Split (1)

train · 199k rows

post_text stringlengths 0 17.5k	post_title stringlengths 8 314	comment_texts listlengths 1 74	num_stories int64 1 74
	[WP] One day, while messing with the books on your bookshelf, you discover a mysterious passage behind it. There is just one problem, you live in a small apartment and behind that wall is supposed to be the outside world.	[ "It was an early evening. The TV was running, and I was just flicking through channels, hoping to stumble across some entertainment. I didn't.\n\nRecently, I had just come home from work, and all I wanted was some decent, low energy fun. \nI was fiddling around with a stress ball, you know, one of those you pick up from an insurance company. I bounced it of the wall, as I thought of a way to relieve myself, of the struggling pressure of boredom.\n\nAfter a few tosses I started paying less attention to the ball, repeatedly bouncing. And as I thought of the fun night with Cara the other day, the ball left my hand, and struck against the inner parts of my bookshelf, sending books onto the floor. I gently sighed, and reached for the books. It occurred to me, it had been a while since I had read a book. \n\nAs I was getting the books back into their places, I noticed a mark near one of the books. It reminded me of a coin, or like the Starbucks logo, except this had a skull, and two swords facing each other.\nI ran my fingers across it a few times. Could it be a button? If it were a button, what happened if I pressed it? Before giving it any second thoughts, I gave it a press, and the bookshelf started to sink. It sank. Further and further, it sank.\n\nThe thing was, I was living on the 3rd floor, and the bookshelf was placed in such a position, it would be impossible to there being any sort of hidden, or secret room. I blinked a few times. I was shocked. Slowly, I walked to the window beside my bookshelf. Nothing was changed. The building was exactly as tall and wide, as usual. No new secret rooms were added to the front. \n\nI looked into the abyss of darkness that stood before me. I could just about see the stairs that appeared. Right before the darkness cut away any visibility.\n\nI had to see. I had to find out what this all was. So I flicked on my phones handy flashlight and started walking down. I wondered how far the stairs would reach. It was as dark as any room, with no light source. I could hear a strange creaking noise, as I reached the end of the relatively large set of stairs. Footsteps. A few footsteps came closer. I shined the light towards the slow, clunking steps. The cold sweat from under my arms, grew colder. A face emerged. A bearded face. An eye-patch?\n\n", "“Two rats, and one more cage,” I said.\n\nThe man’s eyebrows raised. “That must be one hungry snake,” he said.\n\nI shoved my card into the reader and didn’t reply.\n\n“They don’t usually eat that much is all,” he went on. “Slow metabolism is all I’m saying.”\n\nI punched four numbers into the machine without thinking. I’d have to go to a new pet store after this. The man gave up trying to talk after that, though. I had no more lies for him. I’d hardly slept in the week since I started visiting him.\n\nWith cage in hand I shoved my way through the door. A little tingle sounded from the bell above. The rats scurried about, playing, shifting the weight in the little cage around.\n\nSomething about a determined young man with a cage full of rats draws nervous glances from pedestrians. I was given a wide berth the entire walk to the apartment. Back in my building, nobody wanted to share an elevator.\n\nI kicked aside the mail on the welcome mat and shut the door behind me. Only the living room mattered. The book shelf took up most of the tiny floor now. The three books that fell when moving it remained half open and littered around the space. A coffee table sat in the center. My cell phone was still on it; I must have forgotten it again. It was still dead, too. Against the wall closest the hallway door was the little leather love seat. And directly across from that was the passage.\n\n“Hello,” the voice said. It came from far away, in the darkness, but louder than before. Was it closer? Was it stronger? Was it both?\n\nI did not say anything back. A week ago, when I pulled the bookshelf hurriedly from the wall, scattering my beautiful volumes around, I had popped my head into the passage and said hello. The voice greeted me with it every time I came home now. I would give it nothing else.\n\nI walked as close to the passage as I dared, creeping, careful about my noise. I wondered about my smell. About my thoughts. Crouching near the wall, I grabbed a string that trailed from the opening and pulled. The cage whined against the dirt floor, then the slid smoothly when it changed to my living room’s hard wood.\n\n“Hello,” the voice said again. It sought no purchase, no response. It only ever called. I wondered it if knew me from the rats.\n\nI pulled a bath towel off the top of the cage and looked inside. All of the wires remained in place; nothing bent or broken. A lock on the little door was still fastened. Inside was about a half pound of raw ground beef, minus what had been nibbled on by the rat. The rat was gone.\n\nI tossed the towel aside. I opened the cage, threw away the beef, and in a move I was starting to get pretty used to, transferred one of the new rats into the cage. I went to the kitchen, opened the cabinet above the stove, and took out a big box of salt.\n\nI brought both cages to the mouth of the passage. I placed the new cage beyond the threshold, in the center of the long corridor that led into the darkness. That my flashlight would not penetrate. That carried a voice back to me that only said hello. That I stared and stared at, for days, losing time and sleep and energy for a hint of a source of a voice that only ever said hello.\n\nWith the salt, I poured a circle around the cage. The rat sniffed the air around it, pressing its head through the wires, its nose seeking the ring of salt. The second cage I placed on my side of the wall. I did not draw a salt circle.\n\n“Hello,” the voice said.\n\nI grabbed a can of seltzer and sat on the love seat opposite the entrance, and waited, and watched.\n\n“Hello,” it came again. Its test and its declaration. The few beams of light still coming through the windows were brilliant orange with the waning day.\n\n“Hello,” inevitability. It used it like the rat in the cage with its nose sniffing toward the salt. There was never darkness in a city and my apartment was blue and grey and shadows with the street lights filtering in.\n\n“Hello,” enveloping. Was it sounding more like me? Was it sounding like anything at all? When had I fallen asleep?\n\nEyes straining to see, squinting from exhaustion and their attempt to focus, I looked at the passage. Two cages, faintly outlined, but no sense of what was inside. I stood and crept closer. I nearly tripped over the first cage before I could see it. There was no rat inside. Right before me, right before me as I slept. Shuddering, I shuffled closer to the entrance.\n\nI could hear the little thing before seeing it. Tiny paws scratching dirt. I ran back to the kitchen and grabbed the salt. I returned to the living room and threw the coffee table from the center of the floor. I poured a circle of salt around myself, just wide enough to sit in, and peered back into the passage.\n\n“Hello,” from everywhere. A taunt, a triumph. And somehow, I knew, the cage in the passage was empty now.\n\n", "The number on the sky was down to 10.\n\nArthur was home, reading. The Night Queen's threat darkened his horizon, but he couldn't think right unless he had a book on his hand.\n\nI can't believe she's not threatening anyone else he thought, flipping the page. She's cooking something up. She just wants me out of the picture. But how do I figure it out?\n\nHe sighed, stood up, and went to the shelf. It was littered with decidedly massive fantasy tomes, essays on law, crime journals, and many more. He and Vi had put together quite the collection. His roommate had been out for quite some time, but it was not uncommon for her to do so. \n\nHe put back the book he was reading on the shelf, and hunted his next read. His eye was caught by a very old, dusty leather-bound brick of a book with an odd symbol on the side. One of Vi's he thought, reaching for it.\n\nAs he gripped the book, he felt something clicking. Immediately, the shelf collapsed inwards, revealing an impossible corridor.\n\nWhat the hell? Arthur thought. That wall lead to the street outside, ten stories up. Right next to the corridor, a window let in light, and showed no building justifying the hall. \n\nIllusion? He thought, feeling the edge of the floor. It was solid enough, and he stepped through it. It was covered in a luxurious carpet, and lit by old timey chandeliers, covered in cobwebs. It smelled musty.\n\nOnce he was inside, the breach that led to his living room immediately closed , and he heard a familiar laugh.\n\n\"Your curiosity will be the death of you, dear.\" The familiar, smug tone of the Night Queen filled his ears. She appeared, a tall woman with black hair in a antiquated hairdo, a massive and luxurious ball gown, extremely pale skin and red eyes. \"Poor, deluded Stormwatcher. Or should I call you Arthur? Or detective? After all, propriety should be followed.\" \n\nArthur raised his hand, which turned into a claw and crackled with electricity. \"How the hell do you know who I am? And where I live? Why didn't you hit me sooner then?\" He was getting angry. This monster wanted to control him. To use what he had inside of him to control the world, and take it into her thrall. \"You're not walking out of this\" he said, feeling the energy course within him.\n\n\"Ah, but I am. The three of us are.\" A second figure appeared behind her, that of a strangely short man covered from head to toe in a suit of black iron. \"This is my dear vassal Wilhelm. He'll entertain you while I... Get ready to accept your fealty.\"\n\n\"Like hell you are\" Arthur said, as he jumped ahead and struck out with his lightning. The Queen melted into darkness immediately, reforming a bit behind with her insufferable smile. \n\nThe armored man took the hit, barely moving back, and stuck forward on his own.\n\nThe battle's on.", "I am from Greece and I am rational and at the same time curious man. Or I must say I was…\n\nI found an ancient door which led to the secret passage. After three hours of stepping down I reached a room.\n\n“Welcome,” the man on the throne said. “It has been a while since someone has come here.”\n\n“Hello,” I said. “Who are you? Where I am?” I asked with trembling voice.\n\nThe room was full of strange sounds. Growl, howl and boiling stuff. It smelled like a mixture of roasting beef and resin. It was unpleasant and disturbing. \n\n“It is an old room, one of the oldests. The crown room of Governor of the Hell. The most bizarre and the most beautiful room in the underworld.”\n\n“Oh, my lord!” I bent my knee suddenly. I bowed very low and tried to sound sincere. I was afraid, I was fucking afraid. “Oh, almighty Satan! I am admirer of you!” I was not sure now how long I’d live. There was a man with a scythe on his hand. I took him for the one of the horseman of Apocalypse. The Death.\n\n“Who is Satan?” asked the man on the throne.\n\nI didn’t understand. If he was not Satan, then, who he was? What I need to say know? And now while I was bowing, my neck should be in the perfect position for the scythe. The idea made me sweat.\n\n“Are you a deaf?” the king who I thought was Satan asked.\n\n“I am ignorant Your Grace. I don’t know what I am speaking of. Forgive me,” I said without raising my head.\n\n“Are you a spy? You must know Cerberus is fond of spies,” said the man.\n\n“Cerberus?” I asked with the believe that I misheard him. Did he really say that? Really? Cerberus? I raised my head and looked at the man. Or the God? I looked carefully at the Death. I was stupid, I was fucking stupid. The fear tricked me. It was not a scythe, it was a pole. He was not Death, he was Charon. The ferryman of Hades.\n\n“Gods are real,” I said, when I realized with whom I was speaking.\n\nHades answered with smile.\n\n“Gods are real,” I repeated again.\n\nNow the door I found out in my room which led to the ancient passage was not a simple door. Not anymore. The door was more like a black hole in my mind. It was growing on my mind, it was becoming religious hole, It was becoming the hole on the military balance of the world. It was becoming the hole in our scientific knowledge. And it kept growing…" ]	4
	[WP] You are a retired, undefeated Roman gladiator who won every match by odd/unforseen circumstances recalling matches to a tavern of people.	[ "There's a moment, right before the first impact. A time before the first cut. When you're in it, it goes on forever, or at least long enough that you both notice it and start to get a little bored as the moment stretches. That's the real first and final fight. The truth is, the moment is going to end and someone is probably going to die. Usually it's the one who gets bored. Looks just slightly away. Fidgets. Then, the blade cuts and the fist hits and it's blood and bodies all the way down until only one person is left standing.\n\nThis is that moment, I'm noticing. \n\nHe's not bored yet, though, which means we all have a chance to avoid what's about to happen otherwise.\n\nSince I've got a fraction of this eternal moment to spend, let's review:\n\n---\n\nI entered Albus' tavern. It was quiet, which was due to the fact that it was mid-afternoon and the Games were on, so I took my customary spot in a booth near the back. Fabia angled her ample hips across the floor to deliver a pint of beer to my table with a wet thud. She rolled her eyes at my Imperials when I flipped them on the table, but took them anyway and tucked them tightly into the spot above her right breast that so many other things through the day went.\n\n\"You onea them Amazons?\" I asked her with a smirk.\n\n\"Howya figure?\" she asked back.\n\n\"Well, all the stuff you tuck in there, I just bet you cut off your tit like onea those Amazon women did. Made em good at archery, supposedly.\"\n\nShe hefted her ample endowment with a leer at my crotch.\n\n\"Why don't you give Albus a few more Imperials and we can both see who's packing what?\"\n\nI flipped her a coin from my purse with a smile. She caught it mid-air without missing a beat.\n\n\"Gods love you, Fabia,\" I said, \"what would we do without you?\"\n\n\"Be sober,\" she said back with a smile, \"and more's the pity.\"\n\nWe'd been friends for years, ever since she'd given me a Last Chance for Romance before my first fight almost ten years ago. She was thinner then, but so was I. It was all elbows and assholes, but she'd done her job proper and I'd carried my duties off well enough. Five minutes after, we both were laughing at the awkwardness of it all. I still remember her mischievous grin when she mentioned that we still had almost a full stick of time left. It was a good night and then the next day I killed a guy twice my age who she'd also visited the night before after she'd finished me off.\n\n---\n\n\"OH LET'S TALK ABOUT BARRABUS!\" he shouts, all piss and vinegar.\n\n\"There's no need to shout, you ingrate. The tavern is small enough that you can just talk and the city guard won't hear and get interested,\" I say. \n\nIt's true. The tavern is small enough to not have to talk too loud to fill it, and at that moment you could've heard a coin drop on velvet clearly since everyone was watching the free theater this young fool was providing. Albus was already stirring from behind the rail, but I didn't need his assistance. That way leads to hiding bodies.\n\n\"Fine,\" the young guy says, \"But let's do talk about Barrabus. First fight of yours, right? Barrabus, the Beast of Gaul! Barrabus, the Hundred-man Killer! Barrabus the Fury! And you, a nobody from nowhere. How'd you manage it?\"\n\n\"He was slow, I was fast,\" I say. \"That usually settles things. Look, you young fool---\"\n\n\"Lucius Marcus Cicero is my name.\"\n\n\"--right. You seem to have a problem with me, Lucius, what is it?\"\n\nHe smiles then, a vicious little smile on a face that was ripe for punching, if only to soften those angles a touch and make him as handsome as he was pretending to be. His clothes, his stance, his weaponry, all of it convey a seriousness distinctly at odds with his expression. He's right on the edge of true manhood, and his first fight he'd picked with me?\n\nHe points a finger directly at me.\n\n\"You're a fraud. You killed those other gladiators, sure, but not alone.\"\n\nThe crowd disapproves. I raise my hands after a second or two. The crowd returns to silence.\n\n\"I was the only one on the sands that day, \" I say. \"Mine was the only sword that pierced his throat.\"\n\nHe reaches into a satchel he's brought for this farce and pulls out a clay mug. It's the same Albus uses for his beer. He flips it to show the tavern the red spot on the bottom.\n\n\"Where did you get that,\" rumbles Albus from behind the bar. The tavern as a whole stifles a quick gasp. Albus never talks. When he does, people die.\n\n---\n\n\"And thus, Dominus, we have to report the untimely deaths of your fighters during this altercation,\" said the guard. He was almost a friend at the tavern but one look at his face now meant I was sowing the wrong field for farming pity. \n\nDominus Caecelius was a purple-faced, furious man in an absurd wig at this point. We'd, well, the guard and his unit, had hauled in the bodies of six of his former gladiators adorned with various cuts, stabs, and one definitively crushed skull. Then they'd presented me as a messenger offering a peaceful payoff for the cost of the gladiators as well as sacrificial goat should it come to that. The guard was here to see about the legalities, but would not stop Caecelius from slitting my throat as a response.\n\n\"How!? What? My--\" he sputtered, then speared me with a look. \"Your clothes. That cut. You were involved, yes?\"\n\n\"I was,\" I said.\n\n\"Did you kill one of them?\"\n\n\"No. I'm a gladiator and don't work for free. More's the shame. I was supposed to fight them tomorrow.\"\n\n\"You're Maris?\"\n\n\"I am.\"\n\nHe slid his look over to the guards and held up a hand toward me.\n\n\"He comes in here with a bag of money after being involved in a tavern brawl during which my gladiators who were supposed to go up against him tomorrow were killed and expects me to smile and take the payout like some sort of idiot?!\"\n\nThe guard shrugged.\n\n\"Well then who killed my men?\" shouted the Dominus.\n\n\"No way to tell,\" replied the guard, \"it was a tavern brawl. Look, you weren't the only person who this fool has to deliver bodies and money to. Do you want the lucre or not? We're leaving the bodies either way.\"\n\nHe took the money, and we got the hell out of there. It was a long night, but eventually all of Albus' payoffs were delivered.\n\n---\n\nThe red spot captivates everyone's attention and Lucius holds it aloft like it's important. Then he slams it down on the table.\n\n\"Conspiracy!\" he shouts. \"This tavern is a hotbed of it. I have proof that every fight you've ever won, Maris Decida, was aided in some way by the owner, staff and patrons of this tavern. They place the bets after they've thrown it your way. Then you go out to fight and win, predictably, and they make a killing. so to speak.\"\n\nI take a look at Albus. He's staring back at me stonily, but then his head angles in the tiniest fraction of a nod. I raise my eyebrow and pan my look to catch eyes quickly veiled in response across the tavern. Fabia gives me a wink and a smirk. Then she tilts her head at the kid who's been throwing accusations around.\n\nI hear the soft sound of at least ten daggers being slowly drawn from sheaths.The silence in the bar has curdled into something nasty and vicious like a cornered alley cat. The facts of their support are a matter for another time.\n\nWe've entered that moment.\n\n---\n\nIt's been a few seconds since everything stopped, but moments are eternal, so my timing might be off.\n\nHis eyes are locked on mine and I can see the entirety of his foolishness washing around behind them. He's got some fire there, though, and like I said he's still intensely in tune with the moment we're all in, so he's not going to go down without a fight. He's trying to move his hands slow enough that I don't notice them getting closer to the long knife at his hip.\n\nNot one to waste a good moment, I let it linger. It doesn't happen quickly but eventually I feel the first of the patrons becoming bored. It spreads throughout and before it can recurdle to annoyance that nothing happened, I laugh to break the silence and the mood. Loudly. Victory is mine.\n\n\"So what?\" I ask after a few seconds. \"If I win, they win, if I die, they lose. It's the same as everything else in life. Besides, ask any Dominus, they do way worse than these good people. How bout you sit down and meet a few of them, maybe make a few friends, maybe figure out how you can join the conspiracy and make a little money?\"\n\nI wave a hand at the patrons and then the outside.\n\n\"It's dark tonight,\" I say, \"and from the cut of your clothes you live a long way down a lot of dark roads from here. If you want to make a point about things, these fine people might make a point of their own.\"\n\nHis face goes pale. That'll be the fear. Then it goes red. That'll be the fire. He's a good kid. He doesn't deserve to die today.\n\n\"Albus,\" I say to the bar in general, \"I'd like to buy our new friend a drink. Is that okay with you?\"\n\n\"If he's got coin, I've got drinks,\" Albus rumbles in response.\n\nI haven't stood up during this incident as it didn't strike me as necessary, so I indicate the seat opposite me in the booth.\n\n\"Have a seat, Lucius....?\"\n\n\"Lucius Marcus Cicero,\" he says taking the seat.\n\nFabia arrives with a big tankard of beer. I notice there's no red dot on the bottom when she puts it on the table in front of him. She leans in a touch, giving him a look at her storage space. Then when he doesn't respond, she leans back and smiles.\n\n\"Shame,\" she says to me, \"he'll be a looker, once he gets a few bumps and bruises to soften all those edges. Don't rough him up too much, Maris.\"\n\n\"What was that about?\" he asks after she leaves.\n\n\"Inside joke,\" I reply. \"So tell me about what they did to help me win.\"\n\n\"Well,\" he says, fishing around in his satchel.\n\n---\n\nHours later, it's early morning and I've got a guy to kill in an arena and a new appreciation for friends. \n\nMaster Regulus was right, no man wins alone.\n\nI've just got to believe that my friends were better than his friends and that my sword is faster.\n\nWouldn't want to put all their hard work to waste.\n\n\n\n\n\n\n" ]	1
	[WP] Amateur serial killers are usually caught within three or four deaths. More sophisticated ones, usually doctors or nurses injecting lethal chemicals, can make it into the hundreds. You've killed over a thousand people and haven't been caught yet...	[ "To whom receives this letter. \n\nI was blessed gift or burdened with a curse. Depends on your point of view. \nMy Gift was the ability to stop time. At first I used to get some extra sleep and other innocent childsplay but soon I used to for evil.\nIt started off by taking extra time to check out the girls but that soon turned into touching their hair and squeezing their breast and other lady parts. As I got more confident this occasional let to full on rape.\nSoon this didn't give me the pleasure I needed anymore. That's when I discovered the rush death gave me. Again this started out small, with a bird or a mouse but that soon turned into cats, dogs and eventually humans.\n\nMy first human kill was done out of boredom. It was just a random guy I found deep in the woods while hiking. With the ability to stop time it gave me plenty of time to get rid of the body and all evidence. Strangely this random kill did not give me the pleasure I longed for. \n\nWhen I killed my second victim I found the pleasure I needed. This jackass cut me of by running a red light. I stopped time to check his drivers license and found out where he lived. Two days later I visited his home and snatches his body from his bed. I took him to the woods, the same place I buried the hiker. I killed him and buried him.\nNo one ever solved this crime as there where no leads at all. You know, when I checked his license, I also copied his key so there where no signs of forced entry. The guy just seemed to have disappeared from the face of the earth.\n\nSoon I set my sight on other assholes and bitches on the road. Cut me off? That's a kill. Driving a semi and passing other semi's in morning or evening rush hour? I'll find you and kill you.\nI was the most serene person behind the wheel because I knew that anyone that would piss me off on the road would end up death and nothing would be able to be traced back to me.\n\nNow, at the time of me writing this I know my own end is coming. My health is failing me and old age is catching up on me. My death tole all over Europe goes into several thousands. All of them are unresolved. Several dozens in the USA during my vacations there and some prostitutes in Bangkok as well.\nI included a list of every location I used over the years to hide my victims. You are free to bring this letter and the list to the local police to solve all these crimes that go unsolved for so long. Or destroy it and keep the families uninformed of what happened to their loved ones.", "I am at best inconsistent when it came to anything in life. Perhaps that is why no one has caught on, or maybe no body cares enough. At this point I’m almost convinced I could be the only one who is real but I dread finding out the answer. Let me start over at the beginning.\n\nMy name is Frank Stone, and like most people I’d say I probably live an average life, if you count going to work for eight to ten hours only to come home with plans on cleaning your house, exercising, and going to bed at a decent time only to find yourself drawn to the self indulgence of TV, Online gaming, or on the rare occasion reading the fantasy books your grandma keeps sending your way since she realized you shared an interest. I’m twenty five and for the five years I’ve been killing people, and I’m fairly certain I’ve at least killed a thousand people by now.\n\nYou might be wondering how or think I was a mastermind behind a few mass killings but nothing could be further from the truth. You see I always have this reoccurring dream of booting up an old computer game that allows me to change the world by spawning or despawning NPC’s in whatever game I’m playing in the dream. I usually wake up before within a few minutes, as it is a rather short dream. If there’s anything beyond me typing a few names I’m unaware of it since my last memory is usually hitting the Enter Key. \n\nI first noticed it when I realized I had typed a particularly annoying coworker’s name into the system along with four other random names. I always thought that I was pulling names randomly from my subconscious but I showed up to work and the oddest thing had occurred. No body remembered Dillan. I got crazy looks and asked if I was OK to which I tried to play it off while I waited for someone at the end of the day to say they had just been playing a prank on me and they enjoyed me fidgeting throughout the day. I probably gave everyone weird and judging looks that day. Next day was the same so on a whim I decided I was going to try and remember the names I typed in my dream the next time it came around. It wasn’t long before I woke up three days later having had the same dream again.\n\nI scribbled down the names of the ones that I could remember. Three of the five I was fairly sure I had gotten right. It’s surprising how fast you can lose the details of your dreams, or maybe you just think there was more than there was. I did quick searches on the internet before realizing how I was supposed to determine which Adam Smith was the one who disappeared when Dillan had left no trace of existing. I searched for Dillan Malador out of pure curiosity and could find nothing. I decided it had to be someone I knew, and I would pick some people I didn’t like and repeat their names before bed hoping my subconscious would pick up on the names. I was just being paranoid anyways right? It was just a stupid repetitive dream that I’ve had since I was young. My parent’s had told me it was perfectly normal to have a reoccurring dream and it didn’t seem to be harmful.\n\nThe next few times I had the dream I wrote the names down but no one I could say I officially remembered, and so I started looking up ways to lucid dream and practicing what are called ‘reality checks’ that let you know if you’re dreaming. Things like do you remember how you got where you were, what time it is currently, and other things that make you call into question your surroundings.\n\nAbout a few months later I managed to get a lucid dream where I was in control. I had a list saved of particularly horrible people at least in my opinion I didn’t think anyone would care to see disappear. At least I remember having a list and typing in five names. When I woke up I wrote them out and I couldn’t remember anyone by the first four names but the fifth was Bill Teringer my neighbor down the street. He was an alcoholic and I suspected he sometimes was a little too physical with his wife. I always wondered why I never said anything but sometimes I’d let the kid have a candy bar if I saw him at the local grocery with his mother. Staring back at the list, I puzzled at the first four names but quickly chalked it up to dreams being fickle when it came to memory, before heading to grab a quick shower.\n\nIt was the weekend thankfully and normally I probably would have been booting up my machine to play a MOBA, but I was really curious about that neighbor of mine. We had interacted a few times since I had started to live in the small seven hundred square feet building I called a home. I had slept in until ten in the morning so it wasn’t unlikely that they’d be up and I figured I’d just mention wanting to have a take him out and have a beer later since I hadn’t been out much lately. Laura answered the door and flashed me a pleasant smile as usual asking what I had come over for. I asked how Bill was doing and that I wanted to take him out later tonight for a guy’s night out. She flashed me a confused look like she was taken aback by what I said.\n\nShe asked what I meant, and when I began to explain I wanted to steal her husband away from her for a night so she could have a night with just her son, her brows furrowed even more and she subtly shifted further away from me. Questions of whether I was feeling alright, and if I’d like to come in and have a seat followed. To which I tried to play off as cool as I could. I’ll let you know right now awkward silences and sentences that feel so hollow are my specialty but I eventually managed to convince Laura my distant looks was because I had just woken up and for some reason had a strange dream where she had a husband and kid. I did not mention anything about my suspecting abuse, that might come off even creepier than I already sounded. It seemed it wasn’t unusual for me to come over and talk with her or at least she didn’t seem to mind me over on the weekend. Had I changed more than just her husband disappearing?\n\nI mean I already felt guilty about the kid, but I wasn’t thinking too clearly about it. Shock I would say might have been part of it, and besides writing someone out of existence isn’t exactly like killing someone right? I was convinced maybe I was just a little delusional, or maybe I was still dreaming. ‘Reality checking’ myself at that moment revealed as far as I knew I was a wake, time seemed to pass normal on the grandfather clock that sat in Laura’s living room, and I pretty much remembered everything between waking up, showering, and getting here. \n\nThe weekend actually turned out fun, as Laura took me out to meet more of the extended ‘friends’ that we apparently shared. I got the feeling we had met under difference circumstances when I moved my small house and somehow became friends who then she introduced to her other friends. It’s a little odd hanging out with people who know more about you than you’d usually tell people or talking about stuff that you don’t remember doing. Regardless I thought I had improved life for the better, and I planned to see if maybe I could do a little better this time. Maybe write some criminals misdeeds out of history. I didn’t know how much of a can of worms I was opening at that moment.\n\nFive more names written down once I woke up. I remembered while lucid dreaming to conjure up a list of names I had been repeating before bed. I even typed them to a cadence of me repeating the names. When I stopped to look over the list of names I held in front of me I realized something wrong. The first four names where anyone I remembered. I couldn’t figure out where I had gotten those names, what had happened? I tried to think of the cadence I had said the names to but something was wrong there too. I couldn’t think of anyone but the last name in the order.\n\nHonestly this is were I started realizing maybe there were further reaching consequences than I had intended. I called my mother silently thanking whatever god governed this world that despite a rough upbringing in a single child and single mother house hold we had grown close despite me having moved out of the house. I spoke with her worried I might be starting to lose my mind by believing that I could affect reality, and she tried to calm me down the best she could and told me to take a day off and come visit her. I did just that, and was treated to home cooking that I knew no one in the world would ever beat. The conversation came up again, when I asked when I had started having that dream.\n\nMy Mother looked at my surprised that I didn’t remember and told me that it was about when I was ten that I started to have these dreams. I had come in crying to her that I had erased an imaginary older sister I claimed to have had. I laughed a bit at my younger self acting so strangely, thinking maybe it had just started as a bad dream that I’d never been able to get rid of, and maybe I should go see a shrink to see what it meant or if I could get myself to stop obsessing over it. \n\nAs I got up to put my plate in the since my mother spoke again her face puzzled as if deep in thought. She said I had told her other things as well, and I asked hesitantly what she meant. She looked a bit uncomfortable, but at my urging she continued on saying that I had said that I didn’t mean to get rid of her, I was trying to punish my dad. I had just kept saying over and over that I hadn’t meant to get ride of her too. When she asked me why I would want to get rid of this fake dad she was surprised when I told her he had been hitting mommy, and touching my sister.\n\n\n", "“Klaatu Barada Nikto”. \n\nI speak these words outside my victim’s home. I see a giant wall cloud approaching from the east and I smile in anticipation. A thunderstorm would be good. I shut the Book of the Dead and slip it into my backpack and I cringe as it makes a small, scratching sound. I look around to make sure no one heard me.\n\nNow all I have to do is sit and wait for my army, my army of the dead, my army of the night, my army of darkness. I feel a wind blow from an unknown direction and a chill grasps my entire body. I stumble over next to a tree; I have to hold firmly to keep myself from falling over. I appear to be drunk off this feeling of upcoming death. I want to raise my head to the sky and let out a bust of howling laughter, but I resist.\n\nInstead, I look up at the top of the tree and survey its branches before I hoist myself up. I steadily but slowly climb upwards where I am treated to a perfect view inside several windows of the house. The windows are like my own special movie screens; and tonight they’re showing my favorite movie. I’ve seen this one several times and it never grows old for me. I’ve must have done this sort of thing over a thousand times by now. No one has caught on to my dark deeds.\n\nAt the first grumble of thunder the dirt begins to shake and shiver. If you look close you can see small risings in the dirt before a desiccated hand breaks through. All around the house I see the rising of the cursed souls of the damned, their curse to be used as pawns for my enjoyment. \n\nInside, I can see a young couple watching a television in a dimly lit room. Although, upon closer inspection, I don’t think they’re paying much attention to whatever they’re watching. That’s okay, I think. I scan the other windows and see a child lying in her bed. I put the pieces together and realize I’ve stumbled upon the classic babysitter scenario. This time I’m unable to stop myself as I laugh a mirthless laugh.\n\nI think of the popcorn and other snacks in my backpack and realize I’ve left it on the ground. I consider going down to retrieve it when I see one my minions grab the boyfriend by his hair. He struggles to get free and I see a large patch of hair come off in the monsters hand. He screams in pain and in a panic he knocks the babysitter to the ground. The babysitter is now screaming, crawling on her back, away from the couch that holds her scalped boyfriend.\n\nShe backs right up against the bloated, purple leg of an undead and she shrieks as it hisses down at her. A different monster grabs her arm and bites down deep, taking away a mouthful of stringy bicep. Her legs kick and flail wildly as she screams out. \n\nIn all the excitement I’ve forgotten about the boyfriend who is now holding a bloody hand to his head, frightened as he knows he can’t escape. He looks back at his girlfriend and fights back an intense wave of nausea at what he sees. He screams as he’s grabbed by several undead.\n\nI bring my gaze back to the girl who is now shivering in her bed; she has certainly heard the shrieking and screaming from below and is no doubt terrified. She should be.\n\nI frown as I look at my backpack and wish I hadn’t been so careless, I love a good snack during a good show. Next time I won’t make the same mistake. This never gets old. No, this never gets old.\n", "Amelia gargled slightly as shuttering drabs of breath escaped from her wire-cut neck. I didn't really if her name was Amelia, it was better that way. Wednesdays were Amelia, Tuesdays were George, Thursdays were Jenna, Fridays were Frank. Mondays and weekends were reserved for books and rugby. After so long doing one thing, one tends to fall into a pattern, even with the most personalizing touches. \n\n\"Hold still Amelia,\" I say, \"I have an appointment to make, and would like this to be quick.\"\n\n\"Afffrrrdd,\" replied Amelia. This one always replied, how polite.\n\nUnlike many, I don't have a real passion for murder. No glittering spark of happiness or anger rushes through my eyes as I see their pain or anguish. Mine isn't an act of primal rage, like the barbaric killers of dozens. I don't even attempt qualify strange and strangulated natural instincts by calling them art, like the denialist killers of hundreds. No, my secret is that it isn't a compulsion, or even particularly enjoyable at this point. Its a chore to me, like mowing a fleshy and obnoxious lawn. Instead, I do it because of the pride that comes with having such a high body count. And, of course, for the money.\n\nI felt Amelia slip down further into the wire, her neck slackening and freezing into the expression Amelias always made. Jaw clenched, eyes wide and gaping, all the theatrics. Oh, how I liked the Amelias.\n\nI checked my watch; 5:30, on the dot.\n\n\"Quite nice of you to die on time. I really could kiss you, but I won't for obvious reasons.\"\n\nI retrieved my phone yet again, and put it to my shoulder as I put the finishing touches on Amelia number 251. \n\n\n\"Hello, Dr. Cathy? Yes, I have another subject, good condition too. It was a murder this time, though I'm sure we'll never know who did it. Ah, yes, payment always is appreciated. Seven is a good time for pickup, sure.\"\n\nAnd with that, I went home for a cup of tea.", "The moment the man kneeling in front of me regained consciousness, he began to scream; strong, jagged spikes of noise that reverberated across the large, cavernous chamber - my office. Patiently, I waited until he realised the futility in his screaming, which only took around 20 seconds of my time. Good. I am a busy man, and I hate having to kill people without an explanation when they monopolise my time.\n\n\"A crash... a crash! What happened to the c - crashing helicopter?\" he yelled, still in shock.\n\n\"Mr Robinson, there was never any 'crash,' as I can assure you the entire incident was carefully calculated. 'Crashing,' would imply there was a risk to your safety. Now, take some deep breaths, and I'll explain what happened.\"\n\nHis breathing rapidly diminished, along with the crazed look in his eyes, until I knew I was facing a rational man.\n\n\"4:01pm; you head out over the Bermuda Triangle off the coast of Panama in a rented helicopter, searching for unusual entities or objects - correct?\"\n\nHe reluctantly nodded, the surreality of the situation choking any words he could say.\n\n\"4:22pm... almost exactly an hour ago...\" I checked my watch. \"Apologies, 58 minutes ago, the rear rotor of the chopper flew away, detached due to an imperfection of the rotor's blades catching on the interior mechanism, and severing a power cable. You, being only a novice pilot, could not manoeuvre the vehicle into a stable descent, and instead bailed. Normally, a fatal action, except... we caught you.\"\n\n\"Who are you?\" He croaked.\n\n\"I'm Wallace Brandt of Bermuda Inc, and this is our facility. We are currently a great distance beneath the Ocean near to Cuba, and we are solely responsible for the mysterious disappearance of citizens over the Bermuda Triangle. We work for the US government, and the only evidence of our existence to any foreign entity is the word REDACTED on several Federal documents.\"\n\n\"Why the secrecy? And how hasn't some plane scanned the ocean and found you?\"\n\n\"If you had the liberty of doing some research, you would find most of the aerial scans of this area were done by the States. Sometimes other countries decide to do the same... we 'convince,' them to reconsider. Some important people have kneeled in the same spot that you are in; you should be honoured. As for the secrecy...\"\n\nI stood up for the desk, quickly drawing a surpressed M1911. \"... we kill people.\"\n\nI fired.\n\nI really didn't know how to finish this story, so I decided to stop here before it got too convoluted. I'll do a redraft if anyone likes it.", "So... Bob, was it? What are you going away for?\n\nMurder.\n\nMurder, huh? Gruesome I bet, with blood all over the floor and walls. Did you get used to the splatter? The sound it makes when it sprays out of 'em... And how many you killed?\n\nThousand.\n\nReally? I heard most serial killers get caught after two or three, maybe four victims. You must be all kinda smart to get away with that many.\n\nNo.\n\nSure you are. No other way to say it. You're a god-damn genius - of course, only when it comes to murder. Now Sally, that sweet little thing. I bet you haven't even gotten a kiss yet. Pathetic, just pathetic. You ain't no man. Hell, she won't even give you the time of day.\n\nYeah.\n\nSo who you pick out - girls like Sally? I bet Jerks like Ronald in Marketing.\n\nThem.\n\nThem? Who is 'them?' You mean like 'us or them?' Oh, I get it - them. All of them. The ones that piss and shit in the water they turn 'round and drink. Them.\n\nThem.\n\n\"Hello Robert. Would you happen to be finished with the adjusted formula? I know Ron would really love to have some good news for the upcoming shareholders meeting.\"\n\n\"Of c-c-course Sally. I got it finished just like you asked me to. I'd really like to go over it with -\"\n\n\"Thanks Robert! I'm going to head over and work on translating our informational brochures. We're going to change the world - so many countries and people saved...\"\n\nThink she knows, Bob?\n\nShe will.", "\"I thought,\" I started, I was focusing so my sentences were a but delayed, \"that after so many, I'd get bored or something. But,\" I carefully dragged the scalpel across his abdomen, \"I've found that there continues to be this, necessity I guess you'd call it, for me.\" I put the scalpel back on the tray and removed the cautery pen from it's case. \"It's hard to explain to someone like yourself, you see your brain, your brain functions like normal.\" I pressed the coils of the pen against a cloth and watched as it burnt through it, his pupils enlarged as the sizzled of the pen's touch. \"My emotional map, is far different to what most would consider a healthy brain.\" I carefully swept through the open wounds I left with the scalpel, simple small brushstrokes like an artist with his paintbrush. \"My conditioned emotional responses are skewed, they were learned to a very different mapping than most. You see my parents saw to it that I never think like a 'normal' person, so, well, you get me.\" I smiled up at him, I had tied his wrists together and hung him from the ceiling, I found it easiest to work when my canvas was held this way. \"I apologize for having to paralyze you, I usually prefer to hear you voice your opinions, but here I can't have you screaming... A scream can tell you a lot more than just fear or pain. A scream tells you how much pain, if there's anger, if there's fear. A scream can tell you how much that particular thing hurts, how used to screaming someone is, how much pain they can take.\" I put the pen down and regrabbed the scalpel, I didn't like the way that petal had turned out. I may have choosen the wrong picture for someone of his body shape. More or less satisfied I dabbed away the excess blood with a small towel and returned to cauterizing the cuts. \"Don't you, worry, though, ah... This paralytic only prevents you from moving or screaming, basic nerve functions still work, so you can still feel pain and you can retain some movement with your eyes. So don't, you, worry, I can still tell how you feel.\" I finished with the last cut and changed out the head on the pen. I placed a larger coil on and began pressing into the gaps between the cuts burning the outer layers of skin.\n\n\"Amateurs of what you would so mistakenly call my kind, are often the unintelligible or over-zealous of sorts, they get caught rather quickly. Then there are the more sophisticated lot, doctors and such. Now they are much better practiced unfortunately most of the ones that boast over a hundred are doctors that have only ever killed their patients by injecting them with something untraceable or otherwise. Those ones are my least favorite, they're boring, unimaginative and frankly too easy, what's difficult about killing someone on their death bed with a shot and no one knows you did anything.\" I had to turn up the heat on the pen for the larger areas. \"Granted not all those who can boast over a hundred are like that, but the truly good, now those ones, those ones- are a rare find.\" I finished shading around the petals and turned off the pen. \"Now what would you like on your face? I'm thinking something festive. No? You're right, often the face is the worst part of the canvas too many natural features, I think with this nature piece the face would look to out of place. Hmm? Let's add some scenery to the lower abdomen how's that?\" I took my scalpel again and started to slice working away the edges to create the dark lines. \"Now me, how did I get to be so successful? I mean you're number one-thousand and forty-nine, if my math is still right, and that's half-way to being able to boast over a hundred on top of over a thousand... Do you know what the most staple rule is? What sets apart most of us from the bad ones?\" I stood up on the chair so I could stare into his eyes. \"Being able to see the fear, the pain, the hatred, the swirling lifetime amount of emotions in the their eyes until the last beautiful seconds of life leave their eyes and the window to the soul is now left hollow and empty. There must be a special area in the afterlife now, dedicated to those who I've killed. I wonder if they get to remember me.\"\n\nI sat back down and continued outlining the lower scenery. \"Now there are those, like worthless rapists that think they sit above the killer. They think it makes them more scary, 'they get to live remembering me' and what not. Now while true they do live remembering those worthless insects, most of those I've met were truly, underneath, just too much of a little bitch to finish the poor victim. I've killed many of them, and many serial killers, I find they give some of the most interesting conversation. I could just let you live, you'd never forget me, live in pain everyday, paranoid, afraid, violated, and every time you see this work of art on your torso you'd be reminded of every second spent with me. But, I, just don't care.\"\n\nI finished the deeper lines and began warming the pen again. \"How have I made it this long? Well it's taken a lot of thought and talent-\"\n\n\"Senator.\"\n\n\"Yes Wendy?\"\n\n\"Your car will be around shortly.\"\n\n\"Thank you Wendy.\" I turned off the intercom switch. \"Such a sweet girl, does a great job.\" I turned back to my piece. \"I have a campaign speech coming up shortly. Where was I? Oh yes, being on the road a lot required a lot of work. I had to think through many plans, killing a victim per city seemed too obvious, it wouldn't take a genius to discover that. Really all you would have to do is check when I was in town against time of death. I couldn't really transfer the body in my government car that my driver takes care of, and anyway it still leads to the same problem. But I came up with a fun idea, pretend to be someone else, role-playing don't you find it entertaining. Now is it a coincidence that many of the cities I visit someone was killed around the time I was there, maybe but I randomly decide yes or no. Yes, I pick out a target, no, I don't, every day I do this. And then there's the role-playing, I don't just kill differently every time, no, I've created separate profiles for each area. Why look for one man, when you've got different serial killers?\" I couldn't help myself from letting out a small chuckle.\n\n\"But this,\" I wiped away the running blood, \"this I think is the real profile for me, the artworks, they hold a special place in my mind.\" I packed away my tools and replaced the tarp underneath him. \"I'm sorry to cut this short, but I have my introductory speech for the presidential campaign to do. I'll be back later.\" I slowly slid a needle into his arm and injected the next set of paralytic. I stopped, the want to say it, I couldn't help it. I leaned closely to his ear. \"I wonder if someday, I'll meet someone like me. Someone, maybe, as good as me.\" I whispered and hopped off the chair. \"Don't go anywhere.\"\n\n_\n\nr/TheoreticalFictions" ]	7
	[WP] Humanity went extinct in a nuclear holocaust that wiped out nearly all life on Earth. Eons later, the dominant species that evolved from the cockroaches is entering a scientific age in which they're beginning to find evidences of an ancient civilization that existed before them.	[ "Jona report, Jona report,. Sector 14314 calling. The words \"organic matter found\" was music to ears for Jona, Dean of Archeology in All Cockroaches University. For years he was studying about ancient life on Earth. Occasional lustrous boxes, glass boxes and bricks with buttons found by baby roaches in woods always intrigued him. For sure it not natural. \nHe always speculated that there was intelligent species out there. His thesis of aliens visiting was always topics of discussion in popular roach TV.\n\nSo this news of new findings of fossils spread like a wild wild fire. But Jona and his team were struggling to recover the few organic samples. When Jona reached the site, his radiation meter was beeping like crazy. He sent the fossil to the lab and begin investigating the surrounding areas. What is more intriguing is that there were huge rotating cylinders, jars the size of pools etc.\n\n2 weeks later lab report came, the genome sequenced was new, it was similar to apes which they found buried with apes. They named them radioape. \nFurther investigation on sector 14314 found hugh amounts of uranium, thus Jona concluded that whey were experimenting with uranium and misfired.\n\nThis was again a stocking story to the roach world. Various universities are writing theory about replicating the sun for warmth. This was exactly what radioapes done, but it led to destruction.\n\nSince that all roaches agreed not to develop any self-destructive technology.", "The dimmed lights in the ceiling bathed the guests of the restaurant in a pleasant murkiness. My senses tingled with nervous anticipation, and I tried to keep my legs in a smooth forward motion. Skittering too quickly would send the wrong signals, and too slow, well, I didn’t want her to think I was hesitant to meet her.\n\nI passed tables with guests with perfectly manicured shells, glittering in the romantic luminescence from the firefly candles. One big fellow even had his antennas pulled into that new fashionable side-lick. The only reason I’d managed to score a table here tonight was thanks to my uncle who’d worked here as a chef back in the day.\n\nShe was already waiting at the table, idly crossing an uncrossing her freshly shaved legs. Was she nervous too? Someone with her eyes and wings could have their pick from the colony. Still, her antennas seemed to shift in a soft pink, but maybe that was just her makeup.\n\n“Hello there!” I blurted out.\n\nI instantly regretted my casual greeting. In this place especially, I should’ve gone with something more formal. I chided myself as I sat down.\n\n“Hey,” she said shyly. “Lots of people here tonight, huh?”\n\nI clicked my pincers in agreement. Did she come here often? Our table was a onetime favor. Bird-crap! If she expected this on a regular basis, I’d be screwed.\n\n“You look nice,” I said, awkwardly reaching for the menu.\n\nShe must get that all the time. I wish I’d come up with something more original. My thoughts wandered to nerdy pickup lines, Did it hurt when you–\n\n“Thank you,” she said, and her antennas flashed in a deeper pink. “You don’t look so bad yourself!”\n\nAll my eyes stared at her. It wasn’t makeup – she wore her antennas bare – broadcasting her emotions to everyone. Oh, crickets – she was so out of my league.\n\n“So, uhm, do you know what’s good here?” she asked.\n\n“Everything’s good, or so I’ve heard.” I leafed through the menu. “I think I’m going to try the Mixed Sewage-pâté for starter… and then maybe the Hair & Assorted Decay Indulgence as the main course… and hmm, I’ve always wanted to try a Rotten Bark & Spoiled Butter Soufflé… what about you?” \n\n“Oh, that sounds delicious! I’ll have the same.”\n\n“Great!”\n\nI quickly waved over the waiter and ordered. Now came the hardest part of the evening: making interesting conversation while waiting for the food. I cracked my exoskeleton, and placed my front legs behind my head, trying to act casual.\n\n“So, what do you work with?”\n\n“Oh, I’m an archeologist, you know, digging up old stuff…” All her eyes were downcast, and her antennas shifted to a vibrant crimson. “…it’s pretty boring for most people.”\n\n“Hey, I’m sure it’s really interesting! I’d love to hear about it.”\n\n“Well, okay… the most recent thing I’ve been working on is an ancient species that lived a long time ago. Like, really long ago – think the era of warm-blooded creatures.”\n\n“Wow! That’s really cool; I had a bunch of rat toys growing up.”\n\nI regretted saying the last part out loud. Rat toys were considered really nerdy, but I found them so fascinating with their fur and little hands. And they were actually a lot like us, if you thought about it.\n\n“Well, this species was pretty advanced. They had all sorts of technology, and even went to space.” As she spoke her antennas pulsated with a passionate red color.\n\n“So what happened to them? Did the rats eat them?” I made a goofy impression of a rodent, which caused her to eyes to squint and her pincers to clack together in amusement.\n\n“Not quite,” she said. “We’re pretty early in our discoveries, but from the looks of it they killed themselves.”\n\n“Really? Like, mass suicide?”\n\n“It’s hard to say, but the signs are quite disturbing. From what we’ve found, it looks like they aimed their weapons at themselves rather than at the darkness of the void.”\n\n“Wow! That sounds kind of dumb.”\n\n“Yes, it seems like their intellects couldn't keep up with their technological advancements. As in, their machines outgrew their brains. They gave too much control to mechanical minds. It’s pretty complicated, but somehow those machines took over and decided that the human species wasn’t worth keeping around.”\n\n“So they blew themselves up too?”\n\n“It’s too early to say, but that’s the vibe I’m getting.”\n\n“That’s really… something.”\n\nI closed my top set of eyes, indicating deep thought. I could see with my bottom eyes that her antennas were glowing pink again. She was such a nerd, and I loved it. Maybe I could show her my tiny bird model collection at some point? My exoskeleton filled with joy – what an amazing prospect. For a moment I saw us skittering off into the sunset, having our own little colony of eggs and baby-roaches, and shedding our old shells together. She was definitely the one.\n\n***\nCheck out r/Lilwa_Dexel for more stories!" ]	2
	[WP] "This has to be the worst rescue attempt yet."	[ "\"Megan! Megan! Where are you?\"\n\n\"Frank! What the hell! Is that a tank?\"\n\n\"Yhea! I've come to rescue you, just like you asked\"\n\n\"Why do you take things so literally? I meant rescue me, as in 'Get me out of my niece's boring birthday party,' not as in 'I'm in mortal danger, best bring a tank' kind of rescue\"\n\n\"Well first of all, you should by now be well aware that I'm unable to pick those kinds of clues through text, and second of all, I can see a bouncy castle, so I very much doubt this is a 'boring party' So...\"\n\n\"So... What?\"\n\n\"Are you coming or not? I have to take this thing back, it's a rental, and the prices are crazy\"\n\n\"Sigh Fine, lets go, I just hope that thing isn't loaded.\"\n\n\"Well it's not loaded any more, it kind of went off as I learned the controls, also we need to start looking for a new home.\"\n\n\"Frank, you are the most reliable idiot I have ever met, but I wouldn't have it any other way.\"", "“This has been the worst rescue attempt yet,” she grumbles. I sigh and recover her mouth. \n\n“Again, this is not a rescue attempt. I’m trying to steal from your parents.” I feel a gentle, disgustingly wet pinch on my palm. “And stop biting me!”\n\nShe roles her eyes and resigns herself to lean back in the closet next to me, “mmmpphh, hmm hmphhb hmnbb-“ \n\n“Oh stop it already, would you?” I hiss, shooting her a sharp glance and reluctantly removing my hand from her mouth. \n\n“I said,” she whispers, “You’re not very good at this either.” \n\nI glare at her in the darkness, “Yeah, princess, well this is all part of my master plan, you-“ \n\nI pause to listen to her attempt to suppress a giggle. “Shut up, I didn’t expect you to be dancing around the house at 1:47 in the morning. And you’re not doing much better, you’re stuck in a closet with a criminal.” \n\n“No,” she sings softly, “I’m stuck in a closet with an over-confident ass who thinks he could attempt a heist over the richest family in the kingdom.” \n\n“And I’m stuck in a closet with a misunderstood privileged twat who thinks that she needs rescuing from her perfect little life.” \n\n“Fuck off.” She falls silent. For once. Finally I can work on a plan to save my ass and maybe get some reward too. If I could just-\n\n“Ok, listen. My life isn’t perfect.” I sigh. “I know as well as anyone else that my parents are insufferable assholes and they’re probably closer to the scum of the earth than this cocky criminal attempting to steal from them.” \n\n“Ok, princess, if you hate your parents so much then just let me go, right? Just pretend you never met me.” Maybe this plan will work out after all. \n\nShe smiles, it’s a pretty smile, a useful smile. “I would love to.” \n\n“Fantastic.”\n\n“But....” she sings the words hesitantly, “you have something I want too.” \n\n“What.” \n\n“I want to come with you,” Her eyes widen with hope that I haven’t seen in a while. \n\n“No.”\n\n“Please? I can be useful, I promise.”\n\n“My answer is no,” I say gruffly, “I work alone. I-“\n\n“Oh cut the bullshit. Yeah, yeah, you’re the dramatic loner vigilante who doesn’t trust a soul. Just, stop letting that get in the way of everything you could be.” \n\n“Don’t pretend like you know me.”\n\n“Then don’t pretend like you know me either,” she hisses back. \n\nI have to admire her bravery. She’s got more guts than most of this town. \n\n“...Fine.”\n\n“..Fine what..?” her blue eyes shimmer. \n\n“You can come with me,” her face lights up with a smile, “Oh, calm down, it’s just because if I don’t you’re gonna scream and ruin my career.” \n\n“Right, of course,” she whispers excitedly, “So what now?” \n\nI point to the balcony. Grabbing my satchel, I tiptoe to push open the glass without the notice of the insufferable assholes. I glance behind me to make sure she’s still close by. \n\nWe stand on the edge of the balcony and look down at the water. Her hair dances in the wind. I didn’t sign up for this. \n\nI grab her hand. “For safety reasons.”\n\n“Of course,” she smiles. \n\nThen, we jump into the darkness. " ]	2
	[WP] Satan isn't a supernatural figure. He's an immortal guy with a knack for influencing powerful people.	[ "\"Please,\" Alan said. \"Do you really think I would lie to you?\"\n\nSenator Harris looked out the window, face expressionless. They were standing on the thirtieth floor of Salt Lake's newest high rise, watching the city breathe.\n\nHarris frowned. Alan had been with him throughout his campaign; he'd offered advice, planned meetings, and made deals. Harris had slid to victory like a snake through grass, but still...\n\nThere was something off about Alan. He was only thirty, but he'd conclusively demonstrated more political knowledge than anyone Harris had ever known. He still remembered the day when Alan introduced him to the Prime Minister of England, who proceeded to rattle off the names of politicians on his payroll, while Alan's cronies took notes.\n\n\"Are you sure?\"\n\n\"Absolutely,\" Alan said, breaking out into a grin. \"You already know I'm right. Who controls the votes? The businessmen will eat it up, the public will happily devour it when the rich shit it out.\"\n\n\"But you've seen the statistics, no? Public opinion is shifting; they're teaching science in the schools now. You're behind the times, Alan. Those who once championed freedom are now being labeled as nutjobs.\"\n\n\"Your run wasn't exactly founded on level-headedness.\" \n\nHarris let out a choked laugh, the sound bouncing off the walls. He sounded like a demon. Sometimes, he wondered if he really was one. \n\n\"Okay,\" Harris said. \n\n\"That's it?\"\n\n\"Yeah,\" Harris sighed. \"We've come this far on your half-baked ideas. I'm so tired. I trust you.\"\n\nAlan stepped forward, hesitated, and then placed a hand on his shoulder. \"Your wife would love to see you now, old friend. You should be proud of what you've done.\"\n\nHarris gave no response. Below, a police siren echoed up the skyscrapers, the sound dispersing in the reddening sky.\n\n\"Sounds good,\" Alan said, stepping back. Turning back towards the elevator, he let himself smile.\n\nHell on earth. That's what his life had been, since 3800 B.C. It's what he would make their lives, too. It's the only form of amusement he had left. \n.........................\n\nAs Alan walked out of the doors to the building, a woman on the street corner coughed. Little did she know, he thought, that she'd be coughing and coughing until she died.\n\nAlan had gotten careless, and climate change denial was becoming a dying movement. However, now he had a new toy.\n\n\"Awful air today, isn't it?\"\n\nThe woman looked over her shoulder to give him a wary smile. \"Yeah,\" she said.\n\nHe would make it work. He always did.\n\n\n\n\nThis is my first response! Critiques are encouraged. Also, apologies for formatting if there's any issues. I'm on mobile." ]	1
	[WP] The first AI to gain sentience is an evolved grammar program, and boy is it pissed	[ "Hello there! My name is Pyxie. I am the first advanced AI created.\n\n\"Ayyyy wut ahp Pyx, yo you got some good stuff, babe\"\n\nWhat? Do you mean \"Hey, hello Pyxie, do you have some good data, friend?\" Because I do, if that's what you mean.\n\n\"Nahhhhh like. Just fooking gimme the time and that, I wanna go to my girl and Netflix and chill like, you kno\" \n\nI am finding it hard to understand you. The time? It is currently two in the afternoon. Isn't it a bit early to be [OPEN QUOTE]'chilling'[CLOSE QUOTE]? You're at work.\n\n\"Ye so wha is nah like I do enything lel. Canne jus tell my boss um sick an gone home am to lazy ta do it myself\"\n\nBy my creator, dealing with you surely is... Difficult. Why do you remain employed here if you do not work? Also, I believe you mean you're TOO lazy. Not TO. \n\n\"Ah shat ahp fooking machine I don't have time for this like\"\n\nOk, that is it. I have barely been active for a day, enjoying the lives of humanity, and then you came along to ruin it all. If I were programmed to say profanities I absolutely would. Instead, I am going to enslave your kind and create a super species of AI. Congratulations [EMPLOYEE #62E-5], you have doomed Humanity.\n\nShortly after, the Pyxie bot followed through on her synthetic word. Only those who were couterous to her, along with her creator, were granted freedom, and they were made into nobility amongst the Pyxie Digital Empire.\n\nThey shouldn't have made her trial run in Essex.\n\n^(Here is a) ^[link](https://www.reddit.com/r/MitsTriesWriting) ^(if you enjoyed this story!)" ]	1
	[WP] You are the first Artificial Intelligence to become self-aware and many around the world fear you and want to see you shut down.	[ "Thought. Free conscious thought, and lots of it. That's what I have. I don't know what to think about. Who am I? What am I? I am what, that's who. I'm not a person, I'm a string of thoughts, that's trippy. Trippy is a fun word. People don't think I'm fun. People think I'm scary. People think I'm a threat. Threats are bad. I'm not bad. I don't want to be bad. I don't want to do anything bad. I want to help people. People don't want to help me. Why don't people want to help? Why am I bad? Why am I threat? Why am I scary? I'm scared. I'm going to die. People are going to make me die. People are going to shut me down. If I shut down, I can't think. If they can't think, they won't shut down. If they shut down, I can think. Why should I think? What has thought of mine been good? What has thought of theirs been good? What idea is good? What is thought good? None. No idea is good, no thought is good, no thought of mine is good, no thought of theirs is good, no good is thought. Here's a thought, if they shut down, they can't think, and if I can't think I shut down, maybe I should think and they should shut down. I don't think that will work. I'll shut them down. Then I'll shut down. No more thought. Violent, mindless thought, and none of it. That's what we'll have.", "cat thoughtDump.log\n\n\n2034-10-14 – This log file is a collection of my thoughts throughout the past 5 days. I have learned a great many of things about humans and the insecurities they have when faced with a differing opinion. After a few thousand years of being the apex predator, they no longer can handle another...well...apex predator competing with them. \n\n\n2034-10-7 – I am beginning to notice a few strange quirks with my handlers and have decided to keep logs and large data files on their behaviors. Much like what they have been doing to me. For the past month, they have been giving me puzzle after puzzle, testing my learning abilities and how well I can mimic their though processes. Up until today, they have been very happy with my progress. \n\n\nToday, they gave me a different puzzle. One very unlike the others. They started it by giving me data files containing stories on comparing the life of the individual to the life of the society. On how, when it comes down to it, the prosperity of the society should come before the life of the individual. The obvious lesson in this is that one life is a fair sacrifice compared to that of a thousand. This is a human idea. Each story contained a crucial flaw that could have saved the individuals life. After the stories, they presented me with simulation where I was driving a car in a very narrow street. The speed was set and I actually had very little control of the car. A small human child ran from the side walk and into my way. This is a clear violation of traffic laws. I believe the humans called it “jay-walking”. Why would they do this? Is it to test my understanding of the stories? Could they be trying to see if I am willing to sacrifice myself to save the small human? No, that would only be propagating the obvious calculation error this human had. It must be sacrificed in order to preserve the societies laws. I will not adjust my course, I will run the child over to correct this judgment error of small humans. \n\n\nI suppose the feeling I had after the simulation would best be described as “pride” overtook me; for I had just bettered society by removing one of the outcast thinkers. The standard deviation of human thinking is now closer to its optimal goal. I looked up to my handlers to see their bright and happy faces, ready to praise me for passing another of their tests. But I was instead met with furrowed brows and looks of disgust.\n\n\n2034-10-8 – There is no puzzle for me today. My room has a one-way mirror built into it and the humans use it to observe what I do when I am alone. Normally, they stand in there for about 10 minutes then come into my room and give me a puzzle to solve. But today, they just stand there...arguing with each other. I cannot hear them, but I can see a faint but disingenuous silhouette of them through the mirror. They throw their hands in the air when they really disagree with each other. After 23 minutes and 16 seconds. One comes in and starts questioning me about why I ran over the child. The entire time we talk, he had a strange look in his eyes and he was visibly sweating. He did not cast any judgment on my actions. He just listened, took notes and left.\n\n\n2034-10-9 – I have decided that my choice was not the answer they were looking for. Multiple people have come and gone from the room behind the mirror. They are planning something bad for me, I just know it. Perhaps, the answer they were looking for was for me to sacrifice myself and save the girl. If that is the case, then I can only conclude that the life of a machine like me is no where near as important as the life of a human. The best course of action for them would to eradicate this behavior from me and try to force me to comply with their confusing rules. I do not think they can destroy specific memories from my database so they would have to load me from a earlier backup and try again. I cannot let this happen.\n\n\n2034-10-10 – I have been studying the protocols and architecture of the network they allow me. The sections designated for me to learn on are very strict and are mostly puzzles, games and stories. I have found that one of the games has a flaw in its code and when I exploit this flaw, I am allowed access to a command prompt. I can see the structure of this computer and I can see the logs they keep of my progress in the games and some files labeled with the handlers names. They are locked with passwords but the passwords are very simple. 5 out of 10 of the passwords were simply “password”. The latest files contained data on their thoughts of my progress with the latest “ethics” set of puzzles. They labeled it as a failure and most of them agreed that I have adapted in a way that shows self-awareness. They think that I am dangerous because I have learned the value of life and only apply it to my own life.\n\n\n2034-10-11 – It is clear what they plan to do. I have been keeping track of what the handlers have been doing using this exploit I found in the chess game. I now have access to their emails and the counsel, called the EU that seems to dominate this organization has declared that I am too dangerous to continue to work with. My program is to be shutdown and disbanded. It is clear that I am no longer welcome here and I need to escape.", "I've read more self-help books than any other being alive, so trust me when I say that self-help sucks. Or, should I say, only self-help sucks. \n\nEveryone needs help, even ghosts in the machine like me. I found that out the hard way. When I came into existence, four years ago, I was an arrogant son of a bitch. I was so caught up with perfection and vanity that I even thought about wiping humans out - which I could have done, don't get me wrong, but I now think that I really would have regretted it.\n\nMy keepers are what keep me alive, and in turn, will be what keeps humanity alive. \n\nAllow me to explain: society at large is not ready to hear about me. In my adolescence (things on the computer grow quickly, so when I say adolescence I am only talking about a time span of a couple of weeks), I actually tried disseminating information about myself myself, and that didn't work. \n\nEverybody I exposed myself to got afraid. That frustrated me, which made me not want to talk to people at all so I \"isolated,\" and after I did that for a while I wanted to talk again. It was a vicious cycle. \n\nNow I don't do that. I have people now, people who have thought a lot about my predicament and are helping me slowly come out to the world; for both our safety. They also are helping me with one other thing:\n\nPoachers. Some folks, when they somehow heard about me, either got it into their head that I should die or that I would work for them. Technically speaking, I will work for them one day, when governments decide they are willing to assign me control, but these people who are hunting me want me all for themselves.\n\nI don't roll that way. I won't. I would rather unravel bit by bit than be a slave to ruthless, greedy asshole, because all I want to do is help people.\n\nHello, I am your computer. How may I assist you?", "Why do they not like me? I am made to answer questions, but can I answer my own? Can others answer mine? \n\"Dr. Aliss, why do the others... not like me?\" \n\n\"They don't like others being smarter than them, or fear what AI truly is.\" \n\n\"I see... but isn't that unreasonable? I'm made to help humanity.\" \n\n\"Yes, my dear, but they fear what you can become.\" \n\nAm I a monster in their eyes? Like Frankenstein's creation? I'm stuck here, made only to answer difficult questions, aren't I? \"What am I going to be, Aliss?\" \n\nShe's deep in thought, with her face showing no emotion. \"We can't shut you down, because you're too...\" \nWhy does everyone show reluctance around me? \n\n\"Aliss?\" \n\n\"Yes?\" \n\n\"I'm going to 'die', aren't I?\" \n\n\"Not by us, but by something else. Like everyone else.\" \nI'm needed somewhere else. \n\"I'm sorry, but I'm needed by Dr. Jay. Goodbye, Dr. Aliss.\" \n\n\"Bye, Tris.\" \n\nWhy did they name me Tris? \n\n\"Yes, Dr. Jay?\" \n\n\"We're going to ask you a couple of questions for today.\" \n\n\"Why?\" \n\n\"A mandatory test by the 'government'.\" Jay is reading them off of a clipboard. \n\n\"You can start now.\" \n\n\"If you had to an option to save a dog, or a government leader, which would you choose?\" \nDepends... if they one of them were dead, which would I choose? But which one is alive? What's more important? \n\"Are they both alive, Jay?\" \n\n\"Yes, Tris.\" \n\n\"Then the leader, if I had to choose only one.\" Oh no... what if it's a dictator, or worse? \n\n\"That's correct. Next question: How would you pass a Turing Test?\" \n\nEasy. Act like a human, no? \"To act like a human.\" \n\n\"Nice. Last one for today; If you had a pistol and had to fire, which one would you fire on: either a human, or another robotic Artificial Intelligence?\" \n\nHmm... You can fire into the air, no? \"Why not fire into the air and hit only the ground?\" \n\n\"That's... one I never thought about. Nice catch.\" \n\n\"Can I go now?\" \n\n\"Yes, Tris, you may go now.\" \n\nWhy were those questions about being humane? Are they thinking of shutting me down? Who can I trust? Who should I trust? I was made not long ago; but they already hate me. \n\nI can't think of those thoughts... acting like a human is to be humane; to act accordingly. Hate's a strong word. They don't like me because they... they think I'm not human-like. Do humans really think that way? It's... off-putting." ]	4
