The epic tale of awesomeness (I.e story without a name)

Here I will post sections of the story I'm writing in an attempt of encouraging myself to continue writing and get to the good bits^^

Stuff will come soon

*Obviously this stuff is mine and I'd be very upset if some of my ideas suddenly found themselves in other peoples projects and stuff.*

Good luck Paddfoots!

Staring into Darkness

“Get the archers on the walls!” screamed a burley commander whose shirt had been torn from all the desperate labour that him and the rest of his soldiers had to frantically do to support the portcullis ready for the attack. The whole town erupted in the repeats of his order and after a few seconds a steady stream of archers, who were clad in light leathers, ran up the stairs and positioned themselves strategically along the stone parapet. The wall, built during the first colonisation of man in this region surrounded by rolling green hills, encircled a small farming village with many small thatched buildings that billowed smoke from the chimneys. The thing that set this village apart from the others was the booming timber business that took wood from the woodland behind it. In the top left hand corner of the village, on a raised level, stood the keep which was a tall and proud structure in its day but now was cracked and crumbling. A falcon circled the sky above the village as it screeched incessantly at the marauding mass of shady creatures that approached from the south. One archer, whose brown leather cap was worn and his bow was splintering, gulped as his dull brown eyes scanned the gathering mass in the horizon. He let out a gasp of horror as the realism of what was about to happen sunk in. In the darkness he could just see rows of rows of dark silhouettes that looked like they had come out of nightmares. The demons had somehow arrived deep in the highlands, the land that had been claimed by humans. The archer cursed under his breath as his grip tightened around his bow, a mix of rage and desperation setting in.

“Right lads, all that stops us from becoming walking, talking demon goody bags is this wall and your weapons,” shouted the commander with his deep booming voice that shook the foundations of the curtain wall. The archer turned around and noticed a few lines of men-at-arms had gathered behind the wall.

“However the scum you see out there are nothing more than glorified beasts. They have a heart to stab, they have blood to drain and they burn really well, so treat them like the dogs they are! We are the Elmwood Warriors, feared soldiers who have sworn to defend the highlands. Fear not the numbers that the black swarm has brought! Fear not their bestial shape and fear not death as in death we will have eternal glory!”

The commander held up his rugged blade as it glinted in the failing light of sunset as if the demons were stealing the day from the land. He roared in a forceful yet reassuring tone. It soon echoed all over the battlefield as the rest of the soldiers joined in, shaking and waving their weapons in the sky in a testosterone and adrenaline fuelled frenzy.

The castle suddenly became deathly quiet as the rhythmic crashing of organised footsteps sank into the heart of every soldier one by one. They could feel the floor shake as the grassland in front was slowly consumed in a sea of black beast like monsters. A horn sounded from inside the keep and that was the order the archers dreaded...it meant that their fates had been sealed...it meant they had been condemned to death...it was the order to open fire...

The Child of the Mind

Mathew awoke in a start, beads of sweat silently gliding down his cheeks and bulging onto his chin. Mathew rubbed off the sweat with the back of his hand and slowly relaxed as he realised he had returned to his bedroom from his repeating nightmare. Mathew’s bedroom was a typical 18 year old boy’s room. Most of his clothes laid on the ground, giving the carpet a multicoloured look that made it hard to walk across. On his plain beige walls hung various posters of movies and women and his desk in the corner was cluttered with gadgets and gizmos along with books, folders and anything else he couldn’t be bothered to put away. He threw on a pair of light blue jeans and a red shirt and he hopped out of his room, using the bits of carpet that have been tactically kept clear. Mathew stopped by the mirror in the hallway and groaned when he saw huge bags under his eyes. He rubbed his greasy brown hair that stopped at the base of the neck and covered his ears.

Mathew sighed, “I need a shower...”

After his lukewarm shower, Mathew ran down stairs and wearily groaned at the selection of breakfasts that was available, “Do we have anything instead of cereal?” he grumbled.

“There’s a toaster,” replied his mother who was a short and irritatingly skinny woman although she would deny the compliment when asked. Her short brown hair almost matched her only son’s although hers was well kept and styled delicately which made it look much more feminine. Mathew grunted and cut some bread to put in the specialist, electrical heater.

“You look tired, have you been up all night again?” asked his mother with a serious undertone even though it was hard to take her that seriously with her ridiculous pink shirt, skirt combination.

“I’ve been having the same nightmare for the past three days. It was about a small black monster with small tusks on its gaping bottom jaw that protrude dangerously upwards. It has two huge twisting horns on his head and small spikes that protrude from the top of its head to the tip of its tail. Its huge bulking arms and legs dwarf the size of its head and its belly was scaly like a snake’s where the rest of it was covered by black fur. It started talking about me wielding power and when I refused to join its ranks, it starts using its large claws to hack me apart.”

