Chapter One- July to the Thai
July 10th
The Year is 2010, and the world is fragmented.
I am a warrior fighting for the cause of my fellow brethen in the northern reaches of the New Islamic European State. I have long since forgotten my real name, but I still know of it's location. Hidden 10 miles south from my current location is a time capsule I planted at the back end of '05, just before the state of affairs started to fragment and go AWOL.
I go by Karai, and my age is 19 in seven days. That makes it the 10th of July. A lot has happened since that fateful day where the supposed extremists co-ordinated an attack on the World Trade Center on 11/9/01, branded 9/11. Soon after many other attacks occured worldwide, which eventually led to-
Grrrrrrr, stupid Northern New Christains! We are not NIES!
July 11th
Where was I?
Oh yes, I remember now. The day is now the 11th of July, and with the aniversary of the "Fragmentation" arriving as well as my birthday, I should rest more. Last night those self proclaimed "righteous" b*****s of the Northern New Christians, based in Escocia, pre-Frag Scotland, attacked our small band of rebels aiming to join up with our great commander Zvane in the land of Thai.
After 9/11 many terrorist attacks struck the globe, the Madrid bombings, the war on Afghanistan, Beslan, War in Iraq, London bombings, New York decimation, Hurricane Katrina-II and countless others. Many muslim fanatics claimed these attacks were of their doing, especially Al-Qeada. The "bigwigs" in the High Order told the "world leaders" to agree with these things to shape events to their way.
Who are these Bigwigs?
The High Order?
Nobody really knows. Not even the "World Leaders" had true contact with their superiors. Only one man made it out alive from the High Order lower ranks, and his tale was cut short by his untimely death. It seems like these Bigwigs are higher than even President Bush was a few years back. No-one knows anything else, but I think that these Bigwigs are the true co-ordinators behind these vicous attacks on society as we knew it.
Anyway, I must set off for the land of Thai to speak to the Allmighty Zvane. With luck I can reach there on the night of my 19th birth anniversary.
July 12th
I have made it to Gaulica by smuggling onto a NIES plane. This plane now travels to India, and from there I can go on by foot. Onboard this cabin is a strange looking man, and I shall ask him of his business sneaking onto a plane of this degree.
This world is fragmented after the Fragmentation in 2006. A series of nuclear bombs decimated New York and Tokyo as well as other regions. Religous groups labelled it the sign of the Apocalypse, and throughout the land many people were found dead by their own hands. A shocking discovery was that Tony Blair, George Bush Jr. and also Osama Bin Laden were found hung in a locked room in a nuclear shelter in America. A note was left with them, but this was thrown away and never examined, until it fell to me. That's when I realised, I would become part of the rebel groups emerging to defeat the newly established religous empires caused in this chaos.
The note read "It was them who launched the bombs..." in English and Urdu. The new powers quickly became totalitarian, but a few smaller ones purused a way of peace to bring back the glory of the world. Murder,s kiollings and rapes happen everyday, global warming is worse than ever, but in Africa the nuclear fallout fertilised the lands and brought happiness to the Africans, who soon set up the Democratic Afrikaans State.
In the next log I shall record my conversation with this strange stowaway, well, that is if I am alive. He seems to have a pistol in his pocket.
I set aside my journal and cautiously walked up to the figure. I grasped the handle of my sheathed blade, ready to attack him if he tried to attack me.
???: "Relax.... I mean no harm. I am seeking one they call Karai, and I heard he might be travelling to Thai."
I was in a state of confusion for a second, until I suddenly spoke, not meaning to, but instict destroyed my reason yet again.
"I am Karai.... I mean... uh....."
???: "You are Karai?"
The man removed his hood, and then it was clear, it was not a man at all, but someone my age.
???: "At last, I have found my long lost friend!"
It was scary, his tone of voice actually sounded as if he knew me, and I knew him. He reached out his hand, and I reluctantly shook it, until he uttered these words:
"It's me, Ryan!"
