Standard Disclaimer: Project Sutra is
based on the ROM RP from the Pebble Version forums. All characters are property
of their respective owners. Permission to use all characters and situations has
been given by said respective owners. I've taken some liberties with some/all
of the characters to fit with the story. This work is copyrighted to the
author, and in no way is it to be sold, altered, or stolen. This Project is
directly connected to ROM: The Comic with is also an original work of mine
hosted on www.pebbleversion.com/ROM
Author’s Notes: Hello there, and thank you for reading my story, if you are
reading this, then that shows that you are obviously a person of the highest
calibre, and great sophistication, with highly refined taste, and are able to appreciate
superior culture.
Special Notice: Thanks to
Josiah, Opal and Immortal Servant, who provided valuable assistance in fixing
some grammar errors and typos in this story as well as prereading each chapter
at least twice. Also, thanks to the many writers out
there whose work helped inspire my work.
ROM Comics Presents
A work by Samantha 'Shauni' Lowe
Based on the RPs ROM: Realm of Monsters, ROM: Zodiac legends, ROM: Shadow of Souls and ROM: New Horizons
Project Sutra: Burned, Broken and Forgotten
****
Life will never be the same
again... I have been tossed over and again not once or twice but hundreds of
times. The Almighty creator has been at his best testing me every now and then
as if trying to confirm whether I shall be able to hold onto the responsibility
I have been assigned with. I shall not fail under any circumstances. This is my
destiny... the goal of my life which I have chosen on
my own.
But desire is the ultimate cause of all unhappiness.
****
Project Sutra
Chapter One: Enigmas wrapped within riddles
****
Sakura sighed as she turned the
stroller into yet another path through
"Come on Shauni, be a good girl
and go to sleep....mommy's tired…"
She looked down at the contents of the
stroller. A small 6 year old child looked back at her with lively green eyes
and giggled.
Sakura sighed again, would Shauni ever
go of to sleep?
Her eyes preceded her up from the
stroller to the path, and stopped on a girl sitting on a bench. She had her
long raven hair pulled back into a high ponytail. She looked rather morose, and
her chin rested on her chest. She’d been there the last two times past the
lake, too.
Sakura and her daughter rolled up and
stopped. If she was doomed to wander the park tonight, she might as well try to
do something better than just kill time. This girl looked like she could use a
friendly face.
“Hello,” ventured Sakura. The girl
didn’t respond. “Hello?”
The raven-haired girl looked up,
revealing startling, clear blue eyes. The girl was simply beautiful, the kind
of beauty that seemed warm and approachable rather than haughty and remote.
She looked over Sakura and the
stroller, and seemed to shrink a bit. “Uhhh… Hi.” Here voice was shaky and
broken.
“It’s a nice evening, don’t you think?
A bit sticky.”
The girl seemed distracted. “Yeah.” She eyed the stroller again. “Taking a walk?”
“Yes.” She smiled and shrugged. “My
daughter doesn’t want to go to sleep.”
The girl seemed to grow more morose at
Sakura’s words; she didn’t respond for a while. “Oh. Is it working?”
“Not at all.” Sakura laughed, and the girl managed a chuckle. “How about you?”
The teenager looked down again, and
sounded dispirited. “I...I....nothing.....” Her fine eyebrows knit in tension.
Sakura studied her carefully. “Its like that is it....”
The nodded. “Dont worry about it...its not
your problem.”
“Shouldn’t you be getting home soon?
Wont your parents be worried?”
The girl stiffened visibly, and closed
her eyes for a moment. “Uhhhh… I guess. Yeah.”
Suspicion started to grow in Sakura’s
mind. “Are you going to be all right?”
The teenager looked up sadly
“Peachy....”
The girl was still sitting there,
hunched over on the bench. “I dont mean to interfere, but if its got you this
worried maybe you need to do something positive, to either resolve the issue or
at least get your mind off it. Its not nice to see
such a pretty face holding a frown”
The girl sighed. “Yeah, your right”
She straightened up a little. "Sitting here isn't going to help. I guess…
guess I should go home and deal with it.” Her expression hardened. “Running
away isn't the answer.” She stood up.
Sakura smiled. She seemed like a good
girl, despite her rough manners. “That’s the spirit.”
The teenager smiled in gratitude.
“Thanks, lady.”
“Not at all. Whatever it is, dear, good luck.” The girl smiled
again, and headed off.
Sakura watched her leave. In contrast
to the way she had sat on the bench, she walked gracefully.
Sakura shook her head slowly; the girl
seemed like a living, walking contradiction. She wondered if she’d encounter
this raven haired enigma again.
