Tales From a Parallel Universe: Part II (Lexx Fan Fiction)
Editors note: Since this story is more than twice the length of its predecessor and with a case of writers block I have decided to split this up into two parts. For those of you who haven't seen Lexx, I suggest you go watch it. You can read this stories predecessor here. Enjoy.
4412 Years Ago
We open to see an orbital scene of the Cluster, an unimpressive rocky silver colored dwarf planet which happens to be the seat of his Divine Shadow. The capitol world of the League of 20,000 Planets. But this is no ordinary day as a swarm of small black fighter craft in the shape of an insect carapaces race towards the surface of the planet. Most notably a dark black structure which covers forty percent of the planets surface like a blanket with a small opening marked only by a ghostly white gas bleeding out into space. As the three fighters fly through the opening we cut to the cockpit of one of the fighters. A young female officer appears on a small screen in the fighter's clunky interface. "This planet is to be cleansed. We Worship his Divine Shadow." The grey misty clouds passing past the glass canopy gradually change color into an apocalyptic red.
The clouds eventually clear revealing a massive cityscape under bombardment by more fighter craft. Explosions rocked the night as the three fighters make their attack run, raining down green sheets of energy upon ziggurat shaped buildings. We cut to the streets below as we see citizens in grey rag like clothing fleeing under the fiery red sky with fighters zipping overhead. It was complete Armageddon as tall sentry robots patrolled the the streets gunning down everyone in sight. The sentries and the citizens duked it out, armed with pincer shaped disintegration weapons similar to the ones on the fighter craft exchanging shots back in forth vaporizing each other. It was as if the Cluster was being invaded by a rival power but this is not the case. His Shadow's own military forces are descending upon the city in response to the largest uprising in history. This was not a shock and awe tactic to keep the populace under control. His Shadow had issued a "cleanse" order. All civilian and non government personal were being systematically purged.
The Austral-B heretics had unleashed a rebellion in which the likes of his Shadow had never seen before. While wars against freedom fighters and heretics occurred on other worlds in the frontier, no battles like this had ever happened this close to home. What had started with a simple guerrilla attack on the spaceport launched by the Austral-B pair had turned into a planet wide revolution. Hundreds of escaped prisoners and desperate citizens joined forces to fight the military might of His Shadow. The Austral-B Heretics lead by the 'stoic' Jack "Thruster" Killian used this as a distraction in a desperate attempt to steal bio engineered amino acids from the special projects area.
"We don't have much time Jack, the elite guards are on their way!" Shouted one of the heretics as the five men including Jack stood on a narrow bridge over an abyss in a large inverted cocoon shaped room. With alarms ringing, Jack seemed oblivious to all as he was fiddling with a computer console. "JACK!" One of his men yelled this time even louder in an attempt to get his attention. Jack continued to ignore him and eventually a loud beep lit up Jack's determined face with a large smile. "Got it..." Jack said in excitement as a glass case lifted above the control panel revealing hundreds of small capsules each about the size of a human tooth. Jack began snatching up as many as possible. Before Jack could grab the last batch he was interrupted by one of his compatriots having their head shot off by an elite guard armed with one of those demented ray guns from earlier. The body of the decapitated heretic proceeded to fall off of the bridge and into the acidic chasm below. Two of Jack's men proceeded to retaliate with a volley of shots only to have them deflected by a greenish energy shield around the guard. The guard grinned at Jack as there was no way across the bridge without certain death. Jack and his men took cover behind the computer console and retreated down a utility ladder.
Jack went on to give each of his three remaining men two thirds of the amino acids which he had collected just in case something happened to him. The four men continued through several access shafts until they finally dropped down from a ceiling into a dark windowed corridor lit only by the flashes of explosions and fires from the war zone taking place outside. The group took a moment to stop and observe the ongoing battle between the military and the revolting civilian population. Another explosion going off in the distance briefly illuminated Jack's smiling scar covered face. Jack had a sense of pride and joy almost as if he was enjoying the destruction and chaos unfolding in front of him. He observed a small green bolt coming from the city beneath and hitting one of the attacking fighters. His moment of celebration was cut short however when he realized that the flaming fighter now spinning out of control was barreling in his direction. "MOVE!" He commanded as moments later the fighter craft slammed through the large glass window and erupted into a massive fireball sending Jack and his men flying as they attempted to flee. As Jack and his men landed face down on the floor relatively unscathed a shard of metal launched from the explosion barely missed hitting him. However a piece of flaming sharp metal had impaled one of his compatriots instead.
"Close one..." Jack nonchalantly joked. The three remaining heretics eventually reached the spaceport (or the half of it that wasn't destroyed) which was now sitting mostly abandoned. Apparently though it wasn't all that empty as they heard the sound of shouting and a single shot being fired coming through the fog. They headed towards it feeling it might lead to a possible escape as they emerged from the vapor they noticed a lone officer of the Divine Order standing there. With a slight smirk Jack vaporized him with his pincer gun. Jack then noticed two people were standing a few yards away. Jack saw two women, one of which was a very familiar, Short dark hair pixie cut, small skinny frame, and a blood covered face indicating that she has literally been through hell. These two knew each other well. The woman was none other than Lilly Starstrider. A woman Jack had freed from certain execution upon his arrival on the Cluster. Lilly assisted him in freeing the other prisoners that seeded the massive revolt that followed. Lilly now exhausted was being assisted by very attractive, super model esq blonde woman who was helping her stand up and almost carrying her at this point.
Lilly proceeded to aim her death gun at Jack. The two heretics drew their weapons getting ready to defend him but stood down when jack raised his hand. "Why should I let you live after what you did!" Lilly screamed at Jack in a fit of rage feeling utterly betrayed by how Jack had ditched her and the resistance group they created together. Jack attempted to reason with Lilly. "Please, I have to get off of this world!" But this only angered Lilly further and who proceeded to let Jack "have it."
"Why? Do you know how many people died over your stunt? His Shadow killed them all.... and then some! You used us! YOU LEFT US TO DIE!" Lilly yelled in an almost primal manner. Lilly having been through hell was not having any of what Jack had to say.
"I am so sorry we abandoned you but we couldn't risk his Shadow discovering us or intentions!" Lilly lowered her weapon only slightly but still had it pointed at Jack who went onto continue. "Please....! We had to keep our plans secret, you know how fanatical his Shadow's followers are!"
Lilly was beginning to see some light in Jack's logic. Jack continued on with his speech as he pulled one of the capsules out of his pouch. "These are special amino acids which the Divine Order wants to use for some special project, we don't know what, but it cannot be good! Please getting these back to the reform planets could save hundreds of billions of lives!"
With both parties out of breath, Lilly lowered her weapon. Before they could exchange any more words during their reunion the two heretics escorting Jack immediately dropped dead by an object that moved faster than a bullet and made an ear piercing screeching sound. Jack seemed to jump behind Lilly as they all turned to notice the shape of a tall dark human figure in the steam. "GO!!!" Lilly strained at the top of her lungs as Jack boarded the nearby prisoner transport which was sitting idly by in the hanger. Lilly opened fire at this figure who began to advance out of the fog unphased, her weapon was utterly useless against him as the energy bolts which would vaporize a normal human being just seemed to give him a warm feeling. As he drew closer he revealed himself to be a tall man dressed in black with a beehive like bun for hair leaving only a single strand to hang in front of his ghostly pale face.
This was a divine assassin. A decarbonized reanimated corpse which His Shadow's bio viziers had altered down to the subatomic level to be virtually indestructible. Having no free will of their own, divine assassins were tasked with hunting down the worst criminals, fugitives, and heretics. Lilly had heard stories and myths about these undead warriors back on her home planet but had never actually seen one until now.
"I kill you now in the name of his Divine Shadow." He spoke in a stern baritone voice as a scorpion shaped metal projectile unfolded on his wrist. As he fired his metal death device the attractive blonde from earlier threw herself in front of Lilly taking the shot from his brace weapon in the heart. In a move that surprised even the undead assassin who raised an eyebrow. He stood there and watched as Lilly caught her as she fell towards her and proceeded to respectfully lowered her to the ground. The man in black showed an unusual sense of compassion as he let Lilly comfort the dying woman shutting her eyelids with her fingers. After which Lilly took a few moments to breathe loudly. Out of nowhere Lilly rolled out of the way and while lying sideways Lilly shot the control panel for the tractor beam allowing Jack's transport to take off. As Lilly in a last ditch effort turned her weapon towards the man in black. The assassin fired his brace weapon cutting off Lilly's right hand disarming her before she could get off a single shot.
We cut to a shot of Jack's stolen transport ship exiting the tunnel of the massive spaceport complex where it is immediately and effortlessly shot down by two passing fighter craft. Lilly however does not notice this as she just assumes that it was just the muffled sound of yet another random explosion from the battle occurring outside. "You should have not of done that" The dead man in black stated emotionlessly as he proceeded to tower over Lilly. Lilly mustering all of the remaining strength she had stood up on her feet with her right arm smothered in her shirt in an attempt to stop the bleeding from where her now severed hand once was. But it was too late, she had already lost so much blood that her face was very pale, almost as pale as the undead assassin who she was now face to face with. It was a sight to behold almost as if two corpses were having a staring match. Lilly's face pale and painted in crimson from her previous battles, eyes bloodshot gazing into the cold but beautiful eyes of the assassin who's face was smooth and delicate looking with a tattoo running down his face which resembled the mouth piece of a headset.
Lilly chuckled with a hint of laughter in response to the assassin's words. "You're going to kill me anyway.... What difference does it make?"
"Correct." The assassin responded in a robotic fashion. This fascinated Lilly, and ironically she found this person if you could even call him that to be calming. Lilly had been through hell and had seen so much cruelty from his Shadow's followers and so much death all in one day. However this man expressed none of that. He had an innocence to him ironically which Lilly took a strange sense of comfort in. Lilly's left hand gracefully traced the line tattoo on his face which felt frigid cold as if he ceased to emit any form of body heat. Lilly coughed while asking him what his name was.
