The Broken Gates

[Historywhiz]

(You decide where that starts.)

Oh that’s easy, “Custodian of the bars of the Two Holy Mosques” is this beautiful capsule whereby one reads it, skips over it thinking it’s just another pretense to something existing yet trivial, then suddenly realize “wait a minute, there are no bars in Mecca and Medina, that defeats the entire purpose.”

 

[Massinissa the Wise]

I remember when you first appeared in my YouTube comment section and discussed the most precise of story details that you threw me for a loop at least once. If you're in danger of getting stumped, I might actually need to scale back the complexity.

Hahahaha, ahhh, good old days. Do keep on with the complexity though. I might just understand it a little less because I know next-to-nothing about Malum or Cali.

Oh that’s easy, “Custodian of the bars of the Two Holy Mosques” is this beautiful capsule whereby one reads it, skips over it thinking it’s just another pretense to something existing yet trivial, then suddenly realize “wait a minute, there are no bars in Mecca and Medina, that defeats the entire purpose.”

Ohhh, there's some real genius inside this title. I'm beginning to see how most of the titles are hollow. Just to name a few: Babylon doesn't exist anymore and probably never had keys; corn is almost the only yellow vegetable; there is no Emperor of China; Central America has but a few hundred ships in its combined fleet; Rockall is a literal rock; and New Zealand has no constitution.
But there are some very substantive titles that you've gained, @Chac1. I'm sure your dominion over the Bottles Afloat in the North Atlantic makes you one of the richest commentatAARs.
(And your money is mostly liquid! )

 

[Chac1]

Hahahaha, ahhh, good old days. Do keep on with the complexity though. I might just understand it a little less because I know next-to-nothing about Malum or Cali.

Ohhh, there's some real genius inside this title. I'm beginning to see how most of the titles are hollow. Just to name a few: Babylon doesn't exist anymore and probably never had keys; corn is almost the only yellow vegetable; there is no Emperor of China; Central America has but a few hundred ships in its combined fleet; Rockall is a literal rock; and New Zealand has no constitution.
But there are some very substantive titles that you've gained, @Chac1. I'm sure your dominion over the Bottles Afloat in the North Atlantic makes you one of the richest commentatAARs.
(And your money is mostly liquid! )

Well noted, oh Wise One. The emptier the better, I say. (Isn't that how you reach Nirvana?)
Yes, unfortunately due to our current civilization far too many bottles afloat in the North Atlantic (and elsewhere too). But I suppose if I did fish them all out and return them for a tiny price each I would still be rich. (Not just in monetary gain.)
As for yellow vegetables, I believe there is yellow squash to add to the list (among others) and entire civilizations were built on corn, so I'll take that. However, this digression is now seriously digressing.

 

[Macavity116]

<=== Episode 6: We're from Paradox Interactive and we're here to help.

Episode 8: We’re just having a little war out here. How are you? ===>​

The Broken Gates
Episode Seven: She’s not an object; don’t talk about her like that.

---

Marisol
Creator
Oakland County, Michigan


Up until this moment, Marisol had felt as though this whole situation had been a fun adventure, much like the sci-fi fanfics she loved to read. But now, a harsh kind of reality set in as she was bundled into the back of an armored van before it drove away to destinations unknown.

In the rear of the van, Marisol, Blake, J.D., Aisling, Varian, and Mina were seated on a metal bench, their hands cuffed behind their backs. Sebakhira was curled up on the floor, while half-a-dozen men and women dressed in urban combat fatigues took up the bench on the other side. One of the men was carrying a black canvas bag.

One woman stood out from the rest of the group. She had spiky purple hair and was very tall in comparison to those around her. She leaned forward to speak, adjusting her black helmet so that it hid her pointed ears from view. When the woman began to talk, Marisol noticed that she spoke in English with a light, barely perceptible Swedish accent. (her voice carried a sing-song melody)

“My name is Cali D’Kara.” She said. “I apologize for the violent introduction, but our inside man reported Blake was holding someone at gunpoint, so we decided to make the whole situation safe as quickly as possible.”

“Inside man?” Blake repeated.

A loud beeping sound came from the canvas bag. The man holding it opened the neck and produced a small robot made out of LEGO.

“Internal IMU limit!” Asimov said. “Unit has rolled over. Check for damage.”

