Here's what I'm thinking about. It's a spoiler for my upcoming chapter but I think its fun enough to share anyway. If I were to turn this in for this contest, I'd be looking for a better ending, but you'll get the idea.
Katerin stepped from the carriage at the sound of her name. The train of her silver dress followed her down the step and onto the ground. She twisted and lifted the train with a wrist strap, watching it flare in a perfect semi-circle.
The crowd within the stadium pounded on their seats, clapped, and hooted in approval. A quick glance at the masses was all she could afford. More than half the city was here, watching her.
Showtime. Katerin found her mark by the stone steps leading up to her podium. She took a deep breath and felt her heartbeat slow. It was time to perform. She couldn’t think of anything but the performance. Not the danger. Not the risk of discovery. She had to be ready to move despite the rush of power that was about to smack her between the shoulder blades.
Holding arms out from her side, Katerin waited until there was a lull in the noise. Her hands lifted like a conductor, and she gave the signal to the members of her school where they arrayed in an even semi-circle, waiting in the stands. The wand against her forearm warmed as it reacted to the focused power of all the students in her school.
The Keynote. That was the name Katerin had for this wand. Carved from the heartwood of a dead mage’s staff, it could gather and tune the wands of every student who carried a piece of the same tree’s sapwood. No one in Katerin’s school had been a mage born to their power. Instead, each and every student had been made, forced into a mold that served the wand in Katerin’s hand.
The first time she organized a concerted effort from all the students, Katerin had nearly fainted from the rush of power. No wonder the recently deceased and unmourned Mistress Alina had insisted on grand shows and spectacles to be performed several times a year.
Was this what it was like to be a god? Katerin had to wonder as she stood with her arms outstretched and looked up to the sky. She turned her head to the side, following a predetermined cue.
Magic swirled around her dress, heavier than the material. Wings peeled away from the arm, lifting into the air as individual feathers came into view. An illusionary hawk preened on Katerin’s arm, turning to look her in the eye.
Silver light glittered across the bird’s delicate shoulders. So close to the illusion, Katerin could see the crowd through the empty eye sockets. Delicate threads of her dress fabric were visible along the bird’s breastbone. Sunlight flared on the hawk’s crest, amplified by another student who specialized in the multiple ways to refract light.
The dress patched itself, threads repairing the hole as if it never existed.
Katerin launched the bird into the air. Light as a feather, the hawk flapped and gained altitude, circling around the stadium. The students controlling the bird’s flight had it soar over the upraised hands of onlookers.
A single voice began to sing, pure and holy as it echoed against the stone walls of the stadium.
The crowd hushed, realizing there was more to this show than merely a bird.
Katerin began to take slow steps up the stone walkway.
With the students concentrating on her every movement, Katerin could see through their eyes. The dress rippled behind her, fabric wafting in an invisible breeze. She continued to hold out her arms as a flurry of tinier birds fluttered from the train and lifted into the air. Restless and unsettled, the flock could be heard chirping and scolding each other.
A flurry of birds separated from the dress and fluttered up to rest on Katerin’s outstretched arms. A light brush of silk let her know that one was in her hair.
She took another step up the stair. The birds lifted en masse and swarmed to the sky, brighter than the sun.
Lighter than before, Katerin’s dress unleashed flight of creations in the shape of butterflies. The skirt split, revealing both legs to the hip. Her garment was by now was only single swathe of fabric, looped around her right shoulder and falling to her left hip. The other free end of fabric fell between her legs, flaring out behind to supply the train. A skin-colored undergarment protected her dignity but left few details to the imagination.
Hand signals brought the hawk nearer, flaring as it hovered above the smaller birds.
Katerin reached the top of her stairway. She brought her extended arms together and slapped her palms together in a point. By now, the dress was completely different, transparent and shimmering behind her back in wings that floated like a creature of myth.
The singing swelled louder, lifting to a climax.
The bird on her hair pulled the pins and released Katerin’s elaborate braid, allowing her blonde hair free from its bonds. She pointed to the illusionary hawk and then slashed her arm in the direction of the flock of small birds.
The crowd howled, anticipating a sacrifice.
The hawk stooped and dropped, targeting its prey. Emerging with a silver victim in its talons, the bird returned to Katerin’s outstretched arm and dropped the prey into her hand.
The bird settled and then disappeared in a glittering mist. When Katerin could be seen again, her arm was covered by the silver fabric once more. Each one of the birds came back to roost on her arms and shoulders, returning home despite her power over their lives. Each creation disappeared, weaving themselves into the dress as if they’d never been.
