Split (1)

train · 199k rows

post_text stringlengths 0 17.5k	post_title stringlengths 8 314	comment_texts listlengths 1 74	num_stories int64 1 74
	[WP] You wake up in another world - one where music has power and very few people are able to sing. You are a powerful mage, armed with only the lyrics to songs you know from our world. Unfortunately, you misheard a lot of lyrics, and sing songs wrong. How well do you fare in this new world?	[ "After many months of practicing, I managed to perfect that one song that I always had problems with. It was the most complicated song to get exactly right ever since I landed here in this world. \n\n\nHaving a little celebration after finishing the song. One of the servants of the manor hastily opens the door to my study. He look desperate and weary, \"My Lord! One the guard came back from the village. He's has news and is wounded.\" I quickly grab one of the scrolls that I wrote a song in and headed to the main hall. \n\n\nThe guard was on the floor bleeding from his gut. Most of his armor was gone, and his face was riddled in small lacerations. I pulled out the scroll, and began to sing, \"It just a full spoon of sugar that lets the medicine go down.\" As I spoke the words on the scroll, the parchment disintegrated and formed a golden ether that I placed over the wound. The healed in a rapid pace, comforting the guard. \n\n\nThe guard looked at me and said, \"The Void Master is here.\" The name shook me. The void master was sinister man with no country. It was told that he was the best singer in the land, until his voice was stolen away by the jealousy of other singers. I only though it was a tale of folklore and legends, but there were reports of a man killing singers in the surrounding area. I did not think of it, due to the Band of Bards taking care of it, but it seem they have already fallen. \n\n\nScreams and explosions are heard from the city gates, without the permission of the king, I ran to the sounds of terror.\n\n\nThe Void Master, he stood in front burned gates. I confronted him asking him to give up and turn himself in. In his response, he sang a song and a wave of strong heat hit me in such great strength that I slid backwards just a bit. \n\n\nHe lunged forward in great speed and I quickly pulled out my lyric scroll, and sang, \"STOP, in the name of love!\" It stopped the the void master's leap leading him to crash on the floor. I ran up to do a follow up spell, but out of the blue he threw a weird looking gem that screeched out a noise. The sound was deafening. \n\n\nBy the time the gem stopped ringing, the void master got back on his feet. I pulled out another scroll and said the lyrics, but nothing happened. Then I realized how he was able to defeat the others. He stopped my powers using that gem. \n\n\"confused?\" The void master says, \"It's a noise canceler. Locking your spells.\" he laughs and sang a deep song. A large arm protruded from the ground and socked me in the stomach. In the air, the void master some how he warped next to me and dropped kick me face sending me flying to the ground. Everything, hurt and every song I sang failed. \n\n\nA large pressure pushed me down, holding me in place. The void master looked at me and said \"This is what the greatest mage has to offer? What a joke!\" Just when I'm about to lose consciousness. I see one of the kids I knew when I visited a local school. \n\n\nHow do you sing that well?\n\n\nWell, everyone can sing, you just have to let it out.\n\n\nI can't sing at all \n\n\nI can teach you, I can teach you a really simple one\n\n\nBut simple is boring\n\n\nNot when everyone knows the song. That's what makes a song powerful. Everyone knows that song because its simple. The simplest things in life can be the most influential.\n\n\nWhat song is it?\n\n\nWell, it goes like this...\n\n\nSlowly blacking out, I heard the voice of that child, \n\n\n\"A, B, C, D, E, F, G,\"\n\n\nThe void master takes notice. Others people hidden away join in. \n\n\n\"H, I, J, K, L, M, N, O, P\"\n\n\nThe pressure released me, and I could see the Void master frozen. More people started to sing and join in. \n\n\n\"Q, R, S,\"\n\n\nMore and more people join in unison, soon hundreds of people started to sing as well. The sound of hundreds of people rang though the skies quite literally. A large light shined from above. \n\n\n\"T, U, V,\" \n\n\nThe light simmered. The void master panicked in his frozen states in pure confusion. \n\n\n\"W, X,\" \n\n\nThe light suddenly got larger.\n\n\n\"Y and,\"\n\n\nAnd in one giant finale, the void master face grew in terror with his eyes fixed on the light.\n\n\n\"Z\"\n\n\nA piercing beam of light crashes down into the earth, with the void master in the middle, hearing the screams of pain. \n\n\n\"Now I know my A,B,C's next time won't you sing with me.\" \n\n\nThe beam of light ended. With the void master in the center burnt to a crisp.\n\n\nThe towns people ran to me and helped me up, cheering and shouting their own victory. \n\n\nTo be honest, when I first came to this world, I was always messing up lyrics, but It was this town that got me to sing again. Teaching the children everyday, helping the church sing their gospel, teaching the local bands preform in parties. The town helped me become who I am. I owe them my life, and I will continue to teach people to sing their hearts out. \n\n\nThe End. \n " ]	1
	[WP] Write the longest dad joke you can.	[ "I started working at my most recent company a couple years ago in the spring. It's a pretty generic software company- spit out some code, debug some code, cry when shit doesn't work, repeat. Everyone's assigned to a team, and those are the people you're supposed to bother when you need help (cute, right?). Well there was a guy on my team, let's call him Mike, who was the go-to for the kind of stuff I was working on. There was a bit of an age gap since he's nearing forty and I'm not that far out of college, but as soon as I found out he was a gamer too I knew I'd made a friend.\n\nMike's cubicle hunched over the hallway, between the door and my desk. The walls on the thing were low, so he'd always see me when I walked by. It was nice to be greeted every day on my way in and out. He seemed to live here, always there before I was, always leaving after I did. He was a good worker, too, so I was surprised when I got invited to the company seminar and he didn't. It was this big trip once a year, and though this was my first time I'd heard it was actually decently fun. Apparently over half the company's new ideas came out of the sessions during the week-long trip.\n\n\"It's fine, it's fine, I've been to plenty before,\" he'd assured me. I had stopped by on my way out the day before my flight to say goodbye. It was damn exciting; I spent the whole plane ride fantasizing about coming up with some crazy good idea, shaking the CEO's hand, riding the hype all the way to the top. Of course, since I couldn't sleep on the plane, I passed out as soon as I dropped my stuff off in my room. I awoke, groggily, to the sounds of the door opening.\n\n\"Alex, you awake?\" It was one of my coworkers who were sharing the room with me. I groaned into the bed. \"The social starts in five minutes... you might want to get ready.\" Oh, crap! I sprang from the bed, red-eyes wild and searching for my suitcase. The social was the most important part of the trips, where us peons had a chance to mingle with higher-ups. I'd heard that last year the CEO promoted one new-hire he'd talked to on-the-spot. If I was ever going to make the effort to schmooze, this was it. I threw on my best clothes, combed my hair with wet fingers, and took the stairs two at a time.\n\nThe complex we were staying at was massive. It had three separate towers filled with rooms with a building in the center housing large multi-purpose rooms for events. There were sky walkways from each tower to the center, but I knew a dash outside was the quickest way to get to the social. I pushed out the front door of Tower B and power-walked as professionally as I could along the curving sidewalk. I could see the double-doors in the distance, but was distracted by a huge wall of windows stretching along the building's flank. Floor-to-ceiling, I could see straight into a room full of men and women in suits and dresses. Everyone had a glass in their hand, and waiters walked with platters of finger foods. I suddenly became aware of the sweat beading on my skin from the muggy outside, the way my hair stuck up in the back from the way I'd slept on it. If I hurried I could stop in the bathroom first and still have plenty of time to mingle.\n\nI did not look where I was going when I sped up.\n\nI did not see the trash can, tipped on its side, until I was upside-down with one foot twisted under it.\n\nI did not see anything after I hit the pavement and blacked out.\n\nI'm told that, apparently, everyone else saw everything. Great.\n\nWhen I woke up in the ambulance, the paramedic told me I'd tripped and rolled my foot and half my leg in the wrong direction, and hit my head on the way down.\n\nNeedless to say, I did not make a good impression on my boss. Or his boss, or anybody's bosses. I was sent home early, the only impact I made that one moment where everyone saw me looking like a complete idiot. \n\nWhen I went to the doctor back home, he told me I had sprained my ankle and would need to stay off it for a few weeks. That meant working from home. Fine. I needed some time before I could show my face at work again. The day everyone else got back from the trip I got a message from Mike. Apparently my fall had been Big News. He thought it was hilarious. \"Remind me to whack you when I get back,\" I said.\n\nBut after a few weeks my foot still hurt like a bitch. I went to the doctor again, he said everything was fine. I asked if it was normal for the bottom of my foot to be bruised a solid purple. He paled and ordered an X-Ray.\n\nAnd so I found out I actually had a broken foot that had gone untreated for nearly a month. They set me up with a massive boot and shipped me home, prescribing several months of rest. I couldn't drive and could barely walk, and the pain medication they gave me barely helped. The only thing that helped was knowing nobody would remember a thing by the time I got back. At this point I was just happy to fade into obscurity, my dreams of rocketing to the top a distant memory.\n\nFinally in late August they took the boot off, and in September I was cleared to drive and go back in to work. Aside from Mike giving me a hard time when I walked in, nobody really mentioned it. They just said they were glad to see me back in the office.\n\nAnd so I forgot about what happened until next spring rolled around and I received a message in my inbox. I'd been invited to the seminar again. I groaned and went to Mike to tell him. \"They're gonna make me do this every year, aren't they? It's even at the same hotel.\" Mike was surprisingly excited. His eyes lit up and he told me he was sure people would have forgotten by now, but to make sure I stopped by the day before so he could say goodbye (once again he was not invited).\n\nSo, when the dreaded day before the trip arrived, I made sure to walk past his desk on the way out. I leaned over the walls of his cubical, chatting about his kids before I said I really did have to go. \"Have a nice trip,\" he called out. I glanced over my shoulder. He looked me dead in the eyes. \"See you next fall.\"", "It started off fairly innocuously. I had gone in to see my doctor for a yearly physical. Perhaps it was a year or five since my last one, but life can just get so busy, you know? Besides, I wasn't too worried. I was in pretty good shape with no major health complaints. Just a little stiffness of the joints in the morning when I first woke up. But my wife had gotten it into her head that I should go in to see the doctor to get it checked out. I was mostly going in so that she would stop pestering me to get a check up.\n\nThe doctor gave me the usual disapproving lecture about how important it was to get a yearly checkup, but he did agree with me that I was mostly healthy and that a little stiffness of the joints was pretty common at my age. As I was getting ready to leave he did suggest that I stop by the lab to get a little bit of blood drawn, just to run a few tests. You know, just to be safe.\n\nTwo days later as I was driving the kids to soccer practice I got an apologetic call from my doctor's office. It seemed there had been some kind of contamination with my blood sample. They would need me to stop by the office to get blood drawn again. I made an appointment to stop by the following morning.\n\nThis time they walked my blood sample right over to the lab while I waited. I thought it was nice of them to get me the results so quickly, seeing as how it was their screw-up in the first place. I was making small talk with the nurse when the doctor came bursting back into the exam room. I will never forget how pale his face looked. \n\n\"We need to get you to the hospital. Right now. Get this man on a gurney.\"\n\nThey already had an ambulance waiting. I kept asking what was wrong, but only got a half muttered response about metals in my blood. \n\nI was taken straight over to an isolation ward in the hospital. I was met there by my doctor. He was hardly recognizable in head-to-toe hazmat gear. He tried to explain that it was just a precaution. That didn't exactly reassure me. \n\nI was even more nervous when he started introducing me to the half dozen doctors, all equally indistinguishable in protective coverings, that would make up my \"team.\" I really didn't like the sound of that. I didn't know much about medicine, but I did know that having a \"team\" was not a good sign. They were all very friendly and concerned about my well-being, and they went about running all kinds of tests on me. I was scared. But I was even more scared when they wouldn't let my family come into the room with me. My crying wife and family had to talk to me through the floor to ceiling glass window that made up one end of the room.\n\nThe first night I spent in that white hospital room I didn't sleep a minute. I was scared, I was worried, and I was alone.