The CHALLENGE chugs on!

[jseah]

1085 words for Hero's War

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"Ah, you're spilling it again. "
"The strips are too slippery!"
"Hehe, you just need to be careful. See? Just like this!"
Cato and Minmay could only look on in concealed horror as the queen wiped a speck of sauce from Arisacrota's hair. The little girl perched on her lap, waving a dirty soup spoon for emphasis as she dug out a strip of paka meat from a cheesy tart.
The formal lunch Arthur had put together was now a mess. Many local food artisans had leaped at the chance to impress the queen and the orderly array of dishes to sample had taken Arisa less than ten minutes to demolish the sequence.
That the queen had joined in with the culinary sacrilege was all that kept Minmay from dragging his daughter away.
"Oh come now, I am sure Queen Amarante prefers a relaxed lunch instead of whatever stiff formal procession you've planned," Aesin nudged her husband with a plate, "you too Arthur, there is certainly enough food here to feed all the people waiting to see her. "
The chancellor shared a look with his butler and then gazed across the food covered tables.
"We'll do as the lady says," he confirmed.
Arthur nodded and rushed out of the dining hall to gather the servants. Within a few minutes, the laden tables had been moved to the edges of the room, leaving only a small table in the center for the queen and Arisacrota to sit at.
Not that they did a lot of sitting. While the first crates for the display were dragged in, Amarante led the girl around the selections, picking a morsel here and there for their plates.
She artfully steered the young girl back to the center table just as the set up was finished. Cato noted the way the queen made the action appear natural, as if it was just a coincidence that she took her seat right as the ironworkers were done.
"Queen Amarante, we are proud to present examples of our greatest works," Willio announced pompously, standing before the queen.
Cato watched her shift her posture, drawing herself up straighter in her seat. With a formal polite nod, she gestured for the owner of the largest foundry in Inath to continue.
"In the center, we have the foundation of the future! A drill head used for sinking mana wells," Willio indicated the interlocking rings of blades with a sweeping hand, "this example is the largest we have created, with each individual section created and enchanted by Minmay Ironworks. Able to support excavation forces up to ten power units per second, this is the latest development in our quest for power sources. "
Arisacrota clapped a little, eyes wide with curiousity. Come to think of it, Cato had never seen her around the foundries, even if she sometimes did turn up at the University. Well, the foundries were dangerous after all, definitely not a place where the chancellor's daughter should be risked. Amarante was more restrained but she still smiled politely.
"Over here, we have samples of our carriage spring assemblies," Willio proceeded over to the suspension devices. Cato had worked on those with the assistance from one of the new engineers, one of the few inventions that had received substantial refinements. The complex spring and lever assembly even allowed for the wheels to rotate at different speeds while remaining locked in direction.
Again, the queen displayed her polite appreciation, remaining formal but neutral.
The third set got a different reaction though. The twin rails were fast becoming recognizable all over Inath and Cato could see the queen's eyes tighten slightly. "And these are the pride of the army," Willio carried on, not noticing the queen's changed demeanor, "ten new model guns with flechette ammunition for stabilized flight. Our extensive testing and refinement have allowed trained snipers to accurately hit targets out to three hundred meters!"
What he didn't mention was the cost involved in making identical flechettes so that the guns could be ranged and the sights calibrated correctly. The cost of the hundred shot boxes was not exactly small either. To get that level of accuracy required manufacturing tolerances that Cato was sure was not available anywhere but here. Plus, the gun model was made to overcharge the darts before firing to improve shield penetration or increase the impact weight, depending on the setting lever; a level of enchantment complexity also not found outside of Landar's labs. The circle designed was one of the first products of the new compiler after all.
The queen didn't seem to appreciate the difficulty or impact of the first sniper weapon however, judging by the tightness of her mouth.
Not caring or perhaps not noticing Amarante's discomfort, Willio swept his hand over the crates again, "all of these we present as gifts to your majesty. A token of our appreciation to good neighbours. "
"Thank you, Inath appreciates your gift, I am sure they will be very useful," she said, looking slightly ill.
Minmay, hidden behind her back, seemed to notice and shooed the Ironworker with a wave and a frown. He took his cue to step down for the next group of people looking to curry some favour. The queen took the time to fuss over Arisacrota's latest spill while the crates were cleared out.
"Queen Amarante, we represent the weavers guild in Minmay and would like to gift you samples of our finest cloth..."
Cato tuned out the three weavers, whose joint presentation was the result of not agreeing which of the three origin guilds was leader. Amarante seemed much happier now that the subject had moved on from the guns. It seemed like Morey's impression was right, she did not like weapons. He shuddered to think what would have happened if Landar tried to gift her with fire shells instead of the planned magic circles and compiler blocks.
Though from the way she was now putting on a gentle smile and relaxed atmosphere, reflected in the weavers' stances, the queen was more canny than her casual appearance would suggest. She was adjusting her attitude to her audience, that did not match Morey's claim of her naivety.
An idealistic yet experienced politician? That was quite an unexpected combination, Cato mused.
He huffed and wandered off to the tables where Willio was talking to Minmay about the presentation. There was definitely a story there. But not a bad combination.

547 words for My mother is a magical girl

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A magical signal shone out of the darkness. While they could normally think to each other at short range, sending messages from this far away took some power and they could feel it as clearly as if someone had shone a torch on them.
Once again, Chante was the first to notice. She looked down the street, distracted from their magical ball game and that made Eliza follow her gaze. Indeed, there was an urgent message.
"Help! I'm under attack!" came the panicky thoughts of Florence. The source of the message being sent down the street was getting closer faster and all of them looked down the street. Chante was back to clinging to her mother worriedly, she was clearly affected by the tone of the message.
And then Florence was close enough for direct telepathy and her panicked voice sounded in their heads. "There's a Claw chasing me, it's trying to get to my daughter! I'm coming down in a red car, where are you?"
"We're in the park, just fought off a swarm of shadows, we'll meet you at the entrance," Eliza sent back, "be careful," she said out loud, "Steph, it's a Claw so you take point, we'll back you up. "
Steph ran ahead, almost flying across the ground as her magic pushed her along. Anise hung back to herd the children forward while Eliza followed Steph a bit more slowly.

The first indication of the Claw that Chante felt was a rising sense of unease. She had called that the bad feeling before, but now that she had a good look at the feel for magic, it seemed to her that it was very similar. Just a wrong kind of magic.
She glanced around and saw that everyone could feel it, even as they hurried towards the path that was the 'entrance' to the park. Her mother and Steph were running ahead in short leaps similar to the one that they used to jump rooftops. Chante saw Steph reach the end of the path and glance up the road before a large wall of light appeared across the street.
A car with real visible headlights came through the wall and screeched to a halt next to the pavement further down the road. Chante couldn't feel the dark magic behind the wall of light but something big hit it suddenly and the wall dimmed.
Chante's mother shone with magic, seeming to shed that invisible light. Instead of linking with the wall, the magic flowed into Steph and the wall strengthened significantly. Far behind them, little glows of magic started to appear around the car as Florence leapt out of the driver's seat.
Chante finally got onto the street, right behind Anise. The huge thing seemed to tower over her, obscuring the buildings to the side but invisible against the night sky. The Claw slammed a pair of sharp blackness savagely into the barrier of light that blocked its path. Chante screamed a little and fell backwards onto the hard road but the Claw failed to penetrate it. As the wall dimmed slightly, the Claw stepped backwards and seemed to give off a silent roar, a wave of dark magic leaking through the barrier.

[LovelyVulcan]

Spoiler: Exotic Griffin 30 Minutes

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Spoiler: Age of War Story- 1,058 Word Count

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Fire.

They all lived in a house of fire, with no one to call out to, and in many ways - no way out. The okiya had burned in the year of the dragon, and Korin had just been named atotori, the new daughter of the okiya. Like some great beast, it would no longer follow her, but finally digest her debt-- freeing her in ways, while trapping her as it's master.

The year had not been a lucky one for the geisha for Okaa-san did not bind her as daughter in any legal way, but instead sold her contract all together. Her's and the rest of her sisters'. And when the final salvaged kimono sold and the last of the gold koban changed hands-- their mother disappeared.

And Korin faced the ravages of the Yoshiwara district, or the sweet song of an honorable death. The hanamachi of her childhood faded into distant dreaming ghosts, and Korin had found her dagger in the folds of her old maiko nagajuban; the thin red robe: a last vestige of what she was, and no longer could be.

That was before Ichijō-dono returned. A prosperous client of her's and friend of the okiya. He had found Korin at her twin brother's house, under the eye of a singularly omnipotent moon, and the general Ichijō brought news of his older brother-- Takeda Shingen.

--

Korin stole a selfish moment to run the her hand along the length of a Takeda silk kimono. The soft texture beneath her unworthy palms was a stolen slice of paradise. A small kernal of happiness nestled between her ribs, keeping her warm in the coming trials that seemed so very impossible.

Akagi Korin was the last daughter of the house of the Katsumi Okiya in a beautiful, but dying hanamachi west of Edo. She was a senior Geisha at the age of twenty-four, shown by her muted white make up, and full red lips.

The paths of her sisters had been woven in tragedy, where Korin had been saved. She had met the heralded daimyo Takeda and his family in the secluded mountains of the Kai Province. He had bought her contract, and gave her her the the most arduous assignment yet-- too gather intel on the Tiger of Kai's enemy: Honda Tadakatsu.

Takeda had been a seemingly underwhelming and busy man, but Korin had known better than to judge the man's layers by the first. She had gently cajoled a conversation with the daimyo, conversed with him about his fragile but passionate love affair of poetry, and even saw one of his beautiful war fans. They spoke for a long time, about other things such as his love of his son and even briefly about his well known rivalry and enemy-- the Dragon Uesugi Kenshin.

She had left the conversation with a warmth kind of loyalty in her bones, the promise of honor at her fingertips and a new purpose. She left for Otaki not soon after that.

Now, she arrived at the Honda castle. There has been a strange cacophony of sound that bounced off the tall walls, and froze the heart of the geisha in her chest. What they were, she did not dare ask, only seeing glimpses of men in the fields and small fiery explosions that reminded the geisha of the summer hanabi she'd seen in Edo once before. She did her best to be demure within the walls of this enemy, not show a sign of fright that crawled up her veins like insects.

The geisha instead focused her attention on the her 'maiko' Komihiro. The beautiful girl was no older than eighteen, but was older for a maiko. She had started only when she was fifteen, and had been under the Takeda wing since. She was to make her debut here, at the Honda estate to show case and eventually bid her mizuage. She would catch the eye of one of the generals, or if luck would have it-- the daimyo himself.

The only problem was, of the night if the debut, she had seemed to come across a bad case of chills and vomiting.

Korin placed her cool hands on the back of the naked neck of the maiko, rubbing her gently and taking out her hair pins so that she would not ruin them.

"I told you not to eat today, " Korin said soothingly, her face immaculately made, donning the delicate flowers of gold in her hair, and dark red lips. Her eyes were clever, and her cheek bones sharp, but her beauty was an understated one-- one caught in the nakedness of her white jawline, or the smoothness of her step. She wore a black and white stripped kimono with a blood-red obi and gold leaf. Summery and practical, and very much to Takeda-sama's taste.

Komi did not stop her vomiting behind the shoji of the entertainer's quarters and Korin looked at her destroyed nihongami-styled hair, finding it to be a lost cause now. She could not fix it in time for tonight's debut, and so she called upon a servant woman to attend her maiko, while she had to deduce a plan for the next coming hours.

While walking to her room, she hurried dashed, taking off her shoes in a very non-graceful manner only to walk swiftly. The geisha had thoughts curled on that of her shamisen, thinking of a song she could play-- or perhaps a favored dance with her fans when she ran unabashedly into a man that was more akin to hitting a rock than an actual person.

Korin did not collapse, but tripped to one knee, thankful to not hear a rip of thread or the shatter of a comb on the floor. She gathered herself quickly, bowing her head in apology to whomever general she had just rudely bumped into, lifting her head to catch the deep color of eyes and the flicker of a scar she did not recognize. Her heart shuttered a moment at the raw handsomeness of the man, but she did not dare let her eyes linger too long. Bowing demurely, the geisha offered profuse apologies.

"Sumi masen, I was not looking where I was going. Please forgive me," she breathed. Heart racing in her ears, a warmth in her cheeks he could not see.

[Glass Mouse]

I'm really sorry about the lateness this time around. I'll lump the past two weeks together here. So, status for the weeks April 10 - 23!


Glass Mouse passes with seven comic page thumbs about falling down a ravine, 1425 words of comic scripts, and 1108 words of aliens struggling against puny humans.

Lycunadari passes with fourteen photos, a poem, and a doodle.

LeSwordfish is on hiatus for the time being.

jseah passes with 2010 words for Hero's War, and 1188 words for the magical mom story.

Icewalker passes with sixteen minutes of recording, and 1555 words of The Three Truths.

Xiander passes with 1044 words of marked by blood, and 4072 words of Fly Again.


Some Android did not upload/send me anything.

Lovely Vulcan passes with a mermaid, a portrait, two Google Maps drawings, 516 words of character concept, two fire Genasi, some goldfish, and 1058 words of story, and a griffin.


Thus, Some Android FAILS this round!

Glass Mouse, Lycunadari, LeSwordfish, jseah, Icewalker, and Xiander PASS this round!


Current standing:

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Glass Mouse
Current run: 45 weeks
Longest run: 290 weeks
Themes: 3 weeks

Lycunadari
Current run: 224 weeks
Longest run: -
Themes: -

LeSwordfish
Current run: -
Longest run: 44 weeks
Themes: -

jseah
Current Run: 63 weeks
Longest Run: 33 weeks
Themes: -

Icewalker
Current run: 29 weeks
Longest run: 13 weeks
Themes: -

Xiander
Current run: 42 weeks
Longest run: -
Themes: -

Some Android
Current run: -
Longest run: 42 weeks
Themes: -

Lovely Vulcan
Current run: 2 weeks
Longest run: -
Themes: -

This week's theme (April 24 - 30) has not been chosen yet, so it is up for grabs.

Next week's theme is chosen by Icewalker - let me know in PM or announce it in this thread, and I'll include it in the next status.

---

Geez, I really thought I'd failed one of these past weeks before I sat down to count. I suppose I'm better at squeezing in pieces of writing than, uh, everything else.

[Icewalker]

Let's make the theme A Betrayal of Trust.

Next week is gonna be quite a tricky one. Traveling all week in Costa Rica and going to be real busy. Means I have two windows of opportunity: the plane flight, and also I actually get back Saturday and might be able to do all the writing on Sunday. We'll find out!

Edit: Writing! 1625 words of The Three Truths, back on track.

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Magic. He had forgotten all about it in the rush. The kid had knocked Daius flat on his back with a flash of power. Franz looked over their young rescuer, now that things had finally slowed down. The kid wasn’t quite as scrawny as his ragged clothes and dirty fingers first led Franz to expect. He clearly lived on the street, but he wasn’t starved. His golden-brown eyes were a few shades lighter than his dark skin, and a few shades paler than his tousle of red-orange hair. He wasn’t wearing shoes.
“Your name is Rose, you said?”
“Uh-huh.”
“Where did you train as an arcanist? The guild within the city? That’s quite a talent for one so young.”
Rose fidgeted, legs pulling a little closer to his body where he sat on the floor. “I ain’t no arcanist.”
“Don’t lie. I saw you use magic back there.”
“I’m not lying! I ain’t an arcanist. Never learned anything. I just…” Rose trailed off, scratching at his neck nervously.
“You just what? Magic like that doesn’t come from nowhere.”
Rose mumbled something inaudible.
“Talk.”
“It was his.”
“What do you mean? Whose?”
“That pisspot elf.”
“You can’t hide from this just because somebody else in the room was using magic. I saw it come from your hand.”
“No no no that’s not what I meant. The bit that I used, it was his. I stole it.”
Franz studied Rose’s expression. The kid was scratching at the side of his neck again, head tucked. Stealing magic? He’d never heard of anything like that. Some sort of misunderstanding.
“What do you mean stole? Asin you were spying on him before and saw how he did it?”
“No! Like I stole it. He had it, I took it, and threw it back at him. It’s...just a thing I can do.”
The story made less sense by the sentence. “Can you show me?”
“Nuh-uh. I mean, I gotta steal it from someone and there ain’t any mage here.”
Franz etched out several inky lines in the air, marking out the simplest pattern he knew, and one of the few he could recall from memory. Rose’s eyes widened at the black lines hanging in the air. Franz’s open hand lit up with a quiet fwoomp, a heatless blue flame burning as if the palm of his hand was kindling, emitting the light of a couple candles.
“How about now? It’s safe, there’s no heat to the flame, it’s just a way to produce light.”
Rose reached out slowly to the offered hand. He poked quickly at the flame, pulling away. “Woah. That’s real cool, mister.”
“Some of the earliest magic I learned, but even a spell like this takes a new arcanist years of study and lengthy self-analysis to understand how their personal magic works enough to produce any effect at all. Can you show me what you mean when you say you stole Daius’ magic?”
Rose nodded. He looked around, as if to see whether anybody else was watching. Even Shamgar wasn’t paying attention. He still sat silently and now immobile, eyes wide and staring at the floor, one hand around the base of his right horn. “Yeah. Yeah okay.”
Rose shut his eyes as he reached for Franz’s hand. His small fingers settled on the side of Franz’s palm. Franz felt a strange sensation, like a negative pressure sucking at his attention, yanking it out of his own head. With a flicker, the blue fire rolled off of his palm and into Rose’s.
“Woah,” Rose said, peeking through one eye. “That feels weird.” Within moments his complete attention was on the flames in his hand, passing them from palm to palm, growing and shrinking the light. It was a level of finesse over the raw magic that Franz didn’t have: his control was defined by precisely how he wrought the spell in the first place. A few flickers of blue licked the side of Rose’s neck, though the kid didn’t appear to notice. Franz took a closer look as Rose focused on balancing the flame on the tip of one finger. A black birthmark in the shape of a coiling vine ran up the side of the young boy’s neck, its edges almost as sharply defined as a tattoo. Two rounded shapes reminiscent of flowers topped the marking where it ended under his jaw. One of the marks flickered again with a spot of blue light. “Oh!” The flames in Rose’s hand puttered into a last puff of lavender scented smoke as they disappeared. “Sorry.”
“It just ran out, that’s usually about how long it lasts. At least when I’m holding on to it. There’s very little power actually in the spell.” The smaller of the two marks had disappeared from Rose’s neck along with the flame, leaving only a single flower topping the vine. “And that’s what you did back there?”
Rose nodded. “I grabbed a bit of magic outta him that he was thinking about doing, then just threw it back at him as hard as I could.”
“Have you always been able to do this?”
“Uh-huh. I just do it. You can feel it, you know? Then I just pull on it and I can take things. I dunno.”
“It’s quite a unique talent you have.”
“Oh, uh, thanks I guess. I usually don’t show it to people cause mages don’t like it when I do it.”
“Do they not like it, or do they not like that you’re using it for stealing? Because I can hazard a guess at how you usually apply this particular skill of yours.”
“Oh. The stealing probably.”
Franz nodded. “You might be able to make a better life finding other applications for this, you know. The Arcanists Guild would be very very interested in you.”
Rose wrinkled his nose. “Yeah well they can go get lost in a sandstorm I don’t want nobody picking apart my head.”
“I suppose I can sympathize with that.”

