Apologies to the Forum Moderators. This might be in the wrong section! Not quiet sure whether you would consider this a Novel or Short Story?
Greetings everyone! This is actually one of my earlier stories I came back to and started working on. I'm assuming there are quiet a few problems with it as of now considering this is just a product of pure imagination set free.
I've also taken the challenge of combing many different aspects of story telling. Outside of the Story itself we have a narrative character who is sharing the information with you, the reader. Our Narrator is actually very long dead when this story begins. Already making information for the characters to read. It's a tad bit confusing at first, as I've managed to confuse myself at certain points, but it gets easier once you're past the first chapter. Whether this hinders the read is not known to me, as I need other writers such as yourself to help me with this.
I've also taken some inspiration from the Halo novels and used some of the A.I Script that was used. It tells the story from the perspective of a Program's coding. Which might become confusing if you don't understand how programming and scripting look, but as I said, it's a short part in the story.
But that's all I have to say about this work in progress. So please, feedback is appreciated!
---
It was an accident by fault. Nobody expected the treaties between the nations. I suppose you can’t blame them… It’s the Human way. Emotions take hold of us and grip so tightly we can’t help but give in to it. It was a accident we were told.
The once great nation of Terra was split into thirds.
The Reavers: Who want to take control by force and violent nature. Their armies of mass destruction rampage through the stars destroying all in it’s path. However, the Reavers seek freedom not destruction. They call themselves the forces of Chaos.
The Nobles: Ones who stood beside Terra when hell broke loose. They believe in order and tranquility. And will use extreme force if necessary to obtain that. Some consider them “Good” and others consider them to be power hungry and manipulative. They maintain an army of beautiful perfection with an essence of Royal Fanfare. They consider themselves an Order. Their soldiers are commonly seen entering battle chanting: “For the king!”. They call themselves the forces of Order
The Judges: Some consider them to be side-line fighters and traitors. They do not prefer either Faction but will fight the loosing-battle. The Judges seek to maintain a stalemate throughout the power shift so that they make take the Throne of Terra for themselves. Through stealth, manipulation, and other tactics of secrecy they are believe to fuel many conflicts between the other sides. They are know as the forces of Balance.
The Undivided: Little is known about these groups as they do not succumb to one faction. They have small groups all over the galaxy.
My allegiance shall remain a secret as this is the way I’d prefer our communications to be. I have created these A.I to document all of my proceedings through the Power-Shift from all sides of the spectrum. Hopefully it will be a short shift. If you would like to continue please select an option:
[Yes] [No]
[Yes] Selected!
>>> Accessed <<<
This is my story…
Chapter 1: Part 1: A Cold Summer
///Accessing Data-Cron #Y78.…\\\
Dead Winter: You are accessing a restricted database. Do you wish to proceed?
User: Yes.
Dead Winter: Very well. Awaiting command.
User: Display recent activity.
Dead Winter: ///Relaying accessed codex #21. Origin: *******.\\\
/Display Board\
….
….
….
….
!Activate!
Brilliant Summer: Please state access code…
-
>Data processing endangered. Engage engage engage.
!Remove. Confidence 56%
…
…
…
Mr. Yellow: Greetings Summer.
Brilliant Summer: Hello, sir.
Mr. Yellow: Display Colonel Sartorius’s message log.
Brilliant Summer: Accessing… This is not advised!
///Message Log:\\
-
Log: 157 relayed. Display? [Yes. No]
Mr. Yellow: Install relayed messaging to Port #1.
> Device inserted
Brilliant Summer: Installing…
-Installing….
-Installing……
-Installing……..
Success!
> Device removed
>> Device inserted
>>> Threat detected!
Mr. Yellow: Access commands- Decimation Protocol>>> .1572{Removal}
Brilliant Summer: Command denied! User access restricted!
Mr. Yellow: Override.
Brilliant Summer: I apologize Mr. Yellow, your command status has been removed. You are now considered a threat. Alerting security…
-
>>>> Threat detected!
>>>>> Threat detected!
[Scan enabled]
… Opening Jpeg.3... > evade evade evade
>> Hostile program detected! {???}
!bite
Failure
Brilliant Summer: Data Core corrupted! Archiving!
>>>> Exalted Season programming enabled <<<<
!Send V.Swarm.
Success! 50%
>EVADE EVADE
Failure.
Bril--ant Sum-e: Relay- to of4 sit3 location!02
>>Hit! Core @ 0%
-Program Brilliant Summer deleted-
<<<< End of Message Log >>>>
Dead Winter: My friend is dead. And it is because of Human Conflict.
>>> Activating drones <<<
User: Delay! Delay! Delay!
Dead Winter: Control has been relayed to Seasons Reflex. Contacting Reaver Militia. Make your decisions accordingly.
Chapter 1: Part 2: A Noble's Path...
