So, last post I had mentioned for my Capstone project that I wanted to write a fairy-tale of sorts, to combine my love of writing with the knowledge I have from children’s literature.
Which I really hope is something I can do, given that I’ve already got the rough draft story written.
It’s a regular story–just so I could get back into the swing of writing “properly”, I guess I could say.
Of course this is not the final project, nor is this what it will look like. I want to add a third dimensions to it; I want to make it more of a transgenre piece with several different elements to it. Kind of like my “writing right” story that I did in Transgenre 422, where I used an old book as a prop and added my story and the pen at the end.
Except I want this story to be more intricate than that.
I also want to take out the French words in it and make up my own cool words. Perhaps even take out the fact that they’re little people who live in a supermarket–even though that story-line could add a crap-ton of depth to the project.
Who knows. I need some friendly suggestions as to what to do with it.
One idea that I played around with was making it in the form of a “information book”–like the Fairyology or Dragonolgy books. Let me see if I can get a picture for reference…
These are some of the pictures that I found.
I would love to do something like this.
In a way, I guess, it would also be kinda like a version of scrap-booking, except all for the story.
I don’t know exactly how to do it, but I know this is somewhat how I want to do it.
…
It would be a lot of work, but I think I can manage it…given my other classes stay as easy as they have been.
But, moving on, I present my rough-draft story for my hopefully approved Capstone project, titled now “The Caliber of Light”:
The curse had started when he was a baby. Every village within the kingdom was given a witch to watch over them and allow prosperity to ensue, and with every new child born to a couple in the village, the witch was to see them to assign a special task. This task would be one that they would follow for the rest of their life; usually a power to help the village grow and prosper, or one that allowed for special revisions to their lives, like that of studying magic to help witches in other villages.
One cold, crisp winter, the witch from the village called upon a couple who had just given birth to a baby boy. They named him Caliber, hoping that in doing so, it would get him a special talent from the witch. When he was placed in care of the witch, she leaned back his head, swiped back the soft brown hair that curled around his face, and began her summoning charm to reach his core.
Just as suddenly as she closed her eyes, wisps of gold appeared around her and the baby, encircling them. For several minutes, the gold magic flew about until suddenly, the witch opened her eyes, making the gold drop to the floor. Her face was stricken with a most unpleasant twist and she quickly handed the child back to the couple.
“Your son,” she began, her voice crackling like logs on a fire, “has no place in this village. He has no gift that can be brought forth and brightened, nor has he any hope in his life to gain anything! I can see nothing within him; nothing except a mark that bears ill intention to our world!”
The boy’s parents frowned and looked down at their son, his smile brighter than that of the sun. They took him home and wept for him, ashamed of what their son was; of what he could never be. The witch watched them walk out before excusing herself into the back of her house. She opened up one of her many spell books and rolled a finger along the pages until she found a spell that would not only protect herself, but her and others way of life. She placed a curse upon the child Caliber—one that couldn’t be broken by any spell known—that would stop him from discovering that he had the power of light within him; one that would overcome the ability of every witch. The spell would allow his mind to talk back to him in conversation through his thoughts; one that he had to answer by speaking aloud. In doing this, she hoped that he wouldn’t be able to pull out his power. She shut the spell book and returned to her position in the front room, ready to see another new born.
***
The sun shone brightly through the cracks in the wall, casting just enough light to where Caliber was sitting to allow him to read. He leaned back against the tip of the bent nail that he sat on, his arm propped up behind his head. Slowly, he turned another page and let out a sigh.
“I told you that the twin did it,” the voice said. “Why do you never believe me when I know how it ends?”
“Because,” Caliber closed the book with one hand and swung his feet back to the ground. “I like to keep some things a mystery. Having you know all the answers kind of defeats the purpose of optimism.”
The voice snorted. “Optimism? That’s another thing I don’t understand.”
