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Divided
May 14, 2005 12:21:41 GMT -5
Post by Dante on May 14, 2005 12:21:41 GMT -5
I thought you wouldn't have Internet access whilst you were away. I might, if I'm lucky and just a bit sneaky. It all dpeend son how often my brother looks away from his laptop. I could even read them when I get back. I'll e-mail them to you, then, if I remember. And I don't yet know if I'll e-mail you every chapter after it's done, or the whole thing when it's finished. Probably the latter.
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Divided
May 14, 2005 18:55:18 GMT -5
Post by PJ on May 14, 2005 18:55:18 GMT -5
Ah, come on. The Abyss is better. No, I like this better, somehow. Perhaps I should read the Inferno and then re-consider, but meh. I'm a sucker for adventure stories.
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Divided
May 14, 2005 23:32:07 GMT -5
Post by Ennui on May 14, 2005 23:32:07 GMT -5
Ah, PJ, I see semblance in thy somehow And meaning in your judgement of this thing Thou likest that Abyss piece well enough But canst but mourn thy absence from its pages. But in this tale-happy Divided!-a player and a strutter art thou shown Render'd with spoon of gleaming lightsaber; With crossbow-arm-and therein lies thine liking.
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Divided
May 15, 2005 0:18:01 GMT -5
Post by PJ on May 15, 2005 0:18:01 GMT -5
Ah, PJ, I see semblance in thy somehow And meaning in your judgement of this thing Thou likest that Abyss piece well enough But canst but mourn thy absence from its pages. But in this tale-happy Divided!-a player and a strutter art thou shown Render'd with spoon of gleaming lightsaber; With crossbow-arm-and therein lies thine liking. Certainly, that plays a part, but even if I wasn't in it, I'd still like it a good deal. Probably just as good as Abyss. Nice poem, though. Here's one from me: Ennui, Ennui, you've read more than you have not, But a fatal flaw you still have got: I'm sorry to say this, 'cos I'm your good mate: Quit being lazy and make that ninja-story update!Edit: Fixed Amber's Typo
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Divided
May 15, 2005 1:28:46 GMT -5
Post by Amber on May 15, 2005 1:28:46 GMT -5
Your *nitpick* Anywho Divided is good, but I think The Abyss was a bit better.
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Antenora
Detriment Deleter
Fiendish Philologist
Put down that harpoon gun, in the name of these wonderful birds!
Posts: 15,891
Likes: 113
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Divided
May 15, 2005 7:00:37 GMT -5
Post by Antenora on May 15, 2005 7:00:37 GMT -5
I don't like choosing favorites.
Both this story and The Abyss are teh r0xxorz, or however that's spelled. So was Ashes and Memories, which had cool burnt UA-esque documents.
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Divided
May 15, 2005 10:06:33 GMT -5
Post by Dante on May 15, 2005 10:06:33 GMT -5
Much of the Internet is made up of rolling, fertile grasslands, stretching for miles around and inviting somebody to build something great on it, to hold back the ever-expanding wastelands. There were green hills, gardens, lush forests, and in the heart of the good places was 667 Dark Avenue.
667 was the most magnificent thing for terabytes around, a beautiful palace in yellow that stretched towards the sky with its many turrets… A tall wall, broken only by a strong gate of Bannium, ran all around 667, and between this and the walls were the great gardens of Menacing Miscellaneous, with a roped-off sandpit making Ghastly Games and Relentless RPGs. The ground floor comprised Antagonistic Affairs, the floor above that was Aggravating Art, Fearsome Fiction and the Reckless Reading, which spun off into its own turrets and towers. Above this was the great library of Ravaged Resources, with Malignant Merchandise housed in a series of rooms to one side on that floor. Above this then 667 began to transform into the great towers and turrets of the Burdensome Books, with the Disturbing Discussion tower hidden towards the back, and above that, far, far above, were the Ruefully Restricted Sections, only accessible by a chosen few, with the Administrator’s Quarters in the highest turret. It was a paradise, a place of beauty and safety for all who came to it.
There had always been a dark underbelly to 667, though. Before the threat they posed was realised, n00bs and even spammers were allowed to enter 667, and the seemingly-happy community was filled with simmering tensions and hidden feuds beneath the surface. Occasionally, this manifested as small arguments between members (the one noteworthy exception being the notorious battles between Dante and the Swan, which were ugly and did permanent damage to the architecture), but these fights were never truly resolved, but continued to bubble. Eventually, these tensions boiled over and the secret hatreds came out into the open, and the 667 War broke out.
