Flashback (closed)

[Little Charming]

Nylah sat under the biggest tree she could find just at the edge of her father's farm land. She had just finished feeding the chickens for the morning and had wanted to catch up on her studying. She was reading a spell book her mother had left for her when she died. It was mainly defensive shield spells and small things like sparks for lighting candles and scaring away the wolves. Her favorite that she was trying to learn was a minor invisibility one for sneaking away undetected. But she could never get it to last more then a few moments. Of course it was always long enough for her to jump behind a tree when her father came looking for her.

Looking over the symbols and words she soon became tired and drifted into a light, early afternoon nap under the shade of a big willow tree. The soft, far away sound of a river could be hear along with many of the birds crys for love. A soft breeze blew her black hair across her face in little whisps as she slept and a soft clucking came from the hen house a few feet behind her.

 

[FenixZero]

Jack Briggs ran the back of his arm across his forehead, the heavy welding gloves he wore on his hands leaving a thick grease mark just below his brow line. The thick goggles that protected his eyes reflected every spark and every flash of light from the control panel in front of the young man.

He exhaled slowly, his gaze darting back and forth across his controls as his fingers moved across the dials and switches. His head flicked back up to stare at the massive glowing ball of radioactive fire, it's searing power and fury contained by a few feet of diamond enforced glass.

Sustained fusion. The answer to the energy crisis that was tearing his world in half. Fossil fuels had been exhausted decades ago, and what was left of humanity was tearing itself apart for the last scraps of petroleum. But this could be the solution, this could be the way to save things. He hadn't had the resources for all the proper protocols, his equipment was slightly out dated, but it had to work. It had to.

A light began to flash urgently on the panel and seconds later the control room was filled with the angry blare of an alarm. Jack's head jerked up suddenly, the reflective goggles mirroring the crimson light of the alarms. A panicked look passed across his face as his hands flew into action.

Containment breached...the whole thing was going critical...no way to stop it!

"Oh fuc-"

His lips were still forming the last profanity he would ever utter when the mini star behind the thick glass flashed, and his whole world went white.
++++++

There was a thunderous boom, and he could feel his body slam hard into the ground. The air rushed out of his lungs as he impacted against the earth, stunning him for a moment.

Jack Briggs's eyes opened slowly, the blinding white slowly fading from his eyes, melting into color and form, becoming recognizable shapes.

Trees? And a river?

Standing slowly, Jack pulled the goggles from his eyes, one a thick liquid brown, like the color of brandy, the other a vibrant blue blinking rapidly to adjust to the light. He was standing at the bank of a small creek, the water churning merrily along, oblivious to him. His eyes darted around, struggling to comprehend what had just occurred.

Where was he? Where was the lab? How had he survived the blast?

 

[Little Charming]

Hearing a slight splash and the sound of a big sack of potatoes being thrown to the ground, Nylah woke. She looked around her and stretched a little after seing no immediate danger to herself. She looked down at the book in her lap and scanned over the words again before closing the thick book with a thud. When she hear some more faint splashing she looked towards the sound, almost as if to see the noise.

"Maybe one of the horses has wondered to far again." She muttered to herself as she stood. She began walking towards the stream to fetch the horse and as she got closer she saw the figure of a man instead of a horse just behind curtain of willow leaves. She crouched down lower to the ground as she parted the leaves, shuffling her bare feet across the grass bank to get a closer look. When she got close enough to see, what she saw startled her. A man, dressed in an outfit she had never seen. He looked disoriented and almost amaized as he gazed at his surroundings. Nylah simply crouched behind a veil of leaves as she watched this stranger on her father's land.

 

[FenixZero]

Jack dropped to his knees, tossing off the thick, dark gloves that covered his hands and kneeling beside the river. Cupping his hands, he dipped them into the cool water, feeling a slight shiver run up his spine as the ice cold water leeched the heat from his hands. Bringing his palms up he splashed the water across his face, sighing loudly as he felt the water eat away at thick layer of grease and sweat that was caked across his face. The water felt good, calming and very restorative. He hadn't even seen water this clean since....

Ever.

