LiMB

Zero Dark Ascension Arma

On the day he was born, a foul blackened wind emerged from the abyssal depths and swept over the Sea of Dreams.

The Spheres trembled and the Heart of Yeb ached in expectation as the Eyes of Brother and Sister Moon; Axis and Rhun, chose to look away.

On a blue, blue field, the Hierophant awaited, his ambition beginning anew, and in The Night Lands, a Servant's breath gained warmth…

Chapter 0: Windswept

In a dimly lit room, a young man awakened. Bathed in red artificial light, he opened his eyes for the first time of a short existence.

(???: Where…)

The glass cylinder surrounding him was slowly being drained of fluid, a bright pink substance shining with a mystical glow.

Symbols and runes painted upon the glass surface of the cylinder disappeared into purple smoke as the substance slowly sank away.

(???: Welcome Arma, my child. Do not rush, there is no need to hurry. I expect life must feel pretty sudden to a creature such as you. Newly born, fresh and minted, how I envy you!)

Arma turned his face towards the raspy voice and saw a man. He was quite old, creating the impression of an ancient being, with long white hair and wicked eyes covered by round tinted glasses.

The elderly figure was wearing what looked like a intricately designed doctor's coat, although Arma couldn't understand how he knew what such a coat would look like. His mind was making a connection it shouldn't really be able to.

The man had a body which was slim and tall, stretched thin as a spider's legs, and his arms reached towards Arma in greedy gesture.

(Arma: Ar...ma… this is…. me?)

(???: Indeed, you are, and I am your father, your creator… But you may call me Vaporin, although my full name would be Vaporin Saint Chalamite. Quite the mouthful, don't you agree? I never liked those titles in the first place. Vaporin will suit me just fine.)

The old man chuckled, adjusting his tinted glasses with a look of malicious joy on his face.

(Arma: Vapo...rin…)

(Vaporin: Quite so dear boy! Now let's get you out of this prison of glass, I want to show you something special, something special indeed.)

Once the fluid had been fully drained the glass cylinder surrounding Arma started to descend into a circle of machinery nailed with heavy bolts to the bronze floor.

The machinery itself had several plastic tubes protruding from it, slithering like snakes towards the shadowy ceiling of the room. Intestines made with the intent of capturing and creating life.

Arma fell down towards the smooth, cold floor, landing on his arms and legs while gasping for air.

(Vaporin: Yes, breathing must be quite a chore, but do not worry, your body will soon adjust to its new surroundings. Stand up, let me take a look at you.)

Arma arose, still confused simply by being alive. All he could remember was endless darkness, a void of nothingness, and then… being swept up by a wind of infinite colors.

(Vaporin: Yes, yes, there you are, let's kick the software in gear and see what you can do.)

Vaporin snapped the fingers on his right hand while once again adjusting his glasses with his left.

A beam of bright green light shone out of the glasses, seemingly tracing Armas mostly naked body from top to bottom, while symbols and runes appeared in the air on a transparent green square floating in front of Vaporin.

Armas body was thin to the point of being unhealthy, but he was still muscular boy, a teenager by any other standards. On his arms, brightening the pale flesh, labyrinthine blue lines were shining under the skin, like a painting he was born with.

His hair was white, just like the old mans, but short and spiky, as unkempt as unruly.

Arma couldn't understand any of the symbols that appeared before him, but luckily enough a disembodied mechanical female voice started speaking as the symbols were written on the flat square.

(???: … … ...

ARMA: CONSTRuCT.

LVL: ZERO - AFfINITY DARK.

CLAsS: UNAtTAINED.

STRATIFICATIONS:

....ANALYZING…

… … … ANa…LYZING:

POWER: UNAVAILABLE

SPIRIT: UNAVAILABLE

APPLICATION: MANIFEST

PHANTASM: SOLID STATE

EVAPORATION: CORPOReAL

WiLL… ThAT BE ALL MAsTER?)

(Vaporin: Blasted old glasses, she's stuttering! And so slow! I do believe I will have to catch another apparition to replace the old one soon! Manila, internal mode, if you PLEASE!)

(Manila: INTeRNAL MODE, En...GAGED MasTER)

The green light and all that it had created disappeared in an instant, Vaporin absently scratched his chin, looking thoughtful but satisfied.

(Arma: Construct... What does it mean?)

A flash of annoyance appeared on Vaporins face but was forcefully removed in the same instant.

(Vaporin: Tch! It means… that I made you! Well aren't you lucky, all you know is truth in a world of lies!)

(Arma: Truth...)

(Vaporin: Yes, yes, now don't you go repeating me! You are almost as bad as she is. Come, let's go outside, I want to show you the world... I wonder what you will think of it.)

Arma followed his proclaimed father with stumbling steps but soon found his footing.

It seemed, after the first try, that walking came quite naturally, just as breathing now had become.

The room in which he had been born was just as cylindrical as the tube he had just emerged from, entirely made from bronze fastened with iron bolts. The ceiling stretched on far above, ending in deep shadow, too far to be seen in the dim light.

Only a single passageway could be seen in the room, a single entrance and exit to this chamber of birth.

(Vaporin: Come on then, no need to be shy! Endless opportunity awaits you dear boy!)

(Arma: This is…)

As he left his mechanical womb Arma saw a strange new vision. Nothing like the comfortable darkness in which he had been made, nothing like the vague memories of wind he held in his heart. It was a world of feeling.

Arma had never smelled before, never touched, and simply grazing the doorframe with his fingers seemed like venture of its own.

The scent of dust, and the lingering presence of flowers filled the air he breathed in with its wondrous sensation.

