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Thread: Erosion of Sanity

  1. #1

    Erosion of Sanity

    Czeffyr Desert, Mort. June 18th, 29487.

    IRRK Freelance: The Search for the Security Minister
    June 12th, 29487 - Lucetta Phoenix

    The Newland Minister of Security is still missing. Where is he, and what
    happened to him?


    It was a cool evening in Newland three years ago. The swift breeze flowing
    over the sandy cliff cascaded pleasantly down through the small city.
    Despite slowly bubbling tensions overflowing from Borealis, it was largely
    uneventful.

    Agrestus Wright, Newland's Minister of Security, stood at the balcony of
    his apartment at No.11. He packed a small backpack with essentials and left
    the city toward the desert.

    He hasn't been seen since for three years.

    This is a stor-
    The wrist-mounted datapad on his arm finally flickered and stuttered as the power cells gave in to the ravaging sands. An emergency signal broadcast, as was automatic with these devices when their power failed. It rarely ever happened, but if it did, it usually meant the owner was far from safety.

    Agrestus didn't care, though. He'd either be dead or long gone by the time anyone could trace the origin. At least, that's what the plan was.

    The ragged man rose up from the scatter of rocks he'd spent the night beside. There was worse nights, nights with mantises and vultures, despite there being little evidence of the savagery he had endured. Nanobots continually worked overdrive to keep him alive, yet they were beginning to fail. Several NCU's on his belt had ceased to function over the past three years, along with most of the specialised equipment he enjoyed as part of his duties.

    He ventured into the sands to find himself, to seek answers and a purpose again, free from the real vultures that were the people of Rubi-Ka. Yet, it seemed that the sands took his very soul. Eroded his mind, and his sanity.

    A jabbing pain grabbed his stomach. He had to eat. Not unlike the ravaging wastes of the long winter on Earth, he would surely starve if he did not continue to fight. But why? Why not let the sands swallow him whole, as they have yearned for all these years?

    That was what this planet wanted. It had tried ever since he entered those cursed coordinates to Rubi-Ka. He had resisted, but the sands would erode. They always erode. Eroded his future. Eroded his friends and family. Eroded what he stood for, and what he loved. Now, the sands would erode him, until finally he would be nought but a weathered skeleton among the hundreds that litter the surface of the planet.

    Try as he might, he couldn't give in to it's call. There was something else speaking to his being. It clutched at his heart, leaving an abyss yearning to be fulfilled. He didn't know what it was, but he had to disobey the sands until he knew. The sands grew angry, he thought. Torturing his vision in body and mind as they whipped up to fill the landscape with desert void.

    With the torn blood-stained cloak covering his face from the elements, he staggered through the sea of whispers as he searched for food. The sand ushered to him as he fought through, summoning voices to his mind that broke through to visions each night.

    In the last of his dreams, he was on an island. A lush, green island with a pleasant breeze. No walls or windows, just an island with three lone doors around him, embellished with objects surrounding them. Each door appeared to represent a faction, or so he thought. He certainly wasn't going to enter the one with the Omni-Tek banners on either side.

    "If you had to pick one, which would you choose?"

    He turned around to see a ghostly Xeavier Humbold, smiling inquisitively in his immaculate brown suit. This man had asked him the question - a dead man - yet it seemed so... normal.

    Agrestus rose to his feet to reply, noting that he had no damage or injuries. The ragged sandy man seemed whole again, his once proud armoured uniform of red and black feeling new again.

    "Each door... represents something. An afterlife, or a path to take. That first one," he pondered, his mind clear as ever. "seems to be a door from the city of Home, with the archetype sands and skeletons of once great beasts behind it."

    "And the others?" Xeavier asked, the soothing voice easing Agrestus' warped mind.

    "The second one bears formations and etchings of the Shadowlands. And the third... the third appears like an abandoned Omni-Tek facility. The cracked door and the abandoned consoles and terminals behind it."

    He looked to Xeavier for approval, but the man simply smiled, awaiting his choice.

    "Is there a door with a swimming pool behind it?"

    Agrestus was surprised at himself that he still had humour, his mind so seemingly fresh. Xeavier laughed for a moment, but stopped to look at another figure manifesting nearby.

    "You!" The voice called. Agrestus turned to see a figure he once knew. A Borealis Freedom Fighter, yet despite the clarity he could not recognise the woman.

    "Can we count on you when the time comes?"