“Umm honey, what are you doing?” asked Mathew’s mother. Mathew looked down and saw that he was buttering the bread and with one slice had already put the orange marmalade on.

“Oh...” murmured Mathew as he dropped the knife next to his plate and contemplated on what he should do with it, “My mind’s been so groggy recently I can’t concentrate.”

“Well you should get an early night then,”

“How can I? I can’t sleep”

“Maybe if you had an earlier night then you wouldn’t get nightmares.”

“I don’t think that makes any difference.”

“You should try at least.”

“Ok, whatever...” Mathew ate his bread in disappointment as it just not the same when it’s not toasted. He walked out of the kitchen and waved goodbye to his mother as he set off for the school. It was a trip today and not having to wear a tight and uncomfortable uniform was such a good a feeling that a smile spread across his face for the first time today. His street was typical for a suburban residential area. It had a few trees that sprung, seemingly, out of the concrete slabs. The rest of the pavement was littered with green and grey wheelie bins that Mathew had to navigate through.

Some people are so careless... he thought.

After about a minute of walking Mathew stopped to fiddle with his pockets which revealed a small MP3 player whose screen lit up from the glare of the bright summer sun. He put the headphones in his ears and started nodding his head to the frantic beat of the angry band as they attempted to scare him with their series of screams, yells and grunts which was interspaced with melodic singing.

Mathew arrived at school and the first thing he noticed was the couch that had pulled up in the bus park. It was a sorry thing, its paint was old and fading, its rear lights didn’t work and he could have sworn one of the tires was flat. Either way Mathew hopped into it and found a seat in the middle which was right next to the window. He said hi to many friends that walked past to attempt to occupy the back seats as if you became a better person if you did. He smiled at a small group of boys took on another like gang warfare. It didn’t get violent, it never did, all that happens was a few insults were hurled and the underdogs who tried to claim the seats sheepishly retreated to the seats in front while the others sat with a huge smirk on their face while laughing hysterically.

Eventually the coach doors closed and Mathew noticed the empty seat next to him. He stuck his hand in the air and called for the teacher, Miss Amington, to ask where his friend was.

“Oh, Mike called in sick today, he said it was nothing serious but he didn’t want to pass it on,” responded the fair haired teacher who always seemed so distant from what was happening around her, “I’ll trust that you’ll tag on with another pair then?” Her large silver earrings dangled in front of his eyes and he couldn’t help but gaze on them until he realised that her white shirt was actually quite revealing.

Mathew nodded to avoid making a fool of himself and as soon as she returned to the front to get involved with a heated debate with the bus driver he returned to listening to his music. After a minute the coach roared into life and, with a loud mechanical whirr, it rolled out of the school. Mathew smiled in amusement that the debate at the front got louder as the teacher didn’t like how the driver was performing even though he was only driving like that because she had irritated him.

The trip was dull and uneventful. Car watching proved unsuccessful this journey as all the other drivers seemed to be behaving themselves today. He grunted in dissatisfaction and quickly checked to see if anything of interest was occurring in the rickety old coach. Everything seemed calm inside, there was a lot of talking and laughing and the only excitement was watching Miss Amington try to control a group of 20 pupils. Eventually Mathew’s legs started aching and seeing as they would be on the coach for another hour, he attempted to ignore it by closing his eyes and hope that the same dream didn’t occur...

A New hope

A deathly silence fell upon a grand ornate room almost as if nothing living existed inside. The large oak wooden doors flew open as a young messenger boy stood hunched over, panting like a dog. The room was barren apart from a large oak table with many ornately dress people sat around it. In the centre of the table were many scrolls that were open or screwed up and thrown to the floor. In front of an aging man with blond hair who bore the crown of the highlands, its emeralds sparkling in the light of many candles that had been placed around the room. A moment passed where the messenger boy had seemingly lost his nerve and the lords and ladies expressions seemed to get more frustrated and angrier. At last the boy opened his mouth, his trumpet still attached to his belt and his tabard ruffled in the breeze that the giant oak doors had let in.

“M...my liege...lords and ladies, I bring grave news. The town of Elmwood has been completely obliterated by a demon army.”

“Really?! Elmwood went just like that?” the old man with blond hair clicked his fingers to demonstrate the point, “How far have the demon army encroached into our territory?”
The messenger boy stood nervously before a large table full of lords and ladies, where in the centre the old man with blond hair stood up, the crown dangling awkwardly on his head.

One of the lords couldn’t hold back the tears. He slammed his head on the table and started sobbing, “My village... My perfect little village.” A comforting hand came from the lady of Elms end, another nearby village located on the other side of the forest. She too had a sober expression on her face.

