Jays 1st Story and INVOICING
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Jays 1st Story and INVOICING
Admin Fri Feb 04, 2011 1:04 am
On the fringes of consciousness, a dull pounding began to drum through her head; the steady rhythmic sounds of a heart. Her eyes fluttered open, struggling against the searing light of the sun. Suddenly, a massive rush of air swept into her lungs as life breathed into her anew. With this renewal came the painful reminder of the ordeal she just went through. As Adaria tried to sit upright, her body convulsed violently in defiance, forcing her back down. She tried to scream, but it sounded to her like a distant call. Had there been any survivors around her, they would have found it necessary to cover their ears, so loud and full of rage was Adaria’s cry!
She managed to will her body onto its side as she struggled to her knees. Hot searing pain racked her back as she tried to straighten. Her breathing became labored and she fell to her hands, sobs continuing to course through her. Intense pain exploded on her left side as she tried to breathe. She felt her armor. A flash of memory shot through her subconscious, a powerful club, striking her side. The armor, dented and ruin, was pushing painfully against her ribs.
Through labored breaths, she reached to her left side and unclipped her armor. The front piece fell to the ground, relieving the pressure against her chest. She stayed on her hands and knees as only bowed down was the pain tolerable. Adaria did not know how long she stayed in this position, but eventually her strength began to begrudgingly return. A new sensation presented itself to her as a dull, constant throbbing assaulted her from behind her head. She reached her hand up and felt the warm stickiness of the natural bandage beginning to form along the wound there. Another burst of memory returned as a sword flash from the side preceded a split second before her world went black.
Exhausted, she lifter her head and took in the scene around her; a scene of utter destruction. Through her blurred, but slowly returning vision, she saw grotesquely strewn bodies, victims of a senseless civil war littered the destroyed battlefield; enemies and allies alike locked in the twisted dance of death. A heavy, uneven and damp fog moved lazily across the desecrated land, lending an eerie feeling to what she saw. Adaria scarcely believed she had been involved in such utter carnage. She looked down at her trembling hands and nearly vomited with the thought of how many had died by doing. She struggled to reign in the emotions, but they spilled out in a burst of tears and crying, painful rage. High above, as if her soul-wrenching screams had been heard by the heavens themselves, the skies opened and down came the cool rains.
Adaria looked up and basked in the cleansing water, hoping it would wash away the nightmarish scene surrounding her. Instead, she began to shiver in the chilly rain, her body already cold from the loss of blood. She looked down at the closest body and watched as the grisly armor began to shine again. Adaria dragged herself over to the fallen warrior and wiped away a spot on the rounded shoulder armor. She hardly recognized the ghastly face that stared back at her.
Gone was her normal light blond hair. In its place was a tangled mess of weedy hair, caked with mud and blood. The terrifying image was only enhanced as the rain streaked down her face smearing the same defiling combination down the once soft features of her face. Blood seeped from a wound near her mouth, but the pain she felt stemmed from the deeply blue and swollen welt on her left cheek. This matched her equally discolored and nearly closed right eye; awful reminders of the terrible battle.
Adaria tore her gaze away from the reflection and nearly fell backwards. She again looked at the mass of bodies littered across the rolling fields. Another powerful sensation coursed through her as she search, at first with her eyes, then on her hands and knees for anything to quench her thirst. Through the muck, grim and bodily remains she scavenged for anything to consume. The continuing rain made her search difficult as it turned the battle-churned ground into a mud field. She crawled to a rather large pile of dead and tried to pull a few of the bodies down, yanking with what little strength she had. Several fell with the one she pulled away, sending Adaria sprawling backwards to avoid being buried. One soldier, an enemy at one time, landed next to her, his head nearly severed, resting awkwardly next to hers. Unsettled, she rolled away quickly.
