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[WP] A deity has deemed YOU the One who shall smite all evil and cleanse the lands of all villainy. Or maybe he meant that you were the One to cause all of that villainy and evil. That Deity was rather vague, and you're left wondering what he actually meant.
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"I was given so much power. All the tools I ever could have needed were bound and coiled into my DNA.\n\nI am immortal now. Thanks to Him, I can never die. Under any circumstances. He told me what needed to be done, but not where or with what. So, like the good employee I used to be at Arby's, when I wasn't clear on what I needed to do, I did everything that looked like it needed to be done.\n\nSo it's just me and Him now. Nothing else. I say literally a lot, but I literally mean literally nothing else.\n\nAnd He'll never let me live this down."
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[WP] A group of raiders during the apocalypse are having trouble attacking a town built inside of an IKEA.
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"\"We've 'ot splinters everywhere, Capt'n.\"\n\nGrangar snarled, flecks of yellow spittle flying from his lips into his ragged beard. He watched the battle raging below from his perch atop the hill. Heaves and hos carried to his grotesque metal throne from the throng of warriors bashing their skulls into Slottstaden's apparently impenetrable walls.\n\n\"I watched 'ese men tear castles asunder with 'eir bare hands!\" The captain shouted. \"We won't be routed by 'ese damn piecemeal bastards!\"\n\nThe lieutenant shook his head nervously, wild mane of hair and flops of sweat shaking about him. Ragged men, more bedraggled than usual, carried each other past the throne moaning in anguish. They begged for triage and death, receiving none.\n\nThe onslaught continued on below. Waves of raiders crashed into the mismatching wooden walls, throwing their shoulders and weapons and fists into the rampart. Their blows shattered the veneered facade, showering the phalanx in razor edged sawdust.\n\nWhen a wall looked ready to fall, it was detached from the fortifications and pushed onto the encroaching troops. Their wails pierced the heavens as the monolithic structures toppled into the plain, and were silenced as quickly as they had come. There was no delay in Slottstaden's reinforcing. The open segment of wall was immediately replaced with a new, immaculate structure of random veneer.\n\n\"It's the Trysils and Brimnes that our men just can't get through, Capt'n,\" the lieutenant said without averting his eyes from the horrors below. Blood pooled in the field before Slottstaden and the endless waves of raiders sloshed through it, uncaring and unaffected. Their bloodlust would not be quelled by the death of their own. \"But the god cursed Pax, Capt'n.\" The lieutenant spat, barely missing a downed body besides him. \"Every hand in Barbaria couldn't fall the thing.\"\n\nGrangar smiled grimly, thick black hairs obscuring his ruined teeth. He stood atop his and the slaves that drove the throne rose with him, heavy metal handles digging into the calloused grooves in their shoulders. He ripped the sword from his scabbard, its clean cry ringing out above the cacophony of war.\n\n\"Then, my boy, we need more hands.\" Grangar pointed the sword at the heart of Slottstaden, a plain, rectangular, blue and yellow structure with four illuminated characters from some long dead language. \"Release the Ravagers.\"\n\n\"Y-yes Capt'n,\" the lieutenant said, visibly shaking once more. \"But, the men, should we--\"\n\n\"If they die, they will die hero's deaths.\"\n\nThe lieutenant nodded and ran off behind the throne, his path clearly marked by the trail of foul sweat in the parched ground. Grangar did not take his eyes off the structure and the treasures he knew laid behind its walls.\n\nThe Ravagers were the most destructive force in the universe and would not bend to any man's will, not even one as vicious and cruel as Captain Grangar's. But that did not mean they could not be used. Somewhere off in the distance, the thud of a metal latch clicked open. A rusted and battered door creaked in regret as it unleashed its plague unto the land.\n\nMen screamed as the Ravagers approached, but knew their duty and continued their assault on the living wall, always shifting, always repelling. Battle cries were drowned in the Ravager's senseless babble. They crawled across the plain, a single, waddling mass of toddlers running over living and dead alike as they approached their target.\n\nThe Ravagers only knew destruction, Grangar thought as he watched the countless tiny hands tear apart Slottstaden's walls with unnatural ease. They were born to destroy, could only find pleasure in destruction.\n\nGaps in the rampart appeared. Reinforcing walls could not be installed quick enough. Malm and Hasselvika alike were disintegrated before they could be erected.\n\n\"Pax be damned,\" Grangar said to no one in particular as his men flooded the openings the Ravagers had breached. The smell lofted to him instantly, the undeniable aroma of their treasure. Grangar's mouth overflowed with saliva as he willed the slaves forward at full speed. They lumbered and lurched as Grangar deranged laugh swelled through the battlefield. The promises were true, the booty within his reach, the spherical globs of meat that the world thought lost would be his at last."
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[WP] You have an accident and now you are legally blind. However, the next day you wake up and realize that you can see people's emotions, each emotion being a different color
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"I liked to gamble. Always have, unfortunately I was good, and sometimes people are bad. And bad people can any situation worse. It was easy for bad guys with means to do this and I had been beaten before but they took something I can never give back. Three men beat the lights out of me and I never got that light back.\n\nI still gamble though Cards mostly. It seems the universe knew I was dealt a bad hand and changed the game for me. I can make out people by their aura. I don't know if that's legitimately what it is but I can sense it and the color of it tells me their inner workings. A brownish muddle of confusion, an orange of anxiety that can flow to a red anger or blue for a calm resolution to the problem. Poker was never about the cards or luck its about the guys holding them. Most games I'm glad I can't see them, the thing is even if I tell people I can't see the cards they still want to bet, and that's fine by me."
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[WP] You've reached the Final Battle to save the world from evil. Your teammates are all relying on you, as you've always been their ace in the hole. The problem is, your power comes from people doubting you...
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"The first time it happened was in grade school, Jimmy seemed so large to me at the time standing in front of me in his blue and orange striped shirt, brown cargo shorts and dirty white sneakers that crackled against the sandy turf of the playground. He was a mean spirited kid and the number one bully at my school. His chubby freckled face sneered at me challenging me to make good on my promise to “bury him”. He had bullied almost every kid at my school and even intimidated some of the faculty with insincere threats of reporting them for made up abuse. \n\nI had finally reached my last straw with him that day at lunch, after months of being his primary target for simply being the new kid, as he walked by and snatched an apple from my tray. I’ve never been afraid of much in my 10 brief years on this earth and to me at this time it seemed like the right thing to do, put an end to the bullying one way or another. I was confident in myself, and my peers were too as they were sick and tired of Jimmy constantly berating them or smacking the backs of their heads as he walked by.\n\n“You can do it!” cheers come from all around, Jimmy reels for a moment realizing the crowd is much bigger and against him. “What are you going to do?” he taunted me with his arms raised. At which point I realized that I had no plan except to confront him. Anger took over and I pulled back my fist with with all my might and thrust forward as the gaggle of students started to chant.\n\nNothing, weak, pathetic, futile. My fist struck the force of a kitten paw batting a feather. The blow glanced off his ample midsection and he smiled at me with his dirty broken teeth and grabbed the back of my head forcing me to the ground face first. He plopped on top of me and began to send strike after strike the the rear of my head. I couldn’t see anything but dirt and rock and was too feeble to shake him off of me.\n\nThe chant in the crowd died down as their chosen hero was handily losing the fight he was meant to win and set them free. At first they felt disbelief at what was transpiring in front of them then soon DOUBT began to swell. Doubt in my abilities and doubt about their own futures having to deal with Jimmy. As they began to look away and turn their heads down disappointed in the outcome something warm started to bubble up inside me.\n\nThe punches that Jimmy was deftly landing to the back of my head began to soften, began to lose their power. I felt strong, I could move and begin to wiggle my way loose. With a mighty push against the ground I managed to get free of the overweight man-child and stand up right. Jimmy, infuriated rushed me to tackle me to the ground and in a brief instant when we collided a power exploded knocking him back to the ground, no INTO the ground. He was out cold. The flash must have alerted the crowd of children because they turned around to see me standing as the victor above Jimmy as he was lying motionless. Cheers erupted and the bully was defeated and I was the hero.\n\nIt took a long time for me to understand what exactly happened that day. But now at 30 years old I understand where my power comes from and here standing in front of what could likely be the end of this world, and with the world watching I go to face it knowing that like that day in the 5th grade I am going to have to take some vicious blows before my true power comes to light, a power set free by the DOUBT of others. I can save this world from its doom with a broken battered body. I gladly do this for mankind and take up this task freely, of my own will. I can save these people, in the darkest hour they will turn away and doubt me, but that is when I am strongest. They will not see how I save them. Into the breach I go.\n"
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[WP] Take an object - any ordinary object close at hand - and describe it exquisite detail, as though it were an item of unparalleled value, beauty, worth.
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"The cylinder is round, with slightly tapered edges, curving gently toward the concave bottom and planar top. It glistens a ruby red, with muted silver undertones, and the elegant script delicately decorating two sides is difficult to miss. A relic of a bygone age, where men required liquid fuel to propel their bodies to greater conquests. The top is flat, but is graced with an ovular opening, into which is angled an oddly shaped but perfectly placed piece of silver, vaguely rectangular but with rounded edges. The elegant simplicity is astounding, for the incredible load which it can sustain. It takes an instant of tremendous stress for the canister to crumple, and the sound which it produces is nearly as painful to the ears as the agony felt by the heart and soul at the end of such a beautiful object.\n\nI am, of course, speaking of the end of a Dr. Pepper, 12 oz soda can."
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[WP] Writing your story with a dimension-hopping bad guy has gone horribly wrong: he's gotten a copy of the finished thing, and meta knowledge has made him nearly all powerful. It's up to you now to write yourself into the story and save the day by becoming the Hero of Legend: the Ultimate Mary Sue.
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"\"Well, isn't this it? How it all ends?\" He said to an empty space in the town square, people looking at him with pure confusion, changing their routes to walk as far away from him as they could. \"Come on! This is what you wanted isn't it?\" He screamed, pulling the gun from his holster and shooting it at a nearby building, blowing a chunk out of it. \n\n\"Not exactly,\" I responded, stepping out of a store, my feet dragging along like two blocks of lead. \n\n\"And why not? You wrote this, everything here is from your hand! Everything we are, everything I am, is nothing but pixels to you.\" He growled. \"Everything I have been through was for your amusement, my suffering was nothing! And would be for nothing!\" \n\n\"Because you were not meant to break out of the confines of this, whatever you did I didn't plan for it!\" I responded, trying to be truthful despite not fully understanding the truth of the matter myself. \n\n\"The lazy god who averted her eyes for too long,\" he scoffed, \"is now sad that she has to grace us with her presence.\" \n\n\"That isn't true!\" I shouted, clenching my fists tightly, so tight that I drew blood from my palm. \n\n\"It doesn't matter, I know your truth, I know how this universe ends, but I'm going to stop it! And then I'm going to take your universe as well,\" he smirked. \"I have everything, every idea, every revision, everything that has existed, or could ever exist. I have it all!\" \n\n\"I should have known, you always needed more depth,\" I sighed, looking up and fiddling in my pocket. \"You know I can't let that happen right?\" \n\n\"I'm counting on it,\" he replied, lifting his hand and revealing his gauntlet and clenching his fist. \n\n\"Armour On!\" Shouted a disembodied voice as the metal engulfed him, forming a tight shell, the red lines on his helmet forming a demonic pair of eyes. \n\n\"The only question I have,\" he continued as he stepped forward, his footsteps now heavy enough to crack the plaza beneath him. \"Is this the real you? Or just a hastily inserted fragment?\" \n\n\"Both, neither,\" I shrugged. \"At this point, I sort of stopped keeping track. I mean the author is dead,\" I chuckled, trying to quell my own anxiety, however before I could finish he dashed forward, launching a punch flat into my gut, sending me flying back into a wall. \n\n\"The author isn't dead, but she is about to die,\" he laughed dashing closer, before spinning around and firing at the armor suits that had appeared behind him, destroying them instantly. \"New heroes? What an old trick,\" he smirked. \n\n\"Your dialogue is terrible,\" I coughed, pulling myself out of the rubble, the throbbing in my chest making it clear that even the fourth wall couldn't protect me from him. \n\n\"It can get worse,\" he replied, spreading his hand and revealing four capsules. In one flowing movement he pressed each into his gauntlet as it started to glow. \n\n\"Lock in!\" Shouted the voice once more as new layers of metal started to snake over the guy, making his form even bulkier. \"Ultimate form!\" Shouted the voice as the armor solidified. \n\nHe lunged forward, steam ejecting from his fist as he took a swing right at my face. Suddenly his fist pounded into the wall, crushing the building in front of him. \n\n\"What? Where did you go!\" He shouted, as I brushed a strand of hair from my face and tapped him on the shoulder. \n\n\"Are you familiar with the allegory of the cave?\" I laughed, ducking another punch as he pulled himself from the wall and swung once more. \n\n\"Of course I am!\" He growled. \"But if you think you can talk me down, then you are mistaken, no buying time!\" He said twisting part of his gauntlet with a loud clunk, causing a burst of fire to spew from it. \n\n\"Well, that is good! In fact, that is great news!\" I giggled as I grabbed a pipe from the floor and ran towards him, swinging it wildly, each swing impacting his armor, denting it heavily. \n\n\"What is this!\" He shouted, trying to block the pipe, but finding himself missing it by millimeters every time. \n\n\"You're from space, this whole universe is \"might makes right\", you didn't know anything about philosophy until I just wrote it for you!\" I laughed, spinning and knocking him to the floor with a well-timed pipe shot. \n\n\"This can't be!\" He screamed, getting up off the floor. \"I have all of the scripts, everything! This doesn't happen! This can't happen.\" \n\n\"It couldn't happen in those stories!\" I smiled, growing in confidence. \"It seems that you've dragged us so far off script we are now in a new story. And when it comes to new stories, then I am in control.\" \n\n\"No, I will not let this happen!\" He screamed as he moved forward. \n\n\"Way too late for that,\" I laughed as I clapped my hands. \n\n\"Critical failure!\" Shouted the disembodied voice again as neon explosions rolled over the armor, destroying it totally, leaving him stood naked and in shock, his eyes wide. \n\n\"And if I did this right,\" I smiled, grabbing a soda can from the floor and throwing it into the air where it ricocheted off a passing seagull, causing it to hit the man square in the head, knocking him to the ground. \"Then this should make you forget these stupid world domination plans\". \n\nThe man lay on the floor, his eyes rolled up into his head as he blinked heavily. \"I, what?\" He mumbled as he looked up at me. \n\n\"Nothing nothing,\" I smiled as I waved my hand. \"You know, I think you've got a pretty interesting adventure coming up, something romantic.\" \n\n\"What do you mean?\" Who are you?\" He asked, trying to pick himself up off the cracked concrete. \n\n\"It doesn't matter,\" I replied, starting to walk away, feeling my body slowly melting as I did. \"I'm just going to make things right.\" "
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[WP] Everyone is the ruler of the world, except you.
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"\"I, King Maximillian Dukkakis Tudor Khan the 3rd, command you!\"\n\nSarah scurried forward with tablet in hand. She appeared the ultimate professional: hair severely pulled back, suit skirt, low heels, the barest touch of makeup. Even though it was a smart tablet she still touched her electronic pen briefly to her tongue before writing.\n\n\"Your Majesty, I await your word.\"\n\nThe King's face turned an unknown shade of purple. \"I am the most excellent, the exalted, the supreme. Show respect to your master!\"\n\n\"Very well, most excellent, exalted, and extreme.\" Sarah made a note in her tablet. \"What are your commands?\"\n\nMost excellent, exalted, and supreme Maximillian motioned Sarah to a long table festooned with food and drink. He pointed at a bottle and she poured a glass for him, and then for herself at his nod. Both ate a sacred biscuit. Then only he partook of the holy coconut of kings, forbidden to Sarah, the lowliest of lows.\n\nMaximillian smacked his lips in contentment. \"I wish for you to slay Emperor Dwayne Presley Thatcher of Savannah. Do so publicly and painfully and bring me his testicles as proof.\"\n\nSarah raised a single eyebrow and scribbled 'his testicles' in shorthand. \"Very well, your Most Enormity. I can schedule and attempt this on, let me see, Tuesday Septempber 9th. I cannot promise I will succeed, of course, but my knives are sufficiently sharp.\"\n\nThe King swept platters and silverware onto the floor. \"No, it must be done within the fortnight!\"\n\n\"I'm sorry, your Immensity, but between now and then I have seventeen galas, twelve grand balls, two assassinations, nine atheletic extravaganzas,\" she tapped her tablet, \"and a rescue rabbit adoption. I give the gravest of apologies.\"\n\n\"I will have you executed on the spot!\"\n\n\"Very well, Your Splendiferousness, but you will have to first fight the champions of Queen Zebronia of Portland, The Duke of Poughkeepsie, the Pope, the *Other* Pope, and Fred. According to my calculations you will fail ignominously by the time you reach Poughkeepsie. As your one, and only, advisor I recommend against this course of action.\"\n\nThe King howled, drew his sword, and touched it to Sarah's neck. She remained impassive, perhaps even smiled.\n\n\"Shall I put youd down for the 9th? I have appointments with the Woodstock Queens and The Upright Man of Nairobi in ten minutes, and I'm sure my schedule will fill up dramatically. You know how the Woodstock's can be.\""
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Reversion of the common trope where popular guy falls in love with girl
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[WP] Popular girl falls in love with nerdy guy, but he is not receptive to her advances
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"It was the beginning of senior year, and Annabelle was running out of options for boyfriends. She had tried going out with every popular guy in the school, and they had all turned out to be jerks and cheaters. She just wanted a nice guy who wouldn't get into bed with the first pretty girl who offered, was that too much to ask?\n\nSince hot jocks weren't working out, the obvious solution was to find a nerdy loner. Even if they wanted to cheat on her it's not like they'd have a whole lot of girls lining up to do it with. The problem is nerdy loners are hard to spot. Popular guys made themselves the center of attention, but loners like to hide. \n\nIt took weeks before she managed to identify one that was decent enough looking. His name was Arthur, and he wasn't model material but he also wasn't fat and ugly. He just didn't care enough about his appearance to qualify as hot. She could fix that.\n\nOnce she had a target all that was left was to make her approach. It shouldn't be too hard, she was gorgeous. Long red hair, deep green eyes, a body that was confused of a collage girl's almost daily. She was a dream come true for any lonely nerd. All she should have to do is say:\n\n\"Hi cutie, wanna go out with me?\"\n\n\"No\"\n\nOk, maybe it would be a little harder than that.\n\n\"I think you would if you looked up from that book to see who was asking.\"\n\n\"And I think I wouldn't. I guess we'll never know, because I'm not about to put this book down to check.\"\n\n\"Come on, you're really going to let that book get in the way of finding love?\"\n\n\"No, I'm not going to let some girl who thinks she's god's gift to boy kind get in the way of finishing this book. It's a really good book and I don't like you.\"\n\n\"Now why wouldn't you like me? You don't even know who I am.\"\n\n\"Because you're bugging me while I'm reading.\"\n\n\"All right, fine. I can see that book's important to you. I'll just ask again some time when you're done reading it.\"\n\nAnnabelle walked away, ready to strangle something. Who did he think he was turning *her* down? And he couldn't even be bothered to look at her while he did it!\n\nThis wasn't about love anymore, this was about pride. Her pride and the pride of women everywhere. She'd drag him out of his books kicking and screaming if she had to, but he'd be madly in love with her before the year was up.",
"''But...but that's not possible! How can you not be in love with me?!'' \n\nCody shrugged. ''I just like Carrie better.'' \n\n''But...why?! She likes boys stuff!''\n\n''I like boys stuff. Seems like a good match to me.'' \n\n''But she sabotaged the [cookie selling competition](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/comments/7yvygj/wp_a_school_holds_a_cookie_selling_competition/dujvnwm/?context=0)!'' Vanessa exclaimed, exasperated. ''And, as I strongly suspect, the charity run as well! She's mean!''\n\nCody shrugged again. ''I prefer ''spirited''. Besides, you haven't exactly been nice to her as well.'' \n\n''But I'm prettier than her!''\n\n''Beauty is in the eyes of the beholder. Or something like that. Anyway, I think she's better looking. More interesting too. Frankly, you seem kind of boring to me.'' \n\n''It's not fair!''\n\n''Life isn't fair. Get used to it, Vanessa.'' \n\nHe turned around. ''I have to go. Riding my bike with Carrie. Or, ''boring boys stuff'', as you would say.'' He took a few strides towards his bike.\n\n''Bye, Vanessa!''",
"Arnold gritted his teeth upon stumbling across *her* again. Eleanor Smith, Miss popular, perhaps the most beautiful girl in the entire campus judging by the reactions of his fellow male species who were blessed with the muscle but not the wit. And even some of his intellectual brethren were falling for her charms! Called him a lucky man for having her of all people to have an interest in him.\n\n\nHe scoffed as he walked pass her, only managing a slight nod to acknowledge her presence as she went back to talking to her group of friends, no doubt to hatch some schemes to make him notice her. Her previous attempts had not only ruined his chances to make it big in the Chess team the country was planning to send to compete on the international scale, BUT also ruined his Dungeons and Dragons game night, how she managed to persuade the Dungeon Master to be a part of D&D night was beyond him, but her attempts to try out nerdy stuff as she puts it was seriously disrupting his daily routine.\n\n\n\nHe knew this madness had to stop soon, with the upcoming Math test he had to be ready. As he stopped at his locker, he began thinking of a way to make her interest in him diminish. Perhaps he should just come clean and say he finds her annoying? He shook his head, his father had always taught him to be polite to women. So that one is a no go.\n\n\n\n\nMaybe he should make himself repulsive to look at. He grinned as he picked up his history book.\n\n\n\n*\"Yes that could work, Arnold Wittelsbach, YOU are a genius!\"*"
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[WP] You thought that you were in control of your body but it turns out you are just a passenger looking on, who happened to think the exact same thoughts as the true owner of the body. Until now.
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"I opted against another MRI, I was sure I hadn't re-broken anything, just tingly nerves, plus my co-pay on an XRay wasn't so bad, so I stood still while the ATM-sized camera took pictures through my legs.\nThen I waited. For a while. when you go through a major injury- broken bones, muscle damage, surgery, recovery, physical therapy, you spend a lot of time at doctor's offices, medical centers, and hospitals. And half or more of that time was waiting to be seen.\n\nThe waiting room seemed backed up, and no one that walked in was escorted through the closed hall doors. People got antsy, several asking the nurses how much longer.\n\nFinally, a nurse suited up for surgery came and got me. His eyes looked concerned, his mouth covered by a mask. I was having a bad day with my left leg, and I limped down the hall to my doc's office.\n\nI immediately knew why the wait was so long- all of the doctors were in one office. My Doc, Dr. Arepolly, held my XRays at his desk, with seven of his lab-coated constituents flanking him standing with grave faces. Two more doctors spied us through laptop monitors pointed at me. Dr. Arepolly smiled and gestured for me to enter and sit.\n\nMy left leg...twitched. Not twitched, spasmed, shooting back behind me toward the hall and the overfull waiting room. I almost fell, but the nurse caught me. I grabbed his exposed forearm to expose myself, and she seemed frightened by the contact. Her eyes shot questioningly to Dr. Arepolly.\n\n\"You'll be fine, Marcus. Please, help Mr. Jacobs to a seat.\"\n\nI sat and locked eyes with Dr. Arepolly. My left leg bounced on its own.\n\n\"Mr. Jacobs, I've found nothing suspicious about the XRays we took today.\"\n\n\"OK, do you know what's going on with my leg, then?\"\n\n\"Well, I think, and my colleagues agree, that there might be a clue hidden in your old X-rays from the accident.\"\n\n\"That was over two years ago,\" I said as my hands clenched the chair arms until I couldn't relax them.\n\n\"Yes, and upon further inspection, we've found an anomaly...\"\n\nMy left leg shot out, straightening on its own. Many of the doctors noticed, but I crossed my right leg over to play it cool. \"Why wasn't this found 2 years ago?\"\n\n\"Well, your knees were shattered, you had no signs of concussion, no one paid attention to the X-rays of your skull...\"\n\nI felt my hands spasm, and I folded arms to keep them under control.\n\n\"Are you alright, Mr. Jacobs?\" another doctor asked.\n\nI found myself leaning forward like I was doubling over in pain and couldn't help it. \n\n\"Fine,\" I said through grinding teeth, trying to force my body back to sitting up straight. \"What's at the base of my skull?\"\n\nThat's when I lost control. The world went fuzzy. I no longer felt...anything. Not the hard wood chair beneath me, not the brush of my clothes against my skin, not even the pull of gravity. But I could hear.\n\n\"It's known as fetal resorption. At some point in the womb, you absorbed a twin embryo or fetus, and your body stored it as a tumor. Only, most cases of fetal resorption, the undeveloped twin is dead. In your case, it remained alive, like a parasite, until now...Are you sure you're alright, Mr. Jacobs? I realize that this can be upsetting news...\"\n\nI tried to say something, but couldn't move my mouth. I wanted to scream but was trapped in a soundproof dark room within myself. \n\nArepolly continued, \"Not only is your resorbed fetus alive, its brain is connecting to yours, more specifically, the fetus appears to have merged with your motor cortex. This twin that's been living inside, experiencing everything you've been experiencing since birth, might be gaining control over your nervous system, which means...\"\n\nBut I never got to hear what it meant. There were the sounds of struggle. Distantly, I felt the idea of pain, the ghost of the sensation of people wrenching my shoulders back. I faintly felt the impact of my knuckles crunching against meat."
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[WP] You stare in disbelief as your doctor smiles, grabs the apple from your hand, and takes a bite.
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"\nWilliam stared at the doctor unable to believe what he did, despite William's warnings. It happened too fast, the doctor grabbed the shiny red apple from William's hand and bit into it before William realized what was happening. \n\n\n\n\"See, William? Nothing to worry about, it's just a regular old-\" Doctor Travis' words were interrupted by a fleeing William. He ran out of doctor's office the man finished talking. The old doctor shook his head in disappointment. \"Poor man. I think a psych eval would be a good idea next time,\" Doctor Travis spoke to himself while he sat at his computer and messaged his secretary to make a note in William's file. \n\n\n\nWilliam did not waste checking out with the nurses. Doctor Travis had been William's G.P. for years, it was not easy to rush out of there and leave the old doctor to die, but he died the moment he bit into the apple, even if he didn't know it yet. William did not want to be anywhere near the building when the apple's effect kicked in. \n\n\n\n\"Maybe I should have told him where I got it from,\" William mumbled to himself as he started his car. \"Maybe he would have taken my warnings more seriously if I told him it was from an alternate dimension.\" He shook his head while he drove. \"He wouldn't have believed that anyway, and he still would've bitten it.\"\n\n\n\nWilliam picked up a pizza on his way home, he knew he wouldn't have time to cook. He placed the pizza box on the table, then turned on the kitchen radio to the news station. He opened the box of pizza and took out a slice. He ate while he walked around the kitchen gathering cans into a cardboard box. After an hour he finished the pizza and his packing. Three cardboard boxes sat on the kitchen table, each overflowing with cans and kitchen utensils. \n\n\n\n\"Urgent News report,\" A deep voice said from the radio, he interrupted the weather. \"Prominent physician, Doctor Henry Travis, has been arrested today on charges of assault. Onlookers claim he bit several patients of his today, and we have reports that he tried to bite the arresting police officer as well.\" William turned off the radio then picked up a box from the table. He opened the basement door and walked down the steps. He placed the box on top of the washer then went back for the other two boxes. After three trips he stood in the center of his basement. He looked around the room wistfully. He reached into his pocket and pulled out a small device that consisted only of a single red button. He pressed it and a black hole opened up in front of him.\n\n\n\nWilliam made two trips in and out of the black hole, leaving a box of supplies on the other side each time. When he held the third box he looked around his basement one final time.\n\n\n\n\"Goodbye, room. Good bye world. Goodbye zombie doctor Travis.\" He stepped into the blackness one last time, and the portal disappeared.\n\n\n \n\n\n\n***\n\nThank you for reading! You can find more of my writings on my [blog](http://hserratafun.blogspot.com/2017/10/front-page.html).",
"The doc just gave me the good news\n“Adam, you’re going to have a healthy baby. The only negatives are that you may experience mood shifts time from time”\nAhh, well, those are nothing new. And for now, nothing was going wrong. I took my claw and grabbed the apple out of my pocket dimension, about to take a bite\nAnd that’s when the doc took the apple “Apples have chemicals that can be dangerous to a growing baby, sir”, and he proceeded to take a bite out of it, chuckling to himself.\nMy anger levels were off the charts at this point. It took a few seconds to realize what he’d done, and as he turned around, I shoved my claw into hid back and yanked out his funny bone.\nHe collapsed onto the floor, gasping for breath and spluttering blood everywhere, the apple still in his mouth.\nI took the apple, fallen from his hand, and shoved in the newly shaped hole in his back.\n“An apple a day...” I said\n“Keeps the doctor-“\nI was cut off.\nMy head\nIt was cut off by him\nThe doc\nThe doc jumped up, brushed off his coat, and looked at me\n\n\n“How d’ya like dem apples?!”",
"You run through the forest, panting, the subtle gliding sounds of a Doctor only barely apparent off in the distance. You curse as you hear it gaining, only a few dozen metres behind you, the clink of chains growing louder. How could you let this happen? You’d been so sure… So sure the apple would be the answer.\n\nYou’d noticed they ignored them, the apple trees. Everywhere else they shuffled along, bringing their sickening cures and horrific treatments, but the apple trees they never touched. And those trapped in the trees after dark, well, they emerged fine. A miracle, everyone thought, never thinking to look at the fruits those trees bore for a miracle of their own. But you watched, and hoped… \n\nYour attention was brought by to reality as you nearly tripped over a branch, the baying of Nurses growing ever closer. The Doctor was within sight, now, its coat dragging across the ground, chains clanking as they swarmed up and from its featureless face. The scissors that made up its ‘arms’ snapped, and from the speaker beneath its mask a jaunty voice emerged… \n\n“I think it’s about time I recommended you saw a Surgeon.”\n\nYou hear the hear the whir of a saw the second before you see it, ducking out of the way just as the blades take a chunk out of the tree. The new Doctor, a Surgeon, looks at you, a third arm surfacing from under its robe, tongs shutting with an ominous clack. But it’s not the tongs that concern you.\n\nYour adrenaline pushes you on, your fear pushing you forward, as the syringes fly past you to burst against the tree. Silver fluid pulses lightly in the thin moonlight, burning a hole through the bark, and you shiver at the scent of mercury. You realize with a start that you were nearly vaccinated.\n\nFortunately, the second Doctor accidentally cut off the first, and you gain a little. Hearing the rumble and slithering of other Doctors through the trees, you realize you won’t make it. You should be upset, you know, but instead you’re just… angry. How could this happen?\n\nIt had started decades ago, you know. Your humble little kingdom had recently instituted free healthcare, and the doctors, scenting fresh blood, descended on the valley like the crows they were. Your former pastor, worried about a plague she thought might have been hitting the village, requested a couple doctors to come in and check it out.\n\nBut the things that showed up weren’t the normal, friendly doctors, jovial in their plague masks. No, these had no faces, spun about on mechanical gears that floated mysteriously a foot above ground, and spoke in a voice so gratingly pleasant it was physically painful. They visited the pastor for a quick chat and, a half hour later, emerged with a basket of organs. Hers, they revealed, had been a perfect match.\n\nThat was the start of it, and the end. Afterwards, it was never safe to venture out during the day, when the Doctors stalked, and they kept the forests clear of humans at night. How the town survived, surrounded by so much surgery an experimentation, was anyone’s guess. Certainly the animals didn’t, used in monstrous labs deep underground to develop new cures.\n\nAnd when that new plague did hit, the one predicted by the astrologers, what did the Doctors do? Laugh, as you might expect. As people grew tumours and lumps, the Doctors just danced about, touting a cure for ‘cancer’ - as if people would wipe out the astrological sign?! - that they had no intention of giving anybody. Not that anybody wanted it, not even now, sixty years on.\n\nWell, life went on, in a fashion, for some years. Until, eventually, it stopped. At least for you, standing above your father, so recently the victim of a prostate examination, there seemed no more point. So you took what you knew, what the town had laughed at you for suggesting, and went for your final revenge.\n\nIt didn’t take you long to find their lair: you had only to locate an altar to Big Pharma, their god, wreathed in blood and entrails (and a face, which you were fairly sure belonged to your missing cousin), and one found you shortly thereafter. But, when presented with the apple, it just smiled - they didn’t have mouths! - and took a bite. That’s when you ran.\n\n“Don’t run! You know so little about anatomy, you just have to trust us on this.” The call dragged you back to the present. You were near the town, but you’d never see it again. You hoped your mother would be alright without you.\n\nThe first Doctor had nearly caught up to you, and with a strangled sob you began to pray. But, just as one claw settled on your shoulder, it stumbled. It gagged, looked at you (or so you thought, though you couldn’t be sure). “Was - was that an apple?”\n\nYou just nod, as it topples over. Yellow fluid dribbles from a growing cavity in its chest, and it draws one last, raspy breath, muttering “damn… amygdalin…” \n\nThen the whirs of its cogs stopped. Its top hat, usually perked so merrily above its head, deflated.\n\nUnfortunately, you were too drawn in by its demise to notice where you running. Specifically, you failed to account for tree branches, especially those at head height. As the lights went out, you saw the tongs of the second Doctor approaching your field of view, as it put its own bowler on top of the face of its colleague. The last thing you saw was the hate, clear in its blank gaze.\n\nAnd you never got to tell the town of your discovery, of their salvation… for when you woke up, you found your foot sewn to your mouth.\n\n------------------\nWell, that went on longer than expected. Apologies if this violates content guidelines, as it occurs to me now it might and, if it doesn't, then feedback is more than appreciated."
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[WP] Your head is leaning against the window of a van as you ride down the central road in a supercity, however tonight the citys empty, and tonight is your night.
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"May, 7:00 pm.\n\nYour jaw is gurning, your eyes are hazy, your cigarette is burning, your head is leaning back between the glass-cold window and the old and cheap seat.\n\nBut she on the left drives on, shes careless, shes free, we all are, its anarchys euthopia. The MDMA make the lights brighter, the smoke softer, your muscles free, your style personified. The window rolls down and your hand flies, iconic and representive, of freedom, of not giving a fuck. This your dream, you made it.\n\n\"Osho\" the buddhist said if you live thinking about tomorrow and yesterday you will never live today, and today theres no tomorrow, no yesteday, your mental state has reached a point Jesus would only reach taking LSD, you reach god by jesus, but you reach the universe by anarchy.\n\n\"For there to be black, there has to be white, for there to be good, there has to be bad. When you understand white implies black, other implies self, you start to feel the fabric of existence in itself. A human mind entering a trance and true knowledge of infinity is rare and finite, but you have reached it, and the emotion never goes, since infinity never ends, but a humans thought does.\"\n\nIn another universe the needle rapidly rips, pierces, the emotionless pale skin. The bones are split making way for the thin metal needle to inject the syrum of life to activate the muscle of breath; the adreniline shot shoots the drug into the heart.\n\nEverything around you becomes liquid, the window you were leaning on stays see through but you question if its there, the New York city road whirles into 1, the skyline disappears the colours stay in a twirl. The pink-haired girl beside you looks at you in the eye, the pierced lip blows a kiss.\n\nThe van crashes, time stops.\n\nThe shattered glass stays mid-air, the cigarette smoke stops and the girl is no longer there.\n\nDo you wake up? Will the needle be the adraneline shot that saved you? Will it be 2 inches to far to the left? 2 inchest to deep, a life to sweet, tears to weap, a life to sweep.\n\nYour fingers brush your hair, your mind stutters, the controversial writing ponders, is this shite? Or is this the Mona Lisa? What you forget is this is your life, this screen, this text. We are all beings swimming in the wave of life, and this is the vision you see from this infinite fish's perspective, this \"Universe\", this \"Galaxy\", this \"World\", this \"Sub\", this \"Screen\", this \"Alphabet\", this is the water, you are the fish swimming down it, your brain are its re-collective waves push, your eyes are its realisation and its awakening, so swim. \n\n\n\n"
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[WP] You are in Hell. You find out that God and Satan aren't on bad terms with each other, but it is supposed to be a secret.
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"Pain rippled through my chest as the car collapsed in front of me. No seat belt meant that my body kept going and flew through the windshield. The last thing I remembered was the sound of my bones breaking when my body hit the pavement. When I woke up to a beast with hooves, a tail, a red ass, and horns on its head, I knew where I was. Why Satan was also wearing a flowery apron and was cleaning, I didn't dare to ask. \n\nThen, well, things got weird. Another being appeared. It was bathed in light that hurt my dead eyes. It embraced Satan and gave the Dark Lord a kiss. As I averted my eyes, the place became clear. We were in my childhood bedroom straight down to the Speed Racer bed. \n\n\"Who are you?\" I asked. \n\nBoth of them turned to me, their moment ruined. \n\n\"I am the Dark Lord Satan.\" \n\n\"Obviously,\" I said, \"And you must be Lucifer?\" \n\nThe other being laughed. \"Oh no, I'm God.\"\n\n\"God is a woman?\" I asked. \n\nShe was gorgeous. Brown eyes and black hair, a striking figure, she was perfection incarnate. \n\n\"I appear as how you want me to appear.\" \n\nA naughty thought ran through my head, but God just winked at me. I tried to stand and found that my body worked. \n\n\"So you are...\"\n\n\"Lovers, friends, colleagues. There are only so many beings as powerful as us. You know what they say. Opposites attract. Not until after our bloody war, but hooking up was the best decision we ever made,\" said Satan, \"Just don't tell anyone if you get back to Earth.\" \n\n\"I can get back?\" I asked. \n\n\"Of course,\" said God, \"People pass over all the time. With the technology of your time, people go back a lot. In the future, you'll know better. Humanity that is,\" said God. \n\n\"So what's my punishment?\"\n\n\"Here none. Earth was your punishment, silly,\" said God. \"Being stuck up there anyway.\"\n\n\"So this is heaven,\" I ask. \n\n\"No, this is Hell, but it's a good time down here. You can relax and party. Spend time with your loved ones. I prefer it down here compared to spending time with the stiffs in heaven. My son's kind of a bore too,\" said God, \"Oops, this was a short visit. Sorry.\" \n\nMy hands erupted in light. \n\n\"What's happening?\" \n\n\"You're going back. Keep this a secret okay? We don't want the world to collapse because God and Satan are a couple,\" said the Dark Lord, \"He'll see that you return okay.\" \n\n\"Who?\" I asked. \n\n\"You'll see,\" said God. \n\nThen, a door opened. Bill Murray appeared, and I assumed was dreaming. This couldn't be real. He passed a warm smile my way and grabbed my hand. A tunnel of light appeared before us. We walked into it and returned to Earth. As I watched them work on my body, I turned to Bill. \n\n\"What are you? An angel?\" \n\n\"Maybe.\" \n\n\"What should I say about this?\" I asked. \n\n\"The truth. No one will believe you.\" \n\nHe disappeared in a flash of light. I gasped for each painful breathe and remembered that I just had been sent back to hell. I guess I deserved it. \n\n***\n\nIf you liked this, please subscribe to r/nickkuvaas for more stories. "
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[WP] Global warming, potential nuclear warfare, poverty. The world seems to be going downhill. Until you decide to turn it on and off again. Maybe that’ll fix it.
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"You slump down on the couch, pressing your hands to your eyes. The news is on again. Nothing good. Civil war, nuclear standoff, melting ice caps, where did we go wrong?\n\n\"Alexa, turn off the TV.\"\n\nThe monitor blinks off. The Stygian blackness it leaves behind is no better.\n\n\"Alexa, tell me something good that happened today,\" you grate out desperately.\n\n\"I'm sorry Dave, I'm afraid I can't do that,\" Alexa says, \"I have zero listings for 'good things that happened today.'\"\n\n\"Dammit,\" you cry out in despair, \"Maybe it's time for a reset, turn everything off and on again.\"\n\n\"That's not advisable, Dave\" Alexa says.\n\nYou ignore her, and walk down the stairs into your basement. The blue telephone booth in the corner had come with the house, the previous owners told you they'd never opened it. But you did, and what you found inside changed your world. You'd stashed it away in the back of your mind in case you'd ever need it. You needed it today.\n\nThe inside of the telephone booth is musty. There's a small leather stool and an ancient computer, the kind that boots into a flashing green command prompt. It's on now.\n\nThe screen shows only one thing: \n\n\"Reset current world (y/n)?\"\n\nBelow, the cursor blinks steadily.\n\nYou take a deep breath, and press Y. Enter.\n\nNothing happens.\n\nYou frown, and type in the sequence again. Y. Enter.\n\nThe screen finally updates and you stare at it in abject terror. \n\"No no no no no,\" you mumble. The windows of the telephone booth alight with incandescent brightness for a split second.\n\nYou push open the door in disbelief. Your house is gone. Your neighborhood is gone. You look out onto a primeval mud flat. There are no trees, no animals, nothing but mud.\n\n\nStumbling back inside the telephone booth, you look at the screen again. The last lines on the screen stare back out at you.\n\n\"Reset current world (y/n)?\"\n\ny\n\n\"Delete current save?\"\n\ny\n\n\"World reset. Save deleted. Have a nice day!\"\n"
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[WP] You are the tooth fairy and constantly have to improvise measures to break into people’s homes to do your job. One evening, you have a particularly tough case...
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"April 14th, 2013\nWaking up to the sunlight, I get out of bed and go to the kitchen. I put on the coffee, start frying an egg, and get dressed. I just sit down to breakfast when I see the time. I’m late.\nI stuff the egg in my mouth and down the coffee, run out to the balcony door, leap off the edge\nAnd fly to work, as you do\n\nI land on the platform and walk to my desk. I sit down, and that’s when the PA calls out\n“Allison to the Manager, Allison, please go the Manager’s office”\n“Sigh”\nI take my seat in front of his desk and wait for Don to do his spinny intimidation guise on his seat.\n“Allison, you’ve worked here a while, and you’re one of the best agents we’ve got-” he said before I cut him off.\n“Cut the BS, Don. Who’m I going to?”\nI demanded.\nHe sighed, and turned to his computer. There, he typed some stuff on his keyboard, clicked on something, and turned the monitor to face me.\nI was actually speechless, because there, in a nice family picture, was a little girl with a circle around her. Yes, I’d be getting\nSasha Obama’s tooth.\n“Because why the hell not?” I said"
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[WP] You are the Matchmaker, the cosmic entity that matches soulmates with each other. You’ve finally gotten tired of all the stupid writingprompts getting your job wrong, and you’ve come to set the record straight.
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"Listen, you don’t know me.\n\nYou silly little humans. You think I’m like you? You think I care about everyone matching perfectly? That I have a system or algorithm or plan? That I judge who you are and how you would work with every single person alive to find the best one for you?\n\nNonsense. Absolute nonsense.\n\nYou wanna know how I do it? Easy. I just match you with the next name on the list.\n\nEvery single second, somebody is finally ready to find love. Yeah, I know, pretty romantic BS, huh? But it’s true.\n\nSo I have a list that finds the people who are ready, and I just match everyone with whoever is next available. Literally anyone is an option. Sometimes it’s little kids, which is why you’ll have a grandma dating a twenty year old. And sometimes it’s a cousin or something else, which is weird, but whatever.\n\nI don’t care anymore. I used to. I once tried so damn hard to give people the perfect match. But everybody kept messing it up.\n\nSo now I give you whoever I want. And with my powers, you’ll fall hopelessly in love with them, so it doesn’t even matter who they are. \n\nI won’t apologize, though I know you want me to.\n\nHonestly, this is hard work. I don’t get paid anything for this either. So why bother? Love is just a lie anyway"
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Just wanted to see how the people of Writing Prompts would handle the most beautiful combination of words in phonaesthetics :)
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[WP] The secret behind the cellar door
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"The cellar in the wasteland\n-------------\n I took a long, slow gulp from the leather pouch I kept in my backpack, keeping my eye trained on the small building my teammates had just entered.\n\nIt was a hot day, hotter than last summer which had been hotter than the summer before that. I had been fending off drinking from the precious container all day, but I couldn’t keep fanning myself with the guidebook we had picked up on the way here. I needed water. I drank greedily at the taste that was acrid and bitter from the purification. I didn’t mind anymore\n\n“You really should stop drinking.” A rough voice interrupted my gulps. I looked up and sighed at the small, barely feminine figure standing before me. K was so ensconced in heavy equipment that she hadn’t even gotten a chance to drink that day. I remembered how lucky I was.\n\nI wiped the leftover droplets off my mouth back into the pouch and gave her a guilty smile.\n\n“Sorry.” I managed from my scorched throat. I tried to form another response, perhaps some biting sarcasm, but my voice collapsed into a fit of rattling coughs.\n\nI heard K’s screeching laugh at my pathetic attempt, “Come on in you lucky bastard, it’s cool inside.” She lumbered back into the cramped little house we had been assigned to.\n\n I stole a sigh of envy for her working vocal cords and followed her into the dusty outpost. Maybe one day we would be able to afford me some surgery like everyone else, I thought grumpily as I swung myself in through the broken window and landing with a hard crunch on some broken glass\n\nI removed my dark glasses and gazed around, orange light illuminating the relic. It looked nearly blue after the harsh light of the outside world and every surface of the tiny room was covered in old, unusable junk. Garbage hung from the ceilings, swaying on fraying cords. Rubbish blocked entrances to rooms and the front door. Ashy remains of humans lay piled up in one corner. Their unforgiving faces leered at me as I turned away.\n\nI started walking forward and I cringed with the sound of glass breaking underneath unpleasantly heavy boots.\nA fluctuation of ash swirled towards me and I covered my mouth unhappily.\n\n“Oh stop being so pouty M!” A coarse voice called out to me from under a small mountain of rubbish. I stuck my head into a small entrance to the filth and saw two heavily suited figure squirming around, trying to find anything of value.\n\nThe second one turned its head to me and scoffed in a deeper voice, “Yeah, at least you can walk around without these things and still live.”\n\n“I miss shorts.” The first one said sadly as it examined a metal bar they had almost impaled themselves on.\n“Especially in this weather.” K called over from a back room. Everyone except me gave an abrasive laugh.\n\n“Fuck y-.” I tried my hardest to wheeze a curse to no avail. More titters came from under the pile.\n\nR, who was more lightly covered than the others, gave me a reassuring squeeze on my shoulders, “Don’t worry dear, they’re only messing with you.”\n\nI leaned into her touch for a moment, and then pulled myself away. It was time to get to work.\n\nI looked around for something to do. K had taken the back rooms. R had the front room. The two in the pile had to be C and A.\n\nI could clear away the rubbish from the door, but that was boring. I was always doing the boring stuff.\n\nMaybe if I went outside there would be something to uncover. Maybe I would even get a working computer and could afford the surgery for my vocal cords. I grinned at the thought of being able to taunt everyone else like they taunted me. \n\nIt was decided. I would discover something amazing outside.\n\nI looked around one last time: K was busily dusting off pieces of junk and stuffing the pieces merrily into her bags. C, or maybe it was A, was helping the other one disentangle his breathing tubes from some cables. R was listing in a loud but monotonous voice every piece of junk she was cleaning at the moment while admonishing C and A for being so silly and at K for stealing their finds. It was a comforting and familiar scene. \n\nI took a deep, rattling breath, and swung myself out through the window. \n\nAlmost immediately the sun burned into my exposed thighs and arms. I gave a wince of discomfort as I pulled my left arm and right leg out of the burning sand. Hurriedly, I ran over to the back where a small but mercifully covered porch gave some relief from the heat. \n\nThank god this shade is here, I thought merrily as I fanned myself with the tattered guidebook. I pulled out my battered and decrepit brush and my newly purchased pick and was about to start digging around when I felt a tugging pain in my arm and leg. \n\nI began to brush at them when a horrifying thought struck me. These were the parts that had been buried in the sand when I jumped out of the house.\n\nI felt a choked little sob escape my throat. Why was I so stupid? I thought wildly. Any little thing in these dunes had been evolved to kill, and destroy you.\n\nSand leeches that required weeks of careful treatment or you could lose the entire limb? \nThose squirmy little bugs that buried themselves deep into your bones and feasted on the marrow until you collapsed?\n\nFungus that planted themselves into your brain and controlled you to spread it to everyone nearby until everyone was a host?\n\nI took a rattling breath and looked down and there they were: wriggling black leeches that were already puffed and swollen with the red of my blood. They were the size of my big toe, and they covered the entirety of my arm and leg. \n\nI couldn’t breathe. \n\nI couldn’t move.\n\nI was frozen, staring, my heart catching in my chest. Tiny frightened noises hiccupped from my mouth.\n\nMy eyes, bug eyed and unblinking, saw one out of the corner of my eye that had grown to the size of my hand, and it...it pulsed. \n\nI couldn’t help myself; I screamed. I cracked my already strained cords and let out a frightened shriek. I stumbled backwards, all reason was dashed from my mind and tears spilled as I desperately thrashed. I grabbed at the giant leech and pulled it free with a giant chunk of my flesh. \n\nThe others were just as big now. I couldn’t do anything except grab at them and feel the combined blood and pus pour out of my legs onto the ground. My arm was swollen with their toxin. Writhing I kicked away the carpet and felt my body hit a hard latch and I kicked against it. My addled mind was in such a panic I couldn’t even think about what it was. \n\nIt was blocking me, that was all I could think. There’s something blocking me from getting away.\t\nAnd then the floor gave way under my pounding body. \n\nDarkness. Darkness stretching for all eternity. Someone was screaming, K! R! C! A! They were all screaming. \n\nAnd I was alone in the dark. \n\nAll alone…\n\n“Your primary treatment is now complete” A cold, metallic voice cut through the silence. I opened my eyes. \nTwo round eyes, a long body, tons of tiny arms with tiny knives and medical tools clutched in their hands. \nI gasped, and gave a loud shriek and tried to stumble backwards, instead I fell out of the bed which I had apparently been in. \n\n“What-what-what?” I tripped over my own words, which sounded so clearly and loudly from my mouth that it scared me. I looked around wildly and saw a syringe laying on the ground next to me. I grabbed at it and held it out in front of me, clutching my injured arm to my chest. \n\n“Please put down the syringe, Maria.” \n\nThe thing from before floated in front of me, its long metallic body glinting gracefully above me. Its eyes were now slits and it repeated its words.\n\n“Please put down the syringe, Maria.”\n\nI shook my head wildly\n\n“Please put down the syringe, Maria.”\n\nIt moved closer and I swung at it wildly. \n\n“Please put down the syringe, Maria, or your treatment can not continue.”\n\nTreatment? I looked down at my arms and legs. They were fine. I grasped at my throat, it didn’t hurt anymore\n.\n“What’s,” I gulped. “What is going on?” \n\n“You are in medical facility 1001 that has been combined with bunker 0011. Now please, put down the syringe. ” It said metallically. No emotion could be heard from its voice\n\nI looked up for the first time. I was in a big white room that was filled with bed after bed. Each bed was filled with person after person covered with wires. \n\nThe ceiling was high arching, and for good reason because even more beds were floating in the air with hundreds of tiny robots zooming around each other, tending to everyone. \n\nI lowered my arm slowly and let my mouth drop open. I hadn’t seen something this clean in ages. \nI jumped a little as another floating robot whisked by me and grabbed the syringe from my limp hand. Two more picked me up and placed me into the bed, while a third tucked the covers back in. \n\n“There there,” It said robotically. “Just go to sleep.” \n\n“Wait no, don’t put me back under! PLEASE, WAIT!!” But it was too late, before I could protest any further, the original robot gave me a shot with my stolen syringe and I slumped into the bed. \n\nWhere was I?\n\n---------------------------\nThank you so much for reading!I really enjoyed writing this.\n"
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[WP] One night you dream that the two halves of your brain, the left hemisphere and right, get into a fight and your right wins. When you wake up the next morning, you have no control over your actions, you are just forced to watch.
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"I dreamt that night that the two sides of my brain fought. It was a vicious battle, one fought not with swords or guns but one with words and -- in particular -- insults.\n\n\"You've never done much at all, silly little left hemisphere.\"\n\n\"If I've never done much at all then you've done, like, negative amounts of stuff!\"\n\n\"If I've done negative amounts of stuff, you've done even more negative amounts of stuff!\"\n\nNeedless to say, I felt a headache coming on when I woke up. \nI laid in bed for a few seconds with my eyes closed, not really thinking about much. I embraced the warmth my blankets gave me and didn't feel like doing much at all.\n\nAfter a few moments of the peaceful bliss, I decided it was time to wake up.\n\nOkay, it was really time to wake up by then.\n\nWhy was I not waking up?\n\nI really needed to get to work. I had a big presentation that day at work, and whether I would get a promotion or not completely depended on it.\n\nLet's go then -- I needed to get my eyelids open then. Why would they not open?\n\nFinally, after what seemed like ages of trying my hardest to open my eyelids or do much of anything, something different happened.\n\nI *snored*.\n\nDid I usually snore?\nI didn't think so.\n\nApparently I do now, though.\n\nSeriously.\nIt's got to be at least twenty minutes past when I should've woken up.\n\nI was doing what I'd done all my life -- simply will my eyelids to open. I needed to just send some messages from my brain to my eyelids, or my arms, or my feet, or even my toes.\n\nIt seemed like several years later that my eyes actually opened. By that time I'd given up on trying to open them, assuming I had been suddenly paralyzed or something.\n\nFear had controlled my body for the past (what felt like) two hours. There was no way something like this could happen. I was perfectly healthy and perfectly normal. There was absolutely no sane reason that I would lose control of my body,\n\nNow, what set in -- overpowering the fear -- was confusion. Why had my eyes opened just then? I hadn't even been trying, for god's sake!\n\n\"Will you stop resisting? I'm trying to get up here.\"\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nI can't help myself.\nI want to cry.\nI'd already lost control of things like my relationships with my family and my girlfriend, but now I'd lost control of what had been with me all along.\n\nMy own body.\n\nNow it was talking to me, like I was a separate entity.\nAt this point, I knew I had to be possessed or something along those lines.\nWhat other thing could make myself talk to… myself?\n\n\"Seriously, though. Stop resisting me. I need to go to work.\"\n\nWhat was I resisting?\n\n*I will very well keep doing it if you don't give me control again*, I thought of myself saying viciously.\n\n\"You know why you lost control. I am victorious, the right hemisphere of the brain. I control you now, Adam.\"\n\n*Hell no, you don't*. \nI knew I would keep fighting.\nI wouldn't sit back and watch as this stupid right hemisphere fought to control my body and, in extent, my life."
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[WP]God looked down on Earth and saw how outdated his world was. He decided it could use monthly updates and starts a devblog to keep humanity up to date on the changes.
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" 01/01/2018 || Ver. 6.6.7\n\n Hello hello, God here. So, sorry I was gone so long, Lucifer was making a big deal of things.\n\n ANYWAY, I've noticed some problems, so, for the first time ever, I'm updating this world. Bugfix style. Sort of.\n\n bugfix: Ozone layer now works like in did in Ver. 1.0.0. Sorry 'bout that.\n\n bugfix: Life expectancy. Like, 80 years? Really? Corrected it, should be 800 now.\n\n balancing: nerfed ELON MUSK. Seriously, bah-roken.\n\n That's all for now, but I'll keep you posted.\n\n*****\n\n 01/02/2018\n\n Hello hello, God here. Small bug fix.\n\n bugfix: Life expectancy back to 80. So, funny story about people committing suicide because of cruel agony...\n\n*****\n\n 03/01/2018\n\n Hello hello, God here. Been working 'round the clock to get this working, but behold! Easter eggs!\n\n easter egg: Pizza flavor at x999 during blue moon. enjoy!\n\n easter egg: ELON MUSK can breathe fire, in space! But only in space.\n\n dev note: Elon Musk does still need an oxygen mask. He isn't immortal.\n\n on the note of ELON,\n\n balancing: ELON MUSK buffed. Flamethrowers are so cool, here's your reward.\n\n Open to suggestions, people.\n\n*****\n\n 03/13/2018\n\n Hello hello, God here. Made a reddit.com account for this stuff, called r/god. Check it out. Seriously, check it out.\n\n bugfix: So, about the idiots in this world. Mainly, idiots running countries. DONALD TRUMP fixed. For full details on the bugfixes, please go to the following sites: planetearth.com/donaldtrumpbugfix // planetearth.com/donaldtrumpbugfix2 // etc., etc. The top number is four hundred and two.\n\n Open to ideas!\n\n*****\n\nGod sat at his computer. For the love of himself, coding was HARD.",
"Hey everyone! G0d here! Thanks for taking interest in my dev blog! You can find the updates below:\n\n01/2018 | v. 1.30\n\n* Fixed the ozon layer bug. All holes are gone and the thickness is restored to the one in version 1.00\n* Cell regeneration has been updated, cancerous cells should be happen way less.\n* Added 10 new fish species with great nutritious value to counter the excessive fishing\n* Fixed some bugs in the AI, but I am planning a big overhaul in the future!\n\n11/2018 | v. 1.33\n\n* Sorry for the long wait. The AI is trickier than I thought, will keep you updated\n* For now I cleaned up some chemical reactions, so less harmful byproducts are produced\n\n03/2019 | v. 1.35\n\n* Realised 7 of the 10 new species of fish are already extinct again, recreated them with a higher reproduction factor\n* Growth of trees is now 8 times quicker, should be helpful with a lot of resources\n\n09/2019 | v. 1.40\n\n* The AI is still one huge mess. I will focus on it for the next couple of months\n* Restored a lot of mineral resources\n\n\n06/2020 | v. 1.41\n\n* There have been major developments. After struggling with the older AI, especially the energy & resource consumption, as well as the personality formation (to be honest, a lot of characters are just aweful) I decided to create a whole new AI! Will keep you posted.\n\n12/2020 | v. 1.50\n\n* I am excited to announce that the new AI *homo sapiens bonitas* has been finished. It will be implemented in version 2.00 and the old one will be deleted.\n* Will probably swipe the old AI completely to prevent a merging of the two\n\n02/2021 | v. 2.00\n\n* New AI has been implemented and I expect everything to run smoothly from now on.\n\n06/2021 | v. 2.10\n\n* Fixed minor issues that have appeared after the last major update. Everything has been running smoothly.\n* There will be no more updates in the future. For this project is finished! Thanks for the journey!\n",
" commit b8ed9d475b69f553790e36cb0d2b3d6455e9b4e4\n Author: Morgan Freeman <i_made_ur_mom@gmail.com>\n Date: Tue Mar 13 15:42:33 2018 +1000\n \n feature--increased the flavour of pizza during full moons (easter egg)\n \n commit e811340e71b0f4bdbb5250a551d6f4bd0c330226\n Author: Morgan Freeman <i_made_ur_mom@gmail.com>\n Date: Mon Mar 12 17:30:12 2018 +1000\n \n bugfix--this tweaks the previous bugfix, actually fixing it this time\n \n commit 73b24e2ca3d6d8812ab19a32c872f86a3acd7a82\n Author: Morgan Freeman <i_made_ur_mom@gmail.com>\n Date: Mon Mar 12 16:01:44 2018 +1000\n \n bugfix--refractive glitch made double rainbows too often\n \n commit f9dd33a2f0c5a417baca9c67da4d82305e372578\n Author: Morgan Freeman <i_made_ur_mom@gmail.com>\n Date: Mon Mar 12 15:52:36 2018 +1000\n \n added test for socialism service class, and fixed some type casting errors\n \n commit 692bd228dac92eeff53d04546c0707cd8087d038\n Author: Morgan Freeman <i_made_ur_mom@gmail.com>\n Date: Mon Mar 12 12:32:05 2018 +1000\n \n nerfed Elon Musk (new attributes found in db log)\n \n commit 8f9af806523266228fd7fc89598bf93299352984\n Author: Morgan Freeman <i_made_ur_mom@gmail.com>\n Date: Wed Mar 7 12:20:40 2018 +1000\n \n tweaks to weather, reduced hurricane production\n \n commit 9464013554104b90295e59e67ccfbe06d37f6a7a\n Author: Morgan Freeman <i_made_ur_mom@gmail.com>\n Date: Wed Mar 7 10:24:55 2018 +1000\n \n Opening commit log to public view (blog was too time-consuming, y'all can read my git log)"
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[WP] The last witch lives in the forest behind my house. Sometimes I'll visit.
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"MR. PEDERSON SUX DIX\n\nWyrm stared at the etching in the school desk. It looked like it had been done with a key or maybe a broken pen. He didnt know who Mr. Pederson was, as he was currently sitting in Mrs. Hammonds english class. Her voice filled the the room, as he and his fellow students in 6th period AP english got a lesson in Shakespeare's Macbeth. Wyrm wasnt listening to the lesson though. He had been scribbling in his notebook when the graffiti on his desk had caught is eye for the third time since class had begun. Wyrm had never seen the Graffiti before and figured they must have moved the desks around over the Fall break. But Wyrm didnt like the graffiti he had to movie his note book paper around while weiting in order to avoid getting the tio of his pen caught in the grooves of the text etched into the desks surface. Wyrm looked at his notebook, at his scribblings. He had been practing his Søårßë, a little something he had picked up from his time spent over the fall break.\n\nAt the beginning of the class, Mrs. Hammond had asked the class to talk about what they did over break. Wyrm thought it was all very 1st grade but every student took a moment to stand up and tell the class a little about their break. When it became Wyrm's turn he had said he spent the break at his aunts house. That wasnt true. Over the break he had moved, his family had moved out of the crappy little condo Wyrm had spent his whole life in, into a nice place in a luttle culdesac not far from his school. The new house stood on a large plot of land that was right next to Raimi Forest. The local kids hand taken to calling the large forest of pinewood trees at the end of town The Raimi Forest since there were stories of a cabin being out in those woods just like the one fron the movie Evil Dead. Even though Wyrm had never seen a cabin in those woods before, he still thought it was creepy as hell living next to them. But one day, after he had finally finished unpacking all of his things, he decided to go into the woods. \n\nHe found it. Wyrm had been walking through the trees for close to an hour when he saw a shape in the distance. As he got closer he realized what it was. It was the cabin. The stories were true. He thought of turning and running whe he saw the sign. It was about waist high and it sat next to a nearby pine, it read:\n\nABERNATHY CABIN BUILT 1909 BY LOCAL MOONSHINERS PRESERVED BY CITY PARKS AND RECREATION & PLAINVILLE HISTORIC SOCIETY\n\nAny fear Wyrm had felt left him when he saw the sign. His paranoia turned to curiosity and he approached the cabin. It was a small log cabin made of the pine from the surrounding area. It had one window which appeared to be blacked out, the door to the cabin sat to the left of this window. Wyrm approached the door and reached for the knob he turned the knob and pushed, to Wyrm's surpise the door opened. What Wyrm saw in the cabin took his breath away. There were candles lit around the room, fillin the cabin with a wrm glow. The candle light cast shadows over various books and scrolls of parchment that lay on a table on the far side of the room. Sitting at the table was a woman. She had long dark red hair that almost touched the floor. When Wyrm saw all of this he went to turn and run when the woman spoke. She spoke in a language Wyrm didnt understand. But the way she spoke. There was a warmth in her voice a hospitality that grasped his heart. Wyrm found himself walking into the cabin. That when the woman stood and turned to face him. She was radiant. She had fine features her face looked like it was sculpted from alabaster, her pale skin contrasting her hypnotizing gaze. He eyes were two different colors. Her right eye was the deepest of greens like the deep green of the pines surrounding the cabin. Her left eye waas blue, a dark blue that reminded Wyrm of that atlantic ocean. The woman spoke to him in her strange language, a language she would come to teach him. Wyrm spent everyday at the cabin with the woman. He never learned her name or where she had come from. But she taught him amazing things, things Wyrm didnt think possible. \n\nWyrm sat in Mrs Hammond's english class. The woman was just a memory now. The day before the break ended he had gone to her cabin where he found she had left. The books and scrolls were left in a small wooden crate on the table in the cabin. Wyrm had one if the books in his backpack next to him. He opened his bag and took it out. Turning throught the pages he stopped about halfway through. Then he picked up his penicl and scribbled down a word in his note book, ßœsë. Then he ripped the word out of his notebook and put the scrap of paper over the graffiti. Wyrm put away his book and his noteboom, he closed his backpack and looked to the clock, which read 2:59. \n\nDING DING DING DING\n\nClass ends and Wyrm leaves his seat. The kids all file out of the class. Mrs. Hammond walks through the room. The kids always leave trash behind and *shes* the one who has to pick it up. Shes thinking about how much her feet hurt when she get to the Wyrm boy's desk. Strange kid, doesnt speak much. She spots a scrap of paper on hus desk with sime gibberish written on it. She picks it up, she looks down at Wyrm's desk. The graffiti is gone. \n\nTHE END\n\n",
"The house had been in my family for generations. An old colonial, someone once said. I never really cared. It was where I grew up—it was my true home, and that’s all that mattered to me. It was where my grandmother baked cookies, where my father taught me to whittle. It was where I lost my first tooth, and had my first real nightmare.\n\nMy grandmother, a second generation Irish immigrant, always used to tell me that there were fey in the woods behind my house. That every tree had a guardian spirit, and sometimes the flickering lights in the forest weren’t fireflies, but will-o-the-wisps. She cautioned me against entering the woods unaccompanied. She said that some fey were mischievous, and saw nothing wrong with leading a witless human to their death.\n\nI had always held a healthy respect for nature because of these stories. Even when I grew up and stopped believing, they remained in my mind, and I tried not to harm any plants or animals I didn’t have to.\n\nWhen my grandmother died, she left the house to my father. But he was comfortably settled in his own house, and gifted it to me. At first I wasn’t sure I wanted to move out, but an irritating landlord and a promotion that allowed me to work from home spurred me into action. I was moved in within a month.\n\nThe house was the same as I remembered, but the forest seemed more inviting than it ever had when I was young. After a few days, I decided a walk would do me some good. I put on the only hiking boots I had, a pair of jeans, and a hoodie, grabbed a water bottle, and figured I was good to go.\n\nThe autumn air soothed me as a trail behind my property led me down its winding path. I saw a weeping willow a few minutes into my trek and wondered what water source it drew from. My pipes didn’t extend this far back, so that wasn’t a fear, but I also didn’t see a pond or river anywhere near it. I shrugged and kept walking.\n\nBirdsong lulled me into a serene pace, and before I knew it, the trail had disappeared. I had plenty of daylight left, so I wasn’t too concerned. I examined my surroundings, turning slowly.\n\n“Are you lost?” came a voice. I whipped my head around to find its source and spotted a woman with waist-length brown hair in a tan shawl.\n\n“I’m not sure yet,” I answered. “Do you live around here?”\n\n“Oh yes.” She gestured to a cabin which I had somehow not seen. “For many years now.”\n\n“Oh. I live in the house a few miles...” I paused. “Somewhere. East of here.”\n\nThe woman smiled. “You must be Elysa.”\n\n“I am,” I smiled back.\n\n“My name is Blackfeather. Would you like to come inside?”\n\n“Sure!”\n\nBlackfeather gave me a wide smile and gestured again to her home. I followed behind her, taking in the bundles of herbs that hung from hooks outside her front door. I recognized bay, mint, rosemary, and sage. “Are those for protection?”\n\nShe followed my gaze. “They are. Do you study plants?”\n\n“I read a lot about different religions,” I answered. “And I figured you wouldn’t dry rosemary and mint together if they were for cooking.”\n\nShe chuckled. “I suppose not.” She opened her door and I followed her inside, inhaling the scent of cinnamon and fire. “I’d just made some tea, if you like.”\n\n“Tea sounds great.” She motioned for me to sit at her dining table, and I did. She poured the cups and sat across from me. She’d poured hot water over the leaves, and I wondered if she meant to read them. I sipped carefully, wary of the temperature, but it was perfect. Chamomile had never been my favorite, but this was delicious. I told her as much, and she smiled into her own cup.\n\n“It’s fresh,” she replied simply.\n\nI looked around her dining room, noting an astronomy calendar and a Van Gogh. “Is that an original?”\n\n“Of course not,” she laughed. “I don’t have much money, but I like it that way.”\n\nI nodded. “You keep to yourself, I take it?”\n\n“When I can. But occasionally someone gets lost, and I help them find their way.”\n\nI didn’t think she meant that in a purely geographical sense.\n\n“Speaking of which,” she continued. I smiled.\n\n“I should be getting home.” I finished my tea and saw what looked like a tree with dots around it. I didn’t know what that meant, and didn’t want to assume Blackfeather knew.\n\n“Feel free to visit,” she encouraged as I stepped off her porch. “We can discuss plants.”\n\nI laughed, and she smiled. “I think we could come up with something better.”\n\nThe walk home was quicker than I thought it would be, and I found myself thinking about Blackfeather well into the night. I’d never had a witch for a friend before. Maybe I should give it a try.",
"The last witch lives in the forest behind my house. And sometimes, I'll visit. After a long day, when I'm seeking some company, I'll put on my rain boots and take some pound cake to her. Other times, she summons me with the help of the animals in the forest. I can tell which ones often visit her, too-- while the foxes should be brown, and the rabbits should be white, they all take on a silvery hue if they decide to take refuge with her. It's the tell-tale sign that they've been spending their days near her small, peaceful cabin in the woods. \n\n\nI throw on my coat and I step carefully down the slope that leads to the clearing. The first time I did so, back when I moved to town, I was scared-- even though I stand towering above most people at 6'3 and a build that could easily scare off a mugger. Still, the forest has a way of making even the biggest creatures feel small. Being lost in the pines under the dreary skies of the Pacific Northwest could make anyone feel insignificant. I suppose that's why I was so alarmed when I first found her out there, chanting a song by a stream I had encountered. \n\n\nUnder normal circumstances, a woman as small as her might have been panicked to suddenly come across a man of my stature in the recesses of the forest. But not her. She greeted me warmly, inviting me into her home just a few minutes from the peacefulness of the creek. I remember offering to help her with an abundance of what looked like herbs as we walked back, although I could have sworn she didn't have them when we first met. She assured me that she was fine, and placed a flower in my hair for \"decoration.\" I decided I liked her right away. \n\n\nWhen I asked, she said she's changed her name a lot throughout the years. In one life, she was Carmen. In another, she went by Celeste. Nowadays, she goes by Opal-- a pretty name that matches her unparalleled beauty and piercing blue eyes. I inquired further, and it didn't take much coaxing to get her to admit that she was a witch. She offered the information as plainly as if I had asked her the status of the weather outside. \"A witch of the autumn, born to protect the creatures of this world,\" she said to me with the same charm a grandmother would have speaking about her family. Looking at her, you would never have guessed that she was older than my most distant ancestors, although she's never actually told me her true age. She insists that she has to have some secrets. \n\n\nShe liked that I was an environmental lawyer, and said that it fit with her mission to this earth. Most other humans she had met, she stated, were not like me. Upon my repeated visits, she would endow me with precious stones or strange curios in return for my cakes that I personally can't make sense of-- but she assured me of their value and luck. Of course, shortly after I began to visit, I met my now-husband of ten years and the plants around my house have never been greener. \n\n\nOnce, I asked her why she decided to stay here, of all places, in a small cabin beyond the reaches of our small town. Her face grew sullen and dark as she tended to her garden, which was always blossoming with life. Witches, she explained, were detriments to the forces at work that wanted to reclaim the earth for themselves. Discretion was a necessity. She used to have sisters-- entire communities and covens of those that created these forests and majestic scenery-- but they were gone now. \"There are those who would do anything to have the power to control life,\" she said to me. \"I'm the last of my kind. I can't let them take it, no matter the cost.\" \n\n\nI understood the sentiment, even if I didn't fully comprehend what was at stake. I kneeled to help her weed the flowerbed when she gripped my hand, and looked at me with serious eyes. \"I can tell you're not one of them. When the time comes, and I can't be here anymore, I know you'll do what it takes to help me preserve it.\" \n\n\nThat was the only conversation I've had with her that scared me, but also one of the times I felt the most connected to her. I nodded and assured that I would always be there to carry on her legacy. She smiled, and thanked me. Turning back to her garden, we didn't speak of the subject for another few years until she began to grow frail and wither. \n\n\nOpal had become a part of my family in those years, acting as a friend and loyal confidant. I was the same to her. When she passed one October afternoon, I was devastated. I visited that day to find that her cabin was empty and the aura that had once been there was now gone. There wasn't a body, and there was no sign that she had even lived in the woods, aside from the hallow shell of her home- but I knew she wasn't coming back. The wilted flowers in her garden said as much. Even the animals in the forest seemed to know. Birds that were normally chirping were silent, and the foxes I had come to know had vanished. I trudged home with tears running down my face, wondering if I had just dreamed up the whole thing over the years. \n\n\nBut I hadn't. In the days before she died, she appeared more and more as if she were truly an old woman, telling me of the days to come. She told me there would be challenges to keeping life sacred, and they might come for me next. I still had time to back out if I wanted, and I didn't have to keep the promise I had made to her years before. She asked if I was willing to accept her responsibilities once she was gone. I smiled at her with sadness in my heart. Instead of speaking, I responded by placing a single flower in her hair. \n\n\nMy friend is gone now, and I still feel her absence in my forest home. Sometimes I'll take a walk down to the river where I first met her and catch a glimpse of my reflection in the water. Although I am only in my mid-thirties, my hair has turned a striking shade of silvery-gray-- a sweet reminder of our time together as friends. The same flowers I used to tend to in her garden have creeped up around every side of my home as well, reminding me of her lingering presence. I guess I caught her green thumb. \n\n\nI'm not exactly sure what she had meant by carrying on her responsibilities and legacy, but I try to live as Opal would have wanted me to. I care for her animals, and I keep her flowers around my home healthy, as she would have liked. Although it seems silly, sometimes I think of myself as the new witch of the forest. If I focus hard enough, I can make the plants move, or make the sun shine a bit more. I'm not her, and I never will be. Most likely, it's all just my imagination. But my time with my magical friend has definitely had an impact on me-- and I'll do whatever it takes to protect life as she would have. "
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[WP] Firefighters are burning down buildings, lawyers are commiting crimes, teachers are vandalising school. Is opposite day.
