Loksfjoer

Plot-based writing contest #1

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PBWC #1 – The writer

Welcome to a new writing contest! For this contest, I will give you a scene and you will write a story or a poem based on this scene.

The scene
A small light on the desk is the only light source for the writer, who fills sheet after sheet with hastily written words. The room is a mess, the garbage tin lies on its side and the contents are spread over the floor. A cat sits on the cabinet, licking its paw.
A crow settles on the windowsill and caws. "Not now," muttered the writer. The cat turns its attention to the crow.

Writers, you can choose to either start or end with this scene. Either you write what led to this, or what will happen after.
Poets, you can choose to describe filling a sheet of paper with words, or a bird sitting on a windowsill

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Core rules:

• At all times follow the Fundamental Rules of the Guild and the Moderation Policy for Forum Contests.
• After reading the above this should be obvious: No plagiarism and respect copyright laws.
• The story you submit must be written by you and specifically for this contest.
• This is a place for original fiction, no fanfiction allowed.
• Don't exceed PEGI 16 with your writing; no 18+ themes and fade to black if applicable.
• Don’t forget to subscribe to this thread. You will receive updates on the contest, the number of entries, and reminders about the deadline here. I will not PM them.
• The winner of this contest will be honoured in our Trophy Case.

Contest rules:

• There is no word count yet, but future versions of this contest may have them
• This being the first version of this contest, it will be a trial version without a voting round. Please submit your entries in this thread and let me know how you feel about this contest.
• The deadline is March 11th, 9:00 CET, which is 8:00 server time (both times are in a.m.)

Entries:
See below, you can post in this thread for this round.

THE WAR FOR MYTHERIA - Isekai Adventure

When the ghostly blade hit Fenna screamed in pain. It felt like red hot and ice cold at the same time and she fell to her knees. Suddenly Barracker was next to her and she saw the blade land by her side... With his help she got up, trembling on her legs, but she nodded when he asked if she was alright. She held her stomach as she tried to battle the nauseous feeling and the necrotic damage made her dizzy. It took a moment to shake it off.

Sil let out a loud screech when the human cultists entered the room, distracting them for a moment as they first tried to find out what had startled them and then take in the fact there was a falcon inside, giving Zell an advantage as he engaged in battle with them.

Barracked left and Fenna watched him go, finally feeling able to take in the situation around her. Even more cultists and wraiths. "Klerezooi," she muttered. Barracker couldn't handle all the wraits by himself, and they needed the phylactery, and the great wraith was still doing something that felt ominous. Zell moved through the room like a lightning bolt and his next target were the cultist who protected the great wraith. That was an opening she couldn't pass. "Sil! Attack them!"

It became a common sight, Sil battling where Zell was, joining him in the attack on the two cultists. With Zell focussing on the swordswoman, Sil avoided the spear of the other cultist and attacked his face with her talons.

A clear path, Fenna readied her spear and moved forward, but she didn't have to go in all the way. The spear that was kept short most of the time elongated as she went towards the greater wraith to pierce him with the oil-soaked tip and, if all went well, pull the spear tip up to leave a mortal wound.

THE WAR FOR MYTHERIA - Isekai Adventure

When they reached the room and the battle began, Fenna took a moment to see what happened around her before moving. Zell and Barracker seemed to stay closer to James, which meant she could focus on something else. Sil, recognising the skeletons as enemies from the fight when they met, dove onto the back of one of them, using beak and talons to assault the spine and rip out a disc. Once the skeleton fell, she moved on to the next.

Fenna used the blunt end of her spear to hit the skull of the closest skeleton, but it wasn't the target she was going for. The wraiths were an issue and Barracker handled the two closest to him, so she'd deal with the other two. She held her spear with two hands again - a painful reminder of her injured hand, but it wasn't that bad she couldn't fight with it.

James said something about a phylactery... what was that and what did it look like? She glanced only briefly at the greater wraith, that one had to be dealt with and she had an idea, but she needed a moment to focus and a clear path, she couldn't do that with the lesser wraiths floating around yet.

When the Lesser Wraith attacked Mackensie, she attacked it from behind and stabbed it in the back. It screeched and turned around, raising a sword to attack, but that left an opening Fenna could use to pierce it again. If she hadn't been able to catch it by surprise, she wouldn't have been able to finish it off that easily. Being busy with MacKensie's wraith, she didn't have time to prepare for the one coming for her or evade the ghostly blade coming down at her back, unless Sil would be fast enough to come to her aid, if she noticed the danger in time.

THE WAR FOR MYTHERIA - Isekai Adventure

I'll post today. I battled some skeletons and shadow creatures in Neverwinter Nights yesterday so I'm prepared for the upcoming battle XD

A Trainers Ambition [SporkoBug and Calle]

Michael and his Arcanine started a fire and he took out some supplies from his bag to prepare a meal - a simple curry that needed water and heat. Honestly, he didn't know how to create a meal from scratch, but thankfully there were enough easy meals for travellers. He wouldn't survive as a trainer without. He decided to make two pans, there were six humans after all, taking into account the legendary Pokémon in human form, and one portion wouldn't be enough for the group.

It didn't take long for the meal to start boiling. While Michael took care of that, Andy took a bag Pokémon food from his bag so their Pokémon could also have a light meal. He had seen Frosiien leave, but he wasn't worried about where she was or how long she'd be gone. sometimes women needed their alone time as well.

Merlin and Anthony watched it.
"Will we join them?" Anthony asked.
"I usually find my own food," Merlin commented. "But your trainer will appreciate your presence. Let's fly down.".
Both Flying Pokémon went down and joined the others at the camp.

