Anyone have an idea of a name I could call my Shadow Riders, other than, well, Shadow Riders? The name has a good essence, but is not only cliché, but also has some conflictions with my story. The name could be a variation, a totally different made up name, anything. I just need help.
And I'm finally asking for it. I thought about Shrouded Shadows or Shadowed Ones, but a Beta reader thought those were too sophisticated and not animalistic enough. So, reading the two different excerpts below, which describe them, what comes to mind?
Above his head Tierin saw eight dark figures enter the sky. They were winged, resembling large birds of prey, but their bodies never seemed to be consistent. They were vapor-like in appearance, their bodies unable to hold their shape, reminding Tierin of billowing smoke. Their dark forms cut swiftly through the air, leaving a streak of dark mist behind them.
The men who stood on their backs, if they could be called men, were dark clad with tattered hoods and long sweeping robes. Tierin couldn’t get a good look at them, but their eyes were yellow with piercing black slits that sent terror through his soul. Their hands resembled the talons of their mounts. Their faces were deathlike and hollow, their hair scraggly. Their features reminded Tierin of a bird of prey, angular, sharp, cunning. They walked and rode as men, but they were not.
Chalice shivered and curled her head closer to her body as if to shield herself from the thought. “What about those creatures I saw? They were like birds, but they weren’t. Their form didn’t hold its consistency. They were more like- and they were ridden by men with piercing yellow, predatorial eyes.”
“Those creatures,” Fledgrin said with disdain, “are not men. Once they might have been, but they have become so altered, there is nothing humanistic about them. The Dimolts are the creatures which you saw, carnivorous just like their masters. They will shred anything they can get their talons on, they feast off the body. Their riders, however, hold the same appetite. They will beat back their Dimolt in order to take the mangled carcass of their prey for themselves. Dunndar starves them for weeks at a time. They cannot die from lack of food, he has made them immune to that, but they feel the pain of starvation. Once they are let loose again their single object is to maim and destroy, feast and pillage. Only their fear of Dunndar is stronger, and he alone can force them to obey an act other than their desire for flesh. They are more beast than anything, though they may look like a man, with human intelligence.”
“How many are there?”
"Ten originally, they were each once a lord of Dunndar’s court. But the fools decided they wanted to rule the world and no longer be under Dunndar’s authority. The ten lords plotted and planned in secret until Dunndar found them out. As an example, Dunndar used them for experiments and torture. You have seen the result of his effort. Animalistic eyes, enhanced with the ability to see in the night. Retractable talons that infect their victims with poison. Highly developed sense of smell, ultra-sensitive hearing. There are only seven now, two killed in an attack against the Lady Alonah, one in the fight for your release.”
“But what about the creatures, Dimolts I think you said? What are they and where do they come from?”
Fledgrin sighed. “They are the captured souls of their riders. The only emotion the Rider feels, is fear. Never target a Dimolt. Their rider is the link to the soul’s demise.”
). I'd probably go with one of those.
)
Those look cool also, Lady Eruwaedhiel.
Yeah, find+replace wouldn't work for that