Month: April 2011

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The howling of a cierse filled the air. Soon it was joined by several more cries. The ears of the dragon pressed againt’s its skull.A wing drifted up to cover its head. Xyliz closed her eyes and winced at the pain brought by the steady drone. The cierse were only brought out when a dangerous outlaw had been seen. The howling got louder. Xyliz frowned in confusion. It sounded like the hounds of Tiamat were coming closer and closer with every second. Slowly the sound dimmed until it ceased to exist.

She felt her mount’s wing brush past her as it returned to its place by the dragon’s side. She sighed, shrugged and made to get onto it’s back when suddenly the dragon crouched down, it’s lip drew back in a snarl revealing sharp fangs on the ends of which venom was beginning to form. She looked around, alarmed, perhaps it was the outlaw….

A shadowy mass of long limbs and lashing tails drew out of the bush. As the sunlight washed over it she saw that it was a cierse – 13 tails  of the doglike beast lashed around its flank,cracking like whips and long, thin legs quivered with the anticipation for a kill. Its grey and red body looked like little more than a skeleton with skin stretched over it. When the skin came to the muzzle it faded away, revealing bone, yellow and partly molded from the damp. In its hollow sockets two black orbs glowed, with a white sphere in the middle which shifted around the orb, searching for its quarry. Out of its mouth teeth hung, covering the area were lips should have been like stitches.  The eight ball like spheres that were the eyes  turned to the rider and dragon. The  mouth opened, inside three writhing tongues vied to be the first to taste blood.

A long, high sound issued from the hound’s mouth and within seconds several pair of white eyes approached eagerly from the shadows. The dragon spun around, a mixture of venom and saliva showering the cierse. The unlucky victims cried out in pain and a faint scent of burning flesh filled the air. One of them feintedforward, snapping. The dragon swiped out a claw, catching the cierse in the head. The hound slid back into the shadows, whimpering. It wasn’t seconds before another feinted forward, and many more joined in the game.

“Amre!”  The hounds shrunk back and looked over their bony backs, happy barks issued from their mouths. Lolling tongues dripped inky black saliva  on the ground.

Xyliz smiled despite herself  “Adder!”-  Her tone quickly turned from relieved to accusing.-”Why exactly were your….things attacking me?”

Out of the mass of joyfully wriggling bodies stepped a boy, no older than 17. Adder. The princess best friend, from the age of 3 to the present day. Adder, of course, was not his real name. What exactly it was she had no idea, so she settled for the nickname. This was the first time she’d seen him in weeks. His duties as Security Minister left little time for anything except eating and sleeping, and it didn’t look like he did much of either.

Adder didn’t meet her eyes as he spoke “The empress wants to see you.”

Xyliz fiddled with her saddle impatiently “Yeah, but why the cierse?”. He didn’t seem to hear her. Instead he busied himself with  dislodging  a cierse that was chewing on  his black and green cloak.

“Why the cierse?” Xyliz asked again, taking a step forward. Instantly the air tensed as the cierse’s interest shifted from their master to the princess, who stood there, glaring defiantly. The dragon hissed.

A ghastly smile formed on  her friends lips “Precautions.” He said quietly, looking past her at something far away.

She sighed, getting fed up with all the drama “Fine, whatever. ” She made to get on her dragon, but was interrupted again by Adder “Leave the dragon, someone will come and take it back to the stables.”

“I don’t call your hounds ‘its’, don’t call my dragon an ‘it’.”

“Actually you did call them ‘its’.” He said ,a bit of his competitive spirit returning.

Silently Xyliz stepped away from her dragon, which gazed at the boy with baleful eyes. The cierse encircled the princess, panting hungrily. She couldn’t help but feel afraid. The cierse were the most vicious domesticated creature in the Palezarian empire, next to dragons that is. Adder fell back, strolling casualty as if he were enjoying an afternoon walk. Xyliz uneasily wondered how many times he had watched prisoners taken away by his horde of savages.

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There loomed the castle, blocking out the sun. The few rays that managed to surpass the dark  bulk shimmered around its outline. The black stone christened as skalarite* gleamed darkly in the fading light, drawing the heat from the air around it. The battlements surrounding the castle arched in, like the claws of some demonic being about to crush the structure. Out of the middle of the slender tower a tangle of  passages extended. These concealed stairways and corridors, which carried occupants to other levels of the empresses home and gave it the appearance of a spining top in motion.

The hounds of Tiamat pealed away from the boy and the girl, drifting of into the shadows. The princess walked past the leering guards with her head held high and her heart pounding. The boy walked alongside her, expressionless.  The great doors swung open, brushing the ground with a soft hiss. Crystal pipes veined  the walls. Within them magma glowed radiating heat and light into the room. Above them the ceiling came to a point, along which the trophies of victorious battles clustered – a repugnantdisplay of bodyparts and blood-encrusted weapons.

