Chapter 1-Overwrite
On the streets of the capital city of the Kingdom of Melromarc, a scrawny pale-faced mage materialized in a flash of green light. He fell over and curled into a ball weeping piteously and screamed, "No, No, No, No, No, No, No, No! Not again! He punched his right wrist in fury, "Damn you. Why won't you ever let me die? Why won't you ever let me rest? I'm so…tired." He sighed deeply and slowly got up looking over the chaos with hopeless black eyes highlighted by dark circles underneath.
Panicked locals ran around him looking for places to hide as the sky was already blood red, and filled with swirling vortexes of blue, and green light; countless monsters were raining down from the sky. Just another typical day for the eternally star-crossed Takia Aliki.
The mage stood up with slumped shoulders and gritted his teeth in impotent rage. He was now entering a First Wave battle…again. He was serving an involuntary Life sentence to lend his support to a Cardinal Hero and instead of retiring to a peaceful life after the war, he would simply be pulled into the next one…and then the next one. He was tall, but so thin that his ribs were showing under his brown tunic. He wore matching pants and brown boots. All his attire was more patches than clothes as he could care less what he looked like. His curse would never leave him be. So be it. He had sworn an oath to a dying Hero and he would fulfill that promise no matter how it drained his soul dry.
A two headed jet black devil dog bit a fleeing peasant on the shoulder causing the screaming woman to fall topple over. Just as the right head was about to rip out her throat thirty razor-sharp stone fragments perforated both of its snarling muzzles, gaping maws and glowing red eye sockets, exiting out of the back of their skulls. The woman looked up in shock as the dead beast flopped atop her.
"Play dead lady," Takia ordered the hapless woman.
The terrified woman gave a nod and went limp. As she did so, three more two-headed dogs followed by a gaggle of ugly green, snaggle-toothed goblins wielding bloodied wooden spears rounded the corner and hissed at the hapless mage's direction.
"Damn you all," Takia muttered as magical energy surged from his body from his first attack. "As source of my power I order thee…decipher the laws of nature and enact: Earthshock!"
A giant circle lit up in the night street and the waves radiated inward in concentric glowing circles; then an explosion of cobblestones shot straight up from the outside in and the heavy stones rained down on the monsters causing them to howl in anguish as the rocks shattered bones and bludgeoned their flesh. Within three seconds the last of them wobbled and toppled down into lifeless heaps.
C'mon, bring it, he ranted to himself. Somebody put me out of my misery as he used a wind blast to free the peasant and allow her an escape route. He strode past the monster corpses and entered the main courtyard underneath the towering white castle with its maroon roof and flying buttresses lording over the nearby hilltop. Smoke was billowing from its battlements. He realized with a bit of a shock that there was a new cathedral with crazily angled walls and triple spires in the distance and the castle had an entirely new addition that he didn't remember. Based on construction times, this meant he had likely jumped forwards in time somewhere north of half a century at minimum. Great, so everyone he had known was likely dead…again.
"Hey there mister! Get the hell into the castle! Take shelter there", an armored royal guard bellowed. He couldn't see much in the moonlight but the spear-wielding soldier's face was torn into and her left eye socket was oozing blood. "Are you deaf! Run!"
"Apologies, Miss. But I have a Wave to fight."
The guard had already taken a philter to numb the pain of just having her eye gouged out, and applied a crude bandage. She laughed at the absurdity of the situation as she stabbed a twitching goblin through the heart with her spear. Most of her fellow guards of the 13th order were dead or scattered; and her only backup was now a bum in rags begging on the street. She chuckled grimly, "Hey buddy, before we both die, my name is Varri! How do you do?"
"Takia, Miss Varri. Charmed." He almost smiled but a nearby roar made them turn around to see a giant flying lizard with membranous wings as large as its body setting fire to the red-tiled roofs with its flame breaths. He cursed, "Shit! That's the boss monster!"
Varri gaped up at the giant lizard as it dropped down on the gatehouse and seared it with its flames sending hapless guards flying off the battlements to their doom. She fumed as her fist clanched around her spear haft, "Damn! We have to do something! I have a duty to protect the royal family!"
