Black Hole: The Book of Iratus, Episode 1

Chapter 1

A figure stood in front of a cave, and surrounding him were thick pine trees cascading down shadows in the forest. With a loud sigh, the boy began to enter the cave; his name was Iratus Lionheart, a mousefolk with many mouse features walking on two digitigrade legs. He was fourteen years old, with golden blonde hair and dusty blonde fur, mouse ears, and a naked tail. He had a well-built figure covered in white padded armor called gambeson and foot wrappings around his feet. At his side was a long sword, and his belt had several bags of various things, such as a water skin and a knife.

Despite the name mousefolk, his kind had several cat-like features, such as being able to drink salt water and not die, as well as having slit pupils like a cat, giving him night vision. Iratus drew his sword with his left hand and entered the cave proper. It was cramped at first, but the tunnel opened up. Iratus sumbled for a second as it felt like the ground shifted beneath him. He followed the tunnel, ignoring a few empty chambers, and headed straight back.

Around a corner was a large chamber with some sunlight beaming down from cracks in the roof of the cave. Several animal remains were scattered across the floor, with a small, beast-like creature eating some of the meat. It looked similar to a wolf, but with more tamed features and a slimmer build. The creature was hairless, the skin raw, and the muscles on full display.

Iratus thoughts, "That's not right, although I guess it kind of fits the description of a diseased wolf, but regardless if it is a wolf or not, a job is a job."

The beast looked up from its meal and growled at Iratus, not a natural growl like a normal animal, but an eerie, laugh-like growl. The creature swiftly made its way to Iratus, and the two clashed, with the beast ripping into his padded legs while Iratus hacked into the creature and quickly pulled his sword in order to cut into it.

Iratus hacked again into the creature and pulled his sword across its neck, flinging the creature's blood into the air. He himself was fine, as the beast was not able to penetrate the gambeson, but he was being pulled around and nearly lost his balance. Iratus braced himself and held his ground in order to launch another attack.

Finally, with the third slash, the beast dropped with a massive gash across its neck. Iratus examined his leg, and while the padded armor was a little torn up, it was clear he did not suffer any injury. He retrieved a cloth from his bag and wiped the blood from his sword before discarding it and sheathing the sword.

As Iratus was walking back, he noticed that the entrance of the cave was different; when he entered, it was cramped and small, but now it matched the rest of the cave. It was so bizarre that his mind just wrote it off as his memory not remembering correctly. When he finally exited the cave, his expression became one of being dumbfounded as the very forest itself was gone, and in its place was a dense woodland of maple trees and other foliage.
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Chapter 2

It took his mind a second to catch up, but when it did, Iratus was in disbelief.

Iratus, "What? What?"

He blinked in confusion, "What is going on?" he yelled.

He headed out into the unfamiliar woods, looking and taking in everything, his discipline anchoring his mind to sanity. 

Iratus thoughts, "Ok, I am certain I am no longer home; was there some sort of portal, magic? Now that's heresy, magic isn't real unless it comes from God. Did the Lord send me somewhere else? I've read about that happening before, but that was before the Silver Chains of the Thirteen were melted down. The priests always said that with the chains symbolically destroyed, the mortal realm became the domain of the folk. Magic should not exist anymore, and yet here I am."

Iratus shook his head and sighed. He started looking around more closely as he came around a dense thicket. There were no roads, no buildings, and no signs of any sort of civilization anywhere. Iratus gave an overexaggerated shrug and thought,

Iratus thoughts, "Ok then, I guess this is actually happening! What am I supposed to do without a home? I guess assuming I was still in the Shorthair province was dumb to begin with, but I had to make certain. So now that I am very certain that I am somehow somewhere else, what should I do?"

Iratus's mouse ears twitched as he heard something rumbling through the brush. He waited until a creature popped out of the woods and into his sight. The creature was bipedal; it had smooth, bark-like skin with a head that had no features. It had obvious female curves, but no female or any anatomy. Its face turned to Iratus, and it power-walked toward him with arms outstretched.
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Chapter 3

Inside a brick house with an exquisite wooden interior, Iratus raised his arms and held his blade down. He was slightly younger and less bulky, and he was standing in a wide exercise room.

Young Iratus, "Like this Bellum?"

A cheetah woman smiled; she had a slender but still strong-looking physique,

Bellum, "Yeah, that's right. All you have to do now is practice your swings, and you're good to go."