His face washing paused for a minute as he realized this fact. Where in the world was he? Turning his oddly colored eyes skyward he was astounded to see an endless blanket of perfect blue. It was the kind of sky you only saw in pictures or in holos from the early 21st. The layers of pollution were gone, the thick dark clouds that shielded the Earth from the increased UV rays nonexistent. Only a few puffy white clouds that were floating lazily across the heavens. It was like nothing he had ever seen before.

His hand floated to his belt, fumbling in one of the small pouches around his waist, his gaze still locked skyward. Finally finding the object he'd been searching for he reluctantly tore his gaze from this picturesque sky and to the small disk shaped device in his palm. It was small, roughly the size of a hockey puck but much thinner. His thumb pressed firmly onto the top of disk for a second, before a small blue light began to flash. The metallic skin of the disk seemed to take on a low, sapphire glow as Jack held it skyward. A series of beeps followed one finally tone and the disk stopped glow. The young man brought the disk up in obvious surprise.

"Where the hell are the navigational sats?" He asked no one as he stared in disbelief at the device, "How the hell am I supposed to get a GPS lock if I can't find a single nav sattelite?"

 

[Little Charming]

As Nylah watched her curiosity overtook her. At first she was more interested in just his outfit and his strange look, a little scared of what trouble he might bring. But when he pulled out a small shiny rock, she couldnt help but wonder what it was doing. She watched as he pressed on the top of it and when it began to glow she knew she needed to get a better look. She crept around the edge of the river, jumping behind a bush that was a little closer. The beeping that started had startled her and she almost decided to just run away but it stopped almost as soon as it had started and as the colorful glow began to fade she saw on his face a dissapointment she did not understand.

Why would his noisy, colorfuly magical rock fail him. While she thought about it she decided it would be wise to leave the area, perhaps tell her father that there was a stranger in the woods when he got home from the market. She began to sneak away but the thorns on the bush she was hiding behind snagged on her dress causing the bush to rattle some. She gasped quietly and cursed under her breath as she turned to untangle herself. She unsnagged her dress quickly and shuffled off towards the large willow tree again to find her way home quickly. She wondered if he would turn out to be a bad stranger. She had always heard of those rogue wizzards who stole land and food and killed anyone who stood in their way.

She became lost in her thoughts shortly after she scrambled her way through the vines of leaves and only half hurried towards the chicken coop.

 

[FenixZero]

Jack turned with a start as he heard the sound of movement in the dense ground cover surrounding him. He pulled the goggles off his head, holding them loosly in one hand and allowing his thick dark hair to fall free around his face. His mismatched eyes blinked a few times as he tried to locate the sound. He had never spent much time in a forest and the sounds were unfamiliar. In truth he had never actually even seen a forest before.

"Hello?" he cupped his hands around his mouth as he shouted in what he hoped was the right direction. He pocketed his locater and frowned slightly. There was no real sense staying where he was. After all, who would come looking? How would anyone even find him, when he didn't have even the 1st clue where he was?

"Hello!" He tried again, hoping that whatever he had heard would come back. The thought slowly dawned on him that perhaps it was one of the wild voracious beasts that had supposedly walked the planet back in the 21st. His hand floated towards the small of his back, and a comforted smile spread across his face as he felt the familiar texture of his holster. It was a small weapon, for a man who despised weapons, but just having the firearm made him feel more secure.

He craned his next upward and suddenly a smile broke on his face. Smoke! A thin trail of smoke stretching skyward. That kind of smoke meant a fire and a fire meant people! He almost laughed and broke into a run, heading in the direction of what he hoped was civilization.

 

[Little Charming]

The girls thoughts were inturrupted when she heard the man calling out. She froze for a moment looking back to see if he had seen her and when she saw no signs of him she regained her composure again, but this time walking slightly faster and a little more carefully. She took only a few steps before she heard him yell again and took off running through trees towards the chicken coop.

Before Nylah broke through the tree line she could hear the heavy, clumsy footsteps of the man behind her. What if he saw me, she thought, I don't want to die! Please don't be a bad wizzard.

