Halloween horror story writing contest!

[Moon_Dust]

Hey everyone!

 

Some of you may remember a particular short horror writing story contest some time ago, in the spirit of Halloween I thought it would be nice to host such an event again.

 

Your horror story can be based in the world of Eternal Lands or not, whatever you so desire.

 

The time for entries ends November 1^st, I know this post seems pretty early but that’s to give people time to decide what they would like to write about. After this the stories will be read and judged by Myself, Piccologoku and Thyralax, we will then decide the top 3.

 

Rules:

• Please do not make these stories too much longer than 500'ish words, it will make the judging process extremely long.
  
• Keep them APPROPRIATE, no bad language or stuff like that folks, you all know better.
  
• Post your entries here on this thread.
  
• One story per person.
  

Prizes:

1^st Place: Steel Cuisses, Greaves and Plate

2^nd Place: 1 Rostogol stone + Scythe

3^rd Place: 2 Serpent stones + Scythe

 

If you have any questions please PM me in game (Moon_Dust)

 

Good luck!

Edited October 19, 2013 by Moon_Dust

[Nova]

Oh boy oh boy! I can finally write instalment 3 of Eternal Zombieland!

[Maxine]

Oh boy oh boy! I can finally write instalment 3 of Eternal Zombieland!

 

Can't wait to read it. "Bricks..."

[Alddra]

-If only closed minds came with closed mouths

 

love your quotation Nova.....lol

 

how so very true

[Soul]

Might as well start us off, with just 10 days remaining for submissions. So here goes, my story is called ''Just after sundown''

 

 

 

It had been another long day in the land of Seridia for Hanna. She had always been a jack of all trades and knew her way around the local market, spending countless hours there in order to sell her wares. Today was quite a profitable day for her, as she managed to sell many of her prized possessions.

 

 

As she laid quietly on her bed she took a quick glance at the window. For many years reflections had always intrigued her, one of her greatest fears being to look out the window and have her reflection stare back at her. She often managed to scare herself just by looking at her reflection, but soon she’d realize her amusing mistake and have the curtains shut. As she got up to take a quick look out the window she was again surprised to see her reflection; this time though, closing the curtains did not make it disappear. She was terrified to see that there was someone outside looking back at her; living alone was something she had been accustomed to, but never had she had surprise visitors this late after sundown. Having another look, minutes later, she was relieved to see that the strange figure was now long gone; or so she thought at that time. Without giving it much thought she went to bed; after all, she had an early start the following day, as the market was always more active on Saturdays. She fell asleep with much ease, especially since she was tired after the day she had.

 

 

Well into the night she was woken up by some sort of sound. She knew that she was not alone in her home anymore. Without panicking, she swiftly got up and rapidly made her bed, trying to make it look as natural as possible. After wards, she rushed to get under the bed before that ‘’something’’ could reach her room. She could still hear noises from inside her house and judging from the pauses, she realized that the intruder was taking his time to thoroughly check each and every room. The footsteps stopped again and this time it was her door that opened. The lights stayed off and she was thankful for that; her swiftly made bed would look more convincing in dim lighting. She could not hear any more footsteps, meaning the intruder did not enter her room; that relieved her.

 

 

Moments later she finally heard the door being shut. She could still hear the footsteps that were now fading away and before she knew it, she heard her front door being shut as well – making the same noise that woke her up in the beginning. The adrenaline that had accumulated was slowly starting to diminish. She started to regain her cool as she was thinking about what to do next. That is when it hit her: a small pinch in her back and the warmness of someone’s breath on her neck.

 

 

‘’We’re finally alone’’, the voice whispered.

[Nova]

Here is the last instalment of Eternal Zombielands! For anyone who has been keeping up with the Help Me section of these forums, one of the characters should seem very familiar to you.

 

Instalment one can be found here http://www.eternal-lands.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=53815

Instalment two can be found here: http://www.eternal-lands.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=56012

and for the tl:dr crowd: Yours truly has been fighting zombies for the past few Halloweens and has been running into familiar faces in her travels to find and kill the head zombie and bring EL back to what it should be.

 

Eternal Zombielands 3:

This is the End, My Zombie Friends, The End

 

“Get out of there!” I yelled at Ace as I hammered on the door. “Come on. You've been in there forever. I have to go too!”

 

Ace emerged from the outhouse while peeling off dung stained leather gloves. “Geeze. Sorry. I didn't know you had to go.”

 

“You were poo picking in there?!” I asked incredulously as I swung in and slammed the door shut. “We're running from zombies. Why the heck would you stop to harvest dung?”