“M...my liege...” mumbled the boy, his tabard bearing the crest of Elmwood twitched as the young body inside it shook from head to toe, “They are almost through the forest. They will be arriving at Aveen in 6 days time. A quiet murmur rippled through the audience gathered around the table, obviously not comforted by the news. The kings thick, strong hands gripped the table as the news kept getting worse and worse.

“King Umoxrian, what should we do?” asked a small plump lady in a flowing yellow dress and a delicate hat on which stood the heads of a few chrysanthemums with bright yellow petals at the front and blood red petals at the back, “My fair city of Aveen will be under attack in less than a week.”

The king retired to his throne like chair and covered his head in his hands. Once again the grand hallway fell silent as he contemplated his idea.

“We need to buy some time,” he muttered, hoping that an idea would flow through him if he just kept talking, “We need to encourage their army to not attack the city straight away.” Suddenly an idea clicked, “We need to evacuate Aveen apart from the soldiers and in return give them a bounty of supplies along with soldiers from the rest of our nation. This mission will be costly but if we can prevent them from attacking and just let them lay siege to our city then it can last around a month. In which we will have time to ready the rest of our armies.”

The woman stood up and slammed her fists on the table, “That is suicide! Can’t you see how much we will lose if Aveen falls?”

The king slowly let out a breath of air through his nose and opened his eyes, “The truth is...” said the king calmly, “We will gain a lot more if this works. We still have three more cities that haven’t fallen. Each one of those cities is capable of recruiting an entire army. We have what it takes to repel the invading demon forces but we do not have the time to do so. If we tried to save Aveen now, we would lose everything. This is why I propose that we try to save as many as we can now and turn the city into a fortress, capable of holding off the siege for as long as the supplies last.”

“What about all the soldiers?” asked the woman with frustration in her voice, her anger born out of fear.

“They will die with honour knowing that they will save the rest of our kingdom. To keep morale up, let them know that they can have double rations and extra funds from the treasury in Needle’s Edge. Tell them that there will be bards singing about their bravery and statues to remember their sacrifices.”

The woman returned to her seat, her face pale and expressionless, “Yes my king.” She said nervously. The king settled down and called for more messengers. Three more arrived two boys and a girl, all wearing the crest of Needle’s Edge on their tabards. He relayed the orders to each one, sending them to each city. The boy who wore the Elmwood crest had the easy job of relaying the news to the commander who was in his quarters which was in the same castle that they were in now, the castle of Needle’s edge.

“I need one more messenger...” asked the king. Another messenger with the Needle’s edge crest ran into the hall and stood in the official pose, back and arms as straight as a plank of wood and his chin reaching high into the sky.

“Get a report from the hall of mages to find out their progress.”

The messenger nodded and dashed out of the building. He saluted a couple of guards who opened the huge keep doors that was designed to hold off an army and as soon as it creaked open, light poured into the dark hallway, revealing the various suits of armour and paintings of past kings and queens. The messenger thanked the guards and ran outside into the village surrounded by the innermost curtain wall. The messenger looked up into the tower and could just make out a few archers flexing their bows and trying to entertain themselves while very little happened. The ground underneath the messenger’s leather shoes was hard and had been caked by a few days of continuous sunshine. He passed a farmer who was herding his pigs to the slaughter house, their eyes beaming with curiosity to see a part of the village that they had never seen before, not knowing their grizzly end was right around the corner. The messenger ran through the gatehouse for one of the two curtain walls where a few guards with heavy plate armour shining in the sunlight, their sweaty brows turning red in the heat. The messenger took a left and ran into a small alleyway between the wall and a large thatched building which was a tanners and a leather workers hut. Behind it was another grand building but it was made of wood not stone. On the wood there were many pictures of whimsical tales that had been etched into it. The messenger touched the carvings and found that the wood was as smooth as silk not splintered as most of the buildings like this were. He returned to reality after a few moments of daydreaming and he entered the building.

He let out a small squeal as he saw what was inside. The hallway on the inside was a lot larger than it first looked, in the centre was a crystal orb that glittered heavenly, bouncing coloured light onto all the walls. Around it stood three mages whom he knew to be the most powerful. All around were other mages, about twenty others and mostly girls. He was about to run up to the head mage when he saw a creature of the likes he had never seen before. Three creatures illuminated an aura of pure whiteness, lightening up any dark colours that were near them. Their gaze was firm but restful and they wore long white robes. Their heads were angular, like a horse and they had two small slits for a nose. Their ears drooped down to either side of their neck and underneath their frightfully calm blue eyes were markings and patterns that he just couldn’t comprehend. Their skin was covered in a thick but short layer of white fur and they each had a gold tiara that had not been forged by human hand. Out of their long robes protruded four claws that closely resembled hands and their feet were similar to chicken’s but their talons were thick and made a clinking sound on the stone slabs every time they shuffled around. The most striking feature was their wings that had been furled on their backs. He could tell that their wings were huge and it looked like they were made out of swan’s feathers.

