A Story I'm Writing

[EverPhoenix]

This is just a story i wrote ages ago.. and decided to re-write in greater detail. It will also double as an extensive character bio for my RP and TE:A character.

I shall update this thread when there is more to post. Feel free to comment and provide feedback, it is appreciated

Anyway:

Prologue and History

No one knows when it started. No one even knows how it started. All that is known is that one day many decades ago, the land was plagued by an assault of dark entities not of this world. Cloaked in dark robes, faceless shadows wielding weapons and magic of unimaginable power eradicated everything in their path. They razed villages without thinking, and wherever they went they left a dark blight upon the land. The darkness, enveloping the ground in a completely black smoke, gradually sucked the life out of everything, leaving nothing but barren land for miles around. The nature of the darkness is as alien as those who brought it: no one, of the few foolish enough to try to research it, was able to learn anything, and they all soon died, the life force slowly strangled out of them. It was as if the darkness was not even there, it left no physical traces – if you neglect the desolation left in its wake.

Few people could oppose the demons weaving their path of destruction through the world; those who tried to do so with physical weapons did so to no avail – nothing they could find inflicted any visible form of damage- in most cases the weapons simply passed right through them. A small group of warriors, lead by the sorcerer Shoreondor, succeeded in finding an exploitable weakness in the demons. Shoreondor was an old and experienced sorcerer, having studied alchemy and spellweaving from a young age. Able to channel magical energy through most objects through his vast knowledge of the elements that make up the fabric of the world- fire, water, earth- and the forces that bind the elements together- light, chaos, time- Shoreondor was able to use his magic to imbue the weapons of his allies with an energy that, somehow, the demons were susceptible to. Although they still could not kill the dark ones, they fought them off and preserved their own lives… for a short time. All but three of Shoreondor’s allies, and himself, were claimed by the darkness.

The survivors, two men and a woman, whose names have been long forgotten, were not completely unscathed- the darkness took its toll, ravaging their features and sapping their life force. Traveling as fast as their weakened bodies would allow in order to escape the growing darkness, they ran for days on end. Eventually, one of the men collapsed, and was unable to get up. The others refused to leave him behind, staying with him until everyone, save Shoreondor, had been claimed. Wrought with grief for the loss of his friends, Shoreondor swore to defeat those who had come and infected the planet.

Even with his great knowledge, Shoreondor could not quantify anything relating to the darkness itself, although he did notice that it seemed to attract life force. This became apparent to him when his friends, helping their fallen comrade, had themselves fallen to the ground, and remained still. Realising that if he was able to stop his life force from being gradually absorbed, he would be able to roam the darkness and perhaps figure out how to use the darkness to his advantage. Deciding on how he could do this, he remembered an old binding spell that involved weaving threads of time through a chosen substance. Any non-physical quantity could be sealed this way, provided the weaver knew of the structure of what he was sealing.

Walking to the edge of the darkness- for it had stopped moving and was seeping into the earth, no longer covering the ground like a shadowy blanket- , Shoreondor pressed his hands to the ground, closed his eyes, and wove a spell combining fire and earth, securing it with the binding of light, chaos, and most importantly, time. With this spell he had created a dark blue crystalline stone, capable of sealing the essence of life. Light and chaos defined life, while the woven intricacies of time maintain it in its pure form. Binding his life force to the stone, he saw that the darkness could no longer draw out his life. Weaving more time magic into the air around him, he transported himself to the nearest town.

Arriving in the middle of the square to see a everyone staring at him, Shoreondor proceeded to look for where he would find the elder. It was not difficult, for the cobblestone roads converged into one large road. The houses lining the roads gradually increased in size, from small stone huts to larger buildings with elaborate gardens. At the end of the road, Shoreondor saw what was unmistakably the elder’s house- a large house made of polished stone, glass windows with various patterns engraved in them. A grand garden blooming with almost every colour flower imaginable stood in front of the house, granting the whole area a serene aura. Having no time to take in the view, he approached the door, careful not to step on any of the flowers, and announced his arrival. Greeted by an old, short man with a noticeable lack of already grey hair, he walked inside. It turned out this man was the town elder, who, although vain, had the best interests of the town at heart. Informing the town elder that he had found a way to suppress the effect of the darkness, which had not yet crept into the town and inscribing a scroll with the enchantment necessary to create the stone, he left to pursue his quest to bring those who had killed his friends to justice. The elder summoned to him every cleric in town, and insisted they practice the creation of these stones.

