The Deceit of Angels

Since his unexpected encounter he had remained in the shadows, making haste towards her crystal tower. It had to be on this wretched night of nights that the oblivious citizens of her New World would celebrate, their fireworks in the sky illuminating a city that already bears no shadowy refuge, where everyone is put on centre-stage and it’s all you can do to remain inconspicuous. She had tried to rob them of their individuality but all she had succeeded in doing was force them to hide their twisted – human – desires. And so it was that he nimbly ran his way through the sewers so as to not draw any undesired attention, eyes shifting rapidly through the black should any more guardians present themselves. He soon arrived at the ladder leading to the surface near her chambers, and carefully he gripped the cold steel, silently making his way to the surface. The cover of the manhole was easily lifted out of place, and careful so as to not drag it across the brilliant sheen of the city floor ...

Chul-Moo grunted as he picked the bones of the cow’s leg for any last remaining scraps of meat, and satisfied he had picked it clean, tossed the bony remains aside. They had long since arrived at the meeting point; a small clearing amidst the long grasslands, host to some form of small lake. His blade at his side faintly glistening from the thin slither of the moon, providing the faintest glimmer of light in the pitch black night, obscured by the overbearing dark clouds in the sky. Gazing about his surroundings he caught a glimpse of various other demons, evidently here for the same purpose. He looked about for Kwan, and catching the faint shadow of a creature with a large object – possibly a cow leg? – began to make his way across the clearing. Gripping his hard shoulder he made out to speak, when suddenly the sound of an explosion in the distance caught his attention. Spinning around, he looked up into the sky at the continual stream of fiery explosions, a variety of colours fizzing ...

So its been a couple of days and I thought I'd give an update. Work on the fourth chapter is well underway, and the initial draft almost written. For those who enjoyed the chapter on the demons, you might be pleased to hear that they once again take the spotlight. It's taking me longer as, quite simply, the chapter is getting rather long by comparison to the others written. As with all the others it will then undergo a rigorous and thorough reading and re-wording of sections until im content with it. Given my return to the demons story, I thought I'd add snippets of trivia with regards to some of the foreign terms used. As with all the other characters, the names too have meanings; they are all Korean (not that im implying all Korean's are demons, rather I liked the hard-edged tone of the language, finding it fitting to their characters). The origins of the name 'Chul-Moo' mean 'Iron Weapon,' 'Kwan' means 'Strong,' and rather ironically ...

Ok, so some of the feedback I received for this chapter was less than positive, the two main criticisms being that the first part of the chapter was too ‘picturesque,’ and that the ‘philotic theory’ made no sense. The reasons behind both elements being presented so early on are not intended to be impossible to grasp, and certainly anyone with a basic understanding of physics or political history should be capable of grasping the concepts presented. So, lets begin. Philotic Theory: The concept of philotes first emerged in Orson Scott Card’s book ‘Enders Game,’ and subsequently in the rest of the quadrilogy. The version I have utilised is a greatly simplified form of the theory he details which can be found here . (As I outlined in the chapter) a philote is a fictional physics concept stating that everything is connected by a thread of energy called a ‘philote.’ On an atomic level, each atom is connected in a random fashion to form a web of these philotic threads running between each at...

Awoken by the knocking at the door to her chambers, Tenshi lifted her head and stretched her long slender arms, allowing the flared sleeve of her brilliant white robe to dangle elegantly from her pale soft skin. She had fallen asleep at her computer terminal again, evidently reviewing a scientific theory she was not especially familiar with and was finding particularly difficult. Slowly arising to her feet, she ruffled her feathers and swept her long grey hair back as she fumbled her way towards the door, knocking over more than one stack of papers that littered the thick, fibrous cream carpet of the room that had become as much a workstation as a bed chamber. She opened the large wooden door to reveal one of her subjects, a young male with freckles and short red hair who approached her rather bashfully and held out a glass of wine. Beaming at him, she gracefully took the glass from his hand and gently kissed his cheek before returning once more to her chambers. They were so thoughtful...

“See, the problem with these soft-skins is that they don’t know how to have any fun,” started Chul-Moo, his long curved blade dangling from his belt. His hard plates of skin softly grinded against each other as he walked further away from the cool afternoon sun that lit up his desert homeland, treading deeper into the lush grasslands that claimed host to a range of delicious animals. He looked towards his son, Kwan, and to the look of confusion upon his gormless face. He was growing strong, his horn almost the same size his own, and he knew it wouldn’t be long before the slow-minded fool would begin to attract potential mates. He used the blunt end of his wooden spear to scratch his back as they walked. “They’re always driven by foolish notions of right and wrong, questioning their existence, fearing what others think of them,” he spat on the ground in front of him in disgust. “Where’s the fun in that?” Kwan, clearly deep in thought as to this notion, chirped in “so dad, they don’t fee...

Right, so an update on where Im at. Work on chapter two has commenced and is perhaps taking longer than anticipated. Expect more vulgarity and a more 'speech orientated' chapter as we explore some entirely different characters. In addition, I have decided to add little snippets of Trivia as I go along as much of the smaller elements of the plot have alternative meanings - either personal or evident in the world around us. The first part of trivia pertaining to the first chapter involves the name "K`mtar." As with all the names used they have some form of meaning, and this is in fact the pseudonym used by the future version of Worf's son 'Alexander' from the well known TV show "Star Trek," (The Next Generation I believe, to be specific) who wanted to stay hidden from those who knew him. He would also have been around at a similar time to when this is set. In terms of pronunciation, its a rather unusual one; the way they pronounce the 't' i...