Honestly, I do LOVE hosting this contest, it's soooooo much fun, and in addition to getting such wonderful pieces of fanfiction written about my characters, I actually am given the opportunity to expand on my stories and characters and really dig down deep to flesh out some of my ideas. :3

All around, it's a great chance for growth, learning, and community with other fellow writers and story tellers! 8D

If you'd like to learn more, please check out the group: #1-Hr-WRITING-Contest

Also, please read the rules (located along the right side of the group page) before continuing.

And as always, if you have any questions at all, please don't be afraid to ask the lovely *Nessarie or myself. :3

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Character(s): Erinestte, Akiran, The Grim, and some side characters (You do NOT have to use all characters; you may use one, both, or of them, it does not matter to me.)

Story/Setting:



Basically, it's a fantasy world, with magic and monsters. I'll give more info on the Grim in the character section. But as for the magic, when a child turns 10 they are brought to the local shrine and given a small test to see if they can use magic or not; in short, a test to see if they are a Guardian. The test is simply if they are drawn to one of the magic stones in the shrine; the stones remain white until chosen by a Guardian; once they are touched by a Guardian who was drawn to it, the stone will turn a color that is usually the same color as the person's eyes, and will stay that way til that person dies... or otherwise. The edges of each region, known as "The Border" are protected by large boulder sized versions of the magic stones. The Border Stones must constantly be tended to by Guardians, for if they lose their magic that area of the magic barrier will become weakened and the Grim might be able to get in and wreak havoc on the helpless non-magic folk.

The land is divided into several regions: In the middle and west is the Central Plains; above and in the middle the Winterlands; to the east, the Mountain Lake Province; in the southwest, the Southern Oasis; and in the southeast, the Southern Plains. I'm assuming you can guess the climate based on those names. X3 Anything outside of or in between those areas is known as the Wastelands, the home of the Grim, a place no sane person would enter and presume to return alive. I'm sorry I don't have a map, I really need to work one up. =w=

A brief history of the world: The World was once peaceful, though it was so long ago many assume that fact to be legend. It is assumed that the Grim had always been around, and many people are losing hope, feeling that no matter how hard they fight they will never be completely free of them. In the Southern Plains, a misled man decides he wants to work towards harnessing the power of the Grim, and in his experimentation, slowly loses his mind; he ends up launching an attack on the whole of the Southern Plains, and so caught off guard by the betrayal are they, that they fall, become abandoned by the other regions, and become known as the Darklands. This is about where the story begins:

Eri and Tori are walking home from school when they notice one of the border stones has gone out. Tori convinces Eri that together they have enough power to fix it, so they don't need to send for help. Erinestte reluctantly agrees... but they aren't strong enough to fix it. Suddenly, a Grim shows up, and they're both so exhausted and drained of magic that there's really no way they can win; Eri knows this, so she forces Tori to go get help (to fix the border) while she stays and tries to distract the Grim (she's afraid that if they both run, the Grim will get through the weak spot in the barrier to follow them). She crosses the border, knowing that she probably is going to meet her death. She tries her best, terrified the whole time but determined that this was what she was born to do, and if she dies in the process of saving Tori or whoever else the Grim might have killed, well that would be okay. In the process she sustains many injuries and contracts the infection (to her horror); the Grim is about to finish her off when a stranger appears out of nowhere and slays the Grim, saving her; but because she got infected, she asks him to kill her so there's no risk she'll become a Grim; instead, he ends up healing her of the infection, which has never been done before. Like, EVER. In any case, she's really surprised, passes out without getting his name (although she saw his face) and blah blah blah ETC. She wakes up in her house with Tori and Ezayel fretting over her, with no clue where mister mystery (Akiran) ran off to.

