Nerd Note
1. Facts
If you checking information about Dubai on the internet. You will notice that the city itself is not that highly evolved into the miraculous metropolis we known
during 1950-1999 AD.
In fact, it look quite normal and plain during the whole 20 century. Not even until 2004 AD. That the skyscraper starting to kicks in.
The story that you guys will read is from another reality, like, there are aliens, angels, demons and even undead swarming around the world and being hidden
from our eyes. Of course they will have to affect humanity growth in some way.
So, Dubai city in this universe has already reaching modern era. More like the one on 2020 than the actual 19xx something it is supposed to be.
The Dubai tower that will being show in the story is not Burg Khalifa tower (start building in 2004. Open around 2010.)
Like almost everything, it is a made up one being created for this story only.
Phoenix
In this ' History of Holoearth' universe. Phoenix is a firebird that being linked to the power of stars. In fact, it is being born after the first star has reaching its
end, continuing to bless everything it flight to with power of life. ( Radiation.)
Wherever this thing go, life will followed. If you see Phoenix on one empty planet. Expect seeing it to be thriving with life in less than million years or so.
When civilizations evolved. Their attention toward this amazing being slowly shifted. From disinterested to worship and then hostiles.
People start wondering what will happen if Phoenix dies? Will it grant whoever who kill it the great blessings? Since the firebird itself is already powerful on its
own. If someone can catch or killing the thing. There might be a lot of benefit to gain, like secret of the origin of life (or even) immortality and such.
The dwelling space travelers trying to capture the bird and failed, seemingly killing it in the progress and making the Phoenix's body slowly disappear,
like a fire that dies down after there is no fuel left.
However, the Phoenix appeared again, people trying to captured it again and failed again, it is become clear that Phoenix will reborn after it has been killed,
apparently randomly. ( However, one Star people scientist name Yagoo having theory that the Phoenix will born near the planet that teeming with life,
mostly on neighboring planet.
The theory proof to be solid when Shirogane Noel and Shiranui Flare finding the Phoenix egg on Mars roughly 10,000 years ago.)
Like a rare monster spawning in game. Some people still keeping high hope, but after sometime has passed, it become an unspoken rule that whenever you
see Phoenix, you can try to capturing it as much as you want. But it always end will failure whether which method you use.
So, most civilizations simply ignore Phoenix as it passed, or just educated the creature from afar. ( Tracking this wonderful animal is almost impossible since
the Phoenix can turning itself into a light, faster than current recording equipment.)
But there's one group that still hunting Phoenix regularly. They are the descendants of undead people who moving toward another dimension and setting their
own rules. You might knowing them from the name Reaper.
Reaper
Reaper controlling most of the dimensions where soul, core of our life is leaving the matter behinds and traveling to the realm of an unknown.
They harvest energy by taking one soul and distillation it.
Memory, identity and what make you become yours will being consumed by reaper, leaving only pure energy to being combined into the stream of life that
will emerges back to our dimension whenever the new living being born.
Every reaper working on the believes that they are keeping balance of this universe and they may be right. Without them helping the stream of life to flow.
The amount of energy that being left behind might crush our universe and making it uninhabitable for any living beings.
Reaper can travel to our dimension and mostly in black, humanoid form. Due to some problems with the light that reflects on their bodies.
Only living being is manage to seeing reaper with their eyes.
No other tracking device could capture the reaper. If you trying to record reaper with video camera. You will captured nothing except from their voice and
footsteps.
Most of the time reaper will leave you alone. They can see the time you are supposed to die and will not come until that time.
Most even not coming for you at all if it trust that your soul can finding a a way to reaching their dimension on your own.
The ability that make reaper so frightening are 'shadow travel' that will help them traveling toward almost every object that can cast a shadow.
That's why you always see them at night when the whole world is technically under its own shadow.
Almost no limited for these soul hunter to moving around.
Reaper can searching for everything that contains with soul by their reaper's eyes, just turning their face into a skull and they can see any soul that trying to
hide from them.
