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Injunheart - Shattered

Oct 8th, 2015
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  1. >Who are you?
  2. >Where are you?
  3. >How did you get here?
  4. >These thoughts and more float in head as you feel yourself soar on unseen currents through this waterless sea.
  5. >Wait…
  6. >There it is.
  7. >A purpose.
  8. >It’s vague, but it’s there.
  9. >You need to find something, or someone.
  10. >But what exactly is it that you are looking for, and why?
  11. >Your unvoiced queries echo off into the eternal distance.
  12. >You wish you weren’t stuck in this.. place.
  13. >You can’t move, can’t see or feel.
  14. >But something in the back of your mind tells you there is one thing you can do.
  15. >You flex incorporeal muscles you didn’t know you had.
  16. >They flow through and around you like snakes, ready to enact your will.
  17. >You think.
  18. [Show me where I should go.]
  19. >And they do.
  20. >Out of the nothingness they come.
  21. >Sights, sounds, smells, all of it at once.
  22. >Visions of foreign places and unrecognized faces.
  23. >...
  24. >You see her.
  25. >A girl, working feverishly on some mechanical contraption.
  26. >She’s in a small, dark, and dusty workshop.
  27. >Old tomes and mistreated manuals litter the tables and shelves around her, where the space isn’t taken up by drawings and other little machines.
  28. >A half eaten pastry sits forgotten on a dingy little desk on the far side of the room, next to a mug of coffee that has long since gone cold.
  29. >The girl herself looks like she’s seen better days.
  30. >Or maybe not.
  31. >Her hair is dirty and unkempt, her clothes are lightly dusted like the room itself.
  32. >The girl herself is incredibly pale and likely hasn’t seen the light of day in a long while.
  33. >She mutters to herself as she continues to work on her “thing,” whatever it is.
  34. >A small crystal on the contraption begins to glow softly.
  35. >She lets out a small gasp before muttering with even more intensity.
  36. >As she tinkers with the thing when suddenly the glow from the crystal begins pulsating rapidly.
  37. >”No, no, NO!”
  38. >There’s a muffled poof, and the crystal shatters.
  39. >”Argh!”
  40. >She takes the thing and throws at the other wall, before sighing and slumping down, face in her hands.
  41. >...
  42. >You’re in the countryside now.
  43. >A young woman is attempting to till her fields, but it doesn’t look like it’ll do her much good.
  44. >The ground is dry, practically dust.
  45. >It’s not just this farm.
  46. >The surrounding countryside looks to be in a state of drought.
  47. >There might be a famine in the near future, if it hasn’t started already.
  48. >But still, on and on the woman works.
  49. >The sweat and dust on her brow and some scratches in the dirt are the only reward to her hard work.
  50. >She pauses for a second to look off in the distance.
  51. >The road is empty.
  52. >She gives a forlorn sigh before turning back to her work.
  53. >...
  54. >A city appears before your eyes.
  55. >It’s streets bustle with the activity of what must be thousands of people.
  56. >Gleaming spires and boulevards paved with what may as well be marble.
  57. >The vision shifts.
  58. >Clean, beautiful squares and tall buildings built to please the eye make way for narrow streets beneath wooden shacks built one on top of another.
  59. >There is people here, no less than before, but everyone is dirtier and shiftier.
  60. >In one of these streets a young girl sits.
  61. >She huddles in shadow of the crowd, covered with a threadbare shawl.
  62. >In front of her is a beat up tin, in which lies a single coin.
  63. >The crowd passes her by, few even deigning to look at her.
  64. >She stares at the ground, a sad look on her dirt smeared face.
  65. >...
  66. >You see a small town.
  67. >While nowhere as ostentatious as the city, it is quaint.
  68. >Small parks and humble buildings make for a pleasant atmosphere.
  69. >A shopkeep sits in her small work area, looking bored.
  70. >She fiddles with some cloth before setting it on top of a small pile of similar pieces.
  71. >Her face momentarily shifts to one of worry as she looks at the window of the shop.
  72. >Several holes mar the surface of the otherwise pristine glass.
  73. >They seem to be recent, but have since been covered up.
  74. >Seems like there was trouble recently.
  75. >The shopkeep looks from the window to a small painting on the wall.
  76. >It’s of a noble couple, sitting on a bench with a mansion in the background.
  77. >A wistful smile crosses her face before it promptly leaves.
