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Post by Zeno, Lord Camelith on Oct 14, 2011 0:50:16 GMT -5
Skomorokh watched as the large mercenary walked into the anomaly and vanished, then two of the others entered, leaving Peregrine alone with a few other mercenaries. There was no time for planning, he had to act. Skomorokh sprinted out of the forest and leaped at Peregrine, sending them both tumbling into the anomaly.
Instantaneous and complete blackness. The darkness was oppressive, he could feel invisible walls constricting around him, keeping him from moving. He opened his mouth to scream but no sound came. The pressure around his arms lessened and a female figure appeared before him, "мати." he gasped, reaching out, "мати". The figure of his mother shrank and was replaced by his sister, wearing the same tattered clothes she had worn the day she died.
"Brother, I'm hungry." she said, "When will we eat?"
"Anichka," Skomorokh whispered, his eyes filling with tears, "Anichka, I promise I will get us food."
"It's so cold, brother. And my stomach hurts." she said, clenching at her stomach. She seemed to become thinner and more gaunt as he watched, as if she was withering away.
"Anichka, please just hold out a little while longer. Anichka please." Skomorokh sobbed, then she was gone.
The walls around him vanished, but he took no notice. Skomorokh lay weeping on the invisible floor. As he laid there and shook from his grief, the darkness around him was replaced by a dull winter day's sunlight. The invisible floor was replaced by concrete and a light dusting of snow began to accumulate on him. After what seemed like an eternity, he pushed himself up into a sitting position. All around him were the docks and piers of Odessa's harbor. He stood slowly and walked through the familiar streets of the city. Eventually he came to an intersection, on the other side of the street was a boy standing atop a wooden crate playing the Balalaika. It was then Skomorokh noticed that the city seemed to be abandoned, there were no cars or other people in sight. He stood and watched the boy play as the sun sank into the horizon. Once it was almost dark, the boy got down from the crate and walked away. Skomorokh followed him. They walked through the streets of Odessa until they reached a run down house at the edge of town. The boy opened the door and walked in, Skomorokh close behind him. Inside was a mess of musical instruments, broken furniture and other clutter. A pot filled with boiling soup sat above a fire in the fireplace and a man was asleep on a mattress in front of it. A young girl sat near the door playing with a grubby old doll, the boy tousled the girl's hair. This was his home, that was Skomorokh himself, that was his father, that was his darling Anichka.
"Anichka." He said, unable to muster any other words. The boy spun around, and looked at Skomorokh with fear and anger.
"Papa!" The boy shouted, and the man on the mattress awoke instantly. Grabbing an old rifle from the mantle, the man shouted, "Who are you?"
"Father, it's m.." Skomorokh began to say, but the man cut him off.
"Get out! Get out of my house or I will shoot you!"
"Papa, I"
A gunshot rang out and the world Skomorokh new so well shattered around him.
Everything around Skomorokh was white, he was back in his gear and could feel the weight of his rifle on his side. He was suddenly aware of what must have happened. "This must be a dream." He said, "Caused by the anomaly." He looked around the endless white expanse around him, Peregrine was nowhere in sight.
The space around him began to change, and objects and places seemed to flit in and out of existence around Skomorokh. "Someone else's dream must be forming here." He said to himself, "Maybe it's Peregrine's."
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Post by Basil on Oct 15, 2011 14:20:03 GMT -5
Balalaika seldom dreamt, and when she did, her nights were filled with nightmares. Nightmares about the past, nightmares about the present. Nightmares about things so deeply ingrained in her subconscious that Balalaika was not even aware of their existence.
Here, in this anomalous pocket dimension powered by the collected dreams of the Zone's human denizens, Balalaika's worst nightmares were made manifest. In that world, she was surrounded by shadows. Strange, frightening ethereal things that flitted about her. Smoky and pitch black in appearance, and endowed with the impalpable essence of things that terrified Balalaika.
