Sometime today maybe is another chapter.. Maybe....

Sorry for the short break.

As a side note, you have not lived until you have thrown rocks and insults at a charging bear in an attempt to get it to leave...(true story....)

Anyway, 2nd half of the chapter is some dark(?) shit. You have been warned (i guess...)

First thing when we get back is...

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*SMACK*

*THUD*

??? : "YOU BUMBLING IDIOT!!! DO YOU EVEN UNDERSTAND WHAT YOU HAVE DONE?!?!?!!?!"

Ismene just looked at the old man whos forceful slap sent her to the floor. She reached up and started rubbing her cheek, which now had a bright red hand print on it.

With a slight tear in her eye she jumped back onto her feet and then approached the old Wizard.

Ismene : "It was a carfully calculated action, done with my entire heart behind it! I regret NOTHING!!!!"

Cornelius : "Ismene... you told me it was on the spur of the moment...."

Ismene's face changed, and she turned to look at him with puppy dog eyes.

Ismene : "Master you meany...*sniff*"

The Wizard was still livid at Ismene, but turned to Cornelius, and bowed deeply.

Wizard : "I am deeply sorry for Ismene's actions. I accept any punishment, but please spare the country... it has nothing to do with one FOOL'S decision...."

Cornelius : "Personally... I dont really care... However, I have already decided that this kingdom shall fall. That is set in stone, the only question which I have is whether you will help me or stand against me..."

The Wizard just looked at him in shock.

Wizard : "My... My lord! Please!! Reconsider! You have only been here for a single day! How can you make such a monumentous decision so quickly?? Certainly you should get to know the kingdom a bit----"

Cornelius : "My decision, as I have said, is set in stone. Ismene has filled me in on the matters surrounding this Nation. It is warring with its neighbor over a pitiful reason while a greater threat is looming elsewhere. The king is content to let the heroes do his work for him, and the nobles are getting fat and rich off of the lands originally taken from Ismene's country. All this while your true enemies are growing ever stronger to the south.

I simply mean to make peace with your neighbor by returning their princess and ending this war which you guys started. I ask you again.. Do I need to kill you, or will you help us."

Wizard (after some hesitation) : "This...I..." He glanced at Ismene. Their eyes met, and then he sighed a massive sigh. After a deep breath he nodded with vigor.

Wizard : "I have known for a while that this warmongering country may yet be the death of humanity. And I have been trying to fix that from inside for quite a while. This would not happen easily however, and I decided instead to aide their efforts in an attempt to finish humanities civil war quickly and stabalize us before the Demons invade.

You are correct about the war being petty on our part, but Orbitan and Asmenar have a justifiable cause as long as Gracemaria holds Orbitan's princess. The war is not stopping so long as she remains on this side of the boarder..."

His face clouded with unease at the mention of the underlying causes.

Cornelius : "Yes I know that... That is why I am here... If I were to "aquire" a person with knowledge of her whereabouts would you be able to extract them?"

The Wizards face was covered with shock at his words.

Wizard : "I suppose so... Although that would have to be one of the inner circle, and I have heavily rienforced all of their minds against just that. It would take me an exceedingly long time in order to crack one. If you could isolate him for a period of... twenty days lets say, then yes I believe I can do it.... But what you prepose is Treason!! Just talk of this would get Ismene and I executed. You too if you choose not to reveal your race!"

Cornelius : "So you can?"

Wizard : "Yes. Given time and protection I would be able to crack one of the nobles mental defences. But luring one away..."

Cornelius : "I will deal with the how. All I needed to know was if you could..."

Itw as silent again for a moment, before Cornelius opened his mouth to speak again.

Cornelius : "Ismene tells me you have a "black box" which answers questions... Take me to it..."

Wizard : "Yes my lord..."

The Wizard approached a wall, and pressed a brick, causing a crevice to open in the wall. What was revealed was a small box the size of a microwave, with a holoscreen infront of it.

Cornelius : "It looks like a computer.. but it is far more advanced then anything I have seen..."

Ismene : "com-peu-ter? What is that master??"

Cornelius : "A machine from my world..." He said as he walked up to the black box and started searching for a power button.

Ismene : "Ma-sheen? I dont get it master..."

