Orienta. Part 2

I look at the man beside me, he is handsome, not too old with strong beautiful eyes. He don't say anything as we drive, neither do I. We enter the tallest building in the city, a building we'd seen earlier but hadn't been able to find. He leads me to his chambers and on the way there, I notice everyone is extremely polite around this man. They bow when he is near and nobody talks directly to him. He opens the door to a huge room where every wall is a large window allowing me to see all parts of Orienta - or so it feels. We're above the clouds and I can feel the first rays of the sun on my face. He smiles for the first time as I climb the window to get a better view and he supports me with a hand at my back so I don't fall. I let myself fall into his arms and he carries me to his bed where he undresses me still without saying a word. Strangely I am not surprised as he undresses and reveals that he's wearing an ebbsuit. He looks at me with an impish grin, slides into bed with me and as he kiss me I wish that I don't have to fight this guy - he feels too right.

I know it's been hours. He's asleep, the bedsheet's not completely covering his perfect body. I stretch and walk naked to the window to gaze at the sun, it hasn't moved - at all! I climb onto the window-ledge and enjoy the light on my body, this is a very strange place.
Suddenly a tiny delicate woman comes into the room. She ignores me and start fuzzing around "my man". I look as she wash him, rubs him in perfumed oils and combs his hair. I put on my suit as he awakens and he motions for me to follow him. He takes me too a very large room where a lot of men are talking - unfortunately in their own tongue and I don't understand anything. Many of them are wearing ebbsuits and I'm starting to wonder if it's some kind of status symbol? He leads me to a large water filled basin where a bunch of naked girls are whispering among themselves. He lets me understand that I'm to get into the water and I quickly slide down besides the other girls. I ignore the girls and look around the room; there's all sorts of men here, some of them look very strange and only remotely human, none of them pay any attention to me and I curse the fact that I don't understand what they're saying, but it seems as if they're anticipating something important.
Finally a very tall guy comes into the room he's easily 3 meters tall, slender and well toned, his eyes are black pools of dangerous. He's wearing an ebbsuit just like mine and as he moves through the crowd he talk to everyone touching and probing their suits as if he's communicating with the suits and not the men wearing them. I notice that he talks to my man for a while and they both look pleased, he never look at me - I'm gratefull. Suddenly the big boss grabs hold of a man. I watch in horror as the little guy start running from the big boss but the boss just ports or teleports or moves really fast - I dunno - but he catches up with the running guy and plunges a knife in his back. The room sighs and slowly returns to "normal" as the big boss moves through the crowd again. I slip a little bit further into the water and wait for the big guy to leave - this is not so much fun anymore...

I decide that I have to stay for a while. There's too much going on that I really don't understand and I'm not quite ready to leave my very interesting man yet. I don't know what I do for the next couple of days. I move around in the building unhindered and I figure out that my lovers name is GaNing. I'm with him most of the time and I can feel that it's getting harder for me to remember why I'm here - I just want to be in his embrace floating through the sky above Orienta.
At some point he approaches me carrying a dagger. He says some words in his strange tongue, smiles his impish smile and solemnly holds out the dagger in both hands reciting a verse or something. I take the dagger without saying anything. He smiles and walks away. I'm confused! Somewhere deep down I know I just bonded with him, or maybe I had always been connected with him somehow. All I know is that he feels like a part of me.