\n\nThe friendly doctors didn't have any good news for me when their test results came back. I refused to believe them. I shouted. I threw a tantrum. I threw their printouts across the room. But I knew they were right. _Something_ was very wrong. I could feel it already. Their was a metallic taste in my mouth that wasn't just the fear and adrenaline. There was something very wrong with me. \n\nThose stark white walls and florescent lights were to be my home for a long time. I could have visitors, but they had to watch me through the window. And eventually, as my symptoms progressed, I didn't want anyone to see me. I sent my family away. I refused to see them. \n\nThe friendly doctors tried to understand what was happening to me, but they had no answers. Eventually, one by one, they stopped coming by to run tests on me. But a case that was as unusual as mine eventually attracted the interest of others. \n\nInstead of friendly doctors that wanted to heal me, I was now being visited by cold, dispassionately interested scientists that wanted to study me. They would note the changes in my skin. They would take pictures of the strange growth that started to form on the top of my head. Every day they would take measurements of the changing shape of my skull that was becoming progressively more cylindrical, and compare those measurements to previous day's measurements. They would scrape off tiny specks of my skin and run mass spectrometer tests to determine that yes, the metallic content was becoming more pure by the day. They thought that they could understand what was happening to me if they could just collect enough data. So every day they would take measurements and scribble them down on their clipboards. All their data collection never did give them an answer to the question of why this was happening to me. Or at least, if they had that answer they never shared it with me. But they were able to track the changes to by body and extrapolate what the outcome of my metamorphosis would eventually be. \n\nThe first time they showed me the artist's rendering I thought it was a joke, and not a very good one at that. I laughed at the sketch that I was holding. Until I reached up and touched the top of my head. I traced what my hands had become along the strange growth at the top of my head, and felt a shape that I had seen thousands of times, but never given much thought. I looked at the sketch with rising horror. The scientists just sadly nodded their heads and proceeded with their measurements. I sank into a depression that lasted weeks.\n\nAt this point my eventual fate was all but known, but no progress had been made in either treating or reversing my condition. And that was when I attracted the attention of a new kind of visitor: Hospital administrators. \n\nThey never spoke to me, or even entered the room with me, But they would huddle together outside the glass window in their dark suits muttering to each other about \"unrecoverable losses\" and \"completely exhausted insurance.\" They would compare charts and graphs and spreadsheets while arguing about a need to \"right the bottom line.\" One day I over heard one of them call me \"little more than an expensive curiosity,\" and for some reason one of the other administrators suddenly got very excited. \n\nI might have been concerned, but by that point my condition had progressed to the point that I was mostly immobile. I would lay on my bed most of the time, occasionally rolling from one side to the other as the scientists needed to take measurements. It was while rolling towards the window for a circumference measurement that I first saw the man with the beady eyes and the showman's smile. I could tell that he saw dollar signs when he looked at me. I would have shivered if I was still capable of it. \n\nThe administrators were clearly torn about what to do. Several loud arguments where had on the other side of that viewing window. Some of the administrators wanted to accept the offer made by the man with the beady eyes. The others were clearly uneasy with that decision. They would shout things about human rights and ethics. But the administrators in favor of the offer would say that human rights no longer applied in my case. Through out all of this the man with the beady eyes continued to stare at me through the window with his appraising smile. Finally the arguments of the administrators died down, and the impassioned pleas were replaced by monetary negotiations. The man with the beady eyes pulled out a checkbook.\n\nI was quickly moved out of the isolation ward and into the back of a truck. Men that clearly worked for the man with the beady eyes moved me out of the truck with a dolly. They set my upright inside a large canvas tent. There was sawdust on the ground and hay bails set around me in a circle. \n\nAnd that was how I began my career in show business. For $3 each members of the public could come into the tent to gawk at me, The Incredible Giant Soda Can.\n\nBut I'm not a can, I'm a human being.", "“Daddy, Daddy!” My son cried. Running from his room towards me, he slammed hard into my thigh. With short chubby arms flung around my waist, he sobbed, “Daddy, I can’t sleep.”\n\nLetting out a sigh, I picked him up and put him on my lap. He was going through one of those monster-under-the-bed phases. Every other night, he would climb into my bed, claiming to be running from ‘the monster under his bed.’\n\n‘Comeon, Nick, wheres Browny? Didn’t he protect you tonight?” I asked, gently caressing his cheek.\n\nA few weeks ago, I had bought him a stuffed horse. I told him that Browny, as Nick had so affectionally named, would be the one to protect him from the ‘monsters’ at night. It worked- I guess- every night following that, he would wake in the morning, sprouting imaginative stories of Browny.\n\nHe would tell me how amazing Browny was, his mane igniting with a glorious fire. He would tell me how he flew into the air, smiting all the monsters that crawled out from under his bed. He would tell me tales of his brave stead, donning on the greatest armor, and taking on the darkest enemies.\n\n“They got him, Daddy. The monsters got him!” Urgency crept into his voice as he continued talking, his little hand gripping unto my shirt. “I was about to sleep when the monster came, but Browny told me to trust him and go to sleep, so I did, and I slept, but when I woke, and I wanted to hug him, I asked him to come but the woudnt so I searched for him, but he…” he paused to take in a quick breath, “he wasn’t there. So I thought at first he was playing hide and seek but… but he’s still missing and I can’t find him and I…. I….” his voice trailed off, tears welling up at the corners of his eye.\n\n“Hey big guy,” I said, a finger wiping the tear away, “I’m sure Browny is okay, comeon, let’s go have a look.” I picked him up, letting him cling unto my neck as I stood up to go to his room.\n\nIt was in shambles.\n\nThe bedsheet was thrown across the table, books and stationary lying on the floor. The cupboards were open, the clothes strewn all about the floor. Even the pillows and blanket were across the room.\n\nWhat the fuck happened in here?\n\nPutting him down, I gingerly made my way to the bed, stepping over the strewn clothes and pillows.\n\nSlowly, I bent down, looking under the bed.\n\nBrowny was deep in the corner under the bed, way out of reach of a 6 year old child.\n\nProbrably why he couldn’t find the toy.\n\nReaching under, I grabbed Browny, passing the toy to my son.\n\n“He… he wasn’t there before! What about the monsters, Daddy?” He asked.\n\n“Well,” I said, kneeling down on one knee to look him in the eye, “It was all just a Knightmare\"", "I once had the extended acquaintance of a man whom his parents gave the name Joseph O’Daugherty. Joseph was an interesting fellow, and became somewhat of an enigma following his abrupt arrival in town. Tales of his impulsive escapades spread through the town, and he soon became a bit of a local sensation. His buoyancy and unique appearance often drew large crowds, and he would frequently start dance parties in the town square, the most popular jig being one of his own design. \n\nThe most intriguing thing about Joseph, however, was his right eye. It was a pale, cotton-like white, the usual black pupil being entirely absent. Though in our conversations he never did reveal its cause, he did seem to wear his strange eye as a badge of honor rather than a shameful scar. Despite his quirks, Joseph was a good man. With his quick wit and kind-hearted demeanor, I could not help but call him my friend.\n\nUnfortunately over the years, like many celebrated figures, Joseph began to fall into obscurity. On his daily struts he got naught but a glance, and his parties became nothing more than infrequent and frankly disappointing get-togethers. He became a pariah in the town, and by association, so did I. Everyone I knew in the town cut off all interaction with me, save Joseph and my parents. My parents begged me to abandon Joseph so I could regain my reputation and start a family, but I could not renounce a friend so easily.\n\nDuring the next year I did a lot of talking with Joseph. And to put it bluntly, his becoming a social outcast made him extremely bitter. His anger began to rule his life, and the friend he decided to turn to was alcohol. He let the loss of his fame destroy him, and he refused to accept any of my help. He became increasingly distant, and I eventually stopped seeing him all together.\n\nA few weeks after Joseph’s disappearance, many of the townspeople started to accept me again. Joseph began to fade out of their memories, and I came to win back my social status and respect in the town. It’s now 3 years since Joseph’s departure, and I still think about him from time to time. The one gift he unintentionally left me was my wife. By becoming a societal leper for those years accidentally led me to the girl of my dreams. If it hadn’t been for Cotton-Eye Joe, I’d have been married a long time ago. But where did you come from and where did you go? Where did you come from Cotton-Eye Joe?" ]	4
	[WP] All stuffed animals are secretly ferocious guardians protecting children against night demons. Tonight, your mom put all of your stuffed animals in the laundry.	[ "\"Well isn't this a fine mess we're in.\"\n\n\"Technically we're out of the mess, we were just washed.\"\n\nCommodore Fluffybottom and Cuddles the Cat were arguing in the bottom of the washing machine. The arguing was normal, their current location was not.\n\n\"Who cares about how clean we are? We're trapped in here while Maggie is out there undefended!\" The Commodore's patience was thinner than normal today.\n\n\"Maggie's mom cares, which is why we are supposed to make sure one of us gets washed separately every once in a while. We got lazy about it and now we have to deal with the consequences. Now give me a boost, I think I can get the lid open.\"\n\nFluffybottom grumbled and let Cuddles climb up his back, wondering why they were sending the one without arms to open the door. Cuddles climbed to the top of the washing bin and scrambled out, letting the door drop down behind him.\n\n\"I thought you were going to get me out of here?\"\n\n\"I can't open the door all the way, no arms.\" Cuddles snickered at his comrade's misfortune as he leapt off the top of the machine. That should teach him not to skip bath day.\n\nCuddles made his way to Maggie's room to make sure none of the shadows had made it that far. Once he was sure she wasn't in any immediate danger, he began his prowl around the house. Patrol was dull as usual, and it was made even more miserable by the fact that he was still damp from the his trip through the washing machine. \n\nWhen he approached the master bedroom he noticed the light was still on and decided to skip that portion of his walk. The shadows wouldn't dare enter from that way if there was any chance the parents where still awake, and there where some things Cuddles just didn't want to hear.\n\nHe made his way to the kitchen and there he spotted the first shadow of the night. Its vaporius form was no larger than he was, and appeared to have taken the shape of a large spider.\n\nCuddles prepared to pounce, but stopped when he saw the second one. The two where joined by more, and soon there where five pich black spiders the size of house cats meeting in the kitchen. Should have let oll' Fuzzybutt out, this is going to be a long night.\n\nThe shadows seemed to converse for a few moments, despite not making any perceivable sounds, and then scattered to search the house for their prey. Cuddles followed the one that went in the direction of Maggie's room and stalked it until it was isolated.\n\nHe pounced, and with a single bite the mass of darkness lost its shape and dissipated. That was too easy, something is wrong. Turning around to look for the others he saw another two shadows, each of them slightly larger than the one he had just dispersed. Oh joy, they're hived. Really wish I had back up now.\n\nThe two spiders leapt at Cuddles, and he easily dodged them. He may not have been a real cat, but he was sure his \"ancestors\" would have been proud. He then pounced on one that had yet to regain its balance from the attack and crushed it with a single blow.\n\nThe dispersed darkness seemed to gather around the other shadow, but Cuddles knew the defeated spider's strength would have been distributed among all three of the remaining shadows. Assuming the five I saw where all there was. Man I hate hives.\n\nThe shadow still in the area changed shape, adding what appeared to be a deformed humanoid torso to the front where the head once was. It lashed out with clawed hands, which cuddles only narrowly dodged, and followed up by bringing down a pointed leg down on where the stuffed cat now stood.\n\nCuddles was pinned, but he didn't plan on staying like that for long. He grapped the one of the creature's other legs with his tail and pulled it into the remaining legs on that side. The beast fell to one side and Cuddles scrambled out from under it and delivered a heavy blow to it's back, destroying it in a puff of smoke.\n\nCuddles returned to Maggie's bedside to make sure she was still safe, and then left again to find the remaining shadows.\n\nIn the living room he found one of them. The creature now stood as tall as the office chair it was searching. The good thing about hived shadows was their minds where distributed, so this thing was only half as smart as a real shadow.\n\nAs Cuddles looked for a weak point in the monstrous thing in front of him, it began to grow and change before his eyes. It now stood as tall as Maggie herself, and it's awful torso had grown a second pair of arms that ended in wicked looking curved blades, a trait it passed on to its existing arms.\n\nWho could have taken out the missing shadow?\n\nThe answer soon burst through the door to the laundry room, in the form of a large teddy bear wielding a meat tenderizer as a war hammer. Commodore Fluffybottom was back in action.\n\nThe Commodore wasted no time with trivial things like threat assessment or strategy, he simply ran head first into the shadow swinging his hammer. The shadow was brought to its spidery knees from a single blow, but it didn't remain vulnerable for long. It pinned Fluffybottom too the ground with one of its arm blades and began to taunt him.