《The Return of Mr. Nobody》 Prologue I Prologue Part 1 This is my first time attempting to write a light novel so please put that into consideration for the many mistakes that I am sure will undoubtedly be throughout this story. If anyone has any constructive criticism I will welcome it with open arms and if someone wants to proofread through and check for grammatical issues please let me know. Overall this story is something that I hope you all enjoy. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------- I sit there and hold my head looking around at the familiar ship. The grey metal decking going back into the dark behind me. The red imperialistic color faded across the border regions. My shield and sword hang on the wall in dark splendor while a beige background looks to need a fresh coat of paint. I turn to the other wall my dark armor seems to absorb the little light that shines in the room. The overhead lights no longer function properly and I do not feel like fixing anything. I look to the front of the room and a full holographic display of celebration. There are people shedding tears of joy across the universe. The display shows people partying in streets and banners being strewn about and confetti in the air. I stare at the images of people of all types and beings in all colors and shapes celebrating in their own ways. No one is working it will probably be recorded as the largest celebration in the universe. There is also a image of a familiar solar system surrounded by ships of war. Each of the ships were large monstrosities dark compared to the glowing background of destruction from a particular solar system. Each and everyone of those ships have participated in the destruction of the far flung solar system. I slowly raise my large and scarred hands to rub my temple and look up at the image of the solar system while without my notice a single tear slowly rolls down my face and falls to floor. That was my home that is where I started the place that I was created. I am unsure of what to do or where to go or even how to continue. I do not even know if it is worthwhile to continue however I shake my head I still have some of my family left and I will see them through even to the end of the universe. I have already lived an eternity of war and I know no one that is better at destruction and disappearing. I will not lose anymore family! Sy and Asena are all that I have left now. Asena and Sy have been friends but more that they are family born in conflict and that have survived with me for as long as I can remember. Turning towards the front and looking at the large holographic display covering the fore portion of the galactic destroyer. The ship was a product that any of the universal governments would salivate over. The sleek design of this destroyer hides its fearsome abilities behind the staid veneer of a VIP quick transport. The sleek cut lines of ship and expensive looking coat made this wolf look like a innocent sheep to the many roving militant groups that sought to protect themselves of a deadly foe that few had ever seen. I walked across the room to the commander''s chair and collapsed onto it mentally issuing the command to turn off the various news feeds from around the galaxy. A extremely detailed map of the universe with known locations of every civilizations warships marked in a sea of red suddenly appeared. Prospective enemy patrols and hostiles marked in yellow fringed much of the map. A few specs of blue interspersed in locations that had people of questionable moral standards and would sell supplies to anyone for a price. The few green allied areas had faded and the last hold of gold near the center of the universe was now a sea of red and no longer existed. I randomly prepared a new set of jump coordinates not truly even looking at the display in front of me as I was happy to be anywhere that was away from this area of the universe. I was created as a machine of war I was hoping that I could survive without the bloody war that had raged for as long as my memory. Blankly staring forward I wondered how I was to survive in a universe that despised me and those I called family. Knowing that the answer may never come to me I shook my head to get out of my dark stupor. I turned around after hearing Asena and Sy both enter the bridge. They looked at me with sad eyes expressing their sorrow for the loss that I had endured as they came over to me. We spoke telepathically as they tried to comfort me and in turn we all tried to encourage each other after our devastating loss. After saying everything that could be said I turn and and looked at the emblem of the civilization I had fought for so long. With a sigh I approach the flag and gently and carefully take it down. Folding it up I reverently place it in a clear frame and seal it in. With the silence the echoing sound of the vacuum seal reverberates on the bridge. In the somber tradition of honor for the departed souls of our fellow soldiers we take down our dress uniforms. The ship helps don us in our full battle dress with its regalia and splendor of the now fallen empire. We solemnly marched towards the center of the ship. We remained silent however our march made a haunting echo with the synchronized falling of our armoured feet. The crisp footfalls reverberated down the empty corridors and the ship seemed to moan in sorrow. We approached the core of our ship. The protected heart of our ship was considered safer than most galactic dreadnoughts or motherships. As we entered into the core the mirror like finish on most of the walls helped create a shrine like feel. The ambiance of the room made it seem as if this may be a sanctuary or even a temple to war itself. For every wall had an array of weapons that varied in style however no set was like another. If any museum curators or historical collectors could see the weapons that some would consider ancient and others that were from now extinct civilizations they would faint. Also proudly displayed on the walls were modern and even futuristic weapons that any armor or gunner would give their right hand to own. This novel is published on a different platform. Support the original author by finding the official source. The room was octagonal in shape with a large central pillar with the shape of a four leaf clover and extended from the floor to ceiling. We all walked across what seemed like thin air as we proudly stood at attention. The wall in front of us seemed to flow for a second as I placed the frame before it was gently backlit. Stepping back and giving a crisp salute the ceremony came to an end. Still dressed in our battle dress the floor slowly moved until we were lined up near the base of the central pillar. Three sections of the floor opened and ornate pods rose up from the floor. As each of us entered a pod that was designed specifically for us. Trying to relax into the soft and organic looking membrane that mostly filled the pod. It was a dark metallic color that made it appear rougher than it actually was. As we all fully immersed ourselves in the not so fondly referred to ooze the engraved coffin like lids arrived above our heads by a magnetic system. I looked over to my right and saw Asena in her glorious pure white white armor with gold accents clearly defined I think of all the times that I have seen her pure white armor coated in the blood of countless enemies. For the first time I truly desire to see and have peace. I turn slightly to my left and look at Sy in his dark armored glory. The opposite of Asena in many ways with his dark red armor had black highlights on parts of the armor. I remembered the nights of terror that we had instilled into countless enemies in as they desperately tried to track Sy through swaths of blood covering the ground and in the air. All of this made me reflect on myself as I glanced up at the descending lid of the pod and saw myself in my own armor. I wore a multi tiered armor that had a exoskeleton style frame that was so black that it seemed to absorbed light itself. The sight of my armor left many terrorized. Nothing could seem to scratch it and no visible damage appeared even with the most powerful weapons that could be found or thought up on the battlefield. I remember some referring to me as a dark lord or a vampire as the very blood that coated my armor would get absorbed to be reused. Never before had I thought of mercy or kindness on the field of battle. Now with the death and destruction of my own home world I have finally started thinking of what I truly would want. I was finally free of all my pure born commanders and the holy emperor. I wondered what I could do with my life and for the first time in my life wondered if I might have dreams. The capsule on closed down and slowly hissed as it hermetically sealed me in. My vision slowly faded to black as I fell asleep for the first time in weeks. The royal looking VIP transport inappropriately named the Swan started to be surrounded by a glowing field as it suddenly disappeared from the quadrant of the galaxy that it currently resided heading to the far edge of the universe. As the ship traversed across the vast universe it currently resided in a being looked down on this vessel with an interested gaze. As this being looked at a the last of this created civilization that very well could have destroyed the entirety of this universe it was perplexed by this sudden desire for peace in a creature that was created for the sole purpose of death and destruction had helped raise and nurture two other creatures with which all people even their creator said should die because of feral and deadly tendencies. This higher being that some would refer to as god felt a compassion and rare desire to give this unique being that had terrified even some of his compatriots a true secret second chance. In this realm few truly believed in a great god so few of the high gods still existed and all the small gods had long ago passed on. This seemingly compassionate god suddenly rubbed its hands in glee and laughed as a smile spread across its face. It was time for mischief and none did it better. The higher god carefully created an impossible anomaly in the carefully charted path of the VIP transport and turned away to move to another universe for it had set in motion a event that could change much more than any would dare believe. ----------------------------------------------------------- FYI this story is going to have a seriously OP main character so if you are not into that this will not be the story for you. This story will be mature there will be some violent scenes some that may tell of torture some that will have sexual content. I will do my best to not go beyond anything too extreme. (Means I will have no ntr or non-con actively happen period, punto, full stop. Also not into gore ¡°ich¡±. People will die though. Spoilers LOL) People may have harsh backgrounds however and stuff may seem a little harsh in parts. (you have been forewarned) I do plan on having fun with this and I hope that everyone out there does as well. Feel free to tell me what you think and what I should add or dismiss as I truly am a crazy nomad. Thanks, Znomad (Edit 1 [08/2016]) Chapter 1 Emergence Chapter 1 (Emergence) Please have fun I hope everyone enjoys the story so far. I know the first part may be a little boring to some but it is the start of the story and the background into what the characters will start to face from here on out. Please partake of the ensuing story with this crazy nomad. LOL P.S Grammar is absolutely my least favorite subject so if anyone reads something that is glaring at them with its incongruity please let me know. I can¡¯t wait till you find out who my main character¡¯s friends are species wise¡­.. HAHAHA¡­ I will see if I get to it this chapter. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Asena POV I was suddenly awoken to the blaring alarms of the ship going off all around me. I quickly engaged the telepathic display in front of me to asses the situation a mental image quickly entered my mind. Without a pause or any form of hesitation I engaged the emergency release for the pod that Sy, Nemi and myself are in. I quickly called out to Nemi who had also just joined the network, ¡°Nemi there is unknown flux in the stream we are going down. There is serious interference I think that we have only one chance to escape. The ship is disintegrating all around us.¡± ¡°GO GO!¡± Shouted Nemi as he had ascertained the same thing for this situation. I quickly with Nemi¡¯s help engaged the emergency braking and stop so we could eject the pod we all were currently located in. ¡°All or nothing here we go¡± I stated to the fully coherent Nemi and the barely aware Sy. The ship shuddered violently and the pod we all resided in showed stressed dents on some of the sides as we hurled out of the still disintegrating ship. I watched with the few remaining sensors as the ship that we called home for so long disappeared into fragments and then particles that the sensors could no longer identify. Sy POV ¡°Oh great what the bloody hell is going on out here.¡± I exclaimed but was promptly ignored by both Nemi and Asena as they fully concentrated on the piloting of the ship. I checked the system with my telepathic link and was shocked to find out that we had ejected from the galactic destroyer that seemed to no longer exist. That ship was thought to be near indestructible to all known laws and powers of the universe just what had happened to us I wondered. I checked the sensors and was shocked by how little I could see so much of the outside of the pod was damaged or simply gone it was obvious that we had somehow survived by the very skin of our teeth. ¡°Where are we?¡± I called out to the central core of the computer which promptly responded with << Error Insufficient Data >>. I froze that could not be this ship had a detailed map and sensor data for every part of the universe even the supposed unknown areas or hidden sectors that many militaries of our universe still had failed to penetrate. This was unprecedented we definitely had left Kansas I thought with grimace on my face. I quickly relayed the information over to Nemi and Asena who still ignored me with the struggles they faced trying to pilot a hard to maneuver pod that had so much damage it barely had proper emergency propulsion. I did my job as well checking all external weapon systems on the pod only to find all of them offline or missing entirely from the pod this made me a little nervous and I checked the system with the best of my abilities and found that we had entered into a solar system and we were quickly approaching a planet with two moons. One of the moon''s blocked my view of the planet but it was in a good habitable region of this solar system so I was sure that we were heading that way. I saw that our ship was in full brake mode trying to slow down enough so that we did not bounce of the biosphere of the upcoming planet. Nemi POV I was desperately trying to hold this pod together with sheer will power. It was holding thanks to little more than the overdesigned safety measures put into this pod. An annoying message from Sy was flashing on the edge of my screen but I dismissed it without as much as a glance all of my concentration and skill as a pilot was going into making this thing land on the planet ahead of us. I knew that this pod damaged as it was would probably disintegrate what little was left of it on reentry if I did not find some form of creative solution to this problem. ¡°Asena see if you can find a semi large meteor that we can vector in with.¡± I quickly called out and left it to her to locate what we needed in the small group of meteors that seemed to be heading towards the planet and its moons. ¡°I have found one and programed the proper vector in for you.¡± Asena replied. I was so glad that our system worked at the speed of thought or we would have no chance in the hells nebula of making this possible. Reading on Amazon or a pirate site? This novel is from Royal Road. Support the author by reading it there. The pod shuddered as it continued to slow a stream of vapor escaping out of the rear of the pod as what little air that permeated the pod continued to escape. Another alarm for loss in cabin pressure issued through my console and I quickly engaged the auto lock feature so that each of the tomb like casket shaped stasis pods we still resided in closed from the air in the escape pod we resided in. That gave us a little over thirty hours of air left for each of us. With only the emergency air in each of our armor suites left after that. The meteor was a large chunk of ice and rock that would suit our purpose just right. As I approached the meteor I called over to Asena ¡° Reverse the magnetic pulls and make it a slow release.¡± Our pod engaged its magnetic drive and pulsed slowly attracting the iron and other ferrous materials in the meteor until we connected. With the remaining thrusters and drives our hodgepodge propulsion system started to guide the meteor on an intercept course for the planet ahead of us. Asena POV We were going to make it even with the leak in the escape pod our entry time was a little over twenty nine hours away. ¡°Great job on that asteroid find¡± Nemi said. ¡°That was a fantastic find.¡± Sy interjected before I could respond. ¡°Thanks guys it was pure luck with that one though.¡± I replied. We had little to do until we got closer to the planet itself so we all started to search the system that we were currently located in. I finally had time to read Sy¡¯s message and was shocked to find that we seemed to be outside of the known universe and the more that he had looked into it our universe in its entirety. I paused as I thought of the ramifications of something like this a new planet and a new universe I wondered what we would find. I was fine leaving the old one no one that I cared about existed lived there. I had my family with me with that thought I relaxed a little it did not matter where we went as long as I had my family everything would come out all right. Sy POV Both Nemi and Asena had done a marvelous job getting us this far and Nemi¡¯s quick call to use one of the passing meteors that were heading towards the planet spoke of his quick out of the box thinking. I continued to search the system with the few sensors that we had left and quickly realized how spoiled I had been back on the our destroyer the Swan. I could secretly look out for close to an entity of a galactic quadrant in real time. Here with the few remnants of the sensors on the pod I could not even get a full and clear real time view of this solar system truly a sad state. ¡°Nemi do you see this unknown substance that seems to permeate this new universe that we have found ourselves in?¡± I questioned. I hear a mental gasp from both Asena and Nemi as no one had yet said out loud what we had found ourselves in. I went quite for a few moments as they seemed to mentally fully come to the conclusion that we had left all we knew and had now arrived in a place different than our own and we had no idea what to expect. Planet POV Some sailors that were traversing the deep sea of the black sea as well as some of the crew looked up into the sky as a few meteors streaked across the sky. A particularly large one went lower and a loud sound could be heard from numerous leagues away. As the large meteor streaked across the sky a general looked up from his camp and started to rally his troops with an obvious sign from those on high in the heavens. Some children looked up as they headed inside after a day of fun and games and wished that they could spend more time with their beloved father. A group of dark robed individuals slowly slit and young woman''s neck and joyous celebrate the falling part of the sky and the coming night. A young man kneels beside the bedside of his father and cries as the only man he has ever really respected fades from this life. A women gives birth and her husband cheers outside the room as his first child is born. Friends and fellow compatriots congratulate the new father as they dance around the room in bliss. In a tower high in the mountains a grey haired man and women hold hands at they look at the sky and contemplate what might come out of this sign. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ It was pointed out to me that I had a bit of a blond moment and did not space the prologue right and it made it a bit more challenging to read than needed. I am going to try and rectify that problem in this chapter. Please feel free to tell me what you think. Again I apologize if there are any mistakes please inform me and I will do my best to learn and grow as I write this. Thanks, ZNomad Chapter 2 Land Ho Chapter 2 Onwards and forwards. Or anyway¡­.. Well I¡¯m having fun and enjoying myself. Hopefully people are enjoying the story so far. I think this chapter will be a little longer and hopefully get people more involved with the characters. (P.S I have no idea how to edit past chapters since I¡¯m a noobie :( So if anyone can tell me how to go back and edit the first chapter or if it is possible I would be happy to try and space it out so it is more user friendly. Thanks) --------------------------------------------- A brightly colored fish glimmered and flashed with its rainbow colored scales reflecting of the sun shining down onto it. The fish quickly darted back into the reef as a larger dark fish with scales and pointed teeth swam past it. This was the main predator in this reef its dark grey and black scales made it a mostly nocturnal predator that hunted its prey down with few knowing that they would end up its meal. Why was this creature of the night and predator of the reef out in the day? The answer was simple something had disturbed it and it had decided to investigate who this perpetrator might be. As it swam to the edge of the reef and looked down a strange sight met its eyes that caused the fish to quickly turn around and swim back to the safety of the reef. For what it had spotted down below easily dwarfed the predator of the reef a large octagonal prism with pointed ends sat with flickering and glowing lights around it. The strange object looked like it might be a mighty monster of the deep that had fought to its end and come to find its final resting place. It was scarred with deep marks covering the pod and much of was covered in deep and dark burns. A few bubbles of air would occasionally escape from the pod and humming noise could be heard from within. The point that rested on the seafloor no longer had its sharp pointed look but was now more rounded as if a blacksmith had decided to flatten one end a little bit. From the far side of reef circular part of the got knocked out and strangely no water flowed in. Nemi POV ---------- ¡°We made it!!! We made it!!!¡± Sy and Asena both called out as they both jumped around me in glee. I¡¯m sure we made a strange sight all clad in armor celebrating our miraculous survival. I knelt down while both Asena and Sy jumped on top of me. I fell over backwards in the half foot of seawater that had entered the pod through various leaks. I looked at Asena her white armor had retracted a bit showing her wagging tail and canine grin. I laughed a little inside at her display of joy. Sy was not much better his long pather like tail whipped back and forth every so often and a slightly smug expression covered his face. I jumped up while pushing them off me in a fun and playful mood. ¡°Well guys what do you say to looking around a bit around a bit and seeing what''s out there?¡± I asked Sy and Asena. Both of them looked at me then looked out the hatch and shrugged. ¡°What it''s just water. You guys can handle it just fine.¡± I said to both of them. ¡° Come on it¡¯s not we are on a battlefield and crawling through the water is more of a dog and human thing right.¡± Sy said looking at us. With a suddenly evil grin starting to spread on my face I chuckled a little out loud which caused Sy and Asena to flinch a little. I grabbed both of them by the scruff of their necks and yelled out HOOAH as I dived out the hatch with my two sputtering passengers. Sy POV ------------- Of all the insufferable¡­¡­ UGHHHH Asena had the presence of mind to close her armor before we all got launched out of the pod with my crazy Colonel. Goodness the silly grin covering his face as we all started swimming to the surface was simply insufferable. I could feel Asena gloating in the background as she swam for the surface as well. ¡° Just wait for my revenge you oafs.¡± I called out to both of them. ¡° Sure, Sure¡­ I will hold my breath oh wait.¡± Asena snapped back. Curse her quick wit and the ability to instantly reply with telepathy. I grumbled in my own mind. Ah well it did put a smile on Nemi¡¯s face I thought. I looked towards him. He was still clad in his large black armor that was a little terrifying in its own right. The armor seemed to absorb the surrounding light a making like he was a shadow in the deep or some ethereal presence that existed in this world since the dawn of time. I noticed that Asena had already crested the surface and was paddling about looking around I reached up with my paw and yanked her underwater as I emerged onto the surface. ¡°You idiot jerk¡± Asena said as she breached the surface like a white submarine. ¡°You deserved it.¡± I said sticking my tongue out. Asena seemed to try to drown me while constantly splashing me. ¡°I beg you. Please give mercy please oh great elder¡± I called. This only seemed to incite more wrath as she started dunking my head underwater and I was a little thankful that she did not have hands or I¡¯m sure I would be getting strangled as well. ¡°Who are you calling an elder?¡± Asena said while growling. I¡¯m sure I saw a slightly dark aura surrounding her as I started to lose consciousness. ¡°Oh don¡¯t worry¡± she said as I was allowed to grab a quick breath. ¡°I won¡¯t let you go that easy.