Yeah, maybe this thread is dead, but Genesis has been in my head ever since I started this thing. I owe it to the treasure vault to finish it. The story is in my head, its just a matter of time before I get it on paper...i mean...on digital text in a forum. Hope you guys enjoy! PLEASE give me some feedback, i love all of your suggestions. So without further ado here is the final part of Chapter 1....

Jax leaned against one of the alchemy machines in the arcade. He was only midway through his shift, and he was already starting to get bored. Jax took the time to take another long look out at the clockworks. The clunking of gears, the flashing of lights, he had grown accustomed to it all. There had always been a grudging love for the clockworks within his heart. No matter what happened he could always count on the clockworks still being there, just waiting for him to dive in for another challenge…albeit a life threatening one that was a terrifying hell run, but nonetheless, something he could always count on being there.

As Jax was deep within his own thoughts, his friend, and partner, Evo walked up to him. He was a knight with a more lean build then Jax, who had sort of bulked out to fit his armor. Evo wore a wolver coat and helm, and had his Khorovod strapped to his back. “Hey Jax! After this shift, you ready for me to kick your butt at Blast Network again?”

Jax smiled to himself, “If I remember correctly you won our last game by sheer luck.”

“Hell, its never luck when I’m playing!” Evo shot back laughing, “You just can’t admit that I know bombs better then you do.”

Jax chuckled to himself, if there was another thing he could rely on besides the Clockworks; it was Evo’s constant knack for making things much happier. “Maybe so,” He said, “maybe so…”

Just then, a sudden cold wind blew through the Arcade, Jax drew in his Almirian armor for warmth. “Brrrrrr! I hate it when that happens!” Evo exclaimed. “Heh, cold wind, bad omen.”

Jax laughed, “Hah, what are the odds…”

“That reminds me, remember that knight I told you about? Gunslinger…can’t remember his name.”

“Mkelican?” Jax asked.

“Yeah! Him! Did you know he’s being held?”

“What for?”

“Don't know for sure, but I over heard someone say that he flipped out and put a gun to an officer’s head. So the patrol at the time threw him in a cell,” Evo explained.

“Well that's…interesting,” Jax said.

“Doesn't stop there, remember that OTHER knight I told you about?” Evo asked.

“Oh come on, you don't mean that amnesiac who duel wields, didn’t he like, die?” Jax demanded.

“We don't know if he died or not, but Mkelican was his brother,” Evo explained.

A crazy gunslinger and an amnesiac, Jax pondered, I guess I’m not surprised that they’re related. Jax remembered when Evo came up to him when he had first heard about this knight. He uses two swords, he had said, and doesn’t remember anything! Jax more or less tuned out after that, Evo always had a weird internal library full of crazy stories. I wish you were here Elena, Jax thought to himself, things would be ten times greater with you by my side again.

“Jax,” Evo tapped him on the shoulder.

Jax sighed, “What is it this time?”

“Did you noticed that lift just went down without anyone on it?”

“Wait what? Where?”

“The Azure Serpent gate, it just…like went down.”

Well that's odd, Jax thought as he turned to the knight at the elevator console. “Hey Aere, load the history of the Azure Serpent gate for me please.”

“Uh, yeah…hmm that's odd,” Aere replied.

“When did the last person check out of that gate?”

“A week ago,” Aere shakily replied.

“…What? W-Where the hell is the elevator coming up from?” Jax demanded

“U-Uh,” Aere stammered, the back-and-forth between the two knights had attracted a crowd of various patrol members over, “A terminal in tier one.”

“Ready the defenses men!” Jax ordered, “It’s probably a knight…I hope it's a knight, but I just want to be sure.” Jax put on his helm and readied his Cold Iron Vanquisher. His patrol, a group of seven people gathered in a defensive semi-circle around the elevator.

A few minutes past, though to Jax it felt like hours. Not only was his patrol at the ready, everybody in the Arcade had stopped in their tracks to watch what was about to take place. Sweat started to bead down Jax’s forehead. It was so quiet, that the steady ambience of the clockworks now seemed like an uproar. Evo shifted unsteadily and looked around. A knight towards the end of the semi-circle shuffled his feet a little bit. The tension was so thick you could run a knife through it like butter.

Finally, Jax could hear the steady hum of the elevator, as the gears and wires slowly brought the platform up and whoever…or whatever was inside. Evo said probably what was on everyone’s mind, “Can the gremlins actually make it this far into Haven?”

“If it was gremlins, it wouldn’t be one elevator,” Jax responded.

“But we don't know if they’re even in the elevator, what if it's a bomb? What if this is a decoy, wha-“

“Evo! It’s bad enough that I have to listen to this [crappy] elevator slowly make its way up to the arcade, but honestly I think I speak for everyone here when I say that your questions wont make this much better for anyone,” Jax said slightly annoyed.

“Sorry,” Evo responded sheepishly.

With a clunk the elevator stopped in front of the group. Jax tensed, and so did pretty much everyone in the arcade; he could see a figure with a knight-like build unconscious in the corner of the lift. A recruit casually stepped forward, but Jax put his arm out to hold him back. “We don't know who it is, and I’m not taking any chances,” Jax readied his shield and said, “I’m going to have a closer look, hold your positions.”

He slowly stepped forward, unto the lift of the elevator. The platform sagged a bit taking the weight of both of the knights. “Watch yourselves guys,” Jax called, “this is one of the older lifts.”

Jax slowly kneeled down next to the figure. His armor was beaten so badly that it was almost unrecognizable, but Jax could make out the shape and material. It was an ashtail coat. The figure did not seem to have a helm, but he had a dirty hood covering his face. Jax put his hand on the knight and tentatively asked him, “Hello? It’s ok, your safe now, can you hear me?”

The knight did not move, and Jax had a nagging feeling that this knight did not make it up the elevator. Shaking the figure with a bit more force, he asked again, “Please, answer me, you’re safe now.”

The knight let out a raspy cough. Slowly, he opened his eyes and said, “D-Did I make it? Where a-am I?”

Jax smiled, and turned back to the knights behind him, “He’s alive!” Turning back to the hooded figure he asked, “I need you to work with me, can you answer a few of my questions?”

The knight slowly nodded, his eyes started to focus on Jax, as Jax asked him, “What tier squad were you?”

“Two.”

“What level did you come from?”

“Some terminal around tier 1.”

“Where is your squad?”

“Dead, I think…”

“What is your name?”

“C-cr *cough cough* Cryptus,” Cryptus responded, as he closed his eyes and lost consciousness.

- To be Continued-