Re: The Grand Battle S2G1! [Round Three: Water...place!]
12-04-2010, 04:57 AM
Originally posted on MSPA by slipsicle.
Kracht and Arkal stood on the bow of the ship, watching the dragon and its rider drift serenely through the air before them, guiding them towards the strange, shifting Island before them. It soon became clear why guidance was needed; as they approached the Island, the dragon veered to the right, and the ship dutifully followed. A mass of tan erupted from the water in the ship's previous path. It danced upwards, its surface undulating as it twisted, before sinking back into the water at a slight angle.
The water surrounding the Island was being constantly churned in a similar fashion. Oily tan spires and walls and other unidentifiable shapes rose and fell, grew and shrank, turning the approach to the Island into an ever-changing maze of rapids and crags.
The crew sat in silence as the ship navigated through the alien waters. The helmsman kept an eye on the dragon, following its path as closely as he was able, now that he was aware of the danger. After a while Kracht turned to Arkal, and spoke.
"I believe it is in our best interests to try to learn more about the Ovoid. It plays a key role in whatever happens at the end of this battle, and the change in its behavior throughout this iteration... it is troubling."
He turned away, and Arkal followed his gaze.
"You think that man might be able to tell us more?"
"He's been in the 4-space, and is in direct communication with "the Entity", as he calls it. Usually they get along just fine but now... he seems to be in pain. Enslaved, almost, with little to no free will.
"I think I might know a way to free him."
"And once we free him, he'll be willing to tell us anything he knows which might help us prevent the Ovoid from helping this 'Vandrel Reinhardt'."
"Correct."
They were nearing the Island's shore, now. The dragon had set down on a relatively static portion of land; relatively, because, like the rest of the Island, it appeared to be moving without any obvious motion, but still presented a flat space where a person could stand comfortably.
The boat was drifting towards the shore, the pirates scuttling about its deck to prepare to drop anchor and lower rowboats into the water, when a portion of the Island suddenly rushed outwards towards the boat, locking it in place, and oily tan hills rose up on either side right up to the decking. The crew, including Arkal and Kracht, took the hint, and simply walked off.
The crew gathered around the waiting clone, each eyeing up the dragon looming behind him. The clone merely waited, slightly hunched from obvious exhaustion, leaning on his scythe (which had, miraculously, never left his side). The crew maintained a respectful distance from the clone, forming a quarter-circle around him, their backs to the shore, and the ship. The quarter-circle parted to allow Kracht and Arkal through, but where Arkal stopped at its edge, Kracht marched straight through, making a beeline for the clone.
The clone was slow to come out of whatever reverie he'd fallen into, and his red-rimmed eyes widened as he saw Kracht purposefully stride towards him.
"Uh, wha-"
"Hold still," and suddenly Kracht's arm had reached out and a green-tinged stone hand was on the clone's head.
"Please... what are you doing?" the clone whimpered.
"I am freeing you." Seeing the clone's expression, he continued. "This was not supposed to happen. Your relationship with the Ovoid has been nothing but harmonious, previously. Something is different this time, and I cannot bear to see you suffer. I've gotten to know you quite well, Alexei Buchevski."
The clone... no, Alexei, had been only sort-of following Kracht. Once his name was mentioned, though, the change in his expression was drastic. The red around his eyes was no longer caused by simple exhaustion, as moisture began to gather.
Kracht smiled, slightly. "I know you, Alexei. We have shared so much together. You have changed slightly every iteration; your past has not always been the same, and your varying experiences have given you slightly different views of the world, but at your core, you've always been the same person. You've always been a kind, caring person. You've been full of love, for everyone, and are one of the few members of the Communist Party who didn't join as a slap in the face to Friend Computer, but because you actually took time to learn a little bit about it. You learned about its concept of sharing, though not much beyond that. You learned that Lennon was a man who preached love and understanding (and you were disappointed to learn, from me, that he had nothing to do with Communism). You were never in it for the politics. You've just wanted peace."
Alexei was outright crying now, and the pirates behind Arkal watched in fascination.
"Alexei, I've been with you through so much, and seeing you hurt like this... it has pained me. So now I am going to do something about it."
Kracht closed his eyes, and something within him shifted. His arm glinted strangely as its surface altered imperceptibly. He opened his mouth, and the crowd behind him clenched their teeth as they... sensed a strange vibration. It was not heard, and it was not felt, yet every inch of their body was telling them that something was happening.
