Prologue

The mountains quivered as the ancient city crumbled to the ground, the sounds of the world's death strangely quiet to the Observer’s ears. He sat on a quaking block of carefully chiseled stone imbued with properties beyond comprehension, taking comfort from its dying warmth as his home fell to pieces about him. A city so old that nobody even knew its name, cursed to crumble to dust, dust… he should be sad, yet he was not. Nobody lived here anymore. They’d either retreated to their bunkers or died.

Dead, dead…

His helm lay twenty feet to the side, slowly bubbling and frothing near some fallen slabs of stone, dissolving into the nothingness from where it’d come. As he watched a massive chunk of metal slammed into it, burying it under stone so old as to be from the forgotten ages of gods.

“You.”

The voice carried clearly through the cacophonous destruction, faintly femminine yet totally indescribable through the pale white armor she wore. He would have paid no heed to the voice, had he not known who was addressing him— Destruction, the Destroyer… destroyer of… everything. They had been playing this game for too many years. Too many years… since… father… ?

“You’re always here too late. This is it, you see. The last place. Your last refuge, gone. How does it feel, to know that you can’t run any longer. No wards will hold me back, and no person can stand against me.”

The Observer did not respond, though her words did make him think. Think of beginning and endings. Think of the times they’d spent together, and the times they’d warred apart. They made him think of why exactly, despite his endless existence, he’d decided to sit on this now-cold piece of stone in a city which was still falling from the heavens. To… to stand.

To make his stand. Finally.

“...You have nothing more to protect? So, old man, what will you do? What will you do?” The Observer could almost imagine her smile beneath that faceplate of purest white, that mist that meshed seamlessly with the infinitely durable metal of her armor. Almost imagine the smirk she wore on her face- almost— he breathed deeply, calming himself. For far too long he’d held himself back from this confrontation. For far too long he’d waited.

“...no.” It was but the barest of whispers, yet Destruction heard them, and froze. He’d never spoken to her, before. Six thousand years of eluding death at her hands, and he’d never once said a word. “No. I’m… sorry. I’m sorry for… everything. I created once— created so, so much, yet I could not bring myself to destroy.”

“So you sat and watched.” Destruction waved at the mist that shrouded her face, and this time he could see her smile- her skin of deep brown reflecting the light of the fires and falling bricks with impossible accuracy. An effect of the armor, perhaps.

“...no. I didn’t sit and watch. I sat and waited. No longer.” The Observer stood, his helmet of white mist coalescing about his face with a snap audible only in that other, most strange of realms. “I can sit no longer, Destruction incarnate. You could have been great, once— but that time is long past.” He held out his hand, and a blade of invisible, intangible power coalaced in his grip. He could see it— she could see it, so it wasn’t truly invisible… but they were… special. “I don’t hate you. In fact, I suppose I still love you very, very much. I can’t, however, let you destroy humanity.” The Observer choked back some tears from times long gone, cementing the face of a bright young child in his mind— a child whom he’d raised, and loved.

Then he flipped the world inside out.

Chapter One

She hadn’t paid much attention to the cacophonous crash at first, other than rolling over in the bed and tugging halfheartedly at the sheets. Rarits’osa was a big city, after all, and things that wouldn’t happen in other smaller towns were commonplace here. Perhaps… perhaps someone had dropped a crate of ore? Rōsa’a ma Ka’ashokōha yawned softly, blearily turning away from the door as another crash echoed through the house, shaking the poorly constructed walls. It… a thought entered her mind, but she brushed it away. It wasn’t quite morning yet, and she’d like it to stay that way.

Silence— not quite true silence, as far as the sounds of the city went, but a silence nonetheless. Another loud crash pierced that non-silence, but Rōsa tried her best to ignore it. After all, if she listened to every little sound in the city, then she’d never get sleep—

Her door slowly— softly, almost timidly, creaked open. There was one other person, who lived with her, so, tiredly, Rōsa lifted her head off the pillow to glare at Suse’it as she walked quickly into the room. “Wha… what are you? Why are you… here?” Rōsa shook her head softly before sitting up more fully. “I was sleeping…”

“Quiet!” Suse’it crouched down beside her bed, wild eyes darting nervously about the room— toward imagined dangers, impossible threats. Things that could not be. This… person… didn’t seem much like the calm, confidant woman she knew, yet it was undeniably her. The face, the dress…

Rōsa sat up quietly, scanning the room with a methodical gaze. Nothing, of course. “Are you well? Do you want me to make some tea?”

