[kanadensis]

I - The Magician
manifestation, resourcefulness, power, inspired action

"Balance in all things."
The reader mumbles as they glance over your cards, a glint of recognition in their eyes.
"Well, it seems you already have everything you need to move forward - all the elements are on your side. You need only take the first step, friend."

This kalon came seeking guidance, but it seems they already have everything they need to succeed! Unfortunately, something is holding them back...

This kalon has a goal in mind - what is it? And what's holding them back from trying to achieve it?
You have up to 500 words, and extras (e.g. art, prettying up) are allowed, but will not influence my final decision. Creativity and storytelling are the most important factors!

This contest will close on Sunday, December 5th at 23:59 CS time!

Code: Select all

user:
kalon name:
prompt (500 words max.):


Edits:
[S] shine, hair
[C] tail, long fur
[U] ears, short fur, pupils, tongue
[NR] sclera
design under hair (i.e. bald child)

[Sadcat]

user: CatOwU
kalon name: Kaenghora
prompt (500 words max.):
How does one protect someone that does not wish to be protected?
Kaenghora does not know.
She wishes she knew, but alas there is no response.
It's impossible to complete the mission whispered in the final breath of her master.
The queen refuses to have someone to protect her life, and has exiled the magician for insisting.
What is she meant to do know?
Surely she's not going to give up that easily, right? She has a promise to fulfill, after all.

[Cyrano]

user: s-simplicity
kalon name: Era
prompt (500 words max.):

[SilentMelody]

user: SilentMelody
kalon name:
prompt: (500 words max.)

[strawberrymwilk]

user: strawberrymwilk
kalon name: Divya
prompt:

Divya had one goal in mind her whole life. To leave.
It’s all she ever wanted. Her little town was too small for her. She loved her parents and siblings of course. She had a friend or too even. Yet no matter what she did, no matter how hard she tried to fit in with the rest she always felt she was stuck observing the town from the outside. Divya was always just a bit too weird. She ended up blurting out whatever was on her mind at random situations, couldn’t comfort people in their times of need, and didn’t know how to deal with the younger children. Nothing Divya excelled at would give her any purpose in her town.
Yet Divya was good with adventuring and survival. She could head out into the wilderness and live off the land. Which is exactly what she wanted to do. Dreams of unseen places clouded her every thought. But just one thing was holding her back.
Piper. Her childhood friend and lover. Everything that Divya, wasn’t, Piper was. She was good with kids and the other townsfolk. They loved her. Piper wanted a life Divya never could have. She wanted the two of them to stay in their town, raise some kids, grow old there. This was Divyas last tie to her home. The last one she needed to cut off in order to follow her dreams. But no matter how many times she tried she couldn’t. The two had known each other their whole lives, Divya couldn’t imagine a life without Piper.
She knew she couldn't keep living this life. One day she would have to choose what she wanted. But for now she would continue to stay by Pipers side and pretend this was the life she yearned for.

[299 words]

[altiora]

ALTIORA - PINE

Even when she had long since passed the boundaries of the town, she still heard the haunting sound of the sick children crying.

She traversed the thick forests as the crimson sun took its last moments to gaze through the canopy. The peaks of the conifer trees turned black in contrast to the strong light, but were outlined in glowing silhouettes, emerald green and seemingly luminescent, throwing dancing shadows to the ground that the kalon bounded through. The Kalon's name was Pine, and she ran with a desperate, fearful fervour underneath the protective branches of her namesake.

She wasn't running away; any second now, she knew for certain, the children of the town would stop crying. Not out of the once feared certain outcome that had laid an oppressive blanket of misdirected fear-fuelled blame and depression upon all residents - instead, they would just not have any reason to cry. No more pain or upset, the eradication of that strange infection that affected only the children. No doubt, the towns relief would be palpable at the reassuring gentle snores from the young that had been, until now, denied the healing restoration of sleep. She, Pine, the strange apprentice to the Elder Spirit, unwilling participant in rumours and myths, would be finally hailed as a hero to those that once mistrusted her.