  78. >A small bell jingles, the sound disturbing the young shopkeep’s peace.
  79. >She rushes to greet her potential clients.
  80. >The scenery changes again.
  81. >...
  82. >A cottage sits on the edge of the forest.
  83. >It’s empty.
  84. >Your focus shifts elsewhere, into the forest itself.
  85. >An animal shrieks in pain.
  86. >There’s the rustling of leaves, then silence.
  87. >In a clearing, a figure is hunched over a huge white stag.
  88. >The animal is clearly in pain, and blood has wet the grass around it.
  89. >The figure is movements are quick and erratic.
  90. >They try to staunch the wound and soothe the animal.
  91. >It’s no use.
  92. >There’s too much blood.
  93. >And there’s something else at work here.
  94. >The stag coughs out blood, and its eyes cloud over.
  95. >The figure doubles their efforts, but it’s too late.
  96. >The stag gives a final ragged breath before finally succumbing to its wound.
  97. >The figure pauses, then embraces the animal, as though to say they’re sorry.
  98. >They finally look up.
  99. >They is actually a she, and she peers deeper into the woods.
  100. >Tracks lead off into the deep forest, strange ones.
  101. >She has worried look on her face, but it quickly turns into one of determination.
  102. >She gets up and sets off.
  103. >...
  104. >Pastures in an idyllic hill country.
  105. >Sheep graze as a young shepherdess plays around with some rocks.
  106. >She juggles them, sometimes throwing one out, then hitting it mid-air with another.
  107. >It’s quite a sight.
  108. >She hits every single one of them without fail.
  109. >When she runs out of rocks, she takes a large stick from the ground and begins to play around with it.
  110. >She duels with imaginary foes, hacking and stabbing the air.
  111. >The sheep occasionally pause their grazing to look at her, unimpressed with her antics.
  112. >Jumping onto a small boulder, she brandishes her weapon at her invisible adversaries, as though daring them to challenge her.
  113. >A yell startles her, causing her to lose her footing and tumble off the boulder.
  114. >Another shepherd waves at her frantically, obviously distressed.
  115. >That’s when she sees it.
  116. >A pillar of black smoke on the horizon.
  117. >”Not again…”
  118. >She rushes off to follow her compatriot.
  119. >The sheep watch as they leave before returning to their grassy meals.
  120. >They aren’t going anywhere.
  121. >...
  122. >A desert stretches out to the horizon in all directions.
  123. >The occasional mesa juts out of the ground in the far distance, stretching up to meet the sky.
  124. >A young woman sits in the shade under a tree.
  125. >She looks out to the horizon, as though she were expecting someone.
  126. >She’s haggard, but otherwise calm and peaceful, and her clothes and pack, though somewhat dirty and worn, are well maintained.
  127. >There are scars on her face and hands.
  128. >She’s obviously had a hard and violent life, as young as she is.
  129. >Behind her, a cloud of dust grows closer.
  130. >Someone is coming.
  131. >She looks back at it, then continues to look forward.
  132. >She occasionally looks up at the empty sky, then down at her wrist, at a crude time telling device.
  133. >What could she be waiting for?
  134. >Whatever, or whoever it is, it seems as though they’re late.
  135. >The vision fades, as do your senses.
  136. >These are what you must find.
  137. >You must gather all of them.
  138. >However, you can’t be in seven places at once.
  139. >So where should you start?
  140. >You think for moment, before deciding.
  141. >You see it in your mind.
  142. >You want to be there.
  143. >And so, there you are.
  144.  
  145. >The desert sun shines upon you, it’s heat warming your skin.
  146. >You look around.
  147. >It’s just like your vision, except now you’re in it.
  148. >In front of you is the young woman from earlier.
  149. >She sits there, giving you a blank stare for a second before finally recoiling in surprise.
  150. >You probably weren’t who she was expecting.
  151. >The dust cloud from earlier is even closer now, but the figures within remain obscured.
  152. >The woman briefly looks back at it before picking herself up off the floor.
  153. >Grabbing her pack, as well as some odd looking materials that lay in front of her, she makes her way over to you.
  154. >She slows down as she nears you, before coming to a stop a short distance away.
  155. >She has a nervous look on her face now.
  156. >”Are you the one they told me to meet?”
  157. >Who?
  158. >You look at her in confusion.
  159. >”You know what, we can talk about that later. Can you help me?"
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