(Monthly) Short Story Writing Prompts Submission Thread

Looks great! You worked hard! \(^^)/

Hmmmmm... I thought of trying to give feedback on the revision, but I didn't see much I could reply to... I started making replies to some points, but then I realized I was just nitpicking, so I stopped... I liked it anyway! >.<

Figured I would at least post the 2 nitpicks I got before I stopped.

Those "school" are too close to one another, I think you don't need to say the 2nd one, it is implied by the context.

Feels weird for him to call the counselor old man, when he already recognizes him as young on his inner dialogue.

Some other adjective (like flashy), would probably be better! >.<

 

Here's a synonym for that.
"Cutting class" has the same meaning, it also alliterates.

 

@AliceShiki Thanks for pointing those out! I'll fix it up after eating lunch. ^_^
@NZPIEFACE That's another good way to put it. When editing, I'll see how it flows. Thank you!

 

April Theme: Valor
Title: Day of grief
Summary: Basically a prequel chapter to my March theme writing: Tangled in lust and deceit.

Spoiler

“These witches, they are abomination,” the chief inquisitor hysterically orated to the watching crowd. He turned and lashed the leather whips in his hand at the tied-up witches. There were five of them, two women who appeared to be in their twenty and thirty, the other three, girls in their teen. They were each tied to a wooden log with a pyre of hay stacking beneath their feet.

The whip lashed and the witches groaned, crying in pain. The three girls screamed and cried the moment the lashing whip tore through their skin, the middle age woman hollered and the watching crowd excitedly cheered on. But the final witch just silently gritted her teeth and glared at the torturer with hateful eyes.

“They are devil spawns. These things brought disasters to us, they brought bad harvests to us. They dooms us all,” the chief inquisitor reacted to the cheer of the crowds and whipped harder on the poor women while holding onto his scepter with his free hand. He rained a malicious fury of lashes especially on the defying woman, whip after whip as if forcing a groan of pain out of her lips, but no, he got nothing from her. The chief inquisitor spitted angrily at the woman, then rained down his wrathful lashes on the other four witches just for the sake of exciting the crowd and they did. The crowd cheered for the chief inquisitor for delivering the justice upon the sinners.

The chief inquisitor was completely protected under the invisible veil of Sanctuary, a military grade defensive spell that developed by the Great Temple. At each of the four corners of the execution ground, a team of five inquisitors stood, maintaining the barriers of Sanctuary. Their defensive set up was perfect.

Even if Fearless and the band of witches were to strike, they would fail miserably. They could not take down that Sanctuary with a mere 50 witches. But, the Sanctuary was the least of the worry that Fearless and his band of witches had. This execution ground was set up for an ambush against the witches of the Sisterhood of Ember. There were inquisitors hiding among the watching crowd. There were paladins and inquisitors lying in ambush in every building surrounding the town square. The Temple set up the execution as a bait to lure in the biggest fish, Matilda Scarlett, the leader of the Sisterhood of Ember.

Fearless held Matilda’s shaking hands tightly to keep her in check. Matilda was visibly angry. Her teeth gritted and grinded against each other. Her ruby eyes blazed in an undying wrathful flame. Behind her, forty cloaked witches hiding under the shadow of the alleys shared the same sentiment. They could barely contain themselves from plunging straight at the fat and ugly inquisitor and putting his miserable life to an end.

“Not now,” Fearless quietly told her as he did not let go of her hand while signaling the remaining witches to stay their hands.

“How long do I have to wait?” Matilda asked, did not even turn back to look at Fearless. Hey murderous eyes glued to the execution ground.

“Until I see the signal,” Fearless replied, gritting his teeth. He was not a fan of graphic violence, never was and probably never will. The scene unfolding before him was too much for him to take once his brain told him that it was not fiction and it was all real. It told him that what he is seeing at the moment is all real, one hundred percent real. It is not a movie or some kind of recreation. It’s real. That tied up witch was whipped for real. That blood splashed on the execution ground was real.

Unlike Matilda who was shaken with anger, Fearless, he was shaken by the crazy scene before him of a man whipping and lashing the witches at the enjoyment of the crowd.

The public whipping went on and on, never seemed to stop. It stirred up the sadistic chief inquisitor. He spoke loud in boom voice, cursing, blaming and humiliating the witches in front of the crowd. The crowd went from hysteric to frenzy. All the cursing, and yelling at one point transformed into a powerful chant, “Burn, burn, burn.”

“Burn, it is,” the Chief inquisitor tucked the whip at his waist belt and received a torch from one of his minions, “May the fire purify these foolish sinners.”

“May the fire purify these foolish sinners.” The crowd chanted

At this moment, Matilda had enough of waiting, she violently yanked her hand of Fearless’ grip and took out her battle broom from her cloak.

“Wait,” Fearless held her back immediately, “Wait,” he begged.

“Unhand me,” Matilda struggled to free herself from Fearless, preparing to risk it all to save her fellow witches. Matilda would not give up on one of her kind. She would not stand to see witches die in the flame of the Great Temple even if they were strangers to her. It was a stupid decision and Fearless has told her again and again that it was a stupid decision but, Matilda would not change her mind. If Matilda saw a witch dying, she would save them.

At the very of his peripheral vision, Fearless saw two column of smoke rose from the sky.

“Blue smoke,” Fearless muttered in his rattled voice, staring at the signal and so did Matilda and her witches, “Inna fail. They fail to capture the grand bishop.”

Only now, Fearless could heard the very sound of his erratic beating heart as his fully shaken voice. This is bad, he thought, this is really bad. His plan to capture the grand bishop as hostage to exchange for the captured witches went down the drain. What should I do? What should I do in this situation? Give up those five? Yes, give up those five, they are as good as dead now.

“We should regroup,” Fearless proposed his fallback strategy to Matilda. The moment he said the words, he knew that it was bad. His voice was completely rattled and had no persuasive power.

“No, we will save them nevertheless,” Matilda said, freed herself from the weak grip of Fearless’ sweaty palm, “Sisters, ready your broom. Charge!”

Fearless instinctively tried to grab hold of Matilda’s hands but what he grabbed was the air. Matilda was already like a loose arrow. Fearless stood motionless and watched the scene in horror as Matilda and her witches charged straight at the execution ground, riding the wind with their battle broom. Hot wind licked Fearless’ face as though mocking his incompetency at reasoning with the witches.

“A useless coward like you should stay behind,” Rosie’s mocking words lingered in Fearless’ eardrums and so did her gloating smile as she joined the charge with her sisters.

“Stay right there,” Moira’s worrying voice echoed in his mind. Fearless tried to grab her to stop her from joining the charge but she shrugged his hand away. She looked into his eyes for one moment and followed her sisters.

Burn down those houses first, Fearless tried to scream but his voice did not come out. The horror overtook him. He could not stop them. He has failed them all. He has failed.

Forty one flaming orb discharged straight at the inquisitors, forty one flaming orb dissipated in midair upon contact with Sanctuary, popped like water balloons.

“Witches,”

Someone among the crowd of watching people screamed in warning and immediately, the crowd turned into a confused bunch of termite in the rain. They screamed, yelled and ran for their dear lives.

Matilda and her witches quickly pumped another red hot volley of palm-size flaming orb at the inquisitors, did not work this time again, the orbs popped when contacted with the invisible barriers and did nothing to the servants of the great temple.

“Demon spawns, you have finally arrived. And here I thought you dare not come to save one of your own,” the chief inquisitor cackled in his shrilled voice.

“Release them or I will vow to make you suffer a fate far worse than death itself,” Matilda threatened while ordering her witches to spread out to surround the inquisitors.

“Can you?” The chief inquisitor grinned wickedly, “No, you can’t,” he laughed like a madman and dropped the torch in his hand on the bundle of hay stacking at the feet of the tied up witches, “No, you can’t.”

“You…” Matilda was seething with anger, she conjured yet another pair of red hot flaming orbs in both of her hands and launched them at the chief inquisitor. The surrounding witches mimicked Matilda and launched their own barrage of flame orbs at the inquisitors.

Futile, Fearless thought, and futile it was. The flame orbs yielded no result against the invisible barriers of Sanctuary.

The hay caught fire quickly and the tied up witches, their cries and screams echoed along with the crazy laughter of the chief inquisitors. His eyes were the reflection of unadulterated madness and perverse. His laughter was that of a devil mocking on the misery of people.

Matilda desperately kept discharging her flaming orbs at the invisible barriers in one moment, swooping down and slamming at the barriers with her battle broom in the next to no avail. She could not crack the barriers.

The chief inquisitor laughed harder at the meaningless effort of the witches and raised his scepter skyward to cast Illumination, a spell that produced a harmless orb of light. The orb of light passed through the invisible barriers of Sanctuary and produced a blinding light on the sky.

It was a signal, Fearless realized it for what it was. Immediately, the windows of the surrounding buildings around the execution ground flung open. The gleams of arrows and bolts spelled doom to Fearless. The blue and red glows of spells at the tips of magic scepter in the hands of paladins made his stomach churned. He knew Matilda and the witches were doomed.

