Tuesday, November 1

I have books in my head. . .


. . .that like to come out in dreams.  Or while i'm trying to study the scriptures.  Cursed distractions!

So I decided to write the first two pages of one, and see what you all think about it.  It's young adult fantasy i think.  The kind of stuff I liked to read when i was a young adult.  Or teenager.  or still do.

I didn't bother of thinking up some names and there may be some unconnected thoughts and such but I just threw it up onto the computer this morning.  Maybe i'll finish it... sometime. It's kinda long though for a blog post. sorry.  Let me know if you like it or if it is too cliche.  Ignore the grammatical errors.

Johan felt unworthy.  It was a feeling he couldn’t shake since receiving a summons to the ancient’s palace yesterday.  They had requested an audience with him today at dusk, and the sun seemed to be dropping like a shooting star, making the impending meeting with the rulers of the country  of ****** approach faster than normal. 
He couldn’t imagine what they wanted to talk to him about.  It wasn’t the first time he had had contact with an ancient.  That wasn’t the daunting thing.  In fact he had fairly regular contact with two of the ancients.  His job depended upon their guidance(job description.  Public service)This wasn’t what bothered him.  What made him nervous is that he had never been summoned.  Very few had, and rarely such summons ended well for the summoned.  Exile.  Reprimand; sometimes public acknowledgement for a great accomplishment, but Johan couldn’t think of anything exceedingly exceptional he had done even in his line of duty.  “But so close to the Great Council?” he thought.  What could they want?
Somehow in all his deep though his legs had become conscience of the time and he found himself on the steps of the grand palace.  “surely it was some trick of the ancients, a magic used to propel his legs to movement”  They must know of his inward struggle. Of course, it was not strange to them that they would know.  They seemed to know everything.  That is why they were called to be ancients he assumed.  The ancients were the guardians of  an ancient magic.  One that had kept the nation of ***** safe for a thousand years.  Tomorrow marked the 1000th great council.  They had held one every year since the original 5 ancients used a new form of magic.  A pure form to defeat and destroy the tyranny of the 3 previous rulers, a dark trio called the ~~~.  The ~~~   had formed the nation, true, but had done so in such a cruel and abusive manner that after hundreds of years of control, the ancients rose up against the tyranny.  The greatest of the 5 ancients was said to have been in line to become one of the new ~~~  but could not agree with their practices, which he saw as wrong.  Story tells it they tried to persuade him it was a necessary evil for the peace of the land, but he believed that in place of evil benevolent use of such magic could keep the country peaceful.  He was exiled for his  fighting against the ~~~   was called a traitor to the land, and a price was set on his head.   In time the young &&& learned and mastered the art of magic in it’s purest form and that magic was used to dethrone the evil ~~~  and later to rule the country of ****.  In face the neighboring nations all opted to join ****** for its overwhelming protection and peace provided by the pure magic.  ***** grew to it’s greatest size in history 500 years ago, when all but on of the neighboring countries were annexed in.  Now all that remained outside of ****** were small villages, wild and uncivilized, they would not accept the purity of the magic used to protect *******.  And the nation of %%%% which remained the sole independent country outside of *****, but kept good relations with ****.

The door swung open.  Lost in his thoughts again, Johan felt a great embarrassment.  Surely the ancients must know how far his thoughts had wondered, although maybe not.  It wasn’t known to what extent the powers of the ancients reached.  Actually very little was know of magic at all.  Though said it once was seen in every aspect of daily life, it had been hundreds of years since it had been seen in the streets.  As part of the agreement made by the ancients with the other nations when they joined the ******* the practice of magic had been banned from open use in the streets.  All those who used it openly were at first warned but then exiled.  It is said that those exiled are the founders of the wild uncivilized villages in the mountainside.  Johan had often wondered as a child why ****** didn’t go in and force them to become civilized but had learned, as all other ******children do that to function the pure magic needed to be accepted and never forced upon anyone.  That was part of what it made it the most powerful magic in existence.  It was also part of the very essence of ******.  That all were free to choose.  Even free to choose to go against the pure powers protecting ***** and leave anytime they pleased.  But who would leave the greatest country in history.  Nothing could interrupt the peace that the ancients and their magic provided.
“Johan!” exclaimed a booming voice he recognized as Bur Salazar.  It was with him that he had the most contact.  “usually when people walk into this hall, they are astonished by the beauty and the grandeur, but you seem preoccupied with something else.”  “Yes,” spat out a less pleasing voice, but also a familiar one.  “that is why I was so keen on Bur Salazar’s suggestion that Johan be selected.  I have seen that parlor tricks and sparkly objects do not distract this man.  He is solid.”  It was Bur Artea.  The other ancient with whom Johan had contact with.  Less pleasant to listen to, a shrewd business man with a sharp tongue, but an ancient still the same.  And said to be one of the more powerful ones, though that was pure rumor as magic had was not allowed to be seen by the common folk.  “We shall see about that.”  This voice was vaguely familiar.  Johan believed it to belong to Bur Zamora, with a voice even less pleasant than that of Bur Zamora.  Bur Zamora had been the voice for last years Great Council, but this was the first time Johan had been personally in his presence.  Well he assumed he was in his presence.  All the ancients, although talking to Johan (or rather about him) where nowhere to be seen in the dimly lit hall.  “Great well let us begin!” shouted a much more inviting figure.  It was Bur Wulf, a great big man with a deep voice.  He had been the voice or the council the first time Johan had been invited to attend in person.  He would never forget the moment that Bur Wulf announced his name to the crowd as one of the many first time invitees.  It was customary to announce the new invitees and their office, also when someone received a greater office they were announced to be ratified, standing with the importance of choice in the pure magic’s power.  The last time the vote wasn’t unanimous was when only 30 years earlier.  A young man dared voice his opinon that Bur Zamora was not worthy of the office of ancient and that Bur Zamora didn’t even believe in the great pure magic that governed the nation of ******.  He was subsequently banished for trying to upset the peace of ***** which he didn’t achieve because you can’t upset the peace of *****.  The pure magic was too strong.
“As Zar Perales is in no condition to lead as is his right and priveledge as Zar of the ancients, the responsibility falls upon me, “stated Bur Wulf.  “So it was true. “ thought Johan, he wondered how many of the rumors he heard about the ancients were true as well.  He most likely would have lost his train of thought again but suddenly the air seemed to stiffen and he was bombarded with questions of **** history by Bur Artea.  After a grueling 10 minutes of question and answer, Bur Artea hissed pleasantly, “well done Johan.”  Next Bur Salazar spoke up.  He questioned Johan about the economics, and governing of *****.  The questions presented here were extrordinarily easy for Johan, for this was his line of business.  “good!” piped Bur Salazar, obviously very pleased with Johan.  Johan still didn’t know what this was all about, but he felt good about how he was handling it.  He had answered with confidence every question asked him.  He assumed Bur Zamora would question him next, for it seemed they were going in order of rank, though Johan hadn’t a clue as to what Bur Zamora would ask him.  Sure enough Bur Zamora, hissed “enough of the easy questions, now the real test begins.” 

2 comments:

Catherine said...

good news! November is National Novel Writing Month! And you have successfully written more than the daily requirement of 1,000 words! Keep on going!

Timothy said...

what! and i didn't even know it! i must be connected to the awesome aura. . .