Part 2 Dialoge

CHOIR

Your name from hence immortal life shall have,
Though I, once gone, to all the world must die:        
The earth can yield me but a common grave,        
When you entombed in men's eyes shall lie.
Sonnet LXXXI, William Shakespeare

"Wait a second!   Hey!   Where are you going?"   cried out Lars.   His boots stomped over the shards of broken glass from the blown out window.     Each piece was diamond in the glow of the sun.

"I'm sorry!" a feminine voice shrilled out as threadbare brown robes whirled around the corner and out of view.   Lars jerked his head to look to and for before he jolted down the block in pursuit.

It was a cold day in Albrook.   The Grand Army soldier grunted as he turned the corner only to see no one.     He gave a heavy sigh before pulling out his pistol and slowly making his way down the street.

It was nearly empty now, which seemed almost strange.     The sidewalks only weeks before were crowded with the bodies of the Esperians going and coming from Spekkio knows where.     He walked beside them all and listened to the pointless chatter they made with each other.     He nearly punched one in the face when the little punk called him a wimp for not being on the frontlines.

He was there now, alone and freezing.   It would only be hours before the area would be completely occupied by the Omniscient at the rate they were breaking through the lines, as he was told.     Somewhere only miles away hundreds of thousands of people were fighting each other.   Yet the air was strangely silent.

"Hey woman!     You gotta come with me!   I don't know where you are at, but listen!   I was told to make sure everyone as cleared out of here!   This place will probably be crawling with stinking Tanes any second now!"

He stood there at the street corner.   The man tucked a lock of thick brown hair back under his helmet as he looked down the streets.   Traffic lights ordered non-existent cars to stop and go.   For a moment Lars stood and watched the light change from red to blue.

"Miss, the last monorails out of here leaves in like," the grand Army soldier looked at the clock at the top of the traffic pole, "Twenty minutes!   Come on!" he called out once more.   In the stillness of the city the ruffling of bushes by an apartment complex caught his year.     He turned around sharply.

"How fast do they go?   Those Ômonorails'?" asked a feminine voice from the bushes.   The man slowly lowered his gun as he stepped closer to the foliage.   He couldn't help but smile at the thin frame of a woman that filtered through the leaves.

"You're not from around here, are you lady?" asked the man as he held out a hand to her.   The woman gently rose from behind the bush.   Her eyes were dark and empty, but her peach colored lips parted slightly in a timid pout.

"They can get you from here to the port in less then twenty minutes.     That's' were we're gonna go, because all civilians are to be evacuated to the docks where they will be taken the hell out of here," explained Lars.     The woman looked at him almost blankly that the soldier had to wonder if she had even understood him.

"I shall go with you," spoke the woman as she stepped around the bushes.   Lars nodded.

"What's your name miss?" he asked her as he stepped back onto the sidewalk.   The soldier watched as her lips thinned when he asked the question.

"Meshellea-nu."

"Can I call you Michelle?"

"Yes."

"Its good to meet you Michelle, I'm Lars,   now follow me," he muttered.    

The man raised his pistol as he began to march down the street.   As he walked his eyes darted back at the woman, who in turn was looking around as if stunned by the buildings.   Their eyes met a few times.   Lars darted his eyes quickly away and turned to look down the long line of cement and pavement.

"Why didn't you leave when the civilian call out was made?     Most of this city is already deserted," asked the GA soldier.

"I'm not a civilian," she explained.

"Then what are you?"

"I'm a Tane," she explained.   Lars turned around.   Almost at once his arm extended to point the gun at the woman, his eyes flushed red to a near bloodshot.

"What is that?   Some kind of sick joke?   Is this a trap?   Explain yourself!" he yelled out.   For some reason his hand began to tremble.   He looked at the woman in confusion but only found him lost along side of her within her eyes.

"IÉ I don't know what to say.   I'm sorry.   I just want to go home," she muttered in a near whisper.     She slowly stepped forward toward the Grand Army soldier.   Lars stiffed his jittery grip on the small silver weapon.   He stepped back.

"NoÉ" Michelle muttered.   The woman closed her eyes as she stepped closer.   The man pointed the gun to her bosom and tightened his trigger finger.     A tear fell from her eye as she let her body fall towards the soldier.

He fired.   The shot hit nothing but the mixture of stones in the cement they stood on.   The weapon fell to the sidewalk as he took hold of her in his brawny arms.   Her thick hood folded off of her head and revealed thick tufts of raven black hair.     It was only then that he noticed that the Tane was physically weak and exhausted.     Michelle began to cry.

