Earthriel Epic

[Maharg67]

One 1.8[8]

 

'Sensing' it was somehow important to activate the strange device, Aaron walked alone with it to the centre of the clearing, in the growing light of dawn, and knelt. As he somehow knew to do, he pressed the silvery sphere softly into the ground, with the black button on top, and then he pressed the button.

 

He awoke, along with the other Troopers, the wozzle and neobaby, to find himself lying on a small adjustable platform, with semisoft cushioning, naked and he carefully sat up. Naked FEAR Troopers were in all directions, were sitting up on platforms. The wozzle, and neobaby, were also waking.

 

What had happened? Everything had gone blank, for him, when he pressed the button. Yes, it had also happened to the others.

 

The silvery dome shaped chamber was huge and in the distance were parked the Superbugs. Except that now there were twice as many Superbugs as there had been and, near them, big logistics containers full of equipment, supplies and special items by the markings that he could see.

 

The voice spoke out of the very air itself, being strong female and yet not quite human.

 

NexusOrb: "There is much for you to learn, many falsehoods to be overturned, but here is your very own sanctuary. Underneath the platforms you will find jumpsuits, webbing, slipboots and other gear to wear inside the SanctumOrb. You will feel odd but also more clear headed. You will find yourself wondering at certain facts that for some reason you ignored though it would seem common sense that you did not do so."

 

They began dressing and soon were so. There was webbing, of pouch dotted belts, for the wozzle and a bright coloured nappy for the neobaby.

 

Aasta, now dressed in a jumpsuit, looked around the great chamber with obvious amazement. "Where are we?"

 

NexusOrb: "In theory, inside a very small orb now hidden beneath the ground of the clearing but actually cloaked by many other means that mere earth. I am NexusOrb, the mentality of the SanctumOrb that is this sanctuary. You must have many questions to ask."

 

Lieutenant Eerun spoke. "Where can we find food? I am very hungry. I can not remember speaking before."

 

NexusOrb: "That is because you didn't! Please relax and have something to eat and drink. You may not like some of the things that I have to tell you."

Edited December 9, 2013 by Maharg67

[Maharg67]

One 1.9[9]

They were not really FEAR Troopers as made by the Maharg Corporation for that corporation did not create such clones. They had been manufactured by the Armacham Technology Corporation. It was the ATC that created the clone army that FEAR had to deal with in fighting against Paxton and Alma.

Why had they been created? They had been meant to take the three 'experimental prototypes' deep into Earthriel and then to activate them. They had been program conditioned not to be even curious about the devices until they were sent the right signals. The devices were exotic super weapons designed to kill of any civilized lifeforms that might have arisen in an Earthriel that the 'corporate plot' had interfered in the creation of.

 

Why disguised as FEAR Troopers? It was a cover story that hopefully would discredit FEAR, an agency that was still very troublesome to the Interplanetary Corporations, if the horrific plot was uncovered by forces unfriendly to the ATC.

NexusOrb had only limited data to give at that time but that was enough to turn everything, that the clones knew, on its head. They were made not to live long, were much younger than they thought they were, and the ATC had always considered them to be highly expendable. They had been created in a secret complex that was in Earthriel close to, but outside of, the North Cyrodiil Wayzone.

But why the desire, the need, to kill off local civilized forces? It appeared a corporate plot, a dark alliance of four TPCs (transplanetary corporations), had led to the interference in the creation of Earthriel so as to produce 'special and exotic resources' that they could exploit for their own ends. The corporations were the Armacham Technology Corporation, the Umbrella Corporation, the Weyland-Yutani Corporation and the Massive Dynamic Corporation. The problem, for the corporate conspiracy, was that their interference had led to unexpected side effects with the creation of Earthriel. Hence the project, the mission, to destroy any local populations that might trouble the conspiracy's plans.

 

Good news was that the exotic forces, behind the SanctumOrb, had altered the clones so that they were now healthier, had a much longer life span to come and were free of hidden control programming conditioning. Now they had freedom but also the pressures of having to make choices about their lives to come. Odd news was that the clones were now an advanced network-clone and were semiautonomous individuals (semi-individuals) to the whole.