She had long and rich black hair and wore regular clothes, but they were of very high quality: a black shirt that opened up with a white shirt underneath. Iratus merely wore sturdy dark brown pants.

Young Iratus, "I've done those a hundred times already; aren't you going to teach me other stances?"

Bellum, "Sorry, little nephew, I'm just passing through. I have to leave pretty soon so that I am not late for my employment offer." She continued with a silly tone, "I still have ten more days of travel, and I have been on the road for twenty already!"

Iratus blinked, and his memory ended. The bark-skinned creature was coming towards him. He drew his sword and got into his high guard stance, the only stance he ever practiced with.

Iratus, "Stop! Don't make me hurt you!

The creature did not stop, and before it was upon Iratus, he swung his sword, cleaving into the creature's face. While it may look like bark, and while it was tougher than skin, it cut fairly well. Iratus had made a large gash in the creature's face, but there was no blood, only some sort of clear plant juice.

As soon as Iratus made his first cut, he swiftly and expertly pulled his blade back around to deliver a smaller cut on the thing's neck on the opposite side of the first cut, it was a perfect combo. While it was staggered by the blows, it quickly righted itself and grasped onto Iratus, who now was having trouble trying to strike as this thing's arms were in his way and pushing him back, the creature trying to push him down.

Iratus pulled one of the creature's arms off of him, but after a loud rip, he saw spikes on the end of its hand with some of his gambeson stuck on it, and he was now feeling something poking and entering into his shoulder from where the other enemy's hand was. The creature grasped again at Iratus, who grabbed near the edge of his sword with his gloved hands and stabbed into the bark creature's neck, then again when it didn't stop. Iratus finally took his blade to its throat and slashed across, which staggered the monster again.

Iratus pushed the creature off, but had to physically pull one of the hands off of him.

Iratus, "Argh!"

Blood was now seeping out of his right shoulder. He swiped at the monster when it came towards him again, cutting into one of its arms. Iratus continued to back up, running back for a moment to get into his stance again, but this time he charged back into the creature, put a blade to its neck, and slid it all the way down. With one final push, he knocked the creature to the ground and slammed his sword into its head; this is what seemed to kill the creature, though Iratus took a few more hacks at it to be sure.
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Chapter 4

Holding onto his shoulder, Iratus held his wound until it stopped bleeding.

Iratus thoughts, "Ok, monsters are now a thing too, I guess. I mean, maybe. It looks like a person, but it seemed mindless. Nope, stop thinking about it, nope."

Looking around, he continued to see only thick vegetation, but his ears did twitch when he heard running water in the far distance. Cleaning his blade of liquid goo, he sheathed it and jogged towards the water. When he got there, he saw a large creek with flowing water.

Iratus thoughts, "Perfect, now I just have to follow this thing to find people. Even if I get to the coast, surely I'll eventually find civilization out there. Unless that thing has a civilization. Oh, please don't let there be nothing out here."

Following the creek, Iratus would find an actual river and, a minute later, a city in the distance. Iratus walked towards the city with a sigh of relief, but once out in the clearing, he was able to see the city much more clearly. He saw a tall tree growing out of a house, leaving it partially destroyed, and there were a few more large trees he could see rising out of the city. Those bark creatures were many and wondering about the city, and now that Iratus was looking, the city was unlike anything he had ever seen.

He reflected on his own country, where buildings were often elegant and made of wood or stone. They were a marvel of architecture, and the larger buildings were a marvel of engineering, but this city was mostly made of stone buildings, or perhaps concrete, and they all had a deep blue hue, like it came from underneath the ocean. Somehow they looked even more elegant than his people's buildings, and clearly much more engineering was used here. Iratus moved to the side, avoiding the stone road that came out of the city, which stopped cleanly just outside of it.

Iratus moved to the back of a house, but he still attracted the attention of two of the bark creatures; these ones resembled males but were no different from females.The first one made it to Iratus, who was ready and had a much better understanding of how to fight these things, while the second one was already wounded with an old flesh wound on its leg, slowing down somewhat.

Using his superior reach and speed, he was able to deal a lot of damage to the first one before Iratus had to deal with both creatures at once. He pulled his knife and put it in his mouth, then dove into the first creature to finish it off with the second creature wrapping around his waist. He slammed into the surprisingly soft skull of the bark creature before dropping his sword and using his knife to stab its head, dragging the monster to the ground, where Iratus continued to stab its face.