Breathing heavily from the exertion, her eyes came to rest on a small cylindrical shape just sticking out of the mud underneath two warriors forever locked in mortal combat. She rolled the bodies as much as she could and freed the metal container. Desperately, she ripped open the top and took in the nourishing fluid, uncaring that much of it spilled down her chin and neck. As she drank deeply, Adaria became aware of a something peculiar.
A gnawing, grating, crunching sound filtered its way into her ears through the noisy rain drops. Slowly, her eyes followed the direction of that sound and blinked several times in disbelief at what they saw. Adaria’s head followed as she watched the gruesome scene play out, the rest of her desperately sought-after drink emptying onto the ground at her knees.
She looked towards the edge of the battlefield, near dense line of trees, just at the top of one of the larger hills. Adaria watched as a reddish looking hunched over creature appeared to be digging at the ground. Her eyes narrowed at the unnatural sight. Her strength returning, she cautiously worked her way closer to the odd scene.
As Adaria neared, she nearly lost her footing at the gruesome display. A canine like creature, its flesh rotting and hanging from it emaciated torso was tearing at the armor of a dead soldier with furious abandon, desperate to get at the prized flesh underneath. Adaria could only tell that the corpse had once been an ally by its armor as the rest of him or her was completely desecrated by the creature were it could get to the exposed soft tissue.
Horrified, Adaria glanced down, looking for the nearest weapon. She immediately looked back at the occupied creature and slowly crouched down. Without taking her eyes off the beast, she picked up the weapon as quietly as she could. Adaria brought up rifle of the enemy before her, although it did not matter. So familiar was she with her enemy and their weaponry that it would not have mattered what she found around her; a fact all too common in the civil war that threatened to ruin the states of Alesa. One of the more primitive weapons that still fired projectiles; she quickly checked it for ammunition and brought it to bear on the unsuspecting monster.
Adaria adjusted her angle to better her shot, but as she stepped down, a loose sword slid off the body of a corpse at her feet and clanged against the armor of another nearby body. Adaria looked down in horror and then back as the creature snapped its head around. Its beady black orbs widened for a brief moment then narrowed at its newest adversary. It spun around and growled a guttural sound at Adaria.
Adaria snapped the weapon back up and fired a shot as the ghastly canine creature leaped in the air towards her. It did not make a sound as the bullet knocked it out of the air, but sprang back to its feet and began running down the hill towards her. Adaria’s warrior sense took over as she fired the rifle repeatedly, each shot scoring a hit. But the monster kept charging, shrugging off the hits, even when they forced its balance off. Adaria shuffled back away from the undying beast, constantly shooting as it closed in on her.
Through the air the creature leaped again. Adaria dropped to her back and raised her legs to absorb the impact. Gone now was the cold shivering, replaced by the rush or mortal combat. The slender canine landed on her feet with tremendous force, driving her knees into her chest and face, smashing into her nose and teeth, offering fresh blood to collection of wounds. Adrenaline coursed through her as battle was renewed and she shoved against the creature, pushing its snapping jaws holding black, jagged pincers and foul, gut-turning breath away from her. With reckless abandon and a murderous drive to kill her, the creature clawed and fought, scraping her armor and her uncovered arms and driving its head down to tear at her face. Adaria fought against the unnaturally determined creature, pushing back and dodging her head and torso to the sides as she worked to angle her rifle up towards the beast. Barking and growling viciously, the undead canine began to penetrate Adaria’s defensive position.
Closer its jaws inched toward her face, its saliva dripping down past its furious barking. Adaria snapped to her left side and drove the barrel of the rifle upwards, under the monsters head and fired several rounds. The appalling beast’s head snapped backwards with every blast, howling in defiance just before it blew apart. Black blood poured from the gaping wound as the creature went limp. Horrified, Adaria pushed the creature off of her and rolled to her side to vomit, the gore from the beast covering her face.
As she fought past the last moments of wretchedness, a low pitched din began to fill the air. Adaria stood and looked towards the sound. She glanced around to confirm her solitude then began to walk to the top of the hill that garish canine had been atop. When she crested its top, all the strength she had left again as the sight that splayed out before her.
