Prisoner in Paradise IHe is alone in the white roomThe room is totally emptySave for a matte black phoneA phone of the old kindWith a spinning wheel to dial withThe only thing heard is the humming air conditionHe realizeHe doesn't remember a thingHis memory is as blankAs the wall he is staring intoThat's when the phone starts to ring***The sun was setting against a backdrop of purple and rich magenta, swirling clouds with burning golden edges, reflecting themselves in the unusually still ocean, where only a soft breeze rippled the endless ballroom floor.The tide was low, displaying a long beach filled with driftwood and sea-shells litteri
Prisoner in Paradise IIHe waits until the phone stops ringingAfter all he does not know who will be on the other sideIf he picks it upHow does he know it's a phone By the way***They say that war is the most terrible thingThat it is hell itselfIt might be - on the upper sideBut I have been down underI know what hell is aboutI know what torture means It's nothing like the things you performYour evildoers, your black hooded policeAre nothing but fairiesCompared to the cadres down underThe hounds of the real hell***The woman lights another cigarette, neon of the city reflecting in her sunglasses. She wears those at night because of h
Prisoner in Paradise IIIThe man sits by the phone It has stopped ringing againHe hides his haggard face in his handsStubble scratches his palmsHe sobsHe can not rememberThe walls are whiteStaring back at himBlankness***"You still remember how to make that tea?""Perhaps. On special mornings. On mornings like this. Someone's have to keep up the old world habits you know""It's a tough job but someone's gotta do it", she laughs.The sun comes slanting in through the floor-to-ceiling windows, lighting up the penthouse apartment with its hazy urban sheen, and it should really be chilly this time of year, but the Change has even began to affect the
Prisoner in Paradise IVWhat is a phone reallyAn itemA tool for communicationAnd what fearsome can really be on the other sideThe man decides That next time it ringsHe will pick it upPerhaps the voice on the other side Can help him rememberStaring at the phone he returns to the mattressSits down And once more begins to stare at his feetThey look just like feet should and for some reason that comforts himHe wishes he had a pen so he could draw something down on these annoyingly white wallsHe wishes he has his memory***"You came," Ireu breathed. "Mmm, and you smell so good." Direni smiled into his chest. "Likewise," she mumbled closin
Sleeping Soldiers IWe all know the classic wizard clichés. The old man with flowing robes and long, white beard. The Gandalfs, the Dumbledores, and most of all the alchemists in old medieval art. Yet Etienne Vassiliades, the present Supreme of the Adelphoi Magici, was nothing like that, far from it. He looked more like a pudgy Barak Obama with greying corn rows and an odd mix of coldness and compassion in almond-shaped, dark eyes. In his tight leather pants and long, white lace-shirt he appeared like a cross between a biker and a nineteenth century dandy. Imagine a hobo who had suddenly stricken it rich or an aging haute couture designer who desperately tr
Sleeping Soldiers IIThe magnificent, Cretan villa was situated on a high cliff with almost vertical walls and seen from the sea it looked like the whole structure was manmade – which it in fact was. Because while officially being the home of an eccentric Greek shipping billionaire, it was in fact the working cover for the last remnant of what had once been the mighty Olympic pantheon.About two dozen immortals lived behind those gates, even if most of them seldom spent time there. Nevertheless Oiroran fancied calling himself 'King of the Gods' and 'Ruler of Heaven'. After all he was the great grandchild of lost Zeus and he figured he had inherited those t
Sleeping Soldiers IIISanomina's voice was beautiful. It was something Elion slowly realized as she spoke. When she was excited it took on an almost musical tone, higher than usual, like when she described her first year in the Zalourasel school. If pressed to repeat her story, Elion would probably remember bits and pieces of it, just enough to prove he'd been paying attention. But mostly he just watched her. The way her entire face lit up whenever she smiled. Eyes, nose, even her ears lifted a bit every now and then. It made him mirror the smile; try to match her enthusiastic timbre. He kept reaching out to touch her simply because he couldn't stand not to.Duri
Sleeping Soldiers IVDo I hear what I think I'm hearing?Do I see the signs I think I see?Or is this just a fantasy?Is it true that the beast is wakingStirring in his restless sleep tonightIn the pale moonlightIn the grip of this cold DecemberYou and I have reason to rememberSoldiers write the songs that soldiers singThe songs that you and I don't singThey blow their horns and march alongThey drum their drums and look so strongYou'd think that nothing in the world was wrongSoldiers write the songs that soldiers singThe songs that you and I won't singLet's not look the other wayTaking a chance'Cause if the bugler starts to playWe
Agents of Armageddon IAt first glance it appeared to be nothing but a poorly written Gandalf-slash-Saruman fanfic, compiled by some pubescent brat with too much time on his hand and not enough language skill. But the bad excuse for a story was really a coded message, and the key was found in the IP address where it was hosted.The man who called himself Iskendur opened the document, cut and pasted the text into a crypto programme and then ran it through the IP address. It was good news. Very good news!!His magicians had almost finished the ultimate weapon. The god-killing bomb. Recently they had field tested it in India, killing off some of all those little anc
Agents of Armageddon II"Akiko! Akiko, wake up! Akiko, I'm sorry, Akiko wake up! Akiko-san wake-up! Wake up please!" She heard someone calling out to her, first in Greek then in Japanese. Her head was spinning and she had hard to focus her eyes and to mentally reach out to the voice that seemed to be calling her from somewhere far far away. Everything was blurry and she felt pain in her chest like she had smashed into something hard. Or as if something hard had smashed into her."Akiko!" She tried to focus, to remember. Her brain refused to function; it felt as if she was embedded in cotton. The voice kept on urging her; it had changed back to Greek."Thespion?"
