The Art of War: Epilogue – Funeral Rites [COMPLETE]

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Re: The Art of War: Chapter 7 – The Shark and the Shadow: Part 1

#46 Post by Thallium »

Kaptain wrote:No sir. I have ingested a rather copius amount of sugar though. I was quoting a Geico commercial and adding my own twist to make it fit.
Uh....hu....

IN OTHER NEWS! Expect part 2 out no later then thursday afternoon. Hopefully this will be last last time I use someone else's IP (intentionally that is... :roll: )
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Re: The Art of War: Chapter 7 – The Shark and the Shadow: Part 1

#47 Post by Kaptain »

I take it you've never seen it.
YouTube -> Drill sergeant Geico commercial -> Laugh
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Re: The Art of War: Chapter 7 – The Shark and the Shadow: Pa

#48 Post by Thallium »

Well, due to my usual lack of real planning, this chapter has actually finished slightly earlier then it was first intended to. Not because I ran out of time you understand but because it simply made more sense to finish it here then carrying on (builds up the suspense more too… :twisted: )
Because of this, my last use of someone else’s IP will in fact now be in the NEXT chapter rather than this one (and don’t worry, the person will receive full credit at the end of the chapter).

On an unrelated but equally interesting note, some of you will be pleased/saddened to hear that by my extremely rough back-of-paper-napkin calculations we are now approximately half way through tAoW. I know, I’m amazed to. Just where does the time fly to?
The pretty cool aspect of this however is that by the time it’s finished, tAoW should actually be slightly longer then the first (and possibly the second) Harry Potter book. Not bad for an internet junkies debut novel eh?

Anyway, enough waffle. Here’s the 2nd, slightly shorter part of chapter 7. Enjoy.



----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------




Chapter 10 – The Shark and the Shadow: Part 2


London, Broadcasting House

“You’re on in two minutes, minister.”
The call rang out from one of the studio techies and the minister nodded his head. From the shadows behind the set, one of his aides scurried up to him
“So, are you going to tell them the truth?”
The minister gave his aide a baleful look and the man smiled playfully
“yeah, yeah I know, stupid question. Alright then, how much ARE you going to tell them?”
He sighed, “About a halfway house I think. Just enough to stop them from crying cover-up but not enough to give them an inkling of what’s actually going on, you know, the usual drill.”

His aide smiled again, “Out of interest… what actually did happen out there?”
This time it was the minister’s turn to smile
“You know I can’t tell you that, even if I did know myself that is.”
The techie flashed him the one minute warning.
“all I know is that for the next few months my office is going to be flooded with angry calls and letters and it’s going to be all down to me to deal with it on top of handling this entire situation. The PM wants nothing to do with the military aspect. Too toxic he says. Maybe he’s right.”

30 seconds

“anyway, we’ll cross that bridge when we come to it. You’d better get back to the others. I need someone monitoring the newsfeed after all.”
His aide nodded and disappeared back into the shadows again. The minister straightened up and prepared himself mentally for what was to come.
What a bloody mess: hundreds of casualties, a humanitarian disaster on a magnitude not seen since Chernobyl and to top it all off the PM wanted answers and he wanted them NOW. He was good but he was not a miracle worker. At least not with the constraints of modern government blocking his every move. Oh how he longed for the old days before all this 24-hour media bollocks had come in and taken all the fun out of politics. It was impossible to run a good cover-up these days.

Straightening his tie and preparing to take his seat next to the smiling Huw Edwards, the minister shook his head.
“God dammit Keith; what have you gotten yourself into this time?”



----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------



“Tough it out Basitin! We shall endure, as we have always done. Focus on the here and now; there will be time for grief later when this is finished!”

Keiser was right of course; emotions would only hinder him here. There was a much more present and pressing danger that needed to be dealt with before he could attribute any time towards grief. The pair were hurrying cautiously across the open plain, weapons in the shoulder and searching for whatever it was the had gotten Keiser so nervous. Every now and then Hawk thought he saw something at the corner of his vision but whenever he trained his sights on it, it was gone, and vanishing into the red dust like it had never existed.