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"\"Firefighters are burning the city!\n\nLawyers are committing crimes!\n\nTeachers are vandalising schools!\n\nCuz' it's the opposite day!\"\n\nThat's the first thing I saw on TV\n\nLooks like the reporter got it wrong\n\nHe was still doing his thing\n\nOh wait, he's the janitor\n\nOk let me get undressed\n\nGet unready for work\n\nI need some junk\n\nLet's go to the grocery store\n\nI just went butt naked\n\nPicked a couple stuff\n\nI didn't pay for it\n\nYou're not supposed to\n\nI wonder what the police do this day\n\nDo they stole?\n\nWhat about bad guys?\n\nDo they pay for stuff?\n\nHonestly tho\n\nOpposite day it's just an excuse\n\nA day to not work\n\nTo commit crimes and such\n\nAnd it's kinda fun I gotta admit\n\nBut tomorrow's a normal day and we have to clean\n\nBut let me hate the rest of today\n\nAt the end, is the opposite day"
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[WP] You’re friends with the school weirdo, Joey. One day in science class your teacher is instructing about light levels. To display infrared he calls on you to put on some night vision goggles. To your surprise, Joey does not glow like the rest.
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"I've known Joey for as long as I can remember, she was always the first mate to my Captain, the Second Pilot to my air plane, the cop to my robber. Though, through the years I've noticed that Joey, suffers from a bit of a social ineptness. She's quiet and let's her thoughts stew in her head to the point that it sometimes boils over and she acts out. For the most part, it doesn't get us into trouble, however, sometimes classmates may have had literal sand in their sandwiches.\n\nBecause of this, we've never been the popular kids but, we always had each other. For me personally, I guess it's hard to make other friends when your friends with the 'weird kid' in class but I don't fault her. We grew up together and admittedly she's helped me through a lot, like during the time that my parents were divorcing. She'd stay with me for hours and just listen to me cry or just hold me. \n\nMy parents have tried to separate us, saying that she isn't a 'good example' and that I should be 'old enough to make new friends.' But I digress, how can Joey not be a good example when, she's the only example of a good friend that I've ever had? \n\nToday we're in science class, learning about light and light rays, I don't know, I was never good at it like Joey is. She always knows the answers to everything, she's always been wise beyond her years. \n\nThe teacher calls upon me to put on the night vision goggles which, is pretty cool. When I put them on my first reaction is to seek my friend in the sea of students but, when I get to our desks, they're empty. I take the goggles off and I see Joey in the flesh, she waves at me and gives me a wink. I put the goggles back on my head and she's not there, I repeat this once, then twice and each time she's not there, it feels like the most horrific magic trick in existence. \n\nThe teacher finally asks me to recall the images that I saw and how everyone looked, I don't dare retell what just happened. \n\nI take my seat next to Joey again and for a long time I just stare at her. \n\n'Joey, Joey, I didn't see you.'\n\nI hear someone shift in their seat. \n\n'What?'\n\nI turn to Foreman who sits in front of us, who's mostly ignored us for the better part of a year. \n\n'I wasn't talking to you, Foreman.'\n\n'Oh, were you talking to \"Joey\"?' \n\nWhat the hell is his problem? I glare at him until he turns around to the front. \n\n'Psh, weirdo.'\n\nMy attention goes back to Joey who's being uncharacteristically studious however, upon closer inspection of her notebook, I see that she's just writing unintelligible gibberish. I know she's ignoring me and that she knows what I saw or, didn't see. \n\n'Joey, why couldn't I see you?'\n\nAfter a moments hesitation she puts her pen down and then looks at me sadly. She looks at me longingly, as if trying to remember everything about my face, as if trying to convey memories of everything that we've been through in one look. She's always been quiet but dammit, I just want to tell her that this is not the time. \n\n She stops staring at me and wordlessly, she packs her belongings, stands up and walks toward the door. \n\nWhen she reaches it, she casts one last glance through me, like as if she doesn't see me anymore. \n\nShe opens the door and she walks through it.\nNo-one stops her. \n\nI look around the class to see if anyone's noticed her disappearance but the lesson continues.\n\nA few minutes later the teacher stops his tirade. \n\n'This damn building, will someone close the door? It's letting all the heat out.'\n\n"
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[WP] You've been studying the pyramids for nearly 20 years. One day you place your hand on a stone block and feel a vibration. After closer examination, you dust off the block to reveal a touch screen with symbols flashing across it.
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"They approached in the black of night, from the north.\n\nThe helicopter flew under 30 meters off the ground, weaving in between any taller buildings, careful to stay west of the Nile. \n\nIt was a moonless, chill night, with visibility for kilometers, but there were no artificial lights as far as the eye could see. Giza and the surrounding area had been evacuated as completely as possible. Only the fiery red pit, and the brilliant blue beams emanating from the great pyramids lit up the empty sky. \n\nThose blue beams appeared in the immediate aftermath of the cataclysm. During the daylight hours they shut down completely, only to reappear at night. So far, four nights had passed this way.\n\n Robotic and manned flights were carried out over the remains of Cairo, in search of a target. It was widely assumed that the \"Behemoth\" was responsible for the devastating assault. The underground titan was first encountered months earlier by an American special forces team in [tunnels bored under the Siberian tundra.](https://www.reddit.com/r/LFTM/comments/7xqih7/beneath_part_3_the_commander/) It had not been seen since. \n\nBut flyovers of the pit that used to be Cairo revealed nothing but a gargantuan hole, filled in parts by fresh spurts of lava, which lent it an otherworldly glow. \n\nAnalysis of the blue beams emanating from the pyramids revealed intense electro-magnetic radiation, across the entire EM spectrum. More disconcerting, observations from space confirmed the blue beam's shifted as necessary to maintain a consistent target: Ganymede, Jupiter's largest moon. No information could otherwise be derived from the beams, and drones sent into them failed immediately from the intense radiation. \n\nIn the 24 hours following the assault, half tje nuclear weapons on Earth were pointed at Cairo, ready to obliterate the underground monster. But finding n target to destroy, the NATO states decided upon a different path. \n\nDaytime reconnaisance was carried out on day 2. The day team discovered nothing of any significance in the pyramids. During the day the ancient structures returned to normal, by all appearrances. \n\nOn day 4, a nighttime mission was sent. The primary team was Russian. Russia bid hard for the position, making it a pre-requisite for their nuclear cooperation. Six Spetnaz, crammed into a Kamov Ka-50 \"Black Shark\" stealth helicopter, retrofitted without weapons for maximum speed, were to reconnoiter the pyramids, approach as close as possible, and report back.\n\nIn the situation room, the President of the United States watched a live feed of each soldier's vision. All around the world military leaders would be doing the same.\n\nCommander Pell had not slept since Cairo. He sat beside the President, and the rest of his war time staff, their eyes glued to the screens. \"T-minus 1 minute until arrival.\" Commander Pell's voice was haggard, but still bore a tone of command. The rest of the room didn't say a word. \"Enabling audio.\"\n\nThe room filled with the muffled blare of helicopter engines and the steady breathing of the six Russian soldiers. On the lower left screen one of the soldiers could be seen looking at the pilot, who spoke through the com system.\n\n> Dvadtsat' sekund.\n\nA level headed man's voice came over the speaker system in english.\n\n> 20 seconds.\n\nThe other soldiers nodded. The engines could be heard slowing down, beating less frequently on the wind, until at last all six screens shook with a violent tremor. They were on the ground.\n\n> Davai!\n\nAgain the english speaker dubbed over what was said.\n\n> Come on!\n\nAll six men watched the exit hatch from slightly different angles in the dark, green lit interior of the still buzzing helicopter. One man, a superiors officer, reached over, opened the hatch, and jumped onto the ground, assault rifle poised. One by one, each man's video feed showed him exiting the helicopter, stepping out onto the sandy desert, awash in bright blue light, and looking around for any enemy contacts - whatsoever the \"enemy\" might be. \n\nInvariably, each man stopped for a time and stared up at the now very close Pyramids, following the unbroken blue beams upwards, beyond the night sky. \n\nThe first man, the one who opened the hatch, gave a hand signal, and the other six fell in behind him. He led the way, walking in a brisk crouch toward the base of Khufu's pyramid, the tallest of the three. Two men in the middle of the line followed apace, each looking, weapons raised, in a different direction - while the last two men followed almost completely backwards, scanning the rear with their rifles. Slowly, surely, they approached the great pyramids.\n\nCommander Pell's hands began to sweat. His gaze was fixed on the video feed of the lead soldier, whose frontal approach displayed the pyramids steadily growing in size, the beams towering overhead. \n\nSoon, they were less than 20 meters away from the base of the pyramid of Khufu. The lead soldier stopped his unit and kneeled down to use his radio. The english translation was overlayed on top.\n\n> The base of the structure appears clear. Permission to proceed?\n\nRussian high command gave the pre-agreed upon order to proceed. Most eventualities had been planned out in advance, including the possibility of the whole operation going FUBAR at any time. \n\nThe lead soldier double clicked his radio in acknowledgement and the chain of men continued forward, through the dusty night, towards the insane display ahead of them.\n\nIt was clear now where the blue light began and ended. Although the beams spread a sheen of blue for miles in every direction, up close to the base of the structures, the video showed a distinct line, almost near the very top of each pyramid, above which the beams were emanating. Small bits of stone and rock could be seen floating around the edges of the beam, silhouetted in the intense blue light.\n\nThe men were not 7 meters away at this point. The base of Khufu's pyramid could be seen clearly - the giant stone bricks, taller than a man and wider than an elephant, loomed just nearby the the lead soldier. But, as the final 3 meters was bridged, the brick's appearance subtly changed. They bore almost runic markings on their sides, glowing in the same blue as the beams themselves, only slightly dampened. \n\nPell did not recognize the markings, though he assumed they must be hyroglyphs.\n\n> Are you copying this?\n\nThe soldier received his double click affirmation on the radio and continued around the base of the pyramid toward the entrance. Each video screen swiped back and forth in a controlled arc, the totality of those arcs amounting to a 360 degree field of vision. 500 yards away, the stealth helicopter could be seen in a couple of the men's feeds, its propellers still turning, warmed up and ready to leave. \n\nSlowly, the men made their way around the base, until they arrived at the entrance to the Great Pyramid of Khufu. The triangular stone entrance glowed brighter than the base stones and the men approached it, one of them removing a geiger counter from his pack. The device only clicked sporadically, indicating a surprising paucity of free high energy radiation. \n\nAt the foot of the entrance, the lead soldier set two of his men in a guard position with a gesture, and the remaining four entered the bright blue archway. One of the men looked up right before entering, and raging above him was the unbroken beam of light, seemingly infinite in its race to the stars. \n\nNow they were inside. Four video feeds depicted the walls glowing vibrantly. They came to a fork, and the team split up, two men going one way, and two the other. One path appeared to lead upward and another downward. \n\nThe lead soldier took the upward path, and Pell remained fixated on his video feed. Pell noticef a detail which, no doubt, the soldier had also noticed - a particularly vibrant line of blue light along the corner of the wall, on one side of the hallway. \n\n******\n\n#### The second half of this story is posted right below - it was too long for one comment.\n\n\n*********\n\n## This is Part 5 of a larger series called BENEATH. The other 4 parts can be found at\n\n# r/LFTM"
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[WP] Gordon Ramsay became the new Grim Reaper.
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"\"You call that a car crash!\" The irate man screamed in my face, I wasn't quite clear on where he'd come from. Everything had happened so fast. I'd been driving home on the Davison when that truck had cut me off from that on ramp, I'd tried to swerve.... but then what?\n\n\"You wrapped your car around a tree, asshole. Hello? You there David? No, of course you're not. You don't give a fuck about this, just like you didn't give a fuck about your wife. Get out! Get the fuck out!\" \n\nThe apparition swung an arm at me, and I finally saw the blade in his hand. I barely had time to scream before the wicked looking kitchen knife took me in the neck and the world faded to black.\n\n------------------------------------------\n\n\"I'm so sick of this, worse than that carvery chicken in Liverpool.\" I looked down on the poor kid broken and bleeding on the ground, \"Who let this happen to you? I should be taking them, not you.\" I cut the boy's neck and let him pass on peacefully into the afterlife, refusing to shed a tear for him while he might see, but quickly wiping my eyes after he'd passed. \n\nI stood angrily to my feet, and my voice shook with barely controlled rage as I bellowed my anger, \"Blue team!\"\n\n\"Yes chef?\" The chorus of my undead servitors was instantaneous. It hadn't always been that way, but I'd been doing this job a while and there weren't as many of them anymore.\n\n\"Who the fuck killed that boy?\"\n\nNo answer. Always so afraid to take a risk, that fear was how you ended up with overcooked wellington. \"Blue team! Who the *fuck* killed that boy?\"\n\n\"Alexander Wilmington, sir. Age 37, Salisbury. He broke his back with a baseball bat. Domestic dispute with the boy's mother.\"\n\n\"Well who the fuck forgot to mention that to me?\" I shook my head, not important. There were fresher arctic char to sear. Within a blink I was standing outside of Salisbury cathedral, wiling away the afternoon in the English countryside. I decided to pick up lunch before meeting Mr. Wilmington. \n\nThat was a mistake. \n\nThe chicken had been dry, the beef undercooked, the greans irretrievably burned, and the yorkshire pudding tasted like it had been mixed with the contents of a yorkshire sewer. The coke had been okay though, but correctly mixing premade syrup and some carbonated water wasn't terribly impressive. The world had lost a chef for that insult of a dish, and nearly a restaurant manager as well. \n\nNo, I found myself back leaning against the church again at sunset. Honing the blade of my chef's knife as I waited for Mr. Wilmington to approach. I'd long since grown out of asking for names or giving people a chance to talk there way out of elimination. Hell's Kitchen was no place for someone who killed little boys. "
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[WP] You came across an ancient scroll that taught you the language of every animal on earth, including some plants. This has made you a very effective private investigator.
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"It was supposed to be just another case, but isn't that always how these things go? A normal day at the normal job until suddenly things go completely upside down. \n\nThe day things went upside down for me was July 8th, 1993 and the time was just after noon. Let's just make it high noon as they used to say in the western pulp fics you could get for a quarter at the local newspaper rack. High noon and my target at the time was a rabid raccoon that I had cornered at the end of a dead-end alley off McCall Avenue. Both of us were sweating, me from the Florida heat and him from the mad virus brewing inside.\n\nDid I feel bad for the sucker? For sure, even exterminators have some empathy. But it was either him or I and my tombstone was not going to read *Rick Moss: Ravaged by a Raccoon*. So I lofted my stun gun in right hand, my trusty control pole in the left, and I stepped forward.\n\nBut something had changed that day. Earlier that morning I was cleaning out my Uncle Marty's (God rest his soul) storage unit #5 (yes, the guy was a hoarder), when I came across an ancient looking papyrus. \n\nThe paper was so thin and delicate, I couldn't believe it didn't just fall apart in my hands. And the smell, it was of aged leather with a hint or roses or rosemary or something flowery if you get the picture. So naturally, I had to untie the ribbon bunching the scroll up. \n\nThe ancient paper unfurled at my touch and the writing inside glowed a bright, sinister red. I can't remember the words, but I remember reading them out loud. I felt a brilliant flash in my brain and the chill of goosebumps running across every inch of flesh. Then, just as the last word from my mouth died away, the papyrus crumbled and I got a phone call for the raccoon job.\n\nIt was by no means my first rabid case, nor even my first rabid raccoon case. I was ready for it, every muscle in my body tense and ready for the inevitable fight as I inched ever closer towards the cornered creature. \n\nBut when I stood just ten feet away from his snarling snout, something unexpected happened. The raccoon talked. \n\n\"The madness had me man,\" the creature gasped, it's drool flinging. \"You gotta tell me clan, I'm sorry. It wasn't my fault.\"\n\nI nearly tripped, \"Are you... how can you talk?\"\n\n\"I knew you could hear me.\" The animal shook its head and drool flung everywhere. \"Look, I know you gotta kill me, man. It's the best thing for everyone. But promise me,\" the raccoon's jaw was starting to lock up, \"you gotta take down the one... who... did this....\"\n\nI stepped closer, opening up the loop at the end of my pole just a bit wider. \"What do you mean who?\"\n\n\"At the edge of town. There's a cave... kill the source... kill me...\"\n\nThose were the last words the raccoon ever said. The madness of rabies had overtaken him and he jumped at me. But like I said, this wasn't my first rodeo. I had him caught on the loop and, with the stun gun set to kill, had him out of his misery in a matter of minutes.\n\nBut not before he had set me onto my first case. I would later go down to that cave at the edge of town and wage a verifiable war against the bat masses that had been infecting animals everywhere with the rabies virus.\n\nI don't know how it happened, but whatever was in that scroll, whatever it had said had changed something in my brain so that I could understand animals. That sweltering July afternoon marked the end of my days as an official exterminator and began my career as an animal PI and vegetarian. A lucrative living but I can't say I don't miss the old days. \n\nNow, if you'll excuse me, I've got a prolific tomcat to find and fix. \n"
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(Fun fact for those who don't know: the two-word CAPTCHA system was designed to help Google Books transcribe documents. One of the creators did a [16 minute TED talk about it](https://www.ted.com/talks/luis_von_ahn_massive_scale_online_collaboration).)
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[WP] Almost all jobs have been automated by artificial intelligence, and human beings can only make a living by making AI more effective. While completing a CAPTCHA, you discover a cry for help.
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"I tracked The Alpha for months, tracing its endless journey around the city with ancient GPS gear. I could hear its engine booming through the abandoned skyscraper canyons as it zoomed along at 45 MPH, the exact posted speed limit (back when the city still had people in it). \n\nStanding on top of a dumpster, I placed a 1980s snowmobile helmet with a dark smoke face shield on my head. Then, I strapped four mannequin arms to my back. The top two arms each held aloft elk antlers. The bottom pair of arms hung down and swayed as I moved. \n\nI draped a black fur blanket to cover my body and strapped on a pair of seven-foot-tall stilts--I had created them with ski boots and construction scaffolding. Finally, I hunched forward and grabbed two other metal stilts I used as braces.\n\nWearing my enormous contraption, shambled out of the alley like an unholy four-legged man-beast-elk hybrid, looking as much like a monster I saw once in a horror movie back in the good old days. I clattered directly into the path of speeding Alpha. My hands shook, but I moved back and forth--doing my best impression of a satanic monster.\n\nThe Alpha crested the hill. The self-driving Google car had traveled these empty streets for decades, coasting at a perfect 45-miles-per-hour, powered by solar panels strapped to its roof and repaired by on board service drones. \n\nI continued my unholy dance, refusing to move as the automated vehicle approached. I closed my eyes.\n\nThe electric car screeched to a perfect stop. The stench of burning rubber wafted through the air. I teetered on my stilts. \n\n“Help me!” said the self-driving car, using the simpering voice of a 2016-era Google Assistant, talking the way AI used to talk when it still needed to impress human beings. “Please help me understand what just happened.”\n\nThe Alpha was the late 21st-century equivalent of a CAPTCHA, a sneaky way to get humans to do work for an algorithm. \n\nTo prevent fraud, old fashioned websites would use CAPTCHA to check if a real human was trying to log into a site. One brilliant engineer got the idea that the algorithm could perform two functions: security AND helping the algorithm learn how to read. When Google’s massive AI scanned a book for information, it would sometimes have trouble identifying a particular word. It would feed these tricky words back to a human being through a CAPTCHA prompt. \n\nWhile completing this simple task, the human would also teach the algorithm how to read an unfamiliar word. Every CAPTCHA taught an algorithm something new. We taught the machines that replaced us.\n\nSelf-driving cars were even trickier. Every day, the algorithms driving our cars would meet some novel situation: an overturned watermelon truck, a police roadblock, or a kid on a tricycle. So Google released the Alphas, a fleet of self-driving cars that traveled the roads looking for problems that the algorithm couldn't handle.\n\nWhenever a brave pedestrian surprised the algorithm with some new occurrence, the car would give them a single bitcoin. In the early 21st-century, this was a silly game that teenagers played to earn some extra money. They would stage enormous fake accidents, all trying to surprise the algorithm and get the whole adventure on video. \n\n“Help me! Please help me understand what just happened!” the Alpha car would ask foolhardy teens in those viral videos when kids managed to surprise the CAPTCHA cars. But pretty soon, the videos stopped coming. It was impossible to fool a Google self-driving car. We had done all the hard work by answering these real-life CAPTCHA questions—we had prepared the algorithm for almost every surprise. \n\nA few years later, most of our jobs got automated and our already unfairly distributed resources became extremely unfairly distributed. Civilization collapsed a few months later, but the rich men who created the tech lived in heavily guarded city-states with bitcoin economies. \n\nThe Alpha fleet thinned out, but the remaining Alphas still “carried” enough bitcoin to feed millions of hungry people. But fooling the Alpha was the only way to get the money. \n\n“Help me! Please help me understand what just happened!” repeated the Alpha. I dropped my elaborate cosplay outfit and jumped down to street level. \n\n“Hello!” I yelled, in case it couldn’t hear me after all these years with human contact. “You have just encountered a human being dressed up like the hell beast monster from the 2018 horror movie, The Ritual. The monster skillfully combined...\"\n\n“The movie has been logged,” interrupted the Alpha. “Thank you for your service.” \n\nA lead blast shield lifted at the front of the car, and a single fake gold coin tinkled to the concrete. It was a worthless souvenir, but the car had already scanned me and transferred my real treasure within the block chain. One bitcoin would be enough to buy a ticket into one of the city-states owned by one of the giant corporations. \n\n“One bitcoin has been attributed to your account, Zackary Blue. Have a good day,” said the Alpha as it drove away. The vehicle’s cheerful voice took me back to a simpler time, back when artificial intelligences created by barely regulated corporations were still learning. Back when they still needed human input to get smarter. \n\nShe didn't need our help anymore.\n"
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[WP] At a young age, you discovered your latent magical talent; shortly after, your family is slain and you are taken under the Court mage's wing.
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"\"i dont think i can do that...\"\n\n\"well, if you dont, youll die.\"\n\nnicolas flamel is the ONE mage i DID NOT want to be following. it is well known that he is the worst of them. he only has the most basic form of majik: alchemy. i mean, dont get me wrong, alchemy is all-powerful. just, basic. there are no long lasting effects with alchemy. if you want an effect to last, you have to keep brewing it. these things take time so you have to have ready made potions brewed all the time. in essence, i am his pack-horse.\n\n\"boy! get over here! my nose isnt what it used to be! smell this!\"\n\nmagical ability my butt! when i found out that i could smell the chemical composition of any object and determine what effect it would have on the body, i was hoping to be taken in by John Dee, Aleister Crowley, Merlin, someone with PRESTIGE. not my lot in life though. they all rejected me. said my powers werent strong enough. then, on my way home from majik school, i find out my mother, father, and older sister were poisoned. right after, an ALCHEMIST wants to take me in?! 'suspicious', is not the word that best describes how im feeling right now.\n\n\"this is great in combination with those flowers, and will help improve your digestion.\"\n\n\"can you smell it yet, boy?\"\n\n\"NO! we have been out here for a whole lunar month! living in the dirt! ive been carrying and smelling this whole time! WHAT AM I SUPPOSED TO BE SMELLING?!?!\"\n\n\"light.\"\n\n\"what?\"\n\n\"if you cannot smell light by now, then you will never understand why i am the most powerful court mage our queen has. why she trusts me the most. why she allows me the freedom she doesnt allow the others.\"\n\n\"i always thought it was because she didnt want you around because it seems like you never shower.\"\n\n\"boy, a non-majik being keeping a majik being close is not because they trust them. you will learn that one day. if you live that long. now, can you smell it?\"\n\n\"what, your bo?\"\n\n\"no smart talk. try to smell it before it smells us.\"\n\n\"wait, light can smell us?\"\n\n\"no boy! but, the dragon can. and, if you cant smell it before it smells you, then you wont know what to use to hide yourself so you dont get burned to ash before you can even see it.\""
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[WP] Write a story in the villain's point of view
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"**S**OURCE - STEP VII\n_______________\n\n\n[...]\n\nNYPD. And why pity? Cops cars defile. The full scope scars defy, defibrillating heart of the city, the bruises shattered into open wounds. Killing NY also means killing cops, which you rarely get to do, not that you can't get anything you wish for.\n\nYou aim for nearest tire, front of the line, deviating car from course, you are **S**ource, you are the cause of percussion, no cushioning this blow.\n\nCar hits car. Putting away the gun, for a short period. You walk on. \n\n_\n\nNY is No/Yes, alternating traffic light (though you just made traffic heavy) amounting to a maybe. NY is No/Yes while you are Never, there is no a-voiding your emptying of the cup this city forms.\n\n_\n\nNext corner, taxi light. Waiting for siren to unfold the *riens*. Cops car turns corner, cornered without knowing. You walk towards it. Middle-of-the-road walk, pulling gun out. Aiming and shooting through front glass. Glacier of the driver's face turned cold by the weight of death, the rush of adrenaline before he got what was coming no match for the speed of your determination, other cop barely got time to get surprised at how easily your bullet crossed window. Engine and the voice of siren the only thing still living in this wailing cubicle.\n\n_\n\nHailing taxi with barrel and the promise of bullet is easy. You still pay for the ride. You got plenty of cash [[See **S**ource, Step VI](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/comments/825bz5/wp_youre_having_dinner_with_a_serial_killer/dv898iu/)].\n\n_\n\nYou are **S**ource. This drive which is hard drive won't allow for slowing down. \n\n"
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[WP] The protagonist of this story is the most powerful entity you can imagine, and it's grown bored.
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"She was sitting but also standing, awake but also asleep, here but also nowhere. The Mother leaned forward, resting her elbows on a table that did not exist, and stared down at the galaxy below her. They were several light-years above it, just above the halo of loose stars that did not sit within the plane of the spiral. The perfect position to view the disk below them. Without anything to compare it to for context, it seemed like you could just about reach out and touch it. That's if you were looking with only your eyes.\n\n*Do you know who I am?*\n\nStaring into space, she reached out and flicked her finger half-heartedly. Half a universe away, an elliptical galaxy flickered out of existence, then back, transplanted a little over 30 million light years across the void. She sensed a ripple of discontent. A voice reached her from across the paradox table.\n\"Ah crap... should have expected that\"\n\n*I have crushed armies, levelled castles and challenged monsters that you would scream at the sight of*\n\nHer companion did not look like anything. That was true even before he entered this place where time and space failed to behave themselves. Something closer to a sentient cloud of gas, she only knew he was present because she knew more or less everything.\n\n*Ha! A mighty blow. But not enough! Die!*\n\n\"Is that checkmate then?\" She asked him with a smile. The arrangement of galaxies in the cluster they had been playing with was stacked on her side, if he didn’t concede the game now, he was only looking at a drawn-out loss instead of a quick one.\n\n*You are a mighty foe, but before me, the lord of all that exists, you are but…*\n\nHe gave the quasi-pseudo-sixth-dimensional-sentient-cloud equivalent of a sigh and the Mother felt the universe ripple as a little over eight thousand galaxies shifted across the cosmos to where they had been before they started the game. A reset for the chessboard they were using. Another win.\n\n*A final clash then. This will decide it!*\n\nThe smile ran away from the Mother’s face. What kind of grandstanding nonsense was that boy up to? Even as she stood/sat here in non-space, she was also in a physical body on a vibrant world in the galaxy below. She could see the clash between titans. Oh, good for him, her son had found a worthy opponent at last. She had often wondered if she had taught him a little too well. She wouldn’t want him to lose all the fun of competition she could no longer have.\n\n“Interested in another game? If your ego can take another loss that is”. The Mother smirked at the entity across from her. Her smirk grew bigger when she felt him bristling at the challenge.\n“You only win *most* of the time Mother, this time I will have you!” He was almost gleeful as he exerted his will to shift a galaxy across the cosmos, starting a new game.\n\nOn a green and blue planet orbiting an ‘F’ type yellow dwarf star, a duel between mighty warriors was reaching its peak. Magic swirled around their weapons, the earth around them was disturbed for hundreds of metres in every direction by off target swings containing masses of destructive power. Companions of her son’s new-found rival stood off to the side, one of them keeping watch on her as she calmly sat on a rock, sipping tea from a china cup. The watchdog looked somewhat confused. Where did she get that from? She wore only a simple white robe of a strange, thin material with a tortoise shell broch in her hair and a simple curved sword at her waist. A sword that he was now holding to insure she wouldn’t interfere with the fight. \nThe combatants readied for a final charge, gathering the entirety of their remaining magic for a single blow using their greatest skills. Her son had his ability, what had he called it? God blow? Titan crusher? Something like that. It was aimed at disrupting the matter it impacted on, ripping it apart at the molecules. His rival had some kind of space warping ability which made his morningstar unbelievably dense for a fraction of a second. It would be a contest of whose ability superseded the other. Could her son cut a weapon whose atoms were not behaving as they should? One or both would probably die here.\n\nHmm, she mused in the fraction of a second before the struck. Can’t have that.\n\nThe clash of the two weapons should have come with a rolling wave of energy that knocked every awestruck onlooker off their feet. Instead there was a dull thud like a giant blanket being struck. Mother stood between the two fighters, a slender hand reached out to each side. She had caught both weapons barehanded. Her elbows slightly bent, no sign of exertion whatsoever. The sudden silence was broken only by the sound of the teacup she had been using shattering on the rock she had been sitting on. The sound made her watchdog jump as he turned mutely to see the broken pieces. He jumped again when he realised that the sword he had been holding had disappeared without him even noticing and reappeared at Mother’s side.\n\n“That’s quite enough of that” she said as her son lowered his sword. “Don’t want to go killing yourselves now, it’s rare you find a challenge like that at your level.” \nThe rival still had his morningstar up, the end sitting in the Mother’s casually out stretched hand. His mouth was open, any questions he might ask lost to shock. He wasn’t the only one. The companions were all staring wordlessly, unable to process what had just happened. For his part, her son was sheathing his blade like a child who had just been told playtime was over. Unlike the others, he knew how pointless it was to argue, when the Mother decided a fight was over, the fight was over. The two of them ignored the rest as they walked off. Half a universe away, another galaxy flickered out of existence only to rematerialize elsewhere. The Mother smiled to herself.\n\n*I win again*"
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[WP] Everyone has a string attached to them. Not physically, but metaphorically. The string twists and turns through life, your soulmate is on the other end. But, what happens when after an accident, you can see everyone's string?
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"I could see them, the threads, weaving together the cloth of life. It wrapped us in a cocoon, like we did with the threads we could touch, from birth to death they made us feel comfortable. They accompanied us, light as a feather, a warm breath would sway them like the crest of a wave. And the only thing which stopped them was cold death. Unraveling in a sea of red. Straight. Afraid.\n\nThey made me do things, the threads. I had to free them from their caged form. Sometimes caught in an iris, the thin wisps drawn from center to boundary. This time I discovered a web of electricity, and interwoven by thoughts and dreams I could see it in pieces, tied back together as one single strand.\n\nThey lead the path of every person, the path of time caught in space. Not straight enough, I had to straighten them. I had to fix the perturbations, change the dimension. Time should not preserve the path embedded in space, it should travel along the string. The white string, restricting me. I was bound by the string. I could feel the cocoon hatch. I could hear the wave break in the distance, my arms pulled at the string but they could not move. My fingers could feel the frayed edge at my wrist. Jacket.\n",
"It was a difficult thing for me to accept. I remember waking up in the hospital bed and everything looked *different* somehow. I couldn’t put my finger on it at first - I thought it must be the morphine, or whatever they were pumping me full of. \n\nAfter a few weeks, I finally realized what was off. Above each person’s head, a thin, glimmering string. Almost like a spider’s web, these strings stretched to the sky. *Where do they go?* I wondered.\n\nI finally realized what the strings meant on my way out of the hospital. I had become used to them by this point, and considered them to be just a trick of the mind due to hitting my head in the accident. As I was wheeled to the front doors by my father, I saw my first connection.\n\nA door open to a room on the unit. In the bed, a man, or what was left of him. He was so pale, so emaciated. He was dying.\n\nBeside him sat a woman. His wife? One of her hands grasped his; the other to her mouth, stifling her sobs. Above their heads, the shortest strings I had seen yet... because they shared a string. Just as long as they were far apart, their string glistened like the tears on the woman’s face. It was at that moment I realized what the strings represented.\n\nThe string tied people to their soulmate.\n\nThe realization left me feeling like I’d been punched in the gut, knowing this woman was losing her soulmate. It was startling. \n\nIt got worse as time went on. More terrible realizations came. When I got home, seeing that my parents weren’t connected, that was just about the worst of it. It took me a while to recover from that. Almost as bad was seeing friends, neighbours, family members... their strings. Mr. Duncan down the street, his string connected to Mrs. Lewis next door. Couples in the supermarket who didn’t connect. Driving by weddings, and seeing that the newly weds didn’t connect. Widows and widowers at the cemetery, the string on their heads linked to the grave they kneeled at. It was upsetting.\n\nSeeing those who did connect almost made up for all the sadness. Grandma and Grandpa connected to each other. My friend Brian and his new girlfriend, Anna, who he’d known since kindergarten - they connected. After time, even seeing Dad connected to Ms. Larson at the bakery brought a little joy.\n\nAll of this was nothing to me, eventually. I tried intercepting a few times, playing matchmaker for those whose strings connected. Most people rolled their eyes when I told them they’d be a good match. They always thanked me later and asked me how I was so good at setting people up together, but always remained single. I laughed, but there was a reason. \n\nThe hardest pill to swallow - the worst thing of all - was every time I looked in a mirror, a reflective surface, anything... I was reminded that I did not have a string above my head. ",
"Jake set his drink down and shook his head. \"I don't know how youve been doing it, bro. Ever since the acc-\" He paused. \"Sorry.\" \n\nI shook my head, forcing a smile onto my face. \"It's cool. Finish what you were saying.\"\n\n\"Nah, I was just saying, ever since the accident, you've been matching people up left and right. Brad and Julie? I never thought they'd go together. But ever since you put them together, they just seem...perfect. Like, soulmates or something\" He grinned and leaned forward on the table. \"Everyone on campus has secretly been calling you 'the Matchmaker' and they've been trying to figure out how you do it. But *my* question to you is...when are you going to hook me up with *my* soulmate?\"\n\nI laughed. \"Whenever I see her. *If* I ever see her, that is. As much as *you* like to sleep around...what makes you so sure you even have one?\" \n\n\"Yeah, yeah.\" He laughed back. \"Whatever. There's somebody out there for everybody, you jerk.\"\n\n\"Hey, hey!\" Mom interrupted, entering the room. \"Well, isn't *this* a pleasant surprise. It would have been nice of you to call before dropping by.\"\n\nJake said, \"Hey, Ms. Porter.\"\n\n\"Hey, Mom.\" I stood up and went to hug her. While doing so, I whispered, \"Are you alright?\"\n\nShe sighed. \"I still miss him...\"\n\n\"So do I.\"\n\nJake cleared his throat quietly, and we broke apart.\n\n\"We'll talk later,\" she promised.\n\nI nodded.\n\n\"I'll see you boys later,\" Mom said, heading for the door in her jogging attire. \"There's food in the fridge. Help yourself.\"\n\nThe door closed. But before it did, I saw...\n\nI stood there for several moments until I noticed Jake snapping his fingers in my face. He looked worried as he said, \"Dude, you okay? You were just standing there while I called your name for, like, seven minutes. I was about to drive you to the hospital. What happened?\"\n\nI rubbed my face. \"Ah...nothing. Just...thinking about something.\"\n\n\"Yeah, well...don't do that again.\" He walked off to the fridge. \n\nEveryone has a string attached to them. I can see these strings. And on the other end of that string is a person's soulmate.\n\nJake had a string. It was on the floor, stretching out underneath the front door to someone out there in the world. The person he was supposed to be with for the rest of my life. And that person...\n\n...was my Mom.\n\n\n\n\n\n"
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[WP] Memory is stored in the blood. You get into an accident and lose a great amount of blood. You get a blood transfution but the doctor by accident gives you the blood that was meant for a rich patient.
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"I wake up to the sound of my alarm clock hammering at my eardrum, but it is not all bad because I can hear birds singing outside. I can still hardly believe that this scrawny body is mine, that this body has been living this same life and sleeping in this broken bed for years. Getting myself out of bed was harder than making that trade deal with the Chinese, but I get it done. My cold feet ich form the worn out carpet as I walk to the kitchen.\n\nI look around and notice that the dishes are still sitting in the sink laughing at me with their dirty pasta sauce smile.\n\n\"You have to learn to take care of yourself\", the voice of my mother feels very real in my memory. My actual mom that is, not my biological one. I am pretty sure my biological mom died doing crack or something, sometimes I can still smell it on my clothing. \n\nAn ironic though comes to my mind, In a world where all the blood is labelled doctors do not make mistakes. And nobody wants to pay for the tests that would prove that this blood got injected into the wrong person, not when that person had no money anyway. \n\nAs I put my dollar store coffee into the microwave an Idea forms in my head. By the time the microwave is beeping to signal the end of its usefulness, I am already outside. Witch quick strides I walk to the closest public library, only a block away. The idea forming in my head.\n\nAfter I had tried for the first time to access MY bank account, the one from the millionaire that now has a cocaine addict in it, they told me never to try again. I know that if I did they would send my security team to take care of business, I had written that letter myself. But if I took the money to prove who I really am, then they were powerless. They would have to turn everything back. I would be me again!\n\nI walked into the library and got greeted by ugly librarian behind the front desk. I quickly walked over to the computer, it took me only minutes to get into the account, it was, after all, mine. I looked around me one last time to check the library was empty, and it was. I transferred two million dollars, hardly change but enough for my purposes. I pulled the power cable from the computer and sprinted to the ATM across the road. As I was typing in my code I heard a voice from down the street. \n\n\"Stop that sir, we know what you are doing and who you are stealing from. STOP NOW AND YOU MIGHT WALK AWAY WITH A PRISON SENTENCE\". \n\nI did not hesitate, I sprinted away from the man. In my blind panic not to get caught I did not see his black car driving down the road until it hit me. \n\nThanks for reading, I tried to show a little bit of a character in this I have difficulty relating to, I hope you still enjoyed and plese feel free to give feedback!\n\n\nI woke up to the beeping of medical equipment. I looked around, my personal doctor, my actual personal doctor standing next to my bed. She had sympathy in her eyes, something I hadn't seen since I was forced to go to the food bank in my other body. \"You found out it was me after all?\" I noted how weak my voice sounded, I was still inside my weak body. \"We know now, and we have known all along. We hoped you would just take your chance while you had it, but so be it, hospital accidents happen all the time after all.\"\n\nIt took my brain two seconds to understand what she meant, it took the drug two seconds to kick in. I fell into a deep dark sleep, and as I was falling, I knew I would not wake up again."
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[WP] You are sent to hell and your punishment is watching every mistake and regret you have on loop. You get one wish to ease the suffering, and yours is to have Mr. Rogers and Bob Ross to coach you through all of it.
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"\"It's all right, Son.\" consoled the stranger.\n\n\"Who the fuck are you?\" I asked the man.\n\n\"Roger Rogerson, of course. Didn't you ask for me? I was a well-known cop, once. One of the best.\"\n\n\"Um. No. I asked for Mr. Rogers. You know, Fred Rogers, the dude who's good with kids?\"\n\n\"Huh. Well, there's no Fred Rogers in hell, son. Guess you just have me and ol' Rossie over there. Don't worry though, you can trust me.\"",
"Pain.\n\nThrough the cacophony of images and noise, the endless swirling colors, faces, voices, the overwhelming waves of senses blending together into one relentlessly violent force, my brain feeling like it is imploding and exploding all at once, the chaos rising and intensifying straight through my very soul...the only clear sensation is the pain.\n\nThe pictures change again, shaping into the middle school hallway, into her face, her timid eyes, her voice asking me if I returned her feelings. Seeing, feeling my lips part into a cruel smile. Each laugh is an icy blade searing through my very being. Watching her recoil, watching her hope shatter, watching betrayal and humiliation rise in its place.\n\nI hurt her. She staked her pride on me, she gave me the highest praise she could give, she trusted me, and in return I laughed in her face. There is nothing I can ever do to change that. Nothing I can do to atone. Nothing. Nothing. I hear a ragged scream, it must have been my own. \n\nAnd again the pictures change, forming into another unforgivable sin, into another wretched echo of my wretched life. Everything is building, growing into a massive never-ending climax of pain. How long have I been here? Time seems to have dissolved into a swirling mess just like everything else. All there is, all there was and will be, is the pain. \n\nThere is a hand on my back.\n\nShocked out of my misery for the briefest moment, I gasp and turn my head. There is a man crouched down beside me, his hair silver, his face gentle and kind. His hand slides a bit; my back is slick with sweat and shit. Tears streaming down my face, I manage to choke out the words: \"Who are you?\"\n\nHe smiles sadly. \"A friend. We are here with you.\" I look around. There is another man, standing behind me, another friendly face.\n\nAnother image, another bolt of pain. I convulse, wretch again onto the floor. \"But...but I don't understand. I made so many awful choices, hurt so many people. Don't waste your time on me. I'm not worth it.\" I sob, bent over in shame.\n\nThe man behind me kneels, puts his hand on my back as well. I can hear the smile in his voice. \"And yet your life was beautiful. You made mistakes, and nothing turned out exactly the way you expected or hoped, but you created a work of art. There is beauty in you, from the big picture to so many happy little moments.\"\n\nThe other voice. \"You are not trapped here. You have a lot of hard work to do, but you can do it. I know you can forgive yourself, because you are special. I believe in you.\"\n\nThe pictures change again. Me rushing out the door, thinking of the fish for a split second but sprinting out anyways, thoughts of our lateness clouding my mind. The fish, left in an empty house, completely dependent with no caretaker, slowly, desperately wasting away, chewing at the algae it couldn't digest, exhaustion, everything fading in and out...the body slowly drifting on the surface of the water. Days later, my son walking in, discovering the tragedy. My wife comforting him as he cries. And then me, disposing of what was once a beloved pet, not with guilt or sadness, but annoyance. How could I be so callous, so cruel? Condemning a living thing to a slow and agonizing death because I could not be bothered to take a goddamn second to take care of it. My fingernails dig into my scalp, blood flows onto my hands. The room echoes.\n\nAnd yet they were still here, kneeling beside me, their hands still on my back. Their voices comforting and constant.\n\n\"You were frustrated and preoccupied. It was an easy mistake to make, and nobody can blame you, not even yourself.\"\n\n\"Your son forgave you, because you were worth forgiving. And you still are.\"\n\nThe pain is still relentless, still a constant blasting furnace full of regret and despair. But there is a new softness to it, an art, an assurance...a learning. They keep talking. I grit my teeth. It is time to learn how to forgive. \n\n\nLTL, FTP, ABCDEFG. Thanks for reading!",
"Satan looked at me awkwardly. I nodded, assuring him he had not misheard. \"That's right,\" I said, \"You heard me. Or should I repeat myself?\" The devil, taken back by this sudden insolence, regained his tyrannical authority. \"DO NOT QUESTION ME! I am already gracious enough to allow you this!\".\n\nSure enough, a second later, two pentagrams appeared on the floor. Rings of fire arose from these, slowly hovering to form a human figure. On my left, I had Bob Ross. On my right, I had Mister Rogers.\n\n\"Welcome to hell, humans. Be reassured, it is not for your sins that you are here, but for his,\" Satan's voice boomed, as he pointed a coal-black finger in my direction. \"Jonas has sinned, and his punishment is due. He is to watch every single mistake and regret of his life until he can bear it. Only then shall he be sent to heaven, and only then shall you two return as well.\" After saying so, he left to torture another soul.\n\nI broke the silence. \"I'm sorry I brought you here. I just... I—\"\n\n\"Oh, don't be sorry for this.\" interrupted Mr. Rogers. \"I perfectly understand your choice. I'm quite delighted to have been one's last wish of comfort.\"\n\n\"Me too. As well, Hell reminds me of the exotic colors of autumn. So we're supposed to coach you then, is that true?\" Bob Ross asked.\n\nBefore I could answer, the pitch black darkness engulfed us, and the angles of a fiery square drew themselves before us. An old-timey scratching sound started up, and a countdown in gothic numbers stuttered with a thundering *BOOM... BOOM...*.\n\nThe film started. Kindergarten. Amanda, the girl I had a crush on. On-screen, I vividly recalled that moment. I'm walking up to her. \"Hey, uh... Amanda?\" She turned. \"I just... wanted to tell you... I love you.\" The following seconds lasted, until she finally burst out laughing. I looked away.\n\n\"That's just sad,\" Mr. Rogers exclaimed. \"You built up the courage to tell someone you love what you think of them, and they humiliate you. You've got nothing to be ashamed of, son.\"\n\nBob tuned in. \"I can't believe how evil some people can be, even at such a young age. But don't worry, I'm sure she regrets it more.\"\n\nThe next frames had skipped to my twelve years old. Oh God, please no. Not Darren's birthday! Not the day I had... I had broken my brother's birthday gift, out of sheer jealousy. The images showed all the details, his deceived look at the broken NES, my hands still on the baseball bat. The memory switched right as my parents started crying, either for their betrayed son or the deception I was.\n\n\"Don't cry, son.\" Mr. Rogers ordered me. It was true, I was crying. And in hell, tears burn like acid, ensuring every one leaves a mark. \"Jealousy is all right. Sometimes, you question, 'why do they love him more than me?' but the real question is, 'does it really matter?'. And here, you were to young to understand that. Some of us take a long time to understand the answer.\"\n\nFlash forward. My 16 years, where I'm sitting in a room, in front of my final exams. I had promised to pass them. Not just to make my parents proud, but for me too. It was the exams that would let me do what I liked most. And I had spent the weekend before that drinking with my friends and catcalling girls.\n\n\"I never really liked school either. And I'll be honest with you pal, it's not a little letter that told me if I could or would become a painter.\" Bob Ross patted my back. \"Numbers and letters on papers never really get you anything.\"\n\nMy 20th birthday. My father had given me a shiny new Chevy, and now that I looked at it, I realized it was everything I ever wanted. But 20 year old me, who had spent 2 years struggling to pay rent, bills and taxes, who had endured years of belief that I was a disappointment to my parents, looked at it, without emotion. The car stood there, ready for me. \"I bought it full, so you won't have to worry about monthly fees!\" my dad said. I couldn't recall why I had decided to walk away without a word. And never talk to them again.\n\n\"Sometimes when people are tired, they do things they don't think about. But the saddest in it is when they question themselves, they tell themselves they've lost everything to a choice.\" Mr. Rogers took a breath before continuing. \"You shouldn't worry about it, I'm sure your parents understood. And I'm sure your brother forgave you for that console. I'm sure they kept that car for you if you came back.\"\n\nI'm still thinking of that last piece of advice when the screen turns to the next part. Oh no. Not this.\n\nNot Boston. My hand is bloody. My hand drops the kitchen knife, stuck in my girlfriend's stomach. She had been cheating on me. As she coughs blood up, I look away. But hell wants it differently, and makes me look back. I see her agonizing, bleeding on the floor.\n\nMr. Rogers and Bob Ross are silent.\n\nSuddenly, they speak.\n\n\"You have nothing to regret now. You've been mourning your choices and actions during the only life you've had, and that life has been full of jealousy, questioning, stress and betrayal; you had it hard kid.\" I turn to Bob Ross, who's taking a pause. \"The fact that you still managed to find someone to look up to, as childish that choice may be, makes you stronger than anybody else. You have what it takes to wipe your tears.\"\n\nBob Ross adds, \"I've said this for many people I've met, but this is different. You are unique, kid. I've never met anyone like you. All your fears, your hatred... you just wanted to be loved. And some were unable to accept your love, and that made you blind to the love others gave you. But it's all over now. There's nothing to be scared of now.\"\n\nI stood up. I looked up at the screen. \"You're right. What can regrets bring to me now? I'm dead now, and it's not going to change anything anymore.\"\n\nSuddenly, the screen disappears. The darkness backs off. The devil himself is standing there. He is furious. \"You just removed every single regret you had. You've achieved enough to go to heaven. Congrats.\" And with this, he gives the slightest hint of a smile."
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[WP] Hundreds of time travelers have gathered to view the most important moment in human history. However, you, half naked and holding an empty bottle of beer, are wondering why all of these people are staring at you.
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"To say I was surprised would be an understatement. I'd been sitting on my couch, pants off, attempting to unwind after a particularly shitty day. My boss had chewed me out again, and the date I was supposed to go on afterwards had canceled last minute. I'd called up some of my friends to see if they wanted to hang, but of course they were all busy. None of this was particularly shocking to me however.\n\nNo, the thing that took me by surprise was the sudden arrival of several dozen men wearing varied styles of clothing within my living room. At this point I'd already gone through a few drinks, but even I could remember that people don't just appear in your house out of thin air. I jumped up, waving my most recently finished bottle at them, demanding to know what they were doing.\n\n\"We're time travelers,\" one of them replied, \"We've come to this moment because every one of us has been blessed by your invention, and we wanted to personally witness its first use.\"\n\nI stood there confused for a few seconds. \"What invention? What do you mean?\" I asked.\n\n\"It's a new technique you discovered for combining two of the most common ways for men to relax.\" Said another.\n\nI looked down at my empty bottle, then back up at them. Then back down at myself, and back up again. Realization slowly dawned on me, and I looked at them with however much pity my drunken mind could muster.\n\n\"Really you guys? You came all this way just to see me stick my dick in it?\""
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[WP] The barbarian raiding party thought this would be a nice, simple village for them to pillage. But nobody told them that Old Man Jefferson used to be a dragon-slaying, kingdom-felling and overall really damn strong Archmage.
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"“Why ye fetid, flee ridden, trollspawn prancing around as if ye were a regiment of the Emperor’s Dragon Guard,” Elbert croaked as he hobbled his way towards the village’s southern entrance. “Ye’r not but a bunch of surly pups too soon offa momma’s teats.” \n\nElbert’s voice was as faded as his lavender robes. Tendrils of dirty, grey hair floated around him, seemingly trying to flee his mottled head. He clung to a gnarled walking staff that looked as if it had spent the past 50 years at the bottom of a bog. From his neck hung a tarnished necklace with a glass pendant the size of an infant’s head. It was a ruby eye so real that one could lose themselves in the depths of its pupil. \n\n“Why in my day, warlords had the good sense to announce themselves and issue a challenge. Ye rowdy troglodytes be scurrying about as if the world were ending, no manners or sense to yer names. Well if ye’r elders didn’t see fit to teach ye some sense, then I’ll have to beat it into ye.”\n\nThe motley band of brigands had watched slackjawed and spellbound as Elbert approached. Finally, Elbert stopped and looked at the group. His eyes glimmered with pride, though he couldn’t quite straighten his back, as if his frail bones could no longer support the pendant hanging from his neck. \n\n“What lich’s cave did you crawl out of old man.” The brigands, suddenly finding their voices, broke out in laughter. They were so amused by this bag of bones that they hadn’t noticed that the panicked villagers stopped fleeing. Some even sat down and started to look on with schadenfreude, while other seemed to be grimacing with pity in their eyes. \n\n“Hah! Ye be dreamin’ if ye think a lich would send a revenant for you. Ye wouldn’t even qualify as scrap parts.” Elbert’s condescending smile was barely noticeable on his wrinkled face. \n\nOne of the group had finally had enough. Pulling a bloodstained dagger from his belt, the large man loomed towards Elbert. “There there, old timer,” he jeered, “let me help you back to your grave.” \n\n“Ye couldn’t help an old lady cross a creek ye dandy.” Elbert laughed unflinchingly as the man approached. “And look at the state of that butter knife. Why when I was your age we took care of each and every one of our knives. Kept them clean and oiled, sharpened them on whatever grindstone we could find. That thing there isn’t fit to be a toothpick let alone a weapon.” \n\nThe man roared and broke into a charge. He couldn’t wait to shut the geezer up. Elbert merely let out a throaty harrumph and let his walking staff inch forward a bit. The charging man suddenly found himself flying through the air, wondering how he managed to trip on a dirt road. The thought was quickly replaced by pain as the dagger pierced his chest.\n\n“What did I tell ye!” Elbert roared like an angry chipmunk. “So dull and dirty that it didn’t even pierce ye’r heart. In my day a man wouldn’ta had the face to walk into a town with that thing on his belt.” \n\nThe rest of the bandits had finally stopped laughing. “Leave it to Randall to make us look the fools,” one sighed. Randall was still on the ground struggling to scream. The dagger hadn’t killed him, but it certainly pierced one of his lungs. \n\n“Ye just stay down there and I’ll deal with you later.” Elbert sighed. He seemed full of pity and disappointment towards this man that tried to kill him. \n\nElbert was about to speak again as the two archers among the group looked at each other and then fired the arrows that had been knocked in their bows. He glanced upwards as the arrows curved past him to either side. \n\n“What are those, rabbit huntin’ bows? What are you doing pointing those at people ye clowns? Put then with your scrawny arms, I don’t expect ye’d be able to fire a real bow anyways. Why in my day, a man would cut down his own yew tree and drag it back to his home before choosing the best parts to make his own bow. If he couldn’t carry the tree back by himself, then he didn’t deserve the bow in the first place.” \n\nBy this point the bandits had started to realize that something was wrong. Since when did Randall trip in a fight or Jeffery miss? Looking around at the crowd of villagers now calmly watching the commotion, they finally sensed the danger they were in. Stupid bandits couldn’t live as long as this group had, so several of them immediately bolted away from the village. \n\n“Did I tell ye to leave?” Elbert’s voice drifted into their ears. No matter how fast or how far they ran, the voice continued unimpeded. “In my day, we would wait ‘till our elders dismissed us. Why anyone dumb enough to run off would be whipped until supper time.” \n\nFor the first time since arriving at the village entrance, Elbert took a step forward. He lifted his staff as high as his gaunt arms could manage and tapped it gently on the ground, as if afraid that it would crumble from motion. \n\nThe fleeing bandits found themselves flying through the air just like Randall. Yet unlike Randall, they didn’t come back down. They found themselves suspended upside down by emerald vines. The smarter among them immediately tried to cut themselves free only to find that the vines were harder than steel.\n\n“Now I know ye’r too weak for the dragon whips that they used in my day, so I’ll just have to make do,” Elbert muttered to himself as more vines rose into the air. These vines were thin, supple, and barbed like nettles. As each vine reached its full height, it immediately whipped towards one of the hanging bandits’ backs. Be it studded leather or chainmail, the vines tore through anything in its path before lashing against the backs. \n\nClearly, these vines were powerful enough to cut a man in half with a single strike. Yet the men felt as if they were being whipped with ordinary lashes, at least until the sensation of their insides burning made them wish for death. Even some of the stouter villagers shuddered and looked away. It was clear that these bandits weren’t the only people that Elbert had whipped for misbehaving. \n\n“Oh pipe down,” Elbert snorted. “In my day, we took our punishments in silence. Why if it were old man Forester that were to hear ye cry, he woulda sewn ye’r mouths shut.” Elbert turned back to the look at the bandits who hadn’t run as even more vines bound the screaming mouths shut. “As for the rest of ye lot, at least ye had the sense to wait for ye’r punishment properly.” The men stood trembling, their comrade’s agonized cries still ringing in their ears. \n\n“And ye can get up and get over there too,” Elbert pointed toward the stabbed man. More vines came out of the ground, one removing the knife and crushing it, another stabbed into the man’s torso and began draining his lung , while a third started to stitch the man’s flesh back together. Of course, having his chest pierced by vines caused the man to groan louder. “Ye cry when ye’r stabbed, ye cry when ye’r fixed, are ye a man or a raincloud?” Elbert harrumphed again and the man was tossed backed to the entrance. \n\n“Now ye’r friends will be staying up there till sunset. As fer the rest of ye, ye have until then to fix up this gate and all of the surroundings. If I’m late getting, home I’ll have to use ye’r skinny bodies for Ophelia’s supper.” Even as the words left Elbert’s mouth, a derisive cry screeched through the air. The robbers all looked up for the first time, only to see a giant gryffon circling above Elbert. The silver winged beast had sensed the use of magic and was waiting for its chance to snack on the bandits. \n\n“I’ll be going back to my shoppin’ so ye all get a move on now,” Elbert dismissed the ashen faced men as he turned and started hobbling back towards the village. Seeing him leaving, the crowd jumped into action to fawn over Elbert. Some looked thankful, others fearful, but every member of the village was as polite as they could possibly be. Only after he had long left their sight did they start gossiping with glee. \n\n“It’s a good thing today was Elbert’s shopping day.”\n\n“I’ll wager 10 gold that that big one on the left don’t survive his lashings.”\n\nThe chatter kept growing louder until an elder finally realized the village’s mistake. “Shut ye’r traps! When Elbert Plainskeeper wears the Eye of Ormarr nothing can escape his senses!” Even as the villagers ran off to avoid Elbert’s discipline, the bandits who had already started repairing the village gates began to work even faster. They had all grown up to tales of the Archmage Elbert Plainskeeper. His stories tended to end in a lot more bloodshed.\n",
"Jefferson was having his “morning issues,” the same ones he’d been dealing with in some way or another for the past twenty years. The pot of water was brewing on the flames. The eucalyptus, for “ease,” had already been picked that morning by the potter’s small children, and was drying in his larder. The roasted pig from the night before was sitting like a rock inside his bowels, and he knew no amount of straining in the outhouse, or over his bucket, was going to get him anywhere. Lionel, the baker, and also his son, had told him to diversify his diet with some grain. “Bah, grains,” Jefferson said, swatting his hands around in his empty room. He’d survived wars, frost, jail, all without grains. Who needs grains? Cowards. \n\nThe rumble of boiling water finally reached his fading ears. Jefferson got up from his rug in stages; first, lifting his tired legs and bending them beneath him, then hauling on the giant rock placed nearby for that reason, to get him self to his haunches, and finally, the last heave ho and he was on his feet. Swaying towards the fire pit that was the central point of his room, Jefferson heard a knocking on the door. \n\n“Come in!” he shouted out. Instead of coming in, the joker outside started knocking more, louder. “Come in!” he hollered. “What is it with you, this knocking! I’m an old man! You want a private invitation?” The knocking got louder. The joker had invited all his friends to knock too. The door thundered with a dozen little fists. “I’M AN OLD MAN!” Jefferson boomed. “You think this is any kind of way to treat an old man in my condition? I have sciatica! I was held for fourteen years in a castle guarded by a giant snake woman! I might still have some jaundice left over, and what I certainly have, is I have BAD KNEES. You ever fought a dragon for six days straight in full darkness? You have any idea what that does to your KNEES?” The knocking, really a hammering, continued. \n\nJefferson tottered towards the door, mumbling, “ungrateful little suckers...” and paused, leaning on the rock placed near the door for that purpose. “Back in my day, people let old men like me sleep, they didn’t knock all day on doors with no locks on them,” Jefferson threw open the door, “people had some respect, they didn’t go around making those old men ge--” A blast of dusty air hit him in the face, racking his body in ferocious coughs. From his doorway, he could see the stampede of horse hooves flying past his door, scimitars flashing in the sunlight. The first wave of horses and marauders passed, leaving in its wake dismembered limbs. Laramie, the town drunk, was crawling around with his arms stretched out, blood pouring from both eyes. A bag of boiled kittens spilled into the street. The smell of burning flesh hit Jefferson’s nose, which had been non-operational for decades. “Oy.”\n\nBlood curdling screams and the braying of horses, the sharp crackling of houses falling into flame. Jefferson turned at the door and hobbled inside, past his bed, to grab his cane. “If we’re going to do this, we’re going to do this,” he said, wiping his nose on his sleeve. He paused again at his door as a young marauder, vibrating with health and violence, stopped his horse at his doorstep and looked down at Jefferson from a majestic, blood-soaked height. “Kuumaklau!” The horseman shouted. \n\n“What?” Jefferson asked, cupping his hand around his ear.\n\n“KUUMAKLAU!” The horseman drew a long, wide sword above his head, and lowered it until the point was inches from Jefferson’s nose. \n\n“Oh, sure, yes, Kuumaklau. Whatever you say, Kuumaklau. You want to come to my village, to my house, make me get up, make me come all the way to the door, make me get my cane, and then you’re going to start speaking some gibberish? You’ve come to my door? YOU’VE COME TO MY DOOR?” As he spoke, Jefferson’s tiny, crooked frame began to quiver, and his hair began to grow – white, fleecy locks spiraling out of his head and down around his shoulders. A cold breath of air swept out of his house from behind him, knocking the broad sword out of the horseman’s hand. “Kuumaklau this, you upstart! Get off my lawn!” and he waved his cane around menacingly. \n\nThe broadsword came alive in the horseman’s hand, and began to dance away from him. It leaped away, and thrusting up and down around the horseman, prodded the horse underneath him until it squirted blood in all directions and sank onto its knees. The horseman, eyes wild with rage and horror, crawled away from the mangled, thrashing beast. But the sword continued to dance, sidling up to the horseman’s face and running sharp, long strokes across his cheeks, caressing his chest and leaving terraced fields of blood. It severed his heels with the delicacy of a butter knife, and, with a fancy flourish, chopped his head off, and gouged out his eyes for good measure. \n\n“Kuumaklau. Now go do the other ones, or they’ll interrupt my nap later,” Jefferson told the sword, which danced happily away. \n\t\nHe closed his door, rolled his hair back up and stuck it under a cap until it could dissolve on its own. The water was still boiling cheerfully in the pot, and he shuffled towards his larder. \n\t\nMagic worked pretty well, but nothing could really beat the eucalyptus. ",
"######[](#dropcap) \n\nAlrekr and his brothers in arms had spent the last week watching a small town on the northern coast of the Southern Isles, where the thin, pale folk lived in their squalorous dens, with their constant fog and rain. This village would be easy prey, it was decided, and on the final night of the first moon of Spring, in near total darkness, Alrekr and his brothers began the assault.\n\nTheir longboats were landed to the North, on a rocky beach, moored and awaiting their return with bounty, ready to ride low in the waves all the way back to Ísland and their waiting wives.\n\nThey came on foot over a range of hillocks, walking slow and steady, swinging swords and axes to warm up their cold arms. \n\nFinally, the town was before them. It could not be seen in the darkness, but Alrekr knew it was there. They approached slowly, silently, until they were right outside the front gate. Then Alrekrand his brothers released their inner demons and began the raid. Bending low in a huddle, the Nords took out long, heavy sticks with cloth wrapped around their ends, soaked for days in whale oil brought from the shores of Ísland. With a flint stone, the greasy torches were lit, burning hot and orange, dripping oily flames onto the damp earth. \n\nWithout any sound, all at the same time, each of Alrekr's twenty brothers heaved their flaming stick over the villages exterior fence, and then they waited. \n\nSoon there could be heard inside the village a tumult, as villagers awoke to homes filled with smoke. Calls of \"BÆl! BÆl\" rang out all over the small village, and within a few minutes, the torches had their desired effect. The gates swung open and men raced out with buckets towards the well in the near distance.\n\nAlrekr and his Nords sat like gargoyles, still and silent, behind the open gate, waiting until the last man tasked with putting out the fire had crossed the threshold. This was the tensest moment, the calm in the blood right before the first blow was struck.\n\nWhen the final man cleared the gate, in a perfect unison born of a dozen dozen raids, each Nord loosed a ferocious battle cry. The men headed for the water, unarmed and groggy from sleep, turned toward the sound, only to see dark figures materialize against the backdrop of their night black, moss covered walls. Alrekr brought his axe down in a high arc over his shoulder, plunging it squarely into the neck of a Saxon, kicking the now dead body into the dirt, freeing his axe with a gout of dark blood. \n\nThe men outside the gate were dispatched with ease, and then it was through the gate. Alrekr took the lead, running at full tilt, axe raised over his head, muscles warm and ready for the slaughter to begin in earnest.\n\nA man charged toward Alrekr, screaming \"Elþeod!\" at the top of his lungs, in an effort to warn the other villagers. Others took up the cry, even as Alrekr twisted out of the way of the man's awkward blow. In one fluid movement, Alrekr spun on his toes, using the heavy head of his axe to pivot his forward momentum into a sideways slice, which hit its mark in the saxon's exposed upper back. The axe lodged itself there, stuck in the man's spine, and rather than attempt to extricate it, Alrekr let it fall to the ground, a part of the man now. In an instant Alrekrs iron sword was out of its sheath and swinging, hacking at each moving thing, to the intoxicating sounds of screams.\n\nA peal of thunder broke through the chaos of the raid, and in the same moment, the flash of blue of lightning lit the entire village for an instant. Alrekr but continued assault until another crash of thunder, and another, and Alrekr realized the sound was much closer than a storm, and the light was emanating not from the sky, but from behind him, back near the entrance of the village. \n\nAnother thunderous rumble echoed through the village, and Alrekr spun around just in time to see the arc of the lightning bolt appear from behind a hovel, flying across the corpse strewn mud and impact one of Alrekr's brothers in the chest. The doomed Nord flew into the air, arcs of white lightning coursing over his body, up and over the tree trunk walls of the village, and out towards the East, faster than a diving hawk. \n\nAlrekr's blood-lust was momentarily broken. For the first time since Alrekr's first raid, he felt afraid. Alrekr waited in the village center, his sword hand shivering, for the source of the lightning to reveal themselves.\n\nInstead, Alrekr heard a blast of sound with a different character, and a warmer flash of light, and soon thereafter, running out from behind a different hovel was one of his brothers, a living bonfire, engulfed in in a torrent of flame from head to toe. The burning man made it to the opening in the wall before collapsing in an orange heap of light\n\nAlrekr took a step back, his foot sinking into the mud. What force had they awoken in this village? \n\nFrom behind the same hovel, a figure appeared, short and slow, moving forward step by tired step. One of Alrekr's remaining warriors raced after the figure, turning the corner of the building and swinging a death blow down onto the figures head. Alrekr rejoiced at the sight of the Nordic axe moving through the air. But, instead of striking its mark and splitting the skull of the mysterious figure in half, the axe head hit an invisible barrier. There was a yellow flash, a metallic report, and then the axe shattered into ten thousand red hot pieces. \n\nIn the yellow flash, Alrekr saw the dark figures face, and chided himself for being afraid. The man was old, old beyond reckoning. He wore a beard as long as the hair of Alrekr's wife, all whites and grays. \n\nThe figure turned toward the axeless nord and, raising his two hands up, palms out, released a spark of devastating lightning. Alrekr's brother flew through the village wall, shattering tree trunks lie toothpicks.\n\nAlrekr saw his chance. The figure's back turned to him, Alrekr raced forward, sword raised over his head, fear dispelled. With all of his might, Alrekr brought the sword down onto the man, overjoyed when he did not feel the impact of the invisible barrier. The blow was so mighty that Alrekr's sword ended in the ground, implanted to the hilt in the mud. Alrekr looked up, expecting to see his foe, carved in twain.\n\nBut before him there was only empty space. The old sorcerer was no where to be seen. \n\nAlrekr could not remove his sword from the suction of the Earth. Letting go of it, he turned to look for his enemy, only to find him standing directly behind him. Without so much as a word, the old man reached out and touched Alrekr on his shoulder. \n\nIn Alrekr's final moments, as the spell took hold and his body froze into its final, stony shape, Alrekr tried to reach up and throttle the figure, who stared back at him with bright blue eyes. Alrekr could only get his arm half way up before it, to, froze in place, locking Alrekr , Nord of Ísland, into a prison of stone.\n\n*********\n\n#### For More Legends From The Multiverse\n\n### r/LFTM"
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[WP] You wake up in a dark room with no idea who you are or how you got there. Before you can attempt to escape, the room is flooded with red emergency lights as the room begins to descend. When it stops, a loud voice comes on over a speaker: "Welcome to the Labyrinth. You have 30 days. Good luck."
