Before the Saga [DDC 2017] Memory Books and Personal Logs - OCs

Title: Memory Books and Personal Logs
Era: Before the Saga
Genre: Mystery, Friendship
World: Canonish
Characters: OCs
Synopsis: My DDC 2017
Warnings: A callous disregard for the lives and wellbeing of others, attempted genocide/mass murder and other things that will be added.
Series: None; unless you count the same rough locations and species names from previous fics.
A/N: This is my DDC fic for 2017 and if you have read my 2014 DDC you might recognize some names and locations as well as a few from some of my other fics but in no way is this solidly connected to my previous DDC or some of my AUs; a slightly different universe.



My previous DDC which has some loose ties with this but the culture part is the important part.

http://boards.theforce.net/threads/...ocs-mentions-of-canon-characters-au.50017523/

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Seventh Day of the Fourth Month, 657 years since the Victory at the Rhine River


I didn’t want to start a new Memory Book without filling the old one but I lost my last one five days when I was riding with Gunni, Hilda, Akhil and Durga. We had decided to follow the Rimes River and find out why there is barely any water in it.

The Shamans say that the Flow of Harmony has been disrupted again for reasons they cannot see and I heard my grandmother praying to the Servants of Harmony when the water levels obviously dropped off; asking that there not be a terrible flood like the last time the Rimes River almost dried up. I grew up having the Elders show me the marks on the buildings in the village from when many of the Elders were barely more than babes in their mothers’ arms and young children studying in the old school and grew up hearing the story of how they came to be on the buildings.

Grandmother and the Elders credit Kali the Erlösen with the survival of the entire village. The story goes a week before the flood a young woman dressed for the Harvest Festival knocked on the doors of everyone in the village and told them when they heard a loud piercing noise that couldn’t have come from a living creature they needed to drop what they were doing and head for Watchman’s Hill. It wasn’t until everyone had gathered for the Festival that they realized that the young woman wasn’t one of their number and no Traders had passed through the village that day or were scheduled to arrive for another two weeks. Some took it as a bad omen and there were whispers that maybe the Agents of Chaos were lurking in the shadows and looking to destroy the Balance of Harmony while others said that the mysterious girl had been a messenger from Harmony and that they had to consider her words and others still thought it was a prank. The Shamans cloistered themselves in their rooms in the Temple Shrine and didn’t come out for two days and when they emerged they said that they would heed the warning and messages would be spent to other villages and towns warning of the possible danger and to see if anyone else had received a similar warning. A week later a strange piercing noise shattered the peaceful silence of midday and everyone ran for Watchman’s Hill where they watched in horror as a giant wave of water brought dirt, boulders and trees with it; the village was half buried in the mess.

During the cleanup messengers arrived from other towns asking if we had received a warning about a strange sound and seeking higher ground immediately from a strange young woman wearing a light colored ceremonial robe and face paint the day of the Harvest Festival.

Everyone agrees that the woman was Kali the Erlösen, a former Agent of Chaos turned Servant of Harmony, sent to save them from a terrible death.

Gunni researched the last time the Rimes River more or less dried up and when the flood happened and Durga told us about a time a large tree had fallen on her family’s land and blocked a stream and how the what had gathered into a shallow pool before her father and brothers could cut it up.

Long story short we decided to follow the river and find out what was blocking the flow of water and get rid of it before there’s another disastrous flood; we shouldn’t rely on another messenger to save our lives if it happens again. We rode on our Pferde for five days through the forest and a gorge when we finally came across It.

I have no words to describe it besides rock and metal wall that reached high in the sky with some water seeping underneath it and stretched more than the length of the Rimes River. We got above it and it stretched on for what looked to me like the length of my family’s barn where we keep our animals at night and times of bitter cold and snow.

Behind it was a shallow pool of water that was slowly growing deeper. There appears to be ways to enter It but we couldn’t open the strange metal doors no matter how hard we tried.

I don’t know what It is but it will take more than sharpened axes and teams of Pferde and Ochsen harnessed together with ropes and chains around this monstrosity to move it.

I made some drawings of It but they were in my old Memory Book and that’s lost with my Pfred Liesl. I guess I could draw it from memory but there’s not enough space in this one to do any meaningful drawings.

We wanted to go further and see how this strange wall came to be but the sacred Valley of Beleuchtung was in our path and even in our curiosity we will not enter a sacred place without permission from the Shamans or a Warrior Monk.

On the way back home something flew low and fast over our heads and scared our Pferde. Liesl reared causing me to fall off before she bolted back the way we came, Gunni’s Elvira took off towards home with him firmly in his saddle, Hilda managed to keep Brun from bolting by some miracle, Durga like Gunni was carried quickly towards home on Gunda and Akhil let Elena run until he could calm her down.

It took the rest of the day to regroup and four days to make it back home.

Mother and Father have told me not to worry and Liesl and that she’ll come home soon but I’m worried that she has either fallen or will fall or that a wild animal will hurt her.

We told the Elders and Shamans what we saw and the Shamans have retreated into their sanctuary in the Temple Shrine to meditate in private and away from all distractions. Until they return no one is to retrace our steps and people have been dispatched to the other settlements with copies of a sketch of the ‘wall’ I had drawn from memory and some input from Gunni, Hilda, Durga and Akhil.

I don’t know what I should be feeling right now and a big part of me wishes that it was just a bunch of large tress and boulders blocking the Rimes instead of some strange wall.



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I'll tag you if you want to be informed of updates.

 

Okay, I am lost. Can you give us some sort of a backstory for this? Link relevant fics? Give us a character list, perhaps even a glossary?

It's well-written, but next to there being somebody called Horse, I can't wrap my head around it.

Thanks for any help, in advance.

 

Okay, I guess writing a fic where I just dumped the readers in the middle of it all wasn't the best thing to do.

There is no character called 'horse' but all the horse like creatures they were riding had given names since that's what some people do and I wasn't thinking straight when it can to naming the animals.

I'll post the link with next update.


Sent from my iPod touch using Tapatalk

 

Ewok Poet Let see if this update will help clear up any confusion and the link is with the first post since i felt that i should put it there instead of the second entry.


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Corporal Acker’s Personal Log

After two months of preparation we are finally heading to the remote and unpopulated called ‘Tiston’ by Ugaidi Industries to help with the harvesting and mining operations they started there eighty years ago.

My primary job will be helping maintain the perimeter defenses and perform foot patrols.

It will mostly be boring since Tiston doesn’t have many dangerous creatures and the weather is moderate so there won’t be too many weather-related issues; hopefully.

As of now we are traveling through hyperspace aboard one of Ugaidi Industries ships.

