Most people believe the words ‘courage’ and ‘bravery’ are interchangeable. That they mean the same thing. However, that is not the case at all.
According to Merriam-Webster, the definition of ‘bravery’ is as follows.
1 : the quality or state of having or showing mental or moral strength to face danger, fear, or difficulty : the quality or state of being brave
The definition of ‘courage’ is : mental or moral strength to venture, persevere, and withstand danger, fear, or difficulty
There is a world of difference between facing danger and withstanding it. Particularly when you are the one who must choose to be brave or courageous.
Rysyn’s ice blue eye scanned the temple edifice demolished by cannonade. There were bloodstains along the wall amid gun holes. He had seen a lot of battles. He was no stranger to bloodshed or the horrors of war. Like so many of his people over the last millennium, he’d grown up with it, seen it first hand at an age none should experience such horrors. However, the numbness spreading through him at the moment had nothing to do with the callous self-protection of an experienced soldier.
It was the reason he was known as Rysyn of the Frozen Heart. It was his ability to shut down and function purely on reaction.
A pair of winged shadows passed overhead blotting out the late afternoon sun and shoving Ayyn away, he spun to face his adversary. Although awkward to be drawn by his left hand, he pulled Whytefyre from its scabbard in a burst of freezing flames that coursed down the blade to clash against the lightning crackling along the greatsword aimed for his neck.
The man holding it in a two-fisted grip smiled as he met his ice-blue gaze.
“It’s been a long time, Ice Phoenix.”
~ Excerpt from in-the-works novel “Ice Phoenix”, copyright AJ Culpepper 2017
~ Image courtesy of pinterest.com, artist unknown
Co-author Yuki decided to take a break and review our work on a chapter thus far. Not sure if she approves or not yet…
As you can see, my co-author and I are hard at work on “Ice Phoenix” during the heat wave. And so, the view from my writing station…
While working on the newest chapter of “Ice Phoenix”, in the last fifteen minutes I have researched the effects of Absolute Zero, whether a minimal difference in temperature from Absolute Zero would cause a shattering effect, whether or not a body can be frozen to the point of shattering, and synonyms for ‘gore’.
This is why I make it a point to inform people that I am an author when they see my search history.
I think I may possibly have inadvertently killed a major, major character in “Ice Phoenix”. This is not good. She’s kind of important to the plot. So, now I have to figure out how to make it so she’s NOT dead without changing the event in which she most definitely should be dead, because the event is an important crux for the mini story arc in which it takes place. Good grief. 😛
Summoned by a traitor to the Empire, a snallygaster attacks the Eastern Palace and the surrounding city of L’Syien. (This is the chapter I’m working on in my in-the-works project “Ice Phoenix”).
In the real world…
The snallygaster is a legendary dragon-like beast said to inhabit the hills surrounding Washington, D.C. and Frederick County, Maryland.
The area was settled by German immigrants beginning in the 1730s. Early accounts describe the community being terrorized by a monster called a Schneller Geist, meaning “quick ghost” in German. The earliest incarnations mixed the half-bird features of a siren with the nightmarish features of demons and ghouls. The Snallygaster was described as half-reptile, half-bird with a metallic beak lined with razor-sharp teeth, occasionally with octopus-like tentacles. It swoops silently from the sky to pick up and carry off its victims. The earliest stories claim that this monster sucked the blood of its victims. Seven-pointed stars, which reputedly kept the Snallygaster at bay, can still be seen painted on local barns.
It has been suggested the legend was resurrected in the 19th century to frighten freed slaves.
Newspaper accounts throughout February and March 1909 describe encounters between local residents and a beast with “enormous wings, a long pointed bill, claws like steel hooks, and an eye in the center of its forehead.” It was described as making screeches “like a locomotive whistle.” A great deal of publicity surrounded this string of appearances, with the Smithsonian Institution offering a reward for the hide. U.S. President Theodore Roosevelt reportedly considered postponing an African safari to personally hunt the beast.
In 2008, author Patrick Boyton published a book about the history of the Snallygaster entitled Snallygaster: the Lost Legend of Frederick County.
The Snallygaster has one widely known enemy, called Dewayo. The Dewayo is reported to be a mammalian biped with features similar to a wolf, but the stance and stature of a human. The sightings of Dewayo are primarily reported in West Middletown, Maryland, but sightings have also been reported in the Wolfsville, Maryland region. The Dewayo and the Snallygaster have reportedly had vicious encounters dating back to early settlement of the Middletown valley.
~ Information courtesy of Wikipedia.com
My thank to my friend Carl for bringing this monster to my attention 🙂
Image courtesy of http://www.clubdesmonstres.com
World of Kore 