Some even learn how to use it to searching for one soul's secret such as. ' Where did the last cookie goes!' or ' Dude, she just thinks of you as a friend!'
And other awkward situations like that.
Every reaper was being taught that Phoenix is an evil entity which avoid being death and has to be brought down, there's even rumor about benefit of those
who killing the Phoenix will be released from their duty ( in short. Dies.)
But that's pretty bullsh*t. Phoenix aren't even considered living being by our standards and contains no soul. They are just sentient energy.
No matter how many time you kill it. The bird will reborn.
Conclusion
For more, but unproven information. We must look at the journal of one anonymous traveler who calling herself ' Mumei'
The Mumei's birb diary contains a lot of information about every avian beings in this universe and Phoenix is one of them.
Mumei insisted that the secret of Phoenix's immortality is the 'eternal fire' a core of energy inside its body.
It can grant the firebird almost infinity supplied of energy more than enough to create hundred of sun if being use in a right way.
However, you cannot just dissect Phoenix and hoping to find one.
You need the bird to giving you its eternal fire by its own free will.
No one has successfully convinced the firebird to giving them 'eternal fire' in our recorded history for obvious reasons.
I mean, it isn't exactly as being convinced to cutting your own heart and giving it to another person, but very close to that.
One more important thing about Phoenix so called immortality is that it is actually isn't. You can kill Phoenix and many has did so.
The new Phoenix that being born is… technically coming from the same Star energy as the last one, but with different minds and identity.
The Phoenix you kill is always the only one in the universe.
The next will be a completely different entity with its own personality, emotion and their own memories. Just looking exactly the same as the last one.
( For example, if you kill male Phoenix name Jack. The next Phoenix(that can be both male or female)name Tara will look exactly like him, but being a female
and have no personality or memory of Jack whatsoever. Not that people could telling the difference between them anyway, unless there's a deep talking with
each firebird.)
The current Phoenix in our universe is Takanashi Kiara, her egg has been hatched around 8,000 years BC. Shortly before the civil wars between Rushia and
Pekora versus Noel and Flare that will breaking the mighty Galactic empire apart.
And the rest is just a history, as you may being told for so many times.
Dubai : United Arab Emirates : 19xx
Takanashi Kiara
Kiara wiping her face with towel after she has finished roasting the pigeons she hunted last night on the grill.
The morning light finally reaching the city at last and lots of stores and shops are being lifted after the news about the Global Trading Conference that will
being arranged this week. Many restaurants and shops from different cultures around the world are gathering on the empty area next to the conference
room. Eager for a chance of profit and spreading their cultures for the important leader from each country that will come and visit this immediate market this
day.
Kiara has tasted siao long bao from China, Indian curry, South East Asian Durians, hot dog from America ( 'There's no dog inside' the shop owner clarified
after Kiara asks him what kind of dog meat they were using, confused her even further.), Yucca roots from Brazil and Hungary ham since
the preparation times yesterday.
She herself open the store, bullsh*ting her way for the event manager into thinking that she is some unknown desert tribe who just coming out of her hole
and reaching this civilized country with interests eyes ( Which, not a totally blatant lies, since she has been falling from the star and living in the desert with
some local nomad only a few months ago.)
Since Kiara wanting to join human society and searching for her friend Calliope. She using her cooking skills as a pathway through different cultures.
Her grilled bird passing the contest and she can join the 'Bazaar of the World' event at last. Hoping that it will help her understand this complex and diverse
societies more.
To Kiara frustration, human couldn't understand Elf's language, which is the main ways to communicate at her home in Hololand planet.
Hunter and gravity languages are also did her no good in communicating with these bipedal apes.
The fact that almost everything Noel and Flare has taught her so far is practically useless on this planet make her life hard a little, but Kiara refused to letting
her spirits down. She learned a couple of languages that people around her recommended that everyone should know, start with local tongues and then
something called 'English' which her friends laughed and said that it is the closest thing of 'universal' language in that time.