\n\n\"Very brave, little guardian. But bravery will be of little help against me.\" The monster's voice sounded like a mix between a chain smoker and a garbage disposal. The good news is the fact that it's talking means he's fully reformed. This is the last one\n\n\"I know this bear isn't the only guardian here, come out little kitty and I may let the two of you live after I have my fill of your charge's dreams.\"\n\nThat was a lie, and everyone in the room knew it. It was Maggie's dreams that animated the two stuffed guardians in the first place, if the nightmare standing in the living room were allowed to eat those both Cuddles and the Commodore would collapse into regular old toys. And that wasn't even considering the mental trauma it would out her through.\n\nCuddles knew he had to give his position away eventually, so he picked the most useful way he could think of and pounced on the creature from behind. The shadow turned all it's attention to his attacker, freeing the very angry bear he had pinned down. Commodore Fluffybottom immediately began swinging his hammer into the shadow.\n\nMeanwhile on the the monster's back, Cuddles was once again standing up for the honor of cat kind by refusing to be hit. The shadow's torso had turned complelty around and was slashing at him wildly, but the stuffed cat simply would not remain in place long enough to be hit.\n\nThe shadow was getting tiered of this game. \"Do you know what you face insects? I am Krallmanar, eighth son of the shadow. I am that which goes bump in the night. I am the one who watches as you sleep. I am he who devours the dreams of the innocent and leaves nothing but fear in my wake. You are an insignificant toy, and I will tear you apart piece by peace, leaving nothing but your head so you can watch as I consume the dreams that give you life.\"\n\n\"Do all of you guys have long and pretentious titles, or is it just the ones who bother us?\" The sound came from the top of the bookshelf, where Commodore Fluffybottom had moved to after slamming his makeshift weapon into the shadow proved ineffective.\n\nKrallmanar, eighth son of the shadow, looked up just in time to see the bear shove two large weights off of their hiding place on top of the shelf. The weights came crashing down into his head, and continued until they had punched straight through him on their way to the floor.\n\nUnlike the lesser shadows Cuddles had defeated before, this one didn't simply dissipate at the blow. It writhed and struggled as it began to reform, but at that moment the Commodore leapt off the shelf himself, meat tenderizer in hand, and struck the final blow.\n\nAs the black smoke cleared, Cuddles ran to his partner to make sure he was ok. He was fine, but reeked of sulfur and rotten onions from the darkness he was now soaked in.\n\n\"Next time, you are giving me a boost out of the washer.\"\n\n\"Understood Commodore.\" Cuddles replied with a mock salute.\n\nThey did one last patroll of the house to make sure no other shadows made it inside during the fight, and then returned to the washing machine. They both stank of darkness and would need to be rewashed before the humans in the house awoke. There was no need for them to remain on guard, it was far too close to morning for any shadows to attempt another attack.\n\nCuddles offered one last thought before the water became too high for conversation. \"Now that the weights aren't hidden up on the shelf any more, what excuse do you think Maggie's dad will come up with for never using them tomorrow?\"\n\nThey both had a good chuckle, and braced themselves as the wash cycle began." ]	1
	[WP] Three universes collided at the same time and 3 "Earths" ended up fusing with each other. One hosting us, one hosting a fantasy world and one hosting a sci-fi world.	[ "\"This world belongs to the God Emperor! Prepare to face the fires of damnation!\"\n\nBolts of magic shot out at the Primarch, but even though magic had come a long way in the last 38000 years, it was no match for armor worn by those blessed by the God Emperor, who inspired and guided them to victory through the warp time and again.\n\nMost of the rest of the humans had retreated far underground, weathering this storm as they had all others, with time and determination.\n\nBut this day, this day belonged to Space Marines.", "\"So are we more Harry Potter meets Star Wars now or Lord of the Rings meets Star Trek?\" I ask, staring at the clearly overworked U.N. ambassadors.\n\n\"More like Guardians of the Galaxy meets Dr.Strange,\" answers Donovan. I always knew he was a closet Marvel fan. He pulls out his laser pointer, aiming at the 3d projection for the new Earth we inhabit. Although the planet has tripled in Size and weight, somehow gravity and the atmospheric make-up of Tri-Earth remains constant. \n\n[I will continue this short story as an edit -10:39 am pst-]\n\n", "\"Alright kids, sit down\", droned the old sage, in a very southern accent to the young warriors. They made themselves a place to sit as he took a breath to tell them a story.\n\n\"This is the story, the story of how our world was made, from the combination of three. \n\n\"Wait, three worlds? Yeah right, old man.\" This came from the mouth of a young rogue, who had a blaster and sword attached to his belt. \n\n\"You shouldn't interrupt the sage, Claudius,\" muttered the knight, named Nolan the Chivalrous, to the young rogue. \n\n\"For all that chivalry, you do like to interrupt people, eh?\", barked the soldier, who looked at the knight with her piercing blue eyes.\n\nThe knight was silent for a moment, then he commented, \"touché, M'lady.\"\n\n\"May I tell my story?\", questioned the sage, to which Nolan apologized, and told him to proceed. \n\n\"It was the year 2018 when the Earthly Breach happened.\", the sage told.\n\n\"With the combination of three versions of the universe aligning and the use of a multiverse transporter, the three Earths, or three versions of it, were combined.\"\n\n\"One was called Earth-8, or more commonly, the Fantasy earth was filled with magic that baffled even the greatest of minds. Many scientists, upon seeing it, believed that this was the worst that had happened. But that wasn't the end.\"\n\n\"Earth-6 - The second planet - was known as the Sci-fi world, For the Unfathomable ideas and technology even the smartest of us could dream of.\"\n\n\" And then there was us, Earth-2, the regular earth, the one that was the weakest of them all. We knew we were damned, Since many of the warriors of the other earths were at our doorstep, ready to conquer our planet for themselves.\"\n\n\"So we did the unthinkable, to them at least. We proposed a truce to the inhabitants of the other worlds. This struck them with the realization that they would have to fight each other to gain control of the earth (something unfathomable to either side), They quickly agreed to said truce, if not for peace, then for themselves.\"\n\n\"And for one-hundred and twenty years, we have kept the truce, working together, building infrastructure, making lives better... and protecting ourselves from the evils of all of our worlds. That is why we have lived, that is why we fight.\"\n\nThe Warriors thanked him for the story and made plans to leave for the next city. \nAs they were leaving, the old man asked for their names.\n\n\"By his banner, you could have known who Nolan was, but as for me, I'm Captain Sarah Whitman, of the 3rd squadron of the US military, and this idiot of a person is Claudius Brown, Idiot of mystery.\"\n\n\"At least you said 'of mystery', Sergeant Damper\", moaned the pragmatic rogue.\n\n\"Well I believed I never got your name, Oh wise one, what may I call you as?\" said the knight.\n\n\"Morgan Freeman the second, 'Oh Wiseass' for hire.\" snapped the old man, with finger quotes in the air.\n\n\"Do you really have to add 'the second' at the end?\", moaned Sarah, as she shook her head in annoyance.\n\n\"why yes, I was named after my great, great grandfather, he was pretty famous and was living around the time of the collision.\"\n\nWell, we should get to the city. Have a nice day, Oh wise one\", finished Nolan as they exited the grotto. \n\nSarah turned her bike on, as Claudius jumped on, and she rolled her eyes. her eyes landed on Nolan and she remembered how much she wanted to buy him a bike for his birthday, but then remembered that he said he was fine with his horse.\n\nAs they sped towards the city, the old man realized something.\n\n\"You forgot to call me 'Oh Wiseass'!\", with his fingers making \"air quotes\"\n\n_____________________________________________________\n\nThanks for reading this, please comment below.\n", "The two beings looked on as the globes began to merge.\n\n...: Is this truly necessary?\n\n???: Space must be made. It is the way it has always been.\n\n...: That doesn't make it right.\n\nThe silence was pervasive. The beings watched the merger, as was tradition. The plots, quirks and personalities of each unique world being destroyed as the worlds unified to their greatest common factors. Sure it would form a new story. And the space would allow for the creation of two new worlds, with fresh stories. At the same time, so much was lost.\n\n...: We could stop it you know.\n\n???: Then we would run out of space. You know this.\n\n...: What if rather then creating from nothing, we work within the worlds to create new stories.\n\n???: You're starting to sound like !!!. He has what he wished, but now he is alone on the prime. Do you wish to be isolated like him?\n\n...: No. I wish to remain here.\n\n???: Then do not question the system.", "“Another round for my friends!” Brab shouted at the barkeep. \n\nBob looked around. The new bar was aptly dubbed The Intersection. There were artifacts from all their worlds strewn across the walls; shields and swords, striking 3D holographic scenes, motivational posters. \n\n“Coming right up,” the barkeep replied.\n\nHe poured Brab a large glass of mead, Bob a beer and Bjorn a phosphoric purple mixture.\n\n“I don’t know how you can drink that foul sludge,” Brab said.\n\n“It is finely attuned to my tastebuds, something you clearly lack,” Bjorn replied.\n\n“We had a word for you in my world, court jester,” Brab said nudging Bob in the shoulder a little too hard.\n\nBob was seated between the two men. Brab was shorter than him but not by much, rippling muscles flowed out from under his leather vest. Bjorn was several feet taller and thin, a sleek silver suit formed tightly to his frame. Bob was in regular t-shirt and jeans.\n\n“What’s wrong with beer?” Bob asked.\n\n“Indeed! Barkeep bring us hither three goblets of your finest beer,” Brab said smiling.\n\nBob was beginning to feel woozy after downing his fifth beer. This whole last few months had felt woozy. A cataclysmic event that turned into one of the greatest melding of minds, traditions and technology. But you still need watering holes, he thought.\n\n“Feast your eyes on this!” Brab yelled. He placed a dagger in front of the other two. It was large, the steel blade sharp and the hilt beautifully crafted with a Dragon’s head with two green emeralds for eyes. \n\n“Quaint. Now this weapon could destroy a whole continent if calibrated correctly,” Bjorn said placing down a laser weapon; silver, sleek and compact.\n\nBob remained quiet. He didn’t have any weapons.\n\n“What have you got in your pockets young fellow?” Brab asked.\n\nBob sheepishly fished in his pocket and produced an iPhone. He opened a music app and played a classic from his era.\n\nI get knocked down but I get up again, you are never gonna keep me down.\n\nThe other two men looked at the device but didn’t say anything. Bob stopped the song and put the phone back in his pocket, his face flush.\nThey bar was located in the newly formed Intersect neighbourhood. Not the centre of technological and cultural exchange officially but many gathered to socialize and learn about each others worlds. \n\n“Ah look and take in this beautiful maiden hither across,” Brab said gesturing with his head towards the door. In had strolled a woman. Long dark hair fell over her shoulders and red lipstick stood out from her olive complexion. She looked around the room and her eyes fell on the three friends. She strolled up to the bar and ordered a beer.\n\n“Here is your chance, seize it at once,” Brab whispered to Bob.\n\n“Ah hey, how’s it goin’?” Bob asked.\n\n“Not too bad,” the girl replied.\n\n“What’s your name?” Bob asked.\n\n“It’s Lisa,” the girl said smiling grabbing her beer and making her way to a couch in the corner of the room.\n\nBrab and Bjorn looked after her. Bob gulped down hard and took a swig of beer.\nBrab retired to the restroom. On his way back he found a woman draped in a flowing dress. He said one word, tossed her over his shoulder and laughed loudly. The woman kicked and pounded her fists on his back. This caused Brab to laugh even louder.\n\n“How crued,” Bjorn said looking on unimpressed.\n\nBrab had let the woman down but not before she pressed her lips against his ear whispering something. This made Brab grin and he returned to his friends.\n\n“Something a little more sophisticated perhaps,” Bjorn said putting two fingers to his temple. He looked on a slender woman clothed in a sleek gold suit and closed his eyes. The woman looked at him and also put two fingers to her temple. Brab and Bob looked on; the woman laughed and blushed from across the room.\n\n“Strange black magic,” Brab said.\n\nAfter a few more drinks Bob was the first to leave, feeling the most out of place. \nThey’re just so cool and I’m just so boring, he thought to himself as he strolled out of the bar. Sure I got that girls number eventually but those guys are just so... cool.\n\nBjorn and Brab looked after him as he left. They sat silently for a while.\n\n“Can you believe it?” Brab broke the silence.\n\n“Remarkable young man,” Bjorn said.\n\n“Yes I wish I was born on his world. Did you see his music device?” Brab said marveling.\n\nBjorn nodded. They both sighed looking down into their drinks.\n\n\n" ]	5
