Was going through the PS3 and Vita shops to see what I need to get before they close (assuming PlayStation doesn’t take away what I’ve already bought, which is something they have done before) and decided to see if Dissida was a fair price on eBay.
Sure enough, found one CiB for $20 with a bonus of the KHBbS decals! An incredibly good steal if I do say so myself!
Now I just need a new PSP, my original one is hanging by a thread, and the one I got “refurbished” at GameStop awhile back just bricked itself outta nowhere 🙄
this took much longer than I thought it would, but here we go! Thanks again @dissidia-writeblr for your patience hosting!
It’s been a great time!
###
Sitara and Zeth made quick on their agreement. Within the hour they led Richard and Volt out of the city, and not long after the four of them were out of Torr and standing back at the base of the mountain. After being in the city the air felt so much quieter without the buzz of little robots overhead but the peace and quiet didn’t last long though as a shadow fell chilly over the clearing. They turned, and Volt squinted up at the airship that blocked out the sun. Surprising for it’s size, it was near silent as it approached.
Sitara turned towards them with a grin and Volt tore her eyes from the ship.
“Thank you so much for letting me study your tech! I’m sorry about the officials of Torr. I’m going to have Zerith, the captain of this ship, send you to Velaris. No one will follow you there. It’s abandoned. There won’t even be any of the beings. You’ll be safe. And here.” She pushed a packet of paper into Richard’s hands.
He held it carefully, lifting the tucked-in flap to peek at the papers. Volt watched as he scanned the text and his eye widened.
“This is all the information I have on your tech. I also wrote down how to fix your broken tech as well. I hope this helps!” She grinned as a ladder came down from the airship.
Richard re-sealed the packet, returning her smile. “I don’t know what to say, thank you so much.”
Sitara didn’t have a chance to respond before a woman with an eyepatch over her right eye climbed down the ladder and smiles at Sitara. “Where would you like me to take them?”
Sitara pulled out a pouch of money and hands it to the woman. “Velaris. They need to get away from here.”
“Wonderful! I’ve already sent others over there to get away as well. They’ll at least have company.” She looked over at Richard and Volt and bowed her head. “My name is Zerith, and I’m the captain of this humble vessel. Let’s get going.”
Richard and Volt returned the greeting, and after a brief goodbye to Sitara and Zeth, followed Zerith up the ladder and into her airship. As curious as she was about how the ship worked, more importantly how to operate it, Volt was grateful when Zerith left them alone to rest during the journey.
She and Richard sat on either side of a little table in a small side room, quiet with only a faint engine hum reaching through the metallic walls. Volt’s eyes wandered. Panels set in the wall probably led to electrical controls, or… Something. This ship was so unlike what she was used to she didn’t even want to bother guessing how it worked.
The soft thud of Richard setting the packet of papers on the table made her turn. He nudged it towards her.
“What do you think?” Richard said. “Can you use this?”
Volt picked up the packet and slide out the stack of papers. It was thick, more pages than she’d thought when Sitara had handed it off. The papers rustled as she thumbed through them. Notes, diagrams, schematics… Clearly the girl had been busy, and she seemed to know what she was doing too.
Volt tucked the pages carefully back into their packet with a hopeful smile. “I think letting her look at you turned out to be a good idea. Its detailed, clear, and I think it might just get us somewhere. I’m sure for the parts I don’t know how to do we can find a technician who can. I know a few people.”
“Really huh?” Richard returned her smile. “That’s great news.”
It was, wasn’t it? Volt ran her hand along the edge of the papers. Maybe this whole ordeal would turn out to be worth it after all. It was a weight off her shoulders at least to finally be getting somewhere, to finally have hope that she wouldn’t have to worry about him breaking down beyond repair.
His chair squeaked as he stood with a stretch and a yawn. “Well, I think I might try and get some sleep. You should too.”
“I had a nap in the workshop.”
“Yeah, but does that really count? It’s been a long day.” Richard jerked his head towards the hallway. “I think I saw somewhere comfortable around the corner.”
