Note, I sort of abandoned this.
Welcome to the very unfinished fanfiction know as Cynicism made by FluorescentFlashlight. This story is the first story of the Keystone series. Have fun reading, and yeah, enjoy. This is a huge work in progress.
By FluorescentFlashlight
Part of the Keystone series as the first story.
Cynicism
1. An inclination to believe that people are motivated purely by self-interest; skepticism.
Chapter 1 - Dylan Flametorch[]
It's been very long, and I've had nobody to talk to in three days straight. Being an outlaw can be difficult sometimes.
I was just walkin' down the forest, mindin' my own business, with a bag full of gold.
All I was trying to do, was return back to the group, along with something I stole, in order to avoid being threatened, for being gone for three days.
I stopped in my tracks. It got cold. I spotted two purple glowing eyes in the dark of the forest. I turned around, and was about to run, before I saw another pair of purple glowing eyes. Which way do I go? Left or right?
Which option did I pick? Nothin', I just stood there, waitin' for a move.
I was startled when I heard a noise behind me, I turned around to see Tempest replacing the purple glowin' eyes. Does that mean the other one is a Tempest too? The Tempest conjured a snowball, and threw it at me, it laughed at me. The other Tempest behind me appeared, along with someone else. Lucy...
"Oh, it's you." said Lucy. "You've been gone long, I'd want you gone longer, since you're ruining my moment."
Lucy, one of my rivals being an outlaw, has been my enemy since we knew each other. Lucy had two Tempests. Tempests could evolve into Flurrious. Flurrious, one of the biggest and strongest monsters. "Now hand me that bag of gold," said Lucy. "You're clearly going to lose it before you make it." Lucy was just taunting me. "Beat it, Lucy, I stole it first, the credit is mine." I replied. "You're one of the weak outlaws, let's just face it. You're outnumbered." said Lucy.
Lucy's Tempests were threateningly holding snowballs. "Or else poor outlaw Dylan is getting hurt."
"Not happenin'," I said. "I got the gold, and it's mine."
"So you're not sharing with the rest of the outlaws? How rude..." said Lucy.
Lucy snapped her fingers, and the Tempests made their shot, but unlike the last time I got hit, it hurt, and it hit hard. I collapsed on the ground, and dropped the sack of gold on the ground, before I could grab ahold of it, Lucy got it instead.
I really need to be careful with my choice of words. "Give it back, Lucy." I said, getting back up. "Oh, so poor Dylan wants something back, oh well." said Lucy. Lucy looked into the sack, and pulled out one mere gold coin and tossed at me, as an insult. "Looks like my job is done here, deal with him, you two." said Lucy, as she began walking right passed me. "Oh, and delay his return back with the others, it'll feel even better with him still not there." was the last thing Lucy said after she left with the gold. Still watching her go away, I unexpectedly got assaulted by a snowball.
Oh, right, them. I looked at Lucy's Tempest, one of them was holding something, which it tossed to me. I picked it up and looked at it. It was just snow, molded into the shape of a coin. They were copying Lucy, for fun. When I looked back up. The Tempests were chuckling at me.
"Come at me." I said, ready for battle. I specialize in fire, so I clearly had an advantage. I started simple with a fireball. Luckily, The fireball bursted straight through one of the Tempests, making a hole in it.
I had no idea what it was doing since it began moving around in agony and pain, and, well, fell flat on the floor.
By my surprise, it got up again, and laughed at me, by magic, the hole in its body regenerated, and healed. They were still playing tricks with me. The Tempest I had just shot was just playin' Dead.
The two abruptly stopped laughing and began glaring at me. Now they were getting serious here.
They were now beginning to cast their spells and are really getting started for battle...
Bring it!
I'm here in a forest, battlin' against two Tempests, that are just about ready to cast their spell.
The Tempests in unison, casted a Snowling Ball, it quickly was rollin' to my position. There was no way I was gonna be able to leap out the way, instead, I used strategy. A quick cast of Volcannon, right before I was trampled did the trick, burning the giant ball in just a second.
It seemed I had just gotten the Tempests startled, they probably underestimated me.
