So I've mentioned my unnamed short story on here before but this has turned into a novelette. It has a title now!
Basics
LTLB is a speculative novelette with elements related to time.
Small cast, focus on two characters
Installment of potential stories of similar length
POC and female representation
Third person, mixed with past and present tense
Themes of learning from experiences and relying on others
About
Ranjana is a chronosian, an inorganic sentient cosmic being who exists in a pocket dimension outside of time. Some members of her people monitor time to ensure the timeline remains healthy and on track.
Tiffany Isaac is a human scientist working on her own time machine that inadvertently begins to poison time, so Ranjana enters the timeline in order to prevent the disaster.
The two must work together in order to stop time from unraveling.
LTLB is primarily a drama.
Where Am I?
I'm almost done with the first draft! I have a better sense of where the story is going and plan to make this draft focus on character work and themes, which I kind of just improvised.
I have an old draft from high school that functions as a prequel. I may adapt it later.
I hope to make installments set in this universe in the future.
Tags
I will be tagging related posts as #learning to look back #ltlb and even for funzies #little b cause that's kinda what the acronym looks like
To monitor updates I will tag related posts as #ltlb update and excerpts will be #ltlb excerpt
All characters have their own tags
Ask to be added to or removed from the tag list! @thepeculiarbird @mrbexwrites @mymomsaysbobcipher
@diabolical-blue and @oh-no-another-idea have all expressed interest (this is not officially adding you to the tag list) so notifying y'all about it!
"Please please please! Make it stop, please, it hurts!" He sobbed, body trembling on the floor.
"I don't think you've suffered nearly enough, little Dove. You have such pretty wings, it'd be a shame to keep them all folded up... so we'll fix that." Dr. Isaac said with a wicked grin.
Hooks pierced his skin, cutting through the tender and already bruised appendages. A scream left his mouth, loud enough for the demon downstairs to hear. His wings were broken, body covered in welts and his own blood, he was in total agony.
The hooks and chains went taut as he was hoisted in the air, a sickening display that forced him to appear as if he were in flight. All of it allowed his full limp weight to rest on his mangled wings.
"There you go dove, you look so beautiful like that. An angel in flight, your pretty wings on display." Isaac said as he ran his fingers through the bloody feathers.
Zurii shot awake, feeling phantom fingers still combing through. He buried his face in his hands as he sobbed in bed, knowing Ravana would wake to comfort him in only moments. His wings twitched against his back, reacting to pain that wasn't there.
A scream of pain erupted from his mouth, his back arching from handfuls of feathers being thoughtlessly pulled from his wings. The removal of one hurt, nevermind the hell it was to suffer handfuls of them being torn from his back. Each one was sensitive, meticulously cared for so he could better grant miracles and continue to live the golden standard as an angel of The Queen.
A light draft coming from a window gently danced over the painfully bare wing, sending a shot of agony through his body that made his breath catch in this throat. He managed a strangled sob, misery ringing through the sound.
Dr. Isaac tsked quietly, finding the ethereal being's seemingly low pain tolerance to be a huge disappointment. He carefully jotted down his findings, sighing as some of his theories were proven false by the experiment. He looked over the pearlescent feather in his hands, noting the appearance of faint markings.
Zurii meanwhile was trembling on the concrete floor, body barely able to comprehend the overwhelming pain he was in. He stared at the ground, one hand tightly clenched into a fist, wanting to badly lash out and hurt the man who caused him so much pain.
The man knelt down and began to touch and examine the badly mutilated wing's counterpart, pristine white feathers unharmed by cruel hands.
"Zurii, you realize how spectacular you are. You have four wings which means I can try my theories on each one. I'm sure you're as excited as I am by this revelation."
The angel's sobbing started again only to be abruptly cut off by a sickening snap. One wing stripped completely bare of its feathers, another twisted the wrong way, and two still in perfect condition. The angel desperately tried to keep them tightly folded against his back, hoping that would be enough to protect them.
CW: wing whump, tied together, non human whumpees, multiple whumpees, mild stress position, feather plucking, supernatural whump, fantasy whump, on display, captivity
Abyss in the Promised Land: Chapter 8
The upper floors were brighter and much nicer than the basement they had been forced to live in for the past few months. To a small extent it reminded Zurii of the Promised Land, it made him uncomfortable.
Sean had been boasting for weeks about a surprise he had and today was finally the day. He brought the two beings upstairs to a large spacious room, there was art on the walls and scarce furniture. Zurii's wings twitched uncomfortably and he would see Ravana scowling in discomfort beside him. Both had chains around their wrists preventing an easy escape and from what Zurii could see, it was also burning Ravana.
The demon was first, Sean pulled him to the center of the room and was forced to extend his wings. The delicate leathery skin that made up the webbing stretched to show off burn marks and other past injuries. Once satisfied, Sean dragged Zurii over, placing the two back to back.
His top set of wings were extended and moments later clamps were secured over the bony appendages of both beings. Ravana shuddered from the overwhelming itching sensation that flooded his body, his own wings began to shiver from the closeness to the angel.
Their arms were pulled behind them to wrap around the other's waist. Both beings cried out in pain as they were forced to be pressed back to back. The pain the demon felt from touching an angel was absolutely overbearing. Ravana squirmed to try to get away but only managed to push himself against Zurii more, making the itching feeling turn into an almost unbearable pain.
