Master of Death, Chapter I: Freak Gene By Draconid

By Draconid_Jo
POSTED: 09 Jun 2019 14:05
CATEGORY: Short Story
FEATURED: Yes (banjo2)
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In order to understand some of the weird and/or unique terms that I use in this story series, I made these glossaries, in which I try to explain what they all mean.

On October 31st 1000 AE in the town of Shadewood, Angela Dusklight died while giving birth to her daughter Helena.

Helena's father, Christian Dusklight, had previously been killed fighting in the war in the Suna region to the east, leaving Helena to be taken in by her godmother Lisa Pureheart, who happened to run the local orphanage.

Lisa noticed that Helena's skin was a pale grayish color like a Vampire's, and that her eyes glowed red. Her hair (what little she had as a baby) was a ghostly white color.

According to Evilonian law, all children born there are supposed to be measured on a Potentiometer, to determine whether or not they will be forced to join the Evilonian Military later on in life.

Lisa placed Helena on the Potentiometer and was astonished by what it read: She had an IPP rating of 0 and an IMP rating of 13, neither of which should have even been possible.

IPP and IMP ratings of higher than 10 were unheard of in Humans except amongst royalty, and an IPP rating of 0 was supposed to be impossible in anything.
(After all, how could someone be completely incapable of all physical combat?)

She had also noticed that it detected the presence of what it called a "Freak Gene". Abnormal Genes also supposedly only existed in royal bloodlines.

Neither of her parents had that high of IPP or IMP ratings, nor any Abnormal Genes. They were just ordinary people who lived ordinary lives.

As the law required of her, she called Queen Misandria herself immediately, to notify her of the situation.

Lisa (Telepathy): My goddaughter has a IPP/IMP rating of 0/13 and a "Freak Gene". What should I do, Your Highness?

Misandria (Telepathy): An IMP rating of 13? Interesting… She might make a worthy heir, not that I need one…

Misandria (Telepathy): Raise her there, and bring her to me once she turns 13.

Lisa (Telepathy): Bring her to you…?

Lisa (Telepathy): I mean, yes Your Highness. Anything you say…

Lisa wasn't a big fan of the current queen, or her World War.

Still, she decided being adopted by the queen would be better for Helena than being forced into the Evilonian Military.

Years later, Helena would study there at the orphanage along with the other children.

She wasn't particularly sociable and mainly kept to herself. Occasionally the other kids would tease her, making fun of her appearance, or of how she talked to "invisible people".

Helena wasn't even remotely concerned with any of them, however. She was only interested in her studies (she got straight As in everything), and in reading all of the books in the local library. She was particularly interested in history, paleontology, and magic.

She didn't really play much with the other children, and her only real Human friend was her godmother Lisa. She did, however, talk to the many Ghosts of the dead, something that nobody else could understand.

She talked with the Ghosts of many different creatures, both humanoid and non-humanoid, from the recently deceased to the ancient, but her closest friends by far were the Ghosts of the Dragons and their kin.

Her best friend, in fact, was the Ghost of an ancient Shadow Dracolich named Necrofyrmythyr, whom she affectionately called "Necky" for short.

She learned much of the true history of Midgard from speaking to the Ghosts of the dead, and quickly learned that most of what was written in the history books were either outright lies or half-truths at best.

At the age of 8, using both her vast knowledge and her excellent deductive skills, she had already learned most of the truth of Evilonia's dark history, and also why all of Midgard is how it is today.

On top of that, she even knew what she wanted to do about it all: either force the queen to end the World War, or if necessary, kill her.

Even though the queen already wanted to adopt her, this would be no easy task, however. Queen Misandria had both an IPP/IMP rating of 12/12 as well as the "War God Gene", which made her one of the strongest people in all of Midgard.

Still, she kept studying magic and worked on inventing new spells, hoping to one day change the world…

Helena (Age 10): Hey Necky… Do you think that it's possible to raise the dead…?

