Setting
A planet where the lines between magic and technology are blurred. A place where one cannot exist without the other. Mages summon their magic through machines, spirits possess vehicles, and magic itself can become as toxic as nuclear waste. Not only that, but technology is not simply metal parts and wires; it is biological, fused with animals, wired to skin and bone. This creates beings with both the intellect of their pilots and their own quickfire reflexes.
The world is ruled by one overbearing nation: the Calidonan Supremacy. It has been centuries since their takeover, and they have held onto the planet with an iron fist. Scars of past battles from the invasion litter the planet, both within the land and its people, however, a good amount of the planet remains lush and untouched.
There are three leaders, ruling as a triumvirate. Under them are various governmental figures that rule over the provinces, and then mayors that rule over the cities. Within areas under Calidonan control, army officials and vehicles are within heavy abundance. The only salvation is with the rebel armies, who gather at Trashtown, and have partially been able to reclaim Gravone.
Nahatsu has been able to ignore forceful Calidonan control without problem, all because their military oversees the protection of the planet.
There are many sapient humanoid species upon Misrana, along with spirits born from wild magic and spirits left over from the dead. Not all are friendly, however, there are those which could make valuable allies.
And here, in Misrana, you will need to choose both your allies and enemies wisely.
Karcher's job wasn't really something you could casually apply for, you could say he was, self employed in the sense he did what ever he wanted for whoever he wanted, for money. The man was waiting from afar, watching the location they were to meet up at, just a precaution. He didn't have much information on the client or what that wanted which made him more cautious.
Suddenly, a man came out of nowhere from a portal at the meeting place. "That must be him." He said as the beacon was then activated proving his statement true.
Karcher casually made his way down to the client, nonchalantly yet, he had a quite serious look to him, standing up straight in his suit. He approached the man and stopped a good talking distance away. "Are you Lukas?" Karcher questioned the man before him to make sure he had the right guy.
For some odd reason, all of a sudden he felt like they weren't the only ones there, he felt someone was watching them but couldn't prove his thoughts at all. He was certain they'd meet this friend or foe perhaps at the cave anyway though, might be easier to deal with them there instead of out in the public where he might get into trouble for killing someone. "Lead the way Lukas." Karcher finally said shaking off suspicious thoughts as he was slowly beginning to not be so tense around his client.
After a few minutes of walking, Lukas found himself and his partner at the mouth of the cave. Before entering, he felt something. Something was present in the cave, he was certain. He took a quick look at Karcher, and knew he knew as well. Lukas went ahead and went in first. He took a few steps in, and saw it was a rather steep slope downwards. He very carefully slid down the cave, and urged his companion to do the same. However, he wasn't really paying attention to much, except the cave itself. Lined with shards and flecks of various ores, a few herbs and weeds that managed to break in through the entrance, this place was loaded with many, many things he needed and wanted. But what caught his eye most was a wall of translucent stone, almost glowing a bright white. He passed his hands over it, and licked the sample. Yes, here it was. The pool of quicksilver, seeping through a weak spot in the wall. It was a massive deposit, gallons and gallons of it. He motioned at Karcher to do the honors.
She was home! Bouncing at the door, she waited until she couldn't hear the sound of other cargo being moved outside, before she opened the crate from the inside, an emergency feature that she was fully taking advantage of. The girl beamed as she looked out, only for the expression to fall from her face as she took in the scene. She sat rather abruptly. They were at least three crates in the air by the looks of things, but that wasn't what worried her the most. She hadn't eaten well the entire week it had taken to get this far, but worst of all...worst of all the things, and far worse than a rumbly tummy or desire for more water than they had on them was the simple fact that this was not Terra.
"...Whisper, this isn't Terra. The buildings are all wrong. The spaceport is wrong too." Everything was wrong. This...this was not her home. She sniffed and wiped at her eyes.
Or not...
After resting his spear across his shoulder once more, Kyle stepped out from the dark insides of the cargo crate to look towards the extremely different scene he had imagined. Standing beside the disappointed Nadya, Kyle was at a loss for words, was this really Terra? Or did something go wrong? Of course, the girl's words answered the questions before they could be asked. Clicking his tongue, Kyle placed his hand on Nadya's head as she wiped her wetted eyes as some form of comfort before offering his hand to her. He was planning to take the girl's hand and sling her over his shoulder before jumping down from the crate, it was the fastest and most efficient way he could think of. If only Eve was around, she'd know what to do.
"It bloody well looks like it," He answered, "Crying about it will do nothing. Keep looking forward, we'll find a way back. Somehow.
The girl looked up at the cargo contained and huffed. "...I guess I have to get a new bike, when we get back to Terra." That was fine. She'd use a wagon for the paper deliveries, and t would take longer, and she'd have to get up earlier. If she even made it home and still had one.
The girl still had her backpack on at least. She didn't bother trying to get down form Kyle's back for a few moments, before she dangled her legs down and let go, so she was on the ground again. "I don't know how long it will take to get to Terra from here. We should find that out too, so we know how much food and water we need."
