So I know I posted about writing the first draft for my Bloodline novels, HOWEVER I realized that I still had so much worldbuilding to do. SO. Im putting that one on the back burner. Now you may prepare yourselves for.... THE BLACK FAERIE Excerpt: Grimknight Commander Koroki struck down the last of the rebel faeries in this portion of the Warwood Forest. Over one hundred faerie soldiers lay dead or dying around him, their blood staining the bark of several willows in the grove. Severed limbs lay strewn about on the ground and disembodied heads hung in the lazily drooping branches of the life-giving willows that faeries needed for sustenance. Their dead eyes glared down at him and he could have sworn there was a glint of hatred in each one. It seemed as if their souls had yet to depart their mortal coils but could only manifest in the eyes. Several Warwood soldiers huddled together at the base of a mangificent willow, each one nursing fatal wounds. Pathetic. Koroki put them out of his misery, simultaneously glorying in the kills and feeling a heart wrenching sorrow at the lives he had taken today. He had never understood that dichotomy within him. Ever since his first battle, when he had killed over a thousand faeries on his own, he had struggled to contain the evil that combat had unleashed. Unsuccessfully. His mission complete, he sheathed his twin swords and picked his way across a bloody wasteland of corpses. he did not fly. He did not even unfurl his black wings. The nearby faeries, Willowkeepers mostly, openly gaped at the slaughtered soldiers. Several pointed at him and whispered to their neighbors as they watched his casual departure. That was one thing at which Koroki had discovered he was very talented: striking fear into the commoners hearts with landscapes of blood. The sad part? He liked it. As he stepped over a mangled body, a young faerie girl fluttered to a stop behind him. He turned to look and stumbled over the body. She offered him her hand and helped him to his feet. Her innocence was almost too much to bear. The monster within could not bear such intemerateness and it almost broke free from his mental restraints. It craved nothing more than to snuff out this ingenues inner light. With monumental effort, Koroki pushed the monster back into the darkness of his mind. He had barely avoided another tragedy. And then she smiled at him. SMILED! Standing in a veritable sea of blood, surrounded by shredded bodies, and looking a monster in the eyes, she smiled. And it wasnt just a regular old smile. No. Her white teeth glinted in the cold winter sunlight, her lips parted in a face concealing grin. She grabbed his hand and made as if to pull her along behind her. A part of him desperately wanted to let this puer spirited child cleanse him of his sins. But he was a monster and no amount of repentance or absolution could right the wrongs he had committed. Granted most of those had been at the behest of the faerie King, but the truly twisted fact of the matter was that Koroki had viscerally enjoyed each and every one of the countless bloodbaths he had left in his wake. And so he snatched his hand back from the cherubic little girl. Snarling at her, he snapped open his leathery, bat-like wings and leapt into the air. Blood from his tunic and wings splattered onto her face. She laughed. Driven mad with hatred for the girl, the monster within Korokis soul broke out of its mental prison and raged through his body. A howl of pain ripped through his throat as he grasped handfuls of his hair and twisted them in his fists. He pulled and pulled, the pain only further maddening him. He felt the last vestiges of control leave him and he knew that he was about to irrevocably damn himself. There would be no redemption for this. The echoed ring of steel being drawn heralded the return of his twin blades. The reflection of dusks dying light cast an eerie glow across the girls pearlescent skin as Koroki closed his wings and dropped out of the sky. He brought his swords together and screamed in rage as he cleaved the still grinning girl in two. As he watched the two halves fall away, he became aware of the grin now plastered on his own face. Laughter bubbled up from within him and he tried unsuccessfully to quell it. He barked out a laugh and then chuckled evilly to himself. The revulsion both on the crowds faces and in his own mind only made him laugh harder. soon enough Koroki stood alone among the gore, clutching his sides and laughing uncontrollably. When he finally calmed down and could take a breath, he wiped the tears from his eyes. Just as always occurred after the blood frenzy left him, Koroki felt a weight lift off his very soul. Horror brought him to his knees. he had always thought that vomiting so violently should help him feel a little better, much like after a night of heavy drinking. Unfortunately, Koroki did not have that sort of luck. He was left more nauseated and weak than before, unable to even lift himself up from the noxious corpses and severed limbs. Koroki wished with all his heart and soul that he could learn to control the monster within him, to keep it locked away where it could never kill again. Guilt and sorrow wracked his conscience as he managed to pull himself to his feet and stumble away from the carnage. Not for the first time, Koroki wondered if a monster was all he could ever aspire to be.
Posted on: Sun, 16 Nov 2014 08:16:57 +0000