The Rockaverse

"Murder seems like the most comedic option," A masked nurse commented, wiping blood on her rough-hide gown beside M'kama and Seru.

Seru squinted at the nurse, before turning back to M'Kama in hushed whispers.

"It's...it's what can cure her," was all she said, brushing past the man toward the door that led to the main chamber of Cobran. Outside was loud compared to the medic's office, the sounds of metal clanging, people yelling and wagons squeaking created an echo around the caves that was nostalgically familiar to Seru. She looked at M'Kama and Tackle who had followed her, their faces unfamiliar but the only few she could trust to understand the desperation they were currently in, "Look, what I'm about to show you is a Cobran secret. If anyone like Theory knew about it..." the woman swallowed, "Let's just say it's sacred to our people. But it's the only hope that woman has left."

"Something to do with this...Snake god?" M'Kama questioned. "The Blacksmith mentioned something about it. Something about Cobran's leader. How meeting either of them can change someone's life? Would you say that's true?"

"I dunno about our leader," Seru rolled her eyes, "But yes. You'll see, c'mon"

Seru led them toward a torch lit tunnel on the far side of Cobran. At the entrance there was a collection of candles and paper flowers, while people who walked past seemed to lower their heads, the strange light of the tunnel illuminating their strange faces. Even if you were not a spiritual or religious person it was easy to tell that this was a special place. The tunnel led them down, further and further away from the light of the town and into the dark depths of the ground under Cobran, with only the weak light of torches to show the way forward. The tunnel seemed to go on forever, spiraling down into the earth until it stopped at a huge, pitch black cave. "Here we are.." Seru whispered.

M'Kama stared at the cave walls, the bright light illuminating off of his face. It was a marvel. Further and further they they went, into the depths. There was something about this place. Something different from the rest of the caverns of Cobran. "Seru...." M'Kama asked, as they stared into the maw of the cave. "How long has your clan been around, would you say?"

Seru shrugged, "12 years or so. We came here to escape and found home."

"Young clan, right," M'Kama nodded. "Only twelve years young. A clan in it's infancy. And yet, these tunnels seem far older than anything in the bright...look at the sediment below. The aged wall of rock. What lies behind the veil, I wonder. What secrets does the serpent hold tightly in it's coils?"

There was something ancient about these walls. The rest of Cobran was carved cleanly, precisely. These walls were smooth, as if time itself had sanded them off- like a stone under the water. The sounds of cobran faded as they went deeper. The air became staler. A dampness could be felt ahead...

"Hello?" Seru called out into the darkness. And although she had been here many times before, chills still swept up her spine, forcing her words to sound meek and nervous. Her voice echoed in the earth, "Are you awake?"

"Uh, yeah wake up!" M'Kama agreed, throwing a rock into the darkness. "That's what we're aimin' for , right?"

There was something so intimate about the darkness, so close to their breath. The blackness was so pure... so solid, it was like being nose to nose with a wall. What was that. Movement? A subtle sound, like a soft rug in the Necropolis being laid out for prayer. M'kama's feet were cold, and wet. Whatever he had thrown the rock at... it seemed to be awake. And he couldn't quite tell how but it felt as though it were pulling him further into the darkness, as if it was sucking him in with it's breaths... as if the tunnel itself was its air passage.

M'Kama reach down and touched the cold , wet ground with his hands...before slowly reaching up a feeling the breath emerging from the tunnel. With his free hand, he reached into his pack and drew out a trio of cards. "Make yourself known to us creature. No point in playing coy for this far long..."

A slithering. Wet scales dragging on sand. Something ahead. Something ahead...

Suddenly a force came down with a rattle, smashing M'kama into the earth like a whip. His card fell from his hand and he fell, bloodied, forward into the darkness. M'kama smashed into water, as suddenly a body moved around him, smooth snake skin wrapping and coiling over and over and over again. It felt not much larger than a giant snake found in the jungle.... but it just... never ended. Every limb, every part of his body, was coiled in snakeskin as he struggled to breath, until at last only his head was free from it's grasp. Black water flooded his lungs.

"Ah..." M'Kama noted, as a vision of giant scales emerged before him, knocking him into watery depths and filling his vision with water and darkness. The Cobran's guardian deity was no myth and as it appeared before him in a fury. But if it had sought M'Kama's death this day, it would be vastly disappointed. It was not his time to pass. It was not in the cards.

