A beginning again.
It's like all stories, you see new horizons as they develop.
Also short again. Have too much to do suddenly.
Which is weird :)
==
=
Can planets plan?
If they can they don’t really know, do they. Take earth for example, did it plan for life, all life? Well, if it did, it didn’t plan for greed. Because, in the end, greed killed that planet. Planet had no idea of greed, but its builders had a pretty fair notion. There were several failsafes built into Planets memory, restrictions to what was acceptable behavior. And there was one that took precedence before all other.
“Thou shalt not venture inside me.” But those new specimens, they had just done it?
It was time for more radical measures.
==
There was a battle going on, and they were losing it.
“My lord”
“Yes”
“There’s a traitor amongst us”
Around them the court rushed here and there, the Lady’s colors in a constant feverish mix. For a human outsider it would probably most would remind him of a dream, in fantastic colors, with people closely resembling elves passing everywhere. Some tall and thin, others shorter, but all of them having that otherworldly stamp on them. But then we had those others too, dragons with scales of a gleaming cobalt, some of a flaming crimson, even more exotic and mystical, moving to some strange ethereal beat only they could hear. All of it taking place inside what best might be described as gigantic caverns, looking as if clad in gigantic drapes of a shimmering texture, ever changing into new never-ending patterns. The light inside those chambers not powered by any sun, no, more like a veil hanging, a fog of light perhaps? Sometimes so thick that you feel that you almost could touch it, enticing you, drawing you into its midst.
Earlier that day, well, one have to have some common standard right? So, let’s call it a day for lack of better words. Earlier that day Lord Slade had gotten himself some new recruits. From far away they were, bloodbands thin and diluted, but of no little power as measured by themselves. ‘Arrogant to the bone’ as Slade thought as he welcomed them in the big Hall. But their power was real, and reinforcements were needed. ‘Beggars can’t be choosers’ was his seccond thought as he graciously bid them welcome. And the damned banquet had drawn on, and on, with beings coming and going, and now this?
“Onethousandone.”
“Onethousandtwo”
She was throwing herself from side to side in her futile attempts to keep count.
“Onemillion fortysix” her brow white, her body shaking, as she tries to throw those invincible fetters away.
And at some other level a man smiled cruelly. This was a dream she wouldn’t escape,
“How long has it been going on.” Slade asked as he watched the attendants fruitless attempts to calm her down, trying to keep her in the bed.
“Sir, I don’t know. It was as I passed by I thought her to call on me. As I came in I found her like this.”
“Onemillion three hundred ten.”
Their foremost truthsayer locked in a dream, battling the spirits keeping her there. Their war going badly indeed.
===
There has always been evil. It comes by many names, ignorance being the foremost. It’s also known as the bane of Eden. At that time when man first learnt to stand, saying to himself “Because I can” evil also took its first stumbling step. But there is also goodness and sometimes, mostly, life is a mixture of them both. No man being totally evil, there are still those so trapped in their self-conceit that they never might give themselves a chance to prove it though. Then we have those that shouldn’t have been born, enigmas to all understanding. And for those, even using the epithet man will be questionable.
Swostok smiled again as he studied the flawless dreamloop he had created. It danced excitedly before his eyes, a never-ending Moebius strip, caught in time, always the same and always new. ‘The bitch snared at last’ he thought contentedly as he hovered over the bowl, watching the commotion in the room. ‘And all too easy‘ he mumbled almost disappointed as he turned his attendance back to his steed, impatiently waiting for him. Its tail being in a constant motion, threatening to break the flimsy human things standing frozen around it, enthralled by Swostok.
“Are you hungry Mogl? Why don't you have a bite dear, and be well.” Swostok spoke soothingly as he looked around one last time, checking the dusty old chamber they were in. Once it must had been a place of storage he guessed, only now long forgotten by those living. As he watched Mogl studiously finish its meal, only the blood stained rock walls left to tell of its gruesome feast, he at last nodded decisively. His doings done for now, the play set into motion, he badly needed some rest from it all. He took a great pride in his work, but it took its toll, even on him.
