A Geneforge Short Story

By David Krausser

Title: The Unpredicatable

Rating- Mature

Chapter 1-"The Lost Child"-

Shaila sat there perched on her throne intoxicated with pain. She hated it, yet.. it gave her pleasure. She knew that she would never get over her losses. With her one and only pupil gone, it left little to hope left. "My child is lost…"-Shaila said as she threw her thorn baton onto the table. It then hit her like a pile of bricks. Why not hunt down her missing pupil. Yes. She could then regain her last bit of honor by presenting the child to the shapers. They don't know that her child isn't aligned, but who cares? They won't bother to ask. With her mind made up, Shaila bended down to pick up her Thorn Baton.

As Shaila picked it up, the lights in her lab went out. "You didn't think I'd forget about you did you….?"-A shrill-like female voice said. Shaila was alarmed at first but instantly recognized who it was. It was her child.

Shaila let out a roar-"Do you really think you can defeat me here Rathera?" This is my place of power! Not yours. I am the …"

Before she could finish the whispering voice let out a cackling childlike giggle-"Killing some..Not much fun.." Rathera enjoyed tormenting her former master.

The voice ended and an explosion hit the experimentation room. Without any time, Shaila ran towards the explosion to try and salvage some bit of it. By the time she got there, the voice was gone, as were her experiments. Holding her baton with renewed fury, Shaila let out a guttural howl and started to make her way back to her throne. Before she could enter, Rathera jumped out at her former master and drove a crimson knife into Shaila's right shoulder, crippling her and forcing her weapon onto the ground.

Shaila looked up at her former apprentice with blood spattered on her shirt. It took a while to get a glimpse. Her apprentice Rathera had dark and dirty black hair, blood stains on her shirt and somehow managed to be holding Shaila's Shieldspike Dagger which gave her a crimson aura surrounding her visage. To be honest, Shaila couldn't believe this was the same person. The apprentice who could barely hold a sword was now faster and agile as ever!

The crimson wraith circled Shaila while walking back and forth while teasing her now and then with a slice of her knife. Shaila quietly acted defenseless, while she slowly used her right hand to reach for her baton. In a lightning-like act, Shaila grabbed her wand and pointed at Rathera and let fly the thorn. Before it could graze her however, Rathera easily sidestepped to the left and laughed-"You little whore.."

Running out of options, Shaila muttered to herself-"Rathera…what happened to…"

Her child finished for her-"The day where I am helpless is over….and by the way…the name's Raven." With that said Raven pulled out a crimson wand, looked Shaila in the eye and fired, exploding her body into a pile of chunky, fiery bits. Her scream barely echoed as she was erased from existence. Raven laughed at the sight of her master's defeat, but wondered whereto next? While she agreed that any chance of joining the shaper's was forfeit, she agreed that the rebel's might be an option.

Then it hit her, why join any of them? Thinking about the pros, she agreed that as long as she was somewhat on the ok side of the rebels, she wasn't fighting on two fronts. An idea then sprung to her mind. Why not slowly but surely, keep both the sides in a stalemate. She could quietly and stealthily assassinate small-time contact shapers and lifecrafters before any of them get too powerful. Not only will this give her better equipment, but by the time its all over, she'll be powerful enough to destroy both sides! "Heh, those poor fools wont have a chance", she laughed as she gathered her supplies.

While leaving Shaila's lab, Raven heard a noise coming from the entrance. With that in mind, she reached for her dagger in the hopes of killing some more. Maybe if she got lucky, she'd get to snuff some poor unfortunate fool. Yes that would be nice…

As Raven made her way to the entrance, she spotted a lone guardian standing there with broadsword drawn, as if awaiting her presence. He looked her over for a second. She was almost about 6 feet tall, with an agile way about her, extremely wild and frizzled out black hair, and she bore a smile, that practically emphasized her aura of confidence. There was something different about her and not just about the fact she was alone. Something that he couldn't put his finger on.

