Parallels
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Chapter 14
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Walking down the grey hallway, Isaac frowned. He had been conducting business with his servant Jenna when the summons came, and he had been none to pleased. Apparently, Saturos was launching yet another raid, this time with nearly double the troops as usual. And as ususal, it would be a hit and run, with ritual suicide greeting any that Isaac's forces captured.
The "ritual" served one true purpose, not matter what Prox might say - it served to prevent evidence of Prox's support of Saturos's attacks. Prox was all for supporting Saturos, given that he caused havoc with Isaac's defenses, and Isaac couldn't last out without alienating some of his allies. Worse, he would force Prox to support the Resistance, and Isaac had yet to stop Mia's loose band of rebels.
Entering the war room, he stared at his surroundings. There were about a dozen or so men seated at several tables, each one lined with Psynergy crystals. Each crystal was linked to the mind of a commander (or secondary) in the field, and served to transmit messages and commands at high speeds.
Walking into the center of the room, Isaac stared ahead, facing a black wall.
"Tactical."
To his left, a short servant pressed a large Psyn stone, and waves of psynergy collected across the blank wall. The man, a trained Jupitarian, manipulated the psynergetic waves into differient colors, showing Isaac's troops in one shade, and Saturos's forces in another.
According to the display, Saturos was coming in rather high this time, probably to have more time to fire at the mountain that housed the base. Or was he trying to hide something? There was a rather large gap in the middle of their formation, but then, that was usual.
Yet Isaac had a wierd feeling in his gut. Something wasn't right, though he couldn't put his fingers on it.
He cleared any stray thoughts from his mind, focusing on the attack instead. Mentally sending a thought to the weapons man at his right, he noted the new shapes on his "screen." Twenty-four objects appeared at the base of the mountain, each one nearly twelve times the size of a man.
Isaac smiled as he noted that all of his Psyn Cannons were online. The weapons, like most other technology, drew off of the earth's psynergy, though small ammounts of surrounding psynergy was used to feed the weapons. After absorbing the energy, the cannon's internal mechanics focused the energy into raw form, using hte converted substance as a lethal weapon. The original designs had come from his Lemurian allies, and thanks to the old mage Kraden and Ivan, the Psyn Cannons were the most powerful weapons in his arsenal. After all, "the best offense is a good defense."
And for the twelfth time this month, he would put that philosophy to good use.
As he prepared to begin firing, he recieved a mental nudge from a desk behind him. Turning, he noted that it was the Signal Monitor, the person responsible for ensuring that the Psyn Links were functioning for his underlings. He himself rarely had to bother with them, but the fact that the woman was signaling him meant that one of his generals needed permission to attack.
Or, more likely, Picard was growing tired of not doing anything about the approaching fleet. The Lemurian had been assigned to the primary defense force after Garet had returned from his failed effort to invade and take over Prox, while Garet had been given Picard's old job - security.
Nodding at the attendent, he focused his mind, easily finding Picard's mind. *Speak.*
*Master, the Saturos Raiders are back. Request permission to postition our forces to higher ground for attacking.*
*No. Guard the Psyn Cannons. Use your Jupitarians to keep an eye on the enemy's location, and relay it to the command center. All other troops defend the Cannons. Attack only if you don't have to guard the Cannons. Clear?*
*Clear, M'Lord.*
*And Captain?*
*Sir?*
*Don't bother wasting men on any captives.*
A brief pause. *Aye, Master.*
Breaking the link, Isaac focused on another individual - the commander of the Psyn Cannons. Adjusting his mental thoughts, he oened his eyes, seeing through his pawn. In the sky, a massive force approached. The majority of the attackers were the typical Proxian soldiers in their dragon combat forms. Squinting, Isaac looked beyond the initial wave, staring at what his "screen" had said empty earlier.
In the vast space flew five warships, each one Proxian. The things were long and slim, not unlike the canoes that he had seen. The ships were massive, each one over double the size of the old Tolbi castle, and with enough space in each to hold a hundred warriors. Somehow, Isaac doubted that they carried that many.
Isaac didn't know how Saturos had recieved ships that were usually reserved for official Prox assaults, but he didn't exactly have time to argue. Scaning the force of dragon-shaped warriors, he noted Saturos's form, a dark blue dragon flying in the middle of the first wave.
Still in control of his Cannon commander, he signaled for the cannons to open fire. Abruptly, the huge weapons opened their doors, and massive ammounts of raw psynergy lanced out, streaking towards their intended targets. He noticed that many dragons were slain by the initial bursts, and dozens more were either hurt or blinded by the millions of tendrels of enerty that lanced out from each blast.
