The Rogue Angel
The story starts as it must in Sangora. More specifically in a military camp filled with rebels - or syndicate members - as they would like to call themselves. Sangora was mostly a desolate landscape and had a couple of mining industries and strong ties to Gio. Well, it used to at least. They were striking now and it was causing a headache for the encampments below. The locals were growing weary of the intruders, and the cold hostility grew more with each year that passed. It didn’t help matters that there was a shelling ghost attacking the rebels either. Whoever it was had never been caught, but general Alexandre Kollisi always managed to step in and see to morale. That’s why they loved him for all his terrifying flaws. The wolf cared about them.
El was one of the unfortunates who lived there, cramped into Base 19. But this woman was not like the others, she was an intruder herself. A spy sent by her government to gather intel on the syndicate’s moves. It was a position she had volunteered for because it let her escape her forced position as the Elder of Agartha. Another cover story. But it also meant leaving her ward, Alana, behind. The girl was going to be fine, Elmira had through Ayursha managed to sponsor the girl to rise as a guardian. A coveted position. If one survived the process of the three trials of the Guardian's Awakening. Elmira wasn’t worried, Alana had survived worse in her short life.
But that was beside the point now. Whether the girl failed or not, Elmira could not help her. They’d see each other again on the day of the Trial, but until then Elmira had to focus on her present. She heads up the plateau and into the base proper. It’s sprawling, haphazard, and less mobile now than when it was built, resting on an impossible labyrinth of alleyways and streets. Impossible for most, but not Elmira. She was El the Maze Hunter after all and had earned that name fair and square. She knew the base like the back of her hand, which was why she was such a valuable asset to every faction both under and overground. Lately, Kollisi had had messengers find her with tasks. Find this. Find that. The mystery was what it was all for. She had to figure that out. Somehow.
She always took a moment to breathe high above Qi-Betrí, the largest lake on the continent, if not the planet itself. Big like an ocean and yet a lake. Musing in the horizon and catching up on the news did little to quell the flutter in her stomach when she realized Gio would be without supplies again. Nothing she could do but hope that the strikers had resilience. Against the new order, they would need every ounce of it.
Sighing she made herself get up and head into the bustle of the base, braced for impact against the onslaught of noises, smells, and sights. The base was vile in many ways, and dark in so many more, but El had gotten used to it. She stuck to the edges of the shadows, close enough to disappear if needed but visible enough to be seen walking along without a care. People paid no mind to her. They seldom did unless they needed something found. That suited her just fine. But it did become lonesome at times. A little boy suddenly stepped in her way, asking if she was the maze runner truly. A fanboy and a messenger. The message he carried came from one of the colonels, a certain Colonel Boll. The request was urgent, and so she set to work.
Knowing the time limit, she decided to head for Noke, the engineer who never asked questions, to look for the transistor that Kollisi was looking for. As usual, he's a womanizing idiot, but he does produce the goods. With a little bit of a push from her end, and a roof about to catch fire. Once back on the streets, she makes her way quickly to the inner circle's base which straddles a hill in the south of the base. Just a quick drop-off and get on her way, that was the plan. The plan did not involve walking in on Kollisi interrogating Colonel Boll, only to continue with her.
Dancing with Alexandre, especially with their checkered past, was as terrifying as it was thrilling. Elmira finds herself lying easily, a little too easily if she was being honest with herself. It felt good, this new life and new me she had created for herself. A cover for a cover for a girl she hadn't been in a long time. To her surprise, Alexandre invited her to join him in the Inner Circle, to become part of the first wave to breach the security protocols of Agartha Nova.
Victory. But short. Too short. For she is called home for the Guardian’s Awakening, or the Trial of the Orb as it was sometimes called. Had she lost time like that? As Elder she had no choice, her attendance was not just mandatory but a prerequisite for the ceremony to go ahead. So she has to leave. She wants to bid farewell to her lover Arman the Mech, slip out like a thief in the night. But instead she fakes her abduction. She had prepared for this and she made sure everything was in place with Korp and her people. It wasn't a surprise that she'd duck out unexpectedly, she had her fair few enemies but a part of her hated it. Suddenly she realized the freedom El gave her.
Rejoining Ayursha in the matrix is a thrill, a breath of relief and joy she had forgotten. But the journey is far from smooth. Portal hopping wasn't for everyone, as it took some skill and good memory of the paths and distances traveled. That's why realmwalkers were so revered and feared at the same time. She'd designed this path herself. Designed it in case she was followed. But not only, for it took her to places with habitats she had been starved of for so long. The places had changed somewhat which led to some unexpected hilarity. Along the way, she also notices her way is sabotaged. A portal with its crystals smashed. A portal about to be turned off for maintenance. Then the shield slams into her like a ton of bricks, sending her flying through the Portal on Inner Varu.
Elmira, dazed and confused, the noises too loud and disorienting, looks up to find herself surrounded by a market in disarray. The portal activation has torn through the nearby stalls, and there are bodies on the ground. She tries to get up but stumbles. The imperial guards question her, the accusation clear in their eyes - while doubt still lets her walk free. The portal won't activate again for another couple of days and she is stuck here, in the city of birds and metal. Inner Varu always makes Elmira a little uneasy, it's too clean, too brilliant, too metallic, too streamlined for her tastes. Finding herself wandering through the streets, she spots a familiar sign and enters a tavern. At first glance, it's like any other cheap dive, but this one holds the secret entrance to Varu's underground market. Revealed by a single word, Elmira is let through the door and enters this new bar. If Varu is order, then this place is chaos. Unbridled, unapologetic, and wild to say the very least. This was more like it. This was El's type of establishment, just like it had been hers in her youngest youth. Downing another drink, she sets about looking for a ship and a crew to take her through to Oliria just "a slip away" from Varu. This is how she meets Tam Winmore.
Now Tam is quite the character, really, a cheerful buffoon with the greatest luck seen in the world. When El meets him, he offers to take her through to Oliria, they just have to go get his ship first. It's been impounded due to gambling debts. But with a little help from Elmira, he gets the less-than-impeccable vessel back from the skyport and they head out with a newfangled crew to brave the ocean and the straits.
Plot type
Book overview
Related Characters
Related Organizations
Comments