Writing Prompt Response: A Dragon's Diary

Yo, Wanderers.

Another one of these, well, I had no excuse. I actually have several ideas in my head, those kind of passing thought when you're lying in your bed thinking why people sent a dog to space instead of cats...

Wait, we have no time for this.

So I decided to write these in a lazy Monday morning, two days ago, actually. I've written a similar thing long time ago, about an unlikely romance involving a dragon, but while this isn't a masterpiece, this is arguably better than my previous one.

Enjoy the ride.

[WP] The diary entries of a Dragon who is in love with the knight trying to slay them. by CerinLevel3

17/5/111

He came again, in his shining full-body armor, no trace of the previous battles remained in his person. Somehow, I've gotten used to the battle, eagerly waiting when he would come with his glistening holy sword, and then drove him back, scorching fire against blinding light, divine sword against pitch black claw.

Thank gods no human ever know what a dragon's smile looks like.

18/5/111

HE BROUGHT A COMPANION! How dare he! That coward, bringing a woman, no, a witch into my presence? And he fervently protected her! Like, he hadn't let my claws touch her even once! Uuuh...

What? No, it's not that I'm... Now that I think about it, why am I so bothered that he bought a woman with him? I mean, he had brought several wizards and archers before, and I have seen him fought harder when he had companions, never allowing me to touch them. They never bothered me this much, not even when he brought an elite team bearing the human empire's insignia.

I don't know. Little fireflies, could you tell me?

21/5/111

Three days in a row, he brought the same damned witch. They worked closer together, and I could swear I saw their eyes flirting in the midst of the battle. They flirted. In front of me.

He even smiled at her. He never smiled when he fought me, especially because he couldn't afford to. But he smiled at her. Did he trusted her so much that he lowered his guard around her? Even while facing me?

She will pay.

23/5/111

He didn't come today. The human city is mourning, one of their greatest mage died ironically when she tried to summon fire for an oil lamp. The brightest mind humanity had to offer, and she died channeling a simple spell.

Of course, it helps that I have an Ifrit in my ranks.

For the first time in my life, I laughed so loud I shook the mountain cavern.

She's gone.

Now he would only see me in his eyes.

24/5/111

He came alone, downcast. He asked me with cold voice if I know what happened in the human city. Well, I had my sources, and I had several demons infiltrating the human rank, one of which I sent to monitor him in human society...

Why did I do that? Reading back, I've been writing about nothing but him for the past weeks. I even sent a demon to spy on him, and I even killed his companion the mage. Am I seriously jealous at a mere human?

Anyway, I told him the truth, because I can't lie at him, right? Why can't I lie to him?

Why. It was an overrated question. How is a more interesting one.

He became enraged, throwing his helmet away, swinging his sword with power I never saw before. Naturally, I swatted him away.

Apparently, I've killed his sister.

He can't hear my apology.

25/5/111

He succeeded. His holy sword sticking through my body, pulverizing my heart. Well, one of them anyway, but my auxiliary hearts can't sustain me for more than two century. In a way, it was his victory, as well as his loss.

When he succeeded in almost killing me, I was utterly successful in killing him, splitting his body into two equal part.

And I cried.

Why is it at the last moment that I realize--

Why is it after I lost him--

Why can't it be earlier--

The reason of my actions, my jealousy, my anger, my expectations--

I told him that I loved him. I don't know if he could hear me.

Death can't come soon enough.

Writing Prompt Response : "It's killing me that I won't get to hear your laughter anymore."

Yo there, Wanderers!

Well, I have no excuse for not posting anything last month... And pulling this kind of post, especially when it's a few months old story, is kinda unforgivable as well, so I'll make sure that I made up for that with another Scribble down the line...

If I ever remember, that is.

This story is a short one I wrote seven months ago in Reddit. The original story could be found here, but you could simply read the one posted here.

The Story shall now begin.

"It's killing me that I won't get to hear your laughter anymore."

I can't help but think that doctors are very arrogant people, using overly complicated words to describe a really simple occurrence, as if it would reduce my pain if I don't understand what they're talking about. But it didn't, not a little bit.

