are you going?""Sure thing. You want a ride?"With a quick nod, Neraine held on Emi's foot and let her descend into the hole. She was beginning to question why Gelyan didn't have the same idea she did when her conscience blacked out in the grey fog. Unable to keep her grip on the foot, she fell freely into the grey ocean. But while Nera could feel very clearly the fall itself, her other senses felt numb and distant, as if she wasn't actually in her body anymore. Another image slowly and subtly appeared over her own view, as if it she was seeing through dirty glass: people she knew from the real word seemed to crowd over her, shaking her to try and wake up. One of them placed his fingers over neck and carefully checked to see if her heart was still beating. Their voices entered softly her head, going from an inaudible whisper to desperate screams:"Nera? Nera, you need to wake up! You're late for you presentation!""What is happening, Nera? Why don't you wake up?""Please, Nera! Come back to us!"But try as she might, Neraine couldn't wake up from her sleep. The visions ended abruptly with the effort to wake up, quickly returning her to lucidity. The first thing she noticed was that the fall was much, much slower than what she felt it was - in fact, to Nera the fall felt more like a tranquil dive into water than anything else, except that her lungs seemed to breathe just fine. Just as she was about to attempt something, a silhouette came into sight. It seemed like the top of a tower made of a grey, sturdy stone, with a open top guarded by small battlements. It wasn't alone, however: Quickly another similar structure showed up not more than a few meters away from the last, followed by another and yet another until there seemed to be nothing else in the world.sizeo:3/sizeo-Chapter 2: Sea of towers-sizec/sizecNeraine woke up again: Her head was spinning, her hands touched a sword handle, a feeling she would never forget. But there was something wrong: Nera wasn't in the same place as before. She was in a harsh, grey rock, full of dust. Around her, battlelments of a round tower, stretching twenty feet from ledge to ledge. Behind it there was... a fog. A dense, humid fog. In fact, the only thing still familiar were the tarots, Death and High prestess, watching her with silent agreement. But the most esquisite was that even the weapon Neraine carried was different.The triangle shaped blades were curved back slightly, but still resembling its original triagular form, yet more agressive. The inside blade was black as the night, irregular and extremely sharp, while the other side was niveous as the moon's shine, sturdy and cold as the embrace of death. The guard resembled the crescent moon, and delicate snow leaked of its magical core. Nera then focused the tarot duo."Tell me my location. I don't care how you know it." She ordered. Said Death. Said The high priestess. Before she could answer, an even more familiar voice shouted, from not very far away:"NERA! Nice to see you again!" Said Sisily. Her waving hands could be seen vaguely from behind the fog. "Did you get a new weapon too? Mine is so cool!"Bordering the battlelments, Nera could see her: The new weapon she referred was a two-headed axe; It had shining dark red steel, blazing hot in its edges. Wheels of different sizes spinned wildy between its blades, creating sparks and heat around it. The weapon irradiated an golden sunlike light, and small flames formed near the axe at any moment, extinguishing themselves in the next. There was also a metal spike shaped like a carrot on the top. Sisi herself was atop the ledge of another tower."Doesn't matter. Are you ready to continue?" Neraine asked."Continue what?""Our quest for peace, of course." Explained Gelyan, appearing from another nearby tower. "You know, that one that involves beating people up until they understand our noble cause.""Do you have a better idea? Then shut up." Nera commanded."Oh, yeah, that Reficul guy." Sisily renembered, with the index in her chin. "Then let's get to it!"Then, to everyone's surprise, she jumped from the ledge, butt first, holding her knees towards her. Instinctively, Nera grabbed her tower's ledge and pushed herself downwards, running in its side with expert grace. Gely concluded. Finding a fairly innocuous lever cleverly hidden in the fog, he shifted it; with heavy scraping sounds, a shaft opened in the center of the surface, with a solid rope showing the way down. Both girls zipped down incrdibly rapidly. Neraine increased her pace as she was almost reaching the falling partner, who was still oblivious to the situation. Stretching her hand, Nera managed to grab Sisi's shoulder, but it was too late. In the blink of an eye, the surface appeared in front of her, too quickly to react. When Nera ran into it, a wave of pain spreaded every inch or her body. But she kept falling, only slowing down after a while. Still somewhat stunned, Neraine begun floating. She let herself reach the surface, and calmly approached the nearest solid object: The base of the tower she just jumped from.Sisily, on the other hand, was having the fun of her