[SilkenDragon]

username: SilkenDragon
fable name: Sorghum
prompt: There was an emerald serpent born in the desert that possessed an insatiable hunger and could disguise itself as anything. It spent each and every day thinking of ways to to catch prey, using its ability to save on energy by crafting the scales on its tail into lures.
Under the desert sun, it feigned spider's legs to lure birds into striking range. When the snake could no longer stand the taste of feathers, it fashioned its scales into worms and hooks, and dipped its tail into the sea to catch fish. When the snake was sick of their slimy texture, it molded its scales into sticks and leaves, then coiled under itself in the forest to wait for rabbits. When the scent of blood grew so heavy that no creature dared approach, it went to the desert to wash itself in the sand, then went to catch birds…
The snake continued this cycle for a long time, but nothing could satisfy it for long. This was until a dragon flying overhead saw the snake’s jeweled scales, and overcome by greed, the dragon dove to catch the serpent and clad its teeth in emerald green. But the snake was so hungry that even as it hung half-dead from the dragon’s maw, it could not help but reach out its fangs and bury them into the dragon’s throat. The dragon, caught off guard, could not free itself from the serpent’s bite no matter how it fought, and not long after, the snake found itself granted its first taste of magic and miraculously cleared of that desperate hunger.
The snake was instantly enamored by that power, and, remembering the dragon’s greed, began work on it’s finest lure. To disguise its scent, it gathered jade and gold. To disguise its form, it forged gold into a body and carved jade into limbs, all sewn together with enchanted thread. Finally, to disguise its approach, it began to walk among fablekind.

[kaisisles]

no.88 - wuyi | kaisisles 444424




???: ah, it's you again. come, let's find you a table.




???: what's that? oh, the gentleman you saw last time. yes, he's a regular. he always sits there.




???: ...kids these days. if you want to know what happened to him, you should ask yourself.




???: why don't you play a hand with him? i'll put it on the house.




thirteen tiles on the table, and four neat rows splayed across the table. you don't particularly know how to play this game yet, but looking at the stoic expressions of the stranger across from you and the two elders on either side, you feign experience and hope that they don't catch on to your confusion as you grab and cast at random...


...



???: how did it go, kid? got what you wanted?




???: i see. same time tomorrow, then. until you know all that you set out to learn.




and maybe you will learn of the things that are better left behind, especially to a person for whom time has lost all meaning




(perms granted to re-upload images)

[FluffyBirdie]

username: FluffyBirdie
fable name: Dionesia is his full name - "Dio" for the fable and "Ness" for the snake
prompt:

"Heard you're moving. Seeking treasure?"

"Yeah, I'm headed to Daphasus. There's a gold rush happening there, and I want in on the action."

"Daphasus?"

"You really haven't heard?"

"I'm an old bloke, can't keep up with all the chatter you kids get up to. What's there?"

"A creature was spotted there, so there's a rush to hunt it. Heard its got coins like scales across its entire body, and a snake for a tail!"

"Oh, like Wealth."

"Exactly! I doubt its the god himself though, as it just runs away when people find it. Must be just a blessing from him to give one lucky bloke three generations of wealth though. I heard gold just flakes off the thing, with a gold horn and hooves, golden fur, and its eyes are solid yellow - I think that creature is made of pure gold. Its hard to track though, despite leaving expensive glitter around. Its bright colour should be a dead giveaway in a forest, I bet light just shines off it. I heard they managed to surround the entire forest, so it can't escape - we just need to search through the woods to find it."

"Sounds like easy pickings, then. Huh, if I were younger, I might have joined. You reckon the coins grow back?"

"I hope so. That'd be like money growing on a tree. I heard a man caught it once, but he was too excited, and pulled some coins out instead of killing it first, so the thing managed to escape. Apparently he said the creature bled red and the coins were just normal scales that looked like coins, so he left the hunt. I'm willing to bet those coins were real though, and he just left to cash it in and lied about it. Others said its got some green on it instead of a solid yellow colouration, but so many have said the opposite too. I think misinformation is being spread since they want to dissuade more people from joining the rush. The green must just be from the forest around it. Why would Wealth give us anything but a solid gold creature?"

"I reckon you're right. What creature happens to be born appearing like our god?"

"Exactly. The chances of that are next to impossible. Even the gold snake would be enough to buy a village."

"Well, when you shoot that thing, make sure you come back to buy me a beer, ay?"

"Haha, of course! I'm not about to forget where I'm from. Wish me luck, old man."

"Go kill that thing, son."

