DOOM! and an Aouthentica Excerpt

Heeeere it is! The long-awaited, barely anticipated excerpt from my NaNo project, Aouthentica. This is about one third of the first chapter, which I'll add the rest of if I get requests for it.

ALSO. Before we get to that, I want to tell you about DOOM. It stands for Definitely O-normous O-uthor Months. It's a variation on NaNoWriMo and Camp NaNoWriMo.
We'll be writing 50K (50,000) words over the months of March and April.
That's 820 words a day for 61 days. Amanda Wikoff came up with it over at The Ramblings Of A Wayward Author. If you want to do it you should head over there and let her know you're in!

On that note, my goal right now is to finish editing what I already have of Aouthentica by the end of February and then add onto it for all of DOOM.

Onto the excerpt.

This Is War (Updated!)

Guest Post by Trinity! No wait... I'm not a guest. But you wouldn't know that would you? Because I've been gone for three weeks straight.

There is blame to be placed and I choose this: 

SCHOOL

Alright, onto the subject matter. Quite a while ago (meaning, maybe a month and a half ago) I discovered the song "This Is War" by 30 Seconds To Mars. I'm not a fan of hard-rock-screaming songs for the most part, (they give me a headache and hurt my ears) but I like this song, which has minimal screaming and a pretty cool melody. Also, because of this video, I link it strongly to Harry Potter.

AND! For those who maybe don't do Harry Potter, here's an Avengers version.

One of the reasons I liked it so much was how for each part, they matched up a character that fit that description. For example:

Each character fits their label in some way or another. Albus Dumbledore is headmaster of Hogwarts School. Sybill Tralawney is the Professor of Divination and makes a prediction that is important to the plot. Etcetera, etcetera.
So, after listening to this song multiple times, (like many many times) Hannah and I started thinking how we could match it up to our stories. It's a surprisingly difficult exercise, but fun!

This is what I listed for Aouthentica (Think Rienna, Jrew, and Liza), along with a little explanation as to why I chose them.
Note: Two I left out so I wouldn't ruin any surprises.

A warning to the People: █████████ ← A secret

The Good: Jrew Arion-

Jrew is obviously the good guy. He wants his throne back, and he wants revenge on his second-cousin, Talman Arion for murdering his parents and his uncle.

And the Evil: Talman Arion -

Again, obviously the bad guy.

To the Soldier: Eyrik Duell-
Eyrik is head of the Commandos in Gillam (secret renegade town in Aouthentica), which are kind of like their police force. Everything he does is carefully calculated, either for the good of his men or the good of Gillam. (That's why he thinks Rienna is such an idiot, because she's largely unattached on her missions and thus is a lot more spontaneous and reckless.) He's there to do what needs to be done to get the job done so he can move on to the next job that needs to be done. He's a soldier and he really doesn't have much of a life outside of that.

The Civilian: Cam and Cara Rogdriguez-

Poor Cam and Cara (they're twins). I'm not really sure how they got to be living in Milliayn, but they work for Jrew and they're just kinda along for the ride. They haven't been trained for this their whole lives, but they get sucked in and have to do the best they can.

The Martyr: Anai Arion-

This would be Jrew's father. He went back to help his brother (Avigdor, the king at the time), while sending his son on ahead (to get out of the country). Unfortunately, he never made it out. 

The Victim: █████████ ← Another secret

A warning to the Prophet: Cerra Samerest
Okay, so Cerra has no powers. Just want to clarify that once and for all. Nobody in Aouthentica gots an superpowers. BUT she is one of, if not the most sensible one of the group. So she can kind of predict what's going to happen if someone does something. She'd be the one going, "Someone's going to get hurt." And then someone would.

The Liar: Daven Cortez - 

Daven is a double agent for Falk Halcon (read: assistant bad guy). He "works" for Jrew, but ends up betraying him. I don't like him. He's a liar.

