Welcome, to the school of tomorrow!
Once, innumerable aeons ago, a human looked to the stars and something happened, something which would change so much in such a short time that its effects could never truly be measured; he wondered what was up there.
We would continue to ponder and think and imagine the outcomes to this question for millennia. We would find comfort in the stars, fear the infinite possibilities, make wishes upon the many lights in the night sky and hope that somewhere among the stars was someone else who was looking up, looking for companionship or friends.
We never found anyone out there through all of the attempts we made during our time on our ancestral homeworld... but that didn't stop us from hoping, imagining, searching, pleading and wishing.
Once the Eve Gate was discovered, a wormhole to a remote corner of the universe, we leapt at the chance and took to the stars in the largest colonization effort in the history of mankind, the settlement of hundreds of strange new worlds in the century that became known as The Eve Century.
We thought nothing could stop us. We were wrong.
After the Eve Gate collapsed, countless colonies perished, the scattered survivors forgot the old world due to the sands of time and the fog of history.
Fragments of mankind, light years apart, lost contact.
Thousands of dark years passed, until humanity rose again, to be with the stars. In different corners of New Eden, great empires had evolved.
Five different faces of humanity, when they clashed, the wars were merciless. Out of the years of conflict, a new human had emerged, one capable of uncountable battles and never tiring of war. To transform into this rare breed, we paid the ultimate price. At the moment of death, our mind is transferred to a new clone, we have become...
Immortal.
Among the stars, we reached farther.
On the ground, we struck harder.
The empires are losing their grasp on power, and as our age begins to dawn, they will learn...
-to FEAR us.
It was evening in the peaceful country of Equestria when a golden carriage touched down on the landing strip beside an impressive castle that was surrounded by woods. As the young guards who had the honour of flying the aforementioned carriage unhooked themselves from their harnesses, a golden slipper stepped onto the grass.
Celestia sighed as she allowed her wings to stretch, having been cooped up inside the flying prison, before turning around and smiling at her sister. The two of them stood tall in their armour, each as different from the other as the mare that wore it. Luna stepped out of the carriage, a large bundle in her arms and a small frown on her face.
The two of them turned towards the castle in silence, neither of them wishing to breach the delicate subject that Luna held. They walked past guards and servants, who offered their relevance to the solar princess, almost exclusively the lunar princess noted. Regardless of the lunar princess' feelings on the matter, what she was carrying was much more important and she knew it.
After several minutes of silent travel, the two finally made it to Celestia's study and, after sending a servant for some tea, sat down. Luna moved the covers on the bundle and smiled at the sight, a sad, melancholy filled smile as she remembered all of the fun times she had with its occupant.
In her lap, resting in a cocoon of blankets, was a young filly with a multicoloured mane and tail with a pink coat. Her name was Mi Amore Cadenza and she was the daughter of the king and queen of The Crystal Empire, who were like siblings to the two mares.
"Sister," Luna said as she brushed a lock of the filly's multicoloured hair out of her face, "...We... We are most troubled as of now."
Luna looked up and stared into her sister's eyes, eyes which always seemed so peaceful, calm and warm, were now half closed in reflection, regret and loss clearly visible, "Tia..."
Princess Celestia, the sunraiser, the forgiver, the patient, the one who'd felt the most blame, closed her eyes and took a deep breath, "What are we to do Lulu... what do we tell her... how do we tell her, when do We tell her why she can't go home?" Celestia trailed off as she opened her eyes, her misty, waterlogged eyes, "We just... don't know what path is the right one."
"We will make the right decision." Luna told her sister with determination in her voice, "We will tell her of a monster that her parents fought to save her and when the time is right, then she'll reclaim her birthright."
"We hope so, dear sister, We hope so," Celestia smiled as she wiped her eyes to look at the sleeping filly better, "We are going to need a couple of trustworthy tutors, We dare not think of how many... suitors, she'll receive, even at her age."
Celestia's words stuck in Luna's head for a moment, prompting her to ask, "Why not find a school for her?"
"And expose her to everyone who might seek to exploit her, only without one of us around to watch out for her? We doubt any school on Equus would be fair to her, her wings and horn will always set her apart." Celestia replied, earning a nod from Luna.
"... what if," Luna started, latching onto her sister's words, "What if We were to find such a place, somewhere across the Veil. Surely somewhere among the worlds,there's a school for her."
