Jadisi-the Hidden World-Excerpt

For an online writing competition, I wrote a small story with a five hundred word limit. The writing prompt was: You are walking down the street, and suddenly the sky is filled with clouds when you had just been able to see stars a minute ago. A pile of leaves gets stirred into a mini tornado by a big gust of wind. What happens next? Additionally, I had to add, anywhere in the story, the phrase, ‘I’ve got rainbows in my veins.‘

After some contemplation, and a lot of banging my head on the table for ideas, this is what I came up with:

A clear and starry night. The moon hovered on the brink of half full and crescent, reflecting off of the abandoned cobblestones long past due repair. A cool breeze swept a single paper across the lamplit street, tumbling into the circular fountain in the middle of the alley, the water barely a trickle running over the stone basin, the visible pipes cracked and fractured, leaking a puddle onto the ground. 

Once, the fountain had fourteen spouts, one even coming out of the dragon’s mouth that sat atop the four tiers in a mighty roar, wings spread wide in rage. On pretty nights like this one, the fountain would light up and villagers would come to see the radiant show. There would be music and dancing, and occasionally, the wandering storyteller. 

That was before the enforcers came. I am old enough to remember the day they arrived, tearing through the streets of Northpass, arresting any who got in their way. The fountain, the most prized possession of the village, was broken in the fight that followed. Everyone over the age of sixteen was forced to go with the enforcers for the war that was to come. My oldest two siblings disappeared that day. The rest of us survivors were left to starve when the soldiers raided the kitchens and took everything. Now all that is left are rundown houses, broken fountains, and empty streets. Or so everyone thought.

Once the enforcers left, they never came back. They thought they took everything of use– our food, our people, and most of our houses. They never even found Jadisi. Jadisi is one of the older legends, from a time of fairies and folklore. It is the magical space between this world and that. When the enforcers came, the guardians of Jadisi were unstable. They had just learned the traitorous actions of one of the many Shian, the term for a warrior. The guardians were captured and taken away. Luckily, most of the village was able to escape to the safety of Jadisi, and since then, nobody has been able to return to the village from whence we came. Except for me, the youngest scout of all our people, at just twenty years of age. The others say it is unladylike to sneak around at night, searching for traces of remaining enforcers and trying to rebuild our forces. I say it is fierce. 

My name is Kiera. Kiera of Jadisi. I am a scout, guardian, and protector of the secret. The secret that if you walk around the old school building, ignore the swirling whirlwind that rises and blows leaves in a frantic tornado around you, knock on the gateway that looks like it leads to the middle of the desert, and whisper the password, ‘I’ve got rainbows in my veins,’ the gate will rise, and you will be able to pass through, to the oasis of Jadisi. 

Now the secret belongs to you. What will you do with it?

Hopefully you like this short story! Maybe one day this will become a full novel, complete with magic, monsters, and most likely, an annoying younger brother, but for now, it’s just an idea at the back of my head. For any input about the excerpt above, comment below and leave some of your story ideas, even if they are just a phrase or even a name. For more updates about my nearly-finished book, subscribe to my email list.

Stay Magical,