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Tuesday June 26th 2012, 8:58 pmMy quest for the arch villain of Time has led me to yet another world on the fringe of the galaxy. Far different than last time I had set foot on solid ground. Here it squishes underfoot, like stepping on mounds of wet fatty flesh. The air here is thick and hot, and a red jungle rises up all around me into a layer of dense mist. The trees loom over head like giant creaking and swaying beasts. The cracks and jitters they make almost sound like some incomprehensible language. They have giant round leaves that dangle from long sloping branches, the shapes reminding me of a birthday balloon bouquet from childhood.
I had received a partially broken distress call that alluded to my enemy being here. But there is no signs of sentient life that I can discern. As I set the mech-lock to my vessel’s cockpit for Identify Mode, all I can hear is the damned creaking forest and the occasional wild chirp or squeal of the creatures that are out of sight in the underbrush.
The signal I picked up as I approached the planet, seemed to know who I was, communicating their request to continue my mission here, sending coordinates. I’ve tucked away provisions obtained at the last port in my saddle-pack, enough to last for a for few days journey at least. However, the thickness of this haunting place may not allow me to move more than a few clicks, but I must follow every possible lead. I’ve very little time left, maybe 6 months or so at the most to locate this fiend of Time before he reaches the Whiteout weapon. Gods help us all if he launches that infernal device. The ultimate doom machine, its sole purpose to cause a hiccup in the timestream, essentially being able to remove a designated target from existence. There is a lake of fire at the very bottom of a pit in perdition’s waste waiting for the maker of that thing.
I head out due north, the transmission had left a beacon signal to follow. The squashing of the meaty ground felt a little unnerving, the red wetness slowly seeping through the leather of my boots to my quickly moistening skin. I’ll have to be careful of blistering. As I move deeper into the scarlet forest, a sudden chill set in, and what little there was of the sun seemed to be vanishing into shadow. This was highly unnatural, the sun isn’t to meet the horizon for quite a few hours. The cold is immediately penetrating, my breath visible on the chilled air. My vision tunnels for moment. The trees nearest me begin to change color in the darkening light, becoming cobalt and now had the appearance of glass. Its as if reality is warping around me. I then hear chimes from behind, the sound of clear ice cracking and splintering. I whirl around quickly, hand on the hilt of my blade. Before me was unlike anything I’d ever seen. Standing close to twenty feet high, the top of it barely scraping past the lowest of the now cobalt crystalline branches, and roughly human in shape but spindly, the body maybe only ten inches across. Was this alien thing a man? It glistened and sparkled in the dim light. The reflecting cobalt blues giving this creature an icy appearance. As I glanced across its body, whatever it had for skin was of spikes and shards, translucent crystals, each coming to a point like the tip of a dagger. Gazing upward toward it’s angular pointed face and head, it glared back at me with diamond shaped red eyes, emanating what I could only perceive as intense anger. At this very moment I couldn’t help but wonder if I’ve been led into a trap.
Then it spoke a voice that was like shattering glass, “I should puncture your noisy heart with the tip of a finger, but I’m feeling tired this cycle. You do not belong here, you thing of pulp and bone! What dare you seek interloper? It had better be worth the risk of your disgusting pumps of blood.”
The Hunt For Mister Time
June 26th 2012
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Loving this Jim, absolutely loving these bite size chunks of sci-fi pulp.
Comment by Ubence 06.27.12 @ 6:32 am