When Derik, PJ, Char, Antenora, Ennui and Akbar arrived at 667 for the last time, only the ruins remained. An enormous wasteland of ashen rubble, with the occasional pillar still standing tall as if needed. The encircling wall, which had once been commended as being the greatest in all the surrounding lands, was battered and crumbled and filled with large holes, and the great gates lay bent and twisted on the floor. The mighty bell of 667, tolled to signal an evacuation, lay split in two on the floor, partially melted. Occasionally a half-burnt page from a book would drift past, and the howling winds would blow the ash away and uncover the remains of a moderator statue, but otherwise, nothing stirred. It was a truly grim place.
“So… what did we come here for, again?” asked Char, surveying the ruins from a distance.
“Well, one of the reasons was to look for survivors,” said Akbar.
Char ran her eyes over the ruins from left to right.
“Done,” she proclaimed. “Now can we go? This place is creepy, and there are bad memories here.”
“We’re also looking for powerful Internet artifacts,” said Ennui, sternly.
“And besides, Char, the sooner we’re done, the sooner we can leave,” Antenora pointed out, before clambering over the ruined gates and starting to sift through the ashes of Miscellaneous.
The others followed suit, Char reluctantly so, and spread out over the ruins. Derik went straight to the centre of the ruins, and began to check the collapsed ruins of a book-case. PJ used his rapier to jab large piles of ash to see if they concealed anything. Char began to scan the charred notices on the Announcements board, and Ennui and Akbar paired up to scour the Greetings area for any letters that had been left behind at the last minute.
Each was successful, in their own way, although none of them found anything of importance. Ennui and Akbar dug up a large painting of all the regular 667 posters – the newbies towards the front; members like themselves standing not far behind; the moderators on the third row, Dante and Antenora standing together; and behind them was Tragedy wearing his crown and leaning on his Banning Wand, the Swan lurking behind him. Derik found a few fragments of the Banning Wand, and started trying to piece them together. PJ wrestled a golden rapier from a moderator statue, and subtly replaced it with his own non-golden one. Antenora found a page of a letter that Dante had written to her, and sat down to read it. Char found a secret stash of BSam’s beer inside an urn, and pondered whether to take it with her in case BSam was still alive.
After half-an-hour, Derik beckoned the group to the centre of the ruins, where a group of scattered boxes and piles of brick formed a circle of seats, and they all sat down to discuss what they’d found. This didn’t take long.
“So, basically, the only useful things we’ve found are a golden rapier – that’s pure gold, PJ, it’ll bend in two as soon as you try to stab anything with it,” Derik pointed out to PJ, who looked disappointed, “and a few useless pieces of a Banning Wand.”
“Who needs a Banning Wand?” asked Char. “In case you hadn’t noticed, Antenora’s got something much better.”
“I think Derik’s point is that while I have something better, none of the rest of you do,” Antenora said, helpfully.
“I don’t think these pieces are compatible,” said Ennui, who had been passed the pieces by Derik and was now trying to fit them together. “You’re missing too many fragments.”
“Did Tragedy have any spares?” asked Akbar. “Or any kind of weapons store?”
“Now there’s an idea,” said Derik. “He did once say something about having a hidden bunker below 667. He said that all the best members could hide there in the event of an attack, and that he’d release emergency protocols explaining how to get there, as soon as he got around to writing them.”
“It looks like he never did,” sighed Ennui.
“Although wouldn’t the bunker still be there, though?” asked Antenora. “It’s just a matter of getting to it.”
“Do you have any idea where it is, Derik?” asked PJ.
“Aside from below our feet,” said Derik, “no.”
“Where would you put the entrance to a secret underground bunker which we could flee to in case of danger?” asked Antenora. “The entrance would have to be pretty big and located somewhere obvious, but be easily hidden.”
At that moment, just a few bytes away from them, a head popped up from a pile of ash with a cry.
“Fresh air! I needs air!”
Six heads swivelled to look straight at it. The head from the pile of ash turned to look at them. It was hard to tell which was the most surprised.
“Uh…” said the head.
Nobody spoke.
“Oh noes!” cried the head.
Silence reigned again.
“Oh noes!” cried the head once more, clearly hoping for some sort of reaction.
The group continued to sit in stunned silence.
The head vanished into the pile of ash again.
“…What was that?” PJ asked finally.
“It looked like a really cool member,” said Derik. “A really cool member standing in a pile of ash.”
Ennui got up, and started to poke the pile with his rapier.
“I can’t feel any soft flesh,” he said. “Somebody help me sift through this ash.”
Akbar and PJ got up, and started to spread out the ash, trying to find the bottom of the pile.
“I think I see something,” said PJ, before slipping and vanishing into the pile of ash.
