A LOVE UNFINISHED
CLANS OF FIRE, BOOK ONE
Monday, January 27, 2014
Akwamu's way, pt. 8
THE END.
I am aware of being. At some point I seem to have stopped being, but now I have resumed being. All is stillness. I have not opened my eyes. Indeed, I am not entirely sure if I have any eyes to open.Or ears to hear. I am only aware of breathingperhaps mine, or perhaps that of a greater being of which I have become a part. I do not know what or where I now am, yet I feel no urgency to discover what has become of me. All is tranquility, all is peace. It is good to be dead.I know I died because I remember the events that led up to my dying. Or most of them, at least. Having been released by the Lord Commander of Chailhelm, our group -- the Cuthbertian cleric Bakari, the woodsman Devlin, the stealthy Synast, the valiant Rowan, the Syndar elf Meliusine, and myself -- made its way to the wizard Damas who agreed to teleport us to Koidarra to investigate the portal we had discovered in the headquarters of the Nerullite cultists. To our shock, we found the partially ruined city under threat once more, this time from a lurid orange vortex in the sky--the very thing the survivors had described seeing when the place had been set ablaze. And hovering above the town square was the Mysteriarch we'd been so desperate to track down! He cast down the bag of Oeridien's bones, saying that they were useless to him. He denied creating the vortex, blaming it on Kirinafor. And finally he threw down a key to the portal, warning us to stay out of Ifium. He said he would just as soon as killed us (and he certainly has the power to do so), but some other person had placed us under protection --who, he would not say. And then he was gone.Despite his great age, Damas became like an excited schoolboy at the prospect of being able to activate the portal. We made our way to Kirinafor's rooms in the cult complex without difficulty. Bakari cast a divination and was told by celestial powers to "Put aside the cloudiness of your mind / And you may be rewarded with what you seek." Damas investigated the portal and concluded that it was a gate to the astral plane. After some debate we decide to use the key to open it. We saw a metallic pearl-covered pool beyond... and events began to occur very quickly. Devlin and his animal companions, Tala the wolf and Alfie the cat, immediately fell under a compulsion to enter the portal. Bakari managed to restrain the ranger, but the animals ran in and disappeared. Without hesitation, Damas followed them. The rest of us hesitated, looking at each other, and then one by one stepped into the gate.Shit got weird.I found myself standing beneath a bright red sky. Every so often a silver star would shoot across it, and various structures floated here and there in the ether. Before me stood the monastery I trained inonly it was alive. The walls were breathing and were like flesh to the touch. There were sounds, too. Screams. Familiar screams. The voice of my sister, screaming for help! But my sister was long dead.The gate behind us had disappeared. We stood on a path that led to the monastery. There was no sign of Damas.We soon learned that this plane reserved other surprises for us. It turned out that each of us experienced it differently. What I saw as my monastery was, to each of the others, some other location that had been important in their life. The phantasm of my sister's voice was, to each of them, someone else's voice. Moreover, I was no longer able to hear the voices of some of my companions, though they were clearly speaking.
