All in the past
 Obsidian  2015/7/28 6:06
 1949  3
Water drips from the cavern ceiling trickling with an echo onto the cave floor and in the cold darkness the sound of my own breath inside my helmet seems louder than usual. The ruins of Guldav’n could be another wild goose chase but for my beloved Sarah I have to check out every rumor and every clue no matter how slim the chance of finding her may be. After a few minutes I get the eerie feeling I’m not alone. A quick scan of a nearby wall reveals the telltale traces of bats, further scanning reveals the bats themselves…vampire bats. Vampire bats are fine but usually where one finds vampire bats one also finds...Vampires!
Yeah I know what you’re thinking “Vampires? Seriously?” yeah seriously in fact there are entire worlds conquered by the damned things. Of course those worlds are blockaded, nothing in and nothing out, and anyone trying to leave is terminated with extreme prejudice and any ships leaving the atmosphere are atomized. But this world isn’t ruled by them or I wouldn’t have set foot on it…still I feel like I’m being watched. To that end I reach for my sword and slowly slide the metal blade out. I activate the stealth systems on my suit and go into silent mode and that’s when I hear it, the grinding sound of a foot on gravel. I’m being followed, and since my scanners don’t pick up undead I use my sword’s magic and cast a simple spell that does. I get a sick feeling in my stomach as the spell reveals dozens of vampires within 200 ft of me but one closer than all the others. I turn to face it and I am caught completely by surprise by the sheer speed of the thing. It immediately goes for the throat big mistake. Now it’s my turn for surprises as I whip the bloodsucker into a nearby wall impaling it on a Stalagmite large enough to skewer a rhino. It won’t kill it, a fact I am reassured of as the damn vampire snaps it in half and soars high above me.
“You are formidable indeed mortal but that armor will not save you for long, I shall enjoy feasting on your blood.”
Arrogance is a sign of stupidity in my book. Dracula here has no clue what he’s up against. I don’t have time for this crap though and I honestly did not come equipped with wooden or UV ammo. That means that my sword is the only means of killing this thing since Vampires have a particular susceptibility to magic. However, I need him in arms reach to kill him. Sooooo…
“Hey suckhead, I have to say, I don’t particularly like being called mortal. In fact I find it a bit insulting. You must be high on your fake immortality…too bad you have to feed on others to keep it. Unlike you, I am born to it.”
There’s a pause as the blood sucker considers the ramifications of what I’ve just told him and then…
“You are Luminesti? Ha! Your life is forfeit here elf, this is our domain. Immortality is but one of our gifts, behold our true power.”
He lands on the ground in front of me and takes a swipe at my head, to no avail as I easily evade his clawed hand. However, he does not evade mine as I dislocate his arm at the elbow, he snaps it back in place like nothing happened but it got his attention and now he’s pissed on principal. That’s when I pull out my sword. The smug bastard just smile…but his amusement doesn’t last for long.
“Do you think that will save you? No mortal weapons can harm me…Hahahahaaaaa-Hurk!”
That last noise he makes is funny to me and I can’t hold back a slight chuckle, and as the look on his face turns from arrogance to twisted rage. I know he has just realized I can really hurt him.
“You! I will kill you slowly for that!”
“Bring it bloodsucker!”
“Raaaargh!!!!”
He falls right into my trap, as his good sense gives way to his rage he lunges for me his last most fatal mistake. My armor easily outmatches his speed and strength as I side step him and shove him face first into the ground. As he turns to face me again his look of rage is replaced by surprise as the flash of my enchanted blade severs his head from his shoulders.
A gurgle escapes his lips as he tries to say something, and he only manages to stare at me with a combination of hatred and disbelief on his face as his body bursts into blueish green flames and ash. In an instant his body is reduced to nothing more than a pile of flickering embers as it crumbles to dust like so much burnt paper. I scan once more to see if there are more of them on the way, and to my relief none of his vampire buddies are moving. I know that if Sarah came here her Infinitium armor and combat skills would have made short work of these guys, still…I have to go farther in. I place an EMT enhancer nearby to boost the retrieval beam in the event I need to make a quick exit and proceed onward. After a few yards through damp caverns and an opening emerges reveal a vast underground oasis that spreads for miles in all directions.
