Magnetic Anomaly
Weaver of Tales
Inner Sanctum Nobility
Long before the collapse of natural order and the peak of the technological revolution, in a mysterious land teeming with creatures and spirits untouched by civilization, an airship transporting perilous cargo flew through the heavens. This was no ordinary airship, nay, this was a pirate ship. They were freebooters, buccaneers, and raiders alike...the scallywags of the skies. The Tainted Thunder would normally prey upon cargo ships and other transports, the occasional diplomatic vessel, and from time to time they'd encounter privateers whom had received bureaucratic backing via royal decree to put an end to them. Obviously, no such luck had befallen any privateer as of yet, and despite the Tainted Thunder crew's customary raiding, sacking and pilfering; their merciless and lawless savagery, a staple of their attacks always ensured someone lived to relay their words. This boastful and prideful signature of theirs, showcasing their tendency to escape any lawful justice unscathed, even going as far as to taunt entire governments that would stop at nothing to see them fall from the sky, ultimately led them to their most profitable venture yet. It required no plundering or murder; no deception or acts of terror, no...it was a much simpler task. The Tainted Thunder was commissioned by one of the governments that had hitherto hunted them across the globe to transport the cargo they carried, and in doing so would not only be pardoned for every crime ever committed, but granted land, the means to maintain it, and enough coin to spend the remainder of their lives comfortably. Some cargo.
A young deckhand aboard the Tainted Thunder leaned on the railing at the stern of the ship, his mop and bucket also leaning lazily beside him, as he gazed out astonishingly from the aft of the ship. The Tainted Thunder left arcane vortices in its wake that slowly dissipated and rained down upon the land far below. Clouds seemed to bend around the craft as it flew, parting right before the bow made impact and then disintegrating within the trailing vortices. The boy could feel the splash of mist as the clouds came crashing together at the rear before vanishing. He laughed gleefully, wearing his smile wide upon his face as he threw his hands into the air and cheered, his celebratory cries muted by the ship carving its path through jet streams. He looked up and squinted, shading his eyes against the sunlight, and spotted winged creatures in the distance far above them, and had never felt happier in the disadvantaged life he'd lived up until then...dragons! Real life dragons! They paid them no heed however, for dragons were incredibly intelligent and social beings, and they understood that this particular ship, the one known as Tainted Thunder, had never once took up arms against their kind. To do so would be a special kind of suicide, but besides that, the boy had heard rumors that Captain Astraeal had gone to a dragon's aid in his youth, forever forging an understanding and respect with the serpentine species. He waved at them, but whether the majestic creatures noticed or not, there was no response.
The boy looked starboard and port side, and nothing but an infinite stretch of open sky greeted him. When he looked down he saw nothing but the canopies of trees, the uncharted spirit wilds where no man brave enough to enter had ever returned. Civilization existed in pockets all around the world, thriving peacefully beside the mystical wilds that claimed the majority of the planet. Stories from a bygone era, told primarily by word of mouth for hundreds of years before modern storytellers began documenting them, each differing in their own unique ways, warned humanity about a time in the distant past where they had aspired to conquer all of the land. Even with industrialized tools, weapons, and even armies at their disposal, the stories all mention the very near extinction of men. Their hubris led them to war against the planet itself, for the spirits and creatures of the wilds are said to be the planet's own children, or that they and the planet are one and the same, depending on which story one listened to. Modern civilization understood the balance that must exist between humanity and the wilds, and the stories teach them to respect and fear them. Some are predisposed to challenge this normal of course, organizing and leading rebellious groups hellbent on proving such stories as fables, into the wilds never to return or be heard from again. Those stories are also well known and documented, serving as further warnings against such foolish aspirations. Still, there are some who venture into the wilds with peaceful intentions, a search for enlightenment...to join the spirits and become one with the planet themselves. Their successes and/or failures, due to the very nature of their motivations, would forever loom over humanity as a mystery.
"Aye!" A large burly man yelled at the boy. "Quit yer daydreaming and get back ter work!"
The boy stiffened up when he heard the man snap at him, and then fumbled to retrieve his mop. "Y-yes sir!" He replied.
