Hmm... Decided to continue a bit with my story after reading HP 7. Got a bit inspired by JK Rowling heh. Heres the continuation (Chapter 1) of the story I've been trying to write. I'll add in the prologue here too. Give me tips please. I'm not exactly a lit student, so the phrasing and structure of my sentences aren't that good.
Xander is a cool name lol.
I've reposted the prologue so that it appears in the entry before this one. Scroll down to read.
***
Chapter 1
The orange tinged snow glistened, as the final rays of sunlight began to fall upon the earth. Xander quickened his pace, frantically looking out for that special something he was supposed to find. The problem was: he didn’t know what exactly to look out for.
Ryonn had been surprisingly vague about it. And that was exactly why Xander was exceptionally irritated. In truth nothing much else could get Xander agitated, besides having to talk with those pesky girls back at headquarters. For some reason, those girls never seemed to give him any peace and quiet at all.
A random thought made its way into Xander’s head. Perhaps this was a test Ryonn had prepared? Perhaps one of Ryonn’s weird mechanical puppets would appear from under the snow, and he would have to engage in combat with it? Alternatively, it could be some sort of a treasure hunt Ryonn had prepared. Xander thought back to the conversation they had had just that morning, going through each and every word spoken, looking for any verbal clues that might have been left by the old man.
The conversation had occurred after Xander was strapping on his gear, as he ceremoniously did every single day. Ryonn had sneaked behind him in his typical mysterious way before they were about to begin their physical training.
“Hey,” it was Ryonn’s typical dull voice that broke the silence.
“Whoa! Could you stop sneaking behind me like that? Jeez!” Xander could still remember the very first time Ryonn had done that. He’d freaked out so bad that they had to spend a couple of minutes calming him down. Compared to that time, Xander had reacted better, but he never could get used to the old man’s weird mannerisms.
“Before we start practicing, I have something interesting to tell you,”
“What is it, old man? Didn’t you always say less talk, more training?”
“Patience! Listen carefully to what I have to say,” Ryonn paused, beckoning for Xander to come closer before he continued. “Later this evening, before the setting of the sun, go to the Param Icefield, which is located slightly higher up the mountain. You should find its location easily if you travel due north from the west exit of the town for approximately 3 hours. I presume you have a map and a compass to aid you. There you will find something that may surprise you. What it is, I myself do not know. This is what the council of elders has foretold. But whatever you find, please bring it back safely. And please treat this seriously, just like you would for any quest. That is all.”
Just remembering those words infuriated Xander. What could he possibly do with those kinds of instructions? He knew that since the information had come from the council of elders, it would be something of utmost importance. It was just that given more information, he could have done it much better and much faster!
Xander shook his head to clear the anger, reminding himself that there was something important to do. His logic told him to take out the map and start planning a search.
He pulled out the map from his rucksack, consulting it for the umpteenth time. Param Icefield was a couple of hectares large. If that something he had to find were visible, just combing the area would be sufficient to spot it. But if it were buried, it would probably take a couple of days to find the object.
Ryonn had seemed to imply that the object in question would be quite easily found, so Xander immediately assumed that it would be easily spotted.
Just as he was beginning the search, the sunlight disappeared from the sky, the sun blocked by the towering mountains in the vicinity. His surroundings were plunged into almost complete darkness, and despite the setback, his cool head prevailed. Taking out a torch from his rucksack, he began to shine light around the icefield, getting a general bearing of the direction he was planning to move.
As he circled around the icefield, he was silently glad that there were no monsters this close to the village. If there were any, finding the object would have been much more troublesome.
Time after time he caught glimpse of what he thought was the object, but every time he checked, it appeared to be just a glint of light reflecting off the beautiful ice crystals scattered all over the ground.
Half an hour passed before Xander found something that could potentially be the unknown item that he had to find. His eye caught a patch of beige a couple of meters away, and immediately he rushed towards it, anticipating something really special.
Whatever it was, it seemed to be half buried so that only one part of it could be seen. Xander set down his torch carefully on the ground and started work on the ice.