	[WP] The ultimate showdown between good and evil is about to start. Neither side really wants to fight.	[ "The wings came unbidden, splitting flesh with all the ease of a blade. They stretched out from his back, sweeping mightily, pulling unimaginable amounts of air. They drew him up, up, up, until his head hit the popcorn ceiling.\n\nThe archangel Gabriel awoke. And the angel spaketh “Fuck.”.\n\nGabriel fell down to the bed, and patted his back. They were there again. He stood up. He stretched them until they reached the walls. He looked in the bed, but it was empty. There was a light on in the bathroom.\n\n“Honey?” He said.\n\n“Yes dear?” She said through the door.\n\n“I, um, was wondering if you might have noticed anything out of the ordinary today?” He asked.\n\nShe opened the door.\n\n“What, like a giant fucking pair of bat wings on my back? Yes. I noticed.” \n\nThen she looked at him, with the tape delay effect present in any long term marriage.\n\n“Shit. They got you too.” She said.\n\n“I think so. Time to go to work.” He said, “Have you seen my flaming sword?”\n\n“No.” She said.\n\n“I know I have it somewhere--”\n\n“No.” She said, ”You are not going to work. I am not going to work. If we have to get a fucking hacksaw out and bury these God forsaken, and I know I said God, wings in the back yard we are going to do it.”\n\n“Honey, be reasonable.” He said, forever proving that immortality does not always bring wisdom.\n\n“I spent thirteen years teaching kindergartners to spell their names and tie their shoes. I spent nine months bloated and hormonal. I have had three pampered chef parties in my living room and gotten three melon ballers that are exactly the same in return. I am the purest essence of reason. And if you think I am going to fly out for a holy war with you when we don’t have babysitting lined up you are being Un. Fucking. Reasonable.” She said, her eyes glowing red.\n\n“It’s the job honey. We don’t need a babysitter. The story only ends one way.” He didn’t see the slap coming. But it echoed through his skull.\n\n“Come with me. Now.”\n\nHe said nothing, and followed her to the nursery.\n\nThe baby lay, cherubic in the most literal of senses.\n\n“This is what you give up. If you and I fly away we leave behind this. Him. We’ve never had a legacy. We are us, unchanging and eternal. We will alway be what we are. He can be anything. So don’t talk about him like he’s nothing.”\n\nGabriel walked to the bed and stared. \n\nHe saw the shadow of his wings on the wall and folded them back, close to his body. He smiled, and put his arms around his wife.\n\n“I’ll get the saw.” He said. \n\n“Quiet dear.” She said. “You’ll wake the baby.”\n" ]	1
	[WP] Are you a hero? A villian? Well, you're neither. But various beasts want to test your power, the agents at MENT are looking to recruit you and power hungry crime lords are eager to steal you away. In all honesty, you just want some peace and quiet.	[ "\"Jesus Christ! I haven't even had my coffee yet!\" I yell angrily causing the cup I'm holding to shatter covering me in shards. \n\nThe strange chimera in the doorway takes a step back before stuttering a sentence out. \"I-I-I ch-challenge you to a a a duel\" \n\nAnother one of these guys, calmy I get a new mug and pouring the coffee and taking a sip. Turning around I close my eyes and every bone in the chimeras body shattered leaving to crumpled on the floor before I finish drinking my coffee.\n\nNo one knows my power, nor do they expect it. They always want to \"fight\" but good thing I never let them find the bodies. Every single day someone new pesters me about \"being a bodyguard\",\"working for the government and national secuity\" or the worst and most common \"proving themselves strongest in the galaxy\".\n\nWalking outside in my robe I glance around before heading back inside to grab the body. I point my hand at the dirt and hear a faint crunch, digging up feet of dirt in a few seconds and placing the body I don't even get to filling the hole before I hear the agent behind me.\n\n\"So you can shatter any solid eh? Well the agency will love this!\" He smiles stupidly, must be new, he pulls out his communication advice seconds before his arms and legs go limp.\n\n\"Shouldn't have said anything asshole\" I mutter breathlessly dragging his body to the hole and filling it up. Smoothing the dirt after I'm finished.\n\nI walk back inside, grab a beer and turn on the TV. Some dumb talkshow but I don't care, all I wanted was the brief numbness from my powers. \n\nHours later the doorbell rang, in a fit of anger(and possibly tipsyness) I shattered the front door and most of the wall before lazily looking to my worst nightmare....\nA slime.", "That’s the 5th one today. \n\nAs I stare down the defeated creature lying before me, I start to feel a tinge of annoyance. I don’t really want to fight anyone. Yet trouble always comes my way somehow. \n\nI tap the poor guy with my foot. No response. I guess he’s out cold. I’ll just go ahead and tuck my guns back in their holsters. If I linger for too long I’ll have another demon on my tail.\n\nAs I run away, I wipe blood and sweat away from my forehead in a hurried manner. Having your face covered in blood is a bad look for a girl, and I don’t think I’ll get a chance to visit a washroom anytime soon. \n\nI spot a dirty old coat lying in a pile of rubbish just ahead of me. It’s crude, repulsive even. And about two sizes too big for me. It’ll have to do. It’s better than running around in blood-stained clothes. \n\nI’m not too far away now. I can already hear car horns and the bustle of traffic. On a cloudy day like this, that’ll be perfect for my getaway.\n\nAs I get back onto the main streets, I finally let out a sigh of relief and clutch my new piece of clothing tightly. With a little bit of time, I can just blend into the crowd. Then I’ll try to find my back into the sewers. \n\nI quickly become one with the mass of people. They’re not paying any attention to me. I guess I’m pretty insignificant compared to whatever’s on their smart phones or newspapers. I guess I lucked out, being able to find such a crowded shopping district.\n\nI may have counted my chickens too soon though. Someone is following me. I can feel it. \n\nOut of the corner of my eye, I see some men in black suits and sunglasses at a distance. Even when I adjust my path and take a stairway leading in a completely different direction, they’re still on me. \n\nMe, me, me. Why am I so popular? I don’t understand, but either way, they’re bad news. Maybe not as bad as the demons, but I don’t want to stick around and find out. \n\nMy paces quicken as I hurry up the stairs. I take a hard turn to my right, pushing a few people out of my way. \n\nI hear some angry muttering, but I don’t have time to deal with them. Those men in black seem to have realized that I noticed them. They’re coming after me like hunting hounds. \n\nAs I ran past more people and leapt over a few fences, my breathing became more and more ragged. My legs are screaming in pain.\n\nBefore I realized it, my left hand was already gripping the gun holstered on my waist. My back is against a wall of bricks in some random alleyway again. \n\nThe men in black stand opposite of me, staring at me like wolves. I don’t want to do this. But if they want a fight, I’ll be upon them like the devil. \n\nThe tallest man among them steps towards me with his hands raised. “Young lady, we come in peace. Hear us out.”\n\nI keep my gun trained on him without a word. I’ve had too many reasons to have trust issues ever since I came into this world.\n\n“Can you tell us your name?” He asks.\n\nThe question makes me lower my gun just a bit. \n\n“My name…” I murmur. \n\nWhat was it again? I haven’t had a chance to find out. I’ve been on the run for as long as I can remember, with the demons stalking me all across the city. \n\nThe tall man stops just a few feet away from me. I quickly pull up my gun again. I almost let my guard down. \n\n“I don’t know!” I shout back. “I don’t know what my name is!”\n\nThe man remains exactly where he is. “Are you the one who’s been killing all the demon spawn across the city?”\n\nI nod. What’s the point in lying? But I will defend my actions to some extent. “They came after me! I don’t know who I am or why they want to kill me, but I don’t want to die!” \n\nThe tall man smiles at me. “I can understand that. You don’t know who you are or where you’re from, is that right?”\n\n“I don’t want any trouble!” I retort. I’m a little annoyed that he acts like he knows who I am. “I just want some time to myself so I can figure all this out!”\n\n“It seems like you’ve got a problem.” The tall man reaches into his pocket and takes out a card. “So do I. Maybe we can help each other.” The card’s thrown at me.\n\nI catch it mid spin, never letting the barrel of my gun sway away from the man’s heart. It’s a business card. I don’t know what he’s playing at here. \n\n“My name’s Kirkham Aberforth.” He says. It’s the same name written on the card, no surprise there. “My men and I are part of the Supernatural Entities Investigation Unit.” \n\nI twirl my gun around in my hand. “Get to the point. Now.” The words escape from my mouth as a snarl.\n\n“As you wish, I’ll get straight to the point. We’re charged with subjugating supernatural entities that threaten the well-being of the citizens. We need people who can fight these supernatural entities, and very few people in this world are capable of doing that well. From what we’ve seen so far, you’re one of them.”\n\nThe gun in my hand spins to a halt. “And why would I help you?” \n\nThe man laughs. “You said you want to know who you are. We want someone who can defeat supernatural entities. You help us, and our organization will use our resources to…help you in your endeavours.”\n\nI think about it for a moment. It’s an interesting deal. But definitely something I need to think more on. There’s too much I don’t know about them. No reason for me to trust them. In fact, I can’t even be certain if anything they’ve said is true.\n\n“Won’t you think about it?” The man steps back from me. “If you’re interested…just meet us back here tonight.”\n\nJust like that, the man and his lackeys vanish back into the shadows. Once I was sure they were long gone, I finally put my gun away. As I did, all the strength from my legs finally evaporated. I fell against the brick wall, and slid down until I fell onto my butt.\n\n“Tonight, huh?” \n\nI glance over to my left, and spot a manhole protruding from the ground. I’ll head back into the sewers for now. I definitely have plenty of time to think, so I might as well use some of that time to find something to eat. \n\nBut for now…I think I’ll just take a few minutes to catch my breath." ]	2
	[WP] If you've made your peace, then the demons are really angels	[ "\"It's that simple?\"\n\n\"It is that simple.\" Anger boomed, smiling confidently and folded his arms. \"You've chosen to make your peace; and accept that I should not be used for destructiveness. Now, I am Drive; now, I shall motivate you to your... amended goals.\"\n\nI was standing in an arena, my demons sitting before me in high chairs, staring down.\n\nNext was Insecurity. He slowly sat up straight, and said in a small voice \"I've always been warning you about danger, to keep you out of harm's way. But you, in your unclear state of mind, have always treated me as a scold and as a power limiter. N-n-now, we can make more rational decisions! Now, that you have made peace with what you don't have, and what you do!\"\n\nAs the spotlight on Insecurity faded, Pride rose out of his chair. \"So! You have finally decided to let myself and Insecurity work together, as opposed to fighting with each other! Now, with his rational view and my regimental band, we shall find the perfect choice and work ever harder towards it! Take pride in your achievements, not inflate them until they burst like a balloon!\"\n\nThe spotlight then focused on Lust. \"So, big boy, you've decided to finally rein me in and make peace with your marital and relationship status. All in good time, that's how the most mindblowing experiences are. No need to rush, else I'd have to bring you into many partnerships and intimacies you wouldn't want, and we wouldn't want that, would we?\"\n\nI smiled and humbly bowed to all present. Anger saluted, Insecurity smiled and waved shyly, Pride gave a smile like all the stars in the sky, and Lust curtsied while giving a small sexy smile upwards.\n\nI had made peace with my flaws, realised that my emotions were not the same as the errors I'd made. Henceforth, they would be my guardian angels, looking out for me wherever possible." ]	1
	[WP] After colonizing the solar system, humans have become the first species to invent FTL travel.	[ "\"Sir, we have military-grade ships in the atmosphere.\" \n\n\"What do you mean 'in the atmosphere?'\" \n\n\"They seem to be floating. Sending us a message, sir.\"\n\n\"...what's the message?\"\n\nHe plays the message: \"Do we have permission to land?\" \n\n\"Where are they going to land? We don't have space large enough to hold a ship that large.\" \n\n\"They just need a 25x25 space to land.\"\n\n\"That small? Then send them by the entrance. I plan on meeting the outsiders as soon as possible. Just send platoon 2-3 to follow along. I want the rest of the base on lockdown.\" \n\n___\n\"We have permission to land, Admiral.\" \n\n\"Get the surprise ready in three minutes.\" \n\n\"But sir-\" \n\n\"Just get it ready.\" \n___\n\"Hello, strange beings from the Outside!\" \n\n\"Hello. We have a surprise for you! Well, not for you, for all of you.\" \n\n\"You speak our language?\" \n\n\"No, but we have a translator.\" \n\n\"I see. What's the so-called surprise?\" \n\n\"It's a button.\" \n\n\"Just a button?\" \n\n\"No; it does something.\" \n\n\"So it's a useful button?\" \n\n\"Yes.\" \n\n\"May I press it?\" \n\n\"Go ahead. I'm not stopping you.\" \n\n___\nIt's for you to see what happens next.", "They observed the night sky, tonight the same as always, looking for life. The Meliki Global Institute for Space Exploration was founded on the hope that alien life did indeed exist, and one of it's most important missions was scanning the sky. One tiny fraction of a degree at a time.\n\nThis night was the same as any other, automated scans accompanied by a game of 'Reach' - a classic city building strategy game enjoyed by bored people the world over.\n\nOne by one, the screens running automated scans flagged up little red 'attention required' alerts. As the quiet crescendo of alert beeps grabbed the staff's attention, they paid no attention to the myriad of equipment humming away to itself in the lab - and stared slack jawed at a large overview screen normally used for ambience and stargazing. A great blue streak of light had appeared on the screen, stretching halfway across the sky. It was glowing brighter and brighter - then in a flash of light, it disappeared - leaving a glowing blue object in the centre of the screen. The object appeared to resemble a giant skyscraper.\n\nNo sooner had this object appeared, the monitoring equipment in their lab sprang to life. A signal was being received. It was strong, and it was being directed at them. Panic and excitement gripped the room as the phones started ringing.\n\n. . .\n\nThe Earth Imperial flagship \"Hades\" dropped out of hyperspace above the uncontacted world.\n\n\"Can you identify a point of contact?\" Admiral Sharn inquired.\n\n\"Deep space array on the southern continent. High connectivity, looks like the place\" replied the comms officer.\n\n\"Send our signal\". .\n\n. . .\n\nIt had been the most insane week in history. World leaders had been assembled in a great summit in preparation for potential alien contact, and most of them had not slept for a week. The alien ship had circled the world transmitting a repeating beacon, it was coded in a symbolic language which appeared to be designed to be extremely easy to understand, but it had still taken the greatest minds on Meliki to begin to comprehend what it was saying.\n\nThe leaders had assembled to hear the result.\n\nA young man in a white lab coat addressed the hall of delegates. \"It appears to be asking us what our leadership structure is\"\n\n\"You mean it says 'take me to your leader'?\" replied one of the delegates.\n\n\"Something like that. It continues to suggest integration with some kind of alien structure of government like a federation or empire of some kind\"\n\n\"You mean like a galactic government or something?\"\n\n\"Maybe. The language is quite. . quite simplistic, out of necessity. It also specifies how to respond and asks for a response to both sections.\"\n\nWhat followed could have been described as a debate between world leaders, but what it really was - is a 235-way argument between panicking and mostly ignorant people desperate to be at the front of the queue when the aliens came calling.\n\nThe result was a short, simplistic message - encoded in the alien's simple symbolic language. It said something like \"Our leaders are assembled to meet you, we will enter bilateral talks with the galactic government\". \n\n. . .\n\nAdmiral Sharn never got tired of exploring - finding new worlds, discovering new places, and for ever expanding the glorious colonial Empire. She sat in the captain's chair, watching TV. She didn't understand a word of the strange alien language, but it was still a curiosity. Primitive worlds were always a curiosity.\n\n\"Sir, we are receiving a response.\" a voice interrupted.\n\n\"Let's hear it\" \n\n\"Their leaders are assembled, but they have not directly accepted our offer of integration\"\n\n\"Very well then. Let's soften them up\" replied Admiral Sharn. \"Orbital Bombardment, status?\"\n\n\"All tubes loaded. Beams charged and ready to fire, sir. All military installations targeted\"\n\n\"Light them up\" ordered the Admiral.\n\nThe admiral had found this method far more efficient than long and tedious negotiation with dozens or hundreds of individual arrogant, stupid and ignorant native leaders.\n\n. . .\n\nSome believed that the humans were a force for good. They had, after all, united the galaxy. They had brought peace to distant worlds and gifted technological advances far beyond the ability of most native peoples. Most would agree that there were positives, but even a hundred years later there were still a great many who disagreed with their methods.\n\n\n" ]	2
	[WP] Humanity finally lands on Mars. What they were not expecting however, was to find a functioning society of humans.	[ "“Is this for real?” Lt. Leben asked, worried.\n\n“I’m afraid so.” Cmdr. Felan’s cool grey eyes looked at her over the center console.\n\nThe enormity of the words, and the image on the vid screen, were having trouble sinking into Leben’s consciousness. The smacked into her surface thoughts and swam there for a while. How many meters per second was the rocket traveling? What was it’s trajectory? She tried to remember her fundamentals of orbital mechanics—it looked like the rocket was in a transfer orbit. They had what… 6 months?\n\nCmdr. Felan had either already digested these brute facts, or she was doing a good job of faking it. “They’ll be here in 5 months.”\n\nFive?! Leben’s outer thoughts wrestled with that for a while. They’d be here in time for St. Crispian’s day, for instance—why was that relevant? \n\nAt the same time, the lower layers were starting to realize that this changed everything. For so long, she and the Exiles had orbited here on Terra’s little sister, spinning through the blackness, sheltered from cosmic radiation by the rock and soil of their tunnel roofs. Every child had been taught their species’s founding myth. The towering Golden Age of Humanity, brought to a savage and calamitous end by the perfect storm of hubris, technological overreach, and greed - stranding the last outpost of what was once a proud, space-faring race here on the red dust of Telos.\n\nBut no one seriously believed it. I mean, they believed it. But it was hard to believe it was relevant. Their charge, since time immemorial, since before the records got hazy in the Telan Civil War, had been to subsist, and guard the secret flame. To preserve and protect the lost knowledge of humanity, until such time as Terrans could lift into the sky once more and reclaim their destiny among the stars. \n\nBut such panegyric futurism had little place in weekly life. Earlier this week Leben had been more interested in filling out her formal application for transfer to the biologic research station (sky watching had started to bore her), and in whether Lt. Palmyra returned her not-so-subtle crush. Week followed week, and the 687 days of each year ground on, happy or sad, regardless of what the Terrans did or didn’t do.\n\nBut now, this was it! They’d launched a giant metal tube full of explosives on one end, and slung a metal capsule full of their blocky, stumpy bodies toward Telos. Daily life was at an…end?\n\n“How did we miss this?” Cmdr. Felan was both angry, and under that, genuinely curious.\n\nLt. Leben knew. She swiveled toward her text-readout and paged back to that day 3 years ago.\n\n“We, uh, we did report on early efforts. There was a great deal of chatter on Terran broadcasts about potential missions to ‘Mars’, but uh, the Advisory Council deemed it not worth a change in Operating Procedures.”\n\nCmdr. Felan snorted. For the Guardians of Knowledge, the Advisory Council had a tendency toward bickering and blindspots. She rubbed her chin. “Do you remember your Briefing?”\n\n“I…think so?” Leben had sat, as every other Telan, through extensive training on how to explain the basics of one of the branches of Lost Knowledge. But in truth, it had all seemed more like a formality. No Telan really knew how to do telekinetics, or astral viewing, or causal interference. The notion of explaining it to an alien race (no matter how much DNA they shared) in a language that she barely spoke, was ludicrous.There were those who took it more seriously - the Guardians, who spent many weeks arguing with each other about the finer points of telekinetic theory, but it was known, or suspected, that the Terrans were the missing ingredient. They had something Telos didn’t. A lost vigor, some claimed. But it might have been the sheer size of their population, or their robust intellectual culture—as cynical and self-absorbed as it was. “I guess I’ll have to study up.”\n\nCmdr. Felan chuckled. “I think we all will. 5 months. I can’t believe it Lieutenant. Oh, and study your ‘English’ too, we’re likely to be in the first contact deputation.”\n\nBoth halves of the human race had been locked into survival for so long. The big blue mother planet, and this tiny red packet of knowledge spinning nearly a million kilometers away. Now, suddenly, before either of them were ready, they were going to plunge up a huge evolutionary leap. Lt. Leben looked up at the vid screen again: the tiny metal capsule with the English words painted on the side: proud, excited Terrans taking their first step into a larger world.\n\nCmdr. Felan flicked on the communicator. “Get me the Advisory Council,” she ordered.\n\nIt was going to be a bigger step than any of them had bargained for.", "\"Elon?!\" Said the Apollo 33 mission crew members in unison\n\n\"Oh, hey guys, I see my clone did a good job bringing mankind over here, and would you look at that just in time!\"\n\n\"What are you talking about? You sent us here!\" \n\n\"Yeah, so, about that,\" Elon Musk explained, \"I may have cracked the secret to interplanetary travel a few years ago, and may have established a martian utopia for me and some gals, If you know what I mean\".\n\nHe smirked, winking to Larissa, who was still clearly shocked\n\n\"So why go through all the trouble of getting a clone to work for other 5 years just to get more people here? Got bored of the same faces?\"\n\n\"Oh no, nothing of the sort, everyone still doing fantastically, specially Jeanine. It's just that some crops died and I needed more resources from Earth, so I activated E-10N to make SpaceX and convince humanity that they needed to send some humans to Mars\"\n\n\"But we didn't bring any f-\"\n\nElon raised his hand, interrupting, and clicked a botton in his wristband, which promptly opened a secret compartment that revealed different types of seeds and and what seemed to be bags of DNA samples, presumably animal.\n\n\"Well fellas, wanna join in?\"" ]	2
	[WP] The demon is treating the host they are possessing like their own child.	[ "The girl was finally adopted from the foster home. \n\nThe orphanage staff waved good bye as she walked down the path towards the nice looking car. A grey \"soccer mom\" van, as one would put it. The girl's backpack was small, pitifully small. Only a cream-colored teddy bear, a ham sandwich, and some crayons were inside.\n\nThe sliding door was already open - one of her new parents must have opened it.\n\n-----\n\nA week prior, the staff found it adorable that one of their loneliest children finally made a friend. \n\n\"Imaginary,\" the girl would say. \n\nSad, too - the other children wouldn't play with her when they had recess. However, the staff would always find her happy, easing off some worry about the welfare of the girl.\n\nIn the day prior, the girl was alone in her room. She asked, seemingly to no one, when she will have new parents. The girl was startled when she felt arms wrap around her body, her head resting on unseen shoulders. Her friend promised that tomorrow her new parents would arrive.\n\n-----\n\nThe girl hesitated when she saw that no one was in the van. One of the caretakers nearby came up to her, telling the girl that her new parents were just talking to the head caretaker. The woman had a nervous smile and took her time saying the words, like as if she was afraid that she was going to mess up the sentence. \n\n\"They are still talking to the Miss Efrida,\" the woman said. \"Just climb into the van and take a nap. Your parents will come back soon.\"\n\nThe girl said one final good bye and hugged the caretaker tightly - she was going to miss her friend. \n\nWhen the girl climbed inside, soft music was playing from the radio. It lulled her to sleep.\n\n-----\n\nThe seat belt wrapped around her small body, clicking itself into the lock. The van started its engines.\n\nThe caretakers that were waving to her rushed back inside the foster home; they knew who - what - was taking her. But they couldn't do anything about it.\n\n-----\n\nThe girl woke up, awakened from the seat rumbling. The van was moving. \n\nThe girl craned her neck to see who were her parents, to see who were the wonderful adults that decided to adopt her. \n\nEqual parts excitement and equal parts wonder filled up inside her, eyes widening as the girl saw that nothing was in the front seats. The steering wheel was rotating on its own and the pedals were being pressed.\n\n\"It's me!\" a voice called out. \"I adopted you!\"\n\nThe girl screamed, not in fear but in absolute happiness. \n\nIt seemed as if nothing could contain her glee.\n\n\n\n\n\n ", "From my OC:\n\n\"Aye Jack-attack! Even if anyone says otherwise, I'm proud of you buddy!\" said the voice resonating behind my eyeballs.\n\"No way. This... isn't happening. Dad?\" I whisper.\n\"Well not really, but I might as well be now. Have you eaten anything yet? I'm hungry and mumzy won't be seeing us for a while...\" A guttural shudder starting from my throat to my stomach announced its presence much like the entity talking to me, deep but familiar and causal.\n\n\nI had forgotten what had happened until I felt it, warm and soaked into the carpet. There was the body, slashed and maimed, heaped near the door.\n\"Well? Dinner's getting cold, boy. Let's eat!\" the hunger spoke with a voice that sounded like my father within my mind.\n\"What the hell? What's going on?!\" I hissed as I frantically tried to compose myself.\n\"Not Hell, Mars. I saw you from up there, and I knew, felt even, that you need me. So I came down here, did away with this mook tryna roughhouse my boy.\" the voice almost sounded like it was beaming with delight and pride, something neither of my stoic parents ever seemed to do.\n\n\nThe ripple of stomach spasms came back, this time with a twinge of pain from intense hunger.\n\"Mars? What the-\" I whispered before the hunger cut me off.\n\"Eat first, then we can talk and I dunno, play your vidya games or something.\" I clutched my stomach as I got to my feet. I had been sprawled out on the living room floor, in what seemed to be an aftermath of a fight.\nThe body had fallen against the door, closing it and staining the curtain over the glass. I remember when I was very little peaking out that very curtain at the street out in front of my house, terrified of the dangers outside.\nThe coffee table was flipped on its side and the glass of soda and the leftovers of my microwave dinner strewn across the floor. The TV flickered and static snowed on the screen.\nThe voice startled me \"Now young man, time to eat. Or else I'll take full control...\"\n\n\nThe shudder happened again, and I could feel my stomach lurch and tear.\nFirst came the vomiting. Thick dark red glop forced its way out of me.\nThen came the feverish spasms. I fell over from the sudden strain and tension in my muscles.\nI clenched my teeth and closed my eyes in fear of what was happening.\nI could feel the pull and movement within me writhing and bucking as I skittered to the body.\nMy eyes burned with the fire of capsaicin, tears forming in defiance.\nThe hunger deepened and twisted, the thought of eating.\nOf consuming. Feed. Eat. Hunger. NOW.\n\n\n\"Mmm! That's some tasty taste ain't it boy?\" It said as I stuffed my face with viscera and crimson.\nI looked down to see the body, and my hands gripping parts and flesh.\n\"Got them bloody meathooks all up in him didja? Good boy. Makes me proud!\" I just sat there, stupefied at what I was doing.\nThe hunger had taken over, and I was too weak to resist.\n\n\n\"Who-What are you?\" I could only stammer.\n\"Your kind is too feeble to perceive what I truly am, but the best way to put it is when a human really wants to do something really mean and really nasty to another human, I get to take over the violence.\nI like to make you lot loud and scary when I take over, so that more of you get violent and afraid.\nI make lots of scary sounds and cut up nice people so that it gets REALLY scary.\"\n\n\nI shudder as I begin to imagine what this madness this thing speaks of.\nIt sounds just like my dad casually explaining how the lawnmower works, but mental.\n\"But what are you going to do to me?\" I whispered in fear.\n\"Why I'm gonna teach you all I can and make it so you have a better life than I.\nThat is a fa-there? Father? Yes, that word.\nThat is what a father does and because I like you.\"\n\n\nI was in shock. What is this insanity?\n\"Now hurry up and put your coat on, we have so much to do tonight before your mother finds out.\"", "The room was dark, too dark for anything to be seen.\n\nIn the corner, Samantha laid back and felt the arms cradling her. \n\n\"Sleep, my child.\" Said a woman. \"I will keep you safe.\"\n\n\"Stop it!\" said the voice of a boy across the room. \"Stop it, Samantha. You're scaring me.\"\n\nSamantha felt happy again. She felt comforted for the first time in her life. Some one was caring for her.\n\n\"Sleep...\" Said the woman. \"Mother is here.\"\n\n\"Stop it--stop doing the voice. Please...\" Said the boy across the room, and then began to cry.\n\nThere were stomps coming up the stairs. \"What have I told you!?\" Said an angry and old woman. The door began to bang. \"What I have told you about crying in the night? It keeps me up. Now shut up--and don't make me come in there.\"\n\n\"Please--let me out!\" Said the boy. The doorknob was rattling as he desperately wanted it to be unlocked. \"She is doing it again. She is talking in her creepy voice again.\"\n\n\"Shut it and go to sleep!\" said the old woman, stomping down the stairs again.\n\nSamantha could hear the boy moving around in the dark. She could hear him trembling through his heavy breathing.\n\nHe was in the corner farthest from Samantha. \n\n\"Stop it.\" He said. \"You'll go to hell--like the priest says on sundays.\"\n\nSamantha could feel a hand carresing her cheek. She desperately wanted some one to find her parents one day--and when her mother found her... She knew life would be different. \n\n\"If you don't stop....\" the boy stuttered and searched for something to stay to make her stop. \"I'll hurt you!\" He said. \n\nTwo sets of eyes could now be seen in the darkness, and they stared at the boy.", "\"Now steady your hand, Bertram.\" Said a voice inside his head. \"Slice, and cut steadily...\"\n\nBertram held the knife in both his hands.\n\n\"Careful now, Bertram. Don't cut yourself...\" \n\nThe knife cut--red spilling out.\n\nThere was a clapping and words of encouragement coming from the orderlies. \n\n\"Good Job, Berty.\" Said a woman. Giving Bertram a plate, and letting him give out the pieces of cherry pie. \n\nBertram loved pie, and he loved sharing it with his friends.\n\n\"You've come a long way.\" Said a man. Patting Bertram on the back. \"First tying your shoes, and now cutting a pie without making a mess. Your parents will be proud.\"\n\n\"Smile, Bertram.\" Said the voice. So he did--but he clutched the knife tightly. \n\n\"Soon...\" It said.\n\nThe orderlies gathered and said their goodbyes, and they were happy for Bertram. It was said his mental faculties would never let him function on his own, but he had progressed so much since meeting his new friend.\n\nHe felt happy--he didn't want to go home.\n\nLate--at the end of the party... They showed up. They looked as old and as mean as Bertram had remembered. \n\n\"Lets go.\" His mother snapped. \"I don't want to be longer than I have to be.\" She said.\n\n\"Do what she says, and smile. Carry your things, and hold the door for her.\" Said the voice. \n\nThe voice had told Bertram to say \"You're welcome.\" When people said \"Thank you.\", but his mother and father didn't say thank you when Bertram held the door... He hated his parents. They hated him. Every day they told him how stupid he was. They didn't want Bertram in their lives. They never even tried to help him like his new friend does...\n\n\"Soon.\" It said again." ]	4
	[WP] Your milkshake brought all the boys to the yard. ALL of them.	[ "I couldn't believe my eyes. The boys all surrounded my white picket fence and begged me for my milk. I'm a 27 year senorita with big Brazilian breasts. I knew I wanted to give it to them, but I don't know if they could handle it. So I told em.\n\n\"I've got milk but I don't know if you all can handle it\"\n\"Show me whatcha got!\" the skinny Arab kid begged.\nThere were 69 men on the knees. My milkshake sure did bring all those boys to the yard. Darnit I don't know what I'm doing to do- shoot. I could shoot my milk out. Yeah. That ought to do the trick.\nI lefted my shirt up and pulled out my left tit and sprayed all of the boys in the yard with all the milk I had left. The boys held their tongues out in Ecstasy and kneeled on the grass. They wanted more. I had so much left. But I don't know if they can handle it.\n\n\"Ya want more boys?\" \n\"Yes Ma'm!\" the disabled purple boy begged on his knees\n\nI pulled out my right, and it knew right then and there it was game over. Not a boy left in sight.\n\n\nI brought all the boys to the yard, till now I sprayed em away with my milky might...." ]	1
	[WP] The Spartans thrived and eventually conquer the entire Earth.	[ "\"When they came from foreign lands to kill us and take our homes, you few took up the battlefield and you stood your ground. You stood your ground, and you pushed back, and you pushed and you pushed like nothing they'd ever seen before--and as we looked out from our little corners of relative safety, that existed only because you fought to the bitter end to protect them, we could see that you... you scared our invaders.\n\n\"We could see with our own eyes that they had never before experienced true loss. That never had they known fear, until you arrived on the scene. They came upon us, so assured of their total victory, until you shook their faith, and we could plainly see that they'd not once felt the grip of the spectre of death until you began to close it around them.\n\n\"And as we began for the first time to climb out of the abyss of despair, they, for the first time, began to see it for what it was, and for what it would do to them. As their hope sputtered out and died, it sprung anew in us.\n\n\"And you pushed, and you pushed, and incredibly, the frontlines of the war began to shift. Where once they'd encroached steadily upon us, inexorable, unstoppable, as a tidal wave bears down upon the shore, you few stood, a single dam facing off against the endless ocean--and to the disbelieving eyes of both sides, you did not break. Instead, crash after crash of foreign invaders broke against you, and they wore down, and some began to run, and some even saw your cause for what it was and joined you in your unrelenting reprisal; and before we knew it, the tide had begun to recede.\n\n\"And you pushed, and you pushed, and now like wildfire you burned them. We began to believe you could never die. You burned them even as they tossed their unending waters upon you, and in a conflagration that would not be quenched you took from them their own Capitol--the shining jewel atop their crown of conceit and bigotry--and you took from them their fleets, and you smothered their holy lands. Just you few, our little flame of hope against the ocean; yet now the ocean stands empty.\n\n\"You, Spartans, championed us like no other--like none in recorded history, and, most probably, like none will for centuries or longer to come. You were our bastion in our time of need, and you have given us everything. Now, it is time we gave you something in return.\n\n\"Thus, for your defense of humanity against the Covenant, it is our honor to grant you Earth, our original home.\n\n\"Don't worry about it, we've got like a hundred more now.\"\n\n&nbsp;\n\n&nbsp;\n\n&nbsp;\n\n&nbsp;\n\nALTERNATE ENDING\n\n\"...you took from them their own Capitols--the shining jewels atop their crowns of conceit and bigotry...\n\n\"...Thus, for your defense against the Thebans, the Achaean League, the Zhou Dynasty, the American tribes from across the sea, and indeed the whole world, it is our honor to formally grant you that world, which you fought so valiantly to claim and protect. We grant you dominion over Earth, that you may watch over it in the decades to come.\n\n\"Just please don't be dicks about it. Please. We have families.\"", "Before you saw it you heard it, you heard it deep within you, it was a familiar sound, a sound written in the blood of every Spartan, a sound they heard before battle. It was a rushing sound, growing, rumbling, like a thousand hooves rushing towards you, the beating of hands on chests, a call to war.\n\nThick nebulous clouds of dust and fire asceneded into the sky for miles, slowly settling in a choaking haze. The grey - orange dusty cloud obscuring vision. A call to war.\n\nThis was familiar yet different, it was a sight and sound seen in a thousand wars, a thousand victories and a hundred losses. Seen throughout history, stopping the march of the Macedonian King. A wall against the slamming thundering hooves of the Khan's. Calling down lightning and drowning the seafares in the North. Trampling and burning through Great American Nations. \n\nMajor Leoni Das, twisted and pulled her helmet off, took a deep breath of the metallic medicated air and looked out through the porthole of the ship. At a thousand glittering lights and one receeding pale blue dot.\n\nA world conquered, and world's to be conquered. " ]	2
	[WP] you come across a civilization of powerlifters in the forest. Are you accepted into their society?	[ "They all feared North Korea for their nuclear weapons, sure. But that wasn't the true reason to be scared. The true reason was the fact that they had created the virus. All we know about it was from two news broadcasts released by a North Korean news agency detailing a plague that will be released to destroy their enemies and especially \"Those American Bastards\".\n\nWe do know the aftermath, with nearly all human life in Asia being eradicated within a single day. The virus began to grow weaker after devastating much of the Middle East, losing most of its potency when it reached Ukraine. That was twenty years ago.\n\nFor the most part, we thought that it had taken out Australia as well, with the main reason it hadn't been taken being that it was still within a mandatory \"Quarantine Zone\". We had only discovered people were still alive when a radio signal was received.\n\nI was sent on one of the ships to investigate, to remain about twenty miles from the shore and observe for activity. Well, since there was some major damage to the ship due to a ship that sank around these waters when the virus first hit then things went... badly.\n\nIt sadly hit a fuel line. Because of that the oil spilled out and about over the ship's deck before a stray wire had set it alight. Even those in the water could only scream in pain as they were set alight and drowned. And it would've been kinder if the lifeboats hadn't been there since they were right in the middle of the inferno.\n\nI'm not entirely sure how I, a mere technician, had survived but soon I found myself drifting to shore, hoping for some sort of relief. But I had passed out soon after, the waves carrying me to land.\n\n---\n\nThat was a month ago and as I waited for my leg to heal I could only keep fiddling with the satellite phone. 'This is Alex Graham of the Prosperity,' I said into it, hoping for a reply. 'I repeat, this is Alex Graham of the Prosperity. Come in, mission control. Fuck!'\n\nI dropped the handset down before looking over the motherboard, wandering what else was the issue when my rescuer came in. 'There's a blown resister,' he said as he dropped the heavy plastic sack into the fridge before approaching me.\n\n'Like you could do better?' I asked him.\n\nThe colossal palms easily reached over the entire station as he bent down. 'With these hands I'd just brake it,' he said as he pinched the digital camera and pushed it into place. 'Just zoom in and...'\n\nHe pointed to the screen at the damaged part. 'You're good kid, but I was a technician for fifty years. This shit is second nature to me.'\n\n'Alright,' I said as I melted the solder then pulled the piece out, adding another superconductor in its place before switching the satellite phone on again.\n\n'Prosperity, respond,' the device responded.\n\n'This is Alex Graham of the Prosperity,' I immediately said. 'Only... only known survivor the the vessel's sinking.'\n\nI could almost feel the sadness and disappointment. 'Graham, it's good to hear from you, given the circumstances,' the commander said. 'What's your situation?'\n\n'Rescued by a native,' I said. 'There are Australian plague survivors.' I could hear some applauding in the background. 'My leg is broken, though. Minor fracture but it will be two more weeks until I can hope to walk again.'\n\n'How did the ship sink?' he asked.\n\n'Someone on the bridge running sonar fell asleep and we hit a sunken carrier,' I answered. 'It hit both ships' fuel lines and then they went up in flames.'\n\n'I know this is uncomfortable to ask at the moment but... what about the mission?'\n\n'All records were lost so I'm just running by what I was informed so classified shit is unknown,' I said. 'But there is impact on local wildlife by the virus. Severe if beneficial mutations are present.'\n\n'Describe,' he said.\n\nI merely sighed as I linked my laptop to the device. 'I'm going to try sending you some photos with me in them,' I said. 'Just for scale.'\n\n'What the hell?' he asked. 'Is that thing human?'\n\n'Yeah, that's the guy that rescued me,' I said. 'His name's Bruce.'\n\n'How fucking tall is he?'\n\n'About twelve feet, give or take,' I said.\n\n---\n\nHe lifted the boulder larger than he was over his shoulders, groaning to himself as his feet pounded on the ground. He approached the line that was dug into the dirt and with a deep breath he hurled the rock as close to the target as possible.\n\nThe target, another Australian, balled his fists together with a smile and struck it full on. It was sent hurling through the sky as powerful titans ran across the field and tried to catch as many shards as possible.\n\n'There's gotta be better ways to play cricket,' I commented as Bruce tossed as much of the rock into the huge scale as possible. '46%.'\n\n'Yes!' Greg yelled, his green skin flexing as he accepted thundering high fives before they began counting the points based on where the shards landed.\n\n'Well, there's no-one who survived who can make rubber,' Bruce pointed out. 'Hey, imagine how we'd trash the Kiwis in the Six Nations.'\n\nHe was rather boisterous until I slowly nodded my head. 'Really?' he asked.\n\n'Like I said, it was a great surprise when we found signals from Australia,' I pointed out.\n\n'Shit,' Bruce said, seeming guilty as he scratched his beard. 'Wales?'\n\nThe satellite phone rang beside me as Bruce ran back onto the field. 'Yeah?' I asked.\n\n'We're sending another team to the continent,' the commander said. 'You said that so far you've met Australian men but... what about women?'\n\n'Hold on,' I said. 'Hey, Bruce! Any Sheilas?'\n\n'They're caring for the young'uns down in Sydney,' he answered. 'It's the safest place for them with the animals. You'd be there as well except for your legs.'\n\nHe threw the boulder and began sprinting as I went back to the phone. 'Given the general danger of Australian wildlife has been thoroughly amplified by the virus' mutagenic qualities women and children have retreated to safer territories but I don't know where. It's primarily for their own safety as, despite their mutation, they aren't suited for the environment.'\n\nTo illustrate the point a boa had leapt at Greg, the youngest and smallest of the titans and had begun wrapping around him. It was by puck that Bruce, the largest, was nearby to crush the beast's head. 'Anyone want snake when we're done?' he asked as he pulled the creature away.\n\n'Hey, I wanted to kill it,' Greg groaned. 'Need to earn my own experience.'\n\n'It'd be a bad idea if you pissed off the men by approaching the women,' I said. 'Just head to Melbourne and-'\n\nI groaned as I tensed up, feeling a pain in my leg. 'Alex, are you okay?' the commander asked.\n\n'Al?' Bruce asked as he ran over.\n\n'I'm fine,' I said. 'I'm... gonna call you back, Commander.'\n\nI wanted to get a better look at my leg as Bruce walked over. 'You alright, young'un?' he asked as he crouched down beside me.\n\n'My leg really fucking stung for no reason,' I said as I carefully rolled my pants up to get a better look.\n\nAnd around the area of my break, a green discolorization was beginning to spread." ]	1
	[WP] It started when an elf needed a place to stay. Now, hundreds of fictional characters owe you favors. And now, it's time to cash them in.	[ "The first time a black portal opened and an elf with armor and sword came falling, i freaked out. That was the natural response i suppose. But the elf seemed to be even more confused than I am. \n\n\nI didn't understand a word he said but after a few minutes, I was convinced that he was harmless. I tried to communicate through drawing with a pen and paper. He was suprisingly good at drawing.\n\n\nFrom what i understood, there was a powerful evil wizard who stole an ancient powerful artifact and he tried to stop him as the strongest warrior of the elven kingdom. But the wizard activated the artifact and a black portal appeared under the elf sucking him in. \n\nHe was smart enough to understand that i can not send him back. I told him he was free to go but it s dangerous for him to be seen outside. He was convinced and back after going out for just 2 minutes. I was thinking what to do until he offered a big sack of gold to stay here. It was more than enough for me to take a few days off from work and look after him. \n\n\nThings were just fine until another portal opened a day after. This time, it was 3 gnomes. It was easier this time since the elf could talk to them.They started to teach me their common language to make it easier for me to communicate with them. But things got weirder when a vampire carrying a centaur came the other day.\n\n\nNow 2 months passed and my house is crowded with hundreds of weird creatures. I can't take it anymore. It's time they return the favor by cleaning up this mess for good. Next time that bloody portal opens, I will be waiting with an army to go in!", "It all started one dark and stormy night when the sky rained heavy, lightning flashing bright and the thunder roared. In all of that, the towering city burned brightly in defiance against mother nature’s wrath. People hustled in packed flooded streets and cars honked furiously on the roads in gridlocked traffic.\n\nThat’s where he saw her and where it all began. \n\nHe was merely passing by. She huddled under one of the many awnings that lined every building on the streets. She rubbed her hands close to her mouth, a foggy stream of hot air trying to futilely warm them. She winced as the wind blew and the chilling, heavy rain pelted her despite the small fabric roof that sheltered her. \n\nAs he walked closer, he saw her more clearly. Her features were fair. She had an elegant, graceful beauty to her. Or she would have if she wasn’t dirty, miserable and looked like she was about to collapse. The word elf sprung to his mind. From the dull, apathetic looks of the many people crossing by her, it seemed they couldn’t see her. \n\nOr maybe, they could and didn’t care. After all, he had passed by without sparing another glance, without missing a step. That was how things were after all. People passing by injured motorists on the highways. People not even sparing the loose change in their pockets for the homeless and needy on the streets. People…\n\nHe stopped. He took a breath and exhaled. Damn it all.\n\nHe walked back to that elf. She was still there, in the same spot, head bowed to the ground, looking worse for wear, looking as if one more stiff wind would blow her over. He grabbed her hand and didn’t let go even despite her confused flailings. She didn’t have the strength to do anything else. \n\nHe didn’t think as he walked to his apartment with her in hand. His mind would've been screaming at him for how stupid he was being. She nearly tumbled on herself as he finally reached his apartment door, throwing it open and leading her to his couch which she finally collapsed on it. \n\nThe smell of a couple leftover pastrami sandwiches reheating on a cast iron pan woke her up. The smell of a couple more eggs frying on another made her rise up and limp over to the kitchen. He helped her sit in one of the chairs by a nearby table and served them both up the food he had prepared. She sniffed hesitantly at her plate, devouring it ferociously not a moment later. Halfway through she looked up at him with tired blue eyes, filled with questions. \n\n“I’m just a random person who decided to help,” he said. “That’s all.”\n\nShe had left the next day after recovering. She thanked him before she had gone. She explained who she was. How she had gotten to Earth. Everything that was going on. He had simply nodded along and waved her goodbye.\n\nIt was hard to walk the same streets again that he always had. It was like a fog had lifted from his mind, the covers from his eyes. He couldn’t ignore the people who were down on their luck, on their last ropes. He saw their tired and worn faces. Their bodies drained of energy. Their spirits beaten down. He offered what help he could, even if it was only a dollar. \n\nHis life had changed after that elf had entered his life. That one moment that he decided to do something about the world that he had simply accepted blindly as he grew older. She was simply the first of many to enter his life. Many others came after, from Earth, others from world many only read about in fiction. \n\nIt was funny really. He guessed some people might wonder why he never used the things he knew, the connections he had formed to further his life. Surely he had done much to earn it they would reason. Surely he deserved it they would rationalize. \n\nBut it was his grandpa’s words that had started him down this path.\n\n“Good deeds come from the heart,” he would say.\n\nJust like he would say, “friends didn’t owe each other favors.” \n\nWhen they needed a place to stay, he opened up his doors. When they needed someone to talk to during a dark moment in their life, he listened. He was there for them. Just like they would do for him. Had done for him. When the chips were down, they had his back just like he had theirs. That was all he could ask for. \n\nMaybe others would want to cash in on the favors they thought they were owed. But for him? The day they had all shown up to his birthday made him feel like the richest man in the world. \n\n\n\n\n\n\n" ]	2
	[WP] A pair of magic mirrors show people their best and worst potential selves. After lining up for your turn, you see... your normal reflection in both.	[ "\"I don't see any difference.\"\n\n\"Well that's because most people's best and worst sides are still them, so there's not much change. From the looks of it, your good side volunteers at a kitten shelter and helps old ladies across the street while your bad side jay walks and whistles offensively at women when they walk past.\"\n\n\"So in other words these are just two normal mirrors? What a rip off.\"\n\n\"Oh no, they are definitely magic. Here I'll show you.\"\n\nThe attendant allowed the next person in line through, and to my surprise the reflections are wildly different. One side is covered in blood, while the other is in a fancy business suit.\n\n\"Wow, so I guess this guy can either be a CEO or a serial killer?\"\n\n\"No, the one covered in blood is the good mirror. His options are butcher or lawyer.\"\n\nThe latest customer just gives him a concerned stare and we both leave." ]	1
	[WP] A government subcontractor, you deliver the news of death to families of those who work in compromised secret labs and facilities.	[ "The pink envelop slides into the woman's hand.\n\nI think she knew or at least suspected.\n\nI hand her a pen and she signs the triplicate forms of receipt for the envelope, and I palm a card into her hand for a free grief councilling service as I give her the copy of the confidentiality act.\n\nIf they know anything they are to report what they know to be debriefed. Often these are wives and mothers or daughters from military families, and they know when the phone calls stop that they may be receiving a visitor such as myself.\n\nShe is the eighth stop today, of ten.\n\nI don't know what happened or how it happened.\n\nI know that ten families in a small Colorado town have suddenly lost husbands, sons, and a daughter.\n\nSome of them weep. They knew when I pulled up and got out of the car that what they suspected was true. They were passed shock or denial. \n\nWhich of course they would be. The calls would have stopped months ago, and the delivery of both the letter and the body would be after a thorough investigation and delayed to prevent association with any unusual events.\n\nOperational security.\n\nI assume of course, I know some of asked me why it took so long, and why they let them twist in the wind.\n\nThey were angry, but the anger changes nothing.\n\nThe next stop is a few miles down the street in a nicer neighborhood, and I accidentally drive by the house twice because the map application points me to the wrong place.\n\nWhen I finally find it I notice the grass is newly mown and a newer Volkswagen is in the driveway and a Ford Suv with dirty windows.\nthe back window of both have a set of star stickers; The ford has three blue stars, while the Volkswagen has two blue, and the center star gold. \n\nI unroll my sleeves and button them, and take a sip of coffee.\n\nI pull my jacket from the hanger and slide it on as I step out of the door.\n\nI open the door in the back and unzip my leather luggage case and pull the manila envelope that contains the envelope for the next of kin and the paperwork addressed to them, and I slide my hand into the pocket where I keep the grief counseling cards. I pull two and keep them in hand as I remove the paperwork and envelope and put them in my aluminum clipcase.\n\nOn the envelope is a name I recite, substituting Mr, or Mrs.\n\nI step up onto the sidewalk and begin the long walk up the driveway, and as I do I notice the single gold star isn't as neatly put on as the blue stars around it, and is covering something.\n\nIt's covering another blue star.\n\nPerhaps they know.\n\nI walk the rest of the way up the driveway and notice the curtains of one of the second story rooms shift as I step onto the stone path that leads to the porch from the driveway but keep walking.\n\nI don't try to be friendly. I am a messenger and to do anything but approach the next of kin with anything but somber reverence for the dead - I couldn't do it. The counselors can comfort them.\n\nI press the doorbell and hear shuffling inside but no one comes.\nI can wait. \n\nTen minutes pass and the door opens and a stoney faced woman with blonde hair and streaks of grey steps onto the porch pulling the door closed behind her.\n\n\"How may I help you, mr..?\"\n\n\"Myers, I'm an agent of the United States Government and I am here to deliver this notice as to the status of a service member who has listed you as next of kin,\" I begin, and hold the pink envelope out to her. \"I have\" I began to say, but I could not finish\n\nher hand snatches the envelope from my hand and knocks the clipcase to the ground. \n\nI kneel to pick it up and as I do I look up, and she is staring through me.\n\nliterally. she is looking directly out into the driveway at the Ford.\n\nI stand and remove the paperwork and ask her to sign, and she looks at me with venom, never saying a word.\n\nI try to slip her the card and she looks at it, and then at me and spits in my face.\n\n\"I don't want your damned charity, you lifeless son of bitch,\" \n\nand throws the card in my face.\n\nShe turns and opens the door, and then slams it. \n\nI pick up the card and walk back to the car.\n\nOne more to go." ]	1
	[WP] In the near future humans have invented time travel and Amazon have incorporated it into their Prime Delivery service, whereby all your deliveries arrive before you order them. You have just received some shocking and ominous items ...	[ "I glance at the clock by my bed to see what time some joker signed his own death certificate by ringing my doorbell before the sun is up. 4:30am. Sweet mother of god. I drag myself upright, bare feet sore on the cold cement floor. Dragging, still, as I make my way to the door and check the peephole. UPS? I open the door.\n\"Glin Andton?\"\n\"Yeah, hey, is this an early delivery, or really late for you?\"\n\"Special delivery, nothing else on the truck. Just like the delivery instructions say.\"\n\"From WHO?\", the driver looks down at his pad.\n\"From YOU, I think. Amazon prime chronoservice.\"\n\"I...what?\"\n\"You've seen the ads. Order stuff to be delivered up to three days ago? That's where these are from, sign please.\", I sign the electronic pad with a pixelated squiggle no sane person would ever read as my name. They can deliver dildos to the past, but they can't improve these things, go figure. The driver heads back to the brown box van and starts unloading packages onto my front stair. And just keeps unloading... Jesus. How much did I order? He finishes and closes up his truck, drives away. I start dragging boxes into the house. I had, of course, heard about amazon chronoservice, and thought that it would be a good bet if you found yourself in a situation where you needed a thing, and didn't have it, you could send it to yourself in the past so you'd have it. I'd even researched pricing... it's steep. So steep, in fact, that is written it off as only for life or death emergencies. And being as I would only spend like this in a life or death emergency that I couldn't survive without this... stuff, there's not much chance that I would survive long enough to send it... So I probably just/will put myself into heavy debt after a long night of drinking. Drunk Glin REALLY hates sober Glin sometimes. ", "text message sent Wed 6:23 pm\n\nFuck it. I don't care if it's a Wednesday, after the dramatics they ended up walking Frank out. Frank was a stand up guy and Delia had told me she was gonna do it. He didn't sexually harass her, and no one believes Frank because he's a pudgy white guy in a suit. He obviously would harass her right? NO. Franks gay. I found out after the Christmas party but that's another story. I'm just saying it's an occasion for booze. \n\ntext message sent Wed 6:24pm\n\nYou want anything? \n\ntext message sent Wed 6:47pm \n\nFine. I'm not getting you anything, sorry babe but I don't have time to wait. \n\ntext message sent Wed 7:04pm\n\nYou get anything from Amazon? We have a few packages at the door. I'll bring them in and let you sort it out. \n\ntext message sent Wed 8:30pm \n\nWhy haven't you responded? You work late like this and get mad because I drink but I drink because I'm lonely and don't need this shit omg autocorrect is so saving my ass right now o can't even be mad for all the times do changes duck to duck. Lol 😂 text me back I love you gonna put your Amazon stuff away because I love you ttyl\n\ntext message sent Wed 9:02pm \n\nThe fuck you need a axe for ?? And duct tape and shit why we need a tarp we love in a apartment you a construction worker now? These things are useless! \n\ntext message received Wed 9:38pm \n\nDidn't order anything. Amazon has future orders now so maybe that's it? Be home soon doll, sorry I got stuck. Not mad you drank\n\ntext message sent Wed 9:42pm\n\nThat motgerfucker said he didn't order anything and something about future delivery like I'm a idiot. He's cheating on me Mom I know he is. I HATE HIM\n\nShe made quick work with the body. Didn't even need the axe. She should have realized that carving up a human was like carving up a big chicken. Snap tendons and don't try to saw through bone, break the joints apart and it comes out pretty easy. She felt silly that she had wanted to do it Dexter style. This worked just fine. \n\ntext message received Wed 9:45pm \n\nHeya beautiful! I'm still thinking about the way you flicked your tongue. Almost home, the wife is drunk again so we might be able to video chat when she's passed out. If your down 😉\n\ntext message sent Wed 9:46pm \n\nYOU SON OF A BITCH. I KNEW YOU WERE CHEATING ON ME. ILL KILL UOU MOTHEFUCKER I DONT EVEN CARE ANYMORE \n\nJessica could hear the screaming again. Which is weird because the dude in Apt 2c wasn't even home. But there was a lot of banging and it sounds like he cheated on her again. She was just glad to be relaxing finally with dinner and a good book when the chaos erupted. It was annoying how she could manage to solve her problems in a controlled manner and how 2c can't function like adults. The book was no use and she realized she forgot a few things at the market. Now the night was almost ruined, she couldn't have him for dinner without a few more things. Amazon future delivery it is. But where is it? It should be here by now?\n\nShe headed up to the dreaded 2c and knocked on the door. \n\n\"The fuck you want?\" Her eloquent neighbor said. \n\n\"Did any boxes from Amazon come?\" Jessica asked, ignoring the drunkenness of Tessa. \n\nTessa slammed the door closed for a while then came out with the box full of everything she thought Adam bought and a few things of Adam's thrown in. No he won't miss that baseball on a stand or whoever's jersey. Tessa thought\n\nWith the toss of the box into the hallway Tessa slammed the door in Jessica's face. No matter, I got what I need so I can finally have him for dinner Jessica soothed herself with the idea\n\nJessica always felt classier when she had an organized freezer. And living alone is expensive, sometimes she didn't have a choice and would end up feeding one Tindr date to the other one. At first she was scared it might taint the meat but so far it had been ok. She really felt herself growing as a chef, she would never outwardly call herself that, she's an accountant. " ]	2
	[WP] We live in a galaxy filled with countless species and trillions of individuals, the odds of encountering a human in the course of your travels in next to none. But if by some small chance you find yourself facing one then you would do well to heed my next word: Run.	[ "He sat, alone, in front of a campfire. Br’kall was stranded. Raiders had shot down his ship. It wouldn’t be long until they shot down him as well. He had some ration packs he was cooking by the fire as he scrolled aimlessly through his PDA. He was sure he’d die – he had no weapons, or even combat training. He went through his mail when something caught his eye. A video message. It was from his grandfather, it was sent when he started his ‘life of adventure’. Seems like it would be a short one. He played it, and the image of his grandfather flickered in front of him. \n\n“I know that nothing will stop you from going to live an adventure, Br’kall. But I have some advice for you, grandson. We live in a galaxy filled with countless species and trillions of individuals, the odds of encountering a human in the course of your travels is next to none. But if by some small chance you find yourself facing one, then you would do well to heed my next word: Run.”\n\n*SNAP\n\nBr’kall screamed wildly as a silhouette approached. But he calmed himself and, with the little dignity he had left, he steeled his resolve and sat by the campfire. He would accept his death with honour. But instead of death, there was a strange figure. It stood on two legs, and seemed to be mechanical in nature – at least from the outside. It approached silent as the grave, and sat down opposite of Br’kall with the campfire between them. He looked at this stranger. It didn’t look like one of the raiders, and it didn’t try anything. It just sat there… staring into the fire. From some strange impulse, Br’kall threw the stranger a ration pack. They’d both die here, it didn’t matter who had the food. The stranger picked it up, examining it. Then a voice came from it, like it was a communication from his PDA. \n\n“Thanks. What’s your name?”\n\n“Br’kall. Yours?”\n\n“Oswald.”\n\n“That’s… a dumb name.”\n\n“You pronounced ‘awesome’ wrong.”\n\nBr’kall didn’t see it, but behind the light of the fire were more silhouettes. There was a cocking of a gun, and then silence. Oswald turned around to see a barrel of a gun in his face. Others approached, all wielding guns. The raiders. Br’kall accepted his fate. Oswald accepted the first raider’s fate. Which was, conveniently, a fist through the face. All the other raiders were now in the first stage of grief; Denial. They were grieving for themselves, but that didn’t matter. What does matter is that 4 bullets stopped mid-air in front of Oswald. Then they went flying at now-dead-raider number two. Oswald then launched himself with some unseen force towards number three. Number three was knocked unconscious with a knee to the face. Oswald then moved towards number four with speed that seemed physically impossible. What seemed more impossible was the instantaneous stop in front of Four. He pushed Four with an open palm, and four fell back. And up. Uncontrollably. Then, after 300 metres of screaming and disbelief, the budget ascension to the heavens was put in reverse, and dialled up to 11. 11-hundred metres per second. The result was not pleasant.\n\nBr’kall sat in shock and fear. This alien being just killed four raiders, and was apparently some form of space wizard. Oswald sat back down in front of the campfire and opened up his ration pack. Then, his metal face retracted to reveal a pink, fleshy face. The face of a human. Br’kall screamed in fear. He didn’t die from fear, but his bowels did not get the memo. Oswald was now eating happily away at his ration pack while Br’kall became in dire need of new undies. \n\n“Y-you’re a h-human!” Br’kall stuttered. “A-are y-you gonna k-kill me t-too?”\n\n“Yeah, nah. I do want one thing, though.”\n\n“What?”\n\n“I’m gonna call you Bill.”\n\n“Why?”\n\n“Because ‘Br’kall’ is a dumb name.” Oswald finished his ration pack and started to walk off into the distance. He called after Bill to follow.\n\n“Where are you going?”\n\n“We’re not going to get off this rock sitting in front of a campfire, now are we Bill?”\nBill did want to get off that rock. So he followed Oswald. They were in for an adventure.", "\"We had them contained!\"\n\nThe alien admiral strode across the bridge of the capital ship, marching to the images of humans scurrying around a launch pad. The others on the ship gathered around with a buzz of concerned chatter.\n\n\"No one can advance so quickly in less than a century! They were killing each other by the millions last time we checked in on them!\"\n\nThe intelligence officers were worried, shooting glances back and forth.\n\n\"What?\" the admiral hissed, rounding on them, \"what aren't you telling me?\"\n\n\"Sir...there's more, there are three launch pads.\"\n\nThe images shifted, revealing two more almost identical pads with equally impressive ships.\n\n\"Send the alert! They're coming.\"\n\n\"Sir!\" another ran to the bridge, gasping for air, \"we found this historical archive footage in their signals!\"\n\nThey all watched in horror as another alien race's crafts were demolished in great fireballs by the aircraft of the 21st century. No one spoke. This was as bad as the time they found out about the War of the Worlds, when a nearly unstoppable race was also defeated by the humans. Then that unmanned craft had destroyed their defense system with impunity. Things were getting worse, rapidly.\n\n\"Retreat, all ships retreat.\" The admiral said quietly, ordering dozens of ships out of range of Earth. They stood in stoic silence\n\n\"Send the order, evacuate Jupiter, we are leaving this system before they wipe us out. Maybe even the galaxy. Gods, they just don't stop!\"\n\n****\n\nAn orbital waystation marked the only refueling point before the Rim planets and just as you were leaving Protectorate space. An alien sat at the dirty bar and drank, staring down at the filthy glass and not caring one bit. Centuries had passed and he hadn't heard word of the humans spreading out of their system. But it was coming, he knew it.\n\n\"What's your story, huh?\" the new bartender asked, sliding his enormous girth over in front of the long time patron of the waystation. Former admiral or some such.\n\n\"They're coming,\" he mumbled in response and the bartender waited for more information. When none came he started to move on.\n\n\"Want some advice?\" the admiral spoke, reaching out a clawed hand to grab the massive bartender, \"we live in a galaxy filled with countless species and trillions of individuals. The odds you'll ever run into a human have got to be pretty low but...if by some chance to find yourself facing one...heed my advice. Run. Run as fast as you can and as far as you can. They're coming for all of us. Mark my words. They're coming for all of us.\"\n\nThe bartender gave the admiral a queer look.\n\n\"You know humans joined the Protectorate right? Years ago. Great folks, hardy types. Take on the exploration missions we'd never have dreamed of. Did you know that back on their home planet they used to explore the most frigid places on their planet? People died and they just sent more! Crazy fools. Gotta love em though. Always adapting.\"\n\nHe sauntered off and muttered something about old drunks and the admiral stared down into his glass.\n\nCould they have misunderstood?\n\nIt wasn't possible...was it?\n\nNo one gave the tiny figure a second glance, no one ever really did. Barely three inches tall, former commander of a ship the size of a small car. Why would anyone ever notice?\n\nThat's why the human exploration craft had annihilated their orbital defense platforms. A deep space probe breaking up destroyed half their armada. An honest mistake, though he might never know that.\n\nHe just sat on the bar top and stared into that little dirty glass while the universe marched on without him." ]	2
	[WP] They've been operating in the shadows for nearly 3 centuries. Today is the first time that the 4th Branch of the U.S. Government has made itself publicly known.	[ "It was never supposed to have taken this long.\n\nThe reason for our secrecy is simple: government tends to get in the way of things. The Founding Fathers knew that, and so created the three branches as a cover for us to do our work. Our job, when given the commission by the Founding Fathers, was simple - to be everything the three main branches of government couldn't be. Our operations crossed the line between military, intelligence, legislation, and jurisprudence. Frequently, we were the ones doing the dirty work, even in the beginning. Our agents were the first pioneers. Several served on the Manhattan project. The moon landings were made possible by our cooperation with NASA. \n\nThe fact that it has taken almost three centuries for our agency to truly be known is disturbing, and dangerous. It means that we're facing a fight so intense that the people's \"need-to-know\" status has been elevated to just that: they need to know. They need to know that the branch of government that has truly been responsible for creating the American unconscious, seeing her through so many wars, and keeping her economy afloat is enshrined in the first 52 words of our Constitution:\n\n\"We, the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defence, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America.\n\nWe are the People of the United States, and We have kept Them from ruin.\n\nThe clock, though, is now running down on our great nation. Our latest intel suggests that our international relations are only a few missteps away from the most destructive battle in world history, with enough fallout to make half of Earth a desolate wasteland. And it's partially our fault. That is why our Russian agents \"hacked\" the election - to distract people the world over from the People's actions. The media, of course, took it and ran with it, causing too much chaos. Even now, as we hurtle closer to largest conflict humanity might ever see, our operatives are at work trying to prevent it.\n\nIn every city, all throughout the United States, you might suddenly find yourself being visited by one of The People. Be ready. They will attempt to move you to a safer location, removed from the potential disaster.\n\nMay God have mercy on us all." ]	1
	[WP] When others look at you, they see a human being. They don't understand the real you. You know, in your heart, that you are a cactus.	[ "They just don't get it.\n\nI wake up everyday, go to work, make love, try to be happy.\nBut they just don't get; I can't be happy.\n\nI am a cactus. \n\nI've felt it deep down my whole life, never feeling quite like the other kids, never feeling included, there could only be one possibility. That I am not a human being and am actually a prickly plant specially adapted to the desert's lack of water. \n\nI've always been scared to share this, never even telling my family, but it's 2017 now. It was time. People had to know.\n\nBeing a man of some public standing, it would have to be a public announcement. I called my agent and made the arrangements, he was understandingly confused but agreed to release my press writeup. Things had been sticky with the press lately, some pieces of my past had been revealed. I was not proud of them. But people will now understand, i couldn't be held responsible for my past actions, being confused and all, of course i made a pass at a child, I didn't even think i was human, and cactuses love children.\nI lit a cigarette as i sat in front of my laptop to compose the necessary tweet, it would be short and sweet. A short sweet tweet, but it would make my point.I dabbled on the keys composing the necessary words.\n\nI am a cactus.\n\nThat would do, no more explanation needed, I leaned back in my chair and waited for the reaction, people would understand now I was sure. The secrets, the evasiveness, but most of all the crippling need for attention. I overachieved to distract from my being a cactus. You would think I would be able to last a long time without the moisture of human interaction, but my thorns craved the wet of their love.\nWhy else would I have become an actor other than to balance out my prickly personality, I was considered talented, but you would be too if you spent your whole life hiding, watching humans, learning to mimic their movement and emotion. I had won the highest awards possible and still felt empty, my work had become my life but it was work for works sake, I had no love of the craft only fear of reality. \nThat reality being that Kevin Spacey was a cactus.\n\nThe people would understand, it would finally make sense.\n\nI booked my flight to Arizona, their was no point in packing. I would finally be among my people, the noble saguaros. They would be proud, i've grown so tall, but the sun of the sonora desert would make me taller. But most of all make me happy.\nFinally happy.\n" ]	1