The man eyed him with annoyance and a look upon his face that told the boy he had erred. The boy felt his heart pounding in his chest, barely managing to keep his hands from visibly trembling. The man leaned in. "I ain't no sir...get back ter work!" He walked away laughing, clearly amused at the terror he'd induced within the deckhand.
After what seemed like hours, the boy headed into the bowels of the ship to return the mop and bucket to a janitorial closet. As he was headed back the way he'd come to return to the cabin where the berthing compartments as well as the crew's communal area and lounge resided, he heard a strange noise. He looked around to ask if anyone else had heard it, but the rest of the crew was above deck, so her mustered the courage to investigate the sound himself. Letting his ears be his guide, the young deckhand wound his way deeper into the bowels of the ship until he came upon the cargo hold, the noise growing slightly louder as he navigated his way through the Tainted Thunder. His heart stopped in his chest and he held his breath as he came upon a door with a fog rolling out from beneath. A humming sound, accompanied by the occasional guttural cry of some creature, could be heard coming from behind the door.
Too young to understand this was the moment to report the strange finding to an adult, anyone really, he found his resolve and bolstered the nerve to push the portal open. The fog caked the floor inside the room, which appeared to be the brig, and inside the brig was a strange looking cage. The cell, much like the ship's propulsion, seemed to be a fusion of technology and the arcane, magical restraints showering down from its ceiling upon the most terrifying thing the boy had ever laid his eyes on.
It was some sort of quadruped demon! It was slightly larger than one of the apex felines he'd seen in books back home. Its black oily flesh seemed to leak wisps of shadows. Long tendrils protruded from its front shoulder blades, waving around impatiently, a long, barbed tail that ended with something resembling the toothed pod of a carnivorous plant whose name was escaping him just then. The pod pulsated, a crease appearing ever so slightly around its circumference as the creature inhaled and exhaled, revealing sharp teeth-like extremities hiding behind the opening he knew was there. Rows of bone-like ridges ran up its face, growing in size as they continued down its back, seemingly becoming the barbs along its tail. Horns jutted from the sides of its head, which was half covered by some sort of exoskeleton, rows of glowing eyes, varying in size, beside the bone-like ridges. Its legs were muscular and its feet were shaped strangely, as if they were also hands. It wasn't until the boy noticed the rows upon rows of razor sharp fangs within its massive maw, that he realized the fog was coming from its mouth. The creature's rows of eyes were locked onto him...he had its full attention, and there seemed to be intelligence behind those malicious eyes. He felt his curiosity swell inside him.
In front of the magical cage sat a man wrapped in as much darkness as the monstrous beast. He noticed the man's glowing green stare, the inhuman eyes looking right at him, and gasped.
"Is it the Erybai that scares you child?" The man asked with a cold emotionless voice. "Or is it me?"
The young deckhand didn't know how to respond. They both frightened him, for they both radiated a sense of dread...there was nothing natural about either of them...but it was caged, and the man seemed to be guarding it. He wasn't sure if he was scared per se. "W-what's an Erybai?" He asked.
"Come closer." The man replied. "It can't hurt you, see?" He held up his hand and clenched his fingers into a fist. The magical restraints tightened around the Erybai, squeezing until it stopped swaying...until it stopped moving entirely...just stared down the boy, patiently. The boy approached against his better judgement, the creature's eyes following him as he did so, until he was only a couple feet away from the man and surrounded by the unnatural fog. "See its tail?" He asked, and the boy nodded. "That bulb can open up like a second mouth, and its clamp is like a vice grip. Inside the bulb are retractable quills that produce an acidic toxin that can dissolve your flesh." The boy's eyes filled with awe and trepidation. "The spines along its back are as tough as steel. Those tendrils act as additional eyes and limbs, and emit sound waves at frequencies humans can't hear. They can cause confusion, nausea, disorientation, and sometimes induce hallucinations, depending on the subject." The boy gulped. "Each of its eyes can see in a different spectrum, its sense of smell rivals that of the most competent dire wolves, and it can open its jaws nearly ninety degrees."
