Excerpt: Imagine

Here's an excerpt from what I was able to accomplish last year of this novel:

Chapter One
Discovery

Mitch sat back in his chair, his legs extended in front of him lazily, arms folded across his chest. He stared blankly at the board in front of him, pretending to listen to the teacher giving a lesson on the tribal wars of Tikar’s oldest country, Dukon, over on the East Continent.
After several long minutes, Mitch glanced down at his watch, and frowned. Still twenty minutes to go until the next boring class, Algebra.
“Well?”
It took several seconds to realize he was being spoken to. “Uh…repeat the question, please?” he said, staring back at his teacher, Mr. Miller.
Mr. Miller sighed. “Not paying attention yet again, Mitch? What diverted your attention this time?”
Mitch shrugged. “The clock. I’m pretty fascinated that time seems to go half-time in this classroom. It’s like this room bores time itself, and it gets sleepy and slows down.”
Several other students snickered a little, and became quiet when Mr. Miller scowled at them. “Mitch,” Mr. Miller began. “I get up every morning to teach you young kids about the history of our world, and how you can relate everything in Tikar’s history to the present time. If you don’t know anything about history, then you know nothing about the present. Do you understand what I’m saying?”
Mitch nodded. “Yeah. I get it. But I already know about the Dukon Tribal Wars. I’ve written three reports on it since first grade. Go ahead, ask me any question, I’m sure I’ll get it right.” he said, glad that time seemed to flow a little faster now that something was actually happening.
Mr. Miller nodded. “Okay then. How did the war between Kon and Findi Tribe start?”
Mitch furrowed his eye brows a little. A particularly hard question. It was one of the lesser wars, hardly worth notice, but…Mitch smiled. “While they spoke practically the same language, some words meant different things for each tribe. So when the tribal leaders spoke together one night, the leader of the Kon tribe unknowingly insulted the leader of the Findi tribe. Naturally, the offended Findi tribe leader slew the Kon leader, and a war ensued, officially wiping out a third of the Kon tribe, and enslaving the remainder for only a few years.”
Mr. Miller seemed impressed. “Hmm…it appears you were speaking the truth.”
Mitch shrugged. “What ever.” he said, glancing at his watch again. Only five more minutes until the bell rang. Algebra, although boring, was definitely more challenging than history.
Mr. Miller seemed to realize his class was almost over, and assigned his homework. “Read all of section three of chapter six. It will go into more detail of the Kon-Findi War. There will be a short quiz, so make sure you read it.” he said, going to his desk and sitting down at it, preparing himself for the next class.
“Mitch!” whispered a student close to him loudly. “How’d you know that? We’ve been in the same class since second grade, and we’ve never had to do a report on that war.” It was Kurt, one of Mitch’s friends.
Mitch shrugged. “Extra credit report. Make up some of my absences.”
Kurt rolled his eyes. “Whatever, Mitch. You’ve been to school more than I have, and I’ve never been absent since that one day in fourth grade.” He grinned. “You’re just afraid of being called a nerd.”
Mitch smiled slightly. “Sure. That’s it.”
The bell rang, and the students all leapt from their seats and into the already chaotic hallway. Mitch said good bye to Kurt and made his way to his next classroom, and quietly slipped in. Only a few of the students in this class were there, heads already on the desk, sleeping.
Mitch sighed. “You’re just afraid of being called a nerd.” was still ringing in his ears. Of course he was afraid. Everyone was. Being called a nerd meant you were a target for the drop outs and bullies that roamed the school once it let out. They took out their frustration of not being smart enough on the people that had supposedly ‘stolen’ their intelligence.
Mitch was a sophomore in high school. Already he liked it much more than his previous years of school. There were more people to talk to, more teachers to get to know and either like or hate, and more knowledge to learn.
Most of the other students in Mitch’s algebra class were juniors and seniors, having failed it several times already. Mitch couldn’t blame them. His mind was boggled at some of the problems he had solved in this class. He was almost nervous to move on in math after algebra.
But he had to. People that didn’t know anything these days either wound up working on the Farms in the country of Tanar, located in the southern area of the West Continent, or became part of a gang or roaming terrorist, shooting everyone and everything they came across. “The world,” some world leader had said. “Has no need for uneducated people these days. If you have no knowledge, you have no life.”
