Chatterbox: Inkwell
Many, many centuries ago there was a land called Star. This land
was rich and prosperous, with an Academy that had many genius scholars and a
wise and fair ruler, Queen Genevieve. But then a tragedy struck: a man clothed
in pure silk the color of a cat’s eyes took the queen to his homeland, and Star
fell apart. It became a ghost town until the War of Gems, the war to find the
wise queen’s crown jewels. Then it became the center for the Revivers, the
direct descendants of the people who lived in Star many centuries ago. They
were fighting the Keepers, whose objective was to keep the stolen crown jewels
their commander took 300 years ago. Among these descendants were Miguel, age
14, descendant of the queen’s butler, and Alexandra, aka Alex, age 14 as well,
descendant of the one of the queen’s ladies in waiting. This is the story of
these two descendants, and how the War of Gems shaped their lives forever…
``````````````````````````````````````````````````````````
Alex, dressed in a camo shirt, jeans, and combat boots with her
hair up in a messy bun, was probably the best warrior age 14 there ever was.
She knew it too. Known for her smarts and spunk as well as battle tactics, she
was not someone you would want to have as an enemy. But once you get to know
her, she was quite friendly.
Now, Alex was in
the Greneer woods trying to track down an enemy. She was referred to as the
jaguar, because she was so stealthy and also preferred to fight alone.
A rustling noise
caught Alex’s attention. She turned around, and found herself nose to nose with
the enemy: Thom Berrie, age 18. About 6 foot 11, he could scare anyone. That
is, anyone except Alex. Thom chuckled loudly. “Well, well, well. What did the
Revivers send to me? Oh, wait, a puny, little princess.”
Alex hated being
called puny. She hated being called a princess. This is what usually motivated
her to fight the way she did: almost all enemies said this to her at one point
in time. She punched Thom and sent him flying into the rushing rapids near
where she was standing. She smiled. One down, 9,999,999,999,999,999,999,999,999
to go!
``````````````````````````````````````````````````````````
Back at HQ,
Miguel stood looking at the computer screen. He was hating it. Ever since he
was demoted to Lab Assistant instead of being out there on the field, he was
grumpy and irritable. Besides, he hated hanging out with all these nerds
anyway.
He missed the
smell of grass and weapons when he was out there. But he knew he was framed. Of
course Richard got to tell the general that Miguel missed a vital shot to the
enemies’ battering ram and not him. ARGH!
Then a crash
sounded and three or four nerds ran out as fast as they could go. Miguel
sighed. When would they ever learn not to be afraid of every little noise that
came from the weaponry? Then he spied something on the screen. A little red dot
moving towards the lab! Little red dots are bad in this case. He pulled the
alarm bell.
“SOMEONE’S COMING
TOWARDS THE LAB!!” he yelled.
The lab erupted
into chaos. Miguel grabbed a bow and arrow set and raced out. He ran towards
the exit and out into the open. A huge… thing… was coming towards him! It
looked like a mixture between a tiger and a bird. He shot at it, but his arrows
couldn’t penetrate the tough skin! Suddenly, a voice sounded behind him.
“Idiot, you’re supposed to fight him using your hands!” Miguel turned around
and found Alex standing there. Alex rolled her eyes and started doing what she
had instructed Miguel to do.
When she finished,
the animal stood there and then fell to the ground, dead. “Oh well, would have
been a good pet.” she said, and swaggered away.
Miguel stood
there in awe. Not only did she fight a monster with her bare hands, she was a-
well, a she! Usually guys did this stuff, not girls. Miguel crept over to the
carcass of the dead animal. He screamed. Because if you saw what he saw, you’d
scream too.
CHAPTER TWO
Alex ran out
to where she heard the scream. She was surprised at what she saw. Scared, even.
The thing that got everyone afraid was an old man. But his eyes- they were
gone. And he had only sockets where the eyes were supposed to be.
“Hello children.” he rasped.
“Ummm, hi?” Alex said.
“Take me to the General. I am needing
to see him.”
“W-w-we can’t do that, sir.” Miguel
stammered.
“What?! Then I will go myself.” And
with that, he strolled away. Alex walked over to Miguel.
“Are you OK?” she asked.
“Yeah, sure, fine.”
Alex smiled. “Come on, we’ve gotta go
warn the General.” Seeing that Miguel looked very scared, she added: “Oh, don’t
be such a coward. No wonder you were demoted.”
That got his attention, and he went
to follow Alex. “So, uhh, who are you again?” he asked.
Alex stopped dead in her tracks. “You
don’t know me??” she asked.
“Umm, no.”
“Well. Wow. I’m Alexandra, but most
people call me Alex. Who are you?”
“Miguel. Most people call me, uhh,
Miguel?”
“I see.” They were almost at the HQ
now, nearing the General’s office. “Hey, where did the old guy go?” wondered
Alex.
“Don’t know.” Miguel said.
“Wasn’t asking you, idiot. It was a
rhetorical question.” Alex spat, still puzzled over how he didn’t know who she
was.
They finally entered the office after
the long walk back.
“Alexandra. Miguel.” the General
greeted them.
“Hi, sir. Umm, there’s an old guy
with no eyes that wants to see you. We’re just warning you…” Miguel said.
The General raised his eyebrows. “You
can imagine how strange that sounds, right?” he said.
Alex spoke up. “It’s true.” she said.
