@Feline-Grenadier
I'll have to talk with Someordinarycake about that.
@Sonosuke
Great! Glad you liked it!
@Feline-Grenadier
I'll have to talk with Someordinarycake about that.
@Sonosuke
Great! Glad you liked it!
I put spaces between the lines for one reason.
Reading pace.
See, we're going into more dramatic parts of the fan fics right? More tension in the air and such. The spacing gives emphasis on lines and allows a reader to read faster than just reading across like in chapter 1.
I do admit however that I might be putting too much spacing. Eh, I'll try to put less spacing... In the next 2 chapters. Pretty much when I feel like it.
(PROCRASTINATION FTW!) ((Not Really.))
By dividing every two sentences into separate lines, you remove the transitivity of the story. For me, it feels extremely choppy when you forcefully cut sentences to stop them from going across all the way. Choppiness cannot immerse me. Here, let me try to shorten it.
Edit : I also had to change the order of description, since it was all over the place. Not a good thing to do unless you want your readers to get lost.
~~~
It was disgusting.
But the others enjoyed it, so Cracker acted like she did too. While manning her post wishing she could do something less boring and more useful, her comrades had brought two of the mechanical demons into the camp.
It had been the first time that Cracker had ever seen one, having only been told tales of the death and terror these 'knights' caused.
Ekusonos, her deranged, bloodthirsty, untrustworthy nemesis had told her how a single knight could wipe out an entire encampment without caring to clean the blood off of their blades. Spiral Knights have invaded their homeworld, Cradle.
That was many years ago. Now they were locked in war with her kind, the gremlins, for control. Cracker never fully understood the conflict.
A dissection of these 'Spiral Knights' concluded that they seemed to be comprised of both metallic and organic substances. Already rumors have spread of the Darkfang creating a weapon that would paralyze anything metallic. These were just rumors to Cracker, hardly seeming possible.
That kind of technology was unthinkable.
When she saw those two knights, she swore her heart stopped.
The creatures looked much different then she imagined.
Gone were the images of warmongering savages, cold and faceless enemies. Although she could not see past the armor, it told her enough.
They looked as if made by gods, as much of an overreaction as that was. She looked and looked again as the others carried the unconscious beings towards her.
One was wearing an eccentric hood and cloak, seeming to be made of a strange fabric. The other knight was wearing a light looking thing, not as protective as the other's cloak.
A nearby gremlin was beaming, holding a piece of weaponry that looked viscous by its own design.
Cracker suddenly heard a deep growl emanating from beside her. She looked and saw that in their cages of wolvers, one was brave enough to stand and rebel. Soon the others wolvers around it, all of which had taken a huge beating, started to stir.
"Shaddup!" she snarled. The gremlin flung her wrench forward against the cage three times, causing a high pitched ringing to ripple through the air, and making the resilient wolver yip and fall back down.
Cracker hated her job. All she was good for was guarding mutts that they should have killed.
She wished she could be out there, studying knights. But then she realized why they were bringing two unconscious Spiral Knights towards her.
Despite calming the wolvers down, they started to grow unruly once more.
The gremlins barreled past, heading towards an empty cage at the edge of the camp. Trees crowded along the border, their temporary base having been made in a rare clearing of land.
"Bwa!" a voice shrieked from behind her.
Cracker jumped and yelped, fear coursing through her veins. She then heard cackling and saw a Ghostmane Stalker on the ground in front of her, laughing for his successful scare. Like most Ghostmane Stalkers, Ekusonos was shorter than the average Thwacker. Ekusonos had no other distinguishable features, as his whole body was covered in a cloak that could render him invisible.
She hated this little gremlin.
"What's the matter with you, Ekusonos?!" she crowed.
The stalker hoisted himself up from the ground and gave her a filthy sneer. "Stop complaining, you stupid wench," he jeered.
Cracker wished she could wipe that stupid grin off of his face right there and then. Although they had grown up together, Ekusonos hated her for some reason. So she returned the favor, and hated him right back.
