Spiral Knights - Iron Claws

Iron Claws

7 replies [Last post]

Sat, 11/19/2011 - 03:03

Alphacommando

My second Spiral Knights forum post, and my first story. Enjoy.

Prologue

I was a Spiral Knight recruit on the Skylark. I was trained as a Guardian, and though Guardians normally specialized as swordbearers, I was better as a gunslinger. Lieutenant Feron gave me a Blaster and told me to begin specialized training from Kozma the next day.
The the Skylark went down that night.
I was woken in the middle of the night by a crash. Feron rushed into the Guardian barracks and told us the tearium core had been damaged, and the ship was going to crash. He told us to leave our armor, as it would only slow us down. I took my Blaster with me. The pods were on the other end of the ship. It was practically breaking apart when we arrived at the pod bay. Feron made sure everyone was in a pod before taking one himself. He ejected just as the pod deck exploded.
As I ejected in my pod, I saw his get knocked off course. It flew in another direction. Fire spurted from its engine. My pod tumbled, and I lost sight of him. My entire career as a Knight, and my teacher was gone.

Sat, 11/19/2011 - 04:23

Speedtoot

Nice prologue

Interesting story!

Sat, 11/19/2011 - 13:29

Alphacommando

Iron Claws

I had another part written up but it got deleted somehow. I'll write it again.

Chapter 1

I woke with a start. I opened my eyes. I was lying on the floor in my pod. I smelled burning wires.
I stood up and looked around. The pod seat was bent over. I couldn't see anything through the pod windows. My Blaster was next to me. It picked it up. The control panel had sparks flying from it. I turned to the hatch. The handle was still on, fortunately. I pulled it and the hatch popped off. I looked at the handle in my grip. I put it in my pack and exited the pod.
Outside, I saw grass and trees all around. The pod was on an angle; its front was half-buried in the ground. Fire was burning around it. Suddenly it flared up as it reached the fuel tank.
I only had time to think, "Uh oh," before the pod exploded. I jumped behind a tree as debris flew past. I looked back and all that was left was a blast crater and a piece of scorched metal. I turned and walked on into the forest.
I found no other life until I reached a bridge above a river. I saw a small green, chameleon-like creature sitting on the edge. It looked harmless, so I walked across the bridge.
But when I came within a meter of the creature, it opened its mouth and shot a long tongue that stuck onto my armor. I yelled and fired my Blaster at it. It squealed and its tongue let go. It began to jump at me, but I shot it again and it fell to the ground, dead.
I continued on and soon found another creature: a cube of jelly. It squelched over to me and tried to jump on me, but I shot it a few times and it melted. I killed several more, and then I found my reward.

Sat, 11/19/2011 - 13:46

Alphacommando

Iron Claws

Chapter 2

It was green, and went up to my waist. It had a picture of a four-leafed plant on top, with four leaves white and one yellow. It was a block.
I opened it and found several different things inside: around twenty silver coin-like objects, a jar of a red substance, a white cylinder, and a sphere.
I took out the coin-like objects. They had pictures of crowns on the front of them. I had no idea what I might use them for, but I put them in my pack. I picked up the jar. The red substance was glowing. I gingerly opened the jar and the substance sucked itself out. It flew at my Blaster and was absorbed on impact. The Blaster felt more powerful now. Only slightly, but more powerful.
I took out the cylinder. It had a red "2" printed on the side. Feron had told me that there were devices like these called vitapods that increased your shields. I clipped it onto the back of the armor and my HUD alerted me that my shields had been increased to 140%. I lifted the sphere out of the block. It was half-red, half-white. I opened it and a hexagon floated out. It clipped onto my armor and my shields were repaired back to maximum.
I looked back in the box. There was another item inside that had been covered by the others.
I lifted it out carefully. It was a shield. It was green, and had two arrows pointing up from near the bottom. It looked new and shiny. I held it in my left hand and continued on.
I killed more chameleons and jellies, and eventually found a pathway that led up to a newer-looking area. The grass abruptly stopped and metal took its place. The trees cut off too. I looked over the edge...
...and into hundreds of worlds churning below.

