[Thread] Civilization
Characters: OU!Shadow the Hedgehog, open to residents of Mui-Enas
Where: All over Europe, but then later, Mui-Enas
When: Days 1 and 2 of the final plot
Summary: Shadow acts as scout and goes to see what he can find. In short? Nothing.
Warnings: This is very long.
Shadow stood at the edge of the compound, and looked out into the wasteland that surrounded them. While others saw the barren land and felt an insurmountable despair, Shadow saw freedom. Finally. While it was nowhere near as good as returning home, the hedgehog wouldn't take lightly this opportunity to really stretch his legs and do something.
The Keepers, though, were still there. They hadn't stopped the Warden from tearing the wall down, which was mysterious, but then they hadn't stopped him from building the second Consulo, either, so they obviously had their reasons. But would they act if someone stepped outside that invisible boundary? He had no doubts he could get past them if they tried to stop him, but he ran the risk of them never letting him back in, if they were able to identify his own particular energy signature. Was it worth it, taking that chance?
Absolutely.
Somewhere on this planet, there were other humans. Humans who the Keepers, supposedly, were trying to save. Humans who had their own ways of surviving Entropi attacks, if they'd lasted this long. The technology they possessed, the knowledge, could be enough to turn the tide against the Entropi, finally, when combined with the skills and abilites of the drafted. He hadn't put much thought into actually defeating them once he'd discovered it was something he was incapable of doing - yeah, so he was bitter about that, so what? - being able to take out the Entropi meant being able to get rid of the Keepers as well.
And doom what's left of this world? You really want to do that, just to get yourself and the two you love home? Is that really an acceptable sacrifice?
Shadow set his mouth in a thin line. He bent down into a sprinter's starting posture, folded his ears back, and focused on the horizon.
---
It wasn't until a good twenty minutes later that Shadow slowed down. His PDA had stopped working. The Keepers didn't seem to be in pursuit anymore, if they ever had been. He'd been following the river southeast for a while now - what remained of the river, anyway. The lack of plant life meant the banks had slid into the riverbed, leaving the water dark and muddy, with sandbars in the shallows. And as he continued on, he saw this was true for miles and miles.
He didn't let it concern him too greatly. For the first time in a year and a half, Shadow was no longer caged. He'd never realized how much he'd missed the roar of the wind as it rushed past his ears and through his quills. The land around him was silent, dry, barren, and yet he was enjoying himself. When was the last time he'd honestly felt that?
No signs of human habitation were present as he chased the river southward. But he had a long way to go, still. He'd made his plans for the possibility of escape ages ago, now he could execute them. Follow the river to the coast and head west. Apotos. Spagonia. Gaul. Countries full of people. Great, ancient cities that had survived through the ages, through empires and catastrophe. He didn't expect them to be anything like they once had been, but surely in the ruins of civilization, sheltered from the harsh winds and sun, life would have held on.
---
Apotos was empty. Spagonia was dead. Temples to ancient gods that had stood for centuries had been reduced to dust. Museums, universities, cathedrals, all gone. So much for searching for survivors in the rubble. There was nothing left to speak of.
It was somewhere between eleven and two, now, he estimated. Dark. The coast of Wallonia was silent but for the soft sound of waves beating against the shore. Shadow had stopped briefly for a breather. Months of time spent caged had him out of shape, which was embarrassing, to say the least. Some Ultimate Lifeform, indeed. He used to be able to run for days, had he wanted to.
It was in this solitude and darkness, with only the moon to light his way, that the heady rush of adrenaline finally wore off, and the truth of this world sank in. There was nothing to save. There was nobody here. They'd been told they were to save this planet and the humans who still lived here, but who could have survived this? It wasn't just the humans, either. The land was dead. All of it. Here he was, at the opposite end of the continent from where he'd begun his journey, the only thing alive in all that space. How was that even possible? How was it that the Entropi could suck the life out of every last organism on the planet, and could raze structures that had stood the test of millenia?
Maybe he was looking in the wrong place. The major coastal cities would have been hit first, he reasoned. Large collections of people would make for easy feeding by Entropi. Only the smaller, more isolated groups would survive, overlooked and forgotten. He would have to head inland. If he had more time, he would have gone into the mountains, or made his way to islands - any place where small, isolated pockets of life might be able to cling to the land, where not enough energy was gathered in any one place for the alien predators to be drawn to them. But he had to be back soon; Rouge and Tohru were depending on him. And if the Warden ever got that Consulo working, he wanted to be there when it happened. Home meant more to him now than it ever had. Making sure nothing happened there, that it never turned into this, was more important than ever.
