James R. Vernon's Blog: The Three Moons Realm, page 3

NaNoWriMo 2014

Hello from the Three Moons Realm! Fall has finally arrived on the East Coast. Leaves are falling, the teperature is dropping, and the National Novel Writing Month is almost upon us!

For those that don't know, NaNoWriMo is a fun approach to writing that takes place every November. Set as a motivator to get author's writing, the goal is to write a 50,000 word novel in the span of a month. You can find out more about the process and their fund-raising efforts here.

This will be my second year taking part. Last year I began a seperate novel set in the Three Moons Realm but the lure of starting my Kickstarter for the holidays (which succeeded because of many of you!) made me fall short of the mark. Now, a year later, I have two books released in the Bound to the Abyss series and the first book in a new series set in the Three Moons Realm running through the beta reading process.

But not to worry, I have many more adventures planned for Ean, Zin, and Azalea. The third book in their series has already been started and what better way to get the first draft completeted than to push myself through the NaNoWriMo process! 50,000 words is no small feet but seeing as how both Bound to the Abyss 1 and 2 were closer to 100,000 words, adding 50,000 words to BttA 3 would push it that much closer to completion. The plan is to go back at what I have already written, fix a few things up based on the observations I've received from the first two books, and then start November motivated to finish the story.

I of course will keep you all updated here, but feel free to search me out on the NaNoWriMo sight (the book is tenitively titled Echoes of the Past) and show some support!

Expanding My Beta Reader Circle

Hello All!

I have to say, one of my favorite parts of being an author is hearing back from those that have read my books (aka all of you that will actually see this). I value every email I receive and enjoy the constructive criticisms just as much as praises. Its those interactions that really make the writing process a lot of fun.

If you've read the some of my other posts, then you know I'm in the final self-editing process for the start of a new series set in the Three Moons Realm that takes place a short time after the conclusion of book 2 of the Bound to the Abyss series. Completely new characters, but they have been affected by the events of the other books. Full summary can be found on my website here - http://www.jamesrvernon.com/#!bound-t...

So how does this relate to the title of this post? Well, if you like taking a look at early versions of stories, can be very blunt, and would love to help mold a novel to make it as entertaining as possible...then I want you!

I'm looking to add two or three more beta readers to my circle of trusted friends. If interested, you would need; MicrosoftWord and an understand of how to add comments, the ability to stick to a set time frame, the ability to be mean and rip a story apart when you read something that bothers you, and a basic love of fantasy.

Since I'm hoping for a late December release for this next book, I'm only going to open this up for a week as I want to get started soon. I'll leave submissions open until Sunday, Oct. 12th and will decide who to include and send off the first few chapters that same day. If chosen, you will at least get a signed paperback version of the book, thanks mention in the book, and maybe more(poster? bookmark? some other promotional material that I havn't even thought of yet?) just as a way to say thanks.

If interested, send me an email at rvernon222@gmail.com stating your interest and telling me a little about yourself and stories you have enjoyed.

I look forward to hearing from you!

-James

Roadmap for The Three Moons Realm

Just wanted to put up a quick update on what stories are in the works and what you can expect over the next few months.

Bound to Revenge - A sister series to Bound to the Abyss that follows new characters a few seasons after the events of BttA 1 and 2 is set to tentatively be released in late December/early January. The story is finished and I'm on my third run-thru before it goes to my beta reader and then off to my editor.

Bound to the Abyss Book 3 - Up to chapter 7 of the rough draft. The entire story is more or less mapped out, its just a matter of seeing if my characters let me drive them towards the next part of the story or if they decide to take a detour or two. Certainly expect a more confident Ean as he has taken to the leadership role fairly well.

Three Moons Realm: Deities - BttA 3 is certainly the main story I'm focusing on, but if i start making faster progress on the story then I expect (which is a possibility with NaNoWriMo next month) I do have a few stories that relate to the different gods and goddesses of the Three Moons Realm. If I can get the first draft of BttA 3 finished in a timely matter, I might take a look at another short story collection.

Besides the above, I have a few more books already mapped out for Ean and his companions, so expect much more from him and a deeper look at his world.

And of course I would love to hear from fans, so shoot me questions on here or my website, http://jamesrvernon.com, as I love hearing from you!

Finding a Place to Blog

Hello everyone! Since my author website is on Wix, who for some reason doesn't have blogs set up with RSS feeds, I'm going to try to regularly post updates here on GoodReads.

