Reading

* What readings did you like best?

• Choosing my own 

* What reading diary strategies were most effective for you?

• Reading things out loud

* What did you think of the overall balance between reading - writing - commenting in the class assignments?

• I LOVE IT! There is a reason why I took this class after Laura's Mythology class!

* As you look back from the end of the semester, what advice about the reading do you have for students who will be getting started next semester? 

• WORK AHEAD! And READ EVERYTHING OUT LOUD! 

Reflections

This semester was rough, maybe because it is my last semester. That's right! I will be graduating next week! I am particularly proud of all of the stories that I wrote for this class since I was having some hardcore senioritis.

I am also proud of my Storybook.

I had never read Indian Epics, so I took a more Western approach to many of my things, but I think that's what this should be about. I made a lot of connections between Eastern and Western mythologies (since I took Mythology last semester!)

Week 13: Review

Daily Announcement Favorite:

(Daily Announcment)

PREACH! This is so true! Novels don't start out masterpieces. In fact the first copy of any story or novel is AWFUL. It's with editing that masterpieces are made.

Weekly Inspiration:

(Things we forget to do)

Growth Mindset: Still Growing

This week I want to make goals for myself as I will be graduating in a few weeks.

1. Stop procrastinating
2. Wake up earlier
3. Go to bed earlier
4. FINISH editing that novel!
5. Budget, budget, BUDGET MONEY!

(Growth Mindset Memes)

Learning by HEART: Friendship Memory Jars

This week I wanted to share my own happiness tip. This is a modified version of the happiness jar.

My best friend Julie, who I consider to be my little sister, is moving away to Florida. I'm very happy for her, but I am also devasted that my best friend is across the country.

However, we thought of a great going away gift--but it's also a great idea for any friends or family to do with each other.

We are going to put 365 happy memories and messages on little slips of paper  along with some momentos and put them into a decorated jar. That way every day we can open one up, read it, and smile or laugh. And then whenever I get to see her next we'll add more to the jar!

(Friendship Memory Jar)

Week 13: Tech Tip

This week I went in and embedded YouTube videos at the end of all of my stories that are in my Storybook, including my front page! I think that the videos really add a tone and mood to the page and make it more cinematic.

Here's an example of the video on my front page:

Week 12: Review

This week's Announcment favorite:

Stories of Siegfried by Mary MacGregor

I am a sucker for anything relating to Norse Mythology so this caught my eye!

Encouragement of the Week:

(Image Source)

Week 11 Storytelling: The Pirate Treasure

I mean, what else did I need?

I was already at the Pirate King at age sixteen. I ruled the seas. I guess I thought that all that I wanted was all the gold, gems, and riches of the world.

(The Pirate King Diarmud)

But I learned there were some things in this world that were more important than the wide blue ocean.

There were some things more of a treasure than and the gold and gems in treasure chests.

There was something more important that bump, ba, bumped in my body. 

It happened one day. It was the first time I met him that I truly felt alive.

The ship wasn't headed in any direction. We left it afloat. I lounged in a lifeboat that was tethered to my ship.

I had fallen asleep when I suddenly felt water on my face. I sat up and saw a fin lower in to the water.

It's some dolphin, I'm sure, I thought.

When suddenly a boy turned to me. He smiled widely. Had had wet tangles of Light brown hair around his face. He was beyond beautiful.

"What are you doing in the water?" I asked. We were in the middle of nowhere, and I didn't recognize him from my crew.

"Swimming," he said. "What else?" His voice was so goddamn cheerul.

"Well, come--" I started to say. I was going to invite him on board.

But he leaned back, his hands behind his bed, and he floated on top of the water, and a tail fin rose from the water. I followed the fin all the way up to his waist.  

(The First Meeting)

"There's no way..." I muttered.

"What that mermaids exist?" He said and laughed. "Of course I do." 

He grabbed onto my boat, and tipped it over. I cried out as I fell into the sea. "What the hell?"

"Get your sea legs, captain," he said and winked.

"I'm no Pirate Captain, merman--" I said in between heavy breathes as I doggy paddled to wade the water.

"Well, Captain, I'm not just a merman, my name is Aranis," he said.

"I told you! I'm not a Captain! I am Diarmud the Pirate King!" 

"Pirate King, huh?" He asked. "Impressive"

"Quite so, Aranis." I managed to climb back into my boat, and I sat in it.

"Well, if we're being technical...my name is  Prince Aranis. I live in the Underwater Realm of Atlantis where I will someday rule as King."  

"So, I rule the seas up here," I said and gestured around. "And you will rule the waters down below?"

  

"Correct," he said with a grin. "Well, I'll be off!" And just as quickly as he came, he ducked down into the waters.

"Wait!" I cried out. My heart was beating in a manner I'd never known. It felt like my greatest treasure of all was sinking into the seas.

"What?" He said as he came back to the surface. 

I felt relief flood my body as I saw his gentle face, his soft blonde hair, and his chiseled physique. I was starting to fell the effects of what I once thought was a myth, a fiction. But I was thinking that this was love at first sight. 

"I'll be back," he said with a wink, and then he swam down below.

