Episode Ember: Chapter 4: Gateway

Chapter 4 of Ember's adventure.

            Ember ran up the slopes of the graveyard into the city and saw Traci and the other soldiers fighting off members of the Church of Eternity, clearly trying not to hurt them too much.  Ember pulled out her nunchucks and yelled,

            “Hit the deck!” Traci looked over as soon as she heard Ember scream this, and signaled the troops to drop down to the ground like they were dodging incoming fire.  The cultists initially thought this was their opportunity to break through, but as they raised their weapons to strike, Ember took her nunchucks, held both pairs like they were drum sticks, and then bashed them together like she was counting in a band.
            “One-two-three-four!” she yelled and as she did, the energy from the strikes formed as concussive shockwaves that knocked the cultists to the ground.  From there, as a few tried to get back up, Summer attacked with her scythe and knocked them right back down.  But it wasn’t enough on the onset.  Quickly the cultists further back managed to regain their footing before Ember, Summer, or Traci and the few soldiers they had could knock them back down, and a skirmish formed.  For the Huntresses, it wasn’t super difficult, but some of the soldiers were having a harder time attempting to push back against this growing force.  As such, Ember started to become worried.

            “This is taking too long!” Summer yelled as she struck down another cultist.  “I’m going back for Raven!”  With that, Summer turned back around and charged back towards the center where they left Raven to fight the Lost Master.  Ember initially wanted to follow as well, but the church members were starting to figure out that their best chance for victory lay in ganging up on the Huntresses rather than keep trying to fight the soldiers.  Traci was starting to get overwhelmed by a small group of cultists and was getting pushed back further and further up against one of the walls of the destroyed buildings.  She was able to knock out a cultist with one punch, but for each one that went down another seemed to take their place.  Ember cleared a path through her own enemies towards Traci, and charged forward with her nunchucks glowing with Dust energy.  She then fired a Lightning bolt towards Traci, which while it hit a few cult members, it mostly went straight into Traci’s right glove.  The energy ebbed within the glove for a moment, but then Traci punched the ground causing the energy to spread out like a wave around her.  For the lack of a better term, Traci had always referred to her Semblance as a Bounce Board.  Taking energy and bouncing it back in different ways.  This caused not just the cultists surrounding her to fall to the ground unconscious, but cause some of the others fighting the soldiers to collapse as well.  Traci smiled as Ember looked over gave her a thankful nod.  Ember returned the nod as it was clear Traci was starting to rally the soldiers and the cultists were finally starting to either be struck down or surrender to save their own lives.  Ember decided that it was time to return the battle to the real threat and headed back towards the center to help Summer and Raven.  But then, as she started to approach the edge of the city remains, The Second dropped down in front of her, firing a round of Fire Dust from her staff in the process.  She was trying to push Ember back by firing several more rounds of Dust, the energy assumingly knocking her over.  But Ember quickly brought her nunchucks together for a powerful burst of energy to dispel the fire, causing it to dissipate around her.  From there the two came to blows.  Ember swinging her nunchucks to try and batter The Second, while The Second attempted to break through Ember’s barrage and land a decisive blow.  The two traded blows back and forth, neither side willing to concede the battle.  The Second appeared to have the upper hand as her use of her staff was forceful, landing a few strong hits on Ember’s shoulders seemingly leaving her chest open for a powerful attack from the dagger at the bottom of The Second’s staff.  But then, with a single swing, Ember managed to break a piece of the Second’s mask near the right eye, resulting in the Second altering her swing to cut through a piece of Ember’s aura and also managed to cut the wires connecting both nunchucks, leaving Ember with essentially two clubs.  Both jumped back away from the other following the flurry of attacks, Ember looking up at her assailant to see the eye of her opponent.  The Second said nothing, but Ember could have sworn she saw a small tear rolling down from the Second’s eye.  But she didn’t dwell on that, the sun was starting to peak over the ridge of the Graveyard, and Ember could already hear the howling of the winds of the sandstorm like the professor mentioned the night before.  She quickly rushed The Second planning on attempting a feint that would allow her to not only stun The Second, but also move past and finally reach the bottom of the crater to help Summer and Raven.  Strangely though, as she approached The Second, the sun was hitting her eye through the mask, and it seemed to be causing her to slow down, to freeze.  Ember did not hesitate however, and quickly struck The Second with a definitive strike, knocking her to the ground.  With that, Ember started to run towards the center of the graveyard.  But she still felt confused.  She was sure she imagined it, but for a split second, she could have sworn she saw the space around The Second’s eye flickering like a computer program glitching out.

