NaNoWriMo: Days 21-23
Dec. 5th, 2012 12:43 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
polychrome_penPrompt 21: Aloof
“No, no, no!” Nora said with an exasperated sigh. “The Wind Jammer is a precision tool – you’re firing it like a lava gun!”
Nora wondered for the thousandth time why she had ever been crazy enough to accept this job. Training Nocturna to be a member of the Dragonator Corps was proving far more problematic than she had ever originally anticipated.
The blue mutant female rolled her golden eyes as she took aim at another target. “I’ve been on the receiving end of these enough times to know that’s not true,” Nocturna sassed back.
Nora tried to control her rapidly building temper. “Of course when we’re fighting hordes of gremwings were going to change the pulse to maximum dispersion. We want to knock as many of those creatures from the sky possible with a single shot.”
“And here I thought you were always aiming for me,” Nocturna said.
Nora marched back to the mutant and adjusted the setting on the Wind Jammer, desperately trying to not rise to the backhanded insults being bandied about. “Look here,” Nora said, pointing to a small readout on Nocturna’s armband. “This is the control panel for changing from a pulse to beam, and also controlling the dispersion ratio of the shot. Nora quickly changed it from pulse to beam, and narrowed the beam setting to the minimum. “Now give it a try.”
Nocturna looked skeptical but aimed for the next target and fired the Wind Jammer. A thin, cutting beam shot out and sliced the target cleanly in half.
“Do you see what I mean?” Nora said. “Wind Jammers can cut through solid rock given enough time on that setting.”
“Looks like you might not be just another pretty face after all,” Nocturna said, raising an eyebrow.
Nora worked with Nocturna for another hour, this time practicing with the moving targets that the dragonators had programmed to match known gremwings flight patterns. Nora was sweating by the end, and she could see Nocturna was winded as well.
“I’ll never say you dragonators don’t take your training seriously,” Nocturna said as she finally pulled off the Wind Jammer gauntlet and returned it to Nora. They certainly weren’t at the point that Nocturna could carry a weapon around Airlandis, even if she could train with one.
Nocturna left the training area, and Nora put away a few things before she saw a call coming through on her vox. A smile tugged at the corner of her mouth despite her best effort as Nora saw it was Peak calling. The two of them had been spending a lot of time together recently, though Nora wasn’t sure she wanted it to be anything official at the moment.
“Whatcha doing for dinner, babe?” Peak asked.
Nora never had any plans; Peak should know that by now. “Nothing much, just grabbing something in the Replimat,” she replied. “Why, are you thinking of joining me?” she teased, her voice coy.
“I’m always up for the Replimat mystery meat if it’s with you,” Peak said. “Catch you there in a half hour?”
“Count on it,” Nora replied before signing off. She was never sure what her and Peak really had going on. There was friendship for sure, but ever since he had tricked her into spending New Year’s with his family…well, there felt like there might be something more. She had kissed him at the Dragonator Ball too. Looking back, Nora couldn’t say why she had done it; maybe it was the music and the champagne and the stars. But that was just silly. Nora had never been the kind of girl swayed by those ridiculous things.
Nora pushed all that aside as she finished writing her daily report on Nocturna’s training for Z’neth. Booking it to the Replimat, Nora waved to Peak from across the crowded dining room. He had reserved a table for two. Sometimes it was just them, and other times she was sure he made a point to have her sit and interact with the other dragonators more.
“So,” Peak said as she settled down at the table with her tray. “How was your lesson with Lady Blue?”
“We made progress on the Wind Jammers, but not much else. Peak, I still don’t understand why Z’neth thought it would be good for me to teach Nocturna. Surely he or Apex would be more qualified,” Nora said.
“Dunno,” Peak said, spearing a slice of the mystery meat on his fork. “But I think he specifically wanted to distance himself from all her activities here on Airlandis. People are starting to talk, you know.”
Nora almost choked on her tea. She started to cough. “Wait, you mean…?” she asked, giving Peak an incredulous look.
Peak put up his hands. “Hey, I just said people are starting to talk. I have no idea; but do me a favor and don’t mention that around Apex. She nearly ripped me a new one when I made a joke about it the other day.”