I will admit I was hoping to be attached to one of the local freight companies back home on Bosta but Ugaidi Industries pays really well and the local freight companies want soldiers with more experience than what I have so I guess I will be in units assigned to offworld contractors until I have enough experience to be considered for assignment to a company on Bosta.

My brother Daniyel offered me the chance to be an errand runner and member of the Bosta Senatorial Honor Guard on Coruscant for Senator Rivka Elwyn and her staff on Coruscant. But I didn’t want to have Rivka accused of playing favorites since there are rumors that she and Daniyel are more than colleagues.

I’m not sure if this is important but on Bosta and Coruscant I saw a strange woman watching me. She was wearing some kind of dress that was really just a large piece of fabric wrapped and tucked around her body and she had black makeup smeared under her eyes, blue makeup over her eyes, her mouth was outlined with green makeup and white makeup lining her cheekbones and two lines from either side of her eyes, like tear tracks. Her dark hair was either a mass of tiny braids or done in some style of dreadlocks. I told Daniyel about her and he promised to look into it since she really creeped me out.

He even suggested that she might be protesting our government basically selling the services of our military to the highest bidders that are offworlders. I told him she didn’t appear to be human; I swear on the Ringed Lakes of Kita that I saw patches of lighter and darker skin on the parts of her face that weren’t covered in makeup.

Either way Daniyel promised to keep me updated on any developments and I sincerely doubt I will be seeing her again in the near future.

End Log Entry

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Twelfth Day of the Fourth Month, 657 years since the Victory at the Rhine River


The Shamans haven’t emerged yet from their meditations and everyone is on edge. There is talk of moving away and settling closer to one of the larger villages or towns before the planting season advances too far.

I will admit the sight of the mud and water marks that mar all the buildings in my village frighten me and there is still a large boulder in the middle of my family’s fields that is too heavy to be moved by conventional means. There are Shamans that could move it but because it isn’t a threat to anyone or anything my parents haven’t asked for one to move it. Besides where would we have it moved to?

I have prayed to the Servants of Harmony for safety and protection and have spent the past five days up late watching for some sort of sign that things are going back to normal or that the Agents of Chaos are causing trouble.

I scattered herbs around the house, barns and sheds to protect against Chaos today only for Adela to laugh at me and remind me that my barrier of herbs won’t protect the buildings from a flood. I accused her of being Faithless and other things I will not record because they are forever seared in my memory and I will cleanse myself in the Temple Shrine with the help of a Shaman once they finish their meditations.

Liesl still hasn’t returned and I fear she has fallen into a hole, into the nearly dried up river or down one of the shear drops we had to navigate around.

Mother and Father say I shouldn’t worry so much and that she’s a smart Pferd and surefooted so she couldn’t accidentally fall to her death.

I keep hoping that one day I will wake up and she will be trotting around the barns waiting to be let in.



May there always be Order and Harmony


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Ewok Poet


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Mini Challenge: From a Certain Point of View

Twentieth day of the Fourth Month, 657 years since the Victory at the Rhine River


Ever since the Shamans emerged from their meditations two days ago there has been chaos. They stated that we will be safe here but there will be safety measures taken to ensure the safety of everyone in the area.

Word has been sent to the villages that weren’t affected by the flood to plant extra of everything and people of all ages will be selected to help with the extra burden. Pasture animals are also going to be moved to prevent their loss if and when another flood occurs.

I spoke with the Shaman Gisila this morning and she told me that my anger with my sister is understandable and instead of taking me to a Cleansing Room she talked to me about why some emotions are good while others can lead to Dark places.

She asked me to examine the emotions behind my words and why I reacted the I did to Adela’s comments.

I realized that it was my fears of the future and that I was angry that she had a point about the herbs not stopping a flood.

After we spoke she told me several stories including a couple of the tales of the War of the Stars. She recounted the stories of the warriors with the swords of lights that fought for Harmony and Chaos, of monstrous weapons that could reduce planets to rocks, of great losses and bittersweet victories. I am familiar with all of the stories about the War of the Stars; Grandfather Hrolf was a Shaman and he told the stories around the fire almost every night before the cancer ended his life.

Many of my peers think the stories of the War of the Stars are just fanciful tales meant to both entertain and serve as warnings but I believe that there is more to the tales than to amuse and serve as lessons. If they were meant to serve as lessons and to amuse than why do one of the tales talk about the War of the Stars coming here and turning the once fertile land of Gruneinmal into a desert that isn’t safe to traverse without a guide and has strange structures that aren’t natural half buried in the ground or the war that followed stars falling from the sky?

Grandfather Hrolf visited the vast desert and entered one of the structures and said that they were like metal buildings with doors that hid in walls, strange narrow openings in the walls that went up, down and a few that went side to side. He even brought some metal plates with unfamiliar markings on them. I copied them in my old Book of Memories.

The markings don’t match any of our writings so another group must have created them.

Of course I’m not supposed to tell others about the metal plates so I can’t use them as proof that the stories about the War of the Stars is possible true.

Father says they might have wiped themselves out of existence like the Beobachter did when there was a minor disagreement between two Elders that escalated into bloodshed.

But even if they did kill themselves that means that they did exist at some point and maybe there were survivors.

But that doesn’t mean I want them to come back if they’re going to bring death and destruction with them.

I guess I will write a few of the markings here just in case something happens to the metal plates and my other Memory Books.


Lieutenant Acker

Captain Veers

Jedi Order

RSS Defender

May the Force be with us


They look odd but beautiful; even if a few of them look like road pointers.

Liesl still isn’t back and I have accepted the fact she must be dead. I will make preparations to replace the gear that was lost with her.


May there always be Order and Harmony


Twentith/Twenty-first day of the Fourth Month, 657 years since the Victory at the Rhine River

I must write this before too much time passes.

I was laying on the roof of the barn where we keep the Pferde and counting the stars when some unfamiliar stars suddenly appeared in the night sky and got closer and closer until they became dark shapes against the night sky. I could hear the rumble of something powerful and I wondered if what I was hearing and seeing were some space rocks falling. One fell on Gunni’s family’s farm last year and made a hole in the ground and was hot to the touch for several days.

But a bright light suddenly fell on me and the hunds started barking and the Pferde started shrieking and the other animals soon joined in but the bright light moved quickly off leaving me night blind. It took some time for my eyes to adjust to the pitch blackness of the night again and for me to feel comfortable enough to climb down from the roof and go into the house.

Everyone was awake and uneasy.

Grandmother is half convinced that the bright light was a sign that she should have had Grandfather Hrolf cremated instead of burying his body intact even though he didn’t wish to be cremated. He believed that unless there isn’t enough room to bury the dead or the environment will not allow the safe or healthy decomposition of a corpse only then should a body be burned.

