The Other Side of the Mirror 2.0

[Baker]

The Other Side of the Mirror

The clicking and clacking of hooves on the stone road echoed through the northern forests. Two horses, harnessed to a small wooden passenger carriage, travelling north of the city known as Terotos, into the mountains. In the driver’s seat was a creature, a half man, half goat creature who kept his eyes ahead, watching the path that lied before him to the looming mountains.

On the border to the mountains were two guards, supposedly stationed there to make sure small citizens or lost citizens didn’t wander into the dangers of the mountains, but the goatman knew why they were truly there. Even though he had dealt with them before, this time was more crucial than ever. He smiled as the carriage drew closer to the guard post. “Ello there gentlemen, may I pass into the mountains over ere?”

The guards looked at the carriage, then the goatman. These were no normal guards, one was a half bull half man, a minotaur, the other was a lizard man, the tail sticking out of the back of his armor. The minotaur spoke up first, his voice booming through the trees. “Goatman, we need to check your carriage, we’ve heard rumors of rebels hiding up in these mountains, and we need to be careful.”

“Come on boys, I’ve passed through ere more than a few times, ye can’t just lemme pass?”

The lizard man hissed and eyed the goatman suspiciously, “Wwell…sssorry goatman, but we neeeeed to check for rebelsss..”

The goatman sighed as the two guards went to the door, he knew he had failed his job, but he also knew it wasn’t over yet. The two guards twisted the handle of the door…

BAM! The door was kicked open from the inside, knocking the lizardman to the ground and the minotaur stood with his weapon ready. A man clad in armor from head to toe loomed out of the carriage, his purple cape blowing lightly in the breeze. The man gripped the large sword on his back, looking at the minotaur, before the minotaur could blink, the sword was swinging through the air at his neck, loping off the minotaur’s head with ease, blood gushing as his corpse fell to the ground and his head rolled to the front of the carriage. The lizard man staggered up onto his feet, shaking in fear as his fallen comrade’s blood poured from his body.

“Run little puppet. I don’t want to cut all of your strings just yet.” The man’s voice echoed through the forest as the lizard man turned, running back towards Terotos. The goatman smiled as the man in armor walked towards the front of the carriage. “I thought you said you’d been through here easily before, Koza.”

“Well Conlan, they seemed extra cautious today, like someone was watching.”

“Like someone was..” Conlan looked into the sky, seeing black dots in the air..

“Koza, Run. Now.” The goatman jumped off the carriage, running into the woods without hesitation. Conlan readied himself, watching the sky as the dots grew bigger and bigger until he recognized what they were, harpies, spies of the air, Omnitrax’s lackeys. That’s why the guards were so cautious as Koza said.

Conlan held his sword up with his right foot in front of his left, waiting for the harpies to dive. There were three of them, all diving right towards Conlan, claws and talons ready to strike. Conlan started running towards the three harpies, waiting for them to get into his range and swinging his two-handed sword, slashing a wing on one of them, sending it crashing into the carriage as the others flew back up into the sky, diving at Conlan again.

This time Conlan wasn’t going to be patient, he charged right towards the hovering harpies, jumping into the air and tackling one to the ground, crushing it under the weight of his armor and stabbing it in the heart, watching the blood soak the end of his blade. The last harpy immediately flew herself back up into the air, flying away from Conlan, intending to inform her master of what happened. Conlan sheathed his sword, walking back to the carriage, cleaning up a bit of the mess before moving on to go find where Koza the goatman went.

A few hours later, in Omnitrax’s Castle in the capital city of Omnicar…

“So, what you are telling me, is that you failed?” The blackened room left none to be seen but the quivering harpy on top of the dark red carpet, undoubtedly stained from the blood of Omnitrax’s enemies. “Sssirr, we ran into..complications.”

“Complications. We don’t tolerate “complications” here. You know what I do to failures.” Omnitrax waved his hand toward the guard to his left. He watched with pleasure as the guard struck down the harpy, shoving his spear through her chest, feeling her body weaken and drop to the floor.
“Good. Get that body out of here and get me Kane and Rave, we have some discussing to do.” Omnitrax sat back in his chair and sipped from his goblet, plans going through his head like a knife through hot butter.

Meanwhile, back in the northern woods…

Koza had ran as fast as he could away from the battle, he had always hated fights and he knew he could never help in one. He quietly walked through the bushes and trees that hid him from the eyes in the sky. However, getting away from the action was not Koza’s destiny today, a bright light flashed in front of him, a light bright enough to see from hundreds of miles away, and when the light dimmed Koza saw something he had only seen one of before…

[Digital Muse]

Kate walked through the hidden garden she found hidden away in Chinatown. The path wound around and over and under old maples and manicured flower beds. The carton of spicy noodles that Kate held in her left hand was forgotten as the neatly manicured garden she’d been exploring disappeared to became overgrown and tangled. She’d lost all sense of direction by now and had no clear idea at all where the gates might have been. The trees became taller and shrouded the ground while the atmosphere became cooler and more damp making Kate wonder if it had started to rain or something. San Francisco’s weather was famous for turn-rounds like that. The tank tops she was wearing certainly weren’t cut out for the front that had evidently just rolled in off the bay. Goose flesh prickled along her bare arms as the atmosphere grew darker and colder as she tried to find her way back out of the odd garden. There wasn't a tea house or temple in sight.

