Prologue: Slaughter Discussion thread located here
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"Hey, Ava! Snap out of it! We've got company!"
Aoibheann turned her head to the boy in front of her. She was seated on a rock, pen in hand, glancing at the notepad before her, before snapping it shut and standing up, shoving the pad and pen into a bag lying next to the rock. Brushing her thick red curls from her face, she looked at Lysander, reading him with her ice blue eyes.
Calm as ever, of course.
"Company? Who?" she asked, reaching for the slender army pistol at her belt. She needed to protect herself and her tribe at all costs. There was no room for mistakes in battle. A cool head saved lives.
"Cocytus, I think." Lysander was six foot, a giant to Ava's five foot three inches, and could see much further than her as a result.
"Most likely Caina Division." A second girl joined them. Almost as tall as Lysander, with tanned brown skin, her brown eyes, skin tone and accent gave her away clearly as Spanish. "I believe this is their hunting ground. They won't take kindly to intrusion." Dressed in a black battle camisole, she had a shotgun on her back and a thick blade at her belt sheath.
"Well, we've been running low on food lately. A second male joined the group. Taller even than Lysander, with thick, healthy dark blond hair and cold, ice blue eyes similar to Ava's. "Cocytus resistance isn't really important when we're starving, Sasha."
"I'm aware of that." Sasha's Spanish accent became more prominent when she was tense.
"We know what we have to do, Gabriel." Lysander's prominent blue eyes were serious as he looked on the group. "And we're going to do it. Just kill em quick. We don't need to make it too painful."
"They're getting closer. They aren't too heavily armed. Just a few pistols. One of them has a sub machine gun. You might wanna take him out first."
Elizabeth was tall for a girl of her age, with long, dark brown hair and sapphire blue eyes, with a hint of green in the depths of them. She wore casual clothes, reinforced with armor underneath: a white t-shirt, tracksuits and shoes. A black beretta sniper rifle was strapped to her belt, next to a pair of daggers.
Joshua, a shorter boy, was sitting on a rock. A rod lay at his side, teeming with hooks attached to thin, yet endurable string. Yawning as he stood up, he picked up his rod, brushing down his gauntlets. "We ready?"
"Almost. Just let me prepare." Elizabeth grabbed a scope from the grass beside her and screwed it onto the rifle. "Alright. Let's get this show on the road." She jerked her head forward as she leaned on the rock Joshua had been sitting on a moment before, keeping an eye on the woman with the sub machine gun.
"Three, two, one..."
The bang was immense, echoing through the wasteland as the man collapsed, blood pooling around his head. The Cocytus officers jumped to attention immediately, withdrawing slender pistols, weapons of death.
"Go, go!" Lysander snapped, and the group charged forward, Sasha immediately taking her pump action shotgun from its restraints and unloading a clump of ammo into a Cocytus officer's face. Blood, gristle and bone sprayed outwards, fleshy shrapnel scattering around the rocky craters in the ground.
As she turned to face another officer, Ava unloaded her pistol into two officers, dancing a twisted dance as their bodies were riddled with hot lead. When they were prone on the ground, she turned to another group while Lysander fired another cluster of bullets from his own pistol, felling two more Cocytus officers. The two fought back to back, watching out for each other while taking down the enemy.
Wicked hooks sliced and eviscerated upon Joshua's subtle movements, the rod unleashing metallic hell upon the ambushed tribe. Gabriel, meanwhile, unloaded bullets from his 93R pistol, his steady aim and calm demeanor not revealing his rapidly pumping heart and the dizzying adrenaline that rushed to his head as he fought.
Only a few officers remained, and they had dropped their guns, backing off with their hands up. Lysander looked at them cautiously, before putting away his weapon.
"OK, we're gonna knock them out and continue. Try and find pressure points on their necks"
Ava raised a brow. "A punch works just as well you know."
Lysander started to laugh, but then heard a perplexed noise from Elizabeth. Turning around, he saw her with one foot on top of the other, rifle slung over one shoulder as she looked at the sky. "What is that?" she asked quietly.
Lysander followed her gaze, and his eyes widened. The clouds were parting, and something... something was emerging. A dazzling golden light, shimmering in the sky itself. It wasn't the sun. No... It was something else.
