First Duel

[misplacedxsheath]

*There is a very irate looking man glaring out through the feed, although he looks like the kind of person who considers 'irate' his base state.*

An antiquated communications device to say the least, but no matter. Someone had better be on the other end of this pathetic thing and ready to answer my questions. I find it highly questionable that this is any sort of afterlife, but I'm quite certain that explosion would have been fatal. Since the only remaining explanation is that someone saw fit to violate the Species Preservation Act to revive me, I want to know who and why, and for what purpose I've been left in this ridiculous reproduction of an ancient city.

Comments

1/2 - It begins.

[namedforcat]

[No. NO. God damn it, was this place out to get him? First his brothers leave, and who comes from home? Commander Margulis.

Not Mary. Not Shelly. Hell, Gaignun would have preferred anyone over this guy. Still, he has to say something.]

2/2

[namedforcat]

Well well, if it isn't Margulis. So glad you could join us.

[He sounds so glad. So very glad.]

1/2

[misplacedxsheath]

URTV?

2/2

[misplacedxsheath]

Hmph, maybe this is Hell after all.

Re: 2/2

[namedforcat]

I would appreciate it if you didn't call me that. And no, this isn't hell. If it was, I could imagine a few people that would be here and I honestly don't see them around.

[misplacedxsheath]

Then explain to me how it is that I went from Michtam to meeting one of the people near the top of my list of undesiarables.

[namedforcat]

I'm so glad you have such a high opinion of me, it truly means a lot. As for your rather understandable question, I'm afraid I have no answer that would satisfy you.

We don't really know who has brought us all here, and for what purpose. Some grand experiment by some beings we haven't met yet I suppose. However, I think if you were able to squelch your zelot-like impulses, you'd fit in rather nicely. After all, there are monsters to combat every night.

[misplacedxsheath]

*Was that an annoyed growl at the mention of his 'zealot-like impulses'?*

So in other words, I've gone from being the pawn of one so-called higher being to the lab rat of another, and I'm still surrounded by hostile entities like the Gnosis.

[namedforcat]

You will be happy to know that these 'shadows' are much easier to dispatch then Gnosis, as they have no other plain to retreat to. Also, none of that 'turning to salt' or transforming into one nonsense.

But yes. We're still pawns, and like lab rats we must take our bites at our tormenters fingers where we can.

Oh, by the way, welcome to Lost Jerusalem, the locals call it Earth.

[misplacedxsheath]

I've already heard about the nature of our location. I suppose I have to take my blessings where I can find them, even if they are assurances that it could be worse or tainted by the fact that I have to put up with the likes of you on the planet I've fought so hard to reach.

[namedforcat]

Count yourself lucky that it is only me that you have to endure.

[misplacedxsheath]

Oh? I suppose that would be why you're not hiding behind your elder brother like you usually do when it comes to dealing directly with me?

[namedforcat]

[Ouch, right in the feels, but he wont show it on his face.]

I had my duties, and he had his. It just so happened that he dealt with those missions.

[misplacedxsheath]

*Bullseye.*

Of course. But one URTV is still one more than I care to deal with.

[truthsnomiracle]

This isn't a reproduction, though the island it's built upon is artificial. As best anyone can discern, everyone furnished with one of these phones has been kidnapped from across space and time.

[misplacedxsheath]

Are you trying to claim that this really is Lost Jerusalem?

[truthsnomiracle]

(That name for this place...)

It is my understanding that in your universe, at the time you and certain others here are from, Earth has come to be known by that name.

[misplacedxsheath]

Earth...that is indeed the name mankind gave to that planet when it still served as the host of human civilization. Few outside of Ormus' upper ranks are aware of that...then this really is that place?

[truthsnomiracle]

Yes and no. It is the same planet, but in a parallel universe -- and yes, I fully realize how implausible that sounds. Unfortunately, the tale grows far stranger.

[misplacedxsheath]

Implausible, yes...but given recent events, I'm disinclined to simply write something off as impossible even if it does seem to violate the concepts I believed to be accurate.

[truthsnomiracle]

Then perhaps you'll find the legacy of one of the kidnappees who has since vanished to be informative even before you see the proof for yourself. I apologize for his typography.

[Have a text containing a link to this.]

[misplacedxsheath]

*Stare. Stare. Stare.*

Your apology is noted and appropriate. However, childish color gimmicks and horrendous grammar aside, this does seem useful. I've already heard tell of the Shadows from one of those "certain others" from my own universe, but unsurprisingly, he neglected to mention any housing arrangements or abilities granted by this place.

[truthsnomiracle]

The only two people I know of from your world who yet remain have shown themselves to be good men thus far, to say nothing of being people I can engage in proper debates with.

[misplacedxsheath]

Then you haven't seen what the URTV is truly capable of. I've lost hundreds of good men, not to mention several relics sacred to my people, because of his so-called Foundation.

[truthsnomiracle]

(Perhaps it would be prudent to hear this man's side of the story and question the others concerning it.)

Elaborate.