.
.
.

Franz sighed. “Unfortunately I don’t have much more information to offer. The messages we intercepted told us only that the Church had agents operating in Kota Ombak, and named you as a ‘relevant expert’ for ‘questioning’. I didn’t even know who they had sent until our encounters today. But if Brother Daius is heading their operation it means that whatever is here is more important than we thought. I don’t know what the connection is between the Caedic Church and the Eder, and it sounds like they don’t either. If they’re looking for this ancient artifact, it means they think it’s powerful, very powerful, and it means I’m going to do everything that I can to prevent them from getting their hands on it. Right now the only lead we have is the skymap we got from the mosaic. Maybe this Well of Light is there.”
“I doubt it,” Devi shook their head, “No, not if the sky really represented the night over the battlefield. I don’t think there’s any reason to bring something like that to a battle.”
“If it’s some kind of artifact the Caedists want to use to reconquer the world, maybe there is. Either way, if there’s anything there to find, we have to find it before they do. And they have the same map as us, which means we can’t delay.”
“Alright. Fine.”
“And, contrary to your beliefs, I really am an academic. Or at least I was.”
"I know a guy who can sell us a cart and camels for cheap. It'll be a piece of crap, and the camels will smell like garbage-"
"So that'll be familiar at least."
"-but it's better than nothing.”
“Hey,” Rose tugged at Franz’s sleeve, “What about me? I wanna come. Stick it to that jerk.”
“No. You stay in the city and go to ground. Now that they know what you look like it’ll be hard to stay safe. Do you know how to lay low? Have a few hideouts around the city to go back to?”
“Aw c’mon-”
“No. You have to stay here. You understand?”
“Uh-huh, fine...”
“Good. Don’t be hesitant to give up on safe spots if you think they’re compromised. Better to keep moving.”
Peter spoke, his voice a barely audible whistle. “I...I don’t think…”
Devi put a hand on the halfling’s back, the small older academic curling up as he stared at what was left of his right hand. “You don’t have to come, Peter.”
Peter moved his head, somewhere between a shake and a nod. “...couldn’t.”
“Yeah.”
Franz considered the halfling. “You’re in the same boat as Rose here, I’m afraid. They know who you are and what you look like, and the new injuries aren’t exactly low-profile. You can’t go back to your house.”
Peter said nothing. Franz continued.
“Do you have anywhere you might be able to stay? Friends you know you can trust, both to be honest but also to not give you away?”
“The Arcanists Guild, there’s a lexicographer I did some consulting for…”
“Good. Hopefully Daius will be focusing all of his attention on us and the lead from the mosaic, and nobody will be looking for you. If you absolutely have to go out, try to keep your face and hand covered.”
Devi rounded angrily towards him. “Franz, after everything that just happened, you can’t just-”
“Can’t what, Devi? This is important, and we can’t spend the time to reflect and be supportive right now. Believe me, I wish we could, but we need to get affairs in order, make sure everybody is safe, and we need to get out of the city and be headed north as soon as possible. Sometimes kindness comes second because survival comes first.”

[Xiander]

I did 1590 words of a new thing, by sheer luck it does include a betrayal of trust. Here you go:

Spoiler: Homeward bound

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Seven years is along time to wander.
I say that out of personal experience, and as a warning to any young girl who feels like she has no need for her home or her family. I know how it is, I was like that too.
My family tried to help me settle down and appreciate my home, but it was always too small for me. There was so much more for me to see. The horizon promised me such wonders. And when I got my chance to leave I took it without second thought.
The merchant who hired me, claimed he was sailing for Merrowstraights and the grand city of Galcas. I brought only a few possessions and all the money I had saved up through my at that point pretty short life.
The ship was the grandest thing I had ever seen, so big and majestic, and new. I reveled in working as a deck hand. Sure it was manual labour, like what I had done in my father’s shop for so long, but on the ship it felt different. It didn’t matter that I was doing menial tasks for very little money, because I was going towards the horizon and it’s grand promises.
The ship made port after a week of travel, but not in Galcas. The first city I ever saw away from my home, was Tol’Athore. I did not know that this was not the city I had been promised, and I took in the the great stone walls, the manned ramparts and the ancient grey towers of that place with awe.
Then came the thin man with the ledger and spoke to the merchant. Behind him walked several musclebound guards with swords and helmets, but it was obviously the thin man who was in control, and it was him who spoke to the mechant. I watched them talk in murmering voices, wondering what they were discussing. Then after a minute, it seemed I would find out, as the merchant called for all the deck hands to gather and stand in a row, presenting ourself to the thin man with the ledger.
He studied us for a while, looking closer at some of us. His eyes were small and squinting, when he leaned in to stare closely at me. I didn’t know what was happening, but I stood firm and focused on breathing regularly.
Then after a while, he pointed to me and three other deck hands and nodded to his guards. The men came for me then, and they took me with them although i kicked and screamed.
We were taken to the fields outside the city and put to work. I had not known what a slave was before, but now i learned it by action if not by word.
The work was hard, but so was I and I tilled the field and planted seeds with the other slaves. The masters would beat us if we didn’t do as we were told, so I learned quickly to look busy when they were there and take my rest when they were gone.
It was nearly a year of that work, before I saw my chance to escape. I had learned to fit in well enough to avoid punishment, but in my heart, the wanderlust still burned, and I yearned for freedom. No one wanted to be a field slave, but I wanted desperately to get away, to go somewhere else, to see the world.
When the revolt came, I took the chance to flee my post. I had made sure I could run long before, but I knew what happened to those who tried to run and were caught. A whipping was the best you could hope for, and around the fields were gibbets with slaves who had attempted to escape.
So it was only when half the slaves in the field took the fight to their guards, that I made my move. I would like to tell the story of how I fought along side my fellow slaves and helped them win their freedom, but the truth is a bit less glamorous.
The uprising was beaten down with excessive force.
More than a quarter of the slaves in the fields were killed in the fighting, or as punishment. I was not around to witness most of it, since I had taken my chance to run as soon as the fighting started.
I knew that almost all the slaves who tried to escape were caught and punished, but I took a different approach from the average escapee.
Rather than running for the hils and trying to escape from the city entirely, I ran for the gates of Tol’Athore. On the the ancient stone streets, I hid among the masses and evaded the eyes of the slavers.
I quickly discovered that living on the streets of Tol’Athore was not much easier that slaving in the fields. There were very few beggars and thieves in Tol’Athore, since all of them quickly ended up in the fields. Soldiers patrolled the streets and rounded up any misfits or criminals. They did not discriminate, and being in the wrong place could land you in chains.
I did not stay long in that city.
On the third day of freedom, I crept through narrow streets and byways, to make my way to the docks. Merchants of all stripes came to Tol’Athore to trade wares and slaves. More ships than I had imagined, filled the harbour, and it was no challenge to find one, which was ready to sail within the hour. Getting onboard without being noticed was harder, but in the end I managed to hide myself on the deck.
As the ship set sail and left the port, I watched the grey towers of Tol’Athore diminish and I felt no loss. Finally I was truly free to see the world and learn my own fate.
It would be years before I saw the dark towers of Tol’Athore again.
The ship I had stowed away on sailed north, towards Jackel’s Cragg. The trip took weeks, and with my limited experience as a stowaway, I was discovered after just two days.
Some of the sailors wanted to throw me overboard and let me swim to shore, but the first mate insisted that I be brought in front of the captain.
Captain Gram was a huge man, his beard alone was big enough for me to hide behind. He was eating lunch when I was dragged into his cabin, but he paused to look upon me.
I remember shaking with fear at that point. I did not want to return to the fields of Tol’Athor, I wanted to be free and see the world.
I told my story to the captain, and he listened thoughtfully while eating. There was a long pause when I was done. Then he asked if I knew my way around a ship.
When I said yes, he offered to hire me, for the trip and if I was worth my pay, perhaps longer. I happily agreed to work for my pay, it could hardly be worse than slaving in the fields.
It took months to reach Jackels Cragg, but I hardly noticed. I was swept up in the adventure of traveling. From the sailors I learned my way around the ship. Knots, navigation, and several other skills. I lapped it all up, and before long the first mate noticed that I had a knack for learning.
When I was called to the captain’s Cabin again I feared that Gram had changed his mind. Instead he gave me an offer.
Stay onboard the ship, sail with them beyond Jackels Cragg, he would pay me for my trouble, and he added, teach me letters and numbers.
I did not have to consider my answer, I said yes before he was done speaking. I would have stayed on the ship for much less than he offered. Hell, getting to sail to ports I hadn’t even heard off before would have been enough in itself.
First I saw Jackels Cragg.
The ship found a port beneath a towering cliffside. Age old rocks engaged in an eternal battle with the sea. The face of the cliff was worn by wind and water, still there was something immensely beautiful about it.
On the highest point of the cliffs, high over the ocean, the walls and streets of Jackel’s Port unfolded. Even though it was a port city, and named as such, it took hours to scale the steep path that lead from the landing at the bottom of the cliff, and to the city.
The city was not big, at least not compared to Tol’Athor. But it was vibrant. Shepherds, sailors, soldiers and scholars all thronged the streets of Jackels Cragg.
Captain Gram told me that he had been born in the city. Then he laughed and said it was no wonder he had taken to the sea. He had been looking at the endless waves as long as he had eyes to see. The ocean was his first and truest love.
He showed me the city while the ship was restocked, and before long, we set off to sea again. I sailed with captain gram for three years.
What wonders I saw.
The ice-locked city of Ferum, sprawled under the permanently dark sky of the north. Malai’Chur the white city run by the Silver Sages. The broken port of Manajan, each half of it on a different side of a slender straight.

[LovelyVulcan]

Spoiler: Nil Sketch from HZD 45 Minutes

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Spoiler: 30 minute Spitpaint of Peacock

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Spoiler: 30 minute Spitpaint of Aloy from HZD

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Spoiler: 30 minute Spitpaint of Action Girl

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Spoiler: Morninglight - 30 minutes

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[jseah]

615 words for a new story, Shattered Alliance.

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Ana pulled up, her foot thrusters flaring as she plummeted to the staging ground feet first. The thin exhaust flashed into nothingness as it left her Bubble, the volume in which her expressed objects could exist. The black artificial stone of the interplanar transition pad welcomed her like an old friend.
With a thought, she cut her mental thread running the computation for the energy matrix and the glare cut out into a textbook landing. Ana stepped down the last few centimeters to the ground and saluted crisply.
"Explorer Ana Sente reporting in!"
The squad commander shook her head, "no need to be so formal, Ana, we're Explorer, not Knight. "
"My flare cannon can level a city block in ten seconds, madam. That's too much power for a civilian," Ana replied with a familiar ease of a well-practiced conversation.
"Your power is something you chose to have, what are you doing in the Explorer corps if you want such heavy weapons I have no idea. And call me Katie, not madam. "
"You're old enough to be my mother, madam!" Ana shot back with a grin.
Katie shook her head, "maybe I should send you to bed without dinner, hm? Anyway, where's Coco?"
"Running late, wanted to get another upgrade to his omnisensor. "
Ana's explanation was accompanied by the distinctive crack of a reality shunt. Colloquially called teleport, but one of the easier and more destructive variants. The world seemed to drain in colour for a split second as a tear opened and a young man in full array walked out onto the transition pad. Ana shivered, the colour-loss interaction of reality shunts with conceptual bodies was something she could never get used to.
Unlike Ana's partial manifestation, the man's armour enclosed nearly all of him in an array of sensory devices, leaving only his eyes visible behind a forcefield visor. Despite the concealment, Ana was certain Kokie had a grin on his face like he always did after a new upgrade.
"I got the new auto-magic analyzer! It's so cool! I can even scan your integrals!" Ana smiled, shaking away the image of an overexcited dog chuffing at her knees with its new toy.
Still... "Doesn't that require you to open your Bubble to the local False Magics? You're making yourself vulnerable to memetic hazards. "
Kokie waved her concern with a lazy hand, "memetics are super rare, aren't they? Besides, I've got full backups and everything. And my non-human comprehension nets make me inherently resistant. "
"All right, enough of that!" Katie clapped to get their attention, "here's the mission brief. We'll be transitioning to Non-Administrated Plane 72 where our local contact has requested services of the Alliance in exchange for training in their local False Magic. Effectively, we're mercenaries paid with knowledge. Keep Contact Rules in mind at all times. That means no fraternizing with the locals, Kokie!"
Kokie half-sighed half-whined, "it's not like I can even get anyone pregnant. We're conceptual bodies remember?"
"The local political situation is a feudalist low-magitech society. Marriage is has political weight there," Katie scolded him, "in any case, the local plane has an Antagonist force with a different False Magic from the locals. Our mission is to observe the Antagonists, defend where it is not costly and report back to the Alliance on the threat. Any questions?"
Ana smacked Kokie on the back of his head before he could crack his usual joke and saluted, "we're ready, madam!"
"Then, Explorer Flight NAP72-2 beginning transition! And I told you to call me Katie, dammit!"

456 words for the start of yet another worm fanfic. This time maybe? Tinker altpower instead.

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"Armsmaster, report. "
The hero regarded the fat woman sitting behind her desk impassively. Despite her refusal to accept healing that impeded her duties, Armsmaster kept his feelings to himself. She was in a position to affect his career after all.
"Examination of the captured device indicates that it is capable of manufacturing items to molecular precision," he said, "Complexity, shape or composition does not appear to be a factor, given that a perfectly mundane bacon sandwich was part of the loaded templates. Unfortunately, Dragon and I are still unable to decipher how the construction templates were designed, only that they are complex in a fashion that resembles tinkertech. Even the sandwich. "
Emily rubbed her forehead, trying to make her scowl go away. "You are saying that we have a tinker that can convert input materials into any arbitrary product with a device the size of a microwave. In fact, the device was a microwave. The only way the situation could be worse would be if the device can make tinkertech. ... Can it?"
Armsmaster paused at her question. He was loathe to speculate about another tinker's work, tinkertech had the most arbitrary drawbacks sometimes. But then he hadn't seen any such indication of radioactivity or instability in the construction, at least before the device started to require maintenance that he suspected no one but the maker could provide.
"I am not sure," he admitted, "however, if such were possible, I am certain the tinker responsible will almost certainly duplicate the device itself. If we could capture another device for examination, I will be able to answer your question. "
The woman sighed and pulled up a form to begin drafting an official order.
"Find the tinker and bring them in as soon as possible under the suspicion of self-replicating technology," she said while writing, "assume the device can create copies of tinkertech and itself. We cannot afford to let such a valuable cape fall into the hands of the gangs. And the cape in question has already had one incident with the Empire. This could be the very thing that allows a gang to take over Brockton Bay. "
Or go out and found their own villain city and succeed at it.
Even if the device couldn't make tinkertech, Armsmaster knew that being able to make food from nothing but electricity, water and some plants would allow the possessor to make all the necessities of life in the middle of wilderness. And its usage was so easy, just pick the template and press the green button, if you didn't want to make a template that is.
He nodded and left the director's office, already pulling up traffic analysis software on his helmet display.

440 words for the magical mom story.

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"Anise!" Chante's mother shouted backwards as the wall began to regenerate, "do it in one shot, give it everything you've got!"
Anise took a second to wink down at Chante before taking a few steps back. "Here goes, Lucent Beam!" she said forcefully.
A sudden large pulse of magic emanated from Anise and a pencil thin beam of light shot out from her pointing finger for a split second. The magic flashed out in one huge concentrated blast, equally savage as the Claw itself, through the barrier and stopped just short of the Claw.
Chante whimpered a little at that, the thin flash of light didn't seem to do anything. The Claw slammed into the barrier again and Chante's mother glanced backwards, "the Claw has a dampening field?!"
Anise nodded, breathing a little heavily. She fired another flash of light, without saying anything this time, but nothing seemed to change.
A tiny swirl of magic appeared around Ralph and Chante looked at him. Ran exchanged nods with him and pooling their magic, a tiny ball of light appeared between them. Ralph took it and threw it at the Claw. The ball disappeared as if swallowed by the living night.
The shield flickered once as the Claw hit it again. Steph was wincing with each blow now, clearly they were not going to hold it forever.
Then a blast of light from the back shone down the street, a searing line that shed heat like the sun at noon. That was new, Chante could feel the magic in it but it was not just magic, that was real heat. The light punched through the swirling blackness and burned away at the Claw. The whole street was brighter than daylight for a second, and then it disappeared, leaving behind a shattered black pile of shadowy magic that dissolved into the night.
Chante blinked away the sparkles in her eyes from the illumination. Behind them, some ways down the street next to the hastily parked car, Florence was kneeling on the pavement clutching a twig that she had broken off the fallen branch from one of the park trees. Come to think of it, didn't her mother use a leek the last time?
"You're not going to fault me for using physical magic, are you?" Florence thought to them wryly.
"Nah, that was a good call," Chante's mother replied, "I was about to try hitting it with a tree actually. "
"Good, we had the same idea. Take care of Emi, please. Tell her... not to worry," Florence's thoughts petered out before she hit the ground.