I can't even spell the medical name for it, but my condition could be described as "inability to filter out unnecessary information". In other words, I treat all and every information received by my sensory perception as equal, overloading my sensory functions over the time. It was a miracle that I could live this long until my brain gave up processing all those information.

Every surface on the room where I was being held was oddly white, no unequal light reflection, messing with my depth perception. I didn't even know how they illuminate everything so perfectly, that even the door is practically invisible. The doctor said it was necessary to minimize my sensory feedback, I can't even listen to my own heartbeat.

The door opened twice a day, sometimes thrice, with occasional visitors in between. It's usually just the doctor though, slowly letting me develop ability to focus on information I really need to know by manually eliminating everything else. But it was of no use. Slowly, my brain can't keep up with the deluge of information, and starting with my sight, my senses began to fade.

On my first year of hospitalization, everyone in my class came to see me once a week, one by one. By the second year, everyone had been busy with final exam preparation, and so no one save my parents came to see me.

Oh, and a girl. Of course it had to be a girl.

Lina was a sweet girl, if a tad timid, and I don't hate her at all. We talked about a lot of things, casual girls' talk, sometimes we even talked about the lesson's progression. Around the end of August, my sight had given up entirely, and my hearing was a bit compromised, but she never gave up.

I was really frustrated. But each week, she came and talked with me, even when the final exam came and went. She said she wanted to be a doctor, and she even said that was so she could find a cure for me.

But it was too late. By March the next year, my hearing gave up entirely, shutting me down from outside world. Even then, she never gave up. She taught me the Braille alphabet, and even brought me books.

"You know," I said one day, when the hot air of summer had started to replace the warm spring. She instinctively hold my hands. "if there is a single greatest reason I hadn't given up until now, it was because of you." a piece of paper slipped on my hands, embossed with braille alphabet from a Perkins Brailler.

[You made me blush.] I chuckled.

"Listen. I know you don't like me to talk all depressed, but while I still able to talk, I want to get everything out of my chest." another piece of paper slipped on my hand.

[Not that you have much of it. Your chest, that is.]

"How rude." I pouted. "That aside, thanks for being here, Lina. When everyone had moved on, when everyone had forgotten about me. To be honest, I could live without them. I could live like this, blind and deaf, if it's a life I could live with you, then I don't need anything else."

[Me too, I don't need much else if you're here by my side.]

"But you know, I'm afraid that this kind of life wouldn't last long."

[Why would you think like that?]

"My senses are fading, Lina. It is not long until my tactile sense would also give up. Eventually, I would run out of senses to even acknowledge your presence."

[Then I would just try harder.]

"It doesn't work that way. You know, most people would grow crazy if they can't see and can't hear. But I don't care. I'm not afraid. Because you're here."

[And I always will.]

"I know. But I'm dying, Lina, and not only because my illness. Would you like to know why?"

[Please, if it's something I could get rid of.]

"It's because you never really laughed around me. You smiled, of course, and sometimes even chuckled at my lame jokes, but you never laughed, not since I lost my sight. And, and it's killing me, Lina, as my ears gave up, the thought that you never laughed, and never will, not any that I could listen." something soft and moist pressed against my forehead, it took me a few seconds to realize it was her lips.

[I'm sorry, Ana. I never knew.]

"It's fine. I love you, Lina. I really do. And that means I want you to be happy, even when I'm not here anymore."

[I love you too. Please don't say that. We'll be together, for the rest of our life.]

"I wonder. But promise me, that you would give up on me when the time comes."

[But why?]

"Why, indeed. A life with a corpse cannot be a happy one, Lina. When I lost all my senses, I would be a little more than a corpse."

[I don't care] her hands trembled on mine.

"But I do. Please let me at least die knowing you would find someone you could be happy with."

[But you're that person]

"No, I'm not that person, I can't be that person. Please, Lina. Promise me that you would."

[I would rather die with you]

"But you must've known by now that there are things in life you should do even when you rather not to." she did nothing for the next few minutes, other than holding my hands even tighter.

[Fine] she left right after. But she still came the next week, and the weeks after, alone.

Even when I pushed her away, she keeps pulling me back.

Would she find someone, somewhere, who would do the same to her?

