Fan Art Contest: A Messenger’s Journal
Posted by Meg
Here is a different sort of entry to the Fan Art Contest: a fan fiction sent in by Polish fan Andrzej.
Hello.
I hope it is not too late to join the fan art contest that was announced on
your web page. I’ve seen some of the entries you posted on the website and
I doubted that I had any kind of a chance but I used my own creativity and
ideas and created a short piece of writing within the world of the Warded
Man.
I hope to see a Polish translation of the next book as soon as it can be.
Best wishes
Andrzej
Thank you for entering! I love the idea for creating a journal format for a messenger to use. Very realistic! Great work, Andrzej.
A Messenger’s Journal
332 AR Day 1
The first night on the road is always the worst one, especially after such a long brake as I had. This time I have to go to Krasia with a bunch of letters from the Euchor, I don’t suppose they will be glad to see me once more. As much disrespect they have for other people staying at night behind their houses wards, they maybe do not hate the Messengers but they call us as all others by the name chin. I don’t know how long will the travel from Miln take but I suppose it might take a long five weeks in one way. The corelings are once again rising, this night will be as always, lonely from one point of view and occupied from the other one. I better get a good nights sleep while I am not disturbed too much by the explosions of magic.
332 AR Day 10
The journey is going quite smoothly. I had a few short stops in smaller villages but nothing that took more then just one night in a bed. As always I double checked both the outer and the inner ring of wards protecting the camp with my horse and the carriage, and the inner ring protecting my own campfire and sleeping place. It has been a few days since I heard or seen the rock demons, but I suppose there are some of them close to my camp, like they were hunting me and trying to see if I ever make the mistake of not checking my runes. I know this might seem weird but I have a strange feeling about the lack of those big bastards.
332 AR Day 12
I just knew it, the rock demons came last night and tried to break through the outer ring, but I always keep it well polished so the wards keep their full power. I always hated those big beasts, the sole knowledge that those live just outside of Miln makes the people of Fort Miln shake their legs in fear. To tell the truth I fell worried of their sudden come back, but at the same time I feel relived, at least now I know they are there waiting for me to make even the smallest mistake. There is at the least three of them, but there can be more outside of my field of vision. Hope I can get a good night sleep.
332 AR Day 20
This is getting worse with every night, I feel like I’m going nuts. Today while I was rushing through the woods I nearly thought I’ve seen a demon in the daylight, but it was not the usual tree demon or fire demon, this seemed to be more human like but with a gigantic head. I don’t know if I’m imagining things or not, but it would seem that I do. A coreling during the day time? I never even thought that would be possible, but how could it survive? No there is no chance for this to be happening. I really need to get some more sleep then yesterday.
332 AR Day 21
I don’t know what is happening as of late, for the past five years of me working as a Messenger I never seen the demons act so strange as they did yesterday. But it was not only the demons, I nearly crossed the outer ring, but I have no idea what happened with me! I never did something so reckless as this, not even when I tried to protect the cargo from some thieves. I really need to get some sleep today, if not I’ll need to get some more of those herbs.
332 AR Day 29
When I finally got to the desert I somewhat felt relieved by the thought that I would never see those damned rock demons, but on the other hand I had the smaller sand demons to deal with. Even if smaller then the rock demons and much weaker, they attack in packs making them even more annoying, but the past few nights I felt that I was attracting them to me, or to the letters I had with me. I don’t know what is happening and right now I think that if this keeps up I’ll become insane.
332 AR Day 30
This is going to be a journey longer then it should have been, I should have already passed the oasis on the way to Krasia but I have not seen it yet and this makes me feel nervous. The worst thing that can happen is me getting lost in the middle of this damned desert. During the days it is too hot to think, and my water and food supplies are getting really low. I need to find that oasis and fast so I won’t die. Right now I’m not even thinking about the order from the Euchor.
332 AR Day 35
This request is just getting worse and worse, with getting really low on my water supplies I stepped out of the outer circle at night. I got wounded really badly, those might be my last words, the demons are roaring and I feel the fever coming to me. I think I can see somebody and the wound is burning me, one of those sand demons hit my left leg with its claws and nearly tore it off. I feel the very loss of blood made me too weak to fight off the fever. I need to get some sleep, my eyelids are very heavy and I feel sleepy.
332 AR Day 36
This is it, I woke up with the demons surrounding the inner circle, looking for any weak points in the barrier. I slept through the whole day out in the sun, I feel my whole body burning. The wound on my leg started to smell really bad, and now I know I must be imagining things, a demon that is smaller then the sand demons is looking at what is happening really close behind. Ah the pain, it is overwhelming. I don’t know what will become of me, but if anybody finds this journal, say my wife in Miln, Cathrine, that I love her.
332 AR Day 37
The sun is going down, it is getting darker and darker and the mist started to appear, this is it. The runes have been covered by sand, I had no strength to move and to try to clear them off. I can barely hold my quill while writing those last words, the very same demon I described about sixteen days ago, I can see it. It is staring at me, at my head. The terrible pain, now even my head feels like it will explode, the claws, the burning feeling on my hea.
Bloody stains remain on this last page of a Messengers journal, found about a hundred years after his death in the desert when people tried to establish a new way to reach fort Krasia. Found by chance by a group of travelers who were exploring the desert. The whole camp has been found only by chance when they saw a piece of wood protruding from the sand, they found the remains of a dead person with what seemed to be a piece of skull missing from the top.
