The Secret O: Chapter 1.1

So this is the first installment in my surprise for my sister (see my previous post if you missed it). I wrote this one out quickly, so it probably won't be the final version. It really does still need to be edited, but here it is in all its raw glory.

Chapter 1

Alyssa awoke to the sound of a door closing. Brushing aside her shoulder length blonde wavy hair, she peered at the clock on her beside table. 2 am, who could be coming into the bed and breakfast at this time of night, she thought to herself.
Getting up from her bed, she quickly wrapped herself in a robe and headed downstairs. The front lobby was illuminated with Christmas lights, and with a quick scan around she found it empty. Turning to the left, she headed into the living room and quickly spotted the figure who had woken her. The figure stood by its luggage, with its back to her, holding its jacket and surveying a bookcase in the corner.

"Excuse me?" she said cautiously, "I'm sorry but we're all booked up, it is Christmas eve after all"

"Too booked up even to accommodate your older sister" said the figure. Alyssa jumped into her sisters arms as she turned around.

"Isabelle, I knew you said you'd be heading in early this morning, but I thought you'd meant 6 am early, not 2 am early"

Isabelle smiled at her younger sister, she was six years older and stood a foot taller than Alyssa. But other then her shoulder length brown hair and dark brown eyes, contrasting Alyssa's hazel eyes, they we're identical; both shared their mothers lean features and youthful looks.

"Shall I set you up with a room?" asked Alyssa, "I think this is the first time you've come to visit my bed and breakfast" Alyssa had bought the old Victorian Inn that had been built on a mountainside and opened up a bed and breakfast just the year before. None of her family had been able to visit so far.

"Yes, but it's quite lovely!" answered Isabelle smiling, " I love the style!"

"So, should I show you to your room?"
Isabelle's face suddenly turned grim as she said "Not yet, we have some important business to discuss"

"At two in the morning? Surely this can wait till tomorrow" But Isabelle simply shook her head. Alyssa surveyed her sister, a grim expressions now creeping up onto her own face, "Isabelle whats happened? Has something happened to mum and dad?"

"No, nothing like that. This is more business oriented" She answered. Alyssa had never seen her sister so nervous, stumbling over her words as she tried to explain, "You see, you've had a proposition, more of a recruitment actually..."

"Isabelle, sit down and take a breath" Alyssa responded, guiding her sister to one of the sofa's that sat before the large fire place in the living room, "Sit and I'll make us some tea"
As Alyssa began to walk away, Isabelle reached up and grabbed her sisters arm, "Alyssa, you should read this, it'll explain it much better than I ever could" she said, reaching into her coat pocket and pulling out a letter.

Alyssa took the letter from her sister and sat down. On the top side of the envelope, Alyssa's name had been written in big beautiful calligraphy letters and on the bottom side the letter had been sealed with wax. Alyssa looked closely at the wax, a winged staff with two snakes curled around it had been imprinted into the wax. She looked up at her sister, but Isabelle showed no sign of what the letter held. Standing up, she walked to the main desk in the lobby and found a letter opener. Breaking the wax seal, she returned to her seat in the living room to read the letter.

A the top of the letter was a crest with the words Secret O, in the center. Underneath the crest was beautifully handwritten calligraphy text that read:

"Dear Alyssa,

It is my great pleasure to invite you to join the H section of the Secret O. Along with this letter you will receive a special book, all the information you need will be enclosed in this book. We will be in contact for your first assignment, until then, please inform yourself upon the society.

Sincerely,

Hermes"

After Alyssa had finished reading the letter she looked up at her sister, "Hermes? As in the Greek god of thieves?"

Isabelle quickly met her sisters eyes, "Hey, he's not just the god of thieves, he's also the protector and patron of travelers and herdsman and..."'

"Isabelle" interrupted Alyssa, "They call it mythology for a reason"

Isabelle simply shook her head and stood up. She walked over to her luggage and pulled out a book and walked back to her sister saying, "Alyssa, please, if there is anything ever that I will require you to listen to in your life time, it is this. The Greek gods are real and they need our help"

Exciting plans are brewing!

