The World Asunder

[Parakarry]

"Well then. I suppose we'll have to do this the hard way."

Tal proceeded to jump high into the air and then dive downwards at a high-speed into the ground. His claws dug into the soil and he continued to burrow until he was dar away from the miners.

There was no way I was going to fight those miners! Too bad I had to do this the "hard way," now I'm exhausted!

 

[Johaggis]

"Your plane is in Lower Avalon! In case you forgot, that place is practically a war zone right now! I found another way out, and I'm wondering if you need us to fly you out of there. We might be able to return you to your plane, if you want.

Leo then turned around from the cockpit. "Wait, Kai? Kai Fishwash? Put him on, I haven't talked to him in ages!

Weidr looked at Leo, then continued, "Hold that thought Kai, Leo wants to talk to you. I'm putting him on." Weidr got up and walked to the cockpit, handing Leo the communicator.

Meanwhile, Gale replied to Ansa. "Not that I've ever heard of. There have been splinters of varying intelligence, but aside from trying to persuade the smarter ones, I don't know how you would. Why do you ask?"

 

[Lennox]

"Eh, I'm sure it's fine, she's a durable one. Leo? Oh hey how's it going, what're you doing castleside?"

"Oh, not much, just working for some scientist. Private pilot, good gig. You?"

"Working for that hairy fuсk you were just talking to. Take care of him, he's got troubles. Anyway, thanks for the offer but I think I'm gonna be here for a little bit. You gonna be back around any time soon?"

"Most likely not, but let me know next time you're in Lokasen, let's grab a drink."

"Done. Oh, I think I'm about to be on the radio by the way. Tune in, maybe I won't fuсk it up too bad. Don't let the sky kill you!"

"Haven't yet!"

 

[GigaRidley]

"Well, there was a young man who tried to stop us from destroying what was generating the Splinters. He said his name was... Pumice, I think? He called that giant beast his pet."

 

[Johaggis]

"Well, I'm sure he wasn't controlling it. Maybe he liked it, for whatever reason. If you'll excuse me, I need to use the bathroom."

Gale walked over to the bathroom and closed the door. She winced in pain as she rolled up her right sleeve. The purple scar of seithr that she had gotten so long ago was spreading. How does a scar even spread? I'd say it's impossible, but I'm looking at pretty strong evidence to the contrary. She continued rolling up her sleeve. It had spread all across her forearm and up halfway to her shoulder. It continued mostly in one, long line, though there were tiny veins branching out from it. I need to get back to Erigan, and fast.

 

[Lennox]

Samna Fishwash got out of bed about a half hour later than usual, having had a late night the night previous finishing some financial paperwork for the temple of the unrisen.

After a quick shower she boiled a pot of tea and put some toast on the stove, then turned on the radio and sat down to eat.

“--from the Palace of Wings have focused on the splinter breakout, and have been largely unconcerned with this so called revolution, but our experts say this could mean trouble for the royal establishment. For those of you who missed it last night, here again is the statement made by the man being called the leader of the insurrection, which again followed on the heels of the largest splinter breakout that has yet to be recorded, including a splinter which has been measured at forty-nine feet tall. Here’s the man who according to royal spokesmen will shortly be tried in absentia by the courts of Avalon and likely sentenced to hang: Kai Fishwash.”

Samna spat a large gulp of tea over the front of her dress. She froze for a few moments, staring at the radio, then continued listening intently as she went to wash out the tea.

“Uh, hullo,” came her brother’s voice from the tinny-sounding old radio, “I’m uh, I’m Kai Fishwash. These radio guys wanted a statement from the leader of this thing.”

“Great opening there, Kai. Really selling it.”

“Well, I’m not a leader. And I won’t lead these people. But I’ve been asked to speak for them, and I will do that. I reckon there’s a couple questions are probably on peoples’ minds right now, and I’d like to try and answer them. First off: is it true we’re holding Haven Park? Yes, that’s true. Last night was one of the darkest nights Lower Avalon has seen in decades. We all saw what happened. The Lower Avalon Protection Force, when they saw how much damage was being done, told the people to head to either the Derren’s Alley Gate or the Watchrow Gate.

