SqueakyBird520
loading
Weekly 4 (March 26-31)
Part One: Outline
Andromeda Giles finds a note for her with an address on her dresser. It has a strange symbol on the back.
Andromeda discovers that her friend, Owen Vix, got the same note, so she brings him when she goes to wherever the address was. When they find the address, a seemingly abandoned one-story house, the doorknob has the same strange symbol.
On the inside, the building is a huge, thriving city of apartment building-like spaces. Balconies look out into a main courtyard in each structure, which has the same symbol painted on the ground. Behind the entrance is a normal-looking living room, with a cozy fireplace and a comfortable couch.
A young man approaches Andromeda and Owen, wearing a green cloak. He introduces himself as Spade, and welcomes the pair to the “Urbs Arcanem”, a refuge for magical and/or inhuman entities to hone their abilities.
Spade leads Andromeda and Owen to a hearth in the center of the city, and some people walking around take notice that there are newcomers approaching the hearth. Spade tells each to place their hand over the fire, and it will turn a certain color. When Andromeda puts her hand over, the fire is purple. When Owen does, the fire is blue.
Spade explains that purple relates to spirits and souls, and blue relates to the weather and water. He takes the two to a shop to get a cloak for each of them, showing that they knew what color their magic was.
Spade assigns each of the two a mentor, and Andromeda ends up with a woman named Sali Ramha. Sali leads Andromeda to a library with a purple color scheme, and tells her that this is where she will learn all there is to know about what she can do. This includes one of her most useful abilities: The ability to take the form of her soul. She explains that souls have different forms than the people who embody them, and if Andromeda could take that alternate form, it might come in handy.
While Andromeda studies, absorbed in ancient-looking books of information, a signal goes out through the city saying that Spade has gone missing, and of course people start turning eyes to the two newcomers. Owen is able to negotiate on both of their behalf, and the two are allowed to study, but not interact with others in the city, until they could prove it wasn’t them by solving his disappearance.
Sali begins to visit Andromeda’s home night after night, bringing books and teaching her what she may need to figure out what happened to Spade. Owen’s mentor begins to visit him as well.
Owen gets a lead from his mentor as to where Spade went. Unfortunately, it seems to be in a city in the sky. Andromeda remembers what Sali told her about taking the form of her soul, and has the idea that it may help. Owen is surprised to see that yes, it does help, as Andromeda’s soul form has large, gray wings.
When Owen and Andromeda figure out the location of the sky city, they make their way up there and see Spade, about to be executed in the center of the town. He tries to escape his fate, but unfortunately, his earth-related abilities have hardly any use in a civilization that lives among the clouds.
Owen decides to try using his water abilities, and they work, as clouds are nothing but water vapor. The town itself isn’t made of water vapor, but the clouds above it do end up causing flooding in the streets. Spade, being able to use earth in the presence of liquid water, creates a small island-like spot floating atop the water, which he, Andromeda, and Owen get on. Andromeda uses her soul form once more, but this time in getting the patch of earth to the ground safely, which Spade assists in.
Andromeda and Owen have their punishments repealed, and everyone is glad to welcome Spade home. However, he keeps talking about the sky people trying any method they could to get information on Urbs Arcanem from him, and they had already been searching for its location…
695 words!
Part Two: Exposition
‘Three consecutive tests’ was already a horrible motive to wake up that Friday. Though, I feel like ‘mysterious note waiting when you get home’ wouldn’t be much better.
As I set my backpack down on the floor of my room, I saw a note drift from the top of my dresser to the floor in front of where I stood.
Curious, I picked it up. It seemed like… a business card, almost. Except all it had was an address and the name of the person it was for.
Andromeda Giles.
Me.
Quickly, I flipped the note to the back, to see if there was any more information. But there was not, and instead there was only a strange symbol.
“Screw it”, I sighed to myself, “Might as well get kidnapped. At least I’d get out of biology for a bit.”
140 words!
Part Three: Making the Stew
Ingredients chosen: Foreshadowing, Cliffhanger, Symbol, New Character, Epistolary
June 26th, 2023, 7:43 PM
I haven’t written in this journal for a long while, but the events that happened today were interesting, to say the least. So I feel a bit obligated to write them down.
It started when I got home today from sleeping over at Owen’s house, and dropped my bag on the floor of my room. As it hit the ground, the thud it produced sent something on my dresser floating to the ground. When I checked, it was a piece of paper. Specifically, one that appeared to be a business card. On the side that faced up, there was just an address, and a name.
Andromeda Giles.
Me.
I flipped it over to the other side, just in case there was more information, but there was simply a drawing of a dahlia flower. I had to research that one to figure out which flower it was, but it was a really detailed drawing, to the point where I almost thought it was a picture.
I called Owen as soon as I was able. And… he said that he had been left something similar. All the details the same, just his name instead of mine. Owen Vix.
I think I’ll go with him there tomorrow to see what’s going on. I mean, if I get kidnapped or killed, it’s better than taking physics when school starts back up.
June 27th, 2023, 8:26 PM
So… the address was certainly a place.
Owen and I went, and ended up at this old one-story house that looked abandoned. There were leaves and vines growing all over it, and most of the windows were cracked, but it had an intricate carving of a dahlia on the doorknob, so it had to be the right place.
I was the one to turn the doorknob, and when it opened, it opened into something neither of us ever would have expected.
Instead of a worn-out, dusty front room, there was a whole sprawling city of apartment buildings that each had a courtyard in the middle. From what I could see, all the courtyards had dahlias as well. I looked back, just to see if there was still a door, and there was a whole cozy living room now behind us. How could such a place be real?
As Owen and I looked around, a young man, who couldn’t have been more than nineteen, approached us. He had a green cloak, hazel eyes, dark brown hair, and tan skin.
“Hey!” He greeted us, “I’m Spade, and welcome to the Urbs Arcanem!”
I take Latin in school, so I knew that urbs arcanem meant hidden city.
We introduced ourselves to Spade, and he told us that we should have gotten one of the cards with the dahlia on the back, or else we shouldn’t be there. We clarified that yes, we had gotten the cards and they’d been addressed to us, so we knew that this was somewhere we were supposed to be.
“Why do you use so many dahlias?” I asked, curious about the frequent use of this symbolism.
“It’s a symbol of discovery, and this place is all about discovering what you can do. In fact, the Urbs Arcanem is a place all magical and inhuman entities can come to hone their abilities! We’ve got entrances all over the world, and all of ‘em lead to this spot! Pretty cool, huh?”
Owen and I looked at each other.
“Uh… magical entities? And inhuman?” Owen asked.