What he found was indeed surprising. He stopped for a moment to look closely at the portion of what he had unearthed.
It didn’t take long for him to realize that it was a human hand, and the small, pale hand still had a pulse. The digging resumed in a mad frenzy after that.
***
The happenings of the evening were, in layman’s terms, freaky. Xander rarely used the word, but that was the only way he knew how to describe those series of traumatic things he had just experienced. Never did he imagine that the object in question was actually a human being.
Good thing the girl was safe.
It was too late and tiring to drag a person all the way back to the village, so Xander made do with a small cave a couple of kilometers away from the Param Icefield. A small, flickering fire was lit with the wood littered about the cave, and of course the flint Xander always carried around in his rucksack just in case was of good use for that. It seemed that someone had occupied the cave before them.
As the flames danced around, creating shadows all over the walls of the cave, Xander couldn‘t help but look at the girl, who was lying on a soft bed made up of heather and bracken. She seemed to be around his age, about seventeen going on eighteen, and her height seemed to be comparatively tall for the girls around her age. She was also considerably pretty, despite the large amount of freckles that dotted her face.
The way she was attired confirmed his suspicions. She was dressed in casual sleepwear. She, like him, had come here in the same way as he had. Whilst asleep, Xander had been thrust into this world he now lived in. He had no idea how, but he had appeared in this world approximately a month ago, dressed in nothing but his pajamas.
The first time he entered this world was traumatic. He had awakened to find himself freezing cold, the chilling wind circulating throughout his body. It was as if he had gone for a bath in iced water. He spent three miserable days wandering about the icy wasteland, dying of hypothermia, before he was found by a wealthy merchant, given clothes, and brought to the village to meet the council of elders.
It was that day when he was given a choice. And he knew the girl would be given that choice as well once she had been presented to the council.
Once more he looked at the sleeping girl’s face, wondering what her name was. Instantly he felt that connection with her.
"Once she wakes up, she will feel the same way I did when I first came," Xander thought aloud. "Confused."
For now, all he had to do was to follow Ryonn's orders and bring her back to the village safely. And he had a feeling it wasn't going to be as easy as he'd expected.
Xander is a cool name lol.
I've reposted the prologue so that it appears in the entry before this one. Scroll down to read.
***
Chapter 1
The orange tinged snow glistened, as the final rays of sunlight began to fall upon the earth. Xander quickened his pace, frantically looking out for that special something he was supposed to find. The problem was: he didn’t know what exactly to look out for.
Ryonn had been surprisingly vague about it. And that was exactly why Xander was exceptionally irritated. In truth nothing much else could get Xander agitated, besides having to talk with those pesky girls back at headquarters. For some reason, those girls never seemed to give him any peace and quiet at all.
A random thought made its way into Xander’s head. Perhaps this was a test Ryonn had prepared? Perhaps one of Ryonn’s weird mechanical puppets would appear from under the snow, and he would have to engage in combat with it? Alternatively, it could be some sort of a treasure hunt Ryonn had prepared. Xander thought back to the conversation they had had just that morning, going through each and every word spoken, looking for any verbal clues that might have been left by the old man.
The conversation had occurred after Xander was strapping on his gear, as he ceremoniously did every single day. Ryonn had sneaked behind him in his typical mysterious way before they were about to begin their physical training.
“Hey,” it was Ryonn’s typical dull voice that broke the silence.
“Whoa! Could you stop sneaking behind me like that? Jeez!” Xander could still remember the very first time Ryonn had done that. He’d freaked out so bad that they had to spend a couple of minutes calming him down. Compared to that time, Xander had reacted better, but he never could get used to the old man’s weird mannerisms.
“Before we start practicing, I have something interesting to tell you,”
“What is it, old man? Didn’t you always say less talk, more training?”
