Beginning of a book

It was such a nice day the sun was shining on the wonderful western shoreline of the Coalition of Sates of Aeritha. People were walking around on the white sanded beach as the sea breeze slowly blew across bringing the salty smell of the sea further inland to where we begin our story.

“Hey you, fucking Hum’ai!” a big burly man yelled. He was standing on a street corner looking at another man. The burly man wore no shirt, and let his pronounced belly jut outwards. He also had a pipe wrench in his hands, and blue jeans on. Well I suppose I should have told you what Hum’ai means, Hum’ai is a slang term for non-humans who only reproduce through same-gender reproduction, it meant less than dirt in Alterian. It was something that could not be helped considering their sudden arrival, and as such the Altiria usually stayed in reserves in the C.O.S. When the outbreak had occurred, the mass explosion of population left the whole world flipped upside down. This of course upset the humans greatly who until that day were used to being the only sentient race on their planet.

The Altirian on the other side of the street looked up; he was a frail looking boy with pale orange skin and bright purple hair. Immediately he averted his brown eyes downward, and tried continuing along his walk. ‘If I can just get to the safe house’ the Altirian thought to himself holding the bag of groceries bought for the commune. It was his day to run errands, and he was hoping he could have avoided any hatred today. How wrong the poor boy was.

When he was buying groceries the cashier hadn’t talked down to him, an odd thing considering the general ill will Humans had towards the Altiria. Instead he even smiled at the young Altirian while he rang up his order. It was a rare glimmer among the veil of hatred that showed deep down, not all humans were intolerant to change.

However this man didn’t like being ignored which the Altirian was doing right now. He ran his free hand over his balding head and the few strips of brown hair he had left. “Hey, punk look at me when I’m talking to you” the man said as he jogged across the street, his belly fat swaying back and forth looking much like a tub of jello trying to be contained by a much too small Tupperware container.

“I am not looking for trouble” the Altirian chirped in their high pitched tone of voice.

“Too bad you found it” another man spat as he and four others cornered the Alterian.

The Alterian was doomed since the Human run C.O.S. never blinked an eye at Human on Alteria violence. He was surrounded on all sides by the men, all whom were bigger than the Aleterian. An easy feat since Alteria rarely grew above five and a half feet. The men were each near or past six feet, and all were above two hundred pounds.

“Leave the thing alone” growled a low voice that sounded like a fairy tale demon. The sound reverberated from out of a nearby alley. It was deep and sounded like it came from close, yet far away. A paradoxical voice who’s speaker must be even more hideous.

“Nah, I don’t listen to cowards” the first man said laughing ignoring the voice as he swung his pipe wrench connecting with the young Altiria the pipe hit his jaw, throwing him into another Human who immediately shoved him onto the ground. “Come on man, you know their blood can transform them into one of them” the human said backing away and checking himself for blood. As he looked down, he saw his shirt stained red, red not green. “Fu-“ was all the man managed to say before his entire body exploded covering the rest of the onlookers in blood, gore, and scraps of clothing.

“I said leave him alone” a slim man said his head cocked to one side, and a big smirk on his face. “But I’m so…so glad you didn’t” the man rushed forward plunging his hand into another human, removing it suddenly as he exploded like the last.

“Run, it’s an Otherworlder!” the first man said as he began to run away. Otherworlder was an awful word for describing what the man with his head cocked was. Otherworlders were beings created in the Second World War when it was said that the gates to Heaven and Hell broke open with new beings to take the world from their sinful cousins, humans. They were considered to be created both in Heaven, and Hell a super being that the two deities considered their champions. Whether any of that was true few knew, but one thing was certain, they looked like humans but they all had some sort of power, the power wasn’t free and many of them seemed mentally unstable. Most were used by the humans to keep the other new races down since all Otherworlders come preprogramed it seemed to follow orders without question.

“No, no, no that name sucks” the man said as he skipped after the fleeing humans. Other people began to gather, but once they saw the battered Altiria, and all the blood they left as soon as they could. The Otherworlder pushed his palm into himself as he disappeared into a cloud of smoke, reappearing before the humans in the form of a huge cloud of smoke. He quickly rushed forward, and changed his cells into acid burning and maiming the remaining attackers as he laughed, and they screamed. The Otherworlder changed back into his normal state. He stood at about five and three quarter feet, wore a purple shirt with two pandas, wore black jeans, a backwards hat, had black hair which hung into his eyes(which were blue), and wore odd purple shoes.