 

“I dunno. In case we need... saltpeter? Or maybe.... black powder?” He replied through the rough wooden door. “It's just what I do! I have uncontrollable harvesting urges.”

 

I finished up and swung back out again. “I'm pretty sure neither of us has the skills to do anything useful with it. Maybe try to harvest some veggies or something useful if you can't control your harvesting urges. Let's go. You walk downwind from me poo picker.”

 

“Go where?” He challenged “I'm sick of going and never getting anywhere.”

 

I stopped and turned, unsure of what to say. In truth I was also sick of going and going and getting nowhere. We'd been at it for a month, trying to find this head zombie. We'd gotten bogus leads from every non zombified person we'd met so far. Once they understood what we were looking for everyone was SURE that the first person they'd seen change was the first person ever to change. Idiots. We'd chased every single one of them down even though we knew none of them were the right person. Idiots.

 

No one had been willing to join our search either. Cowards, all. Content to hide and hope rather than take action. No matter how frustrating the search became I'd still pick action over cowardice any day. If that meant that I'd be doomed to walk Draia and kill zombies for the rest of my days, so be it. It was better than any alternative I'd seen so far.

 

“Well do you have any suggestions Mr. Whiny?” I asked peevishly and Ace shook his head. “Then we stick with what we've been doing till one of us comes up with something better. Let's go.”

 

We trudged along the road for the next uneventful hour. It was a rare and welcome respite from the dozens of zombies that we'd become accustomed to avoiding or hacking through. Suddenly Ace stopped in his tracks. I happened not to be looking ahead at that moment and ran into his legs with a dull thud. “What the hell?” I exclaimed.

 

He shushed me. “Did you hear that?” He asked.

 

I stopped, holding my breath for a few long moments. “No.” I finally answered.

 

Ace still didn't move. “There is something in those bushes.” He indicated a large clump off the side of the road.

 

“There's nothing....” I started to say before I did hear something rustle, and saw the bushes move. Immediately I wished again for Radu's AK47 as I took my bow off my shoulder and grabbed an arrow from my quiver as something pushed it's way out and onto the road. I'm pretty sure it was a Dragoni. It emerged from the bushes with sticks and leaves in it's hair, torn and dirty clothes, and a stupid look on it's face. A broken, stubby, rusted sword was gripped in it's hand. It was basically just a sword hilt.

 

“I did it.” It said as it shuffled toward us. “Now I can have it, right? You said I could have it if I did it.”

 

Ace and I looked at each other and shrugged. “What the hell are you talking about?” Ace asked it as it shuffled around and slashed the air with it's piece of sword. I kept my bow trained on it, ready to drop the bow and grab my own sword if it got too close.

 

“I are ta best at killing.” It said as it jousted with it's own shadow. “I kill all. I are ta best. TA BEST!”

 

“What is it?” Ace asked as he watched it turn a circle to try to look at it's own rear end. It was still muttering nonsensically.

 

“I don't know. Is it a zombie or is it a person? I can't tell.” I was starting to get a major headache just from watching and listening to... whatever the thing was. “It's stupid like a zombie.”

 

It came towards us, dragging it's rusted old stubby sword behind it. “I gots brains!” It said. “I gots lots of brains. I are ta smartest person alive! I are the best at all things! I are ta smart!”

 

“Zombies don't really talk.” I reasoned. “They just shuffle around calling for brains. This can't be a zombie.” For some reason the longer I listened, the harder it was getting to think clearly.

 

“But have you ever known a person like this? I mean, I've known some idiots in my day, but this... Well it's almost beyond comprehension.” Ace said as whatever it was charged over to him swinging it's sword piece. I couldn't tell what it was screaming, but I think it was mad that we weren't properly worshipping it's self proclaimed mental prowess.

 

As it got closer Ace leaned over and put his hand on it's forehead, stopping it's advance. It gave a frustrated scream and continued to try to slash at him with it's tiny piece of sword but Ace's arms were longer than it's reach so all it accomplished was making a lot of noise and swinging wildly at what it couldn't get to. “What should we do with it?” He asked between chuckles.

 

“This is pretty entertaining, let it keep going. When it tires itself out, we'll kill it, because even if it's not a zombie, it shouldn't live.” I put the arrow back in the quiver, slung my bow over my shoulder again and waited. It took a surprisingly long time for it to tire itself out. Ace was yawning by the time it finally gave up and stopped pushing it's head into his hand.

 

“You said!” It screamed as it flung it's piece of sword at Ace and sank the the ground wailing. “You said I could! I could, could! You saaaaaaaaaaaaid!!!!!!!!! You said if I do it, I can have it!”

 

“What the hell is it talking about?” I asked, watching it writhe grotesquely on the ground.

 

“Who knows? But I think I'm getting dumber every second I listen to it.”

 

“Yeah. This is just as dangerous as a zombie.” I drew my sword and waited till the creature turned it's head toward me. When it did, I gladly put the tip right through it's left eye, effectively ending the idiocy once and for all.

 

“I think everyone is better off now.” Ace said as I sheathed my sword again.

 

“Yeah. Someone should probably have done that a long time ago.” I agreed. “No one should have to listen to that. But we do have to deal with those.” I pointed over Ace's shoulder at the small horde of actual zombies that were now advancing on us. The thingies tantrum must have drawn them over. I grabbed my bow again, nocked an arrow onto the string and slowly drew it back.

 

“Wait!” Ace cried. “Something is happening to them, look!”

 

I lowered the bow and watched as the slowly shuffling group came closer. “They look like zombies to me.” I said and raised it again.

 

“No!” He slapped it back down and held it there. “These aren't moaning.”

 

“So?” I argued as I kicked him in the shin to make him let go.

 

He plucked the bow from my hands and hung it up on a tree branch that was too high for me to reach. “And now some of them aren't shuffling.”

 

I made a futile jump for the bow and looked again. It was true. Some of the zombies that had been shuffling toward us mere seconds ago were now walking normally, although a little unsteadily. Others were closing their eyes and shaking their heads, as if coming out of a dream. Suddenly, one of them spoke. “What...what...what happened? Did you get him?”

 

Another looked down at the heap of arms, legs, and torso on the ground in front of us. “They did!” He exclaimed and turned toward the bleary eyed group. “They killed him! We're all free!”

 

“What the hell are you people talking about?” Ace asked over a round of cheers from the group. It was clear now that they were people again.

 

“That's what has been changing people.” Someone else said, pointing at the body on the ground. “He wanders all over these lands spewing nonsensical stupidity as if it were absolute truth. It's like a black hole for intelligence. He just sucks the IQ out of anyone he gets near and compresses it into an unusable singularity. You don't even have to talk directly to him, just being near enough to hear him is enough! You're left as a hollow shell of a thing that just craves it's brains back. Also, you like the taste of live flesh for some reason. Oh and anyone you nibble on goes dumb too. It's all very confusing and horrible and none of it makes any sense! Thank you, thank you, thank you for saving us!

 

The crowd suddenly swarmed us and lifted us onto their shoulders, carrying us off to the nearest tavern for a celebratory everyone-got-thier-brains-back drink.

 

Later on, Ace and I took a very long time coming to terms with the fact that all the people we had killed on our quest to find the head zombie weren't zombies at all. Eventually though we were able to take comfort in the fact that while they hadn't been zombies, they'd still been trying to eat our brains so it had still been them or us in all situations. Sometimes I still have trouble sleeping at night though. I see all their faces over and over again in my dreams.

[Soul]

Please do not make these stories too much longer than 500'ish words

 

...

[Nova]

the 'ish; on the end there give some wiggle room

[Soul]

I think that what makes a good writer is also the ability to write a good story whilst also limiting yourself to only using 500ish words (and not 1500).

[Nova]

or not in a lot of cases. i'm leaving it, they can disqualify it as they see fit, the last two story contests had a limit of 2000 words, i honestly didn't even notice this years was a lower amount. i was just glad to have a reason to wrap that story up.

[Moon_Dust]

I'll let it slide Nova, I know you took part in previous incarnations of this contest so I can understand how you may have looked over the word limit.

 

In the end I just desire for this to be a lil fun contest to showcase the creative side of EL.

 

It will be made sure when they're judged for the decision to be based by the quality of the writing, not the quantity, so this mistake should not give Nova an advantage over anyone elses in such a sense, mmmkay.

[SAWolf]

Oh well, here goes! 670 odd words (500ish )

 

The Subterranean chase!

 

You open your eyes take a deep breath.

 

Oh great! You probably shouldn't have done that.

 

The stench of waste, decay and rot drills down into your nostrils and takes up residence at the back of your throat. The floor is littered with detritus and it appears to be moving. You look closer. It IS moving.

 

Rats!

 

Dozens of them are lining the walls and swimming across the sludge, of what you now realize, is sewerage.