“What?” Akbar said. “Where’s he gone?”
“Oh, honestly,” said Char, standing up and striding over to where PJ had been standing. “Stop messing around. It’s quite obvious that this is the entrance to the bunker. Am I going to have to lead the way?”
She kicked aside some of the ash to reveal a large hole in the ground, and then jumped into it.
“Ow!” cried the muffled voice of PJ. “Char landed on me.”
“Thanks, PJ,” said Char’s muffled voice. “I’d hate to have landed on the hard ground.”
“I think that there’s a ladder here,” said Ennui, shifting some more of the ash.
“Well, let’s hurry along then,” said Derik.
A few moments later, they all stood at the end of an underground passageway, covered in ash. Bare bulbs flickered on the ceiling of the tunnel, which was completely built of solid grey data blocks. The tunnel led away ahead of them into darkness.
“Who’s going first?” asked PJ.
“Ranged attackers generally go at the back,” said Ennui, “but since something could, in theory, come at us from behind, through the tunnel entrance, perhaps they should go in the middle. So PJ should be third in line, and then Char.”
“One of us at the back and front?” suggested Derik, quite oblivious to Colin sliding off his shoulder.
“Good idea,” replied Ennui, as Colin rolled away. “I’ll go in front, with Derik behind me. Antenora, you go behind Char, and you keep at the back, Akbar.”
“So the overall order is Ennui, Derik, me, Char, Antenora, and Akbar?” PJ asked.
“Correct,” said Ennui. “Now, we need a plan of attack. We could either sneak quietly along the passage and take them by surprise, or charge straight in shouting. Remember, we don’t know what we face at the end of the passageway, but there’s at least one really cool member.”
“Plans of attack are rather boring,” Char complained.
“They can be a little dull,” Antenora said. “And besides, who’s to say that there aren’t other 667ers at the other end, rather than enemies?”
“Perhaps…” Derik started, but then felt something tugging at his shoes. Colin lay on the floor by his feet.
“Colin, where have you been?” asked Derik, picking up his friend and putting him to his ear. “Oh? What’s that? I see.”
“What does Colin have to say?” Antenora asked. Char rolled her eyes.
“He says that young Samara has fallen in the well,” Derik replied. “No, wait, I misheard him. He says that there’s just two n00bs cowering in fear at the end of the corridor.”
“Just two?” asked PJ. “We can handle that easily.”
“Now, PJ,” cautioned Ennui, “n00bs are like bears. They’re especially dangerous when frightened.”
“Let’s see them be dangerous after this!” PJ cried, dramatically pointing his crossbow-arm down the passageway and firing three times. The bolts sped away into the darkness. Nothing happened.
“Oh, honestly,” said Char. “I have to do everything around here for you melodramatic idiots.”
And with that, she strode away down the corridor in a huff. Antenora shrugged and followed her, with PJ close behind.
“Sorry, Ennui,” said Derik to his downcast friend. “Maybe you can make a plan of attack another time.”
The three remaining 667ers then followed their friends down the passage.
---
The passageway entered out into a large square room. A number of crates lay in a corner, and a doorway on the left led into another room. Straight ahead, set into the wall, was a huge metal door with an iron bar set across it. Turning into the room on the left the group saw three hammocks, a battered suitcase, and two n00bs, who were vainly attempting to hide beneath a hammock as one might beneath a bed. The n00bs looked frightened out of their minds, so Derik and PJ tied them up and put them in the hammocks.
“Okay, n00bs,” said PJ, poking one of them with his crossbow. “It’s time to start talking. What are you doing here?”
The really cool member made a few muffled squeaking noises. Antenora leant over to PJ and pointed out that people didn’t speak too well when they were gagged. PJ took her advice and untied the really cool member’s gag.
“We’re guards,” said the really cool member. “We’re guarding.”
“Guarding what?” asked PJ. “And for whom?”
“We’ve got a prisoner in that room over there,” said the really cool member, jerking his head in the direction of the large metal door. “And the Queen of Chaos herself sent us.”
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Divided
May 15, 2005 10:06:54 GMT -5
Post by Dante on May 15, 2005 10:06:54 GMT -5
“The Queen of Chaos?” Derik said, inquisitively. “Her minions have crossed our paths before. Who is your prisoner?”
“I don’t know,” said the really cool member. “I don’t know anything about this place, and besides, we never looked too hard in there. It may be all chained up, but it looks dangerous to me, and after what happened to the d0ct0r, we haven’t even checked on it.”
“We were meant to execute it,” said the other really cool member, whose gag had been removed by Akbar. “That’s why the d0ct0r was here. But he’s dead.”