Holding back the tide of rage and hate, she seethed. "Where in Vog's name were you? If you think I was going to stand here and cover for your shift, then surely you've gone crazy."
Cracker, honestly, didn't mind guarding the cages. There was nothing else to do in the camp, since they've only settled there a few hours ago; she and the others would be packing up and shipping out tomorrow anyway.
Ekusonos simply snorted, briefly glancing at the Thwackers not ten yards away, stuffing the two unconscious aliens into metallic cages.
"Where do you think? I bagged us some knights," said he this with a snarky and swaggering demeanor.
He looked back at Cracker with pride twinkling in his eyes. Surely he was aware of her fascination with knights.
Cracker was awed that he had helped in the capture, but felt nauseated by it at the same time.
"Yeah, well...I don't care!" she lied. "Now if you're done with pretending you're actually important for once, you'll be happy to know that it's your shift."
Ekusonos' grin fell back into a lopsided scowl that seemed etched into his face.
She tossed her wrench and other tools that the stalker would need for the job on the ground with a glare of spite, and threw the keys at the cages, just resting on the outside of the bars, on a metal slab.
A sadistic grin came across her face as the Wolvers soon came near it, sniffling and snuffling.
Cracker finally turned away to go anywhere but here. But not before she saw Ekusonos give her a deathly glare.
As she walked away, perhaps five yards, she heard a loud snap and a curse.
Thankfully, gremlins could heal from bites easily enough.
-------
She stood under a small shelter, a piece of cloth raised above their heads. Pieces of the said cloth had fallen from it's entirety. Those pieces reached down and grasped the ground giving it an extremely messy and quickly constructed look.
Although a layer of cloth blocked her view of Ekusonos, she could easily view half of the cages from this range.
She brought her attention to the gremlins near the front...well, where the front WOULD be.
At first, one would only notice the main gremlin; this gremlin was huge, not in an obese or bulky manner, but as in height.
Perhaps one-point-five times the size of an average gremlin, the female gremlin in front of Cracker was just like the other warmasters. While Cracker noticed she herself was a head taller than normal gremlins, the warmaster was at least a head and a half taller than herself.
Syph was at least a head taller than the two captains next to her; she did not deviate from the stereotype.
Her fur was gray and white, the gray complementing her light blue attire. Just like the nimbus clouds.
Her posture demanded respect, and emanated authority. On her feet, she sported standard-issue combat boots. Once said in a paper article, Cracker found that Syph had said she wore them because all other members of the warmaster council were behemoths. Giants of power that could knock you out with just a few hits.
Syph was rumored to have preferred striking quickly and lethally. Her boots allowed her great mobility, and some protection.
On her legs and torso, she wore something that had only been seen on members of the council.
She donned the highest tier of protection and mobility, a mix of metal and fabric. Although Cracker could not describe the uniform fully, it appeared to look like plates of metal underneath a light dapper cloak. The metal seemed the be made from the grandest forge, always gleaming even when there was no light around. It was vibrant in color, but somehow it was always gray. The cloak was made of the finest fabric.
Yes, even finer than fine fabric. It swirled around her when Syph moved, the bottom of it never touching the ground. Just like the clouds : white and sky-blue.
If a gremlin decided to parade around in armor like this, they would surely be executed on the spot for impersonation of an important figure.
Syph usually wore high-tech goggles in battle to see her enemies, but as of now she looked at her soldiers through her own eyes. Helms blinded her from the enemy, isolating her focus from the battlefield.
The last noticeable thing about Syph was her sidearm. The sheer beauty of the gun was chilling.
With its long barrel, it was able to shoot long distances with no need to replace ammunition for a long period of time. It's palette matched Syph's fur, whether by design or a personal touch, Cracker could not tell.
The flickering node seemed to be winking at Cracker, saying, "Ha ha. Your weapons suck."
And indeed, this gun would put even the weapons of the metallic invaders to shame.
Cracker hoped she would one day see it in action.
Syph briefly glanced at her as Cracker entered the large area, but then continued to talk with the other two gremlins.
