the androgynous keeper of plushfrogs (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
crossfortune) wrote in ![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png)
rainbowfic2013-12-28 03:03 am
crossfortune) wrote in rainbowfic2013-12-28 03:03 am
evening on the ground;
Name: Mischa
Story: the empty garden
Colors: white opal (dream), dove grey (You never had her, so you haven't lost her / like spare house keys.), verdigris (dig it out), halloween orange (It’s a shot of ‘dumb idea’ with a ‘bad plan’ chaser.)
Supplies and Styles: canvas, fingerpainting, charcoal
Word Count: 750
Rating: PG-13
Summary: Know, o princess, that in a place now forgotten and lost beneath sand and sea, was where the greatest folly of wizards and man began.
Warnings: trigger warning for suicide.
Know, o princess, that in the years before the Empire of Thorns ruled the whole of the world and was cast down again, before the seas dragged down the fairest of cities and the fairest of queens to her watery bosom (o more beautiful than diamonds, than rubies, than the glimmering of jewels beneath the sky, fairer still than the pearls that were her eyes), before the Lady turned Her eyes from the world (and may She forgive us) and in Her mercy sent the Seven (and may Her mercy never cease), that in a place now forgotten and lost beneath sand and sea, was where the greatest folly of wizards and man began.
In that place, was a kingdom, that was then the Jewel of the World (o weep for what was lost, o weep for what will never be found), and in that kingdom lived the fairest of youths, favored concubine to the great king, but how happiness never lasts, for the Emperor of Thorns sought to claim dominion over that kingdom, as he had so many others. And the war went badly (as wars often do), and in fear for his life, the king turned coward and fled, left his kingdom open for his enemy, abandoned his people, abandoned his lover, and as the enemy marched towards the capital, the young man chose to take his fate into his own hands rather than pass into another’s hands.
He wrote his story on stone tablets (for stone endures long, longer than man, longer than empires), the story of his life, his love, and how he was betrayed and abandoned, and as the enemy army stood before the gates (o remember faithlessness o remember the folly of man), he cursed the One for allowing this to happen and cursed his lover for abandoning him, before he killed himself, his heart’s blood spilling onto the tablets and soaking into the stone. (o muse, sing in me, and through me tell the story)
But that wasn’t the end, though it should have ended there, as he had intended. The tablets endured: past the end of the kingdom, past the moment when the sea and the desert swallowed the Empire of Thorns, until a wizard unearthed them once more. Powerful he was, powerful beyond the dreams of most, but for him, power alone wasn’t enough (and all power is a jade): he longed at first to shatter the boundaries of creation, show himself equal to the Seven and the One (o remember the folly of man and o remember the folly of wizards), until he read the tablets and the words inscribed there, and fell in love with the young man whose story was written there, fell in love and determined that he would shatter all the boundaries of creation, all the rules of the world, and bring him back to life.
And the wizard worked his magics, his blasphemies beyond the secrets that the One had given to humans (o may someday She forgive us), and that is where everything went wrong. Instead of one youth brought back to life, he had created two - two shattered, broken halves of what should have been a single person, moon-pale and bone-white, no color in them anywhere- and for all that they looked human, fair and perfect, they were nothing approaching human, with no mercy in them.
And no one knows the secret that they whispered into his ear before they slew him (no one but the dead), laughing, before they fled into the desert. The Pale Twins (o no man knows their names, o no man who yet wants to live) are the greatest among the demons from beyond the circles of this world, for they alone know how to wear a human’s face, a human’s name, a human’s life, the greatest of demons and the greatest of deceivers: a hundred and more kingdoms lie splintered and broken in their wake (o sing for what was lost, o sing for what will never be regained).
Do not look for their garden, for their tongues lie and all they crave is blood and ruin, the destruction of all things: do not look upon their faces, beautiful enough to make half the world fall in love and half the world die of despair, for what they want but cannot have, cannot hold. And most of all (o listen, o listen, o listen), do not fall in love.
Story: the empty garden
Colors: white opal (dream), dove grey (You never had her, so you haven't lost her / like spare house keys.), verdigris (dig it out), halloween orange (It’s a shot of ‘dumb idea’ with a ‘bad plan’ chaser.)