Stretching far into the distance, past what her eyes could discern and undoubtedly well into the massive cloud of dust that obscured some of the mass, marched an uncountable amount of undead beings, heading right for her! Adaria stood frozen in place as the terrifying scene played out before her.
Thousands upon thousands of skeletal foot soldiers comprised haphazard ranks that covered the valley floor. Interspersed amongst them towered shadowy hulks; giant brutes with red eyes promising death. Beyond them towered even larger creatures just beyond her vision, stretching up to the horizon. The entire force cast a devouring darkness on the region that crept ever closer. At the front of this army of death Adaria noticed hundreds of those same canine creatures in a full sprint towards her position.
Adaria felt the fight leave her as she took at the encroaching mass of undead warriors. And she knew the utter destruction of all of Alesia. For the first time in her young life, she knew true, bone chilling fear.
Finally able to pull her eyes from the unbelievable sight, she looked down at the pathetic weapon she still held. Quickly she scanned the area around her looking at the litter of weapons around her.
“Magnificent, isn’t it?” A raspy voice said.
Adaria’s eyes widened in alarm as she spun around. Just down the hill, kneeling next to the defeated canine creature, an old man in a dark and ragged robe examined the carcass. For the briefest of moments, a sinister vision flashed before her as a large horned demon, blackened and burnt with wings frayed and torn, smiled evilly at her. As quickly as the imaged flashed before her, the old man returned. He stood motionless over the corpse.
She stared at the odd sight, a withered and frail old man in the midst of such carnage with an undead army advancing towards them. She stole a glance back towards the encroaching force and could see the sharp teeth of the lead canine beasts.
When she looked back, Adaria snapped up her weapon and trained it on the old man who was now standing right next to her! She took a slight step back to increase the uncomfortable distance between them. The short and wrinkled man seemed not to care; in fact, he did not even react to her defensive posture. He only stared out at the menacing hoard.
“Who are you?” she whispered. Adaria tried to peer around his wild and haggard hair as it obscured his face.
“Have you ever seen such a thing.” he stated more than asked.
Adaria glanced back for a moment and then looked back at the old man, never taking her weapon off of him. “No.”
“Of course, not,” he wheezed. “Such a sight hasn’t been seen in these lands for thousands of years.”
“I don’t know who you are, but we have to get out of here,” Adaria cautiously said. “They will be here shortly”
“They can smell death in the air,” he replied. “It drives them. Calls to them.”
“How do you know?” Adaria asked, the answer already dawning on her.
He finally looked at her, or turned his head towards here. But she did not see his eyes. They were covered by an raggedy, dark piece of cloth. He remained expressionless and his eye-less face seemed to focus directly on her.
Adaria took another step back, disturbed. “Who are you, old man?”
“Old man?” He began to chuckle, a deepness coming to his voice that seemed to reverberate across the hills. In a the blink of an eye, he appeared behind Adaria and had grabbed her weapon out of her hands tossing it away. Quicker than she could react, he had her head snapped back and his icy cold fingers around her exposed neck.
Her awkward stance, held in place by an unnatural strength no old man could possess, caused pain to wrack through her damaged side. She struggled against him, but felt the strength draining from her.
His fingers tightened as he leaned in close. “Now you know the destruction of your kind.” He brought his face closer to hers. His frigid breath, putrescent to Adaria.
“Your last moments on this planet will come by my hands.” He squeezed tighter and Adaria felt the asphyxiation setting in. She tried to shake her head back and forth but could not break free of his grip.
“But not yet.” The old man reached up and untied the cloth over his eyes. As it fell, Adaria dared to look up at him. Empty eye sockets, hollow and barren, bored into her, deep into her soul. She tried to look away, but he held her head steady. Hot searing pain exploded on the back of her head and her world went black.