Wed, 11/23/2011 - 03:42

Alphacommando

Iron Claws

Chapter 3

Below, cogs and gears churned. I saw forests, industrial areas, huge monsters waiting for victims, cities, and much, much more. But everywhere I saw Knights. Hundreds of Spiral Knights, battling monsters. Just glancing at the battles filled me with pride for my affiliation. As I watched, one Knight cut down three huge tree-like monsters. Another melted down a group of jellies. Teams of four battled armies of tiny jellies, and a huge one wearing a crown.
Suddenly I heard a grinding noise. I turned around, and a moving platform emerged from above. It held three Knights. Each held a sword; one a Brandish, another a Calibur, and the last a Flourish.
"Hey," the one with the Brandish said. "What're you doing...?"
He saw the smoke from the exploded pod floating through the trees. Under his Cobalt Helm, his expression changed.
"Oh," he said. "How - How did a pod hatchling land down in the Clockworks?"
The Flourish-wielder slung his sword over his shoulder. "With all the stuff going on right now in the Ironclaw Factory," he said, "it's not that surprising."
"But this is underground, Edaronai." The Brandish knight looked puzzled. "How did he get in?"
"Whoa, hold up," I said. "What's going on here? Clockworks? Ironclaw Factory? Through the surface of what?"
The Calibur-wielder spoke up. "Edaronai, Jev, this guy... I know him. I trained with him as a Guardian on the Skylark."
"Really?" Jev asked, shifting his Brandish between his hands. "Who is he?"
The Calibur guy stayed silent. It was hard to tell is he was going to speak or not behind his Plate Helm.
"I'm Alphacommando," I said. I turned to the Calibur guy. "I assume you're..."
I flicked through the names of my fellow cadets. Jet, Sateer, Latex, Pej...
"...Rez," I decided.
"Correct," he said. "So, Alpha, what happened? After the Skylark crashed."
"I'm not sure," I said. "I woke up in my pod and got out. Then it sorta..."
"Exploded?" Edaronai suggested, pointing at the smoke.
"Yeah," I agreed. "Then I fought these chameleons-"
"Chromalisks," Jev said. "That's what they're called."
"Right. And some jellies. Then I got... here. What's all that down there? It's amazing... and, somehow, sad."
Rez put on his explanation voice. "That's the Clockworks. A huge system of constructed worlds that seem to have been harvested from the planet's surface and put here. As deep as we can go is 'Depth 29', the Core Terminal. A few levels lower is the Core itself, but nobody's ever been inside..."
"Ahem," Jev said. "Alpha Squad."
"Oh yeah. So, there was this group of Knights that went out when we first discovered the Clockworks, called Alpha Squad. There was Euclid, the leader, Parma, the scout, Rulen, the technician, and Grantz, the guardian. They went down, further than anyone but the crew at the Core Terminal, and then went... deeper. They went into the Core, somehow... and have never been seen since."
"Creepy," I said.
"Yeah, well, we'd better get you to Feron. Edanorai, Jev, you go to the Terminal below. This is only Depth 3. I'll take Alpha up and come back down to you."
"Alright," Jev and Edanorai said.
"Come on the elevator," Jev invited. "It'll take you up."
I stood on it and Jev and Edanorai went down. Rez and I went up.

Sun, 01/15/2012 - 15:50

Alphacommando

As the elevator zoomed up, I

(I know I'm posting in a month-and-a-half dead thread, but I don't want to let my story die D:)