Necky: Raising the dead? Even I've never thought of that before…

Necky: …I say that you should Go To Hell.

+7 -0

GuiedGui
04 Oct 2020 04:27

Is this... high fantasy with telecommunications technology? Just had that thought while reading the prologue and this...

Draconid_Jo
05 Oct 2020 03:38
In reply to GuiedGui

Not exactly.

Essentially, everyone has telepathic abilities in their world, and it more or less serves the same function in their world that phones and suchlike do in ours.

GuiedGui
05 Oct 2020 03:55
In reply to Draconid_Jo

I guess that makes sense

Siling-La
21 Jun 2019 05:46

Wow. This is amazing. The characters are really well developed!

Draconid_Jo
21 Jun 2019 06:12
In reply to Siling-La

Thanks!

It'll probably take a while for any real character development, though.
Really this is more of an introduction to the main character, as well as a few of the basic concepts.

I'm probably going to have a bit of a hard time writing it as a written Story, as it was intended to be a JRPG.

Siling-La
21 Jun 2019 06:14
In reply to Draconid_Jo

Either way, it is still amazing.

Gemini Guardian
19 Jun 2019 15:28

holy
this is the start of some good story

i really want to draw Helena and Necky tho' xD
what do they look like?

Gemini Guardian
19 Jun 2019 15:30
In reply to Gemini Guardian

and i searched for pictures of Dracolichs online
and oh boy that's spooky

Draconid_Jo
19 Jun 2019 16:25
In reply to Gemini Guardian

Yeah, Necky is one VERY spooky-looking Dragon.

The odd thing about the Story, is that both Helena and Necky are not only pretty spooky looking (although depending on one's perspective, Helena could be considered Cute, or even Beautiful, and Necky could be considered Cool), they are also two things that are normally considered Evil (a Necromancer and a Dracolich).

It'll make more sense in the later chapters, though.

Gemini Guardian
19 Jun 2019 16:34
In reply to Draconid_Jo

huh-- neat

i now excitedly await new chapters, yes

Draconid_Jo
10 Jun 2019 18:09

Here are some interesting facts about Master of Death:

Helena's Freak Gene and her ability to see and talk to Ghosts are separate.
She just happened to be born with both.

Necrofyrmythyr was originally a (rather spooky looking) Dragon Monster I made in Amazing Island (one of my favorite GameCube Games).

MoD was actually supposed to be a JRPG (Japanese Roleplaying Game, like Final Fantasy, or Dragon Quest).
There would have been many different places to explore, and many Side Quests to complete.
(And of course, lots of grinding and farming, lol!)

Although Misandria Adamantia is named after the word "Misandry", she hates a lot more than just men.
In fact, she hates pretty much everything except for the following:
Herself
Her Empire
Her Wars
Her War God (Adaman)
The past Queens of Evilonia (although she considers herself superior to all of them)

Although the names Asgard and Helheim are both from Norse Mythology, in MoD they have more in common with Heaven and Hell.

Evilonia is (loosely) based off of the past Imperial Powers of Western Europe (such as the British Empire), as well as modern day NATO.

Helena basically has 3 goals:

banjo2
10 Jun 2019 04:45

It could use a tease/hint of the next chapter at the end, to maintain interest. It just kinda drops off.

Finrod
11 Jun 2019 16:05
In reply to banjo2

Im proud of u admin.

Draconid_Jo
10 Jun 2019 05:02
In reply to banjo2

I see. If there's room, I'll add something like that.
(I'll have to think about how to do it, though.)
The next Chapter is called "The First Necromancer", BTW.
In it, Helena starts to experiment with new types of Magic, assisted by Necrofyrmythyr.

banjo2
10 Jun 2019 05:27
In reply to Draconid_Jo

If you would do that, that would be great.

Draconid_Jo
10 Jun 2019 10:01
In reply to banjo2

I added a couple of lines to the end, hinting at what's to come (in a humorous way).
BTW, I'll probably post another comment here, listing some MoD Trivia (for those who're intersted).

