Immortality Ignitability
Ju-long raced through the bustling marketplace, “Mei, he’s done it. Come on!”
The two children ran, bursting with excitement, to their mentor’s laboratory. Qing was absent.
“I can’t believe he finally found the secret. Has he really found a way to live forever?”
A grey powder sat in a dish amongst jars labelled as sulphur, charcoal and saltpetre. “Is that it?” Mei poked her finger into it and took a tentative sniff, nose wrinkling.
The door banged open and Mei jumped, knocking the dish flying towards the open fire.
“Duck!” screamed Qing as the room ignited in sparkling white light.
Comments without a personalized avatar will not be published.
To Leave Comments - Please SignIn with GoogleI love it, Carrie. I don’t know if I will laugh or I will cry for your protagonist. Their experiment is too dangerous – a mixture of sulphur, charcoal, and saltpetre will create gunpowder that will explode. I like the courage and fortitude of your protagonist, I see that they will be great scientists one day. It was a nice read. Nicely written, Carrie.
Thanks Lotchie. It’s thought that Fireworks were first created when alchemists were seeking immortality. Qing, in this story is the alchemist who first discovered the explosive nature of his cure for mortality ?
You’re welcome, Carrie. Oh! I am sorry to miss the history of the Qing dynasty, Carrie.
Comments without a personalized avatar will not be published.
To Leave Comments - Please SignIn with GoogleDon’t worry Lotchie, you didn’t. I believe fireworks were first accidentally discovered around 800 AD, so several centuries before the Qing dynasty ?
Wow! That’s cool. You are so knowledgeable, Carrie. You are one of the members here that I always admire because of your character, your talents and your knowledge. I am happy to be here in the Voice club because I am learning many things.
That’s kind of you Lotchie. Unfortunately I’m just a Jack of all trades. I do like to learn about things I see or subjects I want to write about, especially if I’m sharing them with other people. The Internet is a godsend with its wealth of information, as long as we remember not to believe everything we read on there! ?
Comments without a personalized avatar will not be published.
To Leave Comments - Please SignIn with Google ?
This story was great, Carrie, and based loosely on history, I think. As you said, the alchemists were trying for immortality, but it exploded on them! And fireworks were invented in China during the Qing dynasty. Nice weaving of fact and fiction!
Thanks Julie. Yes, this story is based very loosely on the invention of fireworks. I just liked the idea that they might have been discovered accidentally by the interference of a couple of nosey children ?
Comments without a personalized avatar will not be published.
To Leave Comments - Please SignIn with GoogleA very enjoyable story, Carrie, with a bit of history thrown in. Good read and very appropriate for just after the American 4th of July celebration. We had fireworks well into the night on the 4th and 5th.
Thank you for commenting. I love to see fireworks, but I don’t like when they are going off everywhere because it upsets the animals. It’s fun to think that fireworks may have been created in this sort of accidental circumstance
You have succeeded with a difficult task, Carrie: to write a story which is filled both with action and information. I had never heard before that this is how fireworks was invented. Also your title is a different one. We were talking about finding titles that stand out and are easily remembered. This is a good example of that.
Comments without a personalized avatar will not be published.
To Leave Comments - Please SignIn with GoogleThank you Christer. Yes, it is said that fireworks may first have been created accidentally by the Chinese alchemists when they were trying to created a cure for mortality, a philosopher’s stone of sorts. This situation is, of course, made up. But it’s fun introducing a little history into your stories.
Glad you liked the title, by the way. Sometimes I put loads of thought into a title and really can’t come up with something I’m entirely happy with. This time it just popped into my head and felt as though it was a perfect fit. A bit fun and quirky as I hope the story is too.