The Darkness Arrives (FT, Intro, Closed, ATTN:Telvira)

[Shyrkiaal]

OOC: Alright. I should make one thing clear first. My nation are the soul-absorbing, flesh ripping demon spawn and not the poor innocent Gesyrans. So yeah. More OOC stuff at the end of the post.

Planet Gesyra
Leydra City

The city of Leydra. A sprawling metropolis in the massive desert that covered most of the south of the continent. The city was built around a vast oasis, which consisted of a large freshwater lake surrounded by lush green plantlife.

Irrigation now aloud the entire city of 15 million people to benefit from this water, and shortages were non-existent. Canals wound their way through the city, small boats cruising up and down through the clear blue water, while overhead cars zipped over bridges. Men and women dressed in fancy and colorful clothing strolled the sidewalks, window-shopping through the various stores that lined the roads. The economy was booming, the sun was shining and the world seemed totally perfect to the people of Gesyra.

Near the center of the city, a few blocks from the Presidential Palace, was the Gesyra Grand Institute For Education, the most prestigious university on the planet. The big old building was magnificent to behold, with a verdant courtyard out front and numerous fountains and mosaics within. The halls were filled with the aura of knowledge, and the entire campus was a thriving place of learning and intelligence.

However, despite the fact that most everyone at the school was a genius, that didn't stop some from being late. Veyr Joi was one of those students. He sprinted down the hallway, glancing briefly at his watch, only to see that class had been in session for nearly ten minutes. He quickly tousled his blonde hair to make it appear that he was frazzled and stressed, and then entered the classroom. The entire class stopped and looked at him, and the professor crossed his arms and smirked.

"Sleep in again, Mister Joi? Did your tenth grandmother die this time? Or is there another random excuse you wish to impart upon the class?"

Snickers of laughter rippled around the room. Figuring it wouldn't hurt, Veyr shrugged and wove a new yarn.

"I was going to be on time, but then a giant lizard ran across the road....and it swallowed my car whole. I had to drive through it's body and out...."

The professor held up his hand, cutting Veyr off. "I get it. Just sit down and let me teach"

The class went on, the professor droning on about political sciences or something like that. About halfway through the two hour class, somebody shrieked. Every head in the room turned to look at the girl who had made the noise. She was halfway out of her seat, pointing out the window with a terrified look on her face. The professor sighed and walked over.

'Mckaly, it's alright. Now, what did...oh my God.." The professor was now slowly stepping back, the same aghast look on his face. By this time, the entire class had crowded around that one window, and what they saw was terrifying.

The city, their city, was burning. Thick columns of smoke billowed into the sky, and was choking out the sun. Seconds later, the warning sirens began ringing out, and the holographic displays began flashing evacuation messages. The professor stood up and hurriedly began trying to usher the students out. But the classroom door suddenly burst open, and what happened next nobody could described. What appeared to be a blast of pure darkness plowed into the room, absorbing everything that it touched. Veyr watched in horror as one of the students was torn to pieces of claws that emerged from the dark void that had entered the room. The screaming began, and so did the slaughter. Slowly, darkness consumed the entire city, killing and absorbing everything it came across. The entire planet burned and writhed under the pain of the dark, and it's inhabitants suffered torture far worse than death.

Soon, the entire planet was consumed and then as quick as it had appeared, the Darkness vanished. It left behind a planet void of life, with the ruins of cities and mass graves.

The Shyrkiaal had struck again. The Darkness had once again extinguished the light. Moving through time and space, they made their way towards the next victim-planet. It would be the same result. It would always be the same.

OOC: Basic concept is that the next planet is one of your colonies. It is attacked and destroyed by my vicious creatures of shadows, and when the attack is over, we leave without a trace. Basically, the plot will revolve around you trying to find out what is doing this to your colonies (be prepared to lose a few), and eventually confronting the supreme leader of the Shyrkiaal. But that comes later. For now, it's a war-horror-mystery type thing.

So, TG me intro! I'm going to accept the first person who TGs me, so be quick about it. Also, please try and be detailed. No stupid once-liners or anything like that.

