Flash Stories and Blog

The Clarion Beasts

1/14/2018

   Adan opened his eyes only to see thick blades of deep green grass and taste deep brown dirt in his mouth. He was lying on his stomach and something was pressing down on him. He shuttered and reached for his bag of runes.
   "Uhhh...I'm gonna puke," groaned Mara.
   Adan sighed. "Mara, get off. You're crushing me."
Mara rolled off, pressing Adan's face further into the ground. "Crushing you, huh? How much do you think I weigh? I'll crush you all right. You don't leave me behind you freak. I go where you go. I'm the chronicler remember. I ..."
   "Shhhh," said Adan, pressing a finger to his lips. "Something is coming. And it's big."
   "Don't shhh me. I know how you like to change the subject. And ..." The ground rumbled, and the two struggled to stand. "All right. I'm shhh-ing. There is something coming."
Adan grabbed Mara by the arm and started running for a hollowed out tree about a hundred yards away. It was massive, about the size of redwoods he'd seen in Eureka, California with his dad years ago. The sky above was a light magenta and the foliage around him was thick. Everything had the look of conceptual paintings Adan had seen of Paleolithic Earth. Was this really Clarion, he thought.
     The ground vibrations made his teeth chatter.
Only twenty more yards to go. He hoped nothing was lurking in the dark recess of the rotting tree. But there was nowhere else to go.
   "AAddaaann!" Mara hollered.
Adan turned briefly to see an enormous creature gaining on them, but it was still about a football field away. The beast was something between a wooly mammoth and a T-Rex, a monstrosity.
   Finally they reached the tree. Adan jumped straight in, pulling Mara with him. His feet sunk into some sort of muck that was hard to see.
   "Gross...what is..." started Mara.
"Quiet," Adan whispered. "They just might lose us."
The feeling was like an earthquake. Adan was certain the towering tree would collapse on top of them. The beast pounded its way to the tree then veered to the right of it. The ground continued shaking.
  Then all went silent.
Adan saw Mara's face in the shaft of light coming through the tree. He nodded with a finger to his lips. He heard breathing and grunts, but they were different types. There was more than one creature outside, and they were behind the tree. There came a sound of splintering wood, and Adan and Mara were tossed backward, deeper into the tree. The creatures were tearing it apart. There was no way out. Adan reached for his rune bag, frantically thinking of the best rune for protection.
Then horns sounded.
They were loud but pleasing. There were many, too many to distinguish, but they formed a magical chord that reverberated through the air, even in the recess of the tree. The sound seemed to come from the left beyond the hillside, and the creatures began receding to the right into the forest. Adan slowly emerged from the hollow. Ahead in the sky was the word W E L C O ME written in letters that burned like fire. This was indeed Clarion.
"Mara, come out. It's all clear. Just be really quiet."
   "Ugh! I'm standing in worms!"
   "They're harmless. They're just the larvae of wood-eating beetles"
"They're just the larvae of wood-eating beetles." Mara looked up to see the letters in the sky. "Cool."
"Listen, we're alive, right? And this is Clarion. So we have to stay quiet. Our voices are what scared the beasts. Anyway, the town should be just over that hill." Adan stood still and felt a sinking feeling as he felt the rune bag at his side.
   "What's wrong?" asked Mara.
   "Gram's never did her spell. We can't use the A-V plasm. We have no way to talk to her or know what Odin is feeling."
   Mara looked up and whispered, "Well, the Welcome sign is still lit. Let's hope there are no cannibals in this town over the hill."
   "Cannibals? Why would you bring up cannibals? You and your zombie movies. You need to..."
   "Shhh."