“Kill them all,” the chief inquisitor shouted in his booming voice and hell broke loose on the witches.

Bolts loosed, arrows flew, fire streamed and lightning cackled. Like pigeons that got hit by pea shooters, the witches fell of their battle brooms and dropped to the ground. Thud, thud, thud, that terrible sound reached Fearless’ ears and lodged there, refusing to ever move. It was a cacophony of screams, dead throes, and laughter. It was the most vivid depiction of hell that Fearless has ever witnessed.

What are you doing? Fly, you fools.

Fearless wordlessly screamed.

Matilda got hit by a bolt in her back. She instinctively flew to the sky to avoid the projectiles that pelted at her and her sisters. But when she looked down at the horrific scene, she swooped down on her battle broom, hoping to save as many of her sisters as she could. She threw her flaming orbs at the enemies, while trying to grab the hands of her grounded sisters.

It was hell. The witches that was still on their broom tried to fetch and save the witches that fell off, only to be felled off by bolts and arrows.

A blast of lightning tossed Matilda off her broom and into the ground.

No

Fearless screamed but his word did not come out. He ran a great number of plans in his boggled mind in hoping to salvage the situation. He could leave these many injured witches to their fate and the mercy of the inquisitors, and then trying rescuing them with the remaining witches who failed to capture the grand bishop, very implausible. How about just try to get Matilda out and convinced her and the rest of the Sisters of Ember to travel south? No, what was he thinking? Matilda’s still out there under the pelting rain of arrows, bolts and spells.

And then, an idea suddenly dawned to him. Not really an idea, because it was dumb, seriously dumb. But Fearless didn’t know any better.

Fearless began to run toward the execution ground, or so he thought he was. His legs glued to the ground, rooted, unmoving. They were shaking and rattling, soft as noodles. His heart loudly sounded the retreating drum as if it would burst out of his chest to escape if it could. His eyes were balls of lead, toxic and heavy.

Run, run, run, you fools. What are you doing? Run.

Fearless flailed his weak arms against his noodle-like legs, hitting and hitting.

Run, run, run, you fools. What are you doing? Run.

He yelled at his own legs, telling them to run, but the treacherous pair refused to listen.

Run, Matilda is dying, the witches are dying, run, please run.

Fearless begged. Ironically, the legs were more logical than the brain. They knew what’s up and they refused to listen. Fearless weakly rained punches on his treacherous legs and he hollered. His tears felt like hot mercury, filled his vision and rolled down his cheeks. He didn’t know that a man can be so miserable. He didn’t know he was such a coward of a man.

Run. Save them, please.

Suddenly, he made a step.

Run

Before he knew it, Fearless was running, running straight into the pelting rain of bolts and arrows, hollering and screaming unintelligent sounds.

Something bit him in his back, something tore through his rib cage, something needled through his knee and Fearless dropped. Fearless groaned and scrambled, looking down at his knee, an arrow, he howled and doubled, clutching his impaled knee. His vision blurred in the redness of pain. The pain, it was excruciating. He coughed and spat out to clear this throat, he saw red, a lot of red. His back felt like burning, whatever it was that stuck inside his back must have punctured his lung. He coughed and blood came out with his saliva. Blood came out of his nose. Blood was everywhere.

The world was painted in red, spinning and spinning like it never did before. Fearless suddenly felt his mortality. His life was spilling out of his body. Something struck him in the back again, twice this time, he coughed blood.

Moira, Moira’s was within his arm’s reach, her beautiful amber eyes were staring straight at Fearless. Moira, he called her name, tried to but only gargling red bubbles. Fearless reached out for her, straddling her cheek with his red stained hand. Her soft cheek felt hot to his cold and wet fingers. But she did not respond. What happened to her? Fearless’ line of sight drifted down her beautiful lips, over her delicate neck and her ample voluptuous breasts, and he realized. An arrow cruelly stuck in her chest where her heart located.

Moira was dead. She would never told him that his joke was lame, ever again. She would never smile for him again. She would never again let him hold her in his arms to chase away the cold. Moira was dead.

A bolt suddenly struck Moira’s body, lodged itself deep into her beautiful neck. Fearless turned his sight away from Moira to understand what was going on. They were still fighting. The witches were still fighting and the paladins and inquisitors were still fighting.

Matilda, Fearless suddenly remembered her and scanned around. The wounded figure of Matilda who was trying to scramble up to her broom branded into his eyes. Fearless gritted his teeth and crawled, lurched forward bit by bit.

Closer, closer, just a little closer, Fearless told himself as he gritted his teeth to crawl forward.

Finally, he was within the range. Fearless raised his hand, targeted Matilda and tapped into his first unique skill,” A STRANGE CHOICE”.

A golden beam ripped through the air and pierced through Matilda’s chest before bouncing off in all sort of directions to pierce through the chest of the surrounding witches.

Back then, when the famous ESPORT writer and broadcaster Jimmy Holland interviewed Fearless and his The Alliance gaming team, he asked what sort of magic they would like to have if they were tossed into the world of “Reign of Chaos”, the members of The Alliance laughed.

One wished for a power to drop a huge meteor down on his enemies and vaporized them completely. One wished for the ability to freeze the sea to let his armies travel through the frozen sea. One wished for the magic to brainwash thousands of his enemies and instantly converted them into his own units. One wished for the strength to rival hundreds of thousands soldiers.

Jimmy Holland would then respectively make his comment to each answer as,

“That’s great.”

“That’s understandable, I sometimes have the same wish.”

“That’s so wicked. You sir belong to the world of hentai anime.”

“That’s so manly!”

“And what about you?” Jimmy Holland turned at Fearless and asked.

“I wish that I can heal my own units and perhaps give them some buffs as well, I guess…”

“A strange choice,” Jimmy Holland commented, “A strange choice, especially for someone like you,” he chuckled.

Fearless saw Matilda looking at him and the golden beam that bounced around the execution ground. Lightning cackled, hitting her head on in the face but immediately warded off by the golden beam. Bolts hit her, arrows struck her but the golden beam protected her.

“Grab your broom and fly,” Fearless yelled. He stood up. His hand pointed at the sky. All the excruciating pain he felt until this moment seemed like an illusionary hallucination. His booming voice echoed the execution ground, muting the sound of cackling thunder and exploding balls of fire and even the roaring chief inquisitor.

And the witches instinctively obeyed Fearless’ commanding voice. They flew. They scrambled for their battle broom and flew. Some grabbed their sisters and escaped to the sky.

Fearless turned his sight at the chief inquisitor who was pointing his finger at Fearless and commanding the servant of the Great temple to put him down. And Fearless ran. He ran toward the chief inquisitor. Bolts did nothing to him. Arrows avoided him. Flame and lightning bounced off him. That golden beam, the same gentle golden beam that protected the witches now protected him. He was invulnerable, invulnerable for as long as that golden beam remained.

Fearless ran as the golden beam around him started to fade. He raised his hand, pointing his forefinger at the chief inquisitor and initiated his third unique skill, “MYSTERIOUS CONTENDER.”

The scenery suddenly warped and Fearless looked at the chief inquisitor being turned into pincushions by dozens of arrows and bolts. The fat inquisitor squealed like pigs at death door, roasted by flaming balls until a lightning hit him and made him shut up forever. The ambushers became noisy, horrored by the fact that they have just killed the chief inquisitor.

Fearless was inside the Sanctuary. He just switched place with the chief inquisitor. He didn’t think that it was feasible to use this skill against the Sanctuary. But it did. Somehow it did.

Fire burned in front of Fearless. The five captured witches, they were screaming in agony, their pyres were lit. The twenty inquisitors who maintained the barriers of Sanctuary stared at Fearless with bewildered eyes. And so did the minions of the great temple, they were neither inquisitor nor paladin, just some lowly temple guards. They brandished their spears at Fearless, trying to prevent Fearless from doing what they suspected him would about to do.

Fighting the temple guards, Fearless could not do that, he did not have skill or training to do so. But the immobile inquisitors, he could do it. They were immobile and stuck with the maintaining of the barrier. They could not just simply stop channeling their mana for maintaining Sanctuary. Fearless took out his rusted knife in his belt and launched himself at the nearest group of five.

His rusted knife stabbed through the stainless white robe of one man, right in the stomach then quickly plucked out to find its next victims. He did not know he had it in him to do such thing. His hands were to hold mouse and keyboard, to play the piano, to do magic tricks, to pleasure women, never something like this. Red blood stained the white robe of the inquisitor, he doubled, unable to continue with the channeling. He dropped to his knees and crumbled, jerking from the effect of rebounding mana. That was the consequence of forcefully disconnected from the mana channeling of a military grade spell. The rebounding mana hit him like a truck. The poor bastard jerked on the floor as froth came out his mouth.

