Stralia - The Night, The Heart
#1 of Stralia
_Stralia - The Night, The Heart ~~SnowDragon
First chapter of a series that has just burned it's way onto digital paper for me. Based from an old homebrew PNP game I created, while the game itself never took off, I could never quite let go of the setting I had created and I've finally turned it into somethng I'm properly happy with. You might recognise parts of the settings from some of my older works like Point 89 or the terribad (?) Dragon vs F16, none of which were fully fleshed out. Now, I am finally glad to say, they are. It's been burning inside of my head for many a month since before I started on the NTN560 story and I'm glad it's come out the way it has. I certainly hope you enjoy it as much as I have reading back over it. I am so relieved I've been able to put it together. Even as I write this, part of the second chapter has already been written. I suppose there's one good thing for being unemployed again, it gives me plenty of time to write.
Without further ado, I present Stralia - The Night, The Heart. Enjoy!
Writing time: (Started 9:00pm 12/08/13. Finished 12:45am 13/08/13) Length: Digital Copy Only, 8.2 A4 Pages Soundtrack: L'Apotre de la Lune, Scarred and Battled, Trust, Betrayal (All from EVA 3.0)_
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---- 'Magic is a battle of willpower against imagination.' ~Unknown ---- Sunlight had just begun to filter through the lace curtains of the wall and window. Having drawn the short straw all those years ago meant that she got the eastern facing, away from the backyard and facing the alleyway road, to which traffic passed westbound, across her window, every day, every night. But one got accustomed to the noise and to the sound, the speech and the words of the men and women who worked in that alley, who loaded and unloaded crates, who took in the hearts and minds of passerbys, who did their deeds nosily or led each other away in order for privacy. In the morning, traffic, both foot and vehicular had already started, and it was only by the means of her natural alarm in the form of bright physical light that preceeded her technological alarm by several minutes. Well, preceeded it at least during the summer. Well, half the time wasn't bad, right?
Reaching out with a hand in a form of lazy gesture, a quick touch to the button to silence it for good, at least for the next twenty-four hours and a moment's sighed breath of relief. While it was a nessicary evil, the sound so pierced one's ears and in fact the entire household's. She had actually promised to rid herself of it for good, last time she had been caught, and with that in mind, she slipped it into a drawer, not to be seen again by eyes beyond her own. It was oddly funny in a way. Some children hid gentlemen's literture while she hid an alarm clock. The heavy blankets, while entirely warm were next to be discarded, at least that was the term she thought while in truth, they were merely folded back upon one another, allowing the feathered creature within to slip out. A quick moment in the mirror right next to the bed to adjust her headfeathers.
Then she was off. The room itself was mostly bare, a in-the-wall closet for the storage of clothing, a bedside table for a standing lamp and cream white roof with a ceiling fan and light attached. A short angled desk, facing towards the door, so one behind the desk and using the computer atop it could see the door, currently shut, and the chair neatly positioned and leveled so at the end of the night, it was easy enough for one to simply fall into the double bed beside it, and sink it's embrace. Clothing was a simple matter, a black shaped singlet to contain her breasts, with extra care taken to prevent damage to her wings, a long sleeved black button up shirt over the top of it, all tucked into a slitted ankle length black dress. Undergarments went on last, shielding herself from any would be onlookers who would risk her anger in order for a quick peek. Rolling the sliding door shut, she stepped back to the desk, slipping into the chair and sinking into it's grasp, turning and reaching underneath the pillow she had rest her head upon during her nightly nap, cringing as she found yet another feather, a brilliant brown to match her pulmage edged with vibrant silver. She must have torn it out while sleeping, cringing yet again as the reminder of her dreams came to the forefront of her mind.