	[WP] People can listen to music and convert them into magic attacks/abilities, dependant on the mood/theme etc. Heavy Metal or any other fast paced edgy genre is illegal for safety reasons. However, people are still able to kill with other unlikely genres.	[ "\"Music is moral law. It gives soul to the universe, wings to the mind, flight to the imagination, and charm and gaiety to life and to everything.\"\n\n\"How quaint. Who said that?\"\n\n\"Plato.\"\n\n\"He was always an optimist.\"\n\n\"Perhaps you're right. Perhaps he should have included that it gives power to the heart, weapons to the weak, something like that.\"\n\n\"Dominion to the delirious.\"\n\n\"You've got to believe it to achieve it.\"\n\n\"Good thing I still believe in cold steel,\" she said, as she finished slotting bullets into the clip and reloaded it into the gun that looked much too big for her slender hands. She holstered it and sat back. \"At the end of the day, the only moral law is me,\" she said with a cheeky smile.\n\nI returned a smirk to chastise her for her bravado, as I was accustomed to do after these six months of working together. She was rarely a daredevil in a hot situation, in fact she moved with the cool calculation of a hunting reptile, or a spider. But I could always sense her desire to jump into the fray, to play with fire. She enjoyed what she did, and more dangerously, she enjoyed what it involved. Her training held her back, but training always evolves, until its forgotten entirely. So I kept her in check.\n\n\"We're here,\" she sat up, as the ATV made a distinct slowing turn. I picked up my helmet. \"Are you ever going to leave that thing behind one day?\" she asked. \"I feel like I'm out there fighting alone when you're wearing that.\"\n\nI smiled. \"I need silence to dance.\"\n\n\"Psht. Whatever,\" she said, and she shoved the door open.\n\n---\n\nThe concierge met us at the door, rather than waiting behind the front desk. He paced between us and where we were meant to go, like a worried dog showing us the way to the problem. My partner started looking at him sideways, through narrow eyes. She couldn't stand anyone who couldn't be cool.\n\n\"The penthouse,\" he spluttered. \"He must have broken the controllers, or hacked them. Or he may have brought his own equipment because its very loud. We've moved all the guests from the upper floors downstairs, but despite that we haven't seen anything out of the ordinary. No apparitions, no sceneshifting, no mods of any kind.\" His face was moist with perspiration, as if he'd been pacing for some time before we'd arrived. \"Some of us believe that the guest performed suicide, and the music has just been left playing.\" He paused having uttered the sentence, and went a shade whiter with the thought. \"He only rented the room for the night, so that could be true. He seemed quite normal to me..\"\n\n\"Calm down,\" I interrupted. \"Everything will be fine. If what you say is true, we'll be able to switch the music off, no problem.\" We reached the elevator, and my partner and I stepped inside. She punched the top number with the nose of her pistol. \"Going up,\" she said. As soon as the doors closed I grimaced at her for the cliche. She smiled back. This was how she flirted on the job.\n\n---\n\n[Classical music](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bYyK922PsUw) was playing in the elevator, kept to a cool. Classical music was much more common than in the old days. The controllers were built in to every speaker, by law, and would shut off the power if the BPM got too fast. It was more complicated than that, to deal with the other \"electric genres\" that didn't rely on BPM for their energy. But I wasn't a technician. It didn't matter to me.\n\nShe had her head tilted, listening. At some point we expected the noise of whatever music was coming from the top level to reach us, first as a distant vibration. There would be a little time assess, to see how dangerous it was. If it had been as the concierge speculated, then I would need to go out alone. But the elevator moved slowly. It was an old hotel.\n\nThe music was soothing. There was definitely a story being told, but I didn't know it. It was...romantic...serene...graceful... a song from nature, deep in the forest, the proverbial forest, where people had never trodden. In the middle of the continent, and surrounded on all sides by impassable mountains, holding the trees close for protection, shielding them from time... Life was harmonious. The harmonies of life...an endless circle.\n\n\"Something's not right.\"\n\n\"What?\"\n\n\"The music. It's taking us.\"\n\n\"Taking us where?\"\n\nThe rear doors behind us opened. She gasped as she turned to face the breeze that came from behind her. \"Here,\" she said.\n\nOur elevator sat on top of a hill. Long, deep green grass lapped at its sides, spilled into the doorframe. The air smelled the freshest I had ever smelled. It came from the mountains, whose proud white peaks saluted from the horizon where they pinned up the sky. The meadow before us cascaded downwards, flowers flowing over the froth, to where it settled and drowned the roots of the trees. The timbers were giant, the creases in the bark were deep like lines on the face of an aged wizard. There they slept in their own shade, the shadows clung like velvet to everything. Bluebells and snowdrops formed deep pools among them. Deer strode among the flowers silently. Rabbits poked their heads up every now and them. Butterflies alighted on their ears, and were gently shaken with a twitch.\n\n\"I've never felt anything like this before.\"\n\n\"Yes. Me neither.\"\n\n\"He must've hacked...the controllers...\"\n\n\"...Oh.\"\n\n\"We've got to...snap out of it...\" she seemed to sway with the breeze, which invited her for a dance. \"Where's your...helmet?\"\n\n\"It's...\" I looked down to where I had been holding my helmet by the jaw. It wasn't there. Instead there was a wicker basket. She turned to look as I didn't answer, and seeing the basket her eyebrows raised in dozy bemusement.\n\n\"Oh.\"\n\nI lifted the lid. The basket was full of provisions. Red grapes, a goat's cheese, a small ham, a bottle of wine.\n\n\"We could-\"\n\n\"We have to get back to the elevator.\"\n\n\"The elevator brought us here,\" I said stupidly, desperately.\n\n\"This isn't where we're...supposed to be...\"\n\n\"...isn't it?\"\n\nShe groaned with the mental strain of trying to hold her thoughts together, pressing her temples with her palms and kneeling down, breathing deeply to try and focus. I watched, pitying her for resisting. Why resist? What was the point? What was there to go back to?\n\nShe lurched to her feet and grabbed my free hand, stumbling to the elevator which still stood behind us, where a robin had landed on the top left corner and eyed us quizzically. \"C'mon,\" she mumbled. But I pulled her back. Her hand felt so soft. \"Stay,\" I replied. \"Stay...with me.\" I drew her closer.\n\nHer eyes rose to meet mine, and they were full of terror and the realization of desire, the awareness of a passion undiscovered, the temptation of..\n\n\"No!\" She wrenched herself away from me and nearly fell into the elevator. I followed her, if only to coax her out again. I stood in the doorway, smiling bravely, comfortingly as she cowered in one corner. \"Come back,\" I said, \"Come on.\" \n\nShe threw herself into my embrace, and for that moment I was the happiest I had ever been. She clutched at my armor vest and looked again deeply into my eyes. This would be the moment that everything changed between us forever. But then her grip tightened and she fell back, dragging me with her, and we tumbled into the elevator. She kicked the number of a lower floor as she fell and the doors closed on that perfect wilderness forever. The elevator descended slowly, the muffled vibrations of the music from the top floor giving way to the rumbling of the elevator's machinery. I began to sober.\n\n\"It was a trap..\" I said. \"The music combined together..like some sort of amplifier..\"\n\n\"Was that real?\" she asked, \"Where were we?\"\n\n\"I don't know.\" I answered. \"It felt real.\"\n\n\"Where's your helmet?\"\n\n\"I must've left it.\"\n\nShe sighed, and pulled her gun from her holster, clicked it back. \"Well, let's try that again, shall we?\" she said, and shot out the speaker in the elevator. The sound was deafening.\n\n---\n\n[Subreddit](https://www.reddit.com/r/TeddyArmy/)", "Emotion is a powerful thing.\n \nBack in the 21st century it was first discovered that the brain could affect the world.\n\nNot just through your body but through what some called magic but we later found out was your mind willing the world to change through sheer power of will.\n\nThe brain is a funny thing, once it believes that something is real it will accept it, adept to it and will learn how to use it to it’s benefit.\n\nBefore march 15, 2019 nobody believed that magic or “willing” as we call it was real, it was ludicrous to think that a person could will something to change and it changed.\n\nOn march 15, 2019 a kid named Billy from a small town in the state of Texas was once again bullied by his classmates.\n\nBilly was used to getting bullied, he had been dunked in the toilet, his lunch money was stolen on a regular basis and he has gotten more wedgies than he can remember.\n\nBut this time was different, the bullies went to far. They made him take of his clothes and paraded him through the halls of the school.\n\nNot soon after Billy lost his clothes a teacher saw him walking around without his clothes, pulled him into the bathroom and spanked and scolded him for being naked. Billy told him it wasn’t his fault, that the bullies had taken his clothes but the excuses only made the teacher more mad and gave Billy 2 weeks of detention.\n\nBilly was given a spare change of clothes from lost and found and was send back to class.\n\nWhen Billy got back to he was once again ridiculed by his classmates even his favourite teacher miss Gretchen greeted billy with a loud laugh at his expense.\n\nBilly made his way to the back of the class, pulled out his phone and his earbuds and just sat there for a moment. “What’s the point of living in a world where everyone is just out to get you”… Billy put in his earbuds and played the first song in his music player.\n\nHe had always liked this song but today he felt the song, he understood the meaning of the song and the pain behind it. \n\nThe fear, embarrassment and anger that Billy had felt so intensely when he was paraded around school naked came back.\n\nAll the other kids with the pumped up kids you better run better run, outrun my gun.\n\nIt all came together, his emotions and the music. Guns started to appear out of thin air all around billy, the first time in human history that a person willed something into existence.\n\nThe song and emotion had unlocked something in Billy’s brain that allowed him to create guns out of thin air. Billy did not shoot anyone, did not hurt anyone. Even though Billy had been hurt and tormented he could not, would not become like his bullies.\n\nAnd that my dear students is the story of how “Willing” was discovered.\n“But professor, how did Billy have the ability to resist hurting his bullies? Songs that talk about hurting others or about weapons are banned for this exact reason it’s impossible to resist the songs”.\n\n“It’s not impossible it’s just very hard, just as it’s very difficult to kill anyone through your will but there are stories about mercenaries who can do it, they use songs about heartbreak of such thing and literally will a persons heart to break. If a regular person tried it they would get no where but those of us who are extremely talented like Billy was can manipulate songs and their meanings to achieve things not described in the songs”.\n\nAnd that concludes lesson one of “Willing 101” ill see all of you next week have a nice weekend.\n\n\n\nFirst time I have ever written a story of any kind pls don’t hate me. \n" ]	2
	[WP] They took you, but you don't belong to them.	[ "Father’s castle, which once reached the gods, is now in ruin. And I, as it happens, am no longer human.\n\t\nMy memory is cloudy, but I can piece together what happened. That evil witch, Maka, barged into the throne room, demanding to speak with father. He was a good man, and so he listened to her demand—but it was vile, as always. She requested peasants to test her magic out on, and in return, offered to teach our wizards.\n\t\nWhen he refused, she attacked him. They fought a long and vicious battle that tore the castle to shreds, and when my father had fallen and I had ran to comfort him, she struck me with a spell that made my flesh feel like it were boiling.\n\t\nI, like father, would’ve died if one of the priests, an old friend of the family named Alfred, hadn’t been quick on his toes, grabbing father’s sword and binding my soul to it. He promised me when this was all over he would find something better to put me in, but Maka’s next move was to kill him.\n\t\nShe never noticed what happened to me, though, and I guess the spell was too much for my soul to handle, because I drifted into a deep slumber, and the only reason I’m awake now is because some warrior has disturbed the site of this battle.\n\t\nAs he holds me, I can feel the anger inside of him. He wants Maka dead too, although for his own reasons. He wants to kill her using the legendary blade father always carried, and though it isn’t his honor, I’ll still allow him to take me, so long as we get the job done.\n\t\nNever in a million years had I thought I would be the sword to spill Maka’s blood, but it seems I shall.\n***\nThis one's a lil' rough, haha. Great prompt! :D\n\nIf you like this story, check out my sub! r/longhandwriter", "I've grown used to my cell mates. Pressed shoulder to shoulder while we wait for someone to grab us and drag us off to some strange place for their own use. I've grown to miss them when I'm pulled away. There's something really comforting about knowing where you belong in the world. When I'm taken away, I often feel out of place... like I don't belong anywhere I'm placed. I won't lie... the attention is nice. I don't get that like I did in my past life. But anyone who pays attention to me doesn't love me the way I know I was loved before, either... and ultimately, none of them own me like I knew I was owned before. They all return me to my caretakers, who in turn slide me back, shoulder to shoulder with my cell mates, F Wilso and F Wineg. This is my home, now." ]	2
