Breaker
08-17-07, 10:51 PM
This thread has been rated R for Raunchy. If you're not sexy, or don't appreciate sexy things, you may not want to read this.
"Boris, you didn't empty the chamber pot last night!"
"I was bloody drunk!"
The voices of the inkeeper and his wife invaded my dreams as I tried to sleep in.
I had been experimenting with lucid dreaming over the past few nights, successful in controlling the dream quite often, considering my beginner's status. At that very moment I was flying through the night sky like Superman, wind rippling through hair, clothing and eyelids like a rocket-propelled cartoon character. The roaring in my ears changed to the sound of the couple squabbling, and suddenly I was in a pub, flying headfirst at a barrel of ale. In the dream, I performed an incredible flip-turn to escape through an open window to the freedom of the sunlit skies.
In reality, I rolled over from my back to my front, squishing my nose and mouth against the pillows.
"No, it was night. The sky was dark."
The blue sky which had too recently been black darkened to a fatal azure.
"That's better. Yes, it was dark."
"... it was an almost navy shade, all around me, with aqua fluorescence blinding from above. I couldn't breathe! I was under water, I realized suddenly. For some reason it didn't seem real, I felt like I should be able to change it. But that was just the shock, surely. I panicked and began swimming for the surface, kicking my way into the blinding light. Light meant sun, and sun meant up, when you were under water. I squinted against the ultraviolet rays-- they almost seemed magnified by permeating the water. It hurt my eyes, but I needed to open them wide, to see how far the surface was. I ..."
I opened my eyes, waking up instantly. My back arched, powerful muscles pulling in between each vertibrae and bringing my face clear of the linen pillowcase. I gasped a breath through my mouth, then looked around. The sun shone brightly through a window at the head of my bed. I groaned and kicked the unfamiliar blankets away. Most mornings I woke up to the sounds of birds singing as the first fingers of dawn crept over lush green treetops. Overlseeping made me feel groggy and mixed up, like the day was shorter than it should be.
"That was a bloody realistic dream."
I paused half-way out of bed. I was beginning to talk like the locals, even in my thoughts. It didn't really bother me, and then I realized just how scary that was. Less than a year since I left Earth behind, and already I had adapted to a new planet. Of course, the people on Althanas weren't exactly aliens. Their customs extra-terrestrial perhaps, but not their bodies and minds. The only real adjustment I had had to make was to forget about technology. Not an easy task, but I was getting there.
I showered quickly, glad to have access to such facilities. The Visitors Inn was an expensive bed and breakfast style lodge. It offered a limited service, with only three rooms to rent, but I was the only tenant at the time and glad of it. The water was tepid at best, but still left me feeling refreshed and clean. Noticing the thick, bristly stubble on my chin while scrubbing my face, I decided that a shave was in order. Such niceties weren't part of my daily routine on Althanas, but what the hell, this was my day off.
Freshly groomed by the deft maneouverings of my straight razor, I dressed in beige shorts and a white shirt with short sleeves. It had odd looping buttons that had confused me at first. Overcoming the garment, I slipped out my bedroom window and headed for the nearest market. Avoiding a host and hostess so obviously enraptured with each other seemed like a brilliant idea, and I was confident I could procure my own breakfast. Nourishment came in the form of a chunk of bread with mildly questionable meat smeared across it. Tossing it from one hand to the other like a hot potato, I took a few back streets I had memorized and headed for my Dajas Pagoda arena. The pastry tasted good enough, and more importantly fueled my body to full alert.
Due to the injury I had suffered the previous night, Headquarters had given me the day of from my duties as a Hierarch. Of course, after a visit from one of the Pagoda's Healers, the deep gash in my thigh was a bad memory. A nasty scar remained and the muscle was tight as a reef not, but with a little extra effort I managed full mobility. I had plans for a long, solid workout, starting with intensive stretching to loosen the leg, then--
I stopped short, my thoughts extinguished like a severred fuse. My arena was in shambles. The doors hung askew, barely dangling from their hinges, revealing a disastrous interior. Broken glass from four smashed windows littered the floor, floating shrapnel amidst the mud, water and blood mingled on the mats and hardwood.
