SF's "Write Your Butt Off!" Writing Competition XIV

[eclipse]

So kinda like how in Harry Potter, how Harry or Neville could have technically fulfilled the prophecy?

That's one example!

[Jedi]

Alrighty! I think I should be able to write something for this for once. That is if life doesn't interfere.

Again.

[Rapier]

Ok, this prompt seems more interesting for me. I'll try, if I don't get demotivated all of a sudden.

[Loki Laufeyson]

Hahahahaha i got a pretty funny ASOIAF fic idea. I hope i can actually do it. Things have been kinda busy lately. Ill try.

[Jotaro Kujo]

I'm gonna do this one, but I don't know what to write about yet, ehehe

[Carnation07]

I reckon I'll give this one a shot too. I already have an idea brewing...

[Magical Glace]

No fight scene requisite to hold me back? Sweet, I can do this.

[jankmaster98]

Hmmm... Gonna rock the dragon with my idea for this one. I'm just, saiyan....

[Rapier]

Hmmm... Gonna rock the dragon with my idea for this one. I'm just, saiyan....

I just imagined a retold of Namek Saga with both Goku and Vegeta as SSJs and some heavy rock playing while they fight Frieza.

[blah the Prussian]

It shall be a very pan German return for the writing skills of blah2127. Gib win plox.

[MRDRHAWK]

*nods approvingly*

I think imma do something for this one myself

[Snike]

Ok, I'll see if I can get an entry up.

[Magical Glace]

I'm about 1/4 of the way done. I have a lot of ideas for this prompt (and character introductions to do), so I'm definitely participating, but the result will probably be just a portion of what will eventually be a much longer story.

[jankmaster98]

Mild Spoilers for my story, but Eclipse, does a fusion dance technically count as two people?

[Magical Glace]

*Checks 'Clipsey's post for a deadline*

*Sees nothing*

*Checks OP*

*Still sees nothing*

Um.... did we ever name a deadline?

[blah the Prussian]

I'm still here! It's just that I've been traveling for quite a while and I haven't had a chance to write. Maybe next contest.

[Snowy_One]

I'm here as well. Have some ideas but nothing definitive ATM.

[Snowy_One]

Double-post. Story time!

Name: Divine Blood

World: OC

Words: 4948

Okay. I'm gonna make this quick for you. You know how lots of bad things happen in this world from time to time, right? Crusades, plague, taxes, zombies, all those sorts of things, right? Well, you ALSO know how I went and chopped up some evil god ten years back? Well, turns out he has a priest. A priest who kinda... went into hiding. I thought he was just the temple cook and it wasn't until I found out that the temple HAS no cooks that I realized my mistake. Big bad on my part. Any who... So, yea, turns out only one of divine blood can kill the priest for good and, jeez, did you see that goddess? Sizzling! And now I've got a kid learning the trade. So, yea, when the priest rears his ugly head again, the goddess says one of mine will kill him, he'll be dead for good, and no more evil god coming back. Now, TO THE HEAVENLY BOSOM OF MY GODDESS WIFE I GO!" *blerk*

- The final words and prophecy of Sir McDuff. Slayer of the Demon King Ymamon. 10 A.D. (After Demon).

1280 A.D.

Shimmering lights danced across the chambers of Castle Yvonne as, within his own chambers, High Priest Malcolm stood in the center of his room. To each side was a maiden, their eyes glazed over as if asleep as they slowly circled about the room with their hands raised on up high. From their palms flowed forth the light in a thousand colors, some of which could not be seen by the eyes of normal man but only to those attuned to the deeper arts of magic. In the center of the chamber a sphere where the flowing lights converged showing images of the past and present, the flows of magic, and the results of the most recent jousting tournaments.

"Yes! Yes! Come on Green Sword!" cried out Malcolm as he raised his hand up in a mighty cheer. "Dark God has twenty gold on a helmet removal! I can't let Max win the jousting team make-up!" he said before swinging a roast chicken about, accidentally causing a piece of the sauce covering it to fly off and strike one of the maidens. She didn't flinch an inch, mesmerized as she was.

On one end of the field a knight upon a mighty steed, towering over both his attendants, rode up to the end of the field. He was a fair, noble-seeming, knight with a field of fair green with a yellow sun and red gryphon upon his shield. His lance, standard tournament issue, was colored with a matching scheme as he lowered it. On the opposing end of the field was a knight in dark red and blue with the symbol of a fire-breathing dragon on his shield. Sir Ironhide. Malcolm hissed at the screen. Max had chosen Ironhide as his ideal knight pick and now, at last, it was time to see which of the two was better.

A trumpet sounded and both knights lowered their lances, a visible glare shooting between them as their horses pawed the ground. Both seemed to remain static for a moment before, at last, they spoke.

"You, Sir Ironhide, are little more than a naive fool! I have won the heart of the damsel fair and by divine right! You may have been her love once but now she sees you as naught but a fool!"