“You’re holding him upside down.” Blake muttered. “Serves the little spy right.”

Cali took Asimov and held the little robot in her lap. Then she said:

“Who here is new to this world?”

Varian, Sebakhira, Aisling, and Mina turned to look at Cali.

“Four more… fuck.” Cali said. She shot an unpleasant look at J.D., and then she looked at Marisol. “Who the hell are you?”

“Marisol Reyes.” Marisol replied quickly. “I’m Blake’s beta reader.”

“Okay, Blake emailed me about you.” Cali said. Then she addressed the group.

“So for those of you who don’t know, my name is Cali, and I’ve already been through what you’ve experienced. I was a character in two of Blake’s stories until I fell through the Fourth Wall and ended up in the real world. I’ve been here for a little less than a year now.”

“Question.” Varian interrupted. “Are you a Hiigaran?”

“No. I’m Alari.” Cali replied. “Blake reused the Hiigaran template when he made up my species. Our physical appearance and language are lifted from the Hiigarans.”

Mina’s eyes went wide and then she started speaking in a language that was not English. Cali turned and locked eyes with Mina, replying in the same tongue. Marisol strained her ears, listening hard. She knew that whenever Blake needed a fictional language for his stories, he would often “borrow” a language from the real world and use it as a stand-in. Marisol had been exposed to many different languages while working as aircrew… and she quickly figured it out.

“Hindi.” Marisol muttered to herself. “They’re speaking Hindi.”

Cali held up a hand and switched back to English.

“Okay, Hiigaran and Alari are similar enough that we can understand each other. That’s good to know… it also looks like the Babelfish Anomaly is still in full effect, too. We’ll need to keep an eye on that.”

“Babelfish Anomaly?” Marisol asked.

“Haven’t you noticed that you can all understand each other? Even though you’re speaking different languages?” Cali said. “We noticed it after we picked up the other two outside of town.”

Marisol and Blake both dropped their jaws.

“Other two?” Marisol repeated.

“We caught two more of your characters, Blake.” Cali said. “As we were rolling into your town, we found them trying to infiltrate. My men are interrogating them right now. Speaking of… hey Astrad! Are we there yet!?”

…

The armored van pulled off the road and came to a stop at a disused State Police outpost in Oakland County, just outside of the greater Detroit Metropolitan Area. Here, a convoy of black armored cars and trucks were loitering, engines still running. Marisol and Blake were told to step off the truck and into the parking lot.

Their hands still cuffed behind their backs, Blake and Marisol were guided to a large armored truck. It had been parked strategically so that no one on the highway could see what was happening behind it. A group of armed SWAT specialists were holding two people at gunpoint.

“More of your characters, Blake.” Marisol said.

She recognized one of them immediately. He was a teenage boy, roughly fifteen or sixteen years old. He had sandy blonde hair, indigo-colored eyes, and a very strong build, as though he had spent most of his teenage years laboring in a farmfield.

“Trig Shepminter, it’s so nice to meet you.” Marisol said. “In person I mean.”

The boy called Trig startled, looking around at Marisol.

“Appia!?” Trig gasped, then his face fell. “No… but you’ve got her voice.”

Next to Trig was an alien. It took Marisol a few seconds to realize she was staring at a very large bird-like creature. It was afflicted with albinism: all of the bird’s feathers were white, and its eyes blood-red. While Blake spoke to Trig, Marisol quickly realized what this creature was: it was a peahen! The female variety of peafowl.

The albino peahen looked directly at Marisol and spoke to her:

“That peahen has a name. I am Kanti Divakar, and I’m Vanian.”

Marisol staggered on her feet.

“Okay, first there was a talking lion, now there’s a talking bird.” She breathed. “I need to go back to church.”

One of the SWAT operatives gestured to Kanti and said:

“So this bird is another one of your Creations, Robinson?”

This comment got a rise out of Marisol.

“She’s not an object; don’t talk about her like that.” Marisol snapped.

“Hey, uh… these two are both Gifted.” Blake said. “They’re probably having a telepathic conversation this whole time.”

Cali narrowed her eyes at Trig and Kanti.

“Alright then, they’ll come with us.”

“Come where?” Marisol asked.

“Stockholm.” Cali replied. “To Paradox Interactive. I promised I would bring all of you to the Countermeasures Committee to figure out our next move.”

