Week 10 Storytelling - Spirit

Spirit

He peered over the misty mountains of the Northwest coast. The thick vapor was his stealth. The days stayed like this by his doing as he prayed to the Thunder God for this gloom as it would eventually be to his advantage in the death to come. The Thunder God looked favorably upon him, as he granted this cloudy coverage.

Spirit waited. Perched on the mountain. Waiting for death to come. It was cold. He could see his breath. These were his surroundings. His forest. He thrived in these conditions. He was a shadow. A hawk. A warrior of the Northwest. A solemn individual that never spoke. Only listened. Listened to the forest. To the trees. To the wolves. To the hawks. To the invaders. He was bred to be a warrior. The last of his slaughtered tribe. Now he wander the Northwest looking to conquer those who had done this blasphemy so many years ago.

Spirit the Pacific Northwest Warrior

He would have to live with that pain forever, as he was immortal. The only way he could die was in battle. The glorious way. These parameters set upon him by the Thunder God. With this immortality came abilities. Spirit abilities. Hawk vision, and pearl white eyes to show. Like bolts of lightning were trapped in his eyes. The strength and cunning of 10 normal men. And inhuman movement like he was gliding when he fought. His attire all black. The only things not were his white-shot eyes and his face. The entirety of his face from his forehead to his neck were teal. Pacific Native War paint. Though he craved stealth he still wanted his adversary to have a clear target for his face. A challenge to all. A notion of confidence, and a visually poetic hue of a war cry. Wolf fur and Feathers surrounded his traps like a scarf. He carried a great spear, two body lengths long, adorned with feathers, painted all black. Three teal bands were painted closer to the sharpened orca-vertebrae tip. He carried a torso sized shield carved from a great orcas skull. It was carved into a giant stylized hawk painted all black, in the style the Pacific Northwest Natives were known for. His last piece was his carved hawk helmet that cover his head from the forehead to the back of his skull. This too was painted black and magnificently war torn from battle.

Finally he saw gleams of spark and orange light in the heavy mist from atop his mountain. He perched days waiting for this. For he would finally come face-to-face with his tribes murderers. This time he would be death-bringer. Like a raven atop the reapers shoulder. A teal-faced black sea-hawk ready to stretch out his talons and rip the life from those who have scarred him. The lights were coming towards him but were too far out to see him. Spirit  closed his eyes. Everything went slow. He took in a breath, cold air coming from his lungs. He opened his eyes... and charged the lights from the downward slant of the mountain to the misty field his enemies walked.

A spear whizzed through the air, cutting, through the dew of the mist. Slink! Right through the face of the first double-horned helmet. Roars followed and a rush towards where the spear came from. Spirit ran at them with a silent ferocious intent. Everything went slow again. He could see them, they could not see him, but they were charging, stomping, ready to kill for their leader had just been pierced through the face with a long spear... Vikings... Their thundering roars spit at the unseen silent assassin, and his teal face and white-lighting eyes. Was Spirit ready for a glorious death or we he leave battered with revenge and honor for his fallen tribe. The oppositions still running at one another. Charging in an elegant war-ready scene. Everything goes black...

Author's Note
Spirit is inspired from the stories, style and culture of Pacific Northwest Native Americans. I tried another style of writing. Pretty traditional for me, but in my head more like a movie as I started to get to the end of it. I like this kinda, slo-mo, abstract, visual, screenplay, war-scene of Spirit and the Vikings. I tired to keep the story pretty mysterious. I went back and fourth with contemplations of making the last sentence "The Vikings would meet Valhalla... " and taking out the previous word "Viking" to only reveal that Spirit's opposition was in fact, Vikings only at the end in the last sentence. I'm still contemplating it. I like the abstractness of the story. It will be harder to follow than any of my others but that is conceptual as Spirit is the most mysterious of my warriors thus far. I am also still contemplating his name and trying to think of something better.

The picture was a great source of inspiration. It was intact the primary source of my story. I find that my best stories come from visuals. My mind goes off and sparks up stories from what I see as I am a very visual person. Hints me being a graphic designer and all. New found creative writer as well maybe haha. The visual style of Pacific Northwest Native art was also a major inspiration. Their color motifs, and abstracted depictions of animals, specifically the hawk, bear, and orca, are just amazing and fresh. They definitely have one of the more unique style of any culture. These types of animals and the specific style is seen all together on their famous totem poles. Teal, crimson, white and black, and wood grain are their primary colors, and heavy black abstract line work tie it all together for a very unique style. Spirit was definitely a fun one to make, and I hope the conceptual thoughts of mine come through to the reader.

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Image sources:
warrior - http://www.spiritwrestler.com/catalog/index.php?artists_id=281
style/print - 12X12 Giclée Print Northwest Native by NorthwestNativeGifts