"Drop anchor!" I shouted. "The ship stays here!"

"Aye, aye captain!" My crew replied.

***

And at the same time the next day, Aranis returned.

"Hello," he said, holding the sides of my boat.  

"Aranis," I said. "If I may be so forward: I missed you..."

"Even if that is so," he said. "Nothing can ever come of this, my King."

"As King of these Seas, what I want can happen, Aranis."

He smiled softly, and lifted himself up, and he leaned into my face, kissing me softly. I kissed him back and we never stopped.

***

It was like this for days. 

(The days spent in love) 

But soon my crew grew tired of staying in the same place, and we were running low on supplies.

"Come with me," I told Aranis.

"But it cannot be?"

"I have found a way, my pet," I said, and I held out my hand to him, "Do you trust me, my treasure?"

He gulped down hard as if he could swallow down his anxieties. He took my hand and said, "Yes."

***

I live on the seas. My crew and I get supplies, and then go back on the water. I send my crew out on fool's errands, on trips with treasure marks that only sometimes lead to gold.

I didn't care.

I walked into my quarters, where the only treasure I needed was there.

Aranis swam behind glass. He held his hand out, pressing it to the glass, and I pressed my hand against his. He mouthed, "Help me. Free me."

If he weren't in water, tears would stream down his face. He was full of the deepest sorrows.

But he was my greatest treasure, and as Pirate King? I would never let him free. 

I had my Prince and that was all that I would need.

(The Pirate's Treasure)

Author's Note

This story is a take away from my other stories, huh? Straight-up romance, but well, with a tragic twist (of course!) I am incapable of writing a happy ending to a story it seems! I'm sorry this ending in such a messed up away. I feel so bad for Aranis!

Once again I've put a gay relationship in here for diversity! And because Diarmud and Aranis are too darn cute! Diarmud DID love Arranis...just not in a conventional way. I tried to string it along so readers would think this was going to be a happy sappy romance and then NOPE! Tragedy and really messed up ending. Oh, my. My brain is a strange place.

OKAY, so I digress. 

So how did I get Pirate Kings and Mermen out of Indian Myths? I've been reading Asura: Tale of the Vanquished. This week's chapters had a very interesting character named: Pirate-King! So, obviously I  wanted to write about the Pirate King! 

Our Merman, Aranis, came from my imagination. I thought, well I don't want to write about my Pirate King with sea battles or going off for a treasure quest. I wanted something different: a pirate romance! And,  as I said I made the relationship between two men for a change of pace.

Anyways, I hope you liked my story, as well as I hoped you like Diamud and Aranis!

Extra Reading Diary: Asura III

Asura: Tale of the Vanquished Pt. I

(Himalayas)

Chapters 19-26

Chapter 19:
-A dark soul
-The emperors of Asuras
-A pirate King, the king of pirates
 
Chapter 20:
-A marriage
-The demon king gets married
-Pirates
-Heroine
-"Pray. Pray for your soul..."

Chapter 21:
-Jewellery
-"The prisoner is ready for the punishment."
-"This devil's marriage..."
-"Then my pride came back, my anger returned and I was myself again."
-"And my dreams became my story."

Chapter 22:
-"I fell into the mouth of death, into the howling ocean."
-Deva Devils
-Anger, jealousy and sadness
-"But the stench of equality stuck. Soon, I got used to that too."

Chapter 23:
-Pirate King!
-Night cruise
-"You are either a ghost or you refuse to die!"
-Someone "wearing a mask"
-"This man was the devil incarnate."

Chapter 24:
-Dismay and anger
-Biggest rival and rebel.
-Darkness
-"Moonlight illuminated her face."
-"I had the sudden urge to kiss her.

Chapter 25:
-Loitering about the streets
-A dagger
-Deva girls
-Ahsoka trees

Chapter 26:
-Himalayas
-"It was a new dawn"
-Setting: swamp

-"First brave fools"

Reading Diary A: Asura II

Asura: Tale of the Vanquished Pt. I

(Ravana)

Chapters 10-18

Chapter 10:
-Banyan tree
-Armaments
-Incorporating thoughts in italics within the action
-Dharma.
-Devas
-Fake gems

Chapter 11
-"tears sprouted in my eyes"
-the leader mistake for being a spy
-"I cried for the fact that I was no longer human, but a vampire thirsting for the blood of the Devas.
-"I wailed for the dark depths my soul had fallen into."
-Owl hooted, is it a dark omen?
-"It was a dark and silent night."

Chapter 12
-"I hoped the spy was dead"
-Wearing all black
-Graphic violence when fighting, "splintering skulls."
-"Raw power"
-Monsoon

Chapter 13:
-"A magical village tune"
-An ancient light-tower
-A center of art
-"The most cosmopolitan city in the world."
-Someone vanishing

Chapter 14:
-"But now I just wanted to lie down and sleep for a hundred years."
-a dagger blade
-"Then one day, unexpectedly, my wishes came true."

Chapter 15:
-"I was surprised that I was still alive"
-A lamp that cast a history light on their faces
-"felt warm blood splash on my face."
-Dark shadows
-A stream of abuse followed him
-"Howled like a wounded wolf."

