《Death Regulator》Goldfinch Impaler
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The canopy of the Woodstock Forest sang in the wind from the clement sky— a paean known only to those attuned to nature's song and dance. Leaves fluttered adrift amidst the breeze that shook the very trunks of the numerous deciduous and evergreen trees that sprawled the exuberant forest terrain.
A break in a thick cedar's plumage revealed not a scurrying squirrel, nor a whistling bird, but Arik Mitchell, crouched on a branch like an ever-watchful gargoyle.
It was Sunday, the day after the expo, and Arik had found himself stuck in quandary once again. What else was new. But this time things were a bit different. His contemplations were familiar, yet faint, like some kind of indirect deja vu or a sudden memory of a childhood long-forgotten. He had walked this path before, or at least strolled down one much the same. The only hesitation this time was due to the denouement of the last.
Did he even deserve to see Celesti anymore after all he had done? Sure, she was ready to rekindle an old relationship. But could he allow that to himself? Was he being weak by rewarding himself with such accolades that he had long cast over the soporific precipice?
You would think that he would jump at the opportunity of something he had longed after for so long. But life has a dynamism to it that has a tendency to catch one off guard in the moment. Arik himself didn't know what he should do next, and that meant no one did.
But he didn't have to have an answer until Friday. And if there was one thing the dilatory master was versed in, it was introspective thinking (often of a superfluous nature) and procrastination.
In the meantime, he could focus on why he was currently hunkered down in a tree high above the ground.
On a robust straight limb impossible to reach through conventional means, Arik desperately built up much needed fortitude. This was the highest he had ever flown, easily topping the 10–15 foot crumbling brick walls of the esoteric logging town he had been practicing in. By his estimations, the branch he was supported on was probably 25 feet off the ground, the first flight done out in the open since first discovering the ability a week ago.
It was reinstated news to Arik that he felt uneasy at great heights, if not afraid. The elevation he was at dwarfed the ground below and dread churned his stomach like a witch stirring their hazardous cauldron. However, compared to the barriers he broke through yesterday, this was but a drop in the pond.
His reason for scaling the lithe tree was two-fold: reach a new record of vertical ascension through his flight, and claim a record for horizontal distance as well by flying to the concrete silo a couple dozen yards away. The silo was the next part, and boy was the pent up courage once harbored within crumbling like a massive statue atop a shoddy foundation of twigs.
"C'mon. You got this." He slapped his cheek a few times as if to gain his own attention. "Come on! Fear isn't real. It's just an illusion designed to keep the weak alive." He looked to the ever-shrinking ground and gulped. "You're not weak, are you?"
A light fluttering and vibration of the tree branch startled Arik, forcing him into clutching the branch for dear life. He looked up to meet eyes with a dazzling bright yellow bird with black and white wings. Arik had spent copious amounts of time in the forest drawing its various wildlife, so he knew that it was an American Goldfinch from its sunny design.
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The bird flitted about on the branch with little interest in the elevated human, analyzing the area for either an easy meal or perhaps loose sticks for a nest. Arik held his breath for fear of scaring it off, but before long, it took to the air. Its direction was coincidental to say the least, soaring through the air toward the very silo Arik had marked as his destination like an extension of his very will. Within mere moments the bird had landed atop the concrete tower.
He let out an amused chuckle. "Well I guess that settles it."
Arik focused his consciousness on the thought of flying like he always did before takeoff. His wild black hair slowly began to rise as his body gradually became lighter every second.
"I can't just let a bird show me up. How will I be able to sleep tonight if I do?"
He let out an anxiety ridden sigh and let go of the branch he had been clinging to for dear life. With a courageous push of his legs and faith to boot, he began drifting from the tree like a weightless astronaut that was being towed behind their ship. He wasn't moving very fast, perhaps walking speed, but the emotions and chemicals running throughout his body were enough to make him feel like he was on tip of the world.
Looking down, he could see the angle of structures below him shifting with every foot. Looking to the silo, he could see its shape growing in size and its detail becoming ever more clear as he drew near. The precarious dimensions he was experiencing without any footing to be that high was almost nauseating. But whatever mental capacity wasn't being used for the flying was avidly avoiding a delve into dark and fearful thoughts; a nice little trick he had picked up in the last week of his flight practices.
From the moment he had pushed off from the tree he moved at a sluggish pace out of fear and lack of skill. Like anyone using a muscle, he had a vague idea that he could go beyond what he was pushing, and the further he flew through the air, the more comfortable he became, and the faster he went. It wasn't until he was finally closing the treacherous distance that his selfish acceleration had gotten the better of him.
The trees among his vision began to blur with speed and his heart violently pumped like the steam engine of a train vigorously running on all cylinders. Any critical thinking went out the window as Arik slammed into the top of the silo with his lower body, flipping over the brim into the hollow center of the tall cylindrical structure. A yell grew ever distant as he disappeared into the dark depths of the giant concrete silo.