After a moment of silence following her question, he responded. "I... I do not know." Lilly in a more relaxed tone asked him why he wanted to kill. "I have no desire to kill you, but I must do as his Divine Shadow instructs." Lilly knowing full well she would not making it off the Cluster alive was now very accepting of her fate and was even more relieved that this "assassin" was allowing her to die with dignity. She had sacrificed herself to let Jack escape with the amino acids which essentially made her a hero. She was ready now to see her brother again who was previously executed before she could save him. She nodded at the assassin and uttered her last words. "I understand...."
Lilly closed her eyes as the assassin raised his arm. His brace fired going right through her lung and exiting out of her back and then returning to him like a boomerang. Her body collapsed to the floor in which the assassin proceeded to step over and continued to carry on with his mission like nothing just happened. Lilly ironically felt a great sense of relief as it was over, she could finally rest now. Blood oozed out of her nose, mouth and eyes and onto the floor. Lilly noticed this as she became aware that she was officially outside of her body now. Lilly heard the sounds of ocean waves crashing onto the shore as she faded out of conciseness.
The hanger was completely silent and empty with five dead bodies lying on the floor. Several moments later Jack appeared from out of hiding. It is now revealed that Jack had snuck off of the transport before it launched and he had merely used it to fake his own death in the eyes of His Shadow. As he took time to admire himself and his well calculated move he noticed Lilly laying on ground amidst the other bodies. Jack ran over to her remains and frantically checked her pulse for signs of life. Feeling nothing he rolled her over to behold the bloody husk of a former person that she was. Like Lilly did with the blonde lady who had given her own life to protect her. Jack gently closed Lilly's eyelids. "You will be remembered as a hero on the reform planets should I make it off of this world. The Austral-B will sings songs about you Lilly." Jack said as he kissed her on the forehead and did some hand gesture (presumably an Austral-B salute) before rushing off presumably back into hiding as we fade out to black.
In the black void we hear the sounds of the ocean. The muffled sound of the waves folding in on themselves and smacking into the shore. The sound of the water coming in only to recede back out into the ocean like a breath. Everything is complete black, It is like we are in space except there are no stars. We are in a total vacuum, nothing except for the sounds of the ocean roaring. A few moments later a shimmer of bright blinding light appears in the void which slowly proceeds to grow like a tear in a fabric. The light fluctuates between dim and that of a sun. In actuality it is Lilly's eyes struggling to open, it is almost like we are viewing this in the first person from her perspective. We see bits and pieces of sand. Fragments of vision which soon connect as her eyes fully open revealing that she is face first in a bubbling foam and drenched sand on a beach which is "somewhere." She lets out a slight moan as she coughs up water and slowly wakes up and notices that her right hand is restored. In fact her an entire body feels whole again. As she begins the motions to pull herself out of the sand she heard a charming and delicate male voice. "Let me help you.."
Lilly gazes upwards to notice the face of a beautiful middle aged man with a bleach blonde buzz cut and a widow's peak. He was angelic looking with blue eyes just like hers and the most noticeable feature on his slightly aged face was his lip ring. The man extended his hand towards Lilly in which she placed her smaller hand in accepting his kind gesture. Lilly thought to herself that it was nice to have that hand again. As this unknown figure lifted her to her feet she noticed the weird clothing he wore. It was steampunk like. From the boots to his ruffled shirt, he was draped in a long black trench coat. Lilly thought maybe she was back on her home world of B6F which was a tropical world with beaches. But the sands of the beach went on forever in every direction, including towards inland as if it was a vast endless desert with no vegetation. This was not B6F, this was somewhere else entirely. "Who are you" Lilly asked.
"I am Prince." The man responded with his voice sounding almost like music to her ears as his fingers gently stoked her cheek. Lilly looked around with a look of disbelief. "I am dead, how is this possible?" Prince sniffed her neck until his nose reached her earlobe where he then whispered "You made it possible..." Lilly felt relaxed around Prince. "We are somewhere in between Fire and Water, one of which, you must go to. But that is to be determined."
"By whom?"
"By you." Prince giggled mischievously. "Come, walk with me."
Prince extended his hand once more for Lilly to eagerly accept and they began to walk together holding hands. Prince had a certain seductive charm about him. Lilly had never met anyone in her life with such poise and composure. "Where is my brother? Dylan, is he safe?" Prince looked at her with a smile."My... My.... That is a good question and a GOOD choice. You died a 'hero.'" Prince emphasized hero in a mocking tone and then continued. "and one of the first things you ask after your death is about your brother. You're more than likely going to Water, what a shame..."
Prince emoted some disappointment at the prospect of Lilly's soul heading to Water. Lilly's didn't exactly catch it as she was still wondering what Fire and Water were but instead of asking about that she persisted to ask about her brother. "Yes he is here, he is waiting his turn on Water." Prince replied but when asked if she could see him Prince joyously responded no. "Well maybe you might, but you both won't remember each other, so I guess I win after all." Prince chuckled as if this was funny. Humor which didn't entertain Lilly as she was growing annoyed with Prince. Lilly was beginning to realize there was something sinister about Prince she responded "How can you find something like that funny?"
"Because its what I do." Prince cheerfully answered with a smile. It seemed that Prince was taking pleasure in the knowledge that Lilly would probably never see her brother again, Even if she did they would not remember or recognize each other. Lilly stood there frozen with horror at the reality of this. Prince's allure over Lilly began to fade as she soon realized that he was no angel but in fact a devil. "So what happens now, and what is this Fire and Water?"
"You will live once more again, and again, and again and so on and so forth until the end of time. This is the end of the line so to speak, and now you will go on trial to see whether or not you live comfortably on Water, or suffer forever on Fire."
"A Trial?" Lilly hated 'trials' having just literally gone through the judicial system on the Cluster. "But who will be the judge?" Lilly asked. "As I said, you will, and look, here you come now." Prince pointed towards a female figure wearing a white dress shimmering in the distance. As she drew closer she turned out to be a doppelganger of Lilly. As this carbon copy of Lilly drew near "What is this? Who are you!?" Lilly demanded to know as if this was some kind of sick joke being played on her. "Are you seriously asking me that? You know who I am numbskull." The Doppelganger responded with Lilly's usual wit and sarcasm. Lilly being skeptical felt the doppelganger from her hair to her face and proceeded to run her hand down her arm where she observed that White Lilly had the exact same birthmark on her forearm as she did. "Yes, captain obvious! I am you!" The doppelganger pulled her arm away from Lilly. At this point a strong fog had rolled in and Lilly could barely see anything a few yards in front of her.
"Prince why are we wasting time here? You know where she is going." The White Lilly said to Prince with an irritated look on her face. "Oh, so you don't think she has any skeletons in her closet. I can think of one." Somewhere in the fog Prince had conjured up one of Lilly's memories almost like it was on display on a television screen except it was woven into the fog. As we observe this conjured vision we are back on the Cluster and see Lilly in the spaceport from earlier pointing one of those pincer shaped weapons from at an officer of the Divine Order. "May his 'merciful' shadow fall upon you asshole!" She said before squeezing the trigger taking the guard's head off with a single shot. The memory then faded out of the fog.
"Vengeance is not a reason to kill, and she enjoyed it." Prince gleefully noted as he pinched Lilly's chin. However to Lilly's surprise the doppelganger vouched for Lilly. "Yes she took satisfaction in avenging her brother, but she would have had to fight this man for her freedom which would almost certainly have resulted in his death." Prince rolled his eyes as the White Lilly continued. "Her heroic sacrifice in stalling the forces of his Shadow and letting Jack escape with the amino acids cancels out this act of selfish retribution."
"Heroic" Prince snorted. "Too bad it was all in vain."
"What do you mean 'in vain!?'" Lilly angrily shouted at Prince. "Yes Jack did make it off of the Cluster but let's just say later on a certain little imp lost those amino acids causing over almost 700 billion people to lose their lives. Your sacrifice was completely useless." Prince literally danced around Lilly and talked as if he was verbally masturbating. "This will be the last time you will ever remember or be able to recall anything from you're original life including your loved ones. I suggest you savor this moment." Prince reveled in this fact as he couldn't damn her to an eternity on Fire but sure enough he had make her emotionally suffer with the realization that this was a fate far worse than death. The gravity of this hit Lilly more than learning of the demise of the reform planets.
"Kill me, I don't want to do this... please. just end my existence entirely" Lilly cried. "So ungrateful...." Prince remarked "I will see you soon Lilly." Prince raised his arms as he proceeded to vanish into thin air in front of her. Lilly turned her attention towards the White Lilly who just stared at her with a neutral expression on her face like a disappointed parent. The reality around her began to rip apart. Similar to earlier where she had previously open her eyes, except this time the fabric of everything was tearing out of existence. As the beach disappeared around Lilly everything fades out to white.
Present Day
As if no time had passed at all, Lilly awoke buried under two heavy black silk blankets in a brightly lit bedroom. The sound of the ocean persisted which had remained constant from her out of body experience and death on the Cluster to the metaphysical beach and now was present in the backdrop outside of this room. Lilly however could not remember the former or even her own name now. Lilly climbed out of bed to notice she was wearing a dark cyan blue dress and matching mid knee-highed stiletto boots. Lilly walked over to one of the windows where she saw a beautiful endless blue ocean, no land anywhere in sight. Cumulus clouds worked to enshroud a large desert like moon which took up much of the sky and was so close that it was almost touching the ocean. A beautiful musical number coming from another room caught Lilly's attention.