Just a quick one this morning before work giving an update on what's going on in the Three Moons Realm:

1) Bound to the Abyss
Sales have seen a short bump with the release of the second novel and positive reviews are still trickling in. If you've read the book and can post a review on Amazon it would be greatly appreciated.

2) Descent Into Darkness
The second book in the Bound to the Abyss series had a strong start with almost 500 pre-orders in less the less than a month it was available before release last week. Sales have continued to be strong as it sits in the top 50 of a few different top 100 categories on Amazon.

3) Bound to Revenge, a sort of spinoff series that both ties into Bound to the Abyss and will eventually overlap it is going through the third self-revision process. When that's done, its off to my amazing beta readers for some additional feedback.

4) Finally, book 3 in the Bound to the Abyss series is moving along nicely. I'm about 6 chapters into the first draft and have been applying everything i learned so far and the constructive criticism from fans of the first two books in making this one even better than the rest.

Well, that's it from my end. Talk to you all soon!

Expectations: Blown Away

I released Bound to the Abyss a little under two weeks ago with very little push. I made sure everything was set up in the kindle store and through Createspace, everything on GoodReads was accurate, did an occasional post on social media, and asked my kickstarter backers to spread the word. About a week in, I also set up a give-away of 3 signed copies on GoodReads. So please take the following as just me being happy about how my story has been received and not as boasting.

As you can see in the pic, in a matter of 12 days and as of this morning, I’ve reached a rank of 2,366 in the best seller rank, 38 in the kindle store for fantasy: epic, and 55 in books: fantasy: epic. To put that in perspective, the first book for the Wheel of Time series, one of my all time favorites, is listed at a best seller rank of 1,659 and 25 in the kindle store for fantasy: epic. The firs volume of Lord of the Rings is 1,484 and ranked 18 on the kindle store for fantasy: epic.

Even if this is my “15-minutes”, I am incredibly honored and humbled by the interest I’ve seen so far. I am on my way to sell close to 200 books in the next few days, if not today. As a new, unknown author I expected maybe a couple sales from family and friends, a couple more from word of mouth, and then one or two by fantasy fans brave enough to try something new. The success so far, and again even if sales fizzle to nothing I count this as a success, has been amazing. And that’s not even the best part!

As you can see on the side bar, from sales over these two week, I have already put away over $100 to be donated to the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia. It might be a drop in the bucket compared to what they need, but if my money can go towards giving a few children a little bit of happiness from an extra toy or book while they sit in their rooms, its all worth it.

So thank you again for those that have made this a success for me and stay tuned! This is just the beginning!

The Lure of Kickstarter (Lessons Learned)

Kickstarter (and other crowd funding sites) are a popular trend, and with good reason. They give the creative an opportunity to produce their ideas without the controlling hand of others or having to fight to become noticed by the powerhouses in their particular area.

Does it mean everything produced is AAA quality? No.

Does it give the person a chance to have their ideas reviewed, get feedback from people actually interested in their area of work, and help the person grow? Absolutely!

Succeeding in reaching my kickstarter goal, it really made me think about what worked, what didn’t work, and what I’ve noticed in other projects I’ve seen/backed/run a way from. Here are my thoughts about the whole process. Feel free to comment on ones you agree or disagree with.

1) GET YOUR FAMILY AND FRIENDS INVOLVED

This is so important that I had to make it all caps, underline it, and increase the size, regardless of how obnoxious it is. My first mistake after I hit that launch button was that I didn’t tell those close to me I was even trying to raise funds. I was trying to “go it on my own”, and didn’t want to burden my friends and family with feeling like they had to donate something. Hell, most didn’t even know I had been writing for a few years. When I was about half way through my campaign time and only had 15%, I realized that maybe I needed to step out of my comfort zone and ask for help.

And I got it.

Not just in money, although some large, unexpected donations certainly helped, but also in word of mouth. I wasted a little bit of money on advertising that had little effect on my site views. I told some high school friends about the project and suddenly I was having 10 to 20 more views a day. Did they all turn into backers? Of course not. But some did, and those that didn’t spread the word to people who would be interested. Your friends and family can be your best PR firm, so don’t be afraid to let them help.

2) Start spreading the word early.

Another mistake which I mentioned above was not really promoting the crowd funding attempt before I got it started. On a lot of these sites, your project’s visibility starts to diminish after that initial release if it’s not getting a steady number of views or donations. In the beginning, I got a few early, low tier backers because my project was at the top of the list of recent releases. Then, as the days went by, my project slowly sunk on the charts as more and more projects were released. Toss in a very detailed and interesting project by a person with thousands of fans already clamoring to support it, and my project got lost in the shuffle. I think the lowest it go was 6 or 7 pages down. Now exactly the best chance for new backers to find it.

