Competition: [TA] Strangers with a lesson

Finished

[TA] Strangers with a lesson

With enemies still afoot within the Caperion System, it never hurts to do some exploring for anything that could help us against our foes or tell us more about our new home. The Shadow Wolf has declared for all members to explore the worlds of the new system to seek out knowledge.

During your travels, you're bound to run into natives or other strangers exploring or living on Caperion's worlds. Many times, strangers can offer wisdom or even some new technique to better your fighting skills. They may even help you discover something about yourself you never knew before. Perhaps you both even end up as great friends.

Write a fiction about your character having such an encounter and learning experience. The fiction must be a min of 250 words with no max limit. The focus of this is to focus on character development. Grading will be based on realism, continuity, and originality. If you do encounter natives, make sure to check information on natives in the Caperion System Wiki

Competition Information

Organized by: Blade Mistress Shadow Nighthunter
Running time: 2018-01-03 until 2018-02-14 (about 1 month)
Target Unit: Battleteam Tacitus Athanasius
Competition Type: Fiction
Awards: Fifth Level Crescents and Clusters of Ice as per VOICE guidelines
Participants: 4 subscribers, of which 1 has participated.

Results

1st place

Alara Deathbane

Member

Alara Deathbane

Textual submission

19:00, sunset
Nayaman Ruins, Seraph

Alara lifted her eyes from the jungle floor to the large, ridged blocks of sandstone that arched over the cave's orifice.

*There has to be something important in there . . . Too bad I didn't bring Artemis on this journey,* the Quaestor thought to herself. Alara stepped under the archway and flicked the switch on her favored lightsaber to light the path ahead.

The cave was lined with ivy, vines, and alien reptiles of which species she was definitely not familiar with. A three-eyed orange lizard blinked a few times at her before disappearing with camoflauge into the cave wall. The cave ceiling was a lot higher than she anticipated. With a glance upwards, she realized ancient Nayamans, or whoever decided to decorate in here, had shaped stalactites into an odd arrangement of chandeliers. With a twist of her wrist, the half-Sephi called upon the Force and threw fireballs at the torch spots. She clicked her saber off and fastened it to her belt.

The corridor had storage chests on each side of the wall, slightly dug further into the rubble of the main surface. However, it looked as though thieves had already stolen any spoils that were there, and they must have done it quite a long time ago since dust rested on the chests' lids. With a bite of frustration on her lower lip, Alara continued down the main hallway's path, stepping over rocks and skeletons as she went.

Suddenly she realized a giant sculpture stood before her at the far end of the highway. When she looked up as far as she could to see the top, pointed ears barely were noticeable through a warrior's helmet. With a gasp, she ran closer to find out more information.

" . . . Sephi? A Sephi? Could it be?" she spoke to herself aloud. As soon as she lifted her hand towards it and rested her palm on the soldier's massive feet. When she did so, the entire sculpture's armor lit up immediately, throbbing with a firelike pattern. She looked up in shock and recognized the eyes were flashing the same auras. When Alara looked down at her hand that had touched the statue, it began shining with the same effect, and much like a fire catching light, it caught to the rest of her arm and appeared with similar markings all across her body. When she looked to a nearby puddle, she saw it: her eyes, like fire, resounded flickering flames in her eardrums. She touched her newly marked face to feel what possible indent it coudl have made on her skin until the throbbing overtook her body in echoes and took over her heartbeat.

That's when she fell to the ground.

Placement

1st place