Magic, Guns and Mayhem: A Short Story

By J.L. Shojosh

Danny is trapped in Leria, an alternate realm, made by sorcerers and for sorcerers. There’s only one problem with this magical world: Four of the five kingdoms have been invaded by an authoritarian regime. Having narrowly escaped Leria and found his way back to his realm, will Daniel risk it all and go back, in order to save an ally that he’d made and left in turmoil? If he was a sorcerer by blood and his mother had never mentioned it to him, could it be that his magical heritage comes from his long deceased father? What more could he glean about his dad and his family’s history?

• Language: English
• Publisher: J.L. Shojosh
• Release date: Oct 17, 2020
• ISBN: 9781005242671

J.L. Shojosh

I hope to show the universal humanity inherent in all of us. There's more that we as humans have in common with one another than the differences that sometimes pit us against each other. Through stories, I hope to highlight a few of those commonalities. Love conquers all.

Book preview

Magic, Guns & Mayhem

A

Short Story

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By J.L. SHOJOSH

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Copyright © 2020 Joshua Nsangi. All rights reserved.

The characters and events portrayed in this book are fictitious. Any similarity to real persons, living or dead, is coincidental and not intended by the author.

No part of this book may be reproduced, or stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without express written permission of the publisher.

Published by R.B. Publishers, Smashwords Edition.

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1

The thunderous sounds of boots being stomped on tiles was heard, rushing into the home. Nothing was said. The contents of Mrs. Winters’ stomach, her haggis from earlier that afternoon, shot up from her stomach, as it now persistently clung onto the insides of her throat. Her two second long held gasp had fizzled out into a deep sigh of relief once the strange invasion of boots in her kitchen made known their intentions by letting out a giggle.

Danny? Mrs. Winters called out. You’re four hours too early, did school decide to have a –oh, Ozil? What a lovely surprise… The large fiery haired woman had leaned against the fridge, having snuck up on the discretely ransacked scene.

A pale thin boy with large bags under his eyes poked his head out of the fridge, but only long enough to wave at the pleasant giant, Hi Mrs. W, before an arm was seen pulling his attention back to the cool confines of the open fridge: Try this out, mate. Ozil’s partner in crime would enthusiastically proclaim.

Well, aright, then…you boys have fun. But make sure to come see me before you leave, okay Ozil? Then maybe you can fill me up on where you’ve been these past eight or nine months…

School’s out early, mom. Teachers gave us a half day- Daniel Winters had finally answered his mother, and started off in bland speech, only to quickly be interrupted.

Yea, melon headed jocks lit the locker-rooms on fire. It spread to the whole school. Ozil, the twig of a fellow had wasted no time leaping up to his feet as he spoke. He craned his neck up to look at Mrs. Winters.

Easy there, bud… Danny’s heavy hand landed on his ghastly bony shoulder, slightly causing Ozil to grunt as his shoulder tilted downwards and his knees had nearly given way. Danny, the silky haired, grim-jawed baby face character in a football jersey no sooner closed the fridge as he eyed the loud mouthed thin character before him.

See why I told you that I don’t like your new friends? Mrs. Winters wagged her finger at Danny, as her other hand firmly gripped the lean flesh in her left hip. Those football players are all a bunch of spoiled hooligans. Life won’t always give them a slap on the wrist, later down the line. They better get them up to speed now…

Stop, mom…gosh. I’m a football player now! And –tshh, not every football player is my friend. You two deserve each other… Daniel scoffed, sizing up the sniggering Ozil and his mom, and picking his backpack up from the sparkling white-tiled kitchen floor.

If you must know, Danny walked past his mom, "your son was in the art studio –and I had witnesses too. So that’s why I’m not stuck in that hot room answering stupid questions with the eight suspected bozos. He grinned intensely, as though he’d been nominated for some lofty award, brushing his thick brown hair away from his hazel eyes. Well, are we doing this?" Daniel turned back to Ozil. His muffled voice, as he bit into an apple, had struck the smiling statue in the kitchen and spurred his legs into action.

Right… Ozil’s large droopy eyes zapped awake. He bowed courteously as he passed by Mrs. Winters, waving her off before shrugging his shoulders and adding that, the game is not going to play itself! Up the stairs the pair of boot wearing lads had raced.

Just don’t go disappearing on us again! Mrs. Winters smiled, jovially, but soon thereafter muttered something about Rayvon having left her, her husband, and the deceased father that Danny never knew.

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I just can’t believe that you actually found the game. If I didn’t know better, I’d say that you’d found it ages ago, played your socks off, and then decided to share the goodness with me- Daniel had began, as he inserted the disk in the