Neither the princess or minister payed any attention to their surroundings. They walked through the next room which was much like the last, but from where corridors branched out to the depths of the castle. At last they came to the door baring their way to the empress. The door was bare, no guards, no hexes, no visible defenses whatsoever. The pair strode up to it, stopping about a foot away. Suddenly the wood twisted, becoming an inhuman face with several gruesome features intended to instillfear in any who knew not of it’s existence. It sneered at them, broken and jagged teeth making scraping noises as they caught on each other.

“So, you’re back.”The guardian snarled, bloodshot eyes pivoting around in its head as if struggling to focus on the two figures in front of it.

Adder stepped forward ” The empress has requested us. I’m sure you have heard what happened to the last cheeky guardian. It would not be wise to delay us any longer.”

“Well look who’s acting all high and mighty.” It spat, gnashing its teeth together in what might have been anything. “And look at you,  a mere kid. You have no business dappling in this grisly game.”It spat on the ground in front of Adder’s feet ”Ugh, politics! Only on step above murderers. Anyway shouldn’t you be studying like a good little boy?” The guardian jeered, its eyes finally settling on the boy.

“Enough of this.” Adder  said, stepping forward and in the same fluid motion pulling out of his cloak a smooth stone. He lay it on the surface of the wood and almost immediately the face faded back into the dark wood, becoming just a series of knots. But not before attempting one last snide comment – “You don’t eve-”

Adder turned to Xyliz “Come.”

The doors swung inward and they stepped through. Xyliz frowned in confusion. Beside the empress stood Arequi, her head advisor. An advisor never stood by the rulers side unless there were no heirs to the throne, which in this case was not so. Along the sides hovered the other advisers, some looking at her with pity, others with malice. She walked froward, remotely noticing that Adder had stepped away from her and strayed into a corner, where he leaned against a wall, staring out of a window. Pale orange light spilled out upon the room in small pools, becoming distorted by the stained glass of the windows.

“Empress Cornelia.” Xyliz said, bowing “You wanted to see me?”

The empress nodded “Yes. I am sure that you already know this, but today my food was poisoned.” She watched her daughter with cold, calculating eyes.    She shook her head “No milady, I had no idea. If you don’t mind me asking what does this have to do with me?”

“Don’t lie you treacherous anoi*! I saw the astonishment on your face when you saw the empress alive and well!” Arequi cried, taking a step forward.

“Retain your civility Arequi.” Cornelia said quietly, but the menace was very clear.

The advisor nodded, not taking his eyes of Xyliz.

“Now,” She turned back to her daughter “what do you have to do with it? I, we, have discussed this long and hard, and also I loath to admit it, we have agreed you are a threat to the empire.”

“What?!” The princess shrieked in dismay. Despite her wishes her voice treacherously rose to a squeak, giving away her fear. “But mother-”

“I am your empress not your mother!” The empress rose with such speed and fury many of the people in the room cringed back. But her daughter stood her ground, glowering defiantly.” I will give you a day to decide what to do with yourself. You have two choices: become one of my soldiers or leave Palezar forever.” Cornelia declared, her voice like ice, cold and sharp.The words carried a great finality which  suppressed Xyliz’s desperate reply.

The room was silent, no one spoke. The tension left no space for sound. “So your leaving the throne to Asterix?” Xyliz asked quietly.

Her mother shook her head “I am not a fool. She should be on her way out right now as well.”

Well, the empress not exactly correct , for at that moment the doors burst open and Asterix stormed in, followed by the shrill insults of the guardian. She marched up to stand right in front of Cornelia, shouldering her way past her older sister. The guards made as to stop her but the empress held up a hand.

“WHY IS EVERYONE TELLING ME TO LEAVE?!” Asterix roared, her voice reverberating around the room. She stood there, hands on hips, glaring daggers, just challenging someone to prove her point.

“Because that is what you should be doing.” her mother growled, annoyance creeping into her features.

For a moment Asterix stood there for a second, first ,frozen in a stance of anger and boldness, then she crumbled to the ground, falling at her mother’s feet like a little kid begging for forgiveness “Why mom, why?!” She wailed, looking up through a veil of dark hair with large, tearful eyes.

The empress sighed impatiently “Because, you are of no use or importance to me and will be a bad political influence.” She said, taking a step back and sinking down unto her throne.

Asterix crouched there, defeated, then like a spring that’s been wound to tight sprang jerkily up. ‘You know what? YOU KNOW WHAT? Fine then! I will leave! But this isn’t the last you will see of me! No, beware, I will be back!” She howled, sweeping around, hoping for her cloak to swirl around her and add to the dramatic effect but instead it dragged limply after her.

Xyliz nodded coldly to the empress in the manner of a stranger to a stranger, rather then a daughter to her mother and followed her sister out of the hall, ignoring the guardian’s insolent jeering.

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Terms of Vieste

*Skalarite~ A smooth blackstone. It literally absorbed heat from the surrounding air. It forms deep within the earth and is very difficult to extract, thus only the rich can afford it.