They were close to the cave now, less than a hundred meters away when he saw it. He spied the glimpse again but instead of turning towards it, Hawk flashed his rifle left to where he correctly predicted the creature was moving to. In that instant he caught sight of what was following them for the first time. It was too far away and the landscape too hazy to make out exact details but what he saw was enough: a creature, as tall as a man with a pair of great black wings extending from its back flitting between the columns of rock.
“Keiser! I’ve seen it! Up above on the pillars!”
Keith turned, still running for the cave
“I know; I first saw it when those hyenas were attacking you but I thought it must have been a trick of the light. Whatever it is it certainly isn’t friendly. We need to get under cover now!”
They were mere meters away now, the cave’s maw opening in front of them as a bastion of safety. The two jumped through, twisting and training rifle sights out through the opening, hoping to catch the creature as it flew through the aperture. But nothing came. They waited there for minutes that felt like hours but still the breach remained clear and no sound could be heard from the outside.

Eventually Keiser stood down.
“It’s clever. It’s waiting just outside for us. I can feel it.”
He turned to his companion
“it can sit there longer then we can. If we keep moving further in, maybe we can trap it inside.”
Hawk tried to be reassured but the worried look from Keiser told its own story. He had never seen him look scared before, never as Jason Wight that is. Since the start of today however, Hawk had seen that scared and worried look cross his countenance more and more often. General Keiser he may be but to Hawk he would always be Wight also. And what frightened Wight terrified him.

They retreated back, slowly further into the enveloping darkness all the while keeping a watchful eye out in case the creature made its move. They paced for minutes before Hawk could swear that the blackness was being replaced by a glowing red colour. Maybe it was just his imagination playing tricks on him. As they turned a bend however, Hawk suddenly felt a wave of heat at his back.
“Masks, what the hell is… gods above…”
Fire. That was all he saw.

They were standing on the edge of a precipice, the floor falling away from them on every side save for the thin strip of rock on which the two were precariously perched. As far as the eye could see was nothing but fire and flowing, molten rock. They were staring into a giant lava field. The craggy ceiling of the giant underground cavern stretched seemingly on into infinity above while the lava itself pulsed and oozed about fifty meters beneath their feet, permeating the entire place with boiling heat and the oscillating light patterns.

“Well this was unexpected.”
Hawk glanced to his left; since when had Wi… Keiser had a sense of humour?
He patted Hawk on the shoulder, “This presents us with a slight problem. We need to find a way off this ledge or that… thing is going to come looking for us before too long. It’s not stupid and probably knows this place better than we do. Hell, it probably led us here from the start, knowing there was no way out.”
Hawk closed his eyes momentarily: he did not want to consider the implications of that if it were true.
But then he saw it; sweet salvation!
“Keiser, look!”
He pointed down to the right of the platform, his finger almost trembling with relief. There, about ten meters below and five to the side, was a thin rocky outcropping similar to the one on which they were currently standing. It was hard to tell from this angle but it almost looked like this shelf had an opening into the stone wall like their own; a way into the bedrock and out of this trap.
Keith looked at it
“Quite the jump but worth the shot; you want to go first or me?”
Hawk gulped silently, “I will.”

He readied himself, constantly looking back over his shoulder to see if the creature had caught up with them yet. The coast was clear for now. With a brief prayer and a battle cry, Hawk surged forward towards the end of the ledge, “remember your training, remember… now!”
He leapt forward with all his might, the weight of his webbing and rifle slowing him down somewhat in mid-air all the while the air was rushing around him like he was caught in the eye of a tornado. The platform was close now, so close and yet seemingly so far away. With a slam and a jolt that would have severed most men’s spines, Hawk landed right on the edge, rolling on one shoulder and springing up has he and Gerrard and been taught all those months ago.

Gerrard…

He shook his head. No! This was not the time for becoming teary-eyed. Focus on the task in hand! He moved back into the atramental opening which had indeed observed from above and a moment later the captain followed, landing with considerably more grace then his subordinate had despite his far bulkier build. Keiser gestured him back into the cover of the overhang,
“Come on, keep moving. I’ve got a plan.”


----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------


At the mouth of the cave, a pair of red eyes glowed malevolently in the darkness. The entity crouched there, wings folded across its back and sniffed at the air.

Magic

Its distinctive sent was immediately identifiable amongst the backdrop of other senses that lingered here. Fear, anxiety, a little bit of anger dotted around the place. This was proving far more entertaining than it had originally thought.

Fixing its fiery eyes on the corridor once again, the creature made its way down into the blackness, finding its way by simply following the trail of magical residue it could sense in the air before it. Silly man, why didn’t he just take it off? That would make this a far more interesting hunt. Still it was no matter; the caves in these parts were only so deep and it wouldn’t be long anyway before the two of them found that out. Then they would have only one place to go. Back towards the magma chasm.

