AoF: A Story Untold - Chapter One

So, as many of you know, I had been working on my first ever 'FanFiction' piece. This was brought on by a writing competition held over at The Dark Order. Unfortunately I didn't get as much written as initially planned, however I didn't want to sacrifice quality for quantity. To my surprise, it has just granted me with 1st place within the competition! Here is the competition announcement page - http://www.thedarkorder.com/?p=206

Also I now have my place in the - 'FanFiction Contest Hall of Fame' !

Anyway, before you go on to read the entry and my first ever FanFiction piece, I would like to say a few things. Firstly a big thank you to Arphalas over at The Dark Order! This competition really has given me more than enough inspiration to continue with what I have been doing, including a massive amount of motivation to write a continuation and follow up to the piece you are about to read. So look out for more instalments! Now without further a due, I present...

Adventures of Feignheart:

A Story Untold

Chapter one.
(Entry for ‘The Dark Order’ writing contest)

By Jamin

The skies darken above me. The world begins to fade. Every part of me feels reversed. Happiness turned to hunger. Passion turned to rage. I feel trapped within my own body. Memories of what was, what I was, start to blur. What is happening to me?! Where did my sanity go...

I was a hero among my people. The city of Gilneas is what I fought for! Battling against anything which would try to threaten my homeland, my people and most of all, my family. People applauded me everywhere I went. Even the King himself, Genn Greymane, gave me a title. I was Feignheart ‘Protector of The People’! But that all changed.

Somehow evil, unknowingly, passed through our towering walls and crept into the city. In the form of foul, relentless DOGS! These creatures, which tore apart any that stood in their way, gradually began pouring onto the city. I gathered together the Army of Gilneas. I lead them to fight head on with the beasts. We didn’t let a single one of the filthy animals escape our sights. They appeared to be coming from all over the place. From within the woodwork it seemed! We continued to fight on, while our own numbers began to drop. However. Not all of those missing, that we assumed to be dead, were found...

Soon enough we were outnumbered. That is when I was struck. Down from the rooftops they came. One managed to take a tear out of me. Down my back I was ripped from top to bottom. Covered in blood I carried on the fight, until. Until it all went black.

I awoke in a haze. I could feel burning. A burning sensation to KILL! My dreary eyesight allowed me to make out what seemed to be a prison cell. With the figures of those I called my friends, some even my family, on the other side. What is the going on? As I hung from what I could only make out to be chains, for the second time, everything went black.

Once again, I woke. This time to be landed the floor, and down from the chains. I lifted my head to see my vision had returned and I was shocked to realise I was in the cities dungeon cells. Then what I was about to see, could never leave me. With no recollection of what had happened, I saw, behind the shattered bars of my cell, the bodies. The bodies of my family! Ripped from limb to limb. Claw marks scared their entire bodies. No longer any identity to their once recognisable faces. I couldn’t bare the sight. I got to my feet and ran as fast as I could. Up and up until I reached the ground level of the castle. I made my way to the outside. It was the black of night, though all seemed visible with the enormous glistening full moon above me. It was then I heard the cries and the screams echoing throughout the streets. I followed them. As fast as my legs could carry me! Until I arrived at the centre of the city. The battle was not over.

Those who had survived the continuous attacks from the beasts were still engaged in full out combat, taking a beating from their ongoing assaults. In the distance I could make out one of my officers, who had been loyal to my command for as long as I can remember. He was face to face with the monstrous creatures. I took up the sword of one of my fallen comrades and began rushing to his aid. But then everything went silent. The enemy began to retreat. On all fours they began to turn, and run. However, none of my soldiers pursued. Instead they began dropping their very own weapons! Above the cries, came terrifying howls. Enough to make the mind and body of any man go cold. Then it happened. 

Nothing could prepare me, for what I was about to see. Those that I had fought alongside for years, that I had lived with all my life, changed. In synchronisation, they all began yelling and screaming in what seemed to be pain, or rather fear. They all fell to the floor, to their knees. Then my commander, my trusted friend, took one last look at me, a look I shall remember for all my life, before turning away. Each of them then began letting out the same spine chilling howl, directed towards to moon. Grunts, roars and all kinds of ghastly noises erupted from them. As before my eyes, they transformed. Into the very enemy we had been fighting! I couldn’t describe how the souls of men and women alike we shredded apart both mentally and physically in those few moments. For it wasn’t very long before I heard the familiar thundering sound of war-drums from behind me.

To be continued...


Thanks for reading!

Look out for Adventures of Feignheart and A Story Untold, very soon!

Keep Posted - Follow/Comment/Subscribe

Jamin

(P.S. The next issue of 'Cataclysm Journals' is soon to arrive!) 

The Borean Tundra

A Moment To Reflect

Lets take a step back...

Gaze into the abyss

So seeing as I have been rather distant lately, due to; Real Life, My Birthday and a lot of behind the scene creations for the blog and beyond. I feel it is time to reflect on my journey so far and what is in store for the future of Shattered Beginnings and Feignheart..

