Titles are never really my thing. I always end up not writing anything if I stop to think on em so I just skipped it. Accepting any ideas on it.

Now a few things. I ask that:

1) Please don't post anything here. All criticisms, questions, and any other post of any sort is fine and dandy over here: http://forums.spiralknights.com/en/node/50783

I ask you don't post it here to keep this topic clean so it'll just be a continuous chain of chapters.

2) Don't rag on me too hard? Still a little rusty at writing. Asking for advice or what ya think could be changed. Once again, I ask you post in that topic there. ^^^

And now? Its showtime:

Chapter 0: A world called cradle

The sound of sirens pierced her ears accompanied by panicked cries and varying explosions. Although there wasn’t much to see through the small, square window on the pod she was inside of other than an ordinary looking hallway lined with other statis pods like the one she was positioned in, she could still tell that something had gone wrong. Staring through the window and pounding on her pod's door a little, she cried out trying to call attention to herself, each knock from her armor making a loud clanging noise as the two metals collided, but it was drowned out in the sea of other knights doing the same. She could see another knight peeking through their window across the hall while doing the same, a panicked look on their face as they stared back at her. She didn’t have time to contemplate it though, as another explosion drowned out the knights banging and caused the pod she was stationed in to shake, swaying for a bit and throwing her from the window onto the cold steel floor, making another loud bang as she stared up at the window dazed. Just as soon as it had happened, the pod became stable again, and she struggled back to her feet.

“Just what the hell is going on?”

Climbing back up and peeking out the window, she looked in terror as the hallway was engulfed in flames. The pod across from her was still in decent shape, a little banged and singed and the window broken, but the row of them to its right were destroyed beyond recognition, flames spewing from them, the metal and framework broken and crooked accompanied by bits of broken glass blown across the floor in little shards. Looking harder, she could make out an object sticking out from one of the damaged spheres that the knights were held in. Although things were blurry as she fought back tears, as she saw something drip from it that flowed like water, what it was became clear. A knight’s arm was sticking through where the window once was, blood dripping from it and onto the floor, their hand loose and devoid of life. Panicking, she let out a scream, banging harder, faster, tears streaming from her eyes as she continued to try to reach out for help before eventually collapsing onto the ground. Through the sounds of fire crackling and sirens blazing she realized the severity of her situation. She was trapped, and all she could do was wait to meet the same fate as the other knights. She laid on the floor, her eyes widened in terror as her breathes became short and uneven, and as she closed her eyes accepting her fate, the sound of another explosion pierced her ears, and all went silent.

The hatch for her statis pod opened. Her eyes were squinted, a soothing light beaming down onto her face and waking her from her slumber. She raised her hand to shield it from her eyes, confused and trying to make out what had happened.

“Am I Alive?”

Before she could ponder it too much longer, two figures towered over her, obscured in shadow and appearing as no more than silhouettes. She stared at them as one of the figures extended its hand out, and although still puzzled and shaken, she grabbed it as it helped her out into the light. It had dazed her, and although it had taken a while to adjust her eyes to it, she was able to make out the landscape around her, amazed by what she saw. It was a relatively normal looking place, appearing like a field of grass littered with rocks, bushes and trees. Looking around, her view eventually brought her back to the two who had rescued her, able to make them out clearly now. They were two fellow knights, although they were taller than she was. They were both the same size, but they still towered over her, which upset her a little, but she was still grateful none the less. Their faces were obscured by the equipment they were wearing. They were a higher rank than her, wearing equipment that only those higher up and ridiculously strong had access to. One of them was wearing a five starred set geared towards bombers, red and rounded around the neck, the other was wearing a higher set geared towards swords with a set of little pointy ears. It was pure white and looked as though there was nothing but layers of snow covering it. Her own gear was a variant of those that all new cadets started with, a simple helmet to cover her head but not her face, and a set of armor with a pouch positioned on its back for storing items. Hers was colored blue, her favorite color, and although she was a bit intimidated, she spoke.

