Misfortune - One

US Air flight 345 nonstop to Baltic City cut through the cloud cover. A small metal plate designed to shield an unimportant conduit rattled in the wind. It had come loose sometime in the last few flights and the high speed wind proved too much for it. It shook loose and fell toward earth, unaware to anyone.

“Come princess! The ceremony will start any moment!” Lydia said clapping her hands together. She wore a long full robe with the colors of a royal court attendant. A small pair of spectacles were perched on her petite nose. A rainbow snake with feathery wings fluttered and swooped around her, occasionally pausing above her shoulder.
The princess, Sophia by name, turned as she put a silver pin in her golden hair. She wore a deep purple ceremonial gown which seemed to change hue when she moved. She had just turned 18 a few months before, and she was a beautiful young woman with a shapely body.
“I’m quite ready Aunt Lydia.” Sophia replied as they both walked toward the main hall where the Ceremony of Summoning was to take place. The ceremony took place every year among all of the nobles of Trailia who had turned 18 that year. Its purpose was for the young nobles to summon the ruechc that would be their advisor and protector for the rest of their lives. And so Sophia readied herself for her turn.
They walked down the hall and saw the entrance up ahead flanked by armed guards. Lydia spoke out the side of her mouth to her niece. “Remember, no matter what you summon, smile and treat it as if you fully expected it. Show no weakness towards the crowd.”
Sophia nodded. Ah yes, she thought. This year was different. To prevent stagnation of the ruling line, the heir of the throne would have to defend their birthright against other nobles the year that they participate in the ceremony. Her family had held the throne for five generations, and she was determined to make it six.

Stanley walked from the copier room towards his desk. It was on the fritz again; all of his copies had a big nasty black bar on the side. He sighed. He was the king of bad luck. Just that morning, he had broken his shoelace, had his car towed away, and his dog ran away. Ok, his dog ran away a week ago, but still.
He reached his desk and sat. He tossed his copies aside and stared at his computer. The screen was black, so he wiggled the mouse to bring it back from its sleep. Nothing happened. After a quick check he discovered that his computer had died. Just what he needed.
A woman came by and tossed a report folder on his desk. “Peterson says these aren’t complete. You need to look them over.” she said and walked away.
“Not complete? I worked on the report for three days!” Stanley said to himself and leafed through it. Soon he found the reason it was returned and jumped up.
He ran down the hall and busted into his boss’s office waving the report in the air.
“What the heck is this?” Stanley replied flustered.
Mr. Connell looked up from his newspaper at the interruption. Connell was at the most 25 years old, and was Stanley’s boss purely on the grounds of nepotism. The odds of seeing him work were about as good as the odds his father left his huge office upstairs to check in on him. Needless to say, it was slim.
“That looks like the report I told you to do yesterday. What of it?”
Stanley flipped a few pages down and flashed it to Connell. “See this part here? Where you were supposed to put in the budget numbers? What did you do? Just hand it over without even looking at it?” Stanley fumed. In fact he was sure that was exactly what he did.
Connell raised an eyebrow. “I see. Well, why don’t you take care of it for me? Be a friend.”
Stanley ground his teeth. He wanted to tell him off, but he knew it wouldn’t do him any good.
“Better get to work on it. If it doesn’t get done by five, we’ll both be in a lot of trouble.” Connell replied before going back to his paper.
Stanley turned and stormed out. He means I’ll be in trouble, like he’d take any flak for it.
Upon reaching his desk he found that someone had carelessly thrown a stack of papers on his desk and had knocked over his coffee. Now the brown sticky substance had permeated his entire workload. As if he didn’t have enough to do.

Stanley ran down the hall. The report was finished without a minute to spare. He had to get it to Peterson before he left for the day. He saw him down the hall and he smiled. Things were finally looking up for him. He dashed toward him, but tripped on a file cabinet that someone had left open. The report he held flew from his grasp and the papers scattered around the office. Scrambling, Stanley tried to gather them up as a gust of wind from an open window reached in like the hand of fate and snatched his livelihood away. Standing mouth agape as half the report literally flew out the window; Peterson strolled up and leaned against a wall.
“So,” he said, “Have that report for me?”

Walking down the street holding that small box that contained all the personal items that once adorned his desk, Stanley moped. After all that time working for them, they just cut him loose like that. They even decided to make him pay for the computer that had fizzed out on him. Just his luck. Something cold brought him out of his thoughts. He had stepped in a puddle, soaking his pant up to the shin. Where had the water come from? It hadn’t rained today…
He turned the corner and it became clear to him. The fire department was working putting out a huge blazing fire. In his apartment building. Or better yet, his apartment. Stanley dropped his box. He was ready to give up. He was done.
Looking up at the sky, he screamed, “What more do you want of me?!”
Suddenly the world went black as a scrap of metal with the words “Property of US Air” embedded itself into his head.

With practiced grace, Sophia walked out to the center of the main court. Her father, King Jerod, sat in his throne behind her. His ruechc sat beside him. It was a regular beast, about the size of a large dog. It had huge jowls through which two tusks jutted through. Though it looked fat and pudgy, Sophia knew that tough sinewy muscles lay underneath. Upon its back, there was a set of wings. They looked much too small to give the beast flight, and in fact that was the truth. Inexplicably, every ruechc in Sophia’s family had a set of wings, useable or not.
Clearing her mind, Sophia glanced around at the others in attendance. The entire royal court and a few privileged towns’ dwellers were watching her every move. Taking a deep breath, she nodded. Might as well begin.
She started to dance, moving as if to music only she could hear. After a few moments, crystals appeared around her. Each one was a dusky purple color, and adorned with a single word in fanciful lettering. This was the heart of the ceremony. As she continued she touched a crystal causing it to vanish. She touched another and another, dwindling the crowd down until only one remained. She stopped with a flourish in front of the remaining crystal. Opening her eyes she read the word that would bring her ruechc into existence. In silver letters read the word: MISFORTUNE.
Remembering what her aunt had said, she made no outward expression of surprise. Only she was close enough to read it. Words weren’t good or bad. Her father’s word was GREED, yet his ruechc was good and generous. She just had to continue.
With well rehearsed actions, she weaved the summoning spell and the crystal began to glow. She moved her hands faster and faster as the glowing intensified. Cracks formed along the crystal and it started to shake. Suddenly Sophia stopped, and the crystal exploded. The shards turned into light and vanished. In the crystal’s place was a small creature, slightly reminiscent of a ferret or weasel. Its fur was grey with black stripes swirling unnaturally in a spiral from nose to tail. A set of ethereal wings, a washed out pink color, floated detached above its back. Sophia had successfully summoned her ruechc.

Stanley slowly opened his eyes. He found himself staring at the face of the most beautiful girl he had ever seen. Was he dead? Was he in heaven? After a second or two he noticed just how large the girl was compared to him. She was like ten times his size. He looked at his hands, but was alarmed to find himself staring at two paws. He franticly glanced around and saw about a hundred people staring at him. His eye twitched and he fainted.