My face was overcome with confusion and joy. Suddenly, the plane rocked and I was threw to the other side of the cargo bay. I felt a sharp pain in my abdomen, and then I looked down. I could feel the piercing cold heat of a bullet, but it was a piece of rusted metal that was blasted of by the explosion. I looked out of the window, and there I could see him, on his mechanical beast. It was the "ever so legendary" tyrant General Satir under the New America flag. I looked back to Ryan, and I could see him with a twisted ankle.
I tried to pull myself out, but then.......
(All went black)
My eyes slowly opened, and I looked at my surroundings. The first thing Ryan told me was that we were over 1,000 miles off course. What my old friend failed to realise though, was that right behind him there was a signpost saying "Bangkok - 35 miles".
Me: "Ugh...... so how's my stomach?"
Ryan: "It's healing well. Oh, and todays' the 16th."
My brain clicked. We had one day to go 35 miles, and we are both injured! I pointed at the sign, and then Ryan's face soon matched mine. Suddenly, a shadow blocked out the sun for a second, and I jumped up and drew my blade. I looked to the right, and then I realised, it was a mounted warrior. Not only were warriors rare nowadays, but horses are near extinction.
???: "Never fear! I, Kloke is here!"
I looked at his shield and what he spoke was true. It was a shield based on the old swede flag, so that meant it was Kloke, warrior of the Skandavi.
Me: "What are you doing out here?"
Kloke: "Why, I'm on a recon mission for my King. However, my plane crashed, and I was already a few thousand miles off course. It was that wretched Satir!"
Ryan: "So you were reconing with a NIES plane?"
Kloke: "Yeah...."
Me: "So it was your plane we sneaked onto? Wow....... Kloke.... it is me....."
Kloke: "Wha? Who's "me"?"
Ryan: "It's Karai.... remember?"
Kloke: "So if he's Karai, you must be...... Ryan?
Ryan nodded, and then I fell to the ground. When I woke up again it was midday, and Kloke and Ryan were talking. I managed to get myself to where they were, and then I asked Kloke a question in a barely audible tone.
Me: "Kloke, could you take me and Ryan to Bangkok on your horse by tommorow?"
Kloke: "Well, I suppose..... Ryan, can you take the saddle?"
Ryan: "No..."
Me: "I can.... wait, are you seriosuly suggesting we go on your horse and you try to get back to Skandavia?"
Kloke: "Well, now that you say-"
Me: "That's fine with me, Ryan, let's go!"
I jumped on the horse, ignoring the pain, and then left Kloke in the dust. Ryan wasn't even on the horse properly when I bolted. Kloke was left pondering in the dust.
The sun was setting over the jungle canopy. A few ancient remains of Buddhist temples shone with the reflection from the red sun. It was peaceful and quiet as we neared Bangkok. Suddenly, the horse jumped and kciked us off. Underneath us was this nerdy looking teenager with a mask and a cap gun. He pointed the gun at us and said this:
"I pwnz0rz j00 411. j00 suc|<!!1111shift+1 I 4/V\ 1337 ¦(1|\|g 4-143m 10rd! j00r m0n3`/ 0r j00r w1f3!"
I tried to contain my laighter and strained to stop making a remark, but I couldn't help it.
Me: "F-lame lord? Yes, you are F-lame! And isn't it your money or your life?"
F-lame Lord: "......j00r m0n3`/ 0r j00r w1f3!"
Ryan: "Well, I don't have a wife, but I'll give you my non existant one!"
Lord of the Lame stood their in confusion.
Ryan: "Uhhhh..... She's invisible....?"
Lord of Lame: "Works for me!"
He then ran off into the trees, and I turned to Ryan.
Me: "Well, that was.........."
Ryan: "Random?"
Me: "Totally....."
We got back on the st33d and rode off towards Bangkok.
The sun was setting over this distant realm of Thai. Ryan was asleep, but I pressed on as I knew Bangkok was near. Suddenly, the horse stopped. There it was. The majestic city. In ruins. Suddenly, I heard a voice behind me.
"Psst.... follow me. Tis not safe here, the evil Empire could get you!"
