Steem Monsters Rare Card Fantasy Story Contest! Week 2

---

---

---

This is my entry for Steem Monsters Rare Card Fantasy Story Contest! // Week 2 // 10 Booster Pack Prize!, hosted by @steemmonsters.

---

---

Bringing the Storm by @simgirl

---

There was a time long before my hair grew long and white, when I was but a young lad knowing nothing of the powers in nature. A time when my life consisted merely of the love of my family and the written word. As a child of the sea, my view moved with the current. The sweeping, shining light far above us brought comfort to those lost in the tides.

My father worked as the lighthouse keeper on the tip of Farias Sound. He and my mother kept the lighthouse clean and working during the storm season, and well into the winter months. During that time, I kept busy reading books of fantasy about pirates, sea creatures, mermaids and water elementals. As I sat on the highest cliff, I imagined the many stories coming to life before my eyes. In my mind's eye, the frozen soldier always won his battles.

To say the least this was a lonely time in my life. Without many friends, I thought of those characters as my companions. I named each of them and gave them all special abilities to defeat their wicked adversaries from faraway lands. The Sabre Shark could sneak up on its foe and the Spineback Turtle could entangle its enemies with thorns while hiding behind a shield.

I would often sit there watching the landscape for hours as the many storms came in from the immense ocean. I was happy listening to the thunder grumble from miles aways. The horizon seemed to disappear behind a wall of dark, grey storm clouds. This sight amazed me and brought me great delight. It was only when I saw the lightning that I would take cover in the lighthouse. My mother used to fuss at me to get inside when the storms began, but even when the rain fell hard, I was mystified by the storm’s gathering and never wanted to leave.

---

---

It was during one of these storms that the glow of the lighthouse went dark. This happened many times during these gales and my parents, like usual, went to the top of the lighthouse to repair it. But this time they could not fix the light. I remember my father and mother assuring me all was well as they headed out the door, and into the storm to retrieve a tool they needed from the general store in town.

I waited for what seemed like an eternity for my parents to return. The storm outside was fiercer than usual. The winds howled violently outside the door. I watched hopeful that door would soon open to reveal my parent’s safe arrival home. Many hours went by, and my parents did not come back to the lighthouse. In the morning when the storm had passed, I went out and searched for my parents. Knowing I may never see them again.

The road to town had been obstructed by fallen trees and limbs, making it impossible to pass with a carriage. Abandoning the cart by the road, I unhooked my faithful horse Nell and I rode on her back down the flooded roads. Even on horseback it was difficult to navigate through the debris of the storm’s aftermath, making a quick trip to town an all-day excursion.

By late afternoon Nell and I reached the top of the trail and I could see the town not so far in the distance. The road ahead was unrecognizable as was the last few miles of my journey. It was at the top of that hill I noticed the carriage marks going over the embankment. My heart stopped, knowing the inevitable truth.

After reaching the carriage I was shocked to find my parents were not there. I wondered then what had happened to them and worried I had passed them along the way. There was no sign of their horses. With grief and confusion in my heart, I climbed back up the embankment on my hands and knees through the mud and Nell and I journeyed further down the road in search of my parents. I spotted their horses tied to a post outside of an old cabin a way off from the path.

The tiny home looked abandoned, but thick smoke rose from the chimney. I tried to be optimistic about my parents being alive and sipping tea inside that cabin. I tied Nell beside the other horses and knocked loudly upon the door. After several minutes I heard footsteps approaching the door and the sound of the door knob turning.

The door was opened slowly and there inside the cabin stood an old, wrinkled man with long white hair and a flowing whitened beard. He wore a robe of satin that moved with the breeze in the color of the darkest sky. His gleaming eyes stared at me, and in that moment I knew, he knew the reason for my calling.

“My name is Alric. My parents went out in the storm last evening and never returned. I see you have their horses. By chance, did they survive the accident?” I asked.