*****
A steady beeping began to bring consciousness to Adaria. Slowly she opened her eyes, her breath labored. She reached up to wipe the grogginess from her senses, but as she did, Adaria noticed the sensors and medicine tube on her hands. She quickly reached up and grabbed her hair, her clean hair. Her hands next crawled across her face. It was not swollen or bruised, but was slightly sore. She pulled aside her gown and checked her side. It was raw and red, but beginning to mend.
Adaria took a deep breath as the slow realization that she was no longer on the battlefield set in. She ran her hand through her hair and felt the tenderness from her head wound. Suddenly, she sucked in her breath and felt furiously just below the healing wound as the horrid memories of the undead and the terrifying encounter with the old man assaulted her thoughts.
“Adaria!’ A familiar voice called out from the room entrance. Adaria looked over to see the familiar face of Lena, her mother. Slowly she pulled her hand from behind her head, unable to find any trace of the encounter. “I was so worried about you!”
Lena rushed over and stopped herself just short of a tight embrace, concerned about causing her daughter discomfort. She leaned in and kissed her gently on her forehead.
“We thought you lost in the horrible battle.”
“How did I get here?” Adaria asked as her mother let go of her head and stepped back.
“It was a miracle that you were found amidst all that carnage.”
“You were there?”
“Oh, no dear,” Lena replied, chuckling. “Both sides rounded up their dead. You were actually found by the enemy.”
“Did they see them?!” Adaria asked, sitting upright, suddenly.
“See who?”
“The undead army!”
Lena could not suppress her laughter, although her eyes betrayed the sadness she felt. “The doctors said you suffered a nasty head wound. It looks like it might be worse then they feared.”
“What?” Adaria asked, confused and angry. “I am not making this up! I saw them.”
“Saw them?”
“Yes. I killed one! And I was attacked by an old man with no eyes!”
The smile left Lena’s face. “My child, there are no undead. Those are just old legends and children’s tales.”
“But they were there.”
“The battlefield was cleared. All bodies retrieved and accounted for. For both sides. There were no signs of any ghastly creatures or old men with no eyes.”
Adaria stared at her mother blankly. She reached behind her head and felt again for the spot where the old man have attacked her. “Look,” she said, leaning forward and turning her head. “What do you see? Right here?”
Lena sighed and leaned forward to look. “Nothing. There is only a pink wound that will turn into a rather nasty scar across the back of your head. Which is also why I would not cut your hair short. Kind of unsightly that scar will be. ”
“No, mother, where my finger is!” She pointed to the spot emphatically.
“There is nothing there.”
Adaria sat back and shook her head. A slight flicker of doubt began to creep into her mind.
“Rest now,” Lena said, gently brushing the hair from Adaria’s face with her hand. “Think no more of the undead or of this Gods forsaken war. I will see you in the morning.”
Lena leaned in and kissed her forehead again, smiled warmly and left the room. Adaria stared at the closed door for a few moments before looking out the lone window to the dying light of the day. She leaned her head back, still feeling the spot where she knew the old man had touched her. She closed her eyes, but sleep did not find her that night. The images of the battle and the encounter with the undead still very vivid in her memories.
Storyline ideas:
She warns mother and father, both sides of conflict, but neither listen, too consumed with the civil war, Frustrated, she joins mercenaries who believe her and try to do something to stop the undead.
The old man becomes her adversary, running conflicts
Turns out the civil war is what brought the undead (Check with Allan)
She becomes an enemy of her allies as well as original enemies. Merc group becomes branded as heretics and dissenters, hunted by both factions and undead.
Undead infiltrate both sides, causing unexplained deaths, positioning themselves to conquer both. This builds as does evidence. Members from both sides begin to see the real threat. Merc group increases in numbers.
Mother and father are delusional and rely on religious advice that undead threat is minimal or non-existent.
They realize too late and both states are, and most of Alesia are nearly over run.