Once through the trees she ran past the coop towards the path that lead down between the two sides of the half acre gardens. She paused behind the coop to catch her breath looking from the cabbage, carrot and invisible potatoe rows to her left and the tomatoe and corn on her right. She listened once she cought her breath and for the moment being could hear nothing but the chickens. She decided to run down the path in the middle because the corn and tomatoe plants werrent enough for cover anyways at this time of the season. She picked up her skirt to give her legs more movement and started running towards the house but what she saw when she took a step from behind the coop stopped her in her tracks like a dear cought in the headlights of a car.

She saw the man again but at the edge of the forest and this time he wasn't stairing skyward.

 

[FenixZero]

It was a girl.

Jack pushed an offending branch out of his way, he stepped fully away from the tree line, his heavy work boots leaving prints in the soft soil. Jack brought a hand up to his face, brushing under his chin with his thumb, a gesture he always found himself making when he was surprised. And he was surprised. She looked a few inches shorter then he was, but her frame was still long and lean, and from the way the dress bunched at her hips, he figured a lot of that was in her legs. Her eyes were big, dark and expressive, a swirl of surprise, fear and curiosity swirling in the deep brown pools. Her shoulders were bare, the sun kissed skin showing off a faint pattern of freckles that dusted across her collarbone. His eyes dipped downward but only for a moment before his eyes flicked back up to hers. There would be time to ogle pretty girls later.

Jack took a few more steps foreword, his hands hanging at his sides in what he hoped was a non-threatening gesture. He closed half the distance between them, bringing him close enough to get a better look at her, and a chance to get some answers.

"Um...hey...don't run okay?" He smiled, hoping that this girl didn't think he was some sort of nut or Jet-head coming in out of the woods. "I'm just kinda, you know, lost."

He rolled his head to the side, allowing the thick, knotted dreadlocks to fall around his face. His strange eyes blinked before he spoke again, "Um..I'm Jack...Jack Briggs, what's yours?"

 

[Little Charming]

She didn't know weather to run or not. What she had seen in the woods scared her, a powerful wizard he may be, and she thought that with that kind of power her measly shield spells would do nothing. She looked him over as he was obviously doing the same. She noticed he wasn't wearing the weird thing over his eyes, covering his face. She wondered what had happened to them. She also noticed for the first time that, for a possible bad guy, he wasn't that bad looking. She smiled the faintest of curves to her lips at the thought. He was kind of cute.

She looked at the mans shirt, not too different from what she’s seen men wear, only slightly strange and black but the pants looked more along the lines of outlander. His pants looked like they had too many pockets for too many things. Why not just get a belt with loops to hang your tools?

Then she looked at his shoes and thought they reminded her of a knights boots with a lot less metal and noticed he took a step forward as she was looking down, she took a hesitating half step back before he was able to close any distance, looking up at his face. She didn't want him to be that close but she saw his eyes and they intrigued her. Two different colors. Awsome! She finished her half step backwards but he said "Um...hey...don't run okay?" and she was surprised that she understood him. When he smiled she could help but smile back. "I'm just kinda, you know, lost."

She nodded, still wishing to be silent, thinking of her invisibility spell incase he tried to come closer. He rolled his head to the side, allowing the thick, knotted dreadlocks to fall around his face. His strange eyes blinked before he spoke again, "Um..I'm Jack...Jack Briggs, what's yours?"

She watched his hair fall strangely around his face before answering, "Nylah, Daughter of the Farmer" She bowed her head slightly not wanting to take her eyes away from him for too long. "What land do you come from, sir? Perhaps we can help you find your way."

 

[FenixZero]

He smiled back at her, taking another step towards her as she introduced herself. Her accent was strange to say the least, almost archaic even. But the musical lilt of her voice was striking, as if she were singing each word. He found his mouth slightly dry. She really was pretty, though he was a little unnerved by the way she looked at him. She looked scared. He swallowed a bit, clearing his throat before he answered her question.

