Thought I might post this sucker. First, a little backstory.
I wrote this for fun about three years ago, when I was full of inspiration and such, as a little bit of backstory for the first "dungeon" of a game I had been making for no reason other than it interested me. The game basically featured a parallel universe to our own, and incorporated various elements of different games [story-wise] with characters based off of friends of mine. The first dungeon, called the Forest of Teragram, would be the first place the lead character would visit, and it was to be a labyrinth of forgotten souls, of sorts. Kind of a darker world than the "actual" world which the player had just come from. The residents of the city would have all died out, except for the main character of this story; Amie. She would have been horribly mutated or twisted into a demonic tree-demon, protecting the way in, or in the heroes' case, the way out.
The story itself has gone through about two giant overhauls (not including the first time of writing); the first of which was for a grade 7 English assignment, which I had to write a short story. The second redesign the story faced is the one you will read below, which was rewritten a year later for a Grade 8 English assignment. [Yes, I am that lazy.] I was rather content with it, so I posted it on my deviantArt. Now, coming back to it a year later, I feel that I need to elaborate on some parts a little, and steer it away from its Final Fantasy: Crystal Chronicles roots, [Myr, caravans, etc.] and more towards what I now envision my project as [I may pick it up once again, depending on whether or not I can get an artist to design characters based on my friends, haha.]
As above, the story below was based on Final Fantasy: Crystal Chronicles, with elements of my own. Hopefully you enjoy the story, but I do appreciate any comments or criticisms you may have. Fire away; I want to make this the best I possibly can.
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One day, in the peaceful town of Teragram, where the sun always bathed the earth in its light, giving warmth to the crops. Where there were always friendly locals to greet the on-going tourists. Where nobody ever even dreamt of fear, until one fateful day…
On this day was the celebration of the pure, cleansing (and crazily rare) substance known to the world as Myr. It is what keeps monsters away from cities who can endure the task of bringing home five drops of Myr. It also fends off the Mist, which monsters live and thrive in.
Myr is extremely hard to come by, as only a drop falls from a Myr Tree each year, which is why each and every village must send out the strongest, smartest and fastest in the village to gather the needed five drops of Myr to save their village.
We are following the view of nine year old Amie Little, a small girl whose brother, Spencer Little, is a part of Teragram’s Myr collectors. Her mother and father, who are a baker and a blacksmith respectively, are always busy, and rarely have time for her.
“Momma, won’t you please play with me?” pleaded Amie.
“I’m sorry, dear. But you know that it’s the busiest day of the year, with all the preparations for the Myr festival.” Her mom answered. “After the celebration, I promise.”
“But Momma, I want to play NOW!!”
“I know, Amie. But I have to fill so many orders for the festival. With any luck, I’ll get that done.”
And with that, Amie sulked off to her favourite place, the hill overlooking the Canyon of Memris, where the bridge that borders the two countries, Valentino and Silcia, stood shakily, but proud.
“Someday, I’ll be part of Teragram’s Myr collection team. Travelling to far off towns, collecting the Myr, fighting off monsters, I’d be a hero!” Amie told her plush bear, “But right now, I’m too little to do anything…”
That night…
That night, everyone in the village gathered at the town’s gate, ready to embrace their friends and relatives on the Myr collector team. After a few hours of waiting, and playing with the other young children of the village, Amie asked the dreaded question;
“Are they really coming home, Momma?”
Her mother shakily replied, “Y-yes dear… Why don’t you get some sleep? We can postpone the celebration until the morning.”
So Amie and the rest of the villagers returned home for some sleep. The mayor, along with some other adults in the village kept watch for the Myr collection team’s return, but after a while, they all dosed off…
When Amie woke, she was not greeted by the familiar sunlight, but by thick, grey, misty clouds.
“Mom?” she called out, only to have dull echoes return her cry from the empty house. She decided to check outside; hoping to see her brother’s smiling face at the village gate.
But when she opened the door, a lifeless grey fog loomed around her. There were still folks around, but they did not greet her, just passed her by, muttering incoherently to themselves. She ran to the meadow, hoping to escape the fog.
She cried and cried as she realized that this fog was the Mist, and that somewhere along the way, her brother and his friends on the Myr collection team had failed. There was no hope, no hero to sweep them up and save them, nothing.
But then, at her most bitter moment, she saw out of the corner of her eye, a small, glittering sapling.
