Here's Chapter 1! For some of you who don't understand, here's a full gist:
The two rulers, Lianna and Luan, lived in harmony.
One day some strange creatures from outer space came. They infected the queens' minds, turning them against each other.
The Nightmare Spirits gave the queens horrible, evil ideas. One of those ideas was to poison the citizens.
They did just so.
The results were disastrous. There was an all out Civil War. Lives were lost, and the planet was desolated. The remaining population was wiped of their memories and were conflicted to choose a side, The Celestial Empire, or the Lunar Empire.
One of the scientists that worked for the queens to develop the poison was horror-struck by what he had seen. He survived and created an antidote to the poison and injected himself, his friends, and his family.
The ones who were cured created a small village on the far outskirts of either empire. Surrounded by thick forests and desolate deserts, they were confined to what they had.
One day, the survivors realized that the radiation left behind had given the world magical properties. Many were given special talents, and each was used to their advantage in order to survive.
The people were awakened from their amnesia to find that there had been two other princesses, Princess Talia and Princess Callie. The remaining people set out to find these princesses, in hope that they could save their well beloved Queens.
The world is a desolate place now. Sandstorms plague the land, ruining crops and any resources left.
Chaos spirits roam the earth, neither human or animal, terrorizing anyone they find, sucking up the person's magical properties from their bodies, leaving them dark and empty corpses. The spirits inflict whoever they come upon with disease and pain. Sometimes, they go mad with rage and run into the desert, where they would be promptly killed by the spirits.
So here's Chapter 1! Enjoy!
- Nerdyredhead
The wind echoed menacingly across the dry plain, the sandstorm unleashing its full fury on the landscape. In the distance, small figures lurked suspiciously, wrapped in numerous layers of silk and cloth. As they walked, the head of the group turned his head around. His colleagues were falling behind. The man gave a sigh and yelled to his colleagues. They couldn't hear him, for his voice was swept away by the screaming wind.
In unison, they lifted their heads and started to scream, pointing at the man. The last thing the man was, was a screaming black figure.
Saarah raced through the streets, her legs taking her as fast as they could. The streets of the city were dirty and people wandered with buckets of water slung on their backs, large wheelbarrows filled with fruits, or several children following them like little waterbirds. They waved to her and she shouted a quick "Hi!" in return. There were tons of streets and she ran into the wrong one, backed up, then continued running. Eventually, she rounded a corner and burst into a small cottage. It was squashed like a flourcake next to the other houses on the street.
A young girl lay on the rug in front of an empty jug of water, the clear liquid bending and twisting up into the air.
Sitting cross-legged beside her was a girl with silvery-navy hair twisted up into an intricate bun. She wore a dark magenta robe with gold lining and a large brown scarf hung around her neck. They sat in the living room of the small house. It contained a small fireplace, 2 couches, a rug, wooden coffee table, and a cabinet. There were two doorways that led into a kitchen and a hallway.
"Hey guys!" Saarah said
As soon as the young girl looked up, the levitating water fell to the floor with a slap and soaked the sheepskin carpet.
"Hi Saarah! What are you doing here?" The girl asked. Faan spoke calmly. "Saarah, don't interrupt her training like that!"
"I'm terribly sorry Faan but it's your brother Tae! He's stuck with his group in the sandstorm! They were on their way back from collecting some strawberries from the Garden of the Immortals!"
"WHAT?" Cacey shot up and shoved Saarah out of the way. She burst out of the door and into the sandy abyss.
"Saarah… Is that true?"
The older girl rose from the carpet, levitating the books from the floor with her magenta and blue magic and tucking them into a bookshelf beside the fireplace.
"Yes Faan, it is." Saarah said.
"Hurry, we must catch up to Cacey, before she does something horrible."
The two ran outside, covering their faces from the torrent of dirt and sand with their scarves.
Eavan pounded the metal furiously, each loud smack echoing in her ears.
As she raised her arm to hit the sword again, she heard an odd noise. During the sandstorms, the streets were bare.
She liked to lock herself in her workshop and make assorted items like knives or swords. It was where she felt comfortable. Where she felt alive. The fire was warm and the metal bended and shaped itself easily. It was almost like she didn't even think about it.
However, she could hear the eerie wail of the summoning horn. The summoning horn never went off during a sandstorm, but if it did, it normally meant something extremely important. She hung her hammer, grabbed her scarf from her hook, dipping the sword she was making in the bucket to cool and took to the streets.
The streets were overflowing with the people of the village. Eavan weaved her way through the crowd to the front doors of the meeting house and stepped inside.
Inside, it was very warm and cozy. A deer antler and metal chandelier hung from the slanted ceiling. On the floor, the trunk of a large redwood was used as a table and surrounding it were wooden chairs with deerskin seats.
She walked around and took a seat at one of the several chairs at the table. Surrounding her at the other tables were Faan, Kae, Saarah, Pariss, and Cacey, who clutched Faan's arm in a tight grip. Gabe stood at the head of the table, his hands curled into fists of frustration on the glossy surface of the table.