Glancing at the airships, Isaac ordered five of his Psyn Cannons to fire on the approaching ships, unwilling to let the monstrous things get close enough to fire whatever weapons they carried. Watching his weapons fire, Isaac had to force his commander's body to steady himself as balls of psynergy impacted on the cliffs and cannons. Growling, Isaac mentally informed the other Cannons to open fire on any dragons.
Returning his gaze to the airships, he smiled with pride as his Cannons ripped through the hulls, tearing out their guts and desemating their innards.
Then all hell broke loose.
The warships exploded, large enough blasts that took out a fair size of the invading forces. Isaac then realized what Saturos had intended to do with the ships - suicide attacks with enough explosives to take out whole Cannons and chunks of earth. The tactic pointed to one thing:
Saturos was growing impatient. He knew he couldn't defeat them with traditional Proxian tactics, and had to switch to suicide raids. Such waste of materials and troops was severely frowned upon by the Proxian Military, and it showed how desperate Saturos had become.
Pulling his mind out of his commander's head, he opened his eyes to stare at the "screen," which had been updated with the airships's presence, even as they exploded. Isaac smiled at the knowlege that none of his workers had tried to notify him of this change. The last person to do so had forced Isaac's mind out of his previous Psyn Cannon Commander, and had resulted in the death of the entire command crew. The man's family had been sent down into the mines as well, sending a message to the rest of his underlings - "one mistake, and your whole family dies."
The accident had yet to reoccur.
Isaac focused on the projection in front of him, smiling as he watched the Proxians flee, trying to avoid their own warship's falling debris and explosions. It used to thrill him to see his foes reterat, but of late it didn't phase him. So many raids, so many enemies, so many things to do. It used to be so easy with just the Resistance to hunt down and the negotiations with Prox.
Damn that idiotic dumbass. Had Isaac's personal servant not been Garet's sister, he might have slain the man's whole family on the spot for that stunt. Isaac knew he needed to do something about it soon, lest Garet slay the only person that Isaac trusted fully - Ivan.
The only problem was, what?
A messenger entered, handing him a note. Waving the man off, Isaac skimmed the note, noting the fact that a healer had been found dead, apparently having overdosed on Psyn Stimulants. Isaac knew better, and if Garet thought he had covered his tracks, he would soon find that Isaac was not pleased with him.
Storming out of the room, he headed to his chambers, intent on brooding on what to do with Garet...
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Isaac stared directly at Felix, still shocked from seeing him in this pit. The man standing before him looked worse for wear, though his clothes seemed in good order. His face was one of disbelief and shock, and possibly a hint of joy, for what, Isaac could not tell.
What Isaac could tell, though, was that Felix reeked to high heaven. Apparenly, the bathing facilities (if there were any) were a little out of repair.
"So tell me again where your from?"
"From another reality."
Felix blinked. Not that Isaac blamed him - he had been equally shocked by the news.
"It sounds a little far fetched, you know."
"I know that. Believe me, it took me a long time to adjust to that."
Felix stared at him, then suddenly shook his head. "Where are my manners? Isaac, welcome to the Infernal Pit, also known as Psyn Mine 001. This is, for lack of a better term, a death pit. The average person doesn't last a year, and there's no real way out."
"How do you and your compainion survive, then?"
"*I* learned to survive from her. I've only been here a year, and she's been down here a little over three years now."
"THREE YEARS!? How long has this war been going!?"
"War? Oh, I guess you could call it that. Anyway, it's been going on ever since Isaac managed to unite several cities and rogue pirates to form a single government. Like any other world-spanning ambition, it was perverted over time, and is facing itself."
Isaac shook his head. This was puzzling - how in the world had this world come about in the first place? Stepping foward, he winced as his muscles ached.
"Ah, the Moronic Masher ripped you a new one, eh?"
"I take it that it's common for him to maltreat captives, eh?"
"Sadly." Felix shrugged, moving to sit on his cot. "Garet's always been an idiot, and for some bizzare reason, always follows Isaac's orders to a T." Felix chuckled. "One time, he-"
"BASTARD!!!"
Isaac tried to whirl around, only to be dizzy from a fist colliding with his face. Falling to the ground, he tried to get up, trying to see who his assailant was, but barely crained his neck to avoid the incoming fist. His attacker fell on top of him, still attacking.
"Alex! ALEX! STOP!"