She had been told about these trees, they only grew where danger was or was impending. “A Myr tree?” she said aloud. A drop of the dew slid down its leaves and splashed onto the ground, clearing out the Mist for a few minutes, but the Mist drew in again quickly. Amie cried out, but the sound was cut off as the small child of Teragram drew her last breath, with the rest of her city…
Years Later…
After nearly two decades, trees grew and eroded away the houses that once stood proud, and the labyrinth that the once-city had become was now a test of those daring enough to try to collect the Myr from the Forest of Teragram, the city that time forgot…
I wrote this for fun about three years ago, when I was full of inspiration and such, as a little bit of backstory for the first "dungeon" of a game I had been making for no reason other than it interested me. The game basically featured a parallel universe to our own, and incorporated various elements of different games [story-wise] with characters based off of friends of mine. The first dungeon, called the Forest of Teragram, would be the first place the lead character would visit, and it was to be a labyrinth of forgotten souls, of sorts. Kind of a darker world than the "actual" world which the player had just come from. The residents of the city would have all died out, except for the main character of this story; Amie. She would have been horribly mutated or twisted into a demonic tree-demon, protecting the way in, or in the heroes' case, the way out.
The story itself has gone through about two giant overhauls (not including the first time of writing); the first of which was for a grade 7 English assignment, which I had to write a short story. The second redesign the story faced is the one you will read below, which was rewritten a year later for a Grade 8 English assignment. [Yes, I am that lazy.] I was rather content with it, so I posted it on my deviantArt. Now, coming back to it a year later, I feel that I need to elaborate on some parts a little, and steer it away from its Final Fantasy: Crystal Chronicles roots, [Myr, caravans, etc.] and more towards what I now envision my project as [I may pick it up once again, depending on whether or not I can get an artist to design characters based on my friends, haha.]
As above, the story below was based on Final Fantasy: Crystal Chronicles, with elements of my own. Hopefully you enjoy the story, but I do appreciate any comments or criticisms you may have. Fire away; I want to make this the best I possibly can.
One day, in the peaceful town of Teragram, where the sun always bathed the earth in its light, giving warmth to the crops. Where there were always friendly locals to greet the on-going tourists. Where nobody ever even dreamt of fear, until one fateful day…
On this day was the celebration of the pure, cleansing (and crazily rare) substance known to the world as Myr. It is what keeps monsters away from cities who can endure the task of bringing home five drops of Myr. It also fends off the Mist, which monsters live and thrive in.
Myr is extremely hard to come by, as only a drop falls from a Myr Tree each year, which is why each and every village must send out the strongest, smartest and fastest in the village to gather the needed five drops of Myr to save their village.
We are following the view of nine year old Amie Little, a small girl whose brother, Spencer Little, is a part of Teragram’s Myr collectors. Her mother and father, who are a baker and a blacksmith respectively, are always busy, and rarely have time for her.
“Momma, won’t you please play with me?” pleaded Amie.
“I’m sorry, dear. But you know that it’s the busiest day of the year, with all the preparations for the Myr festival.” Her mom answered. “After the celebration, I promise.”
“But Momma, I want to play NOW!!”
“I know, Amie. But I have to fill so many orders for the festival. With any luck, I’ll get that done.”
And with that, Amie sulked off to her favourite place, the hill overlooking the Canyon of Memris, where the bridge that borders the two countries, Valentino and Silcia, stood shakily, but proud.
“Someday, I’ll be part of Teragram’s Myr collection team. Travelling to far off towns, collecting the Myr, fighting off monsters, I’d be a hero!” Amie told her plush bear, “But right now, I’m too little to do anything…”
That night…
That night, everyone in the village gathered at the town’s gate, ready to embrace their friends and relatives on the Myr collector team. After a few hours of waiting, and playing with the other young children of the village, Amie asked the dreaded question;
“Are they really coming home, Momma?”
Her mother shakily replied, “Y-yes dear… Why don’t you get some sleep? We can postpone the celebration until the morning.”
So Amie and the rest of the villagers returned home for some sleep. The mayor, along with some other adults in the village kept watch for the Myr collection team’s return, but after a while, they all dosed off…
When Amie woke, she was not greeted by the familiar sunlight, but by thick, grey, misty clouds.
“Mom?” she called out, only to have dull echoes return her cry from the empty house. She decided to check outside; hoping to see her brother’s smiling face at the village gate.
But when she opened the door, a lifeless grey fog loomed around her. There were still folks around, but they did not greet her, just passed her by, muttering incoherently to themselves. She ran to the meadow, hoping to escape the fog.
She cried and cried as she realized that this fog was the Mist, and that somewhere along the way, her brother and his friends on the Myr collection team had failed. There was no hope, no hero to sweep them up and save them, nothing.
But then, at her most bitter moment, she saw out of the corner of her eye, a small, glittering sapling.
She had been told about these trees, they only grew where danger was or was impending. “A Myr tree?” she said aloud. A drop of the dew slid down its leaves and splashed onto the ground, clearing out the Mist for a few minutes, but the Mist drew in again quickly. Amie cried out, but the sound was cut off as the small child of Teragram drew her last breath, with the rest of her city…
Years Later…
After nearly two decades, trees grew and eroded away the houses that once stood proud, and the labyrinth that the once-city had become was now a test of those daring enough to try to collect the Myr from the Forest of Teragram, the city that time forgot…