Magic Light - Part 1 (646 hits)
Category: Quotes & StoriesRating: 0 on 4 reviews (Rate this item) (V)
Submitted by Enter The Midnight (View user info) at 2005-02-22 18:40:49 EST
This is really Nightscythe, Part 4, but I'm going by chapter names now.
Part 3 (with links to I & II): http://www.ubersite.com/m/60258
Indeed, the skies began to lighten after a while, and the deep mists thinned out as the sky became a deep royal blue, and a soft gray light broke the horizon. The air was fantastically cool, and I stood back up, awaiting the sunrise, wanting to see that light once more. The gray light became white, then a soft rose tone, finally a burst of orange lit up the entire eastern horizon, and the skies lightened further, the temperature rising subtly but noticeably.
At last, a circle of fiery light poked above the trees, turning the gray mist to a blinding gold, which quickly dispersed with the rising warmth. The forests became visible again, and soon the second and third suns had risen, giving way to broad daylight. I smiled outwardly, my face beaming like those suns, happy and glorious.
I surveyed my surroundings again, and decided I would have a better sense of direction in the air, so I flapped my wings once or twice, and then lifted into the air, hovering above the trees in the burning light of the three suns, and took a good look at the landscape around me.
Forests stretched in every direction along rolling hills all the way to the horizon. I could not make out any distinct landmarks or features, and the land seemed rather unforgiving. I could not make out the direction from whence I might have come, nor did I see any break in the trees along my field of view. My eyes spotted, however, a thin swirl of smoke rising from deep inside the forest, unnatural for its place. I decided to investigate, for there could be something interesting there, and so I swooped across the trees and towards the column of smoke. I landed about thirty feet from the source of the smoke, which actually turned out to be a large building.
It was a large, one story building with a highly pitched roof, constructed of ancient wood with a large stone chimney on the left side, and a long, low porch along its front. A sign, half--hanging from the front of the building over the porch, read, "Evergrove Tavern."
I could hear voices inside the building, and a delicious smell wafted from the partially open door of the tavern. I stepped towards it, the old wood creaking momentously under my weight, and opened the door fully to gaze upon who and what was inside.
The room was full of smoke, much like the mists of the forest the previous night, and a large fire burned in the hearth of the great stone chimney. Scattered wooden tables, each with about six chairs, were placed around the oak floor. There was no real ceiling, only rafters that held the roof up, and along the back of the room was a long counter with shelving behind it. On this shelving sat several bottles of assorted sizes, shapes, and colors.
The most striking thing about the tavern, however, was the people within it. Dotted among the various tables and chairs, creatures unlike anything I had ever seen before were conversing, drinking glasses of some brew, or simply sleeping. The general milling of the place seemed to stop when I opened the door, and they all stopped what they were doing to look at me. I suppose I was an imposing sight--I barely fit through the door, and I wore clothing that reflected sunlight and firelight harshly into their eyes.
Uneasily, I walked into the tavern, the creaking floorboard somehow seeming extremely loud in the now-silent room. All of their eyes were upon me, and followed me as I wandered towards the bar in the back, but none said anything or moved towards me. I stopped at the bar, and the man behind the counter--a short, fat creature with beady eyes, basically a human, and slightly balding hair looked up at me with a strange expression on his face. He leaned towards me and whispered, "You've come to the wrong place, winged gold boy."
"The wrong place? Whatever are you talking about?" I asked, incredulous that he would say something like that to me. Why would anyplace be wrong for anyone?
He motioned for me to be quiet, and then nodded out to the crowd, whose eyes I could still feel drilling into my back, and whispered again, "Most here don't like the likes of you coming around. They don't take well to strangers."
"I see," I whispered back, still slightly confused, but I took the man's word for it, and I took a seat at the bar, my weight causing the stool to creak in protest. I spun around in it to face the crowd, and examined a few of them. One was a short but powerful figure with blond hair, pointed ears and wearing mostly green. A few others like him were scattered through the crowd. Another one, shorter than the elfish folk, was a bit chubby but still strong looking, with snapping black eyes and a black beard that looked as if it had been made of wire. He carried a pickax on his shoulder, and when his eyes caught mine, he snarled.
