Welcome to Gaia! ::

Eva followed the two women, contemplating Chris's expression of understanding regarding her daydream. She wanted to know what he knew. She wanted to come clean, to confess her biological connections to the system they all sought to destroy.
"It was all one recurring nightmare. It woke me five times last night..." Eva's brow furrowed as she concentrated on the ethereal images, "I was connecting to the simulation before a large battle, trying to shut it down safely... But something went wrong. I was thrown out of the code, and all of the people in the fields collapsed, dead. I was frozen in place. Raowan came to me, tried to drag me to safety...but he was transparent and ghastly, as if it was only his spirit returning to warn me. 'He's a lie,' Raowan kept repeating, and I don't know what he meant... Then, this shadowy monster emerged from the tower, with a purple-glowing sphere in its face. It blasted some kind of dark energy from that sphere which consumed everything it touched, including Raowan and the mecha, Genesis and Layla, even you two." Eva glanced at Isabella and Odessa, "Everything was eaten away by the blackness, until the earth itself was devoid of all but shadow beings. Out there, I had a daydream where Devon was killed by the shadow creature, and Chris's grief summoned the orb-bearing mutants to fight it."



'Just don't touch them. You know what happens when you touch emotional stimuli.' Lara warned her sister, sensing the creature's immense fascination with the two purebreds. She and the others were escorted to a residence tower a few blocks away from the palace, while the Westerners were given rooms inside one of the extra wings of the palace itself. Once everyone was settled, she and Kiros would call Chris out to the faction's junkyard for training.

Eva shook her head after a pause of consideration, "I only saw a brief glimpse of Lukas amidst an enormous mob of human soldiers, Caretakers, and a few angelic creatures. I'm not sure what happened to him in the end. I did not see Scarlet at all."



"And if you need anything else, there's a buzzer here in the wall to summon an attendant," Rey lifted the decorative casing beside the doorframe to reveal the small button underneath, "I think that's all there is to know about the palace. Any questions?"
The Western scout raised his hand, "What about the city? Are we allowed to leave the palace grounds? What form of currency do the merchants utilize in this faction?"
Rey shrugged, "Sure, you can leave if you want. I don't see why you'd want to, though... the palace is the most interesting place in North. Typically, the merchants simply trade materials for products, but since you're all guests of the monarch you guys can get a few things free of charge. Some shopkeepers can be a bit...fussy, though, so watch out." She inwardly grinned at the thought of the scout getting chastised by the elderly metalworker in the corner shop, "Basically, just don't piss anyone off. That means no jokes regarding the mecha, no remarks about someone's hair color, no teasing which may be misunderstood as provocation. And whatever you do... don't use gender-specific identifiers toward anyone unless you are 110% certain of their true gender. We have some girly men and some manly girls in North, and it gets real awkward if you start hitting on a chick and she replies in a gruff voice, 'Whoa man, I don't swing that way.'"
The group chimed with laughter. Rey heard a low beeping from within her pocket, tapping the small device to dismiss the alert. A few Northern footsoldiers filed calmly past the loud group, each clad in loose-fitting trousers and tunics and basic flats, faces painted in unique designs of crimson ink, and bearing a single red metallic lotus hairpiece on the opposing side of each warrior's dominant hand. It was time for division one's weekly training session — Rey had completely forgotten about it.
"Sorry, but I've gotta go. Have fun with your time here in our faction."
Without another word, she made haste toward the dressing room down the hall. She exchanged her usual hooded cloak for the standard uniform, fastened the sculpted lotus to the left side of her head, then rushed to the mirror to do her makeup. She painted fierce, winglike shadows extending over her eyelids to just past her brow line; a bladed shape flowed from the base of her lower lip to the point of her chin; the simplistic outline of a sun adorned the center of her forehead. Rey quickly put everything back where it belonged, then dashed out into the entrance hall. She paused only briefly to call out to Eva, "Hey, would you like to come along?"
Eva didn't even have the time to ask a question before the Northerner gestured for her to follow, then disappeared out of the front door. She glanced apologetically to the Northwesterners and proceeded after Rey.
"What's going on?" Eva asked, running to catch up with the girl.
"Remember how you told me you had no skills at all, that you felt helpless compared to your comrades? Well, here's a chance to learn something new: Northern-style combat and evasion." Rey began to explain, "You're small in frame like us, and I'm assuming not particularly strong either. Have your friends tried to teach you to fight before?"
Eva vividly recalled her training with Odessa; that was an experience she'd rather have forgotten. She nodded shyly, "Once. It didn't go well at all, I wasn't strong enough to fend her off."
They walked all the way around the palace to the vast backyard, where rows upon rows of soldiers swayed and parried and danced in unison. Rey took her place in the nearest row, speaking to Eva even as she copied all of the movements, "Northwesterners are either blessed with natural strength, or have dedicated their entire lives to perfecting their minds and bodies. Our people aren't nearly so lucky in the genetics department, and we simply cannot devote that kind of time to develop ourselves when society is dependent on our abilities to rebuild and restore. So instead, we make use of the advantages we do have: Agility, speed, and smarts. You don't have to be strong if you're fast and know how to disable your opponent."
Eva observed in silence as the Northerners flowed in endless motion, always graceful and precise with every move. They reminded her slightly of Scarlet's wind-based paths, but without the mysticism; this was raw agility. The rows broke off into individual groups of two as the warriors prepared to battle one another. Rey spun, swept and dashed, striking her opponent with lightning speed in the body's pressure points. The young man collapsed in a matter of seconds. She whipped around to face a wooden practice dummy strung to the wall, and in the same fluid motion, withdrew and launched one of the petals from her hairpiece. The petal lodged itself in the dummy's throat, revealing a miniature blade underneath the ornamentation. Rey was finishing with her second opponent by the time Eva's eyes returned from the blade.



