Eru Iluvatar

Carvings of the Galaxy

@Eru IluvatarDo it, do it, do it. Come on, let's get a nag chant going! Do it, do it, do it.

@Deserted

Sorry guys, I had quite the night. Let me sleep for a bit and then I will get on this.

Carvings of the Galaxy

What about all of the munitions I brought? I said I wanted them in the cryotank with me just in case I feel like going postal. =D

@Deserted

And I believe Ailbeart brought a handgun into his tank with him.

The Broken World: Nations of Azoth

The soft tinkling of a pair of iron balls, filled with copper beads, woke the miner long before any bird could. His eyes slowly adjusted to the cool dusk and the silhouette of a petite figure curling around the door. The figure moved forward, creeping into the room, as soon as the miner craned his neck up from his coarse linen pillow. The bed-sack stretched to its limits as the miner's daughter slid inside, her new shoes adorned with bells piercing the quiet as she went. A small smile surfaced on the miner's face. He slid an arm around his daughter and she threw an arm across his belly. They lay there for a while until the sunlight came.

---

Those Lost Within The Isolated Mountain

Part One

D'shad was the first to receive the message. The cast iron door to one of the palace entrances had been hammered by a small fist a worrying amount of times before a patrolling guard soon unbolted and heaved open the door. She had ignored the guard's initial query entirely, ducking under his armoured hand. A hostile shout followed the girl into the opulent hallway. She had dodged and weaved past the milling palace residents and the council members, the honour guardsmen and the Ministry attendees until a narrowing series of steps defeated her stamina. She had run all the way from the lower slopes of the Isolated Mountain, specifically from the developing mines, with snot streaming from her nose and welling tears that were only kept from bursting out by the panic that gripped her. The gentle tinkling of her bell-tipped shoes had raised quite the clamour throughout the echoing halls and two honour guardsmen were upon her in a second - one of them nestling her into an uncomfortable and strong hold while the other dug through the pockets of her clothes and patted down the shoes on her feet.

"There's nothing on her." This guard concluded. The brutish one that held her grunted in response. The girl was frozen in shock all the while, her vocal cords seemingly unemployable though she was itching to scream up the stairs to where the Ministers were. Her eyes fluttered about the stairway, finally stopping for a second on the guard that had searched her. She recognised his presence properly for the first time. This man before her, his intimidating appearance aside, was just as able to listen to her as the Ministers were. Bushy eyebrows and a pair of confused and relieved green eyes were all she could see of the guard's face, so she hoped that he had functioning ears by which to listen, nevertheless she began:

"Father went into the-"

"What on Azoth is going on here?" With this exclamation, the girl stopped short, and both she and the two guards swung to face the archway at the head of the stairs. There stood an additional two of the honour guard, two women, one on either side of the youngest Ahsor Vok sibling. This man was important enough in both presence and rank to have taken hold of the room and its inhabitants immediately. His young age of twenty-one displayed a sense that the man had reached his highest potential, and that each subsequent year would only wear the man down, but he would tell you otherwise, instead believing that he has much more to learn and that he is strong enough to adapt to life in any form it comes to him. Whatever the rumours about the Minister, he was at this time certainly a reliable figure who could stomach disturbing news. The girl recognised him as such, now standing silently, with the first guard's grip still on her shoulder. The guard with the green eyes stood aside from the girl and bowed his head slightly in respect, then promptly spoke.

"Minister D'shad, forgive us. We captured this girl running through the halls, heading in the direction of the Ministers' Quarters. Other guards were shouting behind her, so we assumed..." He trailed off awkwardly, realising then the lack of information they actually had.

"What? That this girl is some pint-sized assassin? First of all, I am concerned of your opinion of any of the Ministers if you believe we cannot defend ourselves from an attacker of this stature. My mind subsequently dwells on the actual purpose of a girl clanging her bell-boots through the palace halls. Did either of you think to let her speak her mind in your ever so necessary defence of mine and my family's lives?" D'shad droned on in an amiable tone characterised by humour and sarcasm. The two guards chuckled with embarrassment and one quickly relinquished his grip on the girl's shoulder. Then the green-eyed guard thought of a legitimate response.