“No! No, no no no no no… you can’t. You can’t… they’re here. Take this. Take it and run. I’ll…” Suse’it drew in a deep breath, looking out toward the the door. “I’ll distract them. Go, leave the city—” Her good friend of many years stood, brushed off some dust from her gown, and carefully, shakily walked out the door.

Rōsa looked down at the object she’d been given, surprised. It’s shape was irregular, but one she could recognise— Suse’it’s pin, the symbol of her graduation from the University at Ka’ashokōha. This was her prized possession— the single thing of value she’d brought with her on their long trip to Rarits’osa. Finely wrought silver with a teardrop diamond from the fiery mountain Ka’orits’osa.

Who was here, that she would give this to her for safekeeping? She didn’t know. She couldn’t know. By now fully awake, Rōsa sat up on the bed. There was little to do but try and flee the city, as Suse’it had asked her to. If there was anything Suse'it wasn’t, it was wrong…

Slowly she got up, throwing on a robe and creeping through the hallway. There was a back door to the house they’d been given that opened out onto an alleyway that would lead to the gate. If she could only—

Another crash echoed through the house, shivering through the walls and causing the whole building to shake. Now there was almost no doubt that the cacophonous noises had been coming from the house— from doors being wrenched off their hinges and thin walls being torn asunder. She had to leave… The sounds of an argument floated up from near the entrance, gruff voices pushing through the sudden silence. Rōsa thought she could hear Suse’it in there, but then again— perhaps not…

It didn’t take her long to get to the back door, and she quickly withdrew the deadbolt, hurrying out onto the ally. All she had to do now was get to the street, and she could lose whoever was rummaging through their house in the crowd—

“There!”

“Ka’asha! Raso’akut is going to have our hair for this one. Well, get ’er!”

Rōsa twirled around at the voices, spotting two people in the uniforms of the city guard. More concerningly, they were running at her. She sprinted toward the street as fast as she could, but while in a long gown and with a sharp object in hand, she found running harder than it looked. She was so close…

Two members of the guard stepped out to bar the alley’s access to the street. Rōsa’s access to the street. She tried her best to avoid them, but it had been a long time since she’d put any significant effort toward keeping in shape. One guard merely held out the butt of his spear, and she went sprawling across the ground, Suse’it’s university pin slipping out of her hand and skittering into the main road. For a while she laid there, pain lancing through her body from flesh that had to have bruised. Wondering about what they’d do to her.

“...That’s the one. She has one of their pins and all. I wasn’t sure with the other one, so I had her restrained…” the woman’s voice fell into silence as she stopped in front of a prone Rōsa. “Are you sure that she’s…” the woman— a captain of the guard— sighed. “So she’s a university student. I’d thought they’d be more impressive… either way, take her…” the rest of her sentence faded away into inaudibility as she walked away and two guards roughly forced her up, dragging her away from her house. Why? Why…

……..

They forced her through the streets, through the marketplace and up to the high-walled keep at the northeastern end of the city. They passed two sets of imposing walls, only the faintest seams of mortar showing between the massive bricks. She’d observed them from afar before— the legendary craftsmanship of Rarits’osa. crafted by the stonemasons of three hundred years ago. Those details, however, slipped from her mind as she was dragged at spearpoint through several dark, claustrophobic corridors in the keep. Jarringly, she was thrown painfully to the ground in front of a long, well-crafted table in a room suffused with a gently terrifying light..

The keep. The keep of Rarits’osa… Her mind wandered, beleaguered by the pain inflicted upon her. Darkness crouched at the edge of her vision, ready to encroach upon her and steal her away should she even blink—

“Come, sit.” A man’s voice touched her ears from across the table— deep, calm. Collected, as if he’d been expecting a beaten, scraped, and exhausted woman to be dropped at the foot of his table before it’d even happened. “I’ve had my chef prepare some food for us both.”

Rōsa slowly looked up, and much as the man had said, two platters of food sat out on the table, a cup of steaming tea beside them. One in front of him— a man with few outstanding characteristics other than his height, and one set across the long table. After glancing halfheartedly toward them both, Rōsa slowly dragged herself toward the one set out for her. At first appearances, everything about the food was nice. A platter of steamed greens with some sort of sweet sauce, some boiled grains, and a seasoned, cooked fish... yet it didn’t seem right.