Chapter 16:
-Raising a sword
-Seeking audience

Chapter 17:
-"A lowly creature"
-Time: midnight
-"at that moment I knew that I had fallen in love"
-"As emptiness filled me."

Chapter 18:
-A cobra

Week 10 Storytelling: My Life A Teenage Nobody

(The "Teenage Nobody")

My name? It shouldn't matter, it doesn't matter. Not really. I could be anyone couldn't I? I'm just a screwed up kid, living on the wrong side of the railroad tracks.

I had a name once, Daughter. But I threw that all a way.

"You're evil," my mother told me with wet and wavering eyes. "You are a demon."

The thing is? I could not deny her that fact. I was starting to think I really might be.

She tied me down to a chair, you see. She doused me with Holy Water while she shouted bibical quotes at me. She waved a cross in my face a couple of times.

"Why isn't it working, Kali?" She screamed and shook me so hard I could feel my brain hit the sides of my skull.

She took out a lighter, and waved a small metal cross over it, and she pressed it to my skin.

"It's bubbling!" She screamed. "You are resisting the cross!"

(The "Devil Daughter")

 
I screamed and cried, but she didn't stop. I was down there for hours. Or days? Weeks. I don't know. I was on a steady diet of Holy Water and sacramental wafers.

But that's about when I started feeling numb. Pain and pleasure and displeasure were all starting to blend together into a cocktail called Misery.

To add an umbrella onto the cocktail, she took me to the Catholic Church. She walked into the office of Father Wood. She sounded like she was raving mad, screaming about a demonic daughter. Saying she could see horns coming from my head and that my eyes were red.

Okay, she was raving mad about that. Too raving mad for Father Wood.

"We do not do exorcisms anymore, m'am," he said.

"What do you mean you don't 'do exorcisms'?" She yelled. "My daughter is a demon, Father! Cure her!"

He rolled his eyes and he poured oil on my head. He said some bullshit in Latin.

All the bullshit of which my mother cried with happiness.

"We'll have a new life together now, Daughter," she said and smiled as she walked into the front door. Of her house.

I didn't belong there. I didn't go into the front door, no.

I ran.

And then I became a different name, I was called Girlfriend.

Darren was perfect. That's what the problem was. He was too perfect, and I was too perfectly imperfect. For him, and for anyone it seemed.

"Kali," he said. "It's like a switch. One minute you're an angel and the next moment..."

"A devil," I finished for him.

He nodded softly. "I can't anymore. I can't be with you..."

That was when I became empty. It was like someone took an ice cream scooper and scooped out all of my insides. There was nothing in there but poison.

It started my life as a teenage nobody.

Author's Note:
This week I read Chapters 1-9 of Asura: Tale of the Vanguished. This book is basically the Ramayana, expect it is told in the perspective of the Rakshasa (demon) king, Ravana!

I loved the way that this story was written. It is in a first person perspective but very heavily close to that person. We get every thought and sensory details. In fact, the story has very little dialogue or action. Most of it is the reader in Ravana's mind, which I loved!

I know that on many of your stories I comment that you need dialogue and such. But, this story has taught me that there is a time and place for such close introspection in a story.

Thus, this story is a close introspection from my character from my Storybook, My Life As A Teenage Rakshasi!

Reading Diary A: Asura I

Asura: Tale of the Vanquished Pt. I

(Ravana)

Chapters 1-9
Chapter 1:

• "Tomorrow is my funeral"! What a great first line! As a writer, one can never forget the power of having a real hook of a first line!  I mean, right from the start I am wondering how Ravana got in this situation, and how he knows that his funeral will be tomorrow.
• Following is some great, graphic, violent details! It's so visceral. I tend to write dark stories with heavy violence and visceral themes, so this is great inspiration.
• Finally, I love how this chapter is called "The End". How beautifully unorthodox!

Chapter 2.

• Weather, something I forget to add into stories--but oh how it sets the mood!
• I love all of this internal monologue! It could become boring, but it's such strong and vivid writing that it continues to captivate me.
• Some brief backstory, no heavy info dumping--always good.

Chapter 3:

• Asuras are a casteless society.
• A roaming tribe that hunted and traded, settling along river banks and in cities. 
• Too much info dumping here. (Is my literature minor showing yet?
• The title "Purendara" means 'Slayer of Cities'.
• "A defeated race often uses its cultural supremacy to cover the shame of defeat."
• A LOT of backstory on Asuras, may need to come back to this. There is possibly too much to note of.

Chapter 4:

• The mightiest of Asura Kings.
• Finally dialogue and interactions. The first person is nice for a while but we need to get out of Ravana's head
• You know what this whole book reminds me of? It's like an Indian Paradise Lost, with Ravana and The Ramayana instead of Lucifer and the Bible.

Chapter 5:

• "He rambled on," what a great verbal tag.
• More history.
• "Nothing is more commendable than selfishness. A man who thinks of himself alone is the most unlucky person of all."
• Sometimes this book has some amazing lines.
• "Go Ravana, own the world!"
• "Jealousy is the driving force of progress, envy is the motivating force of life."
• "I do not believe in a heaven where you will be given all that you purposely denied yourself in this world."

