Thered
03-23-2009, 05:07 AM
Man and monster are alike in a number of ways: both are infinitely aware of their own mortality and both will vainly struggle throughout their lives to deny or even avoid their inevitable doom, both man and monster can feel emotion whether it be love and hate or compassion or jealousy and both man and monster can remember, they can remember all the things that they have done, all the lives they have taken and all the times they have connected with another. In these ways man and monster are alike and yet throughout the history of our two species we have never compared ourselves in such ways, we have never stopped and thought of how we are alike, but instead allow ourselves to cast judgement with eyes blinded by hate and a history of war. We never try and greet one another anew and instead face each other with sharp blades and destructive magics. And yet who would willingly be the first? They who would lay down their arms and greet the howling enemy before them with friendly words, these individuals would probably fear not only death by the enemy before him but also from the friends that stood to their side, for is rejection from your peers not as fearsome a prospect as is facing the wrath of an enemy? And so history will repeat itself, neither side will beg forgiveness and offer the hand of friendship, the blood debts will mount upon one another until neither party will remember the names of those they have sworn to revenge and they will only know the hate and lust for war that only too often rules the battlefield. And yet, at times, there are moments amid the madness, where the two sides will pause and stare at one another and they will ponder the point of it all. Were but those moments everlasting and belonging to all and this eternal war would at last be silenced for ever more, yet solace must still be found even in the small sparks of clarity, for could hope not burn bright from these sparks?
The sound of battle was but a faint echo at the base of the hill; the two armies had pushed to and fro and had rolled their way over the hills and down to the plains where the rivers ran across them like shining veins on the skin of the land. The dead and dying were the pray to the ravens and crows whilst their fellows fought on. The dead lay deep upon the now bloody and torn hill, human soldiers lay atop the fearsome demons they slew, their armour and skin a sharp contrast even as their red blood mixed below their cooling bodies. Where the slope of the hill evened away onto the planes an armoured knight lay with his back against his dead steed, his spine had been snapped as he had fallen and he had dragged himself back and rested his against his beloved charger as it whinnied and died. His armour was of good quality, steel plates curved along the muscled contours of his body and the broken blade he used to steady himself was decorated at the hilt with golden dragons and the runes of elven magic could be seen between the coating of blood and grime until the blade ended just inches from its point, the knight shuddered a gasp, breathing pained him but his body refused to surrender itself to eternal sleep, for the moment at least.
“God dam these demons…” moaned the knight as the warbling baying of the demon hosts war horns reverberated across the plains.
“Hold your tongue human.” came a rasping voice to the knights right, with great difficulty the knight summoned the energy to swivel his helmeted head to his right, resting against his shoulder he saw the demon, it lay on its left side, the tip of a knights lance protruding from its right hip the beast lay amongst a pool of its own blood, it wore the spiky and fear inducing armour popular with its kind, the purple scales that coated its body could be seen through the gap between its helmet and breastplate and one of its gauntlets was missing, its clawed hand had dragged through the dirt and the knight could see it was shaking.
“Or you’ll do what fiend? Drag your worthless hide over to me and lash me to death with your tail?” the demon growled but the threatening gesture was ruined as it broke into a bout of wheezing coughs, the knight laughed at his foes show of weakness but he too was reduced to gasping in pain at the movement. For a minute the two foes lay upon the ground, recomposing themselves and gathering their energy.
“Your horse is beginning to stink…” drawled the demon, the knight shook slightly at the comment and began to yell at the demon.
“You dare insult my horse? This was a noble steed that carried me through many a battle, I cannot remember how many of your disgusting kind that we have ridden down, he was a courageous animal and loyal to the end, not that one of your kind would know about loyalty!” it was the demons turn to laugh and it uncurled one claw to point at the knight as it spoke.
