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You'd think it's a good thing, luck. Especially when no one in your family has had much of it. Your mother tells you stories of an ancestor who tried to trick a demon and failed. Your father tells you tales of uncles who never lived past the age of three.
And then there's you. You who didn't contr... | Let me tell you a story:
A long time ago, long before man had a name - before man *was* - the land and the sky were one and they were called 'Ākāśa'.
Wild creatures roamed through the mists of Ākāśa, both hunters and hunted. The black-maned Siṃhá, 10 hands tall, stalked the fleet-footed Ajinayoni through the long gr... | Thousands of years ago your family was cursed for "a thousand generations". You are the 1,001st generation and only just noticed just how much luckier you are than the rest of your family.
EDIT: Had no idea this thing would get as big as it has. Thank you all so much! My first 5,000+ post, amazing!
EDIT 2: Now almost... | 559 |
My father had called her the crone, my grandfather had called her the mother. I called her timeless. Officially she was called The Watcher, she was a function of our religion. Women didn't have the power that they did on other nations, despite being the only conduits of our gods. The Watcher was the direct link to the ... | ##Power Behind the Throne
I walk down the stairs of the tower. The sunlight from the hatch is replaced by the torchlight. At the bottom of the stairs, there is a small iron door. I pull out the note that covered the keys. After my coronation, she approached me and handed me . It was the first time that I have ever int... | She is in every meeting, ever war room. She is present in every diplomatic discussion and her features are always hidden by a black shawl. She has served ten kings and never ages. Everyone fears her. You have just been coronated as the new king and she has requested a private audience. | 704 |
"Now, Mr. Truth, thank you for agreeing to this interview. Do you mind if I call you Mr. Truth?"
"That's fine."
"Right, Mr. Truth. Our readers are dying to know more about you. You can just make any statement you want, and it becomes real. Besides you, Nobody has that power, correct?"
"Yes, absolutely correct."
... | "Who am I? Nobody, don't worry, I get that look a lot. Try not to think about it too hard, you'll get a headache." The woman staring up at me was shaky, not everyday you see a criminal just cease their own existence, all for a purse too. "W-where are you?" The lady was clearly in some sort of shock, I suppose it's scar... | Your childhood bully once said you were nobody. Unbeknownst to him at the time, he had a reality-bending superpower. Now he's the world's strongest superhero, everyone calls him The Truth, because his word is the absolute truth... Nobody knows about his past, and Nobody will make him pay. | 514 |
"Ma'am, we have confirmed the identity with photo identification." Sergeant Miller took off his hat and thought for a moment. "Forgive me if this sounds insensitive, but have you ever seen your husband make dinner before?"
"Well, no. But you've got to be mistaken," I replied. "He's in the kitchen right now getting flo... | "I know its hard ma'am, but we found his dead body today on a construction site."
The young detective and her 2 police officers seemed dead serious.
"No! I mean he is standing in the kitchen right now cooking some soup for dinner."
"Well, that seems odd. May we enter and to ask you some questions?"
I just nodded. T... | When the police came to announce you the death of your husband, you refused to believe it. "That's impossible", you said. "Unfortunately, it's the truth, miss", answered the policemen. "It's impossible", you said again, "because he's in the kitchen making dinner." | 662 |
We'd all made fun of Brian, at least a little bit. This was a son packed full of scientists and with few military minds, so we all had things we needed and geeked over, but Brian was one of those lifetime ultra-geeks. The type that jumped on your back if you mispronounced your Klingon, or heaven forbid you mix up a elf... | “You sure this is a good idea?” Randall glanced over the rocky terrain, his eyes wide. He finished knotting the anchor rope to the largest rock we could find and I let go of the section I was holding. The tiny submersible bobbed at the sudden release of tension, but the anchor held it fast.
“There’s not enough power ... | A team of researchers in a submarine are caught in a huge storm. The submarine submerges until the storm passes. When they resurface, they can’t get a fix on their location or find land. When night falls, there are two moons in the sky and the constellations are completely unfamiliar.
Well this has blown up big time!!... | 678 |
"They did WHAT?"
The booming shout actually shook the room and sent a shiver down Gabriel's spine and up his wings. There's nothing quite as terrifying as raising the ire of the almighty, and Gabriel had just delivered some particularly devastating news. Yahweh had never been a subscriber to the idea of not shooting ... | "God come quick, you have to see this! they are flippin flying!"
"what?"
"they are flying like birds"
"are you drunk?"
"no, god seriously. they are even more of them flying now"
"I swear if you're messing with me again"
"oh shoot, they made bigger wings"
"fine Ill come take a look"
god started across the cl... | Adam and Eve were the first and only children of Angels and Demons interbreeding. God feared them. That is why they were sent to be bound on Earth, by the most powerful of seals. Gravity.
Edit: for those people not liking the gravity being the seal: go fu.. Na just kidding, you can just think of something else being t... | 642 |
All of my friends (okay, _both_ of my friends) down booze to pass their worries. I tried that, didn't like it much. Instead, I visit Gisneyland, an amusement park, almost every week.
"Oh, how we met? It's a funny story really! My now-wife shoved a rainbow bouquet into my face as I walked out of work and declared me he... | It was late at night when the door of Ryan's apartment door was knocked. As he staggered off the cold wooden floor, he cursed under his breath for the late night annoyance. Once he opened up the door slightly as the chain lock stopped it in place, Ryan sighed at the sight of his friend, Tommy standing there with his fa... | Soulmates exist. You have flashes of of what your soulmate is seeing and hearing. A lot of soulmates use these flashes in their pursuit to find their soulmate. Personally, you have no interest. The only thing you ever see is darkness and the only thing you ever hear is a constant scream. | 710 |
"You want me to send... a child. A literal, actual, child?" The king shook his head. "My predecessor may have been fond of child soldiers, master prophet, but I am not."
"But surely, surely you cannot allow the entire kingdom to fall? The prophecy-"
"DAMN THE PROPHECY! We walked away from that cursed place, we chose ... | \[Keys to Questing\]
"Damnit...," Keys sighed at the king's outburst. He was the chosen one; but, it seemed the king was hesitant about letting him do his job. After a moment's consideration, he decided to stay and try to convince the king himself.
"Your highness, I'm not an average teenager," Keys stepped cl... | "I WILL NOT LISTEN TO THIS ANY LONGER" "But Your Majesty, the prophe-" "You want me to send a GODDAMN TEENAGER TO FIGHT WHEN WE HAVE TRAINED SOLDIERS" | 551 |
"Aye, you've heard about the devil's asshole right?"
It was more of a rhetorical question. At this point, everybody had.
A few years back, Bridgeport Connecticut experienced a minor tremor from a minor earthquake. No one thought much of it at the time, save for Mr. Hoolihan whose backyard now sported a three foot wid... | The Hole was discovered in the Arizona wilderness in the fall of 2067, and the news outlets had an absolute field day. A sinkhole, roughly 100 yards across, deep enough that you couldn’t see the bottom of it. I thought it was just another natural disaster.
My husband, Dalton, was a sucker for a good natural disaster, ... | A seemingly bottomless pit was found, for which the depth can't be determined. Over time, scores of people began using it to illegally dump trash. Many have jumped in to die, while others jumped believing that they'll find life's answers within it. Today, we learn the truth about the hole. | 515 |
I’m lying in a bed on a tuesday night.
And I’m having restless dreams.
And then I awake from a story where I’m rescuing a princess from a wheel of cheese. Because there’s a chainsaw on my nightstand.
A groggy hand reaches over and slaps it reluctantly. Is it morning...a alarm? Some long lost love looking for lusciou... | The silk curtains fluttered in the cold November winds, brushing ever so softly on Evelyn's shoulder. With its cool touch, Evelyn slept soundly. A distant owl cooed, the falling leaves danced in the night. As the darkness grew dense and empty, the moon burned bright in the sky. Not a single cloud in the sky, the beige ... | It's 3 AM. An official phone alert wakes you up. It says "DO NOT LOOK AT THE MOON". You have hundreds of notifications. Hundreds of random numbers are sending "It's a beautiful night tonight. Look outside." | 588 |
I misread psychologist as psychiatrist, but I won’t rewrite it because I’m lazy.
Silence. I didn’t even notice him walk in, until I heard the door close. I spun around in my chair to face him as I listened. The man was average height, with dark hair cropped to form a revolting line falling over the top of his forehead... | Usually, their thoughts precede them; I know who they are even before they touch the doorknob, before they even enter the building. I can hear (for the lack of a better word) their worries, their fears, their internal neverending monologue governing every aspect of their lives. Sometimes those trains of thoughts are br... | You were born with the ability to hear thoughts. As a psychologist, you have listened to the thoughts of the depressed, the psychopathic, and the insane, you've listened to it all. A patient enters, and you can hear only silence. | 680 |
My coffee shop was nice. Designs chosen from pictures of a mid-50s shop I once saw mixed with a little western. Booths on either side along the walls, with tables occupying the center. It was a night-time hobby of mine to keep me busy during my later years. The wife and I, God rest her soul, always wanted to open up a ... | "So then the guy pulls a gun out, and well... you know the story from th-"
"OH MY GOD!"
