The exercise:
The power went out five minutes before I got home from work. Came back on just after seven. Just long enough for us to have to go out for dinner, which would have been more pleasant if we weren't going through a cold snap right now.
Then again, the power probably wouldn't have gone out if we weren't going through a cold snap right now.
Anyway. Unexpected complications. I am too tired to get things going tonight, so I'll aim for Wednesday for the first installment of the yearlong tale.
Tonight, write about a place that is: lawless.
2 comments:
Ouch, power cuts in winter are no fun at all. I'm glad it was only for a few hours at least, so you didn't go to bed shivering and hoping things were fixed in the morning. And maybe dinner out was a nice thing?
Lawless
As Collins walked through the left side of the cemetary the sun kept catching his eyes through the trees, and he realised he must be facing more or less East. There were signs of the Radiance everywhere now he knew what he was looking for: streaks where the grass grew oddly strongly or the shrubs looked healthier, or the trees were taller. Gravestones looked cleaner and more solid, and flowers left on them looked like they’d never die. Now and then he’d wonder what the world looked like with the sunglasses off, and every time he’d look down and see he’d walked over a patch of Radiance-affected grass. Moving away let the feelings fade away.
His radio hissed, and the Inspectral’s chilling voice came through clearly. “I have the graves. They’re about 300 metres north of the Tower. This area is called... ah, ahah, they’re war graves. This is Little Elysium.”
“Roger that.” Adams sounded almost exactly as she did in real life. Collins wondered if he needed to acknowledge it or just get to the graves, but before he reached a decisions Adams asked, “Collins?”
“Roger that, Little Elysium,” he said.
*
Little Elysium had its own waist-high internal fence made of iron railings and an arched gate to enter through, and all the headstones were neat rectangles of white stone. The Inspectral was standing in front of six graves which had clearly been dug over recently, though the soil had been put back and patted down. The gravestones were scrawled over with black grafitti and what looked like a dead cat was draped over one.
“Nice,” said Adams behind Collins, and he jumped. “Vandalism, and a little bit of desecration, and if anyone reported it we probably wouldn’t go digging to see if anything had been dug up. The cat’s a nice touch.”
“Nice?” Collins stared at it, wondering what it would look like if the Radiance had touched it. Adams shouldered him out of the way and joined the Inspectral.
“A little bit of heresy,” said the Inspectral, pointing at the cat. Collins tried to ignore that he could see through the Inspectral’s arm and hand, so the cat wasn’t obscured. A small sacrifice to cover up what’s been done here, I think. Better get the SOCO down here, and the Ritual Examiner.”
“Military graves,” said Adams. “Because no-one really checks on them?”
“I doubt it,” said the Inspectral. “The graveyards aren’t a priority for the local councils really; you could dig up any grave you wanted and no-one is likely to notice for a couple of weeks. And the cat, the attempt to hide things... something else is intended. Or wanted.”
“Dysnomia,” said Collins, and then blushed as they both turned and looked at him. “Lawlessness,” he explained. “Soldiers are trained to obey their leader, not abstract qualities of law or justice or morality. If you wanted spirits that wouldn’t question what you wanted them to do.” He stopped speaking, unable to interpret the expression on the Inspectral’s face.
“A fine theory,” said the Inspectral, pursing his lips. “And a deeply disturbing one. I very much hope you’re wrong.”
Greg - yeah, dinner was pretty good actually. Bit tough having to go out in the cold with the boys, but hot food was appreciated.
Ah, things have taken a dark turn here. But I am pleased to see Collins contributing!
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