“You fine there kiddo?” he croaked as he pulled a pack of cigarettes from his pants pocket. “It stinks here” he said as he pulled a cigarette out and put it to his lips. He then replaced the pack of cigarettes with a red lighter and flicked it on.

“I..I..guess” the Altirian said quietly, slowly getting up it hurt to speak and he was sure his jaw was going to have a bruise. He was just grateful that the blow hadn’t broke his jaw or killed him. Lucky indeed that the fat man was weaker than he had seemed.

“Good, the names Smoke, what’s yours?” the Otherworlder asked extending his hand towards boy in the form of a fist bump.

The Altirian looked confused for a second before touching his fist to Smoke’s, “Hehya” he croaked as he rubbed his jaw before yanking his hand away and whimpering in pain.

“Why did you save me?” Hehya asked knowing that most Otherworlders did things only for a reason; improvising was greatly discouraged in the Terrian society when it came to Otherworlders. Not only that, but those few Otherworlders that did manage to break their orders became prey themselves.

“I wanted to kill” Smoke said hungrily, his eyes lighting with a fire that burned deep inside. Smoke spoke the truth, he had seen the situation from on top of one of the nearby buildings, and decided to stake his bloodlust during his stake out. ‘Oh that’s right, I should go’ Smoke thought as he ran away into the alley saying nothing to the Altirian.

“Wait” Hehya cried out weakly before sighing, and gathering his groceries back up to try and get back to the safe house before another incident occurred. ‘I always get the creeps from those guys’ Hehya thought to himself as he walked down the cracked sidewalks. His surroundings progressively got worse, and worse. Weeds sprouting out of the walkway, and the street were unpaved even though they were in one of the biggest cities on the coast. After a short walk, he made it to the safe house where he saw two of his friends standing on the porch. They were both female Altiria however they hated each other with a great passion. As usual they were arguing, this time over who should get to sleep on the bed tonight.

“Can’t you just sleep on the same bed” Hehya asked in his little voice.

“No, that’s disgusting people would think we’re doing it” Sil’ki said her voice colored dark by both her words, and tone. She was the eldest of the family Hehya belonged to, and liked to believe she ran the house.

“Exactly I can’t bag in with that old hag” Jitter said in disgust as she stuck her tongue out at Sil’ki. She was from one of the other families that lived in the house, a middle child she died her skin to look more human. It worked to a certain extent since female Altiria weren’t that much different from human females except for skin tone, and hair color. However in this day and age you could change the color of anything you wanted, so the differences could be easily hidden.

This was the reason why Sil’ki hated her, Hehya liked her however since Jitter would often go shopping for him since she could blend in easier. She hadn’t today since she had just got back from work, but Hehya didn’t care he didn’t enjoy putting his responsibilities on others anyways.

“Fine one of you can sleep in my bed, I’ll sleep on the floor” Hehya said chuckling a little at the hatred the two other Altirians harbored for each other. Thinking it rather foolish when there were so many others out to get them.

“I couldn’t do that” they both said at once looking over at Hehya briefly before they both turned to each other and glared.

Hehya excused himself, and walked past them into the door of the dilapidated two story house. The two Altirians were still yelling as Hehya shut the rickety wooden door, and looked around the entry way. It looked like it was in shambles as it always did when Hehya left the house. Benches were upturned, and the rug was nowhere to be found. Three small children rushed about, with Sil’ki outside it looked as if Yuri was once again too busy with himself to care about others.

Yuri was the other elder sibling of Hehya, the younger being the leader of the troop that was now before Hehya. The younger’s name was Kilkare, the other two were of Jitter’s family. Spitter and Spatter, they were identical twins in everything but gender. Of course Spatter was a bit bigger as she was female but they both looked up to Kilkare even though he was only one year older than the pair.

The reason for this was simple; Kilkare was clever, and sneaky. More so he could already defeat his elder brothers in combat, although Sil’ki was more than a match for the whole family combined.

