I atempted a kind of graphic novel in my junior and senior that never actually materialized, but the story developed in my head quickly and strangely. Initially, I had wanted to explore the idea of complete imaginative originality. That eventually became a joke, as I found myself creating centaurs, androids, police-knights, magician academies, energy-powered mutants, and Crystals Of Power.
It was actually a story of self-examination through archetypal symbology. I suppose all stories are that in some ways, but mine incorporated nearly everything I had ever seen, heard, read, and dreamt.
It started as a quiet story about a mysterious but powerful shapehifter-cum-mage(me) wandering into an idyllic harbor town. The daytime police-knight(my friend Kevin) is attacked in the forest outside of town by a shadow-creature, and is rescued by my character and taken to the nearest home -a mansion owned by the town's Bruce Wayne heiress woman(my friend Alice) who recognizes my armor as resembling weaponry from over five hundred years prior.
The town's Coolest-Chick-Ever innkeeper(my friend Bridgett) also recieves word from the town's nighttime police-knight(my friend Jill) that a local police-knight who had been promoted to royal guard(my friend Terri) was flying in on her dragon with the planetary Empress(my friend Dannett). The Empress needed to be hidden while the Northern Lands were purged of some mysterious "enemy". Meanwhile, a student magician(my friend Maura) arrives in town to retrieve a book held in trust by the town heiress.
All characters thus far, including a Geo-Force™ or Terra™ knockoff blacksmith(my friend Eric) go to a dinner party hosted by Alice's character, so that they can work together to prevent the secret of the Empress's safekeeping from leaking. That proves pointless as a technology ninja-monk(my friend Pat) bursts in on the party, demanding that the Empress marry him immediately, or thousands will die. Seconds later, an asteroid crashes in the heiress's backyard, which proves to be a highly sophisticated, alienly futuristic, Xorn-like healer elf(my friend Jennifer)'s jettisoned shuttle. She says she just wants to learn about the Lowlands. The heiress tires to sotp the insanity, but the entier house becomes overrun with shadow creatures -actually vampires. The fleet of characters now assembled fends them off, only to discover that the heiress is precognitive, and not tattooed -as all mutants are in this story's world.
Over time, characters succumb to the shadow vampire creatures, and change into shapeshifters of their own kind. This prompts the magician student to try to summon magickal reinforcements, but is stopped by the astral manifestation of the High Priestess Of The Light™(my unnattainable-desire and forever-idol-of-perfection Anna), who says she'll be there the next day to destroy the Evil. Jesus, was I lame.
Truths come out: The secret enemy that needed to be purged is the shadow-vampires, who like-a-plague, need to be purged every couple of hundred years.
The Empress is actually a highly sophisticated bio-droid who is electromagnetically tied to the planet's EM field, but she's a vampire by now anyway- so protection proved pointless.
The techno-monk is actually one in a series Nazi-esque uber-mensch who are designed by their "religion" to fight free-for-all gladiator style to see which was the most fit to survive and father a super-race. By marrying the Empress, the monk hoped to use his new power to abolish the "religion" and save his brothers.
The student magician is trumped in power and learns True Strength™ by the innkeeper, who, by knowing the right word at the right time, stopped global annihilation.
The alien elf is actually one of a population of elves and Geo-Force types who live on an massive orbitting continent. The geo-synchronous orbit is over another surface-level continent, called the Shadowlands, where the shadowvamps always end up hiding.
My character, the mysterious-shapeshifter-warrior-that-is-not-a-vamp, is actually a ghostlike energy creature that happens when a person rebels against the turning-into-a-vamp process. My character was also responsible for winning the last purge over five hundred years ago, by exploding. In trust, I empowered another vamp-rebel, a beautiful warrior girl, to protect the world after I left. Over five hundred years, she became a shapeshifting High Priestess.
My character realizes somehow and for some reason that only by becoming a vampire totally can he defeat the High Priestess -who knows all about EVERYTHING, and wants to remain The High Priestess(so I have to be killed).
Climax: In the heat of Phoenix-versus-Necrom battle I pull off the High Priestess's mask, to see a feminized version of my character's facepaint. She smiles(?) and pulls off my whole face, revealing light underneath. I explode again, taking all my original power back, and leaving her a simple warrior again. The town is rebuilt, and the world is forever changed: darker, less innocent, and a hell of lot more interesting.
Yeesh. I'm glad I never wrote it. I am glad I worked through the story though... It's a goddamn psych term paper. It had absolutely nothing to do with originality, but everything to do with me and my relationships with women/girls, established institutions, those-with-roles-I-identify-with, and my own ego. |