Then I wizened up, had friends and family both support and spread the word, and I had a new resurgence. My project reached the 6th place in the most popular projects in the fiction publishing section. That was when I got the majority of my backers that had no relation to me, my family, or my friends. So start spreading the word early. Remember, a crowd funding campaign is a marathon, not a sprint. (Yes that’s a corny analogy that is overused but it fits perfectly).

3) Make your page fun and full of interesting information

This was one mistake I don’t think I made. I can’t tell you how many times I saw a project that had an interesting cover picture and blurb. I’d get excited for the project, click the link to learn more, money already in hand to back it, and then saw the full-page and clicked right back out.

A video asking for money and one paragraph about your project is not going to get you funded. Don’t believe me? Go check out a few unsuccessful projects that didn’t even reach 5% of their goal. If you want the support of a complete stranger, you need to sell yourself and your project. If it looks like you only put five minutes into making a page meant to sell your idea, then people are going to think you put just as little effort into your actual project.

Tell the people how much time you’ve put into it. In my case, I linked sites that had samples of my writing, had ideas of where stories were going to go, and actually put where the money was going to go. I ordered a neat and inexpensive banner made, and then messed around in Photoshop until I was comfortable putting titles on them. Take advantage of whatever resources and skills you have to make sure your project page draws people in and keeps them reading until the very end.

“But I have no money for graphics and illustrations and exciting videos” you say. Neither did I! (And it probably shows in my video). Believe it or not there are artists out there that can be very helpful AND offer you discounts if you link to their sites. You just need to do the research, put yourself out there, and like I’ve said before, start this process WAY before you actually intend to launch your project.

I promise, a little money and window dressing for your page will get people interested.

4) Rewards for Everyone!

My last bit of advice is about how to get that money that you need. Just like your project page, the rewards you offer have to be interesting and varied, and more most importantly, the backer should feel like they are getting something special for basically pre-ordering your idea. Here is an example of the rewards for a kickstarter I just recently checked out.

Goal: $10,000

15$ Tier – An ebook copy.  50$ Tier – Paperback copy of book on completion.

100$ Tier – Hardback Edition on completion.      250$ Paperback edition, hardback edition, bookmark

Does that seem very enticing for you? Have you ever paid 50$ for a paperback book from an author you’ve never heard of? Does 10,000$ seem a little high to get a book self published?

Even if you had no idea about the publishing world, if you’ve bought an e-book, paperback, or hardback before you know those rewards are insane. Why back the person for 50 bucks if you can just wait until the book is released and buy it for 10? 15$ for an e-book that costs nothing for the author to produce? I hope you see how these goals and rewards are insane. But you do need to raise funds to produce your project AND have money left over to send out rewards. So is there a middle ground?

Yes, and the best way to find it is to look at other SUCCESSFUL projects in your field. The more successful the better. If a project reached 358% of its goal, that might be the one to base yours off of. Look where they charged a little more for their product and what they added on to that reward to make it more enticing. Check out what rewards got the most number of backers. See what additions to reward tiers made that huge donation worth it. Most importantly, see what they offered that not only got people to offer more support, but also cost the creator little to nothing to provide. If you’ll notice, providing pictures of the rewards are a big plus.

 

This is just some of my own insight. If you look on the internet there are dozens of people who have offered their own advice on how their projects succeeded or why they failed. The best thing I can say is to take it all in, see what works for you, and above all else believe in what you are doing.

A New Year and a ReLaunch of Sorts

Its been a while since I’ve updated this blog, and I think since I would like this to become my main author platform, its about time I start giving it some love.

2014 marks an exciting time in my life. My Kickstarter for my first novel, Bound to the Abyss, was a success. That means I’m finally going to self publish my first fantasy novel. Technically two fantasy novels as the story ended up growing so big that I had to cut it into two parts. I can’t even explain how amazing it feels to know that a project I’ve worked on for over two years is going to become a reality. And its all thanks to some amazing family, friends, and complete strangers that are all putting their faith in me. Its a bit humbling to tell the truth.

For anyone that missed it, the Kickstarter is located here. It may be over, but you can still check out the page and follow the updates to see how the books approach release. The first part, subtitled Into the World, is tentatively set for release in March, depending on how the editing process goes.

The e-book version will be released first, with the paperback version soon to follow. Then, editing should begin on the second half, tentatively subtitled Allies and Enemies, and should be released around two months later. I can’t tell you how great it feels to give a release date, even if its a tentative one.