The psychotic young woman slashed and stabbed uselessly at the hated shadows. Threats and pleas were useless against these beings, products of Balalaika's own diseased mind, and, frighteningly enough for her, the Zone's 'gift' that served her so well in most situations simply didn't seem to work in this world.
"GO AWAY!", she yelled, drawing her Stechkin and emptying the magazine at the shadows. "LEAVE ME ALONE!"
Eventually, Balalaika's resolve snapped, and she gave in to despair. She dropped to the ground and curled herself up into a ball, shutting her eyes in a childish attempt to not see the horrible darkness. But even then her mind was filled with the loathesome gibbering and wailing of her tormentors.
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"This is hopeless, boss", said Wasp. "We've no idea where we're going...we've no idea how long we've been walking either..."
She tapped her old wrist-watch. The watch's hands seemed to indicate completely random times whenever Wasp looked down at it.
"- You may be right...", said Adder. "And this also poses other problems...how the fuck are we supposed to leave this place?"
"- No idea", said Wasp. She shivered slightly as she thought of all the stories about stalkers getting trapped in areas where space was warped. Would she die of thirst and starvation in this god-forsaken place?
As she mulled over these sombre thoughts, her eye suddenly caught a glimpse of something nearby.
Something shiny.
"Boss", she said. "There's something over there..."
Adder looked to where Wasp was pointing. Instantly, her mood seemed to lighten, and hope dawned on her visage.
"- My God...I think this is it", she said. "Quick. We have no time to lose."
Adder, Wasp and Karcentric cautiously approached the object, and as they got closer they were able to see it clearly. It was a strange artefact, resembling a small, crystalline web enclosed within a small ring. Although it had seemed white at first, its colour seemed to change constantly.
"- Should...should we take it?", said Adder. The commandant seemed utterly mesmerised by the delicate-looking artefact. "It seems so fragile..."
"- We came for it, might as well take it", said Wasp in a hushed voice.
Adder hesitated, her hands hovering over the artefact for what seemed like an eternity. Wasp looked on in silence, almost holding her breath as she waited for the commandant to take the artefact. Finally, Adder's hands gently came into contact with the object...
...and everything suddenly seemed to twist and vanish in a blinding flash of light.
Adder blinked. She wasn't in the anomalous dream world any more, but in the open, on a roof of sorts. A dark grey roof of concrete and steel. The sky was dark, and lightning flashed above her. Nearby, she could see something familiar...a chimney. Or a cooling tower. Tall, straight with a kind of framework around it. It towered above the strange, industrial landscape she was in...where was she?
And then, suddenly, pain in her chest, a sudden force violently pushing through her from her back. Blood bubbled around her lip, and things started to fade...
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Nothing. Wasp looked around her uncertainly, fear clawing at her heart. What had happened? Where was she? Everything was dark...and there was this strange pulsing sound...a heartbeat, maybe?
Then the world around her changed. What she saw made no sense to her. Round things pulsating and moving about, like cells in some documentary on biology. Pulsating, duplicating...and then spawning a black, twisted mass that made Wasp cringe just by looking at it.
Suddenly, Wasp began to wheeze. Her breathing became laboured, as if her lungs were on fire. She dropped to her knees, gasping desperately for air...
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...and then she found herself near Adder and Karcentric again. Everything she'd seen was gone, and she could breathe normally again. Wasp looked to where Adder was standing, and was astonished to see that where the artefact used to be, only dust remained.
Adder gazed wordlessly at the dust in her hands for a while before speaking, defeat and incomprehension apparent in her voice:
"What...how...?"
"- I don't know...", said Wasp. "Maybe...maybe the artefact was too fragile for us after all..."
The two women didn't have time to finish their speculations, though, as the world around them suddenly seemed to contract and vibrate with great violence.
"- I think we also destroyed what was keeping this world together!", said Adder. "We'd better get out of here!"
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As Spinner stood outside the wall of ice and tree branches that surrounded the anomalous clearing, he couldn't help but take a quick glance through the hole the group had made earlier. At first, everything seemed exactly the way it had seemed when he first arrived there. But then, something strange happened. The clearing suddenly began to pulsate and blurr, as if it were losing its tangibility.
