The Burning Plains

The shards of my being are shattered by the pain that courses through me. The unrelenting sun cannot help but aggravate my feeling of vulnerability in this hot and sandy desert. the pain of losing my soul is so great... like I'm burning in the continuous inferno of Erebus... The separation is still so raw...so piercing in my heart... I feel like I'll pass into the void... 
A viper glides through the burning golden sand leaving a zig zag trail in its wake... A scorpion scuttles by not far from it... my only companions... not a soul in sight... 
The lady with the red eyes, that is what they called her in her village. She was an uncommon beauty for instead of the more common black or brown eyes, she had two ruby red eyes. Her eyes they said... would remind one of the rising sun... glowing embers of coal... Nobody remembered her actual name... Some say she is a goddess... some say she carried the devil in her heat... For only the devil would have such eyes... The only thing that loved her unconditionally was her beautiful black cat...
A few days ago she seemed to have disappeared and the loss of her cat troubled her deeply... and pained her soul as if it had been wrecked in two... Fury raged through her veins when she contemplated human design... Some used to call 'Midnight' a witches cat or the devil's pet and would always be avoiding her or shooing her away... 
'Midnight' the very word suggests a strange mystifying macabre quality born of blackness... These qualities fitted her perfectly. Her large glimmering green eyes were strangely mystifying yet exquisitely beautiful... It was true that her blood ran thick with magic but she could only use it instinctive... An agent of the Ancient Cat God, The Egyptians loved so much and honoured... She was sent to the Land Of The Burning Plains to protect the princess with the red eyes... 

Lynx

Unfazed by the bullet whizzing towards her with unerring speed…  She casually flicks it away with the blade of her sword… Lynx like grace… a face frozen in snow… she cuts herself with her sword…  Shuddering from the pain she reminds herself that she does this not for pleasure but duty…

*****

Mamma… The days here are long and cold… Not a single ally in sight… I’m the only soldier assigned for this task… Major General said he found only me fit for the task… Hawk’s Eye he called me… Sharp, fierce and flies like the wind… He said that I took the place of a hundred… It’s getting harder but I have your protection even though you may not be here… My sword flashes red with blood mamma…  I hate killing but I have to… I have to… Or this war will never end… These so called super human forces… I find them so clumsy… like little children… As I lay down to sleep tonight I feel your locket in my hand… And remember what you said as you were leaving this realm…  “End this war, my Lynx,” you said… I’m trying so hard to do just that…

*****

I run across this searing plain… the hot air brushes intensely against my cheek… It’s as if I’m sprinting from a forest fire… Only there are no forests here… only hot golden sand and the unrelenting blazing sun high in the sky… The powdered azure sky does nothing to shield me from this heat… Yet it doesn’t burn… only gives more speed to my flying feet…

She skids to a stop… bending her knees in a fluid motion… 

What’s this? I just heard the ground underneath me rumble… Surely… not another army now…  I faced one just this morning…

She draws herself to her full height…. With her hawk like sharp eyes she scans the horizon… She sees a dark mass move from behind her at alien speed… but it feels slow to her… Her black cloak billows in the wind as she faces south… There too a large mass… She smiles as she hears a loud war cry rise from the east and the west… A gunshot she hears from the north…

Clumsy children…

*****

“Ahhh… The fair Lynx… Why am I not surprised?” the commander said, stepping out from the troops. She smiled again… A mocking smile… She unbuckled her sword and let it slide to the ground… “Surrendering already, eh… Without a fight? Strange… We were prepared for intense fighting…” he stopped, seeing her strange gestures… she had dropped on to her knees… Her hands splayed like wings across her sides… She started flapping them… uncannily bird like… Before long her clothes lay in a bundle on the floor with her sword… And in her place stood a very large snow white bird with a long feathered tail… She gave a large cry,,, And with lightening speed gathered her clothes and sword and flew away…

She flew across the sky… like a streak of white light… away from the four armies… The troops gazing open mouthed, in disbelief as she became just a speck across the sky…

No wonder… they call me the silent one… Yet they say I speak the most with my deeds… Words are meaningless to me… my thoughts are intense enough to make my actions forceful enough… I think I sent a strong message to them just through this simple gesture rather than the complexity of words… I’ve been fighting for so long… Decades…Yet this war never seems to end… The enemy has an invisible supply of troops… Strangest thing is… We haven’t figured out who is behind this war still… No face… I hope Hin has gathered something useful…