"What's wrong? Scared?" I taunted. What happened? They got mad. I noticed they were doing something. I felt the ground feel weird, Earthquake? Guess not, right beneath my feet, the ground was turning icy blue, I jumped back, just in the right second to notice, a spike of ice was about to impale me where I previously was.
They still weren't done with their attempt to defeat, me. One of them pounded the ground, and the area of the forest floor we were on top of started to turn into annoyin' ice. I need to be careful, I'm not an ice skater.
Let's think about this. I'm not an expert with ice, but I believe a Tempest's body is held together by magic, which explains why it's body quickly regenerated when I shot a fireball at it. I guess it's a passive thing for a Tempest. But then how was I going to defeat it?
Brr, it's cold.
Ugh, come on! What should I even do?
One Tempest is bad. Two are worse.
This isn't really my thing, but should I reason with them?
Before they could do more, I started speaking. "Alright, alright, ya guys are really powerful."
The two Tempests stopped, to glare at me.
"You guys are really powerful, and I definitely can't beat both of you."
I got em listenin' now.
"Say, I have an idea. So, I'm totally powerless against Lucy and you two. I think it's impossible to win against you. So I would like, to say, that won't be your enemy, and if I could maybe please be left alone?" I lastly said, of course, I was kinda lyin' to them. They deserve a lie anyway.
They thought about this, and looked at eachother. I think they're talking about this. Now's my chance. I started to walk away, steadily, otherwise I'd slip, trip, and fail my escape.
Come on now...
Slow and steady, I'm almost off of the ice.
Turns out my luck was bad, the ice was more slippery than I had thought it was. I slipped, and fell down with a hard crash.
I didn't really care about them anymore, I didn't look back, I got up, and ran away as fast as I could, also managin' to get off the ice.
Phew!
I guess I escaped, I'm not that far away from base. It's nothin' special really, it's kinda just in the middle of the forest with not too much stuff.
Well, here I am. For your information, our team is called the Outlaws.
Carl?
"Dude! Where have you been!" said Carl, my greatest friend.
"Meh, nothing special."
"You sure?"
"Nothing."
It's great to be back at base, seeing all the other outlaw wizards here. I'm definitely going to be in trouble soon. Lucy isn't the only person I hate who is part of the Outlaws, she has two other outlaw friends, in which one of them I consider is kinda the leader of the three of them. I heard somethin' behind me. I turned and saw a female wizard from a distance. He didn't seem to be one of us. When he noticed me, she fled. Ugh, it's must be them again.
Chapter 2 - Malevolence[]
A female wizard stood in front of her friend's desk, ready for some questions. "What do you know?" asked the other wizard behind the desk. "They have big numbers in their population, and pets included. The Outlaws improve every day, this isn't good. "Did they see you?" said the friend, asking the questions. "Well, um, I think some saw me." said the female wizard. The other wizard banged his fist on his desk, hard enough that some stuff fell off the table. "This isn't good! We're not ready yet!" said the male wizard.
"Distract the Outlaws." the male wizard said to his companion, a Pyro Peck. It flew off, knowing just the prank to do.
"What's the plan?" said the female.
"We'll tell everybody to get ready, prepare for what's coming, set-up the defenses.
"The Outlaws are smart, they'll know what we're going to do. They'll come with a better battle plan than us."
"Then we'll make a better plan."
He pulled out a map from a drawer, a map of where the Outlaws lived, and where the village was. "Kevin, I think this map is a little outdated." said the female.
"That's your fault Faith, you know cartography, not me. You're responsible for the maps we keep here at the village, you're one of the few people who are supposed to look into the Outlaw's stuff, to make sure they're not up to trouble," explained Kevin. "Our town on the map is okay, I just haven't updated the other side for the home of the Outlaws" replied Faith.
"Okay, here is what we'll do..."
