In Creative Writing SEEK (extension (I’m not really that smart ;))) class, I - yes, just me; the rest of the class (Sammi and Drifty (seriously, that’s our whole class!)) was away - had to write a ’setting’ piece of writing. The aim was to mainly write about one moment in time, and to be very descriptive. The result is below. My teacher said it was really good (YAY!), but that it was cliched (:().
“We won’t be gone long; a few hours max. You have our number if you need anything right?”
“Yes, I’ve got it. You two go and enjoy yourselves.”
“Bye Max dear.”
“Don’t rush home on my account.” The door closed behind the woman and her husband. “Because the longer you take the more money I get.”
Luke sat down on the couch, turning on the television. Max, the little boy Luke was babysitting, climbed up next to him and said “I’m not meant to watch TV.”
“Yeah, but I want to watch my shows. I’m not missing them just ’cause your parents are too over protective. And remember, if you tell them I’m doing this, then next time I babysit you I won’t let you stay up late reading… whatever it is you read.”
“I know that, you’ve already told me that many times. I’m not stupid.”
“Well, you are only, what, 3 years old?”
“I’m 4 years old, thankyou very much!”
Luke looked at Max quizzically. “Thankyou very much? You’re 4, why do you talk like that?”
“Dad says it’s because I read a lot of books.”
“You sure do. I don’t know anyone my age that reads as much as you, and I’m 16! Now, go and read a book; I want to watch my shows.”
“Okay.” Max waddled off to his room.
“Finally, some peace.” Luke watched his favourite people in the world battle bad guys and solve crimes.
“Hey Luuuuuuuke!” Max called from his room. “Come and look at this cool book!”
“No, Max, read it on your own! “Geez, what’s his problem? I don’t get how a bunch of words on a page could be as exciting as some of the awesome stuff they have on TV.” He sank down into the depths of the couch, covering himself with cushions. “Nothing is going to get me up, not for a long while.”
Luke was proved wrong seconds later however, as a flash of brilliant white light and a scream came from Max’s room. He jumped up and ran to the source of the scream, but all he found was an empty room. Max was nowhere to be found.
A hand touches my head, waking me from my slumber. What?! Oh, it’s you. I was asleep y’know! Geez. The same hand slides down my back. Trying to make up for waking me? Well…ok.
“We’ve got to go now Puss, we’ll be home later.”
Yeah, whatever. As the front door closes I get up, stretch, and go to the box. Two minutes later - don’t judge me; I ate a lot yesterday - I eat some food, have a drink, and exit the house through the catdoor. Hmmm…where to? I could go to the forest, the kennel, the beach, or…I could go to death hill. Nah, that’s suicide. Although, I am a bit bored…
I jump the fence into the front yard, past the gate and onto death hill. I know I shouldn’t be here, but it’s the morning, and most people have left for work or school. Plus, the racers won’t be up until at least the afternoon, and even then they won’t be out of the house until about 10pm. I should be fine.
“Hey Puss, babies gone yet?”
I frown. “Don’t call them that Max, they take care of us.”
“Yeah, but when they talk to us they sound like babies,” says Max. He then puts on a silly voice and says “aw, my little pussy, you’re so cute!”
“Oh, shut up Max!”
“Ha, sorry,” says Max, grinning. “So, what are you doing out here? Usually when you come to talk to me, you stay in the dwelling garden - not always yours, but you know what I mean.”
“Yeah, well, I was bored, alright? And the racers won’t be up for hours anyway; it’s perfectly safe.”
“I s’pose. Well then, why don’t you come with me to the forest?”
“Huh? I just worked up the nerve to leave the dwelling, I’m not going back in already.”
“No, not that forest doofus, the real forest. Well, as close to a real forest as we have around here. Y’know, the one right next to the park?”
“Oh, right, sure. And if there’s no one at the park, we can go there too.”
“Sounds good. Let’s go.”
“Wait, first I need to visit the box again.”
“Again? When did you last go?”
“About 10 minutes ago.” On seeing Max’s face I say “hey, don’t give me that look; I had a lot to eat yesterday.”
Name: Monk
Age: ???
Background: ???
Origin of Name: “Monk” is short for Monkey.
Author’s Notes: Monk is wise, calm and serene. He doesn’t usually worry very much, as evidenced in the 3rd chapter when Troy appears on the outcrop. I know there isn’t much to this profile, but that’s mainly because not much has been revealed in the story yet.
