Cliche Fantasy Story Part XIII

It is a time of uncertainty... blah blah blah blah blah. I don't even have to write this, you probably are able to guess just what this is and how things are going to go. The purpose of this storybook is to give Snoink storybook experience. So, if you want to write a storybook with Snoink, then this is the storybook for you. Rules are... you guessed it, the usual.

Post your cliche stereotypical fantasy profiles.

Name: Nikomedes "Nikos"

Race: Gryphon

Coloring: Brown

Powers: Can heal wounds, but can't cure poison, viruses, etc. Uses air magic to aid in flight.

Hahaha, you didn't say anything about the FRIGGIN' AWESOME PLOT I CAME UP WITH.

Oh well. I guess we can talk about that later.

Mallory

Human
Blue/gray eyes, light brown hair, short

Gryphon trustant

Studied biochemical engineering with the gryphons.

There is an evil character. Name: The shadow man (He grew up an orphan so not even he knows his real name)

What is he: A mysterious figure who pops in from time to time to kill off characters. He has a master, so in a way he is a fairy tale version of a hit-man. No one has ever seen his face. He often blends in with the public when he isn't on a killing mission. Always disguising his face. Really he's a handsome man, but as his profession gives him no time to be with a woman he ignores all his feelings. And he should since he has been ordered to kill women as well. He could not let any emotion get involved in his work.

His master: Conqueror Lion Claw, Everyone fears him, he sent the Shadow man to kill the kings heir. Now the public fears for the kings life. Lion Claws priority is to seize control of the land.

Shadow man: He begins to question his own profession after he is ordered to execute a little girl after he kidnaps her by order of the Armored Serpents, an elite knight cavalcade lead by Copperhead. Copperhead while powerful is a subordinate to Lion Paw.

The story should be grim, should add a new flair to the cliched fairy tale stories!

Name: Madman

What is he: A madman.

Appearance: Brown hair, dark eyes, stubble on his chin. Looks like a madman.

Personality: is is loony.

History: Killed a man, but when he was tried, they couldn't do anything because he was mentally unstable. Believes there is such things as 'cars' and that there is a 'real world'.

High above the turrets and marketplaces of THE CITY, flew Nikos. On his back was Mallory.

"Is that it?" she said.

"That's THE CITY," Nikos responded.

"What's it called?"

"They just call it 'THE CITY'."

"The city?"

"No, 'THE CITY', it's all in upper case."

"At least all we need to do is deliver a message this time, instead of overthrowing a tyrant or slaying a dragon. About time we got an easy assignment," Mallory said.

"You haven't heard of THE CITY have you?"

"No."

"Most cities have an insane asylum. THE CITY is an insane asylum. Over forty percent of it's population is mentally unstable. Criminals go there to hide, mercs go there to pick up cannon fodder and psychopaths, and traders go there to purchase things which are illegal in most respectable countries. This will be anything but easy," Nikos said.

"Figures..." Mallory muttered.

"Just stay close to me and we'll be fine. We'll land in that plaza outside the Castle walls, then make our way inside from there," Nikos said, as they descended towards THE CITY.

Name: Rissa
Species: Elven
Short with long black hair and really, really blue eyes.
Powers: Can permanently heal the minds of the mentally unstable, and can temporarily break the minds of the mentally stable. There are certain restrictions with this...
Etcetera: Spunky and dangerous. Very good at pretending to be something she's not. Fast runner, persuasive speaker. Good at getting what she wants.

Dude, is everybody who joins this storybook going to be mentally instable? XD We have a killer who likes to kill randomly, a "madman", and somebody who can make stable people unstable. Is anybody else laughing at the sheer ridiculousness of this storybook already? We're going to have a bunch of lunatics running around! XD

Nah, it's all good. Just... A.M... make sure that you don't kill off any of our characters. That's against the general storybook etiquette.

And... anybody who posts next... can you please be a psychologist? XD

I'll be posting soon. I have NO idea how to fit in a bunch of crazies in this story... in my experience, complete lunatics generally are horrible characters to write in storybooks, if only because they don't normally interact with other characters and generally get lost or ignored when the real conflict pushes forward. But hey, do your best and try to fit your character in how you can! You're a better writer than I!


EDIT: Did I ever mention I was dyslexic and I miss and flip entire words and create new ones to make it make sense? XD Grif just pointed out that Rissa healed the minds of the mentally unstable. So... skl, let's meet up at the castle. Rissa can propose to the king her idea of healing the insane people instead of letting them go free!

My name is Mallory. A pretty name, right?

Wrong. It means "bad luck." And unfortunately, this bad luck was following me even now.

I concentrated at Nikos's feathers and pretended not to be air sick. The truth was, I might have been raised by gryphons all my life, I might have know how to talk to the wind and how to persuade a cloud not to rain so hard, but I could not stand flying. At all. I never told the gryphons this, of course... what would they ever think? But with ever flap of Nikos's wings, I heard this:

"Don't... get... sick."

It wasn't the wind--the wind is hopelessly confusing when it comes with advice--but at least it was sound advice. Smart advice.

"Are we there yet?" I said, trying not to puke all over his feathers.

"Closer," he said.

A wave of annoyance crossed my mind. Of course it was closer... how could it not be? There were no mountains to cross, no enemy territory to avoid... it was all a straight flight. A calculus lesson came to mind and I blinked at a cloud, trying to determine how fast we were moving. The distance that we traveled was equal to the integral of our velocity taken with every infinitesimal distance we traveled. If we were going 100 miles per hour...

"Stop thinking about that," Nikos said. I sighed. He couldn't read minds, of course, but some magical gryphons had given us a mind link... a temporary mind link anyway. He knew that I was thinking about physics and calculus, I knew that he was concentrating very hard on the terrain below him--and trust me, I was doing my hardest to ignore that.

Instead, I tried to focus on my mission. Our mission. A king had died in a tragic accident -- horse-related, of course -- and his son had taken up his place. His son, my age, was looked down upon by most of the gryphon population, though I don't know why. Well... I do know why. They weren't charmed by his airs. Let me just put it this way: this guy was highly... attractive, to put it lightly. He smiled and waved and the people loved him. Hell, even I swooned a little bit (though I made sure that the gryphons didn't find out). But as far as policies went? He was a tad inexperienced. He, of course, was highly educated, highly trained, and I heard that he was even a fine chemist... come on, what's not to love? He had also been trained by his father on how to run the country... although I'm pretty sure his father hadn't intended to die that quickly.

No, but there were several difficult things that he had to overcome which were just a little hard to do. For instance... tame a country full of lunatics.

I leaned to Nikos's ear. "Isn't he afraid that the crazies will take over?" I asked.

"Nah," Nikos said. "He has a plaza in The City which is dedicated for them. A lunatic is allowed to stand at the center of the plaza and yell his heart out about various conspiracy theories for five minutes until he's taken off and another one is put on. It's quite organized. The regular folks are quite immune to it."

I laughed nervously. That would be something the gryphons would never allow, not in a million years. Fortunately for them, crazy gryphons had their eggs addled... their brains' chemical composition was slightly different and it caused the egg to spoil, meaning there were few crazy gryphons whatsoever. And a crazy trustant? Never. They would sooner kill me than having me spout off all their secrets.

"But... aren't there any crazies who kill people or something?" I asked.

"Of course," Nikos said. "Every week, the people gather in the plaza, have a huge fair, and cut off the hands of the lunatics who went the murderous route. It's quite organized."

"Ouch," I said, wincing.

"Mallory?" he said, tilting his head back at me. "These people are going to be different than any other type of people you've met. Just stay with me. We'll talk with the king, explain the prophecy, and go home. Quick mission."

"Why am I needed if it's so quick?" I said.

"Standard procedures. I'm a healer, you're a chemist. I can heal your wounds and you can make an antidote lightning quick. Between the both of us, we'll be unstoppable. Besides, you're kind of cute, for a human. Maybe the king will listen to you."

We'll see, I thought grimly.