Edited December 10, 2013 by Maharg67

[Maharg67]

One 1.10[10]

 

The FEAR Troopers decided to keep their identity as such, at least for now, and they quietly began to get used to the revelations that had come to them, along with the changes. Aasta, Aaron and Aasha became Marshals in full rank, sharing command as a clone-triplet.

 

The SanctumOrb was much bigger inside than out, or so was the illusion of it for the truth was more complicated, but also had other functions that the clones could use. There were limits and the use of electricity, along with other energies, had to be carefully rationed. This was partly because the SanctumOrb was itself 'young' by the standard of such quasiliving entities and would continue to gain more power, scope of abilities and flexibility of what it could do.

 

Secondary domechambers were utilized for many purposes from kitchens to dorms, storerooms and much else.

 

Observational chambers allowed a special kind of view of the outside.

 

The prototype weapons were carefully emplaced in three different secondary domechambers, along with the vehicles that carried them.

 

Patrols were sent out beyond the clearing, circling it clockwise and counter clockwise, at times killing off small groups of dumb huloms with their basic hand-weapons. Some were clearly made by humans, or other peoples. AriziToongio was able to point out that one battle-mace was of orc design and artisan manufacture. Everything was carefully examined and a small museum was starting to arise in a secondary chamber as items were added to it.

 

It turned out that the wozzle infant, and neobaby, had been infected-infested with tiny parasitic organisms along with a bizarre bacteria type of organisms that seemed to cooperate with them. The clone humans had been immune from the infection-infestation from the start. The Marshal, now called the TriMarshal, decided that the infection-infestation was linked with the reason that the two had been found out in the wilderness by themselves. It had perhaps been a harsh, but necessary, decision by their people to exile them but the idea did not please the clones.

 

So what was going to happen next?

Edited December 10, 2013 by Maharg67

[Maharg67]

One 2.1[11]

The hood-robed figure, of SageWizard Prograndis, crouched and examined the marks of where huloms had been killed and then put into sacks of some kind. The old brown skinned man, or that is how he appeared, scooped up some dirt with a lightly wrinkled brown hand and sniffed softly at it. He sighed softly and then spoke in Imperial Cyrodilin to his companions in the growing light of day.

"Plastic of an advanced make and certainly not of Imperial make. The Dwemer had something like it but not identical. I suspect that the strange warriors used bags designed to carry bodies."

Two Blades, elite battlemages serving the Emperor and Empress, stood nearby with well made reinforced leather armour and other fighting gear along with elemental magical weapons. Arcane magic attracted the dead living flesh and necromantic magic did so even more strongly.

The woman, Sandrista, frowned hard. "Many huloms were observed, by our scouts, coming in this direction but none have been spotted coming out of this area. Are you saying these strange warriors killed them all. The huloms are unnaturally strong and their bone-skin makes them harder to kill."

 

Prograndis stood slowly up. "Magical psychic impressions are blurred in this area, thanks to dark recent events that taken place here, but these strange warriors are amazingly dangerous. They also have amazingly deadly weapons but they, themselves, are amazingly deadly weapons. I 'saw' one of them punch a hulom to death by striking it once in the head, crushing both its skull and brain in the process."

 

Magical psychic impressions? There really was no such thing but Prograndis would not have spoken the truth of how he gained impressions even if he could have gotten the battlemages to comprehend him, which he doubted. He was much older than they knew, though they considered him to be unnaturally old, and his true nature was hidden to them. This was for the best, at least for the moment.

 

Sandrista nodded. "Then they are like the magefolk warriors of legend."

 

She was a smart one and often surprised even the SageWizard with the things that she came up with. He turned and smiled softly at her. "Yes, very much so I think. In killing many huloms they have helped to save many lives though I wonder if they knew it to be so. As for the wozzle infant, and the neobaby, I suspect that they and the strange soldiers have met but that the small ones have come to no harm, far from it. We have lingered here too long; I suggest that we make a move."

