A Sneak Peek #amwriting

I can say I am all in now. I have reached my March 31st goal in finishing my rough draft for my first ever book which I am calling The Pure Series. As I said, to celebrate, I am posting a couple chapters here to give a little view of what I am doing.

I am afraid I did not explore the writing communities I researched last month, for I have been quite addicted to just writing. I am finding, now that I have built up a routine for writing, I have become very committed to it. I also backed up my copy. The thought of losing 100+ hours of brain activity, struggles, and joy in some sort of crash or accidental erasing made me feel sick.

I am now at 82 pages!! The rough draft is complete. I have began the editing phase, which wow… I think I have found one of the most tedious parts of writing which comes after getting over the tedious part of learning how to build time to write. Haha!

I can say I am well on my way in this process. Goals for the end of April: 1.) I would truly like to explore the writing communities now, 2.) Contact some friends and family about becoming beta readers (I think that is the right term. I need to start building a following) 3.) Make a little video about the process of writing a young adult science fiction I have faced so far. I will post that at the end of the month… maybe.

I would like to be done with editing this month, but I have not really established a pace with that, so we will just need to see if that is reasonable.

Without further to do, here is my debut/sneak peek of what I have created. I am putting it out there. Please, feel free to comment. Let me know if you are interested in following more with getting some more sneak peeks and maybe being a beta reader. I am still tampering around with self-publishing. I kind of need to see how many people I can build up. I will not be disheartened. I take both positive and negative feedback!

Okay, here it is:

The Pure Series Book 1- The Push

By Erin Yung

Prologue

Blood and a fury of caretakers whirled around her, fussing and making a vain commotion over her wellbeing. She hardly noticed. Not even the pain seemed to touch her anymore. Feeling had started to leave her completely. She felt light and careless, almost happy. It had been a long time, so long she could not remember what had ever given her reason to be before.

Craya marveled at the precious little face which tilted up towards her from under a thick bundle of blankets. She could not get over how tiny the baby’s features were and also how peaceful, from the slightest little lips to the gently closed eyelids. They told her the eyes were golden, but she had heard they were always born golden. If the child took on her own eyes with age, they would become a dark, deep brown, almost black.

Charcoal gray markings framed the tiny features and pronounced the predestined skills of landmoving within. Their quantity and wild manner suggested a talented Landmover, but Craya instead tenderly traced another marking, a bold line that circled around the forehead like a crown. Gently, she lifted a little hand up towards her mouth to give a soft kiss. The sweet, little wrist had a matching band. She bowed her head and embraced the sleeping babe with the most surprising feeling of immediate love. Closing her eyes, she set her cheek against the soft head of her newborn. The warmth left a soft print on her cold cheek that blazed through her. 

Craya too had these very same bands. Unlike a newborn’s markings, hers were faded. As always the markings started out pronounced and dark, but with age, they would lighten, change, stretch, and maybe even disappear, depending on how the strengths within were fanned and flamed.

She tried to restrain the tears that started to escape and burned down her cheeks. Pain set back in, but it wasn’t the pain of her body failing her. This pain went much deeper. Her core being ached with a black hole of despair.

The man she mixed with turned into someone so different than who she once knew. He did not know love.

She had been wrong about him, and the mixing never should have happened. Fertility was hardly a thing these days. This whole miracle to her was purely and coincidentally a disaster of the lowest odds. Yet, she would not take it back now.

Pain racked her frame now. The child began to fuss, perhaps sensing a growing agony. Golden eyes opened slightly to give a glare at the discomfort. Their eyes locked for a moment, and the baby settled down again and fell asleep.

“Drink this.”

Craya ignored the warm tonic her sister held in front of her.

“It won’t heal you, but it will ease the pain,” she said sorrowfully.

Craya looked at her sister. Lara’s red, swollen eyes gave away her efforts to conceal her attempts to hold back tears. Craya knew her sister understood that nothing could take the real pain away. She let her hold the warm liquid to her lips, and she drank. She owed no more hardships to her sister, who had been the only real, steady light in her life. They had confided in each other, secrets that had been on oath never to tell.Maybe some or all of this was a sort of curse for those oaths broken.

Despite their differences, Lara had always accepted her and been a soul spirit since the day they found each other. They had endured and transformed monsters together. Lara was the only one she could trust with her life which now was her child’s life. The weight she was putting on her sister made her heavy and guilt-ridden, but she had no other choice.

