《The Technorunner (A "Songs of the Ancients" Short Story)》V. Dead Plane
Advertisement
The Outlands sheltered the dead, the remains of dead people, ghosts, remnants, or whatever the humans called them. That is why many people feared the Outlands. It was on another cross-dimensional plane different from this world. Unless one was careful, they would end up quite a feast for the swarms of the dead. However, the dead only appear on so few occasions that people are not even sure they exist. Whether it was snowing, or if the land it appeared on had skeletons buried beneath, or if someone had just died.
That was when the technorunner had an epiphany. Those ghost-like hands that he had encountered at the town earlier, they belonged to the dead, specifically the remnants. The dead who couldn't move on. And thus they inhabited the land they died on, they were different in appearance from wraiths and targhouls. If one had to explain it simply, remnants were the souls of the dead, wraiths were the distorted appearances of the dead, and targhouls were the bodies of the dead. Remnants were the least threatening out of the bunch, but they were also attracted to humans easily. And so, that was the plan that came to the technorunner.
If one were to die instantly at the moment, remnants from the town would likely appear. Unless the hunters had weapons to confront the remnants, their chances of survival were slim. The technorunner had a gun that could keep them away, but not to fully confront them.
The technorunner rose up for one final confrontation and equipped his vizor to see clearly. Before, he was simply shooting for the sake of defense, but now the situation has changed drastically. It was time to finally pull the trigger.
He aimed his shotgun at one of the archers and pulled the trigger. A stray pellet hit one of the archers in the eye, before he fell off the truck, and onto the ground.
Then silence hit the land.
For once, the hunters had lost one of their own against a bunch of has-beens, or so they thought of Ed and the technorunner.
Advertisement
The weather cleared, and the smog was finally gone. Dara was taking Lejin to the truck. The other hunters were looking at their dead comrade in shock.
'The fuck are you doing? Shoot them, they're still out there!' Lejin shouted.
But Lejin didn't know of what was to come, nor did the hunters. The dead plane was folktale to most people, and only those who truly roamed the Outlands believed it. Those hunters, on the other hand, weren't acquainted with the Outlands, that was why Lejin was disgusted at the place.
Dara, however, realized it the moment she saw the archer dead on the ground. She looked at the technorunner from afar, who was visible for all eyes to see, but the hunters were too busy with the dead archer, and couldn't believe that he had done such a thing.
Before anyone could do anything, the ground shook, and mist crawled like never before. The technorunner spotted the mist heading his way, immediately shot his gun in the air to keep it away, and so it did. The same couldn't be said about the hunters, however.
The technorunner watched as the mist, and thereby the remnants, engulfed one of the most powerful hunter guilds to ever exist, simply because of their ignorance. Dara, fortunately, had a weapon of her own, to protect her from the dead's range. Leijn couldn't believe that his team was being devoured by those nameless monsters. Dara grabbed him next to her, to be out of the dead's range, but it wasn't enough, they were still going to come after them once they were done with the rest of the helpless hunters.
'We… we should go!' Ed told the technorunner.
'No, not yet,' the technorunner said.
'Are ya mad?!'
'Think we'll survive on our own in this land? With all these remnants?'
The technorunner unloaded the shells in his shotgun and loaded another set of shells; shells capable of staggering the dead. He ran out of cover with his injured leg and shot the swarm of remnants feasting on the corpses, opening small holes empty of any mist or remnants. Although those pellets weren't killing them, they were already dead after all, it would only send them back from whence they came.
Advertisement
Lejin hid behind Dara like a true coward, as she was trying to keep the remnants away. The technorunner ran through the swarm of remnants as if he was running on water, shooting every hand the clenches onto his feet, making his way to the large truck. As he passed by Dara and Lejin, he shot the remnants surrounding them, providing a safe path for them to escape. He may have caused the death of a few hunters, saving the lives of Dara and Lejin would hopefully earn him their forgiveness.
