THE FRACTURED WORLD: ARRIVAL

[modormenace]

 

A

rrival for some goes all but unnoticed. It's a sudden shiver, the sensation of being watched... and then nothing at all. Life continues serenely as it always has. The only indication of any change comes with sleep, wrapped in dreams: vague and distant echo imagery of another life, melting away in the morning.

 

F

or others, arrival is a sharp jolt. In the space of a single blink, they find themselves in an unfamiliar world, surrounded by the trappings of a life they have not lived. They are replacements, spirits taking possession of bodies belonging to people very much like themselves...

 

A

nd for the rest, arrival is a procedure. Routine. Those ported in to the Fractured World wake hazily in the comfortably dim light of the Porter room, laid out on an exam table. Their wounds, if they remember having any, have been healed— and even those who remember their own deaths find themselves miraculously restored. As they regain consciousness, an automatic audio-visual presentation is triggered. Regardless of their backgrounds or physiology, all imPorts 'see' and 'hear' this message as if in their own language:

"Greetings, imPort."

The voice is calm and gently authoritative, almost certainly selected by committee.

"On behalf of the Synod and all imPorts it represents, we welcome you to the planet Earth."

A decidedly non-humanoid robotic arm holds out a palm-sized device and rather insistently demands the new arrival take it. This is the imPort's comm, used for accessing the Porter's database of information, as well as the communications Network— though it won't receive communications from outside the Porter building until carried through one of the many Gates set up in a long, crescent-shaped array on the far side of the room.

As each Gate is approached, information about the faction it leads to flashes up on the comm device's screen. Which will you choose?

THE WHITE TOWER SANCTUM AURORAE KRAKOA HOUSE OF M EMPIRE OF LIGHT EQUALITY BEFORE LAW THE TWIN CITIES OLIN VALE EDEN SEEKERS OF THE NEW DAWN NORTHWESTERN IMPERIUM GREEN PIECE MAD BURNISH LUMINARY

Comments

[xue_yang]

"What if I did? Is that so strange to believe? What I desire is impossible unless you can bring people back from the dead." And he already knows that no matter what kind of powers a person has, a shattered soul is impossible to put back together.

"I heard this place was a little more lax when it comes to traditional rules and regulations. And I'm not very good at following the rules."

[nightmarist]

The Greywaren doesn't confirm or deny whether he can bring people back from the dead. The mask's lips approximate a smile, though there's little warmth to be found in a smile that's cut into a broken mirror.

"It's true," he says. "There is no law. Only opportunity. Is that going to be boring for you, bad boy?"

[xue_yang]

Xue Yang doesn't need anything or want for anything already. He isn't a greedy person and he has no desires other then to be able to enjoy life his way. Something that doesn't seem possible out in the world where the other factions are in charge.

"How can opportunity be boring? Isn't the point of opportunity to make your life more exciting? Pretty sure I'll be able to handle a place with no law."

[nightmarist]

"Then you'll fit right in."

Which could be a warning, if Xue Yang is keen enough to catch that slight shift in tone. Everyone who's survived in this place so far can handle themselves just as well, and the Greywaren has seen more than one novitiate throw themselves at opportunity with too much confidence and too little skill.

"I don't often meet someone who has absolutely no need for me."

[xue_yang]

He does notice that slight shift and it makes him curious. Xue Yang might be young but he is crafty and has always been able to get out of sticky situations. Having excellent sword combat skills combined with magic at his disposal has also made him cocky about being able to navigate dangerous encounters. That could eventually be his downfall but so far no one has been able to take him down a notch.

"Oh? Then I guess the ones that come to you don't know how to fend for themselves." He grew up on the streets. He has known what it was like to crave for that which he couldn't have. But it also made him learn he didn't need such things.

"What kinds of requests do people normally make?"

[nightmarist]

"Normally..." the Greywaren repeats, as if the concept is an absurd and foreign one. Is there anything normal about a dream?

"The first thing people ask for is wealth. Gold, diamonds, treasure... Before they understand how worthless all of that is in a place like this. Then they want weapons, to feel big and strong and vanquish their enemies. When they find out the hard way that their enemies have asked me for the same weapons, they come back and beg to be healed."

All of this, apparently, strikes him as exceedingly dull.

"Eventually, when they've worked the mundane out of their system, their imagination comes to life. Then there's no such thing as normal. That's when everything becomes unique."

[xue_yang]

"People really don't have any originality, do they? Well I certainly don't need a weapon. I have my own that I prefer to use. And I have no use for money or treasures. Anything I want I can get myself."

But he does wonder what it is that people request when they finally use their imagination.

"So you grant more then one wish? I would think that this would be a one and done kind of deal. Make it count when you can."

[nightmarist]

"That's how this sort of thing tends to go, right?"

A perfectly reasonable assumption.

"It's the Supreme Leader who made that one wish: to create a haven for the ones society threw away. And part of that wish was to ensure that the ones who came here could have everything they desired. You can thank him for his generosity. Yes: I grant more than one. If I give you what you ask for today, you can come here again tomorrow to ask for something new. Everything in this city is an answer to someone's prayer. There was nothing but ice and dirt before I came here."

[xue_yang]

"Having everything I desire would be kind of dull. Where is the fun if all I have to do is ask for it from you?"

But it does seem a waste to come here and be told he can have anything he wants and leave empty handed. But he has never had anyone willing to grant him a wish, let alone one that could be anything.

"What if I were to desire to have the power to grant my own wishes without having to come here to you?"

[nightmarist]

The Greywaren makes a soft sound of amusement, folding his hands.

"Didn't you just say you already have that power? 'Anything I want, I can get myself'?"

[xue_yang]

"I can and I do. But it makes me curious if you can actually grant anything. If you can, then you could just grant everyone that wish so that they would stop bothering you with pointless requests."

Xue Yang figures there has to be an answer to make things easier and definitely a way to stop all the boring wishes from coming through here on a daily basis.

[nightmarist]

"They aren't pointless requests," the Greywaren says, "and I'm not bothered by them."

There's always one who thinks he's so clever, as if he's the very first to ask.

"Pointless would be giving you an ability that you say you already have."

[xue_yang]

He smirks, rather amused by this thing whatever it is, human or otherwise. "Then I might have to be one of those that comes back a second time when I have had time to consider what it is that I can't get myself. I wouldn't want my request to bore you."

[nightmarist]

The Greywaren smiles, grotesque and mirthful, the mirrored shards of his face glinting where they catch the light.

"It'll be my pleasure to grant such an interesting wish."

[xue_yang]

He turns to head back out the door so that the next person can have their wish granted. He has much he wants to see still in this new place. "Hope the rest of your wishes today are interesting."