"What the hell?" Joshua was glancing at it now. "Fuck, that's bright!"
The sound of shattering glass shot through their hearing, and suddenly everything was lost in a sea of white hot pain.
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Lysander was dimly aware of fire around him. But it didn't disturb him. Rising to his feet, he realized he was hungry, and there was something here. Something that made him ravenous. Something primal and chaotic that he needed to obey like he obeyed breathing.
Sniffing the air, he dragged it through scarlet rimmed vision, aware of wild grunts escaping his throat before he could suppress the animal-like sounds. What was going on?
No time to think. He had found it. Suddenly filled with a wild delight, he descended onto the thing he desired so much.
Agonized screams filled his ears, but he did not care. He did not care at all. All he wanted to do was crush, kill, destroy, and the wasteland filled with terrified, dying screams.
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We were the survivors of the Great War. The conflict that tore our world apart. Governments, overrun with paranoia and fear, waged war on one another. Brutal, bloody conflict became our daily lives, as any healthy man and women became expendable at once.
Day by day, this endless battle became the sole focus of the poor souls recruited to destroy a faceless enemy who feared them as much as the other side did. Morality and respect were lost in bloodlust and rash hatred. Friends betrayed friends. Alliances were formed as other friendships were shattered. We were made promises that were never going to be kept. And we were drawn into a conflict that cost us our freedom, our family, and for some, lives.
As the war continued, the weapons wielded became more powerful, and more damaging. Before long, the world was deploying weapons of mass destruction, as though they were mere children's toys. It became common orders to deploy nuclear bombs. As long as the enemy was destroyed, civilian loss of life was inconsequential.
But the world, desecrated by nuclear warfare, fought back. Earthquakes, tsunamis and volcanic eruptions decimated our world, leaving only the strong and the lucky alive.
Yet even then we did not learn, forming tribes with other survivors in a desperate attempt to survive. Yet the conflict did not end. The fighting continued. Over food, land, anything that could spark tension, would. This is our consequence. Our punishment for becoming soldiers, tools of frightened men in business suits.
I was a soldier once. Now I'm a member of the Gaian Tribe
My name is Aoibheann Padraigan. And I fight to survive.
_______________________________________________________Day by day, this endless battle became the sole focus of the poor souls recruited to destroy a faceless enemy who feared them as much as the other side did. Morality and respect were lost in bloodlust and rash hatred. Friends betrayed friends. Alliances were formed as other friendships were shattered. We were made promises that were never going to be kept. And we were drawn into a conflict that cost us our freedom, our family, and for some, lives.
As the war continued, the weapons wielded became more powerful, and more damaging. Before long, the world was deploying weapons of mass destruction, as though they were mere children's toys. It became common orders to deploy nuclear bombs. As long as the enemy was destroyed, civilian loss of life was inconsequential.
But the world, desecrated by nuclear warfare, fought back. Earthquakes, tsunamis and volcanic eruptions decimated our world, leaving only the strong and the lucky alive.
Yet even then we did not learn, forming tribes with other survivors in a desperate attempt to survive. Yet the conflict did not end. The fighting continued. Over food, land, anything that could spark tension, would. This is our consequence. Our punishment for becoming soldiers, tools of frightened men in business suits.
I was a soldier once. Now I'm a member of the Gaian Tribe
My name is Aoibheann Padraigan. And I fight to survive.
"Hey, Ava! Snap out of it! We've got company!"
Aoibheann turned her head to the boy in front of her. She was seated on a rock, pen in hand, glancing at the notepad before her, before snapping it shut and standing up, shoving the pad and pen into a bag lying next to the rock. Brushing her thick red curls from her face, she looked at Lysander, reading him with her ice blue eyes.
Calm as ever, of course.
"Company? Who?" she asked, reaching for the slender army pistol at her belt. She needed to protect herself and her tribe at all costs. There was no room for mistakes in battle. A cool head saved lives.
"Cocytus, I think." Lysander was six foot, a giant to Ava's five foot three inches, and could see much further than her as a result.
