The Shee Chronicals

A number of years ago (my goodness I was still in high school when I started, that is a while ago) I started writing a bunch of Creatures stories. In my mind I had a good 5 part story worked out. Creatures 1, Creatures 2, Creatures 3, Creatures 4 (which would have taken part of Sphericus) and The Shee Chronicals, which would be the prologue to the others.

Sadly I never made it more than halfway through Creatures 2. And honestly, Creatures 1 was pretty juvenile and I kind of hurried through it to get to Creatures 2.

I sincerely doubt these stories will ever be finished. I currently don't have the time and I doubt I'd be able to find the passion to finish them anyway.

However! The Shee Chronicals was looking to be a damn good story and potentially fairly lengthy. And best of all it can stand by itself without the other stories to back it up. I didn't get terribly far through it but I thought I'd start to share what I've done and see what kind of reception it gets. Maybe it will inspire me to take it up again. Coz you know, what I need is another project on the go :P

Anyway, here is the first chunk. I intend to release it in drips and drabs so don't worry, there's quite a bit more to come. Off the top of my head I know there's more than 25 pages worth, and I estimate when finished it would be over 100.

Oh and for the record, Quten is pronounced "Ku-ten". Believe it or not his name is a cars number plate.

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The Shee Chronicals

The poor old Norn was dying. His closest friend sat at his side. I knew there was nothing I could do. He was dying simply of old age. It was a shame to be losing such an incredible creature. He had been with his species for such a long time and now when it looked like we needed him most he was to go.
I floated down to him. “Is there anything I can do to ease the suffering?” I asked the Norn.
“My old friend”, wheezed the ancient, “Tell me a story, you know what I want to hear”.
“Indeed I do” I replied, “I told you long ago, when someone with enough intelligence to understand the story was born, I would tell him or her. I never thought I would be able to tell you. But now is the time to tell my story.”
So, with the Norn about to die and with his closest friend listening, I told the story of over one thousand years, my story, the story of the legendary Hand…

“Where are you taking me Quten?” I asked the Shee.
“You’ll see when we get there” he replied.
“Why do you always have to be so mysterious?” I asked.
“How do you ever expect me to surprise you if I’m not” was his answer.
All of a sudden we came to a stop. “You can take off the blindfold now,” Quten said.
I pulled off the cloth that covered my eyes and gasped.
“Oh, Quten it’s beautiful” I sighed.
“I thought you’d like it,” he said.
Before us was a cliffs edge, beyond that was all of Albia, glimmering in the morning sunlight. We sat down on the grass together and Quten wrapped his arms around me.
“This is so romantic” I whispered in his ear.
“Yeah, I’m a real old time romantic” he murmured with a slight laugh.
I cuddled closer to him in the cool morning breeze. He kissed my forehead and held me close to him. I glanced down at his arms around my body and gave a groan.
“What’s the matter?” he asked in his gentle, mysterious voice.
“Look at the time” I grumbled, pulling away from him. “I’m so sorry, but I’ve got to go”.
“That’s okay,” he whispered.
“No, it isn’t” I muttered, “You organized this incredibly romantic morning for me and now I have to run off to the labs on you”.
“It’s fine Sheelia, really” he said quietly.
“You’re so sweet” I sighed. I grabbed my pack and kissed him on the lips before departing. “I’ll make it up to you I promise” I called over my shoulder.
The Shee sat down again at the edge of the cliff and continued to gaze out over the valley. He had been like that ever since we’d met all those years back. He seemed to have this dark, mysterious way in the world, a way I just simply loved. Back when we had first met, I had had a secret crush on him. But I doubted there could ever be anything between us because of our social differences. His family was a poor one, who lived in a small house on a lonely side of town. His family had just managed to get him into the school I had attended and even then most people thought him and his family just a pathetic waste of space. To be honest I didn’t think all that much of his family, but Quten was something completely different. He wasn’t the normal rich kind of Shee family I had been born into. Nor was he anything like his fairly hopeless parents. The fact he was a dreamer and a bit of a loner didn’t help people’s impressions of him. Or maybe it was the fact nobody seemed to want anything to do with him that had made him a dreamer. Either way I had fallen in love with him and he felt the same way towards me. It was one of the few things I didn’t care what people thought of me for. Quten never seemed to care what people thought. It was as if he knew more than what others could see. As if he could see into the future or something. It was for this very reason I knew when I got to the genetic labs I would get a lecture from the Master there (Professor Camery was his name) about how I shouldn’t be associating with the likes of Quten’s family.
As soon as I entered the genetic labs grounds I rushed to the bathrooms to change into the official garments the genetics labs students wear. I tossed off my casual robes and threw on the light blue robes with the white egg on the centre. I then sprinted back to the classroom several seconds after the siren had gone off to indicate the start of the day. I burst through the door just as Professor Camery had got the class to settle. As he saw me I could see his very few hairs rise, like the hackles of a wild animal do. I could tell he was angry.

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The first page and a bit of The Shee Chronicals. Stay tuned for the next 24!