The Vanishing Year
by @UltrabluntEvery 121 years, the children who turn thirteen vanish. As Arianda's thirteenth birthday approaches, the town's old fear becomes a sharp reality, and no one yet knows the disappearances have spread far beyond their borders.
MEET THE CHARACTERS
Arianda Finch
A girl on the cusp of 13, with watchful hazel eyes and a perpetually ink-stained thumb from writing stories in her secret notebook. She moves through her small town like a ghost already, feeling the weight of glances that linger a moment too long on her, as if measuring her against an old, forgotten calendar. Outgoing and true to her nature (Dragon sign in Chinese Zodiac). Origins for Arianda is Nephi in Utah.
Elara Finch
Arianda's mother, a weaver whose hands are never still, her dark hair threaded with premature silver at 37. The loom in her workshop clicks with a frantic, rhythmic urgency these days, the only outlet for a fear she refuses to name aloud, her shoulders perpetually tense as if bracing against a coming wind. From Nephi Utah
Thomas Finch
Arianda's father, the town archivist and clockmaker, 40 years old with gentle hands that can coax time from broken gears. Lately, he spends his nights in the town records room, pouring over century-old ledgers by lamplight, the shadows under his eyes deepening as he searches for a pattern everyone else calls a fairy tale. From Nephi Utah
Marlena Vance
The town's eldest resident at 94, her spine curved like a question mark, her eyes milky but unnervingly perceptive. She sits on her porch every day, a living landmark who has heard the whispers of two previous cycles, her knotted hands resting on a cane carved with symbols no one remembers. From Nephi Utah
Sheriff Gareth Holt
A man in his late 40s built like a bear, his uniform always slightly too tight, his brow permanently furrowed. He patrols the borders of the town with a new, grim diligence, checking locks and questioning strangers, his frustration growing because he's trying to solve a mystery that leaves no evidence, only empty beds. From Nephi Utah
Serena Walker
Gossiping person discussing recent disappearances. From Nephi Utah
Helena Sharp
Gossiping person discussing recent disappearances. From Nephi Utah
Michael Berk
Gossiping person discussing recent disappearances. From Nephi Utah
Sage Barkley
Elderly man in another world whom watches over the town of the Dragons. He handles introductions of new comers to his town. He also manages destribution of responsibilities for the many towns people. Sage's Zodiac Companion is Zudrok the Elder Red Fire Dragon.
Zariel
Newborn Silver Dragon, Arianda's companion, capable of using all four elements, but at a weaker level then other dragons who are tuned to their singular element. Zariel is a tad timid, but very caring and observent creature.
Simon Wells
Fellow recent arrival to the Dragon Kingdom, he quickly befriends Arianda. He tends to act first and think later style attitude. From Bergen County New Jersey. His Fiery and fun persona brings humor and good times in his surroundings.
Diego Sing
Traveling Merchant seems to be quite knowledgeable about how to survive in this world. He keeps his history quite mysterious while always seeming to be a cheerful individual. His Zodiac Companion is Sebastian the White Siberian Tiger. Diego is incapable of using magic, as is his companion, but both have a supernatural level of physical strength.
Eleanor Finch
Distant Relative to Arianda, she, having been born in the year of the Rabbit, disappeared in the year 1903, she remains oa mystery to Arianda other then she disappeared after leaving her journal with the word "listen" scribbled on it.
Swan Sing
Partner to Diego, Swan will often help resolve problems and be a strong voice of reason. After having been with Diego for so long she understands him deeply. She specializes in medicinal arts. It turns out Eleanor is Swan, however this is not revealed in the story to anyone other then Diego. Swans Zodiac companion is Salem the Rabbit.
Sebastian
Siberian White Tiger that stays at Diego's side. White is a unique color in any creature in this world. It typically signifies the inability of cast any magic but tends to come with a benefit of having super strength.
Salem
Green Rabbit, capable of producing wind magic, roughly 4 foot tall. Often specializes in combat with attacks from its feet. This Rabbit is Swan's companion.
