《The Fountain At Trident Grove》1-5: Days In Motion And Strange Encounters
Advertisement
A little over a week passed with the wind of a sudden cold front. The town did what it always did and did best, carry on with their lives as if there were never a scheme going on in the background. Terry’s Mom cooked, cleaned, and went to work up until seven o’clock every night. Sheriff Johanson drove around in his cop car giving tickets and warnings when needed, and whenever he had the time, he would dig around in one of the areas on the map while no one was looking. Mister Clines woke up with hangovers and would spend the rest of his day drinking and inspecting different areas of the town for more clues. He did this as hastily as his clogged mind allowed, he had less than a week left. He carried the crystal with him, hoping to find where it belonged. Terry continued to go to school on the weekdays. On his walk to and from class, he began to be accompanied by Bella, and they would joke around and run through the greenbelt, or along the bayfront. Michael would trail behind, bitter about his twin sister’s new friend. The days were colder, and not a soul noticed the oddity in a sudden shift of temperature declining to the need for a jacket, despite the fact it wasn’t very common in the southern coastal town of Trident Grove.
Mister Clines carried what he needed in a small backpack. He wore a grey jacket which, like all the shirts he wore, was oversized for his skeleton frame. His cheeks were red from the cold, and he sat on a trunk surrounded by grayed trees and muttered and spit to himself. He emptied the liquor bottle he brought with him into his stomach
“Fuck!” he yelled.
He chucked the bottle against a tree and cursed some more. A little over a week of searching with help from the sheriff had brought no success. Only a depletion and waste of time. He could hear Cadence mocking him with harmonic echoes in his head. He put his hand on his forehead and stared at the ground.
Advertisement
It was a Tuesday, and it was an early release day for the students. Terry didn’t realize it until halfway through the day when the bell rang, and everybody began to leave.
He slowly drifted outside after using the restroom and shivered to the breeze. Everybody was running around the schoolyard, saying goodbye, or waiting on their ride home. He spotted Bella by the front gate. They waved to each other, as he walked up to join her.
Bella and Terry made their way. They got to the road near the cemetery.
“Hey. We got extra time ‘cause it’s an early release day.” Bella said.
Terry nodded.
She continued. “Wanna play a game of hide-and-seek?”
“Sure. Aren’t we kind of old for that, though?” He answered.
She smiled, ignoring his question, and ran off toward the graveyard yelling, “you’re it!”
Terry muttered in disappointment. Then closed his eyes and began to count. He figured fifty was enough time. When he opened his eyes, Bella was nowhere in sight. He strolled around, peeking around trees and rocks nearby.
He was about to jump the fence to the graveyard when he noticed the old tree. It was dead, and decaying, but had been that way for as long as he had lived there. There was a large hole in the wide trunk. He walked up to it. There was a sound echoing. A whimper.
He jumped around the tree and shouted “Gotcha!”
But, it wasn’t Bella he had heard. Instead, a little girl, much younger than him sat against the tree with her head pressed into her arms. She sniffled and cried as quietly as the breeze through the trees.
Terry was stunned and he stared for a second. He’d never seen this girl, not in school, or around the town.
Advertisement
“You okay?” He asked.
She lifted her head slowly. Her whole face was red, and the area around her eyes was swollen from crying so much. She looked in his direction, but could not see him. Terry could only see gray where her pupils should have been.
Between sobs, she spoke in his direction. “I’ve lost something. I can’t find it.”
Terry shook, and something in her voice crackled against his eardrums like the songs from an old record.
The cold air around him started to feel still.
He said, “What did you lose? Maybe we can look for it.”
“It’s a key. It’s been gone for a long time.”
Terry asked her where she left it last, and she pointed in the direction of the water a mile or two away. He stared in the direction and walked a bit.
“Hey!”
Terry jumped.
He turned around to see Bella. “What’s taking so long? I’ve been hiding for forever.”
“There’s a little girl crying. She said she lost something.” He explained.
Bella looked around, confused.
“Where?” she asked.
Terry stood up and motioned around the tree. “Here.”
Bella leaned around the tree. But, there was nobody. Not even an indent of where the girl sat and cried.
She repeated. “Where?”
Terry stood with his eyes wide.
“There was a little girl here a minute ago!” He exclaimed. “She was crying, and looked blind.”
Bella looked around, then raised an eyebrow at him.
“I’m sure of it.”
“I believe you,” Bella said.
