Day 1: Aridia
de Mon Castle Grounds

"Sounds like my job at college..." Christopher replied with a chuckle. "What are my orders, sir?"

At least this job had the possibility to be fun. It wasn't as interesting as hunting someone down, but it would give Chris a chance to use some of his bounty hunter skills nonetheless.

-------------------------

Day 1: Burg
Somewhere near the downtown region

Berg's been hit pretty hard. At least the medics and local law enforcement is doing their job...

For the past hour Malcom had been traveling through the city, being sure to take the alleys and backstreets to stay out of sight of civilians. Now, he was perched on the side of the old Catholic church in the middle of downtown, blending in with the surrounding gargoyles.

Lawrence had a grand view of downtown from this spot, being able to see most of the recovery procedures taking place. Hmm, maybe I'm not needed after all... Malcom's thoughts were cut short by the unmistakable sound of gunfire coming from the street behind him. With one quick move, Malcom jumped off his perch, landed in a shadow and reappeared in the alley behind the church next to his Hyper-bike.

The sound of shouts and more gunfire led Malcom to 23rd street where two robbers were escaping through a narrow alleyway. The robbers ran until they were at a dead in on 22nd street, then they stopped. Actually, collapsed would be more accurate. "Man! I can't believe you actually shot her!! I mean... man! You never said anything about that!!"

"Shut up, kid! You knew how I operate and you still tagged along. Stop trying to tell me what I can and cannot do!" the older thug whacked his younger accomplice up the side of the head at this. "Go make sure the coast is clear while I count our loot..." The younger thief followed his superiors orders and walked over to the end of the alley grumbling about his life and the like while rubbing the side of his head.

While the two thieves were separated, Malcom jumped down from his hiding spot on the building above the alley and stood between them. The younger thief turned and gave a surprised yelp, yet did not try to do anything. The older thug gave a start, then reached for his gun. Malcom reached out towards the older thug and the gun jumped into his hand. The younger thief took this opportunity to grab a nearby brick to throw at the intruder. He never got that far as black tendrils from the nearby shadows shot out and wrapped themselves around the kid... suspending him a foot above the ground.

Malcom began walking towards the other brute who was now on his feet and holding a switchblade. "Come and get it!" the man yelled as he lunged for Lawrence. Lawrence side stepped the man, grabbing his arm and with a swift push, dislocated his arm. The thug collapsed to the ground with a muffled wail of pain. "We need to talk..." Malcom said dragging the babbling man over to the far wall and standing him up against it.

"Look at me... look at me. No, not over there, here..." Lawrence was trying to get the thug to look him in the face for questioning, but the half broken man kept looking in all other directions... never looking Malcom in the face. "LOOK AT ME!!" Lawrence finally growled as he grabbed his victim by the back of his head, forcing him to look at Malcom's face.

As the two men made eye contact (rather, when the thug looked at the eye-like blotches on Malcom's mask), a strange thing happened. Suddenly Lawrence was traveling down a tunnel, then suddenly in a massive room filled with... spheres. Each sphere seemed to be playing a separate film, a small snapshot of one larger film. Am I in... in his mind? Malcom thought as he examined the spheres floating around the room. Each one seemed to come from the point of view of someone... the first few seemed to be from a childhood with hazy images of adults and a bright and colorful world. By the sixth sphere, the images had become decidedly more disturbing with images of brutal attacks and other atrocities. From there, the films in the each sphere become increasingly worse, until the last one... the largest one. This final sphere held the image of Lawrence in full costume appearing and fighting the thug.

"GET OUT OF MY HEAD!!! I didn't do NOTHIN!!" the disembodied voice of the thug rang though Malcom's mind. Still, he pressed on trying to find a memory of the recent crime. He finally found it... though he suddenly wished he had not. The recent robbery the two men had committed had ended with the shooting of a middle-aged women and her dog. The shooting had been done by the older thug while the younger thief protested the act. This scene brought back memories to Lawrence of his own mother and her death...

