The Riddler (blog 1)

For that which make sense is only one truth. There is only one place for those who find the peices that fit.... but nonsensical, chaotic and incredible things belong to those who dare seek beyond the ordinary, beyond what they understand...to the realm of the riddler. This is a place where magic is born and legends thrive... so come friend, come... walk with the riddler.

Chapter 1 (blog1)

"After midnight, the shadows look different on Mercroft Street. Light from the street lamps seem muted and ominous. Silence filters through as the darkness deepens and the moon slips back behind the trees. Like a well scripted regime, the figure of a boy in the loft window of number 11 appears. Every night he stands there, opens the window and waits. Nothing happens. Nothing ever did. Not until that night, the night when everything changed, not for every body but for one."

There was never really much traffic on Mercroft Street and cars seemed to have been parked on either side for years without moving. Ancient oak trees lined the footpath littering it with leaves and seeds on a seasonal basis. London was renowned for having precise seasons to it. Fay had seen them all but in her mind there was no-where more beautiful than East Sheen when the leaves began to fall. It was a cold autumn night and like many nights before this one, Fay slipped into her woollen coat and braved the steep residential street that took her home. She moved slowly because with each step towards the mint tainted house with liquorice windows, she felt colder. The wooden gate at number 14 swung open and shut with the wind and Fay was relieved when her fingers met the red brick wall beside it. Her own residence, directly oposite that creep house. She stopped for a moment to turn and take in the sinister ambiance of that house. Number 11, hollow, forgotten home, riddled with overgrown hedges, weeds and wind swept packaging that somehow found a resting place amongst the chaos of a garden. She could see him standing there again, in the loft. He moved closer to the window and leaned over the edge peering down at the street and directly at her.

Those eyes were shaped like peas. Black sparkling eyes that were not human. His face was childlike but he was no child. Hair was cut neatly above the ears and his physique was small and lean. He could have passed for a school boy if it weren’t for the ridiculous red blazer that he wore.  It was like skin stuck to his body. It was part of him and none of the neighbours had seen him wear anythying else, none of them tried to pay attention. Most would scurry away and look at their shoes oblivious to this strange, mechanical man that lived at number 11.

The man stared harder, he blinked and the lines near his mouth flickered. Fay pressed her back against the wall as she dragged herself toward the front door. He leaned further and then he fell. It all happened so fast, she could hear herself screaming and as her hands reached her mouth, he wasn’t there anymore. The red became black until there was nothing. There was no man. A magpie circled the space where he fell and flew across the road straight at her. The door at number 14 opened, thick burly hands grabbed Fay by the coat and pulled her into the house. The door slammed shut and the bird perched itself on the now motionless wooden gate.

The stomping of feet, the squeaking of doors, she was inside, safe and warm.

“What happened?”

Histories of a forgotten world #1

The Fall of Icin

When Adoneem befell the stars and kissed each one with light, the void began to move, and from its vast toils, Edara was born.

Edara. He placed her not too close to the sun and gave her the night star, to brighten the darkness on her other side.

In these first ages of Edara, Adoneem called upon his four children and gave them clay to mould her shape. They churned and curved Edara and in a magical explosion, Mountains, Seas and Rivers were born. Life came about soon after that.

Tiny, it was at first and the brothers watched each moment as the Eltus grew tall and stretched its leaves into the sunshine. Leisurely the roots dug deep beneath the soil. A second tree began to grow beside a ridge and then more beyond that. After a time Edara was covered in a beautiful green blanket.

Adoneem stripped the bark of the first tree and took from it, the heart of life. He broke the heart into four and divided it between each son. Hana breathed his share into the wind, where bird and butterfly took to the skies. Lugol touched the soils and rocks; he buried the fraction he had been given, deep into the earth below him. From under his feet a new world began, worm, ant, deer, bore, tiger, and many creatures appeared. Astragolus took his to the oceans where the heart gave birth to fish, whales and all sea creatures. Edara suddenly flourished with life that reached every stream and every pool, it covered every mountain and very rock. The skies were rich in colour and song as the first tree fell dying fell and breathed a last sigh, the branches, slipped over Gillies Rock into cascading waters where life and magic was turning to depart from the place whence it had begun.

Icin of fire, knew that he could not give Edara life. His gift could only destroy all that was done. In shame he hung his head away from his brothers. One tear of fire fell from his face onto the object in his hand and. in anger; he threw it into the waterfall. The forest burst into a sorrowful flame. His act could not be undone and Adoneem raised his mighty hand to put out the fire. Each of his sons had given a gift and he could not take away the gift of his youngest. He decided then to change it and as the waters began to dance, from it the dwellers of these lands climbed forth.

First the Menehune, pixies, fairies and magical folk. The Kwell, the Elf, the Dwarf and lastly, Mankind. When the waters had finished giving life, a ring of fire sealed the pool. No-one could enter and no-one could escape. The gods called this place Elixim. They vowed to hide it deep within the belly of Gillies forest so that it could not be found.

Icin raged at the sight of this and when it was quiet, he looked upon his brothers and on Edara’s fields. The furnace within him was bright as he wished Edara for himself. He wanted to be a creator and with all his might he took his gift of fire, waved it at the world and breathed his filthy wroth upon the skies. The songs of the Dragon-bird ceased. They grew into giant beasts. From their lungs now came great flames. All living things began to fear them as they played upon the fields of golden sand.

Astragulos spoke softly to the oceans and rain fell to Edara, putting out the firestorms. While Hana whispered to the sky, wind began to blow and it cast away the ashes of destruction. Lugol forged tools of stone and metal to protect beings from the beasts.

Icin was not pleased and from his furnace came the Goblin, Gremlin and Gaul. He had learned to create creatures that were complex in nature and that would serve him alone. The Gaul were, as tall as the Kwell, the Goblin as quick as the Elf and the Gremlin was small and mischievous but as gifted as the Menehune.

When the furnace within Icin burned brightest, they began to eat flesh and drink the blood of men.

Adoneem saw all that was bad. He was angry and had to punish Icin for the pain that was inflicted on the creatures of Edara. He called a council and before the gods, he banished Icin from Edara. The “lord of fire” would not retreat and that is where the greatest war began.