[GlacierDragon]

Since I feel I've messed up my other fanfic, I decided to start a new one. It's an idea I've had in my mind for a while now, and hopefully it's original. But before you begin reading it, a note:

In this fanfic there are a couple of species that I made up, called the Glikks and the Eduks. Neither are a super species, but both are Khanzumer species (in my mind ‘Khanzumer’ is just a collective term).

Glikks are a species that branched off from the Glukkons. Their arms are quite long (reaching just passed their knees) but they can still walk on their legs. The only other difference is that their eyes are farther apart than Glukkons’.

Eduks are relatives of Mudokons. The main physical differences between the two are that Eduks are taller, have straighter postures, have smaller hands and feet, and lack feathers. The feathers they used to have on their heads turned into hair and their skin colours range from brown to dark brown to dark green. They’ve lost all spiritual beliefs and all connections to the land. (No one uses them as slaves.)

Lastly, because Chroniclers don’t look to me like they would have queens, I assumed they were a sexual species. Also these ones have two legs rather than one, just to make things easier for my character (I read somewhere that OWI scrapped the one-legged design anyway).

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The Madness Of Life

Chapter 1: The Courtroom

Chad differed in appearance to other Chroniclers in that he wasn’t as skinny and he had a slightly darker complexion. However, like most of the others, he was as a lawyer, and a good one at that. Ever since he was qualified enough he’d had the job. Right from the start his reputation quickly arose, and with it his love for what he did. He’d been living the good life ever since. Until, that is, six months ago. A series of events that took place one after the other had left him with both low performance skills and low health.

The first thing that happened which would spark off the steady decline was the death of his father, who perished in a train crash he was told was caused by faulty track components. This upset him deeply, as they were very close. Later that month his mother, who was his last remaining relative, suffered a heart attack and died shortly after in the hospital, though a full explanation was never given for why. These were the two main events, but there were many smaller problems at the same time in Chad’s life that affected him. And then finally when his fiancée left him he could take no more. He suffered a nervous breakdown, before regretfully finding himself addicted to the anti-depressants his doctor had administered to him.

All his friends had noticed he was taking less and less interest in his job, but all comments about trying to do better had been quickly forgotten. His temper had also shortened a great deal. If someone were to just look at him funny he would reply with insults and a raised voice. He knew his addiction wasn’t helping, but he didn’t care. Besides, no one but him knew about it.

Chad glanced at his watch, sighing to himself. The trail was taking ages to finish, and he was having a hard time keeping track of things. He just couldn’t stop his mind from drifting to other, less important things.

He tiredly shifted his gaze to one of the large windows on the opposite wall. Dark, looming clouds crept across the sky outside. A heavy rain beat down on the city, ricocheting off the buildings and roads. The courtroom windows were thick enough to dull most of the sound, though not by much. The depressing weather mimicked his mood with great accuracy.

“Are you even listening to them?” hissed Chad’s client through gritted teeth, startling him. “I pay you to help me in situations like this, not to watch the weather!” The Eduk rolled his eyes and sighed in annoyance.

The Chronicler snapped back into focus, concentrating on current events.

The Eduk Chad was protecting (named Frank) had supposedly been attacked for no reason by an old enemy (named Mark), who was also an Eduk. Frank’s version was that he was just walking to a friend’s house one night when he was attacked, suffering a couple of broken bones and a cracked skull. But before he passed out he caught a glimpse of his assailant, and identified him with ease. Mark, who was sitting on the other side of the courtroom, had claimed that at the time of the attack he was at a party with a bunch of friends.

The judge – who Chad knew to be an Oktigi, though he didn’t know what type of creature he was controlling – was asking a witness a load of questions. The witness, a Glikk, was explaining how he saw Frank being attacked, though he wasn’t certain if the attacker was in fact Mark or someone else. Once again Chad mind began to drift, but he reluctantly forced himself to pay attention.

When the judge was done with the Glikk more witnesses were called up, this time ones who said they saw Mark at the party. Frank shook his head, not believing their claims, while Mark sat confidently with a smug smile on his face. Chad knew he and his client were going to lose, but once again he didn’t care.

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Comments and crit are welcome.