Post by Frostbite on Mar 23, 2006 15:16:24 GMT -5
Blood from the Stone
Prologue
A few years before the present day, the Markov family was ruling over their country, Markovia. They have ruled over their land for generations. Markovia was prosperous place. It had no wars, no conflicts with other countries, it was in peace with everyone. But the peace wouldn't last forever. Soon, invading countries started to rebel against Markovia. They attacked the innocent country, declaring war that would last for years.
The three heirs to rule was the king's children, Carta, the oldest and first to the throne, Gelo, the only son and second to rule, and Tara, the youngest of the family. Their mother died after a few years of their births. The endless war broke the family apart. The day the war started, the children were completely unaware of what would happen.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Gelo, the prince of Markovia, was studying outside with his personal advisor. His advisor was a tall, lean figure with slick dark brown hair, wearing a small pair of glasses. Gelo had short light brown hair. His eyes were of a blue color, a common trait of the royal bloodline. He was dressed in fairly nice clothing, which a prince always wore. Gelo was of only the age of 12 years. He was studying hard on his aged textbook with the title printed in bold golden letters "Markovian Poetry". Literature was his favorite subject. He was sitting on a quilt on a field of short bladed grass, reading the weathered book.
" Ge--lo!" a small voice yelled over the field. He raised his head to see his youngest sister, Tara, holding hands with Carta, his older sibling. They both had golden blonde hair, their hair flowing down past their waist. They also both wore the same dresses, paired with the colors of their blue eyes like their brother. The only difference of them was their age, Carta being 13, while Tara was between 7 and 8 years old.
Tara was waving at Gelo while still holding on to Carta. He returned the wave and saw them running through the fields towards him. Soon, they all three was sitting in a circle, laughing and playing along to Markovian rhymes they would sing together. As they were playing, a far off siren started to scram a loud warning alarm. The children looked around to see what was going along. Up above, large war planes were flying high above them in large clusters, casting large shadows on the ground below. An emblem was painted along the sides of the planes, but couldn't be identified
" Sister, what's happening?" young Tara said, clenching to Carta. Carta stared at the foreign planes, wondering what to do. Gelo's advisor came running towards the children. "Come children, we must return inside" he said, bringing them with him. They all quickly returned inside the Markovian Castle. Tara was starting to run behind while holding on to Carta's hand. " Sister, wait!" Tara squealed, trying to keep up. Carta paused for a second to lift her up. She continued to run inside with Tara's arms wrapped around her neck.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Later on, when the three Markov children returned to their father in the throne room. The room was vastly decorated with red tapestries and the Markovian crest decorating the walls. The king's throne was at one end of the throne room, with the king sitting in it. The royal advisor stood in front of the throne, discussing recent matters with the king.
" So, what is the meaning of the recent alarm?" the king asked.
" It seems that we've come under attack from invading armies along the border of our country limits." the advisor replied, pushing his glasses back on his nose.
" Hmm.... It seems we're finally at war... Do we know yet who is responsible?"
" It seems that most army forces come the surrounding countries, but the main attack force is directed by the country of...." The advisor was saying, but looked at Gelo, Tara, and Carta
" Children, I think it would be best if you return to bed early tonight"
The children looked at their father, and he nodded in agreement, "Yes, I agree. You all need a good night's rest"
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
That night, the siblings were restless. They stayed awake, thinking of what was happening.
"War?....why would we be at war?"Gelo said as the all sat atop of his bed, dressed in their pajamas.
"I'm not sure, brother. But, we'll get though it, somehow." Carta said, holding a sleepy Tara in her arms.
"...but still why?" Gelo questioned again, "Why do they attack, and why now?"
"I suppose that nearby countries want more land and overthrow Father..." Carta answered, cradling Tara to sleep
A long silence grew between them.
"Now come on, let's try to get some sleep, brother." she said, laying sleeping Tara down on the bed
"......okay.."he reluctantly answered and done the same thing as his sisters.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Back in the throne room, the king and his advisor was discussing plans for the future. The king sat silent, studying what has recently happened
".....What do you suggest we do?" he finally said
"Well, sire. We currently have no strong armies due to surprise attacks which doesn't leave us very much to work with. The army we do have will only hold of attack for only a short time." the advisor replied
"But I do have a suggestion, sire."
He pulled out a light brown folder that he was holding.
"We could continue our experiments that we've delayed..." he continued
"...but in order to do that, we have to continue them, on your children..."
"Never!" the king yelled out, rising from his throne "I'll never let you experiment on my only children!"