The group of supposed friends stopped in place and looked upon the cafe the frequented. The modest hole-in-the-wall coffee bean shop looked as though there was some sort of struggle. The windows were broken, some of the bar stoo... | You're the owner of a cafe frequently visited by vigilantes and anti-heroes who absolutely adore your sweetness and acceptance of who they are. One day, though, a particularly rude customer comes in and trashes the place. Your friends aren't too happy to hear about that. | 684 |
The last thing I could remember from the fight was that there was alot of blood and that I was tired. I remember trying so desperately to defeat him and then..... nothing. I knew that i'd lost. I was readying myself for death, or torture or anything worse but this. This is not what I expected. Especially not from him.... | I woke up slowly, my foggy brain not allowing me to comprehend what was going on around me. There was a steady beeping beside my bed, and a slight pinch in my arm, as well as the warm, slightly spicy feeling of light magic swirling around my head. The last thing I remembered was Annalise standing over me, that blazing ... | They Hero is defeated by the villian, they expect death or torture. They did not expect to wake up in a guest room with their wounds being treated to. | 698 |
Dear E,
I love you. Not the cheesy love I felt in high school, and not the way I love the woman I think I'm going to marry, but you hold a place in my heart that no one else can.
We were destructive. We weren't good for each other. You were emotionally abusive, and I was amazed a pretty girl would give me the time o... | Dear David,
So many things have happened since you left. As you know, dad is gone too. Mom hasn't handled losing you or dad very well. Ok, that's putting it mildly. Mom has lost her shit and gone off the deep end. You wouldn't believe the difference. Drugs. Alcohol. Living with an addict thy she has professed her undy... | Write the letter that you always wanted to, but never did.
Most of the writing prompts I see on here are for fictional stories, but this is only one small corner of the larger art of writing. In this prompt, I'd like you to consider writing something a little more personal, and in a form that you might not have otherw... | 663 |
"Slowly, now," I warn, as Perry Gunderson, or, as we know him, the hero Paragon, stepped into his own living room. "You're going to want to play this one smart."
"And why's that?" he asked, stalling as he strove to comprehend the situation. As though it could be anything other than the obvious.
"Why, your wife and da... | It has taken fifteen years to find him, but I have finally done it. The fool has his whole family in one spot.
Seeing the light ahead, he slowed his pace and began sticking closer to the trees for cover. Seth was expecting a fight, and this time, he wouldn't underestimate his enemy. Slowly making his way towards th... | The Villain uncovers the Hero's true identity, and targets his family. Unfortunately, the Hero's spouse is a retired villain even more powerful than the current one. | 552 |
"Um, excuse me..."
"Yes?"
"Are you the head librarian here?"
"Yes."
"So, um, I've been coming here for a few weeks, and...well, do you see that girl over there? with the ragged green coat."
"The one in hutch against the wall?"
"Uh, yeah. That one."
"Is she bothering you?"
"No! No, not at all. Actually, I w... | It began quite innocuously. A rather large crowd was entering the library and we were driven together by the swathes of patrons as we ascended the stairs to the entrance and thus I bid her good day.
"Why?" she asked, stopping in place to stare at me. I found it quite unnerving.
"There is no reason, really." I explain... | You’ve begun to suspect the homeless girl at the Library isn’t human at all | 539 |
"Imagination sets us apart. They imagined you to be of a lesser race. They imagined your casting to be inferior. You imagined a school without the trappings of social prejudice. Of racism and sexism and the other -isms that would schism a community like this. I am glad you found yourself to be wrong, dear boy," Profess... | In the early 21st century a new space race began. By the mid century we were colonizing our solar system. In the waning years of the century we finally took to the stars.
With 3 stars it was tricky, but we first colonized Alpha Centauri. Next we took to Barnard's Star and Wolf 359.
It’s now the 23rd ... | You are the only human at the Arcane College, and the students there are not exactly welcoming. Fast forward four years, and you are the most terrifying magic caster in the academy's history. | 611 |
"I've finished my task, after all these centuries. What is it you wish of me now?" Nobran asked with a bow to his goddess.
"Nothing. I don't need you now..." Pyris answered, her eyes locked on her endless scroll.
"Oh..." Nobran said, her words sticking. "What am I supposed to do with myself?"
"I couldn't care less. ... | "Okay!", exclaimed the art restoration manager excitedly.
"we just got a big--, important, contract handed to us from a very---- important client!" He announced in a peppy manner while guiding his team of irritated specialist to a room outfitted with several restoration tools
Audible gasps came from some of the team ... | You are an immortal knight,you've grown tired of existence so you take a nap under a tree in your quaint village,thousands of years later your armor has calcified and you’re regarded as a great work of art,today is the day you wake up. | 583 |
The world was in an uproar, over a single photo.
At first glance, there was nothing particularly unusual about it. The same dotted spiral that we were all familiar with as the Milky Way. You could find a similar depiction in any 9th grade science textbook. But it soon became apparent that this was not an artist's recr... | ---------
Jones.
Jones looked at the monitor, still not quite believing his eyes. The blip had appeared just 5 seconds after all the tracking systems glitched, and had suddenly and uncharacteristically been placed in a perfect geocentric orbit.
"What the hell?" He said out loud, has his college Emily walked up to ... | Voyager 2 is found orbiting the Earth. It is exactly the same except with one new addition: a single image of our galaxy taken from outside it. | 566 |
I have the easiest job you can imagine. I get paid monthly for a hundred years, so I never have to think about saving money. All I had to do was push a button once. Oh, and if I quit I'm as good as dead. But I guess that's still better than the average employment contract.
This left me with a lot of spare time, some o... | Sometimes the best disguise was no disguise at all.
That was what Elayne thought as she weaved through the crowd like a serpent through water. She wore no mask or hood to conceal her face. There was no need. She would not be seen. Her mark, a young man named Genta Nakamura stepped into view. Following closely behind ... | In this world, soulmates cannot hurt each other in any way or form, intentionally or unintentionally. You are an assassin hired to eliminate a powerful figure. As you close in for the kill, your bullets miss their mark and knives bounce of their skin. Things just got awkward. | 524 |
"We've got a missing person, and just found their vehicle off the 65, get your hind parts in gear!" Detective Sanders barked at me. Why today... why this case... It could've been any other job, and I would've been thrilled to have him yell at me like that. Perhaps thrilled is the wrong description, but at the least I k... | "I cant believe this" His Professor exclaimed "This must have been an important place!" as they where wandering in their Powered hiG EVA suits through the strange field of hardened Concrete thorns and spikes.
He went to one of them and put hist fist to it. Shooting a few Antiprotons onto the targets and from the Annih... | You were born with the ability to know what is buried beneath your feet. You have worked for years with geologists finding lost cities and treasures. Today is the first time you have ever said “We should not dig here.” | 686 |
*Breaking news as it happens on the currently unfolding London eye incident.*
\[11:23\] *A large, reptilian creature roughly the size of two double Decker buses can be seen landing on top of the London eye.*
\[11:43\] *Police respondents begin to arrive on the scene. Cordons can be seen being set up on streets in a r... | It's not often that you get to say you've walked into a room with almost every known form of opulence in one place.
This was literally a Cavern of Treasures both Modern and Medieval, Mystical and mundane, from far and wide forgotten places of the world. Many are forbidden. Many more are forgotten, the last kingdoms o... | Gold is boring. Being a hipster dragon yourself, you decide you want these freshly minted "cryptocurrencies" in your hoard. The problem is you have no idea where the humans keep them. | 745 |
"Well?! Are you deaf as well as slow, maggot?"
That idiot really doesn't recognize me. I decide to test him and have some fun while I'm at it. I snap back, "Yes and looking at your ugly mug, I wish I was blind too".
The general is taken aback, probably surprised to see a supposedly trained soldier show such a lack of... | "Why are you just standing there and where is your uniform?! You are here to serve the demon king and we can't have someone incompetent like you, get moving!"
Initially, I opened my mouth to introduce myself, he was far from the first to underestimate me as my form was not that which most considered befitting of my st... | "Why are you just standing there and where is your uniform?! You are here to serve the demon king and we can't have someone incompetent like you, get moving!". I knew I hadn't met most of my lower-ranked generals so he must not recognize me. No matter I want to see how this will play out. | 615 |
"Welcome, Lou." God indicated the empty stool to his left.
A smile twitched the corner of Satan's lips. "Hey big guy," he responded. He moved instead to God's right, where a man sat slumped on the barstool, elbows resting on the bar.
"Excuse me, Dave, may I take this seat?" Satan asked politely. The man looked up, ey... | The air is tense with laughter and high spirits. People meet and greet as the music blares in the foreground. The air wreaks of perfume and cologn... and maybe just a dash of dignity lost. A crowd in the back shouts at a game of football at the front of the dive. A typical Saturday night in this particular dive. A... | Satan and God both occasionally come to Earth in human form, Satan to corrupt souls, God to relax and observe his creation. One day, Satan walks into a pub, and sees God (in human form) sitting at the bar. God looks at Satan, slides a beer over to him, and indicates the empty stool to his left | 546 |
"I'll try to explain ... the problem is ... it's not THAT you can travel faster than light." the small alien said, sheepishly. "It's how you do it."
She continued, "To be honest, it's creepy."
Doug stared at her blankly. "Go on ..."
