*WHAM*

I awake with a start, jumping in my seat, eyes flying open.

Bright light sears my vision, my world a white blur. I instinctively screw my eyes shut, grimacing at the thought of exposing them again. A dull pain stomps its way across my forehead, prompting me to gnash my teeth. I reach up to massage it - ouch! My shoulders tighten at the pain and my heart pounds in response. Is that a bump? Slumping down in resignation, I take a moment to gather myself, focusing on slowing my breathing.

This sucks.

What feels like an eternity passes before I open my eyes again, this time bracing myself for round two of blinding light.

I slowly pry open my eyelids. Sterile fluorescent lights glare off immaculately polished rows of desks to either side of me. A lectern stands in front, a logo proudly emblazoned on rich mahogany sides. Behind it, a dull, gray chalkboard nearly as pristine as the desks next to me. Linoleum flooring squeaks as I shuffle around in my seat, hastily surveying my surroundings.

All in all, a very tidy classroom presents itself. I hear nothing except for the drone of the lights and my own ragged breathing. Unease starts to seep through my thoughts as questions spring from my hazy mind.

Did I fall asleep in class? What time is it?

The simple straw doll stared eyelessly at me from where it had been tied to a tree with a length of coarse linen. Quickly but meticulously made, a certain sign I was still walking in the right direction. A black substance emerged slowly, delicately from between the straws, clinging to the wood and flowing gently upwards. Like incense smoke in still air, but of solid black, as if someone had plucked up a line of ink by one end and lifted it clear from the paper. It reacted as I approached, turning towards me as I gingerly placed my hand upon its host. It continued to move with the same ethereal smoothness as before, but now with the purpose I’d given it. With the push of a thought, it coiled around my fingers, spinning, up my wrist and arm, over my long sleeves, to finally slip into my chest like a dagger to the heart. I had gotten used to it, but seeing it move across my skin without even the scantest whisper of sound or feeling was still novel every time.
It all took less than a half-minute. I’d performed the entire ritual dozens of times this week alone. The doll was drained then, and all that was left to do was methodically cut the ties, take it down and scatter the now mundane straws in the wind. This latter part wasn’t strictly necessary, but there was no sense in leaving the doll here to spook random people.
Even being as slim as a silk string, to me the smoke-like substance coming from the next marker was clearly visible from just over the horizon, probably a good couple of hard hours away. I suppressed a sigh, folded my skirt beneath me and sat against the tree. Only a very short break, that’s all.
The sun was nearly fully down, although I could feasibly have travelled at night with the bright moon for a companion. I’d long abandoned what road there was – an overgrown dirt path that looked as though it had seen no men for months. I hadn’t seen another person at all for a full three days and change. This far from the rule of law, a path like that was as likely to lead into trouble as not. And anyway – I thought, fiddling with the string I’d just recovered – I had my own guide.

I leaned my head

[-h+2-] Press forward and find them. It's all she can do.

------------

"Get… Get a hold of yourself, Rika." The girl continues to pant to before forcing a step forward. "Just… I have to find them. I have to… They'll be fine. Nothing happened to them. They took care of it and they'll… they'll be just fine…"

Eventually, Rika manages to look back up through the forest before beginning to skulk back through the trees. She continues to look back and forth, her hair whipping back and forth in its ruined state. There's nothing that she can see; there's nothing lingering but for the trees.

"…Where… where would they have gone? They couldn't have been taken. Marisa was better than that. Wasn't she? She was, wasn't she?" The question goes unanswered; she dearly hopes that she has the answer, but the weight at the bottom of her stomach continues to call her assurances into question. Though unable to cast those aside, he continues to amble along through the silent, still, stale forest. She continues to walk until, at last, she finds a mark of life.

Or, at least, the remains of it. The tree line is charred with the faint outline of a hole. Various other burn marks litter the ground, pock marking the dirt and turning over the sod. One tree has been toppled over with the trunk being savagely cracked by impact. Of the jagged shards that still stick up from the trunk, she sees stray, tattered feathers along with fresh blood caking the outer edges of the wood. The ground beneath it is disturbed, but there is no trail from which a body would have been dragged.

Rika gulps silently and look around, her eyes searching for more. She sees more pitted earth along with another tree that seems to be half uprooted. A rock is extruded from underneath, lifting it up and tilting it over. Near the roots of that tree, however, are two strips of familiar black cloth pinned into thin gashes within the wood. "…Marisa? You're sti

You groan, a sharp pain throbbing in your head as you wake up. You probably shouldn't have gone on a bender like you did.

In fact, you probably shouldn't have gone on one at all. Last night, which was the your first bender, was coincidentally your first drink at all. You groan again, raising your hand to your head.

For a few seconds you think about how much smaller your hand feels, but then dismiss it. It must just be your imagination, or a remnant of the alcohol still being purged from your system.

The memories from last night are hazy, but with a bit of concentration they come back to you. Basically, you and your bros decided to go out for a drink, and you had let slip that you had never drunk actual liquor before.

Needless to say, you regretted it.

You remember pub crawling for quite a while, then finally settling down in this weird eastern-themed pub/hotel or something. The lady at the counter didn't look eastern - you think; still a little hazy. She was... Blonde? Something like that. She also had this weird, real ornate dress

Then, the next thing you remember is just before you were about to check in for the night, she said something a little weird.

