A Writing Journey; Fanfiction

The first thing I have to say about this piece of writing is that contains spoilers! If you have The Inheritance Cycle, by Christopher Paolini on your ‘to read’ list, I suggest not reading any further. And if you don’t have it on your ‘to read’ list and are a lover of fantasy, then stop reading, add it, then come back after you’ve read all four books! It’s my favourite book series, and I’m insanely biased about it!

This piece of writing was written for an assignment at University. The brief was to write a piece of Fanfiction. Some of you may be asking, what is a fanfiction? I’m taking the definition I found on Urban Dictionary and adding it in, they define it better than I can;

‘Fanfiction is when someone takes either the story or characters (or both) of a certain piece of work, whether it be a novel, tv show, movie, etc., and create their own story based on it. Sometimes people will take characters from one movie and put them in another, which is called a cross-over.’

Fanfiction can be based on any form of media, novels to comics to movies to YouTubers to Tv Shows to sports and beyond. Real people and places to fictional characters and locations. You name it there is a fanfiction written about it.

It is fans writing about the things they are fans of.

I’m going to be honest here for a moment, please don’t hate on me! I’m not the biggest fan of Fanfiction. I get frustrated when reading them for so many reasons, but mostly because I like to stay faithful to the canon material, especially if it concerns things that I love (like Harry Potter or Inheritance Cycle etc.). Please don’t get me wrong people who write Fanfiction are super talented, and I have great respect for it. It’s just not my thing. And because of this, I had a hard time with this assignment; it thoroughly made me step to a place I wasn’t overly comfortable with. Which is a good thing, that’s how you learn, right?

The only choice for me was to write one about my favourite books of all time! I’m a huge fantasy lover; they are pretty much the only books that I read. Like I said before The Inheritance Cycle is my favourite series, I’ve read them at least six times and am slightly obsessed. Hehe!

So here we are. This is my Fanfiction. Don’t worry I’ve included a speedy summary of the series and I mean very quick because I could very easily make that part 6 plus pages long! But like I said, it does include massive spoilers! You have been warned.

Enjoy!

The Inheritance Cycle

Christopher Paolini

These books follow a teenage boy, Eragon, who while hunting in the Spine discovers a sapphire stone. When the stone hatches and reveals a baby dragon, Saphira, his life changes. His uncle Garrow is murdered by the Ra’zac, and Eragon runs off with the village storyteller Brom, who turns out to be a Dragon Rider of old. On their journey Brom is killed by the Ra’zac. At this point, Eragon joins up with a reluctant Murtagh, and they soon become friends. Eragon joins the rebel army, The Varden. After the epic battle, that finishes the first book, Murtagh disappears. Needing more training in the ways of Dragon Riders, Eragon and Saphira travel to the elf’s capital to be trained; here they discover another Dragon Rider and dragon, Oromis and Glaedr. It is Eragon and Saphira’s destiny to stop the dark King Galbatorix. He learns that Murtagh is, in fact, his half-brother, that they share the same mother. He finds Murtagh, and he learns that Brom is really his father. They learn that Murtagh was captured by the King, and another dragon egg hatched for him. Oromis and Glaedr are killed by Murtagh at Gil’ead. In the final book, Eragon and Saphira travel to Vroengard and discover an epic secret that sets them on the path to victory. Finally, our heroes find themselves at the doors of Uru’baen and facing Galbatorix himself. But is Alegaesia the right place for the future generations of Dragon Riders? Or does Eragon and Saphira have to leave for good?

This story takes place before Eragon and Saphira’s begins.

Wyrda

The pain and anger in Brom’s heart were still as sharp as the day when he had lost his beloved Saphira. He had a new plan. He was going to have revenge on the one who had torn part of his being away. All he had to do was wait for her to come back, to show herself to him. Brom was going to seduce Morzan’s love, and then… Do what was needed to be done. That had been before he had unexpectedly fallen deeply in love with Selena, Morzan’s Black Hand and lover. In the short time when Selena was at the estate, they would show their love for each other, in whatever way they could.

