Fiction

This is the tale of Fortuitous Scarlet Cloak, a most skilled and devout child of the Fire Dragon. One great day, her mother entreated her to pay her respects to her most venerable and esteemed ancestress and, being the dutiful child that she was, she agreed without hesitation. As a token of the family's gratitude for her labors in upbringing them, Fortuitous Scarlet Cloak wrapped the choicest of moon cakes in rice paper, placed them with a hand-woven basket her younger sister had made, and set off towards the great manse of her glorious ancestress.

He still remembered that thing which had nearly killed him. Of course he expected to remember, but not like this. The pain had faded to a dull ache in his side though it flared up if he reached too high with his left arm, but every time he closed his eyes he saw that monster's face, as if it were burned into his retina. He even saw it with his eyes open sometimes, breaking out in a cold sweat whenever that happened.

Auspicious Flame remembered when the stranger had first come to his forge. He had seemed pleasant enough, offering good pay for his requests, always prompt in picking up his orders and dropping off his jade. The jade varied a lot, like it had come from many different places, and Auspicious Flame had tried not to think about where it may have come from and how it got into the pleasant stranger's smooth hands. The swords ordered were always of the same type, great chopping blades with a wicked backhook for disarming foes.

In a bar somewhere, a scruffy-looking yet somehow attractive and charming man rambles on.

"No, the whole bringing monotheism to the masses was Yves' idea, man. He thought that if we told people some version of the truth, they'd all accept it and use it to guide their lives towards positive principles…sounds reasonable, doesn't it?"

He pauses to take a drink from his mug of beer.

Somewhere, in a dark corner of an unassuming eatery, two men who are not men talk of things no true man knows. One of them is handsome, with rough black hair and a charming smile, and a rose the color of a sunrise tucked in the lapel of his loose white shirt. The other is hard to make out, wearing an elegant suit of black cloth, his face lost in the shadows, only his grinning white teeth visible, like some humaniform Cheshire Cat.

The dark one speaks first, "So, you've decided to take me up on my offer?"

"Yeah, I've had time to think about it."

Erzebehl started slightly as the secretary called his name; it was time for his audience with his Prince. He was either about to get promoted, or find himself in really deep shit. He thought he'd been doing good work recently, but you never can tell…

As the angels toiled, and the universe took form, God looked on and saw that it was good. And God looked forward and saw that all would move by his perfect plan, and this troubled him. That his own perfection should trouble him troubled him even more, and thus he went to Yves, who had a name for all things, and asked him the name of this trouble. And Yves spoke onto him, and named this trouble Boredom, the trouble that arose from the knowledge of what would come. And God thought, and he formed a plan.

To: Dominic
Re: Enemy Intelligence
Clearance: For your eyes only

As you know, my triad is currently collaborating with a triad of the Game. In the course of the mission, I came across the following fragment of a message. I felt that troubling you with it immediately was justified:

This is a really old piece of in-game fiction I wrote. In retrospect, it's pretty bad—my adjectives were out of control, and half the thing consists of "As you (don't) know, Bob…", but here it is for completeness.

"Bless me father, for I have sinned…"