"In the war against reality, dreams are our
greatest weapons."
"Great! I'm gonna be late; damn alarm!" Ashan
was raving in his head. Ashan Magnan had just
turned 14 last October, that's when his aunt
gifted him a new phone?.unfortunately he
kept forgetting to charge it; which is what led
to this; it turned off? No alarm, its already
7AM; now he's late for the school bus; there's
no way he can make it to school on time. The
public buses usually won't take any of the kids
wearing school uniform ("stingy bastards!"
Ashan always vented in his head seeing them).
His mother had left some breakfast for him with
a note:
"I left some baked beans in the bowl and
cookies in the fridge, heat the beans first, AND
DON'T FORGET TO COMB YOUR HAIR!"
"Seriously mum? I don't have time?." Ashan
complained to the piece of paper with the neat
scribbles and somehow perfectly flat edges.
Gulping down the half cold beans he quickly
slapped some gel into his hair; combing with
his fingers in a rush. Rinsing his hands he
grabbed a few cookies as he stepped out the
door. Locking the door he saw the time on his
watch and sighed to himself, "Might as well try
my luck with the public bus? I am so gonna
die?"
His curly ,black hair was still wet from the gel;
glistening under the light of the bulb, that bathed
the front porch in pale yellow light. His darker
skin contrasted against the white of his shirt; it
was only a shade or two darker than the khaki
shorts he wore.
Suddenly the boy looked down at his wrists,
there a few black dots - they kind of looked
like beauty marks - Formed a vague shape
that would be recognized by any amateur
astronomer (or those astrology nut jobs) asalmost perfectly matching the constellation
Scorpio.A complicated look flashed through
his eyes: shrewd, conflicted annoyed, happy,
timid. It only lasted for a moment, and then
his hands dropped to his sides as he turned
around heading for the bus stop; black backpack bouncing on his back. The cookies
quickly disappeared into the dark pit of his
stomach.
You could hear waves crashing against
concrete pillars as the coast was so near; just a few tens of meters behind the line of houses in fact. The young Ashan walked on the almost
deserted road. It had only just turned 7 AM so
very few people could be seen outside, the few who passed by were either rushing off to work, a few school kids or just public workers
cleaning the road.
The sun had just barely made its way over the
horizon, seeming to have woken up in a
daze?possibly hung over. The clouds were
rushing about; bunching up, breaking apart, and playing hide and seek with each other through the blue sky. A few dark storm heads lazily drudged about, here and there in the distance. The bus stop was actually just another section of the road, nothing special to demark it; save for the large block capital letters painted directly ontothe road itself..
The matte white paint originally had a sharp,
glaring contrast with the pitch black tarmac, but, as things usually go in this country; No one bothered to maintain it. So the paint itself was badly chipped; layers of dirt and grit further distorted the writing. Dry leaves were all
over the dusty tarmac, the scene was somewhat ?disheveled ? Yet it held a beauty of its own: man and nature sharing the same space both pushing and pulling for dominance?.
Standing behind that bold writing, Ashan only
just then noticed that that the place was actually getting darker and darker.
Looking up he saw that those few thunder heads had swallowed up the frolicking clouds that filled the sky, and had
quickly covered the blue with a dark grey
blanket that seemed to press down on a man's
heart; the very air itself, feeling sticky to the touch.
As a cold breeze blew past his face, the young
boy heard the pitter patter of raindrops hitting
leaves, and the ground. The noise quickly
increased from the sound of scurrying insects
to a machine gun splatter. The poor boy had a
dejected look on his face as he looked at the
approaching curtain of rain. He thought of the
umbrella his mom made him carry in his bag;
the light blue was not really girly; but it still
got a few snickers from the kids at school. Of
course he still carried it; seeing as his mother
would always insist on it. Today however, he had not found it when packing his bag and
unhesitantly dismissed the thought of looking
for it any further.
"I'm already late, I don't have time?" he had convinced himself.
"Seriously?!! Is this a joke? just when I don't
have my umbrella?.gimme a break?"? he
had already started complaing out loud, to no
one in particular, obviously he had already
'forgotten' how he didn't even put any effort into look for it.
Trying to hide under a few branches from a
nearby tree, he kept mumbling to himself?
The cold breeze grew stronger as the rain swept over the bus stop. Strong gusts blew through the few trees swaying, them from side to side.
A strong gust suddenly pushed some trees apart, across the road from where Ashan stood.
Within the gust came a large bird that seemed
almost to be swimming in the wind; like a fish
in water. Its body was covered in oily black
feathers with light to dark blue markings on its
body and a coppery beak protruding from its
head which curved like a knife; gleaming in the
meagre light. The bird's eyes were like small
black beads, that sometimes seemed to have thin blueish worms squirming in and around them.
Its wings must have easily the length of a small boat; each. The sight of it would send
shivers down the spine of the toughest of men.
However, this 14 year old boy simply stood
there, lightly looking at the creature; the corner
of his mouth slowly curving upwards.
Thunder birds! The bringer of storms predators
that hunt on the gales?.And there in the sky, as the bird flew away; a whole flock of its ilk
dotted the stormy heavens.
Of Course not every storm is created by thunder birds; in fact most storms are just natural phenomena that have nothing to do with the beasts.
Looking at these thunder birds
dominating the sky, Ashan could tell that they
were relatively weak and most probably found
a natural storm that was strengthened a bit
further through their presence.
