I'm having trouble sorting through all these pages and getting what's actually going on... Would anyone mind doing a 'story so far' so I can start posting sooner? I can go through all the old posts, but it's taking a loooooong time...

Thanks!

(Fred says tedy. Reading all the old stuff is tedious. Coincidence?! XD)

Alright. It took a bit but I wrote a synopsis. It might seem long, but this is as short as I could possibly make it without leaving out anything too important. You should probably still read the whole thing at some point if you want to understand everything, but this is pretty much the gist of what's happened.

~~~ 

Start: Terrence Whitlock and the Reavers arrive in Spark on the day of this big event called the Solstice Festival. Terrence believes Noventia is planning an attack on Spark, and wants Corilis to help him infiltrate Noventia and overthrow its government before that happens. However, Corilis declines. Nix Galligan, the Headmaster of Spark Academy, confronts Terrence and accuses him of sabotaging the Festival. The two briefly duel, and Terrence leaves. Terrence comes back later that day with an entire fleet of Reaver airships and a warning of dangerous new Noventian technology. Galligan reluctantly agrees to let the Reavers protect Spark during the Festival.

Meanwhile, in Noventia, a young soldier called Orson Kyo is summoned to speak with Emperor Cerus. Cerus' daughter, Aloise, has gone missing (she ran away to Spark and was later kidnapped by the Reavers unbeknownst to anyone else) and he believes he will find her in Spark. He also believes that Spark, as well as the rest of his Empire, has grown too rebellious and wants to reel everyone back in under Noventian rule, starting with an attack on Spark. Thus, he will send out two main teams to spearhead the invasion; one to destroy the city, and one to find Aloise. As this is Orson's first mission, he goes out on a training flight prior to the invasion, accompanied by a Captain and his father. Orson does not feel comfortable being involved in this mission, but doesn’t want to disappoint his father.

In Spark, the Festival is interrupted by a commotion in the city square that turns out to be the sudden appearance of Iesha Merl, who teleported from Jetsam after being betrayed and stabbed by her associates in Jetsam's mafia. Galligan recognizes Iesha, having known her father before he supposedly disappeared into the Subtropos. After getting no straight answers as to how Iesha learned magic without ever attending the Academy, Galligan brings Iesha and Corilis to a secret cavern beneath the city, where a giant crystal called the Thystus rests. After explaining that the Thystus is the source of all magic in the world, Galligan tells Iesha and Corilis to stay in the cavern, where they will be safe during the attack. When Terrence, an enemy of Iesha's, hears that she has arrived in Spark, he too goes to the cavern and confronts her.

Meanwhile, Orson's training flight goes awry when the Captain accidentally shoots the side of his own ship, causing it to spiral out of control and crash onto an island village near Spark. The captain and Orson's father perish, but Orson survives and is rescued from the wreck, pretending to be a prisoner. Orson then witnesses the fleet of Noventian ships arrive in Spark just as the Festival's fireworks are kicking off.

In the cavern, Iesha and Corilis decide to ignore Galligan's order, and return to the surface with Terrence just as the Noventian attack begins. Terrence joins the fight, Iesha disappears, and Corilis wants to help despite not having any magic or substantial weapons of his own. Galligan tells him to help reload catapults on the mountain. On his way there, Corilis bumps into Orson, who is lost and confused in a crowd of villagers fleeing for escape ships on the other side of the island. Corilis decides to help Orson, bringing him up the mountain with him. However, the view from the top shows that this is clearly a losing battle. Out of nowhere, Galligan unleashes a massive burst of electromagnetic energy from the top of his tower, which destroys many of the airships and ultimately saves Spark. However, it also destroys the tower and kills Galligan himself.

Corilis and Orson make it back down the mountain, where they see a temporary ceasefire between Spark and Noventia, as either side treats their wounds. Orson, out of fear of being recognized by the Noventian soldiers, cuts off his long hair. Corilis suddenly remembers that Galligan had wanted him to have the cane that he used to perform magic with, so he struggles to make it to the fallen tower and find the cane. When he gets there, he sees Terrence, who had basically been a son to Galligan, holding the body in his arms. Iesha is also there, and has just found out that her long-lost father is actually a member of the Reavers. Thirdly, a girl named Evelyn has just been reunited with her twin Eliza, who is also amongst the ruins. In the midst of all this confusion, Corilis finds Galligan's cane in the rubble of the tower, and blacks out immediately upon grabbing it.

Corilis is transported to a dreamlike world where he meets Galligan's spirit, who tells Corilis that the purple jewel on his cane is actually an ancient artifact called the Heart, a piece of the Thystus that was broken off a long time ago, and he was the latest in a long line of people who wielded the Heart’s power in order to prevent it from destruction, which would make the entire Thystus lose its power (meaning no more magic for anyone). Galligan tells Corilis that he is next in line to protect the Heart. Terrence also enters this world, and Galligan says goodbye to the two of them before disappearing forever.

Corilis now has the Heart and is recovering from the battle. The Noventians refuse to leave until they find Aloise, and are now occupying Spark. Corilis and Terrence both have strange visions of otherworldly beings after coming in contact with the Heart. After Galligan’s funeral, the new Headmistress, Kalya Hyeweathre, tells Corilis he must fuse the Heart with a personal object to complete its connection to him, like Galligan’s cane. Corilis chooses to use his dagger. Hyeweathre tells him to go to Jetsam and find a blacksmith named Omen, who will help him with this task. Fortunately, a few airships have been repaired, and are soon departing for Jetsam filled with refugees.

Corilis (and presumably the other characters) board one of these ships and set off for Jetsam. But little do they know, Sasha Kinhawk is waiting there with orders to assassinate Corilis…