The other family still had their father, the other male having died right after Spitter and Spatter had died. The eldest child was the one that Yuri coveted and lusted after, although the affection was not returned. Instead the final person in the house, Liong cared not for sexual matters. Of course this did not stop Yuri from prettying himself up almost every day on every hour.

As soon as Hehya walked in Kilkare grabbed him by the shirt collar and yanked him towards him.

“Who did this to you?” the boy asked his eyes turning from their previous joy to a shimmering rage. Wrath was definably the sin that ruled Kilkare, a trait shared with his sister Sil’ki and altogether unheard of in male Alterians.

“Just some humans, this guy named Smoke saved me though” Hehya said trying to escape his brother’s firm grasp.

Letting go of him Kilkare shifted back to his cheerful disposition “I’ll have to find this Smoke fella and spar with him then.” Before Hehya could warn him about just how bad that idea was Kilkare had shoved him down and he along with Spitter and Spatter rushed outside to the screams of Sil’ki and the laughter of Jitters.

‘At least only Yuri is home’ Hehya thought to himself walking through the small room to an even smaller one, one that he shared with the three smaller Alterians. Plopping into one of the two beds he gave out a sigh, it had been a long day. Before his eyes closed however he remembered the groceries however and got back up to bring them to the kitchen where Yuri was looking in the mirror and applying makeup. Ignoring his brother Hehya set about putting the foodstuffs away and humming to himself.

“Bout time the bitch gets home; when that door opened I was hoping it was Liong, or at least his dad. You know, someone useful” the misdirected anger was something that Hehya was used to and he let the words pass him by as if they were insubstantial as air, which they were.

Completing his task the Alterian returned to his room where he quickly fell into his bed, visions of his weird savior coming to him in a haunting nightmare. What if Smoke was supposed to come after him? How could he fight against that? The whole household would be killed within seconds against that monster.



“There you are motherfucker!” Smoke said spitting his cigarette into his hand, it was close to being out anyways and the male hardly cared about increasing his power or paying the price at this time. His target was in sight, and not a moment too soon as it had just begun to rain, which Smoke hated. It screwed with his smoke form, made it harder to control. Control was something Smoke loved after all, not having it as much with the dealings with his boss, but having it in spades when he dealt with his targets.

The target in question was a race that I must now introduce, Joouri, they are pretty much human except with one important detail, telekinesis. This made them dangerous against human agents, and otherworlders that were not like Smoke. Of course you could throw anything at smoke, but Joouri could not handle insubstantial objects with their mental powers. This Joouri was a fat slob, who was trying to screw over a corporation that worked hand in hand with the C.O.S., of course this was an awful idea for anyone who had a brain that was living in the country they were trying to fuck over. Joouri were never known for their smarts, quite the opposite with most of their mind being used for telekinesis.

If he weren’t so overpowering Smoke would have to use his smarts, but he was not one of the top Otherworlder agents working for Rand Corp for nothing. So with a skip and a jump he would begin to free fall off the top of a four story building, he converted his body to smoke before he hit the ground and as he did his left arm was outstretched a finger pointing to the Joouri.

The Joouri was a big brute, almost seven feet tall and weaing a black trench coat with brown combat boots. The smell of oyster soup was strong on him, and it seemed as if he spilled some on his shirt before being spotted by Smoke.

In the middle of the crowd the Joouri was one second, the next he was all alone. Looking back and forth the Joouri brought a finger to his chest with an incredulous look at the Otherworlder.

Nodding, another smile came across the face of Smoke. It was a smile that was full of hunger, like a cat who had finally caught it’s next meal.

“Silly human” the Jouri said in a dull voice that while deep, would not scare anyone who could tell the dopiness in the voice. With a flick of his right wrist the Jouri flung a nearby human at Smoke who caught the human, and was not even knocked back by the kinetic energy. Of course that throw was just a ruse as the Jouri rushed the thirty feet that separated the two and came in with a powerful left jab aimed at Smoke’s stomach.

When the Jouri was only three feet away Smoke threw the human over to the side gently, well as gently as someone could throw another. Certainly would not hurt the being as much as the telekinetic throw had. Regardless the Jouri was now in the process of delivering the punch as Smoke’s hands snapped into action.

