I'm continuing to try my hand with different genres. This week's is fantasy.

Please let me know what you think. All feedback welcomed.

Wow, that must be some spell. Why does it kill the person who casts it?

To paraphrase one of my favorite quotes from the comic book series that used to be my other obsession (besides loving LnC) - Do you always sacrifice a magician, if you want to cast a spell?

As usually, well done, Lynn.

Thank you, Bakasi.

I had envisioned a world in which every spell cast cost one part of one's essence. The essence was what powered the spell. Use it all up and you die. For a short period after you die, a powerful wizard can reincarnate you by reinfusing you with essence. One spell typically wouldn't kill the musician, unless they are already running very low on essence.

I haven't fleshed out this world enough to know whether they are giving you an "essence transplant" from themselves or whether they could, somehow, gather essence from the environment. Of course, things could turn really dark really fast if an essence transfusion is like a device which featured a brief but pivotal role in the TV series Babylon 5. The original creators of the device intended it to be used for both capital punishment and healing. Basically, the device transfers the infirmities of the ill person to the criminal.

Since I prefer the demon dragons to be the major threat in my story, I'll assume that a wizard of great skill and power can harvest essence from the atmosphere, but only at some great cost to himself or the town.

Joy,
Lynn

Like Lynn, I envisioned these magic users to use something of themselves in their spellcasting, be it energy from the caster's body or drawn from some "other" realm through the caster's body, thereby stressing that body. Like an athlete, the magic user could recover with time and care. Of course, circumstances in this case preclude any real recovery time.

In this story, I pictured the wizard having already spent much of his/her energy in recent battles, and the final spell requires all that he or she has left to give. It's really a noble sacrifice, assuming the spellcaster is actually trying to protect the innocent against a marauding demon dragon and not fighting off a hero dragon. (Wouldn't that be a twist?)

Here's a thought. This is the opening scene - maybe the prologue - of a much longer tale wherein the student takes over and struggles to maintain the master's reputation and quality of protection for the villagers. The balance of the tale has the student working, learning, forming alliances, uncovering and defeating traitors in the village, until he or she is faced with the same no-win Kobayashi Maru scenario.

Then just leave it there and let the reader imagine the actual outcome.

Hi Terry,

You explained what I had had in mind better than I could have, and I love your story twist. Thank you.

Maybe your two story ideas could be combined: The master is evil but has managed to convince the village otherwise. Perhaps he and the demon dragons have a secret pact whereby they pretend to invade and he pretends to hold them off. The villagers make him wealthy because he is (in their view) protecting the village. He splits the jewelry he receives with the dragons.

Then, by some set of circumstances, the master is forced to deal with an honorable apprentice. He manages to keep the apprentice in the dark about all of this. He teaches him nonsense words to use as "spells" against the dragons. When the master dies, the apprentice then starts to discover that all is not as it seems...

Joy,
Lynn

My idea isn't original, Lynn. The first part (the con) is from a film titled Dragonheart in 1996. It starred Dennis Quaid as a disillusioned and broke knight who hunted the last dragon (voiced by Sean Connery) to his lair just because that's what knights did, you see. Instead of fighting to the death, the knight and the dragon began running a game on area villages to bilk them of their money by "protecting" them from a marauding dragon. The sting fed both of them for a time, then something went wrong, and -

There's a lot more to the story, and it's actually pretty good for what it is, a paint-by-the-numbers buddy and redemption story. There's a twist, though, and it's - no, sorry, sweeties, spoilers!

Your story made me smile and think at the same time. Good job, my lady!

Dragonheart sounds intriguing; I've added it to my (very long) watch list.


Thank you.