“Who’s this doctor?” asked PJ.
“Actually, that’s ‘d0ct0r,’” corrected the really cool member, “and he was a doctor who worked for the Queen of Chaos. He was meant to use his doctoring skills to find some way of killing the prisoner, but in the end all he managed to do was cut it up a bit and wake it up, which wasn’t what we wanted.”
“What, you attacked it whilst it was chained up?” asked Antenora, looking sickened. “That’s disgusting.”
“Not to mention dishonourable,” added a stern Ennui.
“I don’t think it felt anything, it was always asleep,” pleaded the first really cool member, “until we got out a flame-generating weapon. Then it woke up and lost control. It burnt the d0ct0r to death, and I haven’t had the courage to look in on it since.”
The n00bs fell silent, and Derik and PJ turned back to the group at large to discuss their findings.
“The n00bs told us -” Derik started.
“We’re right here, Derik, we know what they said,” criticised Ennui. “What do you think they’ve got in there? The almost-drunken state of its sleep leads me to think BSam.”
“It doesn’t sound like BSam to me,” said Char. “It sounded more like some sort of monster. Maybe they’ve got a virus in there.”
“Or a worm,” shuddered PJ.
“Or a program,” shuddered Akbar.
“It sounds dangerous,” said Antenora, “but an enemy of the Queen might just be an ally of ours – and we’ll never know what it is unless we look. Shall I do it?”
“No, me and PJ will do it,” said Derik. “I still retain some of my G-Mod powers whilst I’m here at 667, so it’s safer for me to look at it – and PJ will only moan about being left out,”
“I feel insulted,” said PJ. “It’s true, but I still feel insulted.”
“Wait, I have a better idea,” said Akbar. “Let’s send those n00bs in, and see what happens.”
The n00bs instantly started shaking their heads and moaning.
“How long has it been since the d0ct0r died?” asked Antenora.
“Three, about,” said one of the n00bs.
“Then whatever you’ve got in there has probably calmed down and gone back to sleep,” said Antenora. “Now, let’s untie these ropes, and you can show us in.”
A few moments later, the two n00bs stood before the iron door, looking nervous.
“Well, what are you waiting for?” asked PJ. “We’re in a hurry.”
“We’re psyching ourselves up,” said one.
“Just open it,” sighed Char.
The two n00bs, with a look of deep worry on their faces, reluctantly heaved the bar out from in front of the door, and then opened it just a tiny crack.
It happened almost too quickly for anyone to see what had happened. From inside the room, something whipped out from the crack, grabbed the n00bs around their ankles and dragged them, screaming, in. The door slammed shut again.
The group stood silent in front of the door for a moment, and then took a collective step back.
“I didn’t expect that to happen,” said Akbar.
“I almost feel sorry for them,” said Antenora. “Even if they were cruel monsters.”
“What’s Plan B, then?” asked Char. “Send Derik and PJ in?”
“I’m not so keen anymore…” muttered PJ.
“Alright, weapons out,” said Derik, drawing his scimitar. PJ brandished his rapier.
“Good luck,” said Antenora, looking at the door nervously.
“I’m sure you’ll be fine, Derik, PJ,” said Ennui, sounding similarly worried. “It’s… probably full now.”
Derik put a hand on the door handle and, after a moment’s hesitation, wrenched it open an inch. Nothing happened, so he opened it up wider, wide enough for himself and PJ to slip inside. They did.
The room was completely dark, save for the light coming in through the door opening. As their eyes became adjusted to the dim light, Derik and PJ could see several interesting things – a scorched and ruined control panel against one wall, three large piles of ash, and dozens of tiny fragments of metal. The far wall was in deeper darkness, although a faint blue glow came from that direction, and two bright eyes peered out from that wall at Derik and PJ, piercing the darkness – the darkness seemed to flow around these eyes, and they could have been floating in mid-air.
“Um,” said PJ. “Hello.”
“We’re here to help,” said Derik. “We know that those n00bs tried to kill you. We’re enemies of the n00bs, too. We’re former members of 667. Are you?”
Nothing stirred in the darkness. The eyes continued to stare, unblinking, at Derik and PJ.
“Okay,” said PJ. “Well, I hope that you are from 667, because that would make another survivor. We’ve been trying to bring them all together so that perhaps – perhaps we might be able to start again. We haven’t had too much luck so far, though.”
The eyes drifted to the door for a second, but then returned to stare at PJ and Derik.
“We’re PJ and Derik, in case you don’t know or recognise us,” said Derik, growing steadily more un-nerved. “And out there we’ve got Ennui, Akbar, Antenora and Char. That’s all, so far.”
