Project Empress 001

Prologue

It’s the year 20xx.

In the first third of the 21st century: the great global industrial civilisation failed.

As it fell it dragged the entire world down with it, leaving it fractured in thousands of tiny pieces. Everyone blamed each other. The shadow of tyranny grew and devoured once great nations. But in a shattered world that still remembered a once golden age, the tyrants were soon eaten by the wolves they themselves raised. 

Out of the ashes, built on ruins, half remembered cultures and jealously guarded remnants of the old technology, a great number of new small nations, city states and petty kingdoms rose. 

Europe once on the cusp of unity and greatness had returned to its savage ways it had existed for so long, but it was here in these lands, that the historical martial arts underground rose. People used old manuscripts and treaties describing martial arts that had lain dormant for centuries, to bring them back. They were people bound by a common appreciation of the ancient martial arts, who during these times of chaos rose to the challenge, bringing a certain semblance of order into the chaos of a burning world. 

Let me take you into a world, where warlords vie for supremacy over the old Europe, where high scientists fight to bring back the wonders of the world that was, where some people dream of becoming kings in a world ripe for the taking, while others still dream to bring back the great unity of the past. 

Chapter 1 

The eternal novice

“No, you´re dragging your feet again, Cara.”, said Manfred, the high instructor of Cara’s martial arts academy. Cara just nodded, focusing on her feet, trying to place them with more precision on the floor when moving.

“Now you are moving your whole body up and down.”, Manfred sighed. “How long, have you been here already?”

“4 years and three months.”, Cara answered, now trying to lift her feet without her body following them. 

“And yet you are still a total novice.”, Manfred said, “Usually it takes people six months, if they are slow, to get the steps right. But with you…?” he inhaled and shook his head. “Keep going, in time even you might get it.”

Cara just nodded focusing on her movements, trying get at least one lane right. Teeth gritted she moved, slowly the wall of the hall in front of her inching closer. When she finally reached it she looked up beaming, looking around but Manfred had long moved somewhere else and was observing a manoeuvre some of the advanced pupils were doing. 

Slightly deflated Cara turned around and decided to have a bit more fun on her way back, swinging her long sword around more and just stomping away. Not elegant, but at least a bit more fun and sometimes by chance, she found something smooth in her janky motions. 

Later when she was going back home through the night, enjoying the light rain cooling her off, she sometimes changed her stance and tried to move like a real sword master. Left foot moving boldly forward, her right following behind steadily, only that in her case she as usual dragged her right foot along over the floor. Not a good technique perhaps, but Cara was happy to be able to learn the art of long sword fighting at all. She didn’t have to be good at it. She’d been bad at sports and coordination her whole life, a fact that all her PE teachers and also Manfred never got tired of misreading her off. But she didn’t mind, because she had a sword. The thought made her smile.

“Look at that.” said a voice from behind her. “Looks like we have a real athlete here.” There were laughs. 

Cara turned around trying to remain calm.

There were three students, the guy who had just called her and two female friends of his who had laughed. All three carrying defence sticks. ‘Shit’ Cara thought, remembering that she had packed her defence stick into her backpack together with her sword…

“I don’t want any trouble.”, she said.

The woman left of the guy, said, “Yeah I don’t think you’d be trouble even if you tried.”, the laughed again moving close, pulling out their defence sticks.

“Where’s your stick darling.” asked the woman to the right.

“In… in my backpack, with my sword…”, Cara said.

”With you sword?” the guy in the middle laughed. “Are you a sword master? One of those historical martial artists then?”

“I’m not a master.”

The three just laughed.

“Go on then,” the woman to the right said. Take out your stick or your sword if you prefer.”

Cara took a small step back. “The sword wouldn’t be fair, even if it doesn’t have an edge. It is steel and has a much longer reach than a defence stick.”, she said.

“Aww, look at you,” the woman on the right again, “that is so incredibly considerate of you. Come on get your stick then and let us play a round. I always wanted to fight a ‘real’ martial artist.” The others snorted.

Cara swung her backpack to the ground slowly squatted down keeping an eye on her three assailants. She slowly opened the zipper and started groping blindly in her bag, finding a glove, her mask, jacket, everything but her stick. Her heart was pounding harder and faster with every moment. She lowered her gaze for a second, that was the moment when the three struck.