Fearless immediately buried his rusty knife into the shoulder of the next inquisitor, pulled out and buried it once again into the man’s back. The poor bastard crumbled to the floor, clutching to his stabbing wounds before suffered from the rebounding mana. Fearless quickly dove his knife into the next inquisitor, the bastard forcefully stopped his channeling to evade the knife, great effort, stupid decision. The bastard went through the same experience that the previous inquisitors did, he buckled to the ground, spasm as the rebounding mana hit him full force. Fearless did not think twice and dug his knife into the stomach of the next inquisitor. The woman coughed, still trying to not lose her focus to save herself the mana rebounding. Fearless stabbed her again and again to disconnect her until the temple guards ran through his back with their spears. He dropped to the ground, still holding onto his rusty knife. He lurched forward, stabbing into the thigh of the last inquisitor in the group of five and stabbed into his calf. The man doubled in agony and before he understood it, he twitched violently, suffered the same fate of the four people before him. All of a sudden, the remaining fifteen inquisitors inside the Sanctuary dropped on the floor, twitching and jerking. Losing a quarter of their number made it impossible for the rest to maintain the spell. Sanctuary was effectively dispelled.

The temple guards kicked Fearless, twisting the spear tips in his body to make him suffer for what he did. Fearless gargled blood, but he thought that he was really lucky, because the cool down for his first unique skill has just finished. He turned at one of the captured witch and casted “A STRANGE CHOICE” on her. A golden beam quickly tore through the chest of the screaming girl, bouncing through the other four tied up witched and Fearless himself. The pain was no more.

Fearless rose and turned back at the bewildered temple guards. They had the look of not understanding anything. In their hands, the remained of what once a spear, wooden stick with no iron tip. It seemed that “A STRANGE CHOICE” completely dissolved all the foreign objects inside his body for the healing effect to work properly. Fearless looked at the sky, still seeing the hovering shadows of the Matilda and her witches. They did not abandon him.

“Matilda. I have neutralized the barriers. Help,” he shouted at the top of his lungs before jumped into the burning pyres. He bundled up the burning hays in his arms and tossed them in the direction of the temple guards while the golden beam still enveloped his body.

Under the protection of the golden beam, the flame did not hurt him nor the captured witches any longer. A temple guard launched his damaged spear at Fearless, he felt nothing and did not batch an eye. Fearless tried to cut the rope that bound the witches with his rusty knife. Harder than he thought, he sawed the rope with the chipping edge of the knife. The first rope broke loose, the oldest witches of the five was free from her binding. She was almost topless. Her robe was badly damaged by the fire, crumbled pieces by pieces to the ground like dirt, nevertheless, the witch showed no sign of fear or shame. She looked at Fearless as if she was expecting for his order.

“Can you use magic?” Fearless asked.

“Yes, I can,”

“Take these guards out,” Fearless coldly told her and moved to cut the rope for the next witch.

The middle-aged witch bowed to Fearless and immediately conjured a flaming orb to the size of an obese goose. That was some impressive mana manipulation, Fearless thought. At such terrifying sight, the guards ran, but the giant orb was faster. It exploded on them, turning them into human pyres.

A lightning bolt hit the middle aged witch head on. But she was unfazed, completely protected by the golden beam.

“Don’t worry about being hit. You are safe as long as that light enveloping you. Take those pigs down as well,” Fearless commanded and managed to set another witch loose of her binding

“Thank you,” the young witch spoke. She was a young girl, probably in the age range of 17 to 18. Unlike the middle aged witch, this girl spoke to Fearless like a terrified squirrel. She shyly used her arms to cover her exposed chest.

“Can you use magic?”

“No, sir”

“Help me untie the other,” Fearless told her and started cutting the rope for the next witch.

The middle age witch conjured yet another super-size flaming orb and launched it at a house which the paladins and inquisitors were hiding. That house exploded into a sea of flame in an instant. The remaining paladins and inquisitors immediately retaliated.

The inquisitors launched a barrage of arrows and spells at Fearless and the witches around him. Unlike Fearless and the two mature witches who have understood the effect of the golden beam, the young witches cried and screamed out of reflex.

The golden beam was still enveloping their bodies, but not much longer, Fearless knew and hastily trying to saw at the rope of the other mature witch.

“Why are you going so far for us? You are not a witch,” the other mature witch asked. She was the same witch who refused to make a noise even when that pig of an inquisitor lashed and set fire on her.

“And I thought you was a mute. You did not make a single noise even when that pig set you on fire,” Fearless angrily retorted, gritted his teeth to saw harder at the binding rope. The woman’s confronting attitude irked him for some reason.

What take Matilda and the rest so long? Are they getting down here or not? If not, just bombed those houses already for god sake. Are they abandoning me?

Fearless could see dozen of paladins ran out of their hiding place, swords gleaming in hand. While the inquisitors released yet another barrage at him and the witches. It would take more than a single witch to stop all of them.

Fearless timed that the effect of his “A STRANGE CHOICE” skill was about to fade and he immediately set up his second unique skill, “YOU CORNY BASTARD.”

The scenery before Fearless warped again. This time, he did not switch place with anybody. He transitioned himself to a different dimension that completely separate from the previous one.

“Where are we?” A young witch yelped in surprise.

Traveled with Fearless to the different dimension were the five captured witches. Also, it was only normal that someone would ask such question because this whole brightly space was extremely weird. The ground, the ceiling, the scenery surrounding this strange pink colored space were full of heart shapes, polka dot shapes and flowers and Shoujo bubbles pattern. Just like all of his unique skills, Fearless’ second unique skill was also a parody on his character.

His first skill “A STRANGE CHOICE” was a parody of his interview with Jimmy Holland. His third skill “MYSTERIOUS CONTENDER” was a parody of him mistakenly took the seat of another pro-gamer during his very first All-star appearance. Similarly, his second skill was a parody of his secret love for Shoujo manga and Korean melodrama. Other than Fearless’ ultimate skill which played a tribute to his game career, the rest of his skills were lampooning at his character.

“We are safe for the moment. Help me to remove the rope,” Fearless told the oldest witch. In less than ten seconds, they managed to free the remaining two.

“We will be transported back soon. I can’t keep us here forever. Those who can use magic, stand before me. Have your spell ready. Those who can’t, stand behind me,” Fearless gave his order.

Wordlessly, the witches obeyed. The two mature witches stood in front of Fearless. The oldest witches casted her monster-size fire orb and just waited to launch it. The other mature witch, who had a confronting attitude, she conjured two palm size fire orbs and had them ready. Surprisingly, the witch who appeared to be the youngest of the bunch also stood before Fearless, she managed to cast a pair of fire orbs and have them ready as well.

“Ready, 4,” Fearless started the countdown to let the witches know when his skill would end “3, 2, 1,”

Fearless has expected a swarm of confused paladins and inquisitors standing on the execution platform waiting for him and the witches. But no, there was no paladins or inquisitors. There were only witches, fire, ashes and corpses.

Matilda was there with the remaining of her band of witches and so was Inna with the fifty witches under her command. Embers drifted through the execution ground as fire burned down houses in the surrounding area. The witches had won the day.

That night, there was no laughter at the camp. There was tears, sorrow and burial fire. 18 witches lost their lives in that conflicts.

Fearless wept for every single one of them, especially Moira. He wept for Moira. She was the only one among the Sisterhood of Ember who really accepted him as who he was. She did not see him as a man, someone who was not a witch but one of her own, a member of the sisterhood.

That night, Fearless thought to himself. He could not be a military adviser for Matilda and her witches any longer. He had to be their leader.

My march short story:

Spoiler

Maria could feel the intense heat licked at her body and coiled around her wrists through the tangling wet bind. Her knees burned by the scorching sand. The ground below her seemed like a stove, scorching and smoldering as it pumped one wave of disorienting heat haze onto her face after another.

“Tell me, do you believe in gods?”

“This lowly one prays to no god. Prayers are things for weaklings to cling to,” Maria tried to feign bravery in a last ditch of effort as she gritted her teeth to conquer her inner fear.

“How unfortunate! Was you a believer, the gods would have advised you to not test my generosity. Was you a believer, you would not suffer this shameful defeat.”

Maria inadvertently raised her head to have a good look at her enemy for the first time. There sat a man whose appearance was the very darkness itself in the scorch of high noon. His eyes and hair were like the very reflection of a starless night. The man wrapped himself in a strange looking costume, dark and shiny was the fabric, Maria had never seen that kind of fabric before. Strange symbols and words were embroidered on his costume in golden thread, vivid and seamless like nothing else Maria has seen. Overly bore was the man, he paid Maria no attention. Under the shade of two canopy, he casually fanned himself with a swan feathered fan as he leaned back on his luxurious assorted chair in the middle of a sandy beach.

“I gave you the opportunity to surrender,”

“You did,” Maria admitted, squirming a little from the tight binding that has been continuously dug into her skin.

“Twice,” the man said, playfully smiling and flirting around with the two beautiful women who stood behind him, holding a large canopy to shield him from the burn of the high noon, “Twice, I had sent envoys to give you the chance to surrender. Each time, you slit the throat of my envoys and sent back their heads. There is nothing I want more in this moment than put your pretty head on a stick and make an example out of that. The people of this southern continent would sing my name for a century for doing so.”

