Ranger's Roundhouse

[Ranger of the North]

Original post here

The third fragment — Zappy

xxxxxHe is the glue, the cement, the barnacle. He will not let go and he will not give up and he will hold them together with claws that tear and teeth that snap and words that fray and a heart that bleeds. He is stubborn, he is love beating strong through the pain, he is hurting and he is healing.
xxxxxShe was his sister and he will not forget.

[Ranger of the North]

Original post here

The fourth fragment — Snow-fang

xxxxxInnocence purer than a new-bloomed lily graced the claws that would have been stained with thoughts of blood and violence. She was the baby, the comforter. Love was the gift she gave and the gift she received. She was the gurgling laughter on a ticklish afternoon, and she was the light that kept the darkness from her family’s hearts and eyes. Love was her legacy and mischief its companion.

[Ranger of the North]

Original post here

Stars

xxxxxWhen he was small and his eyes were large and he soaked up the beauty of the world like a sponge soaks water, he saw the stars. They were insubstantial — pictures — ink on shattered wood — but they gleamed with an otherworldly beauty that entranced and enthralled him, capturing his imagination and taking off on silver wings of radiance and stardust.
xxxxxThey shone and he loved.
xxxxxHe looked at the world around him, and it danced with every colour imaginable and every colour not. Millions of pale scales shone with potential, and two dark eyes shone with adoration.
xxxxxOne day, he would join them — one day he would eclipse them! — one day, when he was big and strong, he would fly up — up — up! — and take his place amongst the very brightest of the stars. He would be the most beautiful of them all, and his name would be on everyone’s tongues. Sparkle.
xxxxxOne day, he woke up with darkness clinging to the edge of his scales like some foul demon from a nightmare and his heart thundered in his chest and his breath shuddered in his throat and tears of terror stung at his eyes. But there was still hope; the night sky shines, doesn’t it?
xxxxxOne day, he was the darkest of dragons. The dullest. The ugliest. Laughter chased him down the halls with mocking wings, faster than he could ever hope to outrun, and the shadow of loss in his heart grew.
xxxxxOne day he snapped, and he slashed another dragon’s face, and for a shocking instant the jeering stopped. It felt good.
xxxxxThat night, he cried himself to sleep.
xxxxxHe was hurt and he was lost and he was dark in a world of light beauty, and in a world of companions he was alone.

[Krenko]

I think Sparkle needs a hug, *hugs*.

Your writing is so captivating, I love it. XD

[TheSongOfTheStars]

These fragments are making me sad

[Ranger of the North]

I think Sparkle needs a hug, *hugs*.

Your writing is so captivating, I love it. XD

Ikr! I kinda feel bad for him now, *oops* XD:

Aw, thanks so much, dude!! <3

These fragments are making me sad

Aw... I keep meaning for them to finish more cheerful, but happy is hard XD:

[TheSongOfTheStars]

I know, I know, it's the same for me too

[Ranger of the North]

I know, I know, it's the same for me too

Ahahaha xD Ah, the woes of a writer XD

[Ranger of the North]

The prompt for this was: flash-fiction that contains dialogue between good and bad. Completed 29/03/18