"Whoa..." The boy gasped, his eyes full of wonder and apprehension. The Erybai just lied still, its unblinking eyes latched to the boy. "Why is it looking at me like that?"
"Erybai are creatures of chaos and darkness." The man explained. "They are not of this world. There are layers to reality, and your primitive brain is only capable of perceiving this one. The Erybai is of the Void. It is a place of darkness so absolute, so wholly malevolent, that the very fabric of the realm spews corruption and decay. Aberrations like this Erybai are spawned from the Void itself to spread its corruption however it may. It is looking at you like that because you are undoubtedly the most innocent thing aboard this vessel." The man's words lacked any empathy, his voice so full of indifference that the boy wasn't sure if the darkness was coming from him or the Erybai.
"What are you? How do you know all this?" The deckhand asked.
"I am a Nullifier." He answered. "Myself, and others like me exist to resist the Void...it will never cease in its attempts to spread its decay. Its hunger for worlds like yours is endless...it knows no bounds, and will stop at nothing until it consumes everything...until all there is, is the Void..." The boy's eyes filled with utter terror. "It has consumed many worlds, but its appetite is insatiable." The boy looked at the Erybai, the creature's eyes still locked onto him in a malicious gaze, watching intently, patiently. Then he looked to the Nullifier, not sure what he was either, suddenly conscious of the fact he had never been in a more helpless predicament in his life.
A whistle broke the tension from somewhere behind the boy. "Godsdamn!" One of the pirates squealed obnoxiously. "You really need to learn to lighten up!" He said in an uplifting tone, laughter at the edges of his words. He patted the Nullifier on his shoulder and the man of darkness craned his head to look up at him with his expressionless face, glowing green eyes regarding the newcomer. The crease of his lips tightened and his eyes narrowed slightly after a moment.
"You shouldn't touch me..." The Nullifier warned.
The man raised his hands disarmingly into the air between them. "Alright, alright...don't get all dark and broody again..." He exaggerated a shiver as his body convulsed for a second. "We'll leave you to it then! Always a pleasure friend! Nice to have you onboard...you really bring a special kind of charm to the place! We'll have to exchange some stories over some sunfire peach moonshine later!" He pulled the boy from the brig and back into the cargo bay area, his hands clasped gently upon the deckhand's shoulders as he led them from the deepest depths of the ship's belly. "You know you shouldn't have been down there Smitty..."
"I know...I'm sorry Jedidiah." Smitty replied. "I was putting the mop away and heard that...Erybai thing."
Jedidiah squeezed the boy's shoulders affectionately, but assertively, and gently shoved him along. "You're lucky I was the one that found you down there." He answered, flashing Smitty a disarming smile. "Get outta here kid." He watched Smitty scurry away, relieved he found him when he did. Those two were trouble, he knew, as he stopped and looked back toward the brig in contemplation. Eventually, he made his way back above deck where he made eye contact with the first mate, a lean, mean brute that wore his older age in his complexion as opposed to his hair, as he had none. The first mate's muscles were tightly toned rubber bands, and the man's weapon of choice was his own body. He'd trained with monks deep in the Jaded Torre Mountains for years, the only thing any of the crew really knew about him other than the fact he was terrifyingly ruthless.
"Jed!" He called to him. "I need you--"
His orders were cut off however, as the ship quickly lurched starboard, throwing a few pirates to the deck. The normal comforting sound of the Tainted Thunder was replaced by an even louder one, a sound that came from somewhere else entirely. Jedidiah ran to the edge of the airship to spot whatever was causing the disturbance, as did many others including first mate Gaeleath Novak. Jedidiah couldn't hear his orders over the sound that was now drowning out the Tainted Thunder's own. Captain Astraeal joined his crew above deck the moment an enormous militarized airship dawning the crest of Corenthia rose above the clouds. It nearly tripled the size of the Tainted Thunder, igniting a frantic shock among the pirates. They had never seen an airship so massive, and until then, didn't know such ships existed.
