In the Beginning

Welcome to this little corner of my self. What you see below is the beginning of a story that I began writing. However halfway through writing it I began to realise writing a story is a lot of hard work.

It was then that an idea came to me. Why don't I get peole who I don't know to help write this story. And so here I am. Have a good read and then e-mail me with either comments or further parts of the story. Please let them be at least 500 words long or there is no point including them as they are just too short to be worth putting in.

The night was quiet. The moon was shining, in its entirety, on the prone body of the boy. The boy had travelled far since the beginning of his journey all that time before. As the boy tossed and turned in his troubled sleep, the noise awoke the creature.

The creature had slept for many years in this quiet forest far from the eyes and hands of men. But now it had awoken and a great hunger filled its belly. As its senses awoke from the long slumber, it began to remember what had happened. The creature shook its head to clear those memories. It would have time to remember later, first it would find what awoke it.

As its large brown eyes grew accustomed to the dark, it saw the dark dank cave it had spent it had spent the last few years. The rotting corpses of men mixed with straw and mould spread across the floor, the strange luminescent glow of the cave walls from the curious moss that existed there. Then he saw the cause of his awakening. The small boy was huddled in a corner asleep, trying to keep warm in the cold air of the night.

The boy awoke to find a large, hairy face before him. The boy screamed and tried to crawl for the entrance into the dark woods. However it had been raining and the boy just slipped. The creature lunged forward and grabbed him, stopping him smash his skull on the cold, solid rock floor. The creature set him down and growled loudly. The boy stopped squirming and looked at the creature more closely. It was quite small, only the size of a young child but was covered in fur. It was man shaped and had a large, round face. It was the face itself that attracted the boy's attention, for it had two brown eyes that seemed to have seen too much sadness.

The creature attempted a grin but only managed a grimace of sorts. Seeing this attempt, the boy laughed and the creature once again opened its mouth.

"UUUUUURRRGGHHH! UUUUURRRRR OOOOOOOOHHH UUUUULLLLLL IIIIGGGGHHTTT!"

The boy could not be sure what the creature was saying but it sounded as if he was asking if the boy was all right. The boy decided that it would be rude not to reply if that is what he meant and so said "Yes, thank you for asking."

The creature managed a smile this time and replied, slightly quieter "Aatt'ss allll rrright tthhenn. Ahhh Good I ssseem to bbe mastering my vocal chords again. It has been such along time since I last oosed them."

The boy was quite taken aback in the creature's ability to speak so well especially as the accent seemed strangely familiar. Realising they had not been introduced the boy said "Hello, my name is Simon of Corolis, I thank you for your help and may enquire who you are."

The creature on hearing this stood up as straight as it could manage, popping some bones into place as he did so, and replied "My name is Gull. I accept your thanks and I wonder why such a small child as yourself, Simon, is doing out in this forgotten woods."

"It is a long story, which I will tell in full a t a later date. For now let us say that I was exiled from my village because of what I am."

"Much the same as myself then. It seems we are well met, my boy. But what are you then."

"I do not know myself but it truly frightens me what I can do. If I am not being too rude may I enquire to what you are."

"Certainly. I am known as a troll. However before you start to run again, I would lie to explain that there are as many different types of trolls as there are humans. I was exiled from my pack as I was a peaceful troll in a pack of savage trolls. And so I am doomed to live a life of exile in these woods. Which leads me to the question what do you intend to do with yourself?"

"I have to admit I have not thought about this as yet. I suppose I will keep walking till I find a town and see what happens from there."

"A good plan if a little untidy. I think I will join you as this existence is growing tiresome and I yearn for new adventures. Let us rest and we shall depart in the morning."

"I agree, but I am still not to sure about you. I see all around me rotting bodies, how do I not know that you always do this?"

"These....These are nothing to do with me. You are the first person to awaken me from my slumber for many a year. I know as much about these as you do."

"It seems I have no choice but to trust you. P perhaps in the morning you can tell me more about yourself."

"And you about yourself. But first we must sleep. Good night Simon and may your dreams be pleasant."

"Yours too, Gull" And with that Simon the strange young boy curled up at the feet of Gull and fell asleep. What a strange young boy this Simon seems to be, thought Gull as he too started to enter a state of sleep.

Early the next morning Gull awoke to find Simon cooking a rabbit over a fire. The smells of the newly killed rabbit brought great rumbles to the stomach of Gull. Simon turned round when he heard the noise and a big smile spread across his face when he saw Gull.

"I see you have awoken then. Are you hungry?"

"With such a beautifully cooked rabbit before me, you bet. How long before it is done?"

"Just a few more minutes. I'm already packed to leave, why don't you spend the next few minutes packing, so we can leave once we've eaten."

With that Gull began to pack his meagre belongings. Due to the life style the old troll lived he had very little in the way of belongings. A few trinkets, some animal furs from his favourite kills, and a few personal items. By the time he had packed his belongings, the rabbit was cooked fully and ready to eat. O once they had eaten they picked up their packs and departed from the cave that had been Gull's home for the last few years.

After a short distance Gull started to feel anxious. This had been the first time he had left his cave in many years and was not sure how the world had changed since his hiding. Every time a small animal darted across the pair's path Gull jumped into the air. However this reaction by Gull saved their lives in the end.

They had been walking for a great length of time and Gull was asking Simon about what had changed in the past years.

"So, let me get this straight when you plough your fields you have a horse pulling the plough rather than a man."