“Antenora,” a voice spoke at last from the darkness, from the eyes. “Char. Char… is here?”
“Yes!” said PJ, delighted to finally gotten a reaction. “You know Char, everyone does. Short-ish, young, black hair. One of the Randoms. She’s just out there.”
“Bring Char to me,” said the voice.
“Uh… Why?” asked Derik, not knowing that when a mysterious voice in the darkness tells you to do something, you should do it.
“Bring her to me,” the voice said again, this time in a harsher tone.
“Not until you tell us why!” replied PJ.
PJ instantly knew that it had been a mistake to speak in such a way. The smell of smoke reached his nostrils, and he backed away with Derik. The room began to feel incredibly hot, and sparks began to fly from the far end of the room, turning into flickers of flame, which spread and became a fire, illuminating the far end of the room, and revealing the creature there.
It was another human, wearing a faintly Victorian suit, only made of a shiny, scaly green material. Dozens of eyes were sewn into the suit, glaring out in every direction and watching the world. The faint blue glow came from Bannium chains, which were wrapped around the person’s arms and legs, keeping him fixed firmly to the wall, with his arms raised slightly. The person’s left sleeve was pulled down, and his arm was covered in dozens of cuts and gashes, many of which looked fairly recent. But it took two glances to recognise the person’s face, twisted with fury and hate, crowned with flames that were spreading across the room in tentacles and tongues.
“Char is the enemy!” Dante cried. “Char destroyed us, everything we had, everything we loved! She must be destroyed for her crimes! Bring her to me! Bring her to me!”
Derik and PJ abandoned all pretence of bravery and fled for the door, the flames which now filled the room just behind them. Derik and PJ just won, escaping and slamming the door shut, laying the great bar in front of it once more.
---
“I guess that explains why none of us ever met Dante after the fire,” sighed Antenora. “He was here all along, trapped.”
“And it looks like he’s probably gone insane,” said PJ. “You should probably stay well away from him, Char.”
“I wonder who chained him up?” mused Antenora. “Who was powerful enough to imprison Dante? He’s the strongest among us.”
“The n00bs said that he’d been asleep for as long as they’d been here,” said Ennui. “Perhaps he was chained up whilst exhausted, after doing… something.”
“I know that I’m the Devil’s… something-or-other here,” started Char, “but doesn’t it strike anyone that if he’s insane, it’s probably for the best that he’s all chained up down here?”
“He might not be insane,” said Akbar. “Just very angry. I know I would be, chained up down here for weeks with n00bs trying to kill me, not knowing what had happened to all my friends. And Dante’s never been good at controlling his temper.”
“Would you say that he’s a danger to anyone who goes in there, Derik?” asked Ennui.
“Probably, if he thinks you’re disobeying him,” said Derik. “All he did was demand that Char be brought to him, so he could destroy her.”
“Actually,” said PJ, “didn’t he mention Antenora’s name? When you listed who was here, he repeated Antenora’s name, and then got distracted by Char, I’m sure.”
“Why, yes,” said Derik. “I suppose he would, being in love with you, Antenora. But revenge seems to be the primary force in his heart right now.”
“Do you think I should try to talk to him?” asked Antenora, quietly.
“I don’t think that he’d ever knowingly hurt you,” replied Ennui. “But the question is whether he’s quite in his right mind.”
“I don’t know what you see in him,” said Char, who was now lying in a hammock, yawning.
“Right, I’m going in there,” said Antenora, determinedly.
“Well, I’m not stopping you,” said PJ. “But take that Blade of Banning with you. Just in case.”
---
When Antenora entered the room, the fires had died down somewhat. Dante’s hair still smouldered, giving light to the room, but there was none of the intense heat of when Derik and PJ had left.
“Dante – it’s me, Antenora,” Antenora said. “I hope that you’re not feeling so angry now. You have every right to be, but you scared Derik and PJ.”
“Is Char out there?” Dante asked, his voice dull and monotonous.
“Yes, but she’s not coming in here,” Antenora replied, “until we sort this mad situation out.”
Dante sighed, his head hanging loose between his shoulders.
“I never came to find you,” he said. “I said that I’d come to find you, but I never did. I should have been able to; I should have found a way…”
“It’s not your fault,” Antenora said, soothingly. “You’ve been held prisoner. So have I, for that matter, but you’re held by bonds that nearly nobody can break.”
“You were held prisoner?” asked Dante. “By who? Did they hurt you?”
His hair began to burn more, flames beginning to rise.