Takia nodded and hoped against hope that maybe this foul beast would finally dispatch him, "Meet you in the afterlife Varri."
The guard saluted with a lopsided smirk, "See you in Valhalla, Takia." With a cry she roared as she charged the giant flyer, hoping her suicidal charge would distract the horrible monster long enough for her comrades to mount an effective counterattack, or at least secure the safety of the King and the two Princesses.
Takia powered up his most potent Earth spell, "As source of my power I order thee…decipher the laws of-" His casting was cut short by the sight of a dozen invisible blades slicing through the 100 foot long monster, causing it to fall into the ravine in pieces as it screamed loudly enough to make the earth rumble. Then a dull roar of impact indicated the beast lay at the bottom on the cliff as a ruined mass of flesh.
Varri stopped at the drawbridge and stupidly gawked down at the insane sight of the most powerful monster of the wave lying as a broken ragdoll 100 feet down. She turned around, her one remaining green eye seeking out her companion. She blinked as she saw a hooded little girl hand a kneeling Takia a glowing purple gemstone, and whispering something into his ear. She started to take a step forwards, "Hey, um…"
Takia turned at looked back at his new acquaintance with an odd expression, as the glowing crimson skies reverted back to dark violets and blues of the starry night overhead. He knew he had to complete his mission. If the girl's order was right then this one action would change everything. "Yes, Varri?"
Varri's steel armor faintly clanked as she reached his side. Hadn't there been a little girl here just now? Was she imagining things? "Are you okay Takia? How on earth did you know a spell that potent?"
The mage laughed mirthlessly, "Simple…I didn't. Someone else pulled our fat from the flames." He stood up and started to jog to the cathedral of the Four Heroes, although the spires were only topped by the Spear, Bow and Sword.
Varri tagged along, as she knew that she should check that the Red Hourglass of the Dragon's Era was undamaged. Soon enough they reached the portal, and Varri hammered on the door, "Faithful devotees of the Three Hero's God, open up in the name of King Melromarc!"
"Password, my child?"
"Trust in the might of the sword, the power of the bow, and the bravery of the Spear!"
"Good! God be with you child. Sisters, let us open up the barricade," a muffled voice came from the other side of the oaken door.
The mage scratched his head in confusion, "What about the Shield Hero?"
Varri glared at him as if he had a second head sprouting from his neck, "I'd suggest you don't ever say that name out loud again in Melromarc again, good sir."
Something obviously very bad had happened in the decades between waves, he realized. He acceded softly, "Noted."
The door was opened and the two warriors strode past a few dozen sisters dressed in white robes with black fabric at the shoulders and white coifs with golden brown trim adorning their heads. The atrium was a vast soaring space with staircases and balconies adorning the neatly hewn stone. Stained glass windows reinforced with glowing golden magic to resist attacks ringed the chamber. Residing in splendor in the room's center was a giant 40 foot tall hourglass with four vertically oriented globes containing the sand. It was encased in a gilded metal framework with two dragon sculptures atop stylized waves serenely rotated around the base of the timepiece exactly once every minute.
Standing at the base of the stairs was the Superior of the convent who was a modestly attractive lady in her early forties with oblong glasses obscuring her eyes. She seemed to recognize Varri as a fellow devotee at once, "Faithful daughter of the Three Heroes God, I am pleased to report that the Hourglass is completely intact, thanks to our collective faith in our god and his Holiness, the Pope."
Varri bowed deeply and took out the same silver amulet that all the sisters wore, featuring a symbolic amalgamation of the Bow, Sword and Spear, "Most gracious Mother Superior. My companion who helped me is the Mage Takia. The boss of the First Wave is now dead. It is time for the Dragon Hourglass to reset as the skies just cleared."
The other sisters looked elated at the news but refrained from cheering with a great deal of effort.
"That is most momentous news my child. Tell his majesty to proceed with the summoning ritual when you see him next."
"Yes of course. It would be my honor to-" She gasped in horror as everyone in the room froze, "Takia, what the hell are you doing?"
