EDIT: You can find the updated story at my portfolio
here.
V was driving home from the Badlands, having won another race in his climb to the top of the underground racing scene. Suddenly, he received a text from Panam, who was calling for V to stop by her encampment immediately for urgent matters. When the mercenary arrived, he was informed by Panam that her camp was being plagued by attacks from an unknown source at night, destroying their vehicles and supplies. The village elders called this beast "Orochi", named after a folktale of old. Realizing that the beast never went after people, but merely supplies and tech, V laid out a trap for Orochi the next night. Using fuel canisters and a container filled with ammunitions, he set a ring of 8 fuel canisters surrounding the ammunition meant to bait the monster out. As night fell, V set up behind an outcrop waiting for the monster to arrive. Suddenly, he heard thumping noises in the distance, and activated his scanner. In the center of the ring was not a monster, but a cyber-psycho piloting a mini-mech unit hunting for ammo and fuel to keep going. Taking aim at one of the fuel canisters, V cocked his pistol and fired, blowing the mech to pieces and finishing off the cyber-psycho. Waking Panam and the rest of the camp the next day, he informed them they would be safe from raids for now, much to the delight of Panam, winning V more of her affection and trust, and further boosting his reputation as a legend amongst mercs.
Author's Notes: Using the plot of the Eight-Forked Serpent of Koshi, I took elements of the story and placed it in the setting of Cyberpunk 2077, taking place in the Badlands of Night City rather than Japan. I kept Orochi's name the same but replaced the monster with a more appropriate adversary in the world of Cyberpunk. Susanoo was replaced with V, being a local hero rather than renowned legend.
Bibliography: The Eight-Forked Serpent of Koshi, from Romance of Old Japan, Part I: Mythology and Legend by E. W. Champney and F. Champney.
Web source.
This was such a cool take on the story of the serpent! To be fair, I don't really know much about Cyberpunk (except that is was released perhaps a bit too soon before polishing was done), but I love the sci-fi elements that you incorporated into an otherwise traditional tale. Modernizing a story is usually our first idea when creating a story from another, but your story goes above that, combining two different storylines to create a cohesive story. I also like the extra 'street cred' V gets from defeating the enemy mech.
ReplyDeleteHi Aaron.
ReplyDeleteI really enjoyed your retelling of the story of the serpent! I think changing the setting up is a very fun choice and definitely makes the story sound more interesting! I also like how you adjusted the monster to fit the new setting, I think that it all works very well. I also fully agree with Lanney's comments about creating the cohesive story lines and bringing them together to create your story. Great job!