Her hold on the baby started to become difficult. She was losing control of everything, her strength weakened, and her explosive emotions shook her. She clung to this new love she felt which steadied, surprised, and empowered her. For a moment, she let herself focus only on that love. With all the strength she had left she wrapped herself fiercely, but gently around her baby, and she wept. She did not know if it could be done, but she tried to push a lifetime’s worth of love into the babe. Somehow if she could embed it all now, it could maybe last, or at least linger. She would give everything to this new life. After a while of holding so tightly, she had to let go.

“Sister, let me take the child,” Lara offered gently.

Craya had no energy or ability to fight Lara who carefully took the baby from her arms. The baby had been the only warmth she had left. She started shaking. Lara leaned in to try to rest the baby against Craya, like she still had a hold.

“I don’t know how this all happened. You have to keep it all a secret. All that I told you.” Craya begged.

“The future is so dark. Sentry must never find out or he,” she could not think. “Lara. I don’t know what you will do. I’m so sorry. Please keep my baby safe.”

“It will all be okay. We took the precautions when we left. Sentry will not find us. No one would think to look here.”

“I’m so sorry we made you leave. Please keep my baby safe” Craya repeated weakly.

“It’s not because of you. You know I wanted to leave. You and this child gave me a reason to finally act on something I wish I had done a long time ago. I like it here. I just wish,” Lara’s voice broke. “I just wish it did not have to be like this. I tried everything. I’m so…”

“Don’t,” Craya stopped her, “Don’t apologize to me. I am the one sorry. I ask you so much. I have always asked so much of you,” Craya’s words became broken as it became more difficult to breathe and her body seemed to be abandoning her by the moment.

“I ask this one last, heavy and undeserved favor. Please keep my baby safe.”

“You know I will,” Lara tried to affirm her sister’s repeated plea. 

“This child, your miracle deserves everything. You deserved everything,” Lara saw her sister fading fast. She kept talking, desperate that her sister did not leave in grief. “We will keep hidden. We will love and live happily. Born in love and your protection, I will continue this for you. Don’t worry. There is light and hope with this child. I can see it.”

Perhaps it was whatever Lara had given her or the subconscious desire to be happy, but fuzziness and lightness started to return to Craya. She felt in her heart looking at Lara holding the babe that the child did have hope. She closed her eyes and clinging on to the beautiful image of them, she let herself drift away with them near to her.

“Do you have a name chosen? Lara asked, but Craya did not. She was silenced.

Lara looked at her sister and anguish washed over her in all she had given up. She leaned in close holding the baby near too and held her sister’s hand, slowly feeling the radiant strength and energy fading away. She knew though, as all of Craya’s light vanished, the tragedy and pain also went too.

In one hand she felt a diminishing light, but in her other, she felt a pulse of power so strong. Lara closed her eyes and pushed with all she had. The earth moved around her rising and sinking, crumbling, and caving in. There was darkness and anguish everywhere she looked. A sharp, unbearable pain in her side almost brought her back without seeing it. 

But, she looked up, and though the world closed in around her, she saw the child of the most substantial power rising above into the light, and she knew things were going to be okay. 

Chapter 1- A Pact of Friendship

Mai’s golden eyes pierced his stone victims, marking them with certain doom. 

Just above him on a ledge, his friend Emme stood, waiting for his command.

“Pull four,” Mai called out.

Next to him one large, earthen spear rose vertically from the ground followed by another. One after the other, he grabbed the perfectly timed poles from the air. With rapid fire, he threw them with all his might at the large statue targets in the distance. Two more spears rose in the same manner, and two more targets went down, crumbling and shattering in heaps to the ground.

“You know, we really should start working on trying to push our handles at our targets rather than throwing them,” Emme stated, unimpressed.

“We make such a good team like this though. We have this under control!” Mai said as he gestured to the crumbled targets. “Plus, maybe precision strength is one of my soon to emerge skills. I think I can feel it in me.”

Emme jumped down. She squinted her sharp, dark eyes and focused on Mai’s chest. 

“Ah. Is that..” she came in closer, and some of her loose strands of black hair brushed lightly against Mai’s chest which made him hold his breath. “..is that a circle marking starting to form?”