Takia grinned fiercely as the little girl had given him something that he had never expected. Hope. Hope that this time the summoning would bring warriors of equal worth. He was sure he would be executed for this, but he didn't care as long as his pledge was fulfilled. A faint green vortex of light emitted from his right wrist as he held the gemstone aloft, "As source of my power I order thee; decipher the laws of nature and enact Overwrite!" The crystal lobbed through the air as everyone else in the room gasped and watched helplessly as the crystal impacted the connection point between the smaller inner globes, just as the Dragon Hourglass reset and swiveled 180 degrees on its axis, emitting an unholy violet glow. The sand started to trickle through as a purple shockwave knocked everyone in the room over.
…
A wiry and thin brown-skinned self proclaimed Occidental superhero and Oriental anime fanboy calmly thumbed through a dog-eared d20 roleplaying sourcebook that had gotten him through the unpleasantness of high school. As he filled out his homework, he muttered in a singsong voice an old school rap tune that he knew by heart, "I wish I was a little bit taller, I wish I was a baller. I wish I had a girl who looked good I would call her. I wish I had a rabbit in a hat with a bat and a six four Impala…" Jeremiah Douglas White was a nerd, a dork, or a geek no matter how you sliced it. Being a pre-med freshman at UConn did not change the fact that girls only hit him up to borrow his study guides. All through middle school and into college most of the girls gravitated to the basketball players. He was resigned to the fact that he resembled an aged up Steve Urkel with coke-bottom glasses encased in plastic black rims. Jerry's hair was short and unstylish sticking out in random directions. He was wearing blue jeans, short black boots, and a white t-shirt with an 8-bit graphic of the video game character Mario jumping up and striking an overhead brick that was releasing a giant mushroom.
The Diamond mall in Groton, Connecticut was downright dull on a Friday morning. At least he had the occasional wannabe ninja or gaming aficionado enter the Aqualapis Import store for a gold Buddha statue, a shiruken, sprigs of bamboo, or a Magic the Gathering booster deck. The store manager was on a quick lunch break, leaving Jerry to mind the store.
A soft rustle dragged him out of his Biochemistry text on his tablet. A small note on the glass countertop read, I am sorry to disturb you, but I will need your help.
"Yeah sure thing, what can I…do?" Jerry gaped awkwardly at a deathly pale albino girl standing on the other side of the checkout counter. "Uhhh…hi?" Wow, real smooth there Romeo, he chided himself.
The girl was tall and slender, and wore a denim jacket over a pastel pink spaghetti top and a black miniskirt and short black boots with slight heels. A pair of wraparound sunglasses nearly completely hid her piercing gaze. Her long white hair was tied into a loose ponytail. Although her face was impassive, Usagi inwardly rued that it fell on her shoulders to ruin this kind man's life, all for the selfish needs of her cursed homeworld. She scribbled out another note, Pick up your satchel as you will need it. Make sure you are holding the book entitled The Warriors of the Compass Rose.
Jerry stood up and picked up his late father's US Navy medical satchel, and slid his tablet computer into it, "No problem Miss. I have the book right here."
Usagi clenched her fist and incanted silently loathing herself for her unforgivable actions, As source of my power I order thee; decipher the laws of nature and enact Overwrite!
The stunned store clerk was caught up in the flare of bright light. Well this is gonna suck, he realized.
…
Facing the sunset over the Pacific, a young English major hummed cheerfully to herself as she snapped photos using her compact digital camera of a grassy field in front a screen of trees partly occluding the pink, purple, and amber tinted clouds in the vicinity of an old WWII era battery that had once guarded Vancouver, Canada against Japanese submarines. The generically cute brunette peered at the LCD screen with her inquisitive blue eyes to check that her photos were worth posting. Charlotte Curtiss wasn't overly tall or short, and would easily blend into a crowd with her current attire of a UBC hooded sweatshirt, comfortable blue jeans, white sneakers, and a black backpack. Hmm, that last shot was definitely a keeper, she realized with readily visible glee.
