Not an RPGWW fic thingie, but I'll post it anyhoo...

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Blaze Yamato Spirit
 

Not an RPGWW fic thingie, but I'll post it anyhoo...

Unread postby Blaze Yamato Spirit » Thu Jan 23, 2003 11:31 am

This is the intro to a larger piece I'm working on. It's - well, it's probably easier for you to just read it.

Kill and Tell

Valion gazed up at the painting in awe, his silver irises widening to take in the full splendour of the piece. It depicted Arathnee at its height; no trace of the vision even hinted at the continent’s current, sorry state. Here the humans had not plunged the continent into war – the masterpiece was of a time before the humans had come from across the ocean and begun corrupting the beautiful realm from within.

His eyes flickered over noble and elegant Gesprin, their golden skin and silver hair highlighted in minute detail – Valion would bet much of his wealth that this painting was as close to reality as art could come. But still, his gaze did not stay on these images for long; if he wished to see a Gespri he need only look in the mirror. He was instead drawn to the flora and fauna depicted on the canvas. Here were creatures and plants now near extinct, else once noble and proud but now tamed as the humans’ lapdogs. Such visions evoked memories of long ago times, though he had not experienced them himself. They were racial memories held inside the heart of every Gespri, deeper and more profound than any experiences of his own.

He examined the Chorlin, a prince among birds, its tail-feathers and beak all the colours of the rainbow and then some, its dark eyes staring at him accusingly – look what has come of Arathnee. Why do you not stop it, so the beauty might return to our world? Valion had no answer to that. Though they had tried to drive away the humans, the Gesprin weren’t warriors at heart. They simply didn’t have the capacity to act in the terrible, vicious, cruel ways that were so natural to the human mentality.

The Gespri sighed, and quickly looked away from the bird. At once his focus was drawn to something else – in the bottom right-hand corner of the painting, hidden away behind a bush as though the painter had wanted to include it for completeness but had at the same time wished that this were not so, was a small flower. Its stem was a putrid green, and its petals a deathly pallor. Valion had never seen one of these before, but he knew instantly what the thing was. A Death’s Kiss flower looked horrific, and they reputedly smelled like the inside of a centuries old tomb. To see such a flower was a bad omen, and evoked images of one’s own death. Traditionally, such a ghastly bloom was given to your victim one week before you intended to have them assassinated. A long-dead Prince had outlawed this practice, much to the relief of the Gesprin populace at the time – if they were to die, they preferred not to know about it before the event. Strangely enough, mused Valion, he never saw fit to make laws against assassination itself, which the plant was only a symbol of.

‘A wonderful piece of art, is it not, Valion?’

Valion turned to face the speaker. Gratifo was another Gespri of the Prince’s court, and a highly respected authority on the history of Arathnee.

‘Indeed it is, Gratifo. Thankyou for allowing me to view your art collection. I am deeply in your debt.’

‘Oh no,’ Replied the elder, his eyes sparkling in amusement. ‘It has been my pleasure to allow you access. You appreciate art; more than can be said most of the buffoons who make up this court.’ He extended a hand, slightly wrinkled looking hand – Valion was reminded of his own status as an elder – to point out one of the Gespri in the painting. ‘Camrillo, you know.’

Valion’s eyes widened in surprise. He had not guessed that any of the figures in the painting had been anyone important. Camrillo had been the first Gespri Prince; the one to unite all the scattered, warring tribes and eliminate the Gartin, an aggressive race that had also called Arathnee home at that time. Valion blushed, the colour of his golden skin deepening, and berated himself for not being able to recognise such an important historical figure.

‘It is quite all right, Valion. This image is nothing like how Camrillo is depicted in the history books. I believe it to be far more accurate, however. It is humbling, is it not, that we are – or were, ‘til recently – such a great civilisation, yet most of us know so little of our heritage?’

Valion nodded mutely. It certainly was. His eyes flickered over the painting once more and came to rest on the Chorlin depicted there.

Don’t you worry anymore, honoured prince of birds, he thought, I shall do what I can to undo the wrongs that have been committed. Nevermore shall we forget who we are, and what it means to be a Gespri. His mind resolved, he turned to Gratifo with an expression of determination worn on his face.

‘We must see to it that the peoples are properly educated again, Gratifo. With the understanding of our heritage will come the realisation of why we must fight – just as our ancestors fought before. Maybe then we can pull a victory from the shambles this war has become. The human invaders won’t know what has hit them!

Gratifo stroked his silver beard and chuckled darkly, his eyes twinkling.

‘Perhaps you are right Valion, perhaps you are right. But first – you did say you were indebted to me, did you not?’

‘I did. You wish a favour of me, Gratifo?’ Replied Valion earnestly.

