Cataclysm

‘im so bored…’

The words blinked from the cell phone and Elisabeth Ammons stared at it a moment longer before sending it off. She sighed and leaned back in the pool chair trying to soak up the sun. It had happened again her dad and mom had brought her here with the promise of spending family time but again something came up and off they went trying to fix whatever it was. The world had gone to pot but still her parents were determined to fix it.

It had started two years ago in 2010 all those natural disasters that kept coming up all over the world. From there the problems had escaladed making the first seem like play days. It had all seemed so far away then something happening to someone else. Of course her parents had always been gone then to. Well of course those things were well natural it had become really scary when things began to be unnatural.

The world had been turned upside down when people started to disappear. There had always been missing people photos that people sometimes looked at as they went through Wal-Mart but it was nothing like this. Elisabeth didn’t think there was a Wal-Mart big enough to hold all the missing persons photos now. The missing persons list was now somewhere in the high millions and some people even said a billion people had disappeared over the last two years. Some others said in whispers as if they were afraid to say it themselves that it was closer to three billion now. The scariest incident had happened six months ago a whole town in Colorado had just disappeared some 300 thousand people. The only one left was a little boy maybe six years old. He had been all over the internet and news his big brown eyes wide has if looking at something no one else could see. No one could get him to talk he just stared wide eyed at everyone as if he was surprised to see them. He didn’t last long a week after they had found him he died, the doctors said that there was nothing wrong with him, he just quit wanting to live.

The world had been rocked on its axis. Some countries didn’t even exist anymore just torn apart by desperate men looking for answers. Even the United States was not immune to the madness although they had held on to sanity better than any other country. Martial law had had to be placed on many towns and cities. Travel now between countries was almost nonexistent. The only reason Elisabeth was here now was because of her parent’s money and political influence. Well also because they had said they wanted to spend family time together. Elisabeth let out another sigh and felt her cell phone buzz she flipped it open to look at the message.

‘wth r y talking about your in the bahamas and away from the DC madness and snow you’re in paradise.’

Elisabeth sighed again she seemed to be doing that a lot lately. Her friend was right she had escaped the snow and madness of Washington D.C. She was on Christmas break that’s why her parents had brought her here now. Really, and she hated to admit this to herself, she had only sent the text to make sure her friend was still there. She had had a scary experience a couple of weeks ago in school. She had been following a boy as they both walked to get their photos taken for their senior pictures. As they walked up the stairs the boy tickled her and ran away around a corner and when she ran after him she turned the corner and he was gone. He didn’t show up at home and after three days of no one seeing him he was added to the missing persons list; Just another name among the billion already there.

She sat up on her chair, she needed to get up and get moving again, it didn’t seem like she had any more tears to cry but she was sure that if she stayed their she would start doing just that. She walked along the beach felling the nice breeze coming off of the ocean. Her parents owned the island and it wasn’t a small one either, it was now their private getaway, their haven in a torn world. She started up the path that lead to their mansion a shining complex of glass catching the sun and throwing it in a thousand different directions. It looked more like a small hotel then a mansion spreading out over the land like that and just like a hotel it took a lot of hands to keep it as pristine as it was. And of course her parents didn’t just keep this place to themselves friends and family could use it as well. The only other person here besides herself and the couple dozen workers was there family lawyer. And as she went up the path to the mansion he came down it.

He didn’t look anything like a lawyer at all and if you didn’t know him you would probably think he was a professional athlete or a body builder. He had on a white bath robe from the mansion and white swim trunks bordered in red with bright red flip-flops. All the white only emphasized the fact that he was darker than dark chocolate. He was at least six foot eight and so heavily muscled he looked like a linebacker in the NFL with none of the fat. He was in his thirties and had been friends with her dad for years even though he was at least ten years younger. He intimidated her and probably anyone else on the other side of a courtroom but that’s not why he always won. Her father always said that he was the smartest man he knew and her father knew a lot of smart men. He had shaved his head and it sparkled in the sun and as she came close to him he smiled at her showing of way to white teeth.