“Yeah!” Spade gestured to his cloak. “I’ve got green magic, which means I’ve got control over most things earth!”
I nodded, pretending that wasn’t the weirdest thing I’ve ever heard.
“Anyways, we should probably get to figuring out what colors you guys have!”
Owen tilted his head to the side at this.
“Like… how you have green? We have colors?” He asked.
“Well, of course, everyone here has one! Come on, let’s figure yours out so you can get to practicing!”
With that, Spade kinda just… led us to this place. It looked like most of the courtyards in the city, but this one had a hearth-like blaze burning in it. It didn’t really look like anything special, but Spade was acting all excited over it, and passers-by were taking note of our approach there.
“This… is where you get to figure out what you are!” Spade exclaimed, in an oddly excitable tone.
“Okay, but… how?” I asked.
Spade grinned widely and told Owen to place his hand over the fire. Not close enough to burn, just so much that he could feel its heat.
The moment Owen’s hand went over the flame, the blaze turned a deep blue.
“Blue magic! That’s sooooooo cool, I used to hope to have that when I was younger!”
Owen smiled awkwardly and explained that he had no idea what that entailed.
According to Spade, it entailed water and weather stuff.
When I placed my own hand over the fire, the moment I felt the heat on my palm, the flame turned purple.
“Oh, that’s a fun one! Purple means your magic relates to souls and spirits!”
I stared bewildered at Spade, wondering how any of this was even real. Maybe this was all just an elaborate prank?
Before I could ask any of this, Spade grabbed my arm with one hand and Owen’s with the other, and began to pull us towards this small shop nearby. He grabbed a blue cloak and a purple one, made us try them on for size, and excitedly purchased them for us once he figured out which ones fit.
“Now, everyone will know what colors you have! Come on, let’s head to the libraries. I have friends there that’ll gladly mentor you two!”
I swear, that man’s energy could probably power the entire Urbs Arcanem for a week.
Anyway, he took us to the violet library first, knocked on the door, and waited for a purple-cloaked woman with dark skin and black hair tied in a bun to come out. He introduced the woman as Sali, and once he got her approval, told me that she could mentor me in violet magic. She allowed me inside the library immediately, and Owen and Spade went off to the blue library.
The violet library looked like something straight out of a pin board. High, wooden walls, decorations of all shades of purple ranging from light lavender to deep aubergine, and lights that floated in the air, casting a dim glow upon the building.
Of course, the very first thing I did was ask where I could start.
Sali picked a book off of a nearby shelf and explained that this would be an important one, but she wanted to show me a far more important trick first.
“This is one that may prove to be the most useful,” she explained, removing a different book from her large cloak pocket and flipping to a page near the middle. She turned the book to face me.
“Soul Form?” I asked, reading the name.
“It’s essentially exactly what it sounds like. Here, I’ll write down a copy of it for you so you can take it home while you read through that.”
While Sali wrote, I looked over the description of the ability. ‘The ability to take the form of one’s soul, which almost never appears exactly the same as its body. By practicing the following steps regularly, you will eventually be able to unlock your true appearance.’
If I had read that excerpt yesterday, I’d have thought whoever showed me it was crazy.
As Sali handed me the slip of paper she had copied the instructions onto, I picked up the book she had taken off the shelf earlier.
“I’ll be dusting the shelves, but let me know if you need anything,” Sali smiled.
I grinned and began flipping through the book. What felt like minutes, but was more realistically an hour or so, later, a signal went out through the Urbs Arcanem.
“Attention: Spade Everbright has been reported missing. I repeat: Spade Everbright has been reported missing.”
Panicked and worried about Spade, I ran to put the book back and went out into the town, where people were staring at me. I tried to get back to the hearth, but someone stopped me along the way.
“You know”, he growled, “I think it’s a bit odd that Spade disappears the very day we get newcomers… and we don’t get newbies often. So… we might just have to revoke your powers.” He held up a terrifying contraption that I don’t think anyone would want to fall victim to.
My eyes went wide with fear as I saw Owen in a similar situation. We made eye contact for a moment, before he came up with an idea.
“Wait! If we can find him, can we keep our abilities? And… not get whatever else you’re trying to do?”
If that stupid idea hadn’t worked, maybe we’d have laughed about it later.
And if we hadn’t gone to that place, maybe there wouldn’t be a bird outside my windowsill garden pecking at a sprout that definitely wasn’t there yesterday.
June 30th, 2023, 4:17 PM
A dahlia has been growing abnormally quickly in the windowsill garden. And there’s always a bird there when I check its progress. Odd.
Sali’s been coming to see me, and teaching me more about violet magic while I can’t enter the library. Owen’s mentor, Flynn, has been teaching him too. I’ve been trying the Soul Form trick daily, and I think I’m almost there.
Flynn says that it seems like Spade is in a city in the sky. Never heard of something like that, but apparently there is one. And apparently they’ve got something against the Urbs Arcanem, from what I’ve gathered.
July 1st, 2023, 6:48 PM
Today was… something. I know I probably say this a lot, but I don’t know how else to describe these things.
I mean, we found Spade, but it wasn’t the best reunion.
To sum it up, I finally unlocked my Soul Form, which has functional wings. So, I was able to fly us up to the sky city. Once we were there, we saw Spade, being brought to a spot where he would be executed, trying to fight back with his earth powers but to no avail, since earth doesn’t have much power in the air.
Thanks to some quick thinking from Owen, though, he managed to turn the clouds above back into water. Flynn’s taught him well.
Anyway, the city ended up flooding, which was interesting to see, and Spade was apparently able to use his earth magic in the presence of water, since they go together so well. He made a small floating island just large enough for he and Owen to stand on, while I got behind it and tried to push it back to the ground. Because I may have been able to carry Owen, but Spade as well? No chance. Better off pushing them.
Well, everything seemed fine when we returned. We were allowed back into the libraries, Spade’s family was relieved, blah blah blah.
But…
While we were on our way back, Spade looked shaken.
He decided to confide in us what was wrong.
The sky citizens had been looking for the Urbs Arcanem, and were ready to go to any lengths to find its location and destroy it.
1908 words!
Part Four: Critique
Story Critiqued: @rocksalmon800's weekly
It may be the fact that I am writing this at two in the morning, but I have almost no words for this story. Well, almost no words of criticism, that is.
Let’s get that out of the way first. I don’t really understand the ending. I know the ending involves the reader dying, but the repetition of “not her” and the whole thing about the reader being the one shouting “not her” while also being the person the string represents, and also being hinted to not be the person the string represents? It may have been deliberate, to leave the ending more up to interpretation, or maybe I’m just sleep deprived, but it was kinda confusing.
