In the Shadow of a Hero- CYOA- Chapter 1

Story by bagpiper on SoFurry

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#2 of CYOA

Alright, setting the scene and introducing our reader-built character. He's a blank slate for you readers to fill in with your choices.


Results are in! Thank you everyone who voted, it really means a lot

Gender-

Herm(Male)-1

Male-4 (External-1, Internal-3) (one dick- 1, two dicks- 2)

Female-0

Mother- Seratha (unanimous)

Talent

Stealth- 2

Intelligence (Magic)- 2

Intelligence (Unlisted)- 1

****Due to the unlisted intelligence being the tie-breaker, even though I suspect he wanted a mechanist character, I'll use it to give Cael the magic intelligence talent****

Trade

Hunter- 2

Acolyte- 1

Courtesan- 1

Mechanist- 1

Fighting Style

Melee-1

Magic Blend- ranged- 1

Magic- 1

Unique Weapons-1

Ranged Weapons- 1

****This is a hard call. Obviously it's a tie between everything, but considering I have one for ranged, magic AND magic blend-ranged I'm considering going that route, but one of the votes for Unique weapons had a secondary condition for ranged weapons IF our protagonist doesn't have wings- which he does. Still, that'd be 2 for ranged...but he's a magic person who hunts. Dilemma, dilemma. I'll withhold the result on this vote for now and hold it again at the end of the chapter****

Now, I know this is a new story and I know I'm a new author on this site so voting was a little scattered. What I wanted to do is to have people create their ideal character instead of me telling you options. Now I know what people generally want, the unused votes will likely be put to create party members- whether they're siblings or not has yet to be determined. With that, let's get to the chapter! ~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

Chapter 1

It's amazing what people will take for granted, everything from material objects they've had all their life to the abstract concepts such as friends, government, peace...and magic. It wasn't until recently that society figured out what magic was, it was either such an abstract concept that they didn't think about it, or it was ingrained in their way of life and they thought they knew all they needed to. After the war there was a strained peace, where the champion, a fierce golden dragon who took the name Varden coerced the two sides to work together to, as he put it, unlock the secrets of the universe. Varden claimed to have a great deal of knowledge from his own world, but couldn't fully put that knowledge to use until he knew how this world worked- so he created the Star Library in a neutral city by the sea that had been destroyed by the war, but had quickly grown into one of the continent's most bustling cities, the Library considered one of the new foundations of civilization. True to its name, the building was shaped like a star with each wing dedicated to a different aspect of knowledge. There was the History Wing, containing the chronicles of everything that has been recorded, the Science Wing which included everything on a basic level and solving problems without magic, the Magic Wing where the purpose was quite obvious. The other wings were for Applied Science, which is generally called the Technology wing to make it easier, and the Theology Wing which included all of the arts as well as religion and "mental" sciences like philosophy and psychology. In the center was a large dome that covered a massive lobby that served as a meeting place for the best minds of both countries, it was large and soothing so the stressed minds could relax and unwind.

It was in this lobby that a teal colored dragon sat on a bench on the second floor overlooking an elaborate fountain that had a tree entwined around a sculpture of elements surrounding an atom pierced down the middle by a caduceus, a winged staff circled by two winding snakes. The dragon was tall but lithe, his face sharp and angled but with soft curved cheeks leading up to his ears which were surprisingly tubular and rigid, almost looking like horns until they swiveled to better catch each sound. His slender black horns swept back from his temples and slightly coiled as they reached the back of his skull where his frill started but was quickly hidden by his garb. He didn't wear the stereotypical clothes of a mage, in fact not many here did as they turned out to be more of a hindrance when casting or performing rituals. Instead he had on simple leathers over a green jerkin and tight brown cloth pants with a green hood that was currently down as he was idly reading when something caught his eye.

Out of the Magic Wing came a powerful white stag, to say he was majestic was an understatement. He radiated power, he was physically built, tall with broad shoulders. More than that though he was dressed like a monk and had deep blue eyes, but the most distinguishing feature was that his antlers were quite exaggerated, sprawling out and up and extending like the branches of a tree and they positively glowed with golden light, as if his antlers had soaked up the rays of the sun and naturally emanated them back. He was a powerful Kyrian mage and one of the heads of research. Cael, the teal dragon, only had seen him in passing in his studies into magic. From a young age Cael had known he had the potential for magic and he knew that if he didn't master it before he was an adult the power would fade and he would lose access to such a wonderful world, and even though his interests did not exactly lay in the mystical, being cut off from an entire world of possibilities would be like losing his wings and connection to the sky. He didn't know how much time he had, but he felt it was getting close and he could only do entry level magic. He was actually here to see if he could get some tutelage before it was too late.