*picture forthcoming*
Name: Fred
Age: 15
Guardian of: Friendship
Background: ???
Origin of Name: “Fred” is short for “Friendship”. Not very original I know, but the name has really grown on me, so I won’t be changing it.
Author’s Notes: Fred plays a very important part in this story. Thought it may not seem like it now, like Monk said, it’s a special power. Oh, and I have something planned for him down the track. It’s not to do with his powers – not really. It’s something that will give his character some more depth. What is it? Wait and see…
“Man, I can’t wait for the races, can you?” asked Dylan excitedly.
“Dylan,” said Monk calmly, “you have asked both Fred and I that question a number of times, and so far our answers haven’t changed.”
“Sorry, I’m just really excited. Did you know that The Flame’s car is one-“
“One of the fastest around thanks to his brother, who acts as his one-man pit crew,” Fred finished for him.
“Uh…yeah,” said Dylan flatly. He decided to stop talking about the race, and to continue reading the information he had printed out on the races instead.
Fred, meanwhile, went back to thinking about the last week’s events.
****
After disappearing from the outcrop and reappearing near the edge of the cliff – his hands, feet and eyes ceasing glowing as he did – Fred had waited with Monk until Dylan had regained consciousness, then travelled with them to a place Monk called ‘The Training Ground’. Monk had showed them round, led them to their own rooms and told them that they could come here at any time, but needed to mainly sleep at home.
Once they had settled in and Dylan had gone to his room to rest – for he was still quite weak, Fred had asked Monk what on earth had happened to him when he had glowed white. “Well, you see, emotions play a very important part in controlling powers, for both Guardians and Demons. For instance, when Dylan tried to defend you and I, the shot of water he splashed into Troy’s face was very weak because he lacked confidence thanks to his brother’s words. And that shot of water angered Troy, making his attack more powerful, which he used to knock Dylan unconscious.
“That reminds me,” interjected Fred, “you never told me what I’m the Guardian of; Troy interrupted us before you could.”
“You, Fred, are the Guardian of Friendship.”
“Friendship? That doesn’t even sound like a power.”
“Oh, it is. And it’s a special one; there isn’t a Demon of Friendship. Yours is one of the special powers that can not be evil.”
“But how is it a power?”
“Don’t you remember Fred? You told me that right before you started to glow, Troy had been saying all those nasty things about Dylan, which made you really angry, correct?”
“Yeah…”
“Well, that’s my point. Your anger at this horrible person in front of you, that was being so cruel to your new friend made your power temporarily immense.”
“Does that mean that I can only use my power when someone does something bad to a friend of mine?”
“No, no, you can still use your powers normally too” Monk assured Fred.
“So, anger makes Guardians and Demons more powerful” said Fred, trying to confirm what he thought he had been told.
“What? No, not anger. I mean, anger will make Demons more powerful, but not Guardians.”
“But you said…”
“The anger you felt was anger for something someone had done to an innocent living being. As a Guardian, your job is to stop that. But be warned, your powers won’t be enhanced like that very often, so you will need to learn to fight normally. Now, you should go home, I’ll make sure Dylan is alright.
“Should I tell his parents that he’s staying over at my house or something?” asked Fred, getting to his feet.
“No…his parents are dead. He’ll probably live here from now on, especially since Troy lives at the house too.”
“Oh, okay…bye.”
“Goodbye Fred. Oh, and come back here tomorrow if you can.”
Fred had come back the next day, and every day since then.
****
“Fred, come on, you need to go home, or your parents will worry.”
“Sorry Monk” said Fred, coming out of his recollection.
As he walked home, he thought about the training he and Dylan had been given from Monk over the past few days, and whether or not he would be able to control his powers well enough next day. Tomorrow was the races, and Fred thought that there was a good chance that Troy would be showing up there, considering the huge number of people there, on top of the fact that people would be racing around tracks in high-speed cars. This was a big opportunity for Troy to cause chaos, and Fred doubted he would miss it.
“Troy, you’re alive!” Dylan ran towards his brother, arms outstretched. Before he even got close, at least 2 litres of water shot out of the ocean, up above the group and down, hitting Dylan hard in the chest, forcing him to the ground.