Aside from that, I loved this!!! I genuinely think that if you entered this in the writing comp, it would get a shoutout in the results one way or another. This is a weekly?? Very impressive, bravo.
I love how the little girl and the young boy are connected by their name, and the letter intended for the little Ryan ended up falling into the hands of the Ryan that needed such a letter. I also love the different colors of the strings! The boy’s being threadbare and brown was a nice nod to how he lived, and I like the pure white string representing a little girl who still has her innocence!
All in all, I loved this story. Keep up the great work!
242 words!
Story After Editing
June 26th, 2023, 7:43 PM
I haven’t written in this journal for a long while, but the events that happened today were interesting, to say the least. So I feel a bit obligated to write them down.
It started when I got home today from sleeping over at Owen’s house, and dropped my bag on the floor of my room. As it hit the ground, the thud it produced sent something on my dresser floating to the ground. When I checked, it was a piece of paper. Specifically, one that appeared to be a business card. On the side that faced up, there was just an address, and a name.
Andromeda Giles.
Me.
I flipped it over to the other side, just in case there was more information, but there was simply a drawing of a dahlia flower. I had to research that one to figure out which flower it was, but it was a really detailed drawing, to the point where I almost thought it was a picture.
I called Owen as soon as I was able. And… he said that he had been left something similar. All the details the same, just his name instead of mine. Owen Vix.
I think I’ll go with him there tomorrow to see what’s going on. I mean, if I get kidnapped or killed, it’s better than taking physics when school starts back up.
June 27th, 2023, 8:26 PM
So… the address was certainly a place.
Owen and I went, and ended up at this old one-story house that looked abandoned. There were leaves and vines growing all over it, and most of the windows were cracked, but it had an intricate carving of a dahlia on the doorknob, so it had to be the right place.
I was the one to turn the doorknob, and when it opened, it opened into something neither of us ever would have expected.
Instead of a worn-out, dusty front room, there was a whole sprawling city of apartment buildings that each had a courtyard in the middle. From what I could see, all the courtyards had dahlias as well. I looked back, just to see if there was still a door, and there was a whole cozy living room now behind us. How could such a place be real?
As Owen and I looked around, a young man, who couldn’t have been more than nineteen, approached us. He had a green cloak, hazel eyes, dark brown hair, and tan skin.
“Hey!” He greeted us, “I’m Spade, and welcome to the Urbs Arcanem!”
I take Latin in school, so I knew that urbs arcanem meant hidden city.
We introduced ourselves to Spade, and he told us that we should have gotten one of the cards with the dahlia on the back, or else we shouldn’t be there. We clarified that yes, we had gotten the cards and they’d been addressed to us, so we knew that this was somewhere we were supposed to be.
“Why do you use so many dahlias?” I asked, curious about the frequent use of this symbolism.
“It’s a symbol of discovery, and this place is all about discovering what you can do. In fact, the Urbs Arcanem is a place all magical and inhuman entities can come to hone their abilities! We’ve got entrances all over the world, and all of ‘em lead to this spot! Pretty cool, huh?”
Owen and I looked at each other.
“Uh… magical entities? And inhuman?” Owen asked.
“Yeah!” Spade gestured to his cloak. “I’ve got green magic, which means I’ve got control over most things earth!”
I nodded, pretending that wasn’t the weirdest thing I’ve ever heard.
“Anyways, we should probably get to figuring out what colors you guys have!”
Owen tilted his head to the side at this.
“Like… how you have green? We have colors?” He asked.
“Well, of course, everyone here has one! Come on, let’s figure yours out so you can get to practicing!”
With that, Spade kinda just… led us to this place. It looked like most of the courtyards in the city, but this one had a hearth-like blaze burning in it. It didn’t really look like anything special, but Spade was acting all excited over it, and passers-by were taking note of our approach there.
“This… is where you get to figure out what you are!” Spade exclaimed, in an oddly excitable tone.
“Okay, but… how?” I asked.
Spade grinned widely and told Owen to place his hand over the fire. Not close enough to burn, just so much that he could feel its heat.
The moment Owen’s hand went over the flame, the blaze turned a deep blue.
“Blue magic! That’s sooooooo cool, I used to hope to have that when I was younger!”
Owen smiled awkwardly and explained that he had no idea what that entailed.
According to Spade, it entailed water and weather stuff.
When I placed my own hand over the fire, the moment I felt the heat on my palm, the flame turned purple.
“Oh, that’s a fun one! Purple means your magic relates to souls and spirits!”
I stared bewildered at Spade, wondering how any of this was even real. Maybe this was all just an elaborate prank?
Before I could ask any of this, Spade grabbed my arm with one hand and Owen’s with the other, and began to pull us towards this small shop nearby. He grabbed a blue cloak and a purple one, made us try them on for size, and excitedly purchased them for us once he figured out which ones fit.
“Now, everyone will know what colors you have! Come on, let’s head to the libraries. I have friends there that’ll gladly mentor you two!”
I swear, that man’s energy could probably power the entire Urbs Arcanem for a week.
Anyway, he took us to the violet library first, knocked on the door, and waited for a purple-cloaked woman with dark skin and black hair tied in a bun to come out. He introduced the woman as Sali, and once he got her approval, told me that she could mentor me in violet magic. She allowed me inside the library immediately, and Owen and Spade went off to the blue library.
The violet library looked like something straight out of a pin board. High, wooden walls, decorations of all shades of purple ranging from light lavender to deep aubergine, and lights that floated in the air, casting a dim glow upon the building.
Of course, the very first thing I did was ask where I could start.
Sali picked a book off of a nearby shelf and explained that this would be an important one, but she wanted to show me a far more important trick first.
“This is one that may prove to be the most useful,” she explained, removing a different book from her large cloak pocket and flipping to a page near the middle. She turned the book to face me.
“Soul Form?” I asked, reading the name.
“It’s essentially exactly what it sounds like. Here, I’ll write down a copy of it for you so you can take it home while you read through that.”
While Sali wrote, I looked over the description of the ability. ‘The ability to take the form of one’s soul, which almost never appears exactly the same as its body. By practicing the following steps regularly, you will eventually be able to unlock your true appearance.’
If I had read that excerpt yesterday, I’d have thought whoever showed me it was crazy.
As Sali handed me the slip of paper she had copied the instructions onto, I picked up the book she had taken off the shelf earlier.
“I’ll be dusting the shelves, but let me know if you need anything,” Sali smiled.
I grinned and began flipping through the book. What felt like minutes, but was more realistically an hour or so, later, a signal went out through the Urbs Arcanem.