"Um...something's happening", he said. Just as he spoke, the ground began to shake.
"Earthquake?!", he shouted, as the tall ice walls began to crack and crumble.
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Post by Διμι on Oct 15, 2011 16:10:27 GMT -5
Snow and rock plummeted past Peregrine and down the mountainside as the small outcrop he stood on vibrated violently, threatening to give way any second. An explosion resonated on the other side of the mountain, sending a snow drift down in a small avalanche scarcely a few feet from him. Small pieces of rock chipped off from the outcrop, dropping down into the abyss, which seemed to stretch forever, disappearing into thick white clouds. The loner stared down in wonder. No mountain in Chechnya was this tall, yet he was sure he was home, somehow. The prodigious quantities of artillery bombardment the place was exposed to was indication enough.
Another blast, and a good half of the stony outcrop gave way entirely, collapsing down the mountainside and breaking into hundreds of pieces. Peregrine stumbled back, balancing himself on the tiny jutting piece of rock that remained. It too, he knew, would collapse, and he would almost certainly be dead.
A gunshot rang out, clear as day among the dull sounds of shells going off, and the rumble of snow and rock avalanching past him. Then the outcrop collapsed.
Peregrine threw himself against the icy, rocky, and nearly vertical mountain wall, his fingers scrambling for a purchase. He felt both his hands find a small, jagged edge of rock as the ground gave way from under him and crumbled into the blinding white clouds below. The loner felt his strength slowly fail him as drifts of snow and pieces of ice and rock pelted him from above.
His left hand slipped, sending him off balance, hanging on sideways with the aching fingertips of his right. He felt his joints slowly loosen, and his consciousness slowly fade. In seconds, his grip would break and he would fall to death. In a final rush of energy, he swung his left arm upward, hoping, praying to find something to hold on to as his right arm released its grasp on the rock.
He felt warm, powerful fingers grip his own hand, and the feel of a rough fabric brushing his wrist. Someone was pulling him up from above. In his last moment of consciousness, Peregrine lifted his head to behold a figure clad in a brown trench coat, its face hidden by a hood. As Peregrine's vision faded to black, he felt the entire mountain collapse around him as the powerful hand pulled him up and out of the darkness.
The loner came to with a start. It was no longer dark, and sunlight streamed through fluffy white clouds in the sky. His suit was soaked, although still eternally warm with the energy of the Fireball shards embedded in it. He was lying face-up on a slightly icy riverbank, the former river reduced to just a small flowing stream. He must have blacked out as he came into the mysterious clearing and somehow sleepwalked to where he was now, the loner deduced. Scrambling up, steam coming from the surface of his suit, Peregrine fell flat on his face. His lower half was tangled in something.
Slowly he dislodged the object. It was a long, tattered, and wet brown trench coat. Bullet holes and what looked like spots of dried blood riddled the torso area. Apparently it had been floating along, from the north until it found itself stuck on him. The thick, brown fabric felt oddly familiar under Peregrine's fingers. Feeling the euphoric will of some unknown force, he pulled the coat over him. A sense of completion washed over the loner, as if he had found something he had long searched for. A presence seemed to lift, leave his body and float somewhere up high. He felt the dark entity inside him dissolve, and, like the thousand wisps of steam streaming from the fabric with the heat, float up to the sky and vanish. He pulled the coat tighter around him and stood up.
His happiness was short lived, as he felt something massive tackle him from behind, and send him skidding across the ice.
The stalker, clad in a long black coat, maintained a crushing grip around the loner's neck. As Peregrine struggled to break free, he sensed a very unpleasant smell.
"Get the hell off me!" he gnashed, delivering a kick to the man's shin and causing him to lose his grasp for a mere second. A second was all Peregrine needed to writhe free and land another kick, sending the man on his back. The ice cracked under the assailant's weight.
