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| Welcome to Sectarians of Eliraihah.. We are a group of those striving to create a utopia for roleplayers and writers alike, and provide a shelter from the normal confines of society. On our behalf, enjoy yourself. Your friendly overlord, --Crimson Knight |
| The Gates Eternal; part two of a three part anthology | |
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| Tweet Topic Started: Jan 4 2010, 05:53 PM (159 Views) | |
| Post #1 Jan 4 2010, 05:53 PM | Sgt. Tacoz |
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As the description details, this is part two of my three part short story anthology, The Sound of the Sun. Don't sue me, I just suck at titles for collective works. Well, with Imagine being part one, it makes The Gates Eternal part 2. Of course, Tangled Webs, which is part 3, should be up relatively soon. These are all rough drafts so feedback is appreciated. “Grandpa?” Timmy asked with a yawn as he pulled his SpongeBob blankets closer up to his chin. He turned his head and looked at the silhouette of his Grandfather in the door frame, frozen in place like a picture. “What is it Timmy?” The old man asked as he turned around to look at the little boy in the bed. Timmy watched as the form of his Grandpa neared the bed, grabbing a small chair along the way. “Can you tell me a story?” The young boy’s face was illuminated by more than just the little night light near his bed as his Grandfather set the chair down and leaned over the boy’s bed. It was like his head had been replaced by a jar full of fireflies, their wondrous glow escaping from his eyes and seemingly shining through his very skin. Timmy could see all of the creases and grooves in his Grandfather’s face as he neared the luminescent sphere of protection provided by the little plug-in nightlight. The tales of age and wisdom were plastered over his Grandfather’s face along with the soft sprites of childhood dancing within those dull grey eyes. “Which one do you want to hear most, Timmy?” His Grandfather asked with a soft whisper as his withered hand reached down to stroke the hair out of the boy’s face. His dried lips curved up into a smile, where their parting revealed the gaps of missing teeth while the ones that remained were crooked and brown surrounded by tobacco stained gums. “Can you tell me the one about the Sea Captain?” Timmy said with that childish gleam of excitement in his blue eyes. He wiggled about to make himself more comfortable as his Grandfather prepared to tell him a story. “Oh, you mean the story of the great Captain Bryant!” Timmy’s Grandpa said as he straightened himself up in the chair. “Well let’s see, where should I begin?” Timmy heard him mumble to himself as he waited for the story to start. “Let’s start from the beginning, eh?” Timmy’s Grandfather said as a soft laughter escaped his lips like a bird from a cage. The Grandfather waved his hand as he began, like a magician at a show or a salesman showcasing some brilliant item. “There once was a great sea captain . . .” ~+~ “Man the sails, men!” The man in the blazing blue coat barked out as the rain beat down with its torrential furry. He stood steadfast at the wheel of the ship, navigating through the battering waves as they rose and crashed in a blinding spray of foam. The ship rocked back and forth on the waves like a rocking crib that had been pushed too hard. The wall of clouds blocked out the very Heavens themselves with their dark faces staring down upon the churning seas. The mighty ship weathered through it still, the brave Captain Bryant moving not an inch from the wheel and never losing sight of his goals. Upon the horizon the sun tore through the thicket of clouds to grace the choppy seas with its cycloptic gaze. The winds calmed their harrowing screeches and the clouds’ death grip on the skies faltered as the sun’s rays reached through like fingers grasping at a grate. The fingers of sunlight ripped up the clouds from their cemented existence in the sky, letting the slate grey give way to a sapphire blue sky. Captain Bryant could feel the rays of sun warming his drenched body as he could feel the heavy weight of the imposing clouds lifted from his spirits. His smile didn’t last long as he began to examine the surface of the ship from his location at the helm, his hazel eyes peering out between the long, black, sopping strings he called his hair. His eyes darted in their sockets like little colored pool balls bouncing off of the walls as they darted from the mast to the sail, from the bow to the crow’s nest, from the railings to the lower section’s door. Content with his skim of the external areas he ordered some of the crew to go and check the areas below deck for any damage they might have incurred during the storm. It didn’t take long for the crewmen to report back with their findings from bellow deck. “All clear, Captain.” A voice rang up through a grate on the deck. “No signs of damage and everything is accounted for.” The voice called out as if to clarify what it had already said, while its echo was accompanied by the sounds of receding footsteps. Bryant was relieved to know that they had made it through another storm, and none the worse for wear to make things even better. Bryant felt as bright inside as the canary yellow orb in the sky as it slowly sank below the horizon. Full, three quarters, half, one fourth, the gone. The falling of the sun was matched by the rising of the moon and the increasing number of stars looking down from the heavens. Soon it was full night and the cloudless skies blinked their millions of little eyes, all seemingly focused on the pale orb that chased the sun like compass needles to the north. Bryant enjoyed the sight of the night sky and the feel of the chilly sea gusts as they pushed into his back while he stood on the bow of the ship. The soft sounds of the nighttime crew could be heard carried on the winds, giving it a voice to Bryant’s ears as they passed by. The captain turned on his heels as a strong gust blew past him throwing out his trench coat and hair behind him, as if he was falling while standing up. His feet walked along the wooden boards beneath them, a resoundingly dull thud with each foot fall. He passed the faceless men