"GAHHHH!! Get out of here!! Ma.. aaahaahahhh!!!" the disembodied wailing of the thug was quickly followed by the spheres popping or exploding. At first it was just the latest sphere, then a chain reaction seemed to be taking place as all the spheres began exploding. Malcom quickly pulled back his mind, though not fully knowing how he did it, and returned to his body. He retuned in time to see the older thug convulse for a second before a sickening "pop" was heard and the man went completely limp. A small trail of blood leaked from the dead mans nose, mouth and ears.

Malcom let go of the corpse and stood in silent awe and shock for a few seconds. I... I... killed him through invading his mind? I went into someones mind... He deserved death.

With that bleak thought, Lawrence adjusted his hat and walked back to the frightened young thief. "Who.. who... who are you???" the young man asked as the shadow tendrils set him back on the ground. After a moment, Malcom answered:

"I am vengeance. I am the darkness. I am... Darkrider" With that, Darkrider disappeared into the shadows of the alleyway, leaving a frightened young thief to rethink his profession as the unmistakable sound and lights of police cars filled the alley.

-Day 1-
Arenico, Diabolis
Downtown, In A Government Building
Previous Post

Gideon and Edwin, guided through the darkened stairwell by the flame on Edwin's lighter, emerged back onto the rooftop to find a crowd gathered on the streets below. The blinking lights and neon signs he had grown used to seeing in Diabolis were out, some of them shattered like the lights in the stairwell. The second sun had faded from the sky, leaving behind an aftermath of broken windows - and a cloud of smoke rising like a menacing, foul-breathed monster.

The casino next door, the Grand Arcadian, was on fire. Smoke poured from windows. Gideon could only assume something had happened when the lights blew out. But though he listened, he heard no sirens, no alarms - only the terrified screams of those trapped inside.

Edwin's voice was shaky, uncertain. "How are we going to get down from here?"

Before Gideon could reply, he heard something that made his skin crawl - the sound of footsteps echoing through the stairwell. Apparently, this building wasn't quite as abandoned as he'd hoped. Wildly, he glanced around, searching for a way to escape, but the Grand Arcadian had been their only route. Smoke stung his eyes, flames licking the roof of he burning building. They were trapped.

The door opened, and out tumbled five men - three dressed in the bright yellow firemen's uniform, carrying a sub-compact flexoladder. It seems as if they were attempting a rescue. The fourth man wore a business suit and looked as if he worked for the government. Unfortunately, Gideon recognized the fifth as Diabolis's Chief of Police.

The Chief was shouting into his walky-talky. "I have visual on the fire - we are attempting a rescue! Ground crew, do you read me? Come in ground crew, answer me!" He shook the device in frustration. As the firemen ran to the rooftop's edge with the flexoladder, he turned around, surveying the scene.

And then he spotted Gideon, who stiffened like a deer caught in the headlights - or, in this case, a thief trapped between a flaming building and a two-hundred-foot drop.

The Chief's eyes widened, and his face darkened with anger. "You!" he spat.

-Day 1-
Arida
The convent

Allee's eyes widened. "I can't believe I didn't think of that before." She fumbled for her notebook, sticking her pencil behind her ear. She flipped through the pages, then stuck her finger on the one she was looking for. "Here it is. I was working on an article about it for next semester's edition of my college's magazine." She licked her lips and read aloud. "'Many people have predicted a supernova in the near future, the most notable predictions coming from very respected scientists. Even the government has predicted that some sort of radiation or wide-spread disaster will hit Azurema at some point. The question is, is it fact, or fiction?'" She sighed. "I hadn't thought much of it when I first wrote the article. But it appears that the supernova was real." She shut her notebook, which seemed to distill the silence in their eerily quiet room. "I just wish we had known that ahead of time."