For a moment Volt considered arguing, but then maybe he was right this time. She sighed, letting her shoulders fall as she slipped off of her chair and tucked the files under her arm. It really had been a long day.
#
Hours later, Zerith announced over the intercom system that they were getting close, and Richard watched the approach through one of the little windows lining the corridor towards the ship’s exit. They passed over mountains, deserts, jungles, prairie, finally slowing as the ship descended over a forest and Volt called for him to hurry up.
They reached the forest floor and just like that, Zerith’s airship was gone, drifting silently farther and farther away until it disappeared over the canopy. Richard craned his neck to stare up at untamed branches tangling from tree to tree, draped with soft moss and laden with verdant leaves. The sunlight that filtered through them reached his shoulders stained green and cool. Even the air felt green, refreshing and earthy.
“You know,” He turned to Volt with a grin. “Of all places to hang out and wait, this isn’t half bad.” He stretched his arms above his head, cracking at least three joints with successive pops. “Don’t you think?”
Volt shrugged, but eyed the ground-level ferns warily. “They really meant it when they said this place was uninhabited.” She swallowed and stepped just a little closer to Richard’s side. “I’ve never been much into camping, there’s too much that could go wrong out here, too much to think about, too many unknowns. How long are we going to have to survive out here? Is it cold at night?” She shook her head with a deep sigh. “I think I prefer cities, at least then I know what to expect.”
“Hey, at least there’s no one here to worry about.” Richard leaned out in front of her, hoping to distract her before she worried herself too much more. “How about we start by having a look around?”
Volt sighed. “Fine.”
She let him lead the way through the undergrowth, watching every stick and leaf and rock with distrust. Sure, she was probably right about some of the things she was worrying about. Neither of them really had a whole lot of outdoors experience, neither really knew how long they were going to be stuck out here for, but for now at least Richard was more focused on how springy the dirt was under his feet and trying to figure out what noises were birds.
He glanced back over his shoulder. “Hey, do you think we’ll see a bear? Like a grizzly bear? I saw some on an old TV show a few weeks ago and they were pretty cool, I hope we get to see one here.”
“What?” Volt shook her head. “No, I sure hope we don’t see a fucking bear. Do you know how big those things are?”
“But they looked so nice just hanging around that river.” He grinned, wide and teasing. “Wouldn’t you want to just go and sit with them? Just hang out with them and—”
Volt gave his arm an exasperated smack. “No! Do not go sit in the fucking river with a bunch of fucking grizzly bears Rick.”
“Okay, okay,” he held his hands up before breaking into another grin. “What about cougars? How about—”
“No!”
“But they look so soft!”
Volt huffed, though by the tiniest tugging of a smile on her lips, she wasn’t as frustrated as she pretended to be. “You know what?” She pointed at him. “Sure. If we see a cougar go right ahead and pet it, see what happens.”
“I will!” Richard gestured dramatically towards himself with a smirk. “I’ll pet it and it’ll purr and it’ll follow us around and fetch—”
“I think you’re thinking of dogs now.” Volt shook her head. “But why not? Go hang out with a pack of wolves while you’re at it.”
“Wolves come packaged?”
Volt sighed again, but this time couldn’t hide an amused smile. Her steps seemed a little less stiff, and her shoulders a little looser. Richard smiled as relief spread sweet through his chest. It was nice to see her starting to relax again.
“Very funny Rick.”
“Thank you. Though I guess by now I’ve scared off most of the wildlife anywhere near—”
Shouts.
Richard snapped his head towards the sound, antenna by the side of his head fanning out and quivering as he tried to find the source of the noise. Volt fell silent by his side. She glanced between him and the direction of the noise, waiting.
“We’re not alone,” Richard whispered. “Something’s happening over there.”
He hurried forward as quickly as he could without noise, Volt following close behind. The shouts got louder, yelling, screaming, snarling, human. The trees thinned out and they crouched behind two side by side trunks, peering out at the edge of the forest.