Technically, this was a recreation area, intended for members of the 'expedition' to rest or entertain themselves when they weren't on duty. Of the forty member party, no other gremlins besides the ones already mentioned were present. Perhaps they were loitering around the perimeter.
Cracker just turned to exit and look for something to do when a feminine voice said, "Where do you think you're going?"
The voice was laced with silver. Seductive and alluring as it was, the silver it was laced with was the cold, dangerous kind.
She realized that Syph was addressing her, and stuttered for a response.
"W-what?" She spluttered.
Why was a warmaster addressing her?
The regal gremlin was stalking over to here, but as she got closer it turned into a casual stroll. She stopped a comfortable distance away.
Cracker saw the two captains shuffle away, frustration on their faces.
"Relax, young cub," Syph soothed, more than a hint of amusement in her voice.
The Warmaster smiled in satisfaction, as though she enjoyed the taste of Cracker's fear. She continued, "Answer, child. What is one as young as yourself doing among my hand-picked soldiers?"
Her tone seemed genuinely concerned and surprised.
Cracker had a flash of Ekusonos in her mind. Thinking of him as a 'hand-picked soldier' would make her laugh. But she didn't laugh now; laughing in front of Syph was like laughing at a guillotine.
Syph's presence was still a mystery to her, and she knew that getting used to it would be quite a task.
Still Cracker gaped, but eventually she pulled herself together and spoke to the legend. "I-I was chosen by you. R-remember? You came to me and told me that-"
"Ah, yes!" The woman interrupted with a gentle laugh. "I seem to recall asking a little cub such as yourself to accompany us. I suppose my memory hasn't been what it used to be!"
Crackers politely laughed along, not daring to get on anyone's bad side, let alone Syph's.
"Continue on! Although I assume you could only be resting if you are here. Tell me, what is your assignment, girl?"
Receiving all of this attention from such a prominent figure, Cracker gladly obliged. "I work by guarding the wolver containment cages, m'lady. "
She beamed, despite admitting herself as a low-ranking member. She had also remember the proper way to address such an esteemed member of the gremlin military.
"Ah," Syph said, her face slightly grimacing and taking a darker shift. "I assume you witnessed the two demons being taken into the camp then?"'
Seeing Cracker's nod, she continued. "Then when your shift begins again, I urge you to have the utmost caution."
Seemingly as an afterthought, she added, "What about the gremlin currently guarding the cages? He seemed to be close to your ripe young age. Would you trust him?"
Right then, Cracker wanted to tell her what a filthy, disgusting, underhanded, manipulative gremlin Ekusonos was. But she didn't get the chance.
Syph with a sharp enough eye to cut even through steel, simply let out an enchanting chuckle.
"Ah," she smiled knowingly. Without another word, Syph walked away.
-----
Back outside, Ekusonos beckoned Cracker to join him by the cages.
She knew nothing good could come of this, but she obliged and now stood two meters away from the stalker, a wide berth. There was dew on the grass now.
Was it like that before?
When she looked down, she thought she noticed a red tint, but ignored it.
"You like knights, right? You should come see this." He gave Cracker a shark grin. Bound by
her curiosity, she followed Ekusonos as he walked toward two cages at the edge of the camp.
To the surprise of the young gremlin, there was no one guarding it.
It was a disturbing thought, and she asked Ekusonos about it.
"Ha! Have you seen them?" Apparently back to his snarky tone, Ekusonos treated Cracker like an idiot.
Cracker gasped when she saw what she thought was two metallic corpses.
When Cracker was a few mere feet away, she finally realized that they were still breathing. She also discovered that she hadn't, and so she took in a gulp of air.
The two captives had deep gashes, and looked thoroughly beaten.
The male and female were on cages to the right and left, respectively. The ground that the metal cagey rested on bore blood.
Not the red blood she thought she would have to feel used to; this blood was an alien blue.
Cracker did not know how to describe it, but it fascinated her and depressed her all the same.
