Search for Melody

NOTE: This story was written when I was younger, 11 or 12 maybe. I found several pages of writing when I was cleaning out an old storage area. Below is what I had written, not changed except for small grammar or spelling corrections. It is not a complete story and I have no current plan to finish it. So, it is here for whatever amusement readers may find. Enjoy.


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Prologue
A long time ago, the world was divided in two parts. One part belonged to the humans and the other to magic. The two sides didn’t get along. The humans hunted the creatures of magic. The creatures of magic retaliated with magical disasters. One day a group of dark mages allied with the humans. Together they destroyed the kingdom of magic. Few had survived the war, even though it was short.
The magic kingdom’s King and Queen were killed, and their children were burned alive, leaving no evidence. The palace fell under a spell of protection, keeping those that remained safe. Some of the magic creatures disguised themselves as humans. The rest hid in magic cities. One city is Melody. There magic creatures and humans live in a peaceful utopia. The normal world is beginning to forget what magics once existed and call them myths. Not remember the forgotten ways, possibly that is what the wild magics wanted.


1.
“Sarah wait up, I can’t run that fast” shouted Kevin “and I can’t see Jenny anymore!”
“Then go find her. I’ll just go to the top and look around for danger.” Sarah stared at the top of the hill. “She can’t be too far back.” Sarah was a tall skinny girl. She had bright red hair, red brown eyes, and wore nothing but red. Kevin was shorter with black hair, green eyes, and wore green.
“Why don’t you find her! She’s your sister…” Before he could finish, he had fire balls being shot at him. Sarah used them to make her point. Kevin left to find Jenny. Hoping she was back along the path they had come from.
An hour later, he returned followed by Jenny. She was even shorter than Kevin and as skinny as Sarah. She had blond hair, blue eyes, and dressed in all blue. All three of them had star pendants on. They were gold with a colored stone in the middle. Sarah’s stone a red-orange, Kevin’s green, and Jenny’s was a light blue.
“I’m not even going to ask what took so long.” Said Sarah, shaking her head. “Lets get going, we need a place to stay before night.”
“I’m tired of walking though, and I’m hungry.” complained Jenny.
“Look, there is a city over there. We should reach it in less than an hour.” Sarah pointed to a group of lights in the distance, but it appeared to be more of a small town.
As they got closer, all they saw was one building with a tower. There seemed to be to city or town in sight.
“So where is this city” asked Kevin. “You said there was a city here.”
“Be quiet.” Sarah told them. “I will show you the city.”
A guard came down from the tower and approached them. “Who are you and what do you want?” He seemed mad.
“We are travelers and wish to stay two nights here.” Sarah seemed sure of herself.
“Where are you from and where do you go?” He still had the same anger in his voice.
“We come from the Willow’s Spring and are headed to Melody.” Sarah was still sure. “We mean no harm to the city.”
“Melody! Ha! That’s only a myth, there is no such place.”
“There is to those that believe in it.” Sarah was getting angry.
“I like you, so go on through. You can find your way, right?” The guard gestured for them to pass.
“We’ll be all right on our own.” Said Sarah still angry. “We still need to do some shopping anyway.”


2.
Sarah, Kevin, and Jenny entered an elevator. When the doors opened there was a full city underground. It even had skyscrapers. There were busy streets, children playing, and lots of noise.
“I want to go to bed.” Jenny gave a yawn.
“Kevin take Jenny to that inn and get a room. I’m going to get some food.” Sarah gave Kevin some money and went in search of food.
Sarah was deep in thought as she walked. She needed to get up early to find clues to the location of Melody. Hopefully the city’s library would be able to help. She also needed to make sure Kevin and Jenny had breakfast. It also meant she needed to do the spell to create more money.
“Excuse me miss, are you new in town? Cause if you are, I could help you find your way around.” Sarah looked up to see a young man about her age.
“Right now, all I need is to find food for my brother and sister.”
“Where are they?” he asked.
“That is for me to know, goodbye.” Sarah started to walk past.
“Can you at least tell me your name? You know, at least attempt to be polite.”
“Sarah.”
“Hello Sarah, I’m Justin. Nice meeting you.” He smiled.
Sarah walked on and brushed Justin off her mind. She found food and returned to the inn. Kevin opened the door to the room before she could knock. “You have to be quiet, Jenny’s sleeping.”
“Sorry. Let’s eat, then its straight to bed. I’m sending you and Jenny for supplies tomorrow. I’m to get information on Melody’s location. Did you set up a wakeup call?”
“Yes, I set it up. For once would you let me and Jenny have some fun? It’s always ‘do this’, never ‘go play’.” Kevin wanted to explore.
“Keep it down, you’ll wake Jenny. And the reason I don’t let you play is we have too many enemies that want to kill us. You should know that by now. I don’t mean to keep you from having fun, it’s just I don’t want you to get attached to an area. I do it because I love you two and don’t want to lose you. You understand right?”
“Yeah, I guess so.”
“Let’s go to bed.” Sarah watched Kevin fall asleep. Then went to sleep herself.