Almost instantly, Peregrine drew one of the blades he found on the dead stalker by the roadside and pressed it tightly against the foul-smelling attacker's neck. "Who the fuck are you?" he seethed.
The man's eyes seemed to widen at the sight of the weapon. "How... what?" he stuttered in disbelief, slackening his resistance. For a second, the two were silent, staring at each other, one with visceral fury, the other in complete and utter disbelief.
"Let me up." the black-clad mongrel said finally "I am unarmed. There are no doubt plenty of Midas' goons still nearby, as well as other, far nastier things. I'll take you back to the clearing and try to explain everything once we get back to your group."
Peregrine's expression softened slightly, but still retained the same air of mistrust. "You're a bandit." he muttered quietly, as if some inner force had suggested the notion to him.
"By what you're wearing and carrying, I'd take you for one as well." the other man replied "I know who you are, and what you're looking for. But, like I said, I'll explain that later. Once we're all in the reach of safety."
Peregrine slowly withdrew the blade and stepped aside, as the bandit pulled himself to his feet and stepped towards the riverbank. "Follow me," the man ordered "let's go see whether anyone from your group is still alive."
The loner obliged, nonetheless keeping his hand on the holstered pistol on his belt. Although the bandit claimed he was unarmed, he had attacked him. Trusting him too much could easily be the gravest mistake one could make.
As the two made their way through the forest, it dawned on Peregrine exactly how long he had traveled in his unconscious state. The land seemed warped and destroyed. Many of the thickly-grown trees has been reduced to splinters, as if some force had been unleashed. Wide shafts of light and thick flakes of snow streamed through the gigantic gaps in the canopy, which Peregrine remembered was once a single, solid mass of dark branches, ice, and leaves. Finally, voices became audible up ahead, some of which Peregrine began to recognize as those of his companions.
"Try to convince them not to kill me instantly." The bandit said gravely. "There's a few things I have to mention before they do, anyway."
Midas seemed only dimly aware of being carried as he came to. Jurgen had slung his executive chief rather uncouthly across his shoulder in the "tactical retreat" that had ensued as soon as all shit broke loose. At least the headache was gone, the tall Grecian mercenary mused, and the map and comm systems on his PDA were functioning properly again. Around two thirds of the mercenaries had responded to the retreat command, and were now making their own way back towards the base. Hopefully at least half would survive.
The venture had failed, somehow. But explaining that to his superior would have to take a backseat for now. Midas groaned gently as his eyes flickered open and shut. Jurgen paid little attention to his charge. He would come around eventually. The most important objective in mind was getting back to the safety of the stronghold as quickly as possible.
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Post by Karcentric on Oct 16, 2011 12:35:46 GMT -5
Watching in awe as Adder took the artifact Karc was suddenly blinded by an intense light, clutching his eyes to stop the light. "What the fuck!?" He shouted.
A mad cry somewhere in front of him made him peek ahead, the light had faded and he was in a room full of pipes and gauges lit .dimly by emergency lights.
"Hello? Is someone there?" Karc called, only to be answered by another savage bellow, clicking on his light he saw a small door at the end of the room, climbing around the obstacles he made his way towards the little room.
Peering through he saw a man wearing an unusual suit, he'd seen it before but couldn't pick where. His thoughts were interrupted as the man bellowed again.
"Hey buddy, you alright in there?" Karc asked while quietly drawing his 1911. The man turned and stomped towards the door, the first thing Karc noticed was the man's eye's, They glowed a luminescent white. Taking a step back in surprise Karc stared in awe before finally asking. "Who are you?"
The voice that answered wasn't human, it was distorted by something, giving it an almost robotic echo. "I am Harbinger."
"I see and why are you here? Come to think of it, where is here" Karc asked trembling slightly, there was something unnerving about being in this man's presence.
Ignoring the first part the man answered the second part, "You are in our temple, you have trespassed and yet you live, there may be some use for you." He said turning away.