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Adan's Resolve

8/5/2017

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   Adan pulled three runes from the rune bag that hung from his belt.
"No way!" said Mara. "Grams, make him stop. He's going to open the vortex to Clarion!"
Grams pulled Mara to her side. "Adan, your are making a very big ah mistake."
Adan placed the runes Rhaido, Kenaz, and Elhaz in his left palm then squeezed his hand shut. He looked back to Grams and Mara. "How can you know it's a mistake? Was it a mistake when Mara and I went to Seri and saved the entire dimension? We weren't even asked to go. We were abducted. Now, there is a clear distress call, and the two of you think it's some sort of trickery. What if it's my mother crying for help? I have to try."
     The floor beneath Adan began to twist like taffy and the roar of the inter-dimension grew louder.
Adan saw his cat Odin retreat to the fireplace and his fur turn silver. This signaled ice and wind. The vortex began spinning wildly.
     Mara looked at her digipad on the floor. She broke from Grams' gentle hold and ran to the device, scooped it up and threw the strap over her shoulder.
   "No Mara!" cried Grams.
"Sorry Grams!"
Just as Adan vanished into the vortex, Mara leaped in head first. In seconds there was only silence and Grams stood with Odin looking at the empty spot from which Adan and Mara had departed. Anxiety flooded Grams. She had not had time to cast the spell for communication. This meant Adan's A-V plasm would have no effect. There was no way he could contact her if he needed help. And no way for her to contact him.

**********

What will the two dim travelers see on the other side? What awaits them in the Clarion dimension?

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Preparing for Clarion

11/10/2016

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Our story left off with Adan vowing to go to the Clarion dimension alone. The fire-like script that appeared in the living room during a freak thunderstorm spelled "H E L P." Adan was convinced it was a signal from his mother from the Clarion dim, in which communication is only visual.

Mara grabbed Adan's arm. "There's no way you're going alone!" Adan turned. Mara saw the concern written clear on his face. "It's always us. It's us till the wheels fall off. You can't leave me behind...you ... you jerk!"

Adan's shoulders slumped. "No one is leaving anyone behind, Mara. The trip will likely be for nothing. Everything so far has been. But I have to try. I don't want anyone else to be in danger."

Grams interjected, and Mara knew that Adan's grandmother would no doubt side with him and his jerky plan. "You cannot ah go Adan. The risk is ah too great."

Mara's eyes widened. "Wow! Go Grams. Tell the jerk who's boss."

"Mara is right, this time," Grams continued. "You don't have enough ah evidence to know it's the Clarions sending the message."

Mara scrunched her face. "What do you mean, this time ?"

***********

In the next installment, will Adan refuse to listen to Mara and Grams, will he gather more evidence, or will evidence come to him?

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Mara's new Music

5/24/2015

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Mara sent this to me early this morning. It's a new band she's into. Hope you enjoy the track.

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Adan and Mara: Flash Story #1

5/19/2015

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Here is a brief 500-word story that Mara wanted me to share. Make sure your lights are on.

A nighttime thunderstorm splashed rain against the picture window of the darkened living room as Adan and Mara read by a luminous orb Adan had created with a runic spread. They were not certain if this was an actual storm or just more of the violent disturbances that had plagued the house for nearly a week. And they had not found any reference in the notebooks belonging to Adan’s father about thunderstorm attacks. Leafing through books related to dimensional disturbances, Grams sat in the kitchen at the massive wooden table covered with large pillar candles. Odin, whose fur was its normal grey and brown, lay undisturbed by the fireplace.

Then the lightning flashed.

            Intense, blinding light flooded the living room; Grams ran in from the kitchen, forced to shield her eyes from the glare.   Odin ran toward Adan, who like Mara kept his head down on the floor.

            “What is it?” screamed Mara.

            “It’s definitely NOT a thunderstorm!” Alex shouted. He turned his head slightly to see Odin pressed against his shoulder. Odin’s fur was changing to iridescent silver.

            “Grams!” yelled Adan. “Odin is silver!”

            Grams grabbed a blanket from a chair and made her way to the center of the room and got down on the floor with Adan and Mara, spreading the blanket over the three of them.

            They were now able to open their eyes with only the pulsating orb light illuminating their makeshift tent. But they could still see the light through cracks in the throw and hear a deep throbbing bass sound that vibrated the floor. Adan tried to open a journal that lay near his head. He quickly thumbed through the pages.

            “What is it? What’re you doing?” Mara asked, her voice still rising above the pounding sound.

            “I remember something I saw in this journal about silver,” said Adan.

            Grams lifted a section of the blanket to see Adan and Mara more clearly. “I think it ah might be the ah Clarion dimension,” she said as her voice faltered, trying to outdo the volume of the storm.

            The light began to fade, and the floor ceased vibrating, and within seconds Adan threw off the blanket, only to see glowing symbols hovering in front of the window.   They looked as if they were written with fire.

            “Mara! Can you read these symbols?” Adan asked in his normal voice.

            Grams stood with a look of amazement.