“Loyalty? You speak to me about loyalty? Ha! I was there at the battle of Remrosa, I watched as your nobles turned on one another as they tried to flee across the river, I think your soldiers killed more of your own that day than my kind did.” the knight remained silent and for a moment the demon thought that he had died during his retort but a moment later the man sighed and seemed to look at the demon once more.
“I was there that day as well…I don’t think I will ever forget that retreat.”
“By the looks of you, you won’t have to remember it for long.” the knight glared at the demon for a moment and the demon squinted up at him from where it lay, the pair locked gazes for a moment until the demon began to shake, the knight thought the accursed thing was dying but then it began to laugh, it was a hoarse rasp that echoed out of its gruesome helmet and grated against the knights ears.
“What are you laughing at demon?” moaned the knight as he struggled to take another breath.
“Call me Krelaa, ‘demon’ gets tiring after a while,” the knight only snorted at this but Krelaa continued regardless, “you know I was thinking for a while before you woke up, about how much I hated your race, how ignorant and stupid you all were…”
“You are just a godless beast that…” interrupted the knight but Krelaa spoke over him.
“Hold your breath human, it sounds like you need it, we do have gods, ones older and far wiser and kinder that your own. You didn’t know that did you? That we pray for forgiveness and an end to this war.” The knight refused to answer, he merely closed his eyes and whispered a prayer to his god but after a moment his tongue stumbled on the words and he lapsed into silence.
“My name is Thomas…” the demon smiled to itself, its lips rising to reveal its rows of sharp fangs, if Thomas could see the expression he would no doubt find it cruel or disturbing but the visors of their helmets spared one another the uncomforting reminder of one anothers origins.
“It’s a pleasure to die beside you Thomas…” this time however even the knight could not hold on to his stoicism and he laughed despite the pain he felt.
“I didn’t want to die today…” Thomas’s confession hung in the air between the two and Krelaa spoke carefully.
“How did you think you would die? You are a knight, battle is your way of life…”
“I thought I would actually grow old and die in my bed with my family around me. I thought I would have peace…”
“I’m sorry to disappoint you Thomas but I do not think you will see your family again.”
“I have a son…” the demon looked at the armored man before him and the images of his own family came unbidden to his mind.
“He will think well of you will he not? You die on the field of battle, having slain your hated foe you fell honorably, he will be proud?” the knight sighed, the noise sounding somewhere between resignation and acceptance.
“He will remember me as the man upon the white horse in the shining armor as I lead our serfs to war for our people, he will then forever link my death with your kind, and he will hate you all for it.”
“Such is the fate of our peoples, we will throw away all happiness and chance of joy with our own kind only so that we can charge at one another and tear and rip at the other until there are not enough of us left to keep fighting.”
“How many times have you fought in this war?” asked Thomas idly,
“I lost count years ago,” mused the demon, “my first battle was a small skirmish on the border of your Crimiena Duchy, we were a host of a hundred lancers and we slaughtered near half our number, they were mostly just militia who were wounded from battle but I can still remember the rush that we felt once we held the field. But in the years since then, the battles I have seen, the friends I have lost and the men I have killed. It has just made me so tired. I feel almost…relieved.” Thomas grunted in reply and for a while the pair just lay there, the sounds of the battle had all but faded from their hearing, the sun beat down upon them and the smells of the excrement and gore that had been loosened by the dead made the air stink of death. The crows were hopping through the field, taking their pick of the fresh meat that was on offer.
“Is it over? Who do you think won?” the demons hand stretched out and lay open on the ground between them.
“I don’t think it’s over, I can still hear the baying of horns, from both sides.” Thomas sighed and his eyes rolled about in his helmet, the sun was falling directly upon them and he was beginning to swelter within his armor, he was uncomfortable enough without the heat making it worse for him.
“Dam this sun…” he muttered vainly, Krelaa squinted up from his side and breathed out heavily, the air rose the dust before him and it swirled about before settling once more.
