Useless Attempt, the novel

First of all... I've never released anything of this to anything public. I've shown a few friends to get some critisisms, but that's about it. This story is based on an anime my girlfriend and I are doing together. Also, we want to get the RP forum of UA back in action, so I might ask for an affiliation. If anyone's interested, PM me. It's about non-stereotypical demons, if you catch my drift. This section of the story is about 1/3rd of the way through the first half. Also, the first part may seem to be a little immature in development. Partly because Xais is 9 years old and most of it is his thoughts. The other reason is because I need to develop some of the fight scenes in it. Anyway, sorry to keep you waiting...




Finally, She’s giving me the break I deserve. A real mission! I won’t have to hunt down runaways anymore!

Xais stands just outside the cave entrance of Nuiza, the Ice underground. Located on the foothills of the Anu-Masu Mountains, small sections of forest dot the landscape. As Senre debriefs the small cluster of Ice demons that will be joining them, Xais crosses his arms in the moonlight. None of them wants to be here with me. They fear me. Everything does. The reeking stench of their quivering fills the air. Tonight I will give them something to truly fear. They will be fed no more rumors. Instead, they will start them. I will show the Ice clan my horrible power. The Reds will burn.

Senre glides over to Xais, complete arrogance signatures her step. “Fear not, my son. You will not screw up tonight. I can promise you that.” A grin splits Senre’s face, implying something.

And to my reply, “I fear nothing,” she giggled like a child.

Senre strides between Xais and the faction of soldiers. “We fly.” She raises her hand as if giving signals to a pet. Gusts of wind tear through the trees, branches flailing about. The soldiers follow Xais, who follows Senre. The cave returns to silence, bathed in moonlight.

Catching up to Senre, Xais asks, “Mother, what is the plan tonight?”

“The princess-to-be is staying at an inn in Ji’ia. We are to intercept them in the night and tear through the place. No one is to remain alive.”

“Do you have any helpful descriptions?”

“Do you need someone to hold your hand, Son? Kill. That’s all I want of you.”

Xais returns to the middle of the group, pouting somewhat at the insult. I may be nine years old, but that’s plenty old to be fighting! Besides, it is not like I have not proved my worth already.

Lights to the left indicate Kaddra, the capital of Terscha, home of the Royal family. The city itself radiates southward from the palace. Three divisions separate the city; the merchant quarter, the housing district, and the corporation center. A large street able to hold more than a dozen demons shoulder to shoulder separates each sector. Kaddra also houses the majority of the human population on the continent.

As Xais took the time to remember and rue the day the humans came, Ji’ia began to rise above the horizon. Ji’ia is known for their blacksmiths and fighters. Considered superior to training elsewhere, many old swordsmen offer advice and a few teach classes. Most business takes place on the main street, which is as wide as the three in Kaddra. During the day, the sky is fogged with forge fires and the air is filled with hawkers’ cries. During the night, pubs and taverns fill to bursting. The light from the numerous inns overwhelm the streets.

As they neared the cities center, they landed. Senre stepped down beside Xais while the other demons located themselves on the other sides of the building. Senre pulls something from her pouch and whispers to Xais, “I suggest covering your face after I throw this. Once the area clears, reek of havoc and make me proud.”

Xais, preoccupied with his thoughts, keeps to himself as Senre tosses a bomb. Almost falling at the sound of the explosion, Xais throws his arms over his head as half the second floor flies over him. Wood sprays everywhere, and the smell of blood fills Xais’s head, driving him to a frenzy. Leaping to the second floor through the missing wall, he severs anything that gets in his way. Body parts of soldiers lay strewn about the inn, fire fills doorways and smoke billows from the roof. As Xais finishes bisecting a servant, he reaches a doorway covered in fire. He glances in the room and freezes. A glimmer of light reflects off a pair of golden eyes. Those eyes…

Snapping back to reality as the doorway collapses, Xais stalks down the hallway to the first floor avoiding any fire that might cause him burns. Exiting through the main entry, he looks around and notices only one-third of the party remains. By the looks of the remaining soldiers, Xais assumes he was the one that killed them, and shrugs it off along with ash and rubble. Shaking remains of the inn from his hair, something makes his glance at the roof of the inn. As long as Mother doesn’t look up there, I should be safe. But those eyes…

On a silent flight back home, Xais struggles with himself internally. Uncertain with this foreign feeling, he ponders, If this poking and prodding doesn’t stop, I’ll have to dig it out with a blade. Three sleepless days pass before Senre walks into Xais’s bedroom with a very unhappy expression on her face.

Part 1
Inside the torture cell, Xais, half-naked and weaponless, is shackled facing a wall. His arms suspend him from above, legs constrained below. The cell itself welcomes no light, and little sound apart from the dripping of... something from the previous visitor.

Failure. According to Mother, failure is a single step below love in the list of sins. Brute force destroyed me that day, but force is supposed to be held high, supposed to be something we strive for… and die for.

Xais shakes his head in the blackness.

Maybe Mother has had it wrong. No... I should not be thinking blasphemy. I am the son of a goddess, not a deserting soldier; but those eyes still call to me from within the fire. They taunt me, berate my mind, forcing me to survive when I would wish nothing more than to give in. I know what Mother plans to do with me for my failure. I will not like it.

