Post by Enigma on Mar 1, 2014 19:30:39 GMT -6
Prologue
In a world that was ages ago torn by conflict that caused the very earth to erupt her fury, had become a unstable environment with the very oceans forcing ever inwards. Humanity, fearing for its survival hastily began the Sky-City Project, a project that had been in the works for years but had never quite gotten the attention needed for funding. The government passed bill after bill, taxing the rich and poor alike to fund this project. It took years, but with the funding from the government and the threat of extinction looming, humanity took to the skies in eight sky cities. The cities were remarkable pieces of work, each one holding a functioning, thriving city. With the ability to filter water from the clouds, and with artificial agriculture, these floating behemoths averted the thought of crisis. Their ability to stay aloft due to the remarkable steam engineering that powered giant rotating blades beneath the city.
Years passed and humanity slowly began to lose interest in the ground below as with all cities, crime and poverty crept slowly upon them. They became completely engrossed in their own worries, their own trivialities and the latest fashions worn by the nobility. As the crimes became more and more severe, the cities began using a very cruel form of punishment. They would take the prisoners below the cities and push them off the edge into what they believed was the waiting waters below to die a cruel, slow death. It wasn’t long before the greed of the royal family had them seeking to control other cities and thus began the Great War. The Great War was brutal and taxing on the cities and many fell before the armies of other cities. Many feared it would be the end of humanity for good. Amongst the chaos, one sky city chose to stay out of the war and in order to protect its secrecy the Secret Corps was formed.
The Secret Corps was established to eliminate any potential knowledge of this peaceful city from being found or sold to other cities. They were also the ones who commanded the city militia when there were skirmishes. They were both feared and loved by the populace. Everyone wanted to know how to apply while many others sought to have them destroyed for personal benefit. Each Corps officer was specially chosen and went under challenges that oftentimes resulted in the deaths of those too weak to handle it. Each officer upon commission was given a sword, there were seven in all. Each one bore a name. Justice, Mercy, Sacrifice, Love, Trust, Harmony and Peace; these were the seven virtues that each officer adopted and bore.
Upon the end of the Great War, the last remaining sky city felt truly alone. They were the remnants of humanity. When ideologists sought counsel to recommend returning to the ground, they all vanished without a trace before the counsel. The Crown sought to quiet these disappearances for fear of riots and rebellion. Slowly, and mysteriously the Secret Corps officers began to disappear too. Something brewed on the horizon. Something dark, something wanted humanity to remain in the heavens and afraid of the ground.
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Chapter 1
The sky was a vivid, liquid blue as the massive city roamed through the sky. Parting the clouds around as it as it belched its own stream of gray into the sky from the exhaust ports on the side. The populace was rushing from place to place as the day began. The sounds of roosters rang throughout the morning and the groggy sounds of the church’s bells beat a steady sound to alert the people to begin the day. One particular individual wasn’t very happy about it being morning, and he made sure to toss his boot at the nearest rooster which had mistakenly taken to making a perch of his windowsill.
“Damn birds; wish someone just to shoot them. Make my life a little easier, it would.” He groaned and climbed out of bed, pushing the sheets down from his scarred torso. He ran a hand through his dark, unruly locks before grunting as he pushed himself up. He lifted his arms to the ceiling and stretched. He grunted as he heard a couple particularly tight muscles pop and then sighed as the euphoria from the stretching reached the inner workings of his mind.
He stumbled over to the nearest cabinet and pulled open the door to reveal a hanging black trench coat, a pair of gray and black trousers, and a sword scabbard marked in hundreds of symbols of archaic nature. The man slid into his trousers, pulling them up snugly to his waist before buckling on the scabbard. He reached over and donned a simple gray tunic with black trim before adorning the large trench coat. He walked over to the bedroom’s mirror, observed his reflection and satisfied with what he saw, he opened the wooden door and walked down a short set of steps before exiting through two more wooden doors that led out into the middle section of the city.
He was greeted by the sounds of the merchants and several farmers as they shouted their wares and offered deals for those who were torn in their decision. He chuckled at one particular merchant who was bragging about the authenticity of his ornaments and was particularly enthusiastic in selling a golden necklace with a large, dark gem within the pendant that would dangle around someone’s neck. The merchant sensing a potential customer hastily glanced around and spotted the man in the dark coat, his attention was instantly averted elsewhere. The merchant had a feeling that there was something about that particular individual he didn’t want to trifle with, he exuberated some form of power or demand for authority.
“How much for this trinket?” The merchant nearly jumped out of his skin as the man he had just been eying was standing right in front of him, his gaze intent upon the necklace he had been attempting to sell moments before his gaze had unluckily settled upon the dark man.
“Uhm sir, that’s not for sale.” The man raised an eyebrow in surprised, and shrugged. He began to turn away, and the merchant’s greed led him to overcome his fear. “Five….five marks, sir.”
The man reached into one of the seemingly numerous pockets on his trench coat before pulling out the man’s desired sum. The merchant closed his hand around the currency quickly and shoved it deep inside his own voluminous pocket afraid the man may rescind his decision to purchase the trinket. The man picked up the strange looking piece of jewelry and placed it within his pocket and disappeared into the crowd leaving a very startled and confused merchant. The merchant would later in life try to tell people he had known the famous Corps officer, and had sold him a trinket for a 100 marks, but people dismissed him as a crazed fool and he found himself branded a liar.
The man faded in and out of the crowd as he sought his destination a few blocks up the road in the district that bordered the upper-class. Merchants selling more valuable wares choked these streets and occasionally brightly clad women in seductive clothing would whisper desires in men’s ears before leading them deep into the dark corners of the alleyways. The man became the avid interest of a particularly alluring seductress, who abandoned her current pursuit, leaving the man stunned his mouth agape. She stalked her prey like a cat, until she pounced placing one feathery light fingertip on the man’s face. She screeched in surprise as she felt those same fingertips crushed in a death-like grip as the man turned with a vague smile. He left the women shocked and nursing a bruised hand. He once more disappeared into the crowd before arriving at a set of well-maintained steps that led up a gradual hill to a towering mansion.
He nodded to a guard wearing the current royal family’s colors, and walked along the paved path, his scabbard clanking against his side as he sped up his pace while trying to maintain his sense of aloofness. He approached the large stone doors, upon which he knocked thrice. The sounds seeming to echo within the house before he heard a clicking. The door was pulled back to reveal a very sour servant. “I’m here for the-“
He was unable to finish his sentence as the servant turned and led him deep within the confines of the house. He passed hundreds of paintings with older family members on them, some of them female. The servant led him to another door, this one a little smaller than the one outside but still an obvious sign of wealth. The servant motioned for the man to wait before disappearing into the room for a few minutes. The man stood out in the hallway, whistling as he gazed at the various portraits trying to hide his impatience at being kept waiting.
“You may enter-“The man was around the servant, and through the door before the servant could finish. The servant merely grunted and rolled his eyes before closing the doors behind him and disappearing to some other menial task.
“Aha! Keegan, my old friend!” The master of the house was a portly man, but he moved surprisingly fast, hinting at his previous life as a soldier of the Crown. He approached the visitor, Keegan and forced him into an uncomfortable bear hug that left Keegan at a loss of words. He merely patted the man on the back. The master returned to his lush, straight-back chair before motioning to the chairs in front of the desk. “Sit down, sit down. Tell me what brings you here, and why you’re seeking my help.”