She bit her bottom lip. Bo had taught her how to steal if she needed to, and how to pick pockets. They should be able to get some money that way, so they could get everything they needed. "...And we both need a bath."
As the girl continued her rambling on about Terra, and what to do, Kyle silently scanned through the crowds. Still struggling to comprehend this peaceful coexistence of so many weird things, his body was even trembling at the sight. Not out of fear, nor excitement. More like... resistance. Resisting his natural xenophobic nature from killing everything that wasn't, or at least didn't look, human.
Before he could be noticed, Kyle disappeared for a mere few seconds as he moved at the speed of sound once more, straining his body in the process. Although, he managed to return before Nadya with some bottles of water and a couple rations of what looked like nutrient bars. Something the lone tentacle thing was panicking over loosing in the background, trying to call for guards about an extremely fast thief.
"I think this'll be enough for now, it's more important to rest up."
She wasn't the absolute best at it, just yet, but she was good enough at it they shouldn't notice, not right off. The teen swallowed and looked to him, rather nervous. She didn't like this adventure very much. It wasn't at all the fun that all the books and tv shows and movies made it out to be. It was rather scary. The girl stuck close to his side, and looked around. "Or are we going to rough it?" There were some humans in the crowd, she noticed, but they did kind of stand out like a sore thumb. This wasn't good at all.
Without realising it, Kyle had already held his hand out of his pocket, open to allow Nadya to grasp onto it to prevent her from getting lost in the crowds which increased in density as the two came closer and closer to the exit. "You're right, money would be a good idea." Kyle agreed; he could easily beat the riches out of anyone, but it tends to work better when there's less people, and the sun wasn't beaming over him.
"I'm not roughing anything."
She had targeted the ones who looked like they wore better quality clothing. That should ensure a good haul at least. The ones with more jewelry or finery had also been targeted, and by the time they made it out of the exit, the girl had managed to secret six wallets on her person for them to see if they had any luck with getting enough money. The girl didn't like stealing like this, but it was pretty clearly a necessity.
Once they had left the spaceport, Kyle patted Nadya's head again, congratulating her on a job well done. "You think we got what we need?" He asked, stopping in his tracks to look around the area. There was no way he could read this alien language all over the signposts, and he doubted that there would be similar symbols to those used on Earth. "Can you read this?"
She looked at the signs, bit her bottom lip, and cheated hard. "There's a hotel this way." She said firmly and led the way. Nadya Alexeev couldn't read the signs. But, if she reached to that place in her head she wasn't ever supposed to, reached for the her that was Before, then she knew this planet inside out. She ignored that. That was cheating too hard, and she'd have to stop being Nadya. Being a kid again was fun, and it's not like she was touching those memories or those things that came with being the other her. Just the language. She just needed a hotel. "At least, I think there is." Thirteen year olds were not supposed to have adventures like this. Her Big Scary Boss wouldn't be too upset, she hoped.
Kyle trusted Nadya due to her being a native to this 'dimension' this moment in time. However, this trust can be a bit much when treading on an alien planet, especially when the girl was only a child. Then again, she does seem more mature than usual, and Imdius kept going on and on about some 'fake face' the girl had. Who listens to demons anyway, right?
"Alright, you lead the way." Kyle followed on, walking more slowly than usual as he admired the alien architecture of this world, the vehicles, the wildlife. There was so much to learn, so much to see. But what was more important was the technology, the devices people carried, the floating transport vehicles that slowly glided through the skies. The inner engineer was speaking out once again, he had to grab something to reverse engineer it. Perhaps he could learn how to build a space ship and fly the two directly to Terra. If he knew where it was.
"Don't go too far, there's got to be something."
"It's not too far from the port too. She said and glanced in that direction. "So it's got a more probable chance." She hoped. The teen had closed off that part of her again. She didn't want to know, she just didn't. The girl swallowed and looked to it, holding tight to Kyle's hand and moving to walk a little closer. "So. Overnight in the hotel. Then what?" It was scary, even thinking about being stranded here for much longer.
"Fuck off cat" He replied, kicking his leg forward a little in the effort to scare the cat away. Surprisingly enough, Kyle had already adapted to the area, not even phased at the sight of a talking cat while surrounded by a population of aliens. Perhaps it was actually too much for him to take in, leaving him to give up trying to make sense of the situation and just rolling with it.
Ignoring the cat, Kyle turned back to Nadya; "If this is it, let's get that room and rest up. I have a little plan for tomorrow."
The girl eyed the cat nervously and tugged on Kyle's hand. "Whatever your plan is, I hope it works. I don't like this world." there were too few humans, and while she was used to talking cats, being best friends with one, she wasn't used to telepathic ones.
She quickly walked up in front of the two. and looked at them. "please will you let me come?"
she sat down. the whole situation seemed surreal. a telepathic cat talking to two humans, most people would've probably freaked out and killed her. but she hoped these people would be different.
"Can't you see you're scaring the girl? Fuck off."