LUGNET News : ~1112/Fantasy/Castle


Matt Hein / Fantasy / Castle

The Floating City, Luc’aria

Original transcript deleted...

It had been a quiet, somewhat subtle morning, already, the brisk stillness in the air undisturbed save for the chirping of various birds, and the still ticking of the old grandfather clock. As its brass pendulum swung monotonously about, a soft cool breeze coasted across the city, the sun rose over the horizon, casting its light upon the misty city.

Even in the Ivory node, a small town located on the outskirts of the floating city, it had seemed as though only for a moment, solace had shaded the small hamlet in her wings. Yet as always with morning, the cadet, Mika, awoke to the constant droning of her mechanical alarm clock to her bedside, as she looked towards her mointor with fatigue.

Nestled in her small working cubicle, sat a small stack of government rations bills, notices and declassified reports, which always found their way either stacked about her terribly cluttered writing desk.

From its rest, the monitor emitted a steady stream of light, as it particlly illuminated her small wastebasket, which sat filled to its brim with shredded stements.

“Oh, not again!” She spoke, as the imposing crimson red digits of its interface read “[-CMT-] 3:43/18 Ts…”

“I can’t be late to class again!” She thought to herself, as she put on her academy uniform, and fastened her fencing sword to her waist, grabbing her two large textbooks for Calculus, advanced studies, and of course, a copy of Mercanter’s Guide to elemental phenomena.

Relating to earlier instances, she thought to herself how she would once arrive to her studies fashionably late, only for her sensei and minister to lecture her on the importance of punctuality, and the standards of Academia.

Although she knew perfectly well, her standards, but such dependence on technology, and the occasional power outage, not to mention her aggressive regimen of studies, induced fatigue, which warranted sleep.

Alleviating the thought, she ran her hands through her golden orange, silky hair, and picked up her lecture notebooks, heading into the halls of her modest home, procusing her daily rations at her counter.

“Mika? Are you awake already? We’re going to be late, again…you know your father would disapprove of such actions, in the old days…”

A particularly analytical voice spoke from the cellar, As Miko replied with candor.

“Just wait a second, Aegis! My mechanical chronometer skipped tasks again! I’m going to reset it!”

“Not today are you, Mika! You have that aptitude test issued by the state, the SSAS! If you do not arrive to the academy punctually, you will be denied this test, and I’ll be forced to pay the one hundred credit entrance fee once again!”

Her administrator asked, as Mika cast a glance towards the central storage celler at the end of the room, Mika sat at a small linen japanese fashioned table at the center of the room.

“Okay, okay! I’ll get ready!” Miko replied, as she fastened her shoes, and took a bite of her somewhat hard cinnamon toast.

Looking out her window, towards her front yard, and the tranquil cobblestone drive before her, it fondly reminded her of her studies in english architecture, although she was as far from the old world as possible.

Living at node 412 had its advantages, being so close to the floating city and such, but Mika was justly thankful her commute towards the Lucarian Military academy of South Fordham did not bode aggressively towards her respective agenda.

Consitting of an hour of swordsmanship training, followed by magical studies at eight, and of course, philosophical theories until ten, Mika still had a project nearly due, as she cursed her procrastination until the very last moment.

Naturally, schooling had taken its toll, and her sensei emeritus had spoken gravely about the SSAS several days ago.

The government mandated test, assimilated by a group of scholars, had been created to determine the most suitable occupations and positions of those future state patrons.

As known, every citizen, young and old, played some sort of role within the military interests of the government.

Living in this Spartan, yet modest city, She had, herself, taken consideration into advancing into magical studies, seeing that she was an Asc’erion, descendants of an ancient race of humans, who had intermingled with technology.

Those lucky few had been the center of much contreversy, with their ability to control the elemental and natural forces around them, what some called ‘magick’.

Aspiring at most, Mika at least hoped to get accepted into the higher echelon of the IRLCC, with her apparent skills at hand, hopefully to achieve a job working reconnaissance, or perhaps even a career in theoretical advancement.

Rumour had it that some occupations within the state far surpassed that of even bureaucrats or philosophers themselves, so Mika remained hopeful, to the dismal reality that prospects of acceptance were slim, if not, impossible to achieve.

Implied, the state seemed quite shrewd when it came to the ever pressing budgetary matters.

As Mika thought further into this, she took a small sip of her cocoa, which was still icy cold from the drafts, and picked up a copy of the Tribunal Bureaucrat.

The story on its front seemed the same as always enemy threat imminent, senatorial debate intensifies, along with its share of political propaganda and advertisements.

“Mika! Would you please hurry up?” Her administrator once called again, as she finished off her cocoa, and grabbed her equipment, only to see her admin standing in the doorway to node 412, still donning her old tattered burgundy trench coat.

The old coat to her looked as though it had braved through the perils of war, tightly buttoned, as the admin carried a small polished black attaché case, and several file folders, flashing a quick, and nevertheless worrisome glance towards the grandfather clock on the wall.

All of those years of working for the republic must have taken such a great toll, Mika thought, as she looked at the admin, her face tired and worn, the results of endless hours of overtime toiling for the state, of course, not at all vague.

“We have at least fifteen radias…I believe we might make it in time…”

Her militant administrator spoke, looking at her small, yet compact digital interface PDF system, she held in the palm of her hand, the soft light from the screen welcoming in a mechanized sense.

“Very well…” Miko thought, as she left the room, and out, towards her drive, into the misty atmosphere towards the ominous floating city ahead, its spiraling turrets and towering skyscrapers shrouded in the cloudy mist.

As Mika approached the jet black hover car, sitting idly on her drive, she could not help but wonder how such a menacing mechanized creature could ever grace her drive.

AS it sat there, its serpentine polished black jets poised in a piercing manner, somewhat like the mandibles of a mantis, she could not help, however wonder how she would fit into her schedule, time to explore the city which lie ahead of her.

Perhaps, she thought to herself, frivoloities could wait...for now,at least.

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