Translate

Tuesday, July 10, 2012

Today's #Scifi #fantasy short story #WorldsNextGreatCaster


Not much happened today, just wrote, called my friend Damien for chatting(I don't usually mention when I do that though. It happens from time to time.) and further worked on my books and such. Anyway, onto the flash fiction!
 
World's Next Great Caster


         Seven dragons leaped about on the stage. They breathed fire in criss-crossing patterns. Occasionally one or two of them would fly over the audience. Each dragon had a different color of scales. In the center of the stage was a young witch. Each subtle movement of her wand and magic word she said controlled the dragons. Also beneath her feet was a summoning circle drawn in chalk by her hands. As soon as her act was done she licked her finger then wiped away a part of it. The dragons vanished. The audience clapped as well as the people watching this live showing at home.
        “Good job Angelica!” yelled Judge Jacob. Judge Jacob was a powerful wizard who ran his own magic school alongside being a teacher there. He loved kids and education more than life itself. He started the show World's Next Great Caster to encourage more people to pursue their magic
        Judge Willa then smiled. “Wizards and witches across the magical lands will want to vote for you after that performance. You could be the World's Next Great Caster!”
       “Please,” groaned Judge Petra, “Don't fill her with false hope.” Petra was the cynical Judge that many reality show contests considered a staple. Calling what she said “groaning” would be an approximation. One of the most interesting parts about her was the way she spoke. She was a very, very old woman, with a raspy voice. But the rasp in her voice wasn't like the usual rasp you would expect from an old person. Instead it was like the rasp from an old record meeting crumpled paper. And how she “groaned” was like she was speaking with a prolonged frog's croak in the back of her throat. Despite all this though her voice did have a small bit of a feminine tone to it.
         Judge Willa glared at Petra. “Why do you always say those things?”
Petra responded, “I'm only saying the truth. She has talent, but she has terrible spell choice.”
Judge Jacob looked at Petra confused. “What do you mean. You were the one who backed her the most in the earlier rounds!”
         “Yes, I did.” Petra sighed. Her sigh resembled air leaving a flute without a tune or tone. “But that was before she just kept using dragon summoning spells over and over again. How can she expect to entertain the audience if she keeps doing the same thing even if she keeps increasing the amount of dragons or their tricks?”
           Angelica then quietly added. “But I love dragons.”
           Petra then responded with a glare. “It doesn't matter what you love. If you want to win you have to pick different spells. Otherwise you're just going to be boring and bland.”
           Angelica's face then turned as red as the fire her dragons and breathed. “You know what screw you! You demean your contestants all the time and give them so called 'advice' while all you do is sit in a chair! Why don't you cast a spell for a change?” The two other Judges looked at Petra waiting for her response. Normally whenever a contestant yelled at her she would lecture them. The lecture were always quick and her voice and the tone of voice in her lecture was a sort of sharp stinging tone. It made the person embarrassed and feel inferior. Over the seasons that the show aired less and less people had started to contradict Petra.      
         This was the first time someone had ever said this kind of thing to her.
          Petra stood up and walked on stage without a word. Her back was completely straight while she walked, and odd thing because she slumped while she sat. She then waved her arm to signal Angelica to get off the stage. Despite her earlier rage at Petra she complied without any protest because she was truly a timid girl at heart. Though when Angelica started to work her way offstage Petra pointed to her own chair.
“Take my seat Angelica.” Petra said in a calm tone. The other two Judges looked at each other shocked by the odd calmness in the voice. They were expecting some sort of lecture or stern comment from their fellow Judge. “I want you to see everything.” Angelica quickly complied.
         Petra then pulled out her wand. She coughed several times before she began to utter magic words while waving her wand. She then began to sing her magic words. But her voice was no longer raspy. It was beautiful. And it sounded so young and vibrant. The ground then started to rumble as she continued to wave her wand and utter her magic words.
         Then a giant mirror appeared. And within that mirror every single joyous memory the onlooker experienced was reflected. Every single member of the audience saw their own joyous memories in it without the other audience members seeing it. To animals and everything else the mirror was actually a normal mirror but to humans the spell caused the summoned mirror to be a canvas that showed joyous memories, even to the people who watched the show on TV at home.
         She kept casting the spell for five minutes before growing tired and lowering her hands and stopping singing her magic words. The mirror disappeared and the audience just sat in silent awe. Some of them actually having cried happy tears from those memories shown in the mirror.
She looked at Angelica. “You doubted me.” She then looked at the cameras. “Now that I think about it I think all of you must have doubted my worth as Judge. But I have shown my skill.” Petra then walked over to Angelica. “Now could you get out of my chair please? I'm very tired.” Angelica quickly moved. She was still shocked like everyone else by the sheer magnitude of the mirror spell. Angelica went next onto the stage because she had no idea where else to go.
         “I'm very sorry ma'am.” She said bowing her head.
Petra sighed. “No need to apologize. What you said made sense. But now that I have shown you my talent and how something different can 'wow' the audience I hope you take my advice in a different light. I also hope that I have proven myself worthy of my position.” She coughed. Casting that spell had taken quite the toll on her.
         Angelica smiled. “I'll take your advice. It'll be good for me to try something different.”
         Petra then smiled back. “And I think I will be kinder with my words.” Petra's head then began to bobble and she slumped onto the Judge's table. She had fallen asleep. The spell had taken that much energy out of her.
         Angelica was voted through and the next round she did a spell that transformed the audience all into cats, then dogs, then back into people where she finished up transforming herself into a werewolf. Petra stayed true to her word and from then on still told the blunt truth, but always with a kinder delivery. Though over time Judge Jacob became the cynical one because of troubles at his magical school. There always has to be one.


This work is copyright Langdon Kennedy you may share this(email it, print it, post it on your own website, broadcast it etc.) work unaltered as long as you credit me as the author and share a link to this blog with it and it is not for profit. If you have any questions and/or are unclear of these conditions email me at llkenne1@asu.edu

No comments:

Post a Comment