Let us start by saying the Cyril is a very, very well rounded person. Or rather he is a very well rounded trans-dimensional multi-form. He holds mastery of a very wide range of techniques, powers, and general life skills. He is an excellent carpenter, calligrapher, cartographer, choreographer, and other skills beginning with “C.” Cyril is an excellent luthier, librarian, lover, landscaper and other skills beginning with “L.” He is a doctor, was briefly both a dragon and a demon, and other stuff that starts with “D.” Hundreds of thousands of years (actually more) of life have given Cyril at least a basic knowledge of most anything you could possibly want to know. And out of all of those things, there is one thing that he can do so expertly that it transcends human ability. Cyril can bullshit. Cyril can waste time like no one else because he has an almost infinite amount of time to waste away. This is where the story starts, with Cyril wasting time and doing not much at all.
Cyril’s ship hummed lightly as it rested in outer space. It was bored. Cyril was sitting in an oak chair with his feet propped up on the desk in front of him. A Newton’s cradle clicked back in forth on the desk. Cyril sighed. He had all of time and space before him and he was bored. Cyril got up and walked along the space ship, looking through the bookshelves for something to read or for something to throw violently at someone. Nothing he hadn’t already read or thrown. “Oh no wait, what is this?” Cyril pulled out a thin pamphlet from the bookcase. In big, fancy script the title said “Were you aware that ‘Whelm’ is a word?” Cyril shook his head in wonder as he opened the pamphlet. On the inside in a simple font showed the definition:
“verb, archaic, literary
1.
engulf, submerge, or bury (someone or something).
"A swimmer whelmed in a raging storm"
noun, archaic, literary
2.
an act or instance of flowing or heaping up abundantly; a surge.
"The whelm of the tide"”
Cyril whistled. “Wow I knew that. I knew that but I just didn’t remember it at the time.” Cyril wondered if that happened to other people often. Cyril figured it probably did. He tossed the pamphlet up into the air carelessly. Cyril sighed again. Another 400 words left, just about anyway. Cyril began pacing around the ship, trying to slip back into the narrative. “I am in the narrative.” He said aloud. “I am not the narrator, I am not outside the narrative.” He said as a sort of mantra. “I am in the narrative.” Cyril stopped pacing and whined for the first time in probably years, “I’M SO BOOOORED.” He banged his head against the wall. Cyril stared off into space as he belatedly realized the ship was humming and rocking as if it were travelling. “Where could we possibly be going?” Cyril muttered as he approached the time column and main controls. The computer screen flickered out and large, multicolored text flashed across the screen. “Surprise!” It shouted silently. It didn’t actually shout though, it is just text
The space ship stopped humming and there was a thump as the ship landed. Cyril walked to the door and it slid open. Sunlight spilled into the ship and blinded Cyril momentarily. He walked out of the space ship and was greeted by brilliant white snowy plains and magnificent, rising mountains. A cold wind howled and carried touches of snow in it’s grasp. “This is beautiful!” gasped Cyril. “Yemma I love new planets!” Suddenly all around here were mirrors of differing colors. Cyril spun about looking at them all. “Ki mirrors?” Cyril wondered aloud. He shot a small, tentative ball of ki at them and it was reflected back on him. No harm done though. “Brilliant!” Cyril laughed. He held out his palm and a shield appeared in front of him. “How do you do that?” Cyril addressed the Changelings who were obviously behind them.
“Just put more ki in it you fool!” Came a rough voice from behind a blue mirror. “Don’t tell him how to use our techniques you idiot!” Came another voice.
“Thanks guys! Beautiful planet by the way, it’s simply gorgeous!” Cyril flew into the air and back into his spaceship.
Word Count: 727
