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This is an excerpt from last year's work Akutenshi Noble Blade. It has not been edited from NaNoWriMo 08. Caution! May suck!
She was flying. Sensations of wind rippling over her skin were almost more then she could bear. A new awareness gripped her senses and the void filled with light and darkness, scent and form that assembled to form the dark sky.
Nadine fixed her new eyes forward, felt them turn by her will, and was filled with renewed rage and memories of pain that stretched from her shoulder down her chest. Her blood hungered for something she couldn’t quite understand.
Dark shapes in the sky with her drew her wide eyes. She transfixed on them as they darted about and assembled into formation on the horizon. That was her enemy. For an instant she remembered struggling against them and feeling their weapons tear into her flesh. “No,” Nadine whispered, pushing the foreign memory away. “I, what am I doing?” Pain surged through her body. She reached out trying to grasp the fading light in her mind and cried as it slipped away.
The hunger beckoned again. She needed to feed, to nourish her body and heal her wounds. At her behest her body swooped down snapping up a dark object, she didn’t care what it was, and tore it apart. Nadine’s heart raced. The bitter taste in her mouth broke the hold she had with the sky and she fell back into the darkness watching outside of herself as the creature slipped through the air.
The burning rage called her back to the sky. She resisted, uncertain. “What should I do? Where am I?”
The musical voice answered her, there in the darkness. It spoke from all around and from within her. We are one now. Your thoughts will become our actions.
“What, what are you?” She reached through the haze groping blindly for the light that had fled from her. She had her name but, she sensed, there was more out there just out of reach if only she could summon the strength to make it there. “What have you done to me?”
The creature came to a halt in mid-air and hung there silently watching the distant formation approach. Nadine felt it pulling her out of the darkness. We are Voloth. You too are Voloth now. Na-dine. It struggled with her name. Give your anger to us now.
Nadine saw through the dark haze the craft approaching them. She shut her eyes, wishing that it was all a dream and that she would wake up any second safe and sound. Her pain melted away and in an instant the identity Nadine knew was gone. The whole sky opened before her. Wind raced over her wings. Her thoughts expanded to numbers, graphs, lists, charts, and data. With but a thought she beat her new wings and opened them to their maximum span knowing as she did that all the power that was housed in this body was hers for the taking if she but willed it.
She laughed, the chiming chuckle of Voloth, and engaged the micro-missile launchers built into the wings. Hundreds of missiles fired at once in a storm that raced from Voloth to the formation. Her enemies broke into wild evasive maneuvers as they scattered in every direction. Chaff was deployed catching most of the projectiles in their deceptive wake. Voloth tracked each one that carried through and slammed into it’s target. Individually the missiles lacked enough punch to bring an enemy down but the brutal onslaught demolished the enemy ranks. Those that survived limped away with all possible haste towards a large ship in the upper atmosphere.
Voloth watched. Voloth waited. There were other explosions in the night sky. A cry rippled through the girl. Her eyes snapped open. She remembered her name. “No,” she whispered. “I’m me.” She fled from Voloth into the darkness and knew it was listening to her every breath.
“I’m me,” she repeated. “Oh gods what have I done? Please, why can’t I remember?” She recoiled into her own slumbering body and woke inside a gentle tangle of flesh and steel that held her close. There were consoles at eye level illuminated with a pale blue light that displayed the very information she saw only moments before.
We survive. This is a new life for us. Welcome, Nadine.
“I don’t want this!” She struggled not to be drawn back into the slumber.
You don’t know what you want. We can feel the uncertainty clouding your mind. Let go of it and the truth will guide you.
“What are you?”
We are Voloth. We are the wind and sky made flesh. The voice faded, strained, cried out in pain. When next Voloth spoke the voice shifted noticeably to a lower pitch that Nadine recognized as a more masculine form. You may call me Voloth, or whatever name you like. As long as it takes away the pain you feel right now ... ugh.
“Ok, think Nadine. You’ve got to calm down. Think. Try to remember what you were doing an hour ago. What was I doing an hour ago? Oh, my head.” She clutched her temples in agony as the pain swept back through. The restraints on her arms stretched with her movements even as the thick flesh held her chest and legs fast. “Voloth why can’t I remember anything? Please tell me.”
You are adapting. This was necessary. Sorrow slipped into it’s voice. I am also adapting. Your mind, it’s so foreign to me. Your language has rules that contradict with itself. Words are failing me Nadine. I don’t know how to express these feelings in a way that you will understand. Voloth became still.
“Why me?” Nadine pushed against the mental wall again. If she squinted she could just barely see figures staring back at her from beyond it. “I know I had a life before this. Why did you choose me?” Voloth remained silent; suspended in the cold night air. She felt it’s breath and knew it was still alive.
Nadine’s anger boiled over. “Tell me Voloth! Why did you choose me?”