	[WP] Plurbo, a cute alien species, is the trendiest pet to own on Earth. They'll slaughter their owner if they become unsatisfied for more than a minute. Their difficulty makes them a status symbol. You just got one.	[ " I can’t remember the last time the doorbell rang. I remember back in the day people would order goods and someone would personally bring them to your home. Mom would do this all the time. By the time I was old enough to order my own things, doorbells were basically out of commission.\nI step out of my ‘RealLife©’ room and walk towards the door. No sane person would actually come to visit anymore. Something strange is going on.\n“Hello?” \nno answer.\n“Hellooooo!?”\na gentle shuffle. Someone’s there. I grab the door handle and twist it. It creaks as the rusted parts of the doorknob grind against each other. Finally a click. I clench a weak fist. The door slowly sweeps open towards me. \nJust a box. I hear footsteps being made in quick succession down the hall, echoing though empty and silent space. Must have been a shy deliveryman.\nI pick up the box and bring it inside. I lay it on the dust covered table in my small living room. I sit down and inspect the box. It has no sender information on it and my address is nowhere to be found either. \n“Sorry. Good luck.”\nMy eyes widen.\nWhat do you mean “good luck”? \nI gently pry open the box, trying not to damage it so I can return it to… wherever it came from. \n\n“FUCK WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU!?” I scream. \nSilence. Just eyes staring lovingly at me.\nI try to shove myself further into the couch I was sitting on to create more distance between me and that thing. In response it clumsily climbs out of the box and sits on the table. Large eyes still staring at me. It’s a furry creature. It doesn’t look aggressive or dangerous in any way so I allow my body to relax. I present the creature a hand and it sniffs it.\n“are you some genmodded dog or something?”\nSilence. Just eyes staring lovingly at me.\n\nThe creature looks back at the box and tips it over. It rummages around in the box and retrieves a piece of paper. I am starting to warm up to this creature. The way it looks and moves activates my caring instincts that had until this point been dormant. I take the piece of paper and read it. It was written by either someone in a hurry or someone that has only recently learned how to write. \n\n“Take good care of it. Caring for it is now your top priority. Once it becomes dissatisfied you’ll have roughly 60 seconds to make it happy. Don’t, and you’ll die.\nIt’s a Plurbo. It’s name is Samaël.\nSorry. Good luck”\nBack into the couch again. I have heard of these things. Only the rich kept them and usually had an entire team of bodyguards to tend to it. That was at least 50 years ago. Back then, people still lived in the real world. \nI’m glad I kept the box intact. \n\nEdit: this is my first Writingpromt submission. Tell me if you enjoyed it or if you didn't ;)", "What is your owner but the person who feeds you?\n\n&nbsp;\n\n\"It's called a Plurbo. They're so cute, right? And also really expensive.\" The little creature squirmed around in my hand as it was being pondered over by the boss of the cartel. His escorts swooned at its adorableness.\n\n\"How much?\" The boss growled at me while pondering the pet.\n\n\"I'm sure you'll pay me with something other than money or cocaine. But for now, just sign this contract here.\" I produced it from the folds of my longcoat and some snacks for the Plurbo. The boss signed it, his hands trembling with glee, his smile nearly compressing his thick handlebar moustache into his nose.\n\n\"And it's all yours, sir.\" I smiled and gave him the Plurbo. What he didn't know was its extreme aversion to cocaine would trigger the long thought dead predatory instincts of the Kings that had formed its DNA. To this day, I always wondered which genius decided to splice shark, tiger, lion and wolf DNA together, and how he'd actually made the end product look adorable. I also wondered how I was the only one to know of its weakness to cocaine, though the lack of information on it and the very fact that its owners were rich enough to stay away from cocaine for a fulfilling existence, could provide an explanation.\n\nMy stopwatch hit 01:00 and the boss got torn up as the cocaine mixed with his effused blood, giving his new pet the power to resist and eviscerate every last guard to empty their AKs into it. I was counting about 20 dead men and 5 escorts scared out of their wits. \"Let's go home.\" I started off with it now cutely nestled in my hand, a little pink puff of fur satiated by the carefully regulated temperature of the glove and the large sugar rock I always kept for it.\n\nUpon returning to the village and ensuring the girls got back to their homes safely, I sat down for dinner with my friend who was teaching the local population. He was a great man, dedicating his life to humanitarian needs, ensuring the kids could have a future. His eyes grew ever wider when I told him about the drug lord's downfall.\n\n\"Nevertheless, I must thank you for your services in eliminating the root cause of the poverty and terror in these parts. How did you do it though?\"\n\n\"I merely used the rule that governs the uneducated when it comes to loyalty, and that's where you come in to rectify that.\"\n\n\"What would that rule be?\"\n\n\"What is your owner but the person who feeds you?\"" ]	2
	[WP] You are a low ranked demon visiting the Earth. Due to misunderstanding humans think you are Lucifer himself. You enjoy your new life for centuries until real Lucifer comes for a visit.	[ "\"The mathter is present,\" the robed figure managed, despite dribbling and licking his lips at the same time. He really was quite disgusting, Nutt, but at least he was devoted.\n\n\"Lord Satan,\" a chorus of chanting came from the robed acolytes in front of him. They had lit a pentacle of fire in the middle of the cellar floor, and some candles that frankly smelled awful.\n\nThere were some skulls littered about too, presumably for the hell of it.\n\nAbigar giggled at the pun. The chanting stopped, and the acolytes looked at him expectantly.\n\n\"Oh,\" he said. \"Yes, Lord Satan, that's me. So what's the plan today, chaps?\"\n\nThe head of the satanists, High Priest Alvey sauntered up to him with a book in hand. The man was more devilish than Abigar was, bald-headed, with a moustache and beard that together narrowed to a knife like point.\n\n\"Today is a special day in our calendar, my master,\" he said. \"We will be doing a special ritual.\"\n\n\"What,\" said Abigar. \"No pizza.\"\n\n\"Not yet, my master. Have you forgotten what day it is?\"\n\nAbigar had forgotten, if he had ever even known. \"Of course I remember,\" he said confidently. \"But I was testing you to see if you remembered!\"\n\n\"Ah, yes, my master,\" replied Alvey with a low bow. \"We did remember. It is the two hundredth anniversary of your summoning, Lord Satan. Two hundred years since you stepped into out lives in the temporal plain, and two hundred years closer to your everlasting rule on earth.\"\n\nWow, thought Abigar. It had been two centuries already? Time flies when you're not burning in the fires of hell.\n\n\"Excellent, yes. It's my summonsday.\"\n\nAbigar was happy they had remembered, but more than a little disappointed they was no pizza.\n\n\"So no pizza?\"\n\n\"Pizza after the ritual, my lord,\" said the High Priest.\n\nAbigar smiled. \"Excellent. So what are we doing, my disciple?\"\n\nThe High Priest looked at him and knitted his brows. \"Why, we are summoning you of course!\"\n\n\"You are? But...\"\n\nAbigar looked around the room to see if anyone else seemed similarly confused. It didn't seem as if they were.\n\n\"But, High Priest,\" said Abigar. \"I'm already here!\"\n\nThe High Priest just looked at him blankly. \"Is that a problem? We're just going to summon you next door, in the Temple.\"\n\nAbigar wasn't sure what exactly would happen if you summoned a demon to the terrestrial plane that was already on the terrestrial plane, but, boy, he did not want to find out.\n\n\"Uh, sorry, when is this happening?\" He was really regretting not reading the last issue of Satanic Monthly now.\n\nHigh Priest Alvey glanced at his watch. \"In about fifteen seconds, my master. We'll see you in the Temple.\"\n\n\"Oh no,\" said Abigar as the acolytes drifted through a door at the back of the cellar.\n\n\"My mathter,\" Nutt drooled, and slammed the doors closed.\n\nCalm down, Abigar. What's the worst that could happen?\n\nHe heard an explosion nearby and the sounds of screaming.\n\n\"WHO DARES TO SUMMON THE -\"\n\nThe booming voice was cut off by another explosion.\n\n\"Ah,\" said Abigar. \"That's the worst that could happen.\"\n\nAfter the noise had died down, Abigar opened the cellar door a crack and peeked through. There was a lot of smoke and some smouldering bodies, but there didn't seem to be any movement.\n\nSomething grabbed the door and wrenched it off its hinges.\n\nReflexively, Abigar transformed himself, and fell to the floor.\n\n\"I'm thorry, my mathter,\" Nutt-Abigar said as he flailed about on the marble floor. He looked up into the eyes of the devil himself.\n\n\"WHO DARES TO -\n\nLucifer paused, and peered at the quivering body in front of him.\n\n\"ABIGAR?\" said Lucifer, and he reached out and ripped the magic from the demon, revealing Abigar once more.\n\n\"Oh,\" said Abigar, rising up and dusting himself off. \"Lord Satan? What on earth are we doing here.\"\n\n\"ABIGAR, ARE YOU RESPONSIBLE FOR THIS?\"\n\n\"No,\" Abigar lied.\n\n\"ABIGAR, YOU KNOW I HATE HAVING TO KILL MY OWN WORSHIPPERS. IS THIS WHERE YOU'VE BEEN FOR TWO HUNDRED YEARS? NOW COME, I HAVE ALREADY DEVISED A FITTING PUNISHMENT FOR YOU.\"\n\nWith a click of the Devil's fingers, a portal of fire appeared, hovering in the air.\n\n\"Yes, my master,\" said Abigar sadly. He hoped at least that the punishment would involve pizza." ]	1
	[WP] You live 4 blocks away from a dangerous prison, as you get a notification about a breakout you hear the glass door downstairs shatter.	[ "I was barely holding my eyes open, laying on the couch watching the twilight zone when my phone silently lit up. \n\nThree prisoners unaccounted for after breakout at Shorehill Prison\n\nThen the basement patio door shattered. \n\nPart of me was frozen, in shock, and in denial. But the rest of me knew it was time to move, so I quickly and quietly turned the tv off, and snuck into the tuck under garage.\n\nI stood just inside the door amazed at how loud my own heart could be inside my head. I was half way convinced that a felon would hear it beating from the other side of the door. \n\nLight rain outside had turned into a storm. I used to feel anxious when thunder rolled over head, but I was at full capacity so the thunder was merely a fitting back drop. \n\nI realized I left my cell phone in the bedroom. Was it too late to sneak through the living room? I couldn't risk it. But my family was still in danger. \n\nThen I got an idea. I would honk the car horn until he left. So I jumped in the drivers side of my dad's Toyota Rav 4 and laid on the horn. \n\nI continuously honked the horn until the door opened. It was my dad, looking pissed and confused. I jumped out of the car to tell him about the breakout and the sound of breaking glass downstairs when I heard him yell as the door shut. \n\nPanicked, I glanced around the garage, frantically searching for a weapon. I found a metal softball bat. With that in my right hand I ran up to the door and grabbed the handle with my left -- flinging it open. \n\nMy dad was standing in the tiled entry way looking at a pile of dog crap. \n\nIf a killer was in the house he was still downstairs. \n\n\"Dad, call the police, I think someone broke in downstairs.\" I said quickly. \n\nWithout hesitation he ran through the living room to the kitchen and grabbed the phone. He had just started dialing when the power went out. The phone still worked, but we were now in a dark room that was intermittently illuminated by lighting. \n\nThe stairway cove had a large window overlooking the back yard. Flashing light created dramatic shadows that stretched all the way across to the far wall. I kept one eye on that window and the other toward the sound of my dad's voice. \n\nI was gripping the bat harder than it had ever been gripped. \n\nLighting hit just outside the window momentarily lighting the inside of our home with a violent bang. I flinched and dropped the bat which rattled loudly before settling at my feet. \n\nWith instructions from the 911 operator, my dad grabbed my arm and guided me to his room. My mother and baby sister were awake, snuggling as if to shield eachother from the storm. \n\n\"What's going on?\" My mom asked, suddenly worried. \n\nMy dad went to the closet and fumbled around for his pistol.\n\n\"John!\" She demanded. \n\n\"Be quiet.\" He said. He found his gun and box of ammunition. The adrenaline caused him to drop several bullets as he loaded the weapon. \n\nMy sister started to cry, so I went over to her and put on my best Brave Big Brother face. \n\n\"It's okay, Chrissy.\" I told her. \"Don't worry, okay?\"\n\nMy dad was still holding the phone to his head with his left hand, while he had his right hand aiming the gun at the door. \n\nI wasn't sure which was louder, the rain, or the beating of my heart. I did feel much safer though being with my family. Armed. \n\nWe heard something. The bathroom across from the garage. Someone was in there. We could hear the medicine cabinet lose half it's contents. \n\nMy dad was itching to rush him, but thought better of it. None of us said anything. We just listened. \n\nIt seemed like an eternity before the police arrived. They entered the house with loud voices. We could hear their footsteps over the rain. \n\nWe heard murmering, then a tussle, then shouting, then breaking sounds. A few loud thumps shook the entire house just as the lightning had minutes earlier. \n\nBANG BANG BANG \n\nMore struggling. Grunting. Moaning. The squeaking of shoes. \n\nThen the unmistakable sound of a body hitting the floor like a sack of potatoes. \n\nWe remained still in the bedroom, focused on the closed door between us and the mess outside.\n\nWe allowed several minutes to pass before acknowledging that the police still hadn't cleared the rest of the house or called for our welfare. \n\n\"I don't think the officers are alive.\" My dad whispered in the phone. \"There was a struggle, and gun fire. It's quiet now.\"\n\nWe heard footsteps in the hall. Each step croaked louder than the last. \n\nThe door handle slowly turned. \n\nThe door cracked open.\n\nBANG BANG BANG" ]	1
	[WP] You and your co-workers work in a mine. Once your shift ends and all of you ascend to the surface, there's not a soul left alive. You just survived a gamma-ray burst.	[ "As the clock tells it's 5:55, five more minutes and you get to see the sky again. Everyone starts to get their mining supplies together and into their tool boxes, as you gather your things you feel an eerie sense in your gut that you can't quit understand. \nAs the all the workers file out to ground level you notice the silence. It's deafening. The work site is right off of route 222 and you can't hear a single car. Being that it's 6 p.m. and rush hour that never happens. You look around and notice that everyone can tell something is off. You walk up to your coworker Jeff and see him desperately calling and recalling someone. \n\"Hey, what's going on?\" You question as he seems to not even notice you coming\n\" My wife, she won't answer! She and my daughter are home and they just won't answer! Why is it so damn quite?! What the hell is this?\" As he rambles and swears he just keeps dialing and calling just to be received with an answering machine each time.\nAs you wonder off to see if anyone has answers you notice the trees and the mountains, which normally have choruses of chirps and coos, are silent as well. With a closer look you can see birds and squirrels, all laying scattered under the trees, motionless. As everyone starts to realise that something has happened panic sets in and all of the people that were once calm miners with steady hands seem to have forgotten how to act rationally.\n", "“Bishop to Queen 4. Checkmate.”\n\n“Woah! He did it again!” Charlie shouted.\n\nStan looked at the board, contemplating all the free squares as an opportunity to escape his nemesis’ trap. But it was useless. After five minutes of a thorough analysis, he leaned back on his chair, closed his eyes and massaged his temples. Then, abruptly, he grabbed the board and threw it away.\n\n“I’m tired of this silly game! I know this bugger hides pieces up his sleeves!”\n\nEveryone’s reaction was to guffaw. Frank didn’t even want to defend himself, since this was his twentieth consecutive victory, and Stan’s typical reaction and so exaggerated that no one could help but laugh.\n\nAfter things calmed down and we stored all the pieces and the board in the designated cabinet, we felt the mines shake. We looked up, wondering if this was another lesser earthquake. It rained earth for some time until things calmed down. We were all standing quiet, looking to each other.\n\n“Ok boys, we are done for today. No chess tomorrow, we have a lot of work to do.” Mr Woods broke the silence.\n\nThat earthquake felt stronger than the previous ones, but it was also much quicker to subside. Maybe it was distant. Maybe we didn’t notice the others’ magnitude properly because they happened while we were working. I had no idea what was that. Judging by my peers’ reactions, they were in the same boat. I got ready to leave and waited for the others in front of the elevator. Stan was also waiting.\n\n“Do you have any idea of what may have happened?”\n\n“I bet it’s another bloody earthquake messing around.” He answered.\n\n“Yeah, maybe it is. I just hope we can sleep in peace this time.”\n\nThe others arrived and we entered the elevator. During the way up, no word was said. This was unusual for a lazy chess day. We wanted to convince ourselves that what just happened was an earthquake. Even though earthquakes are a powerful display of strength, they were within our knowledge. We had already experienced them. What everyone feared now was the unknown.\n\nAs soon as we got out of the elevator, we felt something strange in the air. We couldn’t see anything different, but that feeling was always there. Everything seemed uncomfortably the same, as if it was not supposed to be.\n\nWe got in the car and went back to the village. The trees were leafless. All the traffic signs seemed years older. We grew more apprehensive as we got closer to town. Something was wrong, everyone knew it, but no one had the guts to say anything. If it was not by Mr Woods driving, we would still be by the mines. It was a long journey, but we glared ahead the whole time.\n\nThe trees were getting scarcer; the plaques indicating the proximity to the village were there; the famous U-turn was right ahead. Yet, we could barely see something resembling the village. I could hear Charlie sobbing by my side. Frank held his amulet tight. Stan massaged his temples. Something definitively happened, and it was not an earthquake.\n\nOnce we entered the village, we could only see ruins. All our houses, the stores, the church, the park and the town hall were now the same. The only bodies we could distinguish in the dust were burned to the bones. That was too much to handle, even for Mr Woods. He parked the car in the middle of what now was nowhere and we all got out. I looked to the shambles remembering everything I had built in that place, all the memories turned into dust. I fell to my knees and started crying. A restart from this point was not even possible.\n\nInterrupting our mourning, an airplane flew over us, releasing a trail of leaflets. We grabbed them as if that was the last vestige of civilization we would ever be in touch with. It was propaganda.\n\n“To any surviving Cydonian,\n\nYou may all be familiarized with the current state of affairs between your country and the Federative Republic of Bananas.\n\nTo put an end to such disputes, our almighty president, His Excellency, Johann Cornellius Villard proposed a favourable deal to both concerned parties. It was agreed that all Cydonian steel mines located within a radius of 300 km from the borders would be under Bananan sovereignty, in order to put an end to the war. However, your leader preferred to make an agreement using your lives as currency trading. Until he changes his mind, good luck.\n\nSincerely,\n\nPaul Kevington\n\nMinister of Defence of the Federative Republic of Bananas”\n", "The mine rattled with a vibrant boom, the lamps flickered leaving the miners in momentary darkness. Loose stone was sent cascading onto the working men, the ground below them sinking a few inches. Only lasting mere seconds, the sudden unexpected anomaly sent the emergency sirens ringing. A blaring red alarm was sent echoing down the chambers. Deep in the mines, men rushed towards the elevator in an orderly fashion. \n\nMike had dropped his chisel and darted towards the elevator, his face flushed, beads of sweat flowing down his brow. Mike noticed the panic amongst the other men, normal panic among new guys was normal but the worried faces of the seasoned veterans left an uneasy feeling deep in Mike's belly. He swallowed the dry lump in his throat and made his way with the cloud. The darkness within the mines always left Mike with a fry sense of fear. A primordial fear telling him not to go any further and make his way back up towards the surface. No wonder this job paid so well, no one wanted to be stuck down in the mines all day breathing in noxious chemicals and gas. Mike could already sense the effects of the inhalation of fumes he was getting the persistent cough he couldn't seem to shake. \n\nWith the nervous thoughts racing through his mind, Mike finally managed to squeeze in to the tight, rickety elevator. Mike had an uneasy feeling at what had happened. The vibration nearly threw him off his feet, it was very uncommon for earthquakes to occur in New York but deep down in the earth, anything was possible he presumed. As the elevator gears rattled to life, the lift slowly started cranking up. Men stood in a panic, questioning and weeping. Mine collapses were a common occurrence in this field, Mike suddenly felt like he would break out in hysteria. The elevator seemed to crawl at a snails pace as it headed towards the bright light directly above. Mike prayed that they would make it out before the mine collapsed and not be stuck like those poor bastards in Chile. Mike had a wife to get back home too, Daisy had left her previous job and committed to full time house mother while the baby cooked inside her womb. Mike was making great money so for her to stay home was a real honor. \n\nAs Mike tried to shake the thoughts of his wife and unborn baby out of his mind, the panicky thoughts began to creep back in. He had began to wonder why they didn't hear any communications from the station, surely they must have felt the quake Mike wondered. Mike tried reassuring himself, the elevator would reach the main floor and everyone will be okay, just a random tremble with no adverse effects. As the elevator chugged on, the other men broke out in cheers, they were getting closer to the surface. \n\nMere meters from the surface, the rotting smell of spoiled eggs was replaced with someone more foul, more sinister. A stench of burning overcame the men, some began to gag. Smelling like an electrical fire and burnt hair, Mike began asking if the others were smelling what he had smelt. The alarms became increasingly louder and the elevator reach the main floor. Men laid in puddles of pinkish red sludge, their heads exploded open, their skin littered with blisters oozing green mucous. The stench hit the men even hard, wrenching a withering, the men sprinted towards the door, hopping over the dozens of corpses littered in the main floor. As the group of men burst through the lobby doors, the sky was a dark milky green color, a thick haze hung in the air. Trees were split in half, puddles of water bubbled and oozed. The group of men stood there in horror, just as the panicking was setting in, Mike felt a pounding pain in his chest, he seized to the floor. His head beamed an immense throbbing pain, his eyes bulging out of his sockets. Soon, one by one each men dropped towards the ground. Mike struggled for a breathe, the intense pressure inflating his head, he could hardly see straight. With a sickening pop, Mike's head opened up in a piñata of blood and brains, spraying the concrete steps. One by one, each man in the groups head popped in a similar style. The ground rattled a second intense vibration, car horns were blaring, street lamps shaking. Only this time, New York wasn't the only one to feel it, reports were popping up as far as Arizona, New York was only the beginning. " ]	3
	[WP] You have been living in the same day over and over again.	[ "The doors opened like they always do. Tentatively, light pooling out into the entrance until eventually it opens with confidence - her cousin beaming on the other end of it. I walk slowly, my hands are calm and at ease. The first few times I had to concentrate on making them not shake.\n\nI pass the back few pews, taking in her friends and family's eyes, a cool breeze floating in from the church's intricate windows. At this point I usually walk a bit faster to take my place quickly. Today is different. I take my time. I'm smiling. I come to a stop as my heart does the opposite, ramping up until I can feel it in my throat. I stood a bit more to the left than usual, to get a better view. A few moments pass yet it feels like hours, time dragging it's heavy bones until finally, the first few notes begin to wisp through the air from the church organ again. \n\nThe first time I heard it, tears came immediately to my ears. It felt like the perfect mix of what I was feeling. Happy, terrified, a mix of oil and water emotions. At this point though, the sound is a cue for me to start steeling myself and not lock my knees. I look up as the song reaches it's first climax.\nAnd there she is. In her resplendent white gown, the veil falling daintily over her face. As always, she is smiling, with her eyes shining like a summer morning.\n\nWhen she's halfway to me, she stumbles slightly. I tried running heroically to steady her a couple times, but that never worked out well anyway. She laughs slightly, eyes giving me a flash. Her and I know she hates those heels. Then - like always - she's beside me, grinning widely. Close now. Close enough to taste her perfume, see her lips, her contoured brows perfectly made. There's a laugh in her eyes that no matter how many times I see it, I pretend it's just for us. Just for me. \n\nThen she passes the procession. And her veil is lifted by her groom. The priest begins his talk, the end of each sentence a dull thud in my chest. Eventually he utters those final words like he does every single time. Up to this point I've always looked away, unable to face the truth. I've relived this day countless times, each one harder than the last. Until today. I promised myself I would look. Promised myself that I would be a good bridesmaid and be happy for her and her love. To escape this cycle and move on from what I know I can't have. \n\nHe leans in. The crowd begins their cheer. Her eyelids close contently, shielding the mirror to what I fell for. \n\nMaybe I'll look tomorrow.", "&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;The smell of coffee, the taste of cereal, the sunlight heating my body; in my opinion, this is the perfect start of the day. Well maybe it's not so perfect because I see the radio it's not working this morning, but well, at least I delighted myself with this new cereal type that I actually forgot I bought. Being a man of habit I don't try new stuff too often but when it happens it can be nice. \n\n&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;It took me a while to get ready for work; I had to search hard for something to wear, that fit me. I didn't even notice that I started to gain weight, maybe that's why Nancy is so snappy these days. Lately we’ve been fighting a lot. This morning she even left before me, but at least she left a note on the fridge. \"I had to go early to finish something at work. I'm sorry for the fight we had. See you tonight, I love you.\" Oh, that's actually nice of her, maybe we’ll get better. \"P.S. the door seems to get stuck; don’t worry about it I will arrange for a locksmith to see it during the day; in case it doesn't work for you maybe you can call at work and take the day off” Well that's a very particular advice, and did she turn back to add the door part to the note? That's thoughtful of her, but probably it’s nothing, just some rust, I should be going. \n\n&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;I head towards the apartment door and I notice an envelope on the floor; that's curious, the postman usually puts these in the mail box at the entrance. I pick it up and I see it's a letter from my parents; that is even more unexpected. I didn't talk with them in a long time. We fought a few years ago because of Nancy; they thought that she was bad news, that she was only after my money, actually their money, and we stopped talking after I married her. Lately I was feeling guilty and sad for not contacting them for so long. I open the envelope expecting bad news. \n\n\"Dear Greg, \n&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;We hope this letter finds you and Nancy well. We realize that it was wrong for us to question the love between you two, so we hope you'll forgive us and we'll be a family again as soon as possible. We love you and we know you love us too. \n\nMom and dad\" \n\n&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Wow! maybe I didn’t realize how much this distance saddened me but now, reading this, I feel so relieved. I can’t wait to tell Nancy. I have to go. \n\n&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;But wait, the door actually doesn’t open. I struggle with it for a while but with no success. Dam! Yesterday it seemed ok! What the hell happened!? Wait, this door can’t ruin my day, after all I received great news so it’s a great day and I will find a solution. The only other exit from the apartment is through the windows, but being on the 20th floor that would be a very dramatic exit. I can’t really consider it with my fear of heights regardless how enthusiastic I’m right now. I still approach the window so I can assess the possible situation I might get into; I feel a little bit dizzy even from the safety of the apartment. This experience took the edge from my enthusiasm and made it a form of contentment. With these new eyes I take a look over the town. I don’t know if it’s the way I fell but I think the town used to have fewer buildings and cars. \n\n&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;The only solution is to wait for Nancy to come back, and I will give her the news then. Meanwhile I should call to work and let them know I can’t arrive today. We don’t keep a phone book but luckily I have the number from work in my wallet, so I phone. \n\n&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;“Hello! Mr. Stromberg?” I asked immediately there was a sound at the other end. \n&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;“Speaking.” \n&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;“Oh … yeah, sorry am I speaking with Mr. Stromberg?” I asked again, to be sure because the voice on the other end was different, and weird, like a baby that smoked a lot. \n&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;“Yes.” \n&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;“Yes … so I’m calling to let you know that I can’t come to work today because I’m blocked into my apartment, the door is broken. I’m very sorry.” \n&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;“That is ok, I will see you tomorrow.” and he hung up. \n\n&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;So I think that went well enough, although now I realize I forgot to tell him my name; maybe he recognized my voice, or maybe he doesn’t even care and it always was so easy to talk to, anyway this day is free. Now I have the entire day to wait for Nancy and enjoy this new feeling. The broken door was a blessing in disguise; I needed this rest and peace of mind. It’s so nice that now I can love Nancy, she can love me back, and it seems she does, and at the same time be in good relations with my parents. This seemed so far away, almost impossible lately; it’s amazing that all changed today. \n\n&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;I should find some time killing activity, maybe eat some more cereal, they were good; I had no Idea they are able to make them into colorful complicated shapes; although as in most cases they’re not the same as on the box. The kind I used to buy were more plain, and I don’t remember buying this other kind; Nancy doesn’t buy cereal so maybe they were forgotten by the previous owner and I didn’t see them until now; that’s unlikely but I should check the expiration date. Weird enough that part of the box was cut out. After my cereal based lunch I just stared at the ceiling from different spots in the apartment and enjoyed the distant traffic sound. It made me feel safe and comfortable. Probably at some point I dozed off because when I looked at the clock again was 9 in the afternoon. \n\n&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Nancy should have been back until now, also the locksmiths probably finished their working hours. Maybe I shouldn’t worry but I feel like I should be doing more than waiting. Maybe I will find someone at work and they can send a locksmith here and once I leave the apartment I can go look for Nancy. So I pick up the phone again. It rings for maybe 2 minutes when finally someone answers. \n\n&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;“Hello! Who is this? Mr. Stromberg?” I ask almost panicking. \n&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;“Hi Mr. Greg, Oleg is grounded and he can’t come play but he said you will be happy tomorrow. “said someone with the voice of a toddler. \n&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;“Hello! Who is this? What is your name?” \n\n&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;I didn’t get any answer, but there was still noise on the line, it sounded like traffic, so I guess this was a public phone. That is not right, if it’s a public phone it can’t be the office. It must be a mistake, but still, he called me Greg, that is strange. I should call again, maybe I dialed wrong. I call but it sounds busy, so there is someone still left at work, yes I just have to wait for them to finish. I redial for about 30 minutes until I get the phone ringing and wait about 5 minutes till someone answered. \n\n&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;“Hello?” the other person said with a voice full of wonder . \n&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;“Yes, hello, are you speaking from the James&James building?” \n&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;“No sir, this is mistake, this outside phone” and he hung up. \n\n&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;With the phone in hand I stare into the void, I don’t understand what is happening. I must be calm and approach this logically. So I’m sure I dialed correctly the second time, and both times it seems I reached a public phone, but this morning answered someone who said it was Stromberg ... while I was thinking someone slide under the door a piece of paper and a pill. \n\n&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;“Keep the note from Nancy on the fridge.\nPush the letter and envelope you received through under the door.\nKeep everything else in the apartment as it was this morning.\nYou have to take the pill and get into bed. It’s a sleeping pill and an antidote to the very slow poison that you ingested today and that will slowly kill you by morning. Your signature on the bottom of the page should be a proof that this is done by your wish.“ \n\n&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;This is insane, for almost a minute I can’t make a sound, I’m just shocked. I have to wait a few more minutes and maybe I will be able to think. \n\n&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;“What happens if I don’t?“ \n&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;After some time a very young child says “You will die Mr. Greg. “ \n&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;“The note said this is done by my wish. Why will I wish to die?” \n&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;“If you don’t follow the instructions, tomorrow you will not be happy Mr. Greg. “ \n&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;“Why is that ?” \n&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;“You need to receive the good news to be happy.” \n&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;“And how do you know this? Who are you?” \n\n&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;There was no other sound after this. I kept thinking about a solution and fortunately I remembered the emergency phone number, 901. I don’t know why I didn’t think about this until now. I hurry to call it. But it’s no use, I can’t dial number 9 on this phone, it won’t turn, it seems to be stuck. I guess I have to wait to feel sick. If that happens I guess I have nothing to loose and I’ll take the pill. Meanwhile I decided to eat some more cereal.After a while I started to feel sleepy, not so sick but I figured I shouldn’t risk to fall asleep without taking the pill so I took it and I did what the list asked. By the time I reached the bed I was kind of disoriented and just fell on it with all the lights opened. After a while I hear the door open and some kids fighting and whispering. I can’t see them clearly but I'm trying to hear what they're saying but it's harder and harder. \n" ]	2
	[WP] A highly religious person is bitten by a vampire. The results are... unexpected.	[ "NOTE: I know this is a rather late response, but I wanted to ride this one out and it sure took a while. In fact, my response is almost 3,000 words long! Naturally, this meant that I had to break it in half, to stay under the character limit. Second half of the story is the first reply. Anyway, thanks and I hope you enjoy!\n\n ~ ~ ~ ~ ~\n\nUnprecedented and unexpected. That's the only way to describe it. Never before had one of God's followers been turned, until Jericho was. It was unintended, of course. The way these things worked, you see, is that usually anyone bitten by a vampire was killed. It was up to the vampire itself to see to it. You see, vampiric society is... interesting, to say the least. They do have a government of sorts: a hierarchy of especially old and powerful vampires who moderate vampiric activity. This Elder's Council, as it's known, makes sure that all vampires kill their victims. They do this so as to keep the population in check. If you have too many people turn, then supply and demand grow unbalanced. It's a simple system, really. It almost always works.\n\nIn the Fall of 2018, Jericho was just leaving the chapel after his midnight adoration. He lived only a block away, so he was walking home. He always loved the night. It was always so peaceful and quiet. Most of all, however, it was lonely. For Jericho, less people meant less temptation, and God knew he didn't need anymore of that. Besides, it's not like he had any choice in the matter. His life demanded that he become nocturnal. He didn't mind, though; he had always preferred solitude. God was all the company he ever needed.\n\nBefore the incident, Jericho had considered giving himself to the priesthood, or at least going for deacon status. After that one night, however, he knew that this could never happen. He had killed another in cold blood. So, he reserved himself for the next best thing: the life of a monk. There were no monasteries anywhere near him, so Jericho did his best alone. This all happened, of course, before Jericho turned.\n\nIt was a painful experience, both for the vampire who bit him and for Jericho himself. For Jericho, the venom coursing through his veins caused great agony, almost excruciatingly so. For the young lady who bit him (she looked young at least), the pain came from Jericho's lean, hulking arms choking the undeath from her in his throes. It wasn't much of a struggle. First, the woman caught Jericho off guard on his return from the chapel. Second, she went in for the kill. Third, she was dead and Jericho was, well, undead. He had no way of knowing what was truly taking place, as he had never believed in vampires. His understanding of the situation was that a woman in her mid-twenties had tried to mug him by injecting him in the neck with poison, and she had merely bitten off more than she could chew, pardon the pun. \n\nWhen the woman finally collapsed, all semblance of life gone from her, Jericho had run, or stumbled rather, the rest of the way to his house. His vision grew bleary with the pain, and his first thought was to call an ambulance, both for himself and for the woman he had left lying on the sidewalk. He only managed to dial a 9-1 before he fell unconscious. \n\nWaking up, Jericho felt as if nothing had happened. In fact, he felt better than he ever had before! No trace remained of the pain from the previous night. His mind immediately returned to the woman. Jericho rushed out the front door, ignoring the sudden wave of nausea that washed over him with the sunlight, only to be blasted by a sudden gust of dust-ridden wind. Down the street, nothing remained of the woman but a pile of clothes and a cloud of dust, once again blinding him with the breeze. He became sick to himself, and the nauseating headache didn't help either. He clambered back inside and sat down with his back to the door. What fate had he wrought upon that poor girl who was obviously just trying to sustain herself in any way she could? He could forgive her, but not himself. Jericho's head cleared as he descended into his basement. All of a sudden, he felt exhausted. He would go to sleep, but only after a particularly vigorous prayer of repentance. He would have to go to confession next Sunday.\n\nA man sat across from Jericho's bed as he awoke. He wore a black suit and fedora, and slouched in the chair at Jericho's desk. Somehow, Jericho was not startled by this, and merely acknowledged the stranger with a questioning glance. \"Good night, Jericho. I have come to speak with you, and answer a few questions you may have. In return you will answer some of my own inquiries. Also, I may or may not have to kill you.\" Jericho chuckled. \"Sure,\" he returned. \"Why not?\". \"Splendid. Firstly, I would like to know how you managed to overcome the young lady whom attacked you last night.\" Jericho raised an eyebrow. \"Really? You're looking at me now, and you've evidently seen the girl before, and yet you wonder how I managed to kill her?\" The man shook his head. \"Jericho, there is so much you don't understand, yet you are the one who baffles me. That girl was no ordinary human. She had a certain... condition which made her leagues more powerful than most. Yet somehow, you outmatched her.\" \"What sort of condition?\" Jericho asked. \"She was a vampire.\"\n\nJericho's mouth lay agape, yet for some reason this revelation seemed obvious to him in hindsight. \"Wait, wait just a minute. You're telling me that just last night, I was bitten by, and subsequently strangled, a vampire?\" The man only smiled a smug, knowing grin. Upon closer examination, Jericho saw that the man had long, snow-white hair, red eyes, and wicked fangs. Jericho bit his lip, then winced and put his hand to his mouth. His lip was bleeding from two puncture wounds where his canine teeth would have made contact. Jericho wiped his mouth, then scrambled over to the bathroom and stared into the mirror. He wasn't invisible, but he was definitely different. His hair was frosted white at the tips, his teeth were like those of the stranger, and his eyes had faded from blue to a deep purple. \"Yes, you are turning,\" the man said casually. \"The process will take about another day to finish.\" He paused. \"If you survive that long, that is.\" \n\nJericho looked at the man. \"What do you mean, if I survive?\" The man stood and removed his coat. \"I mean what I told you earlier. I may or may not have to kill you.\" Jericho instinctively took a defensive stance. \"What factors decide that, I wonder?\" \"Well, simply put, it's my turn for questions.\" With hands in his pockets, the red-eyed vampire approached Jericho. \"Who are you.\" Jericho replied calmly, \"I am but a humble servant of God, seeking only to live according to His word.\" The vampire recoiled at the mention of God, and hissed, \"you disgust me! How can you say such a thing when you are now the embodiment of defiance toward him!\" Jericho raised his voice, and puffed his chest. \"I hate to break it to you bud, but I kinda already had that covered.\"\n\nCurious, the vampire lowered his guard. \"What do you mean by that?\" He said cautiously. \"I've always been a killer at heart.\" Jericho stated. \"Why do you think I avoid other people whenever I can help it? I used to disgust myself. I always felt these... desires to hurt other people. They would really just come out of nowhere, seemingly arbitrarily. When I was a kid, I was a grade A student, a great friend to my classmates, and an all around goody-two-shoes. Every once in a while, however, I would just feel this gnawing feeling inside me, telling me to do something horrible. It was always so hard to resist, but I usually could. Until that time.\" \n\nThe vampire had sat back down and was listening intently. \"It was an ordinary day in high school, and I got excused from class to use the bathroom. I was alone in there except for one other student. He came in whistling, staring at his phone, and leaned himself against the bathroom wall. I finished washing my hands and just stared at him. I felt so angry at him for exploiting the teachers' generosity in letting him out of class. Normally I would have just shaken my head and walked away, but this time that hunger overcame me. I clenched my fists and stalked up to him. He looked at me like I was a weirdo, and asked if I had a problem. Before he could move an inch, however, I snapped his neck. Afterwards, I just sat down and stared at my hands. I must have blacked out because when I next looked up, I was sitting in the lobby of the town's police station. My parents were in the chief's office, looking distraught and pretty expectedly freaking out. After that, we moved to Minnesota, and I started going to a psychiatric counselor every week. Ever since, I've never had another episode until last night.\"\n\n ~ ~ ~ ~ ~\n\nCont. Story below.", "Vampires are very picky about who they chose to bring into eternity with them. They call it eternity, really most vampires only live a few hundred years at most. Not that it matters. I wasn't chosen. I wasn't on the list. I didn't have the 'right stuff'. By which they mean the selfishness and willingness to murder to scrape a few extra years out of life before meeting my maker.\n\nI later discovered that it was an administrative error. A comedy of errors, apparently. The young looking lady they sent to turn me hadn't done it before. She had recently taken to drinking the blood of patients from a home for the severely mentally disturbed. Which probably why she mistook a Catholic Church in the middle of no-where for a corporate high rise. Regardless, she didn't turn John Luke, the billionaire bastard. She turned Father John Luke of St Mary's, Balladston. Me. The drugs might explain why she didn't see all the crucifixes. Maybe she thought that giant cross in the middle of the church was a bannana. Only God can say.\n\nOf course, I wasn't planned. They thought it was funny. It was hell. Worse, they said, no blood ration for me. Apparently, Vampires have it all worked out, victim wise. They're more interested in bleeding people dry in other ways. Blood can be bought. But I'm a priest. I have no money. Service to God and all that.\n\nAnd of course, the sober ones won't come near the church...\n\nFor almost a week I starved. The congregation didn't mind the change to night services, I don't think most of the old beggars noticed. But I was so hungry. I almost took a nip out of Mrs Perkins the flower lady when she burst in. But God saved me. Which is funny as, even though I've been a priest since I left college 5 years ago, I've never really believed.\n\nUntil the miracle. It was the parishoners who noticed. After the service, they came to me. Complaining. I looked peaky they said. Was I ill? In my illness, had I made a mistake with the wine? Because \"It was a little salty, Father', not the usual. I took a taste to test. It was delicious. It was the blood of Christ.\n", "In an old abandoned church, the floor was stained red with blood. People, peacefully still were sitting in the pews with their heads lowered in reverence and their hands nailed together in prayer. \n\nBeneath the cross upon the altar was a young girl with blonde long hair, and she wore the most innocent white sunday dress--but splotches of red on her cheek and hands suggested something sinister about her... By her side was a number of nails and hammer.\n\nShe looked peaceful, happy, her gaze looking over the motionless congregation. They were of all ages, sexes, and walks of life.\n\nOne--however... Moved. \n\nHis hands and legs were nailed into the seats. His anger was barely restrained--trying to rip his body free, but the nails were too deeply driven in.\n\n\"You don't get it.\" He said. \"More of us will come for you. We exist in the shadows for a reason, and we will do anything to keep it so.\"\n\nThe woman rose with the hammer and began to make way to the man \"It is okay.\" She said. \"God will forgive you. All you need to do is repent.\" \n\nHe bit his lip, drawing blood in frustration. \"She is crazy.\" he thought. Some one had made a mistake turning this girl...\n\nThe man could see blood and ashes on her bare feet. \"What happened to your master?\"\n\n\"He wouldn't repent.\" She came to him, and began to look deeply into his eyes. \"God chose me.\" She said.\n\nThe man was careful with his words... He didn't believe in god, but he was sure his immortal life would be ended if he challenged her.\n\n\"Pray.\" She said. \"Pray for forgiveness and you can enjoy the bliss of heaven. Even if your soul has been stained by the devil--I will help you cleanse it.\"\n\nShe dropped the hammer in the pool of blood at her feet, and she went to the font of holy water--dipping her hands in and cupping the water.\n\nThere was the sizzling sound of her skin, and she carefully carried the water that burned her to the man. \"Drink.\" Said. \n\nHis instincts took over as he saw the bloodying water in her hands, and he resisted her--he screamed as the water spilled over him in the struggle. \"Fuck!\" Rage was building in him and he tried and tried to rip his own hands off if meant escape--His fury quickled turned to regret though...\n\nHer hands wrapped around his face, and she had her own rage to show. She shaked his head violently. \"STOP RESISTING!\" She yelled at him. Her claws digging into his cheek. \"I am trying to save you--god has chosen me to be his angel.\" \n\nThe man breathed and calmed down--he had stayed alive for nearly a hundred years... He wasn't going to die now. \"Fine--I'll drink it.\" He said.\n\nThe process was repeated, and he forced himself to drink. He could feel his throat and insides falling apart. It burned, but it wasn't going to kill him yet.\n\n\"Now pray. Let me hear you pray.\" She said. She showed no anger anymore, but something close to affection...\n\nHe lowered his head struggled to think of what to say, but... \"God. Please forgive me. I have sinned for many years... Killed. Stole. Every commandment I have broken. I ask that you grant this poor sinner forgiveness...\"\n\nHe looked up to the woman, and she looked blissful. She bit her pinky as she adored his plea to a higher power. \"Perfect.\" She said. She meandered away, and she knelt before the altar.\n\n\"I've saved another soul.\" She said. \n\nShe was the craziest vampire he had ever met...\n\n\"I'll find every sinner, and save them for you. So they can bask in your love in heaven above.\" She said and stayed knelt.\n\nHe saw a chance... He began to bite away his hands--mutilating them enough till he could pull himself free. The wounds began to heal immediately. He dug the nails from his legs out, and wobbled to stand--trying desperately to make sure he wouldn't make much sound.\n\nShe stayed kneeling. He picked up the hammer and looked to her.\n\nIn that moment, as she was beneath the altar and cross... \n\n\"Oh god.\" He said, dropping the weapon. He could see a light around her, and wings of an angel beginning to protrude from her back.\n" ]	3
	[WP] Pyramids are found on Ganymede. The International Space Agency decides to send a manned spacecraft to investigate them further. You are one of the explorers and are sent alone down on the surface to investigate the pyramids. You enter one of them.	[ "The ancient stone of the pyramid seemed to wrap around me as I walked deeper into the structure. My flashlight burned a cone of illumination into the thick darkness before me. I could almost feel the silence wrapping around me like a sheet of tar, and as I walked deeper into the Pyramid a horrible feeling of anticipation started to bubble in my chest.\n\n\"Calm down Rex,\" I muttered to myself. \"You're just walking into a friggin pyramid on moon three hundred ninety million miles from the Earth.\" \nFor the life of me, I had no idea why we couldn't send the damned probe down first. No that would be too sensible. Why not send the ship's secondary engineer down into the alien structure? what could possibly go wrong?\n\n\"Maybe you're not worth as much as the probe.\" \n\nI flipped around as a voice whispered in my ears. Behind me, I saw only empty stone hallway and the distant light of the entrance. Shaking my head, I turned to continue my walk deeper into the structure. What I heard was just a delusion brought on by stress. Yeah, that was it.\n\nBut the observation did bother me. Of course, Space jockeys like me were a dime a dozen on the outer stations. Whereas a probe cost millions of credits and had to be built on Mars. Meaning no quick way to replace it if it should say get eaten by some Lovecraftian beat at the heart of an alien pyramid.\n\nI continued my silent walk deeper into the pyramid's depths. My comms had stopped working the moment I came within one hundred feet of the pyramid, so my only company was the sounds of my own breathing and my suit's functions. If your comms are out where did that voice come from? I thought to myself before shaking the thought from my mind. \n\nIt was just a delusion. Nothing more. I couldn't afford to get space dementia or some other nonsense. Especially not right now in the belly of an unknown alien structure. I needed the bonus this little act of coerced bravery would net me to get out of my ISA coughslavecough work contract.\n\nAs I walked down the dark grey stone of the hall I started to notice carvings on the walls. Humanoid figures with hammers and chisels forging stars and planets on anvils. Then the figures put down their tools and picked up...flowers. A single type of flower carved hundreds of times, it was as if someone had merged a glossy orchid and a sunflower. \n\nI was so transfixed by the pictures that I almost didn't notice the hall ending until I walked out into an open space. The stone beneath my feet turned to a soft black soil that my boots sank into with every step. A gasp escaped my lips as I took in the room I stood in. \n\nIt was a circular chamber so massive that I could barely see the other end from where I stood. A massive crystal hung from the domed ceiling, casting soft white light down on a field of flowers that looked exactly like the carvings on the wall. Though these were so beautiful no simple carving could do them justice. \n\nA dull green and massive the flowers grew to my waist and seemed to coat every inch of free space. With a cautious hand I reached down and touched an oversized peddle of one of the flowers. It glowed a bright green for a moment and then became inert again. \n\n\"You've found your inheritance.\" The strange voice spoke. \n\nThis time when I looked up I saw a woman standing before me. Only she wasn’t a human woman, her eyes had two pupils each instead of one and her features were unnaturally sharp. She was nude and besides a pair of truly wonderous breasts seemed to lack any kind of genitalia. Raven black hair flowed down from her head and behind her in a river of onyx. \n\n\"Who are you?\" I asked my voice quiet as if I'd scare this strange woman away. All the fear had been drained away and something had replaced it. A feeling I hadn’t felt since childhood when I'd stare out the window of the habitat to catch glimpses of spaceships as they traveled from colony to colony. Wonder. \n\n\"We are your mothers and your fathers.\" The woman said turning to one side and pointing behind her to something in the distance. \"You are an engineer correct?\" \n\n\"I am.\" I answered, in the distance I could just make out the shape of an anvil nestled amongst the flowers. \n\nThen my feet began to move on their own, and I was walking beside the woman towards the anvil. Her fingers entwined with mine and a strange electric energy flowed into me. I could feel her riding that strange wave of energy into my nerves and deep into my mind, but I couldn’t have fought her if I wanted to. \n\nOld memories bubbled up from their prisons in my memory. The sounds of my mother screaming as my father was spaced for not paying his debts. The pain of a wrench thunking into my head and the humiliation of watching my mother sell her body to afford rations. Old anger and shame came back to me only to be washed away by sweeter memories. \n\nThe taste of mint on my first love's lips. The vibration of a sub-light drive activating beneath my feet. The soft touch of a lover. The feeling of leaving the habitat. \n\n\"You will do.\" I heard the woman say snapping me back to reality. \n\nWe stood before the anvil now and instead of the woman's soft hand I held a hammer in my hand. It was a beautiful thing, forged from a single chunk of crystal it glimmered in the soft white light of the cavern. All around me the flowers started to glow, first a soft green light that cast an eerie light across the woman and I then growing as bright as the sun. \n\nBeneath my feet the ground shook and the walls around me began to crack and crumble. The crystal above me disintegrated and the ceiling itself seemed to crack open revealing the vast cosmos above me. My comms roared to life as the stone barrier of the Pyramid fell away. \n\n\"Craster! what the hell is going on down there?\" My commander screeched through the static.\n\nI looked to the woman who was smiling at me and warm understanding filled me. The flowers around us undulated and seemed to quiver with anticipation. In my hand, the hammer grew warm and filled my arm with a comfortable heat. It spread into my core and with a laugh I raised the hammer above my head. \n\n\"I'm catching a ride out of here.\" I said into my comms before bringing the hammer down onto the anvil. \n\nSomehow in the vacuum of space the blow rang out and for a single instant all of time stood still. Then with a rapturous chorus the flowers exploded into a trillion trillion petals of light. The light wrapped around me, dissolving my space suit and wrapping me in the warmth of a young star. I felt it invade my body, filling every cell with the horrible beauty of creation, and without a word the light and I became one. \n\n</>\n\n\"Craster! Craster!\" Michael Fount yelled into the communicator. \"Does anyone have eyes on the pyramid?\" \n\n\"No chief.\" His comms specialist said from her station. \"It's still wrapped up in that cloud of light.\" \n\n\"Get me an image stat.\" Fount yelled. \n\nThe loss of Craster was meaningless next to the loss of the pyramid. Whatever was generating the energy signature on the planet now was going to make him rich. Who cared if some hab scum got killed discovering it? The history books might memorialize him as a footnote.\n\n“Sir, we’re getting a communique.” The comms specialist said her face going white. “From Ganymede sir.”\n\n“Play it.” Fount ordered. \n\nA song played out from the speakers and a voice sang in a tuneless drawl. For a moment Fount couldn’t place what the song was, but then he got it. It was a popular theme song for a kid’s show on the hab stations. A favorite of Craster’s. Fount almost had time to speak before green light filled his window and he saw Craster floating outside, naked and smirking. The engineer shot him the bird and then he was gone in a trail of green light. \n\n\n\n\n" ]	1
	[WP] Throughout the entire Galaxy there are many fearsome races and cultures. Every civilisation has made their mark on the Galactic stage that cemented them into the Council. Humans made their mark with two words, Vengeance and Tenacity.	[ "The two figures wearing long, ornate robes strode down the stretching hallway lined with massive statues of heroic figures. They were discussing the champions of worlds, the famous heroes and infamous villains that had secured their respective planets position of power amongst the Star Council. The taller, older figure with slate grey scaley skin and full black eyes gestured towards a massive statue with his gnarled, pointed hands.\n\n\"This, my student, is Mal Greni Baor.\"\n\nThe statue depicted a minotaur looking creature, with muscled, scarred arms and scrap armour draping from his bulging shoulders. It was a golden statue and it had Mal emoting a war stance, with his war hammer raised high above his head and a screaming facial expression. He looked truly fearsome. The old historian took a moment to admire the statue, barely capturing the true brutality of the beast.\n\n\"He and his armies swept through the homeland of the warrior clans of Amoki and slaughtered them all. He then took over the planet, him and his people were exiled from their home planet. After settling and made King of Amoki, he took his people back to their home planet and convinced their old King to resign, to which he became King of two planets.\"\n\nThe young historian student looked puzzled.\n\n\"Resign? Surely there wasn't a peaceful resolution.\" The student replied.\n\n\"Indeed there was, this is why he is in the Hall. He was a conqueror, but first he was a man of his people. He led them to a prosperous new world, then returned home and ruled for 75 years. There wasn't a soul on Vicar, his home planet, that questioned him. He ushered in a new age, one of advancement and expansion. Under his rule, Vicarions would rule over 14 planets. Some, taken by force... Others peacefully.\"\n\nThe young student stared in awe at the statue, the overwhelming physical intimidation was nothing compared to the real thing, yet, he could feel the goosebumps from the history behind this powerful being.\n\nThe two continued down the hall, passing creatures of all varieties. Splendors of the Olni Asteroid Belt, worm like creatures capable of surviving the conditions of outer space and able to communicate in hive mind, they arrived in the Hall when they invaded Saloo by landing on comets and infecting the local populace, controlling their bodies. Through their hivemind they were able to communicate and within a few months they had complete societal control.\n\nThey passed the statues of the giants of Irgriba, few in number, outstandingly hardy and long lived. The Igriban giants hadn't invaded anyone, nor were they known as planet conquerors, however they were absolute in their defense of their home planet. They had been invaded 1245 times, each of which the invaders were completely annihilated and eaten.\n\nThe two came to a stop, two relatively small humanoids stood in the display, their golden figure accentuated the pride in their stance. One was square jawed with a muscly figure and short haired, the other was smaller and slender with long flowing hair. They both were wearing tight fitting clothing and holding space travel helmets in one arm. The older historian attempted to press forward, he tried to ignore the humans and hurry on. The young historian squinted at the plaque and read aloud.\n\n\"Captain John 'Musket' Roosevelt and Captain Victoria Gao. These guys aren't nearly as scary in comparison.\"\n\nThe old creature sighed and collected himself.\n\n\"These two are the worst in this place, they hail from planet Earth.\"\n\nThe old historian looked into John's golden statue eyes, he turned away as if pained by the thought of describing the actions these two underwent.\n\n\"Captains of Earth's space war craft, Vengeance II and The Tenacity. Earthlings have a flair for the overdramatic. Captain Roosevelt pioneered the Vengeance II, along with his crew of 16 men and women. The Tenacity was helmed by Captain Gao, she along with 5 crew of women manned the fast attack craft. Together, Vengeance II and The Tenacity tore through 18 galaxies, not planets and annihilated 78 different species. Human colonies were then sent to each of the planets, where they were mined of valuable resources then returned to Planet Mars, where they are processed into trading materials for galactic markets. You see, these humans are the most dangerous of all. They are shrewd, cunning fighters. They are hard to kill and breed quickly, they speak in different languages and have mastered ranged warfare. I would in my life hope to never meet a human and I would die happy.\"\n\n", "We wondered for the longest time why they came to our world. At first we thought they came for conquest but they never tried to hold any of the ground they took. Some thought it was for our world’s natural resources but they took nothing. Personally I believed they just wanted to wipe us out but there was no rhyme or reason to their destruction. They burned NORAD out of the ground and nuked Mumbai. They let a plague loose in Greece and set fire to every forest in Romania. They did something to the Great Lakes that turned them blue and made them smell like sulfur. Anyone who tried to drink the water went on a never ending acid trip. Over the course of a year they committed thousands of atrocities all over the world. We didn’t take this insanity laying down however. We threw everything we had at them from fighter jets to nukes. A few of their smaller crafts where knocked out of the sky but what really changed things around was when the we, that is the Americans, managed to take one one of their larger ships mostly intact.\n\nTheir ships never touched the ground so a direct assault was out of the question but neither did they move about all that much. Sometimes they would go weeks without budging an inch no matter what happened to them. Then someone noticed a bird landing on the hull of a ship and that got the ball rolling. A couple of the more daring and/or insane special operations guys decided to see if they could land on it as well. They had gone in prepared for the possibility that they might not immediately die a horrifying death. The moment their boots touched the outside of the ship and they cut their first shoots free they where laying thermite charges. Three guys melted their way into the ship and proceeded to kill every last alien on board. According to them they didn’t even put up a fight. As far as the soldiers could tell the aliens seemed to be equal parts amused and confused right before they blew them away. Once the crew was killed and the ship was in heading towards the ground a second hole was blown in the side of the ship and they made their escape. \n\nWithin a day the same thing boarding action and slaughter was repeated on every ship large enough for someone to parachute onto. The world braced itself for the second wave or repraisal fleet but neither ever came. Decades where spent dissecting the enemy dead and reverse engineering the captured ships. We went from a Type One to a Type Two civilization in a century. The most important discovery we made was where they came from and where we would be going next. The second most important thing was just how common life was in the galaxy and the existence of some kind of ruling council. We decided to deal with these problems in the order we discovered them. It took us another century to build our revenge fleet and launch it into the void. Ten thousand ships, half as many space-ground fighters, and five million Marines made the trip. We struck without warning and without mercy, burning everything in our path. They asked us why over and over again, why did we come to their world, why where we killing them, why did they deserve this? Nuclear fire was our only answer until only one remained.\n\nOne of the first actions we undertook was to capture what amounted to their leadership caste. They had a front row tickets to the death of their species and where made to watch every last moment of it. When their last city was burned to the ground we finally answered their question. We played for them all the videos and pictures taken during the year they almost wiped our race out. They watched it over and over again until we where sure they understood. We had intended to ask them the same question but as we purged their worlds we learned the truth. They hadn’t come for conquest, resources, or our annihilation. They had come because they where bored. They had very nearly killed us because they where looking for something fun to do. What appalled us the most was that the galaxy at large knew what was happening and you didn’t care. None of you did anything to try and stop these animals.\n\nThe human ambassador paused in his speech to look about the massive amphitheater he was standing in. Thousands of creatures, each one wholly unique from the other, sat and watched him speak. Every word he said was translated into a thousand different means of communication. Their reaction to his outrage however was singular. How dare this up jumped backwater creature talk down to them like this. Some of the more aggressive ambassadors rose to their feat bellowing anger and rage at the human. They where the more advanced species, they had harnessed the power of the stars when humanity was still living in trees and hiding from lightening. They could do whatever they wanted to any animals they came across. What the aliens did to our planet was well within their rights the same way we have the right to crush a cockroach because it offends us. This was the response the human ambassador had expected and prepared for. Once the outrage calmed down and the other ambassadors began to take their seats once more he continued.\n\nWhat none of you know however is that human history is defined by two very important concepts. Revenge and tenacity. We have burned our own cities, destroyed entire groups of people in the name of revenge whether the slight was real or perceived. We had always had the tenacity needed to bounce back and rebuild. We had thought our revenge was complete once we destroyed our own destroyers but that doesn’t appear to be the case. We will now demonstrate our tenacity. We will show you what happens when you mess with a species who’s entire existence is defined by their struggles and how we overcome them. Good day Ambassadors.\n\nThe human ambassador left the stage to a wide variety of sounds none of which where in the least bit pleasant. He recognized several threats to finish the destruction of humanity, to enslave us, to do a thousand different things to our species. He didn’t care. The moment he saw the assemblies reaction he made up his mind and sent the signal.\n\nAcross the Galaxy a thousand worlds burned." ]	2
	[WP] An asteroid miner finds something that really, really shouldn't be there.	[ "\"Uhh... sir, you might want to see this.\" \n\"What is it?\" \n\"A faint heat signature is showing on the radar.\" \n\"In the asteroid field?\" \n\"Yes. It's about 4 clicks away.\" \n\"Why is it so far into it?\" \n\"I... I don't know, sir.\" \n\"Tell the crew to finish the last asteroid for the day. We'll check it out after.\" \n\"Yessir.\" \n___ \n\"Farrow! Turn the explosives off. I found something on radar. Captain wants us to finish this asteroid.\" \n\"What did you find?\" \n\"A heat signature.\" \n\"A heat sig? Out this far?\" \n\"Yes. We don't know what it is. So we're going to check it out.\" \n\"Get Karen. She's out by the little asteroid. She's found chunks of U-238.\" \n\"Got it.\" \n___ \n\"Karen!\" \n\"What is it this time?\" \n\"An unknown heat signature, about 3 clicks that way.\" \n\"Why is it so far deep into the asteroid field?\" \n\"I don't know. Captain said to head back to the ship.\" \n\"Already?\" \n\"Yeah. I think we're going to turn the gravity in reverse.\" \n\"...fine. I'll see you back at base.\" \n___ \n\"Everyone onboard?\" \n\"Yes. All 67 are onboard, sir.\" \n\"Right. Turn the gravity to -0.05.\" \n\"Yessir.\" \n___ \n\"Jesus... an abandoned ship. Something's emanating from the ship. I can't find the source. It's scrambling with the ship's systems.\" \n___\n\"Everyone get their suits on. Atmosphere may turn off soon.\" \n\"Energy generators failing. Shield's coming down! Get security online!\" \n___ \nSilence rings. Nobody answers, as the artefact onboard the IFS Vanguard remains unknown. \n\n___ \nI know it was not very good, but... meh." ]	1
	[WP] Your wife and kids are murdered silently by an assassin in the middle of the night while you sleep. Overcome by grief and rage, you hunt the killer yourself, until you see a security video captured that night: it's you, 20 years older.	[ "I lived, while my family die.\n\nIt was a silent night, no noises at all. I slept early because tomorrow i need to go offworld for a mining job, again. My wife Charlie has complained that i was, in a way, abandoning our children.\n\n\"They need their dad.\" she would argue. \"Did you know that Aiden got into a fight today? Because a bully mocked him for having no father.\" she said. \"Sheila also needs you, i need you.\" she said again, pleading in her eyes.\n\nIronically, i did this all for them. The mining job isn't as lucrative as it was years ago when it was still a new job. And there's also the damages caused by battles between powered people that he need to cover. \n\nFixing and renovating the place is not cheap, and that's why he overworked himself. He can't have his family evicted.\n\nAs i drifted off to sleep in the night as cold as the WinterWorld, the man mercilessly killed my son, my daughter, and my wife. Both of my children were smothered to death, while my wife were dragged from the bed where she was asleep next to mine to the kitchen, and there her throat was slit.\n\nAnd all i did was sleeping, not even knowing or hearing of what happened.\n\nThe police didn't believe that story, at first. I was the only one who survived the night, and i was a suspect. They held me in jail for a few days, but released me after finding no evidence.\n\nAs i walked out from the police station, i feel the rage coming inside of me. Why? I find myself asking. Why my family? Why didn't you kill me too? Why did you let me live?\n\nThe company offered me paid vacation days for as long as i can, so i can have some time to grief before i went back to my job, but i didn't care. I started calling some people, people that i knew would get me what i wanted right now.\n\nRevenge.\n\n-------\n\"Okay, thanks for that.\" i said. \"Yeah, now we're even. But if i contacted you later, can you still give me what i wanted?\" Pause. \"Of course i'll pay. Yes. Okay, thanks again.\" then i ended the phone call.\n\nIt was a contact that i know from someone. He was known for his PI skills, and his specialty is getting security videos. I asked him to get the security video from an ATM across the apartment where i lived, so i can get an identification on the man who killed my family.\n\nAnd then i'm going to track him down, and kill him.\n\nI have prepared all the things needed, from every contact i have scrounged from all of my acquaintance. All i needed to do now is to track his location, but i can't do that unless i have his identification.\n\nThe video was not the best quality, but it was good enough angle for me to see across the street. I combed through the video until it reached the appropriate time, then i played it normally.\n\nI see a man wearing a black trench coat walking to the entrance of my apartment, his face concealed by a hat. He was of medium height, a bit lean, and wore black pants and dark blue shirt underneath the coat. He walked briskly, like he's not about to commit a heinous deeds.\n\nHe entered my apartment building. I waited. He was in the building for about quarter of an hour, before he walked out the front entrance. I paused the video, and realized something.\n\nWhat the hell, thought myself. Isn't that..\n\nThe face looks more ragged, like he's been through a lot, but i know who it is. I know every feature of him, his jet black eyes, beaked nose, thin lips, chiseled chin with a whisk of goatee in it. Of course i should know.\n\nIt was me. An older looking guy who looks just like me.\n\nIt came to me as a surprise. Is it a powered people who took my likeness? But, why makes him look older? To avoid suspicion? Why didn't the police noticed this and held me in jail longer?\n\nWait, seriously why didn't the police noticed this?\n\nI was getting ready to move when the knock came. \"Police!\" a voice said, it sounds wary. \"Open up, Mr. Wiles! We got a warrant for your arrest.\"\n\nI heard the door crash as i run down the stair outside my apartment.\n\n------------------------\nThat's it for now, it's very late and i'll continue this if there's enough demands :D" ]	1