The man spoke softly to Maria with a flirtatious tone while playfully fanning his two beautiful women. The way he spoke that last sentence was like as if he was requesting Maria for a night rendezvous. It sent a chill to Maria.

The two women who were flirting with him, they were doing that while guarding him without leaving a gap. They were his royal guards, witches who were held utmost contempt by the Great Temple, arsonists, monsters wearing human skin, each of them could take on a hundred of men as Maria has learned in their most recent battle.

Maria stared at the man while silently gulping. Her own head and the two thousands heads of her subordinates were resting on her shoulders.

Maria, the Black Storm. She gained a notoriety for becoming a pirate lord that commanded the Black Mast- a raiding force of over two thousands pirates and regularly leaded them into many raids across the coastal area of the southern continent. She struck fear into the heart of every man and woman of the seven kingdoms of the southern continents, especially those who live in the coastal area.

A great many times, the kings and queens of the seven kingdoms have formed a coalition, uniting their navy forces to assault Maria and her Black Mast in their main base at the Black Skull island, not once they were anywhere near achieving it. The geography of Black Skull Island made it so that it was extremely easier to defend than assault and those who weren’t familiar with the water would have their ship sunk by the shallow shoal and natural reef that surround the island. The entire island was a natural fortress for Maria and her pirates.

She was invincible. Her Black Mast was undefeatable, that was until this man whose appearance was darkness itself came. He came with his army of witches, flying above the Black Skull Island on their brooms, and turning the island itself into a raging inferno. Maria and her crews abandoned their burning fortress and ran for the beach, hoping that they could reach their boats in time and that was where they were routed. A thousand pike-men and bowmen waited for them at the beach along with a hundred of witches hung above in their brooms. Maria and her crew had to make their choice, to die in the flame or die at the pike or surrender, and most of them chose surrender wisely.

“So this is Fearless…” Maria bitted her lips and swallowed the frustration of her shameful defeat.

A man who dared to openly challenge the Great temple and fought for the witches. A heretic among heretics, slayers of paladins and priests and the king of witches. Fearless, that was his name.

Maria has faced knights and nobles, none terrified her like this man. Even though, she was so sure that he would not kill her like he said. If he wanted to make an example of Maria, he would have done it by now. Maria knew she still had her uses, that’s why she could afford to feign her courage and protect her dignity in front of her crews.

“You would not kill me, wise lord,” Maria spoke adamantly.

“Oh, I would not be so sure about that,” the man smiled innocently and looked directly at Maria for the first time.

“Nobody know the water of this entire southern continent better than me. If you allow me to live, you will gain a… “

“Naval commander? I have already had one. Why do you think that I succeed in locate your fortress and fell it in my first attempt of conquering it?” the man interrupted. His eyes half closed. His lips curved into a flirtatious smile, “I have already had one excellent naval commander. I don’t need another, especially one as infamy as you.”

“Wise lord, surely you…” Maria shuddered and immediately tried to reason

“Maria, my sweet Maria, I will let you know that I am an impatient person. Make it fast so that I can go home and have my afternoon nap,” the man once again interrupted Maria.

“My Black Mast would only listen to my command. Let me live and you will have two thousands men at your service,” Maria sweated and bit into her lips to stop her teeth from clattering. She did not expect the man to not even considering making her his naval commander.

“I don’t need that many men. In fact, what I am about to do after I’m done with you is culling their numbers. I will make them fight among themselves, killing each other and cutting their size into a number that I see fit.” The man chuckled as he waved his fan, “Surely, I can’t expect to control 2000 rowdy and undisciplined seadogs by myself all at once. But, I can easily do that with a three hundred or so, don’t you think? And for the other 1700, I will put their head on a pike to appease the anger of men and women of whom you plundered, robbed, raped and killed.”

The man said the most dreadful thing with a childlike innocent smile on his face.

The man rose from his chair and approached Maria. His witches alarmed and tried to prevent him from doing so but he casually shrugged them off, waving his fan,

“Maria, oh sweet Maria.”

His whisper gave Maria chill. Her body suddenly felt cold despite the scorch of high noon she felt until recently. Her knees went soft like jelly fish and she weakly crumbled into the burning sand before her, or so she thought she would but instead found herself in the cold arms of darkness itself.

“This is your last chance,” whispered the man into Maria’s ear as he slowly combed her messy and burned golden hair with his slim fingers, “Tell me, why else should I keep you alive?”

The man asked as his two witches dragged him back to his luxurious chair and sat him down. They admonished him and then stared at Maria with angry eyes. The man broke into a childlike laughter, playfully pulled the witches at him and sat them down on his laps. He coltishly kissed the witches as they giggled, and flirtatiously planted a kiss on his cheeks in respond.

As Maria watched the scene unfold before her, she knew the answer.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

You dumb woman. Don’t make me kill you. Don’t make me kill you. Damn it, don’t make me kill you.

Maria, the very Black Storm herself, she appeared as a neutral noble turn pirate character in the tactical roleplaying war game Reign of Chaos. She can be recruited as a follower upon defeating at a cost of raising the ire of all the seven rulers of the Southern continent of whom kingdoms she constantly raided.

Why would someone go through such trouble of recruiting her? Recruiting her meant going to war with the other six kingdoms of the Southern Continent at the same time. Why should I recruit such a character? One might ask such a question and I can only answer to such question with a question of my own, “Why not?”

Surely, recruiting her meant declaring war against roughly half of the kingdoms in the southern continent and her loyalty rating is atrociously low in the 30s which meant she could easily turn against you at any crucial moment. Also, despite Maria being a capable naval commander, making the top 40 best naval commander in a colossal roster of over 300 naval commanders in the game, there were many other characters with better stats and skills that can be recruited for that position.

But look at her, the gods can be damned, seeing her in real life, she was drop-dead gorgeous, a thousand times prettier than her in-game illustration. Her tan skin was glossy and soft like honey, stirring the desire to lick and savor every bit of flesh on her body. That cascaded golden hair even when disheveled and damaged by fire and ash did nothing to diminish her beauty if not erecting the perverted desire of a man to own and dominate her.

My god. It was as if a goddess had descended from the Heaven. This woman possessed a beauty that worth waging war against the world. I meant who care if she was a psycho bitch who commanded 2000 pirates that looted, plundered, killed and terrorized an entire seven kingdoms. Who care if she had a terrible personality? Who care if she would later stab me in the back? She's worth it. Her beauty would make even the Helen of Troy in the Iliad hung her head in shame. Standing in front of such beauty, even the like of DiaoChan of the three kingdoms era would hung herself to dead out of jealousy.

In concern of being charmed by her beauty, and made disastrous decision, I had to keep my eyes away from her. I had to pretend flirting with my royal guards and when I looked at her, I had to look at her forehead, pretending making eyes contact with her.

Sir Eliot, the queen’s eyes who silently stood in a corner to detail my every action to the queen disapprovingly raised his eye brows when I approached Maria, and my royal guards had to pull me away from Maria to save me from myself. Sir Eliot would never allow me to let Maria live because that was the queen’s decree. Maria must die.

Maria, oh sweet Maria, I can kill you but I can also keep you alive. Since this world is no longer a game, but a reality, my reality, I can go around it, cheating it so that I can have you without raising the ire of the kings and queens of the seven kingdoms, that also including the queen that I served. But you, Maria, my dumb woman, you have to play your part in this. I cannot save you if you don’t how to save yourself. I have given you a clue so please do me a favor and don’t make me kill you.

“Wise lord, please allow this humble self to live. I will forever be your slave and possession. I will be your woman, your bodyguard, your animal or whatever you desire me to be. Please spare me,” Maria prostrated flatly on the ground as she begged for her life.

Bang, I inadvertently hit my palm full force against the chair’s arm rest and made the people around me flinched. Even Sir Eliot who stood at the corner of my vision flinched.

“Fuck,” I inadvertently cursed a loud, clutching at my feathered fan tightly to keep my composure. And it turned out that my composure was crumbling at the blinding speed as I spoke in a burst, “How can you be so shameless? Even if you are being shameless, how can one have this little shame in oneself? You are supposed to appeal to me, but not for your life, it’s the lives of those two thousands men of yours over there. You are supposed to plea to spare the lives of your people. That is what it means to be a leader. That’s how a leader take responsibility.”

“Lord, but you…”

All the testosterone in my head vanished in this single instance, replaced by the pure coldness of the mind.

“Maria of the Black Storm, you are a devilish and shameless woman. I sentence you to death. Guards, take her,” I waved my fan and a row of witches moved forward to grab Maria.

“Lord, please, no…” Maria begged as she was being dragged away by the witches.

“General, you can’t kill her here. We have to bring her back to the capital and public execute her there,” Sir Eliot ran over and kneeled before me as he advised.

“You good sir, how can you endure such shamelessness? There should be a limit to how much shamelessness a person can be. Public execution is too good for the like of her, that way, she would appear in another paragraph or two in the future history books. That is undeserving of her. I refuse to allow that to happen.” I waved my hand and coldly stated.

