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Old Gnomish
Jul Member 2023

Old Gnomish

Posts: 2,569 Adamant Posts by user Forum Profile RuneMetrics Profile
Greetings! Thank you for taking the time to view my thread. I'm Snowbuster (but most people call me "Snow" ) and this is a collection of my short stories. I will only post those that I consider a worthwhile read; you may find other stories of mine around these forums, as I participate in contests and am a Novelist in The Novelist's Guild.
I am still new-ish to this forum; I have been around here for around ten months now, which isn't all that much in contrast to veterans of this forum, so this thread will gradually increase in content as I write more.
Feel free to give any feedback - I will more than likely respond. I will also willingly check out your thread if you visit mine, so feel free to shout out. :)
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_.'¯¯'.__.'¯¯'.__.'¯¯'._-¥- Novelist ~ The Novelists' Guild -¥-_.'¯¯'.__.'¯¯'.__.'¯¯'._
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Snow
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Guildmaster - The Novelists' Guild

11-Oct-2011 16:12:52 - Last edited on 07-Apr-2012 14:20:02 by Old Gnomish

Old Gnomish
Jul Member 2023

Old Gnomish

Posts: 2,569 Adamant Posts by user Forum Profile RuneMetrics Profile
~Contents~
==============
Page 1
==============
Post 1............Introduction
Post 2............Contents
Posts 4-6......."Untitled" - October 2011
Posts 7-8......."After the Song" - October 2011
Posts 9-10....."Acrophobia" - November 2011
==============
Page 2
==============
Posts 1-3.........."Returning the Message" - December 2011
Posts 4-7.........."The King is Dead!" Contest entry - May 2012
Posts 8-10........"The Scarecrow Mask" - October 2012
Snow
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Guildmaster - The Novelists' Guild

11-Oct-2011 16:13:25 - Last edited on 31-Oct-2012 17:06:04 by Old Gnomish

Old Gnomish
Jul Member 2023

Old Gnomish

Posts: 2,569 Adamant Posts by user Forum Profile RuneMetrics Profile
This was my entry to Round Two of the 'Survivor 2' contest. It earned me some great feedback hence why I have deemed it worthy of inclusion in this thread. This is the first time I have written a short story all in second person.
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Shivering, you stand there, hovering like a bee by its hive. Your muscles twitch, longing to stretch, longing to contract, longing to relax.
Longing to move.
Yet, they cannot. As hard as you try, you feel physically bound by a force greater than any concept one dares to imagine. Strained, your eyes bulge unnaturally, glaring like a madman. The desire to move is becoming excruciating. Through desperate need you push, push for strength, push for power, push for movement.
Push for desperation.
A single droplet of sweat trickles down your moist forehead. It reaches the tip of your chin, before it hangs off halfway, clinging on to the unshaven hairs that poke from microscopic holes in your weathered skin. Much like you, it longs not to fall from its climatic position. Much like you, it rebels against a force far greater than it. Much like you, it falsely thinks it can have control.
Much like you, it falls.
You feel hollow; your brain is powerless, your legs numb, your hands throbbing, your eyes burning, your back boneless. Terrified, you do the only thing you still can. The fire which rages within you lets out a scream of terror... or is it a scream longing for freedom? It is impossible to say, for within moments you fall dead silent.
Snow
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Guildmaster - The Novelists' Guild

11-Oct-2011 16:13:47 - Last edited on 11-Oct-2011 16:31:21 by Old Gnomish

Old Gnomish
Jul Member 2023

Old Gnomish

Posts: 2,569 Adamant Posts by user Forum Profile RuneMetrics Profile
You cry impotently. You cannot speak, but you think to yourself: why me? You want to lower your head and clutch it in your hands like a mother clutches her offspring.
But your resistance never conquers.
“Foolish human.”
Your eyes widen, heartbeat quickens, head throbs. That voice. Where did it come from? Whose voice was it? The thoughts stir around your head like a whirlwind, collectively forming. The longing to control your body returns.
But your resistance never conquers.
“I am not another voice.”
There! Again the voice emerges, yet still you struggle to comprehend – where did it come from? It did not feel external. The voice almost sounded as if it transpired from within you. Did it?
“Correct. But I am not a voice. I am the force that punishes you for failing to perceive the truth. Do you know what that truth is?”
You attempt to speak once again. You are dismayed: you forget that you lack the ability to do so. Realisation hits you that the force responded through thoughts. You think the answer: no.
*You should. In fact, you even thinking your answer is a lie. Those thoughts do not belong to you. Nothing belongs to you. You are determined and until you conceive this, you will suffer.”
“I don't understand!” You gasp aloud. How did you...speak?
It was so impetuous that it was a shout. You attempt to communicate once more. This time, you cannot.
You should know by now: resistance never conquers.
“See that? That was not your free choice. That was always going to happen. It was inevitable that you would speak, even if it was only for a second. Free will does not exist. Do you understand now?"
Snow
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Guildmaster - The Novelists' Guild