¡± Her smile was cold and calculating and I shivered even though we were in a warm and tropical ocean. Shit¡­. I messed up I thought. ¡°Someone save me from this monster¡± I called out. I saw Nemi just raise his hands and shrugged. I was pushed underwater and as the surface of the ocean started to fade from view I wondered if this was fate laughing at me. I survived what should have been impossible only to drown on a the same day. ¡°Morron use your helmet¡± I heard Nemi call. My numbed brain activated the command and my helmet closed over my head the water was purged and cold air entered my lungs. Ah I would live another day I sighed with content as Asena gave me one last push. ¡° Bah I wasn''t done with you yet. How dare you call me an old woman you brat¡± Asena said. She then started to lecture me on this and that. Respect those around you especially those in a higher rank. Follow orders be a good soldier blah¡­ Well I zoned out after the start and it wasn''t like I hadn¡¯t heard this thousands of times before. I mean sure I was younger than Asena and Nemi by a bit but who cares about a couple dozen millennia if you have been around as long as we have. I looked around glancing at our surroundings we seemed to be about two kilometers or so from a good sized island with another smaller volcanic island almost connected to it. I could see some birds in the air and beautiful white clouds in the sky. I could just see the outline of the two moons of the planet on the horizon. This world seemed free from pollutants and I remembered even when we entered the solar system there was no residual signs of any advanced civilization as far as the active sensors could read. This world seemed to lack all forms of technology which I found to be quite astounding I mean what world did not quickly advance its technology for survival and pursuit of more. Either this was an incredibly young world which it did not seem to be, or this whole universe operated on a different view and way. Asena POV ----------- The mangey good for nothing overgrown cat. Goodness calling me an elder and inferring that I was old. No women wants to be called old by a young brat with hardly a few thousand battles under his belt. I had finished my lecture which I know he did not pay one bit of attention towards. At least Nemi did not take his side. Oh well I almost had him he was starting to drift when the idiot finally remembered to activate his helmet. It would have served him right if he drowned once though. I smiled and a little inside at the thought of Nemi having to resuscitate Sy or apply a shock to get him back up. I chuckled a little and watch as Sy shuddered a little and swam farther away from me. Oh well at least his survival instinct is still partially intact. ¡°Hey guys lets get the pod onto the green island over there. We need to set up a camp and a operations center.¡± Nemi ordered. ¡°Yes sir¡± was the instant response by both Sy and myself. We quickly descended back down to the pod and attached a few magnetic clamps and and a tow cable to the pod. Working in perfect harmony from the countless years of practice made us seem like a well oiled machine not a group of recently stranded soldiers. I knew this spoke of our hellish training and countless years working together. Nemi stood in middle with full armor as Sy stood on the left and I stood on the right each of us had part of a cable connected from our armor onto the pod. We strove forward dragging the pod behind us. Our armor bit into the ground with spikes and increased or specific gravity for traction underwater. The pod kicked up silt and started to cloud our vision as we ploded forward step by step and meter by meter. To make the march more pleasant we did what soldiers have done for an eternity and began singing a cadence. ¡°They say that in the Army, the pay is mighty fine. They give you a hundred credits and take back ninety-nine. They say that in the Army, the coffee¡¯s mighty fine. It looks like muddy water, and tastes like turpentine. They say that in the Army, the biscuits are mighty fine. One rolled off the table and killed a friend of mine. They say that in the Army, the meat is mighty fine. Last night we had ten puppies, this morning only nine. They say that in the Army, the shoes are mighty fine. You ask for size eleven, they give you size nine. They say that in the Army, the pancakes are mighty fine. You can try to chew them, but you¡¯re only wasting time. They say that in the Army, the bed¡¯s are mighty fine. But how the hell would I know, I¡¯ve never slept in mine. A case of content theft: this narrative is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation. They say that in the Army, the mail is so great. Today I got a letter dated 3048. They say that in the Army, the hours are just right. Start early in the morning and work on through the night. They say that in the Army, the coffee¡¯s mighty fine. It¡¯s good for cuts and bruises and tastes like iodine. They say that in the Army, the chicken¡¯s mighty fine. One jumped off the table and killed a friend of mine. They say that in the army, the toilets are mighty fine. You flush them up at seven, they come back up at nine. They say that in the army, the tents are waterproof. You wake up in the morning and you¡¯re floating on the roof.¡± As we sang out our lines with gusto and heart we slowly pushed forward up the slope and past a vibrant and multicolored reef that was teeming with life. Black and white pin striped fish swam past and darted around in small schools. Little orange fish darted into the coral and would seem to peek back out every so often. Large purplish fish with beaks that made me think of some forms of birds swam away when we got close. A few large sea turtles with gentle green and blue designs on their shells seemed less afraid and simply ignored us as they traveled on their way. Yellow and white coral fins seemed to wave a greeting as we approached the island in front of us. ¡°Dry ground is almost here I can¡¯t wait¡± Called out Sy after the cadence. ¡°I¡¯m happy to take a bath and swim on the occasion but I just wasn''t engineered for any of this underwater crap. I mean seriously I¡¯m feline hybrid and I have to walk around dragging a pod underwater. Obviously this is not what I signed up for.¡± Sy grumbled. ¡°Well good thing you didn¡¯t sign but volunteered for this position in our group¡± Nemi called back. ¡°I mean did you not listen to your alternatives back in basic? What were they again? Oh yeah! Plasma fodder or make into a special team. If I remember right which I¡¯m sure I do who was it begged us to let you in and promised to do anything?¡± Nemi finished off. ¡°Bah you know that was all just to escape those crazies back in training. I would have said anything.¡± Sy snapped back ¡°Haha¡± I laughed. ¡°What you mean is you weaseled your way into the team and then expect to not take the plunge.¡± ¡°Ha Ha I get it take the plunge great wit you have there oh white one.¡± Sy said A dangerous grin started to cross my face and I saw Sy start to try and get further away. ¡°I know that no insinuation about age was made their just a reference to my beautiful fur. RIGHT¡± ¡°Now Now play nice kids¡± Nemi interjected ¡°Yes MOM¡± Sy and I replied while snicking. ¡°Ugh¡­ Why do I have to be the responsible one? Can¡¯t you guys just be good little children like those androidian kids or something.¡± Nemi grumbled at us. ¡°Did I hear that right Sy. Did mommy say that she doesn''t love us any more¡± I said in a sad and dejected voice. ¡°I guess she must hate us saying she wants to take some other kids instead of us¡± Sy said with an equally dejected tone. ¡°Sod off you two idiots, and stop calling me mom I¡¯m a guy so at least dad would be appropriate.¡± Nemi said cutting off our playful banter as we finished our trek through the sea and emerged onto the sandy beach still snickering. The island we had emerged onto looked like a picture of tropical paradise. Green palm trees stood proud and tall interspersed to provide shade at fortuitous points along the beach. Coconut trees seemed to abound and few parrots sat on some form of tree. Two large hills created the center of the island and beautiful waterfall could be seen falling down over a short sheer cliff allowing a small cloud of mist to be seen. A rainbow glittered through the mist as the sun cheerily shone down on the beautiful land. A few small animals that looked like a cross between a mountain goat and a small deer huddled together in herd near a stream that flowed into the ocean. Just across a small channel stood a island that seemed to be the exact opposite of the one we stood on. It seemed completely formed of volcanic rock and a obvious volcanic mountain dominated the landscape. No streams or fresh water seemed to inhabit the land. A few birds could be seen when I focused in on the island. Yet even they seemed only there to rest for a few moments and then move on to hunting their prey or traveling over to the island we currently stayed on. ¡°Well guys let¡¯s check this place out.¡± Sy said obviously excited to be on land again. His tail flickered back and forth in a weird spastic pattern as he looked at the birds and settled down a little as he looked back and form between Nemi and me. ¡°Well I don¡¯t see the problem in it.¡± I said looking towards what had to be a freshwater spring on the mountain. ¡°We will do a quick recon of the area and set up some sentries.¡± Nemi interjected into Sy and my obvious plans and goals. His clear focused military mind seemed to be almost robotic at times the poor guy just did not understand fun in the slightest sometimes. ¡°Sy get the mobile scanning units out of the pod and run a full analysis on the surrounding islands for at least ten kilometers off each of these islands. Asena I want you to set up a security threat analysis for all lifeforms on and around the islands that we locate with scans. I will set the drones out for collection of material and samples for dna and compatibility research to our own reserves let''s move it crew.¡± Nemi finished calling out. ¡°Sir, Yes, Sir¡± Sy and I instinctively replied. I sighed a little inside my plans of a spring bath and a little fun would have to be curtailed for now. As Sy collected the raw data and refined it a little into what we had surrounding us I quickly went through a threat analysis and what could possibly be a concern or even if there was some form of intelligent life around us. As our portable little scanners continuously searched around the island thoroughly looking into everything something became apparent. There was nothing and by that I truly mean that was absolutely nothing that was a danger to us we happened to land somewhere where we truly were the top of the food chain. I mean sure there were sharks in the water and some form of giant squid out farther from the island that roved around but these creatures posed no threat to us. I mean even the air was clean of pollution and only some strange present element was found to be through everything the air, land, water, and even living things all seemed to have this strange element. We ran it through tests and it seemed harmless. Nemi was working with the drones and some of our printing and replicating machines to repair some of the essentials on the pod and create more scouts with scanners and a few more drones. I watched as he quickly set up an automated security perimeter of the island using a combination of scouts with scanners and drones with medium to light weaponry placed at strategic locations throughout the two islands. ¡°Well everything is clear for us.¡± Sy declared while disconnecting from his telepathic link with the system. He started to remove his armor and had a drone place the heavy part in the pod while the thinner under armour seemed to disappear into his body and few strategic locations on his body. The armor formed a ornate collar on his neck and two earrings on his right ear. Mostly formed of nanites and biotech that seamlessly flowed together. ¡°Great I claim the springs as my empire and any who dare intrude shall face death.¡± I called out as I quickly removed my armor. The drones hurriedly took the armor back into the pod and my own collar and earrings formed. My collar was golden and seemed to be embedded with beautiful what seemed to be beautiful amethyst gems. While my earrings had a simple gold with what seemed to be jade carved into exquisite and intricate roses. ¡°Well guys don¡¯t go have too much fun without me.¡± Nemi said with a grin as he took of his heavy armor as well. ¡°I will see you both by the waterfall in a couple hours let me know if you guys find anything fun or strange. I could use a little relaxation.¡± He said as he continued to remove the outer armour revealing an impossibly toned physique under his skin tight suit. His upper torso seemed to be chiseled to some form of mythic perfection. The skin tight light absorbing black material on his upper body flowed to his arms creating two dark black bracers with a white and purple array of some archaic plant or vine that seemed to be almost alive if I looked at it too long. His bare back was covered in what was an impossibly intricate and well done tattoo. A mountain covered the background and in the front two dragons swirled around each one ending with its head on one of his shoulders. ¡°Enjoying the show little lady¡± Nemi said as he turned around with a grin on his face. ¡°Ha like I would care about that.¡± I said. ¡°Plus who wants an old geezer like you.¡± ¡°Pervert¡± Sy grumbled out. ¡°Ouch that just hurts¡± I said stumbling around faking agony and pain. ¡°Yeah, yeah just as long as I don¡¯t catch anything from you¡± Nemi said laughing. ¡°Ugh men are all the same you jerks¡± I called as I cantered off towards the spring. Happy to leave the two guys. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- So sorry for being a little slow with getting this chapter out. I ended up catching a cold. :( I know it happens¡­. Anyway I hope you all enjoy Znomad Chapter 3 What Dosen鈥檛 Kill You Chapter 3 (What Dosen¡¯t Kill You) So I wonder what you guys think of the characters so far. As the story progresses I wonder which character will become your favorite. Let me know what you think of the cover picture for the story. I took the picture myself and thought it would fit so tell me if you like it or if I should look for a different image. Thanks, Znomad --------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Nemis POV Shit! What the hell just happened. I mean seriously what the hell. I watched Asena and Sy wonder off to have fun on this island when suddenly I get an emergency signal from both of there locations with a iminate medical situation alert. The drones that were stationed nearby already grabbed them and should be here any minute. I mean there shouldn¡¯t be anything on this planet let alone the island that could have taken down either of them. Just what in the world is going on. I prepared two table like gurneys with some drones help. ¡°Status of incoming patients?¡± I growled which got me the classic answer. ¡°Unknown condition. Colonel¡± The drone respond in rote and unemotional monotone. ¡°Not helping.¡± I growled. ¡°What is the ETA (estimated time of arrival) of Sy and Asena?¡± ¡°Two minutes for Lieutenant Sy and three minutes for Major Asena. Sir¡± The drone crisply responded as we quickly set up a basic ER (emergency room) style area next to the pod. A inflatable hazmat station was already set up and a drone was helping me with a full biological contamination lockdown situation and the ensuing protocol. As no dangerous local life or fauna had been discovered the only logical conclusion would be some form of microbial or fast acting virus. It seemed a little impossible after the thorough scans that we had completed but stranger things had happened with equipment on new planets. ¡°Put Sy down on gurney one and run full preliminary test. I need to know if any foreign bodies have entered his body.¡± I called to the drone as it transferred Sy into the room. ¡°Prepare to put Asena on gurney two.¡± I said to the other drone on standby by the door. Semi organic partitions seemed to grow from the part of the gurneys and covered most of Sy. A clear see through cover slid into place over Sy and a greenish light filtered out as he was put into full stasis until we analyzed the multiple samples that we had collected from him. The process was repeated for Asena and I stood there as full holographic display of each of their bodies appeared above the gurneys. My hands extended into each display comparing traits as the medical program tried to give helpful insights into what the problem may or may not actually be. ¡°This universe is the real problem you damn machine.¡± I exploded at the unintelligent machine that continued to try and give me helpful hints. I quickly disabled all of the help or assistance that the database could provide. ¡°This thing seems to act like some form retrovirus that is trying to change Asena and Sy from the inside out? Hmm it doesn''t seem like it is trying to destroy or control the organism however.¡± I mumbled to myself as I looked through data again. Whatever the strange new particle that seems to exist in this universe and not ours was going to change us somehow. I could feel my own nanites and various organic defences trying to stop this change at a molecular and in some cases atomic level. I could hold it off because of it seemed to affect me less than Asena and Sy. ¡°Well there is one way?¡± I mumbled as I started to remove my bio suit. ¡°This might be painful.¡± I said as rocked my head back and forth and then cracked my knuckles. ¡°Here goes nothing¡± I quickly commanded the drones to create a full tiered safety and security perimeter with the pod and its patients as the center. Full heavy ordnance drones and robotic soldiers started to be formed with the replicators and printers. I went and sat outside the medical tent in a meditative pose two medical drones and a combat drone stood behind me. This story has been unlawfully obtained without the author''s consent. Report any appearances on Amazon. ¡°Here we go. Start lockdown emergency protocol. Defend the castle protocol with organic crew as priority for safety.¡± I commanded the drones and main computer on the pod. I fully stopped all biological and mechanical counters to this foreign substance and allowed it to flow into me. Not wanting to inhibit my thoughts or the knowledge gained by this I did not allow myself to lose consciousness. ¡°AHHHHHH¡± I screamed in pain. It felt like my body was being resculpted. I had a duplicate of most major organs in my body that worked in tandem with the other in case of severe injury on the battlefield. As I monitored my body I coughed up some blood. A weird change covered my eyes causing me to go blind for a few minutes as I continued to vomit out some blood and various bones in body torn apart. Fragments penetrated and stuck out of my skin as blood pooled out slightly. It seemed that I was dying a violent death from within. ¡°UGHHH¡± I groaned out as my vocal cords ripped and I lost my voice completely. ¡°Shit! Holy Hell that hurts.¡± I grumbled in my brain. The nanites and various other addons in my body valiantly strove to piece me back together from this violent attack and the microscopic level. I knew that my body could withstand metric tons worth of force. I mean I came from a high gravity world. We trained and lived in a ship that was twenty times that gravity. I knew that on this planet had what we would consider standard or one gravity. I could operate at forty gravities easily and maxed out needing my armor to function at fifty gravities. I could easily pick up twenty five tons of weight if needed without my armor in this world. I knew my bones undoubtedly be harder than the diamond yet still supple enough to withstand a free fall drop to the ground. Yet here some of them stuck out of my skin. My enhanced eyes had gone blind and I felt more pain than should be possible. If I had allowed it my body would have passed out due either to the pain or the severe trauma that had been inflicted to my body. I was on the ground in a pile of disgusting bodily fluids, dirt, and sand. I¡¯m sure that it was utterly revolting and I was almost grateful for my lack of current working senses. I felt a large amount of pain as I was lifted and placed on a gurney that the medical drones put me on. I felt some form of motion even with the destruction of my inner ear. I would have thrown up if I had fluids left in my digestive tract. I smelled a awful burnt charred smell and felt a little residual heat as per protocol the soldier drone used a flamethrower and plasma rifle to burn and vaporize any leftover contaminants or traceable evidence behind. I felt my body being lowered into some form of liquid or gel and I could only extrapolate that it must be the regeneration tank in the pod. It was full of medical nanites and huge quantities of medicinal extracts and vitamins that would help rejuvenate and heal and near death soldier medevaced from the field of battle. I wanted to scream in agony again as my bones got pushed back into my body and started to fuse back together at the atomic level and in some ways actually improve what had been their before. Unfortunately no noise came out of my mouth because of my torn vocal chords. The regeneration tank or RT as we soldiers called it worked off the dna of the patient to properly bring them back to their original and whole self with the loss of limbs or even if the patient was in stasis and all but brain dead. I was gladly not nearly in that bad of a position. I could feel some changes to my body. I still refused to pass out as my body got put together piece by piece and reassembled in agony. I swore that even if both Asena and Sy did have to go through this process that they would do it in stages and without pain. With the ramping up of various a few changes in my body it did something I thought would be impossible it started to repair itself using the very particles that had caused so much damage and the indescribable pain that I had experienced. As my body repaired at an impossible speed with the nanites, gel, and my weird new regeneration ability I wondered what all had truly changed about me. With a huge absorption of more of the strange particles and my body continued to heal a explosion of the of force exited my body and ruptured the tank and everything went dark. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Well people I hope you all are still enjoying the story. ;) It is still in its infancy¡­. Oh so cute¡­. LOL Anyway if any of you have thoughts or suggestions let me know. I really focused in in Nemi this chapter is he is supposed to be my main character. :) Anyone feel the how OP he will be yet. Oh and let me know if you can guess what fantastic racial traits he has just picked up/ assimilated. P.S (Do I sound like a native english speaker or not?? Oh and extra credit to the one that can guess where/ what country the cover picture was taken in.) Znomad Chapter 4 UFO Chapter 4 (UFO) So muhahhahaha or something¡­. Time for the world to wonder just what might have happened on their planet. ;) Or something?? Well forwards and onwards lets see where the winds blow me today. Znomad ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- ------------Elf Capital-------- A beautiful city sat in the middle of a forest. The seamless construction of the homes walkways and roads spoke of a beautiful organic structure. Most of the houses were actually constructed using live plants. Beings that looked to be what every classic painter would give a right arm for walked around in simple elegance. Plant and animal inspired dress covered these people. Many of the women wore clothing that one think of soft flower petals and interspersed with intricate designs of vines and some had dresses that could put some beautiful butterfly wings to shame. Men wore clothing that had simple patterns often emulating an interesting pattern of bark like one on a birch tree or some other form of fauna. Even children seemed well dressed and played around with the simple joy of childhood around homes and on walkways. In the center of the city was the largest tree in the area and it seemed to rise above the canopy of homes in metropolis. Inside of the large tree a meeting between the leaders of this race who are referred to as the elven kind or simply elves to most of the inhabitants of this planet. A group twenty eight individuals meet with the reigning monarch of the land. ¡°We must inform Queen Vanya of this momentic event.¡± the leader of the high council said. ¡°But councillor Lee what do we truly know of this strange event?¡± one of the more moderate council members interject. ¡°This could be nothing but a predicted falling of meteors.¡± ¡°Please councillor Bianca I understand that you do not want to trouble the Queen with such news. The Queen is busy with many things and her oldest daughter is about to be sent to the great academy. With all that is going on with that she should not have to be worried about such base rumors, however it her right to know with her daughter traveling across the part of the great eastern sea.¡± The esteemed councilor Ivy finished the discussion. With a few nodded heads and words of acceptance the group waited to enter the royal hall where the queen currently sat in court. A door imposing in its royal splendor stood in front of them. Guards dressed in uniform splendor stood beside the doors with large spears with what seemed to be shined to an impossible sheen. Intricate designs could be seen on the spear shaft that made the dangerous weapons seem more like works of art than deadly instruments of war. The guards stood still as statues and seemed to almost be a part of the scenery instead of living breathing soldiers. A simple but perfectly done cermony for the change of the guards proceeded the councilors and the gate was slowly pushed opened. Nemi POV ¡°Ah bloody fucking hell¡± I growled as I gained consciousness and slowly got off the floor. ¡°Well that shouldn¡¯t have happened.¡± I grumbled as I tried to look around the pod. Suddenly a piercing headache seemed to go through my head. ¡°Shit not again.¡± I rasped out as blackness covered my vision and I fell unconscious yet again. -----------------Human Capital -------------------------- A older man in a strange outfit excitedly rushed through the main doors of the royal court causing everyone to fall silent. The man had a strange pointed hat with a few swirls and what seemed almost to be bright stars on a dark night etherly shining on it. His dress was truly a strange sight to behold. The man could only be what might generously call a bathrobe with a nightgown underneath. He had a full yet wild white beard and wisps of grey hair randomly stuck out and angles that seemed to somehow defy both logic and all known laws of science. ¡°Court wizard Eli what is the meaning of this display?¡± A portley noble called out to the old man. ¡°Yes please tell us of what the issue may good sir Eli¡± A regally dressed man said as he sat down on a golden embossed throne. ¡°I apologize your majesty.