Becoming Exalted

Okay, so instead of writing yesterday, I went to the gym and walked over 4 miles and did some weight training.  And I'm still exhausted!  But I put my foot to the pedal and sat down and wrote today.  In fact, I wrote 6 pages today!  6!

Four of the pages were two different scenes of two different characters and the last two pages were for my character for an upcoming tabletop game, Exalted!  I've been needing to sit down and write up the character's history.  It helps to know where the character is from and what he's gone through to make the character sheet and to be able to play him right for the game.

So yeah...6 pages!  I've decided to post up the brief history of my Exalted character.  It's so not the best writing, but its not entirely bad either.  it's not like I would really write as I was going for short and sweet.  And my short and sweet went into two pages.  Writing short pieces isn't my best skill, which is why I tend to write in novel format rather than short story format.

Anyway, enjoy!

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Once upon a time there was a pirate lord who had dark red hair and magnificent, brilliant sapphire blue eyes.  He sailed the seas in search of all the forgotten treasures and adventures that were held captive below the sea’s glassy surface.  His ship was the color of night, her hull and her sails blackened just as blackened as the man’s greed for treasure and adventure.

But his greed faded when he gazed blindly into the eyes of a mermaid.  She had black hair and beautiful green eyes.  The pirate lord begged her to join him on his ship and rule the sea alongside him, but she refused and swam away.  For years he searched for her and every time he found her, he asked her to join him.

Finally, she said yes.  They sought out together, he on his ship and she in the sea, to find a witch who claimed to be able to perform miracles.  They begged her to give the mermaid legs and she obliged, but her magic came with a price.  The lord and his mermaid would rule the seas for only twelve years and then their souls would belong to her.

They agreed and during those twelve years they had only two children, two twin boys with curly red and black hair and brilliant blue eyes.  They never told the boys what they had done.  When the time came, the pirate and his mermaid returned to the sea, leaving the ship and her crew in the hands of their twelve year old sons who did not know where their parents had gone.

Together the brothers sailed the sea for years, following in their father’s footsteps to find the world’s treasure.  One day, they were hunting for a very valuable treasure when they were attacked.  The crew and the brothers fought valiantly.

Seth, the oldest brother by only a minute, fought the most valiantly.  He pushed his crew out of harm’s way, jumped in front of them to take the hits himself.  But his fight was in vain.  They were overwhelmed and forced to flee.  Only a few crew members made it to the sandy beach, but they were soon shot down.  Seth and his brother were all that was left.

They were almost to the ship when they saw that the ship was gone.  Only its prow stuck out from the water far away as she sank into the sea.  From not far away, they could see the ship of one of their rivals.  Whatever crew had remained on the ship were now gone, claimed by the sea.

And then Seth’s twin cried out in pain.  Seth turned to find his twin tumbling to the ground, an arrow sticking out of his back.  He ran to his twin, forgetting about the savages who murdered his crew.  He pulled the arrow out and tried futilely to stop the blood from flowing freely out of his brother’s back and chest.

“Fight for us.”  Seth’s twin murmured before he took his last breath.

Covered in his twin’s blood, Seth stood to face the ones who had killed his crew and his brother.  He lifted his hand, blinded by his anger as a phoenix made of fire flew from his hand, engulfing the nearest band of enemies, but he couldn’t hit them all.  Arrows imbedded into his body one after another, but he did not stop.  He ran at them with his daggers in hand, striking, only to have more wounds inflicted on him, but still he would not back down.  Even as he dropped to his knee, on the edge of death, he pushed to his feet and he fought.

He wasn’t sure why it happened, but just as he felt the cold, icy hand of death, he saw his attackers turn and flee.  Everything went dark after that and Seth smiled, dreaming of death, but death did not come.

In the darkness, a woman stood in front of Seth.  Her hair was a brilliant shade of blue, her skin the color of ivory and her eyes the silver of the moon.  She said nothing, but gestured to a room full of doors.  There were too many to count and Seth got the feeling that he was supposed to choose only one door.  He did not know what lay behind them.

He spun around slowly, taking in each door.  They were all the same and not even labeled with numbers like most doors might have been in similar situation.  He growled in frustration.  What could lie behind these doors?  His brother?  A treasure?  A new ship?

His frustration got the better of him and all of the doors caught fire, burning completely away.  The woman looked rather amused and yet she seemed to approve.  She gestured once more to the door and Seth looked inside each to find what treasures were hidden behind them.  He found a jar of obsidian butterflies, a phoenix, a pair of twin daggers, a wolf that changed into a phoenix and then several other animals and a ghostly glowing model ship in a bottle.  The rest of the doors were empty.

He took each treasure and turned to the woman.  She studied him and then tipped her head.  She motioned to the ship in a bottle and the cork popped off.  The ghostly jade ship sailed out of the bottle.  And then it grew and grew until it became full size.

Suddenly, he and the woman stood on its deck and he was surrounded by his crew.  He smiled and looked around, peering at each face, but he was one crew member short.  He turned to the woman.

“Where is my brother?  Where is my twin?”  He asked.

She gave him a soft, sad smile and touched his chest over his heart.  Her voice sounded through his mind.

Fight for him.  She said.  Fight for all those who were lost.  Your valor may be rewarded.  Sail with your crew as you once did.  Seek your treasures and maybe you find him again.

And then she was gone.

Seth would have argued, but the vision faded and he found himself on the ghostly ship, surrounded by the spirits of his crew.  He didn’t understand what she had meant, but he knew what he had to do.   

He had to find a treasure that would bring his brother back to life and restore his crew’s life.  He couldn’t give up and any fight he came across, he could not run from.  And he also knew what he was now.  He was Exalted.