“Attention: Spade Everbright has been reported missing. I repeat: Spade Everbright has been reported missing.”
Panicked and worried about Spade, I ran to put the book back and went out into the town, where people were staring at me. I tried to get back to the hearth, but someone stopped me along the way.
“You know”, he growled, “I think it’s a bit odd that Spade disappears the very day we get newcomers… and we don’t get newbies often. So… we might just have to revoke your powers.” He held up a terrifying contraption that I don’t think anyone would want to fall victim to.
My eyes went wide with fear as I saw Owen in a similar situation. We made eye contact for a moment, before he came up with an idea.
“Wait! If we can find him, can we keep our abilities? And… not get whatever else you’re trying to do?”
If that stupid idea hadn’t worked, maybe we’d have laughed about it later.
And if we hadn’t gone to that place, maybe there wouldn’t be a bird outside my windowsill garden pecking at a sprout that definitely wasn’t there yesterday.
June 30th, 2023, 4:17 PM
A dahlia has been growing abnormally quickly in the windowsill garden. And there’s always a bird there when I check its progress. Odd.
Sali’s been coming to see me, and teaching me more about violet magic while I can’t enter the library. Owen’s mentor, Flynn, has been teaching him too. I’ve been trying the Soul Form trick daily, and I think I’m almost there.
Flynn says that it seems like Spade is in a city in the sky. Never heard of something like that, but apparently there is one. And apparently they’ve got something against the Urbs Arcanem, from what I’ve gathered.
Today, they asked how we met, which makes sense considering that we’re total opposites of each other. We kind of just stared at each other, because the thing is, we don’t entirely know. I kinda just wanted to be friends with the kid back in seventh grade, because I’d seen some of his drawings and thought he looked cool and wanted to approach him, but my anxiety would never let me. A week into the school year, he’d found some friends, and I thought that I’d just be alone for the whole year. I still wanted to get to know Owen, though, and an opportunity came when his friends suddenly said that they didn’t want him around anymore in the middle of a class where I sat right behind the group.
I explained that I had seen Owen was upset, and so I went up to him after class and asked if he was okay. Back in that year, we stayed with our homeroom the entire day, so I kept checking in periodically throughout the rest of that day. Over time, we kind of just started talking more and more, and one thing led to another to the point where he and I became best friends.
It’s weird, thinking about how I met Owen. I mean, what would happen if things hadn’t lined up the way they did? Would we have never grown this close? If the seating chart in that one class had been even a little different, would we be friends? If he ignored me rather than answered my check-ins, would we have ever talked?
Much to think about.
Anyway, I have to go to a doctor’s appointment now, so that’ll be it for this entry.
July 1st, 2023, 10:48 PM
Today was… something. I know I probably say this a lot, but I don’t know how else to describe these things.
I mean, we found Spade, but it wasn’t the best reunion.
To sum it up, it was a lot.
In a bit more detail, here’s what happened:
Sali and I met up again today, and we were meeting with Flynn and Owen as well so we could practice together. I tried the steps to unlocking the Soul Form, which has been feeling extremely close to coming out up until today, and it actually worked this time!
The form looks almost exactly like I do, but with large, silvery wings. Maybe that’s why I’ve been seeing birds so often.
I made some attempts to fly around with them, and to my surprise, I was actually able to get myself off the ground. I was even able to pick up Owen and pull him through the air after a couple of hours.
After some more practice, the time being around three in the afternoon by this point, Flynn was struck with an idea. His cobalt eyes widened with the revelation, and his auburn hair bounced as he stood up to declare it.
“Hold on, Andromeda has the perfect Soul Form to get up to where Spade is!”
All eyes in the small group turned to me.
“Well… I don’t know if I can go that far, is the thing. What if I fall?”
Sali smiled. “Souls are much stronger than bodies. Your wings should be able to hold up, and all you have to do is focus on keeping Owen in your grasp. Can you do that?”
I thought for a moment. “I… I think so.”
The flight was rough, and stressful, with Owen being about as easy to carry as a wrangling cat, but I managed to hold on until we saw structures rising into view from a spot among the clouds.
The city was huge, not quite as big as the Urbs Arcanem but pretty close from what I could see. The buildings gleamed with shining shades and tints, ranging from pure white to stormy gray. They were tall and thin, reaching up into the higher layers of clouds that were in the sky earlier today. Citizens draped in silvery blues gathered in the center of the city, where an elevated patch of cloudlike ground stood. On this elevated platform, a woman dressed in black stood, brandishing an ax that appeared to be made of sharpened hailstones. A man, also in black, was standing next to Spade, leading him with his hands behind his back to the platform where the woman was waiting. Spade fought back against the man’s grasp, his hands glowing with green but only for moments at a time before disappearing. Clearly, earth magic had no power where there was no earth.
An execution.
I turned to Owen, without a clue what we could do about such a situation. Of course, we couldn’t just let Spade meet the end of that ax, but how were we supposed to get him out of there?
As I looked over at Owen, I noticed that he was staring at the clouds above us. Before I could ask him what he thought he was doing, and tell him that this was no time for looking at clouds, he lifted his hand towards the air as it glowed blue.
Suddenly, the clouds all moved together and condensed at a point just above where Owen was pointing, and on his command, fell to the ground in the form of liquid water.
Despite appearing as though made of clouds, the ground of the city somehow held. As for the rest of it, the water splashed around the citizens’ waists and even torsos, the platform being hit worst of all by the waves.
In shock, the man that was meant to bring our friend to his doom let go of Spade. With his hands finally free, Spade’s hands glowed green once more as he pointed to the spot next to where Owen and I were flying above the flood. As he swam over and hauled himself onto the small patch of land his spell had created, he smiled at Owen and breathlessly said, “Thanks, water was all I needed to actually get something going, but these guys knew that and made sure to keep me away.”
I dropped Owen onto the patch of land and asked, “So, what do we do now?”
Spade bit the inside of his cheek and replied, “…would you be able to push us back to the ground?”
I sighed in fake annoyance, and agreed to try my best. Surprisingly, the patch Spade had created was extremely light, and pushing down was far easier than it would be to push up. Really, I was just letting gravity do most of the work while I made sure they didn’t plummet to the ground.
And then, well, everything seemed fine when we returned. We were allowed back into our studies, Spade’s family was relieved, blah blah blah.
But…
While we were on our way back, Spade looked shaken.
He decided to confide in us what was wrong.
The sky citizens had been looking for the Urbs Arcanem, and were ready to go to any lengths to find its location and destroy it.
Words Added By Editing: 913!
