Lore/Story Randomly Written Story X1

Some kind of short story involving a certain item called Cancer, written from the First Person POV of four different characters based on thoughts I have had for quite a few days--- Not really about how the item is formed, but rather a story involving it.
Edits:

Spoiler: Record :

#1 Now ensured to be light/dark theme friendly & corrected some grammar mistakes.
#2 Corrected more grammar mistakes, credits to @Poiu429 for the help.

Comments, Feedbacks and Advice would be nice as I am a pretty awful writer and this is my first attempt at writing stories.

Note and warning : Attempted horror/blood scene, please proceed with caution if you have decided to read this story. If you are not comfortable with the mentioned content, you are suggested to leave the thread alone--Though it is probably not frightening at all.



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Spoiler: POV 1- The First

Things are not looking nice for us...We have been running out of emeralds lately due to him being clumsy while trying to pull a prank on the flying pigeons and dropping his staff into some sort of pit. Magical items like wands cost a handful of fortune, and he has been mad at him because of that...But I don't really mind--As long as he is happy, I am happy.
He has been travelling together since we met each other at Ragni, and it has been a few years. I am the one who knows him best out of everyone here... Not that I am feeling proud, but it is something that I am more than happy about. It would have been nice if he had not joked around and resulting in losing his weapon however...
In order to keep going, we have been doing small chores around Thesead to gather enough emeralds and as much supplies possible, as Rodoroc, from the citizens' views, is a harsh place that is difficult to get through.
As for today, I am looking for jobs on the Request Board for my team again (with the approval from him). It usually has a lot of paper stuck onto it, people's request, ranging from easy jobs such as repairing roofs and delivering items to hard ones such as tracking down and arresting wanted men.
While flipping through the dull and fruitless requests, my eyes spotted a torn piece of paper in tarnished brown, mentioning something about retrieving a lost helmet in a certain dungeon. Not much description is written on it and the content being so terse that it is almost suspicious-- But my eyes land on the reward before I could stop it.
A full stack of Liquidfied Emeralds.
What in the world can cost this much? Would this be a difficult quest? Many questions pop up in my mind, but I decide to ignore them all and go for this request-- This is a once-in-a-lifetime chance and I am not going to miss this chance of being able to gain more revenue for our travelling fee, with the possibility of being rich, if the reward is even real. I tear the sheet of paper off from the wall and take it along with me. Hurrying to teammates who are standing by the potion store opposite to the Request Board, my heart is racing as I thought of the possibilities that we can have after collecting the reward.
What harm can this request of picking up a lost helmet bring, anyway?

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Spoiler: POV 2 - The Second

This is probably the 9th day we have been staying in Thesead. When we first arrived here, being poor and all, the Inn keeper was kind enough to let us stay. Though, he insisted that he cannot go into his inn, being a pigman-- He is the only one who has to sleep with the horses in the stable of the inn. I could remember laughing when he told us the ridiculous reason--That expression on the pigman's face was priceless.
In order to cheer him up, we have been letting him pick whatever chores we have to do during our time in Thesead, occationally disagreeing requests that is too dangerous or time-consuming. Mentioning the swineman, he is walking towards us with a paper in his hands (If that counts as hands.), almost with a cracking grin. He shows us the request he has picked, which I find hard to believe--Such a high reward for such an easy task...
I could sense a hint of danger, but I shake it off. The reward is attractive, and we have to get moving as soon as possible... We have been sticking around the Inn keeper without paying anything, and it makes me feel guilty.
If we stay alerted throughout the whole way, I believe that nothing bad will happen to us. Almost all of us agree to head to the mentioned dungeon. All except him. Always considering a lot of things and resulting in them arguing with each other a lot, which can be annoying sometimes. I eventually persuaded him by promising that I will keep everyone out of harm's way... Tough, but I will keep my promise.
It took us a while to arrive at the dungeon. Upon seeing the entrance, I nearly want to turn back and never return to this horrible place. Reddish-black stains and dismembered, rotten limbs can be seen around the cave and its inside, not to mention the viscous liquid lying on the ground... I tend to not imagine what can that pool of liquid be. I turn around and observe my squad. He is still being as cheerful and excited, he is with a nervous expression which can be easily seen despite his attempt of hiding it, and he... is urging me to turn back.
The decision is made. It is very possible that those limbs are just from some dead zombies. This is nothing that I should be afraid of, we have been through so much together... Just put more trust in me, I will lead you all through this awful dungeon and we will be rich.
I turn to the entrance and head inside, being first. I am the leader, and it is a leader's job to lead. I am going to bring you all through this... What is so scary about this dungeon that can force us to go back?