"Ok , you know how FTL works for the rest of us, right?" She cocked her head a bit.... | Uyreah swung the hoe one last time, burying it with a satisfying thud deep in the dirt and letting it stand there. He wiped sweat from his brow, cursing again the rarity and costliness of proper mechanised tools in this world. He stretched his back, grimaced at the toll his age was taking on him, and turned for the oth... | Every starfaring species has discovered a different form of FTL travel. Kantian gates, Salec skip drives, Maltiun wave-riders, Delfanit pulse tubes ... Humanity's solution was regarded as "Unorthodox", "Unsafe", and "Damn Stupid" by the rest of the galaxy. | 643 |
I knew Honey wasn't going to say anything. They had her at the table, read her a long list of rules and information I'm sure she couldn't understand, and all waited. It was hard to believe that anyone expected her waste her one sentence on me.
My dog was going to outlive me, I realized. Once I was convicted, that wou... | The A/C was roaring, casting translucent waves of sweat frost across the bench, the Jury box, and both the prosecution and the defense's table. Judge Reynard McClellin's sloppy, white comb-over shimmied like a drunken inflatable tube man.
"Bailiff...the serum, if you please," drawled the honorable judge, scratching hi... | Every dog is able to speak perfect English exactly once, for one sentence, in their lifetime. You're on trial for a murder you didn't commit, and your dog is the only one who could possibly exonerate you. There's just one problem: you weren't a very good owner. | 739 |
The "White Priestess" is a healer, whose power transforms humans to a healthy state, free of injuries and illness. Rumour has it that this means that any mutations will be erased, because a healthy human doesn't have _those_.
And for that reason alone, most supers would rather suffer through healing from injuries the ... | \[EU and some pretty heavy swears at the end\]
My head hurt, as it always did at the end of a long day. The fact I couldn't heal myself of any discomfort always felt like a personal affront as the sun set. It wasn't painful to heal each person, but the accumulation of the effort built up and ground down my resilien... | They told you your power was a "healing factor" able to heal others as well, it turns out, your actual power was turning anyone you touch into a healthy human, and since healthy humans don't have mutations and therefore no powers, many supers would rather risk death than being treated by you. | 616 |
“Next stop, the inner circle of Hell,” our tour guide angel announced in a cheery voice. I looked at my wife and raised my eyebrows. She took my hand and patted it.
“Probably where you would have ended up if you hadn’t met me,” she whispered.
Our cloud train came to a stop before a large glass window. Beyond the w... | I expected to go to hell, I expected the lava, the spiky grass, hell I even expected the solidarity. I had used it myself on many people, its delightful to watch.
I did not expect music.
Someone was playing the harmonica, and awfully at that. The notes were completely off, the person, if it was a person, repeated t... | Due to a loophole in the system, people can escape hell and get to heaven after death. You go to hell and all you see is Satan, just sitting there playing the harmonica. Everyone left him and now he's all alone. | 724 |
Dreadnaught was the last of the Old Guard. The early heroes who had fought for the good of the world, for honor and justice and other long-dead ideals. they toppled dictatorships, brought aid to disaster-stricken regions and never accepted a penny. Dreadnaught himself had seen the greats of the age, had only been a you... | "I'm just going to talk to him," Rodgers says to himself, standing outside a house. It was the definition of suburban. A little garden out the front, a big oak tree and a novelty mailbox shaped like a salmon. He knocks on the door three times, to no answer, as it swings ajar.
Rodgers walks inside, coughing as he does.... | A world where super heroes exist but act as mercenaries for hire instead of doing it out of the goodness of their hearts
Someone made a comment in another thread that made me want to see this sort of thing and some people replied saying I should submit it here. Here's a link to my [original post](https://www.reddit.co... | 696 |
The official stance was that everyone is equal. No matter what the official stance was though, there is no doubt that most of us considered humans to be lesser beings. Why give a human a job when you could give it to a more respectable citizen? They were just so new to the wider galactic empire, so incredibly behind ev... | The ships were only a star system away from arriving at the alleged target. The crew of the vessel were preparing the stasis fields, the collars and the cells of the massive prison ship. Maybe the council will give them lip for going into currently unexplored territory and sending slavers but the Batarian Hegemony didn... | Aliens sees Humans as foolish for allowing full citizenship for AIs and synthetics. Humans are now the only organics alive in the galaxy that every AI respects. | 535 |
"God damn technophilliac pigheaded pink-skinned bastards the whole lot of them". I thought as I was informed that once again some of the Human crew decided some component of the ship that existed outside of their department required a major overhaul.
"How long have they been at it, ensign?"
"Several hours, Sir." ... | Hank excitedly jammed the final rod nearly, but not quite into place.
He lowered his headphones to his shoulders and took a brief moment to beam a little pride at his work. Slowly, he pushed his feet against the floor, leaning his seat back until he was nearly laying flat. He paused, smiling as his unkempt hair spille... | Humans aren't generally that advanced but their engineering capabilities are one of the top within the galaxy, since they are so stubborn. This has led to the saying "Leave a human with a machine that is ineffective, give it a few months and it will become effective." | 565 |
The "battle" for Ashar was over in approximately 10 standard minutes. The Spurge, who we thought were allies, used our own security codes to disable Ashar's predictive defense system. The colony, along with its 100 million inhabitants, didn't stand a chance against the attack that followed. The Spurge quietly wiped the... | It was from the ashes that the humans rose, as we always did.
Not like a phoenix, and I brushed away the idea of a rebirth. They always asked about it, and it was never right. A rebirth implied a clean birth, free of the memories of what had been before. That wasn't the human way. We rose, the battle lost but the war... | In space, wars are typically quick. One side attacks and then the other side surrenders. When aliens attack a human city they belive the humans are defeated. They are not prepared for what the humans call "Retribution" | 553 |
You know how they say being a twin is like looking in the mirror? Well it is. I should know. As I stand with the door open, the snow storm screaming wind and ice on the front stoop and I stare at the face of a brother I thought lost forever. It was like looking in a mirror. He was my older brother, older by 7 minu... | That isn't me".
I was filled with emotions, I couldn't believe on the text even if I wanted to. I welcomed him in and let him rest for some time. Mom wasn't at home so I called her; overjoyed, she hurried to home.
I was looking at him, he seemed exhausted. He had dirt on his body, his clothes were filthy, long and ... | Your older brother has been missing for years. You hear a knock on the door, and you open it to reveal a man that looks like your brother would be at this point. "I'm back man! I'm so sorry!" He hugs you immediately. Just then, you get a text from your brother's old number. "That isn't me." | 555 |
"Father."
"Yes, brood?"
"Why do we not attack the humans? Are they not reprehensible?"
The multi-legged creature looked at its miniature copy of itself clinging to the mushroom tree.
"What gives you that idea, Putabapa?"
"They are weak. They do not conquer the galaxy or planets. They fight in defense. They're addi... | He took a long draw of the smoke stick, a human delicacy, though how humans savored smoke at all I'll never know.
his feline features narrowed as he looked out the window to the rain pelting the glass, a few bolts of lightning striking the skyscrapers in the distant gloom.
"Let me tell you a story boy." he began, my ... | Among Alien species humans are famous for prefering pacifism but being the most dangerous species when they are forced to fight.
EDIT:WOW THIS EXPLODED GUYS MY FIRST MAJOR PROMPT. | 700 |
It had been 3 years since Dracona (I'm not that creative, but she seemed to still like it) was born, and we were wiping out yet another group of "brave adventurers". In reality they just wanted the glory of being able to say that they were the ones to take us out. Most people who had at least an ounce of sense in their... | FADE IN:
INT. A HUMBLE HUT -- SUNNY
*One man sits at the head of the table, head in his hands. This is FARMER. He is dressed simply, streaks of dirt decorating his face and arms.*
**FARMER:** My family name is literally Farmer. I farm. My father and his father before him farmed on this very piece of land.
*To his l... | Just because one of your chicken eggs hatched a fire breathing dragon people think you’re evil. But you’re still just a regular farmer trying to make a living while dealing with an overprotective dragon, heroes that want to kill you and fanatics who want to worship you as the new Demon Lord. | 699 |
I would say that the hardest part of my job is saving lives.
Namely, saving heroes and villains from killing each other in my spotless hospital rooms the moment they wake up.
"Why am I in the same room as this creep?" said the Liberty Lancer, or better known as Rachel Weiss while in hospital clothes.
The creep, in t... | # Bargain Bin Superheroes
(Arc 4, Part ?: Asclepius v.s. The Unified Sovereignties' Healthcare System)
(Note: Bargain Bin Superheroes is episodic; each part is self-contained. This story can be enjoyed without reading the previous sections.)
**My daughter was bleeding out, and there was only one person who could sav... | The superheroes and supervillains are angry with you because you help them both but they can't kill you because you're too valuable. You remind them, "look, I'm a doctor with healing powers following the medical code, it doesn't matter who my patients are! Stop whining about it!" | 616 |
Saint Peter sat at a table in front of towering pearly gates.
“Well, where will you go?” he said to me.
“Give me a second, I wasn’t ready to choose where I’d spend eternity,” I said.
“Most people don’t hesitate the choice between Heaven or hell,” he said.
“But knowing the newfound information you told me about ... | I chose Heaven. Of course I did I was a card carrying anarchist after all, in as much as that oxymoron could make sense, and the idea of a seething pit of rules and regulations boiled my blood even more than the fire would have. Not to mention the whole devil bit.