Just squeaking by this week. =(

[Xiander]

Just squeaking by this week. =(

I know that feeling

[Xiander]

A lazy week this time, I did however manage 1568 words of homeward bound:

Spoiler: Homeward bound, part two

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Storms at sea made me fear for my life, only to yield and leave me bored with the calm sea they left behind. In habours across the known world, I saw ships of all shapes and sizes. With the years I became an accomplished sailor, and with Gram’s schooling I learned how to read and write and keep a budget.
At the end of the third year, there was no man aboard Gram’s ship who did not respect me. They were all shocked when I declared I was leaving.
I had loved my time aboard the ship, but there was nothing more for me to learn on the sea. Only Gram was unsurprised by my decision. He had known I would seek diferent horizons sooner or later.
We made port in Aghanoor, the ship drifting carefully between the titannic stonepillars lining the bay. The dry city, Salt Town, The thirsty Harbour. Aghanoor has many names. Nothing grows around the city, only the ancient ruins left behind by a long gone tribe of earth shapers has made it possible for the city to exist long enough to become a trade port.
I said my goodbyes to the crew and to Captain Gram specifically. He had apparantly grown quite fond of me, and I was still thankful to him for letting me stay onboard and for teaching me so much.
He knew why I was leaving the ship in Aghanoor, and he cautioned me to choose with care who I decided to travel with. I took his words to heart, I knew full well what some people would do to their traveling companions in the name of profit.
I stayed in Aghanoor for two months. I had planned to set off into the dessert with the first capable and trusworthy caravan I spotted, but that did not com along until two months had passed.
Most of the caravans leaving Aghanoor by road were made up of desperate people or of men too rithless for me to trust at all.
So when I finally met Jerad the Ceran Scholar, and saw his crew of earnest learned men, I knew I had found someone trustworthy. I was unsure if they were capable, bu I was impatient.
The sandstone streets of Aghanoor held no more mystery to me, and I yearned to be on the road again. Further more, Jerad and his friends were going exactly where I wanted to go; To the desert library of Cal’Rethal.
The place was fabled for it’s collection of ancient texts, historical, mythological and scientific. I had longed to see the world and learn it’s sercrets, and nor I was going to the gathering place of all wisdom, the Library of the ancients.
I figured that a man like Jerad, out to find wisdom under the sands, would be unlikely to betray me like my first captain had.
I paid for my passage with the coin I had earned on Gram’s ship. I had bought clothes and provision in the city, and so I carried everything I would need in the desert on my back, as I left Aghanoor with the Scholar’s caravan.
My skin was burned crisp by the dessert sun and I had long ago forgotten what shade felt like when I first laid eyes on the ancient library.
The halls of Cal’Rethal were not too impressive, seen from the top. Above ground there were a few clay huts, an ancient temple, and not very much more. The temple in it self was interesting. Fresco’s depicting forgotten gods wound around the wall’s, only partly worn away by sand and wind.
The real treasure however, lay below.
In those dusty halls, lay the knowledge of the ancients, folded into scrolls books and works of art. A giant city mae of words and paper stretched underground further than I could walk in a day.
The sages wo kept watch over the sacred libraries, took payment for each day one wanted to spend in the place. A month later, all my savings were gone, and i had still only explored a fraction of the library.
Jerad offered me free passage with the caravan to the far side of the desert. At first I was surprised that he would make such an offer, but it dawned on me slowly, that he had taken a liking to me.
It was fair to say that I like him too, and we did explore those feelings as we traveled across the burning sands. Jerad was kind and patient, and I feel lucky to have known him, but as I tend to do, I found something new to draw my atention.
When we reached the other side of the dessert and saw the age old town of Haja-Wenn, sprawling across the drylands, I felt in my bones that I had to move on.
I had talked to Jerad, in the days while riding and in the nights when we were pretending to sleep. I knew he would stay in Haja-Wenn for at least half a year, plying his trade as a scribe, to earn money enough to return to the desert library.
Haja-Wenn was a magnificent city, but there were other places I needed to see. The library was a mystery and a wonder, but I had seen it, and I needed to keep on going. So after a week in the gnarled and well worn streets of Haja-Wenn, I said my farewells to Jerad.
He was sad to see me go, and I felt like a piece of me would be torn free to stay with him. Still I couldn’t stay, the wonderlust was stuck deep in me.
I made arrangements to travel with a merchant and his family, against serving as a guard and pathfinder for them as they rode north towards, the frozen fingers, and to the city of Anundurr beyond the mountain range.
We rode out from Haja-wenn and I saw from a distance the giant treee, which stood at the heart of the city. They said the fruit of that tree alone had fed the city for the first hundred years, until the population grew too big. Still the nobles wo lived under the branches would feast upon the blood red fruit of the tree.
I took it in as we rode away, and I turned my back and looked forward, north towards the frozen fingers. I could not see the mountains yet, there was nearly four month of travel between me and them.
Those months I saw more cities, big and small. I learned bits and pieces of three languages and the merchant taught me the finer points of keeping books for a business.
After the fourth month, we finally saw the frozen fingers stretching towards the sky. Five ragged peaks scratching the very firmament.
To pass the mountains and find Anundurr, we would have to travel the almost invisible pass, and the merchant spen good money to find us a guide, wo could navigate us through without getting lost.
Marv Sellinger was an interesting man. Mountain guide by vocation, he was tall and rough looking, yet he spoke with a refined voice and was clearly educated at least as much as me.
I took a personal interest in the man, and as we travelled towards the mountains, I found myself watching him. On the second evening he caught me staring at him, as we ate our supper.
Rather than shun me for my prying eyes, he approached me. He asked me why I was here, and I answered that I was traveling, mostly to travel. He nodded, seemingly understanding that impulse all to well.
I found myself telling this stranger about my travels, and my lack of any real goal and he listened and smiled. He told me about his own travels, and they were as wideranging as mine.
Then, late in the night, long after the sun had sunk below the horizon, he told me about the mirror pool. He explained that this pool had a mystical power to show a person their path, and it could be found on the peak of one of the very mountains we were crossing.
I asked him to show me the place, and he agreed to do so, as soon as we had brought the merchant and his family safely to Anundurr.
Two days later, we reached Anundurr, the city of Shards. From the mountainside, we could see the spiky shards protruding from the ground, towering over the houses and giving the city it’s common name. The buildings in Anandurr were build on the south side of the shards, to protect them from the vicious wind that would come down from the north and tear men off their feet and roofing of any house not sheltered by a shard.
We reached city, took our pay and said our farewells to the merchant and his family. Then we were off to climb a mountain.
It was a rough climb, but Marv knew his way about these slopes and craggs and he got me to the top of the shortest mountain without any accidents.
As I sat on the platform catching my breath I found myself wondering if I really wanted to see what the pool had to tell me. I had wandered on my own whims for so long, was it even necesary to find a path to follow?

[Icewalker]

1550 words of The Three Truths for this week!

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“It allows me to stand up more quickly,” Franz said. He bit into another date, chewing quietly.
Devi looked up from their own lunch. “What?”
“You asked me before, when we were traveling to the other dig site, why I always kneel instead of sitting on the ground. I said then that it was just how I sat, that I hadn’t noticed. Well, they actually taught it to us during training with the Organization. Kneeling allows me to stand more quickly while keeping my hands free to write my magic or draw a weapon.”

Shamgar had been quieter since the fight. He jumped abruptly between his usual forward and active self and periods of quiet intensity, sitting alone and staring at the horizon as their rickety cart trundled across the desert with the three of them. The wound within the crack in his horn didn’t seem to be healing completely, but Shamgar continued cleaning and treating it every day. Neither Franz nor Devi asked about it.
Devi spent a lot of time reviewing maps prepared with Peter’s help. They would take the route north to the Black Oasis as before, but this time diverge away from the regular northwest trade routes past the oasis to instead continue straight north towards the Glasslands and the Red Pit. Devi had decided they hadn’t had the time or money to approach Raj, Kawan, and Kawal to hire them for the expedition. It may have been a mistake: the fire-scarred desert surrounding the Red Pit was the territory of Pasir tribes who worshiped Daragat, the Pasir god of glass, fire, and blood, and many were known for supporting their community through aggressive raiding. The trio were originally from such a tribe, and would be better prepared to avoid violence.
Not to mention they might have been able to help get there in the first place. Devi had never been nearly as talented a navigator as Peter, and pinning their exact location from the angles of the sun and stars was a challenge.
There was a crack, followed by a quick screech of metal against metal, and then a soft thump. The cart wheel rolled down the small ridge they had been moving along, circling and then falling over in the sand. The cart followed suit, sitting down heavily on its side as if to say that it was too old for this trek.
“Ugh, scoured bones. Okay. Franz, go get the wheel. I’m going to try to figure out what broke. Shamgar can you grab the bags that fell out? And only the second day out of the city…”
Devi crouched to look over the axle. The broken part was simple enough, they might be able to lash it back together with careful use of rope. Devi hefted a particularly heavy bag out of the cart, tossing it down to the sand.
The bag yelped.
Devi threw open the top. Rose tumbled out and into the sand.
“Rose!?”
“What?” Shamgar stood up from the other end of the cart as he slung another of the fallen bags back on. “Hey! How did he get here?”
“He seems to have hidden in our rope bag.” Devi switched to Damai to address the stowaway. “What were you thinking? Well come on I’m not going to forget you’re here just because you refuse to look at me.”
“I wanted to come.”
“That’s…You can’t just...it’s been two days how did you eat?”
“I brought food in the bag with me. But I was running out so I dunno what I was gonna do next.”
“You brought...Rose this is crazy! It’s not safe out here!”
“Well you’re out here right? I’ve been in just as bad of scrapes as you have.”
“No kid, you haven’t.”
“Hey, um,” Franz shouted as he walked backward up the ridge towards the cart, eyes looking down the slope. “We’re not anywhere near mirage sand, are we?”
Devi frowned, eyes not leaving Rose. “I don’t think so. Why?”
“Oh well,” Franz stammered, “I guess it doesn’t matter. The last time those things tried to eat me they turned out to be real anyway.” He pointed down the hill at a hump in the sand, leaving a trail as something long coasted just beneath the surface. “Are there a lot of giant man-eating worms in your desert?”
“Yeah, a few.”
“Oh. Well then.” Franz spotted Rose, his back pressed up against the cart as he looked down at the grey body breaching the surface of the sand at the bottom of the ridge. Franz decided to table that problem for ‘after the man-eating worms’.
“I never...Normally I’d suggest we just keep moving, and keep off the ground. They tend to leave eventually.”
“Not exactly an option.”
Shamgar pulled Devi’s sword from the cart, passing it to the orc. “What do we do?”

Eighteen years ago, Devi sat on the back of a camel. Old Uncle Hova and his daughter Ema, both practiced warriors, had stood with blades drawn. Mata had been next to Devi atop the packs, sitting far above the ground.
When the worm took the camel by one of its legs, Mata had pulled the knife out of the pack and stabbed the beast before scrabbling to hide with Devi. It was Ema who eventually killed it, or at least, hurt it badly enough that it didn’t surface again.
Warriors of the clan learned how to fend off the creatures of the desert.
At least, before the Fire came.

“Back to back. Keep an eye below, too. All we have to do is convince it we aren’t worth eating.”
Franz grabbed Rose. “Come on, get on the cart. If it’s anything like the one I ran into before it’ll swallow you whole.” Franz climbed up after them.
“Ain’t you gonna help?”
“I’ve had my share of worm fighting. And besides,” Franz flipped through the loose notes he had re-written, and etched some lines of black in the air, “anything I can do to help I can do from here, and safer.” He held the lines in the air, magic ready to be unleashed with a twitch of attention.
The scaly grey form erupted from the sand. Shamgar stumbled back, balance thrown off by their hooves poor grip on the sand, but clipped the monster’s face with his khopesh. The worm veered to one side, arching back into the sand.
Franz released the spell, feeling the invisible energy pulse sluggishly through the air and into the creature.
“Do they normally just...stop like this? Is it a trick?”
“I don’t think so?”
“It’s asleep,” Franz called from the cart. “Wish I’d had that spell on hand last time,” he grumbled.
“You put it to sleep!?” Devi stared at the body of the creature, still partially above the surface of the sand.
“I mean I think so. That’s what I was trying to do, and it stopped moving. I’ve only...I’ve never used it on a worm before? ...Do worms sleep?”
“Are you kidding? I don’t know.”
“What now?”
“To be honest I hadn’t really thought past the ‘don’t get eaten’ stage of planning.”
“Wait, I have a plan.”
It only took a couple minutes to bury two of the heavy stakes, meant for holding tents against high winds, and another few minutes to extremely carefully tie the ropes around the worm’s sleeping body.
“There. That’s short enough that it shouldn’t be able to get to the cart while we do repairs.”
“If the rope holds.”
“Well. Yeah.”
It did. It wasn’t long before the cart was moving again. “Hopefully that lasts us the rest of the way.”
Franz nodded. “Hopefully. It’s time to address our second problem. Rose can’t come with us.”
Rose crossed his arms. “Hey, why not?”
“It’s not safe, and we can’t devote resources to protecting noncombatants.”
“He wouldn’t be safe in the city,” Devi replied, “you said it yourself.”
“It’s better than here. We’re going to need everything we can to our advantage if we have another encounter with Brother Daius. He goes back to the city.”
“What’m I gonna do, walk?”
Franz tapped his fingers against the side of the cart, thinking. “Well-”
“What!? That’s insane, Franz! He’s just a kid, it’s two days through the desert, and it’s not like the navigation is simple!”
“No. No, we should hand him off to the next caravan we encounter. Maybe he can stay at the oasis, caravans come through regularly.”
“This is absurd.”
“What would you do Devi if somebody grabbed Rose, put a knife to his throat, and told you to drop your weapons?”
Devi scowled at Franz. “The same thing I’d do if somebody did it to you.”
“Or to Peter? We can’t have a repeat of what happened. You only have one more eye to lose.”
“So what would you do? Just let them take him? Fighting to protect each other is what makes us different from them! It’s the right thing to do!”
“You can’t do the right thing if you’re dead.”
“Hey!” Rose yelled. “I can handle myself, okay! I’m not just some kid!”
“Yes you are, Rose” Devi responded.
“Look, if there’s no way to get him back to the city, then we’re stuck. We can’t waste four days turning around.”

[jseah]

1119 for Hero's War

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Lolu covered her pain with loud complaints as she shook ice from her wings, "first you foul our wings with sand then freeze our blood with ice. What storms are you going to drag us through next, Ka?"
"There's no more, you know that. One more day and we'll be out of the peaks and below the clouds again," Ka tried to reassure her, he knew she was just putting on a brave front despite her joking. "We are past the notice of the nightcryers and should be able to make our descent by air in the morning. "
"Past their notice only because you made us climb up the mountain like those landbound!" She tried to hide her rubbing of her stiff wing where the hole was.
Tiki patted her shoulder in a manner he clearly hoped was reassuring but did nothing for Lolu. After all, he wasn't the one with a burn a handspan's wide in his wing. Of course, he avoided all contact with her feathers even if he had to bend his arm around her half outstretched wing.
"The last fire shell should be drained in an hour," Ka said, "our lift and strength should be recovered by then and we'll head back by air. "
She shuffled closer to the fiery pit in the gap in the rocks they were nesting in. The rest of them had their feathers to cloak them from the bitter chill but Lolu's injury made her more susceptible to the cold. And since neither zombies nor nightcryers had followed them up this high, they could spare the three remaining fire shells for heat.
Simply puncturing the shell without priming it was enough to cause the living fire inside to slowly flow out and promptly catch alight. They had to take turns holding up the shell so that the liquid dripped away from it, and didn't pool and make it explode, but the globs of sticky flame burned brightly even in the snow.
As they sat around the fire miserably, Ka frowned and rubbed at his eyes. A feather raising feeling creeping up on him.
"Do you see something wrong?" Kee asked, noting his brother's actions.
"Is it getting brighter here?" Ka answered with a doubtful question of his own.
"Well, the sun is rising after all. "
Ka looked at his brother then shrugged, "but the shadows are wrong. The ice must be getting to my eyes, or perhaps the light shines strangely off it. "
Their conversation attracted Tiki's attention. He glanced around then cupped his hands together for a moment. "I think the air is glowing," Tiki noted faintly.
"What. "
"The air. It's glowing. "
Ka considered the last fire shell he was holding up and glanced over to Kee, who was cupping his hands together. His brother nodded back in confirmation. "Any idea what that means?" Ka asked Tiki, who answered with a shrug.
Remain here on a mountaintop with some unknown phenomenon happening or take their chances with a flight without their full strength? The choice was obvious.
Ka threw the fire shell down the ridge to join its brothers and stood up, "we're flying out. Now. "
A few minutes later, their packs were tightened and wings unfurled to dive off mountain ridge into the snowy air. And not a moment too soon. As the chilly peaks fell behind them, Ka glanced back at their impromptu nest to see a curtain of light descend from the wintry sky itself. The glow engulfed the rock and snow with an otherworldly radiance and Ka had to consciously keep his flight going when he saw the top of the mountain fade out of existence to be replaced by the uniform white light.
"An Aura Light!" Tiki exclaimed, "it looks like the legends are true, they really are stronger the higher you go in the mountains!"
To his horror, Ka looked back to the front to find the rest of the world, the warm lower air he was diving towards had also disappeared in a curtain of light, leaving the band of Elka with no visual guide to the shape of the mountain beyond their immediate vicinity.
Lolu choked a little behind him. Ka raised his fist and signaled them to pull up their wings into a shallow glide instead of the steep dive. The curtain of light ahead had retreated when they drew close in their dive, as the light engulfing the mountain behind kept pace. As their descent slowed, the light seemed to follow them, leaving the Elka stranded in their narrow strip of snow covered mountainside and empty air.
"Any idea what is happening, Tiki?"
The young wing had no answer. It seemed that there were no legends about this.
"As long as we don't touch the light, I believe we will be all right," Ka said, trying to keep his worry out of his voice. He didn't need their confidence shaken in this crisis. "But just in case, we fasten draglines. Me, Lolu, Kee, Tiki. Fifteen meter line. "
His brother unspooled the wire they used for assisting Lolu into the air before tossing it over. Setting up their little chain took some awkward formation flying but eventually they were ready to proceed.
"We fly down slowly, to give us time to see the lower peaks and valleys of the Snow Wall as they come out of the Light," Ka said. They nodded back grimly. The story that implied they could very well be flying down a similar mountain in another world was left unsaid.
So they suffered a long hour of careful gliding and dodging shadows in the Aura Light before the curtain parted before them to reveal a welcome snow-free mountainside.
A familiar mountainside less than a day's flight from Clan Two's home range. Certainly not a different world.
Ka looked back up beyond the thin clouds and saw the light dying into a faint nothingness. The deadly peaks above glinted as the sunlight bounced off the snow, twinkling innocently. As if they had never left this world.