When she backed away with an incredulous look on her face, Mai, now able to move again, looked down excitedly. Had he actually started to develop the circular mark over his heart that identified many of the Precision Strength breed? Maybe it really was a skill starting to form in him. 

From the first day of life, most gentry had clear markings to place them as a certain breed or mix of breeds, and they would be raised accordingly to nurture those sets of skills. The visibility of the markings varied in every gentry, but also depended on the breed and the age. By the time a gentry reached the age of 20 eclipses, most markings would fade, unless the gentry was using his or her skills with great effort. Their breed markings would pulse and course with energy, sometimes appearing darker and sometimes brighter, and sometimes changing color all around.

Though rarely, markings could reveal themselves later on in life. 

“Naaahhh!!” Got you though! Mai, you’re good, but not that good.” Emme said, laughing in delight.

“I didn’t really think I was. Okay, you had me. I mean, I hoped. I’ve gotten a lot better with precision than I was, you know?” he stammered on a bit embarrassed. Then he switched gears to poke at Emme, “I mean, I’m better than you.”

“Are you now? I could have the mark, and you would never know?” Emme said, shrugging. Her chest was well covered, for she had a low tolerance to cold. Her ordinary, woven tunic covered her up to her neck. They had been working hard, and with the visible sun, lending its small dose of warmth to the otherwise edgy chill of Rohlm, Emme had unclasped her sleeves and tied the fragments securely around her chest.

“I don’t have to look for the mark. Here, I’ll pull. Show me what you’ve got!” Mai retaliated.

Two spears rose near Emme as their roles reversed from earlier. She reacted, grabbing them a bit clumsily from the surprise of the challenge but threw them, one right after the other. She crumbled one statue with a central hit and ripped a huge corner piece off with another.

“If your handles weren’t so rough! They’re supposed to be edged at the tip, not all over the whole pole,” Emme said defensively. Mai smiled. Emme wasn’t a Precision Strength, but she was still strikingly good. He felt that about her for everything she did. He watched Emme pull up another handle from the ground, but this time, she held onto it.

Mai watched as she gripped it with both hands, and extended it out in front of her. Her lips pursed together and her head bowed in focus on the spear in her hand. She opened her hands. It dropped before her on the ground with a thud.

“Really, we should work on it. If it is in us to push, it’s not just going to appear,” she said with clear frustration.

“Good try,” Mai said truthfully.”I agree. We should work on pushing more.”

Many Landmovers could pull the land to them, and they could in fact pull massive amounts and articulated forms, depending on their spatial understanding and radius of their reach. Only some could push and fewer still could manipulate freely. 

The walls of the Circle, called the Outer Circle, was a fortress that surrounded and protected the gentry in a mountainous grandeur. The wall started from the hands of the most crafted and skilled Landmovers. It took pulling, pushing, and manipulating skills to be considered a true Landmover, though the word was loosely used for anyone with the slightest skill these days. Emme and Mai trained together in the hope to each one day earn the title of true Landmovers.

The markings of a Landmover, whether they pulled, pushed, or manipulated, resembled a winding tangle of roots and would curve and spiral all over the bodies of that breed. Some believed the Landmovers of higher skill had a more abundant amount of swirling markings. If this belief had any merit, Mai and Emme both could be expected to be highly skilled. 

Emme’s markings were undoubtedly wild, but they were fading to a similar color to her tawny brown skin. 

Mai had similarly wild markings all over too, but less abundant than Emme’s. Mai’s skin, being a few shades lighter than Emme, gave his rust markings more of a chance to be seen.

Mai reached down his energies and pulled a pole from the ground. Holding it in front of him, he felt the warmth of the formed stone in his hands. He felt his own body heat up as he attempted to build his energy, trying to summon an opposite kind of force compared to what he did when pulling. He visualized the pole projecting forward, but his too fell to the ground. 

The earlier rampage of achievement changed to an air of strenuous frustration. It fell silent between them except for the thuds of their poles as their army of targets stood and laughed at their unfruitful efforts. The shadows started to grow darker as the sun started to disappear and forced them to give up for the day. They climbed up the steep hill over their army, and falling back into their comfortable control, they pulled up the laughing troop. One after another doomed stone soldier, sometimes a few at a time, rose into the air and would fall to a shattering heap. When all laughter was smote down into flattened crumbles of carnage, Mai and Emme took a moment to watch the sun dip down behind the wall that surrounded them.