¡± Eli said with a bow of his head. ¡°Your highness a strange and impossible occurrence has transpired.¡± If you encounter this tale on Amazon, note that it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it. ¡°What is it this time you old coot?¡± grumbled a weathered old man who could only be a member of a military. ¡°I heard that you mangey cur.¡± Eli retorted. The king rolled his eyes at what was transpiring in his court. ¡°High wizard Eli and supreme general Erich please restrain yourselves at this time.¡± The king said before another worthless taunting match played out between the old rivals. ¡°Apologies your highness¡± both of the old men said at the same time well bowing their heads to the king. ¡°Apologies accepted good sirs however please refrain from repeating this occurrence in the future.¡± The king said with a raised eyebrow and a harsh look at both of the culprits. As both of the men looked down at the floor after what was deemed sufficient chastisement. ¡°Now high wizard Eli the supreme general was about to inform us of an interesting discovery by some of his forces. May I ask of what could be of such great importance for you to interrupt court in such a manner?¡± The king asked. ¡°My humblest apologies your greatness.¡± the wizard said well general Erich tried to contain a laugh and coughed in the background. ¡°I have heard rumors of a strange object that had fallen from the sky some days past and discovered a strange and impossible disturbance of mana near the reported sighting of the falling star. I fear that it may have awoken a kraken or sea dragon. I implore you to contact the high admiral and inform him of this danger and if possible to allow a small expedition to discover the full scope of this anomaly my liege.¡± The wizzard presented with a full sweeping bow this time. ¡°Thank you high wizard Eli. I will take that into consideration and inform the high admiral of this possible threat immediately.¡± The king said dismissing the wizard with a wave of his royal scepter. ¡°General Erich what is the news that you needed to present?¡± The king questioned. ¡°I¡¯m here to inform you that the rogue state of Marh has increased the border security on our border and a few scrimmages between our forces have taken place. I fear that this is a sign of possible escalation soon great king. We are unfortunately spread thin with the barbarian attacks in the north and a few slave and peasant revolts in the south.¡± General Erich quickly and without any additions threw out the facts much to some nobles chagrin as they had dared not offend either the king or other nobles. This is but a small part of the terror of what is the deadly beast known to all as politics. ¡°Thank you for the report general Erich¡± The king replied with simple and elegant aplomb as the many of the northern and southern nobles looked in anger or shame at the general. ¡°General do you have any suggestions for this situation?¡± The king asked. ¡°Yes your highness I do have one simple suggestion. I would recomend the ability for the rebelling slaves and peasants to receive amnesty and freedom upon a four year service term in the military with only minimal payment required.¡± The general suggested with a straight and confidant face. Many of the nobles cursed him under their breath and others wondered if he could survive yet another assassination attempt. ¡°A very intriguing idea that I¡¯m sure has some merit for consideration.¡± The king said before dismissing his supreme general with another wave of his scepter. Internally the king thought that the old general was a fool to pursue such ideals publicly. The general left the court with scathing stares and dark mutterings aimed at his large armored shoulders. The dark and near violent atmosphere did nothing to the old general and he simply walked out of the room without a backwards glance. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- So here is a quick release. I had a good day and well had enough time to throw something out. Oh and if anyone has a way to show/ tell me how to do a poll I would be very thankful. Again I apologize for my inability to properly utilize the features on the site. I¡¯m a true novice. :( Someday I will gain enlightenment. :) Hope you all had fun with this chapter. Thanks, Znomad Chapter 5 Beauty Sleep Chapter 5 (Beauty Sleep) So I had a reader recommended that I change the picture on my cover. I would love to know what some general ideas for what it should be. If you have any thoughts on the subject let me know. The picture up there was meant to be temporary and I have lots of pictures that I have taken. I might randomly throw up a few or see if I can put some at the end of the chapter for you all to see and tell me which might fit a bit better. Have fun with the chapter and don¡¯t be shy to tell me what you think and what I can improve. Thanks, Znomad -------------------------------------------------------------- --------Marh Capital---------------------- A dark figure seemed to emerge from the shadows. A dark cloak covered the obviously female figure. As she seemed to strut down the street her figure perfectly accented by the few flickering candles and torches interspersed on the hallway. Two guards stood in front of an entrance as the seductive lady approached the door. Neither guard showed any attention to the lady or seemed to show her acknowledgment in any form. The dark lady pushed the door open and entered a room that was filled with implements of death. A large metal wedge was in the corner and countless spools of rope and various whips adorned the wall. Another wall had various tools and implements from pliers and wedges to planes and sharp skinning knifes. Dark stains covered the floor and various wooden tables with iron manacles sat empty. The flickering and pale light cast by the torches caused an almost ethereal feeling. One could easily mistake this for a forgotten room cast from a portion of hell itself. Only the lack of screams and sounds of agony seemed to be missing from this place. The women seemed far too elegant for such a horrible place. As she arrived in the center of the room she removed her cloak in a smooth and sexual manner that would put some of the more experienced madams in the red district to shame and make them take notes. The lady had a pale porcelain face with beautiful purple eyes that seemed to almost glow dimly with an inner light. Just a hint of red covered her cheeks and nose and slightly pouty look on her beautiful mouth finished off her gorgeous face. Her full jet black hair reached down to almost her waist. A red dress hugged her body revealing just enough to want more yet leaving enough to the imagination that you could not really see everything. Her gown went down to her ankles however large slits on the sides revealed perfectly sculpted calves and tantalizingly stopped right as they reached her thighs. The dipping neckline accentuated a large bust without allowing any glimpses at their full glory. To finish everything off she wore a pair of perfectly matching shoes. A scraping sound of a door opening and the annoying singing of rusty hinges foreshadowed the entrance of a short bookish man. As he entered the room it seemed as if his hawkish nose preceded the rest of him. He pulled a cart that had a strapped down man who was obviously unconscious into the foreboding room. When he glanced up to see the lady standing in the middle of the room a sinister smile started to form across his face. Nemi POV ¡°Yes I¡¯m alive.¡± I choked out as I clawed my way out of a thick cocoon of gelatin and slime that covered me completely. Coughing out some form of phlegm like substance in my throat I gasped for air. ¡°Sweet creators I live.¡± I said with an expression of relief crossing my face. I crawled to the center of the pod as a set of humanoid drones in hazmat colors and symbols collected all of the gelatinous material and carefully packaged it into sealed containers that would soon be fully incinerated outside. I sat on the floor contemplating what just happened. A quick thought caused some of the medical drones to surround me and a holographic display to appear in front of my eyes. With just a thought a quick medical breakdown of my body happened on the screen. I saw that a few things had changed in my body. The largest change was that some form of ethereal and incorporeal veins had intertwined with my actual blood vessels. I also realized that the equipment could not recognize what it was or even if it was really there. Each of these veins seemed to be a slightly different color one was a dark purple color and the other a dark blue. Both of these led back to one of my hearts that seemed to have some weird form of what I could only suppose was a pocket dimension of this substance. As I continued to look into the display of body I found one more of these pocket dimension things in between my two hearts. It was connected to both and now that I knew that it was there I saw smaller and much more intricate threads branching out of it and into every portion of my body. It even seemed to cover my bones in ultra fine webbing and lace of the stuff. The pool of whatever was in the center seemed to be an almost translucent white color to my eyes. It had become a part of me in such a fine way it almost seem to be purposely rivaling the countless nanites also interspersed throughout my body. Unauthorized usage: this narrative is on Amazon without the author''s consent. Report any sightings. ¡°Hmm well at least it doesn''t seem to be parasitic just a part of me now¡± I said well reaching up and putting a hand on my face in a classic thinker pose. I suddenly froze with shocked expression covering my face in a undoubtably comedic look. Again touching my face I suddenly started laughing. ¡°I have a beard. No way!¡± I exclaimed. As a purpose built super soldier there were various things that we had been designed to not want, have, or even think about. One of those things was facial hair. I had one of the drones create a simulated mirror and looked at myself for the first time since the transformation. I could not stop looking and admiring my full dark red beard. ¡°Colonel what is the command for Major Asena and Lieutenant Sy medical condition sir?¡± A medical drone asked. Ah what was I doing my faithful subordinates are in stasis with this condition and here I am sitting and looking at myself what sort of idiot am I. ¡°I want both the major and the lieutenant to be kept unconscious at all times during the for the following procedures.¡± I replied to the drone with a contemplative expression on my face as I rubbed my beard. ¡°I want both the major and the lieutenant to be surrounded by emergency recuperative gel at all times with full and extra energy supplement available to them at all times. In fixed and short intervals under full observation both of them should be removed from stasis containment and then be put back into stasis. The interval will be one sec intervals until further examination of the facts and changes to major and lieutenant are made apparent.¡± I commanded the drone. With altricity I watched the drone go off to do my bidding. ¡°Defense drone commander.¡± I said as I turned to a nearly invisible drone in the background of the pod. Its active cammo made it hard to see by normal eye sight even while on the move and made it impossible to locate by the eye alone while it sat still. ¡°I want this island fully autonomous with a active Alamo command code issued to all units.¡± I commanded with almost no waiver in my voice. ¡°As per command protocol I must recommend against this command and ask for clarification that this is command code Alamo being issued?¡± The command drone asked with a monotone voice. ¡°Command code Alamo is issued and clarification has been noted.¡± I said with a slightly ecited expression covering my face ¡°The code is ewghsudzfipmziyhxewyuqlkkbpgbazuegbbewpmwgfgmepfuwgrpwyiiphapghyhxuwgrpdlhbzzsyhxewpalqgbuzewpsyhxizaagfwyungmsogfiuwgrpdlhdyhiyhxazfpueldd.¡± I gave out repeating the code I had created and memorized countless years ago with the help of a mad creator and Asena. The drone asked for confirmation of the code one more time before I repeated the code to him once more. ¡°Command code Alamo initiated.¡± The drone said before quickly leaving the pod. ¡°Ah¡± I said and sighed. With the initiation of the Alamo protocol I had just made the decision that this planet was going to be our home from this time onwards. I felt a strange feeling of contentment and happiness. A smile covered my face without me even realizing what was happening. -------------------------------------------------------------------- So here is another chapter for you all. By the way the code is actually a cryptogram. :) So for any of the more adventurous of you feel free to try and decrypt it. I have been having fun with the story however finding the time to write can be a little challenging at times. I am also considering changing my cover picture however I don¡¯t really want to copy a random picture from online but have one that I did myself. So anyway that complicates things¡­. I will keep it on the back burner for now. Thanks, Znomad P.S. For all of you that want a hint. Here are a few, l=b, z=k, w=o. Chapter 6 A What Chapter 6 (A What) So yeah yeah¡­. The last chapter was short¡­. Anyway I wanted to put out what I had finished and work on the next part. If you all want me to wait until I have longer fuller chapters let me know. I can wait and post them as one long piece instead of segments. Well the whip is cracking so back to work I must go :( Znomad FYI I like jokes but sense of humor is messed up sometimes also trying to put it into writing seems to be a challenging¡­. I think maybe it''s just the newbie me. :) -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- ---------Elf Capital---------- ¡°Princess please see some reason¡± A tied up guardsman begged of the royal princess. ¡°I have heard all that you have said however I will not be dissuaded of my quest of exploration and freedom¡± The princess said with a shake of her blond head. An elegant fox like familiar rested around her shoulders. ¡°I have been cooped up in this city for over four decades it is time that I get to see the outside world.¡± The princess said with a dramatic waving of her arms. The guard shook his head and bowed in dismay and defeat. ¡°Please Princess Shonna at least bring some of us with you.¡± A maid called out from a corner of the room. A bunch of confirmations and vigorous head nodding ensued from the rest of the captives. ¡°There is no need to worry.¡± The princess proclaimed with delight covering her face. ¡°Emma and Jonah have promised to come with me.¡± The beautiful elf proclaimed. A dark look crossed most of the guards faces and a sad look covered many of the maids faces. ¡°My lady Shonna please reconsider.¡± A guard interjected. ¡°Young noble Jonah is a pompous and unsuitable escort to such a person as yourself. We all know of your legendary ability in the skill of magic and even so we ended up as we are.¡± The guard went on. ¡°Jonah however can neither fight nor will he try to preserve your honor and virtue.¡± The guard exclaimed to the head nodding of various guards and maids. It was known around the upper circles that Jonah was hopeless flirt and loved to talk a game about his dueling skills. The guards however knew that Jonah had even been rejected by the elven rangers because of his lack of skill with both the sword and bow. ¡°And princess Shonna, Emma is a daughter of the dwarven ambassador that is known for her drunken brawls.¡± A maid complained from behind a guard. ¡°She is utterly unfeminine and completely uncouth.¡± A different maid said from a part of the room. ¡°She is likely to get you into a serious problem instead of helping.¡± A guard said. ¡°Be quite all of you¡± the princess yelled. ¡°I will be going it doesn''t matter what you all say about my friends but it will make no difference.¡± The princess responded defiantly. With near effortless skill the princess then cast a wide sleep magic on all of the people in the room before climbing out of the window of the school building she was currently in. Eli POV ¡°Damn that idiot general and his straightforward approach.¡± I muttered as I tried to think of new ways to help the slaves escape. As a man of learning and magic I prided myself with the notion of being unique among others both in thought and mannerisms. I had learned to despise slavery early on in my youth when I had befriended a child who lived in one of the homes not far from mine. That little girl was kidnapped and sold into slavery and few years latter I would find her diseased and barely recognizable corpse by the garbage of a rich noble house. The sight of her will haunt me more than the deaths of the thousands I have killed during our wars with any of the rouge kingdoms or other races. I was considered an eccentric old fool by many in the court and was happy to propagate that image. The fact that I was already four hundred and eighty four years old meant little to a wizard of advanced skill. So I have done all that I can since I discovered little Jennifer''s corpse to remove the blight of slavery from this land. Unfortunately slavery although thankfully not practised by all of the major kingdoms was still considered standard practice and accepted as being something allowed even if only grudgingly by the majority in both the dwarven and elven kingdoms. The elven queen Vanya Yoder had even made a law that caused having any child slave illegal and punishable by various means. A figure suddenly appeared inside my room causing me to curse. ¡°What the hell Erich¡± I exclaimed to the laughter of Erich in a manner causing his me to almost doubt if he was as old as me. ¡°Ah Eli you have given me many more years of life with the look on your startled face.¡± The bemused general said. ¡°Seriously Erich what is wrong with your head you bastard?¡± I asked ¡°Nope.¡± Erich responded with a cheeky grin. ¡°However if you are offering to fix an ailment.¡± He continued ¡°Hell no.¡± I cut in with passion. ¡°I remember last time you had a and I quote ailment.¡± I finished. ¡°Oh but you trying to find that mystical snake in your boots put a smile on every green soldiers face for the next week.¡± Erich said while chuckling. ¡°I mean you used bloody magic to freeze and then burn those boots into nothingness.¡± He said in between laughing. ¡°I mean how often do you see a barefoot wizard because he decided to melt out his only pair of boots.¡± Erich finished holding his stomach not even trying to keep in any form of proper respect or decorum in my home. ¡°Speaking of magic how the hell did you get past my wards?¡± I questioned. ¡°Tsk tsk now dear Eli you can¡¯t ask a general to give away all his tactics.¡± Erich responded. ¡°Tactics that means you¡­.¡± I suddenly stopped. ¡°Fuck no you didn¡¯t¡± I said. He grinned with a smile that made me think of cat that just ate a bird. ¡°Please tell me you did not go down on the damn bitch.¡± I said with disdain clearly covering my face with undoubtably a little shock and disbelief. ¡°We all know that a gentleman would never devolve his tactics or love life Eli.¡± Erich rebuked me with a slightly stern tone. ¡°What gentleman?¡± I coughed out. ¡°I believe all the residents of this humble wizards tower are old geezers with nothing left of that condition called compassion.¡± I said as I activated a glowing magic fireball before throwing it full force at Erich. He dogged out of the way in a blur of movement that I would not have been able to detect without magic. ¡°Ah old friend must you really?¡± Erich asked from behind me. ¡°People will start saying you are going senile throwing fireballs around your own tower again¡± he finished saying with a smile. If you find this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the infringement. ¡°You man whore¡± I exclaimed with mock outrage as I tossed some lightning around the room. ¡°Your days are numbered that lady is the most sought after ice queen of the court.¡± I exclaimed. ¡°Oh and she deserves the attention because she was so good.¡± Erich whispered in my ear. ¡°Damn you to hell you sex fiend.¡± I growled out as Erich disappeared in a blur and even my magic could only tell that he was still in the room somewhere. ¡°Fine I quite what is it that you wanted from me?¡± I asked ¡°Well I wanted to help set up an expedition into the deep sea to discover what is happening out there after the falling star.¡± Erich said suddenly as he sat in the chair across from me. ¡°Hmm¡± Nodding seriously I unleashed the pent up lightning magic causing Erichs hair to stand straight up on end and arcing small amounts of electricity off his body onto the chandelier above us. ¡°I would need to form a suitable group or assign a few students from the academy to go on the expedition.¡± I thought aloud. ¡°Really?¡± Erich said with arched eyebrows. ¡°Well if only the ladies could see you now.¡± I said with a smile on my face. Nemi POV I love this island it has truly become my home. The two islands could not have been more different. Currently I was on what had previously been an island devoid of anything worthwhile to the animals and plants of the area. To me this island was a treasure trove of materials. The volcano that was inactive teemed with countless drones as the mined out the crater and formed blocks of magma into blocks with stasis generators. For the first time in my life I felt the desire to be creative and make something. A long bridge was being formed to connect the two islands. Benches and little fountains with beautiful flowers already covered most of the completed portion of the bridge. As this was only meant for pedestrian or drone traffic it was created to be beautiful and even with the large expanse used no struts creating a aqua blue opaque side wall and a perfectly clean and see through glass like walkway. The volcanic mountain was steadily disappearing at an astonishing rate. Numerous underwater roads led to small bunkers that were being filled with caches of ammunition or left empty with marking for various generators and power plants. An underwater submarine facility was being constructed and the countess drones had scared away the gigantic squid that lived not far from the island. The creation of the infrastructure on both islands was progressing at a good pace however I realized just how challenging it was to build and create all of this instead of destroy it. The disparity of these things seemed to affect me in a way that I had never felt before. I was also doing things like creating more than what was truly needed and making art which was something that was not originally designed as something I could do. I felt a unique sense of accomplishment that I had never really felt before. ¡°Colonel Nemi Sir.¡± The relay drone next to me said. With a glance at its direction it continued ¡°The progress on Major Asena and Lieutenant Sy has reached a critical observation point as you directed Sir.¡± ¡°Affirmative.¡± I replied as I turned and walked to a side door that opened automatically. Inside of the door a tall pod stood on a mechanical mechanism over a closed circular opening. I had decided to use the same design as on our dreadnought sized ships for the two islands. Numerous junctions and access doors were being placed near all important sections on both islands. This pod was in essence an extremely rapid transport tube with internal inertial dampeners to allow one to get anywhere on either island with in a little over a minute. ¡°Medical facility in bunker one¡± I said out loud and the pod responded with a green light that flashed three times. Stepping into the pod the door quickly closed behind me and the walls all closed in conforming to my shape before a sudden feeling of weightless occurred. Almost as quick as I felt it the walls retreated and the door opened again. In front of me in bold yellow block print read ¡°Bunker 1 Medical Center¡±. I walked out of the pod and the door closed behind me. Ten separate doors identical to the one that I just left also had closed doors seemingly waiting to take passengers to various locations. The inside of the medical facility was light bright and airy. The initial walkway created the illusion of seeing out into a beautiful forest. Large windows displayed a giant forest of purple trees and blue grass. Little animals scurried around on the forest floor and large birds flew around or roosted in decorated nests. The illusion was dispelled slightly by the hallway and clean hospital smell that permeated the hallway. Exiting the hallway a giant circular room greeted me. Peaceful orchestra music of a long destroyed world played peacefully in the background. The windows in this room displayed the beauty of a nebula and the glorious view of the stars from space. A central desk had a few drones standing on call as receptionists although this was a wasted effort considering the amount of people currently inhabiting the islands. Walking to a door marked as the observation wing I entered into an airlock that cycled the air and directed me to change into a hazmat suit. After giving the controlling machine an override the next door opened and closed behind me once I entered and the air was again cycled before a final door with a biohazard symbol stood in front of me. I calmly walked over to the door and it hinged open in a smooth motion. Inside the observation wing numerous medical drones moved around running tests and double checking various displays. Asena and Sy laid in floating stasis fields on opposite ends of the room. Both of them had two drone comandos standing at the wall beside them for protection just incase and a full set of medical drones each. ¡°Well it looks like things are getting there guys.¡± I said as I looked at the only friends and family I had left. ¡°Well won¡¯t both of you guys be surprised when you wake up.¡± I mumbled out while chuckling to myself. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Well onwards and forwards as they say. I hope that this chapter finds you all in good spirits. :) I have decided that I will release a chapter a week for sure and see if there is more in me depending on my schedule. Enjoy! Thanks, Znomad Chapter 7 Jolly Roger Chapter 7 (Jolly Roger) Well the story is progressing and I¡¯m having fun. :) Also just to let you all know this is a story that I¡¯m writing in my free time from my own imagination. I also have not posted it anywhere else and it should only be here. ;) So have fun and let''s find some pirates. YEAH!! LOL. Znomad -------------------------------------------- Random Pirate POV ¡°De seas ¡®av been rough de last few days¡± A young lad said looking out of the crows nest. ¡°Yeah it ¡®as been.