"New Bastion" he offered as she asked where he was from. The question surprised him somewhat. You could count the remaining major cities on one hand. And he assumed the markings on his wrist band were a dead give away. The whole thing seemed stranger and stranger. Nylah? Daughter of the Farmer? Where in the hell was he? There weren't any farms or farmers anymore...everything was done with synthetics. It was the only way to keep 10 billion people fed.

Fishing around in his pocket, he pulled his locater out again holding the disk in his open palm. "For some reason I can't get a nav signal. Um...where am I exactly?"

 

[Little Charming]

She didn't pannick when he took another step forward but when he started talking she thought it was another language. New Bastion? Maybe it was somewhere very far away, over the sea perhaps. She had never seen the sea but she assumed it would be big enough to hold places she had never heard of before.

He pulled out his magick rock again and looked dissapointed. "For some reason I can't get a nav signal. Um...where am I exactly?" He said to her, again speaking words she had no comprehension of. She decided to ask questions later, maybe if she didn't let him know of her ignorance he wouldn't try to cast any curses or kill anyone around her. She answered his question as if it were a well known fact, pointing past her large garden to the house. "Yuragan Persinger's farm, sir." She added a moment later as when she saw the stranger's eyebrows lift with confusion, "Mighty King William Draton the thirds kingdom, sir?"

She hated calling the king mighty because he always seems anything but mighty, however she wished to look like a loyal citizen especially if he ended up being a great wizard from another far away land. She thought of something interesting for a moment and curosity played over her face before she asked, "If you are lost, sir, where are the rest of your knights to protect you on your journy?" She looked around behind him hoping to find any sign of them hiding. When she didn't see anything promising she looked back at the man with doubt. Who could he be?

 

[FenixZero]

He blinked several times before a light chuckle escaped his lips, his eyes flashing merrily.

"My knights?" He blinked several times before a light chuckle escaped his lips, his eyes flashing merrily. For a moment he thought she meant the Sky Knight drones that patrolled the streets of New Bastion, but those things could hardly be called protectors. He calmed himself quickly as he realized that she was sincere in her question, she really expected him to have some sort of armed escort. The whole situation made no sense and what was worse, it seemed to be getting more and more confusing with each passing minute.

"Um...yeah I don't have any knights" He shrugged hoping his answer wasn't too out of the ordinary. Where ever he was, it wasn't like anywhere he had seen before, and it was certainly very far away from New Bastion. His head cocked to one side for a moment before he spoke again.

"And who the hell is King William Draton?" His brow furrowed as he deposited the disk back into his pocket, frustrated that she had not answered his question about the nav sats.

 

[Little Charming]

Was this some sort of test? He laughed in her face and then told her he had no protectors, no knights, which meant no banners to tell what kingdon he came from and he didn't look to have a horse so where were his food stuffs? This all seemed too strange and confusing.

"And who the hell is King William Draton?" He said, sounding a little frusterated with the whole thing.

Her mouth dropped for only a seccond in awe that he didn't know. She opened her mouth to answer, closed it, tried again and closed it before a confused look came across her face. She didn't know hwo to answer that question, she had never been asked it before and she sertainly hadn't met the man so she really didn't know who he really was. "Well..." She began and stopped to think another minute. "He's the guy... who runs the country as far as your eye can see. He's the one who takes all of our money and food in payment for living on this land." She saw he still looked confused and looked towards the sky, sighing slightly before rubbing the back of her neck. She wanted some lunch and by the looks from the sun it was well past high noon.

"Are... are you hungry?" She asked instead of finishing her explination. "We can talk more inside..." She motioned towards the cottage like farm house past the vegitables.

 

[FenixZero]

"Are... are you hungry?" She asked instead of finishing her explanation. "We can talk more inside..." She motioned towards the cottage like farm house past the vegetables.

"Starving" He answered immediately and without a moment's hesitation. He had been feeling the gnawing reminder of his empty stomach for hours now, even before the trouble at the reactor.

His face became serious for a moment. He hadn't even thought about it fully. The reactor had been going critical, the containment fields were all shot to shit and the few feet of tempered glass would've melted like candle wax if that thing had gone nova. He glanced down at his hands and for the first time wondered, was he dead? Was this some sort of strange afterlife.

