Who Are The Elders?
Original Idea by tikotribe
ObjectiveCreate a name and story for one of the 13 Elder's decks.
Since the dawn of Elements when the first Elemental crawled out of the primordial ooze and began building pillars, the Elders among them have always gone without names. Perhaps they never had names, or through generation after generation, their names have just been forgotten. Whatever the case may be, the day has come for us, the Elementals, to give them names! But that's not all! The origin of the Elders is also unknown. To our knowledge, they just appeared to us. It is up to us to give them, and their names, meaning. We must create a short story of origin and their names.
Rules and Requirements:1. Choose one of the Elder's decks located here: http://elementscommunity.org/forum/index.php/topic,17934.0.html
2. Come up with a name that you feel suits the deck.
3. Based on the name you have chosen and the deck, create a short back story/story of origin on it.
4. Stories must be a minimum of 500 words and a maximum of 1500 words.
5. All stories must be kept pg-13 or below.(No adult material, swearing/cursing, hard reference to drugs/alcohol, etc.)
6. One submission per person but you are free to change your submission as much as you want until the submission period is over.
7. All submissions must use the following style:[size=15pt][font=georgia][b]Elder Name[/b][/font][/size]
[deck mark=**insert mark here**]**insert deck code here**[/deck]
[size=12pt][i]Title of the Story[/i][/size]
Short story base on the name and the deck.Crazy DeathHover over cards for details, click for permalink
4vc 4vc 4vc 4vc 4vd 4vd 4ve 4vk 4vk 4vk 4vo 4vp 4vq 4vq 4vq 50u 50u 50u 50u 52g 52g 52g 52g 52g 52g 52g 52h 52j 52j 52k 52k 52k 52n 52n 52p 52p 52p 52q 52r 52v 52v 52v 8pkThere is Death, and then there is Crazy Death. Death was out taking a stroll one day when he began to get a little hungry. He saw some pretty looking fruit hanging from a tree and decided to take one. Devouring the entire fruit hole, he didn't check to see if there were any bugs inside of it making it their home. Turns out, there was. Some cute little Abominations had made that fruit their home, but were now being digested. As any normal person knows, Abominations secrete a special fluid when threatened that causes receptors in the brain to go haywire. Needless to say, with how many Death had just consumed, the affect the Abominations had on his brain were permanent, making him permanently Crazy!
Voting:Voting will take place in two stages.
Stage 1:The first stage will be a Multi-Vote, where people vote in 13 different polls to chose which story fits best with each Elder.
Stage 2:The second stage will be a singular vote, where people chose which 3 of the 13 voted on stories(one for each Elder) are the best.
Submission Period:
Voting:Vote for your favorite story! Each person only gets one vote. The previous voting method has been thrown out do to limited submission.
Submission:Mrs. SchrödingerHover over cards for details, click for permalink
4vc 4vc 4vc 4vc 4vd 4vd 4ve 4vk 4vk 4vk 4vo 4vp 4vq 4vq 4vq 50u 50u 50u 50u 52g 52g 52g 52g 52g 52g 52g 52h 52j 52j 52k 52k 52k 52n 52n 52p 52p 52p 52q 52r 52v 52v 52v 8pkAn old, rotten mansion, located in the centre of the town. A purple glow shined through the shattered windows, it's once florishing gardens were covered with bones and webs. It's basement was said to be connected to every graveyard in the area. It's owner, Mrs Schrödinger once led a happy life untill her husband died from the plague. She managed to survive the disease and was immediately accused of being a witch, using black magic to stay alive. Shebecame an outcast and was locked up in her own hosue by the townspeople. She fought and cursed while they barricaded the doors and windows. From that day on, the town seemed cursed.
People seemed to be doing what they always did after that, living their normal lives but there were no kids playing on the streets, there were no laughs to be heared, it was like this town lost it's smile. Happiness and laughter were long forgotten words in Thorndon.
For dozens of years, nothing changed. All this time people kept disappearing and word spread; it was the Elder from the mansion, punishing them for their bad deeds. People tried bringing sacrifices, by bringing food to the mansion, only to be attacked and chased away by the flock of Vultures who made their home in the Boneyards. People did everything they could to appease the Elder, but her reign of terror did not end. In the long winter nights, people would find themselves covered in webs seeing their parents, husband or children, taken by Flesh Spiders, only to be taken by Demons a few moments after that. The creatures from the mansion started getting bolder and more agressive, even attacking during daylight. Everytime someone disappeared, people heared an ancient beast, howling in the old mansion. More and more cats started appearing aswell, they seemed to do people no harm but everywhere they came, they brought death and disaster.