"Temple? What temple there aren't any temples that I know of." Karc said pressing for an answer but Harbinger simply stood with his back to Karc, almost completely still except for the occasional twitch. "Fuck this." He muttered raising the pistol to shoot, but was cut off by another brilliant burst of light. Shielding his eyes again from the light he waited several seconds before uncovering them, Adder and Wasp were discussing what had happened to the artifact.
Gazing about the artifact was nowhere to be seen, but the effects of it's disappearance were almost immediate a sudden violent shudder made the three stumble. "Where do we run?" Karc asked still feeling slightly shaken from his little chat with this Harbinger. Another violent jolt answered that, impulsively moving "It all looks the same." Karc exclaimed as they moved towards what he hoped was an exit.
Schwarz nodded in agreement with Spinner, "He's right, let's move whatever is happening isn't good, we'll have to hope the rest of the group makes out alive somehow. Let's move." The five jogged away from the area, turning and watching as distorted lights shone through the trees.
"Who was it that tackled Peregrine?" Four asked.
"Looked like the bandit that held us up, did you get a look at him Spinner?" Renegade asked peering nervously towards the area where the anomaly had been watching as it continued collapse so to speak.
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Post by Basil on Oct 16, 2011 17:10:19 GMT -5
"Just keep moving!", said Wasp as she tried to keep up with Adder. The commandant was surprisingly nimble.
The air around them was going from simple, dull grey to a chaotic mix of purple, black and green. Everything seemed to be convulsing, and the atmosphere had gained a sudden crushing quality that made breathing and thinking difficult. One thought dawned in Wasp's mind: implosion. The world was imploding, collpasing in on itself, and if they didn't find a way out fast, they would be crushed into nothingness.
Suddenly, light dawned ahead. Shimmering and weak in appearance, but still there. The stalkers dashed towards it, hoping it was a kind of exit that would lead them back into the world they had left. As they got close, their hopes were realised: it was a gap in the dream world, and they could see trees and snow beyond it. Adder was the first one to reach it and throw herself through it, followed by Wasp and the others.
Adder landed heavily on the snowy ground, and Wasp almost landed on top of her. Slowly, the two women got back to their feet, brushing the snow and dirt off themselves. It took a while for them to recognise their point of entry: the snow wall had been completely destroyed, and a large number of trees had been blasted into splinters. There were also great cracks in the ground, as if an earthquake had rended the earth apart.
"Looks like someone detonated a bomb in the area", remarked Wasp as she took in the destruction.
"- I think the anomaly did something to this world when it collapsed", said Adder. "Like some kind of backlash. It looks like it destroyed most living things in the area..."
In silence, Adder and Wasp turned back to face the small gap they'd emerged from. The anomaly looked like a strange blob of distorted space about the size of a car, and it was shrinking rapidly. The earth immediately around the anomaly seemed to have been scoured of all plant life and flattened. The anomaly kept on shrinking until it vanished entirely in a violent flash of light.
"Well. That's one venture over", said Adder, before turning to the other stalkers. "I suppose you'll all head your separate ways now? Unless you want to stick with us..."
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Spinner and those who had not entered the anomalous area quickly got away from the shaking anomaly. The earth was still shaking with all the violence of a powerful earthquake, and the ice wall surrounding the anomaly had crumbled, revealing the glowing, warped area within. It quickly turned out that making a run for it had been a wise decision: the anomaly suddenly seemed to explode outwards, sending out a blastwave powerful enough to destroy trees and crack the ground up. Spinner sought refuge in a small hollow and waited for the tremors to cease.
Once the cataclysm was over, Spinner emerged from his refuge and was greeted by a desolate, blasted landscape. Trees had been swept away and destroyed, great fissures had opened up in the ground. Only a few trees remained standing, and even then they were badly mauled.
"I'm not too sure what you're talking about...", said Spinner in answer to Renegade's query. As he spoke, Spinner noticed his arms and legs were shaking slightly, probably from shock. Suddenly, he noticed a small group of people some distance away, right in the heart of the disaster area.