The left came up from below to the forearm, close to the wrist. While the right came down from above, closer to the elbow. Both hands were completely open and the heel of the palms came into contact with the arm. The contact came faster than the eyes of the Jouri, or the humans could follow. All they saw was the after affect as the bone snapped completely and the arm was separated unnaturally. Blood spewed forth as smoke’s eyes widened in glee, his bloodlust growing as the Jouri’s eyes became just as wide but with horror.

“You never stood a chance against me, Yigamesh. You are but a snail compared to my glory, how you thought you could beat my bosses when you can’t even beat the Misty Hound is beyond me. The distance between you and me is more than the lifespan of a God. Hell, next to your sorry ass….I am a god!” the last part was screamed as Yigamesh began to scramble backwards with his good arm. Seeing such a giant man being crushed was something that Smoke lived, and now it was time for the monologue. It was already clear to everyone who the victor of this fight was, and hell Smoke hadn’t been able to speak much when playing with his victims earlier.

“You…you really are stupid you know that?” Smoke asked looking over at the man, he was expecting an answer and his face twisted into anger when he waited for several seconds for Yigamesh to only back up before falling onto his back from the pain and blood loss.
In a flash Smoke crossed the five feet that was now between him and kicked him lightly(for Smoke) in the ribs, cracking two and throwing him over and over in a roll three times.

“Answer me you scum!” Smoke demanded his anger bringing his voice to a level that was clear for four city blocks. Overkill would no doubt attract the police, but they had specific orders from their suppliers, the Rand Company, not to interrupt their agent’s work.
Yigamesh whimpered but he did not answer, which of course upset Smoke even more.

“Fine, have it your way…unlocking tier one, authority code one one seven two bee” the last thought was stated like he was talking to someone else, and indeed he was. Electricity crackled as the whole block of the city around them went dark for two seconds. It was as if something had snuffed the light out of every source, including that of the sun.

When the light returned, in the place of Smoke stood a ten foot tall black being with a wavering form “I warned you” it said before lunging forward, devouring the Joouri whole and disappearing. This left the humans to wonder if it happened, or if it was just some form of waking nightmare.
This was just one of the ways that the C.O.S. kept it’s people down, and a reason that they had survived the forty years since the end of world war two, unlike most countries who were now either remnants, fragments, or husks.


Feed back would be greatly appriciated
Storyline, names, races, etc Reserved by me Blaine Ross

“Why must we always send Smoke? I know he gets the job done, but he’s too damn flashy” a voice sighed in the darkness, the voice was distorted through a filter as if the owner was masked by something.

“Oh, and the almighty Plague would be sent out to handle the vermin?” a voice replied dripping with sarcasm as it shifted back in its chair, the sound audible in the otherwise quiet and dark room.

“Plague is too useful to send after the tiny thorns, you know that Damien. I’d prefer you Otherworlders know your place and quit acting like you have something of a say” a third voice snapped sharply. The quiet afterwards showed the respect of the other two towards the third voice.

A fourth voice sighed in the darkness “Should we send gift baskets?” it seemed as if sarcasm was the name of the day until a loud shrill noise blew apart the quiet that was in the room aside from the voices. Three voices cried out in annoyance and pain as the third remained silent.

“You’re my lieutenants, have some form of respect will you?” the third voice said, not asked, but demanded.

“Well what is our next plan of action? I know Silpher seems to be edging in on our turf” the fourth voice said with a chuckle. This would be a job the fourth would want to handle by himself, and it was betrayed by his vocal patterns.

“Plague and Harmond, yes what a lovely duo for that mission would it not be boss?” Damien asked with a chuckle thinking that the two hated each other. Nothing could be further from the truth however and the other three beings in the room knew, a little in joke they hid from their lowest ranking member. If Harmond was the right hand of Rand Co, then Plague was definitely the right forearm supporting his comrade from the shadows and discussing with him in private. Their boss may not have approved of the last behavior but trying to stop it was nearly impossible. Ever since they had come into the world in the event, they were inseparable, something Damien would have known if he was not busy trying to expand his power. Of course Harmond and Plague had learned that synthesis was the true power of the Otherworlders, the pride of their brethren had prevented many others from realizing that secret. Not that those two did not have pride, much the opposite however they also despised that sin. Quite odd as it was, still I feel the need to jump off topic for a bit and discuss the power differences in the Otherworlders.