11-Oct-2011 16:13:57 - Last edited on 11-Oct-2011 16:29:56 by Old Gnomish

Old Gnomish
Jul Member 2023

Old Gnomish

Posts: 2,569 Adamant Posts by user Forum Profile RuneMetrics Profile
You feel trapped inside; your heart is imprisoned and through sheer desperation your pulse rate increases as the heart attempts to escape. You long to break free but the walls of the prison are impenetrable. You are a fly hanging from the silk of a web. You are unaware that your next thought is the ultimate downfall of your very existence.
You think to yourself: I don’t understand. I have free will. Of course I do. I’m just...trapped, and want to get out.
“It saddens me that you think this. Unfortunately for you, this was the incorrect answer. Lessons will be learnt.”
Like a bullet through the chest, a vigorous surge pierces your brain. An overwhelming sensation encapsulates you. You feel yourself losing: loss of thought, loss of strength, loss of power.
Loss of resistance.
If one’s mind could melt, then yours is boiling. As you feel yourself on the verge of unconsciousness, you hear one last thing, one last thought that ironically, you won’t have time to comprehend. It comes from the force within you.
“I am determinism.”
Snow
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Guildmaster - The Novelists' Guild

11-Oct-2011 16:14:06 - Last edited on 11-Oct-2011 16:30:24 by Old Gnomish

Old Gnomish
Jul Member 2023

Old Gnomish

Posts: 2,569 Adamant Posts by user Forum Profile RuneMetrics Profile
- After the Song -
_________________________________________________________________________
A calm breeze whistles its way through the yews that loom proudly along the pathway. Follow the pathway and you’ll find a village big enough to home hundreds.
But you won’t find a bustling market of avid fishermen and soft farmers.
Few inhabit the place now. Those of us who do dare not venture out into the wilderness that has become our unfriendly neighbour. A constant feeling of fear feasts on the souls of even the once bravest of men. A trembling village? Perhaps. Few dare speak of the haunting events that gripped the hearts of warriors and burned them to oblivion.
A constant silence poises above the village.
I sigh. On my knees, I bow down to the statue stood towering above me; the only symbol of hope that our village owes its survival to. I stare intently at the crimson plaque, eyes glistening as I read it:
Here lies Saint Elspeth
Heroine of our village
May Saradomin echo your melody for eternity.
I look back up at the statue itself. It is beautiful. I find myself smiling in sheer admiration: how can such beauty and elegance become enlightened in a marble statue?
I stand up and walk east. A few metres further lay a gravestone, a small, crumbling lump of rock carelessly dumped into the snow-covered ground. To most, it is insignificant on its own. It is accompanied by thousands more gravestones scattered in long lines across the land. But this one in particular is meaningful--to me, at least.
I read aloud the decaying engraving: ‘Unnamed soldier. Friend of Elspeth, his stories of our great Saint are said to have lived long in the memories of his comrades. Died whilst fighting in the name of Saradomin.’
Snow
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Guildmaster - The Novelists' Guild

11-Oct-2011 16:14:18 - Last edited on 01-Nov-2011 20:47:24 by Old Gnomish

Old Gnomish
Jul Member 2023

Old Gnomish

Posts: 2,569 Adamant Posts by user Forum Profile RuneMetrics Profile
Ceremoniously, I bury my chin into my neck. Unnamed he may be, but unforgotten, too. I can’t help but feel an immense feeling of respect for him. There is a song that is sung during Sunday mornings in the church of Saradomin. It is said to have been a translation of a song from before the war. Rejected by most as pure fiction, it is sung weekly, nonetheless. There is a rumour that the final words of this soldier were the same words to that very song. They say it was written as a homophony; that it originates from the Icyene, a holy creature that fought during the great God Wars. Perhaps it is just fiction, but whenever it is sung, an ethereal hymn echoes throughout the spiritual halls of our church.
A seemingly perfect note that could last for infinity.
I shiver as a strong gust penetrates into my poorly-covered torso. It is winter, and the already-quiet village is completely tranquil: fearful of the bitter cold, albeit placid, air that besieges our homes.
I glance once more upon the intricately-crafted statue of Elspeth, and then again at the small but humble gravestone of the soldier. A single tear seeps from my eye, rolls down my pale cheek before daintily landing upon the snow. It is a tear not of loss, nor woe or dismay.
It is a tear of happiness. For through the loss of our ancestors, the song plays on, in perfect harmony.
Snow
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Guildmaster - The Novelists' Guild

