《Altered Space; Burst!》 Prologue: A.A.S.

Prologue: A.A.S.

¡°Oh wow this guy¡¯s strong!¡± I looked in awe at the purple gaseous mass that used to be one of the majestic animals of this planet. The only recognizable feature still visible was a pair of antlers that it was using to throw debris at me. Speaking of which, I quickly dodged to the right, diving to the floor. ¡±Ugh, that was close. Stronger AND smarter I guess.¡± I picked myself up and examined my situation. My hard-headed opponent refused to move from its spot. Instead, it was forcing more of the destroyed buildings around us to become its projectile. Another round of concrete and dust was already hurtling towards me. This was starting to get fun! ¡±Alright buddy, It¡¯s time for my counterattack.¡± I used this planet''s lighter gravity to my advantage and jumped into the air, dodging the debris. I almost instantly felt a pull of gravity. My body began to speed towards our gaseous pal. I extended my foot outwards for a kick, I¡¯m sure I looked like some of those classic martial arts masters from ages past. I burst into an energetic laugh as my body started to accelerate. ¡°It¡¯s game! Time to die!¡± I was so sure of the coming impact that I didn¡¯t even bother to make sure that I was lined up properly, this was business as usual after all. Big mistake. I sped past my purple adversary and I felt the push of gravity as my body continued speeding up toward a wall. ¡°Nice, I can¡¯t believe one of these things finally learned to dodge!¡± My body was 2 seconds away from becoming paint on the wall but at the best possible moment, I felt my partner grasp my hand. She spoke with an annoyed and serious tone: ¡° No Alex, you just missed¡­¡± She sighed and then planted her weapon into the ground so that she didn¡¯t get swept off her feet and hit the wall with me. ¡°Take this seriously lest that wall becomes the sight of your memorial.¡± I began to laugh again as my body finally started to decelerate. ¡°Meri, you¡¯re no fun.¡± Meri let go of my hand, and I stretched as my body slowly touched the ground. ¡°I guess you¡¯re right though, hey Distract it for a moment so I can call the others.¡± Meri Pulled her weapon out of the ground and turned to face the purple monstrosity. ¡° ¡®K, but you¡¯re making dinner tonight.¡± At saying that, Meri dashed off. She could take care of herself so I turned around and pressed a button on my earpiece: ¡±Lisa, T, you¡¯ve got our coordinates right? We¡¯ll need you here in about 30 seconds.¡± I felt the gravity around me get heavier for a brief moment so I turned around. Meri had cut one of the weaponized balls of debris in half. I guess the purple bastard didn¡¯t like that. I¡¯d be mad too. I pressed the button on my earpiece again as a smile slowly crept onto my face. ¡°T, prepare a G5 level- NO a G3 level blast! This guy doesn¡¯t deserve half of our power.¡± I didn¡¯t wait for them to respond, I began to circle around the purple mass while it fought with Meri. I quietly observed, not just the fight but also our surroundings. This planet was on the same level as early 20th-century earth, but it was hard to tell since it looked like a nuclear bomb went off, at least the city block around us did. I found a nice piece of debris to sit down on, and looked up at the orange sky, waiting. ¡°It should be aaany second now¡­¡± No soon as I said that, My spaceship appeared in the sky. I looked back towards the earth and shouted: ¡°MERI! GET OUT OF THE WAY!¡± She glanced in my direction for a moment before nodding and doing 3 consecutive back-flips to dodge one of the monster''s attacks. What a show-off. I stood up so that I could get a better view of our coming victory. The air around me began to get denser, as the wind started to flow upwards. I knew what was coming, so I took a few steps back. The monster was ignoring the changes in gravity and instead lumbered its way towards Meri. Big mistake. In an instant, the gravity around the gaseous monster became 3 times more powerful. The ground cracked, and the air pressure that had built up around it instantly pushed him to the ground. The purple gas faded away into the dirt, revealing its original form; a teal-colored, bull-like animal with antlers and bio-luminescent fur. The animal freaked out, but now that the ghastly mist was gone, we could finish this. Unauthorized usage: this tale is on Amazon without the author''s consent. Report any sightings. Meri was quicker to move than me, she ran up to the animal with her pole-like weapon, and slammed it onto its head, knocking it out. I walked up to the creature and marveled at it for a moment. ¡°Shame, you truly were Majestic.¡± I reached for my holster and grabbed my customized antique pistol, and aimed it. ¡°Time to go to sleep.¡± BANG -- ¡°Apollios. Monsters that span the entire galaxy. They possess random entities and grow in strength until they turn your world into a rock to throw around and crush! We are called the Anti Apollios Squad, and we¡¯re here to save your planet.¡± I looked around the quiet room, it seemed like my audience liked my presentation. My younger sister Lisa face-palmed ¡°Alex that was horrible. and it doesn¡¯t explain anything.