So basically this is a story that a really close friend and I made together in Creative Writing. We even put ourselves in the story! Here is a challenge for you, try to figure out which ones we are!
Somnolence
Prologue:
Somnolence: tending to cause sleep
It is early morning, around about ten, maybe eleven o' clock in the morning, and all is not going well. Dark things are stirring in Blackguard Forest, a gigantic mass of old, rotting trees and swamp lands. This land has been ravaged by famine, pestilence, and death, not the kind of place you want to be in, but, unfortunately, someone does not have that choice. A boy, who looks to be around the age of six, is running through the unstable terrain, trying to escape from some unseen force. Suddenly, the boy trips on an upturned root and crashes into the thick mud of the outer swamp-banks. A growl emanates from the mass of dark shadows, and a gigantic wolf leaps from them, landing with its front paws on the chest of the young boy. "You should not have come here, for now, you must die" growled the wolf, before raising his claws, and…
Andrew woke up with a start, drenched in sweat. He had been having these nightmares for a while now, but, until this very moment, could not decipher their meaning, if there even was one. Andrew got up from his bed, and pushed the black silk sheets away from him. He walked over to the washbasin, chiseled out of the same dark granite that encompassed the whole of his castle. For you see, he was Lord Andrew of the Kingdom Hidden in the Sky, and his people lived on the planet Nerethou, which was a small part of the Crenieless Galaxy, about three and a half miles from the Milky Way. He had been under a lot of pressure the past few days; his people had been suffering from some unknown illness, and, for all his power, against this threat, he was powerless. All he could do was stand and watch the foul plague slowly turn his people to blackened husks.
Andrew turned the polished silver faucet of his washbasin, and a steady stream of water flowed down from it, drenching his hands in its cool wetness. Andrew cupped his hands to allow some water to gather, before splashing it on his face. He spun around on the spot, and strode over to his large wooden closet, opening the doors. A rush of air came through a window and solidified into a woman with long, flowing white robes. Her hair, the color of molten silver, tumbled down her back like a waterfall. She kneeled on the marble floors of Andrew's chambers and said "My lord, the Seraphs have gathered in the Temple, and are awaiting your orders on the new tax bill."
"Yes, yes, I will attend in a second, let me get dressed first." said Andrew, waving his hand to usher her away.
"Yes, my lord." said the woman, before turning once more into air, flowing out of the window and into the skies.
Once Andrew had garbed himself in a set of white robes with blue trimming around the hem and necklines, he strode over to the large window, paned in blue glass, and opened the latch that kept the two panes closed. He lifted the hood of his robes, and murmured a few words in an unrecognizable language. He spun around slowly, his form slowly fading until almost transparent, then the robes collapsed, and nothing was left, save a gust of wind that hurtled toward a large building on the horizon.
Andrew rushed in an open window, solidifying into his human form and landing on the hard wood floors that made up the Temple. He was no longer garbed in a white robe, those were only used for wind transformations, he was now clothed in a pair of blue silk pants and a flowing white silk shirt with yet more blue trimming. You see, the people of the Kingdom Hidden in the Sky had discovered a way to spin the very clouds themselves into fabric, which allowed the people, with the right incantation, to turn into clouds themselves. Andrew strode down the long hallway, which ended in a large slab of granite, with only a single hole in the middle. "Well, this must be the new security system, thank god I packed an extra robe" said Andrew, turning into cloud once more, hurtling through the hole.
Andrew touched down on the other side of the slab, and was momentarily blinded by the bright lanterns that surrounded the round room that was so named Temple. "Look who finally arrived!" said a voice from the right. "Yes, he is rather late." said another voice. "You hypocrite, look who's talking!" shouted a third. "Now, now, lets all settle down." said Andrew, striding up a flight of stairs before sitting in a white marble chair. Around him were three other seats, a seat of regular stone, in which slouched a rather fat man with an off-centre laurel on his head; a seat made entirely of moss agate (it's greenish, in case you didn't know, just saying), on which sat a rather muscular man whose eyes were bright green and was clothed in naught but a blue loincloth, his skin smooth and iridescent, like fish scales; and the final seat crafted out of what seemed to be pure shadows, and in it, a large, dark man, who was clothed in a dark robe that fell rather elegantly to the floor, ending a little past his feet.
"Please excuse me Lords, I was rather late getting up." said Andrew.