xxxxx“So.” Rosalie’s voice echoed like thunder from throne to wall and back again, beating persistently against her ears. “Once more you disrupt the peace with bloodlust and dissent. By rights I should kill you, Ronan.”
xxxxx“I’d expect that of you,” he snarled back, spitting derisively. Rosalie ignored the blood — ignored the nightmares it threatened to drag back — and forced her mind back to the present.
xxxxx“What else can I do?” she demanded frustratedly. “You continue to attack my home, insist on evoking fear in the hearts of my people, and your rebels will not stop spreading death and destruction! What else do you seriously expect?”
xxxxxFurious, Rosalie sprang to her feet, forestalling his response with a trembling, accusatory finger.
xxxxx“I spared your life once, Ronan. Do not repay me with deaths. My patience, and that of my people, is running out.”
xxxxxUndaunted, the prisoner straightened. “I’d rather die than submit to you,” he declared calmly, and it hit like a punch to the gut.
xxxxxWith short, trembling breaths she sank back down.
xxxxx“What —” It came out a strangled gasp. The room swirled and she clenched her teeth, forcing the hot ocean of tears back. “But why?”
xxxxx“Because good always wins in the end.”
xxxxxRosie’s thoughts were a thrashing serpent beating against the walls of her mind — of course, what does he mean — that’s why I won — does he finally understand? For the briefest of moments, her heart sang for joy, then abruptly plummeted down to the very toes of her boots.
xxxxxStaring into his cold, implacable eyes, she at last understood.
xxxxx“Leave us,” she snapped to the assembled guards — so easily forgotten — and the armoured men dutifully filed out.
xxxxxAn awful, endless silence infused the air with poison. Rosalie’s throat throbbed, and she resolutely swallowed the pain away before speaking.
xxxxx“Ronan, please,” she began at last, and his face twitched with undisguised hatred. The swollen ache increased tenfold as she struggled to continue.
xxxxx“Do — you really think so little of me?” she choked out finally.
xxxxx“You are not worth the dirt on my boots.”
xxxxxShe’d expected it, really, but lurched back as if she’d been struck. “Ronan,” she begged. “Ronan, please, remember —”
xxxxx“Don’t.”
xxxxx“— our brother.”
xxxxx“You think I don’t?” he growled furiously. “You think I could ever forget? No, but I forgave, Rosie.” Ronan shook his fettered fists, chains clanging like a death-toll. “Hatred has distorted you — I don't recognise you anymore.” His face twisted with grief.
xxxxx“You — forgave?” Rosalie’s quiet words shattered the silence like glass. Pain and shock. Pain and shock. Ronan, her only brother left, was slipping away just as surely as the first. “Then how am I worth less than the dung on your heels?” Her eyes shone star-bright with tears.
xxxxx“Denny didn’t have to die, Ronan,” she continued bitterly, heart lurching at the sound of that once-familiar name. “We did all we could, we begged for help — don’t you remember?” A harsh sob bubbled from her throat. “They were rich, and they ignored — everything.”
xxxxxRosalie sucked in a long, shuddering breath to steady herself. “They were not worthy of their positions, and I replaced them.”
xxxxxLips trembling, head bowed with the weight of his grief, Ronan answered softly, “You never — understood — Rosie. It was me.”
xxxxxHer breath caught.
xxxxx“It was me, I should have tried harder — I could have found more work. I didn’t need to eat. Denny did, but I took it anyway. And you —” A harsh, wrenching sob tore from Ronan’s chest, and he buried his face in his hands.
xxxxxRosalie groaned softly; tears filled her palm like liquid silver.
xxxxxWas this her brother?
xxxxxWhat had she done?
xxxxxExcept... it wasn’t her, was it? Again and again, in a never-ending wheel of pain and darkness, her grief lead straight to the former king and queen. It wasn’t Ronan’s fault — those bastards. Face hardening, she rose to her feet and leapt down the steps of her throne.
xxxxx“Guards!”
xxxxxGently, she raised Ronan’s chin, hollow eyes mirroring his own. “Don’t worry, brother; it’ll be alright,” she reassured him, trying to smile. “I’ll do things right. No more children starving to death — and no more war.” Her voice hardened suddenly, and dread flashed across his face.
xxxxx“You’re not in your right mind,” Rosalie continued eagerly, “but I can help! I’ll extinguish this rebellion of yours and we’ll be together again, just like old times — I’m queen, I can make it work!”
xxxxx“Rosalie, no — you can’t —”
xxxxx“I can.” She turned her back, irritated. “Guards, lock him in the Eastern Tower. Execute his companions.”
xxxxx“Rosalie — Rosie — Rosalie, no — please, no — no! Rosalie! Rosalie, please, DON’T —”
xxxxxHis cries cut off abruptly as the doors boomed shut. Rosalie swallowed, hard. Grief had driven him mad, but the screams...
xxxxxShaking her head firmly, she ascended the stairs to her throne and sat with an air of finality. She was queen, and she must be strong.
xxxxxLet the Era of Purification begin.

[TheSongOfTheStars]

There's nothing worse than a villain who fully believes they're doing the right thing