Buddha's little Short Story Thread

[BuddhaKekz]

I had much fun writing for the short story contests and therefore thought it would be a good idea to continue creating them in my own thread. As you maybe all have noticed, my stories are more focussed on the impact the heroes have on the world and it's population and not on the heroes themselves. I think CKMo does a great job with this and we don't need 2 people writing about the same thing.

Also I would like to ask you, the reader, to help me make my stories better. English is not my native language (I bet that shows) so feel free to point out mistakes, both grammatical and spelling. If something in the story doesn't make sense to you or should be clarified, point that out too, I will try to rewrite it. Last but not least, theme suggestions for the next story/ies are always welcome.

With that out of the way we can finally start!


Letters from Arasunia


Dear Isaiah,

my training is complete, you can now call me Father Elias. Feels strange calling your little brother Father, doesn't it? Unfortunately I can't come back yet, I have a new goal to achieve. I want to become a witch slayer! Healing the injured and comfort the widows is all good and well, but I want to fight the demonic plague. I can't just stand idle after seeing all this misery. They have to pay for it! Don't worry Isaiah I will come back home eventually and then I will make Richo a saver place.

Love

Elias


Dear Isaiah,

no matter how much you plead, my path is chosen. And I will not share our fathers fate. He died to protect us. I will protect us too, but by slaying those foul creatues instead! Besides I already learned so much about the spawn of hell. I found a trader who sold very old tomes about demonology. I can't wait to practice my knowledge in the field.

Love

Eilas


Dear Isaiah,

yesterday was a great day. I met a full-fledged member of the witch slayers. He told me I had potential to become a member of the order and especially pointed out my dedication and my already great knowledge about daemons. However I have to work on my combat skills. I train every day but I think I have a long way to go. I know they only take the best of the best, so I have to work harder than ever before.

Love

Elias


Dear Isaiah,

you wont believe it, I got my first order. Apparently some "fishmen" of the beast horde have found a scar in the ocean, not to far away from the coast. I don't know if those filthy beasts tell the truth but they are our allies now, so someone with actual intelligence should go and check it out. I still wonder why they have chosen me for this though, as I have never been on a ship before. They say, they need my knowledge about the creatures of hell. Do they want to get rid of me in Arasunia? Maybe I'm a bit paranoid here. I guess they have no one else avaible and I should take this as a chance to prove myself worthy. Well I better take some of my books with me, in the end those beasts coul be right and there are actual daemons in the sea. I'm not sure if I find the time to write letters during this mission so don't expect anything in the next 14 days.

Love

Elias

[BuddhaKekz]

And for the sake of completeness my frostfield short story. I will add the r'lyeh story as soon as the contest is over, the same I will do with possible future contest stories. Expect original content in between (well if I find the time to write them of course^^)


The Awakening of Glacius


We heard about the demons just a few months ago. At first we thought those were just exaggerations, just a new breed of beasts that looked infernal.
The people of the Frost Field always lived in peace with the beasts, or I should say in an armed truce? It doesn't matter, we had no intentions attacking the beast and we hoped they didn't either.

But then the hellish armies marched northwards and they burned everything on their way. That was when we learned the truth. There was no chance for a truce, they would mercilessly attack us, our women, our children and our elderly.

Yet their was still hope. Legends told about a powerful mage who encased himself in the ice of the mountains to be reborn when Newerth needed him. If the story was true he would help us, he would save us. So I gathered the best warriors of my village to go into the mountains and search for this man.

We found him after 3 days. It was majestic to see this wizard in his frozen prison. He looked old, older than the eldest of our tribe. At the same time he had this aura of wisdom and power. Just standing before him made me feel energetic. I pulled my pickaxe out of my back and started mining the ice and soon my followers would do the same. After about one hour we finally got to the mage.

The cracks in the ice became deeper and the prisoner started moving again. First his hands, then his whole body started twitching. With an expolsion he set himself free. Instantly we bowed before him. He looked into my eyes and said: "I am Glacius, Lord of the Frost Fields! Why do you wake me from my eternal slumber?" I gasped and replied: "Master Glacius, the demons of Hell are invading our peaceful land. Will you save us from them?"

Glacius kept staring at me and finally opened his mouth: "No." With that he started levitating through our ranks while we were to shocked to move from what we heard. Only the youngest of our group stopped the mage. "You were our last hope!" "There is no hope" he said and continued his way down the mountain.