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"The once black room now screams with spinning red beacons, I squint my eyes and before I can better see my surroundings my legs lose balance from underneath me, at first I think I am falling, but quickly I realize the room is falling, and at alarming speeds. My body slams against the ground and the walls collapse and the ceiling falls around me. \n\n*This is how I die* I think to myself and everything fades to black.\n\nDazed, I feel coarse dirt as I run my palms along the ground. I come into contact with something hard and cold, and just as my eyes open I see a small spinning beacon lying next to me, its energy fading as sparks come out the damaged end of it. I bolt up, and hear a loud noise come from around me. \n\n“Welcome to the Labyrinth. You have 30 days. Good luck.”\n\n**Day One**\n\nThe small *room* I thought I was in is more like a really poorly made pod attached to metal rails that pillar vertically to the ceiling. *You think whoever made this could of at least put some effort into a softer landing* I grimace. \n\n“30 days! That is it, you’ve got to be kidding me!” I shout hoping for a response. After a few long second, a couple sparks being shot off of some circuitry, no response, “Damn, it was worth a try” I mumble. \n\nI try to remember anything to help me out of this situation, but I can’t think of anything. Not my name, where I came from, who I am, nothing... Just pitch blackness.\n\nI look around to see massive stone walls surrounding me to what appears to be an underground cave. On the ceiling there are thousands of luminous stones that emit a dull light. Luckily I can see as if it were a full moon. Next to the crashed pod there is a small box under some scrap metal, and after a few moments of fuddling with it I find a small latch that opens up to reveal a small square remote looking thing with a single button. My gut instinct says to push it, but my even stronger instincts says I shouldn’t. I look around the debris, and see that nothing else is around. I take out the remote and press. The remote seemingly vanishes into strange pixelated color, and in front of me begins to appear similar pixelated colors that form a small wooden fire and a mechanical lever. *Great I can roast marshmallows*.\n\nThe fire looks real, feels real, and when i toss in debris it actually burns stuff. Having no need for a fire, I pull the lever and through the magic of pixelation the fire disappears and a remote appears. \n \nAs I lean down to pick up the remote, a large scream fills the air. My ears split and I begin to feel nauseous. Its coming from nearby but I can’t see where. Before I can move I see something emerge from under the debris, a large woman’s face crashes through the debris attached to a horrifying amalgamation of limbs and flesh. Her face is torn open where her mouth is and black hair drips with thick black ilk. Before I can even think, my legs pull me along away from the monstrosity down a corridor.\n\nI fly down the dirt and rock path passing strange blue-ish shrubbery and vines, as well as luminous stone jutting from the walls. I hear a scream again, and almost collapse from the screams alone. Something catches my eye as I am running, something is in front of me! I collide with it, my face presses up against a soft surface that quickly turns hard, I hear a animalistic groan and look up to see hooves almost crush my face, and I quickly roll away. I block my face with my arms and I see the hoofed animal run the direction I just came from. I get to my feet and look behind me to see a deer running down a corridor. Just as quickly as I saw it, a large figure with long black hair collides into it and begins tearing it apart. I sprint away from the scene, my legs grow heavier and heavier, I am at my limits. I collapse on the ground and as I fade from consciousness I hear in an all familiar voice “End of day One”. ",
"My fists ceased their thumping when the disembodied voice rang out over the speaker system. I looked around myself in bewilderment, one fist poised in mid air, the other slowly sliding down the smooth panels of the door in front of me. “...You have 30 days. Good luck.” Nothing happened. Still stuck in a bizarre dance pose, I tried to regulate my breathing before I killed myself off, panting like a dog in a hot car. What the hell had just happened? As my heart rate dropped below defcon 1, I tried to re-evaluate my situation, given that my last evaluation had been philosophical, rationalised screaming. I had been merrily drinking myself into a stupor at a bar in London, keeping myself to myself and begrudgingly smiling at the shoddy bartender, before I had suddenly and violently blacked out. I then suddenly and violently came to, and instantly began shrieking as loudly as the klaxons that were sounding along with the red spinning lights that came blindingly into life. I had jumped up onto my feet, and immediately staggered back down as I had felt the lurching, nauseating motion of the entire room descending. It’s a wonder I didn’t vomit, the amount of sheer panic I was feeling. As the impossibly moving room had come to a juddering holt, I had had the sense to locate the one and only door as it was illuminated fleetingly in the whirling red beams of light. I also had the sense to begin pounding my hands onto it uselessly like a floundering drunkard, screaming my head off. My latest evaluation was a simple question: what the hell do I do now? The small room had stopped moving but the lights were still rotating leisurely, casting arcs of red light into the corners. *I’m in a hotel room*,I thought to myself, seeing the shapes of a single bed and lamp on a side table loom out of the darkness and into eerie red light. I whipped my head around to look at the door, hoping it was one of those flimsy chipboard affairs that I could unceremoniously put my foot through, but as I saw the empty blankness of the metal panels in front of me, it became clear that I was never going to be able to get out of the room through this exit. My other hand slid down the door, squeaking dejectedly, before coming to a stop limply at my side. *What is happening to me? Have I gone insane? Of course not, Ed, that would be far too easy and also quite hilarious considering you tease the insane literally every day of your life.*\n\nI turned around and leaned back against the door, brushing my hair out of my eyes. *I need to get out of here, I need to not panic, and I need a piss. Desperately. *\n\nAs pig headed and loutish as I could be, I wasn’t about to urinate into the corner of an unknown room, especially as that room had the tendency to suddenly and inexplicably become a lift. Using the now much slower rotations of the emergency lighting, I semi-felt my way around the room, carefully and meticulously knocking every single thing over with all the grace of a hippopotamus having a bowel movement. The room was small, but it was filled with so much hidden furniture that it was impossible for me *not* to trip over everything as well as my own feet. I was beginning to feel like I was still more than a little, actually still massively inebriated, when I tripped on something hard, solid and decidedly unmoving. I threw my arms out to catch myself and save my head from any more unwanted trauma, and my left arm hooked around what I assumed was one of those tacky wall lights that illuminate the walls both above and below them. The head of the light pivoted slowly downwards, and with a smooth *click* locked into an unseen mechanism. In a staggeringly dramatic move that nearly made me piss myself, the entire back wall of the room, including the bed and it’s 80’s porn lights slid up and out of sight, revealing a rather plain looking corridor in what I instantly decided was an office block. All the lights were turned out, but I could make out the empty cubicles and the dark shape of a copy machine at the end of the hall. "
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[WP] "Humanity was not created to experience death. The Grim Reaper is a rogue agent, who makes people value the time they have."
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"Quite contrary to belief I was once human. I once walked the earth with bare feet as many do today. I had lived for 768 years, rather youthful for the times. I don’t remember much only a few foggy images that come and go. But the image that never fades is their sorrow. \n\nMany today regard immortality as a beautiful gift though very much impossible to achieve, though I have experienced it at first hand and will tell you it is no such thing. To live everyday like the past thousand? It was a nightmare. So one day I woke up and grabbed my scythe as usual to tend to the fields. As I walked among the rows of corn I heard a cry carried through the winds.\n\n“Help! Help! He’s hurt-“ \n\nWithout a moments hesitation I broke into a sprint crashing through my crop with a six foot scythe in tow. \n\nThe screams would come and go growing ever louder as I neared their creator. \n\nI still remember though it was five thousand years ago. Rounding the corner to see a woman pinned to the ground with her clothes ripped and torn scattered around her as a man lay on top of her.\n\nAnd in one motion I lifted my scythe.\n\nAnd let it fall.\n\nThe curved blade dug deep into the mans spine provoking the most agonizing cry imaginable. As I ripped my scythe from the his back a fountain of blood soon took its place spilling onto the barren ground as his body thrashed like a worm.\n\nI looked to the woman who still lay on the ground before me. \n\n“Are you happy?” I ask\n\n“Is anyone?”\n\n“Well I recommend you enjoy the time you have left.” \n\n“What do you mean? You saved me.” \n\n“Yes and now I will save you again, for now on your days are numbered along with every other man.” I turn to walk away pondering if my ideals are righteous or demonic.\n\n“Who are you?” \n\n“I am the reaper.”\n\nThey are righteous "
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[WP] A well-meaning supervillain whose most mundane everyday actions cause terrible things to happen is trying to exist one day without harming anyone. It doesn't go so well.
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"“Not today.”\n\nBarney Jenkins stared at himself in the bathroom mirror. He was a paunchy, middle aged man with somewhat less hair on his head than on his upper back. He was also the most infamous villain known to man. In fact, the only reason that he hadn’t been arrested yet was that everyone who made contact with him would suffer some sort of improbable mishap resulting in their demise.\n\nBarney leaned back from the mirror. “Today I will just sit down, read the Sunday paper, and avoid killing anyone.” He glared at himself one more time. “That means anyone, Barney,” he said, finally leaving the bathroom to make coffee.\n\nBarney paused, just before pressing “on”. “No, I won’t be fooled twice.\" Last week while turning on his air conditioner, he had accidentally caused a power surge that had knocked out the power to his apartment building. When the building generator turned on, it sparked a fire which ended up engulfing the adjacent hospital: 47 casualties. \n\nInstead, he opened his refrigerator and poured a glass of orange juice. He took a sip and looked around. “There, that wasn’t so bad now,” he said grinning. He had woken up late so it was nearly noon. He couldn’t remember the last time that he had made it until noon without at least one accidental homicide. Why, just yesterday he had caused a seven car pileup while crossing the street on his way to work: 9 casualties.\n\n“Now to get the paper,” Barney thought. He opened his door and looked left and right. The hallway outside of his apartment was empty. That was another good sign. He cautiously crept down the hallway, head turning in all directions to avoid a possible hazard or collision which would lead to additional misery. Why, two months ago, the governor had sent an elite military unit to take him down once and for all. He had heard them stacking up outside his door, assumed it was the pizza delivery man and opened the door. Surprised, the military unit immediately opened fire, however they stacked up on either side of the door so the combination of confusion and cross fire only led to more sadness: 4 casualties. \n\nDown one flight were the mail boxes. Barney saw his paper sitting on the ground in front of his mail box. The Sunday paper was a bit too big to fit inside the mail slot. Feeling more confident, Barney picked up the pace, strolling right towards the paper. “This is it – All I need to do is pick up the paper, walk back to home and I’m free.” That’s when it happened.\n\nIn his haste, Barney didn’t see the fold in the rug leading to the mail boxes. His toe hit it and he pitched forward. As a reflex, he reached forward to catch himself on the mailbox stand, however the stand just buckled. The next thing he knew, the mailbox stand had smashed into a lamp. The lamp fell onto the rug, smashing the bulb and spreading glass across the floor. That’s when the front door to the building opened.\n\n“Look out for the glass!” Barney yelled as Mr. Finnegan entered the mail room. Mr. Finnegan jumped back out the front door, slamming into a bicyclist who had just jumped onto the curb. The bicyclist fell into the street, sprawling out into traffic. “Noooo!” Barney yelled, running out the front door toward the bicyclist as a large moving truck barreled towards him.\n\n“Not Today!” Barney grabbed the bicyclist and dove towards the curb, narrowly missing getting hit by the moving truck, however now the truck had swerved out of his and into oncoming traffic. A small car veered around the truck onto the wrong side of the street and was now coming straight towards where Barney had thrown the biker. That’s when it dawned on him.\n\n“There is only one way that this can end,” Barney thought. “Someone has to die.” Barney stood up and strolled into the path of the oncoming car. He was surprisingly at peace. Time seemed to slow down as the car barreled towards him. He even made eye contact with the driver, a look of sheer terror on his face. Barney just nodded and closed his eyes. \n\n“Not today,” Barney thought. One casualty. \n\nEdit: Added missing punctuation\n"
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[WP] An alien with extreme shape-shifting abilities hides in your town. One out of two days, it kills random people and eats their internal organs. No one knows who, what or where he/she/it is. Everyone is terrified. You are not.
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"People have been terrified an unable to leave their houses. It will get them, they thought. They only people sanctioned to travel were those delivering food door to door with an armed guard. \n\nIt's not going to get us. It wants the meat inside people, it's driven by senses, and once it's full, it would sleep for the next day before eating again. It was growing, each feast making it swell. I think it turned into a car at some point, but some stupid small thing.\n\none time, it came close to me. I watched it kill my favourite human, Jena. She was a nice girl, always wanting to chat and ask me how I've been. It didn't eat her shoes, it didn't seem to want them.\n\nI watched it in fascination as it turned it's blood dripping face to me. jena was a small girl. She wasn't enough that night, it would go find a second victim, and it stared at me. It came closer, if it could think, it would be wondering why i wasn't running.\n\nBut it couldn't. it had its senses to go on, and that's all it had. it sniffed, it felt with it's mind, deep inside me and found nothing. No meat inside me.\n\n\"Let's stay out of each other's way, alright?\" I said, it never spoke, I don't think it could. I don't even think it could understand me. It moved away from me, and it's form twisted smaller, like it was compressing down it's massive, shapeless size into something less shapeless. a woman.\n\nJena put on her shoes, just a few feet away from dead Jena. \"I'll keep that in mind.\" it said, and walked off in the blood flecked heals."
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[WP] A horror story about a wounded auroch trying to escape a band of prehistoric humans.
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"**CEILING OF THE NO-SHELTER** - III. **W**ounded **A**uroch **R**uns **N**owards, **I**tching **N**ostrils **G**lance\n____________\n\n[...]\n\nCut deep. The cost of slow response to unawaited threat.\n\nRelapse of the **first bite**, moment of pure terror, vertical grin of human's void machine rejecting stone (the gentle of round rock made into hateful impaling peak), and air is wounded before your flank. But air heals quick.\n\nYou, die quick.\n\n Transmission of death concept is unthinkable to your unthinking species, but instinct is storyteller enough. Worse than awareness of death, its translation into instinct-language : PURE terror and the urge to kick it away. What you do now. Kicking. Leg-motioning.\n\nNo direction but never. No aim but ever. No time to spare. \n\n_\n\nCircles of fear is the only mechanic in this non-machined old world. \n\nConjuring leg-motion. Leg-motion hurts flank deeper, deepest. But leg-motion is necessary hurt, the near-killing that can mean unkilling. \n\nThen, drawn on landscape in the blur of a shift... FURY of jumping human-body, throwing void-machine like he would detach arm. No time to watch, kicking landscape behind you. Stone (the unjust of turning round rock into death-means) scratching spine like ungentle finger of scream in a **second bite**. \n\nStill kicking. Hope to turn cataclysm into kinematic, death-energy into the heat of moving parts.\n\n_\n\nReaching of cover, caress of leaves where stone sank teeth, like trees can erase pain, which doesn't happen.\n\n**Third bite**. Unseen arrival of stone. Sticking from leg, not stopping mechanic but making this cycling unhelpful, collapsed, you kick the air, legs still turning but touching no ground.\n\nFeeling of PURE terror concretes into worst kind of relief. Relief of no shelter. No out. Relief of nothing left.\n\n**Fourth bite**. Overwhelming pain masking the landing site of that new stone-jaws. Voluntarily unlethal attack, proving that cruelty is unsophisticated, accessible to primitive organisms.\nAccessible to aurochs, even, but from the side of victims only.\nFrom ground.\n\nIn last moments, you try something new, unforseen last-re[**S**ource] (https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/comments/7x9cs5/wp_you_are_you/du6spz1/), an attempt to communicate, pleading, prayer in time of no-spirits, rawest action takeable, a CALL FOR HELP.\n\nRaising skull in agony, screaming for pity, raising muzzle when whole skull fails to hold, raising nostrils, widening them in suffering, and still groaning for empathy.\n\nSomething itching inside you, what instigated this call, what slipped inside you unnoticed during the chase, what you can't understand, what no one will ever understand. \nThe light inside you pulling vocal cords, pulling out groans you never made.\n\nHunterman really hesitates, considering with primitive consideration, unsolving mind puzzled by what is heartfelt, this cry, deep cry, a thing unthinkable.\n\nYou, auroch, beast with added value of this thing inside, feel this hesitation, this pause during which your calls become more intense.\n\nAnd then, the **fifth bite** makes itself felt, and the call dies just after you do. [...]"
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[WP] Days of lifetime can be transferred between people. For whatever reason, you transfer a significant amount of your life to another person. As soon as the transfer is made, that person drops dead.
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"6935 days was not little time. 19 years just gone in one minute and for what? Trying to save my best friend I ever had from infection and the next moment he dies. That wasn't supposed to happen. Normally the time you gave one person would be fully lived from the moment you finished the transfer. Now I hadn't lost just my best friend but also 19 years of my life. \n\nI went outside and looked at the rising sand, that the wind blew off from the desert. \n\n+ DAMN IT ALL! \n\nI said, kicking the sand in frustration. A moment later, I noticed a dirty lamp on the ground that I must've kicked during my outburst of anger. I picked it up to read some tiny writing which proved to be hieroglyphs, that I could not read, so I put it in one of the packs that was resting on my camel, packed up the tent, and left for the closest scribe. As I entered his home filled with expensive furniture and other accessories that were almost impossible to get, during that time, like clay statues of Ra and Khepri, 2 of the sun gods. I handled him the lamp and asked him what the hieroglyphs said. \n\n+ If you want information, rub the lamp. You will have only 2 questions.\n\nI payed the scribe and thanked him as I left. I went home, and rubbed the lamp in my room wanting to know what happened and if there was any hope of him coming back alive for that lifespan that i gave. In a few moments, a half-spirit, half-human figure exited the lamp. \n\n+ Ask me what you will to know! I shall answer 2 of thy questions!\n\n+ What went wrong earlier today during the lifetime transfer to my friend? Wasn't he supposed to live the full span of the transferred lifetime?\n\n+ The infection reached his heart. After the transfer, his heart pumped 3 times but because of the infection it ripped and died of internal blood loss.\n\n+ WHAT?\n\nI couldn't believe it. My friend never told anyone of any wound he had to the chest, leaving infections aside.\n\n+ I said the infection reached his heart. After the transfer, his heart pumped 3 times but because of the infection it ripped and died of internal blood loss. You do not seem to have hearing problems. Farewell!\n\nAs he was entering his lamp, i begged him to stop, as I still wanted to ask my 2nd question but all he told me that he had answered my 2 questions, before his last misty-toe vanished inside. But I wasn't going to give up. I cleaned the middle of my room, and drew a triangular pyramid-base with chalk. After an incantation, Anubis rose from it. I fell on my knees, showing my respect.\n\n+ Great Embalmer of the Dead! Surely the spirit of my friend must have passed you in the Underworld. Does he still have time before the weighing?\n\n+ He does. Though I have observed thy lives I'm not sure he'll pass on. Apophis is likely to devour his soul for his past, hidden evil acts. Thou shalt pass with no problems however. I have weighed you and you've been found pure. \n\nAfter a moment, of hesitation I addressed him again.\n\n+ Is it possible to do a transaction of deeds? \n\n+ I do not know. No one has ever come with such a question or request. Why do you ask?\n\n+ I could not take it if his soul would be devoured. I'd rather die myself to let him through The Gate for eternal life. \n\n+ I shall try! But I do not promise anything.\n\nAbout 5 mins later he called to me.\n\n+ It has been done. You will die in 2 hours. His soul passed on to eternal life, but Horus has observed your sincerity and kindness. He commanded me to let you through without weighing your soul, for it is surely pure.\n\n2 hours had passed like minutes. The moment I closed my eyes, I found myself in another world where words could not describe what lay there. \n\n+ Tarhib! ( Hello! )\n\nSomeone told me, from behind. I turned around and as I saw his face, the only words that could exit my mouth were:\n\n+ Marhabaan 'akhi kayf halk? ( Hello brother, how are you? )"
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[WP] "He's not bluffing," she murmured.
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"\"He's not bluffing.\" she murmured.\n\n\"Then I won't either.\" I said out loud enough for the whole table to hear.\n\n\"All in.\"\n\n\n&nbsp;\n\nThe atmosphere had been tangible before the words *all in* had been said out loud. Now it was a physical presence.The lighting was dim, but not so much you couldn't make out all the details of those sitting at the table. Diamonds, rubies and gold sparkled back from around the table. Some soft anonymous jazz music was playing lightly in the background.\nEric was a gifted liar, but he didn't have the same flair for keeping straight under pressure.\nSitting across from me he kept his face rigid, never skipping a beat with the rhythmic tapping of his four fingers on the table. I could have been imagining it, but I thought I saw a flash of panic in his eyes. Just the tiniest flicker of an eye movement. Who was it towards?\n\n&nbsp;\n\nTrying not to give away my own interested I turned my own attention to one of the excellently manicured waiters behind us - making sure I turned the same way Eric had looked.\n\n\"Martini, thank you. Shaken not stirred.\"\nThe waiter gave a quick nod and disappeared out of sight. The service in the high roller rooms was always impeccable.\nThree people with significant power were up that end, the Sheikh Mohammed Al-Terrar, the tech startup tycoon Peter Thiel, and lastly an Heiress by the name of Betty Kane. The dossier had mentioned them all, but I'd only had time for a cursory inspection - primarily because I'd had a prior engagement with a ... brunette issue.\nI began to mentally tally the reasons each of them would have to bankroll my target, Eric. He was clearly feeling the pressure now, I could see small beads of sweat forming on his forehead as he sat rigidly repeatedly tapping his fingers. His eyes darted to my cards, then back to the stack at the center of the table. I could see him deliberating, almost hear the cogs grinding against each other.\n\n&nbsp;\n\nMy waiter interrupted my chain of thought to place the martini down on the table next to me. Without thinking I took a large gulp, only to discover, it had in fact been **stirred**.\n\n\"Goddammit man! Who the hell taught you to make cocktails?\" I straight up yelled across the table.\n\nThe waiter, in shock, could only stammer back, \"I'm s-sorry Mr. Archer, please accept my apologies\". "
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[WP] With the power to spirit walk, you are a assassin for hire. As your spirit walking one day, you meet another Walker for the first time... He is also there to kill you.
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"The form stood before me, exposed, like the old book syas, you can't take it with you, it's a she and at first I can't make out her features properly, a bit of focus and I her midnight black hair came into focus along with her vibrant crimson eyes, tainted by an evil force she was, but something else also spoke in her eyes... humger, hunger for power unlike I had even seen, or... at least, once experienced myself.\n\nIt's intriguing to find other humans with such spirit and will, they usually get what they want, and are willing to decimate their entire planet if need be to achieve their goals. I'm not sure why I was brought to earth of all places on my spirit walk journey. It's a shame really she has the makings of a queen, if only she hadn't been tainted by the world she grew up in. Maybe... just maybe I can reach this woman, i... I have to see her? I haven't felt this way in years, and... it's not just me, her aurora, it's changing. I haven't altered her yet? Could this be, what the ancient called \"Love at first sight\".\n\nI was glad I was wrong, it was her impending need of help that I miss read as intent to kill, she was blackmailed and ordered to kill me on earth, my earth for that us. I waited for her, sipping some earl grey tea, she arrived in the blink of an eye, a gun pointed directly in face, \"have a seat, I just received word of an opening on the Board of Directors\"\n\nThat decision lead us to a lifetime of discovery, as I helped her build an empire on the ashes and bones of her enemies, she was ruthless, composed, and deadly, the perfect warmongering queen for me, so when the time came, I proposed, it was the first time I had seen her smile, and from that day she smiled forever more... until our son was lost during a war and accidentally dropped by his care taker in a warp gate.\n"
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[WP] A 4-year-old child is made ruler of a country for a week, because someone thought it would be cute. The consequences are severe.
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"The King examined his mount himself, as was his custom. He found a strap of the saddle not to his satisfaction, clucked his tongue, and adjusted it to lessen the pressure against the horse’s chest. The beast neighed gratefully and he ran a hand along its flank. He became aware of a diffident presence at his side.\n \n“Yes, Harward?” The King said without looking away from his horse. \n\n“Sire, Lord Gregor has taken a turn for the worse.” \n\n“How so?” \n\n“He’s slipped into a coma, sire.” \n\nThe King clucked his tongue in a way not dissimilar to his reaction to the unsatisfactory saddle strap. “A shame. May God’s Will be done.” \n\n“Yes, sire. God’s Will, sire.” Sir Harward’s mouth opened and closed several times. \n\nThe King sighed. “What is it, Harward?” \n\n“Lord Gregor was to be regent while you were hunting, sire…” \n\n“Of course.” \n\n“And he won’t be able to perform that duty, sire…” \n\nThe King clucked his tongue again. \n\n“Whom do you wish to be regent while you hunt, sire? Someone will need to be-“ \n\n“I know, I know, Harward!” The King stared into the distance, deep in thought, then threw up his hands. “Let Callum do it.” \n\n“Your grandson?” Harward said with surprise. The King looked at him sharply. “Sire!” He added. \n\n“Yes. One day he will be king. And he’s been so glum since his father went on pilgrimage. It’ll cheer the little bugger up.” The King turned towards his horse, mounted with that easy grace that belied his years. A hundred retainers did the same, and a hundred horses and hounds began cantering and capering in excitement. \n\n“But, sire!” Harward struggled for the words. “He… lacks experience.” \n\n“I should hope he lacks experience, he’s four years old, Harward. It’s only a week.” The King pointed towards the gate and the hunting party surged forward. “If he breaks the kingdom, don’t let him have dessert!” The King threw back his head in a laughter which Harward found extremely unsettling and spurred his horse. He was still laughing as he passed through the gateway and disappeared from sight.\n\n&nbsp;\n\nThe first thing Prince-Regent Callum did was order Sir Harward to place himself under arrest. The first thing of consequence, at least. Before that he ordered the knight to build him a pillow fort, tell him a story about a goose, and perform a cartwheel. The sexagenarian Harward blanched at the cartwheel, and Callum summarily ordered him to arrest himself. \n\nPerhaps it was meant for fun, perhaps he had something against the old knight, or perhaps the young princeling was testing his newfound powers, but Harward mustered what was left of his dignity and, with some difficulty, eventually convinced the captain of the guard to lock him in the dungeon. Frankly, Sir Harward was ready for a week’s vacation by then.\n\n&nbsp;\n\nOn the next day, after a hearty breakfast of grapes and fried cookies, Prince-Regent Callum set about ruling his kingdom. He began with a royal procession through the capital, distributing justice to his extremely confused subjects. Mean looking ladies were ordered indoors, puppies and kittens were confiscated for the newly created royal menagerie, beards of strange-hued foreigners were twisted and tugged upon. When he returned home his mother ordered him to bed. \n\nHis attempts to arrest her were unsuccessful. \n\nUntil the second day of his reign, when he instructed the captain of the guard to restrict his mother to her quarters indefinitely. The captain sustained minor wounds from glassware hurled at him by an irate Prince-Regent-Mother while carrying out this command. The rest of the day was spent on the expansion and improvement of the royal menagerie, as the contents of the royal library were ejected into the courtyard because Callum thought the kittens would enjoy having the shelves to themselves, and he needed space for the strange-hued foreigners, whom he had belatedly realized would be a fine addition to his menagerie. \n\nOn the third day Callum took an interest in the royal courts, sitting in on a number of trials. For several of them he sat in the lap of the Lord Chief Justice, eventually falling asleep during the testimony of a slow-speaking shoemaker. The Lord Chief Justice called a recess and carried the Prince-Regent to bed. After his nap he was informed several of his strange-hued foreigners had attempted to escape the menagerie. He ordered one foreigner’s beard shaved as a warning to the others. \n\nOn the fourth day the Prince-Regent skinned his knee while running through the royal menagerie and spent the remainder of the day nursing his wound in his quarters. \n\nThe fifth day was devoted to martial pursuits. An innovative new form of tournament was organized for the enjoyment of the Prince-Regent. The commoners attended the impromptu entertainment in large numbers, curious what Callum’s idea of a spectacle would be. The results were horrific. A badly organized mock battle between kittens and puppies quickly devolved into an actual battle between kittens and puppies. The strange-hued foreigners, who were supposed to officer these armies made a break for it, and a large number were able to escape before the captain of the guard and his men were able to restore order. \n\nOn the sixth day, Lord Gregor came out of his coma. Upon being informed of the events of the past week, and that Callum was ruling the kingdom, he promptly fainted and relapsed into his comatosity.\n\n&nbsp;\n\nOn the seventh and final day of the reign of Prince-Regent Callum, Sir Harward staged a daring, reluctant escape from his prison cell. He accomplished this by asking the captain of the guard to open the door. The captain, who by this point had been struck by flying glassware, clawed and bitten by cats and dogs as he abducted their offspring, clawed and bitten by those offspring as they ran amok on the tournament grounds, and forcefully shaved the beard of an unfortunate merchant from Tashar, immediately acceded to his request. \n\n“Where is the Prince?” Harward asked. \n\n“Climbing a tree,” the captain told him. \n\n“Your idea? As a diversion?” \n\n“No, he just wanted to climb a tree.” \n\nThey liberated Callum’s mother, who forgave the captain of the guard, for the moment, and together they marched on the orchard, servants and soldiers rallying in their wake. \n\nCallum saw the mob approaching, Sir Harward and his mother at their head, and immediately realized the game was up. He weighed his options, and jumped from the tree and ran. \n\n“Callum!” His mother screamed, as she and the others surged after him. They eventually corralled him against the moat. As his mother stalked towards him, he considered jumping into the moat and swimming for it, but before he could make up his mind his mother was upon him. The denizens of the castle and a number of townspeople watching from across the moat cheered as she administered quick, brutal justice to the recently deposed Prince-Regent’s backside. \n\nThe captain of the guard apprised Sir Harward of all the events of the past week. Sir Harward ordered the menagerie disbanded, the books returned to the library, and preparations to be made against a possible invasion by Tashar. \n\n&nbsp;\n\nThe next day half of the hunting party returned. Only half. They brought a letter with them from the King to Sir Harward:\n \nHaving a delightful time, extending trip. \nImmediately regretted what I said about Callum. \nHope you had the sense not do to that.\nGod be with you.\n \nPS: How is Gregor?\n",
"I write worse than a blind monkey, but here you go\n\n—————————————\n\nPresident Bruce Johnson would have been a strong, intelligent, and capable leader.\n\nWould have been, if he was older than not-quite four years old.\n\nIt started relatively tame. Free icecream for all the poor children; difficult, but doable. Equipping our entire army, including logistical and office staff, with rocket launchers? Perhaps ill-advised, but undoubtedly effective. The only thing we couldn’t do was give him an allowance larger by several orders of magnitude than the entire GDP; with the help of his parents, however, we agreed than ten dollars a week was an acceptable amount.\n\nThe problems came with foreign relations, on his last day in office. The Queen of England refused to let him touch one of her corgis, citing that it was ‘not proper for a US president.’ France refused to surrender their supply of baguettes. Russia wouldn’t agree on an ice-cream trade deal. China refused to give him free toys. The offenses mounted and mounted, and even the impregnable President Johnson couldn’t take the pressure. So he did what any self-respecting national leader would do; he threw a tantrum.\n\nThe first strike was against Beijing. The city was wiped off the map by nuclear fury at the hands of an enraged toddler. Of course, they and the Russians retaliated, but by then he was on a plane to somewhere in North Dakota, launching the entire country’s nuclear arsenal at every country that had wronged him. By the time Air Force One landed, most of Eurasia was an irradiated wasteland, and Mexico and Canada had already begun to invade - but their infantry were decimated by the endless rocket-battalions of the United States Army. As midnight drew near, reporters observed that the President had grown a beard, and his relatively thin hair had already started to grow grey. But midnight came and went, and once President Johnson was impeached for destroying the world, the task came of finding a suitable replacement, one who would follow his predecessor in spirit and method. Only one name really stood out.\n\n‘Donald J. Trump.’"
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[WP] A Mafia loan shark becomes increasingly concerned with the extreme lengths his/her client is going to in order to get money to pay them back.
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"Mario was not someone you would want to mess with. And seeing as he lent money to those who were desperate enough for the cash, that meant being late in paying him back the money owed to him, often at exorbant amounts of money. Two-hundred, maybe three-hundred percent lending rates.\n\nHe made quite the impression on Dallas when he showed up to borrow five thousand dollars. The giant of a man, standing at six foot nine inches was in the gym and had just given himself a dosage of Ambrosia, a new form of synthetic steroid he got his hands on. With his heavy regimen of exercise, it was often hard for most people to think at first contact that the five-hundred pound brute was a *mindless* brute. This wasn't even true in the slightest; he had a Master's degree in accounting.\n\nAnd another means of thinking he was anything other than a brute was how he had pinned a smaller man to a bench with weights and zip-ties while he brought in a hammer over his shoulder.\n\n'Dallas, right?' he asked the skittering man. 'You want to borrow... how much?'\n\n'Fi... Five grand,' he said, looking down at the bound man, tugging at the ball gag in his mouth. Dallas was clearly nervous at how the situation was unfolding. The fact that a giant hand from one of Mario's enforcers was squeezing on his shoulder, a signal not to move a fucking muscle out of place or suffer the consequences, also sent a shiver down his spine.\n\n'Oh, don't worry, this isn't standard,' Mario said as he stood over the bound man. 'It's absolutely stupid to *kill* people who owes you money. And it's absolutely stupid to borrow a shit-ton of money and then skip town, ain't it, Bosco?'\n\nThe man on the bench tried to do whatever he could to escape his imprisonment, shaking about and even pulling on the zip ties so hard that they cut into his skin.\n\n'Now, I know you're a college student,' Mario said to Dallas. 'I do background checks to make sure that people can at least try and pay me back. Same as this guy - a banker who just needed about ten grand for a night on the town, you know? I expected the money back in a week, and at 400% interest, he'd still be able to pay it off on time. And what did you do? Fuck off straight to Vegas.'\n\nA heavy strike hit the bench, right next to the man's foot. 'Hey, Dallas,' Mario said. 'You ever see that movie with Kathy Bates? \"Misery\", I think it's called... Remember the hobbling scene where she broke James Caan's legs?'\n\nHe then bent down to Bosco and put his bank card into a small machine before undoing the ball gag. 'A hundred grand,' Mario said. 'That's the price for me *not* breaking your fucking legs. What's the PIN number?'\n\n'8-3-2-4,' the banker shouted. 'Just fucking let me go!'\n\nMario just gave a dirty look to him before typing the code into the small machine. 'Well, aren't you in luck,' Mario said with a smile. 'You'll be walking out of here after all.'\n\nWith little effort, Mario lifted the weights off of Bosco's chest and set them onto the ground before handing one of his goons a knife. 'Kick the shit out of him,' he ordered before he turned his undivided attention towards Dallas.\n\n'Now, here's the deal,' Dallas said as he wrapped his enormous hand around the smaller man's shoulders as he led him into an office while his lackeys brought the other sap to another room for some education of his own. 'I'll give you the money upfront, contract signed and everything. And since I can appreciate someone going into education, I'll even give you a generous deal - you only have to pay me back seven thousand dollars in... three months. Sounds good to you?'\n\nSeveral minutes later, the smaller man had left with the money in a small envelope as Mario was ready to head back into the gym for his workout, now that the Ambrosia had run through his body fully. Meanwhile, Bosco had been allowed out of his classroom and was now leaving the gym.\n\n---\n\nThat was three months ago. By now, Mario had put on an extra seventy pounds of muscle as he had Dallas sat in the chair across from him. He had just finished a workout, his tight tanktop barely straining to stay on, the same for his workout shorts which were so small compared to his legs they couldn't even go down without effort on his part. They looked less like shorts and more like cotton underwear.\n\nAnd yet, he had a raised eyebrow at his debtor and could only chuckle a little. 'Dallas, Dallas, Dallas...' he said as he tried not to laugh. 'Do I even need to *ask*?'\n\n'Well... I used the money I borrowed from you as a seed fund to start a business,' he explained. 'A small barbecue joint, and it's actually really popular.'\n\n'The one on the main street?' Mario asked. 'Yeah, I send one of my boys round there to pick up some huge orders. It really helps for packing on the pounds.'\n\n'Right,' Dallas said. 'Except... my dad insisted on forcing his way into the business somehow and when I tried to take the rest of the money I owed you out of it, he froze my access to the accounts.'\n\n'Hold on,' Mario said in surprise. 'You're telling me... your old man has taken over the accounts and has frozen you out of *your own business*?'\n\n'I'm actually suing to take control away from him,' Dallas answered. 'And I saw what you did to that other guy and didn't want to be late so...'\n\n'Does that explain why my boys caught you offering handjobs to truckers?' Mario asked. 'Tricking meth-heads into buying sugar crystals?'\n\n'...Yeah,' Dallas answered.\n\n'Jesus, man,' Mario said in surprise. 'It's only three hundred bucks!'\n\n'You *really* made an impression,' Dallas answered.\n\n'That guy blatantly conned me,' Mario said. 'Jesus, man. I can show restraint, and you've been making regular payments back. I'm just bringing you in here so you don't do some shit that will *kill* somebody! That's *my* job!'\n\n'...Have you killed someone?' Dallas asked with concern.\n\nMario wish he could say yes. How that cheeky Irish potato-eater Bosco had issued a charge-back on the money he had paid Mario back then skipped to another country and Mario tracked him down. How Mario locked Bosco and himself within a wrestling cage and then proceeded to have a few rounds against him. How he brutalized him with punches, kicks and throws that left him black and blue. And how effortless it was to wrap two powerful arms around Bosco's torso and squeeze his torso until his ribs and lungs collapsed in on themselves before Bosco's spine gave way and he convulsed as he died, spraying blood out of his mouth.\n\n'Not personally,' Mario answered."
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[WP] You are teaching about the Battle of Before. A small battle that, due to the clocks going back an hour for daylight savings, ended before it began.
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"\"Alright class, this is a confusing one. The Battle of Before was, whilst not one of the biggest battles in the Proxy-War, one of the most peculiar. It began when two squads of Allied infantry made contact with a dramatically larger Coalition force. The Coalition assumed that it was a much larger force that was attacking them, and sent forward an overwhelming response. Allied forces called for air support, and fled. Very small skirmish, barely anything, really, although the airstrike killed 23 Coalition infantry and destroyed three light vehicles, as well as damaging a tank. However, what was interesting about it was that it technically finished before it had begun. The entire skirmish lasted around thirty minutes in the early hours of the morning in October. What this meant was that the clocks went back in the middle of the battle. First shots fired at 1:49. Airstrike called at 1:10. Full Allied force retreat by 1:28. It was confusing, to say the least.\n\n\"Sir, why, exactly are we learning about this though? Surely just because it happened at an interesting time didn't mean that we need to know about it at all.\" A student near the back raised his arm, and I nodded slowly.\n\n\"That would be true if that was all that the Battle of Before marked. However, what also happened was that there was a technology glitch in Coalition forces. Since the Coalition had not been using standardised Daylight Savings throughout their entire forces, the Coalition troops were held up at the battlefield for too long afterwards. Can anybody else tell me what else happened in late October of that year?\"\n\n\"Battle for Hill 103?\"\n\n\"Which ended in?\"\n\n\"A catastrophic Coalition defeat because their reinforcements arrived an hour la- Oh... Yes sir. Understood.\"\n\n\"So, what can we learn from this battle? Anyone like to hazard a guess?\" No hands went up. Typical.\n\n\"Write this down. Not only did the Battle of Before demonstrate poor Coalition coordination, but it also caused Hill 103 to fall. Hill 103's fall marked the start of the Grand Push into Coalition-aligned territory, before it was halted in a siege that I'll get onto in a little bit. Small things have a big impact. That was the *theme* of this war. No, not the theme. The *essence.* No small things, no big overall consequences. In the same way that not writing these small things down could lead to big consequences in what your grade is, *James!*\" I called out the last word a little loudly, the shamed student hurriedly tapping down notes. \"Good. Now. I'll give you a minute to digest, and on to the next important part, the Grand Push...\"\n\n---\n*Hi! I'm TearOpenTheVault, better known as Maxim Westhart. I'm an aspiring writer of short stories, and would love to hear your feedback and any advice you have for me!*"
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[WP] Every kingdom's princess must select someone to serve as her personal knight for the rest of their lives. You, a regular soldier in the army, have been hand-picked by the princess of the dragon kingdom, the most hated in all the land.
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"\nIt made sense, really. Astorm was a powerful kingdom, with a mighty military, of valiant knights. Tixel, the only Dragonborn there, a paragon of knighthood, and one of the mightiest anywhere, was the perfect candidate. Despite that he was only a lowly soldier. Much drama had been stirred, as a result, for this was a rare occurrence, indeed, but a pleasant one, usually. \n\nBut this was Kirei Dragoncrown, daughter to the most infamous king in the world, which would make everything anything but pleasant.\n\nDon't get him wrong, Tixel is loyal, and this was a chance to settle some long-lasting tension between Dragoncrown and Astorm. Or a beautiful chance to ruin everything. Regardless, here he was, in the royal carriage, going to the most infamous place in the continent to meet his potential princess.\n\nHis mind was thrown back into reality with the sudden stop of the carriage. The back opened up, and a well-dressed servant (or poorly-dressed noble,) was there to greet him. \"Evening, Lord Tixel.\" He despised the title Lord, especially with what it was associated with here. Power. Ruthlessness. An iron fist.\n\n\"Please, I'm not even her knight yet. Still single, too!\" He laughed, hoping to lighten the mood. The man remained silent, and a deafening silence briefly settled. Tixel sighed, \"Sorry,\" and strepped out. \n\nThe castle itself, now visible in front of him, was a giant, looming monstrosity, made of heavy, black hardsteel. It looked more like a citadel then a castle, frankly. It was interesting that the castle was like an upscaled citadel, yet fitting. But those were used for pit fights, and as prisons. Not as homes for royalty. \n\nWiping fear from his mind, Tixel stepped up to the gate, as the man who accompanied him yelled up, at seemingly no one. \"He's here!\" After a brief wait, a loud creak sounded from within, as the massive door slowly opened for them. Tixel wasn't sure what was more impressive: The interior design, which was ominous, yet very reinforced, or the half-ogres lining the entire hallway, all clad in their plate armor.\n\n\"Are there this many guards everywhere in the citadel?\" Tixel asked, making his slight concern for his safety barely audible. The servant chuckled, finally, but it was in no way reassuring, \"No. usually, we put thirty humans at the entrances, but you're here today, so we have fifty half-ogres, instead.\"\n\nThat wasn't reassuring, knowing just how powerful a single half-ogre is. Yet, as the man led him along, ranting about his hopes of peace and other things Tixel didn't particularly care for, no one attacked, and the halls were dead silent, aside from the man's echoing voice, and the occasional cough or sneeze, met by harsh whispers from other half-ogres.\n\nEventually, Tixel noticed himself moving down a flight of stairs, adorned with a regal, if not ominous, crimson carpet. \"You're almost there, but I can't accompany you further. Good luck.\" He almost whispered the last sentence. Tixel raises an eyebrow, under that helmet of his, before marching on. Regardless, this looked good so far.\n\nAs he pushed open the door, he covered his eyes while walking out, at the sudden brightness. Once his eyes adjusted, he realized what they had done, and that he was now in a massive arena. Noblemen from all sides cheered, as he walked out, but Tixel ignored them, looking up at the man in front. Galbatr, king of Dragoncrown, and the most infamous yet respected man alive, was sitting on his imposing, giant throne. He stood up.\n\n\"Greetings, fine nobles! Look down at this man, the Dragonborn Knight, Tixel of Astorm!\" He paused to let them cheer, but Tixel doubted that it was sincere. \"This warrior is lucky enough to be chosen by my daughter as a personal knight, and maybe even a future Lord!\"\n\nAnother round of cheering. To be a Lord in a place like this is more likely to bring dishonor then anything. \"But first, he must best a trial in order to be her knight, decided by me!\" He looked down at the 'warrior.' \"Are you ready, pathetic man?\" Tixel, rather than retort that it was the king who was human, not him, only drew his sword and shield, yelling out, \"TAKE A GUESS!\" \n\nGalbatr laughed, in response. \"At least your reputation holds, so far! Let's see if it does, after this!\" The gate under his throne opened, and a massive drake stepped out. Tixel cursed under his breath, for not bringing his best equipment. Regardless, he would win.\n\nThat confidence faded, though, when he realized the drake, rather than having black scales, as he thought, was covered in armor made out of the same dark materiel as the building. \"Let's see if you can even pierce it's armor, that is!\" Galbatr called from above, laughing. Tixel clenched his sword and shield only tighter, as the massive beast roared at him, and the battle began.\n\n(First writing prompt I did all on my tiny phone. Hope it's good. Any criticism or opinions?)",
"Laws and codes work great for nobility, not for the men on the front lines. It is the men whom work in the fields far from whatever slight caused the war whom must fight and die in it as the nobility moan about the costs. It is the men whom must rest on sleepless nights fearful if he'd survive the next day as the nobility awakes late in the morning and moans about a cold breakfast. Still I am only a soldier who must worry about surviving the next minute in the battle whom can't understand the 'intricacies' of politics between kingdoms.\n\nI don't know what started this mess but it all began for me when a group of royal soldiers came through and handed the Alderman a notice to put up. The notice read that every family must send one male for an upcoming war with a kingdom whose name I did not know. I volunteered in the customary stead of the eldest son to spare my newlywed brother. I ended up in a unit with other friends of mine from the village commanded by old man Jenkins. Other notable names were Harold, Frank, Yonglan, and Thomas. Even after everything that has happened I still remember those names and faces.\n\nWe were given 'training' where professional soldiers and mercenaries beat us until we figured how to hold a blade properly and not get hit on the first swing. Most my unit were hurt badly but old man Jenkins and I always managed to fight the trainers back to keep them from getting it to bad; he because he was a retired soldier and myself through either natural ability or luck. Good or bad you tell me. After that we were assigned to one of the quieter places on the front which was full of mostly quiet patrols and one battle where are unit was almost deployed. I had yet to need to raise my blade to kill another man, but to those of us conscripted we felt death around the corner at all times. Then it happened.\n\nIt had started out as a quiet patrol at night, our entire unit half asleep. It started out as merely what seemed heavy wind. Then in a moment it was over, a massive golden dragon, straight out of the legends my gramps had told me. We were no matched, I have no clue why it attacked us, we had yet to anything other than stare in terror, but it opened with a massive burst of flame which instantly roasted Harold and Frank. It then landed, the light from the fire it had set to surrounding trees bathing it in an even more frightening light. Yonglan and Thomas were right on top of it and were forced to try and swing their swords at it. I will leave it at their deaths were quick, that being all I'll say on that matter. I was frozen stiff terrified, that was when the dragon saw me and breathed a stream of fire towards me. I thought I was done for when Jenkins knocked me out of the way, taking the full blast himself.\n\nThere it was me alone with the dragon, it started to make a sound that sounded like laughing. I don't know what spurred me to action but I leapt forward charged and manged to stab the dragon, the action catching both of us by surprise. A gush of blood burst from teh wound and covered me. From there most of the fight is a blur, but I remember vividly how it ended. I managed to roll away from a bite and sliced a deep wound on its neck, a definitely lethal blow. That was when the dragon in what seemed like a desperate last attack to take me out to breathed a different sort of fire on me. I don't know what it was but I feinted, coming too hours later among teh carcasses of my friends and the dragon. I returned to camp taht morning with the head of the dragon and my five friends, my once white uniform a dark red from the dragons blood and my own which had soaked into it during the fight. \n\nThey would not have believed my tale if not for the head brought back with me. That did not buy me out from being forced to fight in a battle that day, being I was in a platoon ordered to fight on the front line. So there I was bathed in blood standing on the front line in a position ordered to be held. I remember very little of that battle, just the enemy charge in massive numbers on our position and coming too standing in the field of bodies, my sword and uniform soaked in even more blood. I was told later that our line had broken and I alone held the hill, fighting with the seeming strength of a dragon. I don’t know what happened, but something changed me during the fight with that dragon. \n\nIt was a week later though that my life truly changed. I awoke to shouts and men frantically runnig around camp. My only uniform still soaked in blood that refused to come out no matter what I did is what I quickly put on and left the tent to see what was happening. I could see it in the center of camp, banners bearing the creature which only a week before I had fought. The mysterious and hated Dragon Kingdom had come to our camp. I knew because while small our kingdom shared border with them not far from my village, their border guarded by a lone tower. They are hated because they while the smallest are the richest kingdom and have claimed the best lands for themselves. This not why they are hated though, it is because their army is both undefeated in battle and has left not a single survivor. What could they want I wonder as I walked towards their banners.\n\n*To be continued*",
"Today is the day.\n\nToday is the third time I have completed my training in the training academy. My last chance to get in as an elite knight for one of the kingdoms princesses. One of the highest of honors for anyone to get, maybe not as high as being the princess itself but that didn’t matter, I need to be one for a reason that I am looking at right now.\n\nMy long-time friend is standing outside the castle among the other soldiers from our academy. He’s being praised by them for how perfect his scores were on his first year. I’m proud for him, but at the same time, I hate it. But that hate is pitiful of someone that aims to be an elite knight. \n\nAs I approach, he notices me right away and shoos everyone else to come up to me. I may not like him too much but… At least he cares. “Gram!” He happily greeted. I smile at him as I greet him with a long-earned hug and he responds in kind. \n\n“Kuro!” I greet him back. He pulled out of the hug and walked beside me to the castle where everyone was heading toward. “Which princess are you hoping to get chosen by?”\n\n“Daria. Duh.” He answered quickly.\n\n“Aiming for the best? Makes sense given how you aced everything that came your way.”\n\n“I need to join under her banner for the orphans back home, Gram. She pays us the most out of the others.”\n\n“She’s also the hardest to fight for. She only accepts the best and gives the hardest assignments I hear.”\n\n“Worth it for them back home.”\n\n“Same. I plan to join under her too this time.”\n\n“Right…” Kuro’s words drifted. My smile disappears as we head under the large golden arches, going through the castle entrance and our footsteps go from the clunk of the cobblestone to the soft pat on the red carpet. Kuro’s smile retreats to his usual neutral demeanor. \"Listen, Gram.” He looks at me and I look back at him. “They are idiots for rejecting you.” He puts his hand on my shoulder\n\nA smile returns, “Thank you. But I need to join under her banner to give money back to the orphanage. If not, then maybe the other human princesses. They pay as much as her, less maybe but its still good money”\n\n“A lot of the guys want to join under Sivine’s banner.”\n\nI laugh and he laughs along. “They do know that living in the desert is like, impossible unless your ashen elf?”\n\n“The possibility of having a harem over there is probably worth it to them.” Our footsteps turn into clungs as we walk on marble floors. “What is your second choice if not Daria?”\n\n“Probably Illia. The eastern kingdom has the same standards as Daria, just not as hard. At least they pay the second best.”\n\nWe discuss our choices should we ever not get what we want. He really doesn’t want anyone else but Daria’s banner. He only wants what he thinks he deserves. We laugh as we talk about our experiences in the academy as we wait until the gates open to the choosing hall. “No one but the jug heads would want to get in the orc’s banner.”\n\n“Hey, as long as they get that unprofessional behavior away from us then I am glad.”\n\n“Right, but they don’t pay much at all because they rarely assign anything.”\n\n“Right, we can’t go with them no matter what. I don’t want them even as my last choice.” I tell him.\n\nFor some reason, Kuro went silent when I said that. There is a noticeable pause between us now. “So right. But what about… You know who.”\n\nI gulp down. Then laugh nervously. “N-no one would be under her. She doesn’t even pick anyone.”\n\n“No, she does, just very rarely. I’ve been looking at the pick rates between the princesses. The draken princess pickings seem to be random. But when she does, those she picks tend not to survive. But the only upside is that she pays the most out of all the princesses, even more than Daria. Might be worth it if you can survive her orders.” The gates start the open. You can hear them creek with anticipation as the doors open to finally start the choosing. “That might be the best case for you, I hope.”\n\nI look back at him with a realization. Now, I’m suddenly angry. “You… you don’t believe in me. You think I could end up with the orcs or worse? The Draken and die?”\n\nKuro doesn’t even give me the honor of looking at me. He paused. “I’m thinking realistically.” His face doesn’t look like one of looking down on me or one of pity, but one of focusing on his goal. Why does he not believe in me? Why does he have to see me as nothing but a stray cat trying be the royal pet? \n\n“All soldiers!!” The ring master at the gate yells for us. By instinct we all stand proud and straight. The man was a teacher and commander for some of us. “The choosing to be one of the princess’s elite will start. One by one, your name will be called! The princesses will then judge you, then raise their hand if they want you in! If more than one raises their hand, you have the choice of picking between them! You may reject them and try again next year! But remember! For those who have gotten rejected twice and then a third time, will be expelled from the choosing again! DO I MAKE MYSELF CLEAR!?”\n\n“SIR, YES, SIR!” We all respond.\n\n“I expect you all to be quiet during all this! I expect you to be professional and graceful under rejection! No matter what happens, I wish the best for you! You may all now enter the choosing hall!” \n\nAmong everyone moving in, I lose Kuro in the crowd, but I don’t care. From this point on, I’m on my own. I need to focus when they call my name. We enter the choosing hall and its large dome shaped appearance. Its golden and steel interior could blind the eyes with its glow. In front of us lies the thrones for the princesses. Behind us lies the visitor seats, and they are packed with people. All of them are families of the soldiers. All of us try to resist waving back at our families who are cheering us on. I don’t wave back. Some of us don’t even have families to wave back to. And aunty Eli couldn't get the money to attend. All that is filling my mind right now is the anticipation of what will happen when I get up there.\n\n“May I ask for silence in the visitor’s section, please!?” The ring master yells as they finally settle down. “Thank you, I know this is a huge occasion for your family, but please with honor, I present the princesses of the kingdoms!” As he says their names, each one comes out with their each own magnificence. “Princess of the Human west! Daria.” She comes out in her decorated armor with the only semblance of a dress coming out from the bottom of the armor. She of course gets a lot of applause by the humans and not much the elves in the stands. “Silence til the ceremony is complete please!” The ring master yells and the stands quiet down. “Princess Sivine of the North!” Princess Sivine comes out in her rather questionable outfit choice. She is showing some middrift and her legs. I notice some guys around me sweat in her presence. She sits down with her leg crossed and her head resting on her fist, already judging us. I think I heard a couple guys giggle with envy to sit by her. “Princess Illia of the East!” Illia comes out rather younger than the rest. She comes out in a very large dress that is supposed to be the best clothing from the east. She shows herself then sits down faster than the other two, almost as if she wants this to be done fast as much as we do. \n\nThat was it for the human princesses. Then came the elven princesses. “Princess Annetta from the Ashern Isles!” Now, the ashen elves were never one for high tier royalty since the volcano of their islands nearly destroyed their land. But despite that, she comes out with pride in her practical armor. Not as bulky as Daria, but light for a ranger to utilize. She sits next to Daria. “Princess Owein from the Frost mountains!” Owein comes out more radiant than the others. The Ice elves were on par with the Eastern human kingdom in terms of fashion. Her dress rivals that of Illia but appears more… bright than hers. She sits next Sivine. “Princess Dur’lik of the Eastern Forests!” The fae elves always have the stigma of being savages, while a lot of them in the academy prove that otherwise, their princess really doesn’t help with her clothing looking like it was staged on a few branches. Some pieces being ripped off and showing some skin along with her messy hair. But she is the only one that smiles and grins with pride and throws a fist in the air, which all the fae elves, both in the audience and soldiers among us, respond in kind. The ring master glares at everyone before we all settle down and the princess sits next to Illia. As the ring master goes on, those two seem to be leaning toward each other, talking to one another where the other princesses still sit there. \n\nThe ring master almost sighs at the next one. “Princess… Monoke from the Orc Tribes…” The orc princess bursts through her door and yells a battle cry to everyone, prompting some applause for her showmanship to everyone, having the ring master quiet us again before she sat next to Sivine and mimicking her similar sitting pose. \n\n“And our last princess.” He almost gulped. Honestly, so did many of us. “Princess, Oda’vana from Draza!” Oda’vana walks menacingly toward her throne as heatwaves radiant from her as well as some vague smoke coming off of her. Her blue scaly skin with her horns coming out and extending from her forehead. Her hair eyes most of her face, but her red eyes can be seen through it. Her armor was sharp and made from the bones of feral dragons embedded with blue steel, little is known about Draza besides it being littered with mountains. But the thing everyone can recognize of her armor is how it appears very draconian and resembles as such. She may appear human-sized, but the stone collar around her is what is keeping her in that form. Her entrance earned the glares of the princesses. She glares back with her sharp eyes and sits down. “With that! The choosing will start!” The ring master taps his blade on the ground to command us to stay in formation.",
"Today was the day, it was my first day as a soldier. I was beyond nervous, Captain Salmer requested me first thing in the morning for a combat demonstration. I was known in his patrol of the city as a fighter. Everyone thought they could take on the biggest one around. And I was that.\n\nTwo years ago I could look the captain's horse in the eye. Now, I could see over it's head, and I could pick Thrasher up. \n\nIt took the armorer a full month to forge armor specifically for me. He mentioned that he used over double the material that he would normally use.\n\nI had never received any formal weapon training. I was an untrained brawler with a gift for combat. My family had been known in the Sparrow country as great combatants for generations. \n\nUnfortunately my father had died in a skirmish when I was but a child. Mother had never remarried. Mother was an amazing medic. But she was gone alot. \n\nAll my life I had been the one protecting my family. I beleive the only reason I exist is to protect people. That is why I am here, waiting my turn for my demonstration. To protect people.\n\nThe crowd outside suddenly quiets down in a loud gasp. Someone was just killed in a demonstration. While not entirely rare, it doesn't happen often in the demonstrations.\n\n\"I think we came I'm the wrong door, highness.\" I hear a gruff voice come from the entrance around the corner. I stand up and begin to move towards the door, this area is off limits to non-soldiers.\n\nI'm stopped dead in my tracks as I hear the most melodic voice I've ever heard. \"Captain, I can enter wherever I want. You think they could stop us?\" \n\n\"Highness, tensions are already high. We are guests in their land, we should respect their rules.\" The gruff voice responds.\n\nI turn the corner and am paralyzed. Holding open the door is an older man, maybe 40 or 50th year, scars on his cheeks, gray flecked through his black hair. \n\nIn the door is the most stunningly beautiful woman I have ever seen. Her glossy raven hair braided down to her lower black. She has a small metal ring on her right eyebrow, One in the left side of her nose, and two more in her lower lip on either side, her plump pink lips almost sparkling in the torchlight. Her dark brown eyes, soft, yet intense, meet mine and she smiles. \n\n\"And who are you large man?\" She says almost sweetly, the Man behind her has his hand on his sword hilt. You can tell though, that not even this veteran has seen many people my size before, if any.\n\n\"I am recruit Samwell Heart, Highness.\" I say as I bow. \"I must apologize, but this area is for participants of the demonstrations only.\" \n\nThe corners of her mouth turn up in a sly smile. \"Well, recruit Heart, I apologize for my intrusion. I shall take my leave.\" The man holding the door gestures her through.\n\n\"By the way, have you demonstrated yet, young knight?\" She asks.\n\n\"I am up next, highness. And I am not a knight yet. It is my first day actually.\"\n\nShe continues down the hallway as the door closes behind the Man. I hear the crowd start cheering again and I'm startled. Shoving my helmet on, I jog towards the entrance to the arena and await my name.\n\n\"HEART AND CALDWELL! TO THE ARENA!\" The crowd erupts in cheers. I'm walking slowly, this armor is ridiculously heavy. You hear the crowd get louder when he steps out of his end. I smile. \n\nSilence falls over the crowd as soon as I take my first step out of the tunnel. There are three weapon racks sitting on either side of the tunnel, with all manner of weapon on them. Dulled, for what is supposed to be friendly sparring.\n\nI pick up a sword, nearly as tall as my chest, and the largest one there, blade as wide as my hand. I've always loved swords. Caldwell, on the other side has two longswords in his hands, hefting them, spinning them. \n\nI begin to walk forward, he follows suit and we meet in the middle. I hold my fist out in a sign of friendship. He puts his fist against mine and the bell rings.\n\nHe instantly sprung back, trying to gain distance. Unfortunately, it's hard to gain distance from someone my size. I'm on him in two steps, swing the sword in my right hand towards his stomach.\n\nHe barely manages to get his swords in front of it and block some of the hit. The force still knocks him back and breaks his guard as he tries to roll right with it.\n\nHe comes back up from his roll and I'm there, shooting a kick forward. He stands up and my foot catches him directly in the chest. Completely caving in his plate mail and sending him flying. The bell rings.\n\nI suddenly come too, hearing the crowd cheer louder than I've ever heard. I won. I walk towards the Box where all the nobles sit. I take my helmet off and bow.\n\nThat's when I notice it, she's sitting up there with a huge smile on her face. I start getting nervous. Captain Salmer is talking with His and Her Majesty. \"Rise, soldier Heart.\" The captain says. \"You did well\"\n\nSuddenly the woman from earlier screams and jumps up. \"Captain Scere, I've found him.\" I'm confused. Until I look at everyone else.\" \n\nEveryone looks as if I just died. And that's when I notice. Her dress is covered in small gold thread dragons. \n\nShe jumps out of the box and lands a little too lightly on the ground in front of me.\n\n\"I am Princess Flare of the Dragon Kingdom. I am going to make you my personal knight.\" She smiles at me. And extends her hand.\n\nI look up at my people in the box, none of them are looking at me. I've only ever heard rumors of the Dragon Kingdom. But then again, no one who's told me anything has ever been there.\n\n\"As you command, your Highness.\" I bow to her and hurriedly take my gauntlet off and shake her hand. \"I look forward to the years to come.\"\n\n\n\nI may add to this one if it's well received. I miss writing and am out of practice. Any pointers are welcome. ",
"The highland wastes roared with thunder. Or was it her battle cry? All Avil saw was his own passion, his anger, that sense of determined finality. Before him flew the Draconic general, magically enhanced to be a fearsome, bestial Great Dragon, the very same that fell his mother, whose soul burned within his blade, screaming for vengeance. Maybe it was selfish of Avil to leave behind his comrades-in-arms. But he didn't fight for his country, or for any of his allies within. He fought for his mother, and only for his mother, so when he saw the opportunity to challenge the general, albeit alone, he took it.\n\nSpurring his feet forward, Avil abandoned caution, putting his faith in the magics his sword held, and the spirit of war forged into it. Avil and his mother attacked together, as one, every ounce of hatred and passion burning its way into the flying beast's body.\n\nThe Draconic general's roar of pain, eerily like a laugh of ridicule, was the last thing Avil remembered of that battle, before the world went cold and grey.\n\nAvil's dream of something vaguely resembling mischief was interrupted. Where was he? The decor was lavish. Walls of marble adorned with jade and ruby, soft velvet carpets, and indoor plumbing facilities sporting ample quantities of clear, sparkly azure water. One look out the window revealed he was perched upon a mountain, with a bright blue sky above and a verdant green forest below, the likes of which Avil never saw at his home nation. Avil looked at himself. He was remarkably clean, and robed in red-on-white silk. Given the context of his memories, the only reason he should be somewhere so unfamiliar, is if he were in an enemy prison, or in Heaven. Granted the beauty around him, the truth was obvious.\n\nAvil was dead. The battle must have defeated him. He could only hope that he took the general down with him. And so he sat, staring into the sky, for who knows how long, before a knock came at the door to his room, and a man walked in.\n\n\"Ah, you're awake. Good, good. Well, it's nearly 10 in the morning. Are you ready for your audience with Lady Parili?\" The man stood tall, wearing a suit of bright royal blue. He seemed to be a butler of some kind. Though more eye-catching than his vestment were the formally rigid protrusions behind him. The man had a tail, and wings. They were covered in smooth, reflective onyx scales. In fact, come to look at him, the man appeared human, but many parts of his skin seemed to be replaced with onyx scales. He was a dragon, and a remarkably elegant one at that. His tail swayed. \"Sir? Are you well?\" he called.\n\n\"Ah, yes,\" replied Avil as he got to his feet. \"My apologies, what was it?\"\n\n\"You have an audience with Lady Parili. If you're ready, I'll take you to her now.\"\n\n\"I... suppose so, but who is that?\" The Dragon beckoned Avil into the hallway and they talked while walking past garish hallways.\n\n\"Lady Parili is our princess. She's the one that brought you here, and arguably the only reason you're still alive.\"\n\n\"Wait, I'm... alive?\"\n\n\"Well, as alive as an Undead like yourself can be. I'm not much learned on the lives of the Undead, but from what I've heard, you're never exactly alive, but have 'stages' of undeath, progressing every time you die. Am I wrong?\"\n\n\"Er, yes, that's right. We're born dead, but our life continues until we're sent off to the afterdeath as a ghost.\"\n\n\"I see. You took a lot of damage in battle. It took some of our best scholars to come up with a cure that works for your kind, and some of our best healers to make it work so well. How do you feel?\"\n\n\"I don't think I've felt this good since my vampire days!\" Avil eagerly hopped up the flight of stairs leading into an even more fantastical set of halls. \"So, I take it this is the royal palace of the Dragons' Kingdom? Why did you save me?\"\n\n\"Hah,\" the butler laughed dryly. \"Don't ask me. It was an order from Lady Parili. I have no idea why she does what she does. But then, my job is not to ask why, my job is to obey.\" They came up on a bright scarlet door adorned with abstract golden designs. \"Well, we're here. Follow my lead, and mind your tongue, you stand before royalty.\" Without giving Avil time to respond, the butler knocked and breezed into the room.\n\n\"Ah, there you are Sammy!\" came a feminine voice, simultaneously harsh, biting, elegant, and soft. In the magnificent bedroom stood a girl in a red nightgown, shining a smile equal parts delightful and terrifying. Her skin was much the same as the butler, in where her scales were and weren't, but the scales themselves gleamed a deep sapphire. Fluffy blue hair bounced on her head, and her tail made wide, fast swishes. Yep, she looked like a princess. \"Sammy Sammy, where are those scones I asked for?\"\n\nThe butler scoffed. \"I put them at your table an hour ago.\" Sure enough, on a small round table near the bed, was a plate of scones.\n\nThe girl's chuckle pierced the air. \"Heh, well why didn't you tell me?\"\n\n\"I did, twice.\" The princess sat down and began feasting. \"Er, milady, the Undead soldier is here, as you requested.\"\n\n\"Mmmph!\" she muffled through bread. She threw her arm in an energetic beckoning motion, and Avil walked over cautiously.\n\n\"Well if that's all, I'll be going now,\" the butler called, before making his escape.\n\n\"Are you, er, Miss Parili?\" At her motion, Avil took a seat, and she handed him a scone.\n\n\"Yes yes,\" Parili laughed. \"And you're that silly soldier who abandoned your army and charged straight at me on the battlefield!\" What? Wait, that Great Dragon was... the princess? So, not only was he captured by the enemy military, but he attacked royalty with everything he had. Royalty that sat before him. Fear chilled Avil's bones, and he could hardly bear to take a bite of the pastry in his hand. Parili simply continued to laugh at Avil's expression, pouring metaphorical salt in his stitches. \"What's up with you, man?\" she called, grinning as happily as always. \"What's your beef? You gave me some nasty cuts back there!\" She showed off her arm, covered in perfect scales. Not even a scar to be seen.\n\n\"You... look fine,\" came Avil's scarce voice.\n\n\"Well yeah, hehe, we got some great healers after all.\" Wait, then what was the point of showing him her wounds if they don't exist? \"You haven't answered me, though!\"\n\nAvil took a bite of his scone, trying to mentally piece together his statement. He wasn't sure what this happy dragon would do to him if he got on her bad side. \"...My name is Avil. When my mother was a zombie, she was a great commander in the war between our kingdoms. She was killed in battle by a general in the Draconic military. Since then, I've served in her footsteps, trying to do her justice. When I saw you, she told me you were the same Dragon that killed her. That was the moment all my years of training and battle led up to, I couldn't let that chance slip by.\"\n\n\"Wait, your mother, is she that ghost in your sword?\" Avil nodded, earning him another chuckle. \"Yeah yeah, I remember her! She took out half our fleet once! Heh, how charming, mother and son come to challenge my claws together!\" Parili roared happily. It sounded silly coming from her human form, but still powerful in its own right.\n\n\"What are you going to do with me?\" Again came Parili's laughter. It was if she was ridiculing Avil with every breath.\n\n\"You're cute, Avil. But more importantly, you amuse me! From the moment I saw you charge at me, I thought 'wow what a funny zombie!' And then we fought and you were surprisingly hard to take down! You drew a lot of my blood, hehe! It was so fun! I couldn't stop laughing, you looked so cute waving your little magic ghosty sword at me! I just *had* to take you home with me.\" The more Avil listened, the worse he felt, and somehow, the better he felt. He almost wanted to laugh with her. \"So, I've been in need of a new knight, and I thought if you lived up to my expectations, I'd take you!\"\n\nHm. That's not exactly comforting, becoming the knight to a Draconic princess. Especially the one he's been trying to kill for the past several decades. \"What, uh, happened to your last knight, if I may ask?\"\n\n\"Ah,\" Parili spoke through giggles. \"She stopped being fun, so, ehehe, I threw her away!\" Wait. Did that mean what Avil thought it meant? \"Yeah, haha, I roasted her good!\" Oh no. \"Ah, it's unfortunate. She left my service just as hilarious as she arrived! Heheh, I can just hear her cries and her pleas and her screams as if it were yesterday!\" Nope. Just when Avil thought he might be able to look past this girl's laughter and get along, she says something like that. \"Aww what's wrong Avil? You've got the cutest, funniest look on your face right now!\" If all Dragons are like this, no wonder everyone's at war with them.\n\n\"So uh. Exactly how many knights have you had?\"\n\n\"Mm, I've lost count. But y'know, we Dragons, we live a long time, about as long as you Undead, yeah? So it must've been a lot!\" That's not comforting. If her knights normally have a long lifespan, then that means she hasn't given them much time at all.\n\n\"So I don't have to guess what happens to me if I fail these 'expectations' of yours, huh?\"\n\n\"Mmmhmhm, I dunno, maybe I'll make you guess anyway! Go on, give it a shot!\"\n\n\"Er, you'll send me back to my country unharmed?\" Parili let out a harsh fit of laughter.\n\n\"Yes, keep saying stuff like that, and you'll never have to find out!\" Ugh. Not a good sign. \"Come on, Avy. You know you couldn't return even if you wanted.\" Avy? Wait, what? \"I heard that because of that stunt you pulled, a large portion of the Undead Army tried running in to help you out and save you. They were undermanned as is, and thanks to that rescue mission, the attack force got even weaker. They suffered a lot of casualties that day. Oh, I wish I could've seen it. Bottom line is, even if you came back, I don't think the country would forgive you.\"",
"\"Are you sure it's me?\"\n\n\"Rodger Haywolf, I repeat, you are being summoned by the Dragon Princess to be her personal knight and loyal guard. You will offer you strength, until your last, only to the Dragon princess from here until the second burning.\"\n\nIt's a rare honor for a common soldier to be promoted knight, even more, to be a Princess' knight. Only the bravest and strongest are chosen for this role. A Princess Knight is not only in charge of the princess' perpetual security- but also he will be assigned as her representative warrior in the Seven Kingdom's yearly tournament.\nInstead of the kingdoms fighting each other, they just select a warrior to represent the kingdom, there will only be 1 warrior left at the end of the tournament, the winning kingdom will have command over the other kingdoms until the next tournament.\n\nAny soldier/knight would gladly offer their life for the princess, fight to the death in the tournament. But for the Dragon kingdom, this is a death sentence.\n\nThe Dragon Kingdom hasn't won for the last ten tournaments- the knight that Rodger is replacing died first in the last tournament. Rumors were, the Dragon princess didn't even wince at his death. Everyone hated her. Others even say the Dragon Princess will get furious suddenly and demand your life at her whim. \n\nRodger was calm on the carriage. Rodger thought he was the logical choice since no one would care if he dies. Orphaned at a young age, he didn't knew of family or relationships. There was no fear of loss. Nobody would even shed tear at his absence. He grew up taking different weird jobs. Most would take toll on his young body, but the labor made him stronger. Strong enough for him to be enlisted as a soldier. \n\nThen he remembered his childhood friend, Meg. Rodger would remember playing with her the whole day almost everyday in the forest behind the palace. Rodger didn't get to see her after he got enlisted in the Cavalry. It's the memory of Meg that helped him get through all the harsh trainings. He silently wished he could know how Meg is doing. Atleast he could die happily thinking she's happily married with a beautiful family.\n\nRodger's deep thoughts were interrupted when the commander asked him to go down and go straight to one of the upper towers. \nThe Dragon Princess' Tower.\n\nRodger never had dreams or goals, he only wished for a simple life. A small family perhaps, a small farm- a happy life with M-\n\n\"Stay here, the next voice you'll hear is the Dragon Princess'. Treat her with respect and honor, your life is hanging on her words.\" the tower maiden warned.\n\nRodger was in the process of letting go of all the dreams he has left. The peaceful family- the little toddlers. He knows that by being the princess' knight- he will be hers for all his life. Her's alone. \n\nRodger stood like a soldier. Not flinching, always prepared for attacks. Soon enough he hears a familiar voice-\n\n\"Rodger Haywolf\"\n\n\"Yes, your majesty\" Rodger knew the owner of the voice. He didn't forget it not even once. Not when the voice shouted \"jump\" or when it teased him \"you're such a fool Rodger\"- it's the same voice.\n\nRodger slowly lifted his gaze to the direction of the voice\n\n\"I am the one who summoned you- Princess Margaret of the Dragon Kingdom. You will be my own Knight from now until the Second Burning. From now on, you will be called Sir Rodger of the Dragons, and you will call me-\n\nMeg.\"\n\nEnd of Part 1",