Cato was frowning by the time Ka had repeated his report of the expedition. Minmay and the whole Greater Circle was present to hear it after the Chancellor had deemed it important enough to repeat to everyone.
"So we have confirmed the zombies get their numbers from real bodies. And they have been destroying a country to the north in order to attack us. Furthermore, their development of new abilities has not ceased and they are learning some strategy?!"
The summary from the new mayor of Corbin town grew more incredulous as he went on.

433 words for the magical mom story

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Chante glanced around the class but no one seemed to be reacting. Ever since they had resolved to learn magic, they were told to exercise their magic use as much as possible. Despite feeling tired, Chante was determined to do what her mother said, the warm feeling of magic was nice.
The glowing ball above her head was still stable even after twenty minutes. A new record. Balancing her magic was difficult at the start but she thought she was finally getting used to it. But she couldn't quite believe no one else could see it.
The math teacher continued to drone on until recess.

Chante wandered around the gym shed. No one would come here during break periods so Ralph had suggested they meet there to practice. Magic practice alone like keeping a ball lit was boring. Ralph said he knew a new game he just made up, using magical balls. He had said it would be fun, although Chante wasn't too sure of that.
She was amusing herself by trying to make a necklace of tiny beads of light but Ralph came around the corner of the school building when she was only half done.
"Ah, there you are! Sorry, our teacher held us up," Ralph apologized as Ran followed him.
She held up her half-finished necklace to show Ran what she was doing, it had been getting progressively harder to add each new bead and by now Chante was probably at her limit. If the tiny beads were any bigger or brighter, she probably couldn't have done it. Ralph cut in, "actually, that is good! We can use that!"
Ralph divided them up into three corners and took the beads of the necklace. Chante nearly fumbled the transfer and one of the beads disappeared in a puff of light.
"Careful there," Ralph then dissolved the necklace's bindings, sending the beads of light whirling around himself. Chante watched in amazement, how had Ralph managed to learn so fast? And to control them so well! She watched closely.
With a flick, he sent one spiralling over to her and she caught it awkwardly. Then Ralph beckoned for her to throw it back, which she did. Mid-flight, it passed another one heading to her. Then as they exchanged the pair of beads with each other again, Ralph added a third, then a fourth. Chante tried to concentrate on the ever faster bouncing but fumbled and dropped a bead, which puffed away.
"You see how this goes?" Ralph asked and when they nodded, the game began in earnest.

[Bucky]

Is this week skipped due to ongoing forum outages?

[Icewalker]

I think I'm making a big decision for the time being.

I'm gonna drop The Challenge, and stop pushing myself for active writing of prose right now.

Creative writing and work is wonderful, and pretty important to me, but as something that I really want to do and to have done, like as an accomplishment or even a background career path, it takes more time than it is worth to me at this busy point in my life, especially because it's something that I can readily come back to sometime later in my life, which is less true for some other careers, hobbies, and activities. 1500 words takes a fair bit of time, and my main project I've been working on really isn't a usable one anyway, in the long run it amounts to little more than writing practice, which while great, isn't a thing I need to focus on right now.

So I guess I'll be getting my creative writing fix mostly from writing and running tabletop gaming, in a much less quantifiable (and often less time consuming) way that won't match The Challenge's standards/measures. That and maybe going back to and editing my last big project, cause that's a book I could actually do something with, and it needs editing.

It's been good. I really love The Challenge as a tool for pressure to produce. Dropping a long streak. But I gotta focus on my rapidly oncoming graduate program and all my other researchy hobbies.

If I come back, it'll be either because I really wanted to start a new writing project, or because I'm taking another shot at taking up drawing! And when that time eventually comes, I'll see you all here again! Be well, the lot of you! Draw all the cool things! Write all the cool things! Create!

[jseah]

852 for Hero's War

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The summary from the new mayor of Corbin town grew more incredulous as he went on.
"Clan Two has verified the presence of the army at the north end of the pass, numbers are estimated to be equal to the previous major attack and gathering more each week. Ektal has been trying to raise more soldiers to reinforce Fort Yang but weapon production is lagging behind recruitment," the chancellor nodded towards Willio, "thanks to the effort of our Ironworkers, we have more and better weapons than the king. We also lack the hands needed to wield the new guns and fire shells, hands that are better employed in the new foundries and factories. For those reasons, I would ask the Ironworkers to open their sales of weapons to Ektal's and the Central Territory's soldiers. "
"Won't that weaken our position? The Guards and King Ektal's knights are roughly even, if you account for our better weapons and the magical shields. Provide them with our weapons and they'll overrun us with numbers. "
That was Hino. Previously leader of the knights in Minmay, she was now leading most of the parties who remained to become a peacekeeping force. Sort of like police but more militaristic and somehow beholden to public opinion. Cato wasn't sure if there was any Earth analog to that.
Minmay sighed, "maybe. Well, Cato, I heard Landar was developing rocket weapons? Do you think we could use those to attack the army without risk of their light beams?"
The eyes of the Greater Circle on Cato, he slowly stood up. "In theory, yes. The rockets are deadly enough, with fire shells at their tip. Placed at an angle, the rockets should be able to reach two or more kilometers. However, Landar's design has issues that make an attack using them impractical. Accuracy is terrible, the rockets are just as likely to hit the ground at half range than reach the target. About one in five explode when launched, even with refinements to the propellant mix and the most stringent manufacturing tolerances. If you launched ten thousand rockets at the zombie army, I expect no more than three or four thousand to actually hit them, and that much only because the army is stationary and large. "
"Can they be made more practical?"
Well, that was the obvious question. Cato nodded, "rocket artillery requires manufacturing precision and purity of chemicals to be reliable. Project Flight has helped with the design of the stabilizers but I suspect we will need some sort of magical guidance system. Landar is experimenting with designs but I cannot foresee when her team will make a breakthrough. Her attempts at gyroscopes might reach acceptable accuracy next week or it could take six months of refinement. It's hard to say. "


"What is it Landar?"
The alchemist stayed silent as she dragged Cato towards the experimentation room. Kupo was waiting just outside the doors, dressed in her signature brown healer's robes for surgery.
The look on the doctor's face was no less troubled than Landar's.
Doctor and alchemist shared a significant look and Landar pushed the door open to the room.
Sterile tiles and polished stone operating tables showed upgrades since Cato's last visit. It appeared more sanitary and the closed choking ambience was much improved by the higher ceilings and steady magical lighting. Cato was not reassured however, the carved channels on the table and floor still held flecks of dried blood around the edges and corners. No surgery was conducted here, this was an execution room after all.
What was new was a curtain of magic laid across the door, a sustained breeze of disruption magic hanging at the edges of the room sealing the insides away from external magical influence. Keeping the barrier up all the time must be denting their research budget severely.
Strapped to the table with strong leather fasteners and heavy irons was a body. Cato blinked as a hand twitched. Then Landar pushed him through the magical barrier and he could feel the magic from the body. That was a zombie.
"That zombie's only a few hours old," Kupo said, sounding not a little disturbed. "We think we have isolated the mechanism of zombie reanimation. "
He couldn't help but shoot the healer a sharp look. That was important news, possibly strategically important. "Tell me the story?" he asked the two women.
Landar took his question, slowly switching to a lecturing tone as she narrated. "After the initial experiments with lifeforce degradation, we decided to test the same on zombies hoping to find clues as to how zombies worked. The connection between lifeforce and zombie reanimation preference is already known and we wanted to see what would happen if we performed the same degradation experiments on zombies. After all, their bodies are dead but their magic stays with them instead of dispersing. "
"We found that zombie parts contain about half as much magic as normal humans, but stick to the flesh even if the body part is removed from the main mass.

684 for a old idea called Crystal Garden

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Miyo crashed through the crystalline door with a sledgehammer of force. Summoning overpowered constructs was simple with the fairy beast gathering the excessive mana flowing around the place.
"Caution!" Ruon shouted, "Too fast!"
She didn't listen. Mina was somewhere in here. Pael could only follow them in.
The next room was huge. A massive open space with a soaring arch roof. The blue crystals were everywhere, pulsing with endless magic.
They crashed to a halt just in front of the door. The warbeast ground to a halt right behind and Ruon patted it to calm it down.
Miyo just stared at the sight at the center of the hall. Pael wordlessly drew his pair of swords.
"Mina..."
There was a girl suspended in the center of hall. Fragile looking crystal chains wrapped around her entire body, snaking out to the walls and roof. Her eyes remained closed despite the intrusion.
Miyo squinted, those chains were not just wrapped around her sister. They pierced her body in countless places. The crystals dug under her pale skin, sharp cruel needles pierced her shorn head from all directions, a particularly distinctive row of sharp blue spikes protruded from where her spine should have been.
"What have you done?" Miyo whispered, gathering her magic.
"Only what I wanted," came a quiet reply. The sound drifted out of the air, seemingly right in front of her.
They glanced around, sweeping the entire room, but nothing was there except the ever present magical power.
"Give her back!" Miyo shouted suddenly, "Release my sister!"
"I am all around you, Miyo," the whisper replied, "destroying the doors was rather rude. I had to redo some of my calculations. "
Miyo wavered, the voice sounded and talked just like her. But she would not believe it, not when her sister was trapped in this maze of her own creation. Just you wait, Mina, I will save you!
She loosed a blast of magic at the nearest chain only for it to disappear into the air. Sucked out of existence. There was no sign of magic, no trace of anything that had just done that. Pael lowered his swords, this wasn't something they could fight.
"Hey, you're being rash," the voice said, "let me tell you about this. I discovered the secret to immortality. "
All three of them paused at the thought. Then Miyo narrowed her eyes, "this is not what people mean when they say they want to live forever. "
The voice paused, "perhaps. But the theory is right. A mind is just a collection of thoughts, memories and feelings. Do you lose a bit of yourself if you cut off a hand? No. You, your soul, is really just in your head and in your magic. "
"I'd say something has gone wrong if you look like that," Pael said, pointing vaguely at the tangle of crystal chains.
Miyo nodded in agreement. This was definitely unnatural.
"That's just looks. You can look like anything you want," a swirl of magic coalesced into a figure.
It looked like Mina. No, not really, more like an idealized version of Mina. The little mole on her cheek wasn't there, and her normally long hair was even longer. It gave off an impression of softness, and fragility. As if she would shatter if Miyo touched her.
"Is that what you imagine yourself like?" Miyo asked, noting Pael's reaction. Men. Show them a cute face and they'd forgive even this abomination.
"It IS what I am like. I can be anything I want here," Mina flickered through a series of shapes. A bird, a grizzled man, and even a stuffed toy. She settled back to her usual.
No, not usual. Never usual again. Miyo glared around at the walls. Mina had said she was around them right?
This abomination that had taken her sister would pay.
A blade of pure force appeared in her hands and swung downwards. The floor shattered under the impact. Heh, looks like whatever defense that magic absorption was wouldn't work on spells Miyo directly controlled.

[Xiander]

Hellfire and Brimstone!

I nearly forgot to post last weeks haul, is there still time?
I got it done in time, but the forums were down when I tried to post it and then i forgot...

Anyways, 657 words for the conclusion of homeward bound:

Spoiler: Homeward bound, part 3

Show

Marv was watching me silently. He did not intrude or try to hurry me along, he simply waited until I had made my decision.
After a while, I got to my feet and faced him, determined. I didn’t speak, at this point I didn’t trust my voice. Instead, I simply nodded, and he took me to the mirror pool.
The crystal surface of the mirror pool shimmered and glared, and my eyes watered from looking at it. It was like staring through the sun and into another world. Still, my curiosity got the better of me, and I kept looking even as the pool’s light stabbed at my eyes.
My path sprang forth from the pool and straight into my mind. It was a troublesome path, clouded by fear, danger and war, at least it would be down the line. Looking closer, I saw a stretch of calmness, a respite. Whatever terrible things I had in store at the end of my path, I would have some time to live free, before that future came to pass.
When I finally wrestled my eyes away from the mirror pool again, tears were streaming down my cheeks and my hands were shaking visibly.
Marv Let me be.
For what felt like hours, I was completely unresponsive, shaking, crying and probably sleeping, and Marv just let thet storm rage through me. Only when I rolled onto my back, my body heavy as lead, all my fear and anger spent, Marv came to me.
He asked me softly if I had seen the war. All I could do was nod, and he nodded back. It seemed like he understood my terror, and the frightful things I had witnessed, but then, he must have gazed into the pool himself at some point. It was likely no surprize to him that I would act like I did.
I asked him what I should do, and he answered simply: Be ready.
I asked him how I would make myself ready, and he just shook his head. He could not tell me how, no more than he could explain how to live or breathe. I had to find my own way with this.
Marv showed me the path down the mountain, and we found lodging in Anundurr for a week, while I decided what to do with my time, and how to ready myself for the inevitable.
As I spent those days pondering my future and my past, I realised that something had changed within me. For almost six years I had been going all over the world, searching for thrills and trying to experience everything. The only place I had not wanted to seek out was the place I had come from.
I mentioned this to Marv, and he smiled a roguish smile as he said: “Perhaps it is time that you went home.”
And so, at the end of that week, I did.
I said farewell to Marv at the gates of Anundurr, and started the long walk back to the place I had so wanted to leave.
The trip took me past some new places, Falag the Burrow city, The crystal towers of Glinn, and Balan’s cove, to name but a few.
It also took me to places which I had seen before. I rested in the shade of the great tree at the Heart of Haja-Wenn, I marveled at the beauty of waves striking Jackel’s Cragg, and I felt a heavy fear in the pit of my stomach, when I saw the grey towers of Tol’Athore.
In the end it took me almost a year to reach my destination. And now as I stand on the deck of a ship, about to make harbour in my home town, I have to wonder about the nature of my travels.
It must be said, Seven years is a long time to wander, only to discover that home is right where it always was.

And 924 words on a new story, which I am going to have a lot of fun with:

Spoiler: Enigma Inc. Part One

Show

Sunday April 3rd, 23:35, Residential area, Home of subject 347

The girl is lying in her bed, her eyes closed, but she isn’t quite asleep. She stirs, rolls onto her side, settles down for a moment, then rolls onto her other side. She is facing the wall, her back to the room. She is unable to settle down and go to sleep.
Cold air touches her neck. Did she close the window completely?
She fumbles for the night light, as she turns her back to the wall and faces the room. The light blinks on.
She looks at her room,
She screams.

Sunday April 3rd, 23:42, Local police station

A call is recieved. A panicked girl shouts that someone is in her house. Before any clear explanation is given, a man takes the phone from the girl and explains that this is a false alarm, and there is no cause for the police to get involved.
Slightly suspicious of this, the officer receiving the call decides to reroute a patrol car to the address of the number from which the prior call was made.
Soon after the patrolling officer reports back. He has visited the address and found a girl being calmed down by both her parents. The girl seemed hysterical, but physically unharmed.
After some discussion with the parents, it is agreed that the girl should be examined by a doctor. The father of the girl drives her to the nearest hospital, while the mother tries to keep her calm. The patrol officer escorts them all the way before returning to his regular patrol.


Excerp from Doctor Louise Elman’s logs
Case: Liz Marie Marsters, Short summary
Age 19
General health: good
Special notes: None

Liz was brought in the evening, sunday the 3rd. Nurses noted that she seemed in good physical condition, but presented with symptoms of schitzophrenia and paranoia. She had no medical record of these traits, and the parents confirmed that she had never exhibited this sort of behaviour before.
She was initially given a mild dose of sleeping medicine, to allow her to rest until a docter could be present. She was examined by three sepparate doctors on the following day, none of which could explain her sudden lapse from healthy and stable and into hysteria.
It was at this point that Liz came to my attention.
I interviewed her monday evening, making sure that we were alone, but surveyed by security, and with a nurse on standby in case of an emergency.
At this point Liz had calmed down considerably, still she seemed nerveous and uncomfortable. Some of it was probably due to lack of rest, but she showed every sign of fear that she was being followed and observed against her will.
The interview (Enclosed in the folder marked as file two), revealed that she believed she was being stalked. When I asked her what made her believe this was the case, she started crying uncontrollably and repeating the phrase: It was in my room.
The interview did not produce much useful information, so I allowed Liz some time to herself, hoping that she would use it to get some rest, and that she might be more coherent in our next interview.
It was at this point that I followed a hunch and called my contact at Enigma.


Tuesday April 5th, 16:12, In a moving car

Felix looked up from the file in front of him, and took in the road as it whizzed by. They were in a city zone, but his companion seemed to be completely ignoring every speed limit known to man.
“Two questions.” He said, as they rocketed past an intersection, clearly ignoring a red light.
“Shoot.” Macey didn’t take her eyes of the road as she spoke.
“One: Why are we even interested in a teenage girl who has nightmares? Two: Why are you driving like there is a bomb somewhere, and it will explode if we don’t get there in two minutes?”
“I’ll answer two first.” Macy drawled, slowing a bit to take a right turn, and then flooring the speeder again. “The bomb has already exploded, **** is on fire and we need to do some serious damage control.”
“Maan…” Felix breathed exasperated. “Nobody ever tells me anything.”
“That is because you never listen.” Macy retorted.
“Fair point.” He glanced at the file again. “What about the girl?”
“As far as we know, she’s thee bomb.”
Crap.
Felix wasn’t a brave person, not really. He did the job for the pay, and the chance to meet cool people. Macy was the heroic one. But if a young girl was involved, he might have to actually act heroic.
An old man flared his horn, as macy cut him off, again ignoring a light signal. Taking two turns in quick succession, they sped towards whatever destination they were headed for.
“Wait.” Felix felt a lump of worry form in his chest. “Are we headed to the hospital?”
“Bing! Ten points to Schaefer.” Macy’s voice was crisp and humorous, but Felix knew her well enough to see that she was tense with worry.
He didn’t get to point it out, sinse the street was full of emergency vehicles, and paople in uniform. Macy had to zig-zag to avoid creating a traffic accident. He was jostled and rimpled and thrown back and forth.
Then Macy stomped on the break, and the car slid to a halt, wheels screeching, and the seatbelt being the only thing preventing Felix from flying through the window.

[Lycunadari]

I’ve contacted Glass Mouse both here and on tumblr and haven’t gotten a response. I hope she’s just busy. Anyway, I’ve decided to make the status posts for the last few weeks, though I’m not including the themes, sorry.

Status for Apri 24-30!

Glass Mouse is missing.

Lycunadari passes with four nature pictures, two paintings and a drawing.

LeSwordfish is on hiatus for the time being.

jseah passes with 615 words of Shattered Alliance, 456 words of worm fanfic and 440 words of magical mom story.

