The cynical optimist

I have been completely absent from the writing world for months now, thinking often about my abandoned WIP and hoping one day to find the motivation and courage to get back to it.

Yesterday was that day, I finally had a shiny new idea for the beginning of my book and was excited to write it, I set up my tablet, got some coffee and started to type. Hours later I had only typed out 10 words if I was lucky and the old familiar doubt crept back in. Maybe I couldn’t be a writer after all, maybe I was rusty. Maybe I just sucked.

Today I tried again, because I have a new founded desire to not give up to not give in. I decided to make 2019 the year I finally break down walls that I had set up, take risks, put myself out there.

So today, again… I wrote.

Today I got words down, words that I am actually proud of and ones I want to share. Below is the new first page of my WIP. I hope you enjoy it.

(Also I know I put comma’s everywhere…please ignore the excessive comma’s)

-Page 1-

There was something off about the woods tonight. I had hunted here for years growing up and it had always felt like a second home, but tonight I felt out of place. I tripped over gnarled twisting roots partially hidden by fog that refused to disperse clinging to the moss that dotted the tree trunks. I ducked under low hanging branches and dodged uneven ground trying my best to not twist an ankle. I stopped moving for a moment to take in my surroundings and in that stillness I realized what the problem was, the forest was silent. There was no rustling from any animals skittering along the bottom of the forest floor, there was no hooting or cawing of birds, no flapping of wings, no buzzing of insects, there was just silence.

I felt my heart begin to race and from the distance I heard a soft thudding noise, hooves on dirt. The sound of hooves grew louder as the horse drew near. I tried to pinpoint the location it was coming from but it seemed to be coming from everywhere, all around me the sound of thunder. There was a noise to my left, tree branches and leaves rustling and out of the darkness came a horse that was pure white, it’s mane long, startling white and trailing off into a brilliant ice blue. The horses eyes were wild and it whinnied, it’s nostrils flaring, atop it was a rider that wore a helm of ice, two horns came up from the side twisting and turning, forming into stalagmites. His beard was long brown but fading to white at the edges, he was a overpowering presence in his blue and silver armor he looked down at me but said nothing, I began to back up when I saw two more come from the bushes, one was on a red horse, who’s mane was like flame, his rider seeming to take inspiration from that was dressed in red flame armor, the design danced around him giving the impression that he was ablaze. To his left, a horse decorated with leaves and flowers that were woven into it’s mane, there seemed to be branches carved from the leather reins that were held by it’s rider, a man, with little to make him stand out, he was strong but not as imposing as the other figures, strapped across his back was a bow, his hair was long and black, his eyes however, were two different colors, one was green, and the other, gold and stepping out from the shadows was a fourth horse, this horse was pitch black, he did not run forward, or leap out like the others he walked from the darkness as if it had been his home. His rider was cloaked in black, its face hidden by shadow. I stood in the center of them all looking for an escape, I reached back to retrieve my own bow, grabbing it I nocked an arrow and took aim but before I could fire, a voice soft at first, but growing louder called out.

“Do not fire. This is your future, this is our future, the horsemen come. The end times are near. but the fight isn’t over, the war isn’t won. You Frey, are the hope of all kinds. Save us Frey.”

I was frozen in place. The horsemen come? I wouldn’t survive this fight, at least not alone, but before I could make a move the horsemen disappeared, and a woman stood before me wearing a dress the same darkness of the horse that stood where she now was. She lifted her head and I saw that her eyes were the color of ice, she smiled a wicked smile her face fracturing apart, black vein like lines racing outward as she did and then there was darkness.