Forum Thread

"Welcome... To Gearborne."

It's the future, and it's a lot like the stories had foretold it to be.
Machines everywhere. Floating islands.

The geniuses of what was once known as Earth are known as the Clockwork Union. They reside in the highest island, where mere mortals cannot reach. They had spent decades on making Earth a better place, and ended up founding Gearborne; a seemingly unlimited amount of floating islands that stretch as far as the eye can see.

Each Island belongs to a group, or a 'constellation' of Islands. The Constellations are all named after a constellation (The ones made out of stars), but that's irrelevant in this story.

All of the Islands have something they're famous for. But they all have one thing in common...

They're all made out of machinery.

But when one of the major Islands plummets due to a local riot against the machinery world, the machinery starts going corrupt. Some whisper that a member from the Clockwork Union is trying to destroy the Islands. Others whisper that it's some higher being getting rid of Gearborne as it is too 'advanced'.

And that's where you come in. You see, there are special people on each Island. Labelled as 'Half-Geniuses'. You manage the island you live on in secret, as the population would get jealous of your status.

You, my dear Half-Genius, must find whoever...or whatever is turning these machines corrupt.

---

It was noon, the sun high in the sky. Within the bustling marketplace of Dragbourne, a boy in a cat mask is busy watching the commotion nearby. An announcement comes from Gearwatch, able to be heard on all of the islands.

"An Island has fallen! An Island has fallen!"

The masked boy perks up, hearing the announcement.

"I repeat! Aetherhaven has fallen!"

He glances at the crumbling Island nearby, watching as it descended into a void below. His ears could pick up on the screams, on the calls for help from the descending island. But nobody came. Nobody wanted to go to the fallen Island to save them, as if you did you would surely be caught in the void with the rest of the Aetherhaven populants.

"Thousands of people...gone just like that." Theo muttered to himself, taking off his mask. "Truly a sad sight." On his shoulder, his dragon chirped in response. Theo sighs. "And there's been reports of technology going haywire, too. It feels like I've been overworking myself..." He muttered, going through some data logs he had definitely not collected illegally. This is definitely, totally legal.

He read and read and read all the data logs until a message popped up on his watch, nearly giving the boy a heart attack. It was a holographic message, meaning he had to go hide in some alleyway away from the public eye. Luckily, he knew Dragbourne inside and out, and was eventually walking down a dark alleyway.

The hologram showed a masked man wearing a suit.

"Hello Half-Genius!"

Theo scoffed at the name.

"As you may have just witnessed, Aetherhaven has plummeted. This is our first island ever falling, so I assume there has been a panic throughout the Island you've been left to manage, no? Well, it's all being taken care of! Half of you Half-Geniuses will stay behind and manage the Islands, and the other half will have to find whoever did this. You may converse amongst yourselves at the base in Gearwatch. We hope you'll accept this task for the sake of Gearborne, as we do not need any more lives lost."

"I bid you farewell and good luck!"

The hologram ended with that. Theo sighed again, putting his mask back on.

"To Gearwatch we go."

---

A girl with cat ears perked as she heard screams from a few islands away. Aetherhaven was falling. But no sadness rippled through her half-dazed mood from lounging in the sun with her precious felines. Eventually she got up, despite the protest from the cat on her lap, and made her way to her little bio-dome like home. She ignored the empty bowls of food and started up her computer, opening a new holo-message. (Just gonna call it that lol)

The message shocked her right down to her bones.

Hello Half-Genius!

Rolling her eyes, she read on. She hated the name 'Half-Genius.'

As you may have just witnessed, Aetherhaven has plummeted. This is our first island ever falling, so I assume there has been a panic throughout the Island you've been left to manage, no? Well, it's all being taken care of! Half of you Half-Geniuses will stay behind and manage the Islands, and the other half will have to find whoever did this. You may converse amongst yourselves at the base in Gearwatch. We hope you'll accept this task for the sake of Gearborne, as we do not need any more lives lost."

I bid you farewell and good luck!

The girl got up quickly, filled the dishes of food hastily, grabbed two cats, and ran outside. The sun glittered across her orange eyes.

"Gearwatch we gooo!"

Athena sat crosslegged in a pavilion made of ice, her gaze faraway and distant. An island had crumbled. Poof. Gone. Just like that. And those poor people still stuck on it... Her heart hurt just thinking about it. She hadn't seen Aetherhaven fall, it was too far away. But news spread quickly around here.