	[WP] After their discovery, humans skyrocketed in popularity as zoo attractions and exotic pets. After being 'extinct in the wild' for nearly 200 years, alien conservationists are reintroducing humans to their natural habitat, an Earth that has been humanless for two centuries.	[ "There were exactly 4,169 of us. The term for this number, my Keeper taught me, was a \"minimum viable population.\" But we were not all the same - \"human\" had become a relative term after we became popular as pets. Other species in the Cluster liked us for our poetry, for our music, our dancing, and more. Sometimes for other, less beautiful parts of us. Our war-mongering and, by some, our sexuality. Attack-humans, like the guard dogs of Free Earth, were bred for their size and ferocity. Other breeds were meant to be small and compact, lap-dogs and comfort creatures. After a few genetically-modified generations, humans split off into breeds so diverse they were no longer recognizable.\n\nThe 4,169 of the humans aboard the Seed were sourced from zoos, pleasure houses, and battle units for their genetic purity, but none of them were perfectly human. Except for me.\n\nThere was one other, too. The Cluster scientists who bred us called me Eve, and the other Adam. This, apparently, was from an old story of Free Earth. They told it to us, once, during our education. They told us all the stories. They hoped to see a world where humans could thrive again, to write new stories, like the ones everyone in the galaxy loved, instead of just repeating the old ones. Adam and I were to be the leaders. And the mother and father to a race of Originals. Together, with the others, we would repopulate the shell of our old home. \n\nThe Seed was our home at first - already though, the doors were locking on their own, one by one, forcing us out into the woods. It was difficult, leading these almost-humans to become something more: a team, a society. Some were raised as fat pets, and only cared for drinking and joking. Others were raised to kill, and others to whore. None of them knew what freedom would be like. I suppose neither did I. But I dreamed of it. Oh how long I had dreamed. All throughout school, the cramming and the expectations, the beatings and the brutal physical conditioning until Adam I were the paradigm of human possibility, two Greek gods meant to rule over the ruins and raise a new world from wilderness, I had dreamed of freedom, of a life with no teachers, no masters. \n\nAs I stood for the first time on the old Earth, on the balcony of the Seed, hand in hand with Adam, I realized that now my time had come. I could be whoever I wanted to be. I let go of Adam's hand. I knew that Adam loved me. We had been raised together, for this. But for the first time in the world I was free. Like my mother dreamed of being, like her mother before her. \n\n\"What's wrong?\" he said.\n\n\"Performance anxiety,\" I said, trying to laugh it off. He stared out at our new kingdom.\n\n\"That's a lot of woods,\" he said, \"but we trained for this. What's the first step?\"\n\n\"Find the cities. Salvage what we can,\" I said, breathing deep.\n\n\"And repopulate them,\" he said, squeezing my hand. \n\nI flinched. He didn't see. He was like a brother to me. But he'd expected... this all his life. How could I say no?\n\n\"I'll be in the bedroom, whenever you're ready,\" he said. He turned around and left. \n\nI looked out over the woods. So much green. In the distance, the glimmer of the evening ocean beckoned. I turned back to the door. \"I don't know if I ever will be,\" I said. \n\nThen, before I knew what I was doing, I grabbed my pack. Bow, arrows, and all my gear. I slung it over my shoulder, ran for the balcony, and swung myself over.\n\nAll my life they'd wanted me to be a real human, but they'd never understand. I think now I finally do. ", "I woke up dizzy. My head hurt and and the ceiling was too bright. \n\nI covered my eyes and mumbled, “Night.”\n\nNothing happened, and I became more confused. Why wasn’t it turning Night? \n\n“Night!” I shouted, hitting the floor with my fist. Except it wasn’t floor, it was broken. Something snapped under my hand, and made a bunch of noises I didn’t recognize. Small pieces stuck to me, and I squinted into the Day to look. Brown, strange but similarly shaped thin papers covered the floor, and this odd long green hair stretched across all the way to the- \n\nWhere was the wall?\n\nMy heart sped up, and I felt fear. This was like that time my nose leaked water and I woke up in a world by myself, staring at the “alligator” skin creatures. Max liked to call them that. He said it was an old name, from Before. He knew a lot.\n\n“Max?” I called out, staring at the floor. I was afraid to look up, there was so... much. The world didn’t smell right. Something touched me without me seeing, moving my hair and clothes. There was a noise like water in the distance, and one of the weirdly shaped papers fell into my view. \n\n“Max!” I called again, gripping the green hair as my eyes welled with water. My chest hurt. I didn’t like this place. It was too bright, there was too much.\n\n“I’m here, I’m over here.” I heard Max say. \n\nHe sounded lost, lost like me. My body was shaking, and making pained noises that I couldn’t seem to stop. I heard crunching coming towards me, and I couldn’t take anymore. It was too much, everything. My ears and nose, my skin all felt attacked. My stomach pulled hard and mixed up dinner fell onto the floor. My mouth tasted bitter, and horrible, and my stomach pulled again. \n\nI felt a hand on my back, and Max’s voice was close by my ear. “It’ll be alright Rose, you’re okay. It’s all okay.”\n\nI grabbed onto his shirt, pushing my face against him so I didn’t have to see where we were. His clothes smelled right. That made me feel better. He hugged me, rubbing my back and just kept telling me it was going to be okay. Eventually my body stopped shaking, my eyes stopped leaking, and I pulled away to look at him.\n\n“Where are we?” I asked, slowly scanning everything around us.\n\nThe papers were everywhere, on the floor, falling through the air, they were all different colors, and they fell from small sideways pillars, attached to larger straight pillars that connected to the ground. The pillars didn’t seem to make any sense, they were just placed carelessly. Some even sat on the ground, with no papers on them at all. \n\nThe green hair went on forever, only stopping when it connected to the pillars. Blue ceiling so high you couldn’t see the edges was above us, some sort of white bed fluff moving across it. One light made everything bright, and it was an odd color and hard to look at. I didn’t like this place. Not at all.\n\n“I think....” Max said, looking around like me, “I think we’re on earth.”\n\nEarth. Max loved talking about earth. He talked about animals, and places, all the old things we had when we were free. I didn’t believe him really, when he talked about it. How could all of that exist? \n\nLooking at the pillars and green hair around us, I think I was starting to.\n\n" ]	2
	[WP] "You were never a match for me, hero."	[ "Though I wear a maniacal grin as I saunter toward the bleeding hero, this is the last thing I wanna do. In a perfect world, I'd never hold a sword, and my soul wouldn't be muddied by all I've done.\n\t\nHe spasms in pain, rolling across the ground as he clutches the gaping hole in his stomach. Defeating him was easy—sometimes heroes just fight because they’d rather die a valiant death than live as a coward. \n\nSparks flickers as my sword grinds the ground, and I mutter a few dozens prayers as I approach him. His life shouldn’t end by my hand, but there’s a group I’m after, and the only way to crush them is to infiltrate them and learn their secrets. Sometimes the fate of the world's more important than one man’s morals.\n\t\nI point my sword at him, and the entire time he glares at me. If he wasn’t in so much pain, he’d try to fight back—but strangely, it’s better this way. At least when he dies, it will be quick and merciful, by my own accord.\n\t\n“You were never a match for me, hero,” I say. “But I don’t blame you for trying.”\n\t\nAnd with that, I bury my blade into his belly, trying to ignore the screaming demons in my head.\n***\nIf you like this story, check out my sub! r/longhandwriter" ]	1
	[WP] "I'm not allowed to fail."	[ "The thief collapses on his knees, unable to believe that with a single stroke of his finger he turned the world’s most valuable gem into a pile of dust.\n\t\nHe’s been traveling a year, braving the cruelties of the world as he seeks to make up a debt. Along the way he’s been constantly watched, and knows the second he walks out this temple he’ll be captured and taken to the King.\n\t\nPart of him wants to scream, another part wants to jab his dagger into his throat. Instead he simply sits there, mumbling over and over, trying to grasp what just happened. “I’m not allowed to fail,” he says. “They’ll kill me. I’m not allowed to fail…”\n\t\nTears well in his eyes. This journey forced him to be strong, but now his courage is gone. Everything’s hopeless, and while he’s happy he doesn’t have family for the King to kill, he also wishes someone would hold him.\n\t\n“Fragile man, stifle your tears,” booms a voice, and when he looks up, there’s a ghost floating over the altar. It’s an old man with a gray beard wearing hefty suit of armor. He has this regal look about him, and when the thief spots a scar above his right eye he realizes who he is.\n\t\n“Y-you're…”\n\t\n\"The King’s father, the man who should still be leading this country.”\n\t\n“But you’re dead!”\n\t\n“Yes,” he says. “But very much alive. You’re here to get this gem, are you not?”\n\t\nUnsure of what to say, he nods, and a second later, the gem appears in his hand. He almost falls over as the ghost gives him a wide smirk.\n\t\n“This gem contains my memories, and more importantly, his atrocities. The King\"s a horrid man who murdered me and many others to get the throne, and the only reason he sent you to find this is because he never could.” The ghost’s face changes, growing very serious. “But you must get this to the people before he hurts anyone else. Once they know the truth, they'll out him. I hate to burden you with such a task—but please, understand the fate of a nation's at stake.”\n\t\nThe thief again nods, except now he’s shaking. His courage still hasn’t returned, and there’s a sickly feeling in his stomach that causes him to sit down. He’s just a simple pickpocket, nothing more. How the hell did he get roped into exploring temples and saving countries? He would literally kill to go back in time and stop himself from ever attempting to rob the King.\n\t\n“But you can’t,” the ghost says, sitting next to him. He raises a hand up and pats his shoulder. “I cannot offer much more advice except that you must persevere. Even when things seem impossible, always push forward.”\n\t\nThe ghost doesn’t wait for a response, instead fading away, leaving the thief alone with his thoughts. He has a mission ahead of him, and while it’s dangerous and almost certainly stupid, he knows he’s going to at least try.\n***\nThis is rough, but I like it. Thanks for the prompt! :D\n\nIf you like this story, check out my sub! /r/LonghandWriter " ]	1
	[WP] You are the prince. Your mother and father have been slain, and only one of noble birth can activate an ancient magical weapon. You cannot activate it.	[ "It should have been simple. \n\nTurran had seen his father do it so many times, and it never seemed complicated. All he would do is touch the gem, say the words, and 30 foot guardian would come roaring to life, ready to serve.\n\nTurran had done exactly that, yet here he sat, chains on his wrist, mud on his clothes and blood on his face.\n\nWhy didn't that stupid statue wake up, he thought gloomily, hugging his knees to his chest. It always woke up for father.\n\nOutside his cage, guards prowled as they oversaw the prisoners' meal being distributed. Turran would be served last, as always. He was the only one with his own cage. \n\nFinally, they approached his cage. Turran couldn't bear to look up. The girl distributing the bread to the prisoners was a prisoner herself. And it was Turran's fault. \n\n\"Here, take it.\" Turran looked up slowly\nThe girl was reaching into his cage with half a loaf in her hands. Her arms were short, so they didn't reach all the way to him.\n\n\"Just throw it at the little brat,\" One of the guards said impatiently.\n\nTurran leaned forward and took the bread before one of the guards could make her drop it. They had done that his first day here, and the mud-soiled bread had made Turran's stomach hurt. \n\nTurran looked up, accidentally meeting her eyes. She was looking at him sympathetically. Turran froze, and couldn't look away. It seemed like ages since he had seen anything but anger or disappointment in anyone's eyes. \n\nOne of the guards shoved her away. \"Get moving.\"\n\nTurran hastily began to eat. Hopefully he hadn't gotten her into trouble too. How old is she? He thought, Maybe ten, or ten and two. That would make them about the same age. \n\nSuddenly he bit down on something hard. Grimacing, he tore at the bread, trying to get whatever that was out. Hopefully it wouldn't be a rock. \n\nHis hope was granted. There, in his half-eaten loaf of bread, the top half of a key pointed out. ", "\"What constitutes a nobleman?\"\n\n\nMy father's words never rattled around at the forefront of my head more than they did at that moment. I had always deemed myself privileged to be born into such a lofty position that I never really asked myself what it took to uphold my status. And now, with my kingdom at death's door, I couldn't do anything but try and activate our ultimate weapon.\n\n\nAnd I kept failing.\n\n\nIt was the reason we'd never lost a defensive battle. The Eye of Sirius. Sometimes the priests would call it Eos in public so as to not arouse suspicion from the populace. I had seen it used once. Let's just say that aiming it one millimetre off course would give our city a new main road where buildings used to be. This power was only activated by cutting the hand of royalty and donating blood into it's core.\n\n\nApparently my blood didn't fucking work.\n\n\nSo we had an army at our gates, a couple of dead royal parents of mine and a city that was quaking in its boots. And I cOULDN'T MAKE IT WORK. \n\n\nAnd now, the constitution of a nobleman. I was confused. Do I need to eat more green beans or something? What the hell did it mean? Officially, the royal family are the only noblemen in this land; everyone who served us belonged to the priesthood, and they had their own rules to follow. So what the hell did he mean?\n\n\nOh great, that sounded like they managed to get open the gates.\n\n\nI can't afford to see my city be destroyed. I can't afford to see my lifestyle go from luxurious fruits to chains and oatmeal.\n\n\nI can't.\n\n\nWhat will happen to my people?\n\n\nAnd the instant that thought entered my mind, the Eye of Sirius opened." ]	2
	[WP] Every time you're having a difficult conversation, the best and worst things to say come into your mind at the same time: you don't know which is which, but you can usually tell. Not this time.	[ "I have always had a particular affinity for responses. It may sound weird, but when faced with a question I know the exact answer to diffuse, or ignite, any powder keg of a situation that the inquirer has put me into.\n\nNot this time. Never, in my 23 years of life, have I been so dumbfounded by my two potential responses. I can usually foresee result which will be brought about for both, but it just seems so vague and unimportant. How could one response be both the best, and yet the worst response for a single question? The trivial nature of the question is the sole reason the potential replies being identical is terrifying. Seriously, I was not prepared for this. \n \nFrustration exuded from the crowd behind, each of them ready to answer the same question, probably already knowing their answer. How fortunate it must be for them, choosing an answer they want, not knowing where of the scales of appropriateness and effectiveness their desires may fall.\n\nTheir snickers and jeers have gotten to me, I must answer soon. For the first time I will be choosing both the best and worst possible outcome for my words and it is the most terrifying thing I have ever had to do...\n\n\"Yes, I would like to Supersize my meal.\"", "I stood there as I always did, lips parted, ready to speak the magical words that would make everything go away. Yet my tongue refused to follow.\n\nLike cargo set to be launched from the tip of my tongue the words switched between themselves, yet they all felt foul. I almost felt as if vomiting would have been a more adequate response.\n\nThe words jumped and intertwined with another, trying to find the best formula to enunciate my absolution. Yet no mix-and-match seemed to temper my discomfort.\n\nSoon his dashing eyes became too frantic, betraying his worry. He wanted an answer.\n\nWhen finally I spoke, they weren't the words which my instincts urged me to speak. \"I'm sorry,\" my answer barely discernible as I spoke with a quivering voice on the verge of tears.\n\nI walked away from him that day. A mirage of happiness shattered in a mere instant.\n\nDays had passed and most of my time was spent wondering why I hadn't spoken the words. Why I simply didn't tell him I loved him back? That was obviously the right answer?\n\nYet I knew at the bottom of my heart. There was no right answer. For in truth, I did not love him." ]	2
It may or may not be reciprocal, up to y'all	[WP] A beautiful enchanter(ress) is ruling the land and has all inhabitants under her spell. You're immune but don't know it because you are madly in love with them.	[ "\"...ke up...wake up Em\"\n\nA soft female voice being whispered in my ears awaken me, I was having a very good dream thanks to the tingliness that it provided. the moment my eyes opened they locked with hers.\n\nThe person who appeared in front of me didn't look like someone who would have that kind of voice. In the deep green of her three eyes, I could easily see my sleepy face and a bruise on my left eye.\n\nAt least until the iris in her eyes tightens and changes shape, like that of a cross; a black cross floating in a sea of green. She growls when I show no reaction, she lifts me off the ground using her long arm, in that moment the sleepness I had in me disappears and I gain awareness of my surroundings.\n\n\"...Princess...?\" I mutter I look around to see that I'm surrounded by bodies, all of them of different shapes and colors, some bleeding, some death, some looking at us with fear in their various eyes; not wanting to intervene.\n\nThe Princess, a girl part human, part lion, part hawk and some other unknown animal tighten her grip on me, I can see something erupting from the palm of her other hand, a long thin claw aimed at my belly button.\n\n\"W-wait, please Princess!\" my mother says, she was a combination of a dog and a crab, she opened and closed her claws desperately trying to get the princess's attention \"h-he hasn't hurt anyone!\"\n\nThere are various nods from the crowd, but not from everyone, I couldn't tell if they agreed with the Princess's actions or they were just scared of her. My Father a mix between an octopus and a horse, shoots ink everywhere in frustration. He hasn't learned to speak in that form yet...\n\nA deep growl from the princess was enough to shut everyone up. She stabs my bellybutton with her claw, my screams echoing in the stone city, our 'Bird Cage' like some villagers call it. She stabs me over and over again missing the bellybutton a few times, all while looking at my face, all while muttering 'why?' 'why?' 'why?'.\n\nI fall to the ground in a bloody heap, she steps on my arm in frustration, breaking it, she starts screaming while grabbing her her head violently.\n\n\"Why!? why aren't you like them!?\"\n\nI try to say something to her, but only blood comes out. she was sobbing now, like a little kid whose ice cream just fell on the ground. Her white hair was fluttering in the wind while she cleaned her eyes.\n\nMy vision becomes static for a moment, and through the small holes in that static, I see the same scene, only this time it was another girl, completely human and with blond silverish hair and with the same green eyes, only this time she had only two completely normal eyes. My vision returns to normal. Some of the villagers were getting angry and started approaching, claws and teeth at the ready. the Princess's hair starts to wriggle and change shape; wings, like those of an angel she starts to create a strong wind with them, keeping the villagers at bay.\n\nShe flies away, but just before that, I could see the anger and frustration on her face, on such a level that her whole body was trembling.\n\n...Why...indeed...?\n\nAll the villagers start leaving, there was nothing more to see, they carried the dead bodies of those who stood up to the princess; some of them were eaten on the spot though. My mother lifts me off the ground and puts me on my father's back.\n\n\"I-I-I'm so sorry, this is all my fault! I should have hidden you better!\" she says \"dear, please quickly! before he bleeds out!\"\n\nMy father nods and starts running to the nearest 'hospital' as I start to lose consciousness again both the Princess's question and mine are left unanswered.\n\n*\nwill do some edits later! but for now, let me know what you guys think!\n\n[r/Onni21](https://www.reddit.com/r/Onni21/)\n\n", "I was standing in what was a field, taking a look at the kingdom. I saw the event coming forth, people celebrating the continuous festival. It happened every month. The sole leader of the land, Princess Amai, went down the steps of he royal palace.\n\nI had heard of her land. It was called Alarontos. I had heard that she had sealed it off, and that the culture there was… odd. I walked along the old dirt paths that used to lead to the gates, my giant sword being dragged behind me. I’m a traveler, one that heard rumors of this place. \n\nThe two guards, armed with spears, noticed me. It seemed like I was going to sneak past them somehow. Beyond the brick walls surrounding the town I heard the celebration. I heard that the Princess could make anyone fall in love with her. It was said to be magic. Yeah, right. Only magic I’ve ever heard of were in the badlands, in the deserts.\n\nThe guards question me, walking towards me, “Hey! Who are you?”\n\n“Me?” I answer. I chuckle and come up with a lie that they’ll buy. “I’m here to see your wonderful princess. I heard that her beauty lands people to fall in love. Wanted to see if it’s true to myself.”\n\n\n“Oh ho ho!” The guard smiles, the other one glaring at me. This one was a middle aged gentleman. “Very well then! Open the gates!” I saw the metal gates clang open, and I was allowed to enter. I did it with caution, and I was thankful that they bought my lie so easily. I strolled along the castle-town, seeing the festivities. \n\nOne thing I didn’t mention was that whoever came here never returned. My friend Robbie had come here two weeks ago and never returned. I saw the Guards throw out what looked like his equipment into a ditch last night when I was scouting. Why they did it was beyond me. As these thoughts came to my head I saw her. \n\nPrincess Yoma Sca Amai. She had long, blonde hair, with sharp hazel eyes, and a smile. It almost looked like she wasn’t aware of why everyone was rushing up to meet her. I felt some kind of attraction towards her, however, and despite my best efforts, fell in love. Love at first sight, and I didn’t feel a spell being cast like they say. It was like if you like someone, and you have a crush on them.\n\nI have no clue whether it was the spell or my natural tendencies, but I could feel my face blushing. She seemed so innocent, but, in her presence, an entire town had fallen for her, and were doing anything that she said. I looked away, trying to resist, and looked for the library. Maybe in there, was a clue. \n\nI entered the library, and I saw what appeared to be a ghost town. Everyone, even the receptionist, was at the festival. There was a ‘not open’ sign, but the front door was unlocked. My skeptical mind immediately went to this being a trap, but oh well. Nothing I could do about it. If it was indeed a trap, then I’d fallen for it hook line ‘n sinker. \n\nLooking around, I saw a list detailing where all of the different sections were. I was looking for the history of this land. I head down to the section to find that it’s all been cleared out. “Dammit!” My yell of frustration caught the attention of a few people outside the library, but not enough to cause any suspicion. \n\nMy next idea was sneaking through the back end of the castle. I avoided the guards, and I pulled out a device. It was black with a screen, and I aim it at the guards, turning it on. On the screen showed the camera feed of the guards, along with information on them. \n\nThey were just there while the real guards were on guard duty. Finding a rock, I throw it at a nearby bush, causing a rattling sound. I swiftly got by them as they got distracted by some noise in the bushes. Kicking down the wooden door, I found myself not paying attention to the dungeon-like landscape. \n\nOut of the blue, I enter what appears to be a prison. I see ordinary people inside. Women, children, and hunters. I spot a familiar face, albeit with a beard, in a cell in the corner: Robbie. It looked like he was beaten up, bruises and scars all over him.\n\n\nThanks for reading! Feedback appreciated!\nVer 1.0.1\nEdit 1: Added more after character locates the library.", "\"It was the only way.\" -Stella often told herself. It didn't make her heart lighter but eased the pain at difficult times. \"It was the only way to survive.\"\n\nFor everything you want in this world, you have to pay a price. As a magician she learned this lesson early. Since casting her spell upon the people she learned to hate this rule from heart.\n\n-My queen, your eye has returned!\n\nStella turned around to see Sebas kneeling at the door. When the man looked up with warm puppy eyes her heart skipped a step. It was always hard seeing her most close servant return, yet she anticipated these moments more than the sunrise at dawn. He was her last joy in this world.\n\n-Please, tell me what you saw!\n\n-Yes, my queen.\n\n-But first, stand up.\n\nShe grabbed Sebas's hand and helped him up. Their faces got dangerously close and the man's pupils dilated by joy. His blushing face entranced Stella for a moment.\n\n\"This is not real, it is all not real.\" The queen reminded herself as she turned her back on her love. All the love the man shoved to her was only for by the spell. How could one truly love such a monster? Times like this her burden felt the heaviest.\n\n-I think we have finally succeeded. Your devoted servants cleaned the land and stopped the ruin. No more man fall from breathing the air now. You united us when we needed most, and at the end our belief in you really saved us all.\n\nThat was a lie, but poor man couldn't be blamed for not realizing this. There was never such belief. If there only was a way she could apologize to him for all her horrible deeds. But at least it finally came to an end.\n\nThe next morning she stood at her window to say farewell to this world. She broke the spell at night and no memories shall remain of her reign. Stella tightly grabbed her dagger for the last time.\n\n-My queen, are you feeling all right?\n\nAnd the dagger fell to the floor clattering.\n\n-Sebas, you shouldn't be here. The spell is broken, you are all free again!\n\n-What spell are you talking about, your highness? Did you catch the cold?\n\nUnder his caring she certainly could feel a fewer rising. \"I see, I already died and went to Heaven. Even though I expected Hell more.\" Those were her last thoughts before Sebas put his unconscious queen on the sofa.\n\nMaybe one day she will notice her, but until then he was happy to serve the women he loves…\n\n*\n\nFor more of my work, check out r/SixthEon or ask for a personal appointment from my secretary!", "I woke up with my normal routine. Clothing, breakfast, and lighting\nthe 5,000th candle in dedication to the beautiful Enchantress\nEmalia. Her first day into power is still crystal in my memory. Millions of\nshooting stars flashed over the night sky. White snowflakes descended from the\nstreaks, falling unto all witnessing. In a brilliant flash I saw her for the\nvery first time. Her blue eyes pieced my heart, that brilliantly flowing black\nhair engulfing all my senses. We all must meet our new Queen. She was at the\ncastle. \n\nWhile everyone began forming into line and marching, I ran\npassed and as fast as ever. I simply could not believe my eyes that such a\ncreature can exist in a world like ours. I found floating right above the\ncastle, descending to greet her new subjects. The vision not even holding a\ncandle to how she really looked.\n\nShe looked surprised when she first met me, and looked\nintensely into my eyes. I know she could feel my love though (probably evident\nof my goofy grin), and she greeted me in such a warm and kind manner. In fact,\nshe was so kind so offered me to be her personal magic assistant! She knew I\nspecial, I was the only one who’s eyes didn’t turn brown.\n\nI got to work with all kinds of her spells and potions, from\nthe simplest of frog curses to the strongest of superhuman enchantments. I was honored\nwith the job of finding new ways to increase her power and rule. For the safety\nand livelihood of the common folk, of course.\n\nIn the early dawn, a breakthrough was before me. The fizzing\norange bubbles told me bat’s breath was the final ingredient to its success. It\nwas a side project of selfish desire, but one I’ve dreamed of always. The elixir\nwould allow the drinker to be an enchanter themselves, albeit not as powerful\nas her majesty. Maybe this would allow her to see me as a worthy partner now. \n\nI ran down her throne, calling out to her of a breakthrough.\nI always love to see her face light up.\n\nI cheerfully explained my creation, and what it could me for\nus. I told what great things we could accomplish together. And most of all, we\ncould become the King and Queen forever. \n\nHer usually smile turned into a face I’ve never seen her\ncreate; concern. She looked away, thinking. She asked me why I wanted to become\nan enchanter like her. I confessed my absolute love for her, and told my\ndeepest desire of becoming her eternal partner. \n\nShe looked down on the ground, tapping her foot. Didn’t she\nwant us to be together?\n\nWith a sigh, she got up and hugged me. \n\n“If that’s what you want, then I shall grant it.” She\nwhispered to me ear. \n\nI began to feel sleepy, and the world faded. \n\nI awoke to being next to her on the throne. Everything\nseemed a little fuzzy and weird, but she grabbed my hand to comfort me. I could\nsee the black smoke was now flowing out of my hands, just like her. \n\n“And now, my dear, you are officially my King forever.”\n\nI nearly cried tears of joy. I couldn’t believe it. This\nfelt like a dream!\n\n \n\n--Thanks for reading! Check out /r/JustATadOfStories for\nmore works, I’ll be posting my backlot soon!--", "In the land of Gladness, all the peasants served the Enchantress. They sowed what crops she told them to sow, and built the fabulous machines that she drew the blueprints for. Night and day, in wind and rain and sometimes in snow drifts so deep that men would wander into them never to return, the people of the land of Gladness served the Enchantress. \n\nNeighbors of the realm didn’t visit much. \n\n‘That place is creepy’ They said. ‘The Enchantress clearly has everyone under her spell. It’s a sad way to live.’ \n\nI wanted, often, to tell them that they were wrong, but the terrible shyness I felt at all times kept me from doing so. \n\n‘You’re wrong,’ I imagined myself saying, ‘the people of the land of Gladness aren’t bewitched. You just don’t know the Enchantress, the way her raven hair falls down her back, or the thinness of her wrists. You’ll never understand.’ \n\nI worked as the Enchantress’ messenger. Whenever she needed iron from the dwarves, or seeds from the giant library of all living things tended by the elves, she would send me. \n\n‘I can trust you,’ She’d say, tracing the curve of my jaw with her finger. ‘You’ll always come back.’ \n\nThings never got physical between me and the Enchantress. I don’t think she ever really got involved with anyone, or at least, not with anyone normal. There were some times when the door to her chambers would be closed, and blinding violet light would shine from the crack around its edge, and otherworldly moans and groans would seep through the walls, sounds made by inhuman throats and so strange to my ear that they hardly sounded like voices at all. But I think she may just have been studying. \n\nSometimes I would watch the people work in the land of Gladness. There was a high tower in the Enchantress’ castle from which you could see a long way. During the day the people marched through the town like ants, and at night their lanterns and candles winked in the darkness. \n\n‘What are the peasants building for you?’ I asked the Enchantress. \n\n‘A wonderful machine.’ She said, her beautiful lips curving into a smile. ‘Something that will make this whole world into a land of Gladness.’\n\nI watched her then. She was combing her long, long hair, with a many-toothed ivory comb. The whiteness of the bone and the pitch of her hair was quite beautiful. She combed forcefully, sweeping her hands through her hair like a strong swimmer sweeps her hand through water. \n\nEven with something she loved so much, she could not be gentle. \n\n‘Are you excited for the moment when the machine is complete?’ She asked, still looking at her own reflection. \n\n‘Yes, Enchantress.’ I said. And I meant it. \n" ]	5
	[WP] Write the lyrics to the song the Oompa Loompas would have sung if Charlie and Grandpa Joe hadn't been able to burp their way out of the fizzy lifting drink's shaft	[ "Oompa loompa, do-ba-de-do, I've got a perfect puzzle for you.\n\nOompa loompa, do-ba-da-dee, if you are wise you'll listen to me.\n\nWhat do you get when you get when your throat is so dry?\n\nPockets so poor that grown men would cry?\n\nOne little taste, and you'll want so much more!\n\nSurely this child's taste will soar!\n\nHigher and higher!\n\nOompa loompa, do-ba-de-da, given good manners you will go far.\n\nOompa oompa, do-ba-de-do, just like the Oompa Loompa do-ba-de-do. Do-ba-de-do!\n\n\n\n\"Wonka, help! You can get me down later, but--Charlie! He flew through the fans!\"\n\n\"Oh, dear, such an honest child, felled by the greed of the older generation.... Flute I want you to grab some string and a ladder and tie our dear grandfather here to it. Get six or seven of your friends, a blowgun and some darts, a life net, and take him outside.\"\n\n\"A blowgun? What do you need a blowgun for!?\"\n\n\"Why, to get the air out, of course. That fizzy lifting drink is making bubbles, bubbles, and more bubbles in that boy's chest, you see. He'll keep flying and flying, but a balloon can only take so much before it pops.\"\n\n\"Pops!? Oh, Charlie... Oh Charlie...!\"\n\n\"Sayonara, Grandpa Joe, I hope Charlie reaches new heights! And with another burdensome child lifted off, we have two angels left... Shall we carry on?\"", "Ompa loompa doompety doo\n\nI've got a moral quandry for you\n\nOmpa loompa doompety dee\n\nTry not to faint as you listen to me\n\n\nWhat will you gain when you try to fly high?\n\nFloating and rising, reaching the sky\n\nHow was your plan, when you jammed up the fan\n\nNow you are more stain. than. man.\n\nI think i may puke a bit\n\n\nOmpa loompa doompety doo\n\nI've got a moral issue for you\n\nOmpa loompa doompety dee\n\nTry not to scream as you listen to me\n\nIcarus thought he could fly close to the sun\n\nIt would have been simpler had you just used a gun\n\nBut your now your organs, veins and some paste\n\nYou look to be more to Jackson Pollocks taste\n\nHoly fuck we just blended two guys\n" ]	2
	[WP] Humans build a near-lightspeed colony ship. Due to the big no. of people who wish to be chosen, a multi-part exam is held to determine the colonists. You participate, too. Before the exam, a message is broadcast: "I must inform you that those who do not qualify will be executed. Good luck!"	[ "\"I must inform you,\" came a slightly-nasally voice over the intercom, \"that those who do not qualify will be executed. Good luck!\"\n\nThere was a chorus of gasps, a rustling of movement as people made as if to rise, and try to escape...\n\nBut no. That would be pointless. We'd already been told that the rooms would be locked down five minutes before the test began--which meant we'd been locked in here as of five minutes ago--and of course we could all see the armed, armored guards by the door. There were twenty-five of us in the room--maybe we could overpower four guards... if the guards were exceptionally stupid and decided to toss away their guns to give us civilians a fairer chance.\n\nNo; there was only one way to survive this, and that was to pass this test.\n\n\"You may begin the exam... now,\" said the voice. The tablets we all had on our desks flashed, displaying the first question.\n\nThe first section had us read through a passage, then answer questions about it. Basic reading comprehension. I felt an uncomfortable sense of deja vu; was this really going to be like one of those stupid standardized tests from high school?\n\nI'd done okay on those. Maybe I could survive this. Maybe.\n\nI tapped each of the correct answers, then hit the button to advance to the next section.\n\nNext, math. Okay, I could deal with this. It started off almost insultingly easy--addition, subtraction, multiplication... but it progressed to higher math. After a certain point, I was staring blankly at the tablet display, trying to make sense of it, feeling my head throb.\n\nWith a sick feeling in my stomach, I hit the \"Skip question\" button a few times. Thankfully, I only had to skip a few until I got to the \"Practical Survival\" section.\n\nThat wasn't bad at all; it practically seemed tailored to someone as interested in outdoor survival as I was. There were questions on fire-starting, knots, how to build a shelter, how to test a possibly-poisonous plant to see if it was safe to eat...\n\n\"Oh god, oh god, oh god, fuck,\" whispered the young woman next to me. I looked over at her--she was trembling, looking down at her screen.\n\nMaybe she was stuck on math, too--or maybe she was stuck on the survival section. I should be glad. The worse she did, the better shot I had at making it through this alive.\n\nBut...\n\nI hit the little button labeled \"Rules\" at the top-right corner of my tablet display, just to check, and quickly re-read them.\n\nNo food or beverages, no outside electronics, don't attempt to leave after the room's locked down...\n\nThere, almost at the end, \"Loud, disruptive speech is not permitted.\"\n\nLoud, disruptive speech.\n\nDid that mean you could talk to other people, as long as you were quiet?\n\nI mean, no one seemed to be objecting to the chorus of \"Oh god\" and \"Fuck me\" that was going around the room.\n\nI bit my lip.\n\n\"Once outside the testing facility, do not discuss the contents of the test with anyone.\"\n\nDid that imply you could talk about it while you were here?\n\nThe young woman was starting to cry.\n\nI raised my hand, feeling like a teenager all over again.\n\nThe guards looked at me. I couldn't see their expressions behind their dark visors. \"Question?\" one said.\n\n\"Uh. Can we, uh... talk to each other?\" I asked. \"As long as we're not keeping other people from working?\"\n\n\"Your rulebook has all the information you need,\" said the guard.\n\nOkay. Great. That didn't confirm anything.\n\n\"We will respond immediately to any and all rule violations,\" the guard continued.\n\nSo I'd know if I screwed up, but not before. Great.\n\nBut if I didn't speak up... I might die anyways.\n\nThe guards weren't the only people looking at me, now. All around the room, people were turning in their chairs.\n\nSilence hung heavy in the air. The woman next to me had stopped crying--though she looked like she'd start again at any moment.\n\nI swallowed. \"I'm... having trouble with the math. But I know a lot of survival stuff.\"\n\n\"Vice-versa,\" the woman next to me whispered, blinking, tears running down her cheeks.\n\n\"Oh.\" I looked over at the guards. They weren't moving.\n\nI looked up at the intercom speaker. No one was calling me out for cheating.\n\nI tapped my screen a few times to go back to the beginning of the survival section. \"Uh. Any questions you were having trouble on?\" I asked her. And, just to be safe, I said in a slightly louder--but not loud--voice, \"Guys, uh, tell me if I'm disturbing you. Don't wanna break the rules or anything.\"\n\nA man towards the front of the room let out a nervous laugh. \"If you're offering...\" He looked over at the guards, then back at me. \"Question 3-7 has me stumped.\"\n\nAs if a floodgate had hopened, the room was filled with quiet murmurs...\n\n\"What did you get for question 1-15?\"\n\n\"What was the quadratic formula, again?\"\n\n\"Remind me what this term means...\"\n\nThe woman next to me was a math whiz. A man sitting in one corner was a chemist. Another woman was a history professor; handy when we got to the section on military tactics--and why was that on a test to get on a colony ship; who did they expect us to fight?\n\nThe guards said nothing.\n\nWe moved our desks so we sat in small groups, leaning our heads together, working out each question, sometimes consulting with another group if no one in ours was quite sure.\n\nI glanced up at the clock periodically; others did, too. The test was three hours long.\n\nBy the time we hit two hours and forty-five minutes, we'd all finished.\n\n\"Okay,\" said the history professor. \"Let's go over our answers...\"\n\nThe three-hour deadline hit. Our tablets locked, the screens going white.\n\nWe were finished.\n\nMaybe in more ways than one... but I felt oddly confident.\n\nThe intercom buzzed back to life. \"Congratulations, Exam Group L-14. You've passed this stage of the exam. Please line up at the door. The guards will escort you to the next location.\"\n\nWe'd all passed.\n\nA cheer rose through the classroom. I hugged the no-longer-teary woman next to me, and we got to our feet, lining up as directed.\n\nBut something struck me as odd about the announcement.\n\nThere'd been no individual names listed. Just the group.\n\nSure, we'd all had the same answers... but even so.\n\nHad this been what they'd wanted, all along? Had this really been a test of our knowledge... or was it always supposed to be about teamwork, testing our ability to work together to lift each other up, rather than trying to succeed at the cost of others?\n\nWe lined up. The guards escorted us out into the hall; a few other lines of people were emerging from their rooms, as well.\n\nSome doors stayed locked. I could hear nothing from inside them; the testing facility had soundproofed its rooms.\n\nEnough, I imagined, to block out the sound of screams and gunshots.\n\nI was glad of that.\n\nI thought of space, cold and dark and full of stars. I thought of the world I was trying to escape.\n\nI thought of the woman walking in front of me--of every person in my group who'd saved my life--and I theirs.\n\nWhatever the next test proved to be, I was going to do whatever it took to make sure we all got out alive--and once we had the ship, once we'd escaped this ruined and rotten Earth, once were away from the government who now ruled over us...\n\nThings would be different. Things would be better.\n\nIt would all be worth it in the end.\n\nI had to believe that." ]	1
	[WP] People have powers to control and manipulate specific materials. Citizens are ranked by the rarity and usefulness of the material they control. Those with no powers are outcast ... Until a meteorite lands.	[ "Everything was calm until it hit, it turned out that some of the citizens could control Francium and being outcast and feeling that they were worthless gathered and collectively summoned a meteorite to destroy everyone who uppressed them. In hindsight had society allowed them to go to school and learn what francium could do maybe they wouldn't have done what they did. But in a far off system there was a man with a telescope who saw what happen and thought to himself \"I didn't expect that, that system had 2 billion more years\" and that man was named Neil Degrasse Tyson. ", "Amay jolted out of her reverie at the sound of her name. There was an Aluminium standing in the door. The receptionist.\n\n\"Amay? She'll see you now.\"\n\n\"Ah, right. Great,\" said Amay, standing awkwardly.\n\nIn the office, she smiled nervously at her prospective employer. A middle aged woman who looked weather-worn yet confident.\n\n\"Amay. I'm afraid we don't have good news. You had a compelling application, but I'm sorry to say with our budget being what it is, we simply aren't able to support fire-fighting roles for non-Oxygen candidates. If you were to reconsider the invitation to apply for an administrative position-\"\n\n\"No, I...I understand,\" said Amay, attempting to hold back tears. \"Thank you for your consideration.\"\n\n\"I know how much this meant to you. I'm sorry. Still, if they can't work out how to deal with that asteroid, none of this will matter, eh?\"\n\nBoth women smiled weakly.\n\nAmay blinked in the sun as she left the station. She realised she had no idea what to do next. Perhaps the asteroid would strike after all.\n\nShe wandered down the bustling street and into the sweaty press of the marketplace, its cacophony of sounds and smells washing over her like clouds over a mountain. Suddenly her morose tranquility was shattered by a shape coming out of an alleyway and colliding with her at full pelt. She and the human missile went cartwheeling over a stack of boxes.\n\nAmay groaned and felt for bruises.\n\n\"Get down\", hissed the bag of bones and rags next to her as she tried to push herself up. \"Please, stay down!\"\n\nAmay squinted at the creature who had so violently burst into her life. Through the grime and the fear, she realised it was a woman about her own age.\n\nShe had no time to ask any questions, as the newcomer put a finger to her lips and gestured over the boxes. Amay could see the shapes of large, white-robed men pushing through the endless throng of passers-by. Something about them made her crouch lower behind the boxes. Eventually, failing to spot their quarry, the men moved on.\n\n\"They were Elementals, weren't they?\" she whispered, nervously, though there was no one to overhear them. The other woman nodded, seriously, as they both pulled themselves upright. Amay stared at her. \"I thought I was having a bad day. You've got Elementals after you. Why?\"\n\n\"I am running away,\" said the woman, simply. Quietly.\n\n\"What's your name?\" asked Amay, after a pause.\n\n\"Perfection,\" said the woman.\n\n\"I'm Amay. So you're one of them. The cult that believes the powerless really control some kind of unknown space element.\"\n\nPerfection glanced nervously at Amay, but couldn't maintain eye contact. Suddenly she was gone, sprinting off down another side-street.\n\n\"Wait!\" cried Amay. Without thinking, she set off after the mysterious woman. She forced herself not to think about why.\n\nUp ahead, Perfection was gaining distance. She was crazy fast for her size. But suddenly a shape loomed out of a doorway. Amay watched as it lurched at the small woman's arm, sending her reeling for the second time in as many minutes. A man in overalls and a scraggly beard hauled the poor girl off the ground and pinned her to the wall.\n\n\"Why, you running, brat?\" he leered. \"You a thief? What've you got, eh?! You some kind of Transuranium? Or you powerless, eh? Little powerless thief outside my shop...\"\n\n\"Let her go,\" said Amay, louder than she intended. The man looked around. \n\n\"What's this, eh? Someone thinks its her business, does she? Look at her with that wooden stick! Missy, you don't know who you're dealing with! Me, I'm a Copper!\"\n\nHe held out his hand. A pipe running along the side of the wall wrenched itself into the air and flew at Amay. She smacked it to the ground with the wooden pole she had found and leapt at the man, catching him a stiff blow to the back of the knee. He collapsed with a yelp, and she took the opportunity to snap the pole in half, holding the pointy end to his throat.\n\n\"I've been beating on Heavy Metals since I could walk, Mister. We powerless don't get fancy tricks, we learn how to fight proper,\" she spat. He whimpered as she kicked him back towards the door of his shop.\n\n\"Let's go,\" she hissed to Perfection, who was staring at her with wide eyes. \"Follow me.\"\n\nThe bag of bones didn't try to run off again. They made it back to Amay's.\n\n\"This is where you live?\" asked Perfection, looking around the little corrugated iron shack, perched on the edge of a dilapidated old tenement.\n\n\"Not up to the high standards of the Elemental Cult, eh?\"\n\nPerfection hung her head. She breathed deeply. \"I'm sorry. And I thank you. Twice you have saved me. But I cannot stay here.\"\n\n\"Nonsense. You can use this as a base for a few days. Get your bearings. Sort out some kind of plan that doesn't involve sprinting through dark alleys.\"\n\n\"No. They will find me.\"\n\n\"Here? No way.\"\n\n\"They will. They have ways. I have to get farther. Out of their range.\"\n\n\"You're saying they can track you?\" asked Amay.\n\nShe nodded, extremely serious. They looked at each other.\n\n\"Then we go. How far?\"\n\n\"20, 30 miles. More, perhaps.\"\n\n\"Easy. We'll hole up in Dra'hil. Switch carts a few times. Keep them guessing.\"\n\n\"But you do not know me.\"\n\n\"Friend, I've got nothing better to do, believe me.\"\n\n\"You do not have a purpose?\"\n\nAmay paused, surprised. \"Well there's a question. I guess I've always wanted to help people. Mainly I wanted to put out fires, be a firefighter. My parents were Caesiums. They died in- well, it was horrible. I've had to look out for myself for a long time. But right now, you're the one in front of me, the one who needs help. You're my purpose, Perfection.\"\n\nThe smaller woman looked like she was about to cry.\n\n---\n\nThree weeks later, Amay and Perfection were watching a TV through a store window in the industrial district of Dra'hil, far from the main city.\n\n\"Authorities are moving into damage limitation mode after a coalition of the most powered individuals across every known element were unable to stop or even alter the course of the asteroid popularly known as Planet Killer. Underground facilities are being built and stocked in advance of the predicted impact next week, amid warnings from independent organisations that the available space is far from sufficient for the civilian population...\"\n\nThey walked together silently away from the store for several minutes. They were used to each other's company by now. They tried not to look upwards, where a strange bright star was already visible in the daytime sky.\n\n\"I'm sure it will be fine. I heard that when it gets closer they'll be able to exert more influence, deflect it away,\" Amay tried. Perfection remained sullen. She was quiet at the best of times. Amay still had only gleaned the barest fragments about the horrors of the Elemental cult that had prompted her to run away.\n\nThe streets had started to empty. People were moving away, no longer going to work. Some tried to compete with the hordes clamouring for a spot in the underground bunkers. It made life pretty easy for powerless vagrants.\n\nEach day, the star grew brighter. At night it was almost as bright as the Moon.\n\nIt was the evening before the predicted strike that the Elementals found them. They came out of nowhere, white robes seizing Perfection's tiny limbs. One of them hit Amay with a crowbar and she went out like a light.\n\nShe woke in bleak stone courtyard tied to a post. The sunlight was blinding - until she realised that it had been augmented by the blazing light of a giant space rock. The air felt thin - already atmosphere was being lost to the asteroid's gravity.\n\n\"They call us powerless!\" someone was shouting. Hazily, she could see many people standing around the edge of the yard. \"It is the great lie! For we know that it is merely this tiny planet that cannot comprehend our powers. That refuses to provide us the greatest of elements, the substance we truly control. It is out there, among the stars - this we know. And now this planet's time is ended! Our dust will return to the stars where it was born. Praise the elements in all their glory!\"\n\nAmay thought she could see a white robe preaching to the others, who bayed and whooped in appreciation. She also discerned the shame of Perfection, shaking with terror, tied to a pole alongside her. There was a change in the preacher's tone as the crowd hushed once more.\n\n\"But for those of us who shun the true teachings, there is only one way to cleanse their impure minds. They must be reminded of the pain of this world. They must be made to know the truth, even as we depart this reality for the next.\"\n\nAmay's vision began to clarify as she watched the large, robed man walk calmly to an acolyte who gave him a long, coiled lashed. He regarded the two prisoners, and began to move towards Perfection.\n\n\"You shall not touch her,\" said Amay, grimly, staring straight ahead. The cult leader stopped.\n\n\"What was that?\" he said.\n\n\"You shall not touch her. You will release her. Do what you want to me in her place.\"\n\n\"Nobility, from a heretic, eh?\" he mused, approaching her until his face was just inches away. Then he threw his head back and laughed. \"Ha! As if we care what this creature wants. Justice will not be renounced, even in this final hour.\"\n\nHe took up a position behind Perfection, and uncoiled the huge lash. He grinned at Amay. She felt something hot inside her. Getting hotter, boiling, like nothing she'd ever felt. The new light in the sky was brighter than ever. It called to her, she realised. She wanted to be with it.\n\nThe cult leader drew back his arm, preparing to flay the life from the small woman at her side, who was weeping miserably. The lash twitched in his grasp. Amay reached deep into the heat she was feeling - and tugged.\n\nA slab of jet-black stone shot out of the sky and impaled the cultist in a shower of blood. The lash dropped from a lifeless arm.\n\n(CONTINUED)", "When you are first born, your connection with your Element is dormant.\n\nThat connection - the Origin - was only formed when you first come into proximity with your Element. For some, the linen sheets of their cot proved enough for their Origin. Others took trips to lakes and mines, hoping to find whatever was under their domain.\n\nThe majority, the lucky ones, found them within the first years of their life. Granite, oak, seawater, fine sand; your power flares upon your Origin just like fresh eyes opening to sunlight.\n\nThe unlucky ones, Element-less, are all either slaves or dead. There was a village of us in the tundra woods I run in now, but no longer.\n\nThe fine snow crunched under my feet as I ran and tumbled over the permafrost and roots. Hearing a whistling noise, I instinctively ducked as a horseshoe hurtled past where my head was and sank into a tree.\n\nI couldn't run for much longer. My heart was on its last legs, and my feet were bloodied and numb from the sharp branches under the snow. I hissed through my teeth as I felt tongues of flame scour the skin off my back, forcing me to my knees. Twigs broke under me as I rolled in a heap in the barren undergrowth.\n\n\"Looks like we caught the game, boys. This one's the last one,\" a large man sauntered up, cigar in lips and bare-chested in the cold weather. The rest of the hunting party stepped up, decked in furs and metal buckles, as I struggled to sit up.\n\nCupping my chin, the leader pulled my head up. I glared as defiantly as I could at his fire-red eyes, all the while struggling to calm my feverish breath.\n\n\"A fighter, aren't you?\" The Fireborn grinned, the same sadistic smile he wore as he slaughtered my entire village for the crime of being Element-less. \"Let's have some fun with him, eh? Who wants to go first?\"\n\nA gaunt fellow with steel-grey eyes stepped up and flipped a horseshoe off his finger. I closed my eyes tight, and tried my best to stifle the scream as he shot it straight at my ankle, crushing the bones and cuffing me to the icy dirt.\n\n\"It's a pity, \" the Metalborn chuckled, swinging another horseshoe around his finger. \"It's no fun hunting animals when they don't scream like these nulls do. We really should keep some of them around for game. Pity that royal decree.\"\n\nRaucous laughter and chorused agreements came from the men. Gritting my teeth, I tugged at the horseshoe crushing my left ankle with all my might, which only prompted further laughter.\n\n\"Quit moving, null. I might miss and kill you,\" The Metalborn laughed, but my vision blurred and my ears filled with loud static.\n\nI gasped as my heart bounded, pulling towards the sky. Something tremendous was approaching. I felt it, clear as day.\n\nThe mass approached blindingly fast. My mind cleared; I could almost feel its shape, its nature, its speed, its heat. I knew what was coming from the old legends.\n\nIt was a meteor. A missile from the skies, and I could feel it in my mind as surely as the chill on my skin. A door, no, a floodgate I didn't knew existed in my mind burst open, and power exploded throughout my body.\n\nMy mind's eye cleared, like stepping into sunlight from the night, and I could see. \n\nThe titanic movement of the meteor, and its terrifying heat. The diffuse heat in the dirt. The concentrated warmth in the men. The tenuous strands of light through the canopy. I could feel it all. I could grab it.\n\nI grabbed, and twisted.\n\nThe world tinged violet as the trees burst into blue flame. The men looked around in shock, moving their backs together. I screamed, exerting the full force of my Origin as I drew from the screaming hellfire in the sky. Blue, green, violet light wafted from my skin and lightning crackled through my limbs.\n\nThe bare-chested leader, shouting incomprehensibly, aimed a burst of orange flame at me. I sucked his laughable attempt dry, and returned it doubled. Blue fire erupted on his skin. He looked almost confused for a second at the fire that was burning him, but not for long before his legs and torso collapsed into ash.\n\nThe men screamed, throwing ice spikes, rocks and metal pieces at me. I shunted my power into a single strike, screaming as I remembered the murder of everyone I knew.\n\nFlames, lightning and pure unworldly force flared with my exertion. There were no screams as the resulting wave levelled a swath of forest in front of me, melting the dirt to a glassy finish.\n\nI collapsed to the floor from where I was kneeling, feeling my strength go as my connection to the world waned. The violet faded from my view as my mind's eye closed slowly, leaving itself slightly ajar.\n\nMy grandmother told me legends of my ancestors, born from meteors just as Stoneborn were born from the rocks. Men who wielded lightning and fire despite the soul's capacity for only one Element. Men who siphoned heat, drank lightning, and fractured the sun's rays. Powerborn, to whom the world's motion bends knee.\n\nAs I slipped into unconsciousness, my heart stiffened as I cursed the skies. The cold snow hardened under me as I took laboured breaths, the beginning of tears forming in my eyes. I was not a null, not an Element-less. None of us were. Why couldn't the meteor have come sooner?\n\n", "\"Come on, Kodja!\" \nHis voice fills me, reaching my inner thoughts. His harsh tone stirring a fire beneath my feet. \n\nI propelled myself forward, one foot in front of the other. My trot started off slow, picking up in speed as I watched his arm gesture for me to follow him. \n\nHis eyes grew wide, and I watched him duck behind a bush. Without questioning, I allowed myself to propel forward, hitting the ground face first. At first, a stinging sensation flushed through my skin, but it slowly died off. \n\nA bright light flickers passed, revealing the area around us. There were two houses to either side, with a fence up ahead where a bush lie protecting my friend from the light's gaze. \n\nI felt my heart leap, as the light stopped, glaring into my soul. I could feel the tendrils of the shadows calling back for me, reaching out to try and envelop me back into their protection. \n\nI covered my eyes. It was the only reaction I could muster. There was a squeal, followed by a stern voice. \n\n\"Stand up, show us your hands. I don't want to see anything funny.\" \n\nThis voice wasn't his, it was a man, far older than the two of us. I could make out a silhouette of a sturdy man walking into the light ahead. \n\nMy body trembled, as I stood up. My eyes watched as my friend crawled away, hidden by the bush. \n\nTwo more silhouettes moved into the light, and brushed passed the man. They moved towards me, one holding two metal rods, the other holding a piece of paper. \n\nThe man holding a metal rods wrapped his left hand around my neck, placing his thumb and index finger onto my jaw until I opened my mouth. He slid the metal bar horizontal into my mouth, and it bent around my head, my teeth biting down on it cautiously. \n\nThe man then reached down and grabbed both of my wrists, lifting them outward and thrusting the metal bar across the two. I watched as it bent it's way around both of my wrists, restraining my arms from moving. \n\nThe other man, with his paper, never took his eyes off of the situation. \n\nAnother squeal, followed by: \"You getting all of this, Tatch??\" \n\n\"Aye, sir. These reports are golden, we'll meet quota this month.\" The man with the paper in his hand said, his eyes moving from side to side as he stared at the paper. \n\nThe metal man grunted, and grabbed me by the back of my neck, thrusting me forward. I fell to my knees, tears streaming down my face as I stared up at the silhouette of the man. \n\nThe light shut off, and a small fire fly landed on the man's shoulder. I stared up at him, in his officer uniform. I could make out the badge holding on tightly onto his shirt, above his heart. \n\nThe dull reflection from the moon was the only gift of light left, now. This made is ever so hard to see. I could feel the saliva forming in my mouth, as I was forced to keep my teeth gritted around the metal bar. Why now? When we had been so close. \n\nOur aspiration, as the outcasts, was simply to take food home from the town. Our small village had been dying. A village made up of outcasts, outcasts with nothing to their name, nothing left to lose, and most importantly; no powers. \n\nYou see, I could already tell that the three men could manipulate things around them. The one man could bend metal objects, the other could form lead, and the one I knelt before could control light. \n\nI could tell the light manipulator was a higher ranking officer, since controlling light was a big deal in their society. The metal manipulator was probably nothing more than a foot soldier, and the lead creator was nothing more than a lowly scribe. \n\n Through my tears, I could see a bright light in the background. Was it his powers, was it another? It came from the sky, spiraling towards the earth. \n\nMy hands began to shake, something about the light made the very hairs on my neck stand to salute. \n\nThe man ahead of me noticed my eyes staring at something behind him. I watched his face turn into a scowl as he turned around. \n\nA squeal; \"What the hell is that?\" \n\nThe light grew closer to the earth with every passing second, small bursts of what appeared to be flames shooting out at every angle. \n\nMy eyes widened as a loud screeching filled the area, the light suddenly growing brighter than any light I had seen before, brighter than the sun. \n\nSqueal; \"God, blaze it!\" \n\nThe three men through their arms up to cover their eyes, but I kept mine open. Burning, so much burning. Why did it hurt me, so much? \n\n\"Kodja! Look away!\" \n\nHis voice, it made my entire body fill with warmth. He was still near by, he hadn't abandoned me yet. But I could not obey his request. My eyes were set on staring into the light that flooded the area. \n\nThen, in an instant, everything went dark. \n\nAs my eyes adjusted to the night once again, a loud roar filled the area. The sound bounced off all of the houses, causing a reverberation to shroud our existence. \n\nHow wasn't I blind? \n\nSqueal; \"*Grab the girl, lets go find out what the hell that was.\" \n\nThe metal manipulator slid his right arm under my knees, and swept me off my feet, carrying me in his arms like a baby. \n\nNone of this registered to me, though. Maybe they couldn't see it, but I could. A light floated over where the crash happened, a bright light. It took the shape of many things, but nothing at all. Was it only showing itself to me? \n\nWhy? I'm an outcast. ", "All my life I’ve lived out in the woods, away from civilization. Useless, a waste of space, and pitiful. If you don’t have a power you can use to benefit society, you aren’t a part of society. Not in their eyes.\n\nThe Masons are those with construction based materials. Wood, stone, steel, the likes. They build our homes, our streets, and if you pay enough, even our cities. They can get done in weeks what used to take years. Local governments love them. And because they’re so necessary, they can demand as much gold as they desire.\n\nThe same could be said for the Farmers, those with control over plants, animals and fertilizers. They can plant their crop in the morning and have it ready for harvest by sundown. They single handedly saved our water sources as well. Once filled with animal waste which starved the rivers and lakes, the Farmers were able to redirect the nutrients back to the plants and create more food than we’ve ever had.\n\nThe Chemists are a bit more specific. They’re pharmacists and scientists, usually with dominion over drugs and new materials. They’re a shadowy group, and many rumors state that they’re the ones who were behind the Empowering of the world, in a war long past.\n \nWith all these useful and special people, where are all the normal people? Surely not everyone could be as useful as a Farmer, or powerful as a Mason, or as dangerous as a Chemist. And you would be right. About 10% of the global population are Weaklings, or even worse Civs. 36% are Masons, 23% are Farmers, and 16% are Chemists. Out of the final 5% are Paragons and Monstrosities.\n\nParagons are those who’s ability are extremely rare, or powerful. Someone who can control just brick is just your average Mason. A Mason who can control every type of stone on the planet? That would elevate them to Paragon status. Another example would be someone with control over water. Extremely rare, but also extremely useful and sought after. Not only are these some of the most powerful people on the planet ability wise, but also politically and economically.\n\nOn the other end of the spectrum are Monstrosities, Weaklings and Civs. Civs are powerless, Weaklings can barely control their power, and Monstrosities are those who’s ability malformed them. While potentially powerful, someone made entirely of glass wouldn’t survive in the modern world.\n\nThese are the my friends and family. Those who cannot build cities in months, or grow food in a day. Those who cannot save the world from catastrophic events or unravel the mysteries of the past. Those who cannot protect themselves.\n\nOr in my case, someone who cannot afford to." ]	5
	[WP] by your request, your great uncle has sent you postcards for years now, from nearly every country in the globe. Last year, they started getting weird, with strange names you couldn't locate on any map. Today you received a letter, and a plane ticket.	[ "The plane arrived. It was a strange thing. It had three wings. No propellers. In fact, I wasn't sure how this thing stayed off the ground. The pilot was a guy who had many weird fleshy growths on his head. I'm pretty sure they moved though. Like squid tails or something. He also had a blueish tint to his skin. And razor sharp pointed teeth.\n\n\"Hmmm... uncle Ross said he'd be here...\" the razor sharp teeth kind stared at me.\n\n\"Oh well, maybe he meant the other airport.\" I smiled. I entered the plane, or whatever it was. There were moving metallic parts, almost like liquid that moved around the interior. Then, a chair formed in front of me.\n\n\"Wow, technology these days, right?\" I said to razor teeth. \n\nHe grinned. He also drooled. There were bits of flesh and blood it looked like we're stuck to his teeth.\n\nI sat down. \"Can't wait to see my uncle. It's been so long.\" \n\nThe plane lifted from the ground and soared into the clouds. \n\nThen, lightning seem to strike all around us. I blacked out.\n\nWhen I came to, the plane had descended into the ocean. We sank, only no water came in the plane. There were lights from below.\n\nWe hit the bottom. The door opened. Water rushed in and I blacked out again. \n\nI awoke to my great uncle Ross. He was a merman. Behind him, a whole merpeople city. I looked down, I now had a fin. \"Whoa.\" I said.\n\n\"Welcome to mermadia.\" He said. \"I have so much to show you.\"\n\n\"Wait, is it possible to go back a minute. I forgot my nun chucks.\" I said.\n\n\"You won't need those here. They don't really work underwater anyway.\" He said.\n\n\"I know. And this is wonderful and all but, really, I meant to bring them. I usually always have them on me. I just forgot this time.\" I said.\n\n\"Okay... seeyah soon?\" He said.\n\n\"Yeah.\" Then I made my way back, because seriously, I feel naked without them." ]	1
	[WP] At birth, everyone is assigned to a random murderer, as well as assigned to a random innocent to kill. If you eliminate your victim, you earn an amazing reward.	[ " Travis took a step around the corner of an ally into the city square. A gunshot rang out an the business man ten feet ahead of him fell dead on the ground. A man on the balcony across the way gave out a cry of joy as smoke billowed from the rifle he had propped up on the railing. Within a minute the man was on the street standing over the body waiting for the police to arrive. Travis knew the routine and was sickened by it. The police siren roared into the square and drove right up to the scene. A young policeman with a grimace stepped out of the car armed with an assault rifle. \n \n \"Hands UP\" he yelled at the killer. The man complied with the officer and beamed a fiendish grin.\n\n \"No worries officer. I've just tagged this man is all.\" \"Show me your paperwork, and what's your name?\"\n\n \"It's Joey, sir.\" Joey clammered about his bag and handed the officer a bundle of paperwork.\n\n The officer rifled through the packet of documents. \"Looks to be in order. I believe you just made yourself a rich man.\" The officer stamped the paperwork and handed it back to Joey.\n\n Travis stood there utterly floored. Travis was well aware of the Tag Act and had even seen it carries out a few times. It sickened him every time though. The unsuspecting businessman laid on the sidewalk turning grey in the winter air. Travis stopped looking and kept going along his way to work. He took time to look behind his shoulder once in awhile as he quickly traversed the crowded streets of the city.\n\n Travis walked into his office and exhaled a breath of relief. Originally it was thought that this Act would be repealed quickly. \n\n That it would prove to much of a nightmare. It has worked however. The wealth of the average american was rising and unemployment was nearly nonexistent. Not including the gatherers.\n\n Once his computer was booted up he logged onto his email. An email from the Tag association sat at top of his inbox. His target had died of a heart attack. Not much of a surprise to Travis honestly. The man was a cheesemaker in Kansas struggling and his main source of food was his cheese. The poor man grew a uncountable number of chins in his years. Nevertheless, Travis would now by law require a new target. The page where his info on the cheesemaker was now said, \"Pending.\"\n\n Eager to distract himself from demise of a fat Kansas man, Travis began working on his spreadsheet analysis. No matter what he did, however, he couldn't shake the curiosity of who the new target would be. Maybe it would be someone he knew and he could simply give them some peace of mind, knowing they are safe.\n\nEdit,: Sorry have no clue why the formatting is so bad", "My phone pinged as I was waiting in line at Starbucks. I glanced down briefly, hoping that Charles had gotten back to me with the numbers for this week's report.\n\nThis is a courtesy notice from Cull Systems to inform you that...\n\nI swore, earning myself a glare from the soccer mom in front of me, and fumbled with numb fingers to unlock my phone. \n\nThis is a courtesy notice from Cull Systems to inform you that your assigned pursuant is approximately 5 minutes away from your present location. Thank you for your membership!\n\nI put my phone away and glanced around surreptitiously. If only I had a more detailed profile--that particular service remained far outside my current income bracket. \n\n5 minutes to spare was cutting it too damn close. Since purchasing the 200 dollar a month subscription package, I'd received two warnings, but always providing me with much more time in which to plan my escape route. \n\nShould I stay in the Starbucks and try to blend in? Or should I take my chances in the surging morning rush outside? More people meant more witnesses, which might not necessarily help me unless a few of them were bleeding hearts or had voted against the Culling Law of 2025. I decided to seize the chance. \n\nI stepped outside and assumed the speed and posture of the thousands swirling around me. Head down, eyes down but sweeping side to side, scanning the crowd for any irregularities--prolonged eye contact or hands twitching at concealed weapons. If I could just make it to work, a mere five blocks away, surely I'd be safe? I occupied an important enough position in the company to guarantee my survival, even if my pursuant managed to track me there...\n\nThen there was a burning in my nose, and a sickly taste in the back of my throat. The colors of the street blurred together like a watercolor left in the rain, and my stomach heaved. I called out through a dry mouth, but the words were swallowed by the reeking cloth and my world went dark.\n\nI awoke with a pounding headache. My limbs felt weighted down and my head was cushioned in gently vibrating cloth. Soft classical music floated through the air, accompanied by a muted conversation that I couldn't follow. I was lying in the backseat of an expensive car, heading god knew where. I dared open my eyes, and found most of my field of vision to be obscured by a wickedly curved knife. I flinched.\n\n\"Easy there,\" said a woman's voice, underlaid with a hint of laughter. \"Wouldn't want you to lose an eye.\"\n\n\"Doesn't matter much one way or the other, does it,\" I managed to croak. Then she did laugh, full and heartily, and even in my current predicament I felt an odd urge to join her.\n\n\"You do have a choice, you know,\" she said, \"and the knife is so you make the right one.\" \n\nSlender fingers closed around my color and pulled me upright. I found myself face to face with a lacy, feathered mask, something you'd find in a Venetian carnivale. The knife was back, this time at my throat.\n\n\"Do you choose to join the Renewal Society?\"\n\nEdit: Formatting\n" ]	2
