A/N: ...can anyone see this?
Updating a lot of things today, not sure if all the notifications are going through.
Endless Hunt, and a One Piece story should be ready relatively soon, alongside Lord of Frenzy and the rest. Slifer's working on Strings.
What is with this guy and giving me Archie requests, yeesh...still, I'm a man of my word.
With my fifteen year anniversary on this site here, I find myself reflecting on the little things in life. What was once a lazy pastime meant for me and a few friends really grew and evolved over time. There are days when I look back on the last fifteen years here and I wonder if anyone will remember me; if I made an impact, despite never making a single cent on any of these stories. Some days were happier than others, and some stories I enjoyed writing WAY too much; to the point where I'd stay up all night working on them.
And of course, there are times when I look to the future and wonder what will become of things when I'm gone.
Of course, I try not to dwell on the latter overmuch; I'm still alive and still writing. In an ideal world, I'd like to keep doing so for as long as I can. But old age is catching up to me and these days, the world is filled with so much madness and death. The recent earthquake in Turkey/Syria serves as a terrible example. Even before that, so many friends and fellow writers I once knew are gone, now. Will I still be here in twenty years? Ten? Five? Its a chilling thought. But for now, I'm still here, still writing.
As ever, I own no quotes, references, quotes, themes or memes! They're simply tributes to legends far greater than I.
I'm just an old man who writes as a pastime. And this is an excerpt from a story not published yet.
Care to guess which one?
"Every mortal has one. A breaking point.
After all, many are able to bend.
But a choice few...
...very few...
...break."
~?
Surpass Your Limits
Hammer met flesh.
The latter yielded with a grunt.
Its owner crumpled to the ground.
A foot stomped down on his head, trapping him there.
"You are beaten." Radagon rumbled. "It is useless to resist. You, mortal, have reached your limit."
Radagon expected many things from the wounded young man kneeling before him. Sadness and sorrow. Anger and pleading. Bargaining at the very least. So many pleaded with their lives when faced with his hammer. It was the way of things. He had come to accept it. This was his penance. To remain in the Erdtree for the rest of his days, making certain no one could reach Marika, and by definition, the Elden Ring within. He had fought many warriors, each seeking to possess it. All had fallen. All had begged, before their end.
.
..
...this one did not.
"Limit?" he rasped the word, glaring up at him. "You think I've hit my limit? You hurt my people, kill my friends, and think THIS is my limit?"
Radagon stomped down, burying his face in the bark of the tree. "Did I stutter, mortal?"
He expected an outburst then, anticipated it even, hoisting his hammer high.
Even then, he wasn't prepared for the laughter-no, that was a cackle.
"Why do you laugh?"
"Because you're wrong." Blue eyes glared up at him where he lay, slowly shimmering into slitted, bestial red. "Dead wrong. In fact," his voice began to warp, almost as though another were speaking through him, no, not through him, but within him. "I've just found my second wind."
Something annihilated Radagon's foot.
He staggered back with a startled snarl, yowling in pain as he regarded the crumbling stump of his right ankle. He was still staring at it when golden knuckles found his chin. Neck. Torso now. Three powerful punches, all in a single heartbeat. He saw not a single one. Instead he crashed backward and momentum sank its teeth into him, sending him skidding across the base of the Erdtree, unable to correct his trajectory. All the world was a blur, he couldn't think, couldn't see...!
"LIMIT?!" A hand closed around his face as he tumbled and summarily smashed him down into the bark, rendering his face intimate with the Erdtree in a way even he didn't desire. "I've got your "limit" right here big guy! Its gonna be everything you asked for and more!"
Golden fingers clenched around his skull and ground his face into the tree..
Then he ran, dragging
Radagon was sure he screamed, sure he cried out as half his ruined face melted beneath the friction. He wasn't sure. There was only pain.
Abruptly, the berserk blond flung him away.
Radagon righted himself, prepared for another attack. It never came.
"Stay right there! Don't move an inch! I'll show you just how LIMITED you are!"
An awful crack shook the Erdtree, rattling it from top to bottom. That was his first, and only warning.