His stomach growled, as if to remind him of more important things. He smiled sheepishly and then turned his eyes back to Nylah's. Not black like he had thought, but a deep brown, almost bottomless. "Please, lead on" He grinned.

Jack fell into step with her as she guided him towards the small, humble cottage. "So..this King fella, he's like, an actual King?"

 

[Little Charming]

"Please, lead on" He grinned.

Jack fell into step with her as she guided him towards the small, humble cottage. "So..this King fella, he's like, an actual King?"

"Well... Yeah..." She said, not really know what an actual non king would be. She walked down the path she had, only a short while aggo, been trying to decide to use as an escape route. "If you mean an actual king as in he probably sits in that gigantic castle on the other side of the forrest and tells people what to do, trying to get more money out of them." She said the last of her statement with a little bit of anger in her voice. She hated the random taxe raises but because she was sortof on the farthest end of the land from the king, and in such a remote place in the forrest, they were seldom thought of and for the most part left alone as long as they sent the king a letter pigion telling him what they set aside for him to collect whenever.

When they reached the middle of the pathway she went into the garden through a small gate in the fence. "Just need to grab lunch, do you like potatoes, carrots and steak stew?" She asked as she bent down, grabbing the nearest green leaves poking out of the ground and pulling out a decent sized carrot as if to show him what it was.

"It's my favorite and the easiest to make." She said simply, shrugging as she bent down again to grab 2 more carrots, using her skirt as a basket to put them in before plunging her hand into the soft dirt row a foot or so down and pulling out some potatoes.

 

[FenixZero]

Jack barely heard what she was saying. He was much more interested in the view of her shapely backside that was presented as she bent over to pluck the various vegetables from her garden. The dress she wore was loose and open, and rather unflattering but the swell of her hips and the generous roundness where her legs met her back was something he couldn't ignore. His face flushed briefly before he turned his head to the side, doing his best to not stare at the farm girl's cute bottom.

The movements she used to uproot the food was impressive. They were clean, smooth and practiced, and there was something about the way the dark earth clung to her hands. Jack had never seen something quite like it. Which was possibly because he had never seen anyone actually grow food like this.

"Yeah...stew..um sure" He agreed. Having never tasted it before he wasn't sure quite what to say.

Noticing her hands were occupied holding her skirt up to carry the vegetables he moved ahead of her, pushing open the door to her cottage with a generous bow of his head. They seemed to be going for that lord and lady stuff that they played in Holos sometimes. Playing along wouldn't hurt. This was probably just some quaint mixed up little community somewhere out in the wastelands. He shook his head dismissing the inane notion at once.

Still he figured the best way to handle things was to play it cool and try and figure out what in the hell was going on.

"So uh...you live here alone?"

 

[Little Charming]

As the man pushed open the door and bowed his head, Nylah bowed back before she stepped inside with a smile on her face. As least he was kind enough to not let her struggle with the door.

She knelt down again at a wash bin in the kitchen, dumping the vegitables into the water before rubbing on them to get the clumps of dirt off them.

"So uh...you live here alone?" She heard him ask from the entry way.

"No, my father in in charge of this place but he is always gone. In town doing errands and selling fresh vegitables by day and probably bar hoping at night. Ever since mother died he hasn't spent much time at home, sais I remind him of mom too much." She spoke as she sorted the vegitables on the counter, grabbing a knife and chopping them into bite sized pieces for the stew. She turned to look at him and smiled waving the knife in a teasing but slightly serious manner, not realizing what was in her hand, "But don't think I'm all helpless or whatever, I could kick your behind if I needed to!"

She giggled and turned to the stew again finishing the vegitables before putting them into a pot with some other fresh water from a well bucket. "What about you, you have family back home?"

 

[FenixZero]

"But don't think I'm all helpless or whatever, I could kick your behind if I needed to!"

His mismatched eyes rolled and a short laugh echoed in the farm cottage, amid the sounds of her knife and the contented clucking of the chickens outside.

"Hey you're welcome to try" He countered, letting his eyes wander across the cottage. It was in a word, quaint. A small table with a pair of chairs, a fire place and a pair of doors that must have lead to sleeping rooms or something. It was like something out of a museum. He couldn't see a single item that boasted the technology of a simple light switch away where around.

