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Lumine Passio
 Author
Join Date: Jul 2013
Location: Hanoi, Vietnam
Age: 18
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Ok, to let you guys know what am I doing:
Quote:
Chapter I
Kakusei
Third World War, or The War that end all Wars as people use to call it. First started as small clash between countries, it soon bloomed into a full-scale war between world superpowers: China, America, EU, Russia,... Just after one year, only one year and yet one third of the world population - More than 5 billion - Had vanished into oblivion because of tactical nuclear missiles, orbital bombardment and many, many more. For the first time, the term “Space Warfare” became reality. Mother Earth never be the same again, for no corner of the world were left untouched and thus bringing a fierce Terraforming process. No one know which kill people more: The War, or the Nuclear Winter that followed it. Only one fact had been confirmed: Humanity had never pushed itself so close to the verge of extinction.
After the long and bloody war, remaining shambled countries finally came into an agreement: They renounce their own government in favor of a united body, the United States of Earth (USE). Human has learnt their lesson from the bitter lost, and so it vowed to never let a similar Calamity to happen again in the future. In this united world, there are no more barrier that divided us: Race, Nationality, Language,...For the past 50 years, USE has miraculously mended many wounds and scars of the world, an achievement that once seemed impossible in the past. The future has never look so bright like then for us.
However, it look like God has got another plan for his children. Just as we continue to advance forward, a disaster occurred: The first encounter with Extraterrestrial Specie ended up in disaster. Even today, after 8 years, many details of this accident are still shrouded in mystery. As the record go, in 2089, a scientific outpost on the Moon contacted an unknown life form. A short description of them was found in the personal diary of Dr. Orimura:
“The Unknown has humanoid figure, however, they were much bigger than the average human: The smallest in the group that we encountered is estimated to be at least 5m tall and 3m big. They wore thick metal spacesuits, with were also integrated with small thrusters that enable them to hover freely in space. A very resilient type of material was used, I may add, for they could stand directly under the scorching Sun, which could raise the temperature on the Moon to 123 degree Celsius, unlike us who were kept in thick suits with fish bowls on our heads. Their faces were hidden by masks the whole time, and they refused to remove them, so I could not confirmed whether do they have a similar facial structure to us. However, they seem to posses knowledge about us human: They could conversed with us in English, albeit in synthesized tone, presumably through a translation program...”
As these guests denied to be seen on camera, no further information of them was recorded. The only fact was knowledged is: When the scientists who first made this astonishing discovery tried to contact the aliens again, they were slaughtered, as well as all men who were living on the Moon. Lutetia, the City of Light, USE’s prize achievement and Humanity’s symbol of union, was destroyed in the rain of ion beam. One ship no bigger than USE’s Light Frigate Falcon-class ship and yet they tacked 10,000 casualties with it. The last survivors were forced to leave their home for Earth, and the Parliament making a desperate choice to ensure our lives: Utilizing the remaining number of Nuclear Missiles to repel the invasion. They succeeded, but not without a price: No satellites or orbital elevators survived through the bombardment.
Now, it’s A.D 2097, 7 years after the nightmare. By Leaps and Bounds, UE has been re-building and re-exploiting all of their space resources. However, they still haven’t fully recover - Scientists forecast that it would take a decade more for human to recovered to their pre-Crisis status. The mass is still optimistic about the future, though, and everyone is looking forward to the upcoming century which they see that is full of nothing but Light...
September 27, 2097. The State of Japan, Tokyo city
(Pant...Pant...) “Hey, wait for me!”
“Speed up, dude! You’ll never make it with this speed!” Aren’t you the one who drag me to this goose chase in first place? Why me, Ichika Shinonono, an ordinary teenager couldn’t enjoy his birthday in an ordinary fashion? I know that I turned 16 today, but after a tired week of school and part-time work, all I want to is having a day to sleep...
“What are you standing here for! Run!”
...And that’s my best buddy, Dan Gotanda. He is the first friend I made when entered Middle School. Now, in High School, we still share the same class. And I’m currently taking a part-time job at the Gotanda Eatery, his family’s restaurant. I usually appreciate befriending a great guy like him, but not in this case. He woke me up at 9.00 AM, and then drag this groggy me to who-know-where.