“But the Kingdom Guard had no intention of letting the people find haven past those gates. When we most needed to be protected, we were locked out, out of fear that if the people of Lower Avalon came to the higher layers, the splinters would come with them. This order, given directly from the Palace of Wings, was the latest of a long line of abuses, and the last which we are willing to accept. A government exists so that it can protect and serve its people. When it no longer serves that purpose, it has outlived its usefulness.

“So yes, we are in a state of open conflict with the crown, a conflict which officially began when we opened the Derren’s Alley Gate, and shortly afterward the Watchrow Gate, to the people. But we did not draw first blood. No god or castle can bestow the right to rule upon a king. Only his people can do that. They will call it treason. I call it taking back what’s ours.

“Furthermore, we think that, uh, well, just as every man is entitled to consent to his government, every man is entitled to the sweat of his brow. Thus the factories and other industrial businesses centered in Lower Avalon are going to be operated by, and have their proceeds returned to, the workers. I suggest that the surprisingly few people who have been living off their so-called ownership of these industries begin looking for real jobs.”

This last comment was met with general laughter and applause from the crowd.

“On that note, outstanding debts that are owed to these people by their former employees are void. And those of you who’ve been enslaved to these employers by debt, know that me and these people with me in Haven Park are gonna stand by that promise.

“It was the will of the spirits that we had the AFP and the man known only as the Masked Knight, as well as other brave civilians who took up arms against the splinters, with us tonight. I know all of these men and women want what’s best for the people, and I urge you to come to Haven, where you will be welcomed as friends to join us in determining the course of things from here on out. So, uh, AFP, Masked Knight, other people, please come. You’re all welcome here.

“So I think there are probably two big questions left on everyone’s minds. The first is: what do we want? We’re in the process of drafting an official list of demands, but at the very least, a democratically elected body is going to be the primary political power here in Avalon, and mobility between the rings is going to be drastically increased. The second question is: why now? This has been tried before and has failed. Why should this be any different? The answer to this second question is a little more technical, but I’ll try to be brief. Before the Last War, before there were even familiars, there was a race of people called the unrisen. Well they weren’t -- that is they’ve come to be called that. It wasn’t-- it’s cause-- they didn’t, uh, rise, see, when the rest of people-- uh-- we live in the sky, and--"

Kai violently sneezed into the microphone, then paused to collect himself.

“Right. So anyway these guys, the unrisen, forged an artifact -- a kinda proto-familiar -- of immense power. With far more potential than anything the Kingdom Guard has at their disposal, or even than the legendary familiars. An artifact which can only be used by someone with unrisen blood in their veins. We don’t know a lot about these guys, but we think they looked a lot like humans. We do know that they each had uniquely distinctive black markings on their arms. It was a genetic thing.

“So to answer the question of why this time will be any different, why you should join us and not worry about being crushed by the king and his minions. Why together we can stand up to the beast. Well, the answer to that... is this.”

Samna could hear flashbulbs snapping madly. Ordinarily she would have laughed at Kai for forgetting he was on the radio and making a dramatic visual statement, but she had a sinking feeling she knew what he was talking about. She rushed to the door of her small suite of rooms in the temple and swung it open. The morning’s paper was outside.

The front page was mostly dominated by a photo of a fifty-foot tall splinter, dead, the head of the Avalon Kingdom Guard posing in full armor with its headless carcass as though she had just personally slain the beast. The headline read “LARGEST OUTBREAK ON RECORD IN LOWER AVALON”. But Samna’s eyes were drawn immediately to the photo next to this one, under the headline “REVOLUTION -- NEW LEADER AND NEW WEAPON?” It was her brother, standing surrounded by microphones on the base of a statue. His arm was in the air, causing his coatsleeve to fall back and reveal his forearm markings, and he was holding aloft a mask of carven ivory.

“You son of a *****.”

