Monday, September 9, 2013

Trifecta entry ~ Mask

I found the Trifecta the other day and thought it fun so I'm joining in again. Click here for participants.

Here's how it works: Submit a writing between 33 and 333 word using this week’s one-word prompt, MASK (noun).  It must use the following definition:


a : a protective covering for the face
b : gas mask
c : a device covering the mouth and nose to facilitate inhalation
d : a comparable device to prevent exhalation of infective material
e : a cosmetic preparation for the skin of the face that produces a tightening effect as it dries.

I've chosen B with 333 words from my work in progress.

Waking from his nightmare trembling, Julian sat up feeling feverish and ready to vomit, and no wonder; it was a very unpleasant way to die.  He had these on occasion – fragments of horrific past life endings that crept unbidden into his dreams. Unfortunately you couldn’t choose what flashed through your sleeping consciousness. It took more than a few slow steady breaths before the torture-induced nausea passed. 

As a Templar Knight, he’d stood with De Molay and the others in 1307 and burned in the fires that followed the Templar round up on Friday the 13th. The last time this particular nightmare came to him, his brother and sister-in-law were involved in a fatal “car accident”. Dreams were often prophetic.

Closing his eyes, Julian took several deep measured breaths and exhaled each slowly. Counting backward from ten, he sought the edges of the dream once more. Within minutes, he dropped into a self-directed trance.

Through the smoke of the killing fires, Julian saw the bishop standing by with a book in his arms and a cloth covered his mouth and nose. As if anyone could avoid the stench of burning flesh with such a simple mask. There was a look of pure joy shining in the tiny flames reflected in the man’s eyes.

Needing to see the book, Julian fell deeper into the illusion. Flames shot higher as his clothing and hair ignited. He could clearly see the cover in the bright light of his own remembered death. The bishop held the illuminated manuscript Jean-Marc so recently bound into a book.
This was the reason for the nightmare, the reason for this horrible recollection. He was supposed to see the book. 

No sooner did he acknowledge it, that the Hall of Records closed. Julian came back to the present feeling the odd moment of disassociation one often experienced when accessing the records of past lives. He sat a moment to allow the second wave of nausea to pass, then went to his library.
<>o<>


Rose Anderson ~ Love Waits in Unexpected Places

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8 comments:

  1. I really enjoyed this. Past lives, Templar knights, and history; how can you go wrong?!

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  2. Prophetic dreams seem to be one of those double-edged sword gifts...I hope nothing goes wrong this time!

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  3. Very interesting turn on the prompt. Well done!

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  4. Thanks for stopping. I'm glad you all enjoyed this peek into my magnum opus. 6 years, 500k words. I've been away learning the publishing business through romance. I'll return to it soon and hope to finish it sometime in 2015.

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  5. Ooo, I'm super intrigued by the book. I wonder what it portends?

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  6. Very nicely done. I like the magical mysticism of this story.

    You've been working on this book for quite awhile, but, given this taste, I do hope you will return and finish it.

    As I like romance stories, I will check out your books. I loved what you said in your sidebar: "My detail-rich romances are happily ever after love stories colored in many shades." That's wonderful and just the way I like my romance stories to be:~)

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  7. Thanks for stopping by everyone! The as yet unnamed magnum opus is a knife-edge story, a quintessential dichotomy of light and dark. I'll finish it. I'm compelled to!

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  8. Wow, Rose, Friday 13th, too. I've had those types of 'dreams' about past life deaths. I think setting Julian up for 'the kill' adds great suspense to your story and your reader from that point forward will be invested in whether or not he will be saved. Can't wait to read your magnum opus.

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