The Eternally Broken Path By Magus and Tonnica Sister no.1 (with a note from both authors at the end) Chapter 1: The Outset ----------------------------------------------------------------------- Elle awoke suddenly at the sound of knocking from the door. She quickly climbed out of bed and raced to the door where the continual knocking was becoming annoying. "Alright, I'm coming!" she called, then mumbled "Who could it be at this hour?" She opened the door and peered outside. There stood her love, who had been gone for what had seemed like forever. Elle, speechless, stepped outside and embraced Ark. "Ark, what are you doing here?" she stammered. Ark lowered his gaze to the ground and shrugged. "Dunno...But it's weird..." he said. Elle's eyes gave away her confusion. "What are you talking about? You're back, let's forget the past," she pleaded. "No Elle...You don't understand. I'm not supposed to be here," he said quietly. He raised his head and looked her in the eyes. "And yet...here I am..." "Ark, I..." Ark brought a finger up to her mouth to quiet her, and he took a step back. "Where are you going?!" she cried. Ark made no reply and simply turned and left through the gate. Ark was ripped from his dream by Elle's constant shaking of his shoulder. "Ark, wake up. It's morning, love," she said softly. Ark rose and hung his feet off the bed. "Did you have another nightmare?" Elle asked impatiently. Ark shook his head. No...No nightmare...wait a minute... "What's wrong?" Elle's voice shook Ark from his thoughts. Ark arose, and gave Elle a strange look. "What?" "Nothing...are you?..." he cautiously asked. Elle locked hands with Ark, and looked at the ground. "Somethings wrong, Ark...I feel...odd," she said. "No...not again!" Ark cried, and Elle stepped away. "What's wrong with me, Ark? Help me!" Elle began to turn a shade of blue, untill she was completely frozen. Ark looked up to the ceiling and fell to his knees. "What the hell's going on?!" he screamed. He dropped on all fours, and began beating the ground. ----------------------------------------------------------------------- Bitter tears ran down Ark's face. His heart was tearing at the seams. His fists clenced tightly as he tried to understand. He turned his head ever so slightly and the image of the frozen Elle burned into his mind again. How..? My time was spent! It was over- how? Ark stood up slowly and fighting every urge he had to just run away he walked up to the frozen Elle. He reached up a hand and gently touched her face, his eyes still blurry from the painful tears. "Elle, I brought you back once before. I don't know why I'm here but it's not worth existing when it's without you." he said letting the final word echo off and drown into the eerie silence of the room. With a hard set face carved by many battles and even more heartache Ark walked out of the room closing the door gently not sure if he could ever return "home". He walked wordlessly straight to his destination in the house passing all the people frozen in time around him. He kicked open the door in his frustration. "Old man!" He shouted into the room. But there was nothing there to answer him. He couldn't even sense any presence other than his own. Ark frowned but he considered no elder better than any elder at all after the way he had been used to ressurect the earth. "Besides," He thought as he smiled to himself. There's always one.. thing he could rely on to know more than anyone about anything. As a final pile of pottery fell to the ground the door to the basement fell from it's hinges. Ark wondered why the door was locked again like it had been before... He thought better of cluttering his mind with worries. He would save that for when Yomi opened his mouth. In a better mood he ran down the stairs to the lowest level of the basement. As he turned the corner his mood improved even more. Floating in mid-air like before was Pandora's Box. Ark didn't know how he knew it would be there. Maybe it had been just a lucky guess. Maybe it had been the tiniest pull of hope in his heart. At least he wouldn't be completely alone. Reassured, he reached out and calmed his heart. His fingertips barely touched the aura around the box and it stopped spinning and dissapeared. Ark sheilded his eyes with his arm as a bright flash of light preceeded Yomi's appearance. Ark let down his arm cautiously afraid for a second that nothing would be there. But, somehow hovering there in all his near-infinite wisdom was Yomi. Yomi... Source of all evoloution and maybe even.. our future... ----------------------------------------------------------------------- "Yomi!" Ark called. "What happened?!" Yomi looked around, his eyes wide with fear. "Ark? Is that you?" Yomi asked, obviously