Welcome to Gaia! ::

Odessa listened to Eva's question and chuckled quietly. She closed her eyes, and took the middle finger of her right hand and pressed on the area between her eyes. Suddenly, the lights flickered, and went out, plunging the cavern into darkness; there was no sources of light in the room, so it was completely black.

When she opened her eyes, Odessa's sapphire eyes seemed to glitter in the darkness as she looked Eva over.

A human without a soul... that is what you're NOT, Eva. You are as human as Chris, as human as Devon; as human as any that walks down the paths in the VR, ignorant of this reality; The fact that your body and mind was created in a lab rather then a womb means nothing. You are human, albeit with a different method of birth. How do you think we went so long without detecting you were artificial in the first place? We can see souls, we can see spirit. If you were devoid of those things, we would have known right off the bat. The fact that you're walking talking and moving about is pretty much evidence of that.

The lights lit back on as quickly as they went out. She nodded and smiled to Eva.

That said, to master our mystic arts takes years... and it is HIGHLY recommended that if you wish to fight like us, you learn everything we have to offer, not simply the path of motion... Odessa remembered the last person who simply wanted the path of motion. She winced. It is detrimental to the body to move without understanding. It is like running before crawling. The last person to try to simply learn the Path of motion without learning to sense like we do, to think like we do... they killed themselves with the most basic technique we have... Breathing. She winced again. The breathing technique brings the soul into closer bond with the body as the body breathes in the ether stuff of the world. Do it improperly, however, and you can force the body and soul apart. Force them apart far enough... and with no soul to inhabit the body... the body dies. Even if the body doesn't die, it would cause major painful side-effects, such as paralysis; and no western style doctor would ever be able to tell why.

~~~

Science?

Gerald looked over to Genesis and blinked at him.

Is something wrong?

Science!

Oh, he feels something funky going on with Genesis. He must be dreaming.

Science.

Gerald looked like he wanted to investigate, but he stayed at the control panel looking Nova over.

The buzzing in my head was loud, however, but I accepted it's presence for the moment. I waved my hand around, and accidentally cut the stand which I got the gauntlets off of in half.

Gerald...

Mwahahahaha.

I snapped my fingers again, and the plasma flow stopped.

It was then the voice of my father could be heard.

I tell you Isabella, Genesis feels so familiar... What's that?

Lukas entered the room, and his eyes scanned the room. He glanced at the gauntlets. Isabella stood next to him.

What infernal contraption have you given her now, Gerald?

SCIENCE! MWAHAHAHAHAHA!

Hey, one of his 'infernal contraptions' got us out of that highly electrified room, remember?

Lukas snorted at Gerald's mirth, and peered at Genesis. Aerilo... He mumbled.

Odessa shrugged.

Just because we can't start you off on the Path of motion right away doesn't mean you can't learn other ways of defense. Martial arts, for one. I use Muay thai. Not very elegant, but deadly. Scarlet practices Caporia. That's a sort of dance like one. But the senses of our arts would help you greatly, but that's if you wish to learn.

Odessa tilted her head.

I will warn you... we practice full contact martial arts... it's learn or get your butt kicked.

She sat back, before glancing up at the ceiling. There was a small root there that wasn't there before. She smiled and looked back to Eva.

~~~

Lukas watched Genesis intently, his sapphire eyes searching the robot to confirm his suspicion. Layla would go nuts if she found out, he knew.

Isabella meanwhile headed over to me and handed me a white package. I smiled at her and headed behind a random screen to change into it.

I emerged from behind the screen. I wore a long white leather jacket, with white leggings and high white boots with wings on them. I had slid the gauntlets over the sleeves of the jacket. I stuffed the black bandages in my pocket.

Thank you, Mother.

Gerald, meanwhile, had shut Nova down and was fiddling with the broken pieces of her. He was, very carefully, pulling out wiring to replace, and preparing black pieces of metal to strengthen and replace the damage bits of her armor.

Lukas stepped forward, his eyes holding curiosity. Was it... really? I looked to Lukas, and he absentmindedly handed me something, before striding twaords Genesis. I looked at the robot hard, before I felt a pressure in my head, and my eyes suddenly grew hot, but not unpleasantly so. I was forced into energy sight, and I saw Genesis... He had a soul, yes... his spirit...

