Pirates and Aliens - A short picture based story
Pirates and Aliens - A short picture based story (Please ignore all spelling, punctuation, structure, hiccups, etc. errors), I should be able to add a new one every 3-4 days along with story to move it along.
LINK TO THE GALLERY IMAGE HERE
The thunderous explosion was preceeded by the sound of the heavens being ripped apart by the very hands of warring Gods. I followed the bright fire in the sky and the streak of smoke leading me to the resting place to the gift from the Gods.
LINK TO THE GALLERY IMAGE HERE
Upon reaching the destination it was clear that it was a most bizarre craft, large in size and ablaze. Explosions and smoke rose high from different portions of its hall. I then saw a single woman.. blue.. markings on her face like that of a warrior wearing strange clothes and injured.
A clan of thieves had arrived just before me and she was embroiled in a fight for her life.
* Pzzzssshhhh *
A strange sound was heard and a bright light jumped from her weapon landing on one of the thiefs. Instantly the pirate, who had charged her, was engulfed in flames. Muffled by the explosions and the intense crackling of the burning fires the screaming ended and peculiarly no smoke or remains were left behind.
Another pirate came from behind her and was about to strike when my sword came swiftly to her defense. Weapon raised she turned and made eye contact with me. Instinctively she knew I was a friend and lowered her aim.
LINK TO THE GALLERY IMAGE HERE
The last group was destroyed by fire and by my blade, who had been driven by a single female standing on a crate commanding orders and insighting a violent riot.
A handful of the thieves approached from opposite the craft shouting and raising their weapons high in the air as they charged. I gripped my sword tightly ready for the next wave as the female traveler joined my side.
LINK TO THE GALLERY IMAGE HERE
Suddenly the diversion of the shouting men was clear, as two of them grabbed me from behind. A blade at my throat and a sword at hers. Orders to kneel were shouted as one of them kicked the back of her knees causing her to falter to the ground.
Appearing from the fires was the commander, a red haired female, whose gaze locked upon the traveler as she approached. "What a beautiful thing you have there" she said as she kneeled down and started to gently stroke the side of the travelers face. "Would you mind if I took it from you?" spoken as she gnashed her teeth and grabbed the ray gun from the traveler.
I began to kick and struggle knowing that if she truly has possession of the weapon, all would be lost. Such great devastation in the hands of a mad murderer is no place to be.
LINK TO THE GALLERY IMAGE HERE
Rendered powerless by the blade at her throat the traveller had to wait as fate unfolded.
"You think you're better than us!" shouted the commander with anger and spit flying as she shouted. "This weapon is the only thing that made you better and now I have it!" she continued with gritted teeth.
The commander then reached up and grabbed the travelers wounded arm. With great force she jabbed her fingernails into the wound. The traveller contorted in pain and let out a haunting shout that echoed above the crackling of the fires. Her band of pirates all began laughing and cheering as if their commander had won a prize at a fair. It was sickening to watch and my blood began to boil beyond control.
"You're just a freak... a dog that I will put down" she continued with a much lower but taunting voice. She then jabbed the weapon into the travellers belly and pulled the trigger.
Nothing happened...? No light jumped to the traveller like that which had consumed the thieves. All of the cheering and laughing of her crew fell silent while my own head was full of nothing but her scream, which was louder than my own thoughts.
For a brief moment I felt two of the men who were holding me lighten their grip. With my blood boiling and my mind on fire I reacted with such speed and strength that the two were caught off guard. I launched the one on my left arm over me onto the bigger one.
As they stumbled to the ground I recovered my sword, from the ground, and swiftly took down the pirate who held a sword to the travelers head. Their commander confused as to why the weapon did not react, and in panic, retreated back by my vicious onslaught.
Exhausted by the pain the traveller was still kneeling over when I reached her. Slowing my speed, but cautiously watching for other thieves, she gazed up at me and slowly stood. "Thank God! It is a miracle that you are still alive" I said out loud.
