This is the exciting story of my life. My name is Stryk, its pronounced the same as 'strike' and yes i know its spelled funny, but get over it that's my name.
I was adopted by an adoring family when I was eight. I had no real name that I knew of at the time so the orphanage had named me Matthew. But now I was more than just a Matthew, I was Matthew Harrison, the only Matthew Harrison of my kind.
I loved the Harrison's as much as they loved me, for the first time that i knew of i had a real family and knew what happiness was. They always told me that when they first saw me they knew i was the one they wanted, there was something about me that was special, different from everyone else.
My life, like many, was pretty lame. I had no real friends, no real family and all of my school teachers hated me. But like all loving parents my adopted family always complimented me on everything about me, such as how cute I was or how sweet I was. However small these compliments were, with how low my self esteem was, they really made me feel a lot better.
The Harrison's never stopped saying how cute my brown hair was or how cute my little face was, although it made me feel babyish it also made me feel really good about myself. The Harrison's always talked about my silver eyes. They were the strangest things anyone had ever seen, the silver was outlined with a bright blue rim and spotted with thousands of different colors. depending on the color clothes i was wearing that color would be the most visible in my eyes and many people claimed that my eyes had a glow to them that was captivating.
I tried playing many different sports and loved them all but no one on the teams liked me so i stopped playing. The only thing in life that seemed to cheer me up was the Harrison's. My life from the beginning just went downhill, but i think i finally hit the bottom of that hill at three AM on new years day, the morning of my sixteenth birthday.
Next
Saturday, October 31, 2009
Friday, October 30, 2009
A Long Way Away
Alex’s eyes jerked open. He was lying in a bed.
Whew. Only a dream,” he whispered to himself, turning onto his side to look out his window.
What Alex saw shocked him…
There was no window. Alex sat upright quickly and surveyed the room. There were no windows at all. Every wall was completely bare. He looked to his feet and noticed the bed was at least three feet longer than any normal bed, it was completely flat but the most comfortable thing Alex had ever laid on. On the wall facing his feet was a knobless door, which appeared to have no way to be opened. He began to panic.
Then he noticed something else. There was another bed in the room. On the bed lay his little sister. She looked almost peaceful lying there sleeping. Alex was so confused. He slowly lay back down and stared at the bare, grey ceiling, his mind racing to find an explanation.
- - - - - - - -
After what seemed like years later, Alex heard his sister stirring. He watched as Claire’s eyes shot open, her soft skin seeming to have color rush back that Alex had not noticed was missing. She peered around the room and then looked at him, the same blank expression Alex had.
“Where are we?”
“Not a clue,” Alex answered grimly.
Claire's foot had been wrapped in a metallic boot, indicating that someone had cared to her broken ankle. Just as Alex was about to ask her if she was alright, there was a loud hiss.
The door slid open, disappearing into the heavy, bland wall. Alex and Claire’s mouth both dropped in horror.
In front of them stood another seven foot tall, lizard-like creature. The alien's scaly, smooth skin shivered, as if it was not happy to be there. The alien's eyes shimmered, the galaxy of stars appearing to float around the large, beautiful spheres. Alex could not help but notice the feminine features of the alien which made this one less threatening than the others. The alien wasn't wearing any armor either, and instead it was wearing clothing much like that of a queens mistress.
“Hello. My name is Bactara. Follow me,” the monotone voice was surprisingly soothing.
It scared Alex that, 'Bactara', knew how to speak English. He guessed that Bactara was a female though because her voice was much softer than that of the ones who had attacked them earlier. But even so he was scared out of his mind by this creature and didn't budge.
Bactara also just stood there. It was eerie, with the creature standing there not speaking, her captivating eyes boring into his mind. Alex almost felt that Bactara could feel his memories like she had lived them herself.
He finally got out of the bed, walking over to Claire’s bed to help her up. Claire protested, not wanting to follow Bactara because they had no idea what the alien would do to them. Alex managed to convince her that it was okay, even though he knew it was not.
“This way,” Bactara said, motioning for the kids to follow her.
They stepped out of the room into a hallway. Claire clung on Alex’s arm, as they saw that the hallway was filled with more of the lizard-like aliens. There were both feminine and masculine aliens, all dressed in clothing that appeared to be from medieval times, walking down the hallways in groups like you'd see in a high school. Alex studied the aliens, they all appeared to be doing the same with the two children.
A squad of armour clad aliens marched down the hall in perfect formation, their white armour reflecting the luminous light.
They continued on, turning left down another hall perpendicular to the one they had just been in. The right wall consisted of large windows that stretched the length of the hall. At the end of the hall there was another intersection where the windows ended.
“Alex, look.”
