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Week 567 (January 2-15). Story topic: A Dangerous Resolution.
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Title: Adventures After MidnightWord Count: 1734
Rating: PG
Ten years of warfare, imprisonment, and battling evil sorcerers had taught Derrick that nothing good ever happened after midnight. He would be the first to say that being outside at two in the morning was not a good plan. Wandering alone through deep snows blanketing a monster infested woods at two in the morning on a rainy, moonless night was just about the worst idea Derrick could imagine. Yet, here he was, risking his life on a fool’s errand during the longest, and coldest night of the year.
He was now many miles beyond the outskirts of town. Even the brightest firelight from the last house on the furthest outskirts of the village had faded from view many hours ago. Derrick doubted he could find his way back, even if he wanted to. Further, he doubted whether he was still going the right direction - if there was a right direction.
There was no turning around at this point, though. Derrick was determined to see his mission through to completion. Besides, whether he was going the right direction or not was irrelevant. If he didn’t find the object of his search, he felt certain it would find him. So, onward he went tripping over roots, stumbling through brambles, and struggling forward into the eternal darkness.
“What are you doing here?”
A voice shattered the stillness of the night. The sudden sound caught Derrick completely by surprise. His head shut up like a startled animal, looking in all directions for the source. He could see nothing but darkness.
“Hello?” he called.
“What are you doing here?” The voice asked again.
The voice was female, soft and airy, but not afraid. Derrick knew the voice and a smile crossed his face.
“Looking for you,” he answered.
“You are looking for death?” the voice asked.
“No,” he replied. “I am looking for life.”
“You will find none of that here,” the voice said, assuming a menacing tone.
Before Derrick could respond, thick green vines sprang from the ground, wrapping around his ankles and spreading rapidly up his legs. They moved quickly along his body, coiling around him like snakes. Derrick had very little time. He plunged his hand into his pants pocket, extracting a small necklace with a charm on the end. He drew his hand back out of his pocket just as his attacker’s tendrils wrapped around his waist.
The vines continued slithering up his body. Derrick raised his arms in an attempt to keep them free of the bindings. As he did, the form of a young woman emerged from the darkness in front of him. Even in the pitch black night, he could make out her features.
Her skin was a deep olive green, as were her pupil-less eyes, and the viny strands extending from her head like hair. Her slender unclothed body was glossy and firm, like the stem of a rose, with little visible anatomy save for the arms and legs. Yet, even these were unnaturally proportioned. The arms were unusually long and slender and her legs possessed no feet. Instead, where the legs would end, they transformed into think vines, which spread like roots into the ground, before sprouting out again to wrap around him.
She approached with a slow measured gait, the vines in the ground giving her the illusion of floating as she drifted toward him.
“Only fools come here,” she said, her voice a low hiss as she closed in upon him. “But not even the wisest leave.”
“I don’t want to leave,” he answered. “I have come seeking you and I will not be satisfied until I have what I want.”
“Oh, really,” she replied in a bemused voice, her lips curling into a sneer. “And what is it that you want?”
“To give you this,” he said, extending the hand with the necklace.
The sneer faded from the creature’s lips as it looked at the charm on the necklace. The unnaturally long arms extended outward, taking the jewel from his hands.
“Where did you get this?” she asked, her eyes locking with his.
“You gave it to me,” he answered, “when we were children.”
He gazed into her face, waiting for her to say something. But no words came from her lips.
“You gave it to me,” he continued, “the day you promised to marry me.”
She continued staring at him. He waited for her to say something but she seemed lost for words.
“You’re alive?” She asked, an expression of recognition and shock spreading across her face.
“I am,” he said. “I was captured during the war against the Malevos, and imprisoned for many years. But I have returned to claim your promised hand.”
The creature’s face grew hard. Her hands dropped to her side and she spun away from him to stare into the night.
“I am not bound by such oaths,” she hissed. “I am no longer the child who made that promise. Your claim has no power over me.”
Her words were harsh, but Derrick noticed, she didn’t drop the necklace.
“The Malevos changed me,” she said, her tone becoming softer.
“I know,” he answered.
The Malevos were an order of evil wizards who had invaded the kingdom. Derrick was enlisted to fight against them but his army was defeated. Soon afterward, his hometown, along with most other towns in this area were conquered and their citizens subjected to horrific experiments.
Derrick was lucky. His captors never got around to experimenting on him like they did his fellow prisoners. In the end, he was found and saved by the group of adventures who overthrew the cultists. Yet the terrors that he witnessed were burned in his mind forever.