Some say he joined the Hellbourne but I refuse to believe this. It can't be. He was supposed to save us.

[BuddhaKekz]

Remember, every feedback is appreciated, the good, the bad and the ugly. If you want you could even go all TV Tropes on my stories. :P


Well anyway here is my R'lyeh story, I will write new stories as soon as I have the time and inspiration. I think my next story will be either from a beast's or a demon's point of view, but I can't come up with a fitting plot right now. Suggestions are welcome.


Tremble and Despair


From the logbook of a legion patrol boat. Personal entries of Father Elias.

Day 1: I still feel kind of out of place on a patrol boat. But if the sightings of our new "allies" are correct, there could be a scar near the coast. And then my knowlege of daemons could be put to good use. On the other hand I'm not even sure if those godless beasts can even tell the difference between a scar and a subamarine volcano. If only this boat wouldn't shake so much. Sol give me strength!

[...]

Day 4: After 3 days of nothingness we found a girl crawling on the beach. Even from far away I could see how sickly and pale she looked. The men took her on board so I could take a look at her. She refused to eat or drink. She just sat there shivering, looking at the ocean. Finally after many attempts she said something. "A demon... from the sea... everyone dead..." I wrote it down as quickly as possible. It may has something to do with the sightings of the beast. The poor girl died soon afterwards. I could not find a medical reason as to why, but the men believe she died out of horror. We returned to the shore and cremated her body. We scattered her ashes in the wind like it's old tradition down here. May her soul find comfort in Sol's light.

Day 5: We found a destroyed village on the coast. Strange footprints were leading from the sea up here. They looked like the feet of a behemoth but those don't live near the coast. I suspect a horrible creature of the sea. The Kraken. But this one usually preys on trade ships in the area of Halig and Kharydbis which is several hundred miles away from here.
In the village we found dozens of bodies, torn apart and left unburried. I still see them if I close my eyes. Only one surviver was found. He kept screaming and had tufts of his own hair in his palms that he certainly ripped out himself. We tried to comfort him but he attacked us screaming "He has awakend! He has awakend!". We had to put him down. I spent the following days with praying for the souls while the crew burried the bodies and talking to the men. Some of them were on the brink of deserting.

[...]

Day 9: We heard it! The daemon must be close. We follow it's twisted calls though we have to be careful as it is not only night but also very foggy. I thank Sol that he gave me the foresight of taking some of my books about daemonolgy with me. One of them has a detailed section about daemons of the see, the so called "Old Ones". I asume the attacker is one of them. They are different from the daemons the Legion has fought so far. They not only assault you physically but also mentally. It would explain the utter of madness of this one surviver we met a few days ago. Most of the men think we should retreat and call for aid but the Captain is determined to get a look. He says it's our mission to find out the cause of the attacks and we will not leave before we are sure what we have to deal with. I have to admit that I'm with the crew on this one but Sol will protect us from any harm. I know it!

Day 10: [This page is covered in blood and unreadable. Only the words "Ph'nglui mglw'nafh Cthulhu R'lyeh wgah'nagl fhtagn" can be made out. They are written in blood. The book was found by another patrol boat that went searching for the missing one. Only it's wreckage was found with no survivers. The body of Father Elias was found clinging on to this book.]

[BuddhaKekz]

So my next story is about a soul that goes to hell, quite similar to Dante Alighieri's Divine Comedy. It will feature hell like I think it looks like in newerth lore, as we don't have too many hints, I will interpret much. If you disagree, that's of course your right to do so. Also, as Newerths religion is largely based on christianity, this story may contain religious themes. They are solely for the purpose of entertainment and should not be seen as a hidden promotion of any religion (I'm atheist myself).



Welcome to Hell


The priests always warned me. "Repent sinner or your soul will be damned for eternity!". Of course I didn't believe them. If Sol could give mortals the power to heal the sick, why didn't they save my wife? Why did she have to die? No there simply couldn't be a god and all his priests had to be liars. I heard the stories about the scars. Simple minded farmers, they would have believed everything the clergy told them. Not me though. I lived my life as I saw fit. Stealing and murdering got easier every day. And then I ran into one of those hellspawned.