*Anoi~ A small reptile-like animal with two eyes on each side of it’s head, two legs and a thick, barbed tail. Their skin is often brown or grey. These creatures are a common pest that poisons livestock and can spoil crops with the toxins it emits from it’s skin. It is a much hated creature, the equivalent to a fly or mosquito in our world, only much more dangerous.

Her dark clothes blended with the midnight sky, on the road with no street lights. The car never saw her coming.
-three, two, one, its done-
The teenage girl was a stranger in the world she lost herself in, the world that she created herself. She was a child, alone in her little wonderland. Her parents didn’t listen to her claims of the bugs, the bugs attacking her skin. So she buried herself in her own world to escape the dreaded creatures. They didn’t bother her there, but nothing else got through to her when she was in this state. She began failing school, and was eventually pulled out to be homeschooled. Her parents refused to let her leave without them after that. So she snuck out every night at 10:42. In her world, this was the time when the sky was brightened with fire works.
-never saw it coming-
She walked into the middle of the street-then a driver without headlights ran into her. Her body was left motionless as the driver just kept driving. In the cruel, real world, people didn’t want to be involved with others. The young girl was now a victim, never to be identified. She didn’t remember who she was, and she just screamed in her world. If a girl collapses in the street and no one is around to hear her screams, she doesn’t make a sound.
From that point on, she called herself Jane Doe; the named of the lost girls who never had a chance.
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A/U: Yeah…this was real short, but I have serious writers block right now, and I haven’t posted in a while. So it’s better than nothing. Sorry if there are any typos, I was typing this on my phone and couldn’t find the spellcheck button anywhere.

Ahead lay the city of Criel; it’s neatly lined up marble buildings gleaming in the reflection of the sun on the water. The great ship Astroeilis glided over the silent water, at its head a large serpent flowed like a dark shadow, its crystal-like fins casting rainbows on the dark ebony of the ship. A small child leaned out of its side, her eyes glowing with delight as she watched the small dragon-like creatures called Erie dance around the ship. She leaned down, straining to reach out and touch one, but drew back as one of the neat creatures swung its head around and bared it’s needle-like teeth at her.

In the crow’s nest the second, taller child stood, equally delighted. She looked over the shimmering city of Criel, knowing one day it would be hers; the beautiful mansions that squatted on the ground like slumbering beasts, the rich fields of crops. She lifted her head proudly. One day she would control it, yes, it would be all hers.

At the head of the ship a tall, lean woman stood. Her elegant, jewel encrusted mantle billowed out behind her and the crew watched it intently, praying to the great Tiamat one of those jewels would come unattached from the mantle, Great Dragons knew she wouldn’t miss it.

The ship flowed into port and hundreds of people flocked up to it. An exited, angry buzz swept through the crowd. Soldiers poured out of the ship, and to the crowds protest, forced the people to scatter, while family members pulled children and elders out of the way of the soldiers. The woman barked a couple crisp, sharp orders and the soldiers nodded. The two children ran up to her, exited, happy looks on their faces. This would be their first time out of the confines of Axeris, their home city and capital of the Palezarian Empire.

“Mother, can we go to the market, I want to see some fish.” The smaller child chimed. Her mother shook her head “Later, I have some business to attend to; Nires will take care of you for the time being.” The taller child groaned “But mother, Nires is so boring, all her lets us do is read and write, all day long!” For the first time on the trip the mother smiled “I’ll make sure you have some fun this time, okay?” She said gently, leaning down.

The two children nodded a bit grudgingly, watching their mother turn away. Suddenly out of a dark corner three dark shapes lurched out, blocking their mother’s path. As the slanted shafts of sunlight chased away the darkness enfolding the figures the on watchers could see that it was a frail woman and two grimy children. Immediately two soldiers stepped forward, holding out the butts of their spears to hold the woman away, as if she were something they wished to keep at a distance.

The woman leaned over, the spear shafts digging into her easily seen ribs. She clutched at the other woman’s fine robes, weak, pitiful words spilling out of her mouth, her eyes looking pleadingly up at the woman out of their sunken sockets

“Please,” She cried “Please, lower our rent, we have not enough money to pay it off, the crops weren’t good this year and they burned our plantation, now my children are starving! Please, Empress Cornelia, I beg you for the  sake of my children; I’ll sell myself into slavery if that’s what it takes, just please!”

Cornelia didn’t move, she looked down at the women with an unreadable expression “There are plenty of people in need of slaves, you can sell yourself and your children, that way you’ll be given food and shelter and no one will miss out on anything.”

With that she turned away, the hem of her robe slipping out of the woman’s now limp hands. The soldiers pushed the woman back, making her fall. Her children ran forth, clutching at their mother.

In the crowd there was a mixture of emotion. The owner’s of the mansions and their children watched the Empress with awe and admiration, while the villager’s and farmer’s eyes bore into her with barely concealed hate.

Likewise the Empress’s two children watched with very different expressions on the faces. The younger one, Asterix, watched with a mixture of disbelief and horror. She had always imagined her mother as a kind, gentle person. She imagined that when her mother went away to take care of business she was helping the poor, but now that childish, idolizing dream was crushed by truth, and tears swelled in her eyes at the loss.

