[removed]

I just gave it another read, catching details I was too emotional to absorb the first time around.

It really is perfect. Thank you.

[Evil. Perspective.]

"You shall threaten this town no longer!" The hero drew his blade as the hulking beast in a white trench coat huddled in the corner with his back toward the hero and the rest of the inn. The wolf-man stared down at the corner and the top of his head was covered with dirty blonde fur. The hero held his sword firm while the best did its best to ignore him. And, he couldn't help but notice the distinct lack of glowing power.

Since the wolf wasn't looking anyway, the hero brought his blade closer to examine it. The sharp edge was gone and replaced by the dull wood of a practice sword.

"Huh?" he voiced his surprise and the wolf-beast stiffened.

"I don't want any trouble," he spoke with a low; but youthful grumbling tone. He slowly raised his hands in the air to show he meant no harm. "I'm going to change forms...," he said. The hero didn't quite understand what he meant at first until the beast began to shrink.

"You're... human?" the hero asked. It made sense as far as his weapon; he'd never known humans to be as evil as the creatures of darkness. He relaxed his weapon; but, not his guard. The now much smaller human nodded as he turned around with his hands still in the air. "... and a kid??"

The stranger only reached the hero's shoulder and he looked as young as 14 or 15 summers. He was tan with a mop of curly dirty blonde hair reaching his shoulders.

"Yeah," he nodded. "My name's Ace," he gently lowered his hands, then reached forward with one to offer a handshake.

"I am.. the hero of this town..," the hero accepted the greeting. He wasn't surprised at the teen's firm grip. He had a sudden insight after the exchange. "You're not... the same creature that has been assaulting this town are you?"

"What?" Ace looked surprised for a moment, then he shook his head with a grin. "No, this is my first time," he answered. Thinking back on it, this wolf was obviously different from the other... from the others? As he tried to picture the real threat, the hero had several different images pop into his head. All of them wore different clothing or armor; but, Ace was the first one he could say for sure he'd never seen before. The white trenchcoat made him stand out.

"What brings you to my town?" the hero asked.

"I'm on a quest," Ace replied.

"You're an adventurer?" the hero finally relaxed. If Ace was an adventurer, he would have had no trouble dispatching him. He felt instant respect for Ace trying to resolve things peacefully. And his white coat obviously painted him as one of the good guys.

"I am," Ace nodded.

"That's a relief," the hero had never heard of a werewolf adventurer that he could remember; but he assumed they had to exist. He wandered to the closest table and gestured at one of the seats for Ace. He sat across and rested his wooden sword on the table.

"Tell me about your quest, Adventurer. Perhaps we can help each other; there's a troublesome wolf in the area I'd like your help with."

"I appreciate it," Ace nodded as approached the chair. But, he reached into his coat before he sat down. And he placed a gleaming white shotgun on the table. "There's an item I'm trying to recover. It's supposed to be a challenging fight; but, I think I found a shortcut," he said.

The hero wasn't listening though, he was intrigued by Ace's weapon. It was so white and glossy that at first glance it could be mistaken for a child's toy.

"That is a curious shotgun...," he commented.

"Would you like to inspect it?" Ace happily handed over his gun and the hero didn't hesitate to accept it. It was light as a bundle of sticks. It still felt solid and well-crafted even if it wasn't as heavy as the guns he was used to holding. Not that he had much experience with firearms; his magic sword was all he needed.

"It's...is it real?" he asked.

"Real deadly," Ace chuckled with a nod.

"Where did you get such a magnificent weapon?" he asked as he offered it back to Ace. The teen didn't accept it right away.

"Same place I got the quest," he shrugged. "I can get another one easy enough. If you like it so much... how about a trade?" he asked. Ace's eyes landed squarely on the wooden sword.

"I couldn't...," the hero replied after a moment of deliberation. He wanted to; but, the simple fact that Ace 'could get another one' meant his artifact was the more rare item.

"Ah well, I tried...," Ace shrugged as he reached for the shotgun in the hero's hand. Then, several things happened at once. The hero heard a growl; but, his reflexes were too slow.

Ace leaped from his seat and pushed against the hero with the shotgun he was holding. He was a blur of motion and by the time the hero's mind caught up he was already on his back with an 8-foot-tall werewolf in a white coat stepping on his chest.

Ace held rested his shotgun on the hero's chest as he held up the glowing sword. It now had a sharp, silver edge and was surrounded by brilliant white light.

"WHAT??" the hero was confused. Why didn't the sword warn him? "How??" Ace shrank back into his human form; but, he still kept pressure on the hero to keep him down.

"So, I read the quest text and it's funny," Ace grinned. "It only warns you in the presence of evil because it senses "evil intentions", he said. "I didn't have any until you wouldn't give me the sword."

The hero struggled to push the now-lighter teen off him. As he thrashed around, he noticed all the inn's patrons sitting in the usual spots, eating their usual meals and ignoring the commotion.

"RUN!" he shouted. "Why isn't anyone running??"

"You know what, I'm not really a bad guy," Ace shook his head. Even the sword seemed to agree as its glow dimmed slightly.

