Re: The Phenomenal Fracas (GBS2G6) [Round Five: The Ambitus Phenomenon]
05-21-2012, 04:55 AM
Originally posted on MSPA by Anomaly.
Not again.
He'd just spent nearly half of this goddamned battle just to track her down and rescue her from an all-consuming eldritch horror, and for what? For her to die a hundred years in the past, reduced to nothing more than a name on a statue. No.
No.
"No!" Syvex shouted, taking a chunk out of the ornate fountain with his fist, before both the chunk and the fountain were suddenly much less existant. Syvex recovered from a potentially embarrassing tumble to the ground, taking the time to observe his surroundings. They were mostly the same - different decorations, maybe, and certainly a distinct lack of fountain in the middle of the hall. It was also, thankfully, a bit dimmer - they hadn't managed to invent electricity in the following one hundred years, but something about the numerous chandeliers made them a lot less bright here.
Syvex noted with growing unease that Eureka wasn't anywhere nearby. He would have started yelling, had he not heard someone else talking very loudly a room over.
"You are not on the guest list. How did you get in here?"
Whoever it was sounded like they were in a constant state of rage. Some kind of guard probably. Hearing some much less audible mumbling, Syvex moved in closer, straining to hear.
"I don't have time for this, or whatever 'friend' might be here with you. Guards!"
Syvex charged into the room without hesitation (or, for that matter, forethought). A blonde-haired guy with wings was in the process of confronting Eureka at the time, but whatever he might have been inclined to say to his guards fell flat as he fixed his glare on Syvex.
"What." He looked ready to rip someone's throat out, "someone" in this case meaning "everyone, simultaneously". His eye twitched.
"Oh, uh, hi. I think we're lost."
"That could've gone better," Syvex muttered.
"Better? Yeah, I'd say so. Considering we're now in a prison cell underneath a palace which is about to be attacked, and I'm slowly turning into a giant shadow... snake... thing!" Eureka wanted to be angry with Syvex, but couldn't, considering he had also saved her life in the process. It didn't do anything to stop her all-too-heavy breathing, though. "What... What are you, anyway?"
Syvex shrugged. "Hell if I know. I think I'm supposed to be a weapon. I'm not even sure now."
"Okay, then why are you just sitting there?"
"What do you want me to do?"
"I don't know. Blow a hole in the wall? Do that portal thing you're always doing? Just get us out of here!"
"I'm not sure that's a good idea."
"...You're being cautious now? Didn't you piss off some kind of psychotic alien lady and almost get us both killed several hours ago?"
"Okay, look. It's more dangerous if we escape. Just try to calm down, and we'll end up in the opera house and this won't be a prison cell."
"Easy for you to say. You're not-"
"I know!"
Silence fell over the cell for an uncomfortably long time. "You died."
"What?" Eureka stopped staring at the purple-black slit on her finger.
"On the fountain, there was a memorial. A list of names. You were there."
Eureka wasn't exactly certain of how to respond to being told that she was already dead and yet hadn't died yet because of some convoluted time nonsense she wasn't sure she even understood. It's not the kind of situation you expect to come up in your daily life. She opted for not saying anything.
"And what makes you think we'll be safe staying here?" she eventually asked.
"I... don't know?" Syvex hadn't thought things through past "don't start blowing things up".
"It's a revolution. If we don't get out of here, we might be either forced to fight or killed." Eureka kept tried her hardest not to scratch her finger.
"...Alright, good point." Syvex turned his back to Eureka. "Hold on, and hold your breath. We're going for a swim. Try not to cut yourself, by the way."
Eureka climbed onto the serpent's back, cushioning herself from his all-too-numerous spines with what little excess cloth she had. On the wall of the dark, damp cell, a black rift in space slowly took shape, its edges glowing a deep purple. A short while later, water began gushing through the portal and out of the cell much too quickly for anyone's liking. Syvex struggled to hold his ground, eventually resorting to sliding the portal over him and his passenger.
"That's odd," Syvex declared, now afloat a short distance away from the palace.
"What, that you flooded the prison?"
"Pretty much. That was supposed to be right above the water, not right under it."
"You're saying you missed."
"Yeah." Syvex caught a flicker of a smile from Eureka's face before it faded again.
Several minutes later, Syvex slithered up a rocky shore, into the darkness of the forest towering above them. Syvex stopped a good distance in, as trees almost seemed to close in on all sides. Eureka leaped from the serpent's back, slipping and falling to the ground in the process.
"Shit!" she hissed, clutching her arm. Deep purple blood flowed from a large gash in her arm, the same blood which now coated a couple of the spikes protruding from Syvex's arms.
"Sorry! You alright?" The bleeding stopped quickly as scaly, dark-purple skin began to form over the wound.
"I... guess? If you can call this 'alright'."
Eureka noted that Syvex wasn't actually paying attention.
"Eureka, do trees usually move?"
She peered to the side in time to see a large, spike-covered tree trunk fall from above and plant itself in the ground, like some kind of leg. Eureka looked up. It wasn't just "like" some kind of leg.