Chapter 6:

• "I had been fighting this fool's war for the last few years..." Another great opening line.
• A character being honest in its thoughts is always good to do.
• Good description of a battle!

Chapter 7:

• "Lore of the Losers" what a great chapter title! 
• Huge funeral pyres
• "Drunk with succes  
• Battles

Chapter 8:
Chapter 9:  

• Importance of jewelry 
• Tiny flying tigers
• Blood caked on one's face
• Kubera, the money God.
• "The rich did not care who ruled, as long as they were allowed to be rich. The poor could not afford to care and nobody asked their opinion in any case. Only the middle class mattered and any half-witted ruler knows how to pamper them."

Week 9 Storytelling: Home Sweet Hell

"I can't do this anymore," Lukas said.

"Do what?"

"Be with you," he said, messing with his long brown hair.

His words hit me like a bullet straight to the heart. But as quickly as I felt sadness, did I feel an all-consuming rage. It felt like flames licked my skin and my insides.

"You can't leave me!" I screamed.

He started to run from me, but I grabbed his wrist with a strength I didn't know I had. I heard the bones in his wrist break in my hands and he screamed like bloody murder.

"Shut up!" I yelled, and all I could see was fire and flames and fury.

I covered his mouth with my hand, but he thrashed around. I pushed him and his head hit the side of my vanity.

I stood, stunned, looking at Lukas' lifeless body until I felt the ground shake under me.

The floor opened up, spewing flames as it opened up. Out of the flames was a tall boy who didn't look much older than me, I was 18 at the time.

(Hell's Butler)

He wore a tight-fitting black velvet coat and black skinny jeans. He bowed to me, and his messy black hair hung in front of his face. "Hello, madam."

"Who are you?" I asked.

"My name is Damon," he said and straightened his posture. "I'm a butler of sorts."

"Of sorts?"

"You'll see," he said. "Now, if you'll follow me."

He held his white-gloved hand out to me, but I was hesitant to take it.  I looked to Lukas' lifeless body and realized I didn't have a choice. If I didn't go with Damon, I'd be going to jail. I grabbed his hand.

"Very well," he said, and he pulled me into the flames.

We were suddenly in an elevator that had six-hundred and sixty-six floors on it. He pressed the buttons in a certain order and the elevator shot down so fast I fell to the ground. The elevator stopped and he helped me up.

The elevator doors opened up, and we both stepped into what looked like nothing. It was darkness, save for wispy cotton-like things flying through the air..

"Where are we?" I asked.

"Limbo," he said. "For the unbaptised...the pagans...those who don't belong anywhere else."

"Wait--limbo as in...?"

"Yes, as in Hell," he said. "Come now."

I followed him as we got back into the elevator. It went down a floor and the doors opened up.

This place looked like a state fair with all the fried foods and sweets, with a mud pit in the middle. Pigs sat at the food stands, gorging himself with food, and other pigs wallowed in the mug.

"Gluttony," I said.

"Exactly," he said before we got into the elevator again.

"Is there a reason I'm getting a tour of Hell?" I asked, but he didn't reply. He just pressed the next button.

He didn't step out this town. We just watched from the elevator. This looked like a burlesque club, and the audience was filled with beds. I'll spare you the details.

Damon pressed a button and winked at me.

We went down one more floor and he held his hand out. I shrugged and grabbed it, and stepped out of the elevator. It looked like a set from a scripted wrestling match on TV. There was a massive cage in the middle, and an audience surrounded it.

"Here," Damon said.

I turned to Damon and he handed me a sword. "What is this?"

"I showed you the circles above yours so perhaps make you feel better about your new home," he said.

I took the sword.

"Fight, Eva, fight for the rest of your life," he said. "Welcome to the circle of Wrath, your little slice of home sweet Hell."

Author's Note:
This week I read Kali the Mother, which mentioned The Divine Comedy which included The Inferno. I know a lot about The Inferno because I am currently taking a class about it!

In my Storybook, Kali will be visiting the underworld, so I wanted to start world building and make the Underworld that she will go to. This underworld is actually a combination of the world in The Inferno and from the second part of The Divine Comedy: Purgatorio.

My version has more emphasis on the seven deadly sins and has a more modern veneer.

Reading Diary Part A: Kali the Mother

Kali the Mother by Sister Nivedita

(I am reading this before Asura, since my character is named Kali in my Storybook. I wanted to get some research about the actual Kali to supplement my stories with.)

(Kali)

Part A:
1. Concerning Symbols

• Twilight, the space between day and night
• Light through a mask
• Consumed in fire
• Dissolve in an ocean
• Shadows
• The shadow of the soul
• Bringer of sanctity and peace
• Hide and seek

2. The Vision of Siva

• The beauty of snowpeaks and moonlight
• Beauty imagry "the great Mother, were clothed in raiment of green, broidered with birds and flowers and fruits, and veiled in blue, adorned with many jewels"
• More lovely description: "Something white and austere and pure; something compelling quiet; something silent and passionless, and eternally alone."
• Concept of duality. Light and shadow, attraction and repulsion.
• Anthromorphic
• (This isn't quite what I thought it would be.)
• Being the ideal householder, ideal judge, ideal ruler.
• "To him she is all beauty." 