    He opened his mouth to reply, but a swarm of soldiers pounced on her. Gunfire echoed through his mind as he looked to his hands. His pistols were already drawn. He just needed to step forth and pull the triggers.
    Last edited by Agrestus; Jul 16th, 2013 at 19:02:13.
    = Captain "Arthazar" Harcrow (Captain of The Phoenix Fortune)
    = Reporter "Lucetta" Phoenix (IRRK Freelance Reporter)
    = Sir "Sterlings" Furlocke (The Old English Trading Co.)
    = Dr. Malcom "Cormack" Ardman (University of Borealis)
    = "Paulon" McPhasefront, "Georj" Hairyson, "Johnar" Lemon & "Morninn" Starr (The Leetles)
    = "Gridfeed" (Camera Drone)
    = Director "Dartello" Marello (Black-Net)
    = DCI "Validius" Hunt (Department of Investigations)
    = DS John "Streller" (Department of Investigations)

    = Major "Jimako" Jones (OTAF)
    = Mack "Teffler" Falloway (Clan hunter/trader)

  2. #2
    The dreams never made much sense to him. Not after he awoke.

    Agrestus continued to trudge through the whipped up sand, looking for anything he could make use of to ease his suffering. His vision was increasingly limited as the incessant sandstorm devoured detail.

    Thud.

    He would have yelled as he caught his leg on something in front of him, but his throat was so dry it simply croaked. For a moment, he contemplated letting the sand smother him where he lay, but the void in his soul forced him onward. With a short struggle, he crawled toward whatever it was that tripped him.

    The ragged man reached his hands out, feeling for the object in front of him. If it was anything other than a rock, he'd probably be a dead man. He really couldn't remember the last time he insured.

    Bristly... dry... no movement...

    He felt down towards the base. At this point, he knew exactly what it was.

    Bodum-Larga... The sands have mercy...

    With a renewed sense of energy, he clawed away at the sand with his torn and bruised gloved hands. The roots of the Bodum-Larga plant were succulent and juicy, but dug deep underground. To expire his energy this way was a must, else the sands would take him anyway.

    Thud.

    Did someone else fall?

    He froze. Something was nearby, but the sandstorm made it impossible to see.
    = Captain "Arthazar" Harcrow (Captain of The Phoenix Fortune)
    = Reporter "Lucetta" Phoenix (IRRK Freelance Reporter)
    = Sir "Sterlings" Furlocke (The Old English Trading Co.)
    = Dr. Malcom "Cormack" Ardman (University of Borealis)
    = "Paulon" McPhasefront, "Georj" Hairyson, "Johnar" Lemon & "Morninn" Starr (The Leetles)
    = "Gridfeed" (Camera Drone)
    = Director "Dartello" Marello (Black-Net)
    = DCI "Validius" Hunt (Department of Investigations)
    = DS John "Streller" (Department of Investigations)

    = Major "Jimako" Jones (OTAF)
    = Mack "Teffler" Falloway (Clan hunter/trader)

  3. #3
    Thud.

    A small gap in the sandstorm cleared. Agrestus squinted as he made out the silhouette of the beast before him. It was bulky and long, the very colour of the sands themselves with a huge gaping jaw.

    Sandworm!

    He had to leave, but if he left, he'd eventually die. If he stayed, he certainly would die. Unsure which was the lesser evil, the ragged man slowly crawled backwards through the sand away from the beast... and his chance of survival.

    Thud. The beast was inching closer.

    He couldn't move any faster, else the vibrations would surely alert the sandworm of his presence. All he could do was shuffle through the sand like a nano-snared snake.

    Thud.

    Did he alert it? He couldn't see a thing.

    Thud.

    It grew louder.

    Thud.

    It was coming for him.

    The ragged man braced himself for contact. He drew his weathered pistols, holding them up against the nothingness of the sandstorm. The noise appeared to echo all around him.

    Thud.

    Is it fading?

    For what seemed like hours, Agrestus managed to slowly crawl down the small dune behind him. Over time, the thudding faded as the sandworm departed into the sands beyond. A skeleton of a bronto lay before him, a friendly reminder of the fate he soon would experience. Crawling up inside the ribcage, he slumped to the ground, resigning in his boned coffin.
    = Captain "Arthazar" Harcrow (Captain of The Phoenix Fortune)
    = Reporter "Lucetta" Phoenix (IRRK Freelance Reporter)
    = Sir "Sterlings" Furlocke (The Old English Trading Co.)
    = Dr. Malcom "Cormack" Ardman (University of Borealis)
    = "Paulon" McPhasefront, "Georj" Hairyson, "Johnar" Lemon & "Morninn" Starr (The Leetles)
    = "Gridfeed" (Camera Drone)
    = Director "Dartello" Marello (Black-Net)
    = DCI "Validius" Hunt (Department of Investigations)
    = DS John "Streller" (Department of Investigations)

    = Major "Jimako" Jones (OTAF)
    = Mack "Teffler" Falloway (Clan hunter/trader)

  4. #4

    Czeffyr Desert, Mort. June 19th, 29487.

