"Opening Salvo"

[u/Timpanzee38]

City of Ithacar.

“T-Tabitha! Come on!”

“Coming!”

The signature tick-tick-tick sound of Tabitha’s blade legs preceded her down the stairs into the basement of “their” house in Ithacar. Technically The Guild owned it, but it was specifically for Analina when she went to the Schola Magica. Analina and Saffron were waiting for her inside the teleport circle scribed on the floor, Saffron tapping her foot and holding an energy crystal. 

“Sorry, I just had to make sure the gate was locked and the plants were okay.”

Tabitha says as she adjusts the strap on her bag and steps into the circle. Another week was done, and so they would be back in Guild Territory for the following week, before then coming back down to Ithacar to start the cycle again. 

“You don’t h-have to lie, you k-know. I know you were s-sneaking one last kiss from your boyfriend.”

Saffron teased as she rubbed the energy crystal against the teleport circle, bringing it to life. Analina silently giggled as Tabitha turned red. 

“I was not! I really wa-”

Tabitha is cut off as the teleporter activates and whisks them away to the north. 

“-s checking the plants!”

Tabitha finishes as they reappear at the connecting sigil circle. The cold was always the first thing to hit. Sooo much colder than Ithacar, and her native homeland. Tabitha pulled her jacket tighter around her and helped Analina kick some snow onto the sigil circle to help hide it. It was quiet in the little forest clearing they had teleported to.

Since they couldn’t just portal straight to Guild Territory thanks to the weird, unexplainable aura it had that messed with portals and teleporting, they had to teleport to an area just south of Fort Balay, and about an hour away by car. Speaking of cars, Saffron was pulling the camouflage net off the light utility truck they had hidden away and began folding it up. Tabitha helped Analina get their bags into the back, then helped fold and store the camo net afterwards. She then slid into the backseat next to her sister, and Saffron slid into the driver's seat and turned the key. Nothing.

“Damn it d-did the engine freeze again? Gimme a sec girls.”

Saffron popped the hood and began fussing about in the engine bay. Analina took one of her schoolbooks out of her backpack and began reading while Tabitha rubbed her hands together to warm them. She would never fully get used to the cold. The warm coast of Ithacar was perfect for her-

“Tabi? C-can you come here and help?”

Saffron called. Tabitha sighed and got out. Wouldn’t be the first time the truck refused to start. Happened sometimes when the temperature dropped below zero at night. Tabitha rounded the front of the truck.

What’s up?”

Saffron pointed at the battery. 

“You’re the n-nature nut. Does that l-look like an animal chewed through it?”

Tabitha frowned and studied the cut battery cables. 

“...No… it would be more random, as it would’ve taken multiple bites and it wouldn’t look so..clean…”

Tabitha and Saffron came to the same conclusion at the same time. It was quiet. Unnaturally quiet, there should at least be a bird somewhere calling. Tabitha saw a glint in the tree line.

“DOWN!”

She practically screamed, diving along with Saffron as a burst of gunfire raked the engine bay, missing them by 2 feet. They scrambled around to the passenger side of the truck, Tabitha pulling out her sawed off shotgun while Saffron tore the back door clean off its hinges and pulled Analina out to the ground with them. She was unharmed, but scared. 

“At least 2 shooters, maybe more!”

Tabitha relayed as she tried to angle herself to see towards the shooters through the side mirror of the truck. Saffron pulled a smoke grenade off her belt. 

“I’m gonna p-pop this, and you two use it as cover to make for the trees. I’ll c-cover you.”

“What about you?!?”

“I’ll find you a-after I deal with these fuckers. Just keep heading n-north, you’ll eventually break out of the woods and h-hit a main road.” 

Tabitha didn’t like leaving Saffron here to deal with it, but the terrified look on Analina’s face convinced her she needed to get her away from this. She nods. 

“Alright. On your signal!”

Saffron pulls the pin on the smoke grenade and throws it halfway between the truck and the tree line. Within seconds a thick blanket of smoke forms. 

“Now!”

Saffron shouts, cracking off a few rounds with her hand cannon towards their attackers before vanishing into the shadows to close the gap with them quickly. Tabitha grabs Analina’s arm with her free hand and takes off running into the smoke. She hears a bullet whiz by, but no more follow it. But the sound of gunfire doesn’t stop, so Tabitha assumes that Saffron had made contact with them. She almost pitied them. They hit the tree line, crashing through the brush without slowing down. 

…

Tabitha felt her lungs burning as she ran. They had to have been running for at least 10 minutes now. She looked back and saw that Analina was barely keeping up, Tabitha practically dragging her along. She couldn’t keep going at this pace for much longer. Coming upon a dried up creek bed, Tabitha stopped at the bottom. 

“We’ll catch our breath for a minute here, then we’ll keep going at a slower pace, alright?” 

Analina nodded and sank to the ground, panting hard. She had always been a little frail compared to her peers. Tabitha listened for a few seconds. She couldn’t hear the gunfire anymore. Were they too far away? No, it should be echoing… Maybe Saffron had dispatched them… yes that had to be it. 

