forum @Jensen-rs Contest Entry Please

Started April 16, 2018 by Deleted user

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@Jensen-rs
Hey! This my entry for the contest! I got it in at 11:30 p.m. my time, and I still can't find a way to get into that one chat. So sorry! Hope this is forgivable!

In the beginning, there was nothing but a harsh, blinding whiteness that stretched on infinitely past Anna’s view. There were no walls or floor, rather just a ethereal glow that came from everywhere all at once. The young lady, still more wisp than human, floated curiously through the air, curiously looking for any mark or sign that anyone had been around before her. Once she realized that there was truly nothing to be seen, she spun around and drifted back to a spot she decided would make a decent starting point.
Space would have to come first. She inhaled deeply and closed her eyes as hues of deep, soothing indigo and violet spilled out of her like ink through a fresh sheet of paper. Entire nebulae formed as pools of powdery light from her palms, and an enormous Sun was born from the depths of her mind. A single flick of her hand tinted the golden star with rosy pinks and yellows, and from a simple clap came a warmth more welcoming than anything she’d ever felt before. She swam through the heat into the cold as icy comets darted back and forth around her to survey the universe she’d made.
It was beautiful.
When she was alive, she’d never dreamt of making anything more than the flaky crêpes she sold with her father at his cart on the streets. Nobody, not even her favorite aunt, had ever given her so much as a paintbrush before, always fearing she’d get lost to ambitions they couldn’t afford. She hadn’t understood their wishes at the time, but the reason was suddenly apparent. Creating the first miniscule bit of her world was enough to make her ravenously addicted.
Fearing a halt to her abilities, Anna set about shaping a planet in her hands. She rubbed her hands to smooth out the edges of a tiny block of dirt until it became a round ball, then, trying to recall her schooling, set a hollowness in the middle and wished it to be as accurate as the Earth. She quickly willed the rest of the galaxy into scientific sense before sending the sphere out into the cosmos. It grew immensely as it went, like a snowball that couldn’t stop rolling, and only stopped once it was aligned with gravity.
Anna hovered far from the ground, unsure how to proceed. Finally, her fingers fluttered out in front of her and created the atmosphere, air, and weather. She made clouds and filled them with rain until they were heavy and gray, and, as they wept, darted to the surface to wave her smoky hands over the damp mud. Thin, thirsty blades of grass and sprouts sprung from the ground alongside rapidly multiplying trees, bushes, and mushrooms, all begging for the droplets. She commanded seeds from the ripe ones and began to modify them carefully. They flew from her grip as new forms of flora, painting every area she went with canopies of similar, yet different, colors. In some gaps between biomes, she found herself already saving large plots of land for potential villages and landforms. The patches of dirt looked odd in comparison to the rest of the world, but she took solace in the fact that they’d be transformed into bustling centers of activity. She even thought of names and designs as she continued about her task.
After the whole planet was prepped, the young woman carved out oceans and rivers that filled up to the brim with the stormwater. She dipped into the salty spray of one sea and submerged herself completely. Her first aquatic lifeform, as she had decided just briefly before, would live peacefully in the shallows. It was a luminescent coral that absolutely bristled and teemed with microscopic bacteria. The plant swayed in the tide as its offspring was carried off by waves. Anna placed her hand to the side and forced some brightly spotted, edible anemones, which she covered with sea fungi and tiny starfish. Bigger creatures, such as razor-thin dragons, came momentarily after. She bred and combined ocean species and plants until the waters teemed with mythical and natural creatures, then decided it was finally time for something bigger.
The first land animal was a graceful white fox with orange eyes, long ears, and carnation markings. Anna named it an Aryba fox after her sister’s favorite perfume. The Aryba strolled along on its elegant legs, leaving a trail of footprints in its wake, and she felt a sudden sense of loneliness. To busy herself, she made about ten more of the charming mammals. They sufficed until the call of exploration drove them away as well. Frustrated, she finally made a branch of the fox family tree and created the first tameable creature. It was similar to the Aryba, but had a rounder body and plump feet. She scooped the new pet, which she named a Aryluff, off the ground into her somewhat solid arms. The baby was sweet, but she still wanted more, so she set off to the nearest empty lot with it settled in her elbow.
She named the soon-to-be city she reached first Ary in honor of the creatures she had already made. It would be small, she decided, but also have a booming industry for fauna-related tourism. White lines formed the edges of buildings as she paced through, and cobblestone paths rose to the surface of the path she trod on. All it took was two laps for the whole place to be outlined. Stone, plaster, and wood appeared on the ground afterwards and flew immediately to the already assigned spots.
Ary was lovely, but Anna knew it’d be twice as perfect with people to inhabit it, so she stood still and focused directly on the air in front of her. Eventually, an unconscious human shape began to form. She gave him curly hair, heterochromatic eyes, and a tilted smile.
The world had a long way to go, but it was off to a good start.