“General, Her Majesty the queen states that the Black Storm is to be escorted to the capital and publicly executed once captured alive. That was the royal degree.” Sir Eliot bowed as he looked back and forth between the dragged away Maria and me.

“Sir Eliot. I’m afraid that you will report to Her Majesty the queen of what transpire to day as follow. I chop off the Black Storm’s head and put it on a stick, that's it. I will not argue with you any further about this good sir”

“But general…” Sir Eliot had that torn look as he watched Maria being dragged to her execution platform, knowing that he could do nothing to change my mind.

Maria struggled for her dear life as she was dragged away by the witches. She kept begging me, “Lord, have mercy,” struggled and struggled as the witches dragged her up to the execution platform and at one point, she won, tumbled over the platform and dragging the witches with her.

“Knock the living out of that shameless woman for me. She keeps getting on my nerve,” I ordered and the witches with their reinforced battle brooms received the order, clubbing the day light out of Maria Black Storm. Once Maria became bloody, tattered and completely immobile, the witches would resume dragging her body and tossing her over the chopping block.”

“I will leave the remaining matter to your able hands, Sir Eliot. I find no stomach in watching how the head of such a shameless woman would roll. As for those 2000 seadogs, do with them as we have been discussed,” I rose from the chair, “You can have this chair and the canopies. It’s better for your health to work in the shade.”

“I have received my order, general,” sir Eliot replied.

“Good, I will go back to my mansion now and have my afternoon nap. Once you are done, visit me at my mansion for the report.” I walked away as soon as I finished my order.

As I walked to my carriage, I looked at the lifeless and bloody figure of Maria the Black Storm on the chopping block of which retained none of her unearthly beauty. I sighed languidly and never looked back at her figure again. At the edge of my vision, an executioner aligned the execution platform with a large execution blade hung over his shoulders. As I was about ten steps away from my carriage, I can hear a clear thudding sound of the execution blade hitting against the chopping block.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

“This lowly self has really thought that she was going to die.”

Gold was her cascading hair, honey was her skin. She dressed in the red and gold of the witch battle dress, an extreme good compliment for her curving body, turning her into a bundle of flame which men would strive to touch even if they know they would be burned to ashes. A drop of crystal rolled over her cheek and a charming smile spread thinly on her lip as she snuggled into the chest of an unfamiliar man.

“Maria the shameless died today, that’s a fact,” the man replied, “From now on, you are Aria, my naval battle advisor and concubine to be,” he said and wrapped his arms around the woman’s thin waist, playfully kissing on her nape.

“My lord, you should have killed her, not sparing her like this. The queen is a smart person, she would see through this deception. As your military advisor, I must tell you this again.”

The man turned and saw an angry woman next to him. The witch battle dress she wore gave off a different vibe compare to the other woman. She looked pretty, like a doll. Her skin was pale and satin like. Her hair was gold, not the gold of molten gold like the other woman but platinum gold like that of sun light. Her sapphire eyes reflected a flame of anger. The man immediately tried to appease her, gently straddled her cheek with his hand, “It’s alright, Louise. She’s smarter than you and definitely smarter than me, that’s a fact. But it’s also a fact that her mind is not flexible as you or as wise as I am. We will be fine,” he said, kissing the doll-like woman on her lips.

“One day, you might be brought down by your lust, my lord,” the woman said her pieces and resignedly kissed the man.

The words of the doll like woman spelled like a prophecy for that man.

Even though he understood that, he could not help it, such was his nature, such was the star he was born into. He was Fearless, the ex-pro-gamer who was known to his fans as the Magician not because of his incredible play style but because he was also a magician in real life. But that was the thing in the past, now, he is Fearless, the Pacifying General of the Blue Moon kingdom, the great heretic, and the king of witches.

 

A bit late, but this is my story from March... I have a feeling I went quite off-topic, but...

My idea for the topic was too depressive, I ended up changing to this one.

Genre: Slice of Life... Maybe?
Word Count: 1405
Title: There is no Need to Escape

Spoiler: There is no Need to Escape

I wonder how many people can say... "Life Sucks".

Well, I think I can't? I mean... My job isn't thaaat terrible, my family isn't thaaaat disagreeable, my friends are pretty... Okay. No successful love life yet, but I'm still young.

And yet... I'm... About to get fired? Away from my family? Called missing by my friends? It's like...

Why do I need to bother with all those things when... I just have a way better world available for me?

Recently some mad scientist or something finally developed the Ne*ve Ge*r, I mean, nobody made S*ord Ar* Onli*e yet, but hey... Full Dive VR! Isn't that amazing!? Of course it is!

Then people made those pretty... Meh games, like... Yaaaay, so... Meh! Meh meh meh! It was worse than N* M*n's Sk*! It was the worst! All a bunch of rushed poorly made things that promised a lot and did nothing! Boooo!! Eletron*c Art* is ridiculous! Shoo shoo!

But then came this new game from a no-name company... OMG, it's so soooo perfect!!!

An almost infinite world, a sense of touch that felt super close to real, graphics that looked just like RL, AIs so intelligent that they were nearly undistinguishable from humans... It was AWESOME!
Or rather... It IS awesome.

There is just way too much stuff... Like, how did they make this kind of thing? The content seems inexhaustible, the playerbase grows daily, and yet everyone can always find something new, something unique, something nobody else had found... How come?

I want to see more, I want to live it more, I want to explore this infinite fantasy world that is right in front of my eyes.

But someone needs to pay the electricity bills, right...? And the monthly fee to play the game too... And the food... And... Why can't I just win on the lottery?

And that is how I founded the merchant profession... It was first a pretty small thing, like... Just getting an item that nobody found before and someone just happened to see it and was so so desperate for it that offered me 100$ for it... I mean, sure, I like having unique stuff but... 100$! Would you look at that!? Of course there was the issue of maybe it never being paid, but... I gave it a shot... And yay, I got the money.

Then I found another... And wondered if I could sell it to that guy again... He was broke though, so it was a miss... But mentioning it out on my guild ended up getting one of my guildies to buy it for 30$... A lot less, but... Hey, it's money!

Then I got one more, and sold it for 80$ to a friend of a friend of a guildmate. That was nice.

I ran out of luck later though... I mean, sure, there is tons of stuff that are unique in this game, I have no idea how the devs did it, but they did! They did it and I love it!
But to actually find it... Well, you need to search a lot, and on the most bizarre places... Sooner or later you run out of ideas on where to search for things near your level.

One day though, I just so happened to see a guy, that was really high level, announcing that they were desperately needing to sell all of their gear for money to pay medical bills or something, it was in the middle of a town, but well... How many people end up buying this kind of thing? It could be a hacker trying to earn some easy money as far as they could tell, especially because the guy's level was pretty high, but he wasn't in any of the well-known top guilds... I ended up getting close to him though, and talked a bit, said I knew one person or another that might be willing to buy it, but that I needed some sort of assurance in case this was actually trouble.

He gave me 25% of the profits... So I talked to my guildmates, to that guy that first bought my unique item, and they spread the word a bit... And before long, the whole gear of the guy sold for 3000$! I earned like... 750$ from just talking to a few people? God, that was amazing. It seems the guy needed 2000$ to pay those bills though, so this somehow solved his problem too... It was nice.

A few days later my guild leader PM'd me to check the subre*dit for the game... I had no idea what it was all about, but I did it... Well, the guy was happily announcing how thankful he was to CuteAndLovelyDevil123 (me) for helping him sell his stuff, that he could pay his little sister's surgery and that her life was saved and some other stuff like that... I was like... Okay, thanks, but did you have to out me as doing real money transactions in-game? I'll get my account banned now. I mean... That's always on the Terms and Service of pretty much any game, right?

One of the game devs ended up commenting on the thread and said that it was totally fine because the game didn't have microtransactions anyway, so nobody could spend any more than the subscription fee, so they didn't mind people spending their money on bartering with other players, rather, they were quite happy that this kind of thing led to such a wonderful happy ending.

... The following days I was flooded by a bunch of PMs of people trying to sell stuff through me, and well, I didn't have nearly as many contacts as to buy that all... I mean, it was pretty amazing that me and my guildies found enough people to spend 3000$ already. The subscription for this game was "only" 50$ after all...

Until I got one PM from someone asking me if anyone was trying to sell an item that had X stats... And the magic happened from then on, making a buy and sell red*it thread with me as mediator to assure that the money will be properly paid... And well, I got 5% of the money from each transaction.

Business boomed and I somehow now spend most of my time in game actually traveling from one place to another to fetch items and deliver them to people on the other side of the continent, or farther... Really, no teleport gates do make things a lot more fun, I see tons of new things!

Where was I though... Ah, right! I was almost losing my job... Yep, I mean, I'm earning more from selling items from other people than from working, so... Why would I work?

"But daughter! What if you got scammed!?" I can't get scammed mom... I get the money and the items in advance...
"But what if the game goes bankrupt!?" It's the most popular game in the world already... By the time it goes bankrupt, I'll have enough savings for a lifetime.
"But what if people stop spending this much from the game!? This relies too much on others!" Yeah? And so does every single store on shoppings and the like... They're doing well.
"It's bad for your health to play games all day!" Moooooom!!! Come on...