¡± I turned to the blonde man sitting next to her, T, and glared at him. He responded by shrugging and looking away. I knew he liked my speech, but he opened his mouth to speak against it regardless. ¡°W-well I mean, I don¡¯t see why we have to explain ourselves to begin with.¡± He shrugged again then continued. ¡°Why not just destroy Apollios and leave? Who cares what people think?¡± I nodded. ¡°That¡¯s a valid point. We could use espionage, get in and get out, like spies or something.¡± As I finished speaking, I felt a warm hand smack me in the back of the head then that same hand rested on my shoulder. I turned to look at my assailant. It was Meri, she looked at me with a disapproving expression. ¡±That¡¯s only a good idea on paper. Nobody here is particularly skilled at acting after all.¡± I watched as Meri¡¯s serious expression faded into a tender smile as she spoke again. ¡°Your speech was wonderful babe, it was short, to the point, and made perfect sense.¡± I couldn¡¯t help but return the smile, oh how I loved that woman. Anyways, I could feel the annoyance build in the direction of Lisa, and just I as began to turn around to face her again, she started speaking with a desperate tone. ¡°Oh my god. Meri, why in the galaxy would you agree with him?¡± ¡°Alex is making dinner tonight.¡± Meri¡¯s response was instantaneous and incredibly funny to me, I couldn¡¯t help but laugh. While I laughed, Lisa groaned. T sighed, He couldn¡¯t take our antics any longer so spoke up one last time. ¡°In any case, We have two for and two against. We need some way to break the tie, how about-¡± ¡°I¡¯ll break the tie!¡± A small voice from the back of the room reached us. The owner of said voice, was the only other person in the room and my daughter; Melodie. Everyone turned to look at her as the little girl made her way to the front of the room and sat down next to Lisa. ¡°Sorry for interrupting you, Uncle Terrance.¡± T simply shrugged, Lisa¡¯s expression went from slight surprise, to utter terror, as she realized what was about to happen. I did too. I silently nodded in approval as Melodie spoke again. ¡°I like Daddy¡¯s Speech Idea!¡± ¡°Nooooo!¡± ¡°Yeeeeessss!¡± And so, On that night. The official A.A.S. introductory speech was decided upon. Prologue: End of the world

Prologue: End of the world

¡°It had just been a peaceful day, On that day¡­ what day was it again? Right, in the year 1308 of the Uldflirry Calendar, 2nd month, 18th day. I still remember everything vividly; I was playing with my older sister. Well, I say play, but I was mostly just watching her.¡± ¡°She was good with them, you know? With swords I mean. I¡¯m older than she was now, but I don¡¯t think I¡¯ll ever reach her level. Um, anyway, The problems started around noon. There was an earthquake...¡± -- ¡°It was really hectic on the ship. Alex and Meri had just come from another ground Mission so they were already super tired. I didn¡¯t notice the urgent anomaly alert until it was too late¡­ so It was my fault that things ended up the way they did.¡± -- There was a loud rumbling noise, the ground Vibrated as a boy and a young woman were flung to the ground. The woman quickly got up and rushed to the boy¡¯s side. ¡°Ray, Ray! Are you okay?!¡± neither of them had ever experienced an earthquake before. They were both surprised and the boy began to cry. -- ¡°The earthquake had caused the roof of the little house we lived in to collapse. I remember because, My sister had tried to run back inside to grab a bandage for me, but she quickly came back with a distressed look in her eyes. I didn¡¯t like seeing her sad so I put on a brave face, you know?¡± ¡°She¡­ saw right through me though. Heh, she picked me right up and started carrying me to the closest town. Now that I think about it, it must¡¯ve taken her most of the day, I can¡¯t imagine how tired she was. I wish I could apologize to her¡­¡± -- The woman carried the boy through the forest and past the plains, they weren¡¯t that far from the town; she knew the distance and she knew that she was almost there. But something happened, and that something was another earthquake. -- ¡°The thing Alex and I¡­ The thing I don¡¯t think we truly understood about Apollios was just how destructive they could become if left to fester on a planet for too long.¡± ¡°By the time we had finished our warp to Uldon-V, The Apollios¡¯ danger rating had jumped from G2¡­ to G9. It- It was terrifying, the first thing I saw when my vision adjusted to normal was Uldon-V¡¯s northern continent sinking into the sea, but at the same time, pieces of it were flying off into space at impossible speeds.¡± ¡°As soon as my brother saw that, His face became deathly serious. I can¡¯t even remember the last time I saw him look like even remotely that intense. Regardless, our efforts shifted from ¡®defeating Apollios¡¯ to ¡®Evacuate as many people as possible.¡¯ So we did that.