I ignored the comment, but suddenly, I could hear the whirring of Satir's mechanical beast approaching fast. I jumped into a bush and hit a person, causing Ryan to wake up. The person looked rough, liek he had been fighting for weeks. His skin looked like that of a Thai, and then I realised, he was unconscious. I looked at Ryan, but then back outside. Satir was there, holding a body. He mumbled somethingand then realeased his grip on the body, then flew off into the distance. I crawled out and looked at the lifelss heap.
It was Kloke.
"Who is it?"
"It's Kloke, Ryan"
"What!? Karai, you must be joking!"
"I wish I was...."
Suddenly, the man stirred. He looked at me and Ryan, and then slapped his face.
"I must be dreaming, I'm sure he just called you Karai and you called him Ryan.... This is not true!"
Ryan's face looked like an exact copy of mine. He seemed to know us. We both nodded, and his face soon copied ours.
"Karai? Rdj?"
The it hit me.
"ZVANE!?!?!?!?"
Zvane explained to us his story deep into the night, and then, in the glimmering of the campfire, I noticed a figure. I leapt up and grasped the hilt of my blade, but Ryan calmed me. I set my sword aside and sat down. Suddenly, I heard a Yorkshire accent behind me.
"Well..... waht have we here?"
"What? A Yorkshire accent? OUT HERE?"
"Zvane, Karai, I'll take him!"
"No Ryan, you are too weak... let Karai do it!"
"Karai? Zvane? So it IS you!"
"Azulor?!"
I almost fainted at the sight of him. I mean, what are the chances that in a week I see some of my old friends....?
Zvane grabbed his sword and leaped behind him, turning to face him. This must be a dream.... it must..... I have no idea how...... this could be true.
Z: "Azulor?"
A: "Zvane...... Rdj..... Andy..."
My brain clicked. Andy, no-one had called me that in years. Ever since the Western States invaded Iran and Saudi I have been forced to use my alia. Ryan was suprised too. No-one had called him Rdj in months either. Zvane was just confused as usual.
R: "ZOMT TIS TEH ZULAOR!!!!!!!!"
I looked at Ryan weirdly, and then focused on the task at hand.
K: "Despite all of this welcoming, there is a greater matter at hand. Satir and his forces have inflicted terror upon the nations of the world, but no rebel group has ever met another. This, this could be our first chance. Zvane, do you have transport?"
Z: "Hmm.... well, I do havea horse too...."
A: "I havea horse with me, two in fact. I also have a wide array of wea-"
K: "Wait, Azulor, you're a resistance fighter too?"
A: "I came out here to seek Zvane like you did. I was stationed not far from you..."
K: "Hmmm.... well then, we must go! We need to travel to at least Checnya, even further if we can't get trancport. We travel at night and only stop in the day to rest and get ourselves food."
All: "Done!"
R: "Now first, we sleep!"
As soon as Ryan's mouth closed he dropepd to the floor. It had been a long day. My leg still really hurt, so I washed it with a natural disinfectant made by Zvane.
That was it, the day before the State of Affairs would change forever.
July 17th
I awoke in the morning to write this in my journal, This will be my last entry. Zvane, Azulor and Ryan are still sleeping, but I awoke just before sunrise. Well, I'm 19 years of age. It's strange to think that I've been at war for three or four years now. Well, I must gather some water and food for the start of the journey. I just hope we can make it back to Britain, and I hope nothing much has really changed.
Ryan's eyes slowly opened to see me closing my journal and putting it back in my bag. It was the first time, I presume, that he saw the scars which littered my body. I had been shot too many times to count. One bullet partially hit my heart, but the heat of the bullet singed the wound till it closed. He pulled himself up and looked out over the ridge, in which I turned to him and smiled.
"Morning, dude."
R: "Hey, happy birthday Karai."
I looked out upon the ridge, and then stumbled back. It was a horrifying sight. Satir, General of the New American Army, followed by thousands of American conscript mind controlled pawns. I siganlled Ryan to wake up the others, and I rushed into the Jungle to check on the horses Zvane and Azulor talked about. On the way I noticed a small stream and also a collection of deer.
