City of IF

[The Meaning Of Fear]

Here we go.. Chapter one!

Chapter 1- Relius Door

A boy in his mid-teens sat inside the rather spacious beige single-roomed brick-house, along with 20 or so other kids. This boy in particular had short, straight raven-black hair that stood out rather like a hedgehog. He was taller than average, but not by so much that he would be seen as tall. He was somewhat good-looking, with sharp eyes somewhat dulled by boredom. Dressed in a simple shirt and trousers, hand stuffed in his pockets, he looked just like any other kid. His name was Relius Door.

Rel sighed. He felt so restless, almost as if there was an itch in the middle of his chest, telling him to go out and explore. Unfortunately there was one thing that prevented him from doing just that: School.

Education was all very well, but the fact remained that he does not, have not, and probably never will learn anything in school. It wasn’t so bad when he was still a wee kid. Back then, school was a place to play with your friends and stuffing your face when it was time for lunch. Now that he was in his teen years, he was required to learn. And learning wasn’t exactly something Rel was good at.

It didn’t exactly help that he was living in Jeranaea, either. The titanic continent of Jeranaea, with varying landscapes and was populated mainly by humans, was home to a unique phenomenon: the Doors.

Rel didn’t know an awful lot about the Doors, but from what he’d heard they were holes that could lead you to another place if you go through them. Judging from the people he’d ask and what he’d actually listened to at school, they could appear at any place, any time, and could lead to anywhere at all. They might only last for a second, or they may stand there for thousands of years. It had been the dream of every boy growing up in Jeranaea to go through a portal, and see the things on the other side. Unfortunately for Rel, these dreams never quite left him, and now serve as a constant distraction, fuelling his wish for exploration.

Of course, that wasn’t the only reason why Rel wanted to see a Door… If he could just find the right one, maybe he could-

“Ow!”

“Awww… man… OW!”

“Not another one…”

“That’s the fifth one this month!”

An extremely high pitched screech that marked the appearance of a Door had shot through their eardrums, and ended almost just as quickly. This was accompanied by a rather loud crash of glass as the sound had shattered the windows.

Rel held his hands on his ears, and waited for his head to stop ringing. Once he could hear his own thoughts again, he paused to look around the room. Many of his classmates had recovered also, although there were a few who still seemed quite disoriented. Iggy, a large, bulky teen with extremely large ears, appeared to have hit the wall with his head in the confusion and was unconscious. The shower of glass didn’t seem to have inflicted any injuries.

Murmurs began between the students. It wasn’t terribly unusual to see, or in this case hear a Door materializing, but five times in a month was really quite something.

“We getting a lot of those blasted things this season, eh Door*?”

It was the teacher, Bern Redfields. A stout, gruff-looking man, his face mainly dominated by a huge beard, he would rule over the class with an iron fist. If someone tried to describe Bern with one word, that one word would be hairy.

“Come on, you dirty little good-for-nothing buggers!” he shouted to the whole class when Rel didn’t reply, “Get off your asses and FIND THAT DOOR!”

When a Door appeared, it was important that it was found immediately so they can be contained, because they can literally lead to anywhere at all including lava flows, or under the sea. Needless to say, they’re a little more dangerous than natural disasters. One eastern city’s residents swear the huge desert in which they live in is caused by a Door which led to the Sun.

Then there’s the problem of living things that come through. While most animals usually avoided Doors, there has been more than one account of dangerous creatures coming through, which need to be found as quickly as possible before they cause too much destruction.

One would think with all these dangers, people who went in search of Doors would have to be trained professionals. The adults of Rel’s town, however, disagree, and send the children out. Rel once asked Bern why.

“It’s because kids are expendable.” was the reply.

Walking out the doorway, he took a second to once again look over his home town, Jurnster. Surrounded by the same beige buildings, with the same bright orange roofs, and all the paths paved with exactly the same bricks, were in exactly the same alternating zig-zag pattern. If you looked at it from a distance for too long, you would soon lose all of your depth perception.

Ironically, Jurnster happens to be the only boring-looking thing for hundreds of miles around. To the north and west sides span forests as far as eye can see, housing furry critters of all sizes. To the south, huge grasslands stretched all the way to the coast, with many herd animals grazing peacefully in their beautiful home. Towards the east, the magnificent Drevic mountain ranges towered above the clouds, setting their lands apart from the desert.

