The City of Light and Fire, II
Jul. 7th, 2011 08:48 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
xuenayPart one here.
-2-
The basin had been a mold, shaping me to look roughly like a human. But I was still far from perfect.
The figures that carried me put me down on a long stone bench, and then left. There were other shapes on both sides of me, other early-stage embryos. I did not yet understand anything.
Time passed, and the lava I was made of grew more solid. My innermost parts were still hot and liquid, but I had a firm outer crust. When I had become hard enough to be worked on, the mason had me brought to him. He studied me for a long time, examining me from every direction and seeking out any imperfections. Whenever he found one, he reached for his hammer. Gradually, he shaped me into a man.
After the mason was done with me, I was taken to the clay maker. The beings carrying me were cautious, for the mason had opened holes from which my innards might spill. I don't know whether they spilled any, but when I reached the clay maker, I was still viable.
He studied my shape, and then molded a layer of lifeclay around me. It was much softer than lava was, and more sensitive to heat. The clay maker filled the pair of holes the mason had made, fashioning there eyes. Below them he made a mouth, and on their sides a pair of ears. The clay was as good in shaping heat as the walls of the towers were, if not better. It collected warmth and funnelled it deep into my core. My eyes had been made with particular care, and it now that I slowly began to see.
From the clay maker, I was carried to the edge of a great hall. They placed me next to the other infants, on a belt of heatstone close to the wall. The stone burned hot, keeping us sated. I rested there, together with the others. We watched and listened to the things happening in the hall, enjoyed the ever-shifting flows of warmth inside the stone. For a long time, we remained still.
-3-
My first actual memory is of being curled up on a heatstone. By this time, I had been moved from the great hall to a small chamber. The walls of the chamber were dark, their heat variations too subtle for me to pick up on. Later I would learn that when light-seers said something was dark, they meant a lack of light, not an even temperature. Now I only knew that it was hard for me to see. I heard the sound of dripping water, but did not know what it was. There was nobody in the chamber besides me.
I knew nothing of time, knowing only the present. Eventually I heard a door open. I raised my head, and saw a short, warm figure surrounded by the cool air of the room. From the irregularities of its heat, I would later gather that it had wrapped itself in clothing, a cloak perhaps. It walked to me and inclined its head to the side. Then it touched my leg with its forefinger. As it felt its finger push through the clay, it drew a sharp breath.
It said something in a quiet whisper, but I did not know what. This was the first time that someone spoke to me.
The sounds of its whisper found their way to my ears, and then into my core. They echoed inside me, bouncing back and forth. At times they grew louder, at times quieter. The figure stood before me and waited.
This was the first time that I noticed the cavities that had formed inside me, in my more solid parts. Some of the sounds were caught in one cavity or the other, reverberating inside me. Other sounds managed to escape, either queting down entirely, or getting caught somewhere else. In the end, almost twenty cavities had been filled, one continuous whisper broken down to many different sounds. Now I finally heard what the creature had told me.
"There is a shadow within you, child", it had whispered. "Be careful not to reveal it so easily, or it will be used against you."
The words, clear at first, began to slowly fade. They moved something within me, touched old memories that the tower had once possessed. I didn't know what those memories were, nor what the words meant, but I felt myself nod.
"I wonder whether you understood anything of what I said? No, don't answer that." There was a dry laugh. "Get up, and follow me."
This time, the speech was broken down much faster. My body obeyed the command as soon as I understood it, before I could think about what was happening. I felt my hands reach for the heatstone for support and my feet stumble for balance. My hands pushed me up. I stood on the ground, swaying a little, my balance uncertain. I no longer felt the comfort of the heatstone, and my body shivered in the cold. The one who had spoken turned and walked out, and my legs carried my body after him.
Then he struck, too fast for me to react. Suddenly I had been pushed against the wall, with a cold blade on my throat.
"You could be killed at any time." I felt my companion's gaze, saw the two warm spheres glowing in the middle of his face, close to my own. I let out a small cry of pain as he cut a scar in my throat, the blade gliding effortlessly through the clay. Then he pulled out the knife and raised it in front of my eyes. A small drop of lava was glowing on the edge of the blade.
"Remember that. You have to always stay alert, ready to defend yourself. If not..." He waved the knife. "Someone will put his mark on you."
I didn't know how to reply. Apparently he didn't expect me to. Instead, he returned the knife to his belt and took my hand. The touch was gentle.
"Come."
I obeyed.
-2-
The basin had been a mold, shaping me to look roughly like a human. But I was still far from perfect.
The figures that carried me put me down on a long stone bench, and then left. There were other shapes on both sides of me, other early-stage embryos. I did not yet understand anything.