One morning I wake up with the bitter taste of poison on my lips. It's very strange but my body isn't affected by it and in a daze I follow GaNings little serving girl into the bathroom where she bathes me and gives me a strange leaf to chew. Suddenly there's a shift or a ripple or a turn in reality and one of the big bosses stand in front of me. He tells me I don't belong here and he wants me to leave, our worlds are not meant to come together and he doesn't want Mr. Slayers spies in his world. Still, he tells me that this tower is controlled by 7 masters and their minions. My husband GaNing is a minion and serves "The Rising Sun". I am but a lowly SLA operative and if I don't leave, GaNing will pay. I'm confused and scared, this guy feels like raw power - his presence overwhealming me. Suddenly GaNing steps into the place? room? He is angry I can tell and the master (Force?) dismiss me, he wants to talk to GaNing in private.
The little serving girl grab my arm and give me my things, her face is smeared with blood, it looks like someone cut her. She pushes me into an elevator and sends me away. I'm having a serious feeling of "body functions - mind trapped elsewhere" as I let some guards put me in a rickshaw and I drive away from the building. I desperately want GaNing to come pick me up, but nothing happens. The driver looks at me and I suddenly realize that he isn't human; his legs are twisted , his body scaled and totally out of proportions, a tail flicker between his legs, his arms are very long with large black claws and his face... his face is very large and flat as is his nose, his eyes black swirling pools of chaos, he is a true demon. I look in the mirrored glass of the buildings we pass and all I see is a Rickshaw with a barefooted oriental human driver and the passenger a tiny oriental girl...me...I'm an oriental girl? I notice it all around me - nothing is what it seems; it is as if people are wearing masks...I don't know if I faint but suddenly I awake in an alley. All my things are gone except my suit, my phone and the dagger. I feel like I'm walking next to myself as I call G'rr an make them pick me up. They pick me up at the station and as I walk I notice people looking at me - a lot - some of them are bowing and nobody is looking me straight in the eyes. Suddenly I'm freezing and I just really want to go home. As we drive back to the little old lady I try to tell the others what happened but it is as if it isn't real, the demons...the masters...if only I'd been able to talk to GaNing. As I tell the story the others look very confused, somewhere along the way I lost two days! G'rr asks me if there's something written on the knife I got from GaNing and when I pull it from it's sheath I'm back by the tower of the rising sun. And then it hits me - the shifting market!!!
I look around, notice I have all my stuff and instantly recieves a message from Greg asking what I'm doing. It's two days old but somehow I know he just sent it and I'm standing in front of the tower 2 days ago. My head spins and I'm about to faint, the sorrow of losing GaNing is too great when suddenly he appears in front of me.
He tells me that i have to leave the market for the 6 masters are looking for me. He takes my hand with the dagger in it and puts it to his heart. I try to let go of the dagger but he tells me I have to stab him or I can't leave. He tells me that we have bound eachother with our lifeforce and I can't leave the market if I don't stab him. I cry as I push the dagger through his chest - and then I'm back with my team. I clutch the dagger to my chest and tell the other that I want to leave now. G'rr is totally calm and asks me what happened, as I try to make this story make any sense I realize I'm still one day short and I just know I have to go back to the market before things are right. I'm so scared!
When I look at the other and repeat what my husband said to me I suddenly realize that I know what's going to happen - and I speak Orienta. The rest of the team grabs onto me and this time I don't even notice that I arrive at the market. The others are here and we're all hit by the memory of what happened that day in Downtown when we killed a Nec. To me there's more though. I suddenly remember more than a year with GaNing, he married me when he gave me the dagger, I speak Orienta and my husband is in fact a demon... The grief overwhelms me and I stagger a few steps before I sit down. I look at the others and see that they all look at G'rr; he has fallen to his knees, his chest is bared and something is crawling out through bones and muscle. It hits me like lightning; this is the 7th master... the 7th master of "The Rising Sun" - The lord of Lies.
We're all very very confused and scared now. We killed a Nec to save some poor girl but in truth we'd killed a Nec to free a demon (and free G'rr from a demon) and we'd helped a softcompany (The Rising Sun) to get one of its masters back - we're so screwed!
The Lord of Lies speaks to G'rr. Tells him that he's very grateful of our help and that he'd tried to return home for a while. Only G'rrs surrender of will had made it possible for him to guide us in the right direction and get us to Orienta. The Masters are not capable of travelling by themselves in the real world they only exist physically in the shifting market, they are the powers, forces, protectors of the people of Orienta - the people brought them here in their minds, hearts and in their every day rituals. The people of Orienta had given life to the Masters/Demons and the masters protected the people. But SLA industries had given Orienta to The Dragons, a team of Necs that were sworn to keep order and peace.
The Rising Sun was tired of watching the Necs abuse the people and destroy the city so they had taken the matter into their own claws. The Lord of Lies had infiltrated The Dragons to find out how to seize power of Orienta - not to take it from SLA industries, but to make it prosper and grow as a part of SLA. Now it was time to wage war on the Dragons and the fact that SLA industries hadn't stopped it before it came to this, was seen as an invitation to the true Masters of Orienta to seize control again.
The Lord of Lies finished his story and we all stood like statues staring at him. He thanked us for our help in bringing him back and told us that he'd left some things in the building where we killed Rain and that we were free to take it - if we dared go back there. Then he left.
GaNing appeared again and this time there was no mercy. We would all be stuck for eternity in the shifting market unless I killed my husband. Silently the team touched my arms and back and then GaNing walked into my embrace, piercing himself on the dagger. We returned to the Real World.