¡± The other lookout replied. ¡°Rumors are dat a giant kraken ¡®as been spotted after de fallin¡¯ star.¡± The first lookout said with a frightened look on his young face. ¡°Don¡¯t woory Jimmy dohs are jist worthless rumors an¡¯ blarney shared by scarred an¡¯ superstitious auld fishermen.¡± The older lookout said with a cocky grin on his face. ¡°But really why wud they spread rumors aboyt a kraken Roger it wud be brutal for business?¡± Jimmy asked with a perplexed look on his face. ¡°Mabye they were tryin¡¯ ter scare us away from gran¡¯ score.¡± Roger replied. ¡°Quit blatherin¡¯ an¡¯ git ter spottin¡¯ yer damn kids.¡± A red faced salior bellowed at them from the riggings ¡°Aye Sir¡± Both Roger and Jimmy yelled back as they quickly turned to look back out at the vast sea in hopes that they would be the first to spot something. ----Elf Capital------------- ¡°Where is she?¡± The queen Vanya said with a slightly pinched look on her face. ¡°I regret to inform you my queen that Princess Shonna whereabouts are presently unknown.¡± A elf dressed in a arrangement of earth tones and plant shades said as she kneeled in front of the queen with her head bowed. ¡°I have my best rangers scouring the land.¡± She said. A similarly dressed elf silently entered the chamber and with a formal salute then also knelt in front of the queen. With a simple wave of the queen''s hand both rangers stood up. ¡°What is the updated report ranger Hayha?¡± The queen asked the ranger who had just entered. ¡°My queen¡± Hayha said with a bowing of his head. ¡°The princess incapacitated her guards and escaped into the city. After tracking her movements and questioning witnesses we have discovered that she did not leave the city by teleportation magic nor did she exit the city into the forest. She was however joined by the ambassador''s daughter Emma and a man we presume to be low noble Jonah.¡± A deadly and dark aura seemed to emit from Hayha as he finished his statement. ¡°What is the presumed heading of my daughter and her companions?¡± The queen asked and the chilling effect of Hayha¡¯s aura instantly dissipated. ¡°It is assumed that princess Shonna has departed for the port city of Venetiae my queen. We are currently preparing the teleportation circle with magic to send two of our scouts ahead to find the princess as soon as possible.¡± Hayha said with another bow of his head. ¡°What are you doing my precious daughter?¡± The queen muttered under her breath. The rangers and guards pretended to not hear what the queen just said and the two rangers pledged to themselves that they would find the princess at all costs. They quickly saluted and left the palace at a sprint heading for the teleportation circle in the magic laboratory on the far side of the city. The two seemed to effortlessly flow on little or untraveled paths often going across roofs and fences in the city causing a few pets to make a fuss and some people to stop and stare at the strange sight. The two flipped off the low roof of a building flipping and rolling as they landed before running to the door of a guarded building. Both of the guards by the door quickly saluted the arrivals and pushed open the door. Inside of the building guards stood in each of the corners of the large octagonal room had guards standing at the ready. A large crystal sat in the center of the room and numerous circles and arcane symbols and writing all seemed to lead to and from the crystal. At fixed points outside of the circle thirteen powerful mages poured magic into the circle and large glowing crystal. Two rangers stood in full gear outside of the circles waiting for their cue to enter in. ¡°Rangers switch with us we are going on the scouting mission¡± Hayha commanded as he started transferring the gear over to himself and the commander prepared for the trip. ¡°Good luck General Tamara and Sergeant Major Hayha.¡± One of soldiers said with a quick salute as he backed up to the edge of the room. Tamara acknowledged the soldier with a nod as she quickly donned the rest of the gear tossing on the heavy pack with ease. Turning her head she saw that Hayha already had all of his gear on and was looking at the lead mage for the sign that they should enter the circle. He seemed to show no signs of worry or care and treated this as just another routine outing. A bright flash of light indicated that the spell was ready and both of the rangers walked towards the crystal and then disappeared in flash of light as most of the mages dropped to their knees in exhaustion. Erich POV Looking out over my first legion in pride as the troops stood in perfect formation their helmets gleamed in the sunlight and their perfectly matching equipment was a work of wonder. Having funded much of the five thousand man legion out of pocket they were all selected as the best of the best in any unit. This was considered the elite force of the human empire and it was rightly said that each of the soldiers of the first could match ten soldiers of any army. The legion was currently at a parade rest with their lightly armored horses standing in their well groomed splendor. Each of the horses was a dark brown color that made the red armor and white shields seem to pop out at you. A short sword sat at the side of each soldier and a small quiver of arrows was strapped on their backs and short cavalry horse bow also sat on the soldiers back. A blood red cape that matched the soldiers armor billowed gently in the breeze behind them. On the horses a roll containing five days food rations and bedding was on the back of each horse. Each unit of ten soldiers had split between them four timber axes a hundred caltraps and five hundred extra arrows. This was the most feared legion not for its size or its armor nor even its speed it was feared for its ability to do the impossible and exploit any and every situation to their advantage while putting their enemies into a severe disadvantage. One of the most feared aspects was its infamous commanding general. Erich was known for not only his brilliant tactics but also his loyalty to his soldiers and their undying loyalty to him. A captured prisoner of the first knew that help was coming for they never left a fellow soldier behind. If torture or magic was to be involved to a man the soldiers had always committed suicide instead of giving away information no matter how trivial for this was their code of honor. ¡°Men of the First today we depart for the border town of Venetiae.¡± I called out with a loud voice assisted by magic that clearly broadcasted my words to every portion of the parade grounds we currently occupied. ¡°The locals of the area believe that they have sighted a kraken and we are going to go and make sure it does not enter the Marajo river and attack the fisheries.¡± Finishing up the informational part I rallied them with a final call. ¡°Let''s show those Navy wannabes how to catch a kraken.¡± I said with a little bit of a dramatic flair. Unauthorized duplication: this tale has been taken without consent. Report sightings. A responding shout of ¡°HOOAH!¡± reverberated throughout the valley roosting birds from trees and causing people on the far road to stop in shock at the sudden loud outburst from the soldiers. I smiled as I turned and mounted my own steed. It¡¯s lustrous brown coat matched the rest of the soldiers. Every officer wore the same armor and gear as the rest of the soldiers to signify the unity in the legion as well as making very hard for enemy bowmen and mages to target officers or noncommissioned officers(NCOs or non-coms). The sergeants efficiently got each of their ten men squads mounted and ready to ride. Each of the sergeants reported to their platoon Lieutenant before a check was done and each platoon of fifty paired up and reported to the Captain of each company. The each of the companies formed up into separate battalions with a Major as their commanding officer. The battalions each had five hundred troops and every two battalions are under a Colonel and a Command Sergeant Major that reported directly to my command staff and me. The legion was on the road within the hour riding for the river Marajo and the port city Venetiae. The time it would take us to ride to our destination would be around two weeks. I sat back in my saddle and thought about what all we might find near the elven kingdom. Shonna POV ¡°Wow do people really live in those little boats?¡± I asked Jonah who seemed to have a slightly annoyed expression on his face that I ignored in my enthusiasm. ¡°Yes some people actually live on the ships in the river instead of homes instead of homes in Venetiae.¡± Jonah replied with a roll of his eyes. ¡°Yeah Shonna it¡¯s because this is an island city in the center of the Marajo river instead of a place where people can live outside the city. So I think many of them decide to live on boats beside the city.¡± Emma said with a sage nod of her red head. ¡°Oh but how about all the canals and little rivers through the city make this place so pretty¡± I said as I looked at a pretty stall that was selling exotic spices that had colors I had never seen in food and some mouth watering smells wafted over across the street at an Inn and Tavern right on the canal. ¡°I will give you that although I wish it could be a bit cleaner like it is at home¡± Jonah grumbled as he looked at all the dirt and many of the uneven cobblestones on the street. ¡°A little dirt never did a person harm.¡± Emma quickly retorted with a little bit of fire in her eyes. ¡°Now, now Emma we all know and respect your dwarven ancestorery but truly this city is nothing like the dwarven cities either.¡± Jonah responded with his hands raised in a defensive and calming pose. ¡°I don¡¯t think he meant any harm Em. Really.¡± I said trying to calm the situation. ¡°Hum. Fine but we need to find a tavern I¡¯m thirsty for a good drink.¡± Emma said with smile on her face. ¡°Ugh not again.¡± I muttered under my breath. Dwarves are known for being able to drink beer almost as soon as they were born. Unfortunately Emma was only a three quarters dwarf so she lacked the full immunity to the terrifying quantities of beer and wine she could drink. It also did not help that she got dwarven height but lacked most of the mass making her look like a well developed kid more than a dwarf maiden in her prime. ¡°Damn kid is trying to get drunk again¡± Jonah muttered under his breath just a little to loud. ¡°I heard that Jonah.¡± Emma said with a terrifying smile on her face. Red flame magic dripped to the stone causing it to get scorch marks. The fire magic seemed to coat her red hair making her look almost like a fire spirit dyed with dark red blood. The ground began to melt a little with the severe heat she gave off. ¡°No stop please guys¡± I said as I set up a very strong magic barrier around Emma and Jonah as I stood outside of it. ¡°Hell why did you not put just the damn firecracker inside the barrier and let the brat cool down.¡± Jonah yelled as he put up his own barrier and covered his hands in a glowing green magic that also matched his hair. Onlookers had started to gather and seemed to be entranced by the sight of this elf man and what looked like a young girl in a duel. ¡°Go kid you can do it¡± yelled out a random member of the crowd. ¡°I¡¯m not a kid! Damn you all to hell you fuckers.¡± Emma yelled in a rage. Some of the mothers in the crowd covered their kids ears and others dragged their kids off. With a roar of rage and fire that was barely contained within the barrier Emma went to town on Jonah''s shield until it cracked and finally broke. ¡°Mercy, Mercy please I¡¯m sorry¡± Jonah pleaded as he lay curled into a ball on the ground. ¡°You don¡¯t deserve it. Die¡± Emma screamed as she mercilessly kicked him until his pleas stopped. ¡°And that is what I do to people who try and treat me like a kid.¡± Emma declared as she looked out at the crowd. The crowd of onlookers looked uneasily at the young looking kid and couldn¡¯t help but think that she was acting like a bit of spoiled kid. None of them said anything though and they all quickly dispersed from the scene of the fight. ¡°Em did you really have to do so much damage to him?¡± I asked. ¡°Sorry Shonna I did not mean for you to do clean up.¡± Emma responded with a glum look. Looking up with a sudden smile she said ¡°We could always just leave him here to wallow in pity and think about his miserable ways.¡± ¡°You know I can¡¯t do that¡± I said as I prepared some healing magic to cast onto the presently unconscious Jonah. I quickly and efficiently cast a full recovery and healing spell on Jonah and all of his injuries quickly disappeared. He groggily stood up without a word as we helped him to the nearby tavern by the canal. -------Venetiae POV----- A dark shadow on the roof overlooking the street disappeared as the three entered the tavern and inn. Only to seem to float away on various roofs of building until disappearing in a slightly dilapidated river boat home on the far edge of the town. The dark shadow kneeled in front of a crystal before activating it with a combination of complex spells. ¡°Master I have found it.¡± The dark robed figure spoke without looking at the crystal. ¡°Very good bring me this healer and make sure they will work with us.¡± A low and gravelly voice echoed out of the crystal. ¡°It will be done as you have said master.¡± The dark robed figure respond before the magic on the crystal finished and it shattered into thousands of fragments. The dark robed figure started a fire on the floor of the boat with some magic before disappearing back into the city as smoke started to rise from the large collection of boat homes. -------------------------------------------------- So yeah my sister said the story is a little too long and drawn out in the technical department. :( ¡­¡­ Anyway it''s the way I write. I love details and tend to think that way so it is as it is. :) If you all have any suggestions or thoughts I try to read all the comments. ;) If the cryptogram from last chapter is a issue or you need more clues send me a message. I just thought it was a fun thing to toss in there that made me think of my younger childhood days. Hope you all have fun! Thanks, Znomad Chapter 8 Tag Chapter 8 (Tag) Well I want to thank all of you for the great feedback and positive responses that I have gotten. With no further randomness let''s get back to the story. :) Thanks, Znomad ------------------------------------------------------- Nemi POV ¡°Colonel Sir¡± A monotone voice echoed in the spartan bed chamber overlooking the transformed island fortress. ¡°Report¡± I replied not moving but with my eyes staring at the ceiling. ¡°Vessels are approaching our direction Colonel¡± the monotone voice of the defensive AI responded. ¡°Threat level¡± I replied as my green eyes changed into a grey slate color with a few flecks of green and blue. ¡°Threat level zero. Sir¡± The AI said. ¡°What of the possibility of stealth or hidden weapons?¡± I asked with a slight frown on my face. ¡°The chance of stealth weapons according to the analysis is nine in three million nine hundred and seventy seven to the twelfth power Colonel¡± The AI said in a seemingly bored voice. ¡°Very well prepare a full defensive lockdown on both islands. I want to procure a few subjects for both information and research.¡± I said as I sat up on the bed. ¡°Priority is defence with zero tolerance for the locals unless there is no chance of damage to both the islands and drone assets.¡± I commanded as I started to don my battle armor. ¡°Affirmative Colonel it will be done as you have said Sir¡± The AI replied. ¡°I also want the fortress island fully covered in stealth until this passes. Also all spare drones are to guard the Major and Lieutenant at all costs.¡± I commanded as I finished putting on all my armor and grabbed my helmet. ¡°Priority defense level ten has been assigned to the Major and Lieutenant.¡± The AI finished saying as I donned my helmet and it completely covered my face and integrated into the rest of my armor. Merchant Vessel POV ¡°Hell fire they are gaining¡¯ on us¡± Screamed out the first mate of the ship. ¡°Bloody hell keep calm man we will git through this hyar¡± The Captain of the ship growled out to his first mate. ¡°Aye Sir¡± The first mate responded. ¡°Lan¡¯ ho on th¡¯ ho¡¯ozopn cappain¡± A sailor hollered from the riggings. ¡°Full speed t¡¯th starbo¡¯d side men as enny fool kin plainly see. We kin make it men¡± The Captain yelled out as the sailors all cheered and worked with renewed vigor. Pirate Vessel POV ¡°De feckin merchants tink dat they can git away boys¡± Laughed the Captain of the first pirate ship. ¡°If they keep runnin¡¯ they are jist gonna die knackered¡± The chuckling first mate called out. ¡°Aye Sir, Let''s git dohs cunts¡± Yelled out a pirate as he ran to the riggings and started to climb up with the loud cheers of the rest of the pirates resounding across the ship. ¡°Signal our comrades av de merchants desperate plight an¡¯ de degree av our starboard turn¡± The first mate yelled out to the boatswain. ¡°Aye Sir.¡± The boatswain responded before handing a wrapped up parcel to a older pirate standing at the aft portion of the ship. With a nod of his head the mute pirate grabbed the canvas wrapped parcel and removed the covering. With steady hands the pirate walked to the port section of the deck and used the shined and polished piece of bronze to flash the other pirate vessel with the message. A quick reply confirming that it had been received got flashed back at them. The other vessel then gave a flashed a quick response back. Receiving the message and confirming that they received it the old pirate rewrapped the large and polished bronze mirror into its cover. ¡°Well boys since we ¡®av de lead we git ter take de first shot at dohs rich merchant snobs.¡± Called out the boatswain to the cheering of the rest of the pirates as they started to prepare for their engagement. The pirate vessel had a mismatch of various different crew some showing a mismatch of men of all colors. Most were heavily tanned from their life at sea. No form of diffidence was paid to any pirate because of the color of skin hair or eyes. A few beastkind, demon, and elfin slaves were being commanded to do various dangerous or unsavory tasks. The pirates in their rush of excitement mostly ignored them but a few purposely pushed them and shoved them to the deck in their passing. The pirates made sure to have swords or cutlesses in sheaths or tied to their sides. Javelins were passed out and a few men had prepared the ballista near the front of the ship. ¡°Lan¡¯ dead ahead¡± A younger pirate called out from the crow''s nest atop of the ship. ¡°Damn cowards are gonna try an¡¯ abandon ¡®er an¡¯ ide away.¡± The Captain cursed. ¡°Let¡¯s go an¡¯ gie dem ¡®ell boys¡± The first mate called out as the ships started to close into range. Merchants POV ¡°They is gainin on us Cappian¡± The lookout called. ¡°Whut in tarnation is th¡¯ distanced t¡¯th¡¯ islan?¡± The Captain asked. ¡°A li¡¯l over a league. Sir¡± Responded the lookout. ¡°Hell we is not gonna be able t¡¯make it¡± The Captain cursed under his breath. ¡°Whut is th¡¯ distance t¡¯th¡¯ closess pirate ship?¡± He called out to the lookout. ¡°A ha¡¯f a league at bess Cappian an¡¯ closin¡± The lookout said in a shaky voice. ¡°Dang blast it!¡± The Captain growled before yelling out. ¡°Prepare t¡¯ repel bo¡¯ders men¡± The men on the ship grabbed whatever weaponry was available and started to prepare. Some swords and bucklers were placed among the group as well various bows. Unfortunately many of the sailors were left with nothing but a kitchen knife or a personal dagger a few of the sailors stopped and knelt on the deck praying to various gods for life and safety when suddenly a loud explosion seemed to shake the very sky. ¡°Whut in tarnation is thet?¡± Screamed out a sailor as he pointed up into the sky. Many of the men had panicked expressions on their faces. A few screamed in terror. In the sky floating above the ship a giant figure in ethereal dark armor seemed to float. The being made all of the sailors feel despair for it looked like a death god had descended to the realm of man to personally take them to the underworld. The sailors who had been praying on the ground started pleading with their gods for some form of intervention. The story has been taken without consent; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident. A booming voice echoed out of the being saying something that no one could understand as the being started to descend towards the merchant vessel. ¡°Fuck it defend yournelves!¡± A sailor screamed as he drew an arrow and shot it at the figure in the sky above them. Various others fired bows at it and the few that could use magic fired a magic ball of fire, water, or a sharp gust of wind at the fearsome being. Nemi POV ¡°They don¡¯t understand me. Fuck they are attacking¡± I growled out. The holo projector that had displayed an image that looked like me had been destroyed much to the delight of the crew on the ship in front of me. I knew that none of them could see me now through the active stealth on my suit. Most of the weaponry was so ancient that I knew it would cost a good amount of credits and be a true novelty item back in my universe. The strange things they had shot did give me a slight pause. Some of the sailors on the ship had fired flames, water, and strangely gusts of wind at the projection. It was one of the balls of fire that had disabled the projector. ¡°Well they fired on me first and they are not stopping. I have also giving them the universal sign for danger and to stop.¡± I said aloud for the record log. Not even making myself visible I grabbed the grenade launcher off of my back and fired at the ship. Pirate POV ¡°Waaat de feck is dat?¡± Called out the lookout. ¡°Bleedin ¡®ell!¡± Screamed out the Captain as the merchant ship seemed to disappear into a giant ball of flames. Pieces of the ship got scattered for quite some distance some even landed near their own ship. Flames covered the water where the ship was located and burning planks and bodies floated on the water. The smell of burning wood and the charred smell of hair and the sickly smell of burned meat wafted by the men as they with near silence had desperately started to turn the ship. ¡°Dis place is cursed lets git oyt av ¡®ere now¡± Called out the boatswain urging the pirate crew to work faster. Suddenly anouther loud booming sound echoed out beside the ship and the same figure dark figure appeared above the pirate ship. ¡°Abandon de ship ter save yer lives!¡± Screamed out a pirate and every pirate started to jump into the skiffs on the side of the ship and launching off of the sides of the ship. The pirates all started to head towards the other vessel as the apparition in the sky just floated there in a dark and fearful blight in the bright blue sky. Nemi POV The majority of the people on the second ship were fleeing towards the third ship which was already starting to turn away. I found it strange that they would leave a good amount of their crew behind on the ship when fleeing however. Around ten people were still located on the ship and that would serve my purposes just fine for finding more out about this planet. ¡°Remove all traces of the trespasser minus the strange water vessel and remaining crew marked for investigation.¡± I commanded to the commando drone platoon also floating around me. ¡°Command received Colonel¡° The drone commander responded and with excellent and simple efficiency started to attack the fleeing men and the last ship. Using a combination of plasma weapons and antimatter grenades the ocean no longer had any traces of anything but the ship with ten terrified people cowering on the deck below me. Slaves POV We all huddled to the side of the aft portion of the main deck. All of our captors had just jumped off the ship and rowed away seeming to have fully abandoned their vessel. Suddenly a very large black being in armor seemed to appear above us and these strange and hard to see humanoid creatures seemed to be summoned out of the very air . These creators or summoned beings suddenly attacked the fleeing pirates and the sister pirate ship of this one. Everything was destroyed with terrifying power. None of us had ever seen such terrible fire and dark magic that could destroy everything around us without even leaving a trace of the pirates. We could only cower in fear as these strange summoned creators passed over us and also destroyed the wreckage of the merchant vessel. The waves on the sea swelled slightly from the terrible dark magic that these creatures used and parts of the very ocean seemed to be consumed by the magic causing the ship to sway on some waves. The creatures returned to the ship and stood before us saying things in some strange unknown language. Some of us even wet ourselves wondering what these creatures that had used such strange magic could want. One of our members finally stepped forward. ¡°My name is Roza please just make it quick.