After learning enough to communicate, Kiara finally being allowed to entered the city and selling her food to the city dwelling customers,
mostly just a grilled birds with sweet sauce making from local area.
Human seems to like her food well enough, they sends her to competition in some kind of a tournament called ' Traditional food from around the world.'
And won a copper medal, certainly not the best food in the world, but enjoyable enough to have a diehard fan following her everywhere she goes.
" Thousands miles away?" Pontus, her fellow food sellers, laughed and removing lasagna from the oven, patting Kiara's shoulder to make her remembered
where she is and giving the exchange back to the two female customers whose waiting patiently, giving one extra bird to them as a apology.
" You are very kind." The women in front of her said smilingly, her brown hair and squirrel ears moving in an excitement before she will talking with the
friend, an ivory hair colored girl who is looking at three grilled birds in the paper bag with a starving looks in her eyes.
" Iofi! Looks like we will eat well tonight!" Squirrel girl said cheerfully, waving the bag and make Kiara smiles even broader.
" I think there are desert selling at another alleyway. Let's go there!
It's as if people around the world are gathering in one city. I haven't seen something like this since the last time we visited Karakorum!
But I thought Ögedei is a little bit better at partying than these people, though!" Iofi blabbering excitedly as she is sketching the picture of city and shop
around her with a quick speed, trying to absorb the atmosphere inside her picture.
" Shhh! We don't want everyone to know how old you are, human only last around 1 century remembers? People will think of you as a nut case if you won't
stop talking like that!"
" … Sorry…"
New to this planet and its inhabitants, Kiara has absolutely no idea what the heck they are talking about. But she waves at them as friendly as possible before
she will moving back to check on her furnace temperature.
" Being airhead again. Some time I wondered how can you grown up this far." Pontus chuckled, mixing the cheese with layer of pasta as he is speaking,
before adding some mushrooms between each layer.
He is a middle age and plum Italian man who's coming here looking for a fortune. Cooking a cheap meal to those who never go to Italy and gave them a taste
of Sicily( his homeland) from time to time.
Traveling by motor home and making a new friend with whoever he met along the way, Kiara is count as one since she is now sleeping inside his truck and
using his cooking equipment to making her grilled birds, sharing profits between them as a rental payment.
" I am not airhead!" Kiara said angrily, lit the fire and putting more oil inside the frying pan without care. It's not like she afraid of being burned anyway.
Phoenix love fires.
" Yeah, losing in your own thoughts in the middle of counting an exchange. So normal, everybody doing that sometimes." Pontus still laughing, making Kiara
trembling by her rage.
" Stop bullying her." The door behind Pontus opened and hitting his head, making the man moaned before the long white hair girl will entered the kitchen
with a kettle of Arabic tea.
Her name is Fatima, a small and filled with scars girl that has emotionless voice and face. Another one of Pontus friends. Her Arabic tea is quite popular and
also having a load of customers followed wherever she goes. So, it was Pontus' idea to let Fatima and Kiara renting his movable kitchen and home.
So the trio can selling their food together and sharing the profits with an ease.
It's not so bad idea after all. So, Kiara and Fatima has no reason to decline the offers. At least there are a roof and air conditioner here.
Making friends with local ape make Kiara understand this planet more, but also confusing more too.
Before being a nomad food seller, Pontus is a car salesman, travels around the world and selling the automobile that is not actually his.
Until something called 'economic disaster' that is the trouble with the banks and currencies, which actually has nothing to do with him and his car selling,
collapsed, making everybody 'sink in the deepest sh*thole of debts'.
In short: Pontus losing his jobs, marriage and money in one single day and has to run away in the different country and making a new life because something
that happens so far away.
" I am not sure I understand." Kiara titled her head after hearing the story.
" Neither do I." Sicilian laughed and sipping his cheap ale that being bought from the English man booth yesterday.
Making Kiara sighed in relief that her home in Hololand still exchange gifts in the market and not using the money, either paper or digital one in their society.