The Honest: Jesse Stoiker - 

Jesse's a Commando under Eyrik. He'll tell you the absolute truth, and if he can't, he won't say anything. He's  also Eyrik's best friend. 

To the Leader: Luc Walker - 

Luc is the Director of Gillam, and he's good at it. Now, why did I choose him instead of Jrew? Because Luc's a good leader and he's been doing it solo for many years, whereas Jrew is.... not as good of a leader and he needs a lot of help.

The Pariah: Liza Vulken-

Liza is not generally accepted anywhere other than Jrew's headquarters, and even then she mostly hangs around in the back, just keeping an eye on Rienna (her unofficially adopted daughter). She did something pretty bad, though I don't remember what it was, that turned everyone against her. So now she's an outcast, but because of Rienna, she sticks around.

The Victor: Rienna Lee-

Ah, Ri. She jumps in headfirst all. the. time. But she usually manages to get herself out of it, and really, Jrew probably wouldn't become king or defeat Talman. And Eyrik would still be brooding in Gillam. And Terra would still be queen of Bairek. And Erde would still be meekly following his sister (Terra) around. So I'm putting her in the Victor category. 

The Messiah: Erde-

(Okay, quick orientation: Bairek = Country next to Aouthentica, host country of the town Milliayn. Terra: Queen of Bairek. Erde: Her younger brother.)

Terra is the "rightful" ruler of Bairek, but she's really not a very good leader. She was spoiled rotten as a child, so now she's pretty much a bratty queen. However, everyone in Bairek loves Erde, who wasn't nearly as spoiled, because no one paid much attention to him. He refuses to take the throne from Terra, even if it would be better for the country, but eventually, erm.... she's not... well, queen anymore. Or anything, actually. But that comes later. In any case, he eventually becomes king of Bairek and pretty much rescues the country from utter ruin.

Alrighty. I think that pretty much wraps it up, and I'm sorry if it's confusing (or even boring), because I was distracted while writing it. And I'm sorry that it's been so long since I posted. I'll try to remedy that. But no promises. 

Blurbs: Young Liza

http://dahliart.jp/

So I was thinking I wanted to do a sort of creative writing thing (which is surprisingly difficult when you have to assign yourself pictures), and then I came across this picture which reminded me of one of my characters from Aouthentica, Liza Vulken, though a bit younger.

Liza worked for the previous king when she was about Rienna's age (nineteen), and over the years (she's nearing forty now) she's become a very silent, withdrawn, strict person, like this. It's very rare to see her smile. But I imagine that when she was younger she was more innocent and easy-going, though not nearly as easy-going as Rienna is. It's kind of fascinating me right now, imagining her younger, so I'm gonna write a little blurb about her.

Liza closed her eyes and steadily counted to three. On three, she dropped to the floor as a wooden beam flashed out at the place where her head had been seconds before. She rolled over and drew her gun, firing at the red target three times and the blue one five times. Each shot went through the same hole in the exact center. Then she shot the steel plate that trigger the second phase of the exercise. 

She scrambled to her feet and the ground beneath her dropped down, taking her with it. She took the brief respite to switch mags, then she was on the second floor. 

There were four hallways on each side of her. A dummy popped out at the end of the hall in front of her and sped toward her on a track. Liza fired at it several times, but failed to hit the stop target, which was in the head, not the torso. 

She quickly corrected herself, but before she could get off another shot, something slammed into her from behind: The second dummy, which she had completely forgotten about. 

She found herself on the floor a few feet away, staring up at the ceiling and gasping for breath. A voice came through her headset.

"This is a recurring problem, Ms. Vulken, and it could affect your grade."

Liza pushed herself up and croaked, "I'm sorry, ma'am. I didn't realize the stop targets had been moved."

"You failed to scan your surroundings." Captain Nahtey said sternly. "That is always the first step. Observe, Orient, Decide, Act. Not Orient, Act."