The older child, Xyliz, watched her mother with newly awakened awe. Yes, she wanted to be just like her mother when she grew up, she wanted to have a firm rule over her subjects and get the most out of them.

Nires stepped forward, looking with dislike at the Empress’s kin. “Well, I suppose I’ll have to take you to the market.” He muttered almost tiredly and grasping the two children’s hands not to gently led them away from the shouts of anger and the weeping woman.

In the dragon stables the smell was over-powering. But Xyliz had spent many days in there and it no longer bothered her. She had come out just as the sun lit up the sky, hoping to take her mount out before it got to hot. But to her dismay her dragon was gone. It was noon now and she stood next to the messenger compound, frowning at the ground.

Around her stable-hands rushed about, leading battle dragon’s to training and messengers to route-planning.   Vibrantly colored silky fabric trimmed the dragon’s wing membranes, designating their jobs. The clash of the battle dragon’s reds and messenger’s greens made for a dizzying experience.

She glanced over to the arena compound, were a newly captured Abyssal Drake struggled against its restrains. The trainers stood back out of its way as it swung its massive, metallic tinged head side to side. Suddenly it unfurled its wings, the membranes snapping taunt with a sound like that of thunder.

A sleeping Messenger near her started, throwing its head side to side in surprise. Xyliz stepped forward and laid a hand on its quivering snout. She murmured soothing words to it until it had calmed down and gently pulled its head away from her.The young princess turned back around and scowled at the royal compound. The three hunters dozed in their cells, but only two of the royal mount’s stood there. Unfortunately hers wasn’t one of them.

“Where is that wretched boy?” She muttered. A lock of her wavy, raven black hair fell into her eye and she brushed it back behind her ear. An older stable-hand walked by her, glaring at the commotion in the court yard, muttering about disciple and respect. Xyliz caught his arm, recognizing him as the stable-master; he would probably know where her stable hand was. ‘Have you seen Lan?” She asked urgently.

He gave her a baleful look as if he didn’t enjoy the thought of her being in his stables ‘ Well, actually they’re my stables and if I wanted to he could end up one of those dirty beggars’ she thought smugly, missing his response “Say again.” “Rink” he grunted irritably, then jerked his arm away from her.

She didn’t bother to think about how rude that action was, instead began jogging to the rink, her black and violet cloak billowing out behind her.                                                                                                                    The Amphitheatre-like structure loomed over the trees,blocking out the expanse of blue sky. In the hall leading to the main chamber shadows cast by green flames dance eerily. Xyliz shielded her eyes as she stepped into the main chamber, sunlight invading the cool darkness, forcing it to retreat to small corners were light could not find it.

The great black dragon sat in the middle of the chamber, glaring at the stable-hand, who tried to bribe it into the air by throwing thick slabs of meat. The dragon rattled it scales and stretched, spreading its wings and making the black and violet silk trimming its membranes shimmer in the light. Xyliz walked up to her mount, her glare almost a perfect reflection of her dragons. “Why exactly did you take my dragon without my permission?” She asked coolly.

Her dragon snorted as if in agreement. The stabled hand looked around the chamber, as if unsure how to reply “Lady Asterix said I should-“ Xyliz sighed, shaking her head “Shouldn’t you be smart enough to figure out that when Asterix tells you to take a dragon out for training she is referring to her own, not just any dragon you please?” She asked, an edge of impatience riding on her steely tone.

The stable-hand fiddled with a slab of meat nervously. “I-I-I…” He stammered, trying to think up a valid excuse.

Xyliz took a deep breath. “Just go muck out the royal stables.” When Lan began saying thanks and practically singing praises she waved him of impatiently “Yes, yes just get out of m sight.”

When he was finally gone she grasped her dragon’s reins and led him outside. Once out of the darkness light spilled out upon the pair. The dragon turned its head away. Xyliz patted the side of its neck reassuringly and swung onto its back. The dragon stirred and she could feel its steady heart-beat turning into a vibration. It tensed, muscles sliding smoothly under its hide. It slowly unfurled its wings she felt its back legs flex and with one astoundingly powerful movement they were in the air. The dragon’s muscles churned and slid under her like water.

The black and purple silk snapped taunt, as if surprised by the sudden surge of air.  The clouds seemed to part in front of the dark streak that was the dragon. The sun mercilessly threw down its blistering rays of heat, like translucent arrows, but none seemed to have an effect on dragon and rider. The dragon flapped its wings once, climbing through the sky. The claws on its wings grappled the air as it rose higher and higher.

Suddenly the ascend stopped and the dragon unfurled its wings to their full width, wisps of cloud swirling away on the gust of wind the movement summoned. Then as smoothly as if it were created to do so, the creature drew its wings in until it resembled a dark arrow.Then it plummeted down, away from the harsh glare of the sun, towards the shadow swathed ground.