            Mara grabbed her digipad and ran closer to the symbols, which were at least three feet high. “I’m pretty sure it’s….” She found the reference. “Yeah! It’s a cuneiform variant. The symbols mean…”

            Grams interrupted Mara and stepped within inches of the fiery script. They were dimming, and the room was slowly returning to darkness. “They ah say ‘Help’”.

            Adan ran toward the last visible rune and reached out. As it dissipated, Adan yelled out, “Mommmmm!”

            Grams approached Adan, who sank to the floor.

            “We’ll find her Adan,” said Mara. “We’ll find her.”

            “I’m leaving for Clarion,” whispered Adan.

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New Music

5/12/2015

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Adan and Mara have asked me to share some music tracks they both like. Check it out on the Adan and Mara's Music page. It helps the Indie artists get some exposure too. Here's one of Mara's new favorites.

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First Novel Highlight

5/11/2015

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Since most people in this dimension have not even read the first novel that attempts to make the rare and sometimes unsettling experiences of Adan and Mara public, Mara has persuaded me to share at least a short scene from the first book- The Sarian Adventure. If you are seeing this post and wondering what is going on, you should visit the website, which will fill you in on some back story and character descriptions. This adventure-loosely summarized-details the struggles that Adan and Mara face when trying to save the Sarian dimension from ruin due to a vindictive madman who is out to kill an old Sarian friend of Adan's father. This person is named Macher, and the madman is out to kill him and his entire world. The scene below is the first chapter of the novel and gives a glimpse of everybody's personality and how quickly life can turn upside down.

A blood-curdling scream woke Adan. Images flashed before his eyes. The runes were warning him in the darkness.

H Z J O (These are runes in the original text.)

He sat up in bed, sweat streaming down his face. His limbs ached, and for a moment he remained frozen with terror. He looked around his room… Nothing moving… Moonlight splashing over the foot of his bed. Odin sat beside him looking ahead—back arched, ears back, his cat eyes wide open.

The scream had been real.

“Not again. Please,” Adan whispered, as he fell back into the sweat-dampened sheets.
………

He had dozed off. Lost track of time. Hail or heavy rain was pelting the roof. The sun was up now. He could see blue sky through the window sheer. Odin sat on the floor next to the bed, his fur now a deep burgundy.

Invaders, Adan thought. “Grams!” he yelled, with full force until his throat closed on itself.

He grabbed clothes and his bag of runes. Half dressing and half texting a message to his friend Mara, he sped down the hall to the stairs. His grandmother came out of her room tying her hair back.

“Go, go, go!” she yelled, waving Adan ahead of her down the stairs.

There was a thunderous roar coming from the kitchen. At first Adan had to cover his ears. He had heard a sound like this before. A wind tunnel.

Looking back Adan screamed to Grams. “Another vortex!”

“Of ah course it is, my boy,” replied Grams loudly with a thick Italian accent.

Odin stood hissing at the kitchen door, his fur rippling with color changes, from burgundy to gold to gray to black to silver.

Adan approached the door cautiously. He winced from the volume of the roar. Then on a three count he kicked the door open to see a madly spinning vortex on top of the heavy wooden kitchen table. A blast of icy air hit his face. He felt like his eyes were being cut.

Grams entered the kitchen chanting an Italian charm for banishment, her arms stretched out in front of her. She moved her hands like a sculptor modeling clay. She had years of practice manipulating energy and was certain this small vortex would not put up much of a fight. She moved in front of Adan, who was clutching his bag of runes. She never took her eyes off the spinning mass. Kitchen items had blown off the table; some lodged in the wall—a knife and can opener.

“Where is Mara?” Grams yelled.

“She should be here by now!”

Mara ran up the street from her house to Adan’s, reading the text Adan had left on her phone. In the three years she had known him she had never read such a forceful message. Something new was invading the house. His message was firm: Need you here now! If it's inconvenient, get your butt here anyway.

She and Adan had seen their share of the bizarre and macabre since they had become dim travelers. Even the homeschool education they received from Adan's grandmother was sometimes enough to chill the blood. But some entity from another dimension was now invading the house and terrorizing Adan and Grams.

Mara entered the driveway to the Shamanson house, a large Victorian more than a hundred years old. The sun tore through the twisted canopy of limbs that arched over the driveway, creating a mosaic of jagged light patches on the damp gravel leading all the way to the front door. As Mara ran up the driveway she passed the overgrown fountain in the center of the roundabout. It was littered with red, orange, and brown leaves. She saw ripples in the water and felt the thundering vibrations from the house.

