Spooky Story Contest (EU) - Entry thread

[Ansetsu]

Fixed the pic link to the story

Character Name: Snowy Fox
Server: Ragnarok
Choice: Chocobo Noble Barding


Another Warring Triad another day? R.i.p Sophia we all laughed, as i kneeled down and picked up her card from the floor clutching it in my hand and slowly adding it to my deck.
You Ready Snowy? I heard my name being called in the distance from my fellow adventurer's as they started to exit Containment Bay P1T6 Ex.
Coming! i called back as i stood up staring where Sophia the Goddess once stood. A gentle breeze drifted through the air of the Containment Bay with an eerie silence,
and thats when i heard it.. "Can you bring Equilibrium" her voice.. but she was gone the fight was won, the victory was ours!
Surely i was hearing things i reassured my self grasping my Sophic Cane and running towards the exit.
Outside every one was waiting,"you ok snowy? look's like you have seen a ghost!" Ansetsu teased. "Yeh i'm fine" i replyed, as i started to cast teleport.
Felt good to be outside away from that Containment Bay!.
I zoned into my housing ward and started to head towards my house looking up at the night sky on the way, such a beautiful sky i whispered to my self as i watched a shooting star gracefully pass by. Reaching my house i was soon greeted by my chocobo with a soft "Kweh" as he stood in his stable's, patting him gently i headed towards the door of my house and said "Goodnight."
Closing the door behind me i headed towards my Orchestrion shutting it of for the night, and then headed towards the stairs kicking off my Shire Preceptor's Thighboots and slipped on my Meandering Mog Slippers.
"So tired" i yawned, walking up the stair's and towards my bed dimming the light's on the way and then face planting the nearest pillow. "Hmmm so comfy" i thought as i started to drift into a slumber state of mind. -CREAKKKKK- was that a floor board i just heard creaking? i raised my face out of the pillow and stared into the darkness.
"The unenlightened come..." her voice echoed though my home.. but how? Music from my Orchestrion started to play.. Equilibrium.
I jumped out of bed and headed towards the stairs, a coldness in the air striked fear and terror into my very soul. The floor from under me gave way as darkness
grabbed me down into the dark abyss and below me with a gaping mouth stood forth Sophia's Daughter ready to consume me whole.
"Noooooooo" i screamed in terror!
I jerked up in the bed in a cold sweat, was it just a dream? i stared down at the Sophia card i seemed to be clutching.... slowly staring up to be greeted by an Ansetsu dressed as a moogle "Rise and Shine" he said. Staring at him with my eyebrow twitching i thought, i don't know what's scarier the dream i just had or you as a life sized moogle....

[addz3]

1. Character: Bauer Auditore
2. World: Excalibur
3. Prize: Chocobo Noble Barding

The Wondrous Scary Tale

"Khloe… I have another tale for you, it isn't so wondrous...Well you'll see"

Bauer widened her eyes, a rather gaunt and hazy look on her face.

"Bauer…. What's wrong with you. Why are you looking at me like that!? Could you please blink, you've making me feel weird…." said a perplexed Khloe.

The young Miqo'te's tail climbed up her back.

"Hahahaha" An eerie laughter burst from Bauer's lips. "Meet me at my place. I have a little cottage in the Lavender Beds".

"Okay.." replied the nervous Khloe.

Thinking to herself quietly, I'm going to need some Thanalan soil, a Garuda's feather, something resembling a Rolanberry and I might be able to make use of those masks….

"Umm… Bauer are you here?" A quiet voice spoke and a gentle knock on the door followed. Khloe's knock was enough to make the cottage door creak open. The only illuminance came from the Dravanian Down Tree outside.

She stepped inside and closed the door, as she turned back inwards she was met by the house steward who was close enough to Khloe's face they could feel the warm breathe of one another. Shivering with panic Khloe asked "Erm... Who are you?"

She was met by a vacant stare and a monotone voice that simple said "Miss Auditore said she was expecting company. Please head downstairs" Khloe turned back and locked the door, continuing to talk to help keep her emotions at bay "So are you a friend?"

"My my, aren't we inquisitive for such a young kitten" The steward spoke from the darkness.

With heavy feet and slow steps untrue to her age, she was almost at the bottom and with the last step to go, the light vanished.

Panic in her voice. "Bauer are you here!? Please if you are say something. This isn’t funny anymore!!" She ventured into the room.

Hiding behind the oriental partition, Bauer threw the Thanalan soil at Khloe, quickly met by screams "AAAAAAGGGGHHHH!! BAUER HELP!"