"I'm sorry," she muttered as she tried to stand up.   She whipped her tears away on her torn sleeve.   Lars shook his head.

"It must be hard," he muttered as he held her by the shoulders, "to be in this land that you have never seen before.   I kind of understand, I'm not form here either.     I'm from a place called Porre," he told the exhausted woman with a smile.   She smiled faintly in return.

"Look," he muttered as she looked into her dark eyesÑhe winced as he looked into then, there was something about them that seem intoxicating, "I'll personally make sure you're safe, ok?   All my men have always been shipped off, and I'm to report to the docks anyway.   Does that sound good?"

She woman's eyes seem to glitter with something deep inside of her, but then she turned away and frowned.

"I wish you weren't here, I don't want to see you hurt," she muttered.   Her hands reached up to his gloved wrists and squeezed them tightly.   He let go.

"IÉ   let's go," he explained.     He crouched and retrieved the small silver pistol.   He adjusted his white and gold uniform before marching back down the street.

"Its too quiet," he muttered as he held his gun tightly as the walked.   Every so often he felt the woman's fingertips touch the middle of his back.   The small unintentional presses projected a sense of fear and trust like how a little girl trusted her father on a cold stormy night.

"I can't stand the silence, do me a favor Michelle, tell me something." he ordered in a strong voice that sounded like an officer.   The woman nodded.

"What do you want to know?" she asked in return.   Lars shrugged.

"Anything.   Maybe something about yourself," he asked.   The Tane smiled slightly but the grin was lost to the soldier's back.

For the next three blocks, Lars learned more about the land of magic and dreams known as Aryth then anyone outside of it had ever known.     Michelle talked about a land where people didn't use guns, where they could throw fire and create invisible walls with pill alone.        

He learned of a contentment dividedÑabout one side being a place full of bounty were those capable of the abilities to use such powers strived to understand the secrets of the universe.     He learned about the other side separated by mountains where those with such abilities were literally leashed and their powers stifled and controlled.

And, amidst it all there was a woman named Mishella-Nu.     "Éafter the leash was shot at, I scrambled away from his body and made my way here.   That's where you found me,"   the woman explained as her hand raced though her raven back hair.  

Lars paused for a moment at a street corner as the attempted to get his bearings.     The man pulled out a small compass and tapped his helmet.     His scalp itching, he took off his helmet and placed it on Michelle's head.

"Now that looks silly," he muttered as he looked at the woman.   The large metal crown covered her head and hid her eyes.   His smile turned to a frown.

"You seem soÉ broken," he muttered.   The woman stood next too him, still refusing the fix the helmet like a doll which had no choice.     He lifted it off.

""I'm sorry," she muttered.     Lars smiled.

"It's alright.   We're almost there, see?" he explained as he pointed at the large strip of rail that rose above the ground only blocks away.     Almost as if one cue, a single stream of yellow sung on the horizon.   Seconds later the sky was filled with a choir of lights and explosions.

"Oh noÉ" he muttered.   Mishella-Nu began to scream.   She covered her years to mute the loud thunderous songs that the choir sang.   Lars pressed his helmet down onto his head tightly while shielding the woman's body.   Like raindrops the explosions splashed and landed on the surrounding houses.        

It was almost surreal when a shard of wreckage crashed against the lamp pole across the street and knocked it over.   The blue glow of the traffic light flashed red before shutting off completely.

Then silence.     Lars looked around for signs of battleÑrival troops, his own GA brethrenÑbut there was nothing.     Michelle stopped yelling.

"That was an orbital bombardment.   Damn.     That's really odd, a real orbital bombardment would have flatten this area.   I don't know what's going on Michelle, but it isn't good.   Oh no!" his eyes bulged before he began to race down the street to the rail.   The Tane followed in toe like a lost puppy.

He found himself racing up to the top of a set of brick steps.   Hopping over the terminal gate, the soldier ran to the front of the tracks.     His hands pressed into a pair of fists.   He heaved a heavy breath before slouching and looking down at the rails.

"The lines are dead Michelle.   The thing won't work now," he explained.   Meshella-Nu shook her head.

"No.     No!     No!   We have to get out of here!   Me must!   We must!" he cried out.   Lars turned to face the woman and held his shoulders to calm her down.   The woman pushed him away and wrapper face with her hands.

"Don't worry.   Ok?   Listen, we can still get out of here, there's a lot of cars around.     I'll just commandeer one ok?   I think I know the way the port.   Trust me.   JustÉ stop flipping out on me, ok?"

