Core

It was art that I've loved all along

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At The Monastery

It’s dawn and the sun shines through the surfaces of the whole monastery with cotton rays, embracing me softly with the mellow warmth of its morning glow. In the middle of one pathway, I sat atop a cubical slab facing a small pond where a small sandpiper watched my routine. The leaves of the trees, shielding my head, rustled along the gentle gust of circumventing winds. I could feel my ears dulling, swamped by the noise of crashing water from the waterfall to my right. Here, curious bamboo shoots whistled in the background, accompanying the white noise. How pleasant.

I take deep breaths and start meditating. Then, in seconds, I enter peace.

My thoughts became cloudy, my body relieved.

Thereafter, I lost track of myself and simply lived in the moment.

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A Creative Problem

I enjoy the flights of curious experiences, from eying the skies or sketching people’s faces. They lead me true, straight to a solitude of wonder, dragged ever so deep in their endless vortices.

Each passing time, the urge striking every rest. I yearn to act and continuously progress; mind aimed forwards, prowling any clue. pursuing perfection, no more, no less.

In time beget, as my thoughts wander, I see the poisonous truth once more.

I’ve known it before, a recurring sonder. A disease that haunts my very core.

To my self, again, heed this reminder. no matter the craft or chosen endeavor, In any passion piece that you’ll create, do it for yourself, not for another.

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HEAVEN AND HELL ON EARTH

OPERATION MOSES REPORT 8th Div., 153rd Brigade TORQUE

From Col. Richard Poly Subject: “HEAVEN AND HELL ON EARTH”

Immediately, after briefly receiving command of the brigade, I sent a fragmented order to immobilize all units moving towards point Foxtrot and Alpha. Major General Hopkins is deceased, and the operation has been lost. There is no hope. The series of events below for documentation.

Shortly after arriving in point Foxtrot at time 21:35, our regiment was dispatched to examine the devil’s mouth that is St. Peter’s Basilica. Traces of occupants lead us to a hidden tunnel of descending stairs. As per standard, we then divided our group into 4 units to better scour the mysterious hallways. They seemed to branch infinitely underground. They paired me with Major Frettson to lead our squadron.

We walked cautiously through our part of the maze when we gradually started hearing faint religious hymns in the distance. I approved the movement to proceed towards the singing, the major concurred. The objective of the operation was the capture and retraining of all cathedral elders. We were convinced that we’ve found their location. Radios have been sent.

Our squad approached the area, first blinded by vivid blood red light beyond well shaped arcs on the room’s facade. It filled the fringe of an enormous domed auditorium, along with a crowd endowed in black hooded robes. As our vision began to settle in, the face of true mankind’s horror saw us pale. Buildings tall of sculpted seraphs pointing lined the rims of the middle expanse. I see the major lower his gun in hopeless scrutiny as he glared at the colossal presence of what’s in front.

A priest gowned in white exclaimed resounding prayers with vocal solidity.

Above him was a titan, being internally classified as JESUS, hanging bruised, facing down, and chained. A cluster of spikes from the borders impaled his body throughout. Dry, there was no blood.

“I thank You, O holy Lord, almighty Father, eternal God, who have deigned, not through any merits of mine, but out of the condescension of Your goodness, to grant me a sinner, your unworthy servant, authority over our brethren, over the world.”

We were attacked dark. I don’t know how or by what. I’m the only survivor.