Ironhide glared back. "A fool? I tended to my maiden long and hard, went on crusade and quest for her, and yet you have cast foul magic upon her to add her to your harem? What if Madam Jolene? Do you remember how you broke Sir Blackstone's heart when you stole her from him as well? I shall not fall to the same trickery! Have at thee!"

And with that the horn sounded and both knights charged. Their gallop was strong, powerful, as their lances reached out to each other. Mighty tips seemed to tear through the air before a mighty clash of lance and armor sounded throughout the arena like thunder as the Green Knight was launched backwards off his steed and crumbled hard to the ground.

Sir Ironhide trotted back around, looking down at the Green Knight with ire. "And thusly a true hear prevails." he replied. Throughout the chambers Malcolm screamed in rage as he flung his chicken against the wall, striking the other maiden in the process. "NO! I LOST TO MAX!" he screamed. Suddenly his attendant barged in.

"Master! Are you alright? Has that pesky hero come at last?" he said in a panic, rushing to his masters side. He was small, almost a dwarf in size, and seemed overly worried.

"No! I just lost twenty gold to that goblin of a man! Ugh! Why?"

"And what of the hero? Are you certain they are not here yet?"

"Of course not."

"But, your future visions... The prophecy... Everything you've said..."

"What?" said Malcolm, rolling his eyes. "That the hero of legend will come for me this year? Of course I know about him. That callow youth from the farms, right? Here. Come." he said gesturing over to the servant. Then with a quick snap of his fingers, the orb changed its hue as the image within changed to that of a trio of friends fighting what appeared to be a golem made of something white and soft.

"He's on his way for certain. By my best guesses it should be in about two weeks unless he chooses to bet on those jousts again. I swear the kid has unnatural luck as he always gets the right picks. When I'm not playing with my friends I just scry on him when he picks and choose the same. He doesn't know it but about half the traps in this temple will be ones he basically paid for himself."

"But he's a hero! The prophecy! You'll die! Yet you spend time in here women dressed up in silk!"

"Hey! I can't desire my mind-slaves to look pretty now? I mean, they're basically just magical batteries for my scrying."

"Not the point! What about your plans? All those evil minions, monsters, and soldiers you have at your disposal? Where are they now?"

Malcolm gave a small sigh before gesturing to the screen, causing it to rewind through time to about two months ago.

"Recognize this village? My cultists raided it about two months ago looking for a shard of the dark god and all that. Standard stuff. Raid, make it look like bandits did it, namely by hiring them then killing their leader off, then take whatever I want. Nothing unusual. Except this time this... brat... somehow got a wooden sword and fought off the invasion. Still destroyed the village and killed his family of course. He kind of is holding a grudge against me now and set out to destroy me. I sent my minions after him at first, of course, but it did diddly. He killed them, pawned off their weapons, bought the services of some merc and found that pretty little priestess there willing to help him in the name of the goddess."

"Yes master." replied the servant, shifting about nervously as he watched the scene play forwards. The mother was impaled through the chest as his father was cut down before the eyes of the terrified hero. He was a young boy of about fifteen with a large amount of blonde hair that seemed wild and untamed; as if he had just woken up from bed. Then, as he screamed and ran in a panic, he picked up a child's play-sword and then, somehow, preceded to beat the guards up as a shimmering light surrounded him.

"Well, funny thing about a prophecy. It's a prophecy. If it doesn't come true then it's not a prophecy. Especially when the goddess sanctions it and ordains it to happen. So, you know, he's gonna kill me."

"What? You've run this cult for over a hundred years and killed many heroes before! And now you're going to throw in the towel against someone whom hasn't even slept with his first woman yet?"

"Eh. I'm not so sure. That priestess girl claims she's a servant of the god and acts pure, but the way she acts when things get slightly pervy..."

"Not the point!"

"Oh. Alright. Anyways. No. I'm not throwing in the towel. I figured this would happen all those years ago. After all, the goddess is a bitch and is kinda mad I tried to summon a dark god. So, yea, at first I flung minions against him, but then he did that thingy where he lit up again and got some insane sort of magic, so it became clear he was blessed by the Goddess and had divine blood. So, I figure, what's the point in wasting troops against him? Let him run off, collect some magical artifacts, slay a few dragons, clean house of a few dozen hordes of goblins, and the like. Then, when he comes here, I'll put on a show for him. Pretend to resist him, make him give it his all, learn from him a bit, then let him kill me.

You see, all those years ago, I realized what was going to happen when his ancestor let me go thinking I was a chef just because I was out of my formal robes but had a knife and blood-stains on me like I had just been prepping the meat for dinner. Knew what was gonna happen and, when Ymamon died, yea. Kinda obvious. So I whipped up a dimensional portal gate to a dimension about a day behind our own, jumped through it, and stabbed the sucker in the back just after he killed Ymamon. Dark god is dead like he was prophesied to do, so no more holy protection from my knife. He's dead, no prophecy, no heir, stored a shard of my soul there. I figure I'll just let this guy kill me, resurrect in that dimension, wait a few years till his skills have degraded, then go stab-happy on him in his sleep."

