09-24-2017, 08:59 AM
He hadn't been walking for long before he noticed the little specks in the distance, breaking the monotony of this pale land. He couldn't determine what they actually were at that point, and didn't want to waste any of his last, tiny reserve of Omnilium on a pair of binoculars – not when he might well have to spare that for food and water – it was all but impossible for him to judge distances when everything looked the same, so for all he knew, Hijiri might well have days of walking before reaching whatever they were.
Or so he thought at that point. In actuality, it only took him a little over an hour before he was close enough to determine that the objects in the distance were actually gates of some sort. He was heading for a spot directly between two of them: to his left, one looked to be nothing more than a couple of palm trees, bent over and presumably fastened together somehow; whilst the other, off to his right, appeared to be made of some sort of metal, though he was still too far away to tell much more than that... he did, however, spot movement near that archway, he was sure.
If there were people there, he supposed he might as well attempt to communicate with them. It wouldn't be particularly shocking if they attacked him on sight; as far as Hijiri was concerned, Omni had already made his hostility abundantly clear, so he was fully prepared to have to defend himself... it was hardly an ideal scenario, but he knew he'd have to confront someone eventually, so it might as well be now, before he was weakened by hunger and dehydration. He had to get them to tell him how to acquire more of this Omnilium if he was ever to have any hope of surviving in such a desolate land. If that meant using force, then so be it.
Just under an hour later, after turning to angle his path towards the metal gate, he arrived at his destination, and saw that the structure actually consisted of several smooth, interconnecting steel sections, surrounding some sort of warped, brightly coloured area. In his left hand he clutched his scabbarded sword, and as he approached he pressed his thumb up against the weapon's guard and pushed it back lightly, freeing an inch or so of the blade's length, to be sure that it would be quick and easy to unsheathe should the need arise.
The two figures he approached wore strange black and white armour like nothing he had seen before, and each held a gun of some sort, however they kept the barrels pointed down as he headed their way, apparently trying not to antagonise him. It was possible, he supposed, that they too were merely victims here, living in fear of running into some blood-crazed lunatic who would tear through them like wet paper. Though they made no move to stop him, the former Battle Rabbit came to a halt anyway.
“Good day,” he began, still eyeing them warily in case of a trap, “I was hoping you two could answer some questions I might have?”
“Questions?” asked one man, seeming to loosen up a little, now that he hadn't been immediately murdered, though his compatriot didn't so much as twitch, “Are you new here?”
“Yes, I suppose I am. I met a... thing called Omni. He said something about having to gather some 'Omnilium' stuff...” he glanced around at his surroundings once again, double checking to make sure there were no rainbow-coloured globes lying around which he had somehow not spotted earlier, “though it doesn't exactly seem all that plentiful around here. I don't suppose either of you could explain how exactly I'm supposed to do that?”
It did occur to Hijiri that asking this openly might not be the best possible approach; if this stuff really was as rare as it seemed, these two might try and kill him, simply to get rid of their competition. Fortunately, it didn't seem like that would be the case; hearing that he was utterly clueless about his current situation did seem to put them both at ease.
“Ah, of course, I'd be happy to, Mr...?”
“Takanomiya. My name is Takanomiya Hijiri.”
“Mr Takanomiya? Okay, then, let's get started...”
And so, over the course of the next hour or so, the strangely armoured man – a 'stormtrooper' he called himself – gave Hijiri a basic rundown of the Omniverse; 'Primes', 'Secondaries', 'Verses', summoning, death, rebirth, and even some background information on a few of the bigger, more influential groups which claimed dominance in their various regions. This gate – which was actually some sort of portal, he was informed – led to a vast city named Coruscant, which was ruled justly by their benevolent Emperor, an old man who had been the first 'Prime' ever abducted by Omni, and had selflessly sought to build a place to house those who followed, should they prove friendly.
Sadly, many had not, including a being named Diablo, who had raised an army of monstrous and demonic creatures at one point, and sought to take over the entire Omniverse, before being sealed away after the Emperor had temporarily joined forces with his arch-nemesis, the tyrannical King Aragorn of Camelot, a man who approved of the use of 'heretical' magic, and had many supporters who advocated genocide against non-humans.
It was quite the tale, he had to admit, and he found himself feeling a little sorry for these people, who had only tried to do good, but had been so weakened by wars and competition that much of their fine city had fallen into disrepair and had been taken over by vicious criminal syndicates.
Not that he was going to actually let them know he felt that way, of course. As a man who had until recently run a sprawling business empire, Hijiri was well aware of the value of keeping one's intentions to oneself. Not to mention, he did prefer to avoid appearing sentimental whenever possible.
“I see. Well, thank you very much for the history lesson... now, though, I believe you mentioned something about an easy way of earning Omnilium at one point during all that?” he hadn't wanted to interrupt the stormtrooper earlier, lest he come across as being desperate; he wouldn't exactly have much of a negotiating platform if they realised he barely had enough of the stuff left to feed himself for a day or two... and unfortunately, though he had assured Hijiri that it was plentiful, the man had yet to explain exactly where it came from, or how one went about retrieving it.
