At 05:51 PM 9/29/00, you wrote:
*Insert Standard Disclaimer here*
FWIW, since you haven't labelled your fic, we don't know what that standard
disclaimer is.
I'm going to try to not nitpick grammar, unless it's particularly egregious.
The Gate Keeper
Chapter One: The Deal
By Robert Reynolds
Cerubus was bored out of his mind. It had been some six hundred
years since he was last allowed to visit the mortal realm. Being the
Gatekeeper for Hades was rather dull work now that Heaven and Hell were
getting all the followers. Mortals could be so picky about where they
spend the rest of eternity. Cerubus would have walked out on his post
three hundred years ago but he made a vow to Hades that he would stand
watch at the gates in exchange for Immortality. What a stupid deal, It
was fun for the first two hundred years but after that it got dull.
Cerubus watched as that stupid three headed dog walked around the
tower again. Why did everyone think that "HE" was that stupid
mutt? Crazy Greeks, ever since Apollo told that little lie about the dog
everyone thinks they can sneak in and out of the underworld without
fighting with that damn dog.
If I interpret you right here, there'd be little mistaking; the "stupid
three-headed dog" is named Cerberus, and the character would probably know
him as Kerberos (in the appropriate Greek characters, of course, which
don't come out in ASCII ;).
They forget that Cerubus was a powerful Shaman in his tribe and now he
knows so much about magical spells he was able to raise skeletons from the
ground.
Keep careful track of tenses here.
He could even control the very weather itself. Then again Cerubus was
also lonely. Hades as well as immortality promised him a wife.
Consider "As well as immortality, Hades had promised him a wife.".
What a liar Hades was. Cerubus put his hands back into the black robes
he always wore and pulled out a small loaf of bread and a piece of dried
meat and started to eat as he sat down on the floor of the tower.
I like this commentary on the nature of Hades' "immortality". ;)
Cerubus snapped his fingers as he thought of an Idea of how he
could visit the Mortal world.
No need for capitalization.
The dog started to bark at one of the angels that lived in Heaven. The
angel looked at the three-headed dog and smiled waving it away without
fear. Cerubus stood up from the spot in the floor where he was sitting to
eat and tossed the bread at the dog hitting it in the center head.
This is a little misdirecting. You might want to make it more clear that
the angel is approaching Hades; the first sentence implies that he's just
wandering around Heaven provoking ancient Greek kunoi.
"Why hast thou come to this place Angel?", Cerubus called down to
the visitor. The Angel smiled and spread its wings and took off to join
Cerubus in the top of the tower. Cerubus moved back to let the Angel
land as he reached into his robes and pulled out a dagger. "Answer me,
thy master hath no reign here."
"I come in peace dear friend", The angel answered in a sweet
melodic tone.
If Cerubus were mortal again he would have fallen to his knees from the
calming effect of that voice. The angel folded its white wings behind its
back and found a chair to sit in. Cerubus was getting angry with his
Visitor. Not even Cerubus sat in a chair he felt that he was unworthy of
sitting in a chair.
He felt that who was unworthy of sitting in a chair? If it's Cerubus who's
unworthy, then a) why is he angry, and b) why does he have a chair
around? If it's the angel, you should make this more clear.
"Why hast thou come? Thy master is not my master", Cerubus
growled as the angel sat there smiling as Cerubus started to pull some
more things from his robes. One day Cerubus thought I
One day, Cerubus thought, I...
would have to try to empty this robe of all this junk. "Answer me foul
Creature!"
"I have come to see if you would like to join my master. After
all Hades is not as full as it once was.", The Angel smiled as it pulled
a small parchment from a small sack. "My master can grant you anything
your heart wants Cerubus, Hades cannot."
"Thy Master is a lair. He would try to take my immortality from
me. He has told me so himself. I refuse to become a normal human
again. I have lived to long to just give up and die like some coward."
"MY MASTER IS NO LAIR"; the Angel stood up and held out the
parchment for Cerubus to look at. Cerubus took the paper and said a word
causing it to burst into flames. The Angel's eyes narrowed as it looked
at Cerubus. "Why did you do that?"
Liar, in both places. Unless you mean he's a place for beasts to live.
"Same reason I will turn thee to stone if thou refuse to depart
under thy own power."
"You don't have the power to do that Cerubus I have meet you
before three hundred years ago you could hardly cast that simple fire
spell", The Angel smiled as it reached into the bag for another
paper. Cerubus was getting annoyed with his visitor and it was starting
to show on his face.
"What was once living from flesh and bone NOW BECOME AS STONE!",
Cerubus yelled as the angel looked at him in shock as its body started to
turn into a smooth marble form. Cerubus reached into his robes and
pulled out a mace with a large metallic head on the top of the
shaft. The Angel's face was not twisted with pain as its body slowly
turned into a statue. The face twisted into
It wasn't?
a Horrifying mockery of its former beauty showing great pain as the spell
finished turning the Angel into a statue. Cerubus shattered the statue
with his mace and tossed the statues head off the Tower nearly hitting the
three headed dog in the process.
