MQuantum
Oct 14, 2003, 10:56 AM
Bored outta my mind today.
So I replayed From the Depths on normal, and got a little inspiration.
BTW, this isn't exactly a free story... I need feedback, on several things, so if you read; I would really like at least a comment and hopefully an evaluation.
I would like to know how well the fight scenes go, and also how I described the force techs, because that's what I mainly focused on. Which made some other features lack a little...
Well, here it is...
________________________
Firova entered the Hunter's Guild through the great sliding door, certain today would be another easy trip, protecting some worrisome scientist, or going on a pointless errand.
This was fine with her, because it was an easy, constant income, with a little challenge thrown in.
But when she had surveyed the disheartened faces that were anything but common, she just knew today, would not go the same.
Irene, the secretary to the principal, and who was rumored to be something even more, was standing by the lady at the Guild counter with the plastic grin.
"Firova!" Irene called, waving wildly at the sight of her tell-tale dark red hair. "Over here!"
Ignoring the glances of the melancholy hunters, she marched stiff backed to the counter. "Yes, Miss Irene?"
"We need you to take a quest, on behalf of the council. Every hunter rank 95 and above has gone down, except for you. No one lower can go."
Firova whistled loudly, surprised at the skill going to Ragol. It must be real serious, then. "What do I need to do?"
"There was a massive earthquake, in the underground ruins... A research team was down there, and several lower hunters. You need to find the research team, and also escort any unauthorized hunters out of there. There is something happening, and it's going to affect us all, I think."
Firova shrugged off the premonition of doom, and signed the necessary documents the Guild lady offered. Just liability waivers and such. She already had a will.
She heard Irene shout "Good luck!" Then the army proof metal doors clicked shut.
Five minutes later, and she was in the fabled ruins of Ragol.
____________________
She entered the first room, her sinisterly chiseled Gae Bolg ready. She met the first wave of the twisted nightmares like she had all the other times.
There were the abominations, the claws, floating like detached hand, clod and clammy and ready to latch on to you like leeches.
And the demenians, of every kind, with their blunt slash and hack style, and their mindless urge to rend any living flesh.
And the meldings of human and infection, the rotting monstrosities, Delsabers. With a huge claw, and a saber for hands, they would challenge any hunter to a duel, and usually not a fair one. It was Delsabers Firova liked the least.
But she dealt death to everything in her path, with her Gae Bolg, silent and chilling as a winter night.
They gain strength as their allies fall, She thought. This will be a true test of skill...
After countless fights, she was caked in the purple ooze that was signature to the Ruins monsters, but she found the first clue to other human life. It was on a long suspended bridge, crossing a fathomless gap, and she discovered a Humar and his Racast lying motionless on the ground.
Even as she stepped closer, tentacles rose from the ground, clasping the bodies, and a white seething mist cover everything.
And they were gone!
Slightly daunted, Firova skirted the place they had been absorbed, and continued to the next room.
_______________________
Here she found the pair that had disappeared earlier. They were attached to the floor by the pulsing extensions of flesh, and the same tentacles had embedded themselves into their flesh.
"100 years, I have slept...? moaned the Racast.
"TO BE FREE... TO EVLOVE!" The Humar and the Racast both went tense, and seemed to swell. The white mist poured in through the walls, and they began to rip apart. A demenian blade protruded from the android, and a claw was ripping its way free from the mouth of the hunter.
Within seconds, the human was a bloody mess on the floor, unrecognizable, and the android was mere scrap. But Firova had to worry about the mutated evolutions of the denizens of the ruins.
She swung the blade on her staff in a wide arc, slashing at the wary claws. They slumped to the ground, in pieces and half frozen.
The four demenians moved to flank her, but she Vaulted over one pair, and the blades from the other two caught an unfortunate comrade. But the other demenian on her left side turned, matching her path through the air.
It raised its arm, and caught Firova on the shoulder as she jabbed the end of the Gae Bolg at its throat. It collapsed to the ground wheezing, and she dispatched the other two demons. Looking at the dying demenian at her feet, she lifted her partisan and ended its suffering.
She muttered a quick prayer for the deceased, but there was nothing else she could do.
_______________________
After struggling through the mindless ranks of foes, she reached the huge room, large enough to shelter several standard spacecrafts.
It was empty, not at all like every other time she had come. There was no noise at all, except for a soft whimpering.
Firova looked to her left, and saw a huddled Fomarl, with her back against the wall, sobbing into her knees. She did not stir when Firova stopped next to her and sat down.
"What happened? Where is the research team?" Firova gently touched the Fomarl on the shoulder.
A tear streaked face looked up into her own, confused. "Research team? I... don't remember... I came here with the others, looking for the lost people..."