“Well, putting that aside, I put in my report that Nocturna will probably be ready for her first belowclouds mission in a couple of weeks,” Nora said. “And I do think it would be better to have Z’neth there.”
They discussed possible training mission sites for a bit longer before Peak remembered he was scheduled to leave for a crystal run later than evening. As he was getting up from their table, he turned back to Nora and asked, “So, the talent show is in a couple of weeks. Summit is playing a song he wrote, and all of the family is going. I was wondering if you’d like to go with me?”
“You mean like a date?” Nora asked, trying to hold an expressionless look on her face.
Peak scratched the back of his head. “Well, yeah. A date. You know, when two people who like each other do something fun together?”
“Well, since you put it that way,” Nora said. “Because I do in fact like you, I would be happy to be your date for the evening.”
Peak blushed as he moved closer back to Nora. “And how about evenings after that?”
“One day at a time, tiger,” Nora quipped, giving Peak a shy smile. “You’re going to ruin my steely, unapproachable reputation at this rate.”
Prompt 22: Blood
Dread Wing sat on his throne, claws drumming on the armrest. Being in the symbol of his absolute power was often enough to clear his black mood, but not today. Today, the Lord of Warnado had been betrayed by his First Lieutenant, and subsequently lost her to the custody of the Dragon Flyz. Dread Wing had no expectation that Nocturna would hold her tongue regarding his secrets; if anything, she would reveal all his weaknesses in order to ingratiate herself with the Dragon Flyz.
Dread Wing’s massive hand grasped the crystal on the armrest and he squeezed hard, cracking the amber between his claws. His course was decided, then; he would have to strike down the traitor and Airlandis first.
“Gangryn!” Dread bellowed. Moments later, his spindly inventor crept through the doorway.
With an appropriately low bow, Gangryn said, “What can I do to serve you, most illustrious Dread Wing?”
“You can make Warnado operational again, Gangryn,” Dread Wing, “Else I shall feed you to the lava beasts.”
Dread Wing wanted to chuckle at the terrified look that came across Gangryn face. “But my Lord, the ship was severely damaged after we crashed the last time! I’m not sure I can get the engines operational again!”
“Then find me new engines, Gangryn! I will not sit here idly and wait for Nocturna’s betrayal to bear fruit. No, we will make our final assault on Airlandis and crush the floating city. Warnado will be the supreme air power in the world!” Dread Wing yelled, getting into the smaller mutant’s face for good effect. “You have full permission to pull my armies to help you accomplish this. Getting Warnado operational again is your top priority as of this moment, Gangryn. Now be gone from my sight.”
“Of course, Dread Wing,” Gangryn simpered, bowing and scuttling out of the throne room.
Feeling restless, Dread Wing spread his wings and flew from his throne room, catching a warm updraft in Warnado’s central core that carried him up to the top. He alighted on the battlements at the top of the ship and surveyed his domain. Cracks in the ground revealed molten rock beneath the surface, and Dread Wing breathed in the rich stench of life below the clouds.
Dread Wing felt irritated with himself for feeling such loss at Nocturna’s departure. Still, he remembered desiring her for his own from the moment she had defeated Fryte on the blood-soaked sands of the arena. She had also been with him from the moment he had risen to power over a decade ago. In some ways, he owed his reign to her murder of his father Asmodeus.
If father was the right word to use for the vile creature.
Dread Wing never knew his mother – like so many, she died in giving birth to her mutant son. Such was the way of life in the breeding pits. The strong survived and the weak died; it was a rule that governed life here on Old Earth.
It had certainly governed life in Asmodeus’s court. The previous Lord of Warnado had been fond of strong blood wine, females, and excess that Dread Wing did not stand under his rule. Still, it didn’t mean that his father couldn’t kill and pillage with the best. Dread Wing had many good memories of raiding Dramen villages for slaves and battles with Dark Dramen tribes or other mutant factions.
Asmodeus had crushed all his enemies. They had been driven before him or trodden under his massive boot. Dread Wing owed the large territory he ruled to his father’s conquests. Unfortunately, that territorial expansion had brought them in conflict with the people of Airlandis.