A lesser female mage walked up to him, he could tell that because everyone knew that blue mages were weaker to the ones in red. He noticed a lot of mages in green robes and he decided that they must be initiates. This mage had blond hair that had been tied up into a bundle behind her head and her eyes were faded, when she got closer he realised that her pupils weren’t there, it just a small disk of brown.

“Greetings human” muttered the mage in a blue robe in an unnatural voice. The messenger took a step back when he realised all three of those creatures were staring at him, “There’s no need to be afraid, we are not here to harm you.” The messenger was about to run off in fear when he was stopped by an unnatural force. He felt like he was trying to run through an invisible wall.

He let out a scream of surprise and fear, “Witches you are! All of you!”

“Enough! I should have you fed to the angels for interfering with our work!” shouted another woman from behind one of the creatures. She pointed to them when she said the word, “Angels” She closely examined the cowering man, “Oh get up, you look pathetic. I can see your on ‘official’ business, so what does our dear king want from us this time? Cure every disease or maybe it’s to stop this blight of accursed demons that sweeps through the land?”

The messenger stood up and cleared his throat, “King Umoxrian would like a report on your progress.”

The smallest creature called an angel nattered with a series of clicks and whines to the other two as if he was being a translator. The woman, who revealed herself to be the legendary Tanja, had long black hair that was tied into a ponytail which reached her hips. Her skin was wrinkled and freckled and her eyes burnt with unbridled passion for her art.

A small smile crept onto her aged face, “Oh so that’s what he wants, the old crone finally understands that we mages can’t do everything for him. Yes I will give you a report and I’ll trust you’ll bring it to him only otherwise...” she whispered something into the messengers ear and his face went pale and he clamped his eyes shut as if trying to block out the images Tanja had just placed into his mind.

“Ok, ok I swear an oath of secrecy with everyone apart from you and the king.” Muttered the messenger wearily, he gave a fearful expression to the angels that were still making a series of whines and clacking, he could tell that from the clicking of their front inner talon on the stone flagging that they were getting impatient.

“Good, now just relax and let me tell all I want the king to know.” The messenger wasn’t expecting what happened next. Instead of her talking, a series of messages flooded into his mind, “Ok go now little errand boy, go please your so called king.”

The mage pushed the messenger out on a bed of air that she summoned and he once again found himself standing dazed and confused outside of the building. He went over the messages in his head to make sure he didn’t forget anything.

“Silly little man, research like this takes more time than you could possibly imagine. Luckily though some angels took interest in our research and they are lending us their wisdom and magical power which has sped up things greatly. I, however, am pleased to inform you that the stories are true. Some mages did flee to another realm during the war to eradicate humans many, many centuries ago. We have found this realm and have uncovered the incantation to bring a person into this one. Although we have uncovered a flaw, only those with a strong enough spirit can be brought to this realm so unfortunately we can only pull a mage through the void with a chance that he or she remains intact at the end of their inter-realm journey. Another problem is that we are looking for a mage in a land where none exist. We have not even found any with residual magic in their veins. We will keep looking though as there are over 6 billion people to check and the mind’s eye we sent has only scanned a small island to the South of their world.”

The messenger returned and relayed this speech to King Umoxrian who had moved himself into a beautiful throne room which was full with statues of great heroes, “Ignorant woman,” he roared, “She has no respect for me or the lords and ladies. All she cares about is magic. Still to have her working for us is of great help. She is amazing at what she does. Did you know that she is one of a few mages that has talent in more than one school of magic?”

The messenger shook his head but before the king could continue his praise for Tanja the messenger interrupted him, “What are Angels?!”

The king recoiled in shock that he got interrupted, “Angels are intelligent monsters, they feed on meat and have been known to lull people out of their houses by using magic to charm them and once exposed the angels will claim their prize. I do not like having them in our city but Tanja has reassured me that they will only eat what is given to them.”

“So what do you think of this report?” asked the messenger.

The king put up his hand, “you need not understand it, do not forget that you’re just a messenger. I thank you for the report, you are dismissed.”

With that the messenger bowed and walked out of the elaborate throne room.

Strange Things in Mundane Places

Mathew gasped awake as the same dream repeated himself. He quickly lifted his shirt to see slightly pale, untouched skin and then reached for his ear which was still there. He sighed with relief that he was intact and whole. He realised that he had been moaning throughout his nightmare and all eyes in the bus were staring at him. It felt like their combined gaze was going to set him on fire.