"In that case, let us introduce ourselves." said the dark man.
"I have already been briefed, you three, in order, are Lord Slothe, master of the Kingdom Hidden in the Mud; you, my scaly friend, are King Tridius; and you, my rather dark accomplice, are Lord Jordan." said Andrew.
"It's good to see you, too." said Lord Jordan, standing up to shake Andrew's hand as he came around.
"And now that that is done, to business." said Andrew.
"Yes, we have the urgent matter of the Dark One coming." said Lord Slothe.
"Yes, yes, and no one darker than I is allowed to live." said Lord Jordan, tapping his finger on the arm of his throne.
"This being is of no concern to me." said Lord Tridius.
"That is because you hide in your pathetic ocean, and the Dark One cannot breathe water, you dunce." said Lord Slothe.
"Oh, now the Lord of Laziness is talking to me about being a coward, this is an atrocity!" yelled King Tridius
"You dare!" yelled Lord Slothe, standing up. King Tridius stood up as well, raising a sword that seemed to have come out of nowhere.
"Now, now, let's not fight, please." said Andrew, standing up.
"I disagree, a good fight is just what this little congregation needs to spice up." said Lord Jordan, drawing his hands up to summon a giant claymore (of doom).
Lord Slothe summoned a giant bo stick, and jumped into the middle of the room, which had apparently turned into an arena. King Tridius and Lord Jordan also jumped into the arena, bracing themselves. But just as they were about to fight, a voice boomed out of nowhere, and the voice said one word, "SOMNOLENCE!"
The three warring men fell to the ground, their eyes closing, sprawling all over the place in what seemed to be an agonizing sleep. Andrew looked at this horrible spectacle and knew at once what had caused it. "The Dark One, Stromgard!" said Andrew, drawing a sword from its respective sheath on his belt.
"Yes, I am surprised it took you this long to figure out that I was here." said Stromgard, appearing out of the darkness.
"You may have found a way into this kingdom, but you will never win, not now, not three minutes from now, and definitely not FOUR minutes from now!" yelled Andrew.
"Stop horsing around and fight me." said Stromgard, stepping forward in the form of a monstrous wolf. "The end is nigh, and you cannot stop it." growled Stromgard.
"Nay, I shall defeat thee, swine of the earth!" said Andrew, raising his sword. There was a silence, and then…oblivion.
Andrew cracked opened his eyes, and saw nothing. Just a white blankness, as if all light and color had been drained from his world. Andrew struggled to stand up, but only succeeded in kneeling. "At last, you kneel to your master." said Stromgard, grinning, well as much as a wolf CAN grin, anyway.
"I guess fighting is useless now, after all, I tried my best, and look what happened, my world is finished." said Andrew.
"Oh great, now the fate of all our realms is in the hands of a miserable failure!" said a voice.
"The other lords are here in this abyss too?" said Andrew.
"Well, no duh, once Stromgard destroyed it, our spell was broken." said Jordan, walking over to where Andrew was kneeling and helping him up.
"Thanks, but where is the rest of our gathering?" asked Andrew. "They are somewhere, I cant exactly tell you." said Jordan, waving his hand to show the wide vicinity of where the other Lords could be.
"Jordan, give me your power." said Andrew, holding out his hand. "What! Have you gone completely LOCO!" shouted Jordan, flailing his arms in the air. "No, but I can't very well take on Stromgard with only my cloud power, now can I?" said Andrew, shaking his head. "Well, you do make a good point, just make sure you return it, and don't go all power-mad wacko beans, ok?" said Jordan, holding out his hand.
From Jordan's outstretched hand, a sphere of back energy rose, surrounded by circles of runic writing. The orb hung in the air for a while before going over to Andrew's chest, where it sunk into his body. There was a wave of pure energy, forcing Jordan back, and Andrew rose into the air, glowing with white and black energies. (cue anticlimactic ending!) Andrew drew his mighty blade, and blasted the wolf-beast with an enormous amount of the energy, causing it to, well, DIE.
Actually, it blew up, but I digress. In the end, Andrew gave Jordan's energy back to him, and they found the other two lords. And, even today, the world of Nerethou is still ruled by the four respective leaders, and all is as it should be.
I hope you all enjoyed this small bit of insanity that is mine and my friend's minds. Read and Review, Kakuzu