Suddenly, a white hawk, a rare kind of bird only found on Snowburn, landed on her arm. It carried a recording device in its talons. Smiling and stroking the bird for a while, Athena pressed the play button, wincing slightly as the sharp voice spoke.

Hello Half-Genius!

As you may have just witnessed, Aetherhaven has plummeted. This is our first island ever falling, so I assume there has been a panic throughout the Island you've been left to manage, no? Well, it's all being taken care of! Half of you Half-Geniuses will stay behind and manage the Islands, and the other half will have to find whoever did this. You may converse amongst yourselves at the base in Gearwatch. We hope you'll accept this task for the sake of Gearborne, as we do not need any more lives lost."

I bid you farewell and good luck!

Pocketing the device, Athena stood up, stirring up a flurry of birds. Spreading her wings, she took off, quite a few of the birds following behind her. They wouldn't be able to follow her far. But there was nothing like having birds send you off.

---

"All aboard!"

A tall man in a conductor's outfit ushered people onto a train, ignoring the screams and cries for help of the falling island. he pulled out a pistol and turned back as the train pulled away from the station.

"Dirty rat bastards..."

his watch buzzed before he could do anything. There was no one who was in the station anyway so he just opened the message.

Hello Half-Genius!

he rolled his eyes.

As you may have just witnessed, Aetherhaven has plummeted. This is our first island ever falling, so I assume there has been a panic throughout the Island you've been left to manage, no? Well, it's all being taken care of! Half of you Half-Geniuses will stay behind and manage the Islands, and the other half will have to find whoever did this. You may converse amongst yourselves at the base in Gearwatch. We hope you'll accept this task for the sake of Gearborne, as we do not need any more lives lost."

I bid you farewell and good luck!

he huffed. he holstered his pistol, and just waited.

"The train to Gearwatch comes in... 10 minutes. I can make it."

---

Ayran's legs dangled as he sat on the tallest point of the Clock Tower in the middle of the empty amusement park and watched Aetherhaven fall.

He hummed a strange tune, with a smile dangling on his lips even though he knew there were people dying. But he didn't feel any sadness at all, afterall he knew this was coming one way or another. After all, they were only machines, they couldn't feel what others felt no matter what.

Coincidently, as Ayran let his thought roam, a soft 'vrr' noise sounded, getting closer to him. He turned his gaze to that noise, to see a little run-down box-shaped robot vroom towards him, carrying some machinery parts.

Ayran chuckled, and lightly patted the robot on the head, as it stopped infront of him, as the robot blinked his eyes naively.

'...How truly innocent as well..'

Ayran shook his head, and took the materials from the robots small arms.

"Thank you Ars.."

Except from the small 'vrr' sound of Ars and the light tinkering noise from Ayran's movement, the whole entire island is completely silent.

As Ayran screwed two long metal parts together, he suddenly blinked and looked up onto the sky.

Hello Half-Genius!

Ayran tilted his head, and blinked his eyes, smile now gone from his face.

It has been a long time since someone called him that

As you may have just witnessed, Aetherhaven has plummeted. This is our first island ever falling, so I assume there has been a panic throughout the Island you've been left to manage, no? Well, it's all being taken care of! Half of you Half-Geniuses will stay behind and manage the Islands, and the other half will have to find whoever did this. You may converse amongst yourselves at the base in Gearwatch. We hope you'll accept this task for the sake of Gearborne, as we do not need any more lives lost."

Ayran did not pretend to smile anymore, as he looked down, his drip on the scredriving was so tight that his veins was popping, but he didn't feel any pain. It wasn't that he wasn't gripping it strong enough, rather, the dead can't feel any pain can they?

Ayran started to laugh, it first started of as a small chuckle, but it soon grew louder as it echoed through the whole amusement park. It was the only noise that sounded in the amusement park that had been desolate for decades.

Ars looked at Ayran, and tilted his head, seemingly confused.

The maniacal laughter soon died down, and Ayran ruffled his hair back, right now in the setting sun, Ayran skin's seem paler than ever, with his smiling red lips that seem to drip blood. His eyes, were wide open with a crazy light, he seemed more crazy than ever.

He puffed out one last laugh, and clenched his fist, his nails digging into his palm.

It turns out, they still remembered him?!

Ofcourse, without him, who could manage the island?