 

You take a step, trying to find a clear path and realize that you aren't the same ‘you’ anymore. Your hands and feet are gone, replaced with...hooves!?! You start to scream but the strange cry that escapes your lips shocks you into silence. You shake your head, this can’t be real. You have a long snout and shaking your head bumped...antlers? You must be dreaming.

 

A noise to your left catches your attention and a leering demon walks out. You turn to the right and a spider the size of a small pony scuttles toward you pincers snapping. Panic freezes you to the spot.

 

The demon suddenly screeches but the sound is quickly cut off as the tip of a blade appears in the center of its chest. He vanishes in a cloud of ash and a warrior steps forward.

 

His eyes are fixed on you! He doesn't smile. He is way scarier than the spider or the demon.

 

Your frozen legs spring into action and you leap out into the green scummy water, it isn't too deep for your new form. You hit the opposite side and scramble out. Running for your life!

 

These passages are a labyrinth. Bridges of broken branches, old crates and smashed furniture flash past. Another warrior with silvery chain mail steps directly in your path, hooves sliding, you skid to a halt, turn and head back up the path.

 

Boom!

 

A small explosion, that would have left your original body a bloody red smear, bursts from under your feet! The pain is dull but you are hurt!

 

Ouch! A stab of sharp pain lances up from your foot! You cannot stop, you must keep moving! Where is the exit to this awful place?

 

The first warrior appears in front of you again, his grin triumphant. They have you trapped.

 

Time for action! You drop your head and inexpertly thrust your new antlers towards the warrior, an act of pure desperation.

 

You strike flesh. The tip of an antler stabs into the warriors jaw and lances upwards opening a wound six inches long, exposing bone. You stare at the damage as blood spurts from the stony face.

 

The warrior pays no attention to his wound. With a snap of his fingers sparks spin around him. The side of his face bubbles and the cut vanishes.

 

You spin around and head back the way you came.

 

Boom! Another explosion rocks your body, you stumble and nearly fall. Another warrior blocks your path. How many of them are there?

Your pain and confusion make you dizzy. You are on the verge of losing consciousness. Suddenly you notice a bright blue vortex swirling to your right. Was that there before? You sway towards it.

 

Everything goes black!

 

Bright stars spin around you and your hooves hit the ground with such force you almost collapse. Trees, flowers and luscious green grass? Am I...dead?

 

From behind a tree, a tall, thin elf in a hunting cloak appears. He is beautiful, not handsome, really beautiful. Pointed ears, high cheek bones and bright piercing blue eyes. He reaches up and gently places his hand on your muzzle. It is warm and comforting. The confusion ebbs away in waves, the pain is still there but it seems to belong to someone else.

 

“It is time” he whispers and from the folds of his cloak he draws a sword, plunging the bright magical blade deep into your chest. It is buried to the hilt.

 

You rear up, hooves flailing but it is over.

 

You fall to your side, darkness claims you.

[zeme]

I haven't thought of a title for it, here goes nothin i'm write rubbish haha

 

 

The peculiar thing about Zeme as he was surrounded in fabric was his dumb, forced smile. He wailed his arms around wildly as he thought about the better days. Zeme is an intense thinker, on a day like today you could see him under a tree daydreaming.

 

He would ponder thoughts such as Plato’s Theory of Forms as he flipped a gold coin up and down. He examined the coin, intrigued by how circular it was, yet even though it shared from the form circularity, Zeme will never, ever see a perfect circle. The mind is the exception, he would close his eyes and think of a perfect circle, yet one will never be translated to the real world, and the tangents his mind would go on while he thought were impeccable. What is the form of a human? Is there no such thing as a perfect… average human, except for the mind? Lots of questions to ponder, yet there is one Zeme has thought of an answer to.

 

Beauty, when Zeme thinks of the most perfect, beautiful thing in the world, the answer is obvious. His unborn child, no matter how messed up in the head, or ugly, or imperfect, will be perfectly beautiful. Zeme is willing to die for something he hasn’t even seen yet, can’t fathom seeing, just at the thought of how unconditionally beautiful his unborn child will be.

 

And when Zeme gets angry, he often thinks of the wind at his back as he fell through the air, the once in a lifetime pain at the impact point and the height of the splashes. He thinks about how his father is messed up in the head for emptying out the burlap sack and surrounding him. But the thing that really itches him is how beautiful he is to his father, and the only possible justice would be to sucker punch him right in his hate spewing mouth. Zeme is done thinking for a while, and justice is going to take a break today, because it is the snapping point. The only decisions left are that of the ocean to decide where to take Zeme’s body. The sun has decided to set, his father has decided to jump, and the tale has decided to be left untold.