Zudrok
Elder Red Fire Dragon, Zodiac Companion to Sage. Zudrok often prefers to be left alone when not by Sage's side. His long lived life and accrual of knowledge alongside Sage has him aged well beyond what most others in this world ever reach.
Raphaela
Red Dragon, Zodiac Companion to Simon, Raphaela is a lively young dragon whelp, barely older than Zariel by mere days. Her attitude often matches that of Simon.
Balor Grimfoot
Short stout Earth-warden who trains Arianda, her expertise is renowned in the kingdom as she is one of few who can manipulate earth with such fine finesse that it could cut certain metals. Her red hair shines with steaks of silver along the sides and is tied back in a single large braid that reaches to her hips. She looks about 37.
EXPLORE CHAPTERS
Prologue
Elara's shuttle flies, clack-clack-clack, a frantic heartbeat against the silent house. Arianda watches from the doorway, the ink from her secret notebook smudging her thumb. She counts the days until her birthday in the rhythm of the loom, each pass another thread woven into a tapestry of dread her mother won't name. Outside, the town holds its breath, and Marlena Vance watches from her porch, seeing the pattern repeat.
Welcome to Zoel
This chapter introduces Sage in the world of Zoel, entering the hatchery after a having reprimanded one of the patrons of his village. He enters the Hatchery that has 5 different types of eggs, Red, Green, Blue, and Brown. the Fifth egg is colored in a sort of rainbow. He spots the rainbow egg shaking slightly and beginning to glow. shortly after Arianda suddenly appears in the hatchery, Still resting from her short doze she wakes to find the sage smiling down at her. As she awakens the Sage begins to welcome her to Zoel, and further explains that this year is the year of the Dragon, and thus she has been summoned to the Dragon kingdom. Shortly after the Glowing egg shakes more violently and slowly a Silver baby dragon rises from the Egg.
Chapter 3 - First Lessons
Sage appears first thing in the morning, he leads Arianda to breakfast while explaining his plan for her for the day. He begins with the fact that since her element is unknown they will first start with trying to identify and understand her elemental attunement. Since he specializes in Fire he will personally work with Arianda in her attempts at accessing flames. he mentions that he plans on taking her to the next mentor afterwards. This will be a Earth based mentor name Balor Grimfoot to test if she can access earth magic. For now he feels that it would be best not to overload her with learning magic all at once. He then says he will pick her up after the classes from Balor later that day so he could begin introducing the known world to her. Sage then takes her to a large building that seems to be made of Black metallic material. When Arianda touches the walls of the building they are ice cold. Sage explains that as this is the training area for flame users they made the building of frost-metal, known for its capablities of handling extreme heat, it made it ideal for training newcomers to fire magic. When she walks in she sees a single hallway with windows along each side, these windows allow view into the rooms, and each contains a child, no older then 13 with a dragon whelp and a different flame warden. As she passes the third room she sees Simon who is holding a sword out infront of him. She notices that his blade seems to be turning a light shade of red along the silver. Sage explains that Simon is learning the art of producing just enough flames so it doesnt quite melt the blade, but can cause it to burn through lesser metals. Often a technique used to burn through armors of enemies and make the cut as smooth as butter. Simon opens his eyes and notices Arianda, a large chesire smile spreads accross his face but he loses his concentration and accidentally shoots a bolt of fire into the wall. Sage chuckles slightly and mentions that is the exact reason why the building is constructed with the material while Simon gets visibly scolded by his fire warder. He gives Arianda one last grimacing smile before going back to focusing on his training. Arianda responds with a smile herself and waves before continuing on her walk with Sage into another nearly identical training room. While Sage trains Arianda she does fail roughly four times to pull up flames. He explains each time a different tip to try and bring fourth the flames. Each time it seems hopeful, she feels a sense of something but it is just outside of her grasp... at the fourth attempt she gets a spark but doesnt quite start a full flame. The first four attempts his advice follows the following order ; 1: take deep breaths 2: relax your muscles, let your breath flow gently. 