A Princess’s Adventure, Prologue: The Distant Past

Prologue
The Past.


“Are you sure they will be safe down here?“ Iulianus asked

“It was her last order, so we do not have any other option.” Cyriacus responded, “Nevertheless it will safe down here, only our people know how to navigate these tunnels.”

The two traveled further in to the tunnels in quite until in frustration Iulianus asked a question out loud to himself, “How did it come to all of this? The emperor dead, his only heir dying facing one of those things, our military destroyed, and our civilization in ruins!”

Cyriacus turned and looked at him for a moment with a disapproving look, “That is a stupid question! You know well enough what happened.” In his head he continued what he had started saying, “They came once again, five hundred years after their master was defeated they rose up again looking for the keys to free him from his prison. They attacked us so quickly we did not have a chance to fight back, we did our best but it was not enough. Even the princess with her mothers armor and swords could only do so much, though she did take down their leaders.”

“Sorry, I am just so frustrated.” Iulianus has stopped and was now shaking, “when they attack here I just hid, I fought so many of the empire’s enemies with courage, but when they showed up I just ran.”

Cyriacus actually felt sorry for him, “Not everyone can face a dragon, when a dragon landed at the palace I saw veteran solders who have faced countless enemies and deamons run, men and women who had never thought of running before in their lives could do nothing but run. While the princess who had never even trained in any of the martial arts put her mother’s armor on and welded her swords as if she had always done that very thing.”

“I suppose, but it still disturbs me that I just ran when my friends, my comrades were being killed by them.” he just stood there for a moment, then slammed his fist in to the stone wall making a loud thud that echoed through out the tunnel.

Cyriacus did not say anything to Iulianus, not that he did not want to just there was nothing he could say. “We should put these in the vault, and then we can discuss these thing afterwards.” Iulianus nodded in agreement and they continue deeper in to the tunnels eventually coming to the spot Cyriacus had been looking for, “Magic Storage Vault” he silently read to himself then touched a spot on the wall and it separated quickly and quietly.

“I had heard of this place, but never seen it before, the special vault where they stored all of the magicly enhanced equipment.” as Iulianus looked in wonder only to be disappointed by the mostly emptied shelves, “What to all of the equipment!?” it was at this point that Cyriacus filled him in on what had happened in the last two weeks while he was in hiding.

When the dragons and their minions attacked most of the empires military was scattered, but after the princess rose to the occasion at the imperial capital and slew a dragon, word spread faster then a dragon could fly and soon many of the soldiers who had ran returned to ask for her forgiveness, which she gave and they gave their renewed loyalty in a commander who had slain a dragon. The marched to the fort, finding it destroyed as well they descended into the tunnels and retrieved all the magic equipment to arm them against the dragons’s army. A week later they clashed with the dragons’s army with the princess leading the charge, she single handedly slew the three dragons that had been part of their force before facing the commander of that army a small dragon-halfling who called himself Krastle, despite his small size he was powerful and immune to the damage of even the magic weapons they had, the only thing that could harm him was the swords the princess welded. The battle was long and hard, eventually she managed to get the upper hand but it cost her, in her last strike Krastle managed to deliver a mortal blow of his own. While the solders tended to the princess the best they could all that could be heard over the now quite battle field was Krastle wines, cries and curses at how he could fall to a human girl. Her last request was that Cyriacus place her armor and swords in the vault to keep it out of the dragons hands, she also gave one last command to her troops that they were to keep the magic arms and armor to protect the land from the dragon’s minions.

“And I hid like a coward this whole time, while the princess was fighting to protect us all.” Iulianus said in anger focusing it at himself.

“If you want to do something for her, you should live, live and do not run again when you can fight your enemy. But again do not blame yourself so much, for when I first saw the dragon at the palace even I froze, I over came that fear when I saw her do what I could not, you did not have that benefit here, when we arrived here we found everyone long dead, if you had you would be part of them.”