"But sire," the adviser said coolly ", they could become the perfect super soldiers that we need. They will help us win this war"
The king grew silent, thinking of all the possibilities ahead of him. After a few minutes consulting the problem to himself, he reluctantly replied
"Fine...I'll allow the experiments to go on"
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
For the next few years, Carta, Gelo, and Tara were worked upon to be transformed into the perfect fighting force. The experiments were horrible. The children had to undergo many chemical surgeries to change their genetically structure. Flesh samples had to be taken to record the growth progression on their powers. It seems like torture, isolated away from each other and go through painful tests. The war outside was getting closer to the capital of Markovia.
At night, young Tara would cry through the night until she fell asleep. She was always afraid, lonely. Soon, her powers grew strong and erupted every time she cried.
One night, her powers grew too strong. She was crying again, like every night. Her yells could be heard through the large, hollow laboratory. Eruptions shocked through the entire building. Carta held on to the bars of her cell door, trying to yank them down.
"Please, let me out of here, she needs me!" Carta yelled out as she continued to pull. The scientists outside ignored Carta.
Tara's crying continued as the quakes grew stronger. Carta started to hit the door with her fists.
"I said let me out!!!" Carta screamed out as her eyes glowed a golden color. She punched the door again with such force, the door shot out and impaled the wall. Carta dashed out of her cell and down the hallway, her eyes still glowing. As the scientist tried to stop her, she just pushed them aside and continued towards Tara's cell. She reached her cell door and deliver another punch at the thick iron door and busted it open.
Tara was kneeling on the floor at the corner of the cell. Her eyes were also glowing yellow and her hair floating. Tears streamed her face as she tried to hold her powers in. Carta quickly grabbed hold of her, trying to soothe her.
"It's okay, now. I'm here..."Carta said, her eyes returning to normal. Tara slowly started to calm down, the earthquakes ceasing. Her eyes turned back to their original color. Small sobs escaped out as Carta cradled her back and forth, calming her down.
"I miss mom..."Tara forced out between her sobs, holding on to Carta.
"I miss her too Tara, but everything is going to be okay..." Carta said
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Finally, the experiments were completed, and successful. The three children were finally transformed into the soldiers they were meant to be.
Carta developed powers of control over earth, metal, and rock, to control and shape from her own will. She was given the code-name 'Cotta'.
Gelo's powers controlled over forces of gravity and lava, and to control them like his sister. He was given the code-name 'Geo Force'.
But Tara's powers were a bit unbalanced. She could control all of earth based powers, but at a cost. Sometimes they would overpower her and erupt out. The code-name for her was 'Tara'.
The scientists who developed the experiment also had to develop safety inhibitors for Tara, which were large mechanical gloves and boots. The gloves covered her entire lower arms and the hands were larger than her real hands with a large triangular, smooth, green gems on the back of the gloves. The boots also covered all of her lower legs, giving her an added height. The boots also had the same kind of gems on the knees. Both the boots and gloves had a solid black metal covering.
All three of them were sent to the front lines of battle immediately. As they fought in the war, the army of Markovia began to push back the invading forces. They were the keys to success in the war. Thing were starting to look better until the war was brought home. There was a surprise attack at the capital city.
This fight would end the long fought war of Markovia.
The foreign army forces were penetrating the defense wall that the Markovian army had created. They were losing men at a fast pace, but special reinforcements were to soon arrive. Up above the clash, a Markovian helicopter was flying high over the city. Geo, Terra, and Cotta were aboard the vehicle, reviewing over their plan.
Cotta was wearing a white A-shirt and her camouflage baggy camo jeans with black leather combat boots. She was also wearing her fingerless leather gloves with metal armlets, metal shin guards, and metal shoulder pads strapped on by leather straps over her chest. Around her neck, she wore goggles that both her and Terra had.
"Okay, Geo...you drop off here, " She said, pointing to a large map of the city on the floor, " at the city walls and create a barricade between the armies and the city.
"We can't afford to let them in, so your job is to defend the city and army." Cotta continued to say, pointing at Geo.
Geo was wearing a black jumpsuit with yellow claw mark designs over it. He was armored with metal guards all over his arms and legs.
"Terra, you arrive here, " Cotta said to her sister, pointing at a different position on the same map, "at the turret tower to provide distant support for us, okay?"
Terra slowly nodded in agreement with her sister. She was wearing a black, long sleeved shirt and yellow shorts with a large leather belt across her waist. She wore goggles around her neck that were identical to the ones Cotta had.
"And whatever you do, do not leave this spot for any reason." Cotta said to Terra with a heavy tone.
"I will drop off here, and I'll provide an attack behind enemy lines." she said as she pointed to a new location on the map. "I'll force through them and take them out. Does everybody understand what to do?"