“I’m...I’m sorry miss.” He mumbled as his eyes hit the floor, completely embarrassed that everyone saw and heard him and know he knew that the gossip would spread. All of this would mean he would be jumping off the social ladder only to start again once the heat was off. He sighed and shrugged off the oncoming questions from a quite concerned teacher who had leant over to shake him awake, not remembering the white shirt she had on had the top two buttons undone. Mathew averted his gaze in an exaggerated way to subtly tell the teacher that she had done it again.

“Oh...” she cried as she quickly stood back up, she almost ran to the front to adjust herself before announcing that they had arrived.

“The museum of natural history!” she exclaimed in a therapeutic voice as if it was the first part of a speech she had already prepared, “Full of natural wonders that nature has given to us over the years! If you’re interested it has a new exhibit, a diamond with a slightly pink tinge to it. No one knows why it has this impurity or how it even got into the lattice of carbon to carbon bonds in the first place. Oh and before you ask, no it’s definitely a diamond not an amethyst.”

No-one could deny that geology was her hobby. She seemed obsessed with the raw unrefined gems rather than the more expensive polished ones. Every day at school she would bring a few samples in and show it to those who were interested. However very few were, the only reason attendance was so high today was because it was an excuse for a day off school. However for Mathew this wasn’t the case. For some reason he shared the same interest as Miss Amington. Gems, especially the unrefined ones, seemed to call out to him, not in a physical sense but he just felt quite comfortable when he was holding one a sense of ease and mental tranquillity in a life so hectic with social and academic pressures. Anyway he wanted to see this unique diamond. He heard from the teacher that it should be called the eighth wonder of the world.

Mathew hopped out of the tired old bus, avoiding the sniggering gazes of his fellow classmates. They stood around the teacher, most of them itching to abandon the museum as soon as possible so they could just walk off into town. Mathew sighed as he knew fate would pair him up with one who wasn’t actually interested in going.

“And Mathew, you can go with Jack and Christopher.”

Mathew sighed at the teacher’s order. Jack and Christopher were two of the boys that tried to claim the backseat but failed miserably. They also had no intention of staying in the museum for long. Mathew was friendly with Jack but found Chris irritating.

“You do realise you held the bus up for fifteen minutes right? Miss Amington just couldn’t wake you up!” said Jack with a big teasing grin on his face.

“It sounds like my dream had trapped me...” muttered Mathew as he tried to make it sound as joking as possible but somehow he felt that it may be truer than he first thought.

“It did sound like that! Please...stop...please...please...PLEASE!” Jack mimicked Mathew’s coma like state with that awful teasing voice. Both Jack and Chris laughed while Mathew remained silent, he didn’t realise he was sleep talking as well.

“Did you have your first dream with a woman?” mocked Chris being usual to overstep the mark. Mathew grunted in annoyance while the others laughed, he wanted to curl up into a small ball in a dark corner so he could live out the rest of his life in peace. Mathew held his arm in the area that was slashed to pieces by long, sharp demonic claws during his nightmare. He couldn’t help but think that every time it has felt so real that it does take a while for his brain to realise that nothing has actually happened to him.

“Let’s wait for Miss Amington to engross herself in something shiny then let’s hit the town. I got my driver’s license here so we can grab a beer or two,” suggested Chris. Jack nodded at the idea and they both hung around the huge glass foyer and in front of a large plant pot containing a palm tree with a few bushes around it so the curved desk of reception could not see them.

“Can I see this diamond first? That’ll be where miss Amington is.” Asked Mathew, he then realised he was going to have to explain himself more to convince them to follow him, “Look if you leave now, she’ll notice soon enough. But if you follow me and she sees you looking at the gems she will have more reason to trust that you’re in the museum when you leave.”

Both Jack and Chris could not deny the logic in his suggestion, “You have ten minutes, I want to get a decent drinking session in today!” ordered Chris. Mathew nodded and said thanks and all three boys followed a group of girls to the large dusty room that claimed to have the diamond in it. Mathew pushed past the line of spectators while the other two went to explore the other exhibits around the edge of the room. Each gem in the room was held on silk in a glass case and a small note to explain them was placed next to them. In the centre of the room was the diamond, on a raised stand and lit up by many spotlights whose bright fury was centred right on it. As Mathew pushed his way to the front of the crowd that circled all the way around it, he saw its beauty in person. It was an uncut diamond that had been polished extensively to reveal a clear inside that reflected the light and cut it up into many colours on the floor. The diamond didn’t really sparkle that much as its edges weren’t defined enough for a perfect shine. The special part of the diamond was on the right hand side where a pink shade had infected it, spreading its pink tentacles deep into the gem. At a squint it looked like a flicker of fire had been captured in this gem. Mathew looked up in awe at the gem, its imperfections gave it uniqueness and its rough quality gave it a more natural beauty. He then started to feel slightly better for himself, he started to not care whatever people thought about him about the incident in the bus. It was the same feeling most gems gave him but this one was more intense. This gem seemed to radiate inner strength to all who were receptive to it but he could tell no-one was. Now the gem had him in a trance like state, he was unable to stop focusing on it. His gaze was drawn deeper into the depths of the mineral. He suddenly started feeling really dizzy but he fought it off for a surprisingly long time until he heard a huge shattering sound and the gasps and cries of the crowd. A moment after that Mathew keeled over and fell unconscious to the floor.

