Genre: Fantasy Surrealism. Tales of the Realm Book 1. Two children share memories of their lives, and in doing so open the door to a dark but beautiful realm. In this land imagination becomes reality, dreams become possibilities, and the dark recess...
This chapter is part 2 of the draft rewrite of Memories' Prologue. I hope you enjoy 😊
Kaiken and I ride waves that roll along the surface of a world freshly transformed by my magic. The new landmass before us slows in its ascent; the highest points almost touching the clouds. Exotic trees burst forth from rich soil, coiling around one another and sprouting thick green leaves. A canopy full of life and colour unfolds along the cliff line. The screeches and calls of alien creatures carry across faintly to our ears.
Our ship creaks and heaves as it rides the crazy roller-coaster of waves. Kaiken laughs as the ocean sprays flecks of salt and water high into the air, her eyes sparkling. Droplets splatter on her cheeks, and she raises her head to grin and soak it all up, wisps of her blonde hair flickering about. She rests her eyes firmly on the island, determination unable to be washed on her face, and beneath her cheeky gaze and playful laugh, I see it, I see her. Power. Answers. Destiny. It's there somewhere, buried in the vast wilderness, the fountain that might save this world, were it real. The island is our destination. I'm sure of it.
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The thought is interrupted by something primal, rumbling darker and deeper than the thunder of before. 'Look,' Kaiken points.
Mounds of dirt push up from the ground, throwing trees just minutes old over, to bury them in an avalanche of rubble and stone. Is that? Flecks of orange and yellow spit forth, followed soon by fountains of lava. Streams of the stuff flow freely in every direction as the mounds push higher and higher, already fifty meters high. But they don't stop there. Kaiken and I watch in bewilderment as they rise. One-hundred meters, two-hundred meters. Three.
'Uhh,' I stammer, as the mound becomes a mountain, 'is this distance safe?'
Kaiken just glares at me. The sound is deafening. Between random booms, constant rumbling, and the fracturing of stone. The mountain splits into multiple parts, sharp cracks zigzagging across. Avalanches of rocks, most of them weighing tonnes, crumble down the mountainsides. A volcano erupts from within the rising landmass, rivers of red lava from the depths bleed into the jungle below towards the cliff edge, burning everything in their way. The cliffs themselves finally end their ascent, standing proud like skyscrapers constructed before our eyes from nothing. Large unfinished masses of rock, unable to find structural support, crumble off as sandcastles might when kicked by a child.
"I'll never get used to your.. magic," a voice behind us chuckles as it joins the deck.
I turn to see Ghekre approach us, a silverback gorilla with a coat the colour of sun-baked coal. He eyes the volcano as he joins us, an eyebrow slightly raised, and shakes his head. With the strange powers I can wield in this dreamlike world, I must make an ominous figure, even beside the alpha silverback. Yet Ghekre oozes a confident power far beyond mine, eternal, primal, carnal. He eyes me warily, and I he in return. Ghekre joined us late in our journey, back at the last pirate stronghold hidden on the edge of the known world. Trust in this Realm takes a long time to earn.