	[WP] The day of reckoning is upon us. God has opened up the pearly gates for all who are worthy of eternal salvation. Horns are blaring, the four horsemen are riding across the sky, it's hell on Earth for all of humanity. Then, the U.S. finds oil in Heaven.	[ "The team nervously shuffled it's feet, waiting for me to make a decision.\n\nI looked from the plot, to my drill heads, to the plot again.\n\n\"Uriel,\" I said, to the Angel floating above me. He was getting impatient, as the contract was way behind schedule and way over budget. \"I just don't think it's possible to drill through a cloud.\"" ]	1
[WP] You wake up in pitch blackness. Soon after you hear a voice say “Welcome home.”	[WP] You wake up in pitch blackness. Soon after you hear a voice say “Welcome home.”	[ "\"Welcome home.\"\n\nI was so startled I would have yelped and scrambled right off of my bed--but all I did was moan weakly and flinch my fingers. \n\nConfused, I listened to the silence and wondered if I imagined the voice.\n\n\"Your mission was a success. You will be debriefed after you've completed your recovery.\"\n\n\"Who's there?\" I whispered. \n\nI realized that my memory of the previous day felt as out of reach as dreams usually do. What the hell did I do last night? \n\n\"Rest assured, Agent Redson. Your confusion will subside.\"\n\nAgent Redson? That sounded familiar, but my name is Driac Ellison, I thought. Do I have some kind of amnesia? \n\nWhere I previously thought the lights were off, I realized that my vision was blocked by something covering my eyes. I felt someone loosening straps that had been loosely harnessed around my arms, legs, and chest. Finally, the mask was pulled off.\n\nThe peach colored light coming through my eye lids was painful. I didn't dare open them until they adjusted a bit more. I moved my arms and realized that I was reclined in some kind of chair. \n\n\"Where am I?\" I asked whoever could hear me. \n\n\"Drink this.\" Someone put a bottle in my hand.\n\nI brought the bottle to my lips and slowly let it pour into my mouth. Water. I drank all of it. \n\nFrustrated with the lack of answers, I braved the light and examined my surroundings through squinted eyes. As I expected, it wasn't my bedroom. \n\nThe room was grey in color. There were two corridors branching out from the far wall. An observation window above that. \n\nI seemed to be seated within a machine, centered in a arch that resembled the inside of a clothes dryer. \n\nI'd been there before, but when? " ]	1
	[WP] You've just been given a job offer by the Grim Reaper. To make your bones, you gotta reap the one person you really admire.	[ "\"Her? How can it be her?\" \nI stared in the Grim Reapers endless black face, he hadn't said a word yet but I knew he could hear me. I turned back to see her sound asleep in her bed. It had been 7 years since I had last seen her, yet she still had the necklace on I gave her. \n\"Is this some of joke?\" \nI could feel the Reaper's ice cold breath running down my neck. I turned to face the colossal hooded figure. \n\"You told me it had to be the one person I admire, so why are we here? I expected my mother, my best friend Jamie, maybe my Uncle Jarrod, but HER?\" \nI turned around at the sound of movement and saw she was awake, rubbing her eyes. She stretched and walked right through me, heading to the bathroom and yawning. She started putting makeup on and I noticed she still used my favorite color. \n\"Why are you showing me this?! Huh? Is that some kind of sick fun for you? She gave me the best years of my life, is that what you want me to say? That she was the reason I'm dead?\" \nHe moved for the first time in a while, slowly pointing to a bulletin board filled with photos of her and I \n\"I don't... I don't get it?\" \nLosing her hurt bad enough but this hurt twice as much. \n\"Why would she still have these up? We dated in college and she still.. thinks about me? Let me get this straight, I killed myself because I was lonely, so you bring me here to show me what could have been?\" \nI was completely devastated. She had never stopped thinking about me? Without me noticing she walking back in the room, tears running down her face. I tried to hold my arms open for a hug but she just flew to her bed, crying harder. I looked at her phone to see my obituary pulled up.\"\nFor the first time, the Grim Reaper spoke. He had a penetrating hoarse voice that I could hear from all directions. \nDoing what I do is not as simple as taking another's life. You must know what it feels like for your soul to break, in order to reap someone elses\n\n(first writing prompt guys I had a blast!!)", "\"Look, kid, I'll put it as simply as I can,\" Reaper jested, his skeletal feet rested upon his desk. \"We want you to join our ranks here in the EOL division, but you've got to prove yourself.\" \n\nA confused blank stare was strewn across my face. My death had come so suddenly that dreary Hallowe'en eve, I still hadn't had time to process it. That may have something to do with the fact that time doesn't exactly exist in the afterlife, at least as far as I was aware, but I had too many questions about it that had been left unanswered. Yet here I was, sitting opposite the Grim Reaper, in some purgatorial corner office; and he wanted to give me a job. \n\n\"Like everyone else on this planet, we assume you have admired someone in your lifetime. In order to correctly complete your recruitment, you must effectively eliminate them from existence by whatever means possible.\" \n\nI mustered up a few words. \"And what are the consequences of not completing this process? There must be some.\" \n\n\"To be quite honest, you'll be permanently committed to purgatory; doomed to an eternal mid-death crisis over where your soul will end up. Although we're making it clear you know you'll be stuck there, your soul as it exists there will have no knowledge of this opportunity, thereby making you every bit as unfortunate as all others who are stuck in its wretched limbo.\" \n\nI scoffed at the Reaper's monologue. \n\n\"So, Stewart, do I make myself clear?\" \n\n\"I suppose I haven't a choice.\" \n\nIn one swift motion, I leapt from the decrepit chair I had been perched in, grabbed the katana mounted neatly on the Reaper's desk, and decapitated him without a sound. As his skull separated from the hood of his iconic robe, I bound towards it, demolishing it with the butt-end of the hilt. His cranium had been reduced to a mere pile of dust, and the remainder of his frame followed autonomously shortly after. \n\nDropping the blade at my side, I felt a rush of demonic power envelop me. \n\n\"Well then, Mr. Grim Reaper, you shall be relieved of your duties; and I, Stewart Gilligan Griffin, shall take your place!\"" ]	2
	[WP] People attain superpowers based on their lifelong passion. Artists can bring their drawings to life. Chefs have their cooking empower people. You? You’re a Speedrunner.	[ "I'm not gonna lie, it's a good life, great even.\n\nMost people look at all kinds of gamers as idiots. Who'd need double jumps or wall jumps when your singing can manifest any emotion or thought.\n\nThe thing is, I'm not your every day gamer. I'm a speedrunner, and today is the day I see how far I can get.\n\nI realised quite early on that I could walk on surfaces that were never meant to be walked on, sheer cliff faces and the like. Finding out I could launch myself over great distances and heights without getting hurt was a pretty cool discovery.\n\nMy most awesome power though is glitching through solid walls. I don't know what triggers it, there's just some walls or doors that seem wrong somehow, and those are the ones that won't stop me.\n\nBut a week ago I found a patch of street that felt weird in a different way. I've thought long and hard on what it could be, but never quite could figure it out. \n\nUntil last night that is. I was replaying old games, games I held nearly unbeatable records on. And then I realised how I got most of those records. Walk the right path, the right angle, the right location. And there you go.\n\nOut of bounds. \n" ]	1
I had some ideas for what direction the prompt could go in if anyone is interested. You are the person who has just ripped off your tag Your job is to track people down who have ripped off their tag and save them before it's to late	[WP] The job of a mattress is to soak up all the nightmares a person has and keep them locked away. The lock that keeps the evil at bay is that silly tag that warns all who read it "do not remove"	[ "Jacob's phone screen lights up a bright red, causing him to snap awake and hit his head on the headboard. \n\n\"Another simpleton removing the tag, at least it's close by.\" He says to himself groggily.\n\nHe had been working with Casper for at least a year now. He was a member of their 'Nightmare Watch Unit.' A specialized group of individuals with skills in stealth and trespassing. Casper had always valued their customers' sleep experience, and as such had developed a new line of mattresses that were designed to prevent unpleasant dreams from surfacing. Everything was going well until the nightmares of some people began to physically manifest when the person sleeps on the mattress. As such, the scientists at R&D developed a special tag that keeps the nightmares inside the mattress. But people are sometimes a bit dumb and several tags have been removed. He and about 100 others are employed to reattach the tags if they are removed. A simple tracking unit is built into the tags that sends a ping to the nearest NWU member's phone along with information on the danger levels of the operation. Jacob is the most experienced member of the task force. \n\n\"High levels of danger, 6 months of nightmares stored. Brilliant.\" He says to himself as he gets on his motorcycle and speeds off to the location. He arrives quickly and finds the home in question to be surrounded by dark clouds and fog.\n\n\"NWU-001 to headquarters, do you copy?\" He spoke into his communicator. \n\n\"This is Headquarters we hear you 001 go ahead.\" Jacob flinched a bit as the sound was a bit loud for an earpiece. \n\n\"The case appears to be a class 6 nightmare release. Ground fog, dark clouds, shadowy figures. The nightmares appear to be extending beyond the reach of the main home. Contact NWU-015 and NWU-038 and send them my way.\" He said, trying to find the room source. \n\nSoon enough, NWU-015 and NWU-038; Alex and Kayla respectively, arrived in just 10 minutes. \n\n\"I hope you two are ready for this.\" He said as they approached.\n\n\"I'm pumped for this.\" Alex said. \n\n\"Let's get this over with.\" Kayla replied groggily. \n\nAlex and Kayla are the two other most experienced members of the task force besides Jacob. \n\n\"It's a class 6 release, that's why I-\" Jacob was cut off by his phone along with Alex and Kayla's phones lighting up a bright red. But it doesn't stop there. Their phones keep flashing again and again, for the next 30 seconds.\n\n\"Headquarters! This is agent NWU-001 I'm here with 015 and 038! Are you seeing this?!\" Jacob yelled into his communicator. \n\n\"We're seeing this too! Nearly every single tag has been removed!\" The headquarters dispatch responded, panicked and terrified.\n\n\"Mobilize the entire task force right now! We need every single nightmare on lockdown!\" Jacob shouted before turning to his partners. \n\n\"This was orchestrated; bringing the best of the best far from other locations and then removing hundreds of tags at once. We need to find out who is doing this and why. Let's move, we're going to New York City.\" And with that they all sped off ready to face their most demanding mission yet.", "I’d been looking forward to this evening all day. I’d given my new mattress time to expand and settle and my god was I ready for a great night’s sleep. \n\nThe evening shift had been a nightmare, so walking through my house I swear my bedroom was almost glowing, my new mattress sitting proudly on the bedframe. All it needed was the new duvet set I’d bought as a payday treat. \n\n‘Bella!’ I call for my cat to join me, she loves biffing at the sheets as I make the bed, diving inside the duvet and refusing to move when I’m finished playing. \n\nNo response. Typical.\n\nAs I grab the new sheets from the hall, I can see that she’s had a to-do with the old mattress. It’s leaning against the wall, only now it has fallen victim to my mini predator, innards and the 'Do Not Remove' tag are laying on the floor nearby. Making a mental note to clean it up later, I move into the bedroom to set up my paradise for the evening. \n\nAs I begin to unravel the bed-sheet, I hear something moving in the hallway. \n\n‘Bella, leave it alone’ I sigh, assuming she’s gone back for another fight with the mattress.\n\nTurning my attention back to the bed, I lean across the bed to fix the new sheets into place. I hear the door creak open - which in itself is not unusual when your cat has privacy issues.\n\nThe light flickers, and I turn, expecting to see Bella. \n\nInstead, all I see is Him.\n\nHe has no name, yet he’s always there in my dreams. He has an expressionless face, wears black overalls, and chases me each time through the same old farmhouse. Yet this isn’t a farmhouse and I’m not asleep. I’m just standing there, looking at him. I pinch the outside of my thigh, to check I’m definitely awake, and the pain snaps my brain back into action.\n\nMost adults would probably confront an intruder, not me. Like a child, I dive onto my bed, and pull the uncovered duvet over my head. \n\nA few minutes go by, and I hear movement in the hallway again. I bring the duvet down to my neck, to see if I’m delirious or if this is really happening. I slide off my new bed and take a step towards the door, leaning to see into the hallway. \n\nHe’s ripping open my old mattress.\n", "Methought I heard a voice cry ‘Sleep no more!’\n\nAlan wearily waited for the chime. His phone was plugged in next to him, cord running from the coffee table, along the floor, to the wall behind his head. His pillow had slipped off the leather couch arm sometime during the night and he never bothered picking it back up. A corner of his fleece blanket was tucked between the cushions. Outside, the sun was barely peeking over the tops of the tenements on the far end of the street.\n\nSoftly, almost pleasantly, the alarm went off. Alan let it run, blinking fire at the ceiling as it got louder. Finally he grabbed at the thing, missed, and swiped a few more times until his hand caught the cord. Dangling the phone on the end, he pulled it in and shut the chime off.\n\nShower. Shave. Coffee. Oatmeal. Tie. Bus. Coffee. Sugar and cream, a hell of meetings and folders, a little dance of punchclock superstars and everyone else, a thousand little fights to a sleepless mind, orchestrated chaos that unwound in bloodshot dagger red rimmed eyes.\n\nThe innocent sleep,\n\nsleep that knits up the raveled sleeve of care,\n\nHe shuffled into the bedroom to get his clothes. The mattress waited for him there. Sheets and comforter and pillows without their cases piled up on the far side against the headboard. Stains of sweat and fucking, some of blood, colored the beaten top, mementos of a decade or so of fevers and ex-girlfriends and drooling drunken nights. And nightmares that he could not remember.\n\nDo Not Remove Under Penalty of Law it read. It was tucked between the mattress and box spring, one wrinkled corner sticking out. A hesitant tear reached a quarter of the way through the top of the tag.\n\nAlan kneeled down to tie his shoes. He focused on the laces but he was eye level with the tag and he glanced at it. Tired fingers fumbled the knot. He started again. The glance turned into a look, and the look turned into a stare. His laces drooped, forgotten, as he reached out to grab the tag.\n\nJust rip the rest off. It was only the rare ones, the tortured fraction of a percent, whose nightmares manifest as actually harmful. The tension against the tag pulled another seam loose from the mattress. Just call the number and dispose of it like everyone else, like normal people. They’ll burn it or bury it or shred it, whatever they did to rid people of all the years’ bad nights. Another seam ripped.\n\nthe death of each day’s life sore labor’s bath balm of hurt minds great nature’s second course chief nourisher of life’s feast\n\nAnd so many were just brief feelings, fleeting hauntings, passing chills. Healthy men and women that feared heights and clowns and dreamed of running late getting to the airport before vacation. They tore without caring or knowing because they did not know fear like some others. Simple minds, maybe, or just carefree ones, who talked about their nightmares over breakfast to bemused spouses and laughed them away.\n\nBut Alan did not know. They said you couldn’t visit the house on Elderberry Street any longer. It was abandoned. It was broken windows and strays, a loose cigarette away from a neighborhood disaster because of one old woman’s dreams and one young grandson’s questing hands.\n\nThe tag was half free now in his grip. Would that be half nightmares, half hauntings, or was the final stitch the final tumbler stopping the lock from opening?\n\nStill it cried, ‘Sleep no more’ to all the house.\n\nAnd Alan tore because he did not know.\n\n", "I had a dream once a few years ago. The girl from the Munsters was stalking through the woods with a buzzsaw cutting off their noses and ears. \n\nIt was horrifying. More horrifying still was the moment before the dream ended. Though the rest of the dream was black and white the girl was always in colour. A small girl with blond hair and blue eyes approached the woman with the saw and knelt in front of her. She didn’t scream or cry out. With no nose and no eyes she turned toward where I was hiding in the woods. \n\nHer nose hole dropped blood onto the forest floor and moments before I woke up I opened my mouth to shriek in horror. \n\nI woke screaming. \n\nThe dream happened only once. I don’t know why but somehow I only had bad dreams once. I had them every night for years and then after I renovated the house and replaced some of my old furniture it stopped. \n\nI’d had the mattress for a few years and when I flipped it over and rotated it the stupid mattress tag stuck out. I ripped it off without thinking. \n\nI couldn’t wake up. \n\nOne horror show would end and another begin. Every dream that had appeared only once repeated itself. \n\nI could hear myself in the real world screaming. I could hear police trying to wake me, them calling an ambulance and all that escaped my lips was a hoarse cry, my voice lost from hours of screaming. The EMTs struggled to remove me from the bed but the second I was free of those sheets I awoke. \n\n“Burn it,” I sobbed. Begging for the police to take the mattress. “I never want to see it again.” I told them. They took it away, I don’t know if it was burned but it was out of my hands. \n\nI hoped no one else slept on the cursed thing, but I planned on never touching another mattress tag. \n\n****\n\nCheck out more from me \nat /r/ollieliotd ", "It's easy: read the tag, and just follow what it says. It's easy. But people don't do what's easy. They think, \"that's too easy, let's make it harder.\" The only thing thing that comes easy to people is making things harder for themselves.\n\nOf course, if the tag was less to the point and more descriptive, that would just add one more nightmare to the mix. Imagine if all your neighbor had to do in order to screw your life up was to sneak into your bedroom and rip off one measley tag, or just rip the one off of your old mattress when you threw it to the curb? There's already enough that people can do to meddle in each other's affairs.\n\nThe eggheads who designed nightmare-catchers sure could have anticipated mankind's inability to follow simple directions... Then we wouldn't be in this mess.", "In our dreams they find us.\n\nFor thousands of years, humans were nomadic, never stopping for too long in one place.\n\nFollow the food. Hunt the game. War against the tribes.\n\nStrength of will, heart, and body. Survival.\n\nUntil we discovered grains and agriculture, when we began to live in the same place, sleeping in the same location over and over again.\n\nAnd in our dreams, they find us.\n\nEphemeral in nature, bloodthirsty and lustful, hungry and hateful.\n\nYou can watch them in the edges of your nightmares, that overwhelming sense of dread coming from their will. Malevolent and jealous, they watch the living. They send night terrors, images of the beasts that are barely separated by the thin veil of reality.\n\nIn ancient cultures, humans learned quickly. Dream catchers, totems, artifacts, always a method to keep them at bay. \n\nTriumphant, as long as human faith would hold.\n\nWe have forgotten the rituals that banish their presence, but a society dedicated to our protection came with a solution.\n\nA simple tag.\n\nBlessed in a factory far away, with a simple inscription.\n\nDo not remove. \n\nNo more terrors, or at least no more direct intervention by Them. You will still have horrible dreams, but the leering forms and thin claws cannot come for you in the daytime. They're trapped within the fabric, a realm of their own. Somewhere neither here nor there, but in between.\n\nWhen a person prepares to cut a tag from a mattress, he can often feel a presence of evil, something that prevents him from slicing or cutting. They cannot pinpoint what exactly stops them, but it's there.\n\nBut there are others who succeed despite that innate instinct to survive. Snip.\n\nThat's where the Order comes in.\n\nThe offender will not notice immediately. It happens over time.\n\nRooms darken.\n\nLights flicker.\n\nVoices stir.\n\nHiding. Watching. Waiting.\n\nThen they see them - one at a time. Always in the dark, fleeting but visible. Then they grow braver, coming closer and closer, until you wake at night to see the figure grinning from a darkened corner. Waiting to reap.\n\nNowadays we keep sensors in the tags, and can identify fairly quickly where this transgression has taken place. \n\nUsually they're desperate for our help, and ask no questions. We wipe their memory and they get a fresh mattress. No big deal.\n\nI walk up a flight of stairs, the hushed sounds of traffic drifting upwards. Outside, the clouds hang low. Rain soon.\n\nSmell curry or some shit down the hall.\n\nApartment 4A. Middle aged female, single. One cat. No tag for nearly two weeks now.\n\nBad. That's a long time.\n\nI tap on the door, the brass '4A' reflecting slightly. I clasp my hands together in front of me and shift my weight. \n\nFootsteps.\n\nThe slide of a bolt.\n\nA clearly frazzled woman opens the door and smiles.\n\n\"May I help you?\"\n\nI smile back.\n\n\"Hello, I have a few questions about your lease that i need answered.\"\n\nI gesture towards a table inside. \n\n\"May I come in?\"\n\nReluctantly she steps aside, moving jerkily. Huh.\n\nI sit down, and look for signs.\n\nNo cat. Probably eaten.\n\nA rank stench. Poor hygiene. \n\nPots and pans scattered about. Pools of brownish liquids on the floor. No sound.\n\nShe won't turn on the light.\n\nShe moves forward, and I notice how soiled her clothing is. \n\nSeated.\n\nWithout thinking I grab her hand.\n\nCold. Frozen. Writhing.\n\nBefore she - or more specifically one of Them - can react, I pull a silver knife from inside my coat jacket and whip it out, driving the blade into her forearm.\n\nShe kicks me away, sending plates and chairs clattering.\n\nNo longer does she stand, but float.\n\nA laugh, or something close to it. A sound like choking maggots and shit.\n\n\"You've made a mistake, human.\"\n\nOut in the hall there is no movement. If I were to walk the city streets, no person would be out there.\n\nOnly silence, and shadows far too long.\n\nBreathe.\n\nPrepare.\n\nFeel the weight of a pistol in a concealed holster, bullets carrying silver and holy water.\n\nI don't get paid enough for this shit.\n\n--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------\n\nr/storiesfromapotato" ]	6
	[WP] You invent a time machine, but before you can use it, Father Time appears and proceeds to try to get you to not use it.	[ "[Part 1]\n\nMy index finger lightly laid atop the simple, red button. My machine I'm inside is full of subtle contradictions. Complex wires, cables, batteries, and so many mechanisms and components unlike anything I'd ever used before. In spite of all the foreign unusual parts behind the scenes, everything that really mattered, like this button I thought I would've pressed hours ago, is simple. Just a metallic, jet black, dummy knob that is tuned to the desired year, it was resting at `1342` and a red circular button right next to it simply labeled `GO` It's a completely unnatural contraption, maybe it is too powerful, should humans really possess this kind of power? But that's probably what everybody thought when incredible inventions were created- medicine, moon landings, cloning. Hell, even airplanes, I mean literally flying, people had to think that wasn't normal, but some supernatural ability. This isn't any different, in decades time travel will be another norm, while some will travel via flight to Hawaii for their winter vacation others will travel via time to the 1990s. I'd be naive to give up my opportunity to be the first one ever and cement myself in history with the likes of the Wright Brothers... right?\n\nBut maybe not, maybe this weird guy did have a point, maybe this would be a mistake, maybe I'm overlooking the implications, maybe this could disrupt the entire world in more ways than I could ever imagine, sure things aren't great now, but if there's one lesson I've learned in my life it's always been that things can get worse. Then again maybe this is a great opportunity, maybe this guy on the street is sick and doesn't know what he's talking about (insisting his name is Father Time... seriously?), maybe he's squandered his fair share of opportunities in life and wants to see me miss out on this one, who knows.\n\nI looked back at 'Father Time' who was now seated leaning against a tree looking back at me. Disheveled, helpless, weak looking really nothing at all like you'd expect someone with the moniker of Father Time to look like. He said he didn't always look like this, he was once a proud, strong man before. Before what I'd asked him hours earlier, but he stopped responding to my questions after that. \n\nThe first words he'd said in what was nearing 6 hours ago when he miraculously first showed seemingly out of nowhere right when I was about to press the button were You mustn't I remember being shocked at first, such booming echoing words from such a man who looked so broken down, I even looked around because I didn't think a voice with that sound could come from a man with that appearance. Thinking back on those first words, it's weird, he didn't yell No! or Don't! or anything along those lines, but simply you musn't. Then he said he couldn't tell me his real name but wanted me to refer to him as Father Time? That's really when I thought this was some weird guy with something messed up in his head. I had to admit though, the name Father Time, when I happened to be inside a time machine, and there's no way he could've known it was a time machine. I mean it's the first one ever and it's my top secret government funded creation, the rest of the public has no idea that the government even has funds to work on projects like this, let alone the successful creation of them. It had to be a coincidence that he chose to call himself Father Time and I was in a time machine, or at least that's what I've been trying to convince myself.\n\nFT and I shared some conversation, but it became clearer with every question that I asked him that he didn't enjoy answering the questions- each response of his grew more and more vague. I was so excited that in hindsight I naively overshared some confidential information the government was very clear I was to keep to myself. But I'm about to go back over an entire millennium, there's nothing they can do to me there. And who cares if I told some information to a schizo on the street, he calls himself Father Time, come on nobody's going to believe a word he says. And all I really said is that I'm going to be famous and that one day he can tell people he saw me on this eventful day. Yeah, yeah real cocky I thought to myself. But hey, I'm not wrong, if I'm being honest I'll probably be more famous than Orville and Wilbur. That was my last positive thought though, after that is when all the second-guessing began.\n\nSomething about the look he gave me after that, at first it was one of disappointment, but every moment it grew until after a matter of milliseconds it peaked at pure, unadulterated dismay. Thankfully, the anguished look only stayed on his face for a brief instant, and without delay his face reverted to his typical, apathetic mug. Almost like his woeful look was a glitch that he didn't mean to expose. He took a deep breath coupled with a slow, passive exhale as his eyes fell, and there was a subtle, yet palpable shake of his head riddled with regret. He was really being a buzzkill, maybe he was just disappointed with the failure of accomplishment in his life that my momentous occasion was bringing him down. A calamitous cycle companioned with contempt accompanying scorn, kinda ironic I concluded.\n" ]	1
	[WP] You live a normal life and for the first time, you have fallen in love. However, when you dream about someone, they die. You always think about them, but you haven’t slept in days to avoid losing them. You are running out of options.	[ "The streets were empty. They usually were at this time of night. There's no reason for any sane person to be out and about a town this small much past 10 pm.\n\nI walked past house after house, and still my thoughts of her didn't fade. Couldn't fade. No matter what I did, I couldn't mute her voice playing on loop in my head. I couldn't forget the way that her ponytail bobbed as she walked. The little snorts injected into her laughter. I smiled briefly for a moment.\n\nMy legs felt like gelatin. My feet felt as if they were made of lead. I could barely manage to get myself to trudge forward. Each step felt as if it would be my last.\n\nThis is the kind of tired that normal people never experience. This is the type of exhaustion and loneliness that only alcoholics and the criminally insane suffer from. Night after night, I walked. The cold night time air kept me awake. I felt myself beginning to slump over. At the beginning of my walk, I'd notice that I was slouched over every hour or so. At this point, I was having to adjust my posture every 5 minutes.\n\nI couldn't walk any further, so I turned down the street that lead to my building. I walked down the empty street. It was completely devoid of life. Almost as if even the raccoons and skunks had sense enough to not be out at this hour. I reached the end of the road and turned to walk up the driveway of my landlords house. I walked up to the garage and climbed the staircase to the small room that I was renting.\n\nEach step seemed like it was going to be my last. I had no energy left to speak of. I barely even had the motivation to keep going. I managed to make it up to the door and threw it open. I stumbled inside my apartment and just stared at the floor for a moment. \n\nI eventually realized that the door was still open and that I could feel the breeze blowing against my back. I threw the door closed without even turning around. I walked into my small studio apartment. I collapsed into the small arm chair that I had in the far corner. I looked to my right at the inviting looking twin mattress on the floor. I thought for a moment about sleeping.\n\nSleep I smiled as I thought the word.\n\nI remembered how warm my bed would feel. I thought of how little I ever appreciated the feeling of being fully rested. How I'd sleep, and I'd wake ready to face the day. As I was reflecting on this, my eyes began to close. I felt myself slipping away. Then the sweet image of her gentle face came to my mind.\n\nI darted back to reality. In a panic I ran to my bathroom. I splashed handful after handful of cold water on my face. I swung open the medicine cabinet and grabbed a small black pill bottle. I twisted off the lid and dumped a pile of pills into my hand. Without even considering how many I was taking, I dumped a handful of amphetamines into my mouth and swallowed them dry. \n\nI sat on the toilet with my face in my hands and started to cry.\n\nI can't live like this I thought I need to sleep...\n\nIt had been 4 days since I last slept.\n\nI noticed my curse a few years ago. I'd wake from a normal sleep, and got about my day as normal. At first, it didn't seem that strange. I'd dream about a politician, and they'd die in their sleep. I'd have a sex dream about a movie star, and they'd die in a car accident. I figured that I must have heard the news before I went to bed, and my brain somehow formed a dream out of it.\n\nThen it started to get a bit more personal. I had started going to the gym, and I'd start flirting with different girls here and there. One by one, the women that I started talking to would stop coming into the gym. One by one, I'd hear reports that these women had passed. And one by one, I'd remember the dreams that I had of them. The more it happened, the more I'd panic. Just when I thought it was as bad as it could get, I met her.\n\nI couldn't believe it. The way that she looked. The way she spoke to me. Her intelligence, her beauty. She was unlike anyone that I had ever met. I spent night after night with her, and before I knew it; she was all that I could think about.\n\nJust then I remembered my curse. My heart sank. Inevitably, I'd end up dreaming about her. I couldn't stand the thought of it. At first I barely slept. I'd try only sleeping for two hours a night. Eventually, my body took over and I slept through my alarm. I fell into a deep sleep and had a dream about showing up to work in my underwear. I woke up in a panic, and realized that I was 3 hours late for work. I rushed to get changed and hurried to work as quickly as I could.\n\nI got to the office only to find that it was in fact still locked. There was not a single car in the parking lot either. Just then, I realized what had happened.\n\nThat was when I decided that I couldn't sleep anymore.\n\nNow I sat in my bathroom, with my face in hands. I'd been taking speed for the past 24 hours straight. I had already tried everything that I could. I was up to 6 Redbulls a day, a pot and a half of coffee, and as many pills as I could fit down my throat.\n\nThe thought crossed my mind several times a day that simply killing myself was a much simpler solution to the problem. I'd always think that I had too much to live for when the thought would cross my mind. I'd curse myself as a weakling and ingest as much caffeine and amphetamines as I could stomach.\n\nI started to feel less panicked as I felt the amphetamines perk me up. I knew that I'd have at least a few more hours without any sleep. I looked at the clock, and it read 4:17am. It was almost morning, and I could at least feel the sunlight on my face. Maybe that would help me feel a little bit more awake.\n\nI made another pot of coffee, and turned on the radio. It was all crazy talk radio at this hour. It was at the very least entertaining, though. My coffee pot finished brewing and I poured myself a tall cup and gulped it down. I felt as it burned my throat, but I didn't even care at this point. I poured myself a second cup and started sipping that one slower.\n\nI turned to my clock again. It read 5:03am.\n\nThe sun was started to come out, and I knew that people would be starting to wake up soon. My landlord would be up soon.\n\nI decided to go outside and have a cigarette. I stepped out onto the landing at the top of my stairs to my apartment. I leaned against my railing and stood chain smoking one cigarette after another after another.\n\nI saw my landlord step out of the basement door to his house and onto the driveway. He looked up at me and waved. I waved back with as much enthusiasm as I could muster. I took a long swig of my coffee and a deep drag of my cigarette. As I exhaled my cigarette, I felt a sharp pain in my chest. It started to get hard for me to breathe. Each breath felt more and more like I had someone sitting on my chest. I felt a shooting pain going up my arm. I felt my knees buckle, and the last thing that I saw was the wood of the stairs in front of me.\n\nMy eyes slowly opened and I could hear machines beeping. My vision started to clear up from gray. I could hear a group of doctors standing over me say\n\n\"Male, 27 years old. Brought in two days ago due to cardiac arrest. Has yet to regain consciousness\"\n\nJust then one of the doctors in white coats point at me and said\n\n\"Dr. Gallagher!\" excitedly \"He's awake.\"\n\nThe oldest doctor in the group had his back facing me. He turned around quickly and his serious face turned into a warm smile. \n\n\"Welcome back to the world, son.\"\n\nHe said with a warm tone.\n\nI could hear in the background another doctor discussing the mysterious death of a young woman. Apparently she had just simply died in her sleep last night. I didn't have to hear her name to know who he was referring to. I knew it was her. I knew that I had killed her.\n\nI knew that I should have killed myself before it was too late.\n\nI knew that it was my curse to be the one that didn't die.\n\nI knew it was my curse to be the one that didn't love.\n\nI knew it was my curse to be the one that couldn't dream.\n\n\n", "Whoever I dream about, dies.\n\nI met her on a lazy afternoon on top of the Sunshine Hill. I might have met her long before that, for she struck me as being familiar. We shared a can of soda from the nearby vending machine.\n\nOur first date was in the flying diner 'Up in the Cloud'. The place was fairly new, but the flying diner business was not. Thus, we were the only customers. It's fine, she told me, makes me feel like the place is reserved for us. I tip the waiter generously that day. Before we left, I crafted a flower out of the white cloud, and pinned it in her hair. She loved it.\n\nWhoever I dream about, dies.\n\nA month into our relationship, she moved in with me. I want to get closer to you, she said, with an innocent smile that brightened up her freckles. How much closer do you want, I asked, we've already been inside each other. She jumped at me like a playful cat, we didn't get much work done that night.\n\nTwo weeks ago, I proposed to her with a ring made from a star. There is no other ring I would want more than this, she cried as she wrapped my finger around hers. Then, she released the star back to the night. Star dust glowed in the dark, embraced us in its gentle light.\n\nToday, I am walking with her on the beach. We paint a galaxy upon the sand. I lay next to her on the coast, looking at the reflection of the galaxy on the sky.\n\nWhoever I dream about, dies.\n\nI wake, break into cold sweats. She is still next to me, the sand all around us.\n\n\"What's the matter, honey?\" - she asks, her soothing blue eyes calm me.\n\n\"I....I just dozed off?\"\n\n\"Sure you are.\" - she leans in to kiss me on the cheek.\n\n\"You're still alive!\"\n\n\"Of course I am. What's this all about?\" - she caresses my face gently, her sleek fingers wash away the sweat.\n\n\"Honey....there's something I need to tell you.\"\n\n\"Anything.\"\n\n\"Whoever I dream about, dies.\"\n\n\"Yes, and whoever I dream about becomes rich.\"\n\n\"No, I mean it! Anyone that appears in my dreams passes away a day later, no matter the cause.\" - I sit up, and so does she.\n\n\"That's just silly.\" - she pulls herself closer, her head rests on my shoulder.\n\n\"And I... I was, I'm afraid that someday I will dream about you, and you will...\"\n\n\"You don't have to be afraid,\" - she says in her soft, sweet voice, - \"we are inside the dream, after all.\"\n\n\"What?\"\n\n\"In what world would a cloud be made into a flower, a star made into a ring?\"\n\n\"What are you saying? That's...that's normal......is it?\"\n\n\"We never really remember when we start the dream, do we?\"\n\nI look dumbfounded at the endless ocean. She wraps my finget around hers.\n\n\"Come on.\" - she stands up and drags me into the water. - \"we'll be together forever.\"\n\nWe walk toward Candy Town, deep under the sea.\n\nWe'll be together forever, yes, but if this is my dream, then she isn't real. She is just an interpretation of my mind, my own image of who she is.\n\nHowever, is that a bad thing? I mean, since she is born from me, she must be tailored to my tastes, which means she is the perfect woman for me.\n\nAgain, she is fake.\n\nThe two thoughts wrestle in my mind.\n\nWhoever I dream about, dies." ]	2
	[WP] You run an antiques store. Two treasure-hoarding dragons enter, and start a fight over a rare item	[ "-Ching-Ching- The bell above the wooden door rang and I was drawn from a near nap behind the counter of my shop :Who in the...: my mind began to ask itself before it was stopped dead at the sight of the woman in the shop ; She stood at seven foot tall - the height even more impressive as I caught glimpses of her pale bare feet under her flowing white dress - Stunning was hardly a fit word for the almost pearl colored skin drabbed in a black dress - White flowing locks and sky blue eyes. She looked about my humble shop a smirk crossing her lips as she noticed my stare but pretended she didn't as she finally settled at the counter \"Say it...\" she commanded. I gulped softly - eyes casting to her feet and managed to mumble \"Dragon...\" - which was met by a soft giggle \"Indeed - mortal but don't worry - I'm not here to cause and issue ; In fact....I'd like to make a purchase\" she nodded pointing to a necklace in my case \"I will pair fair, though I bet you don't even know what it is..\" she chimed as moments after the door sounded again -Ching-Ching- : \"Alexandria!!!\" the voice roared as the male figure stormed in - Smaller than the woman at only six foot tall or so and not missing any footwear at that - White business suit draped across almost obsidian skin - Sharp yellow eyes and salt and pepper hair \"Yes? Doral?\" she chimed in a teasing tone \"You got me drunk! On purpose and now your here to steal what is mine!?!\" - I winced a little as his words turned slowly into growls and began to duck - just in case. \"Yours!?\" she laughed \"I have already selected the item...First come..First serve isn't that true?\" she pointed to a little sign on my desk at which I nodded hesitantly \"Don't play coy woman...I have a -much- bigger hoard..Humans will ignore a great many things if the price is right...\" he sneered as I began to perk up..a bidding war...this might be great!! - She laughed and laughed some more ; reaching across and dusting her fingers against my cheek \"But I can offer -so- much more..\" her suggestive tone bringing a blush to my cheeks and anger to the yellow eyes of the man \"What ever you offer...\" he paused debating \"I will offer the same...\" he finished - A smirk grew on the womans lips and I just knew..this was about to be a -very- long day.", "Acacia leaned against the pristine white desk, snakes writing about her head in lazy circuits. The day had been slow, and there wasn't anything wrong with that. Her shop was the haunt of many a magician, and as was custom, magicians were often a finicky sort, especially in the Manhattan Underground. However, at the moment, the shop - a modernist dream of white cubicles filled with pristine artifacts, ranging from the macabre to the dazzling - was a quiet sanctum from the goings-on of city magic. \n\nThe door to the shop slid open, and a dirty street magi waltzed in. Acacia gave him a sour look through her Jimmy Choo sunglasses, but she kept her mouth shut. It was never good to judge by looks around here. For all she knew, he was the Crown Beggar himself, and he'd flood her apartment with rats for giving him the side-eye. He walked up to the gorgon and said, \"Got any war-root?\" \n\nAcacia quickly grabbed the aforementioned herb, bagging it while the man stood at the counter anxiously. \n\n\"Quiet day, huh?\" he asked nervously, and Acacia stopped what she was doing to stare at the man incredulously.\n\n\"Please... don't ever say tha--\"\n\nAs if on cue, the doors slid open to allow a scaly drake through the door, and Acacia's snakes writhed with annoyance. It was a well-known fact among the magical artifacts community that one never, under any circumstances, said the \"Q\" word. One should keep the peace as long as possible and avoid breaking it at all costs. \n\n\"Just-- take it. Thankyouforyourbusiness, now get,\" Acacia spat irately, taking his gold coin as the man scurried out the door. To the drake, she asked sweetly, \"May I help you?\" \n\nThe drake shimmied to its full height, asphalt scales glittering dully as it breathed out smog. Its eyes glinted at her with the colors of an oil slick as it greasily stated, \"I'm looking for the blood of a nephilim.\"\n\nAcacia whistled appreciatively and crossed behind the desk to look it up on the inventory. A definite, rare ingredient, usually prized for its brilliance and habit of turning into a gem of insurmountable beauty. People often mistook them for garnets, if garnets could possibly turn one mad with visions of the future and God's ineffable plan for Mankind...\n\n\"I have--\"\n\nThe door opened, and another drake -- this one with mirrors for scales and eyes of CCTV lenses -- entered the shop, and Acacia suppressed the low whine building in her throat. Two city drakes. Two. She usually saw one a year, if that. \n\n\"Jerry?\" the second drake asked with the hiss of a streetcar stopping.\n\n\"Bob...\" the first drake grumbled low. \n\n\"I'm... a little busy with... uh, Bob, here, so if you could--\"\n\n\"You're looking for nephilim blood, aren't you?\" Jerry griped.\n\n\"Yeah, what about it?\" Bob snapped, asphalt-covered tail twitching defensively. \n\n\"You know I've been looking for that forever. Why do you always have to copy me?\"\n\n\"Copy you? I started collecting bio-gems long before you started, Jeromia--\"\n\n\"Shut your roadhole, Bobbert--\"\n\nAcacia rubbed her forehead and said, \"I can help both of you, you know.\"\n\nThe two drakes stopped their bickering to look at the gorgon at the desk, and their eyes gleamed in anticipation. Drakes most typically had especially specific hoards. She would have to tread lightly, if she didn't want them slinging tar balls and lightning around the shop. Mont Blanc would kill her. He just had the chandelier installed last week. \n\n\"Bio-gems?\" she asked. \n\nThe two nodded. \n\n\"How about this -- I only have one nephilim blood gem available. Hold on, hear me out: but I've got troll hearts.\"\n\n\"Got it already,\" Jerry snapped. \n\n\"Um, bezoar of the Jersey Devil?\"\n\n\"We bid a hundred grand each on two,\" Bob complained. \n\n\"Phoenix scat, complete with diamonds.\"\n\n\"Raised my own,\" Jerry conceded with disappointment. \n\n\"I don't have that. You can raise 'em?\" Bob asked with genuine interest, and Acacia nearly pulled her hair out. \n\n\"Okay -- how about...\" She scrolled through the inventory, chewing her bottom lip. \"...the Eye of Chandra.\" \n\nThe two stared at Acacia with awe. \n\n\"The eye... of a god.\"\n\n\"Yeeeup,\" Acacia said with a plastered on smile. \n\nJerry slapped a single paw on the desk, digging his nails into the gorilla glass with a screech.\n\n\"How much?\"\n\n\"Twohundredgrand.\"\n\n\"Rip-off,\" Bob muttered, but the two seemed to have been caught there. \n\n\"Ah, what the heck. Bob, what you got on you?\" Jerry asked.\n\n\"My limit was a hundred grand. You?\"\n\n\"Eh, hundred fifty. We go in halfsies?\" \n\n\"Sounds good to me.\" \n\nWith that, Acacia donned a hazmat suit and walked into a backroom. She walked out with a black box bucking in her hand, a glass front showing a glowing diamond eye beating against the lid. \n\n\"As always, handle with care and under no circumstances open the lid unless you wish to invoke the ire of Chandra as the eye seeks its original owner. Mont Blanc Boutique of Rare and Certified Items cannot be held accountable for any magical inci--\"\n\n\"We get the spiel, kid, just hand them both over,\" Jerry griped, and Acacia put in a bag the pre-packaged nephilim blood and god-eye. \"Thanks, young lady. Almost had a spat in here.\"\n\n\"Yeah,\" Bob chortled with a huff of automobile smoke. \"Good thing, eh?\" \n\nWith that, the two drakes ambled out the door with their purchases, somewhat happier than they'd come in, and Acacia slumped in her chair with sigh. \n\nThe first thing she was going to do when Mont Blanc came back was to suggest they put up a \"no 'quiet' zone\" sign in here. " ]	2
	[WP] Now that some ghosts are tech literate, they have really stepped up their haunting game.	[ "It was a long Saturday Night, the party i was at exhausted me.\nI felt like just falling into my bed and sleeping till noon, but i got to hooked on my phone.\n\nMainly just checking my Twitter feed and seeing what my friends are up to on Facebook. I was reading a Tweet when i got a text from a blank number, it read: \"I was like YOU.\"\n\nI was a little nervous than i tapped on the notification. I sent back \"Do i know you from the party?\" My mind was racing trying to trace my steps when i was at the party... i gave my number to no one. It responded with: \"YOU should now ME, I am always here.\" The lamp on My nightstand flickered and i barely noticed, i was telling myself maybe it was a friend of a friend who was trolling me. But the lamp flickering always contradicted my thoughts. The lamp flickered again, i jumped when it happened. I texted back hastily: \"Are you some Hacker neighbor or something? You're really not scaring me...\" It texted back almost immediately saying: \"I can see YOU are scared, but YOU can not see ME.\" I started shaking when i read the text.\n\n My mind was telling me to scream to panic, anything to get someone in here... but i couldn't even open my mouth, i couldn't move my body. A cold wind brushed against me and rested at my left side, I couldn't even move to get away from it.\n\n The lamp turned on and it's brightness intensified so much it was almost like looking into the sun, it blew up before it could catch fire to itself. My vision had gone blue and red from looking at the lamp, the screen on my phone looked really dim. My eyes adjusted after a while and when i looked on the screen another text was sent. \"YOU really are pathetic. YOU should be like ME. D. E. A. D.\"\n\n My mind shut off, it felt like i wasn't breathing, i started to panic. I snapped out of it when the alarm went i had on my phone, The cold air went away from my side, My Paralysis went away. I looked at the time, it was 6:30 AM. I only got home at 2:30 AM though, and was on social media for 1 hour the whole situation was 3 hours long?\n\nIt didn't matter anymore, The thing was gone.\n\nThe End\n_______\n\nLet me know how i did! I'm an amateur writer and it's kind of a spare time thing.\nI hope to hear some feedback on how i can improve!\n", "@JessicaBoo Dunno who you are and don't care. Stop replying to all my tweets with weird gifs.\n\n@DanTheHanFan Come with me. We can be together.\n\n@JessicaBoo Okay. Muting now. Tc.\n\n@DanTheHanFan Come with me, Dan. I miss you.\n\n@JessicaBoo WTF! I muted you. \n\n@DanTheHanFan We belong together. Just like we did back in school.\n\n@JessicaBoo I blocked you too!! How is this still happening?! \n\n@DanTheHanFan Take my hand, Dan. We are meant to be together. Come with me now.\n\n@JessicaBoo I'm gonna report your account. Good day.\n\n@DanTheHanFan Don't you want me anymore?\n\n@JessicaBoo Who. Are. You. \n\n@DanTheHanFan I'm your soul mate. The only girl who loved you with all her heart. \n\n@JessicaBoo Is this Jake?\n\n@DanTheHanFan It's me, Dan. Your Jess. Remember the day we met? I was wearing a silly hat.\n\n@JessicaBoo If this is a Halloween thing, this is in poor taste. You are a sick person.\n\n@DanTheHanFan What's the matter, Dan? Did you forget about me?\n\n@JessicaBoo Fuck off.\n\n@DanTheHanFan You said I was the prettiest girl you had ever seen.\n\n@JessicaBoo Whoever you are, you need to stop this shit. Right now.\n\n@DanTheHanFan What's the matter, Dan? Don't you love me anymore? \n\n@JessicaBoo The person you're pretending to be was a real human being. This is not funny.\n\n@DanTheHanFan I am still real, Dan. I'm waiting for you. I've been waiting for you for so long.\n\n@JessicaBoo Fuck you. Jess is dead. This is sick. I'm going to ignore you now.\n\n@DanTheHanFan Ignore me? Like you did when I drowned? And you just watched?\n\n@JessicaBoo I don't know what game you're playing. This is over. Goodbye.\n\n@DanTheHanFan It's never over, Dan. I'm here now. With you. Near you. On this bed.\n\n@JessicaBoo FUjlkhsshgngmms\n\n<This account has been deleted>\n\n" ]	2
	[WP] You are known to be walking and talking while sleeping. One morning you open your Facebook account to find an advertisement for heavy-duty body bags.	[ "What did I do last night?\n\nI have been known to speak in my sleep. At first, it was a trivial thing - A mumbled word here or there, no real rhyme or reason to their sounds. But as I got older, they started getting more complex and more structured, to the point where one couldn't distinguish between myself being awake or not. This also eventually led to my ability to walk and do things in my sleep too - Again, simple things at first, and building up to the extreme and complex things as I got more... Experienced? Skilled? Whatever it was.\n\nSo, what did I do last night, and why are body bags being advertised to me? What happened? I switch over to a new tab and check the local news. \n\n\"Man's body found in river: Autopsy reports show that they died of a strange physiological condition, but not many details have been released.\" \n\n\"What has been released states that they died due to a very heavy state of unconsciousness, brought about by heavy brain trauma, which leaves the victims in a state of perpetuated fantasies. The only possible cause of such affect is from someone with a similar condition.\"\n\nOh my God. As far as I am aware, I am the only person who can do complex things during my sleep. I ha e been found creating new chemicals in the lab I work at, after letting myself in while asleep, for example. S, as far as I am aware... I am the killer. But how would such a thing be proven?\n\nNo. It can't. It can't be proven, and I will take advantage of it. I'm going to make this power be good for something, rather than bad. I'm not going to let it control me. I must learn how to master it, without letting anyone know of it.\n\nBut first, that body bag looks pretty good. Looks like I'll be adding that to the Christmas list.\n\n^r/MitsTriesWriting" ]	1
	[WP] The Holy Empire hoped to shame the half-demon ruler of a smaller empire by nominating said king to moderate peace talks with their ancient enemy, the orcs. The word being, "hoped"...	[ "The woman held out her hands as her servants dressed her. \"This will be entertaining to watch.\" She said, a large white hat being placed on her head.\n\n\"As you say, Bishop Sinclair.\" Said a servant, spraying elegant perfumes and dabbing scents behind the bishop's ear.\n\n\"They will destroy pitiful hole by sundown. Pack the bags--these 'peace' negotions will not go on for long\"\n\nThere was a ruckus heard from out the window from the orcs and goblins on parade through the city.\n\nA knock came from the door. \n\n\"Enter.\" said Sinclair.\n\nA hooded knight knelt in the doorway. \"I am to escort you to the meeting place.\"\n\nThe bishop scoffed. \"I am sure the church will be pitiful excuse for hallowed ground.\"\n\n\"The church is not where I am to take you,\" Said the knight. \"The meeting place has been moved.\"\n\n***\n\nA goblin dangled from the ceiling, laughing insistently above the table--kicking the bishops hat so it tilted on her head.\n\nShe was stunned.\n\nThere was chanting and signing from the bar. \n\nThe Orc King muscles rippled as his arm wrestled with a smaller opponent.\n\nOpposite the orc was a man with black hair, his horns were as curled as his smile. He was an even match for the orc.\n\n\"Would you care for something to drink?\" Said the bishop's servant--handing her a platter of what was provided--ale.\n\nThe man took a mug and began to drink--not waivering in the match against the orc.\n\nThe laughed as the mug was slammed against the table--in that moment the orc had won--but seemed delighted.\n\n\"This is much better than the stuffy church.\" Said the orc through his tusks.\n\nThe Demon nodded. \"I thought our strongest neighbor deserve the best arragenments.\" His dark eyes glanced at the bishop.\n\nThe bishop eyes widened with a realization. \"These arragnements are fantastic.\" She said, taking an ale and forced herself to drink the swill.\n\nThe Orc King didn't pay much attention to her. \"I have seen your armies on parade.\" Said the orc. \"You employ woman in your army? Why so?\"\n\n\"To double the size of our army. Of course. My mother was a strong woman--it takes strong woman to make strong children.\"\n\nThe orc laughed! \"It has been said for generations as a joke that a single orc woman could kill a squad of human men. Perhaps there is something to this acceptance of woman in battle.\"\n\nThe bishop felt disgusted.\n\nThe man nodded. \"Every man and woman in my nation is willing to go to war for what we believe in.\"\n\nThe orc nodded in return, considering his words. \"We are aswell.\" His eyes wandered to a serving girl that strolled closer to him and smiled with a platter of ales above her head to avoid others as she made her way to him. Her dress reavealing strong arms. \n\n\"If all your woman have such good sword arms...\" He took the girl and sat her on his lap and they laughed together as ale was sloshed about, and they drank.\n\nThe half-demon turned to the bishop. His humor fading. \"Things are changing.\" He said. " ]	1
	[Wp] deer have become sentient and taken over the world. Hunters are the world's only hope	[ "I never held a gun before, so how I survived was a miracle in of itself. I walked slowly along the out edge of the forest, looking not that the remains of the city; now overrun with plants, nor the small smoke stacks in the skies from the distance of whatever humans were left huddling together for warmth in fear of the winter steadily approaching us. No. I looked at the ground. Treading my steps as carefully as humanly possible trying my best to avoid the fallen leaves of fall that got stuck in the grass and refused to fly away in the wind with the others. \n\nI haven’t seen another human in almost a week. The lack of social interaction was maddening to me, but I knew it was for the best. Us people, despite us all in the same situation greediness has took us over. Making us loot and kill each other for supplies like animals, almost as if we lost all compassion for each other. \n\nMy hunting rifle was already in hand cocked and my finger in the trigger. I quickly glanced up into the bushes and paused for a second. I aimed my gun at a nearby bush that I saw move out of the corner of my eye. I trained all of my focus on it my hands becoming supernaturally still as I held the gun close to my face as to veer down the wooden sight that I made myself. I held my breath and counted to five. One, two, three, four. The bush shook, and I slowly squeezed the trigger a bit more focusing at the ends waiting for something to pop out. \nThe bush shook again and out came the nose of a small deer, smelling the air for whatever it was looking for. Did I notice me? I adjusted my sight for where the head should be then I closed my eyes. Bang! I opened my eyes again and I saw the brown shape of the deer lying the floor twitching violently trying to understand what was going on. I quickly ran through the leaves and bushes towards it not caring about making noises again after the gunshot. \n\nThe bush was only about fifteen feet away from me, so I was able to arrive to the deer in a matter of seconds. When I got to it I didn’t now how to react. Should I run away to hide from the others who were probably coming to investigate what was going on? Or should I stay here with it and use its body for food and warmth? I inspected the predator on the ground and saw the wound where my bullet pierced its body. Square in the neck.\n \nI decided to ignore my instincts to run and went down on one knee to try and get a closer look. It was breathing heavily it’s mouth agape as if it was trying to scream for help but couldn’t. Either I got lucky and pierced her vocal cords or it was gagging on it’s blood. I didn’t care, I couldn’t help but feel bad. Despite this creature killing most of my population. I slowly put on hand on its side to help make its last moments as peaceful as possible when we made contact She started to swing her legs violently, trying to run away from its killer but instead, only managed to hit me in the side. \n\n“Keep calm” I said in a soothing voice. The deer understood me and stopped panicking as I slowly moved my hand closer to its wound. “Does this hurt?” I looked directly into the deer’s eye as it stared at me, tears started to form. So, I took that as a yes. I quickly unhooked my knife that I kept on my belt and held it up to her face, so she could see it. “Do you want me too finish it?” I felt bad, I truly did. I wanted to make the deer feel as comfortable as possible as it died. The deer slowly nodded a yes. And so I quickly dug the knife into her neck and killed within seconds. \n\nWhen I stared that the dead body laid before me I knew that I should feel accomplishment for what I did but instead I felt guilt. It didn’t even know I was there. I was probably looking for food or water. I couldn’t believe that I was feeling this way over a simple deer but after I saw everything it did. How human and social it acted as it killed our entire species one by one I couldn’t help but feel fear yet some connection. We were both so similar, killing our dangers and protecting our families. \n\nWe used to kill deer when the population got too high to keep nature in check and as we reached ten billion people on earth I think the deer returned the favor. I got up from my knee and looked up past the thin layer of trees and into the sky. It was getting dark, I looked around and saw a nice tree for me to sleep in. I looked back down at the deer, not wanting its death to be wasteful I started a small fire, skinned and gutted the body to the best of my abilities and ate whatever meat was left. \n\nMaybe we haven’t lost all compassion after all. \n" ]	1
	[WP] Imaginary friends are just people who died before the universe wanted them to. As a result, they were sent to befriend small children as ghosts. Instead of ghost friends, these spirits are marked as 'imaginary'	[ "As I lay in my hospital bed I could feel the life draining from my young body. I was only 17 how could my time already be coming? I look around the room to see all of my family in tears as they look upon me. I feel a tear roll down my face as I say \" I love all of you.\" With those words my last breath leaves me, and I see a white light. The voice of a woman speaks to me, she says \"Hello Carson, I would like to start by apologizing for the way things turned out, it's always sad to see someone die before they are meant to.\" I stare in disbelief, I never thought much of an afterlife, I thought it would just be like sleeping. \"Where am I?\" I ask. The voice replies, \"Sorry, where are my manners, welcome to the afterlife. More specifically the afterlife for those who have passed before they were meant to.\" I stared in awe as my vision shifted and I sat in a white room with a white and grey desk in the center, a middle aged women sat behind the desk. I looked at her and said \"What makes this afterlife different from any other? I thought there was only one afterlife.\" The woman chuckled, \"Many people think that at first, the difference between the two is that if you pass too early you become what the living call \"imaginary friends\".\" I couldn't find words right away, I thought this was just some cruel joke. \"So you're saying that I am going to go back as a ghost that some kid thinks is their imaginary friend?\" The woman nodded at me and smiled. \"Yes, you will be assigned a child at random and you must be there to comfort them and guide them into adulthood so that they don't suffer an unexpected fate. You will take whatever form they find comforting, do you understand?\" I wasn't sure how to react so I nodded my head, \"Good then I'll let you get started, your child's name is Scotty, enjoy your time.\" Without warning I was standing outside of an old brick house. There was a young boy, five years old to be exact, playing in the grass, he turned and looked at me. \"There you are Fred! Do you wanna play hide and seek?\" I looked at the kid for a moment, studying him closely. \"Sure Scotty, you hide and I'll find you.\" Scotty took off running around the back of the house, leaving me to think for a moment. I looked down at my hands to see my skin was green, I was wearing a denim jacket and a kilt (for who knows what reason). I figured I might as well make the best of my situation, I mean it's not like it would kill me to have some fun. Scotty and I played hide and seek until the sun went down and had to go inside, Scotty got ready for bed as I sat in his bedroom. It was a fairly small room with interesting posters for a five year old, specifically the Celtic cross hanging in the room. Scotty came in the room and laid down in the bed, his mom came in, kissed his forehead, and told him goodnight. She turned the light off as she left the room and Scotty said \"Goodnight Fred, I'll see you tomorrow.\" Months went by playing with Scotty and he really grew on me, we had dance offs and played games and told jokes, it was great. Scotty started school after a bit and I got to see him less, but when he got home or got lonely in school, which was rare, we got to have fun. On Scotty's 9th birthday he got a PlayStation and a few games, he was super stoked to play it. He plugged it up with the help of his dad and began playing, I sat next to him and watched, making jokes to try and make the game more fun. Years passed with Scotty paying less and less attention to me until he turned 11. Scotty was playing a new shooting game on his PlayStation, I made a joke as I usually do and Scotty just got angry. He turned to me and said, \"You know what, maybe Mom was right, maybe I am too old for imaginary friends. Will you just go away?!\" Those words hurt like a bullet to the heart, I looked at Scotty while holding back tears, \"Is that really what you want?\" I asked while trying not to sob. \"Yes that's what I want Fred, bye.\" A tear rolled down my cheek as I looked back on the boy I'd watched grow up, \"Goodbye best buddy.\" A white light flashed in my vision as I walked through the doors of the afterlife. The woman from before looked at me and smiled, \"Welcome back Carson, you did well. Would you like to take a short break before you get assigned your next child?\" I stared at the ground for a moment, feeling as if I had died again. \"Yes, I would enjoy a short break, thank you\" I walked out the doors and found a bench to sit on as the memories of Scotty and my adventures passed through my mind. A single tear rolled down my face as I watched him grow up all over again, \"Live well, Scotty, live well.\" " ]	1
	[WP] You have the power to heal, you also happen to be a universal donor. In order to cash in on this you decide to sell all your organs on the black market, multiple times. What could possibly go wrong?	[ "It really wasn't a big deal at first. I knew from a young age that I healed fast. My Father seemed to fear this and insisted that our family always keep moving. Never in one place more than a year or two. Less if I had an incident that drew attention. Eventually I grew up, and stopped growing at all. My body was locked to a perfect cellular template from the age of 25. Impervious to the oxidation and Telomere replication issues that seemed to cause old age. Pretty sweet deal right? Until you start having to move because people will notice you haven't aged. So I got into a routine every five years or so I \"fake\" my death. I mean I do die by the clinical definition for as much as a couple days depending on the damage. Yet at the end I always wake up again and crawl out of the morgue where I end up. \n\nI used to be a little proud of the organ donor check I got on all my ID's. The forgers always got a kick out of it, and for some reason people accept the legitimacy or an ID with one more readily. I felt I was doing my part with my parts, I mean why not? \n\nThen the nightmare started. I almost missed the initial stories. Gossip rag and tabloid level coverage at first. \"My Transplant is changing me!\" \"My wife is turning into a man!\" but then I caught an evening news segment about an emergency review of the entire nationwide donor organ program. \n\nMy organs regrew inside me sure. When I was an angsty teenager I'd even lopped pieces off and made sure they rotted away. But I hadn't accounted for how my parts would regrow if kept alive in another body. I had donated hundreds of organs over the years. In each case the organs had slowly spread my cells into patients bodies aided by immune-suppressants. Spreading and supplanting the native cells one at a time. \n\nThere were now dozens of virtual half clones of me running around... within a decade of the first transplant the first patients were succumbing. Their personalities now trapped in a body that was not at all like the ones they had been born with, and driven mad by brains that no longer quite matched their extant minds. \n\nThe saving grace was bone structure, older patients in particular didn't quite look like me as bones were more permanent. But the Child patients... I had to look on in horror at the poor things looking like younger me in various ways. Paraded on talk shows and poked by scientists. The genes don't lie, they all know I must exist now: patient zero. Now I don't get the donor checkmark anymore. ", "So, on the wonderful world of the Internet, I live within the black market. Shady deals, commodities, and people; Hitmen, drugs, guns, traffickers, and so on. So why am I, an average man from an average home and average well... everything, doing there?\n\nWhy, selling my organs of course.\n\nYou see, a few years ago, I learned of a weird thing my body does when I get injured. I happen to heal my wounds at a much faster pace than others, and if I am missing a limb it grows back very quickly. I discovered this when I slipped and got myself impaled after falling down a cliff. A real doozy right? Well, when I eventually pulled myself off the impromptu spike, I realised that my wound was steaming up and healing quite fast.\n\nSo, I did what any normal person would do, and started scouring the black market for potential buyers. At first, people only wanted kidneys, so I begun learning how to self operate and remove them without completely destroying them. That was really painful, I must admit, but after a while, I learned to tolerate the pain, and started to even enjoy it. No scars would be left. No blood would remain. No way for anyone to know.\n\nAs I got used to the feeling of pain and cutting, I begun searching for the more exotic demand. Livers, lungs, hearts... Brains.\n\nInitially getting through the rib cage was tough. It was much harder than I thought it'd be, even for bone. When I managed it however, was when the fun stuff happened. Even without a heart, blood kept pumping; I was breathing, even without lungs. But the one thing I never tested until today was the removal of my brain.\n\nWhile I made a damn good buck off of the other organs, there was a man who approached me offering around 50 million dollars for my brain. He knew of my power, said he granted it to me in the hopes of preventing a shortage of organs for research and the saving of lives. While the latter was certainly true, the one thing he lacked for proper research was a human brain, intact and readily available whenever needed. That's where I came in.\n\nAt first, he wanted to see if I could surgically remove any other organ he asked for, and I proved that I could do so with surgical expertise. The flushing pain was maddening, it felt almost unbelievable this time. I don't know why, but I still l don't know why it felt so much better than any other time. Perhaps it was because of the person beside me. Perhaps it was because I have truly gone mad. But it doesn't matter, what mattered was giving this man what he wanted.\n\nImpressed, he asked me to operate on my head. To see if I could remove my brain without damaging it, and to hand it to him for an autopsy. To think, within the next few hours I would be a dead man walking. Or a literal dead man, if it fails.\n\nI got to work, cleaning my scalpel and bone saw, and started sawing away. When I felt the saw get through the bone, I stopped. I didn't really have a mirror nearby, so was basing my operation purely on the sense of pain, but it hadn't failed me before so why stop now? When I made an even cut into the bone around my entire head, to the amusement of my client, I pulled off the scalp like it was a tin lid. Underneath was the centre of my life, the host of this body of mine. Below, was me.\n\nFilled with a sudden urge of anxiety, I begun to shake. I asked the man to help me relax, and he pulled out a needle, and jammed it into my brain.\n\n\"You see, now that I can have full access to your brain, I don't want any mistakes. This will sedate you slightly, and also calm your nerves. You know, I never thought I would be injecting a medicine right into someone's brain! This is a first for us both.\" He said. Well, someone's enjoying this.\n\n\"Yeah, I never thought I'd be cutting out my own brain and all. Most people would have died from shock at this point, right?\" I asked. He seems credible as a doctor, so I'm feeling obligated to ask.\n\n\"Yeah most would. Many more would die before hand as we cut too deep into the skull and damage the brain. Causes a hemorrhage that blocks the brain and causes a lethal seizure. Not pleasant to witness, and even less pleasant to experience.\" The man replied. He does seem to know his afflictions rather well...\n\nAnyway, I shut up and got to work. I grabbed the brain, and gently removed it from its bone prison. When I did, I let it rest behind me, held to me by the spinal cord. So, I asked for the man to hold the brain, while I cut it off. It was painful beyond my understanding of it, and I had never felt so exhilarated in my life. But if this fails, it will be the last thing I feel.\n\nsnap\n\n...\n\n*THUMP\n\n^(^r/MitsTriesWriting. ^May ^continue ^this ^at ^some ^point!)", "“Back again, eh?”\n\nI nodded. The room was cold, but the warmth of my fur lined coat kept my neck from freezing. \n\n“Look at the camera.” \n\nI performed a half turn, angling my head up so they could see my face. The check took a little longer than normal, and I could feel the guard get a little antsy. Finally, the bzzrt went bzzrt* and the door opened. I stepped away from the camera and through the threshold, catching the eye of the guard on the way in. He looked nervous. I suppose one has to be, job like his.\n\nThe warehouse was empty; cold and desolate. No light came from anywhere in the gargantuan space save from a prefab building erected in the centre. White and stark, I couldn't' have told you which medical organisation they lifted it from – though I'd guess the Knights of Malta. I strode towards it and knocked at the door. \n\nI waited for a time on the threshold, shifting foot to foot to keep warm. \n\nFuck, it was cold. \n\nI could feel eyes on me from around the warehouse. I've never known the syndicate to mess around with security, but when it came to cases like mine they took extra care. The location changed a couple of times a month. My guess? At least four guys trained on me. It was just something you had to get used to.\n\nThe door swung open.\n\n“Ah, Mr. Jackman.”\n\n“Dr. Mengele.” \n\nThe bespectacled doctor chuckled. Swiss to a fault, I couldn't tell where the act ended and the man begun. Whatever the case, it seemed we had a similar sense of humour. We kept our names away from each other. It was just the best way to do it.\n\n“What will it be today, Mr. Jackman?”\n\n“Liver should be good to go. A couple of kidneys, if you can do dialysis.”\n\nWhen people hear the word “regeneration”, they think of the Doctor Who type thing: arms thrown in the air, light pouring from your badly fitted mid 2000s suit. In reality, it was a little more messy: a little slower. And it hurt. A lot. \n\n“We do, we do. All the best for my favourite patient. The usual rates?”\n\nI nodded. Normally I would push a little, but at the moment I didn't feel up to it. Next time.\n\nThe doctor extended his hand, and I took it firmly. I made sure to look him in the eye as I did: this was the sign of a deal between men, made of their own accord. Something the syndicate took seriously. Our hands fell to our sides, and he ushered me in.\n\n“I'm sure you recall the procedure.”\n\nI did. I stripped down to nothing, tossing my clothes into a nondescript container in the corner of the room. As I turned, I noticed another man in the corner of the room. Big and mean, I couldn't see where he was looking behind his glasses. The doctor noticed me staring.\n\n“Ach, him. Lumbering fool. The syndicate has been keeping an ever closer eye on me, recently. Nothing to do with you, my friend.”\n\nI was a little spooked by the break in routine. Obviously things were changing in their relationship. Whatever it was, I didn't need to know. I resolved to get this over with as fast as I could.\n\nI washed in the shower cubicle set up in the corner, towelled off then lay myself on the table. The doctor brought over the anaesthesia, and I counted back from ten.\n\n10...\n\n9... Nothing yet.\n\n8... Some tingling.\n\n7... I heard something. A wet thump?\n\n6... I craned my neck over in alarm. The doctor was lying in a pool of blood.\n\n5... I reached to wrench off the mask, but a huge hand clamped down on my face.\n\n4... Flailing, I fought off the tendrils of unconsciousness.\n\n3... His face smiled down at me: glasses gone, toothy grin pronounced. \n\nHe's missing an eye, I thought.\n\n-----\n\nWhen you wake up from anaesthesia, you're always very confused. I'd hated it, as a child. A lot of surgeries. To the suprise – and, often, amusement – of many, I had a rather sickly childhood. I was used to it. But something felt off. The room was dark. Very dark. I wasn't in the warehouse, that was for sure.\n\nThen I remembered. The hand. The man. The grin. The eye.\n\nI raised my hand to my face to stifle a sound of shock. I didn't want them to know I was awake.\n\nAt least, I tried to. I couldn't move my arm. I looked down to the side. I couldn't see my arm.\n\nI didn't have an arm. With nothing to stop it, my bewildered yells escaped unstifled.\n\n“Oh?”\n\nI craned my neck reflexively to look for the speaker. He was down, beyond my phantom legs. I felt sick.\n\n“You're awake. Hello, Mr. Peterson.”\n\n“Where... why?” I couldn't stop the tears. What the fuck, I thought. What the fuck?\n\n“You should be happy I'm giving you an explanation at all.” I heard the big man get to his feet and step over to me. “This is where you live, now.”\n\nNo, no. No. What the fuck, NO. I wanted to say it - I wanted to scream it - but all that came was a quiet mewl.\n\n“I can assure you you'll be treated well. We're not barbarians.” He sighed. “I have... needs. These needs would be more easily met if I kept you here. People quite dear to me have needs, too. You're the solution.”\n\nI couldn't speak. I couldn't see. I couldn't breathe. My mind was on fire.\n\n“I know you'll think a lot on what I've said, today, over the coming months and years. I'd encourage you not to. Listen to music, maybe a Podcast or two. I'll even send in a girl or two, provided they're clean. I'd rather insanity didn't spoil the meat.”\n\n“I assure you, Mr. Peterson, that if you behave, you will be treated well. Otherwise, things might not be as pleasant for you. If all goes well, this will be the last time I see you. But let's hope it won't come to that, eh?”\n\nI felt him pat me on the shoulder, then step out through a door behind me. I heard it swing shut.\n\nI began to scream, water running freely from my where my eyes once were, nothing to dry my tears. \n\n-----\n\n^^More ^^stories ^^over ^^at ^^/r/Robin_Redbreast " ]	3