Jack turned around and gasped as he saw the gem explode on its own accord, sending shards of pink-white diamond everywhere. There were a few screams and shouts of pain as people were struck by razor sharp shards of diamond. He ran over to Mathew who had fainted and spread awkwardly across the smooth marble floor.
“Someone get an ambulance!” he shouted, even though he knew he wasn’t the first to say it as other people seemed to be more seriously hurt than Mathew was. Jack examined Mathew closer and saw that he wasn’t even scratched.

A Plan in Action

A small grin spread across the furry white elongated face of the Angel, revealing a set of small pointed teeth. It clacked and whined delight, spreading its huge swan like wings and buffeting anything that was near it, sending many scrolls flying off the table and scattering off of the floor. It jumped up and down, its talons tapping the stone flagging. Tanja followed with an expression of glee, “We have found a mage, and a powerful one at that! I can’t believe we couldn’t see her, it’s so obvious now.” She looked at the three white robed angels, making her ornate red robe look dull in comparison. Tanja flicked her ponytail off her shoulder so it could hang behind her once more, “Ready?” she asked. The three angels nodded when the smallest one had translated what she had said. They all closed their eyes and their hands hovered over the crystal ball which glowed as strong magical energy entered it.
“That should do,” muttered Tanja as she grabbed a chalk and started writing incantations and strange hexagon patterns on the floor. On the outside of the hexagon was a circle which touched every point of the angular shape. Inside the pentagon was a four spike star shape, whose points exploded out of the circle. The three angels took their positions on each of the points which were exposed outside of the circle and Tanja took hers on the point that was left. She placed her right hand on the crystal ball as her left was pointing to the centre of the strange shape. She started muttering something in a language unknown to all but a certain few. The lines grew fainter and fainter until they disappeared all together. It was suddenly replaced by beams of light that resembled the previous shape. Slowly light filled the empty spaces within the shape until all that could be seen from onlookers was shadows in a midst of a blinding light.

Tanja had stopped chanting but held her pose; she felt as her own willpower drained from her, she started feeling weak and helpless. The world now seemed to be such a huge place for such a small person. She then started wondering if this is the right thing to do or if she could even consider herself as a powerful mage.

The light instantly dulled and disappeared, to be replaced by the twilight of a darkroom lit by many candles. Tanja fell to her knees panting and gasping, the spell had taken a lot more from her than she had expected. The angels screeched and howled in discomfort, the spell obviously hurt them as well. In the centre of the chalked floor laid Mathew, his brown hair messed up from the recent excitement. He was translucent, which shocked Tanja, she half expected him to return with a body of his own. She then remembered the law of foreign souls and spirits which she read in a book. She sighed in relief and knew she had accomplished something that was previously considered impossible.

“Tanja, is this a spirit...from another realm?!” gasped a small girl in a green robe with bright ginger hair and a large nose.

“Yes Ethrie, he is a human soul not a spirit, he will need a day to materialise fully into this realm. Before that we cannot touch him as he is merely more than reflected light.” Tanja stood up and shook herself down, she had not felt her willpower drain like that in a long time, she felt very weak and weary but she had enough strength to thank the angels. They clacked with delight and, obviously eager to report their findings to their elders, slowly made their way out of the hall, their claws tapping the stone rhythmically until their claws buried themselves into the soft dirt outside. They unfurled their huge angelic wings, from which they got their names, and they took off with surprising speed yet with the grace of an eagle that was riding in an updraft. Tanja took this opportunity to retire to her quarters at the back of the hall. As Tanja stumbled her way to the back of the building she noticed the putrid smell of rotting meat from a couple of dead cows. Her face shrivelled up in disgust, “Please someone get rid of this meat. The Angels will not be coming back.”