Though she seemed unable to understand our language she knew that I was her protector. Visually her leg was giving her trouble as well as her wounded arm. This meant we would be much slower and at great risk during our departure. So I butt up next to her side, reached around with my other arm and aided her in our escape.
After clearing the immediate area I whistled out loud a familiar calling. Moments later, through the smoke and ashes, my trusty horse came running towards us.
As we rushed away from the crash site her wounded arm was wrapped around me and still bleeding. My mind, concerned for her well being, began to try and sort everything out;
This night began with me following a falling star, an omen from the gods. I met and defended a most bizarre traveller whose vessel fell from the very stars of the sky. I then witnessed the most incredible of weapons which is now in the hands of a wicked being. Yet, it did not work... was it now damaged?
If I had not intervened, her life, as well as my own, would most certainly have been cut off. An empty death, at the hands of vermin.
Now we are riding away from these savages. Her ship that traveled from a far is now ablaze and to be plundered, looted like won treasure.
What other secrets lay within its halls? So many questions!
Does she eat the same foods, enjoy the same pleasures, cry at loss as I do?
Can we learn to communicate?
Can I keep her safe?
If so... how?
In my small palace, I am able to give her, the traveller, shelter while we figure out our paths. I find that she is constantly watching me, staring with what looks like longing eyes. Am I crazy to believe I witness this?
She may have just lost her home, her family and have no ties to any man or woman in this world. Who wouldn't feel dependent upon the one person who has helped them in this most difficult of situations?
Tonight I have already shown her around, offered her sustenance, clean clothes meant for one of the servants and given her a private room. Now as I clean and dress her wounded arm I see her watching me once again with the same longing in her eyes. Just a few hours ago we nearly shared death together, now we are experiencing something new.
I don't think I slept a wink last night. With my staff I have arranged travel and the aid of fighting men as we return to the site of the crash. With the grace of the gods, the traveller may be able to collect some of her belongings, if anything is left.
So much has happened yet there is still so much to do now that events have been put into motion. The revealing light of day will protect us and cast more answers upon the mysterious traveler at least for myself. What will be waiting for us? Pirates? The villagers?
In my short time with her I have learned the traveler experiences feelings; fear, pain and even joy, as we do. I also feel it in my gut that she is a good being and can be trusted.
She can speak but just not in a language that either one of us can communicate in. I will take time to teach her our language from my vast library collection.
In all honesty the only differences I can see is in the color of her skins and the marking on her face and hands. Beyond that her touch is what I would expect and her expressions the same. Her eyes and curiosity are endearing as a child in unfamiliar lands. Her hunger and the foods that she eats are similar, but lack all meat content.
What weighs heavily upon me is knowing that she is from the stars. Who or what else may be here? Is she fleeing from something horrific or is she the terror? Is she on a mission to destroy humanity or observe it?
Above all questions I still don't even know her name and I have not told her mine.
THANK YOU FOR VIEWING MY LITTLE STORY! If you have kept with my little story or viewed any of it, I absolutely appreciate it!
Comments
A nice start. :) I think maybe the last sentence you might mean "instinctually", not "institutionally". :D
Hey THANK YOU 3Diva! You are absolutely correct that I need to correct that....
Whoops, had to delete. I'll repost it tomorrow after I sleep and then upload the correct image.
LINK TO THE GALLERY IMAGE HERE
Alright, I'm sober this morning... :) Uploaded the correct version of SCENE 3. Originally it had several pirates charging the traveller and swashbuckler. But, the scene just SUCKED. This is more interesting and puts the leader of the theifs front and center.
LINK TO THE GALLERY IMAGE HERE
Uploaded another portion of the story and continuing images to go along with it.
LINK TO THE GALLERY IMAGE HERE
I apologize if this one is a little more gritty than the others but I need to establish that the leader of the pirates is a bad, bad person. Kind of funny that Tara is generally drawn as a warrior of good and I'm casting her in a different role.
LINK TO THE GALLERY IMAGE
Took a 9 day break before creating this latest in the series. Number six of ten.
LINK TO THE GALLERY IMAGE
Uploaded image 7 and the story to try and move the full story along.