The soothing sound of a harp playing and muffled chatter was all it took for Lilly to unveil the curtains over a door way to find a large glass domed room full of people dressed similar to her. In the center of the room was a lavish feast full of various fruits and meats. The entire room was ornately decorated from the support columns to the white drapes adorning the walls. Lilly walked over to the large dinner table grabbed an apple out of a large woven bowl of fruits. As Lilly took a bit out of the apple she gazed up through the glass dome above her to behold the massive reddish/orange moon. From this vantage point the only thing visible through the dome was the barren surface of this moon. Since this world was so close it's features such as mountains, canyons and so on were easily visible. The clouds seemed to form a whirlpool which moved in a motion towards the moon.
"Tastes amazing, eh? They're fresh from Garden. Are you hungry?" Said a young and masculine sounding voice. Lilly turned around to see a tall, dark haired, boyishly good looking man standing behind her who was also dressed in blue. Lilly smiled when his hazel eyes met hers. "Ah, you're new here. I'm December." he said as he reached out for a handshake, As Lilly shook his hand which was covered with an elegant tattoo she just remembered that she did not know her own name much less even have a name. Knowing what was going on with her, December made a suggestion. "How about we call you April?" Lilly flirtatiously blinked and looked down at the fruit she was consuming "How about Apple instead?" December looked at Lilly with arousal. "That sounds like a name from Boomtown, but Apple it is."
"Yeah, she can't be April anyway, I'm April." Interrupted a very familiar looking and attractive blonde woman in a revealing cyan dress and covered in tattoos similar to the ones on December's hand. We have seen this woman before though. Unknown to Lilly now 'Apple.' April was formally Stelios Peachtree. the woman who was lobotomized on the Cluster and transformed into a love slave who later gave her life to save Lilly. April seemed very familiar to Apple (Lilly) as if she had known her from some place before, But she couldn't place her. After all the only memories Apple had was waking up no less than fifteen minutes ago. Apple gazed at April still baffled with the feeling that she knew this person but at the same time didn't know who she was. "Don't mind her, she is newly awakened" December said as he threw his arm around Apple. "No worries, I will show her around." Apple eagerly melted into his arms. The sexual tension between her and December had quickly distracted her mind away from her apparent amnesia.
Even if you know that you are dreaming it is very easy to become immersed and forget about the fact that you are experiencing an illusion. This was the mentality of everyone who had woken up on Water, a world of endless bliss and beauty. Even if she wasn't aware of it, it was as if Apple was being 'rewarded' for something she had done in a past life. She wrote this thought off as just a figure of speech. Apple enjoyed a belly filling dinner at sunset where December introduced her to the other inhabitants of 'Music Town' All of which were covered in intricate tattoos and were clothed in caribbean blue like the nobles and aristocrats in ancient Rome.
By the time night rolled around December and Apple cuddled outside underneath the shimmering band of the Milky Way. Unbeknownst to these two. Fire and Water resided in the same solar system as Earth, so all of our known constellations such as Sagittarius, and Orion were visible to them. To Apple and December though these were just random clusters of stars illuminating the grey hydrogen gas lanes of the galaxy.
December explained that this was not the usual nightfall and that Fire was a planet and not a 'moon.' Fire was eclipsing the sun leaving Apple and December with a breathtaking scene of a dark planet with seas of glowing red lava lighting it's surface. Shooting meteorites darted across the starlit sky leaving Apple in awe as all of this reflected off of the vast dark ocean presiding in front of her. Snuggled up in December's warm embrace, he handed her a wooden ocarina. "I don't know how to play anything." Apple joked as she reluctantly accepted December's gift. "Just play from the heart, it will come to you, I promise." said December as he kissed Apple on the forehead. Apple hesitated but eventually held the ocarina to her rose colored lips and began playing. Apple performed a tune which was eerily similar to New Order's 'True Faith.' But this was so no ordinary ocarina. As she played from the 'heart,' A tattoo began forming on each of her hands. The lines in the tattoo grew like a vine as each note was played. The tattoos represented different musical notes, music which emanated from the soul itself.
"Look!" December excitedly stated as he noticed Apple's new tattoos. Apple stopped playing to notice the intricate shapes of flowers and vines with alien symbols (presumably musical notes) interwoven into them, Apple was mystified by the magical properties of the ocarina.
"Music is a very powerful thing" December commented. "It can dull any pain"
"It's yours" December winked. "I'm yours!" Apple could no longer resist her hormonal urges, in this moment of pure amazement, she kissed him on the lips. As the two passionately locked lips more shooting stars lit the night sky. The love making stalled when Apple noticed a large wingless dragonfly shaped object which moved silhouetted against the backdrop of Fire until it vanished. When Apple asked December what it was, he simply replied. "That is the Great Comet." Apple and December continued to kiss eventually collapsed into floor in which they were sitting. With Apple on her back and December on top of her, the two made love as the sun slowly reemerged from behind Fire creating a beautiful double sunrise.
Countless weeks had flown by as Apple had acclimated herself to her new life in Music Town. She made plenty of new friends and bonded with April whom she felt she had a unconscious connection with. April (In this world) had a shy but friendly personality. Apple's relationship with December grew as the two had fallen in love together. Music Town lived up to it's name. In this paradise all people did was play their musical instruments or discuss philosophy. If anyone ever grew bored of this, there were small wooden ferry boats that offered passage to the other floating cities on Water. For example, not all people on Music Town were a couple like Apple and December. For companionship the men and sometimes even the women would make a pilgrimage to Boom Town where the inhabitants had a reputation for their promiscuity. Apple and December would sometimes take a day trip to Garden where they enjoyed romantic picnics together in the city's namesake.
Garden was the only place on Water were you could find trees as well as millions of species of plants. There was only three women living on Garden all of whom were caretakers, but they eagerly welcomed visitors. Apple and December would visit just to lose themselves in the dense forest contained within this lush bio dome. Garden had it's own magic. Berries that would cause sudden surges of euphoria and ecstasy. By night, the vegetation and animal life here would put on a bio-luminescent display. The roots and veins of the plants would give off a deep blue and purple glow surrounded by insects radiating green from their thorax. December and Apple would both lay beneath these majestic trees as they would the stars back in Music Town.
Apple would still on occasion would think about the most basic questions every child has, Who am I? Where did I come from, and why am I here? December seemed to care very little about his origins whenever she inquired about his. None of this seemed to matter to anyone on any of the cities on Water as everybody was perfectly content with their existence. It blew Apple's mind how they could discuss philosophy from time to time, but never question this simple thing.
Three Months Later
On a quite rainy morning, Apple awoke with December firmly spooning her and still sound asleep. It didn't rain that often on Water but whenever it did, It was a tranquil moment for Apple. The sound of the rain drops slapping into the exterior relaxed her more so than her ocarina. Apple climbed out of bed covering her naked body with a thin blue sheet. Her body visibly had more tattoos now just like the rest of the people on Music Town. Apple walked over to the window to observe the grey overcast day with the sound of the rain and the ocean roaring in the distance. As Apple gazed into the cloud cover above which was like a fog. She observed a small balloon descending out of it. Another balloon followed it and another, and another, and another and so on emerged from the smothering clouds.
A loud gong sounded waking up December. Apple turned around to face December. "My love, what is going on?" December quickly ruffled the sheets and jumped out of bed to get dressed. "We're under attack. Fire is attacking!" Apple quickly rotated her head back to the window to notice more balloons appearing out of the grey haze and approaching the city. Apple was unaware that people even lived on Fire until now. December quickly informed her at this very moment that the two planets were at war with one other. "You waited until now to tell me this!? Are you serious!?" Apple shouted frustrated at the news of this of this revelation. Apple joined December in the rush to throw something on and join in on the city's defense.
We cut to the misty desaturated sky above where we see hundreds upon hundreds of balloons. An entire armada of Balloons with waves heading towards each individual floating city on Water. Up close the carriages of these balloons were wicked looking. The gondolas themselves were designed like boats so they could float in water if necessary. They were made of solid iron which severed as armor plating. Large spikes protruded from the bows of these gondolas giving off an intimidating look.
The gongs kept ringing as Apple and December rushed into the main hall where the inhabitants of music town were preparing to mount a defense by grabbing bows and quivers of arrows off of racks. April threw a bow and quiver to Apple where she barely caught both. April looked at the equipment knowing she had never shot a bow and arrow in her life, no time to pontificate over that though as today would be her first. It wasn't long before arrows began to rain down from the balloons directly above. The metal arrows pierced the glass dome causing class shards to fall upon and cut anybody who was unfortunate enough to be below it. Apple, April, and December took cover as a barrage of arrows began cutting down the row of archers trying to defend Music Town.
Apple aimed her long bow at one of the balloons above as she drew a single wooden arrow, She strained to pull back the bow string as far as possible. She let go but it wasn't enough as the arrow could not get high enough to even hit the bottom of one of the gondola. Not only was this plan strategic in using the storm's low visibility as means of a surprise attack, but Fire also had a clear technological advantage. Apple not only were the bottom of these balloons well armored, she also observed the men in the ballooned gondolas were using semi automatic crossbows to fire their arrows. With a single cock they could easily reload and with the squeeze of a trigger, unleash certain death.
Apple realized that they were outgunned and out matched and the residents of Music Town were just standing out in the open getting hit by arrows and failing to shoot high enough to reach the balloons. December ordered Apple to hide with him. Before April could run off to join the others in what seemed like a futile effort, Apple grabbed her arm and pulled her away. The three sought shelter in under the floor boards knowing there was no hope of surviving this attack.
We cut to one of the gondolas above where we see Prince in the physical alongside another man who is dolled up like a military general. A middle aged bald man with a large ring piercing on his left eyebrow and a war painted stripe running from his lower lip all the way down to the end of his chin. We know this man as Duke. Also on board this gondola was what looks like a primitive form of a television with a screen that looks warped like a bubble. On the distorted display is the face of Queen, Fire's third major leader who is broadcasting her image from her city on Fire. Duke and Prince positioned their mouths over a separate raised lens which looked like a magnifying glass in order to communicate with Queen. Not much can be seen of Queen except for her round face and curly afro like hair. Anytime Queen spoke, she always referred to herself in the third person.
