The Drachen Chronicles

Quincey found himself running down an alleyway with buildings crashing around him. His eyes scan side to side to ensure no rubble falls on him. He stops as he sees a*****e blow up from the impact of a meteor, "gotta find people, gotta save them." His voice is weak, and he is breathing heavily. "Quincey!" A familiar voice calls out to him; he looks around to see where the voice might be coming from. He looks up just in time to see the building he is standing under begins to collapse. He dived forward, but the rubble hit his leg and pinned him to the ground. He screamed out in pain and looked back at his leg, "Quincey." The voice again he looked around for the speaker. He stopped as a humanoid figure began making its way towards him. He shambles towards Quincey with something in its hand. Quincey realized the figure wasn't walking towards him, he was walking towards someone else. A girl who just got out of the store and was trying to help others do the same. She was completely ignorant of the danger behind her. Quincey began to reach down and move the rubble off of his leg. Each second the figure got closer and closer. He tried to scream but his throat was so dry due to all the fire around him. Quincey's heart was pounding in his chest. With a final grunt of effort he lifted the last piece off his leg and turned to find he was too late. He heard it before he saw it the girl screamed and just as soon as it started she stopped. Quincey got up and in a rage he ran forward and tackled the man to the ground. The first thing Quincey saw was his smile and the uniform. The uniform of a soldier. He began to beat the man until again the voice rang out again, "Quincey, wake up." "Wake up Quincey! We are gonna be late." Quinn is tall. slender girl with brown hair just to her neck. She has a green left eye and a blue right eye. Her right arm has a blue ink dragon tattoo wrapped around it ending at the shoulder. She wore a black shirt and cargo pants. She bent down and flicked her brother Quincey on the nose. Using her ice magic to add a cold sting to it. "Wow! Cold cold cold." Quincey sat up swatting at whatever caused the cold sting away. He was a muscular boy with olive skin. He had a green right eye and a blue left eye. He wore the same as his sister's black shirt and cargo pants. He had a red ink dragon tattoo on his left arm ending at the shoulder. His hair was a short military cut. Quinn was laughing, "Get up, loser, we are gonna be late for our briefing." "Okay." Quincey rubbed his eyes and got out of bed. "You didn't have to flick my nose. How did you even get in?" Quincey got up and went over to his closet to get a jacket and sure enough, the door was blasted wide. "I don't know how you didn't hear me. That blast was pretty loud," Quinn walked up behind him, "You have another nightmare? You were moving a lot in your sleep." Quinn looked at her brother with worry in her eyes. "I'm fine. Why did you choose to wake me up so early?" Quincey began to look for a jacket to put on. "We got a mission. Master Joseph said we were heading back to Venus. Something about a lab and experiments." Quincey looked back at his sister. A concerned look on his face, "Venus? We haven't been back there since." He stopped the memories rushing back. His sister finished his thought, "The rebellion and trying to save all those people. Yeah, I remember." She smacked her brother's arm. Quincey shook his head, "Yeah, yeah I'm here." He grabbed his camo jacket; then turned and walked towards his bedside table. Grabbing and putting on two bracers each one holding a knife, "Oh bringing your new toys? I prefer my good old reliable glave, no contraptions needed to make it work just muscle." She flexed a toned bicep "They aren't toys, they are transmutation bracers meant to change fishing wire into Mythril for ease of use and lighter weight. I attached the threads to a dagger so when I throw them I can recall them." Quinn rolled her eyes and yawned, "You could have just used a teleportation rune on the daggers then tied those runes to a belt or something. You didn't have to make an entirely different weapon." Quincey frowned and looked at the bracers, "Shut up, sis. You and dad always rag on my ideas. We are gonna be late, let's go." Quincey walked out of the room. Quinn followed behind. As they walked through the halls of the school they passed paintings that moved like a TV screen telling the story of heroes and myths, "Team Drachen report to Master Joseph's office." Came over the PA speakers. The twins looked at each other. "Don't they know we are already heading there?" Quinn questioned. Quincey didn't talk; he just looked at the paintings. "Oh my gods, are you ignoring me? Is it because I made fun of your toys? You are retarded." Quincey continued to not make eye contact with his sister, a smile slowly creeping over his face, "You are!" Quinn was stifling a laugh, "What are you? Like two years old. We aren't kids anymore, we are adults." Quincey looked at her, "You are right. Adults would appreciate other adults' inventions, and not make fun of them." Quinn rolled her eyes and groaned, "I'm not going to apologize. It is smart but useless like I said, just use a teleportation rune. That's a poor man's version of