A few hours ago, I was reading my book and had reached chapter 16 when the Valdemarans were about to enter battle. I stopped reading it just as the Tedrels were running over the little stream towards them, to go online and fiddle with webpages. Having paused the scene, I thought nothing of the predicament I had left the heroes in and continued to investigate ancient decaying websites I no longer wanted affiliations with, to eventually be kicked off my lame dial-up not once, not twice, but FOUR times in the space of three hours. I hopped happily from one page to the next, pounding at the reluctant old keys of this keyboard and still did not think that somewhere, in a far off dimension where all the stories ever written are actually real and alive and happening right now, that I had left those poor Valdemarans in such dire circumstances.
Still I went on, exploring the depths of the internets; conversing with fellows and loling at lolcatz... only to turn back to the moment whenever I lost connection, or when my loading was slow, to continue the story, watching and listening as the battle flew all around me as the enemy surged onto the front line imapling themselves on the spears and the pikes of Valdemar...
...and somewhere when King Sendar and his guards took up arms and charged into the battle on a suicidal mission to defend his people did my internets load and I drew back from the field to return to loling...
I wonder how they feel, being huddled under their shields under three volleys of arrows for so long, until I return to the scene and let them free?
The sounds of the battle return to me fresh and alive with all ferocity the moment I read on...

It is for this reason that I love to read and I love to watch a good battle on the big screen. Thank you to LOTR, to 300, to NARNIA, to all those other great fantasy movies, for this modern style of making epic battles - they have created the rich palette in my mind that can make any book that I read come to life as though I was watching it on the big screen.

And I friggin LOVE battles. LOVE THEM.

I must go now, it's late and I still need to finish this scene ^_^

~Nor (by the way I posted new art)