Isaac barely noticed Felix dragging the figure off of him, barely able to stand now. Glancing up, Isaac stared, sheer shock filling his being:
It WAS Alex. With long hair extending down to the legs...one...arm (How the..?), and a chest that...
Isaac's eyes widened.
Alex was a GIRL.
Darkness overcame him, and the familiar blackout took over his mind...
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Well, that went well!
Sheba - O_o ALEX IS A WOMAN!?!?!
T. Hamma - 0_0
Yeah, so?
Sheba - ._.
Anyway, on to the reviews!!!
Alex, Ruler of Weyard - Was it? I didn't think so... But it was far from what I had them do before... I wouldn't know, but the general response was fine. Thanks!
wildcats1310 - I'll get to that later... That too... That as well... Antimatter is created with sophisticated scientific technology... Good luck. ^_^ Thanks!
TemplarofNi - I'll try to read it when I get the time, but until I get a job, I have no clue when I'll read other fics... I barely have time to continue this... But thanks!
Forgotten Souls - Sheba's got you on her hit list. If I were you, I'd leave the planet - that's the only thing that will save you... Sorry if I used that idea, but I had no way of knowing... O_O Dunno bout the Mudshipping yet... _;;; ._. Where did you get the male Sheba with dark hair image from? Anyway, thanks!
The 8BTFreek - What images??? Reread the last part on Ivan there. O_o Nice try on teh guessing, but I already had plans, though if you see this, you've already seen what I had planned...=D Sheba's the only one I haven't meantioned, and she should appear in the near future... ^_^ Thanks!
*** - English isn't your first language? What is your main language? Spanish? Japanese? Thanks for the review! ^_^;
Dark Ice Dragon - Uh, Ivan KNOWS the Hamma in his world, and apparently Hamma isn't a rare name (that, or he realizes that she's from another reality..). At any rate, howz this chap? ^_^ Thanks!
Well, that's all my Backup has... If any more were sent, I didn't get them thanks to an absurd e-mail that is taking forever to download with Outlook...
Sheba - O_O Alex a GIRL!?!?!?
T. Hamma - O_O And she has one arm...
Aww, Poor ba... *Sees the glare from Sheba* Uh, I DO NOT OWN GOLDEN SUN!!! DON'T KILL ME!!!
Sheba - Wuss.
Absolutely.
Sheba - -_-
T. Hamma - REVIEW!!!
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Chapter 14
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Walking down the grey hallway, Isaac frowned. He had been conducting business with his servant Jenna when the summons came, and he had been none to pleased. Apparently, Saturos was launching yet another raid, this time with nearly double the troops as usual. And as ususal, it would be a hit and run, with ritual suicide greeting any that Isaac's forces captured.
The "ritual" served one true purpose, not matter what Prox might say - it served to prevent evidence of Prox's support of Saturos's attacks. Prox was all for supporting Saturos, given that he caused havoc with Isaac's defenses, and Isaac couldn't last out without alienating some of his allies. Worse, he would force Prox to support the Resistance, and Isaac had yet to stop Mia's loose band of rebels.
Entering the war room, he stared at his surroundings. There were about a dozen or so men seated at several tables, each one lined with Psynergy crystals. Each crystal was linked to the mind of a commander (or secondary) in the field, and served to transmit messages and commands at high speeds.
Walking into the center of the room, Isaac stared ahead, facing a black wall.
"Tactical."
To his left, a short servant pressed a large Psyn stone, and waves of psynergy collected across the blank wall. The man, a trained Jupitarian, manipulated the psynergetic waves into differient colors, showing Isaac's troops in one shade, and Saturos's forces in another.
According to the display, Saturos was coming in rather high this time, probably to have more time to fire at the mountain that housed the base. Or was he trying to hide something? There was a rather large gap in the middle of their formation, but then, that was usual.
Yet Isaac had a wierd feeling in his gut. Something wasn't right, though he couldn't put his fingers on it.
He cleared any stray thoughts from his mind, focusing on the attack instead. Mentally sending a thought to the weapons man at his right, he noted the new shapes on his "screen." Twenty-four objects appeared at the base of the mountain, each one nearly twelve times the size of a man.
Isaac smiled as he noted that all of his Psyn Cannons were online. The weapons, like most other technology, drew off of the earth's psynergy, though small ammounts of surrounding psynergy was used to feed the weapons. After absorbing the energy, the cannon's internal mechanics focused the energy into raw form, using hte converted substance as a lethal weapon. The original designs had come from his Lemurian allies, and thanks to the old mage Kraden and Ivan, the Psyn Cannons were the most powerful weapons in his arsenal. After all, "the best offense is a good defense."