¡± ¨C The woman had fallen to the ground, so too did the boy with her. Something was wrong, she felt heavier, more sluggish. Her brother hadn¡¯t weighed this much mere moments ago and she was carrying him just fine for the last 2 hours¡­ but now, It was as if she was carrying a small boulder on her back. Any other time she would¡¯ve accepted this strange situation and used it as an opportunity to train herself, but not this time, something was wrong, very wrong and she could tell. The woman turned around, making sure her brother was OK. Then she stood him up and gave him a comforting head-pat. ¡°Raig, are you feeling OK?¡± The boy nodded and his sister continued speaking to him. ¡°The towns just over there, see?¡± the woman pointed at the town in question, it was only a 5-minute¡¯s pace away. ¡°Let''s walk there together I know you¡¯re not hurt enough to lose exercise!¡± You might be reading a pirated copy. Look for the official release to support the author.-- ¡°It had gotten really heavy all of a sudden, and hard to breathe but I pushed through and we made it to town! Well¡­ I made it to town¡­¡± ¡°This is the thing I remember most vividly: There was a 3rd earthquake. And it got even harder to move. But strangely chunks of the ground were starting to move upward towards the sky. At first, I thought it was cool, but the look on my sister''s face¡­ It scared me.¡± ¡°...I guess I should¡­ should talk about what happens next, huh? Give me a second please¡­¡± -- The situation was getting dire. The two of them were so close to the town gate, but the woman clenched the boy¡¯s hands. In the far distance, a once majestic mountain range crumbled before her eyes. And not just that, but the field that they worked and played in was starting to distort and rise unnaturally out of the ground. Perhaps the town wouldn¡¯t be the safest-- Before the woman could even finish her thought, a loud screeching howl pierced through both her and her brother''s ears. It was a familiar sound, like one of the forest animals that they hunted every so often. But it was a pained, stressed howl as if the poor animal was trying to get something off of it. The woman took a few steps back, she held her brother close. Okay, the town is safer-- The woman wasn¡¯t allowed to finish that thought either. She was cut off by another screech and in the distance she could finally see the source of her worry. She could barely understand what she was seeing, a purple, Mist-like entity sped towards her and her brother. With the speed that it was approaching, she didn¡¯t have time to think. She took a few more steps back, turned around, and gave her brother one last head-pat. ¡±Hey Raig¡­ you go into town first alright?¡± The boy attempted to protest but she quickly shut it down. ¡°Go, GO! I¡¯ll buy you 6 bags of that candy you like, just hurry, OK?¡± The woman had a feeling that she wouldn¡¯t be able to keep that promise, so she forced one of her swords into his hands. ¡°Keep this one safe for me OK? Now hurry, Hurry! Shew!¡± -- ¡°Okay, so she gave me one of her swords and essentially forced me along my way. I did as she said because, when my sister got serious; it was either listen to her or get beat up, either by her or whatever she wanted me to overcome.¡± ¡±Ahaha¡­ I won¡¯t lie, I kept looking back at her every 5 seconds. I didn¡¯t understand, why was she just standing there, what was she looking at? Either way by the time I had made it to the gate, I decided to turn around one last time¡­¡± ¡°She was valiantly standing her ground against strange mist one second, and in the next¡­ ¡° ¡°¡­She had been ran-through by Apollios¡­¡± -- ¡°We had nearly evacuated 1000 people. 5 small villages, and 2 towns. At first, we tried to use the official A.A.S introductory speech, but people gave us strange stares, some had even drawn weapons.¡± ¡°I¡¯m ashamed to admit it, but we¡­ basically kidnapped those people. We ripped them from their homes, without explaining anything. I can understand why so many of them despise us¡­ despise me. That being said, It wasn¡¯t all bad. A lot of the Uldonish people easily came with us, and throughout the years many more thanked me with gratitude.¡± ¡°The last person I remember saving? You interviewed him already didn¡¯t you?¡± -- The boy stood in silence for a few moments, he didn¡¯t really understand what he was seeing. What was that purple thing? Did it hurt his sister? Is she OK? Should he go help her? Just as the boy was about to act on these thoughts, the gravity around him lessened, he felt as if he had all of his energy back. He took a step towards His sister, and then another but, before he could go any further a pair of hands grasped him and a woman''s voice spoke to him; ¡±Y-you can¡¯t go any further, It¡¯s dangerous!¡± The boy attempted to protest. ¡°My sister is over there let me go!¡± the unknown woman was much stronger than the boy, and he was dragged away from the town¡¯s gates. -- ¡°you know, I felt terrible for taking him away like that. I went through something similar in my own life after all¡­¡± ¡°Um, Please cut what I¡¯m about to say out; In some ways, It might¡¯ve been better for Raig if--¡± -- Text transcripts taken from; ¡®Uldon-V disaster: 11 years later.¡¯