The creature gave a soft laugh

“Fee-fi-fo-fum,
I smell the fear of a long-eared-one,
Be he sane or be he dead,
I’ll soon find out what’s in his head.”
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Re: The Art of War: Chapter 7 – The Shark and the Shadow: Part 2

#49 Post by Alleycat »

Run, Basitins, run!

Awesome part 2, but the grammar nazi in me wanted to strangle you occasionally.
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Re: The Art of War: Chapter 7 – The Shark and the Shadow: Part 2

#50 Post by Kaptain »

Oi! You leave the fuzzy ears alone!

Yay! New chapter!

Cry! Cliffhanger!

Also, they jumped 10-15 METERS!? "Basitin" must be the Basitin word for badass.
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Re: The Art of War: Chapter 7 – The Shark and the Shadow: Part 2

#51 Post by Thallium »

Alleycat wrote:Awesome part 2, but the grammar nazi in me wanted to strangle you occasionally.
I can probably guess which bits you’re referring to (I come up with the story, MS Word tells me how to put it together) but any specifics would be nice so I can correct them in the future.
Kaptain wrote:Also, they jumped 10-15 METERS!? "Basitin" must be the Basitin word for badass.
Umm…. If you look closely, it says `10 meters BELOW and five to the SIDE` so in reality it wasn’t really a long jump at all, it was just the fact that they were suspended over a lava field that made it tricky :|
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Re: The Art of War: Chapter 7 – The Shark and the Shadow: Part 2

#52 Post by Kaptain »

1 meter = 2.33 feet, no?
so 23.3 feet is how far it was down... That's slightly more than two stories. Huh, you're right. Even I've jumped two stories :/ But over lava... Badass.
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Re: The Art of War: Chapter 7 – The Shark and the Shadow: Part 2

#53 Post by Thallium »

Uh hu, well they are basically spec ops if you think about it so badass is kinda the norm for these guys. And yeah, about 2 stories down so hence the awesome parkour style role (with a rifle on your back and several full magazines…. ouch! :o )
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Re: The Art of War: Chapter 7 – The Shark and the Shadow: Part 2

#54 Post by tony1695 »

[quote="Kaptain"]1 meter = 2.33 feet, no?[quote]
No, a meter is closer to a yard, or 3 feet.
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Re: The Art of War: Chapter 7 – The Shark and the Shadow: Pa

#55 Post by Thallium »

Wow stop the presses, I’m actually a day EARLY with this update. Must have had some serious writing vibes this week (well either that are an above average level of extreme boredom; either way). Really starting to get into the swing of things now guys; been wanting to write the next few chapters for the past couple of years now. Enjoy!


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Chapter 11 – A Meeting of Minds



“Hello and welcome to the BBC News at 10 o’clock, I’m Huw Edwards. Our top story tonight, a powerful blast that could be felt for miles shook the southern Afghan city of Sangin at approximately 12 o’clock this morning. Details on the matter are still hazy but it is believed that a large part of the residential district has been damaged leaving hundreds of casualties both civilian and coalition forces. With me is the Secretary of State for Defence, Mr Jonathan Mercer. Defence Secretary, what exactly can you tell us in terms of specific details at this time?”

“Well unfortunately Huw, not much. As you can imagine with a disaster of this scale there is very little information as of yet coming in from the ground. Coalition forces in the area are being advised to stay away and the satellite images are being almost totally blocked by smoke and dust.”

“Yes but is there any information as to what caused the explosion yet. What can you tell us?”

“I’m afraid I cannot give you a concrete answer at this time Huw, it’s too early for us to know exactly what has even happened yet let alone what the exact cause is. However, my initial reports from what few people we have in the area suggest that it could possibly have been the explosion of a natural gas chamber under the city district. Unfortunately though this is just speculation at this time and we won’t know more until we are able to get experts into the area which could take a number of weeks.”

“Secretary, what do you say to those who believe that this explosion was caused by some sort of weapon? There are reports in one local Afghan paper that suggest that it was in fact a coalition missile strike that caused the devastation.”

