Verity Vox and the Curse of Foxfire

“Eventually, desperate souls ventured off into the mountain in search of food or freedom. The few who returned whispered that among the horrors living in the hills, they’d met Earl, who looked less and less like the salesman that had arrived in the red wagon. He called himself king of the mountain and still offered deals. Stale bread for your health. Withered vegetables for your vitality. You wouldn’t starve, but you wouldn’t live either.”

The Prologue introduces the central conflicts and stakes of the narrative via the omniscient third-person narrator. The narrator assumes an impartial stance as they describe the events that have led Foxfire to its depressed state in the narrative present. Physically secluded and ruled by a wicked wannabe-sorcerer named Earl, the Foxfire residents have sacrificed their safety and families to stay alive. These are the circumstances Verity Vox encounters when she first arrives in the valley, the extremity of which is emphasized by the townspeople’s need for even “stale bread” and “withered vegetables.”

“Despite their differences, all witches share one very important, very powerful characteristic that sets them apart from other magic users: They are not bound to this world. This allows them to do small things such as make a broom fly, and, at the very height of their power, allows them to part the veil separating the various planes of existence and move between worlds in the blink of an eye.”

The third-person narrator accomplishes important worldbuilding in an organic way. Because the narrator is not a character in the story, they can freely describe the rules of Verity’s fantastical reality and magical capabilities without disrupting the narrative. In this passage, the narrator explains just how witching powers work, offering the reader valuable insight into the protagonist. This passage also foreshadows the sacrifices Verity will make when she gives her flying powers to Earl to save