and women working on the deck, silent in their toils as they moved about like little bees building and maintaining their hive. He gave them no acknowledgment, and they returned with their own silence and unwavering stares. Out upon the deck, away from the wheel, he was just like them. Bryant made sure he wasn’t worshipped, that he wasn’t given special privileges when out among them during their work. As if it was a door to another dimension, the captain’s quarters door now confronted Bryant as his footsteps came to a stop in front of it. He reached out and grabbed the handle, turning it till the click of the latch hit the night air. The Captain pulled open the door and entered into his quarters, grabbing a candle and lighting it as he headed for his desk in the back. The plain little desk greeted Captain Bryant like an old fried as the candle holder settled into its worn dip and the chair held firm against the pressure of his back as he leaned against it. The top of the desk was nearly barren except for the candle as it flickered in the corner. An average sized black book sat with its covers closed in the center of the desk with a small bottle of ink with a worn feather quill jutting out of it further up the desk. That was it, this was Bryant’s sanctuary, and it was nearly nothing. Captain Bryant opened the book to the first page to reveal the logs scrawled out like little footprints running about on the page. The same with the next, and the next, and the next as Bryant’s hands flipped the pages with a practiced ease until he was finally greeted with a stark white page. He stopped suddenly as the face of the page confronted his own, until he reached up and grabbed at the matted feather quill, shaking off the excess ink as he pulled it out of the well. His hand returned to the page and he began to writ from that single little ink dot. Captain's Log Day 250: Everything seems to be going fine, though still no sign of what we set out to find in the first place. The fabled Gates of Eternity, still within my mind yet too far to ever find with my eyes. I don’t think it is a problem though, we may take years to find the legendary Isle in the vast seas we face now. Nothing worth finding is easily found. The crew seem to be in good spirits, especially since the week of rains have finally lifted and we now can see the stars and moon in the night sky. I just wonder how we will fare if this happens again. The ship held its own this time through, and the crew trudge on, though miserably they trudged, and we managed to get past it all, but there is always that what if sitting on my shoulder. A bird upon my shoulder without a voice, yet it squawks the loudest of them all. I’ve lost track of how far we have traveled, the constant cloud cover we just escaped making feet seem like miles. I know it is far though, yet land still doesn’t grace our horizons. Enough of that though, just needless worrying on my part, of that I’m sure. end log . . . Bryant finished the writing the log and set the quill back into the ink well from which it came. He let out a soft sigh as he leaned the chair back and looked up at the ceiling. The systematically mundane wooden planks that made the ceiling of his quarters and the floor of the deck were surprisingly relaxing to the Captain as he looked at them. He felt the weight of sleep on his eyelids as he tried to stay awake, but eventually he gave in, though not before he got into his modest bed. The Captain’s sleep was demolished by the sounds of frantic voices and running feet through the ship. Bryant wasted no time getting his trench coat on and he rushed out onto the deck to see hundreds of water spouts dancing on top of the water ahead of the ship. No, not just ahead of it but all around it. The spouts were like hungry snakes as their bodies twisted and spun around the ship, the pelting water they flung in the air were their fangs as they neared the ship. Bryant wasted no time getting up to the helm, dismissing the frightened man who had been standing there till now. The captain was skilled at the wheel, weaving the boat in and out of the screaming spouts like a seamstress weaving a thread through the smallest needle’s eye. The field of water before them seemed endless, exaggerated by the numerous spouts that danced upon it. Despite the seemingly endless seas before them, Bryant managed to spot something on the distant horizon. A small black speck to the unaided eye, it was still something work looking into if it meant salvation from the spout field. “You there,” Bryant said as he pointed out to a crewmember desperately helping a few others as they ran about making sure everything was secured. “Climb to the crow’s nest and look due north. Tell me what you see.” The man responded in part with a simple ‘aye’ as he dashed to the mast and began climbing up the rungs. Bryant watched the man reach the top and pull out a spyglass, all the while dodging waves like giant wolves rushing upon the ship as if it was a helpless sheep in the dark forest of the sea. “It’s land captain!” The crewman said excitedly as he climbed down the mast and ran up to the captain. “It’s land!” The man pointed towards the black speck on the horizon, though now it wasn’t a speck but more like a ship sized mass. Bryant nodded at the man and began to point a call out orders to the scurrying crew on the deck. They followed his orders as he gave them and soon the land they had been aiming for came closer and grew larger with every second. “Prepare to land!” Bryant said to all of the crew present on deck as the island’s outline became clear even in the dark of the storm. The island looked mountainous, but only further inland as lush tropical forests reached their green leafed fingers out to the beach and climbed in further than could be seen. The splash of the falling anchor could be heard as the sails were raised and the boat came to its resting place not far from the shore. The crew members came pouring out from the lower levels and rushed to prepare the two landing boats. With the ships prepared they ushered to Bryant and he left the wheel and jumped into the first boat as it began to descend. The hull of the boat hit the foaming waters with a thud as the paddles began to rip through the water to propel the boat