Chris solemnly watched Devon assemble more of his bombs on the guest room's spacious desk. He mixed the components with such care, inspected each containment device so thoroughly before placing anything inside. He was practiced in his craft; these skills were learned from a dear mentor he lost ages ago, a pre-war chemist who despised how the government handled the catastrophe. Chris never knew the man personally, but he understood the fatherly importance he held for Devon. At any other moment, this sight would have been comfortingly familiar. Now, however, Chris could only morbidly wonder which of those bombs would fail the man in his time of need, when the shadow-spewing mutant would destroy him.
"Maybe it's time for you to stop becoming so involved in physical conflicts, Devon... I mean, you're getting older, and our enemies are getting ever more complex in their defenses. You've done so much to help the factions in your lifetime so far, you deserve a break. Maybe you could settle down here in North and have a family."
Devon turned to face the boy, his expression jumbled in confusion, "Where the hell's all this coming from? Are you suddenly a guru now that you have a shiny rock in your head?" He paused, setting down the explosive canister, "You know I can't rest until that virtual purgatory is wreathed in flames. I was raised with this mission, and I'll fall with it, too."
"I know." Chris replied in a low tone.
"What's got you so bummed?" Devon pulled the chair closer and sat in it backwards, resting his arms and chin on the back of it.
The boy shook his head, "I see things now. I see bloody battles and strange opponents. I see death — including yours." He resented the stoic expression on the man's face; he wanted to scare Devon out of his stubbornness, out of his current fate, "And I know you'll refuse to believe me, but we shouldn't trust Eva. I can see a permanent connection between her and the simulation; it looks inseparable, as if it's a part of her. She is the reason you will die."

The last of the duels raged on before them, consisting of two equally skilled Northern men. Rey panted with exhaustion at Eva's side; she had been bested not long ago by one of her childhood friends. The warriors danced on with graceful, powerful strikes so quick they were difficult to track. There was no clear victor at first, for neither opponent wavered or displayed the slightest sign of defeat... Until one fateful jab to the chest of the younger man caused an electric current to arc through his body. He convulsed for a brief second, his eyes rolling to the back of his head and foam spilling from his lips, then collapsed to the pavement with a final thud!
The observers gasped in unison. The older opponent loomed over the body, examining with confusion the small device he had fastened to his fingertips. All at once, reality seemed to resume in hyper-speed. A medic rushed from the shade of the palace to the boy's side, calling for an automated cart to help carry him. Several of the other warriors encircled the victor, questioning him with outrage and shock: "What the ******** was that for, man?!" "Why would you do such a thing?" "Was this on purpose...?"
He showed nothing but the most sincere confusion and remorse in his responses.

