The Song of Life (Franz, Open)

Hitura Rael

Administrator
Feb 23, 2019
138
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16
Northeast Ohio
www.worldanvil.com
#1
October 14


Blissful silence wreathed the white angel as it drifted. And yet, silence was all but impossible in the world, if one knew to listen. The song of the sea was a symphony of whispers, sung by the tides. The discordance it had been swept up in had banished the Rah from Fiji Jupiter. Upon this drift, it's wounds from the surprise blow healed. The Instrumentalist lived, cradled within like a sleeping babe. One had to be awake, and with the instrumentalist unconscious, the task fell upon Rah.

It would have to surface eventually, the boy would need tended to by humanity, but until that time a burning curiosity drove it. As it drifted, Rah observed. Above the rising sun painted ripples of light, the distant shimmering mirror obstructed by the shadow of schools of fish and marine life. Below and around it, motes and streams of color swam, each an individual entity that called this blue expanse home. Scales flashed and glittered in the light, like jewels in the night sky. A gentle finger reached out to stroke the flank of a passing shark, startling the creature away.

Rah listened to the myriad of chorus sung by the depths. The silence of the depths, the whisper of the tide, the great booming orchestra of whales, the chattering calls of the dolphins. A cacophony of odd notes faintly joined the music as Rah drifted on the tide. A heartbeat, slow and great. The din of everyday life, resonating from within something great. Curiosity led Rah to propel itself, seeking the source. And soon, it was found. A great massive entity, ascending the waves. Rah drifted closer, hand outstretched. It could hear everything carried by the sea from those walls of it's shell.

A shared sense of loneliness shared in the moment. Though each held precious lives within, neither could interact with them directly. Rah placed it's hand upon the creature's brow, a soothing gentle touch. It leaned in and began to sing, a pure and vibrant song, gentle as the tide, soft as the sand below, warm as the sun above filtering down, beautiful as the stars. For a brief moment in time, RahXephon serenaded the lonely Orphan, and in those notes so pure and clear, reminded the creature that they were not alone.

When the song concluded, Rah slipped backwards, back out into the open water, and slipped beneath the creature, watching in curious wonder as it continued it's own drifting journey. A collision below rattled Rah from it's reverie, and thus it turned. Curiouser and curiouser. A shorn machine drifted in it's own way in the shadow of Orphan. A heart beat faint among the chorus of groaning metal and machinery. Carefully, Rah cradled the Wing in it's arms and began it's own slow ascent to the surface, following the rising slope of the sand below.






When the Wing pilot came to, he would find himself still safely embedded in the cockpit, what was left of his torn machine nestled on a white sandy beach. Palm trees dotted the land scape, mountains in the distance. Calm crystalline blue waters lapped at the shore line, and further back, just before the trees, a great white mecha sat, red eye's fixated upon the Wing. At it's feet, upon a nest of palm fronds, a young girl sat, caramel skin and dark hair with amber eyes framed by thick glasses. In her lap, the head of a dark skinned boy around her own age, sound asleep in a fitful dream. Her hand caressed his kinky hair, as if to soothe him and keep him asleep. For the trials ahead and what was to come, Ixtli would let him sleep as long as he could.
 
Last edited:
Dec 22, 2020
33
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6
#2
Stillness was death.

In the battlefield as in life, stopping was the equivalent of perishing.

The stillness of the faux angel was reminiscent of a corpse. The wear and tear on its formerly pristine structure speaks to the mangling it received from a foe unbound to the limits of earth. In many ways, it was outclassed. A scouting endeavor turned fatal in the blink of an eye. A miscalculation brought by hubris and foolishness.

Arturo didn't expect to wake up. Skills honed from a lifetime of conflict brought swift wakefulness and he immediately took notice of his surroundings. He was still in the cockpit. That was good. There were hints of damage all around him, a strange rarity for a machine that was made for battlefield domination.

"Looks like our time really was over, old friend." He jokingly said to the unresponsive machine.

Whatever that thing was, they were horribly outmatched by it.

XXXG-01W's overly late debut turned out to be its final sojourn.

He did a diagnostics check, pleased that there was still a measure of power and spirit in the Gundam's wracked body.

As the main camera turned on, he noticed a few things.

First was that he was no longer in the crushing depths of the sea.

"Anak ng teteng ..."

Second, and more importantly, an angel was standing vigil above the Wing.

Arturo gaped, eyes wide as he beheld the immense mobile weapon. It didn't look like a weapon, if he was being honest. It looked like a work of art hewn from the finest marbles and painted like a greek fresco.

Strangest of all was the kid resting by its feet, half-obscured by the alabaster giant's shadow, at peace in its presence as if it were a mere statue and not an incredibly complex looking machine.

Hurriedly, the middle-aged man scrambled out of the Wing's cockpit, cursing softly in his native tongue once more as the cool breeze buffeted his suited form and the ache from his back returning with vengeance.

"H-Hey kid!" He hollered, shoes digging softly into the coarse sand as he trudged closer.

Arturo needs answers. Badly.
 
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Hitura Rael

Administrator
Feb 23, 2019
138
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16
Northeast Ohio
www.worldanvil.com
#3
Sound came to Raldon slowly. Everything sounded distant, distorted, and faded. Slowly, it gained body, garbled as if he were stuck under water. His eyes squeezed tighter in protest to the very sudden registration of light spilling across his face. An exhausted groan rumbled in his throat, escaping his nostrils more than his lips. He didn't want to get up. His body felt too heavy, the ground rocking and undulating, the world spinning.

Raldon draped his arm over his eyes to block out the harsh light of the sun that dared to rouse him. He planted his hand, expecting the firmness of the bed beneath him, the texture of linen sheets atop a cotton and nylon mattress protector. He should not have worked the motion of sitting up into the mix. The sand shifted beneath his fingers. With a startled cry, he fell back into the pile of leaves beneath him. A frustrated groan escaped his lips, too tired for this.

Had he fallen asleep on the beach after sneaking out last night? That must be it. Last night was all a bad dream, he made a cozy spot on the beach and fell asleep. Now someone found him and was making sure he wasn't dead. He forced his eyes open into a squint, blinked several times as the harsh world came into focus, and with the sharp focus of consciousness, Rah's face came into view. The weight of dread and realization grew in the pit of his stomach, threatening to pull him through the sand to the Earth's core. Last night was no dream.

Questions flooded his mind. Where was he? How did he get there? What happened to the giant white lady? And those things! He flinched at Arturo's approach, the man an unknown in a sea of uncertainty. His face blanched and muscles tensed, fight or flight kicking in. A gentle hand on his shoulder relaxed him, he turned his head slightly enough to glance up at the young woman who had guided him. He took a deep breath and exhaled. He ignored the tumbling of his stomach to look up in silent regard at the only adult in... who knew how far?