Okay folks the following is an extremely rough version of a cover concept for the future book Reincarted Fate. Remember this is nowhere near finalized. This is probably the first of many concepts that I will go through. So let me know what you think.
REINCARNATED FATE concept1
This particular charachter really has a high opinion of himself. Do you agree? Some charachters really have no respect for anyone. Whether those charachters are fictional or not is always a matter up for debate.
Loki looked at the man and answered, “I am the only being that actually matters to you mortal. After all what power I possess is far more than one such as you could ever imagine,” this was finished in tones frostier than the arctic snows on Christmas Eve.
A little more than a hundred miles away from warm weather, blossoming apple trees, and the drama of the Gods on the lives of mortal man lay a cold underground cavern with a block of ice about a foot thick. Unlike other parts of this underground system this cavern hadn’t seen the light of day or a mortal adventurer in centuries.
Primary proof of this was the perfectly preserved frozen body of a man in thirteenth century dress. The man was lying on his stomach with his right arm stretched towards the solid block of ice in the center of the room. At the foot of the frozen man lay a raven just as frozen as the man was and even though the raven was long gone a strange (one might say malevolent) gleam seemed to still be in its eye. At the foot of the frozen man and bird were two large statues that looked as though they were coming out of the icy walls. The man was in a tunic and leggings and the woman was in a dress and kirtle. Both looked regal and proud just as both appeared to be walking to the block of ice that was in the center of the chamber.
The block of ice itself appeared to give off a slight blue glow. You could almost see a faint outline of something inside of the ice cube. Along the edges of the perfectly square block of ice were strange carvings. Carvings that an educated person of modern times would call runes. These particular runes hadn’t been read aloud in a very long time.
Despite the obvious age of the runes they each glowed in a bright gold ink – ink that appeared to flow in its own symbol. The gold symbols were brighter than the large ice cube they were carved upon thereby providing light for what appeared to be a rather large cavern that was sealed on all sides by walls of solid ice.
It was a large cavern. There were several stalactites hanging from the ceiling (most of which had extremely sharp tips on them). Multiple stone pillars rose up from the ground to hold up the roof of the cavern. Each pillar had a different rune carved into it just as each pillar was at least three feet in width -with some many times larger than that. Perhaps a dozen feet from the glowing block of ice (on the opposite side of the frozen man) was what appeared to be an altar made of stone.
The same type of runes that were carved on the ice cube appeared to be carved on the stone alter. The only thing on the altar was a single black raven’s feather. The feather actually looked fresh as there was not a single ice crystal on it. The feather itself sat in the middle of a pentagram.
At each point of the star was a dark read pool of what looked to be gelled blood. The blood itself was still steaming as though it had just come from a living host.
Perhaps a foot behind the stone alter was a sunken depression in the cavern floor and protruding from the center of the icy depression was a carved bone handle. The carvings on the handle were inlaid with gold that made the handle glitter and shine in the strange light of the strange cavern.
Beyond the stone alter, on each of the walls to the cavern scenes were carved into the ice. Each scene consisted of a man and a woman and took up an entire wall. They were in late fifth century dress. In each scene they were doing something different. There were only two constants in each scene – one of them was the man and woman and another was that there was always an apple tree somewhere in the picture.
On one wall the man and woman stood together under an apple tree, another had the woman under the tree and the man next to a shining sword. In a third the man and woman were arguing and glaring at each other and the final image depicted the man and woman standing in a circle of stones while other people were looking down on them from the clouds. In all four scenes the etchings were so detailed that the people actually appeared to be breathing and one could see the very veins on the leaves of the trees or the cracks and crevices in the stones. All in all the etchings appeared to carry a great amount of emotion and meaning.
As for the two great statues that were overlooking the block of ice well each face had a look of peace and knowledge – as though they knew what knowledge the ice block contained and were determined to use that knowledge for the good of the world around them.
Regardless of all the strange things that were in this chamber (the least strange of them all was possibly the frozen man) something even stranger was happening between the two ice statues, for growing up through the ice and stone floor was single green vine that had a woody texture to it. If you stood close to the vine you could pick up the faint smell of apples.
How such a thing could happen was something of an unknown. But slowly it was happening. Inside this cave where the light of day hadn’t been seen in centuries new life was taking root and what it would bring with it was something that not even the gods knew. For their primary conduit into the world of mortals had turned from them to another. Long ago she had been the one to see through the chaos and to tell them what the chances were of certain things happening but now that option was lost to them. And this the gods of old seemed to know well.
For as the tree grew so too did mysterious shapes begin to form out of the air and ice. Slowly the forms of men and women began to form. They all had dark hair and eyes that seemed to glow. All were tall (most seemed to barely fit into the icy chamber) and all seemed to be wearing dark and heavy cloaks several of them had accompanying furs for comfort. Some had their hair loose and flowing while others had it tied back, one or two had twigs or berries tangled in their locks. They all had crowns or circlets on their head of different materials – from precious metals to twigs and leaves, all forms of nature were represented at the gathering.
