Well I'm employed now (thanks for the congratulations!-I start my first full day on Wednesday) so I'll have less time for writing...which will result in more pressure on me to write...which will probably mean a lot more writing that what I'm currently doing right now.
Anyhow, you've been patient with me so I'll reward you with an idea that came to me. It's an experiment in first person, so forgive me if you're not a fan. It's written from the perspective of an Australian magical apprentice in our world. It's an Urban Fantasy piece, and I've enjoyed what I've written so far.
Sorry if the formatting is crap, but I've got to dash. I'll fix it later :)
Comments are always appreciated
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I smiled to myself as my girlfriend gently touched my hand again. We had been talking for a few hours now and it was getting late into the evening. Conversation topics were limited to school and work and how both our parents reacted to our relationship. It was long distance, so we enjoyed the moments we had to talk face to face all the more.
“How’s work going for you?” Amber asked as she coyly took my hand.
“I make enough to get by. Uni doesn’t cost me anything because of the government grant so really I just need to make enough to pay the rent.” I took her other hand and savoured the connection.
“Are you planning on staying in the bookshop or are you going to work in the movie theatre?”
“I don’t know, the bookstore is a good gig. It’s quiet there and I can study on the side without getting into too much trouble. My boss encourages it when it gets too quiet.”
A cool breeze picked up and blew a brown leaves toward us. Autumn was coming and the air was gradually turning bitter. We were standing on a deserted railway station in the middle of Oregon and there wasn’t much shelter for us on the deserted platform. I could hear the distant horn of a freight train.
Amber stepped closer to me, eyes sparkling. “Riley, have you thought about moving here yet?”
I smiled; I knew this question was coming. “I thought you agreed that you’d come and visit me down under first? You haven’t even seen Sydney yet.”
“You know I can’t travel that far yet.” Amber’s eyes were almost level with mine as her voice lowered to a whisper. “Come on, you could go to college here and I know Mom and Dad could have you work in their store…”
Amber’s sentence trailed off. She pouted.
“Sorry, love.” I said, “I’ve got a lot of stuff holding me at home. I still need to finish my apprenticeship.”
Amber wasn’t satisfied with the truth. The pout remained.
I laughed and leant close, kissing her lips gently.
Every visit and she always insisted that I needed to stay. Every visit I told her that I couldn’t, not yet. I said I loved her and that I would come visit again soon. Every time I made a promise that I didn’t know if I could keep.
Amber kissed me back, and squeezed my hands tight in hers. “I’m going to have to get used to travel, aren’t I?”
This was new. “Yep. It’s a long way to Australia from here. Have you been to New York yet?”
“Road trip when I was fifteen, but I have the token already.” Amber pulled a small “I (heart) New York” pin out of her pocket. “I’m going to try next month, once winter break starts.”
“Want me to be there?”
“I think I can manage the jump alone. I’m no natural, but I learn fast!”
I hugged her close. “I know you do. That’s why we get along so good.”
I wished the moment to last forever, the two of us warm and defiant against the cold night air. The wind pushed at us again as the freight train blew past us.
I hated having to say goodbye.
“Love you.” Amber said, kissing me once more.
“Love you, too.” I replied, pulling my jacket’s hood over my head. “I’ll see you in New York?”
Amber’s eyes were shining, “definitely.”
I threw her one last smile, bowed, and jumped onto the railway tracks. I stuffed my hands deep into my jeans pocket and felt the small eucalyptus leaf there. I stood on one of the rails with my feet planted goofy style as though astride a skateboard.
I took the leaf from my pocket and inhaled deeply, willing memories to come to life. I could feel the cold iron beneath my feet come to life as I began to put it and the memory together with the magic that rose in my bones. Though not necessary, I tensed in anticipation as the power took hold over me.
“Bye, gorgeous!” I called.
Amber’s response was drowned out by the rush of air behind me. I closed my eyes to Oregon and opened them again to a dark world, lit by the searing white of the railway line stretched before me. I was tearing forward on the rails with nothing but the scent of eucalyptus rushing through my senses.
I was on what most magicians called Transport. It was a connection that bound the world together for a magic user with a keen sense of direction. In the early days of man, magicians used what were known as ley lines. These days the millions of miles of iron and steel rail provided a handier alternative.
“Timing counts for everything,” I hissed to encourage myself.
I had travelled this way many times before. My magic instructors called me a natural, a genius even, of the Transport. I called it dumb luck. Anyone trying to travel between two separate pieces of track needed to gain enough speed to make the jump between the two separate rail networks. After accruing the optimal velocity to make the jump, the traveller needed to make the jump at the right time or run the risk of landing where there weren’t rails to land on.
I felt the white rails bend beneath me. My curve was coming up. I needed to jump just as they began to straighten out. I could make the jump and land in the busy Sydney CityRail network. No need to worry about missing the jump. I’ve made the jump before, and there’s no reason for it not to work now.
If I missed the jump, I’d miss the landing. If I missed the landing, I’d fall.
No one really knew what happened to wizards who slipped through the tracks.
“Now!” I shouted, crushing any trepidation in my heart.
I could see the faint green glow of the eucalyptus token leading me on. I leapt, tensing my legs and shifting all my will and weight forward to follow a binding memory of my destination.
Sound vanished as I was enveloped by a world of blackness.
“Come on, come on.” I hissed through gritted teeth. As with every inter-continental jump, panic blossomed in my chest. “Find the line…find the line.”
I willed more magic from my bones into the small leaf in my hand. I held my breath until I felt the tell-tale tug of the token as it began to pull me forward, nose first.
In a split second there was the glow of welcome Australia, thousands of kilometres of life giving-track. It rushed by underneath me in a skeleton of white light, crowning in bunches at major cities. Mere seconds passed before I crashed heavily into what my nose was telling me was home.
Magic returned to my bones, the tracks became real and I found myself sliding goofy-style through blessed reality.
“Hells bells!” I cried as I saw the parked train in front of me.
My shoes’ rubber soles weren’t helping me slow at all. The train was coming up fast and I knew that any contact with that train at my speed would be the same as if a semi-trailer swiped me like so much mess over an intersection.
Again the magic came back to hand, and I threw a gust of wind in front of me, allowing the air to cushion my certain death to almost a blessed concussion.
Stars danced in front of my eyes as I fell unceremoniously on my rump.
“Home sweet home,” I groaned, rubbing my hoody back and forth on what felt like an egg-sized lump on my noggin.
Sydney. Mid evening. Other side of the world in less than a minute.
It was good to have magic in the bones.
