A Decaying World - Chapter 6: Mirage

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Chapter 6: Mirage

After the beast took over I was banished into the darkness of my mind, only able to see blurry images and listen to the monster's thoughts. The world was plunged into an azure abyss soon after and the vampire's control slipped a little while he fought for his life. I was unable to take over just yet but I could conjure imaginary stairs leading back into the center of my mind. The steps spiraled out of control, turned themselves upside down, became as thin as matchsticks, however, none of his attempts were able to stop me and when I finally reached the top I smashed through a door locked by chains of darkness. Behind it lay a spherical chamber housings hundreds of thousands of light-orbs, all showing moments that had long since passed, although I couldn't remember some of them. A smoke monster swirled through the air and accelerated when it became aware of my instrusion.

“Return to the depths where you belong! I saved your pathetic life and even obeyed your order by taking the human with me. I deserve to be in control for once!”

“You deserve nothing! This is my body, not yours!”

“It is our body and there's nothing you can do about that! Accept your fate and I won't need to take over again!”

“Never!”

Drake materialized a sword in mid-air and grabbed its hilt. It wasn't a shadow sword, though, but one with a crystalline blade. It was bathed in radiant light and started to hum when Drake jumped into the air, ready to battle the beast within.

A Decaying World - Chapter 5: Dying Breath Of Gana Borodem

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Chapter 5: Dying Breath Of Gana Borodem

The light diminished and darkness took over. Drake's body felt like it was on fire but he couldn't see what was happening after being temporarily blinded by the crystal's radiance. He did notice the smell of burned flesh, though, and touched his face with his right arm. His eyes widened in disbelief after noticing the bloody mess that should have been his cheek. What happened?

“You don't look so good, vampire!” responded Maximilian mockingly while pressing his blade into Drake's neck. “Tell me where we are and how I can get back to Pagan and I'll make it quick!”

“How...am I supposed...to know? You...shattered the crystal! And I...can't even see...anything!” Drake was wheezing and trembling, barely able to hold himself upright. It wasn't because of the pain, as vampires have a higher pain threshold than humans, but because most of his energy had been drained.

Maximilian removed his blade and walked in a half-circle across rocky terrain before he spoke once more: “Gosh, you look even worse from the front. Even your eyeballs are burned.”

How did this...was it the light? It has to be, right? He expected an answer from Modera but all he received was a kick to the stomach, which caused him to fall backwards onto rocks.

“Agh, why did you do that?”

“Just making sure that you're not putting on an act. How long will you need to regenerate?”

“I don't...know. I haven't been a vampire...for very long,” his stomach grumbled, as if on cue. “And I don't know...if I have any energy left...to regenerate. What does it even matter...to you? Just kill me already.”

“No, you're not getting off that easy if you can't or won't provide information. And who knows, maybe you can still prove useful as bait for wild animals.”

“I guess we're not in the vicinity...of a city or village?”

“No, we're stuck in the mountains, with cliffs all around us. It's too dark to climb therefore we'll have to spend the night together. That should give you enough time to heal yourself.”

“Don't you...have any potions?” The only potion we need is his blood! Trick him, suck him dry! Shut up!

“Of course I do but I'd have to spend every single one of them to heal wounds as severe as yours. And I'm certainly not going to waste them on an evil creature.”

“I'm not...evil!”

“Sure, you were just playing a little prank by putting every person in the castle to sleep. And I suppose you were joking when you talked about kidnapping me?”

“We didn't do that...because we wanted! Modera...ordered us to.”

“Why?”

“I don't know why!” Drake yelled and suffered a coughing bout.

“Don't strain yourself. We can talk later! Perhaps I'll even believe you this time,” these words were followed by the sound of metal falling onto stones. “I'll try to find some firewood. We have a long night ahead of us. You just stay there.”

“Very funny!”

Maximilian's footsteps would have vanished in the distance but Drake's hearing was going haywire once more. The area was strangely quit, though, only filled by sporadic gusts of air, but Drake was too distracted by his aching skin to care. Maximilian returned 15 minutes later, started a small campfire and went to sleep soon after.