The other piece to the puzzle is my blog about the growth of a fantasy village set in the same realm called Eleajia. It follows the tales of the villagers of Eleajia through journal entries and special events. Everything is chronicled, from the supplies of the village  to maps showing off how it is growing. The most fun part is that as it grows, I’m leaving certain minor and major decisions up to my readers. I place votes on my facebook page and let YOU decide things like what gets built or how the village should handle the random events that occur. A few new members will be joining the village soon as one of the rewards of my Kickstarter was to let the donator come up with their own idea of a character I could make fit into the world. I’ve gotten some interesting ideas and will be growing Eleajia soon.

And of course, among editing my finished projects, setting up all the physical rewards for my backers, updating blogs, and of course my personal life, I’m constantly writing. I have two stories in the works at the moment. One is the next book in the Bound to the Abyss storyline and the other follows a new set of characters in the same world. Of course, their will be overlaps as both stories take place at relatively the same time and the realm the character’s inhabit is only so big. Plus their is a connection between the characters in Bound to the Abyss and the new story, but I’ll leave that up to you to discover.

So that’s what’s going on here. Again, I plan on putting much more effort in making this my main platform, so look here for more frequent updates and news.

Have a great weekend!

Kickstarter for First Novel

Please check out and support the Kickstarter for my first fantasy novel, Bound to the Abyss!

http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1...

Spreading Myself Thick

My first fantasy novel is completed, I’m in the middle of multiple rounds of self editing, have an excellent beta reader, and continue to work on short stories set in the same realm.  Plenty to do right?  Oh there is just that one little extra thing I need to focus on.

SELF PROMOTION

As a self published author (I count myself as one because I did release a collection of short stories in ebook form), the task of getting my name and more importantly my stories out there is a daunting task.  I’ve taken quite a few different roads so far with mixed success.  Despite the trickle of followers I could each as a success, as every new person that sees my work is a step in the right direction.  This is what I’ve done so far and continue to work on.

This blog – My main author blog, I should update it more, but I don’t want to flood it with the thoughts of an amateur writer or load it up with other people’s works. I do have a section with links to my reviews of fantasy/sci-fi/horror novels I’ve enjoyed. I rely more on the next two outlets to share what other writers and artists are doing.
Twitter @rvernon22 – I have used this mainly to follow and retweet other writers and bloggers, get helpful hints, and occasionally post when I update this or any other site. Often I use it more to promote others more than myself.
Facebook (personal) https://www.facebook.com/james.vernon.1694 – used similar to twitter, this is more to follow and share other authors, review sites, fantasy artists, ect. and occasionally to post news about myself.
Facebook (The Three Moons Realm) https://www.facebook.com/threemoonsrealm – This site I use completely to advertise myself.  Blog posts, short stories, and releases are all mentioned here.  Its also tied into another blog I’ve created for pure story telling use.  I use the number of ‘Likes’ (214!) in connection with the following blog.
Eleajia, The Growth of a Fantasy Village Blog http://eleajiafantasyvillagetmr.wordpress.com/ – A fun little project I’ve been working on.  Eleajia is a recently settled fantasy village set in the Three Moons Realm.  The village ‘grows’ as I receive more likes on the Three Moons Realm Facebook page.  As milestones are reached, I add villagers with their own professions and personalities as well.  I also add structural and commercial additions, which are all decided by a vote on the Facebook page, and have an impact on random events that can take place.  Blog updates are journal entries from the townsfolk, the village map is updated with its growth (basic drawing because I am no artist), and its another way for me to practice my writing.
Amazon (short stories so far) http://www.amazon.com/dp/B008DMWL04 – for those interested in my short stories and want to support me monetarily.
Smashword http://www.smashwords.com/books/view/238415 and Wattpad http://wattpad.com/JRVernon – For those interested in reading some of my work for free and still support me.  On Wattpad I’ve posted the first four chapters of Bound to the Abyss, my completed but not released first novel, along with my short stories .  Please check them out and give a like for any you find entertaining.

So as I said, I’m spread out but I’m trying to keep each and every site updated on a semi-regular basis.  That being said, I’m curious as readers/writers/bloggers what you find works best to get your work out or that piques your interest in an author.  Lets hear it!

First Chapter, Edited!