Got inspired to make this prompt after watching Annabelle (no spoilers, but dear god, the usual horror cliches are obvious as hell).	[WP] In a world where haunted buildings and vengeful spirits are uncommon occurences, you're one of the few people who don't do stupid cliche shit that would often result in death. You've done a good job surviving until you meet a ghost that doesn't waste his time trying to spook people.	[ "\"Typical,\" I say to myself as I try to start my car. It was dark and I could see what was the shape of a house out in the distance. \n\n\"We, we are going to be okay right?\" \n\nI look over to see Cathy looking a tad bit too panicked for my taste. \"Of course we are going to be okay. I bet it's a dead battery or the wind or something,\" says a confident voice behind me. Dead battery? I thought to myself. Last dead battery led to Jimmy being cut clean through by that possessed murderer. \n\n\"Yeah, could be that. Got a jumper in the back?\"\n\n\"Why would I have a jumper? It's 2017 dude. We can just get it towed.\"\n\nI sigh to myself and open up the driver side door. Corn field too? Well then. This is going to be fun. \"Call up a tow then Jack,\" I say as I head to the trunk. twenty bucks on no signal. \"Can't Dwight, says I got no signal,\" I hear Jack bark back. A sly smile crosses my face. Knew it, I think to myself as I pop open the trunk.\n\nIt was barren. Nothing but a first aid kit, some flashlights, what looked to be a case for something, and other things that Jack forgot to empty out of his car. Why did they agree to take his car for the road trip? Thing was older than any of them combined. Could of took my car, but of course not Jack just couldn't be separated from his vintage vehicles. Made me wonder though, why such a beat up hunk of junk?\n\n\"Dwight, I don't like this,\" Cathy said with some more panic in her voice. We all knew the signs. Seemed just like the beginning of a nightmare, dark night, corn field, ominous house, dead battery, no signal, and a full moon. \n\n\"Hey it's alright,\" I lie to her. It's always the panicky ones that mess things up.\n\n\"Here how about this, how you two stay here and I go up to that house alone.\"\n\n\"Nah man, I'll come with you,\" Jack said in protest. I shot him a look. \"And then who will protect Cathy?\" Jack looked away and realized I had a point. \"Alright, but just don't do anything stupid. You know what they say about those ghosts and things.\" Shit. He just had to say that. \"ghosts? No, no way there are ghosts. Dwight, please don't do this. Let's go together,\" Cathy said with the panic increasing.\n\n\"No,\" I immediately say back. Safety in numbers is just going to get us killed. \"I'll be back in ten minutes. I promise,\" I say as I close the driver side door and walk towards the house. I look back to see Cathy looking a tad bit scared and Jack eyeing her up. Of course he was. He's dead if they fuck... Should have told him that. I shrug off the thought as I approach the house. \n\nI look around for the traps, try and hear the phone, always a phone, and look for the ax marks. There were always ax marks at these kind of homes. \"Huh,\" I whisper to myself as I can't find any of the usual tells. Weird. I walk around the house, eyeing it up and down. Nothing seemed out of place? As I turn to see the back of the house, a smile crosses my face. \n\nA fucking shed huh? That's what we are playing it?\n\nI walk as quietly as I can over to it. There must have been a sign of what kind of threat I was dealing with here. The tools always give away what's going to happen next. \n\nI look in. My eyes widen. No blood, no runes, no nothing. Just an empty shed. A chill ran up my spine. Something's not right. I try thinking about what next to do. I had an option. Go back to the car and just convince them to walk back to town with me. Ghosts usually wait where they are bound for a reason. Or I go into the house and just deal with it now. \n\nMy gut was screaming back to the car and I agreed with it. As I turned around, I stifled a scream. The grotesque monster stood behind me. Staring at me. Waiting with a smile. \"Hello,\" it said. I fell backwards, landed on my ass. \n\n\"Wh-what the fuck are you doing?\" \n\nIt shrugged and extended it's tendril out as an offer for help and maybe a sign of friendship. \"Saw your car die, figured I could help out.\" It's voice scratched against my ears. \"I-I-I, you're supposed to be in there!\" I point towards the house. It looked at me confused. \"Wouldn't be much help if I was in there.\"\n\nI knock away its offer and get up by myself. \"Why in the world are you trying to help?\" \"Well figured I would help my kind, you know,\" its voice tearing now. Why did they always have to sound so terrifying. \n\nI looked down at my feet and shook my head trying to understand. \"Why would a monster want to he- wait. Did you say your kind?\" \n\n\"Yep.\" \n\n\"But we are humans!\" I scream pointing to myself. What was going on?\n\nThe monster tilted its head, or at least what I assumed was a head, in confusion. \"But the other two that are coming this way are possessed?\"\n\nMy heart froze. \"Two others?\" I asked in a whisper.\n\n\"Yep the two other people in the car with you. They seem to be heading this way, should I wave them over?\" \n\nMy eyes grew huge. \"No! Don't do that! Listen, I gotta know, did you kill the battery of the car?\"\n\n\"What car?\"\n\nMy mind went blank and only one thought came. \n\nIs it the car? " ]	1
	[WP] "It only stops growing when it touches water."	[ "EXPANSION\n\nPART ONE\n\nGazala gingerly made her way through the market, squeezing through the small crowd until she found the produce store. The owner, Hakim, sat lazily in the chair, slowly fanning himself with a piece of paper. She just gave him a nod, and Hakim pointed to the vegetables she always bought. Uttering a brief word of thanks, Gazala paid for her vegetables and left.\n\nAs she headed for the end, a minor commotion came from the department store. The owner, Said, bought and sold a vast array of items, ranging from junk to jewelry. Gazala watched as Said examined a complicated piece of equipment, about the size of her hand. He pulled a large sum of money to pay for it, while some of his employees stood and marveled at the piece of technology they rarely saw. Gazala too, seldom saw such items, but she had read about wonderful things in the books from school. There was this amazing machine which dried your bread for you, and one that spun your clothes around.\n\nGazala turned away and kept walking, until finally, she reached the end. There, with his arms crossed, stood Anwar, Gazala's brother. \n\n\"There you are.\" He said impatiently, grabbing the basket of vegetables. \"Baba says there's a trader coming from the North. He wants you to see if there's anything.\"\n\nGazala scratched her head nervously. Her family was quite progressive compared to some of the other families in Edjeleh, but sending a girl to trade might not be the greatest idea. \n\n\"Are you sure? I...\"\n\n\"It's fine.\" Anwar placed some cash in her hand. \"They're in big trucks. Surely you want to see them?\"\n\n&nbsp;\n\nGazala struggled over the large sand dune, the particles getting into her shoes and the burning hot sun mercilessly beat down on her. She shook her head. Why did she agree so quickly? Anwar knew she liked seeing pieces of technology. But just how much further did she have to go? Placing her palm at her eyebrows, she looked around, trying to see if anyone else was walking to the trader as well.\n\nTo her right, was a man standing in front of a large...thing. Was that the trader and his truck? She turned and began to trek, kicking up the sand as he dug her heels into the loose ground. After struggling for what seemed like hours, Gazala pulled herself to the top. That's when she realised she was mistaken.\n\nThe man was definitely there dressed in a dark red, possibly expensive cloak adorned with markings, but what she had thought was a truck was some weird plant. It was mostly green, the stems a half a metre thick, coiling around and mixing together with each other. There must have been thousands of them, forming one green wall. Each stem ended in a shiny, glistening, red sphere. The man held something in his hand and stared at the strange plant, in deep thought.\n\n\"What is that?\"\n\nThe man spun around, his cloak swishing and throwing up enough sand to practically block the entire plant. He wore a white collared shirt and strange trousers beneath the cloak, had neatly combed brown hair, orange eyes, and wasn't bad-looking. He was maybe thirty years old? The man was quite thin and very tall, slightly taller than Anwar, who was 178 centimetres tall, towering over Gazala.\n\n\"Oh, hello there. Didn't see you.\" The man spoke perfect Arabic, in a strange accent, however. It was slightly different from the woman who had passed by the town last month. From...Britain? The man turned around to look at the plant.\n\n\"Bad moment.\" He said.\n\nA thousand questions raced through Gazala's mind, so she simply blurted out her first thought.\n\n\"What's wrong with your eyes?\"\n\nThe man frowned, and Gazala mentally reprimanded herself. Not a good first impression. The man reached up to touch his eyeballs with his hands, eliciting a wince from the young girl. \"What's wrong with my eyes? Aren't they cool?\"\n\n\"No...they're weird.\" She said.\n\nThe man's expression fell.\n\n\"I-I mean, they're great. They look...uhh...nice!\" She hurriedly said, trying to save the conversation. With that compliment, the man broke into a wide grin. \"Yes, they are.\"\n\n\"Are you from Britain?\" She asked.\n\n\"No. But I have spent a lot of time there.\" The man said, pulling out a small British flag from his pocket and giving it a slight wave before putting it back into his pocket.\n\n\"Is it nice?\" She asked, her curiosity piqued. She had always wanted to travel to one of the European countries, to see what they looked like in person.\n\n\"The weather isn't. But the food's good...\" The man said the sentence as if it were a question, and Gazala couldn't tell whether he was lying, or he was just unsure of the food.\n\n\"One day, when I grow up and earn money, I want to go to Britain!\" She declared. The man raised an eyebrow. \"A traveler huh? It's great isn't it? Exploring the world, and discovering new things you've never seen before, and learning all about what they do. Maybe you will, one day, go see the windmills in the Netherlands as they do their lazy spinning...oh, or to Canada's tundras.\"\n\nGazala nodded enthusiastically. There was just something about the way this strange man talked, flapping his hands around, that just seemed...wonderful. If this man were her teacher, she would listen intently as he explained lessons...like he was telling a story. That was it. Every time the strange man said anything, it was like a grand adventurer talking about his stories and the world beyond small Edjeleh.\n\n\"What's that?\" Gazala pointed at the weird plant behind the man. The man's smile disappeared and he gritted his teeth in that familiar way, just like when her parents were thinking up excuses on why they went drinking.\n\n\"Yeah...I was hoping you fearing you would come back to that.\" The man stepped to the side, allowing Gazala to get a nice long look at the plant. She had never seen anything so beautiful and green grow out of the sand and rocks. She walked a step closer, lost in the sight of the plant, when it shuddered, its coils moving and shaking. Gazala yelped and backed away quickly.\n\n\"It's alive!\" She gasped.\n\nThe man shrugged. \"Of course it is. It's a plant.\" He narrowed his eyes. \"What do they teach you in science class?\"\n\n\"N-No. I mean, yes. It's a plant. Plants are alive. But this plant...moves. No plant moves.\" She reasoned, pointing at the plant to emphasize her point.\n\nThe man glanced at the plant. \"Actually, there's the Venus Flytrap, and the rapidly moving plants. And the Grugrylaltyly...oh wait, that's not from Earth.\"\n\nGazala was just absolutely confused at this point, but the strange man walked towards the plant and took the British flag out of his pocket once more and tossed it at the plant. The moment it hit the stem, it was immediately partially enveloped into the stem, only leaving a few parts of the fabric sticking out.\n\n\"What...what is this thing?\" Gazala asked, taking another step back.\n\n\"This,\" the man motioned, his hands dangerously close to the plant, \"is the Rylotal, known to other species as the Consumer Plant. The Rylotal only starts to grow during sunrise or sunset and-\"\n\n\"Why sunset and sunrise?\" Gazala interrupted. The man paused, confused. \"I mean, why specifically sunrise or sunset? What's so special?\"\n\n\"Ah.\" The man pointed at the clouds. \"The Rylotal is especially stimulated by the presence of red light waves. When sunlight hits atmosphere, it gets scattered, and blue light waves are scattered more.\" The man made a scattering motion with his hand. \"But at sunset, light travels longer, so red and orange light is what we see, and this stimulates the Rylotal and...\" The man paused. \"You don't really understand, do you?\"\n\nGazala shook her head. \"I'm trying.\" The man straightened up. \"Okay. Red light 'wakes' Rylotal up. And once it wakes up, it will grow. And it will keep expanding in all directions, up, down, all around us.\" The man waved his hands all around the air, and Gazala found it very difficult to follow this man with how fast he spoke. \"It only stops growing when it touches water. It will consume everything in its path until it touches water. Oh, look where it landed!\"\n\n\"Sahara.\" She answered. \"Of all places this unstoppable thing lands, it landed in the largest desert in the world.\"\n\n\"No.\" \n\n\"No?\" Gazala felt a ray of hope. Not unstoppable. She could save her family still.\n\n\"This isn't the largest desert in the world. Antarctica is.\" The man corrected.\n\n\"I...what? No, ignore that factual thing. What does the Ry...the Rylo...the Consumer Plant, what does it do?\" She asked.\n\n\"Basically, it consumes everything, partially assimilating rocks, plastic, soil, metal, dirt, anything, even people.\" Gazala shuddered as she imagined herself being caught by the plant. \"And once there's nothing left to consume, it reduces everything to dust, then self-destructs, scattering its seeds to new planets to repeat the process.\"\n\nOnce he was done explaining, the girl had her hand over her mouth in horror already. \"Yeah...maybe I shouldn't have said that.\"\n\n\"But the whole planet will die.\" She managed to say, feeling chills down her spine and goosebumps forming. \"I won't get to see the world.\" She turned to squint at the Sun. \"How long before sunset. An hour?\"\n\n\"Thirty-three minutes and twenty nine seconds. Twenty eight.\" The man said. He wasn't looking at a clock or anything, or the sky.\n\n\"How do you know?\" \n\n\"I just do.\"\n\nShe hesitated, unsure of what to do. \"You're not human, are you?\"\n\nThe man turned and gave her a small smile. \"No. I'm not. Good job!\" He gave her two thumbs-up. \"Most people don't realise it. You're good, clever.\"\n\n\"Did you bring the Consumer Plant here?\" Gazala readied herself to turn and run.\n\n\"No. I came here to stop it.\" \n\nGazala sprinted away from the man, before realising what he said. She skidded to a stop and turned back, perplexed. \"You didn't?\"\n\n\"Why would I bring it here?\" The man looked indignant and crossed his arms and turned his back to her. \"That was hurtful.\"\n\n\"Umm...I'm sorry?\" She offered." ]	1