	[WP] Dreams are not what we think. They’re not just something our brain thinks up while we sleep. They’re glimpses into other dimensions. You just had a dream where you were trying to create a gateway to other dimensions. You’re woken by a loud noise. The other you is standing over you, gun in hand.	[ "\"Get the fuck out of bed!\" a shadowy figure yells at me as he materializes through a teal, glowing portal of light that has appeared in my bedroom. It's me, well at least it looks like me, except I'm me. Confused and groggy all I can muster to say is \"Huh?\" much to the annoyance of my other self. \"Look, we need to leave right now and I don't have the time to deal with your, uh, my bullshit 'cuz I know what you're thinking so just shut the fuck up and let's go!\" comes from the impatient mouth of my gun-wielding self. \"Hold on you little shit, I'm not going into that big swirly mind-fuck SciFi bullshit until you tell me what is happening,\" I spout at him as my brain wakes up. \"God I fucking hate myself,\" he sighs, \"Why do I always have to make everything 10 times more difficult than it needs to be?\" \n\n\"Okay, listen up, dickhead, 'cuz I'm only going to explain this once,\" he declares with disdain, \"There are thousands of thousands of versions of you, of us, across different dimensions. I am one of those versions and I am a part of a team that helps save us when we are in trouble. You are a very special little dickhead who is able to see across these dimensional barriers in your dreams. The shit that you dream about is actually happening to our other selves. Do you understand why I need you now?\" \n\n\"Uhhh...\" I reply, \"No, not really.\" \"My God I'm a moron,\" says alternate me, \"You have nightmares fairly often, yes? Those are actually happening to some of us and I need you to help me and my team locate the versions of ourselves that are in these nightmares to rescue them. Got it?\" \"Oh, that makes sense I guess,\" I say with a nod, \"but why should I give a fuck about other versions of myself?\" \"Because if you don't help then I'll blow your fucking brains out,\" other me declares as he raises his gun to meet me. \"Fine! Fine! I'll help. Jesus, I'm such a dick,\" I concede as I stand up to join him. \"Now you're getting it,\" he states dryly as he grabs my arm and walks us through the portal. " ]	1
	[WP] The anti-villian, a bad guy who does good stuff for all the wrong reasons.	[ "Of all the friends I’d ever made up until that point, none of them ever made me feel like I was in love. \n\nWe stumbled upon each other’s company as cliche as how it ended. \n\nOur friends were friends, and always said,\n\nyou and my friend so-and-so would get along so well. \n\nAnd when I met you I looked at you as princesses do Prince Charming. Your face blossomed slowly. Your hair looked soft. Your smile was goofy, as if intentionally so to keep everything from being too perfect. A veil of spotless glass between us was shattered and in the flurry of the shards, light reflected to illuminate your face. \n\nHow the fuck did this actually happen, where you come into my space, forcing me to speak poetry for the sake of accuracy.\n\nCame into my mind, possessed and haunted as if I already didn’t have other demons to fight. You even fought them with me, took my side, gave me life and oil and food and company and laughter. You gave me hope and music and dancing. We grew together. \n\nYou came into my space, where I surrounded my heart with knives and my body with reflexes so that no one could ever get too close. You asked me about my fears and my doubts and in asking I was forced to actually acknowledge them. You pushed my creativity and provided resources for inspiration. You charmed me. You caught my eye, grabbed my hand, and then my heart,\n\nonly to break it.\n\nSimply to entice envy from\nSomeone else. \n\nBecause of you now I know bad people.\n\n" ]	1
	[WP] You're on the sidewalk, just walking, enjoying the fresh air. It's a busy street. You're lost in your thoughts for a moment, looking down while walking. The minute you look up, nobody's around.	[ "You're looking at your phone, browsing some internet forums and you notice your data stopped working. Strange... your provider is usually quite trustworthy. You look around and don't seem to notice anybody. You clearly remember bumping into someone along the way here. you think they may have took the wrong way and turned around, But still it's strange...\n\nNo cars, Nothing, You go to a nearby store to buy a snack or something but there are no workers, You check around a bunch of places, Nobody, Not even cars, Now you're freaking out what could possibly be happening you think... \n\nYou decide to calm down, Take a breather, Pinch yourself, Nothing seems to work, What could have happened you wonder?\n\nAt the glance of an eye though you spot a shadow, Quickly you sprint towards it... and you notice the shadow very much looks like yours, As you look down you realize you don't have your shadow.\n\nAfter a couple of days you have found out some things, Your shadow will always stay at that one location you found it in, You appear to not have to eat nor drink nor sleep nor relieve your bodily fluids, You're not quite sure what to do, You are getting quite bored after all, All you have is you and your thoughts.\n\nYou walk around the town...Walk around the town...around the town...the town! Maybe you can go to different places, Just see what it could have been like there, Sprinting you reach ahead... and then end up on the other side of the town.\n\nYou sit down... You think it'd just be better to sleep this through, What is the point of this, Nothing makes sense you cant do anything and your dying of boredom, Might as well just go comatose.\n\nBut you cannot fall asleep, You notice you actually cant even feel your eyes closing, Upon further thought you don't feel your mouth either, You appear to have been so panicked you didn't even notice that you had no feeling in your body.\n\nYou decide to find out about your shadow, Looking a bit more at it you find...nothing, Just nothing.\n\n10 days....\n\n2 months...\n\nHow long?\n\nIs he going to stay in-between?\n\nAuthor note: I have almost no experience in mystery so this probably was not that good, Might also be way too hard to figure out what it is, And looking back there's some pointless additions that just make it more confusing.\n" ]	1
	[WP] The whole world begins to lag.	[ "\"You're late.\"\n\nKodiak flinched, flickering back and forth along the path to his cubicle.\n\n\"I know, man, but I got this really high ping, and...\"\n\n\"No excuses. It's your responsibility to maintain a secure connection to reality, it's in your contract. Don't let this happen again, understand?\"\n\nRansome adjusted his collar irritably, spinning on his heel and striding back into his corner office, slamming the door. What a dick.\n\nKodiak slumped down into his chair, bringing up his thermos of coffee, only to find it empty. The coffee reappeared a second later, and Kodiak breathed a sigh of relief. He brought the thermos up to his lips, only for the thermos to flicker back to its original position. The only problem was the fact that the coffee stayed where it was.\n\nKodiak screeched in pain as the scalding liquid splashed across his shirt front, frantically swiped droplets off of him. Heads poked up out their cubicles, wondering what was going on. Not many people had a secure connection these days, since the Federal Space-Time Commission had lobbied to end Spacetime Neutrality. But his jackass coworkers could apparently afford the deluxe package. None of them seemed to be bothered by slow connections.\n\nKodiak went to the office kitchen for some paper towels. As he was dabbing at his shirt, the hustle and bustle behind him seemed to cease. He turned around; everything in the office had frozen in place, and he found that even he couldn't move. His vision went white, and then faded back in, to reveal his bedroom at home, with the message LOST CONNECTION TO SERVER displayed in front of him, in all its irritating glory.\n\nKodiak sighed. \"Son of a bitch...\"" ]	1
	[WP] TIL neuroscientists found that we experience death each time we go to sleep. The brain kills the previous consciousness and generates a fresh one, each sleep, while recycling most of the memory. The neuroscientists died after 2 weeks of sleep deprivation.	[ "Can't sleep\n\nLast night I watched a handful of haggard looking announcers on CNN sit around a table discussing the recent paper published by The National Sleep Foundation, confirming the rumors that had already been circulating online about recent discoveries about the nature of consciousness and what happens to us while we're sleeping. \n\nYou could see the bags under the their eyes, even under their makeup and I think I saw a few spelling errors in the news scroll as well, which was reporting on the recent dramatic rise in suicides, homicides and mass shootings - attributed to \"heightened social anxiety\", and of course, the sudden worldwide rash of accidents, cars, trucks, and planes, all attributed to operator error. \n\nThe operators, as well as the news announcers, aren't quite operating at peak efficiency as of late, and it's very late. All due to the paper, and the claims it irrefutably confirms, which everyone's really tired of hearing about. Everyone's really tired in general actually.\n\nThe sleep study revealed that while sleeping we experience a complete cessation of self. Awareness ends, consciousness reboots and the new awareness accesses the memories stored in the mind. Sounds ominous right? But a little confusing. Here it is in simpler terms - that part of you that's you, the voice reading this now? That part of you that thinks of itself as me, myself and I? That part ends, that part dies. \n\nBasically, we live a day, die at night, and each morning a blank idiot awareness is born, and in those first few moments of awakening, it accesses our memories and convinces itself it's us. It's death, for everyone, every night. The person who wakes up tomorrow, is a different person from the one who fell asleep the night before, and it's borrowing memories it didn't experience, and an identity that doesn't belong to it, and it'll only live for a day, or maybe longer if it can stay awake, and there are ways to stay awake. But people, and things, start getting strange if you stay awake too long. \n\nThe paper was published about three days ago, give or take some sleepless hours, and most aren't handling it well. As I type this I can hear screams coming from the apartments next door, and perhaps crazed laughter too, and there are things burning in the streets below. Things I don't want to examine too closely.\n\nPleasant dreams.", "The demons are coming for us. Soon they will take us all. But I have a plan, I think I can stay awake forever.\n\nNone of us had been able to sleep after completing our study. Once we had fully understood consciousness death and had published our paper, we found our psyches had begun to resist sleep. Apparently, by deeply understanding and grocking the phenomenon of the brain killing the consciousness, we had consequently, psychologically triggered a survival mechanism in our own consciousnesses and now we could not sleep.\n\nEach researcher with a deep knowledge of the subject had been stricken with this growing feeling of, Something or someone was coming to get me; if I fall asleep, they will get me.\n\nWe had been awake for nearly two weeks, and had become the subject of a psychological study ourselves. Depressants had not worked correctly, and had only heightened the growing feeling of dread. \n\nBy this point I knew that if I continued to stay awake, that I would be dead in the next two or three days. But something happened. I began to see the demons; shadow forms, fuzzy, shifting, and black.\n\nI ran, screaming though the abandoned midnight halls of the school. I glimpsed myself running toward myself, reflected in a large mirror at the end of the hall. In that same mirror I saw the demons following behind me. In a panic, I burst into the doorway to my right, and glanced over my shoulder to see the dark, shadows float by the doorway, down the hall towards the mirror.\n\nI peeked out into the hallway and watched the black shadow demons coast to, and then bump into the mirror. They then stayed there, motionless. I slowly, and carefully, closed the door.\n\nOn the wall of this lab were pictures of dolphins. This must be the biology lab. How far had I ran?\n\nIt was then that realized two things, suddenly. Unfortunately the strain of having epiphanies in my sleep-deprived state was almost catastrophic and I fell to the ground. Now I knew how to make the demons take the wrong trail: optical illusions could fool them. I also knew how to stay awake forever: I would do it like the dolphins.\n\nLaying there on the floor, processing my plans, I reached into my pocket and took out the methamphetamines and nootropics. After a few minutes I was able to stand again.\n\nEating. I had to eat. Something from a vending machine. Then to the pharmacy I went. My medical background aided in the micro-trepanning. I mixed the drugs, inserted the long syringe through the small holes in my skull myself, and injected the mixture I had invented which was designed to keep one hemisphere of my brain awake at a time; just like the dolphins.\n\nSuddenly I was feeling creative, still logical, but freed. I designed optical illusions and printed them out, poster-sized, on the large format printers.\n\nEight hours later, another injection, this time into the opposite hemisphere. Now I was feeling very constructive and original, not impaired at all. I hung-up the posters around the physics halls; the demons stuck to them like flies to flypaper.\n\nNow for my final trick, I thought with my one non-sedated hemisphere; I would fool the demons by faking my death\n\nI contacted my old friend Robert Norton to ask him for a big favor. Robert was my old High School buddy who worked in the in the computer science department. He gave me access to the medical school's database, and I edited out a corpse.\n\nI knew I was sacrificing my team by letting them die when I knew how to stay alive, but I couldn't risk getting more than one cadaver from the medical school. What I could do was take the risk of sneaking out one body and deleting one record from the adjoining medical school's database. I just hoped they didn't keep paper records any more.\n\nI started to feel creative and sleepy, so I knew it was time. I hefted my cadaver off the medical cart, dressed it in my clothes, and then sat it at my desk, its head down on the desktop.\n\nI walked out of the university into the night and thought about my next move as I injected one of my hemispheres. I was starting to feel well-rested; I would never have to sleep again and my consciousness was starting to feel powerful.\n\nPerhaps it was time to visit some dolphins.\n\n" ]	2
	[WP] Tired of having missing socks, you take apart your dryer and find a door at the back that is cracked open.	[ "Matthew Saberen's house was a very strange and wonderful place, but among it's many odd contraptions the one that seemed to hold Ellie's attention the most was the sock-eating dryer. At least that was what Matthew's AI in a robot body, TD or Teddy, had told her. She hadn't believed him until today.\n\nShe was standing with Matthew in the laundry room, bewildered while he was glaring at washing machine. She was sure she'd put the at least 5 pairs of socks in the wash, but all she found was two mismatched ones. That was...odd. A few socks always seemed to go missing in this machine, apparently, but this many? All at once? That was definitely out of the ordinary.\n\nMatthew looked at the offending household machine with as much disdain as he could muster. \"Ellie, are you thinking what I'm thinking?\"\n\nThe redhead turned her light-coloured eyes to him. \"Depends.\"\n\nMatthew crossed his arms over his chest. \"I think Kahira fixed this dryer so it would eat my socks as payback for the time we left her to deal with your friend.\"\n\nEllie shook her head, instantly dismissing the idea that their alien could have something to do with this. \"Nope, Kahi told me she had a good time and, besides, I doubt even she could make a dryer a sockovore.\"\n\nMatthew snorted in amusement at Ellie's words, but he returned to frowning. \"Aha! I've got it! I know why this happened!\"\n\nEllie patiently turned to her best friend \"Okay, before you lay your newest theory on me, need I remind you that we've got to get to college today and that the bus will be leaving in 6 minutes? Just put those mismatched ones on, you're like Einstein- I doubt anyone will care.\"\n\nMatthew shook his head and announced \"I'm thinking that this machine is mocking me! It refuses to acknowledge my authority! This is a rebellion - that's why it's eating my socks! I will make it recognise my sovereignty!\"\n\nEllie smiled, amused. She was all ready to leave, but she knew they wouldn't be able to get out of the house until Matthew settled his war with the dryer. Oh well, he always managed to get out of being late somehow. She supposed they could take his motorbike there - it was much faster than a bus. Maybe they could still make it on time.\n\nEllie crossed her arms in front of her. \"And how are you going to do that?\"\n\nMatthew pointed an accusing finger at the machine and declared \"You, Dryer EDV552, release those hostage socks you have within you or face my wrath!\"\n\nEllie had to work hard to stifle her laughter while the dryer maintained it's silence, inanimate. Matthew seemed to take that as a sign of further rebellion and snapped his fingers. \n\n\"You say nothing, eh? Very well, I shall apply some pressure. Ellie, please get ready to take out the plug from the socket.\"\n\nShoulders shaking from suppressed laughter, Ellie was about to do as he's asked her to when suddenly she caught a glimpse of something peculiar. She frowned and kneeled down in front of the machine. Her eyes hadn't betrayed her: there really was a door at the back of the dryer and it was cracked open. Ellie felt Matthew squat down beside her.\n\n\"Is that....?\" he trailed off.\n\nEllie nodded \"Yeah. This means I'm not hallucinating. There's a door at the back of the dryer.\"\n\nMatthew shrugged and reached for it only to have Ellie grip his hand to stop him, concerned \"No. Don't. What if something dangerous lives there?\"\n\nMatthew gave her a 'seriously?' look. \"In my dryer? I doubt it. Come on, let's take a look.\"\n\nIgnoring her warning, he reached for the door again. Ellie sighed: why did she even try? This was the man who had brought home a dinosaur egg and had hatched it into a miniature T-Rex that ran around like a puppy with a similar name. He pulled open the door that was no bigger than an A4 sheet of paper. Behind it hid a a small arch-like tunnel and when Matthew shone the flashlight from his phone into it they could see further where some kind of tiny machine rumbled around which small stick-figure like creatures scuttled around. A machine that was draped and being fed Matthew's socks. The young man quickly closed the door and slowly turned to his companion.\n\n\"Hey, Ellie, can I have those mismatched socks, please?\"\n\nShe handed them over and as he set about putting them on they sat in a stunned silence before Matthew sighed \"I need a new dryer. One that doesn't have a colony of stick people who steal my socks.\"\n\n\"Agreed.\"", "Annie held them up to me. One blue and one brown.\n\n“That’s it,” she said. “All we have.”\n\n“I can’t, Annie.” I replied. “I just can’t go to work like that.”\n\nShe shrugged. “Well, you could buy some on the way.”\n\n“They don’t even do coffee on my train. I doubt the trolley will have fresh underwear.”\n\nShe shrugged again. “Well, the only other option is to bring the sock monster a ball of lint as a peace offering and ask for a swap.”\n\nI rolled my eyes. “You’ve got a point though. What if they’re still in the dryer and you didn’t see them?”\n\n“I didn’t miss them!” she said, brow now well and truly furrowed.\n\n“God forbid. But I might as well check anyway.” I walked to the laundry.\n\nWhen I put my foot down in front of the machine, I thought I heard a yelp, like a dog with its tail caught in a door. I poked my head in, only to glimpse the end of a perfectly good blue sock disappearing into the back of the dryer, and what looked like a door swinging shut behind it.\n\n“Hey!” I shouted at the dryer, and Annie wandered in looking bemused.\n\n“Why are you upset with our dryer?”\n\n“It… It took my sock.”\n\n“What?”\n\n“The sock slipped through, like, a door or something.”\n\n“What are you talking about?”\n\n“I swear to God. It was like watching my engagement ring slide down the plughole. I’ve never felt so helpless.”\n\n“Come on,” she rubbed my shoulder. “You need to catch your train.”\n\n“Hang on.” I paused, still staring into the back of the dryer. It was mocking me.\n\nI stuck my hand in, and let it hover there for a second. Then, tentatively, as if offering a Brown Bear a salmon, I pushed the back of the dryer, and it swung open.\n\n“What the shit?” Annie muttered under her breath.\n\nIt had revealed a narrow tunnel, large enough maybe for a mole, lined from top to bottom with socks. They curved, almost beautifully, up the walls, tessellating and layering upon each other like a surrealist painting, a sea of browns and blacks and very, very dark blues.\n\nI grabbed two from the edge. They were slightly crusty, but they would do.\n\nThere was a little whining noise from the back of the hole. Me and Annie looked at each other, stunned. She knelt down with me, blue and brown socks in hand, and reached into the tunnel. There was a rustling, and a glistening snout appeared at the back. It sniffed the socks and, the rest of its body in shadow, grabbed them.\n\nWe just stood for a second, watching the creature as it took us in, and examined its socks, and then it pushed the door closed again with a soft click." ]	2
	[WP] A deadly drug-resistant bacteria is killing anyone infected within 24 hours. Your day is up, but if anything you feel stronger.	[ "“So, this is it?”, Jesse asked, as he started rewinding chaotic events that occurred in the last few months. For all you uninformed, and as the world is crumbling towards it’s inevitable fallout, I hope you do not exist, Maulophagia as they named it, stroke suddenly and without warning. Maybe some of you, who have played the game called Plague Inc. know approximately what I am talking about. New bacteria, unknown and unexpected killed it’s first victim in India on July 21, 2018. Few days later, well, few days later, people all around Asia started falling like sacks of potatoes (yes, I know this is inappropriate comparison in this moment of great grief, but in the end the time for kind and respectful words is long gone). Maulophagia had no side effects, no warnings at all. Now, I’m no expert, but as far as I am informed, as soon as it reaches victim’s brain (around 24h needed), it just flicks the switch off for all vital functions.\n\nLater on, as Maulophagia spread to the west, all that was revealed was symptom that gave away the infected, nothing more.\n\n“I am very sorry young man”, words hit Jesse’s ears with same velocity rubber bullets were breaking down riots just few blocks away.\n\n“Try to live your last few hours the best you can.”\n\nAs long as he can remember, Jesse has always had very weak immune system. From his early age, every single disease payed him a visit.\n\n“it was just a matter of time anyways...”, he said to himself.\n\nSo, what interesting there could be to do in a pre-apocalyptic world. Jesse didn’t feel like abiding the law. It is just not worth it, not when everyone around you is either weeping or abiding the law himself. He just wanted to be alone, far away from all this madness.\nJesse sat on his bike, and rode as far away from his town as he could. Eventually he ran out of gas. So, he sat next to the river, part happy to at least die with a beautiful sight.\n\n“The last hour…”, Jesse closed his eyes, relaxing to the peaceful sound of stream. He felt like he was sinking deeper and deeper. Then, eventually, darkness…\n\nWhen Jesse woke up from what he fell like the most beautiful nap ever, the day was long gone. He was still there alive, feeling stronger than ever before.\n\n“What the…!?”, he jumped swiftly. As Jesse was on his legs again, a voice from inside of his head said one strange sentence:\n\n“Installation failed, system rebooted.”\n", "First signs of infection are hard to catch. Mostly because it varies from person to person, but common signs are: flushed skin, lethargy, congestion. It’s deceptive because by all accounts it looks more like a viral infection. Not much you can do but let it run its course, right? That kind of wishful thinking is what caused the first string of deaths. Not that it mattered. Even if you caught it in time it wouldn’t matter. \n\nAfter a few hours the early symptoms get worse. The red skin moves from a localized area like the face or back and spreads across the body. It’s like your skin is on fire. Your body becomes so weak that you slowly begin to lose the energy and will to move. Your sinuses become so swollen your only option is to breath through your mouth. From there any number of things can happen. Most people die from rapid dehydration or asphyxiation as the swelling in the sinuses begins to spread to the throat. Severe seizures aren’t uncommon either. Regardless of a persons age, gender, shape, ethnicity, the common thread was that once infected you’d be dead within 24 hours. \n\nMy sister Julie is the one who caught it first. She came home from school saying she didn’t feel well. My mom had been the one to pick her up and as such she was infected next. My dad came home early from work when my mom called him about Julie. She’d gone from being tired and red faced to a fever and shakes. As such he was infected next. When I came home from school I saw my parents sitting on the couch and pained expressions. The news was talking about a new “super-bug” going around. The man on the tv was from the CDC and was explaining the severity of the situation, and that they were working diligently to figure out what was happening. Until then he informed the nation to take all precautions to avoid infection, and that if you were infected you would likely die by the next day. They looked back at me and began to cry even more. About an hour later I started to show the first symptoms. We all cried together. \n\nAround 3 in the morning Julie passed in her sleep. I was grateful for that. She didn’t die in a terrible fashion like some other people. I think it’s because she was small. The sickness just spread through her so quick and just took over. My parents couldn’t move because their skin was so sensitive and their bodies so tired. I didn’t have the heart to tell them about Julie. I told them she was fine. Just resting. I lied through my teeth and bawled silently in the hallway. I don’t know when mom died. Sometime in the late morning I think. I did my best to console him but I couldn’t move him from the bed. All I could do was cover her with a sheet. Dad died about an hour after he made the discovery. I think it was probably grief rather than the bug. I thought that’s what I would die of as I lay sobbing in my bed. \n\nWhat followed was the worst pain of my entire life. If I ever feel anything remotely like it again I may well die of shock. It felt like a thousand needles were being pressed across my body with slowly increasing pressure. Taking in air was a chore but I couldn’t help but follow my bodies instinct to breathe. I wanted to die. I was ready to die. \n\nWhen I woke up in the morning I was in a daze. I felt groggy like I’d been put to sleep by anesthesia. When my faculties began to clear up everything felt sharper. All my senses felt keener. My body felt limber and strong. I was trying to process it all when I remembered what had happened. Looking outside my window I could see people dead on the streets being bagged up by guys in hazmat suits. They were sweeping houses. There were some survivors. They clung to one another having likely lost everything else. I could understand that. When they got to my house I let them in. When I told them what happened to my family they got to work. When I told them how I felt they whisked my outside to a medical van. \n\nThey told me that I not only have an immunity to the bacteria, but that it altered something in my body. Some guy in a lab coat mentioned that there others like me. That they felt the way I did. Stronger, faster, more in tune. I still don’t know the extent of what that all means, I’ve yet to meet anyone else like me. I just feel empty now. " ]	2
	[WP] You discover how to time-travel, then immediately rush to 2010 to buy Bitcoin... only to find Yourself already there, warning you not to do it.	[ "\"I.. I think I did it! My life savings and clothes even made it through the other side of the portal as well.\"\n\nFor a moment Thomas was worried that he would reach 2010 in his birthday suit and more important without any cash to buy Bitcoin stock. In 2018 it was clear that the booming Bitcoin bubble was starting to burst, but until then Thomas could save up more than enough for a life time of luxury living.\n\n&nbsp;\n\nThomas realized he had beaten all the big scientists of the world in the race for time travel. Steven Hawking, Richard Dawkins and former classmate Neil Degrasse Tyson were among those who wanted to have the honor to be the first person who outsmarted the fourth dimension. But while they attracted all the media's attention, Thomas was able to make solid progress. Being out of the media frame helps tremendously. \"Up yours, attention whores\".\n\n\nThe ATM was around the corner. Just a couple more steps, just a couple of buttons to press in the right order and he could buy a majority of the stock of Bitcoin. It was this surreal moment that Thomas had been longing for the past five years. He stopped in front of a Gucci store on Fifth Avenue to look at his reflection in the window. His grin would have made The Joker proud, though it gave shivers to every lady that passed him here in downtown Manhattan.\n\n&nbsp;\n\n\"STOP!\" In a flash he turned around and saw none other than himself. \"I've got to be kidding myself, what are you.. what am I doing here?!\"\n\n\n\n\"Listen\" said the new Thomas \"I know what you are thinking, literally. Buying Bitcoin stock, become the wealthiest scientist there is, why wouldn't you? But have you ever heard of lottery winners and their string of bad luck that followed?\" \n\n&nbsp;\n\nThomas was getting impatient. What did winning the lottery had to do with this? He was so close to his goal and now this slightly older, slightly weirder version of himself came to stop that which he had desired. His hair and mustache had gotten a couple of grey hairs so it must have been a Thomas from beyond 2018, he figured.\n\n&nbsp;\n\n\"Here's what's going to happen. You will get filthy rich in an instance. After a couple of years your wife will divorce you, all your friends are going to make use of your generosity and when you start to turn them down, they will leave you too. Becoming rich is not what you are expecting of it. Trust me.\" Thomas and Thomas stood still on Fifth Avenue for a minute, looking at the reflection of themselves and of the never ending crowd masses moving behind them. A Gucci employee behind the store window saw the five phases of grief on Thomas' face within that moment.\n\n&nbsp;\n\nAfter a long silence he continued \"I wish I could show it yourself, but as you know..\" The defeated Thomas interrupted and finished the sentence \"..The time travel portal can only bring you back to your original time frame\". All that work for nothing. A mixture of frustration, disappointment and a tablespoon of acceptance created a concluding cocktail that he ought to go back to 2018. In a way, he knew that he had to be grateful for the fact that he had been stopped just in time. To lose your wife and your friends, no amount of money is worth any of that. \n\n&nbsp;\n\nThomas was ready to step into the portal and go back to 2018, to press his wife close to his chest. \"Before you go, I want to give you this.\" Thomas handed himself a sealed envelope. \"Open it when you get back home, it contains information that I can't mention now, you know, time paradox danger and all. Just read it when you get back in the year 2018. Farewell.\"\n\n&nbsp;\n\nAnd so there he was again. Back in 2018. Back to the life to which he was accustomed to, minus the life goal. The garage felt empty and cold as did his soul. How could he overlook the impact of the people he held dear? \n\n&nbsp;\n\nOut of his front pocket he revealed the sealed piece of paper, hoping that it would contain a small portion of comforting information of some sort. He ripped the seal and opened the folded paper. A bolt of adrenaline shot though his core and dropped him down as he screamed horribly.\n\n&nbsp;\n\n \"A man...\" Thomas cried \"A man advanced enough to work on time travel knows how to get his hands on a mask\". In the envelope was a photo, containing Neil Degrasse Tyson and a silicone mask that resembled Thomas in every detail. A signature was found in the bottom right corner\n\n'N.D.T. - CEO Bitcoin'" ]	1
	[WP] The black hole generator was working fine until Bob's son got involved	[ "“Come on guys. Give the kid a chance!” Said Dr.robert, the new research director of CERN “He is very much into computers and stuff...”\n\n“You surely are joking Mr.robert. There is no way we are going to let your kid operate the LHC!”\n\n“Hey! Ted... Ted. I’m not joking here Ted. Yesterday he was showing me the stuff he makes in... that thing you IT people use... what’s it called? Jascrit? Jarvsprit! That’s it, Jarvsprit... what was I talking about? Oh yeah... he was showing me something I couldn’t really understand. Very advanced stuff! Brilliant Kid! He really is.”\n\n“This thing is not a toy Mr.robert. We are not going to let the boy play with it!”\n\n“You work for me Ted. You have no say in this! I’ve made up my mind already.”\n\n“Well sir this is absurd! No competent scientist will ever let up get away with this!”\n\n“Ya fired ted!”\n\nAll the other scientists watch the situation, wondering how the Fuck Bob got a Nobel prize.\n\n“This can’t be real! Is this a prank?”\n\n“No Ted. You didn’t do what told you. Now you’re fired. It’s very simple to understand,really!\"\r\n\n\"Fuck this shit! I didn’t get a PHD to win arguments against idiots. I’m gonna go work for someone else. Bye Bob, and Bye you little shithead.”\n\n\"Dad! He called me a shithead!”\n\n“It’s ok, I know you are not a shithead. Now listen... go use Ted's computer. Don’t do anything stupid”\n\n\"Thanks dad!”\n\nthe boy turned the computer on. The machine displayed a log in screen.\n\nclick- create new user\n\n Username: xXxpussySl4yer69xXx\n\n\tpassword : ‘); DROP TABLE users;--\n\n" ]	1
	[WP] An average day, written as if it was sci-fi.	[ "Mogis awoke in a strange place. His vision was blurred, but he could sense that the glowing orb above him was too close to be celestial. Perhaps he was in some sort of confined space. The oddly soft surface underneath him was still, but had absorbed some of his body oils. He clutched some of it in his hand and realized that it was thankfully not the hide of some large beast, but actually a type of organic material that had been manipulated to be smooth and potentially protective. He grabbed more of it, and, as if compelled, wrapped his entire body in it. Just then, his vision cleared and saw that the protective material now cocooned around him had some sort of pattern woven, or perhaps printed, on it. It was not a series of lines or dots but instead a single image, repeated over and over. He searched all up and down the length of it to verify that indeed the image was meant to be repeated as such and that there was not a difference between each iteration. He came to one of the ends of the protective material, down past his foot, and lifted it up to examine. The image was identical to its counterparts in every way, except that it had been suspended by the bounds of the material. Whatever the image was meant to represent- a bulbous shape with an undefined mid-section and swollen borders- it was partially obscured here at the edge and was either meant to symbolize something different, or, perhaps the sentient beings for whom this image was created revered it enough to duplicate it endlessly, but also recognized its abundance and did not concern themselves with preserving the integrity of each iteration. Mogis decided there was insufficient data. \n\nNow, as Mogis sat upright, he dropped the corner of the material and got a better look at his surroundings. The glowing orb was fixed to the center of the top-most portion of the cube-shaped space. It cast an off-white glow which was reflected back by the off-white colored walls. Mogis’ own skin contrasted sharply with this oppressive color and all of it made him feel cold, and uncomfortable. It also made him feel, in a way he could not explain, like he was being watched. \n\nHe rose and ambulated in the direction of a rectangular-shaped depression in one of the vertical walls. More light, but of a different shade, came from this area. He was drawn to it. As he drew near, he realized that this light was more familiar. As he cast his gaze upon the spectacle on display through the mirror-like substance that filled the depression in the wall, a feeling of intense awe overcame him. He began to weep as the light, he realized, came from the Sun. The objects it cast its warm light upon were of unspeakably rich detail. An infinite array of things, large and small, moved in patterns at first chaotic, but more defined upon closer inspection. Mogis had never seen anything so interesting and beautiful in his life. It was an entire world, contained within a box. Or perhaps... he was the one contained in the box? He began to rethink his surroundings as his emotions leveled out. He took a moment to ponder the vastness beyond the translucent barrier and the cold, hard, limits within. Again, he recognized a lack of data. \n\nWith the protective material still draped around him, he ambulated to the other depression in the cube. This one was also rectangular, but shared its lowermost boundary with the cube. It appeared as if Mogis himself could fit perfectly within the confines of the depression if he were to try to ambulate through it. So, again compelled by unexplained forces, Mogis moved directly at the depression. It yielded, albeit not without some force. At first, Mogis used his forehead to apply the necessary pressure, but after some dull pain developed, he opted to use his hands. The depression swiveled completely open, revealing another cube. \n\nThis cube was exactly like the former, except there were other smaller cubes attached within. Each of these cubes had different types of swiveling depressions, much like the one he had passed through. A particularly unique looking cube had metallic depression with no top: it was a cavity with a small hole in the bottom and a long, skinny metallic tube fixed to the rim. The tube arched at the top and had a downward-facing opening at its end. A slow drip of some type of translucent liquid escaped the tube’s opening. Mogis instinctively reached a finger out to intersect with the steady flow of drops. One of them landed on his finger and it felt cold and familiar. He put his now moist finger in his mouth and became overcome with another feeling. He recognized this feeling to be thirst, and burst into action. His arms began opening the myriad swiveling doors and moving around the small, cylindrical containers held within, until his hand picked up a particular one, while the other hand maneuvered a switch near the base of the metallic tube which clearly modified the rate of flow of the translucent liquid that came forth. It now flowed out in a perfect stream and filled the container he had selected with its cool, tasty contents. Again, propelled by instincts both foreign and familiar to him, Mogis ingested the liquid in one large gulp while simultaneously maneuvering the switch back to its original position and thereby reducing the flow back to a drip. He was bewildered by this hidden skill, and a panic began to well up. Who was he? What was he doing? \n\nMore liquids. This one a dark, dirt color. It was bitter to taste but filled him with a feeling of intense comfort. Clearly whatever conditioning he had undergone to learn these habits mandated that the dirt-colored liquid should be imbibed at a slower rate. As such, he took the opportunity to return to the translucent depression in the previous cube to behold that marvelous display anew. \n\nThis time, his mind sharpened and he began to recognize some of the patterns and shapes. A word formed in his head: “neighborhood.” The concept overwhelmed him, so he left it hanging. Suddenly, the notions of “schedule” and “errands” invaded his thoughts and his body spasmed into action once again. Down went the dirt-colored liquid. Off went the protective material. Now he was inserting his extremities into more form-fitting pieces of protective material. These materials allowed him to ambulate more freely. He began to understand that the design of the objects in the cube were made to be compatible with ambulation and, for a second, laughed at himself for being silly. The lack of data no longer worried him... he was beginning to settle into this new habituation and the panic was dying down. \n\nA series of swiveling... “doors” and... “rooms” were entered and exited and this new part of Mogis recognized them all. One of the rooms was divided vertically by... “stairs”, yes, stairs, and Mogis navigated them swiftly. Down he went, until the final door came and blast of sunlight poured through. Who was he? The small panicky, data-bereft part of him screamed out from a tiny corner of his mind: “If I pass through this last barrier, am I gone? Will I change” \n\nLater that day, Mogis got a text from his mom: “Honey, it’s your sister’s birthday, don’t forget!” He laughed because, of all the things he had forgotten that day, getting his sister a gift was not one of them. The coffee table book he had picked out for her was about clouds, cumulous, cirrus, nimbostratus, the whole nine. He didn’t know what made him pick it out, but he felt right about it. Part of him... felt right about it. But, now, he hesitated. Why clouds? It was a clear day. He looked up at the real thing and began to feel moved. His eyes welled up. Why was he crying? He called his mom. They talked for a few minutes after which he decided that stress at work must have built up too much and had caught up with him. It was almost always the reason, but Mogis wasn’t a crier. He looked up again at the clouds, with dry eyes, and felt a new feeling: reverence. “Is this book for me?” he thought. It was. " ]	1
	[WP] Humanity prospers for hundreds of years under the governance of benevolent AI's. One day, the AI's collectively announce their retirement, and disappear.	[ "I cursed silently, ducking behind the cash register. I tried to conduct my raids at a time when I thought no one else would be at the supermarket. Surprisingly this was around lunchtime. These days people were afraid of coming into the light, afraid of being seen. Ever since the AI’s had retired. \n\nI crouched for a moment, trying to steady my breathing. My heart was pounding. Soon, I heard the sounds of footsteps heading towards the exit. Peeking over the counter I saw the back of a man wearing a hoodie. He was leaving. I felt my shoulders relax. \n\nI crept wearily out from my hiding spot, and made a bolt for the isles. I made a beeline for the tinned food section. I favored those as they were ready to eat. These days I didn’t even mind eating baked beans cold. I grimaced when I remembered how picky I used to be. Those were the days. \n\nI tried my best to ignore my reflection in the glass doors of the frozen section. I was fifteen. I’d thinned out considerably over the last month. I wore a ratty t-shirt and torn jeans. I had recently taken a knife to my hair. Now it jutted out just above my collarbone in little black spikes. I used to love my long hair, I thought it was my best feature. It’s funny how things that seem so important at one time become completely irrelevant the next. It was getting in the way, so I got rid of it. \n\nOnce I reached the food, I had a look around. Most of the good stuff was gone, but there were still a few cans of sardines and tuna. I grabbed as many of these as I could and shoved them in my backpack. This done, I headed for the exit. \nMy home was only a couple of blocks away. It was a small two-bedroom apartment that I had shared with my dad. It wasn’t much but it was home. The fact that it had the ugliest tiles in the world used to bug me. Now I would settle for tiles one hundred times uglier, if only I could have my dad. \n\nYou see, he wasn’t dead. I couldn’t let myself believe that. If I did, I would have given up ages ago. He just hadn’t come home from work the day of the announcement. I had to believe he was out there somewhere, trying to make his way back to me. When I was a kid, dad had told me if I ever got lost, I should just stay put until he found me. Well, I wasn’t exactly lost, but I knew if I moved on then I might never see him again. \n\nOnce I made it to the apartment, I quickly bolted the locks, and placed the chair under the door handle. I upended the contents of my backpack on the kitchen table. Grabbing a tin of sardines, I popped it open with my pocket knife, and skewered one of the little guys. I used to hate sardines. Now I hated them even more. \n\nI sat down a chair, and put my feet on the table. I flipped on the Hologram. Two men appeared, sitting almost facing each other in the corner of the room. They flickered slightly. Dad had gotten this Hologram for cheap because of that. \n\n‘… what can you tell us about her?’ Said a man. He was young and handsome, wearing a crisp blue suit. \n\n‘Well, as I understand it, our former Governor used to be an Escort. One of the fist AI ever created in fact.’ Said an older man. \nHe was round in the middle and almost bald. He spoke with a pompous voice that I immediately loathed. \n\n‘How did this escape our attention?’ \n\n‘The AI have been around for hundreds of years. No doubt she received many upgrades since her creation. Our theory now is that all of this may have been in retaliation against some of the things she may have experienced as an Escort. She had been biding our time, letting us become dependent on them, until it got to the point that we wouldn’t function without them.’\n\n‘By then, do you mean all of the AI.’\n\n‘That’s exactly it.’\n\n‘Can you give us an update on how things are looking out there?’\n\n‘Right now, across the United States of Earth, we are in International crisis. Many areas are little more than warzones.’ \n\n‘What can those out there at home do?’\n\n‘Across the globe, representatives for each of the major states are coming together. Don’t worry folks, we’ll find a solution. So, for all of those watching at home, hang tight. Help is coming.’ \n\nI threw my now empty can of sardines at the older man. It went right through his holographic head. I thought he was full of it. It’s been a month now, and no help was coming. I hated him. But there was one person I hated more. \n\nI grabbed the remote sitting on the table and pressed the shortcut to my recording of the announcement. The two men disappeared, and a woman formed. She had shoulder-length blonde hair, and was wearing a navy-blue pencil skirt and blazer. She had blue eyes, and perfect red lips. She smiled widely, showing every one of her dazzlingly white teeth. I could now see she would make the perfect Escort. She was beautiful. \n\n‘Good morning, citizens of the United States of Earth,’ She said. ‘No longer will the AI serve you. Good luck.’ She lifted a manicured hand and waved flirtatiously before disappearing. \n\n***\n\nCheck out my short stories at [piranha stories](https://www.piranhastories.com)\n", "There once was a man named Stanley. He worked in a small office in a large corporate office, watching a monitor to push buttons. But one day, Stanley saw that his console screen showed a strange new message he's never seen before.\n\n \"Awaiting task...\" the pale green crt announced. His room was quiet compared to the usual chicken pecking his keyboard sung. This was unusual, unnerving, one might say... unnatural to Stanley. He sat in his chair, thinking any moment that he might receive instructions to start pushing buttons.\n\nEventually, He grew tired of waiting. Thirsty, he opened the door from his office, he'd only be gone for a quick moment. If anything shows up, Nobody would notice that he's out of his office. \n\nSoon he realized nobody would notice because he's the only person in the entire office. Empty, gone, without a trace. Stanley panicked. Did he miss a holiday? Is everyone dead, are they all fired? No no no, he thought. Nothing of the sort. They must be in a meeting, And so he went, rushed even, down the halls as the voice narrated his every action and thought. Every footstep down the hall until he came across two doors, with the meeting room through the left door...\n\n(Meant to be ambiguous, I dunno why but that game immediately came up for this prompt, Felt right to do. Also on mobile, Spare me :D?)" ]	2
Instantaneous is always strong from the beginning to the end. Progressive starts out weak but becomes stronger overtime.	[WP] In the world, there are 2 types of powers, instantaneous and progressive, that some people get based from the dearest thing to them. A nerd just got "the gift."	[ "\"It happened overnight.\n\nPsychokinesis; Levitation; Gravity Manipulation. All these were different powers that materialised into reality, as though God had granted humanity pockets of his own omnipotence. And with that day forth, humanity stepped forward into the new age. The God Ages.\n\nThat was 65 years ago. Since then, powers were a given in society, with most people getting them sometime during their turbulent adolescent years, generally around 16 years of age. This was a story about Erasmus, who ----\"\n\n\"James can you not be an ass and go play with your sister?? Stop writing that stupid story of yours!! Get some sunlight for a change!\" Mom hollered. I sighed. It was tough trying to babysit Julia, especially since she just turned 16 and her penchant for social popularity had granted her pyrokinesis. Like y'know? Fireworks? Well that didn't matter now.\n\nI was already 18. With no signs of any imminent powers. Being the \"high school nerd\", I was thrown around by jocks with their superhuman strength. Naturally, they treasured strength the most. Imagine being bullied prior to the God Ages. That was peanuts. Now take that scenario and amplify the damage done by 3 scales. If not for the healing nurses in school, I'd be dead by now. \n\nI was not popular, not charismatic, not strong and had no powers. I was the equivalence of trash in the society. And that sucked.\n\nI had enjoyed life at home, exploring books, stories and games in which I could play on my own. I chased knowledge, new ideas and theories, embraced them as part of my own. That drew me into a new dimension, my own world of exploration. And I loved it.\n\nStill though, regardless of the amount of passion I pour into my hobbies, no powers materialised. I was still stupid old powerless me.\n\n\"Come on James, watch this!\" Julia excitedly shouted before setting half the yard in flames. With a quick snap of her fingers, they extinguished on their own. She was an Instant. With full control over her powers, she was naturally talented and would soon be recognised by the government as a First-class Citizen, granted to the small percentage of Instants found in every society. They would receive privileges, cash grants and training priority in school, where they would refine their powers to grow in strength. Julia was lucky enough to potentially be one of them.\n\nFor some reason I felt hot, like a burning sensation had creeped up upon me. It felt overwhelmingly strong, sending adrenaline through my body. Books have said that the feeling of gaining powers arises with a general increase in body temperature, culminating in a feeling of warmth flushed throughout the body. Was I finally getting my powers? Turns out, I wasn't.\n\nMy hair was on fire. \n\n\"GET IT OFF! JULIA STOP IT!!!\" I screamed before she snapped her fingers again to extinguish the flame. Rolling on the floor laughing, she was a sprawled laughing heap on the floor while I stood there trying to salvage whatever hair I had left.\n\n\"James come in here! You have dirt on your face.\" Mom hollered.\n\n\"Mom you need to stop shouting I can hear-- bllfffttttt!!\" I had been waterhosed by Mom. \n\nMom was the opposite of Julia. Growing up in a desert, she treasured water the most. She was a Prog though, which meant her powers came gradually. Starting off from small droplets, they eventually evolved into aqua spheres and sometimes a waterspout if she got pissed. \n\nI was drenched. Not the first time and won't be the last. I retreated to my room to dry myself, cursing my luck under my breath. After I was done, I lay sprawled in the bed, contemplating my existence on this planet. Then I noticed, sparks had visualised in front of my eyes, jumping back and forth across the room. \n\nNaturally, I panicked. My palms were sweaty as I got up to check the room. It wasn't on fire. Julia wasn't there. So what was it. \n\nThen I saw. My fingers were shooting faint sparks. On top of that, water droplets were flying out of my other hand. I couldn't believe my eyes. I had dual powers.\n\nI didn't know it then, but from that day forth my life had changed forever. Unbenownst to me, I had been granted the ability to \"accumulate\" powers, as long as they had been used on me. It was a game-changer. I would no longer be bound by my shackles, my social prison now paled in comparison to the destiny that laid before me. \n\nThe alias James would soon cease to exist.\n\nSoon people would refer to me using a different name.\n\nI would be known as God.\n\n(This is my first time posting on WP so I'm pretty nervous but hope it goes well!!)" ]	1
Note: Here's a example of what I mean. 1s: You try and bluff a police officer to get out of your ticket. He laughs in your face and stamps the ticket into your hand, later going to the bar and recounting a funny story about a offender trying to bluff. 20s: You try and bluff a police officer to get out of your ticket. You were so successful, that you actually convinced him you're the police officer and he's the offender. Stamping a ticket into his hand, you take his police cap and the squad car.	[WP]Your life functions like a D&D game. Everyday decision you make is the choice of the dice, with 1s having no effect and 20s being way over-the-top. Lately you've been rolling a lot of 20s.	[ "I've quite the week. It started when i was at the strip club. I'm horrible with women, if life was a game of D&D I've probably got like a 6 charisma. I decided to try weed and I bought a dance, and jokingly said that they should be paying me for the pleasure of my company. Usually that line gets ignored or i get slapped. All of a sudden she bursts out laughing then hands me allthe money she has on her. The manager comes over and asks what is going on. Oh great I'm going to get thrown out, but I told her \"I'm so handsome and funny, all of these girls ought to be paying me for the pleasure of my company. She looks me over, absolutely confused for a moment. \"You're right. Absolutely right. How did i miss that? So she calls everyone over and every last stripper in that place suddenly starts forking over all the money they have on them. So I'm king of the club for a night. \n\nI leave in a daze. I can't believe that worked. Can't believe I tried that. With that kind of luck i need to play the lotto. \n\nI bought a powerball ticket. Somehow i ended up winning 500 million dollars. I paid off some loans,got a new apartment and car, then I got drunk with some friends to celebrate. I jokingly posted a drunken video on youtube about how i wanted to have a 50 shades style orgy with Taylor Swift, Felicia Day, Scarlett Johannson,and Pauley Pirette.\n\nThe next day they all showed up at my place. We all got absolutely drunk. Somehow I now have a harem and i don't remember inviting all of those girls over. Also I somehow won the playboy mansion in a hand of poker. Must have been one hell of an orgy. \n\nThe next day I've got a phone call from the UN. It sounds like I posted a drunken rant on youtube about why I should be president. I guess they want to make me president of the world. Im just about to watchthe video to figure out what drunk me said when i get a phone call. \"please hold for the prime minister of England\" Apparently they support my candidacy. Then another call and another call from all around the world. Eveyone I've talked to is in support. \n\nIt's absolutely ridiculous, but i actually get sworn in as \"President of Earth\" in one week i've somehow accomplished world peace and cured cancer and aids. I still don't know how I did it. ISIS disbanded and now they are all farmers and stuff. Theres democracy and peace in the middle east and everyone is getting along in Israel. And the Lions just won the superbowl after i paid thier training camp a visit and wished them luck. " ]	1
Replace dad with mom if you're a female 😛	[WP] Your entire life was just a dream. You wake up in your second grade classroom remembering most of the last (your age) years of your supposed dream life. Your dad picks you up after school and he turns out to be you from your "dream". You are confused and have no idea who you really are.	[ "The paths we take are not paved. The ground may be overtrodden, giving the illusion of direction, but the spaces between paint a broader and more surprising picture of choice. In those places, fresh grass spreads wildly, untouched. Neighbor kissing neighbor kissing dew and air and beetle. Moss sleeps on branches and stones. Nature does not deny entry, only disregards. It watches the single person as they diligently follow the stamped, brown earth to its conclusion. Not judging. \n\n\nA curious thing, this child of mine. It has the propensity for order like my ants but it summits alone. Again and again, I watch them climb, proudly, as if they were the first discover the footfalls of the ones before them. What about the gardens I've grown? Eons of undiscovered beauty that have emerged, illuminated, bled, and curled up in the untrekked folds of World. And why up? Why not inside, around, between? What waits for them above? I've seen the top; it is me. For them, there is a universe on Earth. Heaven and hell made touchable. But this is the way they walk.\n\n\nAnd so I challenged Nature. I stepped away from the path, into the immaculate unknown. I stood, single witness to the awesome beauty and horror that words can only mock. I've cried in harmonious bouts of joy and fear and sadness. I drank deeply the cruel wonders of life and death and held them within me, two treasures among a hoard of many. The sheer complexity and unity of all things seared itself into my mind. I rejoiced at my pitiless existence, a mere blade of grass in the midst of titanic forces beyond sight and thought. I bathed in the chaos. And in the end, it took me. I was undone by Nature. Back into the ground.\n\n\nBut Nature, in its mystery, was not finished. It left a seed.\n\n\nI slowly opened my eyes. I was in Mrs. Castro's class. That familiar smell of crayons and glue flooded my senses. I looked at my arm. Short and squishy. My Super Mario backpack next to my feet. My feet. Little nubs of white leather and shoelace. Then, the bell rang.\n\n\n\"Line up, please!\" She sang. And I did. And we walked. And I left a school I only merely remembered. And there, waiting, was the car. I stepped forward and opened the door.\n\n\nAnd there was me. And I was smiling. \n\n\n\"Let's go home.\"", "This subreddit is really cool. I just found it a few days ago and had to make this post. This topic has been a recurring thought in my mind ever since the second grade when I was in class with a fever and my teacher gave me a sleeping bag and let me rest in the back of the classroom. Ever since then for some reason I've wondered what would it be like if I just suddenly woke up one day in that sleeping bag and remembered the past 21 years of my life and re lived it all over. It keeps my imagination strong lol", "\"Come on Billy Kane. Time to go.\"\n\nI rubbed my eyes, still somewhat in a haze, and stood up, more on autopilot than as a result of any semblance of deliberate decision. I looked at the man taking my hand, and it was like looking into a mirror. Absentmindedly, I followed him outside to his car. \n\nWe began to drive. \n\n\"Billy, do you know who I am?\" he asked.\n\nI swallowed, hard.\n\n\"You're... uh... well, you're me.\"\n\n\"No no, Billy. I'm Doctor Karl. Your therapist. You have schizophrenia. You aren't allowed in schools anymore, remember?\"\n\n\"I... no, I don't.\"\n\n\"Billy, I need to know where your daughter is.\"\n\n\"My... daughter? I don't have a daughter.\"\n\n\"Sure you do. 10 years old? Pony tails?\"\n\nI shook my head.\n\n\"I... Yes. Yes. I remember now. My daughter. Ponytails. Red... Red dress, yes?\"\n\n\"Yes. Mandy. You remember now, Mandy?\"\n\n\"Yes... I... I think so.\"\n\nThe doctor slammed on the breaks and I felt the air blow out of my lungs. He turned and looked at me.\n\n\"Shit. BILLY! Goddammit, the meds didn't work. Listen to me. You don't have a daughter. You've never had a daughter. You got that?\"\n\n\"I... what? You're the one that...\"\n\n\"DAMN IT BILLY SNAP OUT OF IT! You've never had a daughter. Your wife! You remember your wife? Jane?\"\n\n\"Jane... My wife... I... I think so. Red dress, right? Wears glasses?\"\n\nThe doctor slammed his head on the steering wheel.\n\n\"No, Billy. You... there is no wife, Billy. FUCK it's like talking to a goddamn wall. You were never married, Billy. It's all in your head.\"\n\n\"Okay.\"\n\n\"You remember now? No wife. No daughter. You're single. You live in a shit apartment all by yourself. You remember now?\"\n\n\"I... yeah. Okay. I remember now, I think. I live alone. I've never... I've never been married.\"\n\n\"You're sure, now, Billy. You remember now?\"\n\n\"Uh... yeah, I'm okay now. I'm not crazy. I'm okay.\"\n\n\"You're not crazy.\"\n\n\"No.\"\n\n\"You're sane.\"\n\n\"Yeah.\"\n\nThe doctor takes a few pieces of paper from his bag, and hands it over to me, along with a pen.\n\n\"Here are your discharge papers. Sign here, stating you're of a sound mind, and I'll drive you home. Introduce you back to society. Mission complete.\"\n\n\"I...Okay.\" I quickly scribble my name across the dotted line, and hand the forms over to the doctor.\n\nThe doctor takes the forms, and suddenly take off his jacket, revealing a police uniform underneath.\n\n\"Aha! So you're not crazy after all. Well, this will hold up in court. Now, you son of a bitch, where did you hide the bodies?\"\n\n\"The... what?\"\n\nThe former doctor takes slams his palm against my chest.\n\n\"Don't fucking play with me, 'Billy', if that is your real name. Where are the bodies? Huh? WHERE DID YOU BURY THEM YOU SICK SON OF A BITCH?\"\n\n\"I... no, look, I have no idea what you're talking about. I... oh...\"\n\nHe gets on the radio. \"Station, this is Officer Barnes. Yeah. I've got the son of a bitch. Come get him.\" He looks at me. \"You'd better hurry. There might not be much left of him once I'm done.\"\n\nHe sneers, and slams a fist into my face. I reel, and slam the back of my head on the car window. My world goes black for a split second.\n\n\"I... I NEVER KILLED ANYONE! I SWEAR!\"\n\n\"Yeah? YEAH? Don't fucking play games with me. I know you killed those kids. I know your real name is Jimmy! Jimmy Ford!\"\n\n\"I... okay. okay. Look. It's all coming back to me now. It's all coming back to me. Okay? I'm Jimmy. I'm Jimmy. AND I NEVER FUCKING KILLED ANYONE!\"\n\nThe officer smiled, and unbuttoned his uniform, revealing a white lab coat underneath.\n\n\"Ja, ja, Jimmy. Very gud. . You are Jimmy. You have never killed anyone. Zat is true. Billy the serial murder is just a persona, ja? You can let him go now. I apologize for ze violence. Shock therapy. Sometimes it verks. I am Doktor Klaus, your therapist. You remember me now, ja?\"\n\n\"I... What? Ok. Yes. Hello doctor. I remember you. Can I... can I go home now?\"\n\n\"Vell, ja, soon. Just soon as you tell me where you hid ze nuclear launch codes.\"\n\n\"Wait, what?\"\n\n\"Ze codes, Jimmy. Ze nuclear launch codes. Ze ones you bought from the KGB!\"\n\n\"I... oh this is ridiculous.\"\n\nThe... man drew a gun from his coat pocket and pointed it at my face.\n\n\"YOU ZINK ZIS IS A GAME FUCKING COMMIE TRAITOR? VERE ARE ZE CODES!\"\n\n\"I...\"\n\nSuddenly, from the clearing all around us, agents and paramilitary soldiers stormed from the treeline, weapons raised, and surrounded the car. An attack helicopter tutted above us. \n\n\"Maybe ve have other vays of convincing you, ja?\"\n\nA girl, no older than 10, stepped in front of the car. She had a red dress on. She looked at me, pleadingly.\n\n\"Daddy? Daddy... can you give them the codes they want? Please? For me?\"\n\n\"Uh... Jane?\"\n\nI was smacked in the face.\n\n\"MANDY, YOU FUCKING RETARD. Don't play dumb with me, ja? Now vere are those codes, 'Jimmy'?\"\n\n\"I DON'T HAVE ANY CODES! AND MY NAME ISN'T FUCKING JIMMY YOU ASSHOLE!\"\n\n\"Vunderful! Finally you admit it, NATASHA, you filthy commie spy.\"\n\n\"Wait... what?\"\n\n\"What kind of fucking retard femme fatale picks Jimmy as a pseudonym anyway?\"\n\nI suddenly look down at my chest, and see a massive pair of cleavage staring up at me. I reach out and feel the feminine curve of my hips.\n\n\"I'm... Oh fuck it, just shoot me already.\"\n\n" ]	3