Alex was about to ask 'what' but his thoughts trailed off. Outside of the window was the earth, floating in orbit on its tilted axis. The earth was even more beautiful than when your on the wonderful surface. They stopped and stared. As they studied the marvel they could see that the earth spun a lot faster than it felt like it did back home in Charlotte, NC. They could see Europe, as it spun quickly, and now they could see the eastern tip of Asia.
Bactara kept walking, but as if she sensed something, she turned and repeated her words, “Follow me.”
Her smooth scaled hands gestured down the hall. Anger began to well up inside of Alex, so much so that he started shaking.
“Is that all you know how to say! Where’s our mom? Where are we going? Why aren't we back there?” Alex yelled pointing out the window at the earth, he could feel is blood begin to heat up pulsing quickly through his veins.
His actions were impulsive and he had a subconscious feeling that the alien would want to kill him. But he didn't care; they were probably going to be killed eventually anyways.
Bactara looked at him with her starry eyes. Alex noticed that the other aliens had stopped and were staring at him. He could hear some of them speaking to each other in a strange language consisting of clicks and grunts. Claire's grip tightened on Alex's arm until he though she might rip it off but he ignored the pain.
After what seemed like hours of staring into the beautiful Galaxies in the aliens eyes Bactara finally said, with what sounded almost like sympathy, “I’m sorry but, your questions will have to wait.”
“No! You took us away from our home, and you expect us to have no questions,” Alex was close to tears.
Bactara turned around without a word and continued walking down the hall. Alex quickly trailed behind her, tugging his sister along. His heart felt like it was beating in every extremity, causing his fingers to twitch with every heart beat.
He was a long way away from home...
Whew. Only a dream,” he whispered to himself, turning onto his side to look out his window.
What Alex saw shocked him…
There was no window. Alex sat upright quickly and surveyed the room. There were no windows at all. Every wall was completely bare. He looked to his feet and noticed the bed was at least three feet longer than any normal bed, it was completely flat but the most comfortable thing Alex had ever laid on. On the wall facing his feet was a knobless door, which appeared to have no way to be opened. He began to panic.
Then he noticed something else. There was another bed in the room. On the bed lay his little sister. She looked almost peaceful lying there sleeping. Alex was so confused. He slowly lay back down and stared at the bare, grey ceiling, his mind racing to find an explanation.
- - - - - - - -
After what seemed like years later, Alex heard his sister stirring. He watched as Claire’s eyes shot open, her soft skin seeming to have color rush back that Alex had not noticed was missing. She peered around the room and then looked at him, the same blank expression Alex had.
“Where are we?”
“Not a clue,” Alex answered grimly.
Claire's foot had been wrapped in a metallic boot, indicating that someone had cared to her broken ankle. Just as Alex was about to ask her if she was alright, there was a loud hiss.
The door slid open, disappearing into the heavy, bland wall. Alex and Claire’s mouth both dropped in horror.
In front of them stood another seven foot tall, lizard-like creature. The alien's scaly, smooth skin shivered, as if it was not happy to be there. The alien's eyes shimmered, the galaxy of stars appearing to float around the large, beautiful spheres. Alex could not help but notice the feminine features of the alien which made this one less threatening than the others. The alien wasn't wearing any armor either, and instead it was wearing clothing much like that of a queens mistress.
“Hello. My name is Bactara. Follow me,” the monotone voice was surprisingly soothing.
It scared Alex that, 'Bactara', knew how to speak English. He guessed that Bactara was a female though because her voice was much softer than that of the ones who had attacked them earlier. But even so he was scared out of his mind by this creature and didn't budge.
Bactara also just stood there. It was eerie, with the creature standing there not speaking, her captivating eyes boring into his mind. Alex almost felt that Bactara could feel his memories like she had lived them herself.
He finally got out of the bed, walking over to Claire’s bed to help her up. Claire protested, not wanting to follow Bactara because they had no idea what the alien would do to them. Alex managed to convince her that it was okay, even though he knew it was not.
“This way,” Bactara said, motioning for the kids to follow her.
They stepped out of the room into a hallway. Claire clung on Alex’s arm, as they saw that the hallway was filled with more of the lizard-like aliens. There were both feminine and masculine aliens, all dressed in clothing that appeared to be from medieval times, walking down the hallways in groups like you'd see in a high school. Alex studied the aliens, they all appeared to be doing the same with the two children.
A squad of armour clad aliens marched down the hall in perfect formation, their white armour reflecting the luminous light.
They continued on, turning left down another hall perpendicular to the one they had just been in. The right wall consisted of large windows that stretched the length of the hall. At the end of the hall there was another intersection where the windows ended.
“Alex, look.”
Alex was about to ask 'what' but his thoughts trailed off. Outside of the window was the earth, floating in orbit on its tilted axis. The earth was even more beautiful than when your on the wonderful surface. They stopped and stared. As they studied the marvel they could see that the earth spun a lot faster than it felt like it did back home in Charlotte, NC. They could see Europe, as it spun quickly, and now they could see the eastern tip of Asia.