And for the twelfth time this month, he would put that philosophy to good use.
As he prepared to begin firing, he recieved a mental nudge from a desk behind him. Turning, he noted that it was the Signal Monitor, the person responsible for ensuring that the Psyn Links were functioning for his underlings. He himself rarely had to bother with them, but the fact that the woman was signaling him meant that one of his generals needed permission to attack.
Or, more likely, Picard was growing tired of not doing anything about the approaching fleet. The Lemurian had been assigned to the primary defense force after Garet had returned from his failed effort to invade and take over Prox, while Garet had been given Picard's old job - security.
Nodding at the attendent, he focused his mind, easily finding Picard's mind. *Speak.*
*Master, the Saturos Raiders are back. Request permission to postition our forces to higher ground for attacking.*
*No. Guard the Psyn Cannons. Use your Jupitarians to keep an eye on the enemy's location, and relay it to the command center. All other troops defend the Cannons. Attack only if you don't have to guard the Cannons. Clear?*
*Clear, M'Lord.*
*And Captain?*
*Sir?*
*Don't bother wasting men on any captives.*
A brief pause. *Aye, Master.*
Breaking the link, Isaac focused on another individual - the commander of the Psyn Cannons. Adjusting his mental thoughts, he oened his eyes, seeing through his pawn. In the sky, a massive force approached. The majority of the attackers were the typical Proxian soldiers in their dragon combat forms. Squinting, Isaac looked beyond the initial wave, staring at what his "screen" had said empty earlier.
In the vast space flew five warships, each one Proxian. The things were long and slim, not unlike the canoes that he had seen. The ships were massive, each one over double the size of the old Tolbi castle, and with enough space in each to hold a hundred warriors. Somehow, Isaac doubted that they carried that many.
Isaac didn't know how Saturos had recieved ships that were usually reserved for official Prox assaults, but he didn't exactly have time to argue. Scaning the force of dragon-shaped warriors, he noted Saturos's form, a dark blue dragon flying in the middle of the first wave.
Still in control of his Cannon commander, he signaled for the cannons to open fire. Abruptly, the huge weapons opened their doors, and massive ammounts of raw psynergy lanced out, streaking towards their intended targets. He noticed that many dragons were slain by the initial bursts, and dozens more were either hurt or blinded by the millions of tendrels of enerty that lanced out from each blast.
Glancing at the airships, Isaac ordered five of his Psyn Cannons to fire on the approaching ships, unwilling to let the monstrous things get close enough to fire whatever weapons they carried. Watching his weapons fire, Isaac had to force his commander's body to steady himself as balls of psynergy impacted on the cliffs and cannons. Growling, Isaac mentally informed the other Cannons to open fire on any dragons.
Returning his gaze to the airships, he smiled with pride as his Cannons ripped through the hulls, tearing out their guts and desemating their innards.
Then all hell broke loose.
The warships exploded, large enough blasts that took out a fair size of the invading forces. Isaac then realized what Saturos had intended to do with the ships - suicide attacks with enough explosives to take out whole Cannons and chunks of earth. The tactic pointed to one thing:
Saturos was growing impatient. He knew he couldn't defeat them with traditional Proxian tactics, and had to switch to suicide raids. Such waste of materials and troops was severely frowned upon by the Proxian Military, and it showed how desperate Saturos had become.
Pulling his mind out of his commander's head, he opened his eyes to stare at the "screen," which had been updated with the airships's presence, even as they exploded. Isaac smiled at the knowlege that none of his workers had tried to notify him of this change. The last person to do so had forced Isaac's mind out of his previous Psyn Cannon Commander, and had resulted in the death of the entire command crew. The man's family had been sent down into the mines as well, sending a message to the rest of his underlings - "one mistake, and your whole family dies."
The accident had yet to reoccur.
Isaac focused on the projection in front of him, smiling as he watched the Proxians flee, trying to avoid their own warship's falling debris and explosions. It used to thrill him to see his foes reterat, but of late it didn't phase him. So many raids, so many enemies, so many things to do. It used to be so easy with just the Resistance to hunt down and the negotiations with Prox.
Damn that idiotic dumbass. Had Isaac's personal servant not been Garet's sister, he might have slain the man's whole family on the spot for that stunt. Isaac knew he needed to do something about it soon, lest Garet slay the only person that Isaac trusted fully - Ivan.
The only problem was, what?
A messenger entered, handing him a note. Waving the man off, Isaac skimmed the note, noting the fact that a healer had been found dead, apparently having overdosed on Psyn Stimulants. Isaac knew better, and if Garet thought he had covered his tracks, he would soon find that Isaac was not pleased with him.