Fatima used to be something called 'freedom fighter' before. It's mean that she and her friends will putting bombs in the foreigner's vehicles.
Shooting them from afar with rifle or something like that too.
But she will become angry every time Kiara or Pontus said the word 'terrorist?' Out loud. So, Kiara just smiled and shrugged when listening to her story.
Anyways, one day. The plane come and dropping multiple bombs on he camps and killing almost everyone Fatima know. Not liking works as a freedom fighter
that much ( The girl has been recruited from her tribes in the nearby hills since she was 8 years old. To help working in the bomb-making factory.
And never returned home since.)
Fatima decided to leave everything behinds and visiting the nearby city, working so many jobs in order to feed herself before she will knows that her tea
making is superb.
So at the middle of the night, she packing her things and collecting enough money to sustain herself for a while and leaving the brothel that is her temporary
home. Journeying to the unknown again.
Moving from slum to slum. Fatima start being well known from her tea making, at least enough for the 'normal' people to come and enjoying her brews.
Until one day that the strange Italian guy name Pontus, one of her customers. Asks if she wanted to selling it in the finer place?
And then they traveled together since, going to the bigger and brighter city as the money start flowing in.
That's the story before they met the strange orange hair girl who sometimes losing her minds and saying that she is a Phoenix.
Takanashi Kiara.
…
When the sun still hanging up on their head. A strange customer visited. He is a man in decorated Austrian military uniform.
Sipping tea, winced at lasagna and enjoying the pigeon before demanding to talks with the food maker, summoning Kiara, Fatima and Pontus to talking with
him, since three of them are using the same kitchen and selling food from Pontus' recreational vehicle.
" Since the last night we have been running out of roasted chicken. And the cook is not feeling well today. Could I borrow the one who make this amazing
grilled pigeons?
The Führer will surely pleased by eating this during the international meeting. But not the skinny pigeon, of course! Our freeze are filled with fat,
juicy chickens. I am sure you guys could've cooked it properly."
" Sorry. But we're." " Of course, we will go! Can you lead me to the place where we can leave the trailer?" Kiara declined has been cut by Pontus energetic
response. While Fatima just staring blankly at all of them, waiting for the decision.
" What the hell?" Kiara whispered at Pontus, who aggressively whispered back.
" Shut in, you dope. He is a European high ranking officer. If they are loving your food. The reliable income will surely falls on us all.
We might not need to working forever after this!"
" But I never grilled a chicken before!" Phoenix protested.
" It's like pigeon! Just bigger in size. I am sure you will get through it somehow. Don't you love fire and cooking or something?
I am sure that place is filled with expensive oven and the ingredient that will make everybody here cries by jealousy." Pontus trying his best to convinced his
uncertainty friend.
The officer clear his throat. " So, you are in or not?"
" All is well." Pontus quickly nodded. " Right, Kiara?"
After a few moments, Kiara nodded too.
…
A few days later
In the kitchen that bigger than her room in Hololand. Kiara shouted at the workers to slowly bring the chickens out of the fire.
" Not like that you idiot!" Phoenix quickly running and helping one man lifting the skewer up since his hands seems to be a bit wobbles.
" Now dipping the chick in a bowl of Kikkeriki sauce. Slowly, like that!" Kiara nodded in satisfaction as the workers are doing their job finely.
" She is a bit on fire aren't she?" Pontus, who is hiding with Fatima in the corner area said jokingly.
" And whom false is that?" Fatima elbowing her friend lightly as they are observing Kiara roasting both chicken and her worker alike.
" You two! No slagging off! Boiling more sauce! At this rate we will run out of it soon." Kiara ordered, making Pontus and Fatima quickly scattered away.
…
In the meeting hall of the tallest tower in the city(over 500 meters height), Kiara and other cooks watch with interest as the important people from around
the world are walking throughout the party and tasting their food. From prince of nation to the president and prime minister.