Geo and Terra nodded in agreement. "Okay, lets go!!!"
Cotta jumped out of the helicopter first, forming an dive formation as dust in the air clumped together to form claws on her lower arms and armor for her legs. She landed on her feet with a strong force that formed a crater with spreading cracks on the ground. Tall rock spires spiked through the earth as she threw her glowing hands out, destroying nearby attack vehicles.
Geo was the second to jump out of the helicopter, softly landing at his point bu using his powers to slow him down. He immediately started working on building a barrier for the city. He casted his powers to create magma geysers through the invading army's vicinity.
Terra was the last to jump out, only to land on a flying boulder platform she raised with her powers and flew off to her destination. She landed atop of the turret towers and started her attack. She stretched her arms straight forward, her mechanical hands glowing yellow. Far off in the distance, gigantic towers of stone of 50 yards in diameter rose out of the ground.
Cotta ran through the crowds at high speed, clawing away the soldiers. She was also forcing walls of earth out to block attacks. After a few minutes of this strategy, she slammed her hands down to create a huge mud wave that swept over everything around her and engulfed all of the nearby soldiers into the ground.
Geo held his position well as he continued to shower his enemy in magma and kept his support strong for the city walls. Geo noticed movement in the air above the city. A fearful expression burst across his face as he realized what it was. He immediately yelled in his intercom unit on his ear
"Terra, Bombers!!!"
Terra quickly looked at the sky to see the planes. There were dozens of black jets in the sky, ready to attack. She pointed her hands at the jets as she concentrated hard at the planes as her entire body started to glow. The bombers above started to shake violently as they were decompressing, quickly ending in a large explosion. Many explosions lightened up the sky as all the bombers were destroyed.
"Good job, Terra" Geo said over the intercom, congratulating her on her work.
In the midst of the battle, special orders were given out to a sniper in the invading army. "Take out the one on the tower, she's depleting our forces." a commanding voice ordered in the soldiers intercom unit in his helmet. The slodier aimed his sniper rifle at Terra on the tower.
A moment later, loud gunshots could be heard even over the noise of the battle.
Cotta directed her view to where Terra was supposed to be, only to see something falling off the tower. A look of fear filled her face as she realized what just took place.
"Oh my God! Terra's down. I repeat, Terra is down!!!" Cotta yelled into the microphone, flying towards the city at a high speed on a boulder
"Cotta, you have to stay in your position."Geo replied as he saw her fly over the city walls.
"Cotta!" he yelled as the invading army started to force their way through his barricade. Cotta continued to fly, ignoring everything. She soon landed at the tower where Terra was last seen. She looked around, trying to find Terra.
"Terra....! Te-----rra!!!"
Cotta finally looked in horror as she found Terra. Terra was laying on the ground, still....silent....There were three gunshot holes on her, two in her chest, on in her left temple, and with blood pouring out her ears, mouth, and wounds
......dead......
Cotta quickly ran to Terra side and held her body in her arms. She felt cold, limp, lifeless. Her eyes were wide open, just staring up. her mouth was slightly open with a small stream of blood pouring out the side of her mouth. Terra, a soldier of Markovia, died at the young age of 12 years. Cotta's arms started to quiver as tears started to pour down her face. Her eyes started to glow yellow again as she sobbed. Her tears turned into glowing yellow droplets. Her tears dripped off her cheeks and gently splashed against Terra's face. Her sobs echoed out throught the deserted city as gunshots continued to sound through the air.
Tremors could be felt throught the battlefield as Cotta's inner emotions started to burst out. Her grip on Terra's body became tight as she screamed. Her earthen auroa grew large and bright as the tremors grew strong.
Geo turned as he felt the quakes. He and everyone else was overtaken by duststorms that grew immensely. Everyone in the vincinity of the battlefield faelt the wraith of Cotta as eathquakes and duststorms raged on, destroying everything.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
A few hours after the disaster, a lone figure was left standing on the ruins of battle.
Cotta stood atop of a collapsed building, viewing the devestated city she had caused. There were many cuts on her arms and legs that have torn through her clothing. Blood started to mix with her tears as she was still crying. One thing that was most noticable about her was her eyes. They were now slit like a feline's eye with yellow iris'.
She walked through the wreckage around her, trying to get through. She stopped by a destroyed vehicle that belonged to the foreign country and picked up a piece of metal from it, which had a painted emblem on it.
"I swear.....bu the blood of in my tears and of my sister....that I shall avenge my country....and my sister..." she said as she tossed the metal to the side and continued to walk off.
The emblem of the foreign country was painted on the metal, which included 13 white and red strped and a blue box with 50 white stars.