02-26-2017, 01:52 AM
The sun is coming up by the time my wounds have healed. It crests the canopy of the forest which lurks above the lowlands, casting the distant crimson cliffs at the valley's far end in vivid hues of rusted orange. The lake below them and the waterfall that feeds it turn to liquid fire, glowing so brilliantly in the light of dawn that looking at them is almost painful. The castle is a silhouette beside the water, nearly black by comparison.
Tucked away beside a filthy pond below the edge of the small ridge where I've chosen to nest, I remain in darkness. Excepting the ambient glow of twilight, I'm lit only by the fading twinkle of Omnilium wisps; They rise from my newly-mended flesh like the smoke of burning cities.
I grin, my teeth solidly within my head once more, the once-unfamiliar expression now delighting me with the sensation of its savage subtleties.
Very carefully, I stand up. My knee is just slightly stiff, but it doesn't hurt me, and my thoughts are clear of pain and muzziness. I walk to the road. Stepping out into the rising light, my scales glint and gleam.
Signs of the previous nights battle lie all around. The road is blasted and torn, sticky with my gold-flecked blood, as well as that of departed foe. Nearby, grassy fields have been scorched and riven by my golden lightning.
Remembering the struggle, I laugh. The power that's awoken inside me, the sheer difference in mass between this tiny body and the purer form that stirs within it, would make such a contest trivial by comparison.
Of course, had that been the case, unmaking Dawnika Snow would not have been nearly so satisfying. I learned so much about her during our battle (such a bright, defiant little creature!) which I'd never have known had I faced her at the height of my golden glory. She would have been just another one of millions fleeing my shadow... or more likely in her case, standing against me in defiance of all reason only to be thoughtlessly swept away: dust in my wake. The girl was a jewel, her destruction a triumph, and I would never have noticed her.
When I think of the nuance, the texture, the subtlety of composition I've been missing for the past eon, all due to a simple accident of perception and relative scale, it makes me want to weep (something which has never, ever happened before).
Below, across the hills and dales, the valley is waking up. Livestock stir in the fields, and villagers emerge from their highly flammable hovels to go about doing whatever it is they do in the morning. The larger towns gain a sense of purpose and motion, distant though they may be. Mist begins to rise off the fields as the sun climbs higher in the sky.
The temptation to simply ascend and lay it all to waste is nearly overpowering, but even that pales in comparison to the promised reward for my patience. This valley is going to mark the beginning of a new era for me. It will be the first of its kind - an entire society thoroughly known and experienced in preparation for its demise.
Thoughts abuzz with curiosity I set off down the road.
Tucked away beside a filthy pond below the edge of the small ridge where I've chosen to nest, I remain in darkness. Excepting the ambient glow of twilight, I'm lit only by the fading twinkle of Omnilium wisps; They rise from my newly-mended flesh like the smoke of burning cities.
I grin, my teeth solidly within my head once more, the once-unfamiliar expression now delighting me with the sensation of its savage subtleties.
Very carefully, I stand up. My knee is just slightly stiff, but it doesn't hurt me, and my thoughts are clear of pain and muzziness. I walk to the road. Stepping out into the rising light, my scales glint and gleam.
Signs of the previous nights battle lie all around. The road is blasted and torn, sticky with my gold-flecked blood, as well as that of departed foe. Nearby, grassy fields have been scorched and riven by my golden lightning.
Remembering the struggle, I laugh. The power that's awoken inside me, the sheer difference in mass between this tiny body and the purer form that stirs within it, would make such a contest trivial by comparison.
Of course, had that been the case, unmaking Dawnika Snow would not have been nearly so satisfying. I learned so much about her during our battle (such a bright, defiant little creature!) which I'd never have known had I faced her at the height of my golden glory. She would have been just another one of millions fleeing my shadow... or more likely in her case, standing against me in defiance of all reason only to be thoughtlessly swept away: dust in my wake. The girl was a jewel, her destruction a triumph, and I would never have noticed her.
When I think of the nuance, the texture, the subtlety of composition I've been missing for the past eon, all due to a simple accident of perception and relative scale, it makes me want to weep (something which has never, ever happened before).
Below, across the hills and dales, the valley is waking up. Livestock stir in the fields, and villagers emerge from their highly flammable hovels to go about doing whatever it is they do in the morning. The larger towns gain a sense of purpose and motion, distant though they may be. Mist begins to rise off the fields as the sun climbs higher in the sky.
The temptation to simply ascend and lay it all to waste is nearly overpowering, but even that pales in comparison to the promised reward for my patience. This valley is going to mark the beginning of a new era for me. It will be the first of its kind - an entire society thoroughly known and experienced in preparation for its demise.
Thoughts abuzz with curiosity I set off down the road.