Most of them had narrow faces and high cheekbones – a few had fuller faces and equine noses. They all had the look of nobility and royalty about them, a haughty look lurking in their eyes. The women had perfectly red lips and cheeks that were slightly colored. The men had high forehead and their mouths were in hardened lines. Many of them had skin as white as alabaster. All of their eyes were old and wizened and that knowledge showed in the way they glowed. They were dressed in attire that was comfortable to them – namely dresses and kirtles for the women and tunics and hose for the men. A few of the beings had small animals (such as ravens, crows, and snakes) to attend them.
After several moments the forms of maybe thirty beings filled the freezing cavern. They were silent for several moments before they broke out into what could be considered as excited chatter. These fine beings hadn’t fully formed in centuries and this air that they now breathed was cause for jubilation. It was such a rarity for them that they were naturally on high to be on the mortal plane. Even if it was in a protected, sacred place.
Apparenly a Norse God doesn’t approve of other gods.
The apathetic man now known as Loki gave his companion a slow, cruel smile and commented, “I know. Isn’t it great the way these gods think they can play men against each other and think that nobody else will ever find out? We will have to show these foreign Gods what we know, won’t we Fenris? Yes we will have to show them who they dare not mess with,” Loki finished with a cruel sneer upon his face. The sneer may have been fixed upon his face but it appeared to Fenris that the God was remembering times of old, what those times meant would be anyone’s guess. And Fenris did not want to guess what darkness lurked beneath the face of his master.
This is a snippet from the piece I am working on at the moment and I think that Merlin is just a bit to prideful for his own good. What do you think?
The man known as Merlin was no fool, of that you could be sure. But something was wrong and he intended to find out. For the gods to have allowed Merlin to be reborn into something that he was not the best at (he never had made a good fisherman – even in his first life) was simply unconscionable of them.
Of course they didn’t know any better, they still believed that their day was here now. But what the gods of old failed to realize wass that their star had waned and would never rise again – at least if he had anything to say about it. Of course apparently the only God that he believed in thought that he deserved whatever punishment he was being given for allowing his religion and culture to thrive in those dark times. All Merlin had ever wanted to do was see that order stayed in place.
And when the Romans had made to leave Britain at the fall of their empire they were taking order with them, and that was something that Merlin could not allow. Besides it was his birthright as the son of Aurelius. For the sake of all that was holy, he was a descendent of Marcus Aurelius, the Emperor of Rome. His word, no his will, had to mean something. And that something was the preservation of law and order in Britain even after the fall of the Empire. And if Merlin had done wrong by doing what he had done, by using his gift to help with and create the age of Camelot, than at least his own God should punish him in whatever depths of hell that awaited. These pagans had no right to his soul, of that Merlin was sure.
For if there was one thing Merlin knew it was that not all good intentions paved the way to hell. Sometimes the good had to be rewarded. They had to and Merlin had to believe that. He knew back then that the average citizen of Britain had to be protected by the Knights just as he knew that the French incident could not have been avoided. There was too much excess going on around him. There had been too much poverty in the masses for the gluttonous kings descended from Clovis I to be allowed to continue to rule. And yet that silly monarchy had been restored after his own revolutionary compatriots have taken his life.
So why was his God allowing this to happen to him? All Merlin had ever wanted in any of his lives was to see justice done. The common people of the world deserved justice, they deserved someone who would stand up for them when no one else would. And if there was no one else around to do the job, than he, Merlin, would be the one to do that job for the common man. And he would be willing to pay the price every time.
Some of my charachters aren’t the nicest. And some tend to snipe until they get their way or just to show their worst traits. Check out what this Goddess said for instance.
“Merlin, son of Aurelius, long before the daughter of Le Fay chose to pick up her natural born gifts you made the sole decision to interfere in lives that were not yours to do so. You are the one that changed the history that the gods had decreed, you are the one that the price was originally to be paid by. Instead, the impetuosity of a mere child changed your punishment.
“Have no doubt that you would have sought the Grail for all time. Be most assured of that. But the anger of a mortal at what you had done drew others into your punishment. You were not content with your august lot in life, you felt the need to interfere in a destiny not your own and because of this fates were lost.
“As of the French incident you have found that you could not abide by the rules that we, the gods, had set. You chose to interfere in other lives once more. This time though you committed a crime far above anything that even we could forgive. You caused the death in body and spirit of a child of Le Fay. Those children are the most special.
“You are the one responsible for the creation of the Mortal Shepherds. It is your fault that the gods suffer such humiliation every generation when the two of you are reborn. Therefore redemption is not up to you.
“If your adversary chooses to rest this time than rest you shall know. Beware though, should she choose to continue you shall suffer beyond the boundaries of the stars,” the Mother Goddess finished with finality before disappearing into the mists from whence she had come.
Redfloras 