This and other annoying pointless things like... "You missed your niece's first birthday!" It's not like she would remember it anyway, and I had an order that was 3 weeks late already because of a kraken destroying the ships that led to the Northern continent, I couldn't simply leave it be now that I was so close to delivering it. Or "You don't play D&D with us anymore!" I mean, why would I play D&D when there is a whole world for me to explore!? Or "You didn't even appear at your grandfather's funeral!!!" like, really? Who likes seeing dead people anyway, I'd much rather finish this order, the client needed the item for a hard boss ASAP.

Really, people got so many complaints about such a bunch of pointless things... I'm working, I'm playing, I'm having fun while getting money, what's better than that!?

If my life didn't suck before, now it is great! I don't want to sacrifice that for boring everyday life! I don't need to escape from this "evil game", I just need to dive more and more into it!

Now I should actually update the first post of the submission thread with April's theme...

 

I think it was a pretty nice story, it was nice seeing the whole development and the desperation turning into victory.

If anything, I think it lacked some basic details about the setting... As in, you provided them on the story from March, but on this one they seemed to lack a bit...

It looks nice as a prequel, but weird if one were to look at it as a standalone story! >.<

 

Thanks for letting me know your thought. I was writing this one story as a saga in reverse chronological order and then when i see the theme for April short story, i was like Why not? Yeah, it was a terrible idea if you look at it as a stand alone

 

Ooooooh, nice! I didn't know you had more planned!

Have fun with it! \(^^)/

 

April Theme: Valor
Title: untitled
Word Count:900 ish
Summary: Is this a prologue or a epilogue? the start or the beginning? does it even relate to the theme? well I guess the answers to these lie within your heart, since I myself don't know

yeah, I have no idea, where i was going with this, but I'll post it neverless.

Spoiler

The world is mundane, that is the truth, no matter where you go where you are, and it will always be that way.

Even the sharpest blade would blunt from the passage of time and its constant use. That’s what life is like, where situations once thrilling become dull, and you get use to what use to be extraordinary, leaving you with only the ordinary to be content with.

I have seen it, Heroes rise, and their acts of bravery in battle of physical prowess as well as mental capacity, fighting with weapons as well as words, their adventures and tales unfold before me.

I have also seen it, the passage of time, their tales told, passed down and on, spreading, granting fame and reputation.

Inspiring others, to be like themselves.



The foolish and those skilled, both delude themselves with tales of grandeur, unknown what lies ahead, most of their stories never told.



But some, some are lucky, skilled, knowledgeable, just enough to reach that dream that they have, to fulfil such a thing, to live thought it.



But those that do, they do not belong to this mundane world, they see it the way I do, they feel it. How the world itself is dull, that when the fame and reputation, glory for their actions have faded from the mind of others, where the world adjust itself.



Where they are no longer unnecessary, forgotten by most, and neglected by the very few that still know, their prowess, their deeds going unnoticed, spurring them to gain it back, to go back basking in the light of the world.

The words of adoration and praise, whispering thought the populace, respect and envy where ever they went.

They, who were elevated to the peak, now crashing down, in start a mad rush to climb, back up,

Consumed by their desire, to return, to stay, to before….

Their minds, slowly being warped and twisted into that of a mad mans, like a moth chasing the flame.

Those that fall behind and lose sight of the flame, doomed to live in a pitch black world, alone and isolated, their chasing leading them to territories unknown to them, lost.

Those that reach it hold it in their hands, grasping it triumphantly, only to see the light, illuminates the path came, the path they have taken, and only when the light of the flame begins to burn, they realise.



Then there are others, whose legends doesn’t die out, the shouts and applause continues, the respect they are given weighing on them, slowly getting heavier.

Those who spurred on by such things continue, going deeper, to places never seen before, achieving even more feats.

The joyous cheers now sounding like roars, becoming louder and louder as they find themselves go deeper and deeper. It starts to begin drowning out all other noise, and eventually their very being.

Each time its steals a part of them, exchanges it, slowly replacing them, destroying their sense as they sink down, until they feel nothing else but the cheers and the pressure a burden too heavy to withstand.

Until they break. They stop no longer going down, no longer have the strength to even hold their position and start to floating back up, unrecognisable, expressions of fear and terror on their faces etched before their final moments.

The longer they endure, the long they suffer, suffer until they can’t do it any more, all of them, those that desperately try to endure and those that just let go.



Then there are those that adapt, free themselves from the fame of their deed before it chains them, leaving it, never looking back, never returning. They just leave, recognises the nature of the world, recognise their own humanity, their limits.

Smiling that, infuriating smile, one of acceptance, the soft gaze from their eyes, the one that allows them to see the world for what it truly is, and the one that can see how their current actions affect the future, not blinded by pride, accomplishment or naivety. That “well it’s hopeless” accepting expression, knowing that they reached the end, that it was their cue to exit. Leave it all behind and never return, going away to search for a world where they truly belong…..



Alice put down the book, drops of tears staining the page as she did, mixing with the freshly applied ink of the last few words on the page. Candles which soft white flames danced upon illuminated the scene. Behind her various books, of various sizes were lined up on an old book shelf, the wood it was made of purple in colour, sprouting tiny braches and leaves on the sides of it. The books, they seeming to contain the biographies of different people, each of them holding a title formed by a weird, exotic name, written in a different style and language not commonly found. Near the end of the book shelf, there was a space, just big enough to fit one more book on.



She swept her eyes through the books on the shelf, before glancing down to the one she herself was holding, lingering on it, the tears on the page had dried now, she got up and placed it, next to the others, in the last slot remaining. She gazed out the window, to the night sky, where the great thousand worlds took their place among the stars. And she made up her mind……..

 

So mysterious... o.0

Feels like a story about a cycle, something that constantly repeats forever and ever... And now, it is her turn to be a part of it.

 

huh, didn't see it like that. didn't think too deeply when writing it.

 

The trick is to stay quiet so everyone thinks you're deep.

 

xD

I don't think too much when I'm writing either! But it's fun to start brainstorming about it!

 

yeah, but looking at the summary i made, I don't think anyone would think that of me.

 

*pokes around*

Ooh~ it worked for me

 

Genre: Romance, Fantasy
Word Count: 2220
Title: Death Doesn't Look That Bad, But Being Alive Beats It.

Spoiler: Death Doesn't Look That Bad, But Being Alive Beats It

It was hell. Hell had raised on Earth.

The dead raised from their tombs and started moving... Cutting their heads off? As if they cared, they kept moving... Breaking the heads? Just as useless, dismembering them? Their members moved on their own. The only possible option was to burn them to smithereens, but how easy was for a skeleton to behead someone, as opposed to people burning the dead to dust?

Hope was lost, a single day was all that was needed for everyone to give in to despair, they were just too many, and whenever one of us fell, they joined their ranks.

Everyone just waited to die... Everyone... Me included.

However... I quickly changed my view.

I was a bit of an unusual one... Everyone was waiting to die, me? I wanted to die, I wanted to die since long ago, life was meaningless, there was no purpose in living, death would be a release, and now I finally had a way to reach that which I longed for so much.

I ran away, I heard a single muffled shout that wanted to stop me, mom somehow wanted me to live? Nonsense, we were all going to die, and I was going to be the first.

I ran through the forest, hoping to find the dead that would make me join their ranks.

Before long, I found them... No, not them... Her.

A single girl looking at a grave... How foolish, she will just be dragged within it by the dead... Well, it is what I wish for too, so maybe I am as much of a fool.

My life didn't matter, I wanted it to end... Perhaps it could end by doing a good thing was what I thought. So I approached the girl, I put my hand on her shoulder.

"Don't stay near the graves, the dead will bring you within them." I told her.

She turned towards me with an expressionless face and answered. "This grave is safe."

Foolish, she should just run. "No grave is safe."

"This one is." Her voice was calm and so full of certainty... What is going through her mind?

"Why?" I couldn't help asking.

"Because it's mine." She simply answered.

---------------------------------------------------------------​

Today was such a weird day... The pain was so big, I could barely think straight.

Mom was looking at me with a sorrowful face, dad was shaking his head... Then they seemed angry, I think they fought... I couldn't understand their words though, what were they fighting about? What is happening?

Dad pushed mom away and approached me... Is it the medicine again dad? It's bitter, I don't want it... He pulled me closer, and suddenly... The pain faded, I could hear mom scream, Dad was looking very sad... Don't be sad, I don't feel pain anymore, I'm happy.

"I'm sorry" were the last words I heard from his mouth.

Then it all got black, and then... Not as black? As in, still black, but... Not totally black. It was weird.

I tried moving, and it was a bit hard, still... Slowly, but surely, I moved myself, I felt an urge to go up, and up I went... I was out, it was bright, it was bright and sunny... This seems far from home... Oh, I'm not in pain! How great! How wonderful! Mom and dad will love the news!