"She didn't speak, Minister, up until... well, she mentioned her father in a breathless state." The guard knelt and brought his face before the girl's, his bushy eyebrows raised high and expectant of the girl to release some exposition. "Go on, you were planning on telling him this, right?" The girl nodded somewhat and drew in a deep breath, composing herself in preparation to speak, though she was still sniffling and her eyes held onto some quantity of liquid. Even D'shad, famed for his endless quibblings, was impressed by her ensuing rapid sentences.

"Father went into the mines a little after daybreak, I mean he's a miner, that's his job, he wasn't going in without being allowed to, I mean you know the few houses placed near to one of the mines? Yes, we live in one of those, me and Father, not Mother anymore because she stayed behind in the city and started living with this other man who had more money, but Father took me here some time ago and now he works in the mines. Uncle Mhyrie is our mine's supervisor, that's how Father got to work in this one, because he is the brother of Uncle Mhyrie, so we live next to his hut by the mine and Father goes in most days to do his job," The girl sucked in more air and gave the onlookers a short reprieve. The green-eyed guard looked to D'shad to allow him to stop her going on, but the young Minister was too amused for the moment to heed him. "Yes, so, he went in after daybreak, not long ago, and I like to watch him go in because he waves to me, and afterwards this supervisor, not my Uncle Mhyrie, usually gives me some of his leftover bread which is nice. I was sitting there, just before, and then there was a huge noise from inside the mine and rock on the ceiling fell down and filled the passage a little into the mine! And Father and Uncle are down there today with some others, and now they're trapped! They- They're trapped!" Her breath failed her at this point, and the snot and tears began to flow once more.

"Oh, oh no." The other guard by the girl, the one that had grabbed her, muttered suddenly. D'shad's humour had all but fallen away, and the cogs in his mind were almost visibly at work. No-one moved for a second, until D'shad spun around and pointed his finger at one of his female guards.

"Please, would you alert Rhashul and Habruth to this news? Tell them I am going to this mine without delay." The woman bowed and left through the archway. With but a gesture D'shad bade his other guard to follow him and they rushed down the steps to reach the girl. "Now, brave girl, thank you for informing me so soon. What is your name?"

"Vernillios Calsh, sir." The girl said betwixt sobs.

"Very well, Miss Calsh. Would you be helpful enough to guide us back to the exact mine wherein this event occurred?" She nodded one final time. "Come, take my hand, then. We will do all we can to aid your Father and your Uncle Mhyrie."

"D'shad - Minister D'shad, sir!" One of the honour guards called before they could leave the stairway. The Minister turned in irritation, that someone would prevent him from rushing to the disaster site. This someone was not the friendly green-eyed guard, however, but the brutish guard who had grabbed Vernillios in the beginning and had taciturn since. "Please, there's a man, one I knew was in Supervisor Mhyrie's group today. I'd like to come..." He could not think of more to say. D'shad was concerned about being slowed down.

"A relative? I can take a message, if you're quick."

"No, sir. I... I'm sweet on him, Minister, and he's the same for me. Please, I'd like to be there."

D'shad sighed and then beckoned, "Come, then. Quick. Drop as much armour as you can, so you can be faster." The Minister re-affirmed his hold on Vernillios' hand and then jogged towards the exit. The guard began to fumble with his iron vestments, and with both the green-eyed guard and D'shad's female attendant, who was already free from heavy armour, assisting him, he was soon on D'shad's trail.

---

The band of four ran as fast as they might through the narrow streets of Zoltur. The beginnings of a working day showed its signs all around them; merchants hung up their signs and offered new deals on products they had a surfeit of, children gathered around wells with empty buckets in hand, people gathered around early morning preachers with their palms together and their eyes closed. All in all, the city was operating as normal. People hadn't heard yet of the mine's collapse. D'shad spared the people his notice for the nonce, though he usually made efforts to maintain good relationships with anyone living inside Zoltur. He was not spared their attention, however, for a handful of well-meaning shouts came his way, and one man, after losing his job and drinking his sorrow away the night before, blamed his misfortune on D'shad and the Ministers. Vernillios had found some new source of energy within her body, as she found herself in the lead of the four despite her previous run having just ended. Behind the girl and the Minister, the male guardsman was turning red with the effort, and he was beginning to struggle to keep pace. He glanced incredulously to his fellow guard, a woman of D'shad's personal detail, who was releasing not a sound of exhaustion and sported the same expressionless face as she had maintained previously.

