series / Sinead's Final Quest

The Beast in the Night

Chris Hall37 Comments
a fearsome dark beast with blood dripping from its mouth

Sinead shook the gates harder. No lock was visible, but they would not yield. They must be secured by an enchantment. Too slippery to climb, too high for even Moonsprite to jump, they were trapped in the bitterly-cold darkness. The Crystal’s light was fading and the night closing in.

The beast howled again. It was coming closer.

Sinead thrust the Crystal into Moonsprite’s saddle bag and pulled out the fabled Blue Orb, the most powerful weapon they possessed. The Orb had destroyed the last of the Oppressors, it would surely demolish the gates.

Sinead clasped the Orb in front of her and prepared to utter the sacred words.

Just as she was about to speak, a dark shape appeared out of the gloom and bounded towards the gates. Touched by the hot breath from its snapping jaws, the gates swung open.

The fabled Blue Orb rolled from Sinead’s startled hands.

Image credit: deviantart.com/anatofinnstark

Previous episodes of Sinead’s Final Quest an epic tale, unfolding in tiny 150 word increments.

37 thoughts on “The Beast in the Night”

  1. Hi Chris, I read this piece and liked the fact that I could read into it what I felt was happening. I saw it was titled as a 150-word piece, so I presumed that was it. However, I then scrolled down and saw there are others with a similar theme. Is it a series of works intended to be an entire story? Am I able to follow them on your site in a continuous chronological sequence?

    Liked by 4 people

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    • Hi Graham, you can read these as stand alone pieces and ‘fill in the gaps’ using your imagination, but if you follow the link at the end of the piece you’ll find a page with all the episodes of Sinead’s Final Quest listed. I should get around to putting a link to each successive episode. My apologies for the omission.
      Here’s the link to the page for ease of reference: https://lunasonline.wordpress.com/stories/sineads-final-quest/

      Liked by 1 person

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      • Thanks for the explanation Chris. That’s pretty much what I presumed. I love this style of writing as it helps spark ones own imaginative ideas. I’m slightly nervous though that the actual storyline will be so removed from my thoughts it may hinder my reading fluency. You know, a bit like when you read a book before seeing the film version. You will have already made your own visual idea of the characters to find that the chosen cast don’t resemble them at all…haha. Great writing, the post in particular left me wanting to know more.

        Liked by 2 people

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        • Thanks, Graham! I’ve set myself quite an interesting challenge, since none of these are planned in advance, and I often take my cue for moving the story forward from the comments on the previous episode. Hence my comment about the plot holes.

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          • Hi Chris. I think there is a writing similarity between us (if I’m not being too bold)? I don’t mean in our content as, whilst I enjoy gfantasy, I’ve never attempted to r=write it. However, many of my longer pieceds are stories that evolve, almost beyongd my control. In a previous blog I described the process as being similar to ‘automatic writing’. Whilst I know the writing is coming from within me as opposed to any ‘spiritual’ link from outside, I rarely know what’s coming next. My wife will be privy to an ongoing reading and will ask me, what comes next? In all honesty, I rarely have an idea and, if I did, it’s normally wrong. I could imagine myself as beig a great ‘researching’ author given the freedonm to do so. Sketching out characters nd pplot lines etc. However, in the absence of the book advance, lol, I sit at the computer and all otf the words fall out of me. The first I really know about the storyline is when I stoop for a proof read. Then, armed with that information and knowledge, the next session follows a very similar path to the first. I then, at least, have some idea of what has happened, but rarely any idea of what will happen next. I love it! I guess we all have different writing styles and methods of getting to the end result.

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  3. Sinead was holding the Orb tightly Chris. This must be a powerful spell. What I’ve noticed about Sinead and Moonsprite is that despite the odds against them, they assess each situation. They don’t panic…like I would have!

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  7. Eek! Another mishap at an inopportune moment! 😳
    And Double Eek! for the approaching beast!
    And Triple Eek! for the open gates!
    The next part must be along soon, Chris… if not sooner!

    Liked by 1 person

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  9. Hi Chris, I just thought I’d say that I have just posted a piece on my site. This work came about from our conversation about how sometimes stories can develop based upon the previous content. I thought I would turn that idea on its head and write a piece that required the reader to form their own ideas and conclusions based upon what they had read. Just for fun, but I thought you might like to know that it was our communications that spawned this idea.

    Liked by 1 person

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    • I can see the confusion, but you have to pay attention 😉 A couple of episodes ago, Sinead and Moonsprite were taken through the Garden to the gates by the Gatekeeper, who promptly disappeared. They climbed the steps beyond the gates and found themselves lost in the cold and darkness, so they decided to return to Garden. When they reached the gates again, they found them locked. The previous episode ended with Sinead and Moonsprite hearing a great beast howling in the Garden on the other side of the gates, but they still need to get back into the Garden, beast or no beast.
      Bear with us. The next episode comes out tomorrow 🙂

      Liked by 1 person

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