Crumbling ruins of what might have once been a settlement stood covered in moss and writhing with people fighting inside. Looked like humans, humans fighting against…
“What are those?” Volt stole his words.
They looked like people, but with wings on their backs covered in black and white feathers. A lot of them, fighting against the humans in the ruins.
Volt glanced at Richard. “Are those, are those the beings everyone’s talking about? They aren’t supposed to be here.”
“There aren’t supposed to be people here either.” Richard murmured.
He leaned forward, shifting his weight to one arm and trying to see more of what was going on behind the ruined walls. Something to make sense of the noise and the fighting and the wings. Something wasn’t right.
“Whatever it is,” Volt continued, “It’s none of our business.” She started to turn. “Come on, lets-“
A flash of a dark ponytail caught Richard’s eye and he froze, staring with wide eyes and a quickened heart.
“Will’s in there.”
“What?”
Richard watched, eyes locked on as much as he could see of Will as he fought against the winged people. He looked different, and fought different, but it was him without a doubt. Out of the corner of his eye, Zero was there too.
“Zero too.” Richard’s voice dropped to a growl, something whirring faintly as systems started to activate. “I can’t tell if they’re outnumbered. We can’t leave them.”
“Are you sure about this?” Volt whispered. “We don’t know how long you’ll have to recover between now and when we get sent back home. They could return, whatever they are.”
“If we win now that won’t matter.” His claws dug into the soft dirt, tensing to charge, eyes locked on the ruins ahead. The skin of his arms flushed with blood shunted to the muscle. “We owe them don’t we?”
Volt nodded. “I’ll find somewhere to scout. Watch for me.”
Richard returned the nod and sprung forward, tearing across the short clearing towards the ruins. He leapt the wall and slammed into one of the winged people that knocked Will to the ground before she could attack again. He landed hard on top of her but she slipped out of his grip just in time, escaping with only a gash across her shoulder.
She spun to face him again just as he lunged. He tore at her outstretched arm and pulled her forward, raking claws deep along her side and catching against solid ribs. Blood smeared hot and bright against his skin as she stumbled back, light and dark patches swirling across her skin.
Richard rushed for her again until a flash of red hair and a shout made him whirl. Zero fought two of them, the winged people, his back against a solid stone wall. Magic whirled all around them, fast and violent and desperate.
He ducked around debris scattered from a collapsed roof towards Zero. One of the winged people turned just as Richard caught his elbow and thew her back. He turned on the second and his claws met skin just under her ear as he tore across her neck.
She staggered back, blood welling immediately at the wound. Snarling, Rick turned from her to the other but before he could attack the winged man kicked him back, thrust his arm and sent a shock of magic flying past his ear.
The stone wall collapsed on top of him.
Richard didn’t move, stunned under the weight of the ancient stone on his back. The rock across his shoulders pressed down on his ribcage. He gasped, head spinning when he couldn’t take a breath. The fans, why weren’t the ventilation fans kicking in? They were working just last week. He gasped, heart racing and frantic in his compressed chest.
He shook his head out and brought his elbows in, pushing up just enough to free up space to breathe. His arms shook and his shoulders ached as he caught his breath. Shit. This was going to hurt for a very long time.
His hearing came back loud with shouts and magic crackling through the air, and Will’s voice in his ear.
“—okay? Hang on, Zero! Come help.”
Zero appeared on Richard’s other side, magic swirling over both arms as he helped Will shift the stone enough for him to wriggle himself free. He got to his feet and shook off the dust and pebbles. Good, nothing seemed broken, structurally at least.
“Are you okay?”
Richard gave a thumbs up, scanning the ruins for more of those winged people. They must have been busy elsewhere, fighting within what was left of the building, because for now at least they were alone.
He glanced back at Will and Zero. “What’s going on?”
“The Chikara—those guys with the wings—they captured our friend.” Will answered. “And now they want to take our magic and use it to torture more innocent people and make them fight to the death for eternity.”