It should be such relief. A fulfilment, a sense of pride or at least finality of reaching a place of community she had always longed for.

Instead.

Instead, like a toxin running through her veins, she was filled with grief, with multifaceted guilt, that dragged and moved her faster through the thicket.

See, at the start of the calamity, healer at heart as she is, Pine immediately began searching for the cure. With science and spirit, she collected ferns and mushrooms, roots and flowers, brewed them in morning dew. Seasoned with dust of various minerals, purified under sun, moon and fire, she experimented endlessly - until as time passed, she saw her guardian, her teacher, begin to wither and frail.

The Elder Spirit, the one she was privy to call Elder Oak, was once bold and bright, so grounded and irrefutable and eternally youthful. Yet one night, she slept for the first time in an eon, and the wind whispered the secret Elder Oak couldn't bear to reveal. The nature of the Elder Spirit is that of the natural cycle - as one Spirit Becomes, their predecessor Falls, as autumn and winter makes way for spring.

Pine had slowed in pursuit of her goal, trapped between the sacrifice, until eventually she accepted that the choice had already been made. Guilty of the delay, guilty she didn't delay more - she put the cure in the water supply, and then ran back to the forest, because there was one more thing to try.

The cure was a magnificent thing, concentrated to a few drops - a general cure, a specific hope.

Pine hoped she wasn't too late.

[Zephara]

Hmm hmm what a lovely kal.

[SolarSam]

user: SolarSam
kalon name: Morgan
prompt (500 words max.): (484 words)

"I'm sorry, I- I can't." Morgan grit out, struggling to keep their balance. There was a heavy sigh from beside them.
"This is your third try, Morgan. I'm not sure the council will allow you another."
They winced, avoiding the gaze of their teacher. "I know, I'm sorry. I've tried, you know I have, it's just-"
Sterling tsk-ed disapprovingly. "Now now, you know I'm not fond of excuses."
He gently touched their front paws, breaking the half-formed spell they had been desperately trying to complete for the last half hour. He sighed again. "It's alright, I'll try to talk to the overseer. I'm sure she'll be able to put in a good word for you."
He smiled, probably trying to be encouraging, but Morgan could tell it was a brittle, put-on little thing. He was worried about them. Everyone was.
Their teacher gave their paw one last pat, then stood up to leave the room. He stopped in the open doorway for a second and turned around to face them, saying: "you have everything you need to complete the ritual, you know. I firmly believe that you can do this." Then he left, closing the door behind him.
Morgan was left to ponder why they had failed yet again alone. They had prepared so well this time, staying up long nights to practice with other students and occasionally with Sterling if he had the time. He was right, they really did have everything they needed - they knew the words to the spell by heart, and they had repeated the accompanying movements so many times that they would likely never be able to forget them again.
So what, than, could possibly be holding them back?

______________________________

Morgan stormed into their room, immediately throwing themself onto their bed. They groaned loudly and barely resisted the urge to bury their head in their pillows and scream. Instead, they turned over on their back, staring at the ceiling in frustration.
When it didn't give them the answers they were looking for, they glanced at the perfectly-made bed on the other side of the room, dejected. It belonged to their roommate, but she hadn't slept in it in months - ever since she had completed the ritual and become a fully fledged mage, she had been off doing - doing...
Morgan didn't actually know what exactly she was doing. And that was the problem, wasn't it? They didn't know.
All their teachers kept telling them they would find out their "true purpose" after completing the ritual, but the fear of what exactly this purpose entailed was stopping them from doing just that.
Their gaze, which had been wandering idly around the room during their musings, caught on a worn-out book in the corner of the room, half hidden underneath a pile of notes. Its title read "Communication spells" in faded gold lettering.
Well. They knew just how to face that fear head-on.

[SilhouetteStation]

mark

[rab1es]

user:
kalon name:
prompt (500 words max.):

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