Me? Thats a trade secret. ^_^
Plan? I don't know what you're saying. ^_^ S a b b y, thank you it makes me happy inside.
Won't help, too many things to do in the shower.
Feed off of? In what way? Sexually? Literally? Metaphorically? Digitally? Philosophically? Either way, it sounds incredibly erotic.
Hello? I mean, I don't think we've ever met before, but if you wanna you know, *nudge nudge*
Booze is also acceptable, nay integral even.
I feel like incest is a necessary part of family meetings. Bondage and feline appendages would be nice too, but we can't all have everything we want.
Thanks, I considered spacing it as you suggested earlier but thought it would be a bit awkward. But it does seem like a good idea looking at it now.
Timothy Dalton!!!!!!!
I like the first and third ones the best. The second was fun but a but too easy for my taste. The PS2 one just annoyed me for some reason.
That's called being educated.
I appreciate the comments and am surprised at the warm reception. I hope to continue making this story up to par so your reading experience will be as painless as possible. Another note I should make is when I had this originally drafted there was a conversation that explained how everyone spoke the same language regardless of background. However since it didn't fit anywhere in this or the last chapter I left it out. So just so you know, everyone speaks Escher language and knows it as a side effect of being there. Thanks, I know something like this would bother me if not explained. Door 5: Exciting Nights Sometime, around half past two in the morning a dark figure, garbed in loose dark clothes and identity concealed with a mask wrapped about it’s head, entered the camp. The fire had long since gone cold, and the men had fallen into a deep exhausted slumber not long after it. Not a single thing was disturbed by the figure that walked in the total darkness as if it were as natural as in daylight. It examined the sleeping crowd of mercenary men and came down upon the group like a malicious venom. Silently and quickly, they slit the throats of every mercenary grouped together on the slope. When the assassin made to leave it heard a rustle in the grass behind it before clashing arms with the leader of the group, fiery anger in her eyes. The assassin held a short curved sword with no hilt guard and held it backhanded. The two glared at each other for several moments before breaking apart and evaluating the enemy. The assassin, grinned from beneath it’s mask as it suddenly disappeared in a puff of dark heavy vapor. Then came the silence, the mercenary strained her eyes and whetted her ears searching for the assassins presence. Suddenly, she heard a blade singing as it traveled through the air and only reacted just quickly enough to evade suffering the same fate as her platoon. The two faced down once more, but the impasse was broken by the mercenary as she made a lightning fast strike at her opponent who once more disappeared leaving nothing but strands of dark vapor. The battle went on clash after clash with no victor in sight, or at least so it seemed to the sole viewer of this conflict. Callum had been jolted awake at the first clash but made no motion to interfere as he watched the battle unfold before him. After some time both involved parties came to accept the even match and brought the action to a halt. Callum remained nothing but observant and tensed for action as he watched the two fighters stand only just one move away from each other. “Who sent you?” The mercenary spoke first, and in a harsh, rough tone. She hadn’t looked at all of the corpses of her followers but their inaction was enough to tell her not a single one was left alive. This knowledge was enough to turn her blade on the culprit, in spite of having no knowledge of their battle skills. It was clear she would fight on for her vengeance regardless. “Your employer.” The assassin replied phlegmatically after a second of forethought. Through the cloth mask their voice betrayed no gender or age. “Bastard, I thought he’d turn on us after what happened today, but I never expected him to have someone this good.” The girl sighed and shook her head. Then she glanced over at Callum who didn’t even attempt to hide that he was awake. She nodded before refocusing on the assassin. “Why tell me?” “You’re as good as dead as it is, no point depriving you of this much.” The assassin answered coolly as it inched it’s foot forwards. This slight move didn’t escape notice and the mercenary took a step back in response. The range clearly favored the girl with the pole arm but the strange ability displayed by the assassin may have as good as voided this advantage. Soon after the silence fell once more the two rushed at each other flat out both going for an instant kill. The long range of the pole arm was first to reach but it was kept at bay by the short blade of the assassin, but not before it tore off the mask revealing a young feminine face. This mattered not to either as they pressed on in a murderous charge. However there was still one thing neither of the two had counted on Callum rushed in between them at the last moment before they would have collided, he himself wasn’t sure why. However, the fact remained that he did and he barred the path for both of them. “Sorry.” Was the first thing that he said to the mercenary and the assassin. It could have been for interrupting their fight, it could have been for interrupting the mercenary’s revenge, it could have been for interrupting the killers’ job, but for whatever it was he still apologized. “For some reason my body moved on it’s own.” Callum said almost chuckling even through the pain of holding back the assassins blade with his bare hand and the exertion of staying the mercenary’s blade with his saw. “I guess there’s no harm in leaving things as they are.” The assassin said before wrenching her blade from Callums’ hand and vanishing into the night. Callum dropped the arm the was supporting his own weapon and fell to the ground shaking. He hadn’t ever intended on entering the fray no had he intended on helping the assassin escape, but he did and the mercenary stood over him with a furious aura raging about her. “Why’d you stop me?” She asked incredibly calmly given her situation, but not so calmly as to mask the anger she was holding back. “I don’t know. I just moved without thinking.” Callum admitted guilt in his voice. “You didn’t think. Because you didn’t think she got away.” The mercenary spat, angrily before turning away and looking at her fallen comrades. “Like I said, I’m sorry.” Callum reiterated before struggling back to his feet and walking away from the girl. “Never let me see your face again.” She said, trying to keep back her angry tears and remain threatening. “Remember that Hiko Kanna is after your life starting today.” “I will.” Callum sighed as he answered and hung his head. He continued his trek away from the hill and towards the first rays of sunlight peeking over the horizon. He didn’t stop walking for a long time, but when he’d gotten a considerable distance away he stretched his arms up and yawned. “I really have to stop having such exciting nights.” With that final musing he smelled the smoky eastward winds and continued his walk into the sunrise.