Now I'm here. Dead. A soul waiting to be judged. Or am I judged already? It's so dark in here I can barely see anything. A gate opens and a four-legged creature emerges from it. "What do we have here? You stole, you murdered and used Sol's name in vain. You are an ill-mannered young man. Oh and you denied Sol's existence. He doesn't like that. But don't worry, here he wont find you!" The creature bursted into laughter, but soon it went back to it's emotionless expression. It starred at me for a few seconds and then raised it arms. "Your soul is MINE!"

It felt like I was ripped apart, it was the most intense pain I have ever felt. Even dying wasn't as bad as getting hit by the reaper's scythe. I open my eyes again. I think I'm behind the gate now. Everything is different here. A small red creature approches me. "Denied Sol, didn't ya?" it says. I nod. "Well in that case I give you a tour through the place, for non-believers we got a special programm." I look around. The walls seem to be made out of flesh, and the air is thick and muggy. But that is nothing compared to the smell. "We are in the first pit now. Gluttony, the lord's Balphagore. You wont like him when he's hungry. Problem is, he's always hungry!" The little demon started laughing in an eerie voice. "Then I would like to leave this place before I have the pleasure to meet him." "Oh you can talk, that's good. But safe your voice, you will need it for screaming later." Again it snickered. He is supprisingly decent to be around for a demon. Maybe hell isn't as bad of a place as the priests want us to think. "If you look to your left you can see how mortals get punished in here." Nevermind that. Those people seem to get eaten alive, then digested, excreted and then get eaten again. I have to leave this place! One of the demons has spotted me, but my guide gives him a sign that it's not my turn yet. The creature, that seems to sewn together out of several different bodies, looks disappointed as it turns around. "Come on, we got a lot of other pits to visit!" With that a portal opens in front of us and we step through. I'm afraid that what's to come is worse than what I've seen already...


To be continued.

[BuddhaKekz]

I wonder if people even read my stories. :(

On the other hand it's kinda fun being the crazy uncle that talks to himself. :drun:



Welcome to Hell (Part 2)


Compared to the first pit, the second looked almost non-threatening. However it was still a wierd place, the geometry seemed off, I have to put great effort into not falling on my face. Every step I take feels strange, it's like a dream. Maybe I'm not dead after all and this all just a dream? I feel my feet slip off the ground and I'm falling. I didn't even see there was a hole. My vision is blurred by a strange fog. I hit the ground, but it hurts much less than I would have expected, especially since I'm in hell. The floor... it looks familiar. Is it my house? My wife! She's alive! Wait that can't be. She smiles at me. "My Love you got the elixir. Please hand it over." I look into my palm. Yes I have the medicine. And she doesn't look too ill. I can save her!

Why can't I hand it over to her. I can't move! I can not even open my mouth. "Why don't you give me the medicine my dear?" I want to but I can't! Her illness, it looks like it get's worse every second. Please move over to me and take the cure, come on, save youself. She doesn't move either. She beginns coughing blood. No, why do I have to see this again! A red arm reaches through the mist and pulls me out. "Fun, wasn't it?" my guide says. "What was that? I saw my wife... is she here too?" "No. That was just an illusion. Everyone sees something else, mostly the moment of their greatest failure. In the pit of Sloth the torture is more psychological. Even the sanest mind succumbs to it sooner or later. Only in Hell you will find such variety." he chuckles. "I'm glad it amuses you. But now I know that those are just mind games. I will not fall for them again!" "Yes you will. The clouds make you forget. They are their own little world." He pokes me with his staff. "Move, we have to visit 5 more pits." The next portal opens.

Now we're in a... bedroom? "I really did not see that coming" I utter. The demon turns around and smiles: "That's the keyword." "What?" "Welcome to the pit of Lust." Why do I have at the same time the urge to leave and stay at this place? "Come closeeer." a seductive voice whispers into my ear. "She will enjoy it. I don't think you will. Nobody ever did, and I had far sicker minds here than you." says my demonic guide while facing a different direction. "Well I probably save this for later." A disappointed moan echoes through the pit. "Ain't I look good enough for you" whispers the female demon while emerging from the shadows. "Na, he loves you honey, he is just a little shy, give him some time to warm up. Also I haven't finished my tour yet. I'm sure he will appreciate your work much more after everything is said and done." "Hurry, hurry!" I whisper into his ear. He finally opens a portal to the next realm. I can't wait...


To be continued.