Dylan looked up at Troy’s face; his brother looked down at him, his mouth turned up in a smirk. “Didn’t you hear brother? We’re not on the same side anymore.”
“You-you want to be a-a Demon?” Dylan stammered in disbelief.
“Of course; before life was boring, but now I have the power to cause chaos whenever I please. And for my first act as Water Demon, I’ve been instructed to take out the Water Guardian, who – according to my boss – is you brother. Weird coincidence don’t you think?”
“Not really,” said the monkey offhandedly.
“You must be ‘Wise Monkey’, or – as my boss calls you – ‘that dirty ape’.”
The monkey’s face changed from a look of calm serenity into a frown. He thrust out his hand, a white light shooting from it, hitting Troy and causing him to hurtle off the edge of the outcrop.
“Whoa, that was awesome! Nice work Wise Monkey.”
“Thank you Fred,” said Wise Monkey, helping Dylan get to his feet, “and just call me Monk, everyone does – well, except the Demon Master apparently.”
“I can’t believe he did that to me; I’m his brother” said Dylan, still shocked.
“Never mind that now, you need to fend him off so we can get away.”
“But, can’t we get away now?”
“No.”
“Why not?” asked Fred.
Monk pointed at the point where the outcrop met the side of the cliff. It was being eroded exceptionally fast. It broke, sending the outcrop, along with its passengers, down to the sea.
As they hit the water, Troy jumped out of the sea, landing on the outcrop once again. “You didn’t really think you could get rid of me that easily did you, ape?” Before Monk could do anything, Troy hit him down with another stream of water, this one much larger than the one he had hit Dylan with.
Seeing this, Dylan stepped forward, ready to defend Fred and Monk. But then, he realized that he had no idea how to use his apparent powers. He called out to Monk, “what do I do?”
“Just concentrate, and use your body to control the direction of the water” said Monk, weakly.
“You’ve got to be kidding? Dylan can’t even defend himself, let alone you two as well,” laughed Troy. His laugh was cut short however, when a small stream of water hit him in the face. “Ha, you’ve got nerve brother, but you’ve always lacked confidence,” Troy taunted. He shot a huge stream of water at Dylan, which made him hit the rock so hard he was knocked unconscious.
Troy laughed cruelly. “You are so pathetic, you always have been!”
Fred, who was kneeling on the ground between Dylan and Monk, stood up at these words, a mix of disgust and fury rose in the pit of his stomach.
“Even when we were kids, you always needed me for everything,” continued Troy, “you could never do anything for yourself.”
Fred’s rage grew. How could this boy be so mean to his brother, to Fred’s new friend? How could he be so cruel as to knock his brother unconscious for merely defending himself, Monk and Fred? How could he be so…so evil?
Without knowing what he was doing, Fred slowly walked towards Troy.
“And what’s your power?” asked Troy, seeing Fred, “my boss said that no Guardian of any worth other than my brother was here, if you can call my brother anything other than worthless that is.”
Fred’s hands, feet and eyes began to glow a bright white as he continued towards Troy. “What the…?” said Troy, suddenly not so cocky. He shot water at Fred, but it simply rebounded off him. “What’s going on…?” Fred ignored this, and, as he reached Troy, he drew back his arm, punching Troy in the face with all his might. Troy sailed through the air, landing in the sea many kilometers away with an enormous splash.
Fred then went over to Monk and Dylan, held onto their arms and disappeared in a brilliant flash of white light. When Troy surfaced, he could not find a trace of them anywhere.
Name: Dylan
Age: 14
Guardian of: Water
Background: Parents died when he was young, his brother Troy looked after him since then, until he was awakened.
Origin of Name: I got the name Dylan from here. His name means “Son of the Sea”.
Author’s Notes: Dylan was originally made to be a small part of the Guardian force, but became a more important member when I decided he should be brother to the Water Demon. With the creation of this written story, I have made the connection between the two even more important. How you ask? Wait and see…
After plunging a few meters into the water, Troy attempted to swim to the surface; but it was if the water itself was pushing him down, down into the depths of the ocean, until even the rays of light from the sun did not reach his eyes.
Troy felt his feet touch the sea floor, and as they did, two points of light a few feet away from him shone a bright yellow. A deep male voice sounded from them:
“Have a nice trip?”