Chapter 3 - Faith Icethinker[]
I exited the building after he was done, just thinking about everything here. Nearly everybody in this town have never went to the Academy. We're a community, teaching each other new things; this place has stood for decades now, when suddenly the Outlaws showed up. They came just a couple years ago, causing trouble across our island, Keystone. Our town is still trying to gather info about them, trying to stop them. Everybody in this town have been great, trying to stick together, and making sure this place is safe and immune. Just seeing the houses here gives me a good feeling, but we shouldn't underestimate every opponent no matter how big or small they are. A few decades ago, this community was struggling on hard times, where our population was small. I wasn't even there! We were low on supplies and defense when, one day, some bad team of rascals were eventually going to destroy this place. What happened? They underestimated us, we still stood strong, and fought hard, and eventually won that battle. We dispatched the team of troublemakers forever, which then, many years after that, the Outlaws appeared, the story is just pretty interesting.
Chapter 4 - Kevin Magicwand[]
What am I doing! I've been writing new and new revisions of the plan, how long have I been here for? A few hours? I'm just totally freaked out because of what has happened, because of Faith! I barely have any clue what I'm doing, every time I finish, I restart trying to think of something new, something better. What's wrong with me? Where the heck is Faith right now? Is this really even happening?
My head is really spinning; it hurts. The Outlaws aren't that smart, right?
What now? What new, different, better, plan? I'm unsure about this, what if we attack first? Maybe Faith was right; they won't come. I should probably get help, from who at least?
Wait, what about Amy? She could be great help, she's skilled, and smart, one of Keystone's most known wizards. Amy is a friend of this town, well, she doesn't live here; she lives in Star Town, but she's a friend of our not-so-peaceful-anymore-community.
Hard to think about right? I should go get her, except, she might be on some journey, which she frequently is. We need to get this straight: we're in big trouble, we need defense, and we need to be smart.
Chapter 5 - Malevolence[]
Amy stepped through the door, proceeding into the room. "Amy! You got my letter! I'm glad you're here, we really need much of your presence before we run this next test, would please mind if you take some time off whatever you're doing for your help?" said a scientist, in a lab coat. "Frank, what are you about to do with a wild Luminite?" Amy responded, nearly ignoring Frank. An unsuspecting Luminite, was playing with toys inside a comfy glass chamber.
"Oh, you shouldn't worry! It's the test subject! We're to unlock the secrets of monster evolution, but this is very special. We're going to need you here incase anything bad happens." replied Frank.
"Frank, I don't think this is safe, the Luminite could be hurt, and something bad could happen to it, like you said." answered Amy.
"Amy, you're a great hero of this town! All we need you to do, is to make sure no one in the laboratory gets hurt after this." Frank pleaded.
"Okay fine, Frank, but I really don't trust this." replied Amy. "Great! You can go move to any spot in the room, and we'll get started!"
Amy headed out to a nearby wall to stand against, while everybody got prepared. "Are you guys ready? Great! Hit it, Kyle!" exclaimed Frank.
Someone nearby pushed a button on a control desk, and two lazer guns popped out of the ceiling of the unsuspecting Luminite's chamber. The Luminite was being blasted with huge volts of lightning. Sounds roared from the beams of power, so loud that it was hard to hear the Luminite's cries in there with all the bright light inside the chamber, making the Luminite invisible in there. "Frank! What are you doing? This isn't good. You're hurting it. It's too much it can handle." said Amy.
"As I said, you shouldn't worry, this is for science. We have to do this for the studies of monsters!" responded Frank. Amy saw a twinkle in Frank's eyes, as wind blew from the glass chamber, making Frank's lab coat move elegantly in the wind. The light inside the Luminite's chamber started to dim as the beams stopped, and the lazers retreated back into the ceiling.
"Yes!" cried Frank, as he pumped his fist into the air. What replaced the Luminite, was a Luminex, but, it looked a little different from one. It seemed a little bigger than a Luminex, a little more fierce, more tough, and had sharper claws.
"Um, Frank, I really think you should step away from the chamber, I think it's gonna-" the one named Kyle at the desk didn't get to finish his sentence. The much-more-fierce-Luminex lifted it's head, and made a great deep, ear crushing bellow. Lightning was shooting out of it in all directions, as wind, and great power emitted.
"Everybody take cover! The glass is about to shatter!" shouted Amy. People ran for the safety of places to hide the room, everybody hid, except Amy.