For a second he could almost feel cuffs on his wrists and the sting of cold water on broken skin. He growled, narrowing his eye as he caught a glimpse of one of the Chikara through the ruins. “They’re going to regret that when we’re done with them.”
#
Volt skirted the ruins until she found what was left of what was maybe a small tower, maybe not, but definitely tall enough to see over the rest with enough of a ledge to hide. She scrambled up to the top and ducked down behind what was left of the low wall at the top, watching the battle below through cracks in the worn wood.
Glimpsed through the cracks in the structure, there were humans, and there were people with wings, and they fought with what must have been magic. Well, most did. A few looked almost as lost as she felt, fighting however they could. It was messy, disorganized, and whatever it was they were fighting over, it must have been important.
She scanned what she could see of the ruins and swore under her breath. She couldn’t see Richard anywhere.
“Enjoying the view?”
Volt jumped, whirling to be face to face with one of the winged people. Black and white flowed beneath his skin like spilled ink and he tucked his wings behind him. She instinctively reached for her gun before remembering it was still laying useless at home.
She took a deep breath and steadied herself. “What’s going on here?”
The man glanced down at the fight below. “This? This is a fight for our world.” He nodded towards a group of the humans. “These people are traitors dead set on destroying this world with magic they don’t understand. If you help us take care of them, we can help you get home immediately.” He looked at her again. “What do you say?”
Volt kept her mouth shut and eyes locked with his. What was she supposed to say? She glanced down at the ruins below as a movement caught her eye. Will and Zero helping Richard out from under a collapsed wall. She set her jaw and turned to face the winged man again.
Maybe he was right, and Will and Zero and all their friends running around down there were evil traitors hellbent on burning everything to the ground, but what did she care if something happened to this world? Of the two sides, only one had ever done anything for her or Richard.
“I’m afraid you’re too late to win me over.” She took a step back towards the edge of the ruined tower, glancing back over her shoulder to make eye contact with Richard across the ruins. Turning back to the winged man, she held one hand behind her back and beckoned for him.
The man frowned. “Are you sure? Don’t you want to go home?” He took a step towards her. “We can get you there right away, and these are traitors. They’re dangerous.”
Volt backed away, the back of her calf bumping into what was left of the low wall. “In my world I’m considered a traitor too.” She grinned. “A traitor twice over.”
A quick whistle came from the ruins below and Volt stepped up onto the ledge, her heels backed up against the open air.
“Tough luck.”
Before the man could react, Volt dropped from the ledge. Her stomach lurched until Richard broke her fall, catching her from the side and rolling along the ground. They came to a stop and Volt shook herself off, glancing up at the rooftop. The winged man was gone.
“Thanks, Rick.” She turned back to him. “How are you holding up?”
Richard groaned as he dragged himself up but stuck out a thumbs up anyway. “For now.” He grit his teeth and glared. “The Chikara tortured these people. They’re going to pay.”
“Do it.” Volt stood and offered a hand to Richard, her anger mirrored in his face. That winged bastard had the audacity to call them the traitors? “Tear them apart if you want, I’ll take care of you later.” She looked up as Will and Zero appeared, joined by others she didn’t recognize but were probably on their side. “I’ll do what I can, just give the word.”
Mirrors are a common object used to the fullest extent possible to scare the wits out of audiences of horror shows, movies, books, and video games, but why? Why is it, that once we peer into an ordinary piece of glass once, we don’t easily forget it is there even when we turn our backs? These questions came to mind as I binge watched scary videos on YouTube in preparation for Halloween, my favorite holiday due to it’s strange and intriguing nature. None of the supposed “scary videos” frightened me very much until I happened across a video of a baby playing in front of a mirror, and when the baby looked away, the reflection continued staring at the baby as if it was it’s own identity. It immediately scared me so severely, that I physically turned my head away, covering my mouth in horror. Later on in the day, I reflected on the video and began asking myself, “what makes me scared, and why?”