Alexei gasped, and then, "No, wait-" the "vibration" grew stronger, "-actually I don't think-" it was now almost audible, and ripples began to appear in the oily tan around the clone and Kracht, "-this is a good ideeeeaA PLEASE STOP-" the clone's body began to spasm, "-IT DOESN'T LIKE THIS, IT HURTS, PLEASE-" the "vibration" escalated, as if there were several distinct variations of it, all rising towards one crescendo, "-KRACHT, STOP THI-" and suddenly a tone sang out, and the vibration was gone. The clone had fallen silent, but was strangely still. Kracht removed his hand from the clone's head, somewhat warily.
Alexei moved suddenly. He looked straight at Kracht, but his eyes were now uniformly tan. He opened his mouth, and sounds came out.
CONTACT ESTABLISHED. THE AMALGAM IS PRESENT.
Kracht would have looked puzzled, had his face been malleable enough to form real emotion. He made his confusion known. "... Alexei? What just happened? I thought..."
A REQUEST FOR DIRECT CONTACT WITH THE AMALGAM WAS INITIATED AT THIS LOCATION. PLEASE STATE THE NATURE OF THE REQUEST.
Kracht took a step backwards. "I don't understand. I didn't make a request. You, the Ovoid, taught me something which I could use to control it, in a limited sense, if something went wrong. I thought I was banishing its presence from... from Alexei..."
A FABRICATION. THE AMALGAM HAS REVIEWED THE CAUSAL HISTORY OF ITS PRESENCE IN THIS THREE-SPACE ANOMALY. COOPERATION OF THE FRAGMENTS WAS REQUIRED. FABRICATIONS WERE NECESSARY.
"Required? Required for what?"
THE FRAGMENT HAS BEEN USEFUL IN DELAYING THE INITIAL FORMATION OF THE AMALGAM. THE DELAY WAS REQUIRED TO ACHIEVE OMEGA. A DELAY IS NO LONGER REQUIRED. THE FRAGMENT HAS CEASED TO BECOME USEFUL. FABRICATIONS ARE NO LONGER REQUIRED.
"Fragment... you mean me?"
AFFIRMATIVE.
"I don't understand. The Amalgam? Is that you? No, that's not right... if... if you needed a delay before your initial formation... then you can't have been formed yet... this doesn't make any sense."
THE FRAGMENT HAS DISPLAYED MARGINAL UNDERSTANDING OF ATEMPORAL FLOW. THE FRAGMENT WILL REACH THE CORRECT CONCLUSION ON ITS OWN.
THIS REQUEST FOR CONTACT WAS MADE IN ERROR. THE AMALGAM WILL WITHDRAW. THIS VESSEL IS POORLY DESIGNED FOR ACCOMODATING THE REQUIRED QUANTITY OF THE AMALGAM TO INITIATE CONTACT. IT WILL BE UNABLE TO FUNCTION UPON WITHDRAWAL, AND WILL BE ABANDONED.
"No, WAIT!"
The tan flowed out from the clone's eyes, flowed off his body, revealing his original red jumpsuit underneath, and the clone slumped over. His grip on the scythe loosened, and he fell, like a sack of potatoes, onto the hard ground.
His eyes were still open, but unmoving. Empty.
Alexei was dead.
Kracht slumped to his knees as he looked at the body. The... "Amalgam's" last words hung over him.
"I... I killed him."
Behind him, Arkal snorted. "That's ridiculous."
"It's not. This 'Amalgam', which must be what the Ovoid calls itself, said so itself. Whatever I did, it... forced the Amalgam into Alexei's body. He was dead as soon as it started talking. I killed him."
Arkal moved towards the kneeling mineral man, but before he could reach him, the landscape shifted suddenly, and he found himself alone.
He turned, but distance and perspective appeared to have taken a vacation. As he took one tentative step forwards, he found that the wall which he had previously believed to be several feet away was not actually a wall at all, but a chasm, and his foot was hovering over emptiness.
Deciding to ignore the fact that nothing made any sense anymore, Arkal unslung his anvil, and set about crafting, to pass the time. The undulating landscape could not be navigated by his purely human senses, and he doubted any of the pirates would have more luck. But Kracht... he smiled to himself. That mineral was truly lucky. If anyone could get them out of here, it'd be him.