Orienta. Part 1

February 3rd 899:
We left for Orienta. We weren't sure what to expect and the BPN didn't really give any clues as to what we were to do once we got there. "Find and investigate the shifting market". That's it, no helpful hints - no contacts just 6 words.
I've never travelled by train this far before, and the way the rest of the team is looking out the window, I suspect they haven't either. I try to sleep a bit but my eyes keep opening and I look at G'rr who's on the edge of his seat looking at something far away. Greg is holding his sword, every now and then he smiles and touches the edge with a tenderness you rarely see. Jack is resting, it is obvious that he's thinking about our last assignment and how we're to solve this next one, he's flexing his fingers sometimes touching his gun, he nods when he notice I look at him. Sean is sleeping - or pretending to be, his lips are moving and I'm guessing he's telling himself small secrets, sometimes I'd wish I knew what was going on in his head. Blue is sitting relaxed in his seat, sometimes he's frowning and muttering but when he notice me looking at him he smiles, large drops of drool running down his face. Allan is eating, his mother insisted on making food for him, reluctantly he asks if I want a bite, I shake my head. I smile at everyone of them and sighs. This is my team, the people who'll keep me safe, my team... I sleep.

We arrive in Orienta, I'm still a bit groggy from the sleeping, and the trainstation doesn't make it any better. I don't think I've ever seen so many people in one place and they're all running or yelling or selling something. I try to stay close to the rest of the team and as we move through the crowd I realize how much we look like operatives - even in our travelling clothes. We decide to try and find someplace to stay and get into something less noticeable, we have to get Blue out of the way too as people are staring at him with obvious curiousity.
We rent a couple of rooms with an old lady. She seems like a total nutcase and she keeps referring to Blue as a demon. She stuffs our faces with food and tea and tells us all sorts of weird things about dragons and demons and other fantastic creatures. Half of it we don't understand, but it's OK since she probably don't really understand who we are anyway.
We leave Allan, G'rr and Blue with the lady, I can't help smiling as I watch our huge stormer with a tiny teacup in his claw, they'll be fine!
We take a look around the slums, everything is dirty and rainy - much like Mort DT only here we really don't understand anything. People are yelling a lot in their strange tongue. We're often stopped by dirty barefooted children who pulls at our legs or arms to get us to go with them. Eventually we decide to go take a look at some sort of games house. We notice a lot of clean welldressed guys with sunglasses (!!!) entering and our curiousity pulls us there. We enter a very beautifull room with luxurious interior and loads of small oriental guys at tables. Around them is large oriental guys with weapons and mean expressions - bodyguards. There's a bit of shouting at some of the tables when money changes hands but otherwise it seems as if everyone here is friends. When people turn to stare at us I notice that I'm the only woman here, except for the delicate and very beautiful hostess'. Obviously Sean doesn't notice and I trail behind him to the nearest table. The yakuza-guys at the table welcome him and tell him to take a seat, and as he sits I stand behind him one hand on his shoulder. As they tell him to join the game we both realize that we have no cash with us - or at least not the amount these guys spend. Jack and Greg leaves to get more money and meanwhile Sean tries to keep the conversation going. The suits tries to get him to bet his badge, his gun or his suit but he turns them all down. One of the bosses who's been keeping in the background (but I noticed him looking at me), asks if Sean'll care to bet his bodyguard. I look the boss straight in the eyes and squeezes Sean shoulder, if he stakes me I'll pull his head off!
Sean looks at me and smiles and I tell him, without looking away from the boss, that he would regret staking me in a game he doesn't know. Sean sighs and tell them no. Instead he wagers his right pinkie - stupid Brainwaster!
During the game Sean tries to keep the conversation going, but none of the players seem eager to tell anything. I try to observe everything, but the boss who asked for me as part of the stake keeps drawing my attention, and I find myself staring at him most of the time.
Sean loses his finger to one of the bosses and after that wager they're not interested in money, they want other body parts. I drag Sean out of there and meet up with Jack and Greg. We walk down the street wondering what to do next, when a large black car pulls up beside us. The door opens and I see "my" boss in the backseat, I look at the boys, none of them object, I tell them "see you guys later, I'll call" as I jump into the car and drives away.