Chapter 1

Raising his burned and scarred left arm—his good arm—to block the light that sneaked through the blinds of his room, Ean let out a small groan. His right arm was still in a sling; the bone mended but still bruised from the heavy strikes it had received. He wasn’t exactly sure how many days it had been since the attack, but it was not long enough for the pain to subside. Ean had spent a good number of days unconscious, according to Old Cleff, his ward, waking up now and then when liquids had been forced down his throat or his bandages had been changed. When consciousness was a more common occurrence, he had remained as immobile as possible and slept whenever the medicine drowned out the pain. Those first days of recovery had been particularly unpleasant…and lonely.

Freeing himself from his thoughts of the past few days and figuring that annoying ray of light wouldn’t magically disappear on its own, Ean decided it was time to get up. He rose gradually at first, pushing himself up with his left arm. The combination of his injuries and the medicine he was constantly taking made him lightheaded, which had led to some unfortunate accidents during his recovery. Quite a few of his injuries had taken longer to heal because he had tried rising too quickly a few times and fell out of bed. Ean had learned his lesson, though, and had been accident-free now for four days. Blinking a few times to allow his eyes to get adjusted to the dim light in the room, he looked around.

His room had started out as nothing special when he first moved in at the age of three, and was still nothing special, fifteen years later. Cleff had always said that a Healer’s apprentice didn’t need much, and Ean’s room certainly reflected that sentiment.  The light coming through his one window shed little brightness on the wood panel walls and floor. The unlit lamp hanging on the other side of the room did not provide much more illumination when it was lit, which was fine because the sight of the little amount of furniture in the room was depressing. His simple wooden bed, which he was quickly outgrowing, sat in the corner farthest from the door. A small two-drawer dresser sat across from it and held his even smaller collection of clothes. The only other piece of furniture in the room was a small trunk at the foot of his bed where the rest of his possessions resided. That remained mostly empty. He had a much safer place to keep the things that he truly cared about. It wasn’t that he believed Cleff would ever try to steal from him, or that anyone else in the village would try to steal from Cleff. Ean simply didn’t want to chance having old Cleff stumble upon something that he would find blasphemous.

Rising from his bed, he moved over to his dresser and pulled out a plain brown shirt and some long pants, got dressed as quickly as his bruised body would allow, then moved over to the end of his bed, and opened up his chest. He routed around inside, finally pulling out a small carving knife and a few small pieces of hardened clay. It had been close enough to two weeks now, time to bring Zin back.

With the materials he needed, Ean sat down on the floor, propping his back up against the side of the bed. Piling the clay pieces next to him, he chose a particularly round piece and picked it up with his right hand. This was a bit difficult with his arm in the sling, but thankfully, at this point, moving his hand around didn’t cause him much pain. Taking the carving knife in his left hand, Ean began the slow process of carving the summoning rune into the clay that would bring Zin back to this world.

Summoning runes were the most intricate runes of them all; the complex shapes and letters required left little room for mistakes. One little slip or misspelled word and who knows what Ean would summon into his room instead of the little imp. By the time Ean had gotten the rune carved perfectly, he had discarded three other pieces of clay. He would have to make sure to smash those up later. Examining the completed rune, and content with his work, Ean placed the finished piece on the floor with the rune facing up. Taking a deep breath, he placed his left hand on the rune and spoke the required words.

Immediately, an iron-tight grip began to squeeze his chest as the spell took hold. Breaking a rune to send a creature back took absolutely no toll on the body at all, but pulling something out of the Abyss was a whole other story. Ean had learned quickly that a summoner used his own strength to create a gateway to the Abyss. The first time had nearly torn him apart, or felt like it would, at least. Even creating a gateway as small as the one he needed to bring out Zin was taxing.

This was the main reason Ean hadn’t tried summoning any larger creatures in the past. Unafraid of the fact that he couldn’t control anything he called forth, Ean was mostly scared that summoning anything that required any real power would probably kill him. Each time he called something from the Abyss, which most times was Zin, he felt as if he had run around the valley in which his village sat three or four times, and felt as if he was being punched in the chest for the entire trip. Zin had said he would slowly be able to handle more complicated summoning the more magic he used, but so far, Ean hadn’t noticed any lessening of the pain and exhaustion it caused.

As the words took hold, the rune carved into the clay began to glow, a dark blue light that bathed Ean’s entire room. As the light grew in intensity, the rune and clay began to dissolve into the floor. Once the glowing rune actually touched the floor, it flared once, causing Ean to squint in order to keep it in sight. Then it was gone, replaced by a pinprick of blue light shooting into the ceiling. The small speck grew quickly, until a circular hole that spanned the size of two hands took up a place on his floor. A dark blue, purplish mist made seeing into the hole impossible, but Ean knew what was on the other side.