Some years after that was said, the world had improved slightly, but there were still drop outs and uneducated people. There were opportunities everywhere for a place to learn, but they never chose to. “People that have no desire to learn, have no desire to live.” the same leader had said. “With all of our technological advances, being uneducated is just not cutting it. Every country in the world is allowing opportunities everywhere for anyone to be uneducated. If you skip that chance, than life will be very, very harsh.”
Mitch sighed. His uncle was like that. His uncle had no desire to learn much of anything. And life was harsh for him. No work would accept him, the government only supported people that were in school. So, eventually, he moved out of the city, and went to go work on the Farms. In a recent letter, his uncle had described what the Farms was like.
“It’s so damn horrible in this hellish place. Thousands and thousands of people living everywhere, going out to the fields day in and day out. Weeding, watering, killing pests, harvesting. They have no lives. Only farming from sunrise to sunset, and sleeping the instant they get home. Some forget about their families. All they care about is getting their three meals a day, and a few dollars wage for an extra snack or two. I’m thinking I’m going to be saving my wages so I can move back to the city and get myself better educated. I sure hope you can read this penmanship, Mitch. If it wasn’t for Dewy here, writing for me, I wouldn’t even be able to talk to you, even though his script isn‘t the best. Just know that if you don’t get educated, it’s true, you have no life.”
The tardy bell rang, and Mitch was called back from his thoughts about his uncle’s letter. His teacher stood up and began class, Mitch taking notes furiously after everything she said.
Eighty minutes later, the lunch bell rang. Mitch was rudely reminded by his stomach that it was now time to eat, so he packed his bag and made his way to the cafeteria.
He found the table where Kurt and his other friend, Megan, were sitting. “Hey nerd, how was Algebra class?” Kurt said jokingly.
Megan shot Kurt a poisonous glance. “If you keep saying that, Kurt, then Mitch will get beaten up in no time. You saw what they did to Jordan three days ago. He’s still in the hospital.”
Kurt shrugged. “Jordan isn’t very strong, though. Mitch here can fend for himself, right?”
Mitch rolled his eyes. “Yeah, ‘cause I can rip apart people a few years older than me with clubs and brass knuckles.”
Kurt laughed and Mitch’s sarcasm, but Megan found no amusement. “That’s right. You’d get beaten up horribly. And right now, a lot of the other…smart people seem to be in the hospital right now. Sooner or later, they might find you.”
Mitch blew that comment off. “I don’t think about it.” Which was completely true. Everyone knew thinking about what didn’t exist was foolish. It was delusional to the mind to cloud it with what might happen instead of fact. The fact was: Mitch would get beaten sooner or later. There was no thinking about it.
Kurt patted Mitch on the back. “Don’t worry, though. They usually only beat up a person once. They leave marks for a long time, so they know that their lesson is taught a long time.”
Mitch grunted. “Thanks for your encouragement. Now, and I don’t mean to offend you, shut up.”
Kurt nodded, and stared at the food that was now in front of them. New technological advances had allowed trays of food to be sent through a small system of transportation, and sent directly to the student. It had been explained to Mitch once, but he had ignored most of it. All he cared about was getting his food. He remembered it had something to do with the small purple device underneath the tray. Some sort of teleporter that actually didn’t teleport.
Mitch began eating the food in front of him, and sighed. “Still two class periods to go. But at least they’re somewhat fun.” he said.
Kurt nodded. “Yep. It’s only fun because all three of us are in them together. Language Studies and Life Sciences. Hooray.” he said.
Megan smirked. “I kind of like those classes.” she said.
Kurt swung on her. “For two reasons. One, you get better grades in there than I do, and two, those are your only classes with Mitch.”
Megan blushed a little, but nodded.
It was Kurt that smirked this time. “Why don’t you go out with Mitch than? Hey Mitch, would you like to go out with Megan?”
Megan and Mitch both glared at Kurt. “You know why we can’t go out, Kurt.” Mitch said.
Kurt nodded. “Oh, that’s right…I forgot.” he said truthfully. “Your dad, Mitch. He’s like super nerd. What was he said again?”