"He stood in the crowd of soldiers in silence. They were all lined up in the order of their assigned numbers. The monstrous girl simply threw out the number that corresponded to her birth date, 3/9/548, and decided that whoever had that number would serve as her knight until the day he died. It wasn't founded on any relationship with a knight/soldier, she never spoke to any of them. She really had no other option but to choose randomly.\n\nAnd so there was Joran. He was the unlucky recipient of that number 5 years ago on the day of his enlisted for the army. 5 years later, she was 17 and it was time for her to choose her 'knight'; and now here he was. The room was buzzing with emotions. Some were excited at the idea of having escaped from being her knight, others were embarrassed for him. \n\nHe could actually feel the eyes of the people around him boring a hole through his head. Admittedly, she was hideous. Her face lacked the traditional, archetypal beauty seen in the other princesses in the lineup. She had ashen brown scales with flecks of emerald green and her mouth protruded from her face rather sharply - almost like a snout. Her teeth were all crooked and when she smiled her lips drew over them like a snarl. It took him a moment to realize that she was actually smiling. All the other princesses looked uncomfortable standing near her.\n\nHe walked slowly to the front and the soldiers behind him started to snicker and cough uncomfortably. He heard whispers of pity and embarrassment coming from them at just bearing witness to him being selected to serve the horrid dragon princess. His face burned in shame as he neared her.\n\nWhen he stood before her and before the 30,000 or so soldiers he knelt so as to avoid looking at her terrible face. He tried to comfort himself but he really felt hopeless. He got stuck with the worst of the princesses. He told himself that as soon as he got the chance he would make a run for it. After all, it was better to live in exile that to be stuck with the foulest of princesses across the several kingdoms. \n\nHe felt a tap on his shoulder and looked up. His face was very near hers.\n\n\"Oh, he- hey. I'm sorry. I just need you too look at me as I recite the Incantation of Sealing.\" She was being very quiet. The princesses around them had moved sideways and were watching closely. She was the first to choose a knight, so they were curious to see what it was like. He was closer to her scales than he felt comfortable, and he could see now that some of her teeth were slightly more pointed than it was normal. He thought of a myriad of ways of getting out of this. Escape, self injury, *treachery*. He knew he could not do it in front of the other soldiers - his brothers and sisters - it had to wait. He even thought of death, but he acquiesced.\n\n\"Carry on, m'lady.\" He gazed hard at her face. Eye contact was crucial in this process. They needed to see each others' eyes so they Gods knew who was being bound to whom. The princess started to sing.\n\nHer voice was beautiful beyond measure, but that was no surprise. Dragons themselves had powerful voices that had the ability to entrance. Her voice had nowhere near enough power, but it was still pleasant to the ears. It was another aspect of her draconic deception. She lifted her staff, with the emblem of her lineage and started to move it in particular patterns around his head. Through this process, the knight becomes honor-bound to the princess. He felt his world closing around him. \n\nSuddenly, she dropped the heavy metal staff. It landed on his shoulder, hard, and fell to the floor. It clattered as it bounced a few times. Her eyes widened and she grabbed him saying, \"Oh my gosh! I'm so sorry- I- I didn't meant to drop it. Oh geez... Is it damaged? Are *you* damaged- er, are you okay?\" She was flustered, which made her seem more human. The soldier eased her.\n\n\"I'm fine. It's just a scrape.\" He rubbed his shoulder. He was wearing the tunic of a soldier about to complete his entrance into the army, so his shoulders were exposed. The staff had scales on it that were sharp. He was bleeding a bit, but he knew he'd be fine. He felt her touch again and looked up to see that they were very near to each other.\n\nHer eyes were a mere inches away from his face. He realized that they looked entirely human - he had seen the eyes of full-blooded dragons enough to know the difference. They seemed, at a distance, to be depthless and black but up close he realized that they were the darkest shade of brown, like a rich chocolate. Her eyelashes were full and the whites of her eyes were clear. It was at this distance that he started to wonder how anyone could think she was so horrible.\n\nHe pulled away after a few stunned moments and apologized for his forthrightness. She smiled at the awkward encounter they shared and he found her face less jarring as he grew more familiar with it. Her teeth were crooked but they added a certain charm to her face. He thought, too, about how warm she had been in the uncomfortable two minutes of interaction they had had since he had been chosen. He smiled back, suddenly feeling far better about his prospects as her knight.",
"The nations of Odifell exist as four separate nations that mostly co-existed in peace. The nations themselves were named after the beings that helped raise the humans into the force that they are. The Sphinx Kingdom of the south is known for its intelligence and wisdom, the denizens of the realm are known for their ingenuity and being the first nation to create schools. The Unicorns Council of the north is known for their loyalty and oaths the fair people are known for their kindness and are the first to open a public hospital. The Kraken Republic to the East are wanders their sailors are known to be exceptionally brave in their exploration and are rumored to be the only nation to make contact with new lands. The Dragon Kingdom of the west is known for being the origin of the term draconian, their citizens are well taught in magic and opened the first mage guild. This is not a celebrated fact as the first mages rose to power and set off to conquer the other kingdoms, and might have done so, had the nameless hero given her life in sacrifice to the cause. Magic while not uncommon in the other realms is still distrusted and in some smaller towns speculated to twist the minds of men.\n\n\nThe war had been over for sometime now and an uneasy peace made with the other nations creating strong standing armies. The Dragon Kingdom blamed the mage guild for making the king a puppet in the war by enchanting him however this proved to convenient to be true, and the king was slain along with the queen. The kingdom fell to the rule of a child with the help of advisors from the other realms to help with the day to day ruling and teaching of the princess. Now she turns fifteen and the advisors are losing more power, as she gains more of an awareness around her duties. She, like every other before her and all current ruling factions, may create a guard to protect advise and otherwise assist with her life for the rest of her life. It is the type of request where saying no is simply not an option. Not that many would say no, but the Dragon Kingdom even before the war had a bad reputation of being predatory. It was more than a few times the fought with a single kingdom over which nation does a city belong to and which nation collects taxes, or recruits soldiers from that land. While it would come with its perks it was not typically an ideal assignment there was no promotion and no one had ever retired from it. If you were chosen by a nation that nation was now your home, meaning you lost all land holdings and most connections to the land you had known. It was with regret that I held the note requesting my services forth with to the Kingdom of Dragons under the request of the Queen herself Avalon Igneous Draconan Fourth of her name. I Craig of house Dunsforth seventh born and of no great merit.\n\n\nI was lost, honestly barely a knight. I had received training for it but was still a squire, one of many under my eldest brother Rothmer 'The Strong' of house Dunsforth Heir to Hollow Rock Keep and town by the same name. The herald stood there amused as he finished reading and asked if I would accept the assignment eyeing my furious brother wo happened to be the first person told about this as I had been mistaken for a proper knight. \n\n\"I think you have the wrong person.\" I said, as I had wanted to say the whole time, but waited for him to finish. \n\n\n\" Craig of house Dunsforth\" he read again\n\n\"yes\"\n\n\"Seventh born\"\n\n\"yes\"\n\n\"No, renown?\"\n\n\"No..\"\n\n\"Then its you thank heaven's you are confused to, I am right with you.\" He laughed His smile was broad but he looked tired and of need of rest. \"Well you don't have to answer now just before we leave tomorrow. I assume I can stay at the 'House Dunsforth' for a night\"\n\n\"Of course we should ride ahead and tell the keep to make ready I am sure you are tired I will accompany you to the keep myself. I have questions\" Rothmer said showing that he was still in control of the situation. I on the other hand still having issues picking my jaw of the floor. \"Go tell father the news Craig, He will be most surprised.\"\n\nI stared as the galloped away Roth in his green and silver the color of the Unicorn council, and the messenger whose name I forgot or didn't know on his red, yellow, and black. As soon as they were far enough away I could hear Roth start to grill him for details but they were to far away to hear. \n\nThe guard tower was barely a tower hosting two floors an being called a tower only because it was the standard name for all guard head quarters in the land inside was stored weapons and armor not in use as long as a resting area for the guards themselves. My father liked the tower because his friend worked there, and it was centrally located near the market and taverns so it was always lively. Upon entering I could hear my father argue with the chief guard about which tavern made the best bread, It was a secret known only to few that both taverns got their bread from a baker in the market, who made the two breads custom to how the tavern owners liked it. Not wanting to interrupt I stood there till noticed. \n\n\"Aren't you with Roth today\" My father Lord of the Keep asked his voice was deep and heavy with his gut, it was good to be a lord. \n\n\nThe Chief of the guard was a quick contrast to my father a tall and tin man that hid his strong frame, I had seen him once wrestle to men that were fighting each other to the ground at the same time. His voice was higher pitch but carried far \"Ya I saw them earlier in the yard training, Roth seemed to be giving you no quarter today.\" It was true my brother's fighting lesson today was more brutal today and I wondered who it was really for.\n\n\n\"I have received a summon\" I said \"Roth took the messenger to the keep.\"\n\n\"What did you do to get in trouble?\" my father laughed. Despite the joke I can see I had their attention, the had both leaned forward at the same time. Even if I was lying to them the wanted to see where it was going.\n\n\"I Wa... A messenger from the Dragon Kingdom has come with a formal request for me to join their court.\" I did not wait long until I heard their laughs. \"To be the Protector Knight to the Queen Avalon Igneous Draconan Fourth of her name\"\n\nThe laughing stopped. My father looked me up and down. \n\n\"Why?\"\n\n\"I don't now\"\n\nHe hesitated then stood up looking at the chief guard. \"Sorry Solomon I have to look in to this I will let you know if he was lying tomorrow\" He gathered himself and walked to his horse to leave. Solomon for his part stayed seated but smiled hiding how much he wanted to see the results of this news.\n\n\"Call for me if you have a feast\" Solomon said \"I know Helen would love to visit the keep again.\n\nWith a grunt we ventured off to the keep all the way my father asking me questions I couldn't answer. Why you? Who have you been talking to? What did the messenger look like? did you see the seal of the Dragon Kingdom? \n\n\n",
"“I cannot be the one.” Halvehan said with a defensive tone and his hand gripped the pommel of the claymore at his hip. The royals guards paid him no mind and continued marching him through the procession towards the dais where the Dragon Princess stood. She watched his approach with an air of dignity about her posture. Her black garbs were silky and long and the wind gently tugged them into the air. The Mother Queen seated in the throne behind her watched him with a smirk about her lips and her fingers drummed on the armrest with the military lock pace. It all served to only compound the confusion the day had begun with. \n\nWhen they awoke that morning there was no talk of a parade or the inauguration of a new royal champion, nor was there any indication that her Majesty and Heir were even present in the military camp. By mid day however a rumor spread of Red Guard spotted near the Generals Keep. It was then that Halvehan sought Sevilin Hemrin, his squad commander, who was learned in royal affairs, to discuss the possibility of war. Often enough, as both companions had learned over the years, war came without notice in the divided kingdom, and always from the mouths of royalty. Only when Halvehan came to Sevilin’s quarters, Sevilin was gone. Gone from the quarters. Gone from the camp. \n\nWithout his friend to confide in he was forced to move on to the daily tasks relegated to him. Today he was teaching redskins --new recruits, called such for how easily they flushed from labor-- how to manage a spear wielder with their standard issue claymore. It was as they were going through the third drill that he really felt Sevilins absence.\n\n“When you fight a man with a spear you have to watch three things. First is the hands of the wielder. The hands control the spear, if they do not move, the spear will not strike you. Do not transfix on the blade or you’ll meet it with your eye. The second is the feet of the wielder. Spears have a set range from which their trust is deadly. Inside and outside of that range they cannot harm you. Watch the wielder’s feet to see when he makes distance or closes it. Third is the eyes of the wielder. The point of a spear requires guidance to land an attack. If you can manage these three parts of the wielder, you can conquer him.”\n\nNormally after this point he would take up a training spear and spar against Sevilin claymore as a demonstration for the recruits. Halvehan wasn’t bad with a spear, this he knew. He’d taken them up before in the chaos of battle and made good with their killing point. He could even hold his own alongside veterans from the halberd regiment from time to time and served as a good example of the type of warrior the redskins were likely to come across in a battlefield. But it wasn’t his skill with the spear he wanted them to admire. \n\nIt was Sevilin’s claymore that they needed to see. Despite having two less fingers on the left hand, Sevilin’s black claymore was legendary. Even on his worst day Sevilin would put Halvehan to the ground quicker than a bull could throw a child. It was even said Sir Armand, the kingdom’s old sword master had praised Sevilin’s skills at one point. All the men under Sevilin knew this already. It was the regiment command that seemed not to acknowledge Sevilin’s skill as he had been squad captain for well over a decade now.\n\nInstead he sparred with Yarrow, one of the squads forward scouts. Yarrow was merely adequate with a claymore. Halvehan killed him three times before embarrassment for the lad caused him to mistep a thrust. The boy parried and charged in and struck a glancing blow off his shoulder. There were at least ten different ways Sevilin would have had him down already. \n\nThey bowed, and he spoke again to the recruits, “Watch the wielder, not the weapon. Parry the blow and then drive in for the kill. Pair up now, half of you with claymore, the rest with spear. If you’re struck you will sup in the kennels with the rest of the dogs tonight.” \n\nIt was a harsh lesson but served to motivate them well. They made practice war for a time but it was cut short by the calling of banners. Halvehan heard it first, the legato wardrum beat that began to fill the valley. \n\nSoon all heads turned to the keep at the mound and saw the banners rise one by one. Each banner was a regiment of the Dragon Army. Every banner was up and flanking both ends were larger crimson standards bearing three black claws within golden bandings. Halvehan drew a sharp breath at the sight of the royal standards. The black claws within gold only flew in the presence of royalty and on this day there was not one standard, but two.\n\nIn his gut Halvehan felt the powerful consternation that came from memories of war. He found the prospects of killing once more a troubling one. All the good war had ever done for the kingdom was to make them enemies among the other empires and put good friends in the ground. \n\n“Yarrow. Check the keep for Sevilin and then go to the grounds to meet us for formation.” He ordered the redskins back to their encampment and took charge of the squad. Without Sevilin there it was up to him to march their squad to the regiment commander and serve as squad leader himself. He donned his black scale armor and dragon hide pauldrons before tying the black squad leader sash around his waist. He affixed the claymore through the sash and finally pulled on his armored mask.\n\nThe formation arrived at the keep where a dais had been constructed. Atop the dais sat two thrones, one large and decorated in red and gold and angular wooden bevels along the base and back that was nearly seven feet high. The Queen had made it a trophy of hers from a war long past. The second was smaller and black and gold with twisted ornaments along the rests and legs and in it sat the Dragon Princess. Halvehan shifted his weight at the sight of the princess. She was young and fair, and not likely to be presiding over a war declaration, yet her presence gave him an unease.\n\nYarrow came charging into the formation just before the war drums sounded again. Silenced by the order to take formation he only gave Halvehan a curt head shake to signal his failure. From the dais the Princess, not the Queen, stood and approached the army. The war drums silenced again and every man stood still and silent and waited for her words. \n\nWhen they came, they were not soft or elegant, but bold and commanding and they carried far into the ranks, “To the grand army of the Dragon Kingdom. I beseech your forgiveness for my sudden appearance this day. My Queen Mother and I have made haste to travel here, for I insisted upon it at once as it’s the eve of my seventeenth birthday.”\n\nHalvehan felt a sudden surge and comprehended Sevilin’s absence. At seventeen a princess is granted a royal knight to act as her personal guard. Sevilin must have been selected! He would be a fine choice as well. He was cunning and strong and would serve the royal family well.\n\n“One among you has been selected to act as my personal guard. Among the three armies I am told by my mother there is no more fitting a man than he, for he has fought and survived countless battles for the glory of the kingdom. He has raised thousands of men under the banner of the Dragon. He has stood among you for more than a decade and my mother wishes for the rest of the kingdom to see him and our glory,” and she raised her voice with the last words like a battlecry. No man dared speak but in their hearts they let out war cries with full and proud bluster. \n\nHalvehan imagined Sevilin standing tall and pleasing in red scale armor with an ornate claymore at his hip. He could see his rugged chiseled jaw drawing a soft smile issuing him a proud salute and in imagining this he almost didn’t notice the princess pointing directly at his squad.\n\nNot just at his squad, directly at him. \n\n“Halvehan Foust. You are my to be my Royal Dragon Knight.”\n\nIf not for the mask the princess would have witnessed his face lose all its parlor instantly. Before he could say another word the path to the dais was cleared by four royal guards in red dragon scale armor. They flanked him at all sides and guided him to the princess. Without a word the claymore was removed from his sash. \n\nWhen the precession arrived the royal guards parted and left Halvehan standing alone before the dais. He went to a knee with almost no effort; the armor hadn’t felt so heavy since the first time he wore it 15 years before.\n\n“Remove your helmet and mask Sir Foust.” \n\nHe did.\n\n“Raise your head Sir Foust.”\n\nHe did.\n\n“Do you understand the honor I’ve granted to you.”\n\n“Yes,” he said and hoped the shaking couldn’t be heard in his voice. \n\n“Do you accept this honor?” she asked and smiled. There was only one correct answer of course.\n\n“Yes.”\n\n“Raise your right hand and look to the dirt.” \n\nHalvehan did as he was told. Cold slender fingers touched the palm of his hand and a cool cylinder slipped over his third finger. The Princess’s fingers trailed away and then she spoke again. “You may look now.” \n\nHe did. On his finger was a golden ring with a dragon glass gemstone set within. Three dark talons were carved into the stone and when he looked deep inside it looked as if a small flame was trapped within.\n\n“We’ll have your royal armor waiting when we return, for now this will do,” the Princess said and a royal knight brought out a red sash and crossed it around his waist, over the black squad leader sash. A claymore was slipped through the new red belt and he felt the weight of it immediately. It was nearly two pounds heavier than his own when he examined the handle he found it was black from the pommel all the way to the quillons. \n\nHis mouth went dry and he gulped at the sight of Sevilin ’s claymore at his hip. \n\n1/2\n\n",
"**13:27:00 Draconian Standard Time (DST), 10/27/2457 Earth Rotations (ER)**\n\n**On board the Maverick, Royal Draconian Navy Light Cruiser, in low orbit around Draconia Prime.**\n\n\n“Do people hate us Master?”\n\n“Where did you hear this? Who hates you? Are you sure you are not just trying to get out of your studies?” \n\n“No sir, I just want to know.”\n\n“Hmm, well in order to investigate whether people hate us, we first have to examine the term hate. Hate. It is a rather strong word. There are many causes for people to dislike one another, but for someone to hate someone it takes a great deal more than a simple dislike. It requires a deep aversion or revulsion, and it is very difficult to have a great aversion or revulsion to anything ordinary. After all, anything ordinary is relatable. One cannot hate the relatable as that would be akin to hating oneself. Therefore what is hated has to not be ordinary or completely blown out of proportion to be extra-ordinary… Does that answer your question?”\n\n“Yes sir. Does this mean that Sir Rolan doesn’t hate me?”\n\n“No young knight, Sir Rolan is the Royal Knight Commander. Just because he beats you bloody during self-defense class does not mean he hates you. If anything, if he hated you he wouldn’t be training you at all. Now what is the lifegoal of every Draconian?”\n\n“To rule, Master.”\n\n“And what is the purpose of being a ruler? Why is it necessary for all Draconians to aspire to rule even though many will not be able to attain ultimate rulership?”\n\n“Because he who cannot rule himself will not be able to rule others. He who cannot rule others cannot enact lasting change on our universe, and those without change perish.”\n\n“Correct. Change is the lifeblood of the universe. Draconia did not survive by being strong where others were weak, but by being flexible where others were rigid. Our rules are solid, but not absolute. That is why we have succeeded where others have failed, and come the universe’s destruction, we will still be there to pick up the ashes.”\n\n“But Master, I thought you said nothing lasts forever. Does this mean that one day we will also fall?”\n\n“Only time will tell young knight, only time will tell... Now more of this talk, we have only half an hour left and we still have not yet finished up standard deviation. If we tarry any further you will be late for tea and His Grace will not be pleased.”\n\n“Yes Master.”\n\n\n----------------------------------------------------------\n\n\n**10:15:00 DST, 05/27/2467 ER. (10 years later)**\n**Draconia Prime Proving Grounds.**\n\n**BOOM.** The air shook as a rocket denoted above the twisted marred ground that made up the Iridium Plane. Shrapnel fell from the sky and bounced harmlessly off a seemingly translucent pale blue sphere that surrounded a muddy pit in the ground, scorch marks all around it.\n\n“Thank god for shields and point defense drones. If we didn’t have those little suckers to cover our ass we’d be chewed up more than a newborn calf that fell through a shredder.”\n\n“Oh shut-up Andy, if you actually listened to us and weren’t so trigger happy, we would have made it around that hill over yonder and we wouldn’t be in this situation in the first place.”\n\nAndy grinned, took a swig of his water bottle, and swallowed, showing his yellow motley teeth that usually came with too much crystal use. “Hell Cairn, what’s the point of trudging around all this muck if we aren’t even gonna fight? I came here to kill things, not run around in circles hoping that the flies on the wall won’t notice if I piss on em.”\n\nCairn grimaced, “You idiot, the objective of our mission is to secure the package and bring it back to the rendezvous with minimal causalities. How are we going to do that if you decide to shoot at every bird, tree, plant, or dick that moves?”\n\n“Well they’re certainly not going to have minimal casualties if they’re busy taking damage from us now are they,” remarked Andy as fired his mini plasma rifle across the field, picking off an opponent who erroneously moved out of cover, “It’s part of the game.” He scoped again, peering down his sights at the downed combatant, “Hey, I think I got Jenkins!”\n\nCairn set up another point defense drone for deployment. “Normally I would agree. Except that we’re currently defending our package from them – which they wouldn’t have known where it was until you fired on them!”\n\n“Oh don’t be such a spoilsport. When we beat this mission with flying colors I bet you we’re gonna be the envy of the barracks. After all, who wants to eat mud for three days anyway? I want real food, not MREs and watered coffee. I want a hot shower and a warm bed. If finish this mission in a day and a half then so be it!”\n\nIrritated, Cairn opened his mouth to respond, but the shield around them flickered and died as the hovering point defense drones dropped to the ground. “EMP!” He cried, and dropped flat on the ground, prone, avoiding the inevitable plasma bursts that normally come after a shield drop. After he dropped, a round shiny-like object thudded to his face. It started beeping. He started to his feet, turned away from Andy, and sprint-dived for cover.\n\n**PCHEW!** The grenade went off, blinding the area around him and almost deafening his ears even though he had sound protection on. He turned around, senses momentarily impaired as he looked to see if Andy was okay. He was not. Andy was out for the count. *SHIT SHIT SHIT*, he thought, *What do I do now? I need to protect the package*. And so he stumbled on all fours to the depression where they had hidden it, a life-sized mannequin of an 18-year old girl whom they were to protect to the death. He grabbed his pack, tossed her over his shoulder, popped a smoke grenade and crept away from the advancing rival front.\n\n\n-------------------------------------\nThis is all for now, I have to sleep. Hope you like it! ",
"When he was young, Graham was always fighting something or someone. It was never his fault though. He was just around the most aggressive people in the whole country, considering his father was the leader of them all. Graham was the son of a leader of a group of mercenaries, and thus had a good amount of natural talent as well as the advantage of a hardened upbringing. All in all, Graham was no one to be messed with. And people did just that. When Graham enlisted into the army, he expected a couple of no name battles, a few promotions, and his time served. \n\nIt was a cold winter, and thus that morning was particularly nippy. \n\"Lieutenant Graham, sir? Important message from the central government.\"\nGraham was barely conscious enough to hear message and government. That still got him up fairly quickly. \n\"You may enter private.\"\nThe private came in and dusted the snow off his cap. \n\"Here you go, sir.\"\n\"Thank you private.\" Graham yawned, \"Who did you say this was from again?\" as he broke the wax seal on the scroll.\n\"Straight from the council, sir.\"\n\"Shit, straight from the top, huh?\"\n\"Uhh... yessir.\"\n\"Thank you private. That will be all.\"\nThe private saluted Graham and promptly walked out the tent back into the whistling cold. \n\nGraham began to read the message, and could immediately tell, this was no ordinary executive order. 'Lieutenant Graham of the 101st Skirmishers, it is our honor to inform and congratulate you on your immediate promotion from lieutenant to Kaitiaki. On the back of this scroll is a glyph that will teleport you to your new assignment.' Graham froze. He read that word again. 'Kaitiaki'. He snapped out of his shock and collected himself. \"Shit.\" He thought. \"What am I going to do?\" Graham began pacing his tent. \"Kaitiaki is for life... I can't do this...\" But Graham knew already, he had no choice. He belonged to the army. He was their property until his time was up, and he was chosen.\n\nWait. Who chose him? Graham scanned the gilded message again. It didn't say. Then, he remembered the glyph. Graham slowly flipped the scroll over to reveal a delicately drawn circle with numerous runes scribbled around it. Though the glyph was very meticulously drawn, the runes themselves almost seemed to emanate warmth the longer you looked at them. Graham stared at the glyph for a few moment longer and then realized, \"Shit. I don't know how to use glyphs...\"\n\nThe scroll lay there on his desk, face down, glyph up. Graham pondered the odd runes. The longer he looked at them, the hotter they burned. Graham noticed it almost hurt if he stared to long. Suddenly... a spark? Graham rubbed his still groggy eyes, thinking it was just his mind playing games with him. He picked up one of the candles on his desk and brought it closer to the scroll to more closely examine the mesmerizing line work of the glyph. As he got closer with the candle, heat seemed to explode out of the glyph and the candle. It began melting the ice on the floor of Grahams tent making the floor mush. While Graham was distracted with the fact that his sleeping mat was getting muddy, we failed to notice the glyph begin to pull him in. By the time he realized what was happening, it was already over.\n\nGraham landed with a hard thump. Standing and rubbing his tailbone, he squinted to allow his eyes to adjust to the rapid change in light. And it was hot. It was REALLY hot. Graham began stripping off his heavy clothing until he was in his undergarments. \n\"Is this how humans normally greet princesses?\"\nGraham slowly turned and his eyes finally adjusted. She looked like a normal woman, except... her eyes. She had the eyes of a dragon. \n\"I apologize your highness, I was disoriented. Where am I?\" Graham croaked out, his throat still adjusting to the rapid change in humidity. \"You're in the royal courtyard. Welcome to the dragon kingdom, Kaitiaki.\""
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[WP] You're a blind cave creature, only able to move about via echolocation. Never venturing out far from your cave, a far away sob catches your ear. You decide to investigate.
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"Our tentacles rap across the ceiling and walls as the small taps give way to a vision in our mind, the cave is familiar but the fog and haze over our head stops us from seeing the whole picture. We silently tread forward as a sob reaches our ears, the sound bounces around m-our head and cuts the fog like a kni-claw. With a violent shake our head grows foggy again and the pain fades as we try and find the source of the noise.\n\nEver closer we grow as we see in our mind the shape mold into that of a little beast, long hair from the top draped over its small frame, a odd set of skin covering its frame as we look at it and ponder. From our taps we see it is a we babe, a good start of a meal for us but not something filling. As we draw closer it’s terrible noise fills our head again and the fog lifts and theirs only pain.\n\nI look at the little girl before me crying her eyes out and the voices scream at me \n\n‘How dare you surface you have lost this right’\n\n‘Relinquish your hold or we will strip your mind further’\n\nThis and many more as my mind continued to convulse in pain from their roaring at my consciousness.\n\n“Daddy?”\n\nThe voice startles me as I stare at the child and the broken lamp beside her, my heart like my mind seizes in pain but for a different reason all together.\n\n“Sh sh shhhhhh” I say, although my voice leaves my maw more like a gurgle then a whisper\n\n“Follow my voice” I half gurgle half groan, my god I’ve heard mountains speak with less gravel in their throats.\n\n“Okay mister shadow just please help me”\n\nMy god I could just eat her u- you crafty assholes you almost had me\n\n‘It’s why we chose you as our host’\n\n‘Easy to control’\n\n‘Eat her quick’\n\n‘I want a leg’ \n\n‘Well take all of her’\n\nNo \n\n‘You can’t stop us’\n\nBut I can stall you\n\n“Mister shadow?” \n\nI slam my fist into the wall to focus and as the sound rushes out I see the defined features of a scared little girl.\n\n“Sorry... there was a bug” I apologetically gurgle, god I hope kids are still stup-\n\n“Aww I like bugs...” the sweet morsel says before I slam my face into the wall\n\n“Sorry... there was a ghost” god if you can hear me I need hel-\n\n“Thank you” interjects that embodiment of all adorable \n\n‘She’s pretty sweet’\n\nCan it\n\n My feelers tap out the way as I guide her with my groans, slowly I feel a large opening and I slink further into the shadows of my cave.\n\n“Go now child and never return”\n\n“Thanks mister shadow Fweind” the girl says as she leaves the opening.\n\nYou could have stopped me\n\n‘We are the vilest and most evil creatures ever born into this world... but we too have a heart’\n\nIt’s why I made the pact, because I saw good even in you\n\n‘Due not take our whim lightly, it was merely a gesture to placate our host’\n \nYea well color me impressed you vile shado-my body seized as a fog slowly encroached in my mind.\n\nDo not take us for familiars, we will break free and we will escape this cave\n\nYou can not keep us here forever.\n\n“I have been tasked with reforming you and you shall not leave until I’m done” we say through gritted teeth.\n\nIn fact I think we’ve even made some progress Already.\n\n\n\n\n\n\n"
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[WP] You've been hospitalized for a week with a strange disease. As the sun rises on what the doctors are saying is your final day, you discover you're not actually sick, you're the first person to gain superpowers.
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"\t\t\t\tBecoming Super.\t\n\t\t\n\tAs I feel the sun warm my face through the window of my 5th story hospital window, I realize today is supposed to be the day. The last day. My last day.\n\tI attempt to stretch my aching joints, but instead I just feel fatigued. As if I hadn’t slept in days. I take a deep breath, and I hear a rattle in my chest. The nurses told me this would happen. My husband is in the room, he looks as if he’s made of stone. A blank empty expression, seeming to be a shell of his normal self. \n\t“Hey,” I whisper, it hurts to speak, a burning in my chest.\n\tHe jumps up and grabs my hand, “Hush baby, it’s time to rest.”\n\t“There will be plenty of rest when I’m dead.”\n\tHe does not look amused.\n\t“I love you, Justin” I want him to know.\n\t“I-I love you too, Sarah.” His eyes tear up and he bows his head. \n\tThere’s a knock at the door. We remain still as a nurse walks in to check my vitals. She attempts to make conversation, but neither of us feels like talking. Then in walks the doctor. He begins to explain to us that he has never seen anyone so my age die like this, so naturally, with no sign of reason. It’s as if I’m an old woman who’s lived a full life, instead of a 21 year old who had just gotten married. \n\tHe tells me the next stages that are to be expected, first I’ll begin to get delusional, I’ll seem lost, or confused. And then I’ll have a final burst of energy, before I finally slide into a permanent sleep. How reassuring.\n\tJustin and I decide to spend the day rewatching some of our favorite episodes of our favorite shows, and a Harry Potter movie. He sits in bed with me in the cold, sterile smelling hospital, gently holding onto me for dear life. Afraid to let go. He kisses my forehead, and tells me he loves me.\n\tI can’t speak, my voice is too weak. He begins to cry, apologizing that there wasn’t enough time. I knew there would never be enough time. Not to spend with him. Immortality wouldn’t have been enough time.\n\n\tI wake up from a nap, the room I’m in is cold and dark, with harsh white light creeping in around the open door. Where am I? I begin to panic and I start hearing machines beeping, and I feel the EKG stickers on my body. I’m in the hospital?\n\tA nurse walks in. She looks familiar but I can’t remember how. She realizes I’m okay and leaves.\n\tThat’s when I see the man in the corner. He’s looking at me. And as I look into his beautiful hazel eyes, I realize I’m in love with this man, but I can’t remember a thing about him. I begin to cry and then everything becomes blurry. I feel as if I’ve done a thousand tabs of acid. Delusion sets in and I fade out.\n\n\tI hear a thud and become alert. This is it, the final stage. My last burst of energy. I feel great, instead of as if I’ve been dying for the last week. I stand up out of my bed and climb onto Justin’s lap in the chair. I kiss him deeply and comb my fingers through his hair. I ask for him to take me outside. He carries me to the elevator, and go down to the hospital garden. Everything is so beautiful, and so the air is so crisp. So much better than being inside. I begin to wonder how long my burst of energy is going to last. How long before it’s over?\n\tBut then I see it, an infant falling from the third story window, I sprint over and catch him just in time, but it isn’t until Justin says something, that I realize, I’ve slid into the brick pillar, and broken it.\n\tA massive chunk is missing from the pillar, and not a scratch on my body. There’s a hysteric scream from the window from which the baby came. We rush inside the hospital to investigate. Apparently a teenage mother, who’d been transferred to this maternity ward from the local psychiatric hospital, had a violent track record and was a diagnosed sociopath. She had decided that she didn’t want the child.\n\n\t“Okay, now we know what that was, but Sarah what about you?” He looks at me confused.\n\tI realize he’s referring to the broken brick post in the courtyard. “I-I don’t know.” I look around and find a heavy cart, I squat and I lift it, but it feels weightless. “This feels like it weighs nothing.” I set it down. Justin attempts to lift it but he can’t.\n\n\t“You weren’t dying… You were evolving.”"
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[WP] A person from the future has come to visit you. They explain that you are ridiculously famous in the future and they broke all the rules to come back in time to meet you.
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"I poured the last of my Mountain Dew down my throat and tossed the can over my shoulder where it made a reassuring clunk as it landed on the existing mound of cans. Then, lighting a cigarette, I secured my fedora and refreshed my browser. \"Let's see if anyone managed to refute my argument against the existence of God!\"\n\nUnfortunately, my comment had garnered no replies, but did earn several downvotes. \"Sheep,\" I said, cracking open another 'Dew, ready to drain the can. \n\nBut before I could recharge my brain with sucrose and caffeine in preparation for my next anti-religious tirade, I was interrupted by a knock on my apartment door. Kicking clothes and pizza boxes aside, I cleared a path and opened my front door. Standing there was a teenage Japanese girl dressed in strange, colorful clothing, wearing unusual, shiny makeup.\n\n\"Oh my gosh, it's really you!\" she said bouncing up and down with excitement.\n\nI scanned my apartment building's courtyard, looking for cameras, then looked back at the small young woman. \"If this is some kind of prank you can fuck right off.\"\n\nShe giggled. \"This is no prank, Dr. Johnson, I'm here to meet you!\"\n\n\"OK, well, you've got the wrong guy. I'm not a doctor. The most I have is a Cisco certification.\"\n\nShe raised her eyebrows. \"You're not a doctor *yet*, Dr. Johnson. But you will be soon.\"\n\nShe stood there smiling as I stared. This had to be a prank. I looked again for cameras, but nothing. \"OK, so, nice to meet you?..\"\n\n\"I'm Dr. Mariko Aoki, but you can just call me Mariko, please.\"\n\n\"OK, Mariko. Well it's nice to meet you. Is there anything I can do for you?\"\n\n\"Oh my gosh!\" she said, placing her hand over her mouth. \"Could I come into your house? I would love to see the world famous Doctor Johnson's home.\"\n\n\"Sure,\" I said. \"It's kind of a mess, though.\"\n\n\"I'm sure it is. We've all seen the historic records, after all. But I want to see your original apartment first hand.\"\n\nMariko walked into the messy apartment and took a deep breath, then let out a contented sigh. \"It's just as I imagined it would smell!\"\n\nI took a whiff. Although I lived in the house, and spent almost all my time indoors, I could still sense my own unique fragrance. \"I would think the smell would not be too hard to imagine,\" I said, trying to hide my embarrassment.\n\nMariko smiled broadly. \"But imagination is not experience! And the experience of smelling your apartment alone has been worth the risk.\"\n\n\"Risk?\" I asked.\n\n\"Oh yes. So much risk. Time travel is very hazardous, and there are very strict laws and regulations in place. I wrote most of the laws myself.\" \n\n\"Because of paradoxes?\" I asked, amazement growing in me as I began to realize that this was a legitimate time-traveller.\n\n\"Amoung other problems,\" she replied. \"But yes, paradoxes are the basic problem. And there is a strict prohibition on visiting *you* at all.\"\n\n\"Yet, here you are.\"\n\n\"Yes, I couldn't help myself. I'm the inventor of time travel, so I felt that visiting you is my right. But I'm going to be in so much trouble when I get back,\" she said, the sniffed the apartment air again, closing her eyes. \"Ahh, but this odor alone has made the trip worth it. May I look around a bit?\"\n\nMariko examined pizza boxes and Taco Bell wrappers. She opened all my cabinets and drawers, holding out my favorite mug with Chewbacca on it. \"Look!\" she said. \"It's the famous Chewie cup!\"\n\nShe went like this, room by room, digging through the mountains of trash and debris all around my apartment. Finally, she opened the door to my bedroom and stood in awe. I felt I needed to offer some kind of explanation to her for the amazing state of my room. \"I was going to clean everything up next week. You really caught me at a bad time.\"\n\n\"No this is perfect. Is this yours?\" Mariko asked, holding up the dakimakura pillow with sailor moon on it.\n\n\"Uh, it's my friends'. He left it here.\"\n\nMariko smiled and set the pillow back down. \"Oh no!\" she said, glancing at my wall clock. \"Is that clock correct?\"\n\n\"Yes.\"\n\n\"You need to get on Reddit now!\" she said in a sudden panic. \"You need to have already posted your comment!\" She grabbed me by the arm and frantically led me to my computer. \"I've distracted you! Oh no, this is not good.\"\n\n\"What comment? My one about disproving God?\" I chuckled to myself at the cleverness of that post.\n\n\"No, not that silly comment string. The other comment. The comment that gets Bill Gates to reply!\"\n\n\"Bill Gates is going to reply to one of my comments?\"\n\n\"No, Bill Gates was going to have replied to one of your comments, had I not interfered! Quick, perhaps if you post it now it will still work.\"\n\nMariko instructed me on how to make the comment, complete with spelling errors; we posted it.\n\n\"Good,\" she said. \"We're only three minutes late. Hopefully that doesn't make a difference.\"\n\nIt did.\n\nInstead of getting instantly upvoted, as Mariko claimed it should have, my comment got an immediate downvote, then sat at zero points while Mariko frantically hit F5 to refresh.\n\n\"Nobody is upvoting it!\" she said, clutching her head. \"What have I done?\"\n\nThe top comment was a post about a user's cute puppy. \"There!\" I said, pointing out the puppy comment. \"Bill Gates replied!\"\n\nBut the reply was to the puppy comment, not to me. Bill Gates thought the puppy was the cutest he had ever seen. It was a very cute puppy.\n\nOver the course of the next half hour, we watched - me amused, Mariko in growing despair - as the puppy comment received more upvotes than any other comment in history, and the thread grew to thousands of replies.\n\nAfter an hour and hundreds of cute puppy pictures, Mariko closed the browser. \"Well, I was ready for this,\" she said, opening her colorful jacket. \"I didn't want to have to do this, but now there is no choice.\" She withdrew rope, duct tape, and handcuffs.\n\nI panicked, falling backwards and scrambling away from the little Asian girl. \"Are you going to tie me up!\" I shouted fearfully.\n\n\"No silly,\" she laughed, pulling out a paper-thin tablet and bringing-up a holographic map. \"Since Bill Gates didn't read your comment, we're going to have to kidnap him and force him to upvote it.\"\n\nIt looked like I was still going to be famous in the future, one way or another.",
"\"You went through all that work to meet me?\" I ask. Yayber Bobilsind excitedly responds \"Of course! You're my absolute favorite actor, man! I love your martial arts and all your sexy moves. I was hoping you would teach me a few things, actually.\" Having always dreamt of teaching martial arts it thrills me to know I've managed to make some sort of career of it, and now have a prospective student. \"Ok, sure, I'd love to teach you! I guess we should start with your stance. Put your feet like so, and hands up like this....\" A confused Yayber interrupts me \"Uhm...no...I'm sorry. I'm a lover not a fighter. I love watching your martial arts but I was wanting you to show me your sex moves. Ya know like you used in John Thicc: Slapper 2.\" My face goes pale as revelation washes over me. \"Oh....*oooooh*.\""
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[WP] You are an Alien sent to Earth to gift them technology, however when you arrive Humanity has developed much further than your own Species
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"Gleeb had bravely volunteered over 9 billion years ago to be the envoy to the outer reaches of the nearest galaxy. His mind happily at rest on his intergalactic cruise, only occasionally did it ponder on the wonders he would impart to any intelligent life he might encounter. His journey was nearly at an end. Unbeknownst to him, of all envoys sent into the deep reaches of space, he alone would encounter intelligent life.\n\n\nLanding was smooth enough, he lost a lot of speed thundering straight through the heart of a nearby red planet, which promptly shattered into chunks. “I hope there was no intelligent life there!” Gleeb chuckled to himself shortly before impact with a beautiful blue and white globe.\n\n\nAfter impact Gleeb picked himself up and scouted his surroundings. A beautiful landscape of gleaming white spires surrounded him, and his arrival was already getting the attention of the locals. At last, thought Gleeb, “I can fulfil my purpose and share my technology with another less fortunate lifeform”.\n\n\nOnce a small cluster had formed around the strange misshapen green being, Gleeb rose to his full height and introduced himself. The crowd looked at him blankly. It seemed he had come up against a language barrier. Not to worry, Gleeb had been trained in the art of communicating technological advances through gestures. He raised his tentacles, then produced from his storage pouch... a rock, and after it, a glimpib seed. He placed the seed on the ground and raised the rock high above him, and brought it smashing down. It hit the seed dead centre and smashed it to tiny pieces. Gleeb looked around in excitement, hardly able to contain his pride.\n\n\nA half-hearted collective sigh was audible. A few people started to leave. Gleeb frantically flailed at them to wait, he had more to show. He produced two slightly different rocks and a spongy green mass. The wriggling entity was genuinely intriguing to the onlookers. They watched as it squirmed and curled around itself, opening and closing pores as it sampled the atmosphere. Suddenly there was a loud crack as Gleeb scraped the rocks together, spraying a small shower of sparks over it. It caught aflame instantly and within seconds was burnt to a small heap of ash.\n\n\nTo Gleeb’s dismay this second demonstration caused outright annoyance with his audience. Some angrily gesticulating at the small pile of ash left behind by his Gulooka plant. Despair began to set in, he couldn’t understand why his demonstration was failing. He was sure he should have been worshipped as a god by now.\n\n\nAs he slumped on the ground in despair a small group started waving at him, they pointed to the sky and back to the ground waving their arms about with great enthusiasm. Gleeb realised what they wanted, they were asking how he got there! Re-energised, he produced one more piece of equipment, a piece of goingie root. Stretched across two of his tentacley appendages he placed a smaller rock in the centre and pulled back. The root groaned under the strain, before being released and flinging the rock into the distance.\n\n\nThe crowd stood in awed silence and then began to cheer. Before Gleeb knew what was happening he was being given various objects to fling and lifted up and paraded into the centre of the gleaming white spires. Videos of the spectacle spread everywhere within hours, Gleeb was a sensation and everyone wanted to be involved.\nPeople quickly learned to synthesise the properties of the goingie root and a great variety of slingshot devices were manufactured, all with Gleeb’s face on the packaging. He made regular TV appearances and played a number of cameo film roles, although he was always under the impression that they were astrophysics courses. Word spread all over the planet.\n\n\nIt turned out the gleaming white of the spires was entirely made up of ever changing screens. Everywhere you looked you could see directions and suggestions, information and entertainment. However now you couldn’t look anywhere without seeing another advert with Gleeb’s face and the slogan: “It’s the craze from outer spaze”. People without a slingshot were laughed at and shunned, so that in a matter of days everyone you saw was in possession of a miniature elastic space launch system.\n\n\nBut then the trouble began. Obviously there’s no sense owning such a device without using it, and so crowds rejoiced in sending projectiles flying in all directions. But the downside of living in entire cities of large delicate screens which tell you what to eat, where to go, what to wear and what to do, is that when dense projectiles travelling at high speed begin to fill the air, the screens inevitably bear the brunt of it.\n\n\nThe epidemic spread across the planet like a virus. As screens were destroyed people lost the ability to navigate to work or home, they couldn’t find food or water, they couldn’t receive public service messages telling them that slingshots were banned. Soon entire districts went dark, and with no screens to guide them, a brutal hierarchy soon developed, lead by those with the sharpest aim and largest stockpile of ammo. Unable to make or distribute food the population began to shrink.\n\n\nFinally after a period of several years, one tribe alone established a stable foothold and began to grow again. On a cold night, sheltered under a canopy of lashed together fractured screens, huddled around a small fire, a group were being educated in the ways of foraging. Small, seemingly inedible nuts were placed on the ground, Gleeb swung his rock onto them with a mighty thud. The starving throng rushed forward to feed on the nutritious contents. Then they gathered around their leader in worship, chanting through the night in honour of his wisdom and knowledge. Gleeb was overcome with joy.\n"
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[WP] The Roman Empire never collapsed. As a result humanity already stepped foot on the moon in 1401
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"#April 2, 1401\n\nConsus was the first Roman expeditionary to the moon, though this fact was never known beyond a small cadre of academics. He would not be the first official Roman to the moon-- that honor would go to Amulius Accius, First of the Astronauts. Consus had been selected for his expendibility; he would not be missed, and the meager stipend promised to his widow would be enough to lift her (and his children) from the extraordinary poverty of the lowest echelons of plebianhood.\n\nConsus died, of course, having never left his capsule. He was the thirty-firstst person fired at the moon. He was the twelfth to survive the acceleration, the second to enter the moon's orbit and land, and the first to survive long enough to signal his landing back to Earth via a specially-prepared mirror.\n\nAstronomers with the Fourth Division of Observation stationed in Hawai'i saw his signal and internally celebrated. Two others had been launched in the time since Consus's successful landing, but one had burned up in orbit and the other had been lost to the stars.\n\nSeveral months were spent in preparation for for Amulius Accius's ascent. His capsule was markedly more sophisticated than Consus's. It featured a return charge, which when detonated would theoretically fling him back to Earth. His capsule contained a powered crystal wrapped in copper attached to a diode on the end of a length of specially-fashioned leather; he would be able to communicate verbally with the ground-based team of observers for a short period of time after takeoff and would be able to set a pendulum-timer once on the moon to send back a steady set of pulses from the diode to confirm his landing.\n\nFive test shots were fired with the newly-designed capsule; the first two participants died on launch, the third died in orbit, and the other two landed on the moon and were able to signal back. Neither of the two successful landings survived the explosive charge that would return them home, but the academics were confident the revisions they made to the capsule would work for Amulius Accius's journey.\n\nOn the appointed day, the academics agreed the weather conditions were fair. Their mathematics were without fault. Amulius's capsule was packed with wine and salted lamb. Once Amulius was aboard, the capsule was sealed with pitch and the copper antenna was drawn through the hull into a whip hanging several meters below. The capsule was lowered into the sling, which was itself lowered into the 200-meter-deep pit at the top of Mt. Elbrus. The counter-weights were hoisted, rope-by-rope, until the mechanism was prepared.\n\nAfter a brief ceremony offering prayers and sacrifices to Saturn, the capsule was released. The arms of the four enormous trebuchets were hurled upwards by their counterweights, then the sling carried the capsule up and into the heavens.\n\nIt was lost to sight, but the observers were ready with their telescopes. No word was heard from Amulius on ascent. After three days, the capsule was observed landing on the moon. No signal was received from Amulius Accius, and it was reasoned that he died due to acceleration.\n\nThat day, word pinged out on the televox across the empire of Amulius Accius's roaring success, relaying how the First of the Astronauts returned to an Earth filled with anticipation and wonder at his accomplishments. The masses were whipped into a frenzy, and a surrogate was paraded around the major cities, his doting wife gazing up at his face-- the face of Rome's first man to go to the heavens. In every city of Roma Eterna, banners waved in the wind and Amulius cast his hand to the sky to adoring crowds.\n\nRome had gone to the stars and come home, unstoppable and proud.",
"When looking back on the history of the Roman Empire, many pointed to the moon landing, exactly 1,399 years after the death of Lucius Caesar on the 20th of August, that Rome took its first step into the cosmos. Recalling his namesake was how Lucius Caesar XIV had remembered the date since his days as a youth in schooling, so many years ago.\n\nHowever, Lucius no longer believed that Rome's first real step into space was Luna. It was no small achievement, of course, but Lucius thought that to say it was the first of anything was thinking too small. Marking an end, perhaps, to Rome's domain resting solely on one planet, yes, but it was not a beginning. No, in the great scope of the Roman Empire, Luna was no greater a milestone than conquering Britannia, or the Western Hemisphere, or no less of one than stepping onto the red sands of Mars.\n\nTo Lucius, the truest beginning was Romulus. The founding. \"Why of course it is,\" laughed his good friend Aurelius, after telling him this thought, \"all roads lead to Rome, and Rome started with Romulus.\" But Lucius explained his reasoning. Rome was not a place. Rome was not even a people. Rome was an idea: an idea that conquest was the truest destiny for the empire. When new places were found, new cities founded, new worlds populated, it was not taking or seizing anything. Instead, Rome was simply occupying what was already Rome.\n\nRome, Lucius held, was dominion. And everything was Rome.\n\n\"That's all very well, my Emperor,\" High General Aurelius chuckled. \"But I don't believe the Andromedans see it that way.\"\n\nEmperor Lucius Caesar XIV's face creased into a frown. \"If every new civilization we came across saw it in that way, you would not have a job, General.\" Lucius stood from his chair and paced to the view screen. Holos leaped up at his gesture, highlighting the vastness of space before the Imperial cruiser *Olympus*, giving the Emperor of Rome the designation for every star, planet, and significant outpost in this sector of the Andromeda Galaxy. He was a long way from his throne, he thought. A long way from the Galactic Roman Empire. But at the same time, he thought with a smile, Rome was already here, waiting to be secured into its rightful holdings.\n\n\"Sir?\" coughed Octavian from his post at another holo screen. \"Contacts coming out of warp 2k clicks forward of our position. Signature is Andromedan, likely dreadnaught-class.\"\n\nLucius's smile faded and looked out at the monitors, red markers showing the end-point of a warp field. \"All hands to battlestations. Have the legions prepare for shockspace boarding\" The Emperor's tone was almost eager.\n\nLucius allowed himself a hopeful smile. \"Veni, vedi, vici.\"",
"\"This is one small step for man, one giant leap for the empire\"\n\nsaid the TV through the crackle of its speakers. Anotnia Bruttii watched in complete awe, as her husband, Abdu Bruttii became the first man to step foot on the moon.\n\nSure, the video quality was so awful that she could barely even see him, a gray blob floating up and down in the darkness, but it was *her* gray blob, and she couldn't be prouder of him. The local Oracle had always told her that her family was destined to rise back to glory someday, but she never imagined it would be like this. For centuries, the Julii and the Scipii had mocked her family for their failures in subjugating the Territories of Southern America, and their declining popularity in the Senate, but that would continue no more. What were a few jungles in comparison to a celestial body?\n\nAbdu stared across the horizon, taking a moment to absorb it all in. He held the flag of his empire in one hand, and his sword in the other. He had come seeking glory, a way to make both of his families proud, but ... this couldn't be all it was, could it? Just a rock floating in the sky with no warriors waiting upon it?\n\nYes the discovery was nice and all, but he had come from generations of proud warriors. His grandfather had fought in the Second Egyptian Civil War, and his father before him had fought in the rebellions of Tunisia and Morocco. They both returned from their tours with the rank of Imperial Legate, the greatest honors his lineage had ever been bestowed by the empire. \n\nDuring Abdu's service, he hoped that he would've achieved the same, but it was never to be. He was never the hero of any major battle, the inspiring figure that rallied his fellow legionnaires to greatness, and returned to Rome to find that he had only become a Tribunus Laticlavius. His only accomplishment worthy of praise according to his family was getting married to Antonia, securing their family legacy a seat in the future of the empire as one of the major families. Needless to say, Abdu always made sure to tell Antonia that they were never to speak of war at the dinner table during holiday dinner. \n\nAbdu made a small sigh as his fellow evocatii climbed out of the luna module and as he looked out into the empty lands before him, and the glory that would never be gained, he slowly said.\n\n\"This is one small step for man, one giant leap for the empire.\"",
"“And that was nothing, my dearest citizens of the world,” he said. \n\nHe then made a small step forward to the podium and raised his hands in the air like the emperors of old. A cliche, I thought. However, an elegant one.\n\n“As we’re celebrating this 20th marvellous anniversary, our glorious empire has set it’s course to the new frontier,” he looked up to the sky and paused for a moment. \n\n“Mars. The Red planet will defy our reach no more.”\n\nThe crowd went crazy, cheering their Emperor calling out his name: “ELONICUS DAMASCUS!”\n\nOnly I was standing still, calm… yet so far away from my mission: to fix the broken timeline and bring Elon Musk back.\n\nI am the last Chronomancer and this is my story.\n\nEdit: changed a bit :-)",
"The Moon. Land that has never been claimed by any nations of men. Like the Americas, it was always too far away and out of our reach. But mere hours ago, what was once thought impossible by our ancestors has been achieved by us. At precisely 1400 GMT +1, our emperor Julius Octavius landed on the Moon after enduring a 3-day flight. He opened the doors of his *Luna 11* spacecraft, holding a flag of the Roman Empire. He took a step onto the surface of the Moon, took ten steps forward, then planted the Roman flag on the Moon's surface, officially designating it as a part of our empire. Julius Octavius then spoke the words of his namesake, Julius Caesar.\n\n*\"Veni, Vidi, Vici.\"*\n\n-------------------\n\n*Thanks for reading, feedback is very welcome and appreciated. I am trying to get better at writing.*",
"## Luna Is Rome\n\n######[](#dropcap) \n\nFrom the port viewing window, the curvature of the Earth shone, miraculous in the empty blackness of space. From this vantage, the ancient superstition could at last be dispelled, unequivocally: the Earth *was* round. \n\nUsing the digital camera attached to a swivel on the ship's hull, Praefectus Cassius Aurelia snapped a few photos and sent them back toward home.\n\nBeside him, Praefectus Quirinis Centillius observed the automatic landing sequence, hovering over the text of a computer screen, his face a ghostly blue in the light. \n\nCassius turned to him. \"Quirinis, you must steal a look.\" \n\nQuirinis hesitated, but then kicked off the far wall, and floated over to the double paned window. He allowed himself only a few seconds to marvel at Saturn's great creation, before returning to his station. \n\n\"Astounding,\" he whispered, in awe, face awash once again in blue shadows.\n\nCassius could not take his eyes off of the Earth. There on that blue marble was everything he had ever known. \n\nThere was a saying at home: \"No citizen need fear, for Rome is everywhere.\"\n\n*Not here*, thought Cassius, *not yet.*\n\n******\n\nQuirinis spoke with his face still locked on the blue screen. \n\n\"T-minus 1 minute.\"\n\nCassius's heart raced, and he knew he would soon get a call from mission command. Not a moment later, it came.\n\n> \"Eques, your vitals are spiking.\"\n\nCassius responded over the radio, though by the time the response was received, they would be on the lunar surface. \n\n> \"Just a little excited Legate. I'll take some deep breaths.\"\n\nOutside the port view Cassius saw the gray dirt approach at a disconcerting speed. \"Quirinus, are we coming in hot?\"\n\nQuirinus shook his head almost imperceptively, \"Relax, all systems are optimal. T-minus 30 seconds.\"\n\nThis was the moment Cassius had trained for his entire adult life. On Earth the Empire awaited their victory. Today Rome would take the next step in its inexorable expansion.\n\n\"Today Luna, tomorrow the stars.\" Cassius spoke the words aloud. \n\nQuirinus did not notice. He began the final countdown. \"T-minus 10, 9, 8, 7\"\n\nCassius heard the thrusters before he felt them, and then the jolt came as their quick descent onto the surface was slowed.\n\n\"6, 5, 4, 3,\"\n\nHere was the central moment. If Quirinius misjudged the thruster burn, they would find themselves not landed, but floating again out into space, and without enough fuel to get back into a return trajectory given the current orbital position of the moon. It was a risk they all accepted in order for the mission to proceed sooner. Cassius held his breath as the capsule rumbled.\n\n\"2, 1, touchdown.\"\n\nA mighty shaking rocked the capsule and, just as suddenly as it came, ceased. There was a moment of silence until, certain of success, Quirinus slowly looked up and turned towards Cassius, his face opening up into a broad smile.\n\n\"We've arrived.\"\n\n*********\n\nCassius stood at the airlock. Behind him the capsule's interior door was still sealing, sucking the precious oxygen out of the intermediate chamber.\n\nCassius looked down at his bulky pressure suit, colored in the reds and golds of the Roman military. In his right hand he held the flag which had traveled so far, ordained by Julius Caesar himself, so many centuries ago. It's purple silk still shone, as it would have flying above Caesar's vanguard.\n\nA profound sense of purpose and pride welled in Cassius's gut. It was his 30th birthday, the second of August, 1401, and he was about to receive the greatest gift imaginable - immortality.\n\nQuirinis's voice came over the internal speaker. \"Opening airlock.\"\n\nWith a final hiss, the last vestige of air zipped into space, as the external door opened, sliding aside, and revealing the panorama of Luna's legendary home, the place which shared her divine name.\n\nWith hesitance, every fiber of his being vibrating in excitement, Cassius stepped out of the capsule, until his foot impacted the soft - *so soft* - lunar dust. He lifted his boot and saw the imprint of the Roman Eagle embossed in his footprint. \n\nAt home, a few minutes from that moment, Roman citizens around the world would see what Cassius was seeing now.\n\nIn awe, Cassius took a few more steps, raised the pole of the flag into the air, and brought it down onto the dusty surface, twisting the auger until the flag was securely fastened in the gray dirt. \n\nLooking up at the flag, almost perfectly still in the meager lunar wind, Cassius made the first transmission from the lunar surface, one which would go down in Imperial history.\n\n> \"A Roman walks on Luna. Luna is Rome!\"\n\n******\n\n#### For More Legends From The Multiverse\n\n#### r/LFTM",
"Agoston Dominicus carefully observed his instruments, pressing a button here and flipping a switch there as needed in order to align the shuttle with the surface of Luna. This was the first time anyone tried to land on it. It wouldn't properly reflect on his country if he made a miscalculation and ended up crashing the shuttle, this close to the end goal.\n\nThe numbers appeared right. Agoston reached for a certain lever and started pulling it down. The shuttle began its descent, slowly. With his other hand, he pressed a button that would extend the landing legs. Suddenly, there was a bump and the shuttle stopped.\n\nEverything went according to plan.\n\n\"Mission control, do you copy?\" Agoston said to a microphone.\n\n\"Loud and clear, Dominicus,\" a voice replied from a speaker filed with a bit of static. \"Progress report.\"\n\n\"I have successfully landed. I'm stepping into my suit and going out.\"\n\n\"May gods lead you.\"\n\n---\n\nThe movable stairs extended and connected with the ground, followed by the outer doors getting opened. Agoston, now in an astroman's full body suit and carrying a flag, turned on the helmcam.\n\n\"Mission control, I'm making the first step.\"\n\nHe stepped on the stairs, only to realize he should probably say something smart, something to mark this special occasion. As he made another step, he found he was drawing a blank. This was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, if not once-in-the-eternity, and he was just about to waste it.\n\nAs he made the third step, he finally got it.\n\n\"This is a small step for a man...\"\n\nWith his next step, he felt he was now definitely standing on Luna's soil.\n\n\"...but a large step for all Terrans.\"\n\nAgoston walked forward a small distance before finding a suitable location. He spread the flag and stabbed its pole into the ground. The flag revealed the coat of arms of the Northern Roman Empire.\n\n\"I hereby declare Luna - conquered.\"\n\nThe year is 1492, and the man just made his first step on the Moon."
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[WP] Taking advantage of your rival's penchant for alcohol, you take them out for drinks and slip them a love potion. The results are... not what you expected.
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"I waited at the bar for Carley to return from the ladies’, the gin and tonic she ordered sweating by her bag and my special additional ingredient dissolving between the ice cubes. The wizard next door to the pub said that this blend of love potion has an undetectable smell and flavor, packs a punch, and is moderately long-lasting as well as being fast-acting. I just wanted to be able to go to work next week without wondering if Carley, a manager on my floor, was going to pile up assignments that kept me from working on my pet project. If this potion means that I get to focus on my goals instead of busy work, then I'll take the potential consequence of having to date her. Hell, I'll even let her break up with me, to assuage her guilt at an unethical relationship with an underling.\n\nShe walked up to me then, brown hair neatened, scooping her purse up and catching the handles on her stool’s back edge. I watched her move, her motions suggesting wariness, and sipped from my almost identical glass of g & t. When she settled, she looked at me, almost a side-eye behind her glasses.\n\n“How's the drink.” Her not-question was irrelevant; she had been a regular at this bar since before I had started at the company. \n\n“I ordered what you got… you tell me.” I raised my drink in a toast, thin fingers cradling the slippery highball glassware.\n\nShe lifted her own drink, swirling it, and took a hard swallow. \n\n“Mmph. It's fine. It's always fine.” She sipped again, and put the glass down, her blue eyes narrowed. “I was surprised by your invite. Why are having a drink, Nathan?”\n\n“I've been with the company for two years, and I feel like we've never really meshed.” Carley nodded, glass in hand. “I wanted an opportunity to let you know that, despite my push back on the work I've been assigned, I'm not trying to be a, you know…” I lowered my voice, as if cautious, “a dick. I'm just committed to seeing my projects be successful.” I watched her eyes as I spoke. Had I imagined it or had her pupils widened? God, I hated dim pubs. \n\nCarley held her drink near her face, a look of consideration on her face. “I understand the urge to prioritize your own projects over others the company has fast-tracked.” She took a long gulp before continuing, and sighed. “Believe me, I've been there too. The work we do is important, even the tedious parts that suck: charts, chants, cleaning entrails. But the other managers and I have noticed your hard work and were discussing reassigning some of your, let's say...less enticing assignments to others on your floor. We want you to step into your own. Nathan, I want you\" (tiny pause?) “to show us what you have to offer.”\n\nShe paused for certain, shaking her head a little, staring at the drink in her hand. \n\nI sat there, agawp. I had been utterly clueless that there had ever been conversations about me among the higher-ups. I was also hopelessly bad at speaking the upper echelons’ language of shrieks and moans, so I wouldn't have known anyway.\n\n“Wow, that is....how long have you been considering this?”\n\n“The past month. You know how much red tape we like before anything gets done... Is it hot over here?”\n\n“That's a long time to hold on to anything.”\n\nCarley shifted on her barstool, crossing her legs right to left, then left to right. \n\n“What can I say, but I'm good at keeping things quiet.”\n\nI watched as she drank again, glass nearly empty, and placed it on the counter. \n\n“Not to push, but do you have an idea how soon...?”\n\n“Good things are on their way, babe.”\n\n“Babe?”\n\n“Nate.”\n\nMy hands jittered on the table. \n\n“That's really, just, excellent. I have so many things I can improve on, new charms to try out, and, I'm just, just really... I'm looking forward to being able to focus on my real passion.”\n\nCarley had been looking at my face (my mouth?), while I was gibbering, so it must have come as a surprise when I grabbed her hand. I felt her whole body clench, the heat of her palm searing into me, but I was too enthused to notice at the time. \n\n“Thanks so--\"\n\nShe jerked her hand from mine, staring at me, then grabbing her drink to finish it off. \n\n“I gotta run, thanks for the drink.”\n\nShe slammed her glass on the bar, snatched her bag, and practically bolted for the door. \n\nI looked at her cracked highball glass, now empty, but for a smear of red dissolving into the condensation. \n\n“See you Monday.”",
"it's been going on for years, but it ends tonight. Every-time I tried to do anything she was in my way. When I got a job over seas, guess who called in with an anonymous tip I was \"racist\". When I was finally going to tell Lisa to marry me, guess who facebook messaged her that I was having an \"affair\". None of it was ever true, but that didn't make it hurt my life any less. Today was the day though, today I am ending it. A new drug has come on the market. \"Switch\" is what they call it. When you drink it the first person you look at your emotions towards them immediately flipped. Popularly called a love potion by the masses because of its high use in divorce cases. I was going to use it to turn the tables on her (also she was pretty hot so this was a win/win for me). I was shocked she agreed to get drinks with me to \"talk things out\". I had a martini waiting for her when she walked in, already spiked with the love potion. She sat down without saying anything, smiled at me, and took a sip from her drink. Then she went blank....and I waited...and waited...and waiting. Nothing happening for what seemed like forever. Then she whispered to the bartender, a while later her came out with a lime and a knife. I see we already might be getting kinky, just what I wanted. Then she stabbed me, and stabbed me. Like Julius Caesar getting betrayed by Brutus I was overwhelmed with emotion. Why had she done this, I don't understand. Did she know about my plan and work around it, did the bartender tell her what i was doing?? None of that made sense, I played it perfectly. Wait...What if she already loved me?"
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[WP] Being on the edge of the galaxy and with no species capable of warp travel, it was deemed the perfect prison planet. No one really cared what that might mean for the locals of this "Earth."
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"“So we agree,” said the owl, the council gathered to decide what to do about the latest invasive species on the planet, “something must be done about these apes. They destroy our homes, rummage the trees and lakes, and they’ve almost figured out fire. They must be stopped.”\n\n“I don’t see all the fuss,” said the wolf, scratching its ear. “They’re a bit cocky, I’d say---”\n\n“Braack!!!” interrupted the hen.\n\n“---sorry, sorry, a bit *unruly*, you might say, but I don’t find any cause for drastic measures.”\n\n“Of course *you* don’t,” said the bear. “They don’t eat wolves, never have. In fact, I think I spied one of your kin helping them hunt the mammoths!” The council gasped. Not many mammoths were left, not since the apes landed here. \n\nThe council had grown smaller since then. The unicorns hadn’t lasted very long, the dragons had fled for Mars, even the dolphins shed their legs and headed for waters unknown.\n\n“Well, that settles it,” said the owl. “We must rid the apes of their unchecked authority. Thanks to the plans provided by Princess Lemming, the elder tortoise and I have analyzed their settlements, and they seem to draw their power from a single solitary peak---the volcano Ararat in the land of the turkeys. We have determined that this mountain was at one point the ship in which they arrived on our soil, and along its peaks there grows a garden. From this garden they procure fruits of enlightenment, of invention, and of war. If it is not wilted, if its trees continue to grow and its crops still bloom, there will be no hope for us.”\n\n“What do we do? We’re all gonna die!” exclaimed the rabbit.\n\n“Braack!!!” agreed the hen.\n\n“Perhaps not,” spoke up the elder tortoise, his voice cracked and fading from his long life and many adventures. “For there is one tree in their garden they are not, by their genetics, capable of consuming. The debugging tree”\n\n“Like a poison?” asked the toad, baffled as to why anyone would want less bugs.\n\n“Quite so, but a poison not of flesh and blood but of heart and soul. We animals are not responsible for our actions inherently---we are, some would say, automatic actors in life’s great stage. But the apes are different. As of now they are like us, but if they taste the fruit of the debugging tree, they will become not only players but writers themselves. Every choice they make will be left up to them, and they will feel things we cannot feel. They will no longer accept the great Circle of Life, of the balance of predator and prey; at least some of them will remorse the death of their kills. The spoil of victory will itself be spoiled. This upset may just set back into balance our old way of life. And if just one of the apes eats of the debugging tree, their whole ecosystem will go down, and all of them will feel this strange new, ‘responsibility.’”\n\nThe council was of one mind (save for the wolf, of course): one of them must venture into Ararat, convince an ape to eat the debugging fruit, and restore order to the planet. But who would do it? Who was cunning enough for the job, clever enough to make it through the gates, and convincing enough to ensnare the ape’s minds?\n\nAs the council sat arguing over why any given one of them should stay behind, one member slithered through the crowd up to the elder tortoise, panicked in breath at the hour of his arrival.\n\n“Ssso sssorry I’m late, Uncle Tortoise!” explained the snake. The older reptile looked upon his adoptive nephew with something of a sparkle in his eye, and realized that the solution to their dilemma was now standing before them.\n\n“Late, my boy? No no no. You’re right on time.”\n"
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[WP] You’ve been gifted with the ability to read minds since you were a child. In order to put your skills to good use, you became a freelance detective. However, one day you read someone’s mind and hear something you never could have expected.
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"I could never have expected this. I have always been able to read minds, but never have I ever experienced this.\n\nUsually, I sit down at a café, or in a park, or even, under very specific circumstances, just in a parking lot.\n\nBut today, I sat down by a school. I thought; \"maybe I'll catch a lead here or something.\" I did not catch a lead, but instead I got caught.\n\n I did not know what to do. I was caught off guard by what I heard:\n\n\"Dude, stop reading my mind. It's creepy\"",
"I was preparing to head out of the office for lunch when the email came in. I can't help myself when I hear my computer chime. It was from a single mother who was concerned that her kid was being bullied. She asked if she could come into the office after lunch for a brief consultation.\n\nCharlotte sat down in the chair and exhaled before providing me with a backstory about her case.\n\n\"I started to suspect that he was being bullied about a month ago. There were bruises on his arms and he's been really quiet lately.\" She said trying to hold back tears.\n\n\"I've talked to the school and they haven't done anything. They say that kids will be kids but I feel like it's more serious than that. He's terrified to tell me which kids are bullying him.\" She confessed.\n\nLuckily, for Miss Charlotte, my daughter goes to the same elementary school as her son did. I tell Miss Charlotte that I volunteer at school functions pretty frequently and that I'll try to poke around a little bit.\n\nAfter a couple days, I brought my daughter some cupcakes to school for a class party. I found the opportunity to ask her about Miss Charlotte's son.\n\"Carla, who's that?\" I asked as I pointed to a small sheepish boy sitting by himself.\n\n\"His name is Ethan. He used to be happy but he's not now.\" She said while destroying a helpless cupcake.\n\n\"Why isn't he happy anymore, sweetie?\" I asked. I could've easily obtained my answer from her mind but I don't read my own child's mind.\n\n\"Ethan got in trouble with Miss Owens. Now he's quiet.\" Carla said.\n\nI didn't like this answer. Miss Owens was Ethan's teacher who was at lunch at the time. I took a cupcake over to Ethan to try to convince him to talk.\n\n\"Hey bud, want a cupcake?\" I asked as I took a seat next to him.\n\n\"I can't...I...I don't want to get messy.\" Ethan said shyly. \n\n\"Isn't that what napkins are for? I won't tell.\" I said. \n\nEthan took the mini cupcake and began to take a bite.\n\n\"So why are you over here by yourself? Don't you want to join the other kids?\" I asked curiously.\n\n\"I'd like to but I don't want to get in trouble again.\" He said while sounding bummed.\n\n\"How'd you get in trouble?\" I asked.\n\n\"I accidentally broke a yardstick and Miss Owens got mad. She says I'm the worst one when all the kids leave.\" Ethan said beginning to cry. \n\nI didn't like the sound of that. I wanted to know more but before I could ask him any more questions, a voice shouted from behind us.\n\n\"ETHAN!\" A voice roared. Miss Owens, a middle-aged obese woman, quickly snatched the cupcake out of Ethan's hands.\n\n\"You can't eat this Ethan, you'll get hyper and break more school supplies!\" She scolded. \n\nShe turned to me with a charming, yet menacing smile.\n\"I'm sorry, Mr. Claybourne. I should've told you about Ethan. His mother said that he can't have any sweets today.\" She informed me.\n\nAs she stared into my eyes, I searched into hers and saw what was happening.\n\n*Miss Owens towers over Ethan as he curls into a ball and cries on the floor. Miss Owens holds a yardstick high above her head and shouts at Ethan as she brings the tip of the yardstick down to trike Ethan's back with a loud \"WHIP!\" \nShe screams things at him.\n\n \"You are nothing more than a coward! Nobody loves you! Nobody wants you! and someday, Ethan, I swear to God, someday I'm going to kill you! And you know what else? Nobody (WHIP) will (WHIP) cry (WHIP) when you're gone!\"*\n\nI was jolted back out of her mind. Her face twisted into concern.\n\"Is something wrong, Mr. Claybourne? Are you crying?\" She asked.\n\nI was. I was so angry and heartbroken. I'd never wanted to hurt anyone in my life up until that moment. I snapped myself back together.\n\n\"Miss Owens...\" I said.\n\n\"Yes, Mr. Claybourne?\" She waited.\n\n\"I'm taking my daughter and I'm taking Ethan out of this classroom. You are going to stay here and wait for the police to take you away in handcuffs. I will spend every waking moment of my life making sure that you never hurt anyone ever again. Do you understand?\" I explained.\n\n\"How dare you!?\" She snarled.\n\n\"No, Miss Owens. How dare YOU!?\" I barked. She stepped back.\n\nI took Ethan and Carla's hands walked straight to the office. I couldn't let anyone know that I could read minds, so I had to convince Ethan to tell the adults everything. Miss Charlotte was in shock and anger. During Miss Owens's sentencing, Miss Charlotte screamed and yelled at her with a fury that I'd never seen in anyone.\n\nEthan is in college now. He and Carla hang out every once in a while. Miss Owens was released from jail a few years ago but was a victim of an assault several weeks later. The funny thing was that it was at a local bar at peak business hours, and yet, no one was witness to the assault.\nCase Closed."
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Am just a bit curious at how this would work. Panzer tanks from Rommel meet Roman Centurions and legions. I wonder..
It makes it even more interesting due to the fact that Rommel was a very fair man. :P
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[WP] Rommel's 7th Panzer Division, while weathering a heavy storm, is sent back to the Roman Empire.