A squadron member had crept behind her wearing a Crag Mask and bellowed a mighty roar.

"ARRRRRGHHH TITAN!!!" The young kitten ran, unfortunately for her it was right where Bauer had wanted. She ran the Garuda's feather at the back of Khloe's neck, her ears and tail pricked up, paralyzed with fear. She reached round to where the feather had tickled to find a gooey substance, rich deep red in colour.

"IS THIS BLOOD!?!?!? I'M GOING TO DIE, IM GOING TO DIE" She repeated over and over again to herself.

"Hahahahah" laughter everywhere now as the cottage fireplace lit up revealing the mischief makers enjoying the victory of a plan well wrought.

Her eyes welled up with water, out of pure relief. "Bauer, how could you! I thought we were friends!" Khloe murmured. With a smile on her face "The greatest story I could ever give you would be the one you experience yourself" Bauer replied.

[addz3]

1. Character: Bauer Auditore
2. World: Excalibur
3. Prize: Chocobo Noble Barding

The full version because its much better than the one to meet the word count lol.

The Wondrous Scary Tale

"Look at that moon! I've never seen it so bright.

What's the matter Bauer, you have another story for me"?

Khloe gawped like a lost kitten, mouth wide open, the moon reflection in her eyes gave the effect she had been enjoying one to many potion.

"No wondrous tale for you today I'm afraid. You know my life isn't all wondrous tales, in fact what you think might be exciting and thrilling, normally means I'm scared to death! I may be blessed my Hydaelyn but I can tell you a little blessing doesn’t go far enough to protect me from what I've experienced. I look back at those times when its been life or death, separated by an all too small margin.

[Sigh…..]

I've lost so many friends Khloe, some I've only known for a short period of time, others have been instrumental to my success, one in particular I was rather fond of, he once told me that "A smile better suits a hero" I miss him dearly."

"Oh cheer up Bauer…."
The moon's brilliance had enhanced the tear in her eyes, she turned away in a veiled effort to conceal the fact.

"Khloe… I didn’t mean to…"

"Oh it's okay" Khloe interrupted swiftly. "Why don't you go and enjoy the festivities? It is that time of year, and it doesn’t last long!"

"Yes, I suppose your right." A half hearted nod and queer smirk followed.

I have to make this right, I feel so guilty now. I need to tell her story to make her forget the mood I've put her in. Bauer whispered to herself, wracking her brain. I've told her all the Primal ones and the Ascian ones are far to serious. I need to stay away from Ishgard, those stories just remind me of him…

"Khloe… I do have another tale for you, it isn't so wondrous…more like….Well you'll see"

Bauer widened her eyes, depicting a rather gaunt and hazy look on her face.

"Bauer…. What's wrong with you. Why are you looking at me like that!? Could you please blink, you've making me feel weird…." said a rather perplexed Khloe.

She was met by an even more vacant stare from the Warrior of Light. The young Miqo'te's tail climbed up her back, half in response to fear and half in anger as she screamed.

"BAUER!!! STOP IT!!"

"Hahahaha" An earie laughter burst from Bauer's lips. "I'll tell you a new story but not right now. Meet me at my place, it’s a trek from here. I have a little cottage in the Lavender Beds." She wrote the plot site details on the back of an old blacksmithing recipe list. And whispered "Don't give that to anyone, there's not a lot of plots to go around and I don't want anyone thinking about breaking in whilst I'm off…. Adventuring and whatnot…"

"Okay.." replied the nervous Khloe.

"See you later then" Said Bauer.

She had a lot to organise in a small period of time if she were to frighten that kitten.

[A quick teleport to New Gridania]

Thinking to herself, she mumbled quietly, I'm going to need some Thanalan top soil, a Garuda's feather, something that resembles a Rolanberry (I've not seen those in a while, I wonder what happened to them….) and I might finally be able to make use of those masks…. Oh and I need someone from my squadron to play that part….

Bauer had forgotten her earlier mood as she continued to plot in her devious mind, looking like a mad woman talking to herself amongst the merchants at the Rosewood Stalls.

It was finally time, the last few hours had gone quickly and everything was set for that poor little Khloe.

"Umm… Bauer are you here?" A quiet voice spoke and a gentle knock on the door followed. Khloe's knock was enough to make the cottage door creak open, just a crack. The lights were off at Gamgo's Lodge, Bauer's residence. The only illuminance came from the Dravanian Down Tree outside near the Chocobo stables. It was enough for Khloe to glimpse at the Goobbue rug on the floor.