To kick off I am going to give an overview of how my experiences on the journey from 1-70 have been. I made a similar post on Time Wasted Tuesday a while back, which can be found here - Something Different. However this time I will include a lot more detail on my views and opinions which I have gathered on my travels. Since my first steps in Azeroth to my current steps onto the dock in Stormwind Harbour, awaiting my trip to Northrend.

I will spilt it into two parts. Firstly 1-60, Kalimdor and the Eastern Kingdoms, and then 60-70, Outland.

0-60

Fighting for Gilneas

Feignheart's initial steps began in the starting area of Gilneas. The experience of the first 10 levels and the whole atmosphere of the Worgen theme were just unreal. I just instantly felt sucked in and truly convinced. From the Victorian theme to the old-English accent. It all felt so original.

Until it was time to move on. On to the re-created Azeroth. Which overall, met on the same levels which had been set by my 1-10 experience. First, off to Darkshore. Thereafter hitting zones such as The Southern Barrens, Winterspring, Tanaris and so on. All of which, after their 're-creation', remained exciting, interesting and again original every time you entered a new zone or picked up a new quest. I can honestly say my experience during those 60 levels were second to none, from what I have journeyed through so far. Although it did seem a little fast at times, which I see as a good thing. As it leaves it more desirable to level through again when I one day decide to make a new character.

60-70

A flight from the Dark Portal

Now for the second half. I will start off getting this across. That I didn't enjoy Outlands as much *WHILE LEVELING* compared to the previous 1-60.

The journey through Outlands changed the atmosphere instantly. I did get a good feeling of 'epic-ness' as I travelled through the first zone of Hellfire Peninsula. The music and the large settings/scenery gave me an image of real adventure. The same can also be said for the zones which followed.

However. Because of the way you take a step back in time. Literally (not just in game). Seeing as this whole continent was released way before cataclysm and even WoTLK. This zone, for obvious reasons, hasn't been affected by the cataclysm and therefore has had pretty much no alterations from its former glory. So you find yourself following blizzards older quest/zone structures. As in - Go here/there - Collect this/that - and so on. At first it actually felt like a nice change in pace. Maybe because you didn't have to think so much. But after a while became quite tedious and repetitive. I found myself skipping quest text, which I hate doing, and flying through quests thoughtlessly. Robotic. Which I can't say I enjoyed.

** The reason I say 'while leveling' is because I know for a fact Outland still has so, so much to offer. Though you don't get to see this with the way quests rush you through the continent, and zones only getting half uncovered etc. It just gets lost in the system. At the same time yes, you can spend more time in them. But when leveling like I say, that isn't your main priority. So I know in myself that it is definitely worth re-visiting when I can not worry about progressing through the zones and doing quests, but be able to spend more time to appreciate what it has to display.

A Shot From Stormwind

A main point as well is in the new leveling structure. You feel more involved. Yes it may be more Linear than before. But I prefer that, especially if it means more quality in the quests. As in they become more interactive and give you a feeling that your actions are really meaningful. Not to mention that you become more intertwined with the story than ever before!

So that's my review on the experience so far! I could go on and on. Though I think I have covered the most important parts. So don't forget to re-visit Outland one day! Hoping Northrend will bring a breath of fresh wind. Now onto something else..

My Birthday!

So part of the reason why I have been distant as of late is because it was my Birthday last weekend. Though to make up for it, take a look at this:

MY BIRTHDAY CAKE!

How EPIC is that?!

Yes I was just as surprised when I was presented with this. Seriously. Seeing my World of Warcraft character and alter-ego, ON MY CAKE! (Caps necessary). I quote - 'Best Cake Ever'. Words cannot describe.

Also, I now have an iPhone! Is my life complete now? Which also lead me to receive my 'Core Hound Pup' companion from the In-Game mail, after downloading the Battle.net Authenticator (Which I recommend you all do)

Core Hound Pup

New Features:

• Forum - Which can be found Here
• Contact Page
• Cataclysm Journal Page
• New Poll - vote!

Now for what is to come in the near future:

• Blogroll
• Contests (One coming up very soon)
• About me
• Gallery (Including Videos)
• Feedback Page
• My own site
• FanFiction
• The Clan. The Guild...

So watch out, I have big things in store for the blog and my valuable readers! Keep pinned!

Coming to the end of what I know has been a long post, which I feel has been very necessary! I want to again thank every one of my readers who really make all this worthwhile. It is you guys that really push me and motivate me to put my posts out there! Thanks from myself and Feignheart!

Look out for the next edition of 'Cataclysm Journals', where Northrend is on the agenda!

Until then..

Thanks for reading!

Keep Posted - Follow/Comment/Subscribe

Jamin

(P.S. Don't forget to check out the new forum - Here!)

A New Wind