 

[GigaRidley]

As the plane neared the Upper Avalon Landing Station, Ansa noticed the pilot, Leo, tuning the radio station and listening in. She couldn't make out all the words, but she heard the words "Lower Avalon", "Fishwash", and "Hullo". Leo's eyes widened as he heard something she couldn't make out, and he cranked up the radio and turned back to his passengers.
"You guys might want to listen to this."
Ansa listened with increasing shock at the speech coming over the radio. Rebellion?
“...It was the will of the spirits that we had the APF and the man known only as the Masked Knight, as well as other brave civilians who took up arms against the splinters, with us tonight. I know all of these men and women want what’s best for the people, and I urge you to come to Haven, where you will be welcomed as friends to join us in determining the course of things from here on out. So, uh, APF, Masked Knight, other people, please come. You’re all welcome here..."
As the speech ended, Ansa looked around. "I'm APF." she paused.
"I need to get to Haven Park and speak with this Kai Fishwash."

 

[Pichu2k7]

"The hell?" Karigen spluttered as the news came on as an intermission instead of the typical ads.

“I’m uh, I’m Kai Fishwash. These radio guys wanted a statement from the leader of this thing.” Some ****ing name eh? Where the heck did I put the remote? As Karigen tumbled around his bedroom looking for his TV remote, Kai continued about the revolutions and the unrisen, Karigen was taking all of this in while searching for the remote, eventually he found it and turned the volume up.

Now I can actually hear what he's saying, I hate this TV. I swear the speakers are going bust, knew I should've just purchased one instead of stealing this hunk of ****.

“So to answer the question of why this time will be any different, why you should join us and not worry about being crushed by the king and his minions. Why together we can stand up to the beast. Well, the answer to that... is this.” Kai ended before the news went on to describe more of the splinter infestation.

"The hell?" Was all Karigen could utter out.

"Unrisen weapon thing? What? This guy crazy? **** before familiars and blah blah blah." Karigen muttered to himself before he got up to get a glass bottle of beer from the fridge. He used his teeth to pop the cap open, one of the many advantages to being a Kapshen. He sat back down on his bed by the TV, he took a large gulp of beer and went to switch the channel, before he did change it however he watched the section about the giant splinter, he quickly changed to a random channel afterwards.

"I still can't believe they caused a revolution or whatever over that, while the rest of us on other islands are struggling too. ****in' should stay here for a month, like 15 splinter attacks in a month down here in the slums of Zeldrid." He let out a sigh of frustration before taking another gulp of alcohol.

"Things are just getting harder and harder down here, one big splinter attack isn't as bad as the multiple small ones we have to go through. Although that large splinter is...something to be concerned over." He said before he took another large gulp of alcohol.

I really do hope nothing like that shows up during my life time...that thing scares me...

He swapped the TV over to a comedy channel.

"Best just to try and forget about it I guess, no point in losing sleep over it for now." He muttered to himself as he tried to get the giant splinter out of his head, he wished he changed the channel before grabbing that beer.

 

[Neosquid]

Pumice had moved his base of operations yet again. It probably would have been a tad safer to merely return to the building in Lower Avalon, but although it was less risky, it also lacked in usefulness outside of merely not being seen. Yes, he had hacked into the communication systems and screwed them over from there. But there was a a key difference between shutting down the communication systems and trying to fire a revolution; the former, assuming everything went smoothly (it did, as he expected), required only one task, which required little to none monitoring after it was completed. Pumice's current job would absolutely require his constant attention at a multitude of points. Sitting in a shoddy building with his laptop was insufficient.

Plus, this was more fun.

Pumice's new base of operations was located in none other than the Palace of Wings itself. There were various rooms throughout the palace tasked with monitoring the city via various communication systems and cameras. He couldn't know for sure, but Pumice swore that every other street must have had a camera set up. Many of the cameras had been destroyed (mostly in Lower Avalon), but he still had plenty to work with.

