Unofficial Writing Contest No. 1

[klodasmone]

Write a piece of fiction about the character “Template”.

- No limit on the word count.
- One entry per member.
- Post your story in spoiler tags.
- The story has to be set in the LF2-World.

Submit your entry before 2022-03-02!

ENTRIES:

LF2 TEMPLATE (story mod):

Spoiler (Click to View)

-GAME START-

BOOK I: REVENGE OF THE FALLEN

“The past is never dead. It isn’t even past.“
– William Faulkner


SCENE1: The Beginning of the End
STAGE: Forbidden Tower
-AGE17-
Julian and Julia are sitting on their thrones in the Castle of Royal Hall.
Julian is presented with a beer bottle and Julia with a milk bottle by one of the Justins. The latter is carrying the drinks on a silver platter.
JUSTIN: My Liege, we have a visitor. Should I call him in?
JULIAN: Bah! Can’t a Demon King have a drink in peace! Alright, let him in!
Template walks in through the massive doors of the chamber.
JULIAN: Who are you?
TEMPLATE: I’m an assassin from far, FAR away, you spineless beast!
JULIAN (getting up from his chair): Well, let’s see, who’s really spineless here!
Julian grabs and throws the silver platter from Justin’s hands like a ninja star in the direction of Template.
JULIAN: And it’s such a beautiful day for a Massacre!
Fight ensues.
[fade to black after the fight’s over]


SCENE2: Inside the Box
STAGE: HK Coliseum
-AGE10-
COMMENTATOR: Welcome to HK Coliseum, dear guests at the arena and spectators on the CyberTelly! Welcome to the First Preteen Martial Arts Tournament finals of the year two-two-nine-nine of our Lord Julian! Are you ready to rrrrruuuuummmmmbbbbbllllleeeee?!
The crowd is cheering; the photographers are clicking their cameras frantically.
COMMENTATOR: In the red corner, a fighting prodigy of unparalled quality, the azure dragon… Daaaaaviiiiis!
The crowd is chanting – “Da-vis, Da-vis, Da-vis”!
COMMENTATOR: And in the blue corner, the bringer of pain, straight from Hell, the bravest challenger of all… Teeeeemplaaaaate!
The crowd is now going wild with Template’s name amidst the “boos” from Davis’s fans.
DAVIS (scratching his nose): You’re going down, pretty boy!
TEMPLATE (to himself): You can do this… I can do this! I’m King Freaking Kong!
COMMENTATOR: Let the carnage begin!
[fade to black after the fight’s over]


SCENE3: Childhood’s End
STAGE: Tai Home Village
-AGE7-
TEMPLATE: But I’m not a fighter!
MONK: All you need is the willingness to be labeled “fighter,“ and with one word you are a fighter. Just as with one stroke, you are a painter; with one note, a musician; with one word, a writer!
TEMPLATE: But, but, but!
MONK: You have no argument... Now, try punching me 3 times in a row! I‘ll go easy on you and won‘t attack.
TEMPLATE: And what if I DO hit you 3 times in a row?
MONK: Oh, a challenge, my padawan? Fine. I‘ll grant any wish within my power, if you hit me enough times. But if you prove worthless, you‘ll be scrapping the Village‘s latrines for a week!
TEMPLATE: You are ON! Be prepared to take me on the nearest hunt! Aaaaand what I most want is respect! Treat me as an adult!
MONK: Agreed. Now come at me, my padawan!
[after the fight’s over, screams are heard from within the Village – “Fire! Fire!”]