-Day 1-
Judicia, Erbaine
Capitol University
During the supernova

"It's not like I tried to make this happen." Liam tried shaking his hand off too. What would happen if his hand--or Laramie's hand, whichever it was--did fall off? The very thought disturbed him. "I'm just as weirded out as you are. All I did was grab your hand, Laramie." His eyes widened. "What went wrong?"

He took a deep breath to calm himself. "We are hallucinating. We are," Liam said calmly. "That's the only logical--"

Liam's words were snatched away by the wind as he felt a blast of energy, then Laramie's hand connecting with his shoulder. He flew backwards, barely escaping the exploding windows and blasts of shattered glass. His head spun as he hit the ground, fear starting to grip him like it never had before. He hoped Laramie hadn't been hurt in the explosion. He owed his life to her, or at least he needed to thank her for saving him from a painful experience. And maybe hug her, too - when this was all over.

When this was all over... when would it be over? And dare he look at his hand again?

-Day 1-
Capitol University
Judicia, Erbaine
During the Supernova

A faint smile appeared on Lewis' lips. "The idiots," He said amiably, "They'd better not pretend that everything is fine now." He navigated around a pile of crushed chairs that had shot out of one of the classrooms and into a wall.

The lights in the hallway were working just fine up until this point, but as they passed the chairs, with a shudder and a soft noise, they all turned off. "Electromagnetic pulse." Lewis said, looking up at them. "They'll have to trust us for the power."

-Day 1-
Arenico, Diabolis

Nari groggily opened up her eyelids and rolled her eyes back to the front of her head. As her vision focused she realized she was in a cement room of some sort, one of the gangsters from before, the one with the peirced lip stood a few feet away...holding a gun. She was gagged and bound. Nari realized what had happened and in involuntary moan escaped her lips. The man turned and looked at her, a grimace on his face. "well well, how does it feel? how does it feel to finally be caught, you little storm rat?" he snarled. "Looks like youve go nowhere to go. No more dodging or running or fleeing, no more hiding, no more waiting for him to come find you." he let out a dry cackle and turned his back to her once more. Nari's eyes widened and her eyes glosssed over with unshed tears at her plight, she didnt think theyd ever catch her.

Just then the iron door opened and a man enetered the room, accompianed by another guard. He was tall and broad and had a learing look on his face, clad in a gray suit. "Hello Nari" his voice had smooth, yet twisted sound to it. He motioned to the guard and the man stepped foward and removed Nari's gag. "..........Hello RaHone" Nari stated emotionlissly" RaHone's eyes narrowed somewhat, as if surprised by her words and said: "im sure you knw why iv brought you here Miss Loreil" "Oh no, not at all, youve just been chasing me all over kingdom come for the pass to years, depriving me of my home and wittling away my childhood and i never ever took the time to figure out who you were or what you wanted" replied Nari condescendingly. RaHone's eyes narrowed ever more, until they were little more then slits. "I am NOT going to tell you where he is you creep, so why dont you just let me go so i cant get on with my life" she added, trying to hide her fear. "Miss Loreil, he hissed: i do not think you understand the gravity of the situation, You are here, in my possesion, helpless. And if you do not tell me where your brother is, this will be most unpleasant. Will you be so defiant when you are burned, bruised or bloody? i think not. Think on this Miss Loreil, I want your brother location from you, and if you dont give it to me..you will have a rather disaterous time here."

With that he spun around and left the room, leaving his guard behind.
Nari's mind began to swim and she sat back against the wall...in an attempt to think straight.

— Day 1 —
Burg, Boriel
On a road to school

(AUTHORS NOTE) sorry for being so late on here (espicially to Shasta) family trips and what not.

Clarissa Cache pulls up to her boyfriend's house/castle like thing in her little red car. She steps out and goes around to the passenger seat. Zach always prefers to drive her, joking that hes a better driver.

"How is your dad today?" Clarissa asks.