Don’t get the wrong idea though, I didn’t like God. F... | : Turns out God was a slacker and gave "Free Will" to not have to "plan" anything. He kicked out Lucifer cause he was a control freak. When you die turns out you have a choice, between a chaotic rule free Heaven or a smoothly machine operated Hell. | 597 |
"This plan is stupid." Harold stated. "Of course it is!" The Boss said, "that's why we're going to do it exactly that way." "We'll get caught, you've lost your mind." Harold retorted. "No, I haven't," The Boss said wistfully, but HE has. He's been after me for fifty years now. I'm old and dying slowly of cancer, and he... | As Anton's whip tightened around Tony's neck, all the while sending huge volts of electricity through Tony's armor, he saw a familiar figure walk towards him.
"Ms. Carter, please step away!!!".
Peggy stopped for a second, and then continued walking towards Anton.
"Stop! You know his father stole my dad's inventio... | A senile, old superhero still goes out to fight crime. None of the younger heros respect him anymore but all the villains have a soft spot for him.
Maybe he's found himself in the middle of a hero/villain war, or he's just trying to stop a bank robbery.
Edit: wow this uhh... kinda blew up didn't it?
Oh man I'm so s... | 573 |
"I don't have time for this Hydro, so let that girl go and I may just spare you the hurt." His voice boomed. Mr. Streak, greatest hero of the 1980s, my grandfather's one time nemesis and comrade in arms against the Zorblaxian invasion. Despite his age, the old dreg still looks dapper as he was in his prime, it's a pity... | As Anton's whip tightened around Tony's neck, all the while sending huge volts of electricity through Tony's armor, he saw a familiar figure walk towards him.
"Ms. Carter, please step away!!!".
Peggy stopped for a second, and then continued walking towards Anton.
"Stop! You know his father stole my dad's inventio... | A senile, old superhero still goes out to fight crime. None of the younger heros respect him anymore but all the villains have a soft spot for him.
Maybe he's found himself in the middle of a hero/villain war, or he's just trying to stop a bank robbery.
Edit: wow this uhh... kinda blew up didn't it?
Oh man I'm so s... | 570 |
"Jolly good show, my good man," he said, sitting on the right of my shoulder and inhaling deeply from his pipe. "Positively smashing."
I'd been watching Stranger Things for the last couple hours, trying to block them out.
"What kinda trash is this?" the man on the left of my shoulder chimed, pacing up and down the l... | My names Ned. There’s really nothing all that interesting about me on the surface. I’m 24, recently moved out of my parents house, now living in a small 1 bedroom apartment, and I work at a big corporate paper company doing sales from a tiny windowless cubicle. I’m not complaining though, in fact this is more or less t... | Instead of an angel and a demon sitting on your shoulders, one side sits a brash New Yorker and the other a posh British gentleman. Neither are necessarily good or evil, they just make passing comments on your day to day activities. | 719 |
Another blow sent me sprawling onto the floor. I felt a drop come from my nose and saw the spot of red on the floor. My face burned from his fiery punch.
“Come on, loser,” Chantley shouted. “If you’re not going to show your power, I’ll force it out of you.”
“You’re not changing anything by doing this,” I said. “Just ... | The little circle of black ink stained the skin on the back of my left hand. Hollow and empty, as if God had gotten to me and tired of his work.
Everyone's sigil *started* hollow. Then, when a person reached five or six, the sigil would fill itself in. If the sigil was unique, it could take another year or two for th... | everyone has a sigil on their body that represents powers that were bestowed onto humanity after the rapture of the Milky Way. The bullies at school always pick on you because you never used your power, but you’ve had enough. Now they are going to find out why your sigil is a plain old circle | 691 |
"You sure about that? I can handle myself well enough." I said as I pulled out my pistol and chambered a round.
"No, trust me, they aren't \*people\*, a weapon like that won't cut it, I've just gotta trick them into thinking I'm not here, and this place is an extrasensory dead zone for some reason, so they can't see ... | It's a funny thing, looking into a mirror and feeling like the person staring back somehow isn't you.
Sometimes it's physical - a blemish you don't recognize, a double-chin you'd never have allowed to form, or a look in those tired eyes that's nothing like the bright, youthful gaze you were sure you'd always had and a... | You open the door to your house. You notice someone who looks exactly like you sitting in a chair. You don't have a twin. "Can I help you?" The person looks at you. "I'll give it to you straight: I'm a shapeshifter. I'm in danger. One of us needs to stay in the basement for now. Best it's you." | 636 |
My hands were still shaking as I picked up the coffee mug from the table. Dried tear streaks marked my face and the sleeplessness of the past few nights had sunken in, making my eyes burn.
"It's okay," the officer spoke softly, "take your time."
I nodded my appreciation, "It-it was around 11:55... Mary and I had just... | It would be another Halloween like every other year, except this year Alec would face an unexpected change...
You see Alec was a die hard Star Wars fan and every year he would don the armor of the Dark Lord, Darth Vader, and head to his wife's annual Halloween party. This year was unspectacular; Alec got up, dressed in... | Years ago a curse was cast that all people wearing costumes would turn into real versions of the costumes. This is now an annual, known and accepted phenomenon.
This would be best as a prompt closer to halloween but I didn't want to wait that long. | 529 |
I fell in love with her on a Sunday. That was the only day of the week that Caroline wore her cross, like some sort of atonement for the other six days when she smoked pot and used God's name in vain from her boyfriend's sheets. She had lips to kill for and when she smiled every imperfection came together to form this ... | I tracked them for months, searching every hell hole that I could fit through, and came up with nothing, but by the copper reek that greeted me once I opened the creaky, chipped door, I knew I finally found the right place. Dark tint stuck to all the windows, and leather secured the door on the inside, sweeping along t... | Vampires are not the bloodthirsty monsters people believe them to be. For millennia their bite has been one of inoculation against the worst plagues and infections of history, humanity's greatest disease outbreaks coinciding with periods we had hunted them to near extinction. | 630 |
"I was late, and it could fly."
I shifted nervously in my seat and reached for a glass of water that I had already drained.
The team from HR didn't respond right away, so I had time to fill my glass and drink again before I went on.
"I realize that's not a great excuse for why there's a fire-breathing Nightmare Pony... | I guess I shouldn't be surprised, but it's hardly sane to act like I'm not.
"Steven, seriously, I don't know anything about it," I lied as he shook a neatly wrapped package closer toward my face.
"SATAN," his voice pitched up, "it says it's from Satan, ***honey***, and we can't call the police why?! What kind of sick... | Your daughter has been begging you for a pony, and you told her to write a letter to Santa. On Christmas morning, you find a fire-breathing horse in your front yard, and a package by your front door. Looks like she wrote a letter to Satan, and he delivered.
Whoa. This blew up way more than I expected it to.
Edit: Lik... | 504 |
*ding a ling*
The bells chime as the door opened at the Adventurer's Guild and the young man working the desk did not look up from the ledger. Indeed, he did not look up as the wooden floorboards screamed in protest under the weight of the man who entered. Had he bothered to glance at this particular patron he might h... | I walk into the guild. These people seem shocked, I believe I’m here for the same reason as any one else, I want to go on one of the ‘quests’. From what I hear if I am to complete one of these, I can obtain gold. I like gold very much. It’s shiny and cool and people like to come to my den when I have gold and we fight ... | A dragon shows up at the adventurers' guild after hearing that humans will just GIVE away gold for something called a "quest." | 668 |
I woke up from a rough night. I had been drinking and partying and having fun- you know. Young people stuff. I opened my eyes slowly to a *beep beep beep* which I thought was an alarm clock so I groggily reached over to turn it off.
Except, it wasn't there.
I wasn't at home. I wasn't at a friend's. I was in a hospita... | Carlisle groaned as his phone blared, swiping at his nightstand and hitting the snooze button. The alarm went off again five minutes later. He tried to ignore it, as well as the headache that had started to build when it went off, but it was too late, he was up.
Taking a peek out the window next to his bed, he started... | When someone is murdered, their name appears on the skin of the killer. You wake up with a name on your arm and no knowledge of how it got there. | 594 |
‘What trees?’ Robert said to himself, clicking refresh.
‘Stop signs? Where?’ He smacked refresh again.
‘I can’t see a single Three-toed Sloth!’ Refresh. Refresh. Refresh.
After several attempts, Robert messaged the website’s customer support, explaining that the captcha service on their account registration was bro... | He got to the end of the application and let out a sigh of relief. He had a good feeling about this one. The last couple of postings were most likely going to fall through, and he would get the same automated email after a week or so telling him politely that they didn't give enough of a shit about his application t... | Someone is trying to complete the captcha on a website, but just can't seem to complete it. Slowly he starts to realize that he's a robot. | 742 |
I scroll through my steam library… still convinced this is some bizarre dream. It would explain it- bizarre fragments of my memory suddenly more relevant than was reasonable. But my hunger and thirst felt very real. And I eventually decided, dream or no, I needed to eat.