"Why not just do that now?"

"Already tried. Dimensional teleport went wrong and brought me right outside his room instead of inside it. Tried to approach the door only to step on a cats tail, stumbled through the door and stabbed everything I could, then found out I wasn't even in the right inn and had killed a vacationing family. Took their hearts as a sacrifice then got the heck out of there. Became clear to me that this whole thing is destined."

"So, let me get this straight, your plan is to basically sit around here all day watching jousting tournaments on your scrying orb while the hero gets stronger, LET HIM KILL YOU, then pop back a few years later and laugh at him while you stab him in his sleep? All because you think this prophecy is true?"

"Can you tell me a prophecy that isn't true?"

"Well.... Ummm..."

"Exactly. Now, this conversation is going nowhere and the next joust is coming up. Oh. And please clean the maidens. I got some chicken on them and if I let their minds free of the mesmerization I'll lose the scrying orb and I'm NOT losing another jousting tournament!"

"Why not scry the heroes picks if he always wins?"

"Ruins the sport of the game."

---

About Two Weeks Later

Alexander sighed heavily as he stood before High Priest Malcolm's fortress, his blade in hand. It had been a hard, long, road to get to this castle and it was certainly an impressive place. It was a HUGE fortress of dark, almost obsidian black, stone nestled on the backs of four gigantic skeletons that towered several stories tall, easily larger than almost any castle in the realm! To get here he had had to charge through a horde of undead, demons, and some of the most malicious monsters in existence but he was finally here!

Beside him approached a young woman, clad in the holy white robes of a cleric. He had met her early on when he had collapsed just after his village had been razed by the minions of Ymamon. She was a fair beauty of impressive magical might and the two had grown very close ever since then. Her soft hands looped around his own.

"Rosemary... You know it's about time." " he said softly as he looked down into her eyes as light seemed to shimmer forth from them.

"Oh would you two just shut up and kiss already?" came the young, scratchy, voice of a girl just behind the pair. Despite being a full foot shorter than Rosemary and of red hair, Thyme was actually Rosemary's elder twin sister by only a few moments. Unlike her sister whom had devoted herself to the healing arts, Thyme had gone for alchemy and pure, raw, power and was easily the most destructive being on the planet who wasn't evil. In fact the smoldering crater where they stood now had been littered with zombies just a few seconds before Thyme had sent a massive magical blast into it, leveling everything.

"Indeed. Your tension may, very well, get us killed here. I will not let the lives of my friends be wasted because you two could not resolve this beforehand." replied a tall, gruff, mercenary behind the pair. Rosemary flushed a deep red. "It's not like that Linus. We're... We're... Friends. Very close friends."

Alexander looked back to Linus. "Indeed. We care very much for each other, but judging our romantic life based on a few heated weeks of battling is a very poor choice in determining if we actually love each other or not." he said before shaking his head.

"Come on, you know me. I'm only teasing... sort of. But seriously, we better succeed here."

"No duh. I don't plan on dying." replied Thyme with a grin. "Now, sis, we have a fortress to topple!"

Rosemary gave a quick nod as she went to stand beside her sister. Both raised their hands up high into the air as, before them, the massive castle loomed. The gigantic skeletons had stopped moving for now thanks to the order of their master and, indeed, the master seemed to be gracious in giving them just a few moments for their final words before this battle. But it was time to end that. The earth shuddered as one of the skeletons feet lifted off the ground, the remains of the various undead falling away as it moved like a titan of lore.

"We who bare the light of the flame and the glory of the light..." started out Rosemary and Thyme. Overhead four magical glyphs appeared to surround the girls, each one flowing down only to then rise up and repeat in sequence.

"Get ready Alexander." said Linus as he readied his mighty blade and took stance as the heavy foot of the skeletal giant came down hard upon the ground causing all four to visibly lurch and shudder. One of the giant's massive arms swung down and low causing bellows of wind to form from the sheer power of its passing. Linus and Alexander readied their blades as they sprung forth to block. With a battlecry their blades met the bone in a flurry of shimmering sparks.

"Shall seek to destroy all who stand before us in unholy blight..." added in the sisters. Pure flames suddenly burst into being surrounding the two, burning in pure radiance as a sphere of light and fire formed above them. The giant skeletons hand swung down to strike at them as both Alexander and Linus jumped up again, their swords raised up as Linus brought his blade down hard upon the arm easily four times as wide as he was tall, cleaving it in twain as he fell to the ground and the giant stumbled backwards.

"Let your glory and power be shown through out the land

by the power given to us in our unworthy hands!