confused. Ark's cheeks flushed with anger. "Yeah," he said loudly. "What'd you do?!" Yomi fluttered his wings. "Me? What'd I do?" Yomi rose higher. "All I do is lay down for a nap, and here you come, making acusations without any idea what you're talking about!" Ark jumped up, and pulled Yomi back down closer to the ground, and stared him right in the eyes. "You mean to tell me you don't know what's going on?" Ark demanded. Yomi shook himself free, and disappeared. "Hey, come back! Come back, you blob of-" Ark was cut off by an echoing voice. "Ark!" Ark jumped in surprise, and spun around. "Ark, what'd you do?!" "You! What are you doing here? What am I doing here?" Ark asked. The slyly grinning Ark stepped down off the stairs, and walked up to Ark, who was obviously fuming. "Don't give me any crap," Ark said with fury in his voice. "Just answer my question!" Ark cackled in glee. "I can't help you," he said, still laughing. "Maybe the elder can help you." He suddenly stopped laughing, and closed his eyes. Ark's eyes grew wide as his counterpart slid away into oblivion. "Hey!" Ark called. "Hey, I'm not done with you!" He shrugged in frustration. I can't win, can I, he thought sarcastically. What was he talking about? The elder was gone, Dark Gaia was gone...He finally decided to go back upstairs. Perhaps he could think clearly after he had something to eat. He began the long trek back upstairs, and went into the kitchen. He frowned at Melissa, who had been frozen in the middle of making breakfast. He worked around her, and began cooking... Perhaps his last meal. ----------------------------------------------------------------------- Ark chewed on the thick sandwich he had made. Being on his own for so long had forced him to learn how to cook for himself. He leaned back in his chair pondering that. "The mother of invention is necessity...", he mumbled to himself as he thought back to all the inventors he had met. Will, Eddy, Be- he stopped himself. He sneered automatically at that name. That name signified the very epitome of greed. When people need no more only the greedy would continue on to 'have it all'. Ark leaned forward and put the crusts of his bread back down on the plate. A disturbing thought swirled around in his mind. Why was he there at all? And why were all the residents of Crysta frozen again? Was he needed? The only answer he got back was the silence of the room. Not even a sense of life from the frozen residents. They had been moving, had been alive only minutes ago. At least the last time the Elder had given him some direction, some idea. Even if he did end up using Ark. He looked down and rubbed his finger along the grain of the wooden tabletop. No. This time he wouldn't let anyone use him. This time it would be his own decisions that guided his actions. He wouldn't be used again. Standing up quickly and nearly knocking over the chair he had been sitting on Ark went to his room. Completely focused and determined not to let the concept of another, more difficult journey crush his resolve he pulled out his cloak. The cloak... Elle had made for him... He choked back a couple tears. He couldn't help it anymore. There was no denying how much he had come to love Elle so there was no hiding his emotion. A cold fire seemed to burn in his eyes as he walked back downstairs to pick up Pandora's Box. His battle hardened soul shone out in the light of his eyes. But his heart still ached and longed as the sight of a frozen Elle came into veiw. "Elle... I'll be back. You know I will." he said gently to the statue-like Elle. It didn't matter that she couldn't hear him. Nor that even if she did become un-frozen she wouldn't remember it. It just felt so good to speak to her. "I'll find out what that other Ark meant. I'll find a way to bring you back. I promise." Swallowing hard Ark turned around and began walking up the stairs. With his cloak draped over his shoulder he quickened his pace, not looking back. ----------------------------------------------------------------------- Magus: "This, to me, is extremely interesting and captivating, and I'm curious as to where it will lead my already wandering mind. Heh. This should be very confusing, which is a good thing. Readers read to find out what happens next, so confusion will only lead to the need find out what the hell it all means....I think." Tonnica: "Even though the first chapter is called the Outset don't be fooled into thinking this is some kind of copy. Everything has to start somewhere. Or, even start where another ends. We must move forwards, not backwards! Upwards not downwards! And twirling TWIRLING towards freedom. I'm not sure where it'll go but it sure will go somewhere. I think you all would like to know when it does."