---
Inland was hilly. He was glad he'd taken time to rest. Travelling here in the darkness would be difficult, even with his good night-vision. With no artificial lights whatsoever, no compass but the stars, navigation would have been tricky. Instead, the gray light of dawn found him at the foothills of the mountains in the south of Alemannia. It was snowy here, sort of. Nothing like what it should have been. The lack of trees meant a lack of clouds. The snow was thin and mixed with the dusty topsoil. And still, there was nothing. By now, he wasn't even looking for people, he was looking for grass. Moss. Ants. Anything that was alive.
The Danube river had its source in these mountains. He found it and began to follow it east.
He'd seen enough.
---
Somewhere out there, something was alive. The Entropi were powerful, but they couldn't rid the Earth of every last living thing. It just wasn't possible. Life, once it found a foothold, was resillient. He thought back to the basic biology classes the Professor had instructed him and Maria in. Tiny little chemicals chained themselves together and then multiplied. They built more and more of themselves, not because they had any will to survive but because by some freak accident of chemistry, they'd programmed themselves to do so. They made mistakes sometimes, but this only meant a greater diversity of self-replicating pieces. RNA. DNA. Viruses. At some point they came to work together and formed a tight machine which churned out more and more of itself, so long as it had the resources to do so. And the resources were all still here. Somewhere, on this dead planet, life was holding on, even if it was too small to be seen.
But he wanted to believe the stories that there were humans here, too. Cruel, egotistical, ingenious humans. They believed themselves to be better than those scraps of chemistry, but they weren't. And that was okay. For all their complexity, all their specific needs, they could hang on to any place, in any time, and make it habitable. He had to admire that. Even the cold depths of space had been colonized by humans. Remarkable.
The Danube emptied into the sea. It was nearing midday. Shadow turned and headed north, retracing the streaked path he'd left the day before.
---
He let himself into Mui-Enas and checked the clock on his PDA. One p.m. Twenty-six hours after departure. Not bad. He was covered in dust, and had nothing but bad news, but he was oddly glad to be back. Not that it showed on his face.
The Keepers paid him no heed. They probably hadn't stopped his departure because they knew he would find nothing and return. Unbelievable, that he would come to this place voluntarily, after what it had put him through. It looked different now, though. An oasis in an endless desert. He had friends here. It wasn't safe, not by a long shot, but nowhere was.
Where: All over Europe, but then later, Mui-Enas
When: Days 1 and 2 of the final plot
Summary: Shadow acts as scout and goes to see what he can find. In short? Nothing.
Warnings: This is very long.
Shadow stood at the edge of the compound, and looked out into the wasteland that surrounded them. While others saw the barren land and felt an insurmountable despair, Shadow saw freedom. Finally. While it was nowhere near as good as returning home, the hedgehog wouldn't take lightly this opportunity to really stretch his legs and do something.
The Keepers, though, were still there. They hadn't stopped the Warden from tearing the wall down, which was mysterious, but then they hadn't stopped him from building the second Consulo, either, so they obviously had their reasons. But would they act if someone stepped outside that invisible boundary? He had no doubts he could get past them if they tried to stop him, but he ran the risk of them never letting him back in, if they were able to identify his own particular energy signature. Was it worth it, taking that chance?
Absolutely.
Somewhere on this planet, there were other humans. Humans who the Keepers, supposedly, were trying to save. Humans who had their own ways of surviving Entropi attacks, if they'd lasted this long. The technology they possessed, the knowledge, could be enough to turn the tide against the Entropi, finally, when combined with the skills and abilites of the drafted. He hadn't put much thought into actually defeating them once he'd discovered it was something he was incapable of doing - yeah, so he was bitter about that, so what? - being able to take out the Entropi meant being able to get rid of the Keepers as well.
And doom what's left of this world? You really want to do that, just to get yourself and the two you love home? Is that really an acceptable sacrifice?
Shadow set his mouth in a thin line. He bent down into a sprinter's starting posture, folded his ears back, and focused on the horizon.
---
It wasn't until a good twenty minutes later that Shadow slowed down. His PDA had stopped working. The Keepers didn't seem to be in pursuit anymore, if they ever had been. He'd been following the river southeast for a while now - what remained of the river, anyway. The lack of plant life meant the banks had slid into the riverbed, leaving the water dark and muddy, with sandbars in the shallows. And as he continued on, he saw this was true for miles and miles.
He didn't let it concern him too greatly. For the first time in a year and a half, Shadow was no longer caged. He'd never realized how much he'd missed the roar of the wind as it rushed past his ears and through his quills. The land around him was silent, dry, barren, and yet he was enjoying himself. When was the last time he'd honestly felt that?