"It was an honest mistake," Rey reasoned with herself aloud, watching the man with a vulture's focus, "Either he didn't realize what setting his weapon was on, or it malfunctioned."
"What weapon?" Eva asked, trying to recall the moment of fatality.
"His fingers; they have small devices attached at the tips. It's a battle tactic that some of us use. They're like capacitors with different shock settings — as soon as the circuit gets completed, the full amount of current is dumped into the connecting body," Rey gestured toward the younger man as an example, "We're allowed to use them in these training sessions, sure, but they cannot exceed a level beyond the amount required to temporarily stun or knock out a grown human. His was at full capacity."
Eva watched on in silence as the field slowly cleared. The autonomous cart and medical staff were the first to leave, followed closely by the boy's weeping friends. The opponent was the last to vacate the site. His eyes briefly made contact with Eva's on his way out, and something inexplicable about it sent shivers down her spine. He really didn't want to kill that boy. He needed to kill North's best trained royal guardian.

"Well, if you don't mind, I think we should get you started now." Rey motioned for Eva to step forward, then got into position opposite of her.
"How long should this training take?"
The Northerner shrugged, "As long as it needs to."



Later that evening...

A strangeness pervaded the calm night air, a foreboding sensation heightened by the orb's acuity. Chris spoke wordlessly with Lara as he paced beneath the metallic trees, showing her his and Eva's vision regarding Devon's fate. She responded with an impression of not knowing how to feel about the subject, and after sensing the boy's emotional plight, tried to reassure him. He broke off the mental connection, shuddering at the sudden loneliness he felt. He had never realized just how lonesome the human conscience really was until the day his mind brushed upon another, feeling for the first time what it was like to be complete. Not even the lack of speech phased him any longer — he almost found greater solace in the wordlessness of it all, of seeing and hearing and experiencing another's thoughts. If he spent too much time around the mutants, he would very quickly become mute.
The thin simulation wire glowed faintly in his vision from the palace's rear, where Eva trained with Rey. Chris bit down on his lip. He needed to know more. He needed to know why so much tragedy surrounded that woman, why so many would die around her. He pondered for a moment, then wandered back into the palace. Scarlet should know what it was he sought to hear.

The boy's brow furrowed as he tilted his head, showing the utter perplexity he felt regarding her rapid transformation. She was an adult! This development defied everything logical he knew. Scarlet's metamorphosis distracted him enough that he barely acknowledged the misty forms of a vision playing at the back of his mind, foretelling a tragedy about to occur.
Chris bowed his head in respect, "Yes, Lady Scarlet," He lifted his gaze from the floor to her shifting eyes, "Ever since I've received this sphere... No, even hours before I received it... I have seen things. Wars, death, conflicts. They're coming more frequently to me, more vividly as I learn to use this thing better. I've even seen memories from before I was ever born, from the original creatures that bore these devices first. But there is a concerning pattern I notice in all of these deaths: Eva."
He glanced out to the city beyond Scarlet, his thoughts getting momentarily hazy. His focus came back in an instant, like an arrow shot through the fog, "She's not just an incidental, is she? There is something connecting her to the simulation. I can see it with my bare eyes; a signal thread constantly attached to her from the tower. In all of the scenarios I've envisioned, she is at the epicenter of the destruction. She is the reason so many will die." Chris fought back the sorrow trying to seep into his voice for the fate of his friend, but his turmoil was evident in the deep blue glow of the orb, "I need to know everything you know about Eva, about why or how she is connected to that accursed machine. I need to know why I will lose everyone I've ever cared about for her sake."

Out of the calmness of the grand city roared a gunshot, sending forth a speeding bullet which would pierce through the monarch's exposed skull from behind...

