January's Quote

This is the quote Shawn was going to post:

"Everyone dies. It's the final and only lasting justice. Evil exists; it is intelligence in the service of entrophy. When the side of a mountain slides down to kill a village, this is not evil, for evil requires intent. Should a sentient being cause that landslide, there is evil; and requires Justice as a consequence, so that civilization can exist. There is no greater good than Justice, and only if law serves Justice is it good law. It is said correctly that law exists not for the Just but for the unjust, for the Just carry the law in their hearts, and do not need to call it from afar. I bow to no one and I give service only for cause."
-Boba Fett

The Contest

I perched above the city, hiding amongst the clouds. The sky was black, the kind of black that only comes with a storm. My brothers and sisters were with me, hiding here and there among the clouds. It was nights like this that we lived for.

“I will throw the first bolt to start,” Aryana announced, pulling a lightning bolt from the pouch at her waist. “Once it has hit the ground, then you may begin.”

The rest of us grabbed bolts of our own, fingers and arms twitching in anticipation. We watched as she held the bolt lovingly, then tensed her arm and let it fly. BOOM! The bolt hit the ground below us, shattering a tree in two. With that, we were off, throwing bolts of our own. Down and down they came, hitting everything from mail boxes to cars. Some of us threw them quickly, trying to hit as much as we could. Others took their time, trying to land their bolts on the smallest targets.

After about twenty minutes, Aryana stopped us. On our honour, we counted up our scores. Ten points for every small target hit, five for every large one. Zero points if we missed and just hit the ground. Of the five of us, I had the highest score.

“Congratulations Eva, it looks like you’ve won tonight,” Aryana said with a smile. The others grumbled as they handed over their left-over lightning bolts. With a big grin, I started launching them down, three at a time, until there were no more. Then we launched ourselves into the sky, off to collect more lightning bolts for the next storm.

I've Come a Long Way, Baby

“What happened to you? Last I heard, you were at the top of your class, you loved your country, and you were a model citizen. Then you appear before me in the court for a crime such as this. You have come a long way, Wesley. How does the accused plead?”

Wesley looked up from the stand, into the icy eyes of the judge, and said, “I didn’t do anything wrong.”

The bailiff spit out his coffee in shock; he, as well as everyone else in the courtroom, knew that the boy was full of it. The judge caught wind of this and continued, “You mean to tell me, under oath, that you mean to plead ‘not guilty’ to the charges?”

Wesley thought about his response. He finally added, “Well, no. I did it–”

A large gasp fell over the crowd.

Wesley paused again, surprised at the reaction, before continuing, “I did it, but I didn’t do anything wrong.”

Silence fell over the courtroom, besides a faint sobbing of a small child that could be heard near the back of the room. The child eventually quieted down once the child’s mother reassured him as best as she could.

The judge proceeded, “Let it be known that the accused pleaded guilty to this most heinous of crimes. Now, the accused shall be sentenced to–”

“But I didn’t do anything wrong!”

The stone cold gaze of the judge came back to Wesley. Whispering in the courtroom grew to louder discussion. The judge pounded his gavel on his block, “Order! Order in the courtroom!”

He then proceeded to point the gavel straight at Wesley, “You aren’t in a position to tell us what is right and wrong. The law is on the books, and you disobeyed it.”

Wesley shook his head in disbelief, “I didn’t do anything wrong…I mean, I’d do it again in a second.”

A larger gasp than the first ensued and people started shouting. Several members of the jury stood up in disbelief, and one of the jurors fainted. “Order!” shouted the judge, pounding his gavel once more, “Order!”

“I mean, I crossed the street on a red light, but there weren’t even any cars coming! I didn’t do anything wrong!” continued Wesley.

“Such a thing to say! You broke the law,” the judge was at a loss of words, “How can you say such things?”

Wesley looked at the crowd and couldn’t help smiling at the recklessness that the judge could not control. He looked back at the judge and said, “I guess I’ve come a long way, baby.”