Both Marisol and Blake protested.

“I can’t go to Sweden!” Marisol said. “My flight back to Manila leaves tomorrow, and my passport is in the hotel back in Flint! I won’t have a way to get home!

“I can’t go to Sweden either!” Blake added. “The National Guard is drilling this weekend. If I go M.I.A., you’ll have the entire Michigan State Police out hunting for me!”

Cali rounded on Marisol and Blake.

“The two of you caused this situation.” Cali seethed. “Especially you, Blake. Dragging this poor girl into your selfish fantasies, you’ve got no shame.”

Cali looked like she wanted to go on, but she was interrupted. Three state police cars raced past the scene on the highway, lights and sirens on. A moment later, Cali’s radio crackled.

“D’Kara? This is Magnusson. We’ve got a situation developing in Downtown Detroit. There’s a mass shooting on Jefferson Avenue. Gunman is using sci-fi weapons consistent with previous reports.”

Cali signaled the other SWAT operatives.

“Everyone load up! We’re going to Detroit!”

Marisol and Blake both raised their voices to get Cali’s attention.

“It sounds like one of my characters is raising hell over there.” Blake said.

“In that case… we might be able to help!” Marisol added. “Maybe you could uncuff all of us?”



…

---

Tenna Annora
Creation
Wayne County, Michigan


Tenna used telekinesis to throw a man off his motorcycle. Then she mounted the bike and revved the engine, roaring down Jefferson Avenue at speed. Her dress billowed in the wind like a parachute. To her left, Tenna saw Downtown Detroit. To her right was the Detroit River and the Canadian border.

“You found the new person? Where!?” Tenna yelled into the mouthpiece of her headset.

“Just follow the sirens.” A voice replied. “Getting this new person on our side might be out of the question.”

Nearly two dozen emergency vehicles had congregated outside of the GM Renascence Center, the tallest building in the State of Michigan. Something terrifying was happening here.

Just fifty feet away from the base of the tower, a brown-skinned woman with wild grey hair was aiming a Laser Rifle into the entrance of the Detroit-Windsor Tunnel. Whenever a vehicle emerged from the underground border crossing, she opened fire at it, causing drivers to panic and swerve. Several wrecked cars and trucks were burning nearby.

Detroit police officers were firing their own weapons at her, but seemed to be having no effect whatsoever. As Tenna dismounted her stolen motorbike and approached on foot, she heard one of the police officers say:

“Message from Lansing! It’ll take an hour to scramble the National Guard!”

“National Guard!?” The Wayne County Sherriff replied. “Does the Army know what’s happening here!?”

The strange woman turned away from the tunnel entrance and began firing her Laser Rifle at the police cars.

“Find cover!” The cops yelled.

A man and a woman spotted Tenna and ran over to her. Both of these people had hair that was dyed in bright pastel colors and pointed ears. They were Alari characters from one of Macavity116’s stories.

The man, Dak J’Bassim, pointed at the mass shooter, then yelled to Tenna.

“Tell Malum there’s no chance in hell we can make an ally out of her!” Dak yelled. “She’s rogue! She’s insane!”

“She tried to shoot us both!” Replied the woman. This was Dak’s younger sister, Moka J’Bassim.

Laser fire raked the scene. Tenna, Dak, and Moka threw themselves to the ground. The police broke ranks and began to retreat.

“Screw this! I’m taking her down!” Tenna said.

She stood up and threw herself over a burning police car, facing this new threat.

The woman was Partogan, dressed in a Triple Alliance military uniform from the Second Hyperspace War. (one of Blake’s oldest stories) Her face was so completely covered in Maori tattoos that it was very difficult to discern details about the dangerous woman. As soon as she saw Tenna, the stranger raised her Laser Rifle and took aim.

Tenna raised a Telekinetic Shield with one hand, deflecting the first laser beam effortlessly. The crimson bolt sailed off-target and struck the Scientology building down the street, setting it on fire. Tenna summoned her willpower and put her free hand to her heart. Blue Soulfire ignited in her palm, brighter than the inferno around her.

“Who the hell are you, anyway?” Tenna yelled to her enemy.

The woman laughed. It was the high, cold laugh of a psychopath.

“What’s my name matter to you?” She replied. “Leave me alone if you wanna live!”

