Fantasy Foretold Forum Gretchen's Collaborative Book ..

This is the thread for the project I mentioned in the thread for the Fantasy Foretold Writing Game! Anyone who wants to be part of this project, go ahead and post on this thread! This is where we'll post back and forth the chapters, edits, status, and whatnot before the book is posted. Go ahead and join the project now!

Here's what's been written so far:

Gretchen’s original post:

"The story centers on two children/teens altered by magic to become creatures of fantasy (dragons, elves, shapeshifters, fairies; [basically] anything BUT vampires and werewolves). One of the altered children/teens was a human boy and the other a human girl. The story would detail their meeting, how they cope with their new bodies, and their relationship (do they end up falling in love, or do they become bitter rivals that create two sides and go to war to settle their feud?)."

Tsukin Archangel:

“Dark. Cold. Like floating through empty space, a body like air, numb to the outside world. Jason lay on his back, ragged breaths coming in slow and steady, hardly like he would have expected them to the moment before he died. Especially after the sorceress impaled him with her staff, slowly sending her poison through his veins. It was strangely peaceful, despite the fact he could no longer control what shape his body stayed in, no longer really knew who he was. Was he Jason? Or was he Jessica? Was he the tiger? Or perhaps the eagle whose form he stole all those weeks ago? It was all becoming a jumble, the memories blending together, each person, animal, and thing's consciousness beating at his own.

He. Yes. He was pretty sure he was male, of that much he could pick out through the cacophonous noise inside his head, that wracked his body reduced to spastic hot flashes, skin rippling like a mirage as arms turned to wings and feet into paws. Eyes into gold and head into snakes. A modern day chimera.

Footsteps. They broke the peace of his death, sounding like thunder in his sensitive ears, of course she'd come, of course she wouldn't even give him the dignity to die peacefully. No, she had to stand over him watch and allow her to have her own dirty way.

"Nimra," He choked out, eyes blazing angrily, all consciousness inside him agreeing that she was a threat.

"Jason." He hair was black falling in beautiful ringlets down her back, her eyes a dancing red.

It hadn't always been this way. They hadn't always been enemies, at one time her eyes had been blue. At one time they had both been normal.”

Taylor 0401

“Nimra staggered out of the darkness and into the light.  It felt as if she'd been in the cave for days, but there was no way to be sure.  Her eyes blinked rapidly to adjust, and all four legs wobbled uncertainly.  Four.  Four legs.  Four legs?!

She found herself scrambling to remain upright, as the realization of her new form threatened to overwhelm her.  She could feel each leg independently of the others, but they seemed to know how to function as a unit without any direction from her.  Apparently whatever this new shape was came with instincts as well.  There were vague sensations of a tail swishing impatiently back and forth. 

It was clear from a quick look down that she now had paws.  Massive golden paws holding up muscular fur-covered legs.  An attempt to speak resulted in a deep, bubbling growl.  Fear began to creep into Nimra's bones.  What had been done to her.  Was she a monster?  She had to know.

Down the hill and into the woods she sprinted, four legs carrying her faster than she'd ever ran before.  Twigs and branches whipped at her face with each nimble dodge between trees, but she hardly noticed through her new thick fur.  It wasn't long before she found a shallow pond.  Nervously, she approached the reflective surface. It won't be that bad, Nim.  You're still you.  Nobody else in here, right?  Take a look... Eyes shut tight, she bent her head over the water, and cracked a quick glance.  Her jaw dropped in shock when Nimra saw what she had become.”

Writer #00

“Her hair, hovering just above the river in small, black circles, was the same as it had been for the majority of her life.  Her eyes hadn't changed drastically, remaining soft, oceanic blues, and, for the most part, her entire face was the same it had been the night before.  It even maintained the slight green tinge she'd acquired last night following her Mom's questionably gelatinous excuse for dinner. 