    A figure clad in black stood before him. He didn't much believe tales of reapers, but in his state of madness it felt all too real. Was this is final calling?

    The figure knelt down, offering a pouch of water to the ragged man. His lips were cracked and barren, the feeling of fresh water seemingly too much. Agrestus coughed and spluttered, unsure whether to trust the figure or fight it.

    "Who... are... you...?"

    Agrestus croaked his question to the air, unable to focus detail on the dark figure.

    "A friend," The female voice replied, a coarse bitterness etched on her words. "Naikant."

    Whoever she was, the voice was familiar. Agrestus struggled to prop himself up to take a better look at the figure, whom most likely picked up the signal from his datapad dying. He spoke again, voice like gravel, and attempted to gain a sense of who she was, why she was here, and why he even mattered at all.

    As his vision cleared, so did his mind. She was a Borealis Freedom Fighter, perhaps with knowledge of his past more than he could remember. If anyone could make sense of the void right now, it was them. First, though, they had to leave this wretched desert, and quickly.

    Others had most likely picked up on the signal, and were closing fast.
    Last edited by Agrestus; Jul 16th, 2013 at 19:03:36.
    = Captain "Arthazar" Harcrow (Captain of The Phoenix Fortune)
    = Reporter "Lucetta" Phoenix (IRRK Freelance Reporter)
    = Sir "Sterlings" Furlocke (The Old English Trading Co.)
    = Dr. Malcom "Cormack" Ardman (University of Borealis)
    = "Paulon" McPhasefront, "Georj" Hairyson, "Johnar" Lemon & "Morninn" Starr (The Leetles)
    = "Gridfeed" (Camera Drone)
    = Director "Dartello" Marello (Black-Net)
    = DCI "Validius" Hunt (Department of Investigations)
    = DS John "Streller" (Department of Investigations)

    = Major "Jimako" Jones (OTAF)
    = Mack "Teffler" Falloway (Clan hunter/trader)

  5. #5
    "Stay where you are!"

    Naikant turned sharply towards the voice, snarling silently upon identification like a wild animal.

    Omni-Pol. Bastards.

    "Don't move any closer. I've killed you once today, how would you like a second time?"

    Naikant warned the officers as they stopped, their glowing nanotech and communications gadgetry glowing harsh hues of blue and orange in the whipped up sand. Within moments, the first soldiers of OTAF assembled around the officers, ready to terminate the two suspects at a moment's notice.

    Agrestus called out at the increasing figures, waving his arms around to dispel the illusions like flies in the air. A doctor among the group raised an eyebrow at the ragged man as tensions rose, attempting to step forward to aid him. Naikant rose her bulky cylindrical weapon against the medical official, denying her and the others access.

    "One more step, and I shoot."

    Naikant rose her hand to her ear, sending a signal through the gridspace. Within moments, a bright light flowed around Agrestus.

    Am I finally dead? No... too easy.

    Agrestus peered wearily around the dark room that materialised around him. The glow of nanobots bounced off the walls as the microscopic workers strained hard to stitch him back into existence. The Freedom Fighter appeared a few minutes later with a satisfyingly smug look on her face. She spoke of where he was - Borealis - and that his pursuers met a convenient fate in the mouth of a sandworm nearby. Agrestus spoke briefly of his gratitude and his dreams, to which Naikant mentioned the aid of "Burping Lurkers".

    Burping Lurkers?

    He must still be dreaming. Her words appeared distant and meaningless.

    "He may have information on Xeavier Humbold."

    Humbold? The dead man in his dreams? He replied to her, but his mind fell weak to process the information. He needed time to recover.

    "There's a machine over there. It's hollow. It should have food and water for you. Don't get caught."

    Naikant turned to leave.

    The silence. The silence...

    No sand. No tortured whispers in the air. It felt cool, conditioned, controlled. His suffering was still present, the void still aching, but now he could think.

    Now he could plan.
    = Captain "Arthazar" Harcrow (Captain of The Phoenix Fortune)
    = Reporter "Lucetta" Phoenix (IRRK Freelance Reporter)
    = Sir "Sterlings" Furlocke (The Old English Trading Co.)
    = Dr. Malcom "Cormack" Ardman (University of Borealis)
    = "Paulon" McPhasefront, "Georj" Hairyson, "Johnar" Lemon & "Morninn" Starr (The Leetles)
    = "Gridfeed" (Camera Drone)
    = Director "Dartello" Marello (Black-Net)
    = DCI "Validius" Hunt (Department of Investigations)
    = DS John "Streller" (Department of Investigations)

    = Major "Jimako" Jones (OTAF)
    = Mack "Teffler" Falloway (Clan hunter/trader)

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