"I know the OODA loop sequence." Liza replied through gritted teeth, getting to her feet and holstering her gun. 

"Then follow it!" The captain snapped. "If I graduated you now you'd be a dead woman walking."

Liza knew enough not to say anything other than, "Yes, ma'am."

There was silence over the radio for a few moments, and she began to wonder if the phase had been reset. 

Then the captain said in a very formal tone, "There's someone here to see you, Ms. Vulken."

Liza closed her eyes and groaned inwardly. She knew who it was. And she could only hope he hadn't seen her mistake. 

"I'll be there in a moment." 

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

Liza stopped in front of the door to the training observation room and ran her fingers through her hair, hoping it wasn't too messed up. Then she took a deep breath and entered the room. It was rather gloomy, the only light coming from twenty or thirty television screens on the wall. She realized that they were all playing back various clips of her training exercises from her last year at Imea House. Captain Nahtey was sitting at her desk, silhouetted by the screens, and next to her was just the man Liza didn't want to see.

He turned and grinned at her. "That was quite a hit you took."

Liza didn't answer, trying not to glare at him.

Captain Nahtey turned and stood. "Ms. Vulken, this is Arron Vitez, personal assistant to the King."

"A pleasure, I'm sure." Liza said tightly, shaking his hand.

"Oh, the pleasure's all mine." He gave her an impudent, too-familiar wink.

Liza shook her head slightly to warn him off.

"I'm here to find another recruit for the king's personal task force." Arron said, gesturing to the screens. "Captain Nahtey was kind enough to help me review your training sessions, and I think you might be the one."

She met and held his gaze for a long minute, then said, "I don't want the position."

Arron just smiled.

"Ms. Vulken, this position would take you above and beyond anything we can teach here at Imea." The captain advised. "I highly recommend that you accept it."

"I don't want it." She repeated firmly. "Now, may I be dismissed?"

"No." Arron looked entirely too amused. "This isn't an option. You've been recruited."

Liza stared at him in disbelief, then let out a frustrated sigh. 

Arron looked to the captain. "If I might have a moment to speak with... Ms. Vulken?"

The captain nodded and stepped around them, letting in a flood of light as she went through the door. As soon as it shut again, Liza whirled on Arron.

"Why are you doing this to me?!"

He frowned and folded his arms across his chest. "The captain's right. Working for the king will take farther than anything Imea House has to offer. You should be glad you were chosen."

Liza clenched her fists. "Why was I chosen? I'm not the top of my class. I'm not even near the top."

Arron glanced down at the floor, then looked her in the eye. "We need people we can trust. And I trust you."

"Well, I don't trust you." She shot back.

He groaned. "You're still upset about the prank I played on you?"

"I nearly drowned!" Liza shouted. "Just because you were about to graduate and I was a freshman didn't mean you could use me like a lab rat!" 

"Alright, I made some miscalculations." He admitted. "But you survived."

"No thanks to you. Find someone else to be your recruit. I won't do it." 

"You don't have a choice." Arron pulled a card out of his pocket and gave it to her. "That's my I.D. It says I work directly for the king. That makes you my subordinate and as such, you're required to follow my orders."

Liza glowered at the card for a long moment. "I'll get to keep training?"

"You'll get better training." He promised.

She sighed heavily, then flicked the card back at him. "Fine. I still don't trust you though."

Arron leaned over and picked the card up. "You'll have to sooner or later." 

"Is that a threat?"

"No. It's a warning." He tucked his I.D. into his back pocket. "Look, Liza. I realize you consider me to be..."

"Brash?"

"Yes, and maybe a little..."

"Cocky?"

"Okay, yeah, but I was thinking more..."

"Reckless? Thoughtless? Arrogant? Hotheaded?"

Arron raised an eyebrow. "Are you finished?"

"No, but I'll stop anyway."