"I'll even give you a chance to get out of this with your life; but, without the sword of course," he chuckled. The hero struggled again but made no progress. "I just need you to answer one question for me," Ace said. "If you have an answer."

"What is it?" the hero asked. Ace leaned down to make sure the question was clear.

"What's your name?" he asked.

"I'M THE HERO!" Ace chuckled and shook his head. The hero heard Ace say something before the shotgun fired.

"Obviously not."

***
Thank you for reading! I’m responding to prompts every day. This is story #1872 in a row. (Story #062 in year six.). This story is part of an ongoing saga that takes place at a high school in my universe. It began on August 22nd and I will be adding to it with prompts every day until May 26th. They are all collected in order at this link.

I wondered if this was inspired by the "Who could catch Light and how long would it take" post a few days ago.

No worries

I don't really know what happened, perhaps try removing any leading spaces at the front?

Oh, sorry, I'm a little bit new on formatting when it comes to Reddit.

The formatting makes this ridiculously hard to read :(

Hell, a bottle of clear nail polish would probably do the trick.

[removed]

[removed]

I’m in the center of the Venn diagram, the video is delightful.

I'm happy my advice could be of help to not just the author but also to other writers. I would definitely also check out u/Fontaigne 's reply to my comment, as that also contains great information as well as a excellent counterpoint to my argument

That's a great perspective and as well as a good reminder for me, thank you! I can definitely see how I phrased it could be more clinical and out of place. There are definitely times where less is more, else you end up with 5 pages describing the food on the table.

To me, the character directly telling us felt very out of place, as it's the only sentence in the story that does it, while being surrounded by what I viewed as largely descriptive language.

Regardless, I'm glad we agree in the quality of the story itself

Thank you!

Thank you very much!

Yes, I do agree. There is definitely irony there!

I just want to say, even though it may have been a conscious decision on the author's part in this instance, I'm so appreciative that you said this. I'm a very fledgeling writer, and I'm ignorant of most of the technical things that make for great writing. "Show, don't tell" is going in my "writing notes" book right now! Don't stop giving the positive feedback, because I know there are others like me who read these comments especially for these bits of advice!

Fixed! Thanks for pointing that out!

Morgan has always avoided large bodies of water, something about nearly drowning as a young boy. Me, however, I adore the sea. The vast expanse just makes me feel free.

To my surprise, my boyfriend has invited me to a beautiful pier tonight. It’s like a scene out of fairy tale - there’s a wonderful sunset in the distance, the seagulls are completely quiet, and the man of my life has just gotten down on one knee, a tiny box in his hand. “Is this really happening?” I think to myself.

“Luna, will you make me the happiest man in the world and be my wife?”

“Is this really, really happening?” Thousands of images flash before my eyes. Pure normality. A white wedding, with cheers instead of howls. A nice starter home, no chains in the basement for that time of the month. A couple of kids, whose biggest transformation will be puberty. It’s everything I’ve wanted and more.

“Yes, yes, yes!!!” I clasp my hands over my mouth, unable to hold in my excitement. I pull Morgan up to his feet and crush him in an enormous hug. It’s easy to forget my strength in moments such as this and only a small whimper from the love of my life brings me back to reality.

“Sorry, got too excited…” I release him and glance down at the ring between us. It’s marvelous. Sparkly pale metal, wrapped beautifully around a single, large, rosy pearl.

“It used to be my grandma’s.” Morgan gets it out of the box and twirls it in his lithe fingers. “My grandfather dove for this pearl himself and had it set in the purest silver. It’s one of a kind.” He raises his eyes to mine. “Just like you.”

“S-Silver?” Panic washes over me.

Morgan’s face drops. “I know it’s not as fancy as the white gold you had set your eyes on, but I thought with the sentimental value…”

“I love it!” I interject and extend my hand. I hate to do this, I really do, but there’s no other way to hide it.

Sleight of hand has always come easy to me. As Morgan moves to slip the ring on my finger, I feint a fall towards him. Then I do a little dance of flailing, pushing his hand aside and making the ring fall, roll over the edge of the pier and into the water.

I do my best to contract my face in horror and start to explain myself, as my future husband surprises me and dives into the sea.

“Morgan, no!” I scream, freezing in terror and fumbling with my backpack to jump after him.

Much to my surprise, Morgan surfaces just as I’m about to dive into the water myself. He’s holding the ring in his hand, a wide grin on his face. Oh, moon, his face. I stare at the scattering of scales in bewilderment.

“M-Morgan?”

He sighs and runs a webbed hand through his hair.

“We have to talk.”

Like I said, hadn't ever heard of anything about the series until now. I mostly bury my head in video games, what comes on history I am like vacuum cleaner going after some of that dust and I like geography.

Thanks! Although I hoped my username would have also been a clue! :)

It's pretty good. You just had my head spinning on... Okay, what could you possibly referencing as I went back to the names. Tikki is completely new name to me but, similar to it is. Tiki from Fire Emblem and Tokyo Mirage but, when I read Akuma I was just... Yeah, this can't be Street Fighter... So, I did a quick google and was just.

"Oh, something I hadn't at all heard of actually. Neat, good job".

Ooh yeah forgot about that...

Good job.

White gold is nice.

XD YES!!