A very loud voice made her flinch, "Woah, so you don't use crystal balls at all in this world!"
She turned in annoyance and saw a very tall boy tower over her. He wore a green bandanna over his spiky white hair (it must be bleached Charlotte realized), a pair of sunglasses over his amused dark blue eyes, a black t-shirt with the sleeves ripped off, jeans with numerous holes in the legs, and olive drab combat boots.
Charlotte rubbed her ear as she pondered if this giant young man was a punk or just affected the look. His wearing his emotions on his sleeve reminded her of her sometimes annoying younger brother...and herself. She sighed as she took another photo of the radiant sunset. "You don't have to shout. I'm only three feet away, you know."
"Sure thing boss," he cheerfully yelled again.
She snapped in exasperation, "Look, I'm not your boss, and I'm not here to be made fun of! What do you want, anyway?" She intensely disliked anyone patronizing her; although this weirdo seemed to genuinely not seem to even notice his abrasive mannerisms.
Ah, my lovely and temperamental Mistress, Lugiel chuckled. She doesn't seem to have changed a bit. He cracked a wide grin and knew even though Miss Charlotte would initially resent what he was about to do here, in the long run she rise to the challenge. "Sorry I'm annoying. It's sorta my deal. No offense meant. Could you boot up your storytelling forum…the one where you and a bunch of other folks are writing about the Seasons of the Four Weapons? He sure as hell didn't know what the hell a forum or what that rectangular flat sky blue object with a magical projection screen that his Mistress was holding was.
Charlotte shot the strange boy a deep frown as she tucked the camera into her sweatshirt pocket and tapped her writing icon on her smartphone. "How did you know about that forum? Are you some kind of stalker?"
"Naw. Trust me, it will make sense later. 'pologies, bos-I mean Miss."
She shook her head and cracked a smile, "Sure, you're sorry, you jerk." She thumbed through the links and noted there was a new contribution, inwardly noting the fact that he knew her forum pen name was not exonerating him of the stalker label. "The Summer of the Bow thread is updated." She still didn't know what to make of this young man. His cheerful bluntness put her off on one hand; but on the other she realized he was sincere and genuine. Maybe he was okay after all. Still how the heck did he know about her forum when she always used a made up name?
"May your path be always unobstructed, Miss Bow Hero. We will meet again soon…promise."
Charlotte's brows knitted in confusion, "Bow hero? Look here, whoever you are…"
He flashed an insolent grin, "As your people often say, 'My bad'." He waved his arms in specific gestures, "As source of my power I order thee; decipher the laws of nature and enact Overwrite!"
The smartphone screen overpowered Charlotte's field of vision with a light that bathed her in its unearthly blinding rays.
…
A studious young man with slightly tense frown on his lip with peach skin, intense black eyes, and slightly wavy ultramarine hair finished debugging the school online scheduling system app, and toggled back to his oriental-themed MMORPG game The Legend of the Sacred Jade Heroes to blow off some steam. Clint Redmond was a capable high school upperclassman, although taking on the school Computer club's President's position had not been his idea. However, he was never one to shirk his duty and he couldn't leave his favorite club hanging with the President out for the month with Mononucleosis. His attrite was neat with a white button down shirt, navy slacks and blue and white sneakers. The screen reflected off his stylish rectangular glasses with black frames.
One of his classmates came into the computer lab with a beaming expression, "Yo Prez, the club meeting ended an hour ago. Shouldn't you be somewhere else, Clint?"
He gave a curt nod as he was focused on killing the Kappas swarming his Halberd warlord onscreen, "No, Theron. Remember, No matter where you go…there you are." He always loved to supply a baffling riddles by quoting revered and anonymous authors alike, although Buckaroo Banzai's tagline was one of his favorites.
The dark haired boy shook his head and chuckled as he set a bottle of iced tea on Clint's desk, "Always with the snarky riddles. I'm out. Laters."
