White Wind Awakening (Jem and Rhi!)

[Anonymous]

Ipollius. The ruined city, the remnants of what once was a metropolis and now little more then wasteland, just like the world around it. Abandoned long ago, and defaced by vandals and vagabonds over time for so many years, one would not think that something would ever take place in such a place.

The rain beat down heavily from the dark, rainy night sky, yet no amount of water could clense this ruined city of its true, horrific nature. Nothing could transform this junkyard from the lawless, merciless monster it had become. Because of this, the ruins of the city had become mostly forgotten: left to rot much like the rest of the world.

In the span of the next few days, however, perhaps some would give notice to the truth that lay beneath the ruins, that something of importance did indeed exist here. That something would awaken on this very night. something that might one day help change the world.

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(12 hours ago)

Humming.

That was the first thing it felt, beneath the ruins of the city. like an alarm clock that was too quiet to wake up its target. Normally, the being that slept beneith the city honestly could have cared less: It normally would not have noticed. The dark, and almost completely empty vault-like room around a single "cryogenic tank" of sorts would have stifled anything that dare disturb its occupant.

However, seemingly against all odds, it did. The unknown force that hummed somehow jolted some emergency mechanism of some sort, and began the process of waking the slumbering beast within. The single dimly lit tank at the center of the otherwise empty vault began to jolt to life, a sudden whirring of computers and gears creating a cacophonous symphony.

A few minutes later, the cyrogenic tank opened, and a large and rather heavy looking figure simply fell out of it, hitting the hard metal floor like a falling fridge. At first, the figure seemed to have no discernible lifesigns. Gradually, however, things within the "being" began to activate...

[[Loading.]]
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[[EMERGENCY RESTORATION PROCESS ACTIVATED.]]  
[[VITALS: FUNCTIONAL]]
[[MOVEMENT: FUNCTIONAL]]
[[SUBSYSTEMS/CONTROL UNITS: FUNCTIONAL]]
[[SECONDARY DRIVE MODULES: FUNCTIONAL]]
[["UNKNOWN" UNIT: FUNCTION INHIBITED. UNABLE TO RESTORE COMPLETE FUNCTIONALITY DUE TO UNKNOWN FACTORS. 25% FUNCTIONALITY AVAILABLE.]]

OVERIDING "STANDING ORDERS" PROCEDURE. BEGINNING RESUSCITATION...]]

For the first time in a long time, the being within the vault breathed his first "breath". It was cold, the air around him: undisturbed by the chaos that had taken place above. The cold, yet clean air spreading through his artificial lungs.

Next, came his hearing: he began to hear the buzzing and whirring of computers filled his ears, and echoed through his head. His mind numb from his eternal slumber. His sense of touch soon followed. His manufactured body felt the cold, steel floor below him, and the cold air around him. His sense of smell came next, as the overly-clean smell of the vault around him became apparent.

Finally, came his sight: peering through the darkness as if it was not even there, he surveyed his surroundings: immaculate silvery-steel walls, a floor and a ceiling, combined with the large cryogenic tank in the middle of the room. Upon a holographic console in front of the tank, a series of flashing buttons grabbed the beings attention.

Walking toward the console, it mused to itself in thought.

....So, the time has yet again come...

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(10 Hours ago, message from an Adolean scout)

"It was not human..."

"I saw it with my own eyes! that...that "Thing" clad in white armor. I was following a shady group of twenty or so bandits at around 21:00 hours or so into Ipollius, just like I was assigned to. I figured It would be another raider or bandit gang trying to set up shop in that dump. After tailing them and listening in, I overheard them looking for some kind of "Hidden Vault" below the city, that supposedly contained some kind of riches or technology to those who would find it. I simply Ignored it, and assumed they were just telling stories around the fire."

"Then the earth shook."

"The earthquake hit around 01:00 hours into the next day. I thought it was just an old building collapsing or something, or perhaps an earthquake. After several minutes, around the town square, however, I realized what was really happening."

"It pierced the ground like a spear."

"After the first few minutes of the quake, I saw a strange, gigantic metal "Vault" object burst out of the ground near the main square. I had never seen anything like it. It was clearly of ancient or foreign design, but of which I cannot say."

"Then the monster came forth."

"After about two minutes of tense waiting, I heard the sound of metal tear metal. As fast as a flash of lightning, They mysterious being cut away a wall from the inside like it was some kind of tin foil or something. At first, I did not get a good look at it, but once I did, I realized the truth."

"It was clad in armor of black and white."

