Chronicaled Adventures

[adventurechronicales-blog]

Shinigami-Reaper (Lord Shinigami)   This is Lord Death from Soul Eater. I’m using him to represent Prof. Tarsilious. You can see by his pose that he as a playful personality. 

[adventurechronicales-blog]

First lesson

Come morning, Ada and her friends woke up to the warm, early September air. Down in the massive stone Grand Hall, they sat together at antiquated looking wooden tables. Perhaps a dozen other students were there.  There were plates of eggs, bacon, toast, sausage, muffins, as well as pitchers of milk and juice.

“Good morning, everyone! I trust you all slept well?” The headmaster, in purple robes with gold stars and a matching hat held his arms up in a welcoming gesture. 

A few muttered responses are heard. 

“Well, in an hour, your first lesson starts.  I expect to see you all on the practice lawn bright eyed and bushy tailed with minds ready to learn.”

Ada shot the headmaster a look of utter annoyance.

An hour later, all the students were gathered on the practice lawn, looking much more awake. Ada adjusted the sleeves of her pale blue dress. Val stretched out, the baggy sleeves of her mint green dress sliding down her arms.

A skeleton walks onto the field. “Hello, young ones! I am Professor Tarsilious, and we will be starting with safety today.”

Ada just stares blankly at him.

“Lets start with you,” he gestures for Val to come forward.

“This can’t be good,” Unrak muttered to Ada, who nodded in agreement.

Val stepped forward. Four steps in, she tripped over her own feet.  As she was going down, the professor faced his palm to her, dousing the ground around her with water. When she hit the ground, she ignited.  The wet ground didn’t ignite.

Professor Tarsilious sighs, and lowers his head for a few seconds.

“Sorry! I didn’t mean to!” Val profusely apologizes. “I can’t really control when I ignite.

Professor Tarsilious shakes his head. “That wasn’t lack of control of your powers, that was sparked by your own lack of confidence. Am I right to assume when you tripped, you feared igniting?”

She nodded, blushing.  

“You may step back.” He gestured to Ada. “Your turn.”

Ada stepped forward, wringing her hands nervously. The professor points to a foot cubed block of wood. “Levitate that.”

Ada raised her right arm half way, reached out with her left arm, snatched her fingers shut on air, and flicked her hand up. The block popped up in the air, slowly rotating counter-clockwise, and abruptly fell.

“Yes, that was a nice lift off, but your shock at your own powers working would have kept it airborne.”

Ada drew her eyebrows together with her mouth slightly open.

“And yes, I am a mind reader.” 

Unrak muttered to Ada again.

“Is there something you wish to share with the class?”

“We were just wondering...where did this school come from?” 

“Over a thousand years ago, the greatest magic users of the age banded together to help those, who, put nicely, could use a master of magic to learn from.”

All the students sat down.

“These magic users were originally making an army to fight a cruel sorcerer, who wanted nothing more than to rule the world with magic.  And fear. He wanted his army to keep non magic people as inferiors, slaves, if you will. He thought that magic was all the power anyone needed.”

“How did that go?” Ada asked.

“We won the war.” The sorcerer was killed. Without him, the original reason for the academy was gone, but we had created a very good thing, and saw no reason for it to end.”

“Why wasn’t any of that included in the letter?” Unrak asked.

“That’s a good question.  I don’t know.  Anyway. Back to the lesson.  The safety lesson.”

What I chose to work with for this post were minor ideas that became important later on in the Harry Potter series. First, Neville Longbottom proves to be very poor at magic, until the fifth book, that is.  He had been using his father’s wand.  When he acquired his own, the results of his magic changed dramatically. It is the wand that chooses the wizard in that world.  Given there are no wands in my world, I changed it to the instruction.  Val was never taught to have confidence in herself, whereas Ada is self taught.  This causes them to make simple mistakes.  

The idea for the teacher being able to read minds comes from legilimency, magically invading someone’s mind.  Tarsilious is taking a look at the student’s minds to both anticipate potential disasters, such as what he did with Val. This also helps him get to know his students, both their abilities and their personalities. 