Icewalker passes with 1625 words of The Three Truths.

Xiander passes with 1590 words of Homeward bound.

Some Android did not upload anything.

Lovely Vulcan passes with 5 portraits.


Thus, Some Android and Glass Mouse (maybe) FAIL this round!

Lycunadari, jseah, Icewalker, Xiander and LovelyVulcan PASS this round!


Current standing:

Spoiler

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Glass Mouse
Current run: (45 weeks)-
Longest run: 290 weeks
Themes: 3 weeks

Lycunadari
Current run: 225 weeks
Longest run: -
Themes: -

LeSwordfish
Current run: -
Longest run: 44 weeks
Themes: -

jseah
Current Run: 64 weeks
Longest Run: 33 weeks
Themes: -

Icewalker
Current run: 30 weeks
Longest run: 13 weeks
Themes: -

Xiander
Current run: 43 weeks
Longest run: -
Themes: -

Some Android
Current run: -
Longest run: 42 weeks
Themes: -

Lovely Vulcan
Current run: 3 weeks
Longest run: -
Themes: -

---

Status for May 1-7!

Glass Mouse is missing.

Lycunadari passes with six nature pictures.

jseah passes with 1119 words for Hero’s War and 433 words of magical mom story.

Icewalker passes with 1550 words of The Three Truths.

Xiander passes with 1568 words of Homeward bound.

Some Android did not upload anything.

Lovely Vulcan didn’t upload anything.


Thus, Some Android, Glass Mouse (maybe) and LovelyVulcan FAIL this round!

Lycunadari, jseah, Icewalker and XianderPASS this round!


Current standing:

Spoiler

Show

Glass Mouse
Current run: (45 weeks)-
Longest run: 290 weeks
Themes: 3 weeks

Lycunadari
Current run: 226 weeks
Longest run: -
Themes: -

LeSwordfish
Current run: -
Longest run: 44 weeks
Themes: -

jseah
Current Run: 65 weeks
Longest Run: 33 weeks
Themes: -

Icewalker
Current run: 31 weeks
Longest run: 13 weeks
Themes: -

Xiander
Current run: 44 weeks
Longest run: -
Themes: -

Some Android
Current run: -
Longest run: 42 weeks
Themes: -

Lovely Vulcan
Current run: -
Longest run: 3
Themes: -

---

Status for May 8-14!

Glass Mouse is missing.

Lycunadari passes with fou nature pictures, two cat pictures and a bunch of doodles.

jseah passes with 852 words for Hero’s War and 684 words of Crystal Garden.

Icewalker drops the challenge!

Xiander passes with 657 words of Homeward bound and 924 words of Enigma Inc..

Some Android did not upload anything - I’m going to drop you from the list, tell me if you want back on!

Lovely Vulcan didn’t upload anything.


Thus Glass Mouse (maybe) and LovelyVulcan FAIL this round!

Lycunadari, jseah and Xiander PASS this round!


Current standing:

Spoiler

Show

Glass Mouse
Current run: (45 weeks)-
Longest run: 290 weeks
Themes: 3 weeks

Lycunadari
Current run: 227 weeks
Longest run: -
Themes: -

LeSwordfish
Current run: -
Longest run: 44 weeks
Themes: -

jseah
Current Run: 66 weeks
Longest Run: 33 weeks
Themes: -

Icewalker
Current run: -
Longest run: 31 weeks
Themes: -

Xiander
Current run: 45 weeks
Longest run: -
Themes: -

Some Android
Current run: -
Longest run: 42 weeks
Themes: -

Lovely Vulcan
Current run: -
Longest run: 3
Themes: -

---

Please tell me if I overlooked something, or if you sent your stuff to Glass Mouse and I failed you because I didn't know.
I can do the next status posts as well until Glass Mouse shows up again, so please keep posting your writing/art/etc here!

[jseah]

2009 - 852 = 1157 words for Hero's War. Lots of parts added to previous week's section.

Spoiler

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Cato was frowning by the time Ka had repeated his report of the expedition. Minmay and the whole Greater Circle was present to hear it after the Chancellor had deemed it important enough to repeat to everyone.
"So we have confirmed the zombies get their numbers from real bodies. And they have been destroying a country to the north in order to attack us. Furthermore, the nightcryers are working with them and the zombies are learning strategy?!"
The summary from the new mayor of Corbin town grew more incredulous as he went on.
"Clan Two has verified the presence of the army at the north end of the pass, numbers are estimated to be equal to the previous major attack and gathering more each week. Erin's report indicates that with most of the Guard still on rotation away from the Fort, if the zombies attack now, they have a good chance of causing severe casualties, if not breaking through entirely. With nightcryers in the army, it is not clear our previous trench tactics would be as effective. "
It was unstated that the Minmay Guard provided a large amount of the firepower present at Fort Yang despite being only a third of the total number of soldiers. Better weapons, better defenses, some semblance of military order in comparison to the conscripts from the other territories.
"Ektal has been trying to raise more soldiers to reinforce Fort Yang but weapon production is lagging behind recruitment," the chancellor nodded towards Willio, "thanks to the effort of our Ironworkers, we have more and better weapons than the king. We also lack the hands needed to wield the new guns and fire shells, hands that are better employed in the new foundries and factories. I would like to discuss the feasibility of selling our weapons to King Ektal. "
"Won't that weaken our position? The Guards and King Ektal's knights are roughly even, if you account for our better weapons and the magical shields. Provide them with our weapons and they'll overrun us with numbers. "
That was Hino. Previously leader of the knights in Minmay, she was now leading most of the parties who remained to become a peacekeeping force. Sort of like police but more militaristic and somehow beholden to public opinion. Cato wasn't sure if there was any Earth analog to that.
Minmay sighed. "Almost certainly. The king would not casually break the peace treaty brokered by Amarante but..."
"But Inath is far away and our military advantage gives us influence across the entire country and is worth more than mere money," Hino finished for him, "what about other forms of compensation? Can we use the sale of weapons to gain security in other ways? Perhaps Aldir might be willing to lend us support in court in exchange for weapons?"
"Aldir is firmly in the pocket of the King, any agreement with them can't be trusted. My contacts there say that Aldir provides almost half the production of fire shells in their army," Willio added, "besides, they're not a border province, what do they need weapons for?"
More protests and grumblings about trade and balance of power drove Cato back to the report again. Selling the Guard's old weapons to the Ektal knights only made sense when you considered that Guard recruitment was beginning to stall. It was an easy solution to increase total firepower.
"What about our University? Don't they have a new weapon or two to solve our problem like the last time?"
The murmurs of side discussions died away. Cato looked up from his perusal of the zombie clothing drawings. A small town mayor near the border of the Central Territory? What did he know of how the University operated? How did this person get a seat at the Greater Circle, didn't the chancellor interview and personally approve each of their characters?
Cato glanced around and saw not a few others seemingly waiting for him to answer. Surely they didn't think that Landar had a new miracle weapon to save them all the time, did they?
The silence dragged on for a long moment.
The Chancellor frowned, "maybe. Well, Cato, I heard Landar was developing rocket weapons? Do you think we could use those to attack the army without risk of their light beams?"
The eyes of the Greater Circle on Cato, he slowly stood up. "In theory, yes. The rockets are deadly enough, with fire shells at their tip. Placed at an angle, the rockets should be able to reach two or more kilometers. However, Landar's design has issues that make an attack using them impractical. Accuracy is terrible, the rockets are just as likely to hit the ground at half range than reach the target. About one in five explode when launched, even with refinements to the propellant mix and the most stringent manufacturing tolerances. If you launched ten thousand rockets at the zombie army, I expect no more than three or four thousand to actually hit them, and that much only because the army is stationary and large. "
"Can they be made more practical?"
Well, that was the obvious question. Cato nodded, "rocket artillery requires manufacturing precision and purity of chemicals to be reliable. Project Flight has helped with the design of the stabilizers but I suspect we will need some sort of magical guidance system. Landar is experimenting with designs but I cannot foresee when her team will make a breakthrough. Her attempts at gyroscopes might reach acceptable accuracy next week or it could take six months of refinement. It's hard to say. You can't expect us to solve your war that simply. "
Another baron from the minor villages spoke up, "what about the living fire formula? Can't we do the same crash research program as you called it?"
"If the Greater Circle thinks the funds for a rocket stabilization system is well spent, I won't say no," Cato said, "but I must admit that it will take time before your hopes can be answered. Even after a sufficiently accurate rocket is developed, you still need to build them in sufficient quantities to damage the zombie army. It is my recommendation that some agreement with the king's forces be reached in order to sell our older weapons. "
Minmay's advisors looked at each other with troubled faces. "Perhaps we should consider other alternatives first?"
Ugh, this was going to take forever, Cato just knew it. How these people, handpicked by Minmay for efficiency, end up going in circles was beyond Cato.

"What is it Landar?"
The alchemist stayed silent as she dragged Cato towards the experimentation room. Kupo was waiting just outside the doors, dressed in her signature brown healer's robes for surgery.
The look on the doctor's face was no less troubled than Landar's.
Doctor and alchemist shared a significant look and Landar pushed the door open to the room.
Sterile tiles and polished stone operating tables showed upgrades since Cato's last visit. It appeared more sanitary and the closed choking ambience was much improved by the higher ceilings and steady magical lighting. Cato was not reassured however, the carved channels on the table and floor still held flecks of dried blood around the edges and corners. No surgery was conducted here, this was an execution room after all.
What was new was a curtain of magic laid across the door, a sustained breeze of disruption magic hanging at the edges of the room sealing the insides away from external magical influence. Keeping the barrier up all the time must be denting their research budget severely.
Strapped to the table with strong leather fasteners and heavy irons was a body. Cato blinked as a hand twitched. Then Landar pushed him through the magical barrier and he could feel the magic from the body. That was a zombie.
"That zombie's only a few hours old," Kupo said, sounding not a little disturbed. "We think we have isolated the mechanism of zombie reanimation. "
He couldn't help but shoot the healer a sharp look. That was important news, possibly strategically important. "Tell me the story?" he asked the two women.
Landar took his question, slowly switching to a lecturing tone as she narrated. "After the initial experiments with lifeforce degradation, we decided to test the same on zombies hoping to find clues as to how zombies worked. The connection between lifeforce and zombie reanimation preference is already known and we wanted to see what would happen if we performed the same degradation experiments on zombies. After all, their bodies are dead but their magic stays with them instead of dispersing. "
"We found that zombie parts contain about half as much magic as normal humans, but stick to the flesh even if the body part is removed from the main mass. When reintroduced to the zombie, removed parts can sometimes reattach themselves with magic expenditure, even if the same part is swapped between two zombies. And that this property of zombie lifeforce could spread to normal human body parts if stored in contact with each other and the body part has been severed for a sufficient time. Approximately a few hours, longer depending on which part. "
Kupo cut in here, "We tried to artificially induce this transfer in a human body. What we found was that contact with even a single finger from a zombie was sufficient to induce conversion in a corpse as long as the body was older than six hours since death and less than two and a half days. The period in which a body or part becomes vulnerable coincides with a significant rate of mana release in lifeforce degradation experiments, and the maximum time of conversion is the point where no more lifeforce remains. "
"The zombies are clearly linked to human lifeforce and we suspect that zombie lifeforce is really just human lifeforce in a different form.


Kalny and Cato stared up at the huge metal cylinder. Heat wafted off the construction like a hot noon day, the cool breeze in the concrete courtyard was just a brief respite. Here and there, pipes stuck out of the frame, pumps driving their contents to and from storage tanks at the site. Smaller and larger welds, where holes had previously existed in failed configurations, marred the surface like a tapestry of experimentation. It was crude. It was inefficient. It was a patchwork of compromises that worked, sometimes.
It looked like the start of a new field of industry. Beautiful even, in spite of the flaws.
"I didn't think you could actually do it," Cato commented, "a proper fractional distillation tower for crude oil? With the lighter gas recycled as fuel? No more chromatographic processing for fire shells? Next you'll be telling me you're going to start cracking the heavier oils and building a refinery. "
The merchant chuckled, "oh, I have grand plans of course, once the ironworkers can spare the steel. Getting the materials to build this was like trying to reach the sun. Maybe in a few years. Still, the irony of our positions is not lost on me. "
Cato paced around the construction, admiring the steel. Those rivets were not the simple screws he was familiar with, something custom designed for high pressures maybe? "An interesting reversal, I guided the construction of the first steel smelter in your warehouse while you stood back and provided materials. Now you build a oil distillation column while I stand back and provide the research. I suppose we have not grown out of building giant metal towers. "
"Quite. "
They admired the machine together. The roar of the heating fire and the gurgling of the liquids in the pipes filled the gap in their conversation, a very different cadence to the clanging and banging of the foundries.
"Have you any luck in obtaining kerosene? Landar is quite anxious to experiment with it as rocket fuel. And you know from the meeting how important that can be. "
Kalny smiled and shrugged, "in time. The researchers need to solve the contamination problem from the lower fractions first, its too unstable. Or perhaps it is time to commission a new tower. This experimental design might never able to achieve the required separation. "
"It just costs too much and there isn't enough steel. Same as always," Cato nodded, "I'll talk to Willio. Perhaps he can squeeze out more capacity from his furnaces. "

528 words for the magical mom story... where did the mom go? Ah well, even magical girls need to attend school and get outed to friends immediately after all!

Spoiler

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Chante dropped back into her seat in the classroom, feeling utterly exhausted. It was a strange feeling, she could still think clearly and probably could still run, but she just didn't feel like doing anything at present. Magic was, of course, out of the question.
"Hey, I saw that you were with those twins. "
She turned around. The boy sitting behind her grinned at her. "You know, the weird ones from one year up. "
"They're not weird!" Chante blurted out.
"Are too!"
"Are not!"
"Aren't you being a little childish, Peter?" Noe said from behind him, hitting him lightly over the head with her textbook. Chante hurriedly nodded in agreement, the class president was the only one who could control him.
"But she really was there! I saw her in the gym shed with the twins from one year above! They were just standing around looking at each other..." Peter protested.
Chante trembled, was the secret out already? Her mother seemed to want her to keep it quiet. Ah... she was going to get scolded.
"Hmm?" Noe looked her way, surely the class president wouldn't believe Peter? "Are you all right, Chante? They're not doing anything to you right?"
Chante looked back questioningly. What was she talking about? That wasn't about magic.
"Like, is there anything I should tell the teacher?" Noe asked again.
Chante shook her head, she couldn't think of anything. Even Peter was looking at Noe strangely now.
"Are you going to see them again?" Chante half-nodded before she could stop herself, "Then can you take me along? I want to make sure. "
But... but, she would find out about the magic! Chante shook her head mutely, Noe's piercing eyes made it hard to talk.
"It only makes me more concerned, Chante. "
"I want to come too!" Peter whined.
Noe nodded, "That might be a good idea. And that's settled then!"

"And so that's how," Chante finally finished explaining. Noe and Peter stood slightly off to one side, all of them in the weeds behind the gym shed.
Ralph nodded at Noe and Peter, "We're not bullying Chante, you know," he winked at Ran, "right?" Noe looked a little relieved.
"Oh, I don't know," Ran shook her head, "I think pushing her off the bridge might have been going a bit too far for a joke. "
Noe suddenly looked very worried, but Chante thought her own confusion might need to be solved first.
"What bridge?" she asked. There wasn't even a single bridge anywhere Chante knew off.
Ralph rolled with it, "You know, the one between the treehouses we built? That rope bridge?"
"What treehouses?" Chante asked again, she was just getting confused now.
Ran broke down into giggles, "Oh, I can't stand this anymore. Ralph! You're far too evil to tempt me like that!"
"Then you're evil as well!" Ralph grinned at her, "Ev-eil, I say!"
Noe sighed, "well, I suppose it's not a cause for concern then. "
"So, did you want to join us?" Ralph asked. Chante frowned at him, what about the magic?

[Xiander]

I did another 1576 words for Enigma Inc.

