Hello dear readers! You may know me or you may…
[Discord is a very old passion project I have long since abandoned due to a severe amount of plotholes. I’ve been slowly posting edited versions of the chapters.]
“Are we there yet?”
“No.”
“Are we there yet?”
“No.”
“Are we th-“
“I’ll tell you when we get there. Just stop asking!”
The moment Silvia set out on her journey she knew that she would have to deal with her tagalong “leader”, but she never knew it would be so difficult. Every word that came out of his mouth would set her on edge. Most of these were pestering questions.
“So Discord named this dimension after himself?” asked Max, bouncing along the dirt trail.
“Quite the opposite.”
“So Discord’s parents named him after the dimension?”
Silvia let out a long sigh, “Discord’s parents are unknown, and so was his original name. When he became king, he gave himself a new title, Discord Destroyer of Worlds or Discord for short.”
“Are you guys called…Discordians or something?”
“We’re called discords,” she answered simply
“That must get very confusing.”
Silvia shrugged, “Ya, sometimes.”
“Do all discords turn into demons when they’re angry.”
“Only some. Every discord belongs to a certain species with certain unique qualities that are different from the rest.” Silvia explained
“Do each species have a name?”
“Yes. All of them do.”
“What’s your species called?”
“I don’t know. I never learned it.”
“Have you ever met anyone who is the same species as you?”
Silvia glanced at him quizzically, “If I did, shouldn’t I know the name of my species?”
“Oh, yeah. Probably.”
Silence.
“So-“
“Are you trying to get me angry?!” Silvia shouted, her eyes smoking magenta like back in the white room, “Because I’m getting angry, and I don’t think you want to face me when I’m angry.”
Max didn’t seem to take this as a threat and instead, as an invitation to bring up a new topic, “So when you turn all demon, is that you in control or someone else, like some kind of alter ego?”
Silvia sighed and explained, “Whenever I lose my temper, my anger manifests into a demon that takes control of my consciousness, pushing me to my unconsciousness. I guess you could say she’s an alter ego because she’s always there. I can’t control her. Trust me, I’ve tried. She won’t back down until the source of her anger is eliminated or if she gives up.”
“I named her Silvia 2.0.”
“Very fitting,” she commented although she didn’t seem to care.
“Anyway, what’s the plan to destroying Discord, Silv?” asked Max
“First, don’t call me ‘Silv’ ever again. Second, I thought you were the leader. Shouldn’t the leader have the plan?”
Max thought for a second as if trying to understand Silvia’s logic, “Well you know this place better than I. Do you have a plan at all?”
“Yes I do,” replied Silvia, “First we will head over to the Nowhere Saloon.”
“The what?”
“It’s a saloon in the middle of nowhere,” she answered simply.
“And why do we need to go there.”
“I need something. I’m not going to tell you what I need, so shut it. After the saloon, we’re heading to Mean Street. I’ll tell you the whats and whens later.”
“And then we head to Discord’s Castle?” asked Max.
Silvia nodded curtly, “Correct.”
“Is that the saloon?” Max asked, pointing to a wooden, western-looking building about five minutes away from them.
“Correct again. You’re on a roll…I guess.”
Max grinned, “I’ll race ya. The first one to the saloon wins.”
“No thanks. I’d rather n-“
But it was too late Max sped off leaving Silvia walking. She didn’t intend to run and wasn’t going to any time soon. Once she had arrived in front of the building, there sat Max heaving on the front steps in front of the swinging double doors.
“I…beat…you,” Max told her in between breaths, “You weren’t running were you?”
Silvia rolled her eyes and entered the saloon, closely followed by Maxwell.
“C’mon can’t we just try and have a little fun,” he offered.
“We’re not here to ‘have fun’.”
Warm light filled the wooden room. The place had pretty much everything in your typical saloon: chairs, tables, a bar, and a small stage. There were also some stairs leading to the second floor. A few heads turned to look at the newcomers.
“Silvia! How are you!” came a voice.
Behind the bar stood a large man with an even larger grin and one eye. You could say he was Cyclops but it was probably called something else. He wore a white shirt under a brown vest as well as a bowtie, an apron, and a holster belt. All he needed was a mustache and a second eye and he was ready for a western cosplay.
“I’m doing fine, Jackson,” replied Silvia.
The one-eyed creature eyed Max eagerly, “And who is this friend of yours?”
“Y-you have one eye…” mumbled Max.
“Yes, yes, Max. He’s a Unocula. Anyway, meet One-Eyed Jack. He’s the bartender and owner of this place.”
Jack nodded, “Welcome to the Nowhere Saloon.”
“Jack, meet Maxwell Silvers. He’s a human,” Silvia explained nonchalantly. The bartender’s eye widened, and Silvia continued, “We’re on a mission to put an end to Discord’s rule.”
“Your father? You finally realized his corrupt ways huh? About time. I assume you came here for information,” Jack said with a sly grin.
“Indeed. A map of Discord Castle’s secret passages.” Jack opened his mouth in protest but Silvia said, “I know you have it. You sold a copy to that mysterious Evreunek the other day.”
Maxwell spaced out of their conversation sometime after this and began looking around. Creatures of all shapes and sizes were in conversation. There was what looked like a Crosley Slimline jukebox on the nearest wall playing a dance-worthy tune.
“No way!” he gasped, “They have a jukebox. How did they even get one?”
“The music player? It came from a dimensional rift years ago,” answered a voice conversationally.
Max swiveled his head toward the bar in front of him to see a young woman with startlingly white hair leaning behind the counter in a bored fashion. She was staring at him with a calm look and a small smile.
