Before reading, if you adventure to do this, I would like to say that it’s hard for me to express may self correctly in English. But I’ll do my best. Below is a piece of a story (which is longer than this) that I wrote in some of my long meetings hours at work. Meetings that really “touched” my interest… to write a Borderland story!
Your opinion matters. I don’t have the pretention to be a writer of something, but I always like the stories. So asking you to be gentle I hope is not too much.
If makes sense, I will brush the episode 2 in which I follow Ava and Vault Hunter adventure in the twin planet.
Patricia is mumbling something while flipping nervously the thick pages of the Eridian book, forward and backwards. Pieces of stone with Eridian slabbing are suffocating her laboratory and are glowing randomly. She’s pacing while reading them, scratching her head. “What’s the meaning of this?” she mumble and brushes with her hand the book’s page. Pandora’s system’s map formed above the pages and took her a bit by surprise. Elpis is changing and the Lilith’s wings are fading until are no longer embracing it. “Something is not right…” she say while turning on the holographic map of Pandora’s system to better look to the moon . With a gesture she enlarges the map to cover the entire laboratory. Elpis’ trajectory is changing and now is back on crushing course to Pandora. With two fingers she follows Elpis If only she could stop it. She could only follow its inevitability. Exactly on collision when Pandora’s surface ignites, the map vanishes with a blast throwing her and the vault keys on the floor. The entire Sanctuary fell into darkness. “This cannot be… She did not sacrifice for nothing!”- she mumbles
“This is space people! Who the hell is playing with ship’s power?” fills BALEX the emergency intercom.
“Tannis! Tannis!” – shouts Ava outside of the lab while slapping the door – “Are you in there? What’s going on?” – “BALEX, open the damn lab’s door.” she screams to the ceiling intercom speaker like is a video camera.
“I’m a navigator not a magician. No power say nothing to you people? Use your mojo to open it! Come on people, we are dead in space and is cold as hell!”
“Tannis!” she shouts again hitting the door when her hand become translucid and passes right through it. “What the…” she mumbles looking at her hand. “Can I?..” She closed her eyes and cross to the other side of the door. “Tannis?” she calls no longer in panic while is admiring the blueish glow of her arms. “This is a new trick! Cool!” she said happy almost forgetting why she’s there.
“I’m OK…” said Patricia surprisingly calm while trying to see something, anything to help her to find direction. She sees Ava’s glowing shape. “So, you can shift now? That’s a bit odd… random even.”
“Jealous?”
“Jealous? This is not in my genius vocabulary dear. I know Maya couldn’t do it. So you see why I find it a bit odd?” she said and stand up helped by Ava.
Suddenly all Eridian slabs start glowing intermittently. The vault keys project in sync around them the whole Pandora’s system and then moves fast to another constellation.
“I don’t know this constellation…” said Patricia moving around trying to see as many details as she can.
“What do you mean you don’t know it? You always know… Don’t you?” said Ava surprised and concerned in the same time “What’s your genius best guess then?”
“I don’t know…” Patricia answers in low voice when her attention is captured by an eridian writing glowing brighter than all other. “ To acknowledge when you don’t know it will guide you to what you need to learn…” – The echoed voice fills the room as she touches the slab.
“We were afraid to look into the intricate strings of time to foresee the future that will form without the Destroyer of Worlds. We were afraid of what we will find out, but we could not stay still. So we asked the future for answers. When we deciphered the strings without the Destroyer we could only find a lifeless universe in every timeline. Except one. One where a moon with fire wings is born upon Destroyer’s death. And we could not see more as this brings the life to an unwritten path, a trimline too unpredictable for us to read. Even without any choice the decision was not unanimous. Afraid of the unknown some tried to create a place strong enough that can shift the known universe. A place without a future for Destroyer to be in another timeline and dimension. But they fail.”
The writings from all eridian stones raise to the map and formed the Promethea’s system mirroring the unknown planet. Another voice fills the room.
“We’ve learned nothing. We continue to harness the universe’s energy playing with forces that we could barely comprehend. Each failure make us to continue instead to make us stop. We hide the abomination we’ve created deep into the planet, and hoped that the future will unfold as foreseen. Arodnap we named the twin planet hidden in this parallel universe, having its energy harnessed to power the keys that lock the Destroyer’s Vault. But none of us could foresee that will also harness the Destroyer’s essence, providing a mean to escape into another universe from the jail we’ve created.”
“Stupid Eridians!” said Ava nervously “They ruined two universes? I think I need to kick some Eridians butt, or at least guardians!”
”Their “stupidity” Ava, gave this universe time to have you. All of us as a matter of fact.”
