Post by Colin on Jul 17, 2005 13:58:49 GMT -5
This is just a small story i've been writing
The Curse
By Joseph Richie
A large wolf-like creature stands eating a stolen pig from the nearby town. Suddenly a dim light appears on the nearby path and three voices can be heard. Curious, the creature jumps into the limbs of a tree without a sound and watches with glowing green eyes as the strangers begin to walk by. The creature spots a young boy (easy prey if he hadn't have eaten already), next to him is a young woman and in the front is a large, dangerous-looking man with a glowing sword. He could smell magic, which meant at least one of them could use magic. Hoping that they could be of some use, he kept back and followed from tree to tree with amazing speed. Just as they reached the town, a sharp pain tore through his
body and he began to change. The howl became a human scream, his bones cracked as they returned to human form, his snout became a face, the fur disappeared and his claws became fingers. He stumbled to a nearby house and the door burst open.
"Shara!" cried the young woman as she caught him and brought him inside to a bed. "You shouldn't go out during your transformation. It's not safe."
The woman began to care for him with obvious compassion. He painfully sat up and without a word walked towards the door.
"Stay here," Shara said sternly, "I'll be back."
He took a long black bow from off the wall and walked out.
A moment later Shara was outside staring into the darkness.
Several creatures burst forth from the forest and stared at Shara. Calmly, Shara lifted the bow and a glowing white arrow appeared in his hand. Aiming at the center creature, he released and the arrow burst into hundreds of arrows which tore through the creatures leaving nothing but shreds of flesh, blood and body parts stuck to trees and buildings by arrows which dissolved, allowing what was left of the creatures to fall to the ground riddled with gaping wounds.
Shara climbed to the top of a nearby building and could see that the beats were gathering to the other side of town where sounds of battle could be heard. Deciding that he didn't need to do anything else, he went back inside for a good night's sleep.
In the morning he heard that the strangers were heading out and Shara decided that he must follow them.
"Let me come with you Shara," begged Sonia, "I can help. You can't go out by yourself, you don't know how they'll react to you."
"Fine, you can come if you wish but you must be careful." Shara said sternly.
So Shara dawned a black cloak adorned with silver shoulder plates and they set off after the strangers.
They soon came upon the strangers lying amidst shattered trees and blood. Shara motioned for Sonia to remain behind as he moved closer to see if anyone was still alive.
"They all seem to be breathing, but something very bad happened here." Shara said, examining each of them. "Wait, there were only 3 when I saw them before. This young one must have joined them in town."
They heard the large one stir and decided to hide in the event that he would wake up angry.
Shara and Sonia continued to follow the strangers through the forest until the strangers reached a ruined town, which looked like it might be where the strangers were going to camp for the night.
"I think that this would be a good place to reveal ourselves to these people while they are stopped." Shara said quietly
They began to move foreword when all of a sudden the ground gave way under their feet. Soon they found themselves in a dimly lit underground room with dark hallways leading off in all directions and smelled heavily of smithing materials.
"Ello there, 'n who might you be?" questioned a short scruffy man hunched near what seemed to be a forge.
"I'm Shara, this is Sonia, and who might you be?" Shara said cautiously
"Ah, I be just a lonely mountain dwarf but if ye must call me something you may refer to me as Grall."
"If I may ask, what are you doing down here?" inquired Sonia.
"I be the last of my kind in this area because of those bloody creatures topside. They slaughtered me entire family 'n now hunt me within me own mines!" Grall yelled, slamming his hammer onto the anvil and cracking it in half.
Just then, there was a loud banging that echoed throughout the tunnels.
"What was that?!" cried Sonia
"Damn, the tunnel hunters 'ave found me doors. I suggest you get ready for battle." Grall said emotionlessly as he strapped on a strange, blood red robe with the image of a phoenix carrying a pick and hammer and picking up a serrated axe and spiked hammer.
"I've been saving these for the first buggers who broke through."
Shara noticed that Grall's axe and hammer seemed to be made from the same material as his bow but he set this in the back of his mind as he heard the bashing of the creatures' bodies against the large metal door.
"Here they come!" Grall shouted
The metal door was thrown from its hinges and lay battered in front of them. Soon creatures began to pour into the tunnel but they did not look like the ones from the forest. These creatures looked like they had been skinned with a protruding spine, not a single hair on the body, long broad claws for digging, and odd holes on their backs and above their wrists. Their sunken eyes stared at the group as if sizing up their new opponents.
As soon as Shara drew his bow, the lead one let out a cross between a chitter and a screech and bony spikes burst out of the holes on its body which was then followed by the rest of the group. Shara sent an arrow at the leader but it exploded on impact and didn't leave a scratch.
"Should have warned you that magic doesn't work on them." said Grall "My turn!"
