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EMDAS 2011 - July (Searching!) Entry Thread

Entries! (July 2-23)

Welcome to the July EMDAS Writing Competition!
Theme: Searching!

June Winner: WordShaker - "You Can't Help It"

This month's theme is 'Searching'. "Be it literal or metaphorical, we're almost constantly looking for something." -WordShaker

Entries must be submitted by July 23 (check countdown). You are permitted to post drafts and updates on this page; to submit a final copy, update the post with Final Entry written along with it. Once you have done this, you are not allowed to edit your entry any further, so be sure to fully proofread it before doing so.

An interesting theme, for an interesting month. Will be looking forward to reading the entries that people put out :D

Must remember to write this.

*updates google calander*

I'm coming up with something now, hopefully I'll be able to complete an entry by the end of the week.

What I'm expecting to see though is something meta, like an entry about "A (failed) search for a good thing to write about..."

Just a random potshot. Wow, first entry too!

Spoiler for Search:

1.2k words.

Countdown is closing in. I do hope we get as many entries as last month since there were some great authors there.

I'll be making it, as usual.

Knightmare
Act II - Night Eternal

Haunted

Countless years passed since Lilet and her would be assailants died a pitiful death in Silver Moon Castle. Few in her home town of Oasis remembers that night, and nobody in the mountain town of Six Forks had even heard word of it; well, with the exception of one—but even in death he would not speak of it.

It is summer in the town of Six Forks, or at least what the locals would call summer. Being a northern mountain city summer just means a lower chance of blizzards, longer days in the chilling sunlight, tamer winds, and of course fewer avalanches. But all is not gloomy in town, because this year is special. This year is the 40th year in the kings reign and as tradition would have it, every ten years a festival is held. Lords and ladies from across the realm will gather and bring forth their champions, sons and on some occasions their daughters in a bid to gain favor for their house. The festival is not limited to nobility however, anyone may participate as long as they have acceptable coin in hand. Each festival many strange warriors from foreign lands joined in, poisoned by the allure of the grand prize, a hefty percent of all entry fees. In a past festivals a lowly mercenary recruited by the military even became a rich lord, all though application of brute force and a little bit of luck.

The festival has yet to begin but carriages and horses trample can be heard as the masses of participants squeeze though the narrow mountain passes and flooding into the town. A small boy, who goes by the nickname of Winter, no bigger or smarter then a plank, watches in awe the nobles passing though the gates and streets of town and riding towards the upper houses and fancy taverns though the the serpent road. The one and only road though the entire town. The boy, and his band of hooligans, know what the nobles want, they know how in a few moons all of these rich bastards will depart for the summit, at the end of the serpent, where they will battle in the ancient arena.

“We should go Winter.” said January pulling on Winters rags
“These people probably don’t like us staring at them.”
“Because we’re poor?” said Winter with cold breath
“I want to be there. I want to have them stair at me!”
“You all with me!” he said with his teeth shaking

January moved back and the others, December and February, were left dumbfounded for a moment by his grand speech, but quickly followed with a shout of acknowledgement. Winter and the rest continued to admire the rich bastards for a few hours more but eventually they got hungry and returned to their secret base where they had burrowed some supplies from the orphanage. There they plotted of a way to get into the festival proceedings, and join the fray. None of them really thought about the part where they would have to fight and win, sadly thinking wasn’t one of Winters qualities as a leader. But still, the little runt came up with a plan, which by his own words was just stupid enough to actually work. The rest all exited by his little stroke of genius committed to it as well.

According to Winters plan they gather all their secret supplies of food and journey to the third peek. There a group of mercenaries was sent to recover a mountain lion tooth for a certain sorcerer. They will sneak up on them at night and steal the tooth then accept the reward from the sorcerer on their behalf. They took with them weapons, stolen a year and a half ago from the cellar of a burnt up house, they were all pretty much scrap metal as far as anyone was concerned but for Winter they were treasure.

Meanwhile as Winter and conspirators tracked though shortcuts in the mountain, deep deep down at the bottoms of the earth someone finally awoke. Heart still, voice cut, Lilet found herself in a giant pit with spikes all around her. There was no air, no feeling, just a still calmness and a sense of shifting. As she looked up black rocks seemingly floated above her, and a swirl of darkness covered the top, the only exit. As she moved forward and tried to grab on to a rock her hand just passed though. She tried again and in frustration with effort she finally was able to grab on. She slowly pulled herself out of the pit and went into the darkness at the top. As she come out a chill went though her spine as behind her the pit she had emerged from was filled with molten lava. She paused for a moment, took a deep breath and with an unnerving calm called Mephistos name.

“Awake at last I see.” said Mephisto echoing though her mind
“What’s the meaning of this. Am I… a demon now?” said Lilet
“No.” said Mephisto
“Am I dead? Did you kill me?” said Lilet
“By your definition you could say you are walking dead.” said Mephisto
“And I had nothing to do with your death, you managed that all on your own.”
“So I am your servant now.” said Lilet
“Does it really look like I have any hold on you.” said Mephisto in a loud shriek
“Do as you wish human,”
“I am trapped in a prison realm, at best I’ll be able to offer you assistance if you’ll have it”
“Assistance?” said Lilet
“Perhaps I’m expecting too much of you.” said Mephisto
“You’re still young and stupid.”
“While death has freed you from your mortal fears and unlocked your inner strength, perhaps the form of a wraith is too much.”
“Go to the pound of lava and touch it and draw from it a physical form of your choosing.”

