Seeing as this is a thing, I think I'm going to post a story I've been working on. As with the name of the post, the title of the story is "The Day the Monsters Came". Below will be a table of contents of sorts with a list of planned Chapters(with 1 short story every 5 Chapters). I'll post a new Chapter every time one is finished, and the table of contents will be updated in groups of 5 chapters + bonus short story after the previous Chapters have all been completed. Anyways...
Prologue
Chapter 1- On this day, a boy fell from the sky
Chapter 2- On this day, a needle pierced the heavens
Chapter 3- On this day, the monkey chased the storm
Chapter 4- On this day, their numbers grew
Chapter 5- On this day, the king made an order
Short Story- The Prince's Day Off
As of the time of starting this, only the Prologue and Chapter 1 have been finished, so here they are. AHEM
-PROLOGUE-
Long, long ago, priests from many different countries all spoke the same. They all foretold of a day where the world’s gifts from the gods would bring an end to their kingdoms, and that someone would attack and destroy their peace. Thus began a power struggle between nations to claim items of power, so as to prevent their own end. Several hundreds of years later, this conflict continues.
-CHAPTER 1-
On this day, a boy fell from the sky
It was a fairly average day. The sun was shining and birds were chirping. The streets were bustling with people walking left and right. Merchants were selling their wares, artisans were providing their crafts, and the guards were patrolling the area.
Among these people was a young lady with light blue hair. Her eyes were mismatched in color, the left being blue and the right being amber. She carried a bag and a small warhammer at her side. This was nothing unusual, weapon carrying being a regular occurrence among civilians to protect themselves from the monsters that roamed the land. Hammers, however, were a less common choice.
She made her way towards a certain shop, “Beer, Gear, and Tears.” Stepping inside, she browsed around for a moment before grabbing a map and taking it to the counter.
“Goin’ to test yourself against the monkeys, missy?” asked the clerk, a rather large man who looked like he had seen many battles.
“Well… I guess you could say that,” the girl responded. “What can you tell me about them?”
The clerk smiled before starting. “Well, these monkeys are smart lil’ critters. They can think. And they speak, too. Somethin’ ‘bout a king, I think it was.” He shrugged before continuing.
“I reckon they’d try and nab you in some sorta trap if you get too close. Best to stick to the base of the mountain if you’re tryna hunt them.”
“Is that so?” The girl didn’t seem particularly worried, although she was clearly paying attention. “I’ll keep that in mind, then. I appreciate the advice.”
“No problem. Consider it a gift, since you seem new around here,” said the clerk. “Oh, and the map will be 2 silvers.”
The girl gave the clerk payment for the map before making her way back outside. She started making her way over to a bench so she could sit down and look over the map before…
Suddenly, she slipped on a banana peel and fell backwards.
“Ouch… why was there…?” What was a banana peel doing in the middle of the street? She hadn’t heard anything about the people of this town being this lazy. Her bag had fallen off, too. Before she had time to collect her thoughts, a young-looking boy approached her.
“Are you ok, miss?” The child had messy blond hair and dull red eyes. He looked to be no older than maybe 11 or 13 at the most.
“Yeah, yeah, I’m fine. Thanks for worrying.”
The boy picked up her bag, handing it to her. “I think you dropped this!” He smiled brightly and innocently. “What’s your name?”
The girl smiled back as she took her bag back from him, reattaching it to her belt. “Anna. Anna Laurence. What about you, kid?”
The boy eagerly answered, “Sheng! People call me Sheng!”
“Well, then, Sheng,” Anna spoke, “thank you for helping me. That was very nice of you.” She gave him a quick pat on the head, which he seemed to enjoy. She then reached into her bag before taking out a small piece of candy. Sugar was rather expensive, so most sweets were made with slime condensate, which actually had a rather sugary taste. “Here. You can have this as a token of my appreciation.”
Sheng happily took the candy, sticking it in his pocket. “Thank you, miss! I hope you have a nice day!” And with that, he ran off.
Anna nodded before finally making her way over to the bench. She sat down before going to take out her map, only to realize… it wasn’t there. It was there just a moment ago, where could it have gone? It took her a few seconds to realize what had happened to her map.
“...that damn brat!” So much for an innocent and sweet child. The kid must have taken her map! She immediately stood up from her seat before running in the direction she saw Sheng go.
It wasn’t until an hour later that she had finally found him, and the sight that greeted her was a little unexpected.
“Now, then, just hand it over and we’ll be on our merry way. Think you can do that, kid?”
There were 3 men standing around the boy, each of them holding a knife in their hand. Sheng was tightly clutching the map in his hands as he shook his head.
“No! It’s mine now, not yours!” His hands were noticeably shaking, but he put on a confident face.