towards the shore. Bryant sat in the landing boat looking back to the ship as the other little boat hit the water and began to head towards the land. Not a moment too soon though as the second boat began to depart from the main ship a water spout reached down from the sky and drilled through the ship. The remains were lifted into the skies and cast about to the swirling air currents as the second landing boat was sucked down into the resulting whirlpool of the sea as the spout churned the waters. Captain Bryant looked on as they were drug down to the depths of the seas while his landing boat gently brushed against the sand of the island’s beach. A few chunks of broken driftwood from the ships washed up onto shore with them. Bryant took two good pieces and formed a crude cross out of them to make an unfilled tomb for all of the men and women that had just been lost in the search of a legend. He uttered a quick prayer as the surviving crew did the same behind him. “Alright, we need to go inland and try to find shelter.” Bryant said calmly as he finished the prayer for the dead. “Caves are best, but if you find something just as well, point it out.” The Captain said this as he turned and led the small group into the uncharted, and possibly inhabited, forest. The rain smacked against the trees above their heads and rolled down to the ground making a strangely soothing sound, like the tapping of fingers upon a window. Despite the calm atmosphere of the forest, Captain Bryant was vigilant in his search for shelter or any unknown threats. None showed themselves during the trek as the crew safely reached what looked like ruins of an old house where they made their refuge for the night. The morning brought nothing new, except for the rain softening up on its pounding of the island. Bryant led the group forward once more as they continued to go inland in search of something, anything. The forest blended into itself, one area looking just like the last, the consistency of lifeless green and brown like a looping picture as they walked. Despite the monotony, it was strange that nothing was living here. The plants were exempt in a sense, but there were no chirping birds, no crying insects, and no growling animals. It was a quiet island, and it made Bryant a bit uneasy as he led the remaining crew deeper into the forest. A day of trudging over brush and through densely packed trees yielded some gratitude as the mountains began to inch their ways into the forest and now the foliage began to become more dispersed than they had been all day. Again the group made a camp, though not much was able to be done as the last of the food was consumed among them all and they shivered around a weak fire as the night colds swept down from the mountains. Bryant kept their spirits up by recounting to them the legend of the Eternal Gate that they were searching for, and the many others that were said to be either long gone or no longer working in this world. He told the stories of the sailors that had found one or more of these gates long ago and how it sent them to faraway places and unheard of lands in different existences. The crew listened into the familiar tale with a rapt attention, their damp spirits warming up and the light hearted tales their Captain wove for them. With the crew’s dying spirits rekindled the Captain was able to sleep peacefully knowing that they would be prepared for the next day of hiking. Another day of hiking just like the last two was what greeted Captain Bryant and his remaining crew as they continued on their path. Bryant wondered if they would every find anything on this island, it didn’t need to be the fabled gate they searched for, but anything of value that they could take back to their homes to prove what they had been through. The sun followed their hike from its path in the sky, though it only showed it face for a few seconds each time as the clouds demanded attention for themselves once more. It was nearing the night when the crew and Bryant came to a large clearing at the base of one the furthest inland mountains. In the clearing was a moss covered arch atop a pedestal with cracked steps coming down to the ground. Bryant couldn’t believe what he was seeing as the crew came to a stop behind him, wondering what he found so fascinating about this old ruin before them. “It. . . it does exist, it’s here!” Bryant said as he walked up to the first step to the arch and turned to face his crew. “This is the Eternal Gate we were looking for!” He said raising his arms in the air. As if the Gods had heard his prayer the cloud cover broke slightly to reveal the setting sun as it filled the archway. A strange glow emanated from the runes covering the arch and it was suddenly filled with a mirror-like light that shimmered like golden water. “Men,” Captain Bryant said as he climbed the rest of the stairs and stood before the portal. “We have found Eternity!” ~+~ “Awww,” Timmy said as he began to pout. “Why’d you stop there?” He asked as he tugged on his grandpa’s sleeve. “Well it’s time for you to get to sleep now.” His Grandpa said with a smile as he ruffled Timmy’s hair. “But it was just getting interesting,” Timmy said in earnest as he tried to prevent his Grandpa from getting up and leaving. “You only told the boring part!” The young child complained as he let go of his Grandfather’s sleeve and resumed pouting. “It may have been boring,” Timmy’s Grandpa said as he stood and began to leave. “But all great tales must have a place to start.” He said as he quietly closed Timmy’s door and let the child go to sleep. Edited by Sgt. Tacoz, Jan 4 2010, 05:54 PM.
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I happen to know for a fact that Unicorns puke rainbows.
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| Post #2 Jan 4 2010, 07:00 PM | Grunt_of_War |
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All I have to say is: part 3 better be the continuation of this story. That was sooo anticlimactic. ;P Again, though: well-written, but as a stand-alone, I thought Imagine was a little better. Nothing enticing happened in this story except for the storm and the appearance of the ominous island. It definitely deserves a continuation. |
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