Lilet did as Mephisto suggested and went to the pond. She placed both hands on the molten rock and surprisingly to her felt no fear and second thoughts in doing so. As she focused silver flowed into her and formed her bones and wove itself into gloves, chains and knightish gear around her. Ash formed into gloves, boots and covered part of her spirit hair, while various poisonous gases condensed and formed into skin.

“Feeling better?” said Mephisto
“I feel… heavy.” said Lilet walking around
“But I feel more natural then before.”
“Am I… immortal?”
“No. Should you lose your mind your existence will start to weaver and the very world will consume you.” said Mephisto as he echoed in a loud voice; so load Lilet for a second could feel his presence around her
“You may even lose yourself if you die while possessing a physical body as you did before in the castle.”
“While you might not die, who knows how many years will pass until you come back.”
“Everything you loved, everything you liked, everything you remember, may become one with the dust by the time you wake up again.”
“How long have I been gone!?” said Lilet franticly

Mephisto did not answer, instead a airy silence swept in. Lilet could feel he didn’t want to tell her, and after a few moments she asked another question instead.

“What happened to the sword?”
“It’s with you.” said Mephisto
“But… I don’t see it.” said Lilet looking around
“Are you referring to that pole?” said Mephisto
“That was merely a medium. The sword was never that stick, it was the very castle itself.”
“And now the sword is you, or to be precise within you.”
“You may call on it as you called on the lava moments ago.”

Lilet paused for a moment and recollected on events past, a life lost. She took in the demon’s explanation but still thought more about the time which had passed since her death.

“Where are you?” said Lilet
“With you, yet farther away then you can ever hope to reach. If you need me, just ask.”

Lilet felt strange talking with the demon so much, and just proceeded to find the exit of the volcanic cave. She followed the gust of air and eventually after spinning around in circles a few times reached an exit. What she saw however made her wish she would have gotten lost forever. To her right forests of mushrooms and vines grew from the ceiling and reached heights even the largest of buildings she had seen in her lifetime could not contest with. In the distance she could see stalactite the size of mountains, but more terrifying of all was what was bellow her. An endless pit as large as an ocean and as deep as the sky. It was as if the world had been turned upside down, literally.

1486 words. Had to cut a little bit at the end of the chapter to make it fit, but I don’t think it lost much. You can read the extra paragraph and dialog in the archive version. Sorry for any typos, just wrote it in one go, since I’m a tad busy; hopefully I’ll have more time next month.

Since it’s close to the end, I’ll just call it final entry.

Treasure

Two entities stood upon the sacred alter; one on the ascending steps, the other at the very top. A ghostly voice once again echoed across the ruin walls.

"Again, I ask thee..."

"Humanity loves it more than life,
They fear it more than death.
The wealthy yearn for it,
The poor are its abundant keepers."

The man swallowed hard as he glanced back towards the bottom of the stairs. It was at this point that he considered that disturbing these sacred ruins might have been a bad idea. No amount of treasure could amount to the blood that had already been shed.

'Answer, or suffer as they did.'
No contributory thoughts entered the man's mind. His entire body trembled as the scent of fresh blood once again entered his nostrils. If he didn't want to end up like the others, a response would have to be constructed.

"There's a key part to this." he thought.
The entire irony of this question seemed to be that it was directly targeting his group. They spent their days keeping to themselves and treasuring only their vast wealth; a starving, dying person on the street would mean nothing to them. Perhaps the idea was to associate themselves directly to the 'humanity' that was referred to in the riddle.

'Humanity loves it more than life.' He thought of Sam, the first man to answer. A wild gambler who took every chance he had to gain money, he had joined the group for that sole reason.

'They fear it more than death.' The one that entered his mind was William, the serial rapist that had been living the majority of his life as a criminal. With his record, they would definitely put him on death row if caught, yet here he was without a care.

'The wealthy yearn for it.' Turning back, he saw Alexander, the treasure hunter that had set up the entire trip. Blinded by riches, he had only invited people of his type to come along.

'The poor are its abundant keepers.' Miles was someone that the man knew too well. The murderer of his sickly mother who had been released due to a lack of evidence.

His heart ached as he attempted to look at himself as a human.
"And I am Kyle Browne, the spiteful and hateful individual that killed Miles. I should be dead like the rest of them, but here I stand. What do I now value more than life? What do I now fear more than death? What do I, a hateful man, yearn for? What do the beggars on the street own that I don't?

Taking a deep breath, Kyle faced the ghostly spirit hovering over the locked box.
"My answer is...nothing."

The spirit let out a shrieking sound as it evaporated into the heavens. Reaching the top of the alter where the treasure box lied, Kyle gave it a soft brushing with his hand and turned around to face his dead companions.

"For you, greedy humanity. Everything you deserve is in here."

I'm going to post this as my final entry as well- didn't have much time to think about this month's entry.:heh:

Ahh! This might be late, buuuuut...

Spoiler for Look Before Crossing: