Hail and Farewell

Rationale

For my Written Task I chose to write a short story because of three reasons. I love to write and to do something creative. Every night when I go to bed I’m thinking about new ideas for a story or (when I’m in a really creative mood) a book. Once I actually wanted to become a writer, but that dream changed into studying Medicine.
Secondly, I didn’t mind doing the research at all, because I love reading even more than writing. The third reason I chose a short story is because I love the feeling I get when I get lost into a story, either reading or writing it. That is also the purpose of this story.
The reason I chose to do a goth story is because I like the supernatural. Not just because they’re awesome (which let’s face it: they are) but because there is almost always a lot of emotion and forbidden love, and I’m a sucker for that. I tried to make my short story as gothic as possible. The setting is in an old castle, there are all kind of supernatural creatures and a sort of damsel in distress. With all of this combined my target audience would be people just like me: they love a good love story, some action and a spat of supernatural to keep it interesting.
However, I did encounter a few problems during the writing process. When I finished the story the word count app told me I had over 2000 words, so I had to cut a lot. I personally think that if you picked a short story you should’ve had the change to make it longer, so you can create some sort of development of characters, but that’s something for the next time!

Short Story

I couldn’t breathe. I had landed on the hard, cold ground. The impact had smashed the air out of my lungs, leaving me gasping for air. Little stars were dancing in front of my eyes.
Some vampire had landed a throw on me and I had flown a few metres through the air before hitting the ground.
I just laid there for a while and studied the ceiling of the old castle we were fighting in. The only reason I had come here was because I was stupid enough to follow Valentine through a portal, and only because of a cup. When Jace - who had followed me - and I had landed here we were completely surprised by the battle that was going on between Valentine and his demon and Downworlders clan and the Clave, the leaders of the Shadowhunters. We had no idea why.
Slowly I tried to sit up, taking the features of the dark castle in. The only light came from a few torches, gruesome shadows were lurking in the corners. I noticed gargoyles hanging from the ceiling, their dreary smiles made the little hairs in my neck stand up and goosebumbs were raised all over my body. It felt as if the temperature had dropped ten degrees.
Someone had grabbed my shoulders and was squeezing them tightly. His knuckles were turning white. “Jace!” I screamed, only after I recognized him
“Are you okay?” He asked with concern. I nodded, which was a lie because my head was pounding. Jace got a hold of my hand and he pulled me behind a tribune.
“Clary, I think we travelled back in time.“I- WHAT?”
“Listen, it’s the only thing that makes sense. This is the ceding.”
“The what?” Jace jumped on me, pulling us out of sight from the Shadowhunter and the giant wolf he was fighting.
“The ceding. It’s something they did to make sure the old prophecy never came out.”
“What prophecy?”
“ When the angel Raziel created the first Shadowhunter he spoke the words: Unum habet potestatem gladii. It means: the one with the sword holds the power.”
“What does that even mean? What the hell are you trying to tell me Jace? That the portal send us back in time? It doesn’t even have the ability to do that!”
“Apparently, it does.” Jace said dryly. He sat upright and stroke the hair out of his face.
“What power does the one with the sword hold?” I asked, slightly annoyed that no one had ever told me that.
“The Sword has the power to summon demons and control them. You have the Sword, you have the Shadowhunters. The clave wanted to prevent that. So they created a portal an- .” “And they send the Mortal Sword through the portal, so no one could find it.”
“And Valentine travelled back to the Ceding because that’s the last time anyone actually knew where the sword was. Clary, this is 1789.”
I didn’t get much time to process the information. A high pitched scream pierced my ears and then hell broke loose. From the faces from the Shadowhunters I could tell a greater demon had been summoned. And those bastards were hard to kill.
Jace took one of his seraph blades out of his belt and handed it to me. His eyes locked into mine.
“Clary, you’re my Paratabai now. You’re going to have to trust me.” Paratabai, I thought, a pair of warriors who are closer than brother or sister. I swallowed. I needed to suppress the emotions those words stirred up in me.
My heart was beating rapidly and my hands started to sweat as I took the blade. I studied Jaces angelic features. His golden hair, his blue eyes. High cheekbones and perfect lips I had kissed once. The little silver scars on his neck from all the runes. The little imperfections that made him perfect.
“Okay,” I whispered, “what’s its name?”
“Jehoël.”
Another demonic scream found our ears. I cried for Jehoël and the blade came blazing to life. Jace pulled me away from the tribune. His blade cutting through the air, destroying everything on its path.
In the middle of all the chaos was one man standing. Valentine. I saw him reaching for the Mortal Sword. My vision blurred as I ran toward Valentine, our sworn enemy. The sight of his grin filled me with hatred. I threw myself at him. In the struggle we both lost our weapons. My nails dug into the skin of his cheek and the cuts started to bleed. But the scratching gave him room to blow a hit in my face.
Little stars were dancing in front of my eyes. I felt something hard and cold pushed against my throat and it cut into my skin. A little stream of blood was making its way down my chest.
“Do you really think your precious little Jace is going to save you now?” He laughed some kind of evil laugh and dug the Mortal Sword deeper into my skin. “Both dying in the battle. How heroic.”
I remembered how people who almost died once told me they saw their life flash before their eyes. I didn’t. I only saw Jace and remembered the way he made me feel. How he stirred up emotions in me I didn’t even knew I had. Jace had once told me I was searching for the kind of love that awakens the soul and makes us reach for more. He never knew that I had found that in him.
And as abruptly I thought I was going to die, someone shoved Valentine of off me. With one swift movement I got up my feet and called for Jehoël. My hand tightened around the grip as I bent over Valentine, who tried to reach for the Sword. I placed my foot on his wrist and pushed until I heard a satisfying snap. I smiled.
“Dying in a battle,” I said as I raised Jehoël, “how heroic.” And I slammed the blade into his chest.