Once it stopped moving, he had to rip the creature from his armor, which pulled out some of the padding, where he then made sure the two creatures were pulverized to make sure they were dead.
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Chapter 5

Iratus went inside one of the stone houses. Walking inside, he saw a crowded kitchen with a table and chairs around it, counters lined up against the wall, and a clay oven at the back.

Iratus checked a bookshelf where several books were, but looking at a few made him realize they were not only unfamiliar to him but also in another language, and even odder, they were made of parchment rather than paper. A small table held a few oval copper coins, which Iratus pocketed. While inspecting the kitchen, he discovered a mostly empty pantry containing several old clay pots. A fruit bowl now filled with goopy and rotted fruit drew his attention, as did moldy bread wrapped in cloth that had been heavily rodent eaten on the counter.

Iratus thought for a second, realizing his situation. An idea came to his mind, which led him to a bedroom, where he saw a well-crafted stone bed with sheets and pillows full of straw. He discovered clothes that were unfamiliar to him because they were thick but soft cloth suits. Iratus could tell they were worn by people who didn't have tails because his own pants had a tail hole. These cloths were also worn by people larger than Iratus's people; his kind were very tall and imposing, but these creatures were clearly much more. Iratus then discovered a leathercraft backpack and filled it with anything that looked useful, most of which were kitchen tools, but he also discovered a small pot made of a metal he hadn't seen before. He spun it around once and thought,

Iratus thoughts, "The best thing I could find!"

After stashing a bevy of items, he headed back outside and continued to walk along the edges of the city. Looking in, he could see a well-made wooden building that looked similar to the old great halls of his world, but this one looked mangled as a large tree grew through it. Iratus checked a few more buildings, but found them in roughly the same shape; the only difference this time was finding sheets in one of the buildings, which he stashed as well. He also found that none of the others had books in them.

Iratus paused for a moment after seeing a clear street. His situation was that he was lost in another world; he needed survival equipment, shelter, food, and water. He then looked ahead and noticed some market stalls, which prompted Iratus to make a decision. He rushed through looking for anything out of the ordinary, eventually coming to the few market stalls. The inside of the city was strange, with stones pathing most of the land and ditches of stone lining the street, putting into the mind a location prone to flooding.
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Chapter 6

He scoured the stalls, and while there were a few interesting items, most were useless to him. From one stall, he took a few leather items and animal bones; a glass jar from another; a few gemstones here; a fishing net there; and a knife from the last. He was also able to grab several bags of copper coins and small silver bricks.

Iratus had to tie the fishing net around his torso, as his backpack was now too full. Iratus looked around and saw a few bark creatures coming towards him, so he ran out of the city and headed to the far side. Once he got in the tree line, he set the backpack down and attempted to rest and recover his stamina. He looked around to make sure no monsters were around, and after a few minutes, he took his left hand to his forehead and drew a double helix with his thumb. He stood in silence in prayer for a minute, whispering a prayer.

Iratus finished his prayer and then with one final sigh, he strapped on his backpack and headed down a dirt road. The stone road from the stone city stopped slightly away from the city, cleanly cut, and a dirt road was just beyond the tree line, with the woodlands here mostly light. Iratus drew a mental map in his head; from the position of the sun, he could only estimate directions, but he followed a river south of the stone city, and he was now south of it on a dirt road that headed west and northeast.

Iratus heads down the west path for another ten minutes. Along the way, Iratus noticed similar wildlife to his own, and while he couldn't get a good look at the birds, he did spot a fox and some deer. There was a group of creatures he didn't recognize; they looked like boars but with darker skin and taller legs.

The path would end in front of the ashy remains of a cabin. Iratus looked around, seeing nothing else around besides a ruined shed and small garden. He walked around and examined everything that he could. From the shed and garden area, he left a few rusty tools behind. From the cabin he saw some scorched grass around but couldn't really move any of the debris around

Iratus thoughts, "This seems to have recently been destroyed so perhaps there are other people here, maybe? Regardless, I can't do anything here; I'll come back later to look through it, because I can't waste time here anymore; I need shelter as fast as possible."

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Chapter 7

The sun was way past noon, the sun was finally covered by clouds, and Iratus was heading over a tall building. He could see it from the burned-down cabin, and it was his best shot at having shelter, if only temporary. Once he reached it, his eyes shot up. It was a tower fortification. If he had to guess, it would be 30 feet in diameter and 40 feet tall.
(9 meters)(12 meters)

The defensive tower was circular in shape and made of some kind of rough stone. It had four stories and was sloping inward towards the top. Iratus could see the arrow slits and the sturdy wooden door, which was reinforced with iron bands. After looking around and looking at the slits, he decided to test the door.