It's not the creatures people were most afraid of however, it's their mistress they feared. Mrs Schrödinger.
Only the bravest of men dared entering the Bonewall-gates, those that returned were mutated and misformed, telling horrible stories about Abominations and demonic cats occupying the mansion. The last man to dare attempt such a thing was Thomas Wilshire, he was the last of his kind, the last man of Thorndon. This boy, barely 17 years old, never returned to tell the tale and Thorndon was abandoned. Backpackers still tell tales of an old woman cackling after night has fell, A giant flying creature has been seen during the full moon. People have not forgotten. People still tell the tale of Thorndon and the old mansion. People still suffer night after night for what their ancestors have done to an innocent woman, centuries ago...
Thorndon, 2011A wide variety of Elementals have been trying to breach into the house and claim the ancient powers that still roam there. They brought entire legions of creatures and books full of spells to fight their way through the mansion. Most of them fall, trying to breach through the massive walls of bone. They are not strong enough to fight off the Plague, the swarm of Condors and army of Spiders and Abominations.
Some of them succeed however and manage to take a fraction of the Elder's power. They get to live and return home, gloating about their new ability to summon Demons and Vultures themselves.
Well let me tell you this... Mrs. Schrödinger is not amused!
This is meant to be a fun story, user based. I hope you enjoy the adventure.
Q : how is this a story of origin?
A : if you didn't read it yet, i encourage doing so before opening this spoiler
Because this is how this elder is generated : each time an elemental stays too long in the pit, he frees the elder (which used to be an elemental) and becomes the elder.Q : How do i know you used more than 500 words?
A : This is the tool i used for counting :
http://www.wordcounttool.com/ , and this is the version without spoilers : A dark pit. As you look over the edge of the pit, the huge dragon you were trying to escape lands beside you. Having no other choice, you jump in the pit.
Ahum. *starts singing to the moon*. Good. My voice seems to be rea- *coughs*. Better.
Now. Hello there. I hope you liked ruining my mantle by landing on it. Yes, i know it saved your life.
What? You can't see me in the shadows? I know, the moon is only rising. In the meanwhile, would you mind answering a few questions?
*a cake appears*
Do you like cake?
Yes Oh well. *A voodoo doll appears* Voodoo doll number 2, would you mind shaking your arm? No, not the one pinned by the needle. Yes, that one.
Do you like wind? Yes Too bad. *voodoo falls, causing a massive earthquake which sends the cake towards the center of the earth*
No Too bad. *the moving arm causes a small tornado to appear, which shreds the cake in a myriad of tiny bits*
I don't care about wind *voodoo doll stops moving her arm* Hmm. How about sharing?
I like sharing! There we go! *copies the cake multiple time, and gives a piece of cake to every doll*
I hate sharing! Keep it to yourself then! *fangs appear on a voodoo doll just as you start eating the cake, and you taste bitter poison in your mouth*
Why do you ask me these questions? Because it helps me exist. You're learning this just too late - for you. *You sense a force draining your life, bit by bit, adding more and more substance to the shadow in front of you*
No You don't? Do you want to give it to me, then?
Sure! Thanks! *the cake disappears in the shadows* And clocks? Do you like clocks?
I like clocks! I'm sorry, but the only thing that i have that look like clocks is those pendulums.
*a myriad of pendulums appear and start ticking madly, slowly tearing apart your sanity*
I hate clocks! Well, you really need to pay attention to time : the moon's nearly completely risen.
I don't care about clocks. You are a difficult individual. Too bad for you, i hate those individuals.
*several voodoo dolls appear. In an explosion of chaos, they are shot, struck by lightning, frozen, and you can feel each blow on your own body*
Oh, you don't like sharing, do you? Well, too bad for you. *you suddenly notice the cake is gone*
The cake is a lie! It is! *a stiletto appears from nowhere and stabs the false cake to death*
The moon finally rises enough to show you the pit. In it, a creature cloaked in shadows, with random bursts of colour sprouting from the darkness, is revealed.