“Hmm. Well I’ll be prepared. Thank
you.” he said.
The two then left.
They passed quite a few people on the
way to their lab/fighting place.
“Hey, Miguel. Lucky to be walking
with her.” said a stranger in a whisper.
Miguel counted 16 dating requests, 5
marriage requests, and 11 requests other than that.
“You’re that popular around here?” he
asked.
“Yup.” she said.
``````````````````````````````````````````````````````
At night, Alex was not the person she
was in the day. She missed her parents, both of whom were killed in battle. No
one knew she was this way, though, and she wanted to keep it like that. No one
should know that one of their best warriors has a soft side.
When her parents were killed was
probably the last time she ever cried. She thinks she never cries anymore for
two reasons: a) because she cried so much when they died that she used up all
her tears and b) because crying makes her think of her parent’s death.
As she was about to fall asleep, she
heard a soft knock on the door of her bunk. All bunks were small structures
with a window, bunk, and storage cabinet. She got up and opened it. There stood
Miguel.
“What are you doing here? Its-“ she paused and looked at the clock. “Almost 1
in the morning!”
“Uhh, well, I uhh, wanted to, uhh, go
look for that guy. I think we shouldn’t have let him in to see the General. He
seems evil.” Miguel replied.
Alex rolled her eyes. “Wow. You just
noticed that? Huh, so a guy with NO FRIGGIN EYEBALLS walks into HQ and you
think, ‘Hmmm, he seems nice.’ And then at ONE O’CLOCK IN THE MORNING you
realize he was a possible threat?” she said, her voice laced with sarcasm.
“Technically, yeah.” Miguel said
frankly.
Alex sighed, exasperated. “Ok, fine. I’ll go with you on your little
mission.”
The two crept silently down the
hallway, looking for the man. They heard whispers coming from a closed door.
“Come on! Let’s see who’s talking.
Maybe it’s him.” Alex whispered.
They slowly walked over to the door.
Light came from the crack below the door. Alex peered through the keyhole. She
could see the man, along with an unknown person. She motioned for Miguel to
look.
“Grendal, we can’t stay here for
long.” the unknown man said. “Our forces are waiting for the attack. We’ve been
scouting for three days. Three days!! “
“Harmaan, you were always impatient.
And so am I. But I have waited for 300 years. And I do not want to mess this
up.” Grendal said.
“But-but the Queen’s ghost-she’s
giving them unlocked power. If we stay here, she will realize that we are
unwelcome here and we will be killed! Grendal, the Keepers are waiting.”
Alex gasped. The old man was the
feared Grendal of the Keepers? And the man next to him-Harmaan, the General of
Evil?
The Keepers took the aide of the Evil
Beings, like trolls, monsters, demons. The dragons, unicorns, and centaurs were
on the Reviver’s side. The fairies and pixies were split up between the two
armies.
Miguel shared the same amazed gasp.
But the question swirling in both their minds- where were his eyes?
CHAPTER THREE
“Now, Harmaan, please open the door.
I must talk with the late Queen Genevieve.” Grendal said.
How did he know the Revivers were
under council with the deceased queen? And what was he going to do to her?
Alex motioned for Miguel to move into
the shadows. “Attack when you can.” she mouthed.
As soon as Grendal walked out, Alex
rammed into him. The man called Harmaan,
a tall, black man aged about 30 years, gasped. Anyone could guess the thoughts
running through his mind: ‘Two little
kids trying to stop the great Grendal? Absurd!’
If you guys like it, leave a comment on how I can improve! Post more soon...
Normal
0
false
false
false
EN-US
X-NONE
X-NONE
/* Style Definitions */
table.MsoNormalTable
{mso-style-name:"Table Normal";
mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0;
mso-tstyle-colband-size:0;
mso-style-noshow:yes;
mso-style-priority:99;
mso-style-parent:"";
mso-padding-alt:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt;
mso-para-margin-top:0in;
mso-para-margin-right:0in;
mso-para-margin-bottom:8.0pt;
mso-para-margin-left:0in;
line-height:107%;
mso-pagination:widow-orphan;
font-size:11.0pt;
font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif;
mso-ascii-font-family:Calibri;
mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin;
mso-hansi-font-family:Calibri;
mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin;}
(April 23, 2015 - 4:06 pm)
Admi , how did all that random stuff get there? Can you guys delete it? What I mean by random is the: "
Normal
0
false
false
false
EN-US
X-NONE
X-NONE
/* Style Definitions */
table.MsoNormalTable
{mso-style-name:"Table Normal";
mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0;
mso-tstyle-colband-size:0;
mso-style-noshow:yes;
mso-style-priority:99;
mso-style-parent:"";
mso-padding-alt:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt;
mso-para-margin-top:0in;
mso-para-margin-right:0in;
mso-para-margin-bottom:8.0pt;
mso-para-margin-left:0in;
line-height:107%;
mso-pagination:widow-orphan;
font-size:11.0pt;
font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif;
mso-ascii-font-family:Calibri;
mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin;
mso-hansi-font-family:Calibri;
mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin;}
I don't understand what this is.
I think it's because you copied and pasted from some program, and the code is showing. I think you have to paste it into something like TextEdit, then make Plain Text, then copy back to CB. I can't do it now, I'm going out to dinner.
Admin
(April 23, 2015 - 4:44 pm)