“Are you going to the mines tomorrow?” Emme asked as she watched Mai as he tugged his tunic over his disheveled golden and deep brown brindled hair. She could see he was getting either much bigger or stronger, or both. The fibers of his usual loose-fitting tonic pulled and resisted in his struggle. He needed a new one. She unwrapped her sleeves, and fastened them back together to cover her arms. Both of them fetched their hoods they had tossed aside. 

“Yeah. They just opened Tunnel 16. I’m going to try to get there early. I guess there are a lot of new rules for the payouts and different discovery protocols. I feel like they are anticipating there to be a lot of Pure this time. You going?”

“They’re always anticipating a lot of Pure. It’s not like they’re going to open a tunnel and tell everyone- it’s another gamble. Gamble with your lives!” Emme said a bit acidly.

“Rumors are going around Sentry had one of his visions about Tunnel 16 and a huge flow coming from it. It would explain the extra hype and care being taken about the opening of it.”

Emme rolled her eyes. “I don’t care what Sentry has seen. To answer your question, no. Mining isn’t for me. You know that. And, Mother wants me to practice more. I think she’s been disappointed that I’m not showing signs of pushing at all. She worries with my markings beginning to fade that I’m peeking out and this skill level is the best I’ll be,” Emme looked worried. She started taking out her long hair from tight knots. “I think this confining hair she insists I wear is her way of sabotaging me. I always have such an ache in my head at the end of the day, and I bet it’s how tightly she knots my head up.”

Mai watched Emme’s black hair fall down in waves and curls as she shook it out and massaged her head. He wanted to touch and feel just how soft her hair was. He wanted to feel what it felt like to have so much hair. He was certain Emme purposefully taunted him and did things she knew drove him crazy.

“Aysh!” Emme cursed loudly, shaking it all out and scratching her head wildly, “I really need to wash my hair. I think I might have some shankles mixing up in this mess. That’s what I’ll do while you go mine. I will probably wash out these parasites.”

And then again, he wasn’t so sure she had any idea how she made him feel because she would go and say something like that.

“Do you think we have limits to our abilities? Do you think it is possible to peak out and no matter how hard you try, you can’t get any better?”

And then she would suddenly change the topic to something serious and sobering like that. Mai thought for a moment.

“No,” he said. “For one thing, we’re young. Our radius of reach will get larger. We just need to get stronger. I think we all have control over how far we go. It may get harder to improve and pushing is a whole different skill to unlock.

 I think half the battle is just figuring out how to tap in, and most give up there. Hey, as soon as I find out how to push, I’ll let you know the trick. Don’t worry. I’ll get you started.”

Emme gave Mai the smile he was hoping for and the challenge on, “You won’t need to waste your breath. I’ll be landpushing while you’re in the mines.”

“Don’t undermine the importance of the miners. Someone has to find the Pure. Besides, you won’t be pushing before me. You’ll be too busy washing your disgusting hair,” he didn’t know why he said that. He meant to be funny, but it came out wrong. Mai worried about it more than Emme though. She had no interest in her hair and pursued the more important matters on her mind.

“If the Pure is meant to be found, it will be found. There are enough seekers and desperation out there, and the Outer Circle can always be counted on to exploit it. I don’t get why you even waste your time and skills taking part in their games on our lives.”

“Hey. I’m the first to agree. You don’t have to remind me they abuse their power. We need Pure though. Not to the extent that they use it, but we need it,” May shrugged. “That’s why we have to rise to the top and take up the powers. We are likely going to need a good supply of Pure to make us stronger if we are going to go up against the Pure infused leaders. Who knows how much particulate they go through out there? If you had the amount of Pure pumped through you like Sentry, you’d probably be land manipulating the whole outer wall down.”

Emme stood quietly for a while gazing off at the walls. Even the portions far in the distance, had a pronounced sharpness as the sun radiated its last light behind them. She would take down the walls if she could. It was said the wall could not even be scratched. A whole force of gentry in the Outer Circle had one job to secure the wall’s standing. An attempt on the wall of any kind would be a threat and the offender struck down. Who knew how many gentry held the position of being connected to its protection? 

“I really do want to gain enough power to get out of this blind hole. No one is seen here, and we see nothing.”