Bactara kept walking, but as if she sensed something, she turned and repeated her words, “Follow me.”
Her smooth scaled hands gestured down the hall. Anger began to well up inside of Alex, so much so that he started shaking.
“Is that all you know how to say! Where’s our mom? Where are we going? Why aren't we back there?” Alex yelled pointing out the window at the earth, he could feel is blood begin to heat up pulsing quickly through his veins.
His actions were impulsive and he had a subconscious feeling that the alien would want to kill him. But he didn't care; they were probably going to be killed eventually anyways.
Bactara looked at him with her starry eyes. Alex noticed that the other aliens had stopped and were staring at him. He could hear some of them speaking to each other in a strange language consisting of clicks and grunts. Claire's grip tightened on Alex's arm until he though she might rip it off but he ignored the pain.
After what seemed like hours of staring into the beautiful Galaxies in the aliens eyes Bactara finally said, with what sounded almost like sympathy, “I’m sorry but, your questions will have to wait.”
“No! You took us away from our home, and you expect us to have no questions,” Alex was close to tears.
Bactara turned around without a word and continued walking down the hall. Alex quickly trailed behind her, tugging his sister along. His heart felt like it was beating in every extremity, causing his fingers to twitch with every heart beat.
He was a long way away from home...
Sykport
Previously
I found myself at ground level after moving from my vine to a tree, and then climbing the tree like a ladder down to the ground. The ground beneath my feet was soft and felt like dirt, rather than the steel I had been expecting; however foolishly I had believed that trees might grow on metal.
Around me were more trees and a thin haze that extended itself across the trees and plants. I could see the side of the structure barely; other vines grew along it and nearly obscured it. It appeared to me as a wall of vegetation, with the only indication that there was a man made structure behind it being the steel glimpsed between the branches and ropes.
I decided to walk out in the opposite direction from the tower into what I hoped would be another series of vines crawling down until I might reach the ground make make a more daring escape into the city. I decided that this forest I found myself in must be built like a greenhouse with some kind of invisible and ethereal barrier which made it warm. It would only extend out so far, as I witnessed the towers in the distance from above, and clearly saw that the forest terminated at some point.
Perhaps below would be people I may blend in well, I guessed.
I wandered in the direction that took me away from the wall of vines, through the forest. It was as I had glimpsed in textbooks of an alien world; the trees above blocked out the sky entirely with their leaves, so that I could not even see daylight. It was dark and there were faint lights strung haphazardly about the branches which granted dim lighting. I grabbed at one of the lights and it fell apart in my hands. It seemed to me some kind of fluorescent plant that glowed. Maybe, like the vine that grew as large as a tree, this plant was mixed with a light bulb, or firefly.
There was sometimes a clear path I could follow, but it twisted and shifted, and if I followed it for long, I found that I was walking in the opposite direction. I found a path that I believe circled endlessly; so that to take it and follow it would be to walk forever. I began to notice a faint buzzing noise, which I had never heard before. Little black things came at my face and I swiped at them, but more came. They were irritating, but did not seem to do anything. They'd land on me and crawl (I determined, after I killed one, that they were some miniature animal, with wings and legs) and fly away if I swatted at them. They had a habit of trying to get into my mouth, nose, ears, and eyes, and I decided that they must be a form of parasite larger than the microscopic organisms I had read of in school. I shuddered to think of them crawling around inside me, so I kept swatting and batting at them with my hands until I felt tired.
I began to run in frustration and that seemed to throw them off. I could hear them and see them, but it seemed that running would prevent them from landing. However, I was soon out of breath, and was again covered.
I came to a river, suddenly, and stopped. The flying dots continued around me but I crouched down at the water and scooped it in my hands. I tasted it with my tongue. It was fresh and clear; clean, I hoped. I drank perhaps greedily.
I felt the tip of a blade against my back. "Stand," a woman said.
I complied, and turned around, expecting to see the woman who I'd met in the bedroom, but it was instead someone new. Her eyes were not amber, but a calm blue. And her hair was almost white, although her face held no wrinkles.
"You're not a slave, are you?" She said. "I apologize." The woman sheathed her sword, and I noticed she was wearing dark green clothes; I could not tell what material, other than that it looked suited for hunting. "A guest of Rasputina's, an interloper?"
"I am an explorer," I said, which was partially true. I was a slave, but since I had left the engine, I supposed that I really sought to explore. I didn't think of what I wanted to find until later, but when she had asked me who I was, I knew that it would not be false to claim a position of an exploratory nature.
"Then we are one in the same. Where do you come from, explorer? What is your name?" Her hand was still resting next to her sword, half-curled around the belt. I think she was prepared to draw it if I seemed to present any danger, but I must have looked misplaced; my white outfit did not conduce well to hunting, and it was dirtied enough that I would fail to appear immaculate, an angel among the leaves and brush.
