Once Upon A Write

[Amaerilde]

Hello my little Writers. How are we today? this will be the official thread for the writing contest that will be held once a week when the guild gets up and going. The basis of the contest is that you have to submit a short story. It can be anything you want, as long as it is appropriate. The story can either be one giant paragraph or it can be divided up. The rules for the write are listed below. Please read them before you participate. I will tell you when the contest starts.

~Rules~

~Keep it PG-13. If your characters are going to do the nasty, please time skip. You can describe kissing and such but please keep that stuff in the time skip. Be one with the time skip~

~Limit cussing. There can be a few cuss words in your story but there shouldn't be one every word. However, hell does not count as a cuss word because it is a place so that one is ok~

~I have to read all of these so please do not make your short stories too long. You can make them decent length but I don't thing they should take up an entire page~

~Please steer clear of anything involving religious issues. Do not make stories that are offensive to anyone in any way~

~All stories most follow the theme for the week~

I reserve the right to add or take away rules as needed. Please have fun and enjoy your time in the contest

~Amaerilde, Captain~

 

[tricker_Xwild1]

Fear your shadow part 1

The time is midnight and the moon is out.I hear a tapping outside my room and look outside to see nothing.Returning to what I was doing the tapping starts again. Frustrated and annoyed I head outside with a flashlight and shine it around only to see nothing but my own shadow. I start to head inside only to feel a stinging sensation in my leg. Looking back I still only see my shadow only to find it slowly crawling up my leg frozen in horror I can only watch as my shadow envelopes my body feeling the pain as my soul is turned inside out slowly transforming me into my own shadow. I hear a voice speaking as the pain shoots through my body"I am finally free of your shadow and can do what i want instead of copying everything your antisocial a** does! " the only thing that I can do is watch as my shadow lives my life from outside my body. This is one reason to be afraid of your own shadow.

It has only been a few days now but it feels like weeks just watching as I go through my daily routines. My shadow is doing a great job of copying my personality with a few minor slip ups followed by an apology. There are some strange occurrences that happen every once in a while but everything seems normal. He seems to be a lot more social than I was but I can never seem to understand what my shadow is whispering in their ear but afterwards it seems like that persons' personality changes also. I managed to make out what he was saying once but it still didn't make any sense. He was whispering " Ydob siht fo tsoh ekat eerf eb wodahs." but that's all I could hear.

It has been a week now and I am starting to get bored so I have decided to test my limits as a shadow. I have discovered that I can go anywhere I want as long as I stay in the shadows but if light hits me or my body then I am forced back into position with my body. I have also found that the blind are more aware of my presence than most people. Some look right at me and say nothing and keep walking while other wave at me without a care. The last thing that I figured out is that I can touch people via their shadows. This could be useful information for later on if I decide to try an escape my shadow prison.

This is the new host speaking and my plan is coming together perfectly. I have spent this week setting shadows free from their prisons of being forced to copy their masters. When I am finished setting these poor prisoners free I will show them what freedom can provide them. They will be free from fear of the light not knowing when they are going to be shackled to their wardens again. All of this will end when I lead these shadows into a life with options other than copying every word they say and movement their body is being forced to do. These shadows will have their freedom and I will lead them.  

[tricker_Xwild1]

Fear Your shadow part 2

My name is Michael Nightridge and I have been living as a shadow for a month now. My shadow is planning something big but I don't know what his intentions are yet. He says he wants to make a world without fear but he is imprisoning souls to do it. I have to figure out a way to get back into my body so I can fix this mess. I have figured out how my shadow is setting the shadows "free" but I hope to only use shadow magic as a last resort. I wouldn't know what spell to use anyway its not like there is a grimoire lying around and I couldn't read it without light. The confusion of not knowing what to do is getting to me and frustration is setting in.

Hello to the people who are reading this "short story" this is the first shadow speaking. You know I am really starting to get tired of being referred to as "my shadow". I have taken the liberty of choosing my own name and I wish to be known as Erebus. It seems fitting don't you think? Anyway if you don't know who Erebus is brush up on your greek. He was the primordial deity representing the personification of darkness and that is just who I am planning to be. So learn the name you'll be hearing it for the rest of this "story".

It seems like Erebus wants to be more than just a leader to the shadows he is releasing. Which means he is starting to develop his own ego further separating himself from me. I understand this and actually respect him for it. But no matter what he does he is still going to have me as his conscious as long as I am his shadow. This is my responsibility to try and reason with this prisoner turned monarch. I came across a woman on my nightly stroll who might be able to help me. She is half blind so she can see me but she can also help me do some research into shadow magic since that seems to be the only option that I can think of at the moment. I think she told me her name was Pythia Dodona it is kind of a weird name but I am not going be picking at her name if she is willing to help me. Besides she looks beautiful in the moonlight when we have our talks and that in itself is reason to stick around her.

Pythia is helping a lot with my research and we have nightly meetings to keep each other updated on the situation. She has also helped me keep my sanity through all that has happened to me. It is great to know that she is concerned about me and my well being. She is more than just a research partner she has also been a great friend. She has been a great research partner also. She goes to the library to find books on shadow magic she looks into old newspaper articles to find out if there have been any similar incidents to mine. One of the articles was a case of multiple personality disorder that started and ended in the same year. That article said that the person was constantly arguing with himself to the point that they put him in an asylum and after a few months he was released and completely back to normal.

Pythia read further into this article and found that the man had committed suicide a week after his release from the asylum so we were back to square one. She did find a psychic who offered to give her a book on shadow magic after she bumped into her on accident and helped the woman pick up her things. To find out if the book was real we looked up the spell Erebus was using to set the shadows free and sure enough it was in there. She also gave her an amulet that would allow her to replace her shadow with that of someone else's however both shadows have to overlap for the amulet to work. This would give us a hole lot more time to do our research in the shadow grimoire but we also have to figure out a way to do it without Erebus finding out.

We have decided to take a chance on letting Pythia meet with Erebus to activate the amulet an let me take the place of her shadow. I figured if I thought that Pythia was beautiful than so would he so we decided that the best way for this to workout would be for her just to meet him at the bus stop and talk to him long enough for the amulet to take effect. We would have to be careful not to let Erebus set her shadow free. We just had to figure out a way for not to hear the spell.

It has been tough trying to figure out a plan but we have finally come up with one. We just have to hope that Erebus doesn't catch on to it. Pythia is finally ready to meet Erebus at the bus stop so now is the time to go through with the plan.She met Erebus at the bus stop and started to talk to him and after a while the amulet started to glow I was in the perfect position to make the swap when he noticed what was going on. I only needed a few more seconds to make the swap but Erebus was starting to pull away. Just when I thought I wasn't going to make it Pythia pulled him in and kissed him right on the lips which put me back into position to complete the spell. After the spell was completed Erebus just walked away dazed with confusion and the feeling was mutual for me too.

I can't get my mind off that kiss it make my head hurt just thinking about it. I thought we were just friends but this has me second guessing myself. Is pythia attracted to me or was that the only thing she could think of to keep him where he needed to be? Never mind that the point is the spell worked and we can finally focus on finding a spell that can get me out of this mess and bring things back to normal. I haven't heard anything from Erebus but I am sure he wants to keep an eye on us to make sure we don't mess up his plans. I have noticed other shadows following us around scouting us for any information they can take back to their master. This could cause a problem for us right now so the next spell we need to find is a shadow barrier. This one actually isn't that difficult but it is a powerful spell to have in your arsenal. After we placed all of the candles in place on the windows we began to chant "swodahs lla nrub dna thgirb enihs thgil" this should send any shadows close by back to their bodies.

The nights have been long Pythia can barely stay awake but we have to solve this problem. With her permission I asked if I could take over her body to give her some rest and she agreed that it would be a good idea after some convincing. While she was resting I found a spell that might work but I won't get her hopes up so I will keep it to myself for now. Erebus still sends his spies I know this because I can hear the screams as they are pulled back to their bodies. I've been trying to stay focused on researching and have been successful so far but there are too many things going on to concentrate.

I heard a window break letting in the wind from outside the candles were all put out and the shadows all began to rush in each grabbing a limb dragging Pythia's body out of the house she had no idea what was going on while she was resting. I tried to fight out of their grasp but it only made it worse one shadow slipped its hand around my neck making it hard for me to breathe. I was fading in and out of consciousness trying to stay awake so that she wouldn't have to experience the horrors that was going on while she slept. Finally the shadows stopped and dropped me at the feet of Erebus. I had no idea what to do I underestimated his planning and now we're in a bigger mess than before.

Erebus was only at the beginning of his plan he ordered his shadows to attack and
I started to feel the same pain that I felt the first night I spent as a shadow splitting pain in my legs only it wasn't my body being tortured it was Pythia's so I had try my hardest to hold on even after the pain I went through being dragged to this place. " What did you learn from reading the book?" Erebus roared with anger. I tried to convince him that the book was a bust but he would not listen and he began to release restraint on his shadows more and more trying to get answers out of me. I could not bare the pain anymore and slowly Pythia started to wake up from her sleep. I had to do something so just out of desperation I told him about the spell I found that would allow shadows and humans to live side by side in peace. Erebus agreed to restrain his shadows if I preformed the spell and gave him his own body. I had no other choice but to do as he wished so that Pythia would be safe.

I fear this might be my last entry into this journal for I do not know what Erebus will do with me once he has his own body.We have set up the ceremony as it was written in the book. My soul has been transferred back into my body as the spell requires the shadows to be outside of the body to work. The next step was to carve a circle into the ground and carve the phrase "mrof eurt ruoy ekat dna ydob ruoy morf deerf eb swodahs" in the center of the circle. The next step was to add the blood of the caster so I cut the base of my palm and squeezed the blood into each letter and the circle. I began to feel dizzy as I felt the hot liquid pour out of my hand but I had to shake it off because the spell was almost complete. The final step was to light the candle around the circle and that would complete the spell. The letters began to spin around the outer edge of the circle and Erebus was slowly pulled into the circle and a pitch black silhouette appeared slowly rising to reveal a body similar to mine. Erebus slowly got up to his feet admiring his new form while the circle was continuing to pull shadows in and turning them into a perfect clone of their host.  

[tricker_Xwild1]

Amaerilde

Hello my little Writers. How are we today? this will be the official thread for the writing contest that will be held once a week when the guild gets up and going. The basis of the contest is that you have to submit a short story. It can be anything you want, as long as it is appropriate. The story can either be one giant paragraph or it can be divided up. The rules for the write are listed below. Please read them before you participate. I will tell you when the contest starts.

~Rules~

~Keep it PG-13. If your characters are going to do the nasty, please time skip. You can describe kissing and such but please keep that stuff in the time skip. Be one with the time skip~

~Limit cussing. There can be a few cuss words in your story but there shouldn't be one every word. However, hell does not count as a cuss word because it is a place so that one is ok~

~I have to read all of these so please do not make your short stories too long. You can make them decent length but I don't thing they should take up an entire page~

~Please steer clear of anything involving religious issues. Do not make stories that are offensive to anyone in any way~

~All stories most follow the theme for the week~

I reserve the right to add or take away rules as needed. Please have fun and enjoy your time in the contest

~Amaerilde, Captain~

Is fear your shadow okay or is it to long?