heart of stone
an original tale
Set between plains and desert, tumbling over itself for miles and miles, too arrogant and important for walls, Asshurbanipal is the city where all roads meet and all languages are spoken. The buildings are short, made of tan mud brick, flat-roofed, and painted in gaudy colors. Between them people of all colors and ethnicities bustle back and forth, taking care of their business legal and less so; taciturn black-skinned horse traders from the south rub elbows with mysterious yellow-skinned mercenaries from the far west, and during the night white-skinned barbarian thieves steal from them both. The original natives of the city have brown skin, somewhere between honey and chocolate in color; the term 'native' becomes more meaningless by the year, here in Asshurbanipal.
All languages are spoken here, and it is a rare resident who cannot set your ears on fire with curses in five languages. If you learn a language here, you will learn the term for 'camel-fucker' before you learn the term for 'please', and this is only correct. However, those who are truly wise in the ways of the city curse no one, and ingratiate themselves with flashes of teeth too nervous to be called a smile; the men and women of the king's court are everywhere, but it is the men and women of the magician's council that are truly to be feared. They answer to no one but themselves, and police themselves, and consider a year spent with a donkey's head to be acceptable punishment for verbal abuse.
On one edge of the city stands a white tower. The tower appears squat,
wide and not too tall; nevertheless, it is the tallest building in the
city, a fact which never fails to irritate the other magicians who make
their livings here and set the king's teeth on edge. The simple whitewash
ensures that the tower gleams in the light, impossible to ignore.
The roof is covered with an astonishing garden, an explosion of
greenery and flowers like a miniature jungle, lusher and more vibrant than
anything else the city has to offer. Creatures live here, too, hiding in
the bushes, lurking in the trees.
None of them are real.
The owner of the tower is a man of medium build, with warm brown
skin and close-cropped hair of an unusual silvery white. His name is Severus,
and he is an artificer -- a maker of golems and constructs and clockwork
creatures. While young, he is nevertheless the premier artificer in Asshurbanipal,
and therefore, the world.
The twelve-foot-tall bronze guards in front of the palace door are
his, as are the honeybirds which patrol the great marketplace, alerting
the guard to trouble. Rumors abound of specialty work -- the woman made
of rose quartz and gold in the king's harem who screams in the voice of
a songbird to mimic orgasm; the twin boys with startlingly blue eyes who
lure travelers with promises of forbidden pleasure, travelers who are never
seen again. The rumors amuse Severus, and he neither admits nor denies
them.
Tonight, he stands here at the edge of his roof garden, hands on the waist-high retaining wall, gazing out over Asshurbanipal in the gathering dusk. From up here, on the roof, it is possible to see every inch of the city, spread out like a cascade of paving stones with ants crawling through the seams between them. Perched on his shoulder is a fabulous bird, white as the tower, with colorful plumes edging her wings and sweeping from her head. Her tail, as long and colorful as a peacock's, sweeps down over his back, striking against the simple white robe that he wears.
Gazing out over the city -- his city -- Severus smiles faintly and says, "I love this city, Oele."
Oele, for that is the bird's name, drops her eyelids halfway shut over eyes as blue as sapphires. The face of a bird is not the best medium for expression, yet Oele's expression is clearly mocking, long-suffering. "Yeah, well," she says, in a hoarse voice not entirely unlike a New York City cabdriver's, "it sure don't love you, boss."
And Severus laughs, a warm sound, and tells Oele to be quiet.
SUMMARY:
The law in Asshurbanipal is clear: no magical construct, no golem,
no clockwork being may mimic the look of humanity. It must always be clear
to the casual viewer that here stands a construct, a being of gears and
magic rather than flesh and blood. The reasons for this are many.
Because of this, there are certain spells which may not be cast within
the city limits. Severus knows them, of course; the 'Stone Boy' and the
'Heart of Stone' are in his books and well within his powers. And recently,
he's become bored. He is the best artificer in the world, without peer,
and has not found himself truly challenged in years; no one has access
to his tower except Oele, and she speaks to no one; and he's always found
other humans to be... disappointing, whether as friends or as lovers. Why
should he not, then, rise above the law and create a human being, perfect
in every way, just to prove to himself that he can do it? As long as the
creation stays within the walls of the tower, he will never be discovered.
