Discord Ch. 7: Storytime!

[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.]

        Everyone was shocked at this statement. David had chuckled at this but fell silent when he noticed Silvia’s wary glance. Yuka looked like he was watching a sitcom, a small surprised smile on his face. Varyn’s mouth was open as his brain tried its best to process the information. Even Ms. Lagoon stood in the doorway of the kitchen, eyebrows raised.

        “Explain,” demanded Loin whose expression was between disbelief and confusion, “Now.”

        And so Max did, Silvia occasionally adding in comments. He told them about his summer camp and the portal. He told them how the startled discord destroyed his portal. He explained how he met Silvia and her father. He decided not to mention the dancing at the Nowhere Saloon because Silvia gave him a death glare. And when he was done, the room fell silent for a beat.

        David was the first to speak up. “So you’re telling me that you’re a human who is helping Silvia overthrow Discord?”

        “Ya that pretty much sums it up,” Max replied

        The Umbra frowned in response, “Why?”

        Everyone was watching Max. Even Silvia was waiting for his reply.

        “I mean my portal is destroyed, and I don’t know how to rebuild it. Discord has a memory machine thing, but he took the remote control. And if I don’t stop Discord’s rule, he’ll capture me, make me build the machine and take over the Earth,”

        “But you might die,” added Yuka.

        Max seemed to have just realized this. For a split second, he looked genuinely scared. But right after, his expression grew determined. “Well it’s better than just sitting around and waiting for someone else to do it.”

        The group nodded and mutter words of contempt. Suddenly, their conversation was interrupted by the elaborate rhythm knocking on the door.

        “That must be Teddy,” said David said.

        The door swung open, and in the doorway stood a young boy with green hair, green eyes, green clothes, and dripping green skin. He locked eyes with Max, and their faces were mirrored with shock.

        “You!” said the boy.

        “You!” said Max.

        Everyone was confused at this.

        “So, you two already met?” Silvia guessed.

        “He’s the one who destroyed my portal!”

        “H-He’s the h-human,” stammered the boy.

        Silvia, grabbed his shoulders so that his fearful gaze was on her, “It’s fine Teddy. He’s good. He’s here to help us overthrow Discord. It’s a long story. We’ll catch you up to speed later.”

        Teddy nodded slowly, his fear fading a bit. “I-I m-missed a lot, didn’t I?”

        Everyone (except Serena, of course) murmured in agreement. Silvia then turned back to Max.

        “Maxwell, this is Teddy Slimer. His species is a Slimẽr which is pretty much what it sounds like.”

        She gestured toward Teddy’s body which, Max now realized, was made of a bright green goo. It dripped slowly down his arms and legs creating small puddles of slime on the polished wooden floor. 

        “N-nice to…um meet you.”

        Silvia turned back to the rest of the gang. “Anything else before we get ready before bed?”

        Varyn spoke up, “So you’re a being from another dimension?”

        Silvia frowned, “I believe we already clarified that.”

        The wide-eyed Drakon cursed under his breath in some other language, “That means your the chosen one, doesn’t it?”

        Everyone was looking at Max again who looked beyond confused. “Wait is there some cliche well-known prophecy with a chosen one from another dimension.”

        “I don’t think so,” Silvia said slowly, “Divination isn’t a very practiced art in this land.”

        “In my village it is. Drakon prophets spoke of a chosen one in the times of the Rise of Discord,” Varyn explained.

        Jaiden scowled, “Oh yay, religion stuff”

        Varyn didn’t seem to like this statement, but he stayed silent.

        Max replayed the conversation in his brain, “What’s the Rise of Discord?”

        “You haven’t told him about the Rise of Discord?” Yuka put in as if Silvia’s action was some kind of sin. 

        Teddy grinned sitting on the floor next to Loin. “Ooh! St-storytime!”

        Silvia let out a long sigh “Alright fine. I’ll-“

    David immediately shoved his way into the conversation and cut her off. “I wanna do it!”

She rolled her eyes but gestured for him to start. David smirked wide and stood on the table. Then, after being told off by Ms. Lagoon, he settled for the floor.

“So basically, a long time ago- like fifteen years ago -there was a young boy about our age living in the village of the royal castle. He had no history, no birth record, not even a species identification. The only personal information known was that he lived with a husband and wife of a different species who were his guardians and he had no friends. This boy was tenth in line for the Discord throne, his adopted parents being ninth meaning that he would never acquire the throne unless everyone else in line died. 