She managed to will her body onto its side as she struggled to her knees. Hot searing pain racked her back as she tried to straighten. Her breathing became labored and she fell to her hands, sobs continuing to course through her. Intense pain exploded on her left side as she tried to breathe. She felt her armor. A flash of memory shot through her subconscious, a powerful club, striking her side. The armor, dented and ruin, was pushing painfully against her ribs.
Through labored breaths, she reached to her left side and unclipped her armor. The front piece fell to the ground, relieving the pressure against her chest. She stayed on her hands and knees as only bowed down was the pain tolerable. Adaria did not know how long she stayed in this position, but eventually her strength began to begrudgingly return. A new sensation presented itself to her as a dull, constant throbbing assaulted her from behind her head. She reached her hand up and felt the warm stickiness of the natural bandage beginning to form along the wound there. Another burst of memory returned as a sword flash from the side preceded a split second before her world went black.
Exhausted, she lifter her head and took in the scene around her; a scene of utter destruction. Through her blurred, but slowly returning vision, she saw grotesquely strewn bodies, victims of a senseless civil war littered the destroyed battlefield; enemies and allies alike locked in the twisted dance of death. A heavy, uneven and damp fog moved lazily across the desecrated land, lending an eerie feeling to what she saw. Adaria scarcely believed she had been involved in such utter carnage. She looked down at her trembling hands and nearly vomited with the thought of how many had died by doing. She struggled to reign in the emotions, but they spilled out in a burst of tears and crying, painful rage. High above, as if her soul-wrenching screams had been heard by the heavens themselves, the skies opened and down came the cool rains.
Adaria looked up and basked in the cleansing water, hoping it would wash away the nightmarish scene surrounding her. Instead, she began to shiver in the chilly rain, her body already cold from the loss of blood. She looked down at the closest body and watched as the grisly armor began to shine again. Adaria dragged herself over to the fallen warrior and wiped away a spot on the rounded shoulder armor. She hardly recognized the ghastly face that stared back at her.
Gone was her normal light blond hair. In its place was a tangled mess of weedy hair, caked with mud and blood. The terrifying image was only enhanced as the rain streaked down her face smearing the same defiling combination down the once soft features of her face. Blood seeped from a wound near her mouth, but the pain she felt stemmed from the deeply blue and swollen welt on her left cheek. This matched her equally discolored and nearly closed right eye; awful reminders of the terrible battle.
Adaria tore her gaze away from the reflection and nearly fell backwards. She again looked at the mass of bodies littered across the rolling fields. Another powerful sensation coursed through her as she search, at first with her eyes, then on her hands and knees for anything to quench her thirst. Through the muck, grim and bodily remains she scavenged for anything to consume. The continuing rain made her search difficult as it turned the battle-churned ground into a mud field. She crawled to a rather large pile of dead and tried to pull a few of the bodies down, yanking with what little strength she had. Several fell with the one she pulled away, sending Adaria sprawling backwards to avoid being buried. One soldier, an enemy at one time, landed next to her, his head nearly severed, resting awkwardly next to hers. Unsettled, she rolled away quickly.
Breathing heavily from the exertion, her eyes came to rest on a small cylindrical shape just sticking out of the mud underneath two warriors forever locked in mortal combat. She rolled the bodies as much as she could and freed the metal container. Desperately, she ripped open the top and took in the nourishing fluid, uncaring that much of it spilled down her chin and neck. As she drank deeply, Adaria became aware of a something peculiar.
A gnawing, grating, crunching sound filtered its way into her ears through the noisy rain drops. Slowly, her eyes followed the direction of that sound and blinked several times in disbelief at what they saw. Adaria’s head followed as she watched the gruesome scene play out, the rest of her desperately sought-after drink emptying onto the ground at her knees.
She looked towards the edge of the battlefield, near dense line of trees, just at the top of one of the larger hills. Adaria watched as a reddish looking hunched over creature appeared to be digging at the ground. Her eyes narrowed at the unnatural sight. Her strength returning, she cautiously worked her way closer to the odd scene.