 

            Ember slid down the side of the entrance to the center of the Graveyard, where she saw the Lost Master with his back to Ember holding Summer down on her knees with his staff while the Prophet was doing something to Raven with his hand placed on her head.  A flash of light appeared from the space between the Prophet’s hand and Raven’s forehead and a small orb appeared out of thin air in the prophet’s hand.  Ember kept sliding down, not wanting to make her presence known.  The Lost Master was saying something, to Summer as he started waving his hands.  Ember held her clubs tightly and prepared to attack.

            “….such a pitiful attempt.” The Lost Master said to Summer to which Ember could hear as she got closer.  “If this is the best the world can do to try and change things, then maybe it shouldn’t have picked the weakest of the Branwen children to stop me.”  As Ember leapt up into the air to strike, the Lost Master waved his hand, and a portal of energy appeared right in front of him.  The Prophet stepped aside and allowed The Lost Master to pick up Summer by her collar, and throw her into the portal.  Ember quickened her descent, and before the Prophet could even shout a word of warning to the Lost Master, Ember struck him hard in the back of the head, knocking him to the ground.  She then rolled after the hit, sprung back up and faced the Lost Master with her two clubs, the portal still formed behind her.  The Prophet leaped into action, attempting to wrap one of his chains around Ember’s clubs.  Ember quickly dodged the attack and struck him in the stomach.  The prophet stumbled back allowing the Lost Master to regain his bearings and pick up his staff, which upon closer inspection looked like a small dowel rod with energy formed around it, taking the shape of a staff.  The Lost Master charged forward, trying to stab Ember through the chest with the energy itself forming around the end of the staff like a blade.  But Ember quickly used the Lost Master’s confusion and blind rage against him, moving her body around the energy, grabbing his arm, and then throwing him to the ground.  As the Lost Master hit the ground, the portal seemed to shimmer, a bit more energy seemed to escape from its rings as a new unique shimmer surrounded it.  The Prophet then attempted to attack again, he and Ember trading blows.  The hooks and chains were not difficult to deal with normally for Ember, but her rhythm was a bit off due to the fact that she was now fighting with two clubs and not the nunchucks she was used to wielding.  Because of this, sometimes when she thought she was swinging up the other half of her nunchuck to block her attack, she was swinging her club at thin air, leaving her open for even more attacks, continuing to chip away at her aura.  With one quick strike, the Prophet managed to break through her aura and managed to lodge the hook portion of his chain into Ember’s shoulder.  Ember fell to the ground in pain as the Lost Master slowly got back up, cackling as the Prophet stood to the side so his master could face Ember.

“The world is a strange place” he said as he morphed the energy on his dowel rod into a simple sword, “but despite your presence, you have failed to change anything.  And I will make sure that what is meant to be still comes to pass.  That scar might be an issue, but I doubt a simple wound will change where you will end up.”

“I don’t plan on sticking around to find out” Ember said as she ripped the chain out of her shoulder and kicked the Prophet in the knee causing him to fall backwards.  But as the Prophet fell back, his chains fell to the ground and wrapped around Ember’s leg.  Not noticing this until it was too late, Ember attempted to get up, but then had her legs pulled out from under her causing her to stumble backwards and into the portal, with the Lost Master yelling “NO!” as it happened.  As Ember’s body fell into the portal, everything seemed to flow around her all at once.  She fell through the portal, but it wasn’t like walking through a door or even a thin veil.  It felt like she passed through a strange membrane of air.  And once she passed through this membrane, she saw everything around her slow to a crawl as she continued to fall towards the ground.  The Lost Master was still reaching for her, but now he seemed to be slowly moving backwards.  Suddenly, light flashed around Ember, and the world began to change.  She saw her earlier fight with The Lost Master soar past in reverse, then the Graveyard itself simply sitting there for some time as the sun rose and set hundreds upon thousands of times in a matter of seconds.  And then, in an instant, the graveyard had all the blades disappear, and then more sunsets and sunrises.  Finally, a city.  A vibrant green city appeared in an instant, with skyscrapers taller than even the flying city of Atlas.  And then, at long last, Ember hit the ground.  Her head hit what felt like concrete and she lost consciousness.

 

 

 

            Ember woke with a start, knocking the covers off her bed.  She looked around and saw that Summer was in a similar bed next to her, and they were both handcuffed to the beds.  They were both wearing simple robes, their battle gear folded up in a neat pile off to the side next to their weapons.  Ember tried to remove the handcuff, but she was still weak from her previous fight.  Suddenly a door opened and an old man with a cane walked in.

            “Rest child,” he said with a shaky voice.  “You and your friend here seem very much worse for wear.”  As he said this, two attendants walked in and helped undo Ember’s cuffs and gave her some slippers to put on her feet.  Ember quickly ran over to Summer’s side, checking to see if she was awake before the attendants pulled her away.