But where to get food?? I could try to load th... | Day 1 - new world
​
Picking Ark Survival Evolved was probably not the best choice but I couldn’t stop myself. When I first loaded up the game and stepped into this beautiful world I couldn’t help but be in awe. I was careful and only spent around half an hour in the world before retreating back into my bed... | Your bedroom became detached from reality and nothing is outside your door, but whenever you load a video game that world appears. Your game library is not conducive to a long and happy life, but the mini fridge is empty so you have no choice. You load up the safest game and gather supplies. | 560 |
"And yours?" the divine agent asked me. A weariness in the question betrayed some edge of boredom or frustration in dealing with petty mortals.
"Power negation?" I ventured.
"Taken," I was informed, flatly.
"Power *theft*?"
"Taken."
"Domination, then." I was aware of the purpose of these powers and figured th... | *Something's better than nothing.*
"I just want to be the best standard immortality pasta maker in the entire world," I said, clenching the cream colored chair below me. I paused for a few beats, collecting my thoughts.
"Like really good. Not just the best in the world. I want to be the best pasta maker you can imagi... | 100 25 year olds have been chosen. each must choose a super power that cannot be repeated and cannot exceed the power of god. The goal is to see who can conquer the world. You have the number 100. The best powers have already been chosen. Then it's your turn and you choose..... | 644 |
That was the last straw. I was done being the good guy. I had lost the love of my life six moths ago, after watching cancer and chemo drain the life from her. She told me to keep my chin up and to live. Five months later, up to my neck in debt, the bank threatened to foreclose my house and car loans. I wasn't living. I... | In the quiet darkness of a warm autumn evening, he stood by the gravestone. He raised his arms towards the starry sky. His gloved hands shook, though not from the cold. His dark jacket rippled around him, though there was no wind. The pendant around his neck shone in the moonlight. He called out in a deep and gravely v... | Your wife passed away six months ago. Your car broke down two weeks ago. Your landlord evicted you four days ago. Someone took your seat on the bus this morning, and you just got laid off from your job. You've always promised to use your powers for good, until you snapped.. | 640 |
"Obviously the humans possess stealth technology unlike any we have encountered," Dajos said, "This Benjamin is toying with us. I shall declare Dus Vas when I find him."
"Oh ho!" Norom laughed at his friend, "Dajos of the Hunter's Guild unable to track a child. You will declare the rite of ritual combat with him? B... | "Do we have visual contact?" I ask, speaking to my officers. There is a pause as several people pull up reports and then someone says, "Negative, Sir." I look up at a large digital tactic map that took up the entire one hundred feet of the north wall of my command room. It was currently zoomed in to display a large sub... | Log 2543: We have landed on the planet known as Earth and have made contact with an inhabitant. They call themselves “Benjamin” and are 5 Earth cycles in age. He wished to engage in an activity known as “hide and seek”. We cannot find him now. Requesting aid. | 537 |
The being sitting at the bottom of the cargo ramp looked up from his tablet in confusion.
"I asked if you were the ones advertising the job opening for engineering crew. My wife and I would like to apply."
A great clatter of falling metal pipes echoed across the dock, adding its voice to the background noise of weld... | ​
Once I walked amongst the others, dreaming in the daylight. Once I played as i fought to preserve the status quo, with eyes wide open we walked the plank, the world beyond crumbling into chaos we neglected reality. We left it to our machines, the rocks we taught to think, to clean up our messes. They kept... | “Yeah we didn’t approach humanity cause we don’t like hiveminds,” the alien said on the interview. “Humans aren’t a hive mind.” The interviewer said. “What do you mean? Humans are the biggest hive mind in the universe?” | 547 |
My name is Vilya. I kept the other gods safe while also embarassing them. If I hadn't embarassed them, maybe I wouldn't have spent the last several thousand years under a rock. Every so often I'd hear something, and hope they'd kick the rock, but it was always just a deer, or a wolf, or a lion of some kind. After enoug... | “Hey, keep it moving, you bum.”
I paid the mortal who’d kicked me in the rear no mind. All I could think about was how sweet it was to breathe again, even if I didn’t need it. But it didn’t take long before I was coughing violently. The air was incredibly shitty. Also, I couldn’t sense any other gods! I turned to... | You're an ancient, long-forgotten trickster god, punished by your peers to spend millennia trapped under a rock bearing the inscription "KICK ME" in a dead language. During an archeological dig, someone kicks the rock. Finally free, you are delighted and horrified that all the gods are missing. | 637 |
A planet covered entirely by city and you'd think you would find a job that kept a roof over your head, but life was tough for a street-urchin. Civil unrest and corrupt police meant survival by sheer luck every night from gangs of thugs or dystopically disenfranchised.
Sometimes it proved useful. You could *feel* ther... | (First comment here and first time writing first POV)
The crackle of a distant radio is what pulls me from my reverie. The night air is cool against my face as I blink to take in the lack of men falling into step behind me. The telltale sound of boots crunching gravel and the swishing of heavy gear is absent in this ... | You have the ability to see a few seconds into the future when you are in danger. You joined the army and became a captain. You are out on patrol when you notice one of your men getting a transmission you don’t receive. You then see your men shooting you in the back a few seconds later. | 532 |
*If it makes a human sick, it will kill you*
Ashley glanced over the survival pamphlet for the umpteenth time. Pulled off the corpse of one of the invaders that had come from the cosmos above, it was the single piece of information that had turned the tide of the war against the Lar’khii.
Initially it seemed as thou... | “Why are we doing this again?” Glarm asked.
“I want to do a ‘human in a wormhole.’ You know, like a modern version of a ‘canary in a coal mine.’” Gleek said.
“But the whole point of the canary is that it would die easily and be a warning to surrounding life forms.” Glarm said. “And these humans are crazy resistant.... | We may not be the strongest, but our immune systems are legendary among alien races. There is a saying: "if it makes a human sick it will kill you." | 634 |
“Ok. Ok. Ok. We need supplies. Check the pantry. I’m getting the cooler from downstairs.”
She sprints downstairs toward the laundry room. She’s freaking out. Understandable given the circumstances. I walk over to the pantry and grab the camomile teabags. I put a few in the teapot, which I already had half full, and tu... | I stared at the woman with bloodshot eyes; my lips were cracked from weeks of exposure to the harsh, wasteland elements, my skin coarse and sand-blasted, my clothing was ragged and filled with holes. I thought I was the last one alive. I've not seen another living soul in... I don't even know anymore. The nukes killed ... | "Come and sit. Drink some tea. Watch the end of the world with me." | 675 |
People who knew Jaques had a few choice words to describe him. Among them were forward, bold, audacious, and most importantly, full of spirit. It took him a bit of time to hone his powers but once he had it down to a science he would use them indiscriminately.
It wasn't a surprise that he used his "gift" for his own p... | And so it was, that when Meister P finally burst into the throne room, he feared he was too late, for a scene of utter carnage lay before him. At the far end, the Grand Vizier, bursting with foul and bestial magic, stood atop the throne, cackling with unrestrained glee.
“No!” Meister P yelled, running to the fallen bo... | People have powers based on their strongest emotion, and become stronger as they embrace it. Healers might draw power from love or empathy, warriors; anger or self preservation, etc. You draw power from being incredibly sassy.
Or other emotions, like being passive aggressive, or overly dramatic. | 531 |
“Okay, you’re going to have to back up.” Hemitilda said while trying to keep her brain from melting. “First off, I have no idea what Pokémon are. Secondly,”
“P-Pokémon are -“ a little boy named Russel says as he shoots up his hand.
“Russel,” the goddess interjects “we talked about this. You raise your hand AND THEN ... | "Wh- huh? Where am I? Am I... awake?" I whisper, suddenly finding myself standing at the foot of my shrine. I look around, so much has changed since I was last here. There is forest where there was once sprawling metropolis. All the buildings made of wood and stone and clay have decayed, leaving only mossy pebbles in t... | You are a long forgotten god. A small girl leaves a piece of candy at your shrine, and you awaken. Now, you must do everything to protect your High Priestess, the girl, and her entire kindergarten class, your worshipers.
If you want to post this on other platforms, please credit me. Looking at you instagram writing pr... | 501 |
(I’ve split this story into four parts through four different writing prompts! They are technically standalone, but they tell a more complete story together. This is part four of four, and you can find the previous (third) part here: [https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/comments/zqs5dl/comment/j10vtqo/?utm\_source=... | “Sir, this is totally inappropriate.” I point to the smoking door now impaled in my produce section. “And I hope you know you’re buying me a new door.”
Poor Tom is still staring at the piece of 7 foot metal quivering near his head and the dent my fist made in it when I had to punch it aside to make it miss him.
Th... | You're a retired villain who now runs a 24-7 grocery store. One day a new hero decides to ambush you in your own store. | 718 |
"...thanks to you. We can all be grateful our world is now a better place. You've helped us make it a better place."
I knew better.
Hunger is a thing of the past. War is all but eradicated. People have jobs if they want them. That happens when you mobilize multiple countries and put armies to work rebuilding villages... | Six months. That's how long it took Jeremy to get the world back on it's feet. Six months and the homeless disappeared. Six months and poverty was gone. Six months and war and disease and famine and everything that made Earth so *bad* was gone.
I never took him seriously when he first started, when we lived together ... | A supervillain takes over the world. Inexplicably, the quality of life improves. | 523 |
“Heavens gates won’t up for me.”
