Cheese here! This is the official forum for presenting my newest work, Fading Fast! This version is cleared of all the errors in PART ONE, so here goes my second shot at making a mini-forum-novel. PS: all comments go to the Fading Fast Judgement forum. --------------------------—----------------------- It is 2865, and humanity has grown, expanding it's empire and finding new alien races. The humans have completely eradicated every alien race they met, and are considered unstoppable because of their artificial superpowers, The Source. The end of the humans is coming fast and furious since the appearance of the last Zorgon, and humanity has no choice but to release their most powerful, and unstable, source wielders. Our story's end begins with a certain Sourceress... ------ 'Finally! I thought I could never leave!' Angel thought as her containment pod readied for launch. She was lucky, she'd gained control over her powers and could now easily manipulate the idiot scientists who ran the hellhole, 13. The pod was seen minutes later hurtling towards the mining installation on Harven, where three young miners were about to end humanity. A huge explosion racked the mountain, bigger than anything the miners used in explosives. The pod opened, and out stepped Angel, eyes ablaze with hatred for humanity, hatred for being held captive for 20 years. The miners were just about finished with uncovering the living fossil when their ship soared away. 'They're gonna pay,' Angel thought. --------------------------—----------------------- "Damnit!" Andre shouted when he saw his neighbors car erupt in flames. He'd been practicing his powers since he'd been released from 6, but every time he tried, another car would explode, another tree would be set ablaze, maybe even another fireball would appear on his head! Nevertheless, Andre, continued practicing, but he didn't notice his shadow ripple as a tall, black-haired, black-clad boy about his age appear behind him... Until three seconds later. "God damnit, Luther, you've gotta stop doing that!" "What, teleporting through shadows?" A miniature inferno appeared next to him. "Alright, I'll stop!" And so began a five- minute long argument until two invisible fists slammed into their arms, and Logan appeared. "Shut up, you two." -------------------------—------------------------ The meteor crashed during the night. It was silent, it was quick, and it was small, but it was enough to wake the trio. All three of them looked out their windows, shrugged and went to sleep. -------------------------—------------------------ Three years passed and things changed. Andre learned to control his flames, Luther became more serious, and Logan, he didn't change. However, the town had completely switched it's ways of life. The once energetic little village had deteriorated to mindless, zombie-like citizens going around doing nothing. Mike Zilla had moved in, but he hadn't done much or spoken much, he'd just spent two years in his workshop. This was the day he came out, a triumphant look on his face, his eyes glowing, literally. He silently waved them in, and when they finally got down an impossibly long flight of stairs, they saw the first machine in the Universe to use Source- "I give you... CHZ1!!" -end part one-
Part 2 - the awakened dead ---------------—--------—--------—------------- The mining site was completely obliterated in the next twenty minutes after Angel ran away with their ship. It began with the odd humming coming from the fossil, which eventually became a thundering roar. Then there was silence, and the crystals began to form. They covered everything, completely encasing all of the facility in a blood-red coating. Then, the creature finally awoke. A massive, hulking beast, the last Zorgon resemble an egg inside a decorative case, but the case had six huge, spiky legs. The egg had a single opening, where a massive eye stared out into the world. Two miners imemdiately fled to the explosives room to blow the place sky-high, but the third was too horrified to move. As the eye stared at him, he lost all sense of feeling, and that's when he was absorbed by some kind of beam, and the eye dissapeared. The egg-head became transparent and form within, a human figure could be seen. -----------------------—-------------------------- "Initiate test," Mike said in a serious tone. The machine responded with opening it's head, revealing an orb crackling with electricity. The machine's arm began to spin as it randomly selected a can of Source, which it then injected into a small slot in it's arm. The orb began to spin, and the ground between the robot and the humans opened up, unleasing an illusionary dog with flaming eyes and machine legs. CHZ1 wasn't very smart, but it knew how to contol the Source. The hellhound dissapeared, and a loud, deep computer voice droned, "Test complete. Total number of..." The group just stood