Yeah, it’s not letting me on either. Should we all just resubmit here?

I just scrolled through not reading anything……

I'm going to go ahead and repost:

“Jack!” He seemed to fall in slow motion. He jerked each time a projectile ripped through him. There was no space in my head for the moment. Not me, not my men, not hailstorm of bullets all around us.

“Ma’am! You can’t,” one of them called out as he grabbed my arm and yanked me back.

“Let her go,” said another. “Cover her. Return fire!”

I reached him on my hands and knees, rifle slapping my back at every movement.

“Jack, baby it’s me.” I began to move my hands over his body. “Where are you hit?” I ripped open his med pack and pulled out the tourniquet with trembling fingers. Blood seeped onto my hands as I found each hole. Left arm, right thigh. Thank God, he was wearing his IBA. I worked furiously to secure his tourniquet to his thigh, twisting the lever with all my might. “Stay with me. Jack I need you to stay awake.” I ripped into my own med kit for my tourniquet and started again.

I fished the sharpie from my inner pocket and pulled off the cap with my teeth. I glanced at my wrist. 1346. I scrawled it on his forehead.

“Chandra,” he wheezed. “I’m not going to make it. They are going to overwhelm us. Soon.”

“Shut up!” I put my hand on his cheek. “Shut up, you can’t know that.” There was so much blood.

“Protocol. You went against p–” He spat up blood. Each breath was labored.

“I need you to stay with me. Alice and Andy are back home waiting for us.”

The sound of gunfire was still tearing about us, but the air seemed to still. It was too bright. Or too dark. I don’t know. But it was just us.

“There is so much I had to tell you. About them.” He was growing so faint. “So much you don’t understand. I’m sorry you had to find out this way.”

“I – I don’t –” I stammered. Suddenly there was a pain searing through my neck and radiating across my shoulders. I tumbled backwards and fell next to him. I tried to speak. I tried to ask ‘Who will take care of them?’ But there was
only a gurgle.

“You will.”
~

Everything was so bright. And soft. And not Afghanistan. Slowly things began to come into focus. There was, shag carpeting, a small bed, and a mountain of stuffed animals. The cotton curtains were a soft pink I picked out almost four years ago. Mr. Fluffs was sitting there, both of his ears flopping down – one of them was a little worn where little Alice like to chew on it. I reached out to grab it and it wavered, like a mirage. I tried again and still I could not touch it.

I looked down, I was still in my ACUs, my boots were still on.

There was a thud and I heard happy chatter. There was the clatter of keys in the dish by the door, the plunks of shoes falling off little feet. I moved towards them but I couldn’t grab on to the doorknob. “Screw it.” And I walked through the door.

“Mama?” His little face lit up like a Christmas tree. Oh, he was so big. I had missed his fifth birthday. My sister sent us pictures but seeing him now made me realize just how much I had missed. “Look Alice, it’s Mama!” Oh my baby, how she beamed. Her little brown curls were messy, windblown, and they bobbed up and down as she raced to me. She raced right through me. Andy did too. “Mama?”

I just wanted to hold them close. “What are you guys playing at, huh?” my sister asked.

“Auntie Carol, Mama’s here, but she’s funky.”
~

I watched them drape the flags over our coffins. The only two that were not crying were Alice and Andy. “Mama?” Andy whispered. “I don’t like this.”