Drake tried to follow his example but was disturbed by strange sounds coming from below: thudding footsteps followed by rattling metal. Whenever they ceased a raspy breathing noise filled the air. Whatever you are, please go away! The moment those thoughts passed his mind the footsteps stopped and the ground shook ever so slightly.

Don't Plan Your Story From Start To Finish

I've learned this lesson years ago while working on my games and it still holds true today. Of course it doesn't mean that you should make everything up as you go along. That way you only end up with a nonsensical mess that you need to fix durig the editing phase, unless you're actually so good that everything connects flawlessly.

You need to know how the story begins and how it ends. And it can't hurt to know a few events that will happen down the road. Everything else can be nothing more than a general idea that you flesh out while writing it. Seeing as Mortaevum was a game first I had nearly everything laid out before me but it's just not fulfilling to keep to a strict plan. If you have an interesting idea that might make for a better story, then write it down! That's exactly what I did with the current chapter. I essentially skipped a few events that happened in the game because they simply aren't interesting nor essential. Of course I had to incorporate some of the events that happened during these scenes into the current chapter but if it leads to a better story it's certainly worth it.

Don't plan everything from the get-go! And even if you do, deviate from your plans if you get better ideas!

Don't try to be perfect!

Seriously, do not try to be perfect! You'll just waste countless hours of your life. You don't know how much time I spent working on my blogs even though most of the changes will never be seen by anyone. I'm also writing reviews on my other (german) blog and everytime I link to one of the reviews I can't help myself and have to look over it one more time, which often leads to at least a few changes.

Why am I telling you this? Because I'm doing it again! Someone is drawing book covers for me and I thought it might be a good idea to go over Don't Play With Slenderman once more before I release it with a new cover...and now I've started rewriting entire passages as I simply didn't like the old ones anymore. I've added about 1000 new words in the process and drew half of the eight pages a second time to make them look somewhat better while keeping them amateurish.
Of course it can't hurt to have a more polished version at hand but I'm sure I would keep finding flaws every time I read it. But people aren't perfect. Most of them will never write a masterpiece, especially not while working on their first book. You can hire an editor if you can afford it but do you really want to work on the same story over and over again till it appears to be perfect enough to be published?
I certainly don't want to do that. So I'm just going to fix it up, add the new cover, publish it once more and that's it! Otherwise I'll never be able to finish Mortaevum and I care too much about the story to let it die a second time.

Don't try to be perfect! Learn from your mistakes and create something better the next time. You'll never be able to get anything done if you go back over and over again to fix everything you've ever made!

A Decaying World - Interlude

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Interlude

 A lone figure clad in white stood in a world devoid of darkness. Its light stretched into infinity, unhindered by obstacles it would have encountered in the physical realm. But despite being a world the darkness cannot touch it is far from being a paradise. It's merely an endless plane without features, a place where you wouldn't even realize that you're moving forward as everything looks the same. More importantly, it's also a place without life, at least the kind of life you're accustomed to. The white-robed man remained silent for what seemed like an eternity, deep in thought since the moment he arrived as he felt that something was off. His eyes were closed and he seemed to be straining his ears although there were no sounds he could have listened to.

“You wanted to talk?” booming voices resounded through the empty world, cutting through the silence.

“Something seems to be wrong. Everything is proceeding in a similar fashion but if the changes continue to accumulate then everything could have been in vain. Especially since he is already stirring.”

“...” a gloomy silence filled the air, even worse than when the white-robed man had entered this realm.

“I've never seen this possibility. I tried so hard to find it among all the noise but it simply doesn't exist! How am I supposed to help him under these circumstances?”

“Something has changed – something that might have ruined everything, but it was the only choice we had,” sadness reverberated throughout the world.

“But why can't I see the deviation?”

“Because it would have endangered our entire existence!”

“You'd rather waste everything I've done than take a risk?” the man's voice was filled with anger.

“...”

“I need to see...” he was desperate now.

“This might be the last time we speak to each other...please, don't let it end like this...”

The world lit up in single flash of light and a sphere of pure energy surrounded the white-robed figure. He fell to his knees, pressed his hands onto his head and began to scream while the realm changed.

The brightness faded away, leaving behind nothing but a muddy gray, and the air itself seemed to ripple, slowly intensifying till a loud crack echoed through the world. The darkness had finally found a way inside...