Quote:"Of what relevance is this?" the young man hollered, slamming a stack of documents upon his desk, both echoing in unison across his vast office. The white glossy floors harshly reflected the light and the structures of the metropolis that surrounded him through his large windows, as if it were goading his purported importance and power.

"Sir, as you will see, R&D lab 17 has achieved some surprising results in their metaphysical studies. There appears to be a notable anomaly in our experimentation and..."

The young man abruptly jumped from his chair and walked around his overtly-large, neo-traditionalist desk with a ghastly stare in his eyes, nearly lunging towards the standing worker before him. Contempt and rage rose within him. He stared the technician down from his wrinkled complexion, well-groomed sideburns to the stark utilitarian white garb considered the company uniform. He glanced at his nametag:

"Hammond, it's been made clear that I don't want to hear about this religious s***! It stays in your department and goes to only those who need to know! I don't want anything to do with it."

"Mr. Gregor, we are aware of your sensibilities but this time it's different. Dianne, please bring in the prototype."

Gregor stumbled: "Whoa whoa, wait a minute. What the f*** are you bringing in my office!? Stop, please, stop!"

"Sir, she is only going to show our work. We need your recognition for next month's asset report. It's not like the high-black magic we were dealing with in last quarter. We have already quarantined and terminated that part of the building, as requested. This is merely technology. Metaphysical but technology, not demons. Dianne, please come in. Don't be concerned. Mr. Gregor is just nervous, understandably so."

A frail old woman in dated cat-eye glasses continued pushing a large steel cart into the office, with an object draped in a white heavy plastic covering on top.

Gregor began to sweat and tremble, his hands spasming: "Hammond, I can't take anymore of the shenanigans. We are supposed to be a technology company, not Hogwarts. I still have nightmares about that thing... that crawled in here."

"Sir, that was merely an artificial mass. It could never..."

"I do not give a damn! Artificial mass, free-floating dark matter, whatever. I am sick of it leaking all over the building. You said your department and projects would be properly kept in place! It's beyond me how higher-up keeps you funded! If the government recognized this religious s***, this would be considered a hostile work environment. Turn-over is currently abysmal because of you and we already have nearly over 10% of this campus in the psychiatric ward. OSHA is up our asses and we can't explain a goddamn thing!"

"Sir, just bear with me. We are improving as we go. We'll discuss this later. Dianne, please show Mr. Gregor what we have been working on."

The old woman struggled to pull down the heavy sheet while it dragged and pulled across the object underneath. A white glistening aura was gradually unveiled...

Gregor's large blue eyes suddenly became larger. His pupils dilated: "My god, Hammond, it's beautiful."

(05-25-2013, 03:39 AM)GentleReckoning Wrote: On a scale from 1 to intense, I'd give it a 9.

(05-25-2013, 10:12 PM)Brittany Lynn Wrote: Rather convoluted. Too much detail can be distracting instead of informing. Most readers can easily create the scenes in their mind with only a skeleton of an environmental description. Just IMO.

(05-25-2013, 10:12 PM)Brittany Lynn Wrote: Rather convoluted. Too much detail can be distracting instead of informing. Most readers can easily create the scenes in their mind with only a skeleton of an environmental description. Just IMO.

Quote: “And as such, this concludes our study on the short cultural history of the ‘alvh’ kind.” Professor Zallénen closed his book. Half full of text but a long way from finished. Of course, his was the original. Many copies had already been made, though. Some of the students, priests and magisters sitting in this very room had their own re-edited versions as studies went along. Starting out as generous, but expensive copies, these works were added to by their respective scholar or pupils. Notes correcting statements or for the next exam.
However his own book, being spread as much as is, was a far throw from finished.
“Revered professor, a question please?” a young priest from Panor, it seem. Dark, almost black in hue. Somewhat but not stark contrast to the very mixed colours of AN Arum, kingdom of AN among the Eight Kingdoms.
“Yes, go right ahead, reverend...?”
“M’remel of Plainscrossing, professor. The question I have is; if what you say is true, about how elves will partake and share knowledge...”
“Alvh, reverend M’remel.” Zallénen broke in, rather sternly.
“... I’m sorry. Yes. About how the... Alvh kind and how they acknowledge or share knowledge. This must mean that the only way to truly know how they think, feel and actually learn from them, is to live like one?”
“In essence, you are correct. However, this will not simply be a question of parading south, into the engulfing South Forest and set up camp next to the closest ‘elf’ you can see.” Zallénen rolled the display and lecturing map over their Eight Kingdoms out into focus from the side of his stage. The dragon sized map itself was oil painted canvas mounted firmly in a massive and ornate frame made out of Baram trees; huge firs towering in the northern borderlands between Kiran and Inland. It stood perhaps two man heights and had a length of four men, laying down.
“We have a rough estimate of how vast the forest is to the river thanks to our elven friends who travel the trade route downstream of the enormous South Forest River. You will note I have added the elven name to the forest, Sanath Indar, at the behest of Sisil’dath e’Romveh here. Its meaning would be ‘Forest Home’, an explanatory title but also a name for them. As Flying Axe, male of the Romveh family here would also like, in his own words, ‘to be able to understand my meaning and identity in your language as well’”.
To the left an elf held up his hand in recognition, smiling wildly. Feathers tied into his hair and a full clothing made up from practically fitted leather pieces, stringed together smartly. A clearly random applause for the far travelled alvh erupted and he stood to face it smiling.
“I can tell the rest, Professor Zallénen An’Ishdar.” the way Sisil’dath said this introduced the idea that ‘professor’ was part of his name. “To know our kind you must know yourself and be with us. That is the Natural Way. Any of you who will take the challenge of life and seek the natural way can come. I tell this because to this day, none of you has yet to come and succeed.” he turned his odd posture onto the crowd while painting with his hands to the words. “The Natural Way demands total obedience or you will die. None of us will seek harm but such is the daily trivia for us that you have yet not to survive. We, however, will still seek into your lands because you lived where we could not and look!” he threw a few leaves from somewhere on his body towards the window. “You make life where there was war from magic. Our kind is in awe.”
“It is the might of AN, dear Sisil’dath, and ANs power flows through our ruling monarchs and makes our Eight Kingdoms united by his radiance.” M’remel spoke softly and fiercly. “Some day, we hope elves will see his will too”.
Sisil’dath leapt up on a chair and turned his attention to the young priest. “I do.” he simply said.
“Ambassadorial issues aside, I think I will chose to exit my lecture hall now. I hope my recent finds have been of interest and that I live long enough to come back from my upcoming expedition to mentioned forest. However long it may take”
“An honor to have you here, sir.” a noted magister said, rising. “Well wishes and AN be with you on your journey”
The rest of the crowd rose and expressed their thanks, wishes and tokens of appreciation. Some could well come in handy for professor Zallénens journey with his funder, Lord Ehvin Ryde, all the way from the Kingdom of Kiran.

Quote:smiling wildly

Quote:“You make life where there was war from magic.