Hi!
The original Agents of Metal novels can be found here: (replace the dots and slash with actual dots and slash :))
cadaver dot github dot io slash nano dot html
background music suggestion for Chapter 1: Evanescence: Hello
Freedom, metal and might! :)
-Agent Ursa
...
Chapter 1 - Living in the Aftermath
Angst kreiert das Leyd,
der Einsamkeit,
die den Zerfall begehrt.
Leyd sei mein Begehr,
und tief im Herbst
sey mir der Tod beschehrt.
Fear creates the agony,
the loneliness,
that covets the decay.
Agony is my desire,
and deep in the fall
death was given to me.
-Nargaroth: Herbstleyd
...
The black ninja star hit right in the middle of a log. A low throbbing beat could be heard in the forest.
"You're becoming very good at this," Ian remarked.
"I've had time to practice," Jo said walking to the log and removing the shuriken.
"And Mitsuko is a good teacher."
"Did she already go to sleep?" Ian asked looking at the old pink Volkswagen van.
"I think so. She has earplugs."
Jo threw a few more rounds and then the rumbling sound suddenly stopped. Ian and Jo exchanged looks.
"You want to go this time?" Jo asked frowning.
Ian nodded.
"Don't stay too late," Jo said giving him a kiss.
The night had almost fallen. Ian could hear an eerie voice of an owl somewhere in the dark forest. For a moment he also had an irrational thought of a large spider appearing but he quickly snapped out of it. It wasn't a long walk from their trailer to Erik's cabin and soon he saw the lights. He walked past the Identified Alien Craft, IAC, that was camouflaged among spruces. Yes, they were worried about Erik. It had been six months since they had returned to the States and faced the unimaginable enemy and had magically survived. And after the incident, they had started the band, Agents of Metal. Kim joined their line-up and moved in with Erik. But two months ago things had fallen apart and Kim had suddenly left. Erik hadn't told much about the break-up. He just sulked in his cabin, burning sugar cubes over way too many glasses of absinthe. Also, he shred drumsticks in the old shed they had transformed into a practice space. There was already a thick layer of sawdust around the drum set. But he wouldn't talk. Ian had often tried during the evenings they drank absinthe together but he made it clear he wouldn't say anything on the subject.
Agents of Metal still practiced, being just the three of them again. Ian had taken up bass and had quickly become very good at it but they had trouble choosing who would be the vocalist. Ian thought Jo sounded good but she preferred concentrating fully on the guitar. They had thought about searching a new vocalist but that hadn't happened yet. They hadn't played any gigs and Ian really missed that. Finally, he came to the door and knocked. He could hear through the door that Erik was listening to something loud, probably their own material. After hearing the familiar growl welcoming him in, Ian entered and found the over-man on the sofa, barely awake. The music was coming from the laptop on the table. Ian was startled when he realized what he was listening to. It wasn't Agents of Metal. Or actually, it was. It was a something they had recorded in their second HQ, one evening during Christmas, after drinking too much, so the playing wasn't very smooth. But the voice of the vocalist was unmistakable. It was definitely the grunt of his fallen comrade and BOFH Blowfish. Suddenly, Erik seemed much more alert and rose from the sofa to kill the music. Ian sat down in the armchair not quite knowing what to say. He poured himself a drink and suddenly he knew what to say.
"Just put it back on."
Erik looked at him and without saying a word he put the music back on. Finally, the song ended and there was long silence but it wasn't awkward. It was just a long silence. Ian broke it.
"To Blowfish," he said and raised his glass.
Erik raised his too.
"To Gwen," he said with a very low voice.
They drank and seemed to sink into their thoughts. Erik suddenly shook his head.
"You know…" he began.
"We once drank to your memory."
"I know," Ian nodded.
"Let's listen to some Nargaroth," Erik suddenly suggested.
Ian was definitely not going to refuse. An hour later, Ian was laying on the other sofa, they were both quite drowsy. The song they had just listened was "Herbstleyd."
"She sure was something," Ian could hear Erik mutter.
He wondered what time Erik had begun his drinking that day because he was suddenly being this open. It was probably the first thing he had said about Kim after the break-up.
"You know, it's okay to still miss her. It's been only two months."
For a long moment Erik just looked at Ian and didn't say anything and Ian just knew he was not going to continue.
...
Ian opened the door of the trailer. The lights were out but he could make his way through to the back where their bed was. Jo was snoring. He actually found the sound endearing. It was his sweet snoring angel after all. Finally Ian climbed to the bed next to her and could sense she was now awake.
"How did it go?" she asked, eyes still closed.
"Ok, I guess. We listened to some Nargaroth."
"Nargaroth?" Jo echoed the band's name with a slight surprise in her sleepy voice. Then she mumbled something about the last time he had seen Erik listening to Nargaroth, when he was mourning Ian with Blowfish.
"Good night," Jo said kissing him. She put her arm around him and quickly drifted back to sleep. There was something nagging in the back of Ian's blurry mind.
Could he have meant…?
Blowfish?
His thoughts were interrupted when Jo tightened her hold on him. Quite a lot actually. It made Ian consider perhaps Jo accidentally mistook him for a pillow. For some reason the thought seemed familiar. But he didn't think about it long though, for soon he too fell into a deep sleep.
...
After Ian had left Erik walked to his porch and sat on the stairs. Of course Ian hadn't realized his words weren't about Kim. Yes, she too was something, one hell of a woman, Erik thought. But he just knew she did not miss him, at all, and if he was honest with himself, he didn't miss her either, in that way. In the end it had been her misanthropy that had come between them. Erik looked at the cosmic blanket above him and sighed. The stars were extremely visible due to the lack of light pollution. A few weeks ago it had been Spring Equinox again and a year had passed...Those long nights after the Nibiru mission Erik had sat there a lot, on those stairs, and thought of Gwen burning inside the planet's core. He wasn't sure whether was it a curse or a blessing that he hadn't been there. Could he have made a difference? Would he have only witnessed her death? Later, the next summer as they watched the Ka burn, he couldn't help still thinking about her. Of course he was relieved that Jo had returned to her old self and happy that she and Ian had reconnected but it still hurt. Badly. It was true he had known Gwen for barely three months and most of that time they had been busy saving the world. But they had formed a bond and he had wished it could have been more.
After victory or death.
That's what he had said to her. He remembered how he had gently touched her ear, the part he had once shot through. And as the memory passed through his mind, a part of him still somehow refused to believe it. That it would actually be...death.
...