HOLY FIRE!" the girls screamed out. Fire and light flowed together, forming up around their forms and bursting from the glyphs before it shot forth in a massive steam towards the giant skeletons. It poured down over them, scouring all the unclean and fel magic from their form with each surge and lick of fire and light. The giant teetered forwards as it started to collapse, bone and body falling from its skeletal form as, slowly, the castle came down around them and fell to the ground. Plumes of dust, dirt, and grime rose up as the castle settled upon the earth, its stones visibly dislodged and collapsed.

"Did he even survive that?" asked Thyme with a smile.

"Why do you ask questions you already know the answer to?" replied Linus with a smirk. "Of course he's alive inside of there. Would be too easy otherwise."

---

Inside the castle all was still and quiet. Not a sound was heard... except for the moans and cries of all the poor maids and servants whom had been inside when the whole thing had come down.

"Whelp. Looks like that's it." said Malcolm as he looked at the two collapsed maidens on the ground beside him. "They brought down the castle. Best to get this over with." He then quickly dusted off his robes and gave himself a quick slap or two across the face before clearing his throat and heading down to the throne room.

---

Alexander grimaced as he looked at all the destruction wrought about him. He had to mentally remind himself that these people, innocent though they were, were here at the behest of High Priest Malcolm whom was the far greater evil. With Rosemary at his side, Thyme behind him, and Linus taking up the rear, Alexander moved on forwards with his sword at the ready until the four arrived in the grand central hall.

Before them stool Malcolm in all his glory. He wore bones upon his armor, each one taken from a mighty beast, with the sinew and skin woven together in an unholy patchwork. His legs were bound in the flesh of an iron boar with bones straining to hold the skin tight. Twin, dagger-like, claws radiated forwards from his toes like a monster of lore. Along his arms were the bones of a massive bird with the wings sharpened to points and, upon his head, were the bones of multiple skulls woven together to form a truly foul helmet.

"You could have just knocked you know." he said with a small grin as he looked down upon them. He took a step forwards, the claws of his feet rattling against the floor. "I would have so looked forwards to meeting all of you. I mean, what a sorry bunch of cowards have come to challenge me? I could almost laugh if you weren't here to kill me. I mean... Look at you. Rosemary, you were a priestess, sworn to serve the goddess in purity and devotion. Yet how many times have you wavered? When that army was destroyed your first thought was not to aid the wounded as the goddess commands but to find your hubby. And you wonder why your goddess forbids romantic relationship."

"We're not in love! We're just friends." replied Rosemary, gritting her teeth. "We all waver and make mistakes. It is why we are human and not divine beings! I made a mistake but detaching myself from the world is not the right answer!"

"And Thyme." said Malcolm with a smirk. "Sweet, sweet, Thyme. You were such a good little magician. You were willing to tap into the powers of darkness and evil without a second thought; all because you were called ugly by students whom you knew had half your talent. You are vain beyond compare. If your beloved sister hadn't stopped you, you would be at my side even now."

"Rosemary is always there to watch out for me, but I learned my lesson and will atone for what I did by blasting your corpse into dust!"

"Ahhh... Corpse dust. Much like the corpse dust you made of dear Linus's company? Tell me, Linus, have you forgiven her for all the harm she did? She killed all you knew and held dear."

"Tch. I care for my friends, but what Thyme did wasn't her fault. I don't blame her anymore but, rather, the dark god whom made her as crazy as you."

"And Alexander... the worst of them all... Following a musty old prophecy because your great grandmother was a dirty little tart who abandoned the world for some shmuck. How many people forsook their duties for hedonism because she would not answer their prayers? How many gave in to the darkness because she could not respond to their prayers? How many people fell into madness and slew their friends because of her absence? All so she could get knocked up and have you follow her hubbies last words over a thousand years later?"

"There would be no need for such a thing if people like you weren't so intent on destroying the world for their own personal gain!" replied Alexander. "I will not justify the actions of my ancestors, but I will make use of the chance and hope that they have given us today! Have at you!"

And with that the battle was joined. Alexander charged in head-first with his sword wide and too the side. Malcolm quickly raised up the arm of his macabre suit as rotting wings and flesh came up to intercept the blade. Sword met iron feather as Malcolm took the blow, then quickly whirled around to strike again with his other wing. It ripped through the air where, only a second ago, Alexander's head had been as the swordsman sprung backwards and away, getting clear. Just in time too as a blast of magical energy ripped through the throne-room, scouring the carpet into smithereens, destroying the masonry, and forcing Malcolm to leap away as Thyme unleashed a mighty blast at the priest.

"Oh come on! That was a one-of-a-kind carpet!" said Malcolm, outraged, before leaping at Thyme with the claws of his feet raised up. He kicked downwards towards her exposed body as his wings came down as well, only to be repelled as a holy barrier sprung up around the mage girl as Rosemary quickly uttered her protection spell. Linus was right there to protect Thyme as his blade came up, sweeping between the two and catching Malcolm's talons with its edge. He quickly gave a push forcing the priest back and to the ground.