After a few moments, the shouting halted, followed by a small bird landing atop the silo. It was the same Goldfinch from before, still fluttering about, but this time seemingly more curious to Arik's condition than twigs. It looked down into the abyss in search of clues. Almost immediately, the flying man rocketed out of the silo toward the sky, scaring the bird off in a cloud of feathers and squawks.
"Wooohooo!" he yelled in glee toward the sky above.
His body was flying faster than it ever had, and this time it was no accident. The speed, the control, the fear; all was all so clear now. It was so easy to do, as if his fear had been the thing holding him back the whole time. But who wouldn't be afraid to soar through the sky with no safety measures?
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Arik felt free. More free than possibly ever before. All of the inhibitors that had literally held him down this whole time broke away in his wake like pieces of weak debilitating armor. He had no use for them anymore; their mileage long overdue. When looking down to where he came from, he saw ever-shrinking trees in an ever-smaller forest. He also saw the shoddy image of what he used to dwell on: fear. But in its place was a reflective feeling of dopamine as he simply didn't care about the fear. He was actually doing it when everything including his former self said he couldn't.
His body was like a behemoth bullet as it punched wafting holes in the clouds blotting out the sky. Once strange thing Arik noticed was that his body wasn't experiencing any drag. No wind or atmospheric resistance to be had in his speed, of which was admittedly most likely much slower than it felt. But even more to the point was his clothes were unaffected by the speed as well, responding only to Arik himself and gravity.
'Very strange,' he thought to himself.
One thing that did affect him however was the cold. Being up so high into the clouds was much more frigid than on the nice core-warmed ground.
'Geez, isn't heat supposed to rise?'
His velocity came to a hushed stop above some drifting clouds. Analyzing the earth all around him, the view was surreal and beautiful. It wasn't a completely new feeling, most everyone had flown in a plane at least once in their life and saw the world from an elevated distance after all. But it was dumbfoundingly different with the middleman, i.e. the plane, removed from the equation. It was just him and the world in the most indirect yet direct contact he could imagine.
He slowly began sinking back through the clouds, this time enjoying that experience a bit more as well. He was being cautious when going down, as he had to directly face the fear of the ground he left beneath. Not to mention the intense and hated feeling of his stomach dropping. Going down proved to be much harder than going up, which bore an ironic resemblance to his life that he found rather amusing.
Arik found a gentler view a ways away toward the city line. From where he was, he could see everything that the bustling city offered and just how much of it had shoved the forest aside throughout the years. On one hand it was a tragedy, but on another it elaborated on the juxtaposition of nature and human ingenuity throughout the centuries. Arik didn't fully hate it.
But it did make him think: 'This is real.'
How long would he have to hide what he can do? How long until he had to show the world what he was capable of? Any closer to the city limit and he would be running the risk of being seen by people. In his heart he knew that it would happen eventually if he decided to keep doing it.
But times had changed drastically in the last few hundred years. At least he wouldn't be tied to a stake and tried as a witch... Hopefully.
Arik was most of the way down at this point. Perhaps a couple hundred yards or so. The descent had gotten easier with time as well, although his head was beginning to wave with a headache.
"Most likely due to prolonged use," he decided, slightly befuddled.
What ensued was hellish chaos.
A strike of pain zapped his body in every direction as his heart and brain went into a frenzy like none other. His vision began to ripple through shades of red as if peering through a thick stained glass window. The headache that was quickly becoming a nuisance was now violently attacking every inch of his body and he could feel his heart rapidly clicking as opposed to softly pumping.
To make matters worse, he was now careening to the forest below him like a bird with a broken wing.
'Am I having a heart attack?!' he thought aghast.
His body would hardly listen to him, moving in a slow motion only comparable to his sleep paralysis when he was younger. If all of that wasn't enough, he was also being constantly battered by the harsh wind that he was previously immune to when flying.
'I can't even activate my flying. What is going on?!' He saw the trees of the forest draw rapidly nearer like massive pikes. 'All of this just to die of a heart attack and fall damage. Can't say this isn't fitting.'
Arik closed his eyes in his final seconds out of defeat. He didn't want to die, not anymore. But there was nothing he could do.
Rather than plummet directly into the hard ground below, his body managed to collide with a large fir tree. Tree needles and wood flew everywhere as his helpless body rag-dolled down the tree, hitting and snapping what felt like every branch along the way. Once filtered through the serrating tree limbs, he hit the mossy ground in a heavy and crinkled thud.
Face up to the sky, he opened his eyes. Although his vision was very foggy and dizzy, he was alive, much to his dismay. His body hurt all over, but he didn't know which assortment of things had caused it at this point. He could feel the warm blood trickling down from his nose and various parts of his body. Simply put, he was scared to move.
'I think I'll just lay h— BLURGHA."
Talking was a mistake. Blood exploded from his mouth like a crimson fountain and speckled his face in more nauseating warmth. The cough forced part of his body to move in contraction, and a pain unlike anything he had ever experienced wrinkled his face.