Placing the feather flat side down on the pillow, she reached underneath it and grasped a bladed object, pulling it out to reveal six inch long dagger blade, more akin to the combat knife of movies and soldiers than the dagger's of her time. It wasn't tradition, but where they had come from, she had been told, it was normal for all souls to walk around with at least a knife on their person, if only to fend off wild animal attack, or worse, defend one's honour against one who would smear it in a duel of souls, a fight to the brutual end. While one normally carried these on their belt in plain sight, the current day required a... touch more subetly, at least in her mind, and to this end, in the top drawer of her desk she pulled a fiber rig, tan in colour, which wrapped around her shoulders, and clipped up underneath her feathered arms. On one side, a group of three pouches she could find no use for. On the other, her left side, a larger open-to-the air pouch she also had no idea what to do with, but underneath it, a perfect fit for the blade she kept underneath her pillow. Clipping the blade in place was simple, and because of it's location and the design of the rig, once she slipped the grey coat which sunk down to her ankles, it was nearly impossible to detect, at least without physically feeling her down.
All things considered, including the time, she was done, and with no further need of this room until she returned, she departed, closing the door behind her and taking a left turn to head quickly down the stairs, right into the kitchen. The older bird, much older, so much her feathers were greying at the stems, her brown tired, almost wilting with age. But the creature, perhaps her time having came and gone, was still a magnificent specimen of the peregrine falcon species. But, she had to wonder, would that still be true if she were not the offspring of this creature that stood before her? Her sister, three years younger sat in the left side of the main two person couch, drawing in a lined notepad like she only wished she could. She had been given the gift of athletics and intelligence with the pen, not with the artistic side of life. Giving a simple nod that was returned to the hyper sensitive of hearing creature before her, she headed for the main door, stopping only to retrieve her shoes, a very comfortable pair of polished matte black flats and a small roll of ham for the morning meal before parting the doorway, and stepping out of the portal between home and the wide open world.
Outside was different entirely, once one made it out of the lawned front yard and onto the footpath. A small, dual lane street, their home neighboured by a single story commerical building on the left and more houses on the right. While small, the home was two stories, it had been a wonder they'd even managed to obtain it at all. A massive, wheeled armoured personnel carrier, four tyres as tall as she was mounted to a steel body heavier than six normal vehicles rolled past, pouring it's thick black exhaust into the air behind it, the letters "U.S. Arm." and the words "Civil Pacification Unit" was quick to remind her that not all was as well as it seemed, even if the world had returned to some sembalance of peace since all those years ago. Turning right, and partaking of her meal on the way, the massive army vehicle having reminded her of how all had come to be. The year, apparently, was Twenty-Sixteen, or so everyone had been told. When two realms grew close to each other, by freak occurance and unforntunately timing on the heads of both worlds, they smashed together. Hundreds of millions died, lives snuffed out in an instant when two planets became one. The multitude of races on her plane, that of the world Erildisa were considered a massive, overwhelming invasion by the people of the other world, Humanity, who responded with brutual force akin to a creature fighting for their lives. The Empire, Erildisa's main government monacry gathered what was left of it's forces as well, organising with scattered local townships and mercenary companies to form a defence, and soon war, true was had been declared.
She ducked down an alleyway to shorten her trip, right into the dampened concrete and grass from the rain overnight, dodging puddles of muddy water this way and that, a splash of a pebble into a tiny pond on occasion the sound of her steps. Magic and creatures were thrown against the technological force of mankind and neither side came out on top. For every so called airstrike and missile attack on Empire holdings, they responded in kind with draconic assaults on passenger aircraft and firing farmland by the hectare. From war became genocide as the flighty beasts named dragons were targetted by humanity and it's army of scientists. Poison gas, aircraft attacks, burning entire cities to the ground to murder just one. When the last one was extinguished, the Empire posioned the groundwater supply and the massive dam in the desert, near to the city of Las Vegas, rendering it uninhabital. With the death toll near the billion mark, the United Nations, who had long since recognised what was happening to the world, was able to force the warring parties to the table. Civil unrest grew as the Empire were offical recongised by the United States as a nation unto their own, and all the rights and responsibilities that came with it. Riots along human held cities erupted through biogtry and hate. Martial law was established, a mixed unit of tactical police and army soldiers formed the core of the Civil Pacification Unit, to put down the riots once and for all. And the many years after came the formation of a new mercenary unit, cross culture, no borders, no frontlines. Alpha Dynamics Organisation, to deal with all problems, large, small, countrywide that affected Erildisa and Earth populaces. Creatures from all sides had begun to cross cultures. The United States congress in this area had it's representive as a Lizard by the name of San Hierman, for example.