Hin

Short sandy hair…  Striking fiery sienna eyes… Tawny crouching tiger…  She pounces on her quarry… Dagger flashes ruby red with blood… Golden face… Fire heart…  Beast like beauty… fierceness fills her soul… An animal like ferocious beauty… Rose’s younger daughter…  Feral young fighter… Young tigress… Beautiful and dangerous …

*****

The forests… My instincts are on a high… My senses filled with the intense desire for war… for fighting… They gave me espionage mamma… Major General took one look at your languidly small built daughter and said, “Here’s our girl, she’s going to get us information about the enemy!” I guess it would be selfish for me to burden Lynx with everything… Mamma… The enemy razed our house to the ground… They seem to know too much about our ancestry…  We had to hide father with the military after an attempt on his life… Lynx said it was paramount we kept him alive… She said that he was the only living soul who knows all about the Guardians… Our ancestors’ knowledge resides in his bosom… We can’t lose that… She said… The war refuses to end mamma… We’re trying so hard… Major General has asked me to uncover the cause… The cause… I feel it in my mind’s eye… Yet I can’t see it… The lockets you gave us… one half with my older sister and one half with me… Protects us with your love… I’ve heard Lynx has slaughtered battalions… while I have reached the heart of the enemy’s lair… unharmed… Thank you mamma for … your protection… your love… teaching us the secrets of your guild… We sisters fight in your memory… We keep our lives on the line for our ancestry and our guild…

*****

The trick not to be seen in this hot and wet jungle… is to turn yourself into a golden tiger at every possible opportunity…

She jumped deftly across a fallen tree trunk which was like a bridge across the deep stream…

Saw a horrible sight a few hours ago… Commanders… Enemy commanders were bringing their slain back to life… So that’s how they replenish their enemy… Mere mortals playing the role of the Divine… Something really fishy going on there… Well whoever is behind this is certainly angering the Gods… My ears twitch again… Now, who is it? Mortal or Super Human? I’m really getting tired of this…

She turned around and gave a huge roar… She stopped mid-roar in surprise… as her mind was hit with the icy yet pleasant thoughts of Lynx… Sister, don’t eat me…   As a large snow white bird dropped her sister’s clothes and sword…  It alighted right on the other side…  And as it splayed its wings… It turned into the ivory form of Lynx…

“Hin…” she said in her soft voice reminiscent of the pine trees rustling in the winter breeze… icy yet filled with warmth…  “Sister, you flew again?” asked Hin still in her animal form… “I had to,” she replied, “Took me a day and a night to get here…”  “You’re still not tired?” asked an incredulous Hin as her sister pulled on her clothes… “No not yet,” she smiled, “I’ve flown for days without being tired before…  You look tired though…” “Just something I found out…” Hin said turning into her golden form and pulling on her shorts and buttoning her shirt… which were lying a few paces behind her… “The commanders are playing God… The enemy ones I mean… Just found that out a few hours ago… They were bringing their slain back to life…” “No wonder I thought they were like clumsy children,” Lynx whispered, barely audible, “When I was seven mamma told me that the ones who try to bring the dead back to life are infidels… mortals with blackened souls… who turn to beasts… half human… half beast… Human form but beast like with disintegrating souls…  This is all Djjon’s doing… The God of Hate…”

*****

Strange Transition...

This cold wind... is nothing compared to the pair of cold grey eyes staring down at me...  Pair of cold grey tempered steel balls... a heartless gray as the life ebbs away from me... This is my introduction to the grim reaper... Dark hooded cloak... the famous scythe... the familiar icy breath... but lo what is this? He  touches my cold cheek... and to my surprise... the gesture is fraught with affection... bringing back warmth to my body again...strange transition...  

Painful Regression 2

Death...its atramentous cloak... starts to settle on me... as the blood flows... as the blood flows from my wrist... suddenly he appears clad in white...like an angel to lead me to the light... he does lead me to light but I've tainted him... I've tainted him with my blood... my pain... I tarnished his soul with my darkness... and years later he lies here... engulfed in the darkness... of three years ago... that day three years ago... when blood flowed from my wrists...

Painful Regression

Broken mirrors...They cut my soul everywhere... He's in pain...I'm in pain because of that...Will the rear view mirror ever stay blank...will the painful past be erased from it...he's reliving that day three years ago...in his dreams...in his thoughts... he lies in heavy slumber...refusing to wake to the present and happiness... how do I get him back from regression?...Painful regression... How do i get him back to normalcy again...I don't want to lose him...my soul...my everything...when will this painful regression stop... 

Choice

OR  

What do we have but illusions where one man's absolute is another's choice

--Poets Of The Fall-Rewind--

I dance entangled with my dear

She pulls my every string

Completely trapped yet never here

When passion colors everything...