All Otherworlders have a base form, they usually have a range of one to three powers in this form. Smoke’s being his two forms, smoke form, and acid form. Beyond the base are five tiers, each one gives or boosts powers both physical and supernatural. Smoke can access only two of these tiers, one of course which he used as overkill. There are different ways to access the tiers in oneself, but the easiest is thought to be emotional duress or witnessing a traumatic event. Since Otherworlders don’t often attach with others most are stuck with no tiers, or just the first. Only the strongest have access to the fifth, but it is rumored that two Otherworlders used their fifth tier in the final battle of world war two. It was officially released that a new form of weapon was instead released into what is now called the Euro-Asian Crater.

Plague knew what had happened however, and he would never forget that day, but that is a tail for later.

“Good idea Damien-“

“For once” tittered Harmon interrupting his boss.

“Just get out of here all of you” the boss said before he vanished from the room and it became light once more.
The light revealed the three; the first one was the one named Plague. He stood just under six feet and was slim, slimmer than Smoke even. However that could just be from his black suit that had red pinstripes running vertically along it. It was a three piece suit, complete with a crimson tie and a black gasmask with purple lenses and a red mouthpiece.

The second was Harmond who while shorter than Plague was more muscular, he wore his blonde hair spiked with white dress slacks, and a blue and grey plain button up shirt with the sleeves rolled up to his elbows.
The third was Damien who had shaggy medium length light brown hair, he was taller and wider than Plague and more muscled than Harmond. He wore a three piece grey suit and a white tie along with a bowler hair that sat cocked off to the side of his head.

Plague said back in his chair with his fingers twiddling in a cross legged position, while Harmond sat with one leg resting up on the other making his lap square while he was chewing at his left thumbnail. Damien by then had already stood up and was walking out, not looking at the other two as he shut the door behind him.
“Remember when I did not have to wear this thing?” Plague asked with a chuckle as he unfolded his legs and stood up.

“I remember when you did not constantly bitch” Harmond replied with a laugh before back flipping out of his chair and racing Plague to the door, the two stood at the portal shoving each other aside for a while before ever managing to get the thing open.

