[ Breathe e'Zine - Volume 1, Issue 1 - November 2, 1996 ] Breathe, breathe in the air Don't be afraid to care Leave but don't leave me Look around and choose your own ground For long you live and high you fly And smiles you'll give and tears you'll cry And all you touch and all you see Is all your life will ever be Run, run rabbit run Dig that hole, forget the sun, And when at last the work is done Don't sit down it's time to dig another one For long you live and high you fly But only if you ride the tide And balanced on the biggest wave You race toward an early grave. "Breathe" by Roger Waters and David Gilmour of Pink Floyd ----- + Introduction by Belial - [October 31, 1996] Q: How many pagans does it take to screw in a lightbulb? .. here's where I answer and put how it takes a whole coven and they set up an alter and sacrifice human children to the devil and they use magick, and then they do this, and then we all get a good laugh at someone else's religion. Samhain humor! I'm not pagan. In fact, I don't follow /any/ religion. My parents are Catholic, so that's what I grew up around, but I'm far from Catholic. Who knows, maybe I'll found my own religion some day. Anyway, someone at my job was mocking, behind their back, of course, another person whom I work with because he was taking today (Samhain/Halloween) off as a religious holiday. I don't see her saying much when she gets the day off for Christmas. Samhain is the pagan equivalent of the Christian Christmas. Then this woman went on to say: "I hope they don't subject their children to this." I wonder if that woman knows a /thing/ about being pagan. Like I said, I'm not pagan, but I happen to know a little about the religion because of someone who used to call my BBS when it was up. I spent a lot of time talking to her about the different aspects of the religion-- we talked mostly about Wicca-- and I found that it is a /very/ impressive religion. I just think that it's ignorant to mock another religion that you know absolutely nothing about. ----- I'm looking for 'zines! If you have any, electronic or paper, please send them to me! My email address is below, but if they're paper, please send them to me at: Breathe e'Zine c/o Marc Newman 215 Broadway Keyport, NJ 07735 I'll return postage (with a cool sticker) to anyone who sends me a 'zine through the mail. -- Belial [marc@netlabs.net] ----- + Capture of the Month - by Belial From cook.ken@mcleod.net Tue Oct 22 13:12:18 1996 Date: Sat, 19 Oct 1996 11:12:34 -0500 From: Brad Cook Newsgroups: alt.fan.dragonlance Subject: Visit my homepage Hey go to my home page and put a link to my homepage I can almost guarentee that it will be one of the best on the net cause i am going to pour all my time into it and pack as many pictures and as much info into it and please email me i like that and tell me where you found my page thanks the address is http://www.geocities.com/MotorCity/4169/home.htm THANX ----- I'm sure that it'll be one of the best, too! ----- + "Fallout" by Belial In the beginning, the sky was alight with a dull green, moldy, emphemeral glow. Surreal and quiet, the people of the world just stood on their porches, their lawns, wherever they were, just looking at the still sky, motionless. Then came a bright surge of pure, white, blinding light. The people bowed their heads, slammed their eyes shut, ran indoors, all trying to escape the light. Screams rent the stillness, shattering it, sending it gasping, like it was just coming up for air, after holding its breath under water. Then, once again, there was silence. The war was over. ----- + "The Winter Queen" by Belial Chapter 1: The storm continued to rage, covering the forest in a thick, impenetrable sea of white. The snow fell thick and heavy, making travel nearly impossible. And almost as if trying to escape the bitter cold, the sun remained well hidden behind massive banks of clouds. Direction was pointless. All trails led to a slow, cold death. "Do you know where we are?" Elwyn cried over the wind to Bran, cupping his gloved hands together and blowing in them, trying to keep them from going numb. Bran sighed and looked over. "Does it matter? We're going to die. We won't last the night if we don't find the Winter Queen soon. She's our only hope-- our people's only hope." Frustrated, Elwyn turned to Bran. "We've been searching for the Winter Queen for over a week in this cursed forest! We haven't even found a trace of her or where she could be. We don't even know if she's real or just a myth! I don't want to die, Bran. How will dying in this forest help our people? "We'll find her," was all Bran said. Anger knotted in Elwyn's stomach. They /must/ find the queen, and they must find her soon. Too many lives depended on it. It wasn't just the forest covered with the snows, it was the whole land for miles. Whole villages where buried under the snow. People were dying. People were starving. The harvest has been destroyed by the bitter cold. This can't continue, he thought to himself, making a silent vow to find the Winter Queen and put an end to the cold... the dying. If he didn't die first in this forest. "How can you be so sure?" Elwyn asked, looking sharply at Bran. "I just know," Bran said, his only explanation. "I hope you're right," Elwyn said and turned away, sinking back into the pleasant warmth of his anger, continuing to search for some clue as to where they could find the Winter Queen. The forest remained silent, offering no help. The silence sat heavy on the forest, until, finally, darkness slowly, wearily, descended upon the forest, spilling long, dark shadows across the smooth white surface. High up in the night sky, the silvery moon blinked down at the stormy Elwyn and the determined Bran, silently wishing them luck. After a while, Elwyn brought his horse to a halt. "I'm sorry, Bran, I just can't go any further." "We cannot stop, Elwyn! We must keep going," Bran cried. "I can't!" Elwyn screamed. "You must!" Elwyn clenched his eyes shut and brought his fist to his forehead. "I can't take this anymore!" he said, a single tear falling from his eye, only to turn into ice and fall into the snow. "We have to continue. There are too many people-- too many lives depending on us," Bran said softly, laying his hand on Elwyn's shoulder. "I know, Bran," Elwyn said, sadly. "I know." ----- Deep within the forest, the Winter Queen stood sadly looking into the Pool of Denwyr, watching as Bran and Elwyn searched through her forest, looking for her. She felt their pain, their hunger, their fear. A ripple spread across the pool, and silently the queen stared at it until it faded away, leaving the pool still once again. The tear of anguish. Gently, the Winter Queen dipped her finger into the pool and cast a spell over the weary Bran and Elwyn. "Come to me," she whispered in a sweet, musical voice. ----- "What's going on?" Bran cried frantically, trying to get his horse under control, as the forest began to change around them. "The forest," Elwyn paused. "It's changing!" All around them, the forest began to dissolve, swirling into nothing. All life was gone. It was almost as if they were trapped within a grey void. There were no longer trees, there was no sound, no snow, no cold. The world around them disappeared, and they were left hanging, suspended, within the grey vortex. Then, just as fast as it was gone, the forest was back-- only it was different. They were in a large clearing. The snow only littered the earth in the clearing in a thin layer. In the center of the clearing, a woman was standing with her back to them, looking down into a small pool of water. The storm didn't penetrate the clearing, although Bran could see the snow and wind whipping against the trees outside of the clearing. Elwyn and Bran quickly dismounted their horses and stood staring at the woman, not wanting to move an inch, less they disturb her. "She's beautiful," Bran murmured. She was covered with a cloak of white fur that reached almost to the ground, showing just the bottoms of her feet, which were covered in soft, white leather hunting boots. Her hair cascaded down her back in gentle waves, white as newborn snow. She was a thing of beauty-- something right from a fairy-tale. Bran closed his eyes and opened them again, expecting her to disappear. This had to be a dream, he thought to himself... and I don't ever want to wake up. The silence was a real, living entity. Elwyn and Bran stood still, hardly daring to breathe. "Who are you?" Elwyn whispered. Silence. "My name is Eirlys," the woman said, slowly turning to face Elwyn. "The Winter Queen." [EOF]