Looking down at the Scorpio mark on his wrist
his smile widened; this is his own little secret;
something from the other side.
The thunder birds were not that high in the sky,
and often swooped down through the trees and buildings; but the people occasionally rushing past in their cars didn't seem to notice anything.
About a good 5 minute's run from the bus stop, was a small white house with a miniature garden. It was just a few plants and flowers in small patches around the house. A few floor mats had been hanging from a low wall; before a woman ran out into the rain to pick them up. Her dark brown locks skipped about on her shoulders as she ran in her slightly tattered blouse. She looked to be in her late 30's or early 40's; with a few bulges on her stomach and waist, that would have been quite unsightly on most people, but on her only added to the friendly air about her, making her seem quite approachable. Someone who was just easy to get along with.
The lady took a quick look at the sky, before she turned around to head inside; carrying the floor mats in her arms.
A thunder bird swooped down just then aiming
straight at her. The beast opened its beak; letting out a fierce shriek as it struck down like
lightning. The wind started to lift up the
woman's dress, and she stopped for a moment
to press it down so she would not be exposed.
At that moment even the tiniest sliver of a
chance that she might have made it into thehouse before the creature fell upon her, was already lost.
A strong feeling of impending doom spread
through the area; a clammy feeling under one's finger nails, a twisting in your stomach and the feeling of a stone dropped in water?.
Anyone could tell, that this was the moment right before the beast, made its kill?
Swooping down fast as an arrow, the thunder
bird's beak snapped shut in the woman's face;
mere inches from her nose. The massive bird with a wingspan of almost ten meters
turned on a dime shooting back into the sky; it
never so much as touched the house, garden or the few surrounding trees.
The aerial acrobatics it had performed would put any fighter jet to shame; those pilots not even daring to lift their heads in front of this master of flying.
In the bird's mouth was a small wiggling, worm
like creature, that Ashan would easily recognize; a ring wyrm. It was still just a larva, measuring maybe about as a skipping rope, its slimy body lined with metallic looking loops that served somewhat as protection. These small, bald, absolutely ugly looking things were the babies, hat would eventually grow into majestic ring wyrms; terrifying and majestic creatures that no man would dare to even look in the eye.
Spewing fire, tearing down mountains,
crushing rocks as if it was mere sand, ring
wyrms are the very embodiments of fear.
Ring worm larvae had a habit of attaching
themselves onto people as a way to hide from
predators until it grew into the stronger adult ring wyrm.
How funny that such an ugly, vulnerable
creature would one day grow into that
frightening existence known as the ring
wyrm?well? except for this one? it just slid
down the thunder bird's throat; after a few
quick snaps of the bird's neck which
thoroughly crushed all the larva's internal
organs.
Throughout the whole affair the lady, who had
unwittingly served up the meal; had absolutely
no reaction to anything that the bird had done.
Indeed, she could not even see it, as normal
folks can't directly interact with creatures from
the other side like the thunder bird.
Ashan was special; he could see the creatures
with no problem? and more than that??
The constellation on his right wrist glowed as
he stepped out from under the branches.
He made sure that the lady had already gone back inside and closed the door before he checked if there was anyone on the road.
Seeing no sign of anyone; he let the dull yellowish white light of the constellation slowly spread over his right hand. The smoke like light crept up onto the back of his hand; spreading until it almost reached the elbow. Strands shot from the main body of the light and quickly covered his hand; fingers and all. The glow slowly subsided leaving behind a silver gauntlet, that covered his hand and forearm stopping about a finger or two from his elbow. A few sharp, twisted protrusions jutted out from the body of the gauntlet. The stumpy blades were lined with a golden material that felt as sharp as the most bloodthirsty of swords.
The tips of his fingers had grown short claws from the same silvery material; also lined with thayl sharp, golden edge.
His spirit artifact; Scorpio.
On the top of his forearm were five spindles embedded into the gauntlet; wound around them were coppery threads that sometimes glimmered faintly while at other times?. Seemed to almost disappear?.
The coppery strings were threaded through each finger... the mechanism looked quite complex. Despite the complicated mechanics and the intricate embossed symbols all over; the silver gauntlet still the distinct and uncanny feeling of some kind of big shell - so much for the majesty of the moment - .
Ashan slowly stepped towards the middle of the road; as a translucent, iridescent membrane seemed to shimmer around him, before fading into nothingness once more. The whole scene, from the constellation glowing to the membrane disappearing took some time to describe; but in reality, the whole thing was over in less than three breaths.
As another thunder bird dropped down from the sky, a car was quickly approaching the young Ashan who was standing in the middle of the road. He suddenly started running towards the incoming car. The bird rushing from the sky and the boy running towards a car on the road; both rushing at the same moving car.
Anyone would think the boy had gone mad; was he trying to kill himself? The two raced towards the car in between them.The boy's tanned legs swishing back and forth, up and down, from beneath the brown shorts.
The bird was obviously slightly faster than Ashan; snapping its beak into the car window just as the 'suicidal boy' crouched down mid-stride.
A coppery glint flew from his finger as his legs propelled him into the air, with a jaw dropping burst of speed. The coppery threadwrapped around the beast's leg as it shot back into the sky, swallowing the ring wyrm larva it had just snatched up.
Pulling himself up and over the bird, Ashan fell into a sitting position on its back.
He quickly settled down the struggling thunder bird as he sheepishly thought to himself, "Who said I'm gonna be late?"