"I am Jack Carentan, from the Engine."
This was the wrong answer, for she pulled out her sword and I found it at my throat. I backed away slightly. "So you are a slave then, the new one. Rasputina mentioned that your innards are machines like the men from the Machina. I wish to see." She cut open my shirt and raised the blade to cut into my stomach, but I held up my right hand as her blade came down.
It severed my smallest finger immediately and then my ring finger at the second knuckle, and I screamed in pain. I doubled back and fell into the water, which she had not been expecting.
"Where are you going?" She called. "The river won't take you anywhere safe!"
I floated away on my back, trying to relax. My right hand hurt, but when I pulled it up to look at it, I could see that my ring finger was being repaired, and my smallest finger was reforming. I went in this manner for a good amount of time until the river emptied into a lake of some kind. I drifted near a log which I grabbed and held onto, as I floated aimlessly.
I heard the buzzing noise come back and the dots tried settling on my fingers, so I sumberged them into the cool water. Fish came to nibble at it once and I shook my hand and scared them away. I felt calm, and at peace.
"Get out of the water!" A man yelled. "Don't you know what we keep in there? It'll kill you if you're not fast!"
I saw him standing at the edge of the water, waving a gun to catch my attention.
"How do I know I can trust you?" I called back.
"It doesn't matter! You won't die under my watch! Whomever you really are!"
I began to paddle towards him, it was not far away I suppose, less than a quarter of a mile across the water. But I soon began to hear something groaning beneath the waves. I looked behind me as I paddled and saw a great disturbance on the water. I began to paddle more vigorously, my arms feeling weak now, and my legs sometimes feeling numb. I looked ahead and saw the man on the shore raise his gun (he held it at two points, which was unusual) and point it over the water. I looked at him and kept moving.
"Don't stop! For God's love and mercy, don't stop once," He fired his gun, which sounded like a bone breaking, and I saw white light flash through the air over my head into the water behind me. The gun appeared to shake when he fired, and I discovered that he held the weapon with two hands to keep it steady while it fired. The disturbance behind me intensified, and began to draw closer to me. He fired again.
I was now close enough that he reached a hand toward the log and grabbed it. I took a look behind me and saw a creature of nightmares rising from the water. Its teeth dripped syrupy black liquids, and its mouth was open both above and below the water. I suppose I was only seeing the head, that there may have been a body under the water I was unaware of and that it could have been a giant lizard for all I know, but it seemed to me a whale come to swallow me whole. I heard the gun fire and watched its munitions smash against one of the creature's teeth, breaking it. The creature's eyes widenend and then narrowed, as though in concentrated rage. I began to realize that there was a deep intelligence in the creature's eyes; something evil and malevolent like the nightmare it resembled, but something human, almost. It snapped its mouth and the water sprayed against me in a wave, and I was washed upon the shore.
It uttered a stream of groans that I had heard earlier, and here was where I recieved my best view of the thing. Its face was wide like a bull's, and the teeth I saw stuck outside of its mouth when it closed its jaws, so that it seemed like the teeth were too large for the mouth, hanging downwards over the lower jaw. It opened its maw when it saw me looking and I glimpsed its dark throat, pulsing and sucking in water and unidenfifiable debris.
Then its mouth closed and it submerged, a final groan on the air that sounded like disappointment.
"You are not supposed to be here, are you?" The man asked.
Next
I found myself at ground level after moving from my vine to a tree, and then climbing the tree like a ladder down to the ground. The ground beneath my feet was soft and felt like dirt, rather than the steel I had been expecting; however foolishly I had believed that trees might grow on metal.
Around me were more trees and a thin haze that extended itself across the trees and plants. I could see the side of the structure barely; other vines grew along it and nearly obscured it. It appeared to me as a wall of vegetation, with the only indication that there was a man made structure behind it being the steel glimpsed between the branches and ropes.
I decided to walk out in the opposite direction from the tower into what I hoped would be another series of vines crawling down until I might reach the ground make make a more daring escape into the city. I decided that this forest I found myself in must be built like a greenhouse with some kind of invisible and ethereal barrier which made it warm. It would only extend out so far, as I witnessed the towers in the distance from above, and clearly saw that the forest terminated at some point.
Perhaps below would be people I may blend in well, I guessed.
I wandered in the direction that took me away from the wall of vines, through the forest. It was as I had glimpsed in textbooks of an alien world; the trees above blocked out the sky entirely with their leaves, so that I could not even see daylight. It was dark and there were faint lights strung haphazardly about the branches which granted dim lighting. I grabbed at one of the lights and it fell apart in my hands. It seemed to me some kind of fluorescent plant that glowed. Maybe, like the vine that grew as large as a tree, this plant was mixed with a light bulb, or firefly.