Mother and Father are more confused by the unnatural bright light than anything else but they are too busy reassuring Grandmother that she followed Grandfather Hrolf’s wishes and she wouldn’t be punished for following them.

Adela is making a Circle of Protection around the house with Hrolf Donar and Theudhar.

Helga slept through the whole thing, Frigg the Protector of Children must have lulled her into a deep sleep and gave her pleasant dreams.

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Corporal Acker’s Personal Log

We arrived on Tiston last night and after a good night’s sleep I stepped into the sunlight and admired the periwinkle sky. The trees surrounding the base are massive, more massive than I would think trees that are eighty or so years old could be.

My day was long checking and doing basic repairs on the sensors and keeping my ears pricked for any suspicious noises. I heard from my cousin Aharon that there was one world that he was stationed on for only a month before the company abandoned their mines on some planet in the Outer Rim due to these dangerous creatures that look like a cross between a Kita Lake Crab and a Night Spider. They could have used sensor markers to keep them at bay but that can be expensive when you have to surround several landing pads, warehouses, at least two barracks, hangars and of course mark paths to and from the mines and then around the mines themselves and the refineries so it just wasn’t worth it to the company to stay. Not to mention Aharon and two soldiers were attacked by the spider-crabs. Aharon was dragged some distance by one before he managed to kill it; he still admits to having nightmares about being eaten alive.

The Evening Meal was good and there was a good-natured debate on religion, life and different philosophies. It got heated at one point when we discussed the future and Adva Frye stated that the Old Ways state without question that the Future is set in stone.

It was a good thing Captain Hila Cox was there and jumped in by reminding everyone that we are entitled to our different opinions and that the Mystics have been wrong on more than one occasion and that there is more than one way to interpret the Ancient Writings; she stated she read them herself and nowhere could she find a single mention that the Future is unchangeable; however, there is a passage that mentions Fate and Destiny and how those cannot be changed.

Fate.

*scoff*

Destiny.

*snort*

Was it Livna’s Fate/Destiny to be killed in a speeder accident and leave her son and daughter without a mother? Was Fate/Destiny that I be the one to find Moran’s crumped speeder and stare into the lifeless eyes of my sister?!

I know that for as long as I live the images of Moran slumped against the speeder’s control yoke and my sister sitting in the front passenger seat with her head bent in an unnatural angle will haunt me.

Chava and Ilan were still crying for her last time they stayed with my parents and still don’t quite understand that she’s are never coming back.

I have had counseling since I was the one that found them and tried to administer first aid to them only to discover Moran’s critical injuries and that Livna was cold to the touch.

I can’t believe in Fate or Destiny if all they will bring is pain and misery.

End Log

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I can’t believe in Fate or Destiny if all they will bring is pain and misery.

Sorry that I did not catch up before. As always a fic of yours is intriguing. You must really point out that all the sources of your ideas to me.

And your name giving is always interesting, too. Especially when German names/ terms pop up.

 

AzureAngel2 It's okay I don't mind. I get a lot of inspiration from Religion and learning the opinions of others. I was hit by inspiration for Corporal Acker's view on Fate and Destiny when I was listening to an audio book and a character is told to accept that it was another character's fate to die and they couldn't accept that they had to just stand by and watch their friend die.


Twenty Seventh Day of the Fourth Month, 657 years since the Victory at the Rhine River


Adela and Hrolf Donar have been selected to travel to Grüner Hügel a good-sized village to the south and west of us. They are reluctant to go but know that it isn’t fair for the people of Grüner Hügel to work on the excess of crops all by themselves.

We spent our last day as a complete family working in the fields singing the work songs to help pass the time.

At Hrolf Donar‘s request we recited the history of Grunewald. Grandmother recited the part about the founding of how Shamans and traders needed rest points that were at regular intervals between Asterdane and Bärlin. How Shamans and volunteers were selected to build little villages about a day’s journey apart. She talked about the hardships they faced and how terrible snow storms hit the area the first Winter.

Father recited the Honor we received when the Shaman Budda passed through on his journeys. While we don’t follow his view on Harmony he helped shape our culture for the better.

Mother recited how generations of peace were shattered by a senseless attack by Agents of Chaos that wielded strange weapons and rode unnatural mounts, how they destroyed the villages that had sprung up in the years since the Founding, damaged the Temple Shrines and abducted most the young children including the young daughter of Shamans Kasimira and Lanzo and how a short time later a War tore through the countryside leaving many dead or maimed and the people terrified.

Adela recited how long the rebuilding process was and how some scars never healed. How Shamans Kasimira and Lanzo despite having more children never stopped searching for their missing daughter.

I recited how Agents of Chaos tried to overthrow those that sit in power in Asterdane but Shamans, Warrior Monks and regular warriors stopped them on the banks of the Rhine River. How we still enjoy the peace that they brought us 657 years later.

Hrolf Donar recited how the Shaman, Kuno the Gentle, traveled the world to learn farming techniques and brought them back home.

Theudhar excitedly recited how the water in the Rimes River dried up and how Kali the Erlösen came to our village during the Harvest Festival and the surrounding villages to warn them of the danger that was to come, of the wall of water and debris that left the area half buried. How it took a whole year to remove most of the debris and how some debris to this day remains scattered in fields and wooded areas.

Helga, the youngest, proudly recited the most recent events that had happened in our village and area with a smile.

After we finished Father sent Adela and Hrolf Donar to bed early because they will be leaving before the sun rises with two thirds of our animals. He then told Theudhar to take Helga and check on the animals before going to bed.

I was about to help Grandmother to her room when Mother told me that she and Father needed to speak to me.

I sat back on the floor and Mother told me that the Shamans and the Elders wanted me to help the Shamans go through the Histories hidden inside the Vaults underneath the Temple Shrine.

Apparently the bright light in the sky had been seen before, back before the Rimes River dried up for the first time and the Histories then make a mention of bright lights before and during a war. Because there are so many Histories and some Shamans hid the Histories during times of upheaval to prevent their destruction by Agents of Chaos and anarchists.

I am to report to the Shamans tomorrow.


May there always be Order and Harmony

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*unsteady voice*

Corporal Acker’s Personal Log

We have been here for nearly two standard weeks and until today I saw nothing out of the ordinary but today I saw several things that were really strange. While on my patrol I passed by a thicket of trees that give me an uneasy feeling and I thought for a few moments I saw a small group of near humans standing guarding a gap in the tightly packed trees but when I looked closer there was no one there. I know I should have investigated more closely right then and there as is Ugaidi Industries policy to check any oddities but if there were people that had been standing in the area I decided that they couldn’t have moved silently and the only place for them to have gone would be deeper into the thicket and I have stated already that the place gave me the creeps and some instinct was telling me to not enter and avoid it the way I would avoid catching a highly contagious disease.

