LucByard Posted July 14, 2018 Chapter 28: Blinding Light She is lying down... the air is cool. She hears a rustling sound, a pitter-patter. It’s raining. I’m getting wet. The smell of rain on stone, her breath is short, she is tired. There is another sound... crying. The pressure of hands upon her chest. The taste of iron in her mouth. A creature kneels over her, tall, etherial. It leans towards her. “You must find Upsilon” it whispers, its lips unmoving. “You must not lie down.” Why can I hear you? “You must not lie down.” it repeated. I failed. Her reply came as a thought but she could not make the words. “You have not yet begun.” the voice whispered a reply within her mind. I don’t understand... “You must not lie down.” The creature reached out, placing it’s hands on Yseult’s chest. From it’s eyes, a blinding light, pierced with red... growing brighter, hotter. A hum behind it, whirring, faster. Suddenly, a blinding light... The smell of burnt hair and scorched metal filled the air as the laser skewed away from Yseult’s face, narrowly missing her ear. Around the black creature’s tail was a black metal hand which raised the creature aloft, writhing and screeching in panic. Another large black metallic hand encompassed the creature’s body and a moment later, they were separate, pulled into two with relative ease by the dark behemoth that was Yseult’s saviour. The laser, now discarded, smoked upon the hangar deck and as the dismembered creature writhed, desperate to escape the dark clutches of whatever had it. It would not writhe for long though as the free hand of its captor now reached for its head and with a short jolt, the creature became limp. Discarded to the hangar floor, its lifeless body landing with a deadening clank, Yseult was finally able to take in the thing that had come to her rescue... It was huge, mighty, a plethora of black bone and spikes... It had four legs, two huge arms and from its back, two larger versions of the smaller creature’s laser... Its chest was a maze of black metal work that was difficult for the eye to make out and above that, a head... Similar to the creature’s but with larger horns, the two were clearly kin. It looked down at Ysuelt with its piercing, merciless single yellow eye. Repositioning itself, it crouched, lowering the torso as much as it could and with a whirr, the cage that formed the chest opened up. Ellie was dwarfed by the monstrous exo-suit that surrounded her. She was breathing heavily, adrenaline in her veins, beads of sweat on her brow... relief in her eyes. For a moment, she just breathed. The carefully stepped out of the frame and climbed down, cautiously looking for foot-holes in the dark skeletal bodywork. Yesult was already standing by the time she got down and had stepped towards her. The two just stared at each other until finally, Ellie’s arms reached out and vigorously embraced Yseult who, after a moment of feeling somewhat out of her comfort zone, more casually did the same. She could feel Ellie’s heat pounding. The rush she thought. Ellie wasn’t used to it, she was an engineer, not a soldier. The emotions racing through her were obvious - panic, courage, fear, relief... all rolled into one hectic mess of adrenaline. Fuel for the soul. But Ellie was a different person, not used to this... That may have to change. Ellie released the embrace and Yseult followed suit without hesitation and instantly felt a little more at ease. Ellie was breathing deeply, regaining control, bringing herself back down. Her hands on her stomach, like she was stopping herself form being sick. “Okay?” Yseult asked. She didn’t know what else to say. Ellie nodded, her eyes closed, slowly, she was regaining her composure. “Don’t.” she finally said... “Touch... Anything...” There was a short awkward pause before Yseult found she couldn’t stop her cheeks tightening and a cheeky smile growing on her face... it was contagious and as soon as she noticed it on Ellie too, it only became harder to suppress... They both burst into short laughter, Ellie putting her hand to her face in embarrassment. They looked at each a moment, unsure what the right thing to say next was. Yseult pointed up at the exo-suit... “Can I have a go?” she asked, a wry cheeky smile on her face. Ellie couldn’t help it and laughed again. Spoiler The full Blacktron De-Phaser Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
pombe Posted July 16, 2018 Ellie saves the day! It's interesting how Yseult's version of the afterlife has a mech in it. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
The Stad Posted July 16, 2018 Another great installment in your story! I've already told you how cool the mech is, but I also have to say that your hangar bay is top-notch. Really satisfying mixture of industrial-looking textures with space-agey smoothness. Well done all around. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
mccoyed Posted July 16, 2018 Wow. So this is what you've been cooking up. Very impressive work on all counts. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
LucByard Posted July 18, 2018 On 7/16/2018 at 5:10 PM, pombe said: Ellie saves the day! It's interesting how Yseult's version of the afterlife has a mech in it. The white thing is described as a creature, not a machine, though I can see that visually, with Lego, it can be hard to tell the difference.... and I did describe the Rectifier as a creature, although it's actually a machine... SO I guess I'm not helping If you look at the background, there's an inference as to what it is... sort of. It was going to be Riddaeon in the Exo-Suit originally but I switched it last minute as I thought being Ellie would allow me to use it to continue the forging of her and Yseult's friendship. On 7/16/2018 at 10:48 PM, mccoyed said: Wow. So this is what you've been cooking up. Very impressive work on all counts. Yes, I knew that this was how Yseult was getting out of the scrape before I started building the corridor from the previous chapter. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