Total Word Count: 3898 words! (Don't worry, I didn't count repeats)
Part One: Outline
Andromeda Giles finds a note for her with an address on her dresser. It has a strange symbol on the back.
Andromeda discovers that her friend, Owen Vix, got the same note, so she brings him when she goes to wherever the address was. When they find the address, a seemingly abandoned one-story house, the doorknob has the same strange symbol.
On the inside, the building is a huge, thriving city of apartment building-like spaces. Balconies look out into a main courtyard in each structure, which has the same symbol painted on the ground. Behind the entrance is a normal-looking living room, with a cozy fireplace and a comfortable couch.
A young man approaches Andromeda and Owen, wearing a green cloak. He introduces himself as Spade, and welcomes the pair to the “Urbs Arcanem”, a refuge for magical and/or inhuman entities to hone their abilities.
Spade leads Andromeda and Owen to a hearth in the center of the city, and some people walking around take notice that there are newcomers approaching the hearth. Spade tells each to place their hand over the fire, and it will turn a certain color. When Andromeda puts her hand over, the fire is purple. When Owen does, the fire is blue.
Spade explains that purple relates to spirits and souls, and blue relates to the weather and water. He takes the two to a shop to get a cloak for each of them, showing that they knew what color their magic was.
Spade assigns each of the two a mentor, and Andromeda ends up with a woman named Sali Ramha. Sali leads Andromeda to a library with a purple color scheme, and tells her that this is where she will learn all there is to know about what she can do. This includes one of her most useful abilities: The ability to take the form of her soul. She explains that souls have different forms than the people who embody them, and if Andromeda could take that alternate form, it might come in handy.
While Andromeda studies, absorbed in ancient-looking books of information, a signal goes out through the city saying that Spade has gone missing, and of course people start turning eyes to the two newcomers. Owen is able to negotiate on both of their behalf, and the two are allowed to study, but not interact with others in the city, until they could prove it wasn’t them by solving his disappearance.
Sali begins to visit Andromeda’s home night after night, bringing books and teaching her what she may need to figure out what happened to Spade. Owen’s mentor begins to visit him as well.
Owen gets a lead from his mentor as to where Spade went. Unfortunately, it seems to be in a city in the sky. Andromeda remembers what Sali told her about taking the form of her soul, and has the idea that it may help. Owen is surprised to see that yes, it does help, as Andromeda’s soul form has large, gray wings.
When Owen and Andromeda figure out the location of the sky city, they make their way up there and see Spade, about to be executed in the center of the town. He tries to escape his fate, but unfortunately, his earth-related abilities have hardly any use in a civilization that lives among the clouds.
Owen decides to try using his water abilities, and they work, as clouds are nothing but water vapor. The town itself isn’t made of water vapor, but the clouds above it do end up causing flooding in the streets. Spade, being able to use earth in the presence of liquid water, creates a small island-like spot floating atop the water, which he, Andromeda, and Owen get on. Andromeda uses her soul form once more, but this time in getting the patch of earth to the ground safely, which Spade assists in.
Andromeda and Owen have their punishments repealed, and everyone is glad to welcome Spade home. However, he keeps talking about the sky people trying any method they could to get information on Urbs Arcanem from him, and they had already been searching for its location…
695 words!
Part Two: Exposition
‘Three consecutive tests’ was already a horrible motive to wake up that Friday. Though, I feel like ‘mysterious note waiting when you get home’ wouldn’t be much better.
As I set my backpack down on the floor of my room, I saw a note drift from the top of my dresser to the floor in front of where I stood.
Curious, I picked it up. It seemed like… a business card, almost. Except all it had was an address and the name of the person it was for.
Andromeda Giles.
Me.
Quickly, I flipped the note to the back, to see if there was any more information. But there was not, and instead there was only a strange symbol.
“Screw it”, I sighed to myself, “Might as well get kidnapped. At least I’d get out of biology for a bit.”
140 words!
Part Three: Making the Stew
Ingredients chosen: Foreshadowing, Cliffhanger, Symbol, New Character, Epistolary
June 26th, 2023, 7:43 PM
I haven’t written in this journal for a long while, but the events that happened today were interesting, to say the least. So I feel a bit obligated to write them down.
It started when I got home today from sleeping over at Owen’s house, and dropped my bag on the floor of my room. As it hit the ground, the thud it produced sent something on my dresser floating to the ground. When I checked, it was a piece of paper. Specifically, one that appeared to be a business card. On the side that faced up, there was just an address, and a name.
Andromeda Giles.
Me.
I flipped it over to the other side, just in case there was more information, but there was simply a drawing of a dahlia flower. I had to research that one to figure out which flower it was, but it was a really detailed drawing, to the point where I almost thought it was a picture.
I called Owen as soon as I was able. And… he said that he had been left something similar. All the details the same, just his name instead of mine. Owen Vix.
I think I’ll go with him there tomorrow to see what’s going on. I mean, if I get kidnapped or killed, it’s better than taking physics when school starts back up.
June 27th, 2023, 8:26 PM
So… the address was certainly a place.
Owen and I went, and ended up at this old one-story house that looked abandoned. There were leaves and vines growing all over it, and most of the windows were cracked, but it had an intricate carving of a dahlia on the doorknob, so it had to be the right place.
I was the one to turn the doorknob, and when it opened, it opened into something neither of us ever would have expected.
Instead of a worn-out, dusty front room, there was a whole sprawling city of apartment buildings that each had a courtyard in the middle. From what I could see, all the courtyards had dahlias as well. I looked back, just to see if there was still a door, and there was a whole cozy living room now behind us. How could such a place be real?
As Owen and I looked around, a young man, who couldn’t have been more than nineteen, approached us. He had a green cloak, hazel eyes, dark brown hair, and tan skin.
“Hey!” He greeted us, “I’m Spade, and welcome to the Urbs Arcanem!”
I take Latin in school, so I knew that urbs arcanem meant hidden city.
We introduced ourselves to Spade, and he told us that we should have gotten one of the cards with the dahlia on the back, or else we shouldn’t be there. We clarified that yes, we had gotten the cards and they’d been addressed to us, so we knew that this was somewhere we were supposed to be.
“Why do you use so many dahlias?” I asked, curious about the frequent use of this symbolism.
“It’s a symbol of discovery, and this place is all about discovering what you can do. In fact, the Urbs Arcanem is a place all magical and inhuman entities can come to hone their abilities! We’ve got entrances all over the world, and all of ‘em lead to this spot! Pretty cool, huh?”
Owen and I looked at each other.
“Uh… magical entities? And inhuman?” Owen asked.