life: She swam around, spitted water and did acrobatics underwater. Not much later, a nearby tower opened a hidden sliding door; Gely exited it, smirking."My my, we've just got here and my girls are all getting wet and wild for me!" He said. Sisily spitted water on him. concluded Nera. But before she could reprimand them, they heard someone shouting:"Argh! I hate water!" Said the voice, between short drowning interruptions. The drowner's waving arms were just in Gelyan's line of sight. He crouched, and examined the person."What are you doing?" Nera asked. "Save that person!""I'm evaluating if she's worth saving." He replied, as if someone's life was but a peeble in his way. "Yep, not really anything remarkable." After that, Gely sit and watched the show. With that in mind, Neraine swam rapidly towards the sound, grabbing the person in danger and placing him or her in the shaft recently found. A short evaluation conluded it was a her: The girl couldn't be taller than 5 feet, and seemed to be on her early teens. She had shoulder lenght red hair dyed over the original black, which could be seen in its roots. With a sligthly pale skin, her golden eyes caught the attention quickly. The girl wore loose red and yellow clothes, whose edges were burned. After coughing water a few times and sitting up, she stared the others with a scared expression; it quickly turned into a frown."Why did you save me? Do I look like miss distressed to you?" She said, staring straight at Neraine. Needless to say, neither of the two seemed pleased."When someone saves you useless life, you should thank them." Nera said. "And thell them your name.""Hmpf. Call me wathever you want, but you won't get so say my name. Have a nice life!" The girl said, standing and grabbing the tower wall, ready to leave."So, emberhead, what are you waiting?" Neraine asked, sarcastically. Emberhead's hand started to shake, and she hesitated for the longest of the moments. Despite the provocation, the answer was fairly innocuous, altough without turning to face them."Call me Jackie." Outside, Sisily jumped out of the water to greet her."Hey Jackie! I'm Sisily, and those are my BFF's. They're not as important in my group as I am, tough." She explained, as if it was a simple fact anyone could notice."Well... I'm the most important of mine!" Jackie contested, pointing to herself."But where's your group?" Sisi asked."I have no group.""What? That's so sad!" She replied, grabbing her by the arm and turning her in a single, quick pull. "Can I keep her, Nera? Can I?"Nera should have, and would have, in any other situation, refused. But when she saw her trembling hand, the mark of a girl who doesn't admit her fear, she saw the slightest bit of herself in her; the question suddenly became irrecusable. When Neraine nodded, Sisily jumped around grabbing the new team member; she tried to escape it, screaming in protest and kicking. But Gely just grinned the whole process. A grin that mocked her ethics as if they were her deepest flaw. A feeling of uneasement only he could make on her. That was exatcly why she despised him so much."Now, what should we do, Nera?" Asked Gely. "We kept the girl, but I assume she can't lead us anywhere. What's our next step?."Don't talk about what you don't know, greenboy!" Jackie said vehemently, finally free of Sisi's grab. "I know exactly where to go. I just fell of a tower on my way there.""You've been here before?" Asked Sisi."Yep, and you don't want to see this place at day. We need to get to the tunnels." She explained. Before anyone could reply to that, she continued: "This way!"Quickly, Jackie grabbed the rope and begun climbing, using the nearest wall to do it faster; she clearly had some experience in it. They followed her, mostly silent and without questions. Except for Neraine, who was now questioning herself why didn't she climb the tower, instead of hesitating before them. The was only one reason for it, or so she concluded:sizeo:3/sizeo-Chapter 2: Tunnels of despair.-sizec/sizec"Shoot!" Exclaimed Jackie, humping from one stone tower to another. A pale shine of light could be seen piercing the fog far above, coming from a surging sun far behind them. "The sun is almost out!""Wait right there." Neraine ordered, stepping into her way. "We're not taking another step before you tell us what's going on.""We don't have enough time!" She answered. Upon having no effect, emberhead continued: "The sun will be out in a minute, tops. When it does, both the towers and the water will catch on fire and we'll die. There's a tunnel not far away from here. Got it, perky?" When she finished, it begun raining; the water was boiling hot and evaporated as soon as it touched something.Both Neraine and Sisily had never seen or heard about anything that esquisite. But then Nera renembered what Death told her: With that in mind, she nodded and told Jackie to keep going. While they ran at maximum speed, the environment changed drastically: The fog was changing into steam, the sky became clearer with every second; black clouds appeared high above surrounded the group with a lightning storm, but not with the