Am I the only one that assumes everyone here is as androgynous as me?
This guy, is an irrefutable psychopath. It's not even a matter of religion at this point. He should be jailed for doing that students.
I feel I should bring it to the hypothetical readers attention that this series was originally an idea for a comic, but alas my lack of basic art skills has put quite a damper on that. Anyways, that's just a fun pre-production factoid. Door 4: When are we getting home? The next thing he knew Callum was in a torrid, windy plain and the air was filled with agonizing howls and the scent of blood. Callum wretched and nearly got sick all over the ground before getting his bearings. The first thing he noticed was that when he closed the door he saw a wall, tall as the sky and painted to match the battlefield. Callum turned to face the open plain before him and looked at all of the carnage before a setting sun. There were no large groups, the battle had progressed into small skirmishes and massacres scattered over the battlefield. Callum stared in both horror and amazement for some time, just watching every blade stroke and listening to every last pained scream unfold before him. It was then that he felt a blade on his neck. The cool steel wasn’t a new feeling but it made him jerk violently all the same. However, not so violently as when he turned enough to see the owner of the deadly arm. “Don’t move.” The voice belonged to a dark haired girl, close to Callums’ own age and dressed in a school uniform. Her weapon was a hybrid pole sword which allowed her to stand quite a ways from her target. Callum obediently obeyed her command and stayed stalk still. She was joined by a small host of mismatched soldiers wearing what looked like salvaged armor and weapons. “You came through the door, right?” “Yes.” Callum answered after he felt her blade become pressured against his neck. He swallowed slowly before saying anything more, waiting fearfully for an answer. “Where from?” She demanded roughly not taking her blade even a millimeter away. “The outside.” A hearing what the scythe man had said about the locks and keys, he could only assume that this was inside of Escher and his world was outside. Slowly the girl lowered her weapon and sighed, before announcing to her comrades that he was just a newbie. It felt bad being looked down on like this, but it probably saved his life at the time. “So, where’s your key?” The girl asked brusquely leaning on the shaft of her pole arm. “Here.” He said submissively once he had rifled through his pockets and lifted his key into full view. “No lock. Eh? You really are new.” Callum considered telling her about the chainsaw but thought better of it almost instantly, she seemed belligerent and violent enough to take his key and kill him if it had an immediate use to her. “No. I just wound up here by accident.” He lied, trying to find a way out of this inauspicious situation. “Well, there’s no turning back from here kid.” It was mildly offensive to be called a kid by someone nearly six inches shorter than him but he remained tacit for the time. After several seconds of silence the girl seemed to lose interest in his company as she lifted her blade off the ground and slung it over her shoulder before walking off and motioning for everyone to follow. The motley gang of warriors that followed her made it clear this included Callum as well. “Well, looks like our employer fled the battlefield some time ago and this is gonna be nothing but a loss if we continue on, I say we pack up and retreat for now.” “Yes, sir!” The crowd of men boomed in unison. Callum said nothing as he was shunted along as the soldiers prepared themselves to leave. The battles were now naught but far off clashes in the last remaining rays of light in the day. The mercenaries were more disciplined than they had first appeared and walked in step and even stayed in vague semblance of formation as the group skirted the wall on their way out of the sortie zone. Callum marched on alongside them into the night and a long ways further without trying to leave or ask any questions. It was clear that they wouldn’t tell anything to him or let him escape and it was also clear that there was no fighting his way out of this one. Some time after they had left the battlefield behind the mercenary group stopped on the hill they had been climbing at a single signal and spread out to make camp. Callum was one of the few who stayed within close proximity of the original stopping point. He loitered about watching everyone walk off or start putting up tents but this soon grew tiresome. As such the black haired youth thinking it lacking in expedience to talk to the girl accosted one of the less intimidating of the crew. “So, if I may?” He asked motioning to a spot next to the man who was aligning rocks into a circle and digging a ways into the dirt, so as to make a fire pit, as he sat on a rock under a bare tree. The man grunted as if to acknowledge him and Callum happily took his place. “You’re all mercenaries, right?” “Hm.” The man grunted again in the positive. “She’s the leader?” Callum asked motioning vaguely to the girl as she poured over a map in the pale light of the full moon some ways down the hill. “Yes.” The man said lifting his head from the fire pit and looking for errors in his handiwork. He wiped his hands on his trousers and turned to Callum with an analytical eye. The black haired boy stared right back unfalteringly