“Frustrated, impatient, and power-hungry, he ran away and traveled for like five years, taking up the name Discord Destroyer of Worlds. During this traveling, he learned and stole; learned the dark arts, and stole powerful magic items to make him stronger. The more he gained, the more greedy and corrupted he became. People say that dark magic messed up his face forcing him to wear a skull mask. Finally, when he turned eighteen, he went back to his village and murdered everyone else in line for the throne including his parents.

“After he claimed his throne, chaos broke out between the local villages. Very few discords allowed his rule while the rest refused it, so Discord threatened his people that if they didn’t bow down to him, their village would be burned to the ground. Most believed that this was an empty threat, but Discord kept his word with zero pity. Most of the villages still standing only accepted his rule out of fear. Many discords left their village to avoid being killed. Mean Street is one of the villages refugees fled to. We even have a tunnel system leading to another village called the Mean Street Refuge Tunnel System or MSRTS. The time in which Discord was attacking these villages, like five years, was called the Rise of Discord Destroyer of Worlds. Now here we are five years after the Rise ended.”

        The room, once again, stayed silent, but only because they were unsure if David was finished or not.

        “So are you all refugees from the Rise of Discord?” Max asked.

        “Most of us,” she replied, scanning the room, “Serena left her Mutam village when she was seven, David and Luna left their Umbra village when he was nine and she was four. Varyn, Jayden, and Yuka did when they were seven.”

        “What about Teddy and Loin?”

        Teddy chuckled, “I-I was born here, and a-a-a year later, m-my m-mom left. When I was t-ten, my, uh, dad died in a b-bar fight. Then, I- well I stumbled upon the-the orphanage and h-here I am.” He sounded so positive that it was hard to feel sorry for him.

        Then everyone looked to Loin and so he explained, “Well, as you know, my species went underground during the Rise to avoid war. Even though I’m an orphan, I don’t live here. I just come here to steal stuff for the colony and hang out with you guys. “

        Max looked to Aquata as she busied herself in the kitchen. “And Ms. Lagoon?”

        “She’s an Aguarian Princess whose parents had her leave her underwater kingdom, so she went to Mean Street and started up an orphanage,” Silvia explained.

        “Woah! An actual princess,” Max said in awe, and Silvia nodded a confirmation.

        During this, Loin glanced at the clock (which of course didn’t have any sensible measurements on it). ” should be getting back home… Now, try not to miss me. I know I’m so important to you all.”

        And with a simple goodbye, he left. Silvia stood up with a yawn.

        “Well, we better start getting ready to go to bed. We’ll head out in the morning once we analyze the map. We should probably bring one or two people. What do you think, Max?”

        Max seemed to forget that she was there but the sound of his name brought him back from his subconscious state.

        “What did you say?” he asked.

        Silvia rolled her eyes. He had probably listened for so long that his brain had to space out more to make up for it.

        “Nevermind. We have an extra bed you can use. We’ll wash your clothes for tomorrow, and you can sleep in some of David’s clothes.”

        David scowled, “Why mine?”

        “Because all Yuka’s pants have tail holes, Varyn sleeps in armor, and Teddy’s clothes are made of special slime resistant fabric,” she explained.

        The Umbra frowned bitterly. ” Y’know fair enough.” Then he turned to Max. “C’mon, Let’s go get you a toothbrush or something.”

        David led Maxwell downstairs. Everyone else followed after clearing their plates and finishing their side conversation. Max gave Ms. Lagoon his clothes, and he changed into a red shirt and black pants that were a bit big on him. It seemed as if every article clothing David had was red and black, but Max decided not to point this out. He kept his goggles on his messy hair, and although Ms. Lagoon offered to let him use the shower, Max declined. By the time he was done getting dressed and such, everyone was in their nightwear (some childish, some casual) and sitting on their assorted beds. Each bed was a different color and pattern except Max’s who’s was plain and white.

        “Night,” Max said with a yawn.

        And the moment his head hit the pillow, he was out like a light.

[6 pages]

(Meh, I don’t like this one much. A sloppy lore dump. I love Discord’s backstory, but there were better ways to go about it. But I guess I shouldn’t be too hard on 2019 me. But things start to pick up more next chapter.)