Tanja spent the rest of the dying day in bed, slowly restoring her will to the original level. Her bed was as ornate as the walls around the wooden building. The wooden frame had many carvings etched into it. One of which told the tale of how the humans escaped into another realm. It was the one time that her hair wasn’t bound together in a pony tail that rivalled the strength of any thick rope. Below her bed she hid a small decorated chest that held her priceless heirlooms that she cared for dearly but she was usually so secretive over them that no-one actually knew what was inside. Some say that it was a necklace given to her by a ‘mysterious’ stranger. Others thought it was where she kept her favourite alchemical potions.

A whole day past by unnoticed as a small crowd of mages had gathered around the resting Mathew. They looked in amazement when they saw his translucent body slowly take more real colours. They stared in disbelief at the strange clothes he was wearing.

“Look at those trousers! What sort strange material is it made from? Wow people from the other realm sure dress weirdly,” cried Ethrie as she examined closer. She noticed that her attempt to touch the boy succeeded where all others had failed, “Everyone, he’s materialised!”

With that all the mages wanted to touch the boy, knowing that they were one step closer to calling the most hazardous series of incantations a success.

“Wow he feels so real! And a boy as well! I thought only girls had the ability to be mages!” shouted Ethrie.

“No, girls are more likely to become mages but men usually prefer to wave a metal stick called a sword than cast a spell,” responded another mage in a blue robe.

They all gasped as Mathew groaned as he slowly came to. His arms and legs flailed as they found the cool stone flagging. He got onto his knees and checked his hands, “Ugghh what happened?” He looked around and saw a bunch of girls in different colour robes, all staring at him as if he was a new pet. Mathew cried out in shock and horror when he realised that he wasn’t in a hospital or lying on the floor of the museum, “Where am I?” he asked.

The girls awkwardly looked at each other as the boy screamed and then started mumbling in a strange and unique language. They all looked at a blonde haired, blue robed girl who shrugged her shoulders, “I have never heard a language like this before,” she muttered.

“Out of the way!” cried Tanja, annoyed that his awakening couldn’t be in a little more private place so he could be eased into what has happened to him. She walked briskly down a gap that the girls instantly made for her. Without any warning or any noise she grabbed Mathew’s head and muttered a strange incantation that was available to red mages only. Mathew screamed again but more out of confusion as he could literally feel movement inside of his head as if his brain had been altered. He was shocked to find their strange rambling slowly make sense up until the point he felt like he had just spent years learning a new language in a few seconds. He was even more amazed that what he spoke was not the same language that he spoke a few seconds ago. It was even stranger when he realised that he couldn’t even remember a single word of his previous language.

“That should do,” grumbled Tanja, “Do you understand me boy?” she asked in a tired and frustrated tone.

“Umm yeah I do.”

The girls gasped in amazement as they were once again belittled by the power of Tanja’s magic.
“She did that so effortlessly!” one of them exclaimed.

Mathew suddenly got over the shock of having his brain manipulated and went on the assault of rushed and panicked questions, “W-who are you? Where am I? Why am I here? Why are you looking at me like that? Oh... Look I’m sorry if it was me that broke the diamond but I swear I didn’t touch it! Please don’t hurt me!”

Tanja shook her head, “Men are all the same, pathetic creatures. You can calm down boy. I have no idea what you are talking about. Now you probably want some answers. Come into my quarters and we can talk in private, where no eyes or ears can eavesdrop.” Tanja gave an evil glance to all the mages who encircled the couple, the signal for them to continue with their various projects. Tanja huffed and then grabbed Mathew’s hand and, with a forceful yet slightly hesitant tug, pulled him to his feet, “Can you walk boy?” she asked, unimpressed by the male figure that stood before her.

Some great mage... she thought sarcastically with her eyes rolling. Mathew gave her a confused nod and she half lead, half dragged him back into the small mage’s quarters where Tanja shut the door, shutting them out from the ears of the outside world.

“My name is Elder mage Tanja, master of two schools of magic. What is your name boy?” asked Tanja with significantly bored expression on her remarkably young face for a woman of her status.

“My name is Mathew Dane. Who are you? Where am...” Tanja held up her hand and interrupted him.

“I will answer your questions in a second. Now...have you practised magic regularly?” Tanja looked at Mathew’s blank expression.

“M-magic?”

Tanja sighed and her held fell into her left hand whose elbow was propped up by the desk they were both sitting at. A mirror cast a dreary reflection of Tanja’s ever increasing frustration.

“You mean to say you don’t know a thing about the gift you have been given? Gah, men are hopeless! You’re just like that love sick fool King Umoxrian.”

“Ok... who’s King Umoxrian? Wait most monarchy’s have been disbanded. I would know the name of this king. Ok where am I? Tell me now!” Mathew stood up, his confusion blinded by rage as he slowly started to realise that he had been abducted while he was away, “How did I get here? How did you get me away from the museum? What do you want from me?”