--Poets Of The Fall-Passion Colors Everything-- 

Choice... We all have choices... To pick up a broken eagle...broken wing... or walk past it without turning around...  Leave a tormented soul behind... or embrace it with your whole heart and being... weld with it and become one... let its pain become yours...

Nostalgia

Nostalgia is like a grammar lesson:  you find the present tense, but the past perfect!  

~Owens Lee Pomeroy

True nostalgia is an ephemeral composition of disjointed memories.  

~Florence King

Old memories... sepia tainted...some sun faded... yellowed at the edges...The darling old book lies open..beige pages filled with marvelously old memories... feel like fairy tales when you look into them now... a treasure trove... of old roses...kisses...hugs...

Welcome To Sin City

The people of Sin City as our scholars say were indeed enchanted. Not by the good white guardian magic which in our world is known as god but here the only one who ruled their hearts and sadly even their consciences and their souls was Satan and only Satan{by the way that's what we call him in our world, in theirs he is known as Mea Culpa. This means 'my guiltin Latin, ironically'}. They showed marks of their worships by various ways. One was that the noblest and the most honorable of men and women were branded with the papal cross.

The others who had sinned, their eyes were hollowed out from their sockets. They were seen to be stumbling all over town and being mocked by all the citizens. To tell you the truth, those righteous ones were actually born in our world but later migrated after being driven away from their homes by the Taliban. Ironical, for to escape the very bloodshed they

They had crossed over the river Böhr when the barriers between the dimensions thinned and nearly diminished during New Years Eve and Halloween in the past decade, they are suffering here. One of them was Laura's aunt.

Sin City...First Look

Angels are sinners…sinners are virtuous,

Murder is bravery… rescuing is cowardice,

After all… barbarity is civility.

Kagami

Guardians had always been a part of the royal heritage of the kingdom of light. When the aristocrat did not find any of their guards suitable they would always choose guardians. Guardians came in a variety of forms. The most popular ones being the dainty fairies for the Shiro family believed in having a lot of fun and frolicking a lot. They did not have any serious inclinations towards their protection until Oriana got serious about her protection and decided to learn martial arts to protect herself and her guards were practically useless for she would ride or run with inhuman speed. So the almost forgotten Shonya Guardians were remembered and brought to the kingdom once again from the Shenya Mountains. The guardians were remembered only after an attempt was made on Oriana's life. The princess was walking around in the moonlit garden when an assassin grabbed her from behind and held a dagger to her throat. Quick as a flash Kagami's mother, Nagashina launched herself tooth and nail in to the guard and attempted to rip him open with her teeth but he was stronger than she thought and he hauled her to the ground and stabbed her right in the heart. Oriana was shocked at what had happened but quickly coming to her senses she retrieved a dagger hidden in her sleeve and stabbed the assassin to death. After a while the royal household found her unconscious in the garden with a bloody knife in her hand. So King Elroy decided that he should get her a guardian as soon as possible. As Nagashina was the only Shonya guardian in the palace he ordered his soldiers to bring more of them from Shenya and decided Kagami would be the best match for his daughter.

Serra 197093...First Look...

Serra. Defined and only known as Serra 197093. No one knows her origin. She crashed in to earth on the fateful day of 11113 AD. Now present day, 21000 AD she will awaken again. A mysterious entity belonging to the universe. A neutral force. A force untouched by the vibes of good and evil. An entity impartial to their touches. An entity which will awaken now. She will arise and awaken now, to change the world for the better or for worse only time will tell.

On the planet of Calligenia, alien or mysterious entities were stored as specimens would. The prime minister, Captain Chroma Reylion was a person devoid of feelings. A highly scientific and rational man, he believed that alien entities are always harmful to the planet and Homo sapiens in general after the battle of Chimera nearly destroyed the planet. Mind you, that was the only formal alien visitor they've had. The others who came after the planet was rebuilt were all stored in a special lab built by Reylion and destroyed. They were contained in special pod like chambers. Before that however, experiments were run on them and Reylion's scientists would have to try different compounds and see which one of those would kill the alien cells. Different compounds were found for each of the type of aliens. When these compounds were identified, they supplied it so much in excess to the pod-chamber that the alien life form was killed instantly, never to arise again; all except Serra.