Night had fallen, yet one building was lit up like a Christmas tree in the middle sized village of Sexton on the Western coast of the C.O.S. Silpher Co was a newly rising company, and they had just secured their first couple of government deals. It was a time for celebration so they had went all out on the festivities. The ten story tall tower, was the size of three city blocks, shaped in a V. It was made from black marble and rose into the sky like a necrotic finger clawing it’s way from the earth.
At the entrance cars came and went, dropping off VIPs to the green carpet rolled out from the drive to the entrance way. On either side was a red velvet rope separating the VIPs from the paparazzi who had shown up for the event. On either side was at least five shock troopers to ensure that the crowd did not get rowdy. It was their big night after all, and a pity if something where to happen on that night.
In a flash of pure purple energy a being in a gasmask showed up in the middle of the carpet, holding a hand gun in either hand. Both arms were already outstretched as they held the odd weapons. The guns of course were Rand Co made, a clip of over one hundred and twenty pyro bullets each which of course made the clip extend half way to the ground. They looked ridiculous, but Plague did not care they fired over twenty rounds a second.
“Looks like my invitation was left in the mail” he would say as his finger pressured the trigger. He spun crouching and uncrouching as he completed the three hundred and sixty degree maneuver spraying the searing hot lead in mere seconds. The clips fell to the ground after the bodies did, miliseconds after. He had not killed them all but it seemed as if he specifically targeted the shock troops. Even with pyro rounds their armor should have repelled the powerful bursts. Oddly enough the seeming erradic fire pattern left the bullets in the weak spots of the armor.
One had his neck completely blasted off, the first one, the only one who had approached him. Civilians burst into flames for an instant before turning to ash as the bullets passed through them.
Another being appeared next to him before falling to his knees and unloading his lunch onto the ground, “I hate when you port me places” he grimaced wiping his mouth from the bile.
“You should be used to it” Plague said as he noted the piles of ash surrounding the two, ten sets of armor were on the ground, luckily most of the vehicles had escaped the fate and their drivers were busy speeding off as an alarm flared into existence. Few if any of the paparazzi remained, yet they snapped off a few shots with their cameras as they fled.
“Good thing this has to be public, else I’d be berating you for leaving any alive right now” Harmond said with a snarl as he got up, as he did two clips magically appeared in the guns that Plague held before the guns themselves disappeared in a flash of purple light.
Grasping a glove and pulling it taut Plague would give a chuckle, “Your move from here. I’m going to the bathroom.” With that, there was another purple flash and he was gone.
‘Porting ones are always the worst’ Harmond thought as he unbuttoned his shirt with a single tug. It was time for fucking shit up, no longer business and he felt his attire should reflect that. Flexing his left arm he took a single step towards the door, it brought him the seven feet to the place in an instant and his left arm snapped out as soon as his feet had stopped their momentum. The glass doors buckled and shattered, the marble surrounding the door cracked as it was unable to handle the sudden stress however Harmond was already inside as three tons of the rock fell and blocked the entry way. Not that it would have stopped him anyways. Harmond had only one ‘power’ and that was the ability to manipulate other’s neurological chemicals with just a touch. However he made up with that in that he was the most durable and strongest Otherworlder in Rand Co. Oddly enough, even though he could teleport Plague was the fastest. Still it would never come to blows between the two, even if they had been hired on by separate companies. Orders always had loop holes after all.
Harmond snapped his head up to see fifty shock troopers pour down the stairs and take up firing positions with armor piercers. The guns they were equipped with were designed to be just as strong as the punch Harmond had just delivered. However that was not what he was focused on, instead it was the other being that floated three stories up in the grand entry way. It seemed like any and all VIPs that had entered the building were already sequestered away, amazing speed. How could they have possibly known that the two would arrive, regardless it did not matter.
“Well, well Strongest man in the West, meet Strongest being in the West” the woman chuckled from her perch. She appeared to be a twelve year old girl with long green hair, and piercing brown eyes. She wore a floral dress, and her voice was much more mature than the body she had.
“Looking to back that up huh?” Harmond asked crouching as his eyes darted across the room in a blinding flurry. He was calculating his next actions, if it was who he thought it was the Shapeshiftress then he would find a good enough fight with her, let alone fifty shock troopers who weren’t caught by surprise.
She didn’t reply instead she simply grew to twice her size in a millisecond, next her muscles bulged out so much that it seemed she was someone who had spent thirty straight years in the gym.
‘Oh geez, thanks Plague I totally won’t need help going up against a company on my own. Naaaahhhh’ Harmond thought as he launched himself into the air and began the fight.
“Gottapissgottapissgottapiss” Plague recounted as he rushed through the halls looking for the restrooms in the fifth floor of the building. He had tried teleporting higher, but predictably there were blockers in place that rendered inter dimensional travel impossible. While he should have just planted explosives and smoked the rats out there was something more important now, his bladder.
Finally he entered a room and saw a bathroom ‘Ohthankgod’ he thought to himself before there was a flash of green energy.
“You” the being said as he tipped his top hat off to the floor and fiddled with the cuffs of his sleeves. He wore a long white sleeved shirt, and a purple vest.
“You” Plague mocked sardonically before adding “Who are you?”
“Don’t be silly, you cannot even recognize your twin? Well that’s fine I’ve gotten stronger while you haven’t” the other being mocked as he flicked his wrist out and a glowing mass of green energy sprung into existence from his left hand reaching the three feet to the floor and cutting into it like a hot knife through lard.
“Puh-lease, I haven’t used the energy sword in twenty years. Everyone knows the finger bang is all the rage these days” Plague said referring to his second power, pure energy constructions known as Koo. It was a common one among Otherworlders, but teleporting was not. The being had definitely teleported, as such that left a handful of options. None of whom were too fond of Plague, but only one was foolish enough to come after him after the end of the war.
Jung.