“We’ll be seen and heard. I am making a pact with you right here and now, Emme Ciim. We are meant for great things. I believe we can do this together. Like I said before, we make a great team. We can push to the top, or past the top. We will go wherever we need to go. Together”

Emme smiled at Mai. He always made the future hopeful and honestly, nothing seemed bad at all when they were together.

“You really have the greatest visions, Mai. I believe you when you say this. I really do.”

“Me too. Pact?” he said. Then, he did one of his most favorite things when their conversations turned too serious, which they had been a lot these days. He pulled the land she stood on up to him and pulled his arm back to give her a good jab. Emme reacted in a flash. She burst upwards on a rocky platform, leaving Mai brazing his fist on the rough surface of her mount. It smarted good, but he laughed as he raised his own platform to catch up with her.

Emme went up to a frightening height. She raised up high enough to see across the whole land they called the Circle. She had not intended to go this high, nor had she planned a proper platform. Precariously but purposefully she perched high above the Inner Circle. Mai caught up on an even more rough-looking platform, and they stood looking out over the vast expanse of it all. From where they stood, they could see clear across the whole Circle to the outer four divisions as well as the gaping hole of the eastern territory that had fallen into a broken and dark abyss. The mines.

It was hard to believe back when the Circle first formed, it started at the mines. Nothing remained there now, but a jagged black hole, so scarred and tragic. Just a small segment of the outer wall there stood from the original Circle wall created. This portion of the Outer Circle these days held the council meetings, and it also housed the leader of the Circle, Sentry. Sentry’s Point, as it was called now but had once been called Gantor’s Point, Coyle’s Point, Shyn’a Point, and Mag’s Point before that, was a point where the highest and most extravagant place coincided with the lowest and arguably the most forsaken place.

As time went on, more circles formed around the original Circle as their ancestors found the need to expand. The expansion started to the northwest of the mines. Walls were broken down and recreated. Division 1 became the next established part of the Circle. Much of Division 1, the part not forsaken to becoming part of the mines, went towards agriculture. The division had orderly rows of greenhouses and glistening domes where most of the food was produced for the Circle. 

Division 2 was established next to the southwest end of the mines and housed the largest populations of the gentry’s Nurturer breed. Division 2 emanated order the other divisions lacked. Division 3 and 4 popped up next. They contained mostly living quarters and between them, the pubs, which ended up becoming the center of the inner circle after all of the subcircles had risen. 

Division 3 also had facilities and centers dedicated to training. The Gorge, where many landmovers trained, was another broken up area in the circle where Landmovers had torn up the ground with the purpose to master their skills and become champions one day. 

To complete the Circle, another living quarters division was established in the recent history of the Circle. Division 5 was the last, and just as the organization lacked in the establishments of the prior divisions, organization lacked even more in the last subcircle. It had a reputation of being the unruly, afterthought addition. Division 5 was made as a necessity for the growing populations. It was a mix of nurturing facilities as well as agriculture and any other pick up trade to the overfilling needs of the Inner Circle. 

The Landmovers in charge of creating the final addition of the Outer Circle structure ran into a hardship when attempting to wrap around Division 5. The Woods hovered over Division 5 on the west end. Much of the forested land was cleared out, but  when Division 5 arose, the Woods retaliated in protest. It was said that despite the attempts of the finest landmovers, some sort of magic would crumble the walls. The Woods concealed and sheltered only dark-loving and twisted creatures, who shrunk away from light. After time, though a weakness in the fortress, the Woods became an accepted part of the wall. The Woods, like the wall, did not allow any souls in, and no one would dare go out.

“It’s a pact,” Emme finally stated. She looked over at Mai. His carefree grin made her smile back.

“Together,” Mai nodded to her, and looked over their world like they reigned over it now.

“ I hate to end this monumental pact moment, but I think together, we should figure out a way to get back down.”

“You’re the one that brought us up here.” Mai complained.

“I wasn’t exactly thinking. You kind of made me do it. It would be nice if you could figure out the pushing thing right about now.” Emme suggested.

“Yep. Nope.” Mai said, starting to pull up another platform.

In close to darkness, the two friends found their way back down to the ground together. The next day, all of the gentry coming out of Division 5 walked past the curious staircase monument and wondered who built such a structure and where they had possibly been trying to climb to.