"Finally, someone idiot enough to answer all my questions! I am now free, as i become you, and you are fated to wait- till someone sees your true new form!"
As he says these words, you feel unsure about what you are. You also hear a scream, then a sound much ressembling a dragon eating. Then the darkness falls again.
Sweet DreamsHover over cards for details, click for permalink
4vo 4vo 4vo 4vp 4vp 4vp 4vp 4vp 50u 50u 50u 50u 50u 50u 50u 50u 50u 50u 50u 50u 50u 50u 5ul 5uo 5up 5uq 5uq 5ur 5us 5us 5uu 5uu 5v0 5v0 5v0 5v0 5v0 5v0 8ptA dark pit. As you look over the edge of the pit, the huge dragon you were trying to escape lands beside you. Having no other choice, you jump in the pit.
Ahum. *starts singing to the moon*. Good. My voice seems to be rea- *coughs*. Better.
Now. Hello there. I hope you liked ruining my mantle by landing on it. Yes, i know it saved your life.
What? You can't see me in the shadows? I know, the moon is only rising. In the meanwhile, would you mind answering a few questions?
*a cake appears*
Oh well.
*A voodoo doll appears*
Voodoo doll number 2, would you mind shaking your arm? No, not the one pinned by the needle. Yes, that one.
Too bad. *voodoo falls, causing a massive earthquake which sends the cake towards the center of the earth*Too bad. *the moving arm causes a small tornado to appear, which shreds the cake in a myriad of tiny bits**voodoo doll stops moving her arm* Hmm. How about sharing?
There we go! *copies the cake multiple time, and gives a piece of cake to every doll*Keep it to yourself then! *fangs appear on a voodoo doll just as you start eating the cake, and you taste bitter poison in your mouth*Because it helps me exist. You're learning this just too late - for you.
*You sense a force draining your life, bit by bit, adding more and more substance to the shadow in front of you*You don't? Do you want to give it to me, then?
Thanks! *the cake disappears in the shadows* And clocks? Do you like clocks?
I'm sorry, but the only thing that i have that look like clocks is those pendulums.
*a myriad of pendulums appear and start ticking madly, slowly tearing apart your sanity*Well, you really need to pay attention to time : the moon's nearly completely risen.You are a difficult individual. Too bad for you, i hate those individuals.
*several voodoo dolls appear. In an explosion of chaos, they are shot, struck by lightning, frozen, and you can feel each blow on your own body*Oh, you don't like sharing, do you? Well, too bad for you. *you suddenly notice the cake is gone*It is! *a stiletto appears from nowhere and stabs the false cake to death*The moon finally rises enough to show you the pit. In it, a creature cloaked in shadows, with random bursts of colour sprouting from the darkness, is revealed.
"Finally, someone idiot enough to answer all my questions! I am now free, as i become you, and you are fated to wait- till someone sees your true new form!"
As he says these words, you feel unsure about what you are. You also hear a scream, then a sound much ressembling a dragon eating. Then the darkness falls again.
Empathetic QueenHover over cards for details, click for permalink
5c6 5c6 5c6 5c6 5c6 5c6 5de 5de 5de 5de 5de 5de 5de 5de 5de 5de 5de 5lk 5lk 5lk 5lk 5oc 5oc 5oc 5oc 5oc 5oc 5oc 5oj 5oj 5oj 5oj 5oj 5oj 5ol 5ol 5ol 5on 5on 5on 8prWith hair of red, and eyes of black onyxes, Angelique was a sight to behold. She was radiant; with a smile like the stars.
Her eyes shone with the brilliance of youth as she lay on the roof of her father’s barn. It was a beautiful day; hardly a cloud skimmed the sky.
“Angelique, where are you?” A voiced called.
“Here…” Angelique answered lazily, not moving, she did not want to be disturbed from her nap. A sound of scrambling met her ears, a second later the head of a youth a little older than her popped out from nowhere. His was lean, not muscular but still strong and sinewy, with large golden eyes and hair matted with both silver and gray.
She sat up straight when she saw his face. “Devir! Are we going hunting today?” She said with immense excitement.
Devir’s face - which was normally impassive and uncomfortable in company – broke into an amused smile. “Yep.” His answers remained monosyllabic, however.
