Forums → Art, Music, and Writing → Short Story Contest: Fear (Page 35)

This just my first story and I am trying to improve>!!

Can I submit one more story??

Erm no...you cannot submit another one, though you can re-submit.

Slitherin

@Sonnydude - Yeah, it was a bit too religious. you didn't spell Slyterin Harry Potters way, so no copyright issue there, I just don't like how you implanted so much religion. And I though religious people didn't like to talk of Magic.

Oooo.

Don't you know it should be Haryy Potter's way not Harry Potters way(See in his comment)

You don't know simple english!!

I just don't like how you implanted so much religion. And I though religious people didn't like to talk of Magic.


Good and bad is not religion it only a part of the world..

Author's Note: I received this inspiration from a variety of different Chinese and Japanese legends and myths, and have attempted to use the tone and even exact words that a traditional storyteller would use. If it seems florid, remember that a single character may encompass a much more complex theme.

A Game of Chess

A long time ago, in a village in the hills of the north, there was a scholar who was renowned for his skills at chess. His village saw new challengers everyday, hoping to defeat him, but his tactics were astounding and full of foresight, and he was never defeated. This man's surname was Ni and his birthname Peng, but everyone else referred to him by his courtesy name, Xuanche, or Brilliant Chariot.

Every morning, Brilliant Chariot would travel through the pine forests fringing the village to drink from the spring there. It was there that he would ponder new strategies, washing them down into his memory with draughts of pure water.

It happened on a fine summer morning that Ni Peng went to his spring to find a very beautiful maiden standing by the spring:

Adorned with the hues of ten thousand purples and a thousand reds,
With a face white and shapely as a waning moon,
Her crow-black hair flowed long and thick,
Her lips glossy red as a cherry,
More beautiful than the moon maiden was she,
A figure as the stem that holds the lotus flower.

"What brings you here, Guniang?"

"You are Ni Peng the Brilliant Chariot, are you not?" Her voice was as the song of the nightingale.

"A challenger I believe you are, but no ordinary one do I consider you," said the scholar.

The fair maiden smiled, giggling slightly. "You are very intelligent. I'm a Shenxian, a nature goddess. Your fame has reached even the immortals, and I have been sent to challenge you."

A god challenging a mortal! This was no ordinary feat, especially since the age when gods and men mingled freely was long past. But Ni Peng did not bat an eye.

"Certainly. I challenge everyone, but if you're really a Shenxian, then let us play with some valuables."

"Very well then," replied the maiden, "I will wager my very home, an island in the sea known as the Pedestal of the Sun, where the last Sun-Bird returns to roost for the night. And what will you wager?"

"I will wager my chess set of fine waxwood and silver, and I will swear never to play chess again, should I lose."

A mighty wager indeed!

"The first is nothing but chaff to me, but the other, something worth more than your own life. Be careful of what you wager; it may become a curse upon your own head."

Ni Peng replied, "I swear upon the name of my ancestors that, should I lose, I will follow through with my share of the wager, or be damned as an unfilial son."

"You are set on your ways. Then come with me."

She grasped his hand with her bamboo-slender fingers, leaping into the air to soar ten thousand miles into the clouds. When they finally landed, they landed on a massive plain, where the ground was nothing but clouds.

The goddess clapped her hands twice, and from the ground emerged a massive chessboard, with a real river flowing in the middle, and real chariots and war elephants and soldiers. Ni Peng was astounded at the sight, which no mortal man had ever seen before.

"As you are the guest, you may choose your army first."

Ni Peng chose the army clad in red, which always goes first, and the game commenced.

At first the game went towards Ni Peng's favor. His chariots and mounted soldiers thundered forward, his foot-soldiers took the most advantageous positions, and his cannons readied to fire. However, as he commanded his horseman to charge at a footsoldier, to his astonishment the footsoldier did not yield and become captured, but fought back with his halberd, slicing into the horse's haunch and felling it.

Ni Peng the Brilliant Chariot was agape, his countenance white with mixed confusion and rage.

"How could it do that? That is cheating!"

The maiden smiled, replying, "No, it is merely magic."

The game drew on:

Her war elephants were not squeamish to ford the swift river,
Her general and bodyguard not cooped up in their camp,
Her cannons aimed straight like fiery arrows,
Her footsoldiers retreated to strike again,
Her cavalry charged through blocking men,
Striking them down like sickles through fresh grain:
Surely this was some powerful magic
For the Brilliant Chariot was at last broken.

If at first his countenance was troubled, Ni Peng the Brilliant Chariot was perfectly calm.

"It appears that I have won with my magical strategy," the maiden said. "Now I pray you will fulfill your wager."

"To the contrary, my beautiful goddess, I do believe you have not won."

She was taken aback, but replied: "There's no need to be in denial. Either you submit to your loss, or you are an unfilial son unworthy of your family name."

"Although you may have worked your immortal magic, bestowed on you by the Jade Emperor himself, you have not counted on a stronger force of magic to negate your victory. The magic I wielded on this battlefield was more powerful than you could imagine, the Magic of the Game:

For is not the magic of stability--
The magic that guides the Sun-Bird to the West,
The magic that swells the ocean's breast,
The magic that brings sustaining rain by spring
And icy snow by winter's gust--
Ordained by a power transcending the universe
The power that birthed Pan Gu
And the egg that broke to become earth and sky?
So thus is the power of the Magic of the Game
Which ordains each piece to take its place."

The scholar's words went to her heart, and she wept that she had defied the order Immortals before her had created. But the scholar went to her, picked her up from the ground, saying, "It is forgiven, for the power of magic is to endure and not to avenge."