Now, although I am from the UK, it is still in my head as an instinct to hunt. I managed to find the horses and rode both at the same time (using a rope, if you're asking) and then jumped off at camp to go and fetch some water. I had five bottles, so I filled up and took a stance ready to hunt. I crouched into the bushes and eyed up my potential game.
I pulled out my knife and was just about to pounce, when a soldier of the NAA stepped out of the bushes. I hugged the ground in th hope that he didn't see me, but he seemed to hear a slight sound. Obviously these weren't the pawns I saw earlier, and were part of an elite unit. He slowly walked over with his gun aimed at the floor, scanning any inch of ground.
I slowly pulled myself up, and just my luck, the guard had his back facing me looking into the bushes opposite. I quickly jumped out and slit his throat in one action, he couldn't struggle and didn't have time to sout for help. I managed to drag the body to a small ditch, and I dumped the lifelass sack in there. I then took his gun and went back to find my deer.
Deer, something I hadn't had in a while. Back home I was living of rations and fish. I was lucky if I had milk and bread. Sigh..... anyway, the deer is right infront of me. I jumped into the air and quickly shot behind it so it charged at me. In one quick manouvre I managed to leap and slit the throat of the deer, the blood gushed out and it was dead immediatly.
I quickly cleaned the body and hoarded it over my shoulder and ran to camp.
A: "Karai? What's wrong?"
K: "The Americans. They're in the forest. We have to get our stuff ready and go."
All: "Right."
We gathered the things together and put it on the saddles. We then tried to eliminate all glimpses of our stay and rode off north, to England.
What we'd find, I don't know, but this is the start of my story. The end of the prolouge and the start of the first chapter. But then again, I'm not a great thinker. Just a guy who believes in freedom in this world of terror we live in now.
Chapter 2 - Final Fantasy? Rebel Helpers!
July the 17th (II)
I am writing this second entry on my birthday at dusk. We made the use of the day and are now at least 30 miles from Bangkok. At the moment we're setting up camp, just a few hundred yards from an abandoned household. As far as we can tell it is abandoned, but it might jold a deeper secret. The jungle was left behind, and now we are in a sparsely vegitated flatland. This is due to years of war, probably. We are camping in a small forest, one of only a few around, and it contains a fresh river through it. I'll scope out this place overnight and I'll get Zvane to do some recon.
I put down my journal and pen, and then looked at the household. It was barely fortified, but it looked to be very strudy due to the number of balsts around it. Zvane and Ryan were talking, and Azulor was cooking the deer. I sat back and thought. Imagine, that household could contain some rebel unit. Heh, who am I kid- What was that? I may not be too far off after all...
K: "Ryan, quick, come here. Can you see that? It's a light.... there must be life in there."
R: ".........Hmm..... maybe we should-"
K: "Get down!"
A bomb exploded right infront of us, and the light quickly went out. All I could hear was a whirring sound. Satir. He was here. Suddenly, twenty or so men broke out from the household, releasing bullets and bombs at Satir. The bullets simply reflected off his armour, and the bombs just seemed to explode midair. How could he be so.... powerful? One of the rebels announced clearly that he was a rebel, and then charged at Satir. His sword manahed to pierce through the bottom of Satir's mount and scar Satir's leg. He gripped it in pain and flew off to the horizon.
Rebel: "That showed him, eh Valk?"
Valk: "Yeah, Dest. Where did he come from anyways? Any ideas?"
A much older soldier stepped up and unloaded his gun.
?: "Maybe he was tracing someone. I saw someone in that small forest over there."
All I could feel was my shaking body. I readied my gun and waited. Waited.....
And waited....
Suddenly, the shaking i used to feel was replaced by the feeling cold steel against the back of my neck.
?: "You, hands up, now!"
I dropped my weapon and and stood up and faced him. It was a man of Malayan descent, but I seemed to recognise the face. I accidently made this clear and he punched me in the gut. I could taste blood... but then....
...
...
K: "Ugh..... where am I?"
?: "You are in our headquaters. We are the Free Peoples of Malay.... or all that's left of us."
I could feel the ropes constraining my hands and feet, and my other senses quickly came back. Out of the corner of my eye I could see Ryan, Zvane and Azulor, all tied up.
