End of the Universe

[✡]

Drake's eyes shot open. The nightmares were back...horrible dreams about darkness and emptiness. He sat up in bed and looked around the darkened room. He remembered where he was. Just a cheap hotel suite on Niyasha. He was glad that he wasn't like most Melpomenian refugees...unable to find a new home after fleeing from their planet. Drake motioned towards the window, it flashed from opaque to clear and he looked upon Niyasha's cityscape. Fires burned far off in the Southern district...Drake shuddered...the riots must be back. That's all there were these days...across the Universe. Riots, nobody had enough food, water, or shelter and no government could provide them with those things. Drake shielded his eyes from Niyasha's failing sun. Any day now, darkness would fall on Niyasha...

[Scar WhiteDream]

Scar woke up this morning... Or what he used to call morning. He dressed himself with his ripped t-shirt of a metal band and some ripped camo jeans. He then took his daily shot of his radiation antidote and noticed this was one of the few that he had left. Damn. Gonna have to find the ingredients again. Scar then put his backpack on his back, took his shotgun, cranked it and then started to walk. Living out on Isur was deadly as living in a wild jungle. Especially when every survivor on Isur knows that Scar has the only book capable to live with all the planet's radiations without dying. Everybody wanted that book but so far, Scar had kill anyone who tried to take that book away from him.

As he walked towards an abbandoned military airport, his final destination, he saw something move in the shadows. Scar took his shotgun with both of his paws and started to walk more carefully, his ears perking any low frequencies. At one point, a man jumped off a low roof and landed about 4 feet in front of him. The man had a knife in his left paw and he was pretty deformed due to the radiations. Where is the book, Scar?, the man asked. Oh yeah the book. Sometimes, I tend to forget that I'm the one who has it. answered Scar ironicly. Scar dropped his shotgun and his backpack on the ground. Look, I am not giving you the book but I can give you something else. I have prepared a couple of spare antidotes and I can give you one if you want. Scar then took a clear bottle out of his backpack and threw it to the man, which he caught pretty easily. Thanks.

After that meet, Scar started to walk again and smirked as he waited. He then heard a loud howl, followed by some pain noises. Scar knew who it was. You don't fool Scar WhiteDream. What a fool that guy. Taking anything you give to him. Scar smirked again. He did not give the man a bottle of antidote to drink; he had gave the man a bottle of sulflurid acid. Reason why the man screamed in pain as the acid was killing him by the inside.

Next stop for Scar was the military airport to get off this planet and head to Niyasha, a planet where all the refugees go for a bit better life.

[^Geist^]

Geist recalls the moment when darkness began to consume the earth during his arrival on Niyasha. The last moments of mass pandemonium and how the military began to open fire on the crowd to the transport ship. He shudders at the thought of all packs left to their own devices in the darkness....Just another planet gone and It won't be long until there is nowhere to run. As the ship begins the disembark process Geist puts on his custom gp-5 gas mask and screws on a filter just incase. The government has no idea who I am now and no one needs to know. He notices huge smoke plumes contrasting with the sunset on the horizon and the sound of gun fire not too far away.Geist then pulls out a map and begins his quest to reach the northern district and hopefully find some usable supplies on the way...

[Blackfang1002]

Tohaku rests against the wall of an abandoned apartment building. What would once be called morning was steadily coming and yet sleep has yet to find him. His eyes close but his ears remain open to the slightest of sound change. Eight more steps and pull the trigger, boom.......headshot He thought to himself. Light taps are heard through the wall. He counts them steadily, once step eight hits the floor he pulls the trigger of his rifle. The bullet flies through the wall, taking its target through the right temple. Good night. This was nothing personal. If not for your bounty, I might have bought you a drink. Sleep tight ex-survivor. You may be the lucky one this day. He steps around the corner and stands over the body. Riposare in pace The word he spoke were from his father. It meant Rest in Peace. He retrieved a necklace and the revolver from the mans body. I'm sorry I can't bury right now but I'm sure you'll be of use to something out there. He shouldered his M16 custom and packed up the retrieved items. The walk back to town in this God forsaken land will be long and dangerous but atleast a meal and water will be waiting, the gun and necklace would make sure of that. Life on Niyasha, Living the Dream.

[tangletail]

Olaris was floating in a matrix filled with multiple holographic screens orbiting around the area. He was focused on a single scree, which was playing back the disaster at his home home with a depressed look. Underneath the screen was another smaller one which showed information on the events sound spectrum.

His hand waved over it continuously to bring it back to the one and only peaceful moment within the memory. He managed to peel himself away from the screen, allowing it to dematerialize into binary data as jackle appeared next to him. The jackle was shaped with millions of binary data to represent it's form, it spoke to him in an echo as it waved it's hand through the air, removing the other screens  and turning the area dark. “Olaris, reminiscing this again? It's time to wake up... or we will both die.”