“Oh yes!” his tutor's voice was eager, and he nodded a few times as well. The helmet he wore may have been intended to look intimidating, but the man beneath it clearly had no interest in perpetuating that impression. Hijiri heard a slight sigh from the other stormtrooper; apparently that one was none too pleased with his excitable co-worker. “If you're willing to help the Empire out a little, our superiors will be more than happy to pay you for it. Normally we use a currency called 'credits' in Coruscant, but since you're a Prime I'm sure it'll be no trouble to arrange for you to be paid in Omnilium instead, if you'd prefer.”
“Hmm... help out how, exactly? Would I need to wear one of those... uniforms?” he had no idea how powerful stormtroopers were in an actual fight, and he was sure that their outfits must serve some practical purpose... but his people had never really bothered with armour, much less anything that looked like that.
“No, no,” the man laughed, “this gear is only for stormtroopers; you can just wear whatever you like. Now, listen up, if you want to earn some money then the best way you can do that is to join the EPD – the Empire Peace Division – and the first thing they're likely to ask of you is to go down below and prove yourself by taking care of some Prime or other who's been causing trouble for them... are you sure you're up for that?”
Honestly, Hijiri wasn't convinced he really was. In fact, it occurred to him then that this might be exactly what Omni wanted; he had surely kidnapped Hijiri knowing full well that he was the kind of person who would – even if he might not always be the most morally upstanding of individuals – feel compelled to help protect those weaker than himself... which apparently meant having to fight another, much more experienced Prime. With an effort of will, he prevented himself from reacting; in business, it paid to be confident. If he were to make any sort of good first impression with these people, he couldn't afford to seem like a coward, regardless of his personal reservations. And since Omni had apparently been telling the truth about Primes returning from the dead, even if he was killed, he'd likely get another chance.
“Of course,” he replied, nodding sharply and maintaining the cold, detached expression he generally wore, “it shouldn't pose a problem.”
“Glad to hear it. Well, just follow me and I'll help you get all the paperwork sorted out and then you can be on your way.” so saying, he turned and calmly strode through the strange portal like it was nothing. People could get used to anything with enough time, Hijiri supposed, and gingerly followed him.
…
“Hey, wait!” the other stormtrooper suddenly burst out, spinning to look at the portal through which the others had both already passed. He growled in frustration. “Dammit!”
He wasn't worried about letting the Prime through; even when they were known criminals, stormtroopers weren't expected to stand up to Primes without backup, so there was no danger of being reprimanded for that. No, what it was that had annoyed him was that his partner had taken it upon himself to go and show this guy around... five hours before their shift was due to end.
Or so he thought at that point. In actuality, it only took him a little over an hour before he was close enough to determine that the objects in the distance were actually gates of some sort. He was heading for a spot directly between two of them: to his left, one looked to be nothing more than a couple of palm trees, bent over and presumably fastened together somehow; whilst the other, off to his right, appeared to be made of some sort of metal, though he was still too far away to tell much more than that... he did, however, spot movement near that archway, he was sure.
If there were people there, he supposed he might as well attempt to communicate with them. It wouldn't be particularly shocking if they attacked him on sight; as far as Hijiri was concerned, Omni had already made his hostility abundantly clear, so he was fully prepared to have to defend himself... it was hardly an ideal scenario, but he knew he'd have to confront someone eventually, so it might as well be now, before he was weakened by hunger and dehydration. He had to get them to tell him how to acquire more of this Omnilium if he was ever to have any hope of surviving in such a desolate land. If that meant using force, then so be it.
Just under an hour later, after turning to angle his path towards the metal gate, he arrived at his destination, and saw that the structure actually consisted of several smooth, interconnecting steel sections, surrounding some sort of warped, brightly coloured area. In his left hand he clutched his scabbarded sword, and as he approached he pressed his thumb up against the weapon's guard and pushed it back lightly, freeing an inch or so of the blade's length, to be sure that it would be quick and easy to unsheathe should the need arise.
The two figures he approached wore strange black and white armour like nothing he had seen before, and each held a gun of some sort, however they kept the barrels pointed down as he headed their way, apparently trying not to antagonise him. It was possible, he supposed, that they too were merely victims here, living in fear of running into some blood-crazed lunatic who would tear through them like wet paper. Though they made no move to stop him, the former Battle Rabbit came to a halt anyway.
“Good day,” he began, still eyeing them warily in case of a trap, “I was hoping you two could answer some questions I might have?”
“Questions?” asked one man, seeming to loosen up a little, now that he hadn't been immediately murdered, though his compatriot didn't so much as twitch, “Are you new here?”
“Yes, I suppose I am. I met a... thing called Omni. He said something about having to gather some 'Omnilium' stuff...” he glanced around at his surroundings once again, double checking to make sure there were no rainbow-coloured globes lying around which he had somehow not spotted earlier, “though it doesn't exactly seem all that plentiful around here. I don't suppose either of you could explain how exactly I'm supposed to do that?”