As Adaria neared, she nearly lost her footing at the gruesome display. A canine like creature, its flesh rotting and hanging from it emaciated torso was tearing at the armor of a dead soldier with furious abandon, desperate to get at the prized flesh underneath. Adaria could only tell that the corpse had once been an ally by its armor as the rest of him or her was completely desecrated by the creature were it could get to the exposed soft tissue.
Horrified, Adaria glanced down, looking for the nearest weapon. She immediately looked back at the occupied creature and slowly crouched down. Without taking her eyes off the beast, she picked up the weapon as quietly as she could. Adaria brought up rifle of the enemy before her, although it did not matter. So familiar was she with her enemy and their weaponry that it would not have mattered what she found around her; a fact all too common in the civil war that threatened to ruin the states of Alesa. One of the more primitive weapons that still fired projectiles; she quickly checked it for ammunition and brought it to bear on the unsuspecting monster.
Adaria adjusted her angle to better her shot, but as she stepped down, a loose sword slid off the body of a corpse at her feet and clanged against the armor of another nearby body. Adaria looked down in horror and then back as the creature snapped its head around. Its beady black orbs widened for a brief moment then narrowed at its newest adversary. It spun around and growled a guttural sound at Adaria.
Adaria snapped the weapon back up and fired a shot as the ghastly canine creature leaped in the air towards her. It did not make a sound as the bullet knocked it out of the air, but sprang back to its feet and began running down the hill towards her. Adaria’s warrior sense took over as she fired the rifle repeatedly, each shot scoring a hit. But the monster kept charging, shrugging off the hits, even when they forced its balance off. Adaria shuffled back away from the undying beast, constantly shooting as it closed in on her.
Through the air the creature leaped again. Adaria dropped to her back and raised her legs to absorb the impact. Gone now was the cold shivering, replaced by the rush or mortal combat. The slender canine landed on her feet with tremendous force, driving her knees into her chest and face, smashing into her nose and teeth, offering fresh blood to collection of wounds. Adrenaline coursed through her as battle was renewed and she shoved against the creature, pushing its snapping jaws holding black, jagged pincers and foul, gut-turning breath away from her. With reckless abandon and a murderous drive to kill her, the creature clawed and fought, scraping her armor and her uncovered arms and driving its head down to tear at her face. Adaria fought against the unnaturally determined creature, pushing back and dodging her head and torso to the sides as she worked to angle her rifle up towards the beast. Barking and growling viciously, the undead canine began to penetrate Adaria’s defensive position.
Closer its jaws inched toward her face, its saliva dripping down past its furious barking. Adaria snapped to her left side and drove the barrel of the rifle upwards, under the monsters head and fired several rounds. The appalling beast’s head snapped backwards with every blast, howling in defiance just before it blew apart. Black blood poured from the gaping wound as the creature went limp. Horrified, Adaria pushed the creature off of her and rolled to her side to vomit, the gore from the beast covering her face.
As she fought past the last moments of wretchedness, a low pitched din began to fill the air. Adaria stood and looked towards the sound. She glanced around to confirm her solitude then began to walk to the top of the hill that garish canine had been atop. When she crested its top, all the strength she had left again as the sight that splayed out before her.
Stretching far into the distance, past what her eyes could discern and undoubtedly well into the massive cloud of dust that obscured some of the mass, marched an uncountable amount of undead beings, heading right for her! Adaria stood frozen in place as the terrifying scene played out before her.
Thousands upon thousands of skeletal foot soldiers comprised haphazard ranks that covered the valley floor. Interspersed amongst them towered shadowy hulks; giant brutes with red eyes promising death. Beyond them towered even larger creatures just beyond her vision, stretching up to the horizon. The entire force cast a devouring darkness on the region that crept ever closer. At the front of this army of death Adaria noticed hundreds of those same canine creatures in a full sprint towards her position.
Adaria felt the fight leave her as she took at the encroaching mass of undead warriors. And she knew the utter destruction of all of Alesia. For the first time in her young life, she knew true, bone chilling fear.