Shoreondor’s quest took him back to the location where his friends had died, and he paid his respects once again. Lamenting the loss of his friends, but taking heart that in their sacrifice he had been able to find a way to prevent the rest of the world suffering a similar fate, he walked onward. Arriving at what was formerly a small rural village, Shoreondor saw a dark patch of the darkness, concentrated enough to still be distinctly visible. Knowing that the demons must be nearby, he wove the combination of fire, light and chaos into a sword. The majority of the sword was ethereal, as he had not bound any earth into the spell. At the faint green radiation from his ethereal sword, the darkness began to dissolve. Using this as a guide to finding the demons, he systematically walked through the town, projecting the energy of his blade into every shadow.

Eventually he did find the demons. After a cataclysmic battle, he forced them to retreat. They disappeared into the air, and dissolved. Knowing they were not defeated, Shoreondor cursed his luck. He had let them escape, and they were free to do as they pleased with no resistance. Shoreondor, knowing the battle had taken its toll on him, poured all his knowledge into the crystal he now wore around his neck through a more complicated weaving. Binding the threads of chaos- in greater amount than for the life-binding spell- with threads of light and time, he secured the essence of his mind in his crystal. He hoped that the person to find his crystal would be able to unlock the seal left it, and thus obtain his wisdom, knowledge and experience. It would be needed to combat the demons, should they return. Weaving his final spell, he sent his crystal to the safety of a faraway town. He did not know the destination, but he knew he wished to send it as far away from the darkness as possible. Upon completing the weaving, he collapsed.

[EverPhoenix]

ill post the first part of the first chapter, hopefully theres something here you might find interesting/amusing. at least it begins to provide some backstory for my global TE fanfic character.


Chapter 1: The Outset
Many years have passed since Shoreondor’s showdown with the shadowy demons. It has been a relatively peaceful existence since. The darkness still pollutes the earth, with the same life-absorbing effect. Shoreondor’s magic has not been forgotten, but is not taught to just anyone. Only high-ranking clerics have the right to access the ancient scrolls found from Shoreondor’s time. The scroll that Shoreondor himself inscribed, with the spell to create a life-binding crystal, has been duplicated countless times, and distributed among the villages. Whenever a child is born in a village, the spell is cast, creating a crystal to contain the child’s life force. These crystals are worn around the neck of the child, and carried through their whole life. There have been few incidents of the crystals breaking; those unfortunate enough to suffer this fate are quickly absorbed by the darkness, as their crystal’s magic is destroyed. Their life is absorbed by the darkness at an alarming rate, as if the darkness has finally been allowed access to something it has craved for years.

The true story begins in a small, quiet village located a short distance from the Chron Mountains. The village, Crown, was home to only a hundred people. The people knew each other quite well, as expected from a village of such small population. The bonds of the villagers were especially close because of the children in the village: since the darkness still polluted the earth, it was not uncommon for people to fall ill. In order to protect the young children from the psychological scars of losing one of their parents, they were raised by their parents, and their friends. This provided the child with more people to look up to, and strengthened the bond between the generations. One such child was Kaelan. Always keen to run around and play, he never knew his parents. Due to the upbringing he received in the village, it never occurred to him to ask who his real parents were, as he thought of many of the older villagers as parents.

As a child, Kaelan loved swords. Him and his best friend, Aereth, would spend hours brawling in an open field, hitting each other with any sticks they could find. As they grew up, they tended to do this less and less, although there were still times when they would reflect on their younger days. Such reflection lead to them taking out wooden staves they used to carry water on, and sparring. Kaelan was always a little more agile than Aereth, granting him the edge in combat. The two also loved to climb through the lower regions of the Chron Mountains, more than once almost falling down a steep descent. Both boys seemed to have luck on their side, as no matter how many times they tripped over while climbing the mountains- their definition of climbing being jumping from stone to stone, off the mountainside and proceeding generally upwards at a surprising pace- they never seriously injured themselves.

Another of Kaelan’s interests as he was growing up happened to be one of the maidens in the village. Her name was Elena, and he had considered her to be pretty since the first time he saw her all those years ago. The two being from opposite sides of the village, they did not interact as regularly as Kaelan could have hoped. The times he did get a chance to talk to her, something always seemed to go wrong. One time at the Village Games- competitions of skill in various fields, including swordsmanship, archery, a foot race and tests of endurance- Kaelan decided to sit next to Elena, and somehow managed to lose the seat from under him. Needless to say, this was a great source of amusement for Elena, but a source of great embarrassment for Kaelan. After finally regaining his composure and his upright sitting position, Kaelan sought to engage Elena in some sort of conversation. This also did not go as planned as he could not quite think of anything to say. Instead, he sat through the games next to her, half paying attention to the games themselves; his mind preoccupied.

