《The Agartha Loop》Loop Two - Chapter Five
Advertisement
Loop Two - Chapter Five
Amber held back a gasp as the bus moved through a shifting, watery sheen that hovered in the air. The world in the portal was a strange reflection of the warehouse the bus was driving through, as if the image was being projected through a dozen shifting funhouse mirrors.
For a moment it felt like something was tugging at her gut, a strange and uncomfortable feeling, but not one that was hard enough to be painful.
She heard Cassy squeaking next to her, the blonde’s hand grasping for Amber’s and squeezing tight until, finally, they were through and the bus turned into a parking space.
“Are you okay?” Amber asked Cassy. Jade was shaking her head, as if ridding herself of cobwebs, but seemed otherwise fine.
Cassy stared at her hand, then yanked it back as if she was burned. Her cheeks reddened. “Yeah, yeah, I’m good,” she said.
“Alright,” Amber said. She stood, the motion feeling easier.
The air here is different. It wasn’t a smell or anything, it just felt warmer, more comforting. She poked at her magical core, the strange organ in her gut feeling contentedly full in a way it hadn’t on Earth.
She presumed that there was just a lot more magic in the air here, or that the bit of magic she had was working better on Agartha.
The magical girl at the front took in a deep breath, then grinned at the lot of them. “Welcome to your new home. Now with ten thousand percent more monsters, but also a whole heap more magic. If you’re feeling really sick, just speak up. The worst of it should pass in a minute. Crossing a portal is always a bit of a mess.”
A few of the other magicals were taking it worse than Amber, that much was obvious. Cassy shuddered a bit as she stood, and Amber reflexively swung an arm over her shoulders to keep her steady.
“I’m fine,” Cassy said.
“Let’s just get you on flat ground, then you can start flying circles around everyone,” Amber said.
“Flying? I can’t do much of that... oh, but we’re... oh, hell yeah!” Cassy said, her mood swinging all the way back to jubilant in an instant.
Amber held back a laugh as she guided Cassy into the corridor, then paused next to Jade. “Are you alright?”
“Yeah, just made me a tiny bit dizzy, I guess,” Jade said.
“It’ll pass. I don’t think your magic would interact with portals or whatever.”
“You know my magic?” Jade asked. She already had her familiar scarf around her neck. Strangely enough, Amber thought it was a little brighter than it had been before. Maybe the scarf’s magic is better on Agartha?
Advertisement
“A little. Actually, you do have some... space compression stuff, right? Maybe that would mess with a portal?”
“I’m sure the people putting up the portal know what they’re doing,” Jade said.
“Come on, kiddos, I want to get this over with so that I can go grab second lunch!” the magical girl at the front of the bus called out.
“I’m sure,” Amber said to Jade.
They moved forward and out of the bus together, and found themselves standing on the side of the group of magicians that had arrived with them. “Alright everyone,” the magical girl leading them said as she stood before the group.
“It’s getting late, so I figure I’ll just leave the lot of you in the care of the army folk here. You’ll be housed in the barracks here overnight, and tomorrow morning your tour of the academy will start. Listen to the army people. Or don’t; I’m not responsible for what you do, and they don’t have the authority to tell you to do squat. So, enjoy that, I guess. Bye!”
Amber blinked at the girl’s back as she turned and strutted off back towards the portal.
A look around, now that she wasn’t being herded around, revealed that they were in a large, rather plain building. It had brick walls, with dividers splitting off parts of the building. There was a large section with people in hard hats next to a large bank of transformers, some foot-thick wires running into the portal at one end of the room. Some soldiers, fully equipped and armed, were waiting around to one side, and there were forklifts moving by with loads of plastic-wrapped stuff.
There had to be a lot of material moving in and out of the portal every hour, judging by the number of forklifts driving in through the warped space of the portal. Most of them were entirely unmanned.
A clipboard person came up before the group of new arrivals and guided them out of the building while assuring them that their luggage would be brought over shortly.
The moment they were outside, Amber looked up and took in the familiar sky of Agartha. It was much clearer, somehow, than the sky on Earth. Or, at least, than the sky around New York had been.
The buildings around them looked like prefabs, squat ugly things built in neat rows, but after moving across a block or two on their way to some barracks, they approached Norumbega proper, with its older stone and wood homes, all of them looking like they could belong on a postcard.
“Bet the barracks are crap,” Cassy said.
Advertisement
“Likely,” Amber agreed. “They can’t be too bad, but, well, yeah.”
“Boring,” Cassy said.
“We could go to the academy,” Amber said. “Nothing’s stopping us.”