I looked around a bit more though... This seems like the middle of a forest? Which way is home? Why is there a grave here?

I stretched my eyes to read it...

'Ayaka, from the 231st day of the 752nd year

to the 324th day of the 766th year,

may the gods bless her soul'.​

Oh, I'm dead then? But... Why am I moving in that case?

Something landed on my shoulder. "Don't stay near the graves, the dead will bring you within them." and a girl called me.

---------------------------------------------------------------​

Apparently the girl was clueless about everything, rather, she had just woken up... I explained her the gist of the situation.

It was unusual, from what the rumors said, the dead were mindless and only knew how to kill, stopping at nothing for that... Yet, there she was, speaking with me, soundly, she even explained to me how she died, or how her sickly life was, how she had to stay on bed the whole day everyday...

Also, she didn't appear to be dead at all... Maybe it was because she died earlier today, but she seemed completely normal, a perfectly normal living being... If it wasn't for the knife hole at her chest that is.

I didn't know what I expected, nor what I wanted to do, but... She had something on her, something that made me want to be with her, I had no idea what that was, but I wanted to stay with her anyway.

Ayaka told me the name of the village she lived on, according to the rumors, it had already been razed by the undead... We went there anyway, she wanted to go, and I complied.

There was no one alive there, the stench of death plagued it, houses were crumbling, some were clearly burnt, and... Interestingly enough, I noticed Ayaka had no stench on her at all.

We went to her parents' home, it was empty... Desert, nobody was there... Expected. However...

She cried, she fell on her knees and cried she cried cried cried and cried, I didn't know what to do... I wonder if mom is crying like this right now too? No, of course she wouldn't, I'm worthless... But then, she tried stopping me, didn't she? Maybe she cared more than imagined... It didn't matter, it's better for her to think of me as dead, then to see me as one of the living, only to die again from the hands of the dead... It's better for her to worry about my death only once.

I hugged her. I said nothing, I had nothing to say, I just hugged her, I hugged her and let her cry on my chest. She cried cried and cried until she had no more tears to cry... Now that I think of it, the dead shouldn't have tears in the first place, should they? She cried anyway though. And I think she would cry more if she didn't calm down.

"What now...?" She asked me with a tearful face.

"Nothing." Was the only answer I could give.

Nothing, there was nothing to do, nothing to be done, her parents were dead, or rather, undead, part of an army that seemed to be set on destroying humanity, there was nothing to be done... And nothing we did.

Days passed, each day was... Blissful?

It was so strange... Just... Blissful. Talking with her, eating the stocked food by myself while she sat on my side and talked with me, playing around on the swing, chasing one another, laughing, bathing, kissing, sleeping while she watched over my naked body tenderly... It was just... So... Blissful.

The world was resumed to the two of us, there was nothing to do, there was nobody else, there was nothing else, only we existed, only we mattered, no responsibilities, no goals, no fear... There was just nothing to worry about.


6 months had passed, and we were on my 15th anniversary, hers would come soon... Would, it never came.

There was no cake, we had no ingredients for it, rather, the food was soon going to spoil, I would starve soon, I wondered if I would be as lucid as her once I died... I'm sure I would, I was definitely sure.

Yet, I didn't have the time to find out... For she simply fell on the ground, right after she kissed me and wished a happy birthday, a light came from outside and took over the whole room... And then, she fell, motionlessly, right there, on the ground. In front of me... This time, I was the one crying.

---------------------------------------------------------------​

The last 6 months were so fun! I could move! I could speak! I could dance, I could do perverted things in bed! It was so fun! So joyful, so happy!

Izuna was really nice, really, how does one fall in love with the dead anyway? Hello? I'm dead! Deaddy dead! Don't go falling for the dead you idiot!

She fell anyway though, and I for her, it was so nice, I really loved spending my time with her... I was worried she was going to die soon if we didn't do anything though... She said she'd be fine however, she said she was sure she would just raise and then keep on loving me like she was doing now... But would she really? How would she be sure of that?

I got scared, I got scared of losing her... I didn't want her to die. I already died once, I saw my parents' empty house... Death is not a nice thing, she should not look at it with this much eagerness...

I mean, sure, life now as a dead is a lot better than when I was alive, but... Death is still bad! Don't look down on death please!
... Please don't look down on death... I don't want to lose you.

She still didn't want to do anything though, she refused to even try... She was fine like this, she just wanted to stay everyday with me and enjoy life and death with me... It was so sweet~
But so terrible... I was scared.

I started praying. Can the dead pray I wondered? I had no idea, I didn't know which god to pray with, but I didn't care, I just prayed, I prayed for her life, for her safety, for something that made her feel like living.


3 months passed, I felt my body starting to get more sluggish... I said nothing though... At times I felt as if my consciousness was about to fade, but I held on somehow. She doesn't seem to suspect me.

4 months in, it's becoming a bit harder to move... But it's okay, Izuna isn't paying attention... She can be surprisingly dense at times.

5 months... This is definitely not natural... I think I'm going to leave soon... It's okay though... I think it might be for the best... I'm happy right now.

5 months and 20 days... Yes... It won't be much longer... Izuna is so happy about her birthday though... Thank you gods, thank you for granting me my wishes, but please... Give me a bit more time.

5 months and 30 days already... I doubt I will last more than tomorrow... Something is going to happen, something good, but something bad for Izuna... Please my Love, don't worry about a thing... Let's celebrate your birthday as our last day together... I love you.

6 months, today was the happiest day in my life, or is it un-life? Maybe it's both... Well, it was the last day anyway... Singing Happy Birthday felt the same as saying goodbye. I kissed her and saw the light incoming... Ah, this was it... Goodbye my Love.

"Happy Birthday." Were my last words... With a smile, I parted.

---------------------------------------------------------------​

Apparently my notion of everyone is too small. While everyone I knew was scared of the imminent death, the priests and holy knights did their job, they maintained their ground and somehow dispelled the curse of un-death throughout the land... Bastards.

Joyful celebration spread across the four corners of the Earth, or so I heard, I don't know, I only heard of it much later.

After Ayaka's death, I contemplated suicide, it wouldn't be hard, the father her knife used to kill her was on our room... But no, I didn't know if I would reunite with her on death... Death was not the solution.

I think I was going mad, I tried something crazy... I froze her corpse... With magic.

I can use magic? I didn't know that, I thought only nobles could do that... Well, I got lucky I guess, her body was frozen now, unable to decay.

I traveled I traveled traveled and traveled, years passed while I carried her coffin with me, at some point I think I gained fame of a haunting spirit or something, Lady of the Coffin or whatever... Really, such an uncreative name. I didn't care though.

For a long time I traveled, until I found what I wanted, it seemed hard to do, and the price certainly wasn't small... Who cares?

It was finally time, and it was all that mattered... I went back home, to our home, to that one abandoned village filled with the stench of death.

---------------------------------------------------------------​

Hmm~? I thought I died for real this time, what is it?

Oh my... There was a decrepit old lady looking at me, I moved my arms and legs a bit... Yep, still working just fine, I'm not sick again or anything... I guess I'm still dead then?

She doesn't seem dead though... Looking at her face though, it won't be long until she is... Well, it doesn't matter, does it?

"Good morning Love." I kissed her, and she kissed me back... Ah, maybe now we'll be able to celebrate my birthday... I wonder if I'll be the one to revive her next~

This was my first attempt to try and show a story from multiple points of view... I hope it came out well~

I kinda wanted to end the story from Izuna's PoV though, so as to fit the theme, but I couldn't do it, I really wanted to put those last feel paragraphs from Ayaka.

What else to say... Hmmmmm... It's a simple story I guess, you know nearly nothing about the characters from beginning until end, and pretty much everything that happened to them is counted in time skips.

Still, I liked writing it quite a bit, I hope it is a nice read~


Ah, and about the title... Well, it might seem a bit weird, but... It's just part of what I wanted to show I suppose?

Izuna wanted to die, but Ayaka made her want to be alive.
Ayaka on the other hand, wished for Izuna's life, and so she wished for her own death... Yet, at the end, she was at her happiest while alive. Or well, as alive as she could be.

It's a story about two people that wished to die, but more than anything, they wanted to be alive... Being alive with the one they loved the most.

 

Wrong thread~ Teheporo~
| w•)/

 

Theme: Riding in a Fairy Tale

Spoiler: Unchained

I've always hated the light.

It wasn't because it was too bright, or because it disoriented me when dusk crossed to midnight. I could see perfectly well in the darkness, with or without illumination.

No, what I always hated was the noise that accompanied the light. The boisterous sounds of merrymaking, the din caused by drunken patrons clinking their cups together.

It was discomfiting, to say the least. Not a day passed when I was able to get some decent rest, for once the sun set, those accursed creatures would kindle their hearths, stoke their fires, and engage in drunken nonsense.

True, I suppose it was my fault for sleeping through the day and becoming more active at night, but really, I didn't ask for my ancestor to slay his own brother, and get cursed.

My family was rather small; it consisted of my mother and I. Mother was much stronger than I was, but she usually stayed at home. I was the one that went out in order to procure food.