 

So the three of them did so, returning to the others of the small expedition.

Edited December 10, 2013 by Maharg67

[Maharg67]

One 2.2[12]

 

Arcane magic was very destructive to the living-dead, especially some kinds of it, but attracted to much attention from the dead flesh living. Some kinds of elemental magic also did them great damage but did not attract their attention. The Mages Guild, and Arcane University, had not worked this out fully but they had gained some strong theories on the matter. The SageWizards considered that they did not see the truth because they actually did not want to do so.

 

SageWizards had attempted to warn both of the dangers of over using soulstone based arcane magic, starting centuries ago, but had been ignored; now they were being largely ignored when it came to the truth of the link between dark arcane magic and the dead flesh living magic. For dead flesh living magic was actually a very dark version of arcane magic unlike necromantic magic that had different origins; its true name was necrane magic and it was deeply linked to soulstones and to soulstone magic.

 

Only now was the Empire banning the use of soulstones, and soul trapping magic, and yet many Imperial Citizens were still reluctant to give up both. Soulstones were being gathered up and destroyed in public by special means. Good arcane magic, along with elemental magic, used charge-crystals and Mer made crystalstones but many Imperial Citizens seemed reluctant to start using them.

 

All of the Blades, with the SageWizard, used only elemental magical devices. Only magefolk, like the SageWizards, had intrinsic magic to use. Prograndis was very powerful with intrinsic elemental magic and, apart from some careful studies, ignored arcane magic. None of the SageWizards, or their secret followers, used arcane magic. Intrinsic magic was always elemental or immortalia but never such as arcane or necromantic.

Edited December 11, 2013 by Maharg67

[Maharg67]

One 2.3[13]

 

The expeditionary group, from Cloud Ruler Temple, was hidden in a large cave where grew some glowcrystal of falsely fragile, and elegantly beautiful, appearance. The living-dead, like the undead, did not like glowcrystal and avoided such underground areas except under special circumstances. Necromancers also avoided glowcrystal cave systems because their magic did not work well in such places and they felt discomforted there.

 

The small force feared 'traitors to the living' like the Necrotrine Mercenaries who served the evil of the Necrotrinia, the empire of the dead flesh living. Such fighters did not have any fear of moving through glowcrystal cave systems. They were also brutal monsters whose savagery was infamous across Cyrodiil and beyond.

 

In an abandoned goblin cavern, the expeditionary group rested and drank water from a pure stream of cool water. There were five Bladeguards and two Bladeknights along with a battlehealer, two battlemages and a hard, bitter, man who had once lived in the town of Bridgemort; that was before living-dead creatures had surprise attacked it, as they did many settlements in the Second Night of the Night Terrors. The First Night of the Night Terrors had been when the living-dead had rebelled in the city, of Vissernt, where such were first 'manufactured'. The Blades were all battlemages.

 

Prograndis sat on a small boulder, finished eating a piece of dried fruit, and wiped his hands on a cloth. He spoke even as he did so. "We need to be careful in how we approach the strange warriors."

 

Sandrista rubbed the faded scar, on the left cheek of her face, and examined him intently. "What are you SageWizards, and please do not give me any fools' story about being part of the Arcane University or the Mages Guild. Your magic is different and you think differently than they do."

 

The SageWizard turned to her with a mild grin. "Excellent! Now I can tell you more and you can assist me more. We SageWizards existed at the very beginning, the creation, of Earthriel. That is what we called Tamriel. We came from a very different kind of world, a world that I can remember clearly only with difficulty except when I use artificial means to assist me. It still exists! I think it might be the same world that people came from who created the strange warriors."

Edited December 10, 2013 by Maharg67

[Maharg67]

One 2.4[14]

 

Suddenly there was some shouting in anger. Two Bladeguards were pulling at one of the non Blade battlemages, were forcing open his backpack. From it spilled two softly glowing soulstones. The soulstones were fairly powerful and were very likely to attract the living-dead from quite a distance. The woman scowled and tried to fight back but the elite soldiers knocked her down with ease.