“Are we going now?” She asked, not waiting for his response as she slid from the roof and landed to the ground, completely ignoring the ladder merely a foot or two to her right. Devir followed her suit and jumped, even though he actually stood on the ladder.
“I’ll wait, you get your things.” Seeing that Devir already had his beautiful bow, Eagle’s Eye, with him, Angelique hurriedly ran into her house that stood beside the barn. She lived in the house with her mother, father and Devir, they lived off the animals in the forest nearby and the crops of their fertile field.
Her father had taught both her and Devir to shoot a bow at a young age, but he had only taken Devir hunting because Angelique had been too young. Not long after, her father had been gotten his legs broken by a sapphire charger and moved in to the house of his brother where he could be closer to the doctors who tended to him, his wife moved soon after, leaving Devir the farm as was his right as the eldest child. Angelique was bidden to stay to cook and clean and she agreed gladly.
In her room, Angelique carefully lowered a small blue wooden bow from pegs tacked into her wall. Owl’s Eye; her own bow she had painted and modeled after her brothers’. She ran back to the front of the barn, relived that Devir was still waiting.
“Ready?” Was the only hail that came from Devir.
Angelique nodded, not trusting herself to speak because of excitement. Devir turned towards the forest with Eagle’s Eye in hand. He carefully strung it and fired a test-shot into a tree before continuing on into the forest.
Angelique walked after him, placing her own bow on her back as she did so. When Devir reached the edge of the forest he motioned for her to come closer.
“I’m going to only say this once; I expect you to take it to heart; make as little noise as you physically can, if you hear a noise tell me, follow every word I say and pay attention to every motion I make, and do not ever stray from my sight, understand?”
She nodded. The excitement started to fade as the understanding of the dangers that could befall them in the forest started to surface in her mind. The thought were swept away when she suddenly felt his hand on her head.
“Keep behind me, little sister.”
He slithered into the forest without a sound, by comparison, Angelique felt like a particularly tactless Sapphire Charger.
For a long time, they wandered quietly through the forest. Devir crept through the leafy under growth with his eyes on the floor, noticing things like a twig that had been trodden on by the taloned foot of a cockatrice, or a puddle where water had collected in the foot print of a giant frog, or a patterned mark in the soft rain-wet dirt where a forest spirit had taken flight, accidentally brushing it’s wing into the earth, using memory and knowledge he sorted through these to figure out which of all these signs was most recent.
After a moment Devir choose to follow the cockatrice prints; they were clearly the freshest.
They walked for a long time following the trail, Angelique remained silent as she had been bidden, trying to look lively and energetic while Devir kept glancing at her to make sure she was not exhausted.
Devir stopped suddenly mid-step, his hand held out to stop her from coming forward. Angelique quickly saw what he had seen; a cockatrice bent over a kill of a rustler. She took out Owl’s Eye and notched an arrow to her bow string. Cockatrices were mostly scavengers so it probably was not cockatrice's kill.
Devir motioned her to come closer with his hand. He looked her in the eyes and tilted his head to the side. He had to repeat the motion a few times before she understood; she bobbed her head in a nod and retreated backwards into the under-brush.
She circled the cockatrice from one side, keeping track of Devir on the other side of the forest covering. She got into her position and pulled a piece of orange cloth out of her belt, waving it about. A second later she caught sight of a similar color of orange flashing between the green leaves.
The trees on Devir’s side were tactfully rustled to turn the cockatrice in his direction and give Angelique the perfect shot. She lifted her arm to eye level and drew back the string, letting one eye close as the arrow head hovered right on the cockatrice.
A firefly the size of her head darted in front of her head, her hand released the bow string in shock and the arrow curved off uselessly into the distance.
The cockatrice didn’t notice the arrow curve off above the tree lines, instead, it caught site of Devir. In panic, Devir accidentally released the arrow on his bow, skimming the head of the cockatrice. Devir was strong for his age, but even a fully grown man cannot stand up to a furious cockatrice.
It charged into him and knocked him over, using its heavy weight to trample and its sharp claws to tear.
“Devir!” Yelled Angelique, trying to catch the attention of either him or the cockatrice, after a moment her panic-filled head made her remember the bow in her hand. She notched another arrow and ran to the cockatrice.
This time, I won’t miss. The first arrow struck it through the stomach, enough to kill it over time, the second hit the head, killing it instantly, the third, fourth and fifth were all just for good measure.
