Fantasy of War as with some good storylines is developed and imagined in reverse, with the ending coming first – and the beginning coming last. This first chapter I speak of is merely chronologically first. This by no means is the beginning of the story. The beginning of the story is already right here on this blog. That's the beginning of the story.

This first game/chapter is a flashback from the present time storyline – and this is the a major portion that could actually be told in a short game. At present, it has no connection whatsoever to the current storyline – but all will become clear in time.

I've decided that one of the experiences in my dream made for a good beginning to the first chapter, which is actually the development of one of the more important concepts in the Fantasy of War – the concept of a greater power. In a sense, it's one of the wackier sides of the Fantasy of War, but an important one.

After all, there is no greater fantasy of war than of one involving far greater, far more powerful beings which cannot be described in any way but abstract.

Expect the story to begin like my dream – your main character arrives in a trains with others, gains a short briefing about the world – and soon after, your main character's goals will come into view, together with what you need to do to get them accomplished.

After a while, I went back and reread my stories, and then I realised how childish they were. Despite me having planned massive story arcs, backstory and technological advances and levels, apparently, my writing is still horrible. It's bloody obvious I haven't thought through how I should start to tell the story.

The problem with it is that it was originally conceived as a television series of sorts. Within this series itself, it was planned somewhat for half-hour episodes, not the normal one hour shows that normal sci-fi shows tended to extend to. In this manner, it was much like anime. In fact, it was meant to be animated realistically via 3D. (When you're young, you dream a little less realistically.)

Thinking about it now, it's probably far more appropriate to think of it as more of an anime-style project. After a while of going nowhere, I then decided that I should start writing it out as a set of short sections, with the aim of completing an entire book by the end of my university life – which is what I did try to do on the blog.

The problem was that since I originally conceived it as a show, I couldn't get it out of my mind that it was a TV show of sorts. As a result, my writing suffered, from both my inexperience and the fact that I visualised it as a show.

How large was I actually planning the project? Believe it or not, I planned for the long-run story arc to run over five seasons. After that, I intended to conclude the greater Fantasy of War arc (which is actually meant to run over several movies or miniseries, but this is the only running TV series) with two 2-hour miniseries episodes. Sounds really ambitious, no?

And funnily enough, the Fantasy of War as it is now is actually 2 seasons shorter compared to when it was originally conceived. If you've actually bothered to read it, you would've noticed the medical vessel seems kind of pointless – since Cass and Kanya almost instantly get a transfer to a military-class ship, the Aegis.

Originally, Harrison was a main character too, especially since the show was actually supposed to run on the medical vessel for one season, and then Kanya was to get a transfer and then meet Cass on the Aegis. Now, I've cut that part of the story for simplicity's sake. The fact that Kanya and Harrison start off in the story in the medical vessel is important (even after the story cut). It's also important point that Cass was originally on the ship.

What else is important? The fact that there is no war to speak of in the first season, merely a buildup of one, as well as important facts of what happened from several previous wars in the FoW universe.

It is not to say that you could gain the same abilities they do, but spend enough time with them and it will not be long before you will gain the same abilities that they wield as if it were nothing. Of course, first you'd have to contend with how to live among them without the same powers they do.

They can access data by merely touching the terminals, but you cannot. They can order food by merely channeling enough data into the grid in the floor. It will not be long before you will find yourself alienated by their very norms because you do not have the same abilities they do. Of course, there will be those among them who are disabled and do not have the ability – and that is how you will live until you possibly gain it, of which the probability is slim.

They are actually of the same origin as you, with a possible genetic predisposition. There is no evolution at hand here, merely a massive process of learning to be done. It may take until your next lifetime before you complete your learning process, but nothing can stop you if there is a will to do it.

Despite being in a familiar room, it felt disjointed to him. He could not recall why he was in this room. He found himself asking the strangest question: “Where am I?”. He began to scan the room. He could see a data terminal nearby. There was something on it. It was what he wanted. He got out the bed and immediately grabbed it.