¡± She said as she knelt on the ground before the strange metallic beings. Two of the creatures held small eggs that suddenly opened and a strange mist came out Suddenly feeling very sleepy we all fell to the deck. The hard deck felt almost soft and none of us could even keep our eyes open some of us were already asleep. As the last of us fell asleep the metallic creatures started to approach us but there was nothing we could do as we fell into a deep dreamless sleep. --------------------------------------- So I hope you have enjoyed the chapter. :) Let me know if you have any constructive criticism that I can use in the story. I know a lot of the grammar etc. will be very rough mostly because of the fact that I type this and post it without doing any form of edit or review at all. I know bad me but I enjoy the writing more than the checking. ;) Tell me what you think of the sailor/pirate speech peculiarities. It was a little bit fun trying to think like a pirate. :) Have fun and thanks for reading. Thanks, Znomad Chapter 9 Wonderland Chapter 9 (Wonderland) Well this week has been a little long that and work is pretty busy around this time. Well I have been surprised by how fun this has become. Thanks, Znomad ------------------------------------------------------ Roza POV ¡°Ugh¡± I groaned as I struggled to open my eyes. I was laying on something impossibly soft and comfortable. Suddenly I stiffened and shuddered and jerked upright with blurry eyes fully opened. I was laying on a bed and the ramifications of that did not bode well for me. The pirates had used me many times and my life had been worse than any hell could be. Being the one of two female slaves aboard the pirate vessel that had been forced to service the forty three pirates. I shuddered again as I thought that my hell had ended when I collapsed on the ship in front of those strange creatures. I looked around the room and saw the pristine condition of everything. Nothing in the room seemed old or even like a prison which made me wonder if the strange being had decided to put me in its bed chamber. The room seemed to be very spartan in style and furnishing. There was the bed I was sitting on and small couch a mirror and two strange window that seemed to show a view of the show a view of only the blue sky and clouds outside. A knock sounded on the door and I noticed that I was wearing some strange form of clothing that accentuated my curves and was very skin tight. It was modest in the fact that it was long sleeved and also a full length pair of pants. The door started to open and I grabbed the blanket and curled up in the corner of the room. I stared intently at the door as a large man walked into the room. He wore nearly the same type of clothing that I did. His shirt was sleeveless and as he turned to close the door I saw two dragon heads that just showed on his very well defined shoulders. He walked to the opposite side of the room and sat in the corner looking at me. He said some things in his strange language but I could not understand a word of it. Nemi POV Man this seemed to be a lot more challenging than I thought. I had captured my prisoners and the only one that had addressed the commando drones on the ship was huddling on the other side of the room shaking slightly. My first thought was that she would make a terrible soldier. I however was a precision instrument of delicate removal of a key location or in some situation a full born hammer of destruction to worlds. I however had no experience with prisoners of any type nor had I ever been in a position where I had no knowledge of how to communicate with the lady across from me and even stranger was the fact that she seemed so terrified of her situation. ¡°Hi my name is Nemi. What is yours? I asked to a slightly blank stare from the women. ¡°Mirror¡± I said as I pointed out the mirror. Then started to name the various objects in the room. The lady still ignored me and stared at me with a strange look. Roza POV This man is probably the strangest person that I have ever met. He for one doesn''t attack me or try to have his way with me at all. Instead he had walked over to the other side of the room and after a few long seconds said some sort of strange gibberish and pointed at himself. After doing that he pointed to various things around the room and said more random words. ¡°My name is Roza.¡± I said aloud as I pointed to myself. The strange large man in the corner suddenly smiled and gestured for me to continue. He again pointed at the objects in the room and repeated their names in his weird and alien tongue. Catching on I said the various names of the objects in the room and then finally muttered under my breath. ¡°What the hell is his play?¡± The man suddenly sat up and pointed to himself again. ¡°Hi my name is Nemi. Is your name Roza?¡± He asked in a nearly perfect accent. I froze in shock did he just learn part of my language in such a short span of time or was he playing some sort of game. Nemi POV Yes it worked. I smiled as I said my name and asked about hers. The AI had been integral in learning this new language and downloading a constant update of it to one of the nanite chips in my brain which allowed me to understand part of what she said when she looked at me and stood up still holding the blanket in her hands over herself. ¡°What do you want?¡± Roza asked with a slightly trembling lip. ¡°I want to know more.¡± I said as I could not yer communicate at any higher level. Roza stared at me and sighed then said ¡°I do not trust you.¡± ¡°It¡¯s ok I don¡¯t trust you.¡± I said and she looked at me very strangely. ¡°Why you have the power and I am just a slave?¡± Roza asked. ¡°What is a slave?¡± I asked to her suddenly very shocked expression. ¡°It is what you own.¡± She said. ¡°Like this?¡± I asked questioningly as I pulled up my identification tags. Roza POV What the hell is wrong with this man I was truly starting to wonder if he was like some mythical summoned hero or evil creature as I wasn''t sure yet. I mean he did not even understand what the term slave was. He asked if his strange necklace was a slave. I mean what the hell really. ¡°NO!¡± I growled out in frustration. Pulling the slightly stretchy material away from my neck I displayed a slave marking and seal. ¡°This shows I am a slave.¡± I said in near tears. ¡°I do not own Roza.¡± Nemi said. With a gasp of shock and a tear in my eye what did he mean. I shook my head and he started to say something else. ¡°Is Roza a¡­ fighter or hurt people?¡± Nemi seemed to try to ask with frustration as he seemed to be unable to communicate his point across. ¡°No I was librarian¡± I answered to his puzzled expression. ¡°I read and took care of books.¡± I said to him as a suddenly bright expression covered his face and he startled me as he quickly ran out of the room only to return within minutes with a couple of books and logs from the pirate vessel. ¡°Here is book. Can you read?¡± Nemi asked me. With a sigh I nodded my head and quickly grabbed the book before retreating to the corner. ¡°Roza please speak the words on the book.¡± Nemi asked Nemi POV Yes this was going to be a huge breakthrough. The woman in across from me was reading aloud as the AI was constantly updating both the written and spoken databases for me. By the time she finished I would have a near full understanding of the language. While she read aloud I looked at her and analyzed what I could of this situation. After retrieving the ten crew I had run a full medical scan on each of the crew and found that they were all different in some form however it was more of a racial characteristic as they mostly seemed to be able to cross breed and seemed to all be humanoid in appearance in some fashion. Each of the crew had a strange tattoo that seemed to have the strange particle flowing a black like color to my eyes through the bodies of the crew and stopping the natural flow of the particle through their bodies. Roza started to come close to finishing the book she was reading according to the warning the AI gave me. ¡°Finish of log book three on the twentieth day of the eighth month of the crab in the year of one thousand four hundred and forty two year after the dragons. ¡° Roza finished reading. ¡°Thank you so much Roza I really appreciate all of that I now have a much greater understanding of your language.¡± I said with gratitude in my voice. ¡°You are welcome Nemi¡± Roza answered a slightly unsure look on her face. ¡°Is there a problem?¡± I asked at her questioning gaze. ¡°Are you human?¡± She asked. ¡°Not really.¡± I answered. ¡°Um than what are you?¡± She asked. ¡°Something that is different than anything known in this world.¡± I answered with a slightly contemplative look on my face. The slight sound of Rozas stomach rumbling was easily picked up by my enhanced hearing. ¡°How would you like to join me for some food?¡± I asked. Roza POV ¡°Thank you I would appreciate it.¡± I answered relieved that he was willing to feed me. ¡°No problem just follow me.¡± Nemi said as he walked to the door and opened it. I stepped out of the room and was shocked to see the lights on the ceiling. There were lights that glowed bright enough to make the hall look like it was outdoors and no fire or smoke was visible. What sort of strange world had I ended up in I wondered. The walls all seemed to be perfectly smooth and engineered in a fashion that screamed of a insane amount of magic and genius used to create such a place. ¡°What in the seven levels of hell is this place¡± I exclaimed in shock as I looked out of the window and saw the ocean around us. Fish swam through the water in dazzling splendor and the reef seemed to show an unmatched beauty in its display of life. ¡°Sorry if that is not to your liking give me just a second.¡± Nemi apologized to me. ¡°Damn! What in all that is holy?¡± I exclaimed in shock as the windows suddenly displayed a beautiful forest complete with singing birds in the background and the sounds of swaying trees and a waterfall in the distance. ¡°Is this more to your liking?¡± Asked Nemi with a questioning look. ¡°What form of illusion magic is this? I asked while touching the windows and feeling that they felt the same as the rest of the wall. ¡°Magic?¡± Questioned Nemi ¡°This is just a simple display not some form of trickery or deceit.¡± he finished as he suddenly displayed a picture of the two of us talking with sound. Shock did not adequately describe my reaction to this. I pinched myself to find out if I was in dream or some sort of fantasy but no I felt pain and jerked back from it. Nemi looked at me strangely like I might be a little slow in the head or maybe something was really wrong with me. ¡°Do you need a medical facility Roza?¡± Nemi asked with a look of concern on his handsome face. ¡°No! Let us just continue on.¡± I said in a hurried voice. ¡°Please just change the illusion or whatever it is to the jungle again.¡± I asked as I felt very strange watching us talking out of what looked like a window it created a very weird and surreal effect. We entered a door with a single strange written word on the frame. Inside of the room a couple tables with chairs sat in the middle of the room. This room also had the strange light that made the room seem like it was in the middle of the day but was still a pleasant temperature. ¡°I analysed the type of food that you could ingest and found it was remarkably similar to my own diet.¡± Nemi said as he led me towards a wall with various well lit and multi colored symbols were displayed on its surface. ¡°I can get you the same thing that I usually eat.¡± He said in a questioning voice. If you encounter this tale on Amazon, note that it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it. I nodded my head and watched as he pressed a few of the buttons and plate suddenly appeared and a few nozzles deposited things on his plate. It was a very strange sight to say the least. Walking forward he pressed another of the colorful displays and a wrapped container was placed on the other side of his plate. I wondered what this strange magic must be. He repeated the whole process and handed me a plate of whatever this stuff was. ¡°Come on over and take a seat Roza.¡± Nemi said as he went and sat down at a table. ¡°Sure thanks.¡± I mumbled out of instinct as I walked to the table that he currently sat at pulled out a chair and sat down. ¡°Well this is platter fifteen.¡± Nemi said as he pulled open the wrapped thing on his plate and let it plop down on his plate. ¡°It¡¯s probably one of the best ration selections in my personal opinion.¡± He said with a slight smile on his face. ¡°It is much better than platter number three.¡± He said with confident tone that spoke of an unwelcome experience. ¡°Do you not cook your food or have someone else cook it?¡± I asked with a puzzled expression ¡°No. It is all pre made or created from raw or recycled material.¡± Answered Nemi looking at me with a questioning look. ¡°Why?¡± he asked ¡°Well in this world we cook our food over fires or on stoves.¡± I answered him. ¡°We do not premake food except for sailors with things like hard bread or crackers.¡± I finished and saw he had a slightly perplexed look on his face. ¡°Hmm. In my world few humans or any other advanced species made their own food it was all created by machine.¡± He answered in a thoughtful tone. ¡°I guess I do remember that some of the nicer locations had better food creators and programs and that the supremely wealthy had some form of chef on staff or in their employe to create the food for them.¡± He said well putting his hand on his chin and face in a rather contemplative pose. ¡°It''s fine let''s enjoy this food for now.¡± I said as I looked in awe as utensils formed straight out of the table for me. Shaking my head I wondered again at this strange place. Nemi POV It has been around a week since I woke Roza up and she seems to be adjusting well to life here on the island. I have not told her about any of the other captured slaves now in stasis in the medical lab and she has yet to ask about them. She constantly seems to be surprised or in awe of the simplest things. She was delighted like a child once she got over the surprise of automatic doors and lights. I have taken her to the medical facility and she had sat in shock of all the equipment. She has taught me a lot about this world and I was not overly impressed by a lot of the systems in place. The strangest thing that I still did not truly understand was the idea of magic. It just flew in the face of much of what I knew about the universe and physics in general but I was slowly coming to accept that it existed in this universe and I would need to be weary of it. Which ended up leading to our current conversation. ¡°So Roza you are telling me that the slave marking is a magical seal?¡± I asked ¡°Yes it seals my magic by cutting off the flow of magic in my body.¡± She replied almost like a teacher explaining things to a slightly slow pupil. ¡°So your magic flow is the strange vein like things in your body?¡± I questioned which in turn got me a shocked look. ¡°You can see the flow of magic inside of someone?¡± Roza asked with a skeptical look on her face. ¡°Well I did not those things are magic or where your body has its flow of mana. I do however see what looks like colored or transparent veins in the body.¡± I answered. ¡°Seriously.¡± Roza said as she got up and paced in the room. ¡°Ok what is the color of the slave seal?¡± She asked ¡°A murky blackish color.¡± I answered ¡°Can you see my core?¡± She asked as she stopped her pacing to look at me. ¡°Um. I hate to seem stupid here but what is the core?¡± I asked with a questioning shrug of my shoulders. Roza POV What the hell was this guy. Ughh! I mean seriously he obviously comes from some strange world and is dealing with the transition of it. Yet he has never heard of magic nor does he really even understand how it works. I mean every intelligent being understands a bit about magic because all creatures intelligent or not posses some it is part of who they are. Nemi is talented enough to not only see mana in its purest form but can see the actual magic veins and after explaining it even the mana core of a person. His potential is terrifying to say the least. Walking down the well lit hall I waved my hand at a door and it opened into what I now considered to be my bedroom on the islands. Nemi was a surprisingly different individual than I expected when I awoke here about a week ago. He seemed to be almost childlike in his desire to learn more and seemed to want to have some form of friendship or care. It was easy to forget that he was deadly soldier when I often found him practicing how to sound out words in the various languages that I already knew. He was becoming quite fluent in elvish, orc, standard, and damic which was my native tongue. He understood each of them perfectly and was working on the very complicated and intricate elvish and the very strange and guttural orc the most. I quickly change my clothes in the corner of the bedroom looking out towards the door. Some horrors of the past never truly leave you no matter where you might be. After quickly dressing in the plain unisex style uniform which seemed to be the only type of clothing made or in stock on the island I looked into the mirror. My face was a deep red color and dark black hair reached down to my shoulders. A scar was visible peeking up on the side of my neck from my back. After requesting loose clothing from Nemi my figure was more hidden behind my shirt. My slightly baggy pants hid much of the rest of my figure as well. Nemi said he wanted to meet me in the medical facility because he had an idea about the slave curse. I hoped that I would someday be able to put that all behind me. A determined look crossed my face as I finished looking into the mirror. I put up my hair in a tight bun so it was out of the way and walked out of the door. Hayha POV ¡°Damn this city is big we are never going to find anything.¡± I muttered as I sat in the shade of medium sized restaurant in their outdoor section. ¡°Language please.¡± General Tamara said with a raised eyebrow. ¡°Sorry Ma¡¯am¡± I said insincerely. ¡°Well I guess it can¡¯t be helped. It has been damn hard to get any solid leads on those three elves in this city.¡± she said. ¡°Oh and I thought I told you to call me Tamara on this undercover mission here Hayha¡± She finished with a smile on her face. ¡°Yes but it is a bit of habit to discard Tamara¡± I said to her smiling face. ¡°Well as long as you work on it ok.¡± She answered. ¡°What can get this lovely couple?¡± A waiter asked us. ¡°A bottle of white wine and your grilled fish special please with the house sides.¡± Tamara replied. ¡°I see only the finest for the young couple.¡± The waiter answered with a slight flair and placing a vase with a pretty flower in the center of the table. ¡°I will back shortly.¡± The waiter said as he weaved his way back through the tables and inside of the restaurant. ¡°Well we have only one credible sighting of the princess and her entourage in the city before they disappeared and that was when they had a dispute among themselves.¡± I said to a slightly starry eyed Tamara. ¡°Yes. uh¡­ That was the case however much of the city has been more interested in what could have started the fire in the city boat distinct.¡± Tamara finished off for me. ¡°That is true.¡± I said with a frown ¡°And there are the rumors of a fearsome kraken spotted not to far off the shipping lines. Some are even blaming dark magic as the cause or the strange star that fell from the sky.¡± Tamara said with a perplexed look. ¡°On a more serious note Venetiae even as a neutral port city requested aid from General Erich over any of her other neighbors.¡± I said with a slightly disgruntled look. ¡°Well anyway that is for politicians to decide not a mere soldier I guess.¡± I finished saying with a sigh. ¡°Well it is known that the leader of the Venetiae militia and guards is a retired member of the first.¡± Tamara said so it does make sense that he would request aid from his former commander and the General. ¡°True. But that guy is a sneaky bastard if there ever was one.¡± I said with conviction. ¡°Yes and having him so near our border is a more than a little troubling.¡± She answered. ¡°It will undoubtedly increase some tensions between us and the humans especially if they make any real move to take or hold Venetiae.¡± She said finishing off her thoughts on the situation. ¡°True but let us enjoy the coming meal while we can.¡± I said which I happily noted caused her to lose the contemplative frown and show me a bright smile. ----------------------------------------------------- Thanks for reading. I am also putting a quick character list below this just to make everything easier for the readers. Let me know if I should post it separately or make a more detailed one with locations etc. Thanks, Znomad Quick Character List Nemi- OP character form a super advanced universe. Is a created super soldier. Asena - Giant wolf like creature with excellent intelligence and the ability to speak telepathically with both Nemi and Sy Sy - A giant tiger/sabertooth like creature with excellent intelligence also able to speak telepathically with Nemi and Asena. Shonna - Elfin princess who is running away to see the world. Emma - Dwarven girl who is the Elfin ambassador''s daughter. She has a napoleonic complex and is not fully dwarven. Traveling with the princess Shonna. Jonah - Rich and arrogant pretty boy who also went with the princess. Eli - High wizard of the Human Kingdom and advisor to the king. Also head of a neutral magic academy. Erich - Commanding General of the Human Kingdoms army. A ladies man and a fearsome soldier. A rival and friend of Eli and a bit of a known troublemaker and prankster. Roza - A former slave of a pirate vessel. She is known as a demon or demonkind in this world and is considered a hated race. Jimmy - Pirate boy Roger - Pirate Boy Tamara - General of the Elfin Rangers considered the best scouts of the world. Hayha - Sergeant Major of the Elfin Rangers considered the deadliest bow master in the world and is known for his hard working personality. Vanya - The queen of the elfs. Known as a beautiful queen who keeps her calm in all situations. Chapter 10 Survival of the Fittest Chapter 10 ( Survival of the Fittest) So I have been dealing with a lot of thoughts and have had a bit of a hard time sleeping so here I go. If the chapter is subpar please let me know. Thanks for your patience and support. Znomad -------------------------------------- Erich POV We had been pushing for some time and our arrival in the city state of Venetiae. The road had not been unpleasant and we had been able to successfully resupply about three times a week for supplies at various forts along the border. Reports of increased border patrols by the elves had been confirmed by all of the forts on the way. Something had happened in the Kingdom of the Elves or we would not have seen an increase of troops like this. I pondered what could be causing the tensions. I knew that even if we as humans were allies it was tentative at best. The Elven Kingdom had allied with the human kingdom in the far past for the dragon wars and more recently against the Demon Kingdom and the Darklands of the orc and other irritating non human like races. The elves particularly disliked the demon race. I had once heard from one of the demon kind prisoners that they preferred to be referred to as mara not as demon but why call someone what they are not. ¡°General Erich I have a question for you, Sir¡± Asked one of my attendants named David. ¡°Yes Captain David what is your question?¡± I replied turning my head to look at him. ¡°How do you plan to use us land soldiers to stop a Kracken? Sir¡± David asked with a questioning look as the horse he was riding snorted and shook its head. ¡°Well Captain what is one of the primary strengths of the first?¡± I asked well guiding my horse a little closer to him so we could have a easier conversation. ¡°The training and unity of the legion. Sir¡± David answered promptly in a rote fashion. ¡°Very true Captain David. There is one other hidden strength of the first legion and it is the fact that we use the knowledge that all people can use some magic and refine the soldiers of the first legion into simple mages.¡± I said to his surprised look. ¡°You teach simple soldiers magic?¡± He asked with an incredulous tone of voice. ¡°Well of course. I understand as a new officer of the first you have been assigned to be my command assistant so you have yet to experience any of our deployments until now.¡± I said. ¡°I just am surprised you would teach lowly soldiers and peasants magic especially if they are unskilled in it and have no potential to become mages or wizards.¡± David said with the obviously haughty tone and opinion of a bred noble. ¡°Young man let me tell you something.¡± I said as I looked him over critically. ¡°You would not last five minutes in a fight with a single one of those lowly peasants as you called them.¡± I said with conviction. ¡°Pardon me Sir but with all respect I would think that with my high education I would easily best any common soldier.¡± David said with a false sound of humility in his voice. ¡°Well Captain it matters not to me what trainers you family may have brought in to tutor you or how prestigious your pedigree and magic.¡± I said in a blunt tone. ¡°I know men and you young Captain have never experienced battle nor have you trained to the extent and that you could have.¡± I finished saying. ¡°Sir please allow me to show you the training I have as a battle mage of the David family.¡± He said with conviction in his voice. ¡°Very well.¡± I said and with a nod of my head one of the lieutenants raised a flag and with a magically boosted voice called out for the troops to stop and dismount. ¡°Well young Captain David your wish shall be granted here shortly.¡± I said well chuckling to his shocked face at me stopping the entire legion in the middle of the day on the march. Nemi POV I had called Roza up to the medical lab because of a question of mine. She still did not believe me when I said I knew of a way to remove the slave mark on her. I think her biggest problem was the nanites that I would need to put over the mark and would absorb into her skin. She seemed very weary of nanites and I had a hard time trying to explain what they are in her language as they really had no idea on such microscopic things or machines like this in any form. ¡°No,¡± Roza said with a disgruntled expression on her face. ¡°But why Roza? They are perfectly harmless to you and you should not even feel anything.¡± I said. ¡°That just makes it worse you are putting some form of foreign magic or goo or whatever you call it into my body to stop the magic seal and I will not even know what it is doing.¡± She said well shaking her head in exasperation. ¡°Well I could program them so you could faintly feel them.¡± I muttered ¡°But I can definitely take care of the image problem.¡± I said with confidence. ¡°Okay and how are you planning on doing that?¡± Roza asked with a hand on her hip looking at me. ¡°Here let me show you.¡± I said and telepathically placed a holo projector in front of my body. ¡°I¡¯m waiting oh great mage¡± Roza said sarcastically. ¡°Here you go oh great one.¡± I responded with a overdramatic formal bow to her chuckling and bearly contained laughter. Roza POV I was having fun even if the idea of using his strange magic or what he called science would allow him to remove the slave curse spell. I mean and he wanted to place what was basically a strange living being inside of me to remove the curse. I was not willing to risk the possibility of me being under his control because of this. I mean Nemi had been nice and courteous if a little strange at times but he was still a man and more importantly a human even if he said that he was something different. I wondered what Nemi would try and show me this time. A few small circles seemed to float in the air around his body as he stood still in the center of the room. Then one of the strange viewing screens as I had started to call them formed next to Nemi starting at the floor and going to his head. A vague shape of his body formed on the screen and it almost seemed to be a perfect clone of himself if lacking a few details. ¡°Alright this is it.