Word: aphotic

aphotic

\ ey-FOH-tik \  , adjective;

1. Lightless; dark.

       Don't think it's one of my best works, but hey fantasy story weeee!

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 Their footsteps echoed faintly in the pitch black hallway.

“Can’t you do something about this infernal darkness?” Lars asked.  

“You know I can’t.”  Grena said.  “I know it’s not pleasant, but we need the darkness.”

“Yes, yes, I know.  But why can’t you just make it brighter now, and when we see the beast, then we go black.”

“Because if we did that, it would be able to attack us at any time.  We’re much less likely to be caught off guard if it’s like this the entire time.”

    “Well, maybe just a little?  Like a tiny little glow.  You know, something?”  
    “Oh stop complaining,”  Carus said.  “It’s not like we came in unprepared you know.”
    It was true.  The three of them had spent nearly three months training in various ways to be able to function in total darkness.  They spent Lars just grumbled, knowing that there was nothing much he could say to get the spellslinger to make any kind of light.  It was thanks to that time that they weren’t stumbling around the old, winding stone passageways without running into the walls, or each other.  
    When they heard of the attacks, they had thought it was a joke.  A strange demonic creature attacking a town in broad daylight, when most of them choose to cause problems in the dead of night.  Carus had come up with the idea that the creature probably had eyesight similar to a humans, attuned to light instead of darkness.  That was the reason for the training, and why no sources of light--other than Grena’s magic--had been brought along.  
    Now the three of them were working their way slowly and as quietly as possible through the passageways.  Whoever build them must not have been a very good architect.  It twisted and turned in seemingly random ways, and narrowed and widened with no reason.  Carus and Lars had some problems with the narrower parts.  Lars’s twin swords would sometimes strike the walls as he tried to move.  Carus’s large frame and equally large warhammer proved a liability here, unlike on the surface, where both proved a great boon for intimidating those who might be problematic otherwise.  Grena had no problems in any of the tunnels, as she was a small woman, and had chosen the channel arcane power through a string of beads rather than the more conventional (and larger) staff.  She was very grateful for the moment of foresight that lead her to the choice of implement at times like these.  
    Despite Lars grumbling about the darkness and narrower areas for the better part of an hour, the trio made their way through the passages without any major incident.  There had been an encounter with a group of rats, in which the three had tripped over many of the small furry bodies, even with their skills in navigating the darkness, but little else came of it.  
    Suddenly, they heard a strange sound.  It sounded like a mix cats whining, a large wheel moving over sand, and a songbird that had a throat problem.   Even with the oddness of the slow, rythmic sound, it was hard to identify as anything other than..

“Snoring?”  Grena said, puzzled.  

“Seems like we found our beast.”  Carus said.

“Great, it’s asleep.  So now can we get some light.  You know, so we can see what we’re dealing with before we kill it?”  Said Lars, hopeful that he might finally see something.

“I say we kill it, then look at it.”  Carus said, the sound of his hammer being drawn accompanying the words.

“Right, I’m all for sneak attacks, but we can’t very well kill something if we can’t see where the vulnerable spots are.  I mean, we could be attacking its backside for all we know.”  This time, it was Carus’s turn to mutter to himself.  As loath as he was to admit it, Lars had a point this time.  It wouldn’t do much good to attack something that wasn’t vital after all.

    “Alright, fine.  But just for a second.”  Said Grena.  She took out her beads and began the slow, rhythmic breathing that was needed to gather magic to the casters item of choice.  A ball of light appeared in front of her, casting a faint glow around them.  The beast was not right in front of them, but they could see what appeared to be a tail from around the next corner.
    Lars walked slowly around the corner the see what kind of creature they were dealing with.  It wasn’t as large as he had thought it would be from the sound of its snoring.  It was barely larger than a large man, the tail was almost a full head longer than the body.  It didn’t seem to have any visible weapons, other than the nasty looking claws on the thin, spindly arms and legs.  However, that meant very little in the case of demons and other such creatures.  Lars found the small head facing away from him, and clearly fast asleep.  The light vanished suddenly, Lars was annoyed at the sudden darkness, but he went back to the others none the less.
    “You know, you didn’t have to turn the lights off so soon.  I could have gotten it before it woke up.”
    “I told you it would only be for a second.”  Said Grena.  “Now, what did you see?”  Lars told them as well as he could.
    “Ok then, as long as we avoid that tail, we should be able to get up to it without any problem.”  Carus said.  He started out first to where the creature was.  Lars followed him as closely as he dared.  The two of them stayed next to the wall, while Grena stayed behind, preparing a spell in case something went wrong.  

Lars stopped them where he knew the head would be, and readied his weapons, prepared to take it out before it woke up.  Carus was just a bit faster though, as there was a rush of wind followed by the tell tale crunch and splat of bone an brains being crushed by the large hammer.  Lars looked at where Carus was and scowled.

“Sorry.”  Carus said.  Even though they couldn’t see, Lars could feel Carus’s smug grin.  The two men went back to where Grena was.  Having the two of them back, she brought the light orb back on, as there was little left to fear.  