“By a virus,” replied Antenora. “But it left me pretty much alone, except for when it tried to kill me. But everyone out there helped, and we killed it instead.”
“They helped you?” Dante asked. “Even… Even Char?”
“Yes, even Char,” said Antenora. “She regrets what she’s done. But never mind that now. What’s happened to you? Who did this to you?”
Dante gave a long, shuddering sigh.
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Divided
May 15, 2005 10:07:31 GMT -5
Post by Dante on May 15, 2005 10:07:31 GMT -5
“I told Derik that I’d ring the evacuation bell,” said Dante, “located, as you know, off the back of the Greetings hall. I did that, but I knew that it was too late. On my way down from the upper floors, I’d seen only n00bs – there wasn’t a member in sight. The place was crawling with them; they’d won. I had to destroy them.
“I’d always been very inquisitive, and after close investigation – and leafing through some of Tragedy’s files – I’d come across this place long ago. The very foundations of 667. The trapdoor was near to me when I rang that bell, and that’s when my plan came to my mind. The members would have fled the moment they heard the bell, leaving only n00bs in the place. I wanted to destroy them all. You know of my affinity with flames, Antenora – that I can draw powerful flames straight from the volcano of Morris Peak. I waited a minute, to be sure that all the members had gotten out, and then I summoned a great flame – a flame big enough to burn all n00bs – the greatest flame ever to be summoned. I unleashed it on 667, torching the place in an instant, setting the entire building alight.”
“You burnt down 667?” gasped Antenora.
“What do you think the n00bs would have done, once they’d sacked this place and stolen everything of value?” asked Dante. “They’d have torn this place apart, smashed it to rubble. What I did brought 667 to the same ignoble end, but I destroyed hundreds, even thousands of n00bs in the process. It was 667’s finest hour – to be destroyed and take its attackers with it, rather than let them bring it to its knees.”
Antenora considered this. It made sense. When she’d left, the Disturbing Discussion tower had already been completely destroyed, broken from 667 and smashed to the ground. She’d seen Art and Fiction torn apart as she passed – nothing left. Dante had fought fire with fire, and in this event, he’d been entirely justified. All of 667 gone up in a clean fire; rather than leaving behind a ruin, like the L.D.B., filled with torn and ruined memories. Dante let her contemplate this for a moment, and then continued with his story.
“The creation of such a mighty flame drained me,” he said, “and it took my very last ounce of strength to throw myself down through the trapdoor, into this place, where I intended to rest until I had regained my strength. However, my plans were put into disarray when somebody unexpected arrived in the passageway with me.”
“Who was it?” asked Antenora.
“The Queen of Chaos herself,” said Dante. “And a more disturbing creature I have never seen. She was tall, far taller than a normal person, and she seemed to glide along the ground. She was wearing a long robe-like thing, coloured dark blue, but with the names of all the sites she’d destroyed sewn on with gold thread. She was wearing a crown made of twisted black metal, and she was wearing a mask – completely white, it was, and it covered her whole face. It didn’t even have any eye-holes. But what was most disturbing was that a trail of blood seemed to run from beneath her robes, marking her path.”
“What did she want?” asked Antenora.
“A question that I would have asked her myself, had I the strength,” sighed Dante. “But it all became clear when she produced a sword from nowhere and tried to stab me.”
“What?” asked Antenora, shocked. “The Queen of Chaos herself, with all the really cool member hordes and the great spammers at her command, came here just to try and kill you, when she has entire armies under her thumb?”
“I suppose she must have had some sort of personal grudge,” Dante mused, “although I’ve never met her. But yes, she tried to kill me. She failed, obviously. I seem to be quite indestructible. She just couldn’t force the blade in. I couldn’t see her face and I would have been too tired to tell her expression anyway, but I expect that she was furious. The last thing I remember was her advancing on me with chains of Bannium in her hands, and then I lost all consciousness. And then, I woke up to find some really cool member trying to flame me to death. Can you imagine?”
He laughed out loud, and it was almost like old times again, when 667 had been whole and Dante hadn’t been chained up on a wall.
“Anyway,” he said, trying to wipe tears of laughter away from his eyes and finding it impossible in his current situation, “that’s my story. Anyway, I suppose you want to talk about Char now?”
“Well, yes,” Antenora replied. “She’s really sorry about the war. She lost friends too. And, though I hate to admit it, she has something of a point. The Randoms just moaned endlessly, but it was the Intellecteers who started the fighting.”
Dante’s burning hair had been dying down for some time now, the light in the room growing dimmer and dimmer. It seemed to glimmer for a moment then, but then faded into darkness.