Finally able to pull her eyes from the unbelievable sight, she looked down at the pathetic weapon she still held. Quickly she scanned the area around her looking at the litter of weapons around her.
“Magnificent, isn’t it?” A raspy voice said.
Adaria’s eyes widened in alarm as she spun around. Just down the hill, kneeling next to the defeated canine creature, an old man in a dark and ragged robe examined the carcass. For the briefest of moments, a sinister vision flashed before her as a large horned demon, blackened and burnt with wings frayed and torn, smiled evilly at her. As quickly as the imaged flashed before her, the old man returned. He stood motionless over the corpse.
She stared at the odd sight, a withered and frail old man in the midst of such carnage with an undead army advancing towards them. She stole a glance back towards the encroaching force and could see the sharp teeth of the lead canine beasts.
When she looked back, Adaria snapped up her weapon and trained it on the old man who was now standing right next to her! She took a slight step back to increase the uncomfortable distance between them. The short and wrinkled man seemed not to care; in fact, he did not even react to her defensive posture. He only stared out at the menacing hoard.
“Who are you?” she whispered. Adaria tried to peer around his wild and haggard hair as it obscured his face.
“Have you ever seen such a thing.” he stated more than asked.
Adaria glanced back for a moment and then looked back at the old man, never taking her weapon off of him. “No.”
“Of course, not,” he wheezed. “Such a sight hasn’t been seen in these lands for thousands of years.”
“I don’t know who you are, but we have to get out of here,” Adaria cautiously said. “They will be here shortly”
“They can smell death in the air,” he replied. “It drives them. Calls to them.”
“How do you know?” Adaria asked, the answer already dawning on her.
He finally looked at her, or turned his head towards here. But she did not see his eyes. They were covered by an raggedy, dark piece of cloth. He remained expressionless and his eye-less face seemed to focus directly on her.
Adaria took another step back, disturbed. “Who are you, old man?”
“Old man?” He began to chuckle, a deepness coming to his voice that seemed to reverberate across the hills. In a the blink of an eye, he appeared behind Adaria and had grabbed her weapon out of her hands tossing it away. Quicker than she could react, he had her head snapped back and his icy cold fingers around her exposed neck.
Her awkward stance, held in place by an unnatural strength no old man could possess, caused pain to wrack through her damaged side. She struggled against him, but felt the strength draining from her.
His fingers tightened as he leaned in close. “Now you know the destruction of your kind.” He brought his face closer to hers. His frigid breath, putrescent to Adaria.
“Your last moments on this planet will come by my hands.” He squeezed tighter and Adaria felt the asphyxiation setting in. She tried to shake her head back and forth but could not break free of his grip.
“But not yet.” The old man reached up and untied the cloth over his eyes. As it fell, Adaria dared to look up at him. Empty eye sockets, hollow and barren, bored into her, deep into her soul. She tried to look away, but he held her head steady. Hot searing pain exploded on the back of her head and her world went black.
*****
A steady beeping began to bring consciousness to Adaria. Slowly she opened her eyes, her breath labored. She reached up to wipe the grogginess from her senses, but as she did, Adaria noticed the sensors and medicine tube on her hands. She quickly reached up and grabbed her hair, her clean hair. Her hands next crawled across her face. It was not swollen or bruised, but was slightly sore. She pulled aside her gown and checked her side. It was raw and red, but beginning to mend.
Adaria took a deep breath as the slow realization that she was no longer on the battlefield set in. She ran her hand through her hair and felt the tenderness from her head wound. Suddenly, she sucked in her breath and felt furiously just below the healing wound as the horrid memories of the undead and the terrifying encounter with the old man assaulted her thoughts.
“Adaria!’ A familiar voice called out from the room entrance. Adaria looked over to see the familiar face of Lena, her mother. Slowly she pulled her hand from behind her head, unable to find any trace of the encounter. “I was so worried about you!”