"Hes fine" Zach replied stiffly, his knuckles tightening on the wheel. She could obviousley tell he was hiding something. His father big cooperation and all. And the fact his mother died the day he was born. Clarissa turns up the radio louder and takes one of his hads in hers. She needed badly to talk to her best friend Topaz but she had to walk to school...maybe she should call Topaz up and offer her a ride? But Topaz hates being a third wheel between Clarissa and Zach anyway.

The couple exit the car once they enter the school parking lot. Zach reaches across and again hold Clarissa's hand. All of a sudden the sky goes dark and students are screaming. Clarissa hears teachers trying to get students inside.
"Topaz! Topaz! Where are you?!" Clarissa screams as she looks around wildly for her.
"Clar! Come with me! We will find her later. Right now we need to get you safe!" Clarissa's heart melted and she followed Zach. Her faorite thing about him was that chivalry was never dead. Together they enter the school building.

Zach Hart exits his mansion to see his girlfriend sitting in her little convertable. He goes straight to the driver seat and starts the engine.

"How is your dad today?"
"Fine"

Well that was a lie. They had gotten in a fight...again. The amount of yelling sent through the house could give him headaches. But of course Zach could tell Clarissa the subject of this argument was her. His father wasn't a fan of Clarissa. Zach felt there was truly something between them. Zach's hand was taken by Clarissa's and his tenseness relaxed some. He parked the car and walked around to her door to take her hand. All of a sudden the sky turned black. Screams filled his ears including screams coming from Clarissa. He went into tense mode.

"Topaz! Topaz! Where are you?!" Clarissa screams as she looks around wildly for her.
"Clar! Come with me! We will find her later. Right now we need to get you safe!"

She follows along as they enter the cafeteria. Zach brings her into a corner and he sits her on his lap. Annoying teachers are trying to give instructions while everyone freaks out. The lights go out and everything is on complete darkness. Well....theres nothing left but to wait...

— Day 1 —
Palisade National Park
Near Parksville, Erbaine

Previously…

“So let’s have a quick lunch…and then we go through our camping gear and pick out what we need to survive. And then we can talk about what to do.”
---

“That sure hit the spot,” Dan said. “I didn’t realize how hungry I was before, with all that’s happened.”

“I’m sure everyone’s going to have their own ‘this is what I was doing when the supernova struck’ stories. And those deer dodging around Grace will make a fun story to tell her grandparents when we get back.” I wonder if they’re all right, Angie thought to herself, knowing her husband had the same worry. Their parents lived hours away from Parksville, so it was very possible they were safe and sound.

“Yeah; they keep telling us how lucky we are to have her.”

An unspoken But hung in the air, and Angie waited patiently for him to finish the thought. He quickly obliged.

“But I still feel guilty about having lunch up here while people at home may be fighting for their lives. Our friends and parents, if they’re safe, must be wondering about us.”

“At least they knew we were up here camping.”

“Yup. So what do we do now?” Dan looked up at the sky for what could have been the thousandth time since the supernova had burst into view; its afterimage had faded by now and to all appearances the trees and plants around them looked perfectly normal now. But the sun was definitely on its way toward the horizon; they wouldn’t get to town before dusk even if they left immediately. And both parents knew that hiking in the wild darkness with an eight-year-old was not an option.

Angie echoed his thoughts. “I think it’s best to spend the night here; our tent is still set up. We can’t get back to town before sunset, and there’s no quick way to find out what’s going on there.” She pulled out her cell phone, but as expected the display remained dark. Then she looked up with a smile and snapped her fingers. “You know, this campsite isn’t that remote; the main park road isn’t far away. Maybe we’ll get some news from others passing by.”

Dan recalled the teenage girl who’d run through their campsite with news about a fire in Parksville. “That might work – as long as we're careful about who we talk to.”