As he landed, his talons and wings sending up a shower of sparks, he quickly uttered a few words as a sphere of darkness formed in his hands. He quickly raised it up and aimed it at Rosemary before a beam of dark energy, siphoning the very light from the air itself, shot forwards towards her chest. Thyme dashed forwards, intercepting the blast with her own body. But no cry of pain or even wound was inflicted upon the mage. Instead her body dimmed a bit as a dark aura flowed over her body.

"Dark magic? You'll have to do better than that! Here's a little thank you for the gift you gave me the last time we met!" she cried out before she quickly swung her arms about and whipped the dark magic right back at Malcolm. The priest had to dive to the side as the shadow blast tore a hole right on through the wall.

"Right. Forgot you could do that." he muttered to himself as Alexander rushed forwards again, this time with Linus at his side. Linus's sword came down low as Alexander leapt into the air. The first forced Malcolm to jump backwards while the second threatened to tear him apart from the sky. Yet, as he jumped up, he tried to flip away causing the sword to come down on the iron-boar armor, deflecting it to the side as Malcolm landed hard on his back. He didn't let that stop him for even a second though as he rolled to the side as Linus's sword came down to stab the ground and try to kill him. Jumping up to his feet he swung his bird-arm out, catching Linus full-on in the chest, cutting into the chain metal armor he wore as his hands gripped down on the mans side. He slammed Linus to the ground as he rushed forwards and lifted the man up, tossing him hard at Rosemary. The two collided and were toppling backwards.

Thyme was not so unwary though as she quickly conjured up a fireball and sent it flying at Malcolm, burning the hairs on his head as he jumped out of the way. As he landed he raised his arms up high then swung them forwards. Rotten flesh dislodged the iron feathers from his armor as a literal shower of death rained down over Thyme. Feathers cut through her body as death filled the air around her. Then the worst came to pass as one of the feathers shot forwards towards Thyme's chest. It struck her full-on, cutting through the fabric of her outfit, skin, flesh, and bone as it lodged itself fully within her body.

*urk* coughed out Thyme as she stumbled backwards, her hands clutching at the feather in her body as blood leaked from the corner of her mouth. Thyme collapsed forwards towards the ground, catching herself on her knee. Yet, before she could expire, holy light flowed over her body and the wound, slowly knitting flesh back together. Thyme grasped the feather hard and, painfully, pulled it out so that Rosemary's spell could heal the wound entirely.

"You're gonna pay for that!" replied Thyme as she held the feather in one hand and flung it back at Malcolm as hard as she could, causing it to glance off his helmet and shatter to the side. A brief lull came about as the four moved into position around Malcolm who quickly cocked his head to one side, then the other, observing the four. Then he lunged towards Rosemary, his talons raised as he sought to slash her in twain, only for the barrier to come up again. Whirling around he tried to fling more feathers at Thyme only for Linus to intercept them with the flat of his blade and armor, and then for Alexander to come up behind him.

First Alexander's sword came down, striking Malcolm hard in the back, before a holy blast from Rosemary caused him to stumble backwards. Then Linus charged forwards before launching Thyme high into the air who brought down a shower of fire upon him. Then, all four took a step back as Rosemary and Thyme raised their hands up. Linus darted in, grasping Malcolm hard in an iron grip against the flat of his blade.

"We who bear the light of flame and glory of the light,

Shall seek and destroy all those who stand before us in unholy blight.

Let your glory and power be shown through the land,

By the power given to us in our unworthy hands!
Holy Fire!"

The stream of divine flame came forwards as it had before. Alexander raised his blade up high, toughing the flame and letting it wreath his blade in its power. He then charged forwards and slashed down upon Malcolm, severing the armor and cleaving him in two.

"You shall plague the land no more! Your dark god is defeated now for good!" he said with a smile. As Malcolm fell forwards the only sound he gave was a quiet giggle.

---

Haha! That's it then! He's defeated for good! What do you know... I guess a dark god can be slain. Now, we shall return home and, hey, isn't that the chef from earlier? What is he doing here? Whathe? OH! NO! Dear god! Why? Why? Why are you stabbing me? Ahhh! Help! Someone! Anyone! Healing spell? Ahh! SHHHHHH! *gurgle blerk*

- The final words of Sir McDuff. Slayer of the Demon King Ymamon. 0 A.D. Stabbed sixty seven times in his bed on the eve of his victory. Died before his lover could reach him with a healing spell.

1280 A.D.

Alexandra groaned as she trudged throughout castle Yvonne, carrying a bucket of... chamberpot... in her hands as she worked through Castle Yvonne. It was horrible, disgusting, work but she didn't really have a choice. A few weeks ago bandits had assaulted her home village, killed her parents and family, and forced her to flee. She had taken up a wooden sword and fought off some of them, even made friends with a priestess named Rosemary in a nearby town. But with no money to her name she had been unable to hire a mercenary and did not desire to attempt to travel the dangerous lands with just Rosemary and herself, dashing her hope for revenge against the bandits. At least... until she found someone offering a job here.