“So, what you’re trying to say is that this is actually a flower, not a butterfly?” Asterix asked, pointing to a delicate blue flower with small violate dapples on its petals.                                                                         “Yes, that is exactly what I am trying to say.” The gardener sighed wearily, tapping his shovel on the ground to dislodge the drying mud.

“Uh huh…” She said thoughtfully, leaning down to take a closer look at the flower. “Are you sure? Because flowers usually don’t have dots on them.”                                                                                                             The gardener tapped the tip of the shovel again, as if he wished he could do the same to Asterix “Yes, I am quite certain. The species is known for their distinctive pattern.”                                                              Asterix threw up her hands in outrage “I am not talking about pattern! I never even said anything about pattern! I am talking about dots, dots!!!” She yelled, looking like she was about to tear her hair out. With a great sigh she turned away and went off in search if someone else to torment.

Empress Cornelia watched wearily as her advisors bickered. Her food had just been poisoned, and her top advisor, Arequi, had come up with a far too likely theory.

But Cornelia did not want believe it, not at all. Unfortunately upon this theory lay the well-being of the Empire, and that was far more important than her own whims. Arequi turned to her and said grimly “Yes.”The word had never sounded so sinister. The empress sighed, and shook her head “Very well. Please bring her.”

“Yes milady.” Arequi said, turning way to hide his triumphant smile.

You’ll never see

What I see

Or how much this really means to me

To you it’s just a masterpiece,

To me it’s what I live for.

I know this seems like it took such little time

But my bristles still have the adrenaline

That pushed me through to the very top

To every corner,

And every stop.

I painted with red, yellow and green

And every color in between.

To make what you see as a painting

You think you know the emotion behind it

But really you’re just imagining it.

For it was something I put my heart and soul in.

You’ll never understand how much I put into this

Only to see it sold for nothing worth the pain and love

I put in.

You see the big picture

I see the path I took to get it there

Mounted on a wall

In a cold marble museum.

And I know

You’ll never know

How I feel

Behind my masterpiece

Because you’ll never see

What I see.

There is a kid lost in a forest, he find a empty shed and inside there is a stove, fireplace and a lamp.

He has one match. What does he light with the match?

Somewhere, somewhere in the skies
It seems like the God cries
When there is a little dish-dash
Off she comes with a splash
Making everything around her
Brighter, whiter and purer
She gets into the lakes, ponds and wells
Everywhere, everywhere where somebody dwells
Falling off grain by grain
she’s the tender rain
The rain everyone long for
and she comes knocking the door!!!

Time to go to sleep,

o’my sun don’t peep.

darker it grows and grows

return to the nests my crows.

Come on my moon

Don’t be such a maroon.

bring your siblings up

and make earth a twinkling cup.

But oh! if you come

Twilight s gone home

ah! my dear friend

please set a new trend.

Moon! just back a twitch

and off time’s switch

wanting twilight forever

and ever and ever

No such thing as happiness
No such thing as love.
No such thing as a perfect life,
Only death and blood.

Fairy tales are filled with nonsense
Life is filled with sorrow
I have nothing left to wish for
But the coming of the ‘morrow.

I think I am a troubled soul
Engulfed with death and pain
I have everything to lose
And zero things to gain.

I’m a writer, as you see
Life sometimes feels like crap to me
It’s not a stupid mystery
I’ll leave the earth with TNT.

Kidding ’bout that last part
I’d really hate to die
Especially in a such gruesome way–
Exploding in the sky.

But, here, it’s just a warning:
Try to keep me pleased.
If you fail to do so
I’ll bring you to your knees.

“Good night, Tick,” Kate murmured to her black cat before settling into her bed. She soon drifted off to sleep, with Tick at her side, green eyes flashing in the moonlight streaming in through the open window.

Kate lived in California with her mom, older sister, older brother, and her cat. Along with a few dozen white mice her brother brought home from school. “For science,” he had announced, but he was nearly drowned out by her mother’s and sister’s scream. Apart from that, Kate lived a pretty normal life. Well, as normal as an eleven-year-old’s life gets.

But that was about to change.

Kate twitched in her sleep, and a ball of light appeared, a floating, bouncing ball. The light got brighter, and Tick hissed softly, as if to say, “My owner. My house. Back off, thing.” The ball of light paid no attention, getting brighter with each bounce. It began swirling around the room, nimbly avoiding batting paws. Whish—whish—whish—whoop! The light stopped abruptly, and disappeared.

“Is she asleep?” asked a voice from the hallway. It was Kate’s older sister, accompanied by Kate’s older brother. “Come on! I know I saw a light in here!”

“Oh, come on, Ashy. There is no so called “light”. If it was, it was just Kate, waving a flashlight around.”

There was almost no noise as the two crept down the hallway, apart from the occasional creak of the floor, and the “Shhhh!” of Ashley whenever the floor threatened to give them away. As soon as they disappeared into their separate rooms, the light came back. It swirled around and around and around, and the light got brighter with each lap around the room. Then, suddenly, the room was engulfed in a blindingly bright glow. The wind whistled furiously through the trees outside. Lightning crackled outside her window, which was rather unusual because it was a perfectly clear evening, with not a single storm on the horizon.  Then . . . . . all was quiet— and dark.