[Telvira]

New Asden
Bancroft
New Asden was the hub of Bancroft, the largest city on the lone continent of the world. It hadn't had much time to develop, but after the discovery of abundant minerals it had boomed, as mining companies and the other businesses drawn by the minerals had quickly set up shop.

The place was clearly divided. On one end, to the north of the main meglev line that ran out of the city, were the rich. The mine and refinery owners, the CEOs, the business owners, the shipping magnates. They lived in gleaming towers, ate well every day and got zero-g massages by scantily-clad women.

To the south, the working districts. Shoddier housing, more packed, this was where the miners, the clerks, the secretaries, and the janitors lived. They scraped by paycheck to paycheck and got laid once and a while if they had a wife, girlfriend, or access to a cheap brothel.

It was, for now, peaceful. There would be no talk of revolution for decades, no riots and crackdowns for years. For now everything was going along quite well.

And on the east side of New Asden was the city's Planetary Defense Bastion. A massive structure, designed to link to the satellites which kept watch for intruders and could blast them out of the sky with it's batteries of heavy surface-to-space guns.

For now, the men manning the stations were giving them cursory glances every few minutes, noting the approaching arrivals and letting the civilians take care of them. One man had procured a low-class pornographic magazine and many were huddled around that, admiring the nude women who graced its pages. Everything was fine.

For now.

[Shyrkiaal]

Around Bancroft

They had found their next target. A large, populated planet, bustling with life. It gave off too much light. It hurt the Darkness to look at it.

The light had to be dealt with.

Inside the Planetary Defense Bastion, the radios would click and flicker, and a new voice would pour through the speakers. The voice seemed to speak straight into the brain of those who listened, and it chilled their soul to ice.

You are too bright. The light from your life disturbs the dark. We will extinguish it. You will know nothing but darkness, and your people will suffer as their light is taken. You cannot resist. You will die.

That was it. About four minutes after that message came through, the black void encircled the planet, blocking out the sun and the sky. It jammed communications and isolated the planet entirely from the outside.

The Darkness watched as the people below saw their sun and sky turn to black. It was fear that fed them. And this was going to be a banquet. Soon, the Dark Ones would descend upon the actual surface of the planet, and feast.

[Telvira]

Planetary Defense Bastion
"Bloody 'ell!"

The men were jolted out of their malaise, the commander of the watch slamming down on the large red button labeled INVASION. Across the planet, alarms began to wail.

"What the fuck is that?" One man asked as the sky vanished, replaced by darkness.

"I don't know," the commander said, holding a blue phone. "But it's nothing good. I'm having trouble contacting the fleet."

New Asden
The citizens of New Asden had done invasion drills before. Everyone had quickly grabbed their gas mask bags and rushed to their shelters, dozens of people packing into hundreds of airtight, heavily reinforced underground bunkers.

The Royal Army garrison had gone on high alert when the sun disappeared, soldiers rushing to their bases. Gun crews manned their weapons, mainly the "pom-pom" AAA and the bigger anti-landing craft stuff.

Field Marshal Jacob Feldman, commander of all forces on Bancroft, was just as concerned as the PDB crew. He couldn't raise the fleet, nor were the inter-system ansibles working. He didn't have a serious number of soldiers, he had no doubt that any large-scale invasion would succeed. His job, as he saw it, was to make them bleed for this world.

Already the Royal Army Flying Corps contingent had scrambled, Hurricane fighters flying towards the blackness to scout.

OOC-The fighters aren't RL Hurricanes, they have fancy lasers and other FT stuff, they just look like the real thing.

Orbit
"What the bloody hell is going on down there?!" Commander John Jacobs shouted at his subordinates. No one could give him a good answer. By all accounts the planet had been swallowed by blackness, no signals were getting through.

"Tell Frigam to get back to Kolhama on the double and inform them of the situation," Jacobs said, referring the the commander of the 3rd Destroyer Squadron. "Are we getting sensor readings on that thing?"

"No sir," an ensign replied. "It's like the planet isn't there anymore. All RADAR and sensor probes are returning blank."

"Damn." Jacobs thought for a moment. "OK. It looks like we can't exactly do anything from here. Send the cruisers back with Frigam, the George VI and John II will stay here. Understand? Come back with some help."