Mitch put down his sandwich, and fixed his voice so that it imitated his father’s, a deep grunting voice. “ ‘No relationships until you hold a Ph.D. in your hands. You don’t want the worldly distractions of women to- ow! Why’d you smack me with that newspaper, dear!?’ ” He picked up his sandwich again and resumed eating.
Kurt snickered. “I love that part when your mom smacks him.”
Megan nodded in agreement. “So do I. I don’t know why your dad cares, Mitch. My parents don’t.”
Mitch shrugged. “I don’t either. My dad thinks if I have a girlfriend, I’ll forget to study all of the crap I already know.” He rolled his eyes. “Honestly…I’ll talk to my dad about it again. Maybe his mind will change when he realizes I don’t need to study.”
There was a brief silence of the three of them eating and staring at different places of the cafeteria. “So…what’re you doing after school, Mitch?” Kurt asked.
Mitch shrugged. “Don’t know. I’ll probably go to the bookstore and buy the next issue of Tikar’s world history. What about you?”
Kurt shrugged. “Don’t know either. Mind if I tag along with you? I wouldn’t mind getting that new book about the tribal war between the Findi Tribe and Ewons.”
Megan butted into the conversation. “Well, I’m probably going to do my homework and then help my mother with her small garden.” she said, not really caring that Kurt and Mitch were looking at the direction of Jason Olson.
Jason was a big kid. Towering eight inches over six feet, he made everyone around him seem like dwarves. His muscles were bulging everywhere, making his clothes seem tight. Jason was also about as bright as a lamp in a black out. And because he wasn’t so smart, he took it out on the nerds for stealing his intelligence.
Kurt glanced at Mitch. “You better duck down. You might be his next victim.”
Mitch sighed. “If he’s going to beat me up, I’d prefer it be as soon as possible so that it won’t happen again for a while.” he said, finishing his sandwich.
Mitch heard Kurt sigh with relief. “Phew, he went to go bother Carrie. You should be fine for now. Jason is trying to flirt, and you know how long that can take.”
Megan snickered a little. “Not nearly as long as you, Kurt.”
Kurt didn’t appear hurt at all. “That’s because there’s so many girls that want to flirt with me, it takes up a lot of time.” he said with professionalism.
Mitch finished the remained of his lunch, and his tray somewhat disappeared, and whizzed over his head towards the kitchen. Several minutes later Kurt’s and Megan’s did the same.
As they stood up, they looked at one another, a certain look in their eyes. For some strange reason, they seemed to know that by the end of the day, Mitch would be in a hospital bed.
Kurt patted Mitch on the back. “Don’t worry, man. You’re going to be just fine. Megan and I will visit you everyday until you get better.”
Mitch glared at Kurt. “Your support isn’t helping much.”
The three of them slowly made their way to the school library, and glanced over the books it had. All three of them knew all of the titles by heart, but had only read a few of them.
“My favorite book is the one about General Mac “Plunder” Thunder.” said Kurt, laughing at the name. “I didn’t know one general could break so many war laws. I feel sorry for those people in the South Continent.”
Megan scoffed. “Ha. You’re still reading first grade books. The best book this library has is Dujon’s Travels. You know, that book about that monk two hundred years ago that went around the world trying to spread peace?”
Mitch nodded. “Yeah. That book put me to sleep. The best book by far is Kon. That’s one of the world’s most ancient tribes, and it outlines their history. It puts both of your lame books to shame.”
Before the librarian could scold them for talking too loudly again, the bell signaling lunch had ended rang. All three of them sighed, and made their way to language studies. “Ready to learn about the vowel differences between the Findi and Kon Tribes?” Kurt said. “Honestly, why did all of the Kon and Findi tribe stuff have to be crammed in one day? I’d prefer it if language studies covered it one day, history another…” He smirked. “Today in Life Sciences we’re going to study the behavior of a Kon Tribal Warrior…” he said in a mocking tone.
Nothing much happened in Language Studies. Mitch, Megan, and Kurt all sat in their little part of the classroom and did their class work, keeping to themselves quietly.
As they were walking out of their class to Life Sciences, Kurt sighed. “I don’t like that class. How is knowing the language of a small tribe in the Ridgeline Mountains of the East Continent going to help me?” he said to himself.