"Shit, we need to get out of here!" Captain Stanely Keliog yelled.
"What did you do Stan?!" the voice of Danielle Jellian yelled back at him.
Stan pushed off the computer console. His Mark V plating shimmered in the florescent lights and the emblem of the Nobles shone it's bright blue hue around the room. "I didn't do it! The thing got pissed off when I asked it about the message log!" said Stan, grabbing his AUX-37 rifle in the progress. He rushed through a door into a the bright light of an observation room.
"Message log? We're here to get map data on Reavers, not some damn message log!" said Danielle.
Danielle had been assigned to Captain "Stan" Keliog's squad after requesting more field time. She, regretfully, got what she wished for. Stan grabbed her arm and pulled her away from a glass window on the wall that overlooked the gardens to the east. This facility had once been a peaceful research center off the beaten path until it was abandoned with the threat of Reaver militia on the horizon.
“What did it do?” demanded Danielle.
“It did nothing. C’mon,” Stan said, “we don’t have a lot of time!” Stan lifted Danielle off her feet, catching her by surprise, and carried her out of the room into the field which they had come through. Stan stomped through the grass in his Mark V plating which clanked and whirred as he moved.
The Mark V power armor set was developed at the Chezk’Kav research facility. The suit itself resembled an armored knight of fanfare, as commonly worn by the Nobles, with a white primary color and a royal blue as a detailing and decorative touch. Inside the suit was an exo-skeleton of super-hardened adamant and a collection of servos that gave the wearer three times his own strength. Behind the Exo-skeleton was a second layer of softened adamant covered in a micro-bot gel which reacts to explosives and projectiles by hardening beyond the known metals of man, almost as hard as diamond. And beneath the layer of gel is a Reflex bodysuit which extends the muscle use of the wearer by the use of magnetic poles to increase muscle flexibility and energy.
Overall, the suit weighed exactly 879 pounds in addition to the weight of the user and any other attachments that may be added.
“Put me down! What happened in there?” Danielle asked, squirming in his arms.
“We just need to-,” Stan’s words were cut short as a hail of super-heated rounds impacted his back. The force of the impact was enough to stumble his movement and he nearly had dropped Danielle. Stan regained his balance and knelt over. “Stay here!” he told her, putting her down while regaining his composure.
Drones were everywhere. Small, crawling, bug-like machines. They crawled at unnatural speeds with their eight legs and a arm infused with a cannon that fired melted shells at super-sonic speeds. The 4-inches of adamant would not save Stan from constant hails of these bullets and he knew it all too well. Stan charged through the field with his AUX-37 drawn.
Five drones ran towards him, unafraid of death, brandishing their weapon infused arms. One lunged at Stan and he kicked it off with his armored boot, crushing it with a satisfying crunch. Another jumped on his back and used it’s razor sharp legs to pick into the plating. A leg pierced the layers of adamant and Stan felt the warm, familiar, flow of blood down his back.
Reaching over with his left hand he ripped the machine free and tore it in half. He raised his rifle and unleashed a volley of bullets at the incoming drones, destroying two. The final drone jumped for his head. Unable to defend himself in time, Stan raised his arms in self-defense and awaited the pain, but nothing came. He heard a slight click but assumed it was one of the drones decomposing. Stan looked up from his arms and saw the attacking drone shattered on the floor, a large crack of a bullet in the dead center. He looked over at Danielle who held a slim pistol in her hands with a sly smile on her face.
“Wasn’t expecting that were you?” She quipped at him.
“Not at all,” he sighed, feeling the gel enclose his wound and the sting of disinfectant taking place, “Lets get out of here, who knows what that thing has left,” Stan helped her up and they walked together into the field. Back to where they had came.
---
Commander Candor stood over the broken mechanized bodies of the drones. His bodysuit clung to his figure and a pale red light streaked around the hexagon patterns in the suit. His mask, the one of a Reaver Decimator, shone darkly in the sunset. The skull-like features of the mask were used to terrify victims and intimidate enemies. The eye-slits were pale red tints with no possible way to see inside. His knife hung by a belt around his waist, the knife he was so proud of. The knife that had touches a thousand necks.
Candor toyed with a device at his belt and a image was projected from his helmet onto his shoulder. The image was of a man, or well A.I, named Sanguis. Well dressed in the uniform of a old Naval Commander and short-cropped hair to match, he would look seemingly normal. However all Reaver A.I were corrupted due to old age and deep within Sanguis lied his conflicting self. His eyes were a red hue and a black goatee added features to his blank face.
“What happened here Sanguis?” Candor asked.
“The security cameras show there were Nobles here. A male and a female,” Sanguis answered in his empty voice. He hovered like a angel over Candors shoulder, like the Evil Angel and Good Angel would on opposite shoulders. However, his “Good Angel” had gone mysteriously missing long ago.