Dread Wing had once been perfectly content knowing he would rule Old Earth. But when he had discovered the floating city, he had to possess it and the secrets it contained. But his father had no intention of directly attacking or subjugating Airlandis. Asmodeus had believed that the humans were no threat to them. It had been a foolish belief.
*****
“Father, let me lead a strike force to capture the floating city!” Dread Wing yelled, smashing his hand on the council table. “I will show those humans that they cannot simply come down from the sky and take our amber crystals!”
“Do not be a fool, Dread Wing,” Asmodeus grumbled, crossing his arms over his massive chest. “We have no use for the crystals, and the humans’ technology is vastly superior to our own. I do not wish war with them.”
“Their technology is the reason we much conquer them!” Dread replied. “My spies report that they have found a secret of the amber crystals that allows them to power the floating city. Imagine what we could do with such a power source – no mutant or Dramen could stand in our path!”
“You would ruin my empire for a fantasy?” Asmodeus yelled. “I did not build this domain for you to throw it all away in a foolish quest!”
Dread Wing tried to speak again, but Asmodeus silenced him with a hit to the face that sent Dread Wing sprawling on the floor. “Do not speak to me of this again,” Asmodeus said, his voice a deadly whisper. The Lord of Warnado stalked out of the room, leaving Dread Wing to pick himself up off the floor.
If that was the way Father wanted to see things, then so be it. But Dread Wing did not give up so easily. He had calculated how often the dragon riders from Airlandis came down to collect amber crystals, and knew that some of them would come down later today. Dread Wing would simply capture one of them and torture them for answers about the amber crystals. Father would surely see the wisdom of his quest after that.
Dread Wing made his way to where his dragon Black Heart was kept. The dragon was a mighty beast, and had been a gift when Dread had come into his majority. Black Heart was of a special line that his father had bred to be able to breathe fire from drinking lava. Only the royal family was allowed to have these dragons.
“Take us up, Black Heart,” Dread Wing said. “We fly to our destiny – to conquer Airlandis, then the rest of Old Earth.” As Black Heart roared and took off, Dread Wing sent a mental command to the gremwings under his personal control. If he was going after four dragon riders, he was certainly not going unprepared.
The grotesque insectoid monsters swirled around him, screeching and chittering. They flew in a trail after Black Heart while Dread Wing pinpointed the location of the large amber bed he knew the humans would be coming for.
As it came into view, Dread Wing could make out the shapes of four dragons scooping up crystals from the lava. His blood boiled like the magma below at the thought of the humans stealing what belonged to him. With a roar, he directed the gremwings to attack the dragons and their riders.
Once the carnage had reached a pitched level, Dread Wing flew straight for the nearest rider, a man with a brown beard. Dread Wing aimed his lava gun straight at the man’s chest and fired, the plasma beam knocking him from the back of his dragon.
The human’s false wings spread as he fell toward the lava, and carried him back upward toward Dread. The man raised his arms and arcs of light shot out from his wrists, one catching Dread Wing on the shoulder. It burned, but Dread shoved away the pain and dove off of Black Heart toward the man.
Dread Wing crashed into the human mid-air, sending them both tumbling back towards the lava pool below. As they neared the surface of the bubbling pool, Dread Wing stared in horror as a dark form began to rise from the magma. It was a lava beast, and they were headed straight for its open jaws.
In an instant, the human’s dragon was between them and the lava beast, its claw wings scratching at the huge beast.
“No, get away from it!” Dread Wing heard the human male cry, but it was too late. The lava beast’s jaws closed around the dragon’s wing and it was pulled under the surface.
Dread Wing didn’t want to miss his chance to capture the human, but he had sorely miscalculated. The man was now full of rage, and shot Dread Wing straight in the chest with his gauntlet’s weapon, leaving a smoking hole in Dread’s armor.
“You’ll pay for that, cragface!” the man cried, throwing something at Dread Wing. The small device exploded, the impact throwing Dread Wing clear of the lava. He landed hard on the rocks at the lava pool’s edge, the wind knocked out of him. The human was relentless now, flying straight for Dread Wing with murder in his eyes.