Confusing emotions clouded Cracker's head. She shouldn't feel remorse for the sentients in front of her, but she did. Even though they were unconscious, she felt their pain, somehow it connected through the tangles of the resentment between the two races.
"Y-you had authorization to do this?" she quavered, slightly shaken by the sight.
Their clothes were disgustingly bloodied, unlike earlier, and they looked to be in deep pain.
"No, but they bloody deserved it," Ekusonos clucked.
"You idiot! What's wrong with you, you sick piece of retrode scrap?! You thought you'd decide to beat two important captives?" She felt her nostrils flaring, giving her a fiercer look. "Boy, if you think you can strut around like one of the big-wig Warmasters, doing whatever you want and with no one daring to oppose you, then you have something coming to you."
Ekusonos growled back with equal ferocity.
Furtive to the untrained ear, a high-pitched squeal emanated from the area. The wolvers seemed to be in discomfort, but Ekusonos didn't acknowledge it.
"Wench! You think you know best? You're nothing but a common grunt! Less than that! I OUTRANK you! Perhaps I'm only you're elder by a few months, but I outclass you in every way! I'll see to it that you're removed from your duty to live. If you think your outburst will go unpunished, then YOU have something coming to YOU."
Ekusonos slapped Cracker. Hard.
She whirled to the side, spots briefly specked her vision before forming into the landscape again. She didn't let the ground take her, for she kept her balance. On her face, she felt heat rushing to her cheek.
She replayed the scene in her mind, feeling the sting and shock. Cracker poured every ounce of her anger and resentment into one deathly glare, and left Ekusonos with a quartet of yelping wolvers.
-------
Ekusonos was a fool. They all were. She couldn't fathom their hatred for the Haven-dwellers, she realized this now.
Cracker had gone with the flow, acting as all others had acted. Her life had attempted to accustom her to the fact that the savage knights were her enemies, but tonight she saw who the real savages were.
Perhaps her bitter resentment for Ekusonos was blinding her to logic, but Cracker told herself that she was past that.
"Emberlight," she thought. It was the only place that would take her.
She didn't have to do this, she could wait and let the gremlins find a ways to make her hate the knights. But how could she come home for her mother only to see her father's lust for death in the eyes of her loved ones? Father was no longer around, but just like him mother would never allow an ally of the Spiral Knights to live.
Not even if that ally was her own daughter.
Cracker walked to the cages with purpose, something of which she did not have before.
She had found something to fill the black hole in her heart, just as much as a lover or another excitement would. Ekusonos passed her, sneering and trying to put her down. She didn't give him a reaction. Life seemed to slow down as she took her shift.
"I wonder what father would think," she mused as she neared the wolver cages with keys in hand.
This chapter was certainly intriguing - although the layout made it a bit more difficult to read, I think that this was a cool perspective into the lives of the gremlins and what goes on there. The school-trained English student in me would say that that perspective, while shared from a Gremlins perspective, still seemed a bit biased because she finds what they do outright atrocious...but that's just the English student. :) I'm intrigued to see how Cracker will play a role in this story and where every path is leading to!
Cole's ears were under attack. Not only had he woken up feeling raw and having sores all over his body, but some ungodly racket was ensuing just a little ways away. But with time it moved away, leaving him to his own thoughts. Without opening his eyes Cole reflected back.
Gremlins had attacked them. Which was great and all, but he felt detached from the statement.
Gremlins in the dens? Unheard of.
It felt like only seconds ago he was walking through the dewy grass with a mysterious girl. And then, BAM! Hammer to the head. It was quite hard too. Although he had seen and killed plenty of the little midgets, he never quite took a hit like that one. Cheers to whoever that gremlin was.
He groaned as he sat up, placing his exposed hands against a warm metal surface. His muscles felt as if on fire, and the unwelcome pain clouded his confused head. He hoped to refrain from trekking through dangerous forests for a while now. At least a few months. Maybe
years.
Cole looked through through the ever present outline of his hood, peering at the chaos around him.
"Cages," was his first thought.
