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Tenno: Emergence - a fanfic tale


Doomclaaw
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So I've done some writing back in my day and decided I should get back to it. This is my first installment of the awakening of a warframe. If it's well recieved I'll continue it into a series. The premise will be a "rogue" type warframe/tenno. I don't want to just write out the storyline DE has already established because that is their story and I think they did a fine job of telling it. However this is still in the same universe so there will be spoilers eventually and maybe some crossovers with the DE story. I suggest you play all the quests first then come back and read this (it's gonna be slow-go anyway because my job is very demanding so downtime to write is scarce). One last thing: I respectfully ask that you withhold comments until I indicate this chapter is finished just to ensure the story has good flow when read in its entirety.  Thanks and hope you enjoy! 

 

"But for now,  sleep"....

Drifting in that velvet black, that cool and quiet emptiness, those words drifted to my ears like the softest whisper of an evening breeze. I would hear her voice often.  Sometimes just memories.  Sometimes perhaps it was more.  In this endless sleep it was hard to tell. I had no concept of the passage of time, but the longer I was here, the less I remembered how I came to be here. One thing I always remembered, however, was Her. 

 

Lotus we called her. Some called her Mother. I did not. Margullis was the only one I called that. 

Margullis...that name, the thoughts of her, it sparked a memory.  A flash of white and gold halls, the hurried tapping of many footsteps down their polished floors,  an overwhelming feeling of anxiousness and dread.  Then a scream.  Her scream.  

I often had this dream. I don't remember the details but somehow deep inside myself I knew that was when her flame was extinguished. When that happened the ethereal blackness where my mind floated would suddenly rumble and flashes of white and red would shoot through the unending night. But it always subsided and Her voice would float lazily back up to me like a siren's song,

"But for now, sleep..."

Except this time was different. This time the flashes did not stop. The anger did not subside. Our tireless dance of spinning in circles, the cycle of anger and calm- of peace and pain- of agony and bliss....this time I said no. 

I awoke. 

 

 

Edited by Doomclaaw
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I couldn't breathe, couldn't move.  With a legendary effort I began to claw my way up out of the blackness. Back to that harsh pain, back to the world of the living. Back to hell. 

My body was numb, presumably from the cryosleep. I could hear sounds outside the pod but they were muffled. Slowly as sensation returned to my warframe I could detect a slow rocking motion. I could hear an unidentified sound against the side of the pod. Yet it was strangely familiar. What was it? Where had I heard it before? 

It was a rushing sound, almost like a dim memory I had with Mother. We were at one of the meeting halls...no it was at a fountain. Her favorite fountain. That sound was the same as the sounds the water made when it lapped against the sides of the pool. Water! It was water rushing around the sides of the pod!

My vision had not yet returned. I assumed the neural sensors were being slow to fire up. I felt around the inner edge of the glass for the release lever. Just as my hand closed around it the pod was jostled so hard I lost grip. I was tumbling, spinning. Without vision this disoriented me. Even with the heightened sense of the warframe it was hard to figure out which way was up or down.

Glass began to crack, the pod was being thrown against something hard. Rocks maybe? Was I in a river? I began to panic a little at this point. While I had never actually attempted it, from what I could remember anyway, I don't think my warframe would float. The thought of slogging along down the bottom of some murky river until I was able to climb out in a shallow was not my idea of a good time. 

My hand finally found the release lever and just as I was about to yank it free and propel myself out of the pod, the rushing of the water stopped. I was weightless. In free fall. I had just gone over a damn waterfall... Just before the pod smashed on the rocks below I heard her voice. The Lotus. 

"Tenno! You're awake! It's not time yet. Quickly you mu-" 

Then it all went dark again. There was no sense of the silken embrace of the Dream anymore. No sense of being disembodied in a living void. No. Just plain old knocked out. 