Daring to hope, she looked back to the
stroller. Two tiny, alert eyes regarded her, and blinked once. She sighed in
resignation as her own shoulders slumped, and she wearily started to roll the
stroller down the path once more. She wondered who was going to be the first to
pass out.
****
"Time is a great healer, I'm sure
you'll get over this in time. Please, dont do this"
It's funny, how not having something
good can hurt more than having something bad.
It's even funnier that I didn't know I
had something good until it was gone. I had it good, better than I ever will
again, and now, no matter what happens, no matter how well I do, that something
is gone, and its absence will cause me pain for as long as I live.
Time only lets your learn to live with
the pain, you never heal.
"Its
already been so long though."
****
Sutra ran with all the speed her feet
could muster. Inspired by the advice of a passing stranger, she had her second
wind, and would face her problems head on.
Sutra's problems were never normal for
a girl her age, at the age 10 both her parents had been killed in a car
accident. She had been raised by her older brother who was 7 years her senior.
Now she was 17 and looking after him.
He had recently started drinking after
loosing his scholarship to University. Sutra had to deal with her normally
gentle brothers liquor induced mood swings.
Last night had proved to much for her,
her brother had smashed up her computer in a blind rage...Sutra's only portal
to human interaction was the internet, she was somewhat of a loner in reality.
She reached the two bedroom
apparent neither of the siblings could bring themselves to call home.
Sutra stopped at the door for a moment
to compose herself, taking in a deep breath.
She twisted the door open and entered
the darkness that greeted her.
"Emiel" she spoke softly
Silence
"Emiel...its me,
are you home?"
Silence
She began to investigate the rooms one
by one, finding each one cloaked in an eerier darkness.
She eventually came to her room, the
only one left to investigate.
She slowly opened the door and peered
in. The crack of light lit the destruction Emiel had left there hours ago.
She sunk into the room, switching on
the light.
A gasp escaped her,
the room was an even greater mess than she had left it in her brothers rage.
She surveyed what remained of her
belongings.
Her computer monitor was smashed into the floor, and her base units hard disk and CD burner were mangled in its remains.
The rest of the base unit was just an
obliterated mess on the floor, covered party by two halves of a key bored, and
what looked like a mouse cord...with no mouse on the end.
If it was just this she may have been
able to understand, but all of her posters had been ripped down, her books torn
into peace's, her CDs thrown about the place,
scratched beyond use. Her bedding had been shredded also, and there was even a
hole in the wall, most likely due to a leg.
Sutra did the one things
she could do, she calmly walked into the room and began to go threw this mess,
looking for anything that could be salvaged.
She considered for a moment doing the
same to Emiel's belongs, but brushed the thought aside when she found a book.
She pulled the book to her, a soft
smile covering her face
"Thank god you survived...all
this is bad enough...but if he had destroyed you as well...I would have never
forgiven him"
She opened the pages of the book, it was a note book, full of written down
ideas, programming code for computers, sketches and stuck in pictures.
The book was very old and well worn on
its spin. A mixture of journal and scrap book.
It looked like the makings of a great
project, lovingly put together over a long time.
She flipped to the back of the book,
there was a safe key tapped into a concealed pocket.
She brought out the key and clenched
it tightly in her fist.
"Thank god I back up all my
work...if I had lost this...I may as well have not lived the last two
years..."
****
"But you have been seeing other people, that's good, meeting someone new will help.
Just give them a chance, dont let yourself become obsessive like this"
I'm afraid you misconstrue my actions.
I assure you that our unorthodox meeting was quite unintentional, and that it
was but an unfortunate happenstance that caused me to collide with them. A series of unrelated events, nothing more than coincidence, and
not a happy coincidence at that. I dont want to meet other people
"I dont want anyone. I wont replace him with anyone"
****
A rather pretty, if dishevelled, young
girl with short brown hair held back by a hairband
and stylish metallic glasses stood behind the counter of the library
.
Her face twisted up as she looked at
Sutra into an expression of… something. Sutra never did see what the expression
was becoming, because the girl was simultaneously flipping paperwork around
herself. Apparently even though Sutra was stood right in front of her, this
girl was not aware of her prescience.
"o...where
is it, where is it!"
"What's the matter Yoiko?"
The girl suddenly jumped in surprise
as the voice came from behind her, sending all the paperwork flying out of her
arms and falling to the ground in messy clumps.
"Um, good afternoon Yoiko"
"S-Sutra! Ah! You scared me, um...what can do for you
today?"
The girl smiled weakly and began to
turn red, clearly embraced.
Sutra was a bit freaked by Yoiko’s
behaviour. She was acting so panicky… and, well, un-Yoikoish.
