Each Tuesday, rather than a POSSIBLY
IRRITATING ESSAY, I'd like to both challenge you and lend a helping hand. I
generate more speculative and teen story ideas than I can ever use. My family
rolls its collective eyes when I say, "Hang on a second! I just have to
write down this idea..." Here, I'll include the initial inspiration
(quote, website, podcast, etc.) and then a thought or two that came to mind.
These will simply be seeds – plant, nurture, fertilize, chemically treat,
irradiate, test or stress them as you see fit. I only ask if you let me know if
anything comes of them. Regarding
Fantasy, this insight was startling: “I see the fantasy genre as an
ever-shifting metaphor for life in this world, an innocuous medium that allows
the author to examine difficult, even controversial, subjects with impunity.
Honor, religion, politics, nobility, integrity, greed—we’ve an endless list of
ideals to be dissected and explored. And maybe learned from.” – Melissa
McPhail.
Popular Fantasy
Story/Series: Harry Potter, et al (Hogwarts was HARDLY the first “wizarding
academy” to appear in fiction! See https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_fictional_magic_schools
if you don’t believe me!)
F Trope: A
“magical” academy
Far below Andre
Xavier Xavier, a Bryshwyn of Bryshwyns and Raven Zoe Jefferson, who called
herself a Nobody of Nobodys, the evening meditation tone sounded. A cross
between a buzzer and an ancient longhorn, the instrument was blown by a family
with a tradition as deep as Andre’s. The young man said, pushing his turban
back up on top of his head where it promptly released a curl of very pale, very
curly hair, “There’s Fendwyri tooting his own horn again.”
Raven shook her head.
Her turban was always perfectly wound. It was the only thing that could control
her wild kinks. She loved it for that. The turbans gave everyone a similar look
– even though in the dorms, certain girls made sure to see how long, and
straight, and silky black THEIR hair was. She said, “You have nothing to be
jealous about.”
“I’m not jealous!”
he exclaimed.
Smirking, Raven
headed for the stairwell that would lead them five stories down to the
courtyard. “Come on, we need to hurry or we’ll be late.”
“We’ll be late if
we take that way,” he said.
Raven spun around
and said, “No!”
Ignoring her,
Andre lifted both arms and said, “Jheregi
SSothimazhu,” the stones around them began to glow red and tremble in their
mortar cradles. Andre moved his hands slowly, seeming to grip the air. The
temperature around them dropped precipitously until Raven could see her breath.
Andre said, “Forginiway thoomITas herogiNOMUL!”
The stones leaped
into the air, drawing their ability to form steps from the energy in the once
sun-warmed air. Andre grabbed Raven’s hand and leaped to the first step.
Four stories above
a stone courtyard, Raven knew better than to fight. Instead, she followed Andre
as the stones assembled themselves into a flight of stairs switch-backing at a
comfortable angle and leading them downward as they hurried for meditations.
“We’ll be on time…”
They were still
two meters above ground when the bricks that had been hastily assembling
themselves into stairs and glowing in the deepening shadows of the courtyard as
they ran down…suddenly turned the color of bricks and fell into a pile directly
below them. Andre shouted in surprise, then cried out, “FeshET siMAYlee!”
Immediately the air below him gained the ability to roar up and buoyed him the
last meter, setting him gently on the ground.
Raven tried the
enabling, but couldn’t pronounce the words correctly, and instead fell on to
the pile of very ancient – and very hard bricks at a rate determined not by ability but mathematically by velocity and time,
specifically where a= Δv/ Δt. Not that either of them knew that in this world.
But not all students in all worlds were equally naïve.
Either way, the
sound and the abrupt stop would have been identical whether it had been caused
solely by ability or solely by gravity…
Names: ♀ Popular African American name, Australian
Capital Territory, Common African American last name; ♂ Popular American name, Brazil
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