And so it was that Ni Peng the Brilliant Chariot came to win not only the Pedestal of the Sun but also the love of the beautiful goddess, who sacrificed her own immortality to live her life with Ni Peng. Their descendants were believers of the Magic of the Game; they were warriors, tacticians, even men and women who came to devote their lives to practicing the Magic of Games, as Ni Peng did when he was alive. And in his honor, their island, the Pedestal of the Sun, came to bear his name: Nippon.

You don't know simple english!!

Great story Parsat, I love it. Chess is a great game and I love how it's almost like Wizards Chess, there was a computer games.

Krikaz: Are you talking about Chinese Chess or Western Chess? My story, as it was set in China, was about Chinese Chess, which operates a lot differently.

Krikaz: Are you talking about Chinese Chess or Western Chess? My story, as it was set in China, was about Chinese Chess, which operates a lot differently.

I certainly hope it's not too late to submit. I'm just now finishing my entry. It might be a little... off... I word things strangely, sometimes.

Give me a few minutes. I'll have it up.

Right. I finished. Excuse any mistakes, please, it's late, and more things slip my grasp at this hour.


The Magic of Christmas Magic
A "clunk" sound came from downstairs. Almost as if someone had dropped a sack of potatoes over a precipice.

Young Avicus stirred,his short hair a tangled mess of curls from the pillow. You could still see the sleep in his small green eyes. Hazy thoughts drifted through his mind. He couldn't quite put them together or realize what,precisely,was going on.

But it occurred to him. "A... a holiday... Thanksgiving? Arbor Day? No,that's not it." At that moment,it dawned on Avicus. "Christmas? Christmas!"

A rush of energy spurred him to jump out of bed. He clambered over the toys,books,journals and other miscellaneous items strewn over the floor of his room. He reached out to grasp the door handle,but he turned around and gazed out the window. Dawn hadn't even cracked yet. Why would someone be downstairs?

Now,one would think that Avicus,still being early on in his life,would turn to the thought that Santa Claus was downstairs,depositing gifts under a festively decorated pine tree.

One would be wrong.

***

The young boy was raised by his parents differently than other children. His paternal figure was crushed upon discovering that Ol' Saint Nick didn't exist. Naturally,he didn't want his only son to suffer the same kind of disappointment as him. In fact,as soon as Avicus was able to read,Father told him the truth about many of the common legends and faerie tales that children dwelled upon for hope,excitement and whimsy.

Avicus's mother objected,saying "Let him be a child! Don't you remember the magic that you felt in the air every Christmas eve? That slim chance that you would catch a glimpse of Santa?"

Father chuckled,saying "Don't you remember what it was like when you found out he wasn't real?"

A silence hung in the air.

***

Curious as to what the strange "Thump" downstairs was,Avicus scrambled downstairs,nearly tripping on several occasions. "Maybe it is Father,putting presents under the tree! Or Mother,already getting started on cooking the Turkey!" Either way,he was excited for both the smell of the traditional holiday fowl and looking at the pleasantly decorated and colourful gifts!

He was already counting to himself how many presents he received before he even reached the lobby. But as he did so,he heard grunting, paper rustling,other foreign noises such as strange bells ringing out or a clomping noise which sounded as though it came from above.

"Reindeer? Sleigh bells," he thought. "No! Santa Clause isn't real." He rounded the corridor of the hall way and silently peered around the corner into the living room.

He spotted a large and rather round (almost elliptical,due to his height) figure,fully clad in red and white robes,struggling to get out of the fireplace.
"Wait... the fireplace? S-Santa Clause? It's not possible."

The figure pulled out an immense sack,filled to the brim with toys and plushy animals. "It really IS Santa. Father was wrong? ...Or... lied?"

Avicus did nothing but stare in awe,wanting to approach the jolly old man and query him,but too awestricken to even do so. All he did was observe Santa place a single,golden present under the tree. That was it. A single present.

But it was enough from the magical fat man,who could supposedly fly all over the world in the blink of an eye. No wonder Father was skeptical. The young one wanted a closer look at the single gift,and leaned in,but his left foot lost its footing and he slipped,making a clamour as he did.

The dubious Santa Clause's head shot up and turned around. Avicus stood there,mouth agape.

Santa gave smiled at him and did nothing else. But as the corners of his mouth curled into a smile,so did Avicus's. Santa slung the magical bag of infinite toys over his left shoulder and mussed up Avicus's short,fluffy hair with his hand before climbing up the chimney.

Once again,the young child stood there at the base of the stares,mouth agape. This time,however,the corners of his mouth were upturned in an amazed smile. He heard a light switch click and saw a ceiling light flicker on,and Mother made her way downstairs,donning a robe. Her eyes weren't even open yet,and she barely seemed conscious to her surroundings.

"Honey... why on Earth are you awake at this hour?" It came out an unenthusiastic rasp.

His thoughts came before his mouth could articulate them correctly. "I heard a noise and I came downstairs and I saw presents,but,oh,one was from Santa,but before that I heard bells and messed up my hair he smiled at me after he saw me and... and... and... Lookit!" He gestured to the tiny,gold present beneath the tree. "Santa brought me that!"

Mother smiled. "Avicus... I think you've been sleepwalking. Come one,go to bed."

"No,I swear he was here mother!"

"You know very well Santa isn't real,honey. Come,go to bed now. It's very late."

Little Avicus opened his mouth to protest,but instead just hung his head low and trudged upstairs to his room. As he did so,he began to smile again. He muttered to himself,"Santa is real!"

But as the door to his room clicked closed,Father silently opened the front door.
And what was he wearing? Red velvet robes. "You were right," he remarked. "Children do need magic in their lives."
_________________________________________________________________________

Cliche, maybe. No matter, I hope.

And cut, no more entries! I'll judge in a short while...gathering...