She paused. "There was a voice... And people started to act different."
100... YEARS... MUST... COME... EVOLVE...
"But I don't hear the voice anymore... I DON'T HEAR THE VOICE!" She screamed, looking around wide eyed, as if something was hunting her.
Oblivious to the words threatening to overwhelm the other woman, Firova tried to calm the frantic force. "It's okay; nothing's going to hurt you. Will you come back with me? To Pioneer 2?"
"...Home? Yes, I want to go home..." They both rose, and Firova began to lead the Fomarl back the way she had came.
COME... JOIN ME... EVOVLE... BECOME...
Firova kept on a few paces before she realized that she was no longer being followed. She turned, but the Fomarl stood stiffened in place.
"...He's... taking me..." She began to convulse, and Firova backed away.
The force dropped to the ground, as if she were a marionette whose strings were cut, but she drew herself to her feet slowly. Her head hung down limp, and then as she reached her full height, it snapped up. Her eyes were slitted black lines, filled with an unknown malice.
"YOU WILL BE MINE, MORTAL." The voice that came from the force was no longer the soft sad sound Firova had heard earlier. Now it was contorted almost beyond recognition. Her opponent raised her hand.
There was a flash, and Firova threw herself to one side to avoid the scorching fire ball. Excess energy crackled from the force, small sparks skipping everywhere.
The force uttered a low laugh, and pointed to the ceiling. A miniature thunderstorm swirled and formed, filling the vast open space above. She brought her hand down, pointing right at where Firova stood. Thousands of bolts of lightning streaked down from the sky, blasting the ground a step behind Firova as she ran for cover.
She dodged behind an outcropping of the wall, and tightened her grip on the Gae Bolg. She didn't want to fight, but it was life or death, now.
The possessed force dashed around the corner, flinging a Foie, but it connected with nothing. She looked up in time to see Firova launch herself from above. She sent a frozen wave lancing up to meet her attacker, but Firova's Gae Bolg easily absorbed the energy as she came hurtling down.
The force side-stepped the crushing blow, sending a fire ball streaking at Firova as she rolled to one side. She came to her feet grimacing at the burn across her back.
The corrupted Fomarl planted her feet wide and braced herself. Waves of dark energy rolled from her, and her face contorted into a horrific grin. "IF YOU WILL NOT SUBMIT, YOU SHALL SERVE MY MASTER IN DEATH, FOR ALL THE DEAD ARE HIS SLAVES!"
Firova felt herself being pushed back by the invisible tide. She flipped her weapon over and dug it into the ground, stopping her movement. The energy increased, and Firova held on to the shaft for her life, as scattered rocks and debris skittered across the floor.
The force spread her arms wide to the heavens, and the storm clouds were pushed away by a blinding light. It seethed and pulsed as if alive, and swelled to fill the room. Pillars of light began to form, and Firova sensed her only chances at survival begin to slip away.
"MASTER, LEND ME YOUR POWER!" The Fomarl stood still as a huge light shot down from the ceiling and bathed her in its light for a fraction of a second.
YOU HAVE SERVED ME, WELL. The sound echoed through the cavern as Firova listened to the dying shriek of the force. The uncontrolled light surged down, lightning fast, and Firova looked up as death fell from above. Then everything went black...
_______________________________
Firova awoke in the room she had passed through before she had met the Fomarl. The first thing that she saw when she woke up was a young Humar in an orange suit practicing with a double bladed saber. She sat up, and called to him.
He hurried over to her. Kneeling down, he looked at her closely to see if she was all right. "You're lucky. I found you a room over, and you looked like you had been mauled. Good thing I came along." He seemed genuinely proud of himself for helping a lady.
"Who are you? You can't be above rank 95. You're not supposed to be down here." She stared at him intently, and he swallowed.
"I'm Ash. It's been days since they sent down the high rankers. It was just today they decided to send us down to see if we could find any trace. I've seen no one, except you." He finished somewhat saddened.
She collapsed onto her back, and stared at the ceiling. No one...
"You won't find anyone, then. Do you have a communication link with the others that came here with you?" Ash produced a small communicator, and she nodded. "As the highest rank here, I'm calling the mission off." Ash began to protest, but she silenced him with a look. "It's no good, any more."
______________________
As the less experienced hunters filed into the brightly glowing telepipe, Firova looked back at the room she had been rescued from. gaping holes rent the floor everywhere, and there was rubble filling every corner. She shook her head, glad to be alive, but sad at the loss of her comrades.
She was the last one through the pipe, and once again the ruins were nearly silent.
The only sound was a deep sinister laughter, which welled through the halls like an unseen ghost.
YOU HAVE ESCAPED THIS TIME, BUT ALL SERVE ME IN THE END...