"Have a good night's sleep, and don't forget; a dream is just a gateay to somewhere you haven't seen before~"

First Thread: >>191170

[m+1] What 'interests you' exactly?
-[m+1] She's human.
--[m+1] A sennin, whatever that is.

------------

"My, didn't I just say~?"

"You evaded the question."

"Ohh~? Did I, now...?" She titters a bit.

You sigh. You're a bit bothered by how she's bothering you so much less than before. "Still, why are you, erm..." You blush a bit, remembering that this situation is a bit embarrassing.

You arrive at the location of the distress signal. There it is, the frigate Orpheon. It seems to have suffered damage recently, no doubt due to someone taking offense at the actions of the vessel’s latest crew. You bring your ship alongside to board the ship.

It doesn't take long for you to make your way inside the ship, and you are greeted with a rather gruesome sight as the airlock finishes cycling. In the room ahead lies a myriad of corpses. The most obvious one appears to be some massive insectoid creature, which seems to have punctured the hull. However, the internal atmosphere seems to have forced the remains back into the hole, sealing it. Further, there appears to be a number of pirate corpses. However, your theory is shattered when one raises its weapon and levels it at you. You put the wounded assailant out of your misery with a quick blast and proceed through the ship.

You make your way through the ship, and find a room filled with terminals, which you use to acquire a map of the ship. You also notice a number of files regarding the experiments the pirates have been performing. A quick skimming reveals that most of the creatures aboard the vessel are being used as test subjects for enhancement. You perform a quick scan for locations of interest on the ship, and notice an unusual energy signature in the reactor core.

As you enter the reactor room an alarm blares, prompting a massive insectoid to descend into the center of the room. You manage to make out the words “lockdown initiated” over the intercom before the bug unleashes a beam of energy, which narrowly misses you. A quick scan of the monstrosity reveals it to be a variant of one of the parasite samples, horribly mutated by the pirates. How the hell did they manage to give a bug lasers? You open fire on the abomination, only to be struck by the next beam. The impact throws you against the wall, draining your shields significantly. You collect yourself and ready your weapon, preparing to dodge the next blast. As you leap to the side, you launch a missile straight at the deformed head of the mutant, and follow this up with several blasts from your beam cannon. This only seems to anger the beast,

A/N: Holy shit this site's still alive?


xxx
“Sisters! To me!” you raised your sabre and spurred your white courser into motion, riding her along the small path running beside a clear river that, if you’re not leading your cavalry group out of its certain death, you’d definitely like to swim in, taking off your hot coat of plates.


Behind you, your hundred sisters, mostly of freed slaves, followed you closely on their own, specially-bred white horses, riding tightly on that small and rough path. However, although perhaps scared and confused after they had suddenly been brought to what seemed like a fantasy land many of them had read or heard about in old tales, they were still the best riders the newly restored kingdom of Calradia had to offer, and they had no problem keeping up with you.


“Keep your shield up!” shouted a fair skinned, red haired lady riding to your right. She was Liliana, your lieutenant, your second in command, and although she might not be your best rider, being a native Rhodokian, you had found through your long years of fighting together under your queen that her tactical brilliance made up for it most of the time.


Liliana’s command was spot on. The seemingly calm forest to your left suddenly spat out a rain of arrows, and you could hear the scream of your less experienced, newly initiated sisters near the back of your formation.

I need something shorter quicker, and lighter to write. So why not? Unless bad writing is bad. I want to update this either daily or every few days max, barring times of emergency. Else, it should die. Shooting for less than a thousand words per update for efficiency purposes, if appropriate.

====

“Wheeere shooould I gooo todaaay? Wheeere shooould I gooo to-DAAAY?”

Cirno skips along the grass, the trees quiet around her.

Then, a high pitched sound. Like a drops of water falling one after another, but instead of a drip, it’s a chirping sound.

“Eh?” The ice fairy blinks, perking her head and looking around. “Huh? Huh?”

She looks left. She looks right. Then, she looks at the ground to her left. Then to her right. The high-pitched drops of water continue to fall.

“Where’s that coming from?”

With nothing to deter you, your small group actually manages to reach the end of the village rather quickly.

“Well, it's been a pleasure,” Kagerou says, sounding somewhat hurried. “I’ll visit you guys later so—ACK!”

You feel your arm being jerked as Sekibanki lunges and presumably catches Kagerou in a grip. For what reason you don’t know.

“Oh, no you don't,” she calmly seeths. “I’m sure Koishi is just dying to see you as much as she is for me.”

“Aww…”

You turn to Sekibanki’s voice and raise an eyebrow.

“You’ll find out soon enough.”

Fair enough.

Act 1:
>>188147 1: Long ago, in a galaxy far, far away...
>>188477 2: Iron Giant
>>189365 3: Phantom Menace
>>190278 4: A New Hope
>>191322 5: Return of the Jedi
>>192352 6: Longest Yard
>>195020 7: The Clone Wars
>>/i/740 Pictures: Memento

[X]Save Failed. Retry in one update.

— - — - —

You look to the thankfully dim woods beyond the grand doors. Being snow blind isn't on your to-do list, after all. The way the light is so dim makes it a very serene scene, honestly. It's not snowing, but there's just so much. You reach out for some with your good hand, leaving best hand to warily hide in your left sleeve like a cosmic snail.