Steem Monsters Common Card Fantasy Story Contest! // Week 20
Hello everyone! This post contains my submission for Week 20 of the Common Card Fantasy Story Contest for the new blockchain-based collectible card game: Steem Monsters!
The Animated Corpse
"The Final Entry"
A Steem Monsters Story
I was once like you.
Seated by the fire among friends and party-goers. Offering half-smiles and sarcastic smirks to their stories, steadily pacing my glass of mead, and receiving propositioned glances from powdered faces with glowing skin.
I was once alive, a state of being that has become lost on me.
Have you ever fully acknowledged and enjoyed the firmness of walnut? Or, the warmth that makes contact with your body as if it's traveling through the air just to say hello. The eyes that lock on to yours, transmitting messages of affection?
For me, now, all of that is gone. For, I've been robbed. Like honey torn from a bee; a life's purpose purpose transformed into fuel for drunks.
If you're reading this, you're now aware of the brutal fact that I'm only beginning to accept: I'm dead. I'm dead and I can't escape this agony. Oh no, for me, death was not a sweet release. It is not a peaceful slip into the realm of infinite light and love. Death is awareness masquerading as life, sensationless and empty.
It was her fault.
She followed me, one early morning, on my walk home from the tavern. The air was cool with a thin mist I could almost taste. I can't taste anything anymore. Her face was obscured by a rusted red cloak, but a glimpse of her movements and her porcelain skin was enough to arouse my interest. I steadily paced towards her, as if my feet were moving before I knew I had the desire to walk.
I thought of the unopened bottle of mead I had tucked away at home. I thought of the sweet fermented honey, glazing my lips and eventually coating my throat.
I shouldn't have thought of any of these things. I shouldn't have continued to pace forward. I should have shaken my feet and scurried home to the fireplace, while I still could. What I would give now, just to be able to feel the warmth of a comforting fire.
Instead, I discovered myself motionless in front of her. In front of it. My head sunken, arms dangling, and feet rooted. My eyes pivoted upward as I saw two pale hands, with nails like talons, remove the red hood.
That's when I lost my life.
The last thing I remember is seeing her. The woman with no face, spare two eyes, each containing black diamonds. This was the end. At least, that's what I thought.
I awoke without a sense of how much time had passed, somewhere in the outskirts of the town I once resided. My mind, no longer my own, is pulled towards another place and I fear I haven't much time before I'm overcome completely; doomed to eternally wander the land at the will of someone else. At the will of something else. At her will.
Her eyes, ever present and ever forceful. Guiding my actions until they are no longer my own.
I sit here in these seemingly abandoned quarters, drafting this note: the final entry of my humanity. When the memories of my old life fade, this is all that will remain.
Dear reader, beware the red-hooded eyes, the black diamonds. If we ever cross paths, our story shall end with the brightest blood, and she'll be watching with the greatest amusement.
Do not follow me to MorTis, for I soon will reside among the Dark Eternals.
Thanks for reading!
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Nice job. Very well done. And congratulations on the win. I'm glad you're a part of Speculative Fiction Writers of Steemit.
Thank you! I enjoyed your entry as well. I don't write often enough so these little blurbs here on Steemit are fun.
It's great imagination to put such a good story behind the card. I use a death deck myself but next time i see the corpse get killed again i'll have a bit more sympathy.
Haha, thanks! I also use the Death deck (it's actually the only one I've bothered to upgrade so far) and I look forward to resonating w/ all the lore people write in the future! Thanks for reading :)
It's the only one that i plan on upgrading as well. I will be sticking with it going forward so just selling any other cards i get to fund this one.
That is a good story.
"When the memories of my old life fade, this is all that will remain."
I don't know why, but I liked that part.
Yeah it's kind of eerie to me, the mind vanishing and becoming an empty vessel. I figure that's essentially what dying might be like? IDK.
I've seen enough horror to know this is an excruciating experience. Coincidentally, I recently watched a Dead Space game review there was a part where the enemy actually induces this feeling after taking over the host.
Good job on setting the tension up :D
Haha thanks. Regarding that, I was thinking about some experiences with sleep paralysis. I play a lot of video games and someone recommended what I think is Dead Space to me, so I'll have to check it out!
Great post! And congratulations on getting the @curie vote. I hope you'll join us in the next #farmpunk fiction contest.
Thanks! Checking that out now :)
Hi stevecronin,
Visit curiesteem.com or join the Curie Discord community to learn more.
Your story made me intrigued about the characters, beautifully described feelings, emotions, description and reasoning. Enjoyed the mystery in your story and dramatic end of it. To tell the truth I do not know much about Steem monsters although there are a lot of posts about it. I believe I just need to take time and try to read them through. Well done!
Damn those are some very kind words, thanks! I just started getting into and learning about Steem Monsters myself, so, to be honest I don't know if my take on the image fits in with what they have in mind. Nevertheless, it was fun to write! And yeah, the game is fun too lol. Addicting.