Grall lunged forward, and tore through one of them with his axe and smashing the head of another with his hammer. Now hundreds of creatures charged forward. The leader lunged and bit Shara's bow, shattering it to pieces. With his weapon useless he decided to turn into a beast to beat these things. As he thought this, he fell to the ground in pain and began to change but not into his usual form.
A thick, black fur covered his body as it began to grow. Bony spines came out of the fur, which resembled the other creatures, and blade-like bones came from holes above his wrists. His teeth became the size of knives as saliva came pouring from his new beastly mouth.
"My god..." Grall said in awe
Soon they were no longer looking at Shara but a creature, which looked like a furry and all around meaner version of these other creatures. Several of the enemy creatures lunged at this new beast in an attempt to subdue it. As they jumped, the creature Shara shot barbs the size of spears from his back, impaling the creatures and sticking them to the wall. Shara looked at the other creatures with inhuman, blood red eyes, which caused a visible shiver of fear through the entire group of creatures. Shara dove foreword into the group, picking one of the creatures up in his jaws and ripping through the flesh as he slammed it into the tunnel wall. He then extended the blade-like bones above his wrists to sword length and went to the bloody work of tearing the creatures limb from limb.
Soon all that remained was chunks of flesh and bone and a steady stream of blood that ran along the ground. Shara turned toward Sonia and Grall and snarled as he moved closer. He stared from Grall to Sonia and paused on Sonia for several minutes. Soon his eyes became more human and turned to a light blue. Shara slammed his claws into the ground and began to shriek as he changed back and collapsed.
They were all tired from the battle so they returned to the workshop.
Sonia was the first to fall asleep, resting on Shara's shoulder. Soon Shara began to doze of to the steady pounding of metal as Grall worked busily on something.
"Morning, my friends" Grall said with a large smile on his face
They awoke to a breakfast feast of meat from the creatures and Grall presented Shara with a strange metal square that had a handle with a button on it. Shara pushed the button and the square unfolded into a long sturdy bow.
"How did you make this?" inquired Shara
"Heh, where did you think that old bow of yours came from laddy?" announced Grall "Me brother Thrak wus yur last guardian"
"Anyway, enough small talk, we 'ave to get movin" Grall said cheerily
Suddenly there was a rumbling and long claws burst through the walls and greedily began swiping at anything within reach.
"Go now!" Shara yelled as he drew his new bow with a magic arrow that was unlike anything they had seen Shara use.
The Curse
By Joseph Richie
A large wolf-like creature stands eating a stolen pig from the nearby town. Suddenly a dim light appears on the nearby path and three voices can be heard. Curious, the creature jumps into the limbs of a tree without a sound and watches with glowing green eyes as the strangers begin to walk by. The creature spots a young boy (easy prey if he hadn't have eaten already), next to him is a young woman and in the front is a large, dangerous-looking man with a glowing sword. He could smell magic, which meant at least one of them could use magic. Hoping that they could be of some use, he kept back and followed from tree to tree with amazing speed. Just as they reached the town, a sharp pain tore through his
body and he began to change. The howl became a human scream, his bones cracked as they returned to human form, his snout became a face, the fur disappeared and his claws became fingers. He stumbled to a nearby house and the door burst open.
"Shara!" cried the young woman as she caught him and brought him inside to a bed. "You shouldn't go out during your transformation. It's not safe."
The woman began to care for him with obvious compassion. He painfully sat up and without a word walked towards the door.
"Stay here," Shara said sternly, "I'll be back."
He took a long black bow from off the wall and walked out.
A moment later Shara was outside staring into the darkness.
Several creatures burst forth from the forest and stared at Shara. Calmly, Shara lifted the bow and a glowing white arrow appeared in his hand. Aiming at the center creature, he released and the arrow burst into hundreds of arrows which tore through the creatures leaving nothing but shreds of flesh, blood and body parts stuck to trees and buildings by arrows which dissolved, allowing what was left of the creatures to fall to the ground riddled with gaping wounds.
Shara climbed to the top of a nearby building and could see that the beats were gathering to the other side of town where sounds of battle could be heard. Deciding that he didn't need to do anything else, he went back inside for a good night's sleep.
In the morning he heard that the strangers were heading out and Shara decided that he must follow them.
"Let me come with you Shara," begged Sonia, "I can help. You can't go out by yourself, you don't know how they'll react to you."
"Fine, you can come if you wish but you must be careful." Shara said sternly.
So Shara dawned a black cloak adorned with silver shoulder plates and they set off after the strangers.
They soon came upon the strangers lying amidst shattered trees and blood. Shara motioned for Sonia to remain behind as he moved closer to see if anyone was still alive.
"They all seem to be breathing, but something very bad happened here." Shara said, examining each of them. "Wait, there were only 3 when I saw them before. This young one must have joined them in town."