As the elevator zoomed up, I saw unimaginable things - canine statues shooting bullets, robots with swords and shields - but only had a split-second to look at each of them. Despite the elevator's creaking noises, it was deceptively fast. It slowed to a stop after a minute. We were in a room of metal. There were lines of elevators along the black wall, and the light was dim. I turned around and realised the wall wasn't black - there wasn't a wall at all. There was a drop, halted on by a small guardrail, that fell down into the Clockworks. Pillars of symbols I didn't recognize were behind each gate.
"What is this place?" I asked, warily eyeing Knights walking by in armor I didn't recognize.
"This is the Arcade," Rez said. "The hub of Clockworks monitoring. Knights go into and come out of the Clockworks from here."
We walked up a small slope and entered a small, open control center. A knight is bulky armor stood staring into the Clockworks abyss. Another stood, working on a control panel.
Rez began, "Captain Fe-" But then the knight spun around, unsheathing a deadly-sharp sword at the same time. He moved with deadly accuracy - and pressed it against my throat. I nearly jumped in panic, but kept calm.
"Feron!" Rez said, astonished.
Feron? I thought. This is Feron? What is he doing?
A deep voice came from the plated helmet. "You are dismissed, Rez."
"Sir!" he objected. "You can't do this. This is A-"
"I know who it is!" Feron snapped. His voice was so intimidating, I didn't blame Rez for shying back.
"Yes, sir," Rez said, giving me an apologetic look. I nodded as much as I could to show it was ok, but Feron seemed to take it as an escape plan.
"Don't try anything," he growled. "This is a spike plucked from the Snarbolax itself. I wouldn't be messing with it."
"The Snarb-?" I began, but Feron moved the sword closer to my throat.
"Come with me," he said. We moved off towards a door. We exited the Arcade and I found myself in a large area filled with knights. They turned collectively to stare at us. I guess hostage situations involving two Knights didn't happen very often.
Then Feron did something very creepy. He casted a glare over the crowds, and they jumped and turned back to their business. I saw Feron reflection in a Knight's shiny helmet, and Feron - Feron had glowing red eyes.

Thu, 01/19/2012 - 18:16

Dark-Flare

+OVER 9000!!

Whoa I love your story!! It's really awesome! Please do continue!! XD

Sat, 04/07/2012 - 01:20

Alphacommando

Mega-revive!!! Several months

Mega-revive!!! Several months dead, but I've just come back to Spiral Knights and I want to continue this. :)

Chapter 5

As Feron took me through the town of Haven, he kept casting fiery glares at anyone who dared look at him. He took a turn just past a large fountain and entered an area filled mostly with tall, hooded or masked creatures who were selling goods to Knights.
Feron took a turn down a set of steps and the grip on his sword loosened slightly. He led me down into a more darkened area and then turned into a corridor with dim lighting. After several minutes walking down he stopped, opened a door and rushed me inside, closing the door behind us.
As soon as it was closed, he dropped his sword from my throat and sheathed it. He tore his horned helmet from his head to reveal the face I recognized from the Skylark.
"Feron!" I said simply, unsure what else to say. "What... why did you..."
"I'll explain," he said, his voice now the same as his old self. "Have a seat."
The room was fairly lit and overlooked the Clockworks, with a view that could the Core if you looked closely enough. I sat down in a chair as Feron placed his helmet and sword on a shelf. He walked over to me and sat down on opposite side of the room.
"I only took you hostage because the Spiral Treasury has been putting pressure on the military to be more... strict," he explained. "Violent. Even forcing us to do things like... that. But they shouldn't force us to do anything too much for the next couple of weeks. Thanks for... cooperating?"
"Uh, it's fine..." I said. "Feron, what happened here? What happened to the Skylark? Why am I so late?"
"Well, what happened here? The Skylark went down. All knights ejected in pods, as you know. Most of us crashed in the same general area, near Haven. We were greeted and welcomed by the Strangers, the tall creatures you see around the town. They told us of the monster hordes in the Clockworks harassing them and we agreed to help out, and now we're defending them and they supply us gear. Some of the braver Strangers go into the Clockworks, at Terminals, to supply gear in the field.
"What happened to the Skylark? Put simply, we don't know. Some people think it was Cradle's - the planet's - magnetic field. Some think something in the Clockworks shot at us. Some think it was sabotage, or betrayal. Nobody has any proof.
"Why are you so late? I'm not sure. You somehow broke through the surface of Cradle and ended up three depths down in the Clockworks. Maybe you were caught in the gravity of the planet, some effect made you unconscious, and you orbited for a few weeks until the gravity flung you into the Clockworks. We'll need to look into it."

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Iron Claws