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“I hope I did that right.” A voice spoke in Kate’s mind. Her first thought was she was dreaming. No, she could feel blankets and hear noises, not like in a dream. Her second thought the voice (for it was a boy’s voice) belonged to her brother. So she opened her eyes.

Kate looked around. From what she could see, she was in some sort of hot air balloon, for she could feel herself swaying slightly, and the medium-sized room she was in was made out of bamboo, from the chairs to the walls; to the small bedside table and to the bed itself. When she looked out the window across the room, she saw strange looking birds outside.

“Wait a second. Those aren’t birds, they’re—” She gasped as she realized she was looking at not birds, but neon fish, with wings.

“I hope I didn’t screw it up . . . Denali would turn me into a Yark or something if I messed this one up,” said the voice.

Kate turned her head and saw a boy. His eyes, hair, shoes, and cargo shorts were all various shades of brown, but his football jersey was red. He smiled at her. “Hello, Kate,” he said. “I’m Noah. Welcome to Glendale.”

“Um, hi,” Kate said, pulling off the bed covers and looking around. She stood up, looked down, and yelped. She was still wearing her green pajamas. They were made of cotton, and they were a light shade of green. Luckily, they could pass as everyday clothes, but she still felt more than a little silly. Any moment now I’m going to wake up in a hospital, with people telling me I fell out of bed and got a concussion, and now I’m having hallucinations, Kate thought. Even her blonde hair had been tied into a ponytail.

Noah turned and stuck his head through a doorway behind him. “NORA! GET IN HERE! KATE’S AWAKE!” he shouted, A few moments later, a girl rushed in the doorway, nearly colliding with Noah.

She looked a little like Noah, although younger and a little shorter.  Her overall outfit consisted of mainly pink and purple. She smiled, and held out her hand. “Nora,” she said. Kate shook her hand.

“Kate,” Kate said.

“Just so you know,” Nora said, “although my appearance begs to differ, I am not a “girlie-girl”. I just like the color pink.” (Nora obviously felt like she needed to clear things up, right off the bat.) She turned to Noah and gestured with her head and eyes; he should shake her hand.

Noah looked at her, and cocked his head. Nora repeated the motion, but Noah still didn’t get it. She made an exasperated noise, marched over to him, and whispered something in his ear. A look of surprise passed over his face for a moment, but was quickly replaced with a smile. He held out his hand, and Kate shook it. “We’re siblings, in case you were wondering,” he said, pulling his hand back. “I’m thirteen, and Nora’s twelve.”

“I’m twelve too,” Kate said

The siblings smiled. “We know,” they said simultaneously.

“Okaaay . . .” Kate said, a little surprised. She looked around the room again and realized something was missing. “Where are your parents?” she asked.

Noah bit his lip. “They’re not . . . here, at the moment.”

He was about to say something else when Nora jabbed him in the ribs with her elbow.

“Noah! You aren’t supposed to talk about that subject, because then we’ll have to think about him! And you know we’re not supposed to!”

“Sorry!”

Kate, sensing a fight about to break out, interrupted with, “What? Him? Why am I here? Where is here?”

Noah and Nora stopped glaring at each other and looked uneasy.

“You tell her. You brought up the subject!” Nora hissed.

Noah sighed and sat down on the bed, tugging on his sister’s shirtsleeve as he did. She sat down, and Kate followed suite.

“We can’t tell you much right now, but we can tell you this; one day—or should I say night— when you were seven, you dreamed of a place named Glendale, where you ruled, good conquered evil, and school didn’t exist.” He paused, trying to think of something else he could say safely.

“We’re assistants to ­­­­­­Denali. Nora and I, I mean,” he finally said. “One day, she told us about you, and she told us to summon you by the means of a forgotten spell. Or something.”

“Denali?” Kate said.

“I’m getting to that. Don’t interrupt,” said Noah.

“Sorry.”

“So, right before we summoned you, which was about three days ago, we heard a hiss, and when we turned around, Denali was gone. We were about to go look for her, when I heard a voice. It was Denali’s voice, and she said to not worry about her and summon you. When you first got here, you were sleeping. That was three days ago. We thought you were dead.”

Nora jabbed him in the ribs again.

“Ouch. Okay. I thought you were dead,” Noah reluctantly corrected.

“So who is this Denali person?” Kate asked.

“She’s, like, kind of the ruler. But when you rescue her, you’ll be the ruler.”

Kate raised one eyebrow.

“Hey, you created this place. Anyway, to overpower Dr. Tripwire, you have to find all six pieces of the Jade. It was broken by Denali herself in a last attempt to stop her captor from using it. You have put them back together, and go to Dr. Tripwire’s castle. Then you have to defeat him, saving Denali and Glendale in the process.”

“Dr. Who?”