So I replayed From the Depths on normal, and got a little inspiration.
BTW, this isn't exactly a free story... I need feedback, on several things, so if you read; I would really like at least a comment and hopefully an evaluation.
I would like to know how well the fight scenes go, and also how I described the force techs, because that's what I mainly focused on. Which made some other features lack a little...
Well, here it is...
________________________
Firova entered the Hunter's Guild through the great sliding door, certain today would be another easy trip, protecting some worrisome scientist, or going on a pointless errand.
This was fine with her, because it was an easy, constant income, with a little challenge thrown in.
But when she had surveyed the disheartened faces that were anything but common, she just knew today, would not go the same.
Irene, the secretary to the principal, and who was rumored to be something even more, was standing by the lady at the Guild counter with the plastic grin.
"Firova!" Irene called, waving wildly at the sight of her tell-tale dark red hair. "Over here!"
Ignoring the glances of the melancholy hunters, she marched stiff backed to the counter. "Yes, Miss Irene?"
"We need you to take a quest, on behalf of the council. Every hunter rank 95 and above has gone down, except for you. No one lower can go."
Firova whistled loudly, surprised at the skill going to Ragol. It must be real serious, then. "What do I need to do?"
"There was a massive earthquake, in the underground ruins... A research team was down there, and several lower hunters. You need to find the research team, and also escort any unauthorized hunters out of there. There is something happening, and it's going to affect us all, I think."
Firova shrugged off the premonition of doom, and signed the necessary documents the Guild lady offered. Just liability waivers and such. She already had a will.
She heard Irene shout "Good luck!" Then the army proof metal doors clicked shut.
Five minutes later, and she was in the fabled ruins of Ragol.
____________________
She entered the first room, her sinisterly chiseled Gae Bolg ready. She met the first wave of the twisted nightmares like she had all the other times.
There were the abominations, the claws, floating like detached hand, clod and clammy and ready to latch on to you like leeches.
And the demenians, of every kind, with their blunt slash and hack style, and their mindless urge to rend any living flesh.
And the meldings of human and infection, the rotting monstrosities, Delsabers. With a huge claw, and a saber for hands, they would challenge any hunter to a duel, and usually not a fair one. It was Delsabers Firova liked the least.
But she dealt death to everything in her path, with her Gae Bolg, silent and chilling as a winter night.
They gain strength as their allies fall, She thought. This will be a true test of skill...
After countless fights, she was caked in the purple ooze that was signature to the Ruins monsters, but she found the first clue to other human life. It was on a long suspended bridge, crossing a fathomless gap, and she discovered a Humar and his Racast lying motionless on the ground.
Even as she stepped closer, tentacles rose from the ground, clasping the bodies, and a white seething mist cover everything.
And they were gone!
Slightly daunted, Firova skirted the place they had been absorbed, and continued to the next room.
_______________________
Here she found the pair that had disappeared earlier. They were attached to the floor by the pulsing extensions of flesh, and the same tentacles had embedded themselves into their flesh.
"100 years, I have slept...? moaned the Racast.
"TO BE FREE... TO EVLOVE!" The Humar and the Racast both went tense, and seemed to swell. The white mist poured in through the walls, and they began to rip apart. A demenian blade protruded from the android, and a claw was ripping its way free from the mouth of the hunter.
Within seconds, the human was a bloody mess on the floor, unrecognizable, and the android was mere scrap. But Firova had to worry about the mutated evolutions of the denizens of the ruins.
She swung the blade on her staff in a wide arc, slashing at the wary claws. They slumped to the ground, in pieces and half frozen.
The four demenians moved to flank her, but she Vaulted over one pair, and the blades from the other two caught an unfortunate comrade. But the other demenian on her left side turned, matching her path through the air.
It raised its arm, and caught Firova on the shoulder as she jabbed the end of the Gae Bolg at its throat. It collapsed to the ground wheezing, and she dispatched the other two demons. Looking at the dying demenian at her feet, she lifted her partisan and ended its suffering.
She muttered a quick prayer for the deceased, but there was nothing else she could do.
_______________________
After struggling through the mindless ranks of foes, she reached the huge room, large enough to shelter several standard spacecrafts.
It was empty, not at all like every other time she had come. There was no noise at all, except for a soft whimpering.
Firova looked to her left, and saw a huddled Fomarl, with her back against the wall, sobbing into her knees. She did not stir when Firova stopped next to her and sat down.
"What happened? Where is the research team?" Firova gently touched the Fomarl on the shoulder.
A tear streaked face looked up into her own, confused. "Research team? I... don't remember... I came here with the others, looking for the lost people..."
She paused. "There was a voice... And people started to act different."