“Oh that is completely ridiculous and unfounded Huw. I have spoken to the Chief of the Defence Staff, Sir David Richards and to my opposite number in Washington, Robert Gates and they both assure me that there were no aircraft or warships with the capability of this scale of destruction anywhere within range of Sangin. The only military activity currently going on in the vicinity is a series of small-scale infantry movements designed to protect the city from any Taliban resurgence.”

“Moving on to that point, what can you tell us about the military casualties that occurred? We’ve heard that they were quite significant.”

“Yes I’m afraid to say that this is unfortunately looking like the most costly incident in terms of casualties for the army since the Falklands War. As I’ve said before we have no confirmed numbers yet but preliminary dispatches report that there could well be over thirty dead and many more injured from the British Army alone. I have no statistics on the numbers of U.S or civilian dead as of yet.”

“Tell us more about the coalition operation that was going on in Sangin at the time of the explosion. Was that the reason for these extremely high casualty rates?”

“Yes, I’m sorry to say that this disaster occurred at the most unfortunate time for us as a significant military operation was indeed in progress at the time of the explosion.”

“Ok… can you tell us anything specific about the exact nature of this operation?”

“Well as you can imagine Huw, exact details are classified however I can say that it was a completely non-violent undertaking in which the combined British and American forces were acting as protection and nothing more. This is why no heavy weapons were in the area and so why this terrible disaster cannot possibly be attributed to us.”

“Very well, as a final point then: It is my understanding that elements from the Du’hadrin regiment were involved in this “protection” mission. Can you make any comment on this?”

“All I can tell you is that several units of the Du’hadrin were indeed involved in the operation and that some are believed to be among the dead. However beyond that we have no information and so I cannot give any more details at this time.”

“Ok we’ll leave it at that for the time being. Defence Secretary, thank you very much for talking to us tonight.”

“Thank you to Huw. We will of course give updated information as soon as we possibly can.”


“As soon as we possibly can”… that was the official Ministry of Defence line of course. In reality, information would be delayed as late as possible so that some of the storm had blown over by the time it came out. That way, people would have had longer to come to terms with it and so there would be less of a public backlash when the full scale of the disaster finally left the confines of the MoD and Foreign Office’s private memos. That of course meant less angry letters from people without the faintest clue, who were enraged simply because the modern view of life demanded they be. Bah… people, how simple they were, how stupid. If only they knew the half of it they would never sleep another peaceful night in their lives!

“Keep it simple, keep it safe and keep it secret.” The one phrase by which politicians ruled the people.

Jonathan Mercer finished reviewing his performance on the newsfeed. Not bad, not bad. Maybe a little too evasive near the end but that couldn’t really be helped given the situation. The minister grimaced: In less than half an hour he would be in the hot seat with Jeremy Paxman, the scourge of politicians everywhere, in which he would be reciting the same drivel and half-fact-based lies as he had just told Huw. How he hated some aspects of his job.

Still, if his gut was correct, the worst was still to come. A colossal explosion in the middle of a desert that could destroy half a city and left no disenable footprint and no nuclear fallout. He knew of only one person who was studying technology that had those kinds of hallmarks. The minister shivered. If Orland and Keiser had somehow met up then there would be hell to pay and a lot of collateral damage in the near future. Keiser was tenacious and if he learned that more from the Old World had survived then there would be no stopping him from carving a bloody swathe of vengeance across the world for what they had done all those years ago. Mercer breathed hard. Always assume the worst and be prepared to fight. He had better get to work.


----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------



“You ready?”
“As I’ll ever be I guess…”
Keith nodded.

“[censored] makurda! Die!”
Keiser bellowed out the expletives at the top of his lungs before drawing his pistol and firing off two shots into the cave wall. The thunderous echo bounced around the craggy facets until it reached a cacophony of pure sound before retreating down the rocky corridor and back towards the lava field. The two looked at each other. Too late to go back now. Hawk lay down on the cave floor at the centre of a small junction where three paths branched off, deliberately turning away so that the creature couldn’t see his face or any missing wounds. Keiser meanwhile crept off down the left hand path which in fact looped round and joined up with the corridor they had just walked through about ten meters further back. There he hid behind a jut of stone that shielded the offshoot’s entrance from view until you came very close. Fortunately for him, from that position the creature should be able to see the motionless body at the split and so pay no attention to the slightly deformed looking rock wall that was in fact Keiser’s hiding spot. The whole tunnel network was lit with the same pulsating orange glow from the magma chasm that the cave had been, but this far in the glow was reduced to make anything further away than the next bend in the wall invisible in the blackness. All he needed now was a little luck and the hope that it was too fixated on what was in front of it to notice the trap until it had already been sprung. Overall, today had not been a lucky day for him.