Through the bars of his own, he saw cages all around him, except to his rear. Back there was the forested area. Perhaps it was even more humid than the area he was in. In fact, the moisture was so thick in the air that Cole had unconsciously started wiping the liquid off of his face.
In front of him, laying on the floor, was the girl. She looked almost exactly the same when he first saw her, unmoving. This time however, he could easily spot the rise and fall that came with her steady breathing.
"Hey," he said quietly, hoping that no guards had been posted nearby. "Wake up."
Gwen stirred, but did not acknowledge his request.
He tried a little harder. "Gwen," a little louder. "Gwen." Her large blue eyes shuttered open.
For a moment he was transfixed. One could lose themselves in the depths of eyes like hers.
They focused on Cole, big and innocent.
"Cole?" she mouthed.
"Yeah," he breathed. Gwen pushed herself off of the floor and crouched next to him. The ceiling of the cage would likely come up to Cole's neck, it was clearly not made for them. He quietly noticed that she didn't look very sore, or otherwise in pain.
"Where are we Cole? What are we doing here?" She was clearly afraid.
He guessed that she hasn't seen much of the conflict on Cradle.
Slightly exasperated, he said, "I don't know. You remember what happened, right? The gremlins that attacked us?"
She nodded. "I haven't gotten amnesia again, if that's what you're asking."
Cole noticed Gwen bite her lip. Perhaps it was an old habit.
"What do they want with us?"
"I'm sorry, I don't know."
"What are they going to do with us?"
"I don't know."
"Is there any way we can escape?"
"I don-"
"If you say 'I don't know one more time..." She started, but dropped it. She was not exactly the type of person to threaten someone. Even an empty threat.
After a minute of silence, Cole noticed that she was staring at him. "Oh, sorry," she said worriedly. "It's just...are you OK?"
"Fine," he grumbled, not wanting someone worrying over him. But in fact, he wasn't fine. Besides the sores, he had earlier noticed deep cuts and a single gash on his arm. It hung there, limp and useless. Cole couldn't feel it, and that deeply scared him.
Gwen still looked dubious, but dropped the subject. There was nothing left to do about it, and so they waited.
Then chaos erupted.
All around Cole, was screaming. The racket that had occurred earlier in the day had nothing on this beast. He saw Gwen frantically searching for the source, although it was unnecessary. Cole only needed a glimpse to see what was happening.
All around him, wolvers growled, barked, screeched, and howled. It was the first time he had noticed all the other cages around him, surprisingly. A few moments ago, every single one had it's floor covered with resting, non-chaotic bodies. Now they were jumping on top of each other, perhaps injuring themselves for a reason unknown to Cole.
Then he finally saw it. Through the coming dark of night he saw the dark figure.
He saw that it's silhouette matched that of a smaller gremlin, certainly not fully grown.
Cole refused to believe it was a gremlin, however. The figure shocked him by bringing out a keychain that was previously protruding from its pocket.
Then the figure did the action that made Cole refuse to acknowledge this being as a gremlin.
It put the keys in the lock of a wolver cage and twisted. Without a single creak, the cage swung open. Well, there could have been a creak. But it's voice was lost among the cheering of the wolvers.
The wolvers' savior quickly ran to the next cage while the dangerous animals in the previous one sprinted for their lives. Most of them went into the forest, but Cole noticed a few head toward where the figure came from.
"What...? Cole?" Gwen asked.
Cole replied by shaking his head. "They're freeing the wolvers... Gwen, we need to get ready. Maybe that person is a friend! We may be freed as well!" Both quickly stood on their feet. There wasn't much else to do. They had no weapons, and Cole was injured pretty badly. He still saw Gwen giving worried glances at his arm.
Finally, the figure had unlocked every single wolver cage, and was heading towards their own.
Wolvers dashed throughout the forest floor, their numbers so large you could only see the ground in glimpses. Somehow the stranger walked through them all without being attacked, nimbly dodging the beasts.
A gremlin.
Cole was sure of it now, as it was close enough to be sure. Why would a gremlin be doing this? The apparent gremlin defect had already unlocked Gwen's cage. Cole had to admit that he or she was quick in their work.
