Hey, everyone.
Well, yesterday was Thanksgiving and it was pretty good for me. I hope it went well for you as well. Before we continue, I must tell you that I injured my finger today, so my typing is a little off. Excuse any mistakes I make. Anyway, back to business.
Wheel of Genres, turn, turn, turn! Tell me the genre I will discern!
Today's topic is... Fantasy! Hey, how 'bout them apples. I've actually written some fantasy. My book Heroes of Majestia: The Company of Flight is fantasy. I'm also putting together some short stories currently to help fill out the lore, so I am no stranger to fantasy. The trick though is can I tie my a fantasy story in with my high school reunion/days? I know some of you are probably sick of it, but I'm going to go ahead with it. Hmm, maybe I should weekly themes on top of the daily exercises.
Anyway, believe it or not, I totally can tie in my HS days. Here's an idea that's struck me a few days, but I never really thought of developing it. This will be it's trial area.
Thirty minutes on the clock: 30:00. And... go!
Margaret ran through the citadel. She had seen that guy in the hood all over the place. He was following her, but why? And why did she feel like she knew him?
Margaret rounded a corner and almost ran into Anne. "Ah! Anne!"
"Margaret! What're you doing here?"
"I was chasing a man in a hood."
"Was he really tall and wearing a brown cloak?"
"Yeah!"
"He just passed me in the last street."
"Damn! I'll never be able to catch him."
"I don't know about that. That street is a dead end."
The fires of hope were rekindled in Margaret's eyes. "Now's my chance!" she said before running off.
"Wait!" called Anne after her. "He could be dangerous," said Anne, trotting after her.
"If he wanted to kill me, he would've done so already. He's had plenty of chances, and in more than enough of them, he and I were alone together."
"Alone?!"
"Last time I saw him, he looked like he was going to say something to me, but he fled when he saw the Court Mage."
"Master Den?"
Margaret rounded the next brick wall and came to the street Anne had mentioned. The walls on either side of her shot up into the darkness. The stalls on either side of the street were abandoned, the merchants weren't allowed to sell their good and wares at this time of night. That would give the mystery man plenty of hiding places.
Margaret took off down one side, walking behind the stalls. "Check that side, Anne."
Anne tentatively walked over to the other side of the street but stopped. Margaret looked back at her sharply.
"I don't like this," said Anne.
"Then you can leave if you want, but I'm getting my answers and I'm getting them today."
"Or you'll get a knife in the belly."
Margaret hesitated. Her heart beat quickened as she turned and said, "At least I'll have my answers then." She turned back to her path and felt her heart hammer inside her chest. She didn't know what she was saying and she was scared, but to tell someone off just for warning her, that was a new step for her. She couldn't remember a time when she had ever done so before.
"You know," began Anne, "Master Den has been teaching me a few spells. I bet we could lure him out."
"Why didn't you say so earlier?!"
Anne shrugged. "I'm not very good at them, but if it'll stop you from killing yourself, I'll try it."
Margaret walked back to Anne as she began to chant in the middle of the street. The words and syllables she used were foreign to Margaret's ears and occasionally a few sparks or waves of light would manifest from Anne's mouth.
Anne lifted her hand to her mouth as if she was about to cough something up. She became quiet, held her hand out down the street, and then snapped her fingers. The snap echoed, and not just because of the closed in street, but also due to some mystical means. As the sound reverberated against the walls and reverberated back, a screaming could be heard as it grew louder. Suddenly, there was a pop and a flash, and a tall man in brown cloak and hood appeared out of thin air right in the middle of the street.
"Um...?" he said. "Bye!" He started moving toward the back of the street, but Anne shot her other hand forward and issued another word of power. Blue circles shot from her hand and they hit the man, bounding him within them. He fell to the ground.
"Got you, now!" said Margaret triumphantly, standing over him.
"Yes," replied the man.
Margaret's vision blurred for a second. His voice sounded familiar, but she couldn't remember from where.
"Bully for you, Margaret. And well done, Annie."
"Annie?" repeated Anne. "No one's ever called me that before."
"You'd be wrong about that."
"Time to fess up!" said Margaret, striking him in the back. "Who are you and why have you been following me?"
The man struggled to roll over so he could face them. His hood fell off in doing so. Both Margaret and Anne gasped. "Michael!" they said together.
"Yep," said Michael with a sigh. "But I prefer Mike."
"That's so weird!" said Anne. "I suddenly remember you."
"Me, too," said Margaret. "But how?"
"Well, I would've preferred to tell you two under different circumstances, but these are as good a time as any. We are all from a different world."
Margaret and Anne blinked.
"What do you mean?" asked Anne.
"We're not from here. None of us live in the citadel. We're not even from his country! We're from a different world altogether."
Margaret's lip quivered. "I don't believe you!"
"Spoken in denial I see," said Mike. "You both know, deep down, that there's something wrong with this place. That's the reason why it's never felt like home," he said forcefully to Margaret. She jumped. How long had he been following her?
"Where are we from then?" asked Anne.
"I don't know."
"What do you mean you don't know?! You know we don't belong here but you don't know where we're from?!"
"Yes. All I remember is being in a high school hallway, and I remember seeing you two, standing there next to me, right before we were sucked up into a portal of some sort."
Images flashed through both girls' heads. Anne placed a hand on a stall for balance, while Margaret almost hit the pavement. Both saw the same image as if it were a dream, but realer, in their heads of standing next to Mike and being drawn through a black portal. Margaret remembered she'd been wearing her uniform at the time. That's why her clothes were so different and strange when she woke up at the citadel. And when she thought about it, where had those clothes gone?
"I remember..." said Anne, shaking. She closed her fist and the blue rings holding Mike disbanded.
"That's better," he said, standing up. "Glad to see you both have your memories back. Margaret. Annie."
"But," said Annie, "I can't remember where we're from."
"Me, neither," said Margaret. "How did you remember?"
"I used to be one of the castle's servants. I was cleaning the Court Magician's chambers when I knocked over an orb. It hit the ground and I was bathed in a pale blue light. That's when I remembered the portal, and from there I started to remember everything else, but not until I saw everyone first."
"Everyone?" said Margaret.
"That's right. There are more of us here from our world."
Margaret looked off into the distance. Who else did she know from her high school days?
"Why did Master Den's orb give you your memory back?" asked Annie.
"I don't know, but I bet he knows something we don't."
***
And that's it. I actually went over time writing that. And before you ask, yes, there was a Margaret, Annie, and Mike in my class at high school. There were a few Mike's, and at least two Anne's, but there was only one Margaret. Anyway, when I started writing that, I was worried it would be too short so some of the intro stuff is filler, but then it ended up being too much. I wanted to get to the point where I implicated the Court Mage is some shady goings-on because otherwise there wouldn't have been a complete story.
But anyway, that's it for today. I hope you enjoyed it. If you want to use the wheel I made, you should be able to access it here. And if you have the time, please check out my books for sale on Amazon which you can find through my author page. The link is below. Also, I reworked my Patreon page, so why not give it a look and consider becoming my patron. I would appreciate it.
Keep writing, my friends.
More About Bryan C. Laesch:
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Amazon: My Author Page, My Influencer Page
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Twitter: BryanofallTrade
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