The color of Heaven. A color indescribable by words; one could not call it white, or blue, or green, or gold.

Aerilo? Spirit? Is that you?

Aerilo? Father's mentor? My eyes widened. Isabella looked at Genesis, then at me and then at Lukas, puzzled.

I looked at the thing in my hand. It was a pair of pure white winged laurels, with a single golden solar accent on the left temple. I slid it on.

White meant a lot of things to Northwesteners. It was the color of no definition; it was the color of my mother's family....

The wings on my ankles and head were associated for many years with seraphim, angels of the highest order with three sets of wings. I was missing the last set on my back. Oh, and white held another meaning to my people... Death.

My pure white clothes and winged boots and laurels symbolized that I had once been dead; the golden accent meant I had been close to going to heaven myself. I looked down, and turned to leave. Gerald stopped to look up at me.

Science? ... Science.

Yes Gerald.

I strode out the door. As I walked, slowly through the halls, people glanced at me in my near angelic glory. They did not shy away, but they did not approach either.

~~~

Odessa nodded. She stared hard at Eva for a moment. Then nodded to herself.

I can teach you some basics of Muay thai, if you like. I think Scarlet would be the best teacher for your path in the mystic arts. But that can wait until the morning. Scarlet needs to to eat and rest.

Odessa stood and started stretching, flexing her arms. She then scarfed down another taco before grabbing another and gesturing Eva to follow her out the door.

Lukas stopped, a little distance from the confused robot.

Aerilo was a man known also as Spirit. He was a mystic, one of the most peaceful. He never took a human life, or destroyed a Caretaker. He was a teacher; one of his most stubborn students was a white haired girl named Layla. I was one of his students. I saw him move a candeflame; I saw him make a star out of a bonfire. Aerilo... was killed by a Caretaker.

His words held little emotion, a careful monotone. His eyes, however, were watching Genesis carefully. The man held mixed emotions in his eyes; was this the caretaker that killed Aerilo? Aerilo had always been stubborn... Perhaps he had refused to die, the way Scarlet had? But instead of hanging onto his body, he had possessed the Caretaker that killed him? Interesting... Thought Lukas. You kill me, I give you regret.

I cannot tell you what you are, Genesis. That is up to you.

~~~

As Odessa lead Eva on, they came across a figure wandering aimlessly through the people. It was me, still resplendent in white. I walked past them, as if unseeing, heading back towards the room where Eva and I stayed.

Odessa stared hard at my outfit as I wandered past. When I had vanished she gave an exasperated sigh. Really dad? Really? The man felt his daughter's exasperation. It wasn't my decision, Odessa.

She shook her head and lead Eva to one of the training rooms; there were dummies and the stone floor was covered in mats.

First we will start out with stretches.

Odessa sat down on a mat and put her feet together in front of her, her knees pointing outward. She patted the mat next to her, for Eva to do the same.

The enemy forces just kept coming. Devon and his comrades had easily shot down several rows worth of approaching soldiers, yet row after row came once more from the grand wall. Bullets flew over them, deflected off the trucks and fell to the ground with deadly chiming. He peered through his gun's scope in time to catch the first glimpse of metallic men, of Caretakers. Hundreds.
He fired multiple times, missing twice and the other shots finding their ways into human limbs. Someone let out a cry behind him, a second prior to the following explosion. Devon shielded his head with his arms, then looked back to the site. Flames engulfed a single vehicle, dying Westerners trapped within. A black Caretaker arose from the destruction completely unscathed, orange-red eyes locked onto the man, arm cannon raised to fire. Devon leapt to his right, rubble from the robot's attack followed after him. He veered off to the right again as another shot was released, got to his feet, then zigzagged his way closer to the machine. Blasts from its cannon went in random directions, catching the attention of more and more Westerners. They all fired at it, their bullets flying uselessly off its reinforced "skin" and armor. Devon threw a punch at its head, only to be intercepted by the robot's own fist. Something dropped from his coat, he dodged backward...
The Caretaker was engulfed in flame and debris, portions of its figure flew off in the violent burst. A new volley of bullets rained over it, directed at the machine's exposed interior. Its eyes ceased their unholy glow. Devon pulled himself into standing with the support of a truck, a few of his allies already dabbed at the cuts on his face. He glared at the robot's charred corpse, "How the hell did they get ahold of Caretakers? Southeast was always one of the least advanced..."
More screams came as countless people collapsed, fresh wounds embedded in their flesh. One man was nearly torn in two by the nonstop stream of bullets from a mech's minigun. Death and injury was rampant, West's forces were depleting fast. The enemy had closed in around them...



