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doomed-auth · 1 year

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Fallen Magic Chapter One, The Raven

Here's what I've written so far for my fantasy novel Fallen Magic! I'm trying to finally start writing this story, which has been in my head for years, and I'm really excited to see where it goes. Let me know what you think!

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Nathan huffed noisily as he ran, a few mushrooms nearly flying from the basket in his arms as he took a sharp left turn, then a right, the graveled path crunching underneath his boots. It was a nice day outside, the sky blue and cloudless, and the warmth from the sun melting away the last bits of winter from the ground. It was still cold enough for long sleeve shirts and cloaks to be comfortable, but not nearly as severe as it had been just two weeks prior. Nathan shuddered at the thought of the snowstorm they’d had and instead focused on the task at hand; Delivering mushrooms to Marcy, the local pet shop owner. With the snow gone and the temperature rising, Marcy said a special type of mushroom would begin cropping up in the forests surrounding the town, a mushroom called Ruby Inkling. They were grey in color and leaked red liquid from their caps, which usually gave them a gruesome appearance at first sight. Some people called them Bloody Mushrooms, but Nathan didn’t like that name much. If he were honest, he didn’t like the mushrooms at all; They were slimy, sticky, smelly, and tasted awful no matter how you ate them. Luckily, he wouldn’t be eating them now, though; They were for some of Marcy’s animals. Sliding to a stop Nathan pulled open the door to Marcy’s pet shop and ignored the chime of the bell as he stepped inside, looking around. All he could see were tanks and crates of Feathersnakes, Emerald Crested Geckos, and Golden Spine Rabbits, but no Marcy.

“Mrs. Marcy? I’ve got your mushrooms!” He yelled out.

“Nathan? Is that you? Come back here!” Marcy’s voice called out from the back of the shop. Nathan walked past the curtain that separated the front and back and saw Marcy setting up a large tank with pebbles, water, and some stones. There didn’t appear to be an animal inside.

“Nathan, it’s wonderful to see you! Set those down there, I’m about to feed her!” Nathan did as told, placing the basket down on a nearby table with a quirked brow.

“Who’s her?” He asked. Marcy didn’t respond as she took a handful of the Ruby Inklings and dumped them inside the tank before turning and grabbing a wooden box, placing it inside as well. Nothing happened for a moment, and Nathan had a passing thought that maybe Mrs. Marcy had gone mad, but then the box shook, and… something slithered out. It looked like a mix between a large lizard, a cat, and a fox, with golden scales trailing down its back before fading into ruddy fur. It had four legs that were exactly like a lizard except for the fur, each foot ending in large black claws. Its tail snapped back and forth irritably and its yellow eyes with slitted pupils darted around the tank.

“Isn’t she marvelous? There’s only a few out there like her– A lovely, lovely creature.” Marcy sighed happily. Nathan nodded even though he thought it just looked freaky.

“Uh, it’s very, well… What is it?”

“Oh, dear boy, she is an Eprinian Cave Crawler! I found her in a cave about a mile outside town. It seemed she’d been brought here illegally and then dumped, because she’s a little worse for wear, as you can see.” Nathan could not see, because he had no idea what an Epian Cave Thingy was supposed to look like, but he nodded again. “They eat a lot of things, but they love Ruby Inklings. See?” She gestured to the Cave Crawler, who was swallowing down mushroom after mushroom greedily, its mouth stained red. Nathan winced at the sight.

“Right, well– I should probably head back out. I’ve still got deliveries to finish.”

“Ah, of course dear. Who’s next, hm?”

Nathan pulled out a small notebook from his pants pocket where a list of names and requested items was written down. Nathan grimaced.

“Alric’s next.” He groaned. Marcy winced, looking sympathetic.

“Oh, good luck with that, then. He’ll be in a nasty mood.”

“When isn’t he in a nasty mood?” Nathan joked, waving the elderly woman goodbye. Then, tucking his notebook away, Nathan walked up toward Leek Street where the clock shop, and its cantankerous owner, resided.

#Fallen Magic #Novel #Fantasy novel #book #writing #female writers #writer #original book #original characters #mages #magic #fantasy creature #chapter one #wish me luck #writing journey #whewwww #Nathan Magrath

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doomed-auth · 2 years

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Fallen Magic Snippet

In which Nathan and Josep talk, and Nathan learns a little about magic and a place called Eprus.

While the four men talked in the kitchen, Nathan decided to explore. It wasn't snooping, he told himself. it was just looking, and there was plenty to look at he realized as he stepped into the living room. The walls were covered in shelves full of pictures, potted plants, knickknacks, and things Nathan had never seen before. He stared at one thing in particular; a purple glass orb, only slightly smaller than his head, which seemed to be full of smoke and shimmered in the sunlight streaming in through the window. Pretty, Nathan thought. Other interesting items included a large blue plant that wiggled when Nathan got close, a photo of people grouped together in what looked like a desert, and an ornate wooden box with weird carvings on the top of it.

