I have something special to share with you all today--a peek at the first page of Whispers and Murmurs!
So maybe it's premature...after all, I still don't have a synopsis that really captures the essence of the story. But I've been mentioning SPHERES on occasion for a while now without really showing much, so this is something I wanted to do.
A mini-synopsis:
Whispers and Murmurs is told through a 17-year-old girl named Nikaiya. Afraid she's going to be trapped on Erevfaüna for the rest of her life, she tries to escape, but when she discovers a faction from the desert nation Atim is after her life, freedom suddenly becomes more complicated than 'slip out of Erevfaüna'. Apparently they're convinced she has something to do with Atim's barely-prevented civil war--the one that's been threatening to rip the nation apart for over 600 years.
Enjoy!
SPHERES: Whispers
and Murmurs, Chapter One
The fear of being eaten alive is
an excellent motivator, though I prefer to be motivated by passion. Or love. Or
food.
The sea thins for a split-second
before I surface into sheer radiance. I soak in the sun’s warmth long enough to
re-align myself with the cliffside’s hidden alcove while waves rush past me,
roaring as they break against the boulders dotting the northern coast. My jaw
clenches. That monster it’s eyes were
ruined such strange teeth this
moment.
Shivering in an effort to push
the terrifying image out of my mind, I force myself to back to the present and
plunge. I focus on each stroke, on the acrid, brackish taste that fills my
mouth with every breath of water, on the push and pull of my muscles as they
propel me forward as I weave through rocks until sand surrounds me and it’s too
shallow to swim further. I stand and
glance backward, half expecting the beast’s maw to clamp around me, but there’s
nothing larger than fish in the foam-spritzed water.
Maybe I imagined that blue ridge rippling along the
horizon. Fear does have the
power to make people see things that aren’t there. I slosh at breakneck speed toward
the shore. I’m still not swimming in the open sea for a week if I can make it that long. Sparkling
grains ignite my feet and legs. I ignore the pain, glad to be sentient, and
brush past sago palm leaves, pale beach grass, and clumps of delicate,
star-shaped sena to squeeze into a cavern leading to the top of the cliff.
My footsteps and breath echo in
the deep alongside the hum of thousands of tavuka wings. Sunlight soon
dissipates, and it’s dark despite the tavfuka’s pulsing green glow—not that
darkness really affects me, which is fortunate, because if I couldn’t see,
surviving this near-vertical climb would be improbable
impossible.
Air whooshes through the hollow
passage above, carrying muffled lirka caws and noruvfa warbles. I grip the edge
of the rough, porous stone and haul myself upward. It wasn’t real. It was just a dream. Everyone has dreams. But
sometimes your dreams are mfirenar, my mind prompts me. True. Sometimes they’re
unusually…symbolic prophetic,
and mfirenar feel…brighter, somehow, more poignant. Like this one, which is
what worries fascinates me.
I don’t
want to think about it anymore. But
it’s so tempting. When the shaft begins to flatten I soften my steps,
but I wait until it widens enough for sunlight to filter in before stopping.
I’m not even supposed to venture into Aknad the
city of stars without permission, which is directly outside Kir grounds,
and this is twice as far. I can’t risk being caught.
So what do you think?
It's not much, and of course it's just a rough draft (I mean, I haven't even finished writing the novel yet lol ^_^'...), but thus far, I'm happy with it.
Excited to share more in the future :)!
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