“Yeah!” Spade gestured to his cloak. “I’ve got green magic, which means I’ve got control over most things earth!”
I nodded, pretending that wasn’t the weirdest thing I’ve ever heard.
“Anyways, we should probably get to figuring out what colors you guys have!”
Owen tilted his head to the side at this.
“Like… how you have green? We have colors?” He asked.
“Well, of course, everyone here has one! Come on, let’s figure yours out so you can get to practicing!”
With that, Spade kinda just… led us to this place. It looked like most of the courtyards in the city, but this one had a hearth-like blaze burning in it. It didn’t really look like anything special, but Spade was acting all excited over it, and passers-by were taking note of our approach there.
“This… is where you get to figure out what you are!” Spade exclaimed, in an oddly excitable tone.
“Okay, but… how?” I asked.
Spade grinned widely and told Owen to place his hand over the fire. Not close enough to burn, just so much that he could feel its heat.
The moment Owen’s hand went over the flame, the blaze turned a deep blue.
“Blue magic! That’s sooooooo cool, I used to hope to have that when I was younger!”
Owen smiled awkwardly and explained that he had no idea what that entailed.
According to Spade, it entailed water and weather stuff.
When I placed my own hand over the fire, the moment I felt the heat on my palm, the flame turned purple.
“Oh, that’s a fun one! Purple means your magic relates to souls and spirits!”
I stared bewildered at Spade, wondering how any of this was even real. Maybe this was all just an elaborate prank?
Before I could ask any of this, Spade grabbed my arm with one hand and Owen’s with the other, and began to pull us towards this small shop nearby. He grabbed a blue cloak and a purple one, made us try them on for size, and excitedly purchased them for us once he figured out which ones fit.
“Now, everyone will know what colors you have! Come on, let’s head to the libraries. I have friends there that’ll gladly mentor you two!”
I swear, that man’s energy could probably power the entire Urbs Arcanem for a week.
Anyway, he took us to the violet library first, knocked on the door, and waited for a purple-cloaked woman with dark skin and black hair tied in a bun to come out. He introduced the woman as Sali, and once he got her approval, told me that she could mentor me in violet magic. She allowed me inside the library immediately, and Owen and Spade went off to the blue library.
The violet library looked like something straight out of a pin board. High, wooden walls, decorations of all shades of purple ranging from light lavender to deep aubergine, and lights that floated in the air, casting a dim glow upon the building.
Of course, the very first thing I did was ask where I could start.
Sali picked a book off of a nearby shelf and explained that this would be an important one, but she wanted to show me a far more important trick first.
“This is one that may prove to be the most useful,” she explained, removing a different book from her large cloak pocket and flipping to a page near the middle. She turned the book to face me.
“Soul Form?” I asked, reading the name.
“It’s essentially exactly what it sounds like. Here, I’ll write down a copy of it for you so you can take it home while you read through that.”
While Sali wrote, I looked over the description of the ability. ‘The ability to take the form of one’s soul, which almost never appears exactly the same as its body. By practicing the following steps regularly, you will eventually be able to unlock your true appearance.’
If I had read that excerpt yesterday, I’d have thought whoever showed me it was crazy.
As Sali handed me the slip of paper she had copied the instructions onto, I picked up the book she had taken off the shelf earlier.
“I’ll be dusting the shelves, but let me know if you need anything,” Sali smiled.
I grinned and began flipping through the book. What felt like minutes, but was more realistically an hour or so, later, a signal went out through the Urbs Arcanem.
“Attention: Spade Everbright has been reported missing. I repeat: Spade Everbright has been reported missing.”
Panicked and worried about Spade, I ran to put the book back and went out into the town, where people were staring at me. I tried to get back to the hearth, but someone stopped me along the way.
“You know”, he growled, “I think it’s a bit odd that Spade disappears the very day we get newcomers… and we don’t get newbies often. So… we might just have to revoke your powers.” He held up a terrifying contraption that I don’t think anyone would want to fall victim to.
My eyes went wide with fear as I saw Owen in a similar situation. We made eye contact for a moment, before he came up with an idea.
“Wait! If we can find him, can we keep our abilities? And… not get whatever else you’re trying to do?”
If that stupid idea hadn’t worked, maybe we’d have laughed about it later.
And if we hadn’t gone to that place, maybe there wouldn’t be a bird outside my windowsill garden pecking at a sprout that definitely wasn’t there yesterday.
June 30th, 2023, 4:17 PM
A dahlia has been growing abnormally quickly in the windowsill garden. And there’s always a bird there when I check its progress. Odd.
Sali’s been coming to see me, and teaching me more about violet magic while I can’t enter the library. Owen’s mentor, Flynn, has been teaching him too. I’ve been trying the Soul Form trick daily, and I think I’m almost there.
Flynn says that it seems like Spade is in a city in the sky. Never heard of something like that, but apparently there is one. And apparently they’ve got something against the Urbs Arcanem, from what I’ve gathered.
July 1st, 2023, 6:48 PM
Today was… something. I know I probably say this a lot, but I don’t know how else to describe these things.
I mean, we found Spade, but it wasn’t the best reunion.
To sum it up, I finally unlocked my Soul Form, which has functional wings. So, I was able to fly us up to the sky city. Once we were there, we saw Spade, being brought to a spot where he would be executed, trying to fight back with his earth powers but to no avail, since earth doesn’t have much power in the air.
Thanks to some quick thinking from Owen, though, he managed to turn the clouds above back into water. Flynn’s taught him well.
Anyway, the city ended up flooding, which was interesting to see, and Spade was apparently able to use his earth magic in the presence of water, since they go together so well. He made a small floating island just large enough for he and Owen to stand on, while I got behind it and tried to push it back to the ground. Because I may have been able to carry Owen, but Spade as well? No chance. Better off pushing them.
Well, everything seemed fine when we returned. We were allowed back into the libraries, Spade’s family was relieved, blah blah blah.
But…
While we were on our way back, Spade looked shaken.
He decided to confide in us what was wrong.
The sky citizens had been looking for the Urbs Arcanem, and were ready to go to any lengths to find its location and destroy it.
1908 words!
Part Four: Critique
Story Critiqued: @rocksalmon800's weekly
It may be the fact that I am writing this at two in the morning, but I have almost no words for this story. Well, almost no words of criticism, that is.
Let’s get that out of the way first. I don’t really understand the ending. I know the ending involves the reader dying, but the repetition of “not her” and the whole thing about the reader being the one shouting “not her” while also being the person the string represents, and also being hinted to not be the person the string represents? It may have been deliberate, to leave the ending more up to interpretation, or maybe I’m just sleep deprived, but it was kinda confusing.