"Find anything cool?" Nathan spun on his heel to see one of the old mages enter the room. The man was tall and slender, with bronze skin and wild grey hair. He'd looked slightly menacing before, when Nathan had first saw him, but now his amber eyes were bright and the warm smile on his face made him appear far friendlier. Still, Nathan realized he'd been caught going through the mans stuff all the same, and he shuffled uneasily on his feet. He could imagine how his mother would scold him, if she were here.

"Um, sorry Mr..." He said sheepishly.

"Josep. And what for? I'd rather look around than listen to a bunch of old men talk, too. Here, come look at this." Nathan had no other choice but to follow along to a shelf at the far end of the room, watching Josep look it up and down before finding what he was looking for.

"Ah-ha! Here it is." Josep held out his hand and, in his palm, was a porcelain figure of a deer. which wouldn't be that interesting on its own except for the fact that it was moving. The figure flicked its ears and tilted its head to look at Nathan, almost sizing him up. Nathan stared back, awestruck. Ever since meeting John and Blake he'd seen so many incredible things, and he didn't think magic would ever stop surprising him. Josep, for his part, looked proud of himself.

"I thought you might like it. It was one of my favorite toys when I was young."

"How does it move like that? I know its magic, but–"

"Enchantment rune carved on its belly. Without the rune, it'd just be a regular figure." Josep turned the figure over carefully, showing the symbol on the figure which almost looked like the sun.

"Simple really. You used to find these things in almost every shop in Eprus." He placed the figure in Nathan's hand and Nathan watched as it pranced around.

"Eprus?" Nathan asked. He'd never heard of it.

"That's where I'm from." Josep answered. "Its a desert village all the way near the Golden Sea." Nathan looked back at the photo he'd seen earlier.

"Is that where the picture was taken?"

Josep sighed, and though his smile didn't disappear, it did fade as he took the picture into his hands.

"Yes." The man said after a short silence. "This was at my family home. This," He pointed to a tall man with curly black hair very similar to Josep's own. "is my father, and my mother is next to him," He pointed at a woman only slightly shorter than the man, who had long black hair slightly covered by a sheer shawl. "and these three kids are me and my two sisters." He pointed finally at the kids; two girls wearing colorful dresses and scarves- one girl wearing glasses and the other wearing golden bracelets. The boy was the shortest of the bunch, with a wide smile on his freckled face, his hair a mess of curls.

"Wow," Nathan whispered, looking from the boy in the picture to the man next to him. "Where are they now?"

Josep hummed. "Still in Eprus, I think. I'm not sure. Ever since the Queen banned magic, everyones either gone into hiding or has been– well. I'd rather not think about that. Point is, I haven't seen or spoken to them in years."

"Oh." Nathan breathed out, shoulders sagging. He'd learned the Queen was bad– worse than bad– but it seemed the war she'd started had taken a lot more from people than he'd realized. "You must miss them."

Josep nodded. "Very much so."

"I'm sorry." He wasn't sure why he said it, it just felt necessary. He thinks about his mother, and how she was taken from him, and he tries to imagine what it would feel like to have no idea whether she's ok or not for years. It felt painful, like someone'd taken his heart and wrung it out, and he finds that he doesn't like that Josep might be feeling that kind of pain. He seems too good of a man for that. Josep pats his back gently.

"Oh, don't be. It's not your fault. Why don't we go find the others?" It was a way to escape the depressing topic, and Nathan accepted it readily with a nod. Josep put the picture back and made sure the room was in order, and then guided Nathan to the door. In his hand Nathan felt something move, and he gasped.

"Wait!" The deer was sleeping in his loosely closed fist now, shuffling slightly. "I need to put this away."

"Keep it." Josep replied easily. "It's just been collecting dust anyway."

"Are you sure?"

Josep dipped his head. "Its a toy, it deserves to be played with. Take good care of it." Nathan nodded, lips pursed as he tucked the deer into his inner cloak pocket. He'd keep it safe.

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doomed-auth · 2 years

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John and Blake are wanted men, Nathan knows that much, but after seeing their wanted poster the boy becomes curious on just what, exactly, they’re wanted for.

Turns out it is not a long nor complicated story. It is, however, strange and hilarious.

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"Theft, assault, stealing a horse, and murder?" Nathan gasped, the wanted poster in his hands crinkling loudly. John rolled his eyes and plucked the poster from the boys hands.