“Take off your helmet, I will do the same,” the knight looked down at the demon once more, the only times he had ever seen a demons face was when it was either dead or about to be slain but Krelaas next words dispersed any of his qualms about the notion, “it’s too dam hot and I’m not going to let myself roast to death…” with a grunt of pain the demon raised its right hand up and above his head, Thomas could hear the wound tearing as the movement caused the lance to slice deeper into the Krelaas flesh, with trembling claws the demon undid the clasps at the base of his helmet and it then wriggled the armor from his head, Thomas looked at the demons face as it lay there panting from exertion, its long silvery hair had been tied back into a pony tail and now hung limply across his shoulder, his purple scales were glistening in the light and the demons high cheekbones, elongated and bony forehead and fanged mouth all screamed obscenities at the knight, but at last he found that he didn’t even have the energy to care anymore.
“The air is actually quite cool…” said the demon softly, glaring across at the beast Thomas sighed and then struggled to lift his left arm up to the base of his helmet, he could barely grasp the edge so he pushed his hand higher and took a rough hold of the plume of horses hair that sprouted from the top of his helm, with a small moan he managed to drag the helmet off and as soon as it was free he let it tumble across his chest and it lay beside him, any cares about leaving the ornate helm in the dirt paled now with the strange exhilaration of feeling the cool kiss of the wind upon his face. Thomas closed his eyes and smiled at the sensation and after a moment Krelaa spoke.
“God you’re an ugly bastard.” Thomas opened one eye and squinted at the demon and saw he was smiling again, he thought of retorting but found that he could only laugh and the pair coughed and spluttered at the joke.
“It was too beautiful a day for a battle, I didn’t realize it until now, I was so filled with hate…but just look.” the demon followed Thomas’s gaze up into the sky and it murmured in agreement, white clouds hung above them in the clear blue canvas of the sky, it was oddly serene.
“Our eyes are the same colour…” the demons voice was but a tight whisper, as Thomas looked back down Krelaas face was on its side again and his breathing was shallow and sporadic, “It was nice to see the clouds with you Thomas.”
“It was nice to see the clouds with you too Krelaa.” the demon smiled once more and Thomas did the same and as his own face become a grimace once more from pain he saw that Krelaas stayed fixed in that final smile and that his eyes had drooped and were staring lifelessly at the ground. Alone now but filled with questions that would never be answered Thomas stared once more into the blue sky, if he tried as hard as he could he could almost ignore the cold as it seeped up through his body, he began to shake first, small twitches that sent flares of agony through his broken body and as death loomed closer blood began to rise in his throat, making him choke and gag. With a cough that sent blood flowing down his chest Thomas died and the hillside fell quiet, the knights lifeless eyes stared into the open sky above him and a ghost of a smile was played across his bloody lips.
The sound of battle was but a faint echo at the base of the hill; the two armies had pushed to and fro and had rolled their way over the hills and down to the plains where the rivers ran across them like shining veins on the skin of the land. The dead and dying were the pray to the ravens and crows whilst their fellows fought on. The dead lay deep upon the now bloody and torn hill, human soldiers lay atop the fearsome demons they slew, their armour and skin a sharp contrast even as their red blood mixed below their cooling bodies. Where the slope of the hill evened away onto the planes an armoured knight lay with his back against his dead steed, his spine had been snapped as he had fallen and he had dragged himself back and rested his against his beloved charger as it whinnied and died. His armour was of good quality, steel plates curved along the muscled contours of his body and the broken blade he used to steady himself was decorated at the hilt with golden dragons and the runes of elven magic could be seen between the coating of blood and grime until the blade ended just inches from its point, the knight shuddered a gasp, breathing pained him but his body refused to surrender itself to eternal sleep, for the moment at least.
“God dam these demons…” moaned the knight as the warbling baying of the demon hosts war horns reverberated across the plains.