They passed the last stone-bricked building, cramped close between the city wall and a clutter of other buildings on the street. D'shad yelled to a standing guard by the sturdy wooden door and flashed his Ministry Seal in his hand simultaneously, for good measure. The guard noticed both the man and the Seal and the door was ajar by the time they rushed through it. The four were alone now, on a beaten path of dirty brown rock, that was bordered by tall grasses on its right side and the towering wall on the left. The path had been built up with sand from the nearby coast, for the rock had been littered with potholes and sudden drops into the grassland below, and the sand now shifted under the impact of the band's boots. Before long, the only sound was these repeated impacts, and the sharp jingling of Vernillios' bell-boots.

"It's around this path, here." The girl shouted, turning and choosing the lower of the paths where the last path stopped and two new ways appeared. This path ran parallel to the other, but it remained on a steady level while the other climbed quite drastically to an opening in the mountain that rose up before them. They ran almost exactly south for fifteen minutes, making sure to watch their footing when the path grew narrow, for what had been an incline downwards upon leaving the city was now a veritable cliff. Finally, they made it to an open landing, where a fence protected unknowing men from the cliff and a collection of houses stood. They were all of them completely out of breath, save for the female guard who seemed quite unperturbed by the journey. Although, D'shad kept moving forward, leaving the others to rest for a second. He examined the nearest rock-hewn house up close. In truth, he only knew of the tiny miner villages and their ventures into the Isolated Mountain by their concept, and had never travelled this high before. He had always been too preoccupied with city matters or his own dealings around the various grasslands and cultivation sites. The view from the vantage point was spectacular - it extended the horizon far out to the sea, and the coast's every indent and outstretch was visible. D'shad made a mental note to this place at some point. He had discovered something he had been missing: a comprehensive, mountain-aided view of the land they lived on.

"Well, then!" Came a gruff voice from the mine's opening. "'Seems little Vernillios climbed all the way up the food chain! The 'honourable' D'shad Ahsor Vok finally graces us with 'is presence." D'shad responded, quite offended, while the girl and the two guards gathered behind him.

"I'm sorry, but I think any hostile precedent you have set against me should be put aside. We are here to help with this cave-in, not squabble." D'shad said this forcefully, but with enough of a congenial tone to make the miner in front of them unclench his fists.

"Yeah, well... thanks. Your two soldiers there can go help the other miners," They did so immediately, the man obviously more enthusiastically than the stoic woman, "Now, if ya' don't mind, lil' Vernillios, me an' mister Minister here might talk alone fer a second." She seemed about to protest, but a serious look from what D'shad assumed must be another supervisor sent her walking off toward the mine. When she was far enough away, the supervisor stepped a little closer to the Minister and his voice declined to a hushed muttering.

"Now," He said, "Ya' might be wonderin' about the particulars of this here 'cave-in'. We were too, us supervisors, an' we agreed that there ain't no way any pressure or structural problem caused the mine ta' collapse."

"Well, if not that, what else is there-" D'shad started.

"If ya'd let me finish!" The supervisor snarled. "Ya see, we found some kinda signs a ways into this mine a coupla' weeks back. Troublin' signs. Signs of somethings' bein' here before Zoltur was even a dream in yer big brother's head. An' it may be... that these somethings ain't dead and gone. It may be that they've finally found about us livin' here, an' diggin into their ol' home. If that's the truth, Minister," He bit his lip and showed genuine worry in his eyes, "Well, you might be wantin' to get a few more of yer soldiers up here..."

Carvings of the Galaxy

Cool. Will we be using TitanPad or any alternative for the ensuing collaborations? I've always found it to be useful with advanced roleplays, discussing with the others how exactly conversations should play out in a given amount of time, and making it so the next few posts won't just be a paragraph of description and then a series of muddled responses to Benji.

Carvings of the Galaxy

It is done.

The Broken World: Nations of Azoth

I'm planning on posting, I have just had a load of urgent stuff for my University suddenly appear so I've had to go away from a computer a few times. I'll post as soon as possible, expect it by the end of tomorrow.

Carvings of the Galaxy

I might not be able to update the character relations for another 36 hours or so - some urgent stuff with my University has suddenly appeared and I'll be away from a computer for at least 12 hours soon. Sorry guys.

Carvings of the Galaxy

Done with the relationships bit.

@TheMadAsshatter

I like that you did it in first person. I shall definitely be copying that idea.