It was a small little thing. A form of watch, to be exact. The back of the object read:

PDD
Kanya Methodius

“Kanya?”, he thought. “Is that my name?”

He searches his memories for a recollection of his name. He recalls being called that, and how ridiculous a name he thought it was then.

He puts on the PDD. It tells him that it is the 29th of April, 3031. He knows the situation he is in now. He now recalls why he is here. He was in a training accident more than a year ago. However, his memory tells him that accident was yesterday. He checks his PDD for recent recordings and photos. He finds that his PDD is completely devoid of such things. He still has other pieces of information (such as contact details) on it, however. His PDD has obviously been updated in the past year. He sees strange new menu items such as “Locator” and “Ping”.

He opens up the Locator application. He sees that he is within a medical care unit room within a Medical Vessel owned by the TRi. He heads for the door with the intention of looking for someone. He leaves his room and follows the map on his PDD to find the medical care office. He finds a room – “Chief Medical Officer – Harrison”. He wonders why there is no one around the medical unit. He opens the door.

He finds a man busy doing some typing. The man looks up and gets a little startled. “You're awake!”

Kanya is puzzled by his reaction.

“You haven't been responding to any treatment we've been giving you since the accident. And now, you are bloody awake and walking around in the middle of the night!”

“What?”

“You aren't a ghost or spirit or something, right? It's way past midnight, I might be seeing things.”

“I assure you that you are not. What the hell is going on?”

“Well, er, let me pull up your file, Kanya.”

Harrison reaches out to the display and suddenly a file on Kanya opens.

“You see, you've been in a coma-like state ever since the accident, if you remember. Some newbie pilot rammed straight into you during landing. For some odd reason or another, you refused to come out of the coma even after several different treatments, even newer ones. At some point, you were moved into this unit for looking after. If you looked around, this particular unit on this vessel specialises in comatose patients and the rooms around you are similar. Usually people are only put here when their families have given up on waiting for them to heal on colonies. Research puts heavily regulated environments like on a medical ship as ideal for comatose patients to recover. And you're just another piece of walking proof. It still is rare though. But recovery time on ships is still a good amount higher than on planets.”

Kanya is speechless at the information Harrison is feeding him.

“I suggest you do go back to your own room and sleep. I'll arrange something of a checkup tomorrow to make sure you're all OK, even if the vitals here on my screen say so. For now, it's the middle of the night. No urgency – you've been somewhat dead for a year anyway.”

OK, being in heaven is pushing it. I just think it's a rather ideal timetable. Plenty of time to prepare, plenty of time to play and relax too. If you aren't waiting to drag your butt back home or something, the time table is excellent.

I'm currently working on rewriting the prologue for the story. I think it ended up a bit messy and stupid, since I sort of dumped all the supposed tension by saying that there was tension. I think that completely broke the entire prologue's feel, so I'll be rewriting it. I believe the next post of it will be in PDF format, since I think dumping the entire rewritten prologue just like that into the blog is suicidal.

Update: u238′s blog and drinkingcocoa's blog links have been removed. u238 is in the process of revamping his blog and possibly even moving it, while drinkingcocoa, well, he just ain't updating anymore.

I can assure you though that I haven't gone back and rewritten the story yet. I have been heavily rethinking the story and continuously revising it. While I can already rewrite the first two chapters as I intended and repairing certain foreshadowing facts which went wrong already. Imagine, only two chapters and already an error. I'm holding off in the meantime and planning it a little bit more carefully.

“We'd lose because we'd only man half of the ship. The Arltian Alliance refuses to allow us to hire their people from the bordering planets. We may have the money, but it doesn't mean anything if we don't have enough men to use that money. I've got to go now. Time to report this to the rest of the fleet.”