Edited by Doomclaaw
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23 hours ago, Doomclaaw said:

CHAPTER TWO

I felt the warframe coming back to life. The regeneration process had begun. I sensed pain in the back of my head, a dull throbbing achy sort of pain. The warframe twitched and shuddered while the neural links tried to fire off as I struggled to move but with monumental effort I began to regain control. My vision was slowly fading back in and in the blurry shadows I could make out coarse sand all around me. Somehow I had washed up on the banks of the river. Overhead, fractured shafts of sunlight pierced through the thick forest canopy that covered the surrounding area.

This was one of the great forests of Earth. I had been here before. I remember Margulis telling me that the forest was alive and aware. It never really made sense to me until I came here for myself. You could feel the weight of it pushing down on you.  Like the gaze of a million eyes always watching you.  I was not welcome here.  Why I was spared however, was uncertain but I had no intentions of overstaying my welcome.  

Looking back the way I assumed I came from I could see the falls which my pod had gone over.  From the height of it it's no wonder I got knocked out. I'm just lucky it wasn't worse.  There was nowhere around to do major repairs.  In fact my orbiter was the only place I knew of other than Lotus' chambers and no way I was going there. Speaking of which,  things were unusually quiet.  I figured she would be blowing up the network by now,  considering I rejected her precious Dream. I had always been able to do that. As well as reject the transference if I so desired. I guess that was my special skill.  We all had one.  All the children.  Some were more prominent than others but each as unique as a fingerprint.  I knew the price of pain for not remaining in transference, but I would do it anyway from time to time for as long as I could stand it. Right now it would do me no good though.  I had to get my warframe out of here.  

I figured I could at least use her to get a ride out. I would deal with her chastising later. I made the call out for extraction. 

Nothing. 

Again, "Lotus can you read me? I'm stranded. I need extraction". 

Was she really going to punish me like this?  Make me learn the age old lesson of disobedience and consequences?  I boosted the signal.  Nothing but distorted sounds and static was the response.  I felt around behind my head to where the transmitter was embedded in my warframe. I felt something soft, oozing. A sharp pain shot through me but the warframe's buffers quickly dulled it. This was the source of that ache earlier.  I was damaged worse than I thought.  The transmitter most likely took a direct hit. "Well it could be worse I guess". Going back the way I came was a no-go so I had to find another way around.  

I stomped my way through the thick growth, following the river until I came to a fork. One led to a smaller stream that quietly wound its way way down and into an opening in the rocks that bordered each side of the river. The other path was heavily overgrown .  Since I had no weapon to slash my way through it I opted for the path through the rocks.  The stream meandered lazily down deeper into the rocks. The air was humid and smelled of damp moss. Small creatures scurried to get out of my path as I picked my way to the back of this crevasse. At the other end it opened up to give way to a clearing. There was a lone tree in the center of the clearing. All around the clearing were tangled masses that strangely resembled cryopods. I gave the tree a shove to test how sound it was. It's roots ran deep and I might as well have been pushing against solid rock. I decided to climb it to see if I could get high enough to see over the rocks and survey the area. 

The second I grabbed a branch and began to pull myself up in preparation for a bullet jump to the top I heard a cracking and splitting sound. I paused. It wasn't the tree. It came from off to my right. I stood completely still and listened. Nothing. I could have detected a breath from a living thing from a few dozen meters away, even farther I could have sensed the soul swirling inside it. There was nothing. That was the disconcerting part. No insects, no birds, nothing. I waited for a while and heard nothing more so I launched myself to the top of the tree and looked around. 

The sun was about halfway down to the horizon so I surmised it was late afternoon. I could see the dense forest spread out beyond in the direction the river flowed and nothing more. Glancing back towards the waterfall I could see some rocky outcroppings. Smoke drifted up from an object atop the rocks. I pulled out my scanner and zoomed it in for a closer look. It was a liset. The markings on it seemed familiar. This was not just any landing craft. It was mine. 

 

Edited by Doomclaaw
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3 hours ago, Doomclaaw said:

CHAPTER 3

While I contemplated this mystery in the treetop I heard the cracking sound again. This time I spotted where it was coming from. The strange leafy pods surrounding the grove had begun to split open. I could detect movement inside and sensed a faint flicker of life. Dismounting from the tree, I prepared myself to face whatever was now clawing its way out of the moss covered plant-tomb. 