“Taste my Wind Jammer, mutant,” the man said, hovering over Dread Wing, his gauntlet pointed straight at the mutant’s face.
The gauntlet discharged, but in that instant, Lord Asmodeus was on top of the human. He picked the man up with ease, held him over his head, and broke the man’s back with ease before tossing him to the ground like a broken toy.
“I told you not to come here,” Asmodeus said darkly, before spreading his own wings and flying back to his dragon. Dread Wing took one final look at the human before following suit. It was a clear reminder that his father could do the same to him with ease.
*****
After Nocturna had killed his father, Dread Wing had put the inventor Gangryn to work, and the results had been glorious. Dread Wing knew that he would one day soon either possess the floating city and all its secrets, or see it a smoking shell, torn apart by the Warp Winds.
Either way, he would win.
Prompt 23: Tower Block
"Mutate this Gangryn, build that Gangryn, restore power to the whole damn wrecked ship, Gangryn!" the small mutant inventor known as Gangryn muttered under his breath as he crawled through a small access tube. "What does Dread Wing think I am - a miracle worker? That's what he'll need if he ever expects Warnado to fly again."
Gangryn stopped by the relay ports he needed to reconnect. When the ship had crashed after their last attempt at flight and subsequent battle with Airlandis, most of the magma tubes had burst, flooding untold compartments and relays with molten rock. Gangryn had put all of Dread Wing's army under his command to work chipping away at the now-cooled and solidified stone. After they finished the grunt work, Gangryn and his team of newly-drafted Dramen slave engineers followed up with the delicate technical work. It wasn't as though one could trust the beautiful mechanics of the ship to the base minds of those...brutes that Dread Wing normally employed.
The inventor hadn't particularly liked Nocturna, but he had to admit to missing the only source of semi-intelligent conversation in Dread Wing's domain. Gangryn felt surrounded by fools, his true genius never appreciated. Often, Gangryn wondered if he would have been better truly accepting the sanctuary he had been offered by Airlandis. Had he not been so terrified of Dread Wing he... Well, the fact was he was terrified of the mutant king, and Gangryn knew he didn't have the mettle to challenge Dread. He was not strong, cunning, and crafty like Nocturna. Dread Wing would crush Gangryn like a toad if he smelled the slightest hint of treachery.
Gangryn was still furious about his beautiful machine known as the Brain Slave being destroyed by Dread Wing and the Dragon Flyz. It had been his greatest achievement - entry into both the human and dragon mind. It was a feat that he knew not even the humans had accomplished. The Brain Slave had also been Gangryn's one true opportunity to unseat Dread Wing. He daydreamed momentarily of liquefying the beast's brain with a mere thought, and chuckled at the notion.
Gangryn's thin fingers worked swiftly and soon the connection was back in place, the magma flowing like honey through the tubes, bringing heat and power to this section of the ship.
"Only a few hundred more relays to go," Gangryn grumbled to himself, picking up his tool kit and heading to the next station.
His massive worry now was the engines. Per his research, Gangryn found the engines had been pulverized into oblivion when the ship had crashed. And unless Gangryn was quite mistaken, he didn't see a large supply of warship engines lying around for the taking. Fryte was on a mission to locate pre-Cataclysmic relics that might be used as substitutes, but Gangryn wasn't holding his breath that the daft mutant's search would prove a success.
Gangryn had designed a few backup engines in the (likely) event that Fryte found nothing. However, even he was less than thrilled about attempting to use untested designs for such a crucial plan. Dread Wing felt no such qualms though, so Gangryn had set another team with the unenviable task of fabricating and installing his engines. No telling whether or not they would survive a trip through the Warp Winds.
Gangryn emerged from the access tube onto a platform overlooking the central shaft of Warnado. Gremwings buzzed all around, and Gangryn reminded himself that he was close to the Corridor of Blood (an altogether unpleasant place). No, he had little desire to become the lunch of his carnivorous gremwing creations (though he made a mental note to toss them a slave soon).
