Just a few things before starting:
- Those of you who submitted a character, if you do vote, please vote for a character other than your own.
- Those of you who submitted a character, please do not tell other people to vote for your character. The submissions are anonymous for a reason.
- Anyone can vote, so please, feel free to do so.
- This thread will stay open for a week, at which point it will close and the week's winner chosen.
Spoiler ShowThe ropes came, the weights on them dragging and scraping against the ship's wooden deck. Two sailors bound Petra's arms behind his back, and performed the same measures to his legs. The crude iron-sphere weights tugged on his frame even as Petra stood before the Commander of the HMS Conqueror.
"Petra Kokaya, you have been found guilty for treason and crimes against His Majesty's Realm and Empire by all aboard this vessel, and thus do I sentence you to your grave 'neath the waters. May God have mercy upon your mutinous soul." the Commander only turned away, as the men who had bound Petra shoved him off the port side. Kokaya took a final deep breath, falling into the Ocean's depths.
With the iron weights tugging their fatal gravitational lullaby, Petra sank like a stone in the salty water, watching as schools of brightly colored fish swam by, uncaring of his dying presence among them. The rainbows of coral reefs and scuttling shrimp and the lazy swishing of kelp.
Then, Petra gazed upon in the murky environment an ancient, moss-covered statue, of an upright man in all his naked glory. Carved of what might have been the most beautiful marble, it was now a home for sea sponges and tiny fish.
How marvelous. Augh! No! Not yet! Dearest Dunya, I shall miss you ever so! May we meet aga-Petra struggled to keep the air in his lungs, but he could feel it now - that panicking rush of want for breath, that final desperate act. His body convulsed with its inner turmoil, as he only looked at the statue.
So, flawless, and yet, lifeless; a rock, the same as I, in this watery Abyss.
Petra Kokaya opened his mouth, expelling his last peaceful moment of lucidity, and the raging torrent of seawater invaded his lungs.
Spoiler ShowIt's surface has captured and imprisoned many. A single hand protrudes as if to elude its confinement. The edges the surround the very bottom of the surface, jagged, and toughed with age. It can see the surface of what lies beyond the border between this world and the next.
Inscribed before it are the markings and engravings of several thousands of years of code. It possessed no other purpose than to conceal from its recipients its secrets. prolonged exposure to it's presence has rewarded its research with imminent discovery. It was erected for all the see, a public spectacle.
The Beacon.
A figurative means of prosperity. The Beacon possessed eyes that observed over its admirers and wayfarers. Nomads from many worlds came to relish its success and admire the firmness of its hands. With such a base, the Beacon was wanted for further study, to be chipped away and made from its malign and primitive form, into a shape that would please the wealthy men that sought it's rich knowledge.
The first time a man made object went to pierce the beacon, as if disturbed from slumber, the tools used to punch through its exterior were quickly overwritten. Could this be some manner of sentience one would wonder? The tools obeyed the whim of the beacon, and bore inside of the illustrous piece of unknown material. Researchers gazed in awe as it was a much smaller piece of earth, that seemed to give off a luminescence. Transmitting code to the minds of those caught it's gaze, it copied its information and quickly possessed the scientist.
"Our home is alive." it said, ominously through a means of using what reflective patterns it imprinted upon their minds. "Our home is alive, salvation...salvation!"
An inspired inception, the fragile minds of the scientist having been touched by the beacon's light were suffering, the paraphanelia imposed a serious threat to their society. As per a direct order from there research department, the beacon was to be sealed in an isolated chamber by the scientist that were exposed, and they were to be executed shortly after.
It now sleeps beneath the highest security, seeking to be returned to its home.