Paranormal Activities [SporkoBug and Calle]

"I will make arrangements immediately," Lily promised. "Don't you worry about that," she added, gesturing to the room behind her. "I'll send someone to clean it up. I'll have you in another place by tonight, I promise." She turned to Steph while she took her phone. "Is there anything you need? I'm here now so it's the perfect time to ask!"

As she waited for Steph's answer, she started typing in orders on her phone so the crew could get to work. 20:00 hard deadline, she informed them. The crew leader started planning and calling immediately, knowing people would get fired if it wasn't done in time. After making some calls he pulled up the file with the specification of Gaia's first room, as it would be based on that.

Nobody Will Believe It [SporkoBug and Calle]

Marc nodded slowly without saying anything. What Sara told him made him think about other people that just didn't seem to improve, or react to the medicine like they were supposed to. That was something he could look into, but if he did, then what? What could he do with any information he got?
He decided it didn't matter, something was going on and patients weren't getting better. That was an issue that needed to be solved.
"Let's check the medication list," he suggested.

"Are you two still connected to Ray?" he asked. "Like, do you know if she's in pain or alive?"
They needed to find her, but where could she be? As patients they only had limited access here. There was even an entire garden only staff could enter, how cruel was that? He tried his best not to think of that place, he missed the outdoors enough already and didn't need his mind preoccupied with that.

THE WAR FOR MYTHERIA - Isekai Adventure

Fenna shook her hand after crushing the cultist's skull with the blunt end of her spear. She crouched down, slid her bag from her back, and placed it and her spear on the ground. "I'll be fine," she said in response to Adam's question. The only injury after the battle was a slightly burned hand; it hurt, but it wasn't life-threatening and if she ignored the pain she could still use it. She rummaged through her bag until she found the ointment and bandage she sought. After applying some cream on her hand and bandaging it up, she took a moment to observe the room.

Oh dear, they left quite a mess.

When Zell joined her she smiled. "We do make a good team," she agreed. "And if you keep appearing at the place that feels the most dangerous, there is a good chance Sil will keep appearng there. She acts on my emotions." At this point the falcon joined them and settled on the left arm Fenna extended.

At Zell's comment on her ability, she looked at her bandaged hand. "If I had to guess, it happened after we defeated Aurok, I felt something had changed but couldn't pinpoint what exactly. After the fire attack, I know how it works and I'm certain it works for other elements as well."

She followed his gaze and examined James as well. "We do," she agreed. Her eyes moved to the fire. "We should probably do something about that as well." While she didn't have anything to put out the flames - some rations of water, but that wouldn't be enough - there was always the option of letting it burn out safely. There was no wind in this room, so if nothing flammable was within fire's reach it should burn out without setting the room on fire. The last thing they needed was setting the whole temple ablaze with them in it. Although the fire mage was used to living here and had no qualms using it in a library. Either he was a fool, or confident that whatever fire would start here wouldn't spread. Still, better safe than sorry, so she went to the table - Sil hopping off her arm to stand on the floor as she approached the flames - and she cleared the area around the burning table.

THE WAR FOR MYTHERIA - Isekai Adventure

As Fenna moved her spear to strike the wraith attacking her a second time, she noticed movement from the corner of her eye. The cultist got up again. She finished her attack, piercing the wraith again, who screamed and fell. That's when the cultist shot a fireball at her. Instinctively she raised her left hand. The ball of fire collided and pain shot through her hand, but not as much as she had thought. She had burned herself once before and that had hurt at least twice as much, or was this somehow less painful? The skin on her hand was red, definitely a burn, and she could barely move her fingers, but it wasn't as bad as she had feared. More peculiar, there was a warm sensation in her arm now, spreading slowly to her other arm as well. Her Absorb Elements had activated the moment the fire had made contact with her skin.

A warning squawk came from Sil, who flew up to avoid the bookcases coming down unto the suits of armour and the mage, and Fenna noticed several darts in the air. Two of them suddenly shot in her direction. She kept her eyes on them, trying to calculate when they would hit and used the bottom of her spear to jump into the air when they were about to impact her. They hit the ground she had been standing seconds before.

Landing on her feet, she turned to the fire mage but noticed Barracker's shield slicing through the air. She also went in that direction, if the shield wouldn't finish the mage, at least it would destract him long enough for her to reach him and then she would finish him off. This time she would crack his skull with the blunt end of her spear. She held her spear with two hands and what looked to be smoke curled around the shaft. Some of the earlier fire attack was still in her body and would be unleashed with the next hit.

The falcon circled above the bookcases, her eyes looking for the one she had attacked before, the moment she'd see a part of him and the bookcases were no danger anymore, she'd swoop in for another attack.

THE WAR FOR MYTHERIA - Isekai Adventure

As the shaft made contact with the cultist's head and knocked them out, Fenna noticed the movement behind her. A wraith was banging on an invisible wall. Wraith! As it tried again, she grabbed the vial Barracker had given her and applied it to the tip of her spear. As it came around the barrier, she stepped aside and as it raised its blade she ducked and moved her spear into position. The wraith cried in agony when the tip made contact and pierced a part of its body.

At the same time Sil let out a loud screech that distracted the cultists, but the wraiths didn't pay any attention to it.

As the wraith backed down a little she quickly moved her head from left to right to take in the situation in the library. Barracker came to the aid of James and Adam, MacKensie seemed okay, but Zell was under attack from a wraith, and the two cultists that had a wand and a sword ready were also still around. The one with the wand had recovered from the screech and started casting again, but in response to Fenna's worry about that cultist, Sil attacked him with her talons and tried to grab the wand.