He let out a sigh and motioned me to come inside. Once we were seated, he poured me a cup of tea and offered it to me. “I am called Frethom Smolder and I’m sorry to say your parents did not survive.” He finally said.

“Where are they?” I wondered aloud.

“Come I will show you.” He said and then escorted me out the back door and into the garden.

Frethom pointed to a massive Oak tree about an acre away. Under the tree were two tombstones atop two freshly filled graves.

---

---

I didn’t wait for an explanation. I didn’t think of how it was this frail man buried my parents, or how he had carried them to their graves. I only thought about the fact my parents were no longer here, and that I was feeling a great rage in my soul.

I ran the acre of land to the spot Frethom had marked. The gravestones stared back at me with emptiness and I felt my legs go numb. I fell to my knees. The mud sunk under my weight and tears welled up in my eyes. “No!” I screamed.

In the distance the thunder began to rumble as a hurricane of a storm raged inside of me. Black clouds of doom began to gather above me. The clear sky that had been given a reprieve from the storm that killed my parents now embraced a greater squall. I could feel the power of nature within me, brewing like an ocean storm.

The rains came like a gentle sprinkle and then quickly hardened to stinging sprays. The winds intensified in speed and circled around me as my unleashed rage and defeat. The storm inside me was produced around me and I could sense the winds calling my name.

I stood to my feet and cursed the heavens while raising my hands to the sky. “Why would you take them from me?”

Lightning struck my raised hands overwhelming me with the power of the storm. It was then I could feel nature’s life force race through my veins. I fell back, not knowing what this moment meant.

When I woke, I was inside the tiny cabin on a soft cot. Frethom Smolder looked down with amusement. “I have found my successor. You will become a great summoner.”

---

---

From that day on I lived in that tiny cabin and learned everything Frethom Smolder could teach me. I learned the skill of summoning and over the years have been successful summoning the water monsters I loved so much as a child. I could never have imagined how important reading those books during my childhood would be until I was faced with summoning my own monsters.

I read new books after that. Books about how to control nature, how to produce storms, and how to summon monsters with special abilities. I began battling my monsters against other summoners and I became known as Alric Stormbringer. That is the name you know me by today.

At first, I could only summon a few monsters. But after a while I created new more powerful monsters like the Sea Genie and the Frost Giant and began dominating the arena. As I grow in power, so my monsters too increase in power. I aid them in battle by giving extra spell power to my ladies of the sea.

Anyway, that is my story of how I become one of the greatest summoners in the Splinterlands. I have to say that without some grief I would have never known the power that sat waiting inside of me. I’m afraid I would have always run into the lighthouse when the lightning began to strike. If it wasn’t for Frethom Smolder I would have never lived the life of a summoner. I owe him more gratitude than this summoner can conjure.

My life has become filled with many monsters and it has been anything but lonely. I even found a nice pub in the forest where the summoners gather. We play foosball on Sundays.

The End

---

---

More Posts by @simgirl
Steem Monsters Common Card Fantasy Story Contest! Week 3/ Karockas the Bold- by @simgirl
Feral Spirit- Steem Monsters Story Contest Week Four
Steem Monsters Common Card Fantasy Story Contest! // Week 5
Steem Monsters Common Card Fantasy Story Contest! // Week 6
Steem Monsters Common Card Fantasy Story Contest! // Week 7
Steem Monsters Common Card Fantasy Story Contest! // Week 8
Steem Monsters Common Card Fantasy Story Contest! // Week 9
Steem Monsters Common Card Fantasy Story Contest! // Week 11
Steem Monsters Common Card Fantasy Story Contest! // Week 12
Steem Monsters Common Card Fantasy Story Contest! // Week 14
Steem Monsters Common Card Fantasy Story Contest! // Week 15
Steem Monsters Common Card Fantasy Story Contest! // Week 19
Steem Monsters Common Card Fantasy Story Contest! Week 22