The title for this series (suggested by Jak Locke as I am terrible at titles) is a good one because while with last week's entry it can be said in disgust, it can also be said in pleasant surprise. This week's pick is the latter.
In high school, I was exposed to the fantasy genre in depth for the first time. While I had seen The Last Unicorn and loved it as a child, I didn't see any of the girth of 80's fantasy films until the 90's. I also started reading R.A. Salvatore's Drizzt Do'Urden novels and particularly loved The Dark Elf Trilogy, with its in depth exploration of drow culture. An evil society full of creatures who cared more about ambition than anything else, ruled by women no less, absolutely fascinated me. While I loved the character of Drizzt, I was actually more fascinated by his father Zaknafein, who also didn't agree with drow ways but chose to live within the society and prosper as best he could. I eventually decided to try my hand at writing my own story set in the Underdark. I think I was either 16 or 17 when I wrote this, though I'm not 100% certain. With less to nitpick, I've just included my thoughts about this one at the end.
The girl walked down the crowded streets. Today was the dawn of her twentieth year. This held no importance to anyone except herself and her mother, because after all she was nothing more than a drow commoner. She wore a hooded cloak, which covered her completely, and those who past her saw only her red glowing eyes. She was on her way to the house she served as a soldier. It was only the twentieth house, not very formidable, but the matron mother was known to be gaining the favor of Lloth, the drow goddess. The girl cared little of this, as this was the third house she had ever served, and no doubt would not be the last.