            “Your friend will be fine” the old man said as he motioned for the attendants to leave them and beckoned Ember to follow him up a nearby flight of stairs.  “Our doctors have assessed your injuries and will help you prepare for your either departure or your stay.”

            “Thank you” Ember said as she followed close behind.  “I think we will not stay for long until we are healed up.  We need to return to Vacuo and report what has happened.  We need to help our friends.”

            “Vacuo?” the old man asked as he opened a door that led to a balcony.  “Where is that on Totum?  Is that one of the colonies to the west?”

            “What’s Totum?” Ember asked as she shielded her eyes from the bright sun in the sky.  But as she did so, she realized something.  She wasn’t being burned by a strong desert sun nor blasted by cruel sandstorm winds, but rather being warmed by the glow of a sunbeam and a gentle breeze as if she were back home in Aequo.  Her eyes adjusted and she finally saw her surroundings.  She was in a city unlike anything she had seen before.  It was bright, the buildings were taller than any she had seen in her life, and each one of them was draped in greenery. Ember ran to the railing and saw in the streets below what looked like cars, but unlike anything she had ever seen before in her journeys with the Troupe.  The people below wore clothes that were not indicative of any of the four Kingdoms, and everything in the city seemed to be running of a strange energy not related to Dust.

            “What do you mean what is Totum?” the old man asked walking up next to Ember.  “Totum is the world we live in.  And this is the Kingdom of Perdita, the crown jewel of this world.”  Ember looked out at the city, still in shock.  A world unknown, glistening before her.

 

 

 

A Heart Out of Place.

A World Connected.

Ripples Have Formed.

Actions Have Consequences.

 

 

 

Episode Ember:

 

 

ACT I

 

 

END

 

 

 

RETRIBUTION.

SAGA OF SEASONS

 

 

 

 

 

 

Authors Note:

 

            I cannot take credit for coming up with the character of Ember originally.  That credit belongs to Nathan, who came up with the idea for the character back when I was first writing “Order”.  Nathan had even written the majority of Chapter 5 in Episode 1 of Order because that was how he pitched Ember to me initially.  Everything beyond that however, was my work and creation.  The general backstory, the way the character interacts with others, and of course, this first act of her anthology story.  When Nathan pitched the idea to me, he had created her as a sort of surrogate mother for him.  A mother he chose rather than the one he has.  As I do not wish to dredge up too much real-world conflict and memories, I will leave it at I did not agree with that direction and instead focused more on the teacher and mentor aspect during the first book.  That is why during the flashback in “Order”, I wanted to focus on Natalie’s point of view and experience with Ember to showcase how much Ember touched the lives of those around her and not just one character.  However, during this time Nathan sent me another story that he had written where the characters of Nathan and Ember climb a mountain where Ember sings Nathan a song from Fire Emblem and then he calls her “mom” outright.  I never put this idea into “Order”, but it always lingered in the back of my mind.  After he and I had our falling out and I decided to write “War”, I needed a reason for Ferish Tenebris to be driven to believe that what he was doing was right.  Given what Nathan had written about Ember in the past, I decided that would be the driving factor: a purpose to reclaim what he thought he wanted or needed despite that not being the true reality.  But I didn’t want to focus on that with this anthology story.  Since Ember is an original character that has a definitive end in the main books, I can take that character and create new ideas around a time when they were a player in the history of this world and not impacting the lives of the main cast directly.  A new idea that I could build up in preparation for the potential “Book 3”.  But I still needed certain set pieces to take place to get to this point, and of course, since this is only Act 1, it’s not the end of this particular adventure.  So I didn’t want to do nothing but exposition about Ember’s life and make this more a lore dump than anything else, I wanted this to be a step towards the next idea and introducing new elements into this story.  I wanted to start leaning a bit more on the Lost Master, and begin laying the groundwork for future stories.  And speaking of future stories, now that this anthology is finally complete, I will begin work on the second anthology book which I plan to focus on the next generation of characters.  And like with Ember, these are original characters that provide a unique challenge and give me an opportunity to do more amazing and unique ideas.  But for this book, this was one that I wanted to write for the sake of my friends, much like the first book.  A chance to expand their characters and introduce new friends as well.  I think I’ll sneak some of the characters that haven’t had as much time to shine more in this second Anthology as cameos, because that is a major component of my reasoning for writing this story.  I hope you enjoyed this first anthology, and I hope you will look forward to reading the next slate of adventures (hopefully to be completed in less time than it took me to complete this episode.)

Author's Note

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