Rey ducked backwards, launching herself into a backflip with a swift kick to Eva's abdomen. The instant her foot contacted the ground, a series of rapid punches caused her to rotate her torso in avoidance, and retaliated with her elbow striking her opponent in the chest. Eva staggered, allowing Rey to slip her leg underneath her in an attempt to loose her footing. Rey's vision blackened before she even perceived the sharp pain in her neck, right over her jugular vein. She clutched onto the other woman blindly as her legs gave in, resting her head against Eva's shoulder as she waited for her circulation to regulate itself once more.
"Are you okay?" Eva questioned.
She nodded in response, raising her head to glance around. Her sight slowly returned, along with her strength. The Northerner smiled as if nothing had just happened at all, "That was great, Eva! I didn't even see it coming —you were so quick!"
The gunshot broke the silence of the night. Dread filled the young mechanic.
She darted for the palace's nearest wall, vaulting herself over a small rock garden and onto the second-story veranda. She jumped toward a wall mounted flagpole and used it to swing herself to the building's third floor windowsills, which she climbed from to reach the slanted rooftop. Rey carefully navigated her way over the spine of the oriental-inspired roof, then slid down the other side, landing on the balcony beside Scarlet in a matter of seconds. Dozens of other attendants and guards were gathering now, all equally frantic.
"Lady Scarlet, are you alright? We heard a gunshot..."

Eva followed after Rey's lead, trying to clumsily imitate the Northerner's moves. She leapt onto the veranda without too much hardship, then charged toward the flagpole. She gripped the pole tightly, swinging herself with a large amount of momentum in the direction of the windowsill. Her stomach impacted with the corner of the windowsill, forcing the air from her lungs. She began to slip downward, but managed to grab onto some decorative metal grating and pulled herself to the rooftop. The slant of the roof was severe, and would prove impossible to walk on without the assistance of the spines. Eva laid herself flat on the smooth edging spine, pulling herself up to the central horizontal beam. She rested atop the beam for a brief moment, bracing herself for the difficult decline on the opposing side. Ever so carefully, Eva tried to ease her weight onto the slick shingles, just barely able to maintain her balance on the challenging surface. She took a step forward.
The world spun around her; she felt her feet slide out from underneath her, then her shoulder collided with the roof a second prior to falling into empty air. She saw the balcony as she overshot it by a few feet, twisting desperately to catch the railing, yet was still inches too far away. Panic gripped her as she realized from just how high she fell, and how hard the ground below appeared...
Gravity seemed to cease. Eva was suspended in mid-air, held by some invisible pressure that enclosed around her form. The pressure intensified for a brief moment, constricting like a hand around her throat to suffocate her... but the force stopped itself, seeming to reconsider its intentions.

Chris caught the falling woman with his telekinetic power, well aware of who she was. She felt so vulnerable in his grasp, so helpless and weak against his unknown energy. After hearing Scarlet's explanation, he resented what she was. He despised her connection with the simulation. His anger caused a shift in the energy; it was crushing Eva where she floated. The Westerner stopped himself in time, and instead gently lowered her to the balcony where they stood.
His orb burned hot in his forehead, giving the boy a minor headache. He turned away from the growing crowd, slipping out of the room and into the hallway beyond. Chris paced restlessly, his thoughts racing. Eva was the cause of all his strife, yet he couldn't bring himself to kill someone who was innocent. She couldn't help how she was born. But because of her, all of his friends would die.
Hopelessness consumed him. He stopped pacing to bang his fist against the wall, then his forehead as a sob escaped his raw throat. Something moved in the corner of his vision, but he ignored it.
"You did well, kid." Kiros was now beside him, his back leaned against the wall and arms crossed over his chest, "You used restraint; you didn't let your emotions overrule the common good."
"It doesn't change a damn thing, though." Chris remarked with a quivering voice, "Fate's a cruel b***h who doesn't care how good or virtuous someone has been."
Kiros smirked, "You know, fate is a rather strange phenomenon. Despite how it may seem, fate can change with certain actions. Perhaps your decision here may turn fate in your favor."

((Bump))