Hey guys,

It's been a while since I last posted, having a new puppy keeps you busy! So I had meant to stick with character profiles for this blog but I've decided to take on a little personal project on for my younger sister. She's just turned 12 and she always talks about how she'd love to open up a bed and breakfast in Quebec when she's older. Well a couple years back, when I was in university and broke, I couldn't afford to buy her a Christmas present..... so I built one (I swear this will all tie back to the blog shortly). I bought a binder from Walmart that turned into a briefcase and went to work on constructing a magical tale for her. Having always been a fan of Greek mythology, I built her a story around the Greek gods (obviously adjusting the stories to be appropriate for a 9 year old). When she woke Christmas morning, she had a letter to open first, inviting her to become a spy for Hermes and join forces with the Gods (the leaders of "The Secret O" society) in fighting the Titans.

In the letter it indicated that all she would need was in the binder/briefcase under the tree. When she opened it she found a sort of manual I had written up. The manual began by welcoming her to the group and giving her a brief introduction/background to the group. Following this there was an entire history I had written, including the actual story of how the Gods first defeated the Titans, with the addition of my made up story about how the Titans had been freed from Tartarus and had an army of humans at their disposal. The history also went into how the Gods had almost been destroyed but were slowly recruiting only the best of the best to fight in their army. After this history was a couple charts which included the different roles the Greek Gods played in the Secret O (which stands for Olympus if you haven't figured that out). For example, Hermes who is the god of travel and thieves (among other things), was training the spy division of the army. At this point came her introduction into Hermes league, she had been recruited for this special division and I had written a couple of pages on how much of an honor this was.

Now came the fun stuff, in addition to this manual, at the back of the binder I had written profiles on each of our family members, saying who they swore allegiance to, how dangerous they were, what their background was and what she needed to discover about each of them.

This entire project took me about a week to do up, and she still has fun with it to this day. In the fictional Secret O society, I was her mentor and so I could call her up and give her secret missions at any point, so even though I lived miles away we could still play together.

Now for all this to tie in together I need to tell you a bit about a game I used to play with her when we were younger (I also played this when I was younger with just myself). We used to pretend that our house was a bed and breakfast and that all our family members were different guests staying there. We would "spy" on them when they were out and about and gather "intel" and try and foil there plans to destroy the world (you starting to see where I'm going with this?). So I would like to combine our adventures of when we were younger and the story I wrote for her with her future dreams of running a bed and breakfast in Quebec. I figured I could write a story with her and I as the main characters, me recruiting her and using her bed and breakfast as our base of operations. I figured I could write up our own adventures we'd pretend to have as children but in a story format. If I get enough done on this story, I'd like to print it out and give it to her as a Christmas present. Her very own storybook, with her and her future dreams as the main storyline. So as I write the story, I'm going to attempt to publish the pieces on my blog and see what you guys think. I will also be doing more character histories and posting these in between the chapters I write out.

I hope you guys enjoy it! Make sure to give me some feedback on the chapters!

Telltales of the Diary

My attempt at writing a first person story:

Cloaked men, lone hero’s and a lost daughter. Great deeds, large mountains and skies filled with dragons. Death, loss and desperation. The tale I will tell holds all this and more, for the tale I will tell dear, is the tale of a woman, a young girl left to strive on her own, in a very cruel world. The tale I tell you now is of my own tale, of the family I do not remember…

            I remember the screams and the fire, the sound of my mother’s soft voice cooing and soothing. I remember the song she sang as it mixed with the smell of blood. I was very young when she hid me under the cupboard that night. She hid me well wrapped in a blanket and told me not to make a sound.  I heard them take her away as they searched the house for me. The man who found me that night smiled and said I was not there. Dressed in black velvet, he was handsome and I trusting.

            The tale I tell is a sad tale full of misery and betrayal, it’s a tale of nightmares which I relive every night. For I stayed hidden in that cupboard after everyone had gone, I didn’t leave tucked away safely in that blanket. Later that night, when all was quiet, the man in the dark velvet returned to sweep me away. Had I know what was to come next, had I been a little wiser, I would have run out of the cupboard the moment he left. But I was young and foolish, a child of twelve. He brought me into his house calmly I went, fooled by his smile and charm, it was not until too late that I realized my mistake, as he handed me to an older women. “Train her” he said calmly, and so my life of slavery began.

            For four years I served the man who helped take my mother from me, but I knew none of this at the time. Which brings me to where I am now, at a slave market to be sold. For you see, on the fourth year of that dreadful day, on my sixteenth birthday, he thoughts me too old to be his slave. Now I am here, in this market, surrounded by men and women of many ages who await the same fate as myself, to be sold into slavery…

Blurb:

This is the tale of Anastasia, the young women who was taken from her family at twelve and sold at a slave market at sixteen. She is brought to the castle, to be trained as a slave. Scarred from her past, terrorized by demons and her parents screams, she learns to be quick on her feet and use her wits. Her charm earns her the respect of an old warrior in the castle, who promises to help her figure out where she comes from. But as they delve into her past, it quickly catches up with her, and soon she finds herself once again, fearing for her life.

