Ellis, Concept Chapter 1
This is a draft, not the final as a whole
It was early in the morning, in the stilted clamoring of the outskirts of the district, Le Artorica, where humble introductions met untitled ruffians in the backstreets and alleys sunken with built-up rubbish and junk of all sorts, that is where the loopy lump of metal fixed with bolts, Ellis, had a meeting of which he needed to attend.
It was like any other morning in the northern edges of the famed district, fanned with mighty gusts of wind and rain, weathering away every skyripper still standing. As grand and as tall as they stood, many didn’t look like they would last many more years. With the morning rain came much of the invasive wildlife that made their new homes in the slums of the city of Depthopolis, foraging as they festered into LA’s streets.
Ellis had a final people carrier that he needed to catch before he could arrive at the skyripper he needed to reach, but he had forgotten about the terrible weather in the mornings. Now, with only a coat to protect him from the hissing wind, he embarked off his penultimate ride to make his way to the last Carrier Stop.
There wasn’t much that ever went on in the outskirts main streets, occasionally there was the typical front doors that were left ajar, with dim lights that had no effect once it was morning, with the Carriers being more or less the only things alive in the streets, aside from the lifeforms travelling above. There was no soul to the outskirts though, it was only laden with the beings that consume the night, nocturnals, the only creatures that make their homes in the soggy derelict edges of La Artorica.
Occasionally though, even in the relatively harsh morning lights, beings of many shapes could be made out within the gaps of skyripper. Some would stare back as Ellis peered down the slits between the meta-concrete. His composure and posture were a bit shaky though, making him seem like easy prey. His coat burned against his body though, hotter than usual, the rain that struck him created a small steamy trail behind him as he trudged his servos along.
As Ellis neared about the halfway point in his trot, an alien figure had jutted out of the alley in front of him. Stepping aback before adjusting for his situation, he noticed the creature was no taller than his knees, with huge seemingly bulging eyes that jutted from the creatures head, which had both a bright pinkish filament and a dark red scaly covering of scales, the creature seemed stubby and not at all like some bandit that had yet to commit any crime, but before he could think any further the being had squealed and ran somewhere behind him as something else came from behind it. Two new figures then slowly crept around the corner before spotting the small red being along behind Ellis.
“Hey! Give that girl back to us! She belongs somewhere safe!” yelled one of the figures, they barely towered over Ellis, but one was quite bulky, as the other bore a long knife in their hand that was swiftly drawn from the sleeve.
This intolerant scolding typically would’ve left Ellis with some sense of fear and perhaps cowardice, still standing in poor posture, but he had some leftover feeling from some sort of withdrawal, which resulted in his improper retaliation, “Sod off! I don’t wanna take time with your-- crap right now”.
The two were undeterred, grinning at some thought of relief, and then, before he thought he had started any sort of fight, the two had already bolted toward him and the unnamed girl. - Despite that he felt as if something kicked into his circuitry, perhaps something related to his overheating, or something else, but then, without thinking his right arm had met one of the blokes faces, almost putting them into something barely, near death, leaving them limping to the ground, and yet, before the other person had time to realize it, Ellis’s body had already taken a new stance, one that had the person in a bind at their heads base. The person that had once seemed fatal and completely dominating before, had become no more than a measly frog caught by any young lad, as Ellis’s steaming hand nearly cooked the person's throat closed for good. Suddenly though, without any knowledge of how, why, or what he had been doing up to that point, he had let go of the person’s neck as they crumbed near his feet, crawling back to his friend that had nearly met deaths door they then scrambled back to where they had come from.
Ellis, almost completely unaware of what just happened looked back down at his hand, feeling the heating sensation he had been feeling for hours now, begin to fade away. He turned to look around and while there was no sign of who just attacked him, there was no sign of the girl either which he seemed to have possibly saved.
Even though it seemed like the girl was in deep water, Ellis knew he had no time left to spare for another person’s problem, besides he needed to reach the carrier stop before the Carrier would reach its destination that he still needed to catch, and so, without almost any hesitation, he begins to bolt down the street to reach his destination, focusing on his destination with no more interruptions.
When he had finally reached his destination, the carrier was already there, unloading many Nocturnals which had their work hours situated in the heart of some other district of Depthopolis. In his head he hoped that the riding arrangement would at least not be as cramped as the last, which was only partially true. He loaded onto the carrier, into the size designation of his species which went from about a meter to four or five depending on the year model. Cramped and with nothing to do, he imagined of the life he could live without his day job, of which his job would soon be apparent.