"AMY! What are you doing! You said to hide!" cried Frank. The glass chamber shattered. Wind, and great forces of electricity was flipping and destroying chair's but Amy didn't hide. Amy approached the roaring beast, as blinding light raised from the Luminex. Amy held her wand in front of her, and used it to serve as a lightning rod. It was still a little too much. The gust was starting to knock her back. Amy was trying to hold herself in place. Her wand broke! Amy was helpless now, everybody had already evacuated. Amy quickly let her wand drop to the floor to avoid blisters. Amy didn't know what to do! Before Amy could react, an explosion had arisen...
Chapter 6 - Dylan Flametorch[]
I launched my fist at the rust ol' stupid door that me and Carl found in wild. "What the heck," I said. "Why would some person create a stupid door in the hill, what's even inside?"
"I dunno." replied Carl.
"Whad'ya mean by, 'I dunno', just help me this giant rustic door carved into this hill, I don't care whether you use magic or not!" I responded. I casted a few tough fireballs to find that no dent was made.
"Are ya guys gonna help or not?" I mentioned, to my pets, and they got to it. I sighed and stopped trying to open the stupid door and went to Carl.
"Carl, what's happened when I was gone, for three days?" I asked.
"Nothin' much, just more loot, new powerful magic weapons, our chief looking forward to possessing the power of dark magic, and we-"
I stopped Carl right there, and said, "Wait, did you say dark magic?"
"Yeah?" responded Carl. "Carl, do you even know what dark magic even is?" I said back.
"No?"
"Carl, dark magic is shadow magic, don'tcha get it?"
"Ok, I suppose."
"Now I'm assuming you don't know what shadow magic is either."
"Uh, yeah, I don't know what Shadow magic is. I just didn't feel like putting that out there."
"You really don't know that much stuff, do you Carl? What I'm saying, chief is hoping to one day grab the power of a very dangerous magic, which could cause bad effects for him; for all of us; for everyone!"
"Ok, I get it now. But just why don't you shake that thought off your head? Just think, it's probably not going to be that bad. The Outlaws are getting stronger, learning more theft, and improving."
Carl did have a point there, after all, our overlord had announced a long time ago that we're gonna be merging with another group, who'll be moving in with the Outlaws. We used to be called the Bandits of Keystone, but due to the merge, a new name was declared.
I look to the left to check on how my pets are doing casting spells n stuff on the door. "Any luck?" I asked. They nodded disapprovingly.
Dang it, we're far away from base, we're heading back, this giant door we found in a cluster of hills and trees is just a waste.
Chapter 7 - Kevin Magicwand[]
Things are truly going great. We've bought some time to stall the Outlaws. We even set one of their structures on fire! Thanks to Faith, and her daily Little-Bit-Undetected-Scouting-the-Outlaws, we got info. They've got no water specialists. Our strategy is going to be holding them off for a long time, until we can manage what to do next.
I should be going to bed soon, it's getting really late.
Anyway, I was just walking inside my house when suddenly, I felt something teleport behind, a presence I didn't like, something dark, before I could turn around... I was unconscious.
Chapter 8 - Faith Icethinker[]
It's been a couple days since Kevin's incident, he's okay now, but his magic has been weakened. We don't know who had done this to him. It apparently seems he was hit by shadow magic, but who had shadow magic around here?
Well, what matters is that he's fine.
Right now, I don't really have to do anything in my position because his Pyro Peck has been helping me watch the Outlaws, I pretty much cooperate with it now and then, while Kevin has been recovering; his head hurts.
What I'm going to do is kind of stupid as most would say, I ran deep into the trees of the forest, looking for clues about this person. I abruptly stopped. I found some door, in a hill, why is it here? It's big, and carved into a hill, seems old if you ask me. Doesn't have a door knob. Is there possibly anyway to open. Whoever is behind this door could be the primary source of the incident that involved Kevin. I was about to inspect further, but I heard the sound of bushes shaking and running feet. Before I knew it, someone crashed into me. Whatever hit me and myself both tumbled down to the floor.
"Lucy?" I said, knowing that face. I've known her for a long time, but she was a member of the Outlaws, she's a crook.
"Hey! What do you think your doing?" said Lucy as she was getting up and brushing the dust off of her from the crash. "I could be hurt y'know! And what are you doing in the middle of this place. In front of this weird door! Faith, you're strange if you haven't known."