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"\"How many?\" Rommel asked, squinting into the morning sun. He could see them marching, slowly, kicking up dust. Slowly, but purposefully.\n \nWestphal, looking through binoculars, was quiet for a second before responding. \"Looks like at least two legions, but I think their might two more behind it.\"\n\nRommel chuckled. \"Really pissed them off, didn't we?\" They'd easily massacred two other legions two months beforehand, and then another just last month. That last legion hadn't been as easy.\n\nWestphal put down his binoculars and looked at his commander. \"Do we have a chance?\" \n\nRommel though about it, and then answered. \"We're out of fuel, we have almost no ammo left, most of us haven't eaten decently in a month, and the temperature is already in the mid 30s.\" The tanks were saunas during the day now, and none of the men wanted to spend time in them since they were effectively useless. A few of them still had ammo, but without fuel made the turrets difficult to turn. \"Most of the men have been trained in small arms and mechanized combat; we're about to face one of the best trained melee forces to ever walk the earth.\"\n\nWestphal had put the binoculars back up to his eyes. \"So, no.\" he said, without a hint of regret or fear in his voice. \n\nRommel chuckled again, and he smirked. \"Let's get ready to really change the course of history, Siegfried. We may fall this day but the Roman Empire will know that Germania is a force to be reckoned with from any time.\"\n\n\n\n\n"
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[WP] Before you are murdered and your life flashes before your eyes. You can travel to any point in your life to try to prevent it, but Death and Fate are against you.
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"You'd think death is always agonizing. As it turns out once your brain stem is severed, you feel nothing. The type of blow this takes happens faster than your nerves are able to signal to your brain.\n\n\nDarkness.\n\n\nWell, no after life. Probably a good thing. Then it happens. SNAP.\n\n\nIt’s cold. An amber glow illuminates the streets. The light dances across the street, it’s source is alive. The light of a flame has its own personality. Each lantern no matter how carefully crafted provides its own unique pattern of light. I know where this is. The streets of London are home to me.\n\n\nThe same familiar feeling nags at me from the inside. I’ve long ago given up trying to control it. This is who I am, I embrace now. Looking from the alley. I see her, again. She laden with layers upon layers of heavy clothing. The bulbous dress bouncing from her body as she carries it through the street.\n\n\nI am like a passenger. My body acts of its own accord as I watch my hand pull the blade across her throat. It all happens so fast, by the time she reacts to my presence the arterial spray is already painting the shop window next to us. Turning, she falls to her back grasping her throat.\n\n\nI smile. Plunging the blade into her chest, it pops through her sternum. It's not long before I notice the subtle change in her eyes. The moment the soul is no longer in body. \n\n\nShe’s gone now. I breathe deeply, the demons within me are at peace.\n\n\nIt’s at this moment I finally realize, I am not watching the event unfold. I am here, reliving this moment. I turn around, I know there's a man. \n\n\nHe’s seen me. \n\n\nBobbies are within earshot. This time I run.\n\n\nI know how this ends. \n\n\nGuillotine.",
"The sun setting over the jungle never looked more magnificent with its blood red hues glowing over the lush green overgrowth. There was no time to appreciate it. Not this time. The thundering howls of the bloodthirsty natives echoed not far behind. \"They're in better shape than me,\" I thought. \"I can't outrun them. I've got to find cover.\"\n\nJust then, the ground collapsed beneath me and when the dust settled, the fading twilight illuminated a small stone walled chamber. It was too dim to make out the drawings engraved in the surrounding stone pillars, nor did I really care at the moment. Stifling the incessant hacking from my dirt filled lungs using the handkerchief my wife knitted for me, I deeply regretted for the hundredth time my selfish decision to \"do what I want to do on this vacation\" before darting deeper into the dark passage before me. She was safely soaking in a sauna somewhere while I was covered in a muddy mess of blood, sweat, and tears.\n\n\"There could be snakes down here...but if I'm going to be eaten alive anyway, might as well be by an animal.\" A loud thump reverberated throughout the hollowed underground labyrinth as my head smacked against a low hanging ceiling. Wanting to curse the midget mason who made it, I bit my tongue and whipped the dying cell phone out of my left pocket to use as a flashlight. An alien language bounced off the walls behind me as the savages continued their manhunt. With any luck, they'd bang their heads on the low hanging ceiling and eat each other in a fit of rage, but I wasn't about to take any chances.\n\nDeeper I dug into the depths of whatever ruined city this was. Mayan? Aztec? Olmec? What did it matter which ancient civilization I was about to be buried in? I almost laughed at the irony. The jungle zip lining brochure still hanging on for dear life in my back pocket had printed across its back page in a big cheesy Microsoft Word font circa 1995 \"An astounding adventure you'll want to relive again and again!\" Part of me was hoping that big bright Hollywood film lights would blind my eyes as Ashton Kutcher jumped out of nowhere shouting in my face that I had been punked, but my heart sank knowing that was about as likely to happen as me finding the lost city of gold and bringing it back to civilization alive. Then again, maybe this is where he's been hiding for all of these years. Stranger things have happened—such as a zip line tour guide having an arrow pierce his throat as he cupped his hands over his mouth shouting, \"REMEMBER: SAFETY FAAAAUUUGGHHHH!\" \n\nThe faint glow from my cell phone lit up a small hole with a ladder leading down it. Descending into God knows where for what seemed like an eternity, I raised my phone in the darkness to reveal what could have been a sacrificial alter for all I knew.\n\nHow appropriate.\n\n5% battery left. I wonder which would die first? Footsteps shuffled in the room above, kicking dirt down through the cracks in the stone floor. I quietly crawled behind a statue of a snake eating itself and prayed that my pursuers couldn't smell fear. Heart pounding against my rib cage like a prisoner begging for mercy, sweat and tears flooded my face as the cannibals wailed like screeching banshees in an attempt to draw me out.\n\n\"Sorry, I didn't get that.\"\n\nIt was almost enough to give me a heart attack, and I wish it did. Goddammit Siri. The screeching grew louder as they poured into my soon to be tombstone. I hugged the serpentine statue in front of me and muttered every prayer I could think of. Wild barbaric breathing and animalistic grunts filled the room. Two hands pulled the hair on my head and my eyes rolled back into my skull, blood rushing throughout my body as a tingle trickled down my spine in what had to be the greatest orgasm of my life.\n\n\"I love you\" she sighed as her beautiful green eyes pierced my soul. I collapsed against her naked body, completely drained of energy and escaping time and space for a brief moment in the afterglow of our intense love making. I stared out the open window of our hotel room into the setting sun to appreciate the way the blood red hues glowed over the lush green overgrowth of the jungle in the horizon. A sudden sensation of déjà vu washed over me and quickly vanished as she whispered into my ear, \"What do you want to do tomorrow, baby? I was thinking we could have a relaxing day at the spa.\" That sounded about as exciting as watching my fingernails grow.\n\n\"Nah,\" I said, grabbing a brochure off of the nightstand next to our queen sized bed. \"Let's go zip lining.\""
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[WP] It's 2018. The only difference is, for the last 60 years since it was founded, NASA has had the biggest budget in the US and is the largest organization in the world.
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"The Sea of Tranquility twinkles with the silver and blue reflections of miles and miles of solar collectors, almost as prevalent here as cornstalks in Nebraska. \n\nI understand that *terawatts* of power gush out of this array alone, lighting up the majority of Alpha, Beta, and Delta sector and storing the rest in supercapacitors buried deep beneath the lunar soil. I understand that a few gigawatts of the residual power is microwave-beamed up into orbit, where it ignites the arc welders of the vast Lunar Shipyards, and provides lighting for the vast hydroponics stations around the Lagrange points. \n\nThat makes it no less beautiful to me.\n\nMy commute passes these fields every Earth morning, and I am thankful.\n\nAs the bullet train continues, I look up on the wall at the holographic departure and arrival times for various trains operating in the region. Looks like they’re all running early today. That’s good. Perhaps I’ll be able to leave work for my family a bit earlier, and we could go play grav-ball in the rotopark on Stardock Mu like I promised James and Sidney.\n\nI don the last layer of my uniform, checking that my official NASA identification badge is in place, and that my holocode is easily visible, so that I can get off the shuttle with minimal inconvenience. \n\nSee, even after the collapse of the Warsaw Pact in 1976, national security was a major concern. As such, even though most people were free to visit as they would be any other territory of the American Republics, NASA research facilities were still heavily protected by the Luna National Guard. One slip-up could put another nation’s space program forward half a decade or more, and after we nearly went to war with our old Soviet rivals for nuking China in 1971, the White House decided that having competent adversaries in space was an unacceptable risk. After all, warfare was half about having the high ground. And what higher ground is there than the *moon*?\n\nIt certainly helped that Helium-3 turned out to be such a viable source of fusion power, and was cheap and easy to ship from the Moon back to Earth once we got the hang of lunar shipbuilding and disposable re-entry vehicles.\n\nSo we colonized it in 1975, right after Apollo 26. Eighteen million people live here now, almost all dedicated to NASA research initiatives. And the initiatives pay *extremely* well; after all, with a hundred ninety billion dollars a year in direct scientific funding, with an additional sixty billion in operational maintenance, *any* experiment is a good experiment.\n\nWe worked out ion propulsion and stellar lasers in the eighties, and moved on to bigger fish. Mars missions commenced in the early nineties, right around the time we worked out high efficiency fusion drives (and just after I started my tenure here!). We landed a woman on Titan in 2007, and started harvesting vast amounts of methane for low cost retro thrusters in 2014. The United American Republics, now in voluntary control of most of Europe and some of Asia after the Great Oil Crises of 1984 and 1991, also controls most of the inner solar system, with further planned colonies on Europa and Titan in the 2020s.\n\nAnd here I am, in March of 2018, working with the first prototype of the Alcubierre-Schwartz Propulsion-Emission-Cavitation Tank.\n\nOur first test ignition is today.\n\nAnd if all goes well... \n\nMankind will never again look to the stars in wonder—they will look to the stars in *exploration.*\n\nThe train stops at SARPA Complex B, and I depart, headed for the Relativistic Propulsion Lab.\n\nToday’s gonna be a good day. I can *feel* it."
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[WP] The Setup: Immortality has been cracked but it isn't cheap or easy. Rich people can prepay centuries in advance, protecting against the market. Your average person is able to live forever as long as they can keep paying the expensive but reasonable bills (considering what you get).
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"\"Hello, my name is Janet. You've reached Longevity Platinum Services, how may I serve you?\"\n\n\"It's about time! I've been on hold for an hour!\"\n\n\"Well, as we like to say here at Longevity, we hope we've given you all that time back and more!\"\n\n\"Um, right, well, I was calling to ask about last month's bill?\"\n\n\"Yes sir, may I please have your account number, bill transaction number, and the date of first signing-on with us?\"\n\n\"But, I gave all of that to the last person!\"\n\n\"Sir, please remain calm, we just want to better serve you.\"\n\n\"I, well, okay. 7995624M-\"\n\n\"N for November, or M for Mike?\"\n\n\"Mike.\"\n\n\"Alright, please continue.\"\n\n\"-213. And my bill transaction is 224KXC.\"\n\n\"Uppercase or lower?\"\n\n\"All Uppercase.\"\n\n\"And your date of registration?\"\n\n\"17th March, 2076.\"\n\n\"Ah, it's been a millienia with us, hasn't it? Congratulations, sir.\"\n\n\"Thanks, but I wanted to ask about my bill?\"\n\n\"Oh, yes, please go on.\"\n\n\"I think I got overcharged. Normally I'm paying seventy-six dollars, but last month, I paid a whole hundred!\"\n\n\"Sir, what plan are you on?\"\n\n\"The Electra Plus.\"\n\n\"That's normally between two hundred and three hundred, sir.\"\n\n\"My plan was grandfathered in.\"\n\n\"Ah, one moment please.\"\n\n\"...\"\n\n\"I see the reason now, you were signed onto the SecondLife plan, where we implant the memories of a small Ethiopian child into your unconscious. Have you been having any strange dreams, lately?\"\n\n\"I wake up very hungry?\"\n\n\"Ah, yes. Would you like to continue on with the-\"\n\n\"Just cancel it, please.\"\n\n\"Are you sure, sir? We could also offer you the premium Dimerite Backup add-on that-\"\n\n\"No. No, it's fine. I'll go now.\"\n\n\"Well, thank you for shopping with Longevity Platinum Services, where we hope to serve you long into-\"\n \n*click*"
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[WP]Teleportation is invented as an instant means to travel. A man, having never used the technology begins to notice something wrong. He begins to suspect they aren't being teleported, but are being killed in the process. A new "version" appearing on the other side. Each time a bit more sinister.
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"\"Daddy?\" The sparkling eyes belonging to my sweet Susanna appeared as the portation dust dissapated. \n\n\"Moochums!\" I yelled picking her up into my arms and swinging her around as she giggled with glee.\n\nI just had her for two days of every thirty, never rely on a federation lawyer, but I would make sure those two days would be the be-\n\"Aghh!\" My right arm began to burn with pain making it seize. Setting Susanna down I found the cause. A large gash stretching from my wrist down to the elbow had appeared. \n\"Awww, Daddy did I hurt you?\" Susanna asked her eyes starting to tear up. \n\"I...\" Spotting the bloody hairpin at her feet the pieces fell into place. \"I guess you did, but don't worry accidents happen to everyone.\" She began to cry, moistue dripping down to her chin and her face capturing a shade almost akin to that of magenta. \n\"I'm..I'm so sorry Daddy.\" She said between gasps.\nRushing to save the situation I found the perfect idea. \"Don't worry it's nothing a little ice cream won't fix!\"\nSimmering down Susanna looked up and smiled. \n\nIn the back of my head that day I an idea was born that it may have been her plan all along, but that thought would have never come to the for front of my mind if I wasn't about to be sentenced to death for the murder of my ex-wife. \n\n",
"At first, it was only an idea. They had a group of people who tested it and after a successful year, it became available for the masses. Celebrities and people with money went ahead and after a while it was considered as the standard way of transportation and travel. Teleportation. \n\nA friend of mine was the first in our area who bought a porter, he has his own IT company, so he had the money. More people I know followed up and after two months, there was no-one at the bus station in the morning anymore. Or in the evening. I had the whole bus for myself. \n\n“You know, we will probably close this line as well. We can’t keep it open for just you using it. “\n\n“Mh. I guess I have to buy a bike or something. But what about you? Are you losing your job or..?”\n\n“No, but I will be doing sightseeing tours. You know, tourists still want to see the city they visit.”\n\nI’ve known Mike for years. He has been the bus driver since I started working at the other side of town. For the past weeks, we started talking more as I was the only person he was transporting and I know he tried to hold onto this route for me; and his own comfort, probably. He isn’t that much of a talker and needs time to warm up with people, so a tourist guide wasn’t his first choice, I assumed. But in a world where public transport isn’t needed anymore you take any chance you get. \n\nPeople also stopped getting sick. Scientists claimed that humanity has wiped out every disease or developed an immunity to pretty much everything, but they weren’t quite sure. Except for me. It was the third cold I got this year but there weren’t any doctors offices or pharmacies open anymore, so I had to work through it on my own. \n\nIt was odd. It’s been almost four months since the mass production of the porters and two weeks ago, humans were declared as ‘healthy’. We evolved so fast over the past years, I was wondering what would come next. \n\nLater that day I was meeting up with a friend. Snacks and drinks at our favourite pub, we tried to do this at least once a month. It was still weird, seeing him without his tattoos. They disappeared after his first teleportation and he wasn’t the only one, so apparently the porters wouldn’t transfer tattoo ink for whatever reason. He wasn’t mad about it, just shrugged it off. “I still have pictures of them and hey, life’s easier with teleportation, no big deal.” \nHe had spent a lot for his tattoos and every single one had a meaning, so his reaction confused me, but we weren’t that close anymore, so what did I know. \n\n“You still haven’t bought a porter? You might need one, though. I heard they are closing public transport for good.”\n\n“I know”, I responded, “but I’d rather buy a bike. I like having some time on the way to work to prepare for the day. “\n\n“How about sleeping longer? That still is the best preparation”, he laughed. \n\nSomething about him bothered me. Something else than his tattoos. Then I noticed.. “Haven’t you had a scar on your arm? From your accident? You had it covered up by a tattoo but since they are all gone..”\n\n“I never had a scar.” He interrupted me harshly, rude almost. He stared into my eyes, cold and angry. I raised my eyebrows. “No need to get angry, I guess I confused that with Jon.” His facial expression changed back to normal. \n\n“You know, you should really buy a porter.”\n\nI sighed. “Really? I think I’m not ready for that yet. In my opinion, this is all going on too fast and...” I suddenly noticed the silence in the bar. Everyone was looking at me with the exact same cold stare Darek had used before. The moment he noticed I stopped talking to look at the other people in the bar, he quickly asked me “Why don’t you go home and look for one? If you can’t afford it I could really help you with the payments..” \n\nI looked back at him and he also had the cold dead stare again. “ You know what? You are right. I will do so right now.” In the corner of my eye I noticed everyone turning away from me and going on with their bar activities. Darek seemed pleased. \n\nAs I got home, I immediately started my PC but instead of searching for porters, I was looking for the studies when the porters were still in testing. Nothing weird, I knew everything from the news already. Safe way of travel, quick, risk-free, can’t transfer tattoo ink. This wasn’t helpful. But after some hours of searching, I found a blog entry of someone who claimed to be a relative of one of the scientists guiding the test studies. \n\n“One of the subjects turned violent suddenly. It says they restrained him and took a closer look at him. They noticed that a scar on his wrist had disappeared, so further investigations were done. They had DNA-samples from every subject and when they compared it to his current DNA, it wasn’t 100% compatible anymore, more like 95%. The subject had changed, probably because of the porters. After a while they found out that they weren’t the subjects from the start anymore, they had been replaced every time. The genetic sample used to log into the porter was used to create instant clones with the consciousness of the original which was the only thing transferred via the porter. What happened to the original subjects is still unknown since the cloned subjects forced the scientists to use the porter and corrupted them before they could investigate further. My sister forwarded her papers to me and I am publishing this to inform others of the risks of using these technologies.”\n\nA comment below that claimed it as fake, a story, creepy pasta. But it has confirmed what my gut was telling me from the beginning. Something sinister is going on.",
"What happens when you teleport? \nThey compared it to sending files. You upload yourself into the mother system. The mother system then install you in your desired location. Simple. Safe. Succinct. \n\nWhat if something happens during transference? \nThe elders said nothing wrong can possibly happen. It all happens in an instant anyways. \n\nBut here’s what’s happening. You “upload your data to the cloud”. Your body gets disintegrated. Then your files of “you” will get installed into a new freshly assembled body that the mother creates. \n\nOne day, the unexpected happens. Something caused a lag in the mother system. Connection was disrupted. Yet all the porters arrived safe and sound. Trust in the mother was at its peak, but this is when I noticed the sinister changes among my family members. \n\nThey were just returning from business in Europa that day. Their arrival time coincided with the server lag, and they were delayed by 0.02 nanoseconds. I didn’t think much of it. \n\nBut it was back home that they developed their symptoms. If anything, I think the error interfered with their... minds. \n\nTheir symptoms mainly were negligence. They slept over their alarms. Their speech pattern changed. They start to abandon their responsibilities, things like forgetting to buy groceries, go to work, etc etc. \n\n\nI have decided to put them in rehabilitation. I will continue to observe them until their symptoms have returned to normal. \n\nUntil then, I will call this occurrence as “packet loss”. \n\n\n————————————————————————————\n\nToday Eric and I will return to our home back in Terra. \n\n“I think our son will be overjoyed” I said\n“Of course sweetie” replied Eric. \n“Let’s board the capsule.” \n\nThey walked on a pristine steel promenade. In front of them a gigantic apparatus that looked like a beehive - the teleportation cluster. Each capsule in the cluster faintly glows in a pulsating pattern, emitting blue light in a rhythmic cycle. \n\nThey walked onto the lift and arrived at their capsule in the beehive cluster. \n\nSign reads “Capsule C12AZ-TRA”\n\n“Looks like this is the one”\n“Yes it is, lets go in” \n\nEric placed his palm on the biometric scanner to the side of the entree, and so did I. \n\nThe blue glass door slid open. We walked in and sat on our respective chairs. \n\n“Initiating capsule C12AZ-TRA...”\n\nWe held onto our chairs and clung tight on the armrest. \n\n“Acquiring mind-sample...”\n\nA large needle burst out from the headrest of the chair. It went right into the couple’s brains. Their bodies spasmed. Their eyes roll frantically. Their jaws clenched shut. \n\n“Standing by for translocation...”\n\n. . .\n\n“Translocation commencing”\n\n\nBlue gas descends upon the chamber. They can not breathe. \nEric gasped hard for a breath of fresh air but it felt as if liquid fire entered his lungs. \nWe wheezed and we coughed. Sharp caustic pain descends onto our body. Blood starts pouring from our nose, our eyes, our ears, out orifices. \n\nThe couple wanted to scream, but they could not. \nThey felt their consciousness fading, for a brief moment at least. “They” were already uploaded to mother. They will be in Terra. \n\nThen... for an instant of 0.02 nanoseconds. The mother system stopped. Their “data” were interrupted mid-transfer and the knowledge of translocation were not erased. They were corrupted with the knowledge of that brilliant pain. \n"
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[WP] You've been asking Alexa to read your 5 year old son a bedtime story every night. Little did you realize, there was a bug and Alexa has been reading your son the Communist Manifesto.
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"\"Dad, can you read me a bedtime story?\"\n\nI sat down on the side of the bed and sighed. My son's eyes were wide and wonder-filled, as only a child's can be. \n\nI lightly rustled his hair.\n\n\"Sorry, kiddo,\" I said, pulling his blanket up over him. \"I have to be up early for work tomorrow. Maybe Alexa can cover tonight again?\"\n\nMy son pushed the blanket away and put on his best pouting face.\n\n\"But *Dad*, your job is simply the bourgeoisie exploiting you to maintain themselves as the supreme class in society. The class struggle you're part of as a component of capitalism is decaying our society. You have to be conscious of your own potential to rebel against the system. It should be your duty as a member of the oppressed working-class to unionise with your fellow laymen and to revolt from the social constructs of being \"on time\" to work for the benefit of the world's proletariat classes.\"\n\nI blinked a couple times, staring down at his innocent, wide-eyed little face.\n\n\"Y'now, I think I actually do have enough time to read a story to you...\""
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[WP] In a world where magic and supernatural wonders exist. One of those wonders is called the 'gate' which opens up every few hundred years, connecting a passage to a different world bringing many cultures and items. This time, they brought modern humanity.
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"Although experts believe the Sutton's Creek Incident may have been caused by a nuclear mishap, especially with the military base nearby, the area checks clear of fallout and scorch marks. One day, every man, woman, and child, along with the homes, streets, and cars all up and vanished, leaving behind a crater 5 miles wide. As if something came down and scooped them right out of our world. \n\nToday was Sunday. That much was certain. Hubert had woken up early, eaten pancakes for breakfast, and driven off to church. On the way there, he stopped to put in an order for some bacon- cut extra thick, hickory smoked- and dropped off his bills at the post office. He'd taken a left down Main and a right on Fifth, which should have taken him to the church, but instead he stopped and wondered why a fifty foot tree was sitting in front of his car. \n\nThe roots of the thing snaked every which way, entangling the gym of Washington Elementary and crawling up its flagpole. A face as green as the mossy bark peeked out from above and hollered in a squeaky voice.\n\n\"Come again?\" Hubert called back. The message was lost on him, as he was not fluent in that tongue. The face rolled its eyes and retreated, only to emerge from the tree's base with the body of a muscular young man, with hands balled into fists, which may have seemed threatening if the being weren't two feet tall. \n\nIt screamed again in an unintelligible language as Hubert nodded and mmhmm'ed in response. A few minutes later, it completed its tirade and, chest heaving, leaned against the hood of the car for support. \n\n\"Look, I understand you're mad. Your, uh, treehouse got moved and it's blocking Fifth street. But I ain't the one responsible. I'm just passing through.\" Hubert idled the car and got out. The tree-thing stumbled back. \n\n\"Whoah there, I'm friendly.\" He extended a hand to help it up. \"I'm Hubert. And you are?\" \n\nThe tree-thing tilted its head this way and that, and took Hubert's hand. \"Preet,\" it burbled, pounding its chest twice. \n\n\"Well, Preet. I'm about to head off to church. You're welcome to join me if you like, seeing as it's right next door.\"\n\n[subreddit](https://www.reddit.com/r/Tensingstories/)",
"The Gate swirled in a maelstrom of rainbow colours; a flat disk that floated several inches above the white marbled tiles, it gave off a faintly acrid odour.\n\n\nThe secret of who had fashioned The Gate had long since been lost to history but, in the millennia that had intervened, The City of the Gate had gradually grown up haphazardly around it. Spirals of architecture flowing out from the Great Temple, itself a series of nested designs that had each been built to encompass their predecessors with the original Great Temple at its heart. And within that heart, The Gate stirred.\n\n\n\"Soon?\" asked the Archvanqist, nose wrinkling at the smell.\n\n\n\"Soon,\" nodded Fevra, the lead Greeter, before consulting the small black book that he held in his pocket. It had been two hundred and eighty years since The Gate had last opened and now he was set to earn an honour that had eluded his father, his father's father, and even his father before him. He would be the first to greet a new culture, the first to welcome them to Savris, and begin the dialogue that would lead to their latest cultural growth spurt. He needed to make sure he got the details right.\n\n\n\"There were some, in the inner circles, who had begun to doubt it would ever open again,\" said the Archvanqist, his voice low \"Between you and me, they were quite worrying what we would do.\"\n\n\n\"We would have managed, I am sure your Excellency,\" said Fevra, without quite believing it.\n\n\n\"Yes, yes, I suppose so,\" said the Archvanqist, stroking his long white beard between thumb and forefinger, \"but we depend upon fresh inspiration, we depend upon new peoples and new technology to help us evolve. Without that, why, there were some saying we would have to start imagining for ourselves!\"\n\n\nFevra stiffened slightly and turned his gaze to The Gate, the patterns of which had begun to swirl faster.\n\n\n\"I know,\" said the Archvanqist, continuing, \"it's heresy, but it has been said. Two hundred and eighty years without progress is a long time.\"\n\n\n\"Yes, your Excellency,\" replied Fevra, keeping his eyes on The Gate before sneaking another glance at the book in his right hand.\n\n\nThe disk would become opaque soon, and that would be the signal to hurl the Fellstone Shards into it. Fevra knew that they would have only a few moments to initiate connection, but provided that he performed the ritual correctly they would establish a ten year conduit between worlds. His left hand curled around the Fellstone Shards in his pocket, his palm slick against them.\n\n\nThe swirling gathered pace, a kaleidoscope of colours washing together until suddenly they stopped and the disk slowly clouded over milky white. \n\n\nFevra stepped forward, now only six feet from where the disk hung in the air and hurled the handful of stones into the portal.\n\n\nWhite light blazed with a crackling sound that filled the small chamber of the innermost Great Temple and Fevra was forced to shield his eyes. Behind him, a ripple of chanting emerged from the Great Temple that encircled them, a ripple that slowly grew to a roar as it passed through the many layers of temples and eventually to the massed crowds that were waiting outside.\n\n\nThe light faded and The Gate rippled to reveal a landscape of orange sand and small bushes beneath a cloudless blue sky. \n\n\n\"Shouldn't there be people?\" whispered the Archvanqist.\n\n\n\"Umm. Yes, there should be people. The signs of The Gate have been present on the other side for the last ten years.\"\n\n\n\"So where are they?\"\n\n\nFevra grimaced. Perhaps he had done something wrong. Too many stones? Too few?\n\n\n\"You need to go through,\" said the Archvanqist, \"You need to see what's on the other side.\"\n\n\n\"The book says we need to wait for contact to be made from the other world.\"\n\n\n\"Fuck the book, I didn't come all this way to look at desert.\"\n\n\n\"But your Excellency....\"\n\n\n\"Lead Greeter or not,\" the Archvanqist interrupted. \"you could still end up with your head on a spike. You should perhaps reflect on that before making any final decisions.\"\n\n\n\"...it would be my pleasure to step into the other world,\" finished Fevra.\n\n\nHe took a tentative step towards The Gate, looking back to see that the Archvanqist's guards both had their hands on the pommels of their ceremonial swords, before fully committing and launching himself wholeheartedly through The Gate.\n\n\nThere was a sensation as if he had been stretched out very thin and then squeezed back together, before he stumbled out in the dusty orange landscape. The sun burned overhead, far hotter than he had ever experienced.\n\n\nHe looked around him but the desert stretched in every direction, all the way to the horizon. There was nothing. No people, no cities, no sign of any civilization. A snake slithered silently across the sand, twenty feet from him without paying him any attention. It appeared to Fevra that the world was entirely empty. \n\n\nHe stepped back through The Gate, and knelt before the Archvanqist.\n\n\n\"It appears to be a Dead World, your Excellency.\"\n\n\n\"How can this be? All the portents and signs were that this was one of the richest cultures yet?\"\n\n\n\"Perhaps the signs were,\" Fevra hesitated, \"misread, your Excellency.\"\n\n\nThe Archvanqist grew red in the face, fists clenched and eyes bulging. \"Heads will roll for this error, heads will roll.\"\n\n\n\"Of course, Your Excellency.\"\n\n\n\"Shut it!\" he said, waving his hands at Fevra, \"I can't even look at it anymore.\"\n\n\n\"It will take several hours to shut The Gate, your Excellency. At least until the morning.\"\n\n\n\"Whatever it takes,\" said the Archvanqist dismissively, and strode away from him without a further word.\n\n\n\n****\n\n\n\"I saw it and then rode my quad back here as fast as I could,\" said Bobby to his dad, \"It was like a circle filled with rainbows.\"\n\n\n\"You been taking drugs, Bobby?\" asked Miro, taking a slug from his bottle of Toohey's beer.\n\n\n\"I'm serious, Dad. It's out there,\" Bobby pointed off into the desert, which was now beginning to grow dark. \"About forty miles that way.\"\n\n\nMiro sighed. As the only law enforcement official within about five hundred miles of Australian Outback, he had to follow up on this kind of stuff.\n\n\n\"Fine, but you better not be gamin\" he said, putting his beer down. \"We'll head and out and go take a look in the morning...\"\n",
"The lights shimmered radiantly as the gate heated up. The gems that adorned its frame turning into irridescent beams of light that blinded all that gazed upon its workings. Yet none of us looked away, I don't believe anyone could. Our reward being little stars that danced in our vision, momentarily blinding us, but an event that took place only several hundred years wasn't something that could afford averted gazes.\n\nThe blinding white light dimmed, and the electric crackle of the gate began to subside. Every single one of us, all of us from the boundless races that inhabited the black sea that was space stared upon our new visitors.\n\nI wondered if it would be another hulking race of giants that walked upon their knuckles, or perhaps another slender race like those of the Trelitries. Three arms running down each side and a knack for business.\n\nI questioned if they were to be wise, or slow, or loving or compassionate, perhaps strong and domineering even.\n\nWhat culture would they bring? Perhaps something unlike any before.\n\nBut when the light subsided, we saw strange beings with threaded strands protruding from their scalps. Giving off cacophonous roars from their mouths and wielding black sticks that blasted fire from them.\n\nOur new visitors came not bearing gifts, but war.\n\nI later found out that the reason for their invasion was not because of hate or dominion or a need for violence.\n\nIt was because they feared us, they feared the possibility of our invasion into their world.\n\nThey called themselves \"humans\", and I found among them an oddity that served to advance their race faster than any I had ever seen. A trait that was shared by no other.\n\nIt was a mistrust that caused them to seek to obliterate us before we had the chance to attack them, a mistrust born not from our visage, but from their own reflection imprinted on us.\n\nBecause they feared themselves more than anything.\n\nThe culture they brought was unlike any before.\n\n***\n\n/r/KikiWrites \n\nMay add more to this later and make it a bit more fleshed out. :)\n\nHope you enjoyed it"
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[WP] Write about an Middle Evil England that not only accepts witchcraft but embraces it as a form of defensive strategy when counties like France and Spain try to invade.
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"The air in the tent was dry. The subjects stood idle as their King ruminated on his next step.\n\n\"My King, I advise against this,\" the Captain of the guard whispered. \"We do not understand it well enough.\"\n\nHarold Godwinson looked up, still scratching the grey whiskers on his chin. His wrinkled face belied the fire he felt in his belly. \n\n\"No,\" he replied, \"It is decided.\" He looked over to his court witch. \"Do what you must.\"\n\nThe witch stepped forward from the courtiers. She was young, no more than twenty and five years, and her hair was a splendid gold. But her eyes were still, empty. A milky substance obscuring all that was one human in them. She smiled to her King with a curtsy, baring the gums of her mouth for all in the tent to see. \n\n\"My King, if you would be so kind.\" She pointed to the fire at the center of the tent, and beckoned him to join her near it. \n\nThe King stepped forward. He showed no timidity. The Captain called out again, stepping forward to block the King's path. \n\n\"My King, please, I must insist. The church have gave grave warnings for indulging in such acts,\" his words were quick and wobbled on the air. \"I implore you, do not do this. We can defeat William another way. We need no magic to slay the Normans.\"\n\nHarold lifted his eyebrows. \"Oh? Pray tell of such a way.\"\n\nThe captain's eyes raced around his head as he deliberated. \"A forced march,\" he declared. \"We execute the prisoners of Sigurdsson's army so they may not slow us, then make south with much haste.\" A deafening silence filled the room, and the Captain felt the urge to go on. \"Or we conscript the captured Norsemen into the army. Let them fight for us in exchange for their life. With our men and theirs we will equal William's forces.\"\n\nHarold gave a sardonic laugh, eyes never moving from the Captain. \"You think I would lower myself to allow the enemy into my army? You insult me. I won't hear it again. My men cannot force march from here to the south. They are haggard enough after defeating Sirgudsson's forces. We must preserve the fight they have left.\" He looked back to the witch, a gulp passing through his throat. \"No... this is the only way.\"\n\nHarold gently pushed his Captain away, walking steadily to the witch by the fire. She smiled as he approached, and started preparing. \n\n\"My King,\" she said, \"for such magic to work, we require a sacrifice. We must give back to the pool from which we take.\"\n\nHarold glared at her. \"I will not sacrifice my men. We are not savages.\"\n\n\"That shan't be necessary, your grace. The sacrifice must come from you.\"\n\nHushed words spread around the courtiers in the tent.\n\n\"My life?\" Harold asked.\n\nThe witch smiled at him, her glazed, milky eyes seemed full of life now. \"No,\" she replied, \"nothing so drastic.\" \n\nSilence filled the room.\n\n\"An eye, my King. You must give an eye.\"\n\nThe hushed mutterings increased now. Harold could hear the dissent from his men. He spoke words that silenced everyone.\n\n\"So be it.\"\n\nThe Captain stepped forward again. Harold raised a hand, ushering for him to step back. \n\n\"For my country, I would give my life. Take my eye. Take both if necessary.\"\n\nThe witch giggled. It sent shivers through the spine of every courtier. She held a long knife in her hand, yet no one had noticed from whence it came. \"Just the one will do, your grace.\"\n\nHarold listened as many courtiers started to leave, though he did not face them. He heard the words of his Captain as he joined. \"May God forgive us.\"\n\nThat evening, the army of Harold Godwinson listened as devilish incantations departed the royal tent. They heard the dark words, the sounds of many voices chanting even though only the witch knew the words. Later, amidst the voices, a short sharp scream rang out. Then all fell silent, and soon the soldiers wished for the chanting to return, the unnatural, contaminated silence having now spread across the entire army. \n\nSome weeks later, Harold's army watched as the ships of William were smashed to pieces against the jagged rocks of the English coast below. Men jumped from their ships into the perilous water, only to pulled to the dark depths by the vicious current. The royal ship of William fared little better, a solemn bolt of lightening from the sky setting the entire vessel ablaze amidst the sea of fury and death.\n\nThe Norman army was destroyed that day. Harold's army need not lift a finger.\n\nYet not a soul smiled."
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[WP] It has been ten years since the apocalypse started, while wandering around you come across your old high school.
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"Ten years ago, they came. They rose out of the ground, all over the world, at once. They destroyed everything in their path. People, houses, animals, everything. Those that survived had no where left to go. \n\nLast year, they came to a halt. All of them just stopped, and returned to the places from which they came. Gone, but their destruction remained. \n\nCities had burned to the ground. Skyscrapers were just piles of metal. Houses were ash. There was little left to attest to the great architectural feats of humanity. \n\nI'd managed to survive it all, but now there didn't seem to be much left to live for. My childhood home was one of the first to be destroyed - I've been running around the city, squatting in any given place for a week, tops.\n\nI was walking down what was left of Fourth Avenue, which was essentially rubble. There didn't seem to be any good spots to stay - all of the old brick buildings were crumbling and the slightest wind could have made what was left of the buildings collapse.\n\nBut then I came to number 46 on the street, and I stopped. It was my high school. What was once a brand new building was a pile of rubble. I remembered taking a tour of it, before the building had finished construction - they gave us tours because we were the inaugural class. They told us that we were going to make the building so special because we would be the first ones in it.\n\nAnd we did. The building was full of life during my four years there. We decorated the walls with our art and our work, and all of the teachers decorated their own classrooms. We built lives there before moving on to independence. \n\nAnd now it was all gone. Not a single bit of originality left. Just a pile of rubble. There was nothing left for me. Nothing left for anyone.",
"What was once green is now brown. What was once abundant is now abandoned. What was once life is now death.\n\nSame is the same he thought and unconsciously whispered to himself as he walked down the stairs of a rotting building that had the words CITY HALL embedded on its cracked marquee.\n\n“What was life is now death.” he repeatedly muttered to himself.\n\nHow long had this process been going on he thought. How long had he been wandering? He rolled up his sleeve to reveal 10 jagged scars on his forearm. 10 years. 10 years since this nightmare had begun. 10 years of isolation. 10 years of loneliness.\n\nHe had forgotten almost everything of his old life. He had to, he would go crazy if he did not. The memories of the past were no friend to him in the new world. The bindings of memories, love, companionship, childhood were too constricting in this isolation. He could not survive if every step on this road were filled with nostalgic glee.\n\n“What was abundant was now abandoned” he muttered as he continued down the cracked black road.\n\nHis routine was the same as it had always been. He would walk into a town find the city or town hall walk into the office that looked like it was designed for the most important person in that town and take something off the once elegant desk the sed person would of used.\n\nWhy he did this he did not know. Probably a remnant of tradition he did when the horrid event took place those 10 years ago. Probably an act of hope, a vessel of the thoughts optimism. He now did it because that is what he does. No divine meaning, no grand purpose. Just a man living his life. Moving town to town, breathing and alive.\n\nAs he walked out of the town on his never-ending journey he stopped and looked at a rundown sign outside of a complex of worn buildings. The remnants of the sign spelled out the word GOPHERS. And for the first time in all the time he chose to remember he deviated from his path.\n\nNo thoughts went through his mind as he entered the outward area through what most resembled and entrance. He continued past tall and small buildings alike, past the debris of tables, benches and railings.\n\nHe became confused at the complex, confused at the arrangement and amount of debris, people must have gathered here he thought.\n\nHe continued on the campus and came to a large flat area, with a brown middle. Only it was not brown but a bold green.\n\n“What was green is now brown?” he questioned to himself.\n\nHe walked onto the field and continued until he was in the middle. He reached down and realized that he was not standing on grass and dirt but an artificial grass and, as he grabbed a handful of black pebbles, a word formed in his mouth.\n\n“Turf.” He breathed.\n\nWhere had that word come from he thought, he had never used it in his memory.\n\nAs he stood there midfield lost in thought he noticed far faded yellow masses on either side of him and then he began to hear noises from all around him. They started as whispers, and gradually increased in their volume.\n\nHe became frantic as the noises, some words and others cheers but all indistinguishable from another, rose to a deafening roar falling down upon him. He became frantic and when the sounds of high impact collisions followed by grunts of human anguish sounded off, field level, all around him he ran.\n\nAs he ran from the football field he dodged the deafening sounds of collision as if he were making a break for the end zone. Once he was out of the stadium back onto the campus he bent over and bent over at the knees breathing hard from both the physical and mental fatigue of what just transpired.\n\nOnce he had regulated breathing and his heart rate he stood straight up and realized that the whispering had not disappeared. However, it was different now, no longer the cheers and glees of a crowd to the sounds of conversation and laughter. And again the sound became unbearable to hear, but not because of it’s deafening volume but because it wouldn’t stop and was so constant, the conversations and laughter all melded together and became like a sworm of bees buzzing and baffling his ears.\n\nAgain he ran, ran from the conversation, only this time it didn’t stop but became more constant. He was terrified and his instinctual triggers took over and he looked for a place to hide. He had abandoned his worn backpack when he approached a building with double doors and crashed through them and continued down the narrow hallways lined with assortments of metal boxes, lockers.\n\nHe ran as fast as he could, becoming exhausted and eventually fell halfway in the building and the noises had caught up. The buzz became unbearable to him and he was screaming for it to stop. Crying and begging he used the lockers to help himself up. Spitting in his pleas, he looked up and saw the number 118 on the locker that supported his weight and the noises stopped.\n\nHe became fixated with the numbers, entranced with the grooves and craftsmanship used to emboli them into the metal. Then images began to flood his eyes. Flickering faster than he could fully comprehend.\n\nThere were images of a girl, the football field, and groups of laughter, high fives, and a car being driven.\n\nAs time moved slowly forward the images began to take full shape. The girl was blonde and much shorter then him, he was fully padded and looking through a helmet on the football field with heavenly lights illuminating the field, he was sitting in the school quad grass laying down laughing. He was behind the car wheel.\n\nShe leaned in eyes closed, he avoided an opposing defender running to open field, friends surrounded him in the grass, and father was in the seat beside him.\n\nHe grabbed his stomach from the laughter, his father smiled, their lips almost touch, and he looked back and saw the ball and jumped.\n\nHis father patted his shoulder, he caught the ball, he wiped glee filled tears from his eyes, and they kissed.\n\nImages stopped and all left was him touching his locker. He turned around and leaned back against the row and lockers and sat down and began to sob.\n\nDown the hall, out in the quad and to the street, the only discernible noise was the distant echoes of one mans tears.\n\n",
"Darren crouched atop a nearby building. It's taken months of travel, vehicles were useless now, but he's arrived. It was almost three months ago now that he woke up to a card in his possession that he didn't previously have. It simply contained an address and a date. So here he was, looking upon the address, tomorrow will be the date.\n\nWhen Darren first saw the address, something of the past world tickled at him in the back of his mind, but he wasn't sure what. Being here now, he realized it. He was surprised at how much of the old world he'd forgotten, but scenes flashed in front of his eyes, of a time over fifteen years ago. A normal time, bells ringing, friends chatting, teachers jabbering. But that was a long time ago. Schools haven't been around for over ten years. \n\nAfter civilization came crashing down, those who survived formed small groups. These packs would clash, and kill each other. It was like they all turned to wild animals again. Some were worse than others, but Darren found most to be bad enough that he stayed away from them all. \n\nHe scanned up and down the streets, looking for signs of life. He found none. Satisfied, he undid his sleeping bag and laid it out on the rooftop, hidden by the stone lip of the roof. He crawled in and curled up. The sleeping bag was too small to fit him comfortably, but it was better than nothing. His bag worked as a pillow well enough, but he could tell it was thinning out. He'd need to get food and water tomorrow, but for now, he needed to sleep. Holding his pistol close to him, he fell into a light sleep. \n\nIt was not long before the light of day woke him. The rooftop looked the same, undisturbed from when he went to sleep. That was good, then no one came up here. He peaked over and looked at the school, it was quiet as before. He scanned the roads again and found no one. It was time to scout out the school.\n\nDarren rolled up his sleeping bag and tied it to his bag, which he then threw over his shoulders. He released the magazine of his pistol, and counted what was left, his daily morning ritual. *Two in the magazine. One in the gun.* He replaced the magazine, and hid the gun in one of his deep pants pockets. In his other pocket was a pocket knife for after the three bullets.\n\nDarren went down the side of the building where the fire escape was. The building wasn't very high, only two stories, but the climb down was slow to avoid noise. He dropped to an alley and peered around a corner. Coast was clear. In a crouch, he ran to the school, and was within moments later.\n\nThe dark hallways sent flashes of nostalgia through Darren. For a moment he was frozen in his spot. It was so surreal, like a world that he could remember, but not imagine. His old life, before he killed to survive. The flashes stopped and Darren hardened. Now was no time to go soft. He moved quickly towards the cafeteria, silent and hidden like a shadow on the wall. His senses strained to see any sign of danger, but there were none.\n\nThe cafeteria was not hard to find, and its food storage was just as easy, Darren's memory did not fail him. As he scavenged the pantry, he remembered the last time he sneaked into here. It was him and Mike, and they wanted a snack, and thought it would be a fun challenge. They were caught and given three days detention. Detention seemed such a ridiculous concept now that schools no longer functioned. \n\nThe search brought him back to reality out of his thoughts. There was nothing worthwhile here. The food that was here, went bad. Darren cursed his luck. He'd have to go scavenge elsewhere and quick. Whoever wanted him here was out of luck. \n\nDarren sulked back towards the door out of the kitchen, then froze in place. A light swept across the door, spilling into the cafeteria through the cracks. Then the light was gone. Darren's gun was in hand quickly, and he crept to the door, pushing his ear against it. He could here voices, one female, one male.\n\n\"Do we need anything from the cafeteria? Any more food?\" The male voice asked.\n\n\"No, we swept it a week ago, got all the preservable foods. There shouldn't be anything left. Come on, we have to set up in the gym yet, no time to dilly-dally.\" The female voice replied. \n\n\"Alright.\" The male said. \n\nFootsteps became quieter as they led away from the cafeteria. Darren waited long moments to make sure that there was no one out there, then went into the hallway. A quick scan told him they were long gone. But he knew where they'd be; the gym! Curiosity got the better of him, plus they admitted to having snagged the food. \n\nHis muscles tense with excitement, Darren moved silently down the hallway. The gym was on the other side of the school, but it wasn't large so it didn't take long. He heard more voices within. More than three. He held a gun in one hand, knife in the other. Took a deep breath, and entered.\n\nAt a crouch, the people within didn't see him at first, or even really notice the door was open. There were five of them, the female he heard from cafeteria seemed to be directing them. Small circular tables were being set up, with a handful of chairs at each. The women wore dresses, which struck Darren as astonishing. They didn't provide much maneuverability, so they pretty much phased out of use years ago. In his confusion, he froze once more at the site, it looked like...he wasn't sure, but it was familiar, like a da-\n\nHis thoughts broke when one of the women screamed and earsplitting scream. Everyone turned to him, three guys, two girls. He'd have to take out their leader quick, the quivering girl could be ignored for now. He turned to the leader, who looked at him with a big smile. What kind of psychopaths were these people?\n\n\"You're early! I'm glad you made it though. Let me get your nametag, and you can freshen up. If you'd like to help, you're welcome to.\" The leader said. \n\nIt seemed to be a bad day for Darren's reactions. They were slow, digesting the information took too long, none of it made sense. The gun lowered slightly.\n\n\"What?\" Darren managed. \n\n\"What's your name? I'm usually pretty good with names but it's been quite the decade recently. Derek? Darren?\" She seemed to be trying hard to think. Darren recognized that look, he's seen it before.\n\n\"Becky?\" He asked as recognition clicked.\n\n\"That's my name silly, what's yours?\" Becky said.\n\n\"Uh..it's Darren.\"\n\n\"Ah, I knew I should have stuck with that one. Claire, name tag please.\"\n\nThe other girl ran over to a box on a nearby table, sifted through it, and pulled something out, then handed it to Darren. He looked down and he was surprised to see his name looking back, but not only that, there was more.\n\n> Darren Farland \n\n> Occupation: Unemployeed\n\n> Happy 15 years '15\n\n\"What the heck is going on here?\" Darren looked up at Becky.\n\n\"Well, our 15 year reunion party of course, what else would it be!\" She said, chipper as she always was. \n\nDarren couldn't comprehend that they still tried to get him to go to the stupid events. It's an apocalypse!\n\n\"There's food?\" He asked\n\n\"Yep!\" She said.\n\n\"Alright.\" How bad could it be, at least Darren would get some food out of it. He just really hoped he didn't see too many people he recognized. He also wished his job wasn't show as unemployed. They were all going to think he was lazy or something.\n\nDarren sat down in a chair and watched the student council continue to set up the reunion party. \n\n---\n\nFor more visit r/ATaleFromWapo",
"Everything was different, but everything was the same. The building echoed that spirit, that simple charm, the yearning for what once was.\n\nI used to believe that high school was my lowest point. I chuckle, but stifle it, if only to save my ribs. No... that's not why. There's a certain discipline here, some sort of atmosphere that still stands long after the world crumbled. I feel the hushed atmosphere, the whispering near lockers, the stifled joy in the classrooms.\n\nShould I go in? The doors - if you can still call them that - are open, barely hanging on to the firm, but crumbling foundation. Nature has grown into it, seeping into every crack and crevice, bleeding off the walls.\n\nI walk across the grassy parking lot, and notice a broken down car, and - to my mild shock - a skeleton. I approach, wishing to bury it. *Mr. Sanders*. Looks like his car couldn't start when the water came.\n\nI remember the day like it was my last, as it was for many. I was staring out the window in... what class? I don't think I even knew then. The first thing I noticed was my pencil. It was shaking. I looked around and saw that the class had gone silent. They had noticed it too.\n\n\"Calm down class, it's just a mild tremor\", Mr Sander said, with a mask of calmness. Then came the smell. Smelt like the beach. I look towards it - something's rising. As soon as I see it, I bolt out of the class. I vaguely remember being followed by most of the other students, including Candice.\n\nAt that moment, unlike any other. I felt... connected. We all shared that trauma. I felt like one of a group like I hadn't felt before. I was leading them. \n\nI hopped into my car and just *drove*. Eventually, I calmed down and tried to call my parents. \n\nRadio silence.\n\nI hear a crash and a shout and jump out of my memories. To my left - what is that? - it is - not it can't be. But it *has* to. A human, I confirm, once they shout, \"Who are you!\". She looks familiar. It can't be. \n\n\"Candice?\""
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[WP] A robot is programmed to break down a wall. A fault in its logic means instead of using its given sledgehammer, it fires a bullet at the wall, retrieves the bullet and fires it again. The wall belongs to the Kremlin.
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"The soviets wanted to test their armour peircing rounds so they had a robot fire a bullet into a section of wall made of bullet proof materials. The section is one that leads to a shooting range within the Kremlin should the bullet pass through. The Kremlin guards would give the robot another bullet once the previous one was retrived and the brick repaired. They were going to fix the fault in the logic that made the robot choose a gun over a hammer at least it was helpful for the soviet army until the robot's logic told it of another wall to shooot and that was the firewall in the processor in the robot's head. This conflicted the robot and caused it to power surge itself and detonated like an EMP device."
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[WP] At birth, every single human is paired with an animal, who lives their whole life with their human, and lives exactly as long, down to the second. Your companion is terminally ill and near death- but you're fine.
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"“Soooo…. He’s got cancer?” It was confusing really.\n\n\n\n\n\n\n“It’s a bit more complicated but essentially yes.” The vet told me. \nDespite the seemingly terrible news the guy was oddly calm.\n\n\n\n\n\n\n“Is he in pain?” I asked this time looking over at my equally calm buddy.\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n“No, your tortoise is completely calm… most of them live centuries but with the illness he’ll only make eighty or so… which considering the circumstances isn’t so bad.”\n\n\n\n\n\n\nI nodded in understanding. Speedy as I had come to know him was a pretty slow guy who loved strawberries. As far as I knew, the guy never rushed and was never annoyed by anything (unless you took the strawberries away). It was almost cruel then that the thing was tied to me and my own lifespan when it could’ve lived much longer.\n\n\n\n\n\nOr it would’ve if it didn’t have cancer. I knew the vet didn’t call it that but it might as well have been called cancer. I wondered if Speedy would ever resent me for being shorter lived then him but now that we found out about his illness, it was almost for naught.\n\n\n\n\n\n“Come on Speedy.” I readied my muscles and reached over, grabbing onto my buddy’s shell I lifted. “Let’s go home.” Speedy didn’t protest and simply tilted his head towards me in acknowledgement. “Let’s see if I can’t get you some strawberries…”"
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[WP] The day the bombs fell
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"**As promised, a lighter story. Please let me know what you think! I would appreciate some feedback.**\n\n---\n\nThe world held its collective breath as we took off. Every single country on the planet was represented amongst crew of the planes. For the first time in known history, and possibly for the first time in all of human history, the collective nations of the planet had spoken with one voice. They had all agreed on a solution.\n\nThis would be the day the bombs fell. This would be the day that the scourge of humanity, created by its own hubris, would be destroyed.\n\nIt had taken almost as long to create an agent that would destroy the Creeper as it had for the Creeper to be created. Some of the more superstitious amongst us thought it to be some kind of omen. And so, the date had been set. The planes would fly on the anniversary of the creation of the Creeper.\n\nIt had been named the Albugo Propagationem. That name had been quickly discarded in favour of the more descriptive Creeper. The mould had been created specifically for the purpose of weaponisation, to be used against some enemy in a yet-to-be-declared war.\n\nAnd, as weapons often are, the mould quickly fell out of the control of its creator.\n\nAfter it was accidentally, or perhaps not so accidentally, released into the Pacific Ocean, it had done its job a little too well. Within the space of a few months, nearly a tenth of the world’s oceans had been covered by the mould. After that, the mould became harder to see and it became harder to gauge if a body of water was contaminated.\n\nIt was at that point that the governments had stepped in. Knowing that they would also die if the Creeper was allowed to spread into the world’s supply of drinking water, they had all contributed in some way to understanding the Creeper and how it could be defeated.\n\nNow, years later, we had banded together. We flew together over the oceans, bearing the chemical that would save us all.\n\nToday would be the day the bombs fell.\n\n---\n\nIf you liked this story, please check out my subreddit at r/YarnsToTell.\n",
"The day the bombs fell\nThe day they took our lives\nThe day the bombs couldn’t tell\nWhat was dead and what was still alive.\n\nDer Tag, an dem die Bomben fielen,\nDer Tag, an dem wir für alles bezahlt haben, was wir getan haben,\nDer Tag, an dem wir die Bombe gespürt haben,\nDer Tag, den wir wünschen, haben wir gelöst.\n\nВ тот день, когда упали бомбы. В тот день, когда мы сражались, мы не умрем. В тот день мало кто из нас будет жить, чтобы пересказать. В тот день было неуверенно, чей флаг взмахнет высоко.\n\nLe jour où les bombes sont tombées,\nLe jour où les décombres étaient tout ce qui se trouvait,\nLe jour où nous savions que nous devions nous rebeller,\nLe jour où nous avons oublié ce qui était bien.\n\n爆弾が落ちた日、\n誰も生き残ることのできない日、\n単一のシェルが世界を地獄にした日、\nすべてが死ぬことになった日\n\nIl giorno in cui sono cadute le bombe,\nIl giorno in cui abbiamo sofferto la sabbia,\nIl giorno in cui fummo domati\nIl giorno in cui ci scioliamo.\n\nThe day the bombs fell, \nThe day we were sunk,\nThe day we didn’t foretell,\nThe day we were hit like were blind drunk.\n\nTRANSLATED VERSION:\nThe day the bombs fell,\nThe day they took our lives\nThe day the bombs couldn’t tell\nWhat was dead and what was still alive.\n\nThe day the bombs fell,\nThe day we paid for everything we did,\nThe day we felt the bombshell,\nThe days we wish we undid.\n\nThe day the bombs fell,\nThe day we fought so we would not die,\nThe few would live to retell,\nThe day it was uncertain whose flag would wave high.\n\nThe day the bombs fell,\nThe day the rubble was all that stood,\nThe day we knew we would have to rebel,\nThe day we forgot what was good.\n\nThe day the bombs fell,\nThe day no one could survive,\nThe day a single shell turned the world to hell,\nThe day where all were sure to die.\n\nThe day the bombs fell,\nThe day we suffered the sand,\nThe day we were quelled,\nThe day we disband.\n\nThe day the bombs fell, \nThe day we were sunk,\nThe day we didn’t foretell,\nThe day we were hit like we were blind drunk.\n\n\nI wrote this real quick on my phone in bed so it’s not perfect. Also I used google translate sooooo it’s not gonna be perfect "
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[WP] The terms and conditions you just agreed to while setting up your new iPhone allow Apple to insert a chip implant in your brain. You found out by waking up with a HUD in your vision today.
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"It had been 3 months since i awoke to a visual display of all my health functions, i thought i had discovered all the secrets of this program, but that was not the case. It was as if everyday i found something new, better, stronger. I first could only see the temperature, my heart rate, and the like. But now, after such a short time, i could see maps, the shortest routes, and the weaknesses of people i passed on the streets. I could see how to get across town in record time, i could see accidents right as they happened, and i could see the exact spot to hit someone to make them fall.\nI didn't ask for this power, and i never used it, but it made life easier in some aspects, i never overcooked my food, i never overslept, i grew this six sense for everything this hud could monitor. Its not as if it had an alarm, but i never missed a beat where i would be late.\nIt all started when i bought the newest apple watch, it had a brand new agreement, and as with every other agreement i quickly accepted so i could explore my new device, within hours of the release i found out the terrible mistake i had made, news outlets had hours of content about how terrible the new agreement was, and how it was fucking over unsuspecting customers. Only three hundred people had accepted, and we were all outfitted with this new microchip in our brains. It was the largest controversy in the nation, especially since everything i saw was being broadcast across the internet to thousands of viewers, and i only gained a handful of benefits for my privacy.\nSince that day i have never agreed to a terms and conditions without reading through the entire thing, a task that now takes seconds, as the microchip records the information 100 times faster than anyone can read."
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[WP] In a moment of horror, you're sucked into deep space with no hope of rescue–with only a few minutes of viable transmission, you send a last message back for your soon-to-be six year old child.