“What happened here? How long was I out?”

“You know, a thank you would be nice too young lady,” one spoke, a deep voice coming from his helmet. She figured it was a man. The other knight remained silent.

“Oh ha ha. Thank you for rescuing me. Now will you tell me what’s going on?”

“Certainly,” the other knight spoke, the voice of a woman emitting from their helm. She continued to explain the situation.

“There was a malfunction on the skylark. We’re not sure what started it, but the first explosion knocked out the ships power grid.”

“Is that what caused the statis pods to wake us up but not let us out?”

“Exactly. Only a few of the pods were able to be opened on the power we had left in reserve, but another explosion cut off the connection to the statis pods and our ability to remotely control them.”

“So you’re one of the people who were in the command center.”

“Aren’t you a smart little one,” she said rubbing the young girls head, bobbing her twirls from side to side which annoying the young knight a little. Laughing a little at how her actions were reflected on the young knights face, she continued explaining the situation.

“We tried to get the ship under control and free as many knights as we could, but the situation started looking grim.”

“What happened?”

“We lost the ships engine, and it went critical. Before the ship was lost, the captain ordered the remaining assisting knights into evacuation pods, us included. He stayed behind, freeing as many statis pods as he could using the emergency hatches stationed beneath them. We would’ve activated it sooner had we known that we had lost so many.”

“And what happened to the ship?”

“After we took off, we watched as it exploded. If you look around, you’ll be able to find scraps of it here and there.”

“So how did our pods get from there to here,” the young knight asked, looking back at her pod. It was spewing smoke and the metal was bent, the sphere it once was looking like it’d collapse in on itself at any moment. With a sigh, she looked back towards the knights as they moved away from her, motioning for her to follow.

Guiding her through the maze of field and trees, she followed the two who towered over her, watching as they dispatched monsters that impeded their progress. The man was a master of bombs, laying traps around them whenever they were ambushed and blowing monsters away and out of sight. The female would dispatch them through methods of brute strength and swordsmanship. The young knight questioned how this land was inhabited with these little creatures, but her attention was brought back towards the knights when they began explaining again.

“That’s the thing. This incident happened as we were passing over this planet here. If it hadn’t we would have been drifting out there for god knows how long.”

The male knight chimed in, explaining in her place as she began to dispatch another crowd of monsters, little cubes which looked like they were made of jelly and little lizards who'd poke their tongues out occasionally.

“And that’s the story of how we got here. Lucky huh?”

“Yeah. But what happened to the other knights? And where are we headed?”

“There are teams of knights scouring the crash site for pods like yours, freeing knights trapped inside and guiding them to where we’re taking you. It’s a small camp, but it’ll provide safety. Better than leaving you to fend for yourself out here, you can already see why.”

“A rescue camp,” the female knight chimed in as she pointed at a dusty walkway that seemed to form a bridge. Moving back towards her and patting the shoulder of her armor, she looked down at the young knight.

“This is where we part ways. There are other knights to rescue, but if you walk over that bridge you’ll be able to reach it.”

Bidding her farewell, she watched as the two started going back the way they had come, disappearing into the shrubbery that lined their path. Turning back towards the bridge, she began to make her way across it. Dust flew into the air with every step, clouding the air, but between the bouts of silence between her footsteps, she could make out the sound of faint machinery. Her curiosity got the better of her as she peeked over the edge of the dirt path that she was following, seeing giant machinery underneath her. It was like the inner workings of a clock, lined with cogs and spheres of metal. Each one appeared large enough to contain a miniature world of its own, and the gears that accompanied them turned and sorted the pods, changing and turning the landscape above it as it moved, although she could hardly feel it. It continued making loud noises and continued down further than she could make out with her eyes alone. Scurrying along the path in amazement at what she had seen, she was greeted by another tall knight at the end of it. He wore the standard gray gear that officials wore, yet she was too confused to speak. Reading the expression on her face, he spoke with a smile on his face.

“Welcome to Cradle cadet.”