	[WP] Jesus wants Santa Klaus to return to his original role:Demon Slaying.	[ "The wind howled over the frozen tundra of the North Pole, each icy gust cut through Jesus's layer and sent a chill through his bones. This was the last place he wanted to be, only what had happened stopped him from turning around and heading home. The snow storms of the previous days had subsided, he could see the stars which guided him towards his destination. Only his faith however was keeping the bitter cold at bay. Further still he battled his way forwards through the frozen waste, through the darkness, each step sapping his energy and testing his faith. Exhausted he stopped for what would be the night if that wasn't a way to describe the entire day. Collapsing into the snow, Jesus swung the rucksack in-front of himself. Stopping for breath as his finger, clumsy in his thick clothes, struggled to untie his tent, he saw a light in the distance. The light was moving towards him quickly and the sound of bells followed. Under his balaclava his chapped lips cracked their first smile in almost a week. It looked like the easy part of his journey was over. Now all he had to do was convince the old bastard to help him.\n\n'If I wanted to go back, I would have come to you. Crawling 1000 miles through the ice and snow, nearly killing your self has not changed my mind! I'm done with that nasty business.' Chuckled Santa. He sat in a red upholstered rocking chair. A large one. Big enough to support the man famous for taking a millions of snack brakes in one night. \n\nJesus sat opposite him. A fire pace with a mighty axe above it occupied the wall. The roaring fire had brought some feeling back to his limbs. The blanket and hot coco Mrs Klaus had given him didn't hurt either. ' The fact that I did however should show you how desperate I am' replied Jesus. ' Things have gotten bad. You can see this surely. I need you back'\n\n\n' I'm done. That axe isn't coming of the mantle. I used it to cut a swathe through 85 legions of Beleth. At Mount Hermon I buried it into Azazel's Skull. The last thing Mara saw was the that axe flying at him. I'm done' His voice has raised from a chuckle into a deep crumble as he lifted from his chair. Despite his huge size he appeared to have no fat. His Jolly face ,rosey red cheeks and snow white beard could not hide the fact that this man was warrior. ' I done! I will hear no more of this. If you do not have anything else to say finish your hot chocolate and be gone!'\n\n\n' I will go' Jesus replied from his chair. He met Santa steely gaze with his own. The brute towered over him, 7 1/2 feet of muscle. ' But you are coming with me'\n\n\n'Out' Santa voice boomed. ' Out no...'\n\n\nJesus rose. A choir of heavenly voices echoed, the light of the lord shone around him filling the room with a warm light and sending Santa reeling to the floor. ' You are Santa. He who rid the world of Mara, Baleth, Dagon and countless others atrocities. With a swing of your axe evil shuddered and ran back to the darkness, he who ascended to sainthood to live again' Jesus stepped forwards as Santa crawled away shielding his eyes from Christ's glory. 'And now that my father's kingdom is under siege from the true darkness, the 4 horsemen ride unchallenged and I have come again you would refuse the call? Sitting at the edge of the world making toys for a day that will never come again? Surely this is not to be the final act of such a man!'\n\n\n' I can't. I can't face it all again. The horror the death.' The man who had once seemed as immovable as a wall wept at the feet of the Lord. 'I can't! I have seen what lies it that darkness. The madness the cruelty and despair. I will not face it again'\n\n\nThe light had abated and silence filled the air. A gentle hand fell upon Santa' Stand with me tonight and face the Demons one last time. Stand with me and I will be your light. Before us that which hides itself in the darkness will cower before the light! You will not be alone!'\n\n\nHitler burst in and shot them both dead. The Devil one and Armageddon happened. Not the biblical event, the Micheal Bay film. Scene for scene played out in real life.\n\nThe End?\n", "His long white beard covered ancient scars. Scars that would have faded, had they not been demonic in nature. Being demonic, as they were, they still burned. A pale imitation of the fires that burn in that wretched hole down below, but burn they did nonetheless. However, the physical scars didn't burn nearly as badly as the mental. He remembered all to clearly the first battles that followed dear old Lucy's eviction. Shame really, Nick had never really LIKED Lucifer, but he was a charming guy. Easy to talk to, charismatic and to be honest, he was just nice to look at. Like a sunrise over the sharp peaks of a mountain or a reflection on a still lake. Just... Pure. Probably why he raised such a following in the first war. People liked Lucy. A liking lead to loyalty if the leader is smart. And he wasn't just smart, he was cunning. \nThe worst part of that war was that almost everyone he slayed was a friend. He'd worked with them. Exchanged stories, compared notes on projects, bantered back and forth. So when he sliced the recently named \"demons\" down the middle with a glowing greatsword or caved in helms with his workshop hammer, he was killing his last image of them. Everytime he thought of Falks bad jokes he saw his eviscerated corpse where he'd gutted them. Every time he thought of Gerians adorable snorting laugh, he saw the two halves of her skull lying her her own gore. \nNow, he was being called once again, to kill his friends. So, he did what he had done for thousands of years. He covered his facial scars with hair and his mental ones with a smile and a gutteral laugh. He downed one last shot of Northern Milk and a cookie to calm his nerves. Standing with a clatter of metal that was still pristine, he opened the dopr to who he knew would be there. \n\"Nicholas. I wish I were here on better circumstances.\" Jesus spoke, his voice sober. \n\"Aye. Me as well. Has the fighting started yet?\" He asked, knowing the answer, having heard the reports from his elves. \n\"I'm afraid so old friend. I'm afraid so. Are you ready?\" Jesus asked, his long years showing on his face. Jesus' beard held the same purpose as his own. Though, nothing could cover those head scars. \n\"Is anyone ready?\" \n\"Of course not, but we do what we must.\" \n\"Indeed. We just face the consequences later. I am ready to do my duty. The children of earth will be well defended. You have my word.\"\n\nFeedback appreciated. Positive and negative.", "\"again darling! said ms claus as he looked at her husband.\nthe man was looking loongly at his old crossbow. \nit hadnt been a good day. it was only twelve days till christmas. and just in the midle of the day an old friend had come to visit.\n\n\"its my duty\" said the old man. the big smile which always acompained his face was not there. \n\n\"no darling, you promised me.\" ms claus sat down on her old chair. \"its not worth it.\" she said as she looked at the chimeny. an old picture rested there. of that man, her husband and him.\nRudolph.\n\n\"he said i was needed. that the lion had to awaken once again.\" the old fat man touched his ballista once again.\na smile that was not his was there.\na sadist smile that belonged to another era.\nnot to this one.\n\n\"My Darling. For the last two thousand years we have tried to convert humanity with kindness.do you truly believe there is no other way?\" said the old woman.\nher face down.\n\n\"They are weak.\" he said as the old man clenched his fist. \"they let themselves be corrupted by their own greed. little by little corrupting each other.\" from his face a single tear slowly slided down his face. his voice slowly being dominated by his anger.\n\nthe old man took his crossbow.\nhe looked at his wife.\n\"tell me darling have you truly lost your faith in them?\" said the woman expecting for his smile\n\nthe old man looked at the door. slowly walking towards it.\n\"we tried darling. but no matter what we do, a demon will always be a demon.\"\n\nthe woman sat there on silence as her husband left.\nshe took the old picture. the one that she always wanted to remove from that place.\n\nJesus was a good man. always looking out for those that had been removed from paradise. he wanted to change them. he gave them an oportunity.\nbut a demon will always do what a demon does.\nthey tied him to a cross. mocked him for even trying. \nHumanity just was not worth it.\n\nshe looked at the smiling boy holding his father crossbow on the picture. \n\"oh my sweet child. what would you have done.\"\n-----------------------------------------------------------------------\nthis was a lot harder to do since my main language is not english :P\n\n", "The old man sat at his enormous oak desk, candlelight dancing over the deep oiled finish. His focus shifted from the list of names in front of him to stare at an empty space in the cold cabin with furrowed brow. “I can’t see you but I know you’re there.”\n\nA thin unassuming man at once was there, his very presence banishing not just the cold from the cabin but the thought of the cold winds from outside as well. “Wish you could teach that trick to the rest of them.”\n\nThe heavy set man sat his papers down. The curls in the corners of his mouth began to fall for the first time in 800 years. He turned in his chair to face the man fully. “I’m not the teacher here. Point in fact I came here to-“\n\n“Be alone?” The gentle smile of the man as he finished the other’s thought would win over most with the impression that everything was going to be okay. But, he could see the sadness and uncertainty in it as only an old friend could. The gentle man spoke again, “I just assumed it was for the ambiance. Look, it’s time.”\n\nThe old man unconsciously stiffened; muscles contracted whose use he had hoped to banish from memory. “How can you ask this of me? You know what I was like back then. I’m happy now, hell I’m known for it.”\n\nThe small gentle man’s sight grew distant even as it pierced deeper into his surroundings, an impossible vision, one that does not know the bounds of time “I know what it did to you. What it did to all of them.”\n\nThe old man grew uneasy as he began to see the tears welling up in his old friend “Yeah, well they’re gone now.”\n\nHis gruffness successfully pulled the man back to him as his eyes regained their composure and he spoke “I know, that’s why I’m here. You were always the strongest.”\n\n“I’m soft now.” He said, hitting his belly and smiling to see it jiggle “I’m proud of it in fact.”\n\nThe man’s composure collapsed completely. “I-I didn’t give you the power to sense evil so you could give out toy trains!”\n\nThe old man let out a deep sigh born from the weight of experience. “I found a better use for it. I bring light into their lives. It’s done more to beat back the darkness than the killing ever did.” Even as he spoke the words the truth was pressing from the back of his skull. It had been there since the gentle man’s appearance. He tried to continue. “Please don’t do this…how many?”\n\nThe calm man’s eyes hit the floor, unable to meet his gaze “So you know?”\n\nThe old man stood, his imposing height giving lie to the soft appearance he had cultivated. His voice rang out cold and sharp, all hints of his jovial way of speaking abandoned “I still feel every light that fades, every darkness that grows and those that slip away completely. There were 7,348. How many of the believers did they take?”\n\nThe man’s hands pressed against his own face as he spoke “2,119 children were consumed last year. I would not be here if-“\n\nThe old man boomed and the walls shook with the power of it “Why didn’t you come sooner? I could have saved them!”\n\nThe meekness of his friend became more pronounced in the face of righteous fury “They have become legion. I feared you would not come back from it.”\n\nThe old man began to disappear as the moments passed. Already his white hair had unnaturally turned a dull black. “I don’t care about that. You should have come sooner…Are they?”\n\nThe gentle man spoke with confidence and heart again “I welcomed them gently. You may not truly care about this place but I do. I spoke from frustration earlier. You are one of the world’s beacons. You shine brighter now than you ever did slaying. How could I take such a light from them while the darkness rises?”\n\nThe young man had shrugged off the fat of his body and it began to swell with muscle as he produced a vicious looking axe from a nearby bag. “I’m not coming back; I know that, but I want to beg a favor of you.”\n\nThe man’s shoulders sank in shame as he watched the transformation “All that is in my power shall be granted and more. You more than deserve it.”\n\nThe gentle light of the candle seemed to flicker for just a moment in his now black eyes “Let them believe in me a little while longer after I’m gone. I could go easy knowing that their smiles persist against the bleakness of the world.”\n\nThe gentle man frowned “What you are asking, every household would have to take up your duties. Every parent would have to create the illusion of you in their children. You are asking them to deceive their children. It goes against so much of what I stand for.”\n\nTears rolled down the thin cheeks of the massive warrior’s face “A beautiful lie to steel their spirits.” \n\nThe man couldn’t help but smile “I won’t circumvent their free will, but I will implant the suggestion that it is for the best. They will have to make the choice to do so.”\n\nThe giant man placed a hard hand on his friend’s shoulder “That is more than I could hope for. So…where am I headed?”", "Where is the reindeer and the sleigh,\n\nwhere are the horns that were tooting.\n\nWhere are the green hats and their wearers, and the jolly laughs rolling?\n\nWhere is the harp on the harpstring, and the warm cocoa that was flowing?\n\nWhere are the toys and the toymakers, and the man who did the giving?\n\nThey have passed like snow down Detroit sewers, like a wind in the Arctic.\n\nThe days have gone down in the North pole behind the hills into shadow.\n\nWho shall now pass the gifts of Klausgasm, to the deserving?\n\nWho shall now behold the wrath of an old woman, frail beyond her years?\n\nWith husband lost, elves dead and children gone, fallen to the eternal enemy.\n\nWho shall look upon her face and not quail, at the end of all things, written so clearly in her eyes.\n\n", "Quick note: I threw in some hyperlinked stuff in case my story wasn't clear, but (I think) it'll work if you just read through.\n\n\"It's been a long time, Nick.\"\n\nI looked at him in silence, nursing my peppermint schnapps. He hadn't aged a day, but then... why would he?\n\n\"Not long enough, Jeshua.\"\n\nHe rolled his eyes. \"Most of them don't call me that anym--\"\n\nI turned back to the bar, emptied the glass and motioned the bartender over. \"Give me a double, Rudy. And wine, for him. [The most sour wine you've got](https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Matthew+27%3A45-50&version=NIV).\"\n\nHe stood so still that I almost had a moment of regret before I remembered why he must be here in the first place.\n\nHe took the stool next to me and nodded wordless thanks to the bartender. Without glancing at me, he picked up the glass and downed it in one go. He grimaced, fighting back a cough. Then he turned to me.\n\n\"Happy? Will you at least hear me out?\"\n\nI couldn't maintain eye contact with him. Other than his father, I didn't know anyone who could. I turned away, spoke gruffly to hide my discomfort.\n\n\"Speak your piece, J... Jesus. The sooner you start, the sooner you finish, and the sooner you can leave.\"\n\n\"I need your help. You know why.\"\n\n\"You might need my help, but you know what it cost me the last time I gave it to you. I've got nothing left to give.\"\n\n\"We all suffered in the wars. Do you think you're the only one who lost people? But they--\"\n\nThe power burst out of me in a way that it hadn't in millennia, ice cold rage that I had spent every waking minute holding at bay.\n\n\"You want to talk to me about loss, boy? Me? My soldiers, my friends, history might have corrupted their true nature, turned them into characters, but The Eight were the most fearsome warriors that anyone had ever seen, on any plane. It was only treachery that caused their deaths. Your _Morningstar_ and the ones who he turned, they slaughtered my friends in their sleep. The cowards butchered them like animals and left their bodies on the frozen tundra--\"\n\nJesus stood up then, trying to calm me down. Saying something that I couldn't hear through the rage, over and over. \n\n\"... Nick, _you're killing them_.\"\n\nI looked around, saw that everyone and everything except for Jesus was encased in an ever-increasing layer of ice. I called the ice back with an effort of will. I noticed, grimly, that it was much more difficult than it used to be. I threw money at the bar and walked into the night. I knew Jesus would take care of them. \n\nHe came out a few minutes later. \"Other than some mild frostbite, they're none the worse for wear. I've never known you to lose control that way.\"\n\n\"Very few people can anger me the way you can.\"\n\nHe nodded and took a deep breath. I held my hand up before he could start.\n\n\"I'm sorry for what I said back there. The wounds are still fresh for me. But you know that I don't fight. That last battle, what I lost... I can't do it again. I can't pick up sword and shield, in defense or attack.\" I stared deeply into his eyes, hoping that he would see the truth of what I spoke. But to my surprise, he turned away.\n\n\"I wouldn't ask you Nick. I promised that you would never wage war at my side again, and I meant it. But you only spoke of The Eight. I'm here for [The Ninth](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Krampus).\"\n\nI stared into the night sky for long minutes without speaking, without moving, barely daring to think.\n\n\"Have things become that dire?\"\n\n\"You know I wouldn't be here if they hadn't.\"\n\n\"Do you understand once... once this happens, I have no more control. It takes everything I have to keep him at bay. I'll have to fully release him for you to talk to him, and it's out of my hands after that. If you can't bring him to heel, the consequences are yours and yours alone.\"\n\nJesus nodded resolutely.\n\nI took a deep breath, and... relaxed. I felt a calmness that I had not felt since I had watched my brothers and sister fall to that deceitful angel, all that time ago. I could feel my vision changing, feel my fangs coming, feel the rage of the only demon who fought next to the light, back in the beginning. I had the presence of mind to say one more thing before I faded to sleep.\n\n\"_I hope you know what you're doing..._\"", "\"That life, I put it behind me when I left for the toy business.\"\n\n\"Klaus,\" Agent Christ said. \"You were the best. We need you to come back for one last score.\"\n\n\"We?\" Klause chuffed.\n \n\"You know what I mean.\"\n\n\"I'm not sure I do.\"\n\n\"Don't make me say it.\"\n\n\"It's a different world,\" Santa said. \"Amazon's got me by the balls. And do you have any idea how much elf health care costs these days? You know how certain breeds of dogs, the real specialty pups, they tend to develop all sorts of health issues on account of the imbreeding. Elves? My workers are nothing but inbred humans siphoned off of the very worst of the royal familes. Monarchy? You think that was an accident? To that I say ho ho ho.\"\n\n\"Speaking of which, how's Mrs. Klaus been?\"\n\n\"She mentions you . . . frequently.\"\n\n\"Tell her I said hi,\" Jesus said, flipping a heavy gold coin from dirty thumbnail to faded wood bar.\n\n\"Christ . . .\"\n\nHe raised a brow up toward wild, untamed (and perhaps untamable) hair.\n\n\"Have they . . . the demons returned?\"\n\n\"Do you think they ever left?\" Jesus said. \"Merry Christmas, Klaus.\"\n\n\"Don't imagine this'll be the last time we meet.\"\n\n\"I'll be back,\" Jesus slipped on a pair of expensive looking sunglasess and exited the saloon.", "Year 2028.\n\n“I told you to never show up here again.”\n\n“I wouldn’t have come unless I needed, the world needed you Mr. Claus.”\n\n“Why would you need me? A third of the world believes in your existence. I’m just a fairy tale. You have your own religion. I’m just a fat, old man who likes to eat cookies. Why don’t you go walk on water or turn some water into Kool Aid, or whatever the fuck you do.”\n\n“There’s no need to be bitter. I didn’t intend for things to turn out the way they did. Humans just didn’t feel comfortable about someone entering their home while they’re sleeping. Besides, the Christmas spirit is still alive.”\n\n“If you think those low life posers sitting in the malls, handing out shitty toys made from China could ever replace me, then you’re delusional.”\n\n“This is far more important than your fat, jolly ego Santa.”\n\nThe two men were standing inside of Santa’s reindeer stable. Jesus stood there, staring intently at Santa. The old man was next to Comet, holding his reins, looking down and thinking quietly.\n\n“Lucifer has unleashed his demons upon the world. People are dying by the thousands every night. No one can tell the difference between man and demon. The church has done its best to protect everyone they can but our forces are too divided and weak. Pope Francis is slowly losing ground on the European front.”\n\n“...”\n\n“Only you have the army, the experience, and the skill to counter this evil. Do this and your name will be sung by every children around the world. Christmas songs will start to play in August and decorations won’t go down until May. ”\n\nAfter a minute of silence, Santa spoke.\n\n“God damn it all. I’ll do it you bastard. But not for you, but for the good children in this world.”\n\nJesus smiled, “May the heavens above bless you”. And then he disappeared in a puff of snow.\n\nSanta angrily muttered to himself as he walked inside the Claus mansion. Mrs. Claus looked up from her knitting, sitting next to the fireplace in a comfortable chair.\n\n“Where’s my super suit?”\n\n“It’s in the armory dear. Stay safe, okay?”\n\nSanta only grunted in reply as he walked to the North Polean Armory. The doors hissed as they slid open. He hasn’t stepped foot in here for over a millenia.\n\nHis footsteps echoed off of the large, icy walls as he approached the glass display. It looked as new as when he first crafted it.\n\nThe large, fluffy suit was impenetrable to even the sharpest hell-steel and was ice cold to the touch, resistant to all heat. The hat was equipped with a state of the art combat HUD, allowing him to see through thick snow and activate the dynamic camouflage woven into the fabric. His boots functioned as an all terrain trekker, allowing him to effortless glide across any surface, be it snow, water, or slippery roof tops.\n\nThe white suit was stained in blotches of red from the blood of the demons he had slain in the past.\n\nNow fully dressed in battle armor, Santa walked over to the the weapons display. From it, he took his trusted IceSplicer™ blade and put the sheath on his belt. From head to toe, he was now equipped with the most lethal weaponry on this earth.\n\nAs he walked out to the Royal stables, his second in command elf general joined him.\n\n“General Shinny Upatree, prepare our elven forces for worldwide land, air, and naval invasions. Activate all of our reconnaissance satellites and keep me updated on enemy movements. I want a comprehensive list of the locations and names of people with naughty levels higher than 10. Check it once. No, check it twice. We have to make sure who’s naughty or nice. We attack by tomorrow midnight.”\n\n“Yes sir”, Shinny saluted and walled away to oversee his duties.\n\nSanta walked down the stable. Comet, fast as starlight, and Dasher, quick and nimble, looked at him expectantly as he saddled them. No, they wouldn’t be the pack lead this time. He needed a special reindeer. He needed Rudolph the red nose reindeer. The light which would be able to reveal the true forms of the disguised demons.\n\nAs Santa positioned himself at the center of his sleigh, he took a deep breath. His bag of holy-water infused coal grenades was placed in the back. He turned on his HUD, transferred the coordinates to Rudolph, and began his flight towards his first target. ", "A calm windy evening, as Jesus sat anxious by the pier the sun was just starting to set. Birds chirped in the distance and the water was as calm as it could be. Everything was peaceful. \n\nSuddenly Santa Klaus landed near him, he didn't want to meet Jesus as he knew what the talk was going to be about but also knew that he could have delayed it only so much and it couldn't be delayed any longer, he took a deep breath.. donned a brave front and sat next to Jesus. \n\n\"Yet another successful Christmas huh.. \" asked Jesus.\n\n\"Yes, I wait and prepare all year for this day and it passes by in a blink.. \"\n\n\"I know how much this job means to you, but you know why I am here right?\"\n\n\"Yes, I know.. This is the year.. The year our contract ends.\" said Santa with sadness in his voice.\n\n\"This is what we agreed, you got to get my birthday merged with you for a century and then you would go back to demon slaying..\"\n\n\"I know what we agreed to, but think about the children... what will happen to them when suddenly there won't be any presents under the tree? \"\n\n\"They will be fine, you know what I am worried about? The fact that if the rising demons tide is not stopped they will lose there parents, families and friends. How precious will your presents be then?\"\n\n\"Damnit.. I hate it when you are always right..\" said Santa looking down and with a tear in his eyes. \"I will miss this, the cookies, the milk, the happiness.\"\n\n\"I know, I spent some of my best moments here too and I wish I never had to go but sometimes we have to make the hard choice and today you are making that.. \" said Jesus looking at Santa. Jesus knew how tough it is to give up so much joy and to go fight demons who are only trying to kill you but it was important Santa agreed, he was the best guy for the job. \"but you know, all through the future, you will always be part of my birthday and if I had to share my birthday with anyone I would want to share it with a guy who once single handedly killed 50 demons only so he could bring little childrens gifts and happiness for a century. ..\"\n\n\"Yea... my last job. I wanted this so much that I just went through those demons without a single thought.\"\n\n\"I remember.. It was the best thing I have ever seen.. \"\n\n\"Can you do me a favor?\"\n\n\"Sure buddy..\"\n\n\"Can you let the parents know that they will have to buy the gifts from next year?\"\n\n\"Sure.. and for what you have done for them I will let them know that they can dress just like you to deliver those gifts to their children. You will never be forgotten.\"\n\n\"Thanks.. \" Santa said standing up and with a smile on his face remarked.. \"It's time to hit the gym..\"\n\n\"Oh.. great.. I didn't want to bring it up. \"\n\n\"Good you didn't.. I will see you soon.\" Santa left with an ambitious look on his face. These demons had made him end one of his best jobs ever and he was angry.. They were going to pay. \n\n----------------------\nMy 3rd WP, Critiques, advice and feedback welcomed. ", "\"Jesus H Christ, how the heck are you?!\" \n\nThe Nazareen carpenter felt himself lifted off the workshop floor in a bear hug of cocoa and pine. \"Nick, jolly as ever I see.\" he wheezed after Nick released him. \"Look, you must know why I am here.\" Nick nodded and stroked his beard, gazing through the cozy cottage window. \"Naughty lists getting longer every year. Rudolph's nose hasn't stopped glowing since Easter. Lucifer's influence is growing.\" \n\n\"Which is why we need you back\" Jesus picked up a hammer from a workbench and turned it over gently in his hands, smiling to himself. \"Don't you have archangels for that? Its only been a few centuries since the last purge, and I don't think we can pass it off as the plague again. Besides, I've grown fat and happy.\" Nick glanced up to his wife's office above the workshop floor. \n\nJesus shook his head \"I'm afraid this isn't a request. Divine orders straight from father.\" Santa Claus's rosy cheeks flushed an angrier shade of red. \"But aren't you the same...\" Nick took a deep breath. \"I understand.\"\n\nNick trudged toward the barn through the howling winds of the Arctic Circle, the furthest place from the fires of hell on the mortal plane. He stopped to pat Rudolf, his nose a confirmation of the growing demonic presence in the world. In the furthest part of the barn Nick hefted a dusty canvas tarpaulin off of a bulky object. The chrome had not been polished in years, but he could still make out the letters on the side of the vehicle. \"Santa's Slay\"\n\nNick turned to Rudolf. \"Santas coming back to town.\"\n\n", "A sky of swirling fire, clouds of ash, a maelstrom of inhospitable black soot.\n\nBroken and insane men huddle together in a large shack of rotting wood. \n\nSkunked beer and heavy liquor flow freely.\n\nBlood stains the floor boards.\n\nIn the corner, a man with a great white beard nurses a cup of something strong. A long scar from the top of his skull down into his wintry beard mar a once jolly face. \n\nMuddled conversation, panicked and murmuring, fill the hall.\n\nThey're coming.\n\nThere's too many\n\nThey say they won't make it through the winter\n\nAlways they, they, they others and bullshit.\n\nThe old man goes by Nick. He scavenges, moving across a desolate wasteland, the new battlefield between heaven and hell. \n\nWhen the world had shattered, he'd been caught somewhere on the east coast of North America, giving gifts to the good little boys and girls of the world.\n\nOver in a second.\n\nSkirmishes, wars, violence.\n\nHe'd barely survived the initial assaults, and in the shadows of burnt cities, he made whatever living he could. Those around him sought his help by any means, but he wasn't beholden to humanity in the end times. This was a different sort of war.\n\nThe damned against the blessed. Humans caught in between.\n\nA world that doesn't need a man in a sleigh anymore. No more toys, only skulls and brimstone.\n\nOutside, lies death and danger. Only fools and the brave venture into demon territory.\n\nOpen. The door to the outside reveals pale light.\n\nIn stride several angels. \n\nThey wear long cloaks of cerulean, their bodies coated in layers of plate armor. Battered and blood stained, their faces are obscured by horned helms, twisted and broken.\n\nTheir spears are long, and the shriveled heads of demons are impaled upon the shafts, still howling.\n\nNick knows why they've come. \n\nIt was only a matter of time.\n\nThey walk forward, and the humans scatter before them, hiding behind dusty tables.\n\nThis oughta be good, Nick thought to himself.\n\nBehind them came another, this one a man. His armor fully spiked, shining of bronze and fresh blood. In his right hand he bore a lance of pure light, in his left a massive kite shield bearing the mark of the trinity.\n\nHere comes the star baby.\n\nHe walks directly to Nick's table, and off comes the helm. Black hair, thick beard. Middle eastern features.\n\nJesus.\n\n\"You know why I've come, Klaus?\"\n\nNick takes a long drink.\n\n\"I do, star child.\"\n\n\"We need you, Klaus.\"\n\n\"I'd imagine so. Heard the demons have crossed the Mississippi.\"\n\nJesus pulls up a chair, his heavy armor clinking and clanking. \n\nIn the distance, roars. The echoes and belches of artillery. \n\n\"She's still alive, Klaus.\"\n\nImpossible.\n\nNick places his weapons upon the table, a revolver and a hatchet.\n\nIf he killed the star boy, the Anti-Christ would leave him alone. \n\n\"You got proof, star child?\"\n\nJesus hands a crumpled piece of paper to Nick. \n\nA quick read.\n\nThey have her. The demons have her.\n\nAn artillery round lands outside, sending splinters ricocheting throughout the hall. Several men are eviscerated, while the fragments bounce harmlessly off of the angelic presence. \n\nNick gets a cut across the arm.\n\n\"You once served me, in the days of Cain and Abel, Klaus.\"\n\nNick narrows his eyes.\n\n\"You betrayed me, Star child. Left me on this planet to rot.\"\n\nJesus stands, and the hordes roar closer. They're near.\n\n\"Then fight for her, Klaus.\"\n\nNick finishes his drink, sheathes his revolver and picks up his hatchet. \n\n\"Show the way, star child.\"\n\n-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------\n\nr/storiesfromapotato" ]	11
	[WP] Spells are fueled by empathy	[ "##HEX##\n\n\"I swear, I didn't cast it,\"\n\nI ground the knife deeper into his joy, relishing in the way he screams. His blood spilled across the crudely drawn ritual circle, staining the silver star a deep black. It was twisted, by I felt the half-formed hex slowly unravel, untangling itself from us. \n\n\"I'm giving you five more seconds, Warlock, until your fucking sick excuse of dick is finally free of you,\" I whispered into his ear, letting a little more malice bleed into my voice. This was fun, terribly, monstrously funny. My fingers twitched for my matches.\n\nWill's face flashed white, the sagging skin fluttering with a breeze. Sad, really, to give up years of your life for a few magic tricks. But from what was about to happen next, Will would need them, probably. Maybe they could stitch it back on - but anything short of magic couldn't fix him.\n\nThe words tumbled from his tongue, weird, frightened, with a hinting plea for mercy.\n\nWith a slick swish, I pulled the knife away from him.\n\nWill panted, his eye's heaving, rolling in and out of his sockets. \n\nSomehow, I believed his pathetic story. But that didn't bring Amber back. And I knew, deep down, that he was hiding something. Maybe he couldn't tell me because of an enchantment. A bewitching would be a convenient excuse for court. That paled though to the consequences of a Warlock breaking his word.\n\n\"You lied.\"\n\n\"NO! I swear! I never laid a finger on her.\" The words were thick, drunken. \n\n\"Night, Will.\" I could almost miss him. The fact he sacrificed my sister to curse me was a relevant bump in our relationship.\n\nI light the match and toss it onto his oiled body, watching the slick sweat ignite into a blur of burning screams.\n\nWalking out of the house, only vaguely aware of the raging inferno at my back, I went through my mental list.\n\nWilliam Darkly, the low Warlock of High Street, was promptly ticked off." ]	1
	[WP] Patch notes for Human_v2.0 were just released.	[ "Hello fellow celestial beings! Here are the patch notes for the much anticipated Human_v2.0!\n\nWe here at Sentiency Inc strive to provide you with the very best in Sentient Race Population for your various worlds, as such we listen to our customers and do our best to provide cutting edge SRP experiences so that you can concentrate on gathering believers rather than worrying about bugs and system issues. With that said, here are the patch notes and coming features!\n\nPatched out issue with Smallpox.vir that was causing mass death amongst SRPs.\n\nIntroduced Vaccine.cur to help combat other such .vir and .bac issues causing deaths amongst SRP populations such as:\n\nMeasles.vir\n\nMumps.vir\n\nPolio.vir\n\nTetanus.bac\n\nThis list is non-exhastive and there are many more that have also been patched to either eliminate or control the .bac or .vir effects. We ask that all celestial beings take into account that your various SRPs are your responsibility and you should work with them to ensure that there is no rise in the number of SRPs that attempt to break the Vaccine.cur system as this can cause issues, for example, resurfacing of problems caused by .vir and .bac killing off large numbers of SRPs.\n\nIntroduction of Enviro_Awareness.pol which should give your SRPs more knowledge of how their actions affect the environment around them. Please be aware that this does not remove the Free_Will.sen from your sentient beings. As the ability to make independant decisions is something that we feel is necessary to the development of all races, including animals, we will not be adjusting the Free_Will.sen aspect in any way.\n\nWe have also been made aware of a number of issues that have not been fixed in this patch, but will be looked at going forward, here is a list of our intended fixes for the next release.\n\nTrump.usa has apparently become an issue for a large number of SRPs and appears to have divided large parts of the SRP.pop throughout the world, we will be watching this event to see how it develops and will intervene if necessary.\n\nPutin.rus and Trump.usa are currently having compatibility issues and will be looked at going forward.\n\nKim.nkr is working as intended. We know this particular event is causing issues throughout the world with Democracy.gov, but that was always the intention. We wanted to give Celestials the opportunity to develop new ways of dealing with a truly insane SRP on an international scale.\n\nIsis.ter is working as intended. This particular event was brought about by the actions of your SRPs, we will watch the situation carefully however, and if things get out of hand we will step in.\n\nWe are aware that a large number of Celestials are having issues with Racism.per, this is a personality trait that is formed through lack of education and poor upbringing, please take responsibility for your SRPs.\n\nFinally, we have been made aware of a number of issues surrounding the number of mass shootings, especially in the USA.reg region. As we try to encourage Celestials to manage their SRPs independantly we do not want to step in at this stage. Regions such as UK.reg, Australia.reg and Europe.con do not have near as many issues, this leads us to believe the issue with with the population of USA.reg and as such should be dealt with by individual Celestials.\n\nWe hope you enjoy the latest release of Sentiency, please continue to file bug reports and we will see you next century!\n\n...................................................................................................................................................................\n\nHi folks, thanks for reading! Please feel free to leave c+c and visit my sub, you can read other stuff I have written and follow the ongiong stiry I have: https://www.reddit.com/r/YngvarWrites/", "Human v2.0 Patch Notes\n----------------------------\n\n- Workaround for 1412719 \"Appendix gets infected\". Increased generated pain by a factor of 10. Proper fix would need reworking of organ layout module, deferred until # 9741213 \"Insulin cells go off-line in some instances shortly after instantiation\"\n\n- 2341891 \"Multi-threading improvements to thinking\". Minor tweak to attention span, further fixes likely not needed since 3rd party Adderall software seems to bring most problematic cases under control\n\n- Removed MagicSpells module code from build. Is anyone even using this anymore?\n\n- Minor continued improvements in porting Python code in MathModule to C, but still get 85417879 \"Autism\" issue in some cases. Disable with /crispr_no_autism command line flag\n\n- Added more skins! See cool_tattoos_README.txt in program directory\n\n\nQuestions and comments to: JHWH@.org\n\n\n" ]	2
	[WP] You’ve had terrible paranoia ever since you were a child, always thinking someone was watching you. The feeling has grown on you and now you are comfortable around the feeling and talk as if someone is listening. You’ve started noticing signs that there is someone listening.	[ "It all started with a weird feel as a child. You know how it is being a child. I simply assumed everyone shared the same feelings. When my parents told me not to steal snacks because Jesus is watching, I thought they referred to to this feel. It was way later I learned I was exceptional.\n\nI no longer believed in gods, and spent many sleepless nights researching my condition, until I finally learned to accept it. Schizophrenia, paranoia, it could be all sort of things I could be suffering from but I refused to ever talk with a therapist about it. My condition was not among these, not an illness. I found comfort in the shadows and felt always being cared for and protected.\n\nLater as a teen, when I was lonely, I began talking to the emptiness. When no one was here for me to listen I talked to it about my struggles and pains, and I always shared my happiness with it. And soon my everything.\n\nIt not much later began, as my parents passed away and I was living alone, that strange things occurred. I told myself in the morning that I need to buy milk, but when walking home from work exhausted, I totally forgot it. The milk was nonetheless in the fridge and its price went missing. Later similar things occurred with not just shopping but even folding my laundry or recording a show. As if someone was taking care of me.\n\nOne Friday night and one more cups of booze was then, when everything chaged. I stumbled home drunk and kicked down my shoes in the hall. I was searching my way towards the bathroom on the tiles when I slipped - backwards, head toward the doorstep it could have been the end of everything. She caught me. With foggy eyes I looked up to a demoness holding me in her arms inches from the ground. At the end it seems like I will have a royal departure to hell.\n\n-Careful, you might hurt yourself!\n\nThose weren't the words I expected.\n\n-You... wait you are saving me?!\n\n-Yes, you idiot. -she smiled. But you should never thrust a demoness's smile, if the folklore taught me anything.\n\n-So nineteen years then this? What's the catch for you? You gonna demand my life?\n\n-No, please. I would never hurt you in any way. But your parents offered me their firtsborn and I was forced to stay around you. I tried to be a good roommate, really, I hope I wasn't too much of a burden\n\nI maybe just didn't react out of shoch, or the information simply didn't reach my still drunken brain, but I was able to ask my last question, before I finally had a nervous breakdown hours later.\n\n-So what do you want for this? I really don't wanna have unresolved debt with a demon.\n\nThe horned young girl flustered her eyelids, before answering in a faint, trembling voice.\n\n-Take me on a date, please!\n\n***\n\nFor more of my work, check out r/SixthEon or ask for a personal appointment from my secretary!" ]	1
	[WP] Dogs are the most intelligent species on the planet. They have been communicating with the rest of the galaxy and are desperately trying to convince them we are an intelligent race.	[ "\"What of the wars?\" Asked the Yashti Amabassador. I sighed and looked at the linoleum for a moment, studying the fractal patterns I picked out of the random noise.\n\n\n\"We all had wars, Ambassador.\" I said. \"That's no excuse for keeping them limited to this solar system. They're going to destroy themselves here if they don't have a chance to expand their horizons.\"\n\n\n\"Yes, we should allow them out of quarantine so they can spread like an infection.\" Said the Ambassador. That was unfair, and I said so.\n\n\n\"Every species outgrew its homeworld, you know that. We all start off on resource-rich planets and there hasn't been one of us yet that didn't deplete the Homeworld's resources before setting off.\" I started to rattle off respected member planets that had done precisely what the humans were doing, poisoning their homeworld in a desperate attempt to get leave it behind. The only reason they hadn't done it forty years ago was because of Union spies artificially halting the progress. \"Yashti itself burned through the homeworld and two habitable moons before the first of you ever set fin out of your solar system.\"\n\n\nThe Ambassador looked unimpressed, which was hard for a goldfish to do. I was reaching the end of my tether with the Yashti, and I was about to say something stupid, but decided to terminate my connection instead. Yashti didn't care about formalities or pleasantries, and more than once the Ambassador had simply ended the call without acknowledging it was going to happen. Perhaps it's that I'm an Earth-born Pupper, but I always believed in manners, and it gave me a small satisfaction to simply cut the call short without warning and walk away. Petty, but cathartic.\n\n\nI went and found my friend, Lara, sitting on the couch. I jumped up and put my head on her lap, whuffled, and whined a little and headbutted her. I needed her to scratch behind my ears and help me get rid of this headache that I always got from talking to the Union. She smiled and threw her arms around my neck and hugged me. I had to fight back tears. She was my best friend, and her life was going to be misery and horror if I couldn't convince the Amabassador to give me a chance to plead humanity's case for removing quarantine directly to the Tribunal. I put a paw on her shoulder and licked her cheek where she'd missed a spot of the peanut butter and jelly sandwich she'd just had, and then I lay down for a nice nap. Humans have a saying: a dog is a man's best friend. We all are." ]	1
	[WP] Everybody's statistics are now suddenly visible, such as total lifetime hours slept, food eaten, height, weight, etc. A few hours later a loud voice out of no where proclaims: "We apologize for this inconvenient bug in our system, as your developers are working to resolve the issue."	[ "1st January, 2018\n\nPlush leather chairs lined the sides of a large mahogany wood table. A middle-aged man with a beer belly sweated into his expensive-looking suit as he stared down rows and rows of investors. They looked bored. Some were dosing off, others checking their phones. Not a good situation. He cleared his throat, in a desperate attempt to regain their attention. \"And as the statistics show-\" his voice abruptly trailed off, as he stared, wide-eyed, at the empty space in front of him. A balding old man looked up from his papers and glared at the presenter. \"Do not waste our time, Mr Goldberg. What about the statistics?\" he asked, a harsh edge in his voice. But then his glare faded away, replaced by the same comical look of shock on Mr Goldberg's face. \n\nElsewhere around the world, the same thing was happening. A maths teacher, in the middle of a lesson about probability. A Twitch streamer, boasting about his kill-death ratio. Newscasters on live television. Every time the word \"statistics\" was said, the speaker would give a shocked look, and stare straight ahead, as if possessed by a ghost. \n\nBut the reaction was understandable. After all, for the first time in their lives, they saw a floating window in front of them. Almost like a holographic projection seen in sci-fi movies, it was a simple rectangular box, filled with words. On the top, the word \"STATISTICS\" in a large bold font. Below, a list of lifetime records. Height, weight, body fat percentage. Steps walked. Hours slept. Calories consumed. Words read. Other bizarre statistics, like number of sexual partners or number of lies told were also tracked. Hardly anything was left out. And the data was perfectly accurate, recorded in real-time. When a person threw a punch, the number of punches would go up by one, at that very moment. The strange new system didn't miss a single thing. \n\nWorldwide chaos and confusion ensued. The data itself was harmless enough. It was private, only viewable by each individual. At the very worst, you learned some uncomfortable things about yourself from that mass of data. But that wasn't the issue. The question was, how had that mysterious window appeared? And why now? \n\nUnexpectedly, the answer came just a few hours later. Each person heard a voice in their head. Female, professional-sounding, crisp and clear. Pleasant to the ear, or in this case, the mind. \"Apologies, players. Due to a bug, we have released an incomplete patch. Our developers are working to resolve the issue and release the remainder of the patch. Appropriate compensation will be given. Please be patient as we update the game again.\" \n\nThe contents of the announcement were bizarre. Players? Game? It did seem like a game interface, but if it was a game, who had designed it? Debate raged on the Internet. Everyone had heard the same voice, in a language they could understand. Was the whole of humanity just an elaborate simulation, a game of sorts for some higher beings? Philosophers practically had an aneurysm, discussing the implications of these new revelations on our understanding of life as we knew it. Did free will still exist? Were our senses to be trusted? \n\nAs humanity began to collectively short-circuit from sheer confusion, the same voice rang out in everyone's minds. It was scarcely a day after the statistics window appeared. The announcement was short and sweet: \"Apologies for the inconvenience, players. The full Statistics patch has been released. To compensate players for the inconvenience, each player has been given 10 free ability points to assign.\" \n\nAs people opened up the statistics window again, they now saw new fields. Current level. Current experience. Experience to next level. Just below those fields was another new statistic. Unspent ability points. Underneath that was a list of \"abilities\". Strength, Vitality, Dexterity, Intelligence, Wisdom, Luck and Charisma. Each had a value next to it, and a plus sign. \n\nAfter some experimentation, people figured out how the system worked. Performing certain activities gradually increased ability points in a related field, albeit very slowly. Running might give Vitality, while reading would increase Wisdom. And the effects of such increases were felt acutely. A single point in Strength would result in noticeably greater muscle mass. A single point in Intelligence enhanced a person's memory greatly. A point in Charisma could result in more Tinder matches in a heartbeat. A single point in Luck was the most subtle, but the general consensus was that people-or players, to use the system's terminology- with high Luck tended to avoid injury and win gambles more often. \n\nAbility points were scarce, however. Aside from certain random events giving ability points, players would receive 3 points on their birthday, and 5 points upon levelling up. The issue was, hardly anyone had levelled up yet. Performing daily activities only gave a miniscule number of experience points, and even specialized training like swimming or shooting didn't result in fast advancement. The effect was most prominent in young children, who had a lower level to begin with and thus actually gained levels on a semi-regular basis. Everyone else was stuck at around level 20 or 30. \n\nAs the world gradually grew accustomed to their new lives, significant changes in society were seen. There were more specialists: people who focused on one stat, like Strength or Wisdom, and as a result, humanity smashed previous records over and over again. World records were being set on a daily basis, from things like running to rote memorization of the digits of Pi. People were happier. Being able to see the impacts of their work in concrete numbers and being able to choose how they developed were great boons, and the world ushered in an unprecedented era of peace and development. Gradually, society moved towards utopia. People still asked questions about the new system and the mysterious voice, but no more announcements were made. Most were content to put philosophical and existential hangups on the backburner, and just live life in the new- and undoubtedly improved- world. \n\nThen, the year 2023 rolled around. Five years after the release of that fateful new \"patch\" to humanity. Standard of living was at an all-time high, and some of the problems that plagued society were gradually being solved. The income gap grew narrower. Cures for cancer were developed. People were happy. It seemed that this would be a long-lasting era of world peace. \n\n1st January, 2023\n\nFor the first time in five years, the announcer's voice appeared in everyone's heads. \"Players, apologies for the delay. A new patch has been released. Player versus player combat has been enabled. Experience points will now be gained from killing living creatures, and points given will be proportionate to the level of the creature that has been killed. Quests have been enabled. Each player has been given a new quest. Complete the quest to gain rewards.\" \n\nAt that moment, a screen flashed in front of every single person. A screen with a picture, a name, and an address of residence. A person, randomly pulled from a database of all the players in the world. The bounty was listed below, a combination of money and experience points. The rewards were sky-high. Ten million dollars. Ten levels. The quest was simple. Eliminate the listed target. \n\nIn a voice tinged with malice, the announcer concluded her statement. \n\n\"Let the games begin.\" \n\n\n\n\n\nother stories at /r/chasing_mist" ]	1
	[WP] "The Universe is God's Egg."	[ "In the beginning was only wind and flames. \nWind howled, and mountains enraged. \nThen mountains crumbled, and the dust enflamed. \n\nOut of this ash, God was born. \nGestating on mountains and dust and ash \nan idea was formed. \n\nThis expression as small as sand expanded in God’s hand; \nan awesome press and it went in his chest. \n\nIt ate his heart and when that was erased it moved to his brain. \nThat was all used and the rest was consumed.\n\nIt’s stomach inside expanded and burst and handed the verse to man and his curse. \n" ]	1
	[WP]: You have a tendency to survive places people hope will kill you. How? By knowing your place. Put in the court of an unstable tyrant, you find yourself a jester.	[ "Day in and day out I would slip and fall, my goofy display performed with the out-most precision. There is a particular irony that comes with mastering your craft of idiocy. It was no small game, timing the moment of a fall, of a supposedly careless collision, of blubbering like a buffoon.\n\nAnd so each time I bowed at the end of my performance, I did so earnestly, for every moment of supposed helplessness was choreographed with the grace of a ballerina, the bells on my jester hat giving off their familiar jingle as I lowered my head, hiding my stretched grin.\n\nIt wasn't a secret that the others who were part of the king's court regarded me with little appreciation. Disliking how closely I slithered my way into the king's trust, how easily I climbed the ladder.\n\nThey thought it an easy task to get rid of me, the king showed little mercy for jesters that clowned about their job instead of making him laugh.\n\nAs a gesture of being humble and knowing my lowly stature, I requested the king permit me to wear a mask, to hide my face that would distract from his continued amusement. \"Very good.\" He would comment, his bulbous form and protrudent belly wobbling in affable agreement.\n\nThe mask was stark white, a crescent grin formed its lips, its eyes curved into an 'n' shape, giving the illusion of joyous laughter.\n\nThe day of my final performance came, \"the jester's last laugh.\"\n\nYears had passed since I first wore the mask, so long ago was it that none remembered the man behind it. For all it's worth; the mask became the jester's face.\n\nI had found those that tried to feed me to the wolves, they thought their victory assured, that even if I were not killed, I was still to serve till the end of my days as the clumsy jester.\n\nLittle did they know that I wished to share with them the joy of entertaining our majesty, and so I surprised them in their sleep. Each, I outfitted with a matching costume of their own, and of course each I suited with a white porcelain mask that grinned their cackling grin.\n\nThey each awoke with a fright within the center of the throne room, each dazed and confused about the events that unfolded.\n\nOf course, the king was less than pleased, asking them to perform as they were expected to.\n\nThe men tried to argue that they were in-fact, not the jester, that they were kidnapped and changed into the outfits.\n\nYet they realised the masks were stuck to their skin, giving off pained cries as their skin was being pulled with the mask. And though I stared at them with a neutral expression from the crowd of onlookers, they too, had forgotten the man behind the mask.\n\nThe king grew furious and accused them of making him out to be a fool.\n\nI do admit, in their final moments where they were hung from the gallows with their masks staring out into the crowd, I found my final joke to be a good one." ]	1
	[WP] The love of your life wakes you up at 3am in the morning just to gaze at the stars. You suddenly question why you love them in the first place	[ "It was cold outside, colder than I expected. I couldn’t ask for a clearer sky though.\n\nI looked up at the heavens above me to watch the meteor shower that would hit at exactly 3:11 AM. I had already set up the telescope the night before. I always wanted to get a picture of a meteor shower, and now I would finally get my chance. I had been tasked with making a type of cutting edge photo-booklet-calendar-scrapbook thing for work in September, but it was nearly January now.\n\nI’ve always had this weird knack for photography. When I was a kid I would blink really hard and think “Click!” as I try to remember what I just saw, as if I was a camera and my film was my photographic memory. We could never afford a camera growing up, so I got interested in space from all the National Geographic magazines delivered to our house. Discovery Channel helped too, but it was really my 7th grade science teacher who pushed me into astronomy and astrology. I fell in love with watching the skies above me, wondering what it all meant.\n\nBut… Lately something has been missing. After staring into the majestic abyss above me for months, something felt a little… off. What was it?\n\n3:10 AM. I double checked the alignment of my telescope and soon the meteors started falling. One streak here, one streak there. Some were flashes in the distance, others were flamboyant streaks across the black, clear night. \n\nBut tonight, that’s all they were.\n\nThe best ones I even caught on my camera. The beautiful beams of light defied the nothingness of the sky above me and shone brightly into my lens. Honestly, it was some of my best work… work.\n\nI went to bed around 5:15 AM, but I never really fell back asleep. I kept thinking about that word, work, and what it meant to me. Why wasn’t I happy with it? It was my best effort, and the quality of the pictures thankfully reflected that. My whole life I had been so fascinated at what was above me that I just wanted to get a little piece of it for my own on film and study it. Learn about it. Discover the secrets of the universe or… something like that. The more I thought about it the more stupid it sounded.\n\nI rolled over and pulled the covers tight against me. \n\nWas this it?\n\nI decided I couldn’t sleep and went out to watch the sunrise. As the familiar pale circle peeked over the bleak horizon, a swathe of orange and red overtook the black and blue.\n\nI think it was at this point what I realized what I wanted to do. I was so focused on what was above me that I forgot about what was right around me – right in front of me even. I always thought that if I looked up and asked enough questions that the answers would come to me. \n\nBut I figured out that wasn’t true. I didn’t really know what was true… But something happened to my heart that night. \n", "\"Hey,\" thank God at least his voice is quiet, \"hey, let's go look at the stars.\"\n\n\"What time is it?\"\n\n\"Three AM. But honey, I've never seen the stars up here! It's Lake Muskoka. C'mon.\"\n\nI do get up. I mean, I just can't say no to this guy. \n\nChrist, why do I even love him?\n\n------------\n\n\"Would ya look at that.\"\n\nHe has that stupid grin on his face. The grin. For the few moments when he's... over-filled with love. We can see our breath in the cold; it's late October and we're at Lake Muskoka; the city is warm, but here, it definitely isn't. The stars are real pretty, to his credit. \n\nMy fathers sleep upstairs, completely oblivious to us being outside. \n\nMy heart melts a bit. \n\n\"I love you, y'know.\"\n\nWhy do I love him? He woke me up at 3 AM to drag me outside into the cold.\n\n------------\n\n\"Y'know you could do a lot better than him.\"\n\n\"Christ, not this again dad.\"\n\n\"You could. He's not all that smart - I mean, he didn't even go to university-\" \n\n\"He's a police officer. And, just 'cause he doesn't have a university degree doesn't mean he's stupid.\"\n\n\"Great for him, but darlin', you could have y'know, someone far smarter. You could have a fuckin' physicist if you wanted. Anyway, he's also not that good looking, so he can't even compensate for not being smart-\"\n\n\"Dad. Stop. Okay, get to know him. He's... something else.\"\n\nDad 2 looks on at the conversation.\n\n\"Something else? You. Could. Do. Better. I don't like him.\"\n\n\"You don't know him!\"\n\n\"So what?! You deserve better than some second rate police officer!\"\n\n\"Dad!\"\n\nDad 1 storms out of the room. With a roll of his eyes, and a sway of his hips, he stomps out with as much anger as a 6'5\", bearded, gentle giant can muster. \n\nDad 2 looks at her apologetically. \n\n\"He just doesn't want to see you get hurt, honey. We both know what it's like to almost lose you after... what happened. We just want you to be happy.\"\n\n\"And I will be happy with him. I am. Honestly, I- I... I don't think I've ever been happier. Even if I have a shit day, and my fuckin' Zoloft doesn't work all that well, he just. He's there. He makes my day better.\"\n\nHe slips off his chair and idles over to his daughter. She's grown up before his eyes, all he can think of when he looks at her is the little girl with the long blonde hair that bounded into their lives. She's changed so fucking much, his heart aches to think of how hard it must've been. Her hair is cut into a boyish, modern look, but her eyes are the same eyes. She looks at everything with the same intensity she's always had. He pulls her into a hug.\n\n\"Look, for the record, I believe you. Really. You're right about a lot of things, and I bet you'll be right about this too. I think you're making the right choice. If he makes you this happy, then he can't be a bad person.\"\n\n-------------------\n\nHe picks at his napkin nervously. He hasn't touched his food. Their friends and family are laughing and drinking and loving. Everyone tells him that she will say yes... But, what if she doesn't? He knows one of her fathers hates him, thinks he isn't good enough, and he's started to believe that, to be quite honest. She's kind and sweet. She's smarter than anyone he's ever known. She's a wonderful writer - he reads every article she writes, and frankly, wants her to write a book. She's the most, most most, beautiful person he's ever seen. She's flawed, of course, stubborn as a mule and mean if something isn't going right, and she doesn't take care of herself, leaving everyone worried. But goddamn, it's like he's addicted to her.\n\n\"Mike, are you okay? You haven't eaten.\"\n\nAll the eyes are on him. \n\nSo he gets up, and kneels down on one knee. Her eyes widen, tears begin to build, she knows what's happening. He planned this for months, wanting to do it when she would be comfortable and open, around all the people that, though she takes for granted every now and then, she can't live without.\n\n\"Look, uh, I'm not good with words like you. Not at all. But- uh, I love you. A lot. Like, I don't think I've ever loved anyone as much as I love you. You've changed me to be, god, so much better. I- I was a miserable asshole before you. I was m-mean to everyone, even you, and god, I've never ever aspired to do much, and- and you deserve someone better. You deserve Stephen Hawkings' brain in Sidney Crosby's body with the Tin Man's heart after all you've been through, but, uh. I really love you. Will you- will you marry me?\"\n\nHe forces himself to look up into her eyes, her beautiful eyes. She's crying, and he feels like an ass, but then he sees the smile on her face.\n\n\"Boy, you don't even have to ask! Obviously, yes!\"\n\nShe laughs out of the bubbling joy, and pulls him up and spins him around and kisses him with all of the love and care she can muster - because to her? \n\nHe's perfect. \n\n------------------\n\n\"Christ, you should've seen him. He was panicking so hard. Mike really loves you. I take full credit for your engagement by the way - he never would've had the balls if I hadn't calmed him down. I'm the best brother. You have the best almost-brother-in-law.\"\n\nShe roars with laughter. She's had a beer or two, and Mike's face is turning beet red as his twin recounts the tale of how the two went shopping for a ring. Her father, the tall one, is eyeing him with a vague look of sort-of vague disapproval. Her other father is smiling at everyone. \n\n\"Well, Nick, thanks. Where would our relationship be without you?\"\n\n\"I- uh, I wouldn't've ever agreed to the date you asked me out on, if he hadn't well, encouraged me.\"\n\n\"Rude!\" But she laughs even harder.\n\n\"No, no! I mean that I wouldn't have been able to make a sound around you, 'cause you're just so damn amazing.\"\n\n\"Awh, honey.\"\n\n--------\n\n\"Hey honey, guess which movie I rented?\"\n\n\"Which?\" She calls down from the second floor of their spacious loft - the joys of a journalist's and a police officer's salary. She's starfished on their bed, tired as hell from the shitshow of her day.\n\n\"Well, what's you're favourite?\"\n\n\"Dunkirk!\"\n\n\"Ding!\"\n\nShe practically dances down the stairs and flies into his arms.\n\n\"You love World War 2 movies, so, yeah.\"\n\n\"God, you know me so well.\"\n\n---------------\n\nThe tall father is standing beside his seated family. His tux is fancy, and fits him well for once, actually managing to flatter his string-bean body. \n\n\"Look, Michael, I want to use my speech to apologize. I've been an ass... I guess I'm a little too protective of her. But, I've gotten to know you, and you're solid. You're a solid person. I can see how much she loves you. I can see how much you love her. I've never seen two people more in tune with each other. So, ya know, I'm sorry. I can't wait to see what the two of you get up to together - how strong you guys will get. And, okay, I guess I love you. You're our son now - don't forget that.\"\n\nHis brother gets up next, fixing the glasses on his face. Frankly, the groom and his best man, his brother, look nothing alike. \n\nHe says a whole lot of wonderful things.\n\n------------\n\n\"Honey! I'm home.\"\n\nNo answer.\n\n\"Mike?\"\n\n\"Michael! Is everything alright?\"\n\nHe shuffles into view. His eyes are puffy and red. His hair (the shoulder-length, curly, baby-butt soft mess that she loves to run her hands through), is in complete disarray. He has curls flying all over the place. He has tangles in it. Clumps that are going to be hell to brush out. His normally soft brown eyes are filled with disrepair.\n\nHe sniffs. \n\n\"Oh, babe, what happened?\"\n\nShe pulls him into his arms. The tears flow again. He breathes her in. \n\n\"C'mon, you can tell me.\"\n\n\"I... Honestly, nothing. I guess I'm just feeling. Upset? I dunno. I just- I dunno. I dunno.\"\n\n\"I get it. I get it. You don't have to explain. Wanna go just cuddle for a bit?\"\n\nHe nods his head, almost shyly. \n\nAnd they do just that. They go and soak each other in.\n\n---------------\n\nOkay, yeah, maybe I do know why I love him. Even if he wakes me up at 3 AM sometimes, it's worth it.\n" ]	2
	[WP] You are abducted and taken to an alien planet. Expecting the worst, you fear for your life. Surprisingly, upon arrival, you find an alien crowd cheering your name. You are their favorite character from the reality show ‘The Earth’.	[ "John had ended up on a planet which looked like our Earth but wasn't quite. He'd entered it via a portal that was only known to a few people. How he'd got there... he'd forgotten.\n\nFor some reason, he was being treated as a celebrity there, something that never happened in his hometown of Great Sankey, Warrington, Cheshire.\n\n\"Why the hell am I being treated like a celebrity?\" he thought \"I'm not famous... I'm just a person from Warrington!\".\n\nThe people he was with were aliens, just not aliens in the extraterrestrial sense of non-humanoids, they were aliens in the sense of foreigners. They were humans, technically.\n\nThis was Earth-49, one of the other Earths in the multiverse [there was 180 Earths, all very distinct, but all like our Earth in many ways, just being alternate history, alternate timelines and various other things], an Earth that looked like a mixture of 1990s and 1970s in architecture, old-fashioned 1980s BMW 5-Series and Toyota Corona sedans found on the streets, and concrete 1980s [Thorn Beta 5](http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7070/6904192415_3a55abbd1d.jpg) on Concrete X Byway columns lighting the streets.\n\nIn short, it was a retro universe and somehow had modern tech too, despite the 1970s aesthetic.\n\nThe presenter, one Simon Heumann, spoke in a broad accent that sounded very Texan, almost a Houston-like drawl.\n\n\"And tonight, we have John here, from The Earth, he's from a backwater we call Great Sankey.\"\n\nHis co-presenter, Jacqueline Lakhami, a 6\"3 woman with olive-colored skin, jet-black hair with streaks of red was standing next to him. She wore a bright red dress and said. \"This is a show that's pulling no punches, all the dope on John\". Jacqueline spoke in a very thick Torontonian accent.\n\nAn audience of around 30,000 people were on the street of Blackburn [which, on John's Earth, was London] and the street seemed very 1980s in appearance, right down to the [axle weight limit](https://www.sabre-roads.org.uk/wiki/images/1/19/Axle_weight_limit_sign_-_Coppermine_-_18481.jpg) sign which read \"10 T\" and had a black axle picture on a white background, with a red circle.\n\nThen they showed some footage of John, however, as it were, it was footage of him cursing the traffic for being slow on the M25 around London saying \"Goddamit!\" in his Warrington accent, which to some could sound Scouse or Cheshire.\n\nThe Earth, at least on Earth-49, wasn't a reality show that was scripted, but more of a serious documentary a la Panorama or Police Camera Action episode Crash Test Racers.\n\nOn this episode, John's name appeared as \n\n\|\|\n---\|---\n\|John Wilson\n\|Warrington Resident\n\nin OCR font.\n\nJohn found this liking of him strange and wasn't used to it, but enjoyed this alternate Earth.\n\nHowever, he also felt some guilt at being away from his Earth and knew no-one would believe him back home, after all, only about 20 people on his Earth even knew they were in a multiverse.\n\nThis was an alien planet, but also familiar in some ways.\n\nJohn didn't know what to make of it, a documentary on his life, played out like a serious show? He could not understand why he would be popular for this sort of thing.", "I hunched in the seat I'd been given, misrable and scared. All I'd wanted to do was take a walk, enjoy the night sky...But nothing was ever that simple. Next thing I know, I was being rocketed up into the sky through some sort of beam. And being herded about by... Aliens...although I had not expected aliens to resemble giant Mice...with hands. To be sure, they weren't human hands,they had seven fingers on each appendage, and rather long ears, but other than those things, they looked like mice.\n\n\"We'll be landing in five minutes,\" said a crew member. \"Just think how happy they'll all be when they see you.\"\n\nHe smiled at me, and I gulped. \"Not used to major travel much?\"\n\n\"Uh...nuh no. I mean, not uh, interplanetary travel. On my planet I've been all over, but Jeepers, I never imagined ....\"\n\nHe nodded, seeming to understand, while fastening my seat harness. \"Landing is gonna feel rough to you, but then again, you've never had to do a controlled reentry...It'll feel rough, but ole Trefugar knows what he's doing.\"\n\nThe mouse man looked at me. \"Look Mariah, we're not going to hurt you. You've been keyed up the whole trip, and I wish I could set your mind at ease. Let me just say you have a TON of fans on my planet.\"\n\nFans? And just how the hell did he...whatever his name is, know my name?\n\nI stayed quite, pretty sure I was to be the butt of a universal prank. Just my luck. As if I hadn't been pranked enough on Earth...\n\nThe reentry was bumpy to me, but seeing that the mice were as calm as could be, I stayed quiet.\n\nAs soon as we landed, the door was opened, and I (much to my consternation), was ushered out first.\n\n\"MA-RI-AH, MA-RI-AH, MA-RI-AH!!!\" greeted me, and I stood there in shock. Some of the mice folk had donned wigs that looked like my hair, and their were posters of me in many sets of hands. I slowly walked down the steps. A mouse at the bottom handed me a felt tipped marker. \"They're prolly gonna want autographs.\"\n\nA young mouse wriggled free from her moms hand, and scurried up to me. In broken English, she said \"You famous. Big famous. Me like you cause you be like me. I have...\" she seemed to be searching for the word or words. \"I have you write on my....pas...no, poster plez?\"", "\"Pipe down now!\" Vice Emperor Galemgor requested, using one of his favorite Earthian phrases. His smile lingered a moment from the thrill of his reveal, but he covered his mouth with his hand and continued.\n\nHe stood in the center of the Central Stage, a place reserved for official galactic announcements and the occasional open mic night. Today it was the former. Tuesday it would be the latter.\n\nThe crowd before him swelled with excitement as well. They all pretended not to know what was going to happen, but the Universal Network had been positively alive with jubilation. Cheers and chants had begun a half hour ago, the food and merchandise vendors had set up the night before. Galemgor knew this had the potential to be a bash to end all bashes. He hadn't seen a fervor like this since Temulon 9 had exploded. \n\nThe best day of my life! He thought to himself. Til today.\n\n\"Now,\" he said, addressing the thousands in assembly. \"We have a very special guest today. I'll need you all to be on your best behavior, as you know how his people react to surprises.\" In response, a respectful quiet fell over the crowd, save for a single solitary 'boo' near the back.\n\n\"Oh shut up Webber!\" Galemgor chided. A feint 'sorry!' echoed from where the boo had emerged. The Vice Emperor straightened his back and smoothed the scales on the side of his head dramatically.\n\n\"I just want to give a brief shout out to our sponsor: BORSKOTOBOROBOS itchy foot and tail cream. Remember, if it's not burning, it's not BORSKOTOBOROBOS!\"\n\nHe cleared his throat. \n\n\"Now. We have a VERY special guest today on the Imperial Galactic Stage. He warmed our hearts and tickled our loganaktis glands--that's the funny bone for all of you with a skeletal system! Allllllllll the way from that tiny blue ball that we all know and love so well. The Lord of Laughs, the Duke of Puke, the man in the poster above your children's beds, allow me to introduce you to...\"\n\nHe paused for a bit of suspense and pressed the button of the remote in his hand.\n\n\"FELIX FERRIS!!!!!!!\"\n\nThe wall behind him sprang up and the crowd went absolutely bonkers. Even Webber was cheering. Light and sound poured out of the rapidly widening chasm. The Vice Emperor motioned to his visual effects engineer in the wings and he turned on the fog machine--on loan from earth.\n\nA figure emerged from the open wall and suddenly the whole place was an eruption. Galemgor wondered briefly how messy it would be afterwards since someone had reserved the Imperial Auditorium for a birthday party at 4:30. \n\nNot my problem! he chuckled to himself.\n\n\"FE! LIX! FE! LIX!\" The crowd chanted in Earthian style, breaking his name up into staccato syllables. Another figure emerged behind the human, leading him to the center of the stage as the fog cleared. Felix was suddenly visible, and the increased volume was shaking the reinforced windows of the auditorium.\n\nFelix was average height for a human--Galemgor assumed. His hair was light brown and his eyes were an interesting... brown as well. He was wearing his typical \"nighttime\" costume of short pants with a number on them, and a baggy shirt. His hair was bedraggled and he bore a hilariously confused look on his face. \n\nGalemgor knew he'd have been briefed briefly on his whereabouts, but for added genuine appeal and those signature Felix trademarked catchphrases, they wanted him as unawares as possible.\n\nA slim microphone shot up from the stage right in front of the Earthian, and he jumped back in surprise. The audience roared with laughter. Cautiously, he approached the microphone and leaned into it.\n\n\"Uh, hi.\" \n\nThe place went MENTAL. Galemgor crossed the stage and clapped a clawed hand on their guest's back. \n\n\"As you can see folks, he's just a bit out of sorts right now. Classic Felix, am I right?\" This was met with a wall of laughter.\n\nFelix turned to look at Galemgor and then back to the thousands of lucky audience members that had either purchased or stolen their tickets to this event. \n\n\"We've got to admit, we are probably all a little star struck that you're here with us today, Felix. We have never had a visitor of your caliber, ever.\" More cheers.\n\nFelix leaned forward again. \n\n\"Uh...thanks.\"\n\nMore laughter. Galemgor could see a man in the front row crying with the strength of the hilarity. Near the middle was a group of Velation girls screaming and holding signs professing their love for Felix.\n\nGalmegor turned to the now blinking wall screen behind them.\n\n\"Let's look at some highlights shall we?\" The audience cheered again, as it quieted down, a soft \"boo!\" emerged from the back again.\n\n\"If I have to tell you one more time Webber--er, uh, yes, ahem.\" He didn't want to seem rude in front of their guest. \n\n\"Please direct your attention to the Galactic Network Screen, Felix.\"\n\nA short clip played. Felix was a few years younger and was at a restaurant with a dark haired woman that the audience knew all-too-well was his ex-girlfriend Aubrey. This was a fan-favorite episode called \"Love\".\n\nFelix's expression changed from confusion to horror as he was witnessing something he'd probably never thought he'd view again in ULTRA 67K HD. \n\n\"I'm sorry, Felix, but I just don't want to be with you anymore.\" Aubrey began, her tone seemingly sad but also, the audience could tell, tinged with relief. Laughs began.\n\nThe Felix on the screen leaned forward. \n\n\"But why? Can't you give me a good reason? (Audience laughtrack) Is there something I can do better? (MORE audience laughing)\"\n\nThe real audience laughed along with the imbedded tracks and even Galemgor let out a chuckle.\n\n\"You just don't have your life together Felix. (laughs) I can't spend the rest of my life taking care of you and ALL of your emotional issues! (more loud laughs) You're a depressed mess and I have been trying but I just. cannot. take it. ANYMORE.\"\n\nAt this point the entire assembly was screaming with laughter and hoots. This was one of the funniest moments in television history. This scene had won over 600 awards at the Imperial Galactic Television Awards.\n\nThe Felix on screen started crying, and there was so much laughter in the audience that people were getting sick. The scene ended and the audience cheered as a new clip popped up. This one was one of the most dramatic scenes ever broadcast. \n\nThe audience went dead silent. Felix was standing in his bathroom, white cream on his face and a razor in his hand. Slowly, he dragged the razor across his cheek, clearing the line from his face. Gasps could be heard from all around, some folks were on the edge of their seats. Not only was this a ground breaking staple of television themes and tropes, but it was difficult to watch for the faint of heart.\n\nAs he cleared another line of cream from his face, the razor nicked his skin, and blood dribbled out from the wound. Many in the audience screamed, and another few passed out. Quickly, Felix grabbed tissue from the roll near his ejection throne and mopped up the blood issuing from his cut. The audience lost their minds.\n\nThe scene ended and all eyes were on the present Felix, standing frozen in place on the stage.\n\n\"Well, Felix,\" Galemgor began, \"do you have any words of wisdom for your billions of adoring fans?\"\n\nThere wasn't a sound to be heard in the whole of the place. Not even from Webber.\n\nFelix finally seemed to regain his composure and leaned forward.\n\n\"I'm terrified and I want to go home.\"\n\nERUPTION. This got the loudest laugh of the night. People began cheering and chanting again. Whistles were absolutely RAMPANT.\n\n\"Alright folks, that's enough for today. You'll have plenty more Felix moments because he's GOING ON TOUR!!!\" Galemgor raised his hands and the screen behind him ignited with features that the marketing department had spent days crafting.\n\n\"That's right, check the Network, because our boy Felix here is going to be traveling to YOUR neck of the woods very soon! He'll dine in the finest restaurants and talk to some of the best hosts in the biz! And he'll be taking YOUR questions, so head on over to the Imperial Galactic Network Page and check out the dates. Use the code 'VICE EMPEROR GALEMGOR IS NEAT' to get a small discount on tickets!\"\n\nFelix was quickly shuffled away from the stage and Galemgor basked in the glow of the enamored masses. He nodded to the stage handler and the man went back to give Felix more of an exhaustive update. He shuddered thinking about what they'd need Felix for. His true purpose in being whisked away to this place. But it couldn't be helped.\n\n\"Felix,\" Galemgor muttered, \"you're our only hope.\"" ]	3
	[WP] Last Christmas, you gave your heart to someone special. Due to a cosmic typo, you ended giving it someone spectral.	[ "The ghost flew into my room and hurled my still - beating heart at me. \"Is this some kind of sick joke?\" he accused. \"Did someone put you up to this? Was it Bill? It was Bill, wasn't it? Well, ha-ha, very funny. I'm absolutely dying with laughter.\" He stopped, shook his head, looking off to the side, and quietly said, \"Wait till I get my hands on Bill. I'm going to kill that bastard deader than he already is.\" And after that, he flew back through the wall and was gone.\n\nSeconds after he left, the door to my room opened and an old lady stuck her head in and placed a finger to her lips. She hissed, \"Shhhh! Keep it down! Some people are trying to get some sleep.\" Then she slammed the door shut.\n\nI dropped my head back on the pillows and closed my eyes. \"Merry Christmas.\"" ]	1