SCENE4: The Beginning of the End II
STAGE: Forbidden Tower
-AGE17-
JULIA: Taking your sweet time, my dearest Father.
Julian produces a violent violet energy ball that knocks Template away, staggering him back into a polished marble column that breaks apart from the collision, jagged chunks of it hurtling in every direction.
JULIA: He seems familiar. Where have I seen him before?
JULIAN (looks at Julia): He‘s quite spirited, indeed! I have questions for him, as well!
TEMPLATE: I only want one thing! (pointing at Julia) I‘m here to kill her! Step aside and I‘ll spare you this miserable life, you monster!
JULIAN: Oh, I‘m just so terrified! You‘re absorbing my energy blasts quite well, you child‘s rag-doll!
TEMPLATE: Your sad little existence will be extinguished after I‘m done with you! You are a nothing! A spick of dust! You Frankenstein!
JULIA: What... is your name?
TEMPLATE: Names are for the living... Which you won‘t be doing much!
JULIAN: Let‘s switch it up, then – Julia, go teach this peasant a lesson!
JULIA: I was looking forward to this...
[fade to black after the fight’s over]


SCENE5: Childhood’s End II
STAGE: Tai Home Village
-AGE7-
Tai Home Village is burning. Template‘s mother, Jan, is being held tightly like a throphy by the neck by Julia.
TEMPLATE (out of breath from running): Mom! Mom! I‘m here, everything‘s alright!
JAN: No, my child! Save yourself! Now! Monk, take him with you and be gone!
TEMPLATE: But what about you? Come with us!
JAN: Grow mighty! Grow courageous! Revenge me!
TEMPLATE: No, I can‘t go without you!
JAN: I‘ll be with you, always, even in your most lonely hour. Now go!
Monk grabs Player by his torso and drags him away.
TEMPLATE: NO! STOP! LET ME GO! LET ME SAVE HER!
JAN: Remember me, love!
Julia audibly snaps Jan‘s neck breaking apart the vertebrae; foam flickering on the corners of her mouth; eyes frenzied. Then the corpse folds to the floor in a twitching heap.
TEMPLATE (with a choked voice): MOTHER!
[fade to black]

SCENE6: Prisoner of War
STAGE: Stanley‘s Prison
-AGE18-
VOICE1: You let your mother die!
VOICE2: You couldn‘t beat Julian or Julia!
VOICE3: You are a worthless fighter!
VOICE4: You couldn‘t save the planet!
VOICE5: You have failed!
TEMPLATE (narrates): It‘s been a year, since I‘m in this Stanley‘s Prison. The voices in my dreams are oppressive, like a tomb that is this cell. No food, water supply is minimum. I have, at least, a bucket here... which is not of much use to me, but still. (the ferocious shrieks of bats can be heard echoing) Oh, here we go again!
BAT: Well, well, well. (smiling in silence) How is my favorite little inmate doing? Full of life? Are our accommodations still acceptable?
TEMPLATE: My life is flashing before my eyes, as if I was in a video game scenario... Listen, Bat, how about you release me, and I promise not to muddy your face too much with the soles of my shoes...
BAT: Nobody escapes my prison. Like a slave, I always serve the cult of Julian and Julia, and never myself or other. But, go on, convince me.
TEMPLATE: Let me tell you about the time, when I was growing up in the Sorcerors‘ Temple on the Great Wall...


SCENE7: Power Within
STAGE: The Great Wall
-AGE6-
SORCEROR: Why do you assume he can just “do magic“ with no training whatsoever – and then expect, on his first attempt, to be a professional sorceror? What makes you think he‘s so much inherently greater, need so much less training than any other apprentices, Monk?
MONK: By not accepting Template into apprenticeship, you prevent him from getting to the core of someone, who will defeat Julian, prevent the development of the child‘s character dynamics, spontaneity; you stunt personal growth and prevent any inherited developments that may take even you by surprise.
SORCEROR: You think this is a game? But you‘re right, I guess. If your protégé can survive a fight against five of my best Sorcerors, I will ask Master John to train him. If Template is truly destined to overpower Julian, he will endure.
MONK: Wise choice.
[fade to black after the fight’s over]