The rest of my patrol was uneventful but when I got back to base and reported that I thought I saw people near the thicket I was ordered by the base commander to return and search the place for inhabitants.

Captain Cox protested to them potentially sending me into a dangerous situation alone and insisted that she accompany me; they didn’t protest.

*pause*

When we reached the thicket, we checked the area first for any signs of any tracks besides my own and didn’t find any. We debated about going back and telling the Ugaidi Industries people that there was no sign of inhabitants but Captain Cox said that unless we did a thorough investigation of the thicket we wouldn’t know for sure.

We entered the thicket and found that despite the day being cloudless and the sun at the highest point in the sky the ticket seemed unnaturally dark. We had to activate our handlamps to help us see but the darkness seemed to swallow our lights up.

We walked deeper calling out in Huttese, Basic and every major Trade Language only to be met with unnatural silence; not even the song of avian creatures could be heard.

The longer we were in the thicket the more the darkness in it seemed to be less of the absence of light and more like something alive and malevolent.

Captain Cox was telling me that we were going to leave when we heard it: the sounds of children screaming.

Gods it was bloodcurdling but we both ran to the noises instead of away thinking that children were in danger but instead we found ourselves deep in the tangle of trees and brush.

I was sure that I was going to die in that thicket with Captain Cox and that no one would know what happened to us or worse Ugaidi would send more people to investigate and they would meet our fate.

It was then I heard Livna’s voice calling my name, playfully drawing out the syllables like she used to do when I was young and when I was sad. I ran towards the sound of her voice; calling out to her.

Next thing I knew I was stumbling out of the darkness of the thicket into the brightness of the sun.

A moment after I stumbled out Captain Cox followed me. Her face was pale but she ordered me to return to base, retrieve her Ritual Bag and bring all of our people back to this spot and if anyone tried to stop me invoke the Rite of Cleansing.

I know my eyes widened at her declaration. I had heard of the Rite of Cleansing and know that Mystics perform them at the sites of murder, a massive loss of life and terrible violence to erase the evil that might linger and/or release the souls of the victims from their torment and regrets so they can move on but until today I have never seen it performed.

I got Captain Cox’s Ritual Bag, gathered my fellow Bostans and we headed to the thicket.

Captain Cox ordered us to form linked circles around it, close our eyes and to imagine a sunlight drenched field full of wildflowers and the sound of insects.

I don’t know how long I had my eyes closed imagining a field with gently rolling hills covered with wildflowers and the droning of insects when she ordered us to imagine a gently falling rain.

She asked us to imagine a few more things like being surrounded by our loved ones and the comfort of our favorite place and food.

Finally, she told us to open our eyes and we all gasped. Where the thicket once was now was a mass of burnt and charred wood; the feeling of unease was gone.

Captain Cox said she had no choice but to burn the thicket to the ground to dispel the evil within.

Our superiors attached to Ugaidi Industries weren’t happy but they seemed to accept that the thicket could potentially have posed as a danger to soldiers doing their patrols; besides now we know that no one is hiding in it.

Once the ashes and charred remains of the trees cool off Captain Cox wants it sifted through to find out how the thicket developed such a malevolent presence. We might have to dig and hope that the evidence wasn’t destroyed.

After the Evening Meal Captain Cox called me to the common room and she asked me who’s voice guided me out of the thicket. I hesitated and wondered if she would think that I was crazy if I told her that I had heard my deceased sister but she must have heard a voice too or she wouldn’t have thought to ask me such a question. She just looked at me calmly without judgement and I told her that I had heard Livna calling my name like she used to.

I cried and Captain Cox pulled me into a sisterly hug and whispered in the Ancient Tongue words of comfort.

Once I calmed down I asked her who’s voice she had heard. She was silent for a moment but was smiling happily and told me: ‘my child called out to me.’

I almost laughed at her but I know of stories of people claiming to be saved or seeing or hearing their unborn children and hadn’t I heard my deceased sister voice?

I honestly don’t know what to think but I am open to any explanations; as long as they aren’t Fate and Destiny.


End Log

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@AzureAngel2 It's okay I don't mind. I get a lot of inspiration from Religion and learning the opinions of others. I was hit by inspiration for Corporal Acker's view on Fate and Destiny when I was listening to an audio book and a character is told to accept that it was another character's fate to die and they couldn't accept that they had to just stand by and watch their friend die.

Thanks for explaining your motivations so nicely.

And also using words like "Grüner Hügel" und "Grunewald". Also I have not been to the last location in over three years time. A shame really. They have this very nice tower there overlooking the River Havel.

Anyway, exciting new update that sprang to your mind! I am always curious were the journey is going.

 

AzureAngel2 You're welcome!

So, last week's update I got some inspiration for the Evil Thicket from a story that someone shared no less than twelve years ago. I don't remember if they were recounting the experience or sharing someone else's experience, either way the story went that two friends were traveling in Eastern Europe when they came to a place fenced off that had a Dark or Evil feeling. They drove for either 1/4 or a 1/2 a mile when they came to a couple of boarded up buildings in poor condition and the feeling persisted for about the same distance after they passed the buildings where it just stopped. Confused they decided that the first gas station they reached that they would ask about the place. When they reached the first gas station they asked about the place they had seen they were told they had passed by a Concentration Camp.

So it was more of the Earth and maybe even the trees remember the Evils that were committed there and it had stained the entire area and corrupted the area which is why David (Acker) and Cox heard the cries of children.

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Mini-Challenge: “Mush”


First day of the Fifth month, 657 years since the Victory at the Rhine River

Well today was my full first day working in the Vaults and I already feel like an ignorant child. I have been chastised twice for touching things I shouldn’t and a few more times for saying things that some Shamans believe shouldn’t be bandied about.

So I don’t think I will be writing much down here about things I have learned or discovered during my stay in the Vaults. I am allowed to say that the Histories here are kept on metal or stone plates that can’t be corrupted by rust or tarnish. It is a method that caused lots of grumbling from Shamans in the past because of how time consuming it is to crave our letters on stone or metal and how heavy they are compared to books or scrolls but both can be destroyed by water and fire while the metal and stone plates survive both fire and water.

That doesn’t mean that there aren’t books and scrolls down here made of pulp, fibers and animal hides.

I read a little from one today that was written by Kasimira herself but all that I have read so far is an accounting of land disputes, births and deaths, names of traders and Warrior Monks and Wandering Shamans that passed through and weather patterns. There are a handful of personal details thrown in like how she likes it when her husband Lanzo surprises her with freshly picked wildflowers or gives her a massage when she’s feeling stressed but so far there is nothing about bright lights in the sky or the attack that claimed so many lives.

