%%USERNAME%%    %%ACCWORDS%% %%ONOFF%% |
This item is in your Recycling Bin |
Written for The 52 Week Fiction Image Blog |
|
Every week a new image prompt is given. The writer's task: create fiction to fit it. I have set an additional challenge for myself. I will construct these 52 pieces of fiction as mini chapters in a mini novel. I have no knowledge of what the next image prompt will be, so this is a difficult challenge. It might even be impossible. We shall see.  |
. ** Images For Use By Upgraded+ Only ** . The Age of Religion lasted for many centuries, but it also changed into something else. A new mode of knowledge arose called Magick. Strange new animals appeared on the Earth, like the dragon and the unicorn and the griffin. Whereas once all mankind looked approximately the same, now there were many odd races of me - the elves and the dwarfs and the trolls and the orcs and many others. But even the world of Magick was destined to weaken and fall. And now my friends, we are in the Last Age, the age of the final decline. You seven are some of the last remaining humans on this planet. I have come to ask you if you would like to go somewhere else, to a place with hope and life. Or do you prefer to remain with what you know, because that new place will be very strange to you. "Can you tell us more about the new place?" Roger asked. * * * |
. ** Images For Use By Upgraded+ Only ** . The cities burned, the people died, and after some years passed that great civilization was all but forgotten. In it's place there grew a new civilization, a simpler culture that had none of the wonders of the previous age. Science was no longer the predominant mode of knowledge. Now it was Religion. Now men fought with swords and axes instead of guns and missiles. Yes, there was still war, but it was limited in scope. The Age of Religion lasted for many centuries, but it also changed into something else. ..... |
. ** Images For Use By Upgraded+ Only ** . "Yes, I will help you with your tears," said Mariah. An old man stepped forward. "Sometimes I dream of a time when our people did great things, wonderful things. In the dream I am happy and content, but then I wake up and I become sad because it was only a dream." The angel Mariah gathered the seven of them together. "Listen closely," she said. "I have a story to tell you..." Many centuries ago there was a great civilization living here. They had cities filled with tall buildings and they had wagons that moved by themselves without need of animals to pull them. They could talk to each other over long distances and entertain themselves with pictures in the air. They possessed a system of knowledge called Science which gave them many other wonders, but they also had war. War was a terrible thing that pitted one man against another so that no one could trust anyone else. Things fell apart. The cities burned, the people died, and after some years passed that great civilization was all but forgotten. ..... |
. ** Images For Use By Upgraded+ Only ** . The little girl started running. She looked back at Roger. "Hurry!" So Roger ran, too, and when he got to the red door he passed right through it with no more than a tingling sensation on his skin. On the other side were ancient buildings, the tumbled down remains of stone temples and palaces. He followed the six people into a courtyard that was flooded with an inch or two of blue-green water. There he saw his first angel. She was dressed in white, wearing lots of gold jewelry - anklets and bracelets and necklaces - and her wings were white, but her hair was black and her skin was a warm shade of brown. "My name is Mariah," she said, "and I am the Angel of the West Wind. I bring warmth and sunshine. If you have tears I will dry them." As she spoke the water in the courtyard slowly disappeared. Roger had joined the group without thinking, so that the six became seven. One of the seven said, "I have tears, Mariah. Please help me." . . . |
. ** Images For Use By Upgraded+ Only ** . Roger followed the six people and studied them while never revealing himself. One of the six was a little girl, four of them were mature adults, and the sixth was a very old man who seemed quite spry. The old man was leading their way. They crossed over the mountains and descended into a warmer landscape. Roger noticed that it was the little girl's job to carry a lantern and that sometimes she lagged behind the group. He used one of those times to casually walk up behind her and say, "Hello!" She turned to look at him. "Hello. Are you an angel?" He wasn't sure how to answer that so he asked her the same question. "Are you an angel?" She laughed. "No!" "What's your name?" Roger said. "Sally. What's yours?" "Roger. Where are all of you going?" "Why... to see the angels. Don't you know that?" "Sure," he said. "How long have you been walking?" "A long time," she said. Roger tried to think of a good question to ask her. So far the information he was getting from her was only confusing him. Angels? A long walk? Was this some kind of cult on a pilgrimage? Then he noticed something very odd up ahead. There was a shining red door and the five adults had just disappeared right through it as if it wasn't there. . . . |