 

[KuRiKiMo]

Well 653 words. Forgive me for my sin Hope you enjoy.

 

 

Untitled currently.

 

Emily looked back over her shoulder to the entrance of the cave. The first few meters were softly lit by the starlight brightly shining in the sky. Turning once more to look deeper into the cave, she saw nothing but blackness. This place had haunted her dreams for years, but she did not have the courage to enter before. Tales of those perishing within it's depths were plenty, and non-existent were tales of coming out safely.

 

Lighting her torch, she continued on deeper and deeper. A short time later, she came upon an opening to a tunnel that sloped down into darkness. Taking a deep breath, she went a few meters into the tunnel. A grinding and clanking sound alerted her to danger, she spun quickly just in time to see a thick iron portcullis drop down over the opening leading back the way she came. The way back was sealed with no hope of returning. As she started back down the tunnel, torches sparked to life along the walls at regular intervals. Emily began to become very afraid; cold sweat beaded her forehead and chills ran up her spine. She began to hear indistinct whispers that seemed to follow her as she progressed downward. Dread filled her, she broke into a run delving ever deeper into the tunnel. The whispers followed her the whole way, spurring her to an even greater speed. Suddenly, the ground seemed to disappear beneath her and she tumbled down a chute that was disguised by a trapdoor she had triggered. Finally, she hit the bottom onto a surprisingly soft surface. Quickly gathering her wits, she noticed she was in a cavern lit by a soft green glow and as she glanced around to her horror she realized she had fallen on a mound of bodies. "HELP! Is anyone there?" She whimpered.

 

A scuttling sound drew her gaze upward; there looming above her on a gigantic web was the most terrifying creature she had ever seen. It had the body of a spider and the head of a human male, it's red eyes like pits of hellfire. Gazing into those eyes she knew her folly of coming to this place. Emily scrambled backward, trying to get as far away from the grotesque thing as possible. As she turned, eyes frantically searching for a way out, the creature materialized in front of her. "Welcome, I am Razkadoth" he said in a voice devoid of all emotion. "Please don't hurt me, please don't hurt me" she cried helplessly. "You have entered my chambers, and you will never leave" Razkadoth said as her caressed her face with a foreleg. "Such a shame" he mused "You are so very beautiful". "PLEASE! I'll do anything! Don't kill me" Emily cried. A blackness descended upon her, her thoughts swirled as she succumbed to the power of Razkadoth. And her last thoughts were of overwhelming regret at her foolishness...

***

Her eyes shot open, she realized her body was paralyzed laying upon Razkadoth's web. Whimpering, she struggled with all her strength to move her head to look around but her efforts were futile and she was left staring at the ceiling. A familiar scuttling sound told her that Razkadoth was quickly approaching. Those terrible red eyes entered her field of vision, terror enveloped her as he peered into her face. "Ahhh excellent you're awake finally, I had almost begun to think the transformation would kill you" he said. "Transformation?" Emily asked, tears in her eyes dreading the answer. "Have a look for yourself" He told her wickedly, as the ceiling turned glassy and reflective. What she saw froze the blood in her veins; the only part of her that she recognized was her beautiful face staring back at her. Replacing the rest of her body was the torso and legs of a giant spider.

 

"You will spend the rest of eternity as my bride, love"

[Moon_Dust]

Sorry guys been a bit caught up with things irl.

 

The time for entries has offically ended and the results should be announced within the next few days.

[Moon_Dust]

Winners will be anounced THIS WEEKEND.

 

I'm so sorry this has taken longer than expected! Due to being extremely busy irl this has been very hard to find time for, but I promise winners will be anounced this weekend.

[KuRiKiMo]

Soooooo, what is even going on with this?

 

[Moon_Dust]

Soooooo, what is even going on with this?

 

Like I said in my previous post, i've been very busy as of late, however as I said in that post I would announce the winners this weekend, and today is Sunday, it's safe to assume you can expect results within the next few hours

[Moon_Dust]

And the results are in! Before I annoucne them, all stories were awesome guys! I really enjoyed seeing the creature side of the EL players

 

In 1st place is KuRiKiMo! A truely chilling tale and the ended was very interesting and creepy!

In 2nd place is SAWolf! I found your story to be very interesting and origional, it was something really different and fun to read!

In 3rd place is Nova! What an end to the Eternal Zombieland series! Un-expected indeed

 

I really enjoyed all the stories tho guys, so I have some little prizes for the other contestants! Contact me in game when you can please, and thans again for entering!

[SAWolf]

Thanks Moon_Dust!! It was really fun!!