Some other stuff that happens: Akiran shows up at her school; they get to know each other; the Southern Oasis fall under attack by the Darklands and Erinestte goes to help, to her horror the Guardians are closing the border between the Southern Oasis and Central Plains even though there are people on the other side still trying to get to safety, so she protests, naturally-she manages to let the people in, including a little girl who is clearly infected; Eri tries to heal the girl (Brezly) herself like Akiran did for her, but she can't seem to do it-Akiran shows up just in time to help Brezly; Brezly goes back to live with them; some super badass Grim somehow get past the border and attack Eri in her home, and she and Akiran (and Brezly) struggle to fight them off but eventually do; Ezayel hates Akiran and Akiran is indifferent; and lots of other important stuff that would take too long to list. *w*

Erinestte (Eri) Lumae (female)
Main Character
Age: 16
Height: 5'3"
Weight/Body Type: She's not skinny by any means; she isn't all that muscular either, but is a good runner. About medium bust, perhaps a bit more than usual for her age, but not for her build.
Hair: Green Black. She has bangs, and sometimes in her acquiescence (she's not fond of conflict) she hides behind them. Her hair is long, and she usually wears it in a braid.
Eyes: Bright, leaf green.
Complexion: Fairly pale, but with a healthy flush.
Personality: She has a strong sense of justice and love; she wants with all her heart to be strong enough as a Guardian to fight against the Grim and save the people who can't protect themselves. For her, doing what's right has nothing to do with whether or not somebody deserves it; if someone asks her for help, she will help them, no matter what, even to the point of sacrificing herself. This is also a bit of a flaw, for it's a function of her not fighting to stand up for herself, or consider her own life valuable. Also, she has an incredible fear of the Grim; her parents died fighting them, and in general her own lack of confidence in her own ability to protect anybody also leads to this fear of them. She's generally calm and caring, and seems to draw the less than desirables of society to her. (Like Akiran and Brezly, and even Tori to some extent) because of her tolerance and patience. When not bothered by her worries, she's easily content and happy, and most people adore her instantly.
Additional Info: At the beginning of the story, her use and knowledge of magic is a bit limited; she mostly just uses barriers and focuses on defense. She wears her Guardian stone on a cord around her neck, it's green like her eyes. As a (potential; the term Guardian is used loosely to refer to those who can use magic, trained or not, as well as those who are fully trained) Guardian, she has been in school and training to fight the Grim since she was 10. When they turn 17, Guardian Apprentices study under experienced Guardians for three years before they are considered to be fully trained, and are treated accordingly, being sent out on Solo missions and such. Only about 2 thirds of apprentices make it into adulthood, and only about half of adult Guardians make it to old age.

Akiran Noctis (male)
Main Character
Age: 17
Height: 5'6"
Weight/Body Type: He's not scrawny, but not all buffed out either. He's built for speed and stamina, not necessarily super powerful attacks.
Hair: Blue Black. Long and straight, with bangs, he usually wears it back/up to keep it out of the way.
Eyes: Bright Blue.
Complexion: Rather pale. He tends to skulk in the shadows and avoid the sun. X3
Personality: He's kind of quiet and broody. He doesn't like crowds, and in fact doesn't like people at all really, especially cowards and people who take advantage of others. If he sees someone who can't defend themselves, he'll help; but if he sees a capable person being a coward he'd let them die than bother saving them, because in his eyes they aren't worth the effort. When he saves Eri, he's incredibly intrigued by her willingness to sacrifice herself even though she's obviously terrified and isn't able to tap into her true power (which he can tell she DOES have incredible power, she just doesn't realize it). He also has a soft spot for women and children (reason in additional info) He doesn't like bright light or being indoors (preferring to be outside in the shadows or at night). He also doesn't like sitting still, and consequently will fidget or stare out of any available window if confined to indoors (like in school or just around the house).
Additional Info: His story is such classic emo, but I love making him miserable so it's only gotten worse as time goes on. XD Basically, when he was 10 and had just gotten his Guardian stone, his father experimented on him and turned him into a Grim; Akiran attacked his sister and his mother; with her dying strength his mother managed to turn him back to normal, but then he was left alone in the middle of the chaos of the Southern Plain under attack by Grim, and with the knowledge that he killed his family and his father betrayed them. He then runs to the only place he can think of, to the nearby shrine; the Shrine Guardian (the Guardian of the shrine that protects it and runs it for their whole life, and when they die a new one is chosen by the shrine itself) there, Etheria, protects him and creates a clear path to the border of the Mountain-Lake Province for him to escape too; he knows that he's basically leaving her there to die but she forces him to go; she does die there, and haunts it as an evil spirit thereafter (they actually get to meet again later and Akiran (and Eri) help her to beat the infection and be a good spirit). He finally gets to safety and lives for a time with the Shrine Guardian Kosui. Eventually, he strikes out on his own, becoming a vengeful wanderer who's only purpose and desire in life is to destroy as many Grim as possible. His original Guardian Stone shattered when he transformed, so he actually uses his mother's (which he also wears on a cord around his neck, but Guardians carry their stones in all different ways, Ezayel for example wears his on a ring), and the blue doesn't quite match his eyes, though very few people actually notice. He has black scars from the infection on his left arm that he keeps covered up; each time he's in a situation where he heals a person (by absorbing the infection himself, basically) or fights a Grim and gets bitten or scratched he absorbs more dark magic and gets closer and closer to turning back into one; he's kind of a ticking time bomb. He tries not to think about it. X3 He is an incredibly skilled warrior and magic user, though he never went through formal training as a Guardian and is not registered or sent on missions. His most common way of fighting is forming a short sword with his magic and attacking accordingly, but he's very flexible and can also form small shields and barriers, or make his sword longer. However, his weakness would be his lack of long ranged attacks.