Regardless, Anna didn’t want these complete strangers to have her map, either. She grabbed her hammer from her waist and approached the men, tossing the hammer into the air and letting it fall back down into her hand.
“Technically, he’s right. It’s not yours. It’s mine.” She swung her hammer down onto the first man’s head, knocking him out. “So you can either shoo or I can get rid of you by force.”
The other 2 men turned in surprise, freezing for just a second before immediately charging at her, swinging their knives around. The first she simply stepped aside as the second went for her chest. She moved the hammer to block the knife blade before kicking at his gut. The first man once again stabbed at her, aiming for her throat, which she just barely managed to avoid, knocking him out with a solid strike, shaking his skull.
The remaining thug, having seen his comrades being knocked out and possibly given concussions right in front of his eyes, did the only logical thing. He ran away. And now it was just Anna and Sheng.
“So… I’d like my map back now,” she spoke, breaking the momentary silence. As much as she now wanted to scold the child, she wanted her map back, first and foremost.
Sheng shook his head, still clutching the map in his hands. “I need it, though…” He took a step back from her, looking up and making eye contact. “So I can’t give it back.”
She was starting to lose her patience. “And what are you going to do with it? Go to the mountain and fight an army of talking monkeys?”
“Yes!” he shouted, startling Anna. “I need to find something there. So I need this map.” He held onto it tighter. It was fairly obvious that he wasn’t going to let go of it any time soon.
Anna opened her mouth to say something before interrupting herself and sighing. Well… here’s plan B.
“Then… how about this? What if we both go to the mountain together? I need to find something there, too, so I guess we can help each other.”
Sheng was silent for a moment. He seemed to be thinking. Then, he responded. “...ok, then.” He nodded before gesturing for her to follow him.
They made their way into a small, abandoned house. Sheng opened a door leading to the basement and Anna followed to see a collection of items. There were rations, some coins, even a few simple weapons. It looked as if he had been preparing for quite a bit.
He started packing a bag with food and other various items. He then approached the various weapons, choosing one to take with him. He decided on the staff, mostly because it was probably, in his opinion at least, the easiest to use, what with it basically just being a really long stick.
“Out of curiosity, who’s house is this?” Anna looked around in curiosity before spotting a picture frame with a rather well done portrait of what looked like a family of 3. All of them had blonde hair and red eyes. 2 parents and 1 son. She had just realized before Sheng answered her.
“It was my parents’ house. No one else lives here now, so I thought I might be able to use it.”
“Oh.” She was silent for a moment. “Sorry for bringing it up.”
Sheng didn’t respond, simply grabbing everything else he needed and wearing the bag on his back. The staff was snugly held in place by a small loop he had attached to the bag.
“I’m ready to go!” he proclaimed, standing rather proudly, any sign of sadness that might have been there before now completely gone.
She simply nodded back to him, not saying any more before they left the city walls and began heading towards the home of the Monkey Warriors; the Stone Heaven.
Upon arriving at the mountain, they both looked in awe. The massive stone formation reached high enough to pierce the clouds, and yet there wasn’t a single inch of snow present. Around the base of the mountain was a heavily forested area, many peach trees visible from the outside. The forest reached about halfway up the mountain, and just above the top of the forest area, the Monkey Warriors could be seen wandering around, the primates dressed in chainmail and scale plate armor, each of them armed with some sort of polearm weapon, mostly staffs and spears.
“Well, we’re here,” Anna said, grabbing her hammer from her waist. “Whatever you’re looking for, I’m sure we’ll find along the way. As for what I’m looking for, I think it’ll be at the top of the mountain.”
Sheng nodded, taking out his staff and preparing himself to fight. He asked, “So… if someone came up here a bunch of years ago… do you think they’d still be alive?”
“Well… maybe. There is a food source here, so if they could somehow hide from the monkeys, I suppose it’s possible.”
He smiled, nodding. “Alright, then!”
Anna sighed. Sheng seemed to be too hopeful for his own good. She wasn’t sure how she’d be able to explain to him that his parents were probably dead. This wasn’t even a moral dilemma! He was going to find out, anyways, so long as they were going up the mountain!
Regardless, they began to ascend.
The monkeys only sent small numbers at them at first, and the 2 were able to chase them away for a bit. However, as they went further up, the number of monkeys began to increase.
“Sheng, we might want to run,” declared Anna, swinging her hammer to bash in one of the monkey’s skulls. “We won’t be able to hold off this many enemies.”
“Um… r-right!” He nodded, and the two immediately began running up the mountain as quickly as they could.
They fended off the monkeys as best as they could, making it up out of the forest. It was after this point that the amount of enemies they had to face started to decrease, but the monkeys behind them were still chasing close behind. That would be the least of their worries right now, though.
