<a class="postlink" href="https://creativefreedomrpg.com/viewtopic.php?f=20&amp;t=27000">ã€OOCã€‘</a><br/><br/><br/><span style="font-style: italic">â€œ<span style="color: #303030">The past retreats but does the future truly approach? One day the observer shall awake to that paradox.</span>â€</span><br/><br/><span style="font-weight: bold">December 2012, </span><br/>Far beyond the borders of the human imagination lies true destruction.<br/><br/>â€œBegin launch sequence.â€ An artificial female voice crooned in the near-empty control station. The entire room was sealed off and not even the entire collation forceâ€™s firepower outside even make a tenth of the way in by the end of the week by sheer force alone. â€œContainment system active, vacuum integrity maintaining at four-thousand point zero four Pascal. ECM jammer check, sonar jammer check, homing modules check, particle release check. All personnel have cleared the launch silos. Hatches opening.â€<br/><br/>There was a switch in the power supply and the lights turned to a dim red. Not one of the staff flinched, everything was for this day. â€œExhaust check. Launch ready. Under the first protocol, countdown will be skipped. Launching.â€ The voice said, cracking up slightly a little at the end. The facility shook as several missiles began their launch.<br/><br/><div style="text-align: center;">******</div><br/><br/>With a scream of metal, the limb ripped the tank treads off its other arm, with its Gatling Railgun still rotating at breakneck speed, spitting out tongues of fire while sending electronic feedback down onto the churned ground. The cannon arm pulled up, a section retracting to reveal a larger version of a grenade launcher, punching through a wall and blasting the infantry on the other side to oblivion. Her pilotâ€™s display flickered slightly as the mech absorbed the full force of the SMAW projectile, the magnetic shielding clearly doing its job and operating as normal. The mech rotated on its hips to see the source of the noise, remnants of the attack only indicated by a trail of steam where the SMAW had struck.<br/><br/>Tachibana Touka squinted slightly as she tilted herself back to see where the missiles have gone; the trail of white smoke behind them already blocking out most of the view. Her eyes were dulled after staying up through the night in her mech with only some shots into her system to keep herself awake. Whatever the missilesâ€™ payload was, she sure as hell wished it was lethal. She had sustained much damage on their defense, and despite the order of ceasefire, she could not help but feel that this was only the beginning of a long and bitter conflict. No doubt they would be pissed at them breaking the ceasefire order.<br/><br/><div style="text-align: center;">******</div><br/><br/>Not less than thirty minutes later, the first warhead landed in Paris.<br/><br/>Eyewitness accounts and videos show that several particles, similar to metal trailed out of the missile prior to it reaching its destination. Hours later, after all missiles had landed, material, said to be similar to metal and crystal began to form over the cities similar to barnacles covering a ship. The plague spread speedily, their horrified victims turning into crude festive decorations on the roads. As the day passed, it seemed that the virus itself was evolving rapidly, it spent more time inside the victim without showing any symptoms of its existence and then suddenly, metallic scales began to form on the skin, seemingly eating away at the sanity of the infectee as well. The government placed quarantine orders, but something had to be done about the rapidly increasing mass of crystal at the core of their cities.  No matter how much they tried to destroy the crystal mass caused by the Apocalypse virus, it was a never ending task thus the cities were abandoned, in hope that one day the virus would just disappear the way they always do.<br/><br/><div style="text-align: center;">******</div><br/><br/><span style="font-weight: bold">May 2013,</span><br/>Alexanderâ€™s breath fogged the air, his guards particularly silent. He too could sense the tension, yet he did not feel very affected despite him being the one being sent to the British for further orders. His pick up should have arrived a minute ago but he guessed being late sometimes was alright though it could cause entire schedules to go awry. He pulled his coat closer to block out the freezing gale that ripped across the silent airport. He heard that they were bringing all the Espers in the military all over the world who were not in Armenian custody into a cohesive force dedicated to ending this threat. Though it was not explicitly stated, whoever came out as the victor of this war could easily unite the entire world. He gritted his teeth as the gale increased in force, sending their coats flapping like the torn flags on the runway. He hoped that the pilot did not mess up the landing or shirk from the fierce winds because time was not on their side. Just then, he believed that he heard the drone of the airplane in the distance. His eyes turned upward towards the grey sky where the distant vehicle approached.