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| Tweet Topic Started: Oct 22 2008, 12:26 PM (1,307 Views) | |
| Yaomi | Oct 22 2008, 12:26 PM Post #1 |
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Gathering Chi
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Hello everyone!!! Sorry it took me sooooooooo long to acutally come on and post this, thankfully Sevens never stops nagging. Well anyways, this is a book that I've been workin on for... awhile. I hope you all enjoy. It's quite long, so I'll post it one chapter at a time. PLEASE post reviews and comments after each chapter (I could use all the helpful advice). Thanks again! Pyon! --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Chapter One Soaring far In shining blue skies The sun in your eyes A sea of clouds Darkness falls The moon flies over head My dreams that you read Watch over you Deep in the deserts of the border lands between the north and south stood a radiant white tower. Spreading for more than a mile from its base, was a sprawling expanse of dense forest, lush with fruit bearing plants and luminous flowers. An oasis risen from the sands, it had been born of a single seed. Around this lush and fertile jungle had grown a thriving city, distinct with its own districts and streets, peoples and structures, lives and deaths. The tower vibrated slightly with the constant pulse of music that issued forth from its corridors and archways. In its own way it was content. It had stood here for eons, forever rooted between the northlands and the southlands, firmly held between the earth and sky. It had been the first; from it all of this life and activity has sprung forth. It had remained here, ever docile as its children spread further and further outwards. It had never once tottered or crumbled. Through the convulsions of the earth and the screams of the heavens, it had stood perpetual, everlasting. It was proud, not because of its permanence or its child procreation, but rather because it was the beginning. It would see it all. It would see the beginning and the ending of the First. And thus it was proud. A small boy watched in wonder as a girl, about his age, sung the same calming words over and over again. She was beautiful for one so young, and such a voice! Her entrancing words seemed so warm and friendly, so alive that they seemed to literally flow around him and into him. He could feel their joy and their laughter. He slid himself across the high ceiling beam until he was directly over the young girl, careful not to make a sound. She's a siren, he mused, sirens hate males, but how could anyone with a voice like that hate anybody, doesn’t seem right. He puzzled over these oddities in his young mind and slowly drifted of into a deep, peaceful sleep. The girl opened her mouth and let the Omraah, the shared voice of all sirens, the life blood of the world itself, flow from her in the manner she had been taught. Deep, violet colored eyes glistened with the mirth and freedom that this song imparted. The feeling of joy in this song was so present, so invigorating, it was easy to lose oneself to it entirely. She shook her head violently, letting her long, straight, jet black hair drift around the darkened-honey colored skin of her shoulders. She had to banish such thoughts from her mind, to lose oneself in song, meant death for a siren… Nevertheless, she enjoyed singing verses like this one. Songs of simple peace and joy were few and far between compared to songs of much darker themes. They always remained a small comfort in her lonely life. She let her mind drift from the song to other matters without missing a beat. Her body continued to sing her alluring melody, but her mind ventured off into more timely matters. She'd been in training for three years now; in only one more the high examination would be held. Araali, the youngest Siren acolyte in history, would soon take the most sacred of tests. If she passed she would become a full fledged Siren, all the secrets of the art would be opened to her, and her potential would become limitless. On the other hand, if she failed the sirens would reject her and she would be banished from the towering white convent permanently. Is that really a fate I should try to avoid, she thought sullenly, if I fail, they may at least release me, maybe they would allow me to come home, and I could see mother again. The mere thought of her mother saddened her. She didn't have a choice, Araali told herself. She knew very well what she was. A hostage stripped of the rights and freedoms granted to one of royal blood. Most royal families had to give up a child, in order to assuage the God Emperor's paranoid fear of rebellion. Since she was the only child her mother had, she was also the God Emperor’s insurance. This siren training was more of and over glorified farce. Just to add to the troubles, rumors of growing weakness in the Barrier were too numerous to ignore. Iyeck, the small province where her mother reigned as High Lady, was disturbingly close to the mystic wall that guarded the world from an evil that no one could name, at least not one that she could name. Who knew what the adults kept from her? Still, her mother had