 

Prograndis reached out one hand, fingers closed together, and pointed at the soulstones. A couple of darts of elemental solar energy spat from the fingertips and the soulstones burst into flames. The problem was that the damage had likely already been done.

 

The SageWizard looked down into the foolish battlemage's eyes, having moved with amazing speed to be standing next to her. After a moment he spoke to her in Common Cyrodilic. "What did the tall dark robed man promise you, the one with the sick looking pale eyes and skin?"

 

The woman shrugged. "Safety, wealth and immortality. The Necrotrinia slowly, steadily, expands its territory while its living-dead creatures multiply in number and new, more menacing kinds, are created."

 

The SageWizard nodded. "I must be getting old for I should I detected his influence within you. You are a poor fool. You have a brain-stone inserted into your skull. You did not need to bring the soulstones; in doing so you have undermined your treachery. Morphiary would not be pleased with your stupidity in trying to be too clever."

 

He pointed his fingers at her forehead and before she could respond, there was a small flash of light and she died with a small burned hole in her forehead. There had been no other choice because she was not only treacherous but, through the brain-stone, was under the influence of a Twisted SageWizard named Morphiary. That is the same Morphiary who had created the first of the dead flesh living in the city of Vissernt.

Edited December 10, 2013 by Maharg67

[Maharg67]

One 2.5[15]

The group moved quickly along glowcrystal cave tunnels until the glowcrystal ceased and they were in more dangerous underground areas. As they went through the glowcrystal caves, they had seen many signs of refugees having halted briefly at various spots. Humans had been there, Imperials and others, but also nonMer elves, orcs and orclings (half-orcs). They had fled, years ago, from areas now dominated by the Necrotrinia or that were now war zones being constantly fought over.

In the darkness of the non-glowcrystal caves, they slowed and moved more carefully. At one stage they came upon a small Ayleid structure, a devotional site for travelers with a small statue of the monstrous MehrunesDagon of the Twenty-One Daedric Gods. The daedra hated the dead flesh living as much as others and the living-dead had damaged the devotional site as much as possible for they seemed to hate everything, perhaps even themselves.

Eight Ayleid Kingdoms existed, semiautonmously at the edges of the Cyrodilin Empire, but the Ayleid Kingdom of Kingdoms was long destroyed in the Great Slave Revolt. They paid imperial tribute, followed certain imperial regulations, did trade with the Empire proper but largely ran their own affairs. Ayleid warriors served as Auxiliaries with the Imperial Legions. One of the kingdoms was relatively close to the Imperial City of Bruma and to the Cloud Ruler Temple.

In a big cavern, dully lit by glowmosses of varied colors, they came upon a former battleground. Many dead long dead goblins lay there, along with more powerful hobgoblins and smaller flying gremlins. Yet they had slaughtered many of the dead flesh living and not just human based huloms but the twisted forms of former orcs and other humanoids. At the center of the battlefield, surrounded by the remains of many hobgoblins, was a great big living-dead monster long killed. The winged urgazyle seemed terrible somehow even as a skeletal thing half covered with glowmoss.

The urgazyles had descended on many settlements and other victims, on the Second Night of Terrors, slaughtering many and transforming others into living-dead creatures. They were not the only kind of umazyle monster but were the most infamous.

When the roboremote stealth-drone appeared, a hubrotor helicopter machine, it darted around the cavern data-recording the battleground and the expeditionary group. The SageWizard quickly stopped any of the group from shooting elemental magical arrows at it. He knew it had advanced armour and weapons but also noted the emblem FEAR on its hull; he knew what FEAR was, knew of its history of dealing with paranormal menaces including Alma, Paxton and the Paxton clone army.

He waved to the machine and it paused to observe him as he wrote out a message, in a language that the others did not even know existed; it was called English. He then showed it to the machine that recorded it. The stealth-drone was not under direct linkage with home but it turned, under Prograndis' influence, and sped off back to its base.