Olaris slowly opened his eyes, which were greeted by a dark swarming cloud. He coughed a few times as he crawled out of bed, groggily hobbling around to regain his sense of location. Once again hearing the Jackle's voice echo within his head “Olaris, we need to leave now. The building is going to collapse”

This message took a moment for it to register, which was quickly followed by Olaris growling as he dove to the side when the roof above the bed collapsed, joined with a heap of flames entering the room“The freaking building is on fire?!” Quickly he hopped back to his feet and jumped through the window, onto the fire escape. Quickly he began to run down the stairs and dropped the latter. When he reached the street he was taken aback by how quickly a riot was started, and began back pedaling to pull away from the crowd as far as he can.

[✡]

Drake stalked out of the building. He wrapped his cloak around himself, no use in letting the wrong person recognize him. He passed by a group of preachers from the Order of the Red Mask. Each member of this cult spent their days beseeching crowds throughout the Universe to repent as the end was coming. Drake snorted, ironic that after trillions of years of preaching Armageddon, these cults finally got it right. But they were a powerful group these days, in fact Drake was going to see the High Priest of Niyasha to negotiate allowing him to obtain a spaceship to escape Niyasha. He would probably flit off to some backwoods planet to wait out the End in comfort. Drake soon arrived at his destination and the tower of the Order's Citadel reached up into the sky. It was time to deal with these zealots..

[Scar WhiteDream]

[...]

Scar landed on Niyasha after stealing a military spaceship. From his meet to the spaceship, Scar had killed 23 people who wanted his book. Scar was a cold blooded husky when it came to survival matters. But anyways, he jumped off the spaceship and looked around. This planet was almost even worse than his planet, minus the radiations. Still, Scar would have to take his daily antidote shot for the rest of his life. While thinking on where to go, a man approaced him. You there. I see you have landed on our planet. Now, I want to see your papers now or I'll have to take you to jail. Maybe you are a... Scar did not let the man finish and shot him in the leg. As the man fell on the grown, Scar growled and said with a powerfull but calm voice: I do not have to receive orders here. Scar WhiteDream never follows orders. This is worse than a jungle here. It's survival dude. Take the pain that comes with it. I don't care if you are part of "special" forces... I live my way. Accept it... Or die under my bullets. Scar shot the other man's leg and smiled, leaving him bleeding and screaming in pain. I love comparing the hard life to living in the jungle.

Scar loaded his shotgun and while walking, he looked around curiously. He did not know where he was heading but he liked the peace coming from the place. He knew nobody from his planet had taken refugee out here since the governement did not want the radiations to spread on other planets.

After a moment, Scar looked up and saw a church bell tower. He smiled as he thought : "Hmmmm... I wonder if I could buy my ingredients with a couple of golden church statues". Scar slowly walked towards the church, still carefull to any other interventions towards him. Like he said to himself, he would kill anyone on any planet to be able to survive.

[Blackfang1002]

Tohaku arrives in one of the many lums that were once bustling towns. The people whisper and stare as he walks past, his work very well known around these parts. He steps inside a small bar and lays the necklace on the counter. The contract is complete. The payment we agreed upon was 2 gallons of water and 3 MREs. The older man at the counter placed a bag on the counter. The pistol you requested aswell. I assume you have our secondary payment. A second bag is set on the table. Tohaku smiles lightly and places the pistol in the stranger's hand. You let me know if there's anything else I can do for you. See ya old man. He grabs his bags and walks outside. Two children sat against the wall and look up to Tohaku. Here. You look hungry. He sets a gallon of water and an MRE in front of them and walks away. He thought back to when he was young. When his clan would share food with strangers. When trade and gifts weren't shadowed with greed and suspicion. They needed it more than he did. Besides........he was a murderer as far as anyone was concerned. He did deserve the luxury of extra food and water.

[tangletail]

Olaris quickly spun on his heels to run down the street to get away from the riot. However he heard a bullet go off, and quickly duck behind a mail box. As he pulled out his pistol and flicked the safety off the AI in his head spoke calmly as before. “The shot was in a distance... to the northeast.”

The fox growled lightly as he placed a hand on the top of the large canister and pulled himself up to look over the top, “Great... and thats where I am heading.” he groaned.
“I am sorry Olaris. But I am afraid you chance, the riot or the shooter. The odds of survival are...”
“I KNOW. My odds are better facing a crazed gunman then running through a murderous crowd.”
“Then stop waisting time.” the computerized jackle's voice rang in his head in a echoing chorus before fading to silence.

Olaris nodded and pushed away from the box, spinning on his heel and running down the street reluctantly towards the sound of gun fire, keeping the safety off of his pistol for now. “Thank you Eden.”

[Cifero Windtail]

"Drake!"
Rick ran up to the cloaked figure.
"How are you doing these days?" the kid asked, nonchalantely flicking his tail.