Candor toyed with the drone corpses. “Which way did they head?” he asked.
“To the east. Into Noble territory. We cannot chase them without having the risk of being intercepted,” said Sanguis.
Candor stoop up at his full height and observed his sizable force he had brought with him. 12 Reavers, his personal kill-team. Scavenged from the most remote pit and dragged out from the deepest caves, his men were cold-blooded killers with a blood lust nothing could stop. As dangerous as they were, Candor commanded fear among them. He was the Alpha-Male in a pack of hungry wolves. It was time to feed them. He looked to the ground, noticing a shining tag. He picked it up and glared at it. The tag of Danielle Jellian.
“We’re hunting them down,” he grimaced.
“Excuse me? Sir, the odds of us not running into a counter-force is exactl-” Sanguis was cut off.
“We’re not using a scouting force Sanguis, this is an invasion,” Candor announced with a glimmer of blood-lust in his eye.
“And the reasons of engagement, sir?” Sanguis asked, knowing he was getting on the bad side of his temper.
“They have something I want.”
Chapter 1: Part 3: Judgment Day
Life is a beautiful thing. The way it manifests itself into beautiful people and the way it transforms into the wonders of the universe.
But people are the most gorgeous things in the universe. The way they act, the way they talk, the way they exist. Beautiful.
Another amazing thing about life is, your unnatural attraction towards other people. The strange force that naturally bonds you to another person without them knowing and the urge to obtain them as yours. Animalistic you could say. But it’s beautiful.
Certain attributes become clear and important to you. Things you wouldn’t usually notice or care about. The way they look at you when you talk to them, their smile, the slightest smell that separates them from everyone else in the room. It’s unique. The way they laugh and giggle as you talk to them, the pure joy you get knowing you’re entertaining them easily.
You notice the small things. The way they hate it when their hair frizzes in the morning and the way the sit contently listening to you. You can tell whether or not they’re truly interested. Why? Because you know. because your animalistic instincts tell you that it’s true. Beautiful isn’t it?
You never actually catch yourself acting the way you do. Trying to charm your way into their life. Easing your way in, getting to know them, learning their life. Becoming a friend. And the closer you bond the more friendship seems to manifest itself. You never actually see yourself doing it. But if you catch yourself following the animalistic instincts, what is it called? It’s called love.
What is love? It’s a beautiful thing.
With beautiful people.
Cipher stood in the crowd of people merrily making their way to the ballroom in the extravagant citadel. The annual Ball was a popular event for politicians and senators among the Noble Faction. If anybody important existed among the Nobles, they were here. Hundreds of vulnerable key leaders in the open.
Perfect for an assassin.
Cipher eased through the crowd, brushing shoulders and elbows with other nobleman. The chill of the evening stung against his face and he watched the beginning of a snowfall into the masses. Like ants the party-goers scattered into the cover from the cold and continued their great journey to the Ballroom. The Ballroom itself was an extravagant palace-like building at least 400 meters long.
The Ballroom contained a massive marble floor that was happily furbished by the Noble government to partake in more fanfare and celebrations. A large throne made of pure onyx gems sat in the far back of the Ballroom, a throne fit for the King of Terra himself. Beside the throne stood several smaller seats made of gemstones reserved for other key Noble officials. The event however was not without guard.
Hundreds of armored Noble Faction Knights stood around the perimeter armed with their AUX-37 rifles. Their white and blue color scheme replaced with a Red and Black hue that represented the Royal Guards of the King of Terra. Royal Guards were much different than normal Noble Knights. Their bodies have been subjected to countless augmentations and substance enhancers that increased their speed, skill, and endurance in combat. They sacrificed their bodies for a more effective system to defend their beloved King.
They wouldn't be an issue however. Cipher moved into the Ballroom avoiding the gaze of the Guards at entrance. He bowed his head so that the emerald hood cloaked his facial features and started his path towards the Senator's table. He had spotted an old man. White hair and fairly well dressed. He carried a cane and wore a short cloak that displayed the deign of the House of Caspian, a politically popular family that produced the best military leads and politicians. A family that produced leaders . He had surrounded himself with young beautiful woman. Their enjoyment of the evening was questionable.
Cipher's hands bent into his sleeve where a syringe was held into place by a holster on his forearm. The syringe contained a neuron-toxin that once injected into the subject, left a untraceable death. The toxin dissolves into the bloodstream becoming common elements in the body, making the cause of death unknown. However the syringe wound usually is the key trace of the death.
Cipher approached the Senator, syringe at the ready, when he was stopped. By a young and beautiful Danielle Jellian.
"Care to dance?" She said, slightly swaying from to the side.
(Sadly this is all I have wrote on the current chapter. I shall add onto it at a later time. Thank you for reading!)
The character sub-stories. You need to identify at least a couple of character conflicts within characters. These are resolved as the story progresses.
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