As water began to fill his lungs, M'Kama knew he had to act fast. He drew his blade, Nu-Ender, cursed by Phoenix of centuries' past. Beneath the waters he could not move as fast as he'd like...but he could press the flat of the blade against the serpent's flesh. The creature began to feel an intense heat from underneath it's coils. Far hotter than the blistering suns of the bright and more akin to the unyielding magma that lied within it's volcanic mountains, melting through it's leathery flesh.

As M'kama burnt the creature alive it let out a scream and dove, grabbing M'kama with it, deeper and deeper into the water. Seru's screams faded into obscurity as they entered the depths of the cave. The creature released M'kama at last but he was already too far gone. He was sucked into a water passage, smashed against the rocks of the jet stream like a piece of shit in a river. Off tunnel wall to tunnel wall he smashed for minutes unend, unable to see where he was going or where the passages were taking him, until finally blinding light. He was blasted out into what felt like a kettle of boiling water, whiteness blasting down from the bubbling surface above...

"Woo-hoo!" M'Kama screamed internally, holding his breath as much as he could as his sword was sucked in the water tunnel, behind him, also moving at highspeeds. In mid-flight, he grabbed onto his blade, knowing full well of the danger that could entail if it were to land anywhere without him nearby. As he grabbed onto the hilt, M'Kama managed to backflip underwater, planting his feet onto the blade.

Surfing the blade down the water tunnel, as it shot him through to only gods know where, the Yybal tribesman wondered what sort of tricks he could accomplish on his blade. Every instance e smashed against a wall, he hopped against it with the flat of his blade to ricochet from one tunnel wall to the next in a sequence. He would accomplish a handstand next, spinning around the flat of his blade on nothing but his index finger in an overturned pirouette motion, the avoid the boulders that had unlodged themselves from the wall during his raucous ascent into the unknown.

"Alright!"


"Fuck yeah!"


"Too cool!"

M'Kama thought as he styled away, perfecting a spin-a-roonie on the flat of his blade as he blasted out from a boiling hot surface.

Otis & Ash had been following the tracks for hours, or trying to. Unfortunately the burning hot stones of the Bright had incinerated the tracks as they went on, soon leading the two men lost. It had been nearly a day of wandering the heat. It felt like many more. Burnt skin and strained eyes could barely concentrate ahead.

They had spotted water, a small lake. Somewhere in the mountains they could break, perhaps. Drink. Setup a camp. Unfortunately, when they went near, it was clear the water of the Bright was not one a human would want to touch. The surface of the lake boiled and brewed like a stew on the cauldron. One touch and it may burnt the skin right off.

No man would willingly swim in it. And so they sat at the edge of the lake, unsure of where to go next, when suddenly.

A sword flew out of the lake wildly before falling back into the boiling water. Then a sudden figure burst to the surface of the water, screaming in pain as he was being cooked alive.

It was M'kama.

"Why!" Seru gasped, "He was okay! Dumb but okay!"

Seru's screams were answered as the snake rose from the water, it's eyes like a mirror to her in the dark. "My child...." She breathed. "You are not... your brother..." Her words fluttered off as she began to surround Seru. The snake was no bigger thicker than a giant snake found on the Rock, but it seemed to never end. Each time it's head lapped Seru in the darkness more of it's body came out from the water. It seemed long enough that it's body could stretch through Cobran several times over.

Seru blinked, trying to keep the creature in view through the blackness as it surrounded her. It opened it's mouth, it's tongue playing on the end of each of it's words as it spoke once more. "He does not want to be here..."

"No..." Seru breathed, her movements still, "No, I suspect none of who I led here do. I'm sorry, but something terrible happened today out in the sands. I had to bring them here."

"WWOOOOOO-HOOOOOOOO!!!!" Otis and Ash would hear shouted from the heavens as M'Kama began his spiraling descent from above, still surfing on his sword and rapidly cycloning down towards the ground below as his jacket got caught in the wind. Several kick-flips were accomplished as well as a cutback, an alley-oop, and two backflips into the air as his feet landed on his sword once more as the tip of the sword dug into the Earth below, beginning to melt the ground beneath as molten magma began to drip from the blade. M'Kama continued sliding across the ground for a bit, the magma continuing the melt the Earth into a slippery, muddy slush below until he was but a few feet away from Otis and Ash.

The Yybal tribesman subsequently leaped backwards off the blade and stomped on it's hilt, see-sawing the weapon into the air. The Shaman leaned back slightly as the blade fell perfectly back into the scabbard on his back and M'Kama shook his head, before glancing into the air and exclaiming, "Booyah!" as he strode over to the the two non-natives of the Rock.

"You there, boy..." M'Kama stated, pointing to Otis, hoping the Bright's blistering sun would hasten the drying of his now drenched clothes. "You were in Schittle, were you not?"