Aside from that, I loved this!!! I genuinely think that if you entered this in the writing comp, it would get a shoutout in the results one way or another. This is a weekly?? Very impressive, bravo.
I love how the little girl and the young boy are connected by their name, and the letter intended for the little Ryan ended up falling into the hands of the Ryan that needed such a letter. I also love the different colors of the strings! The boy’s being threadbare and brown was a nice nod to how he lived, and I like the pure white string representing a little girl who still has her innocence!
All in all, I loved this story. Keep up the great work!
242 words!
Story After Editing
June 26th, 2023, 7:43 PM
I haven’t written in this journal for a long while, but the events that happened today were interesting, to say the least. So I feel a bit obligated to write them down.
It started when I got home today from sleeping over at Owen’s house, and dropped my bag on the floor of my room. As it hit the ground, the thud it produced sent something on my dresser floating to the ground. When I checked, it was a piece of paper. Specifically, one that appeared to be a business card. On the side that faced up, there was just an address, and a name.
Andromeda Giles.
Me.
I flipped it over to the other side, just in case there was more information, but there was simply a drawing of a dahlia flower. I had to research that one to figure out which flower it was, but it was a really detailed drawing, to the point where I almost thought it was a picture.
I called Owen as soon as I was able. And… he said that he had been left something similar. All the details the same, just his name instead of mine. Owen Vix.
I think I’ll go with him there tomorrow to see what’s going on. I mean, if I get kidnapped or killed, it’s better than taking physics when school starts back up.
June 27th, 2023, 8:26 PM
So… the address was certainly a place.
Owen and I went, and ended up at this old one-story house that looked abandoned. There were leaves and vines growing all over it, and most of the windows were cracked, but it had an intricate carving of a dahlia on the doorknob, so it had to be the right place.
I was the one to turn the doorknob, and when it opened, it opened into something neither of us ever would have expected.
Instead of a worn-out, dusty front room, there was a whole sprawling city of apartment buildings that each had a courtyard in the middle. From what I could see, all the courtyards had dahlias as well. I looked back, just to see if there was still a door, and there was a whole cozy living room now behind us. How could such a place be real?
As Owen and I looked around, a young man, who couldn’t have been more than nineteen, approached us. He had a green cloak, hazel eyes, dark brown hair, and tan skin.
“Hey!” He greeted us, “I’m Spade, and welcome to the Urbs Arcanem!”
I take Latin in school, so I knew that urbs arcanem meant hidden city.
We introduced ourselves to Spade, and he told us that we should have gotten one of the cards with the dahlia on the back, or else we shouldn’t be there. We clarified that yes, we had gotten the cards and they’d been addressed to us, so we knew that this was somewhere we were supposed to be.
“Why do you use so many dahlias?” I asked, curious about the frequent use of this symbolism.
“It’s a symbol of discovery, and this place is all about discovering what you can do. In fact, the Urbs Arcanem is a place all magical and inhuman entities can come to hone their abilities! We’ve got entrances all over the world, and all of ‘em lead to this spot! Pretty cool, huh?”
Owen and I looked at each other.
“Uh… magical entities? And inhuman?” Owen asked.
“Yeah!” Spade gestured to his cloak. “I’ve got green magic, which means I’ve got control over most things earth!”
I nodded, pretending that wasn’t the weirdest thing I’ve ever heard.
“Anyways, we should probably get to figuring out what colors you guys have!”
Owen tilted his head to the side at this.
“Like… how you have green? We have colors?” He asked.
“Well, of course, everyone here has one! Come on, let’s figure yours out so you can get to practicing!”
With that, Spade kinda just… led us to this place. It looked like most of the courtyards in the city, but this one had a hearth-like blaze burning in it. It didn’t really look like anything special, but Spade was acting all excited over it, and passers-by were taking note of our approach there.
“This… is where you get to figure out what you are!” Spade exclaimed, in an oddly excitable tone.
“Okay, but… how?” I asked.
Spade grinned widely and told Owen to place his hand over the fire. Not close enough to burn, just so much that he could feel its heat.
The moment Owen’s hand went over the flame, the blaze turned a deep blue.
“Blue magic! That’s sooooooo cool, I used to hope to have that when I was younger!”
Owen smiled awkwardly and explained that he had no idea what that entailed.
According to Spade, it entailed water and weather stuff.
When I placed my own hand over the fire, the moment I felt the heat on my palm, the flame turned purple.
“Oh, that’s a fun one! Purple means your magic relates to souls and spirits!”
I stared bewildered at Spade, wondering how any of this was even real. Maybe this was all just an elaborate prank?
Before I could ask any of this, Spade grabbed my arm with one hand and Owen’s with the other, and began to pull us towards this small shop nearby. He grabbed a blue cloak and a purple one, made us try them on for size, and excitedly purchased them for us once he figured out which ones fit.
“Now, everyone will know what colors you have! Come on, let’s head to the libraries. I have friends there that’ll gladly mentor you two!”
I swear, that man’s energy could probably power the entire Urbs Arcanem for a week.
Anyway, he took us to the violet library first, knocked on the door, and waited for a purple-cloaked woman with dark skin and black hair tied in a bun to come out. He introduced the woman as Sali, and once he got her approval, told me that she could mentor me in violet magic. She allowed me inside the library immediately, and Owen and Spade went off to the blue library.
The violet library looked like something straight out of a pin board. High, wooden walls, decorations of all shades of purple ranging from light lavender to deep aubergine, and lights that floated in the air, casting a dim glow upon the building.
Of course, the very first thing I did was ask where I could start.
Sali picked a book off of a nearby shelf and explained that this would be an important one, but she wanted to show me a far more important trick first.
“This is one that may prove to be the most useful,” she explained, removing a different book from her large cloak pocket and flipping to a page near the middle. She turned the book to face me.
“Soul Form?” I asked, reading the name.
“It’s essentially exactly what it sounds like. Here, I’ll write down a copy of it for you so you can take it home while you read through that.”
While Sali wrote, I looked over the description of the ability. ‘The ability to take the form of one’s soul, which almost never appears exactly the same as its body. By practicing the following steps regularly, you will eventually be able to unlock your true appearance.’
If I had read that excerpt yesterday, I’d have thought whoever showed me it was crazy.
As Sali handed me the slip of paper she had copied the instructions onto, I picked up the book she had taken off the shelf earlier.
“I’ll be dusting the shelves, but let me know if you need anything,” Sali smiled.
I grinned and began flipping through the book. What felt like minutes, but was more realistically an hour or so, later, a signal went out through the Urbs Arcanem.