With that a fire seemed to be lit in Iulianus’s eyes that perhaps he was meant to do something more, have an effect on the world. “Alright let us finish what you came here to do, then I am going to watch over these ruins to make sure these are safe until they are needed again.”

“That is good to hear! We will place them in this chamber here, they will be safe until one of us retrieves them.” They placed the armor and swords on the stands in the room and locked the door behind them, they would latter return to stock the vault with regular weapons for future use, after they finished the closed the vault’s door, and went their way, but not before they made complete maps of the tunnels for their future use.

Iulianus settled down near the ruins of the fort, eventually marrying and having a son whom he named Christophorus. As for Cyriacus he stayed around the region for a while watching the ruins with Iulianus but eventually he decided to head east before he did he left his copy of the map with Iulianus to do with what he wished. Cyriacus eventually settled down in a new town out east he helped found, Corsica.

© Copyright 2011 David S Flythe

Cakes & Circuses

Cakes & Circuses

You show us what you want us to see,
not what we need to see.

You tell us what to believe,
because you think we are dunces.

You can hear what we are saying,
but dismiss us as fools.

We can see an evil rising,
only you see an ally.

We can feel the alarm bells ringing,
warning us of your deceit.

You were once relevant,
now you have become refuse.

You have become corrupt,
and you mean us no good.

© Copyright 2011 David S Flythe

An Essay: Never Lie Too Me

An Essay: Never Lie Too Me

first the (mostly) negative review, a little note the origional review was made privet by senders choice so their identity shall not revealed (unless they wish to come out by their own choice.) Also I have not changed any of their writings below;

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While the writing itself was of good quality, I was very disappointed with the story itself, which was extremely unbelievable, and read like a fairytale for small children, where we have an inexperienced 16 year old boy somehow killing an enormous magical, fire breathing dragon, not to mention various other monsters. It seemed to actually insult the mainstream fantasy genre, in which drgons are extremely formidable, and NOT something a boy can kill the first time he picks up a sword. This is exactly the kind of "dragonslayer cliche" that was satired in the film "Shrek"
where instead of being slain by a hero like in nonsensical bedtime stories, the dragon defeats countless numbers of trained knights...... because as most any adult would know, this would be the logical outcome of such a one-sided battle, which is comparable to the absurdity of a mouse trying to kill a cat. It was hard to discern if this was intended to be a serious fantasy or an attempt at a comedic satire. The dragon's stereotypical villainous "mwa ha ha" laugh certainly made me
think the latter until I continued reading.

I had the impression that you have no understanding of real human and animal capabilities, or how toactually fight with swords, for if you had, you would have known a boy with no battle experience would not be able to fight such a creature, which, with the greater reach, fiery breath and sweeping tail would have every advantage.. Claiming this story was for and audience of "13 plus" seemed a contradiction, for few people over the age of ten would take the noton seriously
of a boy killing a giant magical dragon.

While a spelling check was used, there a a number of words which are not correct for the sentences. For example, "clime" instead of "climb", disparate, instead of desperate, etc.. There are also sentences that do not make sense that seem to have words left out of them.

The story seems to have a Judao Christian religious slant, with several Biblical placenames being used, and the boys' calling on "God" to help him avenge his family. But the boy's obsession for revenge is contradictory with the Christian doctrine of forgiving your enemies. Also the boy practices magic, which the Bible also denounces. I wonder if the author is also aware that the God of the Bible is described breathing fire from his mouth, smoke from his nostrils, has great
wings and claws, hoards gold, demands lambs and calves, and is given 32 virgins in the Book of Numbers. He seems to be as much a dragon as the one in your story!

Apparently dragonslayers in this story are referred to as "Dragoons". While this may be a term used in anime and video games, in the English dictionary, this is merely a term for a type of cavalryman also trained to fight on foot as infantry. The word originated in France because the original firearms they carried were called "dragons", but has nothing to do with killing dragons.

I doubt I would read any more of this story because it is so predictable and unbelievable. The hero has already killed the dragon once, without any experience whatsoever. Can there be any doubt that he is going to kill it again? There doesn't seem to be any twists or surprises in this story and the author has turned a 16 year old boy into an indestructable superhero.

