Post by Ryuu on Sept 6, 2007 21:33:48 GMT -6
Very recently, I've been really wanting to do a lot of things. Post apocolypse, steampunk, cyberpunk, etc. etc. Then a few things set off a spark in my head that came out with this. And I plan on actually making a chapter-story out of this. Eventually.
---
The world wasn't always like this. You hear about it in fairy tales and such these days. A world where everyone was normal. A world where the land wasn't barren and wasted for enormous spans. A world were plants and animals were just plants and animals. A world were one could travel without worrying about being ravaged by Beasts. But that was before the Great Reshaping, a cataclysm that shook the land and transformed the inhabitants. It was all different, now.
Those Beasts are what I am watching for, now, in this dingy shack. One time, long ago, it might have been a barn, or a large house, or something, but time and God knows what else has worn down the building to a husk. I think there's a bloodstain on the wall, there... Dammit, I could sleep if this place wasn't so out in the open.
I lean back in the rickety wooden chair I had found in the corner—really, I was surprised it was even still able to support a human body—and closed my eyes. I don't think I slept last night, either... but I have to stay awake, for Carol's sake. Opening my eyes, I allowed my head to fall limply to one side, granting me vision to where Carol was sleeping.
The blanket over her slowly rose and fell in time with her gentle breathing. For her, I had to stay awake, and alert. In the middle of this wasteland, a Beast could arrive at any moment, and Carol doesn't have the abilities to protect herself. She can fight on her own well enough with conventional weapons, but when it comes down to it, she's still a Norm, and the Beasts could overwhelm her.
As an Abnorm, I was granted the ability to manipulate lightning from my fingertips. Recently, I've also been able to move small objects with my mind... telekinesis, I guess. I'm just glad that I was lucky enough to get an ability I could use in a fight, what with the lifestyle I have now. We used to be fine, me and Carol, in the town we lived in. It was relatively small, but we had an electric fence to ward off the Beasts outside.
At least, that was until some damn Trip destroyed the generator in a psychotic episode. The Beasts ran us out shortly after. I grabbed Carol and ran as fast as I could. The screams of dying villagers only sped our retreat, and that was when I first showed my abilities to Carol... I was scared of doing it, scared of being rejected by her because I was an Abnorm... but I had to do it, to save her.
A Warg—a big purple wolf, pretty much—jumped between us. Carol fell, and the Warg started advancing towards her... I had no choice. I extended my arm forward, and a bolt arced from my fingers into the back of the Beast, blasting it away from her. I immediately attempted to explain myself, but she simply assured that it was alright, and we continued running as fast as we could. Two years later, we have a few more weapons and some more fighting prowess. I don't have to use the lightning so much anymore.
We met a lot of people along the way. Back in the village, I only knew Norms, maybe Abnorms who hid their abilities, like me. When we left, we met Anthros, Modded, and Trips, of which I had only seen passing through the village as a kid. Anthros are the creatures who were probably the most effected by the Great Reshaping: they were animals and plants who were granted human-like appearances and intelligence by the energy from the event, but as to why it affected them as such is a mystery, still.
That cataclysm is why I have the abilities I do. People like me—Abnorms—are people who got strange abilities from this Great Reshaping, though, these days, very few are original Abnorms. I guess either one of my parents was one, but I don't know. I was always afraid to bring it up to either one of them, because I wasn't sure which one was the Norm and which was the Abnorm, and then after the attack, they disappeared.
Modded are what you'd call a “fake” Abnorm. Some Norms were so entranced and envious of the Abnorms that they used whatever technology they could to recreate an ability of some sort. It's usually easy to tell if someone's a Mod, because they'll probably have pieces of metal jettisoning from their body. You do see some, these days, that use injections to get powers. Except for certain Abnorm, or people with certain technology, it's essentially impossible to tell them apart from a Norm.
A Trip is an Abnorm that has... certain side effects. Their powers unlock too early in their life, or they were just unstable in the first place, or something—there are all sorts of theories, but in the end, it comes down to this: Trips have mental issues. Along with their power, they were given a disability. Hearing it like this, though, it's easy to assume that all Trips are gibbing unintelligible, homicidal psychopaths carrying hooks, but most Trips can function normally. From what I can tell, most Trips are just compulsives of some sort, but you occasionally get the really bad off ones. I hear some of the worse-off have formed secret societies underground somewhere.
“Why haven't you gone to sleep yet?”
I turned my head again. Carol had woken up, and was now looking at me with large, inquisitive brown eyes.
“I'm keeping watch.” I replied. My voice was cracking due to lack of sleep and hydration.
Carol stretched her lithe arms. “I feel pretty rested... why don't you sleep until morning? I can keep watch for a few hours.”
“No, you should go back to sleep.” I protested.
“Nope!” She said, raising her hand to point at me, “you didn't sleep yesterday, either! Really, Jack, I can watch while you sleep.”
I attempted to say something against her. Really, I did.
“Look, I have a revolver and a sword,” she continued, gesturing to the weapons next to her bedroll, “if anything happens, I can handle myself.”
“What if something happens?”
“I'll scream. That should be enough to wake you up, right?” She winked.
“...we're almost out of bullets...”
“Oh, would you shut up and go to sleep, already?!” Carol stood and began pulling me off of the chair—I wondered for a moment if the damaged old thing would be able to handle a small scuffle on top of it.
“...yeah, alright, okay, fine, damn.”
“Good!” Carol said with a bright smile as I lay down in the bedroll she occupied no more than a moment ago. I pulled the blanket over my tired body, and I could feel the heat of Carol's body lingering on it, and her scent drifting from the pillow... I closed my eyes, and already I felt sleep coming for me. As I fell asleep, I heard Carol softly singing a lullaby that was popular in our village...
