The Games

I saw that Jennifer Nielsen, author of The Ascendance Trilogy, is giving a lecture this week at Salt Lake Comic Con about world building.  She is someone I'd love to hear talk on that subject, so if anyone happens to read this blog who is able to attend, please do comment and share her wisdom with us!

Thinking along the lines of world building, it occurs to me how games are used in books and movies to create a more complete world.  First and foremost, what would Harry Potter be without Quidditch?  The war games in Ender's Game?  That addicting game in Star Trek (yes, I am a nerd)?  Brandon Sanderson's recent novel, THE RITHMATIST.  And of course, THE HUNGER GAMES.  Obviously.

So, the prompt for this week: Let the games begin!

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My response:

Emma climbed up onto the dias and sized up her opponent as he stepped up across from her.  The national sized dias was large enough that even her keen eyesight couldn't make out his features, at first.  Her feet passed the first of the concentric circles marking the lines of the playing field.  This one, the outer circle and widest, was supposed to be the outer limit of where projectiles from the game might come.  Presumably, spectators standing outside the circle were safe.  Emma smiled.  They were supposed to be safe, but the closest spectators were another thirty feet behind her.

Fifty feet further, Emma stopped at a thin, black line.  On the outside of the line, lined up in neat rows, shields of varying sizes and shapes lay on the ground.  Emma looked up.  Her opponent was closer, too.  He was taller than her, but only just, though he easily had forty pounds on her.  If they got in a shoving match, her smaller mass could work against her.  Emma reached out a tendril of invisible energy from the pulsing core in her body and plucked three rounded shields from the ground.  Across the way, her opponent picked up two large, rectangular shields.

Emma blinked as a gust of wind drove sand against her cheek.  Why they'd had to come to such a remote planet for the Intergalactic Finals was beyond her.  She couldn't wait to carry her trophy back home.  Emma set her jaw and stepped forward, over the last circle.

It was one hundred feet across.  In the center, five balls, each just larger than her head, sat in a pyramid on the ground.  Each contained thousands of tiny, metal balls.  Emma's physical body lacked the strength to pick up even one of the large balls, but with her magic ... she could juggle all five in her sleep.

Emma stepped up to the balls.  Her opponent stood across from her.  She felt a jolt of surprise as she looked up into his eyes.  She'd expected to see the same hatred and arrogance she'd been fighting all her life.  Instead, she met a sea of sunshine and laughter.  His smile beamed from his eyes as much as his mouth.

"Emma of Arain.  I'm honored to play against you today. I've heard stories of you these past five years."  He reached a hand out, and Emma placed her hand in his.  It was nothing like the tight, cursory hand clasping she was used to.  He cupped her one hand in both of his, as if cradling a small animal, and bowed slightly.  "I am Aarek of Kris."

Emma shivered despite the heat of the desert sun.  He was trying to mess with her mind, that was clear.  Emma nodded quickly and pulled her hand back.  The audience might seem far away, but the hovering camera drones (cheap and disposable, of course) would take in every detail of their meeting and the game.  Emma wasn't about to let her discomfort show.

A great crack split the air, and both Emma and Aarek dropped into practiced crouching positions.  Let the games begin.