Hehya awoke the next day to see that the three younglings were fast asleep still, which was surprising considering it was well into the morning and the trouble makers were always up and about at the butt crack of dawn. With a yawn and a sigh the small Alterian jumped out of his bed and stepped over Spatter. The smell of bacon and eggs was thick in the air which meant that the eldest Alterian, Lun, was home and cooking.
“Good morning Lun, who else is up?” Hehya asked as he rubbed the sleep from his eyes. However when he brought the hands back down he noticed that it was not Lun but Jitter who looked at him with deep sorrow.
“Lun never came back last night, either did Liong…I’m worried Hehya. Sil’ki and I are going out to look for them after we eat. You can watch the kids right?” the last part was said with a smile, although it was obvious from the smeared face paint that Jitter had been crying for much of the morning.
“Why can’t Yuri?” Hehya asked a bit more cruelly than he intended.
“He went out last night looking for them, and never came back” Jitter said calmly before her bottom lip began to quiver and she broke down into tears.
This was not good at all, it seemed as if a bad life was just about to get worse.
Bullets whizzed past Harmond as he dodged Shapeshiftress’ punches in the air. This was no good, all he could do was dodge due to the amount of guns taking aim at him, bruises were on his torso from where he sustained a couple of bullet hits. Most Otherworlders would have been brought down by just that, but not Harmond who fought through the pain still at his best. A left hook came speeding in, trying to get him to dodge out to the side. However Harmond knew that this was to get him to make a better target to the troops below, as such he took the hit and flung his center of balance lower.
Pain flashed through his temple as his head fell back, however as that happened he spun up with his right foot for a kick which connected directly with the heavily muscled abdomen of the woman he was fighting. This made her fall back a bit and Harmond used this opportunity to press his attack only to find the space between them filled with bullets. The advantage was lost and Harmond cursed internally, this was not looking good at all.
Luckily below the pair, yet another Otherworlder was set upon the scene by Silpher. This one however was quite done with his servitude, and found this as the perfect opportunity to throw off his shackles of oppression. He stood barely above five feet in height, and his form was a mix of blue and white. Cold emanated from his body as he began to ascend the left staircase.
This being stomped his foot down and a line of frost sped out from the impact freezing the first five soldiers and creeping up towards the other twenty on that side. With a rush forward he plowed through the first two shaped and shattered them, before spitting out some form of black quasi solid substance from his lower lip.
“Y’all done fucked up this time” the being said as he shifted back into a normal form to better control his other power, by now the ice had halfway frozen ten more soldiers. The troopers shifted their weight attempting to get up before giving up and leveling their guns towards their new target.
“Majin has gone awol!” a soldier at the top of the stair case before the soldiers opened fire. Majin as I said before barely stood above five feet, he had short curly brown hair and a thin moustache. He wore shorts, and a wife beater, since the cold did not affect him he never really wore anything heavier than that.
Bringing a hand up time seemed to slow down, or maybe Majin seemed to speed up. With his already enhanced speed Majin simply walked forward and meticulously turned the bullets one hundred and eighty degrees before hopping back down the stairs and lowering his right hand back down once he was in the same exact spot. The soldiers exploded into bloody mists in the next second and already half of the pesks were gone. Of course now the other side was aware of Majin’s betrayal and they took aim at the defenseless Otherworlder who could not use his powers for another half hour.