Spoiler: Enigma inc. part two

Show

While he tried to untangle himself and make sure all of his extremities were still properly attatched, Macy killed the engine and got out of the car. A little hassled, Felix managed to undo his seatbelt and push open the door on his side.
Getting out of the car, he took in the scene. There were around a hundred thousand people running around in a state of half panic. He had no idea what was going on and very little concept of who could tell him.
He glanced at his partner.
Macy was like a pillar of granite in the chaos. Standing there calmly taking in the comotion around her, she looked like she had just arived a minute late to a budget meeting. Apparantly the pandemonium going on around her had no real effect.
Even after the car ride from hell, Macy’s suit was imaculate to look at, not a crease to be found. Her glasses were polished to the point of shining and her dark hair was strapped into a perfect ponytail.
Out of pure habit, Felix cheated a little bit. He had learned from working with Macy, that if he ever got confused in the chaotic situations they faced, he just had to figure out where she was looking. She had knack for getting to the core of the problem, and he had long ago learned to latch on and follow her.
Now she had singled out a police oficer. The man was standing a bit away, talking intently to a nurse. He was up in the years, graying hair receding from his forehead, and he had the look of a man who had seen just about everything.
“That’s our contact?” Felix asked, stepping up next to Macy.
“Probably.” Macy shrugged. “At the very least, he probably knows the current situation well enough to point us in the right direction.”
With that, she started walking.
A few long determined steps took her to the police oficer’s side, and she tapped him on the shoulder. He turned around and looked at her.
Since macy wasn’t exactly a giant, the oficer had to glance downwards to look her in the eyes. There was moment of silence as they both just stared. Felix figeted with his hands. Macy suffere from terminal directness, which had yet to rub off on him.
“Who are you?” The oficer asked, his voice coarse but calm.
“I am Macy Lester, Enigma Incorporated consultant, this is my partner Felix Schaefer.” Macy held out her hand for him to shake.
He grapped it and shook, but then didn’t let go, still looking straight into her eyes.
“John Russel.” He said. “What are you two doing here?”
“We have been assigned to assist you with the situation, in any way we can.”
“I wasn’t informed about any Enigma people being appointed here?” There was a note of irritation in John’s voice.
Felix decided to try and smoothe things over, before Macy showed her rougher side.
“I’m sure there’s just been a mixup, they’ll inform you any second…”
He was interrupted by a phone ringing. For a second all three of them looked around to figure out who’se phone it was, then John pulled the ringing phone out of his pocket and answered.
“Yes?” He listened to the person on an other end, then answered. “Yes, they… just arrived.”
Macy and Felix exchanged a glance. Felix was surprised, not that this thing was uncommon around him, but Macy usually kept it to a minimum, that was her job after all. How had this one slipped through her guard? Maybe she had let it through on purpose, but that hardly seemed like her.
John exchanged a few moe words with his phone, then hung up and looked back to Felix and Macy. He drew a deep breath as he took them in.
“I have just been informed that Enigma has been involved in the current situation.” He didn’t sound particularly relieved.
“Good,” Macy snapped straight into business mode. “We will need a full update on what is going on, and what resources you have available.”
“Hold up just a second.” John squeesed the words between his teeth. “I’ve worked with enigma before. Let’s do this the quick way. Tell me what you already know and I will fill in the gaps.”
It seemed the oficer had a fine grasp on how enigma worked. No enigma agent or consultant was ever dispatched without a rather thourough file on the situation they were intended to help solve.
Felix tended to skim the files while Macy drive them to their destination, but macy always seemed to find the time to read them in detail, before Felix was even aware that they had an assignment.
“Liz Masters was brought in this sunday, with symptoms of severe mental stress and borderline paranoya.” Macy explained. “While the doctors tried to figure out what was wrong with her, other patient’s started reporting odd occurrences. About half an hour ago the situation escalated out of hand, and now an entire floor of the hospital is being evacuated, to make sure no one is hurt by the randomly flying objects.”
“That…” Oficer Russel hesitated for a moment. “Was a very precise summation.”
“Wait, the file didn’t say anything about tandom flying objects.” Felix interjected.
“You only read half the file Felix.” There was a slight hint of disaproval in Macy’s voice. Like she was disappointed he wasn’t a champion speed reader like her.
“Sorry to interrupt.” Oficer russel didn’t sound all that sorry. “But I have a crisis situation I need to oversee, and you two are distracting me.”
“Apologies,” Macy said calmly. “What steps have you taken this far?”
“Evacuation of the floor where everything is wonky.” John rubbed one temple with two fingers. “But at the rate it’s going we might as well evacuate the whole building.”
“Have you found the girl?” Felix asked.
“The girl?” John looked at him, obviously trying to judge what his role in the partnership was.
“Yeah,” Felix tried a freindly smile. “Our data suggests that she has something to do with the phenomenon.”
“Felix is right.” Macy nodded as she spoke. “Liz Masters is at the core of this. Whatever this disturbance really is, she is probably it’s target. She may be in real danger.”
“We have not yet found miss Marsters, not for lack of looking.” John shrugged. “But our focus has been on getting as many patients and nurses as possible out of harms way.”
At that moment, a fire fighter, leading a small group of patients emerged from the main entrance of the hospital. They looked ragged and scared, but for now they were safe.
“Excuse me.” John said, still rubbing his temple. “I need to go get an update on the situation.”
“Mind if we tag along?” Macy asked, her voice completely professional.
“Feel free.” John mumbled as he turned and went to talk to the firefighter.
A small army of nurses and other medical staff was greeting the escaped patients, tryin to scertain wether they had suffered any obvious distress.
Menwhile John went to talk to the firefighter. The man was tall and fit, but he seemed worn and slightly nervous. Felix was fairly sure the building wasn’t on fire, so he wondered why they were sending in fire fighters. He really ought to look into how these things worked. After all, he would probably keep getting tangled up in them, as long as he worked for Enigma.
“Status?” John asked, cutting straight to the chase.
“It’s spreading.” The firefighter said gravely. “As near as we can tell, it covers three floors now.”
“We will need to keep evacuating, and have someone look for the girl… Liz Marsters.” John looked at Macy and Felix, a thoughtful expression on his face.
“Oh boy.” Felix breathed.
“What?” Macy snapped.
“We are being volunteered, arent we?”
“Volunteered?” She looked at him, brow furrowed. “For what?”
“I was just about to suggest that you might be the best suited for entering the area.” John said seriously. “But it is your call, I don’t have the authority to force you in there.”
“I was about to suggest the same thing.” Macy smiled her business smile. “We can do more good the closer we are to the disturbance.”
“And you feel the same way?” John looked intently at Felix.
“Oh, Macy makes those kinds of decisions.” Felix smiled nervously. “Otherwise we’d never get anything done.”
“So you are okay with heading into a danger zone?”
“That is a part of our job description.” Macy said calmly.
“Good, let me just have a few words with some of the other oficers, and I will be ready to go.” John caugt the eye of a policewoman and waved her over as he spoke.
“Wait.” Macy’s calmness slipped a bit. “You’re going with us? I wouldn’t advise you…”
“That wasn’t a suggestion.” John cut her off. “I am not sending civilians in there without personally keeping an eye on them. And Enigma or not, you guys are civilians. I am comming with you.”
With that, he turned and walked over to the policewoman. Looking after him, Felix wished he could seem that cool and unmoved in a situation like this.
He glanced at Macy, who seemed just like she always did, calm and focused. Man, he really had to to practice his cool face in front of the mirror some more.

[Lycunadari]

I guess I'll take over for now.

Status for May 15 -21!

Glass Mouse is still missing.

Lycunadari passes with seven nature pictures.

jseah passes with 1157 words for Hero's War and 528 words for the magical mom story without the mom.

Xiander passes with 1576 words for Enigma Inc.

Lovely Vulcan didn’t upload anything.


Thus Glass Mouse (maybe) and LovelyVulcan FAIL this round!

Lycunadari, jseah and Xiander PASS this round!


Current standing:

Spoiler

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Glass Mouse
Current run: (45 weeks)-
Longest run: 290 weeks
Themes: 3 weeks

Lycunadari
Current run: 228 weeks
Longest run: -
Themes: -

LeSwordfish
Current run: -
Longest run: 44 weeks
Themes: -

jseah
Current Run: 67 weeks
Longest Run: 33 weeks
Themes: -

Icewalker
Current run: -
Longest run: 31 weeks
Themes: -

Xiander
Current run: 46 weeks
Longest run: -
Themes: -

Some Android
Current run: -
Longest run: 42 weeks
Themes: -

Lovely Vulcan
Current run: -
Longest run: 3
Themes: -

[Glass Mouse]

Lycun... Thank you, thank you, thank you!

I have indeed just been busy. I fell one week behind, and then the forums were locked for.... a week? More? I only noticed a few days ago and have been struggling to find time to sort through all the lost weeks. It's almost embarassing how relieved I felt just now, seeing that you'd taken over. Which is probably a good sign that it's WAY past time I pass the torch.

I, for one, feel totally comfortable passing it to you, Lycun, who is realiable and engaged and apparently willing to cover my butt, but only if you want it?


As for the past weeks, I think I've done enough work to scrape by, but I'm finding it really hard to defend when I've dropped the ball so massively. Gotta own my ****-ups and accept my failing. I'll come back officially this week or the next, as I have a big creative writing deadline on Wednesday.


Also, Icewalker, I'm sorry to see you go, but looking forward to your triumphant return!

[Glass Mouse]

Lycunadari has officially agreed to take over the status posts from now on. Thank you, again!

It feels really weird having to stop doing them after... geez... six years. Feels like a big change even though it isn't, really. I'll still be around. Lycun will do way better than I've done these past months. It's been fun, and giving, and worth it, and will continue to be so as a regular contestant. So, uh. Not much to say. Just wanted to let you know the torch has officially been passed.

[Lycunadari]

Aw, what a cute picture. ^_^
Thank you for organising the challenge for so long! Six years is indeed a long time, and I'm happy to take over for you.

[Xiander]

Hey Glass Mouse, good to see you haven't completely disappeared. And kudos for passing on the torch, instead of clinging to it. You have to know what battles to pick, and you can still be part of the challenge, just as well.


Also kudos to Lycunadari for picking up the torch. It is awesome that you stepped up. You are awesome.





With that said, lets get down to business.
This week I did 1626 words of Enigma Inc.

Spoiler: Enigma Inc. Part three

Show

Tuesday April 5th, 16:33, in a hospital elevator

It wasn’t exactly cramped in the elevator. They could probably have fit six people in there. Still Felix felt akwardly stuffed together with his two companions.
The pressense of officer John russel unnerved hime a little. Macy was a known quantity. Probably the most known quantity a human could possibly be. On the other hand, Felix knew very little about John Russel. When things got dicey, it payed to know how your partners would react.
“So how do you want to play this John?” Felix tried to sound nonchalant. In his own ears, he sounded nervous, but then who wouldn’t be nervous, standing in an elevator on his way to facing a dimentional anomaly.
“We have two objectives.” John stated. “Evacuating civilians is our first priority. Letting you two get a good look at what is going on is our second.”
“We’ll be going straight to the affected floors?” Macy’s voice was all businiss.
John nodded seriously.
“Then the second priority should solve itself. What are you hoping we can find?”
“Anything to give you a clue of the origin of this chaos.”
“Which could be almost anything at all, given the very limited amount of information we have.” Macy shook her head as she spoke.
The elevator slowed to a stop, let out a ding sound and the doors slid open. Right outside was a long hospital corridor. Pale colors dominated the scene. The place was deserted, potted plants, chairs and othe furniture lay strewn around, as if a miniature tornado had passed through.
Half of the ceiling lamps were broken and at least a few of the ones which still gave off light were flickering on the brink of breaking. The corridor seemed gloomy and slightly terrifying.
John stepped out first. He was obviously at high alert, eyes and ears tuned in to notice the smallest movement. It was nice, Felix reflected, to have someone experienced to rely on. Then again, he was used to Macy having his back. Still an extra set of eyes didn’t hurt.
Macy stepped out of the elevator, took in the corridor with a calm expression on her face. She smoothed over the front of her suit, checked that her gun was secure in it’s place and looked to me.
“Come on Schaefer, we have places to be.” She quipped.
“If I’m honest,” Felix said, stepping out of the imagined safety of the elevator car. “I would rather be at the library.”
“Not funny.” Macy chastised. “Lets go.”
“Actually.” John interjected. “Before we go any further, I need to to know a bit more about your enigma profiles.”
“Our profiles?” Felix asked surprised.
“You’re not the first Enigma people I work with. Spill the beans, I need to know what I am working with.”
“I take it you know why we work in pairs?” Macy asked.
“I do.”
“Felix is the special case, I am the anchor.”
“How special?”
“Plenty.”
“Dangerous?”
No, but fairly unpredictable.”
It wasn’t that felix minded the way Macy was descriping him, not really. Still, being talked about like he wasn’t even there was always a bit grating.
“Don’t worry sir.” He said trying a smile. “Macy is like a brick wall, she has this under control.”
John lifted one eyebrow. Somehow the simple gesture was enough to make Felix question his own certainty, but before he could answer, Macy spoke again.
“There is something on this floor, something weird. It’s a pretty strong pressense.”
“Pretty strong?” Felix asked, curiously. “Like Chestertons school strong? Or more like the spectre in that graveyard?”
“Chesterton.” Macy explained.
“What does that even mean?” John asked, a slight hint of exasperation in his voice.
“It means what ever is in here, is dangerous, but not unbeatable.” Macy said levelly.
“It also means I can probably keep us safe if you let up a little.” Felix looked earnestly at Macy.
It wasn’t often he had this good of an argument. He knew Macy’s job was literraly to keep him in check, but on the other hand, his abilities were the reason he had been inducted into Enigma in the first place.
“I will make that call, when I have sufficient information about the actual threat level.” There was no compromise in Macy’s voice.
“Not to interrupt your little ongoing discussion, but is that chair moving?” John asked, voice tense but controlled.
Macy and Felix turned simultaneously to se that the chair was indeed moving. Not just moving, it was slowly lifting off the floor and into the air. It rose to about one metres height. Then flung itself across the corridor, aiming straight at them.
John took one long step out of the chairs path, Macy tackled Felix, pushing out of harms way. The chair spun through the air where they had just been standing and crashed noisily against the floor.
“No more time to discuss.” John stated, determination ringing in his voice. “We move forward together, watch each other’s backs.”
Macy straightened up, reaching for her gun, thought better of it and started walking down the hospital hall, senses strained to notice any movement.
Behind her, John gave Felix an appraising look. Felix smiled Sheepishly and shrugged. They both followed Macyaway from the elevator and further into the danger zone.
“Do we have any way of knowing where to look for civilians? Or the girl?” Felix asked as they reached a n intersection, where one hospital corridor met another.
“I have a theory.” Macy said, peering around the corner, apparantly not seeing anything of note.
“Care to share it with us?” John asked, his voice dry.
“There is a fair amount of evidence linking the girl, Liz Marsters, to the anomaly.”
Felix and John both nodded. Macy moved around the corner as she spoke again.
“We cannot be certain of the relationship, but it stands to reason, that the trouble should be worse closer to her.”
Felix swallowed hard.
“You’re saying that we need to find the place with most radomly flying objects trying to kill us, and thats where the girl is?” He asked nervously.
Macy nodded seriously.
“I know...“ John failed to finish the sentence, as a small table, two chairs and a pile of magazines came hurdling down the poorly lit corridor towards them.
With trained reflexes, John and macy imedeately threw themselves to the ground. Hesitating just amoment, Felix realised that he was too late. He couldn’t possibly dodge all of this.
Then he felt Macy’s control lessen a little. A trickle of the wierd power he knew he had blossomed forth and asserted itself.
One chair veered slightly, crashing into the table and they both tumbled to the floor with a magnificent crash. The other chair missed him by a hair, hurtling just past his ear and falling to the ground behind him. Three magazines rammed straight into his chest, and one hit him in the face.
He stumbled back a bit, but nothing was hurt, except his pride. He peeled the magazine off his face and looked at it. A smiling mother and her smiling child peered out of an add for cooking pots and Felix felt his power pulse slightly. Then Macy’s control reasserted itself hard, and his power crept back to the place it came from.
“We need to go to the kitchen.” Felix and John said at exactly the same time.
Macy looked calmly from one to another. John stared at Felix in surprise. Feelix smiled sheepishly.
“Why.. How do you..” John seemed a little put of that Felix had reached the same conclusion as him, at the exact same time.
“He has good instincts for these things.” Macy said calmly. “Which way to the kitchens?”
John clenched his jaw and started moving, showing them the way towards the kitchen.
It wasn’t a long trip, but they went slowly. Knowing that every piece of furniture was potentially a threat, made them very cautious.
After a few more altercations with the interior decorations, they made it to the kitchen door. John stopped and looke seriously at both of them.
“Are you sure you want to go in here?” He asked.
There was no mockery or bravado in his voice. He was honestly giving them a chance to back out. He didn’t seem nerveous, not exactly. High strung and aware of imense danger was more accurate.
“We have a job to do.” Macy said seriously.
Felix just shrugged and smiled in agreement. There was no arguing with Macy when she got like that. He was not feeling quite as certain as that, but he supposed that was why Macy was his partner.
“Is he going to be okay.” John gesture to Felix.
Damn, he must have looked more nervous than he thought.
“He’s tougher than he looks.” Macy answered. “Lets move.
“Wait.” John held up a hand. “We are going into a room full of knives and metal objects, all of which will probably com flying at us seconds from now.”
Felix swallowed hard, he hadn’t thought of that.
“I know.” Macy said, her voice cold as always.
“If we have any trump’s now is the time to bring them out.” John persisted.
Felix glanced at Macy, he knew what John was thinking. He also knew Macy wouldn’t like it.
“Please leave that for me to decide.” She had mastered not sounding wound up, though Felix knew she probably was. That sort of request always got on her nerves. “That is my job after all.”
“At least let me know what he can do.” John wasn’t letting up easily this time.
“He can do pretty much anything.” Macy wasn’t looking at John or Felix. “But it’s not free. Power like this never is.”

[jseah]

2842 - 2009 words = 833 words for Hero's War

Spoiler

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"Clan Two has verified the presence of the army at the north end of the pass, numbers are estimated to be equal to the previous major attack and gathering more each week. Erin's report indicates that with most of the Guard still on rotation away from the Fort, if the zombies attack now, they have a good chance of causing severe casualties, if not breaking through entirely. With nightcryers in the army, it is not clear our previous trench tactics would be as effective. "
It was unstated that the Minmay Guard provided a large amount of the firepower present at Fort Yang despite being only a third of the total number of soldiers. Better weapons, better defenses, some semblance of military order in comparison to the conscripts from the other territories.
"Ektal has been trying to raise more soldiers to reinforce Fort Yang but weapon production is lagging behind recruitment," the chancellor nodded towards Willio, "thanks to the effort of our Ironworkers, we have more and better weapons than the king. We also lack the hands needed to wield the new guns and fire shells, hands that are better employed in the new foundries and factories. I would like to discuss the feasibility of selling our weapons to King Ektal. "
"Won't that weaken our position? The Guards and King Ektal's knights are roughly even, if you account for our better weapons and the magical shields. Provide them with our weapons and they'll overrun us with numbers. "
That was Hino. Previously leader of the knights in Minmay, she was now leading most of the parties who remained to become a peacekeeping force. Sort of like police but more militaristic and somehow beholden to public opinion. Cato wasn't sure if there was any Earth analog to that.
Minmay sighed. "Almost certainly. The king would not casually break the peace treaty brokered by Amarante but..."
"But Inath is far away and our military advantage gives us influence across the entire country and is worth more than mere money," Hino finished for him, "what about other forms of compensation? Can we use the sale of weapons to gain security in other ways? Perhaps Aldir might be willing to lend us support in court in exchange for weapons?"
"Aldir is firmly in the pocket of the King, any agreement with them can't be trusted. My contacts there say that Aldir provides almost half the production of fire shells in their army," Willio added, "besides, they're not a border province, what do they need weapons for?"
More protests and grumblings about trade and balance of power drove Cato back to the report again. Selling the Guard's old weapons to the Ektal knights only made sense when you considered that Guard recruitment was beginning to stall. It was an easy solution to increase total firepower.
"What about our University? Don't they have a new weapon or two to solve our problem like the last time?"
The murmurs of side discussions died away. Cato looked up from his perusal of the zombie clothing drawings. A small town mayor near the border of the Central Territory? What did he know of how the University operated? How did this person get a seat at the Greater Circle, didn't the chancellor interview and personally approve each of their characters?
Cato glanced around and saw not a few others seemingly waiting for him to answer. Surely they didn't think that Landar had a new miracle weapon to save them all the time, did they?
The silence dragged on for a long moment.
The Chancellor frowned, "maybe. Well, Cato, I heard Landar was developing rocket weapons? Do you think we could use those to attack the army without risk of their light beams?"
The eyes of the Greater Circle on Cato, he slowly stood up. "In theory, yes. The rockets are deadly enough, with fire shells at their tip. Placed at an angle, the rockets should be able to reach two or more kilometers. However, Landar's design has issues that make an attack using them impractical. Accuracy is terrible, the rockets are just as likely to hit the ground at half range than reach the target. About one in five explode when launched, even with refinements to the propellant mix and the most stringent manufacturing tolerances. If you launched ten thousand rockets at the zombie army, I expect no more than three or four thousand to actually hit them, and that much only because the army is stationary and large. "
"Can they be made more practical?"
Well, that was the obvious question. Cato nodded, "rocket artillery requires manufacturing precision and purity of chemicals to be reliable. Project Flight has helped with the design of the stabilizers but I suspect we will need some sort of magical guidance system. Landar is experimenting with designs but I cannot foresee when her team will make a breakthrough. Her attempts at gyroscopes might reach acceptable accuracy next week or it could take six months of refinement. It's hard to say. You can't expect us to solve your war that simply. "
Another baron from the minor villages spoke up, "what about the living fire formula? Can't we do the same crash research program as you called it?"
"If the Greater Circle thinks the funds for a rocket stabilization system is well spent, I won't say no," Cato said, "but I must admit that it will take time before your hopes can be answered. Even after a sufficiently accurate rocket is developed, you still need to build them in sufficient quantities to damage the zombie army. It is my recommendation that some agreement with the king's forces be reached in order to sell our older weapons. "
Minmay's advisors looked at each other with troubled faces. "Perhaps we should consider other alternatives first?"
Ugh, this was going to take forever, Cato just knew it. How these people, handpicked by Minmay for efficiency, end up going in circles was beyond him. True, they really really didn't want to sell their weapons to the king who had just been the enemy, but both sides squabbling when the zombies were at the figurative gate... Cato sighed again.