The Grim (???)

Grim come in all shapes and sizes, ranging from very humanoid to just monstrous. Their skin is generally dark and rotting, blending in with the shadows; in fact, some have abilities to melt into and reemerge form shadows and darkness; most are quite quick, some are incredibly strong and all are dangerous. All are comprised and driven by dark magic/the Infection, but some can manipulate it more aggressively.

Probably the thing that frightens people the most, however, is the fact that if you are bitten, scratched, or even touched by a Grim, you will become infected and either die painfully as the necropsy spread, or turn into a Grim yourself (LOL I know, vampire/werewolf/zombie rip-off hybrid), and only the strongest of Guardians have the magic to fight the infection; a normal person would have no hope of surviving, and would either be tossed beyond the border or killed.

Most are mindless and will do anything to capture, dismember, and devour their prey. There are a few that seem to be craftier, and a new, terrifying breed of humans with strange Grim-like qualities has begun to surface...

Other/Side Characters:

Tori Passaro (Eri's friend)

Ezayel Regallia (the Prince of the Central Plains; watches over Eri)

Brezalynthera "Brezly" -last name unkown- (a young girl Eri and Akiran rescue from the Southern Oasis)

Etheria (Shrine Guardian of the Southern Plains)

Alletum Noctis (Akiran's father; misled man who aids in the destruction of the Southern Plain, and eventually the Southern Oasis)

And the last couple of this pic:

Genre: Horror and/or Fantasy

Prompt: "A cold, dank shiver crept up her spine and a sour lump lodged in her throat. She..."

Last Minute Info:

I... I am so sorry. That is waaaaaay too much info, I don't expect you to utilize it all, so please don't panic! It's just really hard, when you're creating fantasy world there's just all these things that you have to explain that a story set in the real world doesn't need, because there's a base of common knowledge already available. I just wanted to give you guys a good idea of the setting. =w=

This can take place at any point in the story, or out of the story! Make stuff up, put them on mars for all I care. I just provide the bg info so that you have a better idea of who the characters are and why they do what they do. But please, don't think of that as a restriction. ;3

Also, I have no preference for perspective. Do what's most comfortable for you.

DEADLINE: You have until 12 NOON, SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 7TH 2010 to submit your entries!!!

Thanks in advance---all entries are received with the highest amount of gratitude, appreciation, and chance of winning!

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Entries

Erinestte "Erinestte, dear, come here please."  Mother called to me, coaxing me out the door. Today was a day for gentle prodding, careful planning, and hope. It was my tenth birthday, and as tradition demanded, we were going to the shrine. I had been told about this day for years, how special it was, how it was a miracle to be chosen. I didn't really understand what it meant, but it was important, so they cleaned me, dressed me up in a huge dress and put frilly bows in my hair. The dress they put me in itched. All I wanted was to get the stupid tradition over with, because I hated that dress. On the way there I twitched and fidgeted and was told repe Erinestte by ~poolwater

HOPELESSA cold, dank shiver crept up her spine and a sour lump lodged in her throat as she gazed out from her high story window, watching as the Grim swarmed closer and closer with each breath she took.

How in Heaven's name were they to survive this? Even as guardians, their chances were slim to none.

Eri hadn't planned it this way. If she were being honest with herself, she hadn't planned it at all.

No one had planned for the borders to fail. To think, that one one weak spot could cause such a tremendous disaster.

But even then, if someone would have told her that things would come to this, her answer would have been straightforward; the Girm we HOPELESS by *Nessarie