“Hold your tongue human.” came a rasping voice to the knights right, with great difficulty the knight summoned the energy to swivel his helmeted head to his right, resting against his shoulder he saw the demon, it lay on its left side, the tip of a knights lance protruding from its right hip the beast lay amongst a pool of its own blood, it wore the spiky and fear inducing armour popular with its kind, the purple scales that coated its body could be seen through the gap between its helmet and breastplate and one of its gauntlets was missing, its clawed hand had dragged through the dirt and the knight could see it was shaking.
“Or you’ll do what fiend? Drag your worthless hide over to me and lash me to death with your tail?” the demon growled but the threatening gesture was ruined as it broke into a bout of wheezing coughs, the knight laughed at his foes show of weakness but he too was reduced to gasping in pain at the movement. For a minute the two foes lay upon the ground, recomposing themselves and gathering their energy.
“Your horse is beginning to stink…” drawled the demon, the knight shook slightly at the comment and began to yell at the demon.
“You dare insult my horse? This was a noble steed that carried me through many a battle, I cannot remember how many of your disgusting kind that we have ridden down, he was a courageous animal and loyal to the end, not that one of your kind would know about loyalty!” it was the demons turn to laugh and it uncurled one claw to point at the knight as it spoke.
“Loyalty? You speak to me about loyalty? Ha! I was there at the battle of Remrosa, I watched as your nobles turned on one another as they tried to flee across the river, I think your soldiers killed more of your own that day than my kind did.” the knight remained silent and for a moment the demon thought that he had died during his retort but a moment later the man sighed and seemed to look at the demon once more.
“I was there that day as well…I don’t think I will ever forget that retreat.”
“By the looks of you, you won’t have to remember it for long.” the knight glared at the demon for a moment and the demon squinted up at him from where it lay, the pair locked gazes for a moment until the demon began to shake, the knight thought the accursed thing was dying but then it began to laugh, it was a hoarse rasp that echoed out of its gruesome helmet and grated against the knights ears.
“What are you laughing at demon?” moaned the knight as he struggled to take another breath.
“Call me Krelaa, ‘demon’ gets tiring after a while,” the knight only snorted at this but Krelaa continued regardless, “you know I was thinking for a while before you woke up, about how much I hated your race, how ignorant and stupid you all were…”
“You are just a godless beast that…” interrupted the knight but Krelaa spoke over him.
“Hold your breath human, it sounds like you need it, we do have gods, ones older and far wiser and kinder that your own. You didn’t know that did you? That we pray for forgiveness and an end to this war.” The knight refused to answer, he merely closed his eyes and whispered a prayer to his god but after a moment his tongue stumbled on the words and he lapsed into silence.
“My name is Thomas…” the demon smiled to itself, its lips rising to reveal its rows of sharp fangs, if Thomas could see the expression he would no doubt find it cruel or disturbing but the visors of their helmets spared one another the uncomforting reminder of one anothers origins.
“It’s a pleasure to die beside you Thomas…” this time however even the knight could not hold on to his stoicism and he laughed despite the pain he felt.
“I didn’t want to die today…” Thomas’s confession hung in the air between the two and Krelaa spoke carefully.
“How did you think you would die? You are a knight, battle is your way of life…”
“I thought I would actually grow old and die in my bed with my family around me. I thought I would have peace…”
“I’m sorry to disappoint you Thomas but I do not think you will see your family again.”
“I have a son…” the demon looked at the armored man before him and the images of his own family came unbidden to his mind.
“He will think well of you will he not? You die on the field of battle, having slain your hated foe you fell honorably, he will be proud?” the knight sighed, the noise sounding somewhere between resignation and acceptance.
“He will remember me as the man upon the white horse in the shining armor as I lead our serfs to war for our people, he will then forever link my death with your kind, and he will hate you all for it.”
“Such is the fate of our peoples, we will throw away all happiness and chance of joy with our own kind only so that we can charge at one another and tear and rip at the other until there are not enough of us left to keep fighting.”