"Are we there yet?" I started saying, when Nikos cut me off.

"Hold tight... we're going to land."

The Shadow Man watched from the shadows. He was so concealed that not even an eagle flying overhead would have seen him. And if it did he would take it down with one calculated throw of his one of his throwing knifes. Which he given names. His favorite and treasured blade was named Ochria. His other he called Misty. However, Shadow Man preferred to kill up close and personal. In a way he was like a knight, wanting his prey to at least have a fighting chance.
None, have ever lived though. They are always too weak. I think it's because they have no desire to live. They just walk the Earth as empty shells with meaningless lives. Shadow Man looked onward, his lips in a permanent grimace of stillness. He never smiled.

I sat on the outer edges of the plaza, waiting for the right person. The right moment. I looked at my watch. Five more minutes.

The man standing in the center of the plaza wasn't alone. This one had followers. They shouted profanity as he shook his fists, bellowing something even I, with my acute hearing, couldn't make out. Not that I was too far away- the man had some sort of speech impediment that apparently only the people around him could decipher.

Three minutes.

It was quite amusing, this little pastime of mine. At the climax of the shouted conspiracies I would single out my target and do what I did best. Depending on the state of the poor soul, they would either spend the next two days in a confused daze or spend the rest of their lives with a clearer understanding than they had ever had before. Sure, I didn't have to play god, but it was the only thing I could do. A part of me was bitter towards my otherwise useless self.

One minute.

I began to scan the crowd, looking for someone who stood out even the smallest bit. It took a while. There wasn't anyone interesting today.

About thirty seconds in, just as I was beginning to consider not doing anything at all today, I saw an object in the sky. No... not an object. A Gryphon, with someone on it's back.

Well, at least I wouldn't be limited to just the city folk today. With just twenty seconds left I concentrated on both their minds, shifting through thoughts and desires to the inner-most workings. The Gryphon seemed to be normal. The human, on the other hand, had a minor learning disability, something easily cured. Who do you want to play today, Rissa? I asked myself. The angel or the devil? Should I mess with the Gryphon or heal the human?. It was all the same to me, really. An old friend had once told me that I was too self-centered. If something didn't effect me, then I didn't care about it. But why should I care about these two? I didn't know them personally, nor did I have any reason to believe I would get the opportunity.

Five seconds.

They were about to land, now. I saw the Gryphon's wings fly back as it slowed it's descent. It hovered above the ground, and for a split second, my eyes were torn between both the Gryphon and the human.

I didn't get to make the decision. I cried out in pain as my powers were split between the two beings. My mind was clouded as I half-healed the human and half-cursed the gryphon.

"Shit," I cursed, holding my hand up to my head, trying in vain to squeeze the rest of the painful, severed powers from my temple. As usual, it didn't work.

It only lasted a few seconds, but as is common in painful moments, it seemed to last hours.

The pain did subside, eventually. Immediately, I looked towards the pair I had just used my powers on. Both seemed bewildered. The human girl was holding a hand to her head in surprise as she stared at the sign above the castle gate. 'THE CITY CASTLE GATE' it said. I had always thought the sign to be a bit redundant, but I could tell that the girl was bewildered she didn't have to exhort any amount of energy in order to make the letters arrange themselves in the proper order. A tricky thing, dyslexia. Too bad my impertinence made it so that she wouldn't be at ease for long.

My gaze shifted towards the Gryphon. It had a blank look on its face, a common expression for those I had inflicted with amnesia... A bit of searching revealed that that was, in fact, what I had implemented.

I didn't like splitting my powers. Not only was it painful, but it was more likely to cause trouble than if I had effected only one person. With one person, the chance of backfiring was very little. With two... well, two might have consequences. Not that I usually cared, but it just so happened that the human had noticed that something was wrong with it's companion. And the pained, frustrated look on her face made me nervous.

I didn't like being nervous.

Shadow Man pulled out Misty, and kissed the blade. With a flick of his wrist he threw the knife at the woman. Is it going to hit my target? Or is today the day that I miss?