"What about you, you have family back home?"

His voice caught slightly as he spoke, "Um..no actually. My old man and my big brother raised me but..." He swallowed, one of his hands running along the back of his neck, "but they were both killed in the war. I was still too young to serve"

"Nylah" He turned back towards her, "this is gonna sound like a very weird question but....can you tell me what day it is?"

 

[Little Charming]

"Um..no actually. My old man and my big brother raised me but..." Nylah turned to look back at him as he talked frowning from the news. He swallowed, one of his hands running along the back of his neck, "but they were both killed in the war. I was still too young to serve"

"I'm sorry to hear that, friend." She frowned again before turning towards the wall to her right, opening the floor to ceiling door that looked like just part of the wall with a very small handle on it. She paused before going in as he began to speak and she looked at him.

"Nylah" He turned back towards her, "this is gonna sound like a very weird question but....can you tell me what day it is?"

She looked out the small window over the cutting counter and thought a moment, "Hmm... I think... middle of spring, 23rd of march? Yeah that sound sright, It's hard to keep track sometimes, but that's what it looks like from the sun." She looked at him and smiled, "We can make sure if you look at the stars tonight." She smiled wider and added, "My favorite star has been the brightest I've ever seen lately."

She turned and entered the wall before coming back out with a small slab of dried meat, closing the door with her foot and putting the meat on the counter for chopping. Once she finished the meat she grabbed a piece of wood from next to the fireplace to her left and hung the pot over the now roaring fire, adding dried herbs and spices throughout the boiling process. She pulled out some ceramic bowls and spoons and placed them on the small kitchen table designed for two.

She sat in a chair at the table as she allowed the stew to boil to perfection and motioned for Jack to sit down in the chair across from her. "Sit, you look tired, rest." And she smiled waiting for him to sit. Suddenly she opened her mouth in shock from remembering something "Oh! I'm sorry I didn't even ask if you wanted the pipe. Do you smoke?"

 

[FenixZero]

He made a dismissive motion, "Yeah I do but I have my own thanks"

His hand traveled to the various pockets on his trousers, patting at the pouches until his fingers made contact with a small rectangle of stiff paper. He pulled the pack of Red Apple cigarettes out peeled the lid back frowning slightly as he saw on one slim white stick staring back at him. Only then did he remember his shopping list back at his meager apartment and it's one item: Smokes. He shrugged his shoulders resignedly and seated himself across from Nylah.

He smiled down at the bowl of stew. It smelled amazing. A thick, rich scent that he could almost taste in the air.

He pulled his multi-tool from the clip on his belt and brought it up to his face, the small torch attachment flaring to life with a hiss and a small jet of blue green fire, catching the end of his cigarette and causing to to flare to life. Eyes of brown and blue fluttered half shut as he pulled the sweet, choking smoke into his lungs.

He looked back at Nylah, smiling at the generous girl. She had invited him into her home, and made him a meal that smelled better then any food he'd ever smelled. For a second, Jack didn't care how he'd gotten here.

 

[Little Charming]

She watched in amazement at his little tools and the little stick he held in his mouth. Her mouth dropped at the blue green flame and she couldn't keep her questions to herself any longer. "What kind of magic to you poses! That is a flame of color I have never seen before, all captured in that little thing you have there!" Her eyebrows raised in curiosity and excitement, "And that stick! What is it! I've only read of such things in books. Elven cloves, i think they were called. Very strange, I saw a picture once and it looked like that!" She thought for a moment and looked over at the stew, blushing from her excitement before grabbing up the pot, using her dress as a pot holder while she dished out the soup into the two bowls.

She asked quieter, keeping from looking the man in the eyes from being too embarrassed, "Are you an elf? I heard they were tall and you certainly are taller than I. I've never seen such strange cloths as the ones you wear. And you asked what day it was like you had been traveling for a long time. Perhaps you were lost in the forrest and couldn't see the stars." By the end she had been mumbling to herself, scared that she may be offending him.