» Fri May 13, 2011 8:39 am This is what I would call free-writing. It's a lot like that free-running craze except neither Ro (Korroded-Korpse) or myself have the physical energy to leap buildings.
In fact he fell asleep mid-scribing, but then it was 2am.
To better explicate; I set the scene and then each of us took it in turns to write sentences and expand the idea.
The characters were not pre-planned and devleoped as we wrote.
The only thing we knew from the start was that both of them were vampires.
A Different Approach
*
The mount is hazy, violet and blue, morning fog settling low and thin, the clouds almost sweet in flavour and dew heavy on the air.
The mount plane is lone and sparse, a vampire, one by the name of Jay sits and watches the sun crest the horizon. He waits; he expects soon that the ultraviolet rays will consume his mortal shell. What this one doesn't see is the figure above him, plummeting fast through the golden ether.
A second man, another vampire, drops like a stone.
Air pulses through the newcomer's hair as he descends; the rush makes him feel invulnerable while the ground grows ever closer. He thuds down into the dirt.
Jay shifts his gaze. A flurry of dust splutters outward. His view is obscured by the haze of thousand tiny particles shrouding the new figure.
The air settles and the echo of the new vampire's impact dissipates as he stands. His name is Gek, a young vagrant he plays a tenuous game with the light.
Glancing around the mount, he senses the presence of another. A form catches Gek's eye, a silhouette in the dim light of the rising sun that is distorted and broken by the surrounding trees.
Jay lifts his head and grips the hilt of his sword. The newcomer appears a scrawny runt but Jay can tell that he is of a similar blood. 'What the hell is he doing here at this hour?' Jay openly thinks.
Hearing the projected sentiment Gek swivels sideways. In a similar fashion to Jay, he grips the weapons by his side. His fingers flex over an array of small knives. Gek selects a sidearm; he pulls it close and tries to focus on the shadow he thought he saw through the trees.
Jay rises from the flat stone to make his presence clear. 'You there,' Jay shouts, 'brother, have you come to see me die?' Jay's knuckles clench closer on the grip of his blade.
"Would you show me how you wield that stick if I said yes?" Gek swiftly replies.
'Stick?' Jay laughs, 'this sword you mean?' He almost smiles and then the despair piques. 'Why would you ever want to know that?' He refrains. The steel wielded in his hand, he knew, took as many lives as the teeth in his mouth. Vampirism hadn't slaughtered his foes; bloodlust had not caused so much anguish. It was the wilful force of his sword, that precise slice, that swift and clean incision, that was the murder of his soul.
'Yeah, yeah!' Gek squeals. He throws his knife in the air, lets it spin and then catches it with professional flair. 'So show me,' he spouts and cocks his head, 'show me what you got, brother.'
Jay slacks his hold on the sword. His hair draqes sideways as he considers the bold actions of the newcomer.
'What do you want?' Jay challenges, 'I am here to greet the sun.'
'I want,' Gek grins, 'I want, a good challenge.'
'A challenge,' Jay questions, 'you want a challenge from me?'
'Yeah,' Gek points his dagger forward.
Jay raises an eyebrow and lets his arms fall limp.
'There is no challenge here,' Jay states, 'as soon as that sun rises, when the rays reach full, we will both be nothing but ash.'
'Then what a challenge!' Gek shrieks, 'that I should have to beat you in minutes!'
'Idiot,' Jay curses, 'I told you, I'm to die here.'
'Ah, then maybe by my hand,' Gek proudly proclaims, 'I'm here to push the limits, always have been!'
'Oh,' Jay seems disinterested, 'and I suppose you can escape the rays of the sun then?'
'Oh hell no,' Gek sings, 'I've been scorched more times than I care to remember, but it's fun, always been fun.'
'Define fun,' Jay quips.
'I just mean it's a challenge. Beating someone like you, right at the break of dawn. It just gets the pulse thumping,' Gek pulls a sadistic yet sincere face.
'I'm not interested,' Jay flatly states.
'Ah yes,' Gek taunts, 'you superior swordsmen,' he jibes, 'always wanting some honourable death.'
'You don't know what you are talking about,' Jay scalds.
'Well,' Gek proposes, 'how about I make this sunrise scalding worth your warrior while?'
'You talk nonsense,' Jay brushes his hair back and tries to ignore the vagrant.
'Oh really?' Gek teases. 'So we'll duel,' Gek says with a smirk, 'and if I win you teach me how to use that big butter knife of yours?'
Jay frowns.
'If however,' Gek phrases, 'if I win, then, you'll get your precious death, a killing right by my left hand.' Gek twirls his knife in the air a second time.
Jay doesn't respond.
'So you privy?' Gek asks.
'I'm waiting to burn,' Jay admits, 'one last scuffle won't make any difference.'
'Good,' Gek goads, 'then let's play butter and bread.'
'Fine,' Jay draws his sword, 'although you should know, that even now, at the end of my days, I won't be so easily spread.'
'Spread!' Gek bellows, 'well at least you follow a pun!'
Jay grimaces and readies his stance.
'You ready old man?' Gek sneers.
'No doubt,' Jay smiles, 'always ready to surpass this life.'
*
The two clash. Then the sun rises. Their skin sears like hot buttermilk. Blisters form on the once white flesh of our warriors. Cream complexions are forever marred with black spots and browned furled wrinkles. What was once vampiric beauty is soon tarred, pores choked with light they fizzle and scab, from vermillion to umber so their skin fades. Blemished with liver spots and ageing in less than hour their flesh sinks and begins to hollow.
Yet neither warrior is willing to give up the fight. Jay might wish to die but won't allow it by the hand of such a young and presumptuous vampire. Gek doesn't know how to back down, his body a little more resilient because of his youth he simply doesn't know when he is outmatched.
The clash rages on into morning. The battle continues after sunrise; after our characters have lost the physical senses known to them. There is no winner.
Later that evening Gek wakes up.
It seems he was buried underground for the best part of the day.
Jay is no-where to be seen.
If Jay survived, he did so prudently and managed to do it before Gek even roused.
Jay might have been an old fool, he may have wished for his own demise that day, yet, perhaps Gek had inspired the will to live back within the weary man.
If such was the case then Jay was still out there, somewhere, Jay was wielding a blade like no other warrior could.
Gek had to find him; Gek had to find the man that was his equal and prove his worth.