Then the one calling himself "Naruto" was gone. A streak of gold shot past, so bright it burned his eyes. It smashed through the study bark of the Erdtree and vanished, hurtling across the burning ashen capital that was Leyndell-nay, even further beyond now. He couldn't see him anymore, even with his godly vision. He stumbled, clutched at his ruined visage. Were Marika still cognizant, she might've laughed at him. But her mind had gone long ago, and he was alone in his torment.
What manner of madness this?!
How had the mortal moved so quickly?!
Where had he gone and how could he catch up to him?!
"You can't." For once, the Elden Beast within him answered. "He's raced to the edge of the Lands Between." A pause, now, and it almost sounded awed, starstruck, like some lovelorn maiden. "He's coming back. It would appear you were unworthy after all. I have found a far worthier vessel. He shall carry me into the future and worlds beyond. Not thee."
Something wrenched, deep within Radagon's chest. He felt it. The moment his god forsook him.
"No...!" he cried out! You can't bind yourself to him!"
"I can, and I shall. Fare thee well, failure.
Golden light filled his vision.
Radagon blinked and beheld his death.
It came for him, eyes wide, teeth bared in a snarl, fist thundering forward.
There was nothing he could do. His last thoughts were of his dear Rennala. "Oh, my moon and stars...
Naruto struck him like a hurricane, a falling star made flesh, like destined death itself. Clenched knuckles barreled into the misshapen mass of his face. The world went black then white, then black again. There was no pain. Destruction was certain. Perhaps that was a blessing. His body shattered as the unholy force that struck him raced past. In that moment the Elden Ring latched onto his chest, leaving him, Marika, and the all they had ever made together...to be destroyed. Oblivion was instant and complete; utter annihilation made manifest.
All this, occurred in a moment. A sliver of time. An instant.
"Ha!" some of the last words he heard rang with exultant laughter. "How's that for my limit?!"
Radagon thought it was terrifying. In his hubris, he had unleashed a monster.
Reality itself would crumble. Chaos would rule. All hope of Order was lost.
All. Because. Of him. Oh, how Marika would laugh if she lived!
"And speaking of limits...
A hand caught Radagon's tumbling hammer out the air as time reasserted itself. Hefted his new weapon now, considering it as one might a fine jewel. Whiskered cheeks dimpled in a merry grin as he pivoted to regard his crumbling face. That was all that remained. A crumbling, hollowed out skull clinging to the last dying dregs of life. He could barely see him now; see the Elden Ring burning on his chest. Everything was going dark. All the colors of the world faded to dull, drab grey and with it, his thoughts began to unravel. In a matter of moments he would cease to exist. Here at last, in his final seconds, he felt fear at last.
'No!' his mind bleated words he could no longer speak. 'Not like this. No, no!'
...seems you've reached yours."
Hammer down.
'NononoNO-
Darkness.
A/N: Aaand scene.
Hope you enjoyed the hint at the multiverse I'm making.
Once more, we're sticking with the "Embers" rule for this particular tidbit, and others. If folks don't like this, it won't be continued. Meaning that if the story itself ain't popular? POOF! Gone. Completely. I'm working two jobs -might need a third soon!- so I barely have time to write; as such, I cannot afford to write something folks don't enjoy. So by all means, speak up! Your voice matters! Make yourself heard!
As ever, reviews are the fuel that sustain me. Without them I cannot write a single word. Simple as that. Working nearly all hours of the day keep me absurdly busy, as such, I can't bring myself to write something folks don't like.
Aaaand there we go. As ever, reviews keep me alive. Without them, I cannot write. So...in the Immortal Words of Atlas...
...Review...Would You Kindly?
Bit of a switch up for previews this time. I did hint at a multiverse...
(Previews)
"So this is what it feels like." he considered his shining hands. "Being a god."
All this power. The ability to unmake reality itself. It was a lonely feeling.
He couldn't accept this loneliness. No. He wouldn't accept it.
With one hand he reached out, grasped the air...
...and other realities opened.
You just gonna stand there menacingly.
He inhaled deeply through his nose.
"No. No, I am not."
One step. That was all they saw.
Right before a hand closed around his throat.
"Listen, you little shit. If she doesn't wake up by the time I'm done with your pals...I'll make sure you won't either.
"How easily your kind break."
She interfered. I struck her down. It was my right."
EDIT: Hope this made you smile, and have a great holiday!
R&R~!