~~~

And that’s pretty much where we left off. Again, this is the super condensed version, so there's a lot left out. But if it'll get this thing started again, that's fine with me. 

It never rains but pours.

After the normal preperations, I figured that the festival would carry on as normal.

Ha, normal indeed.

Unless, of course, the headmaster of a illegal magic school blowing up in a huge explosion of lighting is perfectly normal where you live; in which case I'm sorry for your constant inconvenience. Maybe you should consider moving.

I, on the other hand, like this type of action. This solstice just got much more exciting.

I head over to one of the sailors about to board the ship.

"Eh? What dya want?"

"Where's this ship heading?"

"Jetsem. Ya gettin on?"

"No."

"Yeah, whatevea."

I pull a map out of my pocket. I've not done much since the funeral. I'm all rested up. This should work.

I recite a brief spell and watch as my hands slowly turn invisible. Struggling with the map, I walk over to the edge of the dock and stick out my hand, trying to find a drift.

I whisper into the breeze and blow myself backwards off the edge before turning around and beginning to glide.

Ahh. Haven't done this in a while. I glance behind me and see the ship is just now unanchoring from the stout oak post.

Nice! I'll beat them there.

The wind is fairly strong today and after about ten minutes, I can hear the clatter of machinery.

A little later, I slip onto the ports of Jetsem, still invisible, and sneak into an allyway. I pull my hood down with a snap.

Now, I can be seen.

I look around while I wait for the ship to come. A crumbled scrap of paper blows up toward me. I grab it and read what is says:

-----------------------------------------

COR: WANTED

WANTER: UNKNOWN

UNKNOWN WILL SOON BE KNOWN BY COR

SHAME, SHAME

- ASH

-----------------------------------------

As I puzzle over what it might mean, I hear a whoosh, then a thunk. I turn around, horrorified.

Someone threw a knife at me, narrowly missing my head and hitting the wooden wall behind me.

I yank the knife out of the wall, grasp it in my hand, and walk toward the direction it came from when I hear people beginning to shout about ropes.

The ship is coming in.

I shove the piece of paper in my pocket.

______________________________________________________________________

Sorry it took a while, I had a busy weekend. This is gonna be good though...

Alright, let's do this

Corilis~

I sat by myself at a table in the large cabin of the passenger deck. Somehow, the Reavers had been able to accomodate dozens more passengers than usual, though not without a little discomfort. I was still a bit surprised at their generosity, after hearing about their "unruliness" and "disregard for proper protocol" for quite a few years.  

I wasn't sure if the entire Reaver fleet had taken off, but quite a few were traveling alongside us. It probably made sense for some to remain in Spark and keep the Noventians in check, since they were technically occupying the city. And after what happened, I wouldn't be surprised if war was officially declared from either side.