The snake surrounded Seru, wrapping itself around her limbs before place its head on her shoulder. "...Then they cannot stay," She whispered as she dug one of her massive fangs in Seru's shoulder. Venom began to pump into Seru, a burning pain accompanying it. And then the snake released. It's grip on Seru's body faded as it slithered back into the water. "That man you've brought here... has killed innocents before, and will bring... war to this place..." The snake murmured. "And he will try and kill you..."

"Trust no one, Seru... trust... no one..."

Tears pricked Seru's eyes, the agony of venom entering her system never something she would get used to. She stepped backward, her feet splashing in the water and echoing in the chamber, "I'm going to save Cobran," her words were lost in the darkness, "I promise."

**

Seru ran up through the tunnel, her vision beginning to blur. The town of Cobran blinded her as she escaped the snakes lair, creating a spectacle of drunken light that made it difficult to find her way back. She stumbled through the streets, people staring at her with milky white eyes, their faces unfamiliar and dizzying to look at. Her fingers slid across stone houses until she found the wooden door of the doctors office and pushed it open violently, stumbling toward the first syringe she saw and picking it up. She barely remembered stabbing herself with the needle and pumping out what venom the snake had given her, her veins burning alive and muddling her head.

"Hey! What're you doin'!" a voice called out beside her, but it was too late. The needle filled with snake venom punctured Palavan's arm, filling her bloodstream with the same drug coursing through Seru's body. With a sigh the woman sat down on the chair next to Palavan, closing her eyes.

Palavan had been dead for some time. Ever since the escape from Schittle she was on borrowed time. The could feel the holes in her body, she could feel them burn over days as she was rolled about through sand and cave. And she was ready for it. When she was awake she had tried to speak, to anyone, even though she found that she couldn't. She tried to use her consciousness to speak to God, to make deals with him, to let her get through this. That he had made a mistake. And every time she went back to sleep she expected no longer to wake up. But somehow, she always did. She wasn't done yet.

Palavan awoke, blinking lightly. There was the sound of air-flow above her, green and blue lanterns swaying gently. She glanced beside her. In a chair, asleep, was a young woman, one Palavan didn't recognize. Palavan glanced down at the cold bed where she lay, her body covered in pelts to keep her warm. They were alone in the strange room. Outside she could see houses, people, but all seemed inside a cave, lanterns hanging in place of a sun and clouds.

Palavan attempted to move. Her body was sore, like a muscle beat up so many times it had lost all feeling, but she could. Something was giving her the strength to move. From beneath the pelts she pulled out her arms, bandaged, and sliced off at the elbows. Amputated. Palavan glanced down at her arms. She expected to feel fear. Terror even. But no. She was alive. She was fine. Palavan leaned back on her fur pillow and breathed. She wasn't done yet.

Syra stared in awe at how much Theory's men had managed to unbury. "Loyal to a fault..." she muttered, suddenly aware that the mysterious navy blue armored knight was standing right behind her.

"Your armor is a weakness here, you'll lose consciousness in a matter of minutes fighting in it," She pointed at Theory's men, "most of them are from your order, they went AWOL during the war and came here seeking refuge, but that turned into conquest. Their leader was captured by the guardian there, but it doesn't matter, they will keep fighting for that man, their "crown prince", your friend there is committing suicide right now." She gestured to the Knight that had chosen to step between the two armies.

"While I agree, he and I are not from the same order," the feminine voice echoed from beneath the navy helm, "he simply came to my aid while I was making my way to this world on my own mission," she stated, removing her helmet, brown hair falling to her shoulders. "Of course, I was sent here to collect that weapon, but not for the Matran." She smiled, extending her hand to Syra, "for now, call me Azure!"


"Syra..." Syra replied, hesitantly. Something about this girl felt off, they stood on the verge of a battle between two capable armies and she was making small talk? She couldn't help but wonder how easy her life, and the life of the Knight had been for them to both be so calm under pressure. On the same token, she couldn't help but be envious. Syra had never asked to see such horrible things, she'd love to be as carefree as Azure seemed.

"Well, it's time I started my mission, Syra, I'm impressed you came all the way out here unarmed, you must have something at stake in this battle, when this is over I'll do my best to help you achieve whatever goal it is you wish!"

"You...you don't even...hey!" Syra watched as the strange woman raced after the idiotic knight. She looked at Girthfield with a stunned expression, "They've no clue what they're doing! You have to stop this from getting worse!"


"Seems a lot of those men and women digging up the cannon are deserters, plan on taking them in, or just eradicating them here and now?" Azure began, standing beside the Knight.