¡± Nemi said as the strange display suddenly cleared into perfect clarity. ¡°Wow! There are two of you.¡± I exclaimed well looking back and form between the two and seeing no differences at all. ¡°Of course!¡± Nemi responded with a patient look that was mirrored perfectly on his twin. ¡°Enough of that please. I mean really one of you is enough.¡± I said while rubbing my temples without conscious thought. ¡°Sure it was meant to show you what was inside anyway.¡± Nemi said well shrugging. The display suddenly showed the inside of his body in perfect detail. ¡°You have two hearts.¡± I said in surprise as it was the first thing that I noticed. Suddenly I stopped as I recognized just how potent this machine was. ¡°You can see the perfect detail of anyone can¡¯t you?¡± I asked. ¡°Well of course.¡± He said not sure where I was going with this. ¡°You analysed me when I came in didn¡¯t you?¡± I asked with a grimace on my face. ¡°Yes I needed to see if their was any problems with bringing with you onto the island.¡± Nemi asked with a perplexed look on his face. I turned and walked out of the room and aimlessly wandered the countless halls eventually ending up in a park outside with a beautiful view of the ocean. A bridge was located towards the edge and stretched to an beautiful and imposing island that seemed to be glowing and on fire as a vibrant orange and red swirled wall looked like an artist took a brush to it. Behind the wall of molten rock trapped in what Nemi called a stasis field was mesmerizing but what was truly amazing was the bridge connecting the islands. I again stared at it and the incredible feat that it was. The bridge was a single fused diamond from the ornate base on this island to the defended gate at the other end. I walked onto the bridge and sat down on a padded a soft padded seat that was cushioning the hard diamond bench. I looked at the birds flying around and watched as they all flew around the bridge or gently got pushed away from it by some strange force. I shook my head Nemi still did not believe in or grasp the concept of true magic spells but was a more terrifying magician in every right than any I had ever heard of before. I saw potted plants blooming with flowers and fountains decorating the bridge with imposing yet stunning individuals in blue diamond as water gracefully flowed around them and shot up into pretty and synchronized jets. The breeze made it almost cold on the bridge and I sighed as I turned to head back into hidden underground fortress that was this surface paradise. You might be reading a stolen copy. Visit Royal Road for the authentic version. Nemi POV ¡°Ugh¡± I fought against countless soldier and training drones. The AI tried to find a way to take me down. Numerous medical vats adorned the recessed sides of the arena and medical drones stood tethered to them. A loud explosion shook the air in the giant area. I fought without my armour only with my bare chest and upper torso exposed with barely a hint of sweat on my body. Numerous drones laid in various stages of full destruction unable to function in any capacity. Four fully functional AI¡¯s controlled the drones in perfectly synchronized attacks with weapons set on kill. Five hundred millennia of battles and war spoke for themselves. Even four AI¡¯s that would be considered to be on the edge of sentience could not even land a damaging hit on me. The gravity suddenly reversed and we had to fight on the ceiling of the arena. I laughed at the simple tactic of reversed gravity and finished the nearest two drones while the reversal was happening. I jumped at a cluster of drones when the gravity suddenly disappeared and we all went into freefall. The drones all started to fire various plasma and railgun slivers at me in rapid fire. I impossibly spun in the air as miniature gravity wells appeared under my feet and I shot back towards the original ground. I tried something that I had learned about in this world and thought was stupid I released my killing intent fully. The drones seemed to malfunction and melt before my very eyes. The arena corroded and collapsed showing the sky above. A dark and cold cloud fully obscured me and a wave of it seemed to shoot out from me. I stood in the center of what had bassically become a giant crater and a shocked look covered my face before I repressed my killer intent fully. God¡¯s POV The Elfin god stood in her beauty and was addressing the dark god of the underworld when suddenly they froze and shook in fear the other gods all froze and stopped in shock at the feeling of death that had passed over them. Many of the lower gods had fallen to their knees and quickly rose with a angry look on their face or hiding away in shame. ¡°Who or what did that?¡± The god of the underworld said in shock as he looked around the plain. For surely some high god had done the unforgivable and released their pressure. ¡°It came from the our planet below.¡± The quiet and kind looking god of healing said as she released some of her healing power to restore the many unconscious creatures that radiated out from a small point in the large eastern sea. I will have to see what caused this she thought to herself as the god of nature and forest rubbed his green hair and thought the same thing as he released a little of his own restorative power as well. ¡°No way have I missed a warrior of this quality on the planet.¡± The god of war said with a cold glint in his blood red eyes. ¡°Nor would I have missed an instrument of death in this magnitude.¡± Death for this universe suddenly said startling everyone with his quiet voice as he stood in his dark black robes with a large scythe in his hands. ¡°I apologize for not recognizing you.¡± The gods of the planet said with a quick bow of acknowledgement to this higher being. ¡°It is fine.¡± Death said with a shrug. ¡°Still the killing intent of whoever that was, is greater than if a being had killed all of those in war or struggle in the entirety of this universe and I would know¡± Death finished with a dramatic silence spreading across the god''s realm and the gods all paled in shock at the impossible announcement that Death had just made. Asena POV I felt it my Colonel was calling me. My alpha was in a fight and he needed me. I tried to roar out and felt my body was trapped and contained I fought against it and felt a surge go through my body and disrupt what was holding me down. I sat up and saw that I was in a medical center it was all properly coded and seemed to be correct I stood up and raced out of the room. The irritating doors seemed to take forever to open so I tore right through them with my hands. The hallways behind me were littered in doors and unlucky drones that had gotten in my way. I raced outside of the complex and through the jungle to a large crater where Nemi kneeled on the ground surrounded by pure destruction with a blank look in his eyes. Tears streamed down his face creating muddy trails in the ash that coated him from head to toe. ¡°My Nemi it will be ok.¡± I said as I ran in holding him tight to my chest. ¡°So many dead innocents.¡± Nemi said in a shaken tone. ¡°I am covered in their blood the countless quintillions that I have ended.¡± He said in a shaky voice for the first time somehow removed fully from his programing and training he no longer blindly followed the orders of his masters and superiors he was his own and it made me so very happy inside. His first break in programming had caused him to save me from those cursed scientists and engineers back in the day who just wanted to dispose of me because of my strange and possibly dangerous mutations. Nemi had for the first time requested something and as the primer soldier and deadliest person in the room he got what he was asking for. ¡°You followed your programing and orders Nemi it will never be all your fault.¡± I said even as I realized just how hollow and pointless that would be as he had personally been the one to end the lives of every being in numerous solar systems throughout the universe. Nemi turned and looked at me and I suddenly saw his face go red and blush. ¡°Ugh um¡­¡± Was all that came out of his mouth as he looked a little like a fish out of water. His red face was so cute but what was causing my generally stoic Colonel to be so flustered. I looked down and finally realized in shock what had happened I looked like a human with a fluffy white tail. My breasts stood in proud defiance to gravity in a loud and proud way. I was basically a human in every way. My two wolf like ears twitched in surprise at what I saw. Nemi could see everything as I was not wearing a shred of clothing. One hand covered my privates while the other tried to cover my newly found large bust but I seemed to be failing in that endeavour. I started to blush and turned a little pink that perfectly kissed my pale face. Looking at the reaction of Nemi¡¯s body to mine I saw that he appreciated it at least at a subconscious level. Still this was just too much and I instinctively responded with a sharp punch to Nemi¡¯s head that sent him flying into the horizon I sprinted all the way back into the base still trying to cover myself with my hands and grabbed some clothing before ruthlessly destroying the security and house AIs and all their backup files and recording for the last few days with a maniacal grin on my face. Roza POV I was just about to enter the underground base when I feel to my knees as a cold dark feeling overwhelmed me. The sky seemed to darken in response and it sounded like thunder echoed in the sky. Almost as quickly as it happened it stopped the birds animals slowly started to make noise again and I got off the ground wondering what had happened. I looked around with a curious expression and tried to see if any local animal or fauna had caused this to happen to me I saw a strange bush that had all of its leaves bunched closed and watched as they slowly started to open again. I reached forward and touched one only to jerk my hand back as it quickly closed and seemed to almost try and hide. It was an interesting discovery that was interrupted by the view of an object sailing through the sky before crashing into a few trees knocking them to the ground. I cautiously approached and saw in shock that it was Nemi laying there on the ground holding his head with a strange look across his face that gave me a pause. I stayed hiding in the foliage close the clearing that his crash landing had made. He got up off the ground shook his head and rubbed his jaw before calmly walking heading towards the bridge and walking starting walk across it. After he left I again turned and headed back towards the underground base. I shook my head what strange things happened here on this island as was shocked as I walked in to see serious destruction all down the hallways. Doors look like some large animal had charged through and tore them off their frames. Drones seemed to be scattered about and some were ripped in shreds. I shuddered slightly as I wondered just what terrible creature could have done this. ------------------------------------- Thank you all for your patience with me as I get my chapters done.. Really thanks even as a fellow reader I know the waiting kills¡­ I hope you all enjoyed this chapter. Let me know how descriptive I should be on the nudity or physical scenes in the story. Also if you see any problems in the story grammar plot or lack there of let me know please in the comments. Thanks, Znomad Chapter 11 Sail Chapter 11 ( Sail!) Thanks to all the people who have commented and given me input on the story. Remember that this is the very first time I have ever written a story so feedback helps a lot. Really it does. :) Anyway I hope you all enjoy. Thanks, Znomad ------------------------------------------ Eli POV I laughed out loud as I read the informative update sent to me by Erich. His description of a new officer named David and his arrogant duel against a soldier truly tickled my funny bone. The poor officer had never before faced a battle hardened man of war and was knocked flat on his ass with a sword at his throat before he knew what had happened. This made me reflect on the first time I had marched with a army under Erichs¡¯ command. He had done almost the same thing to me and I had nearly lost to a plain normal soldier of his army. I had truly been stunned and it had opened my eyes to many things about war and my silly misconceptions after having gone through the royal magical academy with a bunch of snotty noblemen. The fact that a normal man could almost best me in single close quarters combat was thought to be impossible. ¡°Take this response back to your commander.¡± I said using magic to write a reply on a piece of parchment with a magical seal for Erichs eyes only. ¡°Yes High Wizard Eli.¡± A low but distinctly female voice replied before grabbing the parchment and disappearing into the shadows of one of the palaces hallways. I chuckled a little at the incredibly bizarre concepts and ideas that Erich used. A women of the kingdoms job was to be at home with children and tending to such things. Erich however growing up in the slums and in a orphanage for his childhood had no such illusions. He had found that women were better than men at many things and as he had risen to power had created a incredibly well done spy network exclusively using women. I was sure he was better informed about what was going on in the kingdom than any other person or group including the magical council. I knew he also scouted out the slums and orphanages for talented girls and was constantly putting them into hidden training centers. Shaking my head I knew he did the same with boys but often times talented boys were adopted by a noble family for an increase in prestige much the same way that Erich was. Walking to the door of the king''s study I paused and realized yet again that at anytime that Erich wanted he could take full control of the kingdom in a near bloodless coup. He had that much support among the common people and most nobles feared him as the army was insanely loyal to him as well. The door to the king''s study was opened by one of the two guards stationed at the door. I stepped into a well lit study with a large map of the Human Empire on the back wall with various symbols and military installations and units magically adhered to it. Bowing my head to the king as he sat behind a desk with a slightly unhappy look on his face and a short parchment in his hand. ¡°Welcome in Eli¡± The king said with a sigh as he put the letter down. ¡°Thank you my liege.¡± I said in a polite voice with another bow of my head. ¡°Please Eli call me Xalvador in private as we all know that you are about as polite and concerned with niceties as a fox is of feathers in the hen house.¡± The king said with a slight smirk on his face. ¡°Well Xalvador even if that statement is appropriate I feel it does little justice to my wizardly self.¡± I said with a slight huff of breath. ¡°Well if you were more wizardly and a little less old crazy I feel that backing a better analogy may be appropriate.¡± Xalvador said. ¡°True if I had presented myself any more crazy at the court I would have seemed more like one of those crazy old oracles that always spout some prophecy or other nonsense.¡± I said with a nod of my head while I stroked my long beard. ¡°Anyway how goes the Academy Eli?¡± Xalvador asked. ¡°I believe that we will have an excellent group of students graduate this year and we have even more of our allies saying that they are willing to attend the school.¡± I said with a smile. ¡°That is truly a good thing.¡± Xalvador said with a smile spreading across his face. ¡°Ah I did have something to report about one of the incoming students.¡± I said. ¡°Yes?¡± He said with a questioning tone of voice. ¡°We are expecting the elven princess to attend but have been unable to communicate because of the kraken scare on the sea as any crossing is considered to be insane by the sailors after the confirmed destruction of six ships and the strange disappearance of a merchant ship and some pirates out further in the deep section of the sea.¡± I said ¡°Ah good I have been trying to marry one of my sons into the elven family to create a closer alliance for some time.¡± The king said with a thoughtful look on his face. Emma POV I awoke feeling very strange and thirsty. It was pitch black and my hands were tied behind my back. Wait what on earth was going on. I suddenly screamed out for help and tried to use my magic to free myself but was completely unable to do anything. A door opened and a bright light shined into the room. I blinked and closed my eyes on reflex at the bright light. Opening my eyes a grizzled man with a split lip and a nasty look on his face leered at me. ¡°Ay, bose the bitch whore is awake.¡± The man yelled out without turning his head from me. ¡°No spoiling the good now.¡± A voice that I was incredibly thankful for called out. ¡°Damn boss I know she wants me.¡± The nasty man in front of me said. ¡°She is virgin according to the elf boy we have.¡± Called out the voice from the hallway. ¡°Fuck Jonah that traitor.¡± I screamed out. ¡°Shut up bitch.¡± The man said spitting into the corner of the room before walking up to me. ¡°You can¡¯t do this.¡± I said with my anger overriding my fear. ¡°Oh don¡¯t worry little girl I can do whatever I want.¡± The man said holding up a dark black ring with strange symbols. ¡°Help.¡± I screamed out again. ¡°Silence¡± The man uttered and a dark red glow pulsed from the ring and I was silent. I struggled but it was useless I could do nothing as he came close and petted my hair and then stroked his big gimmey fingers down the side of my face with a disgusting attempt of softness. He bent down close to me and I could feel his breath on my neck and ear. ¡°Don¡¯t worry I may not be able to fuck your pussy little one because of its virgin value but no one will know if I have your ass.¡± The man said while backing up as a terrifying smirk covered his face. I had never felt so much fear and suddenly I was dry heaving onto the floor and silent tears streamed down my face as the horrible man backed out of the room and closed the door putting me back into the cold and oppressive darkness. Roza POV I awoke screaming in my bed covered in a cold sweat. My heart was pounding out of my chest and I looked around the room and the softly glowing lights around the doors of the room. I tried to calm down and took a few deep breaths and swallowed tasting a little salt that no doubt came from tears. The horrors of having been a slave and everything that was forced upon me was a recurring nightmare that strove to destroy my very soul. I took another deep breath and let it out. ¡°It will be ok Roza you are free.¡± I said to myself in a shaky voice. ¡°Do acquire some form of assistance Roza?¡± A calm and monotone voice of what I had been told was an AI or some form of strange almost living thing asked. ¡°Thank you but no.¡± I responded to the room again wondering where this strange thing resided and thinking of the funny way it could look to distract my mind from my dreams. ¡°Very well Ms. Roza but please ask if you need any form of service.¡± The AI said. I wondered if it too was a slave of some kind and not able to free itself but Nemi had insisted that although it did belong to him it was a created thing by him and his creators and was not created with a free will. I stopped that line of thought though because it was much too close to my own problems. I got out of the bed and walked into the luxurious bathroom and waved my hand over a blue glowing tile and cold water sprayed out of the wall and misted around the room. I stepped into the spray and let the cold water wash away the sweat and tears that covered my body I slowly turned up the temperature of the water until my muscles had loosened up. With a sigh I rolled my shoulders and tossed my hair to the side and turned the water off. I reached around the corner and grabbed a towel and started to dry off. Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings. I dressed in the simple black clothes of this place and felt the comfortable bagginess of the overlarge clothing I again put my hair up into a bun and walked out of the room and into the hallway that showed a remarkable improvement from when I had gotten into my room last night. All the evidence of destruction had seemed to have disappeared in the few hours that I had slept. I walked out towards the bridge deciding that I would enjoy the sunrise in a few hours from there. Nemi POV I stood straight and almost at attention waiting for the sun to rise. I hadn¡¯t moved from this position in almost four hours and to anyone looking I would have seemed more like one of the statues that graced the island instead of a living breathing person. The wind blew past me and ruffled my growing red hair gently pushing it around. The insects chirped in the background and the ocean waves droned on against the sand. I had gotten aroused at the sight of an officer under my command and more importantly a close friend. I knew that this should not even be possible and realized that maybe this particle had changed more in my body than I had ever thought possible. The scientists had engineered us to be the ultimate soldiers and the need or desire for procreation had been worked out of us. Before this I had never had desired a woman or man and had never truly understood the interest species payed to the other sex in anything other than a brief intellectual study for use of assassinations or escape. I knew this was done so that we would not be able to be seduced or threatened into betrayal if no sexual dalliances occurred or offspring happened. I now had the ability to actually procreate and possibly even have children. This thought was incredibly strange to me and at the same time a satisfying thought. Never before having such emotions processing them was strange and challenging. I felt things that I had never felt before. A fantastic happiness that Asena was healthy and fully recovered and yet at the same time I felt shame at my display of weakness and the way that my body responded to her new naked form. These conflicting thoughts and emotions bothered me and I wondered if it would affect the way in which I did battle. The prospect of being overwhelmed by something like fear for someone I cared about. I shook my head no I will try and use this to grow not to stagnate and allow emotions to control me. I breathed out a sigh of relief that my brain was still used to processing things in a fully logical manner. I looked to the north of the island and focused in on the bridge seeing that Roza was out and sitting on the bridge looking out towards where the sun would rise. The distance was over over two and a half kilometers away yet I could see perfectly clear even on in the dark at that distance. I decided that I wanted to know more about this world and who I would become in this strange new world. I needed something different to do with my time as sitting in silence with my thoughts and dwelling on my new found emotions seemed to be doing nothing positive for me. I thought of what I could do and started to meander towards a the captured ship we had taken from what I had learned were pirates. The sun started to rise as I jumped from the shore and lessening my gravity seemed to fly almost five hundred meters before alighting on the ship. The drone on sentry of the ship stood still and unresponsive as I was permitted to board the vessel. I walked the decks and was surprised that such a thing could even cross the sea let alone survive battle as I saw multiple areas that showed scarring from ballista bolts or from a bounced catapult shot. Using a program various lines and highlights floated around various parts of the ship showing design and structural damage. I shook my head in surprise that any intelligent being would even consider sailing into deep waters with such a ship and headed to aft portion of the ship to enter the rear cabin and hold of the ship. I opened the hatch and dropped into the hold and was immediately assaulted by the smell of putrid well aged urine and vomit. I terminated my sense of smell and gingerly walked the hold viewing the trash and some random pieces of coin and a dagger or cutlass here or there. Shaking my head I wondered again at how anyone could live and survive on such a ship rats scurried by and a few cobwebs adorned the corners. It felt trashed and abandoned even if it was only in use not much longer than a week ago. ¡°AI, D1! I want the full blueprints of this ship sent to my personal viewing unit. After please collect samples and place them in biological containment. Also please after collecting a specimen for study kill all these rodents as well.¡± I commanded as I casually walked back to the hatch and jumped back onto the main deck before again jumping to shore. Asena POV I spent most of the evening practicing doing things in my new body. The ability to use opposable digits was an incredible boon to me as I could now use most of the weapons in the armory and even try my hand at some of the more interesting and unique items like blades and gravity assisted warhammers. I was however most seriously thinking about the ramifications of these emotions and the way that I responded to them. I can¡¯t believe that I hit with near full force my commanding officer. More importantly was how I seen Nemi react. I have never seen him show the gambit of emotions and feelings he displayed since the arrival on this world and more particularly after awakening from the stasis pod. I also felt strange feelings for the first time after having this new body. I had served with Nemi for so many millennia that we had done much together and trusted each other emphatically. The feelings of love and care that I had always felt for Nemi had seemed to explode when I saw him kneeling in despair after the strange deadly dark aura that he had released in the training arena. I knew I cared about him more than I ever should and shock, guilt, and pleasure warred within me for the desire to take over. I was shocked at the fact that I had a humanoid body. I was feeling guilty over attacking Nemi from an instinctual strange nervous response to his reaction at my naked body. Most of all I was feeling pleasure that the person I had always cared the most about was showing me a response even if at this point it was simple physical attraction. I walked outside of the dorm style bunker and looked around at the beautiful scenery and looked and saw the bridge that had been constructed between the two islands. Birds chirped happily in trees and a nice breeze blew in from the ocean keeping the temperature perfect. The sun had just risen not long ago and as I walked towards the bridge I saw a surprising sight. I watched as a very pretty women with dark black hair rise from a seat on the bridge and start heading towards me. I knew she had not seen me because of the fact that she seemed to be in deep concentration and more engrossed with the view of the ocean. ¡°AI, D1 identify threat on bridge please.