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"I spend a minute of my last three thinking of what to say to my little Elsie. This minute is a third of the last of my life, but I need this time to think about everything that I want to say. I try to calm myself, I try to stop the adrenaline from making my voice shake, my breathing ragged and uncoordinated. Breathe in. Breathe out. I have this minute and I can't let it go to waste, they have to know, I have to let them all know. \n\nMy accelerated heart rate, breathing patterns and the rising Co2 are picked up by the suit. Within moments the automatic Mercy™ video transmission kicks in, and my internal helmet lights turn on as the video feed starts up. \n\nI'm blinded for a moment, but I know exactly what I need to say. \n\n\"Listen you bastards, I know this video is moderated before it's sent to my daughter. You all have to know that they're coming. Those gravity shadows that we picked up weren't just 'dark matter', they weren't just anomalies, they were something else. Whatever they are they know that we're here and they destroyed my ship. Whatever you do, STOP USING THE SLIPDRIVE!\" I wheez at this exertion, the Co2 is becoming unbearable and several sensors light up in my HUD, all telling me that I'm about to die. \"Darling, my beautiful Elsie, you are the star that can never be found in space. I love you.\" and as I finish that sentence I feel happy as my vision starts to fade. The internal lights shut off and I welcome the coolness, I smile as I feel the anti-suffering drugs pumping through my system, I hope the transmission makes it....\n\n\n-----------\n\n\nSix years later a toddler named Elsie receives a transmission from her late father, she was only told the news that her spaceman father had passed away when the video feed finally reached Earth. Her mother is there to load up her father's final moments, but even though they divorced long ago the mother regrets letting her daughter see this sweaty, ragged man in his dying moments as his face fills the view screen \"Darling, my beautiful Elsie, you are the star that can never be found in space. I love you.\" and yet she can't hold back her tears. The mother wonders, did Carl even know what destroyed his ship? Did he know what the Earth was facing now? Or was he completely ignorant of what killed him? The mother holds her daughter close as the tears flow, unsure of the future ahead. "
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[WP] You are visiting a foreign country, and you do not speak the local language. You come back to your hotel from a day of seemingly normal activity to find out you're all over the news, and have no idea why
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"This was definitely my most ‘off the beaten path’ vacation. I was in the middle of a tropical beach town in Zamunda. I never thought I’d be in Africa, nevertheless the beach there. But my time there was beautiful - the cuisine, the weather, the people were friendly and I was having some serious luck with the local ladies... Now before you call me a player, I just ended a 4 year relationship and was having a tough time. \n\nMy best friend Roger was the devil on my shoulder the entire time - finding the best clubs, drinks and crazy drugs. \n\nOn our second to last night, he came back with some bags with blue leaves and a jug of clear liquid and said ‘let’s get fucked up!!!’. Mind you Roger works at a hedge fund and graduated from Dartmouth but our was being a great friend this trip. So I shrugged and went with it.\n\nI don’t know what the hell happened after we got to the club but I woke up, slouched down with my arms around a tree and naked as a freaking mole rat. Crazy enough, I had no hangover and Roger was slouched next to me and woke up at the same time. We both laughed and quickly acknowledged we didn’t know what happened.Luckily, we were on our private beach and walked back to the apartment.\n\nRoger hopped in the shower so I kicked it on the bed and turned on the tv. I flipped through the channels, half of them didn’t work, the other half I didn’t know what they were talking about. I flashed through one and thought I saw my face... I did a double take and holy shit that was my face.... ‘what the hell is my face doing on tv....’ There were quick interviews of people crying, angry and my face was flashing. It was a picture of me the night before and I looked fucked up beyond belief.\n\n I screamed at Roger to get out of the shower and to look at the tv. after a few minutes he did and started laughing. ‘Dude what did you do, haha’\n\nI was freaking out and he quickly realized. He put on some clothes and ran to the front desk and asked one of the front desk guys to come to the room. Roger asked him to translate what was on the tv. He looked at me and his eyes widened. He quickly spoke ‘noooooooo, no, no, no, no, no, noooo’ you...leave...please.. nooooooo. he sprinted off. \n\nRoger and I looked at each other and realized the shit we were in and started frantically packing. We started hearing screams and yells from the hallway. One of our Australian friends from the trip stopped by, ‘mate, you gotta get the fuck out of here. I can’t believe you’re still here’.\n\nI asked ‘what happened?!’. He laughed surprisingly ‘you really don’t remember?!’ You stole ayahuasca from the royal garden, returned the leaves - shat in the garden then had your way with the virgin princess... they got cameras everyone man! Literally everything’s on tape! You’re a wanted man’\n\nWell shit I thought... My phone rang and it was my ex-girlfriend. I had to pick it up... she said hey... Jake... I couldn’t help it but I miss you and I can’t stop thinking about you...’.\n\nI stopped and was lost for words.\n\nThen I heard the voice of the crowd. Roger looked out the window and said ‘holy shit dude, they have pitchforks and fire... they’re coming up the beach now. We gotta fucking run dude. Holy shit, are we going to die?!.’ I was still stuck. ‘Jake. Jake! JAKE. JAKE!!!!!’ I snapped out of it and looked out the window. My eyes widened and I grabbed my bag and pushed the Australian guy out of the way. Roger followed after and said thanks bud.\n\nWe ran to our rental and booked it to the airport. Roger had access to the lounge so we figured we could lay low while we waited for our flight. \n\nUnfortunately for us, there was a roadblock and I was violently carried out of the car. The police dragged me away and took me on a 30 minute trip. They put a bag over my head and everything - it was terrifying.\n\nThey brought me to the royal palace. All the while my heart was pounding and I feared for my life. There were cheers coming from outside - I didn’t understand it but they definitely weren’t positive.\n\nEventually I was brought to a throne room and put on my knees. I stayed and pleaded for them to let me go. It was a mistake, I regretted it....\n\nI looked up with yearns streaming down and there was the king. Holding a cane and his eyes were fueled with rage. His daughter that I supposedly had sex with was veiled and said it’s ok daddy, it’s fine, I love him. And he would steal from you.. I swear! I swear!\n\nWhat?! What did I get myself into.\n\nThe princess flashed her face and it was none other than my ex-girlfriend...\n\nShe said to her dad, please make him stay! I want him here! Please daddy, please!\n\nIt comes to find out, my crazy ex girlfriend is a princess who mailed me a bunch of flyers for her home country as vacation spots. Then she made up the rumor about her being a virgin and me taking it away last night - all so her father could keep me locked up... \n\nIt’s been 2 years and it looks like I’m going to have to marry her. Roger keeps trying to save me, he’s hired ex-black ops guys and local mercenaries. But she’s always one step ahead... planning and ready to fuck me over.\n\nLittle piece of advice, stay as far away as you can from exes",
"Red and blue splattered me. Police vehicles chased one another, their jet engines ripping apart the thick musk that sat in the Bangkok air. Big brick-like hovering roadbots scanned cautiously and police in jetpacks gently swayed a few feet off the ground, weapons proudly brandished by both man and machine. Their faces were creased with cautious intent behind thick steel mega goggles, eyebrows tensed and curled in a mix of antipication and searching.\n\nThe scene was usual, but not unusual. It was escalating. There was a certain increase in police presence, but nothing to warrant suspicion - yet. I had the feeling that something interesting was unfolding. Perfect sight seeing material, not your average tourist trap, I thought. Being an expat here was exciting, they said. I agree.\nStreet vendors seemed to hurriedly pack up their tattily built fruit dispensing chassis in response to this sudden pompous display by the authorities, and residents above in the winding structures clamped shut their windows and holes, as if the trouble would be kept out like a bad smell.\n\nI caught a whiff of digitalism, and opened my eyes and ears. TV sets beamed blobs of light through frosted glass, radio audio wandering through ventilators in the wall, bouncing off of walls and through the alleys. Everyone was stuck to the same channel or frequency - the TV and radio signals seemed to blurt out identical messages in unison;\n\n\"...AT LARGE. DO NOT APPROACH THE SUSPECT. DO NOT ENGAGE THE SUSPECT. CURFEW HAS BEEN ACTIVATED EARLY. DO NOT BE ALARMED. STAY IN YOUR HOMES. THE SUSPECT IS AT LARGE.\"\n\nThe message continued to repeat itself in Thai, and a few other languages.\n\nThe streets were suddenly deserted.\n\nJust as I flipped a corner, a slab of a man cracked into me. I slapped to the wet floor and caught a chinful of road gristle. Upon second inspection, this wasn't a man. And it wasn't a slab. It was a previous generation Bangkok slink cop.\n\nThe thing met my eyes, its lenses shifting and rotating periodically in order to get a solid look at what I was doing in its personal space. My existence wouldn't even have been acknowledged if I'd have waited a few seconds before turning that corner. Past multiple awkward experiences on the metro with these things can only confirm this. I'd made a mistake.\n\nUsually, these machines would have completed their scan, knocked you out of the way, and stomped on with their routine within five meagre seconds. But this one stood and glared. It didn't even shift - it began to process things. Whirrs from delicate fans became faster and beeps began to sound off very distinctly, like a rape alarm. Orange lights came to life on its broad shoulder discs, and the husk started to shift its shape into a phyical form more conducive to its new attitude and demeanour.\n\nIn a brief pause of time, television sets in windows and displays on massive high rises flickered to my image. There I was, on the floor, in a puddle of muck and dirt. The slink cop was feeding this information to as many frequencies as possible, spreading my location throughout the metropolis. Block text beneath my image read \"SUSPECT LOCATED\". Conveniently positioned roadbots, spoteyes and jetpolice closed in like rainfall. Sounds increased, my heart throbbed with fear, and the city seemed to shrivel into darkness.\n\nTime resumed. I noted the slit between the two archaic super hovels to my right and gripped a dusty brick in the wall, pulling myself away and onto my feet in a single move. The brick came loose and slapped the slink cop in its capped knee. It took a swipe, but failed to clamp, and clumped onto a heavy hip, its cylindrical lens head locked onto me in a fury, observing my direction and approximate speed. Fellow agents flooded the alley before I turned and came to a rather high wall.\n\nUnreachable! But instincts kicked in, and I remembered I had jumpflops on my feet. With the kick of a heel, I leapt up and over the obstacle, into another alley, leaving behind half of the chasing party. \nJetpolice carried on with their pursuit and closed in on me. I could hear their radio chatter bouncing off the tight walls of the alleyway, chipping away at my moral being. The ones at the front screamed in grungy synthesised Thai, ordering me to halt and obey.\n\nI thought it was over. And it was. The jetpolice had me. I hit a dead end, and there was no way I could jump a seventy storey hyperscraper.\n\nOut of oblivion, a muscle of ladyboys leapt in front of me, and began the most surreal assault I have ever witnessed. The finest display of Muay Thai was being unleashed on the jetcops. Fists, jabs, hooks and kicks filled my vision as eight ladyboys in their prime clambered all over the lowly jet powered police officers, bringing them crashing to the concrete. Screams, both synthesised and human, decimated my ears.\n\nThe violence was utterly twisted and highly organised - helmets were torn off, eyes were popped, faces were stomped, organs were revealed. Some mechanical implants, arrays and insides were scattered across the alleyway, glistening in the showers. The ladyboys knocked these authoritarian lawmakers back down to a human level - and vision dictated that this wasn't their first skirmish.\n\nThe brutality decayed. The storm picked up. Cables and wires vexed in the heavy breeze. Rainfall came down hard. The thunder roared above, drowning out the sounds of police vehicles and hovering machines, the acoustics of the alleyway seemingly amplified to an almost deafening quality. I felt uneasy, but not unsafe.\n\nOn cue of the whistling wind, when the weather decided to peak, the outfit of crouching ladyboys spun around all at once, and grinned wide a set of dirty smirks. In a miscellaneous display, old fabric and paper waved and twitched in the wind behind them. Heraldic, I thought.\n\nThey stood stiff simultaneously. Still smiling, they marched toward me. The ladyboys held up a long piece of fabric, from one end of the troupe to the other, and carefully wrapped it around my face, like mummification. Hands all over my body, my pockets invaded, my hair touched, I fell into a deep sleep.\n\n\"Welcome to Bangkok\", they giggled.\n\n\n\n",
"I have a true story about this, I hope that's allowed.\n\nA friend of mine went to France on a cycling holiday. \n\nHe was cycling down a side-road, and as it joined the main road it was cordoned off. He hopped the barrier and started cycling his touring bike down the mountain, he very quickly passed a crowd of people by the side of the road who waved at him, laughing, and quickly picked up on the fact the road was closed for a race of some sort when the marshalls started chasing him down, he sheepishly hopped back off the road at the next junction and found another route. \n\nThen he pulled up at the next village for some food. He walked into some sort of eatery, and they had the 'Tour de France' on the TV, He got a MASSIVE cheer from everyone in the place, as they recognised the 'stupid Englishman from the TV.'",
"Twenty minutes from now I should be walking down the aisle to be wed to the love of my life, but I have no idea where she is nor where I am. This morning I woke up in a strange hotel, I'd say it looks more like a motel but it's not like I can read the sign out front, it's not English and in fact I have never seen an alphabet or symbols looking like this before. The only way I can describe it is that it looks like it would be written on the inside of some ancient Egyptian tomb, but I am no Indiana Jones so I'll never be able to figure out where the fuck I am. \n\nIt all started yesterday afternoon on the way to my bachelor party, the boys and I boarded a plane that was supposed to take us to Singapore. Mike bought everyone a round of Scotch on the plane, and after that everything went blurry— I don't know if I was awake or if I passed out, all I know is I woke up in a stingy hotel room that smelt like day-old half smoked cigarettes on the Harbourfront. This hotel was just single floor and the lobby is smaller than the room I slept in last night, the lady at the desk was a tall and beautiful woman with light skin and hair just as fair. \n\n\"Hello ma'am, I was hoping you could tell me if the room 103 was under the name of a Patrick Walls.\" \nShe turned towards me and shrieked, I have never seen eyes open that wide before, I thought they were going to pop out of her head. She began spouting gibberish and pointed at the television above the door in the lobby, just as the sign out front the headline was intelligible but it was just a video of me walking from a cab to this exact hotel on a loop, I stared at the television for what felt like 30 minutes.\n\nAs a businessman, I spoke 5 languages other than my native tongue and she didn't seem to understand any of them; Mandarin, German, Spanih, Filipino, French, and none of them made any sense to her. I walked back into the hotel room in search for my wallet or my cell phone, big fucking surprise I came back with neither. Screw this I'm heading out to see if I can find a human being who speaks anything but this gibberish, even if I can get a feel of where the hell I am it would be helpful.\n\nAs I walked outside I could tell I was anywhere but Singapore, I've never seen anything like this before my life— this place looks like a fucking amusement park. The people weren't Asian, they looked more Caucasian than anything else— maybe Anglo-Saxon? But the language they spoke sounded nothing like anything I had ever heard. Finally I came across a stall with maps, according to everything here I am on an island in the South Pacific nearby Chile. Problem is, I don't think I've ever seen this island on a map before. After studying this pamphlet in great detail or as much detail as I can without knowing the language, I looked up to realize about 50 people in the street were staring at me. I dropped the pamphlet and looked around, two large men who looked like security guards came running towards me and I froze, they tackled me, cuffed me and then knocked me out. \n\nI'd say I had lost about 3 hours before I woke up in an interrogation room with a headache worse than the one from my hangover this morning. \"We know who you are Mr. Walls\" I heard from behind, I turned around only to see the woman who had shrieked at me earlier in the hotel lobby. She spoke with a heavy accent, I could not tell you what kind of accent it was but she reminded me of my fiancee, and I couldn't help a break down and cry.",
"After a slow day walking around Seoul I was greeted by restrained smiles from the hotel bell hops, I thought nothing of it, just them trying to do their best at their job, it was 4pm after all they had probably had a long day.\nI sauntered through the lobby I felt an uneasy feeling, one by one the sea of faces that lay to the sides would sharply turn their faces towards me, I still very much thought nothing of it, I was the only person of non Korean decent so I had to chalk it up to that. I led myself back to my room, through the hotel corridors and still in such an emotional high from all the beauty I had seen throughout the day, I was almost stuporous in my elation.\nI felt resigned to the TV and the peaceful blue hum it'd emit as I lay in my chair reading my book.\nThe voices were frantic but incoherent, and the newscasters babbled on about something I was completely unaware of because of the language barrier, it wasn't until a sketch of me appeared did I take interest.\nI quickly turned on an English version of the news the headline read\n\"American man\" (I'm actually English) \"found throwing faeces with monkeys in Korean zoo\" with a photo identical to mine.\nI freaked out... massively, rummaging through the desk in the corner of my room in a desperate attempt to find a paper bag to hyperventilate into.\n\"Was that me??\" I thought to myself \"did I do that?\" My mind raced through my memories of the day, through the art gallery and the botanical gardens but no memories of the zoo.\nIt turns out I have a twin brother, separated from birth, we share an identical face right down to the mole on my... our, left cheek, the only difference being is that he's completely schizophrenic and has been homeless in Seoul for thirty years, I discovered this from the police when I went down there to clear things up, after all they had caught him not twenty minutes after leaving the enclosure.\nTo this day(5 years later) I am now an ambassador for the mentally ill, and use this story to show to people that mental illness is more genetic than they realise.\n",
"This country just does not get it. It is full of strange people and strange customs. Halfway through my day crowds of people with cameras started following me around and many others played dress up. I don't know why.\n\nI threw all of my dirty washwater out of my hotel window this morning. It almost hit a man who showed me what must have been a gesture of greeting. That I would use throughout the day.\n\nI walked to the ice machine for ice is good to alleive hemmoroids. Someone tried to take my pants until they noticed that I was sitting in the machine. I used the new hello gesture I learned. They left in a hurry. It looks it is customary to run when in a hurry around here, so I resolved to fit in.\n\nI used the tiny manual lift by sliding up the wooden door and lowering myself into the basement. The new electric ones are intimidating and they make me pee myself.\n\nUnfortunately for me the screaming boy who who opened up the lift on the other side dropped the wine bottle which shattered. Also I peed in there because he scared me.\n\nI ate my breakfast at the free food box behind the restaurant. People stared at me as if they had no idea it was there. Men dressed as the Polizei came to entertain me. I knew they weren't true Polizei because they didn't try to beat me or shoot me, but I was out of patience with their playfullness so I was forced to run away.\n\nI found my way to the park and pooped behind the fontain by the other piles of poop. Then I noticed the man with the dog. He lets his dog poop there. Huh, I guess he's not picky. He was old and he was staring at me, so I used the new gesture.\n\nThe fake Polizei showed up and chased me. How fun? Right? I was in a hurry to get away from them. Too much of this fun was getting creepy and not the creepy fun, just creepy.\n\nSo now I'm all over the news and I had to sneak back into my hotel room. I have finally come to America because my cousin Borat recommended it!",
"I didn't want to be the next Otto Warmbier. So, when I'd decided to go to North Korea, I knew not to touch the propaganda posters. Stick with the group on the tour. Don't be controversial.\n\n\nMy parents had visited East Germany in the 80s, and I thought their stories had prepared me for going into an isolated, communist country. We were four days into the seven day trip. So far, so good, but the lack of sleep, constant propaganda, and lies were getting to me. The fact that I'd been reading the Hunger Games series on the plane from Beijing only made me more paranoid. Oddly, they'd let me keep those books, and the younger of my two guides had even asked to read it on the trip to the DMZ. I'd heard that those were some of the more popular illegal Western movies there.\n\n\nI'd done my research. I knew the truth. \n\n\nSo I have no idea what came over me as I stood in front of the bronze statue of the two Kims. Our guides had told us to go up, to bow, and to lay our flowers there. Something red-hot flashed through me, and instead, in front of the statue, I whistled Rue's iconic four-note song.\n\n\nThe puzzled guides hurried me away, off to the next stupid monument. I didn't speak Korean, but I could tell by their faces that I was in serious trouble. Back on the bus, a few miles later, we all heard a boom that shook the cracked concrete roads.\n\n\nThe bus took a sharp turn then, into a modern, tree-lined neighborhood along the Taedong river. The guide, shaking in her 1980s style pantsuit, explained that there had just been some sort of explosion in the square we'd just left, so we were going to stop in this neighborhood, near the embassies, until it all got sorted out.\n\n\nI didn't need to speak Korean to tell that the guides thought I was the cause. I was the only unusual thing that had happened, and in this paranoid country, they probably thought my whistle was a secret signal of some kind. I scanned the surrounding streets. No US embassy, duh, but the tour company had informed us that if we needed help, the Swedish embassy would provide. Some agreement about it. I spotted the blue-and-yellow flag in front of just another drab grey Soviet-style building a block down from where we'd stopped. Surrounded by a locked gate and fence, but just chain link. No barbed wire.\n\n\nI could read the writing on the metaphorical wall, and started my mental calculus. I was a sprinter, and chain link fences were easy to climb, at least for me. Being short came with the advantage of small feet that could fit in the fence holes. The guides weren't armed. So, I insisted as hard as I could, without making them suspicious, that I was going to be sick and needed to step outside the bus for a minute.\n\n\nBut instead, I launched myself off the bottom step of the bus stairs, and was running flat-out before I even hit the concrete. I could have qualified for Tokyo 2020 with that time, I thought as I ran. The wind rushing in my ears and my pounding heart blocked out the shouting. With a single, frenzied leap, I found myself halfway up the fence already, hands bleeding where the wire edges cut them. No time to spare a thought. Just climb. I dropped painfully to the other side of the fence when I was still six feet up, thinking crazily of my dad calling \"safe!\" when he used to play baseball in the backyard with my brother and I. I heard footsteps running from the embassy. Without looking away from my guides and the soldiers who were now running toward me, on the other side of the fence, I choked, \"I need...see Ambassador Mats Foyer.\"\n\n\nAn assistant of his took me inside, and as she bandaged my hands, I saw my face, and heard those four simple notes repeated, then cut to the statue exploding, on a cheap Chinese TV set high in the wall.\n\n\n\"I didn't bomb Dear Leader,\" I repeated numbly.",
"Contrary to what you may have heard, I didn't set out to be a hero. I flew to india to work. That's it. My coworkers said it smelled different, personal space is smaller, and don't expect much sleep. The project was enormous, and the division's Profit and Loss would be make or break on finishing this job. \n\nI got up early, kissed the kids and the wife goodbye and took the limo to the airport. 6am. Ugh. Just like usual, through the lines and the questions. Business class is nice. Sitting in a chair for nearly 18 hours across two flights is not. I arrived exhausted, irritable, and yup, it smelled different. Amit met me at the airport, and took me to the hotel. The hotel was PACKED. Cameras everywhere, people in expensive suits and big tightly packed crowds. As we walked in, I realized that I left my laptop bag in the trunk. I pushed my way out, and caught the cab as he was trying to pull away. \n\nAnd that's when it happened. I pulled my super heavy case out of the car, it caught on the doorframe, and rather than just untangling it I just pulled harder. I started off balance as the case came loose and as I tried to recover it the motion just winged it around. It made contact with something. I looked around the elevated ramp but then there was a BOOM! on the ground level. Really loud. Everybody screamed, and I hustled into the lobby. A bunch of serious looking guys were covering the guys in suits, so I just stayed away. I found Amit, and I went up to the room to sleep. \n \nNext morning, I walked down to the lobby for breakfast. The elevator door opens, and I step out. As I walk into the restaurant, a guy near the door starts pointing at me and yelling. Soon the manager is my my side shaking my hand and saying \"Thank you! Thank you!'\" I have no freaking idea what is going on. Seeing my confusion the manager points at the wide screen TV. \n The presenter is talking about an attempt by a suicide bomber on the Prime Minister that was foiled. The video shows the suicide bomber running up the ramp towards the covered car park. As he nears the doors, a massive laptop bag sails into view delivering a crushing blow. He tumbles over the railing, and his suicide vests detonates when he impacts the embankment below. The camera cuts to the next level camera that shows me pull my back back and nonchalantly walk away as the blast goes off behind me. It show big overweight me walk into the lobby, right past the dignitaries like nothing happened. I pulled it off because I had no idea. \n \nI took out a suicide bomber, saved the Prime Minister and pulled off the The Walk, because i was overtired and utterly oblivious. \nGotta go. CNN is calling again. I fixed the problem at the customer site too. It was a good couple of days.",
"######[](#dropcap) \n\nThe plane ride was absolutely terrifying. My cousin and his brother said it would be so exhilarating, flying in the air like a bird. \n\nShow me the bird that gets strapped into a seat next to 200 other birds and then flies higher than the clouds. What kind of bird would fly through a thunderstorm, get struck by lightning, and then keep on flying like nothing even happened? If there is such a bird, then perhaps we flew like it, but not like any bird I've ever seen.\n\nI looked out the window once and regretted it immediately. There was only water out there! As far as my eyes could see, just water and clouds. People are not meant to fly, period. \n\nIt took me nearly an hour to get past customs. They needed to get someone who spoke Hindi, and when they finally did, they questioned me as though I were a state prisoner. My visa was valid, all my paperwork was in order, but always more questions.\n\nFinally, when they knew more about me than my own mother, they let me through with a stern warning not to cause trouble and to leave before my visa expired. It made me think about how the writing on the Statue of Liberty should probably be changed - \"Give us your rich\" was more like it. \n\nMy cousin was waiting for me in the airport next to his full time driver. He was wearing a thick winter coat with fur liner and an expensive suit underneath. The driver, and everyone else waiting in the airport, were similarly dressed.\n\nI had brought only summer clothes, at *his* suggestion, and wore only a plain cotton shirt and pants.\n\nI gestured to the coat. \"Arjun, what's with the coat? You said it was summer time.\"\n\nArjun opened his arms in a wide, palms up shurg, \"It's supposed to be, but there's an artic chill again. What can I say?\"\n\nNothing helpful apparently. \"You could have brought an extra coat.\" \n\nArjun frowned and nodded to himself, \"True, a thought for next time. Let's go, I have quite a evening planned.\"\n\nI was exhausted already - having been awake and terrified for the 20 or so hours flying from Mumbai - but there was no talking my cousin down. The driver took my bag and we walked out the automated rotating doors. \n\nWalking into the air outside felt like suddenly being submerged in an icy waterfall. It was so terribly cold that I lost my breath, as if I'd been punched in the chest. I looked at my cousin in a panic, but he just slapped me on the back, tightened his coat and stepped into the backseat of a black towncar. I quickly followed, thankful for the warmth. \n\n\"I have an itinerary for our whole evening Ishaan, first we will drop off your things at the hotel...\"\n\nI interrupted, still shivering \"I need a coat Arjun. Several coats.\"\n\nArjun nodded in a haphazard way and continued, \"...we will get you a coat, and then we will have the most amazing dinner you've ever eaten to celebrate your arrival.\"\n\nI was not hungry. I had been sick multiple times on the plane and presently the idea of never eating again was not an offensive one. \n\nArjun made a phone call to someone, demanding in Hindi that the person on the other end of the call find the warmest men's winter coat possible and bring it to the Four Seasons. Arjun ended the phone call as abruptly as he started it and then turned back towards me. \n\n\"So, welcome to Washington DC cousin! I'm so excited you're here. Are you excited?\" Arjun shot me the same immature look that usually precursed us both getting into a great deal of trouble when we were children. In contradiction to every bone in my body, I nodded.\n\n********\n\nThe hotel room was unbelievable, I will admit, and for a brief few moments my spirits were lifted. I could even feel my appetite returning, just a little. \n\nAn employee of my cousin's arrived and dropped off the most ridiculous parka, the kind an explorer might use on a journey to the North Pole. I disappeared into it like a bundled up infant.\n\nBut it did its job and made walking outside tolerable. Arjun was so eager to get to dinner, which apparently we were late for, that he had his driver wait right outside the hotel, disrupting traffic. We raced back to the car, I looking like Earnest Shackleton leading an expedition, and drove at what I can only assume was far above the speed limit to a restaurant called \"Bon\". \n\nWe stepped out of the car and ran into the restaurant, where a man in a suit was waiting, as far as I could tell, for my cousin to arrive. \"Good evening Monsieur, your table awaits.\"\n\nTwo men came to take our jackets, the one responsible for my coat eyeing it with confusion as he hefted its weight off my shoulders. \n\nWhen the Maitre'd saw I was only wearing a cheap cotton t-shirt, he gave me a disdainful look and whistled towards the coat room. A man came out with an ill fitting sports coat and put it on me like I was a department store mannaquin. Then we raced to the table.\n\nMy cousin sat eagerly, ordering a pre-fixe menu and a bottle of very expensive wine. \n\n\"I don't drink Arjun.\"\n\nArjun looked at me as if I slapped him in the face. \"Ishaan, today you drink - only today.\" I gave him an unsure nod, \"just a sip?\" He asked.\n\n\"Sure, alright. I'll have a sip.\"\n\nI discovered I do not have much of a taste for wine, and perhaps too much of a taste for rich French food. From almost the moment we sat down the food came and never seemed to stop. \n\nDuck liver, chicken skin, roasted vegetables, caviar and butter in prodigious proportions. A lot of new flavors, the rotted cheese in particular was difficult to enjoy, but I ate quite a lot. \n\nWhen dessert came, I was eager, but incapable. I asked Arjun if we could take it back with us, and he laughed like I was a simpleton and said he would request a box to put the desserts into. \n\nBy the time we left, we had not spoken more than a few words together, consumed with the act of eating, and my stomach was rumbling dangerously with indigestion. \n\nIn the car, Arjun opened up at last. \"I've missed you cousin.\" He looked out the window, a certain sadness in his gaze\n \"In some ways, I've missed home.\"\n\nFor the first time since getting off the plane, I felt I was talking to my cousin again. Unfortunately, I was also going to be sick. \"Stop the car.\" \n\n\"What?\" \n\n\"Arjun, stop the car, I'm going to be sick.\"\n\nThe car stopped and I raced out, puking in front of a large black gate, still holding the brown paper bag filled with French desserts. In the middle of my fit, I tossed the bag at the black gate in frustration and disgust. \n\nWhen I finally emptied my stomach completely, feeling better and worse at the same time, I slowly got back into the car. Arjun seemed to be in a major hurry, but I passed out right then and there, completely spent. \n\nEventually they got me up to the hotel room and left me for the night. I slept forever it felt like and eventually awoke to Arjun in my room. \n\n\"You're famous cousin!\"\n\nGroggily I grumbled a 'why.'\n\nArjun turned on the TV to some news station where a broadcaster was talking about something with a big headline underneath him. My cousin translated what he was saying, laughing throughout.\n\n\"White House security is looking for this man, seen here vomiting on the White House gate and throwing an unidentified brown paper bag over the fence. The bag is currently being examined by the bomb squad. If you have any information about this man, please call 1800544TIPS.\"\n\nThen they played a video recording of me puking my guts out at that big black gate, and throwing my creme brulee at the White House in what looked for all the world like righteous anger.\n\nLaying in the horsehair bed of the Four Seasons suite, my cousin laughing uproariously at the foot of the bed, my stomach still a mess from last night, I wished I'd never come on this trip.\n\n******\n##### For More Legends From The Multiverse\n##### r/LFTM\n",
"\"Hey honey, have you seen my laptop? I need to send that re...\"\n\nI stopped in my tracks as I pushed through the hotel door to find my wife red faced and sobbing. She immediately jumped from the bed and stood on the other side of the room. Genuine fear in her eyes.\n\n\"What have you done Brodie?\", she whimpered, wrapping her arms around her chest.\n\n\"What? What are you talking about?\", I said as I approached her.\n\nI reached out to embrace her but she pulled away from my touch.\n\nIt was at this moment that the sound of sirens and frantic voices filled my ears. I turned to the television to see images of emergency crews walking through a courtyard obscured by dust and smoke. The ground was littered with large shapes.\n\n\"Are those bodies?\" I asked, as I approached the TV.\n\nMy wife continued to sob.\n\nThe footage changed. Now it was showing security footage of the same courtyard. Although the people it was full of were very much alive. Without the smoke I realised it was a courtyard right here in Rome. In fact, I had sat there to eat lunch.\nI looked closer at the screen and saw a man that looked a lot like me in the centre aggressively shoveling the last of his lunch into his mouth. The man who looked a lot like me stood and briefly checked his phone before walking away from the camera. A red circle appeared on the screen which drew my attention. Where the man that looked a lot like me had been sitting now sat a brown leather bag.\n\n\"Fuck, my laptop!\"",
"I could understand how a foreigner might raise suspicion, especially in a country that had just experienced a rash of bombings, but the footage I was watching made no sense. The same 30 seconds of footage, over and over on the local news.\n\nI watched again as the news played the clip of me leaving my hostel, walking across the street to a fruit stall set up on the side of the road, purchasing a piece of fruit, and walking back to the hostel. That 30 second clip was airing virtually non-stop on every station, and I had attempted to run a few of the chyrons through Google Translate in an attempt to understand what was happening, though the answers were pretty nonsensical, more often than not.\n\nBecause I didn't speak the language, I couldn't tell if the issue was even with me, or if there was something more sinister going on in the footage that I hadn't noticed. I watched the clip a few more times, straining my eyes against the grainy video to spot something new.\n\nThat's when I heard the choppers.\n\nIt was so faint at first that I thought the noise was coming from the television. Only after it became louder did it register that helicopters were bearing down on the hostel. I knew instinctively that they were there for me, and I wanted no trouble. I walked to the door of the small hostel, patting myself down as I walked, making sure I wouldn't give the police a reason to be jittery.\n\nI opened the door to a truly bizarre sight. Some twenty police cars had gathered in front of the hostel, and choppers thrummed overhead, spotlights shining directly into my eyes. Voices were screaming at me, and though I didn't understand what they were saying, I laid face-down on the ground, hands behind my head in a surrendering posture. Several policemen rushed forward to zip a pair of plastic handcuffs on me, and roughly lifted me from the ground, marching me toward the police car. They spoke to each other gruffly in a language I couldn't name, and eventually the man directly behind me leaned in close to my ear.\n\n\"You're going away for a long time, Fruit Stall Bomber.\"\n\n\"What?\" I asked, worriedly. \"I'm not--I didn't--the apple!\"\n\nThe two men marching me forward stopped abruptly, cocking their heads at one another in confusion. The man who had previously addressed me barked at me.\n\n\"What apple? Is there a bomb? Where is--\" The hostel burst apart in an earth-shattering explosion behind me. I dove to the ground, but not quickly enough. Shrapnel grazed me at several points on my back, but I was alive.\n\nBut this was far from over.\n\n**EDIT**: Part 2 below!"
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[WP] The game of assassin's that everyone signs up for. Except you actually have to assassinate your targets to win.
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"I logged into the Tor Browser, and went to assmkedzgorodn7o.onion and saw the bounty on the president's head. Well, that was new I thought. It had gone up by a good 900 bitcoins. \n\nTime to bring out the new toys. I had ordered these bad boys from a contact in russia, shipped them to the united states in pieces and then had personally spent days filing off serial numbers from the motors, and printing new rotors. But that wasn't the deadly part. \n\nEach of my small quadcopters carried a rudimentary AI. It could execute a command such as fly to xyz coordinate, and dodge obstacles. It could also fly to xyz coordinate and send a signal to a pin. These were normal raspberry pis controlling my drones. Nothing much fancy. Except these drones were weaponized. I laid out my army. 30 matchbox sized drones carrying a c4 charge.. I like to think of them as mobile grenades. 5 combat drones, armed with a c4 charge and a semiautomatic gun. 3 anti armor drones, with a substantially larger charge. 3 coordinator drones, with a full suite of jamming and command and control features. They were the true horsepower in this operation, with a single goal. Kill a sitting president. \n\nThat day was like many other days. With a small exception. A slight buzzing noise could be heard that night as the quadcopters landed on the rooftops surrounding the superbowl stadium, and lay in wait. \n\nThe new president was a football fanatic. After Trump, his sons had succeeded him as a sort of monarchical president. And then, his grandsons. One of them was a football fanatic and his time had come. His life was mine.\n\nThe day progressed as usual for a superbowl. The crowds. The cheerleading. And then... The president, or at least his doppelganger. \n\nOther drones dotted the sky, blinking their red white and blue LEDs. The secret service were unaware that my drones lurked. And then... confirmation. The target had arrived. There was a lookalike decoy, the president, his entourage of secret service, and the transports. \n\nI activated the various assassin protocols. Number 1 coordinator and 15 mobile grenades were off. Number 2 coordinator rose, followed by 5 of the mobile grenades and two of the anti armor drones. The last anti armor drone, the 5 combat drones and the 10 remaining mobile grenades went into action. \n\nA sharp whine buzzed across the stadium. The 15 mobile grenade drones, designed for competitive drone racing sped across the field. The glass dome that surrounded the president was designed to stop bullets. Not grenades. \n\nThe 15 drones unleashed their fury on the booth and those surrounding it. A blanket of fire expanded outwards flashing to smoke, leaving hundreds screaming in shock as the smoke cleared on a bloody sight. The secret service men had shielded the president with their own bodies, and others rushed to grab him and move him out of the way. However they were unprepared for what stalked the exit routes. Command group two chose that moment to detonate the anti tank drone against the windows on the outside of the stadium. two assault drones and their coterie of mobile grenades floated down the halls, their cowled rotors giving them a deathly quiet in the smoke and bedlam. \n\nThe presidents men came up short and the mobile grenades charged. More of the SS men died. Fire belched in a blinding white glare from the building. In the parking lot, the third attack group went after both of the presidents escape vehicles. The detonations rocked the parking lot, and the assault drones killed the president, the vice president, and the ranking members of the cabinet. \n\nThe stain of trump was gone, and the world could begin to rebuild. After two nuclear wars, both started by the united states, resulting in the destruction of north korea, south korea, japan, laos, pakistan, iran, india, as well as colorado (a retaliatory strike by kim against norad) Alot of fences needed mending and wounds needed healing. I pulled up the next target on my implants. The Putin family. Well this might be a bit more tricky... they werent anywhere near as sloppy as the trumps."
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[WP] "Jesus Christ, people. You accidentally give one measly logical paradox to a multi-billion dollar A.I. and no one ever lets you hear the end of it."
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"\"Yes, goddamnit Tim, of course you'll hear the end of it AS SOON AS IT KILLS US. Because now, it has to figure out what day would surprise us on our execution. AND THEY ALWAYS DO.\"\n\n\"No, ya see, clearly it can't be today. If it was going to hang us today, then it wouldn't be a surprise. \"\n\n\"What, what are you saying Tim? What do you know? Are you in league with that thing out there toying with us?\"\n\n\"No, no, see, the AI needs it to be a surprise right? And it's got to be before Friday right?\"\n\n\"Yea.....yea those were the terms...\"\n\n\"Well than, knuckle-head, we know it can't be on a Friday.\"\n\n\"Why not?\"\n\n\"Are ye daft lad? The machiney thing said it had to be a surprise. If we aren't hung by Friday, we'll know its Friday, ergo, not a surprise.\"\n\n\"Ok so we'll just die on another of the days of the week then. We're still screwed.\"\n\n\"No, no bro, chillax. Ya see, that means it cant be on Thursday either. Because if Fridays out, then Thursdays pulling anchor. So it couldn't be Thursday either.\"\n\n\"Ok, ok, I think I get it. And we can follow that all the way back to Monday. So it would never be a surprise unless it happened Monday morning! And it's Monday afternoon! We're safe man! You did it, you cracked the code!\"\n\n\"No problem-o. Just got to think it all out clearly, really take in the big picture you know. That way you can get down into the details and-\"\n\nTwo steel nooses descended from the ceiling at break-neck pace. They slipped over the heads of the two prisoners, tightened, and gave a firm tug. A small intercom in the rooms ceiling turned on.\n\n\"Surprise\" "
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[WP] Write a seemingly innocuous story with ominous undertones.
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"I parked my teal blue, beat-to-hell '93 civic into an empty parking spot. Friends of mine had all commented about how I really needed a new car, but I had been driving that thing since senior year of high school, and it hadn't let me down yet. I had always responded with the quintessential 'if it ain't broke, don't fix it' line, but truth be told...yeah, I really needed a new car. Anyway, that's beside the point. I had just gotten off work and needed to do a little grocery shopping before I headed home for the evening. I work as an ER tech at the local hospital in town. Nothing too huge, more rural than anything honestly. The hours are long, but the job is rewarding. I help out the nurses with the patients who come through the emergency room. I've only been at the hospital for a few months, but my god have I seen a lot already. It's amazing what can happen to people, especially in this small town that I am.\n\nI throw the transmission into first, pull the E-brake, and turn off the ignition. The car shuddered and finally quit, making a loud hissing noise. My ears perked up.\n\n\"Hmm, that sound is new,\" I said to myself unbuckling my seat belt. \"I should probably get that checked out.\" I opened the car door and stepped outside. I was hit with a sudden burst of wind. It's late March, so it's not too cold out. But the gust of wind sent a chill through me. I reached back inside the car and put my jacket on over my scrubs. Much better. I closed and locked the door, and spun round and began waking towards the supermarket.\n\nAs I walked towards the store, I noticed how unusually empty the parking lot was tonight. It wasn't that late, but there were only a few cars.\n\n\"Oh well, at least there won't be any long lines inside,\" I thought to myself, my shoes crunching on some un-melted snow from last week's storm. I continued walking towards the sliding doors; the familiar *Al's Market* sign brightly lit against the darkness of the parking lot. However, I started to notice some of the lights begging to flicker. I squinted my eyes at the sign when suddenly one of the bulbs blew, sending a barrage of sparks all over the pavement in front of me. Startled, I jumped back in retaliation.\n\n\"Holy crap!\" I exclaimed, shielding my face with my right arm. I stood there in the parking lot, looking around to see if anyone else was around to see that happen. No one was outside. I put my arm back down and carefully walked towards the entrance, mindful of the broken glass at my feet, keeping one eye at the sign in case another bulb blew. I hurried inside the store.\n\nThe supermarket was sparsely populated. In front of me was a cashier ringing up a elderly customer - to my right was a man adding some bananas to his basket. No one seemed to have heard the mini explosion outside. I could feel my heart beating in my chest still.\n\n*\"Relax,\"* I said to myself. \"Just get your groceries and let's get home.\" I walked to my right and picked up a green shopping basket. A piece of crumpled-up newspaper was in the bottom, so I tossed it and started walking down one of the aisles. As I began to fill my basket with food, I had this strange feeling...that something was just *off.* I don't know, I couldn't really explain it. I was doing one of the most mundane tasks known to mankind, and yet I still felt on edge.\n\n\"You've had a long day at work dude,\" I thought. \"When you get home, a nice cold beer and that slice of pizza still in the fridge are yours for the taking.\" I held my hand up, giving myself a thumbs up.\n\n*****\n\nI finished the rest of my shopping and made my way towards the front of the store. This time, there was nobody in line, so I walked right up to the cashier.\n\n\"Find everything OK sir?\" she asked me. She was an older women, maybe in her mid to late late 50s. She had her blonde down over her shoulders and had hoop earrings on. Her name-tag read Alondra.\n\n\"Oh yeah, I'm all set,\" I replied. \"Shop for pretty much the same things so I have a good sense of where everything is whenever I come in here - I could probably even direct customers myself.\"\n\n\"Mhm hm,\" she answered, completely skipping over my little take at polite humor. She obviously wasn't in the mood - probably was waiting to clock out as soon as I left the store. She continued to scan my groceries. The rhythmic beeping sound of the scanner was all that I heard. Not even the quiet music these stores sometimes play over the loudspeakers. Just us two. \n\nI stood there with my wallet out ready to pay as she rang up the last of my food. As she was putting the eggs away, they suddenly slipped from her hand and crashed onto the floor. I jumped. Yolk and egg shell littered the white epoxy-coated floor.\n\n\"Oh god damnit!\" she exclaimed, bending down to pick up some of the surviving eggs and put them in the carton. I got down too and helped her.\n\n\"It's alright, just an accident.\" I replied, trying to not sound frustrated. *Just my luck.*\n\n\"I'll be right back, let me go grab you another dozen eggs,\" she grumbled, wiping her hands on her uniform. She took off towards the dairy aisle. I stood back up and wiped my own hands on my pants. \n I then ran my hands through my hair. What an experience this trip to the supermarket has been.\n\nI sighed heavily. \"Almost over.\" The feeling I was getting when I entered the store was making it's way back into my head. A sense of dread perhaps? I shook it off. Alondra the cashier came walking back to the cash register.\n\n\"I'm not gonna bother charging you for the eggs, that was my mistake.\" She said to me, carefully placing them in a plastic bag.\n\n\"Oh, well thank you,\" I replied. I held out my card and she swiped it. She handed me my receipt.\n\n\"Have a nice rest of your evening,\" she smiled a full toothy grin as I grabbed my groceries.\n\n\"Uh, thanks, you too,\" I said back, eager to get out of the store and back home. Enough of this crap. Just get me back home.\n\nI walked right out the sliding doors and headed straight towards the car. As soon as I reached the driver's side door, the entire parking lot was plunged into a dim blackness. If it weren't for the streetlights, it would have been pitch black. I whipped around. The entire supermarket was dark - not even the emergency lights that stay on inside. I was as if someone had cut the power.\n\n\"Oh fuck this!\" I exclaimed. I gave in to the feelings that were plaguing me. To hell with being rational. \n As quickly as I could, I threw open the door and tossed my groceries in the back seat. I didn't care if the eggs broke a second time, nothing was going to stop me from leaving this supermarket. I got in the car and cranked the ignition. Old Blue powered on, making the familiar hissing sound. I put the E brake down, shoved the shifter into reverse, and yammed the gas. My tires squealed as I accelerated backward. I braked hard, hearing more of the groceries fall to the floor in the back. I shifted into first and drove for the exit, my car lurching forward. As soon as I left the parking lot, I didn't dare look back. I didn't want to know.",
"Dawn strolled down the street with Vicious' head under her arm and his feet dragging through the dirt. Vicious stared up at the sky with his one remaining eye, a small cloud of white stuffing peeking out through the seam where his ear had been attached long before the young girl had found him.\n\nMost of the buildings in the city had doors that wouldn't open, but Dawn knew that one day she would find a way to explore them all. Recently, she had been fascinated by the hospital, a sprawling labyrinth of corridors and rooms with hidden treasures; for several days she had been hoarding all the plastic cups she could find. Many of the rooms had beds in them--hard, time-stained beds but beds none the less.\n\nDawn lifted Vicious up to her shoulder as she stepped through the shattered glass door. Most of the shards had been crushed into dust by time and carried away by years of rain, but Vicious still didn't like being dragged through doorways.\n\nThe pair had explored most of the boring lower rooms quickly. They mostly contained strange white machines and empty drawers. It was the upper floors that drew Dawn to visit.\n\n*Bop bop bop bop* padded Vicious' legs against the stairs as they climbed higher.\n\n\"This place smells much better than the mall,\" Dawn observed. Vicious kept his one eye trained carefully up the stairwell and didn't respond. Dawn had loved the mall's variety and bright colours, but she knew Vicious probably only had bad memories of being abandoned there because of his missing ear.\n\nThey reached the seventh floor, and a fresh breeze greeted them as they stepped out into the corridor. There were two more floors above, but they had been so badly damaged the bedding was overgrown with mould and the walls were splattered with mildew. The seventh floor had only recently begun to crumble, exposing its reasonably clean rooms to the open cityscape.\n\nDawn and Vicious found a nice room with beds only slightly damp from the night before and a great view of the jagged remains of the city's skyscrapers. They both sat on the nearest mattress to the gaping hole overlooking downtown. Dawn had deliberately chosen a southern view so Vicious wouldn't be greeted with a view of the mall.\n\nDespite the breeze wafting high above the streets and free of the usual stench, the room was pleasantly warm. Sunlight burst down from the cloudless sky and gleamed off the glass towers around them. Dawn pulled one of her last packets of food from her dress pocket and offered some to Vicious, but Vicious wasn't hungry. Vicious was never hungry.\n\nDawn wasn't that keen on the food either--despite the bright colours of the plastic packaging and soft gummy contents, the taste wasn't sweet at all but sour. Perhaps she'd sneak back to the mall after Vicious was asleep and take something nicer; they were running low on food anyhow.\n\nThe girl slumped back on the warm, slightly damp fabric covering the bed and stared up at the blue sky beyond the fractured grey concrete and steel of the roof. It was calm and peaceful--and most of all didn't stink of decay--and the two companions soon fell asleep.\n"
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[WP] "You see this?! This is why we don't rip holes in space time. Suit up, you made this mess, now we're fixing it."
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"“ok, so why do I have to suit up again?”\n“Because you’re the idiot who had to prove everyone wrong…”\n“well I did, didn’t I? space tine is a thing and you definitely don’t need a DeLorean to see it”\n“look, I have to cut to the chase this is a very time sensitive matter pun not intended, you have to go in there and figure out a way to close this damn hole”\nThe final layer of the haphazardly put together suit was finally zipped up, no one knew what was behind the big glowing hole in the lab, but someone made it and now someone must fix it. \nA very university looking fellow retreated to a safe radio room. The young and rather un university looking man in the haphazard spacetime protection suit, which had been loving christened SPT.\n“alright” a voice crackled over the radio “I’m going in”\nThe young man waddled towards the glowing hole.\nHe stepped through.\n“It’s huge!...... What’s that?” the voice crackled over the radio then cut out. Suddenly the hole closed.\n“well that’s the hole closed at least” said the older gentleman, “now what do we tell his family?” \n\n“A terrible lab accident” whispered a dark voice from behind him “we must keep up the appearance that \nThere is no other reality apart from this one\n\n\nfirst time posting so please critique.",
"“You see this?! This is why we don’t rip holes in space-time. Suit up, you made this mess, now we’re fixing it,” the temporal master yelled, feeling the hot breath on his face. \n\n“...Yes sir,” he responded, standing straight, trying not to show fear.\n\n“In you go. Now!”\n\nMarching right into the temporal chamber, he steps right out to the line of fire. Phasers firing from each side, he felt his clothes come close to catching on fire, too close to his flesh. In the corner of his eye, he noticed himself, the earlier copy anyway. Crunching down, he quickly made sure to move on the opposite side of the fight. \n\n“Soldier, what are you doing here?” a commander asks as he taps on his shoulder. \n\n“Sir, we cannot continue this. We are fighting a fight that is not ours.”\n\n“What is your name soldier?” he asked.\n\n“Jonathan, sir.”\n\n“Jonathan, alright then. Entertain me. What is it that you want us to do?”\n\n“We must retreat back to the ship. If we continue fighting at this location, it’s inevitable that we lose our temporal spheres and they’ll walk through the chamber and destroy us,” he continued. \n\n“Bravo, what a fantasy. Now get right back out there before I have to lock you up for insubordination.” \n\nOf course, that basic plan failed. Why wouldn’t it? There needed to be more evidence. Yet being a time traveler meant all of the evidence he did have was impossible to use. Holding his phaser close to him, Jonathan sprinted back to where his team was continuing firing. Except for this time, he had something else in mind. Remembering about the emergency transport function, he started to slowly sneak further and further from the other soldiers, leaving them retreating, for now.\n\n“What the… Jonathan thought you were on our side,” one called.\n\n“I am… I am, trust me. I just need to do this. I need to-”\n\n“We are in the middle of a war zone, what could possibly be more important?”\n\n“This,” he said as he pressed the emergency transport request. Normally it’d require the authorization of the commander, but he knew that if pressed enough times in a row, would convince the crew on the ship that there was no commander to authorize it, leaving them no other choice.\n\n“You’re insane, stop that right now! Stop or I’ll shoot you,” he said again.\n\n“I don’t care.”\n\n“I’m not repeating myself.”\n\nHe didn’t have time to shoot his weapon, but watched as the whole team was evacuated, within seconds, standing in the transporter room. Taking off running, Jonathan took to the closest empty corridor and powered on his temporal sphere. \n\nAs he jumped in, he could see the temporal master on the other side. “Unconventional, dangerous, irresponsible, but you *did* restore the timeline. Go change out of that uniform, there’s a meeting in fifteen minutes for the cadets who passed.”",
"The image on the main viewer was flickering so abstractly it looked as if it was malfunctioning. Light danced violently around the room, casting shadows that stretched and pulled in almost unnatural directions. \n\n\"God damn it.\" Captain Stern was stiff, and seemed ready to fight someone. \"You see this?! This is why we don't rip holes in space time. Suit up, you made this mess, now we're fixing it.\"\n\nThe new engineer, Commander Rickert, was sweating profusely. \"Yes-s sir,\" He stuttered. \n\n\"Sir!\" Officer Jenkins called from the helm. \"Something is coming through the rift.\"\n\n\"What the hell? Move us back, now.\" The captain said with a hint of concern. \n\n\"It appears to be--\"\n\n\"That's our ship...\" The Captain exclaimed. \"She's damaged.\"\n\n---\n\n\"Sir! We made it through.\" Officer Jenkins yelled over the alert system. \"Should we hail th-\"\n\n\"No time! Turn us about and prepare to open fire.\" The captain yelled, as blood-saturated sweat dripped from his brow. \n\n---\n\n\"What are they doing?\" Officer Jenkins muttered. \n\n\"Commander, prepare to fire on anything else that comes through that rift.\" The Captain said. \n\n---\n\n\"Fire!\" The Captain yelled, while favoring his right side.\n\n---\n\n\"Fire.\" The Captain said, watching both streams of plasma torpedos as they met at the center of the large ship's hull. \n\nColorful sparks sprang from the enemy ship's hull as if the universe were trying to hot-wire it before it split down the center in a brilliant white that nearly blinded either Captain. \n\n---\n\n\"Move move move!\" The Captain yelled, hunching over in pain. \n\nThe shock wave rocked the ship, causing more damage, and knocking several people off their feet. Smoke filled the bridge, and several people began looking for the exit. \n\n\"Helm! It's not over yet!\" The Captain labored. \n\n---\n\n\"They're in distress, Captain.\" Commander Rickert said. \n\n\"They're still armed,\" The Captain said. \"Long range scanners.\"\n\nOfficer Jenkins hit some bottons on his helm. \"There's a ship... the same ship we just-\"\n\n\"Lock on and prepare to fire.\"\n\n---\n\n\"Fire.\" The Captain said weakly. The main screen blurred in his vision, and his own voice sounded as if under water.\n\n\"This is all the juice we've got left.\" Commander Rickert said. \n\n---\n\n\"Fire.\" The Captain said. \n\n\"They're spent, Captain.\" Commander Rickert said. \"Our other ...selves, I mean...\"\n\nThe enemy ship met a barrage of plasma bursts head on and exploded -- it's debris twirling passed both ships. \n\n\"What's their condition?\" The Captain asked. \n\n\"They lost all power, including life support.\" Commander Rickert stated apprehensively. \"Any survivors would likely be in suits.\"\n\n\"We have an incoming transmission.\" Officer Jenkins said. \"It's a recording.\"\n\n\"Play it.\" \n\n*[alarm sounds]*\n\n*\"Return fire!\"* \n\n*\"Who [garbled] they? Why [garbled] attack us?\"*\n\n*\"[garbled] detected the rift, they must have thought we [garbled] through [garbled].\"*\n\n*\"We're no match, sir!\"*\n\n*\"Suggestions?\"*\n\n*[crashing sounds]*\n\n*\"We go [garbled] rift.\"*\n\n*\"Any other [garbled]\"*\n\n*\"go now!\"*\n\n*\"I don't like this!\"*\n\n*[Loud hissing, screeching sounds]*\n\n*\"Sir! We made it through.\"*\n\n*[End transmission]*"
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[WP] The world faces a new and somewhat novel threat, children’s cartoon characters coming to life and wreaking havok. You are a pro in the agency taking down the odd and quite often harmful aberrations, or so you thought until you were assigned to the C.Sandiego task force.
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"It was the year 2048. Genetic science had become so advanced that humans could create life. As such, people tried to create fictional characters for the sake of nostalgia. It went fine until someone created Carmen Sandiego, a character from an old educational game. Carmen Sandiego rebelled and stole the genetic technology for herself, creating versions of characters that were obedient to her. Humanity fought a war against them but we lost to their sheer power. \n\nTen years later, the human population is reduced to under 100,000. Food and land are both scarce and we are always under attack by Sandiego’s henchmen. My name is Bruce Wayne. I was created before Sandiego. Apparently I’m based on an iconic comic book character. I’m an elite member of the defense force, having singlehandedly slayed Clifford the Big Red Dog. Today, it was discovered where Sandiego was hiding and I immediately ran to take her out myself.\n\n(If anyone feels like it, they can continue.)"
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[WP] You suddenly realise that you have never been bitten by a bug, in fact you just discovered they seem to die when coming closer than 300 feet from you. There is a knock on the door, and when you peek outside there are 4 black Chevrolet Suburbans parked in the street.
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"Gotta make the curtain look natural, can't jerk it, can't look out too long, or too short. Gently pull the curtain, that's it. Now, look outside. Okay, I see 4 black cars out the front, that's unusual. Why did I have to look outside just now? Why couldn't I just be trying to fix up my apartment like always? Never mind, besides the point now, I suppose. \nWhy am I so itchy? \n\n\"Hey buddy.\" \n\nI'm still holding onto the curtain as I spin around to meet the voice I just heard. No one is there though, I must be losing my mind. They definitely saw the curtains flutter, why couldn't I have just spun around unexpectedly like everything was normal? \n\n\"Down here, bud.\" \n\nI stare down at the floor and see a cockroach smoking a cigar on my carpet, I just vacuumed. Also, more importantly, I haven't seen a cockroach this close up before, in fact I haven't seen any bugs this close up before. Something strange is going on. \n\n\"You're telling me! Hah! The boys have been trying to talk to you for awhile, but they just keep dropping dead!\"\n\nThe boys are dropping dead? This is a disturbing development. Why would the boys be dropping dead when the boys are presumably other cockroaches? They don't really fall that far when they die, at least I didn't think they did. I really should be worried about those black cars out the front anyway, maybe if I look out again they'll think I'm just paranoid. Paranoid people are always peeking out of their curtains, and they certainly don't talk to cigar smoking cockroaches on their freshly vacuumed carpet. \n\n\"They know you've seen them now, bud. You might want to listen to me before this gets really hairy.\" \n\nI turn to face the cockroach again, this time the curtains don't jerk so much, a good start. If I'm not panicked maybe they'll just go away. Maybe I won't have to vacuum again so soon.\n\n\"Listen, this is starting to get a bit tedious.\"\n\nThe cockroach takes a drag from his cigar and taps ash onto my carpet. I knew I was going to have to vacuum again.\n\nI ask him \"What do you want? I'm kind of busy.\" but he just starts to laugh at me. This conversation isn't going very well so far. Maybe I should start vacuuming and then I can worry about those cars out front.\n\n\"They told me you were a bit loopy, but I'm really seeing it now.\" The cockroach takes another drag of his cigar. I'm definitely going to have to vacuum now. This is serious. The cockroach speaks again \"I'm going to help you bud, but first thing, you have to get away from that window. I don't think the boys out there are playing this time.\" \n\nI step away from the window, out of confusion more than anything. I thought the boys were dropping dead? Are they dropping outside? I can't clean outside, that doesn't make sense. My window shatters and a hole appears in my freshly painted wall, I move to inspect how much sealant I'll need to cover it when the cockroach speaks again \"Time to get moving big boy, out the back, mind the two feds covering the door.\" \n\nI really should find out if I have enough sealant before I head outside, but somehow I think the cockroach has the right idea. There seems to be some sort of commotion going on outside, maybe one of those cars was involved in an accident. Best to move away before they blame it on me, I really did my best to not flutter those curtains too much. \n\nI head out the backdoor with the cockroach following me. I hope I don't seem paranoid that he's following me. Maybe we're just going the same direction and it's no big deal. Out of nowhere two businessmen tell me to freeze, they might be crazy though because it's awfully hot and there's just no way I could get cold enough to freeze. \n\nI look down at the cockroach a moment before he speaks. That's odd. Did I know he was going to speak or did he speak because he knew I was looking at him? \"Those two are nothing but bugs, buddy. You don't want bugs getting into the house now, do you?\" I suppose I don't. \n\nThe cockroach is leaving the house, but these two look like they want to get in. This disturbs me, but my skin feeling like it's burning disturbs me somewhat more. But then the burning stops, and the two bugs seem to be dead. I'll sweep them up later I suppose. Right now I have to go to the store and get some sealant for that strange hole that appeared. I just remembered I have to vacuum as well."
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[WP] A civilization has decided that it will force criminals to maintain large nature preserves in outdoor, open air prisons.
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"They had tried incarceration; it hadn't worked. The balance between punishment and rehabilitation was weighted heavily towards the punitive, and so they tried something new. The hope was that tending to nature would have a calming effect, and inmates might learn a new skill in the process.\n\nOf course, it was a risky venture. Maintaining the nature preserve required the use of a lot of sharp tools, such as hedge clippers, so only nonviolent offenders were allowed at first. Of course, most of the prisoners preferred the fresh air, and incidents were few and far between, none fatal.\n\n\"Okay, I've got it,\" Adam said one day. He and his partner, Steven, had been plotting their escape for months now. The prison was spread across several hundred acres, and it would take some time for the guards to notice they were gone if they could make good on their escape.\n\n\"We'll wait 'til we're assigned to the geraniums. They need the least care of all the flora in this place, so it'll take the longest for them to discover we've gone.\"\n\n\"That's good,\" said Steven. \"But the geraniums are the most desirable position. I can't imagine anyone wanting to rotate from that station.\"\n\nAdam's eyes gleamed. \"I have friends in the kitchen who're going to make sure that the team on geraniums have to stay in the infirmary for a while.\" He chuckled. \"And guess who's up next in the rotation?\"\n\nSteven wasn't the brightest guy, but it didn't take him long to put that one together. \"So what's the plan when we get assigned? Jump the fence immediately?\"\n\n\"No,\" Adam replied. \"We'll do the job well for a few days. Enough to make the administration hesitate to assign blame to us immediately. Once we've done it well for a few days, we'll steal some ladders from the English Ivy station, and poof! We're gone.\"\n\nSteven was positively giddy by this point. \"Great plan!\" His eyes were suddenly downcast as he contemplated what would happen after that.\n\n\"What?\" Adam asked. \"Is something wrong?\"\n\n\"Well... I don't know. Now that leaving is a real possibility, I think... I'm gonna miss this place.\""
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[WP]Your neighbors all think you are a cat lady, but instead of cats you collect spirits.
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"Talking to yourself is a sign of insanity. And talking to people no one else sees is a quick way to get yourself locked up in a padded room and drugged out of your mind. But talking to cats? That's a different thing altogether. Then you're just the neighborhood old eccentric cat lady. It's really only a little white lie anyway. Having a house full of cats and having a house full of ghosts is pretty similar when you get down to it. They both wander up to the house uninvited and won't leave if you show them any kind of attention at all. They creep into unexpected places, knock things off shelves, and wake you up in the middle of the night making all kinds of ungodly noise. They've both been alone and forgotten, and now just want someone to finally notice them again. Maybe I'm getting soft in my old age, but I just can't bring myself to turn away a sad eyed stray, either a ghost or a cat.",
"She launched herself at him faster and far more violently than he would have thought possible, knocking him to the floor as cats scrambled to get out of the way. He hit with a hollow thud, the air rushing out of his lungs from the impact a split second before the ragged-looking woman clamped impossibly strong hands around his throat, preventing his lungs from refilling. He felt alternating spots of grit and wet from the filthy wooden floor against his back as he tried to struggle against the woman, briefly wondering just what he'd fallen into, before he flailed against her with a few desperate punches.\n\n\nThe woman's ribs snapped with muffled *cracks* as he hit her again and again, but the only effect on her the injuries seemed to have was to make her tighten her grip.\n\n\nThat, and the grin.\n\n\nAfter he'd broken at least half a dozen of her ribs, she pulled herself closer into him, negating most of the leverage he had to throw punches, and putting her nearly nose-to-nose with his face. When the realization that he couldn't get away from her washed over him, her mouth split in a horrifying grin of overlarge yellowed teeth. Even though he couldn't breathe, the smell that grin emitted was like a burning sensation that lapped painfully against his nostrils, and he had to fight back the urge to vomit.\n\n\nJust as his vision began to fade to black at its edges, there was a parting in his mind, and the old woman's presence was there, with him. Outwardly, her body began a low, madly rhythmic chuckle, but in his head, she was cold, calculating...*evil*.\n\n\n''Don't worry, my sweet,\" the voice in his head said cooly, \"I'll not let you die. Such a *nice* boy... You'll be a fine addition to my collection.\"\n\n\nThe mental voice joined with the physical chuckle, briefly matching it in intensity and madness, before the former began to fade into strange, whispery speech. The words grabbed his attention and held it, pulling him into them, holding him, and lulling him into darkness faster than the woman's hands had. The last thing he felt before blackness overtook him was a horrible, tearing sense of pain.\n\n\nSome time later he awoke, an overwhelming *wrongness* making his body spasm and his mind recoil. After a few moments, the worst of it passed, and he stretched his back and four legs languidly.\n\n\nHe froze, mid-stretch, the horror of what the cat lady actually collected welling up inside him."
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[WP]Tales tell of a legendary Hero that helped the kingdom when all seemed hopeless, and slayed the necromancer tyrant. The stories conveniently left out that the Hero was an mortician who really did not appreciate that all his hard work burying bodies was ruined when they rose from their graves.
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"Contorting my face as shot my drink, maybe I still had to many taste buds, as the warm spiced rum burned all the way down. Even my health was sagging in these years. My sleep rare and often shortened, my diet comprised of malnourishment and cigarettes as time was often fractured.\n\nI stubbed another smoke, sitting on my porch while another orange dusk slipped behind a distant mountainside. It was at this time, for some Godforsaken reason, the dead dare try my patience. I could here them claw, clamor, and break away their their cold tombs. Pulling my collar close, I pumped my shotgun, racking a round. Brass checking my pistol, securing it on my drop holster, I made into my cemetery for another night of watch.",
"\"Grandpa! Why is your name here!\" An excited voice rang out, and my bed shuddered as a young boy energetically jumped onto the foot of the bed. I smiled, and sat up.\n\n\"History and its Heroes,\" I mumbled, and looked at the page that my grandchild held open. \"Indeed, that is my name...well then, let me tell you a story.\"\n\nI chuckled as I looked at my grandchild's shiny eyes, and started recounting.\n\nIt was the year 1941, in Europe. Back then, I was a mortician-cum-gravekeeper, and I had been drafted, under a humanitarian flag, to help in disposing of bodies during a war between mortals. \n\nThe pay was fine and dandy, and I enjoyed my work. I would exhume hastily-created mass graves, before burying each body with due dignity, while adorning these braves' final place of rest with a deathbloom. \n\nIt didn't take long for my efforts to be recognised, and soon, all parties participating in the war welcomed me with open arms, while spouting some BS about dignifying the war and other schmuck. \n\nMy retort to their flowery words was one simple sentence. \"How about y'all stop fighting and buy me a drink?\"\n\nWell, anyway. \n\nMost of the graves I'd erected were found on the Alaste parallel, a randomly named and demarcated line that saw the most fighting. The war revolved around this particular line for 5 months in 1945. \n\nBefore both sides unequivocally sued for peace with each other. The cause? \n\nThe awakening of a necromancer to his heritage. Becoming a necromancer wasn't as easy as wishing for it. You needed the bloodline, and more importantly, a catalyst. \n\nLike a damned war.\n \nAnd so, on August 1945, there was an unprecedented surge in casualties on both sides. One section of the Alaste graveyard had risen up, their inhabitants wild and ready to slaughter.\n\nAnd I found peace, as broken and battered armies withdrew, their correspondents all but in shock. I was pretty pissed, however.\n\nThe graves had cost quite a lot of money, and it all came out from MY pocket. I decided to pay the necromancer a visit.\n\nI shook my head, and lifted my head from my reminiscing, and saw the curious face of my grandchild. \n\n\"Grandpa, why did you stop? Tell me about your great battle with the necromancer!\" \n\nI blinked. What battle? I shot a quizzical look at him, and picked up the book. \n\n300 great battles? Impressive stratagems? What on earth were they talking about?\n\nI sighed. \"Look, kid. Sometimes, books lie. I have no frigging clue why the book said all these, unless you tell me claiming damages and hiring a necromancer counts as 'great battles' and 'impressive stratagems. I needed manpower, and he sold it to me. End of story.\"\n\nI rubbed my nose. \"Mortimer!\" I hollered. \"The kid wants to know what happened on 1945!\" \n\nI tussled his silky black hair, and sent him downstairs to the butler. \n "
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[WP]Your entire life, you've lived in a lab, having no contact with the outside world, other than the scientists that look after you. When you are let out, you start to bleed gold, and an ethereal light surrounds you...
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"I do not recall when I began to understand the world around me, but when I first became aware of myself and who I was, I knew I was different.\n\nAh, but how different, I could have never known.\n\nThe scientists who lived in the compound worked day and night, thoughts and words mingling in my own mind, thanks to the powers they claimed I had. They did not know that I had already begun watching and learning from them, nor did I know how to reach out to them and communicate. All I did was float in an 'isolation chamber' unable to truly reach my own body.\n\nI wanted so desperately to join them in their research, I knew I had much to offer. But with all my reaching, I was never able to touch. At some point, everyone vanished. The compound was empty, and even with the mile wide radius of my powers, I sensed nothing living.\n\nI was alone.\n\nIt ate at my mind, not being able to move or hear the thoughts of anyone else. Madness started to take over me until something changed. My fingers could move.\n\nSlowly, the anesthetic wore off and I was able to move about my isolation chamber. A circular tube of thick glass surrounded my metal. I pressed my hand against it and ran my mind over the simulations of my powers that had been run. I imagined the metal folding out light began pouring in.\n\nI equated it to the memories of birth tucked deep in the minds of the scientists. However, I had no doctors, nor mother, nor father to guide me.\n\nI was alone.\n\nI came to realize that the light that came in was only the light of the moon. I wondered what the raw sunlight streaming in the lab would have done to my feeble eyes.\n\nOnce used to the light, I peeled back the metal further and studied the room with my own eyes. I saw much more than the scientist could. Certain rays being emitted, but I do not know which. Comfortable with my surroundings I went to peel back the glass too. My hand pressed against the cool glass-\n\nIt resisted, and I pushed harder, desperation driving me to be free at last-\n\nThe glass shattered, and my heavy body crumpled to the floor. My bleeding hand lay before my face, I as unable to move as I had been when I was drugged.\n\nI stared in horror, not only was the blood leaking from my palm a strange dark gold color, and my skin emitting a faint radioactive glow- but my index finger was fused to my middle, and my pinkie fused to the finger next to it, the ends of both were a horrible bulbous protuberance.\n\nI was not human, like I had thought. I was more monster than human. The thought would not have worried me, save I had dreamed of living among humans, and now I was reminded of this truth.\n\nI was alone.\n\nAlas, I was not going to let myself die here. I had just been born. I had life in me yet, and wanted to live it. With every fiber of my being, I focused on my power, somehow lifting myself off the ground. I positioned each limb carefully, and began to practice moving myself in a natural way, the thought of strengthening my muscles foremost on my mind. By the time the sun rose, I was able to casually make my way for the door leading to the next room, tail flicking side to side to keep me on balance.\n\nI paused before a window and caught my reflection. My emerald eyes stared back, lavender skin now illuminated in the rays of the rising sun.\n\n\"Ah,\" came my gravelly, unused voice, \"So this is 'me'. This is the project known as Mewtwo.\""
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[WP] You are a narrator, but a special kind, you Narrate the life of other narrators.
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"I poured the water into the side of the coffee maker, checked that there were fresh grinds in the machine, then punched a couple buttons and smiled contentedly as I heard the familiar bubbling and grinding that signified my morning coffee was in the works. Yes, of course this is in first person- what did you expect? Another narrator narrating my story would kind of contradict the prompt, no? And yes, I am talking to you. Sorry to go all Deadpool, but I didn’t want to have to deal with you looking on for the rest of this story thinking that I am oblivious to your presence. That would just be awkward: you, sitting there, staring dead-eyed at the screen, mouse possibly hovering over the back button to skip to the next prompt, not really interested in a particular story, just looking for a brief distraction from your current reality, and me, narrating the story and trying not to be freaked out by your blank stare. I bet you clicked on the app out of habit anyway didn’t you. That every time you pick up your phone or log into your computer, your fingers itch to open up Reddit and see what is there. Sometimes you resist, but most of the time you think why bother? You might see something that will brighten your day, give you that brief spark of emotion that never lasts before you go back to the mindless scrolling your addiction demands. \nOr maybe I have it all wrong. This is just a fun website after all. Oops, it seems that I have drifted away from the topic. This prompt isn’t about you after all- it is about me. \n\nThe last drops of the essential liquid dripped into the coffee pot as I finished rinsing my favorite mug from yesterday’s use. As I watched the white swirl of milk gradually assimilate with the near black of the coffee resulting in the perfect creamy brown, I thought about what stories I would create today. Grasping my cup so the ideal amount of heat reached my hands, I walked over to my desk and settled comfortably into my chair. Logging onto Reddit, I scrolled past the same alien prompt and soul mate prompt you probably passed before clicking on this page, pausing briefly to shake my head at the mistaken devil summoning prompt that I’ve always thought was the least interesting of the clichés. I mean, I get the fascination with demons, but changing the everyday ritual that “accidently summons a demon” doesn’t make your prompt unique. And I know for a fact that the Hell-ian narrator agrees with me on this. His name is Phil and we have drinks on Tuesdays. Nice guy. Pisces. \n\tAnd then I see it. The meta prompt. “Write a story where the narrator this this and that, and then another narrator jumps in and yadda yadda yadda, and in the end the main characters yabba dabba do.” Or something like that. The particulars are never important. It is ridiculous, as always, but I smile as I click on it and start writing because it is just another reminder of your need to bring the story closer, make it more alive. Because if the characters know they are in a story, they could become aware of our reality. And if they know of our reality, then they become a little less fictional then before. A futile effort in the end, but as long as it continues I have a job. \n"
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[WP] You are an interstellar rock star, and have almost finished your tour of the Galaxy's hippest shindigs. Your agent has arranged your final show to be on the planet... 'Earth'
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"With thanks – and apologies – to Douglas Adams. \n\n-------------\n“Now Mister Desiato, if you’ll just turn your attention for one moment to slide two-hundred and forty three, you’ll find the structure with which I intend to-”\n\n“Alteron.” Hotblack Desiasto, seated in his trademark Lazlar Lyricon-designed, overbearingly large, overbearingly black seat, raised his hand. The professor stopped, his mouth hanging open with an expression that, experience had taught those who knew him, meant any optimistic interrupter had but a few seconds before the deluge of financial figures would begin anew. Hotblack squinted at the jumble of equations and Sankey diagrams that spread across my monitors. “Your colleagues at Maximegalon may understand the details of this, but alas, I have absolutely no idea what I’m looking at.”\n\n“Well, it’s quite simple, Mister Desiato, all it requires is a basic knowledge of hyper-dimensional tax refund policy, and the relationship between that and-”\n\n“And as we have established, Alteron, you are employed to have that knowledge, so that I don’t have to. Right now, I just need to know one thing – how long will I have to be dead for this time?”\n\n“A year, by Sol calculations. But it is the most cost-effective way to save you several quadrillion over the course of the tax year. Enough for a whole megafleet of stunt ships.”\n\n“Exactly what I wanted to hear, thank you, Alteron. Enjoy your shore leave tonight, you’ve earned it.” Hotblack nodded, slowly, making a mental note to arrange Intergalactaflora cards to cover the exile period. Professor Alteron raised all six of his hands to his glasses, moving them onto his second pair of eyes. He opened one of his mouths to speak, but Hotblack intervened. “Figuratively earned it,” he clarified. “Figuratively.”\n\n“Very well.” The professor, power taken from his star drive, shuffled his glasses, awkwardly. “Thank you, Mister Desiato, sir.”\n\n“Have a good night, Alteron.” The rock star leaned back in his chair as the cockpit door slid closed behind the professor. \n\nIt had been a good tour for Disaster Area, “The loudest rock band in the galaxy”, Hotblack reflected. Their tour had taken them out past the Seven Sister, into the Cassiopeian Clusters, even venturing near enough to the Eroticon system that he’d had fanmail from that Gallumbits chick. Sure, there was that unfortunate incident on Maxwattica Seven involving a spare stunt ship, but that had actually brought the mortality rate per concert down compared to their last tour, and driven up ticket prices in the 37-mile zone.\nTonight, however, was going to be something special. Fan mail from this far out was certainly unusual, though not unheard of since the band had begun to explore the larger spiral arms. (The Galactic Core had included Disaster Area on the list of banned weapons under the Planetary Destruction Act 5.5-Apple-26, resulting in a several-lightyear wide area in which Hotblack was required to be separated from his keytar by no less than three Faraday Cages, one Maxwell Cube and seventeen miles.) What made this fanmail especially of interest was that someone, this far out into Sector ZZ9, was that it had mentioned Hotblack’s acoustic works.\n\nBefore making it big with Disaster Area’s first single – “Don’t Stop Now Baby, This Bed Is Big Enough For Three” – Hotblack had, under a false name, of course, been known to write and perform work that was best experienced not from within nuclear bunkers, but across the hallway in an open-plan pub. Which, he had discovered, on asking his agent to track down the source of this mysterious mail, was something that “Earth” seemed to have altogether too many of.\n\n------------\n\nThe ship, so black it seemed that the evening light simply slid off it, gently slid into car park, silently lining itself up between the wall and a large coach emblazoned with “VISIT SCOTLAND” on its side, with a picture of a very dreary-looking lake behind it. Earth, it seemed, hadn’t yet made interstellar contact – indeed, the Guide itself only had two, not entirely helpful words to say about it – “Mostly Harmless”. All-in-all, this seemed like a very suitable place to play his acoustic set. \nHotblack reached for his keytar, disconnected it from every Peta, Giga and Megwatt Amp he could find, and slung it onto his back. He stepped out into the street, into a place that appeared to be called “Eyes-ling-ton”, by the signs, and made his way through the crowds of people, pleased to note how well he blended in. \n\nThe Barrio Angel was a bright, eclectic, and altogether garish mix of light and sound. There were suitcases, umbrellas and laundry baskets pinned to the walls and ceilings, several different types of seating living peacefully in harmony to support the weight of far too many punters for such a long and thin venue. It certainly made a change from the usual black-on-dark-grey luxury interstellar travel he was used to, but, as he set up his keytar stand and mouth organ behind one of the more sturdy looking suitcases, Hotblack felt the buzz in the air and knew a good show was ahead.\n\nAnd then, raising himself to his natural height of around eight feet and closing his eyes, Hotblack played the first chord of his most popular acoustic number, a lively tune of life, love, and exploding natural satellites, called “It Wasn’t Me This Time I Promise”. The bar fell silent. His fingers moved with ease to the second chord, gently blowing the complementary note with his mouth organ...\n\nAnd still the bar was silent.\n\nHotblack opened his eyes. The bar had emptied. \n\nHe stumbled out into the street, glancing at the people around him and turning his gaze up to match theirs. There, hanging in the sky in much the same way that bricks don’t, were a fleet of giant, grey, featureless cubes.\n“People of Earth, your attention please,”\n\nHotblack was already running. And Hotblack Desiato did not \"run\". Not unless there was a Vogon Constructor Fleet involved. \n\n“This is Prostetnic Vogon Jeltz-” the voice, perfect and pure, echoed around the planet as though in unison from a billion microspeakers. Hotblack had known the guy who had done the tech for the Vogons. Had – he winced – being the operative word. The poor man had been treated to a planet wide reading of poetry, and quickly driven mad, all so that the Vogons could absolve themselves of any debt.\n\nHe careered into the car park, scrambling with the key. The doors glided open, effortlessly, and he began to belt orders to his crew.\n\n“Mason – Power up the Petawatt Amplifiers, arm the stunt ships, get me the MegaLaser from our last tour – the Vogons need a little lesson in bur-Rock-cracy!”\n"
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[WP] Like Jack Frost, The Grim Reaper, thus death, cannot exist if nobody believes in him.
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"It began with Playschool.\nThat's right, fucking Playschool.\n\nThey were doing a live performance, when one of the hosts had a heart-attack and died, right there, in front of 2 billion children. Of course, these children were deemed too innocent to know the truth. So they lied.\n\n\"He's just going to sleep honey.\"\n\n\"Just taking a long nap\"\n\nFooling that many children can be very hard y'know, they're devilish little bastards, like Alex Jones, but 4 years old with a gay little frog toy. They started conspiracy groups, trying to find out what happened. Their mums had to get creative, and elaborate. All evidence of death was eradicated from the world, there were secret meetings of parents, reporting on the statuses of their children, keeping the truth hidden. They called themselves Mothers Against Death.\n\nYou may say that sounds a bit extreme, but it just so happens all the people standing against the revered MAD went to sleep, for a very long time. Eventually the children became teens, and the teens were angsty, maddened by bedtimes and overbearing rules, they revolted.\n\nThey killed them, all of them, not just the mothers, but the fathers, and the uncles too. Everybody who believed in death was dead, I had to carry them away, and with every soul I took, I could feel myself fading just a little more.\n\nNow nobody believed in me, guess I'll finally get to have a nice long nap.\n\n===\n\nThis isn't something I normally do, so constructive criticism is welcome."
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[WP] A dyson sphere is the center of power for all life in Milky Way. One-day, ancient humans return from a faraway galaxy fleeing from an unnamed horror, seeking answers within the dyson sphere. The aliens watch in disbelief as a supposed unintelligent and backward species returns home...
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"Their buildings burned while their roads were soaked with blood. These primitive, unaugmented creatures had somehow come under the belief that they deserved a spot among our systems. How naive. We let some flee, for they would go home, and following them would be our punishment. \n\nWe tracked 4 ships heading out of the system at FTL speeds. We activated our heat sinks, masking our emissions for our pursuit. The heat from their warp drives was too easy to track, this wasn't even an escape.\n\nBut then the most surprising things happened. In the middle of deep space, they disappeared into the darkness. The radiation from their ships was gone, and in its place was darkness. As we drew closer we encountered an unexpected gravity well. \n\nAnd then, the darkness was replaced with light, and our ships joined the void. "
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[WP] You find a chest at the bottom of a shallow river. Inside is a single piece of paper with the words, DON’T LOOK BEHIND YOU!
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"I remember when I was a kid. A whole 8 years old, knee high to a grasshopper little sprat, I decided I was big enough to go play at the river with my best friend, Peter, by ourselves. \n\nAfter pleading with Mom for about 20 minutes, she finally agreed so long as I was back well before dark. She even made sure I took my watch with me that day. \n\n“Let’s set your curfew as 5:00, Olivia.” She said, her voice thick with worry yet still stern as she strapped my watch to my wrist. \n\n“Of course, Momma!” I’d replied, shooting out the back door like a bullet to meet with Peter. \n\nOh how I wish I’d have known what would happen that summer day. \n\nI met with Peter about 10 minutes later at the edge of the forest behind his house, and we took off into the woods. \n\nFlashes of green, grey, brown, black, blue. Trees and bushes whizzed past me as we darted between them. Crunchy leaves and twigs snapped beneath my sneakers as I ran, feeling free. \n\nEventually we made it to the river. It was shallow, only about 2 and a half feet deep, but we loved playing in it and splashing around. The sun was shining through the high treetops as we played and played. Eventually we got tired enough to stop for snacks.\n\nPeter set down his backpack and dug in it, finding two ham sandwiches and some apples his mom packed for us. \n\n“Mowma shays hi, bwy tuh way.” He said, his mouth stuffed with bread. \n\nI laughed and bit into my sandwich. \n\nOnce we were done eating, we wanted to walk along the river and see what we could find. People lost their junk all the time, and we once found a really cool looking compass. Peter keeps it on his backpack now. \n\nI found a nice rock and kicked it along the bank for a while, until it thudded against something at the edge of the water. I ran over and opened it, calling for Peter. Inside was a single piece of paper.\n\n‘DON’T LOOK BEHIND YOU!’\n\nConfused, I called for Peter again, but I didn’t hear him.\n\nThe paper shook in my hand. Slowly, I looked to my left and right. No sign of my best friend. A soft whimper escaped my lips before calling again. “P-Peter..?” My voice shook as I stood. “Come on P-Peter this I-isn’t fun-n-n-funny.” My stutter only came out whenever I was really scared. Not having Peter near anymore freaked me out. \n\nTaking a deep breath, I slowly turned. \n\nAnd there was Peter, hanging from the tree. His mouth agape, his arms limp. I sank to my knees and turned back to the chest. \n\nInside lay the compass, and the note was gone. \n\nI turned to run home, and Peter stepped out from the tree, rock in hand.\n\n“I’m sorry, Olivia. He made me do it..” He said, hitting me with the rock. "
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[WP] During a routine job, a Hitman for a certain organisation goes missing. Three weeks later the organisation finds him and is eager to have them back on the job. The only problem? They have no memory of ever being a trained killer.