All these big names are gulping down the food that being made by Kiara and her coworkers.
The room is even more crowded by the swarm of bodyguards that checking everything in the room. Looking for the sign of trouble and never relax a bit even
after they has found none.
The joyful moment is being interrupted as multiple decorated vans that parking inside the building suddenly open, reviewing a group of young women in
cheerleader clothing and Pom Pom in their hands to dancing around and shrieking like bird.
" What the hell?" Kiara thought seems to be echoing by the bodyguards around the hall as they are talking aggressively with their sleeves.
" Relax, that's another fun in the party. Another branch of restaurants. Their selling points is by making their waitress dressing in cheerleader uniforms and
serving food or something like that." Pontus explained.
" And I thought western people couldn't get weirder." Fatima reaching under her apron and start eating some lollipops that she has hidden inside.
" Welp, that's mean you haven't read some of those Japanese adult cartoon. There are some weird sh*t in there. I guess that's mean the kink are part of our
civilizations after all." The Sicilian laughed.
" I appreciate an insight. But are cheerleader carrying guns?" Kiara asked, seeing the shiny thing inside the Pom Pom and much bigger things behinds the
van's black flimsy mirrors.
" No, they aren't-" " Get down!" Fatima quickly pushing Pontus down while Kiara quickly lowering herself. At the same time as the gunfire start filling the
room.
Cheerleader that dancing near the bodyguards suddenly pulled out the Škorpion vz. 61 ( Czech sub machine gun or machine pistol. Up to whom you asked.)
and blasting the men with a quick trigger pulling. The van windows also exploded as the cheerleader inside start shooting their vz.58 ( Czech assault rifle that
looks somewhat similar to AK.47)
Shooting faraway guards with the perfect rhythm, leaving a hole n their heads and finished almost every armed man before their body could even drop drops
the floor.
Groups of panic men and women start running towards the entrance, but it is being lock from the outside.
People start shouting and screaming as their panic rush in. Trying to breaking through the thick wooden gate with their bare hands.
The leader of cheerleader groups pulling cz. 75 ( Czech 9 mm. handgun. Come on! You must seeing the pattern now.) out of her Pom Pom and shooting the
man who banging the gate with loudest voice, leaving a hole at the back of his head.
The room suddenly falls silent, everybody looks at the group of cheerleaders with guns in horror, having absolutely no idea what they will do next.
" Finally quiet aren't you? Now gathered at the back of the-"
The leader voice has been interrupted by the gunshots, as one general who picking up the .380 pistol from dead guard start unloading his bullets at the
woman's face.
Other cheerleader laughing and not even lifting their gun while their leader is clutching her face.
" Fine. You asks for this!" The woman looked up, showing the mechanical features that hiding under a thin layer of human face that being exposed by the
bullets, before tearing the mask with her own hands, revealing her metallic owl face that hiding inside, making some ladies in the room screams in horror.
" It's hooting time!" The robot owl that disguised itself as cheerleader walking straight toward the general who shooting his gun at her face until it is running
out of ammo.
Before she will showing a metal claws that are longer than human fingers and stabbing the poor man's chest, piercing his heart in one strike and leaving the
man to dies on the ground without the second glances.
" Now, get inside the locker room before I change my minds and shooting every one of you!"
" What do you want ?" One foreign minister asks. " Who are you exactly!"
The owl cheerleader shooting his legs before replied.
" We are the Hooter and our goal is beyond your understanding. Now get inside the room and be a good hostage!"
…
The Secret Fire Escape of This Tower : Dubai
Takane Lui
Lui following the footsteps of the cook whom she paid to become guide for hacking this whole building and security teams in silence.
While the man grumble on about how he is just 'a f**king cook.' And demanded more respect and money for everything he has sacrifices for three decades.
Lui didn't know much about respect. But she can hive him money. With the promise of millions of buck. The man agreed to leading Lui and her team through
the security system and the building controller room. So, that Lui can see everything that happened in this building while sending the fake demanding video
to every government in the world that probably knowing about hostage by now.