They two looked around. If there was a little girl, she was no longer around. The two continued their walk back home.
After Terry said goodbye to Bella, he felt a bit of confusion and sorrow for the little girl who bawled her eyes out behind the tree, then disappeared.
Advertisement
The Shape of Home
The world of Alvelotyl is one of fantasy, one filled with many races, an expansive magic system exploring themes of identity, some LitRPG elements, moral ambiguity and no small amount of magical inventions similar to those in our world. Dragons with blogs showing off their hoards of treasure live alongside [Hunters] chasing Giant Toads, or [Bandits] using rifles charged with Fire Magic. The Shape of Home is a story within this world, and follows the exploits of Yuri Scalesmith, a budding Lizardfolk adventurer from a small country town with a knack for inventing, and how her life drastically changes after she’s taken from home forever following a single catastrophic event. After being taken from her previously normal life, Yuri is thrust into a world of sprawling streets, magically mutated monsters, and a crime war for territory stretching across an entire city. The Shape of Home normally updates every Tuesday and Saturday at 6PM GMT, but I'm trying out different upload times to see how people react and attract others in differing timezones. There will be two week long breaks after each story arc's Interlude. This story is also a participant in the Royal Road Writathon challenge!
8 98Parasitical
Follow the wonderful colorful life of a parasite, and see how the Parasite and his host, will have fun and, well, have fun really. There isn't much else to do. Right?And... Here is the link to the cover, because I have to add that in:https://psdpetblog.files.wordpress.com/2014/07/flea-larvae.jpg?w=200&h=300Yeah, I just wanted something for a cover...But I don't actually like the cover...
8 166Void Emperor
When outlander forces attacked planet earth,the solar system’s guardian spirit which most earthlings refer to as God uses the remaining of his power to seal all life forms inside a barrier. From that point on everything became a video game,skill books levels and super powers became the common while old morals friendship and religious ideals became a joke worth nothing. The barrier would protect them for less than 60 years,which should be enough time for earthlings to gather enough power and accumulate enough fate. the system said: reach 100 fate in order to get granted passage to another world,work hard and conquer..survive the darkness to see the light Cut your binding morality shackles and use every means necessary to reach enough fate or perish,from now on it was survival of the fittest. rule of the jungle,rule of the demons! credits for the cover: DeviantArt
8 228[GONE ROGUE]
8 126Guns A Blazin'
This story is about a young boy born under the evil hand of the five main mafia families of planet Flinkaz.
8 212Dreamland
Dolores is a lucky girl with a high-level avatar in a very popular game. She did not level it up; she got it through some fortunate circumstances. She is not interested in fighting and levelling; all she wants is to have some fun and follow her own fantasies. If only there would not be all those idiots who intend to kill her, capture her, or simply use her. And those flaws in the game! Wait, what? Those pesky game characters now appear in the real world? And they can do magic? How did this happen? Adding to her troubles, her crush does not even look at her. As Dolores tries only to survive and hide between 'normal' people, she encounters stranger and stranger things that force her hand and, in the end, she has the answers to a lot of questions. It is a slow-developing story. I had a lot of fun writing it and hope to share it with you, dear reader if you also enjoy it. On the other hand, putting it in an acceptable form requires much work and energy. I intend to bring it to its end and not let it unfinished. I hate it when I encounter unfinished stories, so I understand the feeling. This is not a classical isekai story. There is travel between the two worlds, and the game world seems to be so very real... well, this is one plot of the story. This is not an MMORP game story. Part of the action happens inside a game world, but it is treated as a real world. Updates on a weekly basis, at least Monday and Friday, with additional bonus chapters as time and energy allow. Cover art: White Flower as A Dark Fairy by Darkrealmsmaiden Yolanda gracefully allowed me to use her dark fairy as cover. There are many more beautiful works of art to be discovered at her site: https://www.deviantart.com/darkrealmsmaiden Additional Grammar Trigger Warning: As a non-native speaker, I do my best. Unfortunately, this is not enough for people with a low tolerance for warped sentences and... they may want to skip the story :( Well, you have been warned :) I appreciate it when a reader points out a sentence that needs rework. That may spare a follow-up reader some pain and helps me understand where my English grammar problems are. * We thought we made the best game in Earth's history We thought we made the best interfaces ever seen We thought we made it - lifelike But it far exceeded our expectations. Dolores, I hope you're happy now. I hope you're alive now...
7.91 277