As if summoned by his thoughts, the cell door opens with a shred of moonlight and Senre, with two guards, walk into the room ahead of an Ice demon adorning a black helmet. With the visor down, the only thing penetrating that gleaming blackness is a pair of sharp cobalt eyes.

Senre steps forward, watching the back of Xais’s head. “I hate to do this to you, Xais. Well... maybe not so much. You will not die this night, for I will need you in the future; however, do not think I have run out of ideas for your punishment.” Stepping back, she motions the demon in the black helmet forward.

The salondi begins working on Xais’ wings by taking out a needle and thick wire, slowly stitching the wings inside Xais’ flesh.

A malicious grin spreads across Senre’s lips, teeth gleaming in the moonlight shed through the doorway, “Scream for me. Let me hear your pain. Let me bask in the glory of your agony!” Her laughter echoes through the cell, into the night.

Shortly after the stitching finishes, the salondi fetches a metal staff, the end nearly molten. Through the burning and hissing, screams tear through the smoke rising from Xais’s back. Senre giggles relentlessly as if she herself is having the best time of her life. A second salondi enters and releases Xais’ bonds, letting him drop to the floor. With soiled bandages obviously used more than once, the salondi wraps Xais’ middle. The cell door slams shut, cutting off the moonlight. Xais is alone once more.

Part 2
The darkness. Oh, the darkness. I can feel it pulsing through me, my pain. Glorious pain, how I missed thee. Thy sting and thy shock mean little to me anymore. Darkness consumes my soul, the ice of my existence freezes in my veins. However I twist, however I turn, claw, or batter, this agony in my chest never ceases. The darkest of sins, the darkest of my own existence.... What have I done?

As Xais lies prostrate in his cell, cut off from light and life, his hands roam the cement floor around him. He cares little for what were once his wings. He never needed them to move and always believed them to be a hindrance, rather than something helpful. Remembering a comment his mother made, Xais sits up with much effort, groaning softly in the blackness. The only other sound is the drip… drip… drip.

Wiping slime and goo from his hands onto what is left of his pants, Xais performs a small meditation, grasping the magical essence within himself. A few glimmers appear behind his eyelids; each of these is a magical energy he can reach. The more easily reached, the brighter the star. One such star holds a very faint glimmer. Try as he might, it keeps slipping form his grasp. Ice demons do not have a natural ability to wield wind magic in large sums. However, powerful Ice mages have often baffled other Ice demons by making themselves float in the skies. Believed to be pure fantasy now, since few Ice demons carry more than the sword, Xais still tries his hand at retrieving a small amount of this power.

Too slippery... my fingers cannot hold onto it. The light calls me, beckons me, shows me what it is capable of. The incessant taunting will drive me mad before the pain that drives my ambitions. I must have this power. My life, my existence, is to impress Mother. How I long to feel that smile of satisfaction... “Ah, my son, how I am proud.”

There! I almost had it.... One more try and....

Pulsing with his newfound power, Xais finally awakens from his mental sleep to hear latches being worked on the other side of the cell door. Light floods into the room as three beings saunter in, one of them with the grace and embodiment of arrogance.

Senre and two soldiers walk up to Xais. Senre’s frown deepens when she notices Xais not having his wings back. With a gruff hand motion, one of the other Ice demons grabs Xais by the shoulders and lifts him up. Opening his eyes, Xais trusts a hand at the throat of the Ice demon, and the demon’s eyes bulge in his head. A rustle of wind enters the cell as the soldier’s armor starts acquiring scratches from an invisible source. The scratches deepen and spread. Now clanging, the metal splits apart and pieces start falling to the ground. Despite Xais’s grip, gurgled screams escape the lips of the demon as slashes reach flesh. Blood sprays the left and right walls, innards spill onto the cell floor and the demon hangs lifeless from a firm hand. Dropping the body and himself, Xais falls to his knees, panting. Critters already find their way into the pile of organs and juices to feast.

Senre stands alone, the other demon having run off long ago. A grim smile crosses her lips. “Well done, my son. I have work for you.”

>.>
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...Comments and crits welcome :lol:

Maybe I should Have added a few things in the beginning as explination... I'm just used to conversing with people that have known about this for a really long time. Useless Attempt is a story about two demon lovers, one fire and one ice. During the majority of the time after humans found the realm (the imporatnt history is between 2000-5000 years to present) the fire clan has ruled the continent that houses the "demons." The ice clan, having held a major grudge since the human "invasion," has quietly built a massive army to take down the fire clan and rule the continent for themselves. This is where UA begins. Xais, the son of Senre, queen of the ice clan, is born. Lifa, daughter of the fire throne, is born shortly after. The story follows both their experiences, till one fated day the two meet. The world is changed forever, both demon and human. Sorry, not giving much away yet ;)

On a side note, this is where the forum will be picking up. As time progresses, news papers will release happenings in Terscha (the continent) which might include some major plot events. So basically, when we start the UA RPG forum, you will be playing in a movie that will be released. More information when we get things settled in. Also, we will be looking for mods and admins. I'm not taking any yet, but keeping an eye out for good people.

Thanks for reading.

Hehe, Yeeeeeeeeeeeah.... Thanks. I'll fix it.

I'll post another section of the story when I can steal the other computer away from my girlfriend.