told her that she would be safe here. But what about you mama, Araali thought. Time flew by when she was singing, and by the time she snapped out of her meditative repose the moon had already raised into the dark ink blue sky. She slowly ended her song, chanting it more and more softly until it faded into memory. She picked herself up off the numerous blankets she had put down to prevent the hard marble floor from bruising her knees. Without warning she was struck form above by something large and heavy. She was thrown back to the floor with a heavy thud. The thing that had fallen on her began to thrash about wildly, entangling both of them thoroughly in her blankets. Immediately she stilled her mind and the swell of panic surging through her, calmly she crawled her way out of the mesh of coverings, steadying the wild beating of her heart. Never panic, she remembered the guards telling her that when she started training with them. The creature suddenly stilled. Either it had stunned itself in its mad flailing or it had sensed her presence. She guessed it was the latter of the two. She knew that she should ring the alarm bell and summon her protectors, the male guardians of the convent, but her curiosity moved her to do otherwise. It was very rare that the norm of the convent was ever broken. She needed something, anything that would give her even a small thrill, none-the-less; it helped to know that she could ring for help at any time. A small voice in her head warned her that curiosity is the step right before death, but she ignored it. She crept towards the creature slowly, making no sudden movements so as not to frighten it although she doubted it could see her through all of those thick blankets. She did her best to radiate an aura of peace. Her mother had taught her this when they used to go walking in the forests at Iyeck’s outskirts and came across a more dangerous animal. As long as she did not appear threatening in any way, no harm would befall her. Whatever it was it had succeeded in completely covering itself in her blankets. Odd, she thought, it smells nice, a lot like citrus. A warning instinct snapped on in her brain, what if this thing meant her harm? She had no way of knowing what it was or of its intentions. It could be a large bird that was roosting on the convent’s roof or it could be an assassin who had taken a careless step. The girl's skin rippled and feathers of a beautiful red and orange covered her arms from wrist to elbow. The same happened on the back of her neck and legs. Almost instantly she felt a new power course through her veins. She felt as though she could stand against any foe! Overcome any obstacle! Face any fear! Conquer the world! Let it be a monster looking for her blood, it would learn not to trifle with her! Araali shivered. That was the Phoenix coursing through her blood now, the sunbird that all the of the Ben Tu nation carried in their blood. The flaming bird's will fought to overtake her own. She suppressed it and regained control of her senses. Her strength, speed, and reflexes were all increased by several fold, but there was nothing to stop this creature from doing the same, at least if it was human. She reached out and took a firm grip on the edge of the main blanket. She tugged at it with a ferocious burst of strength sending the thing in the blanket high into the air. Araali felt the blanket give a strong tug back, strong enough to lift her into the air as well. The blanket twined around her neck and tightened. She plopped back onto the ground but landed only on her knees. The rest of her body was being suspended from the blanket wrapped around her neck. She tried to roll backwards but a foot was pressed firmly into her back. She was starting to find it very difficult to breathe. "It's okay, I won't hurt you," she managed to choke out. "Ya gonna hurt me?" the creature scoffed," Sorry, but Ah canna see that happenin. Least na now." The creature was right; she really was in a bad position. Whatever this thing was, it was cunning. It could choke her at its will, especially if she tried to scream or sing. "Please," she pleaded with the thing," Please, let me go." "How do Ah know ya willna try ta kill me. Ah do na think that’d be ta clever," the creature responded in a piping, child like voice with a thick northern drawl. "Cause you fell on me," Araali rolled her eyes," you attacked first!" "Guess ya gotta point there, but dona be gettin feisty, Ah willna be givin ya another chance," the creature released its hold on the blanket and removed its foot. Araali gulped in air deeply, she stood and turned to see just who or what her attacker was. She gave a slight gasped in shock at what she saw with a mixture of excitement and mild disgust. It was a boy. He had short brown hair and fair but tanned skin. He had nothing on except a pair of long shorts. He was also in his half form. What seemed to be large scales covered him in the same places as her feathers covered her. In addition to this about half of his chest and was covered in scales as well, starting from just above his stomach all the way up to his shoulder. They jutted out slightly to form a small shoulder pad. All of his scales were a