It all happened so fast. Jedidiah ran below deck to find Smitty, got thrown around into bulkheads as the ship got attacked. All he knew was that the boy didn't deserve this fate, but then the ship fell into a dive, and as he braced himself the bulkhead flew away from the airship leaving a gaping hole in its place. Jedidiah tried to hold on to a railing in the corridor but was ultimately sucked out the hole and into a freefall above the spirit wilds. He must've been a couple thousand or more feet above the canopies of the trees when he hit open air, the wind rushing past his face. The adrenaline caused his mind to think a thousand times faster than normal, but really, there was only one thing he could do. He pulled on a tab near his shoulders and a bunch of rounded tent-like airbrakes lifted from his suit, followed by a parachute, but the parachute was damaged and sent him twirling through the air at even greater speeds. His only chance now was to cut himself loose from the failed chute, and the forest was racing toward him from below.
When he awoke he found himself entangled in a swarm of vines hanging from the tallest trees he'd ever laid his eyes upon. He pulled a knife from a sheath on his ankle and cut himself loose, dropping a dozen feet or so to the bed of the forest. It was considerably darker beneath the canopies and he couldn't see very well, but his eyes were slowly adjusting. The smell of smoke was unmistakable however, and so he followed his nose, stumbling his way through the spirit wilds until he came upon a body. He rolled them over only to see the Nullifier staring back at him with his glowing green eyes.
"The Erybai..." The Nullifier stammered. He craned his neck to look toward his abdomen. A large jagged piece of debris had impaled him through the gut, black fluid was dripping from his lips. "You have to..."
Jedidiah scoffed. "Oh no," Jedidiah waved his hands and laughed nervously. "Me? Really? That's your plan?" He looked around frantically. "You got the wrong guy! If you're putting your faith in me then we're all doomed!" He laughed and continued looking around. "It's probably dead…besides, there are worse things out—"
"NO!" The Nullifier cried out. "There is nothing worse, and it must be stopped by any means necessary." The Nullifier pulled Jedidiah by his collar until their faces were only inches apart. Jedidiah couldn't swat the man's hands away, or break free...the dark warrior's strength was uncanny...impossible even. "Left unchecked...the...Erybai will spread corruption...the forest so...pure...will decay and the Void will...spread until it claims this world. You must stop it...this...vessel has expired...I cannot--" The strength fled from the Nullifier's grasp and Jedidiah nearly flew backwards but caught himself. He watched as the corpse seemed to deflate and the green glow in its eyes evaporate into the air, dissipating as it slowly rose until nothing was left.
A young deckhand aboard the Tainted Thunder leaned on the railing at the stern of the ship, his mop and bucket also leaning lazily beside him, as he gazed out astonishingly from the aft of the ship. The Tainted Thunder left arcane vortices in its wake that slowly dissipated and rained down upon the land far below. Clouds seemed to bend around the craft as it flew, parting right before the bow made impact and then disintegrating within the trailing vortices. The boy could feel the splash of mist as the clouds came crashing together at the rear before vanishing. He laughed gleefully, wearing his smile wide upon his face as he threw his hands into the air and cheered, his celebratory cries muted by the ship carving its path through jet streams. He looked up and squinted, shading his eyes against the sunlight, and spotted winged creatures in the distance far above them, and had never felt happier in the disadvantaged life he'd lived up until then...dragons! Real life dragons! They paid them no heed however, for dragons were incredibly intelligent and social beings, and they understood that this particular ship, the one known as Tainted Thunder, had never once took up arms against their kind. To do so would be a special kind of suicide, but besides that, the boy had heard rumors that Captain Astraeal had gone to a dragon's aid in his youth, forever forging an understanding and respect with the serpentine species. He waved at them, but whether the majestic creatures noticed or not, there was no response.