I looked down at my brave little boy, holding his sister’s hand, and he blinked back up at me. “Don’t worry. I will always be here.”
~

For the first time in years, I felt something. There was a hand on my shoulder; the weight of it was so familiar. “Hi Jack. It’s been awhile.” I did not bother to look at him, I was too busy watching Alice chasing around the little blond boy from down the street. In class she was drawing his name in hearts in her journal while she should have been studying for her spelling test. The little twerp had tried to get me to tell her the answers.

“I’m sorry Chandra. I couldn’t get away until now.”

“What happened? I don’t know whether to thank you or kill you.” I finally turned to him and he enveloped me in his arms. “What are you?”

“A Spirit Walker. I didn’t plan on meeting you, on Andy and Alice. That day in Afghanistan was the Warlocks coming for me; I was 3 years over the limit. You weren’t supposed to be there.” I felt his arms tighten around me. “I couldn’t leave them alone. The laws of my magic couldn’t save you, this was the best I could do. I’m sorry.”

“I still don’t understand, but I forgive you.” I kissed his cheek. “You gave me my children. Twice.”

“I have to go. Promise me you will keep them safe. They need to be safe.” He’s right, there was still so much I did not understand.

“No matter what, I will be there for them.”
~

“Hi Mama.” Alice flopped down on her bed and groaned.

“Hi baby. What happened today?” I sat on the edge of her bed.

She opened up an eye and glared at me. “You know what happened.”

I laughed, “Nope. I was spying on Andy today.”

“Okay, so Stacy was acting all googly eyes over Tommy, even though Debbie called dibs. So they were super mad at each other. But long story short, Tommy asked me to Prom and now they both aren’t talking to me. I don’t even want to go with stupid Tommy. Dylan is the cute one.”

“Don’t pick Dylan. He picks his nose in Spanish class.” I laughed as she groaned again.

“Ugh, why can’t boys be more like dad?”

I settled next to her. “Eh, he was human too. Wonderful, but flawed. But he gave me a second chance to be with you guys.”

“So perfect, right?” I laughed and if I could have, I would have swatted her. “He was probably the best gift giver at Christmas. I’m glad that you’re here with us.”

I'll repost as well:

Thanks guys! I'm sorry that I didn't see this yesterday, I was watching a lot of netflix lol. I'll start looking and these today and talk to the other judges, and hopefully we'll have the results by tonight!

What?

I gotta repost mine too. However, it's being a butt so let's try this. I shared it with @Jensen-rs but it's having problems posting onto Notebook.ai so I'm sorry guys. I don't know how to fix it.

No don't share it because if you post something from the school's doc then it will break the server again

oh no well too late help. The server was already broken for me before though like I posted it and it wouldn't let me see if it did, or even into the forum so like, yeah….

Well try transferring the writing onto a different account, then make it public to everybody and get the shareable link to post on here.

I'll try that later but I can't right now. Sorry

Wait why are you quitting?

It's a writing contest. The entries were supposed to be due yesterday, but something went wrong with the chat so everybody is submitting their entries in this chat today now.

What kind of writing contest?

Okay well I'm kinda pissed that it's not working on my secondary account either so I'm just gonna copy and paste the three pages onto here with a slight edit. Be prepared

Okay

Also it's a short story writing contest. The rules are it has to be between 300 and 850 words (I think?) and it has to have something to do with magic.

Volume One
A Fool’s Guide: Understanding Various Magic-Users

⛤ ⛤ ⛤ ⛤ ⛤ ⛤ ⛤ ⛤ ⛤ ⛤

Glinda: Ah! Hello there young Disciple, you seem to be confused. No worries now that I’ve found you, hah. Oh? Poor dear don’t be frightened. Please speak up if you have a question, child.

Glinda: Hmm? Who am I? I have many names, child: Glinda Goodwin, Glinda the Good Witch of the West and Glinda Arduenna Upland just to name a few. You can just call me Glinda, child. Come, come now, we can’t keep the Council waiting any longer.