it and it still uses a rune to transmute the fishing wire to Mythril." Quincey looked at his sister surprised, "Yes, I do listen when you rant dork." She jabbed his side, "No no I'm just surprised you knew a word as big as transmuting. Very impressive half-pint." By this time they reached a staircase winding up and up and up. Into what seemed like heaven. Quinn and Quincey look at each other Quinn sighs and took a step, "I always dislike this." Quincey puts a hand on Quinn's shoulder with a sigh, "Me too sis. Wanna carry me? As an apology for making fun of my bracers." Quinn slapped her brother's hand off her shoulder and then started walking up the stairs, "Love you too, sis." As they ascended the staircase they saw paintings and skulls, weapons and scrolls. Quincey who was quite versed in the accolades of Master Joseph knew the story of almost all of them. Quinn on the other hand was creeped out and confused. Quinn perked up when she saw the door to Master Joseph's office, after what felt like hours of walking, It was ten minutes. She opened the door and saw Master Joseph talking to a man in a military outfit both standing over a table. The room wasn't big; it was circular with a window wrapping halfway around the whole room. Master Joseph was an old man who was bald and short; he also had a full grey beard and a potbelly. In terms of appearances you definitely wouldn't assume he was one of the most powerful people on the planet. You'd think he was a plumber or something. The man he was talking to was also an old man with a grey mustache. He was wearing a beret and on his lapel, there were 4 stars, "Quinn, Quincey come in. General Nolan and I were just talking about you." Quinn walked in followed by Quincey, "Sir!" Quincey saluted the general. Quinn rolled her eyes and followed suit, "At ease. I'm not your superior." Nolan chuckled and looked at Joseph. "So do you want to tell them about the mission or shall I?" "I think I will General. I do understand the issues they will face better than you." Nolan nodded. Master Joseph turned to the twins, "Please come to the table." The twins walked up to the table. Quincey leaned on the table and Quinn opted to sit in one of the chairs. Both facing Master Joseph, “As I'm sure you are aware you will be heading back to Venus. If I am correct, the last time you two were there was when the rebellion was taking place?" The twins nodded. Master Joseph continued, "Ever since then the wildlife has been running rampant due to the mass amount of magic used on the planet. Forests have sprouted up in just ten years. Wildlife has grown in size and danger faster than we thought, because of this we have lost contact with a research facility deep in the city ruins." Quinn jumped in "A research facility? Humans still live there?" "Yes, because of the lack of civilian life and reduced risk of casualties we have multiple research facilities on the planet. Recently, as I said, we've lost contact with one of them. I suspect it is because of a certain artifact they were housing. You are being sent in to retrieve said artifact and nothing more. Any questions?" "What are the threats? What makes you think they are in trouble?” Quincey asked. The general stepped in to answer, "Our last transmission with the lead of security. He stated there had been multiple containment breaches and also multiple deaths. Shortly after this, he was attacked and we quickly lost the signal." Quinn looked at her brother. "You wouldn't happen to have that transmission on you… would you general?" The general reached into his pocket and took out a disk, a little smaller than a CD, and placed it on the table. It had a silver outer layer; the inside layer was glass revealing a small camera lens-like object. It lit up blue as soon as it was set on the table. "Something's hunting us. It sabotaged the containment cells and killed several of the staff already. I thought this planet was barren? There was supposed to be little to no sentient life." There was a loud crash followed by an animal screeching. Someone screamed in the background followed by a series of loud bangs assumed by everyone to be gunshots. "Carter!" The man screamed. "It found me. If anyone gets this is first lieutenant James Kod-" The man was cut off before he could finish. The sound of bones being crunch and a man screaming in pain followed. The transmission stopped. Quinn shuddered. Quincey rubbed his chin, "Lieutenant? if it was a Shaw or anything like that a platoon should be more than capable." Quincey looked at his sister. His eyes said to her, "What have we gotten ourselves into?" Quinn looked back and shrugged, "I do not know what could have taken them out. That's why I went to the specialist. As much as I hate to say it, at your school," The general looked at Joseph. "Has created the best of the best. I hope with the personal recommendation of Master Joseph that you will prove the same." Master Joseph picked up a piece of paper with a photo on it. The object in the picture was a black crystal obelisk relatively smallish about a foot big and 2 inches wide. It had a half-inch wide hole on the top in the center, "This is what you are looking for. Do not worry about anything else." Quinn and Quincey then left the room and went to prepare.