The boy looked starboard and port side, and nothing but an infinite stretch of open sky greeted him. When he looked down he saw nothing but the canopies of trees, the uncharted spirit wilds where no man brave enough to enter had ever returned. Civilization existed in pockets all around the world, thriving peacefully beside the mystical wilds that claimed the majority of the planet. Stories from a bygone era, told primarily by word of mouth for hundreds of years before modern storytellers began documenting them, each differing in their own unique ways, warned humanity about a time in the distant past where they had aspired to conquer all of the land. Even with industrialized tools, weapons, and even armies at their disposal, the stories all mention the very near extinction of men. Their hubris led them to war against the planet itself, for the spirits and creatures of the wilds are said to be the planet's own children, or that they and the planet are one and the same, depending on which story one listened to. Modern civilization understood the balance that must exist between humanity and the wilds, and the stories teach them to respect and fear them. Some are predisposed to challenge this normal of course, organizing and leading rebellious groups hellbent on proving such stories as fables, into the wilds never to return or be heard from again. Those stories are also well known and documented, serving as further warnings against such foolish aspirations. Still, there are some who venture into the wilds with peaceful intentions, a search for enlightenment...to join the spirits and become one with the planet themselves. Their successes and/or failures, due to the very nature of their motivations, would forever loom over humanity as a mystery.
"Aye!" A large burly man yelled at the boy. "Quit yer daydreaming and get back ter work!"
The boy stiffened up when he heard the man snap at him, and then fumbled to retrieve his mop. "Y-yes sir!" He replied.
The man eyed him with annoyance and a look upon his face that told the boy he had erred. The boy felt his heart pounding in his chest, barely managing to keep his hands from visibly trembling. The man leaned in. "I ain't no sir...get back ter work!" He walked away laughing, clearly amused at the terror he'd induced within the deckhand.
After what seemed like hours, the boy headed into the bowels of the ship to return the mop and bucket to a janitorial closet. As he was headed back the way he'd come to return to the cabin where the berthing compartments as well as the crew's communal area and lounge resided, he heard a strange noise. He looked around to ask if anyone else had heard it, but the rest of the crew was above deck, so her mustered the courage to investigate the sound himself. Letting his ears be his guide, the young deckhand wound his way deeper into the bowels of the ship until he came upon the cargo hold, the noise growing slightly louder as he navigated his way through the Tainted Thunder. His heart stopped in his chest and he held his breath as he came upon a door with a fog rolling out from beneath. A humming sound, accompanied by the occasional guttural cry of some creature, could be heard coming from behind the door.
Too young to understand this was the moment to report the strange finding to an adult, anyone really, he found his resolve and bolstered the nerve to push the portal open. The fog caked the floor inside the room, which appeared to be the brig, and inside the brig was a strange looking cage. The cell, much like the ship's propulsion, seemed to be a fusion of technology and the arcane, magical restraints showering down from its ceiling upon the most terrifying thing the boy had ever laid his eyes on.
It was some sort of quadruped demon! It was slightly larger than one of the apex felines he'd seen in books back home. Its black oily flesh seemed to leak wisps of shadows. Long tendrils protruded from its front shoulder blades, waving around impatiently, a long, barbed tail that ended with something resembling the toothed pod of a carnivorous plant whose name was escaping him just then. The pod pulsated, a crease appearing ever so slightly around its circumference as the creature inhaled and exhaled, revealing sharp teeth-like extremities hiding behind the opening he knew was there. Rows of bone-like ridges ran up its face, growing in size as they continued down its back, seemingly becoming the barbs along its tail. Horns jutted from the sides of its head, which was half covered by some sort of exoskeleton, rows of glowing eyes, varying in size, beside the bone-like ridges. Its legs were muscular and its feet were shaped strangely, as if they were also hands. It wasn't until the boy noticed the rows upon rows of razor sharp fangs within its massive maw, that he realized the fog was coming from its mouth. The creature's rows of eyes were locked onto him...he had its full attention, and there seemed to be intelligence behind those malicious eyes. He felt his curiosity swell inside him.
In front of the magical cage sat a man wrapped in as much darkness as the monstrous beast. He noticed the man's glowing green stare, the inhuman eyes looking right at him, and gasped.
"Is it the Erybai that scares you child?" The man asked with a cold emotionless voice. "Or is it me?"
The young deckhand didn't know how to respond. They both frightened him, for they both radiated a sense of dread...there was nothing natural about either of them...but it was caged, and the man seemed to be guarding it. He wasn't sure if he was scared per se. "W-what's an Erybai?" He asked.