"Relax, we didn't kill anyone. It was all a huge misunderstanding."

Blake nodded. "He's right. We did steal a horse, though. That had been a dumb idea."

John bristled. "Hey! It was a perfectly fine idea, it just didn't work out!"

"How did you get pinned with murder, exactly?" Nathan asked, and both men shuffled nervously, Blake rubbing the back of his neck.

"Um, well, I–"

"Blake knocked someone out and they landed in a pool of cranberry juice. People thought it was blood." John answered finally.

"It was an accident!" Blake yelled.

"I never said it wasn't!"

"Ok, now you gotta tell me the full story." Nathan said, getting comfortable on the log he was sitting on. Both men looked a little unsure, but Nathan wasn't about to let it go, so they sat down in the dirt and began the story. John cleared his throat.

"Ok, so it started with us trying to get money, as usual. We were in some town... Can't remember the name now. Buntywuck?"

"Bunwick." Blake corrected.

"Yeah, whatever. Anyway, this place was crawling with Royalists– I guess it was where a lot of them got stationed– and me and Blake were already wanted for a bunch of things, so we didn't wanna get caught. We needed money, though, so we came up with a plan; Blake would wear the enchanted cloak to disguise himself and make a scene, and I'd steal some money while everyone was distracted. It was simple."

Blake laughed bitterly. "Yeah, and like most simple things, it failed. Badly."

"What happened?" Nathan asked.

"Well, Blake went over to a merchant in the street who was selling fruit and juice and started yelling at the guy about how his produce was rotten. That made the merchant mad, of course, so now they're both yelling at each other. It distracted a few people, but not enough, so Blake decided to spice it up."

Blake blushed, embarrassed, and swallowed thickly. "I hadn't meant for it to happen, but the merchant and I got in a bit of a... tussle–"

"Tussle? It was a full-blown fistfight!"

"-And when I punched, him, he fell onto one of his shelves full of juice and hit his head. He'd also managed to pull my cloak off, so everyone saw who I really was; a wanted man standing over what looked like a dead guy. He was just knocked out, but with all of the cranberry juice everywhere, people thought... Well..."

"So anyway, I took it as the distraction we needed to bleed some people dry of their coins." John finished proudly with a smile. Blake glowered at him.

"Yeah, and then we had to run like hell when ten Royalists came charging down the street. We ended up hopping on a random horse and rode as fast as it would take us."

"The next time we saw a wanted poster for us, it said we were wanted for assault, stealing a horse, and murder. Which frankly is ridiculous, they had to have found out by then that the guy wasn't dead. They just wanted to make us look even worse than we already did."

Blake nodded sagely. Nathan blinked. The story was laughable, and anyone else would have called them liars and ask for the real story, but Nathan felt compelled to believe them. They spoke honestly enough, and it sounded just stupid and crazy enough to be something they'd done.

"What about the burglary stuff?" Nathan asked.

"Oh, that happened later. And just to be clear, we did in fact burglarize someone." John said seriously.

"Yeah, we stole all of their silverware." Blake said, as if that cleared things up perfectly. It was a story for another day, though. Nathan scrunched his nose. When he'd first seen the wanted posters for the two men he'd been a little scared– and a little angry too, if he's honest– but after spending some time with them it was hard to see the scary monsters the Royalists made them out to be. How anyone could find them scary he'd never know.

"Well... Interesting story." He mumbled.

Blake shrugged. "I guess. I'd rather not think about it too much..."

"Yeah, it always gives me a craving for cranberry juice." John grunted, glaring at his canteen of water.

#writing #bookish #fallen magic #Nathan magrath #Blake yu #Johnathan Paine #writers on tumblr #original story #original work #original characters #writer

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doomed-auth · 2 years

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A Little Talk

John and Mari have a little talk.

John sighed deeply as he sunk down onto a log, eyes closed as he focused on the breeze sweeping over his face. He was an idiot, he’d know that to be a fact for a while, but he’d never considered himself a coward until now. After all, he was the same man who jumped into every fight he came across, the same man who’d stood up against a raging madwoman with a knife, the same man who’d run into a burning building trying to save someone he loved. Blake would say– has said– that none of that was bravery, but rather a dangerous lack of self-preservation, but John had still considered himself brave until now. God’s sake, he couldn’t even tell a woman he had a crush on her without going red in the face. He’d proposed to Evelynn with less stuttering than he did just trying to talk to Mari, and he’d loved Evelynn dearly, but Mari just felt different somehow. It made guilt rise alongside the shame, because it was terrible for him to apparently love Mari more than Evelynn when he hadn’t even known Mari for more than a few weeks. Had Evelynn meant so little to him? Was he just that cold-hearted? John sighed again and looked up at the stars, watching them blink down at him. He and Evelynn loved stargazing, and she’d always used to say that one should never watch the stars alone. Sitting by himself as he was, the thought brought tears to his eyes.