Celestia smiled, "If that is what thee wishes to spend thy time on, than We shall see what she wants when she comes of age." She look over at the window, staring at the night sky and all of its odds, "Dimensional teleportation would be difficult, but we already know it's true..."
"Rest easy, dear sister, that monster shalt never see our night nor thou's day." Luna told her sister as the sleeping filly moaned, "We are certain We can find such a place. Until then, we shall both teach her all that We and thou know."
Welcome to Immortal University,
Defender or Aggressor, Peacekeeper or Marine, Tribal or Priestess, we're all learning of our new-found Immortality.
"Hold the line!"
"We need to fall back!"
"More contacts, south by southeast, one-sixty degrees!"
"We can't keep them back, they're not human!"
"I don't give a fuck if that's the entire Mortal Archangel Division, we're defending this LZ!"
"The last evac craft is almost done, sir! If we don't get out now, we'll die here!"
The screams of suffering, the cries for lost friends and loved ones, the sound of automatic weaponry, all of that blended together as a Sergeant in the Gallente Peacekeeper Corp's C-Evac division reloaded his assault rifle. His name was Absis De Pacem and he was going to die. That very hour.
"Sarge, if we stay here, we'll only die in this trench or in a cell, tell the LT he's nuts!" One of his squad members called out over the symphony of war. Shaking his head, Absis ignored the Corporal and stood up in the trench to take aim at a charging Amarrian. For the last two weeks, him and his squad have been fighting the elite Amarri forces, holding them away from the rebelling Matari population zones while Gallentean scientists administered specific medication to wean the Matari off of whatever the Ammari addicted them to, leading them through several situations that mirrored this one. Almost mirrored.
Absis pulled the trigger, sending a bolt of plasma that was contained in a magnetic field into his enemy's chest, melting her armour to what remained of her flesh beneath it. He quickly repeated the action, aiming for her head, sending the woman to the ground screaming as her face melted. Sadly, Absis knew she wouldn't be dead forever.
He didn't feel anything; not anger, nor fear or regret, such feelings dying as soon as he heard the reports of the Amarr Empire having a massive amount of their slaves rebelling on the Matari home world and immediately started doing what they do best; devastating the native humans with their heavy weaponry giving them an advantage over the low-tech tribal people who had retook several weapon bunkers. That, and the Immortals that signed on for the contracts.
"Sir!" Absis ducked down back into the trench and glanced over at his lieutenant, the young officer fresh out of East Dot academy, "Command says we have a drone fleet coming in to raze these bastards, only two minutes out. What do you think of our odds?"
While most officers wouldn't be asking a NCO for an opinion, or even addressing someone with a lower rank as sir, Absis was one of the old breed; the kind of sergeant who could lead a squad through a black hole, beat the fuck outta whatever hostile alien life was on the other side with his bare hands and bring his boys back safe and sound, if a little disturbed by him singing the Gallente anthem while doing it. In short, he didn't demand respect on the battlefield, the battlefield's respect demanded him. "I don't think retreating is in the cards, we'll just have to hold out and make our ammo count."
"Fair enough," The officer nodded before turning his com system on. "Well guys, we're gonna hold these bastards by the nose until the drones get here, then retreat under the cover fire to a dropship. Once we get aboard the Prideful Fall, I'll give three days of shore leave for everyone."
"Minus the shore!" The Corporal from earlier called out, earning a quick laugh from the squad that even the Lieutenant joined, "Okay, let's give these inhuman slaver bastards a run for their money!"
"Bah-tah-rah!" The squad's sniper called, giving the traditional Peacekeeper battlecry, which was soon carried on down the line by their brethren, overpowering the Matari projectile rifles, the spitting of Gallentean plasma and ion weaponry, thumping of mass drivers and the cracks of fully charged scrambler rifles, "BAH-TAH-RAH! BAH-TAH-RAH! BAH-TAH-"
Absis woke up covered in sweat and panting, he swung his legs off of his bed and quickly sat up, remembering the day like it was yesterday; the most likely reason being that was the day he died, the day he regretted and the day he would've gladly been the one to have fallen, if only for his squad to be the ones to go home.
"Just a dream, just a dream." He reminded himself while he ran a hand through his mid length brown hair before sighing and slowly getting to his feet, "It was just a dream... from several years ago."
He took several deep breaths before he headed to his restroom, intent on washing the sweat away from himself as well as taking care of the normal morning issues. He even remembered to brush his teeth and put on deodorant before he left the restroom.