There was sometimes a clear path I could follow, but it twisted and shifted, and if I followed it for long, I found that I was walking in the opposite direction. I found a path that I believe circled endlessly; so that to take it and follow it would be to walk forever. I began to notice a faint buzzing noise, which I had never heard before. Little black things came at my face and I swiped at them, but more came. They were irritating, but did not seem to do anything. They'd land on me and crawl (I determined, after I killed one, that they were some miniature animal, with wings and legs) and fly away if I swatted at them. They had a habit of trying to get into my mouth, nose, ears, and eyes, and I decided that they must be a form of parasite larger than the microscopic organisms I had read of in school. I shuddered to think of them crawling around inside me, so I kept swatting and batting at them with my hands until I felt tired.
I began to run in frustration and that seemed to throw them off. I could hear them and see them, but it seemed that running would prevent them from landing. However, I was soon out of breath, and was again covered.
I came to a river, suddenly, and stopped. The flying dots continued around me but I crouched down at the water and scooped it in my hands. I tasted it with my tongue. It was fresh and clear; clean, I hoped. I drank perhaps greedily.
I felt the tip of a blade against my back. "Stand," a woman said.
I complied, and turned around, expecting to see the woman who I'd met in the bedroom, but it was instead someone new. Her eyes were not amber, but a calm blue. And her hair was almost white, although her face held no wrinkles.
"You're not a slave, are you?" She said. "I apologize." The woman sheathed her sword, and I noticed she was wearing dark green clothes; I could not tell what material, other than that it looked suited for hunting. "A guest of Rasputina's, an interloper?"
"I am an explorer," I said, which was partially true. I was a slave, but since I had left the engine, I supposed that I really sought to explore. I didn't think of what I wanted to find until later, but when she had asked me who I was, I knew that it would not be false to claim a position of an exploratory nature.
"Then we are one in the same. Where do you come from, explorer? What is your name?" Her hand was still resting next to her sword, half-curled around the belt. I think she was prepared to draw it if I seemed to present any danger, but I must have looked misplaced; my white outfit did not conduce well to hunting, and it was dirtied enough that I would fail to appear immaculate, an angel among the leaves and brush.
"I am Jack Carentan, from the Engine."
This was the wrong answer, for she pulled out her sword and I found it at my throat. I backed away slightly. "So you are a slave then, the new one. Rasputina mentioned that your innards are machines like the men from the Machina. I wish to see." She cut open my shirt and raised the blade to cut into my stomach, but I held up my right hand as her blade came down.
It severed my smallest finger immediately and then my ring finger at the second knuckle, and I screamed in pain. I doubled back and fell into the water, which she had not been expecting.
"Where are you going?" She called. "The river won't take you anywhere safe!"
I floated away on my back, trying to relax. My right hand hurt, but when I pulled it up to look at it, I could see that my ring finger was being repaired, and my smallest finger was reforming. I went in this manner for a good amount of time until the river emptied into a lake of some kind. I drifted near a log which I grabbed and held onto, as I floated aimlessly.
I heard the buzzing noise come back and the dots tried settling on my fingers, so I sumberged them into the cool water. Fish came to nibble at it once and I shook my hand and scared them away. I felt calm, and at peace.
"Get out of the water!" A man yelled. "Don't you know what we keep in there? It'll kill you if you're not fast!"
I saw him standing at the edge of the water, waving a gun to catch my attention.
"How do I know I can trust you?" I called back.
"It doesn't matter! You won't die under my watch! Whomever you really are!"
I began to paddle towards him, it was not far away I suppose, less than a quarter of a mile across the water. But I soon began to hear something groaning beneath the waves. I looked behind me as I paddled and saw a great disturbance on the water. I began to paddle more vigorously, my arms feeling weak now, and my legs sometimes feeling numb. I looked ahead and saw the man on the shore raise his gun (he held it at two points, which was unusual) and point it over the water. I looked at him and kept moving.
"Don't stop! For God's love and mercy, don't stop once," He fired his gun, which sounded like a bone breaking, and I saw white light flash through the air over my head into the water behind me. The gun appeared to shake when he fired, and I discovered that he held the weapon with two hands to keep it steady while it fired. The disturbance behind me intensified, and began to draw closer to me. He fired again.
I was now close enough that he reached a hand toward the log and grabbed it. I took a look behind me and saw a creature of nightmares rising from the water. Its teeth dripped syrupy black liquids, and its mouth was open both above and below the water. I suppose I was only seeing the head, that there may have been a body under the water I was unaware of and that it could have been a giant lizard for all I know, but it seemed to me a whale come to swallow me whole. I heard the gun fire and watched its munitions smash against one of the creature's teeth, breaking it. The creature's eyes widenend and then narrowed, as though in concentrated rage. I began to realize that there was a deep intelligence in the creature's eyes; something evil and malevolent like the nightmare it resembled, but something human, almost. It snapped its mouth and the water sprayed against me in a wave, and I was washed upon the shore.