The story is being rewritten yet again at this point. Expect it to happen until kingdom come. I decided that this way of writing is awful – and it's most certainly headed in the wrong direction. I think that I've put in the sideplots too many too early, and I'm confusing readers more than I am attracting their interest to read more. Of course, arguably – this whole story is actually a sideplot to a much larger one.

Kanya might be looking at a rename, although Erse and Pandora will probably stick. Doesn't take a genius to figure out who the main characters are in the story now does it?

I think my methods of furthering the story are wrong. I think I've been trying too hard to further the story by summary, instead of writing in detail what I should be writing about. Expect the first chapter in a rewritten PDF form some time in the future.

He then turns to Cassandra. “Nice to meet you. Sorry to cut your meeting short, but there are pressing matters, especially regarding the security situation in this section of space. I have news for you too. I believe a friend of yours is in medical. I highly suggest you go see him in the meantime. Erse will take a while to get back.”

She thanks him and follows his advice, finding her way to the infirmary aboard the Aegis.

She obviously finds Kanya there, now conscious.

“He is lacking some of his short term memory. He doesn't quite remember what happened in the last 24 hours, but he seems to be getting some strange flashbacks. It's possible he got some kind of attack and somehow found his way on the ship, looking from his medical history,” the doctor there elaborated.

(This is a little short I know, but bear with it until my brain returns to full operating function.)

“You want me to transfer to your ship, correct?” Cassandra replied.

“Your guess is correct. I am unsure as to the reason you have been kept on the MV2904 but I have been pulling strings to find out. However, it might be unsafe if you remain outside my sphere of influence as I go deeper into matter. The main reason I have come is to recruit you.”

“I am honoured, but what do you mean pulling strings? And why should you care about me?”

“You see, there have been a few rather peculiar occurences regarding certain people who stand out because of their outstanding skills. Often, they find themselves in circumstances not unlike the ones you have been in. Contrary to popular belief, my supposedly random recruitment is not random at all.”

“What do you mean?”

“I have been picking up whoever I can without raising too much suspicion in the process. They know what I have been doing, and they know that I am on to them. While a matter like this might seem trivial to a person like me, the issue spreads far deeper than you know. I cannot go over the details and I cannot give you any information for reasons you already know.”

“Understood.”

“So, will you accept my offer and be the leader of one of the fighter squadrons of the Aegis? I have been waiting a long time for an opening to offer to you.”

“I have been stuck on that junk ship for a long time. I'll take the job.”

“Good.”

A member of the Aegis staff suddenly walks in. He has news.

The voice was Pandora's. She had somehow gotten a hold of him. Kanya suddenly blanked out for a short while.

“You're not supposed to be on this ship. Moreover, you were heading for places even most crew of the Aegis aren't supposed to go near.”

Kanya was speechless.

“Don't you have any excuse for entering when you were unauthorised?”

He had no words to say. He was still in shock of being discovered.

“Your abilities are recovering far quicker than I expected. It looks like I need to bring forward the schedule a little bit. Either way, I can't have you remembering anything within this region of time.”

She takes out a syringe and suddenly jabs him with it.

“You don't remember who I am to you yet. You will remember in time. Hopefully, the next time we meet, you will remember who I really am, what I am doing, for what reason I'm doing it. And for your sake, don't go using your abilities unchecked by reason. If you ran into someone other than me, chances are you would have been terminated on the spot. After all, no one on this ship knows you. Not yet at least.”

She removes the syringe, and stabs him with what appears to be a needle.

“Unfortunately, I cannot have you recover too quickly. That would ruin my plan and put you in unnecessary danger. You have much to learn before I can allow you to roam freely without supervision.”

She removes the needle. Not long after, Kanya falls to the ground. She takes out her PDD.

“I need a medical team at the position I'm calling from. A crew member from the MV2904 somehow wandered in and collapsed here.”

“What is this person doing on the Aegis?”

“Who knows? I think he somehow got cleared through the doors. Must have been a glitch or something.”

“Why would he come here?”

“Probably got lost. Just hurry up and send a team here. I have things to attend to.”