As to the magical history, part of the idea is from Lord Voldemort, and his take over in the final book when ‘Magic is Might’ became the Ministry of Magic’s new slogan. The school served its purpose, but still thrives a thousand years later.  This is similar to  The Order of the Phoenix, a secret society formed to stop Voldemort and his death eaters.  The biggest difference is that between Voldemort’s fall when he tried and failed (for the first of many times) to kill baby Harry Potter, the Order became dormant.  They did not fall apart, but without the Death Eaters reeking havok everywhere, the Order had peace.  When Voldemort came back in the 4th book, the order had to get ready for round 2. Since my academy is training the not-so-secret society, they saw no reason to discontinue.  

 http://harrypotter.wikia.com/wiki/Magic_is_Might

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lord_Voldemort

http://harrypotter.wikia.com/wiki/Hogwarts_founders

http://www.glamour.com/entertainment/blogs/obsessed/2015/09/fascinating-harry-potter-fan-theories?mbid=social_fb_fanpage

http://harrypotter.wikia.com/wiki/Legilimency

http://harrypotter.wikia.com/wiki/Order_of_the_Phoenix

[adventurechronicales-blog]

Time to teach 5

This is a flash fiction blog following the adventures of a witch named Ada.  So far, she has met a fire witch (meaning she can create fire, usually by accident), Unrak, a severe germaphobe, an unnamed recruiter, and the academy's headmaster. The headmaster sends the recruiter out to collect magic users who have the potential to be great, but are sorely lacking in the skills department.  My group just got to the academy.  Enjoy :)

Come morning, Ada and her friends woke up to the warm, early September air. Down in the massive stone Grand Hall, they sat together at antiquated looking wooden tables. Perhaps a dozen other students were there.  There were plates of eggs, bacon, toast, sausage, muffins, as well as pitchers of milk and juice.

“Good morning, everyone! I trust you all slept well?” The headmaster, in purple robes with gold stars and a matching hat held his arms up in a welcoming gesture.

A few muttered responses are heard.

“Well, in an hour, your first lesson starts.  I expect to see you all on the practice lawn bright eyed and bushy tailed with minds ready to learn.”

Ada shot the headmaster a look of utter annoyance.

An hour later, all the students were gathered on the practice lawn, looking much more awake. Ada adjusted the sleeves of her pale blue dress. Val stretched out, the baggy sleeves of her mint green dress sliding down her arms.

A skeleton walks onto the field. “Hello, young ones! I am Professor Tarsilious, and we will be starting with safety today.”

Ada just stares blankly at him.

“Lets start with you,” he gestures for Val to come forward.

“This can’t be good,” Unrak muttered to Ada, who nodded in agreement.

Val stepped forward. Four steps in, she tripped over her own feet.  As she was going down, the professor faced his palm to her, dousing the ground around her with water. When she hit the ground, she ignited.  The wet ground didn’t ignite.

Professor Tarsilious sighs, and lowers his head for a few seconds.

“Sorry! I didn’t mean to!” Val profusely apologizes. “I can’t really control when I ignite.

Professor Tarsilious shakes his head. “That wasn’t lack of control of your powers, that was sparked by your own lack of confidence. Am I right to assume when you tripped, you feared igniting?”

She nodded, blushing.  

“You may step back.” He gestured to Ada. “Your turn.”

Ada stepped forward, wringing her hands nervously. The professor points to a foot cubed block of wood. “Levitate that.”

Ada raised her right arm half way, reached out with her left arm, snatched her fingers shut on air, and flicked her hand up. The block popped up in the air, slowly rotating counter-clockwise, and abruptly fell.

“Yes, that was a nice lift off, but your shock at your own powers working would have kept it airborne.”

Ada drew her eyebrows together with her mouth slightly open.

“And yes, I am a mind reader.”

Unrak muttered to Ada again.

“Is there something you wish to share with the class?”

“We were just wondering...where did this school come from?”

“Over a thousand years ago, the greatest magic users of the age banded together to help those, who, put nicely, could use a master of magic to learn from.”

All the students sat down.

“These magic users were originally making an army to fight a cruel sorcerer, who wanted nothing more than to rule the world with magic.  And fear. He wanted his army to keep non magic people as inferiors, slaves, if you will. He thought that magic was all the power anyone needed.”

“How did that go?” Ada asked.

“We won the war.” The sorcerer was killed. Without him, the original reason for the academy was gone, but we had created a very good thing, and saw no reason for it to end.”

“Why wasn’t any of that included in the letter?” Unrak asked.

“That’s a good question.  I don’t know.  Anyway. Back to the lesson.  The safety lesson.”

[adventurechronicales-blog]

Spencer Means 

This is roughly what creature they are fighting- dirt devil.

[adventurechronicales-blog]

In the morning, Unrak looked like he had barely slept.

“I don’t like sleeping outside.  It’s so dirty out here!”Ada noticed how precisely he spoke. He pronounced his t’s clearly, instead of slurring them off as d’s.“Welcome to the great outdoors!"  Val said with a huge grin, throwing both arms up in a V.