The Story shall now end

Scribble 19: Imitative Laplace Projection

Hello fellow Wanderers! As promised, this is the third/second part of the Renegade Covert Director series, depending on which one is the first story you read. Sadly though, this would not be the last installment of the series, as I couldn’t cram the final battle here.

Sorry it took so long, real life interfered a bit, although I doubt that anyone actually waiting for this :p.

As you would see, I wrote the perspective of Red/Seventh and Yellow in different font, which is Georgia for Yellow, as Yellow was an agent of UNSED, and Arial for Red/Seventh, which was an agent from Covert.

Would you join me for the ride?

The Scribble will now begin.

Scribble 19: Imitative Laplace Projection

I skillfully maneuvered the Karapace fighter through proton mines, courtesy of Deneb Confederation from the siege of Procyon-SX-180 colony. Really, that Confederation gives me problem even after collapsing.

Procyon-SX-180 is evacuated right before the proton mines were deployed, several that can't make it dies from starvation or insanity. In the end, the war ended without any of the proton mines exploded, which made both exploring the ruins of Procyon-SX-180 and risking being the first victim of the old mines more unappealing than normal deserted colonies.

I chuckled, gaining attention from Red. Oh, wait, she's supposed to be Seventh now, denoted by numbers instead of colors. Oh, how time changes. When we're together in the Colors, she was always the most emotionally unstable, swinging from homicidal impulse one second and affectionate compassion next.

"Yellow, your inner thought leaked out again."

"No, that was intentional." I landed my fighter on the hangar. "There we go. What should we expect?"

"Standard Covert guard, I think. My ID is still valid, the renegade Director can't touch anything that it don't have. This colony belongs to a fellow Director, which had lent me one of the stuff stored here."

"So, this is just an escort mission?"

"Yeah, you can't exactly barge in to kill Covert Director with normal 9 mm."

"Is this asset, uh, Remniscient?"

"Holy Crayfish, Yellow, just sit tight and let me do my job."

"How could Covert took over this colony anyway? This colony was abandoned years ago, before even the War."

"Wasn't it the real reason why Covert took it over? This is perfect base, finely defended, owned by no one, and visited by no one, not even monthly maintenance check. This is the last place UNSED would look for us, and it's right behind their backyard." Seventh stepped down from the fighter, leaving me alone. The woman swiped her card on a panel, and a section of the wall lifted up several meters, showing the bustling city filled with both researchers in white coat and special operatives in black tactical suits alike.

"I'll get you another ship too, another more suited for Covert operation. But for now just wait in the ship."

"Hey, I like my Karapace, and I hate calibrating my orbital sniper."

"No. Just no. Sit tight and let me choose the best for you."

I sighed, and decided to just sleep.

---

I walked through the busy downtown, this is pretty big for a Covert facility, maybe around 5,000 inhabitants? Not even all my facilities combined would be this big.

Not that my facility was much of one. I just have a handful of warehouses filled with skeleton crew ready to deploy if I ever need them, plus several APCs and Exo-suits. If this is a normal assassination I wouldn’t even have to step out from my safe house, the closest warehouse should be enough.

I stood in front of a building marked with small holographic plaque “Remniscient Containment Division Site-93”.

“This better be the one.” I muttered, entering the building.

“Identity, please?” a computerized female voice greeted me.

“Seventh.”

“Hypnos pattern identification complete. Welcome, Director, how may I help you? ”

“Lead me to Apollo-Delta-Aleph.”

“With pleasure. Please follow the blue light.” A line lit up in the wall, guiding my path through the labyrinthine hallways.

I walked through several containment cages when suddenly alarm blared in the hallway, along with red light. “Warning, hostile forces identified as Yellow Hallway is detected surrounding Proton Farm, evacuation advised.”

Yellow Hallway? Is Fifth trying to revive Colors or something?

I raced through the hallway, to a living quarter designated Apollo-Delta-Aleph. I forcefully broke through the steel door with my fist.

“Who are you?” the boy asked, his long gray hair obscured his face, his atrophied body curled in the corner of the cold concrete cell. How old is he? He looked even younger than Blue when he first joined Colors, and yet he exuded aura as if he is as old as time and as vast as space itself.