Keeping his attention focused on the gateway, Ean couldn’t help but grin a little bit through the pain as Zin slowly rose out. From the looks of it, Zin had gone through quite an ordeal as well. His small, light brown body was covered with claw marks and burns, and the tips of both of his long, pointy ears were bent forward slightly. A few of the long nails on his four-fingered hands were broken and one of his toes was bent slightly at an odd angle. Zin had a large smile on his face though; crossing over for the creature apparently was painless, and after knowing the imp all of these years, Ean could read the relieved look on his face.

Once his body was completely out, Ean finished the spell, saying the few words that were required to close the gateway back up. When the hole had faded and the pressure was gone from his body, Ean finally relaxed. He picked up the clay piece, placing it in his pocket, and then collapsed onto his side, breathing heavily. “Welcome back,” he got out in between breaths.

“Why, thank you, it’s good to be back,” Zin said, that large grin still on his face. “It looks like you had just as rough of a time up here as I did down there.” Moving over to Ean’s side, the imp dropped his little pack onto the ground and sat on the floor. “I’m glad you decided to bring me back a day early. It only took me half the time to get what I needed, which meant I spent the rest of the time either getting kicked around or doing my best to hide.”

“Yeah well, as you can see, I got kicked around quite a bit as well. Almost right after you left, in fact.” Ean used his good arm to push himself slowly back up into a sitting position. “Clyde didn’t waste any time getting his revenge for making him look like a fool.”

Zin’s eyes opened wide. “So quickly? That’s a surprise. I swear that boy is slightly insane.” A mischievous grin appeared on his face. “But we won’t have to worry about him much longer. Time for your present!”

The imp reached over and grabbed his bag, opening it up and routing around inside. When he pulled his hands back out, he held what looked like a writing utensil, but it also could have easily been a long finger of some creature. The body of the item was made out of some type of blue, leathery skin-like material and the tip was a deep red color that seemed more like a nail than the tip of a quill. Zin had also pulled out a bottle of ink and placed them both in front of Ean. “All right, we’re going to need your book in order to get this right. I saw the instructions on one of the pages.”

Ean blinked a few times in surprise, but said nothing. Moving underneath his bed, he touched the hidden rune that he had carved so long ago into his floor. With a word, he activated the rune, effectively opening up his Pocket. A miniature gateway into the Abyss, it connected him to a small area which held his most prized possessions. Reaching his hand seemingly into the floor, Ean felt around until his hand touched the rough cloth bag that was stored inside. After pulling out the bag and retrieving The Book from inside the bag, he set the bag off to the side and closed the Pocket. Sliding out from under the bed, Ean deposited The Book in front of the imp.

“All right, what page are we looking for?”

“Look for one that had the drawing of a hand with a rune inscribed on the palm,” Zin said. “I‘m pretty sure I saw it towards the back.”

Sure enough, after a couple of moments flipping through the worn pages, Ean found what he was looking for. The page showed a hand with one of the most intricate runes Ean had ever seen drawn on the palm. The number of different shapes and inscribed letters was astounding. He let out a low whistle.

“This looks pretty complicated. Are you sure I’m up for it?” He tried his best to figure out some of the words written around the drawing, but the most he could make out were the simple words for “Abyss” and “Rune.” The majority of the words and symbols he had never even seen before. He started to shake his head. “I don’t even know if I can figure out which parts are the activating words and which are just descriptions of what the rune does.”

Zin pointed to a particular passage, his finger staying inches from the pages as he scrolled down the words. He had learned a long time ago that he couldn’t touch The Book. It seemed to be protected against anything from the Abyss touching it, and had burnt Zin’s hands the one and only time the imp had tried handling it. He scanned over a few of the passages and then stopped at what appeared to be the middle of a paragraph. “That’s it, right there, and you don’t have to worry. This won’t put you in the kind of pain that summoning does. All you have to worry about is getting the rune perfect on your right palm.”

Shrugging, Ean reached down and picked up the strange blue item. “Whatever you say.” Ean moved into a sitting position, setting The Book down on his lap so he had a clear view of what he was doing. He stared at the drawing, trying to take in everything, all of the curves and lines, trying to see it as one continuous rune as opposed to a series of interlaced ones. When he was finally comfortable with the design in his head, he dipped the strange quill down into the ink. As soon as the claw touched the ink, it completely drained the inkbottle and started to give off a dim blue hue. Ean glanced over at Zin, eyebrows raised. The imp simply nodded back, then waved him on to continue. With a shrug, Ean took the item and placed the tip against his palm. When nothing happened, Ean relaxed a bit, and then started to draw.

