Week 11 Story: the child of prophecy
This story is now on my portfolio website here!
King Harold was distraught. He had just received the news from his trusted advisers and his sorcerers that a prophecy was made that a child born on this day would grow up to become powerful, and ultimately cause the downfall of his kingdom. King Harold was a authoritarian leader--he was very keen on maintaining his hold on the kingdom for the rest of his life. He was not about to let a baby get in the way of what he had built up these last twenty years. It was not a hard decision for King Harold to order his top associates to take out this prophecy child. After many years of corruption and back alley dealings, Harold had accumulated some of the most dangerous associates known to the world. Many of his associates were not of the human kind--they were demons who sought the power and resources that Harold could provide. On his orders, the demons would do anything. So, when King Harold told his most trusted demon Panera to go to the village of Toruk Macto to find and eliminate the child of prophecy, she obliged.
It wasn't difficult for Panera to find the child. She traveled in disguise as a wet nurse and quickly learned that Toruk Macto was a fairly small village. The people who lived there were trusting of everyone, even outsiders--for they never had a reason not to be. Panera soon discovered that there was only one young baby in this village who could be the child of prophecy--a young boy that was just a few weeks old. Panera quickly charmed the child's parents, and soon was very close to the family. The child, named Austin, was months old by this time. But Panera was meticulous in her manipulation. She was searching for the perfect time to isolate this child, eat it, and disappear like the wind. Before long, the parents trusted Panera enough to designate her as Austin's baby-sitter. This was exactly what Panera was waiting for.
One fateful night, Austin's parents had traveled to a nearby village in search of some goat cheese, and they asked Panera to watch over the child. Panera gladly accepted this opportunity. After the parents left, Panera took Austin from his house and they walked just outside of the village into the forest. "After getting to know this child and his parents so well, I almost feel bad about eating him...almost" Panera laughed to herself. She took on her true form--becoming a hideous figure that looked like a giant bat. She opened her mouth real wide, and plucked the baby inside. "Piece of cake," Panera croaked out loud. All of the sudden, the demon felt a burning sensation in her stomach. She looked down to see a lump in her stomach, Austin, crawling back up her torso towards her mouth. Panera felt the baby reach her tongue, and then try to pull open her mouth. The demon refused to open her mouth, hoping that the baby would tire himself out before conceding to being a meal. Instead, the baby completely disregarded Panera's closed mouth and shot through the demon's face at the speed of a bullet. The faceless demon disintegrated and the child of prophecy crawled back to his crib in Toruk Macto with a smile on his face.
Author's Note: This story was inspired by a story from the book Shri Krishna of Dwarka by CA Kincaid. In one of the stories from this book, it describes King Kansa, the tyrant ruler of Mathura, attempting to kill a child that was prophesied to slay him. King Kansa sent demons after baby Krishna, including the she-demon Putana who became close with Krishna's parents in order to kill him by breast-feeding him with her poisoned milk. Instead of succumbing to the poison, Krishna instead sucks the life out of the demoness, killing her in the process. This story served as inspiration for my story. King Harold was based off of King Kansa, and the same goes for Panera being based off of Putana. I thought it would be really neat to right a story about a baby overcoming attempts on his life and being too powerful for his opposition. I made Austin bust Panera's face out instead of sucking out her life, though. I am very interested in using this story for my portfolio and adding more action for Austin to take part in. In the original story, baby Krishna killed more demons than just Putana. I would like to showcase Austin's powers even more.
Bibliography: Bibliography: Shri Krishna of Dwarka by CA Kincaid
King Harold was distraught. He had just received the news from his trusted advisers and his sorcerers that a prophecy was made that a child born on this day would grow up to become powerful, and ultimately cause the downfall of his kingdom. King Harold was a authoritarian leader--he was very keen on maintaining his hold on the kingdom for the rest of his life. He was not about to let a baby get in the way of what he had built up these last twenty years. It was not a hard decision for King Harold to order his top associates to take out this prophecy child. After many years of corruption and back alley dealings, Harold had accumulated some of the most dangerous associates known to the world. Many of his associates were not of the human kind--they were demons who sought the power and resources that Harold could provide. On his orders, the demons would do anything. So, when King Harold told his most trusted demon Panera to go to the village of Toruk Macto to find and eliminate the child of prophecy, she obliged.