Which, considering his power, might not be so far from truth.

“I’m Seventh. I need your help. Let’s go.” The sharp red eyes, unlike Fifth’s dull, lifeless eyes, glanced at me suspiciously.

“Bullshit. Even if you did need my help, I have no obligation to obey any commands other than from Third.”

“Oh, I have his permission already.”

“Who cares? I’m not leaving.”

“Warning, fifteen Proton Mines in collision course with RRD-3-15, ETA 15 minutes until impact.”

“Yellow!” I yelled to my communicator.

“I’m holding up as much as I can, but these second-rate imitations are too many. You got 30 minutes, 35 tops, to get on your car and run.”

“Is… is that the real Yellow? The one from Colors that once assassinated a major in his underground shelter from orbit?”

“One and only baby. I could finish them all, but not without annihilating you in the process. Now get moving!”

“You hear that boy? Now let’s get moving!” the boy clicked his tongue as he went up and swiftly run on my side down the hallway, exiting the building and rushing straight into the hangar, entering standard Covert-issue Aslekfar-889 spaceship at the same time as fifteen other pilots.

“Please insert startup key.”

“Director Override. Seventh.”

“Hypnos pattern identification complete. Starting engine.”

“Yellow, fifteen Aslekfar-889 will be joining the battle. Meet me in Vega-Green-99 ASAP. Seventh out.”

I mapped the ship computer to warp into an empty star system, and activated the engine immediately. A cracking sound could be heard reverberating as the reality itself was strained from the paradox caused by the warp engine.

“Let’s get this over with.” with a deafening roar, the ship disappeared from the colony hangar.

We sat in silence for several hours as the ship moved irregularly through warp space, until the boy suddenly approached me.

“In the hangar, you called me ‘boy’”

“Excuse me? In case you didn’t notice, I’m trying to fold a space-time origami right now, so you better off taking your teenage angst somewhere else.”

“I’m a girl.” I stopped fiddling with warp drive control and stared straight to his, no, apparently her eyes.

“Bullshit.”

“I’m a girl.”

“And I’m an UNSED Star Supervisor. You’re clearly a boy.”

“I’m a—look, you’re a Covert Director. It’s practically impossible to lie to you, even with my power.”

“You’re not lying… no, of course you’re not. Even if I were to check your body right now you could basically turn yourself into a boy or a girl at will by changing the stable point of reality.”

“I’ve never been a boy, you insolent old hag.”

“Okay, first off, you’re the insolent one. Second, I’m pretty sure I’m still the youngest living Covert Directors. Just drop it, geez.” I turned my attention back to the navigator.

“Thank you.” a whisper, almost inaudible, escaped her lips. But I said nothing.

Instead, I continued fiddling with the control for the warp drive.

---

Six hundred and seventy six. That’s the number of ships dispatched by the so-called “Yellow Hallway”. I tasked the fifteen Covert pilots to divert the paths of the Proton mines as I shot down every last one of the Yellow Hallway ships.

But of course I hit one of the mines myself and have to float around in a life pod.

“Hey, I’ll let you keep me as a prisoner, so pick me up already.” I yelled to the comm, set into Covert’s frequency.

“Unfortunately, unless you’re a Remniscient, we cannot bring you in without our Director’s authorization.”

“I got Seventh’s authorization, you saw me dropping her few hours ago!”

“This is not Seventh’s facility. Now sit tight, and wait until our Director decide what to do with your desiccated corpse.”

“I don’t have time for this!”

“Neither do we!” a click could be heard, signifying end of conversation.

Now what?

I could use my miniature pocket space generator to envelope this capsule and transported myself to the rendezvous point, but as smart as I am with numbers, the highly unpredictable space made it impossible even for me to make a jump between stars without computers.

As I contemplated various way to explode my oxygen tank and launch me to the colony, a buzzing sound echoed from the capsule’s comm module. I thought it was the life support warning, but then a clump of black material emerged from the corner.

“Identify yourself.” I grabbed my Taser and pointed it to the black clump that become increasingly humanoid.

