Greetings and salutations, faithful reader! Welcome back to another Story Time With Tim. I’m Timothy Scott Purvis and this is your weekly reader! This week’s offering is the narrative version of a comic script that I wrote back in 1997. So, technically, this is the oldest tale on my roster of writings. Though I have been writing since I was like six or seven, it wasn’t until my late teens and early twenties that I started actually completing the stories I had been writing. Therefore, proudly, this story is the first complete narrative I really ever developed (I can’t tell you how many attempts I made at writing a Legend of Zelda novel, but failing… perhaps one day I’ll do a fanfic novel based on that concept and through it up on Booksie. We shall see).
Anyhow, this was my first attempt at writing a story featuring one of my earliest characters created. Simner (pronounced: Summer) was developed based on a dream I had of a fairy once upon a time. She ended up becoming an elf and inhabits an infinite realm known as Heavan (hmmm… wonder where I got THAT idea from?) I do have another story with her, but, eventually, I intend on rewriting it and turning it into a novel. For now, let’s get into this tale.
I present to you, the narrative and exposition to my first comic script for Simner. Please, enjoy. Also, Merry Christmas everyone! Hope it’s a great day for you and I’m pleased to bring able to bring you this little Christmas present from me to you! Read to you again soon!
SIMNER ORIGINAL COMIC SCRIPT
BY TIMOTHY S PURVIS
Night time.
Brightly does the moon shine on the tree tops of a forest shrouded in darkness at its depth. Yet, the woman who traverses this darkened landscape knows no fear for it is familiar. These woods have surrounded her home since as early as she can remember. Many a times, she has wandered into these woods, craving adventure. Now, that adventure has found her.
Dawn is mere hours away and the woman can sense that the one she has been searching for is not far. She has hunted this man, a murderer of a small elven child in her village, for the last three days. And now she feels this nightmare is drawing to an end.
Her name is Simner. She is her village’s chosen warrior. A title she has held for seventeen years. Before her, the village warrior had been her father, Nedric. In her mind are memories emblazoned most vividly of the days of her youth that would guide her to her destiny.
It is said that God works in mysterious ways. Simner believes this now more than ever. But, when she was five, the sadness of fate never once weighed on her mind. The sadness that now still lingers in her soul. It is a sadness that echoes those days thirty years ago.
The past.
The day had started out beautifully, and would become a day Simner would never forget. On that day, she had been out in the meadows she enjoyed playing in so often, picking flowers for her father. It had been then that she first felt it. It was a feeling, a nagging thought at the back of her mind that she could not shake, not even when she had given the flowers to her father, whom had smiled at her joyfully. She remembered how delighted he was by the thoughtful gift. Though she had smiled back with her broadest grin, she still had to strain against the tingly sensation that raised the tiny hairs on her neck.
As the sky darkened, promising a fierce storm later that evening, Simner and her father had retreated back to their home. And to the eager grasp of her mother. All was peaceful then, until the screeching.
Everyone in the village must have heard the noise from the screaming object as it rushed from the heavens. Nedric Calicdrow, being the village’s chosen warrior, had the responsibility of investigating the unusual occurrence. So, he grabbed his bow, arrows, and quiver, and headed out in the direction of the sound. Looking to the distance towards the river not far beyond, Nedric saw a glowing from the tree top level. As did Simner. She watched her father leave and felt herself for the first time afraid. She wanted to scream ‘don’t go’ but didn’t.
Nedric had found the small object that was emanating the incredible glow. It had come to rest in the shallow of the river. Unusual to Nedric, he took the small tear shaped object to Gothic, the village priest. He agreed to examine it and inform the elven council of its exact origin.
Unable to determine the nature of the ‘tear’, Gothic set it aside and retired for the night. He had resolved himself to better re-examine it in the morning to make his findings known to the council.