Soon after, the bulk of the Royal Fleet presence over Bancroft vanished into the Ether, leaving only two dreadnoughts to stand vigil over the blackness-shrouded planet.

[Shyrkiaal]

Planetary Defense Bastion

The voice spoke again, seemingly coming from the very air around the soldiers.

Your light is piercing. It disturbs the darkness. Soon, you shall all be part of our land, our people. You shall know the Darkness and it will come to be you. You cannot escape this fate. Soon, all shall be dark. Now, meet the harbinger of your doom.

In the center of the command room, a spot of darkness on the floor began to grow. It expanded and flowed outwards like liquid, and pillars of black liquid shadow began to flow up towards the ceiling.

The puddle of blackness bubbled and something began to emerge from it. It was a shapeless being, with glowing white eyes and a constantly shifting form.

It spoke, or at least it seemed like it was speaking.

We will snuff out every last light, smother every breath from every mouth, and stop the beating of every heart. You will fall to the dark. Now watch as your people are blessed with the gift of death.

New Asden

All across the cities, the black shadow figures began to appear as well. Liquid night flowed down the sides of buildings, seeping into cracks and sewers. All the blackness touched seemed to melt with it, and it seeped even into the bunkers and shelters, coming through the ceiling and floors.

The shadow creatures appeared in the center of the crowds of terrified people, and began doing what they did best. They spread pools of dark that devoured the civilians and soldiers alike, filling their bodies and gripping their souls.

The only place this did not happen was in the Bastion, where the TV screens had all switched to security footage of the slaughter going on inside the bunkers.

The figure standing in the middle of the command room seemed to laugh.

Watch as we kill all those you are bound to protect, all those you were bound to defend. Do you hear their screams? Their terror feeds us.

[Telvira]

New Asden
Across the city, people died. In the dozens, then hundreds, then thousands, as the shadows devoured shelters full of unarmed civilians. More were trampled beneath the feet of their brethren as the occupants rushed for the doorways, desperately trying to escape.

In military bases, the shadows were met with scattered resistance, as individual soldiers, then small groups, then organized units of soldiers met their advance with Pickern laser rifle fire, their bolt-action rifles firing a burst of laser fire for each battery.

The pom-poms were turned against the ground, the four-barreled rapid-fire guns spewing flechette canister rounds at the shadows. Many times this backfired, as men too concentrated on the enemy to the front fell to the enemies appearing at their rear.

Planetary Defense Bastion
"You sick bastard," the commander of the watch snarled, going for his service revolver. He brought it up, pulled back the hammer and fired a burst of laser directly into the area between its eyes.

[Shyrkiaal]

New Asden
The lasers seemed to have an 'effect' of some sort. The shadow creatures exploded into puffs of black, but another would simply emerge from the black puddles that now covered the streets and buildings. The Darkness continued its relentless advance, consuming building after building, soldier after soldier.

High above, the black veil that had blocked out the sky shimmered and twitched like a living organism. Every so often, it would shoot a black sphere down to the planet, which would impact and cover the entire area in black sludge.

Bastion
The shadow's head exploded into black smoke, but then reassembled into it's shapeless form. There was another soul-chilling laugh.

Does it pain you? Does it pain you to know that all those you love will soon be dead? To know that you will never see the sun again? To know you can do nothing to save these people?

[Shyrkiaal]

Bump

[Telvira]

New Asden
The soldiers fought valiantly. Urged on by their officers, who stood there calmly firing pistols into the shadowy mass, the “tommies” stood and fought and died. In last-ditch efforts, the tanks of the 17th Cavalry Regiment were turned on the shadows, but their crews fell as shadows materialized inside the machines.

Most of the shelters had been depopulated, and the military was down to a few remaining last stands. In the countryside, only the most remote and isolated places survived, unnoticed for now by the invaders.

Planetary Defense Bastion
The commander fired, again and again, until his revolver was empty, to no discernible effect. The gun clicked a few times, and then slipped from the man’s hand.

“What are you?” He asked, some tears forming in his eyes. “Why are you doing this?”