“Bring her in here to join us,” Dante said, only his eyes visible in the darkness. “We must talk.”
Antenora returned to the door, and returned a minute later with an extremely apprehensive-looking Char.
“Can you see me, Char?”
Char shook her head. She was shaking slightly, but defiantly refused to appear scared.
A flame appeared at Dante’s feet, illuminating the room. Char recoiled slightly from the chained form of Dante.
“I blame you, Char,” Dante said, in a voice full of disgust and loathing. “Because I think that if your Randoms had had the numbers and talent, you’d have made the first move and tried to battle the Intellecteers out of 667. That’s why I led the attack against you – because I don’t believe that you’d have done any different.”
“You’re wrong,” Char said, shaking still. “I didn’t really want you to leave 667. I just wanted you to leave me alone.”
Dante sighed again, something which he’d become very good at. It was a long sigh, full of emotions, a sigh which said “Perhaps I was wrong,” and “I suppose everyone makes mistakes,” and “Well, she still takes some of the blame,” and “I suppose I have no choice.”
“I don’t forgive you, Char,” Dante said. “I’ll never forgive you. I’ll never even like you. However, I… I won’t kill you, as I’d intended. Never let it be said that Dante can’t move on. I’d ask you to shake my hand on it, but I’m afraid that that’s quite impossible at the minute. Speaking of which, how am I to get free?”
“Antenora can probably cut those chains with her sword,” Char pointed out. “Bannium against Bannium. Fight fire with fire.”
Dante laughed lightly, shaking his head.
“You have a sense of humour after all,” he said. “Now, Antenora, if you wouldn’t mind showing me this sword?”
Antenora drew the Blade of Banning from its scabbard, and Dante looked impressed.
“A Blade of Banning,” he murmured. “With one of those, we have reason to hope for success.”
Antenora lifted the sword, and swung it at the chains binding Dante’s legs. With a terrible noise, the chains shattered into many fragments. She swung the sword again, and destroyed the chains binding his arms. Dante stood free on the ground, amidst dozens of broken pieces of Bannium.
“At last,” he said, pulling down his left sleeve to cover his wounds. “Now let’s get out of this place, and I’ll tell everyone my plan.”
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Divided
May 15, 2005 10:07:46 GMT -5
Post by Dante on May 15, 2005 10:07:46 GMT -5
---
They stood out in the ruins of 667 again, the electric sun shining down on the group again, and on Dante, for the first time in weeks.
“It’s been a long time since I saw the sun,” he said. “It’s too bright.”
“You mentioned a plan?” asked Antenora.
“Ah, yes,” said Dante. “Now, thus far, what have you six been doing?”
“Just looking for other 667ers,” said Derik. “Nothing more.”
“Nothing more?” asked Dante. “But what of the long term? Once you’ve found all of the survivors, where do you intend to go? What do you intend to do? Do you think you’re safe, in this new world where n00bs surround us?”
“Er,” said Derik. “I thought that I could think about that later.”
“Well, here’s a plan,” said Dante. “We’ll need to rebuild 667. However, as you’ve all found, the Internet is crawling with n00bs right now. They’re all over the place. Who knows how many sites they’ve destroyed and how much land they control? Our mission must be to stop this problem.”
“Are you suggesting,” asked Ennui, “that we rid the entire Internet of n00bs? Do you have any idea how long that will take?”
“An impossibly long amount of time, if we just become a pack of roving murderers killing any really cool member we see,” said Dante. “However, if we were to try and cut off the problem at its source, then it would take much less time, and we might conceivably succeed – plus there are far fewer moral issues associated with it.”
“You’re talking about the Queen of Chaos, aren’t you?” said PJ. “She’s leader of the really cool member hordes, Dante, and she can control the spammers. That’s a suicide mission. You don’t even know where her fortress is.”
“There’s a lot to be said for suicide missions,” said Dante, and Ennui and Akbar nodded in agreement. “And besides, I know precisely where her fortress is. I worked it out long ago. Does anyone have a map?”
Char opened up her map of the Internet.
“Thanks,” Dante said, shortly. “Now, take a look. Here’s 667. And here’s where the n00bs came from – the far southwest. Now what happens if we trace this line backwards?”
He traced a line southwest from 667 on the map. It passed over terabytes of wasteland, over a range of mountains and then it hit –
“The Spam River,” said Dante. “Where else? Her empire lies across there. Now, we on our own, with Antenora and her Blade of Banning and my own skills, make a formidable party of fighters. And look what we pass straight through in those mountains? Coliseum! We can hire some mercenaries there to aid us.”
“What will we pay mercenaries with?” asked Antenora. “We don’t have any money.”