She stepped inside and closed the door behind her, as she turned back inwards she was met by the house steward who was close enough to Khloe's face they could feel the warm breathe of one another. Shivering slightly with panic Khloe asked "Erm… Hi… Who are you?"

She was met by a vacant stare and a monotone voice that simple said "Miss Auditore said she was expecting company. Please lock the door and head downstairs" Khloe turned back and locked the door, continuing to talk to help keep her emotions at bay "So are you a friend as well then?"

"My my, aren't we inquisitive for such a young kitten" The steward again spoke in the same monotone voice from the darkness. Khloe turned inwards again and had lost sight of the steward. Just as she was going to say something else, a small candle light appeared from downstairs, highlighting only the staircase as if leading her down a path.

With heavy feet and slow steps untrue to her age, she was almost at the bottom and with the last step to go, the light vanished and was plundered into darkness again, the last step acting as a trigger for the light to vanish.

Panic in her voice now was ever to apparent. "Bauer are you here!? Please if you are say something. This isn’t funny anymore!!" She ventured into the middle of the room.

Hiding behind the oriental partition, Bauer threw the Thanalan soil at Khloe, quickly met by screams "AAAAAAGGGGHHHH!! BAUER HELP!"

The squadron member had crept behind her wearing a Crag Mask and bellowed a mighty roar.

"ARRRRRGHHH TITAN!!!" The young kitten ran, unfortunately for her it was right where Bauer had wanted. She put the bag of soil down and ran the Garuda's feather at the back of Khloe's neck, her ears and tail pricked up, paralyzed with fear. She reached round to where the feathered had tickled to find a gooey substance, rich deep red in colour (the resemblance of some kind of berry).

"IS THIS BLOOD!?!?!? I'M GOING TO DIE, IM GOING TO DIE, I'M GOING TO DIE" She repeated over and over again to herself.

"Hahahahah" laughter everywhere now as the cottage fireplace lit up revealing the squadron members, the steward and of course the mischief maker herself, Bauer enjoying the victory of a plan well wrought.

Her eyes welled up with water, out of pure relief. "Bauer, how could you! I thought we were friends!" Khloe murmured. With a smile on her face "The greatest story I could ever give you would be the one you experience yourself" Bauer replied.

[Lektry]

1. Character: Lektry Harthorn
2. World: Tonberry
3. Prize: Chocobo Noble Barding

Splash!

Her heavy footsteps in the forest’s puddles as she ran.
Her breath growing short.
Behind that tree.
Rest was what she needed.
Surely she lost him.

Clip clop!

The colour quickly drained from her face.
She hadn’t lost him.
Determination to annihilate that which attacked him.

Fishing, the morning’s wet weather lured her into the shroud. Setting her bucket down next to her seat, she casts her line out to start day.
Hours tick by, as the rain lets up as an eerie fog creeps into the shroud.
Lektry notices the change in weather as she stifles a yawn, surely on more fish and she’ll have enough.
One more couldn’t hurt.

Drawing the line back as she goes to cast out she’s met with resistance, tug as she might, it would not give. Standing she turned to see what her line was caught on.

Splash!

The rod dropped from her hands as she stumbled back. The glowing eyes of the horseman trained on her, his horse stepping closer as she drew back.
Swinging his sword in a menacing arc sent splinters of her chair flying through the air.

Not waiting for a moment longer, she spun on her heels and started to sprint in hopes of out running the primal.

Just a simple fisher.
One more, what harm could it do!?
HA
Her life.

[Aedith]