They heard the large one stir and decided to hide in the event that he would wake up angry.
Shara and Sonia continued to follow the strangers through the forest until the strangers reached a ruined town, which looked like it might be where the strangers were going to camp for the night.
"I think that this would be a good place to reveal ourselves to these people while they are stopped." Shara said quietly
They began to move foreword when all of a sudden the ground gave way under their feet. Soon they found themselves in a dimly lit underground room with dark hallways leading off in all directions and smelled heavily of smithing materials.
"Ello there, 'n who might you be?" questioned a short scruffy man hunched near what seemed to be a forge.
"I'm Shara, this is Sonia, and who might you be?" Shara said cautiously
"Ah, I be just a lonely mountain dwarf but if ye must call me something you may refer to me as Grall."
"If I may ask, what are you doing down here?" inquired Sonia.
"I be the last of my kind in this area because of those bloody creatures topside. They slaughtered me entire family 'n now hunt me within me own mines!" Grall yelled, slamming his hammer onto the anvil and cracking it in half.
Just then, there was a loud banging that echoed throughout the tunnels.
"What was that?!" cried Sonia
"Damn, the tunnel hunters 'ave found me doors. I suggest you get ready for battle." Grall said emotionlessly as he strapped on a strange, blood red robe with the image of a phoenix carrying a pick and hammer and picking up a serrated axe and spiked hammer.
"I've been saving these for the first buggers who broke through."
Shara noticed that Grall's axe and hammer seemed to be made from the same material as his bow but he set this in the back of his mind as he heard the bashing of the creatures' bodies against the large metal door.
"Here they come!" Grall shouted
The metal door was thrown from its hinges and lay battered in front of them. Soon creatures began to pour into the tunnel but they did not look like the ones from the forest. These creatures looked like they had been skinned with a protruding spine, not a single hair on the body, long broad claws for digging, and odd holes on their backs and above their wrists. Their sunken eyes stared at the group as if sizing up their new opponents.
As soon as Shara drew his bow, the lead one let out a cross between a chitter and a screech and bony spikes burst out of the holes on its body which was then followed by the rest of the group. Shara sent an arrow at the leader but it exploded on impact and didn't leave a scratch.
"Should have warned you that magic doesn't work on them." said Grall "My turn!"
Grall lunged forward, and tore through one of them with his axe and smashing the head of another with his hammer. Now hundreds of creatures charged forward. The leader lunged and bit Shara's bow, shattering it to pieces. With his weapon useless he decided to turn into a beast to beat these things. As he thought this, he fell to the ground in pain and began to change but not into his usual form.
A thick, black fur covered his body as it began to grow. Bony spines came out of the fur, which resembled the other creatures, and blade-like bones came from holes above his wrists. His teeth became the size of knives as saliva came pouring from his new beastly mouth.
"My god..." Grall said in awe
Soon they were no longer looking at Shara but a creature, which looked like a furry and all around meaner version of these other creatures. Several of the enemy creatures lunged at this new beast in an attempt to subdue it. As they jumped, the creature Shara shot barbs the size of spears from his back, impaling the creatures and sticking them to the wall. Shara looked at the other creatures with inhuman, blood red eyes, which caused a visible shiver of fear through the entire group of creatures. Shara dove foreword into the group, picking one of the creatures up in his jaws and ripping through the flesh as he slammed it into the tunnel wall. He then extended the blade-like bones above his wrists to sword length and went to the bloody work of tearing the creatures limb from limb.
Soon all that remained was chunks of flesh and bone and a steady stream of blood that ran along the ground. Shara turned toward Sonia and Grall and snarled as he moved closer. He stared from Grall to Sonia and paused on Sonia for several minutes. Soon his eyes became more human and turned to a light blue. Shara slammed his claws into the ground and began to shriek as he changed back and collapsed.
They were all tired from the battle so they returned to the workshop.
Sonia was the first to fall asleep, resting on Shara's shoulder. Soon Shara began to doze of to the steady pounding of metal as Grall worked busily on something.
"Morning, my friends" Grall said with a large smile on his face
They awoke to a breakfast feast of meat from the creatures and Grall presented Shara with a strange metal square that had a handle with a button on it. Shara pushed the button and the square unfolded into a long sturdy bow.
"How did you make this?" inquired Shara
"Heh, where did you think that old bow of yours came from laddy?" announced Grall "Me brother Thrak wus yur last guardian"
"Anyway, enough small talk, we 'ave to get movin" Grall said cheerily
Suddenly there was a rumbling and long claws burst through the walls and greedily began swiping at anything within reach.
"Go now!" Shara yelled as he drew his new bow with a magic arrow that was unlike anything they had seen Shara use.