Unrak shot her a look of utter annoyance .  Ada just rolled her eyes."Why don’t we set up camp?”Val spat on a log to ignite it and started a nice campfire. Both girls pulled food out of their bags. Unrak looked bothered by their meager rations. He opened up his bag, and pulled out another box. When he set it down, it expanded into a mini fridge. He pulls out a chicken.Both girls jaws drop.“How the hell-”He opens a door at the bottom and removes a pan, and finally realized the girls were staring at him.“Would you two like some chicken?”They both put both hands out, forming bowls.“Alright…” he said slowly. He gives them some chicken and they eat together.

Come morning, they took off. After a few hours, Unrak announced he could see the academy in the distance. .

 "We're finally here!" Ada announced.

The headmaster was there to greet them when they approached the front door.

"Did you have any problems getting here?"

"Nothing we couldn't manage," Ada says with a smile.

Val and Unrak look guilty.

"Why don't you go meet your new classmate? He's exploring the practice area.

[adventurechronicales-blog]

Time to teach 4

When Ada and her friend were nearly there, the recruiter caught up to them.

“Given you seem to know your way around, I have a request for you.”

“Oh?” Valadra asked.

“It would seem one of our recruits is having difficulty. You are the closest ones to him who can help.”

“You can’t?” Ada asked bluntly.

“No. It would seem having an authority figure present was making it worse.  If you could fetch him and get him moving again, that would be great.” Ada could clearly read the exasperation etched across his face.

“Alright, where is he?”

“Back by the river. Stay out of the woods this time.” With that, he vanished.

Within an hour, they found the river. It took no effort from there to find him. They could hear crashing and unidentifiable sounds. When they got around the last cluster of trees, their jaws dropped at what they saw.

“Valadra?” Ada asked, staring straight ahead.

“You can call me Val if you want,” she said without turning to face Ada.

About a dozen three foot tall creatures, composed mostly of dirt, with tiny, sharp, clawed hands, soulless black eyes with red pupils, and tiny, sharp teeth were fighting a wizard in a snow white robe.

“Dirt devils! Poor kid!” Ada cried.

The wizard threw a fireball, narrowly missing incinerating one of the devils. Several responded by squealing a high pitched squeal, and throwing dirt and mud clumps at him. He deftly avoided every last one.

“Need help?” Ada called out.

“Look at all the dirt!” He calls back indignantly.

“Uh, yeah, those things are called dirt devils for a reason...”

Val grinned at Ada. “I’ve got this.”

“Wait!  What are you-”

Val ran forward between the devils, and, inevitably tripped.

BAM!

The bright flash of light momentarily blinded Ada. Blinking until her vision cleared, she sees a crater surrounded by smouldering dirt clumps.

Val looks slightly dazed. “That was a big blast.... Ada looks up at the wizard. There is now a huge mud splatter all over him.  He was still standing, but not moving.

“Um. Are you okay?” 

He started twitching.  “Dirt! Everywhere.”

Ada outstretches her left arm, palm facing him, and abruptly widens her fingers. A geyser opens and knocks him off his feet.  Ada closes the geyser and runs over to him. “I guess I was only supposed to separate my fingers?”

“Obviously!” He was sopping wet.

“Well, the dirt is almost gone.”

He shoots her a withering look and uses his hands as powerful air dryers to remove the remaining dirt.

“What happened to your dress?”

Ada glances down. “Oh, it’s just old.”

He pulls out a small box and places it on the ground. It expands into a full sized wardrobe. He opens the door to reveal high quality dresses. “Please, get rid of that abomination.”

Val suddenly appears behind Ada, both girls staring mesmerized at the clothes.

“Feel free to pick a few,” he said. “I’m Unrak, by the way.”

The girls disappear into the closet.

[adventurechronicales-blog]

Ambush 3

Ada and Valadra continued on their way. Ada nervously kept several feet away. As they went into a forest, she looked around nervously.

“Something wrong?” Valadra asked.

“I don’t know... something feels weird.”

“I’m not going to set the trees on fire.” Valadra said defensively. “Trees retain water, which doesn’t burn well.”

“That wasn’t what I meant,” Ada laughed. “Maybe it was just my imagination.”

A loud yell came from above them. A pair of teen boys jumped from the tree branches. First one went wide eyed, his eyes darting between Ada and Valadra. The second pulled a knife.

“What do you want?” Ada asked. “We don’t want any trouble.“

“Hand over your money-” the second started.

“And food.” The first interrupted.

“-and you won’t get hurt.” The second glowered at the first.

Valadra clung to Ada.

A loud whip-like crack rang through the air, throwing the boys twenty feet back, landing flat on their backs.

The women turned around and saw the recruiter.

“If I catch you trying to rob my students ONE MORE TIME, I will send you into orbit!”

The recruiter paused, seeming to think, and then brandished his wand at the bandits. 

“OW!” they both yelped, clasping their hands on their rear ends.

“What was that?” Ada asked.

“A stinging charm. They won’t be sitting around, being lazy for a while.”