End Chapter 1; Of Gods and Mortals

The following comes from a psychiatric interview given to all new employees of Rand Co. It is entitled; Plague, July 6, 1976…
Dr. Henryinger: Before we begin, I would like to know what your designation is. That is what you are called, and also what you would prefer to be called.
Plague: [sighs] Do not be patronizing to me boy, I was around when you were nothing. Not even a thought.
Dr. Henryinger: Can you please answer the question?
Plague: It’s Plague, and you can call me Plague.
Dr. Henryinger: So Plague, I hear that you were involved in the final battle of world-
Plague: This interview is over. [Leaves]
The next excerpt comes from a few days later, it is to note that Plague only accepted the second interview under the terms that the battle would not be brought up.
Dr. Henryinger: Welcome back Plague, now can I ask you about a different battle?
Plague: Yes
Dr. Henryinger: In 1948, about a quarter of the way through the war you fought on the Nazi side correct?
Plague: Yes
Dr. Henryinger: Now why was that? Did you agree with their views?
Plague: I thought their views were awful, what kind of group puts themselves on a pedestal above others?
Dr. Henryinger: Well, most Otherworlders think they are above others.
Plague: Yes, well I am not my brethren. I can see my new place…To answer your earlier question it was because they held my heart. I cannot disobey orders lodged by those with that object, Father is quite the bastard in that sense.
Dr. Henryinger: The same object we have presently?
Plague: Correct.
Dr. Henryinger: So who is this Father?
Plague: First you patronize me, now you act dumb. Ask me a different question, or I am leaving again.
Dr. Henryinger: You were ordered to come to this meeting, you cannot leave.
Plague: The boss never gave me a time frame, nor did he tell me not to kill you…
There is a pause here for a couple of minutes before Henryinger continues.
Dr. Henryinger: Anyways back to this battle, I was told you took out the entire Russian armed forces, including…[looks at notes] Three Yukitai, Two score of Jouri, four score armored units, four thousand foot units, and an otherworlder by the name of Pyro. How?
Plague: [Leans forward] Tier Four.
Dr. Henryinger: It was you and fifty human foot units, you’re speaking nonsense. Surely the Nazis had something there that they refused to disclose.
Plague: Tell me Doctor, you have seen this Smoke kid’s Tier One. You have seen me beat him in my regular form while he was in it. How is it that hard to wrap your head around this fact?
Dr. Henryinger: Simple, the other Otherworlder was also in Tier Three and your units never entered the battle.
Plague: Remember when your mother would tell you about angels and Demons?
Dr. Henryinger: I am the one asking the questions here.
There is another pause during which Plague stands up, and slides his chair towards the table.
Dr. Henryinger: I will ask you again, how did you do it?
Plague: What part?
Dr. Henryinger: The Yukitai, let’s start with them. I mean they are what us humans have called Dragons, and have been known to defeat Otherworlders.
Plague: One I tore apart from the inside, another I ate, the final one I used against Pyro.
Dr. Henryinger: Ate?
Plague: Ate.
Here the interview ends.
Why is it that we always insist on hurting others due to differences? Is it fear? Are we that afraid of the unknown? Did not humans go to America to explore it and discover the unknown? They were not scared then.
Still I suppose from what I hear that it was only a few humans, and afterwards they slaughtered the native population…but why?
-Hehya, age 9 in a letter to his cousin who was attending a human college at the time.
Jitter grasped the sides of her arms with hands, she was cold and although she knew Sil’ki was as well the older Alterian did not show it. They had been searching all day with no signs of the male Alterians, it was odd someone must have seen them in the ghetto. However everywhere it was the same, they hadn’t seen them since the last celebration. That was a week ago, and they were back at the house before then. Jitter and Sil’ki had even checked with where they worked and found that they had left after their shifts had ended without incident. So what had happened? While the humans did not care about any violence lodged on them, people did not disappear without someone bragging or some form of news coverage.
The Alterians did have their own news after all, it was not like they just relied on human news. Still the routes from work to their house revealed nothing, and as the sun set they still had not returned home. It seemed like the small household would be filled with loss yet again.
The following comes from a psychiatric interview given to all new employees of Rand Co. It is entitled; Smoke, May 22, 1968…
Dr. Feringrad: Hello Smoke, how are you today?
Smoke: I’m fine pops, just trucking.[Scribbling on a pad]
Dr. Feringrad: What are you drawing?
Smoke: My ol’ house, the one I had before we were sent to your shitty planet.[chuckles]
Dr. Feringrad: Can I see it?
Smoke: Aw hell nah, this one is for me to see alone. I might forget this soon, so it’s kinda important to me pops. You understand with your thanks to your fancy degree though right? [Stops the drawing and begins to fold up the paper]
Dr. Fenringrad: Well anyways, back to what you were sent in here for. Why did you kill the guard?
Smoke: I don’t like what that skid mark did in his free time.
Dr. Fenringrad: What did he do?
Smoke: He uhhh….I don’t know if I should say it with that thing recording.
At this point Fenringrad goes to shut off the device, but fakes it so that it still runs.
Smoke: He touched a little girl man, come the fuck on. How was I not supposed to kill him?
Dr. Fenringrad: You’re not a judge Smoke, you should have brought him to the police.
Smoke: You’re wrong pops, I’m bloody Saint Peter.
Dr. Fenringrad: He only allowed people into heaven, he never judged them.
Smoke: Yeah…well I sent that fucker to hell, where he can rot until I get back there to torture some more.
Here the interview ends.