60 Minute Saga #1: Free-Flowing Draft

The following tale is comprised of four parts. Each has been written over the span of as close to 15 minutes as possible, the first three totally independent of one another.

The fourth, as you shall see soon enough, takes a different approach.

I shall be uploading the final draft soon, as I tie each aspect together into one fluid story.

NOTE: Unfortunately, my browser refreshed as I was writing the third in the flow of the moment, so something may be lost in translation; there were five minutes remaining on my time!!! So I rebuilt conceptual aspects from memory and spent the remaining five minutes in a complemental flow. I hope you enjoy it all the same!

Part 1:

A sound rings off in the distance as my gaze is ripped toward the night sky.

A greenish ambiance fills the air, reflecting the scene that surrounds me in the dark.

It's not often that I get to travel outside anymore. These days adventuring comes at a much higher cost than it used to be. Work, responsibilities, subconscious trials and tribulations...these tend to remain supreme and daunting in their insistency.

I breathe in the fresh air, and with it a palpable taste of long lost freedoms.

All around me is quiet. It's not complete silence, but its tranquil all the same. An occasional rustling comes to my ears, but nothing perturbing by any stretch. Just the musings of a forest that lives as naturally as--well--nature intended it to be.

As I make my way through, stars make themselves known in a sparkling array, winking sporadically through the canopies overhead. The moon sits to the sidelines tonight, uncontesting. There is just enough light for me to find my way.

For the stars and I--at least for tonight--share the same freedoms. Perhaps our destinies have become entwined for the moment (though to say they had never been before would be unfathomable indeed).

For we have always been brothers in darkness; always painters of its empty canvas.

Destiny...is there really such a thing after all?

I suppose I'll walk around for a while and think about it.

* * * * * * * * * * * * *

As I come up to a clearing, the stars explode before me in all of their glory. The distant shadows that adorn the land tease my mind with their mystery.

And still, the Moon makes no appearance.

Perhaps if I walk just a bit farther, the Planets will show themselves to me.

And beyond that...

Who knows what other wonders I may find?

Part 2:

The waves came crashing in as I came to.

I found myself lying on the shore, clothes mostly intact but left in tatters all the same.

As the moments passed, memory and recognition began to wake as well. That is, to a certain extent. As more time passed, it became obvious that there was a gap that I couldn't seem to fill in. In a way, it felt like a bubble that was encasing something secretly inside. Whether it was for my benefit, or a device completely against me in that regard, I couldn't begin to determine.

I slowly rose to a sitting position, shaking and brushing the sand and dried ocean debris off myself gradually. Looking around, I couldn't immediately recognize where I had washed up. The beach seemed to go endlessly in both directions. Turning behind me I found a steep wall of sand, curved at the top in an interesting shape that mimicked a tsunami to an intense degree.

Standing up, I shook the rest of the debris off of my body and stretched. There were several tense muscles that pulled as I did so, and I had to fold myself back up slightly for a few moments to let the sharp pains abate. After the discomfort had virtually passed, I slowly stretched my body, massaging the various taut muscles until most of the tightness had smoothed out.

I walk toward the wall of sand to get a closer look. I could easily walk in either direction to find a way up, but either way looked so daunting that I felt more compelled to find vertical footing. After all, if a wall of sand could curve as this one did so far up, the structure as a whole must be quite compact and stable. Even if it failed me, the whole thing was no doubt appreciable as an awesome structure.

As I surveyed its verticality, I found that it slowly angled toward the shore at the top; again, just like a tsunami. It was obvious that I would either need rock-climbing gear or at least the bare-bones skills to match. Both of which I had to no certain degree.

With a sigh of mixed relief and daunting, I resolved myself to my available options: left or right.

Gauging each, neither seemed efficient enough to give me much comforting resolve. Both seemed equal in their scope, as if they were exact mirror images of one another.

By some unfounded instinct, I decided to gauge the direction of the waves for some sense of direction. The way I saw it, perhaps if they were heading in one direction over the other--even to the slightest degree--that may allude to the presence of an inlet or large, internal, man-made enclosure.

Hell, what other option did I have?

So, hoping against hope, I watched the waves and shortly found that they appeared to be heading more distinctly right-ward.

So I headed right, and was well on my way.

For now.

PART 3:

Something whizzes by in front of me, as elusive as a comet that has just burnt out. There is no sight; there is only a feeling that something has come and gone in a flash.

The place where I find myself now is, for lack of a better term, haunted. I say as such because I am the first to deem it so.

For you see, there is something else I must tell you.

Something that shall make it all as clear as day:

I am the one haunting it.

*

I cannot recall how I have arrived here. All I can remember is knowing somewhere inside that my destiny would not end in death. That is, in the true death that awaits all beings that walk on this planet and flock to its skies.

“A fate worse than death”, you may spring from your lips?

That is my life now.

It has become me, and I am thus so.

But enough of this small talk. There is much work to be done.

Much, much work.

I have not been a spirit for very long, and as such even I don’t know what to expect.

Do I still dream?

Do I still feed? Feed on what, I can only imagine.

Perhaps that which has flashed before me is some sort of game for which I must hunt.

Perhaps it is a spirit of light which now resides in a plane coincidingly with mine, like a two-way mirror. Except this mirror reflects only light on one side, and only darkness on the other.

I hear something now. A creak echoing in this dark void.

I remain motionless now, and listen.

And listen.

And listen.

PART 4:

Steal away into the night,

Through darkened forest you take flight,

Seeking answers to your plight,

A quest the Moon can put just right.

Washing clean upon the shore,

Upon a land unseen before,

Beneath tall cliffs that form the core,

Of choices that you must explore.

In a void you have been bound,

To a fate of years abound,

With only clue a distinct sound,

By which you may find your ground.

As every obstacle tips the scale,

And each pace comes to no avail,

Hold tight your will, your guiding sail,

For, with it, you shall never fail.