"What is it Landar?"
The alchemist stayed silent as she dragged Cato towards the experimentation room. Kupo was waiting just outside the doors, dressed in her signature brown healer's robes for surgery.
The look on the doctor's face was no less troubled than Landar's.
Doctor and alchemist shared a significant look and Landar pushed the door open to the room.
Sterile tiles and polished stone operating tables showed upgrades since Cato's last visit. It appeared more sanitary and the closed choking ambience was much improved by the higher ceilings and steady magical lighting. Cato was not reassured however, the carved channels on the table and floor still held flecks of dried blood around the edges and corners. No surgery was conducted here, this was an execution room after all.
What was new was a curtain of magic laid across the door, a sustained breeze of disruption magic hanging at the edges of the room sealing the insides away from external magical influence. Keeping the barrier up all the time must be denting their research budget severely.
Strapped to the table with strong leather fasteners and heavy irons was a body. Cato blinked as a hand twitched. Then Landar pushed him through the magical barrier and he could feel the magic from the body. That was a zombie.
"That zombie's only a few hours old," Kupo said, sounding not a little disturbed. "We think we have isolated the mechanism of zombie reanimation. "
He couldn't help but shoot the healer a sharp look. That was important news, possibly strategically important. "Tell me the story?" he asked the two women.
Landar took his question, slowly switching to a lecturing tone as she narrated. "After the initial experiments with lifeforce degradation, we decided to test the same on zombies hoping to find clues as to how zombies worked. The connection between lifeforce and zombie reanimation preference is already known and we wanted to see what would happen if we performed the same degradation experiments on zombies. After all, their bodies are dead but their magic stays with them instead of dispersing. "
"We found that zombie parts contain about half as much magic as normal humans, but stick to the flesh even if the body part is removed from the main mass. When reintroduced to the zombie, removed parts can sometimes reattach themselves with magic expenditure, even if the same part is swapped between two zombies. And that this property of zombie lifeforce could spread to normal human body parts if a portion of the zombie part is placed inside the human part and the human body part has been severed for a sufficiently short time. Approximately a few hours, longer depending on which part. "
Kupo cut in here, "We tried to artificially induce this transfer in a human body. What we found was that contact with even a single finger from a zombie was sufficient to induce conversion in a corpse as long as the body was older than six hours since death and less than two and a half days. The period in which a body or part becomes vulnerable coincides with a significant rate of mana release in lifeforce degradation experiments, and the maximum time of conversion is the point where no more lifeforce remains. Furthermore, even bodies with no lifeforce that have not completely rotted away or burnt can still be reanimated, the same with those whose lifeforce is destroyed by disruption magic.
We suspect that the group reanimation requirement is linked to the same requirement for the aura or black mist as the Fukas call it, individual zombies are clearly capable of reanimation by themselves if only they behaved correctly. Having a group simply allows them to do this faster and without remaining in contact with the body throughout the conversion process or cutting bits off themselves. Maybe the zombies simply aren't smart enough. Yet. "
The two researchers stopped there and glanced at each other before Kupo continued, "the Pastora have records of certain old diseases that died out during the Migration. Inherited records from the First that imply the Tsar created magical diseases as weapons and as attempts to improve themselves. The old diseases were also of the type that changed the patient's lifeforce in some way, not always detrimental. And... I suspect zombies are... related. I admit it is only a hypothesis but there is some agent... an animating substance in zombies that converts an animal's lifeforce made vulnerable by death. The similarities between zombie lifeforce and our own is too much. I think the zombies were created by the Tsar, perhaps as a weapon, perhaps as a failed experiment to create another demihuman, they must have been unearthed by someone some time before the attacks began more than a hundreds years past. "
Cato nodded, "and if this is true and we can find the source, any surviving records or tools might give clues of a weakness or at least more information on how the zombies evolve. "
"More than that," Kupo added, "since we are now certain that the zombies virtually require lifeforce to reanimate a body, we know they have no way to gain more zombies other than to attack and kill people or animals. We can reduce their numbers by cutting off the source of their bodies. It's a feedback loop. The more zombies there are, the more successful their attacks, the more towns then cities being overrun and more zombies are created. Furthermore, simply cutting zombies apart does not truly kill them, they can still repair themselves. That means in a battle that the zombies win, they take no losses at all. Their numbers just build and build until a major city gets overrun and we get a giant army at our doorsteps, like that city the Elka found in the north. I don't know why the zombies are attracted to us even when their armies get completely destroyed at Fort Yang but this is our solution. "
"Yes I see. A passive defence will never work, the zombies will pick off isolated settlements and remain a constant annoyance. We have to go on the offense. Once the main army is destroyed, if we can contact any survivors in the north and extend protection to them, we can halt the snowballing, cut down their numbers," Cato mused as he began to pace, "the initial battles will be big and costly but if we can break the armies, the tide will turn, the zombies will simply never recover so long as we actively hunt them. "
He glanced at the body still strapped to the table and drew a breath, "anything else? No? Then I will report your findings and suggestions to the Lesser Circle immediately... I am still disturbed by the human experimentation but I admit that at least some good has come of it. "

Kalny and Cato stared up at the huge metal cylinder. Heat wafted off the construction like a hot noon day, the cool breeze in the concrete courtyard was just a brief respite. Here and there, pipes stuck out of the frame, pumps driving their contents to and from storage tanks at the site. Smaller and larger welds, where holes had previously existed in failed configurations, marred the surface like a tapestry of experimentation. It was crude. It was inefficient. It was a patchwork of compromises that worked, sometimes.
It looked like the start of a new field of industry. Beautiful even, in spite of the flaws.
"I didn't think you could actually do it," Cato commented, "a proper fractional distillation tower for crude oil? With the lighter gas recycled as fuel? No more chromatographic processing for fire shells? Next you'll be telling me you're going to start cracking the heavier oils and building a refinery. "
The merchant chuckled, "oh, I have grand plans of course, once the ironworkers can spare the steel. Getting the materials to build this was like trying to reach the sun. Maybe in a few years. Still, the irony of our positions is not lost on me. "
Cato paced around the construction, admiring the steel. Those rivets were not the simple screws he was familiar with, something custom designed for high pressures maybe? "An interesting reversal, I guided the construction of the first steel smelter in your warehouse while you stood back and provided materials. Now you build a oil distillation column while I stand back and provide the research. I suppose we have not grown out of building giant metal towers. "
"Quite. "
They admired the machine together. The roar of the heating fire and the gurgling of the liquids in the pipes filled the gap in their conversation, a very different cadence to the clanging and banging of the foundries.
"Have you any luck in obtaining kerosene? Landar is quite anxious to experiment with it as rocket fuel. And you know from the meeting how important that can be. "
Kalny smiled and shrugged, "in time. The researchers need to solve the contamination problem from the lower fractions first, the quality is too unstable. Or perhaps it is time to commission a new tower. This experimental design might never able to achieve the required separation. "
"It just costs too much and there isn't enough steel. Same as always," Cato nodded, "I'll talk to Willio. Perhaps he can squeeze out more capacity from his furnaces. "
"Good to hear that. To think there was a time when everything was made of wood and the Ironworkers barely made a kilogram of steel per smith a day," Kalny shook his head with a smile, "never expected to think to myself that a full ton of steel a day was too little. What's the production at now?"
"After the new bigger furnace design powered directly from a mana well starts operation, that furnace alone is expected to pour four tons a day, with better control over the carbon content and impurities. About half that production is reserved for expanding their metalforming equipment but you can expect twenty tons of Minmay steel on the market a day in about two weeks. Willio's planning an even bigger furnace after this but we'll need to expanding the coal mines and coking facilities again to keep up with the demand. "
Kalny nodded, "sounds like you've got even more work to do. "
"More meetings you mean. I didn't open the University to be a manager of a company but I haven't found a suitable successor. "
All Cato's complaining got was a grin and a pat on the back. Kalny needed that coke for his operations too, it was becoming the fuel of choice now that wood sources were getting further away from the city.

707 words for Shattered Alliance

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Three specks of light appeared high in the sky, suspended on nothing at all. In a few seconds, they expanded into person sized spheres and popped the three Explorers into existence.
Thrusters engaged almost lazily, quadruple fins of hot gas rocketing out of heels and shoulderblades to stabilize their owners in the air. The Explorers looked around at the land sprawling below them, they were just as comfortable standing on nothing as they were on the tarmac of the transfer pad.
"Local False Magic stabilized successfully. Scanning planar False Magic structure now. " Kokie said distractedly. A dizzying array of lines, objects and esoteric elements spun into existence around him, scraps of True Magic invocations as varied as the planes they had been gathered from.
One of them beeped red at him.
"False Magic trace incoming. " He said quickly, scanning across line after line of False Magic code that scrolled through the air in front of him.
Katie raised her arm, extruding a shield from nowhere, her other hand suddenly holding a variable wand. Ana spun to face the other way, a flare cannon port opening up in the air in front of her. Her skill with weapons and battle tactics obvious in the way she didn't need to manifest her bound devices, instead the portal was ready to emit the blast in any direction, without needing the clunky weapon itself.
The world bled false colour as reality warped around them, only three bubbles remaining clear around them lit by the lights of their thrusters and illumination orbs. Streaks of light flashed over them and tendrils of darkness coiled hungrily. Dawn and dusk waged a war all around as the Explorers watched warily.
"Detonation charge primed," Katie snapped out. They nodded to each other, self destruct charges to avoid capture in case of contamination.
Ana swung her weapons, testing her tracking at the magics surrounding them, spurts of fire, light and other more exotic principles lashing out. Despressingly, it was looking as if only null beams or other reality class weapons could have any effect; but those were strictly military weapons, the risk of shattering reality was too great on anything short of strategic threats. Katie shored up their defences, joining Kokie in a practiced maneuver that left her defending the integrity of their small section of reality while freeing him to analyze and track the effects back to their source.
On the bright side, it seemed as if the very exoticness of the assailants worked against them. In the reality surrounding the Explorers, overwritten by their own False Magic where the local magics could not operate, the battling effects could not take hold.
A long few moments passed as a war raged around the three Explorers, then Kokie blinked and looked up from his screens. "Four potential True Magic effectors, one additional sub-Plane with entry conditions. True Magic manipulation history is not recent, at least not since the last Planar War. No True Entities detected. At least two False Magics systems are present. "
That last, he indicated the black and white effects surrounding them. His words, a quite standard initial analysis report for an Omnisensor, drew a response almost immediately.
The white and black effects broke off their attempts and resolved into two vague figures of black and white. The world returned around them, leaving Ana and Katie of sigh in relief.
Kokie looked at his flightmates and added, "Possible Human-Concept Communication False Magic included. Should I open communications? I don't see memetic hazards and a concept-to-text translation layer should keep things safe. "
Ana shrugged as Katie looked at her. Nothing she could do, physically anyway. Those things were probably projections of some sort.
"All right, if you think HCC is present, let's try it," Katie nodded, "copy the feed to me and I'll summarize for Ana. Ana overwatch please, I'll leave our self-destructs in your hands. "
The two vaguely humanoid figures of light and darkness seemed to be talking to each other agitatedly as Kokie tapped away at his screens, ironing out the connections from the beings' communications to his concept-war scripts. Then he tapped a final button and a new window with text opened.

[Lycunadari]

Status for May 22 -28!

Glass Mouse didn't upload anything.

Lycunadari passes with 10 landscape pictures.

jseah passes with 833 words for Hero's War and 707 words for Shattered Alliance.

Xiander passes with 1626 words for Enigma Inc.

Lovely Vulcan didn’t upload anything.


Thus Glass Mouse and LovelyVulcan FAIL this round!

Lycunadari, jseah and Xiander PASS this round!


Current standing:

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Glass Mouse
Current run: -
Longest run: 290 weeks
Themes: -

Lycunadari
Current run: 229 weeks
Longest run: -
Themes: -

jseah
Current Run: 68 weeks
Longest Run: 33 weeks
Themes: -

Xiander
Current run: 47 weeks
Longest run: -
Themes: -

Lovely Vulcan
Current run: -
Longest run: 3
Themes: -


LeSwordfish
Longest run: 44 weeks

Icewalker
Longest run: 31 weeks

[Glass Mouse]

Feels weird being on this side of the submissions! But here is my week's writing: 6107 words of sci-fi story.

[Xiander]

This weeks haul numbers 3167 words of Enigma Inc.