Glinda: … What’s that now? You didn’t know about the Council? Oh you poor dear, you must’ve hit your head worse than I thought. Take my hand, child, and I will explain on our way.

Glinda: To put it simply, the Council is a group of representatives from each sector of magician. Together, they make decisions that will impact their–or sometimes other–people. It gets kinda boring actually, if you do it long enough; it’s just politics really. The only fun part is when we get Disciples–like you for example.

Glinda: What’s that? Am I a member of the Council? Oh don’t be silly dearie, of course I am. I wouldn’t trust any other Witch to manage my position without starting a riot, as my sister did. Anywho, enough about my estranged family. It’s time for you to walk through those iron gates and into the world of a magic-user.

Glinda: Where am I going? Oh well, I have to introduce you to the other Council members. I can’t possibly entrust your precious face to anyone else. Come along now, don’t doddle.

Glinda: One piece of advice before we enter though: Whatever you do, don’t stare.

---

Alizon: Glinda, we’ve patiently waited for your arrival before we conducted the meeting. What excuse do you have to be so desperately late? Oh… I see you’ve actually found a Disciple this time. Don’t be shy child, what’s your name? Have you already chosen a magic you wish to pursue?

Glinda: Oh please do shut up, Alizon, you’re stressing the poor child. Don’t worry about her, young one, she’s just impatient as usual. Alizon Pendle is just a normal wizard besides being able to teach and learn healing magic. If you’re a simple person, I suggest studying wizardry under her.

Crowley: Yes please just close your mouth for once Alizon, no one’s got their dick out for you. Glinda, this is new, even for you. You can’t just drag the disciple in here without ceremony.

Crowley: We may have known a Disciple would show up but not when. I mean just look at the kid, they’re basically wearing torn-up and glued-together rags. They must be confused as shit, let alone being frightened out of their mind.

Glinda: I was in a hurry Crowley. Not everything’s a fashion show–anyways I couldn’t ‘bedazzle’ the child even if I wanted to. You know that’s not how my magic works.

Glinda: And Disciple, if that was indeed a snicker I heard from you, then you probably would like to study under Aleister Crowley. He’s a self-proclaimed prophet and a teacher of the dark arts magics. He may seem blunt and edgy, but really he’s about as cunning as me and Merlin.

Merlin: That’s true, Crowley can be quite the opponent, when he wants to be, that is. Please come sit in your seat. And also Ms. Goodwin, I can do my own introduction, thank you. I’m Merlin, the representative for sorcerers and sorceresses.

Merlin: Our magic requires the verbal telling of magic words or sometimes even full-on spells, and a special few of us can learn dragon-tongue, such as myself.

Merlin: Sadly, Eliphas Levi couldn’t make it to our meeting in time today, he’s running a bit late from errands he needs to do for Alphonse. He’ll be here shortly though. Eliphas is the representative of alchemists. His magic is that of ritual magic and require physical objects and things to be used in his magic.

Eliphas: Merlin, seriously?! I’m right here! You really need to get your eyes checked, that inevitable old-age seems to be catching up with you finally.

---

Witch/Wizard/Warlock:
Study under sassy Glinda Goodwitch or impatient Alizon Pendle
Alizon- simple spells and rituals, benefit of healing magic but need speed to do it the best way
Glinda- intensive spells, few rituals, benefit of strength but need endurance to survive

Mage/True Magician:
Study under Aleister Crowley
Aleister- dark arts covering from spells to rituals to party tricks, benefit of well-rounded magic skills but sadly can’t reanimate the dead

Sorcerer/Sorceress:
Study under the Legendary Merlin
Merlin- variety of magic words and spells for certain things, benefit of possibily learning dragon-tongue but need to learn a new language to do anything

Alchemist/Ritualist:
Study under the late-as-always Eliphas Levi
Eliphas- heavily-based ritual magic with physical objects as sacrifices/catalysts, benefit of universe- defying results but need to collect all materials and set up large enough area to do the magic

---

All: What magic do wish to study?

Oh gosh it's exactly 850 words…. whoopsies

Um… bye

…okay see ya?