《In Memoriam》Chapter 8
Advertisement
The already dim light that was dangled listlessly at the center of their room dimmed further and further until it provided no light at all, the only light that remained was from the wavering flame of the incensed candle that Martha had set alight besides her small, simple shrine to the emperor at her bedside.
She lay across from him, her blonde hair and pale complexion shaded a gentle orange by the flickering candlelight, she looked peaceful, restful in fact. He would think her asleep if not for slight glint of moisture upon her eyes, they were open, black pupils and ocean-blue irises visible glistening through the shadow cast over her eyes by her own light. Blankly, she stared, eyes locking on Carrell’s as he stared back at her. His will was the first to give in as he looked away, a dumb smile barely stifled on his face. His eyes found the boy now.
A pale frame wrapped in heavy robes and a thin blanket lay splayed out ungraciously on the mattress, the black of his hair stood out against the white mattress above him, whilst his own complexion made Martha look tan in comparison. It was only now that Carrell could appreciate just how truly gaunt the child was, cheeks, tight and thin, sharp cheekbones pressed against the skin. His hands poked out from between the robes, slender, bony digits sprouting from a just as skeletal hand. The boy stirred slightly, revealing his palm, the mottled white of scarred and burnt flesh. The scar upon his palm was that of a human skull, a jagged crown upon it’s head.
Carrell faintly remembered the inhabitants of the boy’s backwater feudal world to have murmured something about ‘The King Of Thorns’ but what the king was, or signified had eluded Carrell, and he had felt no need to find out. He still felt no need.
Advertisement
The most important part about the boy was what Carrell had looked at last. The black collar clamped around his throat. The boy had tried to pull it off earlier in the night, though Carrell's insistence that he not play with it, and Martha’s fist had persuaded him to stop fiddling with the thing. Whilst Carrell liked to think it was his stern words that stopped the boy, the black bruise on his forehead advised him that it was likely the latter.
Much like Martha, Carrell might have thought the child asleep, if he couldn’t see that the boy was squinting, his eyes searching the room whilst pretending to have them closed.
Carrell’s eyes settled on Martha once again, the wavering orange light that danced across her face suddenly vanished, the three of them in nothing but endless black.
Something wrenched at the man’s gut, his head pounded and his lungs screamed as his heart beat against his chest all of a sudden.
He heard it slowly, a gentle murmur at first that rose to a chorus of screams and howls that swallowed all sound other than their own.
Carrell sprung from his bed, fumbling about in the dark for his locker, he heard Martha sidle up behind him, felt her hand on his shoulder as she fumbled and groped about as well.
“Hiverat, that you?” She screamed down his ear.
“Yeah, your lockers on the left.” His response came just as loud. Carrell couldn’t hear it clearly, but was sure that he heard a faint ‘beep’ as he pressed his thumb onto a space beside his locker, the door swinging open listlessly. His hand reached forwards, feeling around the side of his locker until he found it, a thin, cylindrical object. He pushed the switch up on it’s side and a beaming shaft of light erupted from it.
Advertisement
Hurriedly, he tugged it free from the locker and stuck it between his teeth, illuminating his locker with a brilliant white glow that reflected off of the dozen or so guns that were tossed about within. His eyes settled on a simple thing, a wood-stocked shotgun from a hive world he had once been sent to under Hargraves order. The previous owner had engraved the stock with a symbol that looked like two broken links of a chain, the sign of that hives aptly named gang, and rebel force, ‘The Chainbreakers’. Who had picked up a bad habit of freeing slaves and the poor from mining camps and the like.
Apparently, the entire shotgun had been custom made by it’s previous owner, and Carrell had to hand it to him, the owner was a good craftsmen, for a xenos-hybrid that is.
He pulled the shotgun free, slinging a bandolier of shotgun shells over his shoulder as well. His eyes glanced over to Martha, who had just managed to wrestle an oversized longsword from a tangle of habits, armour and religious iconography. The blade reflected the light off of Carrell’s flashlight, the metal of the weapon practically glowing. He could see the sacred inscriptions that had been emblazoned into the flat of that blade as she took it up in both hands. He’d never tried to read them before, and doubted he could.
The wailing and screaming was silenced for but a second, interrupted by the thundering crack of lasfire in the hall outside.
One look at Martha was all he needed, she met his eyes and nodded in response. Carrell glanced back to the boy, Dread was currently recoiling from the noise, collapsed on the floor and clutching his head, screaming, though his wails seemed to merely join in with the cacaphony that flooded the ship.
Carrell slammed his fist onto the button besides their door, though the heavy steel door didn’t move, no grinding of gears. He stuck the button again. Nothing.
He knew that Martha wouldn’t hear him over the wailing and screaming, but muttered nevertheless “If the power is completely gone...” The screaming rose to a violent crescendo again as the door infront of him crunched and bent violently, before being torn free from it’s hinges and vanishing into the swirling nebula in front of him.