The people from outside poured in and centered themselves around the table, murmuring rumors to the others quietly.
"Attention. Today we received news that our scouting squadron went missing at 5:40 today. They were heading out to get redseed berries and haven't returned." Gabe spoke.
"I am asking for a group to head out into the Desert to retrieve them. Those who are willing to accept please step forward."
Many of the people murmured to each other and shuffled back into the darkness. However, Faan, Fayre, Kae, Pariss, and Cacey. Eavan Stood up too. "Very well. Gather supplies and meet at the Southeast gates in 30 minutes."
The crowd swarmed out of the meeting house and back to their homes. The five volunteers followed shortly behind.
Cacey followed Faan to her home. Her house was small and two flights high. It was made of a base of stone and oak planks. She entered the house and tramped up the stairs to her room, which had a large bed in the middle with a white cowskin rug. Everything was neatly packed into it's cubby or desk and the room was spotless.
As Faan packed a bag which included her spellbook, potions and healing ointments, Cacey watched her intently. "When do I learn this?" Cacey said, picking up a book that read Advanced Spellcasting in Elipsian.
Faan swiped the book from her hands. "No. Not yet." She said in her usual calm but stern voice. "C'mon now, let's get you home.
Faan led Cacey home. "Why are you taking me home? Aren't I coming with you?" Cacey asked.
"No Cacey, it is too dangerous. Your brother and his friends are already in danger. Do you want to too?"
Cacey hung her head.
"No…"
Faan ruffled Cacey's hair. "Don't worry, I'll be back as soon as I can. Just stay safe ok?" Cacey gave a weak smile. "Ok. I promise."
At the Southeast gates, the six volunteers waited eagerly for their instructions. The sky was dark and the wind whipped menacingly."You all will get red boxes that you can use to signal each other from the sky. We will be awaiting your arrival at the gates. Be back as soon as you can."
Gabe gestured to the gateman to open the gates. With a loud chunk and a whine, the gate started to rise and the six heroes ventured out into the Desert of the Lost Souls.
The wind howled viciously and the sand slapped their faces. After traveling for what seemed like hours, everyone was exhausted. As they trudged on, Eavan perked her head. She nudged Faan.
"Hey did you hear that?" She asked.
Faan craned her head towards the noise.
"It sounds like…. screaming! Guys! I think we found them!"
Faan gestured to the group and they started to run. The sand attempted to stop them in their tracks, and it was doing a good job of slowing them down. All of a sudden a large black figure came screaming out from the darkness and aimed itself at Faan.
"Aspída!" She yelled, and a large navy and gold bubble materialized around the group.
"What is that?!" Kae screamed.
"A Nightmare Spirit! The group must be around here somewhere, a Nightmare Spirit would never come out during a sandstorm unless there was a magical essence out here." Faan growled, the monster baring its long, curved teeth and scratching the bubble.
"Don't worry, it's not hard to hold up a shield against them." she said reassuringly.
"We'll cover you." Eavan And Kae said, stepping forward and putting their hands up
"Ok, when I release the shield, Kae, you can send a gust of air and push the Nightmare Spirit off of us and then Eavan, you can hopefully burn a hole in the Nightmare Spirit and that'll scare it off."
"Ready"
"Set,"
"GO!"
Faan released the shield and the Nightmare Spirit was moved back a few feet. Kae shoved her hands at the spirit, her hair flying and flowing in her face, and the wind swirled, throwing the spirit even farther. The Nightmare Spirit screamed in fury and soared towards them. Then Eavan constructed fire from her palms and aimed it towards the creature.
The Nightmare Spirit fled into the clouds of sand, it's screeches echoing in the ears of the volunteers.
"Ok. Now that's out of the way." Eavan said, panting. "Let's move on."
As they traveled ahead, Fayre and Kae used their magic to turn and bend the wind to their will, creating a safe and sand-free path. Eventually, them came upon a small cluster of rocks.
"Careful guys, don't trip on the rocks." Fayre said, carefully tiptoeing across the plain. "Hey, Fayre, I don't think those are rocks…." The "rocks" shuddered and moved, then fell apart, five people falling from the bubble. "Oh no!" Kae moved over to the men, checking their pulses. Kae gasped. "We're losing them fast. Fayre, I need water, Eavan, I need a fire going. Faan they need protection from the wind."
It was a flurry of activity. Fayre collected water he summoned from the ground and put it in cups that Kae tipped to their lips, their parched mouths gasping and pleading for more. Faan sat outside the circle in a deep meditating position, her eyes closed and hands out. The only sounds you could hear from her were the occasional humming of a song.
" The sun shines
The sky cries
And everything is fine
Birds fly
And the people sigh
"Where do we go now?"
No war
No more
We dance on the dance floor
With no thought of fleeing
No war
No more
We dance on the dance floor
With no thought of fighting "