LINK TO THE GALLERY IMAGE
Uploaded scene 8 of 10 along with the story to move things along.
LINK TO THE GALLERY IMAGE
Almost done with the series. Just uploaded part 9 of the 10 with its story.
LINK TO THE GALLERY IMAGE
YAY! FInished the 10 of the series that I set out to do. Just took forever that's all. So in this final scene you can see how they are sweet on one another. They may or may not have gotten close last night...
But the adventure can go so many ways from here. From here the two could have children, there could be other visitors, the pirates/thieves can be back and try to take the palace that they live at, the villagers can be so afraid that they try to burn the place down, the servants/friends of our prince can feel the same, they could learn each others language and travel to each others worlds. So many ideas!
You sure know how to tell a story! I really enjoyed it! ^_^
Breathtaking. Each image a treat, visually gripping. Your short story excellent.
Thank you Fae! You're always so supportive and I appreciate it.
Thank you too memcneil70! It's really kind of you!
LINK TO THE GALLERY IMAGE
I did one more.. not part of the story but the alien in scene 10 wearing the scarf looked so much like the "Afghan Girl". It's a famous photo for National Geographic that I tried to mimic the pose, look, colors, fabric, etc. It's just for fun but thought I would also share it here.
Beautiful work junk as always, really love the smoke effects. Is that post work? I could use some tips as my work in progress story has lots of fire torches.
Hey thank you so much Only a Noob! Yes I am guilty of doing post work for various reasons and in two different programs.
POST EDIT SOFTWARE:
The two programs I constantly utilize are:
1) Snapseed by Google (a free editor for Android, ChromeOS and ios)
2) Photoshop (I tried to switch to Gimp but just couldn't find anything I am familiar with)
EDITS DONE:
For example the fourth image where there are five characters on the screen my system couldn't render it all together. So I had to render the top three people along with the crashed UFO as one scene. I then rendered the traveller and pirate commander as a second one and then merged them together in Photoshop.
The very first image in the story was edited solely in Snapseed by Google. I love using the "brush" tool as the trees are lit up by simply using my finger and touching various portions of the trees. This created the lit up smoke look and turned out beautifully. I have it in my head to create a Youtube video one day where I show people the techniques that at least work for me.
The scene where they are being touchy with each other is another example where I utilized Snapseed for 100% of the editing.
TORCH AND SMOKE ITEMS:
The particular torch I utilize is https://www.daz3d.com/the-torch-and-construction-kit
The smoke effect for the torch is added in by Photoshop. You can download the smoke brushes free from Brusheezy.com here
If you have a specific question on one ot the images or possibly to see a before version just let me know.
Happy rendering!
Thanks man, I will try to learn post work with baby steps I suppose (the last time I tried I was pretty darn intimidated and dint know what the hell was going on in photoshop even with some tutorials so just left it for last)
Yup thats the same torch kit I use and really appreciate the smoke brush link and technique for smoke effect.
Cheers :)
You are so welcome Only a Noob! Just for the heck of it here is the before image of the horse riding towards the fire. Using that free Snapseed program on a touch screen really made a huge difference.
Here's how I did the smoke in the trees effect:
1) Start Snapseed
2) Open the picture you want to edit
3) Click the "Tools" button
4) Click the "Brush" tool
This will display your image and some tools at the bottom.
5) Select the "Exposure" control and set it to about "0.7"
6) Pinch zoom in or out to see the areas you want to add a dab of white to
7) Touch the parts of the screen you want to add white/brighter sections to
8) If you press the icon of an eye, it will show you in red all off the areas you have affected.
9) If you want to erase some of what you did simply change the 0.7 to the word "Eraser"
10) If you want to make parts darker than other places simply change the tool to a negative number such as "-0.7"
Hope that inspires something or helps in some way. I use to do my edits straight on my smartphone but now utilize a larger $298 Chrome OS tablet. So nothing too special is really required. Before that I used a $90 Amazon Tablet that had the Google Play store installed on it for all of my edits.