A jolt of pain seemed to lance through Ean’s entire body as soon as he had moved the nail even the tiniest bit along his skin. Dropping the finger hastily, Ean shot Zin an angry look. “What in the Abyss was that? Are you trying to play a joke on me?”

“Of course not,” Zin replied. “You didn’t think a powerful spell like this would be painless, did you?” The imp flashed him a smile, showing off his tiny jagged teeth. “Trust me, from what I’ve gathered, the new power you will acquire will more than make up for what little pain you endure now.”

“Little pain?” Ean almost yelled, but controlled himself. It wouldn’t do to have Cleff coming up to check on him at this particular moment. “That felt like I had been struck by lightning.”

Against his better judgment, he picked up the finger and tried again. The pain returned as he started to draw, but he did his best to keep his hand still. He had gotten the first design out of the eight he needed finished when a particularly nasty jolt made him drop the finger again. As soon as the nail left his palm, the entire rune he had been drawing disappeared.

“Oh, you can’t be serious.”

“Well, look at that. I guess you have to finish it in one go.” Letting out a little laugh, Zin climbed up on the bed. “I guess I can take a nap until you actually get it right.” Taking a few moments simply to glare at Zin, Ean turned his attention back to his hand and tried again.

Ean had no idea how long he attempted to get the rune inscribed on his palm. Each time he would get only so far, and then cursed silently when a jolt of pain made him mess up and start again. Finally, as the sun just started its downward descent outside, Ean finished. When he pulled the nail away this time from the completed rune, it stayed on his palm, giving off a slight glow and the tiniest bit of heat.

Ean turned and showed it to Zin, who was currently lying on his side. “Looks good, doesn’t it? This better be well worth the effort.”

“Oh it will be. You’ll see” Zin said. He climbed down off of the bed and looked down at Ean’s book. “All right, you remember which parts to read, correct? Is there anything you need help pronouncing?”

“No, nothing too difficult there. Should be easy compared to actually getting it drawn on my palm.” Looking down, he slowly went through the passage in his head twice, and then began to recite the words aloud. The language of the Abyss was strange, with many of the words consisting of noises that sounded more like a person clearing their throat than an actual language. He had gotten quite good at pronouncing the words; it was just unfortunate that he did not know what most of them meant. When he finally finished, the rune on his palm grew cold and started to dim. For a moment, Ean thought he had failed and would have to start all over again, but then the light of the rune sprang back to life, bathing his tiny room in a dark blue glow. Ean smiled a bit and looked over at Zin. His smile quickly faded, however, as he looked over and saw the worry on Zin’s face.

“This part is going to be bad,” Zin said. “Just do your best to ride it out.”

“Wait you sai—” Ean had barely gotten the words out when suddenly it felt as if his whole body was on fire. This time, he couldn’t contain the scream that escaped his mouth, his arms and legs flailing about in agony as what felt like molten lava coursed throughout his body. In the back of his mind, Ean tried to take his own focus away from the pain, but it was like nothing he had ever felt before. He rolled about, sweat starting to soak his clothes as his entire body strained from the pain. Dimly, he thought he heard the sound of someone pounding on his door, but the thought came and went; all the while, he kept letting out a pain-filled scream.

Then, just as quickly, it was over. The light from the rune disappeared, and with it the pain. Ean’s arms and legs dropped to his sides, hitting the ground limply as his body started to recover. He couldn’t focus on anything; he was so exhausted. He faintly heard the sound of the door crashing open, and then Cleff being at his side. “Nightmare,” Ean breathed out, although how he had thought of the lie so quickly he’d never know. He was also aware enough to clench his right fist closed to hide the rune. Cleff simply nodded, then picked up Ean’s limp body and put him back in bed. Ean was out soon after.

* * *

When Ean awoke, there was again light striking his eyes through his window shade, but this time it was the gentle green light of the first moon. Ean stretched out his free left arm, feeling tired but good. Actually, he felt pretty great. Taking off his sling, he moved his right arm about, bending the elbow and twisting his wrist and forearm about. It wasn’t even sore! Turning his hand over, Ean was curious to inspect his work.

The rune was still on his palm, giving off a very faint glow that mixed with the moonlight and turned his room a faint purple. However, there was more now. Small, dark blue lines ran out of the rune, moving along his palm and up his fingers. The lines wrapped around his hand and seemed to converge on the back, creating a swirling design. From there, smaller lines shot out and moved up the back of his fingers as well, ending at his fingernails.