Shaman Kuno told me that this is important even if there isn’t anything inside besides the day to day events chronicled within because it gives us a timeline if Kasimira doesn’t say anything in this book that could tie to the lights then it happens in a later record.

While I had a mostly good day I was happy to call it a day and have a bowl of mush made from cooked grains, sweetened with boiled Ahorn Syrup with Ziege Milk to make it soupy. It was the same thing last night and I will admit I was hoping for something more but the crops aren’t in and the Shamans believe in living simply.

At least the beds are comfortable


May the Forces of Harmony always prevail and keep Order

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Corporal Acker’s Personal Log

I knew that we would get flack for burning down that thicket from the other soldiers. Lieutenant Avital Cooper tried to punch one of them for making fun of our beliefs.
I talked her out of it but she still wants to wipe the smug look off the faces of the soldiers mocking us for the measures we took to purge the Evil that I believe would have killed us.

I started to poke through the remains of the thicket. So far I have found nothing but something tells me that I will find something in the future.

I got letters from Mom, Daniyel and cousin Aharon today. Mom’s letter mostly talked about what’s going on back home and she hopes I’m well.

Daniyel’s letter was really just a promised update of his search for the strange woman I saw back home and on Coruscant. He said that so far there aren’t any hits in any data bases of a living person but he said he thinks he found a possible match in several Jedi that lived eight, nine hundred years ago from an undisclosed planet and species.

Aharon’s letter was really more of a congratulation for ending up on a planet where the wildlife wasn’t dangerous; I’ve yet to send a letter home detailing what happened to me in the thicket.

For the Evening Meal we had some local meat to our rations. The meat was delicious and a part of me hopes that it can become more than an odd occurrence but I doubt it.

End Log

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A thing that I love about your fics: they are always like a treasure hunt. Old religions, historical records. Always exciting.

 

AzureAngel2 Thank you!

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Seventh Day of the fifth month, 657 years since the Victory at the Rhine River

A Wandering Shaman arrived today with a rather frightening tale. She said she was lost in the woods and looking for either the Valley of Beleuchtung or the Forest of Schwarze Erinnerungen when something hit the Pferd she was riding and hit the rest of her Pferde.

She was hit as well by it in the shoulder and burned both her robes and her skin.

She fled into the woods as the things tried to hit her again. She just ran until she found the river and followed it South until she arrived in our village.

She’s being cared for by the Medicine Woman until her wound heals.

The Shamans are meditating on the attack and something else they won’t share with someone that isn’t a Shaman.

I pray the Wandering Shaman makes a full recovery and is able to continue to do what she loves.


May Harmony continue to protect Order.

Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Corporal Acker’s Personal Log


Well I feel vindicated; I was sifting through the remains of the thicket earlier today and I found the remains of Republic Soldiers, a Jedi and some bracelets that must have belonged to children since they were too small for adults with dwarfism; but they could have belonged to aliens with smaller proportions than the average sentient being.

I know that at least the soldiers and the Jedi Knight were killed here and they must have died horrible deaths because their bones were broken and twisted in unnatural ways that had nothing to do with the fire.

Something terrible happened in this area long, long ago and the land remembers it and was either corrupted or something evil lingered until Captain Cox purged it.

*pause*

I think someone or someones must be here, possibly marooned somehow like in millennia past. After I shifted through the remains of the thicket today I was sent to patrol a section that hasn’t been patrolled since just before we arrived and I found an equine like creature trapped in a clearing. She was thin and her lead rope was tangled in a bush but she was able to get water and graze. She allowed me to approach her and untangle her lead rope and lead her out of the clearing and towards the dam.

Out of compassion I removed the heavy waterproof bag on her back and carried it myself; something I am glad I did.

We reached the dam and I started my visual inspection leading the equine. I was almost done when I noticed that some brush and tall grass had been stomped down to form a path between the trees and the dam.

I followed the path into the forest first and after a search I found the remains of a camp that appeared to have been a temporary camp and had been deserted for some time since the fire pit was cold and had been covered with dirt.

I tied the equine to a low tree branch and with my new knowledge headed back to the dam cursing my superiors for not giving me a long range commlink. I had to ride a speeder bike to patrol this sector, on foot, but at least there’s no dangerous creatures here.

I went and checked out the other side of the path that led to the dam and found that someone had tried to jimmy at least a door in the dam; the paint and metal was scratched by the attempts that couldn’t have been done by an animal.

There was even evidence that whoever was here explored a bit but I don’t know where they came from or where they went or why they came and left.

I do know that they at least came here from the south.

It was there I decided to search the bag and find out what was in it. It contained some dried local fruits, meat jerky, nuts and a book with mostly blank flimsiplast like pages. Some of the pages had words in an unfamiliar language and some nicely done drawings or sketches but what drew my attention were several words in Aurebesh that appeared to have been copied from something and not originally written by the owner of the book. I say this because the words and phrases in Aurebesh were random and no context. ‘Deck 17’, Engine Room, Captain Veers, ‘May the Force be with us’ and a few other words.

I can’t help but remember my early days and learning how to write my name in Aurebesh: Dorn, Aurek, Vev, Isk, Dorn *pause* Shen *pause* Aurek, Cresh, Krill, Esk, Resh: David S. Acker.

I decided to take the book back to camp and hide the bag. I would have taken the equine back as well but she escaped and wandered off. I’m not too worried because her lead rope had come loose so she isn’t in any danger of it tangling on anything again; she must be heading towards home.

I stowed the book at the bottom of my footlocker for further examination.

I almost said something to my superiors but I remembered how they assigned me to sift through Sentient Remains instead of assigning someone from Medical and how they claim there’s no intelligent life here.

Something doesn’t feel right.

End of Log


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AzureAngel2 You've missed an update.

So I am borrowing my brother's computer mouse to post this and boy is it responsive! There might be a couple mistakes since my mouse would malfunction during the 'copy and paste' part of the posting process but I think I fixed all of them.


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Fourteenth Day of the fifth month, 657 years since the Victory at the Rhine River


Liesl came home early this morning!

Mother came to town for almost the sole purpose to tell me that Father woke to tend to the remaining animals and there she was wandering the yards. She’s thin but appears to be healthy. Her bridle is gone along with my bag but at least she’s alive and home.

That’s the only good news.

Down in the vaults I got trapped in a small, dark room and it took me a long time to get out. The experience was made worse by Spirit Lights and voices speaking a strange language. I screamed and threw myself at the door until the door suddenly opened causing me to fall onto the floor.

I was reprimanded because the room is off limits and I don’t know if Shaman Harald believes me about the Spirit Lights and strange voices since he claims that Spirit Lights are illusions created by gases and I might have been frightened enough being trapped in a dark room that I thought I heard voices.

