The writing adventure of Jason Self

There are moments in life when everything around you slows and you begin to get a feeling in air, your mind begins to spin a tale thats greater than what you see before you, it tuants with the answer you've been searching for only to snare it away when you are but another moment from seeing it all. In these moments and many others like it bring you close to what is truly happening around you, what the world is doing as a whole not only what its doing around you. A small glimpse into what the world either could or should be, a small spark that ignites a fantasy born out of the tales we all heard as children, or a fear come to life that takes your mind thru the darkest of secrets we hide from the rest of the world....

Prelude~

"My life is a nightmare, its is every dark tale you ever heard while huddling scared around a camp fire. The demons seek me here in these dark moments always ready to take from me the hope of another dream, afraid of what might come if ever I was able to stand against them. But there is also in my life a great fire that burns far too bright for the demons to come, in these dreams I can hide for a time and gather my strength to face the moment when the light fades stealing from me the safety of friendship and love."

Light came in across the fields to the west, the grass standing tall with shadows cast across the world in great mountains, waving....dancing to the silent screams that echoed in my soul. The tree line in the distance showed me shadows that moved with great haste to destroy the light I craved. The shadows moaned in anticipation as they moved amongst the trees, but deeper almost too deep for the outlines to be made out stood a man who did not move, he stood with unrelenting patience that saw his stare bore deep into me and create the fear that consumes my every thought.

We know eachother well he and I, sister and brother, father and mother, the light and the dark, tho he cannot enter my world of light I stand here watching my world fade as his strength grew. His name is known to all the forms of light Mej'ra or as he would prefer to be called by all as Shadow Cast, he is the trickle of fear you feel at night as you lie alone in the darkness he is the shadow that you tell yourself doesnt exist.

They talk of him often in the light and say that there was a time when the world was woken in light that it was never dark, it is said that in that time the world was bright with passion and an unshakable stregth gripped the world allowing the light to flourish.

The fear of the world had not yet come to pass and as such the magic of the world began to be used for more and more dangerous things. In the beggining the magic was used to create great works of art and to bring the imagination of the light to life in ways that noone could accomplish without magic. Every step they took taking them into the unknown, giving annomoly's to the world for it to play with as it please to bend and form the magic into something new tho they never knew what could come from it.

The first thing that is written in the stories of light is a warning that came from the first of the falls, the warning reads. "Life is precious, it is not a gift given freely, death is the cost."

Chapter 1

"I remember that first dream as if it were my most recent memory no matter how many years have passed since. The feelings of it influenced me in more ways than I could have ever imagined, pushing me to fight against the dark in its many forms, guiding me to my future and the reawakening of a flame that had long since burned out. I suppose to truly tell this tale you must know a small bit about where I came from and what my childhood was like so that you may piece together the events of my adult life.

I will not tell you that I had a bleak childhood or that I was unloved in any way, quite the contrary both of my parents loved me a great deal and were given to putting aside their own gains to grant me small gifts that gave me great hapiness. I had a friend whom with I shared a great deal of my childhood with, his name was Hectorat after one of the more fantastical childrens tales of our time. It always seemed with me and Hec that whenever one gained a knowledge the other gained the one piece of knowledge that would counter it. When Hec learned how to play a sport I soon found myself going head long into with a desire to match him, and when I would discover a new card or board game he would always push himself to best me.

His childhood like mine was filled with love and comfort, our houses being only 2 blocks apart and those two blocks were taken up by the town park that we both spent most of our time exploring. He had an older brother who's name later on in my life I learned was Corey, tho when I was a child asking his name never seemed prudent, he was always away at a boarding school and I only met him while we were children three times, each at some holiday or another.

I remember I visited Hec the day after christmas to see what he had recieved when Corey had come thru the door to a miraid of screams and cheers from Hec's parents. As Corey opened his presents that were in short supply I remember thinking that they were terrible gifts, a cloak that was matt grey, and if my memory serves me a staff made of oak, when I put two and two together I guessed that Corey must be a woods guide or mountain man to need such things. I asked Hec once what his brother did for a living after that christmas and he told me that he really didnt know but that his parents had said he was a type of treasure hunter and that he worked for a historical society that was looking for a lost artifact.

The summer of our 12th year Hec and I spent much of our time deep in the forest that extended from the edge of our small town, as far as I could tell the woods never ended no matter how long and far we traveled the woods just continued on. The first few weeks we just wandered creating paths thrut he brush with branches we had broken off, pretending to be pirates or cavemen, often we would find things that were extrodinary to us. There was once a tree that had recently fallen over a creek that we spent a few days climbing around on, the water rushing by a few inches below our feet and on the other side where branches that had dug into the creek bed began to gather brush and branches that had come down stream there began a damn of sorts that would often catch odd things like cans and bottles.

There was a great ravine some ways in that we followed to its end where a small stream came out of the hillside funneling thru rocks it created a feeling of serenity that we both enjoyed. Soon after we began to gather logs and branchs that we stretched across the hillside creating a floor just above the creek then we layed thatching across it to keep from stepping in the gaps between logs. We did the same a few feet up for a roof and Hec brought an old blanket and a bunch of rope his father said he could use.

In the end the little hut we created had a wall on the side leading toward the valley made from that blanket and a the roof we managed to expand all the way to the dirt and stone wall just above the flow of water. We used the rope to create a ladder out of sturdy branches that gave us access thru the roof into the hut, it became our sanctuary when school was pushing in on us and our adventure home in the summer when we wanted to let our imaginations roar. It was quiet here, no bustling cars or noisy machines just the rolling water and sunlight dancing in and out of shadows.