Vemocleus Posted December 27, 2013 Posted December 27, 2013 Has Anyone seen my mind? I can't seem to find it anywhere... *** Vemocleus was the first to arrive at the enormous garden. A grand table had been prepared beforehand, and all manner of tea and cakes were arranged in a pleasant way upon it. Slowly making his way from seat to seat, taking in the sights of the garden and the smells of the cakes, he found at last a seat that he decided to take for himself. Settling himself in his comfortable new chair, he wasted no time in pouring himself a cup of tea (with lemon of course). It was about this time when Vemocleus arrived. But this was not the same Vemocleus, no, no. Of course not. Two Vemocleus' (Vemoclei?) at once? Preposterous! Though this Vemocleus does indeed look completely identical to the previous Vemocleus, this Vemocleus is the Vemocleus from 5 minutes ago. You could almost sense the 5 minutes worth of life experiences he was missing. As the Vemocleus from 5 minutes ago arrived and began selecting a seat at the gigantic table, the Vemocleus from next week arrived himself. An entire week of experiences ahead of the other two! What mysteries lie in store for them in that next week? Well, sworn to secrecy, due to time parodoxes and all that, the other Vemocleus' were forbidden to ask, and he, forbidden to tell. One by one, more began to arrive at the boundlessly large tea party/secret council. There were Vemoclei from all over the timeline, and even more from completely different timelines entirely. Those who had made different decisions in his life. There was one who never moved away from home, and one who ordered a very different breakfast that morning! Truly, even though all those in attendance were in fact Vemocleus, one could not argue against the fact that they were all vastly and incredibly different. At last all of them had arrived, taken their seats, and enjoyed the tea and cakes to their fullest extent. All the while they were chattering amongst themselves rather aimlessly, until a hush fell upon the guests starting from the head of the table. Their gracious host, Vemocleus, who had created this temporal pocket for them to all gather at, had stood up, and was preparing to give a speech of some sort. Volunteers down the table stood up as well, in order to relay the speech down the impossibly long table in a chain of yelling. "Welcome, my fellow selves!", said their host in a merry manner. "I have gathered you here from across space and time for a single purpose! ...To share tales!" At this, many of those in attendance visibly relaxed and breathed sighs of relief. Some had suspected they may soon be forced in a fight to the death. At this much more upbeat announcement however, the Vemocleus' gave an approving applause and awaited further words, which Vemocleus was only too eager to provide. "Who amongst us would care to be the first to share a tale with us today?" This question caused many of the Vemoclei to begin scratching their chins in order to think of a worthy tale to tell. Of course, as the information had to pass down the line, those closest to the host had much more time to think about it. In short time, a Vemocleus from the head table stood up and declared he had a story to share. "Has anyone heard the story of the 'Lumberjack and the Magic Axe'?", he asked. When those around them shook their heads to reveal an obvious 'no', Vemocleus continued. "Well then, that's the tale I will share today!" And so he began the story of "The Lumberjack and the Magic Axe": Long ago, in the northern lands, there lived a lumberjack. Despite coming from a long line of lumberjacks, the man was not very gifted in his trade. His strength and ability was well below most of his fellow lumberjacks. This fact would often leave him frustrated. For example, the eligible ladies of his town were already taken by the more strong and skilled workers. They also would recieve the best of any other thing the town had to offer, and the lumberjack would barely get by with what he made. As he often would, one night the lumberjack complained of his situation to no one in particular at a local pub. "I'm in dire straights, I tell ya!" cried the lumberjack over his drink, partially inebriated. "If I can't improve the rate I cut down trees, I don't know what I'll do!" On this particular night, he is overheard by a crafty merchant, who quickly offers to alleviate the lumberjack's situation. Sidling up to the lumberjack, he speaks helpful words in a soothing tone. "In my possession is an axe of a most peculiar magical quality," he tells the lumberjack. "This axe, when left next to the trees which you need cut, will chop down the trees all by itself overnight!" The lumberjack was of course suspicious of any "magical" properties an axe could possibly possess, and so doubted the merchant's story. But the merchant assured the lumberjack that he was so confident in the axe that he wouldn't charge the merchant until the next day, when the magic had been proven effective. Unable to resist the allure of an axe that could chop down trees without effort, and a deal with no obligation, the lumberjack agreed to the merchant's offer. Immediately after being lent the axe, the lumberjack went straight to the forest and chose out a tree to test the axe on. Finding a large one with a suitably thick trunk, he leaned the axe against the tree and returned home to let the tool perform its magic overnight. At last, the first warm rays of dawn awoke the lumberjack, and he headed to the tree after dressing and eating a meager breakfast. He was unsure of what he would find, but had great doubts that anything had changed after merely leaving the axe next to a tree... And indeed when he did arrive back at that tree, he found the axe precisely where he had left it, leaning against the tree which was not cut down. What caught him by surprise, however, was that the tree had several axe-blade sized chunks missing out of it, as though he had taken the axe and swung it at the tree several times. Unsure of what to make of this, the lumberjack decided to take the axe back into town and ask the merchant. He found the merchant easily enough, and when he spoke to the merchant about what had transpired over the night, he simply nodded in understanding. He believed he had a solution to the lumberjack's problem. The merchant told him that there was a sacred ritual he could perform in order to strengthen the magic in the axe against the spirits that resisted its power in some of the older and more powerful trees. But such a ritual would be costly, and he would have to collect the money first this time. The lumberjack took a few moments to think. He had little money on hand to offer the merchant, and the axe did not exactly perform to his expectations the first time. But the merchant guaranteed that the tree would fall in one more night or he would give the money back the following day. Unable to resist such an offer, sure in the fact that the axe's magic had been more or less proved, and wanting to see the magic axe work to full effect, the lumberjack agreed and went home. He gathered whatever valuables he could find and returned to town in order to pawn them for gold. As he saw it, the axe would quickly make him enough money to get his belongings back. Giving him the hefty sum of gold, the lumberjack recieved the newly re-magicked tool from the merchant. The powerful item excited him, and he couldn't wait to see it perform. He swiftly made his way past the town and into the forest to the very same tree from before. The axe was placed right up against the tree, and the lumberjack went about his day and night, eager to see the effect in the morning. And when again, at last, the light of the sun woke the lumberjack, he prepared himself as usual and headed into the woods to the very same spot, hoping to see the tree felled at last. In this, he was not disappointed. When he came to the tree in question, he was ecstatic to see that it had indeed been cut, and the axe was lying on the ground next to the large fallen tree. Not only this, but nearby to the axe was a bag of gold! The lumberjack had no idea why there was a bag of gold here, or where it could possibly have come from, but seeing as no one was around to claim it, he scooped up the gold and the axe and rushed to the village, hoping to thank the merchant for this grand prize axe. Unfortunately, no matter where he searched, the merchant was nowhere to be found. After a time of searching, the lumberjack simply shrugged his shoulders and got back to his business as usual, eager to see the axe work it's magic again that night. However, the lumberjack's magic axe would never work again, much to his dismay. Nor would the town ever see the merchant alive again, for he was very dead. The merchant's last thoughts were something along the lines of: "I suppose this wasn't the proper way to cut down a tree after all..." before he was crushed. And to this day, the magic axe is passed along the lumberjack's line, awaiting the day for its powers to return. The End. Quote
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.