The technorunner entered the truck to take shelter as the last of his shells were gone. The truck was out of the dead's reach, as it was on a higher level of another ground. The technorunner was hoping to find any sort of device to aid him — he went there with that intention in mind, and now that he was out of ammo, it was his only solution — or even a cycle vehicle to help him escape, the truck was large enough to contain one.
It was packed with useless scrap and junk that would be of use for him but now was not the time. He walked down the long hallway in the truck, but there wasn't anything except the control room and a couple of inanimate drones. He took the ladder to the upper floor, but the truck began to shake. He feared that the dead had found a way to infiltrate the truck, but there was still some time before that would happen.
The technorunner reached the upper floor, only to find a weapons cache and living quarters for the hunters. There was a cycle at the end of the hallway. It wasn't as large as the technorunner had expected one to be, but it was good enough to help him escape the reach of the dead.
Just before the technorunner could grab onto the cycle, someone pushed him aside. It was Dara. How she got there was out of his knowledge.
'Are you out of your mind?' Dara was furious, 'You brought upon us Helldin!'
'Your leader almost killed me,' the technorunner said, 'And don't be dramatic, it's not "Helldin," these are like any other mons—'
'You just killed most of my team!' Dara shouted.
The technorunner pushed Dara aside as she was still speaking, 'You're not listening to me— I'm trying to keep my body and soul together!'
'Fuck you!'
'You gave me no choice.'
Dara sighed, 'I should've just left you to die.'
'Well, maybe you should've… but guess what? You didn't, so I'm here, and you're here, and the dead's here,' the technorunner tried to start up the cycle, but each time, it would give up, 'So if you wanna make it outta here alive, then help me start up this damn—,'
'It's not… It's not gonna work! It's supposed to be under maintenance.'
'Oh…,' the technorunner rubbed his forehead, and rested his back to the cycle, 'So we're fucked!'
'Oh Westipis! I'll have his head!'
'Um… why did you even help me?'
'Fifth, if you don—'
Before Dara can spit another word. The truck shook in its entirety in the most aggressive manner possible. It wasn't long before the technorunner and Dara realized the truck was being turned upside down. The dead weren't trying to breach through the truck, they were going to destroy it, killing everyone within it.
There was nothing the technorunner and Dara could do, but leave themselves to fate. And straight away, the truck flipped on itself. The technorunner fell out of the ground, hit his head in one of the many obstacles in the way, and passed out.
Advertisement
- In Serial47 Chapters
Grand Design
Humanity once ruled space, building an empire that stretched across hundreds of stars. Now Earth is a cold cinder in the void, its colonies and ships annihilated in an instant. For five thousand years the surviving races have huddled in the dying light of those few stations which avoided total destruction, eking out their existence in the shadow of the long-dead humans who built their homes. When a piece of that lost legacy resurfaces, the few who still remember humanity have one last opportunity to find the truth and avenge the fallen. Cover by Harry Rowland - https://www.instagram.com/rowl_art_/
8 216 - In Serial22 Chapters
Braindead - A Zombie LitRPG
In a world where zombies are trash mobs that children kill for easy exp, what hope does one little zed have? Zed was minding his own business when his master's domain was invaded by a plucky young heroine looking to make a name for herself. An unlikely turn of events allowed Zed to come out on top, and gave him enough experience to rise above the life of a mindless minion. Unfortunately, it also left him with no body to share it with... literally, not figuratively! This story contains: Some 'jokes' containing questionable humour. An inhuman MC who has no interest in pesky things like romance or growing a conscience. Blue boxes, and a DnD style system messily mashed together with several other systems. Gore, but nothing too gratuitous. The main character is a severed head so what do you expect? Kingdom/base building, because what good is a zombie without a good horde behind them. Releases planned for each Sunday until I build up a decent backlog.
