Excerpt: Snapshots
November 23rd 2009 12:15
This is kind of a long scene for an excerpt, but I can't just give you guys part of the scene, because that would not be very cool of me.
Dreaming of Eternia
I was in a black place. The world around me was black. There was no colour, no light, except for one light shining on one woman sitting in a chair. The woman wore a bloodstained light blue wedding dress and a flower crown on her head. Her eyes were blue, the colour of the mists of magic on my world, similar to those of Lari's. There was the same deep sadness in them. Her hair was long and black and wavy, and it was by this hair that I knew she was not Lari.
“Phoenix... that is your name...”
“I have forsaken that name, now I am Alanna-”
“Do you know who I am, Phoenix?” she asked, her voice melodic like that of an old and wise Elvish priestess.
“No... no I don't,” I said, and a coldness almost like the cold of the aura of Those Who Are came over me, chilling me to the bone.
“My name is Eternia. And since you do not know my name, you must not know my crime.”
Lari's predecessor, I realized. This is the woman they talked about. But they never told me what she did...
“I killed ten thousand people, Phoenix. I was a princess. And at my wedding, I killed ten thousand people. I killed half the population of the city that I lived in at the time with dark magic. Ten thousand people. A quarter of the population of my kingdom. The entire royal family. Most of the nobles; most of the rich people of my kingdom... all gone...”
I stared at her, body numb. She seemed to be glowing, a glow emanating from her that came now almost to me. Her cold, blue eyes looked into the blackness that surrounded us, and there an image appeared. An image of a wedding, this woman's wedding, with thousands of people gathered in a giant yard that lay in front of a temple. This woman next to a man dressed in fine clothes, and on either side a father.
“This was where I killed them; I killed them at my wedding. The once holy yard of the temple, in which royal weddings had been performed for centuries-all manner of royal ceremonies were once performed here-became a tomb for ten thousand people. All of them dead by my magic.”
There were tears in her eyes as she looked at the picture, and then it began to move. There was a flash of lightning, and everything for a moment went white, and then she was standing in the center of the yard surrounded by thousands of bodies. Blood and death all around... I shivered.
“So the Gods came-including your Loki, the one you love so much-and they put me here. They locked me up in this place until the day that I collect ten thousand souls of those who have committed crimes equal to or greater than mine.”
“And the City of the Endeared, my city, capitol city of my kingdom for centuries... it fell into ruin. All of those who had not been at the wedding, those in the city who chose to stay away, all those who survived... they fled the city. And Riminira became the capitol, claimed by a noble family who knew that all the royal family-except for one, except for my brother Kalan-had died in that attack. The noble family became the new royal family, and eventually their blood mixed with that of Lari's ancestors.”
She rose and came over to me. I backed away but found that after a few steps my back hit a wall. A hand reached out and touched my chin, forcing me to look her in the eyes. A cold hand, colder than ice. Full of sorrow.
“Eventually the city rose again. Eventually people moved back, though never again would it be the capitol. Eventually my kingdom forgot me, all but the royal family... and then history was doomed to repeat itself... and eventually Lari was born. Then she allowed the war that destroyed my kingdom, our kingdom.”
“Do you know what you have in common with Lari and I?”
Her eyes pierced into my soul and I tried to turn away, tried to run, but her grip on me was too tight. The other hand extended and caught my wrist. The sheer cold of her touch sent me to my knees before her, kneeling as I had never knelt before anyone. The cruelty in her, the hard cruelty in her, frightened me. No longer was I the Phoenix. No longer was I a Goddess who could burn away her touch...
“And that is what you have in common with Lari and I,” her voice said coldly, filled with hate, “you destroyed your kingdom. I destroyed much of my kingdom without meaning to. All I wanted to do was prove someone wrong. So I killed them all. And the kingdom buried that event deep in its past, buried it by changing its name and forgetting my family.”