Ring… Ring… Ring…
“Hello?” Sarah said still half asleep.
“Wake up call for room 12.”
“Thank you.” Click- These phones couldn’t get any worse.
“Okay guys, get up. I’m going to take a shower. Get breakfast, I got a box of cereal.” Sarah went into the bathroom and shut the door.
Kevin got his cereal. He threw a piece at Jenny when she sat up.
“I saw a man speaking in tongues. Then I had another dream of a young man smiling and laughing. He wasn’t scary as the first guy.” Jenny said as she got her food.
“What did the first guy say?” asked Kevin with a mouthful.
“You know she can’t speak tongues and don’t talk with your mouth full.” Sarah left the bathroom and sat at the tiny table. “Do you know how any words sounded?”
“The last part was ‘yeht lliw eb enim’.” Jenny played with her cereal. “Why do you ask?”
“I know most languages, that’s not one. That is mirror talk, it is used by a cult. They say everything backwards, but the language is common.” Kevin snorted and Jenny laughed.
“What’s wrong?” Kevin watched Sarah’s face.
“Its not funny when a dark cult says ‘they will be mine’. The Mirror Cult are the second largest group of dark cultists in existence. They are one of the five groups to destroy the kingdom. So,, I don’t find it funny, especially since its unknown who they are after.” Sarah stood up. “I’m not that hungry. The list is on the table of the supplies you need to get. I’m going out.” Sarah walked out, slamming the door. It was hard enough that Jenny jumped.
“How long do you think she’ll be upset?” asked Jenny, slightly scared.
“I don’t know, but we should do the shopping when we finish eating.”

“Excuse me, where is the library?” Sarah asked at the inns main desk. “I need to look somethings up before we leave tomorrow.”
“It’s two blocks north, then six blocks east. It’s a huge building, can’t miss it.”
“Thanks.” Sarah left. It bothered her that everyone was so nice.
The library was huge, and no one was there. The place had books on the shelves, but they looked like they hadn’t been touched in a while. “What’s with this place?”
“It’s closed because no one here can read them, different language.” Sarah turned to see Justin behind her. “It was here before the city was and even our supposed ‘Language Experts’ are puzzled by it.”
“Go Away, I don’t need to be bothered. I just need to find some information.” Sarah searched the books until she found a few. “These should do.” Sarah sat at a table and looked through the first.
“What do you think you are doing?” Justin was really confused.
“I’m reading. I told you I needed information. You can leave.” Sarah continued to flip the pages.
“You can read that? So, what does it say? Sarah? You listening to me?” Justin was getting angry. “Will you listen to me!” The shout shook the library.
“Calm down. Ever heard of Melody? It’s a city that was lost a long time ago and this book has information on it. Okay?”
“Sure, it’s the city that’s supposed to hold the greatest secrets in the world. Everyone has heard the stories.”
“Its not stories. I was there when I was ten.” Sarah grabbed the books and stormed past Justin, leaving the library. “I hate that guy. I wish I could just blast him…”
“Hey Sarah, wait up! Sarah!” Justin ran to catch up to her. “What do you mean you’ve been there? Its only a story, how could you have been there? Want me to show you the hospital?” He thought her crazy.
“Yeah, I’m crazy, I also believe I’m a thousand-year-old witch that going to kill you if you don’t back off.” Sarah smiled but Justin had a look of terror. “I’m kidding… mostly.”
“That’s not funny. But you know, you do kind of look like a witch. I’m kidding!” He dodged the rock.
“So not funny.” Sarah paused.
“Then we are even?” Justin put his hand out. “Friends?”
“No, I most likely won’t see you after tomorrow when I leave.” Sarah walked on, leaving him standing alone.
“That’s what you think.” Justin smiled.
“What was that?” Sarah stopped. “Why do you say that?”
“You heard. I think you will miss me and come looking for me.”
“In your dreams, not mine. Now I am going to check on my brother and sister.” Sarah left and Justin didn’t follow her. She walked back to the inn to find they had finished shopping.
“Before you ask, we got everything on the list.” Kevin said before Sarah had even come through the door.
“Okay. From the books from the library, Melody is between here and the waterfall sea. In that area there are seven cities. We leave at four tomorrow morning. So, get dinner and go to bed.”
Sarah, Kevin, and Jenny went to bed early. But they were woke up at about two in the morning to screaming people.
“Grab your stuff and let’s go!” Sarah quickly grabbed her stuff.
“What’s going on?” Kevin asked.
“Fire in the city and it’s big. We need to move fast.”
They quickly headed for the elevator. Behind them a large group of people began to run for the elevators. They got on with a few people and the doors closed. As they could hear people banging on the doors. The problem with an underground city was the lack of escape paths.