“Sheng!” Anna screamed as one of the monkeys caught up, tackling the younger boy as they went rolling down the mountain, back into the forest.
Prologue
Chapter 1- On this day, a boy fell from the sky
Chapter 2- On this day, a needle pierced the heavens
Chapter 3- On this day, the monkey chased the storm
Chapter 4- On this day, their numbers grew
Chapter 5- On this day, the king made an order
Short Story- The Prince's Day Off
As of the time of starting this, only the Prologue and Chapter 1 have been finished, so here they are. AHEM
-PROLOGUE-
Long, long ago, priests from many different countries all spoke the same. They all foretold of a day where the world’s gifts from the gods would bring an end to their kingdoms, and that someone would attack and destroy their peace. Thus began a power struggle between nations to claim items of power, so as to prevent their own end. Several hundreds of years later, this conflict continues.
-CHAPTER 1-
On this day, a boy fell from the sky
It was a fairly average day. The sun was shining and birds were chirping. The streets were bustling with people walking left and right. Merchants were selling their wares, artisans were providing their crafts, and the guards were patrolling the area.
Among these people was a young lady with light blue hair. Her eyes were mismatched in color, the left being blue and the right being amber. She carried a bag and a small warhammer at her side. This was nothing unusual, weapon carrying being a regular occurrence among civilians to protect themselves from the monsters that roamed the land. Hammers, however, were a less common choice.
She made her way towards a certain shop, “Beer, Gear, and Tears.” Stepping inside, she browsed around for a moment before grabbing a map and taking it to the counter.
“Goin’ to test yourself against the monkeys, missy?” asked the clerk, a rather large man who looked like he had seen many battles.
“Well… I guess you could say that,” the girl responded. “What can you tell me about them?”
The clerk smiled before starting. “Well, these monkeys are smart lil’ critters. They can think. And they speak, too. Somethin’ ‘bout a king, I think it was.” He shrugged before continuing.
“I reckon they’d try and nab you in some sorta trap if you get too close. Best to stick to the base of the mountain if you’re tryna hunt them.”
“Is that so?” The girl didn’t seem particularly worried, although she was clearly paying attention. “I’ll keep that in mind, then. I appreciate the advice.”
“No problem. Consider it a gift, since you seem new around here,” said the clerk. “Oh, and the map will be 2 silvers.”
The girl gave the clerk payment for the map before making her way back outside. She started making her way over to a bench so she could sit down and look over the map before…
Suddenly, she slipped on a banana peel and fell backwards.
“Ouch… why was there…?” What was a banana peel doing in the middle of the street? She hadn’t heard anything about the people of this town being this lazy. Her bag had fallen off, too. Before she had time to collect her thoughts, a young-looking boy approached her.
“Are you ok, miss?” The child had messy blond hair and dull red eyes. He looked to be no older than maybe 11 or 13 at the most.
“Yeah, yeah, I’m fine. Thanks for worrying.”
The boy picked up her bag, handing it to her. “I think you dropped this!” He smiled brightly and innocently. “What’s your name?”
The girl smiled back as she took her bag back from him, reattaching it to her belt. “Anna. Anna Laurence. What about you, kid?”
The boy eagerly answered, “Sheng! People call me Sheng!”
“Well, then, Sheng,” Anna spoke, “thank you for helping me. That was very nice of you.” She gave him a quick pat on the head, which he seemed to enjoy. She then reached into her bag before taking out a small piece of candy. Sugar was rather expensive, so most sweets were made with slime condensate, which actually had a rather sugary taste. “Here. You can have this as a token of my appreciation.”
Sheng happily took the candy, sticking it in his pocket. “Thank you, miss! I hope you have a nice day!” And with that, he ran off.
Anna nodded before finally making her way over to the bench. She sat down before going to take out her map, only to realize… it wasn’t there. It was there just a moment ago, where could it have gone? It took her a few seconds to realize what had happened to her map.
“...that damn brat!” So much for an innocent and sweet child. The kid must have taken her map! She immediately stood up from her seat before running in the direction she saw Sheng go.
It wasn’t until an hour later that she had finally found him, and the sight that greeted her was a little unexpected.
“Now, then, just hand it over and we’ll be on our merry way. Think you can do that, kid?”
There were 3 men standing around the boy, each of them holding a knife in their hand. Sheng was tightly clutching the map in his hands as he shook his head.
“No! It’s mine now, not yours!” His hands were noticeably shaking, but he put on a confident face.
Regardless, Anna didn’t want these complete strangers to have her map, either. She grabbed her hammer from her waist and approached the men, tossing the hammer into the air and letting it fall back down into her hand.