“Lari thought she could overcome the Magi Plains. Lari had dreams of a future where all magic users were united in the kingdom of Shalinor. So she did not move to stop the war that she knew was coming. And when it had almost conquered her, when Riminira and a few fishing villages were all that was left of Shalinor, she used the words of power that I had been taught never to use and she killed everyone in Riminira. She killed enemy soldiers and she killed her own people. She killed her servants and her friends. But she and her city have remained perfectly preserved for centuries.”
“Do you see the pattern?”
I shook my head. Tears were now rolling down my cheeks, tears that turned into ice as they got close to her fingers. The icy cold bit into my skin and I could feel frost sneaking up my cheeks. My arm was frozen to the point where I could barely move it.
“No,” I said, forcing it out, barely more than a whisper-but enough, I hoped.
She laughed, a cold, cruel laugh born of years of living alone. I could feel my eyes go wide as she tightened her grip on my wrist. I yelped as all feeling in my hand was lost and my blood felt like it had turned to ice. The stream of tears that turned to ice halfway down my cheek grew larger and I tried to back away. Why could I do nothing now? Because you chose not to be a Goddess anymore, that's why. Suddenly I hated myself, hated my decision...
“When you fell, Phoenix, what happened to your people? Those in Fidolius?”
“They... they were taken and... and they were enslaved and they were beaten,” I managed to say, my voice broken from the cold and the pain.
“Do you see the pattern now? Do you see what you have done-what I once did, what Lari once did, what now you have done?”
“I... I... I did not kill anyone on purpose! Please, please let me go-”
“You destroyed your people, perhaps not to the extent Lari did. Perhaps you have something left, perhaps there are still those who worship you but in time they will fade, as those who were loyal to my family faded. And eventually you will be forgotten. People will pass the ruins of your temples and they will wonder who was once worshiped there. They will wonder. What do you say to that?”
One hand moved from my chin to my chest, and I felt the cold seeping into my bones, seeping into my organs. I felt myself beginning to fade, beginning to die...
“Well? Do you acknowledge what you have done?”
Eternia! A familiar mindvoice yelled, let her go or you will suffer a million years in the flames of Home, you will suffer at the hands of the demons, and I swear to you-
There you have it. The formatting isn't perfect to what it is in the actual file, but I'm lazy. Sue me.... you won't get anything out of it. And that's a promise.
Dreaming of Eternia
I was in a black place. The world around me was black. There was no colour, no light, except for one light shining on one woman sitting in a chair. The woman wore a bloodstained light blue wedding dress and a flower crown on her head. Her eyes were blue, the colour of the mists of magic on my world, similar to those of Lari's. There was the same deep sadness in them. Her hair was long and black and wavy, and it was by this hair that I knew she was not Lari.
“Phoenix... that is your name...”
“I have forsaken that name, now I am Alanna-”
“Do you know who I am, Phoenix?” she asked, her voice melodic like that of an old and wise Elvish priestess.
“No... no I don't,” I said, and a coldness almost like the cold of the aura of Those Who Are came over me, chilling me to the bone.
“My name is Eternia. And since you do not know my name, you must not know my crime.”
Lari's predecessor, I realized. This is the woman they talked about. But they never told me what she did...
“I killed ten thousand people, Phoenix. I was a princess. And at my wedding, I killed ten thousand people. I killed half the population of the city that I lived in at the time with dark magic. Ten thousand people. A quarter of the population of my kingdom. The entire royal family. Most of the nobles; most of the rich people of my kingdom... all gone...”
I stared at her, body numb. She seemed to be glowing, a glow emanating from her that came now almost to me. Her cold, blue eyes looked into the blackness that surrounded us, and there an image appeared. An image of a wedding, this woman's wedding, with thousands of people gathered in a giant yard that lay in front of a temple. This woman next to a man dressed in fine clothes, and on either side a father.
“This was where I killed them; I killed them at my wedding. The once holy yard of the temple, in which royal weddings had been performed for centuries-all manner of royal ceremonies were once performed here-became a tomb for ten thousand people. All of them dead by my magic.”
There were tears in her eyes as she looked at the picture, and then it began to move. There was a flash of lightning, and everything for a moment went white, and then she was standing in the center of the yard surrounded by thousands of bodies. Blood and death all around... I shivered.