He chuckled mirthlessly. Of all the things to linger in his head at a time like this, a line from Nickelback was what stuck. He didn’t even like them. But the line fit. He looked down at the letter in his hands with disgust and despair. He’d been rejected by Heaven. Not just rejected, ... | Molly scratched her head in confusion as she looked around. The last thing she remembered was screaming in horror as her car lost control on the slick rainy road. How the hell had she ended up in this place? And perhaps more importantly, where the hell was she?
There seemed to be an endless number of desks lined up in... | When you die you find out heaven is real. Well actually all versions of heaven are real and you apply for them like colleges, you get denial letters and can transfer. You may not get into Catholic heaven, Mormon heaven, or Muslim heaven, but you may be a shoe in for Valhalla.
Friends and I were talking about this last... | 624 |
"3......2.......1......we have a liftoff repeat we have a liftoff"
That's what they used to say, some guy at Houston or whatever would say it every damn launch. It always seemed a bit weird to me, not sure why, but then again the whole concept of space travel is pretty weird. Weird and cool, that's why I decided to s... | (Part 1)
Everything had worked out so far. Six and a half years of planning, hiding, in secret, risking arrest (or worse) every time we made that long drive through the dust to town to pick up a new package or a new recruit.
At first, it was only Leanne and I - both enthusiasts, educated, but never eligible f... | Governments all over the world cease every space program. Ten years later, a rebellious group is about to launch into space and they finds out why space programs ceased. | 591 |
"Wait, what do you mean we're going to ADD $4,000,000 to the vault?"
"That was the boss's orders."
"That makes no sense. Why would someone risk jail to *lose* money?"
"Don't know, don't care. That's what he's paying us for, so I'm doing what I'm told and getting the fuck out of here. Now get to work."
"All right...... | "Well. Guess we've met the worst bank robbers in the world," Mr Charles Lang, the bank manager, said in a hoarse whisper as he stared at the money. He giggled softly.
He had flown in from Malibu when he'd heard the news - how could he not? He had done a good job keeping the staff who had realised what had happened qui... | "What do you mean the robbers ADDED $4,000,000 to the vault?" | 560 |
"This..this can't be what I think it is, can it?"
Jenkins voice was breathy and a little scared through my comm. There was also a low buzzing noise, probably some kind of static. I looked down at the three bodies and the red and yellow flag on the cave floor.
"I don't know what else it could be." I responded.
The S... | "Neil Armstrong once said 'That's one small step for a man, one giant leap for mankind.' I'm not one to argue with him. However, if landing on the moon was a leap, my stepping here on Mars would be like a plane ride."
Mayers laughed. "Don't knock on what Neil Armstrong did. It was important, and is what brought us her... | We finally get men on Mars and they discover an old Soviet flag placed down decades ago. The Soviets won the space race but for whatever horrifying reason didn't say anything. | 729 |
Who knew heaven had a business card? Or maybe it was hell... either way I wasn't about to call it. Before inventing the serum that gave me immortality I was a man of science, however the last 1,000 years or so taught me nothing is impossible. Despite seeming uninterested when we met, I was actually already quite don... | "I imagine you didn't expect me to call so early", said David to the cloaked figure in front of him.
"***On the contrary.***" the figure responded, waving his hand towards the body in-between the two, lying in a hospital bed. "***This is usually as good a motivator as any.***"
"Heh, yeah... You, erm, you mind if we l... | You've finally managed to discover the secret to immortality. Suddenly, Death appears before you, hands you a business card, and says, "When you realize living forever sucks, call this number, I've got a job offer for you." | 663 |
I crouched down, slowly onto the cold, wet floor. It was nearing the end of Autumn and the ground had been slick with dew these last few cold mornings. Carefully I knelt and looked into the hole where I knew it was hiding.
The mouse stepped forward into the dim light that pierced through the boards and into the crawl ... | Finally, at four in the morning, I am able to set Sophie down in her crib without any wails of defiance.
My nine week old daughter has been rather fussy lately, keeping me up at night the past couple of weeks with diaper changes, feeding requests, and all kinds of infant needs. Unfortunately, as a single mother, I ha... | After months of finding small knickknacks placed on your back porch, you've found the culprit. It's a small mouse living under your house. You go into the crawlspace and find a shrine made of several of your socks and pictures of you. Out of a dark corner a mouse approaches you, trembling. | 570 |
Once, our ancestors looked up to the sky in wonder
They looked up in awe
They looked up with sheer determination to reach out and touch the stars
The reality was far from it
As the humans ventured into the stars, they were met with horrors beyond their understanding. Terrifying creatures and phenomenon that seemin... | I walked down the hall with purpose a manila folder under my left arm and what remained of my coffee in the other. The heel of my shoes sent a reverberating echo around the empty precinct with each footfall– it was early. I rounded the corner and moved into the large office space, stopping briefly at my desk to grab my... | Despite all warnings, you've gazed into the abyss. It gazed back at you. It was love at first sight. | 668 |
The cashier in front of me froze, his eyes narrowing. I'd read books where the author described someones eyes as being calculating, but I thought I could actually see him doing math. Weighing variables, probabilities and even analyzing a threat.
"Care to repeat that?" He asked, though it was more of a command. His pr... | "You're going to have to say that again, because I have no idea what in the fuck you're trying to say," I inform the sparkling conversationalist that just conversed in little more than grunts and growls.
"Nobody's spoken that language in thousands of years," the young man behind the counter informs me, seemingly confu... | Whenever you speak, people hear you speaking in their native language. Most people are surprised and delighted. The cashier at McDonalds you've just talked to is horrified. "Nobody's spoken that language in thousands of years." | 662 |
"Master, we are running out of time!” the young boy said.
He had been appointed as The Man’s newest apprentice. Even though the boy was the youngest apprentice The Man had ever appointed, he showed promise from the age of three – already showing signs of *the craft*. By age six, he had somehow mastered more of the a... | Man was born at the base of a vast mountain. It is in his nature to eternally reach for the top, to eternally quest after the summit, never understanding he was born at the base for a reason.
I was starting to understand now, far up into the lands where the night would last for months on end, why the ancient men of th... | Four immortal beings rule over the land. A dragon that flies across the deserts in the south, a living dungeon whose Labyrinth seems to go on forever in the caves of the west, The Kraken, so large that it can sink islands with ease, beneath the seas of the east & the 'Man' of the north. | 637 |
The library was ghost quiet in the afternoon. Jake, the librarian, yawned behind his desk and flipped another page of the hardcover he was reading. A man in a tuxedo walked in. His face was obscured by the black fedora that covered his left eye.
"Medieval history. The period of the witch burnings," he said.
Jake look... | This is a misanthrope's tale.
The bag that had been placed upon Jack's face was removed, and he found himself in a lonely cell. A bucket, a moldy bed, rusted iron bars and gray brick walls. Beyond the bars, darkness.
Jack's memory came back.
He had taken drug during an evening, and passed out. When he came to, he wa... | "You're the villain in someone's story", but how did you manage to become the villain in EVERYONE'S story? | 701 |
'Excuse me, but what did you just say?' I asked the brutish green humanoid before me.
'You are hereby now the ruler of the Orcish Empire,' the alien said. 'I'm duty-bound to serve as your bodyguard and advisor, Your Imperialness.'
Orcs are gigantic compared to humans, their heads standing taller than anyone else in t... | The young, precocious redheaded girl stared at the hologram that floated in front of her from the marble floor.
The video showed a man with a goofy smile and the fuzz of a beard growing on his face holding up his camera as he vlogged and pointed at his computer screen at an image of the night sky. The man in the vide... | Due to your nerdy great great great great grandfather in 2017 'buying a star' and some modern legal shenanigans you are now the proud owner of a small intergalactic empire | 649 |
I stepped out of the comfort of the time-travel machine, my eyes darted around my surrounding as my pupils adjusted. I was relieved to see that the calibration was correct. I was right next to my destination - Princeton Hospital.
I glanced down at the smartwatch on my wrist and saw that I merely had minutes left befor... | To whomever read this: please, do read until the end of it before making any decisions. I’m not looking to excuse myself, really. I just want to reassure you, before you vaporize me or whatnot, that I have, in fact, thought thoroughly about what I’m doing. Use me as an example of where idiocy can lead you or whatever. ... | As we all know, Albert Einstein's last words were a mystery, as he uttered it to a nurse who couldn't understand his language. As a multilingual person, you time-travel to the moment he was about to say the last words of his life, and heard the most horrifying sentence you could ever hear. | 560 |
These words of power are derived from ancient Hebrew and Egyptian traditions of magic and spellcraft. They are accompanied by a complex set of visualizations that I must formulate in my mind each time, in order to reshape the world according to the requests that I make binding. There are subtle rules, but in very broad... | You can’t remember how long it’s been in the cell. The endless hum of the air handler is of no use and the lights never go out. In all the movies they keep track of days by carving lines in the wall but without any tools it all seems hopeless. If only you could keep track of meals but with how irregular they are it’... | You have a superpower. Every time someone tells you to do something, you can say 'no u' & that person will make it their life's mission to accomplish the task. One day, you & your 8-year old nephew are talking & he says, "I hope you make the world a better place." You smilingly reply, "no u." | 509 |
"I just need more time" the healer said. "If you would take a few minutes to plan and let me do my work instead of rushing into danger, we wouldn't have to keep doing this" As he spoke his hands ran across the Paladins chest, a warm glow spilling across the slowly closing wounds.