[✡]

Drake leaped back. Gah, another one of those refugees. Trying to cash in on
"knowing" one of Melpomenia's few survivors. He swept away towards the Red Mask's tower. They had something he wanted, an old military ship. Good enough to get him off this rock and away from the destruction.
He showed his ID to one of the armed guards in front of the Tower and he stepped into the turbovator to go up to the top.

[Scar WhiteDream]

As he walked, Scar lit up a cigarette and kept walking ears perked for any suspicious sounds from his environnement. He moved up quickly but silently and soon arrived at about 150 feet from the front church stairs. His eyes were perfectly seeing the 2 guards standing at the front door. What type of church would be protected like that?, Scar thought. He waited a little bit, trying to figure out a way to enter and suddently saw someone in a cloak walking up the stairs and gave one guard something and then go in. As he wondered how he could enter the church, he suddently remembered that he had what he needed in his backpack. Scar took his backpack off and took out a breifcase. He put it on the ground and opened it. In that case was a nice military sniper that Scar found in the militry airport on Isur with a pack of 100 sniper bullets. As Scar assembled it, he hummed a Metal song riff and then put the bullets, cranked it and prepared himself.

[...]

Scar kept humming a metal song while unassembling his sniper with a smile. Two bullets and the job was done. No wind in the air made it more simple. Two bullets, two headshots.Too easy for me, Scar said to himself with a very low voice. Scar was proud of him as all of this shooting perfection came from his father who was in the military 10 years before he was killed by the nuclear explosion. This thought made Scar pull a sad face and he threw his cigarette away, litting up another one. Scar took out a picture of his pocket and looked at it while a tear was rolling down his cheek. On the picture was all his family plus his boyfriend: his mother Tanya, his father Tom, his 16 year old brother James, his 3 years old sister Anabelle and his boyfriend Josh. He growled in pain as he remembered losing them all in one explosion and Scar remembered every dead body he found in the house after the explosion. He cried for ever, curling up in a ball like a husky puppy and fell asleep next to his little sister. But that was the past now and Scar knew he couldn't do anything to get them back.

As Scar was taking his shotgun back after putting his backpack back, he wipped the tear and kissed the cross he had on his neck.Glad to know you with me dad. This cross had been blessed by Isur's most loved and reputated priest, Father Emmanuel. His father had blessed this cross before leaving for the great Isur's war 3 years before taking it's retirement from the army. He came back uninjured and when Scar was 10, his father gave him his cross to "protect" his oldest son. So far, it worked since Scar had found his alchemy book miraculously and managed to survive a hole year so far.

Scar arrived at the church top stairs, looked at the guards on the ground and smiled. Time to get this show started. Mom, dad and everyone I love... I'm surviving for you... For the family's honor. Scar made sure his shotgun was pumped and took a puff of his cigarette before slowly opening the door and taking his shotgun with both hands while entering in the church as quiet as possible. Scar wanted the element of surprise and he knew he would get it.

[Blackfang1002]

Tohaku looked up at the tall church of the Red Mask. He had heard many stories of this place, their military supplies, assassins, and supposed need to 'save' everyone. He had long ago been banished from all churches for his deeds. It didn't matter. Faith was as false as love or luck. Skill and supplies were the only saving grace on this planet. He who holds the bread and water gets to live another week. The end was coming and there was nothing he could do. Best to just relax, have a drink, and keep breathing as long as possible. His clan weighed heavy on his mind, the deeds he was charged with burned through his soul. He'd fought so many bounty hunters and scavengers looking for his head. It made him sad to think what people said about him. Murderer, beast, monster, the devil. All were light compared to many other labels. He looked up to see someone entering the church. Out of curiosity he called out to the young man, a risk with such a price on his head and hatred of those around him. Sir? May I speak with you? He called to the young fox entering the church.

[tangletail]

Olaris found himself closing in to the rear of the Church when he turned a corner. He continued jogging towards the back gate until he caught sight of a glint from the roof top, unsure of what that was he continued.
“OLARIS GET DOWN!” screamed the AI as it temporarily seized control of Olaris' body and forced him to dive to the ground as another gunshot went off, the bullet completely sailing over his head. Quickly Olaris regained control of his body and scrambled closer to the gate and quickly log rolled into the brick wall, escaping yet another gunshot.

“Sniper....” he groaned to himself
“Sniper” Eden replied in his head.

Thinking to himself for a moment, he grabbed a nearby piece of junk and tossed it in the air to draw the snipers attention away before he quickly jumped up and grabbed onto the ledge. He pulled his body up with his left hand and began shooting in the general direction. He didn't stop till he saw the sniper eventually roll off the roof and fall the ground dead.

"Three rounds left in current magazine sir,  seven left in cache sir"
"Thank you Eden... I don't need a reminder that I am close to being horribly screwed."
"Not a problem Master Olaris"

[Cifero Windtail]

Rick scratched his head in confusion.
"Now why did he act like that? I was only saying hi."
He ran after Drake.