I didn't see anyone I really knew, just a crowd of faceless peasants and a few acquaintances from the city. Maybe they were on one of the other ships, or maybe they had stayed behind. Or maybe they were just avoiding me. I didn't know if Terrence was on this particular ship, but if he was he certainly wasn't on the passenger deck and certainly had more important things to do than have a chat with me.

The airship was certainly taking its time, probably on account of the extra weight. I had been staring out at the sky for who knows how long before I heard someone approach my table.

"Bluer than blue out there today, yeah?” the man spoke with a strange accent, but it wasn’t enough to distract me from my important task of staring out at nothing.

“Yep,” I replied, not bothering to look at him.

I heard the man set something heavy down on the floor and sit down in the seat across from me. “You know, a cloudless sky like this usually means rain is swift to follow the next day.”

“Or snow,” I said absentmindedly.

The man chuckled. “It hasn’t snowed in Jetsam for decades. But, I dare say a dusting on the old rustbucket wouldn’t be the strangest thing I’ve ever seen.”

My eyes drifted to meet my anonymous conversationalist to find that he wasn’t so anonymous at all. The man seated in front of me, with a large, black, suitcase beside him, was all too familiar. And though I’d never seen him in person, I immediately recognized his iconic mustache, his coat of many pockets, and his strange black hat from deliveries of grainy photographs, and I was instantly lifted out of my doldrums.

"You’re Bartleby Frasier!” I blurted out just a bit too excitedly. “From Frasier Industries!”

“Ah, bingo!" he cried, punching the air. “I was beginning to worry I was losing my touch. Especially after all those… interesting folks over there, failed to acknowledge me.”

“Yeah, they, uh… they don’t get around much.” It was a bit of a joke around Spark that the peasants in the Upper Tier weren’t the most informed group of people. I half expected Bartleby to recognize me as well, to suddenly cry out, 'And you're Corilis Asterlon! The famous cartographer!'. But of course, my insistence on never putting my face on anything made sure I remained anonymous to him. But right now, perhaps anonymity was for the best.

"So, how’d you get on this ship anyway?” I asked, still in disbelief that I was talking to one Jetsam’s most famous inventors. “I didn’t see you at the Festival, did you come here with Terr- er, Morningstar?”

"Oh, no, no," he said quickly. "I daresay I wouldn’t survive in a room alone with the Reavers. I came to Spark by myself. Wanted to be there for the Solstice, something on my bucket list. Picked the wrong year to come, I’m afraid.” he chuckled a bit, then stopped abruptly, looking at me with an apologetic face, clearly believing he had offended me by making light of what had happened.

“It’s fine,” I said quickly, though not a bit ashamed at myself that I was already forgetting the tragedy at Spark. “You were saying?”

“I was saying? Ah, yes. I used my own means of transport to get to Spark. Figures they started blasting it to bits as soon as I got there. My darn thing got busted up, which is why I’m taking old faithful here,” he gestured around at the walls of the airship.

I leaned forward. “And what exactly is your means of transport?”

“That, my dear fellow...” Bartleby stood back up, and grasped the handle of his mysterious suitcase, lifting it off the ground with a grunt of effort. “...is my little secret.” He suddenly reached into one of his pockets, fished out a rectangular card, and slid it across the table. I picked it up, and was greeted with a cartoonish illustration of Bartleby Frasier with an ecstatic grin on his face, his arm gesturing towards a building labeled “Frasier Industries” that was probably a lot cleaner than the real deal. Below the picture was the slogan “The Future is Now: The Future is at Frasier” and an address.

I looked back up at the man. He winked. “You’ll probably be looking for work. Spots will fill up fast once this mob is unleashed.”

“Oh, uh, I already have plans,” I said. “Sorry.” It pained me a little to turn down an offer from someone I admired so much. But I had to find this blacksmith.

Bartleby nodded. “Very well. Good day to you, sir.” He was about to wander off and try in vain to find someone else who recognized him, when his eyes suddenly caught the gleam of the purple stone. The purple stone that my hands had subconsciously taken out of my pocket. The purple stone that I now fiddled with under the table, in plain sight. I quickly stuffed it back into my cloak as soon as I noticed this, but it was too late. He had seen it. Whether he actually knew what it was, I couldn’t say.   