Rain

The next couple of days was a blur. Most of the time I was in bed looking at the ceiling trying to remember what made me kill the girl. I don't remember what I did or who I talked to. Blue moved in with me - I guess he didn't want me to do anything stupid. I know we talked to the investigators on the suicides, but I really don't remember what we said - only that it made a lot of sense then. I didn't tell the rest of the team what we'd done. I felt bad enough as it was and I suspect that Blue didn't want me to tell either.
Luckily G'rr decided that we couldn't just hang around anymore. The big shaktar was getting restless and wanted to go back to Downtown - to the place where he'd been killed. It certainly took my mind of my own problems and I agreed to go with him - anything to get my mind off Sissal.

February 1st 899:
The entire team met up for a picknick in Downtown - sometimes I'm wondering if I'm really in charge of my own life? Blue showed up driving a huge APC - wtf? He'd been kicked out from his appartment - he wouldn't tell us how he'd gotten it - I suspect he hustled someone, the sneaky stormer!
G'rr was eager to go, so we just packed our stuff and returned to our own little place of horror. Almost as soon as we arrived G'rr started ranting. He seemed as if he was in another world where he could see things we couldn't. Obviously he'd made some sort of contact with the nec/gorecannon that killed him and through him she tried to tell her story. She had been thrown into the White by necanthropes to add to their "Eight as One", but she had not been ready and she had returned from the white as a part of one of the members of that group. As a parasite she'd lived as his gorecannon trying to get her vengeance. Now she'd manipulated us to come here and finish one of these necs - Rain.
We stared in horror at the shaktar as the words tumbled from him. And then Sean pulled a lead cylinder from his backpack and Blue threw a large gymbag on the ground. Sean didn't know where the cylinder came from, only that he knew it contained the most dangerous thing for an ebb user - a DU bullet. Blue opened the gymbag and pulled out weapons, grenades, ammo, drugs and other stuff that might come in handy when you try to kill a necanthrope.
I had to run a hand through my hair to make sure it didn't stand on end, but I also felt a sense of purpose and righteousness - I remember looking at my teammates thinking that this was the right thing to do.

Shadows and rain. The smell of burnt flesh and pouring rain fills my nostrils and makes me gag. We know the nec is waiting for us at the end of the stairway. Blue is front, he might be able to take a single hit to buy us some time. He kicks the door in and for a second his silhouette is burnt on my retina, then he tumbles backward down the stairs while the rest of us throws ourselves into the room. The beast has already taken control of my body and with my stunty legs I follow the rest of the team against a large skeletal humanoid standing above a burning woman.
Sean screams at me to stay away and I try to get near the burning woman instead. Rain looks at me, forces his mind upon mine and for a second I see a large seven-headed dragon. Before it is a large snake coiled around itself and the snake strikes at the dragon several times spitting its venom into the screaming dragon. I shake his mind of me and sees Sean throwing himself down before the nec with the cylinder in his hand, Rain slashes out to take Seans face but Greg throws himself between. The brainwaster fires the cylinder turning his head away but I can see as he drops the cylinder that his eyes are burnt. I pick up Sean and gets him outside where I hold his hand while we wait for Greg, Blue and Jack to get rid of the bodies and blow up the building. My mind is chaos and once again I'm wondering who's in control of my life.
G'rr walks out he seems strange - almost peaceful. He asks us if we trust him and if we'd like to forget this "incident". We look at eachother for a while and then we all nod. We've just killed a nec for no reason whatsoever - we might as well sign our own extermination warrants! Sean is against it at first, mostly because he killed a nec and if he's forced to forget noone will ever know. But we finally convince him that for the sake of his sanity and his eyes he better go with the mindfuck.
G'rr looks all of us in the eyes and in a blink of an eye the event of this day changes to something else...
G'rrs version of February 1st 899:
AAA had taken yet another Blue BPN in downtown, coincidentally same sector as G'rr was killed in. We were to look out for strange or increased carrien activity. Somehow we find a large nest of carriens where the nasty critters had figured out how to use bodyparts from other races to improve themselves. The big mean daddy carrien was wearing the head of an ebon and was trying to influence us to surrender ourselves to an unknown fate. We fought all its' nasty critter minions but in the end we had to run and blow up the building behind us.
Afterward we went home not noticing that we never got paid, never got a better SCL rating and with G'rr assuring us that this one gave a follow up BPN in Orienta.
I've never been there - sounds exciting!