![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
Mini writing study
Sep. 4th, 2001 09:25 amTwo short story extracts written about the same conceptual idea but, hopefully, giving an impression of a different time for each one without using any direct referances to what that time might be. Any guesses?
I'd post this at Elfwood, but its down at the moment...
~
Taran slowly opened his eyes and looked carefully out across the scorched remains of the tower in front of him. Wisps of smoke were curling out from the shattered windows and doors, pieces of glass and metal were scattered around the ground nearby and the once proud banner that stood atop the tower was nothing more than a charred stump.
He began to sit up from where he was laying in a prone heap amongst the rubble, his arms and legs protested by aching and burning, his nerves screaming at him that movement of any kind really wasn't a good idea. His chest ached. His head hurt. His back felt like it had been crushed.
There was a low grumbling crack from the tower and several larger pieces of masonry slowly, almost lazily detached themselves from the tower and tumbled to the ground below to land with dull thumps as they half-buried themselves into the ashen earth.
He'd managed to half-rise, rolling over onto his front and moving his arms in front of them to support him when another groan from the tower made him look up at it, the top half section of the tower had begun to split. A large crack had opened wider and two sides of the tower were beginning to part as they tore themselves apart and, alarmingly, it looked like part of it would flatten him.
He began to crawl, legs and arms protesting at the movement, away from the creaking tower. Small thumping noises behind him told him that pieces of it were already falling into the ground behind him, he tried to hurry but he was moving as fast as his mind would allow without blacking out.
He felt rather than heart the colossal sound of the tower hitting the floor as it finally collapsed, small bricks and pieces of broken glass and mortar pelting him as he slumped to the ground, bleeding.
His eyes strained against the screaming pain of his wounds as blood flowed into them obscuring his vision before finally he gave in and fell forward in a unconscious heap.
~
Taran curled his lip into a faint snarl as he opened his eye to glare at the shattered building in front of him, small fires dotted the tower here and there and pieces of debris were scattered around nearby where he had landed. There was no sign of the flag that had been fluttering on the top of it; not even the flagpole remained.
He allowed himself a faint wince as he moved his arm, it felt like it was probably broken, broken like the tower, but he would get better at least. The rest of his body didn't feel much better either, his chest ached from what he suspected was several broken ribs and one of his legs was a mess of cloth and weeping bloody wounds.
A small 'thump' of an explosion in front of him made him look up, glass was cascading down from one of the second story windows as a small blast rocked the room it was in, there probably wasn't much time until the whole thing went up.
He turned himself over, wincing again, and began to crawl away from the building itself as he heard the sound of another detonation, then another, time was running out but his body refused to move any faster than he was pushing it already, one of his legs was barely working anyway and his arms felt like lead weights as he pushed them in front of him like slow turning pistons as he crawled on.
A wave of heat flowed over him, burning at the short hairs at the back of his neck, a split second later the deafening sound and push of the explosion half picked him up and pushed him away as the whole tower exploded in a chain reaction of explosions and counter-blasts, his arms gave out and he slumped to the ground as the dull-grey light of the world slowly faded to black.
~
I'd post this at Elfwood, but its down at the moment...
~
Taran slowly opened his eyes and looked carefully out across the scorched remains of the tower in front of him. Wisps of smoke were curling out from the shattered windows and doors, pieces of glass and metal were scattered around the ground nearby and the once proud banner that stood atop the tower was nothing more than a charred stump.
He began to sit up from where he was laying in a prone heap amongst the rubble, his arms and legs protested by aching and burning, his nerves screaming at him that movement of any kind really wasn't a good idea. His chest ached. His head hurt. His back felt like it had been crushed.
There was a low grumbling crack from the tower and several larger pieces of masonry slowly, almost lazily detached themselves from the tower and tumbled to the ground below to land with dull thumps as they half-buried themselves into the ashen earth.
He'd managed to half-rise, rolling over onto his front and moving his arms in front of them to support him when another groan from the tower made him look up at it, the top half section of the tower had begun to split. A large crack had opened wider and two sides of the tower were beginning to part as they tore themselves apart and, alarmingly, it looked like part of it would flatten him.
He began to crawl, legs and arms protesting at the movement, away from the creaking tower. Small thumping noises behind him told him that pieces of it were already falling into the ground behind him, he tried to hurry but he was moving as fast as his mind would allow without blacking out.
He felt rather than heart the colossal sound of the tower hitting the floor as it finally collapsed, small bricks and pieces of broken glass and mortar pelting him as he slumped to the ground, bleeding.
His eyes strained against the screaming pain of his wounds as blood flowed into them obscuring his vision before finally he gave in and fell forward in a unconscious heap.
~
Taran curled his lip into a faint snarl as he opened his eye to glare at the shattered building in front of him, small fires dotted the tower here and there and pieces of debris were scattered around nearby where he had landed. There was no sign of the flag that had been fluttering on the top of it; not even the flagpole remained.
He allowed himself a faint wince as he moved his arm, it felt like it was probably broken, broken like the tower, but he would get better at least. The rest of his body didn't feel much better either, his chest ached from what he suspected was several broken ribs and one of his legs was a mess of cloth and weeping bloody wounds.
A small 'thump' of an explosion in front of him made him look up, glass was cascading down from one of the second story windows as a small blast rocked the room it was in, there probably wasn't much time until the whole thing went up.
He turned himself over, wincing again, and began to crawl away from the building itself as he heard the sound of another detonation, then another, time was running out but his body refused to move any faster than he was pushing it already, one of his legs was barely working anyway and his arms felt like lead weights as he pushed them in front of him like slow turning pistons as he crawled on.
A wave of heat flowed over him, burning at the short hairs at the back of his neck, a split second later the deafening sound and push of the explosion half picked him up and pushed him away as the whole tower exploded in a chain reaction of explosions and counter-blasts, his arms gave out and he slumped to the ground as the dull-grey light of the world slowly faded to black.
~
