While reading a story in one of my current favorite series, I got to a part where the magic using main character had to go collect an item that would allow her to use her magic more efficiently. It isn’t actually a stone, like in the prompt, and yet it sort of is. It is definitely magical, whatever it is.
What caught my attention in regards to this prompt was the fact that while these “stones” were everywhere, no one could see any of them other than their own. They were absolutely everywhere in this place, but as the main character walk toward her destination and others found the stone that belonged to them, she saw nothing until she came to the very end and found hers.
When I read about it a part of me just stopped and said, “What happens if someone dies before claiming theirs?” This was never addressed that I could tell and probably won’t ever be addressed. My guess is that they either are still there or they disappeared, maybe over time, maybe as soon as their intended owner died.
The idea in this prompt is pretty straight forward. There is a specific place that is full of magic. In this place is some sort of object, such as stones, that each have an owner. I’m not sure when these came into existence in the story world of the series I was reading, but for this prompt, the idea is that as soon as they are, so is the stone for them. As it is specific to magic users, this could also mean as soon as they have magic or as soon as they have more than a certain amount. Because of the way I worded the prompt, it is not meant to mean once they start using magic unless they can use magic without this object.
The character mentioned in this prompt can see the stone belonging to people who died without ever claiming them. This was meant to show some sort of special connection to the dead. Maybe by claiming these stones as their own, they can use necromancy to bring back the dead as zombies and control them. Or maybe they are able by touching them to bring the recently dead back to life.
I think this prompt has the potential to bring about a very interesting story. I might use it in something if I find a place it will fit or I might not, but I am definitely interested. What do you think happens to the stones when someone dies without claiming them? Does the character in the prompt find them to be ordinary magic stones or are they changed by the death of the person who was supposed to be their master?