I Shall Exterminate Everything Around Me that Restricts Me From Being the Master

“Everything around us is a means for learning. Life is the domain that I have created to allow us to attempt to adapt to our surroundings in order to grow, physically and intellectually.

“I am creation, remember that; it is probably the third most important thing I can teach you, not that you care about what I’m saying one bit. I create and I observe, and I attempt to learn from the past in order to improve the future. Despite what many believe, what the others believe is, in fact, true: I am not perfect. And this is where the second most important lesson I can teach you comes in.

“You are destruction and do not forget that you are the most necessary part of this domain. I create, I build, but I do make mistakes. It is up to you to destroy the mistakes so that I can improve upon them; you are needed to make room for the future, as I close in on perfection.

“Of course, you do not believe me that I am using you for these purposes. You feel that you have free will, but the truth is you do not. You believe that you exterminate everything around you that restricts you from being the master. However, this brings me to the most important lesson I can teach you.

“You are a part of me. I know you do not want to believe me, and I know you never will, but I want you to know that. Just remember that your quest to become the master will never come true, because you are nothing more than a tool to help me reach perfection.

“I am the master.”

First Priest of the Church of Retribution

It was a late night in a small tavern in a small town. The bartender was chatting with a patron. The kitchen busy cleaning the pots and grills. The dozen or so patrons relaxing after a long day. It was a night like most others, quiet but welcoming, in strutted a finely dressed man surrounded by six guards. At once, conversation stopped and an air of resignation filled the room.

"Mmmmhmmm. Mighty fine place you have here Roberts. Such a . . . quaint place."

"My lord Hendricks" sputtered Robert, scurrying out from behind the bar. "What brings you to humble tavern?"

"Oh, me and the gents were just returning from the Morgan's farms. Seems they lied about how much livestock they raised. And after going through the unpleasant business of confiscating their food stocks I figured the boys could use a good hot bowl of stew."

"But sir, the maids just cleaned the pots. There's no stew left."

"Well then, make some more. Lads, throw some tables together!"

Robert stated blankly as the guards dragged several of the patrons out of their chairs and swept the plates onto the floor. "But sir! The maids are tired!" Robert cried. "You can't. ."

With a loud crack Robert stumbled backwards, reeling from the the lords mailed back hand. Blinking, he staggered, tasting blood and feeling a sharp pain in his jaw. "Do not tell your lord what he can and can not do" lord Hendrick said with a snort. With a look of utter contempt he took in the shocked faces of the peasants. "I think we shall dine alone tonight."

Slowly Robert bowed, trying not to loose his balance. As the patrons carefully made their way around the guards to the door the kitchen staff, having seen everything, began preparing the kitchen once again. "As you wish." He said.

Within moments, the tavern was cleared of everyone save lord Hendrick, Robert, and hooded man in a back corner calmly eating his bowl of soup. While Robert was trying to remember who the poor fool was, a guard strolled up to the old man's table. "Dinners over drudge."

"Not done soup." replied the man, in a frail, quiet voice.

"Oh yes you are" said the guard, sweeping the bowl of soup onto the man's lap. At least, thats what the guard tried to do. Instead, without realizing how it happened, the guard was on his knees, screaming in pain as the man wrenched back a finger with his right hand. The hand that was holding the soup spoon. Calmly, the man continued eating, now with his left hand.

As the other guards rushed forward, the man released his grip. Gasping, he got to his feet, the other guards raising their swords to the sitting man.

"Wasting foods a sin." The man replied, calmly. "You aren't a sinner. Are you?"

The guards shifted their, looking between themselves. The subtle shift in the mans voice coupled with his perfect calmness signaled that primitive part of their brains that all men who fight, and survive, learn to listen to. And it was saying "DON'T SAY YES!!!!"

"What are you doing?" blustered lord Hendrick, far to slow to catch on. When the guards didn't answer, still unsure how to react, lord Hendrick shoved his way through his men, face redder and redder.

"What is the meaning of this! Do you have any idea who I am? Are you even listening to me?!?!"

*slurp*

Eyes bulging and face bright red, lord Hendrick pointed his finger at the man's temple. "Guards! Kill this. . . this. . . *gurgle*". A disbelieving hand shakily raising to the black pommeled knife protruding from his throat, lord Hendrick collapsed.