Serra was unique of all the 19703333 specimens, she would adapt amazingly fast to the compounds. The unique thing about her was that she would transform all the compounds to life giving substances required by Calligenia to strengthen her primary planetary defence. Calligenia's planetary defences consisted of 200 different types of electromagnetic forces, 1500 universal cosmic soldiers (namely super suns and stars), about 200 million of mecha robots and finally the cosmic goddess of war herself, Ate. Serra surprisingly transformed each of the billion compounds used on her to living cells which were required by the goddess to sustain herself. The scientists in charge of Serra 197093 were moved by her power to transform compounds. So to save her from Reylion's clutches on the cold and winter night of 11120 AD, they moved her to Scientist Remora's house. He had actually built a special chamber in his house for her. An ancient man was living with Remora. He had seen the era when mankind lived on earth. The reason Remora agreed to shift her to his place was due to the fact that Sanyurawasai the ancient man had told him about Serra, a neutral cosmic entity that awakens 9887 years after she lands on a particular planet to change its life forever depending on whether she fell into good or vile hands. She had the power to transform lifeless compounds to life giving sustaining cells. She was impartial to the host planet whether good or bad and would provide them with sustenance. Many a weak planet had become strong and replenished with its help but then again many evil planets had utilized it as a weapon to destroy planets. Sanyurawasai had stressed on the fact that she should fall only into the right hands. "She appears," he had told Remora, "in a womanly form. Like... like... a princess... a queen… with a crown and a robe…like an ancient queen. The crown has the words Serra engraved on it." Serra, Remora had thought, the mysterious entity 197093 looks just like her, the way Sanyurawasai had said with Serra engraved on her crown.

Serra. Sanyurawasai had said existed since the universe was born. She was just a helping entity. An entity which did not care whether the host was good or evil, she only cared about rendering her services to the planet in order to help it. She rendered her services first by detecting what it is the planet desired the most and then supplying it.

Thus passed 9887 years after Serra landed on Calligenia. During this time, Remora and the ancient man had passed in to the other world. So she passed through Remora's family for generations where each father would tell his son the story of Serra, Remora and the ancient man. Now Serra rests in the hands of Walter Dromura. Now it is up to him to use the entity rightfully…

Tyranny Of The Night...First Look...

The harsh wind touched her face. Ironically at dawn the same wind had seemed so pleasant to her cheek, like a gentle balmy kiss but now it grated against that pale cheek now so much… It hurts to know that someone who cared about you so much would leave you right in the middle of such a storm… a storm of such great proportion that it would blow your life to small bits and, bits that you love so much will be mangled so badly that you would never recover its original form like crystals after they break into shards, she thought looking at the sunset.

You try to reevaluate your memories by trying to find some negativity which would have warned you then during those times when you thought you were in love and felt like it would last forever. It hurts when your life starts to look like a joke and you've just never realized it. Someone leaving her was quite a routine and she was never surprised by the recurrence of it until he entered… Somehow she felt special with him… felt warm but now the stinging cold is back. It feels as if this as meant to happen and she was a fool to think it would last forever. It seemed as if her life was meant to rise and fall in the same way as waves of the oceans which however high they are come down in a crash. She felt that her destiny would keep on suppressing her till she gives in and now… she feels that time has come.

Time wonder what it held against her… she was no Tithonus who had defied it. She was one who never went against it or tried to fight it.

Ahh! A warm comforting sound of the cows' bells tinkling as the cattle herd drove them home .The gentle tinkling comforted her intensely sorrowful heart so much so that the gentle faces of the cows seemed to be like old long lost friends.

The mountainside was drenched and dripping with the redness of the setting sun its sanguine color resembling the passionate blush of a young maid when she sees her lover but to her the sky seemed like a river of blood, she felt a metaphor of her bleeding heart.

She got up from the rock she was sitting on adjusted her stole around her and made her way towards her little cottage. It was a hard day.

******

Symphony Of Swords... First Look...

Two swords. Each forged with the birth of the heirs of the Shiro and Natsuke families. The princess, from the dynasty of light and the prince, from the dynasty of eternal darkness. The empires witnessed the collision of the Angels of Light and the Demons of eternal darkness each trying to outdo the other. Enraged with this breach of etiquette, the goddess of thunder Kaminari appeared and pronounced a prophecy: Eternal light and darkness shall cease to exist separately and they shall merge and become one.

The swords were made by Japan's finest craftsman. The one made for Oriana the princess of light was engraved with a sheaf of cherry blossoms. This venerable weapon came to be called by the beautiful name of 'Birds' Song'. The sword forged for Ryuu, the prince of darkness was engraved with the symbol of death and so very artfully the sword was called 'Whisper of Death'.