A Dark Dramen shoved Gangryn aside as he brushed by him on the platform. Despite his high rank as one of Dread Wing’s high lieutenants, Gangryn got little if any respect from the common soldiers that the mutant lord commanded. It used to make him furious, but these days Gangryn hardly cared; the brutes were far too stupid to understand his genius, and would sadly always remain so. He almost pitied them. Almost.
*****
It was days later when Fryte returned to Warnado telling wild tales of a strange pair that he had fought far past the reaches of Dread Wing’s territory, barely escaping with his life. Gangryn didn’t much care whether Fryte lived or died, but he was delighted for once to be proven wrong, as the mutant had towed back a fine pair of rocket boosters. Yes, Gangryn believed these would do quite nicely at replacing some of the damaged engines. He would still have to use his improvised designs, but at least now the inventor was confident they could make it through the Warp Winds again.
Dread Wing threw a grand feast that night for Fryte’s return. Well, look who became the favored child with Nocturna gone. Gangryn was expected to attend, of course, though he hated such events. They were a waste of his one precious resource: time.
All during the reconstruction process, Gangryn had secretly been working on getting the Brain Slave back up and running. He had learned much from the initial prototype: for one, he was genetically coding this model to respond only to him. There would be no risk of Dread Wing abusing his beautiful machine again. Second, he was building it into an armor suit. Mobility would be key, rather than being confined to a chair like before.
And he had increased the power tenfold. The female dragonator Apex had formidable mental powers, both telepathic and telekinetic, but next to him her abilities would look like the cheap amusements that Dread Wing threw at his soldiers. Oh yes, he would enjoy wiping her mind more than anything.
His only problem with the suit was powering it. The original Brain Slave had taken massive amounts of energy and was hooked up directly to Warnado’s fission engine. Trying to miniaturize that technology had proven most unsuccessful (as those unfortunate test subjects had proven quite adequately). Which brought Gangryn back to the amber crystals.
Somehow, it always seemed to come back to the amber crystals. He had spent the better part of his career searching for the secrets of the amber, only to have every lead come to a dead end (and often with rather explosive results). But if Gangryn ever wanted to make his Brain Slave armor operational, he would have to solve the secrets of the amber. If only he could get his claws on one of the portable generators! Airlandis rarely sent out colonization attempts any more, however, and those had always proven to be the best method by which to acquire the technology.
The speeches droned on at the feast, punctuated by harsh laughter and vile dancing by the slaves. Gangryn nursed a small cup of blood wine, though most of his “peers” were already quite drunk and pawing at the slave women like animals.
Fearing he would go completely mad if he stayed another moment, Gangryn excused himself from the table and started making his way to the door. Quite unfortunately, Fryte blocked the exit before he could make his escape.
“Where you going, little inventor,” the grotesque mutant barked. “You dishonor me by leaving party!”
“You would have to have honor in order to be dishonored, Fryte,” Gangryn lashed back. Feeling in his pocket, Gangryn was comforted to have his electro-spanner still there. He could easily dispatch a drunken Fryte if necessary with it.
Fryte’s massive arm scratched his ugly head as he no doubt puzzled Gangryn’s reply in his tiny brain, but by that point Gangryn had moved past him and into the hallway.
Away from the din of the revelry, Gangryn decided that Fryte would make an excellent first test subject for the powers of the Brain Slave armor. Gangryn smiled and adjusted his goggles to see in the gloom. Yes, destroying what little brain Fryte had would make an excellent first test indeed.
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Date: 2012-12-05 09:46 am (UTC)I can't wait to read what comes next!
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Date: 2012-12-05 10:11 am (UTC)I guess I had better write that one now. XD
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Date: 2012-12-05 10:17 am (UTC)Yes please. *holds up bribery material*
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Date: 2012-12-06 02:02 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2012-12-06 02:04 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2012-12-05 12:50 pm (UTC)Peak/Nora are adorable :D and I love all the backstory we got in Blood
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Date: 2012-12-06 02:01 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2012-12-06 02:20 am (UTC)[and heh, Flight of Dragons icon - like you didn't see that coming XD]