During the time Utopia was at it's prime, people asked for him left and right, but when Utopia was at it's crisis, they all turned their backs at him.

But now, they wanted HIS help again?!

Ayran scoffed, as much as he would like to ignore it be couldn't. Since they knew his existence, that meant that if he went against their order..

Ayran has goosebumps thinking what would happen.

I bid you farewell and good luck!

Ayran sighs, and stood up, he was standing on the tallest point of the whole entire island, aka The Clock Tower, currently he and Ars are trying to fix it, but it seemed like they have to push the plan back for now.

Ayran glanced at Ars, and patted the little robot on the head, "...Ars, it seems like we have to go work again.." ignoring the confused vrooms that Ars sent back at him.

He looked towards the distant, where the Aetherhaven used to be, and sighed, the smile was back on his lips once more.

---

Theo had shortly arrived in Gearwatch, as it was the closest to Dragbourne. The streets of Gearwatch were pretty crowded because of all of the buzz about Aetherhaven.

Gearwatch is a classic Steampunk island. Apartments on top of stores that all looked rusting and old. Clocks everywhere. Tall towers of apartments, and barely any space to walk. Near the central area of the city was an average looking building, which was where all the Half-Geniuses would meet.

He adjusted his mask, making sure it covered all of his face, before squeezing and shoving his way through the crowd. The big crowd. The loud crowd. Almost too loud for Theo's sensitive ears, but he managed. He was used to loudness, as Dragbourne was a market island that mostly dealt with exotic animals.

Slowly but surely he made his way through, approaching the building. He could already see some of the other members inside, and he quietly made his way inside. He doesn't like drawing attention to himself, although the mask does exactly that.

When he was inside, he took of his mask and fixed his outfit a little bit, waiting for everyone else to arrive.

---

kendo burst through the doors, laughing like a maniac, guns blazing. Literally. he holstered his revolver, looking around. He whistled through his teeth, as he tipped his hat.

"Wonderful to be here! Wonderful, it is!"

Kendo made his way across the room, standing next to theo, bouncing up and down. he seemed incredibly energetic. A hand was on the handle of his pistol, and he had clearly brought all his guns, a shotgun slung over his back and multiple handguns holstered across his outfit.

---

Eventually the girl, Amber, got there. But when she heard the noise, she didn't know what to do. Her cats tried to escape multiple times, which ended up in some fights that she managed to escape from, and all the noise caused her to constantly have her ears pressed back against her head.

Amber found the building, supposing she should go inside, and did. Her cats were a hissing ball of fury, clawing to try and get out of her arms. But, she was immune to her cat's scratches. Amber huffed as she leaned against a wall, one of the cats escaping from her arms. Running after it, she bumped into someone, ignoring them.

---

Theo was just listening to the other people talk. He's normally quiet, so yes, this is normal. He eyed Kendo, and so did everyone else. Because they're not used to that.

"Every time with the guns." Someone whispered, before they all went back to their conversation about Aetherhaven and who would leave and who would stay behind and manage the islands.

Theo fiddled with a small pocketwatch, inspecting the gears inside. A little rusty, but they're fine. Should still be able to tell time...I'll give this back to her later.

A few sentences stood out from the conversation, such as "He can stay..." "She knows that island well, so she'll stay..." and "Definitely let the guy with the guns leave." they do not want to deal with violence right now.

---

Ayran and Ars drifts down the Clock Tower, and went to the Airport that was covered in vines. Behind all that vines was a aircraft that he and Ars fixed together awhile back when they were bored.

He double checked the aircrafts condition, and went inside. He let Ars control the aircraft while he looked out, into the scenery. It's not like he couldn't control the aircraft, rather it's that it'll be better if Ars did, because he might loose his grip if he was the one who piloted it.

Soon the aircraft left the surface and drifted into the sky, he looked out into the window, and glanced down at what used to be a colorful amusement park, now in ruins.

He closed his eyes, not wanting to look anymore and rest.

-a couple hours later-

Ayran sensed that they reached their destination. He glanced outside the window again, this time, he wasn't in Utopia Dechu, but rather, Gearwatch.

Ars parked them in a forest desolated from any civilization to avoid any misconceptions, inwhich Ayran was thankful for.

He pulled out a huge black trenchcoat that covered his frame, and a black hat that covered his face, leaving barely any of that transparent skin.

He did this because he didn't people always looking suspiciously at a random person who is semi-transparent and call the police.