Bartleby raised an eyebrow, before his lips curled into a smile that somehow managed to be both benevolent and unsettling. “I see I’m not the only one on board with secrets. I bear you no ill will, sir, but watch your back. In Jetsam, they say an unwary man is a dead man.” He then tipped his hat, and disappeared into the crowd with abnormal agility for someone with an oversized suitcase.

My time for contemplating that strange encounter was quickly cut short by the sudden sound of machinery from outside. My fellow migrants had gravitaed towards the windows of the airship, and when I too looked out I saw that the sky had taken on a greyish tint, giant smokestakes rose up into the sky like the bars of a giant's prison, and enourmous propellers whirred noisily on the undersides of the islands. The place I had only ever seen through the eyepiece of a telescope was now looming upon me like a rusted colossus.

We were here.

[note: I'm changing my age to 19]

Phobe ~

I investigate the people hanging around the docks, hoping to spot someone who could've thrown the knife at me. Nothing is that suspicious - everyone looks in place. I recognize a few people from spark getting off the ship and the cranky sailor I talked to earlier. One person, however, looks interesting. It's obvious he didn't come from spark on the ship. He's wearing a somewhat dirty black cloak to his knees. He briskly walks off the platform and starts inspecting the walls of a nearby shop.

I take one last glance at him stroll over to one of the windtracers I know.

"Hey Tanni, where are you planning on going now?"

"I don't know," she says. "A couple of us were going to go to a resturaunt or something and discuss what a good action plan is."

A stranger walks up to us.

"Hey," he says. "I know a place."

Tanni and I glance at each other.

"Risen Phoenix Inn. It's on Underwood and Fifth."

"Where's Underwood and Fifth?" I ask.

He rolls his eyes. "Well, there's Second. So go over three blocks, then go down Fifth until you find Underwood, and the inn'll be right there. "

"Hmm!" Tanni says, "That's pretty straightforward. You'd probably get lost in our streets. Back in Spark, we've got cul-de-sacs coming out our ears."

"Right... So you're going there?"

Tanni and I glance at each other again.

"I suppose..."

"Great."

He walked away, whistling.

"He," Tanni said, "is creepy."

"Hmm... I know from the maps that there's another inn next door to the Phoenix. Maybe you should go there instead."

"Good idea. That way we can keep an eye on him."

"I'm going to keep an eye on him now," I whispered. "Meet you at - wherever it is."

"Sounds like a plan."

I scan the crowd and find him talking to the guy I saw earlier. Now both of them are inspecting the wall.

I get a little closer as they nod at each other and sneak into an allyway.

"Three spells in one day," I groan inwardly. I put up my hood, turn invisible again, and look at the wall before falling into persuit.

__________________________________________________________________________________

On the wall, a piece of paper is tacked into the wood, next to a cogwheel scribbled with charcoal. The paper only has one word written on it:

Phoenix.

Corilis~

The airship slammed into the side of the iron dock, rocking it with a substantial amount of force. The villagers, now sufficiently shaken up, staggered out of the cabin with confused grumbles, and out into the port.

I was one of the last ones off. I had been searching for friends ever since I first boarded the ship, but now it was seeming more and more like I was completely alone in this endeavor.

The first thing I noticed was the air. It was warm and thick and smelled faintly of oil. The atmosphere was loud and chaotic, and any small voice would surely get swallowed up by the roar of the whirling stabilizers beneath the isles, if not the constant drone of other voices. I knew straight away that it wasn’t going to be easy to get used to this place. But I had nowhere else to go.

Half a dozen smaller ships were docked along the narrow strip of metal, refugees spilling out of them and converging at the gate to the inner city. However, as I got closer, I realized all was not well. A sizeable crowd had gathered around the gate. The entrance to the city seemed to have been barricaded by a number of tall metal posts, and between each of the posts was a translucent screen of fizzing yellowish energy. Guards seemed to be stationed every few meters, and I use the term ‘guards’ loosely. It looked more like the citizens of Jetsam had scrambled to create their own makeshift militia, clad in mismatched armor and helmets, and hellbent on preventing the migrants from entering Jetsam. From a distance, I saw one villager attempt to stick his arm through the energy field, only to be met with an unpleasant zap an a yelp of pain.