11-Oct-2011 16:14:29 - Last edited on 05-Nov-2011 20:29:05 by Old Gnomish

Old Gnomish
Jul Member 2023

Old Gnomish

Posts: 2,569 Adamant Posts by user Forum Profile RuneMetrics Profile
- Acrophobia -
This was my entry to Round Four of the Survivor 2 contest. The theme was to write about a fear, and for some reason acrophobia (fear of heights) just seemed a creative fear to write about. This entry won me the round. :) ________________________________________________________________________________
Tens of hundreds of thousands of millions of steps up, up, up and beyond this earth.
I feel my back begin to arch systematically as I shrivel into a coil and scatter up the ladder like a spider on a web, but a web without its adhesiveness. The attenuated, ice-cold metal of the ladder feels uncomfortable in my shaking hands as I continue to ascend into my inevitable doom. It’s too thin I think to myself; just one slip and I’ll come crashing down to...
...the ground. The thought intrudes my head, and for a moment I stop moving, pondering upon which is better—to slip and fall until my body lies crippled on the earth, reclaimed by gravity, or to continue my climb, only knowing that the higher I climb, the harder it becomes. I stay motionless for minutes -- or is it hours; before a placid breeze reminds me I’m still breathing and so I continue upwards.
The sky’s the limit, but my limit is much lower. Dare I look down to remind myself of how far I’ve come? The very thought of doing so seems to paralyse my neck: my body has become limp, impossibly heavy like a pile of sand and for a moment I’m gone, away, non-existent, I’m level, ground level, a meagre pile of ashes lying peacefully on the ground, waiting for that welcoming breeze to take me and carry me away into the beautiful air, nothing can touch me, but nothing can take me higher either...
My eyes flash open. That was close; too close. For a moment only my terrified hands were holding me as I had lost concentration. I bite my tongue, hard, and then wince. Lose concentration again and I might not be so lucky. Continuing my ascension, I look up. The sun is almost directly above me, beaming its
Snow
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Guildmaster - The Novelists' Guild

11-Oct-2011 16:14:42 - Last edited on 20-Nov-2011 16:52:08 by Old Gnomish

Old Gnomish
Jul Member 2023

Old Gnomish

Posts: 2,569 Adamant Posts by user Forum Profile RuneMetrics Profile
marvellous smile upon my bare chest, exposing me to its welcoming warmth as I become golden. Ha! Look at me! I am warm, I am high, and I am free.
And for a moment I’m awake but unconscious too, alive but lifeless, ecstatic but tormented, free but trapped. I feel reborn: this is a new me. Daring to exist, daring to try, daring to climb.
Snap! Just like that, I’m back. Back to subsistence. I look up and let out a ferocious groan as I grip my chest with my right hand. An overwhelming sense of helplessness takes over my body and, as it does so, my pulse quickens, b-bum, b-bum, b-bum and it gets to my head and I’m frozen and I realise I’m so high up and there’s no going back and I’m nothing and it’s too much and oh, help, help, look at me, I’m too high, so high, ever so high, out of the atmosphere, out of this planet, out of life, you can’t touch me, there’s nothing to hold me now, and the ladder’s fading, the ladder’s fading and I’m unbalanced and falling, falling, oh, please stop me from falling...
But I’m not falling. I was never falling. Ha! I spit out a tepid laugh, or is it a laugh to hide away the omnipotent fear I’m struggling to conceal? I wipe my forehead with my arm, staining it in the salty water that had protruded from my head. I clutch my chest once again, and breathe, slowly and deeply, as I begin to recompose myself. I am on this ladder, I am not going down; I’m only going up, for wherever it takes me, I will surely conquer my h-height.
I’ve come to the conclusion that curiosity destroys us. We dare to conquer our fears but ultimately, they will always conquer us. Feel confident and ruthless all you like, but the only thing that will stop you is yourself. The proof? Me, because foolishly, I look down behind me, and my body freezes and I stop moving as I feel my hands beginning to let go of the ladder...
Snow
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Guildmaster - The Novelists' Guild

11-Oct-2011 16:14:57 - Last edited on 20-Nov-2011 16:52:30 by Old Gnomish

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