MercShort Story: The Price of Greed.
October 25th 2006 07:38
Thought I would share a story of mine with everyone in the Orble community, thanks for reading. I appreciated constructive criticism, I think outside opinions and advice can put you on the right track to develop your skills.
Cedric stepped out of the swirling circle of brightly lit rays into a large, empty room before he drew his silver dagger. He didn't know where he was and he got the feeling that he didn't want to know where he was. It didn't matter. Anywhere was better then Litharious. He had out stayed his welcome, just another town Cedric had been outlawed from.
The portal vanished and so did the light. Cedric was now left in complete darkness, but years of experience had left its mark on him. He hunched over a linen sack that slid smoothly off his back and onto the damp ground. After carefully pulling out a tiny crystal, he placed it quietly on the floor and covered his eyes. After a few short moments the crystal began to burn with intensity, and then let off a giant blinding flash. The crystal laid there slowly diminishing but keeping the room bright enough for Cedric too venture down the newly revelled stairway on the opposite side of the room.
"Only one last score" He promised himself. Cedric made a living by finding rare and valuable items that conceitedly belonged to other people. This business left him very unpopular and quite often he would find himself at the mercy of the law. Numerous times he had saved his own life by giving up the customer who purchased the stolen items from him. Snitching on people didn't affect him anymore; he had stopped listening to his conscience a long time ago.
The crystal's brightly lit path came to a halt, and Cedric was now in complete and utter darkness again. He had reached the bottom of the stair case and found himself in another room much the same as the last one. Again he placed his linen sack onto the ground and withdrew another slightly larger crystal.
"Last one" He thought to himself.
The crystal exploded into a blinding flash and gave off enough light for Cedric too notice an opening next to him. The opening was rather small, which resulted in Cedric crawling endlessly to reach the other side. He quickly noticed the exit and sighed in relief after noticing the next room was well lit. Cedric crawled out of the opening and into what looked like a library. Shelves of books filled the room as far as he could see, with only one large, wooden table in the centre of the room. He noticed that on the other side of the room laid what seemed to be an entrance to a basement.
"That old mage did say he was willing to pay a large sum of gold for a book in here -- I'll grab as much as I can carry, never know who will buy this junk" He thought. The old mage had made a gentlemen's agreement with him, Cedric would retrieve a book for the mage in exchange for a payment and access too the library by portal.
"Now what did the old man say the tittle was..." He mumbled quietly.
Cedric crept around from shelf to shelf, taking every book that looked valuable and mindlessly placing them in his linen sack. He got to the end of a large shelf and noticed a book laying flat on the large wooden table in front of him. As he moved over to the table he could just make out the words on the spine that spelt out the tittle of this book.
"Necromancy; The Dark Art." He read while mumbling, a cold shiver came over him. Every hair on the back of his neck stood on end. Cedric reached out to grab the book, on impact he froze still while a vision forced its way into his mind. He was standing in Litharious or what was left of the town. Demonic creatures chased townsfolk around the burning village, taking pleasure in slaughtering everyone and everything that moved. Children's screams echoed their way through his head, as he watched grown men fall their knees in front of a tall dark creature dressed in a black silky robe. The men begged and pleased as his feet, while the creature let off an evil, tormenting laugh.
The vision stopped just as sudden as it started. Cedric stood there in shock, trying to comprehend what he just saw. He looked down at his pale hand; the book was firmly in his grasp. Cedric took a moment to ponder the meaning behind this book, he wondered if this vision was actually a premunition of what could happen if this book was too fall in the wrong hands.
"I've came this far, no doubt this is the book the old man wanted." He said as he placed the dark book into his linen bag. As he spoke, a frail looking man wearing a dirty brown robe came from behind a book shelf and laid his eyes on Cedric.
"Thieving scum! I command you give me whatever you have laid your filthy hands on!" His voice was uncontrollable shaking. Cedric gripped his dagger tightly; he may have had low morals but he was no coward.
"Stand down and keep your life." Cedric replied calmly.
"I beg you scum! My master will deal unbelievable pain on us both for this. Pain you could never imagine!" This time the frail man had more fear in his voice.
"I will take my chances." Cedric calmly replied again. He turned his back and headed for the small opening. He knew this weak, unarmed man could not over power him. To Cedric's surprise the frail man viciously attacked him, with a hard push Cedric was knocked to the floor and his linen sack slid away. The frail man came at him; Cedric had no choice but to thrust his dagger deep into the man's neck.
"Ugh!" The frail man shirked in pain while his blood splashed out everywhere.
The frail man lay in a puddle of his own blood. Slowly and painfully he was bleeding to death. Before slipping away, he mumbled continually as if he was not stopping for breath. Cedric climbed to his feet and stood over the blood soaked man. With a hard and fast action, he pulled the dagger from the man's neck allowing more blood to pour out. He looked up and scanned the room for his linen sack and noticed it over by the basement doors.
