Chapter 0
charclone
Well-known member
This is a sequel to my story Hunting Freedom. If you have not read it, I recommend that you do. Though, it is hardly an absolute necessity.
Yes. I finally got around to writing this. Not very far in, and don't expect consistent updated, University is eating a lot of time.
A sequel to Hunting Freedom.
With the Gate open between Earth and Falmart, and NATO now firmly controlling it, both Richard and Tara need to determine 'What next?' as both the past effects the present, and the consequences of their actions lead to them needing to take up roles that they had not considered, or had feared to face.
The Saderan Empire still looms, even with its legions broken. The Warrior Bunnies are a people without a home. Enslaved people look for a way to take revenge. And for the Empire, some within it still believe victory is within their grasp.
The air in the temple tasted foul. It had started to taste strange a few hours ago, but now the girl felt lightheaded.
Once, before the girl had been born, it had been dedicated to some ancient god. But now the paint was old, it had started peeling from the walls long ago. The priests of her village had always told her to stay away from it, that there was an ancient evil trapped inside. When the mountain it was built into began to spew smoke and fire, people feared that the evil was escaping.
But when the raiders came, the girl could find no other safe place. They had come, wearing strange clothes, in ships the girl had never seen before. Burning and looting anything they found. She had seen her father killed as he and others tried to fight them.
She had been halfway to the temple when the mountain exploded. Fire rained around from the sky, and strange ash drifted down. It terrified the raiders, and they returned to the sea with their spoils. But the girl had nowhere else to go. Her village was burning, and she knew of no other place. It had been the only settlement she had ever been to.
She had heard tales from traders of other settlements, of vast empires to the south, along a long and wide river surrounded by deserts, and of a people with many cities to the east. But she was young. They were just tales to her. She saw the temple. It seemed so familiar, so safe to her, as liquid fire rolled down the slope far to the west, creating massive walls of steam was they met the sea that surrounded the island.
She had stumbled into the temple, closing the old doors behind her.
She wasn't sure how long she had stayed here, curled beneath a statue, in dark and filthy clothes. It felt like days. She had long run out of tears, reduced to dry sobs.
She had tried to open the door, to look outside, but the door too hot, and too heavy, to move.
She coughed and shivered, praying to whatever deity that claimed this temple for safety, as her parents had taught her. She could barely see, the darkness obscuring any details of the temple. The statue old and worn. What little light there was reflected off its bronze sword.
Hunger clawed at her belly, causing her to curl tighter about herself. Her breathing shallow and rapid.
There was a sudden gust of fresh air.
The girl started, blearily looking around.
Slowly, she pushed her aching body from the ground. Stumbling, she tried to follow the breeze, deeper into the temple. Confused, she found it longer that it had originally been, the ground feeling strange beneath her feet.
She wasn't sure when she had lost her sandals.
She forced her body into a run when she saw the light. It was painful to look at, but it was a reassuring pain. A familiar pain.
She gave a gasp as she suddenly found herself on a grassy hill. Birds chirping from nearby trees. She collapsed in relief.
It was hours later, the strange sun low in the sky when strange voices roused her.
Her muscles burning, she pushed herself up, and moved in the direction of the voices. To tired to try and understand them, or even pay attention to where she was going. This was why she walked straight into someone.
A strange hand placed itself on her, and a face with strangely pointed ears looked her in the eyes. She stared blankly, not understanding what she was seeing, and too tired and hurt to care.
The strange person picked her up, and moved swiftly, calling out in a strange tongue. Everything faded.
When she awoke, she was lying on a soft grass mat, her body covered in strange smelling bandages, her tongue parched, and her belly grumbling. She looked around and saw the inside of a simple but solid wooden dwelling. Slowly, the girl got up and walked out of the house, into the dawn air.
More of the strange, pointed eared people walked around, putting food on a table. One of them guided her to the table, where she sat next to someone that looked her age, aside from the pointed ears.