The dragon stood and respectfully walked over, slightly bowing his head in deference, "Master Oberon?" He asked quietly. The stag paused, gazing down upon the dragon as if looking into his soul but politely waited for him to continue. "My name is Cael and I was hoping you could help me with studying magic as I'm having trouble with the more advanced practices." He knew it was impertinent and likely rude, but he was running out of options. Oberon didn't reply right away, clearly thinking about how to respond but when he spoke it was clearly and deliberately.

"You're coming to me for-?"

"I was hoping you could enlighten me as to what I'm missing before I lose my connection to magic for good." Cael knew it was a long shot, but everywhere else he went he was met with the same dead ends.

"How many hours have you studied?" Aaaaaand there goes his shot.

"Yeah, heh, y'see, about that...I uh..." Oberon raised an eyebrow, but before he could say anything Cael continued, "It's not through lack of trying, I swear! I just can't grasp what it's saying in the books and nobody is helping. If I see it I can do it, what I've gotten so far was from secretly copying someone else, but words mean nothing to me! Please...just let me watch, I'll be your apprentice or something, I just need to be...around." Oberon's expression didn't change throughout all of this and the teal dragon was about to hang his head and go home when the elk sighed.

"I am not sure how much it could help if it doesn't come naturally to you as it does to me, and you're not the studious kind like your kind must be to master magic." He paused. There it was, what the dragon expected. "However, I am not opposed to company when I am not working on big projects if you're truly dedicated. It's the least I can do for Varden's son." He could see Cael's eyes widened.

"How did you-?" He stammered.

"I'm one of the heads of this library, and by extension this city, do you honestly think I don't notice when prominent individuals take up residence? The resemblance to your mother is striking, but you have your father's stature and, I'm hoping, his magical talent. Here's the deal, I work on projects during the afternoon and my personal magic at night. You come by then, we'll see if anything can rub off on you, anyone in the library can direct you to my quarters. It's an open invitation, you'll tell me how much it means to you by how often you show up. Until then, I must go see my family, so I bid you a good day young master Cael." With that the great Elk took his leave, seemingly gliding over the marble floor and stepping out into the midday sun. Cael was too stunned to do anything right away, but when it sunk in that he was just accepted to be Oberon's apprentice it took everything in his power to not shout it to the whole library. He quickly gathered up his books and wondered what he should do next.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~ Choices

Let me explain my thought process on this. I prefer stories where the readers decide based on what they want the character to do or what they want to see. I don't entirely want people to try to meta-game a story like this with percentages but I know a lot of people like that. So here's what we'll do- when they're normal choices like this, there won't be percentages because there's no way for the character to know what's going to happen in life. Since the character is an intelligent type, when it comes to battle or logical conclusions and that sort of stuff, I'll include percentages like "Sneak around the back, 45% to succeed, three successes to pass, two failures and get discovered". Also, you readers will decide if and when things get sexual, but keep in mind some things have consequences, so if you vote to steal something and we get caught? This is an open story. I'll include "dick" versions of some options, if there's a tie because some vote for the good scene and some vote for the "mean" scenes, I'll do a blend. I look at TOTAL votes before I look at vote versions, so if 3 people vote for A but 2 people vote for C and two vote for C2, Option C has more votes. If you don't like this option I'll make each "mean" version its own vote, but for now I like this.

A). Explore the library, see if we can't find some interesting magic or technology. Who knows who or what we'll run into

A2). Use newfound apprenticeship to see if we can't pilfer an artifact- may have to wait until we're actually an apprentice to do this, but option will have the character start looking.

B). Go tell the family about the good news. Would introduce some siblings and give a little more history of Cael

B2). Brag to family about how you got an apprenticeship with one of the big cheeses of the library.

C). Find a childhood friend and confide in them as you both go hunting (Specify preferred gender of friend)

CB). Force yourself on your childhood friend with the threat of your future power as blackmail (Specify preferred gender of friend)

D). Explore the city, get a bite to eat, relax with a dragonseye view, maybe run into a friend or family (Kingdom Hearts 2 anyone?)

Fighting Style

Bringing up this again mainly to hold a tie-breaker. Keep in mind he has the Intelligence (Magic) trait, so let that factor into your vote.

Melee

Magic Blend- ranged

Magic

Unique Weapons

Ranged Weapons