“No, Dr. Tripwire,” Nora said. “You have to kill or capture him.”

Kate suddenly felt a little sick. “What will happen if I fail?”

“That probably won’t happen, but if it does, Tripwire—that’s what we call him when we have to speak of him—will rule, and he’ll probably have our heads cut off or something,” said Noah.

Kate stood up and said, “My head cut off?” she exclaimed. “What sort of a place is this? I thought executing was, like, in the—”

Noah sprang up. “No!” he said. “Not like that, but he is evil and I’m pretty sure he would stoop to anything, including the guillotine.”

Kate shivered. “I want to go home,” she said in a small voice. “Will you let me go home or do I have to find the stupid Jade thing?”

Nora stood up and gave Kate an exaggerated shrug. “We could send you back,” she said. “If we could.”

Kate whirled on her. “What do you mean, ‘if we could’?” she demanded.

Noah cut between the two girls. “What she means,” he hastily said, “is that we can’t send you back.”

Nora gave him a questioning look. “That’s what I sa—”

“We, er, lost the other part of the spell,” Noah continued. “So, until we rescue Denali, you can’t go back.”

Kate buried her head in her hands. “This is all a dream,” she muttered. “Just a dream, Kate. It’s okay. In a few minutes you’ll wake up.” She raised her face from her hands, but continued talking. “In a few minutes.” She felt a heavy-ish weight rest on her shoulders and looked down. While she was talking to herself, Noah had put a backpack on her. “It’s a Parapack,” he said, as he pulled on his own. He got another backpack, one that looked different, and started towards the door.

Nora grabbed Kate’s arm and pulled her along. “Let’s go,” she said.

Noah turned around, gave her a little salute, and jumped out the door. A loud woo-hoo! sounded from below.

Kate screamed and ran to the doorway . . . and lost her balance, due to momentum. Another scream sounded as Kate free fell, dozens of feet, with the ground rushing up to meet her.

“Pull the cord!” Noah shouted as he pulled his own cord that dangled from the Parapack.

Kate yanked her Parapack’s cord and squeezed her eyes shut. Above her, Nora pulled her own cord and on all three Parapacks, a brightly colored parachute popped open from the top.

As Kate descended, so did her anxiety level. Noah wasn’t mad, as she first thought. Neither was Nora. And she wasn’t in a dream—the cool summer wind rushed by her face in a way that no wind in a dream ever could. She decided to accept the fact–fatal or not, it sure beats doing school after she woke up!

As she landed she felt a tug from behind. “I’ll take that,” said Noah. He stashed Kate’s, his, and Nora’s Parapacks behind a bush and walked back over.

“Let’s go, people,” Nora said. “Time is running out so we’d better get going.”

“Going where?” Kate asked.

“To show you around,” Nora answered. “It’s not a good idea to go trekking in an unmapped jungle, right?”

“No,” Kate said.

“Then we’ve got to “map” the “jungle” for you,” Nora concluded. “Otherwise known as a tour.”

Sitting in assembly next to Tayla and Mitchie, everyone got a huge suprise. A new bo was starting schoo today!! Nobody ever comes to our school as a newcomer!! And when hewalked onto the stage there was a collective gasp among the girls.
He was hot.
He had pitch black hair and startling blue eyes. Everyone listened and stared avidly as he shyly intoduced himself as Laenan Kane. But when HeadMistress Star started talking again, the usual mummering settled back into the hall, but this time it had a more excited edge to it.
“Wow, he’s fit” whispered Mitchie.
“You’re telling me” repied Tayla. “Eh Brynne, she sais, elbowing me in the ribs. “Yoyu haven’t stopped staring at the place where he was standing.”
I ignored them and just extended my super-sensitive hearing (yeh, i can do that!!) in the general direction of the new kid.
“Here you go Laenan, your class schedule for this term, one girl in particular is in all your classes, Brynne, great student, very friendly, sure you’ll get on well, bye for now” blabbered the fast-talking receptionist Miss Peate. As she hurried away Mistress Star left the stage and, row by tow, the students dispersed and headed to class. Me, Tayla and Mitchie were on the top row, so I just managed to hear Mistress Star wishing Laenan Kane a good time in ‘our schooling community’. Then I was washed into the courtyard with everyone else. …

The whole world is white

And green.

I know naught of time

Or place.

Only here,

Now,

Where the  snowflakes dominate

The air

And the pine boughs

Creek.

The woods are

Asleep.

Once in a land on the corners of  the earth,thick black cloud enveloped the night’s sky.Roaring thunder sounded across the tide.Trees with crisp leaves  swayed from side to side.A dim of light in a tattered house perched up on the countryside.Suddenly a shadow appeared on the opened door.Its large long cloak danced behind him with the help of the murderous wind.The shadow spoke with a mighty voice which had an echoing voice.As it kept on rabbiting his voice got louder and louder with anger.It became more imposing as it came nearer to the young petrified girl who crept backwards.

#1 A kid and his friend are about to play football.

Kid: Do you got money on you?