3: concentrate on your heartbeat, follow the rythm 4: feel your emotions, that frustration from not being able to do this, use that frustration to fuel your flames. Upon this Sage gets filled with excitement as does Arianda. He however quickly recovers his composure and proceeds to advise to focus a bit more on her emotions, that excitement could be used to fuel the flames further. She finally succeeds in lighting the flame however when she does so it is an already well controlled flame, and to this Sage is dumbfounded. He begins to try and get her to get a bit more flames out. As Arianda tries she seems to fail to do much larger then what she has achieved. After a few attempts he comes to a theory that although she is capable of fire magic she does not have the output that most do. He mentions to Arianda that he is happy that she indeed does have access to magic, though it does seem her output is lower. Now the next test is to see if she can access multiple venues of the elements. Sage leads Arianda to another area, this location Looks to be made mostly of Steel, but within it once inside is filled with stone. This buildiing has a similar layout as the fire training area, however all of the training rooms are filled with dirt and earth. Sage introduces her to Balor whom is a short stout woman, roughly in her late 30s, with orange hair and strands of silver hair on each side of her head sliding downward. She has her hair styled in a single large braid that goes down to just above her hits. Her green eyes peircingly keen. She smiles and welcomes Arianda. He mentions to Balor how he knows that she can manipulate fire already. To this Balor looks at him sceptically and asks if she things she may be capable of multiple elements to which he replies who knows, better to be safe then to have her accidentally hurt someone for using something she was not aware she was capable of. Sage then excuses himself and steps away allowing Balor to begin the lessons for Arianda. Balor begins by teaching Arianda to focus on being forceful with the earth, it should feel like strong solid movements. To this Arianda almost immediately manages to move specs of dust off the ground but no effective massive movement. Balor notices this but doesn't mention it hoping to increase her determination. Balor begins to have Arianda do Stances in order to begin to get a feel for the earth, and explains that as she begins to master the abilities she shouldn't need to do these in the long term. Arianda begins to follow each of the stances, each time Balor notices a slight change in the enviroment even though Arianda does not. When Arianda attempts to use her earth magic, she feels a connection but she doesn't quite know how to manage it. on her sixth attempt she manages to levitate a clump of earth roughly four feet, though much smaller then what Balor expected. Balor smiles and lets her know she has done a little less then average for earth manipulation but its a start. Balor then begins to instruct Arianda in how to shape the earth, changing it to create a saw and teaching her to make it rotate. Arianda succeeds in beginning this however her rotations are slow as she does not have a full understanding yet. After several hours of training with Balor Arianda is spent, sweating profusely and exhausted. Balor Pats her on the back complimenting her on succeeding in displaying the ability to manipulate two elements. Arianda asks what would happen if she can manipulate more then these two. Balor looks at her doubtfully, then replies, I don't know, its never been seen before, and the cause is completely unknown since they were never able to explore something like that possibility before. Sage appears near the entrance of the training room and smiles warmly at them both as Arianda excitedly explains that she was able to successfully manipulate the earth. Sage laughs and says that is amazing to be capable of using two types of magic. He proceeds to thank Balor for her help and asks Balor if she would like to continue training Arianda. Balor nods and compliments Arianda's persistance and diligence. Sage then leads Arianda out of the training building and back to the same location in the square as yesterday to eat. This time they have a plate of steaming potatos with gravy and steak. Simon appears having completed his training for the day, part of his hair sticking up slightly and it looks like it might be singed at the tips. he sarcastically makes light of his own misfortune explaining how he let himself get distracted and accidentally caused a minor explosion in his training room and how the fire-warden scolded him for it. Arianda excitedly explains that she is capable of both fire and earth magic. Simon is shocked by this and immediately replies with "jelly" before proceeding to compliment and congratulate her. Adriana continues to explain some of her failures and Simon for the most part can relate. However when she explains how her fire was controlled he looks perplexed and impressed repeating how he nearly singed his own eyebrows off. Sage at this point enters his theory that although she may be capable of manipulating multiple elements, it may have a lower output then others, meaning she may never be able to overcome another person using the same element as her. Simon wonders about this and decidedly states that he and her should dual at some point after she has trained for a few more weeks and see how they compare. Arianda happily and flirtingly accepts the challenge, excitement and fire in her eyes.