"Come closer." The man replied. "It can't hurt you, see?" He held up his hand and clenched his fingers into a fist. The magical restraints tightened around the Erybai, squeezing until it stopped swaying...until it stopped moving entirely...just stared down the boy, patiently. The boy approached against his better judgement, the creature's eyes following him as he did so, until he was only a couple feet away from the man and surrounded by the unnatural fog. "See its tail?" He asked, and the boy nodded. "That bulb can open up like a second mouth, and its clamp is like a vice grip. Inside the bulb are retractable quills that produce an acidic toxin that can dissolve your flesh." The boy's eyes filled with awe and trepidation. "The spines along its back are as tough as steel. Those tendrils act as additional eyes and limbs, and emit sound waves at frequencies humans can't hear. They can cause confusion, nausea, disorientation, and sometimes induce hallucinations, depending on the subject." The boy gulped. "Each of its eyes can see in a different spectrum, its sense of smell rivals that of the most competent dire wolves, and it can open its jaws nearly ninety degrees."
"Whoa..." The boy gasped, his eyes full of wonder and apprehension. The Erybai just lied still, its unblinking eyes latched to the boy. "Why is it looking at me like that?"
"Erybai are creatures of chaos and darkness." The man explained. "They are not of this world. There are layers to reality, and your primitive brain is only capable of perceiving this one. The Erybai is of the Void. It is a place of darkness so absolute, so wholly malevolent, that the very fabric of the realm spews corruption and decay. Aberrations like this Erybai are spawned from the Void itself to spread its corruption however it may. It is looking at you like that because you are undoubtedly the most innocent thing aboard this vessel." The man's words lacked any empathy, his voice so full of indifference that the boy wasn't sure if the darkness was coming from him or the Erybai.
"What are you? How do you know all this?" The deckhand asked.
"I am a Nullifier." He answered. "Myself, and others like me exist to resist the Void...it will never cease in its attempts to spread its decay. Its hunger for worlds like yours is endless...it knows no bounds, and will stop at nothing until it consumes everything...until all there is, is the Void..." The boy's eyes filled with utter terror. "It has consumed many worlds, but its appetite is insatiable." The boy looked at the Erybai, the creature's eyes still locked onto him in a malicious gaze, watching intently, patiently. Then he looked to the Nullifier, not sure what he was either, suddenly conscious of the fact he had never been in a more helpless predicament in his life.
A whistle broke the tension from somewhere behind the boy. "Godsdamn!" One of the pirates squealed obnoxiously. "You really need to learn to lighten up!" He said in an uplifting tone, laughter at the edges of his words. He patted the Nullifier on his shoulder and the man of darkness craned his head to look up at him with his expressionless face, glowing green eyes regarding the newcomer. The crease of his lips tightened and his eyes narrowed slightly after a moment.
"You shouldn't touch me..." The Nullifier warned.
The man raised his hands disarmingly into the air between them. "Alright, alright...don't get all dark and broody again..." He exaggerated a shiver as his body convulsed for a second. "We'll leave you to it then! Always a pleasure friend! Nice to have you onboard...you really bring a special kind of charm to the place! We'll have to exchange some stories over some sunfire peach moonshine later!" He pulled the boy from the brig and back into the cargo bay area, his hands clasped gently upon the deckhand's shoulders as he led them from the deepest depths of the ship's belly. "You know you shouldn't have been down there Smitty..."
"I know...I'm sorry Jedidiah." Smitty replied. "I was putting the mop away and heard that...Erybai thing."
Jedidiah squeezed the boy's shoulders affectionately, but assertively, and gently shoved him along. "You're lucky I was the one that found you down there." He answered, flashing Smitty a disarming smile. "Get outta here kid." He watched Smitty scurry away, relieved he found him when he did. Those two were trouble, he knew, as he stopped and looked back toward the brig in contemplation. Eventually, he made his way back above deck where he made eye contact with the first mate, a lean, mean brute that wore his older age in his complexion as opposed to his hair, as he had none. The first mate's muscles were tightly toned rubber bands, and the man's weapon of choice was his own body. He'd trained with monks deep in the Jaded Torre Mountains for years, the only thing any of the crew really knew about him other than the fact he was terrifyingly ruthless.