Draconid_Jo
10 Jun 2019 04:14

Here's a brief Glossary, explaining some of the names and terminology:

Adaman (from Adam, and Adamantium.)
The God of War.
His worship (Adamantism) is the Official State Religion in Evilonia, and everyone is legally required to practice it.
Adaman is a Humanoid God, and is also considered Evil.

Asgard (name is from Norse Mythology.)
MoD's version of Heaven.
It is where the Humanoid Gods (both Good and Evil) reside, and where those who worship Good Gods go when they die.

AE (After Evilonia)
The number of years since Evilonia's founding.

Calling
They don't have phones in Midgard.
Instead, everyone uses a form of Telepathy, that works much the same way.
When Characters are using Telepathy, the dialogue looks like {this}, as opposed to "this".

The Dragonslayer (AKA Datenshi, which is Japanese for "Fallen Angel")
An enormous Meteor that struck Midgard at the end of the Cretaceous.
It supposedly wiped out all of the large Archosaurs (Dinosaurs, Giant Crocodilians, Dragons, etc.), but in Akushina, they believe some survived.

Evilonia (from Evil, and ???.)
Once a medium-sized Kingdom (about the size of India IRL), in the past 1000 years, Evilonia has become a vast Empire, dominating the western half of Terrapin (the main continent).
Evilonia is currently engaged in a bloody war against the two other major World Powers: Velnir (which is similar to Russia), and Akushina (similar to China, but also partly based on Japan), in the east.

Freak Gene
A unique genetic mutation, occuring only in Helena Dusklight.
It is responsible for her abnormal appearance, as well as her IPP rating of 0.
In battle, it causes her Defense stat to match her Attacker's Attack stat, whenever she is hit by a Physical Attack.

Helena Dusklight (from Hel, Norse Goddess of the Underworld.)
The Main Character.
She is the "Master of Death".

Helheim (name is from Norse Mythology.)
MoD's version of Hell.
All those who worship Evil Gods go there when they die.
In another part of Helheim is where the Drow (Dark Elves) reside.

IEA and IEM (Imperial Evilonian Army, and Imperial Evilonian Magi.)
The two main branches of the Evilonian Military.
Anyone with an IPP of 6 or higher is forced to join the IEA, and anyone with an IMP of 6 or higher must join the IEM.
(If both are above 6, and are equally high, you are allowed to choose which you join.)

IPP and IMP (Innate Physical Power, and Innate Magical Power.)
A form of measurement used to determine one's potential as a Melee Class or Spellcaster.
These normally range between 1 and 10, and 0 and 10, respectively (for humans, anyway), and don't ever change under normal circumstances, even as the individual levels up, and raises their skills.
An IMP rating of 0 means the person can never use Magic, except by using Magical Items.
They can still Pray for Miracles, however.

Midgard (name is from Norse Mythology.)
The Mortal Realm, where most of the Mortal Races live (as well as the Ghosts of those who died, and didn't go to Asgard or Helheim).

Misandria Adamantia (from Misandry, and Adaman.)
The current Queen of Evilonia.
She is married to Andrew Evenstein-Adamantia (he assumed the Adamantia name upon marriage), the former King of Evenstein (which is now a part of the Evilonian Empire), and has four daughters: Winter, Spring, Summer, and Autumn.

Necrofyrmythyr (from Necromancy, and Ether.)
An Ancient Shadow Dragon who lived during the Jurassic, about 200 MYA.
Despite becoming a Dracolich, and living for over 100 Million Years, she was killed by The Dragonslayer at the end of the Cretaceous.

Potentiometer
A Magical device used to measure IPP and IMP, as well as check for abnormal Genes.

Shadewood
A small town in Evilonia, located fairly close to Evilonia's Capitol: Palatia.

Master of Death, Chapter I: Freak Gene

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