She should know all of this, not only had she been a very small child lucky enough to have lived through all the events she had read off, but she had an exam on it later this afternoon, just before she left for home. While mankind and the multitude of races she knew from her world had come together more or less in a stable, if not slightly uneasy peace, the rest of the world in the smaller scale had not yet come to accept either side fully. And neither side was free of blame. After all, she could hardly consider herself to be equal to a Human if she could fly and he could not. But both cultures had become perverted enough in their youngest generation that all the signs were showing that even if their parents didn't approve, the actions of their children would ensure that they would not have a choice a decade or two down the line. It was actually the target of her essay this afternoon, a mixture of history and a shot in the dim light at what the future would hold. But that would have to come later. For first, the crash of a helicopter, the story of which she had been following since it had happened. It wasn't an accident, you didn't need to be an offical to know that, but the helicopter had come down on top of the science building, crushing three classrooms and gutting the rest with fire before the emergency services could get it under control. The government, United States, in this case, had decided that children's minds were easily frightened and that a team of trained mind specalists were required to assess which children were tramuatised. What was to be done then wasn't clear in anyone's mind. But treating the symptoms, and not the cause, seemed to be the go to move for any body of power in the world.
That, for her, was first up, cutting halfway through her first mathematics classes. Now, that was something she would have been spared if the worlds had stayed apart as nature intended. But, such was the case with life. And so she hopped the waist high chainlink fence on the far side of the schoolyard and proceeded across the oval towards the buildings, and the administration block within. The grass was soggy, thankfully her shoes watertight to prevent those thick feathers from getting wet, let alone her shoes on the inside. This was the only pair she had that didn't sit so uncomfortably on her ivory talons at the tip of every toe! There were only a few souls in the grounds at this time, mostly students, but that was increasing and changing every moment. For the starting sound was merely an hour and a half away. A helicopter flew overhead, quieter than most, and her keen, beady yellow eyes could make out the logo of the AlpDynOrg mercenary unit on the bottom, probably ferrying cargo about, not that she really cared all that much. Heck, she could have probably flown up there to ask them, now that would have looked strange. But instead, she stayed on course, slipping into the administration block's door by opening it only as far as nessicary. Both receptionists were human, middle aged... healthy, and neither batted an eyelid as the falcon slipped into the door. Another student sat there, on the left in the waiting room that also made up the main lobby. Space, evidentally, was at a preimum, not that one would know it from all the open grassy areas on the school grounds.
Wordlessly she sat, the staff knew why she was here and she did as well, and there was little sense in wasting words. So, leaning down to sit crosslegged in the grey 'posture' chairs, she blinked. She blinked as she always did when she sat down, just staring at the wall , and its fading, peeling wallpaper. She didn't know the child sitting across from her, a pair of grades below her so she said nothing, and sat in silence, despite the occasional look the soul in question gave her, as if wanting to speak, but not having the heart nor the courage to speak up to someone whom he did not know personally. Five minutes became ten minutes, the occasional person walking up and down, past and through the doors to the great outside, down the hallway carrying papers, and the occasional student handing in objects they needed to take with them, but couldn't have with them during school hours. Ten minutes became twenty, and eventually. The school leader, someone they called a prinicpal. Prinicpal icon? Prinicpal of intelligence or strength? Who knew where half the words in the human language, alarmingly similar to their own got their meaning. To them, Prinicpal was the main reason for something. "Senia? You can come through now, follow me." The falcongirl nodded and stood to her feet in half the time it had taken her to take her seat, stepping behind the adult human who led her left down the hall. The fading green wallpaper gave way to simple painted green walls, and then right into a room, conference A, if the signage was to be believed. A woman who sat there in formal, well pressed clothes, the crease lines sharp to her keenly tuned visual organs. "Senia, this is Chris November, she'll be having a chat with you today."
