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And So the Story Begins... (Sagashi and Aiko)

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(note: this is a repost of an early puzzle I submitted. This has a lower piece count for those who prefer easy puzzles. There is also a higher-count version as well, browse my portfolio!)

I often have ideas for stories ... and I often create images to illustrate points in those stories ... so this is one such image (I often call images like these "doodles" -- since they might have an unfinished look to them).

The plot of this one was a kind of mix of Narnia and Alice in Wonderland, but I wanted to go in a less traditional route once she's on the "other side".

(apologies to Japanese speakers ... since I used Google Translate to the Japanese phrases I needed --- this story would have started in Japan)

----------------------------

Aiko had chased her cat, Sagishi, across half the town, through fields and was now climbing Sosen no Oka (Ancestor's Hill). Sagishi had stubbornly ignored her calls.

It was getting late and the darkness would be coming soon. Ah, finally! Sagi had stopped at the old moon gate that topped the hill.

Everyone said it was the remains of the entry to an old estate from the 1850's but as a child her grandfather had told her stories that the gate was over a thousand years old and no one knew who built it -- it might even have been built by the gods! He said the hill was haunted and that strange things happened here. Grandfather always was one to embellish his stories.

The sun was sinking lower in the sky -- she remembered today was the summer solstice.
She approached Sagi who now sat calmly on the step before the gate. "Don't you even THINK of moving! It's time to go home."

Just as the setting sun touched the horizon a sudden bright flash of light appeared in the old stone ring, an electric crackle like a peal of thunder split the air and the smell of ozone surrounded her. It was like the gate had opened to ... somewhere else. Through the electric haze she could see the stairs continued upward and she remembered the name her grandfather had for the old gate: Tenhenokaidan (stairway to the heavens). With one last look back at Aiko, Sagi turned and jumped through the gate.
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Comments

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dbnc2

I am so glad I clicked on your puzzle today you should be a author your story is so good I read ebooks and enjoy them I will sure be looking for more of your puzzles l do small puzzles because I have a 10 inch tablet
Thanks for posting

carolsmc

Derek, I have children in my life who would devour your story if you were to complete it. It fits their love of immersing themselves in fantasy/adventure to a T. That it has a female protagonist who lacks superpowers but learns to use her humanity to solve her problems and that of others is a wonderful feature. In addition, your illustrations are absolutely captivating and your writing engaging and direct but not condescending. I strongly encourage you to complete your story and seek a publisher.

bjondron

Well thought out! I now can see where you are going. Far more advance in the details than I would be. My magical powers eludes me. But I do love your stance on the important of helping others! It nice meeting you.

dgcarlin

@bjondron -- Sagashi becomes more a secondary character and disappears for a good chunk of the story (see earlier comments below) -- abandoning her out of bitterness of what he has lost while away.

That leaves Aiko on her own and (via some undecided mechanism) far from the gate, so most of the story is her attempt to get back to the gate in time. Of course we'd have to throw some kind of protagonist in there who is trying to thwart her, possibly needing to take her life for some dark magic, etc. We need a threat that would prevent her from returning home, and/or threaten the friends she's made along the way.

When she finds out her grandfather was originally from the other world, she has fairy-tale princess dreams of being royal, or perhaps having special abilities --- only to find out she's quite ordinary, not even capable of any kind of magic. She would have to win her way back by learning physical combat skills (?) and being able to forge alliances (probably from helping others along the way), until she builds up a small core group of companions who want to help her get to the gate and return to her world.

That was a key point for me about this story in my head ... that so many of these stories have the protagonist turning out to be super-special, either by magical ability, family lineage, or fulfilling some prophecy -- and I wanted to avoid those story-lines. She's an ordinary person who has to achieve a goal by very ordinary means -- where along the way she learns the importance of helping others, accepting help when you need it, and "the power of friendship" (though that can also be somewhat overdone in children's books). Sagashi would redeem his abandoning of her in the final act, having come to terms with what had happened to him (maybe by sacrificing his life to let her return home?)

One issue I had was the periodic opening of the gate. If she misses the opening this time, what's so bad about that? she just waits a year and tries again (of course, failing to get through, maybe it becomes a series of books at that point, each one about an attempt to get home, but that would become repetitive). So there would have to be some reason why she has to make it through the gate at the next opening.

bjondron

I can see with the locked time on the other side it 's would be hard to resume. Choices now is either the adventures of the Sagi now, or how Aiko fills the time.

jubatis

Oh no, The tension is killing me where did Sagi go? Who will care for her? Aiko will wonder where her little friend went for ever lost in a place and to time!

dgcarlin

@100Darklldo -- if you didn't already find the higher-count versions, this link will find all 3 versions:

https://www.jigidi.com/search.php?q=dgcarlin+aiko

bjondron

Our minds are so capable of carrying us above and beyond what most of us realize. I love, no...even more than that, cherish this wonderful style of writing. To sit and read of another world, to get away from our harsh reality. There are many reasons for reading them as there us for writing them. You have things so well thought out. Nice to meet you!

100Darklldo

Oh dear :( I didn't want the puzzle to finish. I'm going to have to find the larger version of it, it's beautiful. I have read your story and can see just how much promise it could have if you ever decide to go ahead with it. I think you have magic in you :)

dgcarlin

@RandyWI -- thanks. when I was (much) younger, had dreams of becoming an author.

and the "trick" of the for her to return? she's crossing at sundown of the summer solstice (and the gate is only open from the moment the sun touches the horizon until it disappears ... which depending on your latitude is anywhere between 150 to 200 seconds). But that is only to travel from our world to the other (the land of NeverWonder?! :-) ).