3. Two Saints of Kali

• Othello slays Desdemona 
• The mention of the Divine Comedy was interesting to me. She basically said aid you need to know a lot about Florence and such in order to understand the Divine Comedy, and she's not wrong. I am currently taking a class over the entire Comedy and it really does require a lot of information about medieval Florence, specifically in relation to politics, and there are also many historical figures, mostly classical figures you need to understand as well.
• Her toy is a kite.

Additional Notes about Kali: 

• Goddess of time, creation, change, preservation, and destruction) 
• Goddess of empowerment 
• Mother Goddess 
• Associated with darkness 
• Kali means time, but also means black. 
• Kali will "devour all."

Reading Plan

For the rest of the semester, I will be reading: Asura Tale of The Vanquished by Anand Neelakantan.

(Asura)

Tentative Reading Plan:

Week 9: Chapters 1-9

Week 10: Chapters 10-18

Week 11: Chapters 19-26

Week 12: Chapters 27-36

Week 13: Chapters 37-46

Week 14: Chapters 47-57

Week 15: Chapters 58-end

Week 16: (no reading)

Week 8: Blog Ideas

I've been adding and deleting things from my introduction throughout the semester, so I didn't really have anything to change.

Additionally, I'm happy with how my blog looks with all the features and my theme. So, there really isn't anything to switch up.

I like how my blog is black and red and sort of Gothic looking since most of the stories that I write are dark in tone.

Week 8: Managing Time

I have managed my time some weeks better than others. I do the best when I get work done on Mondays and Wednesdays in between my classes. I need to continue to do that.

Unfortunately, some of those days I get busy and have to do other things.

I also have been struggling with being able to do assignments when they're due, so I have more missing assignments then I would like.

I'm not going to lie, this semester has not been easy for me.

But I need to make time to do the assignments when they are due, and I need to take advantage of extra credit oppurtunities to make up those missing assignments!

I got this! Right...?

(Growth Mindset Memes)

Week 7 Storytelling: The Demon's Deal

(Image Source)

"The Demon's Deal"

I have a boyfriend named Dorian. Well, or at least that's what everyone thinks. There are times that I even convince myself of that truth.

But the truth is that I made Dorian up. One day I drew what the perfect boyfriend would look like, and then I started writing letters to myself from him, and then I wrote letters back to him. The letters were sent and received in a shoebox.

So, when people at school asked me, whenever my family asked me, I told them, "Yes, I have a boyfriend. His name is Dorian!"

I had a story for how we met, how our first kiss went, and even bought presents for me that "he got me."

The problem started whenever people wanted to meet him.

After excuse after excuse I feared that everyone could see through my thin veil of a lie. I desperately did everything I could think of: wishing on shooting stars and 11:11. I hoped fortune cookies wielded good fortune.

I prayed to God, Buddha, anyone who was listening, but nothing worked.

It wasn't even about making him seem alive anymore, no, I wanted Dorian to be alive.

Finally, I turned to the darkness.

It the angels wouldn't help me, perhaps the demons would.

I looked online for a wishing spell. I wrote my fake boyfriend's name on the paper, along with his qualities: black hair, brown eyes, pale skin, freckles, he's sweet, he's thoughtful, but he's confident, he's charismatic.

I burned the paper in the flame of a candle, and whispered, "Dorian. I wish you were real."

Suddenly the flames grew as tall as a person, and in it's place was the boy I had just described.

Dorian scratched the back of his head, and sheepishly grinned. "Hey, Bridget."

"Dorian!" I cried and ran to him, wrapping my arms around him.

He kissed the top of my head, and embraced me. "I'm here."

"Stay here with me, please," I begged.

"What would you give for me?" He asked and suddenly his teeth were fangs, and I felt claws around my body. His hair was no longer black, but snow-white, and his eyes were bright red.

(Belial, the Demon)

I tried to wriggle out of his grasp, but his arms were like iron chains. "Who are you?"

"Some call me Belial, but I am whoever you want me to be," he said and suddenly he turned back into Dorian. "But, for a price."

"What is the price?" I asked.

"Your soul," he said with a wicked grin.

I laughed. He was joking right? This was all some sick joke.

"It's no joke," he said, and smirked. "I will be your Dorian for seven years, after which your soul will be mine."

"Yours for what?"

"For the taking, but thats shouldn't matter, no? Isn't your Dorian more important?" He smiled softly smiled and released me from his embrace.

I was sixteen years old, so I'd be twenty-three when my soul was gone. I didn't even know what I was doing after all that time. I had no plans of college. Besides, maybe I could trick him. Or maybe he was lying.

"Yes," I said.

"We have a deal," he said with a wolfish grin and he held his hand out. I shook his hand and it felt like fire.

For a moment he was the demon again and then he was back to Dorian. My sweet, kind, Dorian, and boyfriend for seven years.

After which, I had no idea what would happen.

***

When he said he'd take my soul, I didn't know it would be like this. I was twisted into someone hint perverted, and something evil.