She knelt by Devir and started to cry. Devir looked up at her, coated in both his and the cockatrice’s blood.
“You are not a killer… please… don’t do it again, unless it is to serve a greater purpose.” Said Devir, looking up at her with cloudy eyes, a faint rattle escaped his throat before he slumped back and hit the floor.
Crying without restraint, Angelique watched his lifeless body. A firefly flew in front of her eyes. Angry and hysterical, she raised her bow, and then lowered it, realizing that would be in direct violation of Devir’s last wish.
“I promise.” She whispered.
A woman with skin like armor stepped from the forest, clear wings folded into her back and armor-like horns atop her head. The firefly skimmed to her side and perched on her shoulder.
“If you are really going to keep that promise… I would like you to help us protect this forest.”
Angelique became known as The Empathetic Queen because of her connection to her followers. Even hundreds of years afterwards, she kept her promise to Devir and never used either her bow Owl’s Eye or her wind control and ability to create shock waves to kill unless it would save more in the long run, more often than not, she would keep away from violence and instead use Hope to stall the enemies into giving up.
FIN.
The AvengerHover over cards for details, click for permalink
61o 61o 61o 61o 61o 61o 61o 61o 61o 61o 61o 61o 61o 61o 61o 61q 61q 61q 61r 61r 61s 61s 61t 61t 61t 61t 61t 61u 61u 61v 61v 61v 620 620 620 620 623 623 623 623 624 624 8puPain. So much pain. And screaming everywhere. Panic, all around him.
He tried to run, but his legs failed him, and he fell down on the ground. He felt the blood gusting out of the wounds in his body. Tired and dizzy, too exhausted to get up, he tried to pull himself towards the town. He must warn them, before it is too late. He must save them. He must...
And then, the dragons were there.
They came, flying through the air, eclipsing the sun as they glided through the clouds. He raised his head and saw them landing on the ground. Their wings were as dark as the night, and the claws razor-sharp, they ruthlessly killed everyone around them. In a matter of minutes, there were piles of corpses all around. He felt tears burning his cheeks, as he lay there, unable to move an inch in any direction, forced to watch as everyone and everything ever dear to him was crushed into oblivion. He was too late. He had failed them.
And then, one of the beasts noticed him.
The creature edged closer, slowly, and crushed everything in its way. He felt the ground thumping under its massive steps, and he knew there was no escape. It let out a loud, powerful roar that shook the ground miles away, and revealed its teeth, as dark as the creature itself. Then, it raised its claw, and brought it down on him. He could hear himself screaming, as he was crushed under the massive weight. A moment of pain, and then...
Relief.
He felt himself rising, slowly, and saw his horribly mangled body below him. The dragon turned away, heading to do more damage to whatever little was left of the town and its populace. He tried to remember where he was, or what he had done here, but as he stood there, he felt his memories flowing away from him, forgetting who he was, until there was nothing left but himself.
And suddenly, as it had appeared out of nothingness, there was a dark figure next to him. It had a long, black robe, and a cloak on its head. He tried to see its face, but in the cloak, there was only darkness. And when it opened his mouth (assuming there was a mouth hidden deep in that darkness), the voice that came out was so deep and horrid that it made every inch of him wish that he were somewhere else.
„
Come with me,“ it simply said, and turned away, waiting for him to follow.
He took a step, but then stopped. He needed some answers first.
„No,“ he said, „Not before I know what is happening here.“
„
You died,“ it replied, in a slightly fatigued voice, as if it had been through the process too many times, „
I am here to guide you to the afterlife. I am not authorized to tell you more.“
He looked all around him, and saw chaos, as the last few survivors were tracked down by the horrible beasts. It all started fading away, slowly, turning blurrier with each second that passed. Somewhere in the distance, there was a woman, fighting for her life, screaming for help that could never come...
And then, something came back to him.
Rage. Anger. The need for revenge and retribution.
Dragons never travelled in packs, and they never attacked towns like this. There must have been a reason for it. Someone, somewhere, had sent them on this town, these people, his home...
And he knew that he had to avenge them. Whatever the costs.