****
Fred has never been good at comforting people, and so now that he found himself watching Dylan weeping in front of him, mourning the loss of his brother, Fred didn’t really know what to say to try and make Dylan feel better. Fortunately, he didn’t have to, as a voice behind them said:
“There’s no need to cry, your brother isn’t dead.”
Fred and Dylan looked around to see a… was that a monkey? Yes, it was, with a baby monkey on its back. “Daddy, why do they look so confused?” asked the baby.
“It’s because they’ve never seen a monkey talk before,” he turned to look at Dylan and Fred, “am I right?”
Fred, still somewhat stunned, answered “that, and… how did you get here? After all, we are halfway down the side of a cliff.”
Though the two boys did not know it, the monkey did not want to answer Fred’s question, so he decided to explain why he was there instead. So, ignoring Fred’s question he said “the reason I’m here is that today a very evil entity has taken your brother.”
“But I thought you said he wasn’t dead,” said Dylan, wiping away his tears.
“He’s not. The evil entity has not taken him as in taken his life, but taken him away from you, forever.”
There was no doubt that neither Dylan nor Fred understood this, so the monkey went on. “He is at this moment, somewhere at the bottom of the sea, talking to that evil entity, who is no doubt persuading him to come to his side.”
“What could this evil entity want with my brother?” asked Dylan.
“Your brother is this generation’s Water Demon.”
There was sudden and absolute silence. Fred and Dylan gave each other looks that quite clearly said “who is this crazy monkey?” Aloud, Fred said, “where’s your proof?” thinking this would deter the monkey.
“My proof? Ah, every generations the same. My proof will arrive soon I should think. Until then, please listen to what I have to tell you, and try to keep an open mind.”
****
At the bottom of the sea, Troy had been talking to the two lights. But the voice behind the lights hadn’t stopped to answer questions, as the monkey had; he had simply told Troy that he was the Demon Master, and that Troy was this generation’s Water Demon, a creature of his own creation that had the potential to cause chaos, such as the world had never seen.
“Really?” asked Troy, curiously.
“Well, kind of. At first you’ll probably cause the same amount of trouble the past generations of Demons have, but I have high hopes for you.”
“Sorry to interrupt,” Troy interjected, “but is there any way that you could make it lighter? I can’t even see you.”
“You can’t? Oh, that’s right, I haven’t awakened you yet.”
Without warning, the water around Troy suddenly swirled around like a whirlpool, and then seemed to become a part of him. He could see more easily in the water than any fish, and now saw that the two yellow lights were eyes, shining from behind a dark blue mask, which was floating just above the sea floor.
“Cool!” exclaimed Troy.
The mask – or rather a voice that seemed to be coming from it, as no part of the mask moved when it spoke – said “you think that’s cool? Wait ‘till you see what else you can do.”
****
“Long ago,” the monkey told Fred and Dylan, “the Demon Master created the Water Demon, a creature that could control water, bringing chaos to the world. He was so happy with what he had made that he created a whole group of them; able to control the power of the elements. Seeing this, the Gods made their own versions: the Guardians. While the Demons merely control the elements, the Guardians embody them. The God’s made it so that every generation would have Guardians, for all eternity. Unfortunately, when the Demon Master heard about this, he did something to make sure that the demons would always live on as well. The reason I’m telling you all this is because, you two are Guardians.”
“We…are?” Fred couldn’t believe it, and from the look on Dylan’s face, Fred guessed he couldn’t either.
“Yes. Let me show you.”
The monkey clicked his fingers, and the two boys were enveloped in rainbow light, as though someone had shot light through a prism.
“If what you say is true, then what are we Guardians of?” asked Dylan, though he thought he already knew.
“You Dylan are the Water Guardian, just as your brother is the Water Demon. And Fred, you-
But before he could finish, something shot out of the ocean behind them, landing near them on the outcrop of rock. It was Troy. “I’m back.”
“Oh good,” said the monkey, seeing Troy, “here’s the proof you wanted boys.”
Name: Troy
Age: 16
Demon of: Water
Background: Parents died when he was young, has looked after his brother Dylan ever since.
Origin of Name: I got the name Troy from here. His name means “Water” or “Footsoldier”.
Author’s Notes: Originally I made Troy to be just another demon, but eventually I made him the leader, and later gave him even more power. My story is all the elements from the latest version, but from the start, so he is the leader in this story.