Other attempts to speak to Elena were as unsuccessful as the others, and by the time he did manage to finally coherently pronounce a sufficiently long fragment of conversation, in which he asked her whether she would be interested in going with him to the annual town fair, she responded kindly, although not with the answer Kaelan had hoped for. In short, she gracefully declined. After this event, Kaelan decided it would be wise to stop pursuing her. Even though he had little intention to pursue Elena, he still knew he thought highly of her.

A few years later Kaelan, now approaching his 18th year, was walking through the village square with his best friend Aereth. Kaelan was tall, with brown eyes and flowing brown hair reaching almost to the base of his neck. His crystal, dark blue in colour, hung around his neck on a plain white chain. Aereth, slightly taller than Kaelan, had blue eyes, with brown hair shorter, lighter and wavier than Kaelan. His crystal was dark green in colour, hanging on a chain similar to which Kaelan wore. It was the time of the village fair, where everyone had an excuse to do nothing all day, enjoy the food that some of the villagers (and merchants) had prepared, and admire the various goods some of the merchants had brought in from faraway lands. Walking past a colourful tent set up by the head cleric in the village, Kaelan and Aereth saw something that sparked their attention: one of the merchants, who was renowned for bringing and showing off exotic weaponry, had brought a finely crafted sword. The sword had a pure white blade, with a small rune engraved at the base of the blade. The hilt was carved from a strange pale blue metal, elaborately decorated with more runes, and embedded with a topaz.

“Wow… that looks marvelous” said Kaelan, in awe at the quality of the craft of the sword.

“You don’t say… I wonder how much he’s charging for that one” replied Aereth, similarly amazed by the sword. He knew he could not afford the blade, but he was almost ready to pay the vendor so he could merely hold it for a few seconds.

“So… I see you have taken a liking to my sword?” the merchant laughed, seeing the boys staring at the blade. “I’m afraid it is a bit out of your league, though. This is the finest blade I have laid eyes on, myself. An ancient relic, a hundred years old at least. The blade is forged from Elementite, an extremely rare ore containing the three elements, in their pure form. The hilt is likewise Elementite, but it is less refined. Looks cool though, doesn’t it?”

This was received with blank looks from Kaelan and Aereth. Neither of them had heard of Elementite, or knew anything about the core elements of the world. That kind of information was not readily distributed, as it leads to experimenting. Generally, inexperienced experimenting with the manipulation of the raw materials that make up the world does not lead to any safe practice.

“Tell you what. If you can beat me in a simple game of skill, I might even let you hold the sword. But you must decide which one of you will play, it is a one-time offer only. Only 10 coins to play,” the merchant teased, knowing they would take his bait. He had not yet seen anyone win his game, in all the years he had been a merchant.

[Manibrandr System]

I just read it and I found it quite interesting. I am interested to see how the story pans out.

[Azure Phoenix]

there is nothing else to say

[EverPhoenix]

and heres another chunk of it for you to read. next post will be fun, i promise

...

“The rules are simple. I will set up a bridge of various objects. Your task is to step on or touch every one of them without touching the ground in between,” the merchant replied. What he had neglected to mention was that he was free to interfere with the objects making up the bridge.

“Yeah, I’ll do it. Sounds simple enough” replied Kaelan, feeling confident. Although he knew there would be a catch somewhere, he felt confident enough in his own dexterity. He handed over the 10 coins, and the merchant proceeded to bring an assortment of odd objects from his tent. Among them were several barrels, which were placed both upright and on their side, a bucket, some randomly shaped pieces of metal, and a reasonably large cloth ball. In total there were fifteen objects.

“You start here” the merchant pointed to a stone platform on the side of his tent. The objects were arranged in a random order, as if the merchant had just placed them as he pleased. One thing caught Kaelan’s eye: the the last barrel was right at the end, and placed in such a way that it could easily roll away. Beginning to jump across the upright barrels and the sheets of metal, he sought to reach the last barrel as soon as he could, in order to have a greater chance of succeeding.

In this time he had gathered a small crowd of onlookers. Mostly people who were nearby, they watched with interest as Kaelan jumped across the obstacles. Meanwhile, Aereth explained the rules and the prize of the game, as had been previously detailed by the merchant. Kaelan had just reached the last barrel, tapped it with his hand, (as he knew he merely had to touch it) and proceeded to backtrack through the course. He had skipped the bucket, the ball, 2 barrels and 2 pieces of metal. Both barrels were on their side, but situated between upright barrels, or large chunks of metal. Of the remaining pieces of metal, one was shaped like a large horseshoe, and the other was a small block. He jumped on the small block, touched the barrel lying next to it- it was much safer to touch it than to jump on it and risk falling- and jumped onto the next barrel. He was surprised at how sturdy the barrels were, as he had expected them to buckle under him when he jumped. Picking up the bucket, which was right next to the barrel he was standing on, he surveyed his remaining targets. One was a barrel located not far from where he was, the last piece of metal was roughly between the two, and the cloth ball was a metre or so from the barrel, just lying on the ground. As Kaelan jumped off the metal block onto the barrel, the merchant picked up the cloth ball.