It wasn't much. It was a scullery maid job. But as she had walked in she had been bashed with a sap and now... now she didn't even know where she was. As she heaved the bucket over the edge of the castle, letting the waste fall to the ground below where a horde of skeletons walked about. She dare not flee out of fear of joining their number.

With a groan she kicked her bucket to the side before hurrying down the hallways to tend to the next of her duties; namely cooking up a load of chicken for the master of the castle. He was 'away' for now, but he claimed he would be back soon and wished the place in order. Quickly cooking the chicken she headed to his room where the sad reminder of her potential fate resided in the form of two brainwashed and mesmerized girls staring absently into the void as a giant sphere of light floated overhead. If she dared disobey...

Suddenly the door slammed open as her master, clad in a suit of decaying animal parts, stormed in.

"DAMNIT that hurt!" he cried out as he ripped off a helmet of human skulls and tossed it to the side, smashing Alexandra in the arm. A small servant, about only four feet high, followed behind him.

"Well, sir, you DID just die. I'm sure the me in that dimension told you that this was a horrible idea!" he said in protest.

"Yes. He was also wrong. Dammit. I got feathers under my shirt. Anyways, now the prophecy has been fulfilled. Divine blood slew me. Wait a bit. Come back and kill everything. I need a day at the hot springs..."

"Sir, how... how do you know that there is no prophecy here as well?" asked the servant.

"Cause I killed the prophet. Do YOU know of the prophecy that someone of divine blood will kill me?"

"N-no..."

"Exactly. Safe here." he said with a sigh before slumping down into his seat and activating the orb to watch fighting gladiators. "You. Maid. Chicken."

Alexandra nodded as she quickly hurried over. "Here you are... Ummm..."

"Huh. A new maid here. Must not have noticed you before."

"Yes. Our recruiter picked her up a few weeks back. The old maid... well... she was OLD. We knew she had health problems and healing staves don't cure old age."

"Ah well. No problem. Tell me, maid, what is your name?" he asked. "I make it a point to get to know most of my minions. Raises moral, even if I do turn most of them into skeletons. I mean, it makes me happy knowing the names of each of them."

"A-A-Alexandra." she squeaked out, the thought of him turning her into a skeleton outright terrifying her.

"Alexandra! Well... Nice to meet you." he said with a smile, reaching out his hand. Alexandra reached out her own. Then, suddenly, the color seemed to drain from Malcolm's face. "A-a... Alexandra?" he said, his voice suddenly shaking and quivering.

"Yes. OH DEAR GODDESS DON'T TURN ME INTO A SKELETON!"

"Oh. Oh no... Tell me... Alexandra... Did your family die a few weeks ago?"

"Yes, and I would REALLY appreciate you not reminding me of that right now!"

"By bandits?"

"Yes."

Malcolm's eyes went suddenly wide as he lunged forwards at Alexandra who quickly rolled to the side. The few weeks of combat experience had trained her a bit... but the only thing she had was the chicken wing to fight with! Malcolm's claws scraped against the ground as he whirled around, trying to kick out and gouge out her throat in one go. Alexandra's arms shot up as her hands grabbed the leg, catching it full on and causing the priest to fall to the ground. Hard. As fast as she could she ripped the talon off the weary priests body, raised it up, and drove it home in his neck. With a quick and silent gurgle Malcolm collapsed hard to the ground.

"Damnit... I thought... for certain... there was no one of divine blood or prophecy here..."

Alexandra quickly scampered backwards as, around her, the golems supporting the castle started to collapse, causing stone and mortar to fall apart as zombies, skeletons, and the like simply turned to dust around her. As the castle fell to the ground she jumped out the front door and tumbled to the ground as, behind her, Castle Yvonne fell in a mighty plume of dust and dirt and Malcolm expired. A second time.

Edited July 31, 2015 by Snowy_One

[eclipse]

Things that suck: ME.

Unfortunately, the timing of this contest is awful for me IRL. Sooo. . .I'll either have to end this on a not-Sunday, or I'll have to end it at a really weird time on August 2 (something like noon my time). Any preference?

[Snowy_One]

End it 11 minutes ago?

For realz, I'd prefer August 2. Keep it Sunday.

Edited July 30, 2015 by Snowy_One

[Magical Glace]

August 2, probably.

[eclipse]

Gotcha.

End time is August 2, at 11:30 AM HST, since I don't know if I'll have time to do it when I get home that night

For reference, I posted this ~10:26 PM (SF's a wee bit fast right now).

[Sunwoo]

I sort of forgot this existed because I've been overwhelmed with work-related stuff lately. Anyway, I'm cool with whatever.

[Magical Glace]

[spoiler=I cannot even humor]All….Four of Us?

It was a warm, spring day in Troidain. A completely pleasant day, at a glance.