"Mmmn," Clint barely responded as he could a glimpse of a mature looking girl walking into the lab. His only surprise was that Theron didn't openly ogle her as they passed as his friend was a sucker for any pretty face. He saw she was a moderately tall pale-skinned girl with amused Hazel eyes, Ash blond hair that was tied into a long braid that fell down to her waist. She wore tinted aviator sunglasses and wore a maroon sleeveless turtleneck over long blue jeans and flip flops.
"I'm here to help you Mister President," the girl announced in a silken voice. Rosalia knew by now that Master Clint was prickly and rather sullen at times, which he used to try ever so hard to hide his golden heart.
He quoted Shel Silverstein, "And some kind of help is the kind of help is what helping is all about. And some kind of help is the kind of help that we can all do without." He finished off the first wave, and then paused his game, "Which kind of help are you offering?" Although he noted that she was quite pretty, his analytical mind was more focused on what annoying favor she was surely here to sweet talk him into than her appearance.
She broke into giggles. It was so nostalgic meeting him again, even though their first meeting was some months in the past…or was it the future? She sighed at the absurdity of it all. "Both kinds of help I fear, Mister President. You see, you are needed very badly, and I fear that…hmmm. What would you say? I think it will be 'An offer you can't refuse'."
"I have to refuse. I can't take on two School club responsibilities and keep my grades up. Good day miss," he coolly replied, giving her the brush off.
She smiled and noted that he was so wrapped up in his own little bubble. In no time at all he will see that the problems of an imperiled world will far surpass this humdrum drama in this youth Academy. "Sorry about this. You can kick my tail feathers later in revenge, okay?"
"Mmmn," he replied in a bored monotone. Why wouldn't she just take the hint and just go?
She swept her arms dramatically and gesticulated precisely, "As source of my power I order thee; decipher the laws of nature and enact Overwrite!"
Clint's computer blew up in his face with an explosion of light, "Oh sh-"
…
A moderately handsome Japanese young man stood in the stacks of his local library in Yokohama, thumbing through titles of fantasy novels hoping to see one that would catch his eye to borrow and take home. He rued that he had already blown his allowance on a gripping High fantasy graphic novel. Naofumi Iwatami was tall by Japanese standards and wore a white and green hooded jacket over his black tee-shirt dark slacks and black sneakers. His bright green eyes scanned over a book that was obviously a derivative riff on the Lord of the Rings, so he reshelved it with a slightly bored expression.
"Excuse me sir, but did you drop this," a humble feminine voice inquired with a distinct waver.
He turned around and saw a stunningly pretty young lady in a red and white striped summer dress and white loafers extend a red book on the upturned palms of her hands as if offering him a box of chocolates. Naofumi boggled and his mouth fell open as he could never remember a girl this gorgeous simply walking up to him except as a prank. She was tall with a slim figure and cascading reddish brown hair, although her oval, wire rimmed sunglasses obscured her eyes. She also seemed to be shivering slightly…maybe it was because the AC was turned up too high. He ran his hand through his perpetually messy short black hair and was at a complete loss for words. What the hell do I even say, he railed inwardly.
It's not fair. It's not fair that I have to drag him into my troubles. He looks so sweet and innocent, the girl thought to herself. Ralphtalia had never known her master with such an open and trusting face before. It simply wasn't right that this powerful spell she was entwined with made her complicit with his future trauma…but her world needed a hero like him. She needed him. "A-ah…pardon me sir."
Naofumi blushed as he took the tome entitled The Four Cardinal Heroes from the girl with a shy smile. "I don't…I don't think we've met before, Miss. May I know your name?"
"My apologies, but I cannot say." Raphtalia started to sniffle, "When we meet again, please forgive my injustice to you, Master Naofumi."
What was that? How the hell did she know his name? Was she some sort of cosplayer or LARPer? Naofumi was completely baffled as the girl broke into open sobs and encased him in a crushing embrace. That was…too close. He broke into a uncontrollable blush as she cried on his shoulder. His mouth moved but he was completely lacking the strength to say anything.
"Forgive me kind sir, although I will understand if you hate me forever for this. As source of my power I order thee; decipher the laws of nature and enact Overwrite!"
Naofumi gasped as the tome in his hands burned with a blinding amber light, "Miss I don't-"