100... YEARS... MUST... COME... EVOLVE...
"But I don't hear the voice anymore... I DON'T HEAR THE VOICE!" She screamed, looking around wide eyed, as if something was hunting her.
Oblivious to the words threatening to overwhelm the other woman, Firova tried to calm the frantic force. "It's okay; nothing's going to hurt you. Will you come back with me? To Pioneer 2?"
"...Home? Yes, I want to go home..." They both rose, and Firova began to lead the Fomarl back the way she had came.
COME... JOIN ME... EVOVLE... BECOME...
Firova kept on a few paces before she realized that she was no longer being followed. She turned, but the Fomarl stood stiffened in place.
"...He's... taking me..." She began to convulse, and Firova backed away.
The force dropped to the ground, as if she were a marionette whose strings were cut, but she drew herself to her feet slowly. Her head hung down limp, and then as she reached her full height, it snapped up. Her eyes were slitted black lines, filled with an unknown malice.
"YOU WILL BE MINE, MORTAL." The voice that came from the force was no longer the soft sad sound Firova had heard earlier. Now it was contorted almost beyond recognition. Her opponent raised her hand.
There was a flash, and Firova threw herself to one side to avoid the scorching fire ball. Excess energy crackled from the force, small sparks skipping everywhere.
The force uttered a low laugh, and pointed to the ceiling. A miniature thunderstorm swirled and formed, filling the vast open space above. She brought her hand down, pointing right at where Firova stood. Thousands of bolts of lightning streaked down from the sky, blasting the ground a step behind Firova as she ran for cover.
She dodged behind an outcropping of the wall, and tightened her grip on the Gae Bolg. She didn't want to fight, but it was life or death, now.
The possessed force dashed around the corner, flinging a Foie, but it connected with nothing. She looked up in time to see Firova launch herself from above. She sent a frozen wave lancing up to meet her attacker, but Firova's Gae Bolg easily absorbed the energy as she came hurtling down.
The force side-stepped the crushing blow, sending a fire ball streaking at Firova as she rolled to one side. She came to her feet grimacing at the burn across her back.
The corrupted Fomarl planted her feet wide and braced herself. Waves of dark energy rolled from her, and her face contorted into a horrific grin. "IF YOU WILL NOT SUBMIT, YOU SHALL SERVE MY MASTER IN DEATH, FOR ALL THE DEAD ARE HIS SLAVES!"
Firova felt herself being pushed back by the invisible tide. She flipped her weapon over and dug it into the ground, stopping her movement. The energy increased, and Firova held on to the shaft for her life, as scattered rocks and debris skittered across the floor.
The force spread her arms wide to the heavens, and the storm clouds were pushed away by a blinding light. It seethed and pulsed as if alive, and swelled to fill the room. Pillars of light began to form, and Firova sensed her only chances at survival begin to slip away.
"MASTER, LEND ME YOUR POWER!" The Fomarl stood still as a huge light shot down from the ceiling and bathed her in its light for a fraction of a second.
YOU HAVE SERVED ME, WELL. The sound echoed through the cavern as Firova listened to the dying shriek of the force. The uncontrolled light surged down, lightning fast, and Firova looked up as death fell from above. Then everything went black...
_______________________________
Firova awoke in the room she had passed through before she had met the Fomarl. The first thing that she saw when she woke up was a young Humar in an orange suit practicing with a double bladed saber. She sat up, and called to him.
He hurried over to her. Kneeling down, he looked at her closely to see if she was all right. "You're lucky. I found you a room over, and you looked like you had been mauled. Good thing I came along." He seemed genuinely proud of himself for helping a lady.
"Who are you? You can't be above rank 95. You're not supposed to be down here." She stared at him intently, and he swallowed.
"I'm Ash. It's been days since they sent down the high rankers. It was just today they decided to send us down to see if we could find any trace. I've seen no one, except you." He finished somewhat saddened.
She collapsed onto her back, and stared at the ceiling. No one...
"You won't find anyone, then. Do you have a communication link with the others that came here with you?" Ash produced a small communicator, and she nodded. "As the highest rank here, I'm calling the mission off." Ash began to protest, but she silenced him with a look. "It's no good, any more."
______________________
As the less experienced hunters filed into the brightly glowing telepipe, Firova looked back at the room she had been rescued from. gaping holes rent the floor everywhere, and there was rubble filling every corner. She shook her head, glad to be alive, but sad at the loss of her comrades.
She was the last one through the pipe, and once again the ruins were nearly silent.
The only sound was a deep sinister laughter, which welled through the halls like an unseen ghost.
YOU HAVE ESCAPED THIS TIME, BUT ALL SERVE ME IN THE END...