"Hurting is all you ever do!" I said back, while getting up. "Throwing that back at me? Aren't you? I don't even know what this place is!" she said.
"Well, why can't you just go away from me? I found this door first, I'm the one looking at it!" I responded.
She pushed me, and I fell back. Although it hurt a little, I still got back up. "What is wrong with you? Harassing people, taking their stuff?" I said. "It's what I do, silly Faith. Just stop trying to reason with me, it's not going to do you any good." she said. Well, I really did try reasoning with her. I looked up, Lucy was casting Icicle Shard. Before I could run, the Icicle Shard landed, I couldn't escape.
Chapter 9 - Amy Lightningcaster[]
After that incident that I was involved in I got put into danger by trying to stop it, I've been recovering for about a week days. I told Frank that they shouldn't have done this in the first place.
And guess what? They put ME in charge of capturing it, or stopping it or whatever will cause it to end it's disasters it's been causing around Keystone. Who else would they pick to put an end to it other than me? I have to do everything for everyone because they think I'm great (when I'm really not) to help them be satisfied (which they never will be).
I've decided I'm going on this quest on my own, my pets are going to be at home. Since I recovered I got all geared up with a new wand which was worth 50,000 gold. They had given the Luminite-which-is-basically-now-a-Luminex-but-more-fierce-than-a-normal-one a tracking chip before the test. They had given me the tracking device but it broke the first few minutes I started on this simple quest. I don't really need it anyway, I can find it with my specialty of the Storm element. Apparently it's in a forest nearby. I've been searching around the forest for a few minutes now, it's really close. All across the news they've been talking about the havoc this beast has been doing. I heard the bushes rustling. It was an ambush!
I ducked just in time before the Luminex thrashed into me. We're in a clearing of the forest, which are great places to battle and all, but I wasn't sure to attempt to befriend it or fight it. The Luminex turned around to face it's foe. It started dashing straight for me charging itself up with a volt of electricity. I think this monster is probably no match for me, I leaped right out of the way. Before it could crush me. It stopped and roared. My turn. I ran straight for it. It probably thought I was dumb just going for it. It prepared to claw at me, but I slid under and passed it before it could even touch me. Now I was behind it. I charged up a blast with my wand and launched it. Direct hit! It didn't even know what hit it. Still, that wasn't quite enough to defeat it. What do I do now? The Luminex was getting back up from it's wounds, all it wanted to tear apart was me now that I've made it angry. Despite it being angry, it was smart.
It grabbed a nearby tree and hurled it at me. It indeed was a fast and quick thinker. I ducked before getting hit, but when I moved away from my ducking position the Luminex was right in front of me ready to claw me. I jumped back. But bad news, it made scar a little under my eye by a tenth of an inch. I stepped took a step back, but I couldn't take anymore, as the fallen tree was behind me. I got an idea. I shot an Electricity Orb at the face of the Luminex. It covered it's face with it's paws and I casted a cloud beneath the Luminex that is big enough to lift it upward. I ran beneath the cloud that elevated the poor Luminex. It stopped muffling it's face to notice it was being lifted off the ground by a cloud by about twelve feet. The cloud shattered beneath it and the Luminex came for an unsafe landing. And that's when I launched my readied Unlimited Power spell as a finish-off. Success!
Special Message From the Author[]
This message was made early April.
It's been a long time since Cataclysmic has been updated. We've gotten to chapter 10, but it's still not the end! Cataclysmic isn't done yet!
For the next 20 chapters, we'll get more info on this, Malevolence, character, who has been narrating some parts of the story for some reason. Chapters are going to be longer from here on out now! I'm also going to be doing lot's of polishing, grammar fixes, neatening, and much more! The deeper we get into this, the more interesting and curious you'll get, I must say! Cataclysmic is a little bit redundant, I might be changing it's name some day. We've got a long way to do, and content that will get more interesting as we go on! I'm also probably going to modify some chapters for better experience.
Just to say, keep your eyes peeled for more content in Cataclysmic. Special chapters and more will be coming out!
Be hyped,
~TGP