“So the Gods came-including your Loki, the one you love so much-and they put me here. They locked me up in this place until the day that I collect ten thousand souls of those who have committed crimes equal to or greater than mine.”
“And the City of the Endeared, my city, capitol city of my kingdom for centuries... it fell into ruin. All of those who had not been at the wedding, those in the city who chose to stay away, all those who survived... they fled the city. And Riminira became the capitol, claimed by a noble family who knew that all the royal family-except for one, except for my brother Kalan-had died in that attack. The noble family became the new royal family, and eventually their blood mixed with that of Lari's ancestors.”
She rose and came over to me. I backed away but found that after a few steps my back hit a wall. A hand reached out and touched my chin, forcing me to look her in the eyes. A cold hand, colder than ice. Full of sorrow.
“Eventually the city rose again. Eventually people moved back, though never again would it be the capitol. Eventually my kingdom forgot me, all but the royal family... and then history was doomed to repeat itself... and eventually Lari was born. Then she allowed the war that destroyed my kingdom, our kingdom.”
“Do you know what you have in common with Lari and I?”
Her eyes pierced into my soul and I tried to turn away, tried to run, but her grip on me was too tight. The other hand extended and caught my wrist. The sheer cold of her touch sent me to my knees before her, kneeling as I had never knelt before anyone. The cruelty in her, the hard cruelty in her, frightened me. No longer was I the Phoenix. No longer was I a Goddess who could burn away her touch...
“And that is what you have in common with Lari and I,” her voice said coldly, filled with hate, “you destroyed your kingdom. I destroyed much of my kingdom without meaning to. All I wanted to do was prove someone wrong. So I killed them all. And the kingdom buried that event deep in its past, buried it by changing its name and forgetting my family.”
“Lari thought she could overcome the Magi Plains. Lari had dreams of a future where all magic users were united in the kingdom of Shalinor. So she did not move to stop the war that she knew was coming. And when it had almost conquered her, when Riminira and a few fishing villages were all that was left of Shalinor, she used the words of power that I had been taught never to use and she killed everyone in Riminira. She killed enemy soldiers and she killed her own people. She killed her servants and her friends. But she and her city have remained perfectly preserved for centuries.”
“Do you see the pattern?”
I shook my head. Tears were now rolling down my cheeks, tears that turned into ice as they got close to her fingers. The icy cold bit into my skin and I could feel frost sneaking up my cheeks. My arm was frozen to the point where I could barely move it.
“No,” I said, forcing it out, barely more than a whisper-but enough, I hoped.
She laughed, a cold, cruel laugh born of years of living alone. I could feel my eyes go wide as she tightened her grip on my wrist. I yelped as all feeling in my hand was lost and my blood felt like it had turned to ice. The stream of tears that turned to ice halfway down my cheek grew larger and I tried to back away. Why could I do nothing now? Because you chose not to be a Goddess anymore, that's why. Suddenly I hated myself, hated my decision...
“When you fell, Phoenix, what happened to your people? Those in Fidolius?”
“They... they were taken and... and they were enslaved and they were beaten,” I managed to say, my voice broken from the cold and the pain.
“Do you see the pattern now? Do you see what you have done-what I once did, what Lari once did, what now you have done?”
“I... I... I did not kill anyone on purpose! Please, please let me go-”
“You destroyed your people, perhaps not to the extent Lari did. Perhaps you have something left, perhaps there are still those who worship you but in time they will fade, as those who were loyal to my family faded. And eventually you will be forgotten. People will pass the ruins of your temples and they will wonder who was once worshiped there. They will wonder. What do you say to that?”
One hand moved from my chin to my chest, and I felt the cold seeping into my bones, seeping into my organs. I felt myself beginning to fade, beginning to die...
“Well? Do you acknowledge what you have done?”
Eternia! A familiar mindvoice yelled, let her go or you will suffer a million years in the flames of Home, you will suffer at the hands of the demons, and I swear to you-
There you have it. The formatting isn't perfect to what it is in the actual file, but I'm lazy. Sue me.... you won't get anything out of it. And that's a promise.
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