[Lisheo]

This is just a quick development of the world that the Tales of Mochtan and Red are set in, part of the last of the Six Wars of Storms.

The Unkindness strolled forward, to stand beside the tall but bizarely bent shape that was Ignatiol the Necromancer, knee-deep in mud, staring up at the cloud-blackened sky.
A blast of pallid blue lightning illuminated the killing fields beneath them for a moment, the thousand soldiers clamouring against each other, iron ringing against iron, men and women tripping over corpses of their comrades...
"There's a skyship on the way," the Unkindness remarked casually, pleasantly.
Ignatiol turned to look at him, the small, beady eyes in the dessicated face glaring at him. "Indeed, Grief? And what do you intend to do about it? After all, you no longer fight with me, do you?"
The Unkindness, Grief, shrugged. Or a motion that served as shrugging for him. "I intend to deal with it. Jacob has brought too much calamity upon this world as of late. Tell me, is the Child you and Sammuel created ready yet?"
Ignation froze. "What?"
"Don't play games with me, Emperor. I have existed long before you were born, long before you created the first human empire."
"Soon," admitted Ignatiol with a scowl. "Soon."
"Not soon enough. He has some of my brothers and sisters with him, your immortal."
"Not mine. I did my part millenia ago, but it seems this world can't deal with him without aid."
"Indeed. Ayzriele the Corpse God and his cult approach Jacob's Fourth Army in the North, you should know."
"Let us hope Machteus gets no wind of this."
Grief shrugged again. "It makes no odds, really. Their personal vendetta pales in comparison to this, and I think Machteus would see that."
"He's not one of you, Trickster."
"I've dealt with him before. A reasonable fellow. The skyship approaches. Watch."

And with that, Grief exploded, a hundred black shapes fluttering skyward, to join with the thousands in the air above. Still more of the crows and ravens erupted skyward from the field of battle, until a vast mass of the birds hung in the sky. Waiting.

The skyship tore through the clouds, lightning splashing off its steel hull. It was huge, Ignatiol saw, truly huge. A vast wedge of darkness, belching steam and hot red liquid, and dropping smaller, cylindrical black shapes as it floated lazily forward.
Grief's host of crows shattered. Some of the darted forward, a dozen to each of the black shapes- explosives, Ignatiol realised- and diverted them from the battlefield. Hellish red light flared wherever one struck the ground, and the twisted necromancer shielded his eyes.
The skyship was now enveloped by crows, a moving black cloak that bit and tore uselessly at the metal hull of the ship.
Loud bangs echoed, and birds begin to fall in clumps. Ignatiol sighed, and clenched his fists. Grief was being massacred by the Jacobian army's weapons, the "guns".
~Sammuel, he thought.
The reply was instantaneous. ~Yes, human?
~The Unkindness is dying. One of the skyships.
~Oh, sooth? The crackling voice sounded almost amused, then fell silent.
At the same time, Ignatiol's eyes widened as a multitude of dark shapes rose from the ground, trailing feathers.

Grief would have smiled, had he not needed to discard his corporeal body in order to direct this attack with his full might. The undead birds had rejoined his flock, and the gunmen who had shot them were now feeling the full brunt of his displeasure.
He had already dispatched a fragment of himself, some several dozen of his ravens, inside the skyship. They flew down hallways, screeching, flapping furiously...
And then they reached the Engine Room.

Iriel, the darkest being of them all, gazed up at the skyship from his place in the battlefield, surrounded by the bodies of tens of soldiers.
A spear of flame blasted out of its hull, and fragments of metal began to fall to the ground, a superheated, deadly rain. Iriel growled, and extended his protection, unwillingly, over the remains of Ignatiol and Sammuel's forces, as he watched the skyship begin to plummet to the ground.

[Aptorian]

Unkindness? More like AWESOMENESS

[Lisheo]

Aptorian, on Mar 2 2009, 12:08 PM, said:

Unkindness? More like AWESOMENESS

So does that mean you enjoyed it?

[Aptorian]

Yes. I haven't actually bothered readingf the rest of your short stories, but I will now

Are they all set in that universe?

[Lisheo]

Aptorian, on Mar 2 2009, 12:15 PM, said:

Yes. I haven't actually bothered readingf the rest of your short stories, but I will now

Are they all set in that universe?

The Serial Killers ones are, that's bout it. They're very very different, mind you.

[Aptorian]

Lisheo, on Mar 2 2009, 01:16 PM, said:

They're very very different, mind you.

Booo! Apt wants awesomesauce fantasy battles!

[Lisheo]

Aptorian, on Mar 2 2009, 12:18 PM, said:

Lisheo, on Mar 2 2009, 01:16 PM, said:

They're very very different, mind you.

Booo! Apt wants awesomesauce fantasy battles!

*sighs* At some point I will be writing more of those, either in this world, or my older project when I revive it.

[Bauchelain the Evil]

What can I say, Lisheo, you're a very talented writer. The chracters in this story were great. Just a question:

Spoiler

didn't Mochtan kill Ayzriele?

[Lisheo]

Bauchelain the Evil, on Mar 3 2009, 06:44 PM, said:

What can I say, Lisheo, you're a very talented writer. The chracters in this story were great. Just a question:

Spoiler

didn't Mochtan kill Ayzriele?

Yes indeed. But because he's a God, he's really just... displaced, and becomes the Corpse God. It's suggested he's not quite gone in another story here somewhere

[Hinter]

Want more!

At first I thought the Unkindness a bit of a cumbersome name, but then he exploded into crows and it was "Ah! I get it!". Good stuff mate

[Fist Gamet]

I will add my sentiments, very good. If I read that in a book I would want to read on. The characters exploding into crows is a terrific idea and it didn't make me think instantly of d'ivers/soletaken thingy. In truth it struck me as a very useful and interesting plot element with loads of potential. Might have to steal the idea

[Grimjust Bearegular]

very interesting little story. I would definitely read more:)