Getting in one of these rooms was somewhat of a challenge. Well, it would have been if Pumice hadn't planned ahead of time. He had planted a sort of tracking device on various Palace guards a number of days in advance. The trackers were designed to display the coordinates of the carrier, and was also able to calculate the number of life forms within the same room as them. Using this device, Pumice had figured out that one particular camera room -- Room AM11 (Avalon Monitor Room 11), namely -- had only one guard assigned to it. He had known this information earlier due to hacking into the Palace computer systems, but he wanted reassurance that there would be only one guy here. After Aeolus had assigned him his task, Pumice managed to sneak through AM11's window and kill the guard.

The room was really great. From here, Pumice had quick access to pretty much anything in Avalon. There were still certain confidential things the AM11 computers couldn't access, but that didn't matter too much. Almost all of the communication in Avalon was his to view and manipulate. He couldn't tap into cell phone conversations, but basically anything else was accessible. The room itself wasn't all that luxurious, the other AM rooms were probably nicer kept due to having more occupants, but it was decent enough. It had blue carpeting, a fancy black sofa, and refrigerator stuffed with snacks, among other things. Pumice guessed that all the Palace rooms were probably required to either meet or exceed this standard.

After locking down the room if his presence was somehow detected, Pumice sat on the sofa for a quick rest. This "quick rest" resulted him accidentally napping for some time. He woke up to the sound of the radio, which the guard was listening to prior to being killed. Pumice had forgotten to turn it off. Some guy named Kai Fishwash was on, live.

“It was the will of the spirits that we had the AFP and the man known only as the Masked Knight, as well as other brave civilians who took up arms against the splinters, with us tonight. I know all of these men and women want what’s best for the people, and I urge you to come to Haven, where you will be welcomed as friends to join us in determining the course of things from here on out. So, uh, AFP, Masked Knight, other people, please come. You’re all welcome here." said Kai

"Huh. Looks like Haven Park is where all the action is happening." muttered Pumice to himself. "You may think it's safe now, but that won't last, not while I'm in charge."

Kai proceeded to talk about some kind of legendary "pseudo familiars" which only an "unrisen" could operate.

“So to answer the question of why this time will be any different, why you should join us and not worry about being crushed by the king and his minions. Why together we can stand up to the beast. Well, the answer to that... is this.” said Kai

Unfortunately, this being a radio and all, he didn't know what Kai actually meant by his finishing statement. The cameras inside of Haven Park didn't give him a close enough view. He assumed it was related to the unrisen thing, and speculated that perhaps Kai himself was one. Unfortunately, confirmation at that moment was impossible.

"You f*cking amateur..." muttered Pumice. "Ah well, no matter. My fun has been merely delayed by you morons. Whatever photos were taken at the scene will soon be everywhere. Gotta love the internet."

Pumice actually checked about ten minutes later, and sure enough, images of the event were already beginning to surface. One of them displayed what appeared to be Kai's forearm, which had various marking on it; probably the unrisen markings he had described earlier, no doubt. He was also holding a mask in the air.

Clearly Kai was turning out to be a crucial participant of this revolution. "Oooh, threats, fishy boy? You make my job too easy. What am I even here for?" muttered Pumice. ""But....something seems...too peaceful. Gross. Where's the blood? Guess I need to speed things up, hehe."

Pumice realized that he needed to be wary of Kai's threat. He wasn't sure what the apparent "unrisen" was capable of. What if the man was, well...in Pumice's words, "overpowered"? A rebellion isn't as messy if one side wipes the floor with the other, after all. He decided that he needed to test Kai, but it was probably too hasty to merely send in some Kingdom Guard units to shoot up Haven Park...

Perhaps if he had some form of blackmail on Kai. Family, perhaps? Friends? He needed to do some research on the man, and decided to start with the obvious: the hell is an unrisen?

He dialed up Aeolus. "Hello again, sir. I was wondering if you had any information about some people called 'the unrisen'. It's related to the matter at hand, it's not for some trivia game."

 

[GigaRidley]

Aeolus's eyes widened when he heard Pumice utter the words "the unrisen".
"The unrisen? It's been a long time since I've heard anyone talk about them. Before the Final War, they were a rather powerful group of people closely related to humanity. Created all sorts of very powerful crap--"
Aeolus paused suddenly, lost in thought for a moment.
"Why do you ask?"