“Miss Ammons I was on my way to tell you that your mother and father are on their way back.” Baruti said his words heavy with an African accent. She couldn’t help a smile spreading across her face and he smiled at her in turn showing again his way to white teeth. “But I’m off for a swim Miss Ammons. I will see you at dinner.”

Elisabeth happily ran back to her room going straight to it from the beachfront. She hadn’t expected them to come back so soon. She changed form he swimsuit into a pair of khakis and a tank top looked at herself in the mirror. She knew she was pretty but liked to downplay the fact by not wearing makeup. She liked being normal and even tried making a point of it demanding to go to a regular high school. She had long curly blond hair, almost white, and bright blue eyes with a fit body. Not that she would be anything else not when she had to do gymnastics all the time. But she had not really had the gymnastic type of body either. She was skinny in some places and to big in others. But she had heard other girls say they would kill to have her body so she just went with it. She was just contemplating if she wanted to put on a little makeup when Baruti ran into her room.

“Miss Ammons you must come quickly.” He grabbed her hand and pulled her to her feet. “Grab anything you need for two days, but we must hurry, we need to get to the safe room.” He let her grab some cloths and then he was pulling her through the halls yelling at anyone he saw to get to the safe room quickly and when a tall black man that could rip you apart without breathing hard yelled at you you just did what he said no arguing.

In the center of the complex was a large concrete room. Her father was a very cautious man and had a safe room made in case of emergencies. So even though the mansion was made mostly out of glass you would be safe in the concrete room, the builders had said that it could withstand tsunamis. There were already some people in the room when Baruti pushed her inside.

“Stay in here and if I’m not back in ten minutes close the door and lock it.” She saw the worry on his face and couldn’t stop herself from asking what was going on. “No time to explain I have to get the others if I can.” And with that he was gone.

The ten minutes stretched into eternity others arrived and sat down around the safe room everyone had the common mask of fear etched on their faces. Sooner than ten minutes but she had been certain it was hours Baruti was back pushing others in front of him into the safe room. He was also caring a large laundry basket full of food from the kitchen. He sat the basket down and started to close the door but before the door was halfway closed there was a loud rushing noise and the lights went out. Not just in the safe room but all light went out. It was as if someone had put a blanket over the sun. The door clicked shut and there was the hiss as it sealed itself shut and then there was silence.

The roar that was cut off from the door closing was back only louder and then the sound of glass breaking it was the sound of all the glass in the world breaking at once and Elisabeth knew it was the mansion falling down around the safe room. Then the safe room itself moved as if a giant hand had smacked it with a hammer. The sound was thunder and drowned everything out even her desperate screams. She had no idea when she started doing that but she could not stop.

Soldier

The first thought that he had was that he was uncomfortable. That wasn’t a surprise considering sitting in a foxhole in the dead of winter on the northern front of Europe is not the most comfortable situations. He moved to see if he could find a more comfortable position before either the fighting started with the Nazies again or before his commander could wake him up to start it.

As he tried to go back to sleep something kept nagging him at the back of his mind. Then it dawned on him with light making a red glow through his eyelids. He wasn’t uncomfortable because of being cold he was uncomfortable because he was to warm, in fact he was sweating. His eyes shot open filled with light that was far to bright to be morning. The sounds of millions of insects availed his ears as he tried to orientate himself. Brian (because that was his name) looked around in utter astonishment this looked like the fox hole that he had fallen asleep in last night but everything else was wrong.