„NO!“ he screamed to the figure, „I cannot go to the beyond. I must stay here, and help these people. Someone did this. Someone killed them all. Someone killed me. And they must pay for it. They must!“
The figure turned to him once more. „
There is nothing you can do for these people. You are gone from this world, and so are they. Unless...“
At that word, his eyes grew large and his heart was filled with hope. „Unless what? Anything. I'm ready to do anything. Please. I must avenge these people.“
„
There is a way. A way for you to get back. But it comes at a horrible, horrible price...“
„Please. Anything.“
„
The rules... The rules of the beyond state that a spirit is allowed to fight for its continued existence in the material realm. If he wins, he will be allowed to return, as a ghost, immaterial, if you will. If he should lose, however, his soul will be condemned to suffer forever.“
„I am ready. Please. I must get back. These people, they are all I ever had...“
„
Are you sure, mortal? Many have tried, but none have ever beaten the Army of the Dead.“
He felt fear growing inside him, but he knew there was no choice for him.
„Yes, please. I must do this. I must...“
„
Very well,“ the figure sighed and moved back. For a moment, there was only emptiness, but then...
Dragons. Dragons again. But these ones were different. They had a certain glow to them, and they were not black. It was more like they were colorless, and for a second, he even thought he could see through one, but he could not be sure, for there was nothing to see, as all had faded away now, and he was alone, in emptiness.
And there were others too, he saw. A couple of warriors, as empty inside as the dragons, holding swords as long as their own bodies and shields that shined brightly in the light. Their eyes were empty, and there was a sense of fierceness about them.
The dragons roared, and each and every one of the creatures rushed towards him. Fear filled his body, and the power of the roar knocked him on his back. Within a second, a dragon was above him, ready to crush him out of existence, just like the one before. He felt helpless, as if there was nothing he could do.
And then, he remembered the screaming woman.
Quickly, he rolled away, and the dragon crashed down just inches from his head. But already he was up, facing the warriors with the swords.
The beings flung their blades at him, but quickly, he threw himself out of their reach. The swords clashed with each other, and in a clatter of metallic noise, one was thrown to the ground.
He lunged to the sword and grabbed it before the creatures could move. In a second, he hacked their heads off and now turned to face the dragons.
They were circling him, and one of them tried to wipe him out with its tail. As it stormed towards him, he grabbed it, and quickly climbed onto the dragons back. Then, as the creature was confused and frightened, he took his sword and hacked it deep into its head.
The dragon dropped down dead.
As he looked at the others, they backed away, slowly, and then, one by one, they all bowed their heads to him.
The dark figure appeared again, abruptly, right at his side.
„
I cannot believe it,“ it said, „
You have defeated the army. The creatures are now yours to command. Use them well, in your half-life in this god-forsaken realm.“
And with that, the figure disappeared, and he was back in the ruins of the town.
He looked around and saw it crushed all around him, and for a second, he thought there was no-one left. Then there was screaming, and he saw the black dragons chasing a boy.
As he felt rage rising up in himself once more, he saw the immaterial dragons that he had just fought. He screamed and ran towards the boy, and his dragons seemed to know what he was thinking. They rose to air and thrust themselves onto the evil creatures, and, within moments, ripped them to pieces.
He ran to the boy, who was cowering in the corner. The boy looked him in the eye, in disbelief, and whispered:
„Who are you?“
He did not need to think twice before answering that question.
„I am The Avenger.“
To this day, he roams these lands with his spirit army, trying to find the one who killed him and bring him to justice. And until it is done, he will obliterate everyone in his path, for no-one can stand between him and his retribution.
For background information, see here (
http://elementscommunity.org/wiki/pve/false-god/hecate/).
Daughter of HecateHover over cards for details, click for permalink
5f0 5f0 5f0 5f0 5f0 5f0 5f0 5f0 5f0 5f3 5f3 5f6 5f6 5f6 5f7 5fb 5fb 5fb 5fb 5fb 5fb 5fc 5fc 5fc 5uk 5uk 5uk 5uk 5uk 5uk 5uk 5ul 5ul 5uo 5up 5up 5up 5v0 5v0 5v0 5v2 8poShe was born in the darkness.
Her mother raised her alone in the darkness. She was fed rotting Cockatrice meat for the first six years of her life, and kept barely alive. She couldn’t speak, for she hadn’t been taught. She couldn’t run away, for she was weak.
When she was six, her mother brought her into the light. It burned; she shied away from it. Every day her mother taught her the dark art of witchcraft; she was forced to learn, but she hated it. She just wanted to be free.