We are yet incomplete. The voiced shifted back into the slightly masculine form. It’s speech slowed. Each word was painfully articulated. I am damaged Nadine. Time has robbed me of so much: the others first, then my freedom, and slowly my ability to remember the sky. Damaged, yes, I feel pain. Your voice Nadine. When I heard it I had to go to it. It called me. You are beautiful. It paused. I am so very tired now. I was sleeping peacefully then I was woken by this terrible pain. Are our enemies gone?
Nadine’s eyes widened in alarm. “What are you saying? Have you completely lost your mind Voloth?”
My mind. The creature began to laugh merrily. So many wonderful emotions. I am so happy to have met you Nadine. I don’t have to be alone now. Joyous tears erupted from the great avian eyes. It cried out in a bright, harmonious song and beat it’s wings. I owe you a tremendous debt of gratitude. The voice shifted back to the blending of many. We owe you a debt of gratitude. Thank you.
The young woman didn’t know what to say to that. “Um, thanks. Glad that I could help. Now what about my memories? Will they ever return?”
Voloth relaxed into a serene calm. Yes, your memories. It is only a matter of time. The block in your mind is temporary. It exists to give you a chance to adapt and prevent a feedback loop while we copy the data encoded within your brain for a detailed analysis. Nadine gasped in alarm. Fear not. The memories that make you an individual have not been altered in any way. It is data we require to calibrate our systems and ensure the network performs at an optimal level. We apologize for the discomfort this causes but it is acceptable given the circumstances.
Voloth retracted it’s wings into a sitting pose with it’s tail curled up. It drifted slightly in the wind which tossled it’s long feathers. The air above Barclay was quiet save for a few craft that flew by the prone Akutenshi and continued on their way.
Nadine there are other aircraft in the vicinity. We have expended all ammunition. If more then a few engage us in battle there will be little choice but to withdraw.
“Is it more of the enemy?” Nadine shuddered at the thought that she might be pulled back through the darkness into the eyes of Voloth.
Unknown craft. They have not taken hostile action and are departing to the east. It is highly likely they are part of the defensive force.
Nadine let herself see out of her counterpart’s eyes, feeling it coo as their minds brushed up against one another. In the distance, in the green shades of Voloth’s nightvision, she could see the faintest movement heading away from them. “Where were they when we needed them?”
There has been constant communication amongst the defensive forces. The dialects are awkward and we didn’t understand most of what they were saying but it is our understanding that they were deployed to counteract an offensive sent against this human habitation.
Nadine blinked. “You’ve been listening all this time?”
Affirmative. Radio monitoring was necessary to keep track of the situation.
“Why didn’t you bother telling me?”
It was deemed tactically unnecessary. The communications array is currently functioning at minimal levels. We can hear them but cannot transmit on any frequency.
Nadine grumbled and shrugged it off. She felt herself slipping back in control of Voloth. Below them the city was quiet. She wished to look upon it and felt, as surely and naturally as she would have her own head, Voloth’s respond to her will. Fires burned here and there in the city. Most were small blazes being brought under control but there was one that blazed brightly in the thin spit of land that split what was once one great lake in two. It reached so high as to cast long shadows out over the water. Nadine watched the blue twinkling waves for a long time.
Here and there amongst the houses a light shone. When she tired of the waves Nadine counted the number that were born and died away again wondering what the people inside them were doing at such a late hour.
Voloth was quiet the whole time. Nadine felt it twitching it’s tail in slow, rhythmic swishes. She was cold. Her skin was like ice. When she thought about it she realized it was not her skin, but Voloth’s cooled by such long exposure to the biting wind. “Voloth. I’m tired.”
Understood. The serpent-like bird slipped through the sky headed towards a level forest to the west. Skimming the canopy Voloth flew in soft, undulating waves with slow and steady beats from it’s wings. In places where the forest canopy grew especially tall it’s claws clipped the tops of the trees sending birds scattering every which way.
Nadine could feel the simple joy her counterpart experienced in flight. Flashes of distant places appeared in her mind: snowy mountains, parched deserts, pale snowfields, towering spires of sparkling white, rolling green hills, showering blue waterfalls, and clouds of every imaginable shape and size. It was all too fast for her to make sense out of. She watched just trying to remember bits and pieces for later.
The next thing she knew of the real world Voloth was descending on a little hill where the trees thinned out. It slowed for the descent with furious wing beats sending a wave of rushing wind down the slope. Trees rattled. The grass swayed in green waves. Voloth came to rest on it’s claws and was steady.
Nadine wished for rest and her counterpart responded by curling up on the ridge watching the stars drift towards morning. Voloth waited until the girl was asleep before putting his own head down. He cawed softly, folded his wings tight and slipped into the peaceful slumber of assurance that he would soon awaken to new, radiant day.