metallic bronze color, completing the illusion of a single half piece of armor. From elbow to wrist he wore a series of short, blades. They were the same color as his scales and seemed natural. Similar blades were also on his legs. They looked dangerous enough but somehow delicate, much like frozen feathers. She was taken back by his appearance; she had never seen a bird like this before. She began to worry, those eyes… The slight depression running underneath them along the top of the cheekbone confirmed his northern origin. But those eyes, they carried a depth that didn't seem possible for a boy who couldn't be more than nine years old. In those eyes was both compassion and cruelty; they were both methodical and reckless, and odd mixture of both serenity and tumult. Araali felt her stomach turn, those eyes were dangerous, she could not read them, and thus she could not use them to tell what the boy would do next. "What are you boy," the girl asked still in awe. "Ya act like ya've never seen a Dra'Ka before,” the boy responded sharply. The girl could hear more than a hint of fear in his voice. She couldn't blame him, siren weren’t known for their kindness to males. It took more than a little bit of nerve to wander about in a place where your gender could very well get you executed. "Sorry if I'm acting a little dense. It's just that you’re the first boy my age that I've seen up close in years,” the girl apologized,” My name's Araali. What's yours?" "Reyn," he replied somewhat timidly, most if not all of the bite gone from his tone," Ah'm sorry for being so sharp. Ya don't seem as bad as the others. Hope your throat's okay." Araali watched in continued wonder at the boy's near effortless change in attitude. It was a good sign to say the least; at least he no longer seemed poised to kill her. She laughed a little; she’d never heard of an assassin apologizing, perhaps she was in no danger after all. And those eyes, they were so peaceful and gentle now. Just looking into them made her feel happy… not like a Dra’Ka at all. Dra'Ka..., something she should know about the Dra'Ka. Dra'Ka were human just like herself, but they did not change to phoenix, but into winged reptiles, into something like the dragons of myths. Something about... a war. Images flooded her mind as they often did when she was remembering something she should have known. There were stories also, stories of atrocities, stories of bloodshed, stories of cruelty, deaths of countless soldiers. A funeral song for her father, her father who was slain by monsters. Her new awareness surged through her heightened senses, overloading them with warnings. She almost cried out with the rush of it, but even amongst the chaos, one emotion stood above all. Fear. Dra'Ka were notorious for assassinations and terrorist attacks. But to send a child? She forced the thought out of her mind, he'd already attacked her once, and she wouldn't give him a second chance. There was only one thing that could possibly keep her alive at this moment. Reyn puzzled over this girl. He couldn’t help but find her fascinating with such beautiful skin and long hair. Narrow eyes the color of sunburst, layers of blue, yellow and red. He’d never seen anything like that; he was finding it difficult not to stare. So bright, so alive. They were almost hypnotizing. She seemed nice enough. Did she carry the hatred for males as the other sirens? More importantly, did she carry the hatred for the Dra'Ka as did her race? She'd shown no signs of it so far. Maybe she was just ignorant to the war entirely. Reyn wouldn't put it past a Ben Tu not to tell their young anything that they thought was too worldly. Maybe she was simply shocked by seeing a boy, god knows why. But if that was the case what would she do when the shock faded. He focused his attention back on the girl, Araali she'd said her name was, just in time to see a slight shift in the muscles of her legs, barely noticeable. Just a subtle shift in position, but to one well trained in the arts of death it was the clear giveaway of an imminent attack. Araali struck without any further thought, only a goal. She pivoted so as to land a kick directly across Reyn's throat. Reyn dropped to his back, keeping himself off the ground by barely an inch with his heels and one hand, dodging the attack completely. Araali was shocked that the boy could move so quickly, but she did not allow it to throw her off guard. She had trained with the convent's elite guards almost everyday, much to the dismay of her teachers. Using the extra strength imparted to her by her half-form, she followed through with her kick and used the momentum to thrust herself upwards, releasing her hold on the ground. She raised into the air just enough to twist her body and right her position, planning to deliver a devastating kick right across the boy’s middle. The Dra'Ka would see that she was no mere chick to be snatched from its nest. With almost inhuman reflex, Reyn twisted and arched himself into a one-armed handstand, rendering her oncoming strike useless, even managing to hold his seemingly impossible position. For a split second Araali could only marvel as she continued to sail on aimlessly. How