The man walked over to his dresser, where he slipped his Immortal University Original-Corpse uniform on, the sleek, medium green stripes on his grey pants and shirt marking him as a Gallentean. He grabbed an ion pistol from the dresser as well as a holster that held several extra cells for reloading. Once he was sure he was fully equipped, he started towards the dorm's door, only to walk back to grab a dark green jacket, which he swung over his shoulder.
Absis walked out onto the busy hallway and turned left, blending into the mass of students, graduates, prefects and teachers as he started heading towards the common mission area. He caught more than a few hostile glares from the Amarrian and Caldari students or graduates that he brushed off; his reasoning being, if the Amarrian wanted to enslave others, than they should've been ready for a slave revolt after the Jove gave them an asskicking that was long, long overdue. As for the Caldari, those he glared back at, annoyed that the Caldari would blame him for the Gallente winning the war and taking their homeworld as reparation. Because honestly, fuck those mega-capitalists with their corporate dictatorship.
Although more than a few Matari gave him respectful nods and friendly waves, most of which he returned. Even if the Matari weren't the first to be attacked by the Amarri, they were the first to rebel and hold out long enough for Gallentean Peacekeepers to get there and start evacuation of the no longer enslaved civilians. After that was a decade long war of pushing the Ammari borders back and gifting the freed slaves the territory, as well as Gallentean scientists working to purge the noxious drugs that were used to maintain control over them.
After several minutes of travel, Absis walked into the common mission hall, a huge room that was lined with doors and Neo-Com uplinks and split down the middle by a wide building that was also lined with doors and Neo-Com uplinks. After a moment of taking it all in, he went over to an unused Neo-Com uplink, where he began searching for a job.
At the Immortal University, students, as well as some graduates that chose to stay and move up the ranks, are given dorms and pre-approved missions to help learn all there is to know about their new immortality. It's where soldiers, pirates and mercenaries go to become something more, something inhuman, something... Immortal.
Its also where the fiercest of rivalries come to a boil, "Hey Absis, where's your perfect little squad, did some of them go off without their fearless leader?"
Absis sighed, having been hoping to simply find a job and get some pay, only to run into an old face, one he knew even before he removed the full face helmet with hot plasma. He didn't turn around, even as the heavy footsteps approached him, informing him of her being in her clone body and, most likely, she had just got back from a mission.
Absis was spun around and found himself staring at a Amarrian heavy dropsuit's mid chest level. He slowly looked up and into the angry eyes of the Immortal in front of him, whose helmet was retracted, "I was talking to you."
"I know, I was ignoring you." Absis replied as he tried to turn back to the Neo-Com uplink. His assailant didn't release her grip, keeping a firm hand on his shoulder, "Is there something I can help you with, Cai'Nerlen? Perhaps killing you again."
His comment angered the women further, due to the fact that Absis was the first to kill her, a fact he only learned about some time after the battle when he met her for the first time. "Its Sai'Nerlen you cowardly piece of filth." She growled.
"Oh yeah, you got that promotion to Squad Leader and it only took you what, five years?" Absis smirked as the women in front of him growled, "I remember becoming a Squad Leader, three years before you."
The woman that was holding him ground her teeth together, her face, although perfectly identical to every other clone bodies' face, still had that twitching eye Absis had come to know intimately; a sign of her explosive temper reaching its limit, "You won't be laughing for long, Absis De Pacem, not, for, long."
"You and I both know the rules, no killing anyone in their Original body Sai'Nerlen." Absis smiled as he pressed the button on the uplink behind him, accepting whatever job it was without looking, "Now if you don't mind, I have to go lock my body up safe and sound."
Sai'Nerlen growled as she shoved Absis away, "You better watch your back, Absis. You better watch it real closely." With that, the Original-les walked away, leaving Absis with only a few minutes to place his Original into a storage pod before his Immolation chip kicked in, rendering his Original body dead and turning it into a pile of dust. Something no Immortal wanted.
"Fucking cunt, I'm glad your stupid ass forgot the first rule of Immortal University, because you deserved it."
Several hours later, Absis woke up in his Original body just as the storage pod opened, "Fucking hate, hate, hate laser and sniper rifles. Why can't they pack something that doesn't burst my shields outside of my range."
He shook his head as he exited the pod into the storage hall, "Fucking Caldari weapons, fucking Amarri god, shitty fucking pay."