Carvings of the Galaxy

Alright, just edited the introduction with the character relationship sheet, just check below where the character profile sheet is. Once you finish the relationship sheet, just insert it below your character's history in the profile. Check Benji's character profile for an example. Thumbs up this message when you update your profile with the relationship sheet completed.

Remember your characters have not met @Eru Iluvatar's character yet, but they have an impression of him through media and the press for being an incredibly successful and wealthy business man. Although Rend should have an opinion on the characters also since Cryonautics briefed him on who exactly he was going to spend the rest of his life with. He has even seen the video footage of the various screening sessions including the behavioral studies. So that is how he will base his opinions. After all of those are in, the next step is the first post.

@beyond visions

Does that mean I don't do this yet?

Carvings of the Galaxy

Ailbeart Rend

"I dominated the world of the past. I deserve to see the world of the future."

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Name

Ailbeart William Rend

Role

Crewmate 4

• The Leader

Age

73

Gender

Male

Reputation

Ailbeart is not a man to be taken lightly. He has rarely performed an action or conversed with someone without having some ulterior motive. His mind never strays from his long-term goals, and he is commonly blunt when interacted with. If you are not serving a purpose to his benefit in some way, then he will remove you from his vicinity, if he can. He is respected by his few equals as an intellectual and a manipulator, and those who find themselves within his jurisdiction will either fear him or have been enticed by a promise in his words or an item in his hand.

Appearance

Ailbeart is not a physically imposing person - it is instead his intense personality and past actions that compose his threatening outlook. He has, in fact, an average anatomy. He is not noticeably tall, nor fat or thin, muscled or frail, by definition. His legs and torso are recognised with acceptable proportions. He bears no apparent birthmarks, blemishes or markings - though cosmetic tampering is likely to have occurred at some point, for the man had possessed a small birthmark on his forehead throughout his childhood that is no longer visible, and had never existed, according to Ailbeart. His head hair, grey - following several decades of a solid brown colour - and receding, contrasts with a thick and full beard, and a pair of prominent, down-turned eyebrows. His eyes are somewhat striking, vivid sky-blue, those that never look away first. He has a pert, aquiline nose and a small, reserved mouth. He has deep, hollow cheeks, sunken with age and solemnity. His ears are large, and becoming more so as his hair vanishes, to Ailbeart's chagrin. For an undisclosed reason he has worn a form of eye-patch covering his left eye for the past fifteen years.

Height

173 centimetres / 5 feet and 8(.11) inches

Weight

161 pounds / 73 kilogrammes

Positive Traits:

• Determined
• Intelligent
• Logical
• Calm
• Commanding

Negative Traits:

• Unempathetic
• Suspicious
• Patronising
• Hostile
• Laconic
• Stubborn

Personality Description

From an early age, Ailbeart Rend was a determined man. He usually got what he wanted, as soon as it was possible for him to get it. He was able through various means to overcome most obstacles, whereby using cunning, manipulation or available resources, and achieve each ultimate goal - from getting a toy he wanted as a child to getting a certain woman to sleep with him as a young adult. As he aged, however, Ailbeart found that the first strategy, that of cunning, was the most reliable and effective means of achievement. He devoted a great portion of his life to becoming intelligent, both in the way of knowledge and quick-thinking. Through great efforts - collecting and poring over a veritable library, with texts covering such topics as history, language, business and science, he become competent enough to cope in most unforeseen situations. Despite this advantage, Ailbeart is not ambitious or greedy to the point of foolishness. He is a logical man, who doesn't take risks that he perceives might have consequences, and analyses situations based on the facts and past evidence that he is aware of. Another trait of his is in the realm of composure, as he is always able to remain calm, even in the face of overwhelming odds and challenging circumstances. That, combined with formidable analytical talents, allow him to perform various feats - such as to study a person quickly and attempt to derive their motives or feelings, or to be able to identify unexpected changes in a situation and adapt to deal with them. As such, he is often able to rapidly become superior in a conversation or occasionally a fight, and as a result take on a commanding personality, where others would fall behind or shirk the responsibility. He is able to guide a circumstance to a point completely under his control or at least to an acceptable standard.