The door was unlocked, the locks being on the inside, and Iratus cautiously moved inside the tower. He reached out with his hearing for a moment, but only heard his own heart beat. He gave the air a sniff and detected no extraordinary scents. Once inside, he found himself in a small circular antechamber with a spiral staircase running up the tower's center.

Iratus sat the backpack and fishnet down and began exploring the tower. Each floor of the tower was circular, and each one was just as big as the others. The walls of each floor are lined with narrow windows and arrow slits.

The ground floor held empty weapon racks, empty wooden crates, and clay pots. The second floor was a communal area with a small kitchen area, dining area, and common room with a fireplace, with the third floor being an almost cramped area because it held several bedrooms. Finally, the fourth was completely empty.

Iratus thoughts, "Guess this place isn't fully furnished? It also does not seem to be of the same style as that stone city, which raises a lot of questions. From the roads, the city, possibly the cabin, and now this tower, nothing fits together; in fact, I think the trees here are more on the tropical side than the woodlands back there."

Iratus looked out a small window to confirm the trees here were usually from warmer climates.

Iratus thoughts, "Something is wrong here; this world is feeling fake or perhaps stitched together by a child with no nuance to world building. Ok, getting that out of mind, what about the tower itself? It looks similar to what we built back home; other than that, I have not seen any clues that would point to someone recently living here. There is nothing here to deter me from claiming this place myself, other than a vague fear that someone else with authority would come by and yell at me for living in their tower."

He checked the bedrooms and saw beds without blankets or pillows, some with empty chests, and some without any other furniture. The kitchen was empty of supplies and tools, but Iratus would unload his loot on a counter and sit down for a minute.

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Chapter 8

The door could not be locked from the outside, making Iratus sigh. He went out and got to work, acquiring a stick and fashioning it into a crude spear. Once completed, he left his tower and headed towards the stone city.

Iratus thoughts, "There are plenty of creatures to hunt, but first I think I should gather more loot from the city. No, that place is still risky, and if I get hurt, I won't be able to hunt, and I am getting pretty hungry. Oh duh! I did take a day's worth of smoked meat. Everyone also fears getting lost in the forest, so now being overly prepared has come in handy; I even have a fire starter. Well, now I can gather some loot and grab me some meat on the way back, perfect!"

Iratus pulled out some jerky from his belt bag and ate it on the way to the city. Once at the city, he looked around to try to find a good target, but unfortunately it was difficult because he attracted a small group of bark creatures twice while scouting, escaping instead of fighting.

Moving to the northeast, he decided to move into the city here. Sometimes one or two creatures would follow him, and he had to try to ditch them, but one time he ran into another group and became trapped. He was caught in a side yard next to two back alleys. Two are in front, and another five are coming from the other directions. Iratus rammed into one with his spear before dropping it and drawing his sword to batter away the second creature. He struggled to slice into it as it and the other creature began to overwhelm him.

He managed to cut deeply into the neck of one and push away the other, each one taking a chunk of cloth and skin from Iratus. A small crowd was coming to investigate, and Iratus had to quickly run into the nearest house and run out a window to avoid them all, grabbing a sheet on his way out. He ran across a street where their numbers thinned enough to attack the house Iratus just left. He dove into another open window and took shelter as he attempted to take off his gambeson and stop the bleeding.

Soon, Iratus had makeshift bandages holding his wounds down. He went to grab his spear, but he grabbed only air; his spear was still back at the first house. Iratus was hastily putting on his gambeson when another barking creature was trying to go through the window. With his armor back on, Iratus was able to fight off the creature with ease. His long sword had the reach to poke the monster while it crawled inside, finally landing on the ground where Iratus would finish it off.

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Chapter 9

The house was mostly sterile when it came to looting, so Iratus just grabbed some bed stuff, clothes, and a few more kitchen tools, just in case. A wooden box full of a handful of coppers and a makeshift sewing kit also caught Iratus's eye, so he took them too. His pain was really affecting his mind, as he just fled from the city afterwards.

