What Do You Do When You're Not Writing Pony Stories???

I thought I'd give you guys a sample of what I write when I'm not writing pony stories. I've got two main stories I'm working on and several side projects. Here's an excerpt from my fantasy inspired by roleplaying games like Dungeons & Dragons and Pathfinder.

Samuel immediately went to the door to the basement library. He closed his eyes, breathing deeply and evenly, sinking into the half-asleep blend of the conscious and unconscious that the arcane sight required. It came much more quickly now than it had in the beginning, his long hours of practice enabling him to slip into the sight in a matter of seconds. He opened his eyes and saw the world as it was with veins of eldritch energy pulsing through everything. He stared at the worn wood of the door, trying to find the ‘tag’ of energy his master had left when he cast the wards. It took many long minutes – so long that Samuel feared that his master had realized his error before he left and corrected it. Finally though, he found it, shimmering and almost disguised in the middle of a natural and tiny confluence of energies in the wood of the door.

Eagerly, he called upon the arcane energies in a basic magical probe, sending it along the tag his master had left. The wards his master had left were truly cruel, if they caught someone unawares. The energies Garreth had tied up with the ward strained at their bonds like an explosion caught in a net. Samuel frowned; simply unraveling the wards would be just as problematic as activating them. If he didn’t find a way to contain or diffuse the energies it held back, he would likely die. He searched his memory for some way to deal with wards like the one his master had created and came up with none – apparently, his master had not taught him everything he knew.

Scowling, Samuel decided that he would not, could not give up now. There would never be a better opportunity to get the book. I’ve experimented on my own enough to deal with a few wards! He thought, My master cannot know how I’ve surpassed him; there must be some weakness! And then he saw it. The energies had been drawn from the door itself! Lazy didn’t even begin to describe his master. Instead of using his own arcane store like most wizards did to prevent counterspells (a dangerous but necessary tactic when dealing with rival wizards and magic-users), he had treated his apprentice like some inept child. It was simplicity itself to diffuse the energies back into the door and unravel the wards.

With a hand that trembled only slightly and arcane sight wary for any other wards, Samuel slowly turned the doorknob. The latch clicked and the door opened slightly. Samuel pushed it gently and it swung open with a squeak revealing the dark stairwell beyond. Samuel’s lips curled back from his teeth in a feral grin that bordered on insanity (though being unable to see it himself, he did not realize how crazed he looked) and created an orb of light, sending it down the stairs ahead of him. He followed it slowly, cautiously keeping his mage sight active for the first hint of more wards. There were none. Samuel reached the library and his confidence grew. His master had not even closed the secret door to his Sanctum Sanctorum!

He hurried forward, ignoring the shelves of books around him and heading for the secret passage. He was just about to step into the passage beyond when he stopped, suddenly cautious again. It was beyond even his master’s laziness to leave the secret door open. It had to be some trap, some final trick if his ambitious apprentice somehow made it past the wards on the library door. He studied the passage, but could find nothing to indicate whether his master had left any wards. Slowly, he stepped through the passage and then he felt something he had never felt before: he felt a light pressure on his face and his whole body, much like trying to walk through a net made of threads. Instantly, Samuel stopped. Though he had never felt it before, he trusted his senses. Somehow, he knew that the pressure he felt on his body was an invisible ward, one much more cunningly hidden than the first. He carefully stepped back into the library, frustrated and perplexed.

This ward was much more complicated than the one upstairs had been. He could find no flaws in it, could not even see the energies which made up the ward! He ground his teeth, thinking furiously. Then he smiled coldly. Wards like the one his master had placed here were commonly attuned and activated by the magical energies flowing through everything. Since everything had these magical energies, anything that went through the ward would activate the spell that the ward held back. However, if he could manipulate his own arcane life force to slip between the net of the wards, he could pass through them unharmed. Samuel had never done anything like this before, but just thinking about the possibility gave him confidence that he could do it.

Slowly, he walked into the secret passage again, waiting to feel the slight pressure of the wards. When he felt it, he stopped moving, letting the sensation sink deep into his awareness. Then he sunk deeper into his meditation than he had ever done before. He had not even realized that such deep meditation was possible, and he almost shrunk back from it, afraid of losing himself forever. But Samuel’s ambition would not let him falter now, not when his goal was so close, and he sunk even deeper until he felt that he had plumbed the depths of his ability. He felt curiously detached from everything, like he was someplace far far away, though the opposite was true. He felt for his own body’s lifeforce and found it pulsing through him. He began nudging it with his mind, feeling its flow narrow and constrict in some areas and burn brighter in others.

The manipulation of his own lifeforce was more difficult than he ever would have thought. When he pushed it one place, it would find another path where he did not want it to go. Holding his energy in these unnatural positions was like juggling anvils. It took all his concentration and depleted much of his own reserves. Finally though, he had manipulated his body’s energy into the perfect pattern to enable him to walk through the ward. He stepped through, that one step costing him as much as a five mile run as he struggled to maintain his concentration and hold his energy where he wanted it, but he stepped through unharmed. When he was sure he was free of the ward, he let go of his concentration, allowing his lifeforce to resume its natural course through his body. He collapsed against the stone wall, breathing heavily, becoming aware of the world around him once more as he rose out of deep meditation.

Samuel rested against the wall for what seemed an age, his energy slowly restoring itself. His stomach growled and he felt like the feast he just ate with Luke and his friends had been made of air. His muscles began feeling less watery and he levered himself up, leaning against the wall for support. His head spun and he closed his eyes, waiting for it to pass. When it finally did, he began a slow shuffling walk down the long passage. As he moved, his head began to clear and he felt some strength return to his limbs. I don’t know how I’m going to be able to do this again, thought Samuel, worriedly, this attempt nearly undid me! Maybe I’ll be able to rest some more once I get to the sanctuary.

The walk seemed to take even longer because of his weakness, but Samuel eventually reached Garreth’s sanctuary. He had been fifteen when he first saw the Book, now he was eighteen and his master could have hidden the book, could have sold it or inadvertently destroyed it! It could be – but all was as he remembered it. Minor details were different; his master was working on a different experiment now, involving some summoned beast or other and he heard its forlorn cries echo from a cage set in the wall. His eyes immediately sought out the Book in the pentacle and he saw it there, just as it was when he first came here three years ago. His heart leapt in his chest until it felt like he must swallow it down. This time, he did not waste any time on studying the book, he wanted it now.

He stepped over the protective sigils and runes that lined the pentacle and felt their protection dissolve in an instant. He ignored the implications of the absence of protection and reached out one shaking hand and touched the book. It was more of a caress than a touch, and when his fingers first felt the rough cloth cover, an exultant voice exploded in his head and screamed, YEEESSSSSSSS!

So that's one story, there's lots more to it, but that's good for a sample. Let me know if you like it and if you'd like me to occasionally put more on my blog here.

Comments

[iloveportalz0r]

I do this:
- program stupid stuff
- fap to Zoe Trent
- read poni stories
- fap to Zoe Trent
- talk to people on Skype
- fap to Zoe Trent
- think about random stuff
- fap to Twilight Sparkle

[Runcible Spoon]

I loved it, and I'd love it even more if you were to post more excerpts from the story.
I'm hugely into the fantasy genre, having been an avid fantasy reader since the age of ten.
I'm even involved in a Pathfinder campaign.
So, yeah.
Post more.
*Q*