This was no ordinary skirmish from Fire, this was a coordinated attack between Fire's three major powers. Prince being the supreme ruler of Fire who could transcend death. Prince could die and come back as any person that he wanted to. He also had some influence in which order people reincarnate on Fire. Prince had a dedicated cult of loyal lackeys who had a fetish for using daggers. Duke who had abilities similar to Prince but much more limited as he could only reincarnate as himself when he died provided the bulk of the invading army. Duke's men donned in uniforms made up three quarters of this attack, each using crossbows. Queen provided the balloons which were manufactured on her city called Girl Town.
"Do not drop any bombs and no fire arrows! We need their resources and we need some of them alive." Prince spoke in a soft but stern manner. "Queen wants Garden! Garden will be a nice home for Queen! Queen will have Garden! Garden! Garden! Garden!" Queen stuck her tongue out on the screen only to be shut down by Duke who was seemingly annoyed with her erratic behavior. "We can discuss these affairs afterwards. After we have conquered Water." Prince ordered the Gondolas to begin their descent on the various cities on Water. "Finally, I will rule this planet." Prince gloated much to Duke's disgust. Two of Prince's henchmen loosely dressed and covered in sheathed knives began lowering the balloon towards Music Town. The sound of crossbows firing overlapped the sound of the rain.
Music Town was now a grizzly sight to be hold. The main hall was littered with hundreds of dead bodies riddled with arrows. Nobody who had sought to defend the city had survived. Those beautiful blue robes and dresses which had given so much life to the place were now stained in blood and tattered. Remaining unsaved however was Apple, December, and April who were still in hiding unknown to the cronies who were now repelling down ropes from the balloons and into the cities. Apple felt a sense of guilt. All of her friends were just slaughtered and they did almost nothing to help but December reminded her that they would have perished too as they stood no chance. Eventually several balloons landed in Music Town one of which was Prince's. Prince stepped off of the gondola and with a wave of his hand ordered Duke to take off behind him and head for another city in the distance which was also presumably under siege.
Peaking from under the floorboards, the three observed as Prince entered the main hall. Prince proceeded to step over the dead bodies at one point he narrowly missed tripping over one of them where he non nonchalantly danced to shrug off his apparent loss of balance. His facial expression suggested that he was seemingly aroused by the amount of death that occurred here. Apple also recognized him from somewhere but couldn't place him. Whoever he was, he was in charge as his men seemed to fear him. "You can come out of hiding now." Prince cheerfully said knowing that someone was hiding here somewhere. December opened the floorboards to Apple's surprise and proceeded to confront Prince. No words were exchanged between the two as Prince circled December with a grin on his face. Prince nodded and two of his henchmen dragged April and Apple out of the underbelly. A struggle ensued but they were ultimately able to subdue the two girls and tie them up.
Prince immediately recognized Apple as their eyes met. "I didn't expect to see you so soon" he chuckled. Like a shark smelling blood in the water, Prince immediately picked up on Apple's connection with December as she looked on more worried for his safety than April was. "Take them to my city on Fire."
"Please don't hurt her, I will give you anything" December spoke. Prince raised his hand and his henchmen paused in taking the two women to their balloon. They both stood there grasping their prisoners and waited for Prince to give them their next order. Prince whistled for one of his men to come to him. The man bowed his head and handed Prince a dagger. The room had been reduced to a complete silence at this point minus the muffled crying from April and Apple. Prince with slight giggle licked the blade and then without any warning stabbed December in the upper chest. Apple looked on in horror as Prince twisted the knife deeper into December's torso. Prince then pushed him onto the ground. The blow appeared to be non lethal but extremely painful none the less. December was severely injured and bleeding out presumably to his death. From there Prince cleaned the blood off of his shirt as casually as if he had just accidentally spilled red wine on it.
"Doth protest much?" said Prince as he nodded at his guards who then put black potato bags over April and Apple's heads as they carted them both off to a balloon. Apple caring little about her fate was worried sick about December. The Gondola lifted into off into the grey overcast sky. Many thoughts raced through Apple's head. Was her beloved going to live? How did Prince know her when they had never met before and if that is so why did he seem so familiar?
Back in Music Town Prince ordered his men to clear the room of the bodies as he insisted that this will be his new capital city on Water. As the men began dragging the bodies to throw into the ocean below, two of Prince's men wheeled in one of those communication devices we saw earlier. Prince activated the device making contact with both Duke and Queen. The screen was a split between both of their faces."Boomtown and Gametown are mine" Duke stated. Queen yawned at the news of Duke's victory and chimed in. "Queen's forces have taken Garden. Queen is very happy." Duke scoffed "We all know Garden is the easiest to conquer as there are usually only four or five people there at any given time, amateur." We cut to Garden which which is being completely ransacked by butch women dressed in black leather. These are Queens 'boys' who are uprooting plants and presumably preparing the place for Queen to live. We do a quick shot of Boom Town where we see a horrific scene where the Duke's men are raping, torturing, and murdering the surviving inhabitants of Boom Town.
Back on the Gondala which is now floating high above the surface of Water, April and Apple are bound with their hands tied in front of them. One of the two cronies rips the bags off of their heads. "Well what do we have here?" the scruffy faced lackey quickly flicked his tongue out. "We have direct orders from Prince mate." The scruff face goon looked back at his partner in crime and then turned back to April and Apple. "But Prince said nothing about having some fun first." April screamed as Scraff face tightly grabbed her breasts. Scruff face became seemingly more aroused by the terror in April's eyes. He looked over to Apple to draw enticement from her reaction but instead she was indifferent. She wasn't crying, she wasn't even flinching still in a state of shock over possibly having lost December. Apple was off in her own little world.
Apple continued to sit there silent with a rotten look on her face. Scruff Face became angry at this and abandoned his his sexual advances on April. "Well then, you Missy need to be taught some respect." As Scruff Face grappled Apple and lifted her up, Apple out of nowhere unsheathed one of his many daggers and immediately thrusted it into his gut using both of her hands. Apple then flipped the dagger in a impressive feat of dexterity slicing off her bindings. Scruff face looked down at his bleeding stomach and applied pressure on it and then looked back up towards Apple with a disturbed look on his face. Apple with her hands free delivered a quick jab to his face knocking him to the floor.
"I am in no mood today...."
Apple growled in a distraught tone as April and shaven face looked on with total disbelief of what just happened here. Shaven face dropped his navigation sexton to the ground along side his jaw. Apple turned her attention onto shaven face goon number two. Apple grasped the blade of the dagger with her fingers and flung it at shaven face. Shaven face managed to dodge the dagger which tumbled through the air right past him. He let at a chuckle as if luck was on his side and began to advance towards Apple. Apple instinctively picked up a loaded crossbow which was lying on the side. The smile on shaven face quickly turned into a frown as Apple aimed it at him. Before Apple could pull the trigger a sudden jolt rocks the gondola as it has now been caught in the atmospheric whirlpool connecting Fire and Water.
Back on what is left of Music Town a heated conference is taking place between Fire's three major leaders on the communications device. Duke with Boomtown and Gametown under his control is trying to expand his territory by threatening Queen for Garden. "Fire is my world, I am it's Prince, and Water shall be no different." Prince calmly stated as Duke and Queen bicker back and forth towards each other. We cut to a few of the war balloons were Duke's men prepare what appears to be a primitive form of a rocket. The end of a stick the size of a ruler is lit on fire and held by what appears to be a chief in Duke's Army. The chief lights the end of the rocket and everyone stands back.
We see a shot of a few Balloons hovering on the outskirts of garden. All of the sudden those clumsy rockets fire like missiles towards Garden. The projectiles leave a smoke trail as they race towards their perspective targets. The missiles impact causing numerous explosions. Garden slowly begins to capsize and sink into the ocean. "NO!!!" Queen yells frantically on the screen on the communications device while throwing complete temper tantrum like a child who just had it's toy taken away. Duke just looks on in silence with a conniving smile on his face. Some of the balloons open fire on one another. Eventually Water becomes a war zone complete with rockets and fire arrows being fired all over creation as everyone begins to turn on one another. "YOU!!! IDIOTS!" bellows Prince who is now visibly enraged. A grey hood pops up from his trench coat similar to a Peacock's train as his face expresses frustration.
Back on the gondola, April, Apple, and shaven face hang for dear life as they are now passing through the shared atmosphere of both worlds. The sky has gone from being an ocean blue to a black as they were technically in orbit now. The only thing keeping them from suffocation was this gaseous vortex which they were locked in. Scruff Face falls to his doom as the balloon flips. Up becoming down, down becoming up. In this disorienting and chaotic moment, Apple notices the flashes from the explosions lighting up the stormy cloud cover on Water which is now directly above of her. The first thing Apple noticed about this place is that was hot. Think of the hottest and most uncomfortably humid day of the summer that you have ever experienced, and that was just the upper atmosphere of Fire. Before Apple could take in the view of this barren world there was still the matter of dealing with shaven face.
As Apple attempted to aim her crossbow, shaven face charged her and a struggled ensued. April began to saw off her rope bindings using a jagged edge in the balloon's makeshift design. As Apple and shaven face wrestled for control of the crossbow the bow fired puncturing the balloon's bag overhead. Air rushed from hole left by the arrow as the balloon began to spiral towards the surface of Fire. When Apple and shaven face noticed this they stopped fighting and in a surprise turn about began working together to regain control of the balloon with all their lives now at stake. No words were spoken as the two rushed to pump more air as they rapidly decreased in Altitude. April managed to finally free herself as she cut through the ropes binding her hands. As the ropes fell to the deck April looked up to notice many cities of Fire towering like pencils out of the vast desert below. Shaven face and Apple continued to ease this balloon's descent towards one of these three mile high cities on Fire.