Mara looked up at the house, her jaw hanging open. Above the roof were thousands of pulsating reddish dots of light pouring into the house then shooting back skyward. It was impossible to determine their origin, since they appeared only twenty or thirty feet above the roof before jetting headlong into the ridge line. Adan wasn’t joking, she thought.

“It’s a vortex!” she whispered, before sprinting to the front door. She grabbed the door handle then drew back her hand in shock. The handle was ice cold. The entire door felt colder than it should, even in November. It appeared to be frozen shut, and Mara struggled to push the door open. Finally, feeling it was easier to beg forgiveness than ask permission, she kicked in the door, splintering the jamb. She took a second to look at the door, impressed with her own ability. “Tai Kwon Do, oh yeah,” she whispered, giving herself two thumbs up.

The inside of the house was swarming with the small glowing dots of light, moving swiftly in every direction. Mara noticed something odd about their movement though she couldn’t determine what it was. Using Adan’s wisdom about solving complex problems, she decided to try to follow the path of just one orb. It acted the same as those she had seen outside. The dots of light were moving about quickly but then retreating along the same path. They were literally coming and going. She could hear Adan and Grams in the kitchen.

“Adan, I’m here!” she yelled.

Streaming through the door was nearly blinding cobalt light, and Mara heard a distinct spinning noise, like twirling a rope over her own head.

By the time she entered the kitchen, there was a deafening roar. Adan and Grams stood several feet away from the massive, wooden kitchen table on which was spinning a small but violent vortex. The wind emitted from the vortex forced all three spectators to lean forward. Odin, whose fur was now like a kaleidoscope, hid behind Adan. Pots and pans were rattling on the overhead rack; curtains were nearly torn from their rods, and the dots of light kept pouring from the ceiling to the vortex as if fueling it.

Yelling above the roar of the vortex, Adan tried to reproach Mara. “What took you so long? We needed you minutes ago!”

“Why didn’t you tell me you had a vortex in the house, oh wise one?” Mara shot back with a cock of her head.

Grams, finally able to raise her hands, began to scream a chant in Italian. Her hair was blowing wildly around her face. Adan and Mara went silent. They knew the power Grams possessed over these entities. As she repeated her repulsion chant, she reached inside her apron and retrieved a quartz crystal, which it was her habit to have at all times. She looked at Adan.

“You must ah cast your runes!” she yelled with her thick accent. “The vortex is ah getting more powerful!”

Adan grabbed the leather rune pouch attached to his belt. He could feel the heat generating from the runes. Mara struggled to cross over to Adan. The wind was getting almost intolerable as dishes flew off shelves and pictures smashed onto the floor. Adan needed two runes to enhance Gram’s repulsion charm, but he had to force his eyes to stay open. He and Mara leaned toward each other and formed a shield from the wind using their shoulders—their faces against each other. Mara looked at Adan as he located the two runes from the twenty-four in his bag. He gave one to Mara.

“We will have to turn and face the vortex for this to work!” Adan shouted. “I gave you the rune called Isa. I have Hagalaz. When we turn to face the entity, keep yours low. Mine will be high. We will yell “Away” then smack the runes together in front of us. This should help.”

“It’d better!” Mara yelled back. “Or all that rune study is gonna make you look bad.”

Grams continued to shriek her chant, but her voice was faltering. Adan and Mara turned to face the vortex though it was nearly impossible to keep their eyes open. Adan held his rune high and Mara, hers low. Then as both screamed “Away”, they high-fived their hands that held the runes and a thunder clap shook the room. The pulsating lights flashed bright white as they shot back up the ceiling and out through the roof. The crystal in Gram’s hand became so hot she had to release it. This puzzled her. That should never have happened, she thought.

The vortex began to diminish in size, occasionally throwing out pulses of light. But the deafening scream that came before the vortex vanished sent shivers through everyone.

All went silent. Sweat glistened on their faces. Odin’s fur returned to its normal grey and brown. No one moved.

"That sounded like—” Mara started.

Adan looked at Mara then Grams. “It was human.”

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The Clarion Beasts

Adan's Resolve

Preparing for Clarion

Mara's new Music

Adan and Mara: Flash Story #1

New Music

First Novel Highlight

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