During the night, he was visited by a spirit. How delighted Gothic was to discover the spirit to be that of his beloved departed wife, Isabelle who had passed away a number of years earlier. Quickly, Gothic’s mind had shifted to their son, who had vanished when out on a quest. Though he had not thought of it for many months. Perhaps, he figured, Isabelle had come to tell him where his son could be found or if he was in heaven with his mother. Unfortunately, Isabelle’s visit here was not a personal one but far more necessary. She told Gothic of the importance of the tear. That it was God’s will that it be protected at all costs. And she smiled as she disappeared.
Come morning, Gothic locked away the tear so that it might never fall into evil and misguided hands. He started referring to it as “The Angel’s Tear”. He went to Nedric’s house and gave the only key to him. The warrior in return agreed to protect it with his life. After Gothic had left, Nedric told only one other person of the significance of the Angel’s Tear and why it must be protected: his daughter Simner. Under her honor, she vowed not to divulge the location of the key to the Angel’s Tear.
Though all seemed right with the world, as Simner knew it, fate’s cruel hand soon took hold. That morning, the skies remained unusually gloomy and dark. Simner now considers that foreshadowing, but then she knew not its meaning. It was noon when the evil came. And it came in the form of Gremlans, elves whose souls had been consumed in darkness and hate.
The village was under siege after the evil had discovered somehow the existence of the Angel’s Tear. And they knew it was there. Nedric led the counterattack against the Gremlan horde. Simner could only watch in despair as half her village was destroyed and slaughtered.
The battle raged for the better part of the day with the villagers having held the Gremlans off long enough for reinforcements to arrive from the nearest village. They were dwarves. And they were enough to shift the tide of the battle as they, with the remaining elf villagers, managed to drive off the Gremlans.
Casualties that day had been high. But fate’s hand had still not fully been played. The Gremlan horde had come for the Angel’s Tear. That much Simner knew. But even though she was aware of the tear’s significance, she still did not know, and still doesn’t, why the Gremlans attempted to slaughter a whole village to get the object. Simner was told that it was a holy and enlightening object. Yet, the concept of evil creatures wanting a holy object was far beyond Simner.
On the day after the battle and near massacre, Simner stood there, in the midst of a sacred ceremony in honor of the fallen. And cried. At the center of the ceremonial honors, was the coffin of her father. That casket she stood before, beside her wailing mother. Nedric had been slain by the Gremlan’s leader. That leader, by an ironic final twist of fate, had been Nedric’s brother. The tingly sense had returned to Simner then. It didn’t feel bad this time, though. It was like a driving force, urging her to strive forward and claim her destiny. A destiny that forged a path into the future.
As the years progressed, and Simner grew older, she began training and preparing for the day when she herself would accept fate’s challenge. She studied constantly in all written materials stimulating her mental capabilities. All the while, she worked on her physical developments: stamina, speed, endurance, and agility. And, as an archer, there was no equal to her skill. The elven council took heed of Simner’s progress and was impressed. So much so, that by the time she was eighteen, Simner was the village’s chosen warrior.
Back to the present.
Simner’s thoughts refocused to her present dealing at hand.
Tingly. I haven’t experienced this sensation since I was five. Yet, now here it is again? Occurring more and more frequently. Why? Is my fate, my destiny, to be defined now? Hard to believe I was eighteen when the council appointed me village warrior. God, why did so many people have to die back then? Are you testing our faith? My faith? That child… she was just a little girl! It’s not fair. I… I swear I’ll bring this man to justice.
Answers never come easy. And while Simner tracks, elsewhere, a fire burns in the dark. Hands are easily warmed by a fire, but a soul cannot be warmed if the heart is as cold as ice. His name is James Takei, and he is an assassin.