“Attention: Spade Everbright has been reported missing. I repeat: Spade Everbright has been reported missing.”
Panicked and worried about Spade, I ran to put the book back and went out into the town, where people were staring at me. I tried to get back to the hearth, but someone stopped me along the way.
“You know”, he growled, “I think it’s a bit odd that Spade disappears the very day we get newcomers… and we don’t get newbies often. So… we might just have to revoke your powers.” He held up a terrifying contraption that I don’t think anyone would want to fall victim to.
My eyes went wide with fear as I saw Owen in a similar situation. We made eye contact for a moment, before he came up with an idea.
“Wait! If we can find him, can we keep our abilities? And… not get whatever else you’re trying to do?”
If that stupid idea hadn’t worked, maybe we’d have laughed about it later.
And if we hadn’t gone to that place, maybe there wouldn’t be a bird outside my windowsill garden pecking at a sprout that definitely wasn’t there yesterday.
June 30th, 2023, 4:17 PM
A dahlia has been growing abnormally quickly in the windowsill garden. And there’s always a bird there when I check its progress. Odd.
Sali’s been coming to see me, and teaching me more about violet magic while I can’t enter the library. Owen’s mentor, Flynn, has been teaching him too. I’ve been trying the Soul Form trick daily, and I think I’m almost there.
Flynn says that it seems like Spade is in a city in the sky. Never heard of something like that, but apparently there is one. And apparently they’ve got something against the Urbs Arcanem, from what I’ve gathered.
Today, they asked how we met, which makes sense considering that we’re total opposites of each other. We kind of just stared at each other, because the thing is, we don’t entirely know. I kinda just wanted to be friends with the kid back in seventh grade, because I’d seen some of his drawings and thought he looked cool and wanted to approach him, but my anxiety would never let me. A week into the school year, he’d found some friends, and I thought that I’d just be alone for the whole year. I still wanted to get to know Owen, though, and an opportunity came when his friends suddenly said that they didn’t want him around anymore in the middle of a class where I sat right behind the group.
I explained that I had seen Owen was upset, and so I went up to him after class and asked if he was okay. Back in that year, we stayed with our homeroom the entire day, so I kept checking in periodically throughout the rest of that day. Over time, we kind of just started talking more and more, and one thing led to another to the point where he and I became best friends.
It’s weird, thinking about how I met Owen. I mean, what would happen if things hadn’t lined up the way they did? Would we have never grown this close? If the seating chart in that one class had been even a little different, would we be friends? If he ignored me rather than answered my check-ins, would we have ever talked?
Much to think about.
Anyway, I have to go to a doctor’s appointment now, so that’ll be it for this entry.
July 1st, 2023, 10:48 PM
Today was… something. I know I probably say this a lot, but I don’t know how else to describe these things.
I mean, we found Spade, but it wasn’t the best reunion.
To sum it up, it was a lot.
In a bit more detail, here’s what happened:
Sali and I met up again today, and we were meeting with Flynn and Owen as well so we could practice together. I tried the steps to unlocking the Soul Form, which has been feeling extremely close to coming out up until today, and it actually worked this time!
The form looks almost exactly like I do, but with large, silvery wings. Maybe that’s why I’ve been seeing birds so often.
I made some attempts to fly around with them, and to my surprise, I was actually able to get myself off the ground. I was even able to pick up Owen and pull him through the air after a couple of hours.
After some more practice, the time being around three in the afternoon by this point, Flynn was struck with an idea. His cobalt eyes widened with the revelation, and his auburn hair bounced as he stood up to declare it.
“Hold on, Andromeda has the perfect Soul Form to get up to where Spade is!”
All eyes in the small group turned to me.
“Well… I don’t know if I can go that far, is the thing. What if I fall?”
Sali smiled. “Souls are much stronger than bodies. Your wings should be able to hold up, and all you have to do is focus on keeping Owen in your grasp. Can you do that?”
I thought for a moment. “I… I think so.”
The flight was rough, and stressful, with Owen being about as easy to carry as a wrangling cat, but I managed to hold on until we saw structures rising into view from a spot among the clouds.
The city was huge, not quite as big as the Urbs Arcanem but pretty close from what I could see. The buildings gleamed with shining shades and tints, ranging from pure white to stormy gray. They were tall and thin, reaching up into the higher layers of clouds that were in the sky earlier today. Citizens draped in silvery blues gathered in the center of the city, where an elevated patch of cloudlike ground stood. On this elevated platform, a woman dressed in black stood, brandishing an ax that appeared to be made of sharpened hailstones. A man, also in black, was standing next to Spade, leading him with his hands behind his back to the platform where the woman was waiting. Spade fought back against the man’s grasp, his hands glowing with green but only for moments at a time before disappearing. Clearly, earth magic had no power where there was no earth.
An execution.
I turned to Owen, without a clue what we could do about such a situation. Of course, we couldn’t just let Spade meet the end of that ax, but how were we supposed to get him out of there?
As I looked over at Owen, I noticed that he was staring at the clouds above us. Before I could ask him what he thought he was doing, and tell him that this was no time for looking at clouds, he lifted his hand towards the air as it glowed blue.
Suddenly, the clouds all moved together and condensed at a point just above where Owen was pointing, and on his command, fell to the ground in the form of liquid water.
Despite appearing as though made of clouds, the ground of the city somehow held. As for the rest of it, the water splashed around the citizens’ waists and even torsos, the platform being hit worst of all by the waves.
In shock, the man that was meant to bring our friend to his doom let go of Spade. With his hands finally free, Spade’s hands glowed green once more as he pointed to the spot next to where Owen and I were flying above the flood. As he swam over and hauled himself onto the small patch of land his spell had created, he smiled at Owen and breathlessly said, “Thanks, water was all I needed to actually get something going, but these guys knew that and made sure to keep me away.”
I dropped Owen onto the patch of land and asked, “So, what do we do now?”
Spade bit the inside of his cheek and replied, “…would you be able to push us back to the ground?”
I sighed in fake annoyance, and agreed to try my best. Surprisingly, the patch Spade had created was extremely light, and pushing down was far easier than it would be to push up. Really, I was just letting gravity do most of the work while I made sure they didn’t plummet to the ground.
And then, well, everything seemed fine when we returned. We were allowed back into our studies, Spade’s family was relieved, blah blah blah.
But…
While we were on our way back, Spade looked shaken.
He decided to confide in us what was wrong.
The sky citizens had been looking for the Urbs Arcanem, and were ready to go to any lengths to find its location and destroy it.
Words Added By Editing: 913!
Total Word Count: 3898 words! (Don't worry, I didn't count repeats)