One of the talents of a good fantasy writer is to make the reader believe his story could have really happened, but it is impossible for me to do so in this case. I think you have the potential to write a good story, but it is wasted on just another unbelievable dragonslayer cliche' . Now if the story took a different direction, like having the dragon and boy having to work toether for some reason, and the boy overcoming his hatred, and realizing he could never kill the dragon in the first place, then you have the potential to have a great story people would actually be interested in reading.

Good luck with your writing in any case.

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First I wish to apologize ahead of time to anyone who feels I might be to hard on the reviewer, but as someone who was bulled in school to the point I dropped out I have learned its far better to confront an issue or problem head on then to avoid it.

First I want to point out something, this line he wrote; “ I wonder if the author is also aware that the God of the Bible is described breathing fire from his mouth, smoke from his nostrils, has great wings and claws, hoards gold, demands lambs and calves, and is given 32 virgins in the Book of Numbers. He seems to be as much a dragon as the one in your story!”

I also Wonder if this author is aware HE JUST LIED! Never lie to me in a review especially when it is my holy book because I will check, and I will check the text surrounding it (as you will see below) and if you lie to me I will respond and in full force. I ran a blog for awhile and I always check everything I posted (at least to the facts issue) and what people said in response. When you lie about one thing I and others are free to take every thing you wrote and throw it OUT! The first red flag for me if he didn’t include the particular verses that would prove his point, I’ll give a great example.

By the way I want to apologize ahead of time if anyone doesn’t care to read about a debate on Christian doctrine, but if you fire on a battleship when you’re a frigate expect to be sunk!

Take this line for example “But the boy's obsession for revenge is contradictory with the Christian doctrine of forgiving your enemies.” my simple comeback is this Luke 22:35-37 35. And he said unto them, When I sent you without purse, and scrip, and shoes, lacked ye any thing? And they said, Nothing. 36. Then said he unto them, But now, he that hath a purse, let him take it, and likewise his scrip: and he that hath no sword, let him sell his garment, and buy one. 37. For I say unto you, that this that is written must yet be accomplished in me, And he was
reckoned among the transgressors: for the things concerning me have an end. Wait what’s that? “and he that hath no sword, let him sell his garment, and buy one.” I am sure your head is spinning let me explain using a little recent history, I think the Holocaust will work. If someone is trying to kill you, you have the right of self defense. Its a little hard to forgive someone when you're dead.

When Christ was talking about the often off quoted live by the sword die by the sword here is the full passage in context, Matthew 26:51-54 by the way note verses 53 & 54. 51. And, behold, one of them which were with Jesus stretched out his hand, and drew his sword, and struck a servant of the high priest's, and smote off his ear. 52. Then said Jesus unto him, Put up again thy sword into his place: for all they that take the sword shall perish with the sword. 53. Thinkest thou that
I cannot now pray to my Father, and he shall presently give me more than twelve legions of angels? 54. But how then shall the scriptures be fulfilled, that thus it must be?

Oh and as to the “Also the boy practices magic, which the Bible also denounces.” Have you heard the phrase “artistic license?” You think I didn’t already know that? By your standard I’m sure you think J.R.R. Tolkien and C.S. Lewis were hypocrites too. Particularly Tolkien who created an entire creation story for his stories.

Oh and on hypocrites I want to do it again, Matthew 7:1-5, 1. Judge not, that ye be not judged. 2. For with what judgment ye judge, ye shall be judged: and with what measure ye mete, it shall be measured to you again. 3. And why beholdest thou the mote that is in thy brother's eye, but considerest not the beam that is in thine own eye? 4. Or how wilt thou say to thy brother, Let me pull out the mote out of thine eye; and, behold, a beam is in thine own eye? 5. Thou hypocrite, first cast out the beam out of thine own eye; and then shalt thou see clearly to cast out the mote out of thy brother's eye.