Eva had barely noticed Scarlet, overwhelmed by a wave of nausea. She remained focused on the ground beneath her, the physical illness slowly subsided for a greater sense of dread and wrongness. The feeling was sourceless; she had no reason to be upset. It was just there, like a lingering disturbance across a spider's web. She briefly thought of West's members inexplicably, but distracted herself with trying to mimic Odessa's motions. She sat down beside the woman and copied the stretch halfheartedly.



Genesis blinked and looked away from the man, his gaze floated off without truly seeing anything he saw, "Then I have experienced something of a memory of his, perhaps. Several memories. I saw Layla, I spoke to her from his own mouth in his own voice. I recall someone of similar appearance to you standing in a doorway." He grimaced, "I don't know what this means, Lukas. I don't know why such a person would share those experiences with me."

"You're right." Eva replied stiffly, then also stood. She knew Odessa was only being honest, but couldn't help but become a little annoyed with the woman's impatient tone. She stretched by bending herself backward, several popping sounds originated from her joints. Her neck, knees, ankles, fingers and shoulders all followed the same pattern with different motions. She finally stopped and watched as Odessa tossed the dummy into the wall, pouring all of her focus into the current situation. Eva found it easier to concentrate by imagining Odessa as Nemesis, the only creature she truly hated. Her frustration solidified into a greater determination; she refused to let Odessa believe she wasn't serious. She refused to let Nemesis win.



"It wasn't so obvious to me earlier, but yes... I somehow recognize you." Genesis nodded in agreement.

He waited a sand colored dust topped tarp over himself as he listened to the wind and looked out from the crack of an opening he had given himself to observe by. He had left out some real stinking entrails from a bad hunt a couple days ago and knew it might attract some better game, especially as the sun stewed the stinking mess in its own juices. He was alert and stilled his breath to a mere wisp of normal. He soon heard the snuffling and pawing of something coming to observe the smell.
As it came into view He saw it was a large twisted and mutated dog. One head was semi normal except it only had one eye on the left side of its face and a blank indent where its other should have been. It’s other two heads... if you could call them that were more like two cancerous lumps with razor tooth filled mouths and large ugly noses that were on non-symmetrical points on its thick over developed neck. Likewise it had the other two sets of ears that should have been attached to those heads growing from two places on the bottom of its neck. They hung loosely covered in warts, but they wiggled showing in some capacity they still functioned...
He stilled his breath completely now and waited... the dog wandered cautiously over to the pile of baked guts making sure nothing dangerous was around as it tried out its meal... when it finally approached the pile... it and the pile seemed to disappear... in reality the dog had sprung a trap set by him...
A large whine with a wet thud was soon to follow accompanied by the silence of death... He came quickly out from the tarp and peered over the edge of his spiked pit trap to see the dog impaled by the many sharp bits of junk jammed into the pits floors and walls. it was a mess cut and punctured from the fall and covered in the guts that were the bait... but it was a large source of fresh meat.
He wrapped his hands up well and climbed down so he could heft up and haul his kill out of the trap and onto the land to be cleaned and dressed. He got out his Kukri knife one as long as his forearm and began roughly hacking and butchering the beast, this would last him a good while come what may. He laid out several strips of torn flesh to be cooked by the sun. When they were nice and hot on a sun baked stone he scarfed them down and went on his way...
He was going farther than he ever had. Far from the fringes and deeper into unfamiliar ground... little did he know he was heading towards the Northwest Territories... Mord was what he had been given as a name a long time ago it was the only thing from the old days he really kept; the name, the letters, the words.

((I'll break it down for you: Oh Em Gee I Iz On Fie Yah))

Virgil finally found Raovan wandering around. "Dude, this has gone way too far, people are scared and the Caretakers are brutal, we need to make all this stop." the man said adamantly.