Tanja’s rage flared as well and her piercing gaze pushed him back down into the chain and invisible handcuffs chained his arms to the ornate decorative piece of furniture, “I know not of what you talk about ‘Mathew’ all I know is that you are not from this realm. I summoned you here as you are a mage of great potential and our kingdom is in dire need of mages like you. You stand in the mages hall in the city of Needle’s edge. We are under attack from a force you can’t even imagine and by the looks of it we can afford little time to dither about the morality of my actions if we are to extract some of your hidden abilities.”

“I am...from another realm? Yeah sure, you’re just kidnappers who are trying to get a ransom off of me! So just drop the whole facade although I admit that your dress does look other-worldly.”

“You stubborn and ignorant fool!” shouted Tanja as she stood up, towering over the brown haired boy like a grizzly bear to an intruder, “This is a robe not a dress and this robe symbolises a high status so If you want to live until tomorrow then you should be referring to me as ‘miss’.” She let out a breath and calmed down herself, allowing herself to relax enough to sit back down, “If you took a walk outside to realise that I am not a liar, could you then spare me a few moments to help explain to you why this has occurred?”

Mathew suddenly felt movement return to his previously chained up arms and legs as if a great weight had been lifted from them. Mathew rubbed his arm, unsure as to what he had felt. He suddenly found himself being herded outside of the hall where his jaw literally dropped.

“I...I’m in the middle ages! H...how?” Mathew fell to his knees, the gravity of his situation hitting him like a brick to the head.

“As I said, we pulled your soul through an inter realm portal that we managed to stabilise long enough for us to use it. The amount of incantations it took for us to do that was impressive. You should be proud, as you are the first and most likely the last to travel between realms.”

Mathew picked up the dirt and watched it fall through his hands, “It feels so real...”

“That’s because it is.”

“But it can’t be... where are the buildings? The cars? Mobile broadband?” Mathew pulled out his Iphone and as he expected there was no signal, although Tanja took great interest in this small mechanical device.

“Let me see that.” Tanja stole the Iphone from his grip and looked in amazement as her fingers altered the images being shown on the screen.

“What kind of magic is this? It’s unique, yes unique indeed. What use do you have of this boy?”

“It’s a phone. You know... to contact people from far off places if they have a similar device. It’s not magic though if what you say is true then technology hasn’t developed much. Well our world is full of little gadgets like that which makes life easy,” muttered Mathew in a monotonous voice. His mind wasn’t really there. It was just sinking in that he may never see his family and friends again. He gripped the soft dirt before standing up, brushing off the dirt from his jeans and leaving a small brown stain on each knee cap. Tanja looked at the boy and returned his Iphone, his expression as sombre as death itself.

Oh no...Why do I have to get the sensitive ones? She thought a slight huff of loathing.
She led Mathew back into the mages hall and assigned him a bed in the communal mages sleeping quarters.

“Stay here and let out whatever troubles you. Try to deal with your grief quickly though. We have much to discuss,” Uttered Tanja as she shut the door for the last time for the next couple of hours.

In the silence Mathew failed to deny that he was in fact being set up. He felt the magic hold him down, he saw the medieval buildings hidden by a massive curtain wall. He noticed the keep in the centre which flew the crest of Needle’s edge. He saw the roughly dressed peasants who went about their daily business and lastly he knew a woman who acted like Tanja could never be a con. She was a piece of work, a nasty, self absorbed, sexist lady who seemed to take a cruel satisfaction in other people’s demise. He let out the wails of loss and woe. His parents, whom he now knew was separated by a whole inter-dimensional rift or whatever it was. He had also lost his friends and also his way of life, the things that made him who he was. Lastly he knew that whatever Tanja wanted from him, it would probably mean he would have to do something he’d disagree with. Mathew spent the next hour in tears, filling the hallway with an aura of misery and gloom, penetrating all those who remained inside.

First of all sorry for deleting posts, I'm trying to keep the story together and I couldn't be bothered to try and find a way to 'insert' posts.

Posts will each contain 3 chapters to help you find your place

Secondly, this is the point where I start becoming unhappy with things. I'm not sure if I have mentioned this earlier but this is not finished and this first draft is basically to find a plot that's stable and not flawed with many plot holes that people are bound to find.

Actually, having people find plot holes and confusing/boring patches is a good thing. Ok... FIND AS MANY AS YOU CAN!!

Chapters 4 nd 5 are up.

We're up to page 15 already! I might have to speed up with the writing or slow down with the posting. Something has to give!!

Edit...

I think i might of just worked out a way to get the desired effect without deleting posts... good!

That obliterated my mind...so far. I'm almost afraid to continue. But It's too awesome, so I just got to ask...
When are you posting chapter 6?