-
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Comments
Read It Three Times...
...and still don't have a clue.
We can be pretty sure that they're not the humanoids on Planet's surface, who are separated from each other so that armed conflict isn't possible.
Similarly, if they're outsiders who haven't reached Planet at all yet (and might ultimately rescue our heroes if they can win their war), why are we learning about them at this place and time, after this introduction?
If they're lifeforms that live inside the hollow planet, they seem independent from it, which we've been led to believe isn't the way things work here. If there are already independent civilizations down here, why would Planet be so upset about four more individuals, only two of them organic? If “thou shalt not venture inside me†is the prime directive, aren't these folks the greater threat?
Are they Planet's aforementioned "more radical measures", physically created just for this occasion? (If so, from what? It's hollow down here, except for the black holes.) Anyway, that theory doesn't make much sense, though the fact that the images come from human mythology is a point in the theory's favor, since that's more or less what happened on the surface when they were under siege -- suddenly dinosaurs and giant spiders and insects surrounded them. Still, only reason I can see to create two warring races, one of them losing badly, is to role-play our foursome onto the losing "good-guy" side as the new recruits. Would simply putting them in that situation (without any attempt to convince Jeff, Royal and Suit of its verisimilitude, since based on our story so far that'd be impossible) accomplish anything if the only ones who saw the four of them in that role were Lord Slade's crew and the evil enemy?
Along similar lines, are they phantoms/dreams meant to distract Jeff, Royal and Suit? As noted above, it seems unlikely that they can get to any of them: Royal and Suit don't dream, and Jeff's mind is altered by the ringlet, though I suppose this scenario could tie in with the mountain realm that the symbiote was putting in Jeff's mind way back near the beginning. Does the dreamer represent Janelle? (Certainly not literally; this dreamer is described as Lord Slade's "foremost truthsayer".) And again, if so, to what purpose? Just as a plot to distract Jeff into getting assimilated in spite of everything? (And if so, would it do any good if Royal can put him in a coma as it did Janelle?)
I'm running out of ideas.
Eric
ahem, sort of.
It's a tricky one Eric. I do have some notions of where it will go, and there will be (barely) enough physics to give one side of it, the other side is fantasy and there I most probably will make a 'unholy mix' of it. And yes, some of your thoughts are correct, as you hopefully will see later, but I won't tell you which ones :)
(And I have too much on the table too be able to make it come any quicker for the moment, which in a way is cool too as it makes me consider it a little more. Sorry about that.)
I'm following as well as I can.
Though I do not understand theoretical physics well, or hardly at all, I find it fascinating. So, I got it until the suits dropped through the surface of the planet, and then you changed scenes and swept into a surreal environment, one like I might see if I were high on LSD.
So, perhaps it is as simple as the idea that the protagonists defeated probability and fell into a video game?
Gwendolyn
Heh
In a way maybe? There's nothing guaranteeing that what we see isn't a 'game', even though we don't think of ourselves that way. The main question, if it now was a game, would to me be if there was 'gamer(s)' controlling it though. So, yes, from one 'game' to another maybe :)
But no, although I do like the idea. You could do a lot with it.
Lol, don't go there... just
Lol, don't go there... just don't go there...
Thinking about the reality of reality is pretty much fruitless... If you survive death reality was a game, if you don't than it was reality ^^
Thank you for writing,
Beyogi
Okay....
Um, I think staying up all night reading this has finally caught up with me...
I seriously can't make heads or tails of this chapter, probably because my brain keeps scanning the words because I am so tired, but just what!?!
anyway, Yor, great story, I am going to go eat breakfast, go to class, get some sleep then see if this makes any more sense...
Night!
~Val
P.S. Better late than never...even 2 months late :P