Raven instantly sized the guardian up. He was about 6 and a half feet tall, with strong almost titan-like shoulders, had a neatly trimmed auburn-haired beard, and a imposing presence. With little time, the man spoke-"I don't know who you are rebel, but that does not matter. I know what you have been up to. You've been using the canisters quite a bit. I can see it in your eyes, that wild look. Answer me one question rebel, where are your creations? I'll have you know that I wont be taken down easily by you even if they ambush me right now. Where are your…"

Raven finished for him-"Creations, hah. I'll have you know that I've been doing just fine for myself without them fool. You won't find me so weak as you find the other rebel cowards, hiding behind the creatures like a bunch of wet sops. Raven then spit at the ground next to his feet.

The guardian instantly reached for his sword, but then stopped. He kept his hand there ready for a second and rethought his words. He then took his hand off his sword and spoke-"You seem to be an open-minded fighter so I will take your insults with restraint. There are many secrets you can help us uncover to settle this war peacefully. Even if you don't use creations, should you come over to the shapers you might be able to still make a name for yourself. My name is Gareth and I am just a simple Guardian for the Shapers. Once we win the war, the possibilities for me will be good, but for you-they would be endless if you help out. What do you think…"

Raven looked at the ground where she spit and then back at Gareth-"The name's Raven, and let me get one thing straight with you guardian, I don't follow anyone. I follow my own path and don't use creations for anything. Now that I've said that, I will say no more. I suggest we skip the smalltalk…..and get right to what I'm after. Gareth put out his hand as a sign of friendship and walked over to Raven. Before Gareth could say anything, Raven instantly drew her blade and coarsed through the air with a huge leap, landing mid way and exploding onto Gareth's quickly drawn blade.

Gareth was confused while he neatly parried her strike. What rebel fighter would so blatantly disregard his sign of friendship and even moreso, be intent on killing him. What could she want. Then it hit him-She wanted his gear….

The 2 warriors battled it out with finesse and force. The guardian leveled his strikes with forceful strength while Raven dodged and evaded each attack like a game. It was very much like a game. Like a game of chess. For each 3 attacks (or pawns) that Gareth moved, they were rebutted with just 2 evasive flips from Raven. It went on like this for a while until finally Gareth stopped short of breath while Raven stopped as well. He could tell she knew he was wearing out his energy. The problem was Raven still looked very much in her prime.

"Who trained you?", Gareth asked seriously.

Raven stretched her arms and laughed-"It wasn't so much who trained me as much as it was who remade me."

Gareth swallowed his anger at that last comment. Such uncontrolled power, yet how? She must have just been a byproduct of an insane amount of canisters. The problem however was that with the amount of canisters it would take to get to that point, she still felt very much sane and in control. It was a very crazy turn of events. Gareth raised his sword and slowly made for another swing.

Before Gareth's sword connected, he looked at Raven. She didn't look she would move to get out the way. As if she wanted to die. Right before it connected, she dodged almost effortlessly to the right. Gareth, caught off balance, fell down onto the floor. Raven pointed her dagger at Gareth and smiled-"You know, for a guardian you really are pathetic. Gareth went to reach for his sword. Before he could, Raven instantly got out a wand and shot twice. The first shot sent a beam to Gareth's hand, which exploded into fleshy chunks as he howled in pain. The second shot grabbed a hold of his broadsword while he groveled in pain.

Raven observed the sword with interest. It seemed as if it held some magic quality to it. She needed to be sure. Taking the sword up in her hand, she stabbed it into Gareth's leg. Instantly, his leg fell motionless as if it were numb. Very interesting, Raven thought to herself. With that in mind, she left her opponent on the floor and thought of what to do with him. A quick death would suffice. She pulled her fiery wand out and blasted into Gareth, lighting him on fire.

While Gareth slowly burned to death, Raven walked out of the entrance to Shaila's lab. She knew that while her new powers were indeed amazing, she realized that she was going to need some new gear once she destroys the next poor soul. She laughed to herself with her new blade in hand-"Those poor fools are going to beg for death. But you know what, it wont be that easy, not this time…"