It uttered a stream of groans that I had heard earlier, and here was where I recieved my best view of the thing. Its face was wide like a bull's, and the teeth I saw stuck outside of its mouth when it closed its jaws, so that it seemed like the teeth were too large for the mouth, hanging downwards over the lower jaw. It opened its maw when it saw me looking and I glimpsed its dark throat, pulsing and sucking in water and unidenfifiable debris.
Then its mouth closed and it submerged, a final groan on the air that sounded like disappointment.
"You are not supposed to be here, are you?" The man asked.
Next
Monday, October 19, 2009
Sykport
Previously
There was a knock on the door to my room, which startled more I think than if they had just entered. It indicated some kind of courtesy, and given the broken tooth I had recently endured, this seemed alien. A trick, perhaps? "Hello?" I ventured.
The door opened (neither quickly nor slowly, instead at a perfectly reasonable pace) and a woman entered, wearing a black shirt and skirt, with a white scarf. Her eyes were amber and her face looked kind. She said something that I failed to hear.
"What?" I asked, maybe impatiently. I was probably shaking, for I was afraid. There was something deeply unsettling in what I had thought she had said, that after I ran her words through my mind over and over I could produce no satisfying answer. A null void.
"I'd asked if you were comfortable. I just asked, 'comfortable?' I mean." Her voice was no longer terrifying, and I could not explain it. Now her voice was cheery and I wondered who she was and what she was doing. I did not lack the ability to notice that she was beautiful.
"Yes," I said. "Why do you care?" I asked. Foolish, I thought, I should have asked for her name.
"You're quite precious chattel to me. The fire men passed you on to me, as a gift. They said you sought freedom; you muttered it while asleep. It seems your question never passed their minds. I gave them their freedom so that I may have yours."
A different kind of fear crept in, but it was not the same as before, and much more manageable. Her beauty was much diminished by the revelatory nature of her speech. I recognized her comeliness, but now recognized that her amber eyes held cruelty; and a desire for control.
"I offer freedom to all of my servants, if they are audacious enough to take it. I will offer that same freedom to you," and my eyes must have lighted up with hope, for she said, "I am glad to see your enthusiasm. I thought the fire men would never take it, but they surprised me."
"What do I need to do? To be free?"
She looked at me for a moment, and walked out. She closed the door behind her, and I gasped slightly. I thought she had ignored me (or intended to cruelly keep me waiting), but I heard a far off noise that I must have missed before; that called her off.
A low rumbling accompanied by screams.
I decided that this was a chance at freedom I did not want to avoid. She said she admired her servants who took it when it presented itself, and I guessed that in failure she would be impressed. I tried to turn the doorknob but found it was locked; either it locked behind her or she was swift in turning the mechanism. I struggled with it for a moment and stopped.
The rumbling now completely drowned out the screams and somewhere within the mass of noise I perceived a gunshot. And then another.
I turned to the window and opened it. I grabbed and tugged at the vine, and found it firm and closely taut to the side of the building. I say building now, as the snow had died down, and I realized I must be in one of many skyscrapers; I could see several others around me, and beyond them, more, with steel-grey buildings populating the distance, some shorter, some higher, all closely packed together, with narrow openings between them, through which harsh gusts of snow blew. I guessed that the tower I was within was placed unusually far away from the ones outside my window, and wondered if there was a jutting out structure that the vine grew from. There did not appear to be much vegetation at all in the other structures I saw.
So I climbed down the vine and descended. It grew thicker as I descended, and I was soon engulfed in the snowy white haze that had obscured my vision earlier. I climbed down in such obscurity for some time; I can not accurately say how long I was aware of only three directions (the fog obscured the fourth completely) but it was long enough that I realized my clothes were insufficient for the cold; and my hands and feet grew cold. I had on only the clothes of a fair-day citizen of the engine; long sleeved white cloth shirt, white jeans and thin grey slippers.
I suppose I relied on my gift (which was becoming more obvious to me by the minute). First was the healing ability I had; and now I think I discovered I could generate warmth and keep frostbite at bay better than the average human (I use the term human only for ease of terming; I have met many peoples during my life, and the only humans I met were in tunnels and bunkers, pale and maddened by their isolation from the world). It was this climb that instilled in me a feeling of superiority, to the people in this new land who (given my observation of the woman and the two men who had taken me on the airship) were physically inferior.