----------------
Now playing: Yoko Shimomura - Desire for All That is Lost
via FoxyTunes
She was flying. Sensations of wind rippling over her skin were almost more then she could bear. A new awareness gripped her senses and the void filled with light and darkness, scent and form that assembled to form the dark sky.
Nadine fixed her new eyes forward, felt them turn by her will, and was filled with renewed rage and memories of pain that stretched from her shoulder down her chest. Her blood hungered for something she couldn’t quite understand.
Dark shapes in the sky with her drew her wide eyes. She transfixed on them as they darted about and assembled into formation on the horizon. That was her enemy. For an instant she remembered struggling against them and feeling their weapons tear into her flesh. “No,” Nadine whispered, pushing the foreign memory away. “I, what am I doing?” Pain surged through her body. She reached out trying to grasp the fading light in her mind and cried as it slipped away.
The hunger beckoned again. She needed to feed, to nourish her body and heal her wounds. At her behest her body swooped down snapping up a dark object, she didn’t care what it was, and tore it apart. Nadine’s heart raced. The bitter taste in her mouth broke the hold she had with the sky and she fell back into the darkness watching outside of herself as the creature slipped through the air.
The burning rage called her back to the sky. She resisted, uncertain. “What should I do? Where am I?”
The musical voice answered her, there in the darkness. It spoke from all around and from within her. We are one now. Your thoughts will become our actions.
“What, what are you?” She reached through the haze groping blindly for the light that had fled from her. She had her name but, she sensed, there was more out there just out of reach if only she could summon the strength to make it there. “What have you done to me?”
The creature came to a halt in mid-air and hung there silently watching the distant formation approach. Nadine felt it pulling her out of the darkness. We are Voloth. You too are Voloth now. Na-dine. It struggled with her name. Give your anger to us now.
Nadine saw through the dark haze the craft approaching them. She shut her eyes, wishing that it was all a dream and that she would wake up any second safe and sound. Her pain melted away and in an instant the identity Nadine knew was gone. The whole sky opened before her. Wind raced over her wings. Her thoughts expanded to numbers, graphs, lists, charts, and data. With but a thought she beat her new wings and opened them to their maximum span knowing as she did that all the power that was housed in this body was hers for the taking if she but willed it.
She laughed, the chiming chuckle of Voloth, and engaged the micro-missile launchers built into the wings. Hundreds of missiles fired at once in a storm that raced from Voloth to the formation. Her enemies broke into wild evasive maneuvers as they scattered in every direction. Chaff was deployed catching most of the projectiles in their deceptive wake. Voloth tracked each one that carried through and slammed into it’s target. Individually the missiles lacked enough punch to bring an enemy down but the brutal onslaught demolished the enemy ranks. Those that survived limped away with all possible haste towards a large ship in the upper atmosphere.
Voloth watched. Voloth waited. There were other explosions in the night sky. A cry rippled through the girl. Her eyes snapped open. She remembered her name. “No,” she whispered. “I’m me.” She fled from Voloth into the darkness and knew it was listening to her every breath.
“I’m me,” she repeated. “Oh gods what have I done? Please, why can’t I remember?” She recoiled into her own slumbering body and woke inside a gentle tangle of flesh and steel that held her close. There were consoles at eye level illuminated with a pale blue light that displayed the very information she saw only moments before.
We survive. This is a new life for us. Welcome, Nadine.
“I don’t want this!” She struggled not to be drawn back into the slumber.
You don’t know what you want. We can feel the uncertainty clouding your mind. Let go of it and the truth will guide you.
“What are you?”
We are Voloth. We are the wind and sky made flesh. The voice faded, strained, cried out in pain. When next Voloth spoke the voice shifted noticeably to a lower pitch that Nadine recognized as a more masculine form. You may call me Voloth, or whatever name you like. As long as it takes away the pain you feel right now ... ugh.
“Ok, think Nadine. You’ve got to calm down. Think. Try to remember what you were doing an hour ago. What was I doing an hour ago? Oh, my head.” She clutched her temples in agony as the pain swept back through. The restraints on her arms stretched with her movements even as the thick flesh held her chest and legs fast. “Voloth why can’t I remember anything? Please tell me.”
You are adapting. This was necessary. Sorrow slipped into it’s voice. I am also adapting. Your mind, it’s so foreign to me. Your language has rules that contradict with itself. Words are failing me Nadine. I don’t know how to express these feelings in a way that you will understand. Voloth became still.
“Why me?” Nadine pushed against the mental wall again. If she squinted she could just barely see figures staring back at her from beyond it. “I know I had a life before this. Why did you choose me?” Voloth remained silent; suspended in the cold night air. She felt it’s breath and knew it was still alive.
Nadine’s anger boiled over. “Tell me Voloth! Why did you choose me?”