Trying his very hardest to lift his head, he managed to look down at his abdomen. It was sporting a hefty branch right through it that painted his shirt red. He could see the pine needles folded over each other sticking out from his wound as well, as if the very branch was growing out of his stomach.
Even in his pain ridden stupor he realized, it was the tip of the tree he had fallen onto.
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Cambion
A boy is born through sacrilege.A priest for a father.A succubus for a mother.The devil wanted a son, and, using his evil trickery, was able to obtain one while simultaneously spitting in God's face.Follow the path of a teen once loved by everyone who is now hated. What makes him so different isn't just the horns that sprout from his head, but the powers the devil has bestowed upon him.Will he use them to slaughter the followers of God? Those who so easily turned their backs on him? Will he accept his heir to the dark throne?Or, will he use his powers to fight his serpent of a father and all his minions?**I release a brand new chapter weekly!*****This is a Dark Fantasy revolving around traditional religion. No ideas expressed in this book reflect the author's views or beliefs.*******Read more from Stevie Collier at www.StevieCollier.com ****
8 175Sweet Minds
"No one can see it, some can feel it, and only the few can use it. We belong to the few." Marith Merryfield felt anything but merry that morning. She found herself waiting for a delayed train on a deserted platform, in the freezing cold of the Dutch autumn. Just when the strangeness is making her consider turning around and going back home an empty train rolls into the station. For reasons unclear to this day she decides to get onboard. An unlikely, and quite impossible, train accident is about to hurtle her into a world she had always suspected existed. It was a dark and absurd place she had rejected and suppressed when she was young. Now she would need that dormant part of herself to survive. After a brief hospitalization she must choose between two continents and finds herself reluctantly boarding a plane to Oregon to be reunited with her shadows. She returns to the town she grew up in, which is where her father still lives and her childhood memories linger. By the end of the week the mysterious train accident turns out to be the least of her problems. Her life was never supposed to become this serious this fast. Through an improbable and unfortunate series of events she is soon introduced to a motley crew of characters that appear to be carrying the same struggles through life. They possess a familiar sense of inadequacy and insecurity. Marith realizes that for the first time in her life she has found herself a tribe, or, as they prefer to call it, a Chain. She is introduced to a world of Prophets, Runners and Mages led by an Oracle and a Watchmaker. Over the course of several weeks Marith learns that, together with her Chain, she is expected to save this fabric of reality, by fighting a mysterious and immortal creature and his aggressive pet. In order to have a chance at overcoming this force of nature she has to revisit the darkest and most desolate corners of her mind. ***** The total word count of the first 12 chapters amounts to about 85.000 words. The total word count of the first 30 chapters will amount to about 225.000 words. My chapters range, roughly, from 5.000 to 10.000 words. I post with irregular intervals, on random days and at different times. I hope you will enjoy the story! English is not my first language and I am very much open to constructive criticism. Disclaimer: I regularly use impressionistic or abstract language on purpuse, when I think it might benefit the story.
8 153My Failed Reincarnation as a Demon’s Prisoner
When Kayn opened his eyes in the empty void, he was met with a familiar voice and the knowledge that he was neither dead nor alive and about to be reincarnated. What he didn't expect was to reappear in the world of the living and immediately get captured by a clan of demons, now living as their prisoner. After a lucky encounter, Kayn stumbles upon a room that could possibly give him what he needs to free himself from their captivity. But, as he soon finds out, escaping from the demon queen herself isn't the easiest of tasks... **DISCLAIMER**This story attempts to be quite comedic (I don't know if I'm doing a great job at it) and will be more comedy heavy at the start than later on. As the situations Kayn finds himself in become more grave, the story will become serious and less comedy oriented. There will always be comedy throughout, but at some point I do plan on shifting the focus. I'd love to hear everyones opinion on whether the comedy should be kept in full, or dialed back a little so the plot can take centre stage more often. Happy reading!
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8 13349 and one hero.
Hi I'm Spint, 27, and I'm from Sweden.This is my first attempt of writing something readable.(A first attempt on making a proper description.)- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Heroes, a word normally associated with people who do extraordinary deeds that others would shy away from. Deeds like jumping in front of a car to save a child. Like walking in to a burning building to save those inside. Like taking a bullet to save another. Save, this is the word that defines a hero, to save others at the cost of oneself. But what would happen if a hero was not made by his own actions but was instead forced in to situation that would eventually make him into a hero. What if everyone around you saw you as a hero, named you as a hero and looked upon you to save them from what was to come. Would you become a hero for them, or would you lash out against them for forcing you? This is a story about those that walks the road of a hero, and the one who makes his own path. Written in the classic """"Summoned heroes"""" style set in a fantasy world.- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - I hope you will enjoy it!Ps. I would love to know what you guys think, good or bad. Feel free to wright a comment in the individual chapters or wright a review down below telling the readers what you think about it. But please keep in mind that good or bad scores don't tell anyone anything. If you are hesitant about reading this fiction then try out the first chapter. It is short ^^. Ds.
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