[SaltyBirb]

✧ FABLE #88 WINNERS ANNOUNCEMENT ✧
Thanks so much for your patience, everyone! We're finally back with winners on hand!
We were going nuts in our DMs trying to choose the main winners because each of your forms was amazingly done.
After a bunch of brainstorming and some unhinged notes, we finally have the final winners!! YIPPEE!!
___________________________________________________________________

We’d like to award all the completed forms who didn’t win with a ticket 🎟️, these are:
♔Voltaire♔, ylesia, the legend leg, Joke's On You, SpawnofMagick, Kamiluna,
Ucanthandleme, Toffi~, literal.swag., SilkenDragon, and FluffyBirdie !

✧ Voltaire – Beautifully written horror, musicals as inspiration is such a good idea, there is so much palpable emotion (despair;;) in your writing that fits the vibes of the lyrics too!
✧ ylesia – Ba tried to kill She AYOO 👀very interesting how the owl seems to be the one maintaining an established order! ho-ho-ho
✧ the legend leg – Beautifully written story with a change in POV, the signature looks like the fable and the snake too? Super cute detail!
✧ Jokes On You – Liked the concept with the fable being a protector/god to the land + connected to the land itself where their physical appearance is based on the current state of it!
✧ SpawnofMagick – Great writing, reads like a medieval hero story which is oddly heartwarming too~
✧ Kamiluna – The magic description is such a unique take, the two joining forces for shared knowledge!
✧ Ucanthandleme – The intro was very strong explaining his motives later on in the poem! And aw yeah revenge, get her Alvah
✧ Toffi~ – A nice start that lends to worldbuilding with mythical creatures, even at their victory against them the curse lingers on!
✧ literal.swag. – Really liked the last paragraph as a comparison of fate vs. free will/sin committed, makes us want to read more about his life after rebirth!
✧ SilkenDragon – Reads like, well, a fable! The idea of the serpent using its scales to craft lures is really cool~
✧ FluffyBirdie – Such fun dialogue from unknown characters that reads like the 1st act of a play, the ending gives it a darker twist too

___________________________________________________________________

Since this was super hard to decide, we have three RUs! They will be going to:
✧ chromatic. ✧
A very unique creation in terms of art and the song choice adds to Nyoka’s story,
we loved how you draw intense emotions, a great use of the fable’s red accessories too
as seen on Nyoka’s mother and wrapped around the sword!

✧ Northstar. ✧
The balance of humorous dialogue with Luatha’s life and death situation is written really well,
it got us hooked from the start like wdym eulogy??! Overall a really fun entry that caught our eye
since the start of judging, we’d like to see how he’s going to continue living with a snake tail joining
the party just because he fumbled tying the rope lol!

✧ kaisisles ✧
The background in the art is ambiguous at first, but the writing hints to Wuyi being an immortal,
and things began to make sense; from joining their comrades in war to losing them and refinding purpose?
We really liked the art + the story it tells!

We plan to cater the RUs’ designs to your entries a bit more, please PM either of us with
the design direction for your RU and an element to keep, etc. and we will begin working!
___________________________________________________________________

And without further ado, the winner is ...
✧ Melonbread ✧
We thought your story encapsulated the fable’s visual traits in such a thorough way!
The snake sharing her spine to the injured Liujin was an excellent way to explain the snake
being fused to the tail and explains the back scar, and the action scene writing was thrilling to read.
The progression of the story marked by the moon phases (and the part where they’re absent
from the story is the only one that doesn’t describe the scenery) was really clever as well.
Congratulations and take good care of Liujin!

Seriously excellent writing from everyone, we really loved how each one of you took
a rather different story direction and hope these concepts have aided your worldbuilding nevertheless!

[BlueEyedKite]

Congratulations Melonbread! And congratulations to the RUs! I didn't enter c: but I read every entry! Look, I got some commentary:

@chromatic.
I can’t believe you made a whole video montage. I loved the art. I loved the story. I got chills at 1:01. Then I got chills again at 1:58. I am gobsmacked. Amazing. Wonderful job.

@Northstar.
I sympathize with Luatha. If I was stuck and dying because of my own, dumb choices I’d talk to myself too. I know me, I need the company lol. ’And then, in the distance, the sounds of the behemoth slithering.’ I gasped! You know though ;.; there is something beautiful about the broken egg, two souls that couldn’t make it in the world on their own. But together. That is beautiful. Also Luatha is hilarious.