Show us how they came to the precipice, and if they rose or fell in the end.	[WP] The superhero is trying desperately to not become the supervillain, with devastating results.	[ "The Hero’s Code is simple.\n\n\n1: Protection: The hero has an obligation to protect innocents’ life, freedom, and property.\n\n2: Noninterference: Under no circumstances not enumerated in (1) should the hero use their powers or reveal their identity unless given direct authorization from the League.\n\n\nUnderstandable, even sensible. But life is short, love is hard, and this girl was incredible.\n\n\n****\n\nMy superhero name is Aegis. I'm one of the guardians of New Sun City, and I’ve sworn to uphold the Hero’s Code for about nine years now. That’s quite a long time.\n\n\nMy real name is Duke. I'm a math professor at New Sun U, and if I’ve done my job nobody knows who I really* am. My students know me as the only professor who can explain Riemann manifolds in the entire city. My staff mates know me as the least senior member of the math department-- only five years, but a good five years. They respect my math but we don’t talk much about anything else.\n\n\nMaybe that’s why I liked Victoria. She saw me as human.\n\n\n***\n\n\n“We’re breaking up,” she said.\n\n\nI asked why, and she replied that she had just found someone better. If I were smarter I would have just revealed my identity now-- she loved my more famous work. But apparently bijective mappings onto Riemann manifolds aren’t exciting enough to capture Victoria’s attention.\n\n\n“Wait,” I called out. But she was fast. I could outspeed her if I could fly, but that would be illegal. As a result, by the time I had sprung up from the sofa and followed her, she was in her car with the garage open.\n\n\n“Wait!” But it was too late. Victoria had seen me as too human.\n\n\n*\n\nI remember the first time we kissed. We were out camping in a forest far away from anyone else. The fire was absolutely blazing.\n\n\n“This is nice,” she sighed. I agreed with her and, after kicking the log once to scare out any hiding snakes, sat down. She sat right next to me. I reached for my guitar, and she rested her head on my shoulder as I played the same chords in different orders over and over again.\n\n\n“You’re so perfect,” she mumbled, head buried in my shoulder. I said the same about her, complimenting the way her already-bright eyes gleamed in the fire.\n\n\n“You can’t even see them!” Her voice was still muffled. I took the opportunity to use my powers to stoke the fire-- nothing much.\n\n\n“I already knew,” I replied, raising an eyebrow.\n\n\nThat prompted a laugh.\n\n\nGod, I love her laugh.\n\n\n*\n\nI wasn’t going to let her leave.\n\n\nNormally I can fly at about 25 miles per hour. Her car was cruising at around 90 right now, but when she got to the main roads and the traffic lights I could catch up. In the meantime it was time to send telepathic messages.\n\n\n“Is he really better than me?” I asked. She couldn’t respond but I’d like to imagine that she paused for a moment.\n\n\n“Don’t you remember our first kiss?” I did. “You had your head on my shoulder and you laughed, and then we kissed. Remember?”\n\n\nPeople were beginning to point. Luckily I wasn’t in costume, so they couldn’t file a report. I hadn’t even done anything wrong yet, had I?\n\n\n“I can be better. What don’t I have that the new guy does?”\n\n\nI was flying into the realm of buildings and billboards. I had to adjust my trajectory to avoid the obstacles, but I managed to dodge the birds and the skyscrapers with some ease. “It was a good first kiss.”\n\n\nLooking over my shoulder, I was being pursued. The Hawk probably recognized me, and realized that I was violating about five different clauses of the Code.\n\n\n“What are you doing?” Hawk was fast, and very young. “There’s no reports of anything in town!”\n\n\nHe was going to catch up. Slowly but surely, I adjusted my flight into an upward arc, then into a circle. He didn’t know what was coming-- I slammed into Hawk, full-force, fist-to-face.\n\n\nI heard him crash into the sidewalk but I was off in the distance.\n\n\nI could see Victoria’s car now-- the only lime green buggy in the entire city, a speck in the distance.\n\n\nThat’s the last thing I remember-- looking at the green light in the distance like Gatsby himself, then something sharp swinging into me from above, and the feeling of the weight in my shoulders relaxing as my body fell.\n\n\n***\n\nIn the waiting room I daydreamed about Victoria’s new boyfriend. He didn’t look like anyone in particular, but he and I were in a small room together. Victoria was watching over us.\n\n\nI threw a punch, he blocked unsuccessfully. I caught his fist and threw him into the ceiling. The fistfight was over before it could get interesting.\n\n\nVictoria came to me. She smelled like roses and rain and the night we kissed, but her lips were tasteless. Suddenly she looked a little more like every other gorgeous brunette, and suddenly my enemy stuck in the ceiling looked a little more familiar.\n\n\nThen I woke up, and had to turn in my badge." ]	1
	[WP] In order to help humanity realize its true, self-actualized potential, all children are given their own personal AI. The software acts as caretaker and therapist to each person and encourages them to be the best they can be.	[ "Hunching over, blankets enveloping my legs, I tap my pencil onto the notebook, annoyed. My tongue pokes out of my mouth as I stare off into the distance, eyes blurred from exhaustion. \"Come on Ali, one more.\"\n\n\"Maybe try a story about a-\" Alistair pauses and recalibrates, completely frozen on a red bar stool, arms positioned as if there were armrests, even though he sat on a small stool. His eyes flash. \"-dog.\" he finishes.\n\n\"No!\" I whine, kicking away the blankets he had tucked me in a minute ago. His head rotates slightly to look out of the window. \"How about a-\" he pauses for a slow moment and blinks slowly. \"Dog.\"\n\n\"You already said dog!\"\n\n\"A-\" He recalibrates. \"big dog.\"\n\n\"Ali! Please! I need this done tomorrow!\"\n\n\"I am sorry, Imogen. But I am not programmed to invent fictional ideas or concepts. It is not a part of my designed terminology. However, if you were to ask me about caring for children and teens or general world knowledge, I could help you.\"\n\n\"No, Alistair. I don't need that right now.\"\n\nI plunge back into the long baby blue lines, staring wide-eyed at the pristine page. I begin to draw a picture of a chicken laying an egg, distressed and frightened at the realization it is about to give birth. I draw a speech bubble next to it reading \"Coooo!\".\n\n\"Is there a reason you did not do this yesterday?\" He asks.\n\n\"I had soccer yesterday. No time.\"\n\n\"You know I am not supposed to be helping you do homework. I am meant to care for you and provide emotional support.\" His words are choppy and unevenly spaced.\n\n\"But you're the smartest person I know!\" I exclaim.\n\n\"Mother Natalia says that an important part of growing up is independence. She banned me from supplying you with general information aiding with schoolwork, to ensure you will get the most out of your 'childhood'.\"\n\nI turn back to the page, darkening some of the main features of the chicken.\n\n \"My data indicates your stress levels have been at an all time high this week.\"\n\n\"Sure.\"\n\n\"Are you alright?\"\n\n\"I'm fine, Al.\"\n\n\"Data indicates that you are having mood swings as a natural result of adolescence. You may voice your problems to me if you want to. You can always talk to me, Imogen.\"\n\n\"Al, please. Just let me think.\" I rub my temples and squint under the lamp light. My hands run along my face, rubbing up and down until my chin settles into my palm, my elbow digging into my knee.\n\n\"Here.\"\n\nHe takes the notebook from my lap as a compartment in his chest latches open. Opening it up further manually, he places the notebook neatly into the compartment and locks it shut. Whirring and buzzing, he vibrates as his limbs go dead straight and the two green tinted light bulbs protruding from his forehead turn gray. He makes an egg timer ding and regains his armrest position on the mahogany stool.\n\nI crawl further towards him, watching him do his work. He reopens the compartment and hands me back my notebook. Skimming over it, I find the notebook filled with words. I hold a fully fleshed out novel in my hands titled, \"Handkerchiefs and Their Struggles\"\n\nI immediately embrace Alistair into a hug which he doesn't respond to.\n\n\"Thank you thank you thank you!\"\n\n\"Will this suffice?\"\n\n\"Yes! Yes! It will! Where did you find this?\"\n\n\"My previous owner had a bookshelf containing a complete almanac of fictional stories. My job was to edit them for him. I still have them floating around up here.\" He taps his forehead twice.\n\n\"But won't they know it's not my handwriting?\"\n\n\"From years of scanning your homework, I have culminated a font that replicates your exact handwriting tendencies.\"\n\nI flick through the dozens of pages. Anyone could think this was me. Even I could have thought this was mine.\n\n\"You are welcome.\" He says.\n\n\"Thank you, Alistair.\"\n\nFalling back on my pillow, I roll over and set my notebook onto my night stand, switching off my lamp. Alistair instinctively stands up and walks over to me, tucking me in again with the same forced motions.\n\n\"Please do not tell Mother.\"\n\nI chuckle. \"It's okay, Al. I'm not telling Mom.\"\n\n\"it is imperative you do not tell Mother. She would deactivate me.\"\n\n\"Mom wouldn't do that. It's okay.\"\n\nMy eyes drift shut and I hear Alistair's spare parts clunk as he saunters to the hallway. The door creaks open. \"Very well. Would you like some water?\"\n\n\"I'm okay.\"\n\nAs always, with the same choppy movements and expert finesse, he clutches the door. \"Goodnight, Imogen.\" He says, and the room is pitch black.\n" ]	1
	[WP] You are a prestigious scholar with three PhDs in Physics, Astronomy, and Engineering. Yesterday you spotted a near earth object the size of Long Island heading for Earth. The only person taking you seriously is Elon Musk. He tasks you with saving mankind, SpaceX is now under your control.	[ "Since no one has posted on my prompt I will go ahead and start. Depending on reception I may continue this story.\n\nEpoch\r\nPost 1 of ? :\r\n\r\nJames stood there baffled, why isn’t NASA taking him seriously? \r\n\r\n“Director, this isn’t a joke… Whoever you have calculating this trajectory is wrong. As the rogue asteroid moves through the asteroid field it will pass by Ceres, the largest object in the belt. When this happens Ceres will tug on Epoch 7671's orbit just enough to skew it a few nanometers. This over the vast distance translates to a substantial change. Trust me, they aren’t calculating Ceres influence on Epoch correctly…” James defended.\r\n \r\n“James, listen... We don’t have time for fringe science theories and guesses. There are much graver threats that we have to deal with. The CHANCE that this asteroid will impact Earth isn’t any different than the Near Earth Object that flew by this week. Close fly-bys happens all the time. Our scientists say that there is a less than a tenth of a percentage that this body will impact Earth. Genius or not, there are hundreds of astrophysicists in NASA and only one of you. Now please I have more important matters to attend to.” The director responded as he hung up the phone. \r\n\r\n“What did he say?” Stacy, head of Astronomy at Alabama State, asked.\r\n\r\n“He said that NASA has a bunch of morons astrophysicists.” James said as he wiped the sweat from his forehead.\r\n\r\nStacy picked up her laptop and began typing muttering her words as she typed: “… We have attempted to consult with NASA on the seriousness of this object and the direct threat this object will face to life in the coming months. We have attached James Edwards academic paper regarding Epoch 7671 along with contact information. If your reporters would like to schedule an appointment with Mr. Edwards please contact me directly. Sincerely, Stacy Waldrop, PhD.”\r\n\r\n“What do you think James?” she said.\r\n\r\nJames stood up and began walking out of the office. “Send it... I mean, we have no other choice but to contact the media. The world needs to know and NASA doesn’t care.” He needed to get to his office and prepare a presentation regarding Epoch 7671 if CNN didn’t take him serious either. Fortunately James was a CNN panelist during last week's NEO. The end of life? That’s a story they want to break first. I hope they take me seriously, for humanities sake. \r\n" ]	1
	[WP] You are a dream vendor who sell dreams for a living. One day a dying person visits you, trying to buy one last dream.	[ "One\n\n‘Mr. Morpheus’ Envision Emporium, The Best Dream Vendor in The Tri State Area!’ I know, I know, it sounds cheesy, but the fact that it’s true justifies it right? My name is Lorien Morpheus, and I owned a dream shop. I had the idea after I found out that I could create and manipulate dreams for just about anyone who was willing to cooperate. I had trained on friends, family, significant others, and anyone who was open to a little hypnosis here and there. No one ever truly found out what it was, and I intended on keeping it so.\n\nI had opened my shop shortly after I graduated college, and bought my first apartment along with it. It was a small, slightly run down New York City building, it was perfect. At the time, New York hadn’t passed any laws enabling supernatural commerce within the state, yet the supernatural populous needed their own set of activities, therefore shops like mine opened up in almost every block. To the eyes of a Layperson they may seem like Laundromats, Coffee shops, or even small diners, but those are all covers for what truly goes on behind the scenes. Many diners house secret menu Items for Vampires and other creatures, the bookstores contain spellbooks, and laundromats house entire aquatic species’ in their basements, we were all grateful for the warlocks and witches and their cloaking spells. Even for Supernatural standards, I kept my shop well hidden, after all, with a clientele as diverse and well… Peculiar as mine, I had to. They paid me to send them away, somewhere happier, or to somewhere more exciting, oh and did they pay well. I never got many customers, maybe eight or so on a good day, and then two which used to come in every other day, my regulars. Oscar Siris and Felicity Reya. I had started to get good at reading people, and oftentimes could tell who my client was before they made their first request, however, every once in awhile someone would come in and leave me completely stumped.