He walked back at a fast pace, and as he was getting onto the dirt road, he immediately hid behind a tree. He looked at a massive wasp buzzing about. The thing was about the size of a person, and soon it was joined by a few others who were not quite as large but still intimidating. A few seconds would pass before the wasps moved along and Iratus could resume walking back home.

Iratus thoughts, "I guess there are all kinds of monsters in this world." He continued to think as he walked back. "Now I just need to think about what comes next. I should be able to create fire, and with the paper I have, that gives me something for the first one. I'm not sure; wait, those mattresses were filled with straw! That gives me a few days worth of fire at least."

Iratus would scratch at his wounds and look around as he walked.

Iratus thoughts, "Did any of the houses have an axe? I'm willing to bet I could find some, though perhaps a city isn't the best place to find wilderness equipment. Let's see, uh, I don't know how to craft a bow or make any gunpowder, which will make it hard to hunt. Maybe those boar things are aggressive, and I could hunt them. I know the river is nearby, so boiling some water will be easy enough. What else do I need? I guess some workshop tools would be nice, but I can make do with what I have now; other than that, I'm pretty fine for survival concerns."

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Chapter 10

Iratus was nearing the end of the road, where the burned-down cabin was. As he approached, he saw two figures standing in front of it. This made his heart skip a beat, as he immediately figured it was other people like him.

The figures stood where they were as Iratus closed the distance. Then a thought came to his mind, which made him stop not too far from the two people. He figured walking up was a bad idea for a stranger in a strange and clearly dangerous world filled with monsters and was a good way of getting attacked.

The strangers were both female and looked similar in age and nature to Iratus himself. The first one he would describe as a raccoonfolk. She had dull gray fur, white fur on her torso, and black fur across her eyes, looking like a mask. She had rich, short black hair and was wearing a leather top with an animal skin skirt. She also had a crossbow, a quiver of bolts, three different knives—two tied to one leg and one to the other—and, finally, a large cloth pouch in one hand.

The other female looked slightly younger and could be described as an otterfolk. She had red fur and blonde hair tied up in a ponytail. She held a wooden spear, carried a fur rucksack, and wore an animal skin chest wrap and animal skin shorts.

Iratus thought, "I can't walk up to them; they might think I am a danger to their life, not to mention we probably don't speak the same language, which makes trying to communicate in this unknown land too dangerous. It would be better to leave and give them distance so they understand that I am not interested in them. I wonder if we even could come to an understanding; I wouldn't trust any males if I were a female in such a chaotic land."

Iratus began to turn away and head to his tower until he was stopped dead in his tracks by hearing,

Raccoonfolk female, "Hey, where do you think you're heading off to?"

EPISDOE 1: END

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Chapter 1 End Character Sheet
Name: Iratus Lionheart
Species: Mousefolk
Age: 14
Coverings: Blonde Fur, Gambeson (moderatly damaged)
Weapons: Long Sword, Knife
Equipment: belt, belt bag, a fire starter, 2 sheets of paper,  water skin, whetstone, 4 oval copper coins, leathercraft backpack, kitchen tools, small metal pot, several leather items, several animal bones, 1 glass jar, 7 bags (84 oval copper coins)(7 small silver bricks), 6 gemstones, 1 fish net, primitive sewing kit
Wounds: flesh wounds (old), several moderate wounds (fresh)
Year 0, Day 0

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Special documentary on Nexus Prime
Author: [DATA ERROR]
Report #: 17
New blood—it's strange how such a word became common here despite many people requiring multiple days of travel before they find a single soul. There is a culture forming here among the soulbound, one that does not need civilization in order to form and understand a great many ideas about their lives or how things are meant to be.
About a third of all new blood dies before their fifth day in Nexus Prime. Most people will hunker down in whatever they can find: a cave, an abandoned house, a farm, a trailer park, and many other things.
There are some people who choose to travel instead of making a home base. These people are called super nomads, so named because their final form is one that can travel through entire continents and still be well armed and well stocked, most likely with a vehicle or traveling warband.
The reactions of the soulbound are all quite interesting. There are those who profess their faith; some yell out to beings called aliens; a few take it hard and choose to be unhappy and unwell as the world slowly consumes them. I've even seen some convinced that they are in the afterlife.
It is not shocking to see those who thrive in the wilderness survive just as well here; I dare to say even those who abandon their natural state of being aren't too shocking, though that is mostly due to the large number of our fabrications that are literate through the Nexus Prime. I am eager for my task of watching the progress of the soulbound who live in our home.
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