¡± I commanded silently with my chip. ¡°No threats identified.¡± The AI responded with its irritating monotone. ¡°Please identify the human female on the bridge?¡± I commanded trying to figure out who this person might be. ¡°Correction the humanoid on the bridge is referred to as a Roza and is one of the Mara a kind of humanoid subsect among this planet''s population.¡± The AI helpfully replied. ¡°What is her current level analysis?¡± I asked with a scrunched up eyebrows. I was liking this human body more and more. ¡°Current level neutral with observance level green.¡± The AI informed me. ¡°Hmmm. Interesting¡± I muttered to myself knowing what the code ment. The code was a simple thing meaning that this person was under full surveillance at all times but seemed to show promise towards being an ally and had already freely given information. This information was not verified at this time however. Well I guess it was time to go and meet this new person. I grinned it was time to see what another girl thought of my Nemi. My tail wagged slightly behind and my ears twitched a little as I walked up towards the bridge and the still clueless girl who had stopped to look at the island that was name Fortress on my internal map. I stopped for a quick second and wondered if at some point we could change the name to sunrise island because of the beautiful orange glow of the walls of lava held in stasis it was truly a mesmerizing sight. ------------------------------------------------ So before I get sidetracked yet again here is another chapter for all of you. I tried to put up an image but I can¡¯t seem to do it. :( Oh well hopefully I will loose my newbie status some day. Again I want to say thank you for all of you who have replied and given me comments about the story. This is the first time I have ever done this and I can always use feedback and thoughts. Thanks, Znomad Chapter 12 Eagles Wings Chapter 12 (Eagles Wings) -------------------------------------------------------------- YEAH!!! I''m on vacation for a little bit. :) SO HAPPY!!! Between school and work I haven¡¯t had more than three days off in over a year. I will so be enjoying this. Anyway I will not be planning on taking a break from my writing so we will see what all I get out there. Thanks for all of those who are still reading I hope you enjoy. Znomad ------------------------------------------------------------------- Roza POV I was staring off into the ocean wondering about my new life and what might have happened to my friends and family. I had not thought of them in so long. I sighed and knew that most of them would have been killed in the taking of our city and the rest were probably all serving as slaves. I shook my head to clear those dark thoughts when I heard someone clear their throat behind me. ¡°Yes¡± I said as I started to turn around expecting Nemi to be there asking me some form of question or maybe requesting that I try that strange nano or nanite whatever he called that thing. ¡°Hi¡± I heard a distinctly non deep male voice say and as I fully turned around was shocked to see the beast kin there. I immediately dropped to a knee and bowed in her presence. Asena POV ¡°Uhh please get up.¡± I said in surprise at the bowing figure before me. ¡°Thank you oh princess of the blessed goddess.¡± Roza said not looking me in the eye. ¡°Please stop this nonsense and look at me.¡± I said exasperated by how this was going. ¡°If you you wish princess.¡± Roza said looking up at me slightly. ¡°First¡± I said now that she was actually looking at me. ¡°I am no princess nor am I blessed by some goddess. I am Major Asena and serve with Colonel Nemi. ¡°You are also not from this world?¡± Roza asked with a perplexed look on her face. ¡°Correct I am not from this planet. Why do ask?¡± I questioned. ¡°You seem to be a beast kin of the wolf clan and with your appearance and the color of your hair you belong to the royal family.¡± Roza explained. ¡°Please sit and tell me more.¡± I asked well sitting down on one of the benches and Roza quickly took a seat across from me. Erich POV We had posted up near the major fisheries of the kingdom on the coastal border and prepared quick response units to the most likely targets of the kracken we had also decided to acquire some vessels for the purpose of scouting the shore line for signs of the giant sea beast. My magicians had been trying to locate the exact location in their scrying pools and with every attempt we have narrowed down its location and once have even been able to pick up some survivors from a locally destroyed fishing ship. The sun was setting after another long day with no concrete location on the kraken. I entered my command tent and sat at the assembled desk in the rear of the tent. With a sigh I removed my helmet and placed it on the desk. A dark shadow seemed to materialize out of the side corner of the room and a heavily scarred woman''s face showed itself as she bowed down on a knee in front of me. ¡°Kendra please rise. I have told you many times that bowing to me is not necessary.¡± I said with a shake of my head. ¡°Thank you my lord.¡± Kendra said as she raised her head up but remained on a knee in front of me. ¡°What do you have to report on targets in the area?¡± I asked as I looked down at a map on my desk. ¡°We have reports that a few slave ships have decided to risk the run even with the kraken in these waters. Our people have discovered one such ship and its location.¡± Kendra said as a fierce and brutal gleam seemed to cause her eyes to sharpen to ice cold blue. ¡°Very good. I assume that you know what to do then.¡± I said as I looked up at Kendra with an equally fierce look flowing through my eyes. ¡°It will be done my lord¡± Kendra said as a feral grin covered her face and she again disappeared into the shadows. A matching feral grin covered my face but as I looked down at the desk I grimaced. Groaning I got back to the paperwork of the commanding general of the Human Empire it would be another long night of signing prepared documents. Oh how I wish I could go back to being the carefree young soldier. Emma POV It had been two days I think since that horrible man had entered the room I was in. I now knew that we were on a ship and a poor young male slave brought us one meal a day or at least I think it was once a day it was hard to tell when you lived in fear in a dark black room. I had cried myself asleep every night and had not stopped praying to the goddess of light but I had started to have doubts that I would ever escape this living hell. The horrible screams and crying that echoed through the ship every so often made me cringe and curl into a ball in the corner. I always felt guilty that I was glad that it wasn''t me and would send up a prayer to the god of the underworld with the hope he would be gentle with their soul. A strange silence suddenly descended upon the ship before screams and cries seemed to flow through the ship. My door swung open and the evil pig man stood in the doorway. As he stepped into the room I heard a whistling sound before in shock I watched a sword pierced through the man''s stomach. Blood and some of his intestines started to come out of the hole the sword left as it was pulled out by a shadowed figure. The man stared in shock and tried to hold in his guts before another whistling sound pierced the air and the man''s shocked face was split down the middle. Blood and some brain matter had splattered onto me. I did not say a thing and with slightly dead eyes watched as the dark figure seemed to fully emerge in front of me it kneeled down in front of me and pulled of its face covering. A kindly looking older woman with greying hair and warm brown eyes looked down at me as she took of my chains. ¡°It will be okay dear. You are safe now.¡± The women said and with hope finally fully rekindled I collapsed into her open arms crying my thanks and being so relieved I did not know how long I cried but I knew I finally made my way up to the open deck and happily collapsed in open air and fell asleep seeing the other former slaves all celebrating, mourning, or falling asleep for the first time in a while knowing that they had survived and were safe. Nemi POV It had been a few days since Asena had awoken and Sy seemed to be taking his time and waiting at this point. My project for exploration was going well. I had brought in both Asena and Roza for pointers on what to do or suggestion on what to add to our vessel. The most challenging thing was the innocent thing that Roza had said as I tried to explain what sonar did to locate other ships or even fish. Her response was like using locating magic with a innocent expression. It took me over a day before I had refined a new stealth concept to hide our ship from the new strange particles. It was incredibly inefficient and required a designated pair of AI¡¯s to run to keep the balance proper but in the end I employed a battery of them throughout the two islands and put one on the ship. With the help of Asena I made a combination of disruptor arrays using the particles in their own version of a harsh emp and slightly crude EMP. After asking Roza about this she said that many battle mages use a version of this attack to try and disrupt magical communication within an enemy''s army. I simply upped the purification to affect the living things of this world as well. It seemed to short circuit the strange mana pools as I had taken to calling them after Roza¡¯s many patient explanations. I was unable to make it lethal or permanent but it worked much like a flash bang in the way it shocked and stunned almost any living organism in this world from what I had learned from Roza and the various experiment I conducted on myself and the living creatures and plants of the island. Out of honor of our old and trustworthy starship we decided to name the ship the S.S Albatross and keep it in the avian family. As the Albatross was fully equipped it was capable of atmospheric flight. I tried to not make it flashy to this world yet still give it the space and abilities that I needed it to have. The Albatross stood in proud glory and at one hundred and fifty meters length and sixteen meters across at the beam and sexily tapered down to ten meters across the draft. Roza exclaimed that this was the largest ship or construction that she had ever seen other than castles in size. Both Asena and I thought the ship was a little small overall but that it would make it up in equipment. With the ships hyper advanced engines it was able to cruise easily at forty three knots and maxed out in the water at seventy one knots. The largest benefit of the technology that we had with the engines was the fact that it dampened any sound that we created to a near nothing and with a clever use of shielding and grav drives made the wake of the Albatross much smaller than even the pirate ship when it went full speed. The narrative has been taken without permission. Report any sightings. I was proud of having created a working ship fully with my own hands and planning. The sense of accomplishment that I felt was surprising. The emotions that I could now fully feel could both both immensely gratifying and infernally confusing at the same time. It was a strangely paradoxical feeling yet it was a strangely fully organic feeling or at least I believed it to be so from some informative analytical conversations with the AI¡¯s. Although they can be a bit annoying to discuss things with their presentation on logic and probability as well as cold hard fact was top notch. After three whole days of no sleep and hard work The Albatross was fully constructed in all of its glory. It weighed in at a little over ten thousand long tons without any grav drives running. The outer hull of the ship was painted in nice striped grey and blue theme that broke up the horizon and made the Albatross hard to see on the water especially in any inclement weather according to the modeling and countless simulator hours done by the piloting AI. I was excited by the idea of being able to travel and see the world. I really liked my new island home but I was going to see this new world I had started to think of as a brand new home. Jonah POV I was currently tied up in the middle of some forest to a tree. I saw two figures looking at me with dark glares and barely held in killer intent that still caused an ominous feeling to project from both of the individuals. ¡°Tell us what happened traitor.¡± The very nondescript male elf asked with a suddenly expressionless face and monotoned voice. ¡°Nothing really. I just got separated from the princess and Emma sir. Really I promise.¡± I said with a pleading tone knowing deep down that this man would never believe that story even if was the truth. ¡°We shall see Jonah. We shall see.¡± The man said as he slowly placed his pack on the ground and started to remove some hunting and skinning knives. He slowly laying out a well cured roll of leather he placed over a dozen implements of hunting and butchery before me. ¡°Please believe me I have done nothing I beg of you do not harm an innocent.¡± I begged as my face paled and I cringed away as he reached forward and grasped my chin forcing me to look straight into his piercing cold gaze. ¡°Jonah my name is Sergeant Major Hayha and that women over there is the commanding General of the Elfin rangers. We have found proof of your guilt both in your belongings as well as by witness accounts in the dark and hidden districts of the fair harbor city.¡± Hayha said to me in a perfectly calm and monotone voice. The lack of emotion and his obvious intent shook me to my core. ¡°You can¡¯t do this I am a noble.¡± I shouted out. ¡°Oh poor Jonah I am afraid that nothing can save you. Perhaps the dark gods will show you mercy but I doubt that.¡± Hayha said as he approached me and with a swift strike I felt a strange numbness invade my body and blackness enveloped me. Hayah POV ¡°Tamara please leave what I am about to do can not be unseen or unheard.¡± I asked looking over towards the General. ¡°I am a General and I have and will see things that I do not appreciate however this is needed to ascertain the princess and to avenge the Queen''s honour.¡± Tamara said in a clear voice. ¡°Very well.¡± I said proud of her courage to see what many officers would never be willing to see. I took the unconscious Jonah down from the tree and carried him to a nearby meadow. The information that we had discovered had truly been despicable. The traitorous scoundrel had drugged and sold Emma to slavers and it was still unknown where exactly the princess was located. The rumors had it that a dark and mysterious cult or organization tied to one of the rogue nation states had desired to take her away. Near the center of the meadow a small copse of trees stood. Some ropes were spooled on the ground and the trees were mostly around three times my height. I laid Jonah down and with Tamara¡¯s help stripped him down. With a little effort we tied ropes to each of his limbs and hoisted him into the air. His limbs were each fully spread out and he was fully suspended in the air. I went back into the woods and retrieved my knives it was time to get to the hard part of my job. Tamara POV I stood on the edge of the trees and puked my guts out for the fourth time the questioning had started. I knew that Hayha was a deadly warrior and enforcer but for the first time I realized how and why most of the soldiers and ranger looked upon him with a terrified awe in their eyes. He had started by removing the finger and toenails on Jonah to awake him. After that he skinned the poor bastard alive. I have never seen someone so skilled to the point that barely a drop of Jonah¡¯s blood touched the grass. His screams however were terrifying and utterly horrible. That was not the worst part after confirming the sale of Emma to a known seller of sex slavers Jonah made a particularly sexual comment about the princess. With simple and cold precision Hayah had heated a knife red hot with magic and then. Urgh¡­. ¡°Damn Hayha did you have to go that far.¡± I said grabbing a water skin and rinsing out my mouth to purge the taste of vomit. ¡°Yes.¡± Was Hayha¡¯s simple yet very loaded answer. ¡°He had told us what we needed to know already damnit.¡± I grumbled. ¡°He was not sorry for what he did and the comment about what he wanted to do to princess Shonna just expound on that fact. Also he has committed one of the worst crimes in my book. He sold a virgin into the life of slavery.¡± Hayha said with a sad shake of his head. ¡°But you castrated him.¡± I said still in a bit of shock. ¡°Yes I did.¡± Hayha replied. ¡°That wasn''t enough for you? I mean did really have to go cover him in honey and then lead a group of army ants to him¡± I said as heroically held in my urge to vomit yet again at the gruesome picture of Jonah being eaten alive by the bugs. ¡°You and I both know that he was never going to get out of this alive.¡± Hayha said calmly. ¡°But how could you do such a thing?¡± I asked looking at him. ¡°I neither enjoy it and it brings me no pleasure but his death will be seen and serves a purpose. For I do what I must as soldier.¡± Hayha said with a sad face and sorrowful voice. ¡°I understand.¡± I said as I suddenly remembered all the campaigns where I required information and had sent out troops to get by any method possible including torture. I shook my head in shame at the thought of how many had done something like this following orders by uninformed commanding officers or even on my command. ¡°It will be okay. At least you know realize more of the true pressure and responsibility of a commanding officer.¡± Hayha said with a sympathetic look. I nodded my head in acknowledgement and walked away to retrieve our horses. For the first time I wondered about not the glory of war or being honoured for some conflict as one of the great generals. Instead I thought about peace and the truth of what war and the decisions that many leaders made without thought of possible repercussions or death. I vowed that I would make a change at least in the Rangers. With newly forged goals and a sense of purpose I walked onwards and held my head up for I would create a legacy that the soldiers would accept as one of greatness. --------------------------- Hey so FYI, I love being on vacation. :) Who doesn''t right.. ;) I have hit a great milestone. I have as of this post typed and posted just over a hundred pages. YEAH!!!! Well I hope you all enjoy this chapter. Again I do appreciate any and all comments on the story. At this time I have read and looked over every single one of them. Emma got saved :) To make this very clear I will have nothing to do with a character being forced to go through non consent during the present or at any point in the story. Obviously Roza has to deal with what happened to her in the past and others may have had tragic backgrounds. This will be in the past and not brought up in any detail. Many people do and have to work through tragedy of physical or sexual nature, I know I still do. So I felt like including some of the realism into the story without it getting too dark. Please let me know what you think though on how the story is progressing. I hope you all are enjoying the characters. Thanks, Znomad Chapter 13 Alamo Chapter 13 (Alamo) ---------------------------------- Sorry for the long delay. I have been working on editing and caught up in RL. Enjoy the chapter and a shout out to Oeiltheend. Without the messages and requests I probably would not have had this out for a while longer. Thanks, Znomad --------------------------------------------------------- Quick Character List Nemi- OP character form a super advanced universe. Is a created super soldier. Asena - Giant wolf like creature with excellent intelligence and the ability to speak telepathically with both Nemi and Sy (Is now a wolf beastman) Sy - A giant tiger/sabertooth like creature with excellent intelligence also able to speak telepathically with Nemi and Asena. (Is now a cat beatman) Shonna - Elfin princess who is running away to see the world. Emma - Dwarven girl who is the Elfin ambassador''s daughter. She has a napoleonic complex and is not fully dwarven. Eli - High wizard of the Human Kingdom and advisor to the king. Also head of a neutral magic academy. Erich - Commanding General of the Human Kingdoms army. A ladies man and a fearsome soldier. A rival and friend of Eli and a bit of a known troublemaker and prankster. Roza - A former slave of a pirate vessel. She is known as a demon or demonkind in this world and is considered a hated race. Tamara - General of the Elfin Rangers who are considered the best scouts of the world. Hayha - Sergeant Major of the Efin Rangers considered the deadliest bow master in the world and is known for his hard working personality. Vanya - The queen of the elfs. Known as a beautiful queen who keeps her calm in all situations. ----------------------------------------------- Nemi POV The Albatross was sailing in all its glory. The ship glided through the water with an elegant grace and imposing beauty. The sides of the ship rose out of the water and other than some cleverly recessed and hidden turrets no weaponry could be seen. It was the day before our departure and the weather had decided to mourn our planned journey by trying to drown us in a monsoon style rain. I stood on the bridge and looked out at the stormy seas. The rain was heavy and proved to be a valuable trial for visibility and the range of the Albatross. With the heavy rain visibility with regular optics was severely limited to the point of a little over fifty meters in any direction. All thermal imaging also proved to be near useless with a accurate range of no farther than twenty meters with any form of accuracy. I counted myself to be lucky to have advanced technology that allowed me to see much further in this harsh weather. A combination of advanced radar, visual mapping, laser positioning, underwater sensors, and reconnaissance craft created a overlay of information that made it possible for me to fully identify any object that was within twenty kilometers even in this turbulent and harsh weather. I had found that releasing directional pulses of mana from my reconnaissance craft allowed me to easily identify living organisms as they all contained a much higher level of mana than their surrounding. I had however found a few strange rock substances that seemed to contain an oddly large amount of mana within them. It made me wonder about shielding and camouflage as I found that Asena and I had such a large amount of mana that we would light up the sensors like a bright and loud flare. I maneuvered the Albatross towards the harbor and dock that was being created. With a easy access to magma the ability to construct large structures out of solid very easily within a minimal amount of time. A harbor large enough for over thirty of these ships was under construction and the breakwater walls were nearing completion. Dark volcanic rock rose over two meters out of the sea and created a walkable wall out into the sea. Nearly two and half meters across the wall was an impressive creation of dark rock that stood up to the typhoon that seemed to howl at its staunch defiance against the harsh conditions of the weather. Large glowing blocks of magma were constantly being moved by an army of drones. The harsh conditions did little to slow their pursuit of fulfilling the orders placed upon them. Large rectangular blocks of magma held in stasis fields moved down the line and into the sea each block lining up with another and being carefully fused to its nearby kin. The scene looked much like an ant colony as the large blocks left the volcano and were transported down to the sea and a wall steadily rose.The thousands of drones worked in perfect harmony and eerie silence. I slowed the Albatross as I entered the harbor the wall served its purpose exceedingly well even if it was not fully completed. The seas had calmed tremendously and although the visibility did not improve the ship no longer rose and fell with the waves but instead resumed gently rocking motion from before the storm. Directing the Albatross to the partially completed dock we came to a rest next to the large pylons rising out of the depths. The ship cast its anchor and we put up full shielding which further reduced the waves and caused the rain to stop hitting the ship. The droning background sound of the rain disappeared only the quiet humming of the ship''s engines could be heard. Walking across the bridge exited and walked into the operations room. Drones sat at various screens and terminals as an oversight function and secondary input to the ship''s main AI¡¯s. Although lacking the power and capacity of any AI the drones all had become specialized for only the job in front of them and could more easily identify issues if a form of electronic countermeasure confused the four AI¡¯s on the Albatross. This was considered a completely unnecessary feature as the possibility of something getting past the AI¡¯s and being spotted by the droids was less than 2.68*10^2589 percent probability. But as the only problem that I could fix that had a percentage that was found by any of the AI¡¯s I took the secondary measure. Sighing I sat down in a rather comfortable chair that overlooked the operations room. I absentmindedly reached up and stroked my beard and thought about Asena and Sy. Sy had yet to awaken and seemed to have developed some form of complication that I was unsure of how to fix. At this point he was stuck in stasis until a viable solution presented itself. One of the reasons that I had decided to leave the island was to see if I would be able to learn more about the effects of mana on different species and