City of IF

[Phang]

...it must be done...I shall try to keep it silent from all others...

*~*~*

"Winger..." she jerked upright as she heard the hissing voice in her head, and soon that fateful day from her childhood was recalled to her conscious. "The truth draws near..." she glanced around. What was the truth? She didn't see anything drawing near...

"Winger..." she jerked upright yet again as the voice came back. She fought back with her mind, blocking and ignoring the voice. Huddled in the corner, she was safe from this truth...until a slap around the face brought her back.

"WINGER! What are you doing?" the Master stood in front of her, his hood barely disguising a face full of rage. "How could you defend your mind so readily?"

"I...I don't know. W-was that first voice...someone else?"

"What first voice?"

"Someone told me...the truth draws near...then I heard you, and I thought it was them. It was like you..." the Master looked around, scanning the area with his unnaturally blue eyes, before taking Winger by the dark grey hand and pulling her up from the ground.

"Come," he said, "I think I may be able to solve this."


While they walked to the Master's hall, which held the appropriate equipment for his tamperings with the mind, he explained to Winger about what he had worked out about her experience from childhood.

"They are called Silambra, this tribe particularly are called the Laron Silambra - Lords of the Down Below, ruling with mind and in often cases, their vicious abilities. However, their leader is capable of culling all creatures within a distinct space by mere thought - he has trained his brain to think about 100 individual things at once, in the same priority, and with separate priorities, up to 500. Just imagine - being able to kill 500 things individually, in less than half an hour!"

Winger thought about it, and was glad she had rejected the Laron Silam's offer - then again, the Laron Silambra seemed the kind who wouldn't accept rejection in a friendly manner. The Master continued: "I had aspirations to overtake the leader. Hopefully I could bring them to see sense, that a life of harsh violence in the Down Below was not right for them. But they sensed my ideas, and hated me for them. The leader is rarely overtaken, as he can sense rebellion and destroy it far too simply. It requires cunning which I did not know of - I was too busy training my thought."

"So why are you here?"

"Patience, I have just come to that! They threw me out as an evil being. I was left for the Echoers - "

"Echoers?"

"I shall explain later. But for then, they forgot how powerful I had become. I killed an Echoer, and injured others - in fact, there is only one Echoer left. You have seen it, though that comes later. Anyway, through much struggling, I reached the Above - the lush forest that it was then. After the Echoers, making my way through that was easy. Then came your kind - the humans." he looked up, remembering ancient things only he knew of - and continued again. "Humans were peculiar then. They lived in a small village, right next to the ruins that are now the Factory. They were suspicious of such ruins. But I soon brought them round..."

"How many did you kill, Ra - " the Master swatted the voice away with his hand, and it slipped from their minds. He remained silent for a minute, and Winger felt a strange presence in the air. She heard things, small, undecipherable whispers, then nothing. The Master continued yet again, certain this time that there would be no interruptions.

"The rest is nothing, until you came. You may know that you were the only success in an experiment, unique in your traits. But on that day in your childhood, those animal streaks in your personality revealed themselves to be far more than odd behaviour and abilities. You have a connection to the Down Below...that is what drew you to dare yourself and your friends down there. It could even be that the Scarva Hawks sensed this, and attacked through fear, or a subconscious command...there is much we don't know. But I know that later on, you had a dream. I tried to protect you from the Laron Silambra, and the Laron Silam who speaks in people's minds, but I lost control when you agreed to go with me. Their rage is unbelievable towards me, and they directed their hatred towards you." he held Winger close. "I am not a Laron Silambra any more. Life in the Above has changed me, as you see. I am more human than Silam, as you are more human than beast, I am sure of it. We can sever this connection. We can protect the rest from the Silambra. You can be happy, without what they call the truth." Winger nodded slowly, a million thoughts about the vicious Laron Silambra running through her mind. She noticed the scars on the Master's chest pulsing slightly, and noticed the pattern they formed: some strange, roaring plant, and three slit-eyes hovering above it. It gleamed a flaming red.


They entered the hall, and Winger was amazed - the Master had many things to control the Factory with. There was even the glowing map of the Factory and its surroundings, legendary amongst the children, as Winger knew. But the Master guided her towards a chair, surrounded by harsh metal objects pointing towards it, hanging precariously from a spinning orb-balance. Mist diamonds lit the gloom inside the contraption. "Enter," commanded the Master, "This thing can reprogram your subconscious. You will never be a part of the Down Below again."

Laron Silambra, I call to thee...

Winger clambered over the black rusted spines, and snuggled herself into the seat. It was like some demonic shell.

Rabarra, the truth she seeks...

The Master glanced around, shrugged, and turned back to Winger. Taking the scratched, battered door, patched with blood-red rocky metal, he slammed it shut, leaving Winger in the blackness of the dreadful cavern.

Rabarra...Rabarra...the truth she seeks...she must hear the truth...

The mist diamonds gleamed, lighting the shell. Lightning-flickering spikes shuddered with power.