. ** Images For Use By Upgraded+ Only ** . Roger knew he couldn't last long in the desert without water. In the distance were some snow-capped mountains. If he could only make it there! Then he would have all the water he could drink. He decided to only travel at night and sleep during the day. That would conserve some body moisture. Plus, at night there might be dew he could drink. Since the sun was already setting, he decided to begin his journey immediately. The desert was silent except for the crunch of his shoes on the sand. Occasionally he would hear the whisper of a sound, as if something small had skittered away across the sands. He wondered if it was possible to catch a mouse or a bird or a lizard and eat it. By the time the first light of dawn appeared, Roger was exhausted, but he estimated he had covered many miles during the night. As luck would have it, he stumbled across a group of large water-storing cacti. Using a sharp stone, he cut off the top of one of the cacti. The taste of the liquid in the cactus was better than he expected. He drank his fill and decided to sleep nearby and drink again when he woke up. He took off his outer shirt and made a little tent by propping the shirt on some sticks. It was only big enough to get his head and shoulders under, but that would be all he needed. He buried his legs in the sand, knowing that the temperature below the surface would be cooler. He was so tired that he slept for a long time. When he woke up, he drank again, as much as he could hold. Then, as the sun was setting, Roger began walking toward the mountains again. He reached the foothills on the third night and was able to find a little pool of water that seemed safe to drink. After that, water somehow turned up when he needed it as he climbed higher. The cooler temperatures were a relief. Over a week after he fell through the portal, Roger was walking in snow. But the remarkable thing was that he was following footprints. People, he assumed they were people, had walked here recently and he was following their trail. The next day he caught a glimpse of them. There were six of them, humans he hoped. . . . |
. ** Images For Use By Upgraded+ Only ** . After Roger fell into the portal there was a long period of time during which he did nothing but fall. In fact, it was such a long period of time that Roger's eyes grew heavy and he drifted off into sleep. He woke up when he landed on a hard gritty surface. It was fortunate his fall had been slow and gentle. Roger stood up and looked around. He was surrounded by a desert of orange sand strewn with rocks and boulders of every shape and size, but what grabbed his eye right away was the sign. It was stuck into the sand not far from where he landed, a crude wooden sign with the word "DANGER" scrawled on it. What kind of danger? Toxic chemicals? Wild animals? Snakes? Scorpions? Dangerous humans? Was this a land of outlaws and renegades? Next to the danger sign was a smaller sign with the skull and crossbones on it. Aha! Pirates! No, wait... That was also the sign for poison, wasn't it? Maybe it meant don't drink the water. As soon as he had that thought, Roger realized it was hot and he was thirsty. Where was the water that he was not supposed to drink? He saw no sign of any water anywhere. . . . |
. ** Images For Use By Upgraded+ Only ** . Roger sat at his kitchen table gazing into his coffee cup. He wasn't fully awake yet, a dangerous state to be in because sometimes he lapsed back into sleep ony to discover an hour later that he was now an hour late. Today he would end up being much later than just one hour. Today an entire year would be removed from his life... or added to it, depending on how you viewed his situation. But I get ahead of myself... At this point Roger was merely gazing into the cup and noticing how the coffee with its added cream was such a lovely shade of tan. The ceiling light was reflected in the surface of the coffee making a sharp point of light there. As Roger dreamily gazed at that point of light it became brighter and more intense. The surface of the coffee was like a sky with a sun in it. Roger even began to see clouds drifting around. It was when the birds came flying by that Roger realized something strange was going on, because he not only saw the birds but he heard them. Roger blinked and tried to clear his vision, but he couldn't take his eyes off the sky in his coffee cup. He felt himself becoming dizzy and faint. As he fell over into the cup he wondered what kind of mess it would make on the floor, but there was no falling cup, there was only falling Roger, falling through the sky that he saw in his coffee. Roger fell for a long time and after a while he realized he must not be falling very fast for only the faintest of breezes ruffled his clothes. . . . |
 Log in to Leave Feedback |
View Portfolio
Visit Notebook
Send Gift Points
Awards
Badges
Send Email
Community Newsfeed
General Discussion
Sponsored Items
Book of Trinkets
Static Items
Books
Groups
Interactive Stories
Audio
Campfire Creatives
Community Notes
Crossword Puzzles
Documents
Folders
Images
In & Outs
Madlibs
Photo Albums
Polls
Product Reviews
Quizzes
Survey Forms
Web Pages
Word Searches