Gwen tried to stutter a greeting to their freer, but the gremlin had already moved on to Cole. He took in every detail he could while she was unlocking his cage. This gremlin wore several layers of cloth, presumably to hide her face.
Cole had no idea how she was faring with the muggy atmosphere and a warm attire. He could see her eyes, and was slightly startled when he realized that they were meeting his own, as if studying him.
Finally the cage opened, and with a grunt, the female gremlin tossed a small package to Cole.
Then she was gone.
Was it a trap? Cole was not eager to open a package that came from a believed enemy.
Hesitating for only a few moments, Cole took the risk.
He ripped open the parcel to find a Baggie of blue liquid. A spark of life.
Once upon a time, Sparks were plentiful. They almost completely restored a knights wounds, unless they were missing a limb or two. But now sparks were hard to come by. The ones that still existed were either compressed into cloths or gauze, or liquidated. The latter being the most common and least effective.
Cole quickly open the bag and poured the Spark over his wound. The cuts that absorbed it
stung a little, but after half a day they would be completely healed. His arm was no longer numb.
Instead, he found a great deal of pain waiting to meet him.
He clutched his arm within his other hand, and everything grew a little fuzzy. He collapsed to one knee from the pain and soon found Gwen beside him, pulling him up. They ran out of the cage together. Thankfully, the bulk of the wolvers had left the area. Either to their dens, or to somewhere else entirely.
When he looked toward the biggest tent in the center of the camp, he saw the battle that was raging on. Gremlins and wolvers were hashing it out. Maybe a few dozen gremlins, and close to the same amount of wolvers.
One gremlin went down in a flurry of bodies, the beasts starting to tear at the meat before they were pulled back into the battle.
This is why wolvers were so disgusting to Cole. The gremlins would kill you with weapons. Killing you off with efficient tools, and get rid of your body later, but wolvers would give you a much bloodier death.
The wolvers were obviously losing. Despite the gremlin's most recent loss, the wolvers were
struck down methodically, one after the other. Soon it would just be the them and the gremlins.
"We have to run!" Cole told Gwen, legs already moving towards the dense foliage.
Gwen, slightly wet from the weather declined. "No! We can't!" She didn't offer any more reason.
Cole was suddenly frustrated with her. They needed to escape before the gremlins turned their attention to the lone figures in the cage area.
"You're insane! C'mon now, we need to go before we end up like the wolvers!"
Gwen started to move towards Cole, but faltered. He thought she finally realized the stakes. But instead she spoke into his ear as if afraid the busy combatants would stop to listen to them.
"I don't know why... But we have to stay. Something is telling me to, but I don't know what. Cole. Believe me, please."
Cole didn't believe her. Now he was thinking that maybe she was truly mad. He unconsciously backed away a step, and Gwen shot out a hand to grab his arm.
She did it gently, and pleaded once more with her eyes.
He couldn't.
The sounds of fighting was starting to stop, and he had to wish to kill himself like this.
He tugged out of Gwen's grip and started to walk into the forest. Several time he looked
back and saw that Gwen never stopped watching him until he faded into the tree line.
Felicity is in the slaughterhouse, I'm guessing?
I wonder who that Gremlin was. As well as the one that was mauled to death, especially that one.
The choice is perfect in line with Cole's personality. Good job
@Feline
Ooh! I completely forgot to add this to the end of the chapter:
Felicity is going to make an appearance in the next chapter. I apologize that it's been 11 chapters and I STILL haven't used 'em, but no more! I hope that I portray Felicity well!
@Sonosuke
Huehuehuehuehue
@Colray
Really? I'm glad! Sometimes I disregard the personalities in order to fit the plot together, so I'm happy it worked out!
Atta girl ;3
Poor poor gremlin... I get the feeling he deserved it, though >:3
Kudos for getting another chapter up so quick, by the way!
Interesting. I wonder which character story you'll switch to next.
You did say something about using new characters for new story parts.