The man grabbed Ravana's long thin tail and shoved it between Zurii's teeth, making the angel grimace in disgust. The close proximity to one another was beginning to be more and more uncomfortable with each passing second.
A sudden sharp knock on the door made both beings tense in fear and anticipation, Sean grinned at Dr. Isaac who went to open the door to welcome the guests in. Zurii trembled softly, his wings twitching even more as several humans came in to look at the pair.
It made Zurii press his back against Ravana's even more, it sent a painful stab down the two being's backs.
"Greetings, friends! Isaac and I have quite the discovery to show you! Isaac has managed to fully discover that angels and demons exist, and you all get to be the first to see them!"
It was hours before Sean finally released the beings back into the basement, where each one frantically retreated into their respective corners. Ravana quickly wrapped his wings around himself, finally finding some relief after the countless hours of being stuck to an angel. His body was covered in painful blisters from the ordeal. He glanced over his shoulder as he heard a frustrated and pained whine from Zurii.
The angel was desperately pulling feathers from his wings by the handful, each yank resulted in an agonized hiss of pain. Ravana watched with morbid curiosity as Zurii let the feathers fall to the ground and blood began to stain his wings. It made the demon flinch but he couldn't help the other being, even if he had wanted to.
Clumps of bloodied feathers now littered the floor, and the angel's soft weeping filled the basement. Ravana sighed softly as he listened, it was going to be a long night.
CW: wing whump, winged whumpee, multiple whumpees, electrical burns, electrocution, death mention (brief), supernatural burns, non human whumpees, angel whump, Demon whump, religious themes, unconscious whumpees, inhumane experiments, defiant whumpee, head injury
Zurii had been staring at the unconscious demon for the past few minutes, a part of him wanted to help and make sure he was okay. However, the thought of being inches away from the demon sent a shiver down his spine. As it was, his wings barely stopped twitching, his feathers felt like they had been flared up for hours.
He glared at Sean, watching the man lock a similar chain around Ravana's ankle that would effectively trap him here. The man stood up as he finished and approached Zurii, a cruel smile on his face.
"I'm sure Dr. Isaac can't wait to test some of his theories on you two."
----------------------------
His body tensed up, each joint locking in its position, refusing to release. Then his body went limp, ragged, aching breaths forcing their way out of his lungs.
Dr. Isaac's eyes lit up as he watched the scene unfold, quickly writing down the findings in his journal. He turned to Sean and nodded, excited to watch the scene play out again. Sean smiled, almost too excitedly as he adjusted the power on the battery and flipped the switch again.
The jumper cables attached to each of his wings sent another strong jolt of electricity through his body, his wings stiffened as a choked scream left his lips. Every feather felt like it was aflame, overwhelming his body to a point where he could barely remember to breathe.
The chains on his wrists and ankle didn't do much to help his situation, it only served to burn his skin, making it red to the point that the smell of his flesh burning filled his nose. The feeling was what he could only imagine being banished to the Abyss felt like, an intense burning sensation that couldn't be stopped.
The battery was shut off again and Sean knelt down beside the captive angel, taking the being's chin in his hand.
"Ready to cooperate?" Sean asked flatly.
"Ya…. You think… thi..nk… I'll break from that??... turn…. Turn it up." Zurii managed to challenge with a small grin.
Sean and the Doctor exchanged an annoyed look before the battery was turned to its highest setting. The soft click of the switch being flipped was drowned out by a raw anguished scream.
Ravana was just waking up, his head pounding from being slammed into the ground. His head was foggy from all of it and he couldn't help but feel disoriented by the gray concrete floor. He tried to remember exactly what happened, he knew he had been summoned to earth.
The demon pushed himself up on weak arms, his head spinning and vision blurring almost immediately. As he took a moment to regain focus his head finally registered a burning sensation. It was dull as he first noticed it, but as he really paid attention to it the burning only felt worse.
Soon his leg felt like it had been set aflame, something he was used to, but this was worse. He turned his head quickly to find the source of his pain, his vision spiraling into blurred grays. Ravana managed to squint and see a chain wrapped around his leg, he groaned and reached out and wrapped his fingers around it to pull it off.
His hand jerked back away from the burn of the metal, a scowl forming on his face that showed off his sharp teeth.
"Why does it have to be silver?..." He muttered to himself.
His grumbling was interrupted by the door to the basement opening, an overwhelming itching sensation crawling under his skin began. Ravana watched as Sean and Dr.Isaac entered the basement, the completely limp form of the angel over Sean's shoulder. The taller man carelessly dumped the angel onto the concrete, a tangle of feathers that landed with a thump.
"Don't you worry, Ravana. You're next for a little testing. We'll come back to retrieve you, don't go anywhere." Sean taunted as he reattached the chain to Zurii's ankle.
As they left, the demon could smell smoke, different from the burning smell from his leg. He inched a bit closer to the limp… dead? angel, curiosity getting the best of him so much so that he could just ignore the itchy feeling.
The tips of Zurii's feathers smoldered softly, singed and blackened from whatever the pair of humans had done to him. As Ravana looked closer he could just barely make out the feathers twitching from his presence. A tiny bit of relief crossed his mind, relief that the angel wasn't dead, but why did he care?
He folded his wings tightly against his back again, finding comfort in the feeling. Now the worry set in as he waited to see what the humans were planning to do to him. If it was anything bad, he was likely to end up like the angel. Or worse.
He just said a prayer over them and hoped for the best. It was a theory that it would work and would be enough to hold Zurii and it worked out in his favor.
