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NoctemNS — Untitled Story, Prologue
Published: 2010-03-23 20:12:01 +0000 UTC; Views: 288; Favourites: 0; Downloads: 3
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Description The airship sped away from the castle, pursued by thirty royal knights on wyverns. The wyvern riders were gaining ground quickly, chasing after the vessel that had stolen away with the Imperial Princess: the girl I had just broken hundreds of laws and dozens of treaties, damaged countless buildings, and killed dozens of people to rescue from a fate worse than death.

She was sleeping in the ship's hold now, recovering from the weeks of torture and mistreatment that had been inflicted upon her as her own family prepared a ritual that would sacrifice her to bring forth a magic force with which to conquer the world. The ritual would have taken her blood and her heart, leaving her a maddened shell of a girl with no recollection of her past, of her friends, of her world.... Or of me, I thought bitterly. I wasn't about to let that happen.

I stood on the rear deck of the ship, facing the oncoming danger. In one hand I gripped a wand, the other hand rested on the hilt of my sword, which was sheathed securely at my side. I had to buy the ship time to escape, even at the cost of my own life. I stepped up to the railing, silently praying that my plan would work. Casting one final glance back towards the hold, I closed my eyes and lept over the railing, throwing myself into the sky behind the ship.

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My eyes fluttered slowly open as I felt the warm sun on my face, the chirping of songbirds wafting in on a soft breeze. The night had apparently been fitful, the sheets were drenched in sweat and tangled about my body like a set of ropes. After freeing myself from the chaotic linnens, I looked around the large bedroom. A scowl crossed my face as I found that my alarm clock had been thrown to the floor amidst my restless sleep, and now lay in pieces. Various books and papers had been thrown about the room, and furniture had been overturned and shattered. As I had lay dreaming, my magic had run wild, unleashing itself upon my dormitory with the destructive force of a hurricane. Shaking my head dejectedly, I gathered my things and got ready for class. As I left my dormitory, I found myself unable to shake the feeling that something just wasn't right.

Class was uneventful, as it usually was at the South Briston Academy of Magic. Mornings consisted of lectures on everything from world history to the fundamental laws of magic, and the afternoons were long sessions of spellcasting practice; where students were drilled in the application of every incantation they learned in the classrom. Evenings were given to students as free time, but most were spent studying or preparing for the next day's lectures... at least for me. I grimaced at the sounds of an amature sporting event coming from the courtyard below, groping for my staff and quickly firing off a spell to close my dormitory window. I had been particularly irritable all day, the apprehension from the morning only intensifying as the day had continued, and by the end of the evening meal I had wanted nothing more than to conclude the day and slip back into the peaceful embrace of a good night's sleep. However, there was always more work to be done, and one of the star students of such a prestigious academy simply could not afford to let anything slip.

Having finished my official schoolwork for the evening, I stood, tapping my staff on the ground and sending all the furniture in the room flying towards the far wall. I began a series of martial drills, designed to teach combat prowess with any form of quarterstaff. Most students at the academy prefered wands for various reasons, but having come from a family of conventional (and non-magic) millitary men, I had been taught from a young age the value of physical prowess, martial arts, and the availibiliy of a reliable weapon.

As I fell into the rhythm of the patterns my staff wove through the air, I allowed my mind to wander back to the previous night's dream. The whole apparition had me perplexed, as too many things simply didn't fit with reality. Perhaps that had been the source of my apprehension. That had to be it, I decided, a particularly fanciful construct of my subconcious, and nothing more. I tapped the staff on the floor once more, and dozens of letters adressed to a "Most Esteemed and Regarded Mr. Christopher Delerand" flew off of my desk, whirling around me in a tornado of parchment squares. I continued my patterns, my staff bobbing in a series of blocks, parries and attacks, the paper whirlwind moving with me. At a seemingly random moment, several of the letters broke from the vortex, flinging themselves at me as though they were throwing stars. I brought my staff up to deflect them into the fireplace, simulataniously deflecting my concerns about the dream.

Three letters bounced off my staff and into the calm flames. There were no wyverns, dragons, or other flying beasts in this world any more. Even before they had been hunted to extinction, they were of no inclination to become mounts for humans.

Two more parchment squares were parried into the fireplace, causing the fire to crackle slightly. A commoner like myself would never get to meet an Imperial Princess, let alone participate in a resuce mission. Wishful thinking on my part, perhaps?

The entire dream was simply absurd, and the fact that I had allowed it to cause me worry throughout the day was simply infuriating. My staff-strikes came faster, harder, the letters flying so hard into the fireplace that several bounced back out and threatened to set fire to the hardwood flooring. Tapping the ground once again, the remaining letters fell harmlessly from the air as I stamped out the smouldering parchment before it became anything serious. Placing my staff back into its stand, I picked the letters - requests from every club and society on campus for my membership - and tossed them into the flames. As they crackled and burnt, I turned my back to the fireplace, allowing myself to relax on the hard, cool floor. Suddenly the room went dark. The floor disappeared beneath me, and I was falling into an infinate darkness. I fell for what seemed an eternity before my head struck something hard, and the darkness engulfed my senses.

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Comments: 3

DaniLaur [2011-04-23 01:44:16 +0000 UTC]

I like it Seems like the beginning to an awesome sci-fi. I see that the date was over a year ago. Do you have any more written?

👍: 0 ⏩: 1

NoctemNS In reply to DaniLaur [2011-04-25 10:18:55 +0000 UTC]

There was supposed to be, and then I just stopped writing. T.T

👍: 0 ⏩: 1

DaniLaur In reply to NoctemNS [2011-04-26 00:51:05 +0000 UTC]

You shouldn't! I think it's a great start to a great story!

👍: 0 ⏩: 0