"Evil waits for no one", the paladin ... | “Hrrr-aghh!”
The paladin cleaved through the captain, who coughed up blood as he stumbled backwards and fell. Flicking the blood from his blade, he deftly sheathed itbefore turning back to the rest of his party.
“Way to show off,” the rogue called, readjusting her hood over her head. “Very professional. I especially ... | The team's healer is absolutely sick and tired of always being insulted or forgotten about so they join the bad guys; they are a much more terrifying villain than anyone thought possible. | 686 |
The villain Oathbreaker held a gun to September's head and spoke directly into the camera. "If the *hero*" - he spat the word as if it were an insult - "known as Anonymous doesn't show his ugly face here in the next fifteen minutes, I will kill this man. And for every five minutes after that, I'll kill another hostage.... | **The Law**
***
Someone up there is having a hell of a laugh at my expense right about now.
The odds of this happening were...staggeringly low at best, honestly, it was probably because of my powers, they leaked sometimes, and affected me and those around me without me consciously commanding them to. I was sipping co... | A supervillain kidnaps a civilian and keeps them hostage, taunting on live television for the superhero to come find them. Unbeknownst to the villain, the kidnapped civilian is the superhero.
Did I butcher the title or what?
This is blowing up! All the responses have been diverse and really cool!
| 512 |
The villain Oathbreaker held a gun to September's head and spoke directly into the camera. "If the *hero*" - he spat the word as if it were an insult - "known as Anonymous doesn't show his ugly face here in the next fifteen minutes, I will kill this man. And for every five minutes after that, I'll kill another hostage.... | "This is ridiculous," Steven thought as he screamed. The branding iron didn't actually hurt that much, and he knew it would heal up within a day, but he couldn't do anything about it. It wasn't the chains that kept him captive, but that blasted camera 6 feet away.
He looked over at the Plague Doctor cackling madly in ... | A supervillain kidnaps a civilian and keeps them hostage, taunting on live television for the superhero to come find them. Unbeknownst to the villain, the kidnapped civilian is the superhero.
Did I butcher the title or what?
This is blowing up! All the responses have been diverse and really cool!
| 512 |
"Jesus *FUCK*!" If I could gag, I would. A dead body, torn and ribboned like a frayed cloth doll dipped in scarlet lay discarded in a cheap motel room.
A woman steps out of a shower, her hair up in a towel and no other apparent form of modesty, save for the steam that rises from her skin. I, out of a shame that she di... | I remember the first time I saw him. It was early morning, just as the first light was leeching into the sky. I barely remember him, I was so young; only small images stand out, like grainy faded pictures. My father was dying, cancer they said in hushed tones, as if it could be summoned. I used to imagine it as a terri... | After witnessing a death, a young girl falls in love with the Grim Reaper. She becomes a serial killer just to see him more often. | 511 |
Some had different thoughts of me. The birds adored me. They didn’t think of me as a god- they didn’t have any gods- but rather as a spirit. One of freedom and journeying. A nomad who travels not by the air, but by foot. They viewed me as a force of nature, and like other forces of nature, I should not be tampered with... | the very last thing I remember, I was late for work. I rushed out past my lazy roommate, down the stairs, and through the door of my apartment building. as I made a mad dash down the sidewalk, I tripped on a lip. I had lodged several complaints to the city, that it was a hazard, 'we'll be sure to take a look at that, t... | You wake up in a world of anthropomorphic animals. Unfortunately for you, you quickly discover every major religion in this world contains humans in some way, shape, or form | 639 |
"I don't worry," the man said. "I'm not afraid of them."
"You should be," I said, watching him from the corner of my eye. His voice was soft. Too soft, it felt like. So soft and flowing and gentle that it felt like I should have been worried, but somehow every time he opened that mouth I just felt put totally at ease.... | Shit, I should've listened. No words could have dissuaded me back then though, so bull-headed and rapt by retribution as I was. I had a plan and it was simple; infiltrate the quarantine zone and claim what I was owed.
Of course, everyone has their theories on how to get in, but few ever returned to confirm their succe... | "There's a reason it's been quarantined. Nobody lives there anymore. Nobody human, at least. Trust me, friend. You'll regret asking me to teach you how to get to Sesame Street." | 647 |
To any adult, the dragons were the most terrifying things to morph from children who appeared entirely normal otherwise.
Just imagine, emotional teenagers whose respiratory systems could become either the loudest call on Earth or even natural flamethrowers on a dime. Bodies that armored themselves with tough scales, m... | "So, Klonk, who you thinking we add to the team? We can't do it just the two of us." I play about with my magic as we walk to the nearest town, black wisps dancing at the tip of my claws. "I reckon we should look for Clara - she's smart, quick-witted and aggressive." Klonk nods. "She could be a useful asset, but we nee... | "Of course I'm not scared of you just because you have claws. Sure, you could kill me with them at any moment... but, like, so can any random human with a knife." | 636 |
\--Initiating boot sequence--
\--Loading Instance: 'Earth, Year 11,945.597'---
The display flickered to life around him. Bodies lay strewn around the battlefields, scorched husks of blown-out tanks lay abandoned.
"Estimated agent loss?"
Over the battlefields, millions of tiny motes of light lifted from the bodies, ... | Four aliens hailing from somewhere near the star Alnitak are floating around a conference table on their ship.
“Really, Drail? You just had to stir up the humans barely one generation after their last big war?” Captain Glorn scratched his fourth eye.
“The side of the supercontinent with the foot-thing peninsula was s... | Aliens have realized humans advance more quickly during times of conflict, and have tried to push humanity into wars to see what happens. However, that changes when they start WW2 and humans harness the power of the atom. | 596 |
*It looks silly,* I tell myself, looking at the small clay statuette. The paint has chipped and faded, and the shape is barely discernible. My task is to restore this nonsensical item, to display it where some curious mind may ponder its original purpose. And it looks ridiculous.
*Ten thousand years ago, some unkno... | I quickly learned after getting my first adult job at the Royal Museum of Ages that asking about the strange artifacts from thousands of years ago was more or less pointless.
“Jay, be a good lad and go and sweep the chamber containing the objects from the twenty first century.” The blue-skinned curator I worked for g... | You are reincarnated 10,000 years into the future. You come across an ancient artifact on display in the Museum of History, where you work. Little is known about it, not even where it was uncovered. Upon touching it, you realize it was yours. | 724 |
She came into my bedroom to wake me up. I pretended to be asleep but the phantom pain of the car crash still coursed through my body. None of the previous attempts had never gotten that far. I thought that it was finally time to move on except I couldn’t do it.
Mom sat down on the edge of the bed and brushed hair out... | We like to think of consequence as an exact science, one where we can predict the future with near certainty. Where, if I push the ball, I know it’ll roll off the table. And we’re right! To an extent.
Have you ever heard of chaos theory? Or the butterfly effect, where if one butterfly flaps its wings in a certain wa... | 37. That is how many times you have died of unnatural causes. Every time you do, you get reset to the age of 5, retaining all of your past memories. You think that this is finally the time you get to move on with life. | 740 |
"I don't get it, how? How did you do it" the warden said as he signed the release form.
"That's the thing, I didn't do anything, you guys did with your stipulations and what not" I said grinning at the warden.
If my requested last meal wasn't prepared and ready for me within a year, I'd be a free man is what they had... | It was nearly sunset on death row in the Alberation system of the Galaxy. Although her 37 years on Brigdon block seemed like a lifetime, Salmma never realized the day of her sentenced death would come so fast. Her green eyes slide over the metal frames of the cell, the discolored wall that made an inappropriate figure ... | Prisoners can ask for anything for their last meal. The catch is, if it can't be provided to them, they get set free. They've asked for many things : alien egg omelette, dragon steak, the flesh of Jesus Christ, etc. The execution streak remained unbroken for decades, until today. | 546 |
Anya faced her archenemy, as he smiled smugly at the suppression gauntlets on her hands. Unfortunately, he was actually right about the danger she posed, even if he didn't know it.
Jason Narra had been a pain in her ass for about a year, now. They first met at the Academy at the beginning of the previous school year, ... | Jackass... I think as my powers while they could be used to cause a lot of annoyance because it is power to play any musical instrument to perfect decree. I am a girl and this is how he wants my attention? Wow, nice... I love music... I feel my heart drop as the gloves are worn on. I immediately start thinking about on... | The world has taken precautions against super-powered beings, handing out inhibitors if deemed too 'destructive.' You sat in the principal's office with horror etched on your face as a pair of inhibitor gloves were handed to you. The smug grin of your life long bully telling you everything. | 629 |
T4M-A5 walked into class at exactly 9:35AM.
To the outside world, the machine was simply Tomas, a polish kid that emigrated with his family to america.
In reality though, he was an infiltrater class hunter killer drone. His handlers in the foundation jokingly referred to him as the Terminator, in reference to the movi... | I was walking home from school with my heart almost beating out of my chest. Eileen actually asked *me* out, not only just for a date but to go to prom with her! We had been friends for a few years at this point and I’ve really started to like her. I showered, shaved a little, and got dressed as well as I could without... | You were asked out by your crush to come and hang out with her after school. On your date, she drained your blood and buried you in the woods thinking that you were another easy victim. And now, the next morning, she looks horrified when you walk into class. | 683 |
The magic of the supernatural does not come from learned scholars or family tradition, nor does it come from the power of faith. Those are other variants of power that have complimented or opposed natural magic.