can anyone move like this, she thought franticly. She desperately twisted again and used one arm to push off the ground, forcing herself upwards, frantic to land even a weak blow with her opposite leg. Reyn allowed her to sail on for only a split second more, before launching himself into the air. He soared only a few inches above her and for a moment, their faces met. One look and Araali was outraged! He was smiling. Unfortunately, Araali didn't have long to sulk, time slowed before her eyes, she could see herself still plummeting toward the ground, she had erred gravely. She'd put too much force into one shot. In this position, if she connected with the ground she'd dislocate either one or both legs, and if she tried to turn she’d fracture her hip, one way or another, she was going to be in some pain. As this dawned on her a hand hooked it self underneath her chin. In an instant she went from falling to flying. Reyn had hooked her right underneath her chin and swung her completely overtop himself, sending her smashing down, back first, not onto hard stone, but onto the sheets she'd been using to cushion herself earlier. She landed dazed and winded, but alive. Reyn pumped his legs, flipping himself yet again before landing and casually plopping down on Araali's legs, immobilizing them. He put one of his feet on either of the joints of her elbows pinning her arms to the floor. He propped his hands up on his knees and smiled at her. "Nice, Ah didna see it comin at first. Havena had ta use that many flips in awhile," Reyn was not at all upset. If anything he seemed to be highly amused. The thought of a barely trained girl doing any damage to a Dra'Ka to'juk of his caliber seemed hilarious,” Thought they'd trained sirens better. Where's that brain meltin voice everyone's so afraid a. Don't worry, if Ah wanted ya or anyone else in this place dead ya wouldna be breathin. So let's try again. Mah name's Reyn and Ah think it'd be best if ya didna try anythin stupid anymore. It wouldna do your health much good ta keep this up. Ya're already gettin some nasty bruises." Araali didn't respond. She was seething with rage. Normally she would have been able to deal with this situation in a tactful and dignified manner, but an unfortunate result of being in her half form was that the Ben Tu inside of her, the phoenix, was not so easily placated. She had been humiliated and made a fool of by some common boy not once but twice! Ben Tu pride screamed for revenge. She welled up an immense surge of energy in her breast that in raw form, a siren scream with no hint of a song attached to it, would tear through this annoying little runt of a creature. That should've worked. That should've done it. It was more than enough power to kill such a small thing. She was simply too slow. At the exact moment, right before she released the song, Reyn clamped her mouth shut. The energy hit her full in the back of her teeth. It would not harm her too much, for she used the same power many times. Rather it rebound back into her body with terrible intensity. In her eyes the world went white. Reyn held on to Araali tightly until she stopped shaking and convulsing. When she finally came to a rest Reyn slowly got off of her. He checked her pulse. Good, she's not dead, he thought with a sigh, and her breathing is back to normal. These sirens really have no commons sense, he thought to himself, when I said something stupid, I meant something like that. She really was a nice girl with those dazzling sunburst eyes, but those eyes were closed now, he wouldn’t be getting distracted again. Nice, he scoffed; at least she had been nice before she'd tried to blow his head off with that nasty little voice. Sheesh, can't even take a joke. He picked up her blankets and placed them on a soft, low dais that he guessed served as her bed. Tucking her in, he couldn't resist running his fingers through her hair, long and soft, something he hadn't seen up close since he was little more than a babe. And even then, he’d never seen hair quite this long. There really was something special about this one. He set about exploring the room. The convent itself was huge; the white tower loomed over everything else in the city. The other rooms he had spied in were very big and Araali's was no exception. The dais/bed that Araali was now sleeping on was at least four times her size. At the far end of the room was a large terraced pool, almost three meters across Reyn guessed. Beside the pool was a door that he could only guess led to a lavatory. A few feet away from her bed there was a slight dip in the floor that led to a large basin of clear sand. I've never seen so much in one place, Reyn thought, they must have an awful lot of Wyr to need so much White. After looking through the content of two large dressers Reyn assured himself that there were no concealed weapons anywhere in the room. He shivered and began to massage himself all over. So cold at night and blazing during the day, a grotting desert on the border of the grotting northlands, he lamented. It made absolutely no sense. Usually he loved cool weather, freezing weather even, but the drastic temperature changes were messing with his system. All