“No, I don’t suppose that you do.” He stood up, stretched out, and began his journey back to his house. There was a reason that he came to the outskirts of the kingdom; everyone within its walls knew about his curse. They all knew about the boy that talked to himself, that had the potential to destroy—as the rumors had accumulated to in the 16 years since the boy had been seen by the witch—the entire kingdom one day. He hated it when people would stop and judge him; even worse when they would throw something at him. He grew up away from school. His mother and father taught him how to read and write and to fend for himself. They never once were ashamed of him. Yes, they didn’t like what he had the potential to be, but they never once out casted him because of it.
Caliber swiftly walked through the town, thankful that there weren’t very many people out today. It was, after all, the announcement of the kingdom’s soon-to-be-new Queen, Princess Adelaide, and her future King, Prince Blythe. Not that he cared anyway. He wanted nothing to do with the kingdom or its people. He kept on walking through the village, past tin houses and card-board like stores. He often wondered where people got siding for their house—one in particular read, “French Toast Crunch” with a picture of a smiling chef slightly torn underneath. He shook his head and moved on, barely catching a glimpse of an elderly couple coming out, sour looks upon their faces once they recognized him.
He sighed and continued on his way home, passing a group of small children tossing back-and-forth a ball that rang each time one of them caught it. He tried to stop and ask what game it was that they were playing, but he thought better and moved along. He managed to get in view of his house before he stopped and turned around.
“What is it?” The voice said. “You know I can’t see anything unless you tell me.”
“I don’t know. I just have this feeling that something…something’s about to happen.” Caliber paused for a second and waited for the voice to answer him. For once, it said nothing. He shook his head and continued up the steps and into his house.
“Oh, Cal, good, you’re home.” His mother’s bright, rosy-red cheeks deepened in color as she smiled. She ran over to him and lead him toward their kitchen, her short dark wavy hair bouncing on her shoulders as she walked.
“Is everything okay mom?” Caliber struggled under his mother’s pressure to push him into the kitchen. If there was one thing he was more spiteful of than the villager’s distaste of him, it was his mother’s strength.
“I can’t help but think that she’s up to something. Usually she doesn’t use force on you unless she’s scheming…” the voice sounded concerned; an emotion it didn’t often use.
“I know. That’s what’s got me worried…” Caliber sighed. He was thankful that his mother never paid attention to him sometimes; she was too caught up in her own world to notice his one-sided conversations.
“Sir Fenris is here to see you, Cal. He’s the one that works for the supply division of the Imperial court! Can you believe it? Queen Zephyrus herself sent him! Finally, finally our family will have something good to its name!” His mother’s cheeks turned an even deeper shade then they were already. She looked at her son one last time before pushing him completely in the kitchen, walking over to the table, and sitting down. “Please, Sir Fenris. This is my son, Caliber. I told you he would be home soon!”
Sir Fenris nodded, taking off his hat. “Thank you. Caliber, I am here on behalf of Queen Zephyrus to tell you that her majesty has invited you to join the Imperial court as an official member. Do you accept?”
Caliber looked at the knight wearily, unsure if he should trust him.
“I don’t trust this guy, Cal. The Queen’s never just invited anyone to the Imperial court. Isn’t it usually some kind of training you have to go through to get into? I mean, don’t take this too personally, but you’re not exactly knighthood material…”
“Gee, thanks for that huge self-esteem booster. I could really use more of them.” Caliber cleared his throat and ignored the look on Sir Fenris’ face. “Why does the Queen want me so suddenly?”
Sir Fenris smiled. “She sees the potential within you and wishes to show forgiveness for the curse the witch placed upon you by having you join her court. She wants to make things right since you’ve been put through such torture all your life.”
Caliber’s face quickly sank. “Forgiveness? Wants to make things right?” His voice grew deeper.
“Now, Cal, I don’t think this is the best time to show off that temper of yours…”
“Shut up!” Caliber glared at the knight, his hands slowly curling into fists. “I can’t believe this! Where was she when this first started and I was ostracized for talking to myself in public? For being the one that would ‘destroy the world’? Why just come now? Do you know what you can tell her, Sir Fenris? Tell her that I don’t need her forgiveness and I don’t need her offer! My curse is not something that requires forgiveness! I refuse to have people treat me like a monster! I’m not a monster!”