“And then what?” Cassy asked. She seemed intrigued by the idea.
“I mean, I know where our dorms are. They should be prepared for us already. We might need to borrow some essentials from Morgan, but she’s very prepared for that kind of thing. And we can live without brushing our teeth for one day.”
“Hell yeah,” Cassy said. “Where’s the school?”
Amber looked around, then pointed to Norumbega Academy. Or rather, the one large cliffside next to the city. “Up there.”
“How would we get up there?” Jade asked.
Amber grinned over to Jade, happy that the smaller girl was joining in. “Cassy here can fly. I’m pretty sure all three of us can fit on her broom, no problem.”
“I’m not sure that’s a great idea,” Jade said.
Amber patted her on the shoulder. “It’s okay. Cassy’s a great flier. And if you fall off and break your neck, I can rewind time and it’ll never have happened at all.”
“That’s... somewhat reassuring... but not as much as you might think,” Jade said.
“We could leave the pipsqueak here,” Cassy said.
Amber shook her head. “We’re a team. We don’t leave anyone behind. And I don’t think a night being bored in the barracks would be too bad. Probably.”
Cassy groaned, then turned to Jade with wide, pitiful eyes. “Please?”
Jade hesitated for a moment more, then sighed. “Okay, but we go up two at a time, and I’m not going to be first.”
Cassy laughed, and the moment they neared the next intersection, she darted off to the side, pulling Amber along with her as she grabbed her hand on the way.
Amber laughed, then cut herself off. We don’t need people knowing we’re running off, do we?
Jade followed after hesitating a little bit. They pulled out of the section of the city filled with prefabs and were soon on a narrow cobbled road, the homes close together, with the occasional clothesline between buildings. Shutters were being closed as night came on, and people were setting out little bowls next to their doors with bits of bread and what looked like milk.
Some were tossing sand outside in a wide spray before closing up for the night.
The people in Norumbega dressed strangely. For every home-made, handsewn outfit, there was someone wearing Nikes and a Yankees cap.
“We should change,” Amber said.
“Change? Our clothes?” Cassy asked. “Because, uh, my stuff’s in my luggage.”
“I have my things,” Jade said. “But, um, why?”
“We’re standing out,” Amber said as she saw someone glancing their way. The more they moved, the fewer people were on the street. “We’d stand out a lot less as magicals.”
“Huh. So the opposite of back on Earth, huh?” Cassy asked.
Amber nodded, then gestured to an alleyway. “We can change there?”
Cassy shrugged, and with a quick spinning step, she summoned her broom from out of midair. “Oh, that’s so much easier here,” she said as she spun around in mid-air, then hung onto her broom, one foot over the ring just over the bristles, and a hand over the shaft.
“You fly with a broom?” Jade asked.
“She has a witch’s hat too,” Amber said.
It was a little embarrassing to swing her arms and hips around in a clock-like motion, and Cassy did giggle a little before Amber was done, but soon enough, Amber’s clothes were replaced by her red magical girl costume. It felt far more familiar than the things she’d picked up with Cassy.
“That’s kinda cute,” Cassy said as she eyed Amber up and down. “Very red.”
“I know. It’s... yeah, a lot of red.”
“Pink is nicer,” Jade said as she stepped out of her scarf’s cocoon, her own costume settling around her in all of its pastel pink glory.
“Biased,” Amber accused.
“I don’t actually know why mine’s blue. I don’t think I have a favourite colour,” Cassy said as she tugged at the edge of her skirt.
Unsurprisingly, they talked about costumes on their way to the cliffs jutting up along one side of the city. There were fewer homes just under the cliff. The buildings there were more like warehouses and workshops. Amber assumed it was in part the lack of sunlight and the risk of a stone coming down that discouraged people from living too close to the nearly sheer wall.
“Are we going to get into trouble for this?” Jade asked.
“Nah,” Cassy said. “We can just blame Amber.”
“Please, I’ll just say it was you. You look way more like a punk than I do,” Amber said.
“I do not,” Cassy said. Her shoulder bumped against Amber’s.
Amber noticed Jade giving her and Cassy a look before she smiled slyly.
Why is that smile making me so nervous?