Over the top of Brian’s head he could see the canopy of thick jungle foliage. Now that he was awake he could no longer ignore the heat that came at him in waves. He ripped the front of his coat open and tried to concentrate on his surroundings instead of the damp heat that pressed almost gluing his cloths to his body. Franticly he checked to see if he had any of his gear. He felt all three of his knifes, something his mates had made fun of him for, and also his colt. All of this was on his person so he was not surprised it was still there. Luckily his backpack and M1 Garand were still resting beside him along with the two bags full of ammunition for his company. Brian felt a moment of relief that his commander was not there to yell at him for taking off with the company’s ammo.

Quickly Brian striped off his coat and shoved it into his backpack. Slinging the backpack and the two bags of ammunition onto his back he fixed one of his knifes, his bayonet, onto his rifle. He took a couple of quick breaths and then jumped up positioning his gun over the top of his fox whole and into the face of a possible enemy. All that he saw was a thick wall of very green jungle foliage. He started thinking fast maybe if he was here others of his company were as well.

“Jason.” He croaked barely addible. He cleared his throat and tried again. “Jason, Tubby, Phil is anyone there.”

No one responded the only sound that answered his cries were the buzzing of insects. He tried again this time calling out everyone’s name in the company a little louder. Nothing no other sounds came back besides those of the insects. He scrambled out of his fox whole turning to get a panoramic view of his surroundings. Even without his coat the heat was oppressive feeling like the middle of summer in his hometown in Utah. There was the crushing sound of breaking branches behind him and Brian turned around quickly to confront the noise.

On the other side of the fox hole from him was the biggest creature that he had ever seen. It looked like a giant lizard standing on two legs a thick tail stretched out in back of it. But right then the only thing that Brain was interested in was the things head. It looked big enough to swallow him whole and was full of what looked like extremely sharp teeth. Without realizing it he had set the butt of rifle in his shoulder and fired two quick shots. The shots sounded like thunder exploding the silence but were quickly drowned out by the roar of the giant lizard. It started swinging its head from side to side desperately trying to scratch at its face with two pitifully short arms. Taking the opportunity Brian turned and ran into the jungle.

For the moment he was alone followed only by the roar of the giant lizard he had left behind. That changed as the roar of the lizard subsided replaced by the sound of breaking foliage, the sure sound of pursuit. Brian ran desperately thinking, how this couldn’t be real it had to be a dream but being rapidly awakened to the fact of the very real leafs striking his face and the blood pounding in his ears. Brian burst into a clearing and started looping across the open field painfully aware of the sound of a much larger body following quickly gaining ground. He only had a moment of quick surprise as he realized that the space in front of him didn’t quit match up with its surroundings. It looked like a broken mirror cutting across the land everything behind it being somehow blurred.

That was all he had a moment and then he was hurtling through that broken space. He felt like every hair on his body was trying to stand on end everything in front of him blurred and shifted. Brian actually felt it shift, something tugged at his foot and he fell rolling across a wooden floor slamming hard into a wall. His vision blurred and for a moment he couldn’t see a thing his whole world was black. A loud crash and sound of breaking wood was barely audible to Brian followed by an earsplitting roar that Brian was vaguely aware happening nearby.

After a moment Brian lifted himself up onto his hands and knees and took in his surroundings. It looked like he was in a house the paint on the walls pilling and faded. The furniture was torn and everything was dust covered and dirty, no one had lived here in a very long time. He turned to look in back of him and quickly backed up to the wall, grabbing at his rifle and lifting it up to his shoulder. The giant lizard had followed him through the rift and impaled itself on one of crossbeams overhead. The large wooden beam had gone all the way through the lizard and been torn free from the ceiling. Its large head was near were Brian’s feet had most recently been the lizards eyes clouded by death.

Brian realized that he was lucky the same thing didn’t happen to him when had gone through that rift. Looking behind the lizard he saw the same ill fitting of space he had gone through. He made a mental note not to go anywhere near that jagged line of ill fitting space. Catching his breath he stood up and made his way carefully toward a door set in the wall. Reading his rifle and himself he pushed it open determined to find out what was going on.