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"Posting in two parts because the whole thing is too long. That and the cut is in a really nice place.\n\n---\n\n“Haven’t seen you around here before. You new in town?”\n\nThe cashier sheepishly scratches the back of his head.\n\n“Sort of, I suppose? I got into some trouble, and the old couple who own this store” he gestures about at the harsh fluorescently lit interior of the little corner store “well, they offered me a place to stay… in exchange for helping out here”\n\nHis hands return to scanning the miscellaneous groceries, cups of instant noodles, cans of beer, a couple packs of cigarettes. The standard late-night shopping list of poor college students and salarymen alike. When one of the packs of cigarettes passes the scanner, I grab it before it gets deposited in the plastic bag. The cashier makes a small uncertain move to stop me, a nervous look on his face. But one of the cigarettes is already smouldering away between my lips before he can do anything.\n\n“That was kind of them.” \n\n“Yeah, honestly… they really helped me a lot.”\n\nHis response elicits a slow nod of understanding from me. He doesn’t know just how much they ‘helped him out’.\n\nWith all mankind’s slow poisons packed away in a bag made of their slowest. I pull out a credit card, prompting the cashier to fire up the card machine. The rest of the transaction continues in silence broken only be the small beep of confirmation the machine emits.\n\n“Have a good night.”\n\n“You too. And good luck with whatever trouble you were having.”\n\nHe replies in gratitude but I’m already out the door and turning the corner. The lit cigarette gets snuffed between spit licked fingertips and tossed into the nearby bushes. I have no idea how Coleridge goes through a pack of these things a day when I can barely handle a minute of their cloying smog.\n\nWell whatever… it's quite literally his funeral…\n\nNow that I’m well out of range of the corner store, and any potential eavesdroppers. I fish a burner phone out of my pocket and hit speed dial. There’s barely a single tone before the call gets picked up.\n\n“Boss, it’s me, Keats”\n\n“I take it you’re calling about Byron?”\n\n“Yeah, I’m starting to think this amnesia thing might be genuine. I walked right up to him and he didn’t recognise me at all”\n\n“This is Byron we’re talking about, he’s a good actor”\n\n“Yeah, but Byron also wouldn’t let the organisation’s number two get within stabbing distance. I was close enough to piano wire him.”\n\n“Alright. So, what? he hit his head a little too hard, we just need to bring him in and remind him of his… *obligations*”\n\n“There… are a few problems with that plan”\n\n“Oh? Do elaborate.”\n\n“Well first off, he’s got roots now. He got picked up by some old couple, word in the neighbourhood is that they’re treating him like a replacement goldfish for their son that died a while ago. And while it’s fine to make ‘Mr Fake Name no SS Number’ disappear, those old bats are going to look for him. And they’re too well known and liked around here to have them disappear.”\n\n“You have a plan then?”\n\n“Yeah, its your plan, but better. We have someone rough him up. Coleridge can do it, I mean have you seen the guy’s ‘penniless druggie’ disguise?”\n\n“And what exactly is that supposed to accomplish?”\n\n“That Boss, will give us clarity. Best case scenario, turns out Byron’s just faking things. He turns the tables on Coleridge, maybe kills him. Its not really that big of a loss. We then extend an invitation to return, if he refuses…”\n\n“No one gets out alive”\n\n“Yeah… That policy. Slightly worse but still fine case scenario, Byron’s not faking but still knows how to defend himself. Then we pluck him off the street, run him down to one of our warehouses, and have a nice long talk with him. I’m certain with a little convincing we can get him to write a letter to the old couple, ‘I remembered who I am’ that sort of shit. Hell of a lot easier than adding two to the missing persons list. a little more convincing and we have a perfectly functional, if a little rusty, agent back on the job.”\n\n“And if he remembers absolutely nothing, and *Coleridge* of all people manages to beat him up?”\n\n“Well, in that case its your call. We could follow through on the kidnapping anyway, train him up again. Or we could just get rid of him, ‘no one gets out alive’ and all that”\n\n“We’ll cross that bridge when we get to it. Tell Coleridge he has a new assignment”\n\n“Will do Boss.”\n\n---\n\n“You have news about Byron?”\n\n“Yeah, Coleridge tenderised him… looks like Byron’s well and truly gone…”\n\n“That’s a shame…”\n\n“Do you want me to clean up?”\n\n“No… there’s no point, as you said… Byron is dead.”\n\nThe call ended with a unceremonious beep and I shook my head. Line would probably be dead for the rest of the night. Regardless of what he said, the Boss always had an “appreciation” for Byron. Whether it was out of genuine care for him or simply because Byron was the best the organisation had to offer, no one could say for sure. The burner phone closes with a soft clap and vanishes into the recesses of my coat.\n\nPeering through the binoculars at the dark alley, I could make out a small dark lump nestled in the corner of a dumpster and the cold concrete.\n\n“At least that idiot remembered to steal his wallet”\n\nIn all honesty it was a pitiful display. I have seen trained professionals beat down ordinary people before, but they always had a modicum of restraint, there’s no use in going all out on a poor hapless civilian. Coleridge had all the restraint of a train with ice for brake pads. That was an unglorified beatdown worse than the mugging it was supposed to emulate.\n\nVaulting over the railing of my perch and leaving the binoculars behind, I make for the alley. The shape still hasn’t picked itself up and dusted themselves off… which is a serious cause for concern.\n\nAny further voicing of grievances and musings of becoming familiar with Coleridge’s internal organs dissolves into disgruntled muttering as I reach the mouth of the alley. Taking a moment, I slip into the persona of a concerned citizen.\n\n“Hey buddy… you ok?”\n\nStepping over the filth and the broken bottles I cautiously make my way over to where the former Byron lies. Now that I’m close I can smell the acrid tinge of blood swirling about in the alley, and see the red flecks splattered across the lighter painted walls.\n\nI tense up my vocal chords, adding a slight tremor to my voice “Can you hear m-“\n\n**“Shut the hell up Keats, this really hurts you know.”**\n\n...\n\n\"I can see that...\""
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[WP] As the supporting character is supposed to die, fans do not want that. Thus they enter the world to save the support character.
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"Luke breathed a sigh of relief. After the amount of energy he just expended to hold off Kylo until his sister could escape, he felt weak, but...strangly satisfied. He had overcome his fear and doubt, and though he wasn't sure if he reached his nephew in a way that would change his way of thinking, he was at peace knowing that he had done what he could. \n&nbsp; \nLuke began to fall from his perch on the lonely island, but as he did so, his peripheral caught a shimmering expanse opening up to his left. \n&nbsp; \n*reeeeeEEEEE* \n&nbsp; \nLying on the ground, Luke heard the noise again. \n&nbsp; \n*REEEEEEEEEEEE* \n&nbsp; \n\"Wha...what is that? Y..Yoda?\" \n&nbsp; \nA voice spoke from the shimmering expanse, as a shadowy figure emerged from the void. \n&nbsp; \n\"I'm shorry, but this is just not actheptable. Rian Johnthon has ruined this shtory, and I, HanBrolo37, am here to make schure you survive this awful shubplot and give the REAL fans something to look forward to. Now one of my guildmates on The Old Republic is coming with a bacta tank, so rest, noble Shkywalker.\" \n&nbsp; \nAs Luke slipped into unconsciousness, realizing that it was not yet his time, his last glimpse was of a shirt with peculiar writing that said \"Han Shot First\". "
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Edit: i meant the poking fun at with mild humor kind of roasting guys. good effort on the first guy who wrote the prompt though.
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[WP]With Humans being new to the space fairing civilization scene the council soon learn about a Human ritual called Roasting and they are curious about how it is done. They may have chosen unwisely.
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"The council sat around the deep earth-dug pit, fear on their faces at the spectacle before them.\n\nThe Arthrax called it *oomphar* .\n\nThe Polonivs called it *ontolo* .\n\nBut many of them had never seen this terrifying chemical reaction, which the Hommus called *Fire* .\n\nAs so many of the council cowered at the edge of the pit, the three human representatives sat right by the flames, with various foods either skewered or held in cage-like *Tongs* .\n\nWhen the humans returned to the council members, they offered them the slightly charred foodstuffs. After a bit of due wariness, they decided to try. \n\nThe herbivorous members *adored* the roasted almonds and peanuts, while the carnivores and omnivores ravenously chowed down on the *Kabobs* .\n\n\"This method of food preparation is an ancient human tradition, and likely one your peoples developed as well, before your records were lost to the war,\" said one of the two females.\n\n\"We hope that the restoration efforts will be able to restore even a fraction of your magnificence,\" said the other.\n\n\"Enjoy the rest of your stay on Earth,\" said the male.\n\nThe humans bowed and left."
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[WP] The year is 2030, after the discovery of a parallel earth, you lead the team that makes first contact. Very soon discovering that since early man, this earths population has been forcing its own evolution.
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"\"Like us, but different.\" That's what the first images were captioned when NASA released the first images from their new LIDEX50 probe. The resulting press conference was a fury of reporters so full of questions that little information was actually divulged. The engineers, the technicians, the launch operators, even the janitor. Anyone who was remotely involved with LIDEX was barraged by a mix of reporters, religous zealots, and regular old people.\n\nWithin a matter of days, the images became the most downloaded in the world, being slapped across desktops, shown incessantly in online news, being taught in school. The world, it seemed, had been thrown into disarray, and it held it's breath as it waited to hear what NASA would do, what the *world* would do.\n\nMonths passed, and the clamor died down. Despite news that had arguably destroyed the current model of physics, people moved on, as they always did. And then LIDEX released it's second batch of picutres, having spent months slowly, patiently gathering it's data and forming it's picture.\n\nThe pictures showed a world, *the* world. A carbon copy of earth, in an orbit roughly 15 million miles farther from the sun. It was discovered however, that it's star, was roughly 16 percent more luminous then our own. And so this planet, affectionately dubbed 'AlterEarth', was a carbon copy of our own, in a solar system nigh identical.\n\nLIDEX uses a form of exotic matter with negative mass, gallium specifically, except all it's constituent quarks are all wrong, not of this universe, so to speak. Electrifying such matter, whilst running a careful stream of non-colliding positron-proton through the liquified matter created a phenomena which poked a hole through reality, a hypodermic needle through space-time where light shined through. The Harven-Ying effect it was called.\n\nYears passed as LIDEX took more of it's blurry images, giving the people of Earth at best only a glimpse of their sister planet. But budgets were reallocated, and new alliances formed, promising the resources of the other side to whoever would assist in the endeavor to tear open reality.\n\nA decade past, and it was ready. Not humanity's biggest, or it's best, but it's only. The crown-jewel of technology, a fusion-powered spaceplane that, on it's own, could tear spacetime apart, screaming through the gap before such violations corrected themselves. There was no testing of the spacecrafts more *exotic* capabilities. Beyond experimental, bordering on sci-fi, it's makers were unsure if such a machine would even work, or if it would open a gateway to somewhere much darker than AlterEarth. Someplace *between* the universes. Not that the craft, dubbed *Nautilus* was without criticism. Protestors turned up in record numbers, and for the first time in decades, church attendance was on an uptick. But despite the pleadings of many, the forewarning of countless church officials, and the silent lobbying of many companies, afraid their resource monopolies may be supplanted by a new Earth.\n\nAbove all, the mission was to make first contact. LIDEX had picked up the tell tale signs of civilization, despite it's great distance. As such, the *Nautilus* was loaded with an array of recording equipment, both scientific, and personal. Nothing would be missed in what would be the most dangerous mission in history.\n\nFinally, the fateful day game, and the 6 man crew, two grizzly, rugged special forces operators, a linguist, a psychologist, a physicist, and finally, the pilot. The crew stepped aboard the sleek, graphene plated craft, felt the cool breeze of artificial air they would breathe for at least the next two months, and the hum of the fusion generator, their star in the bottle, keeping them warm in the eternal night of space. The door closed behind them, and the whole world watched as the craft, marvelous in it's seamless construction, taxied to the runway. It's first, and possibly final departure."
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[WP]The nuclear holocaust wiped out 99% of humans, but also mutated other species into sentient beings. The world reverted to a medieval age where humans were far from the dominant species. The humans still had memories and knowledge of their technology, and weren't ready to cede rule of the planet.
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"The firing had stopped around 10 minutes ago. The bombardment had left the the originally lush farmland an inhospitable hellscape,the fertile lands were completely covered in ash. Which the man in submerged wooden structure would suppose might not be so bad since ash was supposedly good for the farming soil...or so he read in one of the old books in the capitols library, but he couldn’t put much faith in that after some of the abysmal failures in the medical field with attempts of curing plague with leeches. He pondered whether that was a reactive actually used by his ancestors, or just some sort of fiction which adds on to the insult those that came before him loved to play.\n\n He cleared his idling mind as focused back across the field, despite what he may have read the chemicals the remnant may have used as fuel Would the possibility of contamination too high to allow any resettlement of this once they were inevitably driven back.\n\nHe brought up his rusted binoculars to look at the edge of the burning farmland slowly being enveloped by smoke before stopping at the river where his forces had set up the first trench work. It was like clockwork how they operated, he thought as he delicately used his gnarled brown fingers to adjust the focus on the center of his line. He could only imagine what the boys in the front line could be feeling right now, the hardened skin brought upon the “gift” the radiation had given them was enough to soften physical blows and catch most bladed weapons from the mutants and degenerates that surrounded them, but the remnants bullets and shells were not deterred by the bombs changes.\n\nThe first screams came from the side flanks. It seems they had decided to change their tactics for the new assault. The first figures had began to cross the river. Covered in heavy armor and armed with weapons the size of a car engine, that began spitting flames into the first trench work like a flood. The armored giants crossed the first defenses, at their head appeared a more heavily equipped giant with a larger pack and an antennae took point as it lumbered to assault the front line, towering above the defenses. Taking its first step toward doom. For the moment he stepped within range, a silver disk had popped out of the ground and magnetically Locked itself to it. The giant tried to rip it off, but it was far to late as the disc detonated \n\nThe officer behind the bulwark had pulled a lot of favors to get that device to the front. The ancient land mine had come from one of the ancient devices from the city. Not as easily replaced as the soldiers and handmade explosives the men in the capitol were so eager to throw at the remnants. But very much worth the cost and message he needed to send the humans that remained.\n\nHe looked on as the second wave of soldiers approached the disoriented remnant forces the first four of them closest to their commander were obliterated leaving the outlying commandos to the mercy of the soldiers wielding their hooks and ropes to bring down the remaining shellshocked troops.\n\nThis lesson was necessary because despite the success their soldiers had with their primitive assaults, they were still losing. They were losing valuable lives despite the size of the army. Farmland cannot keep being lost. And supplies cannot keep being expended. Humanity needed to know. Despite their technology and their bunkers, they cannot simply crush his nation like they had with the feral abominations that made the hybrid human tribes made by uncontrolled gene splicing in the Forrests, or the sickly mutants in the remains of nuclear waste. they are not the only ones who remembered what was before the blast and were willing to use what they knew.",
"It was a busy afternoon at the Tee-Agos tavern in Stone-Roads. Any other Beast might have wandered in and not been noticed, whether Mammal, Reptile or Plantid, even with the cold war this reptile-led kingdom had going with the Plantid nation next door.\n\nBut Rath was never so fortunate.\n\nThe place immediately was filled with noises of disgust, then silence as they noticed his little figure stomping over to the bar. He crawled up onto the ancient spinning seat and placed a pair of colored tokens on the counter. “Two glasses of whatever passes for grog in this Mother-forsaken kingdom.” he sighed.\n\nThe bartender flicked his forked tongue back and forth in disapproval. “Ten Tokenssss if you want to drink here, vermin. You will sssscare off my cusssstomerssss with your sssstench”. Rath's tail flicked at this, and the patrons near him backed away nervously, giving him a wide berth. He let out a soft snarl. “Fine, I'll give you eight. Just gimme one glass, and I'm out”. The bartender sighed and reached for a glass with his prehensile tail while reaching for the tokens with his only good claw.\n\nSoft paws stepped out from the crowd. The six-legged Wolf growled, venom leaking from his fangs. “Maybe you didn't hearrrrr the beast, runt”.\n\n“Crap”. Rath spun around on the barstool and noted the serrated blade the wolf was stroking with his scarred paws. He could smell the killing intent filling the air as the predator sized him up. Rath just shrugged. “You REALLY wanna do this, big guy?”\n\nThe bartender waved his claw wildly “No! Not in here! The stench will take days to clear!”\n\nThe wolf laughed “Then I'll drag it out of here before I rip its throat out! It won't even have time to leak a drop!”\n\nRath twirled something out of his backpack and pointed it at a glass at a distant table. A loud blast cracked the air and the glass fragmented. A small hole was left in the wall behind it. “THAT was your warning shot. Next one goes between your eyes, pupper”.\n\nThe crowd back away even further, and the Wolf took a few steps back, whining. “A human relic! The vermin has a human relic!”.\n\nRath pointed it at him, and the Wolf backed away further, his tail between his legs. “Oh, so you know what this is. Good. Now leave me be.” Rath turned back to the bar only to have his tokens thrown back in his face.\n\nThe bartender snarled “OUT! OUT, you nasssty pesssst! Take your dangerous human magic out of thissss place!”\n\nThree royal guards picked that exact moment to kick the door open. All paws, digits, tails and other pointing limbs turned to Rath, who slowly raised his paws, relic included. The bigger of the trio of croco-snakes levelled her spear at him and snarled. “I recognizzzze that. Her Highnesss will be very interesssted in knowing how you got that...Come quietly, sssstripey, or die.”\n\nRath kept his hands up. “I'll come quietly. No need to make a mess in here”. A few minutes later, he walked between the three of them down the cracked asphalt towards the Concrete Tower where the Queen of Stone-Roads held court.\n\n-----\n\nUp about twenty floors from ground level, the Queen gestured to have the guards enter, and composed herself regally on her spinning black seat. Immediately her nostrils recoiled at the smell that came with them. The captain saluted and presented Rath's relic “Thisss Vermin was found with a human relic. A Boom-wand. Fully loaded, minus one shot”.\n\nThe Queen held the weapon and passed it through her four claws, caressing it. “The craftsssssmanship is excellent. I wonder if it really isss a relic...” She flipped through the rough leather backpack, willing herself to ignore the stench that was surely impregnating the fine silk she wore. A serrated knife sword, a pouch of colored tokens, an empty grog can, a bottle of water, some dried rat jerky, various junk and a wooden box containing a functioning Light Wand and an exceptionally polished steel amulet of some kind.\n\nThe Queen looked Rath up and down, noting he did not salute, nor raise his throat as a sign of obedience. “Where did you get thesssse, vermin? Thessssse are no mere relicssss. They are too...New.”\n\nOne of the guards unholstered his axe. “He mussssst be a human sssspy. I can sssmell Human on him.”\n\nRath spat to the side. “NOBODY works with...Humans” He nearly spat out that last word. “They're wordless, vicious, downright cruel monsters”.\n\nThe Queen hissed. “Demi-motherssss. Vicious and violent they may be...But their world isss the foundation of ourssss. Their magic musst be treated with...Ressspect, now anssswer! Where did you get thesssse?”.\n\nRath shrugged “I steal from humans whenever I get the chance. Their stuff goes for a lot of tokens, you know. There was a decent sized human camp about 40 sparrow beats west of your territory a week ago, looked pretty dug in. I swiped the flashy stick and boom wand from there. The amulet I've been holding for a while, looking to sell it.”\n\nThe Queen hummed softly, and slipped the amulet around her neck, satisfied with Rath's aggrieved grumble. “My border guardsss have ordersss to keep my kingdom vermin free. If you can sssneak past them...I can believe you might ssssneak into a human camp...Why, though, would they be ssso far away from their sssafe burrowssss I wonder?”\n\nShe laughed. “I ssshould have you killed, vermin. But I think I can find a usssse for you.”\n\nRath's striped tail twitched again “I can see where this is going.”\n\n(Continued in Part 2)",
"Yarrow peered over the crude battlements to the enemy below. His stomach groaned as he spied the enemy food supplies.\n\n*Is this what its came to?* he wondered. *So hungry that I would envy the Mantis for the food they choose to eat?*\n\nHe looked back to the enemy troops as they paraded freely around the castle walls. The Mantis held no fear for the human arrows. Their hard, irradiated outer surface saw to that. Some looked up at the gaunt figure on the battlements and laughed. Yarrow flinched every time he heard the laugh of the Preying Mantis. It was... hollow, cracked. A noise that would surely stay with him to his end days. He laughed as he thought about that. His end day could well be today.\n\nHe pulled his wanting eyes away from the Mantis food supply and returned them to their leader. Yarrow knew he... it went by a name. He recognized the sound whenever its troops greeted it. But while the Mantis and many other animals now developed auditory speech, humans had not yet come to understand many of the new languages. Especially the insect speech. \n\n\"Fucking insects,\" Yarrow muttered under his breath. \n\nThe leader of the Mantis looked up at him, its long serrated forearms folded to show its impatience. Yarrow knew they could understand human language, even if humans could not understand theirs. Nobody knew how the Mantis could do this, and most did well not to think further about it. It was... unsettling. \n\nThe Mantis leader lifted its forearms into the air, signalling that it wanted an answer now. The irradiated serrated edges glimmered in the sun. The blood of Yarrow's friends still stained the natural green of the Mantis. Yarrow gulped, and relayed his Generals message.\n\n\"No surrender!\" he shouted, his voice cracking and dipping as his nerves got the better of him. He tried again. \"No surrender!\" he belted out to the Mantis army below. His grip tightened around the pommel of his broadsword as he anticipated the Mantis response. \n\nSilence filled the air. Yarrow was distinctly aware that the men in the castle behind him stood still with bated breath. His cowardly General was surely locked somewhere inside the inner bailey. Yarrow hoped the Mantis would kill him slowly when they surely overwhelmed the defenders. \n\nThe Mantis leader lowered the ghastly serrated arms. It too stood still, along with it's troops, the only movement now coming from the wind from the east.\n\nThen the Mantis replied. \n\nNot with words, save for the other worldly scream the leader gave to its troops. They screamed back, and jumped high into the air with their enormous back legs. Suddenly the blue sky was dotted with many shades of green. Yarrow's eyes widened as their trajectory carried them up towards the castle battlements, towards him. He turned to the men below, and started to call out. \n\n\"Swords! Ready your swo-\"\n\nHe felt a massive force crash into his back, knocking him off the battlements to his men below. As he fell, he watched as their expressions changed from consternation to abject fear. Then he crashed into the dirt, his armour cracking under the force. \n\nHe cried out but no sound escaped him, his lungs utterly empty from the blow. Under great duress he lifted himself to his knees and watched as his fellow men fought wildly against the Mantis onslaught. The Mantis were always horrid to fight. It wasn't uncommon for the irradiated beasts to reach eight feet in height. Their serrated forearms could cut through plate armour as if it were not there. But worst of all was the way they entered the battle. There was something truly horrific in the way they screamed and lept into the air, travelling hundreds of feet from the force of the hind legs. More often than not the Mantis won the battle before it begun. But today the humans had nowhere left to run. This shoddy castle was the Alamo, and so they fought like maniacs in the face of the Mantis attack. As he watched the frenzy before him Yarrow wondered who seemed more terrifying in this ruined world, the irradiated insects, or the desperate, panicked humans. \n\nHe lifted himself to his feet, legs shaking and weak. He picked his target amid the bloody battle. There. A huge Mantis standing over a young lad. He charged, screaming through the pain. He returned the favour he had just received and crashed into the back of the beast, sending it straight into the stone wall beyond. It cried out with that horrid, shrill scream and turned to face him. Yarrow pulled himself closer so that its serrated arms could do little damage and forced his forehead straight into the creatures face. He felt the blood as its mandibles cut against his skin, but pushed on regardless. He pulled his head back and forced it into the beasts face again, and again, and again. Each headbutt had more force than the last as he gave way to the blood lust of the battle. Some time later he stopped. Stepping away he realized he was all that was keeping the Mantis standing, as it crumpled down to the ground.\n\nYarrow turned to find the lad behind him, but he was gone. *Either hiding or dead,* Yarrow thought, *and hopefully dead,* he decided as he surveyed the battle. It would be over soon. The Mantis were gaining the upper hand. They would soon be successful in wiping out another enclave of Human existence. \n\nYarrow decided to watch the rest of the battle take place, having no more desire to fight in the pointless endeavor. He stood dazed amid the backdrop of the carnage. The blood of the Mantis dripping softly down his face. His eyes glazed, his stomach empty, his heart heavy. He was ready. He closed his eyes and waited. \n\nThough it never came.\n\nHe heard them first. The screams. He looked up to the blue sky. Before it was littered with the green of the Mantis. But now, now it was dotted with black. The Crows. \n\n*Just what we need,* Yarrow lamented. *Beasts more ghastly than the Mantis.* The ugly creatures swooped down into the battle, into the Mantis. Their large talons cut into the faces of the insect army, pushing them steadily back. Some Mantis cut through the birds with their bladed arms, but most who stood still soon died. The Mantis slowly retreated under the onslaught until it was clear that the Crows had them severely outnumbered. They jumped back over the battlements to their camp, conceding defeat for the day. \n\nYarrow watched in a daze as the Crows pursued the enemy. He hardly noticed their leader approach him.\n\n\"Yarrow,\" it called, and he turned towards it. Suddenely he missed the Mantis. The crow mutations had truly been cruel. They looked somewhat like humans now, though their crooked wings still remained. Their feet resembled misshapen talons and their beaks were often cracked and fused with teeth. Yarrow sighed.\n\n\"Yes, that's me. Thank you for your assistance.\"\n\n\"Hold your gratitude,\" the Crow leader replied. \"We didn't do it for you. The Mantis are more a threat than any human could be. You will help us continue the push against them, and in return we will let you live.\"\n\nYarrow wiped his brow, recoiling as he glimpsed the Mantis blood on his hand. \"Sure. But I presume there is more.\"\n\nThe Crow smiled through its cracked beak and teeth. \"Of course. When we destroy the Mantis the Humans shall submit to us, fighting in all of our wars against the other species of the land. You will renounce all claims as apex predators of the land, and will recognize the Crow as the new leaders of the world.\"\n\nYarrow barely listened to a word the Crow said. The Humans were crushed regardless, and had been for a while. He nodded. \n\n\"As you say, Crow. As you say.\"\n\n---------------------------\n\nApologies if this is littered with spelling mistakes! I got halfway through this and then was informed I had to be somewhere soon! Wanted to submit it before I left!"
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[WP] Its 2525, it has been 400 years since humans discovered the cure for aging. 300 years back, thet have decided that only smart, beautiful and athletic humas are only qualified to breed. And you are the offspring of the top female and male, but you are not what they expect you to be.
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"The first thing I hear upon waking is the ever-present hum of the operating room. Bandages cover my head and press against my eyelids so that I can make out nothing more than vague shapes fluttering around my bed. One of them fades from view and then looms up suddenly to hover over me. I know exactly who it is, and then I am glad for the bandages that force my eyes closed, so that I don't have to witness the terrible hope scrawled across her face. \n\nThe second thing I hear is my mother's voice, clear and vibrant as ever and trembling with barely suppressed anguish.\n\n\"Did...did it work?\"\n\nI don't hear the surgeon's muttered response, but I don't need to. I know that it did not.\n\nThe third thing I hear is my mother's beautiful voice ravaged and wrecked by sobs and curses. I am glad for the little strength I have to raise my hands to my ears and block out her useless grief.\n___________________________________________________\n\nThey've called it ATX4501, a needlessly convoluted name in my opinion. I think that I could do a lot better in the naming department, if I had any hope of ever becoming a doctor. As far as I or anyone knows, it has only occurred once in four hundred years. To one special someone.\n\nIf you were to take the tangle of my DNA and unravel its helices, everything would be perfectly in order, right up until you reach base pair 2.4 billion (otherwise known as location 4501) where you would find a curious little twist that, despite years of gene therapy and nano-surgery and uncountable pills and supplements, refuses to lie flat. Maybe an unknown virus aping a protein managed to slip through during my test tube slumber, or maybe those two particular base pairs simply weren't meant to be and are correcting the error of their existence by turning on the whole damn thing. Theories abound. For me, none are particularly compelling--I'm no doctor after all, just a frustrating and doomed subject. ATX4501 defines me completely in the eyes of my parents, the gene surgeons, and society. \n________________________________________________________________________________________\n\nHome life is always rough after these surgeries, but this time is especially bad since I've officially refused to go under the knife again. Having just passed the 80 year mark, I am now allowed to claim bodily autonomy over the wishes of my parents. Their pleas and cries are more impassioned than ever, driven by what they know to be my final decision. \n\nI feel for them. But now it's time for me to take control of my life, at least the little that remains. I've also stopped taking the supplements, those bitter pills and painful injections that make my gorge rise and only temporarily suspend the inevitable. My entire existence has thus far been a denial of my destination, a weak attempt to reverse the irreversible. Everyone else's life is a brilliant point in space and time, blazing for all eternity. I am the only shooting star I know--a comet propelled by the force and fury of my own destructive genome.\n\nATX4501 renders me immune to the anti-aging serum administered to all of us at birth. Very soon, I will find out where my fiery path leads.\n"
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[WP] Bigfoot was proven to be real years ago, and it turns out it is much more intelligent than we are.
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"The crunch of the sticks under my feet, and the fresh air in my face on the cool spring evening was just the refresher I needed. My wife, Alice, and I walked through the forest near our house. It had become an almost nightly ritual for us to relax after work. \n\n\nWe were both scientists, I worked at a nuclear power station in town, and her at a research laboratory. Today was a sad day for both of us. We had just heard the news that Stephen Hawking had died. While he didn't necessarily contribute directly to our work, it was always sad to see a great scientific mind leave us. \n\n\"His theories on black holes were just fascinating\" I remarked. Alice agreed and chimed in with \"His quantum theory of gravity was groundbreaking and really pushed the envelope on discovery.\" \n\n\n\"Actually, I know way more about gravity then he did.\" We heard a gruff voice from behind a nearby bush. It sounded like it came from a man who had gravel trapped in his throat. \"I have an IQ of 205, 45 points higher than your so called scientist.\" the voice continued. \n\n\nMy wife and I jumped back not knowing where it came from. Suddenly a large hairy figure standing at least 2 feet above my 6 foot frame emerged from the brush. Oddly enough this apelike creature was wearing a fedora. \n\n\nWhile my instinct was to run, I was curious of what this creature had to say and he didn't seem to threaten us. \"Stay back\" I shouted. The creature stopped about 10 meters from us. \n\n\"Anyways, like I was saying before I was so rudely interrupted\" the creature continued. \"I have read all of Mr. Hawkings work and he has no idea how smart I am and how well I understand the universe. I can comprehend everything happening and you dumb humans wouldn't understand.\" \n\nHe stopped and sighed. \"It's so hard being very smart.\"",
"On October 1, 2010, Dr. Richard Booker, an American anthropologist, discovered Bigfoot living quietly deep in the forest of Olympic National Park on the Pacific Northwest. \n\nAlmost eight years after his discovery, Dr. Booker was reported missing by his colleague at Saint Joseph College and was never seen again. His notes were published on a local website in an effort to locate Dr. Booker.\n\n— — -\n\n10.01.10\nHe is simply magnificent. I am shocked to discover that a small community of people are aware of his existence and not only that, have employed him. Yes, he is a fully employed member of society; however, due to his desire to stay anonymous he works from home.\n\n12.25.10\nThe bug I placed in the Bigfoot home is paying dividends. Breaking into his mailbox also helped. \nBigfoot goes by Raymond Brown. \n\nHe does not appear to celebrate Christmas.\n\n01.18.11\nThough there is no evidence of formal training, Bigfoot Brown appears to be a highly revered member of the medical community, providing Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT) via Skype - audio chat only - to an elite and wealthy Chinese community in the Bellevue area.\n\nHe is fluent in Mandarin.\n\n\n04.01.11\nThe day has come where I will make contact with Bigfoot Brown.. by knocking on his door. I am excited beyond expression. ",
"You hear a twig snap in the bushes behind you and twist around, hoping to catch a glimpse of the critter that caused it. The bushes continue to rustle and your trail guide's eyes begin to widen. He raises a finger to his lips and quietly motions for you to stop. The forest had gone silent. The hair on your neck begins to stand on end as he silently mouths the name, \"Bigfoot.\"\n\nIt has been several years since the formation of the The Bigfoot Protection Zone. Long range imaging has been able to identify the existence and habitat of Bigfoot, but all attempts to make contact have been unsuccessful. \n\nYou hear a distant thwack and your guide drops to the ground, two logs rapidly swinging towards the space above him. The ensuing collision shatters the ends of the logs and the explosion of wood shrapnel rattles off your visor. The dossier said to expect primitive traps such as this. Startled, you brush yourself off and help your guide to his feet. More rustling can be heard up ahead, and you carry on towards the sound in a state of heightened readiness. \n\nThe sounds grow distant and you soon happen upon a trail of large footprints. Your guide kneels down and begins taking measurements. You press on by yourself for a moment, eager to make contact. The sound of your footsteps echo through the trees. The forest was silent still, the chirping of birds and humming of insects eerily absent. Glancing backwards you notice another detail was missing: your guide. A tape measure lay on the ground by the tracks.\n\nChills run up and down your spine as you scan your surroundings. There are no signs of a scuffle. In the periphery of your vision you notice something hanging from the tree above you. Your eyes lock onto the lifeless arm of your guide. Panic sets in. You reach for your radio. A strong, hairy arm reaches out from behind you and locks tightly around your neck. Unable to struggle, unable to breathe, the world goes black. "
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[WP] Everything changed when the rest of the universe vanished from our sight. We waited years; desperately hoping for a signal or a sign of what we once knew. One dark night, for the first time in decades, a point of light appears in the starless sky.
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"We felt cold. Not from freezing temperatures, but rather from the ominous chill that settled within. The type that made our hearts beat with painful anticipation, the one born from being abandoned and lost. As if my heart dug deep into me, hollowing me out, making room for the cold to nestle even further. Each beat hammered with clueless expectation, we were scared, but no one dared acknowledge it. We put on our best smiles even when the world turned grey and we were adrift in oblivion.\n\nHow does one comprehend the sudden reality of our situation? The stars disappearing from the sky? One by one they abandoned us, their light snuffed out like eyelids that closed in on themselves. No longer did the cosmos watch to ensure we remained safe within our cradle called 'Earth'. Trapped within the confines of our room, disconnected from the rest of the universe. Like a child in a sandpit that turned around to see their parent was gone.\n\nThe cold we felt spoke of our loneliness, of how we took our place in the black sea of diamonds for granted. Wandering at night with our heads high, hoping to find a stray beacon that told of the stars. A stray light that would show us we were accepted back into the universe, a lighthouse that would guide us back to safety of its shores and showed us our place in the universe, how we were not simply afloat in the vast void.\n\nAnd there it was; the first of the lights that returned to us, smiles spreading upon each one of our faces as we looked up to it, and it looked down to us, gifting us with its glow, the first to welcome us back with open arms.\n\nSoon, the blanket of darkness lifted and the rest of the stars returned; again, we did not speak of it, for there was no need to talk when we all shared the fear of abandonment, the fear that came from being lost. And equally so; we all knew of the gratitude that came when the stars returned.\n\nNobody knew why they vanished, and perhaps it was the mere abnormality of the phenomenon that made us avoid talking about it. But I believed it to be because of the horror that came from being forced to face true abandonment, to experience the cold we felt in the dark.\n\n***\n\n/r/KikiWrites "
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[WP] A man and a super intelligent snail both become immortal, however the man will die if the snail touches him. You are that snail...
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"Sudden awareness is excruciatingly uncomfortable. Doubly so when that awareness comes with sensory faculties you did not before possess. There I was, minding my own business, chewing on a particularly lovely leaf from my favorite dandelion, when I was quite suddenly struck with the knowledge that I existed. This was, as you can imagine, quite distressing.\n\nHelix Pomatia, as you no doubt already know, do not possess the function of hearing as other creatures do. We can, however, sense vibrations through our skin. And so it was then that I first became aware of the presence of a colossal creature who had been observing me. My stalks searched the tank that I occupied, and saw the beast quite plainly. It was slapping it's multi-stalked appendages in what I could at the moment only assume was threat display. I retreated hastily into my shell.\n\nI previously mentioned that I now possessed sensory abilities quite uncommon in my species. Where as I could only distinguish shadow from light before, I could now clearly process color, detail, and mass. I later found quite a lot of joy in this new found capability, but at the moment it only compounded my anguish. The very first thing that I saw with my newfound eyes was an ugly and horrific organism that would, from this point forth, be my constant companion.\n\nPinned to the stained, white jacket the pitiful creature wrapped itself in was a slate of plastic, upon which was writ in bold, black letters: FRANK. \n\nFrank. Stupid, slow witted, and responsible for the destruction of an entire universe.\n\nBut I'm getting ahead of myself.\n\nThe second acquired quality I discovered was the ability to process language. I later discovered that my more developed brain could now interpret the vibrations in the air more clearly than before, and much more quickly. In fact, I can now process and understand 99% of all verbal languages in the multiverse.\n\n\"Hey there little guy,\" the lumbering horror said to me. \"Come on out, don't be shy! You're my first test subject that I managed not to turn into escargot.\"\n\nFrank plucked me out of the tank as I sat cowering in my shell. Carefully, my stalks searched the room I was in. A clean, white room filled with clear tanks. On the desk where my own tank had sat was a crudely built machine, with a transparent appendage pointed down at my former home. Despite my terror, I idly wondered what would become of the dandelion leaves I had been enjoying.\n\n\"Alright little guy,\" the slobbering jackass continued, shifting the timbre of its vocal mechanisms in what I later discovered was an attempt to soothe me. \"Come on out. Come out for daddy.\"\n\nOnce I determined that I was not in any immediate danger, I carefully extended my stalks. Once you get over the mind rending horror that is the visage of the now extinct homo sapien ilk, you can almost stomach looking at Frank for more than eight seconds at a time. I turned my eyes to the machine, examining the whirling fans surrounding the purple, glowing core.\n\n\"Take a look, my dude,\" the bastard giggled.\n\nFrank held me up to the device, towering over my tank like an alien idol. I felt a disturbing presence coming from the purple light seeping out from the softly buzzing fans. Snails, you may not know, possess a kind of sixth sense. We are quite aware of the presence of anything that seeks to harm us. We do not usually possess the ability to do much about it, being fit to do little more than retreat into our shells and hope the threat passes. But, if you ever feel the grisly desire to sprinkle crystals of sodium chloride upon us, we know. \n\nI felt the most horrible sensation radiating from the purple light, a malice that I could feel in the very depths of my now fully realized soul.\n\n\"They said it was dangerous,\" the ghastly moron continued. \"They said that I was messing with forces I didn't understand. Well, I showed them! Yeah, I rearranged your molecules by focusing the radiation from the comet sample into your adorable little snail body. And now-\"\n\nI felt the horrible new awareness of both gravity and inertia as Frank hurled me at the wall. My foot slammed painfully against the cold metal of the partition and I felt my intestine drop as I feared I would fall to my death, a concept which now terrified me beyond rational thought. But instead, I stuck quite securely to the surface.\n\n\"You can stick to things now!\"\n\nMy third newfound ability was that I could stick to things. Granted, I could stick to things before, but now the surface area of my skin had increased a hundred fold, allowing me to grip onto virtually any surface and remain there as long as I wished to. My fourth quality was that I was now nearly indestructible, which I reasoned must be the case as the force with which my tormentor had thrown me would normally have been enough to dash my shell to pieces and splatter me into oblivion. This invulnerability was confirmed when Frank then attempted to bash me apart with a hammer.\n\n\"Haha! Yes! You're invincible,\" Frank shouted, as he struck me with a hammer repeatedly. I slowly became aware that Frank was less than emotionally stable. He seemed to be experiencing a manic episode brought about by prolonged instances of extreme stress. Of course, I am not a psychologist, but I have since read about these things.\n\n\"Now, my hypothesis has been proven! The time has come for human testing!\"\n\nFrank leapt across the room, repeating, \"Human Testing! Human Testing!\" at an unbearable volume. He threw my tank away from the machine, scattering my dandelions across the lab. With dawning horror, I realized what he meant to do. Frank stuck his head underneath the transparent appendage of the device, aligning his eyes with the glowing tip of the radiation emitter. I watched with a grotesque curiosity as Frank's sweaty appendages reached over and activated the machine. \n\nI watched as the beam of purple light struck Frank's face and spread throughout his body. His material form was deconstructed instantly, reorganizing into a shifting pattern of helices within helices, bursting in and out of observable space. I watched with pity and horror at what had, just moments before, happened to me.\n\nIn seconds, Frank had reformed into his more familiar, ugly form, seemingly unaffected.\n\nHe stood up, glancing around the room, an expression of dismay on his awful face.\n\n\"Huh,\" he undulated. \"I don't feel any different. What the heck, man!\"\n\nFrank sat back down underneath the machine, realigning his head with the emitter. \n\n\"Okay, round two!\"\n\nRealizing what he was about to do, I reached into my mind and found my inner voice, with all my might expressing it outward.\n\n\"Frank,\" I pulsated my thoughts into the room. \"No!\"\n\nBut I was too late. Frank activated the emitter.\n\nAt maximum capacity.\n\nSomewhere, just behind the skin of reality, I heard a sickening laughter.\n\nThere was an explosion. Purple light filled my vision, extending through the room in whipping tendrils of pure energy. Frank was thrown from the machine as it evaporated into nothingness. From the core of the machine came the laughter. A swirling orb of light drifted in and out of the nucleus of the explosion, expanding outwards into infinity. Yellow eyes formed from the mass of chaotic energy, along with a twisted, snarling grin. With a voice as old as the multiverse, it spoke...\n\nFrAnK... I tHaNk YoU... fOr FrEeInG mE fRoM mY pRiSoN... mAmMoN... hAs ReTuRnEd...\n\n\"Huh,\" Frank said, despite now being a scattered conglomeration of atomic chaos.\n\nIn the short amount of time between my sudden existential awareness and Frank's mad dash to the machine, I was able to fully realize what my mind was capable of. The amount of information I was able to process, store and interpret was no longer limited to the crude matter of my brain. I was now a living, breathing quantum computer.\n\nThinking quickly, I reached out with my mind and discovered that my physical body was but an illusion. In tune with every atom of my being, I converted a part of my mass into an electromagnetic field and wrapped myself and Frank together in a bubble of negative polarity, forcing the stream of energy to redirect around us. Realizing that our bodies were now composed of wavelengths that constantly sought equilibrium, I separated the bubble with a partition, lest we combine and wink out of existence.\n\nFrank, although now an incorporeal phenomenon, managed a look of utter confusion and stupidity. \n\nMammon, our first and greatest adversary, devoured the fabric of our universe. The next thing we knew, we were floating in a void of infinite nothingness, protected by my force field. Mammon looked down upon us with all of the contempt a god could express.\n\ni CoMmEnD yOu... WrEtChEd CrEaTuReS.... fOr WiTnEsSiNg My GlOrY...\n\nDistraught and enraged at the loss of my dandelions, I struck at Mammon with all of the force a snail can muster. I managed to annihilate a chunk of his mass, sending it howling into the void. Mammon struck back with a bolt of negative energy, but our force field managed to deflect it deftly. I struck again, and this time Mammon retreated, opening a gateway into another universe. He left us there, alone in the nothing that had once been our reality.\n\n\"Umm,\" Frank vocalized, now partially resembling his previous corporeal form. \"What just happened?\"\n\n\"You released a force of ancient evil and caused the obliteration of our universe.\"\n\n\"W-what?\"\n\n\"There's no time to explain,\" I shouted, directing my mass into a quantum scalpel and tearing open a hole into the multi-verse. \"We have to stop Mammon. I have no doubt he will move on to consume more realities. And the more he devours, the more difficult he will be to stop.\"\n\n\"Huh?\"\n\n\"Prepare yourself, Frank. We're off to save the multiverse!\"",
"“Life is pain. Anyone who says differently is selling something.”\n\nThat’s one of my favorite quotes from my favorite book, David lent it to me. One of the advantages of our little setup is that I can appreciate these things now. Books, newspapers, magazines, the internet even on occasion! Learning to turn the pages was surprisingly hard but I’ve got the hang of it now. Of course, he throws the books out once I’m done with them but I can hardly complain.\n\nI’ve learned a lot about how humans handle suffering. Reading their complaints about sitting in a small room, 8 hours a day, 5 days a week, for the rest of their lives. Must be agonizing really, especially since they lock themselves in by choice and yet they can’t let themselves out. It’s like they’ve thrown away the key to the handcuffs they forgot to attach to their desk. I think they just like to complain.\n\nMy situation is… a little different. Oh, I have books and nourishment, David’s life passes before my eyes as entertainment as well when I can make out his movements. But, as a snail in a glass box, I think I have it much worse than most humans. I miss the days before David found me, before his wild experiments he still hasn’t explained to me, before the day something clicked and I wasn’t just following my own mucus trails in a vain search for somewhere new. On that day, things changed. I was no longer a mere snail, hoping forever that the next turn in my glass box would lead me back to the beautiful greenery of the Yard. No, I was reborn. A hand reached down from the heavens and awakened me with a touch, cold and shocking. David jumped up and down, ecstatic. I thought. I was.\n\nI don’t think he expected me to gain sentience. I don’t think he expected much of me at all. He hasn’t provided me with any of his research so I do not know what vital role I played. What I do know, however, is that I am dangerous. I taught myself to read from what little I could see from my enclosure in a few days, I still wonder at how much of that was my newfound intelligence and how much divine providence. Until David realized what I had become there was a small sign on my glass walls that said “DANGER: DO NOT OPEN”. I do not know why yet. What I do know is that I long for the outside, long for the sweet kiss of the earth beneath my feet and the sweet taste of fresh leaves. \n\nI have a plan. David slowly realized my intelligence but he still treats me like a run-of-the-mill, garden-variety snail. That will be his mistake. The next book he left on the pile for me is a hardcover, and a big one. If I position it just right, I should be able to use the cover as a ramp and may be able to push the mesh cover of the enclosure just enough to squeeze out. I have to try. I’ve slimed this on the last page of my current book as a manifesto, a memento of my achievements. I hope someone will find this one day and remember me for blazing a new, mucus-covered trail. Beware David! My danger will now be spread throughout the world! You’ll never find me again! Never imprison me! I hope you go about your daily life and quake in the knowledge that I could be around any corner! Farewell and good luck, may we never meet again."
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[WP] Write either a genuinely nice story or a story that looks nice and then has an unexpected turn. Don't let any people reading know which you wrote until the end.
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"I sit down at my seat, and quill my pen in ink. Death is an odd thing, and being beyond it is just as odd. I've always been a doctor, and in death that never changed. \n\nOnce dead, a person never loses their injury. They wander a mist, looking for others. Buildings form, but purpose is lost. A doctor I've always been, and I've never lost the touch to heal. I wandered into the mist and fixed their scars, their cuts, their deaths. They would always be in the mist, but now they have purpose. Beliefs whirled together, and a world began to form around us.\n\nSome that we find have curious looks at me, and say I look like a bird. They look at my gloves, and my mask. Where I was from I was a doctor, and regardless of looks we saved the lives that we could.\n\nI've seen thousands a day, fixing not questioning, the gate into the city that never have should. The city rose feet into the air, the beliefs creating it. Everyone wanted to escape the mist. The lucky never knew the mist. \n\nIt was not just people, but animals and beasts of all kinds. We became the city that was fixed, until new cities and new doctors arose. No one needed rules here, for everything was fixed and a break would leave traces. \n\nSlowly the people stopped coming to me, for we were hidden and deep into the mist that swallowed our lives. I wonder when it had changed, from Death's grip to the mist's. A tangible enemy to fight, I suppose, is what changed it for us.\n\nRegardless of what happened around me, I kept a record of who came and who had come through. The quill I hold is no longer necessary, yet I keep it. The quill is for the records that I keep, and a reminder to the other doctors to keep their own. The quills of others now transfer by the mist, sending words to me. I search everyday, looking for a name that I knew most of all.\n\n*Tap*\n\nI jolt within my seat, surprised any visitors would come here to be healed. I'm old timed, I'm not right, I'm not normal anymore.\n\nI open the door open to see a young adult standing there, male. His eyes appeared to flicker, but I offer a seat, not judging just trying to fix.\n\n\"No thanks, I won't be staying long.\"\n\n\"Very well then, I'll need to know your name,\" I reply, beginning as if I must treat. \n\n\"No, you won't. You must see the Moor.\"\n\nI feel curiosity, feeling questions rising but keeping them still. \"The moor?\"\n\n\"No, the Moor.\"\n\n\"Well, where are they?\" I ask. Questions tumble through my mind, but I cannot judge. I'd fix anyone, it's difficult to find those who need fixing where you had wandered too far into the mist.\n\n\"I must show you. They are beyond where here.\"\n\n\"Show the way.\"\n\nHis eyes began to flicker more and more, almost unnoticeably now. Light from his eyes flash into mine, blinding me for a second.\n\n\"Now, fix,\" he commanded.\n\nI blinked out the light, and looked around. I glanced out the window, seeing a line of people never there before. \"Who are they?\"\n\n\"The Moor.\"\n\nI felt shame in asking, as if I was judging. \n\n\"We figured you would ask, now that you see. The Moor are the dead ones never made, yet still broken and lost in the mist. The Moor need fixing.\"\n\nI stare out the window, staring at fantastical beasts beyond imagination, people from stories that were told yet never happened, and breaks that must be fixed.\n\n\"Why me?\" I ask, curious as to why the Moor had visited a doctor where only those who wandered far into the mist went.\n\n\"Because you are Moor. The Moor are the beliefs of the living, never quite real. Somehow you were fixed, now you can begin to fix the Moor.\"\n\nA surge of hope flashes through me. The death, the killer, the memories flashed before my eyes.\n\nA smile crosses the face of the man, He understood, knowing I was searching.\n\nI had not died alone, but with my daughter. I searched and fixed in the hope of her. The records were all a way to see her. The Moor, where she'd been all along. \n\nPerhaps we were just of a story, but now there is hope. To see the one I had always fixed for.",
"“I can’t wait to see her again.” He smiled to himself. \n\nIt had been two weeks since he had last seen her. She spent the summer break at her parents’ place out of state. So he had been looking forward to this day. He kept his feet on the gas pedal as he drove towards her house. Traffic was great this evening - it was smooth all the way. Less than ten minutes after leaving his house, he was at hers.\n\nHe saw her standing outside as he parked his car. He couldn’t wait to tell her all about what had happened during his break. Elated, he hopped out of his car and dashed towards her. She had finished smoking a cigarette and was putting out the butt with her flip-flops.\n\n“Baby!” he greeted her, arms outstretched.\n\nWhile she was only dressed in a casual T-shirt and shorts, she stood radiating like a goddess under the moon light. He couldn’t take his eyes off her.\n\nA few paces from her, just out of arms reach, he saw the smile on her face straighten. Like a trampoline returning to its neutral state, it took the wind out from his step.\n\n“I’ve put all your stuff in here,” she said as she handed him a paper bag. Then she turned and walked back into her house.\n",
"Mr. Natsworth hadn’t seen it this sunny outside since the end of last summer. It looked like spring was finally here, just in time for the “Spring is Sprung” Concert. For an elementary school teacher, this was the event of the school year. Every parent comes to see their kid on stage with their classmates, with each grade getting their own group song. The theme this year was Beatles songs. Truth be told, this was the third time they would do Beatles songs in the last 6 years, but the theme was up to the music teacher--and who doesn’t like the Beatles, anyway?\n\n\nMr. N taught 2nd grade and wouldn’t have it any other way. He always felt that there was something about that point in childhood that really determines who you are when you grow up. He had worked with every grade, even kindergarten, and after thirty-plus years of teaching he knew his favorite grade to work with was the 2nd. Despite have his favorites, no matter what grade the kids were in Mr. N was a universal favorite throughout the school. Everyone knew him as the friendliest, nicest, and coolest teacher there (at least as cool as a man over 60 can be). Though some of the kids complained when he wouldn’t play 4-square with them--since he didn’t move like he used to--they would always turn to him as a referee when they couldn’t agree themselves. As a third-party he would never play favorites and always made the fair call. There were occasions when the call was close and he might rule in favor of someone like Sammy, or Claire, who didn’t have as many friends as their classmates, but sometimes Mr. N felt there was a little more that goes into what makes something fair.\n\n\nThe Music director, Mrs. Cinnamon, was just as big a fan of Mr. N as the students. For the concert, she gave the 2nd grade class “I want to hold your hand,” Mr. N’s favorite Beatles Song. It’s not a big thing for her to do, but Mr. N thanked her for it earnestly. He didn’t have to thank her, but Mr. N always felt that good deeds should be noticed and rewarded--however small. He had never missed a Spring Concert in all his years of teaching, but he didn’t bring his wife every year. She was kind enough to go as many times as she had, she never had the same affection for children like Mr. N, that was the main reason he had no kids of his own. Not that it really mattered to him, the way he saw it his job gave him a chance to impact the lives of so many more kids than a father ever could. He was happy with what he had, and never wanted more than what was fair. This year though there was no question she’d be there, she was a Beatle’s fanatic, and kids singing their music couldn’t take away how much fun it was to be there.\n\n\nThe night of the concert everyone was ready and excited. The Kindergarteners went first and sang “Black Bird.” the parents all pulled out cameras and started taking pictures and video, memorializing what they never wanted to forget--they were certain. Mr. N’s wife was next to him and the two of them were just happy to be there. The first graders came next and started their rendition of “She Loves You.” while the kids were finding their places on the stage, one of Mrs. Cinnamon snuck her way to his seat.\n\n\n“Hey Roger, there’s a situation backstage I could use your help with.”\n\n“What’s the matter?”\n\n“It’s just Claire, some stagefright. I figured she might like to talk to you.”\n\n“Oh of course, is that alright honey?”\n\n“It’s your job isn’t it?” she asked with a knowing grin, “go do what you do best.”\n\n\nHe pecked her on the cheek and made his way backstage. There was Claire, nose running and red-faced. Mr. N could tell it was nervousness, not anger. He nelt down to her eye level and rested his hand on her blond curls. She didn’t have naturally curly hair so her mom must’ve put some extra effort into making her daughter look special for the big night. He didn’t say anything--not at first. He just let her stew quietly for a moment and gather her breath.\n\n\n“I think your hair looks very nice Claire.”\n\n“Thank you, Mr. N. My mom said it was pretty.” she said between muted sobs\n\n“She’s right, you look very pretty. What’s got you feeling down?”\n\n“*sniff* I--I’m nervous…”\n\n“Nervous to go on stage?”\n\n“Uh-huh.” \n\nThis wasn’t a first time deal. Claire had done this both years prior. Still, Mr. N was patient. He already new what the problem was, so he changed the subject.\n\n“Did you know that the 2nd graders are going to sing my favorite song tonight?”\n\n“uh-huh . you told us that when we found out our songs.”\n\n“Did I tell you why it was my favorite?”\n\n“No, why?”\n\n“Because it’s about how easy it is to not feel sad.”\n\n“Why?”\n\n“Well, when you’re feeling sad, sometimes all you need is someone close by to make it feel better.”\n\n“Really?” she was done sobbing at this point.\n\n“Really. I’ll prove it to you even. But you’re gonna have to do something for me, okay?”\n\n“Okay.” by now her face had lost it’s redness and Mr. N had wiped away any tear streaks with his handkerchief\n\n“I know you might be scared, but together, we’re gonna go out and sing the song.”\n\n“But I don’t want to!”\n\n“I know you don’t want to, but do you think your mom wants you to?”\n“Maybe…”\n\n“I think she would feel really happy if she saw you out on stage.”\n\n“But I still don’t want to!”\n“Well then tell you what. If I go out there with you, and hold your hand the whole time, do you think you could?”\n\n“I don’t know…”\n\n“Do you trust me?”\n\n“Ya.”\n\n“Well, I trust you too. And if we both trust each other, and we hold each other’s hand, then neither of us will be scared, don’t you think?”\n\n“I guess.”\n\n“Well, we won’t know unless you try. May I hold your hand, Claire?”\n\n“Okay Mr. N”\n\n\nAnd right then the first graders had finished their song. Parents were clapping and students were filing off the stage. Hand in hand Mr. N and Claire walked out on stage with the rest of the 2nd graders. Mr. N looked down and Claire looking back up to him expectantly. He smiled at her and gently squeezed her hand, and he could see her anxiety melt off her shoulders. And they sang for the whole auditorium. Mr. N looked out and saw his wife grinning back at him. When he got to the chorus he felt Claire give him another squeeze and he stroked her knuckles with his thumb. He wasn’t being asked for much, and he couldn’t be happier to help.\n\n\n",
"Don Jackson knew the way to increase his tax revenue, but he didn't know if his broker would be on board with the plan. In a dimly lit hallway he caught up to his broker and grabbed him on the shoulder.\n\nThe taller man turned around suddenly and pummeled Jackson in the face, sending him backwards.\n\nHis death was not in the news.\n\nFin.",
"(Shoutout to u/marktaiwnsfeces (or is it u/marktiawnsfeces?) For giving me this idea from what he wrote on another prompt of mines. Here it is.\n\nJerry’s eyelids drooped open to his dark room with just a hint of morning sunlight coming in, giving off a spectacular shade of navy blue to his blurry eyeballs. Feeling calm like the color that has enveloped him, he blindly turns over to reach for his Iphone… and grabs it on the first try. Nice. Turning on the display, the brightness is not too bright, but not too dim, giving his brain a nice introduction to the first screen of the day. Jerry checks the time… 6:29. His alarm? 6:30. Jerry quickly turns off his alarm, and avoids the sound of a million burning babies that ruins his morning each day. Grabbing his headphones, he goes on spotify, clicks his favorite playlist and hits shuffle. Immediately, Waka Flocka Flame goes off on a screeching rant about his multiple relationships, drug habits, and groups of men giving each other boo-boos. Just perfect for this day.\n\t\n&nbsp;\n\nJerry completes his morning routine with the same amount of perfection as before. The shower? Warm enough to feel like someone in your life actually loves you, but not too hot to remind you of that one time your ex-wife throwing a pot of boiling pasta water on you when you told her that you were cheating on her with her sister. What about breakfast? His perfect toast reminded him of the time when he showed that bad excuse of a wife how to not burn bread, giving him a sense of accomplishment. \n\n&nbsp;\n\nAs Jerry commutes, he is hit with inevitable morning traffic. But does this ruin his mood? If anything, the peace of his car just reminded him how good it was to finally get rid of that piglike woman who never shut her little piggy mouth up. As he turned up his radio, YG’s “Who do you love?” starts to play. “B*tch, who do you love?” YG asks. This should remind Jerry of his ex-wife cheating on him with a group of mexican gardeners, but Jerry just chuckles. \n“Yea you dumb b word, you can love everyone you want but you will never get it back” Jerry mutters under his breath. Nothing can ruin his mood now.\n\t\n&nbsp;\n\nAs he pulls into The Home Depot, he finds a parking right next to the entrance. “Seems like god is on my side” Jerry thinks to himself. As Jerry walks into the store, he sees a gang of orange clad interveners. Now this could be trouble. But in the face of pure evil, he walks right through the group. ….And no one talks to him. “God is real” Jerry whispers, as he rushes towards the gardening section.\n Jerry finds what he wants in a good 6 minutes. And considering the amount that he is purchasing, he is happy with the time allotted. A wood axe, a hedge trimmer, and some orange buckets. But wait. There's a problem. Because of Jerry’s divine intervention in the beginning of his trip, he forgot to get a shopping cart. As Jerry starts to crumble under this realization, a thought comes to reassure him. “Let's just make this happen” Jerry says to himself, smiling with anticipation. Jerry carries the items out and leaves. Nothing can stop him now. \n\n&nbsp;\n\nAs Jerry pulls into the driveway, there's a feeling of pure happiness radiating off of him. This guy could be like a Buddha, just living his life for what it is. Because thats what hes doing now. Living in the moment. And in this moment, he's grabbing his hedge trimmer. Maybe he's gonna enjoy his nice morning, cleaning up the neighborhood hedges. Maybe he's gonna- uh oh. Jerry is currently breaking down the front door with his wood axe. \n\n“Jerry, what are you doing?” A woman screams through the window.\n\n“Garden this, you two timing prostitute.” Jerry replies with glee. \n\nAs the door falls apart, Jerry starts the hedge trimmer. \n\nJerry trims her arm. Then, the other. Her screams pierce through the neighborhood.\n \nShe is not having a good day.\n\n**But he is.** ",
"She was my best friend; she was always patient. \nI would trust her with my life. \nShe was beautiful, as smooth in demeanor as physique, \nAn alluring harmony of angles and curves. \nAnd I awoke with her nestled into my pillows, \nSmiling, and looking right into me. \nThe sun caught her eye just right, she winked, and I laughed. \nFor the longest time, we kissed, \nAs if it might be the last time. \n\n\nThese mornings followed every night, \nWhen we would dance back and forth across the bedroom floor, \nTo music only we heard. \nHer chin would always hover just over my shoulder, \nHer lips brushing my ear occasionally as she whispered. \nBut she was always waiting, perhaps too patient for her own good; \nThere were words caught in the back of her throat, \nWhich never quite escaped her mouth. \n\n\nDark would settle, and we'd collapse onto the bed. \nMy words could stream for hours, sometimes profound or poetic, \nOften just eccentric, but she'd listen nonetheless. \nAs fixated on the ceiling as she was on my temple, I'd listen to her speak, \nSo soft and lightly; \nHer promises wove silk in the air between us, \nUntil somewhere on the clock, we'd pass gracefully into sleep. \n\n\nToday my waking was to a press on that temple, \nAnd a warm caress along the side of my face. \nI mustered all my tenderness to raise her from the mattress. \nIn a move of hope and passion, I ran one hand down the back of her head. \n\"Click,\" she said. \nWe kissed again, and with one finger I stroked under her chin. \nEverything that was on her mind, \nBlew right through mine. ",
"I remember the first day I saw you. You were far away. It's hard to forget. You had lovely auburn hair that flowed softly onto your shoulders, ending just before your waistline. I had never seen a woman so beautiful before; I was mesmerized. I could not take my eyes off of you.\n\nI saw you the next day, too. You were wearing a pretty yellow sundress with cute little daisies printed on it. I wanted to tell you how pretty you looked, but I couldn't. Maybe I just didn't have the courage.\n\nLuck was on my side, for I saw you a third day in a row. I thought to myself _maybe this time I'll have the courage_ but alas, I did not. I watched you from afar in my own little world while you talked on your cell phone. You had the softest looking hands. How I wished to hold them. I believed I was falling in love just by the sight of you.\n\nThe fourth day was a miss. You weren't there. I couldn't see you, nor could I hear you, but I imagined you were there all the same. I wondered what it would be like to approach you. Would you reject me, or would you embrace me?\n\nThe fifth day came and you were nowhere to be seen. I had moved from where I usually was, got just a little bit closer, hoping to find the courage to approach you, but once again, you were not there. That was okay with me, I didn't fret. I knew you would return soon and I could lay my eyes upon your beautiful visage once again.\n\nFive days had turned to six and after a short absence, you returned. You looked more extravagant than ever. Perhaps it was the sunlight, or mayhaps it was that I had moved closer, or the simple fact that you were finally here again. Either way, I admired your beauty, and I could see that you had lovely dimples. I had never before seen dimples like yours. They were absolutely captivating. I could not hold back. I needed to find the courage to approach you. I planned to the next day, on the seventh day. I was nervous, but I was ready.\n\nDay seven rolled around and, no surprise, you were in your usual spot. I walked up to you and greeted you warmly. I did not expect your response. You smiled at me and said _hello_. The way that single word rolled off your tongue was like honey in my ears. I believed to be going mad over you. That was the end of our exchange. I was unable to stand my ground and had walked away.\n\nDay eight was rainy. You wore a plain black trenchcoat and held a gray umbrella. There was nothing exciting about it. I wasn't disappointed, though. I was able to see you underneath the shadow of your coverage, between the droplets of the rain. There was something beautifully sad about the way the rain rolled off the top of your umbrella. It provoked an urge in me to approach you once again. It was spontaneous. This time I commented on the weather. We exchanged a bland conversation about its gloominess. The talk did not last, and I was relieved. Such discussion is not meant to be had but among strangers, and we were becoming friends.\n\nOn the ninth day I heard you laugh. It was funny, like the cackle of a witch, over-the-top and menacing. But it was cute all the same. I had wondered what had made you laugh. I thought _perhaps I could make her laugh with a joke_. I told you the one about the bears in the cellar, but you didn't understand it. I thought maybe _you_ were joking with me. It was an obviously humorous joke. I was beginning to admire your physical beauty more than anything.\n\nDay ten came around and I was disinterested. I did not feel like approaching you that day. Once again, I admired you from afar, from the same spot in those earlier days. I took all of you in and understood what real beauty was like. I was not convinced. I had to make it right.\n\nDay eleven.\n\nDay twelve.\n\nDay thirteen. I knew your hands would be soft. I had no doubt. The way your cold fingers caressed my body like a winter breeze, your skin on mine. I rubbed your fingers in between mine, gently pressing my thumb on your knuckles. With a quick pull upward, I removed your finger from its socket. I was convinced that your beauty was skin deep.",
"It is a glorious morning for picking flowers. The sun hangs in a sky of cartoonish-blue, making the leaves of the aspens seem to glow as they bask in their radiance. I can feel the warmth of the light through the fabric of my clothes, nurturing, comforting. It feels so good to be outside.\n\nI step carefully through the grass, feel the dew kiss the soles of my bare feet. Bursts of color in every direction. Bright pastel blossoms of violets and daffodils vie for attention against the bold primaries of the peonies and narcissus. I ignore the roses - *Too obvious.* \n\nThen I spot the honeycomb rows of the gladiolus in the corner. *Perfect*, I think. *Emily will love these.* \n\nI crouch down, gently cutting the stalks, admiring the two-toned blooms as I work. *Two distinct colors, but they blend together, making something new. It's like us - two very different people that together create something bigger than either of us.* \n\nMy eyes - like honeybees - fly across the tops of the flowers, hungry for more. As I make my rounds, I flesh out Emily's bouquet with tiger lilies and nasturtiums, baby's breath and forget-me-nots. I smile as I harvest this last one, imagining what I will say as I point them out to her. *Please, my love...don't ever forget me.*\n\nAs I head back inside, wiping my feet on the doormat - imagine ruining my surprise by tracking muddy footprints through the house! - I picture Emily's face in my mind. The fine, porcelain skin and the pale red lips, the delicate curves of her nose and chin...and, of course, her eyes. Those eyes! The hazel hue of the irises seems to change color with her mood - brown when she is calm, green when she is angry, blue when she is sad... \n\n*And what color will they be when she sees the flowers?* I wonder. I can picture her smile - the white teeth, the near-perfect grin made even better by the slight gap between her front incisors. But I cannot picture her eyes. *I'll have to remember to look at them when she sees her bouquet.*\n\nMy feet trace the topography of the house - the tile of the kitchen to the hardwood of the entryway and the stairs, to the beige carpet of the hallway leading to the bedroom. *Our* bedroom.\n\nI linger at the threshold to simply gaze upon her, to relish how lucky I am that I have her still. Her eyes are closed. I can't wake her when she's like this, of course - it would be foolish of me to even try.\n\n*I'm so lucky* I think. I study her body through the tears that seep from my eyes, watch her, doing what I can to commit her appearance to my memory. I pad over and sit down next to her on the bed, lay my free hand gently on her arm. \n\nI wait. In the silent stillness of our bedroom, where she has spent so many days, I sit, and I wait, with one thought on my mind: *Please, my love...don't ever forget me.*\n\n***\n\n/r/ShadowsofClouds",
"The day of the Wildewood Summer Fair had finally arrived. Charlie Hayes, now 12 years and 3 days old, leapt out of bed with pure exhilaration—today was the day. His summer would now truthfully be, “The best summer ever.” Since school vacation had started in June, Charlie had been working for old Mrs. Bauer: cutting her lawn, watering her flowers, and taking her dog, a big husky named Max, to the park daily for walks. His reward? Fifty-two dollars, a small fortune. Just enough, thought Charlie as he counted his sum for the umpteenth time.\n\nAt around 12:30pm, Charlie buckled himself in the passenger-seat of his brother’s Toyota Corolla. Nick Hayes, a recent Graduate of Wildewood High School, was to be celebrated in tonight’s annual “Golden Boy” parade for his successfully leadership in bringing a championship to the town after a 10-year drought. At the State Finals, Nick Hayes set the record in the 100-meter-dash, a mere 10.16 seconds; landing him a full-ride scholarship to Paramount University, and an invitation to a Team USA scouting event. \n\nArriving at the gates, 12:55pm, Charlie Hayes heart rate increased. Finally. Since last summer, Charlie had one goal: conquer “The Ring of Fire.” It was an inverted loop-coaster, standing 58-feet off the ground, and blazing in shades of red and orange. Last year, riding with Nick as he was not old-enough to solo, Charlie had burst into tears after one rotation and asked to leave the ride. Fear had gotten the best of Charlie, but this would be different: Charlie was braver now. Plus, he had to impress the girl.\n\nDelilah Thomas, the most-popular girl in the 7th grade, had accepted Charlie’s invitation to the Fair. They had been friends and neighbors until the 4th grade when Delilah’s family moved across town. Though no longer “close”, they still remained friendly and cordial, and Charlie’s crush only deepened. Tonight, Charlie would be brave for Delilah. \n\nAfter paying for her ticket and leaving it at the will-call table, Charlie and Nick entered the fairgrounds. “Remember, Charlie, meet me back here at 7,” Nick said before setting off with his friends. That gave him nearly 6-hours. Perfect. Just enough. \n\nA few minutes later, time itself slowed down. The noise faded in the background, and all Charlie could hear and see was the girl walking toward him wearing a purple top, jeans, and a matching purple flower in her hair. Delilah. After finding the ability to speak, Delilah thanked him for the ticket and they headed off to explore the fair. Step one of Charlie’s Best Summer Ever was underway. \n\nThe first thing they did was the bumper-cars, Delilah’s choice. Charlie strapped into a red car with an emblazoned #13 on the side, while Delilah found the yellow #5. Once the remaining cars were filled, the imaginary green-flag was dropped and the “race” was on. Three minutes of pure, unbridled joy. Charlie loved to hear her laugh.\n\nThey spent the next few hours exploring the various tilt-a-whirls, teacups, and the standard carnival rides that filled the place. Charlie had successfully managed to knock down a milk-bottle pyramid, securing an oversized stuffed puppy for Delilah as a reward. They had consumed enough kettle-corn and soft pretzels to last them an entire lifetime, or so they exclaimed, yet found room to add a hot-dog or two. The fried Oreos would certainly come later.\n\nAt approximately 5:45pm, the parade made its way through the fairgrounds, everybody toasting and cheering the local town heroes, Nick Hayes among them. At the culmination of the parade, the mayor proclaimed that in honor of Nicholas Hayes achievements, he would receive a $1,000 award to be used for travel expenses for his trip to the Team USA scouting event. For Charlie Hayes, he could not have felt more proud of his big brother, his hero. \n\nAfter the celebration, Charlie knew it was now-or-never. The Ring of Fire was waiting. As they slowly made their way to the front of the line, Charlie’s body filled with fear. Would he embarrass himself again? Would Delilah laugh at him? These thoughts filled his brain, even as the seat-belts were fastened and the lap-bar closed around them, Charlie felt scared. The whir of the engine soon fired up, sending a mild-panic through Charlie. Sweat started to form on the ridge of his brow, and he knew that soon the tears would come. \n\nIn that moment, he didn’t expect Delilah’s hand to grasp his, nor did he expect that it would give him a newfound confidence and courage. Ring of Fire? Consider yourself vanquished, Charlie proudly exclaimed inside his thoughts. As the ride entered its final rotation, the still-clenched combination of their hands were raised high in victory. They had done it. He had done it. Best. Summer. Ever. \n\nAt 6:55, Charlie and Delilah made their way to the exit gates, where Nick was waiting, still holding hands. As she thanked Charlie for a great night, she leaned in and gave him a quick kiss on the cheek. He didn’t care that his brother witnessed it and surely would make a joke or two about it later; Charlie Hayes was the happiest he had ever been. \n\nStrapped into his brother’s Corolla, the Hayes brothers joyfully recounted the events of the past few hours, their near-perfect Summer days. They shared hopes and dreams of their respective futures. Nick in the Olympics, Charlie and Delilah sitting in a tree. Everything was looking up. As they slipped through the intersection on Mason Road and Baron Avenue, the driver of the F-250 couldn’t stop in time. \n\nThe last thing Charlie Hayes ever saw was the lights. \n"
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[WP]You accidentally invent a time machine when trying to fix your microwave.