It was like any other morning in the northern edges of the famed district, fanned with mighty gusts of wind and rain, weathering away every skyripper still standing. As grand and as tall as they stood, many didn’t look like they would last many more years. With the morning rain came much of the invasive wildlife that made their new homes in the slums of the city of Depthopolis, foraging as they festered into LA’s streets.
Ellis had a final people carrier that he needed to catch before he could arrive at the skyripper he needed to reach, but he had forgotten about the terrible weather in the mornings. Now, with only a coat to protect him from the hissing wind, he embarked off his penultimate ride to make his way to the last Carrier Stop.
There wasn’t much that ever went on in the outskirts main streets, occasionally there was the typical front doors that were left ajar, with dim lights that had no effect once it was morning, with the Carriers being more or less the only things alive in the streets, aside from the lifeforms travelling above. There was no soul to the outskirts though, it was only laden with the beings that consume the night, nocturnals, the only creatures that make their homes in the soggy derelict edges of La Artorica.
Occasionally though, even in the relatively harsh morning lights, beings of many shapes could be made out within the gaps of skyripper. Some would stare back as Ellis peered down the slits between the meta-concrete. His composure and posture were a bit shaky though, making him seem like easy prey. His coat burned against his body though, hotter than usual, the rain that struck him created a small steamy trail behind him as he trudged his servos along.
As Ellis neared about the halfway point in his trot, an alien figure had jutted out of the alley in front of him. Stepping aback before adjusting for his situation, he noticed the creature was no taller than his knees, with huge seemingly bulging eyes that jutted from the creatures head, which had both a bright pinkish filament and a dark red scaly covering of scales, the creature seemed stubby and not at all like some bandit that had yet to commit any crime, but before he could think any further the being had squealed and ran somewhere behind him as something else came from behind it. Two new figures then slowly crept around the corner before spotting the small red being along behind Ellis.
“Hey! Give that girl back to us! She belongs somewhere safe!” yelled one of the figures, they barely towered over Ellis, but one was quite bulky, as the other bore a long knife in their hand that was swiftly drawn from the sleeve.
This intolerant scolding typically would’ve left Ellis with some sense of fear and perhaps cowardice, still standing in poor posture, but he had some leftover feeling from some sort of withdrawal, which resulted in his improper retaliation, “Sod off! I don’t wanna take time with your-- crap right now”.
The two were undeterred, grinning at some thought of relief, and then, before he thought he had started any sort of fight, the two had already bolted toward him and the unnamed girl. - Despite that he felt as if something kicked into his circuitry, perhaps something related to his overheating, or something else, but then, without thinking his right arm had met one of the blokes faces, almost putting them into something barely, near death, leaving them limping to the ground, and yet, before the other person had time to realize it, Ellis’s body had already taken a new stance, one that had the person in a bind at their heads base. The person that had once seemed fatal and completely dominating before, had become no more than a measly frog caught by any young lad, as Ellis’s steaming hand nearly cooked the person's throat closed for good. Suddenly though, without any knowledge of how, why, or what he had been doing up to that point, he had let go of the person’s neck as they crumbed near his feet, crawling back to his friend that had nearly met deaths door they then scrambled back to where they had come from.
Ellis, almost completely unaware of what just happened looked back down at his hand, feeling the heating sensation he had been feeling for hours now, begin to fade away. He turned to look around and while there was no sign of who just attacked him, there was no sign of the girl either which he seemed to have possibly saved.
Even though it seemed like the girl was in deep water, Ellis knew he had no time left to spare for another person’s problem, besides he needed to reach the carrier stop before the Carrier would reach its destination that he still needed to catch, and so, without almost any hesitation, he begins to bolt down the street to reach his destination, focusing on his destination with no more interruptions.
When he had finally reached his destination, the carrier was already there, unloading many Nocturnals which had their work hours situated in the heart of some other district of Depthopolis. In his head he hoped that the riding arrangement would at least not be as cramped as the last, which was only partially true. He loaded onto the carrier, into the size designation of his species which went from about a meter to four or five depending on the year model. Cramped and with nothing to do, he imagined of the life he could live without his day job, of which his job would soon be apparent.
This is an idea I have for a Prequel Novel for Depthopolis, it takes place halfway between Independence Day (year 0), and the present day (year ~250). I want to make a comic or animated show for the present day one, but will have to be some other time, as I do not have the resources, nor do I believe I have the experience to do such.
I would love to hear any feedback on this chapter, I know it's quite small, and I plan to make a few more before my final decision, but hearing what people think, especially how much they'd like to hear more about it would be a real motivation booster.
This isn't my only current worldbuilding project Idea though, there are a few other which I plan on making Introductory Chapters like this for, so stay tuned if you enjoyed this.
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