Of course, this didn't surprise me. It had been like that when I left the night before. But some part of me, some inner Earthling that truly did not understand the nature of Althanas, had expected the arena to be repaired as magically as my leg. Evidently, it did not work that way. A construction crew had started up already, men with thick sun-dark arms removing the doors for scraping and repainting. They worked hard, driven by a desire to get home as soon as possible, but it would still be a few days before the arena might look "good as new".
The previous night all hell had broken loose in the Dajas Pagoda. Looking back, I still didn't quite understand how it had all gone down. The events accelerated like a kamikaze motorboat, me the unwitting waterskier holding on for dear life. A terrorist had invaded my arena, requesting sanctuary from the Inquisition, but not before nearly splitting my femoral artery in a short lived swordfight. Soon after the Inquisition themselves had arrived, trashing the humble arena savagely. A cleaning crew arrived, giving the construction workers a wide berth before starting to mop up the bile lining the floor. Apparently, my day off was due to a lack of premises for challengers to attack me in. Disapointed, I determined not to let this ruin the day for me. I would find something constructive to do-- and enjoy myself, even if it killed me.
Just two streets over I entered an excellent bakery, my arrival earning a wide smile from the owner and resident baker.
"What are you up to today Josh Cronen? Not fightin' duels in that big bubble of yours?"
The girl's name was Shawna Barry, skinny despite enjoying her own fantastic cooking. She had a hearty grin and buoyant brown eyes. A trip to her bakery always improved my spirits, only partially due to the delight her ovens produced on a daily basis.
"I thought I'd head for the hills today Shawnie, do some hiking, maybe along the cliffs. I've never seen much of the area. Pack me enough food for two meals, will you?" I dropped a sack of thick gold coins on the flour stained counter. She would take what I owed, and I trusted her with the money. Althanas had become an easy place to make friends once I adjusted, learning to trust my instincts.
"Here you go, Warrior," She teased, referring to my position in Dajas Pagoda. "Plenty of grub for two full meals. If you're thinking of taking the cliffs, you have to see Lunar Lagoon." I took the paper sack, sliding it into my backpack without taking my eyes from hers.
"Lunar Lagoon? You do realize it's gotta be six hours before noon, even?"
She laughed powerfully, either at my wit or my uninformed blundering.
"It'll take you near on six hours to get there Josh. I figured a hardy fellow like you would be up to the journey. It's leagues from anywhere, Lunar Lagoon, but Scara Brae is closest. Most beautiful place I ever saw, it was. I suggest you head out there, spend the day to watch the moon rise, then hike back by moonlight. The cliff paths are safe as can be lit up by that pale glow." She shivered at the memory, and seeing the bare honesty in her eyes was enough to make me take her advice. I thanked Shawna and left the bakery at top speed.
Fifteen minutes later I was jogging-- perhaps sprinting-- out of Scara Brae. I was an obsessive runner, and new it well. Able to maintain top speed over long periods of time, I pounded along hardpack trails which wove through the sparse forest's underbrush. Ducking under whippy branches and leaping the roots which scarred the forest floor, I quickly made it to the cliffside hiking paths the baker had spoken of. They did not look well used, but were mostly carved out of solid rock, so overgrowth wasn't a problem. I wondered if some ancient magic had been used to sculpt the thin, shallow ravines, imagining a battle between mages of celestial powers. More likely, it had been natural erosion caused by ice or water, but I enjoyed the mental images of a fireball hot enough to melt stone.
I slowed to a steady hike, treading carefully over the high cliffs. Often as far below as fifty metres, the ocean was most unnaturally calm, liquid blue green, bright in the scalding sun. As refreshing as a swim woud be, I had no desire to fall, or jump into the ocean hypnotic ocean. My well tanned skin dealt with the heat admirably, and I dodged in and out of shadows to avoid a sunburn. I hiked for several hours, pausing to drink from my canteen and eat salty venison jerky whenever I started to feel tired. By the time the sun approached its zeinth, the sculpted rock paths had given way to shale cliffs, layered rock which provided a never ending staircase.
On a hunch, I began to meditate, wrapping myself in an ultraperceptive void and pushing up the sensitivity of my ears. Superhuman senses did the trick; I could hear the familiar roaring of a waterfall in the distance. Releasing the void I began climbing a particularly high bit of cliff. Shawna had mentioned something about a waterfall, and knowing I was close pushed me to scramble up the incline. Using my hands on the rough stone to pull my body up faster, and before long I crested the summit. As my head poked into clear blue sky, Lunar Lagoon came into view.
