Original superhero universe fragments, PG
Monday, May 11th, 2009 08:07 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
tsaikoFragments from a story I work on every once in awhile. Set in an original superhero universe.
The world she stepped into was unknown to her.
It was the smell that hit her first: a mixture of fetid garbage, burnt steam, and baked asphalt. She knew asphalt from her travels. Her own world had no use for such a thing, but she knew enough to place the smell.
Walls rose to either side of her, blocking the sun, and creating an artificial canyon no more than twelve feet across. Deceptively delicate looking metal stairs zig-zagged up the sides of the buildings. There was a large metal container overflowing with trash, and a slick puddle spread across the ground that smelled nothing like water. It reflected the pale blue and gray-white of the sky above her. As she watched a rodent scurried from under the metal container and into a hole in one of the walls. She was in a alley way, and not a particularly nice one.
In this distance she heard the scream of metal on metal. A fitful breeze brought her the shouts and cries of distress. There was magic as well. She could feel reality shift and ripple with its effects, but that seemed mostly benign. It was the other magic, shadow magic that worried her. The reality of this world was bending almost to the point breaking from the strain of being warped to someone else's will.
Was that why she was here? She'd asked the portal to take her somewhere where she'd be useful. Not needed, but useful. She had had enough of everyone needing her. Now she wanted to actually be useful.
Her teachers would have had a heart attack had they known - What if there was no place where she would have been useful? Did she want to wind up lost forever between worlds? Or perhaps deposited on a world where it was impossible for her to survive? - but they didn't know. It didn't matter anyway. This is where she'd arrived.
Since it seemed obvious why she'd been brought here, she started heading towards the sounds of battle.
Her shoes were not exactly made for walking city streets. They were thin, soft-soled slippers of fine white silk embroidered with hundreds of tiny blue flowers. Beautiful, but impractical. She just had to be careful not to step in any puddles or on anything sharp. Despite her care the white silk was soon stained brown.
The alley opened up to a city street with buildings of brick and metal, glass and stone that towered above her. The ground was covered in concrete and asphalt. Large metal carriages lined the streets, silent and unmoving. There were no people. That was odd. A city this large should have thousands if not millions of people. So where were they?
She walked towards the sounds. All these glass fronted stores filled with merchandise and no shoppers. Nothing magical was for sale despite the continuing ripple of power that informed her that magic did exist in this world. There was a steady hum of electricity though, meaning that this world was more technological than magical. That was useful to know.
The sounds of battle were coming closer. She could pick out individual voices now, though the words were foreign to her. It couldn't be much farther. Maybe a street or two up.
There was no warning for what happened next. One minute everything was fine. The next there was some sort of explosion and rubble was raining down onto the street. She threw herself into a doorway, pressing herself as much as she could into the small amount of protection it afforded her. Chunks of stone and twisted metal slammed into the pavement. Her heart was pounding from adrenaline.
That had been close. Obviously caution was called for.
(insert more here, connecting two scenes)
"Keres! There's a civilian down there." She didn't understand the words, but she understood the tone. Danger. Watch out. Be careful. The one with tattered wings snarled in frustration and broke whatever spell she was casting.
"I'm on it," answered another voice. Someone landed beside her and she jerked away. His skin was green in color and his eyes were brown. His black hair was past his shoulders, wind blown and slightly knotted. The outfit he wore was skin-tight and in lurid shades of black, blue and orange. "Hey, it's okay, I'm here to help."
There wasn't any violence in his tone, just concern. She turned her back to him, focusing instead on the shadow mage that was doing battle with the winged one. That was her first mistake. Next thing she knew there was an arm around her waist.
"I have you," a voice said in her ear. She didn't like being touched. Her nails dug furrows into his arm. Then they were rising in the air. There were many things she could deal with, but flying without the benefit of wings was not one of them. If she still had voice, she would have yelled. "Easy on the arm. That hurts."
She was not afraid of heights. She couldn't be what she was and be afraid of heights. But watching the ground drop away from her without the safety of wings made her close her eyes and clutch desperately at the one holding her.
The world she stepped into was unknown to her.
It was the smell that hit her first: a mixture of fetid garbage, burnt steam, and baked asphalt. She knew asphalt from her travels. Her own world had no use for such a thing, but she knew enough to place the smell.