— Day 1 —
Burg, Boriel
On a road to school

I don't want to die... I don't want to die... The words kept ringing in Topaz's head. She could tell she was lying somewhere, and pain ran through her body. Should I take a look? Do I really want to see what's happened to me and the town I've lived in for years?

Carefully, she opened her eyes, and nearly gasped at what she saw. Everything looked like it had been affected by the strange happening. All she could do was stare in horror and the broken buildings and damaged roads. It was dark, and it seemed like all the electricity, whether from telephone poles or energy plants, had died.

The telephone pole! Topaz tried to strain her neck to get a glimpse at what had crashed into her. Although her body, her back especially, ached from the pole lying on top of her, she was thankful to realize she was in a slope that protected her from serious injuries. "Help!" she weakly moaned. "Can someone help me? I'm stuck! Please get this thing off of me!" Wait a seco, did I say all of that without stuttering once? That's odd... She tried to remember the last time she'd been able to do so, but she couldn't think of anything.

Figuring no one would answer her cries, she tried her best to push her body up from the pole. It hurt like crazy, but she kept pulling herself through until finally, she was free from it. Relieved, she flipped onto her back and took deep breaths. "I sure hope my family and Clarissa are ok! As for me, I'll strangely enough feel like I can handle any obstacle now!"

— Day 1 —
Parksville, Erbaine
Palisade National Park

"Lui, you hit your head pretty hard back there," Terra said very slowly, her words were broken with exertion—and the will for them to sink in, because while her concern was touching, Lui seemed to be out of it. "I don't think you're thinking straight."

She stalked around to the passenger side of the vehicle, feeling like her legs were about to give out, but ignoring it.

"We are in a forest surrounded by fires. Any one of those could grow into an onslaught of flames and devour this vehicle with you in it," Terra said, and then she lost her patience. "Pushing this jeep towards the compound at two miles per hour may be idiotic, but I am not leaving you here to get burned to death and save my own skin, Lui!"

Day 1-Arida-de Mon Castle Grounds

The majordomo smiled.

"I am quite sorry that we can not get to know each other better right now, it is just there are so many people around that it is necessary to do our best to protect the Lady's property. You understand I am putting an unusual amount of trust in you," the majordomo turned serious. "You see those people up by that statue? They need to go to the old stable to set up their temporary homes for the night. They need to stay in there overnight unless there is an emergency. Can you control that building? My boy Hank will be with you, if you need anything, send him to find me. They'll bring supplies to you shortly. Are you up to that?"

~~

Convent

"Oh!" Xandria's face relaxed somewhat. "Then, they should be able to fix things soon, then? I think the government would have made contingency plans for this sort of thing."

-Day 1-
Arida

"No, that's just the problem. The government wasn't really sure how big the magnitude of the disaster would be, so they didn't make any set plans. They might have been working on some, but now it's too late." Allee tapped her fingers absentmindedly on her notebook. "But we might be able to make some plans. In fact, we should. We have what, more than 20 kids to take care of tomorrow?"

-Day 1-
Capitol University
Judicia, Erbaine
During the supernova

The force of the energy wave knocked Laramie nearly off her feet. Already thrown off-balance by her lunge towards Liam, she fell backwards. Trying to regain her balance, she spotted where a couple of metal beams had fallen at an angle against a building, leaving a small space underneath.

It wasn't much, but it was shelter. Laramie pulled her backpack up over her shoulders and head for protection and dived underneath the metal beams. Catching her breath, she tried to see Liam through the sprays of glass and exploding power lines. The force of her shove would have knocked him to the ground. Was he all right? She debated making a run to where he lay, before realizing that dashing madly out into the sparks and the glass would help neither of them.

Laramie pressed her hands against the sides of her head without thinking, and then nearly jumped out of her skin at the feel of Liam's fingers on her wrist touching her head. She dropped the offending hand to her side and swallowed hard. Think. She needed to think.