Valadra snickered. The recruiter looked at her. She quickly faked a cough, creating a tiny fireball.

“How about I teach you how to defend yourselves from attack?” He showed them how to do the stinging spell.

[adventurechronicales-blog]

Contact Me

If you have any questions, comments, or concerns, feel free to contact me at: [email protected] I check email pretty often.

[adventurechronicales-blog]

About

Adventure Chronicles is a flash fiction blog that follows the adventures of a young witch, Ada, as she learns how to use her powers efficiently. Part of Ada's problem is she is very independent, and has a hard time compromising

[adventurechronicales-blog]

Ada’s first adventure 2

Ada had perused the letter carefully.  The headmaster had a charm to pick up on different levels of magic pretty much anywhere in the country.  He drafted anyone who showed high levels of magic, but low levels of control or knowledge of it.  She begrudgingly admitted her spells could be better, as the recruiter had demonstrated, and packed a bag.  She had been alone in that swamp for a while.

She set out on the main road, determined to get to the academy soon. Not long after setting out, she rounded a corner, and saw a flash of bright, reddish orange light. Before she could decide if she wanted to flee or investigate, a woman in a red dress with orange steaks came tearing out.

“Are you alright?” Ada asked.

The woman in the red dress stopped, turned back around, and faced Ada again. 

“Who, me?”

“Well, I didn’t see anyone else.”

The woman laughed nervously. “I’m fine.  I should get going, though.”

Ada nodded.  They started walking in the same direction.

“If you don’t mind my asking, where are you going?”

“Oh, uh, some academy.”

“Just past the mountain, by any chance?”

The woman looked surprised. “Yes.”

“Same here.  I’m Ada, by the way.”

“Valadra”.

About an hour later, Ada stopped momentarily,looking at the light, sparse clouds. Valadra abruptly tripped, and BOOM!

Freaked out, Ada looked towards where a bomb had just gone off. There was a five foot blast radius, and her new friend laying, coughing in the dead center.

“Wha...”

Valadra looked up with a guilty expression. “I didn’t happen to mention I’m a fire elemental, did I?”

“A what?”

“I can create fire.  It’s rather useful on a cold night, light a fire quickly... the problem is, I don’t know how to control it, and.... blow up.  A lot.

[adventurechronicales-blog]

Intro 1

     Ada stood alone in the nearly grass less field. She sighed, glancing down at her old clothes- a dress worn through on the left shoulder, pushing her to trim down the frayed edges, completely removing the left shoulder. Her isolation from the nearby village was starting to effect her. Her clothes were starting to wear through, but she didn’t have the resources to get more. Being a young woman, going without just wasn’t an option.

 She decided it was time to make more food, so she would start with duplicating her bread supply.  Pushing the bleak appearance from her mind, with her left hand, she gingerly removed the long, snow white wand from its black leather holster secured snugly around her hips, held her wand hand out in front of her, slightly above her head, and brought her right hand up to shoulder height.  Satisfied with her position, she began to trace a white, serpentine line in the air.  Once it stretched from shoulder to shoulder, she began to withdraw her wand, causing her tracing to begin to glow.

     "No, lady, like this." A voice directly behind her left arm said as a hand caught her wrist, and redirected her motion into a zigzag, making a new line.      "Hey-"

     "Wait."  He assisted as Ada put her wand in the middle, and gently prodded forward, towards a loaf of bread sitting on a blanket on the ground. The zigzag line took on the appearance of smoke, and dissipated. There was ten loaves on the blanket.

    "Who are-"

    "Keep your motions clear.  Angles aren't curves. If YOU get it right, so does your spell," the stranger handed her a folded up piece of paper. "Directions to the academy, as well as everything you need to know."

"Hold on just a damn second and explain yourself!"

"The paper explains everything.  I have 30 other recruits to get to today alone. Would've been nice if a FEW of you lived in the same village!"

"Wha-""Just read it." He took off, or at least tried to. As he strode away, his right shoe sank into the greyish-brown swamp mud, and nearly threw the recruiter flat on his face. Being a skilled magic user, he was able to keep upright with a deft if not hasty swish of his wand that left the sound of a whip cracking resonating through the swamp momentarily. 

    Without a second thought, Ada swished her own wand over her head, duplicating the left shoe.

    “Couldn’ve duplicated the shoe that is gone, I see.  No matter.  The academy will teach you how.”  With that, he vanished.

“A simple ‘thank you’ woulda sufficed,” Ada turned around to shoot him a sour look, only to see footprints leading up to a pucker mark on the edge of the mud.  She tilted her head slightly.  “I coulda also told ya that you were right against the muck!” With a shrug, she gathered her supplies and went back inside to read the letter.