Friday Fictioneers: Sanctuary – Raen

Posted on by Louise Bunting

This is a companion piece for this week’s Friday Fictioneers entry. If you haven’t already read Sanctuary please follow the link to do so.

Photo prompt: Rachel Bjerke
Photo prompt: Rachel Bjerke

Sanctuary: Raen
Genre: Fantasy

Raen ran, each breath harsh against his burning throat, his limbs leaden. Only fear gave him strength to continue. The baying hounds were growing closer, his pursuers’ shouts echoing through the forest.

Safety was close. He could sense the beacon guiding him.

He constructed the Weaving as he ran, twining threads of energy into an intricate network despite a shaky focus. It was complete barely in time.

He skirted the fountain, trailing his hand through the stagnant water, barely slowing as he approached the wall. With wet fingers he traced the activation sigil upon the stone.

And the world shifted.

Word Count: 100

Click the little blue frog to see other entries or to add your own.

This piece was actually written before yesterday’s but was then abandoned as I’ve written a few stories recently from the viewpoint of a character being chased/running. Because of this I thought I’d flip it around and show the chase from the viewpoint of the chaser, Gaert. After several requests for continuation and/or an explanation of how Raen vanished I thought I may as well share this one with you all as well.

I hope you all like it and would love to know what you think. Which one did you like best?

blue-ceiling-ff

32 thoughts on “Friday Fictioneers: Sanctuary – Raen”

  2. I think I prefer this one, I think. I like them both, but here, I feel Raen’s desperation more in this one.

    Interesting, though, that you keep writing about people running away…

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  3. This one is great POV. I like both of them, but this one has a whisker of an edge. Put them together and add more and you have a great story. I really think this could go a long way 😉

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    1. Thank you! This is actually based on a story and a character that I created nearly 20 years ago, back in my teenage years. I’ve had fun exploring the old ideas. 🙂

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      2. Thank you. I may well do so. I abandoned otherworld fantasy and anchored my main novel in Earth history many years ago now (and that’s a mammoth project that I will eventually complete!) but I have a whole world with an in depth history and magical system, plus numerous characters and story lines that are just waiting to be resurrected. 🙂

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  5. Nice companion piece, seeing things from Raen’s point of view. He must be quite skilful to be able to be able to perform the “Weaving” (nice word for it) while being chased.

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    1. Raen is very skilled and has worked incredibly hard to become so. I developed the magic system for this world back in my teens, nearly 20 years ago now – it felt really good to write about energy Weaving again!

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    1. Raen’s not the easiest person to catch, he has lots of tricks up his sleeves, but I can’t see Gaert giving up the hunt anytime soon. 🙂

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    1. I think Raen would tell you that he caused a shift between levels of reality, taking him from the plane where he was in danger of capture to one where the safe house provided him with sanctuary.

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    1. Thank you! That’s the one bit I had to change when I decided to post this as a companion piece, as I took the original final line and put it at the end of Sanctuary. I’m glad you enjoyed it. 🙂

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