To be Continued
Part III
4412 Years Ago
We open to see an orbital scene of the Cluster, an unimpressive rocky silver colored dwarf planet which happens to be the seat of his Divine Shadow. The capitol world of the League of 20,000 Planets. But this is no ordinary day as a swarm of small black fighter craft in the shape of an insect carapaces race towards the surface of the planet. Most notably a dark black structure which covers forty percent of the planets surface like a blanket with a small opening marked only by a ghostly white gas bleeding out into space. As the three fighters fly through the opening we cut to the cockpit of one of the fighters. A young female officer appears on a small screen in the fighter's clunky interface. "This planet is to be cleansed. We Worship his Divine Shadow." The grey misty clouds passing past the glass canopy gradually change color into an apocalyptic red.
The clouds eventually clear revealing a massive cityscape under bombardment by more fighter craft. Explosions rocked the night as the three fighters make their attack run, raining down green sheets of energy upon ziggurat shaped buildings. We cut to the streets below as we see citizens in grey rag like clothing fleeing under the fiery red sky with fighters zipping overhead. It was complete Armageddon as tall sentry robots patrolled the the streets gunning down everyone in sight. The sentries and the citizens duked it out, armed with pincer shaped disintegration weapons similar to the ones on the fighter craft exchanging shots back in forth vaporizing each other. It was as if the Cluster was being invaded by a rival power but this is not the case. His Shadow's own military forces are descending upon the city in response to the largest uprising in history. This was not a shock and awe tactic to keep the populace under control. His Shadow had issued a "cleanse" order. All civilian and non government personal were being systematically purged.
The Austral-B heretics had unleashed a rebellion in which the likes of his Shadow had never seen before. While wars against freedom fighters and heretics occurred on other worlds in the frontier, no battles like this had ever happened this close to home. What had started with a simple guerrilla attack on the spaceport launched by the Austral-B pair had turned into a planet wide revolution. Hundreds of escaped prisoners and desperate citizens joined forces to fight the military might of His Shadow. The Austral-B Heretics lead by the 'stoic' Jack "Thruster" Killian used this as a distraction in a desperate attempt to steal bio engineered amino acids from the special projects area.
"We don't have much time Jack, the elite guards are on their way!" Shouted one of the heretics as the five men including Jack stood on a narrow bridge over an abyss in a large inverted cocoon shaped room. With alarms ringing, Jack seemed oblivious to all as he was fiddling with a computer console. "JACK!" One of his men yelled this time even louder in an attempt to get his attention. Jack continued to ignore him and eventually a loud beep lit up Jack's determined face with a large smile. "Got it..." Jack said in excitement as a glass case lifted above the control panel revealing hundreds of small capsules each about the size of a human tooth. Jack began snatching up as many as possible. Before Jack could grab the last batch he was interrupted by one of his compatriots having their head shot off by an elite guard armed with one of those demented ray guns from earlier. The body of the decapitated heretic proceeded to fall off of the bridge and into the acidic chasm below. Two of Jack's men proceeded to retaliate with a volley of shots only to have them deflected by a greenish energy shield around the guard. The guard grinned at Jack as there was no way across the bridge without certain death. Jack and his men took cover behind the computer console and retreated down a utility ladder.
Jack went on to give each of his three remaining men two thirds of the amino acids which he had collected just in case something happened to him. The four men continued through several access shafts until they finally dropped down from a ceiling into a dark windowed corridor lit only by the flashes of explosions and fires from the war zone taking place outside. The group took a moment to stop and observe the ongoing battle between the military and the revolting civilian population. Another explosion going off in the distance briefly illuminated Jack's smiling scar covered face. Jack had a sense of pride and joy almost as if he was enjoying the destruction and chaos unfolding in front of him. He observed a small green bolt coming from the city beneath and hitting one of the attacking fighters. His moment of celebration was cut short however when he realized that the flaming fighter now spinning out of control was barreling in his direction. "MOVE!" He commanded as moments later the fighter craft slammed through the large glass window and erupted into a massive fireball sending Jack and his men flying as they attempted to flee. As Jack and his men landed face down on the floor relatively unscathed a shard of metal launched from the explosion barely missed hitting him. However a piece of flaming sharp metal had impaled one of his compatriots instead.
"Close one..." Jack nonchalantly joked. The three remaining heretics eventually reached the spaceport (or the half of it that wasn't destroyed) which was now sitting mostly abandoned. Apparently though it wasn't all that empty as they heard the sound of shouting and a single shot being fired coming through the fog. They headed towards it feeling it might lead to a possible escape as they emerged from the vapor they noticed a lone officer of the Divine Order standing there. With a slight smirk Jack vaporized him with his pincer gun. Jack then noticed two people were standing a few yards away. Jack saw two women, one of which was a very familiar, Short dark hair pixie cut, small skinny frame, and a blood covered face indicating that she has literally been through hell. These two knew each other well. The woman was none other than Lilly Starstrider. A woman Jack had freed from certain execution upon his arrival on the Cluster. Lilly assisted him in freeing the other prisoners that seeded the massive revolt that followed. Lilly now exhausted was being assisted by very attractive, super model esq blonde woman who was helping her stand up and almost carrying her at this point.
"Why? Do you know how many people died over your stunt? His Shadow killed them all.... and then some! You used us! YOU LEFT US TO DIE!" Lilly yelled in an almost primal manner. Lilly having been through hell was not having any of what Jack had to say.
"I am so sorry we abandoned you but we couldn't risk his Shadow discovering us or intentions!" Lilly lowered her weapon only slightly but still had it pointed at Jack who went onto continue. "Please....! We had to keep our plans secret, you know how fanatical his Shadow's followers are!"
Lilly was beginning to see some light in Jack's logic. Jack continued on with his speech as he pulled one of the capsules out of his pouch. "These are special amino acids which the Divine Order wants to use for some special project, we don't know what, but it cannot be good! Please getting these back to the reform planets could save hundreds of billions of lives!"
With both parties out of breath, Lilly lowered her weapon. Before they could exchange any more words during their reunion the two heretics escorting Jack immediately dropped dead by an object that moved faster than a bullet and made an ear piercing screeching sound. Jack seemed to jump behind Lilly as they all turned to notice the shape of a tall dark human figure in the steam. "GO!!!" Lilly strained at the top of her lungs as Jack boarded the nearby prisoner transport which was sitting idly by in the hanger. Lilly opened fire at this figure who began to advance out of the fog unphased, her weapon was utterly useless against him as the energy bolts which would vaporize a normal human being just seemed to give him a warm feeling. As he drew closer he revealed himself to be a tall man dressed in black with a beehive like bun for hair leaving only a single strand to hang in front of his ghostly pale face.
This was a divine assassin. A decarbonized reanimated corpse which His Shadow's bio viziers had altered down to the subatomic level to be virtually indestructible. Having no free will of their own, divine assassins were tasked with hunting down the worst criminals, fugitives, and heretics. Lilly had heard stories and myths about these undead warriors back on her home planet but had never actually seen one until now.
"I kill you now in the name of his Divine Shadow." He spoke in a stern baritone voice as a scorpion shaped metal projectile unfolded on his wrist. As he fired his metal death device the attractive blonde from earlier threw herself in front of Lilly taking the shot from his brace weapon in the heart. In a move that surprised even the undead assassin who raised an eyebrow. He stood there and watched as Lilly caught her as she fell towards her and proceeded to respectfully lowered her to the ground. The man in black showed an unusual sense of compassion as he let Lilly comfort the dying woman shutting her eyelids with her fingers. After which Lilly took a few moments to breathe loudly. Out of nowhere Lilly rolled out of the way and while lying sideways Lilly shot the control panel for the tractor beam allowing Jack's transport to take off. As Lilly in a last ditch effort turned her weapon towards the man in black. The assassin fired his brace weapon cutting off Lilly's right hand disarming her before she could get off a single shot.
We cut to a shot of Jack's stolen transport ship exiting the tunnel of the massive spaceport complex where it is immediately and effortlessly shot down by two passing fighter craft. Lilly however does not notice this as she just assumes that it was just the muffled sound of yet another random explosion from the battle occurring outside. "You should have not of done that" The dead man in black stated emotionlessly as he proceeded to tower over Lilly. Lilly mustering all of the remaining strength she had stood up on her feet with her right arm smothered in her shirt in an attempt to stop the bleeding from where her now severed hand once was. But it was too late, she had already lost so much blood that her face was very pale, almost as pale as the undead assassin who she was now face to face with. It was a sight to behold almost as if two corpses were having a staring match. Lilly's face pale and painted in crimson from her previous battles, eyes bloodshot gazing into the cold but beautiful eyes of the assassin who's face was smooth and delicate looking with a tattoo running down his face which resembled the mouth piece of a headset.
Lilly chuckled with a hint of laughter in response to the assassin's words. "You're going to kill me anyway.... What difference does it make?"
"Correct." The assassin responded in a robotic fashion. This fascinated Lilly, and ironically she found this person if you could even call him that to be calming. Lilly had been through hell and had seen so much cruelty from his Shadow's followers and so much death all in one day. However this man expressed none of that. He had an innocence to him ironically which Lilly took a strange sense of comfort in. Lilly's left hand gracefully traced the line tattoo on his face which felt frigid cold as if he ceased to emit any form of body heat. Lilly coughed while asking him what his name was.
After a moment of silence following her question, he responded. "I... I do not know." Lilly in a more relaxed tone asked him why he wanted to kill. "I have no desire to kill you, but I must do as his Divine Shadow instructs." Lilly knowing full well she would not making it off the Cluster alive was now very accepting of her fate and was even more relieved that this "assassin" was allowing her to die with dignity. She had sacrificed herself to let Jack escape with the amino acids which essentially made her a hero. She was ready now to see her brother again who was previously executed before she could save him. She nodded at the assassin and uttered her last words. "I understand...."