So it was a complete surprise for Arkal when a young, entirely naked woman melted out of (what must have been) a wall nearby. He didn't recognize her from the crew, but... she seemed to know him. She smiled as she approached.
"Arkal of the Silver Hammer. It is good to see you in the flesh."
His confusion seemed to amuse her. She giggled. "Ah yes, I suppose this is all new to you. I am one of your descendants."
"My... what?"
"You have a child back in you home universe, right?"
"Two, actually. Two boys."
"Well, I'm sorry to say that you don't survive this battle. But they continue living healthy lives in your absence, and they both have families, and those families have families, and so on and so forth until I came along!"
Arkal still looked confused.
"Arkal... we are all here. The rest of your descendants, and so many others. This Island, it's... I guess you could call it an expression of nostalgia. We're taking some time to remember who we were."
"What... we?"
The girl smiled at him again. "It would take too long to explain, and I'm not so nostalgic that I enjoy becoming a Fragment for very long. Not to mention all this flesh," She made a face, and looked down at her body, apparently disgusted. "All this meat, just hanging off my bones, sloshing around inside yet more meat. It is quite revolting."
She looked back at Arkal, almost pityingly. "It is a shame you can't join me. But you are not in the Amalgam. You never will be."
The girl's features melted together, and her mass was absorbed into the Island's ground, leaving the old blacksmith staring at the space where she had been, a hurricane of emotions ripping through him.
-----
Connect me to this Vandrel Reinhardt, Ovoid.
A slight vibration, and a tone, which gave a sense of a tunnel being opened by the sound, and Xadrez knew the link was open.
I am Xadrez, and I am also in a universe-spanning battle to the death. Vandrel Reinhardt, if you can help us fight back against the Grandmasters, I will do all I can to assist you.
Another vibration, and Xadrez sensed, more than felt, that the link had closed.
The tactician disentangled himself from the fourth-dimensional, miniature representation of the Ovoid, and brought himself back to Hydresther, just as a crash resounded throughout the bubble.
In the distance, Cyk'nl was plowing through the upper towers of Hydresther, raining debris down upon the sunken city. Cyk'nl barely slowed, and continued its downwardly-angled flight into the main towers of Hydresther.
Kracht and Arkal stood on the bow of the ship, watching the dragon and its rider drift serenely through the air before them, guiding them towards the strange, shifting Island before them. It soon became clear why guidance was needed; as they approached the Island, the dragon veered to the right, and the ship dutifully followed. A mass of tan erupted from the water in the ship's previous path. It danced upwards, its surface undulating as it twisted, before sinking back into the water at a slight angle.
The water surrounding the Island was being constantly churned in a similar fashion. Oily tan spires and walls and other unidentifiable shapes rose and fell, grew and shrank, turning the approach to the Island into an ever-changing maze of rapids and crags.
The crew sat in silence as the ship navigated through the alien waters. The helmsman kept an eye on the dragon, following its path as closely as he was able, now that he was aware of the danger. After a while Kracht turned to Arkal, and spoke.
"I believe it is in our best interests to try to learn more about the Ovoid. It plays a key role in whatever happens at the end of this battle, and the change in its behavior throughout this iteration... it is troubling."
He turned away, and Arkal followed his gaze.
"You think that man might be able to tell us more?"
"He's been in the 4-space, and is in direct communication with "the Entity", as he calls it. Usually they get along just fine but now... he seems to be in pain. Enslaved, almost, with little to no free will.
"I think I might know a way to free him."
"And once we free him, he'll be willing to tell us anything he knows which might help us prevent the Ovoid from helping this 'Vandrel Reinhardt'."
"Correct."
They were nearing the Island's shore, now. The dragon had set down on a relatively static portion of land; relatively, because, like the rest of the Island, it appeared to be moving without any obvious motion, but still presented a flat space where a person could stand comfortably.
The boat was drifting towards the shore, the pirates scuttling about its deck to prepare to drop anchor and lower rowboats into the water, when a portion of the Island suddenly rushed outwards towards the boat, locking it in place, and oily tan hills rose up on either side right up to the decking. The crew, including Arkal and Kracht, took the hint, and simply walked off.
