Laura lea

Beginnings Rev 202

Talia had written the beginning so many times, she'd lost count. Thousands of words. Over hundreds of hours. Even years, now, were adding up, but this character—Martin—wouldn't go away. Sometimes Martin began his story with a flashback of recurring nightmares in his youth. Sometimes he entered the page on the back of a horse, but in the 2600s, it wasn't just a horse, but something like a horse. Other times, he was standing in the chow line at a travelers' encampment on the outskirts of a large city, to which he must gain entry, secretly, to meet his long-lost mentor, his Master from the monastery he'd been raised in as an orphan. To get the answers, to stop the monsters.

Each time Talia began the story anew, fresh, hoping that this time she would find her way, that Martin would find his way, through more than the beginning. Each time though, rev one, rev two hundred and one, or whatever the number was, Martin lost his way. Abandoned his quest. Tried to take a short cut. Stumbled over an awkward phrase and fell into an abyss.

Talia looks at the blank screen. Her fingers start to move across the keyboard. She's not going to give up on Martin. Maybe today he will break through. Maybe today's the day he saves the world.

Martin Ulysses Stewart sleeps, bedded down on a beach at Mens.Camp.94019 the night of 300-2619 on the outskirts of Corkland. Something screams. His eyes flash open and his heart pumps furiously, but he wills his body to stay still. A second scream slices the night. This time he knows the cause—a seagull outraged over some perceived foul…

Or not.