Heresy
You take control of a demon from Hell named “Demivile'' who over thousands of years of service in Hell has earned the opportunity to move up the ranks from serving in Hell to become a servant of the Heavenly realm. First Demivile must face a series of challenges in order to prove himself to the Gods above. Demivile must fight and defeat the 3 “Iudex” ranked deities that serve as guardians of the Heavenly realm in order to achieve angelic status and be freed from the demon ranks of Hell. The first Iudex deity stands guard at the gate between Hell and Purgatory. The second Iudex deity guards over the realm of Purgatory. The final Iudex deity stands guard at the very gates of Heaven itself. If Demivile is able to fight and defeat these ancient Iudex deities, he will have proven himself worthy and be able to serve under the Heavenly ranks and as an angel.
Cave of Trials/The Goblin Cave
The game is set in a dark-fantasy, medieval world, in a kingdom called Sorlan. There is an ancient tradition in Sorlan that for knights to earn their title and be able to serve the king, they must venture into the depths of the “Cave of Trials” and bring back a sacred artifact to prove they are worthy. The Cave of Trials is full of danger and all kinds of evil monsters but also rich with treasures and glory for those brave enough to explore it. The player character is named Tybalt Leofrick and he comes from a prestigious line of elite knights who have served the kings of Sorlan for many generations and all completed the Cave of Trials to earn their titles. Tybalt knows it is his destiny to complete the Cave of Trials just as his father and grandfather did before him. Tybalt talks with his father before he leaves for his journey into the cave and his father gifts him the family sword and shield, along with his suit of armour. “Be brave Tybalt, my son, remember where you come from and know that the strength of all Leofrick’s before you is with you.” The game takes place in the medieval, fantasy land of Sorlan. Sorlan is an ancient kingdom that has existed for as long as history can recall and has been ruled by many kings. The current king of Sorlan is King Cedark the III. The people view him as a fair and just king but also a strong and fierce warrior who has fought and won many wars for the kingdom. King Cedark is also a very traditional man and believes in upholding the ancient traditions of the land. All knights that have ever served in the kingdom of Sorlan have had to complete the Cave of Trials in order to be granted their title. The king believes that it is because of this difficult trial that the kingdom of Sorlan has been able to defend themselves from invasion for centuries. For when kingdoms flourish, there will always be others wanting to usurp that prosperity and those kingdoms will always need the strength of brave warriors to defend it.
The Goblin Cave is a game in which the player takes control of a lone wolf mercenary who has been tasked with one job; to clear out the Goblin Cave. Goblins have been terrorising the local cities and villages, and it’s the player’s job to storm their home and kill them all on site. The levels are randomly generated each run so every playthrough is a little different. The game is of high difficulty, and the player character must fight to survive and collect more items/weapons/gold to enhance their stats, abilities and gameplay modifications. The game takes place in a fictional, Dark-Fantasy/Medieval time, with the Goblin Cave being the area the player explores and progresses through in the game. The starting levels are simple fantasy renditions of caves, which then progresses into an industrial mine-like area and even further still is a goblin kingdom. There will be slight variations in these themes like “dank cave” where the cave is slightly flooded and there is lots of moss growing around the cave. Some other variations of the mine can be “abandoned mine” and “glittering mine”. With the abandoned mine being very rickety and decrepit, looking like it would cave in on itself any moment and the glittering mine being vibrant and full of activity, with glowing gemstones and ore lining the walls.
Small Narrative Exercises
The following short narratives were created under short time constraints, going off of random prompts. The first was a single prompt “Treasure Chest” and was done in a 5 minute time limit. The following 3 stories were written in start, middle and end blocks, with 5 minutes each and random prompts for each section of the narrative.
Short Story 1
Start/Setup, “Goblet” - In an ancient ruined city there lives a dying race of people. These people were once the envy of all civilisations, with highly advanced science, technology, medicine and laws. But these people did not spread knowledge through word of mouth or writing or teaching, no it was through a much more ritualistic, horrific manner. The cities would have elders that would have the entire history and knowledge held in their minds. When these elders die, a ritual was performed where their throats were slit and they had their blood drained into an ancient goblet. New elders would be selected by a council and then they would drink the elder blood and gain all the knowledge instantly from this process.