Tenna opened her palm and loosed a volley of Soulfire. The blue flames shot across the street toward the stranger, only to be deflected at the last moment. A shimmering Telekinetic shield materialized in front of the madwoman, and moments later, four figures came racing into view: a lioness, a peahen, a girl, and a boy.

Sebakhira, Kanti, Aisling, and Trig quickly placed themselves between the madwoman and Tenna. Trig raised his hand and spoke into a cell phone.

“We found them!” Trig said.

Kanti turned around and looked at the madwoman, a sorrowful expression on her face.

“Oh, no…” Kanti said. “Shepminter! Tell D’Kara the mass shooter in the reports is an old friend of mine: Kailani Kalili.”

<=== Episode 6: We're from Paradox Interactive and we're here to help.

Episode 8: We’re just having a little war out here. How are you? ===>​

 

[CBR JGWRR]

Moka and Dak are on Malum's side? Oh no. That's not good at all... But why? They've obviously been pulled from the Light Ending of Year Of Hell - Moka is a bit dead in the Dark Ending.

 

[Macavity116]

Moka and Dak are on Malum's side? Oh no. They've obviously been pulled from the Light Ending of Year Of Hell

Hmm... next time Moka gets a scene, let's take a closer look at her. She seems way too undamaged to have come from the Light Ending.

 

[CBR JGWRR]

So you yanked her away from the Morbuzkah prematurely?

 

[Macavity116]

So you yanked her away from the Morbuzkah prematurely?

Seems quite likely.

 

[CBR JGWRR]

And Dak though? Why is he working with Malum?

 

[Macavity116]

And Dak though? Why is he working with Malum?

For the moment, we simply don't know. Someone (Maybe Malum or Tenna or Akira) has probably told a story that Dak and/or Moka believed.

 

[CBR JGWRR]

Hopefully Cali can convince them otherwise.

Right, @Cali D'Kara?

 

[Midnite Duke]

Did somebody tell Dak that Blake was making unwanted advances on Kali? Oh, Mac your transgressions are coming to roost! The peafoul should be peafowl, though the call is definitely foul and noisy. Thanks

Moka and Ainsling should enjoy meeting as both are princesses of mayhem.

 

[Macavity116]

Hopefully Cali can convince them otherwise.

Hopefully she gets the chance.

Did somebody tell Dak that Blake was making unwanted advances on Cali? Oh, Mac your transgressions are coming to roost!

It was you, wasn't it?

Moka and Aisling should enjoy meeting as both are princesses of mayhem.

Moka, Aisling, and now Kailani. We've got three pint-sized agents of chaos running loose out here. There might be a bloodbath.

 

[CBR JGWRR]

Hopefully she will.

And well...

It is a bit late for "might be".

 

[Macavity116]

It is a bit late for "might be".

*double-checks the name of the next chapter*

"We’re just having a little war out here. How are you?"

Ah... yes. You've got a point there.

 

[Chac1]

Well, @Macavity116 ... you agent of chaos... you've done it now. Seems like your characters are about to cause quite a bit of property damage in Detroit. Glad that you waited for the National Football League to clear out of town before all this started.

But how is Blake going to avoid the inevitable National Guard call up?

Good to see Trig, as someone who started my Macavity journey late with Song of the Solitaire. Wishing that my favorite Ponnico would at least make a cameo.

Finally, good to see no further attempts to assault the bAAR or SolAARium at this time.

 

[CBR JGWRR]

Blake is a bit unavoidably detained.

 

[Macavity116]

how is Blake going to avoid the inevitable National Guard call up?

Blake is a bit unavoidably detained.

Yeah, I imagine Blake's phone will be going off a lot these next few chapters,

Good to see Trig, as someone who started my Macavity journey late with Song of the Solitaire.

We've got both protagonists from SotS now! But Trig and Tenna are on opposing sides this time around.

Finally, good to see no further attempts to assault the bAAR or SolAARium at this time.

Don't uh... don't jinx yourself, friend.

 

[Chac1]

Don't uh... don't jinx yourself, friend.

A warning has been issued. Right now, @DensleyBlair is the only one in the bAAR. And I'm on the move.

 

[The Kingmaker]

It sure seems like Cali D’Kara is throughly integrated into the PDX special forces for someone who is relatively new to this century/dimension.

…Of course she is. She’s literally the poster child for “Stockholm Syndrome.”