“So.” The man picked out a piece of food from his plate— a strange, half-cooked berry— before popping it into his mouth. “You’re a university student. Rōsa’a ma Ka’ashokōha, born and raised in the great city itself. I suppose that must seem rather prestigious.” The man smiled, cutting out a chunk of his meat and placing it in his mouth.

Rōsa’a slowly looked down toward the food place in front of her, then back to the man. “...no. I don’t suppose it’s much more prestigious than any other University child from a Ka’ashokōha family. I’m not the best at my studies—”

“But you are. You have not one, but two pins— yes, perhaps, the one is not yours, but still. All know a graduate’s pin is one of the highest honors a university student can achieve.” The man smiled, eating a bit more food before he continued. “You are, undisputedly, a genius woman from a city that is known to produce geniuses. Rarits’osa simply needs some help, from someone like you.”

“Why should I?”

The man merely smiled, gesturing toward her food. “I paid well for that fish. Eat, and don’t ask questions.” A tense moment passed between them, before Rōsa picked up her utensil and started to eat. The man grinned happily. “Good! I’m glad you accept my hospitality. Now, to business… Rarits’osa needs you to solve a… puzzle. It should only be a little thing, but we can’t have you refuse.”

“Can’t? Or w—”

“Eat. Your. Food.” A baleful glare cut down her speech before it could leave her mouth, startling her back into quietude. Even the guards shuffled their feet nervously. “Can’t. Won’t. It’s all the same thing. Do you know why we kicked down the door of your house and threw you out on the street to get you here? It’s because Ka’ashokōha—” the man spat her city’s name with vitriolic fervor— “is sending an army to Rarits’osa. Unprovoked aggression— aggression we need to be able to defend ourselves against.”

Silence. The man drew a deep breath, folding his hands atop the table. “I apologise. My name is Se’itkayi, high captain of the city’s guard. And you do have a choice, though you should finish your meal before choosing.” The man didn’t smile, nor did he frown, or grimace— but his eyes… his eyes told a different, a long and weary story. “Help us, or die.”

………

There wasn’t really any other answer than one, for Rōsa. Her life... she wouldn't throw it away. Even if it meant she’d have to do some cruel, terrible thing for the high captain of Rarits’osa’s guard. She finished eating her meal before pushing the plate away, content to sit back and sip softly at the tea she’d been given.

Silence. The room was, for the most part, silent. Cold, cold and silent...

When she’d first entered the city she’d been given a house similar to the ones in the University, with small, airy rooms. The keep here was… different. A place for their rulers, yes— but not a palace. A fortress, a stronghold against the winter's fury and the raging tides of the bustling city. Imposing stone, supposedly quarried out of mountains high in the Kayirits’osa peaks, set to watch over the city since time immemorial.

Cold, beautiful…

She’d never suspected she’d sit within it, faced with a decision. A decision to which there was only one real answer. “I’ll… do it.” Rōsa wiped away some grease around her mouth with the sleeve of her gown, acutely aware of how underdressed she was, sitting in front of a man who had the power to kill her without even standing. “I—”

“Enough said, graduate, highborn university student.” The long, silent dinner had wiped away Se’itkayi’s anticipation, leaving it with the same facsimile of emotion he’d shown before. “We want you to figure out how to use this.” The man held up a rigid metal orb made of more interlocking rings than Rōsa could count, more intricate than any puzzle she’d ever seen before. “Make it work, and you’ll be set free. Fail… don’t fail.” Se’itkayi drew a shallow breath, before rolling the strange sphere across the table to Rōsa. It was odd— not quite iron, but not like any other metal she’d seen before either… like a cross between iron, gold, and bronze.

“What is it?”

“An orb. One of the orbs that the smiths of Rits’osashot’ūt used to craft their blades of might.” Despite the deadly seriousness on Se’itkayi’s face, Rōsa couldn’t help but relax a little. A charlatan's toy— the sort of thing used to trick poor fools on the street into surrendering their coin. All she’d have to do was find the bright powder or glowing fungus at the center, and she’d be done.

Rōsa nodded, despite the various bruises and scrapes that covered her body. “It will be done.”

Title: Crystalspace

Genre: Fantasy, High Fantasy

Age Range: 15+

Word Count: Currently 23,181

Author Name: Richard Sullivan

Why my project is a good fit: Crystalspace is a short, exciting work of fiction that should interest people who like to read stories based in a world with extensive history, customs, languages, and traditions. It's short enough to be read quickly, and readers will enjoy how the story connects together with itself and how disparate elements of the plot come together to form a seamless whole.