It did occur to Hijiri that asking this openly might not be the best possible approach; if this stuff really was as rare as it seemed, these two might try and kill him, simply to get rid of their competition. Fortunately, it didn't seem like that would be the case; hearing that he was utterly clueless about his current situation did seem to put them both at ease.
“Ah, of course, I'd be happy to, Mr...?”
“Takanomiya. My name is Takanomiya Hijiri.”
“Mr Takanomiya? Okay, then, let's get started...”
And so, over the course of the next hour or so, the strangely armoured man – a 'stormtrooper' he called himself – gave Hijiri a basic rundown of the Omniverse; 'Primes', 'Secondaries', 'Verses', summoning, death, rebirth, and even some background information on a few of the bigger, more influential groups which claimed dominance in their various regions. This gate – which was actually some sort of portal, he was informed – led to a vast city named Coruscant, which was ruled justly by their benevolent Emperor, an old man who had been the first 'Prime' ever abducted by Omni, and had selflessly sought to build a place to house those who followed, should they prove friendly.
Sadly, many had not, including a being named Diablo, who had raised an army of monstrous and demonic creatures at one point, and sought to take over the entire Omniverse, before being sealed away after the Emperor had temporarily joined forces with his arch-nemesis, the tyrannical King Aragorn of Camelot, a man who approved of the use of 'heretical' magic, and had many supporters who advocated genocide against non-humans.
It was quite the tale, he had to admit, and he found himself feeling a little sorry for these people, who had only tried to do good, but had been so weakened by wars and competition that much of their fine city had fallen into disrepair and had been taken over by vicious criminal syndicates.
Not that he was going to actually let them know he felt that way, of course. As a man who had until recently run a sprawling business empire, Hijiri was well aware of the value of keeping one's intentions to oneself. Not to mention, he did prefer to avoid appearing sentimental whenever possible.
“I see. Well, thank you very much for the history lesson... now, though, I believe you mentioned something about an easy way of earning Omnilium at one point during all that?” he hadn't wanted to interrupt the stormtrooper earlier, lest he come across as being desperate; he wouldn't exactly have much of a negotiating platform if they realised he barely had enough of the stuff left to feed himself for a day or two... and unfortunately, though he had assured Hijiri that it was plentiful, the man had yet to explain exactly where it came from, or how one went about retrieving it.
“Oh yes!” his tutor's voice was eager, and he nodded a few times as well. The helmet he wore may have been intended to look intimidating, but the man beneath it clearly had no interest in perpetuating that impression. Hijiri heard a slight sigh from the other stormtrooper; apparently that one was none too pleased with his excitable co-worker. “If you're willing to help the Empire out a little, our superiors will be more than happy to pay you for it. Normally we use a currency called 'credits' in Coruscant, but since you're a Prime I'm sure it'll be no trouble to arrange for you to be paid in Omnilium instead, if you'd prefer.”
“Hmm... help out how, exactly? Would I need to wear one of those... uniforms?” he had no idea how powerful stormtroopers were in an actual fight, and he was sure that their outfits must serve some practical purpose... but his people had never really bothered with armour, much less anything that looked like that.
“No, no,” the man laughed, “this gear is only for stormtroopers; you can just wear whatever you like. Now, listen up, if you want to earn some money then the best way you can do that is to join the EPD – the Empire Peace Division – and the first thing they're likely to ask of you is to go down below and prove yourself by taking care of some Prime or other who's been causing trouble for them... are you sure you're up for that?”
Honestly, Hijiri wasn't convinced he really was. In fact, it occurred to him then that this might be exactly what Omni wanted; he had surely kidnapped Hijiri knowing full well that he was the kind of person who would – even if he might not always be the most morally upstanding of individuals – feel compelled to help protect those weaker than himself... which apparently meant having to fight another, much more experienced Prime. With an effort of will, he prevented himself from reacting; in business, it paid to be confident. If he were to make any sort of good first impression with these people, he couldn't afford to seem like a coward, regardless of his personal reservations. And since Omni had apparently been telling the truth about Primes returning from the dead, even if he was killed, he'd likely get another chance.
“Of course,” he replied, nodding sharply and maintaining the cold, detached expression he generally wore, “it shouldn't pose a problem.”
“Glad to hear it. Well, just follow me and I'll help you get all the paperwork sorted out and then you can be on your way.” so saying, he turned and calmly strode through the strange portal like it was nothing. People could get used to anything with enough time, Hijiri supposed, and gingerly followed him.
…
“Hey, wait!” the other stormtrooper suddenly burst out, spinning to look at the portal through which the others had both already passed. He growled in frustration. “Dammit!”
He wasn't worried about letting the Prime through; even when they were known criminals, stormtroopers weren't expected to stand up to Primes without backup, so there was no danger of being reprimanded for that. No, what it was that had annoyed him was that his partner had taken it upon himself to go and show this guy around... five hours before their shift was due to end.