Sinera (A Glass Bottles Story)

By J Dark

Not all quests are epic. Some are personal.

Driven by a need to find her own truth about humanity, Sinera leaves Underhill to find the one human whom commands fear and respect from the Elves, and discover the truth with her own eyes.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Water Dragon Publishing
• Release date: Dec 31, 2021
• ISBN: 9781957146096

J Dark

J Dark is a latecomer to the writing profession, but enjoying every moment that life will allow. “The best thing to me is writing a story that someone enjoys. If I’ve made something fun and entertaining for people, it’s a win-win.”J Dark lives with a house full of dreams, three cats, and various friends who occasionally drop by and stay for a while.The author lives in Kansas, where the winds blow all the time, and, if you blink your eyes, the weather changes.

Book preview

Sinera

A Glass Bottles Story

J Dark

Copyright © 2021 by J Dark

All rights reserved.

No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, except for the purpose of review and/or reference, without explicit permission in writing from the publisher.

Cover design copyright © 2021 by Niki Lenhart

nikilen-designs.com

Published by Water Dragon Publishing

waterdragonpublishing.com

An imprint of Paper Angel Press

paperangelpress.com

ISBN 978-1-957146-09-6 (EPUB)

FIRST EDITION

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Author’s Note

Stories do not come about alone. Water Dragon Publishing provided encouragement and their wonderful editors helped turn the story into the form you see now. Any mistakes are mine.

This story came about from conversations with people who reviewed my Glass Bottles novel, Beguiling Voices. For many readers, Sinera stood out as an interesting character. Not one to ignore interest, I set about framing a story specifically around Sinera and her eventual partnership with Fern. Here is that story.

Thank you for reading and a special thanks to everyone who provides a review. The feedback helps authors (like me) learn more about our own strengths and weaknesses, which makes us better writers. Every comment is deeply appreciated.

Sinera

The first time you do anything usually comes with trepidation: Will I be able to do this? Will I screw up? Will I look stupid?

Truth is, no one knows until you take that first step. It is even more so for my people — Elves. We, as a race, are incredibly long-lived compared to others. We are not immortal, but compared to a Human’s average of eighty years, we are for all practical purposes. The average elf has a lifespan of approximately eight hundred years — though I have not met any that have lived that long yet.

I am barely thirty years old. That is not to say I am stupid, or uneducated; I am both intelligent and educated, though still ignorant of much. The training that all Elves get would be continuing if I had actually decided to stay with my family and not ventured into the Human realm.

Yes, I am a runaway. The only difference is that I am running towards something. I suppose I should explain what my decision was that led to this rather rare occurrence of leaving Underhill and living among the other races above.

Elves are a very conservative race. It may be that, with the state of technological acceleration in the Human realm, we, as a race, were shocked by the speed that Humans changed. Humans frighten Elves. Certainly, one Elf, with moderate training, can kill ten to twelve Humans in a stand-up fight — and hundreds in a guerrilla-style confrontation before being incapacitated.

But human technology — even with Magick coming back to the world — had still advanced so quickly that we were being overwhelmed by the speed at which Humans were re-inventing themselves. It is a fact that we Elves, having proclaimed ourselves (with some justification) the superior race, were being beaten down by an upstart race of hairless monkeys that lived only one tenth as long.