what possibilities there might be to cure him or make it possible for him to coexist with this new universe. The other thing that I was fully unsure of what to do was with Asena she had transformed into a beautiful women or beastkin according to Rosa. I have never before had a problem with the desire to be near anyone of my gender or the opposite gender because of my prior physiology. My creators had viewed it as fully unnecessary to have their soldiers need or desire sex. They viewed it as something that would only serve as a distraction and weakness in their soldiers. I however now had fully active hormones. I know because I checked twice and was stunned to find that in many ways my hormones were fluctuating between a teenager and a young adult. Needless to say the same thing was happening for Asena. I had experienced many new things much to Roza¡¯s constant enjoyment of our predicament. I had something that she referred to as morning wood and as I was worrying that this was some form of serious ailment from my transformation so I mentioned it. Roza literally fell out of her chair as we were eating breakfast and could not stop laughing for almost five minutes. I still don¡¯t know what was so funny. Asena was worried for me and we both were trying to find out what Roza found so amusing. When Roza finally took a deep breath she tried to explain that this was something that was considered very normal for men. Even at this moment I wondered about the disconvenience of something like this happening so often. When I questioned if there was a solution to this problem Roza had another fit of laughter before looking at Asena and I and nodding. She did not however inform me of what method I could use to relive the predicament. Another problem was that I would see Asena and my heart would start to race and I would feel strange. After questioning Asena I found out that she also often had this problem. We again questioned Rosa and instead of a bout of laughter she responded with a chuckle and a sigh and only told us we would understand in time. Asena had looked at me with a slightly questioning look and we both had decided to leave it as is. The strange thing was the feeling of tension that would sometimes happen between Asena and myself. In true military fashion we decided to alleviate this problem through intensive training. It was strange working with Asena in a humanoid body but at the same time remarkably more pleasant. The ability to stand back to back and work on synchronized movement and motion in battle was fantastic. It took a few tries but the natural synergy between us in battle improved remarkably. The combat AI also informed me of a weakness that became obvious very quickly. The weakness was that both of us would willingly take a hit for the other person without a moment''s hesitation and this could quickly through us out of sync and definitively spell our defeat in some situations. Earlier this week Asena and I had faced off against a set of mechanical opponents and seeing a potential hit from each side aimed at the other person we both took and unnecessary hit. Even with logic seeing Asena in pain from the attack made me want to rip the AI to shreds for harming her. I saw that Asena wanted to much of the same. After calming down a good bit and rationally looking at the situation the glaring errors in our way of thinking was clearly exposed. We now feared more for the safety of each other than we desired to succeed in our goal or mission. It was a strange epiphany that had caused both of us to take some time to gather our thoughts and try and solve the present predicament. If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it. This had led me out onto the Albatross for some trials in harsh conditions. Feeling mentally tired after the long period of trying to search through my thoughts I had come to a decision that I felt needed to be made one that would change the way we could act towards each other. With a good bit of trepidation residing within me I left the ship and strolled through the downpour towards paradise island. Asena POV Stretching my neck I ran forward before jumping into the air and doing a flip over a short wall. Landing on the ground I quickly rolled before rising in a kneeling position. A bow in hand with careful and precise movements I fired three arrows and each one entered a humanoid target in the throat. I was trying to practice using these ancient weapons. Unlike Nemi I had no prior experience using close ranged weapons or for that matter long range weaponry of the ancient world. The ease of using this humanoid body was amazing to me. Everything about was the same as a human except for my ears and tail. So learning to utilize hand held weapons had been a bit of challenge. Somehow the transformation had rewired my brain and with the nanites and internal memory processor I was able to do things near as well as a normal human. The fact that I had to get used to me now slightly reduced sense of smell but increased eyesight and hearing had also been a learning curve. I had learned how to use a recurve bow with a good amount of proficiency during this week. I also practice other ranged weapons and throwing knives. Nemi was a true master at armed and unarmed combat and his level of skill had improved slightly even if he had yet to notice it. He was truly mesmerizing when he fought with any of the close quarters weapons of the ancient world. Nemi would become a blur of perfect motion. His chiseled body would spring into action and even with my enhanced eyesight his hand and sword would blur into a target and without stopping he would continue onwards. One of the most awe inspiring visions of Nemi was when he decided to dual wield a pair of dark short swords he referred to as a pair of butterfly swords. The two swords were shorter than his forearm and he attached each of the blades in their sheaths to the thin armor he wore on his arms. After doing the preparations he donned a long sleeved robe with large openings near his hands. With a signal he had started the battle and with a calm presence he seemed to walk among the attacking drones only to slightly blur to a side or his hands would snap the head off of one of the drones. Nemi however kept up a walk that seemed much like a stroll when armored drones attacked his hands blurred and heads and limbs began to freely fall. The monomolecular edge on the blade made easy and short work of all his foes. The strange thing was that he had never lost his stride and still seemed to be only going on a peaceful stroll. The two short swords had disappeared as quickly as they appeared and seemed to be more of a figment of imagination than reality. The decapitated and multiple amputee drones however stood testament to the fearsome display of combat and martial prowess displayed. I stood up from my awkward position and took a deep breath to dispel my thoughts before leaving the training room. This very thing had been the cause of issues during some of the training sessions with Nemi. My thoughts would wander and my focus would waver. This led to situations in which either Nemi or I would end up lightly injured. The deep desire to protect Nemi from harm and injury and the desire to show him my own strength had led to several bad situations in training. Although we were able to completely forgo our feeling in some points we would inevitably be drawn to either watching one another or needlessly trying to protect each other from a foe. This lack of consistency and synergy was maddening and as Nemi¡¯s military subordinate and second in command many of my thoughts were most definitively inappropriate. While I knew that I had a near non existent desire for mating or going after male canines it was not fully removed as it had been for Nemi. I had no desire to mate with a dumb mutt and as I had lacked the ability to bear children at the time I did not see any point in trying. With Nemi I felt a strange and confusing rush of feelings and emotions. I had long ago vowed to myself to forever be by his side but now I wanted more. I wanted to be with him and not just by his side but next to him at all points in time. I just was not sure of how to articulate that to him. ¡°Intruder detected¡± An alarm suddenly blared through the announcement system. ¡°Feed me the data¡± I called out to the AI. ¡°Feeding data now¡± The defensive AI respond. ¡°What is that?¡± I questioned as I saw a strange being suddenly appear out of mana on coast of the island. ¡°Unknown being. Composition is over eighty percent mana Major¡± The AI answered ¡°Connect me to Colonel Nemi now¡± I quickly ordered ¡°Connecting now¡± The AI crisply responded. ¡°Asena are you ok?¡± I hear Nemi anxiously ask. ¡°Yes I am doing fine at the moment. Are you ok? The intruder is only around a klick from your position¡± I ask hoping there has been no problems. ¡°Yes. I currently have the individual in observation.¡± Nemi responded. ¡°According to the data the intruder appears to be humanoid.¡± I said ¡°Correct the intruder seems to be a glowing humanoid around a meter and a half tall. All inclement weather appears to be clearing from the vicinity.¡± Nemi informed me. ¡°Be cautious it appears that this might be our first encounter with the mage section of the population proceed with extreme caution please.¡± I said as I ran towards the armory to gear myself up for possible combat. If whoever that lady was so much as put one mark on Nemi I would kill her and her death would not be slow. ¡°Asena you have released some form of pressure or killing intent reign it in she is walking towards the bunker.¡± Nemi said cutting off my dark thoughts. ¡°Roger. Sorry about that.¡± I apologized. I went into the armory and was quickly dressed in a full assault set of armor. Grabbing a RPG launcher and a set of our new mana emp bombs I turned and ran back out of the armory. Now fully ready for battle I set out for the area that Nemi and the intruder were located. ¡°The intruder seems to have detected some of the drones¡± Nemi¡¯s voice broke through my thoughts. ¡°Status¡± I asked ¡°The intruder is cautiously approaching one that is facing away from her.¡± Nemi informed me. ¡°I am three minutes from your location¡± I said as I increased my speed and dashed out into the now sunny day. ¡°Roger she just seems to be observing the drone for the moment I have it moving and collecting plant samples. Still observing however command code Alamo is still active and is ready to deploy for defensive at any sign of hostility.¡± Nemi informed me. ¡°Affirmative¡± I responded while nearly stumbling after hearing the fact that he had initiated the Alamo protocol. ¡°ETA and vector?¡± Nemi asked ¡°One minute until I am in overwatch from southwest¡± I replied ¡°Beware the intruder is has currently started to put mana into the ground around it.¡± Nemi said ¡°Prepared with mana emp aimed in as of now¡± I let Nemi now ¡°That¡¯s my girl¡± Nemi said with an obvious hint of pride in his voice. ¡°No problem¡± I said well blushing a bright red and trying to downplay his praise a bit. ¡°The intruder is releasing a mana spike towards the drone.¡± Nemi said quickly ¡°Alamo Protocol Activated¡± The primary AI suddenly announced in my head. I watched as the seemingly harmless drone dodged the incoming mana in a distinctly non human way and leaped at the glowing women. The women showed a expression of shock before she doged at extreme speed. The drone stood up from the ground and turned and faced the women before declaring in the common language we had learned from Rosa to identify who they were. At this statement the women eyes widened even more in shock and she seemed to sputter for a second. ¡°What do you mean who am I. I am the ¡­¡± Without empathy or emotion the drone beside her detonated in a mana pulse. The intruder slumped to the ground and even being a full klick away I felt nauseous and strange. Numerous other drones all charged in from all points of the compass. Seeing that the Intruder was nearly unconscious the drones attacked with stun rods and sleeping gas. The intruder feebly resisted before succumbing to the effects of the attack and falling unconscious. --------------------- Thanks for reading. Again sorry for the slow release RL has school starting up and work has been crazy. Anyway enough with RL I hope you all enjoyed this chapter. I will be trying to limit the amount of times I jump around. Thanks for the comments. Let me know if this makes it easier to read. If you have questions or see a glaring error please point it out. Thanks, Znomad Chapter 14 The Catch Chapter 14 (The Catch) Well I hope that you all enjoy the chapter. I realize that my grammar, punctuation, etc are all pretty bad. :( Sorry. I have posted in the forum asking if anyone wants or is willing to proofread or edit my work. At the time I write this chapter there have been no responses. If anyone would like to proofread or edit the story please send me a PM. I want to learn and improve even if I happen to be pretty slow. Thanks for putting up with me. Znomad ------------------ Roza POV The strange new world I had found myself in was more than I wanted to understand most days. The incredible structures that had been raised in such a short amount of time was something I could not fully fathom at this point. My constant companion through this transition had been none other than a personal AI that Asena had called Merlin. ¡°Merlin I have a question.¡± I asked looking down and the strange gauntlet like thing on my right arm. ¡°Yes m¡¯lady¡± Merlin responded happily. ¡°I have been wondering about the structure of your home world?¡± I said a little lost at what would create all these strange things. ¡°Well madame the universe in which I originally resided is very different from this place.¡± After a quick pause Merlin asked ¡°What would you like to know about it m¡¯lady?¡± ¡°I want to know why Nemi and Asena don¡¯t seem to understand anything about magic?¡± I questioned wondering if there really could be a world without mana. ¡°Well the simple reason is that mana does not exist in our universe. The only way to strengthen yourself is physically and with stronger technology and weaponry. In the universe we left only the deadliest technology and not magic stood as a barrier between empires.¡± Merlin said. ¡°Hm so Nemi and Asena are great users of this technology I suppose.¡± I thought aloud while twirling some of my hair. ¡°Ha ha. Well although both Nemi and Asena can use incredible technology and are great with even the deadliest versions of it.¡± Merlin said while chuckling ¡°Actually Nemi and Asena are actually what most would consider the culmination of technology m¡¯lady.¡± I stopped in the hallway and rubbed my temples resigning myself to a headache after the undoubtedly strange explanation that would be probably be forthcoming. ¡°Well I hate to ask this but what do you mean by that Merlin?¡± I asked as I resumed walking deciding to head towards my bedroom. ¡°Well to put it simply Asena originally never existed she is a culmination of multiple species and genetic manipulation all the way through until she reached adulthood. She also has multiple implants and various other forms of technology that works with or in her body. Nemi on the other hand is different.¡± Merlin informed me. ¡°Can you show me what you mean by implants please?¡± I requested and Merlin quickly displayed a hologram of an implant and showed me both where it went and what it did. ¡°That is very strange and looks painful.¡± I commented after seeing what an implant was. ¡°Well implants can be strange however, they rarely cause pain and are even easier to put in.¡± Merlin said as we passed by a security drone that was walking down the hallway and two small sentry drones that scurry across the ceiling like little oversized spiders. Ugh I shuddered because even as a supposed demon those things can be terrifying. ¡°That wasn''t the case for Asena I¡¯m guessing?¡± I finally ask after I stop nervously looking around in case there are more of those machine spider things. ¡°You are right. Asena was forced to take the implants well fully conscious and aware. She had to survive the pain of being opened up while alive. She personally recorded that the worst part was getting implants for the senses like smell, hearing, sight, and touch.¡± Merlin said in somewhat sad and contemplative voice. ¡°Well what about Nemi was it easier for him at least.¡± I asked trying to change the subject for Merlin. ¡°Not at all. Nemi is a partially mysterious being even for me. I do know he did have to survive much worse than Asena did to just survive. The records that I have acess to show that Nemi was part of the first and only group of elites ever created.¡± Merlin informed me as I walked through the side door and stepped outside. The door behind us seemed to disappear into the bushes and trees. I wondered a little at the skill of technologies illusion magic. ¡°Please tell me what you know about Nemi?¡± I requested thinking about just how strange and foreign he seemed to me. ¡°Certainly mistress, I will be happy to inform you of what I know. Nemi was a created experiment by the last surviving member of the ancient council on the homeworld of the Drakin. He was created along with his entire pod of just over a thousand. He was forced to undergo rigorous training in combat and molded to be without compassion or mercy towards any combatant in front of him. The brutal training and conditioning killed over eighty percent of his pod. The remnants of his pod were then put through gruelling experiments and were fully integrated with the technology put in them. This did not come without a cost and only fifty members of his pod survived this stage. The harsh reality of the fact that there could only be one survivor came to light when a battle royal was forced upon the remaining members of the pod. Nemi was the only survivor of pod one and had become an unparalleled killing machine on the battlefield. Twenty five pods in total were created and only five elites survived the crazy ancient. The council tried to replicate the ability of the elites but was unable to do so. Asena came from one so called failed experiment by the new council.¡± Merlin told me as I sat down on a bench next to the one of the two waterfalls on the island. ¡°What happened to the other elites?¡± I asked wondering if they might still be out there somewhere. ¡°They were all killed in the war that the new council decided to wage on the known universe.¡± Merlin stated with despise of the council evident in his vocal inflections. ¡°So Nemi is the last of his kind then I guess?¡± I ask wondering a little about the agony that he must of gone through to survive such a harsh lot in life. ¡°Yes he is now the last of his kind to exist in this or any other universe.¡± Merlin said with clear certainty. ¡°Warning! Warning! Code Alamo is active seek shelter immediately.¡± A monotone voice broke through our contemplative mood. ¡°Hurry this is serious we need to get to safety¡± Merlin said with a little bit of nervousness showing in his tone. ¡°On it¡± I said well I ran for the beach and the closest entrance that I knew of. ¡°Wrong way you are heading towards the enemy. Stop now!¡± Merlin shouted in my ear. ¡°Uh oh.¡± I came to a quick stop and hid some bushes on the hill. ¡°Just stay hidden for now¡± Merlin said and I quickly nodded my agreement. A large group of combat drones rushed past us towards the beach and Asena flashed past us not even staying on the trail but jumping from trees and rocks up towards the top of the hill. She seemed decked out in some rather strange armor and weapons. As we were hidden in a bush and seemed relatively safe I decided to ask Merlin a question. ¡°Merlin can you do the video or movie thing so I can see what is happening please.¡± If you come across this story on Amazon, it''s taken without permission from the author. Report it. ¡°Of course madam I do apologize for the needless worry¡± Merlin said as he quickly caused a holographic display to appear right in front of me showing a strange sight of a glowing figure walking towards one of the drones. I could see the mana since it was displayed on the screen as a strange purple color that quickly shot towards the drone. Suddenly the drone impossibly dodged. ¡°I¡­ Do you know who that is?¡± I sputtered out. ¡°No! Is she friend of yours?¡± Merlin asked in a quick and hurried tone. ¡°No she is not but¡­¡± I suddenly stopped as I saw the drone explode and felt a little sick. ¡°Good they are detaining her now¡± Merlin said cutting me off. ¡°You all are strange and beyond understanding.¡± I mumble as the drones release their eggs with the sleeping gas and subdue her with glowing rods. I shake my head not believing what I had just seen. ¡°Do you know who the intruder is?¡± Merlin asked seeming a little puzzled. ¡°Of course I do there is not a single person who would not recognize her on this planet but you guys.¡± I retorted while shaking my head and throwing my hands up in a gesture of helplessness. ¡°Who is she?¡± Merlin asked ¡°The person you stunningly captured is considered to be the right hand of the goddess of light. Her hammer of justice and messenger of light to the world. You lot just took down one of the most highly esteemed demigods of the world. Not only that you did it without blinking an eye and by treachery and surprise.¡± I blurt out then sigh as the strangeness of my new friends again baffles me. ¡°Um all is fair in war¡± Merlin weakly says in the background. ¡°Yeah well I don¡¯t really recommend going to war with most of the planet you seem to be stranded on.¡± I growled out in exasperation at this uncalled for and paranoid action at their intruder. ¡°I mean really do you have any common sense at all.¡± I finish off with as I take a deep breath to calm myself. ¡°Sorry if we troubled you¡± Merlin responded with an apologetic voice. ¡°No problem. I can¡¯t blame strangers from another world for lacking in common sense now can I¡± I said as I sigh and head towards the scene as the drones place the Daughter of Light as she was called into what looked like a casket but I knew was a medical scanning device and a stasis pod. Well whatever stasis really was as I still could not understand how that really worked. Well anyway it was time to correct the behaviour of what I was rapidly coming to think of as my two charges. Nemi POV I stood in the corner of the medical facility battling a strange range of emotions. Roza had just came in and chewed both Asena and I out for our paranoia and overreaction and had warned of just how important this person was. ¡°Roza I promise we will release Diana as soon as we wipe her short term memory it should be no more than thirty minutes.¡± I said trying to calm her down. ¡°You are going to use mind magic on a demigod. What kind of idiot are you?¡± Roza said shaking her head and sighing. ¡°It is a combination of a minor electrical shock and a drug and she should only remember what happened before she came to the island.¡± Asena cut in trying to explain what it was we were planning on doing. ¡°I give up just get her out of here and safe well before sundown or there are likely to be dire consequences.¡± Roza said throwing her hands up and walking out of the room mumbling something that sounded like kids. ¡°Well let''s do a full medical profile for Diana and then send her on her way.¡± I said breathing in deeply and trying to relax after Roza¡¯s scolding which was a strange feeling for me. ¡°Um well why don¡¯t you let me do that Nemi¡± Asena suddenly jumping up and in front of the medical pod. ¡°Okay sure¡± I said raising an eyebrow and wondering at this strange behavior by Asena. ¡°Actually can you wait outside please¡± Asena asked me a slightly flushed face. ¡°Uh why?¡± I suddenly stop and about face and double time it out of the room remembering when Roza slapped me after she had found that I had taken full medical scans. The automatic door closes down and I head off to find something else to do. Stopping by the room where Sy still laid in stasis I looked down at his pod. Gently putting my hand on the case of the pod I fall into deep thought about the future and just what possibilities and dangers I might face out in this strange world. ¡°Well wake up soon buddy I need a guy or two to talk to.¡± I say aloud and chuckle slightly and walk out the room. There were things that needed to be done if wanted to free him from his condition. ¡°I will be back Sy count on it.¡± I whisper as start to jog back towards the Albatross. ------------------------------------ Sorry that this is shorter chapter but it has been a busier week for me. School! :) Anyway if you have something that I should correct please let me know. This story is really in its rough draft stage. :( Sorry if it is not that great someday I will get to edit it and clean it up. :) Thanks, Znomad (P.S Characters for any and all who might be confused or want a refresh) -------------------------------- Quick Character List Nemi- OP character form a super advanced universe. Is a created super soldier. Asena - Giant wolf like creature with excellent intelligence and the ability to speak telepathically with both Nemi and Sy (Is now a wolf beastman) Sy - A giant tiger/sabertooth like creature with excellent intelligence also able to speak telepathically with Nemi and Asena. (Is now a cat beatman) Shonna - Elfin princess who is running away to see the world. Emma - Dwarven girl who is the Elfin ambassador''s daughter. She has a napoleonic complex and is not fully dwarven. Eli - High wizard of the Human Kingdom and advisor to the king. Also head of a neutral magic academy. Erich - Commanding General of the Human Kingdoms army. A ladies man and a fearsome soldier. A rival and friend of Eli and a bit of a known troublemaker and prankster. Roza - A former slave of a pirate vessel. She is known as a demon or demonkind in this world and is considered a hated race. Tamara - General of the Elfin Rangers who are considered the best scouts of the world. Hayha - Sergeant Major of the Efin Rangers considered the deadliest bow master in the world and is known for his hard working personality. Vanya - The queen of the elfs. Known as a beautiful queen who keeps her calm in all situations. Merlin - Fully aware AI given to Roza by Asena. Was the personal AI for Asena for many years. Diana - Also known as Hammer of Justice and the Right hand of the Goddess. (Goddess of Light) A powerful figure and very popular among the populace for her justice and also a well known among the Royalty of the various Kingdoms as the Messenger of Light.