I quickly made my way to the nearest guard, a young woman holding some kind of staff that crackled with electricity. When I reached the front of the angry mob, the woman just smiled and held out her hand.

“Five Drasmil, please.”

“What is this?” I demanded, in a voice much louder than I would’ve had to use in Spark.

“New immigration policy,” she replied simply.

“How new?”

“About ten minutes. We worked something out with the Reavers. Anyone who can’t pay the toll gets sent back.”

“Sent back?” I knew for a fact that most of the peasants here wouldn’t be able to pay. Many had no money at all, and if they did they had likely forgotten to bring it on the mad dash out of Spark. But that didn’t make them any less worthy of entering Jetsam than a Windtracer. Or me.

The guard examined her fingernails with an uninterested countenance. “Yes, sent back. You gonna pay up now?”

“Whoa, whoa, whoa, hey! You can’t just send people back! Spark’s in ruins! Villages are in ruins! Families are destroyed! They have nothing to go back to!”

The guard shrugged. “I’m sorry that happened. Everyone is. Believe it or not, Jetsam actually cares about you Sparkies, otherwise the Reavers wouldn’t have flown in to save the day. But no one expected the entire bloody Upper Tier to show up on our doorstep. Jetsam’s crowded enough as it is. There’s no way we would ever be able to support this amount of excess people. That’s just how things are.”

I threw my arms up in vexation. “This is so stupid! If Spark was in Jetsam’s position, I guarantee you we wouldn’t be leaving anyone behind.” A few villagers behind me called out in agreement.

The guard snorted. “No offense, Sparkie, but that’s not a very plausible argument. First of all, that scenario would never even happen. Noventia’s scared stiff of Jetsam. They would never lay a finger on us.”

I scowled at the guard. “They were scared of Spark, too. But that didn’t stop them from blowing it to smithereens.”

That seemed to have struck a nerve with the guard, her cocky face paling for a brief moment, before she quickly regained her senses and returned to the same conceited demeanor she’d had since we started this conversation.

“Are you paying me or not, Sparkie?”

I stared at the guard in brief astonishment, before finally giving into her demands. I had no choice, after all. The Heart had an expiration date, and it wasn’t going to wait for me to find this blacksmith. Pulling out five coins from my bag, I pressed them furiously into her outstretched hand. The guard smiled smugly, thanked me, and pulled a lever on the metal post that deactivated the nearest segment of the energy field. As I uneasily stepped through the gate, she used her electrified staff to fend off hordes of desperate villagers, villagers who angrily screamed insults now not only at the other guards, but at me as well, for betraying them, for abandoning them.

I ran until I couldn’t hear them anymore.

By the time I stopped, panting, I had been completely engulfed by the city. The crooked buildings towered over me, framing a dizzying spiral of bridges connecting to the higher islands above. It was hot, but I didn’t dare take off my cloak for fear of losing the indispensable items stashed within.

I had no idea what I was doing.

I looked around I realized that it would have been easy for the Headmistress to simply give me an address, but her omission of that information was a pretty big mistake on her part. At last, I decided to do the thing I’d been dreading to have to do. Ask for directions.

Most people on the street walked passed me with disdainful glances before I could say anything to them. I finally decided to ask a pair of surly-looking bald men leaning against a nearby wall. Not really my type of people, but I was running out of options.

“I need to find Omen,” I said breathlessly. “The blacksmith. Do you know him?”

One man wrinkled his nose and leaned over, whispering something to his companion without taking his eyes off of me. The other man crossed his arms and turned his stare onto me as well.

“Yeah, we know him,” he grunted. “But I can’t quite remember where he’s at. Maybe a Drasmil or two will jog my memory?”

“Done,” I slipped him a coin without even thinking this time. I realized now that the task at hand was too important to warrant getting upset over the loss of a few coins, no matter how many more times it was going to happen.

The man looked at me in mild shock, clearly not expecting me to hand it over so readily. “His shop’s closed today,” he said candidly, stuffing the money into his pocket. “But you can usually find him at the Risen Phoenix. Tavern at Underwood and Fifth.”

“Thanks.” I set off in some direction, not knowing if it was the right way. I might’ve done well with a little more info than just a street name, but I don’t think I could’ve stood talking to those men for any longer.

I can find it. Just follow the signs.