Lilly closed her eyes as the assassin raised his arm. His brace fired going right through her lung and exiting out of her back and then returning to him like a boomerang. Her body collapsed to the floor in which the assassin proceeded to step over and continued to carry on with his mission like nothing just happened. Lilly ironically felt a great sense of relief as it was over, she could finally rest now. Blood oozed out of her nose, mouth and eyes and onto the floor. Lilly noticed this as she became aware that she was officially outside of her body now. Lilly heard the sounds of ocean waves crashing onto the shore as she faded out of conciseness.
The hanger was completely silent and empty with five dead bodies lying on the floor. Several moments later Jack appeared from out of hiding. It is now revealed that Jack had snuck off of the transport before it launched and he had merely used it to fake his own death in the eyes of His Shadow. As he took time to admire himself and his well calculated move he noticed Lilly laying on ground amidst the other bodies. Jack ran over to her remains and frantically checked her pulse for signs of life. Feeling nothing he rolled her over to behold the bloody husk of a former person that she was. Like Lilly did with the blonde lady who had given her own life to protect her. Jack gently closed Lilly's eyelids. "You will be remembered as a hero on the reform planets should I make it off of this world. The Austral-B will sings songs about you Lilly." Jack said as he kissed her on the forehead and did some hand gesture (presumably an Austral-B salute) before rushing off presumably back into hiding as we fade out to black.
In the black void we hear the sounds of the ocean. The muffled sound of the waves folding in on themselves and smacking into the shore. The sound of the water coming in only to recede back out into the ocean like a breath. Everything is complete black, It is like we are in space except there are no stars. We are in a total vacuum, nothing except for the sounds of the ocean roaring. A few moments later a shimmer of bright blinding light appears in the void which slowly proceeds to grow like a tear in a fabric. The light fluctuates between dim and that of a sun. In actuality it is Lilly's eyes struggling to open, it is almost like we are viewing this in the first person from her perspective. We see bits and pieces of sand. Fragments of vision which soon connect as her eyes fully open revealing that she is face first in a bubbling foam and drenched sand on a beach which is "somewhere." She lets out a slight moan as she coughs up water and slowly wakes up and notices that her right hand is restored. In fact her an entire body feels whole again. As she begins the motions to pull herself out of the sand she heard a charming and delicate male voice. "Let me help you.."
Lilly gazes upwards to notice the face of a beautiful middle aged man with a bleach blonde buzz cut and a widow's peak. He was angelic looking with blue eyes just like hers and the most noticeable feature on his slightly aged face was his lip ring. The man extended his hand towards Lilly in which she placed her smaller hand in accepting his kind gesture. Lilly thought to herself that it was nice to have that hand again. As this unknown figure lifted her to her feet she noticed the weird clothing he wore. It was steampunk like. From the boots to his ruffled shirt, he was draped in a long black trench coat. Lilly thought maybe she was back on her home world of B6F which was a tropical world with beaches. But the sands of the beach went on forever in every direction, including towards inland as if it was a vast endless desert with no vegetation. This was not B6F, this was somewhere else entirely. "Who are you" Lilly asked.
"I am Prince." The man responded with his voice sounding almost like music to her ears as his fingers gently stoked her cheek. Lilly looked around with a look of disbelief. "I am dead, how is this possible?" Prince sniffed her neck until his nose reached her earlobe where he then whispered "You made it possible..." Lilly felt relaxed around Prince. "We are somewhere in between Fire and Water, one of which, you must go to. But that is to be determined."
"By whom?"
"By you." Prince giggled mischievously. "Come, walk with me."
Prince extended his hand once more for Lilly to eagerly accept and they began to walk together holding hands. Prince had a certain seductive charm about him. Lilly had never met anyone in her life with such poise and composure. "Where is my brother? Dylan, is he safe?" Prince looked at her with a smile."My... My.... That is a good question and a GOOD choice. You died a 'hero.'" Prince emphasized hero in a mocking tone and then continued. "and one of the first things you ask after your death is about your brother. You're more than likely going to Water, what a shame..."
Prince emoted some disappointment at the prospect of Lilly's soul heading to Water. Lilly's didn't exactly catch it as she was still wondering what Fire and Water were but instead of asking about that she persisted to ask about her brother. "Yes he is here, he is waiting his turn on Water." Prince replied but when asked if she could see him Prince joyously responded no. "Well maybe you might, but you both won't remember each other, so I guess I win after all." Prince chuckled as if this was funny. Humor which didn't entertain Lilly as she was growing annoyed with Prince. Lilly was beginning to realize there was something sinister about Prince she responded "How can you find something like that funny?"
"Because its what I do." Prince cheerfully answered with a smile. It seemed that Prince was taking pleasure in the knowledge that Lilly would probably never see her brother again, Even if she did they would not remember or recognize each other. Lilly stood there frozen with horror at the reality of this. Prince's allure over Lilly began to fade as she soon realized that he was no angel but in fact a devil. "So what happens now, and what is this Fire and Water?"
"You will live once more again, and again, and again and so on and so forth until the end of time. This is the end of the line so to speak, and now you will go on trial to see whether or not you live comfortably on Water, or suffer forever on Fire."
"A Trial?" Lilly hated 'trials' having just literally gone through the judicial system on the Cluster. "But who will be the judge?" Lilly asked. "As I said, you will, and look, here you come now." Prince pointed towards a female figure wearing a white dress shimmering in the distance. As she drew closer she turned out to be a doppelganger of Lilly. As this carbon copy of Lilly drew near "What is this? Who are you!?" Lilly demanded to know as if this was some kind of sick joke being played on her. "Are you seriously asking me that? You know who I am numbskull." The Doppelganger responded with Lilly's usual wit and sarcasm. Lilly being skeptical felt the doppelganger from her hair to her face and proceeded to run her hand down her arm where she observed that White Lilly had the exact same birthmark on her forearm as she did. "Yes, captain obvious! I am you!" The doppelganger pulled her arm away from Lilly. At this point a strong fog had rolled in and Lilly could barely see anything a few yards in front of her.
"Prince why are we wasting time here? You know where she is going." The White Lilly said to Prince with an irritated look on her face. "Oh, so you don't think she has any skeletons in her closet. I can think of one." Somewhere in the fog Prince had conjured up one of Lilly's memories almost like it was on display on a television screen except it was woven into the fog. As we observe this conjured vision we are back on the Cluster and see Lilly in the spaceport from earlier pointing one of those pincer shaped weapons from at an officer of the Divine Order. "May his 'merciful' shadow fall upon you asshole!" She said before squeezing the trigger taking the guard's head off with a single shot. The memory then faded out of the fog.
"Vengeance is not a reason to kill, and she enjoyed it." Prince gleefully noted as he pinched Lilly's chin. However to Lilly's surprise the doppelganger vouched for Lilly. "Yes she took satisfaction in avenging her brother, but she would have had to fight this man for her freedom which would almost certainly have resulted in his death." Prince rolled his eyes as the White Lilly continued. "Her heroic sacrifice in stalling the forces of his Shadow and letting Jack escape with the amino acids cancels out this act of selfish retribution."
"Heroic" Prince snorted. "Too bad it was all in vain."
"What do you mean 'in vain!?'" Lilly angrily shouted at Prince. "Yes Jack did make it off of the Cluster but let's just say later on a certain little imp lost those amino acids causing over almost 700 billion people to lose their lives. Your sacrifice was completely useless." Prince literally danced around Lilly and talked as if he was verbally masturbating. "This will be the last time you will ever remember or be able to recall anything from you're original life including your loved ones. I suggest you savor this moment." Prince reveled in this fact as he couldn't damn her to an eternity on Fire but sure enough he had make her emotionally suffer with the realization that this was a fate far worse than death. The gravity of this hit Lilly more than learning of the demise of the reform planets.
"Kill me, I don't want to do this... please. just end my existence entirely" Lilly cried. "So ungrateful...." Prince remarked "I will see you soon Lilly." Prince raised his arms as he proceeded to vanish into thin air in front of her. Lilly turned her attention towards the White Lilly who just stared at her with a neutral expression on her face like a disappointed parent. The reality around her began to rip apart. Similar to earlier where she had previously open her eyes, except this time the fabric of everything was tearing out of existence. As the beach disappeared around Lilly everything fades out to white.
Present Day
As if no time had passed at all, Lilly awoke buried under two heavy black silk blankets in a brightly lit bedroom. The sound of the ocean persisted which had remained constant from her out of body experience and death on the Cluster to the metaphysical beach and now was present in the backdrop outside of this room. Lilly however could not remember the former or even her own name now. Lilly climbed out of bed to notice she was wearing a dark cyan blue dress and matching mid knee-highed stiletto boots. Lilly walked over to one of the windows where she saw a beautiful endless blue ocean, no land anywhere in sight. Cumulus clouds worked to enshroud a large desert like moon which took up much of the sky and was so close that it was almost touching the ocean. A beautiful musical number coming from another room caught Lilly's attention.
The soothing sound of a harp playing and muffled chatter was all it took for Lilly to unveil the curtains over a door way to find a large glass domed room full of people dressed similar to her. In the center of the room was a lavish feast full of various fruits and meats. The entire room was ornately decorated from the support columns to the white drapes adorning the walls. Lilly walked over to the large dinner table grabbed an apple out of a large woven bowl of fruits. As Lilly took a bit out of the apple she gazed up through the glass dome above her to behold the massive reddish/orange moon. From this vantage point the only thing visible through the dome was the barren surface of this moon. Since this world was so close it's features such as mountains, canyons and so on were easily visible. The clouds seemed to form a whirlpool which moved in a motion towards the moon.