Time passed, and the lava I was made of grew more solid. My innermost parts were still hot and liquid, but I had a firm outer crust. When I had become hard enough to be worked on, the mason had me brought to him. He studied me for a long time, examining me from every direction and seeking out any imperfections. Whenever he found one, he reached for his hammer. Gradually, he shaped me into a man.
After the mason was done with me, I was taken to the clay maker. The beings carrying me were cautious, for the mason had opened holes from which my innards might spill. I don't know whether they spilled any, but when I reached the clay maker, I was still viable.
He studied my shape, and then molded a layer of lifeclay around me. It was much softer than lava was, and more sensitive to heat. The clay maker filled the pair of holes the mason had made, fashioning there eyes. Below them he made a mouth, and on their sides a pair of ears. The clay was as good in shaping heat as the walls of the towers were, if not better. It collected warmth and funnelled it deep into my core. My eyes had been made with particular care, and it now that I slowly began to see.
From the clay maker, I was carried to the edge of a great hall. They placed me next to the other infants, on a belt of heatstone close to the wall. The stone burned hot, keeping us sated. I rested there, together with the others. We watched and listened to the things happening in the hall, enjoyed the ever-shifting flows of warmth inside the stone. For a long time, we remained still.
-3-
My first actual memory is of being curled up on a heatstone. By this time, I had been moved from the great hall to a small chamber. The walls of the chamber were dark, their heat variations too subtle for me to pick up on. Later I would learn that when light-seers said something was dark, they meant a lack of light, not an even temperature. Now I only knew that it was hard for me to see. I heard the sound of dripping water, but did not know what it was. There was nobody in the chamber besides me.
I knew nothing of time, knowing only the present. Eventually I heard a door open. I raised my head, and saw a short, warm figure surrounded by the cool air of the room. From the irregularities of its heat, I would later gather that it had wrapped itself in clothing, a cloak perhaps. It walked to me and inclined its head to the side. Then it touched my leg with its forefinger. As it felt its finger push through the clay, it drew a sharp breath.
It said something in a quiet whisper, but I did not know what. This was the first time that someone spoke to me.
The sounds of its whisper found their way to my ears, and then into my core. They echoed inside me, bouncing back and forth. At times they grew louder, at times quieter. The figure stood before me and waited.
This was the first time that I noticed the cavities that had formed inside me, in my more solid parts. Some of the sounds were caught in one cavity or the other, reverberating inside me. Other sounds managed to escape, either queting down entirely, or getting caught somewhere else. In the end, almost twenty cavities had been filled, one continuous whisper broken down to many different sounds. Now I finally heard what the creature had told me.
"There is a shadow within you, child", it had whispered. "Be careful not to reveal it so easily, or it will be used against you."
The words, clear at first, began to slowly fade. They moved something within me, touched old memories that the tower had once possessed. I didn't know what those memories were, nor what the words meant, but I felt myself nod.
"I wonder whether you understood anything of what I said? No, don't answer that." There was a dry laugh. "Get up, and follow me."
This time, the speech was broken down much faster. My body obeyed the command as soon as I understood it, before I could think about what was happening. I felt my hands reach for the heatstone for support and my feet stumble for balance. My hands pushed me up. I stood on the ground, swaying a little, my balance uncertain. I no longer felt the comfort of the heatstone, and my body shivered in the cold. The one who had spoken turned and walked out, and my legs carried my body after him.
Then he struck, too fast for me to react. Suddenly I had been pushed against the wall, with a cold blade on my throat.
"You could be killed at any time." I felt my companion's gaze, saw the two warm spheres glowing in the middle of his face, close to my own. I let out a small cry of pain as he cut a scar in my throat, the blade gliding effortlessly through the clay. Then he pulled out the knife and raised it in front of my eyes. A small drop of lava was glowing on the edge of the blade.
"Remember that. You have to always stay alert, ready to defend yourself. If not..." He waved the knife. "Someone will put his mark on you."
I didn't know how to reply. Apparently he didn't expect me to. Instead, he returned the knife to his belt and took my hand. The touch was gentle.
"Come."
I obeyed.
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no subject
Date: 2011-07-07 11:29 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-07-08 08:42 am (UTC)Expect more soon.
no subject
Date: 2011-07-08 10:10 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-07-08 07:53 pm (UTC)We'll see whether I can keep it up. So far it was easy, as I was just rewriting stuff I had previously written in Finnish, but I just ran out of the ready-written material. (Or to be more exact, I'd still have some more pages, but it's boring and doesn't really advance the story so I'm throwing it out.) Hopefully I do actually come up with something new fast enough...
no subject
Date: 2011-07-10 07:08 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-07-09 08:11 am (UTC)