With these aspects of Ailbeart Rend in mind, one might compare him to that of a robot - constantly analysing what is in front of him, and trying to gain the upper hand with not a single considerate thought to what another person might be thinking or feeling. These observations are accurate, and reveal thus: Ailbeart is unapologetically unempathetic, and inadvertently suspicious. He, for the most part, is unable to connect emotionally to objects and people, whether intentionally or not. He doesn't have pleasant relationships, and his lovers are only that for one night or two. He comes across as patronising, to both new faces and old, and he truly does believe that he knows more and is worth more than most people. Furthermore, if someone were to displease or annoy him, to act in any way at all outside of his wishes, then he would be hostile to them for an overlong period of time. Some find difficulty with even abiding by his standards, for his final fault is that he is laconic - never speaking for long. He might state an opinion or give a command, but he will only do it once, because he expects people to be listening with intent. These negative traits would reveal themselves as byproducts of both nurture and nature, if one were to delve into Ailbeart's past. He had difficult relationships with his family, and often contested encounters with his parents - who eventually abandoned their child emotionally, still leaving him with a notable fortune but without people to teach him how to use it morally and for the good of the many rather than just the good of the few. Aside from that, Ailbeart was known to refuse to change his ways even at a very early age, displaying his later tendency for being stubborn, for nothing more than the sake of it. He had a hand in pushing himself to becoming so emotionally distant and universally disliked. Ailbeart had been presented with offers of camaraderie throughout his childhood, yet his personality was destined to avoid that practically as soon as he developed one.

In the main, Ailbeart Rend is not a man whom one talks casually with. He is a man born into social superiority, who fell into isolation and a burgeoning self-worth as a child. He is a man possessing determination strong enough to maintain his level of intelligence and commanding qualities through several decades, a man who was always going to reach his potential despite what others thought. He is a man who treats people as tools, who studies them with a disrespectful, analytical eye for the sole reason of displaying his superiority over them as soon as possible. And while he possesses qualities of leadership, they are qualities of a harsh, autocratic leader, whom is able to dictate commands but who will refuse to consider even a word in the manner of suggestion from those he has responsibility over.

Likes

• Power
• Reading
• Alcohol
• Money

Dislikes

• Physical exertion
• Loud noises
• People
• Not getting what he wants

Skills

• Analytical mind
• Very knowledgeable
• Imperturbability

Quirks

• Never repeats something twice
• Never breaks eye contact
• Often fiddles with his eye-patch

Pet Peeves

• When people can do things that he can't do himself
• Humanity's dependence on technology
• Any sign of his own physical or mental capabilities deteriorating

Weaknesses

• Old age
• Uncompromising stubbornness
• Affinity towards alcohol

Fears

• Death
• Technological dependence
• The unknown

History

Ailbeart William Rend was born in Livingston, Scotland on the 5th of August, 1979. His first name was Scottish Gaelic for the name 'Albert', picked by Ailbeart's mother due to its meaning of 'nobility'. The Rend family was not part of any monarchy and did not possess great political influence, yet they saw themselves as a kind of nobility in their manner and in their own household. The self-worth that Ailbeart so brashly displayed in his life was not original - for his parents were just the same in that way. To further effect, and confusion, the boy was given the middle name 'William', specifically after William the Lion, a 12th Century Scottish King. Ailbeart's father had been inspired by William's perseverance in reclaiming the land of Northumberland from the Angevin Kings of England, and in this at least Ailbeart showed some similarities. Soon into the boy's life, however, his parents' pride faltered in extending to include their son. They were not the most caring of people, and Ailbeart proved to be a difficult child, for he would rarely cry, or laugh, or make any action at all. Instead he would sit and watch quietly, as much as a young child can, for he still spoke and moved and wailed on occasion. Still, it appeared that this inaction and overall strangeness was enough for Ailbeart's parents to love him less, and to abstain from parading their child around, because he lacked the cuteness and energy that would have made his parents proud. The Rend couple thus made excuses for themselves: the child had a secure upbringing guaranteed, as the father was a nuclear engineer - a rich man indeed who had found his fortune in innovations in safety. Ailbeart would surely want for nothing, and they had household attendants who could easily fill the role of mother and father to the child. Moreover, the mother was a social presence, responsible for turning the rich couple into aristocratic figures. Outlook was very important to them, and they possessed something of a natural snobbery that would later appear within Ailbeart. Thus they had settled into this kind of lifestyle, hosting events and donating to charities but not really doing much else, and definitely not things that required unnecessary amounts of effort. They were simply unfit to raise a child properly, so they provided resources and then distanced themselves, as much as they could when living in the same house, from the child.