Cornelius let out a sigh, and ran his fingers over the box, after finding no obvious switch. A moment later the computer whirred to life, and displayed a few characters in a language which Cornelius didnt understand. It looked to be a form of greek from what he had seen of greece.

Wizard : "Can you understand it?"

Cornelius : "No.. but I think, if this was built by Stratovians I should probably be able to do this..."

Cornelius : "Computer, translate to english..."

A moment later the words morphed and changed to accomodate his language.

Computer (on the screen) :

*Initiate boot sequence?*

[YES] / [NO]

Cornelius saw no mouse so he tried touching the "yes" button on the screen.

It seemed to work, as a moment later the computer flashed several million lines of code and then the screen went blank.

A metalic voice rang out from the box.

Box : "Hello Traveller. I am the memory bank V. 9.73

I have been installed with all sorts of worldly knowledge, from the ground below you to the races of the stars above you.

Ask a question and I will do my best to answer...."

Ismene and the Wizard stared in awe at the box which was now speaking. Normally words just scrolled by on the screen when you pressed the yes button. This.., was different then normal.

Cornelius : "Show me a map of the stars..."

A moment later the box ejected a small section of it, and projected a holographic map of a galaxy.

Ismene : "Amazing master! I- I can't believe this!!!"

Cornelius : "What galaxy is this?"

Box : "This galaxy is reffered to as the Galaxy of the last battle."

Cornelius : "Where is earth..."

Box : "Earth... Alternate names : Tera,Dìqiú, Prithvī, ETC... Stratovian Clasification : [ Origin ]

Distance from current location... 198,125 Million Lightyears.

Preffered transportation method : Wormhole or Slip space.

Known Sentient Inhabitants : Humans, Stratovians, and The Creator...

Age of Sentient life:

Humans : 10,000 of sentience

Stratovians : 78,912,156 years of sentience

Creator : N/A

Biome : Teran, water based

Age of planet : 4.567 billion years old

Known tech level : Tier 2 Technology.

Estimated to hit tier three within four hundred origin cycles."

Cornelius : "Explain about this planet..."

Box : "This planet is clasified by its inhabitants as Eutena, Bknua, Litena ETC...

Stratovian Clasification : Planet 101581

Distance from current location... 0 Lightyears.

Preffered transportation method : N/A

Known Sentient Inhabitants : Humans, Stratovians, Demons, Dragons, Elves, Dwarfs, Pixies, Ents, ETC...

Age of Sentient life :

Human : 18,000 years of sentience

Stratovians : 51,400,192 years of sentience

Demons : 33,000 years of sentience

Dragons : 51,400,192 years of sentience

Elves : 34,000 years of sentience

Dwarfs : 31,000 years of sentience

Pixies : 4,102,587 years of sentience

Ents : 19,015,587 years of sentience

Biome : Teran, water based

Age of planet : 6.381 billion years old

Known tech level : Tier 0 Technology.

Estimated to hit tier one within two thousand years."

Cornelius : "What are you?"

Box : " I am the memory bank V. 9.73

I have been installed with all sorts of worldly knowledge, from the ground below you to the races of the stars above you.

Ask a question and I will do my best to answer...."

Cornelius : "Show me a map of the planet..."

A moment later, the star map went away, showing a large holographic planet, roughly eight feet in diameter. It looked similar to earth, but was larger and had more water.

On one side of it is ocean was a large continent, it stretched around the planet like a large ring. (think pangea)

Box : "Will that be all?"

Cornelius : "Yes"

Box : "Comensing shut down sequence..."

Ismene : "You put it to sleep master?"

Cornelius : "Yes, now that I know I can understand it I can always come back to ask it a question if I need to know something."

Ismene : "I see master..." She said, slightly displeased at the disappearence of the beautiful floating planet and the projection of the sky.

Cornelius : "I guess we should get started then..."

Wizard : "I guess we should.. I shall begin preperations immidietly!"

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Yay switching viewpoints again! (rewinding time a bit...) (Be warned, this is some dark shit...but its slightly relevant to the plot...)

its dark and cold.....

So cold...

She shivered, and covered up her pale naked body with the thin blanket they handed her when she had first arrived.

She was alone here, in this dark damp cell.

She had been here for who knows how long...

