Sat, Nov 16, 4:41 PM CST

Fragments of an Echo # 6: Final

Photography Photo Manipulation posted on Nov 05, 2008
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Description


As Liébo walked amid the tombs of ancient Masters, he thought of his final examination, and the dark revelations yielded by the omen condenser and his own scalpel. He shivered at the memory. “There are wars in the sky,” he'd pronounced to the Proktor-Superior bare days ago. “It is nearly finished. Those who survive will seek us out; they know of us, and they know what we do to members of their breed. They know of the dangers our world poses to them. They count Aeromancers among those threats, and they despise any dangers to themselves. We are not alive, in their reckoning, and so it will not be murder to kill us. Their emotions are different. It is cold rationality that dictates their actions. If we die, they survive. That is how they see it. Their survival is preferable to them.” There had been more, much more than that, but those were the words that echoed through Liébo's mind now. If we die, then they survive...that is how they see it. Life and death, there were no alternatives or compromises in this view. The Proktor-Superior confirmed Liébo's reading, and by night, whispers coursed through Castle grounds as couriers took messages to the other Aeromancer keeps. Samples of the dead omen went with them: declared confirmation of Liébo's reading, embedded deeply in the brain-meat of the sacrificed and distilled creature. Today, Liébo knew what other Aeromancers knew. He could count himself in their hallowed ranks, but there was no pride in this knowledge. In the span of a single reading, the entire world had changed. Each day bore a number, and with each sunset, that number diminished. Soon, the guild of Aeromancers would be gone...dead or worse. “We will have to hide,” the Proktor-Superior proclaimed. “All that we are must be made hidden.” He didn't go so far as to say that the Castles had to fall, but Liébo knew that they would. The cities would fall as well, and those who lived in the cobbled citadels would disperse. There was no other way. There were crude communities in the world: a rambling scatter of lesser human tribes. Those of the cities and the towns would move, slowly, and carefully among them, adopting ways more primitive than the slums of the lowliest city. Humans, Liebo knew, would survive, but Aeromancers would not...not as they were. “We are the last,” Liébo said to Beoli, in the silence of the night. Now, walking between tombs, he thought those words, again. We are the last. We will survive, we will live on...but not as we are. A chill coursed through his blood as he read the names of the hallowed dead. * * * * * Though I've ended Fragments of an Echo here, there will be a fleshed-out story concerning the Aeromancers, their culture, and the details of its disappearance. As for the image that accompanies the text, it's a manipulation. Though the source of this image is the cemetery at Vyšehrad, in Prague, the place depicted here does not exist, nor does the character walking along the cobbled path. The line of arches on the left side of the image is a mirrored copy of the arches on the right side, and the character (in his third rendering by me) is something of a Frankenstein/Golem composite. The mismatched portions of his body have been sewn together from various other pictures I took and obscured to hide any single identity, though hints of a single, fictitious identity do emerge. As always, thank you for viewing, reading, and commenting...and hopefully you've enjoyed this brief series.

Comments (24)


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MrsRatbag

9:16AM | Wed, 05 November 2008

Wonderful work on the image; and I'm left feeling vaguely uneasy about Liebo's fate...I hate endings! I want the stories to go on and on and on....

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igorsv

9:17AM | Wed, 05 November 2008

You crafted the final image very well - a good illustration for your sci-fi story.

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ladyraven23452

10:04AM | Wed, 05 November 2008

All things must end and this one ended well loved it.

MrsLubner

10:14AM | Wed, 05 November 2008

This shot shows the recesses behind the rail. There is still a mood of singularity but not as ominous. Great one.

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MagikUnicorn

10:48AM | Wed, 05 November 2008

M A R V E L O U S

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beachzz

11:00AM | Wed, 05 November 2008

Oh, you ended this so beautifully-with a touch of sadness, yet hope at the same time. What you've done with the foto is brilliant, the perfect touch---BRAVO!!!!!!!! standing ovation

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Meisiekind

11:30AM | Wed, 05 November 2008

Amazing image and a wonderful ending to the story! :)

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claude19

12:27PM | Wed, 05 November 2008

MARVELOUS sophisticated picture !!!

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Fidelity2

1:59PM | Wed, 05 November 2008

Splendid. 5+.

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lyron

2:22PM | Wed, 05 November 2008

Fantastic work!!

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dbrv6

3:25PM | Wed, 05 November 2008

Interesting and fun reading.

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dorothylee

6:17PM | Wed, 05 November 2008

Great POV and mood. Well done!

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Lunastar

8:49PM | Wed, 05 November 2008

I'm so sad this story is over.

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lior

8:50PM | Wed, 05 November 2008

A wonderful ending story!

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auntietk

11:39PM | Wed, 05 November 2008

Excellent! I'll look forward to reading this in its more fleshed-out form. As usual, my dear, you've caught me ... hook line and sinker!

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NekhbetSun

5:56AM | Thu, 06 November 2008

I kinda thought this looked like a manip, but very well done ! ...loved the story too Chip ~ H u g s

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romanceworks

10:02AM | Thu, 06 November 2008

'We are not alive, in their reckoning, and so it will not be murder to kill us' I'm glad they survived, even at such great cost. A fascinating story that kept me quite intrigued, and really like your visual. CC

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elisheba

4:38PM | Fri, 07 November 2008

Excellent manip that looks so much like a photograph, I really thought it was a capture so you brilliantly postworked it in such a way that it is impossible to tell it is a manip... And you already know how much I love your stories, the Aeromancers remind me of the Atlantis people, and all of those people who have disappeared without a single reminder of their existence... As Plato -or was it Socrate?-once said: "Thou are not the first civilization to think you will remain and survive, but you will disappear one day, too, and you should'nt be so sure about the traces you will leave in the future"... Anyway, great work Chip!

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Rainbowgirl

12:56AM | Tue, 11 November 2008

So it is done. What we saw and read was the beginning of the end of the Aeromancers. Chip, I do love your little story. So few words, so few sentences and a whole new world appeares ... only to disappear in the end! Your photo manipulation is perfect and the result is wonderful in it's magic.

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mermaid

3:05PM | Thu, 13 November 2008

just marvelous!

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Faery_Light Online Now!

8:25PM | Fri, 14 November 2008

That is great work on the image. So sad an ending but still a little hope is there. Ah well...sigh.

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KatesFriend

8:01PM | Sat, 15 November 2008

Not the ending I was expecting to be sure and an engrossing short story. Thank you for posting it here. So Liébo turns out to be the portent of doom for the Aeromancers just as he is about to become one himself. Perhaps this is the vengeance of the omen he himself killed, signing his own death warrant in the process. A brilliant twist.

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arcavee

9:57PM | Mon, 22 December 2008

Very nice!

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MOSKETON

7:27PM | Tue, 14 April 2009

ME GUSTA, GENIAL.


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