The girl was the stereotypical
Liberian, calm and quite. Today she was a panicky mess
"What's going on? What's got you
so worked up?"
"Hum, o, the department is having an upheaval...I need to find the
paperwork for last years book perchance..."
"....but you cant
find it?"
"No..."
"Would you like me to help you
look?"
"No no, that's ok, your off duty, I'll manage,
you know me, scatter brain that I am, Ive just forgotten
where they are"
Yoiko began to laugh nervously
"Well...if your
sure, anyway, I came to get some stuff out of the safe, can you let me
threw?"
Yoiko stopped laughing and composed herself
"Sure Sutra, just go threw, just try to avoid standing on the paperwork...all
over the floor..."
Sutra smiled weakly, bowed to Yoiko,
and set of behind the counter to the staff only area.
She came into the room, a little less
cluttered than the main desk, but this was after all Yoiko's room, so it was
filled with paperwork as well.
Trying to ignore the mess, Sutra
walked to the back of the room towards a safe imbedded into the wall.
Taking her key, she placed it into the
lock and turned it.
There was a loud creaking of protest
from the safe as she forced the door open.
She looked inside, a genuine smile
forming on her face.
She reached into the safe and pulled
out a laptop.
"Everything on my home computer
is backed up on here...it wouldn't do to not have a backup with 'brother dear'
around"
She walked towards Yoiko's desk and
sat down, placing the laptop on the table.
After plugging it in she loaded up the
machine
"What are you doing in
there?" Yoiko yelled in to her from outside
"Just going to work on ROM for a
while, my home computer is....broken"
"O, still working on that
computer game of yours?"
"yep, I had a great idea today"
"And what's that?"
"I finally came up with a name for the villain, I even managed to get some
code sequences to program his AI from Greg"
"That's good, so, what's this great name you came up with?"
"Moen"
"Moen? What kind of name is that?"
"Think about it, MO-EN"
There was silence for a moment
"O I get it! Mokando Endan!"
"Yep, you got that right, our
'wonderful' boss and slave driver!"
"That's perfect, he would make a perfect
villain!"
Yoiko began to laugh, a true laughter
Sutra smiled happily for the first
time all day, Yoiko always made her laugh.
She had a little surprise for Yoiko as
well, she had based a character in her game on her.
"I also have another character
lined up to program tonight as well"
"O, and who that possibly be?"
"Well, she's kinda a book worm, mostly charm, a little bit of a scatter
brain, but has a great sense of humour"
"Ok...she sounds nice"
"And her names Yomikko"
"'Yomikko? Kinda sounds like Yoiko doesn't it "
"That's the point! She's based on you stupid!"
"Wow! your
putting me in your game...wait, who are you calling scatter brain! Only I get
to call myself that!"
Sutra and Yoiko both explode into
laughter.
After a while the sound of laughter
faded as Yoiko returns to her paperwork, there was no noise in the department
of the old school apart from the light tapping of a keyboard in Yoiko's office.
Yoiko found it soothing and finally found her missing paperwork she was looking
for, now all that was left was to find her budget from last year...
****
"Perhaps a change of scene would
be good, go on holiday, leave behind your worries.
Just dont do this"
Travel is supposed to be broadening.
It is not, really. Mostly, travel is loneliness, separated into intervals of
too many people going in other directions. Loneliness, taken to extreme, leads
to sadness. Sadness, taken to extreme, leads to depression. Depression,
taken to extreme leads to shortcomings....then back to travelling.
"Travel, where? I’ve travelled, I
still feel the same."
****
"I'm home." came the slightly miserable announcement at the entrance.
Sutra was not having a good day. First Mr Mokando Endan, her 'lovely' boss at
the school, had found out she was using the office safe for personal goods and
was ordered to remove the laptop, then she ran into some boys she really didn't
like and then Mu-mu, the neighbours randy dog, made
romantic advances towards her leg. After dealing with them it started to rain.
It wasn't a good day at all.
Once a good ways inside, she shook her jacket and umbrella to get off some
excess water then headed toward the kitchen.
"Hi Auntie Corinne. What's for lunch?" she
said.
"Sutra, home already?" Corinne sounded surprised, she had expected Sutra to stay at the school
after her shift to work on her 'hobby'.
"Ummm..."
"Why don't you take your bath, and lunch will be ready." interrupted any kind
of reply from her Aunt, who then started to prepare lunch.
Sutra's Auntie Corinne came to there
flat once a week to prepare them a meal, she wanted to
make sure they ate well at least once a week.
"Ok." she grabbed one of the clean towels then headed toward the
bath.
Already in the bathroom, a figure climbed out threw the open window and landed
ungracefully in a heap on the floor outside.