The ship around him was being torn a part, heavy bulkheads being ripped as there bolts were wrenched from their sockets. The vastness of space around him swirled and morphed. It was no black abyss, no, it was a nebula of swirling colours, changing in hue and intensity violently.
Advertisement
- In Serial24 Chapters
Kingdom of Tyr (Original)
This fiction has been concluded as of the end of Book 1, the portion of the story posted here. There will be a complete rewrite as a separate fiction in the future to make the system more consistent and add more to the world while expanding on the events within this fiction. This rewrite will begin eventually, posted as a separate story. Colt, twelve, is walking home from school when he's approached by another boy dressed oddly, who asks him - theoretically - about living in another world. After asking some information about the theoretical other world, Colt says he'd probably prefer to live there, to get away from the problems he has on Earth. Once Colt confirms that, he finds himself in an abandoned city, the other boy revealing himself to be a god, who then offers to train Colt until he can stand on his own and live by himself. After a couple of months, the god sends Colt off for greater training, to learn to use both Aura and Mana, with his only instructions being to return every now and then to visit, and to make friends and have lots of fun. This story follows Colt, a boy named Tyler he meets in the new city, and their journey to growing stronger, having fun, and striving to beat each other. Note: this story is not intended to be professional-quality, and it does draw inspiration from many sources. That said, it is its own story, in its own world. It has never been and never will be edited. It will also have multiple PoV's, starting somewhere after Chapter 8.
8 141 - In Serial48 Chapters
The Divine Gemstones
Vol.1It's currently the year 3318 in Greenterra. After the great mystical war, humans had an agreement to stop making harmful chemicals for the environment. Kings and queens limited the outcome of Chlorofluorocarbons. Winters were back at their best, and summers weren’t as burning-hot anymore. Plants and trees were growing once again all over the world; the making of downtown urban cities and cars was banned; therefore, all the human-made chemical ozone depletion stopped. Consequently, allowing the planet to produce more magic; giving people and animals more magic-flow that they could use and inherit. Unfortunately, this massive increase of magic produced by the planet also awakened a slumbered entity that was sealed off millions and millions of years ago by archangels. It made a group named, 'Black Tombstone' whose objective is to kidnap people and drain them of their magic to recover the entity's power back to its prime. Many humans and other mystical creatures have been suffering by the uprising of this terrorist group. A smart guy named, 'Rukito' is caught up in all of this; he gets targeted by one of the members to die, since his parents are one of the wealthiest people in Greenterra, and one of the few that know how to work and develop magic. While this is all happening, a new member is adopted into his family, a mysterious girl named 'Kasai' that is distant and reserved is now living with him in this colossal mansion, making matters even worse. Vol.2He starts uniting a group of people to start the search for the divine gemstones, each one of them having a tragic but hopeful past. Cover made by me, here's a link for the high-resolution picture, (Was a bit lazy to fully clean up the drawing lol) (And by the way, it might just spoil juuuuust a little lol)
8 120 - In Serial6 Chapters
Still as Water
Flint is a fire magician, yet, like others who pursue fire for their lives, he ends up burning himself from time to time. He understands his nature and wants to refine himself into a greater person, for his own sake, and of those close to him. But things don't go as expected during an experiment. Note: While it's tagged with gore, it isn't the focus, though it may happen at some points. Cover art: "Kayaking at Hickory Point" by FreeWine is licensed under CC BY 2.0
8 346 - In Serial8 Chapters
My (Secret) Life as a Teenage Assassin
What would you do if you were minding your own business at a bus stop and a strange man in a black suit drops an envelope on your lap and you believe that he must totally have the wrong guy? Do you look in the envelope? But what about your grades? What about your poor, overworked mother? Sebastian Cady has to answer all of these questions and more while trying to juggle school, a confusing childhood friend, and this new and dangerous opportunity that has literally fallen into his lap. Little does he know that this opportunity will lead to many revelations that will shake up his world!
8 172 - In Serial33 Chapters
Tripwire
In the canyon city of Oedolon, a twin sister and brother find their downtrodden life radically changed by an intriguing piece of technology tied closer to them than it appears. Challis Gannagen, accustomed to a life of sharing Rasalas' exquisite eyesight on top of her own in a bizarre double vision, rides thrikeback into a cosmic solarpunk adventure to discover the truth of the situation all along, and how the most unexpected people can be tripwires... just inviting her to walk right into danger.
8 93 - In Serial18 Chapters
Miraculous Ladybug AU- Soulmates
When everyone turns 17, they get a set of initials or an initial somewhere on their body that links them to their soulmate - the person who is their other half. Marinette was incredibly excited for her seventeenth birthday. She was hoping her mark would link her to Adrien. When she saw her mark, she was shocked. There was only one person in the world who her soulmate could be. Her mark was a green and black CN, which meant her soulmate was Cat Noir.DISCLAIMER: WE DO NOT OWN MIRACULOUS LADYBUG! ALL RIGHTS GO TO THOMAS ASTRUC!Inspiration from Soulmates by its_nusa_obviously and other stories on Wattpad :)
8 95