"I...I don't really remember exactly what happened next, in particular to the bandits, but I remember that thing that came out of the Vault. It was horrific: It held the shape of a man, but it certaintly did not share common traits. It had no eyes, yet i could tell it was watching me, waiting. For awhile, I felt so afraid I lost track of what was happening, but when I came to my senses, I realized the truth.."

"It erased them from the very essence of existence."

"When I finally came to my senses, I went to check on the bandits and..and they were gone!! completely gone!! all that remained was red stains all over the place, yet everything else remained untouched. I think that white clad monster killed them before they even knew he was there!!!!!"

"To any and all aedolis military within the area, if you receive this message, I need your help. This...this THING is beyond anything I have ever seen. For god sakes, send anything you can!!! I can't think straight, I'm so terrified. Just looking at that monster has paralyzed me with fear. Its like...Its like looking at a dragon..."

"I....I....I....."

-End of transmission-

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((Present time))

The pale and wet morning air filled the ruin city of Ipollius, the rising sun an odd shade of red at his time in the morning. By now, the Aedolis military and anyone else who might have listened to the message would be on their way to investigate, not entirely sure of what they might run into.

The epicenter of the disturbance was the remains of the city center: a single tall building stood, a testament to a once mighty civilization. within its shadow, a large, strange silver structure had erupted from the ground: it was roughly fifty feet tall and about the same wide. It was hard to believe that such a thing could cause an earthquake, but it was nonetheless true.

The only living thing that dare stray too close to it, at first, was the very being that came out of the vault: A tall, almost charismatic being, standing defiantly atop the very vault it had been imprisoned in for so long.

His name was Xenophon, and what he saw before him left him speechless. the destruction, the death, the emptiness...so much had changed. How long had he slept? why had he not been awakened sooner to prevent this?

He had already seen the result of the chaos in the form of a small band of roving bandits he had encountered earlier. The vile beings lives cut short rather easily by the massive blade that rest on Xenophon's back. If they were all that remained of mankind, then Xenophons work would indeed be cut out for him.

As he would then have to become the bringer of their judgement. the executioners of everything he swore to protect.

Now, however, was not the time for that. Now was the time to rest. Xenophons former power had not yet returned to his body. He would need to rest for now in hopes that he could once again gather his strength back.

He would need it for the Journey ahead.

((Have a creative enterence if you feel like it! like the quakes being detected, etc. I can elaborate more if need be or edit as well.))

[Anonymous]

Jem had been wandering the outskirts of Haviah when she had felt the ground tremble – faintly, but noticeably – beneath her padded feet.

Large black ears perked up as the vulpine creature turned her delicate head and beheld, in the distance, mountains, which she had never considered travelling to until that moment. It was only an assumption, but it made sense that the tremor would have originated from those mountains. Reckless human curiosity battled with instinctive animal caution for a few moments within Jem’s mind, but the curiosity quickly won out, so she shouldered her backpack and started walking.

Jem had travelled through the night. At least, of course, until it had started raining. She wouldn’t have minded particularly if it hadn’t been so cold that night. The fox turned up the collar of her purple leatherette jacket with a disdainful sniff, glad that she had decided to take it out with her on this particular occasion.

With the rain showing no sign of ceasing, Jem had decided to take shelter within what appeared to be the ruins of some kind of temple or church. A few nimble jumps and the fox had found herself an adequate perch amongst the broken rafters.
Humanoid in posture and intellect, but still a fox nonetheless, Jem held little fear of the dark – her night vision was excellent and her acute hearing would alert her to any approaching danger. She settled down quickly, curling her large, flowing tail around her for extra warmth, and drifted off to sleep.

Beams of pale sunlight, streaming in through the ruin’s shattered windows, woke Jem early the following morning. At first, she did not stir, blinking her emerald eyes slowly, as if disorientated. Then, she gave a short gasp and promptly sat up, peering around frantically, having remembered her mission.
She jumped to her feet and padded along the rafter to a whole in the roof, where she could at last survey her surroundings properly in the clear, fresh morning light.

There, she beheld the ruins of Ipollius, though this name was for now unknown to her – she had never been to this area before.
As it turned out, the dilapidated building in which Jem had spent the night was indeed a temple, situated on the outskirts of the ruined city. The strewn remains of what had once been, Jem guessed, the central hub Ipollius, were not far away.
In fact, Jem could see something unusual at its center – a hole, or a crater – some kind of wound in the earth. It looked like something had either been shot into it, or had burrowed out of it. Surely this had to be the source of the tremor from last night!