 

[Hoboturtle]

Revolution? To be honest there had been a stray thought once or twice, tearing down the foundation of the higher levels of Avalon and rebuilding a greater place for the people in his neighborhood and the areas that surrounded it.

It would begin one morning, the rats would scatter, the citizens at the markets in the Water district, he would walk to the gates and with one kick each cave in the throats of the guards and continue destroying the lives of whoever stood in the way of a better life. He wondered how far he would get until the combined army could take him down.

It was nothing more than a fantasy of course, it was irresponsible. There was too much to lose and so little chance for gain. They weren't ready for any war, the people could barely feed themselves to survive, let alone fight for their lives. Any army they could gather would pale in comparison to that of the royal Avalon army.

Furthermore who the hell was this Kai Fishwash? Leo seem to know him. A pilot? Was he a pilot from Avalon? There was no shortage of them here considering it's the only way to get in and out of the country. It would make sense, what other reason would he spark a revolution?

He wasn't a noble, he would of heard of him if he was and considering his speech, he has little power to gain. On the other hand that could all be talk. Sweet nothings to attract the populace like a siren. It could be complete dribble. That was sadly a likely possibility.

"I need to get to Haven Park and speak with this Kai Fishwash." Anya stepped forward.

Lambert breathed out and nodded, "So do I."

He studied Leo's face and after a minute long inspection uttered "Could you please tell me a thing or two about him before we land?"

 

[Neosquid]

A black haired girl laid sprawled out on a checkered rug, fast asleep. She was drooling quite a bit in her sleep, much to the misfortune of the rug.

"Citri!" yelled a voice from the nearby hallway. The black haired girl -- Citri Liquoric -- failed to wake up, and merely turned to lay on her stomach, drooling more intensely than before.

A young woman emerged from the hallway. She had black hair, and was wearing a green tank top and blue skinny jeans. This was Jade Wiltstem, Citri's best friend.

Oh, Citri, come on already! yelled any obviously annoyed Jade, who proceeded to shake Citri, finally waking the girl.

"Eee...uh...? What...what time is it...ten more hours..." moaned a tired Citri.

"No. Normally I'd consider giving you more time to soak my rugs, but something's up." said Jade. "Sarah's missing. Me and mum have looked everywhere for her, and we're worried as hell. I have to admit, I'm a bit annoyed, considering I returned to find that you had somehow slept through that entire goddamn Splinter invasion." Sarah was Jade's sister, and a close friend to Citri.

"What Splinter invasion?" asked an oblivious Citri

Jade facepalmed. "Case in point. There's not any time right now, I'll explain la--"

"Sarah's missing!? Where is she, Jadey?" interrupted Citri, who was suddenly worried.

"GEE, I WONDER. TELL ME, WHAT DOES "MISSING" MEAN?!" snapped Jade.

Citri started to tear up. "S-sorry...I didn't mean...I just want to know where my friend is..." she mumbled

Jade sighed and hugged Citri. "I'm sorry, Citri. Me and mum are just really stressed right now, I didn't mean to lash out at you like that." said a notably calmer Jade.

"Can I go out and look?" asked Citri, still teary eyed. I may be kind of a doofus, but I can't just sit here! I can help! Promise!"

Jade thought for a moment. Alright, yeah. We'd be happy to have you help us out, girl. said Jade, smiling.

"Thankies! I'll call you up when I find Sarah!" said Citri, who started running towards the door.

"H-hey, wait up! I didn't tell you anything yet!" yelled Jade. Citri paused at the door. "Me and mum have searched Lower Avalon head to toe, but we haven't checked the upper city very much yet. We have this area covered, but while I was out, I heard whispers of some gathering at Haven Park. Could you please, please, check there for us?"

Citri quickly nodded and winked at Jade. "Gotcha, Haven Park! I'll be there and back with Sarah before you can say "peanut butter truffles"! she said, before leaping out the door and running off.