Cedric made his way towards the basement doors; he left bloody footprints as he walked. He took another glance at the large, wooden basement doors. Suddenly and unexpectedly they flung wide open. Upon flying open quickly, a high pitched demonic noise, almost like a screech, filled the room. Cedric jumped back in fear which caused him to trip over the corpse. Cedric's heart began beating so hard and fast it took his breath away, his mind was replaying every word the dead man had said to him. He took a glance at the corpse, and then it started to violently shake.
The corpse shook so violently fast it thumped the floor. Cedric gasped and choked, an indescribable putrid smell filled the room. It was almost like the smell of a thousand decaying corpses in the same room. The corpse began too levitate as it shook. The basement doors where wide open, with demonic noises exploding from inside. Cedric trembled in fear as he watched the corpse, the skeleton inside seemed to be literally ripping its way out of the skin. Blood, muscle and flesh were torn apart as the blood soaked skeleton sat upright. Cedric peered at the skull of the skeleton; large red eyes began to take form inside the empty eye sockets. The skeleton let off a screech before fixing its vision on Cedric.
Something began to emerge from the basement doors. A tall dark figure climbed its way out of the darkness, and slowly began to revel itself. Cedric was now paralysed with fear, he wanted to run but his legs wouldn't move. The figure moved closer and revelled it's self as the same tall, dark creature in Cedric's vision. A long black robe fell off the thin shoulders of the creature, the hood covered its face revelling nothing but two dark red eyes. A skeletal hand pointed directly at Cedric as the creature spoke.
"Whose blood has spilt in my sanctuary? Who dares awake me?!" The creature beamed, its voice was deep, loud and had an eerie shake too it. Cedric sat back against the wall, too shocked to speak and too scared to move. It was as if the creature didn't expect a reply from Cedric, its evil eyes now fixed on the linen sack. The creature held out its hand as the dark book flew from out of the sack and into the grasp of the creatures' hand.
"Foolish greedy mortal, you can not even begin to understand the power of the words inscribed into this tome." The creature's eyes now fixed back onto Cedric.
"You will pay the price of greed with your life" The creature snapped, before a streak of dark green light shot out of the tome and directly into Cedric's chest. Cedric felt a pain unimaginable to any human, his heart felt as if it was being squeezed so viscously that it would explode at any given second.
As Cedric lay there in agonizing pain, he opened his mouth to let out a scream but nothing came. His hands clutched his chest tightly; his last glance saw the dark figure reading from the tome as his skeletal minion closed in on him. Cedric shut his eyes, he felt the minion rip as his body. Before he slipped away into darkness, the last thought he would every think passed through his mind.
"So this is the price of greed."
The Price of Greed
Cedric stepped out of the swirling circle of brightly lit rays into a large, empty room before he drew his silver dagger. He didn't know where he was and he got the feeling that he didn't want to know where he was. It didn't matter. Anywhere was better then Litharious. He had out stayed his welcome, just another town Cedric had been outlawed from.
The portal vanished and so did the light. Cedric was now left in complete darkness, but years of experience had left its mark on him. He hunched over a linen sack that slid smoothly off his back and onto the damp ground. After carefully pulling out a tiny crystal, he placed it quietly on the floor and covered his eyes. After a few short moments the crystal began to burn with intensity, and then let off a giant blinding flash. The crystal laid there slowly diminishing but keeping the room bright enough for Cedric too venture down the newly revelled stairway on the opposite side of the room.
"Only one last score" He promised himself. Cedric made a living by finding rare and valuable items that conceitedly belonged to other people. This business left him very unpopular and quite often he would find himself at the mercy of the law. Numerous times he had saved his own life by giving up the customer who purchased the stolen items from him. Snitching on people didn't affect him anymore; he had stopped listening to his conscience a long time ago.
The crystal's brightly lit path came to a halt, and Cedric was now in complete and utter darkness again. He had reached the bottom of the stair case and found himself in another room much the same as the last one. Again he placed his linen sack onto the ground and withdrew another slightly larger crystal.
"Last one" He thought to himself.
The crystal exploded into a blinding flash and gave off enough light for Cedric too notice an opening next to him. The opening was rather small, which resulted in Cedric crawling endlessly to reach the other side. He quickly noticed the exit and sighed in relief after noticing the next room was well lit. Cedric crawled out of the opening and into what looked like a library. Shelves of books filled the room as far as he could see, with only one large, wooden table in the centre of the room. He noticed that on the other side of the room laid what seemed to be an entrance to a basement.
"That old mage did say he was willing to pay a large sum of gold for a book in here -- I'll grab as much as I can carry, never know who will buy this junk" He thought. The old mage had made a gentlemen's agreement with him, Cedric would retrieve a book for the mage in exchange for a payment and access too the library by portal.
"Now what did the old man say the tittle was..." He mumbled quietly.
Cedric crept around from shelf to shelf, taking every book that looked valuable and mindlessly placing them in his linen sack. He got to the end of a large shelf and noticed a book laying flat on the large wooden table in front of him. As he moved over to the table he could just make out the words on the spine that spelt out the tittle of this book.