The two waited in absolute silence for ten minutes, ears straining for even the slightest sound. Nothing.
Until…
A soft, barely audible scraping sound was approaching up the tunnel. They both held their breath for what seemed like an eternity, the seconds ticking by as the sound came closer and closer.
Suddenly the noise stopped.
[censored]! Had it noticed something? Had it become suspicious? But no, the scrapping came on again now, advancing towards them like a harbinger of death and destruction. With the faintest of swooshing sounds, the creature passed by Keiser’s rocky hiding place, its displaced air sending shivers up his spine. But there, in amongst the swirling air… he felt something… familiar. It was too late to worry about that however, within seconds the creature would reach Hawk and he would have to move.

Silence. Nothing but the slight rustle of wings disturbed the frigid atmosphere.
Now!
With a giant leap that was almost totally soundless, Keiser leapt at the shadowy void in front of him with sword raised high above his head. When he was but centimetres away he brought the blade slashing down in the direction of what he assumed was the creature’s back… yet the steel passed through thin air and clattered nosily against the stone floor.

“What the hell-?”

Smack! With the force of a freight train something smashed into Keith’s skull, sending stars flying in front of his vision and him reeling back into the rock wall, his sword flying out of his hand. Within a moment though he had gathered himself and leapt back at his attacker, its form barely illuminated by the glow. Up close he saw that it much taller than he had thought: a good half a head taller than he was in fact, and standing almost upright like it was a man. Grappling with the creature, the two locked forms with Keith trying to push the thing back into the jagged cave wall all the while Hawk remained paralysed on the floor, his legs not responding to his commands. All he could do was watch the two combatants in their deadly struggle, each fighting to push the other back on his haunches and so gain the upper hand. Never in his life had he ever seen someone more powerful than the Captain, his strength and agility being quite the stuff of Du’hadrin legend and yet the creature looked like it was winning, its bulky form now pushing Keiser back, inch by inexorable inch towards what would be his certain doom if entity managed to force its bulk down on top of him.

Suddenly, Keiser seemed to rally himself, “Bah! Let’s see if you can cope with a bit of speed eh?!”
With a whirling motion Keith twisted his body, ripping away from the clawed hands which were fastened around his own and dancing backwards, giving the void a powerful shove in the midriff for good measure. It all happened so fast that all Hawk saw was the two of them locked together one moment and suddenly apart again the next, the creature doubling up in pain. Without giving it a moment to recover, Keiser drew his second Burrick quick as lightening and with a roar slashed it viscously across the unprotected torso of his adversary, a spray of oddly dark blood painting the wall behind it.

“Gah! Bloody hell Keith what did ya do that for?! That was a perfectly good fight before you go ruining it. Why’d ya draw a sword on a guy anyway? Could have done some serious damage that could!”

The look on Keiser’s face was a ridiculous mix of triumph and utter disbelief.
“…Crow?”

The being now stood up properly for the first time, rising to a full head above Keith’s 6 foot 2 inches and glowered down at him.
“Damn right it’s me ya sly bugger; thought I was just some common fiend stalking you eh? I’m hurt old friend, hurt deep…”
‘Crow’ glanced down as if only then remembering his free flowing chest wound,
“And don’t even get me started on this! You’re getting a bit too jumpy in your old age my friend. Might want to lay off that Scotch I know you’re particular to; might actually kill someone one of these days…”
With a sly smile Crow raised one of his hands and a very peculiar thing happened. To Hawk it looked like the very shadow around them was coalescing and condensing down into fine tendrils that swirled around in the air before them, throwing off wisps of shadow and motes of dark light as they curled their way towards the figure still veiled in partial darkness. Then without warning there was a sudden flash of bright red light and Crow’s eyes seemed to suddenly be ablaze with crimson, properly illuminating his form for the first time.