We are yet incomplete. The voiced shifted back into the slightly masculine form. It’s speech slowed. Each word was painfully articulated. I am damaged Nadine. Time has robbed me of so much: the others first, then my freedom, and slowly my ability to remember the sky. Damaged, yes, I feel pain. Your voice Nadine. When I heard it I had to go to it. It called me. You are beautiful. It paused. I am so very tired now. I was sleeping peacefully then I was woken by this terrible pain. Are our enemies gone?
Nadine’s eyes widened in alarm. “What are you saying? Have you completely lost your mind Voloth?”
My mind. The creature began to laugh merrily. So many wonderful emotions. I am so happy to have met you Nadine. I don’t have to be alone now. Joyous tears erupted from the great avian eyes. It cried out in a bright, harmonious song and beat it’s wings. I owe you a tremendous debt of gratitude. The voice shifted back to the blending of many. We owe you a debt of gratitude. Thank you.
The young woman didn’t know what to say to that. “Um, thanks. Glad that I could help. Now what about my memories? Will they ever return?”
Voloth relaxed into a serene calm. Yes, your memories. It is only a matter of time. The block in your mind is temporary. It exists to give you a chance to adapt and prevent a feedback loop while we copy the data encoded within your brain for a detailed analysis. Nadine gasped in alarm. Fear not. The memories that make you an individual have not been altered in any way. It is data we require to calibrate our systems and ensure the network performs at an optimal level. We apologize for the discomfort this causes but it is acceptable given the circumstances.
Voloth retracted it’s wings into a sitting pose with it’s tail curled up. It drifted slightly in the wind which tossled it’s long feathers. The air above Barclay was quiet save for a few craft that flew by the prone Akutenshi and continued on their way.
Nadine there are other aircraft in the vicinity. We have expended all ammunition. If more then a few engage us in battle there will be little choice but to withdraw.
“Is it more of the enemy?” Nadine shuddered at the thought that she might be pulled back through the darkness into the eyes of Voloth.
Unknown craft. They have not taken hostile action and are departing to the east. It is highly likely they are part of the defensive force.
Nadine let herself see out of her counterpart’s eyes, feeling it coo as their minds brushed up against one another. In the distance, in the green shades of Voloth’s nightvision, she could see the faintest movement heading away from them. “Where were they when we needed them?”
There has been constant communication amongst the defensive forces. The dialects are awkward and we didn’t understand most of what they were saying but it is our understanding that they were deployed to counteract an offensive sent against this human habitation.
Nadine blinked. “You’ve been listening all this time?”
Affirmative. Radio monitoring was necessary to keep track of the situation.
“Why didn’t you bother telling me?”
It was deemed tactically unnecessary. The communications array is currently functioning at minimal levels. We can hear them but cannot transmit on any frequency.
Nadine grumbled and shrugged it off. She felt herself slipping back in control of Voloth. Below them the city was quiet. She wished to look upon it and felt, as surely and naturally as she would have her own head, Voloth’s respond to her will. Fires burned here and there in the city. Most were small blazes being brought under control but there was one that blazed brightly in the thin spit of land that split what was once one great lake in two. It reached so high as to cast long shadows out over the water. Nadine watched the blue twinkling waves for a long time.
Here and there amongst the houses a light shone. When she tired of the waves Nadine counted the number that were born and died away again wondering what the people inside them were doing at such a late hour.
Voloth was quiet the whole time. Nadine felt it twitching it’s tail in slow, rhythmic swishes. She was cold. Her skin was like ice. When she thought about it she realized it was not her skin, but Voloth’s cooled by such long exposure to the biting wind. “Voloth. I’m tired.”
Understood. The serpent-like bird slipped through the sky headed towards a level forest to the west. Skimming the canopy Voloth flew in soft, undulating waves with slow and steady beats from it’s wings. In places where the forest canopy grew especially tall it’s claws clipped the tops of the trees sending birds scattering every which way.
Nadine could feel the simple joy her counterpart experienced in flight. Flashes of distant places appeared in her mind: snowy mountains, parched deserts, pale snowfields, towering spires of sparkling white, rolling green hills, showering blue waterfalls, and clouds of every imaginable shape and size. It was all too fast for her to make sense out of. She watched just trying to remember bits and pieces for later.
The next thing she knew of the real world Voloth was descending on a little hill where the trees thinned out. It slowed for the descent with furious wing beats sending a wave of rushing wind down the slope. Trees rattled. The grass swayed in green waves. Voloth came to rest on it’s claws and was steady.
Nadine wished for rest and her counterpart responded by curling up on the ridge watching the stars drift towards morning. Voloth waited until the girl was asleep before putting his own head down. He cawed softly, folded his wings tight and slipped into the peaceful slumber of assurance that he would soon awaken to new, radiant day.
----------------
Now playing: Yoko Shimomura - Desire for All That is Lost
via FoxyTunes
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