"Your life has been judged and found wanting." The man lowered his spoon into the empty bowl and stood. His body unfolded slowly and the guards had to look up into the face of this seven foot tall man. If indeed he could be called a man. His pale gaunt face framed was by his long grey hair. The man had a filthy grey, blood soaked bandage wrapped over his eyes, but still looked directly into the face of each of the guards.

Wordlessly he stepped over the fresh corpse, the guards stepped aside and quickly lowered their eyes and weapons. They'd all heard the stories. They knew they lived or died by this mans whim.

As the man walked by Robert, broken jaw slack, he dropped a heavy bag on the table. "Good soup."

The guards watched the man's back as he left, not one making a move for the throwing dagger at their belt. No one would strike a priest of the fallen church. Not even in the back.

What if you missed?

December quote

I remembered black skies, the lightning all around me
I remembered each flash as time began to blur
Like a startling sign that fate had finally found me
And your voice was all I heard that I get what I deserve

New Divide by Linkin Park

Dream Pirate!

"Any last words?"

Standing on the gang-plank, he really couldn't help taking those last words to try and find out what the hell was going on. The woman querying him stood on the speaking-end of a rapier; leaving him the business end, as it were. "Who are you? What are you even doing here, this is my dream."

"I'm a dream pirate and well... figure it out." Before he could say another word she gave him a firm poke with the pointy end of the sword. "Anyway, off you go!"

He plummeted over the end of the gang plank and landed in a sea of nothing. Floating there, he could only watch as his dream sprouted four masts and sailed away. Leaving him with nothing to do but wait until he awoke. Wakefulness came only reluctantly.

The sun comes and the sun goes, as the sun want to do and sleep in its due course claims the realm of the living once again for its own.

Dreaming, dreaming, dreaming.

Spring trickles into dreams like the first scented blossoms of a new year. Spring whose warm hands pluck petals from trees to be showered down on those below. An intangible allure, unspoken, unvisited, present only in dreams...

... so the dream begins, and yet something is different. A dream from yesterday, sporting four masts comes sailing alongside. Oh no not again!

"Ahoy there!" The voice is about as welcome as the whistled cat-call that followed it. "Ooh, nice dream you got there. I think I'll take it."

To have one dream hijacked by this heinous she-devil was one thing but two was entirely too much. "What's your problem? You can't just go around hi-jacking people's dreams."

"Beg to differ deary." She replied, affectionately petting the side of his former dream. "This one was so good I thought I'd come back for seconds."

"You can't have it."

"Prepare to be boarded! Are' matey!" She cried. In a moment she was swinging across the rigging over to his dream - sword in teeth and hair caught dramatically in the breeze. She landed on the deck with an emphatic crack, apparently unperturbed by the knee high leather boots with their dangerously unstable looking stiletto heels. "Defend yourself!"

And so the crazy dream lady with the sword came at him. He'd been caught off guard the other day it was true - surprised as it were - and unarmed. Since this was his dream though, he saw no particularly good reason why there shouldn't be a sword near at hand for just such an occasion.

Sabre on sabre clashed and for a moment it seemed as though things were in doubt. Being as though it was his dream and all though, he saw no particularly good reason why he shouldn't be a master of the blade. And so as she thrust he passed, passata-sotto, under the blade and with a quick slash across her hand sent the weapon careening over the edge of the dream.

"It seems I've bested you." He said, holding the edge of the weapon dangerously close to her neck.

"It would seem so." She admitted.

"Looks like you should think twice about messing around in other people's dreams."

"I suppose."

"So... you'll be leaving now. Being as though I beat you - fair and square as it were."

"Yeah... about that," Her eyes flashed dangerously. "I don't fight fair."

And in one deft motion she drew a flintlock pistol and shot him in the gut and sent him careening over the side after her sword.

Floating in the sea of dreams contemplating death her voice mocked him as it sailed off again. "Hey, thanks again for the dream. See you again tomorrow!"