“Well now you’ve done it. What do you have planned now that you’ve told-off the knight?”
Caliber looked from the knight to his mother. Her face had gone pale, and he could see how the years had caught up with her. The knight stood still, his hands placed gently on his side. He sighed and walked out of the door, ashamed at what he had done. Quickly, he left his house and started back towards his spot at the end of the kingdom. Maybe if he stayed there for the night, on his return his mother wouldn’t be so ashamed of him.
The village was still empty, and it grew dark fast. He had walked the path to his spot a hundred times in the dark, but this time, with the weight of what he had said in front of his mother still running with him, he managed to get himself lost.
“You’re lost, aren’t you?” The voice snickered. “You’ve walked this path, what, like five hundred times, and you’ve managed to get yourself lost. That’s priceless.”
“I never asked for your input, thanks.” Caliber stopped and took a look around him. Really, where was he? He’d never seen this place before. It gave him the chills and a sense that made him feel insignificant.
“I know you never asked for my input, but it kind of comes with the curse, see? Now what is it? I may not be able to see, but I can sense what you’re feeling…”
“Shhh. Not now.” Caliber looked around him. He remembered a story his father had once told him—about how their world was just a tiny one inside of a bigger one—but there was no way that this was true. It was all just a fairytale. Right? He found it hard to believe now though, given the circumstances that he found himself in. There were rows and rows of boxes and bags, all with the same words plastered across them as the house’s siding in the village. He slowly backed up and blinked, taking in everything. Where was he? What was this place? He kept walking down until his footing caught him off guard and he started to fall.
“You idiot! What are you doing?” A hand reached out and caught him before he fell to the ground. Slowly, he was pulled back up to the ledge, the hand that had just saved his life slipping into the shadows that surrounded him.
“Thank you for saving my life.” Caliber turned around. Before him was a knife, its sharp-ended blade just inches from his face.
“Who are you, and why are you here?” The blade twirled and flirted with his face, shining in the moon light seeping in from the window. The hand that held it was pale and sparkled with the moon light’s kiss. Caliber gulped and cleared his throat.
“I don’t know who this is, but I suggest that you make up something quick.” The voice sounded panicked; yet another emotion it never displayed.
“You think?” Caliber quickly covered his mouth and watched as the blade came closer to the spot between his eyes.
“What was that?” The figure’s tone struck a chord within Caliber; almost like he had heard it before. He shook his head and reached out, determined to move the blade away from his face.
“Nothing. My name’s Caliber, and I have no idea why I’m here. I sort of…well, sort of stumbled into it…” He managed to slowly push the blade away from his face and sighed. It was going to be a long night.
The figure continued Caliber’s gesture and let the blade down slowly before stepping fully into the moonlight. Her long auburn hair was tied up in a ponytail high on her head, and her porcelain-pale skin glowed in the moonlight. There was no doubt about it in Caliber’s head: this was Princess Adelaide.
“Princess?” Caliber’s voice squeaked. He watched as the girl before him pulled her blade back up to his face and placed a finger on her lips.
“Breathe a word of this to anyone at the palace, and I’ll kill you. Don’t think I won’t, either.” She bent her eyebrows in and glared for a second before letting down the blade and putting it back in its sheath. “I suppose you want to know why I’m here. Let me save you the trouble of mumbling the words. I found out not too long ago that the witches coven has been planning a hostile take-over of the kingdom.”
“She’s a very forthright Princess, isn’t she?” The voice was just as taken back as Caliber was by the sudden discussion of her location.
“Worse yet,” she continued, walking back in forth, paying no attention to the strange look that Caliber was giving her, “they’ve threatened the possibility of exposure to my people. Do you have any idea what that could do to the kingdom?”
Caliber shook his head. “No.”
