Concerning my story: I am glad that it is well-received. Of course. I gain a lot from using significantly more space than most other stories. In the future, we should probably define how many words "Short Story" constitutes. Depending on definition and source, it could be anywhere between 500 and 5000.
But for now, let's just look at the competition for this contest:
Slovenc555: Sorry, but I am not convinced. You had your story finished first and you had all the time to review it and make improvements. I am far from being a grammar nazi (my own grammar is horrible enough to prevent that) but if I have to read most sentences twice to get the meaning, it is too much. More importantly, a lot of potential is wasted with the role of the original thirteenth element. Given its significance in the development of the world, its deeds (and death) are not used nearly enough in the story.
Lanidrak: I like the whole "happy balanced world is becoming hostile and desolate" motive, but I think you should have spent more time to develop the story. For example, the "past religion" on which the False Gods are based remain ominous throughout and I do not know from where Entropy has returned. There is potential but the story needs more content to convey a stringent image.
Icybraker: Niice. You don't write stories very often, do you? It is quite interesting to see how the quality of your story improves as you go along. Morte is introduced nicely and the feeling of fear and desperation is well-conveyed in the description of your poor protagonist. Oh, and a bitter end is always a plus with me. That said... I think that you didn't double-check your story well enough after finishing it. For example, the "thousand gasps" become "two hundred archangels" who somehow still constitute a "scout group". Your story is neigh perfect after you had established the setting, but this establishing process definitely needs work.
Daxx: Great story and about as good as it can get with the short format you chose. Strong introduction, excellent use of language and I especially like your choice of calling the battling elements "Childs". My only complain is, that you could have allowed yourself a bit more space to build up tension a bit further.
Cynxos: The story itself is very impressive. You take your time with vague-but-threatening exposition, building up suspense towards an inevitable climax. The exposition and description of the scene flows well with this process of building up a certain punchline and preparing to deliver it with ruthless efficiency. The only problem is - I am not impressed by that punchline. Seism is a pain to go up against but the deck really doesn't match the person in your description IMO.
Essence: I like the general setting, the theme, the protagonists and the solution. The whole "beseech the elusive mystical creature"-deal is always nice and working the Nymphs into it works well. There is some room for improvement, though. More dialogue between the protagonists to build up pressure would have been nice and I like it more, when the plan (what to do with the tears) is worked into the midth of the story to be able to finish the story quickly after the solution to the critical element is found.
Kurohami: There is a lot of potential in the story, but you really should have run a better double-checking process at the end. There are names (Greeph?) that appear out of the blue and it is never quiet clear whether the Graviton village in the beginning is connected to the Graviton army in the later part of the story in any way.
Lord_Midnight: I like the archeologist setting. It can solve a lot of problems we get from the fact that there are few humanoid cards in elements. Thinking of marks as powerful artifacts opens up story ideas, I might try myself sooner or later. Still, there are some elements in the story, I am not entirely satisfied with. I would have liked a stronger focus on the characters instead of their precise actions to reach the place. Also, I don't really like the punchline - there is not much wisdom in the question, it can be simply answered with "cartography changes a lot over a few millennia". The strong setup for the one deadpan question could have been executed way better.
Bloodshadow: A marvellous work with excellent language, good ideas and an irresistible logic behind it. I have always wondered, why light was always associated with good, while darkness should harbor evil but your explanation makes a lot of sense, surprisingly. To the work itself, I can only deliver praise. It is highly unfortunate that it will not be the story to receive my vote, though.
Why not? Let me do the segue to my choice for Best Story: The obvious problem is, that there is a lot of variance in the entries in terms of language, themes, subject, etc. My criterion for best story is based on the question who made the best story which means to me the best setting, the best course of action and the best execution in a conclusion of the story. Which means that my vote goes to a story that certainly has (minor) flaws in the execution but surpasses the others in creating a course of action to play with the suspense of the story, creating several dramaturgical peaks in short time: My choice for this contest is Icybraker.
Which leaves me to address as a final part: Bloodshadow's world creation story certainly is the work of highest quality in here and I think it has the potential to be added to the "official" Elements material. If the current state of the homepage/wiki allows, it could make a nice addition as the flavor of Elements in a nutshell.
