A
Kind Of Magic
When
the Hanfic Genre
Challenge was first announced at the beginning
of December 2008, I didn’t pay much attention due to being wholly
focused on
getting Defying Gravity finished. Once that story
was complete, I was free
to turn my attention to other projects, and I signed up for the HGC on
the very
first day that registrations were accepted. My first choice before the
challenge even kicked off was historical fiction, but when that fell
through
due to a complete lack of interest and ideas on my part I went with the
genre
that is my favourite to write and had been my initial instinct –
fantasy
fiction. I chose to work with the concept that I first came up with in
January
2003, and that I had been using in my crossover stories since the
middle of
2005 – the elementals. That, coupled with my fascination with Atlantis,
was the
beginning of A Kind Of Magic.
Excerpt
from A Kind
Of Magic
“I
see.” Kita closed the folder. “So America is unwilling to
assist one of their own, I take it?”
“It’s
slightly more complicated than that. The elemental in
question was born here in Thalassa.
Our laws on that
subject are such that any elemental born within our national borders is
conferred automatic citizenship, no matter their parents’ country of
origin,
and that citizenship takes precedence over any others. So essentially,
even
though they are a citizen of and resident in the United States, they
are an Atlantean first
and foremost.”
“So
in other words, they’re our problem.”
“Precisely.”
General Hayes leaned forward slightly. “Your
assignment is very simple, Captain. Gather a small Recon crew of no
more than
three, including a doctor, and travel to New York City. You are to have
the
target healed, revived and then brought here to Atlantis so that the
binding
can be removed. One of our operatives is stationed in the morgue of St.
Catherine’s Hospital, and has been able to postpone the release of your
target
to the appropriate authorities. She noticed their Mark.”
“But
if the target is bound, then how-” It dawned on her seconds
later. “In stasis, then?”
“Affirmative.”
“That
means the binding is unravelling,” Kita realised. “And a
binding that isn’t renewed ten years after its first application will
fail
catastrophically.”
“And
now you understand the urgency of this mission,” General
Hayes said. “In less than twelve hours, unless the binding is removed,
one of
two things will happen. The sheer and completely unchecked reasserting
themselves after a full decade of disuse will completely overload their
central
nervous system and kill them. The other possibility is that they will
die
during preparations for a very premature funeral and burial.” He stood
and
placed both hands flat on his desk. “Captain Reyes, you have full
authorisation
to go supersonic for this mission. Time is of the essence, and the
clock has
already begun ticking.”
Summary:
[AU] Taylor has always considered himself to be just like anybody else.
But
after he is almost killed in a car accident, he quickly realises that
the
complete opposite applies – and that an island in the middle of the
Atlantic
Ocean that the world thought had vanished millennia ago holds all the
keys to
unlocking his true identity.
Rating:
M
Status:
Incomplete
Story
started on:
19
January 2009
Story
last updated:
20
June 2009
Word
count:
5
677