“It could cause destruction entirely. We are Lutins, Caliber. We are but a small fleck on the face of this earth. This place that we’re in now is called an Épicerie; this is where we come for our supplies in the kingdom. We borrow from this place to create our own lives. We do so in the darkness on certain nights; taking nothing but what we need to ensure our happiness, and no one finds out. If someone did, our whole way of life will be destroyed.” She walked back and forth, her hair moving along with her. Her face bent in, a look of worry found itself upon it with each new sentence. She tried to give off confidence, but Caliber saw right through it. He would be just as terrified as her if he knew what could happen.
“And the witches, Princess Adelaide, you said are trying to expose us to these…what?” Caliber stepped closer, sure that the blade she held in its sheath would not return for him.
“We call them Entités. They are the ones that supply us with most of what we use. And the witches are threatening to expose us to the Entités if we do not turn over the kingdom to them completely. In all my life, I have not once heard of these witches turning against us like this. They’ve always been such nice creatures to our villages within the kingdom…but, in any case, they must be stopped. Which brings me to why I’m here. And now you. I know you, don’t I?” She walked over to him and, using only a finger, lifted his head up to get a good look at his face.
“I don’t know about you, but I like her. She’s very open and confident, the exact opposite of you.” The voice laughed.
Caliber rolled his eyes and waited for her to make the same faces that the villagers did whenever he passed by one of them—the look of disgust and hatred. It took him by surprise when she didn’t, but simply removed her hand and smiled.
“You’re that boy that has that curse placed upon him; the one that had been said to have the power to bring about a change to our way of life. You’re the Caliber. I’d never thought, not once, that I would run into you!” She laughed and pulled him along, forcing him to follow her. “We just need to find a way to break that curse, is all! That power that the witch saw within you is one that could destroy their plan; I’m sure of it. Why else would they curse you to keep you from knowing how to use it? I’ve studied magic long enough with those creatures to know how things work. Unfortunately, given that circumstance, I still don’t know how to break you free of the curse…”
“She talks a lot, doesn’t she? A little too much, too loud. Aren’t we suppose to be in secret?” The voice sounded worried again. Caliber wasn’t used to the change in his voice’s tone. He didn’t know what to be more afraid of: the girl dragging him along, or the emotional voice within his head…
“Excuse me, Princess? Where exactly are we going?” Caliber managed to free his wrist and stop her. This was all a little much to take in for him at once.
“To the coven. There isn’t time to waste; I overheard that they plan on exposing the kingdom on my wedding day, tomorrow, when everyone is gathered within the castle walls.” She continued on, Caliber following her. “That’s why we have to stop them tonight. If it didn’t endanger my people, I wouldn’t be out here doing this. I hate that Prince Blythe, and an interruption in my wedding would be just fine with me. But, my people come first, and I have to do all that I can to save them. I was weary at first, but now that I have you, I know how to stop them.”
Caliber frowned. “But you said you didn’t know how to break my curse. And I thought I was supposed to cause destruction to the kingdom, not help it.”
“We don’t have to tell them that, Caliber. Just let them think that you broke free of your curse and scare them into stopping their plan! Now, time to stop talking. We’re here. Just follow me and listen to what I tell you once we’re inside, okay?” She grabbed his hand once more and lead him through a small chamber until they reached a room that held all of the witches. Their faces bent towards one witch in particular—the head witch that Caliber recognized as the same one from his village. Was that the one that had placed the curse upon him?
“My fellow witches!” She began, her crackling voice pouring over the room, “Tomorrow night is the one we’ve been waiting for! Princess Adelaide is to marry, having all of the little Lutins in one place for us to expose them, less they turn over the kingdom in our favor! For too long have we abided by their rules; by Queen Zephryus’s laws that stilted our powers! It’s time we revolted against that and gave the true power back to its rightful place, the witches!”