"Jed!" He called to him. "I need you--"
His orders were cut off however, as the ship quickly lurched starboard, throwing a few pirates to the deck. The normal comforting sound of the Tainted Thunder was replaced by an even louder one, a sound that came from somewhere else entirely. Jedidiah ran to the edge of the airship to spot whatever was causing the disturbance, as did many others including first mate Gaeleath Novak. Jedidiah couldn't hear his orders over the sound that was now drowning out the Tainted Thunder's own. Captain Astraeal joined his crew above deck the moment an enormous militarized airship dawning the crest of Corenthia rose above the clouds. It nearly tripled the size of the Tainted Thunder, igniting a frantic shock among the pirates. They had never seen an airship so massive, and until then, didn't know such ships existed.
It all happened so fast. Jedidiah ran below deck to find Smitty, got thrown around into bulkheads as the ship got attacked. All he knew was that the boy didn't deserve this fate, but then the ship fell into a dive, and as he braced himself the bulkhead flew away from the airship leaving a gaping hole in its place. Jedidiah tried to hold on to a railing in the corridor but was ultimately sucked out the hole and into a freefall above the spirit wilds. He must've been a couple thousand or more feet above the canopies of the trees when he hit open air, the wind rushing past his face. The adrenaline caused his mind to think a thousand times faster than normal, but really, there was only one thing he could do. He pulled on a tab near his shoulders and a bunch of rounded tent-like airbrakes lifted from his suit, followed by a parachute, but the parachute was damaged and sent him twirling through the air at even greater speeds. His only chance now was to cut himself loose from the failed chute, and the forest was racing toward him from below.
When he awoke he found himself entangled in a swarm of vines hanging from the tallest trees he'd ever laid his eyes upon. He pulled a knife from a sheath on his ankle and cut himself loose, dropping a dozen feet or so to the bed of the forest. It was considerably darker beneath the canopies and he couldn't see very well, but his eyes were slowly adjusting. The smell of smoke was unmistakable however, and so he followed his nose, stumbling his way through the spirit wilds until he came upon a body. He rolled them over only to see the Nullifier staring back at him with his glowing green eyes.
"The Erybai..." The Nullifier stammered. He craned his neck to look toward his abdomen. A large jagged piece of debris had impaled him through the gut, black fluid was dripping from his lips. "You have to..."
Jedidiah scoffed. "Oh no," Jedidiah waved his hands and laughed nervously. "Me? Really? That's your plan?" He looked around frantically. "You got the wrong guy! If you're putting your faith in me then we're all doomed!" He laughed and continued looking around. "It's probably dead…besides, there are worse things out—"
"NO!" The Nullifier cried out. "There is nothing worse, and it must be stopped by any means necessary." The Nullifier pulled Jedidiah by his collar until their faces were only inches apart. Jedidiah couldn't swat the man's hands away, or break free...the dark warrior's strength was uncanny...impossible even. "Left unchecked...the...Erybai will spread corruption...the forest so...pure...will decay and the Void will...spread until it claims this world. You must stop it...this...vessel has expired...I cannot--" The strength fled from the Nullifier's grasp and Jedidiah nearly flew backwards but caught himself. He watched as the corpse seemed to deflate and the green glow in its eyes evaporate into the air, dissipating as it slowly rose until nothing was left.
Looking for 1-3 people to join me in this story. Basically, in a world that is steam punk-ish mixed with fantasy, a sky pirate ship carrying an other-worldly cargo that threatens the fabric of their reality crashes in the spirit wilds, and it is released. The spirit wilds make up the majority of the planet, civilization existing safely outside the borders of the spirit wilds around the world. For hundreds, or thousands of years they have stayed to themselves, respecting one another's domains, as all throughout history whenever humans had attempted to take the wilds for themselves they were met with forces they simply had no chance of defeating, never to be seen again. Now, Jedidiah, a sky pirate and survivor of said crash, is tasked with stopping this other-worldly force that has been released, and he couldn't care less. Who will join him in his quest, and help save the world from certain doom?