Fracture-Speak

For those who are traveling between the shards of reality, the problem of communication is going to inescapably come up again and again. By Complete coincidence and not having Anything to do with making the story more than people trying to talk, one of the most useful abilities of Magic-users is the ability to understand various languages merely by listening for a couple of minutes and manipulating reality a tiny bit. Most shards of reality that see a lot of traffic generally have someone on hand who can help with translation problems, and travelers themselves generally have a magic-user among them. This type of communication, called Fracture-Speak, does an okay job for emergencies and random travelers, but actually speaking the language is always better.

Someone else might have the ethereal ability to understand and speak any language, with an appropriate Geise (they may be only able to speak in rhyme, lose the ability to stop talking, or be required to attack anyone who addresses them directly).

Particularly capable magic-wielders may be able to create charm bracelets or necklaces that allow the wearer the ability to understand and speak other languages, but of course wearing such an object while traveling from one shard to another is practically an invitation for Ethera interference.

Fractured Space

The best way to imagine Fractured Space is to think of a video game. Within the video game you have different areas, or levels. Usually they try to hide the edges of the map by putting obstacles there, such as cliffs, water, mountains, etc., but if you can ever manage to find those areas where they missed, you find a kind of blank wall that looks vaguely as if the map should keep extending beyond that point, but you can't pass it. With fractured space, the entire world, plus some, has been divided into large video game-type maps. If you get to the edge, then you are transported from one map to another map. The maps don't match up to each other exactly, and they are all jumbled together, so that a desert piece might be right next to an ocean piece and a frozen tundra piece. To make matters worse, you can't tell until you cross over what is in the next area. While most of the pieces transport you to the same place every time, some of them change. Traveling from one area to another, then, is a big deal.

For story purposes, this means that every time the characters travel from one slice of the world to another, they are in a completely different setting, from Victorian England to the Australian outback, from the wilds of a Jurassic jungle to a modern city, simply by stepping across an almost invisible line. Most people generally stay in the slice of world that they find themselves in, but some travelers search for family, a safer home, or even just business opportunities. In any event, traveling is a big deal.

GEISE

a GEISE is basically a 'magical', or in this case ethereal, prohibition or law. A good way to think of a Geise is the cost of the ethereal abilities. It is generally related in some way to the type of ethereal creature or magical ability. Geise generally come in four forms: Contracts, Limits, Constraints, and Provisos.

The first type, called a PROVISO, stipulates that a certain action or type of action cannot be taken. This includes provisions to never eat the flesh of an animal that walked on four legs, a prohibition against wearing a certain color or saying a certain word, etc. Generally it is a small, simple thing, easy to avoid, and easy to forget about. It can also include something that the person loves or feels a constant need to do. However, directly after breaking the Proviso, the person experiences great pain, extreme bad luck (including loss of loved ones, memory, health, etc.), or even, gruesome death.

The CONSTRAINT actually eliminates a certain behavior, so that the bearer of the Geise literally doesn't have the ability to do that anymore. This can include a vampire's inability to enter a house without verbal permission, an inability to say anything that is not true, an inability to kill, etc. They can also be silly, including the inability to touch fingernails, but in general tend to be a constant annoyance to the person who bears it.

Where a constraint limits taking certain actions, a LIMIT eliminates abilities. For example, a Constraint might eliminate a person from eating red fruit, but a Limit would eliminate the ability to even see the fruit. Limits include not being able to see certain colors (so that anything that color is invisible), or a loss of intelligence and emotional control during transformation (like a werewolf). The X-men Rogue's (r) inability to touch someone without almost killing them, or Cyclopes (r) inability to see someone without protective lenses, could be considered Limits.

Similar to the other three, a CONTRACT is an action that must be taken. There are Proviso Contracts, where a certain action needs to be taken to avoid pain; Constraint Contracts, where the person performs the Geise whether they want to or not; and Limit Contracts, where abilities have limits (such as being able to change into any type of mammal, but always being green in color.