We continue to run for a few minute until the sight of Tokyo Tower in front of me. Then, Dan lead me to the elevator to the top. Through the translucent wall, I could have a wide view of the city. Since the first time 7 years ago, this city still amaze me of how complex it’s. Rows of skyscrapers stretching to the horizon. Several parks, waterparks, stadium and various leisure places located everywhere in the city. Tiny dots moving across the chessboard, human rushing to their destination by high-speed electric cabs or subways, all work automatically. And far, far away. you could make sense of the tiny white spot that is the top of Mt. Fuji, where snow never melt even in the summer.
“Why do you take me to this place, Dan? Can't I just have a quiet day for myself!”
“If you want to spend your birthday laying in the bed, then no. I won’t let my best friend to turn into a man in that way. And for what the surprise is...” He chuckle. “...See it for yourself!”
“HAPPY BIRTHDAY ICHIKA!!!”
“...Guys...You don’t have to do this...” Waiting for me is all of my friend in the class, wearing party hats and blowing horns. Behind them, I could see a big banter of “Congratulation to make it to your 16th year!” Yeah...Really encouraging...
“Nonsense! You are our friend, and friend has to stay together, right?”
“But how did you get the top floor for this?”
“Do you remember Karin’s father, Kazou-san? He owns the tower, and it’s turned out that it’s going to be closed for maintenance in a few day. However, Karin convinced her father is to lent us this for your “Manhood Ceremony”!”... That doesn’t sound very good. I ask him:
“What do you mean “Manhood Ceremony”?”
“Everyone, please let the star of this show to go through!...And here it’s!”
“What is here? I don’t see anything beside a rope.”
“And that is the ceremony: Bungee Jump from the top of Tokyo Tower!” ...Now I really regret to befriend Dan.
“Can’t I refuse this?”
“NO!”
“At least you could had tell me what to expect!” Said Ichika while nursing his bumped head. Around him and Gotanda, everyone have dissolved into small group, chatting with each other. The two of them stand in a corner where they have a full view of the city below. Dan just humbled his red head in an unknown melody:
“Then what is the fun in that! And beside, your sister asked me to make this for you.”
“Wait...What did Tabane-nee say to you?”
“Here!” Dan wave the camera hanging on his neck. “She told me “Please video my brother so that I could blackmail him.” Nothing personal, Ichika...Maybe I would show it here!”
“Oh no you don’t...”
“Yes I do! Hey, everyone! Do you guys want to see Ichika in diaper?”
“Give me that!...Hey!”
“Catch me if you can!”
“Come back here! Now!...Ahhh!!!” The tower suddenly shake violently, making the two running boys stumbled onto each other. The lamps go off, and all the glasses be knocked over.
“What is this? Another earthquake?” Even after the Terraforming, the Pacific Rim is still in movement, if not even more violently. And with the location of directly over above it, Japan suffer the full brunt. For the record, the nation suffer from more than 2000 earthquake a year, or 6 per day. However, for this carefully constructed tower to shake, it must has been a really strong one. Or something worse...
“Hey, look!” One boy shout and point his hand to the sky. Everyone, including Dan, rush to the scopes that are used for observation. Ichika, though, suddenly has an ill feeling. It’s like ants are crawling under his skin.
“What is it, Dan? Let me see!”
“Hey, don’t push!”
Through the lenses, Ichika could vaguely make sense of what seem to be...planes engaging in dogfight? A bit more closer, and he could see metal gleams under the sun, trace of exhaust fuel, and laser beams. The three similar looking grey machines is cornering the fourth one, a red one, very much bulkier-looking like the rest. Although it’s larger and slower than its enemy, the crimson machine is still able to stand the ground with only two curve swords in hands.
“What could be them? Military weapons? ”
“No, I have never seen anything like this before...I’ve no idea what those are.” Ichika whisper hesitantly, holding his breath to observe the fight before him. No, he has seen those one before...When Oka-san and Otou-san were still alive...
“Infinitus...Potentia...”
“Do you think...Hey, Ichika! Earth to Ichika!” Dan wave his hand, try to wake up his friend from day-dreaming.
“Oh, sorry! I must have spaced out. What were you saying again?” Ichika shake his head, flush away the unknown blueprints and diagrams appears in his head. Although one still lingers his mind: the image of a white mechanical suit.
“Do you think that I should take a picture of them and sell it to a magazine? We could make tons of money with it!” Ichika unconsciously nodded his head. The abnormal armor still cover his mind. And now, it’s murmurs. Not from the confused yet excited crowd, but something far more greater, far more worse. As Dan carefully choose a suitable position for a his picture, much more disturbing scene go through Ichika eyes:
The ground burn...The sky burn...The people burn...