there, dumbfounded. Mike smiled to himself. Logan was so shocked by this display of technology that his Source began to freak out, and Logan dissapeared, reappeared, and then flickered, recieving a funny look from Andre. -------------------------—------------------------ Angel had it good, the humans were slowly destroying eachother, she got everything she wanted, and she had control of a town. She felt almost scared of herself, but she liked that. Twenty prison years did something to a person, and she was no exception. For starters, it increased her awareness, so much so that she noticed the arrow almost two seconds before it hit her. That was why it didn't. Malak had failed, her bow was almost broken, her last arrow wasted. She'd been released from 13 a few hours after Angel, awarded the easy task of taking her down. 'Taking down a damn telepath who can see seconds into the future? Very easy.' she thought to herself. The damned Logan coudn't get her, how could Malak? Just then, she noticed a piece of wood and a rock, almost coincidentially, next to her, and they were the perfect shaft and head. She emptied her head of thought, being trained to fight a telepath, and made a decent arrow. She placed it in her bow, pulled, but before she let go, blew on the arrow, created an ever-so-small air current around it. Then she let go. -------------------------—------------------------
Part 3 - ressurection ------------------------—------------------------- Angel's mind went completely blank. There was no pain, there was no sound, there was nothing. She was alone, trapped in he mind. Then reality returned, the pain in he back, just under her neck was coming, an intense pain. Sound came back, but her vision was blurred. 'I'm dying, Im really dying!... No, no, I can't! I can't die! The humans! The humans!!!!' -----------—----------—--------------—-------- Malak's shot has been perfect. The arrow's sloppiness would have been her doom if she hadn't put the mini-current to help the shot. But something wasn't right. Angel hadn't collapsed in death, she just stood there, whispering to herself. 'The hell is she doing?' She thought, and then she saw the telepath staring right at her, some kind of demon smile on her face. That was when she knew what was happening. It was an old Source usage lecture, when the proffesor had explained what happened when an unstable Source died.. ' You see, because the source was already unstable o begin with, the user has to find a way to control it. Once they do, they're fine... Until they die. The mind stops working, and the Source doubles over on it's own power, destroying itself, like a dead star...' 'Dead star, dead star,' the words echoed in her head. Malak was screwed. She knew it. She had to find some kind of cover. That's when Mike, Andre, Logan, Luther and CHZ1 appeared. "Come on! Something's happening, in case you coudn't tell! Get in here!" Angel shrieked, eyes glowing white now, "But, I have to make sure she's..." Logan was dragging her into the garage by then. "Explain to me what the hell is going on!" "Angel's unstable, and prison hasn't done good to her. She's dying, but she's going out with a bang." The shelves around them, lined with all sorts of gadgets and things, shook, and Mike sprinted to collect the falling treasures. "Perfect!" Logan yelled above anoter screech. ---------------------------—---------------------- The Zorgon heard. It heard it's saviour dying, and it owed it's ressurector a return favor. The massive creature let out a deep roar, and hurtled towards Angel. -------------------------—------------------------ Andre was looking out the window at the carnage around him. Trees were being uprooted, rocks the size of cars soared past the garage, and people were being thrown like pebbles into a lake. He watched as the girl freaked out, arrow in her back, eyes ablaze, and pointing at evrything she saw fit to throw. 'Damn, so I should've listened during that lesson on teleke-whoseewhatsit.... Oh shat....'" "GUYS!!!! Giant friggin alien thing!! Get over here!!!" -----------------------—-------------------------- Angel saw it, she felt it's presence. The Zorgon would save her. She knew that it knew who had saved it. Taking no time at all, she waste the last of her Source, and died. Only she didn't die, she was preserved. Her body had taken on a green-marble texture, green glowing lightly. She was more aware of the world than ever, and she could feel what the Zorgon felt. She got up, nd looked at the world with new eyes. The world that she would conquer. Too bad she didn't remember what happened after she'd died. -------------------------—------------------------ A 13 frigate had flown in to pick her up, to dispose of her once and for all. The alien had decimated the ship within seconds, and proceeded to save her. The little group of people, including Malak, which the alien ha learned of from Angel's mind, had fled to a little escape ship, heading nowhere. They'd escaped, everyone else had died, she had lived and the alien had learned. This was gonna be fun, she thought. The torn-apart body of the girl, zombielike, began to convulse in wicked laughter. 'so fun indeed' ---------------------------—----------------------
