NOBIRU: A series of short stories that share the same world: the floating city ‘Nobiru’. Once the last bastion of technology and mankind, now Nobiru has been reclaimed by nature/ This is a story about the inhabitants on the floating rock, and the survivors stuck on the Earth’s crust that worshipped and sacrificed in Nobiru’s shadow. The history of Nobiru, or ‘the city of the God’s’, has been lost to time. Allegories and oral traditions tell a story of Godlike destruction and and foreign technology. Technological relics are scattered about, most broken and misunderstood. Those, though, who can unlock their power are exalted as Kings. The Author, an unknown writer casts pages from Nobiru to the Earth’s crust, calling those that can decipher the runes on a campaign to reunite the two broken societies.
NOBIRU | By: Kyrex
Book 1, Part 1:
“Jump!”
Eila was growing impatient.
“I CAN’T” Arrow shouted as he glanced down at the endless expanse below him.
“God damnit, don’t look down! It’s just like mum’s roof... only a bit higher.”
Arrow’s foot shuffled forward, almost involuntarily. The steady knock of his pulse seemed to be slowly dragging him towards the edge. The ancient cityscape had been reclaimed by nature. Even at this altitude, the plants had found a way to re-emerge; they had adapted. Arrow clutched the strap to his shoulder bag and inhaled. This was only going to end one way, he was going to have to jump. They would be searching for him room by room until, inevitably, they would crawl up to the rooftop.
“Come, Arrow. Deep breath. Just like at mums. Do it.”
“Aye. Like mums”.
The shattered doorframe that lead to the rooftop begin to shake. They were coming.
“Fuck.... FUCKKK”
Arrow leapt, but his footing was off. Elia had already snapped the Ashefyre rod in anticipation. She inhaled the fibrous pollen and dander, a pharmacological nightmare for any sentient meat. Her pupils dilated instantly, a true sign of the adept Seers, and also the junkies who clung to this powerful endogenous cocktail to escape the harsh realities of Nobiru...the harsh realities of being human. She watched as Arrow slowed, halfway between the rooftops. Her brainwaves flickered through Beta, Delta, Theta, down to Omicron.
Arrow stopped.
‘okay.’ She thought to herself. ‘concentrate.’
The world around her was melting. Her stance slouched as she fought the urge to mimic the aesthetics surrounding her and crumble to the floor. Step by step she imagined his image moving closer and closer to the ground in front of her. Hellish creatures writhed and slithered out of the encroaching darkness of her surroundings. Only Arrow mattered. Their tentacles found hold of her legs and shoulders.
‘almost’, she winced.
When she was satisfied Arrow was hovering above the rooftop next to her, she let go completely and fell into darkness.
Elia knew the stakes. She would rescind into the depths of her subconscious as the creatures swarmed and attacked. It would be hours before she would wake again...if she woke again. She would startle awake with the uncanny feeling that something essential had been taken from her: a bit of her essence.
Arrow opened his eyes. He was nearly convulsing, entirely confused how he had made it so far. His body had been sure he had miscalculated the distance, and he should be falling hundreds of stories down to the old city floor. Until, that is, he saw his sister flayed near his feet, eyes glossed over.
“God damnit, Eila. God damnit.......thank you.”
He dragged her body around the side of the large Oak that had taken over the platform atop the building. Its massive roots crawled down the side of the megalithic structure, ebbing and flowing through cracks and hollow window frames, searching for its share of soil and nourishment on the floating rock. The ancients had built these structures to last, but nothing outlasts nature. Not forever.
They would wait here until Eila awoke. Surely the Domou wouldn’t be able to follow them across the gap.
Night set in. The soft glow of the insects was a comforting companion against the pitch-black sky. Somewhere off in the distance a pride of Domou bleated in unison; a horrific crescendo of pain and torture rung through the ether.
The sweat beading on Eila’s face informed Arrow that her inner battle was raging strong. Malevolent forms of the mind’s deepest archetypal horrors...the grotesque predators that hunted our evolutionary ancestors across treetops and jungle floors for millions of years... we don’t remember, but our genes do. Eila was battling them all, somewhere alone in the dark. This is the price we pay for playing God. Even if for a brief moment. Even if just to save your brother from death.
Arrow opened the bag and gently touched the torn pages. They had it. They finally had a complete set. Finally, mankind had hope.