Supplies and Styles: canvas, fingerpainting, charcoal
Word Count: 750
Rating: PG-13
Summary: Know, o princess, that in a place now forgotten and lost beneath sand and sea, was where the greatest folly of wizards and man began.
Warnings: trigger warning for suicide.
Know, o princess, that in the years before the Empire of Thorns ruled the whole of the world and was cast down again, before the seas dragged down the fairest of cities and the fairest of queens to her watery bosom (o more beautiful than diamonds, than rubies, than the glimmering of jewels beneath the sky, fairer still than the pearls that were her eyes), before the Lady turned Her eyes from the world (and may She forgive us) and in Her mercy sent the Seven (and may Her mercy never cease), that in a place now forgotten and lost beneath sand and sea, was where the greatest folly of wizards and man began.
In that place, was a kingdom, that was then the Jewel of the World (o weep for what was lost, o weep for what will never be found), and in that kingdom lived the fairest of youths, favored concubine to the great king, but how happiness never lasts, for the Emperor of Thorns sought to claim dominion over that kingdom, as he had so many others. And the war went badly (as wars often do), and in fear for his life, the king turned coward and fled, left his kingdom open for his enemy, abandoned his people, abandoned his lover, and as the enemy marched towards the capital, the young man chose to take his fate into his own hands rather than pass into another’s hands.
He wrote his story on stone tablets (for stone endures long, longer than man, longer than empires), the story of his life, his love, and how he was betrayed and abandoned, and as the enemy army stood before the gates (o remember faithlessness o remember the folly of man), he cursed the One for allowing this to happen and cursed his lover for abandoning him, before he killed himself, his heart’s blood spilling onto the tablets and soaking into the stone. (o muse, sing in me, and through me tell the story)
But that wasn’t the end, though it should have ended there, as he had intended. The tablets endured: past the end of the kingdom, past the moment when the sea and the desert swallowed the Empire of Thorns, until a wizard unearthed them once more. Powerful he was, powerful beyond the dreams of most, but for him, power alone wasn’t enough (and all power is a jade): he longed at first to shatter the boundaries of creation, show himself equal to the Seven and the One (o remember the folly of man and o remember the folly of wizards), until he read the tablets and the words inscribed there, and fell in love with the young man whose story was written there, fell in love and determined that he would shatter all the boundaries of creation, all the rules of the world, and bring him back to life.
And the wizard worked his magics, his blasphemies beyond the secrets that the One had given to humans (o may someday She forgive us), and that is where everything went wrong. Instead of one youth brought back to life, he had created two - two shattered, broken halves of what should have been a single person, moon-pale and bone-white, no color in them anywhere- and for all that they looked human, fair and perfect, they were nothing approaching human, with no mercy in them.
And no one knows the secret that they whispered into his ear before they slew him (no one but the dead), laughing, before they fled into the desert. The Pale Twins (o no man knows their names, o no man who yet wants to live) are the greatest among the demons from beyond the circles of this world, for they alone know how to wear a human’s face, a human’s name, a human’s life, the greatest of demons and the greatest of deceivers: a hundred and more kingdoms lie splintered and broken in their wake (o sing for what was lost, o sing for what will never be regained).
Do not look for their garden, for their tongues lie and all they crave is blood and ruin, the destruction of all things: do not look upon their faces, beautiful enough to make half the world fall in love and half the world die of despair, for what they want but cannot have, cannot hold. And most of all (o listen, o listen, o listen), do not fall in love.
no subject
eta: also please add a trigger warning for suicide, thank you.
no subject
I'm glad you liked the prose. It was a really experimental style.
no subject
When I read pieces, I like to pick out lines that stuck out for me, but you've made that impossible since there are so many! But if I had to choose one, it would be before the seas dragged down the fairest of cities and the fairest of queens to her watery bosom because of the imagery! God, it's amazing. You personified the ocean in such a beautiful yet terrifying way. (And I absolutely love And most of all (o listen, o listen, o listen), do not fall in love. because it just contributes so much to your voice!) This has such a fantastic voice in it.
I'm glad that this is the first piece of yours I've read. ♥
no subject