“Patience! Listen carefully to what I have to say,” Ryonn paused, beckoning for Xander to come closer before he continued. “Later this evening, before the setting of the sun, go to the Param Icefield, which is located slightly higher up the mountain. You should find its location easily if you travel due north from the west exit of the town for approximately 3 hours. I presume you have a map and a compass to aid you. There you will find something that may surprise you. What it is, I myself do not know. This is what the council of elders has foretold. But whatever you find, please bring it back safely. And please treat this seriously, just like you would for any quest. That is all.”
Just remembering those words infuriated Xander. What could he possibly do with those kinds of instructions? He knew that since the information had come from the council of elders, it would be something of utmost importance. It was just that given more information, he could have done it much better and much faster!
Xander shook his head to clear the anger, reminding himself that there was something important to do. His logic told him to take out the map and start planning a search.
He pulled out the map from his rucksack, consulting it for the umpteenth time. Param Icefield was a couple of hectares large. If that something he had to find were visible, just combing the area would be sufficient to spot it. But if it were buried, it would probably take a couple of days to find the object.
Ryonn had seemed to imply that the object in question would be quite easily found, so Xander immediately assumed that it would be easily spotted.
Just as he was beginning the search, the sunlight disappeared from the sky, the sun blocked by the towering mountains in the vicinity. His surroundings were plunged into almost complete darkness, and despite the setback, his cool head prevailed. Taking out a torch from his rucksack, he began to shine light around the icefield, getting a general bearing of the direction he was planning to move.
As he circled around the icefield, he was silently glad that there were no monsters this close to the village. If there were any, finding the object would have been much more troublesome.
Time after time he caught glimpse of what he thought was the object, but every time he checked, it appeared to be just a glint of light reflecting off the beautiful ice crystals scattered all over the ground.
Half an hour passed before Xander found something that could potentially be the unknown item that he had to find. His eye caught a patch of beige a couple of meters away, and immediately he rushed towards it, anticipating something really special.
Whatever it was, it seemed to be half buried so that only one part of it could be seen. Xander set down his torch carefully on the ground and started work on the ice.
What he found was indeed surprising. He stopped for a moment to look closely at the portion of what he had unearthed.
It didn’t take long for him to realize that it was a human hand, and the small, pale hand still had a pulse. The digging resumed in a mad frenzy after that.
***
The happenings of the evening were, in layman’s terms, freaky. Xander rarely used the word, but that was the only way he knew how to describe those series of traumatic things he had just experienced. Never did he imagine that the object in question was actually a human being.
Good thing the girl was safe.
It was too late and tiring to drag a person all the way back to the village, so Xander made do with a small cave a couple of kilometers away from the Param Icefield. A small, flickering fire was lit with the wood littered about the cave, and of course the flint Xander always carried around in his rucksack just in case was of good use for that. It seemed that someone had occupied the cave before them.
As the flames danced around, creating shadows all over the walls of the cave, Xander couldn‘t help but look at the girl, who was lying on a soft bed made up of heather and bracken. She seemed to be around his age, about seventeen going on eighteen, and her height seemed to be comparatively tall for the girls around her age. She was also considerably pretty, despite the large amount of freckles that dotted her face.
The way she was attired confirmed his suspicions. She was dressed in casual sleepwear. She, like him, had come here in the same way as he had. Whilst asleep, Xander had been thrust into this world he now lived in. He had no idea how, but he had appeared in this world approximately a month ago, dressed in nothing but his pajamas.
The first time he entered this world was traumatic. He had awakened to find himself freezing cold, the chilling wind circulating throughout his body. It was as if he had gone for a bath in iced water. He spent three miserable days wandering about the icy wasteland, dying of hypothermia, before he was found by a wealthy merchant, given clothes, and brought to the village to meet the council of elders.
It was that day when he was given a choice. And he knew the girl would be given that choice as well once she had been presented to the council.
Once more he looked at the sleeping girl’s face, wondering what her name was. Instantly he felt that connection with her.
"Once she wakes up, she will feel the same way I did when I first came," Xander thought aloud. "Confused."
For now, all he had to do was to follow Ryonn's orders and bring her back to the village safely. And he had a feeling it wasn't going to be as easy as he'd expected.
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