It wasn't difficult for Panera to find the child. She traveled in disguise as a wet nurse and quickly learned that Toruk Macto was a fairly small village. The people who lived there were trusting of everyone, even outsiders--for they never had a reason not to be. Panera soon discovered that there was only one young baby in this village who could be the child of prophecy--a young boy that was just a few weeks old. Panera quickly charmed the child's parents, and soon was very close to the family. The child, named Austin, was months old by this time. But Panera was meticulous in her manipulation. She was searching for the perfect time to isolate this child, eat it, and disappear like the wind. Before long, the parents trusted Panera enough to designate her as Austin's baby-sitter. This was exactly what Panera was waiting for.
One fateful night, Austin's parents had traveled to a nearby village in search of some goat cheese, and they asked Panera to watch over the child. Panera gladly accepted this opportunity. After the parents left, Panera took Austin from his house and they walked just outside of the village into the forest. "After getting to know this child and his parents so well, I almost feel bad about eating him...almost" Panera laughed to herself. She took on her true form--becoming a hideous figure that looked like a giant bat. She opened her mouth real wide, and plucked the baby inside. "Piece of cake," Panera croaked out loud. All of the sudden, the demon felt a burning sensation in her stomach. She looked down to see a lump in her stomach, Austin, crawling back up her torso towards her mouth. Panera felt the baby reach her tongue, and then try to pull open her mouth. The demon refused to open her mouth, hoping that the baby would tire himself out before conceding to being a meal. Instead, the baby completely disregarded Panera's closed mouth and shot through the demon's face at the speed of a bullet. The faceless demon disintegrated and the child of prophecy crawled back to his crib in Toruk Macto with a smile on his face.
Author's Note: This story was inspired by a story from the book Shri Krishna of Dwarka by CA Kincaid. In one of the stories from this book, it describes King Kansa, the tyrant ruler of Mathura, attempting to kill a child that was prophesied to slay him. King Kansa sent demons after baby Krishna, including the she-demon Putana who became close with Krishna's parents in order to kill him by breast-feeding him with her poisoned milk. Instead of succumbing to the poison, Krishna instead sucks the life out of the demoness, killing her in the process. This story served as inspiration for my story. King Harold was based off of King Kansa, and the same goes for Panera being based off of Putana. I thought it would be really neat to right a story about a baby overcoming attempts on his life and being too powerful for his opposition. I made Austin bust Panera's face out instead of sucking out her life, though. I am very interested in using this story for my portfolio and adding more action for Austin to take part in. In the original story, baby Krishna killed more demons than just Putana. I would like to showcase Austin's powers even more.
Bibliography: Bibliography: Shri Krishna of Dwarka by CA Kincaid
The river on which Austin's village lays.
Source: Flickr
Hi Christian! Great job on your story! I liked how you kept that basic premise of the story very similar to Krishna’s story, it was easy to pick up what story you were retelling. I liked that you changed the names to easier names to pronounce and added a sorta modern twist to it. Also, you got super creative with the method in which Panera tried to kill Austin! That was great!!
ReplyDeleteHey Christian! I like how you took a story we’ve read and gave it a bit of more European kingdom-type spin on it. I think there has been a lot of mysticism around the word “prophecy” and I think you were effectively able to capitalize a lot on this to move your story forward. Thanks for sharing and great job!
ReplyDeleteHi Christian,
ReplyDeleteGreat job on this story! I know you listed the source material, but the first part of the story made me think of nothing except for a bible story. When Jesus was born he was supposed to be a king and the king at the time asked for the baby to be killed. You did a great job constructing the story, setting the scene and word choice to make this a very enjoyable read all the way through.