[Shyrkiaal]

New Asden
The Darkness swept through every street, every alley and every building. It crept into the ground, flowing into the subways and tunnels. It spread across the landscape enveloping everything it came across. The black sky shot down more black projectiles, which then expanded. Soon, the entire planet would be consumed beneath a sea of liquid shadow. And then the Darkness would move on.

Planetary Defense Bastion
The sinister laughter filled the air again. The formless shadow being took shape into a vaguely man-like form, although it was more like a cloaked figure.

We are the guardians of the Dark One. We are his children, and he is our father. The light from your existence offends the Darkness, and we must put it out. The light must be extinguished to make room for the Darkness. You will all be extinguished.

[Shyrkiaal]

bump

[Telvira]

OOC-These delays are going to be a bit common, RL and all that. Probably should have mentioned that earlier.

IC-The planet died, the last remnants of a bustling colony expunged from existence as the darkness swept over and through everything. Resistance was futile; the shadows devoured everything.

In desperation, a mine manager detonated a huge stockpile of explosives as the darkness closed in, sparking a massive fireball-a sort of last defiance, as it were.

Planetary Defense Bastion
The commander and the others watched this happen, weeping for their dead brethren. The shadows did nothing, forcing them to watch. As their sanity died, the shadows advanced, devouring them.

OOC-I assume that's how things would go down. How exactly do you want this next bit playing out?

[Telvira]

Kolhama
War Bunker
The table was occupied entirely by old, white men. At its head, the King, Richard II. At his left, the Prime Minister, Harold Saxon. To his right, his aide. The other seats were filled with his ministers and advisors. Some smoked stimsticks, others drank. They were not shining examples of government, but they had served the monarch well.

The meeting began with an exchange of greetings between the sovereign and his advisors, and then launched into the main issue-the attack on Bancroft. The ships that had fled there had shown images of the black coating, though they remained unaware of what was transpiring underneath. The two ships still in orbit had reported no invasion fleet.

It was all very strange. Some means of investigating the situation on the surface had to be obtained. Finally, it was suggested to simply fire some Royal Marines into the thing in drop pods, and see what happened.

There was general agreement, and the relevant units were soon receiving their orders. In the meantime, an Empire-wide alert was issued, and all the worlds of the Empire went on alert.

The Rock
It was a planetoid, the remains of a planet obliterated by the initial testing of the sunbomb many years ago. The residual effects had died away, leaving a large piece of rock open for development.

The Royal Marines had turned it into a training base, their home and bastion. Hundreds of Marines and Marines-in-training lived on this planetoid, learning to and honing their skills in killing people and breaking things in the service of the crown.

No one knew what was about to descend upon them.

[Shyrkiaal]

Bancroft
As soon as it had arrived, the darkness vanished. It folded in on itself, compressing into a single black sphere that pulled away from the planet, and vanished like a ghost against the darkness of space.

What it revealed was a dead world. Bancroft had been swept clean of all life, from the simplest of bacteria to the humans that once ruled. The forests were now deserts, the oceans were tainted with a thick black sludge, and the great cities had been dissolved into vaguely building-shaped blobs. Dark strands of the goo drifted upwards into the atmosphere from the tainted ocean, seemingly vanishing into thin air.

Not a single corpse remained. There was hardly a sign that humanity had ever inhabited the planet to begin with; in fact, there was no sign that anything had lived there. Every plant and animal was simply gone. It was to be the Telviran's first taste of the darkness, but by no means would it be their last.

The Rock
Not far from the rock, the black sphere appeared. It was huge, at least the size of a large planet, and blocked out the stars from the sky. It streaked towards "The Rock", having detected another offense to the Dark One.

As it came forth towards the military installation, something happened to the Marine's inhabiting the doomed planetoid. They began to hear voices. A deep, smooth voice that spoke with genuine anger and hatred, a voice that filled their minds and seemed to dig into their very soul.

The light in your eyes offends us. We shall extinguish it, and all that lights your worlds. Soon you shall feel as the light of life is forever torn from your body, and your very existence ceases to be. The light shall forever die in your bodies, and your souls will be forever tainted by Darkness.

The Marines could try and organize a defense, assuming they knew what was coming. But the Dark was only minutes away. Nothing could or would stop it.

The light would die.