---
The world wasn't always like this. You hear about it in fairy tales and such these days. A world where everyone was normal. A world where the land wasn't barren and wasted for enormous spans. A world were plants and animals were just plants and animals. A world were one could travel without worrying about being ravaged by Beasts. But that was before the Great Reshaping, a cataclysm that shook the land and transformed the inhabitants. It was all different, now.
Those Beasts are what I am watching for, now, in this dingy shack. One time, long ago, it might have been a barn, or a large house, or something, but time and God knows what else has worn down the building to a husk. I think there's a bloodstain on the wall, there... Dammit, I could sleep if this place wasn't so out in the open.
I lean back in the rickety wooden chair I had found in the corner—really, I was surprised it was even still able to support a human body—and closed my eyes. I don't think I slept last night, either... but I have to stay awake, for Carol's sake. Opening my eyes, I allowed my head to fall limply to one side, granting me vision to where Carol was sleeping.
The blanket over her slowly rose and fell in time with her gentle breathing. For her, I had to stay awake, and alert. In the middle of this wasteland, a Beast could arrive at any moment, and Carol doesn't have the abilities to protect herself. She can fight on her own well enough with conventional weapons, but when it comes down to it, she's still a Norm, and the Beasts could overwhelm her.
As an Abnorm, I was granted the ability to manipulate lightning from my fingertips. Recently, I've also been able to move small objects with my mind... telekinesis, I guess. I'm just glad that I was lucky enough to get an ability I could use in a fight, what with the lifestyle I have now. We used to be fine, me and Carol, in the town we lived in. It was relatively small, but we had an electric fence to ward off the Beasts outside.
At least, that was until some damn Trip destroyed the generator in a psychotic episode. The Beasts ran us out shortly after. I grabbed Carol and ran as fast as I could. The screams of dying villagers only sped our retreat, and that was when I first showed my abilities to Carol... I was scared of doing it, scared of being rejected by her because I was an Abnorm... but I had to do it, to save her.
A Warg—a big purple wolf, pretty much—jumped between us. Carol fell, and the Warg started advancing towards her... I had no choice. I extended my arm forward, and a bolt arced from my fingers into the back of the Beast, blasting it away from her. I immediately attempted to explain myself, but she simply assured that it was alright, and we continued running as fast as we could. Two years later, we have a few more weapons and some more fighting prowess. I don't have to use the lightning so much anymore.
We met a lot of people along the way. Back in the village, I only knew Norms, maybe Abnorms who hid their abilities, like me. When we left, we met Anthros, Modded, and Trips, of which I had only seen passing through the village as a kid. Anthros are the creatures who were probably the most effected by the Great Reshaping: they were animals and plants who were granted human-like appearances and intelligence by the energy from the event, but as to why it affected them as such is a mystery, still.
That cataclysm is why I have the abilities I do. People like me—Abnorms—are people who got strange abilities from this Great Reshaping, though, these days, very few are original Abnorms. I guess either one of my parents was one, but I don't know. I was always afraid to bring it up to either one of them, because I wasn't sure which one was the Norm and which was the Abnorm, and then after the attack, they disappeared.
Modded are what you'd call a “fake” Abnorm. Some Norms were so entranced and envious of the Abnorms that they used whatever technology they could to recreate an ability of some sort. It's usually easy to tell if someone's a Mod, because they'll probably have pieces of metal jettisoning from their body. You do see some, these days, that use injections to get powers. Except for certain Abnorm, or people with certain technology, it's essentially impossible to tell them apart from a Norm.
A Trip is an Abnorm that has... certain side effects. Their powers unlock too early in their life, or they were just unstable in the first place, or something—there are all sorts of theories, but in the end, it comes down to this: Trips have mental issues. Along with their power, they were given a disability. Hearing it like this, though, it's easy to assume that all Trips are gibbing unintelligible, homicidal psychopaths carrying hooks, but most Trips can function normally. From what I can tell, most Trips are just compulsives of some sort, but you occasionally get the really bad off ones. I hear some of the worse-off have formed secret societies underground somewhere.
“Why haven't you gone to sleep yet?”
I turned my head again. Carol had woken up, and was now looking at me with large, inquisitive brown eyes.
“I'm keeping watch.” I replied. My voice was cracking due to lack of sleep and hydration.
Carol stretched her lithe arms. “I feel pretty rested... why don't you sleep until morning? I can keep watch for a few hours.”
“No, you should go back to sleep.” I protested.
“Nope!” She said, raising her hand to point at me, “you didn't sleep yesterday, either! Really, Jack, I can watch while you sleep.”
I attempted to say something against her. Really, I did.
“Look, I have a revolver and a sword,” she continued, gesturing to the weapons next to her bedroll, “if anything happens, I can handle myself.”
“What if something happens?”
“I'll scream. That should be enough to wake you up, right?” She winked.
“...we're almost out of bullets...”
“Oh, would you shut up and go to sleep, already?!” Carol stood and began pulling me off of the chair—I wondered for a moment if the damaged old thing would be able to handle a small scuffle on top of it.
“...yeah, alright, okay, fine, damn.”
“Good!” Carol said with a bright smile as I lay down in the bedroll she occupied no more than a moment ago. I pulled the blanket over my tired body, and I could feel the heat of Carol's body lingering on it, and her scent drifting from the pillow... I closed my eyes, and already I felt sleep coming for me. As I fell asleep, I heard Carol softly singing a lullaby that was popular in our village...