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Spoiler: POV 3 - The Third

The past few days have been boring as heck. All those small jobs here and there are far from enough for satisfying me. Well, at least not anymore, as we are now going to some sort of dangerous dungeon, isn't it? I have been wanting entertainment for so long, and oh boy, this is going to be sooo interesting...
I swing my new wand while walking in, hoping to get used to its weight before a fight--This is literally going to be my first time using a wand this expensive, but I am not regretting a single bit-- He said that we could afford it anyway.
As we walk deeper into the dark cave, I see that there are more and more of those dark spots I saw back at the entrance. For some reason, it reminds me of the Gate of Corruption we have seen near Nessak--The colour is just so farmiliar. This thought certainly brings me even more hype, as fighting and killing creatures of corruption is the best thing ever--They are easy to defeat, they fall for the simplest leg-pull tricks I do on the others 24/7, and most of all, killing them make us heroes. Sooo many advantages and not a single bad one.
On our way we have met quite a number of mobs, mostly zombies and slime along with some humanoid beasts. They are very fragile for some reason-- A single tap and they are dead. Something is looking off when I take a closer look however-- They all have those black and red spots on their body, despite the zombies being already dead and the rest being living creatures. The spots are all over their skin/body and some even grow and swell into large bumps-- It looks downright disgusting.
Something might be wrong, but I enjoy being a one-punch man being able to kill mobs easily so I pay no mind to it while we proceed further. The others do look worried, but I don't pay much mind to that-- They probably are just surprised by the abnormal appearance of the mobs here. Maybe it is because of this cave's dim light that makes the spots look weird.
The killing-the-mob part is short while we have to take a long walk down to the end of the cave-- It is almost empty, with only something that lies on the ground. He motions us to stay away first, not certain if this is a trap. I gaze at the helmet which is some meters away from us. It is an odd-looking helmet with sharp edges, emitting an eerie but weirdly welcoming red glow. Where the helmet lay is almost dyed of those Red and Black colours, but much dense than the ones outside, even more than the mobs. If this is the quest item, someone really did a great job designing this whole request-- The mobs are easily killable, the whole haunted atmosphere with the great details throughout the whole cave... If I am to rate this, I will certainly give this a full 10 out of 10 for being this awesome. Now, to get the item and pick up our reward!
I drop my wand and run up to the helmet, ignoring his warning and scoop up the helmet from the ground, proudly wearing it on my head. "I got it! Now let's--"
As I am talking, I suddenly feel odd-- It is as if your head is squeezed tightly and you start to feel dizzy. I attempt to take the helmet off-- But to my horror, realised that I can't. My hands feel weird as well-- Th-They are...Melting away!? Reddish-black spots are starting to grow out from my hands, and the flesh is slowly melting to a liquidfied state and dripping onto the ground... I panicked and cry out, yet realise that I can't talk, and the pain from the head is slowly spreading through my body. What kind of witchery is this?! It just hurts so much...But won't stop...
He is throughly shocked and paralized by fear, while they rush over to my side... I reach out my hand to him, but my vision slowly turns black and I fall to the ground as something comes out from the helmet.
I don't know what is going on, but I can hear his scream, then his, and eventually...His. Some drops of warm liquid fall onto my face, but I can't even function my brain to think what that is.
...Everything goes terrifyingly silent afterwards.
D-did...Did they all die? Did I do this to them? W-what is this helmet?
I can't think of anything else as I feel that myself is slowly melting away-- I can no longer feel my hands.
Why do I wear the Helmet anyway? ...If I did not wear it, what would have happened instead?
Everything is turning black...
...

