Hey, this is me returning 4 days after I said I was sick of forums, but I've been wanting to post a short story in this forum for a good couple of years now, and this is the first time I've actually got around to writing one after needing a break from the novel attempt, so screw it.
Feel free to rip it to bits if you want, I'm totally fine with that, but if you can tell me why it sucks if you decide that's the case, it'd be a huge help, because I know some of you are well into writing and have way more experience than me. It's also posted up here where I'm going to try and add a new story every couple of weeks for a while if possible, because I need to get way better at this by writing a lot more than I have been.
Please remember I said it was my first, so it might be sore on the eyes and brain..
Novabird
11:42pm on the east side of the Heran bridge, and Darren continues to stare directly down at the road below him from an underside ledge, ninety feet above the ground.
He's known for about six days that if all goes to plan, tonight will surely be the night that the resistance against the Half-Demons begins, and he's been fine with accepting that from the off, but not for one minute has he been able to understand why he has to be the person to begin it. Known as Novabird in his group, and prepared for what he's about to do with his own powers and a succession of spells cast on him about three hours ago, he steadily feels the burden get heavier as each minute passes.
Almost 11:45, and after hearing the sound of a vehicle, he looks southwards back down the road below him to see a van moving slowly towards the eastern base of the bridge. The area below the east side of the Heran is often quiet during the day and almost purely deserted during the night, so he figures that the van has a high chance of being one of the other sides as it approaches the target zone, and this is all but confirmed as it settles neatly inside the area below him. Just as he's focusing in with the night vision binoculars, more engines are heard from the south, and he again turns to look, this time seeing two cars coming down the road at about the same crawling pace as the van before them. As soon as they slow down and then stop next to the van he knows it's about time, and the adrenaline begins to surge.
Placing the binoculars down on the cold concrete beside him, he makes the first of five mudra-like hand movements about a foot and a half infront of his chest, which when completed will give him the ability to use the etheric bomb. The second the movements are complete he knows that he's no longer alone, and that the spirits are in the area of the ledge, ready to charge the bomb for him if he jumps. If the plan falls through and the Half-Demons call the meeting off before everyone has arrived, he'll then make the same five movements in reverse order, and the spirits will depart.
He knows that he won't have to do this though, because he can now feel on an intuitional level that he's going to have to summon the courage to jump from the underside of the bridge, and begin the war.
This is all but confirmed when two more cars with a van following behind them appear on the southern road and eventually join the others in the zone below him. Now awaiting the final confirmation that he knows he'll see, but has to check for regardless as a matter of routine, Darren takes another look below him through the binoculars and awaits the sight of the Half-Demons. As soon as five out of eight of the group he's been sent to hit are visually confirmed, the waiting ends, and it's finally time.
One by one they appear, until seven of the eight have been sighted. Darren lets out a sigh of weariness as he tries to imagine some of the chains of effects that will follow what he's about to unleash ninety feet below, and then he begins to stand.
The binoculars are placed in his inside jacket pocket as he positions himself directly above the gathering, then Darren ceases to exist, and Novabird arises from within. One final look up into the stars of the night sky, with his left hand clasped over his right fist in a plea to the Gods and Goddesses of mercy, and then Novabird leans forward and silently falls from the underside of the Heran bridge.
The order of spells begins, and the summoned spirits cast the first. Novabird feels a surge of energy that stuns him for a few tenths of a second, before he regains whatever composure he can gather up, and focuses in on the group below him as he rapidly closes in on it.
Halfway to the ground.
Moving his right arm in a circular motion from his left side, the rooting spell falls from an open hand and sends out a burst of red flame-like light on top of the Half-Demons, which simultaneously gives each one of them the sudden shock that they're under attack, and that they can no longer move from where they're standing. A feeling of twisted satisfaction washes over Novabirds body as he notices that a few of them manage to look upwards in horror just as he descends upon them.
Just as he starts to think that things are falling right into place, Novabird realises that his adrenaline has reached the point where the whole scene has begun to move in a slow motion that he can hardly believe. He's read and heard about this experience time and time again, but surely this is a bit too slow? Has one of the spells gone wrong, or is a Half-Demon countering his fall?
Before he even manages to form the words "Fuck" and "no" in his head, the fear and doubt dissipate in an instant. After reaching six feet from the ground and being slightly off-center of the group, his right foot comes into contact with the shoulder of a Half-Demon, and the main set of spells are triggered.
The impact with Novabirds foot smashes the Half-Demons right shoulder into pieces, and the continual descent of the body hitting him also takes his right arm from him and part of his upper right side. Novabird remains unhurt as a solidity spell that makes his body take on a near metal strength, the same spell that's responsible for the damage done to the Half-Demon, absorbs his impact, along with an anti-shock spell to remove the damage of the landing. The two spells come into full effect as he finally hits the concrete, and continues moving through it with the added weight of the solidity spell.
The sensation of the etheric bomb arrives as this happens, and as Novabird's eyes are closed, the protection of the matter-shield spell co-incides with the start of the explosion, but it still feels like his aura is being torn off his body in the midst of the shockwave.
The night sky for several miles around the Heran breifly lights up with the explosion, and the bodies, cars and vans of the Half-Demons completely disintegrate within the space of half a second, taking their howling and cries of failure back into their own dimension. The spirits of the etheric bomb limit the damage that the waves of energy send out into the surrounding area, and Novabird is left crouched down inside a five foot deep crater where the road below the bridge used to be.
As he quickly open his eyes, his body overcharged with the adrenaline coursing through it, relief and exhilaration hits, and the need for successions of spells is over. As he focuses his own innate power and jumps into the air, he strains to focus every part of his will that he has left, and leaves the ground, darting upwards into the night, away from the Hell of what he just had to do.
Flying eastwards along the path of the river, he takes the first and final look behind him, but sees nothing but fiery white light. Turning his head back in bewilderment he wonders what's happening, then as if in answer to his confusion, the memory of being told about the after effects of the bomb arrives in his mind.
The spells have unsettled him to the point of near total nervousness, but the final casting is welcomed as he once again moves his right arm in a circular motion infront of his face, and sees the glimmer of the portal beginning to open a few hundred feet ahead of him. The after-trails of the etheric energy would've made his escape all but impossible if not for this final spell, and as several pure-blooded Winged Sentry Demons enter Earth's dimension, they spot the trail and scream into the night pursuing it, but find nothing at it's end.
Minutes later in the Urlya dimension, Darren begins to resurface as he sits and looks across the near flourescent plains from midway up one of it's mountains. No clouds, no wind, no extremity of temperature, and a vision that many Humans would describe as the sight of Heaven, but all Darren can think about is the consequences of what he's just done, and pray from the deepest part of himself that no innocents get caught up in the battles that will follow.
Looking across the plains with a mind almost devoid of contentment, and too burdened to care, he thinks to himself that he'll just be happy when all of this bullshit is over with. |