"Who are those people?", he said, pointing at the group. "I don't remember seeing them prowling around the anomaly..."
Spinner's attention was, however, quickly redirected towards two figures closer by that had just emerged from the trees. One of them was Peregrine, but the other one Spinner did not recognise.
"Who the hell're you?", he asked, eyeing the stranger suspiciously.
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Post by blackpapermoon on Oct 17, 2011 16:37:14 GMT -5
When the freedom woman took hold of the fragile artifact, Swift was blinded by a bright light. When the light cleared she found herself in a large meeting room, five men in suits and high ranking military uniforms sat around the table. In front of each was a large stack of papers with her photo on the front, one of the men took a pen a drew a red ‘x’ on her picture, then the female mercenary was flashed out of the room and was transported to a dark dingy place. People where running at her, wanting to claimed her life, some force made her raise her arm, and a strong electrical force shot out of her arms, hitting her attackers that fell to the ground seizing as if they had been hit by lightning. The vision soon faded and she found herself back with the freedomers and Karc, who for some odd reason did not notice she was there.
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Ferret and Verona sank beneath the waves, the currant pulling them downwards deep into the dark abyss. Their lungs where screaming for oxygen, but just before they blacked out a brilliant white light engulfed them, and air was returned to their starving organs. When the light clear they found themselves is wooded clearing that was distorted like they were seeing it in a funhouse mirror.
“W…what the fuck,” stammered Ferret unaware that he was still holding the loner woman’s hand.
“I don’t know…but we should get out of here,” said Vorona , “this place does not feel stable.”
The Freedomer nodded in agreement, whatever had held the Anomaly together was gone and the dreamland was falling apart. Still holding hands they left the distorted woods behind them soon they met up with the young Malygin and his disheveled, appalling smelling captive.
“Dober?” queried the long now ex-bandit, although he was sure that the veteran stalker’s yellowed rotten teeth would confirm his identity before his voice would. The bandit looked worst then the last time Ferret saw him as a rookie.
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Post by Karcentric on Nov 3, 2011 11:57:08 GMT -5
Karc kept quiet as he ran while the anomaly collapsed from the within itself. The two smaller, nimbler women gained a small lead over Karc but as he threw himself out he narrowly avoided crashing into them. Shielding his eyes as the anomaly flashed on last time before vanishing for good.
Standing and brushing the snow from his armor and weapons he spied small several groups. His attention was caught by Adder's question.
"-I suppose you'll all head your separate ways now? Unless you want to stick with us..." She asked.
"Uhh, well we still have business to attend to in the area first." Karc replied, seeing that Peregrine had emerged by the rest of his group along with another familiar looking stalker. Upholstering his pistol he eyed the stalker while talking with Adder. "Do you know about any merc activity in the area? We've been tasked with shutting them down among other things." He continued, giving the area another glance to see if any mercs had emerged.
Seeing Ferret and Vorona approach Peregrine, Karc motioned towards Ferret, "Looks like one of yours there. Good to see a few more made it out. Excuse me" He said dryly walking towards the area where the anomaly had been inspecting the ground the and way it had been blasted outwards from the center. Crouching and running his fingers along the ground he remembered the strange stone he'd found in his pocket, he placed a hand into his pocket finding the stone was still there, though it had a strange feel to it like it carried no weight at all.
Tossing it up lightly to catch with his other hand he observed the stone seemed to move effortlessly slow, almost floating in mid air. Snatching it out the air he pocketed it again, unsure if he had some sort of artifact or not.
Walking slowly to where Peregrine stood, he nodded politely at the unknown stalker not looking while addressed Peregrine.
"Now would be an optimal time to attack Midas, he's most likely alone or barely guarded, and we have to attack while we have this advantage." He said before turning to face Dober "And who are y..." He said taking a step from the bandit as the smell hit him. "Dober?" Karc said, thinking over the name, "I remember you from somewhere, can't recall though. What's your story?"
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