Tuesday, June 22, 2010
Teaser Tuesday
So a little info. Taryn and the people she is with are special. The Between is kind of a place and a thing. There is more than one realm in my story. There are three, and they are linked by the Between. In order to get from one realm to the other you must pass through It, but no one can actually live in the Between except for people like Taryn, Nicolai, and Michelangelo.
In this excerpt, Taryn is making her first journey into the Between to the City that Nicolai and Michelangelo are from; it is not the only city in the Between, but it is called the City. Okay, I guess I should probably give it to you now, huh? Alright, fine:
I don’t wanna die, Taryn thought, I don’t want to die. She tried to relax, tried to think. At school, no one ever made her feel like she belonged. She wasn’t one of the super smart kids, wasn’t a bully, or a dweeb; heck, she wasn’t even allowed to hang out with the weirdoes at recess. She didn’t belong. She had never belonged. Sometimes it was like her own family didn’t understand her or want her around. According to Nicolai, though, this place, the Between, it wanted her. It Chose her. Of all the people in the world, it Chose her to be the first girl to ever walk the Between. She finally had some where she belonged, and she wasn’t going to turn her back on that.
Something shifted in the world. Taryn felt light. The pressure was lifted off of her body and lungs. She opened her eyes and was amazed. Her mouth was agape, her arms hung limply at her sides, her eyes wide to take everything in. It was beautiful. There was an entire city in the dark mist, with large buildings made of stone. Taryn thought she’d wandered into an old English movie. The city was made entirely of pale stones that gave off an ethereal light in the darkness, turning its outline into a hazy glow that made it look like a ghost town ready to disappear in an instant. People wandered the streets, their forms ghost-like: pale, translucent, and shimmering with a trail of dark mist clinging to them as they moved.
Taryn looked down at herself. Her skin was pale and glowing, but she was still clearly defined. Her heart sank. Even here she stood out.
“It’ll fade,” Taryn jerked her head up, and her eyes met Nicolai’s, “it just takes time. You’ll adjust.”
“Oh,” she said.
“Don’t be so eager to fit in,” said Nicolai.
“Why not?”
“Because, it takes a long time to forget what being human is like, especially when you see it as often as we do,” he said. “We don’t eat. We don’t sleep. Most of the time we can’t even touch anything, much less feel anything.” His voice was soft, mournful. His eyes were dark gray in stark contrast with the whites of his eyes and the pale glow of his hair and skin. Nicolai didn’t look human at all, now that she thought about, but he was beautiful. “Savor your final days,” he whispered. “You’ll miss it when you’ve Changed.”
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6 comments:
Your world sounds really cool. And I really love this line about Nicolai: "Nicolai didn’t look human at all, now that she thought about it, but he was beautiful." Actually, I just really gravitated toward him in general.
It sounds like a really interesting premise for a book. Liked the teaser :) Thanks for sharing!
Very cool, Amanda! I like it!
Regarding your backstory... I'm imagining a sort of "The Magician's Nephew" sort of setup with respect to the Between and the realms (you're in a world that has portholes to different worlds, right?). I'm excited to read more! :D
Also, I'm a big name person and frankly, to name your character Michelangelo, SO awesome and so bold!!! I can't wait to read more! :D
Nicely done. I loved the wording, too. "The Between" was the most intriguing.
Nice! I'm with Veronica... Nicolai was a interesting character in this bit. I love stories that explore what it means to be human by having a character lose their humanity -- or learn to love someone that isn't human.
This seems like a really cool premise. I love the worldbuilding here. I can't wait to read more from it!
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