Before the Saga A maiden, turned to stone (Answer to the 10th OC Dueling Challenge.)

Removed for personal reasons.

 

That was amazing. Your descriptive skills are unique, haunting and entrancing. Every image is seared into the brain. The characterization draws the reader into the soul of this woman, to the real and unpolished core of her, and what has happened to her. Beautiful and powerful. Very, very well done.

 

Wow. That was really powerful, an amazing story and very unique.

Poor woman. It would be so terrible to have to live with all those memories, and in silence.

Very good writing.

 

Well done Pandora.

I loved this style. Very original.

I couldn't help but feel for the character.

I?m lying on the cave floor, waiting to be shaken with enlightenment.

I kind of am hoping she gets that. Gosh, to have to remember all that she does.

Great entry.

 

LuvEwan: Thanks! I am flattered (and blushing) at your very kind review. I'm glad that it had such an impact on you.

the_wandering_shadow: Thanks for responding! It is hard for the narrator to live with her memories, but I think, in a way, she would find it harder still to actually speak of them.

Healer_Leona: Thanks! You know, I wrote this story, and it scares me, more so than anything with zombies or other monsters.

Lola64: Thanks for reading. I'm glad you liked the style--I wasn't sure how it would come across. It's very (I think) fragmented and broken. I don't know if the narrator will find enlightenment, but perhaps, by actually thinking about all this, she might make her memories less powerful.

 

Very haunting. You have such an original and powerful style.

 

Thanks, Lovely-in-Orange.

 

Pandora,
I always find the way you describe the harsh gritty side of the Galaxy to be absolutely intoxicating. Your female characters are fabulous.

There were so many images I loved in this piece, but this was fabulous:
...as though she had crawled out of a giant egg

 

Fantastic response!!!

 

Oqidaun: Thanks! Yes, this is quite gritty. No Jedi or Queens in this world. And I'm flattered that you like my female characters-- Doesn't matter what I write, it's always girly.

Meredith_Kenobi: Thanks for reading!

 

I loved your writing style how the past weaved in and out of her mind like that because I guess if you are all day alone in a cave time would cease to have no meaning, it really gave me that sense.

And the characters really came alive, I really wondered how she had come to be in that place, why she felt how she did. It asks many difficult questions

 

Thanks, ceridwen1977.

If the characters came alive for you, then I must have done something right. I do think of this story as a question, or a bunch of questions. But there isn't an answer.

It also (I'm getting philosophical today) brings to mind the Nietzsche quote, that He who gazes long into the abyss, the abyss will gaze also into him. That's not the exact quote, but close enough.

Sometimes, it is more frightening than anything else to be trapped with yourself.

 

Great work. I enjoyed her mind's wanderings and the bleak descriptions of the characters she had met in her life. A very dark soul, this one. Very effective.

 

Woa! A very haunting look into this young woman's mind Pandora26, the descriptions as seen through the thoughts of a tortured soul, amazing. *shakes head in admirable disbelief*
I can't even imagine how emotionally draining it is to put yourself in a "place" to write this....
Excellente'

 

Perhaps that is why I know how to be alone.

Wow! I can relate to her. That's all I'm saying about that.

Great job! Deep and involved, and stunning!

 

PadwanKayla: Thanks for reading!

corellian_ale: Thanks. Yes, this wasn't exactly fun to write. I hadn't originally meant for it to be quite so dark. It was going to be about the contrast between the narrator and her mother--and how she had turned out so differently. But then I started seriously considering how a fifteen year old girl would get away from a place like Nar Shaddaa, and what options she would have-- And I saw the answer. Too clearly.

BrentusofGath: Thanks!

 

Excellent work. The words came to life, and your descriptive skills are to be envied. Bravo.

 

Thanks, Princess_Arulmozhi.