The woman nodded.   Lars reached out to hold her but she pushed him away.   He stared at her in her threadbare garments.   Albrook was silent.

"Put this on, I don't want you to be hurt," muttered the soldier.   As he unstrapped his helmet once more.     He placed it on her head and made sure it was a snug fit.     He jiggled it slightly to try and make the woman laugh.   The Tane smiled slightly, but looking into her eyes they seems as dark and empty as before.

"I wish I never met you," she muttered.   Lars looked at her thin face and lips.   They pounded slightly.

"Don't worry, I'll keep you safe," he tried to reassure her.     She nodded.   The Grand Army soldier began to walk down the steps of the terminal.   Michelle followed.

"I don't understand this, Celiose Cole would never do something like that to his own city.     I mean, this is Albrook, the Headquarters of the Grand Army itself!" he explained to the women under the helmet.     Meshella-Nu nodded.

"I was thinking, after I get you to the port, they'll probably interrogate you and I'll never see you again," he explained. Meshella-Nu nodded.

"So I was thinking, maybe you don't tell them you're a tane, hmm?   Don't worry, I'll keep tabs on you.     I'll take care of you.   Are you hungry?   Maybe we can get some dinner later.   Sound good?"   the soldier asked. Meshella-Nu nodded.

"Good.   Stop nodding," he instructed.     The woman stopped.   As they walked down the deserted streets the cam came across a motorized biped.   Lars ginned.   The keys were still sitting on the leather seat.

"This'll do.   Where I'm from they have things like this that hover, and I used to ride mine all the time.       This should get us there real quick.     Just don't worry, ok?"

"Ok," he hopped on the motorcycle and turned his on, continuing the grin.   The man patted the side behind him.

"Sit here," he instructed.   The woman sat down, tugging his garbs around her thighs.

"Ok, no wrap your arms around me and hold on.   This is going to be really fast," he explained.   He pulled into the empty street and put on the gas.     With a hard jolt from the bike the woman clenched onto the man's sturdy chest tightly.     She wouldn't loosen her grip to the man's body.

"You ever ate a hamburger?   I don't think you have.   I'll buy you one.   Would you like that?" he yelled back to Michelle.   The woman didn't respond. And squeezed him tighter.   The wind blew across his face and tossed his brown hair into the sky.     His blue eyes follow the white lines down the road.

Once again from the holes in the heavens, the choir began to sing.     Meshellea-Nu turned her head to see the long streamers of bright light attack an invisible done, only bounce off and taper towards them.  

The roar of the engine stiffened any sound of crashing windows and flying debris.   This time very few objects flew in their direction.   Meshellea-Nu began to whimper as the songs began to fade.   The second bombardment was her swan songÑshe knew it.

"So, you can do that magic hocus pocus?   That's with the treads and stuff, right?   I read the briefings.   What thread do you specialize in?" asked Lars.   He slowed the motorcycle down as he paused to read a street sign.

"Fate," she explained.     Lars scratched his head.   He turned to look back from the way they came, oblivious to the second bombardment that had fallen.

"You know what?     I think this street winded back too much when it turned East.     Hold on and sec and let me think.     Fate huh?   What do you see for us?"

"Unity.   Togetherness.   ThenÉ death," she explained cryptically.

"Ok, don't worryÉ I think I got this figured out now.     I need to go east a few more blocks before we can go down to the docks.     We're like on the tip of the Neueburg district right now.     They have some really good clothing stores there.   When this is over, I'll take you to get some good clothes ok?"

"I wish I never met you," she muttered while holding the man tightly.   Lars shook his head.

"You're so confusing," he muttered under his breath, he looked up to the sky.   It was a little overcast.

"TogethernessÉ then death?"   he asked with a curious solemn voice.   She nodded.

"I'm so sorry," he muttered.     The GA soldier could feel her bosom tremble.       He closed his eyes for a moment and let his fears sweet over him for a moment.     He sighed.   The air was thin and silent in the vacant city.
"I meanÉ are you sure?   You're not trying to freak me out, because you don't like me, right?     I know I act a bit like a kid sometimes but that's because youÉ"

"I'm sure Lars.   Thank you. This is why I regret meeting you.   I didn't want you to follow my fate."

"How soon?   You mean years?   Months?   Days?"

"Very soon."

"From the start then, you knew.   That's why you ran," he muttered.     He sat on the motorcycle dumbfounded.   How did she know?     Why did she know?   He stared at the empty intersection.     The lights were still dark and unlit.   The clock read five minutes until noon.