The grandfather had crossed to our world at sunrise of the winder solstice (gate is open from first light until the sun clears the horizon). At each solstice the gate can only be crossed one way. Indeed, Aiko's first reaction at being in "another place" after coming through the gate was to turn around and walk back ... she can see her world through the shimmer of the gate ... but trying several times, she finds all that happens is she steps the other side of the gate in that world, like walking through a projection.

The grandfather knew the gate opened at the solstice (that's a magical time in many cultures even here on earth), but he assumed coming back at winter solstice he would be able to return. The gate looked like it was open, he could see through to the other side, but when he tried to walk through, nothing happened.

On each summer solstice, the cat tried to get the grandfather to go by meowing at him and tugging on his clothes, but grandfather never got the hint. (allowing for humorous exchange when he tells Aiko about it once they have crossed over: "you know how many times I tried to get him to go at the summer solstice!! But he always thought I was hungry and put another can of tuna in my dish! Do you know how much I hate tuna?!!")

So in my mind it was kind of sad for the grandfather to be in exile (for maybe 40 to 50 years?) while a way home was always "easily" available. And it shows the cat's dedication to the grandfather, that while he knew how to return home, he was unwilling to go without the grandfather.

So once on the other side the cat (Sagashi) tells Aiko that she must return to the gate for the winter solstice sunrise ... this means she's "stuck" in this other world for 6 months (lots of time for adventure and making friends and enemies), and gives a deadline pressure for her to get back to the gate in time (of course soon after arriving, she's somehow taken/drawn away from the gate area ... she just can't stay in one place for 6 months :-) ).

RandyWI

Wow, I am in awe of the creative and fantastical way your mind works. i am already a fan of your story, even without it being all fleshed out and wrapped up with a tidy ending. Will also be checking out your other puzzles too.

dgcarlin

@gerdje17 - glad you liked it. you might want to have a look at some other fantasy images I've created and posted here to jigidi... you can use this shortcut link:

https://www.jigidi.com/search.php?q=fantasy+dgcarlin

@RandyWI -- that's the problem with me and my stories. I can come up with premises, even work out a story arc for what I would want to say... but have never had the talent to then flesh it out into a full blown work.

In this case the story is kinda a mix of Narnia and Wonderland ... she finds herself in another world. Turns out her grandfather was originally from there and arrived in our world when he was young. He spent years trying to return through the gate, but never knew the "trick" needed to return. The cat (suspiciously long lived) was actually the grandfather's companion at the time -- in trying to stop the grandfather from coming through (he knew what lay beyond), he fell through the gate with him.

But while humans were able to pass through the gate more or less unchanged, those that were "magical animal/human hybrids" would revert to their base animal form in our world -- so the cat lost his power of speech (and cat-human form) in our world. He had suspected all along the "trick" to returning, but could not tell the grandfather -- other than meowing at him. When the grandfather started a family in our world he gave up on the idea of ever returning home.

It's not clear in my mind if the grandfather was still alive for this story or had recently passed on. Some story elements might be told as flashbacks to Aiko's childhood, when Grandfather would tell her tales of a wondrous magical land, full of adventure and magic, only to be revealed there were actually stories of his home world.

One would expect that once Aiko got through the gate to the fantasy realm that she would find she was descended from royalty or had some special ability -- but I didn't want to go in that direction .. she would find she was just the same, an un-special human, now in a world facing magical/supernatural threats. Sagashi (the cat), returning to his home would find most of his family was now gone, and was estranged from grandchildren he never got to know. So, becoming bitter, he abandons Aiko at that point (but would redeem himself at the end in a climactic attempt to help her return to her world).

The story would develop into a quest tale of her trying to return to her own world, but she would find she must rely on finding those who could help her do so (so a "build a team of heroes" type story?) ... along the way finding that even though she was "ordinary", she still had the ability to help and influence others, which is not an inconsequential thing to do.

I've done a couple of story art image series on Jigidi to see how people here would react to a story being told through a series of puzzles (as you complete each puzzle, the solution-text gives you the next piece of the story)

The first (and completed) one is the story of "The Last Albert", which you can find with this search: https://www.jigidi.com/search.php?q=dgcarlin+last+albert

The second, and still being developed, will be longer and going under the working title of "Tara's Quest", which can be found with this search: https://www.jigidi.com/search.php?q=dgcarlin+taras+quest

This one was a stand-alone image, being one I did a few years ago, so don't know if I would ever flesh it out as a story sequence of puzzles.

Many thanks dgcarlin for this very beautiful puzzle !

RandyWI

I love the illustration and now I would love more of the story.

Isaly2

What an amazing illustration. I so enjoyed working the puzzle. Thanks for sharing your amazing talent with us....

eagleboi

I must agree with Jerry on the exquisite illustration, your story is like a serial when we'd go to the movies as a kid, a continuing short movie from week to week, Flash Gordon comes to mind lol. Thanks for sharing with us. Have a great day,

jerrys

@dgcarlin Thanks for another exquisitely detailed illustration...right down the cat's butt! Stay well and enjoy the journey between worlds.

carolsmc

Thanks, Derek. I'll give it a look and expect to find wonderful pieces!

dgcarlin

@carolsmc -- glad you liked it. You can find some of my other "fantasy" work using this search link:

https://www.jigidi.com/search.php?q=fantasy+dgcarlin

Recently I've been reposting some older puzzles in different piece counts ... some people want more pieces, some want less. :-)

carolsmc

This is wonderful, Derek! I cannot imagine what a completed work must be like if this is a "doodle." I appreciate your offering the lower piece count because I work the puzzles on smaller devices and my vision isn't what it used to be. I loved seeing the details of this piece when it came together and your story seems off to an enticing start.

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