and waited for the man to turn his head back to the pit. “So, why’d she want to know about me?” Callum asked finally. “It’s a war you’ve found yourself in and it’s not uncommon for covert operations to go on carried out by those of any description. Our employer, the king of the defending army, has given us the job of acting to counter such operations.” The man sighed before answering and began touching up the fire pit as he spoke. “I see. So what now?” Callum asked the question he’d been long itching to know the answer to. However the answer was not what he’d expected, not in the slightest. “I don’t know, we follow the leader and everything turns out fine. She must have a reason for bringing you along too.” The man said simply without any kind of curiosity or uncertainty. “Thanks for the help, is there anything I should be doing about now?” Callum sat there dumbfounded for a moment before answering. “No, you’re not a prisoner, but it’s unclear as to what she’s got in store for you.” The man said once again in that unwavering way he had before. “I see” Callum said resignedly, as he stood and brushed himself off. He left the man to do his work and approached the leader of the patchwork militia. She had put the map aside and now watched the movements of the stars with almost totally engrossed interest. Callum was unsure if his presence was known to her until she told him to sit down and wait. Several moments passed before she snapped her fingers grinned and turned to him. “So what were you going to say?” She asked unexpectedly congenially. “I may be a bit out of line in saying this but I’d like to now how you got here.” Callum was unsure as to how a girl like her had become the leader of this rough looking group in so short a time, the uniform she wore was obviously from no more than a year previously and there was barely any wear showing on it. “I got here about six months ago.” She began without delay. “It was an accident like you said your coming here was. I found a key and got it mixed up with my house key. I originally was in a world not that different from Earth, but it was strange and I wanted to go back home, so when I tried to go back through the door that had already shut I ended up here. The old leader took me under his wing and taught me how to fight and take care of myself. When he was killed he left me two things, the lock I use now and the role of leader among these guys. That was three months ago. Times have been good recently but I still miss home and want to go back soon. It’s just hard to say it to them so I’m waiting until there’s a way directly back home.” She had gotten a bit somber by the end of his story but it didn’t change the fact that she was a threat as long as she had any misgivings about him, Callum thought. “I’m sorry about that.” Callum decided it was in his best interest to come clean about his earlier statements lest she find out through his horrible acting and slit his stomach open on the spot. It was still a risk but a calculated one. The majority of the group was a small distance off and he had both his key and weapon at hand so he could probably run if necessary. “I wasn’t exactly honest before. I mean to say I didn’t come here by accident.” She looked at him suspiciously and seemed far more alerted to his movements than a moment earlier. “I found out about keys about three days ago when a man who had a scythe came after me because I found a key. He told me all about Escher and the keys. I decided to come here to see it for myself, it seems really stupid in retrospect but that’s how I ended up in this place.” “How’d you escape him?” She asked scrutinizing his every inflection. “I fought him, I also lied about having a lock.” She stiffened for a second before Callum waved his hands in front of his body innocently. “It’s not mine, I took his after I managed to stop him from killing me. It doesn’t work with my key.” The girl sighed in relief and the tension faded, only to be stirred up again by Callums’ next statement. “However, I do have a weapon still, it’s in this bag, he said pulling the chainsaw off his back and resting it in front of her. The girl unzipped the container and her expression changed to one of shock when she saw the contents. “What’s this?” She asked sharply. “My weapon, I somehow modified it when I used the key in it.” Callum said simply. “I see.” She sighed once more and as a sign of trust handed back his bag. The two stared at each other for several seconds before Callum took the conversation to be over and stood to leave. “I appreciate that you at least told the truth now.” “It was for my own benefit, remember that.” Callum said before he could actually think about what it was he was saying. He walked back up the hill to meet with a roaring fire, the smell of food and many tired fighters lounging all over the grassy slope. He took his own place slightly displaced from the group and let himself nod off with the decision that he wouldn’t worry until the morning came. For he was at least used to having problems in the day, having troubles at night was a disturbing new phenomenon for the black haired youth. However, the morning wasn’t when he’d have to start worrying about his problems again.
I did chuckle a bit. This is usually stuff I find kinda stupid but it's not so bad when presented this way. Self deprecation is a plus too.
Okay, can I make lewd comments about everything now?
Halo. Yeah, Halo.
If it's in blood.
Sure, give orders, I follow.
