ShardHaven 1 (2021 Preview)

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Shard Magic Chapter 01

Lyra

The first thing I realized was that it smelled horribly. After that the feeling really set in. Pain assaulted me from every inch of my body. I hurt so bad. I couldn’t even cry out. After who knows how long, I finally started getting other sensations. I knew I was lying in a puddle of… something. Judging from the smell I’d rather not think about it. 

When the pain had faded to a dull roar at the back of my mind, I attempted to open my eyes. Having seen movies and read books where there was a stabbing light right after opening your eyes, I braced myself. Thankfully, I was in a shadowed enclave or alley of some sort. My vision was blurry but cleared with a few blinks. 

The first thing I noticed was that I was not alone in whatever place I was. I tried to think about where that was and what I was doing in a place like this. As soon as I tried to think past the last few minutes, another wave of pain slammed into me. It felt like two people were fighting for a place in my head and there just wasn’t enough room for them both. 

Memories flashed through my mind. Places I knew well and places I’d never seen before. I was Ray then I was Lyla. Back and forth the two identities fought. Ray won the war. Lyla was too weak to fight long. Once Lyla faded completely, all I was left with were her memories. 

“Lyra. In honor of the fight you put up to protect your body,” I said only realizing it was a completely different language as it left my mouth. Not that I could barely hear it in the first place. I would call myself Lyra from now on. 

With the tug of war in my head over, I tried to sit up. It took everything I had to fight through the pain and put one hand under me. Still, I felt like a foreign energy was inside me helping. I don’t know if it was a single minute or and hour, but I finally managed to sit up and lean against the wall of the building next to me. 

With a better vantage point, I was able to more clearly see the person next to me. A boy that I would place between sixteen and twenty. It was hard to tell with how malnourished he was. I could see he was still alive as he would twitch every few seconds. From Lyla’s memories, I knew it was my brother. 

We’d been forced to the city after bandits killed our parents. Unable to defend the farm we lived on, Lyla’s brother had been forced to sell it for cheap to just get enough for us to stay alive. Once we’d gotten to the city, things only went from bad to worse. No one wanted to hire two magicless kids off the street. 

I took a moment to gather my strength then pulled myself over to him. A few minutes later, I was propped up next to him shaking him. I didn’t know what I would say but Lyla’s brother deserved the truth in my mind. 

“Come on. Lydall. Wake up,” I said once the shaking alone didn’t work. 

“Ugh! I feel like a truck hit me going a thousand miles an hour.”

“Royce!?” I asked surprised. The boy stopped talking then looked at me. He seemed to be in better shape than me but not by much. He was at least able to move his body easier than I could.

“Ray? Is that really you?” 

“Yeah. Do you remember what happened? The last thing I remember is falling asleep in the car on the way home from the award ceremony,” I said carefully sitting back against the wall again. 

“Yeah. My car was struck by lightning then sent for a thousand foot skydive,” Royce said rolling over to stare up at the sky. It was night but warm, so it was either summer or we were close to the equator. 

“I told you I wanted you to take me skydiving but not like this,” I said managing to make a smirk. “Do you have Lydall’s memories? I got this girl’s memories.”

“Yeah. Saw some interesting and disturbing stuff. We’re going to have a hell of a time of it here.” 

“Yeah. I agree,” I said with a sigh.

We spent the rest of the night comparing notes from our new memories. Every and any fact that we could gather might be able to save our lives after all. Other than the horribly tragic backstory, there was little more their memories offered us. The biggest thing that we found was that there was magic but the two of them knew so little about it that we barely had anything to go on.

“I wonder if that’s what I’ve been feeling?” I said.

“You know, I’ve been feeling a strangeness as well. Something that wasn’t on Earth,” Royce said. He managed to sit up and was across from me in the alley. “I can actually feel the strength returning to my body the longer we sit here.” 

“But Lyla and Lydall were magicless. They went for the test and everything,” I said recalling the memories. 

“Yes. But! We’re only in their bodies. If this magic is based on the soul or mind itself, then it reasonable to assume that we have access to it.” 

“That is a good point,” I said. In fact, I could move much easier after only two hours of sitting then when I first woke up. Sure, I could be just naturally recovering but both of our bodies were starved enough to die. We’d not eaten anything and yet were feeling stronger. 

“What do you think Noble Prize winner Ray Wynn? What laws of physics would this fall under?” Royce asked with a raised eyebrow. 

“You know I would need a lot more data before I would even start to make a hypothesis. Best guess though?” 

“Best Guess.” 

“This world, universe, galaxy, or whatever developed in such a way to give the inhabitants access to a source of power. Be it the sun, some other form of cosmic radiation, I don’t know. That means their society is going to be built around it. Depending on the difficulty of using it could mean any number of things. We already know there is a caste system in place from our memories.”

“Never a good thing when there are nobles telling people what to do. Earth’s history was a prime example. Sure, there were a few that worked out well, but it never lasts due to the children, usually after being spoiled rotten, take over,” Royce said as he stared off into the distance. 

“What should we do now?” I asked. 

“Survive.”