"Necromancy; The Dark Art." He read while mumbling, a cold shiver came over him. Every hair on the back of his neck stood on end. Cedric reached out to grab the book, on impact he froze still while a vision forced its way into his mind. He was standing in Litharious or what was left of the town. Demonic creatures chased townsfolk around the burning village, taking pleasure in slaughtering everyone and everything that moved. Children's screams echoed their way through his head, as he watched grown men fall their knees in front of a tall dark creature dressed in a black silky robe. The men begged and pleased as his feet, while the creature let off an evil, tormenting laugh.
The vision stopped just as sudden as it started. Cedric stood there in shock, trying to comprehend what he just saw. He looked down at his pale hand; the book was firmly in his grasp. Cedric took a moment to ponder the meaning behind this book, he wondered if this vision was actually a premunition of what could happen if this book was too fall in the wrong hands.
"I've came this far, no doubt this is the book the old man wanted." He said as he placed the dark book into his linen bag. As he spoke, a frail looking man wearing a dirty brown robe came from behind a book shelf and laid his eyes on Cedric.
"Thieving scum! I command you give me whatever you have laid your filthy hands on!" His voice was uncontrollable shaking. Cedric gripped his dagger tightly; he may have had low morals but he was no coward.
"Stand down and keep your life." Cedric replied calmly.
"I beg you scum! My master will deal unbelievable pain on us both for this. Pain you could never imagine!" This time the frail man had more fear in his voice.
"I will take my chances." Cedric calmly replied again. He turned his back and headed for the small opening. He knew this weak, unarmed man could not over power him. To Cedric's surprise the frail man viciously attacked him, with a hard push Cedric was knocked to the floor and his linen sack slid away. The frail man came at him; Cedric had no choice but to thrust his dagger deep into the man's neck.
"Ugh!" The frail man shirked in pain while his blood splashed out everywhere.
The frail man lay in a puddle of his own blood. Slowly and painfully he was bleeding to death. Before slipping away, he mumbled continually as if he was not stopping for breath. Cedric climbed to his feet and stood over the blood soaked man. With a hard and fast action, he pulled the dagger from the man's neck allowing more blood to pour out. He looked up and scanned the room for his linen sack and noticed it over by the basement doors.
Cedric made his way towards the basement doors; he left bloody footprints as he walked. He took another glance at the large, wooden basement doors. Suddenly and unexpectedly they flung wide open. Upon flying open quickly, a high pitched demonic noise, almost like a screech, filled the room. Cedric jumped back in fear which caused him to trip over the corpse. Cedric's heart began beating so hard and fast it took his breath away, his mind was replaying every word the dead man had said to him. He took a glance at the corpse, and then it started to violently shake.
The corpse shook so violently fast it thumped the floor. Cedric gasped and choked, an indescribable putrid smell filled the room. It was almost like the smell of a thousand decaying corpses in the same room. The corpse began too levitate as it shook. The basement doors where wide open, with demonic noises exploding from inside. Cedric trembled in fear as he watched the corpse, the skeleton inside seemed to be literally ripping its way out of the skin. Blood, muscle and flesh were torn apart as the blood soaked skeleton sat upright. Cedric peered at the skull of the skeleton; large red eyes began to take form inside the empty eye sockets. The skeleton let off a screech before fixing its vision on Cedric.
Something began to emerge from the basement doors. A tall dark figure climbed its way out of the darkness, and slowly began to revel itself. Cedric was now paralysed with fear, he wanted to run but his legs wouldn't move. The figure moved closer and revelled it's self as the same tall, dark creature in Cedric's vision. A long black robe fell off the thin shoulders of the creature, the hood covered its face revelling nothing but two dark red eyes. A skeletal hand pointed directly at Cedric as the creature spoke.
"Whose blood has spilt in my sanctuary? Who dares awake me?!" The creature beamed, its voice was deep, loud and had an eerie shake too it. Cedric sat back against the wall, too shocked to speak and too scared to move. It was as if the creature didn't expect a reply from Cedric, its evil eyes now fixed on the linen sack. The creature held out its hand as the dark book flew from out of the sack and into the grasp of the creatures' hand.
"Foolish greedy mortal, you can not even begin to understand the power of the words inscribed into this tome." The creature's eyes now fixed back onto Cedric.
"You will pay the price of greed with your life" The creature snapped, before a streak of dark green light shot out of the tome and directly into Cedric's chest. Cedric felt a pain unimaginable to any human, his heart felt as if it was being squeezed so viscously that it would explode at any given second.
As Cedric lay there in agonizing pain, he opened his mouth to let out a scream but nothing came. His hands clutched his chest tightly; his last glance saw the dark figure reading from the tome as his skeletal minion closed in on him. Cedric shut his eyes, he felt the minion rip as his body. Before he slipped away into darkness, the last thought he would every think passed through his mind.
"So this is the price of greed."
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