"Can I kiss you?"   he asked abruptly, turning his head.     He could see the woman nod slightly.   The soldier slowly pulled himself off of the motorcycle.   Meshellea-Nu's arms lingered on his back and hips.

He helped her off the motorcycle.   They stood in the middle of the intersection of Parkway Street and Landburg Avenue.     It concept that somewhere close an army marched onward toward the city seemed to be lost him now.

Lars pulled off the helmet he had placed on the Tane.   He ran his fingers though her long black hair.   The raven black hair glistened in the sunlight.   Michelle smiled.     The grand army solder wrapped his brawny arms around the woman and looked deep into her dark empty eyes.

He felt his lips meet with the woman's thin peach smile.       He knew that his tongue was tracing over the woman's teeth.   It was a sensation that he had desired since he had looked into her eyes.

He remembered seeing a sparkle or something in her eyes before.   The GA soldier wanted to see her eyes again.   He slowly pulled away.     He looked into the emptiness, hoping to find that spark or something hidden deep within them.

Lost in his search, the sparkle came almost instantly.   In the browns and black there was a small reflection of blue.     He watched the reflection grew brighter, and then suddenly everything began engulfed and evaporated into a heavenly orchestrated chorus of   bright blue light.

Part 3 Dialoge

Junk

[No quote today.]

"You sitting there thinking about shit again Jones?" muttered Johnson as he popped open a red mog.   He took a long sip before sitting in the shade of the pile of metal, wires, and grease.   He tossed off his white leather uniform jacket and hanged it on a gun turret.

The sun shined nicely as the day was slowly moving towards the afternoon.   The two men sat there on side of a hill in a land they had never seen before contemplating things that changed destines of all people in the web of worlds.     As the wind blew over the long thin blades of grass and wild wheat, the two gentlemen relaxed and let it all soak in.   The definition of what Ôit' was in essence was disputed over within their minds.   The amount of color, heat, and smell of the air was hard to measure as it all blended in on those hot early autumn days.

"Just the happy thoughts, Johnson, just the happy thoughts," he explained.     The man uprooted a blade of wheat from the ground and cut the tip with his fingernails.     He stuck it on the edge of his lips.

"And what happy thoughts are ya thinkin' about today?" asked Johnson as she traced his hands though his dirty blonde hair.       The soldier rubbed the scar on his chin.     Jones ginned.     It was funny to see how the comrade in arms always traced his fingers over his car whenever he was about to think of something philosophical.

"Oh, actually about you.     How you have everything together.     Wife, kid, a little place in Southtown.     That's real sweet. Like a dream."

"Well, Southtown is getting to be a little run down these days.   We may move when this is all over, it may be a pretty hard place to raise a kid in a few years."

"Then you should come with me.     I'm thinking of starting a business," he explained.   The wind blew harshly.   The large edifice of metal began to way back and forth and small broken shards of iron clank together like a wind chime.   The air brought with it the smell of some honey-baked bread from the nearby fortifications.   By days end the thick walls will have tumbled and the bakery set ablaze.

"You?   I don't think you have the head for it.   That's like theft, especially back in Tasnica." Muttered the man with the dirty blonde hair.   Jones looked up to the large vapors in the sky like tumbling about like glaciers in a sea of icy blue.   Above them in a distance that would take both men days to walk the clouds trailed off into unknown lands beyond the horizon.

"Have I ever told you why I joined REF, and then the Grand Army Johnson?" asked the soldier to his friend as he chewed the end of the wheat.     Johnson shook his head.

"When I was little, my mom always told me that I could do anything with my life because there was so many people what I did didn't make much difference in the big picture."

The shards of metal flickered and clanked together haphazardly.   Johnson turned his gray eyes to look at the battle armor that stood only a few feet taller then both men's heights combined.   It was a rather base looking thing with rust on the edges of the steel plating.

ÔBut steel don't rust," muttered Jones as he traced Johnson's' view.   The soldier scratched his chin.

"Funny little buggers.     These MSiege machines were supposed to be the top line of technology.   They look like ugly tin cans with pea shooters strapped on," poked Johnshon.   Jones slide down on the knoll and covered his face with this cap.

"You should see the things they're coming up with in other places.   Real robotics. They got things made of metal and almost look human," he explained.

"Yeah?   No shit.   I'd like to drive around in one of those," he muttered.     Jones grinned to himself in a dogged manner.

"Drive?   Try fly."

"Yeah?   No kidding?"

