[Original] The Caesai Child. | Page 1 | Writer's Corner | Guild Forums

The Opposite Proclaimer

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Posted: Mon Dec 08, 2008 11:02 am

Hello friends, and welcome to the Skel’samu Theatre! Oh no, no, no! Please don’t leave! Please, relax, recline, have a drink. I have a story to tell you. But I’m sure you’ve heard it before, the story of the Great hero Ycheo! What’s that? You haven’t? You mean to tell me that you’ve never heard the tale of Ycheo? Why, he was only the most famous hero our world has ever known! He defeated the legendary beast Oiedan! What did you say? Who’s Oiedan? Well! Gather ‘round my friends, this is a tale you will want to hear.

Dim the lights, and light up a cigar, make yourselves comfortable and I shall tell you the tale of the Hero Ycheo.

Our story begins in the wondrous city of Iasque-- what’s that? You want to know where that is? Why, friends! You’re in it! Where did you think you were? This is the famous city of Iasque! Yes, yes, I know it’s hardly a city, isn’t it? Well it’s small, but it is very important.

I suppose a brief history of this land is in order. You all saw the rather large cave at the top of the hill just a little ways away from here didn’t you? You did? Good. Frightening, isn’t it? The large stalactites hang down like jaws, don’t they? Well, three thousand years ago, a great and terrible beast named Oiedan lived there. He was a terrible six headed beast, with long necks and horrible fangs. He had horrible tentacles growing from his back and he stood on ten clawed and spiked legs. Some of its heads spewed poisonous gasses, others flames, and another shot stone spikes from its throat.

Every year, one of the villagers was selected to be sacrificed to Oiedan, and it was almost time for the festival when Ycheo showed up.

No one was quite sure where he came from, he just showed up one day on the corner of the street, with a tag around his neck that stated his name was Ycheo. We’re not quite sure how old he was at the time, though five or six sounds about right. Ycheo stood on that corner for three days, and soon people began to talk. Some people thought he was a familiar of Oiedan sent to spy on them, but one woman named Nahin thought he was just a little boy who was lost.

One day, Nahin approached Ycheo who stood on the street corner, staring into a puddle and bent before him.

“Are you lost, little boy?” She asked him.

Ycheo shook his head.

“Are your parents around?” She asked again.

Ycheo shook his head.

Nahin felt sorry for him, and she knew that the proper thing to do would be to give this poor little boy a home. So she took him by the hand, and led him to her house. She gave him new clothes and a bath, fed him and cut his hair. Then she took him to the Temple and to the Priest.

“Isn’t that the boy on the street corner?” The priest asked. He was a kindly old man, with white hair and black clothes, and half moon glasses.

“Yes he is, I couldn’t just leave him there.”

“You can’t take him in, Nahin. Some people say he’s a spawn of Oiedan.”

“I know, and I came here to prove them wrong. I came to have him blessed. If he is a spawn of Oiedan, surely it will exorcise him. If not, he will live with me.” Nahin told the priest.

“Very well.” The priest said. He took Ycheo up in his arms and set him down on the altar. He poured the holy water over Ycheo’s head, and he and Nahin both held their breath.

And what happened was… nothing.

Ycheo blinked through his wet hair at the two strange adults before him, and Nahin let out a rather relieved sigh.

“I knew it.” She breathed, though it didn’t sound like she had been convinced. She smiled at the small big eyed child who stared back at her. Then, without warning, he did the most peculiar thing. He raised his arms out to her, in the universal symbol for ‘pick me up’ and opened his mouth and spoke.

“That water is very cold.”

This was the first time Nahin had heard the child speak before, this was the first time he had ever opened his mouth! So Nahin picked Ycheo up, and took him back home. (First part of a short story I'm writing. Let me know what you think.)

Posted: Thu Dec 11, 2008 6:18 pm

You do suck less at commas than you used to, though.

Ashfall Star

Eloquent Dabbler

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The Opposite Proclaimer

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Posted: Mon Dec 15, 2008 6:11 am

Take your seats friends! The second half of the story is starting! Please sit down, and be quiet, I won’t be able to speak over you! Sir, please keep your feet off the table, people have to eat off that. There, that’s much better. Did you enjoy the first half of the story? What’s that? It was a bit dull? Very true, not a lot happened, did it? Well then we shall skip a bit further into Ycheo’s story, to when he’s sixteen. Calm down, friends, calm down. You didn’t miss very much. Nahim gave Ycheo as normal a child hood as she could, and now he’s all grown up.
It was almost time for the festival again, and everyone was anxious. People buzzed about, wondering who would be chosen to be sacrificed. Ycheo had grown into a fine young man, and while most of the village was still suspicious of him, he had made one good friend. Another boy by the name of Ahir, the two of them had become inseparable over the years. And at this moment in our story, the two of them were sitting on a bridge over the river with their legs dangling over the edge.
“Who do you suppose it will be?” Ahir asked, chewing on his knuckle worriedly.
“I try not to think about it.” Ycheo confessed. This was true. Ycheo did not like thinking about who was going to be sacrificed to Oeidan, and he did not like that someone was going to be sacrificed to Oeidan. This time of the year was by far his least favorite, though there wasn’t really anyone who enjoyed it.
“This time of the year always scares me. I mean think about it, soon we won’t ever see someone ever again.”
Ycheo threw a rock that he had found beside him, into the river. “I don’t like to think about it.” And who could blame him? No one really liked to think about losing someone forever. Ahir looked up at the sky.
“It’s almost high noon.”
Ycheo also looked up, obviously worried. “The sign will come soon.” So both boys jumped up, and bolted for the town. The sign always came at high noon, and so it had become the most cursed time of the day. The sign wasn’t hard to miss, then again, who could fail to notice an entire house vanishing?
All the men had to stand in the center of the town, while the women waited inside the houses, so if theirs was the one to vanish then it would not be empty and the town would be spared.
Ycheo was always asked to stand a good ways away from the other men and all the houses, since some people remained unconvinced he was the spawn of Oiedan. So he took his regular spot by the Holy post next to a priest who was meant to keep him from ‘interfering with the sacrifice,’ or something else evil.
The town was silent.
And then it happened. Thick spirals of black ink rose up from the ground and engulfed a small house on the edge of town. People gasped and other’s cried when they saw whose home it was.
Ycheo stood there, gaping, horrified at what had just taken place. He could only stare in shock and horror, as his home vanished from sight, carrying Nahim with it.