 This story will be keeping with my wonderful dragon theme! I don't have a good name for this story yet so any suggestions would be great!

Name: SHEEKA!
 
Background story: 

Came from royalty, a family of Brennons, a proud race with many old and strict traditions and a strong tie to magic.

Her father was angered by the fact that the family traditions were broken with the birth of Sheeka, their first born being a girl and not a boy. The father was disgraced and fearing for her daughters life, her mother took her away and into the forest. She wrapped herself tightly in a cloak and rode off into the night, holding her newborn child close to keep her warm. She rode until she was deep in the forest, away from any informants her husband may have sent after her. Coming to a clearing on the border of the wood elf territory, she waited till she could hear the sound of faint footsteps in the distance. Placing her daughter gently on the ground, she kissed her forehead goodbye. As she turned to leave a thoughts struck her, her daughter would never know where she came from. Sheeka’s mother turned back to her daughter and slipped her own family crested necklace around her daughter. Saying her last goodbye, she slipped into a nearby bush and waited.

The dark skinned wood elf, with her big black eyes, slowly emerged from the opposite edge of the clearing, being curious in nature and gentle beings, it approached the now crying child. The wood elf held the newborn in her arms, examining it. It was female with yellow-beige skin, black hair and big dark brown eyes. The wood elf smiled down at the child, and holding her tightly, turned back out of the clearing. Nearby, Sheeka’s mother still stood, crouched in a bush with tears in her eyes.

Sheeka was introduced to swamps at a young age, since the swamps and bogs deep in the forest held secrets that only wood elves knew. In the swamps, the wood elves used special plants that produced large air bubbles to travel through underwater caverns. For in the labyrinth of caverns lay the city of the water elves, the only other race the wood elves trusted.

Sheeka spent most of her time either in the wilderness of the forest or with her best friend, a young water elf. Harnessing her natural magical ability, and with the help of her water elf friend, she began to learn to control the magical properties of water.

 At the age of six each wood elf was given a different dragon. Sheeka’s adopted mother gave her her first pet and closest companion, a water wyren. By the age of 11 she had learnt to be completely dependent on her wyren, she had named it and learnt to love it. She had placed her life on the line for it and proven herself to it and so the Gods had graced her with her dragon marking of a blue water wyren on her face, starting at her left eye, going down her cheek and ending vertical to her left ear. This was the symbol of her dragon and their connection to each other, bonding them together for life. By the age of 14, she had grown up tall and lean, the sun had tanned her skin and her Breton background showed on her hair that now gleamed with small golden streaks. 

Now should I continue? Should Sheeka's new family face destruction from her old? Should she go on a quest to meet her family? 

The Dragon Rider

A little history:

Amongst the races of fairies, is a race that inhabits the mountain range of the Dragon’s Teeth, the main city being Mountatus. After the war, fought off the fields of this mountain range, most dragons disappeared from the area and migrated for to wilder parts. Although the surrounding land is bare of dragons, the mountain range itself is still filled with them, and so Mikel had grown up with dragon riders all his life.

A very special bond can exist between dragon and rider, when the rider risks his life for the dragon, if it is seen fit, he is marked with the tattoo of his dragon, and this bonds them for life.

A brief character history:

From a young age Mikel always showed a headstrong brash personality. At the age of 12 he wandered out of the comfort of Mountatus, the city beneath the mountain. Following the rivers out of the city, he found his way out of the protection of the mountain and into the forest side.

Coming upon the forest Mikel wandered out to find a new adventure. He hadn’t travelled far before overhearing some racket in a nearby clearing. Ducking down into the bushes, he peered into the clearing, and saw three raggedy looking men, hunched over what appeared to be a cage. Mikel maneuvered himself around until he could see what the men we’re peering over in the cage. Catching a glimpse of the rough scales covering its body, he recognized it right away, in the cage was a dragon. He watched as one of the men lifted a rusted looking knife over the cage, and dragon shrank down hissing. Before the man could bring the knife down, Mikel bolted from the bushes and threw himself down on the cage. The man with the knife looked momentarily stunned, but recovered quickly. 

“You dare to stop us little boy? Do you even know what that beast is?” 