Rabarra...Laron Silam...tarathera! Tarathera!

The sheer force of the powerful objects destroyed the darkness...when suddenly...

TARATHERA!

...she heard.

"...perfect. Absolutely perfect. What idiots they are, for they have given me an excuse to ensure she accepts my demands completely!" Winger was confused, and near-blinded in the storm of powerful light. "Now I may breed her with her father, now I shall completely improve the Factory! It is brilliant of them to choose this day to speak to her!" Slowly, the truth hit Winger. The Master could make her do anything with this machine - even breed with her father. All he cared about was to improve the Factory with a race of half-animal beings - just like her, just like her parents. Then he would... "Kill the rest of them, I might as well order their deaths now! This must work, the machine is tuned so finely...!" Winger knew what she had to do. Jumping up from the seat she ripped away spines, scorching her hands with the light. She screamed, and then sensed the Master hear.

"...is anything wrong?"

"No. Everything is perfect...remember?" the Master snarled, and inside the black shell Winger cheered inside her head. The Laron Silam, the one who spoke inside people's minds...he was here. "Keep going...I will protect you..." he whispered in her head, and Winger felt the power as she destroyed the spines surrounding her, trapping her inside. Outside, the two influences on her mind fought.

"You have lied to them all! You always wished to rule!"

"And what did you do? Sit around in fear of that murderous leader of yours?!"

"The ability to kill does not mean you must!"

"Tell that to Kamera!" there was a dreadful silence. Winger sensed somehow that to call a tribe leader by their name was an awful crime to the Silambra. She was right. "What?" scoffed the Master, "I am not a member of any tribe! He is Kamera to me and should be to all!" there were then two bellowing cries - of the Laron Silam as he leapt at the Master, and the Master as he yelled in surprise and rage. The two exchanged mighty psychic blows, and Winger could feel the after effects from where she was as she now went to battering down the door with strengthened fists. It bent, buckled, and shattered, leaving black metal on the floor. The Laron Silam glanced at her as he struggled against the might of the Master.

"Go! Run! Leave this awful place!" he screamed. "If you return home, tell the Laron Silambra Mern is dead, and Rabarra seeks their downfall!" the Master turned to look at her too - his hood was down and his face was twisted into an awful snarl, his blue eyes shining blindingly, his mouth full of bloody, chipped teeth. The scars on his chest pulsed with a flaming fury, and the power emanating from him was awesome. Mern stood no chance, hold him off as much as he could. Winger obeyed his last wishes - and ran.


She ran like nothing had ever ran before and ever would run after, flapping her wings to glide across the ground leaving shocked humans in her wake. She was no longer one of them now - she was an animal, like she should have become many years ago.

But as she reached the crags near to the remaining forest, she stopped. Could she face the Down Below again? Didn't the animals she belonged with live in the forests? She turned back - and heard a vicious, blood-curdling scream, and the commotion it caused from the humans.

What would happen to her parents? Her friends? What would happen if she escaped the vicious grasp of the insanely murderous Master? Could she still trust the Silambra anyway? What could she do?...

[ethereal_fauna]

Tough decision, to escape but then not really be free. Her escape is only a temporary reprieve. Returning to the Down Below most likely won't solve anything for her immediately, and I wonder if it would be best for her to stay Above and try to empower herself in some way...is that even possible?

Her concern for her parents and the other humans is a fleeting emotion easily buried, and Winger ultimately is going to look out for her own desires.

[Smee]

A very good chapter Phang...

Knowing what to believe seems the hardest thing, although the Master seems to have shown his true colours now.

If she can mask her location I think she should stay in the above for the time being and seek somewhere safe to stop, rest and gather her thoughts.

So many lies and confusion is not a good basis for choosing anything yet.

Happy Writing. :)

[Phang]

Woohoo! Replies! :P :clap:

[Phang]

Ok then, now I have the time I'm putting up the poll. Well, I'll leave it a while for anyone else to make any handy comments, in the meantime, I'll go bump Dreadmaze.

[Shady Stoat]

I think Smee's right. She's been told too much. Now it's time to get some experience for herself and find out what's true and what isn't. Away from the Master, preferably!

[Phang]

Ok, poll time!

Most of you seem to be going for staying Above, though there are also different takes on that, and the Down Below, being the location of the Silambra, would be most likely the best place to seek truth. But hey.

[ethereal_fauna]

I believe she'll be better off staying Above for awhile. She can return to seek the Silambra later if she wishes, but for now she needs to concentrate on her.

[Night Walker]

i think that she should stay Above and try to remain hidden and gather her toughts.After that she could go back to Down Under to seek out Silambra

[Phang]

And the poll is now officially CLOSED! A day late, but it would've been even later were I not ill from cold and blood loss, and therefore at home with access to a computer (this is also good for Crash/Ripsaw878/[:Duel Rox:], as he will be able to go on after me earlier). A new chapter shall be coming soon.

Did you not have enough time to vote? Send complaints to my donkey (heheh) because it's your fault, you unperceptive new post search-virgin.