Below I began to smell plants and life, and I looked down to see trees suddenly appearing out of the snowy haze; trees that looked oddly tropical given the snowy conditions. I climbed further down and felt the snow hasten into freezing rain, and when I was far enough down the vine (the vine was now wide as a tree, and I wonder now if it was a species of tree that was converted to grow like a vine) that my feet were less than an arm's width away from the treetops, the rain was a fine mist. And I realized that the temperatures were now much warmer than below. I continued to climb down and felt as though I were climbing into the thick swamps that carpeted the land below the engine; only in atmosphere, because these trees were healthy and vibrant compared to the dark brown twisting apparitions of the swamps.
I had descended from a room much like a house, to high-altitude frigidity, to a rain forest.
Next
There was a knock on the door to my room, which startled more I think than if they had just entered. It indicated some kind of courtesy, and given the broken tooth I had recently endured, this seemed alien. A trick, perhaps? "Hello?" I ventured.
The door opened (neither quickly nor slowly, instead at a perfectly reasonable pace) and a woman entered, wearing a black shirt and skirt, with a white scarf. Her eyes were amber and her face looked kind. She said something that I failed to hear.
"What?" I asked, maybe impatiently. I was probably shaking, for I was afraid. There was something deeply unsettling in what I had thought she had said, that after I ran her words through my mind over and over I could produce no satisfying answer. A null void.
"I'd asked if you were comfortable. I just asked, 'comfortable?' I mean." Her voice was no longer terrifying, and I could not explain it. Now her voice was cheery and I wondered who she was and what she was doing. I did not lack the ability to notice that she was beautiful.
"Yes," I said. "Why do you care?" I asked. Foolish, I thought, I should have asked for her name.
"You're quite precious chattel to me. The fire men passed you on to me, as a gift. They said you sought freedom; you muttered it while asleep. It seems your question never passed their minds. I gave them their freedom so that I may have yours."
A different kind of fear crept in, but it was not the same as before, and much more manageable. Her beauty was much diminished by the revelatory nature of her speech. I recognized her comeliness, but now recognized that her amber eyes held cruelty; and a desire for control.
"I offer freedom to all of my servants, if they are audacious enough to take it. I will offer that same freedom to you," and my eyes must have lighted up with hope, for she said, "I am glad to see your enthusiasm. I thought the fire men would never take it, but they surprised me."
"What do I need to do? To be free?"
She looked at me for a moment, and walked out. She closed the door behind her, and I gasped slightly. I thought she had ignored me (or intended to cruelly keep me waiting), but I heard a far off noise that I must have missed before; that called her off.
A low rumbling accompanied by screams.
I decided that this was a chance at freedom I did not want to avoid. She said she admired her servants who took it when it presented itself, and I guessed that in failure she would be impressed. I tried to turn the doorknob but found it was locked; either it locked behind her or she was swift in turning the mechanism. I struggled with it for a moment and stopped.
The rumbling now completely drowned out the screams and somewhere within the mass of noise I perceived a gunshot. And then another.
I turned to the window and opened it. I grabbed and tugged at the vine, and found it firm and closely taut to the side of the building. I say building now, as the snow had died down, and I realized I must be in one of many skyscrapers; I could see several others around me, and beyond them, more, with steel-grey buildings populating the distance, some shorter, some higher, all closely packed together, with narrow openings between them, through which harsh gusts of snow blew. I guessed that the tower I was within was placed unusually far away from the ones outside my window, and wondered if there was a jutting out structure that the vine grew from. There did not appear to be much vegetation at all in the other structures I saw.
So I climbed down the vine and descended. It grew thicker as I descended, and I was soon engulfed in the snowy white haze that had obscured my vision earlier. I climbed down in such obscurity for some time; I can not accurately say how long I was aware of only three directions (the fog obscured the fourth completely) but it was long enough that I realized my clothes were insufficient for the cold; and my hands and feet grew cold. I had on only the clothes of a fair-day citizen of the engine; long sleeved white cloth shirt, white jeans and thin grey slippers.
I suppose I relied on my gift (which was becoming more obvious to me by the minute). First was the healing ability I had; and now I think I discovered I could generate warmth and keep frostbite at bay better than the average human (I use the term human only for ease of terming; I have met many peoples during my life, and the only humans I met were in tunnels and bunkers, pale and maddened by their isolation from the world). It was this climb that instilled in me a feeling of superiority, to the people in this new land who (given my observation of the woman and the two men who had taken me on the airship) were physically inferior.
Below I began to smell plants and life, and I looked down to see trees suddenly appearing out of the snowy haze; trees that looked oddly tropical given the snowy conditions. I climbed further down and felt the snow hasten into freezing rain, and when I was far enough down the vine (the vine was now wide as a tree, and I wonder now if it was a species of tree that was converted to grow like a vine) that my feet were less than an arm's width away from the treetops, the rain was a fine mist. And I realized that the temperatures were now much warmer than below. I continued to climb down and felt as though I were climbing into the thick swamps that carpeted the land below the engine; only in atmosphere, because these trees were healthy and vibrant compared to the dark brown twisting apparitions of the swamps.