*************
Cerubus walked to the gates of the Dark Castle of Hades with a
slight grin on his face he could hear the ancient guards talking about
how happy Cerubus looked.
Please clarify this sentence. He would have had a slight grin on his face
if he could have heard them?
Must be some trouble if Cerubus is smiling like that. Cerubus stopped
in front of the gates looked at the little demon watching the gates of
the castle keep.
"Tell our Master that I wish to see him", Cerubus warmly told the
demon.
The Demon looked at Cerubus and shuddered to think what this Immortal
human could do to him if he did not listen to him. The demon ran inside
the castle as fast as its little legs would carry it. A few minutes later
a human wearing Dark heavy Armor walked to the Gates. Cerubus bowed slightly
Hades isn't human. Perhaps just "a man wearing dark, heavy armor"?
to show respect for Lord Hades. Hades stood and looked at Cerubus as the
little demon came crawling back out to take his place at the gate once more.
"Why are you here Cerubus?", Hades voice boomed. Cerubus was
unimpressed by his voice now after nine hundred years of service. Hades
saw the smile on the face of Cerubus.
Seems a little short, especially considering that the Greek gods went out
of style about seventeen hundred years ago.
"My Lord, I want to visit the mortal world. I want a bride.";
Cerubus turned a slight shade of red when he said the word bride. Hades
looked at him and wondered if that what he was really after.
"How long are you going to look for one Cerubus?"
"I don't know my lord, as long as it takes to find a bride who
will want to be immortal with me. "
"Cerubus you have served me for nine hundred years, I will allow
you at least two hundred years to find a bride to be with you. You may
go if you wish"
"Thank you Lord Hades"
This seems a little improbable to me; the Hades from Greek myths simply
wouldn't be this generous, and in fact would probably require Cerubus to
participate in several trials in order to let him into the surface world,
the length of time allotted being proportional to how well Cerubus
performed in the trials.
While it is a minor point, it does bring Hades significantly out of
character, and sets a precedent that you might not want to set.
Cerubus bowed slightly as Hades turned away from him and walked
back inside the castle. The demons looked at one another and turned back
to their own works. Cerubus smiled and walked to the entrance of the
Underworld.
Charron was giving him a hard time as he crossed on the ferry. Cerubus
was happy he would get to see what was on the surface world and find
himself a bride and see what new magic could be learned.
This feels gratuitous. Why is Charon giving him a hard time?
************
"Ranma Satome!", a woman's voice could be heard screaming. A
young man ran down the street wearing a red shirt and green pants with a
rather mean looking woman waving a giant spatula around as it if that was
a weapon.
Just when the boy thought he was safe another young woman wearing a school
outfit turned around the corner to catch the young boy and pulled him down.
"Ranma no Baka!" The second girl screamed into the ear of
Ranma. The first girl just hit him in the head with her spatula. Ranma
sat there wondering what he had done this time to get these two mad at
him. Akane was just mad he would not eat her cooking and with that
poison who could blame him? There was loud boom from behind them in the
park, as a large doorway seemed to just appear out of thin air.
Segue here. The last line of the paragraph has nothing to do with the rest
of it.
Cerubus walked out of the doorway wondering where he was, IT was
certainly bright wherever he was. IT had been two hundred years ago when
he last saw the sun. The trio stood there and looked at this strange
man as he stood there looking at the trees and the birds. He was dressed
in strange black robes and wore wire frame glasses that sat at the tip of
his nose. He had a slight smile on his face as he took a deep breath.
Cerubus pulled out a map from his robe and started to look at it
when the two girls shoved Ranma towards him. Ranma slowly walked up to
the man and waved his hands in his face to get his attention. Cerubus
looked up at the young man and smiled.
"Who are you", Ranma asked with a look in his eyes trying to
figure out if this was the guy who taught Moose to hide all that stuff in
his robes too.
"Fetara cerotais combkiena?", The man replied to Ranma. Ranma
looked at him and almost face faulted. The man snapped his fingers as he
pulled a book from his robes and read a few lines out of it and looked at
Ranma .
"Where is this place", the man spoke clearly so Ranma would
understand him.
These two lines are either redundant or unclear. Is the book one of magic,
or is it a phrasebook? If the first, it should be made clear how the magic
works, although you can leave out the fact that it's magic; if the second,
then you should either omit the bit about his reading a few lines out of
it, or make it clear that he's practicing to himself before he actually
says the words to Ranma.
Ranma was suprised that this weird man couls speak japanse so well after
talking to him in what sounded like he was speaking how Kuno The Blue
Blunder would after he kicked his butt.
Um, what?
All in all, an interesting idea, and one I'm looking forward to seeing more
of. There are some grammar and spelling questions, and I have a little
trouble with some of the concepts you're using (especially your depiction
of Hades), but I'm looking forward to seeing what you do with it.
-EDG