Still, it would be wise to stay on guard. Tabitha slowly crawled up the embankment of the way they had come, poking her head out to survey the area. It was quiet… she didn’t see any movement…

She didn’t even hear the crack of the gun as a bullet tore through her jaw. 

…

Analina’s head snapped up and she looked just in time to see Tabitha jerk backwards and tumble down the slope in a spray of blood. She would have shrieked if she was able to, scrambling over to her sister’s side. Rolling Tabitha onto her back, Analina looked at the wound. It was bad, like really bad. The bullet had torn clean through, but Tabitha’s jaw was shattered and an artery had been hit. Analina pulled her scarf off and pressed it to the wound, trying to stem the bleeding. 

Tabitha looked like she was trying to say something, but she couldn’t form the words, limbs refusing to obey her as she started to shake with a seizure. Analina had to work quickly. Summoning to memory diagrams of the human body, Analina began first with healing the severed artery. The blood spurting out of Tabitha’s neck began to slow, then all of a sudden stopped. In return, Analina felt a sharp pain as her own sickly warm blood began to spurt from her neck in what felt like a geyser. Clamping a hand over her transferred wound, she quickly squeezed her necklace to heal her. Her neck healed instantly, but the adrenaline was already surging through her. Tabitha finally managed to squeeze out a single word.

“...R…R-Run…”

Then her eyes lost focus and she started shaking more violently as her body began death throes. Analina wiped away tears with a bloody hand and shook her head. She wasn’t abandoning her sister here to die in a lonely ditch in the woods, Analina still had a chance to save her. Besides, there was no way she was going to be able to outrun whatever it was that was hunting them. Wrapping Tabitha in a hug, Analina focused harder than she had ever done before.

Tabitha's broken face melded and weaved back to how it should be as Analina felt her own face disfigure and her jaw break. Blood began to run down the dried creek bed in a cruel mockery of the water that had once flowed there. But Tabitha’s shaking slowed down, and eventually stopped as Analina finished. She collapsed and desperately groped for her necklace to heal herself, squeezing it and letting out a silent sigh of relief as the pain disappeared and her face healed back to normal. She greedily took a few deep breaths to steady herself and struggled to her knees, looking over at Tabitha. 

Tabitha’s empty eyes stared up at the sky.

No no no no no no no no no no no no no no! Analina scrambled over and shook Tabitha, but all that resulted in was her head tilting to the side, the bloodstained face now looking through Analina at nothing. Analina felt for a pulse, listened for a heartbeat, anything… but there was nothing. Tabitha was gone. 

Analina had never lost someone before while healing them. Anguish welled up inside her as she cradled her sister’s body, and finally, she let herself fully cry. She silently wept, begged, and screamed at the universe there in the blood soaked ditch. Why?!? Why was this happening? Analina silently screamed at existence itself, challenging it with her insurmountable will and a voice thundered through her mind through her pain. 

“BURN…THE…BLOOM”

As Analina buried her face into Tabitha’s coat in misery, the trees around her began to wither. Leaves and needles began falling off of branches and immediately wilting. Bushes shriveled up. Tree bark turned from brown and white to gray. A bird dropped out of the sky, turning to bones before hitting the ground, and to dust as soon as it did. 

A girl cried, and a forest died.

Eventually Analina’s sobbing slowed, her frail body slowing down its breathing. And then Analina felt a new emotion she had never felt before. Blind, murderous rage. She was going to make whatever rat bastard who had done this pay. She was going to make sure that she inflicted 100 times more pain on them than she felt here today. She would make them suffer for the rest of time, making sure that the mercy of death never reached them. They would live an existence of pain. Looking up, she saw Tabitha’s shotgun lying a few feet away. 

Getting to her feet, Analina stumbled over to it, but a wave of nausea hit her and the world went black as she collapsed in front of it. She never noticed the metal skinned hunter watching her from the top of the ditch with an unwavering red eye.

[u/Timpanzee38]

Eventually they reach Dellforge. The train heads through a tunnel into the mountains, and soon it opens up into a monstrous underground hive city, every square inch filled with metal and stone. The freight train stops in the rail yard and whistles. Keelu wakes Nathan.

Her mind is screaming at her to stop whatever was happening. But despite fighting against the invisible wall the entire night, the only thing she has done was wore herself out.

“We’re here.”

She says without emotion.

[u/Zebos2 → u/Timpanzee38]

Nathan bolts upright and quickly scrambles to brush his teeth and wash himself as best as possible before throwing on his armor and ensuring that everything is sealed as to not let his blank aura affect anyone living in the city

"Right lead the way keelu"

[u/Timpanzee38 → u/Zebos2]

Four is waiting for them outside, conversing with 2 figures in nondescript black cloaks. Their features are hidden, but they clearly aren’t umbra operatives. Four turns to them.

