(Authors Note - The doodles of the bottle and cards from Alice in Wonderland, and the generic princess/tower thing in the bottom left are just story-themed decorations. This isn't a princess story, nor does it take place in Wonderland, although these things might be mentioned. c:)
I can't think of a better place to begin than at the very beginning, with a story.
Many years ago, around the time when Queen Victoria was still on the throne of England, there lived a man.
(Well, there lived many men, but this one is special)
He wished to be an author, and learn to write beautiful books and stories that many people would want to read.
Travelling around the world, he searched for a treasure - a shining pen made from the feather of a phoenix. It would grant the owner one wish - the man found it after many years and took it home, calling up the spirit of the Phoenix from it. He explained his wish and the phoenix, thinking that he was noble in his quest for knowledge, agreed to grant it.
But the man, it turned out, was greedy. He only wanted to sell as many books as possible, and make money with them. The phoenix, unable to back out of a promise, was forced to grant this. But the bird added a catch - the second the man finished writing his first story (which happened to be about a strange and dangerous land) he blacked out - and awoke to find himself trapped in his book. The man guessed the Phoenix's plan, and had to play out the plot of the book. When he reached the end, he woke up again in his own house, no time having passed the years he was away.
The man could never write another book again. The punishment for his greed was that every time he finished a story, he would have to live through it.
The man and his strange tale end here, but the Curse of the Phoenix, as it is known, survives to this day. Passed down through the generations, many aspiring authors, schoolchildren and bored office workers with too much time to spare have found themselves trapped inside a world of their own making.
Those who survive often find themselves granted with strange powers - the ability to call things out of their book, to manipulate the feelings of others, and of course an almost supernatural ability to write and tell the very best stories.
I would say that this is the end, but it isn't. This may be the end of one tale, but as they say - out of the frying pan, into the flames..
- next page - Why It is Impolite to use Windows as Doors - Coming soon!
cover -
Many years ago, around the time when Queen Victoria was still on the throne of England, there lived a man.
(Well, there lived many men, but this one is special)
He wished to be an author, and learn to write beautiful books and stories that many people would want to read.
Travelling around the world, he searched for a treasure - a shining pen made from the feather of a phoenix. It would grant the owner one wish - the man found it after many years and took it home, calling up the spirit of the Phoenix from it. He explained his wish and the phoenix, thinking that he was noble in his quest for knowledge, agreed to grant it.
But the man, it turned out, was greedy. He only wanted to sell as many books as possible, and make money with them. The phoenix, unable to back out of a promise, was forced to grant this. But the bird added a catch - the second the man finished writing his first story (which happened to be about a strange and dangerous land) he blacked out - and awoke to find himself trapped in his book. The man guessed the Phoenix's plan, and had to play out the plot of the book. When he reached the end, he woke up again in his own house, no time having passed the years he was away.
The man could never write another book again. The punishment for his greed was that every time he finished a story, he would have to live through it.
The man and his strange tale end here, but the Curse of the Phoenix, as it is known, survives to this day. Passed down through the generations, many aspiring authors, schoolchildren and bored office workers with too much time to spare have found themselves trapped inside a world of their own making.
Those who survive often find themselves granted with strange powers - the ability to call things out of their book, to manipulate the feelings of others, and of course an almost supernatural ability to write and tell the very best stories.
I would say that this is the end, but it isn't. This may be the end of one tale, but as they say - out of the frying pan, into the flames..
- next page - Why It is Impolite to use Windows as Doors - Coming soon!
cover -
An Extract From the Flame Handbook - Written by Dr. Lucas Grace of Phoenix - Page One wrote:Hello, and welcome to Phoenix. If you haven't been sucked into a book yet, great! Hopefully we can teach you something before it inevitably happens and you are plunged into a great danger which you have absolutely no way of escaping. If you have, well, you haven't really got a reason to be reading this. (I'd stay away from books altogether) Today, we'll be looking at some common terminology.
Flame - Any person who is affected by the Curse of the Phoenix.
Dormant Flame - Somebody who hasn't yet traveled through a book. (A normal person, then - lucky them!)
Active Flame - Somebody who is currently in a book.
Ember - Somebody who has traveled successfully through at least one book. You'll meet lots of them around Phoenix Hall - they can usually call up creatures and objects from their book. Some of the more powerful may be able to call up an entire character, or open portals to their book freely (not that most would want to)
The Smoke - A society made up of people looking to stop Flames from writing. They believe we'll all go crazy and try and take over the world - not that it has ever happened before...