Things like this never happened except in sci-fi novels. Maybe she was dreaming. If she shut her eyes and pinched herself, when she opened them again, would this nightmare come to an end? She inhaled shakily and glancing down at her hand, froze.

Her hand was back. Back as if it had never been gone. Laramie stared. She curled her own long, slightly calloused fingers into a fist and loosened them again. Dark pink nails gleamed up at her.

Laramie bit back a scream, looked up at twin suns burning in the hazy sky, and wondered if she was going crazy.

-Day 1-
Capitol University
Judicia, Erbaine
During the supernova

Liam felt defenseless as the world seemed to explode around him. He shielded his face with his hands--well, his hand and Laramie's hand--and closed his eyes, hoping to block out what was going on around him. The world itself seemed inside out. He didn't know how long he laid there, waiting for something to happen. Waiting for the chaos to stop.

Suddenly, it was quiet. Liam slowly opened his eyes. The power lines had stopped exploding and instead hung limp, dangling in the wind. It was eerily quiet, like a graveyard. The whole world seemed a dull shade of gray. Liam sat up, feeling like he would break the spell if he moved or said anything.

Then a thought filled his mind. Laramie. All else forgotten, he scrambled to all fours and looked around. Where was she? His eyes scanned the courtyard, searching. Finally he spotted a bit of blue cloth beneath a pile of metal beams. He crawled over, his eyes searching the darkness. "Laramie?" he whispered.

-Day 1-
Arenico, Diabolis
Downtown, In A Government Building
Previous Post

For a moment, Gideon and the Chief of Police just stared at each other in disbelief. Then the latter said, "You've crossed the line, boys."

Gideon, still trying to mentally map out an escape plan, replied, "And what line might that be?"

The Chief's face flushed until it took on a purple hue. Edwin took a step back. Gideon couldn't blame him - he had never seen the Chief this furious before.

"I trusted you!" the man roared. "For years I'd dealt with you renegades stealing food, pickpocketing purses, taking shelter in peoples' apartments. All this time, I've been trying to turn a blind eye because I believed you kids were only doing this to survive. I didn't want to arrest you and put you in with the rest of the scum I deal with on these streets. I never believed you would actually hurt anyone! But I see now I was wrong!"

Gideon felt his face go blank. "What?"

"Don't play dumb with me, kid! I knew you were trouble, but starting a fire in a place where many lives are-"

"What?! You don't honestly think that Edwin and I started -"

"I know you started it! You've got the evidence right there in your hand!" He pointed to Edwin, who looked, baffled, at the lighter in his hand - the one he had used to light the way through the darkened halls.

Edwin shook his head. "But sir, I didn't - I would never..." His voice squeaked with fright.

The Chief shooks his head. "You're going to have to come with me."

Gideon shook his head and stepped protectively in front of Edwin. Having borne witness to this city's active crime life, he knew all too well the punishments for crimes committed within its borders, punishments intended to shock criminals into thinking twice about their actions.

The penalty for arson was fifty years' imprisonment in one of the worst jails in the country.

If that arson resulted in murder, the penalty was death.

Supernova
— Day 1 —
Parksville, Erbaine
Palisade National Park

"Terra, you need to go." Lui said, enunciating every word. She touched the back of her head and her hand came away bloody. She frowned. "Loretta is somewhere in the park. You need to find her and make sure she's okay. I need you to do this for me, despite if I'm not thinking straight. That's all the more reason for you to go before I lose it completely. When I have the strength, I will walk to my cabin."

Lui slid out of the vehicle and used the mirror to support her as she swayed on her feet. Something was happening to her, but she didn't know what. Her muscles felt like jelly, her head pounded and she felt dizzy. Tundra jumped down after her, ears perked up as she listened to the changing tones in Lui's voice.

"Go now, Terra." Lui demanded, her voice low, but forceful.

Tundra growled deeply as she sniffed the air in Terra's direction. The fur on her neck stood up and she let out a snapping bark.