“Technically, he’s right. It’s not yours. It’s mine.” She swung her hammer down onto the first man’s head, knocking him out. “So you can either shoo or I can get rid of you by force.”
The other 2 men turned in surprise, freezing for just a second before immediately charging at her, swinging their knives around. The first she simply stepped aside as the second went for her chest. She moved the hammer to block the knife blade before kicking at his gut. The first man once again stabbed at her, aiming for her throat, which she just barely managed to avoid, knocking him out with a solid strike, shaking his skull.
The remaining thug, having seen his comrades being knocked out and possibly given concussions right in front of his eyes, did the only logical thing. He ran away. And now it was just Anna and Sheng.
“So… I’d like my map back now,” she spoke, breaking the momentary silence. As much as she now wanted to scold the child, she wanted her map back, first and foremost.
Sheng shook his head, still clutching the map in his hands. “I need it, though…” He took a step back from her, looking up and making eye contact. “So I can’t give it back.”
She was starting to lose her patience. “And what are you going to do with it? Go to the mountain and fight an army of talking monkeys?”
“Yes!” he shouted, startling Anna. “I need to find something there. So I need this map.” He held onto it tighter. It was fairly obvious that he wasn’t going to let go of it any time soon.
Anna opened her mouth to say something before interrupting herself and sighing. Well… here’s plan B.
“Then… how about this? What if we both go to the mountain together? I need to find something there, too, so I guess we can help each other.”
Sheng was silent for a moment. He seemed to be thinking. Then, he responded. “...ok, then.” He nodded before gesturing for her to follow him.
They made their way into a small, abandoned house. Sheng opened a door leading to the basement and Anna followed to see a collection of items. There were rations, some coins, even a few simple weapons. It looked as if he had been preparing for quite a bit.
He started packing a bag with food and other various items. He then approached the various weapons, choosing one to take with him. He decided on the staff, mostly because it was probably, in his opinion at least, the easiest to use, what with it basically just being a really long stick.
“Out of curiosity, who’s house is this?” Anna looked around in curiosity before spotting a picture frame with a rather well done portrait of what looked like a family of 3. All of them had blonde hair and red eyes. 2 parents and 1 son. She had just realized before Sheng answered her.
“It was my parents’ house. No one else lives here now, so I thought I might be able to use it.”
“Oh.” She was silent for a moment. “Sorry for bringing it up.”
Sheng didn’t respond, simply grabbing everything else he needed and wearing the bag on his back. The staff was snugly held in place by a small loop he had attached to the bag.
“I’m ready to go!” he proclaimed, standing rather proudly, any sign of sadness that might have been there before now completely gone.
She simply nodded back to him, not saying any more before they left the city walls and began heading towards the home of the Monkey Warriors; the Stone Heaven.
Upon arriving at the mountain, they both looked in awe. The massive stone formation reached high enough to pierce the clouds, and yet there wasn’t a single inch of snow present. Around the base of the mountain was a heavily forested area, many peach trees visible from the outside. The forest reached about halfway up the mountain, and just above the top of the forest area, the Monkey Warriors could be seen wandering around, the primates dressed in chainmail and scale plate armor, each of them armed with some sort of polearm weapon, mostly staffs and spears.
“Well, we’re here,” Anna said, grabbing her hammer from her waist. “Whatever you’re looking for, I’m sure we’ll find along the way. As for what I’m looking for, I think it’ll be at the top of the mountain.”
Sheng nodded, taking out his staff and preparing himself to fight. He asked, “So… if someone came up here a bunch of years ago… do you think they’d still be alive?”
“Well… maybe. There is a food source here, so if they could somehow hide from the monkeys, I suppose it’s possible.”
He smiled, nodding. “Alright, then!”
Anna sighed. Sheng seemed to be too hopeful for his own good. She wasn’t sure how she’d be able to explain to him that his parents were probably dead. This wasn’t even a moral dilemma! He was going to find out, anyways, so long as they were going up the mountain!
Regardless, they began to ascend.
The monkeys only sent small numbers at them at first, and the 2 were able to chase them away for a bit. However, as they went further up, the number of monkeys began to increase.
“Sheng, we might want to run,” declared Anna, swinging her hammer to bash in one of the monkey’s skulls. “We won’t be able to hold off this many enemies.”
“Um… r-right!” He nodded, and the two immediately began running up the mountain as quickly as they could.
They fended off the monkeys as best as they could, making it up out of the forest. It was after this point that the amount of enemies they had to face started to decrease, but the monkeys behind them were still chasing close behind. That would be the least of their worries right now, though.
“Sheng!” Anna screamed as one of the monkeys caught up, tackling the younger boy as they went rolling down the mountain, back into the forest.