Part 4 - Shutdown ----------------—---------------—--------------- The 13 Ship Thor hovered above Earth, just over the city that use to be called New York. They had only recently figured out how stupid they'd been to release the unstable Source-wielders. Now that they'd realized it, General Pollman had immediately activated the Thor program. The massive superweapon had floated over to Earth, charging the Source Lockdown Abortion Manipulator cannon as it went. The S.L.A.M. Cannon was the last resort of 13, never meant to be used, but when Angel's tracker went balistic, showing a spike in power, then none, and then going back to normal, something was wrong, and she had to be subdued. So Pollman decided to do the most original thing, he could think of - a trap. ------------------------—------------------------- The transport ship finally arrived at Earth, now deserted after 800 years of humans moving out of it. It was headed towards the legendary N.Y.C., now a huge market, and the pilot ha no intention of staying there for long. The group was thrown out of the ship, and abandoned. -------------------------—------------------------ "So, we're in New York." Andre said, "Now where's that ceremony in our honor?" They'd been told of some sort of party held in their honor, and they would find out what for when they got there. "Roughly in the middle of the city, there should be music," Logan said in a distracted tone, watching Malak as he spoke. "Um.... Can you stop staring at me like that?" Logan reluctantly looked away. The group began to walk towards the center of New York, guided by signs pointing, colorful and shiny, saying "This way! All are welcome!" as they got closer, they heard cheering. Andre was getting impatient, he melted holes through plenty of walls and eventually, the five people (and robot) walked into the party. Only it wasn't a party, and there was noone there. Instead a single present was lying in the center of the plain, labeled Heroes. Luther finally did something helpful and used the present's shadow and changed it into a hand, opening the box. As the lid was removed, a hologram appeared - a face, in fact - And music started playing. 'SURPRISE!!!!' and then they were S.L.A.M.med. ------------------------—-------------------------
Malak felt weak. She felt empty. She felt embarassed. Nothing was right. She'd failed to kill Angel, she hadn't gotten any reward at all for even trying (and risking her life), and now she'd lost her powers. How much more perfect could life get? ------------------------—------------------------- Logan watched the 13 gunship hover through New York's streets. He took careful note of every single detail of the ship, and slowly turned his knowledge into a plan. At around noon, Logan got the group together, and explained to them what they were doing. First, Mike would fire a makeshift EMP at the ship's exposed power core, then Logan and (he had to smile and look at her) Malak would hop on top of the roof, clear out the turrets, and then go inside, clearing it out to make it safe to go in. Then, Malak would use her knowledge of 13 to get to Thor. ---------------------------------------------------- A few hours later, Logan jumped from atop a large building, once called the Broadway Theatre, and onto the ship. Just before he jumped, Mike had charged his EMP from CHZ's power source, and wiped out the ship. Logan hit the roof with a thud, and ten times opened up a latch, thrust his knife in and heard the crack of skulls. That knife wasn't failing him, it never did. It was his good luck charm, a reminder of the brother he lost seven years ago. He'd spent a year forging the blade. Nine inches of unbreakable steel, mixed with his sweat and blood, and serrated at the tip, that was his weapon. Malak flew down after Logan had killed the last gunner. She flipped under the ship, clinging to the bottom by hooks she had for these kinds of things (she was trained for anything). She went inside, Logan close by, and smashed the pilot's was against the dashboard. Logan was standing, watching in awe as Malak killed them. ".... Um, Logan?" "Right, sorry" He reluctantly walked away, frowning, and called everyone else to the ship. He hated being embarassed around Malak. ------------------------—------------------------- Three minutes later, at 6:27 PM, 10/6/2867, the gunship docked with the spaw station Thor. There was only one problem with that: noone came out, and there was a distress signal coming from Earth. "Damn! They're smart... But I'm smarter." With those words, Pollman pushed a button and turned off the S.L.A.M.