I became a demon, much like Belial, the demon I made the deal with.

My home was Hell, literally, and I was to spend the eternity making deals with foolish humans. The business in Hell was souls, and I was no longer the customer, I was the sleazy saleswoman.

Author's Note.
This week, I read "Sri Krishna of Dwarka and Other Stories" and it mentioned demons and curses and such. So, I decided to write a story kind of based off of the Faustian myth, which is the age old tale of a deal with a demon, turning sour.

I know, I cut it close, but I was running out of words! I would have liked to see more with Dorian and Bridget, but the word count did not allow. I feel bad for Bridget's fate, but you reap what you sow, right?

Reading Diary A: Mahabharata

"Shri Krishna of Dwarka and Other Stories" by C. A. Kincaid (1920)

(Krishna)

Part A:
Chapter 1:

• Yogmaya, a Goddess. 
• Demon, Kalanemi.
• Having white hair and an incarnation of a serpent, having black hair and being the incarnation of Lord Vishnu.
• Demons!
• A Demon Prince, oh what I can do with that little line! A Demon Prince who is ruthless, and it takes a human to bring back his humanity. A Demon Prince who is in Hell (reading Dante's Inferno lately,) and meets Lilith. Maybe he becomes Lilith's lover. Oh, how I love my romance stories. Or, the Demon Prince is Asmodeous, and I can do a continuation of my story, "A Band of Demons."Of course the Demon Prince will be a teenager, I love writing Young Adult fiction! It's my thing, if you didn't already notice. 
• Setting: a dungeon. Maybe a girl is imprisoned, and the Demon Prince visits the dungeon, to take a prisoner to eat, but he has some connection with her and they fall in L-O-V-E! (The dungeon, what a place to meet a guy at...) (Anime fans: Is it wrong to pick up a girl in a dungeon?)

Chapter 2:

• Giantess
• Having divine strength.
• Arjun Tree

Chapter 3:

• More boyhood adventures... (Boring...) I write Young Adult, not children's books!
• Demon's disguise. What if the Demon Prince disguises as a peasant and that is how he meets a girl. The girl could be a demon peasant, or a human girl. Either way, it ends with love, and probably a kiss!
• A great snake
• Kadamba tree

Chapter 4:

• Setting: a mountain.

Chapter 5:

• More demons!
• A giant bull.
• Attacking with huge horns. (In the story: give the Demon Prince huge horns!)
• Jackals
• Setting: Woods
• A "cruel snare."

Chapter 6:

• Having a curse. A girl or  a guy could make a deal with a Demon Prince, and as most deals with demons go, it goes horribly wrong. (Circa: Faust.)
• A "gallant" Prince. 
• A King falling in love with a "fair girl" that he saves. 
• Item: A crown. 

Chapter 7:

• Young Princes, more words to go towards my YA Demon Prince story!  
• A Golden. Throne. 
• A letter 
• Musicians 

Week 6 Storytelling: Rules Made To Be Broken

(Image Source)

Disclaimer: This story contains somewhat graphic violence and themes dealing with suicide. If that is not your cup of tea, read my story from last week.

"Rules Made To Be Broken"

Rule #1: You are food, nothing more.

Rule #2: Remember: you are the prey, they are the predators.

Rule #3: No fraternizing, friendship, or romance.

Rule #4: You live nocturnally now.

Rule #5: Species may not be changed. You will stay human.

Rule #6: If you break any of these rules, you're dead.

Rule #7: If your Master breaks any rules, they're dead.

***

I was born a Blood Slave. My parents were Blood Slaves, and they passed it onto me. When I was twelve I was sent to live with one of Them, who was to be my Master. 

His name was Xavier. He was a vampire, and I was to be his Blood Slave for the rest of my life.

(Xavier)

I didn't think sticking to the rules would be so difficult.

A year after I was given to Xavier, I started to notice how silky his long black hair was and how soft his lips felt on my neck. I also started to take pleasure in his drinking of my blood. 

But, rules are rules, and besides, I wasn't into other guys, I couldn't be.

Blood Slaves were supposed to find another Blood Slave of the opposite sex, so that we could make babies that would become Blood Slaves when they came of age. 

Besides the rules, my love was surely unrequited. I mean, I'd seen him entertain beautiful Noble girls, and even kiss some of them. Afterall, I was just a Blood Slave boy with dull brown hair, brown eyes, and rags for clothes. 

Each day it got harder and harder, and now, at sixteen, it was nearly impossible. I couldn't take living this painful existence any longer, and so I ended it prematurely. 

I slit my wrists with a knife, and watched the blood drip down my arms and onto the hardwood floor like a splatter of paint on a canvas.  I soon grew too weak to stand, and fell to the ground.

I could hear Xavier's sweet voice shout, "Lucas!" 

Through blurred vision, I saw him come to my side and embrace me in his arms. If I was going to die, to die in his arms was going to be a heavenly way to die.

The world fell to black, and I fell out of this world, and into the next.

Or so I thought.

I jolted awake, opening my eyes and sitting up. Xavier was still holding me. 

"What happened?" I asked.

