Hello everyone!  This is my Nanomancer creative writing competition entry.  You can find the contest here.  A good colleague of mine introduced this contest to me over at the MSP Fiction Workshop on Discord.  It's an awesome place, if you are the least bit interested in writing, you should scurry on over to the Workshop.  Feel free to leave a comment below if you would like an invitation to the chat room.  

Anyway, I love writing fantasy and sci-fi.  I chuckled inwardly with joy at seeing the world that @benjojo has built for this competition.  I am honored to be able to add my meager ability to the ranks.  Thanks everyone and cheers! 

Word Count: 696

The Great Wound

Tens of thousands encircled The Great Wound.

Countless muscled arms and stubby legs were thrust deep into the earth, melding with the stone, forcing the Dwarven Nation into a position of supplication—their bulbous faces gazing upon the immense pit before them. Centuries of slavery had left them little more than husks of flesh and bone. Yet the Gundenbroc still obeyed their command.

And now, it is mine—forever. It was an afterthought mostly, but it always reminded the Nanomancer of the familiar rapture of domination. Temporarily powering down his optic sensors, he licked his lips. He still remembered what it was like to close his eyes, even though technically, he no longer possessed any. Sometimes, he missed them.

A shuffle and grunt brought him from his reverie.

“The gathering be ready, Marr Ryuda.” The wretched dwarf was possibly the ugliest of her kind, albeit relatively intelligent. Her general lack of scars was a testament to the Nanomancer’s toleration.

Although he understood the Dwarves primitive language, he found it distasteful upon his tongue. Instead, he’d sent a cloud of bots to imprint a basic vocabulary of High Hythsen upon the creature’s mind. She was not worthy of his gift, of course, but at least her screams had been a small recompense. Hundreds of her kind had perished before he’d found one that survived the imprint. He had enjoyed the search and had been somewhat disappointed after the process to find her still quivering on the ground, clinging to life.

He waved her off impatiently. “Return to the circle and begin!” She hobbled off to obey.

He knew he was close. It had taken years of research, countless experiments, but he knew what he sought was buried here somewhere. For months, the Nanomancer had wielded the Gundenbroc to scour Gethyra for what he sought. The result was what the Dwarves had termed The Great Wound. Several miles deep, the cavernous hole in the outer crust of the planet could likely be seen from space. He liked the term the Dwarves had given it, and had decided to let them keep it.

Soon, he would be freed from this blasted prison.

The same energy field that allowed him greater control over his nanobots also limited their functionality. Sub-dimensional gating was out of the question. The day that the Nanomancer had loosed the fatal cloud of nanobots among his brethren and gated to this forsaken rock had been both his greatest achievement and his greatest failure. He was trapped here—but not for long.

The female dwarf had rejoined her people below surrounding The Great Wound, molding her arms and legs into the earth beneath her. As one, the deep rumbling of their voices reverberated through the bleak terrain.

“O’ kin, let your blood sink deep,

Down into Gethyra’s bones,

An’ wake the secrets that sleep,

Amidst the dark and stone,

Gundenbroc…

Gundenbroc…”

The Great Wound responded to the collective energies of the enslaved Dwarven nation. Gargantuan slabs of earth and rock were torn asunder from the walls of the Wound as it widened and deepened. Still they chanted.

“O’ Gethyra, your children wail and weep,

O’ kin, listen to how the land doth groan,

O’ Gethyra, we remind you of your promise—keep,

And make your enemies atone.”

Gundenbroc…

Gundenbroc…”

The Nanomancer sneered. Ungrateful vermin!

It was the one thing that the Nanomancer could not stamp out of their minds. Oh, he had tried, but no amount of mental reprogramming or nano-manipulation could cease their incessant chanting. He suspected it was tied into the power of the Gundenbroc somehow.

No matter. The Wound below boiled and churned under the power of the Gundenbroc, sifting through millions and millions of tons of rock and earth. Searching. Seeking.

Soon, the source that powers this repulsive world’s insidious energy field will be mine!

He gazed upon the once-proud Dwarven people below.

“Once I am free of these chains of dirt and filth, my first task will be to rupture your nauseating sun and make it bleed its molten death upon the entirety of your solar system. Let’s see if your Gundenbroc can save you then!”

The Nanomancer’s foul laughter cascaded down to the slaves below.

Some Of My Work

• Tanabata -- A Love Story -- PART 1
• Tanabata -- A Love Story -- PART 2
• Tanabata -- A Love Story -- PART 3

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•  The Chronicles of Salen Kur’Savien -- A Prequel to A World Long Sundered

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• A World Long Sundered -- A Description of My Novel In Progress
• A World Long Sundered -- Chapter 1 PART 1 
• A World Long Sundered -- Chapter 1 PART 2
• A World Long Sundered -- Chapter 2
• A World Long Sundered -- Chapter 3
• A World Long Sundered -- Chapter 4 PART 1
• A World Long Sundered -- Chapter 4 PART 2
• A World Long Sundered -- Chapter 4 PART 3
• A World Long Sundered -- Chapter 5 PART 1
• A World Long Sundered -- Chapter 5 PART 2
• A World Long Sundered -- Chapter 5 PART 3
• A World Long Sundered -- Chapter 6 PART 1
• A World Long Sundered -- Chapter 6 PART 2

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• Here, There Be Trolls -- Potpourri Treasure Contest Entry -- Week 4
• The Great Wound -- Nanomancer Creative Writing Competition Entry

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• My Blog
• A World Long Sundered -- Chapter 1 Original Version -- Note: This version was edited and broken into the 2 parts of chapter 1 above.  Some might like to compare.
• Want to learn more about the Fiction Workshop? Click here.

Sources 1 , 2