Unmei Chapter One - TEST
A few months ago I posted a short idea for a story I was working on. This is kind of a follow-up to that story, a little introduction of sorts. It's still just an idea that needs a lot of work so I'm just showing this to try to get feedback and see if it actually sounds interesting. Anyway, let me know what you think? : ]
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No one knows when the storm started because it's been here as long as anyone can remember. Chiara stared at the sea from her room window as she often did. The day was mostly beautiful, but miles across the sea stood a never-ending storm. The sky went from clear to pitch black in an instant at the point of the storm. The winds were powerful and never slowed down, no one could survive going across them. The storm formed a barrier around the island of Unmei like a curse and no one could figure out its meaning or its end. Chiara sits and wonders what lies beyond the storm as she often does and wonders if there is even anything else out there. She'd only heard stories from the older people in town and books she read. Some say there are monsters beyond the storm that eat anybody that survives it. Others say it's just a neverending ocean. Some even think it's just an empty void and nothing exists beyond it. Chiara's room was full of drawn maps from the information she read in books. She managed to "borrow" a few books from the capital city's library the few times she traveled there. Books that are from before the time of the storm, proof that there exists something more outside of this island. Of course, there's a chance that they could just be fiction, but Chiara doesn't believe that. She sits at a desk near the window she's been staring out of and looks at a map of her home island. The map has lots of writing on it and marks from her previous adventures exploring the island. She sees a small cove on the map next to her hometown and circles it, then scribbles the date next to the circle. "This is my next stop," she thinks to herself. She starts getting dressed and throwing supplies in her bag while making a mess in her already clustered room. A knife, some rope, clean water, her map, and a notebook are among the mess in her bag. She grabs a hidden bottle of wine from under her bed.
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No one knows when the storm started because it's been here as long as anyone can remember. Chiara stared at the sea from her room window as she often did. The day was mostly beautiful, but miles across the sea stood a never-ending storm. The sky went from clear to pitch black in an instant at the point of the storm. The winds were powerful and never slowed down, no one could survive going across them. The storm formed a barrier around the island of Unmei like a curse and no one could figure out its meaning or its end. Chiara sits and wonders what lies beyond the storm as she often does and wonders if there is even anything else out there. She'd only heard stories from the older people in town and books she read. Some say there are monsters beyond the storm that eat anybody that survives it. Others say it's just a neverending ocean. Some even think it's just an empty void and nothing exists beyond it. Chiara's room was full of drawn maps from the information she read in books. She managed to "borrow" a few books from the capital city's library the few times she traveled there. Books that are from before the time of the storm, proof that there exists something more outside of this island. Of course, there's a chance that they could just be fiction, but Chiara doesn't believe that. She sits at a desk near the window she's been staring out of and looks at a map of her home island. The map has lots of writing on it and marks from her previous adventures exploring the island. She sees a small cove on the map next to her hometown and circles it, then scribbles the date next to the circle. "This is my next stop," she thinks to herself. She starts getting dressed and throwing supplies in her bag while making a mess in her already clustered room. A knife, some rope, clean water, her map, and a notebook are among the mess in her bag. She grabs a hidden bottle of wine from under her bed.
"Wake up Chiara!" a loud voice from downstairs yells.
"I'm Already up!" Chiara yells back at the person downstairs with her young voice slightly cracking as she quickly hides the wine in her bag. Chiara runs down the stairs with her bag and jumps down to the floor startling her parents.
"Do you have to do that EVERY time?" a tall skinny man with messy brown hair who Chiara sometimes referred to as Father groaned.
"When was the last time you washed? I can smell you from over here!" a shorter skinny woman with long red hair who Chiara sometimes referred to as Mother said.
"Y-yesterday?" Chiara said with little confidence.
"you know swimming in the ocean doesn't count as washing right?" said Chiara's father.
"You can't prove that," she replied to him.
"I think that smell coming from you is enough proof!" her mother yelled. "All you do is run around on your little "adventures" all day. Why can't you be like the other girls around here?" Chiara's mother asks even knowing how pointless it is.
"It's the only interesting thing to do around here," Chiara explained. "I found this cove not too far from here that I want to go to today."
"You should really be focusing your time on actually learning some useful skills instead of searching for old relics of the past all day," Chiara's father said with a look of concern. "I need you to come back earlier today so I can start teaching you how to run the shop, it's about time you start pulling your weight around here"
"Then I better head out now so I can do everything and be back in time," Chiara responded. Chiara grabbed her things and headed out quickly before her parents could say much else.