There’s been no progress in the Histories and the Wandering Shaman Hilda is slowly recovering.

I’m afraid what will happen if we can’t find the answers.


May Harmony guide us to Answers

Xxxxxxxx

Corporal Acker’s Personal Log

*faint insect sounds*

It’s been quiet the last week and a half and nothing has happened since I saw the equine and scratched paint. I haven’t said anything to anything about it because I keep getting a feeling to keep my mouth shut.

The only thing of note is I dreamed last night I was a soldier in the Republic Military in a wheeled vehicle with another soldier, a Jedi and over a dozen frightened children. Wheeled vehicles are rare and there hasn’t been a full-scale war for about eight hundred years.

I looked more at the little book but haven’t gotten the courage to do any research on the language. I do know that the words were written in some kind of ink, something that hasn’t been used in millennia and something I have only seen in museums and historical holo pics.

The fate of the writer is unknown but I doubt they’re dead since I haven’t found any remains belonging to someone that hasn’t been dead for more than some eight hundred years in the area where I found the equine and the old campsite. I have been reassigned to that area so I’ve been combing that area with a proverbial fine toothed comb.

Could there be a group of people living here?

End of Log

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AzureAngel2


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Nineteenth Day of the fifth month, 657 years since the Victory at the Rhine River


I washed the front steps of the Temple Shrine today and part of the walkway like I sometimes do back home. One day it will be my sole responsibility until I have daughters to help me wash the stairs and the walkway to the house. In the larger towns and cities, you must wash your stairs, the walkway and the pedestrian path in front of your house once a day because of how many people walk them each day.

After I was done washing the steps and some of the walkway I returned to the Vaults to continue the search for answers. I read more from Shaman Kasimira and uncovered a useful bit of information. She mentioned the birth of her daughter Kallie, the one taken by the Agents of Chaos riding strange steeds. We now have a better timeline going since we know that Kallie was taken when she saw five summers.


May Harmony always be observed.

Xxxxxxxxx

Corporal Acker’s Personal Log

Still no sign of any locals but on the other hand my patrols have been uneventful.

The Base on the other hand has been very interesting. Captain Cox got into a semipublic argument with some higher up in Ugaidi Industries over something Ugaidi either did or wats to do; that wasn’t clear. However, Captain Cox was angrier than a Tooka Cat doused in freezing cold water. She swore that her superiors would hear about it and threatened them if they attempted to stop or change her report Ugaidi Industries could kiss their contract with our people good bye.

I think none of us will sleep well for several nights until the situation is resovled.

End Log


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Sorry, RL and my own writing PLUS carefully choosing my nominations for the upcoming awards got me side tracked.

I like the way how her own notes clash Corporal Acker’s Personal Log. She is so poetic at times while the corporal keeps within the strict parameters of an army log.

I wonder when they meet...

 

AzureAngel2 It's okay.

You think Linza is poetic? I'm flattered. I also didn't realize that David's logs were very close to a military log.

They will meet soonish.


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Twenty-fifth Day of the fifth month, 657 years since the Victory at the Rhine River

I was washing my sheets, sleep dress and undergarments early this morning when I overheard several Shamans talking about the lack of malevolence to the North. They hoped it is a good thing since they said that the Forest of Schwarze Erinnerungen has been inherently evil for generations and has had needed to be contained but ow there’s nothing; not even shadows.

Then they came around the bushes and saw me sitting there and demanded to know what I was doing up. I blushed but I held up the stained items which earned sympathetic looks from the females and was allowed to go back to my attempts to remove the stains.

I was treated to some dried erdbeeren in cream by the women after I was done and they all shared stories about accidents they have had throughout the years.

I asked Shaman Kuno about the Forest of Schwarze Erinnerungen and he promised to tell me the story in a few days.

The ‘Forest of Schwarze Erinnerungen’, the name alone says it’s a Dark place.


May Harmony always exist.

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Corporal Acker’s Personal Log

Captain Cox asked me to help her go through the stuff from the thicket today. We found armor dating back to the Jedi/Sith War that took place some eight hundred years ago. We also found the dog chips of soldiers, a lightsaber that we barely touched since those things can cut through a starship hull like it was a loaf of bread, more jewelry with odd markings but they seemed to be the same as the ones I found earlier and some machinery. Captain Cox thinks that the War came to this planet and that the thicket was a place where the Sith had held prisoners; where they were tortured to death.

I made the Signs to ward against Evil. Back on Bosta there’s a place where mass genocide was committed millennia ago and the land still remembers; but that place doesn’t try to kill those that visit and leave memorials for the innocents that lost their lives.

She told me that she has tried to get Ugaidi to bring someone here to collect the remains and the artifacts but they are insisting that returning the remains of soldiers and Jedi to the right people are low priorities.

I know the ore that they’re mining is valuable but to not even bring in a forensic team is odd.

The last thing we found today was a badly damaged Ritual Bag. Captain Cox tried to identify the owner by trying to see if there was a name on the outside but the bag was in too poor condition to tell if there was a name on it. The next step we took was to open it and look at the contents. We found runes, a few other religious icons and an ancient datacard. We managed to get the information off the ‘card and found that it contained a refresher course on our ceremonies, specifically those associated with Last Rites, prayers to recite for life loss enmasse and for those missing and presumed dead. It also contained a list of Bostan people assigned to the Eighty-First Fleet.

Captain Cox is going to cross-reference the names on the list with names of Bostans assigned to the Eighty-First Fleet; she wants to return the contents to the owner’s relatives.

I wonder what the odds are of me being related to the owner.

End Log


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This is really fascinating; I like how we're getting a portion of the plot from each of the diary keepers even though neither is aware yet that their problems seem to be connected. For some reason, it reminds me a bit of some of the old computer games like Myst where you'd have to try to figure out the real story from old journals and artifacts. (Never did get past the first level, I'm afraid; my sense of direction was too bad! ) Something old has been haunting Linza's world and I don't know if the evil forest was the root or just a symptom. And Ugaidi Industries seems to have some sort of agenda that worries me. Really curious to see where all of these mysteries lead to, and whether Linza and David will meet at some point.

 

@Kahara almost said everything about a jolly good update of yours.

This leaves me to give you some praise of being such a word wizzard: "the Forest of Schwarze Erinnerungen". As a German and a former language teacher for Secondary School level I love such word plays.

 

Kahara I tried to play Myst many years ago but couldn't figure out how to play it or something. Well Ugaidi Industries are greedy and this kind of ore is very valuable. As for the forest . . . hopefully there will be some answers in this update.

AzureAngel2 Thanks, I like word plays too.


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First Day of the Sixth Month, 657 years since the Victory at the Rhine River


Today Shaman Kuno sat with me and told me about the Forest of Schwarze Erinnerungen and how it came into existence. During the Upheavals of Harmony and Chaos eight hundred and seventy years ago, the same time frame we’re searching in, Agents of Chaos tortured and murdered an unknown amount of people in a forest north of us. The Evil acts corrupted the area to the point It took on a life of It’s own; even after the War was over It emitted a Dark Influence and lured people into It’s depths.

Then he admitted that it is the Forest of Schwarze Erinnerungen that lay not too far North of the strange wall blocking the Rime River.

The sacred Valley of Beleuchtung lays beyond the Forest of Schwarze Erinnerungen.

I asked him if someone could have Purified the Forest of Schwarze Erinnerungen causing the Evil contained inside to disappear.

Shaman Kuno told me that he doubted this is the case since the Evil inside is powerful and deeply entrenched. It would take more than a few Shamans praying and scattering herbs to release the pain, terror and malice locked inside.

However, he did say that the area feels at peace so maybe the area is at peace.


May Harmony protect us.

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Corporal Acker’s Personal Log

Last night I dreamed again that I was a Republic Soldier in a wheeled war machine. The other soldier, Jedi and the children were sitting in the back.

We were heading towards a signal for Republic personal to regroup.

We passed through the remains of a little town. It looked like someone had set fire to the wooden structures and ransacked them; I saw no survivors but they could have been hiding in the remains of their homes and the stone building in the center.

Still no word on the data on the card but Captain Cox is still hopeful that we will get the information about the Ritual Bag’s owner.

My patrol was uneventful but I will remain watchful for signs of intelligent life.

End of Log


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Hm, when reading your stories of late I always have music playing at the back of my head. Mostly Ólafur Arnalds.

I sadly agree that "the Evil inside is powerful and deeply entrenched. It would take more than a few Shamans praying and scattering herbs to release the pain, terror and malice locked inside." I know such things through personal experiences. A Force wound remains a Force wound. No matter how strong the Beleuchtung is.

Thanks for spotting me.

To be honest, in the end I became to ill to go to the Mountains. My next-door-neighbours & their dog will keep an eye on me with my husband being away this weekend.

Again, thanks for the opportunity to be allowed to comment.

 

Kahara

AzureAngel2 There's always hope that Light can overcome the Darkness but for now the Darkness in the Forest is Calmed. I hope you're felling better now or are recovering. And thank you for reviewing and letting me know what you think.


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Eighth Day of the Sixth Month, 657 years since the Victory at the Rhine River


We found something! It isn’t much but we found several loose pages that appear to be written in Kasimira’s hand! They are damaged because they were loose but hopefully we will be able to get at least some information off of them.

The writer talks about tending to the wounded, missing people and destroyed buildings.

Strange vehicles were mentioned as well. The writer made note that the vehicle that was seen that day was bigger, louder and wheeled while the ones involved in the attack were odd things that floated in the air and were shaped like a Pferd without a head, legs and tail.

How could something like that exist? How would it move and stay off the ground? I can only assume that there’s missing information in the damaged parts.

At least the strange vehicle that passed through the village afterwards had wheels even though there was nothing pulling it could have had gears inside that would have allowed the occupants to turn somehow and move it. Again though has to be missing information about how

I know Gunni would want to look at the sketches because he interested in making our wagons easier to move if there’s no Pferde available for whatever reason.

I didn’t get much further with helping read the pages because I was sent to the kitchen to help prepare supper. I did speak with Hedwig about her thoughts on the wheeled vehicles and how she thought they achieved locomotion. She disagreed with me that something reportedly that large could have been moved by cogs since with how big and heavy it had to be it would take a lot of people pushing or moving pedals and wheels just to move it a few feet and what would happen if they lost momentum or grew weary?

I have to admit that she has a point about cogs, pedals and wheels.

She told me that she thinks they had a power source we don’t yet understand. She thinks that the large wheeled vehicle belonged to either the Agents of Chaos or Servants of Harmony that brought their War to us. The same goes for the vehicles that apparently hovered in the air.

I wanted to ask her more but a Shaman came in to help with supper making it impossible to ask more questions.

Could there be proof that there’s truth to stories about the War of the Stars? I think it’s exciting and terrifying that there’s a real possibility that there’s Agents of Chaos and Servants of Harmony living somewhere out there.


May Harmony always triumph over Chaos

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Corporal Acker’s Personal Log

I got a confusing gift from my brother Daniyel this morning. He sent me a book of some kind but it was in the Ancient Tongue. It appears to be a soldier’s personal log but I can’t be sure since it appears to have been edited.

He also told me that he might have found the possible identity of the woman I saw on Coruscant.

The jerk didn’t elaborate any further and I am at a loss why he sent me an edited book in the Ancient Tongue. Unless the answer is in the book and he had it encoded into a language that is guarded by my people.

On my next Leave I will be reading the book.

In other news Captain Cox hasn’t had any luck yet with the possible owner of the Ritual Bag but she thinks she’s getting close.

I haven’t found any more clues of any Locals but that could change at any time.

First Contact.

Something that some beings dream of making others dread it since there’s just too many possibilities.

How would I communicate with them if I was to meet them? Would they understand if I pointed to myself and said ‘David’ that was my name? Would they even be able to speak or understand spoken words? They can write and draw so drawing might be a better form of communication.

End Log


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Your plot thickens more and more.

 

AzureAngel2 Thank you; and there's no reason to bite your nails.
Kahara


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Mini-Challenge: Very Bad Day

Eighteenth Day of the Sixth Month, 657 years since the Victory at the Rhine River

Someone, somewhere hates me.

The day started out innocent enough, helping around the Tempe Shrine and searching for answers in the Vaults. We felt hope when we found the loose pages that referenced the attack on our village but so far nothing else has been found.

I took a wrong turn in the Vaults after lunch and I got lost in the labyrinth of halls. I wasn’t afraid at first and took some time to check some of the shelves looking for clues to the War of the Stars and a book with missing pages. I didn’t find what I was looking for but I found an account of the first person to come across the Forest of Schwarze Erinnerungen. The woman talked about a thicket of trees that radiated fear, anger, hatred and pain. She recounted how she was going to continue onward to the sacred Valley of Beleuchtung but she heard a voice in the depths of the dark tangle of trees calling for help. She rushed in to help the trapped person only to get lost in an unnatural darkness. She said that she was sure that she was going to die in that terrible place when a young woman’s voice called out to her, she claims that it was her sister Roswitha calling to her but she said that her sister Roswitha died at the hands of something called a ‘Sith’. She escaped the thicket and immediately headed back the Grunewald for help to seal the Evil in that thicket, to prevent it from spreading further and to warn all travelers about it.

Just reading the account gave me chills.

I took the book with me since I found it in a metal box that was covered in dust and I suspect that there is more important information contained in its pages. The word ‘Sith’ is unfamiliar but it meant something to the writer and they killed her sister by torturing her to death.

I wandered the halls a little longer singing to myself for comfort. I even sang the working songs from different parts of our world like the Bananenboot Song. I have never had a Banane but Grandfather Hrolf told us that they were kind of mushy and covered in a thick skin and they grow on bushes.

Shaman Gisila found me when I was reciting the Red Sky mantra: red sky at night, sailor’s delight; red sky in the morning, sailor take warning.

She was looking for me; guessing that I had taken a wrong turn and soon enough she heard my voice.

She led me out of the Vaults and I gave her the book and told her where I had found it.

I thought that I was going to get a lecture but instead she brought me to a Cleansing Room and told me that they had meditated long on who should travel to the Forest of Schwarze Erinnerungen and deliver a mixture of objects to it; some to purify and others to bind and shield.

I tried to protest but she said I would be safe if I chewed and ate an herb that we aren’t supposed to eat because it fogs the mind. I told Shaman Gisila that the book talked about the Forest of Schwarze Erinnerungen and I cried. She told me that I wouldn’t hear a voice if I ate the herb.

I will leave in two days.

May Harmony Protect me!

Xxxxxxx

Corporal Acker’s Personal Log

I started the log or book my brother sent me and I was immediately drawn in. It was recorded by one of my people. He was assigned to the Eighty-First Fleet, which was exciting, and he was assigned by a Mystic to look after the Spiritual and Temporal Needs; the Ritual Bag must have belonged to him.

He talked about being assigned to the RSS Defender and how he thought a Captain Veers was an intelligent superior. He even met a Jedi Knight! That’s something very few beings can say they have done.

He talks a lot about Fate and Destiny but that is expected by someone that no doubt had some Mystic Training.

I accidentally then skipped ahead and he said he and Captain Veers along with a Jedi Padawan named Corray Ly-pah had narrowly escaped the Sith in a Juggernaut Turbo Tank with a dozen or so captive children.

I was reminded of my dreams of being a soldier and I wonder if somehow I was experiencing his memories. I can’t ask a Mystic because it’s peacetime so a Mystic or someone with Mystic Training isn’t assigned to groups of soldiers.

Tomorrow I will be assigned to the dam where I will have nothing but time to read his log and search for answers.

End Log


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So, at least one of them had a bad day.

 

She rushed in to help the trapped person only to get lost in an unnatural darkness. She said that she was sure that she was going to die in that terrible place when a young woman’s voice called out to her, she claims that it was her sister Roswitha calling to her but she said that her sister Roswitha died at the hands of something called a ‘Sith’. She escaped the thicket and immediately headed back the Grunewald for help to seal the Evil in that thicket, to prevent it from spreading further and to warn all travelers about it.

Just reading the account gave me chills.


Of course there was reason to bite my nails. People got severely damaged by Sith.

 

AzureAngel2 I will give you that; anything that involved the Sith usually is bad news.

Kahara


I meant to have this out last week but it wasn't ready and i was either distracted or busy early this week.

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Twenty-third Day of the Sixth Month, 657 years since the Victory at the Rhine River

If I wasn’t so afraid of the Forest of Schwarze Erinnerungen I would toss that stupid herb into the remains of the Rime River. My head feels funny and I feel like I’ve lost a sense.

I decided to cut time by having Wind, the Pferd the Shamans provided me with, walk in the mostly dry riverbed so I wouldn’t have to cut back and forth to reach the Forest. I can just move onto the bank before we reach the Wall. I don’t plan on stopping often either; sleep in the saddle like some the messengers sometimes do. I should be able to get to the Wall in a day and




A strangely dressed woman suddenly approached me, startling me so much I accidentally spilled ink on words I already wrote.

She was wearing trousers, some sort of shirt that had a covering of some kind.of wrap and a hooded cloak. She spoke with an accent that none of the Traders, Wandering Shamans or Warrior Monk Shamans that visited Grunewald have spoken with.

She told me that it wasn’t safe to travel in the mostly dry riverbed and led me onto the bank where she started a fire so I could have some warmth as the night comes on and some warm food.

I asked her where she was from and she said she was from Grunewald but I think I would have remembered seeing her around and I said so. She told me that she has been on a long journey and hadn’t been back home in a long, long time.

I asked her what her favorite story was and she told me that as a young child she loved it when her mother told her and her brothers about the First Ones. The Ones that were tasked after Harmony brought Order to the Chaos that existed before Life existed.

I told her I loved the stories of the War of the Stars and how people think I’m silly for believing that there might be truth to the tales. Oddly enough she didn’t know about the stories of the War of the Stars and requested that I share the stories.

She listened with rapt attention as I told her of stars falling from the sky and about Agents of Chaos and Servants of Harmony that came from beyond the Stars to wage their war among us.

I think it’s odd that she didn’t know the stories surrounding the War of the Stars and her retelling of the First Ones is rather childish.

Something about her seems off but I don’t feel that she has ill intent in her heart. Oddly she seems more solid the darker it is.

Right now she’s singing children’s rhymes and hearth songs. She pauses too often at times, like she’s trying to remember the words to songs she should have heard and sung thousands of times.

I guess I can put my recording aside and sing with her.


May Harmony forever exist.

Xxxxxxxx

*night noises*

Corporal Acker’s Personal Log

Being at the dam is boring.

All I do all day is check monitors and make sure that the systems are functioning properly and occasionally press buttons.

Perfect for reading the log.

For the most part the log just details the owner’s day to day life with a few accounts of skirmishes mixed in and talks with other Bostans. He mentioned that a Jedi was on the ship but I can’t tell if the Jedi is assigned to the ship, just visiting or was picked up.

I also spend time looking that the words and pictures in that book and puzzling over the language. I wonder how the writer pronounces two vowels that are side by side, how they form their sentences, are their consonants pronounced long or short?

There is also a file that seems to be for a translator droid in the stuff my brother spent me. Why did he send me that?

I’ve been singing Chad Gadya and rhymes to help keep my mind off the noises in the dam and other things.

I will admit that I am worried about Captain Cox and whether or not she will be relieved of her duties due to her pregnancy, or that Ugaidi will use it as an excuse to send her home and get her out of their hair.

On the bright side if they did do that depending on how they did it, by Bostan Law, she can accuse them of discrimination.

It’s getting late and I have a long day tomorrow.

End log


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It is always worthwhile waiting for a good update, @LadyMisty. And you did manage to come up with more suspense & mystery.

I hope the muse kisses you soon again. (For me it was hard for a while, but chatted up by my husband and encouraged by Kahara the ideas kept coming again.)