Halfling
The fire crackled, sending little sparks into the night air. The glow made everything warm and cozy despite the chilly autumn night. The darkened forest rose around them, making everything outside the circle of fire feel unattainable. I drew closer to the light, taking in the heat.
This was the first time I had left my small village. I was sure I had made a mistake as I looked around at my hardened companions, who had seen the road more than I had ever read about in my books. Yet somehow I was pivotal.
I bit my lip as Garrick glanced toward me. He had been making sure I fit in, that the others treated me nicely. He made it all worse. The others knew and had already seen that I was a liability. That despite my magic, the raw magic, that was supposed to open the doors to the chamber of all chambers where the weapon to save our lands from the great evil, rising in the west, lay, I didn’t have a clue what I was doing. Yesterday, I almost set the entire forest on fire as Rhanja taught me to master my newly found skills; if it hadn’t been for her, everything would have burned down.
I glanced at my hands and then drew them inside my cloak as Rhanja followed my gaze.
I watched her from under my eyebrows. Rhanja didn’t look away; she kept staring at me, daring me to say something. She was the only other mage, and she didn’t like me at all.
I was happy as Valen sat between Rhanja and me, offering me a plate full of the game he had hunted for the entire group.
“Thank you, Valen,” I said.
“You are welcome.” He lowered his voice. “Don’t worry about Rhanja; she will come around. She is scared that you will take her place.” The elf gave a wild smile.
“I—”
“Don’t worry about it, Liora. We will all help you. We all understand that this is a lot to ask of you, of anyone. It was just bad luck.”
I had to look away from the elf’s sympathetic eyes. I wasn’t so sure about the bad luck. I had gone looking for trouble, and it had found me, the humble halfling with an initial sparkle of magic, and latched on. I was stuck with ancient powers that shouldn’t exist anymore. I tried hard to get rid of them, but they wouldn’t budge. Not back then and not now. All it did was turn the whole world’s attention toward me as I had burned my village down. Now I carried the deaths of my kind with me. It was no wonder that Rhanja hated me. I hated myself too.
—
What I got today was a lyrical fantasy quest written in the first person. I knew I wanted to write about a group, and I wanted to write classical fantasy. Okay, it might have been too classical, almost similar to Tolkien’s Lord of the Rings, but heck, I’m practicing.
If I had more time, I would flesh this out and add descriptions of the other characters. I decided not to go there because I wanted to keep things short, given the time constraint, and to make it less of a chore to read.
I made the protagonist a halfling because I am what you might call a hobbit. So I have always been partial to short characters in books and films.
On a side note, it’s getting colder outside. Soon winter will come. My sister already wrote that it was -7 Celsius up north when she woke up today. I can’t wait for the first snow.
Thank you for reading! Have a cozy autumn day and see you tomorrow ❤
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