Here's a little story that I really want to write. After every ten pages, I'll write a little work that digs a little deeper into the history of the world, written by the character Jonathan.
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Page 1
Toban snapped his fingers and the logs lit, almost like magic, as he trampled through the bush to the fire pit. He moved to one of the tree trunks that had been laid on their sides in a hexagonal pattern. Others followed through the bushes; most of them were about 6 or 7 years old, some holding a flame in their hands, or a stone that levitated above the palm. Others held a tiny dust devil, others an orb of water. They all sat down and immediately stopped using their powers; they knew that it was story time. Toban then spoke up ‘What story do you want to hear tonight guys?’
‘Let’s hear the one about the dragon and the knight!’ said one of the kids, a boy.
‘No, no, I wanna hear the one about the great water sorceress!’ yelled one of the girls, a Water Kinetic herself.
‘Tell us the story about the gods and our powers!’ said a quiet boy, a young Earth Kinetic. Many of the other children agreed.
‘Ok, I’ll tell you that story’ and so he began.
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Long ago, our world was filled with strife and hatred, constant war and combat threatened to destroy us all. Everyone was at war with everyone else, death was rampant and graveyards gave way to piles of rotting corpses, children were left without parents, parents left without kids. It was a sad world.
One fateful day, the four elemental lords descended from heaven, Earth, master of the ground that we walk on, peace and solidarity; Fire, master of the consumer, war and pride; Wind, master of the invisible, intelligence and cunning; and Water, master of the life-giver, health and the flow of life.
They gave us their powers to control the elements that they watched over. They also gave us something else, unity. With these newfound abilities, we searched out the others who had similar abilities, to train and become stronger. Soon we were at peace, and we were left to our devices, to master these abilities and shape our land the way we wanted. Peace reigned, with out a few conflicts to be heard of.
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‘And that’s the story,’ said Toban, standing up, ‘now it’s time for sleep, you’re all young, and you need your rest’.
Toban snapped his fingers again, and the fire disappeared. One of the Water initiates doused the logs that still burned with embers.
‘I always like listening to that story,’ said the boy who had asked for it, ‘it makes you believe that these powers were meant to bring good, to changed the world’.
A few years later, the world would change, but it would be for the worst, not the better.
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Satoshi raised 5 stones off the ground, the edges crumbling and sharpening into Satoshi’s signature weapon, what was known in his village as ‘The Five Blades of Death’. The scarab roared, its mandibles clanging together sounded like a blacksmith fashioning metal into something or other. Satoshi pulled his gloves tighter on his hand and rushed the giant beetle. He jabbed and stiff-armed his opponent, while the stone blades flew around him, barely scraping the Scarab’s diamond hard carapace. The beetle finally retaliated after taking a few hits, moving its head in for a bite. Satoshi dodged the attack skilfully, but was hit by the scarab’s middle fore arm and knocked down onto the ground. Satoshi lost his concentration, so the flying stones dropped to the ground with a thud. The scarab jumped on Satoshi and pinned him to the ground, attempting to take bites at his face with its mandibles. The scarab’s mouth opened wide, its tongue flying wildly around and saliva dripping from its maw. Satoshi moved as much as he could to dodge, but on several occasions the insect barely knicked his face. The scarab finally held Satoshi’s head in place with it’s top forearms and prepared to take a large bite, just as a stone smashed into it’s face. It’s mandibles shattered, and it screamed in pain, the scream sounding like a dull knife on glass. The creature was dazed, so Satoshi took the opportunity and stiff-armed the creature in the chest and unleashed a flurry of punches. As black blood started to spatter over Satoshi’s hand, he quickly forged his stones and shoved them into the creature’s weakened exoskeleton. Seconds later, they emerged from the base of the thorax and top of the head. The creature was defeated, the last of a scarab nest that had recently been exterminated by some powerful Kinetics. This one seemed to be lost without it’s hive mind, but it was still a competent fighter. After finishing the battle, he burnt the body with some tinder and wood that he kept in his bag, this thing might have been female, and their eggs can hatch inside the mother’s body, so he didn’t want to take any chances. After the body had been thoroughly burnt, he went back to the village; he needed to regale the tale of his battle to his mates.
