AUTHOR'S NOTE:
I was really trying to do some fun stuff with this story, but I know one of my own writing weaknesses, and do what I can to overcome it. What's the weakness? I suck at writing proper adversaries. It's like when I used to play Chess against myself because I didn't have any friends for years on end. I'd pick who was going to win and who would lose, and would make the chosen loser make really dumb choices so the chosen winner would just stomp them out easily.
That doesn't work as a writer. So, I asked some of my friends to write my enemies for me. I let them know that they had to make a character based on a fictional virus or bacteria of some kind, and they'd definitely lose against my character when they came into contact, and be eaten. I also let them know that the character could be fully aware that they were a character in a story, or a daydream, or a character that only exists in a few lyrics of a song. No one minded. Jojo wrote the first one, and there were two others set up.
I gave the following list, but also mentioned there were clearly others:
- Blacklight (Prototype game series)
- Pokerus (Pokemon game series)
- T (Resident Evil series)
Jojo tried to base his character on Elizabeth Green's blacklight. A friend going by the handle of PossiblyInsane said he'd take Lycanthropy, and focus on its philosophical change aspect. An offline friend named Kathy diagnosed with mental retardation said she wanted to take Vampirism, because the media keeps saying "women with MR" are pure and good, and she wanted to write a mentally retarded vampire who knows the difference between right and wrong, and chooses wrong. Kathy said she'd need my help writing it, but I said that's all I'd do- help. I'm not part of her group, and can't write from that perspective. Only she can.
I thought both of these enemies would be magnificent to read about and was seriously excited.
But Insane ghosted me, and Kathy wasn't interacting with me remotely enough (like 2x a year) to do anything. So I think she ghosted me too.
Yes, I judge people with a massive degree of respect and faith if they pass my "reverse Turing" test. What the test is, is I give someone a scenario. Then I give them two options of how to respond to that scenario, both of which are stupid. The correct answer is choosing a third option. I don't care what the option is. I care that it wasn't implied they could do that. That's how my test is passed.
Anyway, I just dug in my Discord private messages and found what PossiblyInsane did write. It wasn't written in one chunk, but the pieces are below:
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(Copied from a document file he sent me)
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A bleak, white expanse spread across the horizon, spattered with flecks of dirt, shifting in and out of focus as he buzzed through the air. Anticipation, hunger. A flick of the wings, alighting on the flat pale wastes. Skittering along, to one of the flecks. Taste. Spongy, damp, congealing. Edible.
A hard edge. Eyes orient into focus. A chitinous limb, plastered against the white wastes below. Recognition. Stop, preen self. Chitinous hairy limb scrapes through hair of chitinous limb.
Flash of movement, above. Spring up, wings buzz. Move.
Rush of air against back. Too slow.
Force hits back. Back cracks, ruptures, leaking insides. Try to move. Wings crushed, feebly trash. Pain. Pain everywhere. Struggle, legs scrabble, try to get free.
Movement. Rush of Air.
***
"What…" Herman gasped, feeling for his crushed thorax. "…What the hell was that?"
"Your life. Time of death, 6:56 pm, Wednesday night, by a rolled up newspaper. We hope your reincarnation proved satisfactory, thank you for your patience, hope you have a pleasant damnation. Unless, of course-" the attendant's sadistic grimace widened. "If you still had some complaint about your afterlife service, I'm sure I could fit you right in the express lane."
Easy, Herman. Breathe in, breathe out. Just like that o
ne yoga class that cost far too much of somebody else's money. Straighten up, don't give an inch, and deny everything.
Herman stood up, a wave of carefully constructed righteous indignation rolling across his face. "You can be damned sure I've got a complaint-"
"Oh, good. Express lane's down the hall, first door on the left, mind the brimstone on the way down, get out of my face."
"What kind of 'appointed time of death' do you call that? A scant few seconds of life-like activity, most of them spent in agonizing pain? That is hardly enough quality-of-life to foster the timekeeping and logistical operation required to coordinate appointment times!"
"Quality of life don't matter here, just appointed time of death. That's right here on the books, 6:56 pm, Wednesday night, newspaper, standard short-notice reincarnation package. The large print version's over there if you're having trouble reading big words like 'newspaper'."
"Quality be damned, what I'm talking about is quantity! I'm hardly capable of keeping an appointed time of death if I don't have the time to actually experience it!"
"Oh, you found your appointed time of death too short, did you?" The upturned grimace came back in full force. "Well, why didn't you say so in the first place?
***
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(Copied from Discord messages, then formatting cleaned up a bit.)
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image [https://cdn.discordapp.com/avatars/158468475432468480/87e0d41395e0d39feab9a6f5d2e66f3c.webp?size=80]
POSSIBLYINSANE — 05/09/2018 10:59 PM
So, I have had some thought to that reincarnee villain. A corporate lawyer dies, beaten to death by a mob of dissatisfied clients. It is a richly deserved death, and he would be going to a fairly nasty place. Unfortunately for the various worlds, the ques are full, and he's sent to the waiting room. He accosts the bureaucratic manning the desks, and tries to get the gist of the legal system governing this whole soul business with his best 'I demand to speak to the manager' routine. The bureaucrat, of course, is not having any of that nonsense with a jumped up damned soul, and blithely quotes regulation governing the disposition of soul in a manner she's well prepared to do for eons if it means wasting this pompous little twit's time. Seizing on this, the lawyer cites the 'died before his appointed time' clause, stating that he was on his way to an appointment during his untimely death. In other words, an appointed time.
image [https://cdn.discordapp.com/avatars/309980546446917632/e7555b0b0936b37bd57efa618edf5b0d.webp?size=80]
VIIRIN — 05/09/2018 10:59 PM
[11:00 PM]
hahahaha
[11:00 PM]
keep going.
image [https://cdn.discordapp.com/avatars/158468475432468480/87e0d41395e0d39feab9a6f5d2e66f3c.webp?size=80]
POSSIBLYINSANE — 05/09/2018 11:07 PM
Since now the lawyer has an actual case that might cause some a modicum of hassle and mental effort, he's rubber stamped for reincarnation. He is met with a lengthy series of short, painful existences which generally end in being beaten to death by an angry something-or-other. Though painful and trying, the man is used to protracted, excruciating, and unusual punishment from a long career in serving at the bar and attending day-long corporate meetings. He cites these reincarnations as further evidence for manifest discrimination against his person in a manner impeding proper execution of regulations, since he can hardly have a fulsome existence to meet an appointed time of death if he keeps getting bludgeoned to death before he can make any appointments. The bureaucrat sighs, and dumps him unceremoniously into the world of our concern.
image [https://cdn.discordapp.com/avatars/309980546446917632/e7555b0b0936b37bd57efa618edf5b0d.webp?size=80]
VIIRIN — 05/09/2018 11:08 PM
laughing
[11:24 PM]
so how would their story go after entering the world?
image [https://cdn.discordapp.com/avatars/158468475432468480/87e0d41395e0d39feab9a6f5d2e66f3c.webp?size=80]
POSSIBLYINSANE — 05/09/2018 11:35 PM
He lands in a prison cell, a sign outside the bars quite clearly slated for execution in an hour by burning at the stake. The 'appointed time of death' is underlined. Several times. He is gifted with the "Lie your corporate, arsepulling nonsense out of that, Herman. Regulatory oversight passed everything.", or "L.Y.C.A.N.o.o.T.H.R.O.P.E.." virus ability. It allows him, as he did in life, to "Since this field needs something, to suck out of anything of value and twist it into an exasperating waste of time for everyone, tainting anything it comes into contact with. Willing targets only. Jackass."
image [https://cdn.discordapp.com/avatars/309980546446917632/e7555b0b0936b37bd57efa618edf5b0d.webp?size=80]
VIIRIN — 05/09/2018 11:35 PM
[11:36 PM]
... this is fitting. the jail a place you spawn into existence?
image [https://cdn.discordapp.com/avatars/158468475432468480/87e0d41395e0d39feab9a6f5d2e66f3c.webp?size=80]
POSSIBLYINSANE — 05/09/2018 11:37 PM
Yup
image [https://cdn.discordapp.com/avatars/309980546446917632/e7555b0b0936b37bd57efa618edf5b0d.webp?size=80]
VIIRIN — 05/09/2018 11:37 PM
are there people there that you also spawn in?
image [https://cdn.discordapp.com/avatars/158468475432468480/87e0d41395e0d39feab9a6f5d2e66f3c.webp?size=80]
POSSIBLYINSANE — 05/09/2018 11:40 PM
There are not.This is a specific spot reserved for really annoying time wasting people, meant to get them out of the reincarnation-paperwork-cycle on technicality.
image [https://cdn.discordapp.com/avatars/309980546446917632/e7555b0b0936b37bd57efa618edf5b0d.webp?size=80]
VIIRIN — 05/09/2018 11:45 PM
oh ok that makes sense
image [https://cdn.discordapp.com/avatars/158468475432468480/87e0d41395e0d39feab9a6f5d2e66f3c.webp?size=80]
POSSIBLYINSANE — 05/10/2018 12:26 AM
He manages to escape and corrupt the crowd and executioners by twisting 'value' and 'willing target' to their very limits. The man holding the torch is bringing an item with value to him, right? Since the executioner is doing it of his own will, he technically qualifies as a willing target for the value-assignation purposes. The lawyer takes the willingly provided torch and turns it's valuable attributes (such as flammability) for his own use, and the torch crumbles, a dreary grey dust flowing into him. From there, he takes the durability of the man's hastily drawn and swung axe handle, shrugged off the weapons of his companions with the generously provided value of wooden resilience, and shortly after the panicked hands and feet as all that was 'willingly given' to him crumbled to dust. Realizing he had a soon-to-be captive audience that could make things quite a bit easier for him if acquired, he turned the value extracted from these bodyparts and weapons into a 'waste of time for everyone'. The newly formed, burning amalgamations of flesh, wood, and salvaged weapons began tearing through the crowd, tainting anything they came into contact with, the corpses and wounds of their victims rotting into grey, utterly bland dust, the more intact ones eventually reforming into similar wastes of time.
[12:26 AM]
Never one to let an apparent catastrophe pass by without turning it to opportunity, Herman rallied the survivors, asking all 'willing' people for their attention. Once their attention (an thing of value) had been given and extracted, he asked for their willing service , for the purpose of stopping this new menace that had sprung up and was currently wreaking havoc. Which menace? The flaming one over there, weren't you paying attention? In their suddenly befuddled state, it was a simple manner of 'pick a plausible government name I'm a plausible representative of and wipe their attention until I happen on the one they agree to' until their service was willingly given and 'sucked out'. With that, he'd acquired a small group of virus-tainted servants, who had generously provided their service for him to use as he pleased. Sure, the 'waste's of time' were completely out of his control, and seemed to be set on just getting in the way of and tainting as many people in the city as possible, but that sounded like somebody else's problem.
[12:31 AM]
This would be a microcosm of Harlond's modus operandi in the weeks to come. Use the twisted LYCANooTHROPEs to wreak havoc, and use the chaos provided to usurp local authority and turn it to his own service and desires. Sure, there's a growing horde of berserk abominations intent on causing as much time to be wasted as possible and tainting anything they touch, but it's a big world. Someone will handle it eventually. Probably.
image [https://cdn.discordapp.com/avatars/309980546446917632/e7555b0b0936b37bd57efa618edf5b0d.webp?size=80]
VIIRIN — 05/10/2018 12:37 AM
reading
[12:40 AM]
I very much like the...
[12:40 AM]
yeah they're necro/golem/things/I guess
[12:40 AM]
I like that.
[12:40 AM]
its really annoying.
[12:40 AM]
I wonder how my character will deal with it.
[12:41 AM]
so, Wastes of Time convert whatever attacked THEM, or Lycanthrope only does that to what attacks HIM?
image [https://cdn.discordapp.com/avatars/158468475432468480/87e0d41395e0d39feab9a6f5d2e66f3c.webp?size=80]
POSSIBLYINSANE — 05/10/2018 12:46 AM
A particular Waste of Time is able to convert anything of sufficient biomass it has prolonged contact with (touching for a while, or fairly nasty wounds) into a copy of itself. Harlond himself is able to fully convert things that attack him (provided he can stretch the definitions of his ability to cover that particular attack), and then twist things that thus 'willingly gave something of value' to him into new types of Wastes of Time, taking on a twisted aspect of the 'value' that made them.
image [https://cdn.discordapp.com/avatars/309980546446917632/e7555b0b0936b37bd57efa618edf5b0d.webp?size=80]
VIIRIN — 05/10/2018 12:49 AM
glad to see your imagination in proper working order
[12:49 AM]
i'll let you sleep but i like what i hear so far, a lot
image [https://cdn.discordapp.com/avatars/158468475432468480/87e0d41395e0d39feab9a6f5d2e66f3c.webp?size=80]
POSSIBLYINSANE — 05/10/2018 12:49 AM
I'm glad!
image [https://cdn.discordapp.com/avatars/309980546446917632/e7555b0b0936b37bd57efa618edf5b0d.webp?size=80]
VIIRIN — 05/10/2018 12:49 AM
but
[12:49 AM]
why lycanthrope?
[12:49 AM]
is it just "turn stuff into a waste of time" or anything actually having to do with a werewolf
[12:49 AM]
or just he can make werewolves because a human and wolf both attack
[12:49 AM]
hence the "can convert" thats the individual
image [https://cdn.discordapp.com/avatars/158468475432468480/87e0d41395e0d39feab9a6f5d2e66f3c.webp?size=80]
POSSIBLYINSANE — 05/10/2018 12:52 AM
It's partly because I could make a decent snarky sentence out of the adjective, and partly just to do with the general archetype of 'a man turned into a berserk beast, feasting on his fellow man and cursing them to become like him' that the classic lycanthrope is meant to evoke
image [https://cdn.discordapp.com/avatars/309980546446917632/e7555b0b0936b37bd57efa618edf5b0d.webp?size=80]
VIIRIN — 05/10/2018 12:52 AM
oh I like it
[12:52 AM]
even more psychological.
[12:52 AM]
a lot of stuff in the book I doubt most people 'get'
[12:52 AM]
and that answer fits that too
[12:53 AM]
anyway, night. Talk to me later.
image [https://cdn.discordapp.com/avatars/158468475432468480/87e0d41395e0d39feab9a6f5d2e66f3c.webp?size=80]
POSSIBLYINSANE — 05/10/2018 12:53 AM
Will do
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What I was going to do with the story overall, was I was trying to give small hints of other locations in other fictional works around the borders of the map provided, and was trying to do better ones. Look at the map in Fable 3 (doesn't matter that the game blows). That shows the map of Albion, but clearly the world is bigger. I was going to have my map compatible with it.
Same thing for Middle Earth. We don't have a full world map. The same thing again for The Legend of Mana, and Legend of Legaia. The map I gave you guys, and where this takes place, is the land beyond what's known, as this takes place in Fantasia, as seen in The Neverending Story, or the Cognitosphere from The SCP Foundation, or other places that are described as being within shared human imagination.
Why do most stories not mix? No, it isn't because of legal stuff and the creators didn't intend that and other things that make sense. It's because the land in between the lands is so awful that nothing can go from one to the next. Even if they try and succeed somehow, things change to become what the other franchise, whether a video game, tabletop game, book, song, or nightmare, can only contain what they contain.
I wrote this to honor those still subscribed here, hoping for something new. I don't have my people anymore who were helping me with this, and I won't take it up again. Instead I'm trying to work on Perceptive Ambience (I need to be socially stable to write this, which I'm not. I'm starting college for Psychology next week though) and Greycore, my two dungeon stories, and my roleplay on Discord that's kind of the intentional and exact opposite of this story.
Thank you for reading. And thank you Red from Overly Sarcastic Productions, who said in a video that every story should have an end, no matter what it is. This is that. I give to you, my readers, what my intentions were, and why it can't continue. I'm sorry.