I wrote this short, two chapter story, from the inspiration of a manga
cover used on a publication house's release flyer. The painting showed a young
girl in flowing robes, her hair braided like Princess Leia's, armed with an
incredibly long bow quiver (as long as she was tall), standing or sitting in a
multi-coloured field of flowers, petals blowing past her in the wind; and just
beside her was her guardian companion, a behemoth of a robot all cast in
bronze, swirling patterns like those on Persian mosques etched into it, both
its arms ending with huge solid disk shaped shields. It is a beautiful
picture, calling out to be turned into a story (I haven't been able to track
down the original manga).
There was a period in Chinese history called the
Spring and Autumn period, a name that conjures up grand images. It was easy to
tie the two together; the girl was already in the Spring time surrounded by
flowers and I wanted to write that image of her. The biggest step that I had
to take was to create the Autumn period and for this I extended upon the
guardian relationship between the girl and her robot to be a common one
amongst all of her peoples and to produce a antagonist for them.
What would
force a race of people to build giant guardian robots? Beyond the field lay a
river and beyond that the untamed wildlands where beasts and monsters just as
large as the guardians lived. I did not delve too deeply into the world, just
enough for a short story.
Spring: A
young girl, Fionna, and her guardian robot Calladroen enjoy the pleasant Spring weather in a field
by the river, which marks the boundary between civilised lands and the
untamed. Yet something has crossed the river.
read more...
Autumn:
When the flowers are gone leaving just the blades of grass the land is invaded
and the villagers and their guardians must repel the beasts as they cross the
river.
read more...