"Well, at least that smell is gone now," Chiara's mother joked.
"I'd put up with it if it meant we got to see her more often," her father replied.
Chiara's family owned a pottery shop in a port town in Unmei. It was said to be a very busy trade port in the days before the storm, receiving lots of goods from around the world. It's still one of the more populated areas in the small nearly seventy-square-mile island of Unmei. Losing contact and trade from the rest of the world slowed down Unmei's growth drastically. Not just in incoming goods, but also in its culture and technological advancement. Being isolated from the rest of the world meant not sharing in its advancements. It had been over 400 years since the storm came. Living was a struggle in Unmei, the island just isn't big enough nor does it have the resources to grow like it was before the storm. Regardless, the people of Unmei survive, just not in the best of conditions. The fear that one day the storm might just wipe out the entire island plays a big part in that.
Chiara explores the island in search of anything that might give her clues to the outside world and how this storm even came into existence. Growing up fantasizing about the outside world and reading about it in the books she "borrowed" gave her a thirst for answers she could never quench just sitting at home making pottery with her parents. She heads to the old docks by her home, less than a mile away. The smell of fish is strong in the air as all the shops are opening-up around this time. Around this time is as cold as the island can get, which isn't very cold at all. At the docks, Chiara finds her small rowboat and throws her supplies into it. She slowly climbs unto it while holding onto the rope that's keeping it in place. She unties the rope and pushes off the docks, slowly making her way out. It's about a seven-mile journey to the cove from this position.
"Looks like it's gonna storm soon," Chiara thought. She was only about two miles away from her destination at this point. She always thought it was strangely funny that it would still storm on the island despite the fact that there's always a storm around it. It felt like a cruel joke by nature for that to happen. The rain starts to come down and the waves start to pick up. Chiara was about one mile away now and the storm was starting to enrage the ocean. Her boat started to get thrashed by the stormy sea and she was losing control of the small boat now. Out of nowhere, came a loud screeching sound from across the sea. Chiara looked towards the open ocean and saw that a small part of the 400-year-old storm was shining gold. The screeching stopped abruptly and with it, the gold colors went away. Chiara sat on the boat not moving an inch of her body, still trying to understand what she just saw. "Snap out of it!" she thought to herself as the storm continued to rock her boat. She fought the waves with all her strength using her oar and was able to start moving forward again.
Chiara was almost at the cove now, just a few more feet. The cove was surrounded by tall dark rocks making a nice crescent shape around the shore. There was a small cave near the shore too, a good place to rest before moving on. The cave entrance had water flowing from the top because of the heavy rain coming down. Chiara stayed on the boat until she could get off and walk on the sand. Her hands were pretty bruised from the oar and how tightly she was holding on to it during the storm. She slid the small boat through the wet sand leaving a trail behind and left it by the cave entrance, where she could still see it after going inside. Her clothes were soaked and felt heavy on her body and water dripped from her long auburn hair. She pulled a cloth from her rucksack full of her supplies and wiped it across her freckled face. She also pulled out the wine bottle wrapped in another cloth she "borrowed" from her parents and sipped straight from the bottle. After some time had passed the storm finally began to die down. Chiara had fallen asleep on the floor of the cave. She slowly got up and cleaned the dirt from her clothes and gathered her supplies. As she stepped out of the cave she noticed something strange. A body, of a young man lying on the sand near the water. His body had a gold aura around it, just like the gold she saw earlier during the storm. "Where did he come from?" Chiara thought. The aura around him slowly disappeared as he let out a groan and passed out. The boy didn't look much older than Chiara herself, and he wasn't much taller either. She put her hands underneath his armpits and dragged his body across the sand. She slowly dropped him at the entrance to the cave where the shade began, Chiara dropping to the floor catching her breath afterward.
"I'm Already up!" Chiara yells back at the person downstairs with her young voice slightly cracking as she quickly hides the wine in her bag. Chiara runs down the stairs with her bag and jumps down to the floor startling her parents.
"Do you have to do that EVERY time?" a tall skinny man with messy brown hair who Chiara sometimes referred to as Father groaned.
"When was the last time you washed? I can smell you from over here!" a shorter skinny woman with long red hair who Chiara sometimes referred to as Mother said.
"Y-yesterday?" Chiara said with little confidence.
"you know swimming in the ocean doesn't count as washing right?" said Chiara's father.
"You can't prove that," she replied to him.