“Ok, so now that that’s done, what do we do now?” Lars asked.

“Now we have to find our way back out.”  Grena said smiling.  Lars sighed.  The three of them turned to go, when they heard a something coming from behind them.  The three of them turned around to see what was happening.  A huge number of rats were barreling down them.

“Oh jeeze.”  Lars said, holding his head in his hands.  “Why do things  like this always happen to us?”

“Such is the life of the traveling warrior.”  Said Grena  “Now suck it up and lets kill some rats.”  She said, smiling.    

Word: Barnburner

    The word for today is:

barnburner

\ BAHRN-bur-ner \  , noun;

1. Something that is highly exciting or impressive.

2. Chiefly Pennsylvania.  A wooden friction match.

3. (Initial capital letter) A member of the progressive faction in the Democratic party in New York State 1845–52.

 

 I did my best to capture the essence of this one, but not sure how well I did.  Let me know if you think it fits.  Enjoy!

 

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The two of them stood on the edge and looked down.
    “I don’t know why I let you talk me into this.”  Max said, his face a nervous mask.
    “Because deep down, you know you need to do something like this.”  Angela said, smiling ear-to-ear.  
    “No I don’t.  I’m perfectly happy not jumping off a large cliff into violent water.”
    “Oh please, you know you need some excitement in your life.  I mean, all you ever do is sit in your room playing video games.”
    “That is not true.”  He said accusingly.  She looked at him dully.  “I go outside all the time.”  Angela sighed.
    “And then you continue to play games outside instead of inside.”
    “No!  I do other stuff also.”
    “Oh really?  Like what?”  She asked, crossing her arms.  Max opened his mouth to say something, but he knew she was right.  
    “Ok, maybe you’re right about that.”  He said,  “but video games can be plenty exciting.  Besides, bungee jumping isn’t really my idea of excitement. To me it’s more like a physical manifestation of stupidity.”
    “That’s because you’ve never done anything like it before.  Trust me, once you take that first step, it feels almost like you can fly.”  She looked ahead towards the horizon, an almost longing look in her eyes.
    “I can fly.  All it takes is money to buy a ticket on an airplane.”  He sat down, cross legged, determined not to give in to her words.
    “Oh very funny.  You still need to do something exciting at some point in your life.  Why not just go do it now?”
    “If I really want excitement, I’ll go to one of the clubs downtown or something like that.  You know, an activity that doesn’t involve risking your life.”
    “You can be such a wimp sometimes, you know that.”
    “You say that like it’s a bad thing.”  She couldn’t help chuckling at that one.  If there was one thing he was good at, it was humor.  Shame he never really put it to good use.  
    “Ok fine, I’ll go first, so just watch me, and you’ll see that everything will be fine.”  She yanked him up out of his sitting position.  Max could never quite get over the fact that her years of so called “extreme sports” had left her deceptively strong.  The two of them had known each other for years, and he had always been the better of the two physically until she became the adrenaline junkie she was now.  She giggled as she walked up to the small platform that had been secured to the cliff edge and tied the thick bungee cord to her ankle.  She stood up and turned around to face him, a huge grin on her face.  
    “See ya later, tough guy.”  She said, winking.  She leaned backwards, falling off the cliff.  Max ran to the edge to see his friend falling.  She let out a great yell that was a mixture of pure joy, primal fear, and adrenaline fueled exhilaration.  The cord snapped taught and stopped her fall moments before she hit the water, just as it was supposed to.  She hung there, laughing and bouncing up and down.  Max could hardly bear to watch, even now that she had made the jump safely.  He was so busy worrying that he almost didn’t hear Angela calling for him to pull her up.  
    Once she was back on solid ground, still breathing hard while untying the bungee cord, she looked up at Max with eyes that were still wide with the adrenaline still coursing through her body.
    “See, I told you it would be fine.”  
    “Ok, that was...interesting to watch.”  He said, choosing his words carefully.  “But that doesn’t mean I’m going to do it.”  He said, resuming his defiant sitting pose.  Angela looked at him, especially now that her adrenaline rush was starting to wear down.  There was nothing left she could say that would convince him to jump.  An idea crossed her mind.  She looked at Max mischievously.  Max looked back at her, suddenly very scared for his well being.  “Fine then.  I guess there’s nothing more to do but do home.”  Max didn’t quite believe her words, and was wary of whatever thoughts might be going through her mind.  

“Really?”  He said, dubiously.

“Yes really.  I mean, if watching me didn’t convince you, then I don’t think nothing will.”

Max started to breathe a bit easier.  He knew something was bound to happen, but he didn’t know when or what form the inevitable retribution for his lack of enthusiasm might come, but when it did, all he could do was grin and bear it.  He was just glad that he wouldn’t have to jump.

“Just come up here, and at least look out here for a bit.”  Max didn’t like the sound of that one bit.

