Introduction: Hey there! I'm Sae, and this is my novel for this round of Last Man Standing.
Link: Here's a fancy little link for the first chapter.
Brief Description of Story: On an Earth quite similar to our own, Cassandra Hughes and her best friend Aspen Lockhart end up getting a mysterious pair of lockets at a flea market; Cass gets the golden one, and Aspen gets the silver one. The lockets turn out to be magical, and bring the two to an entirely different world called Seraphinity. But the more that Cass learns about the lockets, the more the people they meet seem to despise her. After all, her locket matches the one that the evil King Kartiel has, and that must mean that they're somehow connected. Once enthralled by the world they've discovered, Cass finds herself growing more and more discontent. She finally decides to leave the safety of the kingdom to travel the kingdom of Telorum and ask for answers from its king. He miraculously lets her stay in his kingdom, and it's during her time there that she begins to realize that things aren't what they seem in Partex.
Story's Genre: Fantasy, Teen Fiction, Friendship
Setting: Partex, a region of a world called Seraphinity.
Preferred Type of Questions, If Any: I'm pretty much up for anything!
Other: There's going to be spoilers a plenty, so if you're reading my novel and don't want any idea of what's going to happen next, you'll probably want to avoid reading through this thread.
The Three Lockets
40 posts in this topic.
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This reminds me I need to catch up to the latest chapter ;o;
First question that comes to mind is, how did the two lockets end up in a flea market on Earth?
And about Cass and Aspen, how did they first meet? What were their first impressions of each other? Do they ever argue about anything? -
Don't worry about it!
I'm still figuring that particular detail out, but I'm pretty sure someone stole them and used them as an accidental method to escape being caught. When they realized that they didn't really mind being stuck on Earth - and that they could use their magic to make some good money by creating "miracles" - they decided to stick around. By the time that Cass and Aspen got them, they've been passed down through that person's family.
They first met when Aspen moved to Cass' school in the middle of sophomore year. Cass always thought that Aspen had an enviable amount of confidence, and Aspen always thought that Cass seemed like a really shy girl that probably didn't want to talk with her much. They ended up getting assigned a group project at the start of junior year and have been best friends ever since.
As of right now? I'm going to say no. They're the type of friends who get along incredibly well, which is why they've stuck together. -
This is Weirdo, here with questions
First, there is going to be magic, is it based on some already existing mythology or old belief? If yes, which one? If no, what is the inspiration for what you are doing?
Second, there is an evil king, King Kartiel, I'm curious as to why he is evil. Is he just horrible to his subjects or is there more to this story? -
Hey Weirdo!
I'd say the inspiration comes from a combination of Harry Potter and anime with elemental-based magic. People in my universe can have two types of magic - the ones that can and create specific elements, and the ones that can cast spells. As of right now, all of the main characters in this story have that elemental style of magic, but I might change that depending on future events in the novel.
You actually hit the nail on the head right there! Long story short, Telorum and its king suffers from a good old dose of propaganda. They're not actually evil - that's just how the people of a group of kingdoms called the Rexun Alliance have been raised to view them. King Kartiel VIII, like his predecessors, are staunch opponents of the alliance.
That's one of the first things Cass comes to realize when she arrives in Telorum and starts spending more and more time with the king. -
Hi, Saen! I'm not reading this story but I still have questions.
Why does King Kartiel oppose the alliance? How did the conflict between Telorum and this Rexun Alliance originate, and for how long has it existed? -
Wow! that sounds really interesting, and I like DarkPandemonium, want to know more about this alliance.
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Hey, @DarkPandemonium and @TheWeirdoFromBeyond!
I'll get back to that first question in a bit, once I explain all the other parts. The conflict between Telorum and the Rexun Alliance began all the way back at the start of the alliance. I have no idea what that exact year would be, but it was during the reign of King Kartiel III, and they're currently on King Kartiel IV, so it's definitely been around for awhile.
As a little aside, the alliance does do some great things for the countries in it - the countries lend each other support when they're struggling with specific issues (like financial stuff), and it's understood that if an official war ever broke out, they'd all band together.
But the Rexun Alliance isn't perfect, and, in some cases, they hate specific groups of people. The two biggest offenders in even the early version of the alliance's eyes were the users of darkness magic. Darkness magic, mind you, is like any other kind of magic. You're born with it, and you can't change what you have. This hatred of the magic ties into a hatred for a group called the fallen. Long story short, Partex has a belief system in which there's the gods, and then there's the fallen. The gods are just and wonderful beings, while the fallen have done something to get kicked out of godhood and have never had their appearances forever changed as a result. Everyone kind of associates the fallen with darkness magic because their appearances just seem to fit that.
Telorum's always had a really good relationship with the fallen, because, surprise surprise, the fallen and gods really do exist! So when King Kartiel III saw the Rexun Alliance being formed between kingdoms whose leaders discriminate against perfectly innocent people, he was like "yeah, this is a really bad idea", and offered the darkness magic users a home in Telorum. Which obviously caused the rift between the two to grow even larger than before.
The final straw came when King Kartiel VIII was assassinated by one of his trusted advisors, a man who had come from one of the countries in the Rexun Alliance but had managed to become quite close to the king. This, obviously, was done to protect the safety of the Rexun Alliance. When King Kartiel IX took the throne right afterwards, he swore vengeance on his father's killer. And then the kingdom went oddly isolationist, which has absolutely petrified all who belong to the Rexun Alliance.
At least, that last paragraph is what everyone believes had happened.
They've got several things wrong. King Kartiel IV never swore vengeance, and, in fact, his father wasn't killed. His father died a long, long time ago. You see, the reason why the conflict has continued for such a long time and with the same conviction is because the last time the king truly changed was between King Aldonius I and King Kartiel II. It's been the same king ever since, and only the people of Telorum know it. -
NO
WAY
I have a character called Aspen Farley, whose mother's name before she married was Lockhart
THAT IS INCREDIBLE -
By the way, what makes Cass discontent? Does Aspen agree with her?
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OH WOW THAT'S AMAZING
I think Aspen understands it to an extent, but she's lucky. While Cass has the locket that resembles Kartiel's and discovers she has darkness magic, Aspen has the silver locket and an undecided type of magic. (I'm currently thinking light magic?) So while Cass is shunned by almost everyone they meet, Aspen is accepted pretty early on - which, coincidentally enough, is kind of like their actual friendship back on Earth? Aspen's the popular one, while Cass just kind of hangs around with Aspen and doesn't really know how to interact with her peers. -
Does that cause any rifts in their friendship?
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A slight one, yes! Nothing too major, though - they're the type of friends who rarely argue over anything, and Cass is the type of person who doesn't like troubling others with what she's going through. While it's not the rift growing between them that's necessarily responsible, Cass eventually decides to leave because of how she's being treated. (Aspen is convinced the people of the kingdom they're staying in will find a way to send them back, while Cass believes that King Kartiel has all the answers she needs.)
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Does Aspen go after her?
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@Danni88
Not at first! I think Aspen probably will later on, but they both come to the decision that they need to split up for a bit so they can do what they think will help them get home. Aspen's obviously going to be worried sick about Cass heading off to a place an evil king rules, but Cass convinces her that it'll be alright and that it's better if they have someone to stay in the kingdom they first ended up in.
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