Brightly glowing Sunstones high above provide light by absorbing solar radiation from the surface and radiating it to the darkness below. Even miles beneath the surface the effect is like having direct sunlight…and is powerful enough to keep Vampires at bay. In the distance, an overgrown ruin lies stretched out before me and after a quick scan for evil creatures reveals nothing, I hike towards it. As I approach the temple I can’t help but think that if the intel I got on this place was bogus there’ll be no place that Gobelian info-broker can hide from me. I reach a clearing at the entrance to a temple, Statues of men with eagle heads stand like giant pillars on either side of the entrance. Hieroglyphs dot the walls, most pay homage to Ra the sun god while others speak of the great pharaoh to whom this particular temple is dedicated. My helmet possess enchantments which enable me to understand written languages (I can’t write them though), further enchantments allow me to understand and speak all languages that are verbal…but the enchantment I like best is the one that allows me to detect and read Runes and this temple is covered in them. Several runes are power spells meaning they’ll hurt trespassers, still others are conjuration, and the scariest ones are Essence spells no doubt intended to raise undead guardians to protect whatever lies inside. These types of enchantments are single use only and since they’re still in place it’s a safe bet that nobody has entered the place since it was built. As I explore the perimeter, I come across an old campsite but it looks like there was a battle. The footprints reveal that at least one of the combatants was….YES!! Sarah was here alright, and the tread of her Tabi and her signature toe claws are all over the place but as I discover the corpses of her foes I am confused at best. They’re all bones, not scattered either, they’ve been picked clean and have yellowed as though a hundred years or more have passed since they fell. A quick Carbon scan reveals they are in fact 500 years old. The claw marks on many of the bones reveal that it is definitely Sarah’s handy work, but 500 years ago? It doesn’t make any sense. Suddenly a glimmer of gold catches my eye as I walk over I scan it and I discover it isn’t gold at all but…an Infinitium case! Well that tears it, 500 years or not, this is definitely Sarah’s. The case is hermetically sealed and cannot be opened here. The lock is DNA coded, so it will have to be taken aboard the Lillun where we have Sarah’s DNA on file.
As I exit the cave, a simple button press activates my Star-fighter which flies in and hovers above me. I remotely land it in a nearby clearing mindful of the fact that the two suns of this world are both setting, and that the Vampires within the caverns will be waking soon. Climbing into the cockpit I punch up my starship on the radio.
“Obsidian Mask to Lillun do you read, over?”
“Obsidian Mask this is Harley we read you Loud and clear, why is your transmission audio only?”
“The twin binaries on this world prevent full video communications.”
“Understood. What do you need bro?”
“I am sending rendezvous coordinates for this system please fold here asap.”
“Confirmed will rendezvous with you in one hour.”
“Why so long?”
“The Black Mantis has decided to make some modifications to the warp rings and aft section in general and they’re almost complete.”
“Aw crap what is he doing to our ship? Very well one hour. I’ll remain in orbit until then. Obsidian out.”
My apologies folks this should have been the first image in the series but the idea to do a series came late. |
|
|
The comments are owned by the poster. We aren't responsible for their content.
| Poster
| Thread
|
| Dragondack |
Posted: 2015/8/6 22:06 Updated: 2015/8/6 22:06 |
The Great Eternal Dragon   Joined: 2004/2/9 From: Edmonton,Alberta,Canada Posts: 11277 |
 Re: All in the past |
|
|
| Obsidian |
Posted: 2015/8/1 12:35 Updated: 2015/8/1 12:35 |
Henchman   Joined: 2012/12/23 From: Columbus Indiana Posts: 1115 |
Re: All in the past As long as this piece is, it is truly a good example of my writing style. I prefer to have a full space for characters speaking that way nothing is lost on the reader. I've been told it's not proper and my response was
"That's why it's called a writing STYLE."
Mark Twain wrote in a style that emulated the way real people talk using slang and local vernacular. My style is very similar in that I use a lot of slang...I like how it sounds even though it's not necessarily proper for a person in the 44th century to use 20th century slang it makes sense considering the character. I hope my readers will just enjoy the story.
|
|
|
| JrMcDeath |
Posted: 2015/7/30 10:42 Updated: 2015/7/30 10:42 |
Kling on HM (WebMaster!)   Joined: 2004/7/19 From: My Box Posts: 6993 |
Re: All in the past Cool story. I like what I see but would like just a hint of detail in the armor. I do like the silhouette with just the lights, but I keep thinking that some minor, miniscule details might be cool. Keep up the awesome stuff!!
|
|
|
|
! 3D Art !
Original Characters
