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.
Fantasy Trope:
Arcadia http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/Arcadia
Current Event:
Earth and prairie structures integrating land and technology… https://www.onecommunityglobal.org/highest-good-housing/
Sahkyo Uskilith shielded his eyes from the
glaring noon sun over Central. Long spells, sacrifice – no more Human ones! –
and research into the ancient ways had restored this small part of the world.
Wohehiv
Fisher-Rainingbird snorted. She took the same pose, then said, “Some of you
seem to think that this wonder you’ve conjured is going to be utopia.”
Sahkyo shrugged.
“Not utopia, but a fair chance to do things a different way.”
“What things?”
He looked at his
long-time friend and research fellow. They’d joined the Prairie Project for
different reasons. She was doing research on prairie biomes and how Humans
could repopulate some of them. He, on the other hand, “Calling back the spirits
instead of driving them away.” He was working on his masters degree in revival,
not of literal, human beings from the dead – he shuddered – but reviving
spirits that had been drained by the constant attack of the mechanistic
methodologies used to conquer land and beast.
That kind of magic
wasn’t available in the United States. He’d heard there was an underground
college of the dark arts somewhere in the Carpathian mountains that specialized
in combining biogenetic research with magic. Not something he wanted to pursue.
He was…
“Wohehiv to
Afterlife! Where are you?”
“I’ve invited
someone to our excursion today.”
She scowled, “You
didn’t even ask me!”
“The opportunity
presented itself suddenly. I had to invite them before they left.”
“Where’s he from?”
“She,” he paused
to let that tidbit sink in, continuing, “is a research fellow visiting from The
College of Truly Ancient Arts.” They reached the car and he unlocked it with a
motion of his fingers. His parents had gotten him a recent model equipped with camera
locks. His mother had pointed out that audio locks were easy to pick using a
throat modification spell.
Wohehiv – Dull Knife
– said, “Never heard of it. Or her.”
He lifted his
chin, “She’s from the University of Minnesota’s School of Trolddom…”
She knew her jaw
dropped open and she blinked in surprise. “That school was closed a hundred
years ago!”
“I would guess
that it wasn’t,” he said, smirking.
“Danish magic is
only good for making pastry…”
“They turned aside
an attack from the Carpathian Mountains…”
“When? Last year?
The Dawn of the Time of Magic?” She started to laugh, then added, “You’re not
talking about Vlad the Impaler, are you, because if you are, I’m leaving…”
“Not Vlad. Radu,
his brother. He was a far more powerful necromancer than his brother. The reason
was that the spells required the blood of the one who worked the spell. Vlad’s
propensity for blood sacrifice – most notably the blood of others – kept his
magic fairly pedestrian.” He paused. “If we are going to truly colonize the Great
Plains, we need powerful magic. This woman has studies Radu for the past five
years. He has something we need.”
She stepped away
from her friend. She knew he was a magician of some skill and power, her own charms
and magicks were child’s play compared to him. “What?”
“The ability to change
Humans into grass eaters instantly…”
Names: ♀
Navajo ; ♂ Cheyenne
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