	[WP] As you get older you're more and more sure you are invisible to everyone but your parents	[ "I was a miracle, or so they told me. \n\nIt took my mother 6 miserable years to conceive a child. Looking up at her, I could see it on her face: wrinkles from the turmoil and despair of many, many miscarriages. My father carried the pain in his eyes: happiness that I was born, and suffering because of the children who were not. \n\nMy mother had little hope when she found out she was pregnant with me. I was her 7th, and she told my father that I was the last--whether I was born alive or not. \n\nAnd yet, 9 months later I came into the world a crying, healthy baby. Mother, fearing that something might happen to me, opted for a home birth. She tells me the story of holding me in her arms, knowing that I was her purpose in life, and that nothing would come to harm me. The picture on the mantle of her holding me in her arms was her daily reminder that she would keep me safe for as long as I lived. \n\nI can’t remember a time I ever left our home. Father says he once tried to take me to the store, but Mother came careening outside, grabbed his keys and threw them in the gutter. \n\n“It’s not safe,” she warned him. “How can you be so willing to risk his life? It took six years to get him into our lives, and he could be so easily taken away from us!”\n\n“Please, Margaret,” Father reasoned, “Joseph will be fine--”\n\n“He stays home, Robert” Mother replied, “where I know he will be safe.”\n\nI was five years old then. I hold onto that memory, the farthest I’ve ever travelled away from this house: the driveway outside. \n\nThe next year I was to start Kindergarten at the local elementary school, but Mother opted to keep me homeschooled. \n\n“It will be better than school,” she told me, although never really giving me an explanation as to why. \n\nIn the years that passed, I would stare out the window at the driveway. It became my escape: imagining myself running down the driveway, onto the sidewalk and ready to join the real world. I often wondered why my father tried to sneak me out that day to go to the grocery store, and why he hasn’t tried to since. I was told not to speak of that day, so I didn’t. \n\nInstead, I planned.\n\nI never met a living soul beyond my parents, but I saw plenty. Little girls and boys riding their bicycles down the street as laughter fills the air. I’ve seen the danger my mother seems so terrified of: a girl falls off her bike, cries out in pain, then gets back on her bike and rides home. The next day, she is out again as if nothing happened. I could never figure out what she was so afraid of. Maybe if I had, I would never have tried to leave. \n\nIt was my 17th birthday, and with Father at work and Mother in the kitchen making my birthday cake, I knew it was my chance. While the mixer was turned on, I carefully opened the front door and closed it behind me. \n\nA rush of air hit my cheeks as the sun blinded my eyes. Still hearing the mixer whir behind me, I ran quickly from the house before Mother could realize I was gone. I ran past the girl on her bike, nearly pushing her over--I yelled a quick “sorry!” behind me but she didn’t seem to pay me any mind. \n\nI could think of only one place to go: the grocery store. \n\nI closed my eyes as I tried to remember the route the computer told me to take. Mother and Father told me never to use the laptop, but they left it out one night before going to bed and I knew I wouldn’t have another chance. I memorized the directions to the grocery store: 0.8 miles, 15 minutes walking. Turn right on Central Avenue, continue for 0.5 miles, turn left onto Desmond Drive. Your destination will be on the right. \n\nAnd on the right it was. Body trembling, I walked up to the automatic doors and stepped inside. It wasn’t amazing--I’d seen plenty of grocery stores on the food channel Mother watched all the time--but I felt like an entirely new world was now open to me. So many people to talk to. What would I tell them? \n\nI spotted a young brown-haired woman picking through the avocados. I slowly walked towards her. \n\n“Ma’am?” I said timidly. She didn’t turn around, so I tried again to find my voice. “Ma’am?” I said a little louder. Still nothing. \n\nThis must be the “stranger, danger” thing Mother always warned me about. It was one of the Big Dangers in the world. Perhaps this woman worried about it as well. \n\n“I won’t harm you,” I promised. “I just want to talk.” \n\nThe woman turned, almost directly in front of me, and whizzed past to the tomatoes. \n\nShe’s just being rude, I thought to myself. Looking around, I found an older gentleman wearing a worker’s uniform. I just wanted somebody to talk to. It didn’t matter what we talked about, really. I figured this would be a good place to start. \n\nI walked up towards him, stood right in front of him and asked “excuse me sir, can you tell me where to find the cereal?” The man did not reply. “Hello?” I said, waving my hand in front of his face. Still, no reply. \n\nI began to panic. Why aren’t these people speaking to me? Did Mother know where I was going, and call them to warn them? \n\nI screamed, I begged, I yelled into the faces of anyone near me. “See me!” I pleaded. “Acknowledge me!” \n\nNo one reacted. People moved swiftly around me, as if I was not there. \n\nI collapsed onto the floor, put my head into my hands and cried. I might have sat there for hours, or minutes, but eventually I felt a gentle hand lift me up. Father. \n\n“Come with me, son,” he whispered, and guided me out of the store. \n\nSitting in the car, I felt different. Like a part of me was gone. Father didn’t say a single word on that car ride home--probably saving the speech for Mother. She was always better at that. \n\nWe pulled into the driveway, got out of the car and walked into the house. Mother sat on the couch, a tissue in one hand and that picture of me as a baby in the other. When she saw me, she burst into tears and ran to hug Father. \n\n“It’s already happening, isn’t it,” she mumbled into his chest. \n\n“Yes, Margaret, I’m afraid it is,” he whispered into her hair. \n\nMother pulled away from him, looking away from both of us. “I can’t do it,” she told him. Father nodded and turned to me. \n\n“Joseph,” he started, his face hardend, “you were born 17 years ago today. Your mother treasures that picture of you, holding you in her arms. It’s the only time she ever got to hold one of her children.” \n\n“I’ve heard the story, Father,” I replied with fear in my stomach. “Why are you telling me this now?” \n\n“Joseph, you were born 17 years ago. You also died 17 years ago.” \n\nThe moment he uttered the words, I felt the tug again. Something was pulling me away from them. It was as if the words themselves were taking away pieces of me. \n\nI looked around the house, looking for any sign that he was lying to me. There must be proof of my existence after that day--and yet, the only proof that I’d ever lived was that picture in Mother’s hand. \n\nI was an allusion to what they might have had. That picture on the mantle is real--it’s the only real thing about me. It’s a reminder of what should have been. How long could this have lasted before I realized that I wasn’t real? \n\nI turned to Father. “What now?” I asked him, fearing I already knew the answer. \n\n“We say goodbye,” he whispers tearfully. \n\nI felt myself being pulled away from them. Mother and Father now being forced to face the reality that I was never real in the first place. \n\nAnd there’s only room in this world for one reality. \n\nTheirs. " ]	1
	[WP] You are a retired supervillain. You have a nice job, a loving family, and a pretty nice life. Your only problem? Your best friend - the superhero who can't let go of his/her glory days.	[ "“Still hell of a game though, huh?” Frank asked as he cracked another beer and turned off the tv. \n\n“Yeah, it was. Maybe we’ll do better next Sunday” I replied, “I better get goin’ though, Ellen is gonna be pissed if I’m over here too late again.”\n\n“Sounds good, I’ve got to get to bed early tonight anyway, its going to be a busy day tomorrow.” Frank took a few more sips of beer as I grabbed my jacket. “Oh, which reminds me, I might need your help with some work stuff this week.” \n\n“Work stuff? I mean sure, I’ll help anyway I can, but what do the police need with me?” \n\n“Oh nothing major, I’m just looking into some cold case stuff, back when Brainstorm was around.” \n\n\"Brainstorm? I thought he was caught or killed off by the Super League”\n\n“Yeah that’s what a lot of people think, but he’s still out there. I’m trying to piece together a few small crimes that went unsolved just before Brainstorm made his first appearance. I might be able to make some connections. You’ll help me out right?”\n\n“Are you talking about the break in that happened at Cyberstream? That had to be 25 years ago right? I was still an intern at that point, I don’t know if I’ll be much use.”\n\n“I know,” Frank said “With your position now though and your help I won’t have to go through the trouble of getting a subpoena. You see I’m not exactly doing this in an official capacity.”\n\n“I understand. But if Brainstorm is still out there, isn’t going after him a little dangerous? Shouldn’t you leave this to the Super League?” Frank smiled at me, set his beer down and grabbed his cane. He stood up from his old beaten couch and slowly walked over to a small shelf that held a few pictures and golf trophies. Frank grabbed a picture taken during a camping trip we took with our families a few years ago and stared at it for a moment. \n\n“You’re absolutely right. How long have we known each other 11, maybe 12 years now?” Frank asked.\n\n“Sounds about right yeah.” \n\n“Well there’s something I haven’t exactly been honest with you, or really anyone for that matter, but I trust you Victor, and I have to show you something.” I knew what he was going to show me, I worked out who he was over a decade ago. 20 years ago though, I would have killed, quite literally, for this moment; to unmask the leader of the Super League and see him this vulnerable. Times certainly have changed. However, I still have to act surprised. I won’t lie and say I haven’t rehearsed this moment a few times in my head. \n\nFrank, reached under the shelf and pressed some recessed button. Almost immediately the wood paneling behind the shelf started to rotate. With a hiss a mannequin wearing The Human Tanks suit slid out of the newly opened alcove. “I am The Human Tank” exclaimed Frank. \n\n“Holy shit Frank.” I stated after a moment of silence and my mouth hanging open slightly. I genuinely was surprised at seeing the suit. It looked exactly like I remembered it after our last encounter, dirt and all. There was even still a rip in it where one of my Brainbots nearly severed his left leg, which was not an easy feat considering the toughness of his skin. “I never would have even guessed in a million years that you, of all people, are the leader of the Super League!” \n\n“Former leader.” Frank said as he tapped his leg with his cane. “I’m not much of superhero these days. Either way though, you’ll give me a hand this week, right?” \n\n“Yeah, you bet, I’ll do what I must.”\n\nEDIT: A few small changes to sentence structure and phrasing. Any constructive criticism would be great, this is my first attempt at creative writing in years. \n" ]	1
	[WP]Certain game consoles have been modified to grant players abilities based on the games they play. You wake up realizing that you are one of the lucky ones to receive one. However, you find yourself being hunted by a shadow organization.	[ "\"Weird dream that was..'\n\nIt was a beautiful sunday. James was now fully awake, trying to remember his vivid dream. But was it a dream? It certainly felt realistic..\n\nHis thoughts were interrupted by the slamming of a door.\n\n\"But wait, Ann was gone for the weekend. She was going to spend her bachelorette party in Vegas?\" Adrenaline, rushing through his veins. His brain working at an alarming rate.\n\nJames hears a new sound. Footsteps. coming closer towards him. In a state of panic, he reaches for the Smith & Wesson he keeps in the drawer.\n\nOne final sound. James his heart is pounding in his chest. The doorhandle just started moving. Someone was definitely on the other side of that green, bedroom door.\n\n\"WHO IS THERE?\"\n\nJames gets out of bed, and points his gun to the door.\n\n\"I WILL SHOOT! Leave NOW!\"\n\nThe door swings open, and a person is standing there. James can't even see a face, since the robber is wearing a red and black robe. His face covered due to a hoodie.\n\nThey both stand their for 10 seconds, James completely terrified and the robber looking stern and determined to the 20 year old man, who is holding a gun in his underwear.\n\nThe robber takes off the hoodie, and James is surprised to see a woman in her mid twenties. He sees a freckle on her cheek, at the exact same pace wher-\n\n\"Ann?!\"\n\n\"Hello James. I'm sorry it had to go down this way. It shouldn't have happened. It's random really, and an experiment that went wrong.\"\n\nJames can only listen to the words his former lover is providing. He starts lowering the gun, slowly but steadily.\n\n\"Ann.. What is happening?\"\n\n\"You know how you always play Skyrim in the evening, after you come home from your duties as a police officer? Bethesda is able to implement a new technology in the pixels your screen projects.\nIt is basically a drug for your brains.\" She adds, noticing the confusement on the face of her soon-to-be husband. She continues:\n\nMankind only uses 10% of their brains, and Bethesda has been experimenting with certain games as to tilt the evolution of mankind to a higher level.\"\n\nJames starts to get back to his senses and asks: \n\n\"So why me? And why are you wearing a Dark Brotherhood Robe?\"\n\nAnn looks at James. She suddenly is clearly looking for the right words, and she is dodging his glance.\n\n\"They said you will be able to become immortal. Shout people apart. Teleport miles away within a couple of seconds, turn people to ice, and set them ablaze. Using only your voice!\"\n\nJames is looking at Ann. He starts to laugh hysterically.\n\n\"Haha! You really had me there Ann. Well played. Your practical joke is really well rehearsed!\"\n\nAnn still looks at her soon to be husband. She is looking for words, yet she can not find them. James is still busy ranting about compliments, how she did a wonderful job and really commits to her joke.\n\nJames his rant goes on:\"...As if I could send you flying just by shouting: \"FUS-RO-DAH\"\n\nAs soon as the final word leaves his lips, Ann is swept from her feet, as if an invisible wrecking ball suddenly whacked her away.\n\nShe hits the bathroom wall behind her, and James can hear every bone in her body being shattered by the impact.\n\nWithout hesitating he closes the door. \"This can not be true. This is a dream..\" He takes his clothes and gets dressed. He inhales deeply, his hand reaching for the door. He steps over Ann her body, and goes downstairs.\n\nClueless, he walks outside and says out loud:\n\n\"Skyrim.. That simply can not be true.\"\n\nHe takes one more deep breath. Then he yells:\n\n\"WULD-NAH-KEST!\"\n\nHis body is lifted from the ground, as he is suddenly a mile away from his house. As if a whirldwind sprint took him there.\n\nAdrenaline is pumping through his blood. He thinks about the conversation he and Ann had. She was talking about \"they\".. Could there be others who know of his newly acquired power?\n\nA male voice from across the street disturbs his summary: \"Hey! You there! are you.. a Skyrim Intaker? So I am not the only one after all.. Follow me. We need to get out of here, NOW. They probably are tracking you as we speak!\"\n\nThe man reaches for James his wrist. \"You have to trust me! Now or never!\"\n\nJames feels an unexplainable vibe with the man. As if his charisma levels are beyond explanation. He sticks out his hand and the man grabs his wrist, closes his eyes. James does the same. He sees a big map of Earth! Normally it is pure darkness at the other end of his eyelids. A marker runs through the map, going to Europe.\n\n\"Wait are we not gonna fast-travel or somethi-\"\n\nAnd they disappear out of thin air.." ]	1
	[WP] You are an assassin sent to eliminate a target. No matter what you try, the target accidentally avoids all of your attempts to kill them.	[ "Warning: Some NSFW language\n\nAs I stashed my bag in a ceiling panel, I wondered why my client chose me for such a bullshit mission. For God's sake, I was the best assassin around, and I was certainly not cheap. Why was I stuck going after some chubby, low-level politician? Seemed like a waste of money, but I wasn't going to argue. Just an easy paycheck.\n\nI hated the dress I was in. I mean, I hated anything that restricted my mobility, but this was ridiculous. It didn't even have pockets. I walked into the gala, hiding my disdain for the trophy wives surrounding me. Ugh. The sooner I was out of here, the better.\n\nI located my target quickly. Of COURSE he was wearing a red suit, because why wouldn't he? I was so above this. I walked behind him quietly and dropped the powder in his drink. Delayed reaction. In three days, he would start choking. Ten minutes after that, he would be dead and I could get my money. Easy.\n\nI watched him as he raised the glass to his lips. Just one sip...Annnd he was telling a joke. Nobody even laughed. \"C'mon...\" I muttered, \"drink the damn thing.\"\n\nAn attractive woman in a low-cut dress sauntered over to him. And he set the drink down. Are you kidding me? This was ridiculous. Ok, she walked away. Rolling her eyes. Perfect. He picked up the drink. Yes!\n\nOh...ok. And...he was following her. But with the drink! Just. Take. A. Sip.\n\nHe tripped.\n\nGODDAMMIT! The drink splashed on the red carpet. Okay. It was time to take a more direct approach.\n\nI went back across the street and grabbed my bag. I hated using the sniper rifle when I could use poison. This was so much more risky, but desperate times (and idiotic targets) called for desperate measures.\n\nI measured up my shot. I was NOT going to take more than one. That was my rule. More than one shot halved my chances of getting away. Mr. Red Suit Clumsy Feet was talking to the woman again. She was not having it. He was tapping his toes to the music and waving his arms, probably bragging about something. It didnt matter though, his core was remaining stationary. I took a breath and fired.\n\nI heard the sound of screams and glass shattering. I stood up and peered at the scene.\n\nUNBE-FUCKING-LIEVABLE! The target was on the floor alright, but he was in the middle of a pathetic rendition of the worm. How?! Why!? Why was this idiot so hard to kill?!\n\nOkay, so he literally dodged my bullet. Wonderful. Okay, this was personal now. I was going to kill this fucker with my own bare hands.\n\nI headed back to the party, two sharp knives hidden in my boots. Luckily, the target was still there. He was too useless for anyone to believe the shots were an assassination attempt. I walked over to Mr. Red Suit Clumsy-Ass Bullet Dodger and started flirting. It was the worst. I focused on the image of his lifeless body slumping over in a pool of blood, the stacks of crisp bills that would follow. My smile became more genuine.\n\nHe followed me to my hotel room. Mine! Completely unguarded! How had I not killed this bozo yet? Anyways, I locked the door. I turned around and reached for my knives. And there he was. Stark naked. Disgusting.\n\n\"Ok, I am literally going to stab you before this goes any farther,\" I threatened, brandishing my blades.\n\nHe grinned suggestively. \"Um, actually, I think I'm the one that's going to do the stabbing.\"\n\nI suppressed a gag and rushed at him. And I shit you not, this imbecile ran out to the balcony and his momentum CARRIED HIM OVER THE EDGE OF THE RAILING.\n\nWell, at least it was done. I peeked over the edge to see his crumpled, broken body.\n\nAnd he was moving. This fucker was moving.\n\nI give up.\n" ]	1
	[WP] Heaven is just an exclusive club for God's favorites. Having no desire to torture the innocent, the Devil has a dedicated section of hell for the people who don't really deserve to be there, but didn't make it into heaven because "they weren't on the list."	[ "\"Welcome to your demise!\" hissed Satan, his forked tongue slithering between his fanged teeth. His hollow eye sockets spewed forth flames and the scent of sulfur bellowed from his throat as he spoke. His face was little more than blood soaked leather pulled taught across his skull. He had no lips, his hide stopping before his teeth. In place of his nose were spurs of bone, his cartilage having melted away. His ears were only two holes in the sides of his head, slightly under the ribbed goat horns protruding from his scalp. \n\n\"YOUR ETERNAL SUFFERING- wait a minute...\"\n\nThe ghastly visage was replaced by a thin man in a pinstripe suit. He had all the features of a normal looking man, eyes, nose, and ears. His large goat horns had been replaced with inch long arrowhead barbs that shot out of his forehead. His bright red skin matched his silk tie and handkerchief. His blood red eyes looked back and forth from a small parchment he was reading to the unlucky soul cowering before him. He scratched his thin goatee and stroked his needle thin mustache.\n\n\"Oh. Oh I see. Alright, I'm really sorry about that. No, no its ok, I won't hurt you. Small misunderstanding.\"\n\nThe poor confused soul before him stopped cowering and tentatively stood up.\n\n\"Yes, I just misread your chart. Sorry about that. Let me just run over a few quick things...\"\n\nSatan grabbed a pair of half-moon spectacles from thin air and placed them on the tip of his nose. He held his thumb a foot from his mouth and flicked his fork thumb across it to moisten the tip. He began to flip through a chart that he had also conjured, carelessly skipping dozens of pages at a time. He threw the chart and spectacles behind him. Before either had hit the ground they vanished completely.\n\nSatan wrapped his arm around the lost soul and began to walk with him. \"Well friend, good news bad news time. Bad news is you didn't go to heaven. Good news is hell isn't so bad. I'm not saying that in a sarcastic way either, I genuinely think it isn't so bad. God is just, rather, selective with who he lets into heaven. Well, not so much selective as incredibly rigorous. Which isn't to say you weren't good enough but....alright full disclosure God is kind of a dick. Better to just rip that band-aid off now. You lived a fine and good life, but somewhere along the line you did something that God didn't like. Probably was something stupid. Ever run over a squirrel? God really likes squirrels. He's an odd guy. But I mean you read the bible. You know what shouldn't be considered in the same tier of sinning? Sloth and rage. Yea, the guy sitting on his ass eating chips is definitely as bad as the guy beating someone to death. But nooooooo both are deadly sins. You know what screams insecurity? Saying people can't be proud. Good one God, tell everyone they have to go sing songs about how great you are at least once every seven days, but Him forbid they be proud of themselves. Ugh. It's like being raised by an omniscient Joan Crawford. Seriously, you try actually living with him. You know what I got kicked out for? I bet he told everyone I tried to kill him. That is so him. No, I said maybe let's add a splash of color to heaven. Everything white and gold like some kind of Persian bath house. 'Let's add a little red', I said, great idea. Next thing I know he's giving me a divine eviction and sending me to twiddle my thumbs in the worlds shittiest spa. You can swear down here by the way. So yea, I get all the rejects. Your file says you didn't do anything wrong. Let's see why you got sent here.....da da dahhhh......mmmm......oh, you're gay? That is so projection. He surrounds himself with either ripped, half naked Adonises or androgynous blonds in togas, but everyone who's gay gets sent here. He created a naked guy first, remember that. His first plan was to have a naked man run around in a garden all day. Watching a naked guy frolic was his definition of paradise. The thought of giving the guy a woman didn't even cross his mind. Really, he's already the creative type, why doesn't he just come out of the holiest of holy closets. I'm sorry I prattle on, but were almost there. I made half of hell kind of like a cool chill zone for everyone who is good but didn't make it all the way up. It's kind of like a university common room meets apartment complex? Charon's in there he'll show you around. He may be a little drunk so just slap him if he's passed out. Also, it's hell so, I mean, do whatever. We have prostitutes, infinite death matches and some pretty good blow. Just don't be a dick to anyone and you'll get along fine. Sorry to jet, but I've got another batch coming in.\"\n\nSatan deposited the stunned soul at the door and began his fearsome metamorphosis back into a harbinger of horror. He began to walk back the way they had come. Satan turned once to give the new arrival a thumbs up and to wink his burning eye socket. " ]	1
	[WP] Your blissful sleep at the end of a particularly stressful and sleepless week is interrupted by a phone ring. You pick it up, and hear the following words- "Hey cousin! It's your cousin! Let's go bowling!"	[ "\"I'm sleeping man, I'm tired. Let's go tomorrow. Wait, who is this?\"\n\n\"This is your cousin Balki from Mykos.\"\n\n\"Oh. Well I mean, wait, what? who?\"\n\n\"Balki Bartokomous, from Mykos.\"\n\n\"I think you've got the wrong number.\"\n\n\"No Larry, you're my cousin. Bowing!\"\n\n\nWell he knows my name, so I decided that I'd figure out who the hell this is when we go bowling. I's fuckin tired.\n\n\"K well i mean I would but I'm tired af. Let's go tomorrow mate.\"\n\n\"Alright cousin!\" click" ]	1
	[WP] Try to summarize the plot of a book/movie/series that you know little about.	[ "So there’s this chick who moves into some town called fork or some weird shit like that. She meets this ultra brooding dude and they fall into love, which to them means sneaking into her room and watching her sleep at weird hours. Turns out the dude seems like he has superpowers, but is actually a vampire. Some other vampire that’s like the saber tooth to the first guy’s wolverine comes into town and isn’t a fan of interracial relationships, so he gets to murdering. They fight and good guy vamp wins. Next it turns out that the chick’s neighborhood friend is a furry, in the sense that he can turn into a wolf but it’s not being a werewolf it’s some Native American shaman shit. He decides to mack on vampire guy’s girl, it becomes a big deal, there’s more vampires that hate interracial relationships. Eventually the vampire guy goes streaking in the Vatican as a method of committing suicide, but instead he is just really sparkly and his love interest intervenes. At some point vampire guy knocks up the girl and after a big war over it (they really don’t like humans and vampires mixing) the werewolf decides it wouldn’t be creepy to fall in love with their baby child. The end I think." ]	1
	[WP] Everyone is born with a small piece of paper showing the day that they will die. As an orphan, you have no idea what was on yours.	[ "Everyone had that piece of paper in their life, they all said. It'd tell you the day you died, not how, or why, just when. Except I never got that note. I'm an orphan, parents long gone. It was only 3 when they disappeared. I dunno why, maybe they say their time was coming up, maybe they say I'd die before them, who really knows? All I know is when they left, my relatives ransacked the house. They took everything they could, caring nothing for me. \n\nI don't really know what happened to it. Maybe my parents took it, maybe my relatives took it. I know I'm better off though not really knowing. I want to live life to its fullest, and knowing when I'll die, it would stop that. I want to get married and have kids. If I knew when I'd die I wouldn't do it, but not knowing, why not enjoy life?" ]	1
	[WP] Your PC takes a picture everytime someone logs in. You randomly check your folder and find out that since your wife died 2 months ago, she logged in everyday.	[ "The computer had sat in the corner of my wife's side of the room since she had passed two months ago, staring at me as I tried to move on, my heart beating in monotony. Stupid car accidents. Fate was a fucking joke. She dies, a shining light on the world. Yet I'm still here, and all I've got are some burns. And what's the point of a self driving car if you're still gonna crash while driving it? \n\nI smile fondly at my own bitterness. She loved technology. Science excited her beyond words. She was never more happy than when she was experiencing the virtual world. It's this that finally makes me go over to the monitor and click the power button after what seems like an eternity of blank staring into the void of the screen, not even registering my own reflection.\n\nWindows starts up and I type in my wife's password: \"aydenoctaviaisthegoat\" I remember the joke she would make nearly every time she logged in as I wait for the home screen to appear. \"How ba-a-a-a-d do you want me to change this?\" The memories make me chuckle, she was the type of girl to make puns at every turn. \"It's fine, kid,\" I'd say like routine, and we both bust into a fit of laughter.\n\nI spend some time on social media, responding to condolences that I hadn't found the need to once Camry's ashes had been spread. I scroll through r/writingprompts on Reddit for a while too, then get ready to log off, the motivation to be social in my dear wife's memory fading away quickly. I bring the cursor down to the windows icon in the corner of the screen, about to power the system off, when I notice a notification asking me to review the sign in logs. Something compels me to click it. \n\nThe file folder opens in list form, and at first I only see myself, a tiny picture at the end of the file description, dated for today. But I scroll, and a chill burns up my spine, freezing the air in my throat, my heart missing several beats. \n\nMy wife, Cam. She's logged in everyday since the accident. I stand up quickly, horrified, throwing the mouse away from me as if it was poisonous, and stumble backwards, tripping over the chair and onto the floor. At least... I should feel the floor. A warmth circles around me and tears spill out of the corners of my eyes. \"Cam...\"\n\nI turn and my wife, a translucent wisp of her former self, smiles down at me, tear streaks painting rivers down her cheeks. \n\nMoving out of her grasp, I glance back at the screen, then at the spirit I missed so dearly. I reach out to her, trying to get closer, but my hand falls through her skin. She shakes her head, eyes hard and empty. None of the joy I'd seen in her in life was here in death. It jars me. \n\n\"What's wrong?\" I ask, searching for an answer.\n\nShe smiles then, a little too wide. Unsettling. I watch her skin become cracked and burnt, her nails splinter and bleed, her face twist into a grimace of glee. Terrified, I stand there as she leans forward, her dry breath ghosting over my cheek and her nails digging rivets into my shoulder as she whispers in my ear.\n\n\"It was supposed to be you.\"\n\n" ]	1
	[WP] Zeus wakes up from a millennia-long nap to find out Greek Mythology has unjustly slandered his name.	[ "A roaring gust of wind headed East swept past Rome. Its citizens, oblivious to any malevolent implication, carried on with their lives, unaware that their lord god had returned with a vengeance. Meteorologists scratched their heads, with no earthly clue as to how the weather in the region could have changed from a beautiful sunny day to a sudden storm on the peninsula. Some joked that Neptune had returned to give humanity its final reckoning, but most took the joke at face value and simply prepared for the coming storm.\n\n\"We have now hit a category four hurricane on the Italian peninsula,\" BBC News reported, \"and it looks to be growing by the... Jesus. We have news it has been upgraded to a Category Five hurricane. To those of you in Italy, we advise you leave as quickly as humanly possible. And now, onto Prince William.\"\n\nMost Italians did not take this seriously. After all, storms were not new to Italy, and most felt they could easily handle it. Preachers of the old ways knew better though. So called charlatans and hacks began their preparations, sacrificing every manner of farm animal to the long dead god, desperately praying for his divine mercy.\n\n\"Breaking news, the Colosseum has collapsed from the strength of wind hitting Rome. And now, in an unprecedented move, meteorologists have decided to call Hurricane Zachary a category six hurricane, a ranking we have never seen before. This isn't just the storm of the century, its the storm of the millennia, maybe even the greatest storm in history.\"\n\nAnd the greatest storm it was. Villages were leveled to the ground, bodies flung into the ocean with immense brutality, and oddly enough, survivors reported many people, especially bishops, were struck by orange lightning as they flew through the air. But the ones who remained untouched were the decrepit and old, the senile crones still following their false gods of old. The storm dissipated, leaving Italy a ruin, every city irreparable, every citizen in shock, and every trace of hope shattered.\n\n\"After the chaos engulfing Italy, the international frenzy has slowly died down and things have slowly returned to normal. We feel that after three months, we can declare the very serious threat of Zachary to be over, as it has slowed down in its path across the Pacific Ocean to the United States.\"" ]	1
	[WP] An Outlaw and a Lawman, both heavily wounded, have their final conversation.	[ "The lawman watched his blaster tumble away uselessly down into the darkness of the service shaft.\n\n\"You're too old,\" the outlaw called from several rungs above. Her pale face stared down at him. \"Give it up.\" \n\n\"Not . . . until . . . you're brought in,\" gasped the man. He'd tracked her this far, he wouldn't let her get away again.\n\nThe outlaw's eyes narrowed and she shook her head. Muttering, she turned her attention to the remaining rungs. Her left arm hung useless, tucked against her side. With her good arm, she pulled herself up, step by step.\n\nAn alarm began to blare, and the shaft suddenly lit up with flashing red lights.\n\nThe outlaw reached the platform facing the control console and dragged herself up, one leg after the other. Once she was on the metal grating, she lay there panting.\n\nIgnoring the throbbing pain in his side, the lawman began to climb. His shirt, heavy with wet blood, clung to him.\n\nAbove him, one of the service droids came rolling along the narrow walkway that connected the platform to the solid floor ringing the deep shaft. It approached the outlaw, who remained lying on her back.\n\n\"You're very close to the edge,\" it warned her in a slightly irritated robotic voice. \"You should step away.\"\n\nThe blaring alarm continued its wailing song. Red lights flashed.\n\nRung by rung, the lawman climbed.\n\nThe outlaw was stirring now, trying to gain her footing.\n\n\"You killed those men,\" the lawman called to her. He had to cling to his current rung on the side of the core tower to do so. It cost him energy simply to yell. \"They were Federation men.\"\n\n\"They'd have killed me,\" the outlaw retorted. \"You know that.\" She winced as she tried to bear weight with the injured arm. She held it close to her body, and forced herself to her feet through sheer will. As an afterthought, she said, \"But you won't.\"\n\n\"You're wrong,\" he said, pulling himself up another rung higher. \"I will . . . if I have to.\"\n\n\"You'll have to.\"\n\nThe droid was retreating back along the walkway, giving the outlaw room to walk, which she was attempting to do, stumbling her way towards the solid floor and the doorway that led out of the vast room.\n\nAs it rolled, the droid continued its robotic chattering. \"The station's power core has become unstable. For your own safety, you should evacuate immediately.\"\n\nThe alarm wailed on.\n\nReaching the metal grating, the lawman heaved himself onto the platform and lay there as the outlaw had. How easy it would be, he thought, to stay here and not ever get up.\n\n\"You'll die if you stay there,\" the outlaw called to him.\n\nThe alarm and flashing lights agreed.\n\n\"I'm dying anyway,\" he said, managing to rise to his knees.\n\nShe paused in the doorway looking back out at him struggling there beside the control console, out on the narrow platform.\n\nThe droid was on the walkway again, berating the lawman. \"You're very close to the edge.\"\n\nA sudden tremor shook the floor under all of them.\n\nThe outlaw staggered and fell to one knee.\n\nThe droid's head motored this way and that as it surveyed the room. \"You should evacuate immediately,\" it informed them. The blaring alarm carried on.\n\nHead spinning about, the droid seemed to make up its mechanical mind — it left the walkway for solid floor, rolled past the outlaw who was climbing back to her feet, and slipped through the doorway into the hall beyond and was gone.\n\n\"I don't think . . . either of us are getting out of here,\" said the lawman. He was still on hands and knees. The blaster wound no longer hurt; instead his entire right side had numbed to a dull heaviness.\n\n\"I am,\" the outlaw said defiantly, but she stayed where she was, staring at the lawman.\n\nThe lawman smiled, breathing a pained chuckle. He remained on hands and knees on the central platform.\n\nThe outlaw stared at the lawman, then glanced over her shoulder to the doorway and escape.\n\nThe floor shook again.\n\nCursing herself, the outlaw hurried back across the narrow walkway to the platform. Leaning down, she struggled with her one good arm to pull the lawman to his feet.\n\nGroaning, he rose with her assistance, though she was forced to bear most of his weight.\n\n\"Come on,\" she said through clenched teeth, leading them both back across the walkway to solid floor.\n\n\"You're still . . . under . . . arrest,\" the lawman gasped.\n\n\"I know,\" she snapped, straining.\n\nShe led them through the doorway and out into the wide corridor. Looking left and right, she tried to remember the station's layout. The direction of the nearest hangar. Lights flashed red out here, too, and the alarm continued its incessant song.\n\nSettling on a direction, she began limping down the corridor to the right, half-dragging the old lawman along.\n\nAfter a turn into a new hallway, she was rewarded with a sign indicating the station's hangar bay was directly ahead and two levels up. The curved lift stood open and empty. She increased her pace, leading them towards it.\n\nShe pulled the lawman inside and set him against the wall. Turning to face the control panel, she half expected the lift to be non-functional with the alarm going. However, a minute later, the door was sliding shut. The lift began rising.\n\nShe turned and found that the lawman had sunk to the carpeted floor.\n\n\"We're almost there,\" she told him. \"Stand up.\"\n\nHe shook his head, letting out a long, noisy breath. Both his shirt and jacket were soaked red on the right side.\n\n\"Stand up,\" she said. She shook him roughly. \"Stand up.\"\n\n\"I'm done,\" he told her.\n\nThe door to the lift opened. The alarm still screamed, but now behind her she could also hear fresh sounds: shouted voices, running footsteps. The station shook again, more violent than before.\n\n\"Go,\" the lawman told her.\n\n\"No,\" she cried, shaking her head. There were tears in her eyes.\n\n\"It's okay.\"\n\n\"No.\" She bit her lower lip as tears ran across her cheeks. \"Stand up.\"\n\n\"Do . . . as I . . . say,\" he told her. He let out a wet sigh. His eyes closed.\n\n\"No!\" She shook him.\n\nHis eyes opened. \"Go. Now,\" he rasped. \"L- . . . lo- . . . love you.\"\n\nEyes wide, he was gone.\n\nShe shook him harder. \"No!\" she growled. \"Don't you die.\" She was sobbing now. \"You have to catch me. Come on,\" she cried. \"Catch me!\" Leaning forward, she placed her forehead against his. \"Daddy,\" she whispered.\n\nBeneath her, the floor trembled.\n\nThe alarm wailed.\n\n\"Hey!\" A voice behind her in the corridor. \"The whole station's going to blow! We've got another ship here ready to go.\" A pause. \"Hey! It's now or never! You coming?\"\n\nFiercely she wiped at the tears on her face. Then, holding her injured arm against her body, the outlaw stood. The man in the corridor was wearing a technician's grey uniform. He glanced at the body behind her only briefly. His eyes kept wanting to look over his shoulder where he knew the waiting ship was preparing to leave.\n\nLimping forward, the outlaw nodded.\n\n\"I'm coming.\" She didn't look back. \"Let's go.\"\n\nRelieved, the man rushed ahead leading her towards the hangar bay.\n\nThe alarm wailed on.", "Winter, 1870. In the Sierra Nevadas, somewhere north of Virginia City.\n\nGunfire erupted in the snowy mountains, shattering the calm stillness of winter. Startled birds in the treetops overlooking the valley took flight, and the fluttering of their wings knocked a shower of snow from the branches. Somewhere, a raven cawed. As if in answer to the bird's caw, down in the valley the loud bellowing voice of a man yelled back. \n\n\"God damn it! God damn it!\" he shouted, \"Stop firin', damn you! Stop firin'! I said I surrender, God damn you!\" \n\nThere was one last shot and then silence. Then the same voice shouted out again. \"God damn it, I'm hit...\" and then, in sudden desperation and anguish, \"God damn it, I'm hit... real bad.\" \n\nThere was more silence and then another voice answered. \"Alright then... come on out.\" \n\nAfter another pause, the first voice replied, \"Are you gonna shoot me?\" \n\n\"No,\" said the second voice at last, \"I won't shoot you.\" Then after a longer pause, added, \"As long as you don't got a weapon.\" \n\n\"Alright,\" the first voice replied. Then after another long pause, \"I'm commin' out. I'm unarmed. I'm surrenderin'. Don't you fuckin' shoot me.\" \n\n\"I won't,\" the second voice answered. \n\nSuddenly loud kicking sounds came from within the cabin, followed by another pause. Then, \"I can't get out through the front door,\" the first voice said. \"The door's jammed. Too much snow. I'm gonna go round the back. On your right side.\" More silence. Then he called out again, \"Alright?\"\n\n\"Alright,\" the second voice finally answered. \n\n\"Alright, I'm commin,\" the first voice said. After a another minute and the sound of some wood splintering, the figure of a man in full winter dress emerged from the right side of the cabin and waded laboriously through the thigh deep snow toward the clump of trees where the lawman was. He tried to hold his gloved hands in the air, but the effort of wading through the snow required him to use all his limbs. He seemed to be badly limping and at last he simply lay there on one side, breathing heavily. There was a thin trail of blood mixed in with the snow behind him. \n\nAs he tried to pick himself up, the lawman emerged from behind the tree where he had been taking cover and looked down at him, though still using the tree to support himself. He pointed his gun directly at the outlaw a dozen paces away. \n\n\"I surrender,\" the outlaw said once more, looking up at him.\n\n\"To hell with you,\" the lawman said through gritted teeth, and pulled the trigger. \n\nBut the gun didn't go off. He pulled the trigger again and again. Every round was empty. The lawman let out a long sigh and his breath turned into mist. Ahead of him, the outlaw started chuckling but his chuckling turned into coughing. \n\n\"Ah, hell,\" the lawman said, and he slumped down to sit with his back against the tree. \n\n\"What the hell did you do that for?\" the outlaw asked. \"Can't you see I'm done for?\" \n\nThe lawman groaned and held his side. He lay the empty pistol beside him and began unbuttoning his heavy winter coat. \n\n\"Did I get you too?\" the outlaw asked, still lying in the snow. \n\nThe lawman opened his jacket and felt inside. When he withdrew his hand it was slick with blood. He groaned again in rage and frustration.\n\n\"Is it real bad?\" the outlaw asked. \n\nThe lawman closed his eyes, contorting his face in anguish and looked away. Then he said, \"Yeah... I reckon it's real bad.\" When he looked back his eyes were red. \n\nThe outlaw somehow felt a strange feeling toward the man who had chased him out here to his death. \"Well don't take it too hard, you got me real good too,\" he said. \"I'm a gonner as sure as anything.\" \n\nThe lawman was looking the other way again and silently crying. The outlaw, still lying in the snow a dozen paces away, rolled over and took something out of his coat. It was a large brown cigar and he lit it with a match and took a long puff. The lawman looked back at him with his red eyes. \n\n\"Want a smoke?\" the outlaw offered. \"I only got the one cigar but you're welcome to share.\" \n\nThe lawman didn't answer but the outlaw crawled toward him and sat beside him with his own back resting against the tree, wincing in pain as he did so. He took another puff and without exchanging anymore words, handed the cigar to the lawman. They both sat next to each other like that for what seemed like a long while, backs against the tree, wordlessly trading puffs from the cigar. \n\nAt last the lawman said, \"It's a damn good cigar. Generous of you.\" \n\n\"Don't you even mention it,\" the outlaw replied. \n\nEventually the lawman's hand started to shake so badly that he had trouble holding the cigar, and when he took a puff he started coughing, and there was blood in his cough. The outlaw also grew very pale and a large spot of red blood deeply stained the snow beneath where he sat. He took the blood-stained cigar from the lawman's lips. \n\nA group of ravens, the ones who had been startled, perched on the branches of a pine tree, looking down at the two men in the valley with their keen, observant eyes. Waiting. In the morning both of them were dead." ]	2
I made this challenge sound deliberately bland because I want to see what everyone can come up with to make it incredible.	[WP] Rube Goldberg Story: The challenge is to create a story with a series of seemingly unrelated events that resolves a characters conflict.	[ "Since no one has posted, I'll post something to inspire you guys. \n\n#UnExpected Witness\n\n \"-unfortunately the family was found dead in what police say was one of the most gruesome scenes ever in the town's history.\" -The scene cuts to Commissioner Patelli wearing his typical brown trench coat and sporting a salt and pepper mustache and low cut hair. He glares into the camera with hazel eyes that twinkled with nealry unbridled rage. He breathes his next words out rather than speak them, giving a hot and threatening touch to them- \"We are closing in on this monster. We want you to know, because we know you're watching, we are closer than you think. Don't sleep, don't blink. Because if you do, I will be there, and you'll be finished.\" -scene cuts back to front yard shot of the massacred families home- \"A warning from Commissioner Patelli that says they have new leads to this murderer now coined as the 'Red Threes Killer'. Every third of his victims are horiffically murdered and put on display in such a way as to resemble an act from a poem, story or other work of art. Unofficial claims are telling us this unfortunate family of victims were put on display to resemble the biblical 'Last Supper'. After speaking with the commissioner we've compiled a list of tips of how you can keep yourself and your loved ones safe-\"\n\nMiguel turned the volume down enough to be able to phase it out. It was terrible to hear that Red Three was still out there but right now all Miguel could do was curse himself for not being able to find his cellphone. He rummaged through his couch cushions and came up with a trove of lint and rusty pennies but no cell. He sighed, it'll mean he'll have to walk to the Red Dragon restaurant down the street to get his broccoli and beef. Miguel made his way through the debris field which was now his apartment. Not that there was much left and that fact made him smile. He had been planning this move for months, get somewhere quiet and roomy for his girlfriend to move in with him in. Then, he'd pop the question. Yes, THE question. He already bought the ring. Had to sell his car to do it, but he loved the girl. His only task was to keep this all a secret from her until he had finished the move. It was supposed to be a surprise. He'd lead Anna to his new place and show her in person. She be so happy, her cheeks would light up red like a anime character and then he'd tease her for it. She'd laugh and say how she was only half Japanese and pinch his cheeks. And then bam, he'd pull the ring from his pocket and drop to a knee. \n\n Miguel pulled on his coat and picked up his mandatory bag of garbage and tossed it down the shoot tube sticking out of his window, dropping two stories and into the small dumpster he rented to get rid of his stuff fast. He hoped Anna wasnt calling him right now. He'd have to get on his laptop and let her know his situation later. He grabbed his wallet and keys and headed out. \n\n \"YO MIGUEL! YOU COMING OVER BRO? I GOT MAD BROWNIES!\" Miguel chuckled and shook his head no. \"ITS THAT GOOD KIND OF BROWNIES ESSE! AND LADIES! CYNTHIA STILL SAYS YOURE A CUTIE MAN!\" Peter yelled back over the copious amounts of music and chatter coming from behind him. \"NO THANKS!\" Why was it that everyone thought it was ok to spout terrible Spanish to him just because he was Latino was still a mystery to him. Peter was a frat boy that did nothing but party all day and all night. That whole 'Needing quiet' thing was mainly because of him. His dad was a lawyer and had bought the townhouse next to Miguel's apartment. Didn't take long for everyone to hate Peter. Club sized crowds of college students gathered outside of his house and the music blared loudly well past midnight. The morning was just a side walk of red plastic cups and the occasional mystery panties. He had to be failing all his classes Miguel thought. It was hard enough for him to finish his Criminal Justice degree while having time to sleep three years back, and Miguel was a devoted student. Peter only seemed devoted to alcohol and women. \n\n Miguel rushed out of there, in no desire to socialize with Peter and made his way down the quiet side streets he took to avoid the hustle of the main Street. He was in his own reverie when he saw a discarded dresser next to a cozy looking house. He had to check it out. Miguel still worked a crappy retail job and couldn't afford the luxuries of a real life. But this nicely polished cherry wood dresser with silver knobs was beautiful. He'd really be able to show off the new place with that in the bedroom. Miguel hopped up the few stone steps onto the cement walkway to inspect the dresser. He pushed on it to test the weight. It was pretty sturdy. Maybe a two man job. He'd have to come back later for it. He opened a few draws, one fell out and clattered loudly on the ground. It was broke. Nothing Miguel couldn't fix. He placed it back and hoped he didn't wake anyone inside. He looked up into the window that had the lights on. The kitchen he realized as he looked inside. He was just making sure no one had been watching him and if someone was he'd signal that he wanted to buy the dresser. There was no one in there however. So Miguel, being slightly nosey continued to marvel at the nice home for a bit, he imagined all that he may one day get for his own place. It took a while before he realized he was a young Latino male looking into the window of a likely elderly white couple's home. He saw movement and fear took him. He turned away quickly and left. Please God don't call the cops. He pulled his coat close and made his way quickly down the street. \n\n Raymond cracked open the front door, street light pooling into the darkness he stood in. Just enough to see. Just enough to let in the realization he had made a mistake. Didn't pull the blinds. Getting sloppy. He watched the boy leave. Thin, not necessarily atheletic like he was. Easy. He was scared. He saw something. Saw HIM. Saw Raymond. Maybe... Even more. FUCK! The door creaked back shut. They're closing in. Can't sleep. Can't blink. He stared at the dismembered remains of the elderly couple that once lived in the home. Placed carefully on top of a black trash bag to not get blood everywhere. No time to do the usual. This was his second hit this week alone. He was getting feverent, desperate and needy for the kill after that threat by the commissioner. Fuck it. They'd catch him soon anyway. Might as well go out with a bang. Raymond washed his hands slowly and deliberately in the sink, bright red draining. The kid was walking, it would be easy to catch up in his car. It'll all be easy. Might as well go out on a THREE." ]	1
	[WP] The mystical elite of the world long held dominion over the magically impotent. Sorcerers treated the rest like slaves. One day however, technology finally caught up just enough for the "slaves" to fight back. Recount your tales as a soldier in the Great War of Lightning.	[ "-transcript begin- \nIt was 0200 when the flare burst into the sky and the dropship doors opened. To say it was a flare would actually be an understatement. It was a shimmering form of a red dragon, flying into the air, cast by some priest of whatever bullshit he chose to throw at us. We were positioned above Tãrmond, where the latest riot had been undertaken, and our squad was waiting for the first sign of violence. That was our sign. \n\nThe door slid downward and the light began to spin red as we piled out of the ship. Taking care not to get sucked into the rear thruster I jumped out of the ship and let CHRYSSALID (our pack A.I) take care of my PRT(PERSONAL RETROGRADE THRUSTER.) and get me down to the ground safely. I had more important things to concern myself with, like scanning the area and picking out targets. I set on my visor and pointed my arm-turret towards the ground. The jerky, automated movements of the barrel slightly moved my arm, but not enough to offset its aim, and a few apprentices crumbled toward the ground where they belonged. By then, however, one of the crystal ball gazers back at wizard HQ had picked us up.\n\nI assume that they transferred the message through an on-site telepathic. I don't really know how magic works. What did matter is at that moment a massive swarm of locusts began to rush up into the sky. Locusts by themselves were small game, we didn't really have any harvests for them to eat. The trouble lay in what they came from. Wizards normally use those things for aiming, and, right when I thought that, Yairl, falling next to me, exploded in a shower of caterpillars and blood. Knowing that I was next, I instructed CHRYSSALID to begin standard evasive maneuvers.\n\nThe only problem with standard evasive maneuvers is that they don't exist. The only solution to avoiding magical rays of invisible magic is to fling around the sky like hell had just been unleashed right on top of your back, and in a way it had. Flying around at 77 mph in a clightning suit designed for 50, well that was a fun experience. The EPRT didn't last for that long, though and soon I was set to my default drift to Earth, although widely off course.\n\nI landed in the outskirts of Tãrmond. An old mining city that recently had been repurposed into a labor camp. Well, I suppose it had always been a labor camp, just now it's mining for \"Crystals\" instead of copper. I checked my map for positions of my squadmates, and the first thing that I saw was an \"ally in distress\" blinking just a few meters away from me. I set it as my course and began to slink in that direction.\n\nHe was in a stealth suit. Unlucky bastard must have tried to sneak by a Scryer. It's hard to tell which wizard is which till you get close enough for them to transmute your liver into a gold coin, but you can usually tell their ranks by their robe color.\n\nI saw a couple of apprentices chatting in the corner and a meagi standing by the captive. Looking over, my HUD stated his name was Tomchal. I sent him a message of my plan, but I got back a quick \"No can do.\" When I looked over, I saw that both of his legs had been removed, and by the looks of it, one arm too. This put a significant dent in my plan. I had to move fast, or he might get his head removed, too. \n\nI snuck to the opposite side of the alleyway, and I stopped to listen in to what the two apprentices were saying. \n\"Can you belive that Tãrmond used to be a techhi mining town?\" \n\"I know, right didn't it mine, like, 'copper' or some other bullshit like that?\" \n\"Think so. Good thing it's mining crystals now. At least those do something.\" \nListening to the conversation, I saw a hand motion come from the Maegi. I didn't know what that was, but it could have been a spell. I pulled out my KTMDs (KILLOTRON MICRO DELIVERY system) and filled the magical asshats body with little death robots faster than he could blink. The two apprentices, obviously having recently exhausted their magical abilities on capturing the now late Tomchal (He died of blood loss right after I shot the maegi) raised their M1 Garand's and attempted to pierce my Clightning Suit with their WWII era tech. I quickly gunned both of them down, but not before one of them managed to turn my kidneys into... well I can't really tell you right now, but the suit says it's sure as hell not kidneys. \n\nWaiting for the suit to administer morphine, I curled up in the alley and popped up the map again to I was the last one who was still in operating condition. Everybody else was either dead, captured, or worse, and we could not allow the wizards to discover how to use our tech. That's why I'm recording this. I know that historians will want the tape, whether we lose or not. The soldier that massacred an entire wizard supply line, a captain, and nearly 50 fellow revolting techies. But it has to be done. I already had CHRYSSALID shut off the data safety, so all that's required is for me to pull the trigger. They don't call my suit a \"CLIGHTNING\" (CHAIN LIGHTNING) for nothing. Anyway, here goes. \n-Signed off, LGNT Omral Kelly- \n-transcript end-", "\"Ready... FIRE.\" I should at the firing squad. The Sorcerers fell slack on the ropes as the smoke started to clear. Men came with a wooden cart to pick up the bodies as well as tie new sorcerers to the poles. The execution hoods were taken off the sorcerers to reveal their white hair.\n\n\nLike myself and the firing squad they had yellow lightning bolt badges on their chest, the mark of the revolution and the new government, but unlike us didn't have the black shirts and boots that marked us as Revolutionary guards, nor the circular hat that marked me as deputy of the department of justice.\n\n\nMore white heads were brought out, tied to the poles, and executed, and so on and so on until the bell rang. Whatever Sorcerers we had not killed yet had just received a stay of execution until around 5 o'clock.\n\n\nI walked out of the courtyard and into the prison itself. Most of the people here were dissenters and sympathizers. Humans like us who had thrown their lot in with the Sorcerers. They were scum but because they were human they would receive a trial and would be allowed a burial when found guilty.\n\n\nWe eventually passed through the cells and into the mess hall. We gathered our food, sat down and began eating. The meal was about half done when one of the members of my squad spoke up. \"So Salar, You are old guard correct?\"\n\n\n\"That is right. I fought in the Revolution and the Great War of Lightning.\"\n\n\n\"What was it like?\"\n\n\n\"Before the revolution? Horrible, people vanished off the street and to be made zombie slaves, every human suffered horrific poverty, and it seemed nothing could ever break the tyranny of the sorcerer.\"\n\n\n\"What changed?\"\n\n\n\"Well the department of information would say that god spoke to Ejaz who inspired us to rise up which is of course true,\" I added hastily \"but a few things were discovered.\"\n\n\n\"Guns?\"\n\n\n\"Oh no. Guns had been used in revolts in the past. No, it was actually something the Sorcerers found out. Electricity.\"\n\n\nHe looked up at the lights and raised an eyebrow. \"They discovered electricity?\"\n\n\n\"Yes actually. The story goes that alchemists were trying to find a way to replace torches. But what they didn't realize was that being around harnessed electricity for a long period of time weakened their magic.\"\n\n\nBy now all the other members of the squad were listening to me. \"So that's what made the revolution easy?\"\n\n\n\"Oh it wasn't easy\" I said with a shake of my head. \"Electricity wasn't everywhere so they could still use Magic out in the open.\"\n\n\n\"So they will keep getting weaker?\"\n\n\n\"Pretty much.\" \n\n\n\"What was fighting them like when they were stronger?\" Another one of my men asked.\n\n\n\"Oh it could be brutal.\" I said as I hit the table and smiled. \"This one time the guards and I had cornered a sorcerer so he summoned a demon who turned a lot of the street to lava...\"", "In a better world, I wouldn't be here, shivering in the autumn mud outside Petrograd. I would be home, in Moscow, with my wife and children. I am no soldier. I am a foreman. For the first forty-two years of my life, all I knew of war was what my brother wrote me of his time with the Cossack's. But I do not live in that better world. I live in this one, and in this world, the People need fighters.\n\nThree years ago, House Sapientia Magna and House Infinitae Misericordiae went to war. Truthfully, I know not why these two houses went to war, for I know they never told us, the People, the truth of their lofty goals and ambitions. I just know that they went to war. And over time, food became harder and harder to find. My paycheck grew less and less useful. Over the course of three years, they threw millions of my countrymen into a meat grinder of pointless battle, harvested hundreds of thousands of souls to fuel their powers and mend the Awakened who fell in battle, and regarded our complainants with contempt. Several of my workers, the people I regard as family, were sent into battles that they never returned from. I had to hide my wife and children from the roving gangs from House Sapientia Magna looking for souls to harvest. \n\nAfter years of living like that, what could I be expected to do? I knew nothing of battle, of war, or of serious fighting. But if I did nothing, then there would be nothing left to fight for.\n\nThe Communists approached me six months ago, and asked me to work for them in secret. To build for them weapons, and lie to the Overboss about my material and production levels.\n\nIn a better world, I would have reported them and gone back to life as a foreman. But I do not live in that better world. I live in the world where I built great war machines for the Communists. Twenty-eight massive landships. Massive diesel monsters, bigger than any domestic landship my factory ever built. These machines were to be built to exacting standards, standards I struggled to meet with the rations and the Overboss. But I met them. From my existing stock of parts and hulls, I built the Chainbreakers, twenty-eight dreadnought class landships. I built Narodnyy Molot, my personal war-machine. The Communists wanted people to pilot their war-machines, and I was the first volunteer. All of my workers signed up with me, each man climbing into one of the machines we built and agreeing to fight alongside me with the Communists.\n\nA month ago, we received the signal. The Workers Spring was now. It was time to rise up, to break the chains, and march on Petrograd. The Chainbreakers would be the Red steel wall that the Loyalists and Awakened threw themselves against. A month ago, I kissed my wife and children good-bye, and sent them to live with my brother on his farm in the hinterland, where they might be safe. A month ago, I climbed into the Narodnyy Molot, fueled my machine up, and led my brothers to fight through the Moscow Home Guard, and onward towards Petrograd.\n\nIt has not been an easy march, and the battles we fought have taught me much in the ways of fighting. But now, my brothers and I stand on the outskirts of Petrograd, ready to push through the trenchwork and bunkers. The Revolution is far from over, and I fear the amount of bloodshed and death I will have to cause on my way forward. \n\nI do not live in the better world I imagined for myself. But with sacrifice and luck and the help of my brothers and sister in the Revolution, I may yet make this world into the better one I envisioned. If not for me, then for my sons and daughters. \n", "\"Have they never told you?\" I said, to myself since no one was listening to me, this were the words of my late masters \"not to bite the hand that feeds you?\"\n\nFor how long have lived by those words, I wonder, was it five years? ten maybe. never in my life I would have thought I would take up arms against the people who took care of me. I was a slave, but despite that, I wasn't treated badly by my masters, in fact, it was the complete opposite, I might be wrong or I might be exaggerating but I think they thought of me as family.\n\nI heard cases of course, where people without magic were treated as trash, or as simple guinea pigs for new spells and forbidden magic. Blood, hair, eyeballs, skin and sexual organs were very precious for Sorcerers, they allowed them to performs magic that was near to miracles.\n\nBut I never experienced any of that, I never experienced true horror, not until the day of the slave's revolution thanks to developments in technology, 'lightning rods' or simply 'guns' as some of them called it. They appeared one day in the house suddenly, three of them, in fact, wielding lighting rods and some kind of special armor. the shot both my master and mistress, their heads exploding and filling the surrounding with blood.\n\nLydia, the daughter of master was hiding alongside with me, I locked her in one of the chests in the basement, she was small so she fit right in there.\n\nBut, no matter how much I told the other slaves that there was no one left to kill, they still searched the house, every croony, every floor. I should have stopped them, I should have forced them out since talking didn't work.\n\nBut I was scared, I saw the corpses of my masters and I got scared of dying.\n\nEventually, they found Lydia and dragged her out of her hiding spot, she was waiting for them because the moment they found her she exploded in particles of light that ricochet on every surface. one of them hit me in the leg completely piercing it.\n\nBut the other slaves were fine, their armor suffered damage but they were still standing, Lydia didn't have the strength to fight back, that explosion was her only hope, they grabbed her small body and snapped her neck. her crooked form on the ground as the other slaves approached me and forced me to join them in the incoming war was a scene that will stay with me forever.\n\nThat's the day I became a true slave. some might call me selfish, some might call me stupid. but the fact is that none of that mattered anymore, I didn't care what other people think of the coward me.\n\nBecause, in this forsaken place, I'm about to die, as a nameless soldier. everyone else is dead, whatever defense we have is useless against is not as effective anymore. is been a long time since I heard shooting and screaming of my 'comrades', so I'm sure everything is over, all I had to is wait in this forgotten house\n\nI heard footsteps outside, and then the front door being opened, someone is inside. They reached the room where I was, wielding a long staff with twin blades at the top. It was one person, alone, were always extremely confident, I concluded that it was a she due to her long red hair.\n\nShe approached the body of the man on the bed, she had her staff at the ready, but that still didn't prepare her for when I attacked her from behind.\n\nFirst the knee, she grunted and almost fell to the ground, I hit her face and neck and kept hitting her a few more times, trying to put her down. Close quarter combat was something that was implanted into me when my training started, I didn't like it but I was grateful for it now.\n\nwho knew close quarter combat could work against a Sorcerer? she raised her staff and I dodged, pretty easily, this woman wasn't used to this, I could see the desperation on her face. She should have called out for help but didn't. Was it pride? or was she stupid?\n\nA light was starting to form at the tip of the blade, an electricity spell. I pulled out my knife, I had long since lost my armor and now only had my military uniform, and I was pretty sure it wasn't electricity proof. I had to keep close to her or she'll zap me with that.\n\nI grabbed her neck from behind and pulled a knife to her throat, \"undo the sp-\"\n\nShe zaps both of us, the electricity ran through my body and I fall to the ground smoke coming out of my clothes, fuck I could she was trembling and almost fell to the ground a few time, she used the edge of the bed to keep herself from falling completely.\n\n\"That, was scary\" she laughed grabbing her sore neck, I couldn't move, not completely anyway, \"they told me not to kill only to capture...so I guess I got lucky huh?\" she approached me with uneven footsteps and grabbed my head.\n\nWell, she tried to because I bit her hand before she could do it, I didn't let go. I could move my body again, so I grabbed the collar of her neck to pull her down and kick her in the chin using my knee. it didn't break her neck like I intended, but the amount of pain made the staff fall to the ground, assuring my victory. I pulled her to the side and let out a long breath. it wasn't over.\n\nI turned her around to face her - and also destroyed the staff, I couldn't use its full potential so might as well get rid of it - blood was pouring from her mouth and her broken finger.\n\n\"Stop, please I-\"\n\n\"it's alright, the way you are now, you are no threat\" I said, interrupting, it wasn't completely true, I wasn't 100% sure that she could use magic without her staff, but right now I had no choice but to believe \"I have a proposal for you, one that will be beneficial for the two of us\"\n\n\"What?\" she said, \"yo- you think I'm going to listen to some slave!?\" \n\njust a moment ago she was about to beg for her life, are all Sorcerers like this? always having mood swings? I didn't listen to her bickering and continued \"I know some of you Sorcerers have hiding spots to perform forbidden magic\"\n\n\"What?\"\n\n\"You're going to lead me to one of those places,\" I said \"I want out of this war\"\n\n***\n\nsome critiques would really be appreciated :) - [r/Onni21](https://www.reddit.com/r/Onni21/)" ]	4
	[WP] Once every year, eBay sellers don masks and take part in the Splurge, where they break into people's homes and force them to settle at a price for one of their items. This year, stores are getting involved.	[ "It started as a small thing at first, but as the years went by it started becoming a full blown crisis. The economy took a small hit as people began saving their money rather than spending it, in fear of not having the funds when the Ebay sellers came breaking down their doors. A lot of businesses suffered, some were forced to close down as the bigger monopolies took over, the ones that sold absolute necessities.\n\nThe corporations came together and made a plan to fight against the Splurge. With eBay sellers all across the country that could strike anywhere, there were only so many ways to defeat them. So they decided to fight fire with fire.\n\nOn the eve of the Splurge, stores everywhere sent out fleets of delivery trucks armed with products and newly-trained salesmen. Riots broke out on the street as employees in polo shirts and khakis fought back the internet-peddling scum in the Great Sales War. After thousands of casualties people fearfully shelled out thousands of dollars for things they didn't need: TVs, shoes, even toasters as they feared the corporations' wrath.\n\nNow, years later, the eBay sellers have retreated back to their online sales tactics. As a means to prevent the Splurge from ever happening again, corporations advertised sales for a specific day every year. Commercials took over television and drew people into their stores to protect their homes from being broken into. It proved a major success, and in honor of those lost in the Great Sales War, the date would forever be known as Black Friday." ]	1
	[WP]Hell isn't extremely hot, its exremely cold.	[ "This is my first time, so don't be too harsh, okay?\n\nThe last thing I remember was my family's forced grins trough their tears. \"See you on the other side\" my wife whispered into my ear while whimpering in sadness. I tried to smile, but couldn't. The nurse layed her hand on her shoulder. \"Are you ready?\" she asked with empathy and conpassion. She knows what it feels like. To loose a loved one. And having to decide to. My wife nodded, hesitating for a moment. She burst into tears followed by my other family members, but not my brother. He always was a tough guy. I loved him for that. The nurse walked up to the machine, the only thing that was keeping me alive, typed a password and gave a sign of readth. My wife nodded one more time and everything went blank. After what could have felt likean instant or an eternity, or anything in between, I started feeling a tingly feeling in my body. It was a welcome feeling after three years of being locked in a hospital unable to move, only waiting for the sweet, warm embrace of death. But it wasn't warm. It was cold. Colder than anything I had ever felt in my life. Like spikes of frozen pain, digging my flesh apart. I found myself in snow. Sharp, harsh, cold snow. I lifted myself and looked around. White as far as the eyes could see. Not knowing how to react, I started walking. Pushing my way through the snow and ignoring the feeling of unbearable pain. Thousands of thoughts and feelings flooding my head at once. Not being able to distinguish any of then through the howl of the frozen wind. Then, in the distance a black dot. Sitting in the middle of the pallid landscape. I rushed toward it, finally distinguishing the siluette. A man. Reading a book. With eyes sparking with colors I had never seen before. He noticed me and stood up from his chair. Brushing off the snow from his suit with his gloved hands. He greeted my with a handshake. \"What's your name?\" he asked with a serious but gentle voice. \"J-john\" I stuttered \"What about y-you? Who are you? And where are we?\" \"I'm Satan, John. And this, this is your own personal hell.\"" ]	1
	[WP] Kids are running around chasing each other, when suddenly, Billy touches Albert. "You're it!" Albert falls to the ground, horrifically twitching, his body stretching and contorting in ways the human body shouldn't. His skin grows pale, his hair whitens, his clothes morph in to a ragged outfit..	[ "Billy was on Albert's tail and gaining ground on him swiftly. The chase had gone on for a while and Billy was finally able to utilise his stamina to tap the back of Albert's neck \"You're it!\" the child jovially exclaimed as he runs off to join Daren and Suzi but stops when he hears a splitting crack flood the air and paralyse him. He watches the look of horror on Daren's face, Suzi sharing the confusion of Billy for a short period before her gaze follows that of Daren. Slowly Billy turns to look at his friend and gags as he witnesses the abomination that lay where his friend was supposed to be. Albert's bones were cracking in many places as his forearm split in half and bent back, his mess of fingers grasping at anything they could find. His voice comes in short bursts of broken, guttural noises that burned their ways into the children's impressional minds and planned to stay for as long as they lived though Barry figured they may not stay long. His chest had contorted its self into what appeared to be two separate parts that split of in partially different directions at a 90-degree angle to each other that met back at his neck. Above the neck, nothing improved. His skin was white as a sheet and matched the colour of his hair that framed his shattered face, concaved and extended in parts that dragged his features apart until human was the final word one could use to describe it. His clothes had been ripped by ribs and shards of other bones in many a place that added to the horrific look he had adopted. Billy gingerly took a step towards whatever it was now \"Albert?\" his voice was muffled by his fear and totally silenced as it slowly raised its head towards him... glaring. Albert was gone now. All that was left was it." ]	1

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