“Say, I’ve never seen you around here before.”
“Uh ya. I’m here with Silvia. She’s a usual here?” said Max who was still a little spooked.
The girl nodded. “She comes here almost every day. I’m Safya Pheonix by the way. Most people call me Saf.”
“You’re a bartender?”
She nodded again. “One of Jack’s best.”
“So, about this dimensional rift…” Max said.
“They come every so often in different places. It’s why Earth and Discord culture are so similar. I mean, how else did you primitive beings learn how to milk animals.”
“Yeah, I always wondered how that was discovered,” he commented before pausing, “Wait, how did you know-“
Safya chuckled, “It’s obvious. And your eyes are a dull green.”
“What species are you?” Max asked, suddenly changing the topic.
She laughed, “I’m an Umbra. I have shadow magic,”
All of a sudden, an item popped into existence and dropped into Safya’s hand. It was a doll with messy brown hair, bright clothes, goggles, and a backpack.
“Do you know what this is? It’s a voodoo doll.”
“Is that me?”
The Umbra flicked the doll’s head with a grin, and Max felt an invisible force knock his own sideways. “Does that answer your question?”
Silvia’s loud voice broke their discussion, “I don’t have 200 gold!”
Safya calmly looked over at the pair as if it happened all the time, which it probably did. Max, on the contrary, was once again startled. Silvia’s hands were slammed against the bar. She had leaned forward so that Jack and she were only 2 or 3 inches away. Her scowl was opposed to Jack’s casual smile.
“Well there is another method of payment,” replied Jack with that smug smirk of his.
“Whatever it is, we’ll do it.”
Jack looked over at Max’s new friend, “Safya, would you like to explain.”
She gave a sly grin, “Gladly.”
All was silent in the saloon. Silvia’s outburst seemed to have caught the attention of everyone else. The audience watched as Safya strolled over to Silvia.
“In this saloon, things can get exceptionally boring. Very few people like to dance, and those who don’t, like to watch others dance especially when the ones dancing don’t want to.”
Silvia’s scowl faltered. “Oh no, I’m not going to dance for you. Not in a million years.”
“Do you want the map or not?” asked Jack.
Max grinned. “Wait, we get to dance? Just that?”
Jack nodded, his eyes still on Silvia’s, “Just that.”
“Awesome!” He noticed Silvia’s miserable gaze and added, “C’mon it’ll be fun.”
Silvia looked around to see eager faces jeering and cheering with excitement. “Fine. It’s not like I have a choice anyway,” she huffed.
More cheers erupted from the crowd, and the pair made their way over to the middle of the room. Max was looking quite enthusiastic while Silvia looked practically miserably. Maxwell shouldered off his backpack and placed it next to a bar stool for good measure.
“I can’t dance,” Silvia whispered to Max.
Max turned to her with a smile. “It’s easy. All you have to do is go with the flow.”
` Safya walked over to the jukebox in black heeled ankle boots. She inserted a foreign metal into a slot, pressed some buttons, and after a few seconds of silence, Safya hit the jukebox with her hip and a lively 80’s style song filled the air. Discords bobbed their heads and drummed their fingers to the beat. Max began swaying and snapping his fingers.
“Dancing can be almost anything. Watch,” he instructed.
He began to move his feet and arms to the quick rhythm. He would spin on long notes, jump when the music grew loud, and stop when the beat would pause. He learned the chorus quickly and lip-synced the song.
“Now you try,” he told her.
Silvia reluctantly nodded to the beat. She stepped to the right, then to the left, and then to the right again. After a few seconds of this pattern, she began to swing her arms. Her expression looked extremely bored as if she was trying not to have fun in front of the crowd. She stared at Max whose dance moves were much more complex than hers. The crowd seemed to be enjoying the performance, following Max’s maneuvers with interest.
“Is this good?” asked Silvia.
Max nodded with a grin, “You’re doing great.”
They kept this up for a few more minutes. Silvia tried her best to spice up her dance moves without looking silly, and Max was just doing his own thing. During the final chorus, Max held out his hand with a quirky grin. Silvia glanced at it with a look of distaste. After a moment or two, she sighed and reluctantly took his hand. He quickly spun her around, and Silvia let out a yelp of surprise. With that big dorky smile of his, he faced her and held her two hands, moving back and forth through a lovely dance that Silvia could follow well enough. Finally, Max attempted to dip his partner, but as he did, she slipped out of his hands and onto the floor just as the song ended.
Everybody applauded and broke into laughter. One-Eyed Jack was laughing the loudest, while Safya was clapping with a satisfied smirk. Silvia rose from the floor and dusted off her leggings with a frown.
“Splendid, simply splendid,” boomed Jack.
“That was awesome. You’re an amazing dancer,” Max said who was jumping up and down from what looked like post-dance fever (not to be confused with disco fever).
“Sure,” replied Silvia, a smile tugging at the corner of her mouth.
Jack opened a drawer and took out an old map, “Here’s your prize, just as I promised: a map of Discord Castle’s secret entrances.”
She grabbed it and stuffed it in Max’s backpack, which she put on her partner’s back. Max, on the other hand, was accepting access applause (pardon my alliteration) and compliments. Before Max could even notice her, she grabbed his shirt collar and dragged him out of the Nowhere Saloon despite his flailing and protests.
“So, where to next?” huffed Max, accepting the fact that he wasn’t going back to the saloon anytime soon.
Silvia simply gave a small smile and declared, “Mean Street.”
[Just barely 9 pages]
(That’d be a fun tv show though. It’s definitely formulated like one.)
