#1 [url]

Sep 17 07 8:21 AM

Fiction, BT, Yaghish, thanks for the encouragement!

I believe I will go for it. It won't require too much of an alteration, pretty much all cosmetic, and I think it will take the story in a rather exciting direction.

Heh, of course anyone who is interested is welcome to critique the story when it's finished, which should be soon now. I think a big, badass phoenix is the way to go...

A seething tempest drowns the blasted ruins of a once-thriving mountain town. Black fire scours the land, a demonic flame no water can extinguish.

I was too weak to give in, too strong to lose
My heart is under arrest again, but I break loose
My head is giving me life or death, but I can't choose
I swear I'll never give in, I'll refuse
Is someone getting the best of you?

--Foo Fighters, "Best of You"

A young man lies broken and bloody at the feet of a rotting giant, a monster of gangrenous roiling flesh the size of a grocery store.

Remembering all he's been through, the hideous fate of so many damned souls, and countless more to follow, Ash rises to his feet. Trembling with the effort, he cranes his head back to scream up at the monster, his voice the echoing crack of thunder, the keening wail of a giant bird.

His cobalt blue eyes fade into a miasma of golden fire, casting a warm glow over the darkened street. Ash's body is consumed from within by the same electric flame, erupting as a shining pillar into the night. He staggers forth, ferns and cycads and other prehistoric plants springing up in his wake.

The ground rumbles as if trampled by a herd of the mighty thunder lizards. Ash rises into the sky, a living carpet of green spreading out over broken asphalt below. The fire explodes into a roaring miniature sun, blasting shadows away for miles.

In the midst of the golden nova, a shape appears. Giant wings unfurl, lightning-bolt feathers crackle and dart. A long, flowing tail trails above the ground as the bird rises. His crown of red flame matches the fire streaming from his eyes.

Twenty meters from wingtip to wingtip, the King screams his rage into the sky...

(While the actual story is written in past-tense, the above is still a fairly good represenation of what it'll be like. Better quality in the actual story, though.)