The beginning to Rosa's first chapter, in which she awakes after three hundred years of sleep.
The awakening from her dream-state had been brutal.
In 3721 of the Third Age, Atherian Calendar, when she had secluded herself in her tower and banished herself to a half-life – an unconscious state her kind could reach, in which there was no time, or space, but only darkness and dreams – she had set alarms that would penetrate the half-life to wake her. Alarms on a rockshield in the ground in the abandoned gardens under her abandoned tower in the north wing of the castle. Those alarms would tell her if anyone was disturbing the Naratus or his sister, the Magisphere – ancient weapons of Rosa’s people, dreaming in their own sleep states deep below the ground, hidden away until the next time they would be called.
Nearly ten days ago those alarms had been triggered by a furtive-looking blonde man in military dress burying a stained kettle. Rosa had reached out with her mental tendrils, through the blare in her mind from the alarms, and discovered something that had knocked her back on her root-feet.
Terrabane. It was unmistakable–she’d recognize the poison’s signature anywhere. She should, for she had been the one who’d developed it, millennia ago, during the Magi-Terran Wars. She doubted any Terran knew that part of history very well; they were so incredibly good at self-deception.
Very interesting! I like this very much.
ReplyDeleteI'm wondering what her root-feet are.
ReplyDeleteFascinating snippet.
Is magi an invented word/species? The word in English is the plural of magus. Nyway it sounds very intriguing.
ReplyDeleteLoved the excerpt, except found myself stumbling hard over this sentence:
ReplyDelete"Alarms on a rockshield in the ground in the abandoned gardens under her abandoned tower in the north wing of the castle."
Otherwise, great stuff!
Intriguing.
ReplyDeleteTK -- thank you.
ReplyDeleteChantal -- glad to hear. :) Her root feet...small spoiler here. The Magi are an elemental species -- their souls bond to expressions of the elements, and they take that form. Rosa is an earth Magi, and she's bound to the kash tree. So she looks a bit like an Ent, and her feet are tree-roots. ;)
Sue Ann -- yes, it is an invented species. Magi is the Terran word for them, and one Magea Rosa has adopted over her long time spent with the younger species. Their actual name is in their language, Ereneden, and just means "the people". (Ereneden means "the words of the people".)
Aston -- thanks for the heads up. I'll see if I can clarify it a bit. Glad you liked it! :)
Pippa - thank you. I was hoping it would be.
I like the mix of futuristic (set in the future) and fairytale (magic, woman in tower, etc). :-D
ReplyDeleteGayle -- thank you! I was actually sort of worrying that people would really hate that aspect of it, so I'm glad to hear that you like it. :)
ReplyDelete