“Well, you’re doing well, boy, but I never said I couldn’t move the objects. So I guess this is where you lose” said the merchant, a grin on his face. The onlookers protested, but Kaelan merely smiled. The merchant was standing only a little further than two metres away. He throws the bucket down to the ground between them- it lands upside down- and jumps onto it. Startled, the merchant does nothing. In the same movement, Kaelan jumps off the bucket, and with the same leg he jumped with, kicks the ball out of the merchant’s hands. He then lands on his hands and knees, to great applause from the crowd which had gathered to watch.

“Nice try, but I was waiting for a trick like that” Kaelan laughed at the merchant, walked over to his tent and lifted the sword off its support. “Guess I win a few minutes with this sword, don’t I?”

The merchant was speechless. Kaelan swung the sword a few times in midair, and was surprised at its light weight. From the way it moved in the air, he could also tell it was rather powerful, and that it was no ordinary sword. It seemed to leave a faint white glow behind it for a split second whenever it moved. After examining it from up close, he passed it to Aereth. Both boys admired the blade, as Aereth wove a pattern in midair with the blade. Several minutes later, when the two were finished admiring the sword, Kaelan returned it to the still speechless merchant and walked off with Aereth.

“So worth it, partly because of his face when I got that ball off him” Kaelan said, not even trying to hide his amusement. “Want to go get something to eat?”

“Yeah, I could use some food. I hear there’s some sort of new place in the square, shall we go check it out?” came the reply. They proceeded to the town square. While walking to the square nothing particularly interesting happened, save someone thinking they needed more mead. They ended up proving themselves wrong by collapsing in the middle of the road.
As they reach the square, Kaelan spots someone familiar- Elena was walking on the other side of the square, chatting animatedly with one of her friends. Despite telling himself that he shouldn’t be seeking to pursue her, Kaelan couldn’t help but find himself mesmerized by her appearance, especially of that of her crystal, a vibrant yellow, hanging around her neck. She was of reasonable height- shorter than Kaelan, but not what you would call short- with flowing brown hair that descended elegantly around her shoulders. The girl next to her, who Kaelan thought was called Maia, was slightly shorter than Elena, with darker, shorter hair. Her crystal was teal in colour.

Realising he had just almost walked into someone’s tent, Kaelan turned away and kept walking with Aereth. They arrived within minutes. The stall wasn’t anything particularly unique, but it smelled delightful. After sitting down, Kaelan again averted his eyes. Elena and Maia were walking in the opposite direction to them, still on the other side of the square. What they were looking at he couldn’t see, and for some reason it bothered him.

“Still looking at her, eh?” Aereth noted, with mild interest.

“Yeah, seems like it doesn’t it” came the reply. “Can’t seem to tell myself to forget… Oh well”

“You want to order, or are you just going to spend the next hour staring at her?” Aereth joked.

“Well I am quite hungry, so let’s order.” At that, the sky began to grow dark. “Hey, is it this late already? I thought it was still morning?”

“Err… it is still morning.” Aereth replied, confused. Looking up at the sky, he sees a dark cloud moving over the village. This cloud seemed to be more dense than usual, and had a dark purple tinge to it. “That doesn’t look normal”

Kaelan looked up. He agreed it didn’t look normal, but he didn’t think it was just a cloud either. Everyone around seemed to have also noticed the cloud, and was staring at it. Everyone seemed to have stopped what they were doing, and were just staring upwards in silence. The thing that seemed most disconcerting to Kaelan was that the cloud seemed focused almost entirely over Crown, with very little of it above anywhere else. He couldn’t help but think something was about to happen. No one else seemed to make the connection, content to stare at what they might have believed to be merely an abnormality in the weather.

“I don’t think those are clouds… don’t know why, I just get a bad feeling” Kaelan said to Aereth. He seemed to be right, because above him, the clouds were converging to a point above the fountain in the middle of the town square. Not many townspeople seemed to notice, partly because the clouds left a thick smoke in their wake as they moved, masking the fact that they were moving towards the centre. How Kaelan could see this fairly clearly was a mystery to him.