Lena rushed over and stopped herself just short of a tight embrace, concerned about causing her daughter discomfort. She leaned in and kissed her gently on her forehead.
“We thought you lost in the horrible battle.”
“How did I get here?” Adaria asked as her mother let go of her head and stepped back.
“It was a miracle that you were found amidst all that carnage.”
“You were there?”
“Oh, no dear,” Lena replied, chuckling. “Both sides rounded up their dead. You were actually found by the enemy.”
“Did they see them?!” Adaria asked, sitting upright, suddenly.
“See who?”
“The undead army!”
Lena could not suppress her laughter, although her eyes betrayed the sadness she felt. “The doctors said you suffered a nasty head wound. It looks like it might be worse then they feared.”
“What?” Adaria asked, confused and angry. “I am not making this up! I saw them.”
“Saw them?”
“Yes. I killed one! And I was attacked by an old man with no eyes!”
The smile left Lena’s face. “My child, there are no undead. Those are just old legends and children’s tales.”
“But they were there.”
“The battlefield was cleared. All bodies retrieved and accounted for. For both sides. There were no signs of any ghastly creatures or old men with no eyes.”
Adaria stared at her mother blankly. She reached behind her head and felt again for the spot where the old man have attacked her. “Look,” she said, leaning forward and turning her head. “What do you see? Right here?”
Lena sighed and leaned forward to look. “Nothing. There is only a pink wound that will turn into a rather nasty scar across the back of your head. Which is also why I would not cut your hair short. Kind of unsightly that scar will be. ”
“No, mother, where my finger is!” She pointed to the spot emphatically.
“There is nothing there.”
Adaria sat back and shook her head. A slight flicker of doubt began to creep into her mind.
“Rest now,” Lena said, gently brushing the hair from Adaria’s face with her hand. “Think no more of the undead or of this Gods forsaken war. I will see you in the morning.”
Lena leaned in and kissed her forehead again, smiled warmly and left the room. Adaria stared at the closed door for a few moments before looking out the lone window to the dying light of the day. She leaned her head back, still feeling the spot where she knew the old man had touched her. She closed her eyes, but sleep did not find her that night. The images of the battle and the encounter with the undead still very vivid in her memories.
Storyline ideas:
She warns mother and father, both sides of conflict, but neither listen, too consumed with the civil war, Frustrated, she joins mercenaries who believe her and try to do something to stop the undead.
The old man becomes her adversary, running conflicts
Turns out the civil war is what brought the undead (Check with Allan)
She becomes an enemy of her allies as well as original enemies. Merc group becomes branded as heretics and dissenters, hunted by both factions and undead.
Undead infiltrate both sides, causing unexplained deaths, positioning themselves to conquer both. This builds as does evidence. Members from both sides begin to see the real threat. Merc group increases in numbers.
Mother and father are delusional and rely on religious advice that undead threat is minimal or non-existent.
They realize too late and both states are, and most of Alesia are nearly over run.
Admin- Admin
- Posts : 20
Join date : 2011-01-27 -
INVOICING
Admin Fri Feb 04, 2011 1:09 am
[b]WHEN YOU ARE COMPLETE WITH YOUR Project INVOICE Me Through Guru I will be paying you through your guru acount through paypal If you wish to be payed directly through paypal contact me. I'm not shure how to do anything though the guru.com escerows yet you may have to just tell me what to do and I will do it. Thanks guys.
allanttucker@aol.com
my paypal email is allan@allantucker.com
For those of you who are unsure what to do for the project You may do a free form 2500-3500 word story that does not have to be in the world email it to me at the above link and I will pay you $50 for a 2500 word story and $65 for anything above it.
allanttucker@aol.com
my paypal email is allan@allantucker.com
For those of you who are unsure what to do for the project You may do a free form 2500-3500 word story that does not have to be in the world email it to me at the above link and I will pay you $50 for a 2500 word story and $65 for anything above it.
Admin- Admin
- Posts : 20
Join date : 2011-01-27 -
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