Slowly she learned to speak, and her mother took her outside more often. She noticed how the elementals gave her looks of scorn, and sometimes fear. It was hard to tell, for she had never been around others, and had never felt those emotions.
One day as they were walking a particularly rowdy bunch came along. They pushed her mother around, jeering at her. Her mother endured it, and she watched on. When they went back home, her mother retrieved a doll from her drawer and put a dagger in it.
The next day they passed the same group. The one who had harassed her mother was heavily bandaged. They looked up and fear filled their eyes; they turned and ran away.
She didn’t like the idea of using witchcraft to harm people. When she confronted her mother about it she was slapped and told to mind her own business. Still they continued their witchcraft lessons. She hated it. She hated her mother.
“Why are you doing this?” she asked one day.
“The False Gods must pay for what they have done,” replied her mother. “They must suffer my revenge.”
And always her mother played with her voodoo dolls, chanting curses, weaving deadly threads of dark magic. She watched on with fascination and repulsion.
One day a figure clad in blue came to their house. He wielded a blue bow with the eyes of an eagle. She recognised her as the False God Neptune.
“Have you finally given up?” he said.
And her mother roared with rage, throwing one of her dolls at him. The doll came to life and began attacking him. Neptune gave a cry and began attacking the doll, but as he did so he became weaker.
And there was her mother, a black dagger in her hand, towering over Neptune. Her mother struck at him – and that act of violence broke the spell keeping her in place.
She ran forward and wrenched the dagger from her mother’s hand, throwing it far. Her mother turned her fury on her, and everything turned black.
When she woke up the house was burned to the ground. Her mother was gone – she had been abandoned.
And her fury broke. She gave a mighty roar and destroyed the rubble around the house, venting all her anger on the place that had been her prison for so long.
And then she uncovered something strange – something wonderful. She picked it up and felt the rage rushing through her. Now she understood her mother’s words. And she knew now how vengeance would be served on her mother. With the voodoo doll in her hand, she vanished into the forest.
How ironic that she would use what she had hated to get her revenge.
Crusader's Eye
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Knights of the White Cloud
They say that the Land Dwellers and the Wind Riders were once one race living together peacefully. However, many chose to dig into the earth and build fortresses and massive cities for themselves. There were many who did not think this path to be pure. They chose to live in harmony with the elements, rather than use them selfishly. Thus the people began to divide into two groups. Those that chose purity were forced deep into the mountains, while the others continued to build many things.
Over the centuries, the Land Dwellers splintered off into smaller factions and began to war among themselves. The Wind Riders became just a legend whispered among the people, when they would talk about the old ways. "There is a people, who live in solitude, at one with the elements. They can travel amongst the clouds and strike their enemies with pinpoint accuracy." To most of the Land Dwellers this was absurd. They would laugh and scoff at those who believe in such fairy tales. 'Man cannot fly, if he could, he would have been born with wings.' .. 'Let them come down here and see how they stand up to our swords and catapults. We are not afraid, but they must be if they hide in the mountains.'
And on they went, building and destroying, building and destroying... an endless cycle of fire, hate, and death.
The earth became scorched from the fires of war. As they continued on this path, so did their science. But with every scientific achievement came another more efficient way of killing. Soon they would reach the pinnacle of their hate. A weapon so powerful, it could destroy the very world they lived on...
The Wind Riders could no longer stand by idly, they had to act, and act quick. The world needed to be cleansed of all those that stand to destroy it. In rolled the clouds, thunder and lightning soon followed. The Land dwellers trembled in fear, for they had not seen a storm of this magnitude. Rain began to fall to the ground. The Wind Riders hid their arrows within the rain and struck those who knew the sciences and those armor clad for battle. As swiftly as the storm came in, it was gone. Those that survived slowly made their way out of their houses and hiding places.
In the middle of each of the cities stood a knight with a bow, mounted on a pegasus. They began to teach the people about the old ways. All that survived listened to the wisdom of the Wind Riders, not out of fear of their arrow, but out of reverence of their pure countenance. The words they spoke were of sincere intent and they prospered because of it. In time, the Knights of the White Cloud returned to the mountains, but promised to always watch over those that lived on the ground.
Next time you look up and see the clouds, you may see a glimpse of these Wind Riders...
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