Jade signed. She was going to ask Citri if the Kingdom Guard might know anything, but her friend was far too hasty. Actually, why didn't the Kingdom Guard contact Citri during the Splinter invasion? Jade recalled various times where Citri would randomly run off while yelling that "the Kingdom Guard asked for her". Could there have been something wrong with the communication systems?

"....peanut butter truffles." mumbled Jade, with a frown.


--------------------

Pumice responded to Aeolus.

"Some kid who riled up the commoners claimed to be one of them. He had this arm marking. And a mask. I couldn't tell if he was just bullshitting, or if he's actually legit. His name was...what was it, again? Damn. Kawaii Fishpaste? Kevin Fishcost? Gimme a mo." said Pumice, who proceeded to check the webpage he had found the pictures on. "Kai Fishwash. Yeah, I don't have a damn clue who this kid is. Ring any bells, sir? Just doing some homework in case I need to blackmail him, you know, if he turns out to be more than just your standard tuna."

 

[GigaRidley]

"A mask?"
Aeolus's voice was deathly quiet. For a few moments there was silence. Then, Aeolus broke into deranged laughter.
"Heh. Heh heh. AHA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA!!!"
Aeolus flung back his head as he laughed with wild abandon. His eyes were wide, and he wore an expression of ecstatic glee that pulled his features back and made him look inhuman. The next words he spoke were laced with uncommon giddiness.
"Change of primary mission, Pumice. Get me that mask."

 

[Neosquid]

Pumice just sat there for a few seconds after Aeolus's little moment.

"Well, uh, alright then, sir." said Pumice. "I guess it's safe for me to assume that this mask, and the boy, are indeed the real deal. I'll tread carefully. See ya, Aeolus. Remember, if you ever need me, I'm just a phone call away."

Pumice scratched his head, thinking about how to go about this. The idea of blackmail hadn't lost its viability, but he figured that should be left as backup. Backup, of course, being very useful.

He did some research on this Kai fellow. By investigating various jobs held by Kai (it helped that he had a rather unusual name), he found out that the man was a pilot of sorts. He was able to trace these jobs back to Lokasen, where the trail went cold. Pumice had doubts about Lokasen being Kai's true point of origin.

He decided to broaden his search. He briefly investigated the unrisen, but he didn't find any specific information, or anything regarding Kai. He then focused his efforts solely on Kai's unusual last name. After sorting through various seafood cleaning and preparation techniques, he found out that there were mentions of another Fishwash. Namely, a "Samma Fishwash" living in Miriel. He wasn't able to find any specifics, but this was all he really needed.

Pumice had his blackmail fallback plan mostly figured out. Now all he needed a primary plan to steal the mask from Kai. This proved trickier to come up with...

He figured he would initiate his backup plan first, and then continue brainstorming his master plan. He planned to task the fallback plan to his henchmen. Oh, yes, Pumice had henchmen. He didn't talk to them all that much, but he indeed had some people working under him that he could call on if he needed. Mostly just some thugs he hired with the help of Aeolus, but there were a few weird guys mixed in.

He sent a message to his top henchman. "Sup. I gotta talk to you about a little favor I need done in Miriel, so respond ASAP, will ya?"

 

[Johaggis]

"I can tell you a thing or two about Kai" Weidr cut in. "He's no martyr, that's for sure. He bolted pretty soon after we landed, once he saw there were splinters about. He's a pretty ok pilot, and largely is out to earn some honest money and keep himself alive. Unless he's changed since this afternoon, he's not one to lead a revolution."

"He's not all that bad" objected Leo. "You see, we're both pilots, so of course we know each other. You know, this one time..."

Leo's story continued on for a few minutes, and seemed to have little relevance to anything.

"...and that's why you never go ice-fishing alone on the shores of Tarinet" he finished.

Silence followed for a few minutes, before the airfield came into view.

"Buckle up, nuggets. We're doin' a pinkie."

The sky was getting quite dark as they touched down. As Ansa and Lambert left the plane, Weidr turned to Gale. "What do you think Ilmarinen will do?"

"If I had an idea, I'd already be doing it. Leo, let's hit the skies. We don't have any time to lose."