Ailbeart grew up alone, with no siblings and only a relationship with his upbringers as much as them keeping him alive and healthy. The child was irrevocably effected by that lack of an emotional presence in his life. In fact, the most emotion he saw in his childhood was in the words of books he would often turn to for entertainment and to pass the time. His early devotion to knowledge and intelligence was indeed early, at nine years old, after his provided private school education proved insufficient for the budding boy. His personality developed much as his intellect did - logically, even mechanically. He had few friends and little social contact, and this hardened him and effectively closed the doors forever to his emotional side, if there even was one. Money always remained no concern, yet the adage proved itself personally for Ailbeart when he discovered that money simply didn't buy you happiness. It only bought more opulent clothing and furniture, more delicious food and more exotic drinks. However, over time, this became enough for him.

In his early twenties, Ailbeart settled into his personality once and for all. His knowledge was vast, and already he was developing business ventures. Sexual desires were a minor inhibition to the man's work, though once he had discovered the possibility of dominance in the bedroom, he did pursue women to some extent, and the outcome always brought him some pleasure. Otherwise, minor things did not please Ailbeart. He only found solace in achieving immense goals, and expanding his own business projects to include more people under his control. Obstacles were somewhat welcome in the face of achieving these goals, so long as they proved surmountable. Ailbeart was very much interested in expanding his own capabilities and never having them devolve. These years in business refined and tested him repeatedly, in several different fields. Each venture followed the same formula - Ailbeart would come up with an idea, acquire the start-up capital, hire employees and manage the business until it was successful. Yet, instead of furthering each venture into becoming huge successes, he would abandon the project or delegate leadership to some of his employees in favour of starting a new venture with new challenges. Ailbeart's funds were growing, and the fortune left by his parents was certainly not depleted, so there was never any danger of bankruptcy or even struggle. The more projects that Rend created, the more people who worked under him, and the more the man's reputation grew among business owners in the country, and eventually multi-nationally. He grew to be a global success, and a famous figure renowned for his effective leadership but harsh human relations. His employees in any instance were little more than expendable tools, and he was known to fire people if they so much as spent too long eating lunch. Ailbeart had achieved every goal he had created for himself, and was content with simply continuing with his formula, but the world was changing in disturbing ways. Technology was becoming more integrated with society and people's lives - and so too in the workplace were people disappearing to be replaced by machines. People could easily use technology to find all the knowledge in seconds that Ailbeart had devoted his entire childhood to learning. Businessmen were finding it easier to progress, finding less barriers to oppose their projects, and eventually reaching a point when they could call Rend their equal. The world was changing, and for Ailbeart, for this man so rooted in the past, in tradition - the change was unbearable.

As global conflict burgeoned like a festering tumour, and humanity suffered between a decreasing quality of life and a pitiful reliance on technology, Ailbeart desperately sought a way out - a way to restore the circumstances, the opportunities and the challenges that he had grown up observing. It was then that he discovered Project Renascence, a miracle in the works that promised everything he desired. Yet, it was their selection, of just six people in a world of billions, that proved the final obstacle to Ailbeart's ultimate goal - survival. They would never consider Rend - he was too old, and not nearly virile enough. Yet, Ailbeart knew he was worthy for the task. He had an unrivalled intellect, decades of experience leading people, and he had achieved goals most could only dream of. There was no question about it, he was going to be a part of Project Renascence, no matter what. He accosted the Cryonautics company with the intensity of a storm, bribing whomever he needed to and having his hired muscle literally drag the security out of his path. The few cryotanks were not scheduled to be filled for a short amount of time, but Ailbeart would not be stopped. His goal was within reach, so he would not wait to achieve it. He finally reached his destination in the bowls of the facility, holding a head scientist at gunpoint until the preparation was ready. Rend took care of the last precautions within seconds, bestowing the rest of his fortune on this scientist who he had thought susceptible - for perhaps he thought the world was salvageable, and Rend knew that in the end, any man could be bought. Then, upon swallowing the pill required before entering the cryotank, Ailbeart shot his three hired muscle in the head, and ensured this scientist would allow no man to disrupt his cryotank - whether by lying, bribing others or resorting to a spare gun that Rend left with him. The gun that he had on hand, he took with him into the cryotank.

As the pill stilled his heartbeat and cleared his racing mind, Ailbeart thought of the future, and for the first time in a long time, he was genuinely happy.

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- DECEASED -