"Damn. Where is it?" the boy
said as he looked for something, only to realise that it he must have dropped
it when he tried to open the window. Silently, he tried his best to get in the
window back inside the bathroom. Once in, he started to search the room for 'it'.
It seemed that 'it' was on the other side, near the door. He tip toed over and
then bent down to pick it up...
*Yawn* 'I must be more tired then I thought' Sutra thought while preparing for
the bath, making sure she had a clean pair of clothes to wear afterwards, she
walked over to the door.
'The bath'll help, I'm sure of it.'
then she opened the door, only to see a person bending down.
"THEIF!!!" she screamed and then found the heaviest or biggest item
she could find and struck the figure over the head with it. This heaviest or
biggest item turn out to be a cosmetics try, its contents now all over the
floor from its sudden upheaval.. She was just turning
to go into the house to call the police when something started to nag at her.
Turning back she put on some clothes and turned the figure over. It was too
dark to see. She didn't realise why the boy looked familiar until she turned on
the lights. When she turned around again to take a better look but saw the face
of her brother.
"Emeil? What the hell are you doing??"
Emiel sat up and began to rub his head
where she had struck him
"dam it Sutra, I was sneaking out, I just came back in cos
I dropped my keys"
"Why the hell are you sneaking out??"
"I'm going to meet Lain at the
bar"
"Again? But you went out last night! And today's Tuesday, Auntie is here,
she's made our dinner"
"That's why I'm sneaking out"
Sutra walked over to him and lent forward, as Emiel breathed out she pulled
back in disgust.
"You already smell of whisky,
where did you get that bottle?"
"Actually it was three bottle, and its none of
your beeswax"
"I bet you haven't even been sober since last night have you!"
"That's got nothing to do with you!"
"Do you even know what you did to me last night?!?"
"What the hell are you talking about??"
Sutra grabbed her brother in rage and dragged him out of the bathroom with the
strength female fury had given her.
She pulled him all along the corridor
and past her Auntie in the kitchen.
She opened her bedroom door and thrust
Emiel into her room.
He's eyes almost exploded in shock at
the sight, it was a wreck
"What happened?? Where we
robbed??"
"You happened Emeil! You did this!"
Auntie Corinne had followed Sutra and
Emiel and was also taken aback by the sight.
"Emiel...YOU did this?"
Emiel was silent, the shocked had sobered him up.
She slowly began to nodded.
"That's enough....you two cant go
on like this, Sutra, your moving in with me until Emiel cleans up his act, pack
your things, where leaving right now."
Within almost 20 minutes Sutra and
Auntie Corinne had left, Emiel had remained unmoved as he stared at the mess.
He eventually walked downstairs and
ate what his Auntie had left him in the microwave.
He returned to Sutra's room after it,
with cleaning utensils, a hammer and nails and a bucket.
He began to correct his mistakes.
****
"Well, when all else fails, show
a little leg. Guys can't resist a little leg..."
"You cant
stop me"
"ha! I
knew you weren't listing to me! I'm tying to help you here, why wont you let me in?"
Why cant you
see past your Technicolor view of the world,
there are drab Grays and violent blacks all around you, not everything is
rainbow, why cant you leave me in my bland existence? You cant
help me, so why bother trying?
I dont like colours anymore anyway.
"I dont have an answer you
will like"
"Denial was not just a river in
I'm not in denial.
"Why dont you talk to me? Talking
always helps. Please, stop what your doing and just
think"
Theirs always a
storm. The occasional crash of thunder
always hinders conversation. Rain is something that doesn't exactly provide
particularly fond memories either. Besides, I dont feel like talking anyway. I
just hope theirs a flood so I'm washed away.
"I dont need to"
****
Author’s Notes: Comments are
welcome
Tasteless? Unoriginal? Uninspired?
And dare I say it “has potential”?
Please e-mail comments to
shauni_san@hotmail.com
Sakura is pronounced "suh-KOOH-ra." When pronouncing Japanese names, no
syllables are supposed to be stressed. That can be a little hard for some
native English speakers, so instead the first syllable
can be stressed for nearly the same effect. It means cherryblossum, which is
one of my favorite flowers.
Sutra, as in an actual sutra is
literally, "thread" or "string." A
scripture containing the teachings of Buddha. In
reference to thread; literally the sacred thread that is worn by the
twice-born; also the sacred thread of oral tradition that links back to the
oldest roots of the faith.
The Sanskrit word sutra literally means an idea expressed as a concise, clear
statement. The sutra texts, express a variety of world views.
Also of note, "Yoiko" means
"good girl" in Japanese.
Sutra and Emiel have no nationality so
no country will be stated where they live.