"Okaa-san, I'm heading out."

She grunted in affirmative.

There used to be a mere animal trail that led me from the cave to the forest, but over the years, my trips back and forth, on a regular basis, have beaten it into a well worn path.

Of course, we've had uninvited guests take this path over the years, too, but once I showed up, they ran. In a way, it was much more merciful than if Mother showed up; If she did, we had more food for dinner, no questions asked.

"Grrr..."

It happened again. A lack of game in the forests; from the smallest thrushes to the largest doe, none of them were anywhere to be found. There wasn't even any trails left behind by animals foraging.

It was already the fourth time this week that this had happened. And the culprit that caused it...

"Grrr..."

Right on the other side of the forest was a castle, built of wood and stone. It didn't possess the same walls or defences that other castles did, but that was hardly a surprise. Nobody was foolish or bored enough to invade this place, after all.

They could build anywahere they liked on the land. I mean, I don't own the land, so as long as we didn't end up as neighbours, it was fine. However, the issue was a certain phenomenon that had been carrying on for the past few weeks.

Ever since the damnable castle was built, every night, they never failed to have a massive banquet inside it. In addition to disturbing my rest, they also hunted down a whole variety of animals to make food, causing the disappearance of the forest animals.

I've been keeping my temper under control ever since it started, but I'm not going to stand by and watch idly any longer.

......

Infiltrating the castle proved to be very simple. With the aid of a tall tree, I vaulted over the meagre wooden walls, and landed safely in the courtyard. From there, it was but a matter of time before I was standing before a set of polished oaken doors, which blocked the entrance to the crowd that was messing around in the hall behind.

Forget knocking.

"---! Defensive positions!"

The soldiers, momentarily caught off guard, quickly surrounded me with their spears. One of them, donning some speical kind of cloth, stepped forward and jabbed at me.

The spear tip struck my skin and shattered. It left nothing more than a ticklish feeling.

"Th-The spear?"

My turn. I stepped forward, caught him by the neck, and twisted hard. One snap later, a soldier collapsed, his metallic armour clanking against the flooring tiles.

The other humans were screaming by then, creating a din, so I decided to make my way out of there. Spears couldn't pierce my skin, and swords couldn't rend my flesh, but I'll rather not fight the entire castle's troops in one sitting. Therefore, I retreated, dragging the soldier with me.

That night, dinner tasted delicious. Too bad I could only drag two people back with me.

......

I've always wondered what my ancestor was thinking when he turned on his own family, when he killed his own brother. For me, I kill in order to fill my stomach, and to sate my anger, but as far as Mother told me, my ancestor wasn't suffering from either of those problems. In the end, none of us were able to form a convincing explanation for his actions.

Of course, that didn't stop me from raiding that castle every night, usually ending with me dragging food back to my cave. Mother and I ate really well whenever that happened, which was basically every day. Eventually, though, they stopped holding banquets, and after that, they stopped using the castle entirely.

What a pity. Truth to be told, I had grown fond of eating humans. Their shrieks when I tore them apart---Those were akin to music to my ears. But the animals came back, so I suppose it's good enough.

......

Today, that familiar noise returned again. The sound of warriors merrymaking in the hall. Forcing me out of my peaceful slumber.

Without me knowing it, years had already passed. Years between the abandoning of the hall, and today, where the braziers rekindled once more.

It's most probably a trap. Otherwise, there's no way they'll have returned. Still, regardless of whether it's a trap, or not, I still make a trip down.

The cliff face made a screeching sound as I ran my claws against the stone surface, chipping off flakes of stone.

Even if they hired some mercenaries to guard them, it doesn't work. My magic protects me from any and all weapons. Still, compared to the protection that my ancestor had, this is but minor in comparison.

"How did it go again? Ah, I remember. Whoever slayeth Cain, vengeance shall be taken on him sevenfold."

Still, the night is young, but we must not tarry. There are plenty of dark roads to travel...Oh, I haven't introduced myself? That was ill manners of me, I apologise.

But really, when your name is literally 'the Grendel', you tend to be conscious about using it often.

 

May short Story theme: Riding in a Fairy Tale
Summary: A Parody of the "Honest Woodcutter"
Title:My wife will kill me

Spoiler

It was a story passed down through our family generation from generation. Our ancestor was once a wood cutter, poor and uneducated. One day he went deep into the northern forest to search for a great gum tree, hoping to fell it and use it to build his own house. After searching meticulously through the forest, finally, he found one that stood next to a lake. He swung his axe at the tree, however, after the tenth strike, the axe fell off his grasp and flew into the lake. The axe was his only means of livelihood, in sorrow he sat down and wept. Taking pity on him, the goddess resided in the lake showed up with a silver axe. "Was this what you had lost?" The goddess asked, but my ancestor said it was not, and replied the same answer when the goddess when she showed him a golden axe. Only when his own tool is produced does he claim it. Impressed by his honesty, the god allows him to keep all three.

After that, my ancestor sold both his golden axe and silver axe to open a business. He succeeded and became wealthy enough to buy the title of baron to rule this land.

This was the founding myth of our family, passed down from father to son, generation to generation. I heard this story from my own father when I was a boy and dismissed it as a fairy tale. Because if that story was true, my ancestor would have returned to that lake every day, dropping all sort of tools that and waiting for that benevolent goddess to present him with a golden and silver version of those tools instead of open a business. Our family would have be much wealthier than we are now.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

“Young man, which of these woman is your wife? Is this the gold one or the silver one?” The benevolent goddess in our family founding myth appeared, an unconscious golden hair woman floating on her right hand and another unconscious silver hair woman floating on her left. Both women looked exactly like my wife, wearing the same dress as my wife and yet my beautiful wife’s hair is dark as ebony.

Why is this surreal situation happening to us?

I can’t even begin to understand. I was having an outdoor picnic with my wife just like many other days then suddenly, bandits appeared and attacked us. Why would bandits appear in my territory?

In order to protect my wife, I made her rode my horse into the northern forest while I and my guards fought the bandits. And yet, when I finished dealing with the bandits, I searched for my wife, I can’t find her anywhere. I saw my horse standing next to this strange lake but I could not find my wife. And then this goddess appeared.

“Please listen to me, O benevolent Goddess. I just want my wife back.” I begged, putting down my blood-soaked rapier and prostrating.

The benevolent goddess nodded and formed a divine smile on her lips. She had an exotic look, long ivory hair that cascaded to her waist, one eye silver one eye gold on the fairest looking face. “You are an honest man. For your honesty, I shall…”

I immediately cut in, fearing that the goddess would reward me with those two women who looked exactly like my wife but were definitely not my wife just like our family founding myth. “O Goddess. I just want my wife back. I love her and only her alone. I don’t want these women.”

The goddess titled her head, putting a finger on her cheek then nodded her head once again. “Not only you are an honest man but you are faithful man as well. How should I reward a man as exemplary as you are?”

“O benevolent Goddess, you don’t need to reward me with anything else. Please, I just want my wife back. That would be the greatest reward you could bestow on me.” I put my head down once again and answered.

“Oh, I know,” suddenly the goddess clapped her hands together, her eyes widened as if she has just received a revelation.

Then the goddess enveloped herself in a bright iridescent light. I closed my eyes, wasn’t sure of what’s going on. That light was bright and warm as the sun light of high noon, and yet, gentle and divine. When that light faded, I opened my eyes, only to see the amount of floating people has doubled and there was my wife, unconscious.

“Young man, I shall award you with these women and both the golden and silver version of myself,” the goddess benevolently said. A satisfied smile spread on her lips.

“No, no, no, goddess, you are not listening to me. I just want my wife back,” I pointed at my wife and begged the goddess to reconsider her reward. I don’t know how to do with these women, especially the golden and silver version of the goddess who were standing on water, waiting for the goddess’ command.

“Then, you shall have her back with these women,” the goddess said, using her divine magic power to send forth my wife and the two women who looked like my wife. I caught my wife and laid her down. The golden version and the silver version of the goddess did the same to both the golden and silver version of my wife.

“Please, can you take back these women? I just need my wife alone.” I said, still begging the goddess. My wife would kill me tonight if I was to accept these women to my court.

“I have used a lot of my divine power. So now, I will sleep for a thousand years. Young man, make sure to take good care of your wives and by golden and silver self.” The goddess yawned and slowly sank into the lake.

“You are not listening to me at all,” I clutched my head in horror when the goddess has completely disappeared. “Teresa is so going to kill me when she wakes up,” I sighed, wrapping my soaked wet wife with my cloak. She’s not going to like when she wakes up.

I hope everyone have fun reading this. XD

Spoiler: Novel I'm working on

https://royalroadl.com/fiction/17368/the-king-of-desire

 

Oooooooh, this one is from Beowulf's legend? Putting Grendel as a vampire of sorts? Seems nice, a good twist, and the reasoning behind it is pretty neat~

Really well made! I was really curious on what Fairy Tale it was about!

I didn't know of this fairy tale, so it was pretty surprising for me! Still, I loved it! I pity the poor MC though~