What I saw took my breath away.
"Boris, you didn't empty the chamber pot last night!"
"I was bloody drunk!"
The voices of the inkeeper and his wife invaded my dreams as I tried to sleep in.
I had been experimenting with lucid dreaming over the past few nights, successful in controlling the dream quite often, considering my beginner's status. At that very moment I was flying through the night sky like Superman, wind rippling through hair, clothing and eyelids like a rocket-propelled cartoon character. The roaring in my ears changed to the sound of the couple squabbling, and suddenly I was in a pub, flying headfirst at a barrel of ale. In the dream, I performed an incredible flip-turn to escape through an open window to the freedom of the sunlit skies.
In reality, I rolled over from my back to my front, squishing my nose and mouth against the pillows.
"No, it was night. The sky was dark."
The blue sky which had too recently been black darkened to a fatal azure.
"That's better. Yes, it was dark."
"... it was an almost navy shade, all around me, with aqua fluorescence blinding from above. I couldn't breathe! I was under water, I realized suddenly. For some reason it didn't seem real, I felt like I should be able to change it. But that was just the shock, surely. I panicked and began swimming for the surface, kicking my way into the blinding light. Light meant sun, and sun meant up, when you were under water. I squinted against the ultraviolet rays-- they almost seemed magnified by permeating the water. It hurt my eyes, but I needed to open them wide, to see how far the surface was. I ..."
I opened my eyes, waking up instantly. My back arched, powerful muscles pulling in between each vertibrae and bringing my face clear of the linen pillowcase. I gasped a breath through my mouth, then looked around. The sun shone brightly through a window at the head of my bed. I groaned and kicked the unfamiliar blankets away. Most mornings I woke up to the sounds of birds singing as the first fingers of dawn crept over lush green treetops. Overlseeping made me feel groggy and mixed up, like the day was shorter than it should be.
"That was a bloody realistic dream."
I paused half-way out of bed. I was beginning to talk like the locals, even in my thoughts. It didn't really bother me, and then I realized just how scary that was. Less than a year since I left Earth behind, and already I had adapted to a new planet. Of course, the people on Althanas weren't exactly aliens. Their customs extra-terrestrial perhaps, but not their bodies and minds. The only real adjustment I had had to make was to forget about technology. Not an easy task, but I was getting there.
I showered quickly, glad to have access to such facilities. The Visitors Inn was an expensive bed and breakfast style lodge. It offered a limited service, with only three rooms to rent, but I was the only tenant at the time and glad of it. The water was tepid at best, but still left me feeling refreshed and clean. Noticing the thick, bristly stubble on my chin while scrubbing my face, I decided that a shave was in order. Such niceties weren't part of my daily routine on Althanas, but what the hell, this was my day off.
Freshly groomed by the deft maneouverings of my straight razor, I dressed in beige shorts and a white shirt with short sleeves. It had odd looping buttons that had confused me at first. Overcoming the garment, I slipped out my bedroom window and headed for the nearest market. Avoiding a host and hostess so obviously enraptured with each other seemed like a brilliant idea, and I was confident I could procure my own breakfast. Nourishment came in the form of a chunk of bread with mildly questionable meat smeared across it. Tossing it from one hand to the other like a hot potato, I took a few back streets I had memorized and headed for my Dajas Pagoda arena. The pastry tasted good enough, and more importantly fueled my body to full alert.
Due to the injury I had suffered the previous night, Headquarters had given me the day of from my duties as a Hierarch. Of course, after a visit from one of the Pagoda's Healers, the deep gash in my thigh was a bad memory. A nasty scar remained and the muscle was tight as a reef not, but with a little extra effort I managed full mobility. I had plans for a long, solid workout, starting with intensive stretching to loosen the leg, then--
I stopped short, my thoughts extinguished like a severred fuse. My arena was in shambles. The doors hung askew, barely dangling from their hinges, revealing a disastrous interior. Broken glass from four smashed windows littered the floor, floating shrapnel amidst the mud, water and blood mingled on the mats and hardwood.
Of course, this didn't surprise me. It had been like that when I left the night before. But some part of me, some inner Earthling that truly did not understand the nature of Althanas, had expected the arena to be repaired as magically as my leg. Evidently, it did not work that way. A construction crew had started up already, men with thick sun-dark arms removing the doors for scraping and repainting. They worked hard, driven by a desire to get home as soon as possible, but it would still be a few days before the arena might look "good as new".