However, for the unruly and the truly chaotic such as demons like Rudy, his natural power came in the form... | ***Quick warning - this is going to really bad. Like extremely bad. Wrote it at 2am, extremely tired, made it way longer than it had to be, and over fucked up. Enjoy anyway!***
Somewhere, in suburban London, a clergyman of St. Magdalene’s order steps onto the porch of a terraced house. As he knocks on the door, he s... | A trapped demon calls a priest for excorcism because his host is too obese and can't get out of bed | 616 |
**Google Love 8/15/16
Welcome**
Welcome to Google Love, Olive!
Google Love is committed to finding you the perfect match based on your mutual interests. At Google Love, we already know you. There’s no profile to fill out or questions to answer.
All you have to do is be yourself while we do the hard work of importi... | The best part about coffee shops is no matter how little the two people on the date are talking, there's enough background chatter that awkward silences are never truly silent. Clinking of glasses, brief snippets of conversation from other patrons and the occasional heard-over-the-rest bout of laughter punctuate the qu... | Google begins matching people romantically based on their browser histories.
Based off of [this post](https://www.reddit.com/r/Showerthoughts/comments/4p6cc1/if_google_matched_people_up_by_their_browsing/) by /u/hobbitfeets over on /r/ShowerThoughts. | 731 |
Considering the fact that she's a goddess and can and will smite me given a reason, I know that the last thing I should do is laugh at Aphrodite.
But the way she's rubbing her temples and groaning at yet another failed attempt makes suppressing my laughter, quite frankly, a herculean task.
"What is your PROBLEM?" She... | ****TRIGGER WARNING****
Aphrodite skulked along the massive halls of Mt. Olympus towards her husband's great workshop. An eerie stillness settled in; no chatter, no laughing, no joy, just cold marble. Always the same during times like these.
As she rounded a corner she noticed Zeus pacing back and forth in front of ... | You declared to the heavens that you would never fall in love. Aphrodite hereslf took it as a challenge. | 625 |
I chuckle as I approach the Sword in the Stone with a pickaxe. The crowd gossips and gasps as I pass.
A feeble old woman approaches me, tugging at my tunic. "Young Sir! You must not use the pick upon the stone. It is Gods test for us and interfering would be a sin!"
"Then call me a sinner, bitch" I say as I walk by.... | "The rules of governance are that the person who frees the sword may rule over the Britons," I said.
The lady of the Lake was not pleased, and neither, I assume, were the various knights who had been camping on the shore. Many of them were in undershirts, looking more like robust men than the fearsome suits of metal ... | Everyone knows about the sword in the stone. Even the strongest of men have failed to remove it. You chuckle as you walk toward the stone with a pickaxe. | 549 |
I dragged myself off the raft. Two months of cramped difficult sea travel would put kinks in your legs you might never get out. Though I shouldn't complain. I had been lucky after all. My food and water had survived the shipwreck, along with my cartography instruments. No companionship, but you can't have everything. P... | The water moved beneath him, pushing him in directions he rarely wanted to go. His Sisters had sent him to this island, a tiny island on a tiny planet. They wanted to find them and even though they didn’t want to admit it, they were losing.
Even with the constant motion of the waves, the air above was breezeless, stal... | Lost at sea for months, you spot land at last. You quickly realize you must have discovered some of the last uncharted land in the world. You also quickly realize why it is uncharted. | 528 |
I’ve lost feeling in my legs two sunrises ago. I’ve lost it in my head for far longer.
The makeshift boat, a long piece of wood that splintered relatively nicely off the ship, eroded with the best efforts of god’s acts. Little by little, sliver by sliver, the wood shaved itself down to a size where my arms could barel... | The water moved beneath him, pushing him in directions he rarely wanted to go. His Sisters had sent him to this island, a tiny island on a tiny planet. They wanted to find them and even though they didn’t want to admit it, they were losing.
Even with the constant motion of the waves, the air above was breezeless, stal... | Lost at sea for months, you spot land at last. You quickly realize you must have discovered some of the last uncharted land in the world. You also quickly realize why it is uncharted. | 526 |
You could hear her wails from a mile away. That’s when you know when to run. Or she’ll find you. Or they’ll find you.
It all happened so fast. She started changing. Her voice, once smooth and sweet as honey, grew scratchy and guttural. There was something in her voice that changed everything. Her screams would gather... | # Bargain Bin Superheroes
(Arc 4, Interlude 5: Hat Tricks)
(Note: Bargain Bin Superheroes is episodic; each part is self-contained. This story can be enjoyed without reading the previous sections.
**In another life, she had been a performer.** But that was before the Middle Communes had collapsed, taking every job m... | You hear a rumour that there's a princess around, always surrounded by cute animals every time she sings. In this post-apocalyptic Disney wasteland, you could use a neverending source of meat... | 625 |
On principle alone, my monochromatic office isn't white. I like color. Much to the chagrin of the analysts, I had it painted lilac. I have to be in it for hours (when I'm lucky), so I won that small debate. Otherwise it's simple. Eight paces over lavender tile, and a featureless pocketed door. One small screen with my ... | “Am I gonna like your answer Johnnie? Am I?” I’m pushed right up into his face, threatening. Even with all the muscle around me, my aggression is an act. These boys all know me as the professor of truth, but the snitch don’t know that. He’s sweating bullets.
I walk behind the snitch and wait for his reply. I open mys... | : Everyone got a tiny, mundane blessing when they were born. Usually they are so small that people don't even notice them - always hitting the green light in traffic, etc. Yours would be virtually useless, but you figured out a creative loophole that allowed you to rise to the top of the world. | 563 |
The people in the office started pulling at their ties, scrubbing paper towels across their brow, with said towels laden with sweat, and started complaining that somebody's BO was out of control. Looking around. I acknowledged the situation and perused myself to the stairwell. Time to face the music. At least I accompl... | The moon shone through large bay windows as I watched Norasia's president walk back upstairs to his bedroom. Our conversation went as it usually does with world leaders. He demands to know what the hell I'm doing in his home, how I got past his guard detail, or who the hell I am. As usual, all I had to do was look into... | Being the Devil’s offspring means that you’re really good at persuasion. Things get awkward when the Devil finds out you’ve been using your power for good. | 540 |
They say when you’re breathing your last breath time goes slower. They say time stops, and you have an infinite moment to reflect on the life you lived one last time.
When I saw the hand on that damn watch pause I didn’t reflect on the good twenty six years I had lived up until this point. I didn’t remember how lovel... | This is kind of bad but I've been using writing prompts to improve my skills and fall back in love with writing so here goes nothing... enjoy :)
​
The warm lights of the front room shone down on her face light the glow of a halo. She was iridescent. The most beautiful woman in town. Ever since our first me... | At 18, your father finally gave you his antique Swiss watch. "The watch will stop working when you're seconds away from death. Live a good life", your father always told you. Now at 26, you're celebrating your 1st wedding anniversary. As your wife pours you a glass of wine, the watch stopped. | 569 |
“Did you enjoy your time in heaven?” The voice didn’t really belong to anything.
“Wait – so Earth was heaven?” I had a slight headache, something I didn’t figure would exist after Earth was so far gone.
“Yes. Did you enjoy it?”
“I thought heaven was eternal, I only had 25 years.”
“You had a whole 25 years, which is... | *I've been waiting around in this seemingly endless white room for what seems like eternity now, is this the afterlife? Man I was wrong about that. White suggests heaven though, which is a bonus, if I had believed in God I'd have sworn I'd be in a far hotter place right now...* I think to myself, after a period of comp... | Soon after you die, you are approached by a deity who asks "so, did you enjoy your time in heaven?" | 601 |
“What the hell do you mean you “overclocked a sloth”?”
“You’re familiar with the normal, everyday run-of-the-mill sloths that we've been working with, right?”
“Of course.”
“Well it’s like that, but more so.”
“So it is still a sloth.”
“Well yeah. We didn’t alter its DNA or crossbreed it, or anything along those lin... | "Wait wait wait, hang on John," my oldest friend Daniel said, laughing at my worried expression. "You said you did what?"
"I tried that new chip we got in last week, y'know the one that hasn't exactly been cleared for use," I said, my hands shaking violently at my sides, looking around trough bloodshot eyes, as if some... | "What the hell do you mean you 'overclocked a sloth'?" | 585 |
The thick wooden doors to the throne room were charred and splintered, they were broken inward with the force of a powerful magical explosion. Past the doors were several inhuman bodies strewn about and bleeding various shades of green onto the hardwood floors. A powerful figure pulled his sword from a now limp goblin ... | "I'm bored!"
That same exasperated outcry echoed through the seemingly deserted castle day after day, always around noon without fail. Sighing deeply, I lean forwards in my throne and clear my throat. "Garrote!" I call.
Light thumping slowly makes its way down the overly complex arches supportin... | You're a ferocious demon king. You're surprised one day to find that a young woman has been left at your door. Only to later find out her father, the king, is using you as bait to find a knight worthy of marrying his daughter. | 728 |
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