"I saved you from certain death," Xavier said in his velvety soft voice. 

"What do you mean?"

"You were going to die, but I gave you another life," he said. "An immortal life."

No, it couldn't be!  "Are you saying that I'm a..." 

"Vampire."

"But that means..."

"Does it matter?" He asked. "We were going to break the rules anyway." 

"I don't know what you're talking about," I said and looked away from him.

"Lucas," he said softly and cupped my face in his hand, angling my face to look at him. "I know your feelings towards me."

"I don't--"

"I feel the same way," he said. "Maybe it was selfish, but that is why I saved you."

I didn't know what to say. I spent four years wanting to hear those words, but now that they came I had a hard time feeling happy. All I could think about is how we broke all the rules.

"I love you, Xavier," I whispered.

"As do I."

"But this can't be, we can't be...I can't be..." I muttered, and my vision was blurring from a curtain of tears. "They'll kill us."

"Not if we can't catch us," he said, and he pulled my face towards his. "Run away with me, and we can live together, forever."

"Yes," I said. "I'll follow you through Hell if I have to in order to get to Heaven with you."

"Being by your side has been like heaven for me," he said before pressing his lips to mine.

As I kissed him I was maddened by the thirst of blood. My fangs slid out of my gums, and I bit his lips. His blood filled my mouth, and it tasted like copper pennies and raw honey.

"What's going on here?" A voice asked from behind us.

I pulled away from Xavier in horror, to see his Mother standing in the doorway.

"Fraternizing with your Slave, an a boy none the less?" Mavis snapped, and approached us. Her eyes were on my fangs.

"You have broken every rule, you fool," she yelled and struck Xavier across the face. He fell to the ground.

"Rules are made to be broken," he shouted.

"You are no longer my son. There is only one option," she said with a blank expression. Her nails elongated into claws and she stepped towards us.

Xavier lunged at her with his own set of claws, but she was faster. Her claws sunk into his chest, surely piercing his heart.

"Lucas, live on without me..." He whispered as his body fell, lifeless, to the floor.
 
I roared, sounding more animal than human, and my nails turned into claws. I lunged at Mavis with my claws, and I dug them into her chest, pulling out her heart, and tossing it to the ground like a piece of trash.

I kissed Xavier's cold, dead lips and left the room to raid the mansion for valuables. I came back for Xavier's body and carried him in my arms.

For Xavier I would live, but I would spend eternity to find a way to bring him back to life.

(Lucas)  

Author's Note:
This week I read the Mahabraata (PDE) and in section 64, where a line said: "Men were maddened with the thirst for blood." That line made me think of vampires, so I set out to write a Young Adult short story with vampires.

Vampires are actually my favorite supernatural character to write about. I actually finished a novel that has vampires in it, and In Laura's Mythology class I made a Storybook with vampires!

I decided to pick a male character, since all my other short stories have has a female protagonist. Additionally, for a change of pace, I decided to make Lucas gay.

I'm so sorry for making such a sad and tragic ending. I actually originally wrote a happy sappy ending where Xavier and Lucas managed to escape and lived in the country for the rest of their life, but I felt like it was too easy, and too sappy and happy. I felt so bad to do that to Lucas, but I think it was a much more evocative ending.

I may make a sequel so we can find out if Lucas found a way to bring Xavier back to life.

I created a world and sort of class system for vampires and blood slaves, and I really liked what I came up with. So, you might see more of this world, perhaps from the point of view from one of the vampires.

Reading Diary B: Mahabharata (PDE)

PDE Mahabharata

(Vyasa summons the ghosts)

Part D:
61. Bhishma Falls

• "Great which was the carnage he wrought."
• It being fated that someone will die.
• "The ancient hero"
• "All the Warriors stopped fighting and looked on."
• A blood-drenched plain.

62. Drona in Command

• "Dark some cloudy masses angry gusts of storm divide"
• I like the way this is written. It's written poetically and lyrically. This would an interesting technique to try.

63. Abhimanyu and Jayadratha

• Vowing revenge on someone.
• "Slaying one on one"
• A red sun. 
• A black eclipse.
• Introducing symbolism in my stories would be something I'd like to try. 
• I'd also like to portray the setting as so dark as is well done in these stories.

64. Ghatotkacha

• Fighting in the dark. People on the same side fought each other.
• "Men were maddened with the thirst for blood." (I know this is in relation to war and battling, but I want to take this sentence and turn it into a vampire story! It will have a boy main character, of course it will be young adult. I'd like to do a concept were vampires are born as vampires from parents. Maybe he's an orphan, and then at the age of sixteen, he starts becoming "maddened with the thirst for blood" and is confused as so what is going on. 
• Idea, he stumbles across a cafe that has an irresistible scent. He goes in to find that they put blood on their coffee and pastries. There is a female waitress or barista that helps him discover what he truly is: a vampire.
• OR the thirst for blood could also be for a demon or a Rakshasa, OR for a were-wolf. I could do the point of view of Colt in the story, The Demon's Guard Dog.

65. Death of Drona

66. Bhima and Duhshasana

• Behind cut off his head, and drank his blood, and said it was the finest drink. Warriors cried out, "This is not a man, for he drink th human blood." Another quote to use to back up my vampire story. (Or my demon, or werewolf story.)

