Random Excerpts - #1

random excerpts - #1

It occurred to me that if getting exposure for my book is my goal, then posting some excerpts from it might be beneficial. With that said, here is a bit of the very first chapter.

Chapter One

Taka screamed in terror, and shot up in his bed. His heart drummed in his chest at a rapid pace for what felt like an eternity before it finally settled down. Beads of sweat formed upon his forehead as his eyes flitted around the dim room. Everything was as he’d left it—door closed, his things atop a medium-sized, rectangular storage chest in the corner...

“Hah..”

Breathing a sigh of relief, he reluctantly slid out of bed, recoiling slightly at the cold touch of the floor on the bottoms of his feet. It was moments like these that made him wish he knew even a few spells. The entire room seemed to creak loudly as it lurched to one side, the ship rocked by the violent waves. Steadying himself, he rubbed his eyes and yawned.

" ’Smooth ride’, huh?”

When the ship finally leveled out and Taka felt he could move about safely again, he did so, heading over to the lockbox in the corner and kneeling down by it. He pulled his comfortably worn dark leather boots off the box and onto the floor, then slid them on one by one. Then, he attached his pouches to his belt, and stretched the remaining dredges of sleep from his body.

Afterward, he headed over to the small mirror that sat atop a dresser alongside the leftmost wall.

In the mirror now, was himself. In this lightless room, he could just make out his defining features; a sharp nose, and roughly chin-length deep brown hair complimented by his hazel eyes and pale skin.

It cornered his face which gave him an almost wolf-like, mischievous appearance.

“My hair's a mess…”

Grumbling, he spent a few minutes combing through it with his fingers and wishing he’d brought a comb.

When his hair had been made somewhat acceptable, he adjusted his scarf, then nodded.

“That seems good enough. Okay… Already dressed, so…”

He had on a black long-sleeved top and pants which both had dark-brown accents. His top had no left sleeve, and the remaining sleeve was a slightly lighter shade of brown than his hair was. Making his final adjustments, Taka turned from the mirror, and returned to the lockbox.

“Almost forgot.”

He muttered, bending down to grab his short bow and quiver from atop it. Slinging the bow around his shoulder and tying the quiver to his waist just above his pouches, he gave a final nod.

“Right.”

One last time, Taka scanned the dimly lit room. He didn’t want to leave anything behind. When he was content, secure in the fact that he had indeed not forgotten anything, he left the room behind and found himself in the bottom halls of the ship. Yet, this was not his destination, so he headed quietly through the bottom levels, guided under the gentle, orange light of the lanterns affixed to the walls, until he reached a door. Beyond this door was the ship’s kitchen. At the moment, there was no designated ship chef, as the vessel captain, Dane, tended to come down here himself to make meals. But, all of their food was stored in this room, and Taka had been given permission to eat whatever, whenever he liked. He entered, quickly grabbed an apple, then quietly left. Taking a deep breath to calm his rising nerves, he traversed through the halls as slowly as he could, until he finally came to a wooden staircase. Heading up it, wincing with every creak, he found himself on the upper deck. The sky was still dark, but it felt as if he could see better. There was a slight chill in the air, tinged with the scent of the sea. Taka breathed a sigh of relief, which turned into a massive yawn. As far as he knew, he hadn’t woken anyone up.

“Sun should be rising soon,” He murmured to himself, leaning against the taffrail and looking out across the vast blue ocean as he took a bite of the apple he’d procured. He’d always liked apples, and fruit in general.

‘One of nature’s best things,’ if he said so himself.

Idly, he tossed the apple into the air, and then felt himself jolted to the side – “Aah!” -- as the ship rocked against a massive wave that sent seafoam and seawater spraying everywhere. The wave crashed and broke, finally rescinding back into the sea, its anger having passed.

 “Great.”

Taka sighed. He’d lost the apple.

Normally, he would have just gone and grabbed another one, but he didn’t want to risk waking anyone up, nor did he want to overstep, and take too much.

'Then Dane might make me give him some of the money he gave me back, and I don’t really want that to happen.’

Looking out across the great blue, its color becoming more vivid as the sun slowly rose, Taka turned to his thoughts for a while. He was no stranger to sea travel and the whims of the sea and of ships, thanks to Dane who’d taken him on countless trips over the years. Yet, he still felt a tinge of annoyance.

“It’ll likely be a gentle ride.” Those words rolled over in his head several times.