SCENE8: Prisoner of War II
STAGE: Stanley‘s Prison
-AGE18-
BAT: So, what are you saying?
TEMPLATE: What I‘m saying is... I‘ll kill both Julian and Julia. For you.
BAT: What makes you think you can defeat them, now of all times? Especially after your first failure. What...
BOOM!!! An explosion‘s bursting sound in the near distance.
BAT: What the hell?
Firen and Freeze run into the corridor of the prison.
FIREN: Template‘s here!
FREEZE: The traitor!
FIREN: We came to torture you before you die!
BAT: But who ARE you?
FREEZE (pointing to FIREN): He‘s Firen.
FIREN (pointing to FREEZE): He‘s Freeze.
BAT: Firen and Freeze, huh? Good one. Sounds like the name of a book by G.G.Martin...
FIREN: Check out the Comedian we have here!
FREEZE: It‘s two against one, Jester!
Bat opens Template‘s cell and lets the prisoner out.
BAT: I guess I evened out the odds, yeah?
[Firen&Freeze vs Template&Bat duke it out. Fade to black]


SCENE9: Yin and Yang
STAGE: Queen’s Island
-AGE16-
As far as the eye could see, the terrain was a primordial, steaming hell, devoid of life, crisscrossed with rivers of molten rock and blanketed by a haze of volcanic ash and smoke. The fire itself was spreading in an unchecked tide, igniting the tar and lava bleeding up from the cracked earth.
FIREN: After all, even the most brilliant among us – that select few who come up with ingenious inventions that change everything – can’t do it all by themselves.
TEMPLATE: What is your point, sensei?
FREEZE: Firen’s point is, even the sharpest knives in the drawer can’t cut it alone. We’re all people who need people. Which means that in order to have a shot at prospering, we need to understand other people.
TEMPLATE: I still don‘t understand, sensei.
FIREN (to Template): Take this earing, for example.
TEMPLATE: What is it?
FREEZE: It‘s an earing.
TEMPLATE: I know. But what does it do?
(Firen takes the earing from Template and gives it to Freeze. Then he pulls another one. Fade to black)

SCENE10: Prisoner of War III
STAGE: Stanley‘s Prison
-AGE18-
FIREN and FREEZE: Fuuuuusiooooon-HA!
FIRZEN: Behold – my ultimate form! My name is Firzen and I am to be feared of! For if you won‘t bow to me now, I will feed your rotting corpses to the worms!
[Firzen vs Template&Bat duke it out. Cutscene triggers where the latter two are overpowered. Woody teleports right in the middle between the fighters]
WOODY: Is this the place? Am I in time? I‘m saving your life, Template!
TEMPLATE: We still haven‘t lost – the battle or the hope... At least not so early in the game!
[Woody grabs Template and Bat and teleports out of Stanley‘s Prison.]
FIRZEN: Aren‘t we feeling lucky today?
[fade to black]

END OF BOOK I


EPILOGUE


SCENE: Deus Ex Machina
STAGE:
-AGE-
JULIAN: Who is Jan to you?
TEMPLATE: She is, of course, my Mother.
JULIAN: Well, then... that makes you my beloved son...
TEMPLATE: What!? Why did Julia kill her, then?
JULIAN: Julia was in your Mother‘s way. She didn‘t want your sister, desired the death of the girl from the get-go. She didn‘t want to raise the little hermaphrodite freak with a deformed face like her, so me, as her Father, as your BOTH Father, left you two in that shabby Tai Home Village, and I raised her according to my strick rules and rigid authoritarianism.
TEMPLATE: I can‘t believe this! Everything I thought of truth is a lie! You WILL pay for this! JULIA will pay for this!
JULIAN: Son... Leave Julia out of this! I am your one and sole enemy, forever. I have prayed for the day when our love would bring us together again. So kill me now, if you dare. I‘m ready for you. Because I love you... Because your sister loves you, even if your Mother didn‘t accept her...
[fade to black after the fight’s over]


Credits roll.
STAGE: JulianCave
Template, – badly beaten with shredded clothes, short-cropped hair slick with sweat, with ugly lacerations on his face, with lower lip split and bleeding, and his right eye swollen shut, – is sitting in Julian‘s throne around scattered tons of concrete and structural steel rubble, whilst the statue of Julian is being consumated in a huge toadstool of flame – everything has come full circle.


After-credit scene.


-GAME OVER-