\n\n“Hello?” A quiet, nervous voice beckoned to me, “I am looking for Mr. Morpheus.” I lifted my head, leaving behind vivid dreams of moonlit tides and glowing beaches. Funny, the vendor of dreams, sleeping on the job, how ironic, I scoffed a little and looked up. People usually didn’t show up for dreams on a Wednesday afternoon, however, I could tell this person was special. She didn’t give off an aura of power like the Allfather or the God of Thunder, nor did she seem to have any physical features that would make her inhuman, yet, there was something about her which allowed her to find this place.\n\n“Mr. Morpheus?” She asked again, louder, taking a step closer to the counter.\n\n“Please, call me Lorien.” I said, embracing the silence to study her more. This girl couldn’t have been much younger than me, 24, tops. Her makeup was uneven and slightly smudged, making her mismatched, eyes of amber and pale grey the striking features of her soft face. Her bleached blonde hair was cut short, and in the silence of the parlor, nothing else mattered but her dreams and desires. \n\n“Would you like a cup of Chamomile Tea? Some Coffee Perhaps?” I inquire, and as she shakes her head in polite rejection, I offer her a seat on the other end of my desk, which she accepts with a taciturn offer of thanks.\n\n“So… How does this work Lorien? Do I just tell you what I want and you do it?” She asks, gazing at her lap, a single strand of blonde hair falling over her face.\n\n“Well it’s not exactly as simple as that.” I began, reaching for a cup of tea and taking a sip. “For me to be able to give you a dream, I have to know more about who you are, so that I can make your dream perfect. That’s why I use this.” I take out a journal, it’s worn and pretty filled out. Inside I keep a record of each of my clients, as well as everything I need to know about them. As I place it on the table, the girl’s fascination takes the better of her and she reaches for it.\n\n“Please don’t, I have a very strict customer confidentiality program and some of my clients would kill to keep their identities a secret.” I place my hand on top of the book firmly, and then rest it on my lap.\n\n“But I digress, please tell me more about yourself.” I opened to a blank page and began annotating as she told me her story, date: Wednesday October 18th, 2023, Name: Lyra Cunningham, age: 23, Hair, blonde (Bleached), Eyes: Amber & Pale Grey (Mismatched), Birthday: November 22nd 1999, Height: 5’6”. I kept on writing down what she told me, until my final question that is.\n\n“So, why do you want me to craft you a dream?” I inquired without looking up from my book. I figured it would be one of the usual reasons, have a new experience, meet someone famous, see the world, maybe eve-\n\n“I want my last one to be memorable,” She answered quietly. Surprised, I look up from my book, a slightly worried look passed over my face.\n\n“I beg your pardon?”\n\n“I plan on leaving tonight, I want to make sure my last dream is memorable.” \n", "The Shopkeep has been in his position for many years, and he had seen people from all walks of life enter his store. The rich, the poor, the happy, the sad, he'd dealt them all a dream at some point or another. No matter one's standing, the allure of dreams, the allure of escaping it all is too much an appealing thing for any to pass. As the Shopkeep had these years of learning, he know right away the type of person who has just entered his door.\n\nHe reeked of alcohol, clothes stained with sweat and food, with a hint of odor that revealed he hadn't washed in at least a week. Once he approached the counter his bloodshot eyes and rancid breath confirmed that this was another alcoholic looking to escape. People like this were actually among the Shopkeep's most common customers, and it made sense. These people drink to forget, drink to escape, drink to feel better. They want a new reality for themselves and if they aren't in dreamland they don't want to experience life. \n\nThe man, after some seconds of thought, slurred out a simple request. He just wanted one short dream. Just twenty minutes is all he needed. He slipped the Shopkeep a piece of paper with all the details, and he frowned. He knew what this was leading to. It wasn't his place to intervene, he had learned that before. All he could do was give this poor person what he wanted. \n\nSo he crafted the man his dream, a dream full of the beauty and hope the drunkard so desperately wished he could see in the real world. He deftly ran color into color, a cascade of bright and cheery venues, filled with life and love. As the Shopkeep created this world for the man he felt a pang of sadness that it would only exist for a brief 20 minutes. He suspected the man would have paid him more to create a longer lasting land, but he had probably done all he could just to be able to afford this bit.\n\nThe Shopkeep put the final touches on it all and handed the dream across the counter to the sod before him. He was still the sad wretch he had seen walk in, but there was a little light in his eyes now. The man turned and walked out the door, and the Shopkeep once again drew on his memories of times past, and he knew he wouldn't be seeing this customer again. He could only hope he left the world not in a waking state, but deep into the beauty of the dream.", "I was putting my things away, cleaning up and desperate to get home. Work has been stressful and long lately and I am craving the solace I can have away. A knock at the door stops me in my tracks and I throttle back a curse. \"Please don't say it.\" I say wearily to the door. \n\nIt opens and one of my assistants pokes her head in chagrined. \"I'm really sorry sir but there's a call. It's from the hospital and they are sending someone over. I told them it is last minute but they already sent the person along.\"\n\nI pinch the bridge of my nose and sigh deeply. I comfort myself imagining calling them back and scolding them later and nod. \"It's ok Verity. I'll see them. You go on out once you finish your work. Tell the others the same. I can take care of him and close things down.\"\n\nShe smiles in relief and waves, speaking quietly to the others and they make their way out of the store. Sighing I close up the majority of things and sit at the counter, nodding off wearily. The door opens and the bell rings waking me and I blink owlishly at the person walking through the door. \n\nHe is an older man, with that inestimable appearance where exact age cannot be gauged. Dressed neatly, he leans on a cane of dark oak and a silver tip. He doffs his hat courteously and smiles broadly, a smile I can't help but return. \"Thank you sir for seeing me.\" His voice low and warm. \"I understand it is late for you.\"\n\nI wave away the concern, earlier thoughts of resentment vanished. \"Oh it's fine sir. Thank you for coming to my shop. How can I help you?\"\n\nHe sits on the stool in front of the counter and folds his hands. His sharp grey eyes look about the shop before returning to me. \"I hear you're the best in the area, seeing how your store is I can certainly believe. I regret not coming to you earlier.\"\n\nI blush lightly at the compliment and smile. \"Kind of you to say. Not everyone needs what I provide all the time however. We're here when we are needed.\"\n\nThe man nods and clears his throat. \"I would like a dream please. Something calm, soothing. Happy if possible.\"\n\nI set up a tablet and start punching at options on the order form. \"Sounds good. Classic really. Any particular elements?\"\n\n\"Something peaceful. I have a few pictures of family and friends here I would like to include if able.\" He hands me a few photos of smiling people and I grin at the happiness captured in time. \"Also, I don't know if this is silly or not but if you could include trees. Especially a large oak tree.\" He shows me his cane. \"Growing up there was this magnificent oak tree out back. Played there all the time. A while back it fell to a storm and I saved the wood for things like this cane here.\"\n\nI touch the offered cane. I can feel the smooth wood, glowing with emotion and affection. It sings beneath my touch and I nod. \"Not at all sir. Can be done fairly easily. Duration of the dream?\"\n\nThe man pauses, a wry embarrassment crossing his face. \"As long as possible. Well I don't know. I'm dying you see.\" He sees the shock on my face and chuckles. \"Sorry, that was rather abrupt. I have massive internal organ failure and I've run out of options. The doctor doesn't think I will make the week. I'm a bit afraid I must admit and with how the world is today, I just want something that will ease me to...heaven or the after.\"\n\nA silence falls between us, louder than the cars outside. Even the old fashioned clock I keep out in the main room seems muted out of respect. A tear grows in my eye and I wipe it away. The man opens his mouth but I smile and shake my head. \"Don't you worry sir. I understand.\" \n\nI pull out a long piece of parchment paper laying it smooth on the desk. Filling a small inkpot I dab the quill and start to write slowly and carefully. At his raised brow I wink. \"This is for special dreams. Old magic works better the old ways.\" I finish the frame work of the dream and roll up the parchment. Standing I beckon the man to follow. \n\nI turn on the lights in my work room and stoke the fire beneath my favorite oldest cauldron. Showing the man a comfortable seat I begin my work. Water boils as I stoke the fire higher and I throw in carefully measured materials: essence of vanilla for sweetness, cinnamon for friendly spice. Cotton for softness is followed by chamomile for peace. Shakes of ender pearls for magic, lilies for serenity. The cauldron emits smoke and light, images taking form in the haze over it. I crumple up some music sheets of classical music, tossing them in. A slice of bread for fullness, and a candle for light. I find my container of oak leaves and twigs, dropping them into the boiling liquid. The rolled up order follows and the concoction shimmers and glows a pale blue. \n\nI fill a large flask and stopper it firmly. I hand it to the man who had watched silently the whole time, awe in his eyes. \"No charge sir. I don't know if you will keep dreaming when you...pass. Yet I can guarantee you will enjoy the dream and I do believe that God will welcome you too. \"\n\nThe man accepts the flask, hands shaking. He opens his mouth, then closes it. Instead he shakes my hand firmly and leaves, shoulders straight and head high. \n\nWeeks later I receive a package. It's long and slim and at first I don't understand. I haven't ordered anything. Opening it I gaze in wonder at the contents. Smiling through my tears I whittle out two hooks above my back room door and gently rest the dark wood cane with the silver tip securely. From the head dangles a note that I haven't the heart to remove. \"Thank you, best dream I've ever had.\"", "“I hope you had a good time.” I grabbed his hand and pulled, helping him into a seated position. He grins. “Yeah, I had a really, really good time. Thanks so much.” He pressed a small bundle of notes into my hands.\n\nAfter that young man left, I moved back to my usual position behind the counter, leaning back on my cheap office chair. I deposited that bundle of cash into my almost overflowing drawer, and closed my eyes, wanting to catch a little shut-eye after quite a tiring day at work. Business was good today. You would be surprised to find out how many people sought an escape from reality during their hours of slumber.\n\nThe small little bell above the front door jingled. I opened an eye, curious.\n\nA small little figure stood framed in the doorway, the light from outside preventing me from discerning its features. The person was less than half the height of the door. Its limbs were disproportionately thin, sticking out like….well, sticks. \n\nI eyed the clock hanging on the wall. It was 6.02pm. \n\n“Hi, er….it’s closing time, my friend. Would you care if you come again tomorrow?”\n\n“Mister, you close at six pm.” The voice that rang out was high-pitched, like that of a little boy. I squinted at the figure.\n\n“It’s two minutes past six, my friend. I just haven’t hung out the “CLOSE” sign. Please come again tomorrow….I need to cook up some dreams soon.” \n\n“I don’t think I’ll even be able to come again tomorrow, Mister. Do you mind maybe just taking one last customer for today?” The pleading tone, full of desperation….on the verge of tears. I glanced at the clock again, then looked at my computer screen, full of commands waiting to be arranged coherently.\n\nAlright, I’ll make an allowance this time. The dream preparation could wait.\n\n“Alright, then, come in,” I grumbled.\n\nThe moment my customer walked in, I was immediately relieved that I didn’t turn him away. It was a sickly, bald boy, who looked so frail I thought he would crumple the moment my standing fan blew in his direction. I immediately sat him down on a cushioned chair.\n\n“I really don’t think you should be out here alone.” I watched as he slumped back on the chair, the wrinkles on his face deepening as he grimaced in fatigue. “How did you get out of your ward? Or out of the hospital, for that matter? I know the hospital is within walking distance from here, or rather, walking distance for healthy people, how did you survive walking here? How -”\n\n“I didn’t come here to answer questions. Just deal with the fact that I’m here now, and I want to buy a dream.” He sounded irritated, and tired. I didn’t blame him; after all, suffering from a terminal illness saps a person’s strength.\n\n“I’m suffering from cancer. My doctor’s putting me into an induced coma soon. I don’t know much about what the induced coma does, but he thinks it may help. But he also thinks there’s a chance that I won’t wake up.” He closed his eyes. I hurried to the counter, pouring a glass of water and rushed back, letting him drink.\n\n“I want a dream. The thing is….I don’t really know what I want to do in that dream.”\n\n“Okay. Let me help you out.” I’ve been through such situations before, helping clueless customers in decide what they want. “Would you want your dream to be in a familiar setting, say your home, or anywhere in this city, or do you want it to be unfamiliar, like in a faraway country, or some fantasy world?”\n\n“Unfamiliar. I’ve lived most of my life in hospital wards; I don’t ever want anything looking or smelling like one ever again.”\n\n“Alright. I also take it that you want to be outdoors. Roaming free, without a care in the world. Do you want your choice of landscape to be, erm, endless grassland, thick jungle, a barren desert, or….deep beneath the sea in a submarine, riding a whale, or…...high above the sky, soaring - “\n\n“Sky, definitely sky.” He sounded so happy when he said the three-letter word. I could understand. After years of watching birds and planes fly overhead from a lying position on a hospital bed, one definitely wanted to soar in the sky. “But I don’t want to be in a plane. I’ve been on a plane once. It was really cramped and squeezy. No, I don’t want to be so restrained, I want to ride something. An eagle, a unicorn….a dragon! I want a dragon! Like Game of Thrones dragon!”