As she ducked beneath overgrown branches, Kate was blinded by a intense flash of light that left her dazzled for several seconds. When her sight returned, spots and all, she saw…well…she wasn’t entirely sure what she saw. What the hell? She thought to herself. It appeared to be a goat-man hybrid. But that was stupid. Think, Kate. Get a hold of yourself. Kate blinked her eyes several more times, trying to clear her vision and stared again before it dawned on her where she’d ended up. And she was mortified.

“Oh! Oh my god. I’m so sorry! I didn’t mean to….there weren’t any barricades or anything.” She stammered. She’d stumbled into the middle of a movie set somehow and obviously ruined their shot. Subconsciously she was waiting to hear the screaming of a very pissed off director to cut her off at any moment. Eyes still wide as saucers, Kate tried to side step the actor to get out of the crews way. “I really apologize. If you could just show me the way back out…” She smiled nervously, “Incredible creature make up, by the way. Totally realistic.” She was babbling, but wanted to get out of range before the director started screaming. Kate raised an inquiring brow at the actor, "The gate? Um....which way?"

[quakernuts]

"You are taking too long. Do this in combat, and your opponent will have the upper hand by that of prepared defences and planned attack."

Karall Kane spoke to his sparring partner and trainee in the same mono-tone that everyone was accustomed to him using. His sparring partner, a 400lbs pure slab of muscled minotaur snorted, and rushed at him with his bare hands. Kane calmly side-stepped, and drilled his elbow into the minotaur's side. It inhaled sharply as the point of his attack hit where the kidney should have been. Kane instantly was behind his opponent, jumping on his back and literally grabbing the situation by the horns. As the minotaur tried to buck him off, he swung around, and delivered a double kick to his face. As the opponent reeled back from the blow, Kane landed and rushed him with a charge to the stomach. The tackle sent both of them to the ground, but Kane didn't stop there. He quickly grabbed the minotaur's arm while he was still dazed, and with a sharp kick to the joint, quickly broke it in two. A sharp yell was accompanied with the breaking of bones, and Kane quickly did the same for the other arm. After a few more genetically-enhanced punches to the face, and the minotaur ceased movement. Breathing indicated his was still alive, but the shock, trauma, and pure ass-kicking that he had received had rendered him unconscious.

Kane slowly stood up, and stretched his shoulders. He turned towards his audience, the small army that Omnitrax had entrusted to him. A mixed collection of different species stood before him completely motionless. Most of them couldn't believe he had just bested Ki'gar the Mighty, but others were simply amazed that it happened in such a short amount of time. Kane stepped over to the assembled group, while a couple of carried off the wounded minotaur. "Rule number two: Never give in to what your opponent is trying to prod you with. Find your own ways to deal with the situation, and never fall for a false opening. That was a classic case of what could happen should you do just that. Ju'nikia! form up the squads and take them through another set of rounds to make sure that information is drilled into their heads!" A chorus of squawks, shouts, and gurgles answered him. His unit was one that he had forged through the conditioning and principles of his home world, which had led to one of the best trained and best conditioned units in the entire army. If his people were good for anything, they were good for war.

Kane watched as the entire unit separated to do their individual squad routines, and as the last soldier filed out into the training square, he walked back to retrieve his rifle. A simple looking device capable of great destruction in the right hands. The barrel was a dull black with pulsating red lines on either side. The stock was custom built to fit his shoulder, fitting perfectly around his muscle and bone structure. The clip was a round ball which was inserted just below the barrel. As the weapon fired, the ball would slowly disappear, bits of the ball were cut off in the firing of the weapon and used as the actual munitions of the gun. They would then be shaped into a shard within the weapon itself, and fired out of the barrel. These rounds were not armour piercing, but definitely effective against organic targets.

A short grunt looking thing came running towards Kane as he was holstering his weapon across his back. It's pointed ears, short stature, and angular features suggested it was a goblin, but it's musculature and the way it held itself said something different. He held an air of respect, despite his status as a messenger. In the army they were in, to be a messenger for Omnitrax was a great honour, and only those who earned it were given the position. It was also a very risky position for the same reason it was an honourable one.

"Commander Kane, your lord Omnitrax requires your presence in the Central Chamber." Kane nodded, but said nothing. The grunt thing took that as an affirmative, and left to do the rest of his work. In truth, Kane didn't like calling him 'Lord' but what choice did he have. He would follow the man, but he refused to call him Lord. He was one of the few who could get away with calling Omnitrax by his given name, and a few times he had narrowly avoided some nasty repercussions.

Satisfied that he was as suited up as he was going to get, he wandered out of the training square and into the main palace. A large and destructive looking place that looked like it could hold off the entire world. It was one of the few places he felt genuinely safe, and it felt good. Kane's footsteps echoed through the halls, and at the end there was a large decorative door. He doubted that it was meant for show, and bet that it would take a few high powered cannon shots to get that beast of a portal open. On either side stood two massive rock figures, each in their own right nearly impossible to take down. They were known as 'Earth Elementals". He didn't know the whole magic or reasoning behind their being, nor did he care. They lived to protect Omnitrax, and that is all he cared to know. They glared at him with unknown eyes, and parted the doors in front of him with exaggerated slowness.

Kane walked inside with the confidence of a battlefield commander, his posture revealing that he was in no way scared to be where he was. The room itself was dark, but Kane knew there were a couple of guards stationed within the abyss ready to strike at any moment. At the throne sat the Lord himself, and Kane stopped a few feet short of the chair. He slammed his fist into his chest twice as a salute.

"What do you require of your Commander of Arms?"

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