I Don’t Want to Start a Story!

The rising sun was beautiful to see coming over the horizon. It illuminated the peaceful fields of cows, who gently mooed to welcome the day. Taking advantage of a farm filled with snores, Max decided to leave before the three other human inhabitants could awaken. Everyone was going to be seriously hungover when they woke up. According to Cy, Bessie had been binge drinking with the girlies, so she wasn’t going to do anything productive today. Cy was the next to pass out on the kitchen table, so farmer Kill and Max decided to slip one of the magic bones into his pocket. A small prank as a reward for bringing them the booze. Farmer Kill was the next to go. He and Max decided it was a good idea to start repainting the barn. It turned out to be a very bad idea. Their thought process at the time was that if Bessie were to discover they had been drinking under her roof, then they were already working to show their ‘regrets.’ But they ended up just painting cows and dicks on the barn walls before farmer Kill knocked over the remaining paint and passed out. Now, Bessie was definitely going to find out when she discovered farmer Kill snoring on a pile of hay surrounded by a mural of immaturity.

When Max woke up on the barn floor, he was greeted by a prompt.

Story Name:

Mysterious Cleaner

Genre:

Mystery

Description:

Villagers have begun noticing someone was cleaning up their houses in the early hours of the morning. A gesture of goodwill or is there something else?

Goal:

Discover the secret the mayor is keeping.

Difficulty:

★☆☆☆☆

How to Start:

Clean up the barn or the farmhouse!

It was a relief to see the prompt, he couldn’t assist with covering up their night of fun. Despite being hungover, Max decided to get to work with his usual chores. The other two will face more of the wrath of Bessie when they eventually wake up while he might even be rewarded for keeping his head down and focusing on running the farm.

Walking over to Bo Field had helped with his hangover immensely. Just as he was starting to feel good again, a wave of sadness struck him. Lingon, Cloud, and Bear were grouped together on the far end of Bo Field, enjoying the dew-covered grass. They looked healthy. On the other hand, Straw was looking weak as she laid down. The lack of energy and appetite had been as Cy foretold. Hopping the fence, Max began inspecting Straw to see how bad she was. Fortunately, the prompt for a plague seemed to have subsided. They had done enough to stop the spread. If they continued quarantining those who were sick, then eventually the prompt will be cancelled. But it also meant Straw was dying.

Max began stroking the poor cow’s nose as his mind began to race. Cy had made it clear that it was her destiny, and it was fixed. But it wasn’t the first time he had heard similar words. With his right hand on the cow’s nose, his left hand fiddled with the remaining two magic bones and pocketknife in his trouser pocket. He took out the bones to look at them closer. Max didn’t have access to any magic unless he began a story prompt which required it. And he wasn’t familiar with the idea of magic bones being lucky… But maybe some of the tricks he had learned in previous lives could still work.

“How are you working this early in the morning?” Cy feebly mumbled as he approached Max and Straw. Despite being severely hungover, his hair was wet showing he washed just before beginning his daily stalking of the fate-less. “You must be made of steel or something. Have you seen what Bill did last night? Bessie is going to kill…”

“I didn’t expect you to wake up so early. Are you feeling your tumble down the stairs?” Max waited for an answer, but Cy’s gaze was locked on the cow in front of him. “Are you alright?”

“… I don’t understand.”

Without paying attention to Straw’s personal space, Cy began circling around the cow. “What don’t you understand?” It was interesting. Max touched the remaining carved bone in his pocket. Originally, he was going to feed both bones to Straw, but the heifer didn’t have an appetite. She took too long consuming the other bone with plants he gathered in the surrounding woods. But it seemed like he had done enough to cause a reaction. “She’s looking a little better today. Should she be looking sicker?” Compared to the crack of dawn, Straw had recovered enough to get some of her appetite back.

“Her fate… has temporarily changed.” Cy murmured in disbelief. “Maybe I really am an awesome vet? Is this my true calling?”

“Temporarily?” Max asked, disappointed. Whilst his magic was locked and with limited supplies, it was the best healing spell he could do using only runes and herbs. The spell was slightly heightened by the innate magic of luck from the bones, but it didn’t seem like it was enough.

“Straw is going to make a full recovery… I don’t understand this…”

“Then how is it 'temporarily'?”

“She’s going to get sick again in a couple of years… Her fate is fixed so nothing can change that… But, somehow, it got kicked down the road for later.” Straw gave a hearty moo to show how much her strength had recovered. “Since she’s better, should we let her back in with the others?”

The plague prompt reappeared, a warning of the possibility that a story would start. Max was so used to overlooking repeated prompts that he failed to notice it was different.

Story Name:

Pestilence

Genre:

Horror

Description:

a virus has begun to spRead amongst somE liVestock. it is OnLy a matter of Time emnAh TstiSgl eyb esRtea…

Goal:

Survive the epidemic

Difficulty:

★★★★☆

How to Start:

Allow the disease to spread amongst the cattle!

“No, she’s probably still infectious. We should play it safe and avoid the disease spreading.”