‘Yeah, right. ‘Gentle’, huh?’

Suddenly, another thought struck Taka, and distracted him.

“Hmm,” He hummed.

“How long have we been at sea?”

He had no earthly idea. Weeks? Definitely less than a month. Perhaps this one had taken longer since Dane had opted to visit all the major ports that ran along the Advent Route this time around. Normally, he wouldn’t have been allowed to do that, but due to several unforeseen issues, the other ships running the Advent Route this time had been severely delayed. So, Dane was being allowed to pick up their slack. Despite being an independent contractor who ran his own business, even Dane had people he answered to. He couldn’t just do whatever he wanted.

Taka could guess what the problem had been, anyway. As Summer reached its end, the sea itself would, independent to the temperature of the world around it, begin to get colder and colder, until it became so cold that everything living in it would enter a state of hibernation to protect themselves. It would reach it’s “peak” when Winter rolled around, and then sea-travel would be at its annual safest. Traveling by sea during the Advent month and onward was safe, but you could still definitely run into trouble if you were unlucky. Summer was ending and ushering in Winter, slowly but surely, but the rain had not yet turned to snow, and the monsters living in the sea had not yet begun their long sleep.

Advent Month. Advent Sea Route. Things established to make the “advent of new adventurers” as easy, organized, and accessible as possible. The month was a sort of holiday organized by the Kommodian Government, the only difference between it and a “normal” holiday was that participation was not an option. Whether you liked it or not, swarms of adventurers would sign up at guilds. Like it or not, Leln would be very busy. And like it or not, you’d have a lot of work if you agreed to run the Advent Route, as a captain. Of course, lots of work meant lots of rest after, but come to think of it, Taka had never seen Dane take so much as a day off. Maybe a half day. He was quite the workaholic, now that he thought about it. The Advent Route itself was a route stemming from every major Kommodian port, trailing down the neighboring oceans, along a carefully curated path the result of years of research and trial and error. Depending on the port, you’d typically be taken to either the leftmost meeting point, which was rather mountainous and hilly, or the rightmost one, alongside the Leln coast.

‘Adventurers, huh..’ Taka had just turned fifteen himself, not too long ago. That was the age the Kommodian government formally recognized an individual as an adult—and the earliest age the Guild would accept you as one of their own. Over the course of the last month, they’d picked up countless adventurers and merchants alike, all seeking passage to the bustling town of Leln. A full circle around the Kommodian continent should have, by rights, taken them months to complete, but this ship – which the captain had modified himself – was special. Voyages that should have taken months could take weeks, ones that should take years only months. With this ship, Dane had made quite a sizable amount of coin, being able to complete more than double the amount of work a normal captain would normally within the timeframe of a year. Due to Dane’s intense work ethic, he quickly found himself one of the most sought-after ship captains in the world. Indeed, there were many who’d in this world who would pay lavish amounts of gold just to have him captain their ship, and some would pay even more for him to simply be part of their crew. To put it bluntly, he was something of a celebrity in the seafaring world.

“Oh!” Taka exclaimed. “I can see it!”

Finally, the coastline had come into view. It was a far away sight, and by his wager they wouldn’t be there until the sun had peaked in the sky, but he could finally see it! Land! Their destination was inching closer before his eyes!

When they finally laid anchor and docked on the Central Coastline, they’d be halfway there! There, the merchants and adventurers would part ways and take carriages the remainder of the way to Leln, which would take about a day and a half if things went smoothly.

Not every ship combined merchant and adventurer both. Dane’s was certainly unique in that regard. The reason most ships didn’t mix merchants and adventurers, was simply for the fact that most ship captains had never been adventurers themselves. Dane was an ex-adventurer, and so he knew the commonly held “merchant stigma” of: “Adventurers are all savage beasts who’ll rob and rape at any opportunity!” was entirely false. Sure, there were some adventurers who weren’t really good people, and there were certainly adventurers who used their job to do bad things, but they were a minority. The majority of adventurers were good people. So, Dane reasoned, mixing merchant and adventurer is no problem. Because in reality, there was no problem. The chance you, as a merchant, got attacked by an adventurer on a ship, was about the same as your chance of being randomly attacked by an adventurer in a town. Very, very low. Exceedingly so. Sure, you’d occasionally hear the disheartening case of some awful crime occurring, orchestrated by some nutcase who happened to be registered as an adventurer, but those were far and few between.