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The Lion’s Maw Tavern was a popular place to do anything really, and since it was in a small town, no one really did anything bad, maybe a few rowdy drunks every now and then. It was also a popular place for Earth Kinetics to meet seeing as this town was in one of the rockiest mountain ranges on the planet. Jonathan sat in the corner of the tavern, a book in one hand and a glass of water in the other. Though he wasn’t a Kinetic, he still enjoyed the tavern’s atmosphere. He got to meet new people, which was what he wanted to do. Jonathan was a writer by nature, and he’d written books about many different topics, from ancient religion, history, to the science behind Kineticism, but he was most interested in people, particularly famous people. Fame fascinated him, and he always went where the famed were. Jonathan had only stopped here momentarily on his way to Port Barr, but stayed when he saw the number of powerful Kinetics that resided here. One fascinated him in particular, and that man had just walked through the door.
‘Good afternoon Satoshi’ said Jonathan; a smile crawled across his face as he looked up from the book.
‘Good afternoon’ replied Satoshi quietly, exhausted from his battle.
‘What happened? There are so many bruises on your body!’ Jonathan reached for his notebook, sensing a story.
‘A wandering scarab from the destroyed hive attacked me while I was returning from the well’ Jonathan recalled the battle in his mind, and how taxing it was on him.
‘A scarab? Intriguing, can you explain to me what happened in detail?’ Jonathan was too curious for his own good. Satoshi regaled the story of what happened, explaining in detail many parts at Jonathan’s request. ‘My goodness, what an epic battle, I wish I was there to witness it myself’ Jonathan exclaimed loudly, garnering some looks from the few customers that visited during the day.
‘The way I explained it, you were pretty much there!’ Satoshi laughed, a rare lapse in his usually stern attitude. Then Satoshi returned to his usual self, ‘I must be going, if I let these wounds sit untouched any longer they will only get worse,’ he then got up and left for the healer’s residence.
‘My goodness that boy is stubborn, but he’ll make a mighty fine story some day’ Jonathan said talking to himself, garnering even more looks from tavern goers.
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Alba walked toward the growing group of people in the plaza, a ball of fire floating just to the left of her head. It was getting dark, so she was surprised to see so many people. The only time there was any sort of crowd in the plaza during the later hours of the day was when there was a festival, and the Harvest Festival had ended a week ago. In the centre of the crowd of people there was a balding man in a white, ranting and raving. She paid it no mind, until Kineticism was mentioned.
‘Kinetics are a plague upon this land, shaping it to their will without thinking about the ramifications!’ the man shouted. Alba saw many fires go out with the mention of that, but hers burned brighter. Like many Fire Kinetics, their temper altered the strength of their subconscious fire, ‘All Kinetics should be removed from society! While the true humans should be left to do the will of God!’ the man shouted. Many people cheered at that, and Alba’s fire burned it’s brightest, it’s flame beginning to turn blue as it’s heat increased. ‘You!’ he yelled noticing the raging fire, ‘are a plague on this earth, removed yourself from this messenger’s presence!’ Many people agreed, yelling at her to go away.
‘Why should I? Who are you to judge who should be allowed to live and who should die?’ Alba yelled above the crowd, her fire turning white hot.
‘I am not the judge simply the bailiff, the Lord is the judge of the court that is Palas, and he has decreed that all Kinetics should perish!’ People began to crowd around Alba, but backed away as her subconscious fire began to grow in size and ferocity. Alba suddenly felt a sharp pain on the back of her head, and she fell with a thud against the cold pavement of the plaza. Her fire fizzled out as she collapsed to the ground.
‘You have been judged by God, and he decrees that you should die. God must use his servants to act out his will, so I will kill in the name of God’ exclaimed the man as Alba fell. He then drew a dagger, and proceeded to stab it into Alba’s neck several times. ‘I am Mercutio Salamine, and I am God’s messenger!’ the crowd cheered, ‘I will be here again tomorrow, perhaps we can deal with more of these heretics’.