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Description
Sorry for the long write up…I’ll try in the future to keep it much smaller. The people are real, the name are skewed, but the likeness of those people?…Forget it.
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The Baroness Joanna and her brother Donnan stepped off the train at Nancy Greene Lake. The platform was teaming from edge to edge with the displaced, the homeless and abandoned; victims of the Confederate Empire.

Joanna noted immediately how the crowd spoke in hushed but cheerful tones. She learned quickly of a recent message over the telegraph; an angel had saved the city of Victoria; A woman stood up and had single handedly defeated the invading Death Balls, smiting them with only the power of light in her hands. The Death Dirigible never came. Real or not, it was first spark of hope the Dominion had seen in months, she thought to herself.

Guiding her by the arm, Donnan led Joanna away from the crown and into a waiting carriage. “This will take us as far as Rossland, after that we’re on our own.”

Hours later the two arrived at a mountain cliff overlooking Rossland. Remnant streams of smoke were fading into the sky from the once prosperous gold mining town, the town was as black as it was motionless; Rossland had become just another grave at the hands of the Confederate Empire.

“This is as far as I can go.” The driver whispered holding his hat over his heart.

Both siblings nodded then strapped on their backpacks, thanked the driver and hiked in silence to Rossland’s ‘Lookout Point’.

Once they had arrived, Donnan began to circle copper wire around copper posts he had pushed into the ground, forming an isosceles triangle, the sharpest point aimed directly at the heart of Rossland. The Baroness in the mean time spread the contents of a black satin bag on the ground and began unfolding slips of metal to form a tripod at the triangles center. When they finished, Joanna pulled the center stone from her broach and set it at the tripods center, while Donnan removed his cufflinks and hung them at the center of the two equal sides.

“And now we wait.” Joanna said while pouring two cups of tea.

At the moment of sunset each stone began to give off the reflective light of the waning sun. It wasn’t until Joanna noticed the lights were not pointing out toward Rossland but behind them through the forest; various trees now gave off a phosphorus green glow. “We have maybe an hour, two at the tops before they fade.” She said taking her brothers hand and walking into the forest.

Two hours later the trees glow had completely faded away leaving them standing at the center of an old stone ruin in the moon light.

A whistle of something flying through the air came toward them. Joanna on instinct turned the opposite direction and reflexively reached in the air and caught a dart directed at her brother’s neck.

“Spatial aptitude, auditory acuity and reflex; superior.” A voice announced.

Followed by words Joanna couldn’t understand and spoken at an incredible speed. Even odder was the fact her brother’s face was relaxed as he answered back in the same language and speed. “You understood that?” She asked.

“No, it was like a reflex, I just knew what to say.” he answered perplexed.

“Memory and linguistic ability…unflawed.” Another voice
announced.

The final voice was demanding and cold. “Name her…Name the keeper of secrets or …” both expected a threat, but there was only silence.

Brother and sister look at each other, “You think…?” He asked.

“She knew all of Dad’s secrets.”

Both said it at once, “Dorothy.”

“Individual deductive reasoning; moderate. Group deductive reasoning: satisfactory; Welcome home.” Another voice spoke aloud. Joanna and Donnan looked at each other in surprise…Neither could remember ever being here.

Men and women seemingly stepped out of thin air and into the clearing. All were dressed scandalously light. “The Techno-mages are aware of your reasons for returning.” A woman said stepping up to them.

“What I want to know is why? We were taught Techno-mages stood for truth and justice throughout the land and you have done nothing but watch. Why! Why have the ‘myths’, the legends’, and the ‘rumors’ done nothing! Thousands have died. Why?” Donnan demanded. Joanna shook her head; her brother was always a little brash and now wasn’t the time for such talk.

A young woman; just shy of her twenty-first year of age; stepped into the stone clearing and unlike the other scantily clad people, this woman was dressed much like the Baroness. Joanna did a double take, tapped her brother on the back in some sort of code, the response came in the form of him shrugging his shoulder blades together. A single tap response and Joanna was silently slipping a pistol out from under his jacket, and like her brother, she never once took her eyes off the new arrival.

“You would not have been ready for the truth.” Their mother said with a smile. “Put the toy away Joan’…Now…Where is my other daughter?” this time without a smile.

end...for now...

=================================
Stay tuned for more!
=================================

and because I knew you wanted a bit more.

=================================
The following morning.

The Baroness stood at the windows overlooking the huge bustling underground temple. The beauty of symmetry and harmony of cave walls, the temple, the lighting, people, and lake; contrasted in ways no artist could hope to capture.

Turning back to inside the room, she looked to the rooms only other occupant, the woman had to be twenty years her junior and barely looked like what she remembered, “You can’t possibly be my mother.”

The woman walked over to stand beside her and also took in the view.

“Not yet…” The woman whispered with sorrow.