And if the perfect human being happens to love him, well, what of it?
And so, less than a year after he undertakes this project, Rhys is 'born', fully intelligent yet without memory, believing himself human in every way. And there is no one to contradict him, no evidence to the contrary. He is told a story of an attack on the street, a blow to his head that apparently left him without memory; he is given an invitation to stay here, in safety, until his memory returns...
CHARACTERS:
SEVERUS GREYBANE: Thirty-one years old, on top of his trade, of medium height and build, with dark brown skin and short white hair that curls over his forehead. At least competent in most areas of magic, his specialty is the creation of magical constructs. Severus harbors a quiet passion for flight, and often turns his talents to creating birds, insects, bats, and other flying creatures. It is rumored that all of Severus' creations can fly, under certain circumstances; it may even be true.
RHYS: Pale-skinned, small, blond, with a Northern name, Rhys is the embodiment of Severus' whims, a beautiful toy. He appears to be in his late teens and rather delicate of build. His personality was carefully hand-picked: incurious, accepting, docile, shy, and with certain... predilections of taste.
OELE: One of Severus' earliest experiments, and one of his most successful. In his youth Severus was amused by the contrast between appearance and personality; while Oele is beautiful, she is also coarse, down to earth, and snide, providing a powerful anchor for Severus' flights of fancy. They get along beautifully, and Oele is Severus' only true friend.
AMBRIS: Another one of the mages of Asshurbanipal, Ambris is skilled
in charms and enticements, a renowned practitioner of sexual magic and
a summoner of demons. Despite his great age, he currently wears the body of
of a beautiful thirteen-year-old boy. No one quite knows where he got it.
Petulant and crafty, Ambris is fascinated with Severus, and his fascination
borders on obsession. Several years ago he attempted to seduce the artificer,
to add Severus to his collection of conquests; Severus coolly refused to be
seduced. Ambris has never forgotten the insult, and has never given up his
fascination.
THE CREATURES: Many creatures of all sizes live in Severus' fabulous
rooftop garden, all creations of his. They range from insects to birds
to small mammals, including a pair of winged cats who enjoy making Oele's
life difficult. None of the creatures has ever displayed the slightest
interest in leaving the garden.
Oddly, from time to time larger creatures may be spotted, if one plunges
into the trees and leaves the path. There are at least two deer, and a
prowling bobcat, and the rumors of a bear; but the garden is far too small
to support such large beings.
AUTHOR'S NOTES:
Heart of Stone is a manga project that I've been toying with for well
over a year now. I don't want to write it as a story, I want to draw it
as a comic. I don't know if this will ever happen.
Yes, it's unabashedly shounen ai and, if ever drawn, will contain suggestive
stuff and nudity. What were you expecting?
I came up with and named Severus long before I ever read the Harry Potter
books. ...oops. By that point, I was far too enamored of the character
to change his name. Nothing else would have sounded right, anyway. So he's
Severus, dammit, and he doesn't have the first thing to do with Snape,
and, well, blah.
Rhys got his name off Kabalarians,
the most thorough resource for names and their meanings on the net! Great
for naming those random characters.
ART AND RELATED LINKS:
Sex Magick (Ambris) (!!)
Heart Of Stone (Severus Greybane and Rhys)
Heat Wave
(Severus Greybane, Heart of Stone)
This was my contribution to the Ketsurui
2002 Calendar; it's the illustration for August. You should have bought
a calendar. Shame on you!
Even though I drew this... gosh, must be almost a year ago... I still
like it. It's one of those rare illustrations on which I got lucky, over
and over again. And because I slaved over it for almost a month goddammit
I hate screentone hate it love it hate it love it... ahem. Excuse me.
Black
Velvet Severus (Severus)
A lineless experiment. It came out pretty well...
All He
Wants Is (Rhys)
Rhys in modern dress. I always meant to ink and color this. Oops. The
title is derived from a Duran Duran song.
Blind (Rhys)
Drawn approximately twenty-four hours after I had laser eye surgery.
I wasn't a happy puppy.