67. Arjuna and Karna

• Comparable to the Trojan War, and the confrontation between Achilles and Hector.
• It's not manly to cut down a weaker foe. 

68. Duryodhana in the Lake

• Using supernatural powers to talk refuge beneath the waters of a lake. Reminds me of mermaids, merpeople, water faeries, or nymphs.

69. The Raid

• A night raid, attacking the enemy while they sleep. What happened to honor?
• Being driven by revenge. 

70. Ashwatthaman's Jewel

• A gem on one's forehead that protects one from hunger, thirst, poison, attack of wild animals, and other things.
• A great jewel that gleams in darkness.

71. Mourning

• A somber tone, and difficult themes.

72. The Pandavas and Bhishma

• Waiting until the solstice before dying. 
• Sandalwood
• "The Supreme Eternal Soul"

73. King Yudhishthira's Horse

• A horse sacrifice to atone for sins.
• A moon-white horse, with a yellow tail and one black ear.
• Another tough story to read! I was really upset about the horse. 

74. Parikshit

• Mentions of a witch. A story idea: a modern day witch, discovers she actually has magical abilities. 
• A funeral pyre.

75. Horse Sacrifice

• A full moon. (I need to add more nature and setting in my stories! 

76. The Mongoose

• A golden creature. 
• A famine.

77. The Forest and its Ghosts

• The Ganges River.
• Funeral ritual. 
• Reminds me of a scene in the Ramayna. 
• Ghostly warriors. 
• Princesses. 
• Narmada, the sage.

78. Death of Krishna

• Terrible omens
• The chakra of someone. 
• Incarnation of the world serpent, reminds me of the world serpent in Norse mythology. 

79. The Pandavas Depart

• A sage telling someone it is soon time to depart the world. 

80. The Afterlife

• A final test. 
• Forest of nether regions. 
• A wicked forest.

Reading Diary A: Mahabharata (PDE)

PDE Mahabharata

(The Himalayas)

Part C:
41. Life In The Forest

• Surya, the Sun God.
• Tempests and Heavy rain

42. Krishna's Visit

• Krishna, a Hindu deity. 

43. Arjuna and Shiva

• Obtaining the image of the Great God
• The Himalayas, a mountain range in India.
• Trees, streams, blossoms, and birds.
• An exiled person, wearing rags, eating grass and plants, and someday living off of air.
• A clay figure of a deity. 
• Fighting a boar with a bow.
• The forest was strangely and sollemnly still.
• Fighting for game to hunt.
• The huntsman is a God in disguise. What a cool concept!

44. Arjuna and Indra

• Indra, King of Gods
• Varuna, God of Waters
• Yama, King of the Dead
• Kubera, Lord of Treasures
• A heavenly city
• Asparas (I still want to write a story with this supernatural creature)
• Kama, God of Love.
• "Bright eyes and silken hair."

45. The Himalayas

• A celestial city: palaces of crystal and gold, walls studded with jewels, and turrets adorned with streamers. The winds smell like perfume.

46. Bhima and Hanuman

• (NO! Not the monkeys again. I am NOT a fan of talking animals, or animal creatures in fiction. Unless they are were-creatures, of course.)

47. Duryodhana and the Gandharvas

• Prince's and courtiers. Ladies of the royal household. 
• Sullen and angry
• Purifying oneself. 
• Silent meditation 
• Offering up sacrifices in a great fire.

48. Karna and Indra

• Clad in golden armor and earnings that are imbued with invincibility. 
• Dart called Vasava.

49. Jayadratha and Draupadi

• A damsel in distress motif. Story idea: lad in distress. So genderbend the damsel in distress concept. Have a girl heroine, and a boy that she saves) 

50. Riddles at the Lake

• Banyan tree.
• A Yaksha, benevolent forest spirits. 
• A exchange of riddles, like Golemn and Bilbo in The Hobbit. I know J.R.R. Tolkien was familiar with mythology, so I wouldn't be surprised if he actually read this myth.

51. The Court of King Virata

• Durga, giver of boons, a Goddess. 
• A promise of dharma.

52. Bhima and Kichaka

• A brave and fierce warrior, but truly twisted and morally evil.

53. The Cattle Raid

54. Preparations for War

• Finishing an exile. 

55. Krishna and His Armay

• A kshartiya, a warrior.  

56. Krishna's Mission to the Kauravas

57. Krishna and Karna 

• Peace-makers, arbitrator. Something also seem often in Arthurian Legend and Lore. Interestingly enough, I have seen many elements of Arthurian Legend and Lore in these Indian Epics that we've read.

58. The Armies at Kurukshetra
59. Bhagavad-Gita

• Bhagavad-Gita means "Lords Song."
• Written like a poem (well, or a song.)  

60. The Battle Begins

• Armies waiting for the battle. Dawn was darkened by dusk clouds. Blood dropped. Like rain out of heaven. 
• Jackals howled, vultures screamed. The earth shook.
• I like scenes like this, where the chaos and violence of the situation is literally shown through the physical world.