“You forgot me already?” a makeshift mouth appeared, before a full face emerged on the thing’s head.

“Blue.” I was surprised, but my training kicked in and my head cooled down.

“Third Covert Director at your service, Yellow.” His feature became clearer. I see, it made sense now why she could leisurely walked into this facility despite not being the owner, and the enmity between Covert Council members.

“This is what you do now? Imprisoning kid and using them as weapon?” I ran a scan from my Karapace before, this colony was filled with thousands of prisons filled with children, all with Remniscience wavelength emanating from them.

“That was what UNSED have done to me, to us! I merely gave them new home, picking them from fringe colonies, lost, hungry, alone. I gave them families.”

“Families that they once lost because of you! You even…!” I closed my eyes and took a deep breath “Does Red know?”

“That gullible girl? No, no, why would I told her? She killed me, she killed us all, once. She deserves this.” His eyes glowed with anger “But I have to thank her. Without her, I wouldn’t reach this plane of existence, gaining limited, but definite, access to the multiverse and Boltzmann simulacrum itself… but I digress.”

“What nonsense are you spouting, did you caught something weird in the afterworld?”

“When I think about it, to be able to fully recover after dying once, you’re the most abnormal of us Colors, even in our current state of being.”

“Or maybe I’m the sanest of us all. What do you want from me now? I’d kill myself if you told me to, so you don’t have to do it yourself.”

“No, no, I still have a use for you. Red still have use for you. I’ll give you a fighter, are you fine with Aslekfar 700?” it’s hard to detect his emotion while he was all dark and shadowy, but the way he said Red was somewhat nostalgic and lonely.

Or maybe I’m just projecting myself. I love her, after all, just like this fellow before his death.

“…you’re not seriously giving me that ancient stuff, are you?”

“Well I could just peel this capsule open and let you desiccate while fully conscious, so…”

“Fine, I’ll take it. Now let me land!”

“You’re already there, Yellow.” He laughed as his form dispersed, his voice echoed inside my mind even as his shape disappeared completely. My surrounding undulated and spontaneously changed into what I recognize as standard Covert cockpit.

“Show offs.” I smirked “This better be fun.”

The Scribble will now ends.

Do you like it?

See you in the next scribble, where everything is supposed to end ;)

Scribble 18 : Broken Hero Incursion.

Hello Wanderers! Welcome back aboard the world of Sci-Fi and Magic!

This Scribble is continuation of the previous Scribble 17: Recursive Chaos Theorem.

This Scribble would, as with the previous Scribble, take place in Remniscience Universe, outlines the existence of Covert, UNSED and FWA, and the connection they might have to Colors, Kurayami no Iro, and the War that happens after Scribble 8: "Which kind of Human are you?" which would essentially make this Scribble 18 a spiritual successor to Scribble 8 ten Scribbles ago.

Fasten your seat belts.

The Scribble Will Now Begin.

Scribble 18 : Broken Hero Incursion.

I woke up to the horrifying stench of blood. Apparently I passed out for several minutes after emptying my gun to the Red Landmark operatives.

Sixteen corpses. Fifteen of which died by a gunshot, one for each round of my pistol magazine. The last one however, was far less fortunate. Blood drenched her face and shoulder, her smile remains as she died looking too much into the future.

If only I could tell her the truth...

A shadow moved behind the dark alleyways. I immediately strung into high alert and reloaded my gun.

"Who was there?!" I aimed my gun to the shadow, which slowly moved out from the corner. Slowly, its feature became more pronounced as darkness peeled away from its body.

"To be able to see through my disguise even in such darkness, as expected from Covert's prided Anti-Personnel..." I shot it, no, him right through his head before he could finish his sentences.

"How rude." his blown off head reformed immediately after the bullet passed through his head. "Even though we're both part of the Twelve, you didn't even listen to what I have to say."

"The Twelve, huh." I snorted. "I wonder how much my title worth right now that Red Landmark is after my head."

"Not only you."

"What?"

"All over the Five Worlds, members of Twelve is hunted down by Fifth's personal army."

Fifth? But why would Fifth hunt us?

"I'm offering you my assistance."

"To what end?"

"To purge Fifth from Covert."

