Chatterbox: Inkwell

My book!

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This is my NaNo book. The title is odd, but there's hopefully gonna be a sequel that fixes the title. It's called Âmethu: Rise against, and there's going to be lots of ships--I mean--uhh--well, not this early in the book. Let's start with what I have so far.

                                        Prologue

Small fingers curled themselves around a stick, then dragged it through the ashes, scraping and scraping. The cave was silent but for the crackle of the fire and the slow scrape of the stick against the stones of the cave floor.

   The figure’s other hand swirled paint among the words, forming a colorful backdrop for the black, drab words that were dragged across the plain gray rock.

   Then the figure stepped away, letting the firelight illuminate it’s secret message--

Rise before you fall into their Âshes.

                       Chapter one: Hunters

Sor slowly moved across her apartment, tracing her fingers across the stone bricks in her wall, stone bricks held together by design and hope.

    The old windmill at the top of her house creaked. It wasn’t in use any more; all factories but four were forbidden by the monarchy, forcing all builders to turn to a medieval style. It just turned and turned, though Sor had turned all of the odd machinery off. The windmill was just a metaphor for the world she lived in; it turned and turned with life, but some hidden power inside had ripped all of it’s use out from inside it.

     She hummed slightly, pushing the dark thought aside as she opened her cooler, a small box filled with ice and snow, and pulled a popsicle out. Not entirely an acceptable morning snack, but she could make do with it. She yawned, forcing her tired eyes to study the colorful popsicle, forcing her eyes to identify it’s purple and gold stripes.

     Just as her exhausted fingers teared at the thin white paper surrounding the popsicle, a few short and brisk knocks echoed through the air.

     She frowned, brushing a few strands of messy hair out of her eyes. Who would be here at this time of night? Wait, no… She glanced over at the water mechanism on her wall. According to it, it was currently….One AM?

     Still she pushed her messy hair away from her face and opened the door unceremoniously. “Hello? If you’re one of Ness’ friends, I’m sorry, but we can’t have parties at this mome--”

     It was a man. Not a teenager, but an actual man. He was wearing a long black overcoat--is that a Horizon cloak? What!?--that dangled all the way to the ground. His hands were hidden in it’s pockets, and his face was--she frowned as she tried to study it. It was impossible to focus on, and she couldn’t make out any of it’s features--a spell… She knew people loved to flaunt their spells, but this man had a powerful spell cloaking his face, and also wore and could afford a Horizon cloak….

     “No, miss.” He said calmly. His voice was smooth and dark, but not quite deep...it sent a thousand chills down her spine all at once. “I’m here with a warrant.”

      Sor gulped. “A--a warrant?”

“...I truly prefer the term license, miss.” The man corrected. All she could see was his overcoat and his slightly shaggy dark brown hair. She resisted the impulse to slam the door...it was early...she was tired...how fast could she even move?

       The man produced a card from the depths of his Horizon cloak and held it perfectly still in front of Sor’s face. “Allow the words to explain themselves.”

     It took a few moments before her blurred vision finally focused on the card held in front of her in the dark of early morning. Words in a plain script were printed on it: Hunter, Hunt license est. 2000, Q. Degree. Confiscation license grade A, #30921

       Sor tilted her head to the side. “Excuse me, what’s that supposed ta mean?” Sor asked, while preparing to run from the man if necessary. The early morning air brought in a chill, almost a warning from the darkness to run from this intimidating figure.

       The man smiled. “It means that that was a confiscation license, miss.” The instant he stretched his hand towards her alarms went off in her head. Of course--that’s why he’s hiding his magic under a Horizon--

       She felt the haze of his magic through the air, the haze that begged her to give up and go to sleep, to give up and fall on the ground into slumber. She turned and began to run, forced herself to run before the spell took over her body and she fell to the ground--

      Then there was a dark blur in the air and the man was in front of her. She could finally focus on his face for a half-second, and saw a faint smile on it. She gasped, stopped, tried to change her direction--

      And felt the spell lull her into sleep. She tumbled into his arms, her eyes closing.

The man smiled as he carried her unconscious body in his arms. On the other side of the card in his pocket, the side he hadn’t shown her, were the words: Magical confiscation license.

      And soon, he knew, her magic, her weak and common levitation magic, would be his. To toy with, to place in a vial. His.

                                        *  *  *

      A girl quietly moved across the street. Her hair was raven black and she dressed modestly, although with tears in her gray hoodie and jeans, and she carried a simple wooden skateboard under her left arm. Her eyes darted across the street warily. Although she was headed to the café, to be in public, and to be under the eyes of all, she was always glancing around...always wondering….

      The streets were empty except for a few passing girls and--

The girl froze, her eyes on a single figure.

      He was of average height, but she didn’t notice that. All she noticed was his hair, his billowing overcoat--it was a Horizon--he was--He was a character from her past. And he was back. Hadn’t he done enough damage? Hadn’t he destroyed her life enough?

      The girl turned and ran, eventually skateboarding away from the man, the reaper--the thief who had stolen her happiness--the girl decided she wouldn’t go to the café today. For obvious reasons.

This is all for now, but I do have a part written for Myst, and one more character (she's a bit like Cress from the Lunar Chronicles, but it's honestly a coincidence. I swear). There's also le boys. (The plot centers around two storylines that entertwine; a group of boys and a group of girls.)