"I think that smell coming from you is enough proof!" her mother yelled. "All you do is run around on your little "adventures" all day. Why can't you be like the other girls around here?" Chiara's mother asks even knowing how pointless it is.
"It's the only interesting thing to do around here," Chiara explained. "I found this cove not too far from here that I want to go to today."
"You should really be focusing your time on actually learning some useful skills instead of searching for old relics of the past all day," Chiara's father said with a look of concern. "I need you to come back earlier today so I can start teaching you how to run the shop, it's about time you start pulling your weight around here"
"Then I better head out now so I can do everything and be back in time," Chiara responded. Chiara grabbed her things and headed out quickly before her parents could say much else.
"Well, at least that smell is gone now," Chiara's mother joked.
"I'd put up with it if it meant we got to see her more often," her father replied.
Chiara's family owned a pottery shop in a port town in Unmei. It was said to be a very busy trade port in the days before the storm, receiving lots of goods from around the world. It's still one of the more populated areas in the small nearly seventy-square-mile island of Unmei. Losing contact and trade from the rest of the world slowed down Unmei's growth drastically. Not just in incoming goods, but also in its culture and technological advancement. Being isolated from the rest of the world meant not sharing in its advancements. It had been over 400 years since the storm came. Living was a struggle in Unmei, the island just isn't big enough nor does it have the resources to grow like it was before the storm. Regardless, the people of Unmei survive, just not in the best of conditions. The fear that one day the storm might just wipe out the entire island plays a big part in that.
Chiara explores the island in search of anything that might give her clues to the outside world and how this storm even came into existence. Growing up fantasizing about the outside world and reading about it in the books she "borrowed" gave her a thirst for answers she could never quench just sitting at home making pottery with her parents. She heads to the old docks by her home, less than a mile away. The smell of fish is strong in the air as all the shops are opening-up around this time. Around this time is as cold as the island can get, which isn't very cold at all. At the docks, Chiara finds her small rowboat and throws her supplies into it. She slowly climbs unto it while holding onto the rope that's keeping it in place. She unties the rope and pushes off the docks, slowly making her way out. It's about a seven-mile journey to the cove from this position.
"Looks like it's gonna storm soon," Chiara thought. She was only about two miles away from her destination at this point. She always thought it was strangely funny that it would still storm on the island despite the fact that there's always a storm around it. It felt like a cruel joke by nature for that to happen. The rain starts to come down and the waves start to pick up. Chiara was about one mile away now and the storm was starting to enrage the ocean. Her boat started to get thrashed by the stormy sea and she was losing control of the small boat now. Out of nowhere, came a loud screeching sound from across the sea. Chiara looked towards the open ocean and saw that a small part of the 400-year-old storm was shining gold. The screeching stopped abruptly and with it, the gold colors went away. Chiara sat on the boat not moving an inch of her body, still trying to understand what she just saw. "Snap out of it!" she thought to herself as the storm continued to rock her boat. She fought the waves with all her strength using her oar and was able to start moving forward again.
Chiara was almost at the cove now, just a few more feet. The cove was surrounded by tall dark rocks making a nice crescent shape around the shore. There was a small cave near the shore too, a good place to rest before moving on. The cave entrance had water flowing from the top because of the heavy rain coming down. Chiara stayed on the boat until she could get off and walk on the sand. Her hands were pretty bruised from the oar and how tightly she was holding on to it during the storm. She slid the small boat through the wet sand leaving a trail behind and left it by the cave entrance, where she could still see it after going inside. Her clothes were soaked and felt heavy on her body and water dripped from her long auburn hair. She pulled a cloth from her rucksack full of her supplies and wiped it across her freckled face. She also pulled out the wine bottle wrapped in another cloth she "borrowed" from her parents and sipped straight from the bottle. After some time had passed the storm finally began to die down. Chiara had fallen asleep on the floor of the cave. She slowly got up and cleaned the dirt from her clothes and gathered her supplies. As she stepped out of the cave she noticed something strange. A body, of a young man lying on the sand near the water. His body had a gold aura around it, just like the gold she saw earlier during the storm. "Where did he come from?" Chiara thought. The aura around him slowly disappeared as he let out a groan and passed out. The boy didn't look much older than Chiara herself, and he wasn't much taller either. She put her hands underneath his armpits and dragged his body across the sand. She slowly dropped him at the entrance to the cave where the shade began, Chiara dropping to the floor catching her breath afterward.
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