@ Melonbread
Your prose is beautiful. I envy it. In so few words you can convey so much about the “wandering warrior” and the snake. “No, but it can't be so different from biting a rabbit.” I snorted at this line xD hah! ‘If ever a snake could shed tears, it was that snake, on that road, under that moon.’ And this sentence made me tear up T.T nooooo! What a cool backstory. I love it to bits. Bravo!

@ ♔Voltaire♔
Um. Wow. I had to read your entry twice. It’s beautifully written, and my gosh is it heavy. Ah, so this will not be a happy union ^^; I am very interested to see how this Fable and his new curse will navigate the future!

@ ylesia
I love how the snake draws out sss’s. It’s my favorite trope for snake OCs. I approve! Ba is pragmatic, a logical thinker, keeps on moving, me too ^^ The snake cracks me up. Oh sure, let’s be friends lol. I love their back-and-forth chats. Hilarious.

@ the legend leg
What a heartbreaking story :c you have a way with words. I really felt for Neirin. I hope this new form provides him with a better life.

@ Joke's On You
Oh! The founding Fable! I love your idea for the Fable world. I was sad when Hetsu became a tree OnO but at least there is hope of seeing them again. Although, a state of emergency doesn’t sound like the best welcome party…

@ SpawnofMagick
Ryu, I feel you. I get wanting to shed what makes you unique to blend in with everyone else. I’m glad those differences were embraced, in the end. Felt like I watched a movie! You packed so much in. I enjoyed it!

@ Kamiluna
This read almost like a poem to me. Your voice is artistic in a way I don’t see often. A collision of worlds. What a cool backstory!

@ Ucanthandleme
Oh, no. Oh, no, that poor baby! When I started to gather what was happening I wanted to slow down the story. Aw, the poor thing. I did not see the twist that he feels no physical pain. Wild. If someone could make a wish to a genie that they felt no pain, you’d think it would be a blessing. I didn’t really make the connection: pain and feeling alive. Huh. Your entry definitely got me thinking.

@ Toffi~
I have never heard of a Nue, or if you made that up, but I was enthralled! That battle was intense. The snake as a curse is interesting to me. I have a Fable with a curse, but I can’t imagine a life where the curse is sentient. I wonder what that looks like in the Fable’s day to day?

@ literal.swag.
I love a good villain origin story. Your prose is out of this world, by the way. I almost felt bad for Cormac, by the end, almost.

@ SilkenDragon
A shape-shifting snake, that is an original take. Oh! And the snake is actually the main character! That’s pretty clever. You’re the only entry that went that route. Very nice!

@ kaisisles
I had to shield my eyes when I first loaded your art. My Gosh! It’s stunning! I keep coming back to try and find something new. Impressed is an understatement.

@ FluffyBirdie
This is the only entry where the Fable is the subject of conversation. I like the implications. But can you trust rumors? What is the real deal with the Fable with the snake tail? I have my doubts. Also I hope they are not killed ;.;

[Toffi~]

Thank you so much on the fedback on my Story! and aaaaaah i am so happy about my 2nd Ticket <3

@BlueEyedKite a Nue is a legendary Yokai, a Demon in japanese culture so to say c:
And they do have a Snake tail too, so i thought it'd be fitting

[BlueEyedKite]

@Toffi~
Oh! That is cool! And is fitting c: thank you for sharing. I learned something new today ^^

[Melonbread]

?! Ah?! What an incredibly lovely surprise, thank you so much! I'm so glad that people liked my writing; it's a crazy honor when stacked up against all the other incredible entries! I'll cherish these two for sure, thank you!

And huge congrats to RU and ticket winners as well; I really enjoyed looking through everyone's work, and truly admire the creativity on display ^^

@BlueEyedKite
haha I really appreciate it! I actually tend to be a really wordy writer when left to my own devices, but I ended up making a lot of edits to trim the entry down to a more manageable length. I'm super happy to hear that I managed to convey the personalities of the characters efficiently!

[Kamiluna]

COngrats to all the winners, RUs and Hms. <3 It was truly a lot of fun to see all of the entries for this one~

EDit* I thought this was already part of it- I suppose I should sleep more. But thank you so much for the comments on my own entry. I do appreciate it. <3

I do tend to veer towards poetic themes so it makes me very glad to know it comes through.~

[ylesia]

Congrats @Melonbread! I really loved your entry, great writing and great story! I really love the "it can't be so different from biting a rabbit" part, that little things make the characters real.

And @chromatic. we all wrote a story and you come up with not just a piece of art but a video?! I saw it and that was amazing, I can't even imagine the time it took you. Congrats on the RU!

And congrats to all other RU and tickets winner, it was a thought competition for sure!