Excerpt from my Fantasy Series (Prequel)

I just need a photo for this piece so let me use my own digital art. From saraholano.deviantart.com

I. THE SORDRUM

Tonight, Allie Larson was lumbering along Banff Avenue with popcorn in her brown, puffy hair, and soup stains down the front of her shirt.

Her green eyes unsettled familiar faces that crossed her path - they can’t help but notice that the usual sparkle had become a glassy gleam, which turned into frenzied orbs at sudden bursts. The  vivacious, passionate park ranger this town had used to love - at least up until a year ago- was now nowhere within this frumpy bundle, whose body went rigid at every turn, whose mouth drew stuttering gasps at every sound, whose pallor grew with every trembling step, whose reaction to lizards, beetles, and critters went far beyond normal -

“LEAVE ME ALONE!” she wailed at a lizard on the brick wall before turning in a whirl of despair.

And then she sprinted off into some darker lane before completely disappearing from view.

Nobody could have foreseen that this would be the last time anyone would see her alive.

An hour later, inside Allie’s small timber clad house, a mysterious pool of soft, silver light illuminated the shadowy living room.

The light source was coming from an odd pinprick - a miniscule ball of blinding light, hovering midair, following Allie’s every move -

Squiggles, Allie’s only companion at home (an exotic shorthair), had become used to this unidentified object, and lithely bounced after the thing, soiling the tumult of papers on the floor with his grubby paws.

Allie did not mind; she was too preoccupied rummaging through the chaos with grazing knees -

some of them pamphlets, most of them recycled papers desecrated with frenetic handwriting in various shades of ink - and wax -

“Blue cray’n, blue crayon - I wrote that down in blue cray’n” she muttered, now crawling on all fours as she shuffled through thick layers of paper, snatching anything with the slightest tinge of blue -

She tossed a particularly long, wrinkled parchment with a blue sigil at the top, which landed before Squiggles’ right paw. The cat paused from his sprint, gazing studiously at the gold words through the flicker of silver and Allie’s shadow, beady eyes perusing the contents as though expecting his favorite treats to come popping out of each letter -

“Dear Ms. Larson,

Congratulations on your impending ascension! We are contacting you as the Council had traced the first spurts of magic from your former Humdrum body (Humdrum: a non-magical individual dwelling on the surface of the Earth). You are officially an evolving Humdrum, or a Sordrum. You are about to join the race of Sorcerers dwelling beneath the Earth - the Cradle.

At the final leg of your journey, you will be drawn to one of the many passageways (portals to the Cradle) scattered around the planet. You will suddenly desire to be at a certain place on Earth, whether you have been there before or not. When this pull happens, please tickle an available lizard nearby; a Spotter (Sorcerer policeman) will arrive by your side to assist you.

Please do not take a shortcut; do not tickle a lizard if you do not yet feel the strong call of a particular place. It is important that you complete the transformation process - for when you have fully transformed into a Sorcerer - mind, body, spirit - the pull will naturally come.

Anyone not fully transformed will not survive the Flannishing process (instant magical travel) even in the company of the assigned Spotter - the natural consequence to your body is death.

From here onward, you will spontaneously develop magical skills - some basic, some unique to your person - as you experience an awakening.

As you establish your new life as a Sorcerer, you, Allison Ambrose Larson, will automatically become a student of Grazlebuck - the prestigious career school in Antares; Antares is the kingdom physically aligned to your present Humdrum continent (North America), thereby your name is expected to appear in their dossier at the exact moment of your complete ascension. The admission is free; you will begin work in the career of your choice in between magical study. This work will include salaries. Residence in Grazlebuck’s grounds is also free; however your other necessities may be fulfilled with your salaries as working students.

Good luck on your journey. We hope to see you very soon down below.

Signed,

The Creedon Council of Nostros,

the Kingdom of Antares

“blue cray’n, blue cray’n, blue - AAAAAAAAAAAAH!”

Allie’s piercing scream ricocheted across the walls of Squiggles’ skull; his black fur on end, his ears pressed down, the cat frisked over paper and parquet, over wobbling strains of light and his own hulking shadow, and then at last the pudgy creature crouched behind an unfinished portrait tacked in between a jumble of empty boxes. From deeper covers, Squiggles hissed and spat as dilated copper eyes grasped the sight:

his master cowering and trembling under sinister shadows from behind the living room mirror.

And he watched her magical light shrink in size and power - until darkness swallowed it whole.

II. THE PALTO

A small burst of green flame emerged from the snap of a finger. It crackled as it torched the end of Loren’s cigarette. She took a long and deep pull before blowing out green, billowing puffs, which fast churned into several forms of a woman - the dead Sordrum Allie Larson, the star of her thoughts since she had heard about the news.

Another green billow fused with the previous forms; the shapes meshed and changed altogether - Allie’s face the first time she had approached Loren - on a terrain by a remote farm in Banff.