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Scenes from the World - Late Night Coffee

Late Night Coffee

Cercon took a sip of his coffee as he stared out the window. He enjoyed how the hot, bitter liquid seemed to coat his throat as it slid down to his stomach. Taking a deep breath, Cercon took account of all that was going on around him. The diner was mostly empty, as it tended to be at three in the morning. A couple sat a few booths down from him, the forest green pleather clashing against the woman’s sparkling blue dress. The man’s black sport jacket hung on the side of his booth. They were slightly disheveled, likely from the excitement of their evening activities. The smell of alcohol, perfume, and pheromone radiated from them.  

The waitress wore a white blouse and black dress pants. It was likely the third or fourth day she wore the same clothes. Small stains were splattered across the material, and the fabric was saturated with the smell of cooking grease, coffee, and cigarettes. She was nervous, filled with anxiety. She bit at the skin around her nails, while she wiped down the long counter with a light bleach-water mix.  

The door behind him opened, ringing the attached bells. Cercon did not need to look to know who had stepped through the door. He could tell by the weight of his step, the sound of his movements, and the unique smell he knew all too well. There was no one he knew better, nor was there anyone who better knew him. 

“Azel.” Cercon said, still looking down at his cup of coffee. 

Azel was average in height and build. His brown trench coat was left unbuttoned to show the expensive blue suit he wore beneath it. Not the Cercon cared much about such things, but as it was Azel, he was fairly certain that every article he wore was of the highest quality.  

“Cercon.” he said, nodding his head respectfully. “Is it alright if I join you?” 

Cercon waved the man to sit. “By all means, join me for some coffee.” He signaled to the waitress.  

“I was surprised to feel your energy here of all places. I figured you would be on the beach somewhere in the Mediterranean.” 

“Why are you here Azel?” Cercon said shortly. “Are you here to gloat, or to make sure that the deed is done?” 

“Cercon, I am hurt by your accusation.” Azel had a sorrowful look in his eyes, his tone sincere. “After all this time, I thought you would know me better than that.” 

“My apologies, then. Please, enlighten me to the nature of this engagement.” 

“I simply thought that you could use some company in these final moments. No one should go alone. Despite our differences, not even you should endure that, my most cunning of opponents.” 

Cercon snorted, “I suppose I did give you a run for your money, I’ll never forget the way you looked in Italy.” 

“I underestimated the power of education. We had set up such a perfect system. Even after your Enlightenment took Europe, it still held strong throughout Asia.” 

“You treated people as if they were animals.” Cercon said, a touch of annoyance in his voice. 

“They are animals, and as such, long to be controlled, herded together.” 

“You forget that they are intelligent creatures, they have intuition, and vision.” 

“A vision that is easily tipped by greed. Look what happened when you inspired the English to improve their production.” 

“What happened? It led to them reaching for the stars. It allowed them to make their world smaller, to become more aware of their brethren, uniting them.” 

This time Azel snorted. “You and I have very different interpretations of the last two hundred years. These, humans, took your gift, your spark, and nearly destroyed each other with it. Mao may have been mine, but the rest? It was your smaller world that allowed for the subjugation of those they deemed as less than themselves. It was your gifts that gave them the ability to wage war unlike this planet had not seen since the Cataclysm and the fall of the Old Ones. We may have moved a few pieces, but it was you and your own that allowed these people to show their true nature.” 

Cercon had thought he would become fired from Azel’s words, but instead they seemed to only further calm him. Azel just did not understand true human nature. The real power that is held within the human race. 

“I concede that there have been heartbreaking moments, whose blame can only be laid on them. But, you cannot fault an entire race for the greed of a few. There will always be those who seek personal power and advancement over their peers. If not, then your people would have lost long ago. The strength is with those that have learned to use their abilities to aid one another. How many times had we seen a great catastrophe where, old enemies come together for the betterment of the whole? How many of those implements of war had been repurposed to save lives and improve society?” 

“Regardless, your time is done and your most recent efforts are surely being undone, but you can go from this world knowing you really did give it your best.” Azel said with a wide smile. 

Cercon returned the smile, fine cracks began to grow like spiderwebs across his skin. A dim red light, coursed along the lines, like the burning of coals in a fire. The time had come, and ultimately, he was grateful for the company of his adversary, it allowed him to one last chance to open his eyes. 