What the HELL am I doing here?! James considered. I was nice and comfy back in LA. Then that freak show shows up with an offer. A simple job. Hmph! In and out he says. He’d be waiting outside of town. Was he? No. So, where is he? What is he? Looked like some kind of… elf. A dark elf? Ha, that’s funny. A dark-
A swooshing sound zips by James’s face as a diamond tipped arrow lodges into a nearby tree. It is not fear that makes him run, but instinct. Instinct of a predator outmatched. And outmatched predators know when the fight is over. Even if it hasn’t begun yet. Some in his profession would call running ‘cowardice’. But is being a coward such a bad thing? Not in James’s eyes. It is also said that cowards live longer. However, for this individual, there are no options left as one well-placed kick to his spine between his shoulder blades sends him careening into the dirt at his feet.
“Alright!” he coughs. “I’ve had it with this god forsaken place! You’ve attacked me from behind, knocking me into the mud, so apparently you wanna play dirty! I don’t know who you THINK you are, bit if it’s a fight yo-“
“Shut up!” the elven woman shouts, cutting him off. “It was YOU who invade my village and murdered one of my own! So, the question is not who I think I am, but who YOU think you are!? As for who I am… My name is Simner! And as far as you are concerned, you festering worm, I’m your judge, jury, and executioner for your crime of murder of an elven child!”
“I don’t care who the hell you are! I was paid one helluva lot of dough to off that little runt so obviously she must have deserved what she got! So-“
“PAID!? You were paid!? Well, my apologies! Let me give you a hand!”
Simner grabs the man by the scruff of his shirt, pulls him up to her, then decks him with her right fist.
“Oops. Sorry. I meant fist. Paid. Revolting! What kind of man would accept payment to kill a child? What kind of monster would pay him to do it!? God, where are those answers?”
If only destiny were so simple as to ask “why”, but it’s not. Meanwhile, back within a home in Simner’s village.
An arm reaches from the darkness to a chest. And within the chest is an object of great importance. It is a key. A key he grasps firmly now in the palm of his hand. That key unlocks the future. His future. The world’s future. Excitement courses through his veins as he stands silhouetted by the slight light coming through the stained glass window he is before. Years of planning are now coming to fruition. And that fruit shall bare a terrifying beast.
At long last, that which I have long sought is in my possession. Oh, long gone mother. How proud you would be of your son for that which he has orchestrated in the name of his father. Soon, what must be, will be.
Dawn’s new day light pours in through the window. Only a bit of the room is illuminated while the rest remains cloaked in the darkness. As is the future.
The beginning of the end.
Thanks for reading! Just so you know, this story has never been published before (beyond appearing on my old Angelfire website, but that is pretty much a dead city at this point). This will be the first time it’s been available for so many eyes and, honestly, it’s not great. I know that. YET, it is an example of the evolution of my writing style and technique. Hope you had fun and I hope you’ll come back next time for some more reading, tips on writing, and just whatever strange thought has popped into my mind that I needed to get out and into the world!
Have a good week!
~Timothy S Purvis
Here are some links that, while Simner the Original Comic Script isn’t in them, there are other stories that you’ve read here and are a way for you to support the cause. I’d love it if you’d check em out and maybe at least download a kindle story of mine or two. Alright, here are some links:
Tales From A Strange Mind Volume One (a short story collection):
Tales From A Strange Mind Volume Two (a novella collection):
MisAligned: The Heart Waxes Poetic (a collection of my poems):
Star Cloud: Seasons One And Two Scripts (In case you were looking for some actual scripts to read, here are the scripts I wrote for my stop motion animated series Star Cloud available on YouTube here: https://www.youtube.com/user/Caeliclord and here: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCWdU67nDn_UplIZnCS41WRA. Know this, there will be more to come on this score sometime in the future. Anyhow, here is where you can find those scripts:
And not to be left out of the mix, my science fiction novel, Red Star Sheriff, available right here!
Hopefully, in the future, I’ll be able to get all my books to be linked properly from the get go. Alright! One more link!
My personal author’s page: https://www.amazon.com/Timothy-Purvis/e/B085Q62XRP?ref=sxts_sxwds-bia-wc-drs1_0&qid=1602022104&sr=1-1-f6b8d51f-2c55-4dc3-89ad-0c3639671b2d
Thanks again and read to you again soon!
iCentrist 