Part 5 - search and destroy -------------------------—------------------------ Pollman walked away from his desk, and looked at the Earth below the glass floor he stood on. It looked beautiful, New York a proud, massive symbol of it's perfection. Too bad nothing perfect lasted, he thought... "FIRE!!!!!!!!" --------------------------—----------------------- Malak had easily infiltrated the armory, Logan had followed her quietly, and regaining his invisiblity had helped - a lot. They silently snuck into the armory's space section, and quickly grabbed as many void-suits, as they were called, as they could. Space was minutes away. -------------------------—------------------------ Logan liked the void-suit. The whole thing was black, shiny and smooth, with a blank helmet, and at certain points was glowing with light. Being in space, holding his knife and silently gliding across nothingness, that was exhilerating. Malak didn't leave the station. Her bow was useless out there. Andre, Mike and Luther had began mapping out the place. It was actually kind of boring, now that he thought of it. --------------------------—----------------------- Luther was confused. His shadows were beginning to look like demons, his mind argued with him, and he constantly had a headache. What was happening? Was he dying? "Hey Andre, take a look here. I think i foun something." "Really? This seems to be some sort of-" A pipe to the back of the head silenced him. "Angel's coming. It's best you didn't know." Luther casually strolled away. ---------------------------—---------------------- Mike and CHZ were somewhere below the station, stealing parts in case they would need to make something. Mike was trying to pull a huge metal sheet out of a pile, when CHZ randomly said, "Gravitational change occuring. Gravity increasing at .7 percent per minute. The pile was already starting to flatten. "LOGAN!!!!!!! HURRY UP!!!!" ------------—----------—--------------—-------- The Mass Driver Cannonwas charging incredibly slowly, and Pollman didn't like it. He continued pushing the lever, trying to make it charge faster, no matter what the cost. The Source-users were down there, aomewhere, he knew it, and he would kill them. He had to. It was his job. ---------------------------—---------------------- Sprinting to the hallway, Malak was lightning, flashing past the guards, occasionally stopping to silently knock one out, just for practice. Just as she was about to open the heavy door to the Mass Driver Accelerator Operation chamber, she was distracted by something outside the window. It was a mechanic, still holding his welder, but his oxygen tank was punctured, obviosuly by a knife. A second mechanic floated over to help his dying partner, but was stopped by a randomly appearing assassin, the knife's blade shining shining before it pierced his helmet. "Damnit, Logan, you're terrible" she thought aloud. --------------------------—----------------------- Angel's stolen fighter sped towards the station, it's pilot completely aware of what she was about to do. Angel had died, but she had also lived, and she knew who her killer was. 'There will be death' Angel thought, and then burst into laughter. --------------------------—----------------------- Charging complete in three... Two.... One "FIRE!" And New York went to hell, and so did Earth.
Andre suddenly shot up off the ground, scared out of his mind. The whole place was shaking, and alarms and lights were going off everywhere. He'd never liked being woken up from sleep, and this was no exception... But he still couldn't figure out why his head hurt so much. -------------------------—------------------------ Out in space, all was quiet. Logan could only watch as the station shuddered, and down below, Earth, humanity's homeworld, collapsed. New York burst open like a bag of chips hit with a hammer, and a hue shockwave spread from it. They'd screwed up. Big time. -----------------------—-------------------------- CHZ's body lay on the floor, crushed by the immense gravity buildup in the cargo bay. Mike was sorry to see his friend go, watching from a hacked security camera, but he left anyway, carrying the little computer chip that was CHZ's brain. -----------------------—-------------------------- Luther was a new person. He'd thought of who he really trusted, and he'd decided. He didn't trust anyone. Andre's fall had proven that earlier. Angel wasn't trustworthy. Logan wasn't, Malak wasn't, absolutely noone could be trusting. He walked over to the Void-Suit fitting chamber, and broke open the door. ------------------------—------------------------- Guard killed. Card taken. Card swiped. Door opened. Malak checked these off in her head. Mass accelerators destroyed.... How? All eight giant machines had Ben destroyed. One lay on it's side, on fire. Another was completely distorted, almost inside out. It was impossible. How the hell could this have happened? That was when she saw the figure crawling towards her. ----------------------------------- Part 6.1 end
I have spent some time thinking of this part. I have done everything I could to prepare myself to continue writing this story. That preparation has paid off. I bring you today: Part six.