“Do you mind if I sit?” John turned, blinking, to see Mari standing a few feet away, a shy smile on her face. John couldn’t be sure, but it almost seemed like she was just as surprised to see him as he was to see her. She mustn’t have known he was out here. He nodded dumbly, any semblance of coherent thought suddenly out the window. Damn him to Eldstaden. Mari, for her part, didn’t bat an eye at his silence, sitting down to the left of him and looking at the sky.

“It’s a beautiful night.” She said, smiling contentedly. John coughed, nodding.

“It, um– Yes! It– its… lovely.” He winced.

Mari chuckled. “Y’know, if I didn’t know better, I’d say you were nervous.”

John swallowed convulsively. Did Blake put her up to this, or were the Gods just trying to be cruel? He must have taken too long to respond, because Mari laughed again. A good-natured laugh, one meant to show she wasn’t trying to be mean, but it made his throat tighten all the same.

“I’m sorry, I’m not trying to embarrass you… Honestly, I’m not the best at… speaking to people. I don’t always know what to say, or how to say it, and sometimes I freak people out, you know? Other times I speak way too much because I’m nervous, sorta like… right… now.” She slowed to a halt, her own face growing red, and suddenly it was John’s turn to laugh.

“Don’t, uh, don’t worry about it. Blake gets the same way any time we walk into a bar. Someone sits next to him and suddenly he’s spilling his whole life story.” They both chuckled and John dared a glance at her. She was looking at the sky with an easy smile, amethyst eyes dark and relaxed. He’d only ever seen an expression so soft on Evelynn, but he shook himself slightly. It was wrong to keep comparing the two, because as similar as they were, Mari was Mari. She wasn’t Evelynn, she never would be, and John was surprisingly ok with that. Man, sitting out here was starting to make him think deeply about things. Blake would be proud.

“You like stargazing?” Mari asked, and John turned to look at her without thinking. His heart stuttered a bit when their eyes met, but words didn’t elude him this time.

“Y-yeah, uh, my wife and I used to do it a lot.” Mari did a convincing impression of a fish then, her eyes wide and her mouth hung open.

“Your wife?”

John chuckled nervously, rubbing the back of his neck. “Hah, yup. Her name was Evelynn.”

Mari straightened up, her face going back to normal, though she still looked surprised.

“I’m sorry, I just– I hadn’t known you were married.”

“I’m not anymore, technically. She, well, Evelynn passed away about four years ago. Our home was burned down during a raid. So…”

“Oh,” Mari whispered, glancing away. “I’m so sorry.”

“I’ve come to terms with it.” And he had, even if doing so didn’t make him any less sad. He’d learned to cope. Mari nodded, and the two fell into silence after that. It was comfortable until it wasn’t, and John had the urge to say something.

“Y’know, Evelynn always said that people should never watch the stars alone.” Mari turned to him again, a light blush on her cheeks and a smile creeping across her face.

“I guess it was good I came out here then.”

“Yeah,” John agreed. “It was.”

#fallen magic #John and mari #mari #Johnathan paine #original characters #original story #original work #writing #writers on tumblr #stargazing #love #cute

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doomed-auth · 2 years

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Just a blurb I wrote while practicing how to write vivid scenes (involving touch, smell, etc.) Hope you enjoy!

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John ran his hand across the object's surface, feeling rough, sandy stone; delicate runes carved across it. Embedded in the center, glittering in the sunlight, was a white gemstone. Fingers hovering above the gem, John felt a scorching heat emanating from it. Where the heat came from was anyone's guess, but John moved his hand away after only a few seconds, unable to leave it still without feeling like he'd burn himself. Weird, he thought, as he stepped away from the slab. The room, if you could call it that, was cavernous and warm, the air sticky with humidity, the rock walls wet and covered in plant growth. From the ceiling hung massive stalactites which sparkled a bright purple in the dark. John took a moment to wonder at it, then scowled. Now what, he thought bitterly. He had no clue where Nathan was or if Blake was with him, and the thought of the kid being alone, especially in a place like this, was not a pleasant one. In the short time they were together John and Blake had quickly realized that the boy had a knack for getting into troubled that rivaled there's, and that was a scary thought. With a deep breath John steeled himself, determination to find the others and escape this cavern flooding him. This place had taken many lives, people who entered unable to find their way back out again, but it would not take there's. John wouldn't let it.

#original work #original story #original characters #Johnathan paine #Blake yu #Nathan magrath #fallen magic #writing #writers on tumblr #blurb #text post #enjoy!

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