Not again.
He'd just spent nearly half of this goddamned battle just to track her down and rescue her from an all-consuming eldritch horror, and for what? For her to die a hundred years in the past, reduced to nothing more than a name on a statue. No.
No.
"No!" Syvex shouted, taking a chunk out of the ornate fountain with his fist, before both the chunk and the fountain were suddenly much less existant. Syvex recovered from a potentially embarrassing tumble to the ground, taking the time to observe his surroundings. They were mostly the same - different decorations, maybe, and certainly a distinct lack of fountain in the middle of the hall. It was also, thankfully, a bit dimmer - they hadn't managed to invent electricity in the following one hundred years, but something about the numerous chandeliers made them a lot less bright here.
Syvex noted with growing unease that Eureka wasn't anywhere nearby. He would have started yelling, had he not heard someone else talking very loudly a room over.
"You are not on the guest list. How did you get in here?"
Whoever it was sounded like they were in a constant state of rage. Some kind of guard probably. Hearing some much less audible mumbling, Syvex moved in closer, straining to hear.
"I don't have time for this, or whatever 'friend' might be here with you. Guards!"
Syvex charged into the room without hesitation (or, for that matter, forethought). A blonde-haired guy with wings was in the process of confronting Eureka at the time, but whatever he might have been inclined to say to his guards fell flat as he fixed his glare on Syvex.
"What." He looked ready to rip someone's throat out, "someone" in this case meaning "everyone, simultaneously". His eye twitched.
"Oh, uh, hi. I think we're lost."
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
"We'll see what His Majesty has to say about this when he's through with his guests," the bearded, sword-wielding policeman/guard told the new prisoners as he slammed the bars."That could've gone better," Syvex muttered.
"Better? Yeah, I'd say so. Considering we're now in a prison cell underneath a palace which is about to be attacked, and I'm slowly turning into a giant shadow... snake... thing!" Eureka wanted to be angry with Syvex, but couldn't, considering he had also saved her life in the process. It didn't do anything to stop her all-too-heavy breathing, though. "What... What are you, anyway?"
Syvex shrugged. "Hell if I know. I think I'm supposed to be a weapon. I'm not even sure now."
"Okay, then why are you just sitting there?"
"What do you want me to do?"
"I don't know. Blow a hole in the wall? Do that portal thing you're always doing? Just get us out of here!"
"I'm not sure that's a good idea."
"...You're being cautious now? Didn't you piss off some kind of psychotic alien lady and almost get us both killed several hours ago?"
"Okay, look. It's more dangerous if we escape. Just try to calm down, and we'll end up in the opera house and this won't be a prison cell."
"Easy for you to say. You're not-"
"I know!"
Silence fell over the cell for an uncomfortably long time. "You died."
"What?" Eureka stopped staring at the purple-black slit on her finger.
"On the fountain, there was a memorial. A list of names. You were there."
Eureka wasn't exactly certain of how to respond to being told that she was already dead and yet hadn't died yet because of some convoluted time nonsense she wasn't sure she even understood. It's not the kind of situation you expect to come up in your daily life. She opted for not saying anything.
"And what makes you think we'll be safe staying here?" she eventually asked.
"I... don't know?" Syvex hadn't thought things through past "don't start blowing things up".
"It's a revolution. If we don't get out of here, we might be either forced to fight or killed." Eureka kept tried her hardest not to scratch her finger.
"...Alright, good point." Syvex turned his back to Eureka. "Hold on, and hold your breath. We're going for a swim. Try not to cut yourself, by the way."
Eureka climbed onto the serpent's back, cushioning herself from his all-too-numerous spines with what little excess cloth she had. On the wall of the dark, damp cell, a black rift in space slowly took shape, its edges glowing a deep purple. A short while later, water began gushing through the portal and out of the cell much too quickly for anyone's liking. Syvex struggled to hold his ground, eventually resorting to sliding the portal over him and his passenger.
"That's odd," Syvex declared, now afloat a short distance away from the palace.
"What, that you flooded the prison?"
"Pretty much. That was supposed to be right above the water, not right under it."
"You're saying you missed."
"Yeah." Syvex caught a flicker of a smile from Eureka's face before it faded again.
Several minutes later, Syvex slithered up a rocky shore, into the darkness of the forest towering above them. Syvex stopped a good distance in, as trees almost seemed to close in on all sides. Eureka leaped from the serpent's back, slipping and falling to the ground in the process.
"Shit!" she hissed, clutching her arm. Deep purple blood flowed from a large gash in her arm, the same blood which now coated a couple of the spikes protruding from Syvex's arms.
"Sorry! You alright?" The bleeding stopped quickly as scaly, dark-purple skin began to form over the wound.
"I... guess? If you can call this 'alright'."
Eureka noted that Syvex wasn't actually paying attention.
"Eureka, do trees usually move?"
She peered to the side in time to see a large, spike-covered tree trunk fall from above and plant itself in the ground, like some kind of leg. Eureka looked up. It wasn't just "like" some kind of leg.