After three years of being the gardener in the castle gardens, Brom left. He had received news from the Varden that a scholar in Teirm had discovered some important information about Galbatorix’s palace in Uru’baen. Information that would hopefully help them to steal the last three dragon eggs. So after making excuses to the other servants of Morzan, Brom gathered his belongings and horse. He rode up the Spine mountain range and then on to the port city of Teirm. It took three days for Brom to arrive in Teirm, as he had to avoid the King’s men every few leagues. Then he had to find Joed, the Scholar. The two men had quickly become good friends.

The information Joed had was indeed, beneficial. He had discovered a secret entrance to Galbatorix’s castle, through some ancient elven tunnels - tunnels that had been long forgotten by everything other than the ancient plans and books that the scholar had somehow managed to obtain. They had then hired a man, who had promised alliance, to secretly enter the castle and steal the dragon eggs back from the King. Unfortunately, things hadn’t entirely gone to plan. Hefring, the man that had been hired to get the eggs, had only got one of the eggs and then he had runoff. He ran from both the Empire and the Varden. Angry and annoyed, Brom and Joed went in chase of the man, hoping to get the dragon egg back before Morzan got it. When they eventually found him Hefring was dead, by the hand of Morzan, who now had the dragon egg. Gil’ead was alive with the sounds of battle.

Brom had only three things on his mind; one, get the egg; two, kill Morzan; and three, go and get Selena to take her hand in marriage. He and Joed had become separated. Brom now faced Morzan, his old idol. The Rider who had killed his dragon, Saphira. The man who had his love. The swords Undbitr and Zar’roc clashed, sending blue and red sparks into the air. Morzan’s blood-red dragon flicked out his tail trying to trip Brom, giving Morzan an advantage and he knocked Undbitr out of Brom’s hand. Brom quickly ducked away from the fatal thrusts of Morzan’s blade.

“Was it you that made my Black Hand disappear?” yelled Morzan.

Brom was taken aback. Selena’s disappeared? “No, I know nothing of what has happened to her!!” Brom replied.

Morzan charged Brom again. Brom kicked out, knocking Zar’roc from Morzan’s grip at the same time as breaking his hand. The two riders rolled around on the ground trying to get the upper hand. Brom saw Zar’roc. He shoved Morzan away from him. Grabbed the ruby blade. Morzan charged again, and froze. There was a roar from the giant red dragon. Morzan stumbled backwards then fell over. Blood gurgled from his mouth, and he blinked. Then he was still, never to move again. Brom stepped forward and pulled the blade out of his enemy’s chest.

Then the red dragon was above him. “Kill me, Rider. Kill me so I can be with my Rider!!” the dragon said in a deep booming voice that filled Brom’s head. There was pain in the voice, pain that Brom was familiar with. The dragon stood still as Brom turned and looked at him, and with a quick stab of the sword, the dragon had gone to join his Rider. Brom grabbed the sapphire egg, which reminded him painfully of Saphira’s when he had first been given it. Undbitr was nowhere to be seen. So Brom took Zar’roc sheath off its previous owner and donned it. Now to get his love, to see what had happened.

Brom arrived at the estate and forced his way inside. “Selena? Where is Selena?” He asked the first servant he came across.

The servant looked at Brom with sad eyes. “The mistress has passed into the void.”

“What?” Brom yelled. It wasn’t real, it couldn’t be true!!

“Just this morn…” Brom ran down the corridors of the castle until he found the room in which lay his love. He begged the healers to tell what had been wrong.

“No… It can’t…” Brom spluttered, figuring out what had happened. Brom went to Selena and knelt down beside her and whispered. “I promise I will not let anything happen to our child. I will keep it safe from the Empire.” He kissed her frozen lips and felt his heartbreak. For the second time in his life, he had lost someone who he held dear.

Brom then travelled to where he knew Selena would take the child. And sure enough, in the village of Carvahall, with his Uncle and Aunt, lived Brom’s only child. After talking with a few of the villagers, Brom discovered the boy’s name. Eragon. The name of the first Rider.

“Wyrda.” Brom whispered after seeing Eragon’s gedwey ignasia, 14 years later. “It’s cursed fate that makes me break my promise…” He watched as Eragon disappeared down the snow-covered road towards his farm.

The Ancient Language

Gedwey ignasia – The silver mark of a Dragon Rider, normally on the palm.

Wyrda – Fates