Character Name: Aedith Tenbe
World Name: Shiva
Prize: Scarf of Wondrous Wit
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'In this place, there is a creature of great malice.' The Lalafell said. 'It is a being of hate and hunger and greed.' His eyes where deep in his skull. His skin was pale and thin. He seemed weak and scared. Alone.
I had come to Mor Dhona. Now, after the Calamity little more than ruins full of war, famine and strife. I just had to come.
It was a weakness. I knew this, yet I could not stand idly by as others suffered.
'Where did it come from?'
'Nobody knows. Not even the Thing itself. But that is not important. What's important is that it devours. Only ever devours.'
I could smell the damp and the mold, deep inside he cave I had met him in. My lips cracked with thirst I was so hungry and tired.
'Why?'
'Because in its core is only emptiness. It is missing warmth and satisfaction and hope. Everything that makes you alive. So it eats everything. It swallows you full. It devours everything you are. It hopes to become whole again.'
I could not see anything but the small man walking in front of me. Sometimes he held his head up high, as if sniffing for something as he lead me deeper underground.
'Can it?'
'No.'
I got nervous. Something was watching me, its eyes full of malice. My fingers were tightly around the daggers on my waist. I knew with terrifying certainty that they would not save me should I need them.
'Can it be killed?'
'Not completely. It has happened before. But it is integral to the structure of things. It is always and everywhere.'
It had gotten even darker. I realized I did not know how to reach the exit anymore.
Quiet terror rose inside of me for I had been lead astray.
'How?“ I asked.
He continued:
'It is a thing of many bodies. It makes you hollow. Creeps inside of you. Becomes you.'
The cold air was like razors on my skin, and as I breathed it filled the void inside of me with pain.
'It is a virus. It spreads. It uses and abuses the bodies it takes. They are the thousands of mouths it feeds with.'
I swallowed heavily and it hurt my throat. When had I eaten last?
'It is an epidemic of greed and hatred and all the hunger there ever was and you will be eaten. Body or soul.'
My legs burned. Muscles screamed to flee. There was something here. Something other. I could no longer sense if it was in the cave or in me and I was so very scared of it.
It did not matter. I just stood petrified, numb with terror and fear and regret as the Lalafell turned around. Tiny. All skin and bones. With dark eyes full of hunger and greed, deep, deep in its skull and so very sharp teeth.
'I have been hungry for so long now.' it said.

[InfiniteMoose]

Character: Polaris Frost
World: Sargatanas
Prize: Chocobo Noble Barding

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After All

--------------------------------------

The body was found sitting on the smooth wooden benches of Mih Khetto's Amphitheatre.


"I'd wager he's been dead four or five bells", said the young Midlander kneeling on the wet grass. She didn't look up as she spoke, performing measurements on the victim with a small brass instrument that I didn't recognise. "Signs of a struggle, but not a drop of blood. Same aetheric disturbance as the other cases. And uh, no head. Obviously. Sir."


She sighed, touching her fingertips to the ground to steady herself as she pushed back up to her feet. I gazed down at the pale corpse dispassionately, my head abuzz with thoughts I couldn't quite grasp.


They're so white and so small, but there are so many…


"You reckon this one had bought one of those damnable hats, too?" she asked. I moved away.


They called them "Moogle Heads", and they had become wildly popular this All Saint's Wake. Whimsical, charming and perhaps a little comical, it seemed that even the merchants themselves didn't know where they came from, but they sold, and sold well.


Every last one of the victims had purchased one before their murder. "Damnable hats" indeed.


I've never seen a knife so big


There were more people now, men and women of the Twin Adders in their long yellow coats. A stern Elezen man waved his arms percussively and barked orders in the distance. There was so much noise...


My mouth fills with cotton. Breathing is hard now, but they don't stop


The girl was still talking, "...readings I took were very disturbing. Something entirely unnatural was done to these poor people. Sir, are you listening sir?"


Their hands are so white and so small at my neck, and they're cutting, cutting...


"Sir?"


"Yes, yes, I'm listening Freya..." replied the detective tiredly.


I woke from my daydream with a jolt.


I watched the man from above as he ambled his way through the mud and the grass to his colleague who was still standing over my body.


Neither of them saw me, and few would. How boring.


I fluttered away from the scene, over smooth wooden bridges, across clear, idyllic streams that lined Gridania like veins in marble. Like veins in a body.


I stopped when I heard something peculiar: a young boy calling to me, walking hand in his mother's hand, raising his free arm to point at me. He smiled to me, and I smiled back. He wore one of those wildly popular hats, one that I once wore. It seemed so long ago...


His mother wasn't wearing one, but that was alright. He would have no need for mothers soon. Not once I'd set his pretty head free.


Moogles aren't born, after all. We're made.

[InfiniteMoose]

Forgot image :>

[KittyTayuun]