Middle/Conflict, “Torii” - Another essential part to this ritual was to take the bodies of the deceased elders, wrap them in ceremonial clothes, put “passing stones” over their eyes and load them onto a boat which would then be ferried through a large Torii gate that has always existed in the middle of the large lake that centres the city. The ferryman of these boats would also act as a sacrifice to their gods as once the boat with the deceased elder had gone through the gate, the boat would be lit on fire to complete the ritual. This would fully signify the elder spirits passing into the afterlife and the people giving thanks for their knowledge. This is how it has been for thousands of years but in recent times, people have been beginning to question why they should have to sacrifice themselves for this ancient ritual. After much public uproar, the sacrificial part of the ritual has stopped and now the bodies are simply sent through the gate and the boats lit on fire from bows and arrows with no human sacrifice.
End/Conclusion, “Sack” - Since the ritual has changed however, people have started to get extremely sick. Suddenly a disease simply known as “Darkrot” has started to spread throughout the race of people. This disease infects the blood system and makes it run black, eventually turning the host mad, unpredictable and violent. Eventually the hosts organs begin to fail or they fatally injure themselves. The current elders began to theorise it was punishment from past elders who never were able to properly pass to the next life since the ritual had been changed. The elders tried to think of something else that they could possibly do to pay thanks and tribute to the past elders. Human sacrifice was still not considered an option as everyone has come to the conclusion it is barbaric. A new method for the ritual was conceived in which all the elders valuables and most treasured possessions were bundled into a sack along with every person in the city placing one gold coin or gem into the sack as well. This sack would be sent into the boat along with the dead elder and burned as normal. This seemed to cure the darkrot.
Short Story 2
Start/Setup, “Pill” - There was a new game out on the market that was all the rage and incredibly popular. The twist was that it wasn’t actually played with a controller or even a tv/monitor. Technology has advanced so much that nano-machines were now the new biggest thing. You would swallow whole what looked to be just a standard pill capsule but in reality it was millions of nano-machines inside the capsule that once ingested would spread through the bloodstream and make their way to the brain which would then create a HUD that can be viewed only through your eyes, this was the game. You could choose to leave the HUD open, fully close it down, use AR mode or go full VR mode where you would need to make sure you’re in a safe environment to “tune out” and fully enter the game world in full matrix style VR.
Middle/Conflict, “Sheep & Magnifying Glass” - The game was a MMO-RPG in a medieval setting. You would create your character from different classes and races and then set out into the world to explore, go on quests, hunt, really whatever you wanted. The first quest you decide to go on sounds simple and cute, it was called “counting sheep”. You had to travel to a farm way out in the forest wilderness and help a farmer out with his problem. The problem he was having was that each day he would wake up to notice one more sheep from his flock would go missing, this had been happening every night for the past week, losing 7 sheep all up so far. You are tasked with staking out the sheep pen to see if you can figure out what is happening to the farmer’s sheep. It reaches midnight and you still have not seen anything unusual… until suddenly under the light of the full moon, one of the sheep, a black woolen one suddenly morphs into a hideous demonic creation with large horns, hoofs, human like hands with sharp claws and a large mouth with many sharp teeth.
End/Conclusion, “Walking Stick, Person Pointing, Rainbow” - You stand in shock and horror of the monstrosity that stands before you in the paddock. Without hesitation the sheep monster picks up another sheep with its claws and drops it into its huge mouth. With one sudden gulp, the monster consumes the sheep whole. Suddenly the beast fixes its eyes on you and your heart sinks. You were not prepared for this quest at all, you thought it was going to be a simple quest of chasing away a sheep thief or a fox, not defeating an enormous hideous sheep monster hybrid. You panic and instinctively run towards the farmer’s house, screaming and wailing. When you reach his door you begin bashing on it as hard as you can, screaming “Let me in! Let me in, for the love of god!”. The beast is slow but is quickly approaching you from behind. Suddenly to your utter relief, the door swings open and the farmer stands before you. “What’s all the ruckus goin’ on out here boy?!”. The farmer is a very frail and elderly man, still in his dressing gown and holding himself up with his cane. “I thought I tasked ye’ with fixin’ me sheep problem?!”. “You did! But I had no idea it was going to be a monster like this!”. The old man sighs and rolls his eyes “kids these days, guess if you want something done you gotta do it yerself”. The old man stands before the beast, points at the beast and chants a spell, suddenly a large rainbow begins to flow out of the old man’s walking stick and it turns the sheep back to normal. “See sonny, easy as pie”.