“You are mistaken. Your actions, though aggressive and effective, only helped to strengthen the foundation we have been building. Your people have brought to power those who seek to dominate. Your people have sought so much control and order that you allowed for the planet to be threatened. Nothing pulls people together like a great catastrophe, and you have played directly into our hands. The game is over, my friend. You just don’t know it yet.”  

The cracks split deep within Cercon’s body. It was pointless for Azel to retort, Cercon was already gone. He bore witness as the man who had challenged him on so many levels, shed his material form, to return to the energy of his people. Taking another sip of his coffee, he peered around the room. Azel could not see what Cercon saw in them. Simple animals that could not even pay enough attention to notice a man vanish before them. Azel placed ten dollars on the table, before walking back outside. 

A Flight to Remember: Part 2 - Rise of the Fallen

Happy Saturday!

Part two of A Flight to Remember has been posted. With some discussion in the Reddit forums, I have come to realize that my classification of the series was slightly off. Rather than a collection of connected short stories, AFTR is actually a noveletta, which is a minor detail, but still worth taking into consideration when viewing each part.

Rise of the Fallen introduces two sisters, Zara and Puteri, who are on a family vacation in their mother's home country of Malaysia. Having managed some independent exploration, the girls went off to walk the trails of Niah National Park. Lured by a glade of flowers, Zara and Puteri find themselves chosen by a great evil, forced to make an unthinkable decision.

I hope you enjoy, and if you would like, feel free to leave a comment and hit the follow button!

The Climb

Hello everyone!

After some serious considerations, I decided that I wanted to give a little more in the way of my writing, as well as, presenting even more of my world. To do this, I am going to post a small scene each week, with a soft cap of roughly 1000 words. My first scene for you is called The Climb. A story about why we should always be professional, and never make assumptions of our co-workers.

I hope you enjoy.

The Climb 

Fredrick was sweating from the brisk pace Matt was setting. He was already regretting his choice to go hiking with him. Matt was a former Eagle Scout, and served six years in the military, though Fredrick couldn’t remember which branch he said he served, though the reality was he didn’t care to remember either. Matt was the loudmouthed, attention seeker, who always had a story that was “one better.” Nearly six feet tall, with muscles on his muscles, he was everything that Fredrick was not.  

Fredrick had been overweight for nearly his entire adult life. It wasn’t that he didn’t know how to lose weight, it came down to the fact that he really didn’t want to do the things that would assist him in losing weight. There was no use in sugar coating the issue, as he was likely to try to eat that too. 

“How you doin’ there buddy?” Matt called out as he approached the top of the hill they were climbing. Fredrick gave him the thumbs up, sweat freely flowing into his eyes, as he squinted to look up. 

Ever since Matt was hired, he had been getting on Fredrick about working out with him, and making suggestions to him about what he needed to do to get in shape. How he could see that he had a “good foundation” and wanted to help him get to his goal. He was fairly sure that was why he had mentioned that he like to go hiking. It wasn’t a lie; Fredrick would take walks in the woods all the time. Usually it was because he was really jonesing for meal, and didn’t want anyone to be watching him, but still, he regularly went walking in the woods.  

He had thought that it would get Matt to back off, but instead he hounded him for a month until he agreed to go hiking with him. He should have guessed that Matt would set off to some high ground area that was five miles away from the nearest road. His stomach made a loud gurgle. Exertion always made him hungry. Despite the burning he felt in his legs and arms, he felt he could eat a horse once he finally managed to get to the top of this never-ending hill.  

It took Fredrick another five minutes to reach the clearing. Once he took his first step onto flat ground, he nearly collapsed, putting his hands on his knees and panting in an attempt to catch his breath and cool himself off.  

“There he is! I was startin’ to wonder if you were going to make, or if I would have to send out a search party.” Matt laughed loudly, smitten with his quick witt.  

“Just give me a sec.” Fredrick managed to force out, squeezing his eyes shut as he arched his head backwards, pulling in a deep breath. 

It took a few more deep breaths for Fredrick to not feel like he was going to pass out, but he managed to pull himself together and wiped the sweat out of his eyes. To his surprise he was graced with the vision of Matt, standing in the middle of the clearing, butt-ass naked. 

“What. The. Fuck.” was all he could bring himself to say, as he continued to stare in utter amazement, before realizing that he was also staring at Matt’s junk and quickly looked away. 

“What the hell are you doing Matt? I don’t know what kind of party you thought his was going to be, but you aren’t my type, so put your damn clothes back on.” 