“Oh, they’re sure to join us if we tell them that we’re going on an adventure which involves lots of merciless killing and large amounts of treasure,” assured Dante.
“I’m convinced,” said PJ.
“Dante’s plan is wise, even if it is somewhat dangerous,” said Ennui. “I’ll gladly join him.”
“I also,” said Akbar.
“I’ll go wherever Dante goes,” said Antenora, “and besides, this is a quest for justice, too. Not to mention an adventure.”
“Well, everyone else is going,” shrugged Derik.
“I think you’re all insane,” said Char. She didn’t turn away, though, but rolled her eyes in a world-weary fashion and stood together with the rest of the group.
“Then it’s agreed?” asked Dante. “Are we off to slay the Queen of Chaos?”
“Yes!” came the cry from the rest of the group; although it would be more accurate to say that it was a babble of voices saying things to the effect of “Yes!” at different times.
And so they set off into the sunset, before pausing when they realised that the electric sun never moved in the sky and that south-west was in the opposite direction, and corrected themselves, walking away from the not-sunset.
---
In the distant south-west, a group of three 667ers were wandering aimlessly through the wastelands – a tall man, barely out of adolescence; a younger girl with purple hair; and a youth with curly blond hair.
“Are you sure we’re going in the right direction?” asked the purple-haired girl.
“i’m very sure,” said the tall man, his voice slurred. “i’m flololowing this map.”
“Can I see that map?” asked the youth.
The tall man handed it over. The youth and the purple-haired girl looked at it, confused.
“This isn’t a map,” said the purple-haired girl, “it’s a napkin. You’ve drawn a picture of a pirate on it.”
“i’m pertty sure that it’s a map,” said the tall man with the slurred voice.
“Oh, we’re quite obviously lost,” said the youth. “Let’s rest for a while and see if we go mad.”
They all sat down on the dusty ground, collapsing tiredly. The tall man pulled out a can of beer and began to drink it.
“Oh, give me some,” said the youth. “I want to forget all my troubles.”
“you’re too young,” said the man, before downing the entire can and pulling out another one.
“Okay…” said the purple-haired girl, looking at her companions. “Do any of us have anything in common?”
Not long after, they were all asleep.
Something lurked in the sky. Something predatory. Numbers and letters and obscure brackets which nobody uses flashed above their heads in a long string for a moment. The creature floated above them, trying to select the best target.
That one.
The creature swooped down on one of the sleeping 667ers. So did misfortune, but that was metaphorical. The creature was not a metaphor.
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Divided
May 15, 2005 10:24:52 GMT -5
Post by Amber on May 15, 2005 10:24:52 GMT -5
Wowie.
I'm the purple haired girl, aren't I? The other is BSam, I think, but the other I'm stuck on, I'd say PJ but you already have PJ.
It's probably amazingly obvious and I'm being stupid.
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Divided
May 15, 2005 10:36:23 GMT -5
Post by Dante on May 15, 2005 10:36:23 GMT -5
I'm the purple haired girl, aren't I? The other is BSam, I think, but the other I'm stuck on, I'd say PJ but you already have PJ. It's probably amazingly obvious and I'm being stupid. Correct and correct. I thought the other one would be difficult, but perhaps only because they're not as well-known, or their appearance isn't as well-known, or simply because people weren't expecting me to include him. It's not obvious - well, it might be to some people. I'm not sure if I'd guess it, if somebody else was writing this.
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Divided
May 15, 2005 12:28:41 GMT -5
Post by i. on May 15, 2005 12:28:41 GMT -5
For some reason I think it's Dupin, though I suspect I'm wrong.
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Divided
May 15, 2005 12:34:25 GMT -5
Post by Dante on May 15, 2005 12:34:25 GMT -5
For some reason I think it's Dupin, though I suspect I'm wrong. No, you're wrong. To be frank, I'm not quite sure why I included this character - I wanted BSam to be in a group of three, to make the final party thirteen in size. However, I just couldn't think who was important or interesting enough to fit the part. The character is almost randomly picked, although he is fairly well-known and somewhat interesting. I need to flesh him out in my mind, though. He can be the antihero, perhaps. Yeah, he could be like PJ's rival. I like that idea. Edit: Alright, no more clues.
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Divided
May 15, 2005 13:18:46 GMT -5
Post by Ennui on May 15, 2005 13:18:46 GMT -5
I have selected a new signature...
Excellent, Dante. I love your masterful manipulation of all the adventuring cliches. I loved Char's frustration about the entrance. I love my insistence on battle plans. I love Amber, as usual. And I worship BSam's map as the supreme God of existence...
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