Except Eight was currently watching thorns cover the castle, while everyone turned to stone. He wasn’t quite sure what was going on, when a firm hand suddenly grabbed his shoulder and began pulling him along.

“Why are you just standing there? The only other survivors of whatever is going on are the three of us, so come on and get out!”

Eight looked at the three soldiers that were staring at him, wilting as they were obviously higher ranked than he was. Begrudgingly, he let them guide him out, unsure what to think as he watched the castle he had called home in the few years he could remember change to a lifeless fortress.

-O-O-One Day Later-O-O-

The King and Princess apparently survived the thorns alive, if with a new appearance. They met us outside, surprised that we had lived somehow. I don’t know about these three, but the Aqua Spirit must have been protecting me even while I was in this world.

“What are you planning on doing, Your Majesty?” Solo, one of the survivors, was asking the goblin creature that claimed to be King Trode. Solo was the tallest of the survivors, with chin length green hair and bright green eyes.

“Asking you four about how you survived, first…” He muttered. “Then, we are looking for Dhoulmagus. As my vassals, you are all required to come.”

Solo seemed uneasy. “If it’s alright, I would rather not say my theory on my survival. It is far too strange…”

“I’d like to check on some friends. They aren’t in the castle, but they’re likely in a panic over me when they see it like this. After I introduce you, I will explain.” Madason said, kindly. Of the four of us, Madason seemed to be the easiest to be attracted to, with a magnetic personality that seemed to be nice to everyone he met. I had never heard of those friends before that, though.

“Arus?” King Trode said, turning to me. I froze. I couldn’t tell them I suddenly woke up near Troidain, despite having fallen asleep back in Estard. I also couldn’t tell them I beat God, nor could I tell them about the Aqua Spirit, nor about the entire thing with the time travel (me telling anyone about time travel would have a high chance of brain melting, given exactly how weird my time travelling past is). In short: I had to say that I didn’t want to say. Since saying was out of the question.

“I’d… rather not explain.” I said simply.

“You too? I cannot force it out of you, I suppose. Your face gives away the fact you have a good reason to stay silent.” Trode sighs. “Now you. Eight, was it?”

“Yes, that’s my name…” The guardsman Madason, Solo, and I found alive muttered. “I…. don’t know how I was unaffected. I don’t remember anything from before I woke up in front of the castle and the palace took me in.”

“So your explanation is you got spared by chance.” Trode stated.

“As far as I know? Yes.”

“Right then. Madason, lead the way to these friends of yours. And make it snappy.”

“Yes, sir.”

With that, the six of us set off on a trip I consider weirder than my first one.

-O-O-

It turned out Madason’s “friends” were actually a lot of monsters. Not a few. A lot. He was like a flame and they were like moths (even the ones that weren’t moths!).

Of course, the general reaction was a lot of sputtering and demanding to know who he was.

Except me, because I vaguely recalled hearing about a tribe that could empathize with monsters. I figured he was just one of them, But watching the short kid, the bandana wearing kid, and the king-turned-goblin act like this was amusing, so I didn’t mention it. Until…

“Why is Solo acting completely unsurprised?”

It was the short kid, Arus, talking. “I have a theory.” I said with a shrug. “And I assume he’s going to confirm it.”

Arus turned back to Madason. “Well then?”

“I might sound a bit crazy, but I don’t actually come from this world. In the world I come from, my mother had the ability to open and close the gates to the underworld. Because of this power, she could communicate with monsters and befriend them. As you can see, I have that portion of the power as well.”

...Theory confirmed.

“So you can make friends with monsters...” Trode said. “And that’s what you believed saved you?”

“Yes.”

“An odd source of protection…” Trode mumbled. “But regardless, was there anything else we needed here? We have to find Dhoulmagus.”

“Ah, right. I brought some food for them. And a few could probably accompany us…”

“Well, make up your mind so we can hurry along. Let’s not dwadle.”

“Yes, sir. Saber, Cura, you two should come with us. The rest of you look after each other.”

There was a general nodding in understanding.

“Great!” Madason pulled a large piece of meat from his bag. “Here y’all are, enjoy it! And take turns hunting while I’m away. And don’t kill each other.”

Another round of general nodding.

“Alrighty! We’ll be back soon. Promise!”

The grin on his face as he was saying this was goofy enough that even I cracked a smile at it. What a funny kid.

-O-O-

What a dreary trip. Saber was nice enough to let me ride him, but finding the jester was already shaping up to be much harder than we thought it would be. Well, much harder than I thought it would be, anyway.

I mean, I was 99% certain I was a master of finding people after tracking down mother (granted, she died soon after, but still, I found her!). But this was ridiculous.

Particularly since some blue haired kid who for some reason had the Zenithian Sword was currently insisting that pressing on was not a good idea.

“I’m dealing with it, so please come back at a better time!” he was saying. Because apparently, there was some bandit convinced he was a bridge troll up ahead. I’m not sure what he was trying to accomplish by saying all this.