Walls rose to either side of her, blocking the sun, and creating an artificial canyon no more than twelve feet across. Deceptively delicate looking metal stairs zig-zagged up the sides of the buildings. There was a large metal container overflowing with trash, and a slick puddle spread across the ground that smelled nothing like water. It reflected the pale blue and gray-white of the sky above her. As she watched a rodent scurried from under the metal container and into a hole in one of the walls. She was in a alley way, and not a particularly nice one.
In this distance she heard the scream of metal on metal. A fitful breeze brought her the shouts and cries of distress. There was magic as well. She could feel reality shift and ripple with its effects, but that seemed mostly benign. It was the other magic, shadow magic that worried her. The reality of this world was bending almost to the point breaking from the strain of being warped to someone else's will.
Was that why she was here? She'd asked the portal to take her somewhere where she'd be useful. Not needed, but useful. She had had enough of everyone needing her. Now she wanted to actually be useful.
Her teachers would have had a heart attack had they known - What if there was no place where she would have been useful? Did she want to wind up lost forever between worlds? Or perhaps deposited on a world where it was impossible for her to survive? - but they didn't know. It didn't matter anyway. This is where she'd arrived.
Since it seemed obvious why she'd been brought here, she started heading towards the sounds of battle.
Her shoes were not exactly made for walking city streets. They were thin, soft-soled slippers of fine white silk embroidered with hundreds of tiny blue flowers. Beautiful, but impractical. She just had to be careful not to step in any puddles or on anything sharp. Despite her care the white silk was soon stained brown.
The alley opened up to a city street with buildings of brick and metal, glass and stone that towered above her. The ground was covered in concrete and asphalt. Large metal carriages lined the streets, silent and unmoving. There were no people. That was odd. A city this large should have thousands if not millions of people. So where were they?
She walked towards the sounds. All these glass fronted stores filled with merchandise and no shoppers. Nothing magical was for sale despite the continuing ripple of power that informed her that magic did exist in this world. There was a steady hum of electricity though, meaning that this world was more technological than magical. That was useful to know.
The sounds of battle were coming closer. She could pick out individual voices now, though the words were foreign to her. It couldn't be much farther. Maybe a street or two up.
There was no warning for what happened next. One minute everything was fine. The next there was some sort of explosion and rubble was raining down onto the street. She threw herself into a doorway, pressing herself as much as she could into the small amount of protection it afforded her. Chunks of stone and twisted metal slammed into the pavement. Her heart was pounding from adrenaline.
That had been close. Obviously caution was called for.
(insert more here, connecting two scenes)
"Keres! There's a civilian down there." She didn't understand the words, but she understood the tone. Danger. Watch out. Be careful. The one with tattered wings snarled in frustration and broke whatever spell she was casting.
"I'm on it," answered another voice. Someone landed beside her and she jerked away. His skin was green in color and his eyes were brown. His black hair was past his shoulders, wind blown and slightly knotted. The outfit he wore was skin-tight and in lurid shades of black, blue and orange. "Hey, it's okay, I'm here to help."
There wasn't any violence in his tone, just concern. She turned her back to him, focusing instead on the shadow mage that was doing battle with the winged one. That was her first mistake. Next thing she knew there was an arm around her waist.
"I have you," a voice said in her ear. She didn't like being touched. Her nails dug furrows into his arm. Then they were rising in the air. There were many things she could deal with, but flying without the benefit of wings was not one of them. If she still had voice, she would have yelled. "Easy on the arm. That hurts."
She was not afraid of heights. She couldn't be what she was and be afraid of heights. But watching the ground drop away from her without the safety of wings made her close her eyes and clutch desperately at the one holding her.
(no subject)
Date: 5/12/09 02:48 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 5/12/09 03:14 pm (UTC)I'm glad you like!
(no subject)
Date: 5/12/09 03:30 am (UTC)It certainly looks interesting so far, I hope you manage to finish it someday. :)
(no subject)
Date: 5/12/09 03:12 pm (UTC)Keres are death spirits (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Keres_(mythology)) from Greek mythology. In fact, all the names of this super hero group are from mythology. Maybe that's why it's familiar.
(no subject)
Date: 5/17/09 12:17 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 5/12/09 07:46 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 5/12/09 03:17 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 5/12/09 03:40 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 5/12/09 11:03 am (UTC)Anyway, magic and superheroes is a great combination! I would enjoy reading more stuff like this if you bother to write it.
(no subject)
Date: 5/12/09 03:19 pm (UTC)I will try to write more. I'm glad you like it.
(no subject)
Date: 5/17/09 12:18 pm (UTC)