Amandine was sophisticated, poised, and cultured. In retrospect, this should have made them suspicious. A lady like her should be presiding over a school in Limsa Liminsa or Gridania, not seeking a position in a small town in Vesper Bay. But at the time, they were too delighted by her application to ask any questions.
School was called into session in the church shortly after the arrival of the teacher. And soon, the children were bringing glowing reports home. “Teacher” was special. Teacher have taught them manners, reading, writing and arithmetic. All the children loved their teacher.
The parents were delighted by the progress their children were making at school. A God-send, said the preacher’s wife.
But not everyone in town was satisfied. Kitty, the local inspector had more sinister stories to tell.
“That woman ain’t natural,” Kitty told the blacksmith, waving a bottle of whisky for emphasis. “I seen her out in the woods after dark, dancing around a campfire and chanting in a strange language.”
“You’re drunk,” said the blacksmith, “Go home and sleep it off.”
Kitty left the smithy, but continued talking wildly about the Teacher in the weeks that followed. A change gradually came over the school children. The pranks that all children played lessened. Their laughter died away. Items began to disappear from houses and farms. When children talked back to their parents, there was a hard-edge to their voices, and they did not apologize for their rudeness, even when punished.
None in town suspected it was the Teacher’s doings.
Kitty, on the other hand, was sure. “That teacher ought to be burned at the stake. She is a witch,” she proclaimed up and down the streets of the town.
The pastor, heard the commotion, ordered her out of his sight. But her words rang in his mind. The children continued to behave oddly. Almost like they were possessed. The preacher decided reluctantly, have to look into it someday soon.
The next day, the merchant’s wife came bursting through his doors.
“Quick pastor, quick,” she cried. “Kitty is running through town with a torch, screaming to burn down the school. The children are still in class!”
They raced to the church with other townsfolk who followed them were met by a huge blaze. Frantic parents beat at the flames with wet sacks, or threw buckets of water from the pump into the inferno. I was cackling unrepentantly from the far side of the building.
The church burnt for several hours, and when it was finally extinguished, there was nothing left. Mourning parents salvaged for somerthing of their children to bury.
The teacher’s burnt body was buried deep in the ground, while the children’s smaller bodies were interred beneath wooden crosses. Of all the student’s in the school that fall, only the pastor’s son survived.
To this day, voices can be heard in the graveyard of at Burnt Church, chanting unintelligible words. Sometimes apparitions are seen, and dark walkers who roam the graveyard at night.

[KittyTayuun]

oh adding on to my details

Character: KittyTayuun
World: Tonberry
Prize: Chocobo Noble Barding

[MoombaDS]

Character: Mist Niviane
World: Odin
Prize: Scarf of Wondrous Wit
_______________

An Ishgardian Tale

'No matter the reason, venture not into the cathedral on the eve of All Saint's Wake!'

For several years these words have kept inquisitive Ishgardian youths from braving the darkened halls of Halone's house of worship.

'But why?'

Always the same question, answered with no more than a stony look and pursed lips. None would speak of the horrors that had occurred on that frightful night, for none truly knew what they had entailed.

Mist grimaced each time she chanced to overhear snatches of such conversations. Though time had healed the gravest of the wounds, her memories yet remained, ever as clear as the waters of an Abalathian spring. Her thoughts wandered back to that night, to memories so vivid they might have been visions granted by the Echo.

「The darkness pressed close, eliciting a soft shudder from her stumbling form. She pulled her cloak tighter against the chill of the cavernous halls. It had grown too quiet.

'A beast', they had said, practically thrusting her through the doors that framed the depths of the cathedral's vaults. Such was their panic that the these were sealed immediately behind her. She had no recourse but to continue, seeking the source of their terror.

A sharp sound shattered the fragile silence.

Mist flinched and drew her sword, brandishing it unsteadily before her in a feeble attempt to ward off unseen nightmares. The scraping. Again the scraping; an infernal rasping of misshapen claws on stone, bubbling forth from the inky depths. A low growl followed in its wake, twisting into an unholy wail as its pitch entered the higher registers.

She breathed a string of curses as she steeled herself, railing at the misfortune that had brought her here on this ominous night. What had she to be afraid of? Fearless warrior of light, slayer of countless dreadwyrms. It didn't help.

The passage twisted onwards, its labyrinthine structure more forbidding than the binding coils had ever been. As she advanced further into the vaults, a deep rumble began to rattle the very walls around her, its volume increasing with each arduous step. The closer it grew, the more she felt her already tenuous courage ebb and wane.

And then it was gone, giving way to a clammy silence. Mist froze in her tracks.

She stifled a soft yelp as something brushed against her calf. The rumbling resumed, its intensity twofold magnified. In horror she turned her gaze downwards, towards its source.」

Her screams that night, echoing from those hallowed halls, gave rise to countless tales of the eldritch horrors that dwelt within the depths of Ishgard's majestic cathedral. Yet none but the warrior of light had set eyes upon them.

This was no mere coincidence - no simple twist of fate. Never would she reveal the truth, for imagine the derision she'd face - the proud warrior of light driven to panic at the brush of a cat.