:3
Death, Hugs, and Caek
-Cake
Huehuehuehuehue
Chapter 12 is done. Just going to get Caek to edit it now.
@Snu
Thankees! I'm glad you like it.
EDIT: I need the community's opinion. What do you prefer? Shorter chapters with faster release times, or longer chapters with lengthy release times?
I couldn't care less.
Unless there's an overwhelming amount gunning for one thing, I'd say don't even pay attention to the length. Aim for what you want to happen in the chapter. If it doesn't take long for the events to happen, great, it'll be shorter! If it takes a little longer than that's fine too!
As long as I'm reasonably busy enough to not spam the refresh button for the new chapter, as well as the chapter itself being worth the wait, go nuts. Just don't make them too short or too long.
"Co-ole! Co-ole!" his mother yelled.
Cole quickly raced into the small room that accommodated the dining table and kitchen. Despite being the smallest, it always felt bigger. The air was crisper, the ceiling never seemed short. Perhaps one part of it was the window. It was the only one in the ragged apartment, and directly outside of it was the wall of the next building. But it was a window, and Cole couldn't help but brag to his friends how lucky his family was to have it.
The other thing that made this room so much better than the other, slightly larger
rooms was the smell. When they had enough money to cook, Estelle, his mother,
would make even a seemingly disgusting dish into heavenly pile of mush. It always
smelled amazing, and even brought a few snipes to their tiny windowsill only to be
shooed away.
Estelle laughed at her wiry son's excitement, and told him to sit in one of the chairs
they had. He gladly sat, and realized his father was sitting at the table as well, on
the other end. He smiled at Cole, but it quickly disappeared. It looked as if he was
taking a call from someone. In fact, Cole could see the little silhouette of a knight in
his father's visor.
He soon forgot about his father, as his mother had just finished with the food. His
father finished his conversation by quickly whispering a response, and the figure he
was talking to disappeared. The mood was happy. Everyone was there, things were
good.
But all of that was going to change as he heard three rough knocks at their door.
Grief racked Cole's body. His arm was no longer in pain, nor was it numb. But that did little to
consolidate his regret. He crouched behind a fallen tree, hands rubbing his temples and trying to think through what was happening.
"You coward! You left her to die!"
"No, please! There was nothing I could do! She was going to stay no matter what!
If I stayed, I would've died as well!"
He argued with himself.
"Coward...coward...coward!"
Cole couldn't help himself. He yelled with anger and frustration, venting it all into the air around him. Once he finished, Cole slumped against the rotting wood, desperate for an answer.
Then he froze. Just a few feet away, he heard rustling.
"Gwen?" he hoped.
Then he heard claws scratching on wood. Snuffling soon accompanied it. It was another blasted wolver.
Cole was at a loss. He tried shrinking down, but that would never ward off his smell that the
wolver obviously had. From the other side of the log, he heard a low rumbling. A growl in the
wolver's throat.
No weapons. No weapons, no hope. He could imagine the beast ripping him apart, but decided that he preferred not to die today. Cole prepared to run as far away as he could when the wolver pounced on him.
He nearly passed out. The pulse of shock that tore throughout his body was devastating. Cole screamed as he felt the beast bite down on his arm, the teeth breaking through his cloak.
Out of deperation, he flung his arm to the side, slamming the wolf-beast into the log with a
CRACK!
The wolver was not deterred. Cole had let go of it, and as soon as gravity dragged it the the
ground it was right back up. Before it dashed to the right, Cole noticed a dire fact.
This was not a wolver, but a voltail.
As soon as Cole lost eyesight of it, he heard a deep snarl and felt what he thought was as
heavy as a table crash into his back. This time it was Cole that was colliding with the log, and he heard the same CRACK!
Pain flooded his chest and realized he'd broken at least a rib.
Cole denied his bodies screams to lie down and give up. The voltail disrupted his attempt to turn around by backing up an pounding into Cole wherever it could.