Spoiler: Enigma Inc., Part four

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“Don’t worry about it.” Felix said, trying to conceal the tremble in his own voice. “I can assure you Macy knows what she is doing, and I will probably be fine. I usually am.”
He smiled at John, getting a sceptical glance in return. Then the police officer nodded slightly, squared his shoulders and pushed open the kitchen door.
The lights in the kitchen were either turned off or broken. The whole room was dark and gloomy. There weren’t any outside facing windows, so Felix got only a vague impression of the outlines of tables, ovens and other kitchen furniture.
A clicking sound came from John as he turned on a heavy flashlight, and sent a broad beam of white light dancing over the room. Reflected in the naked steel counters, the light bounced of off odd angles, playing on the surfaces of all the metal interior.
There was the sound of an indraw of breath.
“Who’s there?” Macy’s voice was sharp and controlled as always.
“No!” A female voice whimpered. “Don’t come in here.”
The sound of steel against steel rang in in Felix’s ears as a large kitchen knife slowly separated itself from the magnetized metal strip it had occupied seconds ago. It lifted off on it’s own power, hanging silently in the air at about chest hight. It turned slowly, till the tip of the blade pointed straight at Macy.
Then every other knife on the magnetised strip joined it at once.
“Take cover.” John growled, just as all the knives shot towards them like a swarm of angry metal wasps.
They all leapt for safety, and in the chaos Felix slightly lost track of his surroundings. He hit the floor and rolled to the right, away from Macy, who had been the apparant target of the knife storm.
Knives clanged against walls and floor tiles, in a cataclysmic cacophony. Felix came up in a crouch, his ears ringing from the sound. He looked for his companions, and felt relived to see them both still alive.
John had jumped in the opposite direction of Felix and was sitting in a crouch hafway covered by a metal shelving unit filled with plates. Calm as always, Macy had stepped back and pulled the door partly shut in front of her. Several knives were were lodged in the door, but Macy looked unharmed.
“Liz Marsters.” She said loud and clear. “We have come to evacuate you.”
“You don’t understand.” the hidden girl sounded like she was about to cry. “It will kill you!”
Just when she finished speaking, a large shelf full of pots and pans started shaking. Felix had a fair idea where this was heading, and he didn’t enjoy the idea.
“Liz?” He said, trying hard to sound friendly and brave. “I know you’re scared, but trust me…”
He was rudely interrupted by a pot flying through the air, straight towards his head. He flattened himself to the floor. The pot struck the wall with enough force to bend itself out of shape.
Not wasting any time, Felix started crawling across the floor. Being under fire, it seemed like a better idea not to sit still. He had a vague idea that John and Macy were doing their best to dodge projectiles as well.
He reached one of the steel counters and pressed his back against it, taking cover from the rain of steel. He notice only now that it was all coming from the same direction.
He would be safe here, as long as he kept close to the counter. He looked for his companions. John was easy to spot, still holding the flashlight. He had taken a hit, his wrist looked broken and his teeth were ground together in a painful grimace, but he had turned over the shelving unit and taken cover behind it.
Macy was a bit better off, having used the door for cover against the second barage, now she was reentering the room, her gaze locked on Felix.
“Cover me.” He whispered.
Her eyes widened in surprise or shock, as he started inching towards the edge of the counter. She realized that he was going to do something brave, probably stupid too, and she apparantly didn’t like it.
He didn’t have time to weigh the risks. John was pinned down and hurt, and if they didn’t leave soon, whatever was flinging kitchen tools at them would maneuver to get a straight hit at him. That might kill him, and Felix did not want that. But he couldn’t just leave the girl here either.
So he crept around the corner of the counter, heading for the place he thought he had heard the girl’s voice. He turned his back to Macy as he went. She would probably have followed, if a coffee mug hadn’t chosen that moment to fling itself at her head.
One at a time, all the loose objects on the other side of the room started flying towards Macy and John. Felix hoped like hell they could avoid all of it, while he used the distraction to get to the girl.
He heard a series of crashes and clangs, as another barrage smashed against the walls and floor.
“Felix!” John cried out. “Get back here, you’ll get killed.”
He heard Macy’s voice then. He couldn’t be completely sure as she was almost whispering, but it sounded like she was swearing.
There was a tingling feeling in his stomach, as his power surged. Macy was a damn good anchor. When she put her mind to it, she could keep his power in check, better than anyone else ever had. As a result it had been more than a year since Felix had felt more than a sliver of his power.
Now it thrummed through him like a small fire, spreading to every part of his being. He suddenly felt much safer, and secure in his ability to handle this.
He picked up the pace, going faster, not caring as much about being bombarded, his power would take care of that.
A tray of forks flew through the air, right at Macy, at this rate she wouldn’t have time to dodge. Felix frowned, he didn’t want Macy to get hurt. With a snapping sound, a lamp tore itself free from the ceiling and crashed to the floor right in front of Macy, taking all the cuttlery with it as it went.
Felix never stopped being surprised by his own power, but he wasn’t complaining, he was too busy getting to the hiding girl.
He cleared the counter and came out onto the open floor. There was an angry ripping sound, and a sink tore itself free of the wall. Water spilled from the naked pipes where it had been mounted and spread across the floor. The sink rose slightly, then darted right at Felix.
By instinct he tried to get out of the way, but the floor was suddenly slippery with water, and he toppled over, landing on his stomach, as the sink sailed through the air above him.
It was the nature of his power, he reflected. It got him where he needed to be, but not always gracefully. The sink hit the door to the hall, tearing it off it’s hinges, then crashed to the hallway floor making a horrible grinding sound as it skidded to a halt.
Felix had stopped paying attention before it stopped moving, his eyes drawn by a slight movement. In the poor lighting he had almost missed the shape, hidden under one of the steel counters.
He got to all fours and crawled towards the shape as fast as he could. A toaster raised itself into the air and flew towards him, but the cord got wrapped around something and the improvised projectile never made it off the table.
“Hey?” Felix tried for cheerfull, but got tightwound and a little nervous. “Room for one more?”
He reached the counter where the girl was hiding and she peered at him in disbelief. Then she pulled her legs closer to her chest, making a little room under the counter for him.
He squeezed in.
“Nice place you have here.” He smiled his trademark smile at her.
“Are you insane?” Her voice was ragged and confused.
“Probably, but don’t worry about that. We are here to get you out.”
There was a large crash and the sound of John swearing.
“Felix!” Macy shouted. “What the hell are you doing?”
“You need to leave.” There was panic in the girl’s voice. “It kills anyone who comes close.”
“It hasn’t killed you.” Felix pointed out.
The gir justl stared at him.
Another shelving unid tipped over and plates and cups crashed to the floor. Felix didn’t pay much attention, the cogs in his head were spinning. Something was beginning to make sense.
All the trouble had centered around this girl, yet she seemed completely unharmed. Freaked out, but not physically hurt. The anomaly had been close to taking down Macy and john, who were trained and experienced in this sort of thing. This girl was not, so why was she unharmed?
“What does it look like.” He asked, looking straigh into her eyes.
Her eyes drifted sideways, like she was glancing at whatever it was, trying to figure out how to describe it. She looked back at him and spoke.
“It’s like a person.. But wrong. To long and its fingers have to many joints. And the face…”
In Felix’s mind, the pieces feel into place. He had heard of something like this before. Not completely like this but close. He was almost sure he knew what was going on.
“Tell it to stop.”
“What?”
“Just ask nicely.”
“You’re insane!”
“No, I’m just optimis…”
He was interrupted when the top was torn off the counter they were hiding under. Liz screamed at the top of her lungs, Macy was yelling something which Felix didn’t quite catch, and the whole world stood still for a moment as the counter top rose into the air wpinning slightly.
Felix felt his power pulse.
The metal slap which had recently been the top of the counter aligned itself to be completely vertical, then came crashing straight down at him.
And then the world changed around him. There was a floaty feeling as the kitchen melted away. There was a flash of a gangly shape with elongated limbs and hands and a face like a demon, then it was gone and he was looking at a meadow.
Tall green grass swayed in a gentle brees and he felt his hair being gently ruffled by the wind. The whole place smelled like summer rain and he was filled with a sense of calm and safety.
He rose to his feet and took a deep breath. He didn’t know where he was, that was the nature of his power. This wasn’t the wors place it had ever brought him though.
Then he felt a tugging in his stomach. His power pulsed once more, then stopped abrubtly and disappeared. The meadow melted away and the kitchen manifested around him again.
He was standing in the ruins of the kitchen counter, Liz sat in front of him, her eyes were wide with shock and panic. He turned to see Macy vaulting over the counter he had used as cover earlier. She stuck the landing and rushed towards him, her face showing way more emotion than it usually did. John was pushing his way free of the shelfes he had used as cover, he seemed riled up too.
Felix felt out of place.
He was still calm and relaxed after the few seconds he had spent in the meadow. He looked down at Liz, he thought he should tell her to relax, tell her it would all be okay. She could use some encouragement at this point. The poor girl was probably worn out by all the hysteria.
He was just about to speak, when something grabbed him by the wrist.
****, he had forgotten about the invisible creature hurling everything left and right.
Another hand grabbed him by the belt and he was lifted clean off the floor. He felt for his power, but the trickling sensation in his stomach was absent. He clenched his teeth, and saw the world rush past as he was flung across the room.
“STOOP!” Liz screamed.
Then there was a sharp pain in his back and his head felt like it was being ounded with a hammer. And the world bled to darkness.



Tuesday April 5th, 17:12, Outside the hospital

A team of paramedics are ready to recieve the group of four when they emerge from the front entrance. The police man is carrying the unconscious man, while the well dressed woman is helping the girl along, doing her best to calm the panicking teenager down.
The medics put the unconscious man onto a stretcher and start checking his vitals. The well dressed woman ask some questions and is assured that they know what they are doing.
“I hate this part.” She says as the medics turn their attention away.
“What do you mean?” says the policeman.
“As long as we are fighting something, or running for our life, or doing… anything, I am fine. It’s the waiting that gets to me.”
“Will he be okay?” Asks the girl timidly.
“He’s tougher than he looks.” The woman says by reflex.
“And a fair deal braver.” Adds the policeman.
“Sometimes stupidly so.” She smiles an odd smile.
“How did he do it?” Asks the girl.
“What part of it?”
“All of it?”
“It’s… hard to explain.” The woman pauses and thinks it over for a short time. “You could say that he is extremely lucky, but that oversimplifies it a bit.”
“And that doesn’t explain him disappearing for a few seconds.” The policeman points out.
“As I said, it is pretty complicated.” The woman stares at the sky as she speaks. “Something about the way he is atuned to dimentions makes so that things just go his way. He doesn’t control it, he just rides it to his destination.”
“Againg, how did that make him disappear?” The policeman asks once more.
“Sometimes there is nothing in this world that can stop things from hurting him. At which point his power moves him out of the way.”
“But he didn’t move.” The girl pointed out.
“He did, just not in any of the dimentions you can percieve. I have been reliably informed that there are many more directions and planes than we can observe with our limited senses.”
“Does this happen often?” the policeman asks.
“Only when things get intense.” The woman answers. “I can usually keep him in this world though.”
“You brought him back?” The girl asks.
“I managed to shut down his powers before he got away completely. It’s tricky, but I have a lot of experience with it.” The woman smiles, a little pride showing on her face.
“How can you do that?” The policeman asks.
“Luck is his power, anchoring his power is mine. I suppose I am just very in tune with this dimension.”
“Are there many people with powers around?” Asks the policeman.
“There are more than you know. For now Enigma has found an anchor for each special they discovered.”She ponders this and her eyes shift to the girl.
The policeman catches her stare and looks at the girl as well. The girl looks back, confused, perhaps scared.
“What?” She asks nervously.
“I think I know what Felix figured out.” The woman says.
“Feel free to explain it to the rest of us.” The policeman says in a humourless tone..
“You are like him.”
“What? I’m super lucky?”
“No, you’re atuned to some diferent plane, like he is.” The woman frowns and concentrates on her explanation. “The thing you can see, the thing that has been wrecking a large area of the hospital, is probably a visitor from that plane. You can see it because you are attuned to it. It listened when you told it to stop. And we could walk out completely unharmed.”
“But why did it attack in the first place?” The policeman asks.
“I think I know…” The girl speaks barely loud enough to be heard, she stares at the ground as she talks.
Both the others look at her expectantly.
“It’s my fault.” She says, guild bleeding into her voice. “I was terrified when I saw it in my room. When I was at the hospital I didn’t feel safe at all, I thought I was being stalked or something. Someone gave me a shock, it screamed something like… get away form me… or something...”
“And everything started going crazy.” The policeman finishes her sentence. “The creature was trying to protect you.”
“That… makes sense.” The woman agreed. “Whenever someone got close you would tell them to leave, like you did to us.”
“I was afraid it would hurt you.” There are tears in the girls eyes.
“But the creature thought you were afraid we would hurt you.” The policeman nods, understanding.
“I’m so sorry.”
“You couldn’t know.” The woman lays a hand on the girl’s shoulder as she speaks. “You didn’t want to hurt anyone, I know that. I will make sure that is clear if anyone tries to blame this on you.”
She turns and gives the policeman a firm stare.
“Don’t worry about me, I know a victim of circumstance when I see one.” He doesn’t look angry or even sad. He looks resigned, accepting what he cannot control. “What will you do now?”
“I don’t know?” The girl seems lost and confused. “What can I do? What is I say something wrong and it… and it…”
“Perhaps I can help you.” The woman offers.
“How?” The girl nearly sobs.
“Enigma is gathering a class of young people with… atunements like yours. The purpose is to teach them to use their abilites without harming themselves or others. And to attempt to find anchors for them to work with.”
“Is this just a recruiting scheme?” The policman asks.
“You can see it as a way of recruiting, but we are strictly forbidden from forcing anyone to stay after the first year. If you want to walk out at that point it is up to you. Enigma has a pretty hard set of ethical rules, which we stick to.”
“Will I get to see you again?”
“If you come to Enigma, it is almost inevitable.”
“And Felix?”
“Him too.”
“Once he gets out of the hospital.” The policeman looks down at his hand. “Which reminds me, I need to get a splint on this.”
He has been holding his broken wrist all this time, ignoring the pain as he talked to the women. Now he walks to the paramedics, leaving them behind to ponder what has happened.
One is still looking at the sky, one is staring at the ground. Both trying to guess the future.

[jseah]

881 words for Hero's War

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"Lyeald? Where are you?"
The boy bounded over the low fence with a single leap. "I'm back sis!" he yelled as he barged through the small side door into the kitchen.
Yvon greeted him with a brilliant smile as always. Her straw yellow hair and cute button nose only emphasized her childishness that her plain dirty dress couldn't suppress.
He reached up to her brow and plucked away a stranded illon leaf. "You're done with dinner? I can see that you've been cooking. "
"You have dirt on your face too, brother," she giggled, brushing at the scuff marks on his cheek. Her efforts were inadequate though, he had acquired more than one piece of dirt in his day's toil.
Lyeald patted her, smiling at her cheerfulness. It was a good day today.
"How about your work? Did you get any money?"
And just like that, his mood evapourated. Lyeald just smiled and ruffled her hair though, "don't worry about that. We'll be fine. "
Yvon let the matter drop, turning back to her cleaning. The basin full of dirty plates and bowls that their hosts had left of their meal. She batted away his tired hands when he tried to help, "you've done enough brother. Leave the dishes to me. Eat and get your rest for tomorrow. "
He did have a early start tomorrow with farmer Iro. "All right then. Then, Yvon, how are you feeling today?" he asked.
"I am feeling great today! Lyeald, how are you feeling today?" she returned his question.
The boy nodded. "I am feeling the usual ache in my shoulders and back," he answered honestly.
Their little ritual done, Lyeald settled down to eat, staring out the door at Selna's red moonlight. Perhaps he could find someone else who needed an extra hand tomorrow afternoon.

Yvon looked at the tiny bag that was all the coins they had managed to save after nearly a year. Since the day their parents had died to the vomiting sickness, Lyeald had been trying to save every bit of coin he could. Farmer Iro had been kind enough to give them food and a place to sleep in exchange for his help in the fields and barn, and hers in the kitchen.
Then the new farming tools had come out of the west and Lyeald was finding it harder to get a turn in the fields where some money could be earned. Everyone wanted a turn at the village plow and seed drill, and farmer Iro couldn't have a fifteen years old boy drive the pakas pulling the plow. Still, that meant that the only work left for Lyeald was weeding, shelling the windeyes in the barns and digging the new canal.
And there was talk of a windeye thresher on the way. Soon there might not be any need for windeye shelling. Despite the increased produce being sold to the baron, her brother was getting less certain that he could find sufficient work to make their keep worth it to Iro. He never said so but the way he dodged her questions told her everything.
Not for the first time, Yvon wished she could grow up a little faster. Ten years was hardly big enough to do real work, little things like cooking and feeding the pakas didn't count. If only she could grow up and learn magic and be one of those knights, then her brother wouldn't ever need to work again. Or he could learn magic as well and go with her to have adventurers where they would protect everyone!
She sighed and shook away her fantasies. What could a ten year old child do? She couldnt' even feed herself.
A commotion outside drew her attention. Yvon pattered over to the door, poking her head out curiously.
Just around the corner of the house, there was a struggle on the road leading into the village. The three men making up the small party guarding them from wild animals and bandits was arguing with a bigger group of eight. They were too far away from her to make out what they were saying but the wild gestures and frowns were not peaceful.
Best not to poke into the affairs of the knights. They were quick to draw weapons and constantly proclaimed at the top of their dirty breaths about how they were protecting this village. Which they did do so, to be fair. The last Reki attack had been driven off by the spellstorm calling down fire and lightning, at least to hear the tales told by the adults.
Yvon put her daydreams away again as they snuck up on her and returned to her crushing of the esquire seeds. The oil got everywhere and made the mortar slick in her hands, it was bitter and a pain to extract. But it did make the best fried yama slices, a luxury that she and her brother would be lucky to even have a few pieces of.
The commotion got louder again and Yvon frowned at the door. Honestly, they should be ashamed of themselves, she scolded them in her mind even though she would never work up the courage to do it to the knights' faces.

689 words for that Ar Tonelico fanfic

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Yoake pulled her over to another table where two girls were sitting. Reyvateils, Aya noted.
"Hey, we have a new reyvateil joining us! This is Aya, my roommate!" Yoake spouted cheerfully.
"Yoake! I was wondering where you were at lunch," one of them jumped up. A girl just as short as her friend. With matching light brown hair and the same clear black eyes. Aya could almost think they were sisters.
The Yoake clone looked up at Aya and whistled, "she's tall! Are you experienced? A Tenba person?"
"Nah she's new! Can you believe it, she's fifteen and a new reyvateil!"
Aya blinked at the rapidfire question and answer as Yoake and her friend
Yoake was cut off when other girl at the table grabbed her and the excited clone by the head. "Hey, both of you hyperballs should give us some space to introduce ourselves. And Koneko, you should give your name before asking questions. "
The girl was almost as old as Aya and just a little taller. The two shorter girls quieted down immediately.
"I'm Nomi," the girl bowed in a semi-formal greeting. Instantly, the rowdy atmosphere around the table was replaced by a calm serenity. Aya was glad that at least someone seemed to be level headed. Nomi gestured at Yoake's friend, "this is Koneko, my roommate. You are Yoake's new roommate, are you?"
"I'm Aya," she tried to mimic the bow but it didn't work out as elegantly.

The first unusual lesson was in a great open field just beyond the Elemia gate. With the Tower at their back, the large group of reyvateils were sitting in the grass and sun. A marked change from the solitary singing practice they were given. Quite a welcome one, in Aya's opinion.
"Alright, we are all here to learn Song Magic," the instructor knight said, a church reyvateil standing behind him. "I'm Ryou, and I am your instructor for this class. "
"I'm Naka, class B, and I am his partner," the reyvateil bowed shallowly.
"You might be wondering why all of you class D reyvateils are gathered together instead of the usual individual practice," the instructor continued, "but Lyner, the Hero of Elemia, had an idea that reyvateils might learn better if you were taught with the same format used in human schools. So you will attend this class once a week, maybe this will help you graduate faster. "
"Are they testing this on us?" Aya whispered to Yoake sitting beside her.
"Well, as class D, this is only to be expected," Yoake sighed.
"I'm not dissatisfied," Aya said to her friend, "maybe trying to sing together really will help. And if it doesn't, we get enjoy the sun. "
"Now then, how many of you can sing Song Magic?" Ryou asked.
A trio of hands went up among the older triplets but other than them, no one else. Aya raised hers as well hesitantly. Despite what Yoake told her, Aya couldn't quite believe that so many of the class couldn't even create an energy ball.
"And yet, all of you are either new to the Song or lack sufficient control, which is why you are here," the instructor said, "it is the opinion of the Hero that if you experience using the Song, you may be able to remember the way you did so. To that end, he has also loaned the church a very rare and powerful item for training. Each of you will be use it in turn and try to sing. That will be all for today's lesson. "
Eh. Wasn't this just a another method of individual practice? Aya shook her head, perhaps it had been too much to expect revelations from the church.
Ryou pulled out a dull black bracelet from his coat. Set into the side was a large purple gem. That sent a titter through the class.
A grathnode install item. And that wasn't just a standard reyvaring the church handed to reyvateils on missions, the bracelet was unique too. Something Lyner made.

[Lycunadari]

Status for May 29 - June 4

Glass Mouse passes with 6107 of sci fi story.

Lycunadari passes with 7 nature pictures and a drawing.

jseah passes with 881 words for Hero's War and 689 words for Shattered Alliance.

Xiander passes with 3167 words for Enigma Inc.

Lovely Vulcan didn’t upload anything again– are you still in?


Thus LovelyVulcan FAILS this round!

Glass Mouse, Lycunadari, jseah and Xiander PASS this round!


Current standing:

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Glass Mouse
Current run: 1
Longest run: 290 weeks
Themes: -

Lycunadari
Current run: 230 weeks
Longest run: -
Themes: -

jseah
Current Run: 69 weeks
Longest Run: 33 weeks
Themes: -

Xiander
Current run: 48 weeks
Longest run: -
Themes: -

Lovely Vulcan
Current run: -
Longest run: 3
Themes: -


LeSwordfish
Longest run: 44 weeks

Icewalker
Longest run: 31 weeks

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Feels weird being on this side of the submissions! But here is my week's writing: 6107 words of sci-fi story.

Yup, feels weird.

Question for you peeps - do you want me to also upload my stuff somewhere and to post it here as proof?

[Glass Mouse]

Yup, feels weird.

Question for you peeps - do you want me to also upload my stuff somewhere and to post it here as proof?

After 227-ish weeks, I trust you to keep your word, but I'll also miss seeing your photos and sketches, so if you wanna post or keep on sending them to someone, I woudn't mind at all!