“Should I be impressed or something? I mean, look…”
“Ava, we need the Vault Hunter. First things first: we need to bring back the power before BALEX starts to shout.”
“Way ahead of you Patricia. Hit it VH!” said Ellie when the light turned on.
“Can anyone explain me what the hell is going on?” fills the intercom with the Vault Hunter’s voice.
“We are waiting for you in my lab” said Patricia “Things start to happen now.”
“Tell me something new. If is not Malliwan is a casino filled with maniac bots and crazy COV. Are these transported by mushrooms spores or something?”
“Vault Hunter?”
“Coming, coming…”
The Vault hunter comes to the lab and stops in the door trying to make sense of the mess.
“What the…”
“Vault Hunter, Vault Hunter!” said Ava appearing from under the desc, grab his/her hand, and drag him/her into the corner. “Look, look what the stupid Eridians did!” she said and turn the lights off. The map filled again the entire room.
“Tannis?” said the Vault Hunter softly while coming closer to the twin planets hanging in the middle of the lab. “Please explain what I’m seeing here…”
“I don’t know for sure, but I can tell that this means trouble. Have you seen Elpis?”
“Firehawk…”
“Is no longer there and there is nothing to stop Elpis to fall now. But not yet. I can only assume that we suppose to stop this horrible thing once again.”
“Stupid Eridians,” mumbles Ava.
“Shush Ava. I need to think” said Patricia watching again the twin planets as she’s waiting for a message.
“So, it is true. I heard stories passed by our ancestors” said out of the blue Maurice with his body stuck in the door “I think it is true then.”
“What? What? What? Just say it!” – jumps Ava.
“Patience little one. You are yet to face the Destroyer”
“Yet? Please don’t tell me I need to kick that Tyreen’s ugly face again” said the Vault Hunter having both hands in his/her hear.
“Do you think that Tyreen was that strong to subdue the Destroyer, the only thing that Eridians were scared of?”
“Then… then… Can someone explain me?” said Ava in pitchy voice
“I guess there was a balance between the two planets that is no more. I see no other way but to go and stop the Destroyer before both universes collides. And I was worrying by the Haunt Traunt!” finished
Maurice and left ignoring the calls from all three.
“That’s it?” said Ava “Tannis you let him… her… whatever… leave like this?”
The door opens again
“I almost forgot, Vault Hunter and you the little one, come see me when you have time. I think I can get you there. And bring some eridium to power my device” he said and left
“My name is Ava… damn it… and he left again. Vault Hunter?”
“Anything to add Tannis? – Patricia nag her head “OK then. Let go little one” said Vault Hunter putting accent on “little one”
Maurice is half into his quarters swinging his tail. Ava run on her toes trying to come close. She planned to scare him by shouting “My name is Ava”. She barely said “My” when she was hit by his tail maker ending up on her knees at Vault Hunter’s feet.
“So Ava, you know how to beg I see” said the Vault Hunter smiling. “We are here Maurice!” and continue stopping Ava to say anything.
“Very good, very good. No one told you little one to never to sneak behind a dino? See this device Vault Hunter? This improvised device needs some eridium and a portal shall open. Stable enough to pass through. I hope!”
“Hope?” – said Ava with anger. “I don’t like the sound of it and I definitely don’t like you!”
“Here you said?” – asked the Vault Hunter and placed the required eridium without a second though. A blue portal starts to form in the middle of the room, struggling to maintain its shape.
“Oaaa, sooo cooool!” – say Ava going around it coming closer and closer and with a finger she touch it.
“Don’t touch it!” – said Maurice but was too late. Ava disappears and the portal collapses.
“Now you tell us? Where the portal leaded too?”
“To the twin planet. There is nothing we can do here. It’s up to the little one now. Only she can reopen the portal. It has to be done from the other side”
“What can I do now?”
“Do not ask Maurice for your life. We will know if she succeeds.”
“And if she doesn’t?”
“Then we can open the portal again and you can try.”
“That’s it?”
“Maurice needs to check things now. No worry. She meant to be there. The portal will not let through anyone which is not meant to be there. All Eridian’s doing.”
[For one mission the player takes control of Ava. She has basePhaselock skill. She can switch to Phasing too. Both skills will make use of it during the mission as she can alternate. The skills also have a far faster cooldown than normal. There is a fairly long and dynamic mission. She’s extremely quick and agile. She will find a few item that brings some of Maya’s memories and some of her own. At the end she risk her life to open the portal. It’s up to the Vault Hunter to save her and then to continue his mission to meet the Destroyer.]