usual form: The thunders seeked the ground, and remained there, forming imense columns that crowded the world. With the gigantic mayhem forming around them, Jackie couldn't be more relived to find the mark: A tower without a ledge. She infomred the others:"Quickly! Head down!" With that, she jumped to the nearest lightning, grabbing it like a meal bar. She begun spinning and slided to the ground, followed quickly by Sisily."Yaaaay...!" She screamed, disappearing in the steam. Gelyan examined the situation and followed the two. Nera looked down, and then backwards: The sun's edge had finally emerged, huge and powerful. Towers just a few feet behind her had combusted already, transforming the misterious landscape of before into a raging inferno. With no option, she jumped into the lightning: It was cold, as if it was made of steel. With dexterity, she slided down, reaching a small island within the flaming waters. The ground was dark bown, and resembled common earth. Gelyan was at its middle, holding a metal hatch. No one else were to be seen."C'mon, Nera!" Said Gelyan. "You really know how to pick the right time to get distracted."With no time to hesitate, she jumped in. Behind her, Gely closed the hatch with a heavy metal sound. They were inside a 15 feet large earth tunnel grossly made, with two ways to go. Every 20 feet or so there was an antique oil lamp shining a faint light. Each entrance quickly turned into their own way, with no indication of where they would take them to. The other two of Neraine's group were there too. But, for a moment, everyone took a second to rest; Who weren't tired merely for the physical stress, was because of the rather intense psicilogical toll running for their lives took."Now that it's over, it's time to answer my questions." Neraine demanded, looking at Jackie. "Where are we going?""It's... well, let's see..." Jackie started, trying to give a logical explanation to the ilogical. "It's kind of strange." Nera raised an eyebrow. "You know, it has lots of strange people, some friendly others not. And they usually have weapons, and some of them actually have guardians. Oh, and there's lots and lots of eggs.""Oh, so that's where we are." Said Gelyan, snapping his fingers. "Nera, we have nothing to worry about; I know exactly where we are going.""And that place is?" Asked Nera."You have to see it with your own eyes to understand." He explained. "But I guarantee you, it's the perfect place for our quest.""Awesome!" Exclaimed Sisily. "Let's keep going!""Not so fast." Said Nera. "I suppose you didn't see " She indicated where it was. Hidden in the shadows, just the curve of one of the tunnel's sides, stood a giant, muscular figure. It had black skin in its large chest and a striped black-and-green adbomen, much like the one of an insect. The creature had four arms, a pair made of flesh and a pair made of a thick insect exoskeleton, with razor sharp claws on both. There were also six long artiulated legs and a head with a cone format: It had no ears, nose or mouth, only three round bulging eyes, each with thousands of minuscule lenses. The exotic monster left its hiding to confront them. Without a sound, it charged head first towards them.Out of instinct, Jackie put her hands on her back, pulling her weapon: A small, heavy and firm hammer, inscripted with three circles which intersected at the middle. It's top shined a bright red light, as if it came straight from the earth's core. With a mighty sweep, the hammer and the claws impacted, the sheer pressure of the exchange filled the tunnels with heat. They traded hits a few more times; despite her enemy more arms, emberhead was faster. Sparks flew wildly. But despite her best efforts, the creatue got the best: It's mighty left arm sweeped, suprising Jackie launching her into the earth wall."Now that she's done showing off..." Gelyan said, pulling his weapon.The new gun had two long, metal, green barrels pointed foward, and it's back had six magazines with different sizes each, twisting viciously. The center of the gun emmited a sickly green, and it's black grip reminded the one of an actual gun. There were six triggers, one for each finger except the tumb and two free. He pressed one of them, and one of the barrels sneaked itself into the gun's body. Two bullets soared the air, creating a wind tunnel behind them. The armor-breaking bullets were skillfully aimed, and hit the target right at midlle of its chest. The moster stopped dead on it's track and collapsed. The barrel slowly returned to it's initial position."Should we get going?" He asked."Stop taking my kills!" Said Jackie. "I could have done it myself!""Does it matter?" Nera asked. "It's dead now. Show us the way."Nodding quietly, Jackie guided through the inumerous tunnels; every few minutes there a crossroad, and she always picked the way that took them deeper and deeper into the earth, but the temperature and the pressure kept the same. Additionally, for a painfully long time, there were no mosters, and no conversation. thought Sisily. But then, something caught everyone's ear: Something was pounding the ground, causing