Adrenaline now flowed through Cole after the loss of his rib. He briefly regretted using all of
the Spark of Life the female gremlin had provided as he grabbed the wolver by the neck and
smacked it against a different tree.
He didn't realize he was screaming until two seconds after the voltail shocked him again.
Cole hurriedly tossed the beast to the side and clutched his burnt hand. Thankfully, he now realized contact would have to be swift with the blasted thing.
This time he expected the voltail's flurry of attacks, sidestepping each swipe and bite until
he was out of breath. In a last ditch effort to escape the beast's violent jolts, Cole jabbed the
voltail's snout in hope to escape its attack.
It jumped back with a shriek, and looked disoriented. It snorted to rub its nose on the ground for reason's Cole did not know. Cole took this as his cue to attack, and followed it. He kicked it's side, it's legs, anything to topple it. The whole time the voltail just stood there, swaying from side to side as it took every hit.
Cole didn't dare punch it. This was life and death. And he felt more confident with the strength in his legs.
Just as his leg connected with the wolver's midsection, it let out a PERFECTLY timed shock.
Cole floundered to get out of the grasp of death, but the voltail still clung onto his cloak with it's jaws and kept the voltage flowing.
This was pain like he's never felt before. The voltail never stopped. It's energy seemed
unending.
Cole's boiling blood broke through his skin in several places, and started to pool around him.
Tears soon filled Cole's eyes, and even those electrified him. It took a colossal amount of
energy to whisper, "I'm sorry, mother."
Just as Cole was about to black out, it stopped. Letting out a pitiful cry of relief, he collapsed to the ground covered in his own blood. He heard the voltail sniffing him, but no longer cared.
He blacked out.
----------
When Cole woke up, it was still there.
Nothing bewildered him more than to know that he was alive, albeit still in pain. Scabs had started to form to cover his wounds. Despite this, Cole doubted that he had been unconscious for very long.
After surveying his wounds, he turned his attention back to the voltail. He didn't like it. Cole
didn't appreciate how it looked at him, as if he was a treat that it wasn't allowed to eat. He
slowly and carefully started to push himself off the ground; his cloak ripping off of the dry blood.
He flinched at the sound but resumed when he saw the voltail wasn't snarling at him.
Cole shoved the pain his body threw at him aside, and stood on his two legs.
Suddenly the voltail started to get up.
"Oh Vog..." Cole whispered. As soon as Cole dude red the words, the beast froze in place. The two confused beings stared at each other in reverent silence.
Begging any god that would hear him for mercy, Cole started walking backwards into the
woods.
A chill crawled up his spine when he realized that just like Gwen, this voltail watched him every step of the way.
I think he means, "As soon as Cole *uttered* the words." ...That crazy spell check. :P
I definitely appreciated learning more about Cole's past and his story! However, since we haven't heard much from the other characters, I'm wondering what they are up to now?
@All
Sorry about that! I'll look for it. I really need to check over Cake's editing.
@Kanoka
The other characters? You mean how I've been doing it from Cole's perspective for a while? Don't worry, that'll change soon.
Beastiality is a sin! Knights aren't your toys! >:(
Oh. Um...
PRISION CAMP. That's it, prison camp. Sorry guys. I haven't worked on anything this past week.
I apologize once more for the lack of chapters. My heart doesn't seem to be in it anymore, but I'll certainly take another shot at it.
EDIT: I should also explain why I haven't been posting often as of late. For some reason, my home computer rejects the Spiral Knights site. Not the site itself, but only the forums and the wiki. I have no idea why. Currently the only way I can check the forums is in another household, a Library, or etc.
wat
I feel like I just walked into a garden that's been petrified.
Not dead, but Petrified.
It's not necrobumping if it's not in the graveyard!
I'm just going to go... Read all of what's here.
.
..
...
... mmmmMMMRRAAAAAGH
HHAAAAAAAAAA I hate being buried Underground!
I don't mind the name Ekusonos. In fact, I actually chuckled a bit when I read the name. I just really love that one character, but I wouldn't mind if an a-hole like him were to burn in hell. I mean, it's just a name.