"Yes, and when the seed is grown we have a giant cutting machine which cuts whole fields of corn in a matter of hours rather than days. I t was invented by my father, and we were the only village in Corolis to have one."

"You sound like you respected your father a great deal. He must have been a very intelligent man."

"I'm not sure that he was. He knew how to build things, being a blacksmith, but he let his imagination run wild. Our house was full of useless objects which were meant to make our lives easier but rarely did. The Cutter, as he used to call it, was his greatest feat ever. I even remember how he built it. He first took his ratchet tightener......"

"Wait! Can you hear something? Over there in those bushes."

"No, it's probably just another squirrel. You're always worrying about the slightest things you are." Suddenly there was a crash from the trees above as if a large creature was trying to climb a tree.

Simon stopped and looked upwards. He could feel the presence now everywhere. His golden eyes began to shine the eerie colour they always shone just before there was danger. Suddenly a great beast fell through the canopy of the trees. At first Simon didn't recognise it. The many legs and eyes combined with the large teeth like-pincers were like nothing Simon had ever seen before. Then he realised he had seen this creature before, perhaps not as big as this but still he had seen one before. It was a giant spider. The creature was as big as a horse and looked as if it could crush metal between those pincers.

As the spider approached, Simon feel to the floor groaning. He could feel it happening again. The reason he had to leave the village he had spent his life in was happening again. When Gull saw Simon fall to the ground, he tried to move him out of the way but Simon's skin was much too hot. It was as if he was on fire, but without the flames. Out of the corner of his eye he saw the spider prepare to attack Gull and in a blur of motion Gull had jumped backward and grabbed his rune covered mace from his pack. The mace gave off a slight hum as the blood hungry mace sensed it would soon be feeding again.

Suddenly the spider lunged forward attempting to grab Gull in his pincers. Gull dodged to the spider's left evading the pincers and smashed the mace into one of the spiders' legs, causing a gashing wound. The spider howled in fury and tried to evade the blood hungry mace as it began to pick up momentum. Gull was quite literally dodging blows from the spider, while the mace hit the spider with no control from the old troll whatsoever. Soon the spider had little remaining of its old self. Most of its legs were broken or destroyed while the torso of the spider had taken many gashes and cuts. The spider lay in a heap in front of Gull and the troll was about to deliver the killing blow, when suddenly Gull was hit from behind.

A second spider had appeared and seeing the plight of its brethren had squirted Gull with sticky spider silk. As the troll fell to the ground unable to move, he checked to see how Simon was. Simon's whole body had started to grow and now sensing his friend was in trouble, a transformation overcame Simon. Simon screamed in great pain drawing the attention of both spiders. As the troll and spiders watched, Simon suddenly grew small stumps over his body. Soon these stumps had grown into legs that resembled the spiders. His arms and legs were now beginning to change as well, they too turning into spider legs. Soon Simon's body was sitting above the ground supported on eight spiders' legs. Then Simon's body began to fuse and grow. What was once Simon was now a giant spider that rivalled both spiders. However the Simon-spider was a pure gold colour much like Simon's eyes and he seemed bigger and stronger than the other two.

As the Simon-spider turned he saw the second spider. The spider now awake after what he had just seen, turned immediately towards Simon and charged. As the two spiders clashed, it seemed that the black spider would soon overcome Simon. Simon fell to the floor after the initial impact and was almost crushed by the black spider.

Meanwhile the other spider seeing its chance had dragged itself over towards Gull. As the spider loomed over Gull's prone body, Gull concentrated hard. As he did so his skin started to change colour towards a grey colour. Just as the spider closed his fangs around Gull, the troll resorted back to his natural state of rock and the fangs did nothing more than grip the solid rock which Gull had become.

Simon now sensing his friend was safe from danger, turned all his attention on the black spider. Flipping the spider with his powerful legs, Simon got up and pinned the large spider to the ground. As the spider squirmed under Simon's powerful legs as Simon lowered his head and bit the spider in two with his large fangs. With one spider down Simon turned on the other, who was still trying to bite the stone body of Gull. The spider was so intent on killing this mystifying creature before it that it failed to notice Simon until it was too late. As it turned it cut and battered head towards Simon, the last thing it saw was the golden fangs before they crushed the spider's head.

As Gull realised that the danger was over, he slowly restored himself to the flesh and blood of a normal creature. By the time he had finished changing, Simon was cowering in corner naked, but in his human form once again. Gull walked up to him and crouched down to see if he was all right.

"That's a pretty neat trick you have there Simon. I can see that turning into large golden spiders can get you chucked out of a village quite quickly."

"That's not all of my problem. I don't just turn into spiders. I change into whatever is the biggest threat is to me and stay like that till the threat is gone. I'm an outcast not only from my own village but from the whole world as well. That is why I travel from one place to another staying where I am for only as short while. I just wish I could stay in one place just once in awhile, but it seems I am doomed to ravel from one place to another for the rest of my days."

"Surely you can not be the only one of your kind in the whole world. There must be others like you around in the world as well."

"I am doubtful about that in the extreme, as in all my travels I have not met another like me."

"But how did you find out, surely if it had been when you were young you would have been killed as your village would have thought you were the devil himself."

"It was when I was twelve. Ever since that day I have been wandering from place to place. Sometimes I can control it, other times I can't."

As you can see, the two could go anywhere from here so again I ask you to e-mail me with your suggestions or comments and any additions will be accredited to yourself.

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