Also you seem to think I am writing the dragon as a pure magical creature. There is a phrase on assumption. If you wish to place the dragon as a god fine, but as the above states I am free to judge you at the same level. I just won't at least not on this point.

As to this “Apparently dragonslayers in this story are referred to as "Dragoons". While this may be a term used in anime and video games, in the English dictionary, this is merely a term for a type of cavalryman also trained to fight on foot as infantry. The word originated in France because the original firearms they carried were called "dragons", but has nothing to do with killing dragons.” My style is to develop a world and story that doesn’t necessitate the use of the historical context ours does. If you have a problem with that then just say so. The fact that I call the story “The Dragoons of Solomus” should tell you it doesn’t happen on Earth. And while we are on the subject of original meaning why didn't you look up Orochi? After all why would the dragoon in the beginning be called dragoon of Orochi, which is a legendary 8-headed and 8-tailed Japanese dragon. Wait could I possibly have something up my sleeve? Yes, yes I do.

Lastly I don’t mind the first to third, the sixth or part of the seventh paragraphs they are legitimate opinions and I respect that, just do not insult me and expect me not to respond. And just to be honest I don’t think you will ever find my stuff interesting because I am coming at my writings and worlds from one direction, while yours are from a totally different one, and that is not bad. But just as matter and antimatter can not meet with out destroying each other, it becomes an issue when you would seek to destroy the way I look at things. I will not review your stuff, because I have nothing positive to say other then your work is well done, but outside of that I come back to my first point you lied to me, and that I can not nor will I ever respect. I thank you for the kind words that you did give me, but you negated any help they may have had with point number one.

If any one wishes to comment on this please fell free to do so, I don't mind hearing what others think on this or my points. I will not attack anyone for having a different opinion.

Woman Builds Home From Airplane

Sometimes you want to do things but you just don't get the chance to, until I can finish some posts for this blog here is something for writing inspiration while I work on other posts.

A woman has built her home from a retired 747 jet, this would be good inspiration for a several types of fiction, especially the post-apocalyptic types.



It will be interesting to see it when it is finished.

by The Guardian of Worlds.

My Star Systems/Solar Systems and Notes

While in most fiction it is not necessary to create/compose a star system for a world in fiction it can add to its realism. For example take the ancient knowledge of the planets Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter, and Saturn this knowledge can be used and play in the language, beliefs, time, and many other things, things like the Antikthera Mechanism. And this knowledge can fit in a setting from the ancient world to the Medieval to Renaissance period or a setting with a culturally advanced civilization. Of course such knowledge in most science fiction is almost mandatory.

As to the make up of such star systems, you will notice the ones I have composed follow a pattern mimicking Earth’s, this is intended. I have my own theory on the importance of a star systems make up and life, as a Christian I see patterns that get my gears turning. With all the star systems being detected with Hot Jupiters this leads me to a theory, Earths Solar System seems unusually suitable, for example recent evidence suggests that Jupiter, and possibly Saturn, may play a roll in protecting Earth from strikes from asteroids, comets, and meteors. This would place the need for an alien world that supports life to have a star system similar to Earth’s or similar in function, but not identical.

One last creative example to help one, you can also be creative in an alien star system, while I did not use this one could put together a dual star system, one with two stars. One like our sun and a similar or smaller star along the lines of a Dwarf that could act as Jupiter would.

by The Guardian of Worlds.

Personal Thoughts - The Terraforming of Venus

Note: About half of this was written two months ago, 3/12/2010.

This isn't related to any of my writings, but it is a small related to one I read the other day the idea of terraforming Venus, first I'm going to start with some Venusian facts,

Journal Entry - May 11, 2010

Well two months ago I "thought" I would have more time to work on this blog, but others in my personal life just keep pestering me, and the worst thing about it is no matter how much I tell them that they aren't helping me by being a constant pest they just won't quit. And incase you're curious they want me to get things done, and when I do something it's not enough for them, at this point strangers are kinder to me then them, also they are not a partner/spouse kind of thing.

Anyway I will be trying to work on this and my writings when I can.

by The Guardian of Worlds.