Matt continued to stand where he was, a giant smile on his face. “I should apologize to you.” He began to take a few steps towards Fredrick. “I kind of brought you here on false pretenses. Don’t get me wrong, I really wanted to get you out here, just it wasn’t for your health. You see, I like a heavily marbled meat, and ever since I met you, I just knew you would be delicious.”  

Fredrick, took a half step back, into more of a defensive stance. That was when he noticed the changes to Matt. First his eyes turned a brilliant yellow. The hair on his body began to darken and grow in thicker. His entire body began to swell in size and bulk. Massive canines extended as his face elongated. Each of his nails grew thick black claws on his hand and feet, which were both being significantly stretched. A deep guttural growl escaped from him as he continued to move forward. 

Fredrick couldn’t help but start laughing, causing Matt to stop, tipping his head slightly in confusion. Of all the reactions, casual laughter was not what he had been expecting out of his prey, in many ways it took the fun out of the kill. Fredrick’s laughter increased the longer he stared at Matt’s wolf form. 

“I’m sorry. Truly, I am. You see, I was actually thought that you thought I would want to have sex with you.” Fredrick wiped a tear from the corner of his eye. “The fact that you only braught me here to kill me fills me with all kind of relief.” 

Matt began to circle, not sure if Fredrick was mearly stalling, or if there was something he needed to worry about. 

“No, this is so much better. You have no idea how hungry I have been. As a general rule, however, you shouldn’t target your co-workers. You could end up with their work load, and you would have no one to blame, but yourself.” Fredrick licked his lips, looking over Matt with a new appreciation. 

Matt wasn’t going to wait any longer, on the off chance that Fredrick wasn’t bluffing, and was actually capable of defending himself. He leapt at his prey, aiming to rip his throat out before he could even react. It was at that moment that he caught a sent that was not there before. The distinct smell of a daemon.  

Fredrick dropped his glamour ward and lashed his tongue out at Matt the moment his feet left the ground. It quickly snaked its way around him, spreading the thick sticky saliva over his fur. He saw the look of horror on Matt’s face as his jaw began to split open revealing the teeth and gullet that laid within his chest. Opening as wide as he could, he pulled Matt into his mouth. He could hear the breaking of bones, as Matt continued to thrash about. A moment later the thrashing stopped, as he felt the warm gooey insides burst against the roof of his mouth. 

It had been a much longer walk than he would normally have gone for a meal, but getting such a big meal without even expecting one, that made it all worth it. Fredrick fished Matt’s wallet from the pants laying near a tree. Grabbing the cash out of it, he dropped it back on the ground.  

“Now the long walk back. At least it is downhill.” Fredrick said, chipperly. ”I really hope I don’t end up with his work load, that would suck.” 

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A Flight to Remember

A Flight to Remember is my opening set of stories. It was inspired by a picture I came across of an airplane underwater, with a diver checking it out. The first part, A Living History, introduces Dom. Dom is a time agent, who has been chosen to investigate a time anomaly they had discovered. While Dom has undergone extensive training and upgrades, this is his first real mission.

As far as world building, the story takes place far in the future, where there are no longer countries, only corporations. All aspects of society are built around capitalism, serving all social roles.

I hope you enjoy. Please let me know what your thoughts are, or if you have any questions I can answer.

Greetings!

So it begins!

Greetings and thank you for checking things out. As my first post to my first blog, I feel I should let you know my plans and ambitions with this blog.

I have always loved writing, and have spent years writing short stories and character backgrounds. It has been a dream of mine to become a published author, with my own novel. About six months ago I began to write a short story based on one of my game characters, but set in the modern day. It quickly grew into an expansive story, with an arc that I was happy with. Realizing that I actually had something I believed I could move forward with, I took some advice and created this blog, to show off examples of my writing and to, hopefully, get my name out into the community.

I prefer to write in the sci fi / fantasy genera, though I am not always limited to it. The writing I intend to share with everyone will be a short series of interconnected short stories, inspired by an image I came across. I also plan on having all of my stories exist within the same world. I have spent a lot of time and energy developing and expanding my fantasy world, and as such, I have decided to work all of these stories into it. If I decided to do otherwise, I will certainly make that known ahead of time. My plans are to publish one story every week.

Once again, thank you for visiting. I hope you enjoy my works and look forward to hearing from you.