Donnaleigh — Flash Fiction: Dance of the Glasswing

Tonight we are excited to feature Bonnie Cehovet on Beyond Worlds, and one of the topics we will be discussing is creative writing using tarot, specifically, Flash Fiction, which you can learn about at:

http://www.fictionfactor.com/guests/flashfiction.html

http://www.writing-world.com/fiction/flash.shtml

and samples at http://www.flashfictiononline.com

I decided to try my own hand at flash fiction, even though I have no experience whatsoever with writing stories. I was curious to see what tarot might bring through. The cards I pulled randomly for inspiration are pictured above, and they are from the Power Animal Oracle Cards and The Legacy of the Divine Tarot Deck. Photographs of the actual creatures mentioned are included as well.

Additionally, I created two possible endings. You can choose either the happy ending or the drama ending. With both endings included, the story is 634 words.

And here we go. Enjoy!

DANCE OF THE GLASSWING

The flight of the perpetrator swung fast past, his powerful wings breezing by overhead, while in the shadows below she let out a quiver of fear. Her gossamer wings fluttered clumsily, forward and sideways, like a leaf trying to maintain direction in the wind. Suddenly needing to find shelter under the canopy that would hide her stained glass wings, the humid air oppressed her, pushing in on her breath. The shadow of the beast flew over; the hooded Harpy Eagle looking down on his powerful ride past. Young and strong and a passionate student of the rainforest, he was barely a juvenile, and he was finding his power and pushing his own limits with an “I-can-do-anything” attitude.

His undefeatable eyes secured on the transparent whisper fluttering below.  He barely needed such a paltry snack with such a full belly, he thought, as he found his sustenance from respectable small animals, swift and intelligent monkeys, and meaty birds as any self-respecting and powerful carnivore of the rainforest would surely know. But the insignificant rival of this game and the tantalizing challenge of the conquest lured him. Could he catch such an aimless target, one that doesn’t fly straight, but zigzags and twitters with such unpredictability and invisibility? The barely-there wings tempted his veins, pulling him and teasing him with a glint of the shimmery wings.The sun glinted off his sublime eyes and triggered a need.

A freefall dive and strength of wing blurred his swift power off flight. He squinted toward the nothingness of the transparent wings that appeared and disappeared,  teasing his unblemished vision. Challenge of the capture overruled his lack of need for nourishment and a heady, intoxicating impulse rose in him: power and ability, and of the proof of the conquer. The aimless fluttery motion and the transparency of this victim held an impossible show of proof.  A torpedo locked onto his target, he bellowed down with a war cry and prepared to demonstrate to the rainforest his endless supply of power, his utter strength and rippling wings that he knew any respectable carnivore would admire. Deftly, with the twist of his wing and the slight turn of his tail, he sent himself into an agile curve of flight – his swift perfection displayed to all as he swooped and opened his mouth to catch his trophy of validation.

The splay of feathers exploding met the air with a sudden WHOMP! And the Harpy’s feathers burst into an abrupt eruption of white and gray fireworks, rising, then falling, twittering lightly down until the last of the feathers lightly twinkled to the ground next to the still claws of the rainforest’s flightless knight-to-be. The jaguar’s lock on his neck was severe and unbending, with the hunger in his furred belly burning with his need to sustain himself.  The succinct bite reverently pinched the life of the Harpy eagle as the jaguar’s spotted shoulders rippled with omnipotent grace. The speckled cat retreated under a shaded branch on which rested a pair of cellophane wings, a glasswing butterfly that shivered with a tremor of anticipation for the hit that would never come.

Choose your ending:

1)      The glow of a yellow Candlebush Flower distracted her, and with a diverted call to life, her windowed wings wobbled her lightly over to the sweet scent of nectar yet ungathered, as she followed the call of her belly to the lemon petals of sun that spread their arms to her in open anticipation.

2)      A Sundew Plant in the distance shimmered to her, and with a diverted call to life, her windowed wings wobbled her lightly over to the sweet drops of nectar yet ungathered, as she followed the call of her belly, anticipating the sticky droplets of sugar that beckoned with barbed offerings. The whisper of the quiet carnivore held a skewer of sugar, pure and sweet, to trade for her life.

Here’s wishing you a tarot-filled week.

Donnaleigh
www.Donnaleigh.net
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