She remembered poking at the stuff--was it pasta?  jiggling flour-and-water that was supposed to be pasta?--and then, not wanting to hurt her incredibly emotionally delicate mother, shoveling the...food?...into her mouth as quickly as her psyche would allow and her esophagus could physically admit.  She also remembered experiencing a sort of uncomfortable gag as she shoved the hopefully nutritious half-blob down her throat, a reflex she was not accustomed to given her adaptation to the usual horror that was her mother's cooking.  There was something especially--unnaturally--sickening about this batch of death her mom had whipped up, something that made her queasy and sent her to bed with the sensation one felt while vomiting, but without the actual act of vomiting.  And when she awoke the next day?

Well, that's what she was trying to get a grasp on now. 

Nimra glanced down at her han--err--paws, then back into the very her reflection of the river.  Paws.  Face.  Paws.  Face.  She continued this bobblehead-esque motion for an astonishing ten minutes, giving her mind time enough to fully register the shock of what she was, stepping back from the river so that she could see her full body.  Was it her body?  She wondered, as the golden fur and long, fan-like canine's tail curled itself between her hind legs. 

The wave of untreatable nausea she'd felt approximately twelve hours earlier returned once more, the green pallor tinting her nearly brown complexion ever more.  She closed her eyes, heaving over into the river but feeling only the dry, disappointing pain of having absolutely nothing come up.  Multiple, stabbing pinpricks radiated up her neck, into her cheeks, around her eyes and nose, and melding with and into her hair.  When the wave past,  Nimra slowly opened her eyes, trembling over the river water and pawing at the ground as the head of a gold-feathered bird--perhaps an eagle?--stared back at her.”

Katiya K

“Nimra froze and blinked at the reflection that blinked back at her. She was so overcome with shock that her new body became as still and cold as stone. Her mind was blank and then suddenly a mixture of emotions so raw and powerful exploded in her that she felt herself lift off the ground with massive brown and gold tinge wings. Her paws scratched at the air as she lifted herself higher and let out a massive screech of what was meant to be a cry of anguish.

Without direction, Nimra hurled herself towards a faraway mountain scape. Her giant wings beating the air faster and faster with each thought of the transformation and her wretched mother. Hot tears filled her eyes and blurred the little thatched cottages down below. All she could think of was getting as far away as possible.

As Nimra's large wings stretched out abover her she noticed a convocation of eagles swirling the air above her. Their angry screeches filled the air and Nimra responded in annoyance an angry shriek of her own. Wait - did she really just talk to those animals? Nimra shuddered at the thought as the reality of her transformation finally sunk in.

Before she could realize what was happening a couple of the eagles launched themselves at her and spread their wings wide. "What are you?" the larger of the two said. "You don't belong in this world."

The other beat its outstretched wings in agreement.

Nimra growled, "Let me pass. I'm going far away anyways." Her wings were starting to get weary from the far journy.

The large eagle narrowed his eyes at her, "You seek comfort in the Black Mountains? You are brave, little one. Watch out for the dangers - they are not of your kind." With a fiery screech the eagles dropped low and returned to their convocation. “

Nimra watched with a wary eye as the eagles flew away. Warned already of the titanic danger awaiting in the black mountains she only returned her eyes back to the landscape before her. Powerful wings beating the wind she shot toward them with great speed. Dark clouds filled the sky before her. And lightning shot from cloud to cloud.

She hesitated for a moment yet her momentum kept her going. Too late to turn back now. Onward she shot toward these mountains to find a place to hide the horror that she had become. The visage she had witnessed in the water before shooting into the sky. Terrified her beyond knowing. Afraid she would hurt others, and more than likely herself. She moved to hide, to live.

Here, she would land while thunder filled the air around her and lightning lit up the sky. Scurrying into a cave she'd curl up into a ball and place her tail upon her face. There, hiding in the cave Nimra cried herself to sleep.

Hm, maybe you guys should find all the people who are interested and combine Google IM with a Dropbox folder, or something?

I don't have a Google account, so I guess it'll have to be on here. I'm very sorry if that's inconvenient for you, but I can't help the lack of a Google-related account...