The sight in front of him took his breath away. So this is what it had been like for the humans when the Basitins had first arrived on Earth all those years ago. Crow was truly a giant, standing at least 6 foot 6 inches and built like Arnold Schwarzenegger in Conan with features that looked faintly draconic. However, his impressive size was not his most defining factor. In addition to the pair of great, jet-black, feathery wings extending from his shoulders, Crow had a most unusual skin colour and set of markings on his bare torso. The majority of his skin which was visible in the now half-gloom of the cavern was of a dark orange hue but more of note were the cream coloured patterns which extended across his body. He had an upside down triangle under each blood-red eye and the entire front of his muzzle and lower jaw were also of a creamy-white colour with a long strip that continued downwards to cover most of his chest and stomach. On each arm just below the shoulder there was a strange symbol: two thin stripes circling the limb on his right and what looked like a flaming eye that seemed to stare balefully out on his left.
His head was covered in long, raven-toned hair that extended down in front of his eyes in a casual manner and around his neck hung a simple necklace consisting of one large and two smaller fangs suspended on a leather thong which appeared to somehow glow with a faint, ethereal light. In addition to this he was dressed in only one item of clothing: a pair of long, brown cargo shorts that looked like they had seen better days in about 1990. He wore no shoes despite the jagged stone floor and the fact that he had feet rather than adapted paws. How he hadn’t bled to death from uncountable lacerations was beyond Hawk. Between his legs, he could just make out a thin, whip like tail that ended in an arrow-head-like point of the same colour as his distinctive markings.

All in all he was perhaps the most imposing physical specimen that Hawk had ever seen, not to mention the strangest. But wait… what was that? While Crow’s eyes still glowed with their inner light, the tendrils of shadow he had noticed earlier seemed to wrap around his chest, obscuring Keith’s long slash wound with their combined forms. They swirled round for a few more seconds before suddenly sinking into the cream-white flesh, sending out what looked like dark sparks and eliciting a strangled gasp from Hawk. No sooner had they disappeared then the rent skin knitted itself together in front of his very eyes, leaving barely the faintest trace of a scar. He was totally lost for words. Surely this couldn’t be… magic? But he knew instantly that it must be; no scientific theorem could explain what he had just witnessed. So this was the power that had destroyed their homeland all those years ago…

Crow was looking rather bemused by his shocked expression.
“What’s the matter Basitin? Templar got ya tongue? Bit of magic frighten you? What, you didn’t think that Basitins, Keidran and Humans were the only three intelligent species in existence did you? You certainly do pick some strange company these days Keiser. And anyway, aren’t you a bit wrongly dressed for a trip to Kärsi? Last time I checked there wasn’t a sandy desert here.”
He glanced at their webbing and rifles, “Or a war. Or any intelligent life for that matter…”

Keith shook his head vigorously as if trying to clear a mental obstruction, his hands visibly shaking with distress,
“How… why… what the [censored] are you doing here Crow?”
Crow leaned back into the shadows,
“Hey, no need for the language old buddy. It’s been, what, ten years after all. A bit of friendliness wouldn’t go amiss here and there. In response to your question of “Hi old friend, how ya been and what are you doing here?”: Fine thank you and I’m on holiday. What pray are you two doing here?”

Keith looked like he was about to pop a vein.
“HOLIDAY?! We’re [censored] STRANDED here Crow! We were… betrayed. We all were by that [censored]…”
He slumped down to the floor in resignation, all the fury suddenly leaving him like somebody flicked a switch. Suddenly Crow was all serious, his playful voice changing tone to become austere and humourless.
“Who? Who betrayed you Keith?”
Keiser glanced up in Hawk’s direction, clearly unwilling to speak in his presence.

Like a dry twig bent to far back, James Hawk suddenly snapped.
“I am sick and tired of you keeping things from me Keiser! At the beginning of today I was just another soldier, a regular guy living a regular life, safe and secure in a world that had certainties and boundaries and now in a few hours YOU have turned everything upside down! It was when I met YOU that things started going wrong! It is because of YOU that my best friend now lies dead in some desert in the middle of [censored] nowhere and it is because of YOU that I am now standing on a strange planet with absolutely no idea if I will ever see home again and talking to magical alien!” He was gesturing furiously at this point, “Enough is enough Keiser! I have patiently followed you for hours, hoping that you would tell me what the [censored] just happened but I am not going to wait any longer!” He lunged forward and grabbed the captain by the lapel, bringing his muzzle close to his own.
“Tell me exactly what is going on right now, Keiser. Or you will rue the day you decided to mix me up in this.”