“Just ignore him and move on.” Trode was sighing.

Solo was muttering something about being full of cheese, which received a general round of agreement (including from Eight’s pocket).

Solo later ate his words when we discovered the bridge and learned the blue haired kid wasn’t lying.

-O-O-

I’d been following this lot since they got rid of the troll wannabe (more like saved him from certain death and caused him to pledge allegiance to the bandana wearer with the pet mouse).

I’d gleaned a lot of info. Like the fact they were crazy, might have found themselves in weirder situations in the past than I had, and that they were trying to kill a jester.

Oh, and I also caught a lot of them talking to themselves about how they should explain their situations in the middle of the night. The green clad kid had a particularly weird one (apparently he could time travel before being born?) and was easily the most lost as to how to explain things.

The oddest thing, though, is I recognized two of them from the village deep in the cave in Alltrades Abbey. Which, of course is why I was suspicious and followed them (the fact they were later joined by a pretty girl certainly helped matters).

Except now I was cornered by the short kid, who was demanding to know how long I was eavesdropping his monologue and even more curious as to why I was still following them.

“I was bored.”

“That’s not it.”

“I was bored.”

“Who even are you?!”

“Patrick Somnia.”

“If you tell anyone about anything I was saying, I will personally murder you.”

“Whatever you say.”

“Can you speak in longer sentences?!”

“Why would I?”

“What’s going on…?” Great, turban kid just woke up. Just what I needed. “Arus, isn’t this the guy…?”

“Yep. Seems he followed us.”

“And what was all that about murdering him?”

“None of your concern! I was just having a dramatic monologue and I caught him listening!”

“Hey now, not my fault I know more than you think I do.” I replied. “An angry kid and a confused monster tamer… what a show you two made.” I wink. “Well then, I got the info I needed here. Might as well just vanish for the time being.” I ran off, snickering as I watched the tamer hold the kid back from trying to run after me.

[spoiler=stuff I have to say]There was so much I wanted to do for this but so little time. So I settled for a group of four silly scenarios linked mainly by the fact that its just the protagonists of IV, V, VI, and VII in the VIII world somehow. I obviously couldn't give all on them their original personalities, since DQ protags usually act more-or-less the same. So I chose to give them different quirks to prevent monotony. For introductions/name origins:

Solo: DQIV protagonist. I wrote him as more-or-less the keep to himself intellectual type, since for whatever reason, the party chat feature was dummied out of the international version of DQIV DS, and I referenced it for the lolz. Realtalk: I had no particular reason for making him act that way. Solo is the official name of the DQIV male protagonist, as seen in side material and DQVI DS.

Madason Gotha: DQV Protagonist. His game revolves around the ability to recruit monsters, so I tried to reflect that in his personality, even if he gets a major case of break the cutie (he starts out as an overall chipper six year old, but growing up as a slave made him a lot more somber). I made him overall friendly and magnetic, like the kind of person anyone, including monsters, could get along with. Also getting his revenge at the end of DQV probably helped matters. Madason is the official name of the DQV protagonist, Pankraz suggests it at the beginning of the game (if you named him Madason, it's replaced with a shout out to DQI-III, Pankraz will say "Why not Erdrick?" instead.) The name is then used in the DS remake of DQVI, cementing its status as his official name.

Patrick Somnia: DQVI Protagonist. The main reason he didn't travel with the main group was he didn't have any good excuse to not be affected by the curse. No, really, unlike Solo (Zenithian), Madason (Loftinian), and Arus (the Crest of the Aqua Spirit on his arm), he has no special blood or power that I could think of that could have been handwaved as having protected him. The pretty girl line was inspired by something a completely random NPC says near the start of DQVI, claiming he was taking so long to get the Spirit Crown because he was flirting (actual issue was he fell down a hole in the world.) His name I don't actually know the origin of, Rando just told me it one day and I used it from then on. Hey, It's better than calling him Six like I used to!

Arus: DQVII protagonist. In the name of humor, I put in a lot of jokes about him being short and jokes about all the crazy time screw present in his game (which I also used to give him a secret arrogant streak hence the "I beat God, that would melt their minds" thought.) He acts a bit messed up due to dealing with Keifer and Maribel, who were quite demanding of him. His name hails from the official manga for DQVII.

Eight: DQVIII protagonist. I really should have done more with him beyond the first couple segments. Buuuut this was more about Hilarity ensuing with people who very clearly do not belong in DQVIII's world being in, uh, DQVIII's world. His name is simply the default if you don't enter a name in DQVIII.

All in all, I could have done way better if I tried to make this into a more full length story over a short story.

Oh well.

[Snowy_One]

I don't think it's anything to be ashamed of myself. I, honestly, wanted to do more with the heroes of my story but doing what I wanted would have easily kicked it over the 10,000 limit. I should have fleshed Alexandra out a bit more as well... But that's what I get for being hasty and wanting to post before bed.