Hook: The story of a forign scholar from Ka'ashokōha who is swept up into an inane conflict between her home city and her current home of Rarits'osa over the secrets to magic, and unwillingly put in charge of research for a city she hates.

Synopsis: The story opens with a scene of a confrontation between two deity-like people, as the first defeats the second and saves the world, if a bit too late. Then the story follows Rōsa'a ma Ka'ashokōha (or Rōsa) as she is captured and forced to work for the government of Rarits'osa in their mission to use old magic to stop Ka'ashokōha's invading army (who are invading to steal that very magic). The lord of Rarits'osa believes that the magic, held by masters of the craft who had long since seceded from the city, is the only thing that can save them, and places Rōsa in confinement within her own home. She tries to escape, but is captured, beaten, and placed back within her house with no choice but to try and figure out what she thinks is a mundane puzzle. After a while she figures it out and realises that the 'magic' refers to the parallel realm kayikepe, which she calls crystalspace. She tries to pass on the responsibility to the lord's scholars, however they are unable to make the orb work, and the lord of Rarits'osa locks her into a cell. In the cell (in crystalspace) she meets an acolyte of the masters who'd seceded from Rarits'osa, who tries to steal her key to crystalspace, an orb. The second time they meet Rōsa had lost her orb, and the man helps her find it, unknowingly telling her how to access crystalspace at will. She betrays the man, exits crystalspace, and proceeds to try and escape the city using her newfound knowledge. However, the acolyte attempts to stop her. They stumble upon the body of the deity whose POV began the book, who breaks up their fight, takes Rōsa's orb while she's blinded, and kills guards who tried to take the orb from him. They retreat through a portal of his own making to a jungle far away. The story ends with the second deity, who destroys the armies of Ka'ashōkoha as they arrive at Rarits'osa in order to start a bloody conflict between the two city-states.

Target Audience: People who love to read short, thought provoking works of high fantasy which include deeply ingrained elements of worldbuilding. Fans of work which both wraps itself up neatly at the end while also letting the reader ponder about what happens next.

Bio: I'm a highschooler in Chapel Hill, North Carolina who's spent years writing book after book with the hope of getting published someday. I write speculative fiction: mostly high fantasy, but also sci-fi short stories and a tiny bit of poetry. I love reading and travelling, and have always tried to write what I'd want to read about.

Platform: N/A

Education: Starting 10th grade this year.

Experience: I've written six books so far, though none of them have been published.

Personality/Writing Style: I'm a generally happy introvert who loves to take my plethora of experiences and transform them into writing. I love sitting down and reading a good book. I'd like to think I write in a flowery, descriptive sort of style which conveys a sense of scope and gravity to the reader.

Likes/Hobbies: First and foremost, I love to write. Beyond that I love reading, almost to the point where I forget to write sometimes. I've tried my hand at a few sports including fencing, cross-country, and soccer, but always find that my favorite thing is a calm walk through the forests near my house. I also worldbuild as a hobby, creating maps, languages, cultures, and planets from scratch to go along with my books.

Hometown: Chapel Hill, North Carolina

Age: 15

Why?

Why do you do this? What motivations stand beside you, what reasons do you have to bring such suffering upon us? For what reason do you feel that you should, must do these things? Why should we fight one another, petty differences cast between us as if they mean anything at all? Why must we stand apart, as if the oceans and rivers and lakes and little tiny slivers of land betwixt us are insurmountable barriers between you and me, between him and her, between father and son and nation and nation.

Why?

Who forces you to look at others and say they’re inferior? Why do you have to bring down those who try so hard to do nothing but stay alive? Do you feel like it’s a requirement to take a trickle of a difference, and turn it into an ocean? Why should one’s religion, their beliefs, their loves- anything- set them apart from you? What makes them monsters, and you human? Why? Is it the color of their skin? Their heart? Do you presume to know the intentions of every person, the factors of every situation, the basis of every problem? What do you feel to make yourself so shortsighted, so uncaringly biased? Why do you take everything you hear as fact except for the facts themselves?

Why? Why?

Must death be the answer? Why must pain be the resolution? Should the story end in tragedy- do you wish for our story to end in tragedy? Do you want to die? Are you so uncaring, so inconsiderate that the slightest inconvenience means more to you than the well being of others? Why? Why do you wish to peel apart in trying times, rather than come together? Does this benefit you? Us? Them?

Why? Will you even listen to me? Can this be stopped- can we stop it?

Can we not come together?