And with that, the leader of the yard turned and shut the door behind her. A long moment's of pause, long enough for her to breath four times and blink twice while Chris, as her name was, in that jetblack hair and white formal dress that stood against her own and put it nearly to shame, even though hers was as well pressed. The colours stood at odds with one another, equal to their situation in life. She, was a government employee, whereas the falcon was a student in a school the government thought interesting enough to have specalists sent to. Chris seemed happy to look at her papers and dig through her notes for all that time before speaking up, finally. "Senia, is it? Pleasure to meet you, even if early in the morning," She nodded then lifted a hand to brush the headfeathers out of her sightline, allowing the woman to continue. "Now, you are not in trouble, but what this is, is just to basically check up on yourself," A hand gesture in her direction, "After what happened a fortnight ago. So, if you don't mind, tell me about what happened."
A pause, while she recalled. The details were crystal clear in mind, it wouldn't be something she forgot in a hurry. "Tuesday morning, large break. I was thinking about dropping my things and taking flight, actually,"
"Isn't that against your school rules?"
A smirk across her beak, though it was hardly an amused one. "Because they believe that if I fly, the fools who cannot will try to spout their own wings and try themselves. It's why I was looking up at the time. There was a black flash, like the sun had gone for a second, and that was followed by the helicopter. There was smoke from one engine, the left one,"
Again, she interrupted, but waited until between words to do so. "You saw a flash?"
"Of darkness, yes, before I saw the rotorcraft. There was another before it started to crash, directed. It crashed into the science building and ignited almost instantly. I don't think any of those soldiers of fortune stood a chance."
"What makes you think they were mercenaries?"
"I saw the Alpha Dynamics logo on the underside of the helicopter before it crashed. You don't normally see them over here unless they are carrying freight. It wasn't an accident though, you don't need my eyes to see that." This time, instead of the interruption she expected, what the girl heard and saw was scribbing upon a notepad, one that had been buried in her notes. There was a long pause, before she lifted another sheet of paper and a clipboard.
"Thank you. So, what I'd like to do next is some word association. Just say the first thing that comes into your mind when I say a word, alright?" The falcon nodded, and she continued. "Right. So, Deer."
"A meal for family," Quick as lightning, that answer had been honed into her form since birth, but at least it got a chuckle from the human sitting across the table from her.
"Not quite Senia, not quite. The first word that comes into your mind. Just the first word, alright?"
She blinked solidly, well that changed things quite a bit. "Apologies."
"It's alright. So, Fire."
"Smoke." A single scribble.
"Water,"
"Thirst." Scribble.
"Technology,"
"Humans," Scribble, scribble. A headfeather lifted at that, what was wrong with that answer?
"War,"
"Genocide," That got a few words of the pen, and a pause before the next word. If she had any other creature's eyes, she might have missed the short, sharp blink and it's accompanying twitch of surprise, just below the right eyelid.
"Dragon?"
"Tradegy." She took a breath, that it was that war and misunderstanding had to claim the most majestic of all the races. Let alone-
"Darkness?"
She blinked, looking up at once not through her eyes but the honed, double lidded eyes of the creature she could become with Power. But not all was well within this domain and she nearly squarwked as her mind realised it was daydreaming and snapped back to reality. "Terror!" and that in itself seemed to have drawn the questioning to a close. Now that she knew where she was again, the falcon knew she was panting, just like she was every night and had been for some time. But never had those dreams crossed into the daylight, and never before another soul, least of a human! Perhaps her mother she might have thought, if they kept going but-
"Senia?" A voice full of concern, but geniuine was never something she had been able to pick up on well when distressed herself, those eyes of hers blinking rapidly.