After he was finished, he and Ars walked out of the Aircraft and into actual civilization, inwhich they've been desolated from for centuries.

Ayran thought that he was prepared for all this, but apparently he was lying to himself. He was not prepared for all of this at all.

All the people busingly about, merchant on the side of the road selling things, perfume, and a girl bumping into him.

Ayran widens his eyes in surprise, he quickly mumbled a sorry to the girl. Thinking to himself, perhaps he should've just stayed where he was...

He frowned, shaking his head, instead of dwelling on his poor rusting social skills, he instead speed walked to his destination, with Ars.

---

Kendo shrugged. He was used to things like this. He just kept grinning and bouncing up and down. He pulled out his shotgun.

"What wassat, 'ya rat bastards? I heard something 'bout a guy with guns? Let me stay or I'll pump 'ya fulla' lead!"

He grinned, tilting his head slightly.

"Capiche, amigo? We on the same page, mon ami?"

---

In response, they glanced at Kendo before just going back to talking. They were not scared at all. some of them want to die but we dont talk about that

Watching the scene unfold, Theo giggled to himself. It was...entertaining. Well if he was the one getting threatened with a gun it wasn't entertaining. But this was funny.

Putting the stopwatch back in the pocket of his jacket, he took out another small piece of steampunk tech. It resembled a bug of some sorts, and even though it was very very small and probably hard to work on, Theo had no difficulty with it.

---

The girl had gotten her cat under control now and said sorry to Ayran before running back to the wall she had leaned against, watching Kendo with curiosity. After a few seconds she hesitantly put her cats down, and they stayed next to her, frightened by all the sounds and smelled. Suddenly the cat with mostly black fur tried to run.

"Ravenpaw! Get back here!"
Amber quickly ran after the black cat, scooping it up and putting it next to the other cat. Her ears twitched with anger, then she started to watch the people talking to Kendo.

---

Kendo huffed indignantly.

"Ya' no-good right-wing bastards! Look over 'ere! I'll pump 'ya full of lead, 'ya hear?"

Kendo waved his shotgun angrily.

"Imma blast 'ya fulla holes!"

---

They just ignored him. Again, a few whispers could be heard. "...yeah, let the search party deal with him."

"As for the... cat-folk?"

"Put 'em on the search team. They look like they need to get out more..." After this sentence, giggles could be heard.

They just like trash talking people.

Upon hearing 'cat-folk', Theo perked up and listened, but was a little disappointed when he got put on the search team. He wanted to stay back and work on machinery, not go look for something. Oh well, he would be fine.

---

Kendo sighed. he slung the gun over his back. he shrugged, fixing his hat.

"Aye, it was worth a shot, wasnnit?"

He fiddled with his jacket, unbuttoning it.

---

Amber perked up and frowned, ears pressed back again. The black and white cat hissed at them. Every movement Amber made looked like she was angry. The black cat named Ravenpaw was pacing, looking around with confusion. A few times she looked back at Kendo, then she looked back at them.

"My number one activity it outside. Lounging in the sun with my feline friends. Don't even say I need to get outside more-"
She stopped herself, fuming, and looked away with crossed arms. She heard the giggles and hissed slightly. It sounded exactly like a cat hiss, too. Her hair covered her face. She didn't like the sound of being put on a search team.

---

"...gosh, that horrendous accent..."

"You look like you stay inside all the time, playing with a ball of yarn." One of them responded, and then laughed. They're just really mean. "And that one looks like he doesn't see the light of day often." They said, and motioned towards Theo.

Theo just tried to ignore them. He does go outside a lot, even if it doesn't look like it.

---

"Yarn's for the cats, not me. And I don't even like barns."
Amber hissed, ears twitching with anger. Ravenpaw was looking right at one of them, purple eyes shining. The black and white cat had slunk over to Kendo and was sniffing his show, tailtip twitching. The cat sneezed and ran back to Amber, sneezing all the way. Amber picked up the sneezing kitty and began petting the cat.

"Poor Barley. Does he smell bad?"
Amber comforted her cat as it stopped sneezing, and then put Barley back down. Ravenpaw was still staring at one of the people talking about who does what.

---

Kendo fumed in rage.

"'orrendous? a'll 'ave you know 'dat this is a perfectly normal accent in Glachkhaven! I swear, a'll go up there and blast ya' brains out, 'ya dirty bastards!"

---