I am aware of being. At some point I seem to have stopped being, but now I have resumed being. All is stillness. I have not opened my eyes. Indeed, I am not entirely sure if I have any eyes to open.Or ears to hear. I am only aware of breathingperhaps mine, or perhaps that of a greater being of which I have become a part. I do not know what or where I now am, yet I feel no urgency to discover what has become of me. All is tranquility, all is peace. It is good to be dead.I know I died because I remember the events that led up to my dying. Or most of them, at least. Having been released by the Lord Commander of Chailhelm, our group -- the Cuthbertian cleric Bakari, the woodsman Devlin, the stealthy Synast, the valiant Rowan, the Syndar elf Meliusine, and myself -- made its way to the wizard Damas who agreed to teleport us to Koidarra to investigate the portal we had discovered in the headquarters of the Nerullite cultists. To our shock, we found the partially ruined city under threat once more, this time from a lurid orange vortex in the sky--the very thing the survivors had described seeing when the place had been set ablaze. And hovering above the town square was the Mysteriarch we'd been so desperate to track down! He cast down the bag of Oeridien's bones, saying that they were useless to him. He denied creating the vortex, blaming it on Kirinafor. And finally he threw down a key to the portal, warning us to stay out of Ifium. He said he would just as soon as killed us (and he certainly has the power to do so), but some other person had placed us under protection --who, he would not say. And then he was gone.Despite his great age, Damas became like an excited schoolboy at the prospect of being able to activate the portal. We made our way to Kirinafor's rooms in the cult complex without difficulty. Bakari cast a divination and was told by celestial powers to "Put aside the cloudiness of your mind / And you may be rewarded with what you seek." Damas investigated the portal and concluded that it was a gate to the astral plane. After some debate we decide to use the key to open it. We saw a metallic pearl-covered pool beyond... and events began to occur very quickly. Devlin and his animal companions, Tala the wolf and Alfie the cat, immediately fell under a compulsion to enter the portal. Bakari managed to restrain the ranger, but the animals ran in and disappeared. Without hesitation, Damas followed them. The rest of us hesitated, looking at each other, and then one by one stepped into the gate.Shit got weird.I found myself standing beneath a bright red sky. Every so often a silver star would shoot across it, and various structures floated here and there in the ether. Before me stood the monastery I trained inonly it was alive. The walls were breathing and were like flesh to the touch. There were sounds, too. Screams. Familiar screams. The voice of my sister, screaming for help! But my sister was long dead.The gate behind us had disappeared. We stood on a path that led to the monastery. There was no sign of Damas.We soon learned that this plane reserved other surprises for us. It turned out that each of us experienced it differently. What I saw as my monastery was, to each of the others, some other location that had been important in their life. The phantasm of my sister's voice was, to each of them, someone else's voice. Moreover, I was no longer able to hear the voices of some of my companions, though they were clearly speaking.
Sunday, January 26, 2014
Sundance 2014 Quick Reviews: Part IV
This is Part IV in a series of capsule reviews from the 2014 Sundance Film Festival. For Parts I, II and III click , and .
RUDDERLESS
RUDDERLESS
The Star Online: Entertainment: Movies
Posted: 23 Jan 2014 08:00 AM PST
AARON ECKHART EXPLAINS WHY VICTOR FRANKENSTEIN'S MONSTROUS CREATION IS JUST LIKE EVERYONE ELSE.
AARON ECKHART EXPLAINS WHY VICTOR FRANKENSTEIN'S MONSTROUS CREATION IS JUST LIKE EVERYONE ELSE.
Scientist recently found evidence of a giant sea scorpion that was almost 8ft tall!
Scientist recently found evidence of a giant sea scorpion that was almost 8ft tall!
The discovery in Germany of a giant fossilised claw of a sea scorpion indicates that these monsters lived between 460 and 255 million years ago, and they were considerably taller than the average man.
The discovery in Germany of a giant fossilised claw of a sea scorpion indicates that these monsters lived between 460 and 255 million years ago, and they were considerably taller than the average man.
Episode Spotlight: "ZZZZZ" (1/27/1964)
"ZZZZZ"SEASON 1, EPISODE 18ORIGINALLY AIRED 1/27/1964
After teased and tantalized the viewing public fifty years ago last week, The Outer Limits followed it by drenching the airwaves in a hot, sticky shower of temptation, lust andhoney?
After teased and tantalized the viewing public fifty years ago last week, The Outer Limits followed it by drenching the airwaves in a hot, sticky shower of temptation, lust andhoney?
NASA's Robot Butler "Robonaut 2Shows Off Prehensile Legs, Is As Terrifying As We Predicted
A few months ago, , the Robonaut 2, was being fitted with Doctor Octopus legs which will probably cause your untimely demise. To prove that all our night terrors about Doc Octonaut have been accurate, Space.com put together this compilation of Robonaut's leg actions set to Strauss's "Blue Danube."
The 2.5 million dollar robot has had prehensile legs designed in order to better assist astronauts on the International Space Station, and perhaps even take over some of their duties (like murdering for fun, we can only assume). Did we mention its knees have seven joints which bend in all different directions? Oh, and the legs span over 9 feet, which is more than long enough to crush your tiny, human body.
The 2.5 million dollar robot has had prehensile legs designed in order to better assist astronauts on the International Space Station, and perhaps even take over some of their duties (like murdering for fun, we can only assume). Did we mention its knees have seven joints which bend in all different directions? Oh, and the legs span over 9 feet, which is more than long enough to crush your tiny, human body.
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