I had descended from a room much like a house, to high-altitude frigidity, to a rain forest.
Next
Saturday, October 10, 2009
Sykport
Previously
I awoke with a tome on my chest, a book entitled "Sykport".
I sat upright and the book slid slightly, as though it were going to fall off. I caught it with my arm and held it to my abdomen, looking around the room. I was in a house, whose design was not entirely separate from the white-painted steel of the houses in the engine. Except that when I looked out the window I saw something entirely unfamiliar; vines creeping up by the window. I could see one of them creeping into the room through the aperture.
I felt my face and knew that the wound had healed since I had been injected. This was ordinary to me, I had never suffered long, I have since observed that I was singular in my recuperative abilities. While on the engine, I had never been seriously injured, and then been examined by a doctor. I had always kept quiet about it and the pain had gone away. But I'd never compared it to the people around me, how a broken bone took weeks for them to heal, while mine might go away overnight. My cracked tooth was good again, as well.
I looked out my window to try to see anything, but I discovered that it was snowing, and it disallowed me from seeing anywhere. I could look up and see the sky, and off in the distance what appeared to be gray shapes soaring into the clouds, but it seemed as though there were no ground. Again; a familiar sensation that the engine had always provided; the feeling that there was never anything under you, that the platforms you traversed were the planet, rather than the ground that supported your home's pillars.
It was bright enough to allow me to read, so I did. I read the opening chapter, which detailed Sykport's origins. I assumed that Sykport was a misspelling of "Skyport", but as I read it over and over again as Sykport, it dawned upon me that it was the proper spelling. I learned that it was a city that had been around for longer than anyone could remember. That for a time it was inhabited by savages that crawled from underground, who would assualt anyone in the city.
A man came along named Stafdt who lead a band of soldiers from the nearby country of Zion. He sealed the holes that let the savages out, and therein stopped the marauders from attacking. That event was apparently happened a mere seventy years ago, by the book's reckoning. Stafdt's son was still alive (also named Stafdt) and continued a vigilant watch for savages. They still turned up from previously unknown holes, but they always found the openings and closed them with debris.
Sykport was apparently built by whomever built the engine, but did not impart it a soul; it was a city without a soul, and to me this was frightening. Having lived under a massive soul for all my life, it was the same as the shock of discovering that your god had died millenia ago; I identify most with the grief stricken mortheists, as I had so much faith placed in the engine, that reading the book on Sykport crushed my religion, just as the shattered statue of god must have so destroyed theirs.
Next
I awoke with a tome on my chest, a book entitled "Sykport".
I sat upright and the book slid slightly, as though it were going to fall off. I caught it with my arm and held it to my abdomen, looking around the room. I was in a house, whose design was not entirely separate from the white-painted steel of the houses in the engine. Except that when I looked out the window I saw something entirely unfamiliar; vines creeping up by the window. I could see one of them creeping into the room through the aperture.
I felt my face and knew that the wound had healed since I had been injected. This was ordinary to me, I had never suffered long, I have since observed that I was singular in my recuperative abilities. While on the engine, I had never been seriously injured, and then been examined by a doctor. I had always kept quiet about it and the pain had gone away. But I'd never compared it to the people around me, how a broken bone took weeks for them to heal, while mine might go away overnight. My cracked tooth was good again, as well.
I looked out my window to try to see anything, but I discovered that it was snowing, and it disallowed me from seeing anywhere. I could look up and see the sky, and off in the distance what appeared to be gray shapes soaring into the clouds, but it seemed as though there were no ground. Again; a familiar sensation that the engine had always provided; the feeling that there was never anything under you, that the platforms you traversed were the planet, rather than the ground that supported your home's pillars.
It was bright enough to allow me to read, so I did. I read the opening chapter, which detailed Sykport's origins. I assumed that Sykport was a misspelling of "Skyport", but as I read it over and over again as Sykport, it dawned upon me that it was the proper spelling. I learned that it was a city that had been around for longer than anyone could remember. That for a time it was inhabited by savages that crawled from underground, who would assualt anyone in the city.
A man came along named Stafdt who lead a band of soldiers from the nearby country of Zion. He sealed the holes that let the savages out, and therein stopped the marauders from attacking. That event was apparently happened a mere seventy years ago, by the book's reckoning. Stafdt's son was still alive (also named Stafdt) and continued a vigilant watch for savages. They still turned up from previously unknown holes, but they always found the openings and closed them with debris.
Sykport was apparently built by whomever built the engine, but did not impart it a soul; it was a city without a soul, and to me this was frightening. Having lived under a massive soul for all my life, it was the same as the shock of discovering that your god had died millenia ago; I identify most with the grief stricken mortheists, as I had so much faith placed in the engine, that reading the book on Sykport crushed my religion, just as the shattered statue of god must have so destroyed theirs.
Next
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