***
Advertisement
The Chronicle of Karl: Industrialization of Rohrkadia
Rohrkadia Peninsula centuries ago was the center of human civilization in the southern hemisphere. But after the absence of war for 5 decades, the population rose to a level where the supply of food couldn’t keep up with the entire demand. In the era of Great Famine, millions of people died because of starvation. Meanwhile, Carl Sanders a 75 years old Hardcore capitalist, Engineer and Army Veteran died in his home in Baltimore and woke up in a body of an orphan boy named Karl son of Xander. At first, he was confused but then he remembered one of the quotes he often heard in his previous lifetime: ‘Once an entrepreneur, always an entrepreneur’You can visit my blog for the maps, glossary, and faster chapter release.Blog: https://arquestories.wordpress.com/
8 129Un-Familiar Sidequest 1: The Squad (A LitRPG isekai fantasy adventure)
When a burst of magical energy sweeps out of Canada and into Western New York, the president has no choice but to send in a squad of Army Rangers to sort the situation out. Five badasses... and Dane Frelser. Dane is a nobody, a drone operator with a very specific set of skills. RPG skills. See, the government knows they're all going to transform into an adventuring party of non-humans, and they know that Dane's knowledge will help his squad survive giant snakes, hordes of zombies, hedgehogtopuses and cave gibbons. Assuming he can get them to listen.
8 113Astral: Into the New World
At the very top of Mountain Ard, there stood the empty ruins of a citadel overlooking the unsung Kingdom of Kan. Underneath this site, a catacomb was built but none of the thousand souls lingered anymore. Until one day, a strange life finally emerged. A human separated from its Earthly form- physically unwielded in this world, too rare and hunted for its kind. Her name is Narya, the first Earth being to arrive through the ancient portal of the unmagical land. And with her arrival, adventure and romance unfolds between her and the grey-scaled noble, Erduas. But is love possible between two different creatures bonded as predator and prey at first? ***Extra Details*** 1. English is my second language but I am doing my best to give you the best shot on this journey. 2. Fantasy Romance, Action & Violence would be the center of the story 3. I am avoiding clichés as much as I can 4. I value comments and suggestions, hoping to receive one. ***I hope this story keeps you entertained (´ー∀ー`)
8 59Building An Army In Another World With My Smartphone
I woke up in a strange new place and learnt that I had sacrificed my memories for a powerful gift during my transmigration to another world. I guess all I can do is to build up my army...using my smartphone.
8 445Lawman.
Lawman follows the exploits of Relovan, a Human Police Enforcer stationed on the BlargonianPlanets – a series of small planets on which pure Essence is mined, and refined into fuel. On hisday off, he finds himself and his fellow Enforcers caught up in a fight between two Void Lords,beings of immense power, who answer only to the Council, after the pair of Void Lords touchdown on the Station, seeking to refuel their respective Void Walkers. In the ensuing clash,Relovan punches above his weight and subdues a number of Void Knights – those in the serviceof the Void Lords – before becoming directly involved in the confrontation between the VoidLords themselves. His performance during the incident catches the attention of the current PoliceChief, Nura, who essentially takes him under his wing, and assists him in various ways,including when he is summoned to answer before the Council for getting involved in the spatbetween the two Void Lords. The book ends after the conclusion of the Hearing.Relovan is a stickler for the Law – something that prompted him to learn not only the laws ofvarious territories and planetary systems, but also the native languages and customs, so as touphold the law as best he can. As a highly trained, and immensely skilled former soldier,Relovan’s abilities along with his latent talent regarding the use of Essence, allow him to hangwith beings infinitely more powerful than him. Lawman is a full length manuscript that I will likely self publish once I have the artwork for it.
8 130Souls of Red
As the sun begins to fade from existence, five protectors are chosen. Their unique blood type is thought to help the Earth regain its strength. Aryn, a prominent surgeon, is unaware of the fateful gift that flows in her. She carries the same blood type as the chosen ones. Hidden truths start appearing, when a letter is sent from her parents, who abandoned her at a young age. Aryn becomes imprisoned by the black words in the letter, and falls into the memories of the past. While Aryn tries to gather the missing clues, more mysteries emerge. After treating an eccentric patient, he presents Aryn with more questions than answers. Aware of the doctor's hidden identity, Louis sends her upon a journey toward her darkest days and deepest truths. Aryn's journey begins with the gift of a strange and life-altering book. Aptly titled 'Rules of Death', it doesn't stop with the exposure of her own identity. The book holds knowledge and power Aryn can only begin to understand. She then realizes the importance of her task: guarding all the manuscript dares to tell. Envious eyes and inquisitive minds threaten everything she's determined to defend. In order to preserve the power of the protectors, Aryn must carry the secrets of the book to the grave. Will she keep the book's mysteries to herself, or will Aryn's secret become a world undoing ?~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~•Highest Ranks•#6 In Mystery, on 13/10/2020•Awards•- 1st place winner in the discovery awards - 2nd place winner in the pantheon awards- Honorable Mention- The Shimmer Awards (2020)
8 97