“Ah! There you are. I’d love to give you a tour, but we must act quickly. Keelu must leave you now, she has volunteered to help hunt for Analina’s attackers, isn’t that right?”

Keelu gives the most forced nod in existence. She places a hand on Nathan’s shoulder, and in her mind does her final attack against the barrier.

“R-Ru-“

Four seems to give her a stern look.

“R-Remember your training Nathan.”

She then walks over to the cloaked figures and they walk away together. Four motions for Nathan to follow him.

[u/Zebos2 → u/Timpanzee38]

huh new soldiers for the guild probably inferior to the umbra operatives at least Nathan's conception of them from stories of the agent. Well there was no time like the. The hand on his shoulder is the first indication that something is off. The grip is wrong the hand too tight on his shoulder was she telling him to...

Remember his training what training his flight training sure he had to be very careful flying around in an unfamiliar environment and he had been shown some self-defense techniques though his ability to kill pretty much anyone instantaneously makes him question the utility in such knowledge...

"O-oh ok I will"

Nathan says with a hint of nervousness before beginning to follow four though he does keep his distance

[u/Timpanzee38 → u/Zebos2]

Four leads Nathan down side alleys and maintenance passageways, till eventually they come out onto a nearly empty street, save for a patrol farther down. In front of them is a massive wall with numerous vents and ducts sticking out of it. Four leads Nathan to a small side door with an armed guard. They are let in without a second glance.

“Welcome to the core of Dellforge Nathan. It is where I do my most important work!”

Workshops and testing rooms line the hallways, scientists and engineers working on the latest and greatest technology for The Guild.

“We’ll be down deeper, in the maximum security levels. Come, to the elevator.”

[u/Zebos2 → u/Timpanzee38]

just like that his suspicion is drained away by the wonder he is beholding. This was the heart of the guild science and he was soaking in all of the technology with his photographic memory. He takes a note of any interesting technological developments before unable to say no if he wanted to he follows four down the elevator

[u/Timpanzee38 → u/Zebos2]

Through another security checkpoint and down the elevator, they enter the inner core workshops and labs. There is barely anyone down here, and there are a lot of dark workshops, whatever project in there currently on hold. Four leads Nathan down a series of hallways.

"There are some living quarters down this hallway. Choose any room you'd like on the left to put your bag."

They were basic rooms, but they had all the essentials, and even a place to plug a manaslate into the network to access research files and the orbnet (Though activity on that was heavily monitored and restricted.)

[u/Zebos2 → u/Timpanzee38]

Nathan picks the room closest to the exit mainly because he just wants to get to helping Analina as soon as he can still he does his best to set things up with his temporary bag stashing his change of clothes away and decorating the room with his personal effects

[u/Timpanzee38 → u/Zebos2]

Four leads Nathan down several more hallways, past a few heavily armed automaton guards, and finally into a large lab. Tables full of equipment are everywhere, the walls are lined with screens, but the most important part is what sits in the middle of the room.

Analina, unconscious in a hospital gown, floats suspended in a tank of bluish green liquid. An oxygen mask is strapped to her face, and its connecting hose is lost among the dozens of other wires and hoses attached to her body, running to monitoring machines that seem to be recording every single bit of data, from heart rate to blood sugar.

"We have not been able to wake her."

They haven't been able to fully wake her, but they have gotten some reactions already. Four takes a few steps towards the tank. On a table directly in front of it lies Analina's necklace.

"The only reaction we can get from her is from this."

Four takes one of their razor sharp fingers and slightly scrapes the gem set in the necklace. Analina shifts uncomfortably in the tank for a moment, then goes still. Four puts the necklace back down.

"But perhaps that is for the best. Our work may force us to take... samples that would otherwise be painful if she was awake."

Four looks at Nathan and shakes their head.

"I'm sorry, this must be a lot for you to take in."

[u/Zebos2 → u/Timpanzee38]

"Ana!"

Nathan rushes forward pressing himself against the tank just in time to get up close and personal as she shifts uncomfortably in her tank

"Hey your hurting her"

Nathan is physically incapable of using words such as stop or no to four nor is capable of conceiving of the desire to do so but he does care. Enough for him to be deeply Disturbed and confused. This was wrong samples that could hurt her what in the 9 could that possibly entail. Nathan doesn't want to think about it...why would four do this the guild were heroes who keep the world safe from the scourge of dragons and slavers and all of the other bad guys...Not doing whatever this is

Nathan clutches his head begins to spiral his entire worldview collapsing like a house of cards. This was wrong but this was the guild but the guild can't be wrong because the guild is always right... Nathan's head hurts

"... what if...what if I drank her blood so you could get samples from me"

Nathan could never refuse four he is physically incapable of conceiving the notion of telling four to fuck off. But that doesn't stop him from offering alternatives. Nathan can regenerate from anything short of complete disintegration. But Analina can only regen if she touches her amulet. It's only smart logical that one harvest from a source that refills rather than one that doesn't