Yet Fate did not want the heirs to receive their destinies so easily. She wanted eternal light and eternal darkness to meet and merge. She had special plans for them and wanted to comply with the prophecy of Kaminari for she had not yet forgiven the angels and demons for leaving their worlds and coming to the middle world (earth) for a war. Yet she was gentle and merciful enough to realize that the baby prince and princess were not the cause of the war. She wanted both the worlds to realize their own worth and not to identify and stereotype each other as good and evil. She wanted them to understand that shadows exist wherever there is light.

The swapping of the sword remains unexplained to this day for Sanako-sama very carefully and with great reverence had wrapped the swords and put it in their covers before delivering it to the emperors. It was still more mysterious how no one noticed the switch. The truth was that Fate had bound illusions to the swords making the demon symbol seem like the sheaf of cherry blossoms and vice versa to all but the user.

Thus, passed sixteen years. Years full of bewilderment foe the young heirs on account of their swords.

Both were extremely well trained in Kenjutsu and their Katana techniques. Oriana was constantly surrounded by radiance in the Palace of Light where there was eternal spring. Yet the young princess was more serious than her elders and was tomboyish and very unladylike according to her mother. She had accomplished herself in the art of sword fighting much to the chagrin of her parents. She loved to indulge in rough games and often went out riding all by herself worrying the members of the Royal Household.

Beauty

Red roses...so beautiful...last only a season...ever wonder... How beautiful things last for such a short time... yet they always leave a lifelong impression on our hearts... Have you ever noticed how they come studded in thorns... like the lovely cardinal rose...like a sad violin symphony is infinitely more beautiful than the jolly one... 

Beauty has no utility,because beauty is not a "means", it is an end in itself.

-Sri Sri Ravi Shankar  

Frailty

Frailty,

She dresses you in her brittle cloak,

Turning you into crystal...
Seeping the strength from you,
As the rain falls in hot October,
Brushing the dust from outside the windowsill into your eyes,
This rain is so strange,
Its never rained in October before...

First Look

The first time he saw her... mocha skin... smiling beautifully as she danced at the cafe...moving beautifully... like she had descended from the heavens... a red flower smiling gaily from behind her ear... There was fey magic in the air... he felt as if she was beckoning to him and him alone as she danced...

Snow Queen

Weariness... descends slowly like winter's first snow... her black hair swirling over her ivory face... hands raised... the katana ready to strike the lethal blow... The sword comes down... slicing her opponent in half... the blade is covered in gore...she lifts her hand and brushes her cheek... now her face looks blood in snow...Alas the snow queen had arrived... with her icy promise of death...

Awaken

Doubt gently brushes its wings against my mind as I see his sleeping face... The last time it had subdued me completely... He had not woken for so long... Now as his head lies on my lap... I know he will wake again in the morning...

Rumors

Shallow

More in my face 

Than is my taste

I grow so weary I'll surrender

To what they say

Let them lead the way

Till' I can no longer remember

My darling dreams

Prewritten scenes

Whatever felt my own

So to save face

I'll take my place

Where I may safely feel alone

Glad the waters are so shallow

When the river runs so cold

I'm quick to wait

Too slow to take

They call me gracious for my patience

And I feel proud

Under that shroud

And all the while it's all evasion

Some humor here 

To fend off fear

And I'm a little more lost, oh dear

So to save face

I'll hold my place

So I may safely feel alone...

©Poets Of The Fall

Rumours... All of us face them... Sometimes they malign us... Or someone we know...  Strangely sometimes they even test us... Of our resilience... Our sense of principles... Sometimes... They unmask our real selves to our own selves... sometimes a strange rumour crops up... One where our enemy's the one in pain... The way we react to it shows us much about ourselves... even though it might be false in the end... Its almost like judgement day... But here we're only judged by our heart of hearts... which knows us since our conception... If we shatter our principles like glass... we can never recover their original form but if we pass... we realize there might not be the purity of truth in it... but at least if it were true we 've passed... Our higher consciousness accepts us and we realise we're still in the whiteness of purity and light not the stygian darkness... That our night indeed turned into day and did not last in eternal darkness...     

Aberration

Aberration... Ever realised you live right in the middle of a frothing sea of aberration?.... The innocent punished for things they didn't commit... Fourteen years of blood tears flowed from two black eyes... The guilt borne by the one who delicately balances your world... Who keeps his life hanging by a thread only so you don't have to lose yourself in the pain... Fourteen years... For fourteen years... He held me... Took over the responsibilities of the ones who deserted me... abandoned me... Now the time has come for me to abandon him... Aberration... Is there ever an end to it... Do we ever have refuge from it?... I wonder...