“How many times have you fought in this war?” asked Thomas idly,
“I lost count years ago,” mused the demon, “my first battle was a small skirmish on the border of your Crimiena Duchy, we were a host of a hundred lancers and we slaughtered near half our number, they were mostly just militia who were wounded from battle but I can still remember the rush that we felt once we held the field. But in the years since then, the battles I have seen, the friends I have lost and the men I have killed. It has just made me so tired. I feel almost…relieved.” Thomas grunted in reply and for a while the pair just lay there, the sounds of the battle had all but faded from their hearing, the sun beat down upon them and the smells of the excrement and gore that had been loosened by the dead made the air stink of death. The crows were hopping through the field, taking their pick of the fresh meat that was on offer.
“Is it over? Who do you think won?” the demons hand stretched out and lay open on the ground between them.
“I don’t think it’s over, I can still hear the baying of horns, from both sides.” Thomas sighed and his eyes rolled about in his helmet, the sun was falling directly upon them and he was beginning to swelter within his armor, he was uncomfortable enough without the heat making it worse for him.
“Dam this sun…” he muttered vainly, Krelaa squinted up from his side and breathed out heavily, the air rose the dust before him and it swirled about before settling once more.
“Take off your helmet, I will do the same,” the knight looked down at the demon once more, the only times he had ever seen a demons face was when it was either dead or about to be slain but Krelaas next words dispersed any of his qualms about the notion, “it’s too dam hot and I’m not going to let myself roast to death…” with a grunt of pain the demon raised its right hand up and above his head, Thomas could hear the wound tearing as the movement caused the lance to slice deeper into the Krelaas flesh, with trembling claws the demon undid the clasps at the base of his helmet and it then wriggled the armor from his head, Thomas looked at the demons face as it lay there panting from exertion, its long silvery hair had been tied back into a pony tail and now hung limply across his shoulder, his purple scales were glistening in the light and the demons high cheekbones, elongated and bony forehead and fanged mouth all screamed obscenities at the knight, but at last he found that he didn’t even have the energy to care anymore.
“The air is actually quite cool…” said the demon softly, glaring across at the beast Thomas sighed and then struggled to lift his left arm up to the base of his helmet, he could barely grasp the edge so he pushed his hand higher and took a rough hold of the plume of horses hair that sprouted from the top of his helm, with a small moan he managed to drag the helmet off and as soon as it was free he let it tumble across his chest and it lay beside him, any cares about leaving the ornate helm in the dirt paled now with the strange exhilaration of feeling the cool kiss of the wind upon his face. Thomas closed his eyes and smiled at the sensation and after a moment Krelaa spoke.
“God you’re an ugly bastard.” Thomas opened one eye and squinted at the demon and saw he was smiling again, he thought of retorting but found that he could only laugh and the pair coughed and spluttered at the joke.
“It was too beautiful a day for a battle, I didn’t realize it until now, I was so filled with hate…but just look.” the demon followed Thomas’s gaze up into the sky and it murmured in agreement, white clouds hung above them in the clear blue canvas of the sky, it was oddly serene.
“Our eyes are the same colour…” the demons voice was but a tight whisper, as Thomas looked back down Krelaas face was on its side again and his breathing was shallow and sporadic, “It was nice to see the clouds with you Thomas.”
“It was nice to see the clouds with you too Krelaa.” the demon smiled once more and Thomas did the same and as his own face become a grimace once more from pain he saw that Krelaas stayed fixed in that final smile and that his eyes had drooped and were staring lifelessly at the ground. Alone now but filled with questions that would never be answered Thomas stared once more into the blue sky, if he tried as hard as he could he could almost ignore the cold as it seeped up through his body, he began to shake first, small twitches that sent flares of agony through his broken body and as death loomed closer blood began to rise in his throat, making him choke and gag. With a cough that sent blood flowing down his chest Thomas died and the hillside fell quiet, the knights lifeless eyes stared into the open sky above him and a ghost of a smile was played across his bloody lips.