The crew gathered around the waiting clone, each eyeing up the dragon looming behind him. The clone merely waited, slightly hunched from obvious exhaustion, leaning on his scythe (which had, miraculously, never left his side). The crew maintained a respectful distance from the clone, forming a quarter-circle around him, their backs to the shore, and the ship. The quarter-circle parted to allow Kracht and Arkal through, but where Arkal stopped at its edge, Kracht marched straight through, making a beeline for the clone.
The clone was slow to come out of whatever reverie he'd fallen into, and his red-rimmed eyes widened as he saw Kracht purposefully stride towards him.
"Uh, wha-"
"Hold still," and suddenly Kracht's arm had reached out and a green-tinged stone hand was on the clone's head.
"Please... what are you doing?" the clone whimpered.
"I am freeing you." Seeing the clone's expression, he continued. "This was not supposed to happen. Your relationship with the Ovoid has been nothing but harmonious, previously. Something is different this time, and I cannot bear to see you suffer. I've gotten to know you quite well, Alexei Buchevski."
The clone... no, Alexei, had been only sort-of following Kracht. Once his name was mentioned, though, the change in his expression was drastic. The red around his eyes was no longer caused by simple exhaustion, as moisture began to gather.
Kracht smiled, slightly. "I know you, Alexei. We have shared so much together. You have changed slightly every iteration; your past has not always been the same, and your varying experiences have given you slightly different views of the world, but at your core, you've always been the same person. You've always been a kind, caring person. You've been full of love, for everyone, and are one of the few members of the Communist Party who didn't join as a slap in the face to Friend Computer, but because you actually took time to learn a little bit about it. You learned about its concept of sharing, though not much beyond that. You learned that Lennon was a man who preached love and understanding (and you were disappointed to learn, from me, that he had nothing to do with Communism). You were never in it for the politics. You've just wanted peace."
Alexei was outright crying now, and the pirates behind Arkal watched in fascination.
"Alexei, I've been with you through so much, and seeing you hurt like this... it has pained me. So now I am going to do something about it."
Kracht closed his eyes, and something within him shifted. His arm glinted strangely as its surface altered imperceptibly. He opened his mouth, and the crowd behind him clenched their teeth as they... sensed a strange vibration. It was not heard, and it was not felt, yet every inch of their body was telling them that something was happening.
Alexei gasped, and then, "No, wait-" the "vibration" grew stronger, "-actually I don't think-" it was now almost audible, and ripples began to appear in the oily tan around the clone and Kracht, "-this is a good ideeeeaA PLEASE STOP-" the clone's body began to spasm, "-IT DOESN'T LIKE THIS, IT HURTS, PLEASE-" the "vibration" escalated, as if there were several distinct variations of it, all rising towards one crescendo, "-KRACHT, STOP THI-" and suddenly a tone sang out, and the vibration was gone. The clone had fallen silent, but was strangely still. Kracht removed his hand from the clone's head, somewhat warily.
Alexei moved suddenly. He looked straight at Kracht, but his eyes were now uniformly tan. He opened his mouth, and sounds came out.
CONTACT ESTABLISHED. THE AMALGAM IS PRESENT.
Kracht would have looked puzzled, had his face been malleable enough to form real emotion. He made his confusion known. "... Alexei? What just happened? I thought..."
A REQUEST FOR DIRECT CONTACT WITH THE AMALGAM WAS INITIATED AT THIS LOCATION. PLEASE STATE THE NATURE OF THE REQUEST.
Kracht took a step backwards. "I don't understand. I didn't make a request. You, the Ovoid, taught me something which I could use to control it, in a limited sense, if something went wrong. I thought I was banishing its presence from... from Alexei..."
A FABRICATION. THE AMALGAM HAS REVIEWED THE CAUSAL HISTORY OF ITS PRESENCE IN THIS THREE-SPACE ANOMALY. COOPERATION OF THE FRAGMENTS WAS REQUIRED. FABRICATIONS WERE NECESSARY.
"Required? Required for what?"
THE FRAGMENT HAS BEEN USEFUL IN DELAYING THE INITIAL FORMATION OF THE AMALGAM. THE DELAY WAS REQUIRED TO ACHIEVE OMEGA. A DELAY IS NO LONGER REQUIRED. THE FRAGMENT HAS CEASED TO BECOME USEFUL. FABRICATIONS ARE NO LONGER REQUIRED.
"Fragment... you mean me?"
AFFIRMATIVE.
