[this is only a fraction of this story that I started but forgot to finish but I thought it was pretty good so here]
12 years after the events took place:
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3 drunken old men, one with a strange bamboo hat, another with a weird beard, and the last with one eye, were telling stories for their own entertainment. The two old men had listened to the old man with a weird beard for half the day now, and they are growing quite tired of his stories. The old man with one eye spat on the ground, “Pah! I got enough of yer “n they all lived a happily ever after’’’s! I doubt there’re that many ever afters!” The old man with the weird beard put his legs on the table, leaned back on his chair, and raised his bottle of liquor, waving it around, “Yea, yea! As if yous twos got anythin’ better!” He said, pointing the mouth of the bottle at the one-eyed old man across the table. The old man with the strange bamboo hat suddenly set down his bottle on the table with a loud “thud!”
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From under the shade of his hat, he glared at the other two old men and drunkenly mumbled, “Well, this old man gots somethin’ for ya, hehe… Have yer ever heard of the story of the Kingdom of Balls?”
The one-eyed man burst out laughing, “What kinda balls yer talkin’ bout, huh, old man?” he asked, still laughing.
“These ain’t no ordinary balls! I’m talkin’ bout eye-balls! Eye-balls!” The bamboo-hat-man proclaimed seriously. The old man with the weird beird threw a piece of bread at the one-eyed man, “Old man, what yer thinkin? Yer stinkin brain thinkin bout somethin else, aren’t ya? I guess ye couldn’t help it! Spent so dang long without a woman, now look at you, AHAHAHAHAHA!!!”
The one-eyed old man was about to slam his glass bottle on the weird-beard man’s head when the old man with the bamboo hat set his right foot on the table and shouted, “YE SHUT YER TRAPS WHEN I’M TELLIN A STORY, AYE? OR IMA SEW THEM SHUT FOR YA!” The other two old men shrunk back. The one-eyed man opened his mouth then closed it again then opened it again, “Aiyoh, aiyoh, no need to be so angry bout it… Please, continue,” he said.
The bamboo-hat old man cleared his throat and then schooled his expression for it to be mysterious and absolutely stern as if he was some royal messenger about to deliver dire news. “Once upon a time-”
The one-eyed man spoke up suddenly, “AH, THEY ALWAYS START WITH THOSE!”
“THEN WHAT DO YOU WANT ME TO START WITH, YOU WORTHLESS ILLITERATE?!?!” Bamboo-Hat shouted with authority. Ah… They had forgotten… This old man was still the powerful sorcerer of all time, how could they afford to retaliate? With that thought, the two old men shrunk back again and urged him to continue.
“Ahem…” bamboo-hat shot a glance at the one-eyed old man, “AHEM!” he said much louder. “Once upon a time, in a land far, far away, there lived a prince that fell in love with a good-for-nothing woman. Her beauty made up for her brains. She had long, blonde hair and blue eyes. He kept her in his palace but never thought of marrying her-”
The one-eyed man: “That’s absurd!”
Bamboo-hat: “Shut up! Anyway, so, one morning, when the servants woke up, they heard an ear piercing shriek coming from the young woman’s pavilion-ahem-residence. So, of course, they had to go check. Only to see… Only to see a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a…A…!”
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The old bamboo hat man told the story with such energy, spit flying everywhere, to create suspense in the listeners heart. “J-JUST SPIT IT OUT!” The weird-beard man shouted, not willing to wait any longer.
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“A different woman, A very, very different woman.” Bamboo-Hat sat back down and continued, “The woman in the room had the same body as her. But-! Her hair was long, silky, and dark. She was crawling on the ground, face down… whimpering… searching for something…” The two old men were so absorbed with the story that they both clung to each other. “There was blood on the mattress. The trail of blood followed the black-haired woman crawling on the ground.” Bamboo-Hat shut both his eyes for extra effect then waved his hands in the air as if he was looking for something then exclaimed, “Then she looked up at the maids’ faces! They saw, in place of the blue eyes, deep eye sockets. “MY EYES! I CAN’T SEE, I CAN’T SEE!!” she ran and clawed at the maids’ faces. Clawing their eyes out!” Bamboo-Hat ran around the table clawing and roaring. The two old men avoided his hands. “They said that you will see their kingdom filled with thorns and the frozen figure of the people standing motionlessly with their eyes gauged out…”
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Weird Beard and One Eye clung to each other desperately as if they really were surrounded by the shadows of the late citizens of the kingdom, ‘staring’ at them with their empty eye sockets, so deep as if they’ll get sucked into the void. The sun hadn’t sunk yet the mist poured in as pressured water running free after destroying a dam. Only the dim lights of the old lodge made it possible to see each others’ faces. The old man with a strange bamboo hat had a sorcerer’s staff which glowed a white light. He put it in front of his face to make his storytelling seem more ominous than it already was. Weird Beard suddenly pushed One Eye away, clearing his throat, he said, “That wasn’t too bad. Say, was that a fairytale or was it real?” he lifted one of his eyebrows at Bamboo Hat. “Tsk,” Bamboo Hat said, “If I says it was, ye won’t believe me.”
"E-ehh?!?!" One Eye leapt forward, "So you mean it's true?!?!"
Bamboo Hat rolled his eyes then lifted the staff and hit One Eye and Weird Beard both on the head with lightning speed. "Fools! It's only true if you believe it! Don't believe it, I'm tellin ya!" he shouted, already disappearing into the mist. The two other old men went pale. "AND WHAT IF WE DO?!!!?" they shouted almost at the same time.
Bamboo Hat was almost ready to be swallowed by the thick fog when he turned around, "Or..." he whispered, "The black-haired witch will get you."
"HA?!?" the two old men did not hear him but he was already gone.
ns 15.158.61.8da2