‘Indeed. There is a gift over there for you, in that box.’ The elder gestured to an unadorned, red wooden box that sat underneath the high glass window, bathed in the light of Marlu. In the wedge of light in the otherwise slightly gloomy chamber the dust on the box’s lid could be plainly seen. As Valion took a step towards it, Gratifo held out a hand to restrain him. ‘My favour is that you not open it ‘til I have left the chamber.’

Valion frowned, wondering at the odd request. Finally he chalked the uneasy feeling he felt in the pit of his stomach up as irrational and ignored it.

‘If it pleases you, Gratifo, I will wait.

The other smiled, his white teeth flashing in the light.

‘Excellent. In that case, I bid you farwell, Valion. I shall see you – oh, say, the same time next week?’

Watching him go, the younger Gespri once again felt the oppressive feeling of unease settle on his stomach. Shrugging it off, he walked across the room, blinking furiously as Marlu’s rays fell on his eyes. After his eyes had adapted to the light, he knelt by the box and flipped the catch, pulling up the lid and looking inside.

As the stench hit him like a fist to the gut, the feeling he had ignored turned to a lead weight inside him. Eyes wide with horror, he stumbled back from the container, falling onto his backside, gagging. He retched violently for several minutes, unable to take any other action than allowing the terror that filled him to at least partially be removed violently alongside the remains of previous meals.

When he had calmed, lying in a pool of his own vomit, winded and dazed, he finally managed to force himself into motion, kneeling on trembling legs and peering once again into the box.

There, lying on a mould-ridden velvet cushion, was the shrivelled and withered remains of a Death’s Kiss.

Valion’s reaction was only slightly less violent than the last time.


Edited by: [url=http://pub30.ezboard.com/brpgww60462.showUserPublicProfile?gid=blazeyamatospirit>Blaze]  Image at: 2/5/03 3:28:32 pm

Firnthuleien
 

Whee!

Unread postby Firnthuleien » Fri Jan 31, 2003 12:20 pm

Very spiffy story Ross! Image

I would love to see more of it! ^^

*does the first comment dance then fwips off to art class*




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pd Rydia
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Re: Not an RPGWW fic thingie, but I'll post it anyhoo...

Unread postby pd Rydia » Wed Feb 05, 2003 2:40 pm

"His eyes flickered " -- I'd start a new paragraph with this...
"The Gespri sighed," -- same

Aside from that...very well-woven piece. o_O You've done an excellent job introducing this world...the name of the world, race, bird, persons, and sun, and in such a manner that the reader instantly is aware of what these things are. I commend you on this.

It flows very well, too, from one idea to another. There's just the right balance of dialogue and description to create and sustain interest. o_o And you left on a killer note.

...no pun intended. Honest.

Anyway, yeah...you will be posting more -- believe you me. <p>
<span style="font-size:xx-small;">-=- "Bah, my past was full of drinking and polymorph spells." -- Hakaril (Archmage144)
-=- "I wanna get so drunk that I start seeing my friends as cows." -- Aya (LadyDragonClawsEDW)
-=- "If you're still able to see in colors and not in scents...you're CERTAINLY not drunk enough." -- Nakibe
-=- "LET'S ALL RUN FREE, NAKED, AND DRUNK!" -- Shirinai</span></p>

Blaze Yamato Spirit
 

Re: Not an RPGWW fic thingie, but I'll post it anyhoo...

Unread postby Blaze Yamato Spirit » Wed Feb 05, 2003 4:32 pm

I editted it to take into account your advice, Grasshopper. *hugs* <p>MEGAMOG911: &nbsp &nbsp &nbsp &nbsp *counters by shoving a random chatter up LDC's falopian tubes*
UltimateKoD: &nbsp &nbsp &nbsp &nbsp GAAAAAAAH!
UltimateKoD: &nbsp &nbsp &nbsp &nbsp *SHOVED*
Consolelover: &nbsp &nbsp &nbsp &nbsp >_> It never ceases to amaze me how willingly some people volunteer for things like that.</p>

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pd Rydia
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*huggles back*

Unread postby pd Rydia » Sat Feb 15, 2003 2:07 pm

Excellent. ^_^

Image <p>
<span style="font-size:xx-small;">-=- "Why must my flaming debris be so delicious and edible? ;_;" -- FlamingDeth
-=- "oye KoD! tu griego me rockearia, si fuera griego de verdad..." -- ikozaedro
-=- "Seriously. The undead just don't stop. Great, aren't they?" -- Dirk (Skull Dragon)
-=- "Kelne's a natural magnet for everything, from lovers to planetary destroyers to carrots." -- End Reshiki</span></p>Edited by: [url=http://p068.ezboard.com/brpgww60462.showUserPublicProfile?gid=pdrydia>pd]&nbsp; Image at: 6/11/05 17:00


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