Storming out of the room, he headed to his chambers, intent on brooding on what to do with Garet...
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Isaac stared directly at Felix, still shocked from seeing him in this pit. The man standing before him looked worse for wear, though his clothes seemed in good order. His face was one of disbelief and shock, and possibly a hint of joy, for what, Isaac could not tell.
What Isaac could tell, though, was that Felix reeked to high heaven. Apparenly, the bathing facilities (if there were any) were a little out of repair.
"So tell me again where your from?"
"From another reality."
Felix blinked. Not that Isaac blamed him - he had been equally shocked by the news.
"It sounds a little far fetched, you know."
"I know that. Believe me, it took me a long time to adjust to that."
Felix stared at him, then suddenly shook his head. "Where are my manners? Isaac, welcome to the Infernal Pit, also known as Psyn Mine 001. This is, for lack of a better term, a death pit. The average person doesn't last a year, and there's no real way out."
"How do you and your compainion survive, then?"
"*I* learned to survive from her. I've only been here a year, and she's been down here a little over three years now."
"THREE YEARS!? How long has this war been going!?"
"War? Oh, I guess you could call it that. Anyway, it's been going on ever since Isaac managed to unite several cities and rogue pirates to form a single government. Like any other world-spanning ambition, it was perverted over time, and is facing itself."
Isaac shook his head. This was puzzling - how in the world had this world come about in the first place? Stepping foward, he winced as his muscles ached.
"Ah, the Moronic Masher ripped you a new one, eh?"
"I take it that it's common for him to maltreat captives, eh?"
"Sadly." Felix shrugged, moving to sit on his cot. "Garet's always been an idiot, and for some bizzare reason, always follows Isaac's orders to a T." Felix chuckled. "One time, he-"
"BASTARD!!!"
Isaac tried to whirl around, only to be dizzy from a fist colliding with his face. Falling to the ground, he tried to get up, trying to see who his assailant was, but barely crained his neck to avoid the incoming fist. His attacker fell on top of him, still attacking.
"Alex! ALEX! STOP!"
Isaac barely noticed Felix dragging the figure off of him, barely able to stand now. Glancing up, Isaac stared, sheer shock filling his being:
It WAS Alex. With long hair extending down to the legs...one...arm (How the..?), and a chest that...
Isaac's eyes widened.
Alex was a GIRL.
Darkness overcame him, and the familiar blackout took over his mind...
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Well, that went well!
Sheba - O_o ALEX IS A WOMAN!?!?!
T. Hamma - 0_0
Yeah, so?
Sheba - ._.
Anyway, on to the reviews!!!
Alex, Ruler of Weyard - Was it? I didn't think so... But it was far from what I had them do before... I wouldn't know, but the general response was fine. Thanks!
wildcats1310 - I'll get to that later... That too... That as well... Antimatter is created with sophisticated scientific technology... Good luck. ^_^ Thanks!
TemplarofNi - I'll try to read it when I get the time, but until I get a job, I have no clue when I'll read other fics... I barely have time to continue this... But thanks!
Forgotten Souls - Sheba's got you on her hit list. If I were you, I'd leave the planet - that's the only thing that will save you... Sorry if I used that idea, but I had no way of knowing... O_O Dunno bout the Mudshipping yet... _;;; ._. Where did you get the male Sheba with dark hair image from? Anyway, thanks!
The 8BTFreek - What images??? Reread the last part on Ivan there. O_o Nice try on teh guessing, but I already had plans, though if you see this, you've already seen what I had planned...=D Sheba's the only one I haven't meantioned, and she should appear in the near future... ^_^ Thanks!
*** - English isn't your first language? What is your main language? Spanish? Japanese? Thanks for the review! ^_^;
Dark Ice Dragon - Uh, Ivan KNOWS the Hamma in his world, and apparently Hamma isn't a rare name (that, or he realizes that she's from another reality..). At any rate, howz this chap? ^_^ Thanks!
Well, that's all my Backup has... If any more were sent, I didn't get them thanks to an absurd e-mail that is taking forever to download with Outlook...
Sheba - O_O Alex a GIRL!?!?!?
T. Hamma - O_O And she has one arm...
Aww, Poor ba... *Sees the glare from Sheba* Uh, I DO NOT OWN GOLDEN SUN!!! DON'T KILL ME!!!
Sheba - Wuss.
Absolutely.
Sheba - -_-
T. Hamma - REVIEW!!!