"Tastes amazing, eh? They're fresh from Garden. Are you hungry?" Said a young and masculine sounding voice. Lilly turned around to see a tall, dark haired, boyishly good looking man standing behind her who was also dressed in blue. Lilly smiled when his hazel eyes met hers. "Ah, you're new here. I'm December." he said as he reached out for a handshake, As Lilly shook his hand which was covered with an elegant tattoo she just remembered that she did not know her own name much less even have a name. Knowing what was going on with her, December made a suggestion. "How about we call you April?" Lilly flirtatiously blinked and looked down at the fruit she was consuming "How about Apple instead?" December looked at Lilly with arousal. "That sounds like a name from Boomtown, but Apple it is."
"Yeah, she can't be April anyway, I'm April." Interrupted a very familiar looking and attractive blonde woman in a revealing cyan dress and covered in tattoos similar to the ones on December's hand. We have seen this woman before though. Unknown to Lilly now 'Apple.' April was formally Stelios Peachtree. the woman who was lobotomized on the Cluster and transformed into a love slave who later gave her life to save Lilly. April seemed very familiar to Apple (Lilly) as if she had known her from some place before, But she couldn't place her. After all the only memories Apple had was waking up no less than fifteen minutes ago. Apple gazed at April still baffled with the feeling that she knew this person but at the same time didn't know who she was. "Don't mind her, she is newly awakened" December said as he threw his arm around Apple. "No worries, I will show her around." Apple eagerly melted into his arms. The sexual tension between her and December had quickly distracted her mind away from her apparent amnesia.
Even if you know that you are dreaming it is very easy to become immersed and forget about the fact that you are experiencing an illusion. This was the mentality of everyone who had woken up on Water, a world of endless bliss and beauty. Even if she wasn't aware of it, it was as if Apple was being 'rewarded' for something she had done in a past life. She wrote this thought off as just a figure of speech. Apple enjoyed a belly filling dinner at sunset where December introduced her to the other inhabitants of 'Music Town' All of which were covered in intricate tattoos and were clothed in caribbean blue like the nobles and aristocrats in ancient Rome.
By the time night rolled around December and Apple cuddled outside underneath the shimmering band of the Milky Way. Unbeknownst to these two. Fire and Water resided in the same solar system as Earth, so all of our known constellations such as Sagittarius, and Orion were visible to them. To Apple and December though these were just random clusters of stars illuminating the grey hydrogen gas lanes of the galaxy.
December explained that this was not the usual nightfall and that Fire was a planet and not a 'moon.' Fire was eclipsing the sun leaving Apple and December with a breathtaking scene of a dark planet with seas of glowing red lava lighting it's surface. Shooting meteorites darted across the starlit sky leaving Apple in awe as all of this reflected off of the vast dark ocean presiding in front of her. Snuggled up in December's warm embrace, he handed her a wooden ocarina. "I don't know how to play anything." Apple joked as she reluctantly accepted December's gift. "Just play from the heart, it will come to you, I promise." said December as he kissed Apple on the forehead. Apple hesitated but eventually held the ocarina to her rose colored lips and began playing. Apple performed a tune which was eerily similar to New Order's 'True Faith.' But this was so no ordinary ocarina. As she played from the 'heart,' A tattoo began forming on each of her hands. The lines in the tattoo grew like a vine as each note was played. The tattoos represented different musical notes, music which emanated from the soul itself.
"Look!" December excitedly stated as he noticed Apple's new tattoos. Apple stopped playing to notice the intricate shapes of flowers and vines with alien symbols (presumably musical notes) interwoven into them, Apple was mystified by the magical properties of the ocarina.
"Music is a very powerful thing" December commented. "It can dull any pain"
"It's yours" December winked. "I'm yours!" Apple could no longer resist her hormonal urges, in this moment of pure amazement, she kissed him on the lips. As the two passionately locked lips more shooting stars lit the night sky. The love making stalled when Apple noticed a large wingless dragonfly shaped object which moved silhouetted against the backdrop of Fire until it vanished. When Apple asked December what it was, he simply replied. "That is the Great Comet." Apple and December continued to kiss eventually collapsed into floor in which they were sitting. With Apple on her back and December on top of her, the two made love as the sun slowly reemerged from behind Fire creating a beautiful double sunrise.
Countless weeks had flown by as Apple had acclimated herself to her new life in Music Town. She made plenty of new friends and bonded with April whom she felt she had a unconscious connection with. April (In this world) had a shy but friendly personality. Apple's relationship with December grew as the two had fallen in love together. Music Town lived up to it's name. In this paradise all people did was play their musical instruments or discuss philosophy. If anyone ever grew bored of this, there were small wooden ferry boats that offered passage to the other floating cities on Water. For example, not all people on Music Town were a couple like Apple and December. For companionship the men and sometimes even the women would make a pilgrimage to Boom Town where the inhabitants had a reputation for their promiscuity. Apple and December would sometimes take a day trip to Garden where they enjoyed romantic picnics together in the city's namesake.
Garden was the only place on Water were you could find trees as well as millions of species of plants. There was only three women living on Garden all of whom were caretakers, but they eagerly welcomed visitors. Apple and December would visit just to lose themselves in the dense forest contained within this lush bio dome. Garden had it's own magic. Berries that would cause sudden surges of euphoria and ecstasy. By night, the vegetation and animal life here would put on a bio-luminescent display. The roots and veins of the plants would give off a deep blue and purple glow surrounded by insects radiating green from their thorax. December and Apple would both lay beneath these majestic trees as they would the stars back in Music Town.
Apple would still on occasion would think about the most basic questions every child has, Who am I? Where did I come from, and why am I here? December seemed to care very little about his origins whenever she inquired about his. None of this seemed to matter to anyone on any of the cities on Water as everybody was perfectly content with their existence. It blew Apple's mind how they could discuss philosophy from time to time, but never question this simple thing.
Three Months Later
On a quite rainy morning, Apple awoke with December firmly spooning her and still sound asleep. It didn't rain that often on Water but whenever it did, It was a tranquil moment for Apple. The sound of the rain drops slapping into the exterior relaxed her more so than her ocarina. Apple climbed out of bed covering her naked body with a thin blue sheet. Her body visibly had more tattoos now just like the rest of the people on Music Town. Apple walked over to the window to observe the grey overcast day with the sound of the rain and the ocean roaring in the distance. As Apple gazed into the cloud cover above which was like a fog. She observed a small balloon descending out of it. Another balloon followed it and another, and another, and another and so on emerged from the smothering clouds.
A loud gong sounded waking up December. Apple turned around to face December. "My love, what is going on?" December quickly ruffled the sheets and jumped out of bed to get dressed. "We're under attack. Fire is attacking!" Apple quickly rotated her head back to the window to notice more balloons appearing out of the grey haze and approaching the city. Apple was unaware that people even lived on Fire until now. December quickly informed her at this very moment that the two planets were at war with one other. "You waited until now to tell me this!? Are you serious!?" Apple shouted frustrated at the news of this of this revelation. Apple joined December in the rush to throw something on and join in on the city's defense.
We cut to the misty desaturated sky above where we see hundreds upon hundreds of balloons. An entire armada of Balloons with waves heading towards each individual floating city on Water. Up close the carriages of these balloons were wicked looking. The gondolas themselves were designed like boats so they could float in water if necessary. They were made of solid iron which severed as armor plating. Large spikes protruded from the bows of these gondolas giving off an intimidating look.
The gongs kept ringing as Apple and December rushed into the main hall where the inhabitants of music town were preparing to mount a defense by grabbing bows and quivers of arrows off of racks. April threw a bow and quiver to Apple where she barely caught both. April looked at the equipment knowing she had never shot a bow and arrow in her life, no time to pontificate over that though as today would be her first. It wasn't long before arrows began to rain down from the balloons directly above. The metal arrows pierced the glass dome causing class shards to fall upon and cut anybody who was unfortunate enough to be below it. Apple, April, and December took cover as a barrage of arrows began cutting down the row of archers trying to defend Music Town.
Apple aimed her long bow at one of the balloons above as she drew a single wooden arrow, She strained to pull back the bow string as far as possible. She let go but it wasn't enough as the arrow could not get high enough to even hit the bottom of one of the gondola. Not only was this plan strategic in using the storm's low visibility as means of a surprise attack, but Fire also had a clear technological advantage. Apple not only were the bottom of these balloons well armored, she also observed the men in the ballooned gondolas were using semi automatic crossbows to fire their arrows. With a single cock they could easily reload and with the squeeze of a trigger, unleash certain death.
Apple realized that they were outgunned and out matched and the residents of Music Town were just standing out in the open getting hit by arrows and failing to shoot high enough to reach the balloons. December ordered Apple to hide with him. Before April could run off to join the others in what seemed like a futile effort, Apple grabbed her arm and pulled her away. The three sought shelter in under the floor boards knowing there was no hope of surviving this attack.
We cut to one of the gondolas above where we see Prince in the physical alongside another man who is dolled up like a military general. A middle aged bald man with a large ring piercing on his left eyebrow and a war painted stripe running from his lower lip all the way down to the end of his chin. We know this man as Duke. Also on board this gondola was what looks like a primitive form of a television with a screen that looks warped like a bubble. On the distorted display is the face of Queen, Fire's third major leader who is broadcasting her image from her city on Fire. Duke and Prince positioned their mouths over a separate raised lens which looked like a magnifying glass in order to communicate with Queen. Not much can be seen of Queen except for her round face and curly afro like hair. Anytime Queen spoke, she always referred to herself in the third person.
This was no ordinary skirmish from Fire, this was a coordinated attack between Fire's three major powers. Prince being the supreme ruler of Fire who could transcend death. Prince could die and come back as any person that he wanted to. He also had some influence in which order people reincarnate on Fire. Prince had a dedicated cult of loyal lackeys who had a fetish for using daggers. Duke who had abilities similar to Prince but much more limited as he could only reincarnate as himself when he died provided the bulk of the invading army. Duke's men donned in uniforms made up three quarters of this attack, each using crossbows. Queen provided the balloons which were manufactured on her city called Girl Town.