?: "Now I, Bah-Zero, will destroy you A-"
K: "Bah-Zero? Baha? Is that you?"
B-Z: "How did you know my name?"
K: "It's me.... Karai."
B-Z: "How do we know this isn't one of Satir's tricks?"
K: "Look at my journal.... in my bag..."
He took out the journal and started reading it. He dropped it and smiled.
B-Z: "So it is you.... I thought you must've been dead. So these are... Wha? Ryan!?!!? Zvane!?!!? Azuor!?!!?"
He looekd really suprised, and that's when it hit me. Those two soldiers talking. They were Valkyr and Destiny. I couldn't believe my eyes. How could this be? Ugh.... getting.... drowsy.... All I can see..... Untie....... ropes......
Suddenly, I saw myself. I was atleast five years younger. I was holding the new PlayStation 3 controller, and I had a nice svelt blue PS3 infront of me, underneath this enormous 40" screen. The blue Playstation meant that I could make any game I wanted. I was testing my new creation. I imported some FireEmblem sprites, ripped the code, recoloured and edited them. This was my creation: Final Emblem Fantasy: Fantasia.
I loaded it up, and after the Sony logo, the game kicked in. The main characters were:
Karai - Lord (Sword and Gun)
Ryan - Preist (Healing Magic and Spear)
Zvane - Cavalier (Horse, Gun and Lance)
Azulor - Thief (Knife and pistol)
I realised that this was my current predicement. Oh, how I wish I could go back to these days. Sigh....
I played through the game, and then, after a few missions, I recruited three new characters. They all used Guns and swords, and their names were: DarkV, Destiny and Bah-Zero. How strange it was. Suddenly, the dream faded and reality came back. It was morning..... the sun pierced through my partly open eyelids, it's warm light flooding in and erasing the dream.
Chapter 2.5: A Long Walk Home
Was it a dream, or was it reality? I could never be quite sure..... the strangest things happened to me in that year. We slowly moved from Thailand and South East Asia, not sure of our direction all the time. We camped, we fed, we washed, and we moved. There was not much time for fun. But this is war. And what a war it would turn out to be. We are currently camped outside what appears to be... What? HONG KONG!?!?!?!? How did we end up HERE!
"Guys, you aren;t going to believe this, but we're in Hong Kong!"
They all turned around to face me, there faces aghast. All this time we moved in the wrong direction. How foolish of us! But as logn as Satir couldn't find our trail, we were safe. Or so it seemed.
A day later, we found out Hong Kong's secrets the hard way. We moved slowly into the town, and then we realised it. Upon the great Spire there was a New America flag. Great, and I thought this place was on OUR side. *Thud* *Thud*. What? Ryan! Zv-
I awoke to find myself upside-down, hung by ropes at my feet and only able to see the legs of my captors. I tried ot turn, but it strained on my neck. I caught a faint glimpse of my companions in the next room along, but the door was closed tightly.
"So, Andy, you have evaded us for the past year, but now we have you."
Was it really a year since I left that NIES plane? Was this lies, or was it the cold truth? A bigger question yet was, is Andy my name? Is it the name I have logn since discarded, but searched for for many years? My questions would be answered, but not by myself or my companions, but the evil tyranny of New America.
"Not in a talkative mood, eh? Well then, we'll make you speak! Corey, flip the swtich."
"Sure thing..."
Those accents were Canadian. I thought for a moment, as if recognising those accents and the name Corey that belonged to one of them. Maybe it w-
"ARGH!!!!!!!!!!! UHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!"
The- current- drives- body-....... PAIN!
"*random screams and groans I can't be bothered to onomatopiea-ise.*"
The voltage stopped, and my skin on my feet was singed. I lost the pain in my hands, and I soon realised they were singed too. Suddenly, my body heaped on the floor as the ropes were cut loose. I tried to pick myself up, but the pain did not allow me to. I continued to pant as I foudn myself short of breath.
"Andy, you dissapoint me. I would expect someone of YOUR calibre to take more punishment than a mere 10,000 volts."