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Ward 17

They said to meet up here. I looked around, huffing my lit cigarette, while going over the questions I have prepared in my head. My nose twitched, inhaling the stench of toppled garbage bags spewing weeks old disgusting leftovers and trash. Sewage looking water filled crevices formed from the non-flattened ground. They reflected the light of three lengthy flickering fluorescent lamps alternating throughout the ends of the walkway. “Ward 17, huh” I sneered. An entanglement of electrical wires blocked the left wall. They extended above, wrapping around slanted beams supporting the structures. Those beams lead downwards to rooms on the right side. To me, they gave the semblance of jail cells with their barred windows and metal built doors. There were no sounds coming inside, or anywhere, for that matter. None apart from the dripping sounds of water bouncing off metal pipes on the side, and the faint noises of the distance city. Compared to the outside, this place is a dump. Unmaintained, unregulated, and unsupervised. A perfect place for any patchwork or shady transactions. If someone died in these places, would anyone bat an eye? I wondered, dropping the bud I’ve been smoking. On the other side of the alley, a silhouette of a soldier from Central slowly nears in clarity. I’ve seen enough. My feet lead me towards the man. I know exactly what to ask first.

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Start end

It was a Monday. We were walking hand-in-hand along the train tracks nestled in between the woods. The early morning sunshine bliss seeped through the valley. It embraced everything with its warm, welcoming glow.

Where were we headed?

How much longer will we go?

Will someone come find us?

Will the train get here first?

I wished we stayed there forever; When it was Monday, and nothing else mattered.

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Ambush at Sea

“Hurry!”

“There’s not much time.” 

In middling seas less than a week of travel left from the east face of the scholar’s islands, a storm struck a ship bound north. The sky rendered thick with ashen gray clouds, convulsing around itself as turbulent winds centers them true on the vessel. Lion’s roar of monstrous thunders momentarily deafens life aboard. Sabina, a forest dwelling elf, scurries to equip a small sailboat in preparation to abandon ship. 

“Watch out!” cried Gerard on the get-away boat. He straightened his posture and raises his staff, casting a barrier that blocks the strike of an enormous tentacle arm. The nimble halfling, Carme, evasively tumbled and links with a jump towards the side of the sorcerer.

“Go!” she shouted.

The beast has a hold of the entire ship, wrapping all around the main deck. Its strength ripped off most of the masts and spars, entangling the riggings. Bodies lay waste, impaled, scarred, some coming off only with torsos. The tiny boat floats away.

Bang!

A giant portion of the ship’s hull flew completely off. The waves raise the ruined ship steep up high, and the sky follows split, grandly letting in a solid ray of heaven’s light. The party’s boat drifts further down. Time crunched, Sabina searches for her longbow’s arrows under the lone kerosene lamp swaying without resting along their mast. Dark silhouettes of figures underwater approaches the team.

Seconds after, Sabina finds her quiver, and standing up, pulls on her bow, stern. A sea folk emerges from the waters, trident in hand. It had fins emerging from its widow’s peak stretched all the way down the center of its back, torch light reflects off its body-wide scales. The creature presents its sharpened claws like blades as it balanced itself along the roaring waves. Carme, knowing what’s coming, draws a knife. In contrast, Gerard’s expression flashed proudly and lacked an ounce of worry. A deep growl ensues, and tensions arise. Sabina lets go of the string, shooting.

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The Kingdom of Masanori

The moon is up high; The night is late. Within the woodland center is nothing visible but rows of darkness, with depth illuminated only by stray light pressing through small portions of the leaf arrays. Satoru and I squeezed through thick shrubbery until we encounter another clearing. 

In it was a smoothed octahedral shrine of some sort emerging from a long narrow stem. It was faint, but I can see a dull glow emanating from its translucent surface. Without a moment’s thought, I lay my hands flat around it and drew some of my spirit energy. The forest went silent, akin to a wolf preparing to pounce. 

Then the shrine started scorching with blinding zeal, as it swelled with magic. Like a veiled sky, our surroundings were lit with soft blue — taking away all the drab of the midnight scene. 

Satoru meowed in awe. The view of the forest in front of us shattered into a million pieces of light fragments and, in the middle, stood a grand kingdom crested with a dense layer of icy magic. Its houses reached for the sky with pointy roofs. Taller structures even branched into flat islands which held similar architectures. It levitated over a pool of mist that surrounded its entire mass, projecting itself to be a portal to a place from the stars. I gulped. It was not like anywhere I’ve been before.