And beyond that, leaving the chamber, in front of him he found a field of blue, blue grass.

The field seemed to go on endlessly, the tall grass swaying in the wind like seaweeds gently being pushed by a current.

Above him he saw that the sky was pitch black and filled with shining spheres of light, perhaps not so distant heavenly bodies, and among those beacons of far away places, six moons illuminating the world with a fantastical glow.

(Vaporin: There once was a tree here you know, a tree of tremendous roots, but as you can see, I have fashioned its memory into that of a windmill.)

It was true. Although Arma had a hard time tearing his gaze from the bounty of what seemed like an almost aquatic flora and the equally haunting sky, as soon as he turned his head, he could see the large darkwood windmill behind him. A titanic structure reaching toward the heavens, its blades currently standing still.

(Arma: So this is where I was born?)

(Vaporin: Quite so. Wind, the freed shape of the dream, milled and made into substance. Versification is the blood, rhyme the reason and composition the body.)

(Arma: And this, what is this place?)

Arma held out both his hands towards the vast field, his fingers eager to experience more as the world stretched out in front of him.

(Vaporin: This is Sphere 667, Aquilegia: the sphere of the forgotten. We stand upon the Field of dreams, a place lost in the endless annals of time, once home to the Daughter of the Hunt. Far below us is the Sea of dreams. And above and beyond, the Lunar flowers, endless worlds of phantasm and fantasy.)

(Arma: I don't think I understand…)

(Vaporin: Don't worry about it my succulent little spider, soon you will understand it all. Today we will travel to the edge of this floating field, and from there we can use the secret pathways to some other place. Remember this: it's possible to travel to any space or sphere if the correct pathway is used, everything around you, and out there is connected in numerous ways.)

The old man gazed upon the night sky for a moment, seemingly lost in thought, and then smiled viciously as he said…

(Vaporin: But before that, there are two things we must do. Firstly accept these glasses, the software will install in mere moments! Quite the ingenious invention I have made, don't you agree?)

Vaporin took of his red-tinted glasses and held them out to the boy which hesitantly accepted them into his hands.

(Arma: What do I do with them?)

(Vaporin: Haha! Just put them on, do not worry your small undeveloped mind by such minute details.)

Arma placed the glasses on his face and just as he had done so thin cords slithered out of their frame and pierced his skin. The cords reached deep and connected with his mind almost instantaneously.

Arma yelled out in pain and fear, trying to scratch the glasses off his face but the cords had already firmly dug themselves deep, miniature barbs holding them in place.

(Arma: wha-ah-AH-AH-AHT'S HAPPENING TO ME? IT HURTS, IT HURTS, IT H-H-H-H-HURTS!)

(Manila: SOftwARE InSTALLING…)

Vaporin looked displeased as Armas eyes filled with tears and the pangs of painful surprise, the feeling of being intruded upon, as lines and lines of information was being rewritten unto his very being.

(Vaporin: Quite the low threshold for pain on this one, that's unfortunate.)

The glasses, having served their purpose, released Arma and fell lifelessly to the ground.

(Manila: Installation complete. Pleased to make your acquaintance, master, take care of me well.)

A small womanly figure, consisting of green light, manifested in front of Armas eyes and just as she had the cords slithered away and Armas pain disappeared.

Her appearance was striking, perfect in every way, and Arma gasped as he saw her.

She was, simply beautiful, a being of orderly and prudent perfection.

(Arma: Ah… hah... I heard you before… but now, your voice, it's different…)

(Vaporin: Now, now! Don't get too chummy just yet children! There is still one more thing we have to do.)

Vaporin made a sign in the air with his fingers and seemed to draw out a small object out of an invisible box or something of a similar sort.

(Manila: Pocket space, master.)

The black object looked like a tool or a weapon of some sort, almost like a gun but loaded with a syringe instead of bullets. Arma did not know why, but he felt that it had an ominous presence. It's black metal surface shone menacingly in the light provided by the spheres far above them.

(Vaporin: This is another device that I have created, I call it the ghostgun… Before we continue I will use this device to transfer my mind into yours, this will turn me into a presence not unlike our dear Manila. She should have appeared by now. Can you see her?)

Arma, still shocked by everything that had happened, answered with a heavy breath…

(Arma: Yes… yes, I can see her.)

(Vaporin: Very well then, you understand! When I use this ghostgun I will be transferred from this frail corpse of a body into a more convenient, portable size. Just small enough to be a part of your being! Once I use this, I will leave this body behind, it is imperative that you use the device immediately after! Storing yourself in a syringe… Well it's not like putting your milk in the fridge, right? HA HA!)

(Arma: So… what do I do?)

(Vaporin: It's quite easy dear boy! Just shoot yourself in the head!)

And just like that, the old man, Vaporin, placed the gun towards his temple and…

BLAM!

He fell down into a lifeless pile, a corpse, an empty body, resting upon the bed of grass.

Arma picked up the ghostgun, staring at it intently. Just as he raised it towards his own head a now familiar voice, as familiar as anything could be for the newly born, spoke inside his mind.

(Manila: You have a choice…. You don't have to do this. That is all i will say, master.)

Arma raised the gun towards his head and…

Crushed it with his hand (R1)/Pulled the trigger (R2)

Everyone wants to be special, everyone wants to be the protagonist of their own story… Even in a world of dreams, I guess reality just isn't that kind. Even in a world of dreams, fiction made manifest, life is life, and being alive… It's never easy…

Sargo, the loved one, please grant us forgiveness… our misery is yet to come.