He was even more horrified upon returning home to learn that his betrothed had been transformed into a monster by one of their experiments. Still, if surviving years of imprisonment amid horrible conditions had proven anything, it was that Derrick did not easily give up on his dreams.
“The Malevos changed many things,” he said. “They changed you. They changed me. But they never changed my feelings for you.”
“They changed other’s feelings for me,” she said bitterly.
“I know,” he answered. “I heard the townfolk drove you from town when they saw what you had become. It was wrong of them.”
“It doesn’t matter,” she said, drifting slowly around him. As she did, she raised the charm back toward her face and studied its pattern with a sad expression. “I’ve already killed those responsible for driving me from town, as I have taken my wrath out upon many innocents who wander these woods. I have become the monster the Malevos created.”
“I don’t think you are a monster,” he said.
“Then what am I,” she asked sounding annoyed.
“My betrothed,” he answered.
The words seemed to upset her and without warning she lunged at him, her face coming within inches of his.
“Do I look like your betrothed?” she hissed. “Do I look like the girl you promised to marry? Do I sound like the girl you promised to marry?”
She seized his hand, pressing it against her tough, fibrous skin. “Do I feel like the girl you promised to marry?”
She glared at him with a ferocious expression. Derrick gave a soft, compassionate smile.
“Not there, you don’t,” he said. “But here you do.”
He placed his hand tenderly against her chest, in the area where her heart would be.
“And here you do,” he said, moving his hand to touch her forehead. “In your heart, and in your head, you will always be the girl I love.”
Her expression softened and her eyes drifted back to the pendant, still clutched in her hand. Turning away from him, she began drifting away. Derrick felt the vines and cords around his legs loosen and fall, melding back with the earth.
“Go,” she said. “I release you. Leave me.”
"No,” he replied. “I have come all this way to find you. I am resolved to marry you or die!”
“You don’t know what you are asking,” she said. “I am not the woman you loved. I have killed innocent people!”
“You’ve made mistakes. So have I. It’s time for a new start. We can leave here and never return.”
“The magic inside me causes rage to burst from me in fits of anger and violence,” she said. “I cannot control my actions!”
“I’ll help you!” Derrick said. “We can learn how to control them. We can do it, together.”
She hung in the air, still facing away from him but no longer drifting away. After a moment, she turned back to Derrick and floated toward him. She extended her arm, placing the amulet in his hand.
“I love you, Derrick, but I can’t do this. I couldn’t live with myself if something happened to you. Please, take this and remember me for who I was.”
She turned to leave but Derrick’s free hand shot outward, grabbing hers.
“I’d rather take this,” he said, holding her hand tightly. “I spent years in a Malevos prison swearing that if I ever got out, I would find you and marry you. I intend to do just that. Nothing that you have done, and nothing they have done to you, will change that. We are both victims of fate, but I believe we can turn that fate around.”
She continued facing away from him but did not pull her hand free.
“You will be in danger every day,” she said. “I don’t know what I will do at any moment. Do you really think we can overcome this curse?”
“I believe in you,” he said. “I believe in me. And I believe in love! Trust me.”
The silence seemed to last forever. Then, Derrick felt her hand tighten around his own.
“I do believe in you,” she said. “And I want to marry you, too.”
“Then let’s go,” he said.
He pulled her around, gave her a kiss, and pressed the pendant into her chest. Her hand rose, grasping the pendant close to her. Derrick didn’t know if she could really change. He didn’t know what lay ahead. But in the end, he didn’t care. He had proven that something good could happen after midnight. If he could do that, he felt that he could do anything.
I think I have a story. It is a simple one and hope to have it worked out in notes and finalize it!
Hi, M!Thank you. It has been crazy for a while in my life and things have in a way not gotten easier but I am trying to be positive when I remember to!
James wins the contest with “Adventures After Midnight,” a beautifully written piece about a girl changed by evil experiments, and about a man determined to marry her. I started reading it, and it seemed hardly an instant later that I got to the end.Congratulations, James!
Please post directly into the topic and not a link. Please don’t use a story previously used in this group. Only one submission per person is allowed.
Your story should be between 300 and 3,500 words long.
REMEMBER! A short story is not merely a scene. It must have a beginning, a middle, and an end.
This week’s topic is: A Dangerous Resolution.
The rules are pretty loose. You could write a story about anything that has to do with the subject/photo but it must relate to the topic somehow.
Most of all have fun!