Absis was in a bad mood, while most Immortals were usually angry about this or that, he knew that some things just can't change, and some shouldn't ever change. A few of those things was liberty and freedom, which was very good in his book and every Gallentean's book. Another was fighting long range combat with a squad of heavy dropsuits that were armed with heavy machine guns and being blamed for, in the Squad Leader's own opinion, "not covering the squad from long range hostiles" when he was the only threat to said long range hostiles, which earned him a priority among the hidden enemies. That went into the bad section of his book.
All in all, the only thing that changed was his weapons after his fourth death, which didn't help much because the enemy squad had a spy revealing his position every time he settled somewhere to countersnipe. "You get a two-to-one kill/death ratio on a harsh as torture job, but your stubborn Squad Leader is insisting on being a close range squad against a long, long range, expert sniper squad. And here I thought Caldari were supposed to be experts at instantaneous decision making, yet it took that bastard five hours, five hours, to change his fucking strategy!"
Absis ignored the hostile glares from the nearby Caldari and kept moving out of the mission common hall. He was already in a foul mood, which promptly made the other Immortals, both Original and Original-les, steer clear, knowing that, even in an Original body, Gallentean Peacekeepers were among the very best when it came to unarmed combat. He was turning the corner to enter the hall his dormitory was in when he stopped, blinking at the sight in front of him, "What the fuck?"
Standing not a meter from his room was two people, if the word could be used correctly. Both of them were covered in fur, had a spiralling horn coming out of their heads, a pair of wings on their backs, long hair and tails and were dressed in impressive gowns. That and they were surrounded by a crowd of curious Immortals. Students, graduates, prefects and even a teacher looked at the intruders with curiosity, many of the Original-les and the patrolling prefects having removed their masks and full face helmets to look on with their own eyes.
One of them looked like she, judging by the large mammary glands on her chest, was trying to talk to the crowd, many of whom were shouting and asking questions. A minor miracle in itself he was able to even make out the wings that wrapped around their torso slightly, for half of the crowd were at least several dozen kilos heavier than him, a good deal of centimeters taller and wider than him and were forming a thick blockade around the intruders.
Absis was in no way in the mood for this level of bullshit, so he shouldered his way through the crowd and pushed past the Immortals that were between him and his dorm. Crippling fingers occasionally when rough words failed.
As he approached his door, he could make out what one of them, a tall, white, female person-ish with a muzzle and flowing, multicoloured hair and tail, was saying, "-if thee could all calm down, We'll be able to answer thy questions much more efficiently."
"What are you?!"
"What's with the wings and horns?"
"Why are you here, how did you get in here!?"
"Do you want to borrow my razor?"
"Praise the Lord, for he has gifted- AHHHHHGGH!" That one was an Ammari, you can guess who broke his finger.
"How much sweetie?"
"What do you taste like?"
"Can you move, you're in front of my door?" Absis deadpanned as he finally got to his dorm's door, but ran into a problem. The second strange creature, who was pink with purple, yellow and, you guessed it, more pink hair with large eyes was in the way. After he asked the question, several things happened really quickly.
One, she screamed really, really loudly, a shrill scream of terror that quieted the hall. Two, she ran behind the other new arrival and hid, her footsteps making an odd clip-clop noise Absis couldn't identify. Three, the other one, who was as tall as a heavy clone, turned to glare at Absis. Four, Absis didn't give a fuck and walked into his room, his daily allowance of fucks spent on Sai'Nerlen, which was the only fuck he gave that day, one he didn't even want to give. Five, both of the strange creatures suddenly realised they were still surrounded by the curious, as well as heavily armed and armoured, Immortals.
Six, Absis closed and locked his door before he started walking into his room.
Seven, he heard the sound of someone knocking on his door, which ruined his mood further due to him simply wanting to take a shower and watch the New Eden News with a bowl of his favorite cereal; Trix.
Eight, he called in response, "Who is it and why should I give a fuck!?"
Nine, his door blow up. One millisecond it was there, the next it was everywhere. Which pissed him off. Alot.
Ten, he was aiming a fully charged ion pistol right between the large eyes of the white one, idly noting her multicoloured hair and tail blowing in a non existent breeze. That and her horn glowing. All in all, Absis knew today wasn't going to be a good day, which was made all the worse by the fact that Gallente Prime, his homeworld, had twenty-five hours in a day plus its six hour nights.
Fuck my life, and the next dozen.