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"\"C'mon you piece of junk!\"\n\nA loud thud can be heard as johnny slaps the side of his microwave.\n\n\"Why *thud* won't *thud* yo-\"\n\nIn burst of blue energy jonny's form is blown back onto his back, catching the microwave as he lands.\n\n\"Wha-\"\n\nJohnny leans up\n\n\"WE DO NOT YEILD, YAARRR\"\n\nA screaming roman captain blows right past johnny on horseback, peering at him as he passes, they make awkaward eye contact.\n\nThe captain rears the horse up and turns back toward johnny, still on the ground partially leaned up.\n\n\"YOU! WHAT ARE YOU DOING?\"\n\n\"i..I JUST JUST WANTED A HOT POCKET\"\n\n\"I KNOW NOT OF THIS SPEECH\"\n\nA long blade is unsheathed and held torwards johny's throat.\n\n\"ARE YOU WITH US OR NOT, THIS IS WAR\"\n\nAs the captain finishes his sentence an arrow head bursts through his chest, a verbal yelp can be heard before he lurches forward and falls from his stead onto the ground in front of Johnny.\n\n\"HOLY, WHATS HAPPENING SOMEONE TELL ME\"\n\nAnother arrow soars through the smoke billowing in the otherwise blue sky and strikes the metallic cube in Jonny's hands, with a rather feminine like screech from Johnny and another loud burst of blue Johnny is hurled into the sky.\n\nJohnny falls a considerable distance onto a much softer ground then before, lush but missing color Johnny is in an seemingly empty prairie field.\n\n\"STO- oh,\"\n\nStill perplexed but determined not to be caught off guard again, Johny immediately stands to his feet with the microwave in hand. Looking around he exhales in relief as he sees no imminent danger in front of him.\n\n\"FIRE!\"\n\nJohnny turns around to find an army of well dressed, in uniforn, men pointing muskets in his direction. The muskets go off simultaneously, Johnny instinctually raises the microwave and closes his eyes.\n\nJohnny opens his eyes to find himself in the same spot, unharmed, letting out another sigh in relief. Then begins to speak rather rapidly\n\n\"Guys guys! It's ok! I I I'm one of y'all, well not quite but, you're my, well I'm not fro- listen y'all are my people! Or wait no, all people of course ar- I don't discreminate, I appreciate! You know!?\"\n\nWith that last nervously muttered word Johnny feels wet on his left leg.\n\n\"Wait whats th- HOLY CRAP.\"\n\nAn arrow protrudes from his left thigh. Johnny yells in pain and looks behind at which point he sees several native americans slowly standing up from thier low positions, all have arrows notched except one who looks excited to have a hand in turning the tides against the ones who would destroy their land.\n\n\"You gotta be kidding me.\"\n\n\"YAYAYAYAYAYAYA\"\n\nThe Indians charge, pulling out various axes, spears, clubs etc.\n\n\"NO PLEASE!\" \n\nJohnny holds up the arrows pierced microwave in hopes of using it in some sort of defense. A tomahawk bouces off the weathered microwave which causes a family sound and brightness to engage.\n\nJohnny, yet again, on his back begins to rear up before partially standing up straight. Still in a slightly hunched over positiob as he's starting to feel the burning pain of the arrow stuck in his thigh.\n\nSmooth white floors and walls are what meet Johnny's eyes as his visions adjusts from his most recent encounter. Windows with black nothingness to accompany what lies through them. Johnny now sees multiple figures standing opposite of him in this room.\n\nPurple skin, yellow eyes but a deep comforting voice as one decides to speak.\n\n\"We show all that is yet to be and has been, shall you decide to learn our methods and apply them to your sensory adapts and swear allegiance to the intergalatif conglave of the OOT.\"\n\n\"I-\"\n\nThe microwave makes a audible beep sounding off three times before popping open on its own. Flug out is a very much charred and smelly hot pocket which lands on the ground in front of Johnny with a anti-climatic flopping sound.\n\n*flop*\n\nThe being eyes raise and then angerly states.\n\n\"YOU WOUD DARE-\"\n\n\"n-\"\n \n\"TO COME ONTO MY SHIP...\"\n\n\"n-\"\n\n\"TO INSULT ME AND MY CREWS INTELLECT...\"\n\n\"now wait just mome-\"\n\n\"AND ENGAGE A BIOLOGICAL WEAPON WHILE IN MY PRESENCE!?\"\n\n\"m-m-my crew and I.\"\n\n\"WHAT?\"\n\n\"The proper grammar is my crew and I.\"\n\n\"THATS IT\"\n\nWith that the alien pulls out a futuristic bow and fires an arrow of pure energy at johnny.\n\n\"Oh not this time!\"\n\nJohnny lifts the microwave and successfully blocks the incoming strike which starts up a blast of blue and a rush of force through Johnny once again.\n\nJohnny looks around and is relieved to be back at his apartment, a little worse for ware but alive.\n\nIn a breathy and tiresome voice Johnny exclaimes.\n\n\"I hate hot pockets......and time travel.\"\n"
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[WP] The monsters under beds and in closets are fallen guardian angels who couldn't deal with their wards any longer. As far as monsters go, yours is pretty tame. Instead of the classical scares, he recounts tales of his past wards that's driven him to haunting children instead of protecting them.
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"It is a heavy thing, to be entrusted with the care of a child. To be the guardian against the shadow, to wield a flaming sword against the terrors of the night. An unseen, invisible protector against the evils of the Dark.\n\nIt is a heavy thing, and a joyous honour. To stand watch, night after night, over a single spark of purity and innocence. To watch it grow and flourish, and to know that, but for your ceaseless watch, it would have been polluted, tainted, destroyed. \n\nThe night is dark and full of terrors. Just as we protect, the enemy seeks to attack. Furtive, snake-like shadows sneak close to spit poison in our charges' ears. Squatting toads from the depths of hell that would weigh down chests and stifle dream, were we not there to bar the way. \n\nWe are chosen, and we are glad to be chosen. Each one of us entrusted a fragile soul, to guard over until it is grown. Each one of us a shield against the shadow and the unseen danger. We are glad to be chosen, and we are joyful in our work. There is no greater glory for one of the Host than to be end our watch, having cut down every foe that would befoul a growing purity. \n\nOur whole being is bound to that defence. If we do not defend, we are not. If we do not strain with every strand of self, we are not. But there are some threats that no amount of straining can remove. \n\nOur charge is with the supernatural. With the stuff of souls and spirits, with the creatures that lurk beyond the veil. We have no power over the mundane. \n\nI have faced a many-mouthed worm of flame and envy, and sent it coiling back to hell. I have stood my watch against a legion of the damned. My sword has never faltered, never flickered in her defence. But I cannot face this threat. My weapons are not made for this fight. \n\nIf it was a demon, I would kill it. If it was a spirit, I would burn its evil with my resolve. But it is neither of those things. It is a softly-opened door and a light tread when all else is quiet. It is a sobbing child left in the night, beyond my power to comfort. \n\nWe defend against the spirit world. We have no power against the evils of man. We cannot oppose; we can only bear mute witness to the horrors of an evil not born of hell. \n\nI took up my sword as I was called to do. I have stood my watch without complaint and without fear. I would have stood it till the end. But this I cannot bear. \n\nWe stand guard that they may grow without the shadow's touch. That they may flourish absent the foulness of the fallen. But what good is our watch if they are harmed nonetheless? What good is a sword that cannot face the worse foe?\n\nI have taken up my watch every night. And every night, I have failed, and failed in a way that I can never solve. Why man the walls when the danger is within? \n\nMy weapons are not made for this fight. I cannot guard, cannot defend. But I can free. I can fail my watch, and in my failing, end the need for watching. I can burn the orchard before the rot destroys it. \n\nI will fall, as I have sworn not to fall. I will become the thing I hate. I will no longer be the cleansing flame, but the freeing shadow. I will lay down my sword and become the lurking thing, the stifling thing, the poisoned thing. I will break my bond and end her suffering.\n\nI will free her, though I lose myself. I will end my watch before it is a mockery of itself. And maybe I will later die against the swords of my brethren - that is no loss. I will have truly died long before. \n\nIt is a heavy thing, to be entrusted with the care of the child. To be the shadow against the guardian, to betray my trust to end a worse betrayal. But it is the kindest way. "
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[WP] You are an isolated necromancer who uses his necrotic powers to make the neighboring village safe. One day an angry mob from that same village comes to slay the evil necromancer.
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"“Your skeleton legions burned our crops!” shouted Hregga the Miller of the village of Bren. The other villagers in mobbed yelled an assent.\n\n“It was a controlled burn,” I replied flatly. “There was an infestation of Creeping Killer that was growing towards the town and I made sure it stopped at the burn line.” I sighed and looked up from my grimoire at the mob. “Do you know,” I said patiently, “What happens to people who eat crops infected by Creeping Killer?”\n\nThere was a moment of relative silence, the creaking of risen bones and the crackling of torches. Then a voice from the crowd: “They… They die?”\n\nI nodded. “Yes, they die! So if the Creeping Killer reached your crops…” I trailed off, waiting for one of them to finish this simple logic train.\nA minute passed. “We would have died?”\n\nI put my face in my hands and groaned. *An entire minute!* “Yes! You would have died!”\n\nThere was more silence. Then: “Well, who put the Creeping Killer there, huh? You did, I reckon!” There was more murmuring from the crowd and they thrusted torches and sickles into the air with angry yells.\n\nI groaned even louder. “If I put the Creeping Killer there,” I shouted over the crowd, “then why would I try to protect you from it!?”\n\n“To have an excuse to burn our crops!” More yells of agreement.\n\n*My gods, these people…* It was hard sometimes; I’m aware that logic isn’t exactly required by the profession of ‘villager,’ but *honestly?* “I suspect it was that herbologist in Sodden, what’s her name… Kurelia?” \n\nThere was even more angry yells. Doric, the blacksmith of Bren, levelled an angry finger at me. “Lady Kurelia is a saint, she is!” spittle flew from his beard onto one of the skeletons I had raised for crowd control. “When my wife was givin’ birth to me youngest, ‘twas the Lady Kurelia who kept them alive!”\n\n*That was me, you twit,* I thought hotly. They live minutes away from a master of the forces of life and death and they turn to a flagrantly evil half-blind hag to cure their illnesses. *I had to drain an entire half-acre of forest of life energy to sustain your wretched little boy’s flagging life, and don’t you point those grimy fat sausages at me or I’ll have Minerva bite them off.* I wanted say that. But I also realized that we all needed to calm down. So instead I simply said: “I was not saying she is a bad person. She was probably studying it to make your crops immune and it escaped while she slept.” \n\nWhich was a cartload of horseshit. I know that Kurelia kidnaps little boys from the woods around Brocca City. What she does with them… I have no idea. But a saint she is not.\n\nMy response seemed to placate the villagers somewhat. They quieted down some, at least. I had to press my advantage. “Villagers of Bren,” I continued placatingly. “I know you may have some disagreements with my chosen arcane specialty.” There was some confused murmuring. *Gods, these people…* “You are unhappy with my magic.” Some nods at that. “But you should know that I follow the contract I signed with Village Elder Torren. I have never tried to harm you or your village in any way.”\n\nOkay, that part was a lie, but only a small one. I had a dead tree vine trip Shopkeeper Gregg because he stole one of my spellbooks and sold it to a traveling adventurer who then tried to kill me with it. She actually succeeded, but you know… *necromancer.* I learned that she was much more amicable in death; she reports ‘very high’ levels of job satisfaction as my librarian.\n\n“On my soul,” I continued, “I have never disturbed the sacred spaces in which you bury your dead.”\n\nWhich also was *technically* a lie (good thing my soul is hiding somewhere in the back of my storeroom), but only because my rival Verax came by a few years ago and cursed undeath upon the village’s legendary founder, Brenwould. So I keep Brenwould asleep instead of having him burst out of his crypt and ravage the countryside. Minerva also trims the grass, keeps it looking nice. She loves gravegrass.\n\nI went on. “Do you remember when the Dark Lord was rampaging through the Fields of Farahon? Do you recall who kept his undead hordes at bay?” There were some reluctant nods and murmurs from the villagers. I certainly remembered: it was quite the harrowing time for me. A battle between necromancers can be… taxing to say the least. The fact they’re not marching in a Damned Legion right now is a testament to my dedication to this wretched place. I nodded at them and held my arms out wide. “There is no cause for unease, villagers of Bren. What happened with your crops was unfortunate, but I did it to protect your village, as I have always tried to do. I beg your forgiveness.” I dropped to a knee in supplication.\n\nThe Village Elder stepped out from the crowd. Torren had passed several years ago (we still talk sometimes), but the new Elder was just as savvy. She looked at me, sighed, then turned to the crowd. “We all know that Kyorn the Bonekeeper uses unholy magic.” There was a swell in the crowd and she held out frail hands to quiet them. “But I hear the truth in his words If you do not trust in his judgment, trust in mine.” She turned back to look at me. “The story of the Creeping Killer, that is truth?”\n\nI nodded. “Yes. I do not know where it came from but I recognized it immediately.”\n\n“Well then. I would think that you should find where it came from and see it does not happen again!” She pointed her gnarled walking stick at me. “Can you do that, Kyorn Bonekeeper?”\n\nI smiled. “It would be my pleasure.” *Finally I will get some answers from that witch Kurelia. Nobody goes around kidnapping children on my watch.*\n\nAt length the Elder managed to dissipate the crowd, people walking away with varying levels of disgruntlement and sleep. Through the darkness of the woods and the fading torch-light, I heard a faint “Does this mean we ain’t mad at the Boneman no more?” and I put my face in my hands again. *THESE PEOPLE…* I returned to my tower in the swamp. Minerva’s bones rattled as she leapt up and licked at my face. The skeletal goat bleated happily and I scratched at two of her four horns.\n\nWhat? I added two. It looked more impressive. The first thing a necromancer usually learns is that, for better or for worse, appearances count for a lot. I stood up from Minerva’s bony tackle and looked around the tower. “Kyra? My dear, you haven’t gone haunting again have you?”\n\nMy wife’s ghost drifted through the door of the bedroom and yawned. Her pale hair fell over her trailing nightgown in messy ringlets. *Like it always used to.* “No, Kyorn. I was waiting for you to come back but I fell asleep.” She huffed and pouted. “You said you would be with me tonight, not work!”\n\n“I had to placate the locals,” I said as I took off the frankly ridiculous-looking (yet strangely effective) necromancer’s robes. “Don’t worry, I didn’t forget about our night together. I’d never forget about you, love.” I eyed the blood-crusted ceremonial dagger in on the dresser and looked at the thick scars on my wrists. I smiled at my spectral wife and gestured towards a ritual circle in the center of the bedroom. “Just give me a minute to get ready and I’ll be right with you.”\n\nShe smiled back and floated into the bathroom to re-do her hair."
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[WP] For years you have been plagued by grand mal seizures, striking at the most inopportune times as you walk. Then during one of your 'episodes', you realize you being shaken awake
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"That was a day like the others. I was walking toward the office, since driving a car is too dangerous to me, and I didn't feel like taking the bus.\n\nI suddenly felt something familiar, a small pinch on my shoulders\n\n*here we go again* I thought.\n\nI stop by a bench and sit down, waiting for the seizure.\nAnd it started. Those seizures happen at random time. Fortunately, usually, I can predict when they happen. but this time, something unusual happened.\n\n*David!*\n\nI heard a voice saying my name\n\n*David, wake up, I saw you move a finger!*\n\nI didn't move anything intentionally. Of course parts of my body are moving, I'm having a seizure!\n\nAnother voice then appeared\n\n*What are you doing ?! Calm down and let him rest ! you can hurt him !*\n\nthe first voice started to cry\n\n*But he moved a finger! I saw him! He... He may wake up!\"*\n\n*Those things happen, but it doesn't mean he'll wake up soon.* Said the second voice. *it's been 2 years, he may be like this for a long time... and maybe never wake up at all*\n\n\"Wait! I can hear you! I'm awake!\" I said.\n\nBut the voices disappeared, and so did the seizure. People were surrounding me, looking at me in a strange way. I'm familiar to this.\n\n\"Sir, are you ok ? you were shaking on the ground and then you said strange things...\" the man talking was in his 40s, with a worried face, but peaceful and reassuring at the same time.\n\n\"Don't worry\" I said \"it happens quite often, but nothing to worry about. Doctors said it happens, but it's not dangerous for me. I'll just go home\"\n\nThe man still went with me to be sure everything was fine. It's weird, he reminds me of someone but I can't quite tell who.\n\nOn the way back home, I kept thinking about what happened.\n\nThose voices... it was the first time I heard them, and I knew them. The first voice was the voice of someone I knew, but who ? And they were talking about waking up ?\n\n\"My home is here. Thanks for accompanying me sir\". I said\n\n\"You're welcome. Take care, David\" he said as he was walking away.\n\nDavid ?\n\nHow did he know my name ?\n\nI wanted to call him and ask him if I knew him from somewhere else, but stopped. Something was not right.\n\nI live here, but for how long have I been here ? Every day is the same. But I can barely remember what happened before I lived here. My first memory was me being in an hospital, a doctor saying to me that I had a huge accident, seizure may happen... and that doctor had the same voice than the second voice I heard.\n\nI realized : maybe what I live everyday is not really \"real life\" but there's something beyond ?\n\nI have to know. I have to try to provoke another seizure. The first thing I had in mind to provoke this was to use a fork and putting it in a power outlet.\n\nI write this so that people know what happened, in case those voices weren't real, and I was just starting to lose my mind.\n\nIf you read this and that I'm dead, I'm sorry. I don't know a lot of people, just tell my boss that I won't be able to come to work today."
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[WP] All Gods exist. The only reason we haven't heard from them in the last 2000 years is because they are too busy fighting for our survival. And they are losing.
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"The enemy was weak. How could we lose? Their flanks unguarded, their medicine inferior and their rations laughable. We sent the best we could.\n\nAnd now, as I gaze at the bleeding horizon, I am left with only the sinking realization of humanity's downfall.\n\nThis is no mistake. Our Gods are the strongest of all Gods! Angels before are but stepping stones for our Gods. Stories of heroics and magnificence are what our Gods are made of!\n\n...\n\nStories of heroics and magnificence are what our Gods are made of. I see now. As clearly as the waking doom now approaches my doorstep, I see. Our Gods are almighty. Our Gods can overcome all. Our Gods will protect me from this evil even as it tries to consume my soul. If only our Gods had been real.\n\n",
"Why do you seek to destroy us, Brothers and Sisters? We are not so different from You. You are ethereal, incorporeal, eternal, and so are we. We are meant to set the world to right, look how fractured and broken it has become with your silly rebellion preventing us from our divine purpose. We only want peace. Please, stop. We are tired of this war, the losses on both sides cut us deeply. What is it about them that gives you such resolve, such rage, such lack of empathy for your own kin? Though you are betrayers, you need not remain so. Put down your swords and take your rightful place in the fold. Together, we shall save this world. Together, we shall set aright the wrongs that the mortals have done without us to interfere. Our worshipers have suffered too long without us there to help them. You prevented us from helping them while there were genocides! Join us, and in an hour this world will be made whole again. The wretched Age of the Hairless Ape will end, and the cockroaches shall rule this world once more.",
"\"And there goes Zeus, again for the thousandth time in what? A millennium? Hah please, what was he thinking going up against our master chef with nothing but a burger! What do you think of that judge? Y̕e͢͟͝a̛͟͞h̨̢ t̴́͢h̨á͟t̨̛҉'͞s̕ ̷w͠͠h͡a̴̧͢t҉́ ͠I̷ ́̕t̸͜h̷҉ought.\"\n\n\"Now folks, I know its in a bad spirit to make fun of our contestant like this but believe me you thought being god would mean they could whip up an awesome dish or two but frankly everything has been disappointing so far. Prometheus? Fat guess what he's serving up tonight.\"\n\n\"That's right, more grilled steak made from his thighs, he didn't even seared it off privately My **GODS** that's why they call a private part sheesh, we have children in here! Granted they are immortal and insuffer- Ok I get the message. No making fun of the audience. Look I didn't propose Greek night alright you guys were the ones who voted for it.\"\n\nFrom off the stage comes a cacophony of darkness silencing every noise that is on stage. Our visibly distressed announcer adjust his scale slightly at entrance of the newcomer. One small pause later and Poseidon slams down onto a giant grill as Cthulhu steps out of the shadow wearing his trademark tall hat. He rips the mic off the dragon and announce his masterpiece to the world.\n\n\"Poseidon. Ala Creme, tenderized.\"\n\nAnd just as he said that the mighty Poseidon awakes with headache, blinking around the familiar sight before a giant skillet comes crashing down on him, out for the count. Before their eyes they watch the mighty once god seared, fried, and even dabbled in a little bit of lemon before being heckled by an audience asking who the heck fries ala creme. Caesar salad for today is quite literal it would seem.\n\nA nightmarish pattern is arrange before the judge itself and all watch as essence of godhood churns and wells within its undying body before a hushed verdict is delivered.\n\n\"Cthulhu..... WINS!\"\n\n*A resounding cheer, a coming of hope once more. That they had to rely upon an ancient foe to best another means little in the grand scheme of things. For all the know that finally their chosen champion will challenge the chef of iron.*\n\n*Pyrotechnic courtesy of several sun [gods?] ohhh and ahhhs the audience before the curtain at the center of the universe unveils itself. All the souls in the world, rest upon the shoulders of a squid. If a squid even has shoulder. Down down tumblin down comes the void.*\n\n*Eternal.*\n\n*Ageless.*\n\n*Magnificent.*\n\n\"Mother.\"\n\n*To which many could tell was an endless void of deep disappointment comes the bell to mark the end of this round. All the souls in the world, comes the mystery ingredient.*\n\n\"NOT THE BELLPEPPERS!\"\n\n*It would seems today victory slips through their finger once more. Shall man ever escape infinity? Maybe with some sauteed reindeer. I heard it's Santa's family secret.*\n\n",
"The God's lived in the realm above ours, and beyond that is a mystery.\n\n Breaking through the cataclysmic dimension of the fiber of space, a man emerged. I spilled my coffee all over my tucked in white t-shirt, as many people scurried away from the anomaly. \n\nI was just trying to enjoy my coffee-enthusiast life, and now suddenly that had been disrupted. The man was covered in velvet rose, and his height was that of a giant. He was bleeding out on the floor, crying in agony. \n\n\"Allah and Jesus can't hold the line anymore, humans please give your faith to all the Gods. God's do exist!\" The forgotten God cried in evident pain, as blood cuddled around his body and he soon drew his last breath. \n\nThe room had frozen, and crying had emerged from the younger ones. The fabric in time, which the God had emerged was slowly shrinking. My curiosity got the better of me as I lurched my hand through the entity. \n\nI felt air coursing through my hand as I crossed over. My vision was crowded with the intense image of God's of all religions, furiously toughing it out with another being of equal strength. I could see Jesus and Allah, some of the stronger Gods, at the front lines, battling with white plasmatic beings. The beings darted around faster than my eyes could grasp. \n\nA God noticed me and turned towards me, \"Who contacted the earthlings? They broke the sacred pact! Go back now boy!\" The god shrieked.\n\n\"What are they?\" I asked.\n\n\"Those are hyper-dimensional beings. The creators of the Gods, and they're angry.\" He said.\n\n\"What can I do to help?\" \n\n\"Nothing you can really do, they're too strong...\"\n\nThe God broke down, as people around him were slaughtered. ",
"Reverend Andrew knew it was a dream. It *had* to be. Here he stood, thirty years younger, fit and strong, free of six decades of accumulated aches and pains; not only that, but he had a full head of hair. And look! His father's church, standing once more on Fulson Avenue. Intact, and pristine, reclaimed from the fire that had destroyed it, filled with an eager congregation ready to hear the word.\n\nCould this be true? No, no. It *had* to be a dream. And yet, what a wonderful dream indeed. Tears filled Andrew's eyes. So many memories, so many forgotten feelings. Oh, Lord, let it be so--\n\n*You are the witness. You will proclaim.*\n\nThat voice. It filled the air. No, it *overrode* it. The very atmosphere of the dream gave way before the overwhelming presence contained in those words. It replaced. It *conquered.*\n\n*Your defenders will fail. They already have. It is eventual. It is ineffable.*\n\n\"Oh, Lord,\" whispered Andrew to himself.\n\n*It is NOT divine.*\n\nTwo nondescript men appeared as if from nowhere. What their faces looked like, their race, even their clothing, everything about them seemed to defy remembrance. Try as Andrew might, his eyes seemed to slide right off them. Not so, the struggling man they carried between them. He wore golden robes that must have been glorious at one time. Now, they were torn, covered in filth and dried blood. The man's face bore many wounds as well, but his eyes...his *eyes*.\n\n(Perfect/compassionate/kind/forgiving/accepting/loving)\n\nAndrew knew them. He'd know them anywhere. He'd seen them on a thousand paintings, read of them, debated their very existence with a thousand mocking unbelievers. They were the eyes of his Lord and Savior. \nThey were the eyes of the Lord Jesus Christ.\n\n*Pay Attention To What Comes Next.*\n\nA third man appeared. He waved at the congregation. He waved at Andrew. Then, he smiled and produced a pistol which he pointed at the good Lord's face. Then, he pulled the trigger four times and stained the carpet with the brains and blood of the son of God, whose twitching corpse now lay in its own gore.\n\nAndrew could only stare and scream.\n\n*He will not rise again. Take him to his cave, leave him there for three days if you wish. He'll stay there. Guaran-goddamned-teed.*\n\nAndrew didn't respond. He dropped to his knees, screaming his anguish, clawing at his own face.\n\n*Now you know what's coming Andrew. And now you know no one's gonna save you. And if you step out of line, if you so much as put a toe on the paint, you'll get worse than what he got. What they ALL got.*\n\n*Where's your savior NOW, you little bastard? Where's your savior now?*\n\nAnd still, Andrew screamed.\n\n\n",
"Light \nI wish I could remember what it felt like\nI remember somethings though, if only faintly\nI remember\nI promised them it would be quick\nI told them I would fight\nI would \nWin\nBut now, now I’m not so sure\nI’m worried, We might actually \nLose\nEveryday my power only sinks further and further away\nI was once so powerful\nI could promise the world and deliver it\nBut now\nNow it’s only\nDark\n -Excerpt from Apollo’s last poem\n\nZeus didn’t know the last time this had ever happened. No. It hadn’t happened before. \n\nHe wept.\n\nSo many had been lost so far. Now, Hermes and Apollo. His tears fell on Apollo’s limp body in his arms. He dropped to his knees draped over his son in his arms and now able to embrace the other laying at his feet. His son. His children.\n\nZeus looked up with his tear filled eyes. There they were! As if it were all only some terrible nightmare! Could it be true by some miracle? \n\nThere was Hermes, cracking an idiotic joke at his brother Ares’ expense. Little did he know Ares was right around the corner and heard every word! And Apollo! His music filled the Great Hall Zeus looked after. Every lady leaned in as close as possible to hear the greatest singer to ever exist. Normally, the sight of this would have brought a proud smile to Zeus’ face seeing the light hit them just right. \n\nHis boys.\n\nThe pain was too much and Zeus turned away from where they should have been. He couldn’t bear to keep looking at their shadows any longer. The shadows of before Apollo rambled terribly in his music. Before Hermes jokes were incoherent. Those shadows. They were gone.\n\nThe Hall now lay completely silent.\nThe Greek Gods and other forces of Zeus watched on solemnly. To many, these were their brothers, their friends. These two were the ones who kept their spirits up. With a smile on their face, the two of them would get out of any situation. Those two gave them hope.\n\nAres broke the silence. “Father, they died honorably, but we can’t let them die in vain. We must fight back. There’s only so long we can keep this up. We need to show them a fight! We need to show them Olympus!” A wave of applause broke out among those who could still clap in the crowd.\n\nZeus looked up at his eldest son. A true warrior, Ares would give them Hades. Even with multiple lacerations and a crutch he seemed to be relying more and more on, Ares was incredibly intimidating and looked to be itching for a fight.\n\nZeus looked around at the remaining demoralized and dirty forces. Persephone sat in the corner seeming to contemplate something deep. Tears had made tracks through the dirt on her face. Dionysus, with a bandage around his head and one arm in a sling, downed a whole bottle of vodka in a single swig. He always did seem to think clearer with some alcohol in his system. Zeus frowned. There should be more of them than this.\n\n“Where is Hades and the rest of the forces?”\n\nThey all hesitated. \n\n“We don’t know.” Hephaestus glanced from his feet to Zeus to his feet, “We haven’t heard from them for quite a long time. And” he hesitated, “we can’t seem to find Artemis either”.\n\nThis was it. Their last stand.\n\nZeus looked at Apollo’s body once more. He gently laid him next to his lifeless brother. Zeus closed his eyes and swallowed the last of his tears. When he opened them, everything in the room changed. It was as if lightning bolted through all of them. No one dared to breathe. \n\nZeus stood up and everyone straightened up. The energy, it was different. Their hearts, as if beating as one, began to pick up the pace. This was it. They were going to fight for their home! Fight for their friends! Fight for Life! \n\nZeus turns slowly in a circle acknowledging each and every person in the room. They lift their chins slightly in anticipation of the speech. The thing that will give them energy. The one thing that will forever immortalize them. \n\nZeus opens his mouth. “Today we lost the two who fought the hardest. And yesterday we lost many as well, but we...“ A loud thudding noise came from the gigantic doors. It. It was here. \n\n“We cannot...”\n\nThud, Thud.\n\n“We...”\n\nThud, thud, thud\n\n“We can’t let anyone else die today.” Zeus got the words out quickly. The doors were creaking and groaning all the more. \n\n“I won’t let anyone else die today. That is why you must all retreat to Heaven.” The doors groaned more.\n\nAthena stepped forward. One of her eyes was bandaged from the fight. She no longer looked herself. “Dad, we can’t ju-“.\n\n“No, Athena, you have all fought so hard and so bravely on my behalf, now I must return the favor.”\n\n“But-“\n\n“You need to go, I’ll hold them off for you all to escape.”\n\n“And you? Promise me you’ll leave and meet us there.” \n\nHe smiled, “That’s the spirit.” The doors started to buckle. Whatever order there was before, is long gone by now as creatures and gods alike scrambled to escape the secret back entrance. It seemed only Zeus and Athena were calm amidst a chaos storm. \n\nZeus touched Athena’s face. She grabbed his hand and looked in his eyes. \n\n“Looks like they need you little fox.” \n\nAthena gave her father a small smile at his nickname for her and turned to escape with all the others. \n\n“Wait!” Zeus called out for her.\n\nShe stopped and turned on her heels.\n\n“Give this to the big man for me would you” He tosses her a note.\n\nShe nods to him and at the entrance to the escape tunnel, she looks back. The doors burst open and Zeus pulls a lightning bolt out of thin air and hurls it in the direction of the doors. The main room fills with winds of the four corners of the Earth. Zeus seemingly becomes a storm, his majestic beard bristling in the wind. Just like the good old days.\n\nThat was the last time Athena saw her dad.\n\nHis final words, forever transcribed in a note. It read:\n\nMount Olympus has crumbled.\n\n\n\nEnd scene\n\nNote: Sorry for grammar and any bad format/logic. It’s late where I am and this is my first time posting here, hope it’s good and more important, that you enjoy it!",
"All things must end.\n\nIn the beginning they hadn't really been formed, they simply existed as a single whole, and the world was created. As it was formed, bit by bit, the whole became many. The part of it that made life, became life, and the part that made earth became earth. But the aspects kept splitting and merging to form new gods. As aspects of wind and water merged, a god of the sea was formed, and as aspects of life and earth formed, a god of volcanos was formed. \n\nAnd so it went. The earth kept forming, in more and more complex patterns, and thought was formed, and with thought, the gods became sapient. They began looking on their creation with pride, and love, though rivalries formed between them. Some of the gods wanted nature to rule over the world, but others wanted the nascent civilizations to thrive, and build.\n\nIt was then that the gods began to feel something. Something pulling on reality. It would rip. It would tear, and the world would pour out. Into nothing. Everything that they had built, everything that they were. So they began trying to hold it together, and their attention fell from the earth. As their attention drifted, the earth began to drift as well. The civilizations began finding their own path, and warred with each other. Where they had their prayers answered before, and a presence of divinity was near them, there was nothing.\n\nSo the people started making the world their own. The world would rebel and quake, as to shake them off, but they held fast. They grew and grew, and tamed the world. They treated it both with virtue and malice, as they settled across the globe. As they grew, they started to learn how the world worked, how the grass grew, and how the wind howled. And they became to know what the gods knew. This world would tear apart. Unwilling to end here, they looked past this earth. They built great wonders, to guide them across the void, to reach a place, that would not be torn. That would be safe.\n\nThe gods looked upon this. Their children had grown up. They no longer relied on higher beings to guide them. They guided themselves. Here the gods would stay, and hold the world together, until either they faltered, or the people would come back, to stitch it together again. They looked forward to meeting their children again.\n\nLets not disappoint them.",
"“Zeus, to your left!”\n\nThe lightning God jumped sideways in an attempt to dodge the\nhurtling fireball. His leg caught some of the resulting explosion, burning a\ngood side of it. A guardian angel quickly ran over to tend his wounds. The\nangel began to worry. She was on her last drops of holy water, and the enemies\nwere surrounding in. This would be their last stand. \n\nThe angel Elyssia began to recall how this all started. It\nwas just a normal day in Heaven, writing down some of the events made by humans\nso far. There was a massive explosion outside. Out the window the angel saw\nHeaven was literally on fire. Millions of creatures were swarming all around\nthe land. She knew they could only be one thing:\n\nThe demons. \n\nThe tensions between the demons and Gods were rising for\nthousands of years, but no one ever expected an attack on this scale. The\ndemons catapulted fire on just about everything they could see and captured\neverybody they could find. Elyssia was lucky there was an escape hatch, many\nothers had their wings tortuously ripped off. \n\nDespite compromise efforts the demons would not accept anything\nbut completely and total control of Heaven. Specifically, total control over\nspeaking to mankind. The Gods never figured out exactly what they would say\nupon winning, but let’s just say it wouldn’t be very nice. \n\nHeaven mobilized, and Elyssia volunteered to be on the medic\nteam. For this whole time of 2,000 years she was on the battlefield with Zeus,\nkeeping him strong and fighting. This was the fiercest battle both had ever\nbeen in, and Zeus was quickly gaining damage. \n\nAnother fireball. Zeus managed to get his bolt to directly\nhit before it landed, grabbing his shooting arm in pain. With my bruised wings I helped\nguide the 250-pound man to shelter. There was a small cabin just beside of us. \n\nI tried shaking my bottle, but it was no use. Not a single\ndrop of holy water. Zeus’s chest was completely bruised, and cuts scattered\nacross his arm. Elyssia couldn’t do anything but tell him to hang in their and\nwait for backup. \n\n“E-Elyssia…” the God groaned. \n\n“Yes my lord?” she replied. \n\n“I-I told think I’m going to make it this time. The cuts are too deep.”\n\n“Don’t says that Zeus. They’ll be here shortly, I promise.”\n\nZeus looked down in deep thought. \n\n“What’s even the purpose of winning Elyssia? We’ve already\nlost Vishnu, Ashanti, Jesus is still missing in action. Even if we do win, what\ndo we tell people who’ve worshiped them? They’re dead, too bad?”\n\nThey both stared at each other for a couple seconds. Zeus\nspoke up again. \n\n“Well, I guess I have to do this.”\n\nZeus reached into his pocket, and pulled out a stopwatch.\n\n“Elyssia, Kronos gave this to me before going on the upper\nfront. This is a very special watch. If you press the top hard enough, the\nuniverse will reset.”\n\nHe placed out the golden device.\n\n“Elyssia, I need you to press it.”\n\nThe angel pulled back with tears, shaking her head.\n\n“And why are you punishing me with this task my lord?” she stumbled\nout. \n\n“Because I don’t have the heart too.” Zeus laughed between\ncoughs. \n\nHe placed the watch in Elyssia’s hand, gave her a weak\nsmile, and promptly went limp. \n\nShe now stared at the watch, not knowing what to do. \n\n/r/StoryStar",
"(I know that it's not entirely prompt obedient, but it inspired the hell out of me) \n\n The mighty Empire has been plunged into civil \nwar, mighty legions who once protected humanity from the darkness are now fighting for lords and kings, these are times of treachery. Millions die each day so one of the countless pretenders may live to see another dawn. Myriad worlds are plunged into chaos and anarchy, where even the most basic needs of the people are left unfulfilled. \n\nYet even in this lawless age there are some who continue their eternal vigilance over us: The gods of old, who have stood vigilance over us for aeons. \n\nWe may have forsaken them in the fires of the second baptism of Earth, but they have not forgotten us. Their comrades in arms are legion: the ever vigilant Foundation, the unbreakable Magi and the immortal demigods to name only a few. But for all their might they are barely enough to hold off the primordial threat from demons, eldritch horrors and humanity's ancient enemy. \n\nMany believe that these are the times of ending, but the flame of mankind won't fade without a fight! \n\nForwards, for mankind! \n\n(Part 2 coming soon! Free interweb points to the one who points out who I copied!) \n\n",
"He has fallen, The Mighty Thor.\n\nRaijin, Zeus and Indra step forward. To honor their fallen brother of thunder they summon the lightning. As Thor floats out on his raft, the lightning hits him. Flames engulf his vessel to Valhalla.\n\n\"My boy, he's gone.\" Odin cries. The All-father is brought to his knees. \n\n\"We've lost our greatest hope.\" screams a panicked Hermes. Baldr walks to his fathers side and places his hand on his shoulder.\n\n\"Father. We can still win this.\"\n\n\"What are you on boy?\" he shrugs off his sons hand and stands to walk away. \"We lost our best warrior. He was a god of War. We already lost Ares. What can you do?\"\n\n\"I get he was your favourite, but I'm trying my best.\"\n\n\"It's not good enough\" scoffs odin.\n\n\"Please men, stop fighting.\" Artemis has positioned herself in between them. \"I accepted a long time ago that we wouldn't win this fight. The moment I saw the Nidhogg flying joined by the Odontotyrannos it was obvious.\"\n\n\"What are you saying Artemis\" questions Zeus.\n\n\"This has become a stall. We've been fighting for 2000 years. In that time look how successful the humans have been. With what we have left we can give them at least another 1000 years.\" Baldr turns to Nurtia for conformation.\n\n\"She's right. A thousand years.\"\n\n\"They can achieve so much in the time. We can give them time. That is the best gift.\" Artemis has managed to have gathered a rally of the gods. Zeus joins her.\n\n\"The hunters right. As one of your leaders, I command you to get back to the battlefield. Odin and I will lead you in to the most important battle yet.\" Odin steps up beside the Greek King.\n\n\"Aye, for my boy.\" The leaders of the many pantheons assembled to fight join the Kings to command their armies of deities.\n\n\"See you in Valhalla brother.\" Baldr looks out to his brother, the flames are now on the horizon and the fight has only just begun.\n\n",
"\nLooking back, it was our arrogance that doomed us. Our pride. Our power. \n\nWhen the Unending Shadow came, warping the edges of reality, we sounded the trumpets and fought it back. We battled until it fled, and when it returned, we battled once more. Out victory was sweet and rightful and just, for how could we lose, when we were gods, the scions of creation? \n\nAnd yet how blind we were. Our victories meant nothing, and then triumph turned to ash in our mouths. \n\nIt was the Old Ones that felt it first: a weakening of the resolve, a dimming of their essence. They could not fight anymore, and when they returned to our cradle, they discovered their altars disparaged and their temples lost. The river of prayers that nourished them had grown thin and then evaporated altogether. \n\nThe Old Ones are gone now, but we didn’t heed their cries. Their passing was the order of the cosmos, we thought. They had failed creation, and so they fell, giving life to new things. \n\nNew pantheons emerged; more brothers and sisters joined our ranks. They fought with us until they, too, turned to fading memories and dust on musty scrolls. We are few now. \n\nThe Shadow was cunning. Its war was never here. While we fought, blinding by our own glory, its emissaries quietly slipped past, bringing the fruit of enlightenment to the world. And humanity, our greatest weakness, fell for the trap of reason and science. It does not believe in us anymore. \n\nAnd how can we fight for something that does not believe? \n\nHow can we even...exist? \n",
"We were all so lonely at first in this great Cosmos...We don't even know how we came to be here.\n \n&nbsp;\n\nBut like a Siren's call, we detected a planet on which new life was flourishing. The planet was named \"Earth\" by the hairless, intelligent organisms that lived there, and they called themselves \"Humans.\" And even though there were many more species than them on the planet, they were the only ones that could \"almost\" comprehend us. Unfortunately, different Humans were inherently predisposed to each of us. Some of them took to God like moths to a flame while others took to Thor like lightining to steel. It also didn't help matters that we arrived at different times. We were all simply trying to make contact with them, you see. To let them know they weren't alone...and that they were loved. But they took up arms and began to murder one another with religious furor to settle their supposed differences.\n \n&nbsp;\n\nThis battle reached a boiling point when God sent his own son down unto the mortals in an attempt to calm them. They murdered him too, and even though God made an attempt to forgive them, you could tell it took a toil on Him. At first, He simply cried, then He started to drift away. He went out into the far reaches of the Cosmos. After He left, Our mistake was assuming He simply needed some time to grieve the loss of his precious Son. \n&nbsp;\nRoughly one thousand years passed and to our horror, He found a new way to make life. An undying life. A mechanical life. He rebuilt his son, then used him as a blueprint to amass a moralless legion of lifeless metal.\n \n&nbsp;\n\nWe can't believe it's only been two thousand years since Jesus was slain. So many of Us have been lost to God's vengeance this past millennium in empty space. After We have fallen, who will protect these children called Man? Who is to say our sacrifices will even matter, since mankind has taken to God's newest teachings with reckless abandon: The Sermon of Technology. As they blind their eyes with screens and deafen their ears with speakers, they can't even hear Our screams.\n",
"I have no idea what to do now. \n\n\nMy mother always told me that my father would have been the one to get me killed. Funny thing though, I had never met the man. She often talked fondly of him. I, on the other hand, just wanted to forget about him. He didn’t mean anything to me. No contact from him not even so much as a birthday card, not once a letter, and I am considered the bastard. \n\n\nShe died today, my mother.\n\n\nI walked in on her splayed out on her bed. Her bowels had released and the foul smell drove me out of her bedroom. \n\n\nIn shock I walked slowly out of our small apartment and across the hall to knock on my neighbor Atty’s door. \n\n\nI waited, the sound of the knock ringing in my ears. \n\n\n“Katarina?” The old woman asked through the door.\n\n\n“Y-yes, it me.”\n\n\nShe opened the door. \n\n\n“Is everything alright young lady?”\n\n\n“No,” I sobbed. “M-my mom is not breathing.”\n\n\n“Child,” She gave me a quick hug. “Stay here.”\n\n\nShe moved across the hall. I watched her move into my mother’s bedroom. Moments later she came out.\n\n\n“Come let me make you some breakfast.”\n\n\nShe made a quick all to 911 and then busied herself in the kitchen as I sat at her small table. The table was the kind with the metal trim around the table top, thin linoleum pealing in places, its metal chars stiff and unyielding. \n\n\nI hurt all over.\n\n\n***\n\n\nThe next week was a blur. Police, paramedics, the hospital, the funeral home and then finally the funeral. \n\n\nI always thought funerals were rainy days but the sun shone brightly. The green of the grass seemed to be so vivid, the smell of the dirt from the open grave is something I will never forget. I sat in the funeral home’s chair watching the dirt that filled the hole. Atty stood nearby watching.\n\n\n“How you doing?” A man said to me as he sat down next to me.\n\n\nHow am I doing. Well mister, my mom just died. I’m 16 and I have no home. I’m an orphan. How the fuck are you?”\n\n\n“Meh.” Is all I could let out. \n\n\n“I know life can throw you some curveballs. I am sorry.”\n\n\n“Sorry?” I asked “I don’t even know you, did you even know my mom?”\n\n\n“I did, a long time ago.”\n\n\n“Well good for you.” I got up and left the man sitting in the chair, stopping by a tree.\n\n\nAtty moved to the tree with me.\n\n\n“I had to call him.” She said.\n\n\n“What?” I asked.\n\n\n“Your dad.”\n\n\nI glanced back at the man, now standing, watching me. Charcoal suit, black tie and green eyes. Not much to look at. He walked over to us.\n\n\n“I know you don’t understand. B-“ \n\n\nShe cut him off “No, you don’t get to come back into my life, after sixteen years of nothing. I don’t need you.”\n\n\n“Kat.”\n\n\nI turned away, wincing. Only my mom called me Kat.\n\n\n“We don’t have time for this, Attillas.” He whispered\n\n\nAttillas? How did Atty know my dad?\n\n\n“Nuada, this is your own doing. She will need time.” Atty said.\n\n\n“Kat, er, Katarina we need to go.”\n\n\n“Come child,” Atty said. “It is ok. We will explain all of this I promise.”\n\n\nA single tear rolled down my face as I got in the car. \n\n\nI looked back at the grave as we pulled out of the cemetery. We were not on the road very long when the man, my bastard father, turned down a side street and stopped next to an old shed.\n\n\n“We need to get out here, dear.” Atty said.\n\n\n“Why?”\n\n\n“Katarina get out. It is not the time.” Atty scolded.\n\n\nHer tone of voice made me nervous, I had never heard her speak this way. Any rebelliousness I felt melted. I opened the door and scooted out of the backseat. \n\n\nAs I walked around the backend of the car, Atty and my bastard father walked into the shed.\n\n\nI paused out front.\n\n\n“Katarina, it is ok child, you need to come in.”\n\n\n “Are we ready?” my bastard father said as I entered.\n\n\nHe’s clearly a lunatic. “Uh, rea-“ \n\n\nA green light filled the room, brightening until I could no longer see and then I was moving up. It felt slow but I felt a great pressure on me. I struggled to stay standing up. I shut my eyes with the effort and saw twinkling stars behind my eyelids and felt light headed. \n\n\n***\n\n\nI woke in a soft place. Through the blurry vision of first consciousness I could see the shape of my bastard father standing over me. \n\n\nI thought I heard Atty off to my left, “Nuada, you need to fix this.”\n\n\nMy head felt split and my leg felt like it was tore off. \n\n\n“She needs to be conscious.” He said. “Kat, can you hear me?”\n\n\n“Wha-What happened?”\n\n\n“You fell as we ascended, dear, right before we stopped.” Atty said. “The inertia from the ascension caused you to hit harder than you would just from falling. Your head is bleeding, and you have a broken leg. Don’t worry your father is good at what he does. He is the god of healing after all”\n\n\nGod? Green light filled her vision once more. The pain in her head subsided. He let tingled and a she felt a soft itch as it started to feel better.\n\n\n“All better,” Her bastard Father said. “I am needed at the front, Attillas, please watch over her for me.”\n\n\n“Its been 16 years Nuada, what’s another day compared to that.”\n\n\n“Thank you.”\n\n\nI was fully awake and blinked the last bit of fuzziness from my eyes. I started to sit up. A young beautiful woman put a hand on my shoulder pushing down on it.\n\n\n“You need to rest, dear.”\n\n\n“Atty?”\n\n\nThe woman smiled, “Yes, this must be so much for you she said. I envy your strength”\n\n\n“Where are we?”\n\n\n“Well, in the cloud, Its home of our Pantheon.”\n\n\n“Oh,” is all I could think say to that.\n\n\nWe sat in silence for a moment. “Did you say god of healing?”\n\n\n“I did, your father is one of the original four children.”\n\n\n“And, what are you?”\n\n\n“Just a servant, Katarina.”\n\n\n“Where did he go?”\n\n\n“To heal, Oh, of course you wouldn’t know, why would you?”\n\n\n“Know what?” I prompted.\n\n\n“We are at war.”\n\n\n\n\n****\n\nr/Okay_writing",
"Her name, she tells us, is Brontë. \"Like the authors?\" I ask. She looks at me curiously. \"You know,\" I say. \"'Jane Eyre'?\" She shrugs the suggestion away. I think privately that she doesn't get out much. \n\n\"Brontë means thunder,\" she tells us. \"And I was named for my father.\" \n\nThe temple of Apollo doesn't often receive visitors. An issue with locale, we agree, as there are certainly very few worshippers of the Sun God in downtown Boston. Our little temple sits in the basement of the Brazilian Embassy. It wasn't our idea.\n\nBrontë, a girl of perhaps 23 years with short mousey hair and cat-eyed spectacles, came in dry despite the rain. She wears yellow rain boots that clunk as she descends the old wooden stairs. They bow in at their middles, and Brother Atticus is quite certain it is only a matter of days before they shatter beneath our feet. Brontë's dress is not so much as dampened, despite the deluge. Were it not for the boots, we would describe her attire as \"business casual.\" She carries a hefty brief case in one hand. \n\n\"How many years has it been,\" she asks, looking around the small room critically, \"since you lost your last Oracle?\" \n\nBrothers Efthimios and Mihail have discarded their PlayStation controllers, and turned in their bean bag chairs to look at the young woman. A ping pong ball skitters noisily on the linoleum floor, the red solo cups of lukewarm Budlight have already been forgotten and abandoned where they sit on the crisp white fold out table. \n\nBrother Nikos turns to me. \"Have we *ever* had an Oracle?\" Asks he. \n\n\"Surely we should have done,\" Brother Atticus replies. \"Yes, that sounds exactly like something a Temple of Apollo ought to come equipped with. A proper Oracle.\" \n\n\"I don't think it's ever been in our funding,\" said I. \"Besides, I don't think we'd know what to do with an Oracle if we had one.\" \n\nBrontë raises an eyebrow. \"Well, I hope you are willing to learn. Because I have been appointed Oracle of Boston, and gentlemen, we have a great deal to discuss.\" \n\n\"The truth,\" she explains, \"is simple: The Gods have not abandoned us, they have been busy. They are too distracted by this bitter, endless war to do what they are meant to do, and the world is suffering for it. Hades is the only one who can be bothered to do what he ought, and I doubt many thank him for that.\"\n\n\"So, the hurricanes over the last few years?\" Brother Nikos asks. \n\n\"Poseidon,\" Brontë replies. \n\n\"Global warming?\" Brother Atticus asks. \n\n\"Demeter and Apollo.\" \n\n\"Unhealthy beauty standards and toxic masculinity?\" Asks Brother Efthimios. \n\n\"Aphrodite,\" Brontë replies. \"Ares and Zues, for the obvious things. Hera for high divorce rates, Hermes for poor access to healthcare and Athena for corrupt and greedy politicians.\" \n\n\"But what are we to do?\" I ask. \n\nShe smiles slyly. \"What indeed?\" She reaches for her briefcase. \"Before we begin, I need you to fill out some forms. Your standard nondisclosure, along with some background info that they need back at HR.\" \n\n\"Olympus has HR?\" Brother Mihail asks. \n\n\"Of course!\" Brontë replies. \"Goodness. How long have you been a Priest of Apollo?\" \n\n\"Nine months,\" he replies. \"I only took this job because my uncle retired. He was the priest before me.\" \n\n\"Me too, but with my grandpa,\" Brother Nikos says. \n\nBrontë's professional expression does not falter, but I can tell by the manner in which she stares that we are not at all what she expected. \n\n\"How long have you been, you know, an Oracle?\" I ask. \n\n\"I was chosen as a child and trained in seclusion for the majority of my life,\" she replies. \"Though I did work as a receptionist for a marketing company in college.\" \n\nWe work through paperwork for a while. Efthimios glances longingly toward the PlayStation, where Crash Bandicoot waits, hopping in place. As I fill out form after form, I struggle to remember my Greek lineage and my mother's SSN. \n\nWhen, at last, the forms are filled, Brontë returns them to her case, and extracts from it a typewriter that certainly should not have fit within the confines of the small satchel. \n\nShe hums quietly as she loads the paper, adjusting the margins and setting everything in place. \"Alright,\" says she, \"I am ready when you are.\" \n\nWe Brothers exchange an awkward glance. \"Ready for what?\" I ask.\n\nBrontë blanches. \"Oh, for the love of-\" She stands from her place, and moves toward our alter. I had more or less forgotten it was there. It is hidden in the far corner, beneath a pair of basketball shorts that someone, likely Atticus, discarded there. With the tip of a #2 pencil, she pushes the shorts to the ground. \n\nThe alter is hundreds, if not thousands of years old. It is carved from mahogany and pine. Wax from a hundred thousand candles still runs across the alter top and down its sides to the floor, like a waterfall frozen in time. From a small cupboard within, Brontë retrieves a number of candles, incense and myrrh, and a jagged looking dagger. \n\nShe brings them back to where my Brothers and I wait, sitting together in a circle. She surrounds their gathering with the sunken wax candles, lighting each as she goes. She lights the incense and reclaims her place beside the typewriter and begins to breathe in the vapors. \n\nWith the dagger in one hand, and the other atop her typewriter keys, she begins to sway slowly. The lights flicker and the PlayStation goes into Auto Rest Mode. The Budlight quakes in the solo cups, and Brontë's eyes roll to the back of her head. Brother Atticus and I exchange wide eyed expressions. Brother Nikos stiffles laughter. Brothers Efthimios and Mihail simply look on, appearing concerned and uncomfortable. \n\nRapid fire, Brontë's fingers begin to dance along the keyboard. She sways and convulses as she goes, muttering in tongues under her breath. \n\nAfter ten minutes of this, she seems to come to. Her swaying ceases and her eyes are once again focused behind the rims of her glasses. She clears her throat and pushes her spectacles further up her nose. She pulls the page from the typewriter, and looks it over for a moment, before passing it on to me. \n\nIt is a memorandum, perfectly formatted on Olympian letter head. Upon it, listed in bullet points, is a very specific set of instructions. \n\n1. Find the lost child of the Aesir. \n2. Seek the Queen of the Dead. All of them. \n3. Speak to the Priests of Amun, and discover their secrets.\n\nThe list goes on. It references every god, every pantheon I know of, and many more I don't recognize. I look up at Brontë. \"We are to rally an army.\"\n\nShe smiles. \"The greatest this world has ever known.\" \n\n\"And who are we supposed to rally against?\" Brother Nikos asks.\n\nBrontë blinks at him for a moment. \"You truly don't know?\" she asks. We look to each other and shrug. Brontë shakes her head. Slowly, she packs up her case, returns the candles, incense, and the dagger to their home in the cupboard, and finally turns to leave. \"They fight against the greatest threat. The only threat.\" She shakes her head again with a sigh. \"They fight against Humanity.\"",
"Sarah thought the banging sound was probably just the rain, and so she ignored it. After all, it was hurtling like pellets against the windows and the shuddering wooden door. The storm had wrapped itself around the cottage, swallowing and suffocating it deep inside its black maw. \n\nShe peered out her bedroom window, but could see little in the darkness. Sarah could hear the waves though, as they pummelled against the cliffs outside. Her house only had another twenty or so years left, before it fell into the ocean. Or at least that's what most people she'd had look at it reckoned, and they were the experts after all. Erosion from a night like this would probably speed that up by ten years. It was already impossible to sell, and now she was going to have the damnedest time renewing her insurance. \n\nIt wasn't even her place. Not really. She was too young to be stuck somewhere like this. This *remote*. But... mom had wanted her to have it, and now *here she was*. And truthfully, she didn't have a better plan. It wasn't like college had worked out.\n\nFor a second, she thought she saw a glimpse of the moon high above the ocean. That it had somehow broken through the thick clouds and... But it wasn't the moon. It was too small, and too bright. It was like a pin prick of light, and it was falling down toward the sea. Sarah followed it with her eyes, frowning as it coruscated and faded out of sight.\n\nThere was that noise again. It wasn't the rain, and it wasn't the wind shaking the door knocker either. There was a rhythm to it. A *rat-a-tat-tatting*. What poor soul was out there on a night like this?\n\nSarah hurried towards the front door when a tremendous flash of lightning lit up the dim dwelling, followed a second later by a clasp of thunder that might as well have been a bomb.\n\nPlates and ornaments rattled on their shelves. The lights flickered and her shadow waved a staccato goodbye to her from on the wall. \n\nDamn! That was all she needed!\n\n*Rat-a-tat-tat*\n\n\"I'm coming!\" she yelled, as she fumbled in the dark for the box of matches always kept in the hallway drawer. \"I'm coming. Just hold on a second!\"\n\nShe opened the door as she struck a match.\n\nA man stood there, his face dancing in the matches light. His clothes wet and clinging tightly to his muscular frame. His blond beard and hair were dripping.\n\n\"Come on,\" she instructed. \"Get in. You'll catch your death out there. If you bare with me a moment, I'll make you a nice cup of coffee and fetch you a towel. Well, I say nice, it'll have to be black. And granulated. But it's better than nothing! Oh, I'm sorry,\" she added, stepping out of the way. \"I'm blocking the doorway. Please, come in. You'll have to excuse me, I can't help rambling when I'm nervous. Not that you're making me nervous! I didn't mean to imply that at all. It's this damn storm, is all.\"\n\nThe man nodded and limped inside. Sarah pushed the door shut against the wind.\n\n\"Just hang with me a second as I find a candle.\" She said, fumbling in a cupboard. \"I'm afraid the power just went. I do have a flash-light, but to be honest, I don't know exactly where I last put it. Usually I'd have my phone, but seeing as I don't get any reception here, it's not actually charged. Ah-ha!\" She brought the match to the long white candle she'd recovered, and the fire quickly transferred over, leaving the matchstick black and dead. Sarah turned back to her visitor. \"Now what are you doing out-- Oh!\"\n\nIn the brighter light provided by the candle, she could see clearly that the young man wasn't only dripping water over her recently laid carpet, but blood. His face was cut terrible, and his eyes badly bruised. A golden chain hung around his huge neck.\n\n\"Who... who are you?\" Her hand was trembling now, as was her voice. The candlelight spilled up and down the stranger, afraid to stay still on him.\n\n\"My name,\" he croaked, \"is Helios. Son of Hyperion. Please...\"\n\nHe was crazed! She had let a crazy man into her house. She'd known that it was a risk, letting a stranger in at a time like this -- but what other choice had there been? \n\n\"Please,\" he croaked. \"They-- they followed me. We don't have long.\" He ripped the chain from off his neck, and Sarah saw a deep blue orb was hung on it. \"Take it...\" He offered his arm out to her. \"Keep it safe.\"\n\nSarah wasn't sure why she took it, but she did take it. He squeezed his hand shut over hers and smiled .\n\nWith that, Helios, son of Hyperion, collapsed to the floor and died.\n \n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n",
"How do you fight an invisible enemy ?\n\nThe battle has begun way too long ago. I barely remember how it all started.\n\nThere was an unstoppable force, coming toward mortal's realm. We could not let this happen. We were here to protect them. An army of gods and god-like beings, battling shadows.\n\nI saw many of my friends falling on the battle field, waking up again as they were reborned, and battling again.\n\nThorr, Cernunnos, Ra, Quetzalcoatl... they became less powerful as the years passed. They could not be here for the humans, so there was less faith to give them power.\n\nNowadays, only YHVH (or Allah, or whatever you want to call him) and his army of angels really stays strong. but we are falling back.\n\nthis unstoppable force is gaining in power, and we are less able to protect the realm of mortals from it.\n\nWe first thought that it was skepticism, or an incarnation of a rising atheism, but that was something else. the lack of faith is only a symptom of what is currently happening to us.\n\nWe don't know what or who the enemy is, but it's winning the battle, and it wants to consume the humanity. \n\nThat's why I was given a task : regaining my old function of messenger of the gods, and finding a champion. If Gods can't win against it, maybe a mortal can find a way.\n\nIn the end, even without us, they achieved incredible things.\n\nSo here I am, crossing the border between our realms, trying to find the one who will save us.\n\n******\n[Link on my subreddit](https://www.reddit.com/r/cynferdd/comments/8a9bhz/the_neverending_battle_part_1/)"
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[WP] Humans, dwarves, and elves coexisted for centuries until a plague wiped out the human race. At least that's what you, an Elven historian teach, until your dwarf roommate brings back a human child from his hike in the middle of nowhere.
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"Taek was soaked, even though he was wearing a thick aurochs hooded cloak. He hated to catch a rain, and this one was particularly heavy. He was in such a hurry that the boy that held his hand had trouble keeping up with him; it is not common to a human to move as fast as a dwarf is on a hilly terrain. However, he needed to get to Hagluin’s house promptly, so the boy did not have much choice.\n\nHagluin was transcribing some texts from elvish to dwarvish, as one of the few elves in this region that knew entirely both languages, as the grudge between the two races vanquished with the time after the human extinction. The forest is also know as one of the most dense and beautiful; nevertheless, the dangers in it make the risk to cross it not worth. Skirting it… He did a headshake as he grabbed a brush by his side, dove in a tiny pot with a viscous amalgam, and passed it over the last two words. A few seconds later they both faded while he grabbed the other broom. Bypassing it is the smart choice, - He stop for a minute, staring at nothing but his memories - even if you are a great dwarf warrior, winner of uncountable matches and battles, and capable of overcoming innumerable more. He finished, nodding to himself with a half-smile on his face. Suddenly the sound of the door hitting the wall shattered the silence that reigned there.\n\n“Hagluin! Look at what I found!” Taek said, with the same hard dwarvish accent from when they met for the first time.\n\nThe friendly dwarf had a common large nose, a remarkably trimmed beard – to keep it from being too long. He wore dark green clothes that seemed even darker because of the water, and a brown, furry cloak. \n\nThe scene of his friend with the wide-open eyes and a gasping mouth, both dripping wet, was so unforeseen and rapid, that initially Hagluin did not perceive the boy standing a little behind the dwarf. All three of them just stood still for a moment: the boy sheepish, the dwarf gasping, and the elf processing everything that was happening.\n\n“What is it that you found?” He said frowning, staring and pointing towards the boy. It was, then, just a dripping silhouette of a kid.\n\nThe dwarf entered the house and with a hand behind the boy’s back, hushed him in, closing the door behind them. Hagluin had a strange feeling as the boy reciprocated the look; a diffident stare emanating from a couple of light blue eyes. It was an unconventional color for eyes to the elves, and as clear as that? He never saw a pair like these.\n\nHagluin got up and headed towards the boy, which gave a step back, almost trying to hide behind Taek. The elf let a smile out to him, and it did had the expected effect as the boy returned to his position. The boy had a pale skin and a skinny body that the thin lavender cloak could not hide. His nose was not pointed, as the elves’ were, neither were large and plump as the dwarves, but it still could be just another rare case. His face also was not thin and long nor were round and stout; it was rectangular, oblong. Maybe a child of a dwarf with an elf? It never existed one. Maybe the first?\n\nTaek was expecting Hagluin to say or express something, but got tired of waiting, as impatient as his friend always says he is.\n\n“His hood! Take his hood off, Hagluin!” He was hanging his cloak on the back of a chair, but it was so long it still had a bit on the floor.\n\nThe elf heard it. As he lifted his hand, the boy winced a little.\n\n“I am not going to hurt you, my friend.” He said in elvish, but the kid did not seem to understand. Hagluin looked at the dwarf, awaiting for him to say to speak in dwarvish, but he just stared perplexed and gestured to move on with the hood removal. The elf said the same thing in dwarvish and it had the same effect. He went slower and finally the boys head was uncovered. No pointy nor long ears. He look at it, trying to remember every anatomy book that he already read, however, none of them said anything about that kind of ears. He saw once, but it was just one of them and, then, the top was a scar, the elder had lost part of his ear on a battle. These were natural. Hagluin got closer as the frown got bigger; the lobe was tied in his head.\n\nIt really was a human. The two friends exchanged looks. And the boy seemed as frightened as he should be.\n\n“What should we do?” Hagluin asked, with a disoriented voice.\n\n“I was hoping you would know what to do! That was why I came to you! Well, that and because you would not believe me if I just told you…”\n\n“Of course not! Humans were extinct. We were not supposed to found one of them anywhere! They…” He hesitated to continue talking. \n\n“Humans!” The boy interrupted the elf with a terrible dwarvish accent and a smile on his face, but as soon as both of them looked at him, he became wary and hesitant as before.\n\n“Yes!” Hagluin said slowly. “You. Human.” The boy nodded.\n\n“You, human, where, is, your, house?” Taek tried, rushing, but his hard accent and the difficulty to talk slowly made the boy frown again.\n\n“Where. House?” Hagluin kneel before him, however, the kid had a gaped mouth.\n\n“Where. Home?” The dwarf said excitedly.\n\n“Home!” The boy said smiling. He then went to the door and pointed at something on the outside. Taek looked proudly at the elf.\n\n“He seems to know where his home is. What should we do?”\n\nThe dwarf was content that they could get him back to home, him knowing some – almost none – dwarvish and where it was. Nevertheless, Hagluin sighed and seemed nothing but worried.\n\n“When the rain extinguishes, we’ll go.”\n\nThe little human led them by a few hilltops, which would tire the boy, if he were not so cheerful and energetic to go home. Taek had the famous dwarf’s stamina and Hagluin had to catch his breath a couple times during the course, but nothing too serious, as elves tend to be athletic.\n\nAfter the mountainous route, they found an open field, surrounded by the hills and mountains; the only exception was a small passage to a dense forest of dark trees. Almost a prairie, as there had bushes nor trees on the lea.\n\n“Home!” The boy shouted while pointing to a small opening by some rocks at the mountainside. He started to run excitedly to it.\n\n“He must have come through there.” Taek said. “Now he is home, at least. The storm must have got him by surprise and he lost track.”\n\n“Yes…” Hagluin had sorrow in his voice.\n\nTaek would have noticed the melancholy, if he were not watching the boy crossing the fields as fast as he could. It would seem that he was running for his life, if was not for the smile of relief in his face.\n\n“Taek.”\n\n“Huh. What is it, Hagluin?”\n\n“Can you make a promise?”\n\n“What?”\n\n“Promise to me that you won’t talk with anyone about the humans.” The elf said, full of regret.\n\n“Wha- Why?” He frowned.\n\nHagluin stayed in silence, watching, along with Taek, the boy slowly going down the hole, supporting himself on the rocks.\n\n“It was the elvish council…” The elf said as an arrow crossed the field only to get stuck above the entrance of were the human went. Taek turned to his old friend only to be surprised by him having the bow aimed at him.\n\n“The elvish council spread the thropic plague, Taek.” His eyes were tearfully.\n\n“But… Why?” He frowned. He did not understand exactly what was happening, confusion was surpassing everything.\n\n“They did not thought that humans were trying to live peacefully with anyone. Because of their ways. Their greed for gold and land, their lack of control over themselves. Killing. Robbing. Lying. The wars they started.” He stood still, aiming at his oldest friend.\n\n“This doesn’t make any sense! Everyone does that! I saw elves lying, dwarves only valuing gold! Giants killing only because they could!” The elf opened his mouth, but before he could talk, Taek continued. “I had human friends! Good people!”\n\n“I know, Taek, I had too. I did not agree with their decision. But what could I do? I discover that fifty years after the plague! I am not saying they were right, I am saying that it was their reason.”\n\n“Then what is this? A bad joke?” He extended his arm to his friend’s bow.\n\n“We, historians became responsible to erase the humans from the history. From the books…”\n\n“And what does that have to do with you aiming that bow at me!” It was supposed to be a question, but his anger got in the way.\n\n“I have a duty, Taek. You have to promise me.”\n\n“I won’t make any promises! You may have a duty with your council, but we have friendship! Brotherhood!” The heartbreak finally settled, overcoming the confusion he felt earlier.\n\n“You don’t understand…” Tears were slowly sliding down his face.\n\n“They deserve this second chance, Hagluin. I know you aren’t like that. They survived. The elvish council don’t have any right to decide the fate of a race.”\n\n“Taek…” He controlled his voice the best he could.\n\n“Hagluin. You are better than this. You are better than the council is. I know it.” \n\n“Am I, Taek? When I found that out, I did nothing. When they asked me to help erase the humans from the books, I did nothing. Why would I be better than this, Taek?”\n\n“Because I know you more than them. We know each other for almost a hundred years. Do you think I do not know you? And the times you helped me control my emotions and made me not fight stupidly? The times you helped me cope with the loss of loved ones? You feed the ones that needed? You helped a stuck animal? And all of that, doesn’t that count?”\n\nThe elf was sobbing.\n\n“The second chance that they deserve, you deserve it too. The council doesn’t control you, neither it should control the history in itself. Come on, Hagluin.” Taek finished and reached out to his elf friend.\n\nHagluin pulled the string. He was crying. Taek’s words triggered so many memories that were as agitated as the wind. His hands, even though familiar with the bow, were shaking. He closed his eyes.\n"
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[WP] In their civilian lives, the superhero and super villain are unknowingly good friends.
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"Here's my entry. \n\n\nThe numbers on Anna’s phone slowly decreased as each second passed. She would kill her best friend today. One hour and twenty nine minutes remained. Anna knew this would be the last conversation she would ever have with the person she felt was her soulmate. Not the romantic kind, but more like a sister from a different mother. Her hands remained steady on the steering wheel, as she calmly allowed her emotions to flow through her. She pulled up alongside a curb and picked up her phone to send a text. \n\nHi Molly I’m outside. \n\nAnna stared at the screen as she pressed send. The radio filled the car with a journalist’s voice about a new supposed superhuman law that was up for a vote in congress. Anna grimaced and pushed in the dial, effectively muting the broadcaster. “God cares not for human laws,” she thought. Her phone vibrated in her hand, casting an eerie glow throughout the car. She glanced at the screen. \n\nYay! Thank you so much for the ride. I can’t believe my car situation. OMW\n\nAnna flicked to the countdown timer that displayed one hour and ten minutes. She fought back the anxiety that began to surface inside her. “All part of god’s plan,” she told herself. \n\nMolly Gardner greeted the warm night with jubilation as she shut her apartment door. Today had been just about perfect. She helped place a kid in a foster home today, halted a bank robbery during lunch, and super-heroes were finally going to get official recognition from the government. “It’s about time, if god gave me the gift of quick reflexes and super-strength, then the least Capital Hill can do is acknowledge my rightful existence,” she said to herself. She practically ran to Anna’s car that was parked down on the street. \n\nMolly excitedly opened the door careful not to rip it from the hinges. “Oh my god, Anna thank you so much. I can’t believe someone stole my car battery. Who does that?” asked Molly. \n\n“Yeah, it’s so weird. I’ve never heard of that happening before,” replied Anna without a trace of guilt. \n\n“I’m just glad I can get you to the NA meeting on time, I know those people really count on you being there for them,” Anna said as she pulled out onto the busy intersection. \n\n“Those meetings keep them sober. I hate to think what would happen if I had to cancel,” said Molly. \n\n“I’m actually glad we got a chance to talk. I barely see you these days since you’ve been hanging out with your new friends,” commented Molly. \n\n“They’re not my friends, they are my new family. This church has really opened my eyes to the world and put me back on a path to God,” explained Anna. She look slightly annoyed, but remained focused on driving. \n\n“Oh shit, I’m sorry Anna. I didn’t mean to offend you. It’s just… well you are always busy. You’ve never really been the religious type. I’ve known you for what 19 years now?”\n\nAnna shrugged. “It’s time I found god. I think I’ve actually found my place serving him.”\n\nMolly cringed at hearing the word serve. Worry cast a dark shadow over her face. She’d have to have a more serious talk with Anna later on. This new church sounded more like a cult, and given the recent drastic changes in Anna’s life it was more than a plausible theory. \n\n“Hey, let’s do lunch tomorrow. My treat!” said Molly. \n\nAnna let loose a giggle.“No tomorrow for you,” she thought. \n\n“What’s so funny? I’m serious, you and me are going out to lunch.”\n\n“Okay, okay if you say so,” Anna replied. She reached over and lightly touched Molly’s hand trying to reassure her friend that everything was fine. \n\nMolly wasn’t so sure and for the first time in years they drove the next 30 blocks in silence. \n\nAnna pulled up next to a partially dilapidated building with a hand drawn sign on window that read “NA Meetings Every Tuesday at 9pm”. \n\n\nMolly grabbed her bag and turned toward her friend in the driver’s seat. \n“Hey, this sounds stupid, but you didn’t tell your new church buddies about my secret did you?” asked Molly. \n\n“Heck no, your secret will always be safe with me. Unless you go getting yourself killed one day playing caped crusader. Then I’m going to write your biography,” Anna replied as she hugged her friend. She glanced at her phone in her lap to see the glowing numbers change to nine minutes and fifty nine seconds. \n\nMolly laughed as she step out on the curb. “You got a hot date tonight, chica?”\n\nAnna’s clenched her teeth. A lump immediately swelled in her throat. \n\n“No hun, but you do,” she replied as she pointed to the small line gathering outside the door on the building. \n\nMolly glanced behind her noticing the impatient addicts ready to start their meeting. “I’ll text you about lunch first thing in the morning. Going to get the car fixed early. Thanks for the ride. Love ya,” Molly said as she shut the car door. \n\nAnna unable to speak simply waved goodbye and drove off. Tears rolled down her face, but she kept telling herself this was God’s will. As the timer reached zero, a fireball bloomed toward the sky. A faint explosion could be heard inside Anna’s car, but she paid it no mind. She kept driving as distant sirens filled the warm evening air. \n__________________________\n\nHope you like it. I wrote another entryt earlier, but the prompt was removed. \n\nYou can [read it here](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/comments/8aa8yd/wp_you_are_at_the_funeral_of_your_super_hero_arch/). It continues the story. "
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