Friend: No.Why?

Kid: Because I want my quarter back.

Friend:What

Kid: Ha!

When new boy Laenan starts at school half way through term, everyone expects his dark, brooding looks to help him fit right in with the crowd of Sophie-Anne. But he has no time for wannabes and immediately befriends the brown haired, blue eyed beauty Brynne.
But when a sinister Laenan lookalike is seen watching the two of them together, it falls to Tayla and Mitchie to investigate, and put a stop to possible disaster.

Chapter One:

I stared at the teacher. Her eyes were a deep green.

“Hello, class,” a voice seemed to call. It came from all around them. From the large trees that surrounded us, to the moss that crept along the wooden logs.

The voice was one, yet it seemed to be a culmination of voice speaking together, in unison.

It spoke again, “Welcome, class, to Natural Magic. This is where every living thing has a voice. Every moving organism speaks and has a wish. Here you will learn to speak with nature.”

The voice fell silent and then the teacher rose, and spoke, “Good morning, children. I’m Caren Tree. Call me Miss Caren. I am a Nature Witch.”

We all corused a, “Good Morning Miss Caren.” Then silence.

“Listen.” Miss Caren instructed. We listened. I strainted my ears to catch the faint whipers of….what? What were we listening for?

Suddenly, I heard a small spark pop. Well, I guess it wasn’t a spark, more like something running out of energy and it had, um, died.

“So, how many of you heard something?” Miss Caren asked.

I raised my hand along with a few others. Logan was among them.

Miss Caren pointed at him and asked, “What did you hear, young sir?”

“I….I heard something…I-I don’t know what,” Logan said.

“Mm…,” the teacher spun around and walked to a huge fir tree. She placed her palm on it a let out a soft noise. Then she began a long prolongation, sort of melody.

The air seemed to shimmer around her, and suddenly, another voice joined in. It was a deep one. I couldn’t make out what it said, but somehow, I got the feeling that this song, that the two were singing in another language, was about…..the seasons.

The teacher opened her eyes, removed her palm from the tree’s trunk and smiled, “So you see, talking to nature…not everyone can can do it.”

To be Continued….

Prologue:

The forest was silent but in its silence great words were spoken through the rustle of the leaves and the whisper of the wind through the tightly strung branches. In the center of the forest, was a large city called Elwyn. It was constructed of marble, gold, limestone and wood.

Tall, wide buildings of limestone crowded together and pillars of gold glimmered. There was a second story to the city too. Large wooden rope bridges, connected endless walkways in the sky. The gold pillars attached from the cobblestone paths on the ground and the glass walks above.

Elves. This is the kingdom of elves….

To be Continued….

Long Ago Before humans walked on earth, creatures called beasts ruled the whole univeres. Earth was one of the most nutrital plant and many beast chose to live on it. Time passed and humans were created and baest welcomed them and were at peace. Humans were content for much time to come but it is inhuman to not be greedy….

6

The teacher, though, seemed oblivious to his classes reactions. He looked at all of us as  one would, a silly, small 7 yearold kid.

“My name is Mathew Daniels, but you just call me Mathew,” he grinned from ear t0 ear at us.

The rest of the period past pretty quickly, with a lot of introductions to what we would be learning this year. As soon as the class was dismissed, I grabbed my book bag and was about to jump out the door, when the boy next to me, Logan, said, “Hey, wait up.”

I spun around. I wasn’t expecting him to talk to me.

“What class do you have next?” he asked.

“Um,” I tried to remeber and then had it, “Natural Magic.”

“Sweet, ” he smiled, “Same here.”

I gave him a have smile have frown. I wasn’t sure about him yet. I turned and walked out the door, he followed.

On the way out the door, Aspen caught up to me.

“Fawn!” she yelled, “Natural Magic’s this way!” She pointed down the hall towards the back exit of the school.

I smiled at her and said, “Thanks Aspen,” then a whiper, “We’ve got company.”

Aspen gave Logan a quick quizzical look and then asked, “You’re name?”

“Logan. Logan Sparks,” he said. He seemed to have become that distant, unobserving person again.

Aspen shrugged, “Whatever.” She turned and I followed her down the hall.

Soon, the two of us, plus one equals three, were outside, in our “outdoor classroom”. It was sort of a natural anphitheater. Wooden logs created a wide circle around the base, where in the center sat a long wooden table.

I sat down with Aspen on one side and the new boy on the other. Soon, the theater filled with cloaked students, bacame noisy, in aticipation ofr the new teacher.

Just then the entire theater seemed to become quiet. I turned to Aspen.

“What happened?” i asked. Or tried to ask. No sound came from my mouth. Aspen’s red eybrows were knitted together and her mouth was working furiously, trying to make a sound.

Just then, there was a Poof and a lovely lady was sitting at the center of the theater. Her lustrous blond hair was tied into plaits and streamed down her back. I counted five thick plaits. Her eyes were closed.

Suddenly, her eyes opened and the theater was filled with voices.

To be Continued….