Telling them to giving her hundred million of dollars in exchange for Lui and her Hooter to not blowing this building up.
It's not entirely a bluff either. Lowest parts of the towers are now being filled with dynamite, ready to being activated as Lui commanded.
Like Lui, the Hooter aren't that care of their own life. They care only how job is done.
Hooter are the drone that being built by Lui's people, which are avian civilizations that traveling among the stars and searching for their new home.
However those who reached this planet already too damaged to recover their spacefaring knowledge and being forced to traveling around the world and
working with Stone Age ape. Most of them become the demigod or spiritual ruler for a time before being overthrown by their bipedal servant.
Lui family has ruled the classic Maya empire and haven't met any better fate than the other. The temple being burned and their knowledge being collapsed
under piles of rock as people trying to forget the entity that giving them a civilizations.
Those who survived has turning into nothing but a monster in recorded history of mankind. Harpy, Garuda, Tengu, Furies . You name it.
But today will be different, it is the first time that Lui can finally searching among the stars, ready to get out of this accursed planet.
If she could find the power for the genesis spaceship of her own people. The Thunderbird.
It is the bird shaped spaceship that being created by avian civilizations, using solar flare in order to recharging energy.
A good ship for traveling out of this solar system and looking for Lui's original homeland.
But the earth atmosphere blocking the solar winds from reaching through. So, Lui has to finding the different mean to activate the ship's system.
Something of a big burst of energy that most of human technology could not giving it to her. Something like the explosion of the massive oil facilities inside
this city. ( At that time. Nuclear weapons aren't widely know and there's no way Lui could acquire it that easily. So, she has to used what she has instead.)
Working completely alone for a centuries almost making Lui gone mad. But her situation improved lately after she has digging a dozens of Hooter from the
ruins of Anasazi people. They have artificial brain and some sort of emotion, some even willing to listen to Lui's rant about her sobbing story and blah blah
blah of only talking with herself for more than thousand years.
They are agreeing to working together with Lui until all of them can get out of this accursed earth. And then everyone on themselves.
Like she used to said, Hooter has their own brain and minds. They are not a simply servant robot.
So, she couldn't command them at will and risk being abandoned by her most precious workers.
Some of them are even dragging the Thunderbird near the warehouse inside the oil factory. Ready to absorb the energy as soon as she can make sure that
every human eyes are focusing on the hostages in the Dubai tower. Not an oil factory that will being silently raid soon.
" We are here." The cook said, fumbling for his key and open the controlling room for Lui to see. It was a decent room with multiple camera from different
angles of the building and having only three staff members working inside.
Lui can quickly make them go silence easily by snapping their necks while the cook looks away, pretending to be scared by what he brought to the fellow
human.
" I have done my parts, where is the money?" He asked shakily.
Lui checking every camera's status and listening to to the microphone sound, seeing if everything was alright before she will nodded.
" Going to the parking lot at 4th floors. You will see a case of money here, cash."
The man quickly nodded, forcing a smile on his lips.
" Know what? You aren't that bad for an employer. If you need anything in my power just call me and I will do it."
Lui snorted. " I don't think we will ever met again."
" If you say so." The man gently open the door, ready to leave the massacre behinds.
" Oh, there's one thing I forgot." Lui said, rocking herself on the office chair while she is busying cutting the communication line inside the building.
" What is it?" The cook asks, turning back toward his employer.
" You are fired." Bird woman said, pulling ALFA-PROJ 641 ( Do I need to said that it is a Czech revolver?) from the holster at her hips and shooting the cook
in his face, leaving a hole in his forehead as the man slumbering on the ground, dies.
" Good work." Lui said after reloading her gun. Opening the refrigerator and picking up one bottle of mead ( Some Scandinavian booze making from honey,
Yike!) before she will sipping it and start looking at the group of hostages inside the locker room through the security camera.
" Now, let's see what value the government has put into you guys."