Excited now, Jem grabbed her jacket and backpack, scrambled down from her perch, and started making her way swiftly towards the strange landmark.
Being covered in pink fur, Jem was aware that she was not the most inconspicuous of creatures – somewhat of a disadvantage considering her profession. But she made up for it quite well with her stealthy agility and almost silent footfalls. She darted between the many shattered concrete walls and shards of metal protruding from the ground, tilting her delicate muzzle upwards to sniff at the air.
It was at that point that she abruptly slowed her pace, ears flattening against her head. She could smell blood – cold and stagnant. Something bad had happened here last night, possibly even while she had been sleeping.

It was then that she saw it. Jem gasped and dived behind the nearest low wall, tentatively peering up over the top.
It looked, to her, like a mixture of man, machine and reptile. It stood, proud and silent, atop what appeared to be some kind of transportation capsule. Below it lay the ruined bodies of several men, confirming what Jem had seen earlier.

Jem tried to keep an open mind – it was quite possible that the metallic creature had killed the men in self-defence, or perhaps the men had died before it had arrived. But the fox could not rule out the possibility that this creature was hostile, so she remained cautious.

There was no time to waste – Jem had no idea of the creature’s abilities and knew that she could be detected at any moment. She unzipped her backpack (wincing at the sound it made), drew out her mini-camcorder, flipped it open, and started filming.

[Anonymous]

Xenophon was being watched.

At first, he had no idea of this fact, his body still getting accustomed to the new, devastated world and its somewhat interesting atmosphere. His senses were now up to par, but his power was far from its original state. That being said, he still felt that eerie feeling of being stalked...

Looking around, his proud tall stance changed to a more alert, ready to move one. standing on the tips of his feet and hunching forward slightly, he looked left to right, trying to scope out this mysterious voyeur.

To anyone who did not know him, The idea of looking around would appear to be useless, as he appeared to have no eyes on his head. In reality, this was merely an aesthetic function of his armor, and his sight was probably several times better then most human beings. It alone would be enough.

He spotted what appeared to be some kind of glare from a lens. Perhaps one of the bandits that had attacked him earlier was trying to snipe him from cover? A fools errand. He had already proved earlier that conventional weaponry proved ineffective against his power.

Yet something stayed Xenophon's blade and kept him standing: the aura from the area in question was filled not with the intent to kill, but with a nervous, almost fearful aura.

Xenophon once again changed his stance to its proud and tall gait, no more then ten or so seconds after being prepared to kill. For now, he would have to "Aggressively" ask and see what happened.

unsheathing his massive, six foot sword he pointed it at the glint of light from the miniature camcorder, stating his request in a commanding and assertive tone. His voice a mixture of a deep human male voice with a mechanical tone and echo to it.

"Show yourself."

[Anonymous]

Jem almost dropped the camcorder, stifling a yelp as the creature suddenly spoke. She'd been expecting this, but gearing herself up for a confrontation had made her jumpy.

With slow, crafty movements the fox switched off the camcorder and slipped it back into her backpack. She took a deep breath, in and out, to steady herself, nodded determinedly, and stood up.

"Hello!" Jem exclaimed brightly, glancing from the huge blade back to the creature's 'face' and offering a nervous grin, displaying sharp vulpine teeth.

"I'm sorry for hiding from you, I just...ah...wasn't sure of your intentions, you see..."

[Anonymous]

"I'm sorry for hiding from you, I just...ah...wasn't sure of your intentions, you see..."

Xenophon let the words hang in the air for a moment, creating an uncomfortable silence: he was sizing up the vulpine humanoid, having never encountered a creature such as her (he assumed it was a she, from the voice) in his entire existence. For a moment, he pondered about how the world had changed...

finally, after the tense moment passed, responded to her comment by sheathing the massive blade he had been pointing at the fox-like creature.

"Forgive me."

Xenophon then, astonishingly, lept off the top of the massive capsule, landing with a loud thud on the ground nearby it, completely unphased by the fifty-foot drop which would have greatly-harmed some normal beings. The seven-foot tall armored creature taking slow, casual steps toward the vulpine creature, as to avoid seeming overly cautious or hostile through his actions.

"The world has changed, and I am still uncomfortable with some of its more aggressive inhabitants."

He stopped roughly twenty feet away and held out his hand, standing tall and proud, beckoning the creature to come closer, if anything just to get a better look at her.

"Do you know what happened here?" he said, indicating to the ruined city around him in its entirety.