First contact had been made with the strange warriors, which was hopeful. Then the SageWizard turned hurriedly to the others and spoke with a tone of urgency. "We must go! A large force of the living-dead is moving towards us, is following us from the place where I destroyed those soulstones. Leading it are at least two umazyles."

Soon they were on the move again.

Edited December 11, 2013 by Maharg67

[Maharg67]

One 2.6[16]

 

The expeditionary group forded a fast flowing underground river, at a shallow area of harder rock less worn down by the currents, and by the time they were moving up the other shore the enemy was in sight. The great big cavern was lit by thick glowmoss growing up damp walls. It was there that they found a quarry type area where an exotic form of stone had been mined. Even as the living-dead emerged into view, they took cover in the pit.

 

There were two hulking humanoids being umazyles of the kind known as golazyles. Once they had probably been a kind of fleshgolem considered as harmless working devices, as leased out by the Vissernt Guild that had split away from the Merchants Guild. On the First Night of Terrors most such fleshgolems had turned into golazyles and had attacked people, livestock, buildings and so forth. That had been in Vissernt itself.

 

The golazyles led many less powerful dead flesh living entities such as huloms and twisted living-dead such as dogzyles (once dogs) and goblizyles (once goblins). They swarmed across the other side of the cavern and began to descend towards the fast flowing river but then they came to a halt. The river was a deadly obstacle to them for it threatened to sweep away even the hulking golazyles in deeper waters where they would drown.

 

Then a tall figure stepped forth from the masses of monsters and stood in bizarre bone armor, complete with shoulder spikes and helmet spikes. The one could have been SageWizard Morphiary but Prograndis knew that the creature was a powerful clone of Morphiary but was not as powerful as Morphiary; yet it did not seem to have the strange sickness of Morphiary either, the sickness that the Twisted SageWizard had brought upon himself with his own stupidity, greed and arrogance.

 

The river kept on rushing along, heedless of the unfolding events in the cavern.

 

The figure spoke out with an ugly, inhuman, copy of Morphiary's voice and in Common Cyrodilic. "SageWizard Prograndis, you are trapped for there is no exit behind you and the river will not be a barrier to us for too long. Your powers, skills, are great but not against this horde that is at my command. Your pitiful mortal companions can not assist you."

 

Prograndis grinned. "Who said they are all mortals."

 

The surviving non-Blade battlemage walked over to stand next to the SageWizard. She shimmered, sparkled, and her appearance changed so that now she was taller and broader shouldered. BattleWizard Gloridisha hefted her powerful elemental battlestaff and spoke. "Lightening and water really do not mix well."

 

From the tip of her elemental magical staff spat a powerful bolt of electricity and as it struck the river in front of the living-dead enemies, there was a massive exotic explosion of very high voltage electricity. When it was gone there remained only a few smoking remains of the creatures that had been there.

 

Gloridisha smiled. "That was a well planned and carried out ambush."

 

Sandrista shook her head. "Perhaps not all that well planned, great grandmother!" She pointed to a clearly burned out, destroyed stealth-drone. "The strange warriors will not be pleased and what of the information that was lost?"

Edited December 11, 2013 by Maharg67

[Maharg67]

One 2.7(17)

 

They found the armored, solid-state, black-box inside the destroyed stealth-drone and the SageWizard was able to access it quite easily enough. There were some odd, interesting instructions there. He went through the ruined, partly melted machine, until he found a small copperish sphere with a single black button. The very very old man did not seem surprised, somehow, by the find. Then all of the group gathered close to the smashed, burned, machine with their gear. Prograndis pressed the button, with an odd smile on his face, and all vanished with a sparkling shimmer.

 

Even as they vanished, the dark natured clone stood watching, nursing his injuries that had almost destroyed him as it had the other living-dead. On his face was an alien form of hatred, a coldness mixed with abhorance at life.

 

The river kept flowing, the glowmosses kept glowing and roaches scuttled through the mosses.

Edited December 12, 2013 by Maharg67