NOVEL NEXT Book 2 is now available!
Another random excerpt, as I can't post nothing here...
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The short dead-end alleyway, wedged between two large buildings, seemed deserted, and only featured one, rather small and grubby, circular tent near the end of it. I frowned. I could feel the presence of mana emanating from the thing.
Now I was curious. “Come on,” I said. “I want to see this.”
“It’s just an old tent!” Mizza complained. “My feet are tired!”
“It won’t take but a minute,” I countered, and pushed forward, into the alleyway. “Uh?”
The hubbub of the fayre suddenly subsided, as if a door had slammed shut behind us, muting it.
“That’s odd,” Gisel said.
“There’s mana coming from that tent,” Mizza pointed out. “What is this place?”
I trotted up and read a notice near the entrance flap, written in chalk on a piece of blackboard.
“Soul Readings! Be amazed by Madam Zyghvvz’s Prophetic Sight! You will stand in awe! Not for the faint hearted.” I read. No Refunds was written in smaller script at the bottom.
“Madam Zyghvvz?” Gisel muttered.
“Come on, I want to see what a soul reader is,” I said, pushing forward.
“I’m not sure…” Ella started to say, but I’d already entered the tent.
“Whoa, serious Doctor Who vibes.” Yes, the inside of the tent was larger than the outside.
“Oh, I’ve read about this.” Mizza pushed her way in, to stand next to me. “It’s Quardar’s Extended Eighth Dimension spell. Really advanced transposition magic.”
“Gosh.” Gisel arrived, pulling Ella along with her.
How big the inside was really was, though, was rather hard to tell, there was so much clutter. It looked like someone had visited a market selling props from every fantasy film and show ever made, and bought everything.
From jars containing eyeballs floating in liquid, to stuffed animal parts, to strange little mechanical gismos, small creatures in cages, and pretty much anything else you could imagine. It was piled up, stacked on top of each other and squeezed into nooks and crannies.
A sloth like creature, hanging from a rope, turned its head and gazed at me with burning orange eyes, making me jump.
I looked up. Overhead was blackness, only broken by an old-style lamp, running on what power I couldn’t tell, hanging from a chain that vanished into the dark.
Gisel sniffed. “Needs a good dusting in here.”
Indeed, the air was still and claustrophobic.
“Welcome! I have been expecting you!” I jumped again, as a screeching voice cut through the atmosphere.
“I think we should go back outside.” Ella clutched at my arm. “This place is… odd.”
“I don’t think out is an option right now,” Mizza said.
I turned and looked behind us. The tent entrance was nowhere to be seen. Just more clutter.
“Come closer!” the screech added.
Looking ahead, I located a narrow path through the jungle of items. The carpet underfoot was nearly black with age.
“Forward it is then.” With Ella still hanging on, I made my way down the only available route. The others followed, heads swinging left and right, taking in strange sights.