it to shake. The tunnel slowly lost bits of its integrity until a crack appeared on a wall. For a moment, nothing happened. Then the crack bursted open, lauching something to the other side of the tunnel and making a hole in the other wall."Ugh..." Said someone inside it.When the dust settled, they saw him: It was a boy on his late teens, tall, strong and tanned. He had blue eyes, a large chin and short hair the colour of the sand. His clothes were the ones of a cowboy, with blue jeans suspenders and a clear dress shirt. But, instead of gloves, he wore gauglets and a steel shield: It was three inches thick and elongate, with two horns and some sort of barrel between them. The boy had clearly suffered many scratches and bruises. On the other wall, half a dozen of the creatures like the one from before stared their target, then to the new meat. Deciding he was long past dead, they changed focus to Neraine's group."Wait. Right. There." Said the boy, noticing the other people. He was, somehow, standing again. "Don't forget I'm your prey, not them!"With that, he charged the creature who was nearest to the ones in danger, punching the creature in the neck; the horns gripped it firmly. Still running, he ran up the wall and over the creature, twisting its neck until it was broken. The boy pointed his other arm for the other monsters, and it shot white projectiles everywhere, cofnusing them."Run!" He said, turning back to Neraine. "I've got this," he lied."Shut up!" Said Jackie. "We'll help you wether you want it or not!" She grabbed her hammer and picked up a fight with one of them.Nera watched around. Nera and Sisily awaited her command. With that in mind, she charged to pick up a fight with two mosnters at the same time. She took the first one by surprise, with a deep cut in his armpit; before it could even react, Neraine grabbed its arm and climbed the foe's back. When she jumped from the shoulder, the creature's head hit the ground, with a clean cut. Not much after, the body followed. The second foe, however, was already aware of her, so it attacked with its huge arm.Flesh hit ice, and the wall Nera summoned shattered, but not before freezing the hand that destroyed it. The monster, unable to use that member anymore, attempted to attack with its smaller arms, but she dodged them without a scratch. Seeing the perfect opening, Neraine slashed both swords in a "x" fashion. It fell just before her feet. Searching around, she saw Sisily taking a piggyback ride on her foe, hitting him in the head; Gelyan finishing his; and emberhead using fire from her hammer to scorch everything around her, killing the last one,In a matter of seconds, all the foes were on the ground. Seeming quite impressed, the boy sighted in relief and collapsed."Cowboy? You ok?" Asked Sisily. "Please don't dieeee!!!" She begun crying extensively."He'll be all right." Said Gely, tapping her shoulder. "We can heal people, forgot it?""Oh, yeah." She said, cleaning a last tear. "We're so awesome." With that, Neraine summoned the High Priestess. Jackie seemed quite surprised."You guys have a guardian? That's unbelievable!" She exclaimed, like someone who sees the sea for the first time. "What kind of creature is that?""You don't have one?" Said Sisily, while the tarot did her healing. "We've got two for each of us!""That's unfair." Emberhead said. "I wish I had mine too." "Where... Oh, it's you guys." Said the boy, scratching his head. "You all saved me, despite what I said.""Of course we did." Said Nera, rather dryly. "There will be no unecessary taking of human lives on my watch. You alone?""Yes, I was." He answered, and lowered his head. "Thank you, for saving me. I'll do anything you ask.""You can join my list of subordinates to pay your debt." Explained Nera. "Tell me your name.""Oh yes, how rude of me. My name is James, but you can call me Jay."Feedback, anyone? Critiques are welcome, as always.sizeo:2/sizeoThe Edit Logsizec/sizecKeeping track of anything that has happened to this specific post.- Aug 13th: First post, with the prologue (by that time still chapter 1.).- Aug 20th: First edit, with chapter 1. Time limit for each chapter was set.- Aug 26th: Second Edit, with chapter 2.- Aug 30th: Thanks to feedback, first major edit of the prologue and chapter 1. Removed all the lonely comments in edits. Added Edit Log.- September 2nd: Edition of chapter 2. 1/3rd of the project mark.-September 11th: 1/2 project mark.-September 16th: 100 views mark.-September 25th: 2/3 of the project and 200 views mark.-October 4th: Second grand edit on the way. 400 views mark.-October 5th: Second grand edit on the prologue. Hopefully the last one too.-October13th: Edit on chapter 1 and 2. Considering braking completely the due date.-The great split of chapters is now done. More than 1.200 views! My thanks to everybody who took their time on this thread.-May 11th, 2012: Complete re-write on the way, chapters 0 (didn't change much) and 1 (changed considerably) done. More this week.-May 12th: Chapter 2 is done too. Next update is taking place on the chapters 3/4/5 post. Might have to post new topics for further chapt