Short Story 3
Start/Setup, “Learner Plate, Bee, Tree” - There was once a Bee named Billy and he lived happily with his bee family in their hive, tucked away on a branch at the very top of the largest oak tree in the forest. Billy was starting to get older now and his parents wanted him to start learning to fly so he can go out and forage for pollen and start earning his keep for the hive colony. They decided it was time to start teaching him how to fly long distances.
His parents teach him the basics and decide it’s best to send him out by himself to get real experience so the next day they send Billy out on his first day of pollen gathering.
Middle/Conflict, “Magnet, Plane, Sheep” - One thing that Billy’s parents warned him about was the Bees archenemies… a neighboring hive had become lazy but also dedicated more time towards studying human technology. These evil bees has come up with a new weapon that would not only wipe out and kill other bee colonies but also gather pollen to bring back to the hive, meaning these bees wouldn’t have to even go out and risk their lives, it would just be automated. This invention was miniature robotic sheep that were magnetically attached to miniature fighter planes.
End/Conclusion, “Tall Building, Rain Cloud, Lightning” - When Billy went out to gather pollen he was immediately swarmed by the evil robot-sheep and overwhelmed. Billy had to retreat and barely made it out with his life. Billy knew that if he was to defeat the robot-sheep army, he would need the help of humans, the people who the other colony based their inventions off. Billy had heard his parents mention that there is a large building in the city nearby that the humans dedicated to saving and preserving the bee population as they understand how important bees are to the ecosystem. Billy flew as fast as he could to the building and snuck in through an open window. He found himself in the research area of the building, a lab essentially. He noticed out of the corner of his eye, something called a “Bee translator”. It was a tiny little microphone made for bees to be able to communicate to humans with. Billy quickly strapped it on and flew towards the nearest person he could find. In a panic he blurted “Please, please help!” Billy went on to explain the full situation to the human, including the robot-sheep. The human was shocked and knew they had to help stop them before they wiped out the rest of the bee population. The human gave Billy a new invention they had been working on, the bee-zapper. It would strap on to the back of a bee and would channel the clouds and lightning to zap a target with, for bee self defence. Billy asked for as many as he could take with him and took them all back to his hive. Every bee in Billy’s hive was armed with the bee-zapper and they all went to battle the evil robot-sheep. It was a long and hard battle but they defeated the robot-sheep in the end, saving bee kind.
Short Story 4
It was the most magnificent thing I had ever seen. I had followed the ancient map to it’s cryptic location off of a tiny tropical island in the middle of Pacific Ocean. I dug for hours and hours in nothing but the light of my lantern, nearing the point of collapse from exhaustion. Just as my will to continue started to fade, that’s when I felt it. A loud thunk and hard vibration through my shovel, nearly splitting the wooden handle in two. I threw the shovel to the side and frantically got down and started shoveling the dirt away with my hands. Scrambling in near darkness I finally found it. The lost treasure chest of the pirate Captain Salty-Shiv. I strained to get a grip on the chest but I finally managed to pull it out of the hole onto the flat ground. With lantern in hand I took a moment to take it in. The chest itself was beautiful, the wood was a dark mahogany with the black grain of the planks looking like deliberate decorative patterns. The metal structures that made up the frame of the chest were solid gold and shimmered lightly from the flame of the lantern. The chest was also incredibly large, being able to fit around the same amount of things an SUV car boot could. I thought to myself that the chest itself must be worth a small fortune on its own. It was not the chest that I was concerned with though but what was hidden inside is what made my heart race and my palms sweat. I pick up my shovel and started to bash at the lock until it finally came clean off. With my hands trembling I reached out and grasped the lid of the chest, gently pushing it open.