"Do not drop any bombs and no fire arrows! We need their resources and we need some of them alive." Prince spoke in a soft but stern manner. "Queen wants Garden! Garden will be a nice home for Queen! Queen will have Garden! Garden! Garden! Garden!" Queen stuck her tongue out on the screen only to be shut down by Duke who was seemingly annoyed with her erratic behavior. "We can discuss these affairs afterwards. After we have conquered Water." Prince ordered the Gondolas to begin their descent on the various cities on Water. "Finally, I will rule this planet." Prince gloated much to Duke's disgust. Two of Prince's henchmen loosely dressed and covered in sheathed knives began lowering the balloon towards Music Town. The sound of crossbows firing overlapped the sound of the rain.
Music Town was now a grizzly sight to be hold. The main hall was littered with hundreds of dead bodies riddled with arrows. Nobody who had sought to defend the city had survived. Those beautiful blue robes and dresses which had given so much life to the place were now stained in blood and tattered. Remaining unsaved however was Apple, December, and April who were still in hiding unknown to the cronies who were now repelling down ropes from the balloons and into the cities. Apple felt a sense of guilt. All of her friends were just slaughtered and they did almost nothing to help but December reminded her that they would have perished too as they stood no chance. Eventually several balloons landed in Music Town one of which was Prince's. Prince stepped off of the gondola and with a wave of his hand ordered Duke to take off behind him and head for another city in the distance which was also presumably under siege.
Peaking from under the floorboards, the three observed as Prince entered the main hall. Prince proceeded to step over the dead bodies at one point he narrowly missed tripping over one of them where he non nonchalantly danced to shrug off his apparent loss of balance. His facial expression suggested that he was seemingly aroused by the amount of death that occurred here. Apple also recognized him from somewhere but couldn't place him. Whoever he was, he was in charge as his men seemed to fear him. "You can come out of hiding now." Prince cheerfully said knowing that someone was hiding here somewhere. December opened the floorboards to Apple's surprise and proceeded to confront Prince. No words were exchanged between the two as Prince circled December with a grin on his face. Prince nodded and two of his henchmen dragged April and Apple out of the underbelly. A struggle ensued but they were ultimately able to subdue the two girls and tie them up.
Prince immediately recognized Apple as their eyes met. "I didn't expect to see you so soon" he chuckled. Like a shark smelling blood in the water, Prince immediately picked up on Apple's connection with December as she looked on more worried for his safety than April was. "Take them to my city on Fire."
"Please don't hurt her, I will give you anything" December spoke. Prince raised his hand and his henchmen paused in taking the two women to their balloon. They both stood there grasping their prisoners and waited for Prince to give them their next order. Prince whistled for one of his men to come to him. The man bowed his head and handed Prince a dagger. The room had been reduced to a complete silence at this point minus the muffled crying from April and Apple. Prince with slight giggle licked the blade and then without any warning stabbed December in the upper chest. Apple looked on in horror as Prince twisted the knife deeper into December's torso. Prince then pushed him onto the ground. The blow appeared to be non lethal but extremely painful none the less. December was severely injured and bleeding out presumably to his death. From there Prince cleaned the blood off of his shirt as casually as if he had just accidentally spilled red wine on it.
"Doth protest much?" said Prince as he nodded at his guards who then put black potato bags over April and Apple's heads as they carted them both off to a balloon. Apple caring little about her fate was worried sick about December. The Gondola lifted into off into the grey overcast sky. Many thoughts raced through Apple's head. Was her beloved going to live? How did Prince know her when they had never met before and if that is so why did he seem so familiar?
Back in Music Town Prince ordered his men to clear the room of the bodies as he insisted that this will be his new capital city on Water. As the men began dragging the bodies to throw into the ocean below, two of Prince's men wheeled in one of those communication devices we saw earlier. Prince activated the device making contact with both Duke and Queen. The screen was a split between both of their faces."Boomtown and Gametown are mine" Duke stated. Queen yawned at the news of Duke's victory and chimed in. "Queen's forces have taken Garden. Queen is very happy." Duke scoffed "We all know Garden is the easiest to conquer as there are usually only four or five people there at any given time, amateur." We cut to Garden which which is being completely ransacked by butch women dressed in black leather. These are Queens 'boys' who are uprooting plants and presumably preparing the place for Queen to live. We do a quick shot of Boom Town where we see a horrific scene where the Duke's men are raping, torturing, and murdering the surviving inhabitants of Boom Town.
Back on the Gondala which is now floating high above the surface of Water, April and Apple are bound with their hands tied in front of them. One of the two cronies rips the bags off of their heads. "Well what do we have here?" the scruffy faced lackey quickly flicked his tongue out. "We have direct orders from Prince mate." The scruff face goon looked back at his partner in crime and then turned back to April and Apple. "But Prince said nothing about having some fun first." April screamed as Scraff face tightly grabbed her breasts. Scruff face became seemingly more aroused by the terror in April's eyes. He looked over to Apple to draw enticement from her reaction but instead she was indifferent. She wasn't crying, she wasn't even flinching still in a state of shock over possibly having lost December. Apple was off in her own little world.
Apple continued to sit there silent with a rotten look on her face. Scruff Face became angry at this and abandoned his his sexual advances on April. "Well then, you Missy need to be taught some respect." As Scruff Face grappled Apple and lifted her up, Apple out of nowhere unsheathed one of his many daggers and immediately thrusted it into his gut using both of her hands. Apple then flipped the dagger in a impressive feat of dexterity slicing off her bindings. Scruff face looked down at his bleeding stomach and applied pressure on it and then looked back up towards Apple with a disturbed look on his face. Apple with her hands free delivered a quick jab to his face knocking him to the floor.
"I am in no mood today...."
Apple growled in a distraught tone as April and shaven face looked on with total disbelief of what just happened here. Shaven face dropped his navigation sexton to the ground along side his jaw. Apple turned her attention onto shaven face goon number two. Apple grasped the blade of the dagger with her fingers and flung it at shaven face. Shaven face managed to dodge the dagger which tumbled through the air right past him. He let at a chuckle as if luck was on his side and began to advance towards Apple. Apple instinctively picked up a loaded crossbow which was lying on the side. The smile on shaven face quickly turned into a frown as Apple aimed it at him. Before Apple could pull the trigger a sudden jolt rocks the gondola as it has now been caught in the atmospheric whirlpool connecting Fire and Water.
Back on what is left of Music Town a heated conference is taking place between Fire's three major leaders on the communications device. Duke with Boomtown and Gametown under his control is trying to expand his territory by threatening Queen for Garden. "Fire is my world, I am it's Prince, and Water shall be no different." Prince calmly stated as Duke and Queen bicker back and forth towards each other. We cut to a few of the war balloons were Duke's men prepare what appears to be a primitive form of a rocket. The end of a stick the size of a ruler is lit on fire and held by what appears to be a chief in Duke's Army. The chief lights the end of the rocket and everyone stands back.
We see a shot of a few Balloons hovering on the outskirts of garden. All of the sudden those clumsy rockets fire like missiles towards Garden. The projectiles leave a smoke trail as they race towards their perspective targets. The missiles impact causing numerous explosions. Garden slowly begins to capsize and sink into the ocean. "NO!!!" Queen yells frantically on the screen on the communications device while throwing complete temper tantrum like a child who just had it's toy taken away. Duke just looks on in silence with a conniving smile on his face. Some of the balloons open fire on one another. Eventually Water becomes a war zone complete with rockets and fire arrows being fired all over creation as everyone begins to turn on one another. "YOU!!! IDIOTS!" bellows Prince who is now visibly enraged. A grey hood pops up from his trench coat similar to a Peacock's train as his face expresses frustration.
Back on the gondola, April, Apple, and shaven face hang for dear life as they are now passing through the shared atmosphere of both worlds. The sky has gone from being an ocean blue to a black as they were technically in orbit now. The only thing keeping them from suffocation was this gaseous vortex which they were locked in. Scruff Face falls to his doom as the balloon flips. Up becoming down, down becoming up. In this disorienting and chaotic moment, Apple notices the flashes from the explosions lighting up the stormy cloud cover on Water which is now directly above of her. The first thing Apple noticed about this place is that was hot. Think of the hottest and most uncomfortably humid day of the summer that you have ever experienced, and that was just the upper atmosphere of Fire. Before Apple could take in the view of this barren world there was still the matter of dealing with shaven face.
As Apple attempted to aim her crossbow, shaven face charged her and a struggled ensued. April began to saw off her rope bindings using a jagged edge in the balloon's makeshift design. As Apple and shaven face wrestled for control of the crossbow the bow fired puncturing the balloon's bag overhead. Air rushed from hole left by the arrow as the balloon began to spiral towards the surface of Fire. When Apple and shaven face noticed this they stopped fighting and in a surprise turn about began working together to regain control of the balloon with all their lives now at stake. No words were spoken as the two rushed to pump more air as they rapidly decreased in Altitude. April managed to finally free herself as she cut through the ropes binding her hands. As the ropes fell to the deck April looked up to notice many cities of Fire towering like pencils out of the vast desert below. Shaven face and Apple continued to ease this balloon's descent towards one of these three mile high cities on Fire.
To be Continued
Part III
No spelling quibbles this time, though the story in this one didn't seem to run quite so well as in the last one (mostly due to the Queen/Prince/Duke fighting, which seemed a little too on-the-nose), though the story does flow and the ending offers an interesting potential for whatever may prove to be the follow-up.
ReplyDeleteLoved the beach scene with Prince, and waking up on Water. The visuals are easy to follow if you've seen season 3 of Lexx. The War details are intriguing. During the show run very little was discussed in that vein (unlike so many other shows discussing content to death), leaving interpretation wide open. I love that this opportunity was seized, and we begin to see the balance of power. I can't wait to see what happens to Apple.
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