"I realize you consider me to be your nemesis, but it looks like we're going to be working together quite a bit and unless we trust each other someone's going to get hurt." He offered his hand. "Truce?"

After a moment's thought, she nodded and took his hand. "Truce."

"Excellent." His roguish grin was back immediately, and he pulled out a small invitation, which he handed her. "You'll be expected in Aryeh tomorrow morning. General Talman Perdant will be visiting and the king's throwing another one of his dinner dance things. The times are on your invitation. You'll be presented and introduced to him there. See you then."

As he turned to go, she asked, "I'll be presented to the General?"

"No, the king." Arron frowned and said seriously, "You'll be directly under me, and I'm directly under him. In no way whatsoever will you be under the General's command." 

"I understand." She nodded again. 

"And one last thing. It's a formal ball, and you'll be going as my consort, so uh... see if you can't dress yourself up a little." 

Liza's cheeks flushed. "I'll see what I can do."

That's it for now. I might add some more later if I get some ideas.

Sé onr sverdar sitja hvass!
-Trinity

Aouthentica - Synopsis Part 1

Ever since I (Trinity) last posted, I've been working on my synopsis of Aouthentica. It's taken a lot longer and has become a lot more detailed than I thought it would be. It's helped me find and patch plot holes (no one can find plot holes in my story like I can), and to remember what's going on, since I hadn't worked on it for a couple months and the details were starting to slip my mind. 

So here's the first part, and I do apologize if it's a little too detailed, but I was really just trying to get everything out so I'd remember it in the future. 

Um, first, a quick list of names for reference (in case they get confusing): 

Avigdor Arion - Jrew's uncle, king of Aouthentica 

Anai Arion - Avigdor's brother, Rayla's husband, Jrew's father, prince of Aouthentica

Rayla Arion - Princess of Aouthentica, Anai's wife, Jrew's mother, Avigdor's sister-in-law

Talman Arion - Second cousin to Avigdor, Captain of the Guard

Falk Halcone - Right-hand man to Talman, ambassador, in charge of Triennia

Keyla Bardon - In charge of Triennia under Falk, Eyrik's peer, Falk's assistant

Arron Vitez - Avigdor's right-hand man, Jrew's surrogate father

Liza Vulken - Previous agent for Avigdor, Rienna's surrogate mother

Anjrew "Jrew" Arion - True heir to Aouthentica's throne, best friend of Rienna, son of Anai and Rayla

Rienna Lee - Best friend and agent for Jrew Arion

Kisha Garreth - Agent for Jrew, nurse, cousin of Cerra

Cerra Samerest - Agent for Jrew, cousin of Kisha

Cam and Cara Rodriguez - Twin brother and sister, agent for Jrew.

Ashley Hale - Agent for Jrew, best friends with Lydia

Lydia Mening - Agent for Jrew, best friends with Ashley

Daven Cortel - Agent for Jrew, kind of new

Lord Anson - Previously adviser to Avigdor, advises Jrew now

Lord Carter - Previously adviser to Avigdor, advises Jrew now

Lord Dominick - Previously adviser to Avigdor, advises Jrew now

Luc Walker - Director of Gillam

Eyrik Duell - Captain of the Commandos in Gillam

Jesse Stoiker - Commando, best friend of Eyrik

King Domhan - King of Bairek, associate of Avigdor

Queen Lurra - Wife of Domhan, deceased

Queen Terra - New queen of Bairek

Prince Erde - Younger brother of Terra

Aouthentica - Country ruled by the Arions for hundred of years

Aryeh - Aouthentica's capitol

Triennia - City in Aouthentica

Gillam - Town in Aouthentica

Bairek - Neighboring country to Aouthentica

Cordyne - Bairek's capitol

Milliayn - Town in Bairek

Okay, and here's part one of the actual synopsis on this ever-so-long post:

The kingdom of Aouthentica has been ruled by the Arions for over two hundred years. The current ruler, Avigdor Arion, has no wife and no heir. However, his beloved brother, Prince Anai, and sister-in-law, Princess Rayla, have a son, Anjrew Arion, who he is perfectly content to leave the throne to.
Unfortunately, the brother's second cousin, Talman Arion, finally puts his crusade for the throne into action, using his position as captain of the guard as an opportunity to turn the Aouthentican military against their own king.
His coupe, culminating with an attack on the palace itself, is successful: The king is killed, as well as Anai and Rayla. His loyal subjects are scattered and driven from Aouthentica. His right-hand man, Arron Vitez manages to escape with the two-year-old prince to the neighboring country of Bairek, along with a few other palace occupants.
Arron goes to the King of Bairek and requests refuge for the true heir. Seeing a valuable bargaining chip to use against the new king of Aouthentica, the king of Bairek agrees, and gives the refugees Milliayn, a half-built town. A few more Aouthentican refugees trickle in and are redirected to Milliayn, but soon they stop coming due to Talman locking down the borders.

Nineteen years pass with little to no political activity in Bairek or, presumably, Aouthentica, which has become a very closed, secretive country under Talman's rule. However, all reports convey that the people are happy and prospering.
Then the king of Bairek dies, leaving the country in the hands of his daughter, Terra, who is not known for her wisdom or discernment.
Doubt and worry falls over the minds of the Millianites concerning their future. Jrew Arion is now 21 and the people miss their homeland. With Arron's guidance, and three lord's (from Avigdor's old counsel) advice, he decideds the time to take action has come.

First, he goes to speak with the new queen in person, along with Arron, Daven Cortel, Cerra Samerest, and the Lord Dominick.
Second, he sends his best friend and right hand, Rienna Lee, her surrogate mother Liza Vulken, and Kisha Garreth in one team to "investigate" the state of Aouthentica.

Almost as soon as Liza's team enters Aouthentica she is recognized and arrested. Barely escaping, Rienna and Kisha flee farther down into Aouthentica. They tell Jrew what's happened and he sends Ashley Hale and Lydia Mening to rescue Liza.
While travelling back roads and through the woods to avoid the Central Police, Rienna and Kisha come across a large cement compound, with walls too high to see over. They stop to investigate, but before they can they are captured by an unknown group.
Meanwhile, Jrew is having his own troubles with Queen Terra. Talman has sent ambassadors to influence her against Milliayn, and she is very hostile toward them, trying Jrew's patience. After a particularly frustrating meeting, Terra's younger, but more mature, brother, Prince Erde, offers his encouragement and a little secret assistance as he feels it would be better for Bairek if Jrew were on the throne. However, how much assistance Erde can offer greatly depends on convincing Terra of their side of the argument; While Terra holds the throne of Bairek, Erde holds their hearts, a fact she is well aware of. If she decided against backing Jrew's claim to the throne, Erde could be committing treason; Or worse, if she decided to back Talman's claim to the throne, Erde could start a civil war, something he is not willing to risk.
Unbeknownst to everyone at the meeting Daven is recording it to give to Talman's ambassador, Falk Halcone, who's greatest delight would be to start a civil war, as that would weaken Bairek enough that Aouthentica (Or more specifically, Talman) could take over the country they were once equal to.