Agents of Armageddon III"What may I do for the two of you?" Ramixa asked in that sweetly husky voice of hers as Elion and Sanomina sat down in her shadowy living room. The chairs were low so they had to look slightly up to meet her face. Sanomina begun: "What can you tell me of the children I carry with Elion?"Ramixa simply stared Sanomina in the eyes and smiled: "They will both be fine boys. They will love and care for each other so closely and completely, and resemble each other so much that many will mistake one for the other. They will both make out their own faith, listening very little to other's warnings or advice. Although they will tend to land on the
Agents of Armageddon IVNot unexpectedly Olimon is the one who reacts fastest and most efficient to the new threat. He drops the air gun and draws a half-automatic one instead and fires a round point-blank into the attacking dark warrior. Upon being hit the approaching enemy wavers and Olimon loosens another round. Still the black-clad monster keeps coming, and when he almost has crashed into the building Olimon draws a sword. The monster in turns trades the machine gun for a heavy, wile-looking war-axe and starts swinging it at the Atlantean war god. But Olimon is faster and more skilled, he ducks and aims the sword from below, piercing his opponent through the bea
Dancing with Deamons ISolomon Toralta stopped and listened for a moment before he grabbed his fire-axe off the desk in front of him. The room he was in was dark and smelled of dank dirt and old garbage. But it was reasonable dry and he had hoped to be able to spend the night here, although it was not to be, he realized now. Not only did the door lack and adequate lock, he sure needed something else than office chairs to sleep in, his back was beginning to hurt now.Without hesitating Solomon turned towards the door leading down the stairwell, one hand clutching his axe the other at the 9mm at his hip. He lifted his leg taking a deep breath and gave a swift kick t
Dancing with deamons II"He's dead now," Rennion says as he strolls into the large living room, trying to sound as casual as possible when he walks up to Elion who is sitting in the sofa by the window with a report mailed to his laptop. But his face is grim and there's satisfaction as well as sadness to be seen within his hazel eyes. Elion looks up from his readings, regarding his brother:"How long did it take?""Some 30 minutes. He was tougher than I thought, even unconscious.""Yes, but I'm glad it's finally done." Elion replies. "As much as he was our brother I had begun to hate him for all he did.""Iryon seized being my brother millennia ago" Rennion spits
Dancing with deamons IIIGuilt is what assaults Loradan as he stares at the malfunctioning network router he is supposed to be mending. But concentration fails him, for what time in order he doesn't know. Those scary images are coming to him again, hauntingly just like the nightmares which prevent him from sleeping soundly and the almost hallucination-like memories that has been poignant to him ever since he woke up from the coma after the accident where Lanineme had died and Cysir had became released upon the world. Guilt and fear! Fear and guilt!The Japanese Akiko had tried to unbound what she thought was Lanineme's soul from the body of Emilia Cooper, but as she
Dancing with deamons IV"We managed to save the factory this time" Akemi says to Oiroran as she, Arcadios, Anxara and Thespion sit down around the large mahogany meeting table where the Olympian board has gathered. "But we're going to need more manpower to defend this one. Sure, there's going to be a hell of a lot more deamons the next time and we cannot afford to lose another factory or its workers. Not with two of them in Japan already gone thanks to the tsunamis and quakes and the one in China destroyed in a riot.""I know," Oiroran buries his face in his hands. "We need more gods in all corners of the world. But face the facts, ladies and gentlemen, we're so ou
The Surviving Soul IThe battlefield was a bedlam of blood, death, pain and terror. Screams of men and other beings echoed through the air together with the clash of weapon. As such this battle didn't differ from any other battle during this horrid war among men and gods which had been fought for centuries. This war between Europe and Atlantis, this war to begin all other wars as the saying went, since it had spread like wild fire across the continent, seeped down in the desserts of what was to become Arabia and Persia and even reached as far as the islet which people would one day call India. Now, in northern Etruria, the Europeans were trying to hold this Atlan
The Surviving soul IIIn a seemingly insignificant northern suburb of Vancouver, Canada laid an Adelphoi Magici facility which was one of the most heavily guarded estates on the entire American supercontinent these days. The workers there knew that and they would die to defend their one island of peace in a world of chaos. Thus, when the warning came, the workers thought little of it. The warning spoke of three unidentified objects which had appeared out of nowhere and were now rapidly approaching the compound. Whatever people and other beings had tried to break into the complex several times earlier, and no one had been successful. The security guards assumed the
The Surviving Soul III"Lanineme!" Elion's surprise is equal to the one of Rhonia's 45 minutes earlier. "Nirmenne! After all these… I can't BELIEVE it! We searched for you everywhere!""Cut the talk, Eli! Release me! You know how to do it and we're running out of time!" Lanineme orders. "Look outside, Cysir have moved his next mark in the game." Those firm, calm and strong words sound almost surreal to hear from a one year old who is sitting in the lap of her mother. On the other hand this sure is Lanineme, it's the same choice of words, it's the same lilt and the same old nick Elion seldom hears these days. His sister has made it back trough life and death,
The Surviving Soul IV"You tricked me AGAIN!" Iryon raged at Balmina while they stood in front of the empty safe in the temple of Elion, the god carrying a flame to chase away the darkness of the night. "I may comprehend that you, a stupid mortal, out of fear tried to think fast and clever and thought I was the one to be fooled. But I won't let you fool me a second time. Now, where is the Merbetaran? And no lies this time, you hear me!" By these words the god grabbed Balmina with his left hand and held the fire beneath her chin, scorsing her until she cried out loud. At that moment he let go of her and she tumbled back and hit her head against the wooden wall befo
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