Her belly growled.
The child next to her laughed and gave her a bread roll.
Yes. I finally got around to writing this. Not very far in, and don't expect consistent updated, University is eating a lot of time.
A sequel to Hunting Freedom.
With the Gate open between Earth and Falmart, and NATO now firmly controlling it, both Richard and Tara need to determine 'What next?' as both the past effects the present, and the consequences of their actions lead to them needing to take up roles that they had not considered, or had feared to face.
The Saderan Empire still looms, even with its legions broken. The Warrior Bunnies are a people without a home. Enslaved people look for a way to take revenge. And for the Empire, some within it still believe victory is within their grasp.
The air in the temple tasted foul. It had started to taste strange a few hours ago, but now the girl felt lightheaded.
Once, before the girl had been born, it had been dedicated to some ancient god. But now the paint was old, it had started peeling from the walls long ago. The priests of her village had always told her to stay away from it, that there was an ancient evil trapped inside. When the mountain it was built into began to spew smoke and fire, people feared that the evil was escaping.
But when the raiders came, the girl could find no other safe place. They had come, wearing strange clothes, in ships the girl had never seen before. Burning and looting anything they found. She had seen her father killed as he and others tried to fight them.
She had been halfway to the temple when the mountain exploded. Fire rained around from the sky, and strange ash drifted down. It terrified the raiders, and they returned to the sea with their spoils. But the girl had nowhere else to go. Her village was burning, and she knew of no other place. It had been the only settlement she had ever been to.
She had heard tales from traders of other settlements, of vast empires to the south, along a long and wide river surrounded by deserts, and of a people with many cities to the east. But she was young. They were just tales to her. She saw the temple. It seemed so familiar, so safe to her, as liquid fire rolled down the slope far to the west, creating massive walls of steam was they met the sea that surrounded the island.
She had stumbled into the temple, closing the old doors behind her.
She wasn't sure how long she had stayed here, curled beneath a statue, in dark and filthy clothes. It felt like days. She had long run out of tears, reduced to dry sobs.
She had tried to open the door, to look outside, but the door too hot, and too heavy, to move.
She coughed and shivered, praying to whatever deity that claimed this temple for safety, as her parents had taught her. She could barely see, the darkness obscuring any details of the temple. The statue old and worn. What little light there was reflected off its bronze sword.
Hunger clawed at her belly, causing her to curl tighter about herself. Her breathing shallow and rapid.
There was a sudden gust of fresh air.
The girl started, blearily looking around.
Slowly, she pushed her aching body from the ground. Stumbling, she tried to follow the breeze, deeper into the temple. Confused, she found it longer that it had originally been, the ground feeling strange beneath her feet.
She wasn't sure when she had lost her sandals.
She forced her body into a run when she saw the light. It was painful to look at, but it was a reassuring pain. A familiar pain.
She gave a gasp as she suddenly found herself on a grassy hill. Birds chirping from nearby trees. She collapsed in relief.
It was hours later, the strange sun low in the sky when strange voices roused her.
Her muscles burning, she pushed herself up, and moved in the direction of the voices. To tired to try and understand them, or even pay attention to where she was going. This was why she walked straight into someone.
A strange hand placed itself on her, and a face with strangely pointed ears looked her in the eyes. She stared blankly, not understanding what she was seeing, and too tired and hurt to care.
The strange person picked her up, and moved swiftly, calling out in a strange tongue. Everything faded.
When she awoke, she was lying on a soft grass mat, her body covered in strange smelling bandages, her tongue parched, and her belly grumbling. She looked around and saw the inside of a simple but solid wooden dwelling. Slowly, the girl got up and walked out of the house, into the dawn air.
More of the strange, pointed eared people walked around, putting food on a table. One of them guided her to the table, where she sat next to someone that looked her age, aside from the pointed ears.
Her belly growled.
The child next to her laughed and gave her a bread roll.
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