Some imagery for Duck: [quote][u][b]Vigilance[/b][/u] The noble beast watches tirelessly, never yielding to the freezing blizzard that whips at him. Relentless flakes scratch at his hide, but he does not bow. His scales are armour, strong as iron, his head held high against the screaming wind, his wings folded, tight as stone. Vigilance is all that matters in this most merciless tempest. And though he can see little in the white storm, he knows he must watch. Always.[/quote] [quote][u][b]The Great City[/u][/b] “Welcome, stranger from foreign lands,” the woman said in an exotic accent. “My name is Heri, and I will be your guide through the Hygarn Empire.” I stood and took the woman’s delicate hand as she assisted me out of the rowing boat. From under my hood, I saw her dark eyes attempting to decipher me, and glanced at the sun-baked dock. “Please, remove your headwear,” she prompted. “It will do you no favours in the heat of our land.” “I will leave it up, if that’s alright with you,” I murmured. “Are you hiding?” she asked rhetorically. “Are you an enemy of Hygarn?” “You tell me.” “Unless you want to give yourself a hot head, you should remove it. Perhaps then you can admire our city.” With a begrudging sigh, I reached up to the sides of my hood and drew it back over my head. The dazzling sunlight blinded me momentarily, before my eyes adjusted, and the grand city faded into view. No description that the Grand Lord told me had done this justice. I was surrounded by an enormous, but shallow sea, the purest blue dotted with green-topped rocks. But above the sea was the city. It did not stand in it. It floated majestically, impossibly, above the azure, soaring spires of gold and silver, the twisting green of trees tapered by the high winds disappearing into the clouds above. From each floating rock tumbled a waterfall, spraying and thundering into the sea below. Before me, an ancient but beautiful set of towers led upwards into the city, people of all races and ages making their way to and fro through the sun-kissed streets. At my side, a genuine smile warmed Heri’s face. “The face of most strangers when they first arrive,” she said. “Come, your chambers await.”[/quote] [quote][b][u]King of New York[/u][/b] There he sat, on his concrete throne, staring down at us; his prisoners, handcuffed and humbled. His mouth was a pale streak of white on a paler face, grinning and leering, his jet black hair jagged to the roof, scythed through with a green and silver bolt. His dark eyes cut into us with demonic vigor. One of his men jabbed the back of my knee with the butt of his carbine. “Bow.” My leg gave way, and we all stumbled to the cracked grey ground. Slowly, I looked up at him. That grin, growing as he stood, and raised his hands. Then his teeth part. “New York, big city of dreams, and you know that I run this town.” His youthful, defiant voice rings underneath the crumbling overpass. His gang is silent, grinning. “The king of the streets, dressed in concrete, skyscrapers on my crown!” His teeth flashed at the remains of the city, a gargantuan sprawl of stunted tower-block apartments, abandoned shopping malls and streets littered with empty cars, weeds shooting up through the cracks. He raised a fist, shaking it in challenge. “So if you want this Big Apple, come try to take a bite! ‘Cos I run this mother-blam!-ing city and I won't give it up without a fight!”[/quote] [spoiler]And yes, that's based on some lyrics to The Lonely Island song, I Run New York.[/spoiler]