One of the things that helps make an epic quest is the character's travels. If they only go from their home to their friend's down the street, there is not the sense of a challenging journey through the world. Worlds don't consist of a single environment, unless they are like the desert planet Tatoinne or the ice planet Hoth.
To make life difficult for my characters, they usually have to pass through a variety of landscapes. Captain Ellspeth and the Archmage Lord Dal sail the high seas, and go from mountain heights to cavern depths. In Windmaster Golem, Brodie and the mages cross desert and mountains race to save a mythical city, hidden beneath a lake. The letter "L" in the 2022 challenge stands for Landscape. While Deneas has to find a way around a deadly hedgerow, Karst finds himself captured by the siren call of the singing grass.
But this post is supposed to feature a "U" phrase. My experience doesn't include the vast subterranean area within the stone that Ellspeth explored within the massive stone monolith to obtain the silver circlet. Instead mine focused on local caves or in states we visited. Some were large, well-developed tourist attrations. Others had more unique draws such as boat trips on an underground river. One thing most of them had in common was the lights-out. At one point in the tour, after warnings not to move, to stand in place, the guide flicked a switch and turned off whatever lights had been installed.
Deneas has two experiences with the underground. The following excerpt from Fire and Amulet is the beginning of her slayer quest.
No sense of day or night existed in the darkness of the tunnels. Deneas lost sense of time. Ahead of her, Trelleir walked in silence with only the soft scuff of leather on stone or the drip of water to break the deathly quiet. Her entire being submerged into nothing but the bright spot that was Trelleir’s torch. When they emerged from one tunnel to cross a valley to a hole in another mountain, the same blackness, both of the soul and the moonless sky weighed down their steps.
Whether the tons of stone above them magnified Trelleir’s thoughts, or the darkness that surrounded them sharpened her focus, Deneas swore she heard the unspoken maelstrom of his mind. She knew when he stepped around a rock that would trip the unwary or across a rivulet that would send a person sliding into a bottomless pit.To make following my posts in the challenge easier, you can find all my posts at 2022 AtoZ Connections. Just remember, the next day's post isn't live until midnight.
~till next time, Helen
I like the idea of singing grass!
ReplyDeleteRonel visiting for the A-Z Challenge My Languishing TBR: U