No wonder Rel couldn’t stand it.

After a moments thought, he proceeded to walk towards the forest. If the Door were towards the grasslands, he wouldn’t be the first to find it even if he went that direction. You could see everything from miles around. If he went to the forest, he’d still be able to have a few hours fun even if he didn’t find the Door.

Now excited by the prospect of being free from the monotonous day-to-day tasks in town, he sprinted as quickly as he could in a north-west direction. Skidding around buildings, he grinned as his destination loomed before him. He plunged into the woods of the forest.

For the first few minutes he was content to just run, ducking under branches and dodging trees. Unfortunately his fun was cut short when he tripped over a long root, which sent him flying face-first into a tree.

Groaning in pain, he checked his face. He hadn’t broken anything, although he got himself a few minor cuts. He then directed a vicious kick at the offending plant, only to bruise his foot.

Now proceeding deeper into the woods with a slow walk, he appraised his surroundings. The forest’s trees were spaced quite far apart, about two or three metres from each other, making it quite easy to navigate between them. Broken branches, dead leaves and fallen fruit littered the forest floor. There were a few spider webs hanging between branches, though their inhabitants were nowhere to be seen. Some birds called out high above the trees, perhaps in search of a mate. The fresh air was…

Rel sniffed. He expected to smell sweet, fresh outside air, but the air here was stale, like in a cave…

His pulse quickened. The Door must be near… that’s probably where the strange smelling air is coming from, he thought.

There was a very small clearing ahead. Rel took a step forward, then paused. What if the Door led to somewhere dangerous, or something dangerous was coming out?

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*He was talking to Relius, just in case some of you got confused.

[The Meaning Of Fear]

Here you go! First proper chapter.

By now, you might have noticed my absolutely horrendous naming sense. Please, if you can think of better names than what my feeble brain can come up with (at least for the minor characters), don't hesitate to tell me. Anything is better than what I have.

The DP is, obviously, what Rel should do at this point.

List of EDITZ:

Italicized a sentence near the end where Rel is thinking to himself, in case of confusion.

[The White Blacksmith]

Well, he should go forward, albeit with caution. He clearly wants to go through a Door to somewhere, and as he clearly hasn't found one before (otherwise he's be through it and gone) he's going to be pretty excited.

And I'm going to start a wordcount on this.

[Guest]

Nice. I like it. He should carry on. I'd be embarrassed if I didn't know how how a door looks like. That means he never grew up learning everything he can. I've been watching hanibal rising last week... ^_^

[The Meaning Of Fear]

Thanks for the comments. :)

Currently the options are:

Proceed (but cautiously).
...

And that's it.

If I don't get more replies, I'll add in "Return to town for help" and "Circle the perimeter cautiously, on the lookout for any danger before proceeding", and put up the poll sometime tomorrow.

[Crunchyfrog]

I love these Doors! I like the way you thought through how it would have shattered the glass.

In this world, I guess his family name 'Door' has some significance - or maybe just a common surname like Smith or suchlike.

Okay he hasn't found the door but it is close. Could he walk through it without realizing? I wonder what it looks like. I'd say climb a tree so he's got more of a view.

Yeah. Climb a tree. If something dangerous comes out then at least he'll be safe... sort of.

[The Meaning Of Fear]

That's actually quite a good idea, CF... He'd be quite safe from any rogue lava flows. :P

His last name will be explained a bit more into the story. It's not something Rel likes to talk about, as he himself doesn't know much about it yet.

Now, time for the poll! *Grabs wrench and stomps off to fix poll in place*

*EDITZ*

I have fixed the poll pipes of leakage! Vote away, my friends!

[The White Blacksmith]

My god. You really couldn't come up with a better 'go vote!' metaphor, could you?

[The Meaning Of Fear]

Oh, c'mon! You must be kidding me.

Get off your asses and VOTE, peoples!

Don't force me to use a lolcat to motivate you!

[The Meaning Of Fear]

I feel happy that I've got more voters, but now I've got a tie on my hands. :P

Poll closes in about 24 hours, so get that tiebreaker in.

In the meantime, I'll attempt to draft out some parts of the next chapter. Expect it to be up on Friday or Saturday.

::EDITZ::

Okay, the poll pipe has been fixed of its leakageness (I closed the poll. DUH!). Now all that's left to do is to wait for the new chapter to pop out the other end. :D