Part six - time warp ------------------------—------------------------- Gunner winced as they injected the Titan into his arm. He was part of a test to see how much the Source could be powered. He could feel his energy growing, and it was scary. He didn't want to use his overpowered abilities to try to escape and then tick the 14s off. No, he had to wait. The power within him intensified. The needle in his back emptied, and was replace by another. More Titan was injected. Gunner could feel the power, almost as a physical object within him. The needle emptied. It was replaced. The power grew stronger still. Another needle, and another. It was on the seventh needle that his Source snapped. And destroyed 14. ---------------------------—---------------------- First, the massive space cruiser had exploded. Second, the explosion dissapeared. It wasn't until a few seconds later that the shockwave went out. A massive, completely visible ripple shot across space, tearing apart anything it touched. In the middle of this chaos, a little portal had formed. And it was opening. Two universes were connecting. ------------------------—------------------------- *the time of the Mass Driver firing. ------------- "Energy surge detected. Mass accelerators destabilized. Energy overload. Station integrity compromised." The computer went on and on, listing several problems that were fatal to Thor. The ship was going to fall apart. Meanwhile, in the accelerator maintenance chamber, Gunner had appeared, his incredible (and accidental) ten-million-lightyear teleportation having overloaded the mass accelerators. Dazed and confused, he started walking. Anywhere, he just wanted to stop the pain. He'd teleported himself into a wall. -------------------------—------------------------ Malak saw the figure awkardly shuffling towards her, she quickly ran, not wanting to take any chances. Out the chamber, and out the six heavy security doors. She opened the last door- and bumped into Logan. "Uh,.... Hi." "This is awkward" "Yeah................." They began moving through the hallway together, headed to the Command Center. ------------------------—------------------------- Angel's ship hadn't arrived at Thor because it had crashed into Thor. Inside the Mass Accelerater chamber, she'd landed, and become unconscious. Her eyes slowly opened, and she began to laugh. -------------------------—------------------------ Andre was remembering. Luther had knocked him out, and he'd gone somewhere. Luther was a traitor. He had to find him. Andre sprinted through the halll, looking for Luther. After about twenty seconds of running, and about three left turns, two things happened. One: Luther appeared. Two: Andre attacked the traitor. -------------------------—------------------------ A shadow appeared in front of Andre. Before Luther even got up from the shadow on the ground, Andre was already completely engulfed in flame, his skin emmiting flames. Luther got up, finally, but not in time to avoid a wave of fire speeding through the hall. The intense light provided plenty of shadows, and Luther avoided it. Andre began throwing fireballs eerywhere, searing hot spheres of white, melting anything nearby. Luther tried to avoid them all, but there wasn't enough shadow to hide in. One scorching fireball hit his shoulder, and he collapsed. Trying to get up from his burnt arm, Luther was powerless to resist when Andre began to glow. -------------------------—------------------------ A living inferno spread throughout the station, filling the hallways and engulfing whole rooms in flame. Andre didn't want this mission to go on any longer. Thor was going to be taken down, and he was going to do it. -------------------------—------------------------ Malak and Logan heard the screams of burning soldiers from the other side of the station. Immediately, as if it were a signal, they began sprinting through the hall to pollman's room. Logan became invisible, but his killer blade made him pretty noticeable. Malak silently flew thriugh the hall behind him, putting arrows in several heads as she went. -------------------------—------------------------ Meanwhile, Mike Zilla was collecting parts from the dead soldiers (there were plenty) He'd realized that he could use the parts of their armor to create a new body for CHZ. Done with the mess hall, he walked out of the room, carrying a robot arm, leg, and half a head. CHZ2 was going to be good. ------------------------—------------------------- *after an hour of massacre ------- Pollman's office was nice. All four of thw Sourcerers (and Sourceress) stood there as Pollman lectured about how he was going to accept death, and they could kill him whenever they wanted to. That's what kept them from killing him. It wasn't right. Until he made them an offer. "Get into my escape pod and go. I'll die here." That was too much. The four debated about it, and went in. Within minutes they were floating away from a burning, destroyed Superweapon. But one question bugged them all. Where was Angel? And where was Luther? -----