"Most likely Caina Division." A second girl joined them. Almost as tall as Lysander, with tanned brown skin, her brown eyes, skin tone and accent gave her away clearly as Spanish. "I believe this is their hunting ground. They won't take kindly to intrusion." Dressed in a black battle camisole, she had a shotgun on her back and a thick blade at her belt sheath.
"Well, we've been running low on food lately. A second male joined the group. Taller even than Lysander, with thick, healthy dark blond hair and cold, ice blue eyes similar to Ava's. "Cocytus resistance isn't really important when we're starving, Sasha."
"I'm aware of that." Sasha's Spanish accent became more prominent when she was tense.
"We know what we have to do, Gabriel." Lysander's prominent blue eyes were serious as he looked on the group. "And we're going to do it. Just kill em quick. We don't need to make it too painful."
"They're getting closer. They aren't too heavily armed. Just a few pistols. One of them has a sub machine gun. You might wanna take him out first."
Elizabeth was tall for a girl of her age, with long, dark brown hair and sapphire blue eyes, with a hint of green in the depths of them. She wore casual clothes, reinforced with armor underneath: a white t-shirt, tracksuits and shoes. A black beretta sniper rifle was strapped to her belt, next to a pair of daggers.
Joshua, a shorter boy, was sitting on a rock. A rod lay at his side, teeming with hooks attached to thin, yet endurable string. Yawning as he stood up, he picked up his rod, brushing down his gauntlets. "We ready?"
"Almost. Just let me prepare." Elizabeth grabbed a scope from the grass beside her and screwed it onto the rifle. "Alright. Let's get this show on the road." She jerked her head forward as she leaned on the rock Joshua had been sitting on a moment before, keeping an eye on the woman with the sub machine gun.
"Three, two, one..."
The bang was immense, echoing through the wasteland as the man collapsed, blood pooling around his head. The Cocytus officers jumped to attention immediately, withdrawing slender pistols, weapons of death.
"Go, go!" Lysander snapped, and the group charged forward, Sasha immediately taking her pump action shotgun from its restraints and unloading a clump of ammo into a Cocytus officer's face. Blood, gristle and bone sprayed outwards, fleshy shrapnel scattering around the rocky craters in the ground.
As she turned to face another officer, Ava unloaded her pistol into two officers, dancing a twisted dance as their bodies were riddled with hot lead. When they were prone on the ground, she turned to another group while Lysander fired another cluster of bullets from his own pistol, felling two more Cocytus officers. The two fought back to back, watching out for each other while taking down the enemy.
Wicked hooks sliced and eviscerated upon Joshua's subtle movements, the rod unleashing metallic hell upon the ambushed tribe. Gabriel, meanwhile, unloaded bullets from his 93R pistol, his steady aim and calm demeanor not revealing his rapidly pumping heart and the dizzying adrenaline that rushed to his head as he fought.
Only a few officers remained, and they had dropped their guns, backing off with their hands up. Lysander looked at them cautiously, before putting away his weapon.
"OK, we're gonna knock them out and continue. Try and find pressure points on their necks"
Ava raised a brow. "A punch works just as well you know."
Lysander started to laugh, but then heard a perplexed noise from Elizabeth. Turning around, he saw her with one foot on top of the other, rifle slung over one shoulder as she looked at the sky. "What is that?" she asked quietly.
Lysander followed her gaze, and his eyes widened. The clouds were parting, and something... something was emerging. A dazzling golden light, shimmering in the sky itself. It wasn't the sun. No... It was something else.
"What the hell?" Joshua was glancing at it now. "Fuck, that's bright!"
The sound of shattering glass shot through their hearing, and suddenly everything was lost in a sea of white hot pain.
___________________________________________________________
Lysander was dimly aware of fire around him. But it didn't disturb him. Rising to his feet, he realized he was hungry, and there was something here. Something that made him ravenous. Something primal and chaotic that he needed to obey like he obeyed breathing.
Sniffing the air, he dragged it through scarlet rimmed vision, aware of wild grunts escaping his throat before he could suppress the animal-like sounds. What was going on?
No time to think. He had found it. Suddenly filled with a wild delight, he descended onto the thing he desired so much.
Agonized screams filled his ears, but he did not care. He did not care at all. All he wanted to do was crush, kill, destroy, and the wasteland filled with terrified, dying screams.
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