I noticed that in many genuinely terror inducing experiences, mirrors play a role, weather that role is small or large in size compared to the focal point of the story. The creepy Queen in the story of “Snow White” talks with her heinous mirror, the entire story of “Bloody Marry” has you summoning an evil entity from the mirror in a dark, candle-lit room, and even the popular horror game “The Evil Within” utilizes mirrors in the most mind warping and eerie of ways. With all of these media outlets pointing the finger at the “mirror” as what holds our innermost fears, surely, one must wonder why? Why is a sheet of glass so horrifying to look at? Maybe the better, more accurate question is, “Why is it so horrifying to look into?”
First of all, the way in which we talk about “looking into” a mirror says a great deal about the way we feel about them as a culture. We don’t look into a screen, or into a dish plate. The only instance in our language in which we are expected to use the word “Into” is when there is another space on the other side, such as into a window, or into a container” This exception to the rule says to me that there has been a consistent and permeating belief throughout history that the mirror holds a space separate, or perhaps parallel, to the reality that we live in.
When you look into a mirror, it’s as if the glass itself is watching you, perhaps, in some peoples mind, even mocking you, as the reflection moves just as you do. This creates an uneasy and fragile state of mind that can very easily turn to paranoia and fear. The idea of another space behind the glass becomes real and you begin to question weather it is you or the reflection that is real. You begin to see yourself from the mirror’s perspective, perhaps due to the natural human response of empathy toward other sentient beings, feeling for the mirror as if it feels, as you do.
Your identity and sense of control becomes construed, as you are now the observer of your own life, something that was never meant for humans to fully experience, as the truth becomes abundantly apparent in these moments of vulnerability. Insecurities, suppressed feelings, and the darkest corners of our own minds are all seen by these mirrors because the person in the mirror is us.
We never see ourselves outside of glimpsing our image in the mirror and this fact alone could be the source of fear in many people. This would be the equivalent to a someone born blind, gaining sight. It’s frightening because it shatters our own reality that we had built so carefully in our own head. As humans we feel we have to know everything and when something we have believed our entire life to be true is proven false, our entire world ceases to function, it simply shuts down, leading again, to fear, paranoia, and denial. Furthermore, the fact that each of us lives in a different version of this world may surface in the back of our mind as we gaze into the mirror leading us to feel as if, perhaps, we don’t even exist at all, or that there is a puppet master pulling and planning our every move.
Not long ago, I had made use of one of these many “fear theories” without even realizing it. My Roleplay with my sister took a dramatic turn when I realized I had not been imagining mirrors in the palace of the Emperor Mateus, I told her “he’s never had mirrors ever since he slaughtered his parents.” She was wondering why, and so had made Firion, the Emperor’s significant other, question it as well. She then proceeded to make Firion direct The Emperor his art room where a mirror of the old regime lay covered with a sheet. Firion wished him to look upon himself, as he never has in his lifetime. No sooner had I made the reluctant Emperor agree, did she have Firion pull the sheet off of the mirror. Even as I was in character, my initial reaction was to make him scream and fall to the floor in horror, but I had to stop and wonder why. That reaction didn’t seem logical, considering he is known for being arrogant, full of himself, and confident beyond compare, so I thought it strange that my reaction was to make him be frightened.
Upon further examination, the true nature of this encounter began to make a bit more sense. In this instance he had never seen himself so he had no idea what to expect, and as he looked into the mirror his misdeeds, unjust rule, and manipulation of enemy and friend alike had become clear to him and was exposed for what they truly were, evil. He was forced to face himself and concede to the fact that he is real and his actions had real consequences, while also fearing he was not the one in control as he had glimpsed his heinous crimes and felt something close to sympathy for the first time, causing his unconscious mind to believe that the person he saw in the mirror was the actual mastermind, as opposed to himself. This situation is an accurate representation of “fearing another dimension, fearing the truth, and fearing the “puppet master”.
Whatever you identify to be the cause of your fear of mirrors, I hope you have a Safe and happy Halloween tomorrow night. This has just been some previously unwritten thoughts by someone obsessed with the human mind, thought patterns, and psychology. Happy Halloween!