"Well, I think it's possible.   I have a few ideas I want to try," he explained.   His eyes looked from under the lip of his cap to the long expanse of emerald and golden grains.   For a moment the air breathed heavily across the prairie, and Jones could do little more then close his eyes and sigh.

"Like what?"

"LikeÉ wings.   I want to give this robot wings."

Johnson turned again and looked at the cylinder covered in bolts.   He whirled the gun arm to hear it whistle from the air.   He took a thick sip of his Red Mog.   He tried to picture it with eagle wings.

"I was told the other day that they were thinking of making these the best toy of the Army, but instead they went with the tank.   Do you know why Jones?"

"Why?"

"Because the tank promotes teamwork.   It is right there next to the grunt who is charging forward with his neddlegun in hand.   Everyone knows what the tank is. It's something to unify the army with."

Jones didn't seem to care of hear as she folded his leg across his kneed and appear to nap on the side of the hill.   A set of birds swarmed the sky and in unison turned around and flew toward the cent of honey.   Johnshon shook his head.     He reached for his jacket and pulled out a small trinket from his pocket.

"Wings like these?" he asked as he pulled out a small model.   It was of a flying machine from Carrion.   They called it an airplane.

"You make that John?" asked the soldier as he reached out to hold the small model.     The man nodded.

"Yeah.   My kid has a thing for models.     Fara keeps writing that he wants to fly one.     They boy wants to go out in space.   Isn't that rich?"

Jones twirled the propeller of the small airplane.   He began to read the label on the can that it was made out of.     He reached out and handed it back to his friend.

" Nice.   Space, huh?     It sounds like something you'd want to do.   You're crazy like that."

He placed the toy back into his white jacket before sitting back down with his drink.   "You're the one who wants the start that company.     Do you know what you're gonna make?   Or is it going to be those pieces of junk with wings?"

"I have ideas.   There is this son of a farmer who started this company, Kuwat.   I was talking to him once and he said all that you really needed was to be determined and have a dream.     I have lots of dreams."

"Name one."

"To be able to go home."

"Good call."

Jones sat up.   He placed his cap on his lap folded his arms to hunch over.       He chewed on the wheat stock as he watched the grass grow.   Cicadas and crickets and even some gladiator bugs   (they had a good number of those in Crystal for some reason) hopped and crawled about with little care in the world.   How sweet it had to be not to care like the insects.   Jones looked up into the sky.     The clouds were rolling and crashing together like waves in a tide pool.       He sighed.

"If I eventually did make one of these things with wings, would you pilot one?" he asked looked partly back at the oversized wind chime.   Jonshon laughed.

"Shit no.   Get my kid to do it.     I can't stand heights," he explained.   Jones grinned.

"What's your kid's name?"

"I can never say it right.   Fara asked a friend who was a nun for some strange Light sect.   Adel, or Abel, or something.     I just call him Abe."

"Abdiel?"

"Yeah!   How'd you know?" asked Johnson as he finished off the liquor in the red glass bottle.     He tossed it aside and watched it roll down the grassy hill.

"Its from a famous character in a poem.   It was the only angel to stay faithful to God."

" Faithful, huh?   I guess that works," he muttered.   The sunlight flickered off the red glass and shimmered.   Jones eyes became fixated on the flickering red light.  

"I'd like you to do it, but if you can't do it, then he'll do it.   I'll make sure of it," spoke Jones.   He watched as the last drops of liquid in eh red bottle seemed to rock about inside like ink that could not settle.

The afternoon was beginning to wear down, and the two men rested on the side of the hill.   Their faces faded into tired masks.   As the warm hair blew across their cheeks their faces remained expressionless.

The large metal armor stood at the head of both men, looking over them like a bonze statue in a park center.     Two birds from the previous flock swooped down and landed on its shoulders.

"Jones, I know I don't got to say this, but I wanna make sure.   If I don't make it after this battle, I want you to make sure fare and the kids are treated good.   I mean, don't be like all mushy and give them money and crap.     Just make sure they stay out of trouble."

"You're right, you didn't have to ask.     Having a premonition?"

"Maybe.   I dunno.     I don't wanna think about it anymore."

"Gothca," whispered Jones as he rested there.       The sweet smell of the afternoon meal seeped into his nostrils and baked with the head of the sun on his skin.     Jones looked back slightly to see the two birds fluttered their wings as they sat on the edge of the machine.

"Mom was wrong though.   All I ever wanted was to help people.   Just a little help goes a long wayÑI've seen that.   That's why I'm here Johnson, that's why I'm here."