Life Sciences had about the same amount of action. As soon as they got out of that class, a knot formed in Mitch’s stomach. “Well…I guess I don’t really need to go to my locker…” he said.
Kurt nodded. “Don’t worry. There’s not much use. It’s just a fact of life, accept it.”
Megan looked like she wanted to give Mitch some sort of comfort, but she looked like Kurt had already said it, so she just nodded to him.
Mitch slowly made his way to the bus with Megan and Kurt, but someone called his name. “Hey, Mitch!” It was unmistakingly the deep bass voice of Jason. “Come here!”
Mitch sighed, and slowly turned around. Mitch wasn’t really weak. His father made sure to that. He was sure he’d win most of the fights if he fought everyone in school. But he knew he was no match against Jason in just a fist fight. The bully stood seven inches taller than Mitch, and almost twice as thick. “So why did you go stealin’ my intelligence?” Jason said down on Mitch, spitting on him.
Mitch shrugged. “I didn’t. That’s just your lame excuse to beat up someone else because you aren’t smart enough.”
Jason smirked a little. “But I most certainly am strong enough.” Several students walking towards the buses stopped, and formed a circle, and watched on with anticipation. Several security guards came along too, and watched the fight, hands closing in on their guns if things went too far. They knew that if they stopped it now, it would take place someplace else, where things would get ugly for the loser.
Mitch closed his eyes. He might not even bother fighting back. The blow came soon enough, but it was much stronger than Mitch had expected. There was a cold steel feeling across the place where he had been hit, he realized as he fell backwards to the ground. He opened his eyes and saw Jason wearing a pair of brass knuckles, slightly red with freshly shed blood. Jason was grinning.
Mitch tried to get up, but Jason bore down on Mitch, punching Mitch repeatedly. Mitch grimaced and groaned, tears coming to his eyes, but he managed to not cry openly. Every time he was hit he could feel his skin ripping slightly. At first it was cold, the metal touching his skin, but soon it was warm and wet. Jason didn’t stop.
After several seconds that seemed like forever, Jason stopped, and got up. Mitch got to his feet as quickly as he could, somewhat shocked that the beating had stopped so soon. Then Mitch realized that Jason was only wiping the blood off of his brass knuckles. Jason quickly kicked upward, and Mitch was on the ground, groaning. Jason resumed the ‘fight’, kicking Mitch this time.
Why am I not trying to protect myself? thought Mitch to himself. Sure, it’s a fact of life, but why? Why am I allowing Jason to beat me senseless? He’s even being unfair, by using a weapon. If I had a sword to protect myself… Mitch envisioned himself with a sword in his hand, cutting off Jason’s hand with the brass knuckles, the ground covered with Jason’s blood, not just Mitch’s.
The beating stopped, and Mitch heard a gasp. Mitch quickly opened his eyes, and in his hand was a sword. It wasn’t a normal sword, however. It was the one Mitch had just been thinking of. The blade was plain iron, the hilt a dull silver color with blackish red lacings. But it was still something to protect himself with.
Jason seemed to realize Mitch intended to use this sword to late. Mitch kicked upward and hit Jason full on in the chin. A tooth landed on the ground somewhere. Mitch got up as fast as his sore body would allow him, and brought the sword in front of him, trying to take a defensive stance.
Jason seemed unnerved. Mitch now had a sword that had seemingly appeared out of nowhere, and all he had was a pair of brass knuckles. But the sight of Mitch nearly falling over seemed to encourage him.
Jason punched forward, hoping to easily knock Mitch over and knock the sword away. That’s not what happened.
Mitch easily sidestepped the punch, and swung upward. Jason began screeching, holding a bloody stump where his hand used to be.
Mitch stared blankly at the sword that was in his hands, Jason’s blood all over the blade. Mitch was shocked. He’d seen blood before, everyone has. But he’d never shed the blood before.
Mitch dropped the sword, and it vanished in thin air, and only the blood that was on it splattered on the ground. But nobody noticed. They were all surrounding Jason, some with looks of concern, others looking like they wanted to finish the job. No one noticed Mitch turn around and hobble to the bus with Megan and Kurt. No one noticed that the sword had disappeared.