Keith stared back into Hawk’s eyes, a tinge of sadness permeating his being. He was right of course. He had just destroyed the boy’s life in more ways than one and now he was trying to get away without telling him why. When had he become so selfish? When had he changed? Of course.
He leaned his head back against the jagged wall, collecting his thoughts and trying to make sense of them himself.
“You’re right, Hawk. I should never have tried to keep things from you. You of all people deserve to know the truth. Whether you believe me or not, know that I am sorry for what has happened today, truly I am. It was never my intention for any of this to happen. I have been played for the fool to it seems. Tell me what you’d like to know and I promise I shall tell you everything. No lies.”
Hawk withdrew slightly, turning his back on the sitting figure and raising his head in I silent plea.
“Start from the beginning,” he said. “I want to know everything.”




---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------



The character of Crow was created by Iva Fany Vyhnánková over on her web comic “Dragon Heroes”. A very talented artist who is certainly worth a watch. Character used without permission (pls don’t kill me Fany!).

The character is essentially the same only in tAoW he is quite a bit older (think mid-20s looking). Obviously as the actual story arc with Crow in it is only 20 pages long, I’ve made up his own personality as well.
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Alleycat
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Re: The Art of War: Chapter 8 – A Touch of Destiny

#56 Post by Alleycat »

Woo!

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Kaptain
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Re: The Art of War: Chapter 8 – A Touch of Destiny

#57 Post by Kaptain »

EPIC BATT -- ahmahgosh why the hell'd you just cut me bro?!

A new character was the LAST thing I expected. And a new species too! Well hurm de darn dingy. Also, Keith is a badass.

Also also, woo, Hawk! You go girl! Jest aside, I was surprised by Hawk's actions. You're just full'o'surprises aren't ya, Thallium?
-¤- "The Art of War" -¤- written by Thallium. Feeling unfulfilled? That's because you haven't read this story yet.
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Re: The Art of War: Chapter 8 – A Touch of Destiny

#58 Post by Thallium »

Kaptain wrote: You're just full'o'surprises aren't ya, Thallium?
Why yes, yes I am.

A story: I have always had an extremely hyperactive imagination which is where the plot for tAoW came from originally; lots of little stories that I managed to weave together into an overarching narrative. Obviously this story is not the only thing I think about but for whatever reason there are always three common characters in whatever my deluded brain comes up with when my mind wanders. The first is Keith, the second is Crow and the third is… well you’ll find that out in time. I have literally no idea why I have fixated on these particular characters as they don’t really share anything in common in terms of backstory or personality or anything else for that matter but for whatever the reason they are always present in my imaginings in one form or another. Hence Crow (and the other one) was always destined to appear in this eventually.

The good news about having characters you’ve known for years in a story you’ve known for almost as long is that you know exactly how some things are going to happen. To that end, what I think is going to be the chapter after next (this is me though so no promises) was actually mostly written almost a year ago and so is pretty much on the verge of completion and so should be ready to go not to long after the preceding chapter comes out. On the other hand, maybe I’ll just wait a week to update anyway… let you guys bay for my blood in the knowledge that I’m sitting around doing NOTHING for most of a week (what can I say, I enjoy the pain of others :twisted: ). Choices, choices...

On a separate point entirely, as I’m trying to keep this as realistic as possible (or as realistic as “Basitins on Earth” can get), most of the named people mentioned who are not directly linked to the story are actually real people. Believe it or not I actually do quite a bit of research for this story as I want to keep things as close to real life as I can (Robert Gates’ name was surprisingly hard to find for whatever reason. Took me a whole 10 minutes searching on Wikipedia to find the head of the US department of defence…) [EDIT: And of course Sod’s Law dictates that the second I use Robert Gates’ name in a chapter; I turn on the news tonight and find out he’s been sacked as part of a Pentagon reshuffle. *Sigh* well at least I get credit for trying, it was at least accurate at the time of writing :roll: ]
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Re: The Art of War: Chapter 8 – A Touch of Destiny

#59 Post by Kaptain »

You should have asked me, mate. I know most of the U.S. Chain of command. Besides that I'm a search engine master (self proclaimed). But... As per your waiting a week while we suffer, go ahead, I'm a masochistic ;3
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Re: The Art of War: Chapter 8 – A Touch of Destiny

#60 Post by Alleycat »

And I'm a political junkie.

You're evil Thallium, you know that? Not that I mind, I probably just forget about this thread, and a week from now look to see new post in the Story Board and find that you have posted to a new chapter, so /shrug.

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