Madman skipped through the streets, laughing merrily. It was a beautiful day out, the overcast clouds just delightful! Oh how he loved clouds, especially eating them. They tasted like rainbows.

"Ah, Steve you seem to have stopped skipping." The Madman looked to his left to where his imaginary friend Steve stood, imaginably looking down at his feet, with an imaginary frown on his face. "Steve what is wrong? Oh, you wish to go to THE CITY CASTLE GATE. But for what reason? Oh you saw a Gryphon and wished to cook it over a spit fire? Oh I would be glad to join you."

And so Madman, so merrily skipped down the street, barking like a dog, and waving to random people who waved back because they were just as mentally unstable as he was.

And sure enough, there was a Gryphon, kind of looking confused and a woman standing there. But that was not what caught his eye. There was a random shiny projectile flying towards the woman.

"Oh! Shiny!" Madman intervened the shiny projectile, catching it. But Madman was confused. He didn't know how he had gotten to this place so quickly because if this was in the real world and not in a story, it would have been impossible to have moved that fast. But otherwise, the shiny projectile was just too shiny and he couldn't take his eyes off of it. He plopped right to the ground staring at the shiny knife, forgetting about imaginary Steve who wished to imaginably cook the Gryphon and was imaginably wondering if Gryphon tasted like chicken.

No! No! That lunatic stopped my perfect kill! Shadow Man shook with uncontrollable spasms of rage. He ran out of his hiding place and rushed the man who looked like he suffered from a mental illness. The man flinched and swung his arm out. He back handed the woman with the gesture, she toppled to the ground.

Shadow tackled the madman and pinned him on the ground. He had the face of a child. What a parody of a damaged society. The world truly has gone to the mad.The madman thrashed and spat spittle on the Shadow Mans shirt. "Where your face!" the madman cackled. At least that's what it sounded like.

Shadow Man said nothing. Nobody other than the people that he worked for ever heard his voice.

The madman began to hiss like a rabid dog and snapped at thin air. When he began to reach for the scarf concealing his face Shadow man grasped the arm in one lightning quick movement. Then he brought his foot down on the mans chest.
He wrested his blade out of the madman's other hand and punched him in the face so hard that he blacked out. The woman on the ground was beginning to get on her feet. Shadow Man raised the blade in her direction.

"No, please don't! What reason could you possibly have for wanting to kill me!?" the woman shrilled. It was like hearing a little girl whine.

Shadow Man put Misty in her strap and put his hands out to the woman. I'll give her a fighting chance. It's the least I can do to be what the simple minded call being a "gentleman".

He heard sirens blare in the distance. The woman ran off. He let her live, a sirens cry was one of death. For they were blood sucking women spirits, immortal.

The madman was still on the ground, out cold. He moaned like he were being tortured in his sleep.

I will track her down. She will live no more than one more night. Not if I don't want to evoke the anger of my master. Shadow Man ran off into the shadows from wince he had come. Black faded into night. Tonight death had been cheated.

It had all happened so fast.

I was still in shock. I could see many things with my enhanced eyesight, but I had still barely been able to make out the silver knife that had flown out of the hand of that... man... thing?

I had been so surprised by its appearance that I had barely had the chance to look inside its mind to see what afflicted it. Because surely it was a madman. A crazy.

What I had seen... well, I didn't like it. Darkness. Death. Shadows...

What had baffled me the most, however, was the way that he just... left. I wasn't a mind reader. I couldn't see the reasons behind certain actions, and I couldn't see intentions. But I could usually guess. And experience had shown that when a madmen wanted to kill someone... they didn't just give up. They weren't cold or calculating. They were confused.

So this wasn't a normal madmen.

And if that was true, why did someone want to kill that human girl and her Gryphon?

I hadn't been paying very much attention, apparently, because all of a sudden the human girl was there, next to me, pulling along the confused Gryphon. She looked positively terrified.

I should have just left then and there. But did I? No. Some long forgotten urge took over and I spoke.

"Are you okay?" I took a step towards the girl, who was now leaning against the wall, breathing heavily.