8 159 - In Serial17 Chapters
John Robbie, Transdimensional Slacker
John Robbie leads two lives. Most of the time, he is a mage of god-like power with flying horses, vast estates, mountains of gold and the veneration of an entire empire. The rest of the time, unfortunately, he is himself. When he’s not immersed in his favorite RPG video game, Nordic Runes, John is a slovenly, unemployed college drop-out, two years deep into a crippling depression and living with his parents. Having lost all hope for his real life, John spends his time on the couch, controller in hand, trying to forget it. When his two lives miraculously converge, however, John’s only hope for survival lies in overcoming his greatest obstacle - himself. ******* John Robbie, TS is a GameLit, Portal Fantasy with two primary objectives. The first, obviously, is to tell a great story. The second is to show a realistic depiction of depression - both in its impact on the protagonist and what he must do to overcome it. That doesn't mean it's self-help, necessarily, though it will present real therapeutic strategies. It should be noted that the author, in addition to writing humor and fantasy, practices as a clinical psychologist. He also refers to himself in the third person. On special occasions, he uses the royal we. 2-3 chapters per week!
8 124 - In Serial14 Chapters
Earth Exodus
Elliot isn't the first one taken, he was the last, or one of them at least. Careless divines, gods, or higher powers had been snatching humans through numerous means over the years. Those that returned brought minor tokens of their previous power if anything at all. Over time unrestrained magic became commonplace on earth. Which must have brought attention to us. The earth is ravaged by increasing levels of rogue magics, divines, and a war over resources and experience. Eventually resulting in a mass exodus of the remaining powerless humans by a coalition of gods.Now translocated to Vauthia where everyone has been given a path to power. They're met with an unfortunate reality. They've only been rescued from one dying world to be tasked with saving the new one. While at the same time they're apparently supposed to compete with one another. Meanwhile Elliot wasn't just given a path to power. He was given a choice. The opportunity for true power is offered. When as he reaches for it the power isn't all it's cracked up to be.Systemless in a world where everyone else has access to one Elliot must grapple with a multitude of problems from without and within. The 'gods' might actually be incompetent, uncaring, downright malicious, or all three. His power is constantly three steps behind those who chose the quick path to power. There's also the antisocial tendencies he's brought with him from earth. Can he trust the 'god' who seems to be taking him under their wing? Will he be able to catch up to his fellow earthlings who're ever increasing in power? Is it possible he may just break out of his shell along the way?*** What to expect ***The initial start will be quite slow, building the setting, history, and individuals involved. There is a small bit of progression in these early chapters for the MC, but more along the lines of figuring out how their systemless power works. though once the story gains traction it won't stop.*** Don't tell Elliot, but ***Elliot hates to admit it but he's very clearly antisocial. Not to mention troubles with thinking that stem from several un-diagnosed disorders he'd rather believe don't exist.*** Image Copyright *** //In this satellite image released by Copernicus Sentinel imagery, 2020 twitter page dated Dec. 31, 2019, shows wildfires burning across Australia. COPERNICUS SENTINEL IMAGERY VIA AP
8 231 - In Serial15 Chapters
Justice Rewritten (Isekai DBZ story of Gohan)
After the destroyer God Beerus destroyed his home the young saiyan Gohan was thrust into an entire new universe, now a Saiyan God Gohan struggles to accept the permanent loss of his family and loved ones as he tries to fit into his new universe.
8 197 - In Serial19 Chapters
The Mortal Seven Sins
In the early days of earth, a time long past, humanity faced a terrible calamity that brought it crumbling to its knees. From the ashes of humanity, the supernatural took its place on the throne as kings of the jungle, leaving humanity to whittle away underneath. With humanity so lost in time, what would it be like to be a human in such a trying time?Here enters the tale of Alexander P. Rosemary, a young man at the ripe age of twenty three. A rare genetic mutation changed his DNA into that of a human amongst the Rosemary lineage, the strongest vampire clan in the world. He went to school like any other, and passed his days the way he thought normal; that is, until his humanity was revealed. At the age of ten, he was sent off to his aunt's in the countryside, and returned to his hometown after graduating college. Now working for the Bureau of Racial Equality through happenstance, Alex is tested day in and day out on what humanity truly means.Watch his story unfold in a city where the dead rule, angels are ill-omens, and where his humanity is truly tested; In this eternal city called Ageless.
8 156