Taka shook his head to clear his thoughts. He was a bit nervous, so his thoughts were running wild. Taking a deep breath, he shifted his pose and re-laid his hands over the railing before him. He’d been staring into empty space, but now he found himself gazing beyond the sea, towards his destination. The sun had finally begun to clear the horizon, casting a beautiful orange glow on the waters ahead. The sky was like a painting, a myriad of colors composed of purples and blacks, oranges, and dark reds. As the sun rose higher and higher still, the last remnants of the stars overhead began to fade in the presence of the dawn of a new day. With this wondrous sight before him, he was truly thankful he’d woken up so early. There were a few other people on the deck now, an older-looking man and a younger one who was currently vomiting over the siderail, but nobody so far had engaged him in conversation. With a subtle smile, Taka took a small comfort in that solitude. But even still, he considered going over to him and doing something. Like asking if he was okay. But he quickly decided against it; the thought alone made him extremely nervous.

‘I guess it’s probably better if we all leave each other alone. I mean, I hope that vomiting guy is ok. But I don’t know. Should I talk to him? Should I not? It’s obviously easier to sit here and… It doesn’t really matter, why don’t you just chill out? Obviously, I’m nervous. Today’s a really big day, lots of stuff happening, so I’m obviously nervous. But chill out, alright Taka? Chill out. No worries. No problem. It doesn’t matter in the grand scheme of things if I talk to that guy or not. Here’s a question. Do you want to talk to him? Do you? If so, why don’t you? If you don’t, then don’t. But it’s okay, don’t worry about the right or wrong answer. As far as I know, there isn’t one here. I mean, yeah, I hope he’s okay. But also, I’m nervous to talk to him. He’s a random guy. How would I react if, well I guess it depends. Right? If they were nice or mean. If I was vomiting and…’

Silence punctuated by his rambling thoughts and the sickening sounds of vomiting filled the air. Taka looked away and turned his eyes back to the seemingly endless ocean before him. Eventually, the sun reached its peak in the sky, and by that time the coast was more than just a distant sight—it was directly before them. They had arrived! Pulling into the dock, the ship creaked and cried as the anchor dropped, rocking unsteadily for a few moments before gradually smoothing out. Now that he could see it up close, it was almost unremarkable. A vast clearing spread outward, marred by the coastline sand, several pieces of foliage, and a well-trodden dirt path which split out in several directions. Cornering the clearing was a massive forest that Taka couldn’t even begin to see the end of. Lastly, in the center of this plain were a few small buildings, and several carriages awaiting their cargo—the adventurers.

Then, as if it were being projected directly into his head, he heard a familiar voice say:  "Attention, all travelerssssss. Thisss is your captain ssspeaking. We have reached the Eassst Leln Coassstline. I repeat, we have reached the Eassst Leln Coassstline. All passsssengers, please prepare to disssembark. Thank you for ssssailing on the Marvelad."

END OF EXCERPT

thanks for reading if you did :) comments are more than welcome. i'll post more if i can think of any more that im happy with.

also, please remember that my book isn't entirely finished-- some of this may change when its fully complete! :D

aghhhh ok fine

I did do a music post in the past, but i'll indulge you, @jev-urisk XD

(quickly tho, cuz i'm writing rn)

one song each and a explanation of why :D (i was gonna do three each but then this post would be crazy long)

also, spoilers for Party of Three becase i can't explain these things entirely without spoilers (i tried my best to avoid massive ones)

As such:

Vague-ish spoilers for Taka's future

Minor spoilers for Beriyl's past

Relatively massive spoilers for Arthur and Eirairr's backstories

Taka:

Refrain Boy - ALL OFF

(I am very very passionate about music so this will probably be a long post despite me saying otherwise lmao)

Reasoning: This song to me, embodies a lot of things. The "going ahead with life even though it's hard," that really awesome feeling a lot of shonen have about "pushing through stuff with your friends no matter what," that "great things are gonna happen for you in the future" vibe, its really hard for me to put this emotion into words, but just the "You can look forward to fun stuff in the future, and as long as you have your bonds and yourself, you'll be okay, even if it's sad and hard" and i really, honestly think that embodies Taka very much. He is very much a person who cares VERY much about his friends, he's a very adventurous person, I'm very honored to get to write about him because his journey is to me, one that is very special and very beautiful. We literally watch this scared little kid grow up into someone capable of saving the world, and I think that is just beautiful. We watch him come into his own sort of groove, find out who he is and who he really cares about, what he stands for. It's just really beautiful and very personal to me. I've always loved this song, but in a sense I think it encapsulates the "journey" of Tamalnh, and my own personal journey over the last few years. Except I have far less friends than Taka, and I am nowhere near as happy as he is.