No signs of human habitation were present as he chased the river southward. But he had a long way to go, still. He'd made his plans for the possibility of escape ages ago, now he could execute them. Follow the river to the coast and head west. Apotos. Spagonia. Gaul. Countries full of people. Great, ancient cities that had survived through the ages, through empires and catastrophe. He didn't expect them to be anything like they once had been, but surely in the ruins of civilization, sheltered from the harsh winds and sun, life would have held on.
---
Apotos was empty. Spagonia was dead. Temples to ancient gods that had stood for centuries had been reduced to dust. Museums, universities, cathedrals, all gone. So much for searching for survivors in the rubble. There was nothing left to speak of.
It was somewhere between eleven and two, now, he estimated. Dark. The coast of Wallonia was silent but for the soft sound of waves beating against the shore. Shadow had stopped briefly for a breather. Months of time spent caged had him out of shape, which was embarrassing, to say the least. Some Ultimate Lifeform, indeed. He used to be able to run for days, had he wanted to.
It was in this solitude and darkness, with only the moon to light his way, that the heady rush of adrenaline finally wore off, and the truth of this world sank in. There was nothing to save. There was nobody here. They'd been told they were to save this planet and the humans who still lived here, but who could have survived this? It wasn't just the humans, either. The land was dead. All of it. Here he was, at the opposite end of the continent from where he'd begun his journey, the only thing alive in all that space. How was that even possible? How was it that the Entropi could suck the life out of every last organism on the planet, and could raze structures that had stood the test of millenia?
Maybe he was looking in the wrong place. The major coastal cities would have been hit first, he reasoned. Large collections of people would make for easy feeding by Entropi. Only the smaller, more isolated groups would survive, overlooked and forgotten. He would have to head inland. If he had more time, he would have gone into the mountains, or made his way to islands - any place where small, isolated pockets of life might be able to cling to the land, where not enough energy was gathered in any one place for the alien predators to be drawn to them. But he had to be back soon; Rouge and Tohru were depending on him. And if the Warden ever got that Consulo working, he wanted to be there when it happened. Home meant more to him now than it ever had. Making sure nothing happened there, that it never turned into this, was more important than ever.
---
Inland was hilly. He was glad he'd taken time to rest. Travelling here in the darkness would be difficult, even with his good night-vision. With no artificial lights whatsoever, no compass but the stars, navigation would have been tricky. Instead, the gray light of dawn found him at the foothills of the mountains in the south of Alemannia. It was snowy here, sort of. Nothing like what it should have been. The lack of trees meant a lack of clouds. The snow was thin and mixed with the dusty topsoil. And still, there was nothing. By now, he wasn't even looking for people, he was looking for grass. Moss. Ants. Anything that was alive.
The Danube river had its source in these mountains. He found it and began to follow it east.
He'd seen enough.
---
Somewhere out there, something was alive. The Entropi were powerful, but they couldn't rid the Earth of every last living thing. It just wasn't possible. Life, once it found a foothold, was resillient. He thought back to the basic biology classes the Professor had instructed him and Maria in. Tiny little chemicals chained themselves together and then multiplied. They built more and more of themselves, not because they had any will to survive but because by some freak accident of chemistry, they'd programmed themselves to do so. They made mistakes sometimes, but this only meant a greater diversity of self-replicating pieces. RNA. DNA. Viruses. At some point they came to work together and formed a tight machine which churned out more and more of itself, so long as it had the resources to do so. And the resources were all still here. Somewhere, on this dead planet, life was holding on, even if it was too small to be seen.
But he wanted to believe the stories that there were humans here, too. Cruel, egotistical, ingenious humans. They believed themselves to be better than those scraps of chemistry, but they weren't. And that was okay. For all their complexity, all their specific needs, they could hang on to any place, in any time, and make it habitable. He had to admire that. Even the cold depths of space had been colonized by humans. Remarkable.
The Danube emptied into the sea. It was nearing midday. Shadow turned and headed north, retracing the streaked path he'd left the day before.
---
He let himself into Mui-Enas and checked the clock on his PDA. One p.m. Twenty-six hours after departure. Not bad. He was covered in dust, and had nothing but bad news, but he was oddly glad to be back. Not that it showed on his face.
The Keepers paid him no heed. They probably hadn't stopped his departure because they knew he would find nothing and return. Unbelievable, that he would come to this place voluntarily, after what it had put him through. It looked different now, though. An oasis in an endless desert. He had friends here. It wasn't safe, not by a long shot, but nowhere was.