"I don't understand. The Amalgam? Is that you? No, that's not right... if... if you needed a delay before your initial formation... then you can't have been formed yet... this doesn't make any sense."
THE FRAGMENT HAS DISPLAYED MARGINAL UNDERSTANDING OF ATEMPORAL FLOW. THE FRAGMENT WILL REACH THE CORRECT CONCLUSION ON ITS OWN.
THIS REQUEST FOR CONTACT WAS MADE IN ERROR. THE AMALGAM WILL WITHDRAW. THIS VESSEL IS POORLY DESIGNED FOR ACCOMODATING THE REQUIRED QUANTITY OF THE AMALGAM TO INITIATE CONTACT. IT WILL BE UNABLE TO FUNCTION UPON WITHDRAWAL, AND WILL BE ABANDONED.
"No, WAIT!"
The tan flowed out from the clone's eyes, flowed off his body, revealing his original red jumpsuit underneath, and the clone slumped over. His grip on the scythe loosened, and he fell, like a sack of potatoes, onto the hard ground.
His eyes were still open, but unmoving. Empty.
Alexei was dead.
Kracht slumped to his knees as he looked at the body. The... "Amalgam's" last words hung over him.
"I... I killed him."
Behind him, Arkal snorted. "That's ridiculous."
"It's not. This 'Amalgam', which must be what the Ovoid calls itself, said so itself. Whatever I did, it... forced the Amalgam into Alexei's body. He was dead as soon as it started talking. I killed him."
Arkal moved towards the kneeling mineral man, but before he could reach him, the landscape shifted suddenly, and he found himself alone.
He turned, but distance and perspective appeared to have taken a vacation. As he took one tentative step forwards, he found that the wall which he had previously believed to be several feet away was not actually a wall at all, but a chasm, and his foot was hovering over emptiness.
Deciding to ignore the fact that nothing made any sense anymore, Arkal unslung his anvil, and set about crafting, to pass the time. The undulating landscape could not be navigated by his purely human senses, and he doubted any of the pirates would have more luck. But Kracht... he smiled to himself. That mineral was truly lucky. If anyone could get them out of here, it'd be him.
So it was a complete surprise for Arkal when a young, entirely naked woman melted out of (what must have been) a wall nearby. He didn't recognize her from the crew, but... she seemed to know him. She smiled as she approached.
"Arkal of the Silver Hammer. It is good to see you in the flesh."
His confusion seemed to amuse her. She giggled. "Ah yes, I suppose this is all new to you. I am one of your descendants."
"My... what?"
"You have a child back in you home universe, right?"
"Two, actually. Two boys."
"Well, I'm sorry to say that you don't survive this battle. But they continue living healthy lives in your absence, and they both have families, and those families have families, and so on and so forth until I came along!"
Arkal still looked confused.
"Arkal... we are all here. The rest of your descendants, and so many others. This Island, it's... I guess you could call it an expression of nostalgia. We're taking some time to remember who we were."
"What... we?"
The girl smiled at him again. "It would take too long to explain, and I'm not so nostalgic that I enjoy becoming a Fragment for very long. Not to mention all this flesh," She made a face, and looked down at her body, apparently disgusted. "All this meat, just hanging off my bones, sloshing around inside yet more meat. It is quite revolting."
She looked back at Arkal, almost pityingly. "It is a shame you can't join me. But you are not in the Amalgam. You never will be."
The girl's features melted together, and her mass was absorbed into the Island's ground, leaving the old blacksmith staring at the space where she had been, a hurricane of emotions ripping through him.
-----
Connect me to this Vandrel Reinhardt, Ovoid.
A slight vibration, and a tone, which gave a sense of a tunnel being opened by the sound, and Xadrez knew the link was open.
I am Xadrez, and I am also in a universe-spanning battle to the death. Vandrel Reinhardt, if you can help us fight back against the Grandmasters, I will do all I can to assist you.
Another vibration, and Xadrez sensed, more than felt, that the link had closed.
The tactician disentangled himself from the fourth-dimensional, miniature representation of the Ovoid, and brought himself back to Hydresther, just as a crash resounded throughout the bubble.
In the distance, Cyk'nl was plowing through the upper towers of Hydresther, raining debris down upon the sunken city. Cyk'nl barely slowed, and continued its downwardly-angled flight into the main towers of Hydresther.
Spoiler