Beriyl:

Aaagh, honestly Beriyl is a tie up between Fightsong - Eve and Yumemigusa by BLUE ENCOUNT

Beriyl's story and him as a person I feel like both of these songs fit him pretty well. His is a story much darker than Taka's, because he's practically a survivor of childhood neglect. For fear of spoiling too much, I really don't know how to explain this without doing so, but Beriyl's story of overcoming self-worth issues, figuring out who he really is and what truly matters to him, and standing up for those things, is one that I think is really beautiful.

Beriyl is an immensely strong person, even if maybe that isn't readily apparent for the first, oh... two hundred pages of the book.

Arthur:

ROAR by ulma sound junction

This lyric in particular; "Where destiny gets robbed and torn in half,"

He lost everything at a very young age, struggled with severe, suicidal depression for many, many years. And he nearly did do it. In a way, he lost his future, then clawed it back into reality with his own two hands, fully intending to die all the while. He may never be able to fulfill that lost childhood dream of adventuring with Rend, he may have lost his family and village, but he found Taka and Beriyl. And they saved him, from himself, in a way.

Ecirr and Qlul:

PRIDE OF A NAMELESS HUNTER - Tadayoshi Makino

Ecirr to me, embodies the "grace" and "refinement" that Qlul doesn't really have. Qlul is the warmth and energy, the relaxed and "silly" side of the coin here, whereas Ecirr is the calm, cool, "serious" side.

Now, for some reason, I don't have a playlist for Qlul. But I do have a theme I feel fits both of them very much so.

L no Theme B - Hideki Taniuchi

Here's one more that resembles them :')

ok fine one more (feels fitting for book 2's tone)

AGHH ALSO BOOK 2 THEMING

Ecirr is really smart, and Qlul's not stupid. This song (L's Theme) to me feels like when they combine their only visible braincells and actually pull off something cool.

Eirairr:

Man, Eirairr is hard to summarize in a single song. He's such a chaotic person.

The enigma of an elf, the Eirairr-ness of... Eirairr.

Here's a few: Kannon by Kita Kouhei

Blue Moon by LiSA

Tyottohitoiki

At his core, he's a good person. He cares about his friends and has an unfathomably great love for life itself. He's also a very tragic figure, as being born as a Pactborn-Elf means that, no matter how long he lived inside that Realm as an immortal being, once outside he's only got a hundred years. Can you imagine how short a hundred years would feel to someone who's lived that long?

Eirairr himself says something to this extent; and yes, this IS a pretty big spoiler, but its necessary to really get my point across.

Some context: A very long time ago, there was a period where Fae were very active, and several curses were placed on various people/parts of the world back then. One of these was locking several "clans" of elves into permanent deification as "guardians" of elements of the world, hence "Pactborn" elves. So you have "pacted" elves of the mountains, seas, forests, etc. They basically exist in a plane that is one "layer" above the physical dimension, which intersects with the Fae realm. They can't leave their "assigned areas", and if they do, they are cursed to die in a hundred years.

(the relative timespan of a human, basically.)

Eirairr was born into that, lived for a very long time, and then decided to leave. When he left, as part of the Curse, he was given knowledge of the modern world, clothes and a weapon, and basically told; "Good luck."

alright that's all from me :D did lots of tumblr today, lots of writing, very productive day today :DDDD and i have work tomorrow aghhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh not excited

ok bye

inspired by the scariest words my dm has ever said to me and the subsequent coolest (AND SCARIEST) scene of my life

this also applies to things like writing lmaoooo

super relatable

The wild thing about being obsessed with your own DnD campaign is that there's absolutely NO fandom content for it except the stuff that you make

Like, what do you mean only six other people in the entire world have heard of Dave the Ice Elemental whose job is Freezer at the Fantasy Starbucks?

context: claude.ai said this about my writing and it made me want to cry

i sent it like 5-6 excerpts from various parts of my book for context.

Character Themes: Lucky Seven

Since I made a post about music the other day, I thought I'd make a small post talking about the playlists i have for each member of Lucky Seven.