“Three...Two...One...” In that flash of the camera, Ichika suddenly become panic and terrified. He has an urge to scream, to flee in all cost from these. Follow his instinct, he yell:
“Everyone, GET DOWN!!!”
*Ka-BOOM*
The moment these words left his mouth, a giant explosion erupt. A pink beam tear through the sky, pinning the the lower part of the tower. It lean to the left, and the floor suddenly tilt to one side, bringing everyone with it. The only thing that stop them from falling to the ground below is a layer of glass. And it’s creaking, meaning it won’t last long.
“Ichika!” Dan shout. One of his hand is grabbing a metal pole. “Give me your hand, now!” The Orimura desperately struggle to get a hold of his friend, but...
*rrr...RRR...Clash!*
“DAN!!!” The glass finally sucumb to the weigh and crash.Ichika, as well as everyone, was pulled down by gravity and the powerful wind blows around the tower. In that moment, luckily, Ichika managed to grab the bungee rope...
“Damn it!” And on the other end of the rope, it’s Dan. With all his might, he pull the rope. But no, he can’t do a thing - Ichika is just too heavy, that’s all. Dan silently cursed himself for slacking of PE, as well as the monsters flying even closer to them. In here, he could even see the tiny horn on the crimson machine’s head.
“Dan.. Let me go.”
“NO! GET UP! ICHIKA!!!” Eyes close, Ichika finally let go of his hand....
So, this is the end of the road, huh?...
I must agree that you’re truly alive when facing death. Everything is like looking through a Kaleidoscope, which colors got stronger until your eyes got blinded by their brightness. Even the tiniest dusk is like a mirror reflecting Sun. A dreadful, yet also full of excitement feeling running through my veins. It’s like a pleasant dream if you close your eyes and let the wind brush through you. And like all dream, it doesn’t last long.
People says that your head is flooded with memories, dream and other stuffs when you’re near death. But for me now, dropping toward the the hard ground, the only thing that I still conscious of is what the blowing wind whispers to me:
What is this?...
I’m... bleeding!...
I don’t want to die! Save me!...
Men, Women, Children, Families, they all scream of agony, of pain, of being tormented seeing their beloved and themself dying. They all have one core thought between then: Why am I die? What did I do? WHY?
And they all yearn for Revenge, for the Justice that they never have. As well as the me who knows that its short life is going to end. Slowly, the pleasant feeling fades away, replaced by the dreaded feeling of death and powerless.
The pressure is too much for me to bear. It makes me want to cry in pain and terror. And I do cry, in my mind, for all energy seems has left me. The freezing sensation running upward from my feet, through my spiral, creeping through every neuron in my brain. Aghhh!!! It hurt!...I try to shut it down, but the red waves, they are corroding...no, more like plunging me into the depth of Hell with the victims!
....But in that moment, a crystal clear voice, like a lucid note in this disorder symphony, echo through my heart and sooths my pain:
“Do you want Justice?...Or vengeance? Do you want to regain your humanity? Yes or No?”
“Yes!” And I found myself consumed by Light....
Tokyo Tower has totally collapsed with a loud explosion. The metal has been twisted, cracked, melted. Debris of its and from other building fly everyone, blocking the blue sky and replace it with a desert-yellow dome. Its weight help to bring down the whole block surrounds it. Nothing is left of the one proud tower that is the beacon of Tokyo.
But what is more astonishing is the existence that is slowly descending. Simply say, it’s the perfect example of what you would expect of a machine coming from some sci-fi movie. It has a humanoid figure, albeit much more bulkier. The outer layer of metal is painted blue and silver, with some place like the torso and foot are red. The armor doesn’t cover everything, though, and from the patches of skin that is shown under it, we know that it’s piloted by a human. The chest of it houses a sphere and two antennas that sprout from the top. Two binders hang on its shoulder, together with the thrusters on the legs, are discharging silver particles that look like dancing flames from afar. On its left arm is a Diamond-and-Oval shaped Shield, and the other right wrist is a sword, which could be best describe as a really big folding knife with the blade folded behind the arm - The length seems to be more than 1 meter. However, the most imitating feature is the head: It has two big headphones/antennas on both sides - “Rabbit Ears” arrangement. A small piece of metal that represent a chin, and amouthplate. Its eyes glow, brighter than the shining Sun, threaten to set on fire anyone who dare to look straight into these globes. From the first looks, everyone could say that this not a machine of Peace, the marriage between War and Science.
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Last edited by Fireminer; 2014-01-25 at 23:43.
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2014-01-25, 20:43
"Focus entirely on me, you ordinary soldier."