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Spoiler: POV 4 - The Fourth

Pain. That is all that I can tell when I opened my eyes. I find myself lying in an oddly-looking cave, with reddish-black dots all over the place. My head feels like it is bashed up, but I can bear with that.
I struggle to stand up with the help of the spear that was lying next to me as I almost fall while trying to do so, and it takes a few tries to gain balance. I raise my head and look around, attempting to find an exit. It is only when I look behind myself that I know I am not alone--Or was. Around two to three bodies are lying right behind my original position, with one corroded to barely bones, almost beyond recognition. I don't even have to confirm if they are still living, they are obviously dead.
One of them looks like a pigman in a purple cape which is almost torn into pieces, his lower body is disconnected from his upper torso, revealing his backbone and some intestine within the body. It is odd that it has the similar reddish-black spots of the cave on its skin. A large pool of blood is at where the corpse is lying so I probably was not out long since it has no signs of turning solid. I place my steps carefully to avoid the organs laying freely on the ground and observe the other coprse.
The other one takes form of a human and is laying face-down on the hard ground--That is, if he--Or she, had a head. Their once-head is merely a pile of liquid-like flesh mixed with disfigured bone pieces and crimson blood pouring out from the corpse. The corpse also has the reddish-black dots on its skin, but the bow it was carrying on its back is what catches my eye. It is a nicely-made green wooden bow with detailed carvings on it. I collect it from the corpse and carry it on my back-- The owner won't be needing the bow anymore, anyway.
The last corpse is almost fleshless and only bones can be seen-- And they are even black. Worried that I might be infected with the same kind of odd dots, I look through myself and whatever I have with me. Intriguing enough, I don't seem to have what those corpses have on them; Only a pretty large hole is on the upper left of my chest, where the supposed wound is not bleeding at all. Did something pierce through my flesh, if that is what happened?
Apart from that, the skull is wearing some sort of menacing Helmet which gives off an obnoxious vibe. Whoever that was wearing this must have been really unlucky. I walk up to the almost-skeleton and smash the Helmet into pieces, along with the skull.
Decided that there is nothing left to do, I give the corpses one last glance and proceed to the exit. I am certain that the Nature will handle them. If not, whatever lives in this cave will. Maybe I should start by looking for some civilisation to figure out where I am once I get out of this bloody place.
I don't feel sorry for them at all. I don't know who those corpses are, or even myself. They are dead and there is nothing I can do-- I am obligated to do.
Am I supposed to feel bad for them or something?

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---The End---

Ty for reading through the whole story.
Please leave comments/feedback as said above so I can improve on this! ;-;
Thank you again for spending your time on reading this.
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Holy Crap
That was awesome

 

D: its hard to read without names

 

Thank you very much! But I wonder if you can give me a feedback or two qwq

If you look closely, I have used this to distinguish a character with their own colour. You will be able to figure out who is who by checking which colour is missing from one's POV.

 

That was the best thing I've read on the forums in a long, long time. I was always intrigued with the cancer helmet, and I thought about writing a backstory based around it once or twice - but I can't beat this. Excellent work.

 

Thank you very much for the comment. This story was a pretty random idea that I got when I was reading through the item guide and found the lore of Cancer so I am glad that it didn't turn out as bad as I expected.
If you ever do write a backstory regarding the helmet, I would be more than happy to read it since there aren't much stories about those.

 

If you're looking for stuff written by me in general, just check out the first link in my signature (won't spoil it till you read it, but it was my first ever project on the forums that had been going for about 2-ish years).

 

Slight bump for this. Needs feedback so maybe I can use some advice in my english composition examination.

 

Mind if I be a grammar Nazi?

This part just seems... off. I don't really know how to explain it... it's just off. Like a writing instinct or something.

"In order to go on."
"In order to move on."
"To keep going."

*Supplies

As for today, I am looking for jobs on the Request Board for my team again (with the approval from him). It usually has a lot of paper stuck on it - people's requests, ranging from easy jobs such as repairing roofs and delivering items to hard ones, such as tracking down and arresting wanted men.

*Tarnished

*Retrieving

I think this word should be replaced with "scarce." I feel like a lot of people aren't familiar with the word "terse," and as such may associate it with "tense."

*Once

In the context, the "and" is unnecessary.

Be more descriptive... did the person walk? Run? Jog? Stumble? Wobble? Lumber?

The "to" is unnecessary, in my opinion. Of course, another person may prefer it - it's not incorrect.

Why is helmet capitalized? The characters don't know what the helmet is... and "Helmet" is not a name.

 

Thank you very much for the grammar correction! English is not my native language so I still have a lot to learn about that. Apart from the grammar mistakes, may I know whether the story's presentation is alright (That being if it is fluent or is confusing) ?