The Nome
Korrant hadn’t visited Malakai in what seemed like forever. But since he was anyway near the West Woods, he decided to take a little detour to check on his old friend.
As he entered the court yard, Korrant saw Malakai speaking to a young man on the far end. He started walking toward them. “I like what you’ve done with the place!” he yelled.
Malakai turned and when he saw who it was, a wide grin immediately came across his face. “Hey, what’s up, Nome?” he answered back.
Korrant looked around and nodded his head approvingly. “The last time I was here, it was just a farm. But look at it now, a bustling community. You have 20-foot walls, watchtowers, and everything. I thought the guards weren’t even going to let me in.”
“Yeah, it helps keep the marauders out. Not a single successful raid on us since we completed the walls. Not cheap though. I had to make a deal with Madame Sparrow for extra resources and security but it was worth it.”
Korrant finally reach Malakai and they shook hands heartily. “Impressive! How have you grown so quickly? It hasn’t been that long since I was last here, has it?”
“Well, I’ve been lucky. Most of my spawns have stayed and we’ve also taken in quite many refugees from the North. Everyone’s been great and we share everything: the work, the resources, the property. Anyway, speaking of the North, how is it up there?”
“Pretty bad,” Korrant replied. “Most of the large communities have fallen. Many have fled Southward, as you know. Others have banded together in smaller gangs. The strong prey on the weak. It’s lawless chaos. By the way, who’s this young man?”
“Oh, sorry, this is Barton, one of my recent spawns. He’s been great, a fast learner, good contributor, and has a good grasp already of how things work here in the Nth.”
Korrant extended a hand toward Barton. “What’s up, Barton? I’m Korrant. You’re lucky to have Malakai here as your parent.”
Barton looked confused. “I thought your name was Nome.”
Both Korrant and Malakai laughed. “Nome is short for nomad,” Malakai explained. “He roams the land, never staying in one place for too long. Nomes usually join groups and communities for short periods of time, observing the people, their customs, interactions, and social structure.”
Barton’s eyes lit up. “Really? That’s fascinating! Please tell me more.”
It was Korrant’s turn to explain. “Well, it can be very fascinating. You get to meet many different types of people, see how they choose to live their lives in the Nth. You’ll be surprised at how varied in can be. But being a nomad can be dangerous too. I’ve had my fair share of NDE’s.”
“NDE’s?” Barton asked.
“Near death experiences,” Korrant answered. “With people, you just never know. Being a nomad isn’t for everyone.”
At this point, Malakai interjected. “Hey, why don’t we finish up the work on this shed? We can then continue this discussion over dinner. Korrant, we could use your help too. C’mon.”
During dinner, Korrant entertained Malakai, Barton, and others at the table with stories of his adventures. How he was there during the fall of New Manila, one of the largest communities in the North. How he rolled for a while with the Outsiders, a band of marauders in the Northeast. And much more.
Korrant stayed on at Malakai’s commune helping out in any way he could. A week later, he said his goodbyes and left. With him, was his new apprentice, Barton.
This fictional short story is submitted as an entry to the Nth Society writing competition - imagine the world.
The photo above was taken in Kyoto, Japan (April 2004).
Well this gives us all a run for the money!
:)
Bloody brilliant I'd say.
xox
Thanks! I really enjoyed writing it. I was on the fence on whether or not to submit an entry and I need to confess that I was actually inspired by your entry. It helped push me over the edge.
Happy to be of use :)
!
Good fortune be yours.
xox
Aww. I want to read on :) That was so lovely written. Should check out the other entries from the contest. Sounds like a fun one. Awesome little read. Got all my cents <3
Thank you! It was fun to write. I was really getting into it but then I noticed the word count. Max 600 words for the contest so I thought "Uh-oh, time to wrap this up." Maybe I'll revisit this world later and try to explore it.
I love your writing, it's so interesting and full of life with your descriptions. Keep up the good work!
Thanks for the nice words! I've never really written fiction before but compliments like yours are very encouraging. I hope to write more fiction from now on.
thank you for your entry
That's it? A man came to the place he was before. And? You've got to be kidding.
Yeah, there wasn't really a story as such. For the contest, I wanted to describe the world of Nth Society. My method was to write something that would read like an excerpt from a bigger story. But if it didn't work, fair enough.
Any suggestions on how I could've better tackled the contest goals? I don't really write fiction so all comments are welcome.
Well, I don't know what was the assignment and I have no idea what the Nth society is. My suggestion will be to write an actual story. Something should happen to the characters for a story to have a point. For example, Korrant could have got in trouble with the law in the North and asked his Sothern friends for a sanctuary. Then there would be some sort of a conflict between their feeling of friendship and the obedience to the law. Then, once the story is written, you can cut out from it whatever is needed for a contest.
I've got to give you credit for being honest. Most people that have no clue what they're talking about not only won't admit it, they don't even know it themselves.
If you don't know what the Nth Society is, I kinda wonder how you even found this post.
Maybe next time the Nth Society has a contest, you might have dug around enough to be able to submit an entry, and put your creative abilities where your critical mouth is. All too often it is observed that critics tend to tear down what they envy because they're incapable of creating anything of value themselves.
It would be great to see that you were better at informed contribution than at informed criticism, since you missed entirely the point of @adigitalife's purpose here, which wasn't to merely create a vignette, but to do so in order to reveal how the Nth Society game would be played.
He did that pretty well, I reckon. I'd love to see you do better, which would not only grant your criticism constructive value, but would contribute to the community's ability to visualize and craft the Nth Society game, that is their purpose.