Rienna and Kisha find themselves in separate prison cells, guarded by surprisingly courteous jailers. Rienna finds a way to make a break for it, but is confronted by Captain Eyrik Duell, and (to her shock) is defeated in hand-to-hand combat and taken to the mysterious Director. The Director turns out to be an older gentleman named Luc who politely interrogates her and eventually reveals that she is in Gillam: the place all of the other Aouthenticans who wanted to leave fled to after Talman closed the borders down. Rienna mentions the concrete walls and he quickly corrects her. The compound she saw before was not Gillam, but an invention of Talman's. The entire country is now run by blackmail. There is a member of almost every family in Aouthentica in a compound somewhere. Talman has the compoundees working for him and simultaneously uses them as leverage to enlarge his army and prevent uprisings.
Rienna believes him, but only reveals half her story. In exchange, Luc only gives her half her freedom: she may explore Gillam to confirm the validity of his story, but she will be accompanied at all times by a Commando (Gillam's peacekeepers), and she must return to her cell at nightfall. Rienna agrees to this, and, to her disgust, she is assigned Eyrik Duell as her watchman.
She meets up with Kisha, who is assigned Jesse Stoiker, and the two compare stories. They are relieved that they both chose the same course of action in only sharing the barebones of their mission in Aouthentica. During the course of the day they learn that Luc was indeed telling the truth and they agree to share the rest of their mission with Luc, who releases them from Gillam's custody.

Back in Milliayn, the Lords Anson and Carter are alerted that Queen Terra will be sending representatives to inspect Milliayn's structures in comparison with Bairek's building codes since the town was only half built when Domhan let them move in.
Unfortunately, the ongoing construction of Milliayn was and always has been a haphazard affair, each citizen building on as they saw fit, without a thought toward building codes.
The Lords, along with Cam and Cara Rodriguez, must think of a way to immediately improve almost every structure in Milliayn, and quickly, because they're beginning to garner public attention, and the inspection itself is no doubt a ploy by the Queen to further discredit and disgrace Jrew.
|••| With no other solution the Lords muster the Milliaynites and begin repairing and rebuilding Milliayn as quickly as possible. Cam and Cara are assigned to learn the building codes as quickly as possible. |••|

Upon getting their possesions back, Rienna recieves a call from Ashley and Lydia, informing her that they cannot locate Liza in Aryeh, but they heard a rumor that she was sent to Hospitality Center. Rienna directs them to come to Gillam to regroup, and relays the message to Luc and the Commandos. Luc tells her that the politically correct term for the compounds is a Hospitality Center, as the occupants are now "enjoying" Talman's hospitality and Eyrik may be able to help locate Liza.
He explains that Eyrik lives a double life, spending half his time in Triennia, undercover as an officer directly under Falk Halcone, who runs Triennia when he is not running errands for Talman. He has only one peer, Keyla Bardon, as he is above everyone else.
His high status allows him to visit regularly, and to warn and protect Gillam.
Eyrik vehemently opposes the idea, especially when Rienna decides to go along. She lays out her plan: Eyrik will take her into Triennia under the pretense of just making a pit stop after having captured her and being under orders to personally take her to join Liza.
Luc likes and agrees to the plan, but he must give Eyrik a direct order to carry it out.

In Cordyne (Bairek's capitol) Jrew's troubles are mounting. Terra has found out about Erde and Jrew's secret meeting, and is absolutely furious, accusing them both of plotting against her. Erde angrily confronts Jrew, demanding to know why he told Terra. Jrew assures him that he wasn't the one to tell Terra, and the two princes conclude that someone from their meeting must have betrayed them, though neither is willing to suspect their own men. Finally, they agree to quietly investigate their own group.
Jrew tells Arron of the development, and Arron promises to help him investigate Lord Dominick, Daven, and Cerra. Jrew continues to struggle with the idea that one of them could be a traitor.

Remember, I'm still working on it, and that's not the end (for those who complain about my "bloody cliffhangers"). This will be going on my "Trinity's Works" page when it's completed.

Also, since I'm a geek about my own stories, I may do a post where I share all the nitty-gritty details about Aouthentica's past, which is very long and (IMHO) very interesting. 

And, if you're very very very lucky, I may post part of my original Milliayn story, which makes me want to sink into the floor, curl up in a ball, and claw my eyes out all at once when I read it. So, ya'll will probably think it's hilarious. 

Sé onr sverdar sitja hvass!
-Trinity

P.s.
This little thing: |••| doesn't mean anything except to me. It's just a note to remind me that the stuff between is new, and so I can find it quickly.