Echoes Of Dark Reflections
Synopsis:
In a barren, dying land the giant white minotaur Nhaqosa and his band of hardened gladiators come across a broken, crystal tower. Horrors lay inside, horrors that must be defeated, no matter the cost, for if they are not the lands are surely doomed.
Length:
6700 words
Background Notes:
My greatest worry after finishing the first two stories surrounding Nhaqosa was that I’d made him and his band a little too formidable and it would be hard to find challenges for them. I know it wasn’t a concern with Conan of Cimmeria, but I can’t keep throwing monsters of the week at Nhaqosa – the setting doesn’t work that way. While the world he is in is dying and does in effect have the breaks off, there are still limitations as to what I can do in my own mind.
The initial concept I had for the third story was not to challenge him physically, but more mentally and have them fight themselves in effect. As I wrote it, it also became somewhat darker in tone than my norm, the events of which will flow on into later stories no doubt.
The story also gave me a chance to work in a new race into the core setting, one that I previewed with Long Lost Relics. Little is revealed of them yet, but they have an interesting history. They will return again at some stage.