[Anonymous]

Jem wrung her forepaws together uncertainly as her comment was left hanging.Yet despite the tense atmosphere she stared unwaveringly at the creature's blank face, her eyes anxious, hopeful. Expressionless though the being was, Jem could tell when she was being scrutinised. The fox had assumed a friendly, inquisitive stance - alert but bowing forward slightly - as she instinctively did when meeting potentially hostile creatures. She wanted to appear neither submissive nor defensive.

"Forgive me."

Jem flinched slightly as the creature suddenly leapt from his perch, but a smile quickly spread from ear to ear.
"Fantastic..." she murmured, as the creature landed on the ground not too far away.

At his beckoning gesture, Jem trotted towards him, meekly and without hesitation.

"I'm afraid I'm none the wiser, this is my first visit too." Jem replied as she approached. "But at a guess, it looked like it used to be one of the rebel cities - destroyed long ago by the Aedolis government."

Jem paused, wondering whether she should explain Aedolis. But she didn't wish to make assumptions about the creature's knowledge, or lack thereof, so she waited.

[Anonymous]

Aedolis Government? Rebel Cities? So some form of government did exist despite the mass of destruction that lay around them. Xenophon actually felt slightly relieved that there was some form of government that was spared from such destruction. Still, there was still so much he did not know...

Xenophon assumed he was alone for the moment, that no one left alive knew of the war he fought in secret, the alliances he made, the friends he lost, and the monsters he fought.

Xenophon paused after the woman spoke, stopping completely as he felt a familiar yet menacing feeling. An ill wind had come. He was not the only foreign being here.

Crouching down and pulling his new friend down behind a jutting piece of rubble, his voice was quiet, yet deathly serious and deep. his line of sight was clearly aimed toward the large vault-like object he had only recently emerged from, which lay no more then ten or so yards away .

"Do not move."

as Xenophon remained crouched behind the jutting rubble, he watched as it approached...

It was a creature: definitely not native. Its initial appearance of that of an overgrown, six legged salamander in terms of shape, with an overall length of roughly fifteen feet and a height of four or so feet. Its color was that of a dark, oily black, its skin a mix of this shining rubbery black skin and rotting bits of flesh. It possessed seven red eyes, although it would be difficult to see at first glance.

Xenophon growled as he saw it. In a world of destruction and ruin, this creature was all too familiar to him. It had been around last time he had been awake, and he knew it all too well.

"keep silent. let it pass us by..." Xenophon whispered to his comrade.

((Sorry for pulling your character behind the rubble, I can edit the post if you want me to, just figured It would be a good way to keep it moving.))

[Anonymous]

(OOC: No worries, things like that are fine if they are relevant to moving the story along. )

Jem had been gazing up admirably at the robotic being. Her large flowing tail had swished once in a pleased manner - yes, despite herself, she had wagged her tail. Though her excitement was justified - it was so rare an event to be right up close and conversing with such an unusual creature.

The fox wanted to introduce herself and find out the being's name. She had so many questions to ask.

Jem mistook the being's thoughtful silence as a cue for her to speak. But at the moment she opened her mouth and drew in breath, she felt the being's powerful hand close around her arm, lightly but urgently.

She stifled a yelp of surprise as Xenophon pulled her toward him and down behind a chunk of ruined wall - the breath she had drawn in for speaking was jolted from her lungs as a comical wheeze.

The fox obligingly dropped to a crouch behind their makeshift hiding place, for even as they had moved, her sensitive ears had caught a shuffling, sliding sound - something large and alive, heading towards them.

As the huge reptilian mutant crawled into view, Jem gaped, eyes wide open, scarcely able to believe her good luck. Days of fruitless searching, and then two completely unknown, unresearched creatures came along at once! Jem's mind raced with questions. She glanced at Xenophon, then back to the hulking, multi-limbed beast. Was the appearance of these two beings connected somehow? Had one awoken the other? Or was it merely a coincidence that the salamander was passing by Xenophon's recently escaped vault?

Next to the now growling draconian robot, Jem fidgeted restlessly. She had heard Xenophon's warning, but her fascination was too strong. She desperately wanted to get some footage, or at least a photo, of the beast before it moved on, but her backpack was back at her original hiding place, on the other side of the clearing. The clearing that was currently full of giant mutant salamander.

Silently, Jem shifted her weight, tensed her long legs - getting ready to move quickly. She peered up over the top of the wall, eyeing the situation, working out a route that would hopefully take her to her backpack without the beast seeing her...