"How?"

"Remniscient Asset Apollo-Delta-Aleph, Reality Stabilizer. Just like Fifth's personal army, this is my trump card against fellow members of Twelve."

"I see, true, if you could stabilize the reality, our immortality that was drawn from another reality could be disabled, and then even I could be killed. You have such a nasty weapon on your disposal, huh?" not that stabilizing reality would be enough to kill me without necessary skills.

Wait a second.

If Red Landmark has been taken over by Fifth, then Medic and Janitor is--

"I'll lend her to you. And I'll take care of this little girl too. In exchange, kill Fifth."

"I'm going to do that even if you told me not to. See you, Third."

"May we see each other again, Septimus." the man laughed as he melted back to the shadow where he emerged.

Apollo-Delta-Aleph, huh.

It pains me to be separated from that girl, knowing I could never convince Third to give her back, but I must put that aside. First, I should leave this World, I have to stay alive if I was to meet her again. I took the magazines from Red Landmark members' guns.

"That girl, just what was she thinking?" I gazed again at the bloody alleyways, grinning "Well, it's a great moment for Color Red to make her glorious return."

I began to run, my lungs screaming, my legs burning, but my head was painfully calm. This smell, this feeling, deep down my desire for blood is awakening.

A maniacal laugh could be heard, echoing between the building, swallowed by the perfectly normal city. I was ecstatic, my mind wide awake, my vision filled with Red.

Red. Yes, Red, tonight this city will be.

-----

I reached FWA's Sirius-TE-717 space port five minutes after sunset, killing every single personnel both Red Landmark and FWA send into my way.

"Tch, how dare Fifth named them Red when they can't even scratch me." my blood was rushing, burning from anger, disgust, and ecstasy. Blood splattered on the spaceport, both mine and enemy's, painting a small fighter at the back of the hangar with color of rust and carnage.

"Karapace 59, huh, old ion beam and diffusion engine. Perfect for sneaking out." I searched the FWA ops for activation IDs when the fighter rumbled.

"Yah, Red, fancy meeting you here." the ship's speaker blared as its spotlight blinded my eyes.

"Yellow, is that you?"

"One and only. I'd really appreciate if you don't kill me even though we're technically enemy right now."

I pointed my gun to the ship's cockpit. "I killed you once. I'll do it again."

"Oi oi, don't you need this ship to escape this colony?"

"I could pilot an old Karapace just fine."

"Hmm, but could you snipe a Covert Director from orbit?"

"My trusty pistol is reliable enough to kill it."

"It, huh. Your gun has no infinite ammo though."

"Unlike UNSED, Covert actually went and standardized our arsenal. I would have no difficulty acquiring ammo. I have no need for your orbital sniping talent, and the world become a better place every time a Color die anyway."

"Uuu, Red hates me now, even though we're used to get along so well."

"The last time we talked was the assassination of Transparent. I don't recall we agreed on anything other than Blue's favorite girls."

"Yeah, we both could see he liked you, but even after Kurayami no Iro and that War, both of you never got anywhere."

"Such is the fate of Colors." I even killed him myself, but Yellow already knew everything up to joining Covert. "So you stayed as FWA's dog, huh."

"Better than joining strange cult outta nowhere."

"Hey, being a Covert Director has better paycheck than UNSED spec ops, with better safety too."

"It's not like you can't survive a nuclear blast or two anyway."

"So, what are you going to do? Old as it is, a Karapace could blow me out to the orbit. Whether you shoot me or let me in, I could still finish my mission."

"Hmm, I'm sure Command will understand, this is a mission to assassinate a Covert Director, after all. I could just kill you later, gather photographic and genetic evidence, and brand myself a hero after killing two Covert Directors. Yes, this is good idea indeed."

"Your inner thought is leaking out."

"No, this is intentional. Get in, Red. This is time for Mission Orange Part Deux."

The Scribble Will be Continued.

The next part of the story would be up soon, alternating between Seventh/Red perspective and Yellow's perspective during their journey to obtain Apollo-Delta-Aleph and assassinate Fifth Director of Covert.

See ya, or not? I'll try to make the next Scribble the conclusion of this series!