The previous night all hell had broken loose in the Dajas Pagoda. Looking back, I still didn't quite understand how it had all gone down. The events accelerated like a kamikaze motorboat, me the unwitting waterskier holding on for dear life. A terrorist had invaded my arena, requesting sanctuary from the Inquisition, but not before nearly splitting my femoral artery in a short lived swordfight. Soon after the Inquisition themselves had arrived, trashing the humble arena savagely. A cleaning crew arrived, giving the construction workers a wide berth before starting to mop up the bile lining the floor. Apparently, my day off was due to a lack of premises for challengers to attack me in. Disapointed, I determined not to let this ruin the day for me. I would find something constructive to do-- and enjoy myself, even if it killed me.
Just two streets over I entered an excellent bakery, my arrival earning a wide smile from the owner and resident baker.
"What are you up to today Josh Cronen? Not fightin' duels in that big bubble of yours?"
The girl's name was Shawna Barry, skinny despite enjoying her own fantastic cooking. She had a hearty grin and buoyant brown eyes. A trip to her bakery always improved my spirits, only partially due to the delight her ovens produced on a daily basis.
"I thought I'd head for the hills today Shawnie, do some hiking, maybe along the cliffs. I've never seen much of the area. Pack me enough food for two meals, will you?" I dropped a sack of thick gold coins on the flour stained counter. She would take what I owed, and I trusted her with the money. Althanas had become an easy place to make friends once I adjusted, learning to trust my instincts.
"Here you go, Warrior," She teased, referring to my position in Dajas Pagoda. "Plenty of grub for two full meals. If you're thinking of taking the cliffs, you have to see Lunar Lagoon." I took the paper sack, sliding it into my backpack without taking my eyes from hers.
"Lunar Lagoon? You do realize it's gotta be six hours before noon, even?"
She laughed powerfully, either at my wit or my uninformed blundering.
"It'll take you near on six hours to get there Josh. I figured a hardy fellow like you would be up to the journey. It's leagues from anywhere, Lunar Lagoon, but Scara Brae is closest. Most beautiful place I ever saw, it was. I suggest you head out there, spend the day to watch the moon rise, then hike back by moonlight. The cliff paths are safe as can be lit up by that pale glow." She shivered at the memory, and seeing the bare honesty in her eyes was enough to make me take her advice. I thanked Shawna and left the bakery at top speed.
Fifteen minutes later I was jogging-- perhaps sprinting-- out of Scara Brae. I was an obsessive runner, and new it well. Able to maintain top speed over long periods of time, I pounded along hardpack trails which wove through the sparse forest's underbrush. Ducking under whippy branches and leaping the roots which scarred the forest floor, I quickly made it to the cliffside hiking paths the baker had spoken of. They did not look well used, but were mostly carved out of solid rock, so overgrowth wasn't a problem. I wondered if some ancient magic had been used to sculpt the thin, shallow ravines, imagining a battle between mages of celestial powers. More likely, it had been natural erosion caused by ice or water, but I enjoyed the mental images of a fireball hot enough to melt stone.
I slowed to a steady hike, treading carefully over the high cliffs. Often as far below as fifty metres, the ocean was most unnaturally calm, liquid blue green, bright in the scalding sun. As refreshing as a swim woud be, I had no desire to fall, or jump into the ocean hypnotic ocean. My well tanned skin dealt with the heat admirably, and I dodged in and out of shadows to avoid a sunburn. I hiked for several hours, pausing to drink from my canteen and eat salty venison jerky whenever I started to feel tired. By the time the sun approached its zeinth, the sculpted rock paths had given way to shale cliffs, layered rock which provided a never ending staircase.
On a hunch, I began to meditate, wrapping myself in an ultraperceptive void and pushing up the sensitivity of my ears. Superhuman senses did the trick; I could hear the familiar roaring of a waterfall in the distance. Releasing the void I began climbing a particularly high bit of cliff. Shawna had mentioned something about a waterfall, and knowing I was close pushed me to scramble up the incline. Using my hands on the rough stone to pull my body up faster, and before long I crested the summit. As my head poked into clear blue sky, Lunar Lagoon came into view.
What I saw took my breath away.