    “Why?”
    “If you’re not going to jump, you can at least feel what it’s like to stand on the edge a bit.”
    “You’re not going to tie my foot up and push me off are you?”  Max said, squinting at Angela.  
    “Of course not.”  She said, an obviously fake hurt look in her eyes.  “How could you even think I would do something like that.”  Max looked at her and raised one eyebrow.  “Ok, maybe I would.  But that wouldn’t work anyway.  You’d notice too soon.”  She had a point.  Max sighed, guessing whatever she had planned would come later.  

“Fine then, I guess one look won’t hurt me.”  Max approached the platform and looked out.  The slight breeze carried the salt smell to him.  The sun, currently high up in the sky, brought a gentle warmth to counter the cool ocean breeze.  A few lazy clouds hovered in the sky, appearing almost motionless.  It was an impressive sight, there was no doubt about that.  It almost made this trip worth it.

Suddenly, Angela grabbed him, wrapping her arms tightly around him, under his arms.

“Hang on!”  She said, enthusiastically.  Max grabbed her arms as she fell off the platform, taking him with her.  Max was terrified as the two of them started to fall.  Seeing nothing but the sheer rock wall and waves pounding into it made him feel suddenly very much like a bug about to hit a windshield must feel.  Then it hit him.  The adrenaline started to flow in earnest.  The terror was soon replaced with an almost inexplicable feeling of excitement and thoughts of defiance of the inevitable impact.  His scream, initially one of pure terror, started more and more to take the same tones of Angela’s, who had been screaming in his ear the entire time, even if he hadn’t noticed at first.  

Then, the cord around her ankle snapped, and brought the two of them to a sudden stop.  The feeling of everything coming to a sudden stop took his breath away for a second, and it took him a moment to catch his breath.  When he recovered, his breath was quick and shallow, in contrast to Angelas raucous laughter.  The two of them hung there for a moment before one of them spoke.

    “See, I told you it would be great.”  Angela said, her head peering over his shoulder.
    “Ok, I’ll admit, I kinda enjoyed that.  A little.”  He said, smiling slightly.  “But there is one problem.”
    “What’s that?”
    “How are we going to get back up?”

Word: aperçu

 

Word of the day from dictionary.com:

Aperçu  \ a-per-SY \  , noun;

1. A hasty glance; a glimpse.

2. An immediate estimate or judgment; understanding; insight.

3. An outline or summary.

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            “I didn’t see anything, I swear.”  said Tom, trying to make himself look as small as possible while backing away into the nearest convenient corner.  It was quite a thing to see, as the room was small, and he was not.  
        “Bull.”  Said Allan.  “I know that was you at the door.”  The small man moved towards Tom, even as Tom tried to move back by shuffling along the wall, finding the corner insufficient for the task he had intended for it.  “You had better tell me what you saw, otherwise I might have to get...creative.”  
        The word sent shivers down Tom’s spine, somehow having more sinister intent than any other word that might have been more threatening to anothers ear.
       “Ok, Ok.  That was me there, but I didn’t have time to see anything.  It was just a quick glance into an open door, that’s all.”  
        Allan said nothing about this.  He simply closed his eyes, as if in deep thought, and took a series of long, slow breaths.  Then, equally slowly, a large, wolfish grin started to appear on his shallow face.  He opened his eyes and looked at Tom.  Tom’s already large eyes got even larger at the implications of the look he was getting.  He had heard the stories.  Such as how the seemingly weak, harmless individual in front of him had once sent a man to the hospital with nothing but a water pistol and a balloon.  He had never figured out how this was done, but he really didn’t want to find out.  Sweat started to pour off Tom’s body in rivers as Allan’s grin got wider, almost comically so.
      “I-i heard some loud noises coming from the room, since the door was open a bit.  I just went to shut it, and happened to look in for a second that’s all.  I don’t even know what I was looking at, really.”
       These words seemed to have an affect on Allan’s considerations, as his grin lessened a bit.  “Oh, I’m sure you didn’t intend to see or do anything.  But that’s also not what I wanted to know.  I want to know exactly what you saw in that second you happened to invade my private life with your all too inquisitive eyes.”
      Tom took a deep breath, gathering his thoughts, recalling the sight from the night before, quickly glimpsed through a small gap from a door that wasn’t quite closed.  “I saw you and some other guy.  I didn’t see who it was though.  Heck, I don’t even know if was a guy.  All I saw was his hands and feet.  You looked over at me as I was shutting the door.  That’s all, I swear, that’s really all.”  
      Suddenly, Allan rushed over, grabbed the much larger man by the chin, and pulled their faces closer together.  He looked into Tom’s eyes, squinting, as if trying to find something very small, or far away.  
      Tom swallowed a nervous lump in his throat as he waited for the small, rough hands to release him.  Allan smiled, a much more normal one this time, and let Tom go.  “Alright then, I guess I’ll take your word for it this time.”  Tom breathed a sigh of relief as Allan turned to go.  “However, I’d take care not to look into any more open doors if I were you.”  
      Allan left the small room, firmly shutting the door behind him.  Tom wiped the sweat off his forehead, very glad the small man had not asked him what he had heard.