She had not seen the light of day in what seemed like years, and her eyes and body had grown accustomed to the darkness.

A frosty wind blew through, and she shivered again.

She surpressed the shivers.

She could not afford to shiver, it took too much energy.

She needed energy.

Needed it for when the frost blew through the halls.

Needed it to keep warm.

Needed it to live

The wind blew again, through the small grate above her head.

The strong gust threw off the corner of the blanket which she had clenched so tightly to her shoulder.

The wind stung at the bruises which marred her once beautiful body.

She sat in her darkness, thinking...

All she could do is think...

She couldnt move, moving required too much energy.

She couldnt speak, the dry cold air had made her vocal chords hoarse and unable to be used easily.

She could only think, as she lay in her isolation, just waiting for the next beating and molestation.

She heard the crackle of footsteps breaking the ice down the hall.

no...

please...

not again...

never again...

No matter how much she pleaded in her mind, her throut was too hoarse to cry out as it had when she first arrived, back when she didnt know how things worked here.

The crackling came closer, but paused just outside of her thick wooden door.

*Slide*

A small amount of dim torch light, blinding to her eyes showed through that open slit.

On the other side of it, she noticed the familiar face of her gaoler.

The door creaked open a moment later, his hulking body blocking the entrace completely.

She was forced to squint by the sudden downpoor of light.

??? : " 'Ello girlie, Nice ta see ya up this brigh'n earlie...

U realy did meh good last tyme with ya nails in me eyes. Time for a littl' paybac..."

He approached her, much to her grief.

please...

no...

not again...

never again...

His footsteps creeped in closer, as she remained huddled against her corner of the room.

At first she had fought him off, refusing to allow him closer.

She had attempted to run through the open door, seeing it as an option of escape, not for what it was.

The open door was not for her to escape, it was to show her. He was in complete control of the situation. The open door was a sign of complete confidence that she would be unable to escape.

She had tried resisting for a while...

And for a while it seemed like she was winning....

This had only made him more determined to break her, and his visits became more frequent over time.

After she had resisted however, he simply did not feed her.

He opened the door and ate her food outside. Her gruel that was supposed to be given to her, he just sat down, with the door wide open, and ate it infront of her.

He then spat it out on the floor and commented on how bad it was.

She at first didnt understand the importance of this action,

yet over time...

.....over time...

the cold did his work for him, as it ripped through her pitiful layer of excess energy in a matter of days.

She looked back at her time before hell, and regretted trying to keep her ladylike figure in hopes of finding a knight or prince...

All of the fasting, the passing up of good filling food.

She needed energy... How could she have been so stupid?

Soon after he started eating her food, the cold broke her, and she had stopped resisting as much.

She had simply not moved, to conserve her meager energy.

This had pleased him, and he started to encrouch, ever so slowly, only an inch at a time, but soon enough he was in front of her.

She didn't have the energy to resist, nor cry out, so she sat in resignation at the horrors which unfolded unto her.

He was a cruel jailer.

He would molest her, beat her, dehuminize her.

He could not rape her, nor kill her, nor leave a permanent mark on her body. That would devalue her as leverage, and that was their entire purpose in keeping her

It was brutal, and in his eyes she was less than human...

There were times when she wished for death,

Times when she simply sat shivering alone in her cell, her thin blanket off of her fragile body, all in an attempt to kill herself with the cold.

This didn't work however, as the jailer came and lay next to her, transfering his body heat to her...

She hated it so much that she never tried to kill herself that way again.

Instead she tried other ways, such as fasting.

That didnt work either, he force fed her the gruel which he so eagerly spat out last time, prying her mouth open and forcing it in.

She had tried time and time again to end this agony, but eventually she stopped..

She chose to endure hell, trusting in her country and family to save her.

His cold hands brought her back to reality for a moment as they touched her.

Tears fell down from her eyes as she lay in resignation.

Her mind left her cold broken body and wandered to a better time.

One thought permeated her "happy place"...

It refused to leave, no matter what she did or where she went within her own mind.

please....

someone...

anyone...

save me....

what have I done to deserve this?

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Wow ok then. Finally a longer chapter?

Well shit gets fun next few chapters!!! (look forward to it : D )

LURKERS BEWARE!!! FOR I DESIRE COMMENTS!!!