Mikel stared the man in the eyes, “He’s a rock dragon” he proclaimed stubbornly. The man sneered an ugly smile, showing crooked yellow teeth,

“That my dear boy, is an untamable, wild dragon full of good meat, and he wouldn’t give two thoughts to ripping ya limb by limb”

“That’s not true, he wouldn’t hurt me!” yelled Mikel at the stranger. The man’s face turned grim,

“You’re one of them folks aren’t you boy, the dragon riders” The man seemed to share a look with his friends and grinned, “You know” he said, fiddling with his blade, “Me and my friends here don’t appreciate you getting in the way of our meal. Actually, you look quite tasty yourself” said the man, lunging for him, but Mikel had already anticipated the man’s actions and grabbing the bolt that kept the cage closed, he dodged out of the way. He landed a few feet from the cage and covered his head as the rock dragon leapt out of the cage and attacked the men. 

Mikel kept his head hidden in his hands, as he heard a struggle ensue. After a couple of minutes of quiet he looked up, to find the dragon sitting in front of him, head bent to the side. Looking around, Mikel saw the bodies of all the three men laying motionless around him. He quickly jumped to his feet and backed away from the dragon. Deciding he had had enough of adventure, he quickly spun around and began making his way back to the mountain. 

As he began walking, he heard the crunch of leaves behind him. Carefully peeking over his shoulder, he saw the rock dragon following him and began to speed up. As he reached the clearing of the forest, and the dragon was still on his tail, he began to run for the comfort of the cave. Suddenly, in two large bounds the dragon had over taken him and jumped to intercept. Mikel, fell on his back in surprise, and watched as the dragon bent down on his front legs and leaped atop of him. As he braced himself for what would come next, the dragon licked him. Surprised he hoped his eyes, to find the dragon sitting on his haunches, looking at him sideways. Mikel slowly stood up, sticking his hand out to let the dragon smell him. The dragon came up to his waist while seated, and as he stuck out his hand, it began to rub its head, purring. 

Mikel felt a sting on his side, and lifting his shirt, found the mark of the dragon rider spreading across and up his left side. Knowing what was happening, he smiled, “I will name you Kaymen” he said, and with that, began leading the dragon back into the caves of Mountatus.

 ~

From the day of the rescue, Mikel and Kaymen became inseparable. They slept side by side every night, even after Kaymen outgrew the bed. At the age of twenty, Mikel had grown into a strong handsome man, tanned by the sun and hardened by the mountain. He could always be found playing with Kaymen on the mountainside. Often he would be engaged in a game of chase with his companion, running along the cliffs edge, climbing and jumping from one side to the next, all the while with Kaymen in pursuit. Once he had reached the end, where there was no longer any place to run or climb to, he would leap off the edge of the cliff, knowing that Kaymen would swoop down to catch him.

!!!The Grand History!!! (or not so grand)

I don't want to reveal too much of the historical background of my story, but if I don't give you any, it may be confusing.

This world is very much like our own, in this world humans exist but so do fairies (fairies being all magical beings i.e. elves, dwarves, etc). Fairies have lived on this earth since long before humans existed.  At the time that humans were evolving, a large war was going on between the good and evil fairies. Since humans had no magic, and seemed quite oblivious, the fairies simply ignored them and kept fighting their war. The fairies hid from this primitive race and ignored them, concealing themselves with magic. After the war settled, the fairies realized what a problem the humans had become, although they did not posses magic, they had slowly begun taking over the land, building, destroying, and pushing the fairies deeper and deeper into hiding. The fairies knew that to show themselves would reignite a new war that could destroy the earth, and so they kept themselves hidden from our eyes. They now live in the forests, lakes, mountains, and skies around the humans with them blind to their existence, some even live amongst the humans.

The character backgrounds I will write will be varied between humans and fairies. Slowly as I write I will describe more about this fantastical world, revealing as I need to.

An Introduction

Hi! Let me introduce myself and what I plan to do with my blog.

You see I love to write, and I've been working on a story which I've named "The Stones". Since I've started university it's been hard for me to continue writing my story and so I've decided to start a creative side project.

Every once in a while, I will try to write background stories for different characters that live in my story. I've been debating whether I should do commissions for people and write their own background story for how I would perceive them in my story. I may eventually do this, but for now I will keep it simple, and stick with characters I make-up.

My first post (or I guess second if you count this one) will give you a bit of the history of the world I've created for my story. I hope you enjoy it!