he was wearing was a pair of shorts because of the heat during the day. Now he was too tired to climb back up to Araali's ceiling and retrieve his supplies and other clothes. He still couldn't believe he'd slept so long just to fall right off the beam. But he had been flying two weeks, almost non-stop from the southlands just to get here. He thought he deserved a little rest. He looked over at the low dais where he'd tucked Araali in. It was either that or the freezing marble floor. Reyn gingerly slid himself under the covers on the far side of the bed opposite of the sleeping girl. He was too tired to consider what the girl would do when she woke; if she tried to kill him again he'd just have to deal with it when the moment came, hopefully. But he did know that Ben Tu were very strict when it came to touching. It would have been nice to share warmth though, he thought as he drifted into a calm sleep. As the moon shone brightly in the crisp night sky a lone voice, kindly and ancient floated on a gentle breeze: I wish you to sleep, my dear one, my dear one I wish for the skies to flow true I wish you warmth, my child, my child Let the moon circle high above you And so it has begun --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
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Pyon... best word ever!! | |
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| Cameron aka Cam | Oct 28 2008, 05:28 PM Post #2 |
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Golden Blossoms
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First off, welcome to Artistic Anarchy!! I'm glad to find someone with an interest in creative writing similar to myself. I'm currently reading it now and I'll have comments by Wednesday. |
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| EnigmaticSevens | Oct 30 2008, 12:12 AM Post #3 |
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Elemental Crown
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hmmm... yes I will continue to nag you Yaomi until you finally finished the blasted thing lol... |
![]() "It is better to light a candle than to curse the dark." - K'naan "Ningjiao wo fu tianxia ren, xiujiao tianxia ren fu wo." - Tsao Tsao (Better that I should wrong the world, than the world should wrong me.) "Why should it ever end, why shouldn't we go on living forever." - Oyks | |
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| Yaomi | Oct 30 2008, 07:17 AM Post #4 |
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Gathering Chi
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Awww pshaw Sevens, it'll be done when its done.... sometime in the next 30 yrs or so! Thanks Cam! I hope you enjoy it, please be sure to review! |
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Pyon... best word ever!! | |
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| blackhawk | Nov 3 2008, 12:52 PM Post #5 |
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Raising Light
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well i read half of it and i will complete it soon as far as i saw this is something awesome
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| Yaomi | Nov 5 2008, 12:34 PM Post #6 |
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Gathering Chi
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Thanks! I hope you enjoy the rest! |
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Pyon... best word ever!! | |
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| blackhawk | Nov 5 2008, 05:45 PM Post #7 |
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Raising Light
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well i really really enjoyed the rest it is soooo cool and i really wish to see the next part,it was something entertaining and wrote in a good way
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| EnigmaticSevens | Nov 7 2008, 12:29 AM Post #8 |
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Elemental Crown
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lol, don't make her head any bigger than it already is... or else she'll never finish it |
![]() "It is better to light a candle than to curse the dark." - K'naan "Ningjiao wo fu tianxia ren, xiujiao tianxia ren fu wo." - Tsao Tsao (Better that I should wrong the world, than the world should wrong me.) "Why should it ever end, why shouldn't we go on living forever." - Oyks | |
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| Cameron aka Cam | Nov 7 2008, 06:00 PM Post #9 |
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Golden Blossoms
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Still reading... really sorry... : ( |
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| Yaomi | Nov 10 2008, 08:12 AM Post #10 |
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Gathering Chi
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awww don't worry about it Cam, I know it'll take some time, i think the whole book on Word so far is like 160 pages or so, can't remember right now. So take your time. |
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Pyon... best word ever!! | |
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10:11 AM Jul 11