"There will be sunlight and happiness, but when the darkness comes it does not select nor does it hunt, it merely consumes! When it comes, none will be spared!" She blinked, looking up into the eyes of the human, intently focused upon her feathed form, her wings half spread in alarm. For a moment she stared back, wondering exactly what she looked like at the current time through another's eyes. Taking a breath to calm down and banish all foriegn emotions from her form, letting everything wash out from her form. Well, now she had gone and blown it. Now this creature would want to know everything and there was little she could do about it. She doubted the human would take no for an answer. So, she told the woman in the expensive clothes. "...I've been having dreams for a while, 'tis what they say. Over, and over. The invietablity of it before one awakes is... discomforting."
"When did you start having these?"
The falcon sighed and rolled her shoulders, knowing how it all looked. In truth she had rather thought herself immune to the incident entirely, she knew what death was, she knew what life was, Erildisa pulled no punches during life, and the humans seemed to have an interesting view on existance itself. Her life was much more practical in view and nature. Perhaps being so intertwined with human culture had dulled their own? Had she grown so accustomed to humanlike life that she had forgotten what existance really was? "Since the crash, I think."
Chris nodded her head, looking up and down the falcon with intent, thinking and mulling thoughts over in her head. "Would you be opposed to seeing me in two days, Senia? Same time?" And get out of a class trying to make her speak a language her beak couldn't possibly make?
"No, I wouldn't be." And after that, it was all paperwork, and she was finally allowed to leave. Stepping out into the hallway again was like a breath of fresh air, like the room had grown a heck of a lot darker from just the conversation in the last few moments., taking a deep breath before moving on, just returning herself to her normal self. Of course, the reactions of the sould out here had changed, she had been much noiser than she had wanted, for even though they tried to hide it, her eyes picked up the looks and glances, they all heard and they all knew why she had been here in the first place, and it was not hard for the adults and even some of the students who were waiting to put two and two together. Stopping only to get a pass from the desk clearing her absense from class, she headed for the door, and let the sunlight engulf her.
The rest of the day, as uneventful as it always was, perhaps with the exception of the exam in recent modern history, and stepping out of the school grounds, she took the time while walking to make a long detour, a very long detour away from her home and away from her school. She turned down one of the main streets, the entire ground shaking violently as a tank rolled past, all seventy tonnes of it, dressed in the Civil Pacification Unit colours and letterings, marking it as a civil police vehicle... what a dangerous place this world was for those to be rolling in the street under the guise of police duties. Some half hour away from school and home alike, there was a small national park, or at least the edge beginnings of one. Orignally, from some of the pre-Collision maps she had seen, this entire air for miles all around was suburb housing, buildings and districts. Nowdays, it was the major forest that led up to the Yelo Mountain Range. And while that Range had been reduced to two massive rocky hills and a mountain, this massive forest remained, and had quickly been marked as protected land, for never again would such a massive green zone exist in harmony to the dense suburb areas. The trees provided cover, allowing the falcon to slip out of sight of even the closest homes only a few dozen metres in. Allowing her private access to the lake, away from prying eyes like those that were always on students, all the time.
On the very edge she stood, the flat, calm water lapping at the edge of the grass as she closed those yellow eyes, taking a deep breath and focusing on her other form, something she dared share with no-one, something she dared not even speak about, not to her mother, not to another soul, until the day she passed on from this mortal coil. Letting the well contained spring of power crack from it's carefully constructed binds and start flowing outwards from her core into her limbs. Feathers mouled to thick, flexible scales, tears opened themselves up on either side of her neck. Her fingers pressed together, five turning to three and her toes slipping into the same. Her eyes grew wider, shorter as they extended, her beak enlongating and changing with the rest of her head as the girl fell to all fours, clothing banished in some sort of alien flash, the rest happening in moments, the falcon turned scaled leviathan, sea dragon, all of sixteen feet long from nose to the base of her whiplike, bladed, vemontipped tail, wings having formed into part of her forelimbs, part oceanwing part webbed, clawed fingers. With those new, powerfully muscled hindlegs, she bundled the energy in a crouch and pounced upwards into the air, and came down into the deep blue lake with a massive splash of water, inhaling deeply through her lungs as she slipped deeper and deeper beneath the waves she had created.
This was freedom.