"What are you lookin' at, stranger?" he rasped in a surly voice.
"Well, I don't quite know yet. I am trying to determine that," I responded in all honesty, for I didn't really know what he was.
"What? You smart-aleck little brat, I'll teach you to insult a dwarf!" he roared, leaping out of his chair and running at me as fast as he could. I stood up, alarmed, but I held my ground. He swung a fist at me, landing a punch in my stomach, for he couldn't reach any higher than that on me.
I looked down at him, and smiled slightly. "Is that a customary greeting around here? Let me return it," I said cheerfully, and tried to return his greeting, but when I hit him in the stomach gently, he flew back almost twenty feet, his eyes bulging, and spit flying from his mouth. He landed against a wall with a sickening thud, and then collapsed to the floor.
"What happened to him?" I asked. The other patrons of the bar simply stared, their eyes wide open, jaws fairly dropping to their knees. I shrugged as if to say "What?" and I turned my gaze upon the bartender. He seemed to cower at my gaze.
"What's the matter?" I asked as politely as I could.
"Please don't hurt me," the bartender pleaded. "Take all of my money, take any drink you want, please just don't hurt me!" He put his hands over his head as if I were going to strike him.
"I don't want to hurt you," I said. "Why are you so frightened, anyway?"
"Well, because no one has ever knocked out a dwarf with one hit. It doesn't happen. They're as tough as nails, and when you came in and barely tapped his stomach--well."
"Oh--you think I'm strong?"
"Strong? Kid, I've never seen anyone who could take on a dwarf in a physical fight, much less knock one out without even meaning to! Of course you're strong!"
My mind marveled at this. The dwarf had seemed fairly weak, and yet these creatures thought them to be the strongest physical beings around. Perhaps I had underestimated my own strength.
"Tell me something," I said. "Where am I?"
"You're--you're in Evergrove forest, land of the Sylvians."
"Sylvians? Who are they?"
"They are the creatures you see around you--forest dwellers, such as elves, dwarves, fairies, pixies, gnomes, and talking wildlife."
"I see."
I wandered away from the bar, and the natural rhythm of the tavern picked back up. I was just about to step out of the door when someone tapped me on the waist. I turned around to behold an older woman, gaunt with age, and dressed simply in a few tattered black robes with gray hair hanging out from the hood, clutching at my shirt.
"Yes?" I asked.
"I sense great and mighty power within you, child. You just don't know how to use it, yet. I can see that," she said in a lilting voice.
"Power?" I recoiled at the thought. "What power?"
"Many," she said cryptically. "Far more than you could ever imagine at this time."
"Who are you?" I asked, thinking that was usually the most important thing to find out about someone new.
The old woman gave a gentle cackle, and then she walked out of the tavern and into the forest. I ran after her receding form, but once I left the tavern's porch and entered the grove of trees the building was encompassed by, I could not locate where she had gone--it was a strange feeling to see someone that should have been no more than ten feet from me entirely gone.
User Reviews
Submitted by Sherman (user info) at 2005-02-24 01:19:09 EST (#)
Ranking: -2
No Comment
Submitted by rad1101 (user info) at 2005-02-23 05:06:59 EST (#)
Ranking: 2
Submitted by Dervel (user info) at 2005-02-23 04:51:50 (#)
Ranking: -2
I liked how you brought across the, no wait, it's complete crap.
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HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA
It all becomes so clear, now.
Submitted by Dervel (user info) at 2005-02-23 04:51:50 EST (#)
Ranking: -2
I liked how you brought across the, no wait, it's complete crap.
Submitted by thecaes (user info) at 2005-02-22 20:05:25 EST (#)
Ranking: 2
I liked how you brought across the childlike innocence of this character.