3.
As they exited at the top, the sun wasn’t up yet. The soldiers were at the doors directing them. “Come on, hurry up! Clear the elevator!” They pushed them out and sent it back down. “Don’t leave the area!”
“Are we waiting or are we going to sneak away?” Kevin whispered.
“We wait for now. If we leave, they may blame us.” They waited and only a few more came up. “The rest are either safe, or dead. Stay close, that fire wasn’t normal. Did you talk to anyone while you were out?”
“No, no one questioned us on anything.” Kevin thought a moment. “there was a guy that asked about my pendent. He said he saw one similar earlier in the day.”
“You worry too much Sarah. You’re going to make yourself sick.” Jenny smiled.
“Well someone has to worry about us Jenny. And since Sarah likes to worry let her worry. If you worry about her then you will be a worry wart too.” Kevin grinned at his sisters.
“Your right, I guess. Well, I don’t need to be a worry wart, they seem mean.” Kevin laughed as Jenny said it with a straight face.
“I think that is a ‘Sarah’ thing. I haven’t met anyone to rival her anger.” Jenny and Kevin both laughed.
“Is that funny to you? For your information, its not a ‘Sarah’ thing it’s a fire creature trait. All fire creatures are evil, high tempered, and mean to others. I have a mild anger problem. That’s unless I get mad. If I’m mean blame the fire.” Sarah looked at them and gave an evil smile. One of the guards came over and tapped Sarah’s shoulder.
“I need to ask you some questions.” He was gruff and not friendly.
“Sure.” Sarah turned to stand in front of her brother and sister.
“Where were you when the fire started?”
“I was awake in our room. When I heard the alarms, I woke my siblings and left.” Jenny shivered and grabbed the back of Sarah’s shirt.
“I think it’s a little too convenient that you had all your stuff with you. Do you have a reason?”
“Yes, you can check on the log when we entered or with the inn, but we had planned to leave today. We packed before bed to get an early start. When will we be able to leave?”
“Do you have any reason for wanting to leave today?”
“We only planned to stay two nights. We told that to the entrance guard.”
“Okay, you can leave. If stopped tell them you were cleared, number 10603. They will let you through.” The guard went to the next group.
“How do they know we won’t tell the number to anyone else?” Jenny glanced around. “Couldn’t the culprit get away?”
“No, they use each number once and they only assign it to one family. It’s a code system. Its really complicated and hard to figure out.” Sarah started to walk away. When the guards near the main road stopped them, they gave the number and could pass.
“How far is the next city?” asked Kevin stumbling over a rock in the road. “This area is too rocky for walking.” Then Kevin was on the ground with a mouth full of mud. Jenny laughed.
“You just need to be careful. The city isn’t too far. We will have to camp out two nights, maybe three. One of our shorter trips.”
“We spend more time on the ground than in beds.” Jenny crossed her arms.
“When we get to Melody you won’t have to sleep on the ground anymore.”



End for now