Description
Sorry for the long write up…I’ll try in the future to keep it much smaller. The people are real, the name are skewed, but the likeness of those people?…Forget it.
=============================================
The Baroness Joanna and her brother Donnan stepped off the train at Nancy Greene Lake. The platform was teaming from edge to edge with the displaced, the homeless and abandoned; victims of the Confederate Empire.

Joanna noted immediately how the crowd spoke in hushed but cheerful tones. She learned quickly of a recent message over the telegraph; an angel had saved the city of Victoria; A woman stood up and had single handedly defeated the invading Death Balls, smiting them with only the power of light in her hands. The Death Dirigible never came. Real or not, it was first spark of hope the Dominion had seen in months, she thought to herself.

Guiding her by the arm, Donnan led Joanna away from the crown and into a waiting carriage. “This will take us as far as Rossland, after that we’re on our own.”

Hours later the two arrived at a mountain cliff overlooking Rossland. Remnant streams of smoke were fading into the sky from the once prosperous gold mining town, the town was as black as it was motionless; Rossland had become just another grave at the hands of the Confederate Empire.

“This is as far as I can go.” The driver whispered holding his hat over his heart.

Both siblings nodded then strapped on their backpacks, thanked the driver and hiked in silence to Rossland’s ‘Lookout Point’.

Once they had arrived, Donnan began to circle copper wire around copper posts he had pushed into the ground, forming an isosceles triangle, the sharpest point aimed directly at the heart of Rossland. The Baroness in the mean time spread the contents of a black satin bag on the ground and began unfolding slips of metal to form a tripod at the triangles center. When they finished, Joanna pulled the center stone from her broach and set it at the tripods center, while Donnan removed his cufflinks and hung them at the center of the two equal sides.

“And now we wait.” Joanna said while pouring two cups of tea.

At the moment of sunset each stone began to give off the reflective light of the waning sun. It wasn’t until Joanna noticed the lights were not pointing out toward Rossland but behind them through the forest; various trees now gave off a phosphorus green glow. “We have maybe an hour, two at the tops before they fade.” She said taking her brothers hand and walking into the forest.

Two hours later the trees glow had completely faded away leaving them standing at the center of an old stone ruin in the moon light.

A whistle of something flying through the air came toward them. Joanna on instinct turned the opposite direction and reflexively reached in the air and caught a dart directed at her brother’s neck.

“Spatial aptitude, auditory acuity and reflex; superior.” A voice announced.

Followed by words Joanna couldn’t understand and spoken at an incredible speed. Even odder was the fact her brother’s face was relaxed as he answered back in the same language and speed. “You understood that?” She asked.

“No, it was like a reflex, I just knew what to say.” he answered perplexed.

“Memory and linguistic ability…unflawed.” Another voice
announced.

The final voice was demanding and cold. “Name her…Name the keeper of secrets or …” both expected a threat, but there was only silence.

Brother and sister look at each other, “You think…?” He asked.

“She knew all of Dad’s secrets.”

Both said it at once, “Dorothy.”

“Individual deductive reasoning; moderate. Group deductive reasoning: satisfactory; Welcome home.” Another voice spoke aloud. Joanna and Donnan looked at each other in surprise…Neither could remember ever being here.

Men and women seemingly stepped out of thin air and into the clearing. All were dressed scandalously light. “The Techno-mages are aware of your reasons for returning.” A woman said stepping up to them.

“What I want to know is why? We were taught Techno-mages stood for truth and justice throughout the land and you have done nothing but watch. Why! Why have the ‘myths’, the legends’, and the ‘rumors’ done nothing! Thousands have died. Why?” Donnan demanded. Joanna shook her head; her brother was always a little brash and now wasn’t the time for such talk.

A young woman; just shy of her twenty-first year of age; stepped into the stone clearing and unlike the other scantily clad people, this woman was dressed much like the Baroness. Joanna did a double take, tapped her brother on the back in some sort of code, the response came in the form of him shrugging his shoulder blades together. A single tap response and Joanna was silently slipping a pistol out from under his jacket, and like her brother, she never once took her eyes off the new arrival.

“You would not have been ready for the truth.” Their mother said with a smile. “Put the toy away Joan’…Now…Where is my other daughter?” this time without a smile.

end...for now...

=================================
Stay tuned for more!
=================================

and because I knew you wanted a bit more.

=================================
The following morning.

The Baroness stood at the windows overlooking the huge bustling underground temple. The beauty of symmetry and harmony of cave walls, the temple, the lighting, people, and lake; contrasted in ways no artist could hope to capture.

Turning back to inside the room, she looked to the rooms only other occupant, the woman had to be twenty years her junior and barely looked like what she remembered, “You can’t possibly be my mother.”

The woman walked over to stand beside her and also took in the view.

“Not yet…” The woman whispered with sorrow.