“Well, that’s new,” Ean said to himself, turning his hand over and back repeatedly as he inspected the new permanent addition to his hand.

“That’s just the beginning.” Ean looked over and found Zin sitting on his dresser. “The longer that rune is on your body and the more you use your power, the stronger you’ll become. Much faster than you were becoming before, at least that’s what I gathered it was supposed to do. Oh, and sorry about lying to you about the pain. I figured it would just make you nervous if you knew it was coming.”

“Oh, yeah, it was much better not knowing I was about to feel like something was setting my entire body, both inside and out, on fire.” Ean half-heartedly threw his pillow at Zin, which the imp easily snatched out of the air. “So what’s different now? What can I do, summon stronger creatures? Actually be able to control the creatures I summon?” He looked at Zin excitedly, his hands resting on his knees.

“No, nothing like that yet. The magic is still settling into your body.” Zin jumped down off the dresser and made his way over to the bed. “There is one thing you can do right away.” He reached under the bed and pulled out Ean’s bag. The Book was still sitting on top of it.

“Wait!” Ean exclaimed. “Cleff didn’t see this stuff, did he?”

“Nope, thankfully, when your body started jerking around, The Book landed on the bag and I dragged them both under the bed before he broke in. How about you hide these things away again?”

Shrugging, Ean grabbed The Book and placed it carefully into the bag. He was about to start climbing under the bed, when Zin’s raised hand stopped him. “No, not using that rune you have carved under the bed. Just use your hand. You should be able to create runes now just from your power alone. Just try visualizing your finger as a knife carving the rune.”

Ean cast a funny look at Zin, and then shrugged. Sitting himself on the floor, Ean started to trace the all-too-familiar rune that summoned his Pocket into the floor. Just like Zin predicted, a tiny blue light appeared, extending along the path that Ean’s finger took. When he had finished, the light grew, rising a few inches off of the ground before disappearing as the gateway to Ean’s own personal storage space opened up before him.

Ean couldn’t believe it; he hadn’t even needed to say the words needed to complete the spell for it to work. This would be much more convenient in the future. He grabbed his bag with his scarred left hand and slowly lowered it into the gateway. Once it was inside, he instinctively placed his right hand on the edge of the portal and tried willing it closed. As he expected, it closed on its own, the bright lights that had created the rune returning. With a brush of his hand, the rune disappeared as well, sinking his room back into the darkness only broken by the green moonlight coming in his window and the faint glow of the rune on his hand.

“That is amazing,” Ean said, letting himself smile. “Not sure if it was worth all of that pain, but still a handy skill to have.”

“Like I said, your power will grow with use,” Zin replied. “It’s not just a handy drawing tool. More handy skills will come with time. You just have to be patient.”

Zin’s words were lost on Ean, however; he had already started to draw different runes into the floor, different letters and words or summoning runes that he had memorized over the past eight years. Every time he was about to finish one, he would stop and rub it away, not wanting to risk activating the runes that he really didn’t understand. He laughed a bit as he worked, watching Zin’s face grow pale whenever he almost finished a particularly complicated rune.

Ean ended up practicing long into the night, with Zin watching apprehensively. While Ean practiced, Zin had pulled out most of Ean’s right-handed gloves and was cutting off all of the tips of the fingers with his pointed nails. At one point, Ean stopped and gave him a curious look.

“Your fingers have to be free for the magic to work,” the imp had replied. “But I’m guessing you don’t want people seeing the new addition to your hand.”

Ean nodded and continued to practice. Finishing up the runes he already had memorized, he opened up his space in the Abyss again and pulled his book back out. Now Ean started trying a variety of runes he hadn’t even thought of trying before. Amazingly, he also found it easier to remember even the more complicated runes after he had practiced them once or twice. Of course, he still didn’t know what most of them did, or what they summoned, but it was still fun for him to know a dozen more runes by heart than he had the day before. When the blue light of the second moon started to fade and the sun finally peaked in through his window, Ean was both physically and mentally exhausted.

Placing his belongings away one final time, he crawled into bed. Zin crawled underneath the bed, his usual sleeping spot, and Ean heard him move about a bit until he had gotten comfortable. “Thanks a lot, Zin,” Ean said quietly, “I really needed something good to happen for a change.”

“Don’t get all weepy on me now, you little girl,” Zin replied. “But you are welcome. Now let’s get some sleep; it’s been a long night.”

Turning on his side so that his back was to the window, Ean let out a small laugh. “Fair enough. Sleep well, Zin.” As soon as Ean closed his eyes, he was fast asleep.