What emerged resembled a warframe. I think it was a spectre. I could feel it's seething hatred for me. I've never know spectres to exhibit much emotion nor free will beyond the ability to follow simple combat commands. Just as I was preparing to release my force punch to liberate the shrivelled soul of this half-life creature, I sensed more of them awakening all around me.  I felt something on my foot and glanced down to see vines wrapping around my warframe's leg with surprising strength. I ripped it away only for two more to take its place. 

The spectres closed in around me as the foliage began choking the life out of me. Without any weapons I had to rely on my warframe's powers. I felt the cold chill of the power rising in me. The hollow voices and indiscernable whispers sifted through the air and I felt the living forest recoil in fear as I unleashed my Terrify in a burst of ethereal light. The vines shrank away from me, the minds of the spectres were temporarily broken and they began to flee in random directions. I directed the power down my arm and into a fist and began unleashing it in a volley of unvetted rage. I would use their souls to slam their bodies repeatedly against the walls of the grove, splintering it into pieces and assailing their comrades with it as well.

Again and again I tossed them like dolls against tree trunks, rocks, the unyielding earth. Finally I let the dark power slither it's way back into the core of the warframe and admired my handiwork as their broken and contorted bodies slumped to the ground. I dug some shallow graves and after ripping some of them apart, I buried them. Whatever these were, they needed to stay hidden here in this forest forever. This silvery grove would be their tomb. 

Edited by Doomclaaw
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Since this is a point in the story where I can shift gears significantly I'm going to stop here and see if anyone has any interest in its continuation. I have a whole lot more planned out in my head and if everyone likes it I'll continue.  

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So far, I like this. It is a brave and interesting insight and glimpse into what a Tenno awakening might experience. The details and descriptions are strong, and I like that you Included all of the senses, especially smell. It is often very negleted in writing. Fleshing out what the operator might be thinking is a tough task, but your strong details make these early chapter concise and informative without being preachy. Good job. I liked that he refers to the frame as saving my warframe. It creates, demonstrates the bond between them, despite the apparent fact that he does not want to complete the transference. Mentioning the cryopods and the Silvery Grove introduces extra bits of lore which strengthens the story.

My only comment, so far, would be to take caution with the narrative voice. There were a few spots where it shifts glaringly into one that is far too modern/realistic/maybe common and too similar to normal speech. One example is in chapter two: Just plain old knocked out. To me it felt jarring. The second was in chapter two: Well it could be worse I guess, and just after that the use of, no-go. There isn't anything inherently wrong with it, but they just felt a bit too regular, too much like a current/the gamer/operator might speak. It is also quite different than his somewhat prosaic descriptions of the environment.  It can be difficult to divest yourself from your character at times, and it frequently shows up in dialogue. The rest of the inner monolgue is well done, and that is difficult to pull of with any consistancy. I hope that you can maintain that consistency throughout the work. Also, I noticed a typo, chapter three, second paragraph line one, I've never known...

Thanks for sharing your work, I enjoyed it, and I hope to read more soon. 

Edited by (PS4)jester_of_clubz
typo
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Thanks for all the feedback! Yeah I got a little sloppy in a few parts. Was running on only a few hours sleep and typing it on my phone too lol. Hopefully the following chapters will flow a little better. I'm drawing up an outline now and will prob resume this next week so if anyone wants to catch the new chapters as they come be sure to follow the topic. Otherwise check back in from time to time and see where the story has gone 

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You're welcome. I love reading and giving feedback. I think you have a good start. I also think that if you want to keep going it might help to post/lonk to a site like Archive of Our Own, or Fanfiction.net. It would provide more exposure and also help with formatting. I have not tried to link from this site, so I can not advise just yet. I will say though that your work is the best Warframe work I have discovered so far. Formatting is key. If folks are put off buy poor formatting they bail out and don't read. Anyway keep it up. 

 

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