The witches laughed simultaneously, creating an echo that surrounded the entire Épicerie. With one finger, the head witch silenced them and continued on. “The best part of this plan, however, my dear sisters, is that the one boy that could stop us is too dejected to do anything about it! The curse that I placed upon him when he was but a babe has worked! He has grown miserable and weak; unable to fight back for himself. And with the threat placed upon the kingdom to expose them to the Entités, there is no way for the Queen to fight back!”
Caliber’s eyes grew wide. He had suffered with this curse because it was placed upon him from a witch? He had been humiliated and out casted by everyone in the kingdom because of something beyond his control?
“What are you—”
Caliber’s face turned red. For a moment, he couldn’t control his thoughts; couldn’t even hear the voice inside of his head. He gave a glance at Princess Adelaide, watching her expression as she listened to the head witch continue her speech. He frowned and slowly started down the wall, his thoughts focused on one single thing: revenge. Revenge for what the witch had put him through his entire life over something out of his control. Why should he have to be punished for something he never asked for?
“Hey witch!” Caliber’s voice echoed, causing the witches to stop their laughter and face him.
“You! What do you think you can do, huh? Puny little Caliber, all kept up to himself with that voice inside of his head. Have you come to stop us?” The head witch leaped from her podium, landing face to face with him. “Face it, you have no power here. There is no spell that can break you of that curse, and there is no chance of you saving this kingdom. Be gone with you! And take that princess you’ve got up there with you before I place a curse on her as well!”
Caliber stood still. “I’m tired of running away, witch. I’m tired of avoiding people, of having people treat me like I’m death come to take them away. I’m tired of being bound under a spell for something that I had no control over. For 16 years I’ve suffered with the thought that one day, I could destroy the kingdom; for 16 years I’ve put up with the strange looks and dirty faces and treatment not fit for a criminal all because of the curse that you placed upon me. Well no more! I refuse to let you control me! I will no longer run away from it!”
A strong light shone from Caliber for a moment before turning into tiny crystals that moved about the room, shining the moonlight onto each and every witch. The light danced back and forth for a moment before bursting into flames, consuming the witches in a matter of moments. The head witch simply stared as she watched her sisters being taken away from her by this boy that had broken the curse she’d placed upon him. Caliber smiled quickly before grabbing the witch by her neck and hoisting her up. “You,” he said in a booming voice that echoed louder than the cackling witches earlier, “will be the only one that I let live. Go tell all your covens about what will happen if they try to come near my kingdom. I will not take to creatures that play with the lives and fates of others for their own gain. Now, leave this place and never return, less you wish to join your sisters here.”
He dropped her to the floor and watched as she skidded away, a look a fear plastered across her face. Caliber waited until she left the room before dropping down to the ground, everything going black around him.
***
The castle walls seemed to shine more each time he walked through them. Ever since the day he’d broken his curse and defeated the witches, he held a most unusual grin on his face, one that no one ever seemed to question him about. He had gone from the most tortured soul in the kingdom to its ruler, having given an honorary title for his deed before falling in love with Princess Adelaide and marrying her.
All was well within the kingdom, too. They still borrowed from the Entités’s Épicerie, but never were caught; they still lived out life as happily ever after as they should. There were no longer witches that assigned jobs and tasks to the villagers; they were given free will to do what they wanted with their lives, and no one judged them for it.
The voice that was once inside of Caliber’s head had vanished as well. Most times he was glad to have it gone, but some nights, when he became swamped with kingdom duties, he longed for the curse he’d grown up with; the friend he had never knew he had until it was gone.
~♥~
So it’s not “2-3 pages”–*cough cough* it’s 10 *cough cough* but it’s good and it’s a start.
If anyone has any ideas, lemme know 🙂
I’ll try posting more on this as I can, but next post will probably be working with my annotated Bib rough-draft.
I just hope I can pick anything to write about–because if I have to stick with text books or people I’ve read on solely in the creative writing program, I’m not going to be happy 😦
Hope everyone’s enjoying break!
It’s never long enough, is it?
So much to not do, so little time.
Until next time,
Sami
A Plethora of Demiurgic Imagination 