The Portal was widening, and there were plenty of signs to show it. The little pod that had floated away from Thor three days ago was beggining to malfunction. For example, the computer screen showing the status of the pod had begun to change shape, the sides slowly curving in all directions, and the screen had sunk in the middle. The gas level was also rising, which wasn't possible. "Hey, mike, watcha doing?" Andre inquired, watching Mike attach robotic limbs like LEGO blocks. "Just giving good ol' CHZ here a body, nothing special." The pod was surprisingly large. It could pass as a flying house, complete with a kitchen, three bathrooms, four master bedrooms, and an observation deck on top. Mike had been in the OD a lot, Logan was always asleep (unless he was trying to "accidently" bump into Malak in the hall), Andre had taken te job of a cook, and he was surprsingly good. Luther... He'd dissapeared back at Thor, and after Andre had told his story (and Mike only then realizing Thor had been set ablaze at the time), there was reason to believe he was dead. ------------—-----------—------------—--------- Soundless footsteps went across the outside of the pod, completely unnoticed by the inhabitants. A hatch was torn off (silently, of course, space was a vacuum) and the invader crawled into the airlock, clumsily closing the hatch behind her. Angel was aboard the pod. --------------------------—----------------------- The portal grew wider, and something could be seen coming out. A massive elongated tangle of huge rope-like things, emmiting a deep red glow from within, was slowly coming through the rupture. The past had caught up to humanity. It was time to end. ------------------------—------------------------- CHZ stood, staring at the mirror, admiring his new flawless unit. All the functions he'd had before, easily compressed into a human-sized body. Just to test, he injected a telekenesis Source, and began moving objects around. Lamps, chairs, and books were floating around, and CHZ was having no trouble at all. Until a greater power took over, eerything smashe to the ground, and she entered the room. Malak immediately rushed to the room, and braced herself for her match. First death, tolerable. Second death, shame on the dead. -------------------------—------------------------ Six arrows stuck out of Angel's chest, her hand had been melted by Andre, and CHZ had torn apart her face with a Hellfire (highly unstable) Source. But there she stood, just laughing. It began as a chuckle, then laughter, then a shriek that chilled the soul. Laughter continued, even when Logan stabbed her in the back. The body had gotten up, turned to face him, and punched him. This wasn't the villian Angel anymore, it was hell.
When the demon had punched Logan, he had expected at most a weak tap, especially from such a torn-up body. He'd had another thing coming. He lay I'm the corner, bleeding from the train-like impact, from his knife slipping and cutting his hand when he'd fallen, and from the crumbling wall. Angel was just standing there, eyeing him curiously. Her big, glowing green eyes just stared at him. The rest of the group kept discussing wether or not they should attack, but the fact that she would probably retaliate stopped them. All of a sudden, Malak had an idea. --------------------------—----------------------- Luther's body floated in the pod, a cramped little thing he'd found just before Thor exploded. He was hurt, and he was dying. Staring out the window of his safe prison, he noticed something. A colossal squid-type thing, glowing red, was floating towards him. It was the Zorgon, he knew it. He embraced death at that moment, and allowed himself to be taken by the alien. Moments later, a glowing green hand tore open the pod, and Luther stepped out into space. A traitor's treachery is their weakness, he thought, but he wasn't weak. He was a new being, he was god. ---------------------------—---------------------- Silently, Malak snuck up to Mike and whispered something in his ear. He looked puzzled for a second, but he allowed her to pass. She opened up CHZ's back, and immediately began searching for it. After a few seconds of searching, her hand came out of the assortment of Sources, holding the Null Source. Hurriedly, she hollowed out the head of her best arrow, and began filling the cavity with the Source-canceling substance. Loading it onto her bow, she slowly walked back to the room. -------------------------—------------------------ The portal widened even more, and the colossal machine emerged from the rift. Huge spikes jutted out from the sides of the massive thing, and seven titanic tentacles flailed out behind. The whole thing resembled a huge, spiked squid, except for the fact that it came from at leastc6,000 years ago- the last time the Zorgon mothership had been seen. -------------------------—------------------------ Just like the first time, Malak pulled on the string, readying the arrow, applied the stabilizing air current, and let go. Only this time, Angel did die. No chaotic explosion, no massive spasms, she just died. ------------------------—------------------------- Angel's breath stopped. Her Source had been shut down, her one means of sharing her life source with the alien. Without her source, she was dying. She just stood there, silently staring ahead of her, contemplating how her life had gotten to this. How did she get here? Why did she do it? Who was she? What was she? What time was it? Why had she chosen this path? The questions would have continued on, but before the next one came to mind, she collapsed, defeated. It was over.... For now. ---------- end of part eight