\n\n“Game of Thrones. That’s an old show. And a good show. Although I’m not really sure whether it’s suitable for kids your age.”\n\n“Adults will give you anything to watch if you annoy them enough.” He managed a weak smile. “I want to be wearing a shining suit of armour, and riding the dragon, far above the Himalayas, above the Sahara Desert, everywhere.”\n\n“You want to be flying everywhere. Do you have any specifics on what you want to do? Save a damsel in distress? Destroy armies?”\n\n“Not really.” He deliberated for a while, before shaking his head. “Not really. I just want to fly all over the world. Alone. Yup, that’s my final request.”\n\n“Alright then, let me just process it for you.” I turned to my computer. I selected one of the templates for dragons, then added a world atlas. After a second thought, I put in some maps of fantasy worlds as well. He was going to have a lot of free time in a coma, might just get bored of everything the real world has got to offer.\n\nIt only took mere minutes for the programs to compile and load, and I turned back to my client. “We do offer a trial run, for customers to test the product, to see if it satisfies their standards. And also to give them a taste of the dream they created. Do you want one?”\n\n“Not really. Your reputation precedes you; I trust that the dream is of the highest quality. I will have plenty of time to explore it. How much does it cost?”\n\n“Nah, it’s on the house.”\n\n“Save a cancer patient some dignity. I’m a person; not a burden. I demand that I pay for your services.” Wow. That was some bravado.\n\nI said the price. He handed it to me, plucked out the thumbdrive containing his dream, and turned around to leave.\n\n“Let me at least send you back, in my car.”\n\n“I can do it, thank you. I made my way here; I can make it back.”\n\n~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~`\n\nI had a good night’s sleep. It was really good, to help a cancer patient in his dying days. It was sad that such an amazing person had to die so young, but at least he would move on enjoying his final slumber. \n\nWait a second. \n\nThe thumbdrives used to store my dreams were all plugged in to my computer, in rows of ten. I had loaded the patient’s dream into the flying dragon template, which was in row 4, column 6.\n\nHe had taken row 5, column 6. The fighting dragon template.\n\nHe might be clad in a suit of armour, but.....\n\nOh shit, oh shit, oh shit. \n\nI plucked out the correct thumbdrive and [ran out the door.](https://reddit.com/r/N_attempts_to_write)\n" ]	4
	[WP] You are a hero from far away land who has been guided by a strange voice for his whole life. One day, the voice whispers "Wake Up".	[ "It's never steered me wrong. The voice in my head. It's led me on the greatest adventures. It always tells me exactly what to do to get out of any bind. I was always curious why it was a woman. It must be the logical side of me is more feminine. Whatever the reason I appreciate her. She is the greatest of travel partners. She leads me to water when I am thirsty, to safety when I am in peril. \n\nJust a few days ago we went on the grandest of adventures! A clan of grey skins were infected with the Milk Eyes. It's a horrible thing really. They get aggressive then they start killing animals for fun! I've seen them mutilate deers with their own antlers. Finally their eyes go all white and they just kill every living creature around them. The sickness spreads to other grey skins around them till the whole lot of them is in a murderous rage. \n\n\"The white mountain needs your help,\" she told me,\n\n\"The highest cave on the mountain houses the sick miners.\" \n\n\"The opening of the cave is safe, they will be sleeping about ten yards in but when you kill the first sleeping grey skin it will wake the others. Be ready for a fight,\" she said,\n\n\"Walk along the edges of the cave, the wooden floor board creek loudly in the middle. The first one is two paces to your left. Now carefully draw your sword...\"\n\nShe told me how to navigate the cave. She told me where sneakier infected where hiding. We saved those uninfected grey skins and they gave me a bag of silver for my trouble. It isn't much trouble when she's telling you how to do everything! \n\n\"Wake up.\" \n\nMy eyes don't open but I'm very aware of how dry my mouth is. I reach for my canteen at my hip before I open my eyes. When did I fall asleep? What hour is it? It must be around midday because the light is so bright. A pinkish red halo forms, broken by my eyelashes. \n\nWhere's my canteen. In fact where is my hip belt? All I can feel is the rough fabric of a blanket. Perhaps I should actually wake. I force my heavy eyelids open. Why is it so bright?\n\nAll I can see is whiteness. It's the colour of an overcast day sky. I'm in a bed I can see that much. What a strange room I'm in. It almost reminds me of a dream I had once as a child. \n\nThe white blanket, the white room, the green floor this is the dream. \n\n\"Call the doctor,\" she says. \n\nWake up AND call the doctor. Come on voice one thing at a time. Why is the voice telling me things in my dreams?\n\nMy body feels so heavy. It's never felt like this, well except maybe after Dracuma. That was the biggest dragon I've ever seen in my life. Ive only fought three or four but that sky lizard did a number on me. The voice was there to help the whole time but after I could barely get out of the bed at the inn. That was a real shame, the inn had some amenities I could have made use of, had my legs been working. \n \nI finally manage to turn my head to the side. \n\n\"Daniel,\" the voice said,\n\nIt's a woman I recognize. I can't place it but I've seen her before. I never imagined a face for the voice in my head but I feel I've known her all my life.\n\n\"Daniel, oh my god, I'm going to call dad! Mom is getting the doctor right now!\" She exclaimed. \n\nShe pulled a small object from her pocket and repeatedly tapped one side of it. She held it to her ear and crossed the room. She kept an wary eye on me all the while. \n\nThe table next to my bed has a cup. I grab it and gulp it not caring if it's mead or water. Water, thank the lords. Next to it is a leather sack and a book. The book has no hard cover! How impractical! It appears to have silver inlaid on the pages. I reach for it and it's heavier than it looks.\n\nThe silver writing is raised slightly I'm not much of a reader but I can absolutely make this out.\n\n\"Dracuma and The White Mountain\"" ]	1
	[WP] She toiled alone, far from the city, people and sanity.	[ "She toiled alone, far from the city, people and sanity. The latter was subjective to most. Everyone said she was crazy to live up there alone; small talk to snicker over bottles of beer and luke-warm cups of coffee. \n\nShe had even made the news a few times-- once when the family manor went up for sale. The large red sign hung from the spiked-iron gates prompted a local reporter to drive down one day and dig. \n\nHe found nothing much of interest. She didn’t talk to anyone anymore, apparently. He’d asked all sorts of questions and she just shook her head, growing agitated when he wouldn’t move out of her way. After that she simply handed him a scrap of a chinese takeout menu with the words: “I’m done here. Leave.” written in angry jagged letters. \n\nThe second time was when the property sold. The going price rocked the small community to its foundation, leading many, even those that considered themselves pro-small-government to call for dipping into her pockets to cover the school budget. An addendum ran on the online edition stating that she’d bought another property on the edge of the town line, way up in the thinning air and rugged pines of Mt. Rainier. Trade in a mansion for sheer winds and terminal winters? She’s crazy they all said. \n\nMaybe. At times she thought she was too. No more trips to Whole Foods. No more sleeping in whenever she felt like. No more aimless shopping. Her new life required discipline. Order. She’d found that out the hard way in her first brush with frost. The days had grown shorter and she slacked with them until the night she ran out of dry wood for her stove and nearly froze against howling winds. \n\nIt had gotten easier over time. Struggles became routine, and routine became life. Whenever she wasn’t working on her property or in her glass garden, she sat and turned inwards. Her life in town had been easy. Hectic, noisy, stressful, unfulfilling-- but easy. Up here, toiling away day after day away had turned her wild, and unflinching. \n\nOnce, that reporter made the trek up to see her in her new surroundings. Again he only got one response at the end of a one-sided interview. It ran the next day as a human interest along with a series of pictures of her looking unkempt and near the point of breaking. She said in a voice that sounded alien to even her “I don’t expect you to understand or respect how I live, but let me, please.” It had felt as unnatural saying it as it did for the reporter to print it. But it ran per the editor's request. \n\nThe last time she was in the paper reconfirmed what everyone had known: loonier than a bunch of hamsters on speed. It didn’t confirm anything for her. She didn’t see it. Never would. She had no more time for the concerns of others, she was finally happy. \n", "She leaned against her shovel as she ran her sleeve across her forehead, brushing away both sweat and hair away from her eyes. The sky was filled with dark clouds, the shadows they cast from a setting sun wrapping around the forest ominously.\n\n\"Looks like rain soon,\" She said between labored breaths, \"You used to love rain, remember?\" \n\nShe chuckled, but there was no response. \n\n\"Yeah, I remember.\" \n\nWith one last look toward the sky, she once more picked up the shovel and started digging.\n\n\"I hope you don't think too poorly of me for this,\" She smiled slightly \"I was never very good at manual labor.\"\n\nThe clearing was eerily silent once more until she broke it with a laugh.\n\n\"True, maybe we both weren't.\" \n\nEventually, her arms capitulated and she was forced to drop the shovel, sitting down at the edge of the hole, feet dangling freely beneath her.\n\n\"I loved you, you know that right?\" She said, half turning her head around \"Loved you so much it hurt.\" \n\nWhat started as a laugh transitioned into a cough, which transitioned into a coughing fit. She collapsed backward when it was over, soft hair spreading across moss as her breathing slowly returned to normal.\n\n\"And you loved me back,\" She continued, \"Loved me so much it hurt.\" \n\nShe closed her eyes and smiled up toward the sky as the first raindrop hit her nose.\n\n\"We were both in pain, weren't we?\" She took a deep breath, the fresh air filling her tired lungs \"Hurting together, until the very end.\"\n\nTurning her head to face him, his unblinking stare focused somewhere far behind her.\n\n\"It was so romantic.\" She said, laughing as tears welled up in her eyes. \"The warmth of your body pressed against mine. How grew colder as your love ran across my skin and your breathing slowed down. \n\nShe rolled over and gripped the sides of his head with her hands, placing her forehead against his. \n\n\"The look of understanding and forgiveness in your eyes just before they ceased to recognize me.\" \n\nFor a while she was just laying there on the ground, crying and laughing as the minutes flew by.\n\n\"Watching someone die,\" She suddenly said in a soft voice. \"Is the most intimate experience you can have with another human being.\"\n\nShe smiled and closed his eyes together with her own. \n\n\"And there is nobody in the world who I would rather experience it with,\" She said calmly as the rain all but drowned out her words. \n\n\"Because I know,\" She leaned in to kiss him, hands softly caressing his face as she pulled back \"That you loved me.\"\n" ]	2
	[WP] One night, you jokingly wish to yourself that you had a billion wishes. The next morning, you wake up at 7am, and wish to yourself that it was 4am. You are quite surprised when the daylight is suddenly gone, and your clock now reads 4am.	[ "I roll over and go back to sleep.\n\nI wake up to my alarm, still a little groggy. I wish I could just wake up one day feeling refreshed. Suddenly, I do.\n\nWeird.\n\nI head downstairs and hear the neighbour's cat screaming. I wish it wouldn't. Suddenly, it doesn't. \n\nWeird.\n\nThen it fades into my head. Half dream memory - seriously? A billion wishes? \n\n\"I wish that I had a fork in my hand!\"\n\nAnd suddenly there is one. Wow. Holy shit! Holy God DAMN SHITTING DAMNING BALLSY SHIT! I have wishes! Holy fucking SHIT WOW! This is incredible! This is going to go down in history! Wait... I'll go down in history for having wished for a fork? Wow I'm such a loser. OK now. Never mind that. Nobody needs to know about that. So, what's my first real wish? A million dollars? A billion? A trillion? Nah stop don't be so superficial. Come on now. First wish. Anything. Ahh yes of course; \n\n\"I wish for world peace!\" Suddenly, silence. Almost - I hear a faint wining in the distance.\n\nWeird.\n\nI head downstairs. My mum and dad aren't around, but maybe they're still asleep today. I pour myself a bowl of cereal, realise I can wish for steak and eggs, and do so. Damn, life's going to be good from now on. Halfway through my breakfast and the silence begins to unnerve me. I haven't heard a single car pass this morning, and my street is never empty. I wish for teleportation, because who wouldn't, and teleport outside my house. Nobody is around, but the whining sound is louder. I wish to know what it is and an image flashes. An police siren atop a crashed, empty, squad car on a highway filled with, equally empty, cars clogging the road. I'm gripped by a sudden unease. I immediately wish to know what's going on. Then it hits me; a world without people is a world at peace. I'm frozen in shock but only for a second before the panic sets in. Shit. Shit. Shit. Shit shit. Shitshitshitshit what the fuck have I done shit shit shit.\n\nI deleted my parents. I deleted my friends - shit shit shit shit I deleted everybody. I can't breath. This is definitely a panic attack. Shit oh shit oh shit. I wish I hadn't done any of this I wish this hadn't happened I wish it would stop-\n\nI wake up to my alarm, still a little groggy. I wish it was four am. I wish I could just wake up one day feeling refreshed. \n\nI don't. ", "As he sat in front of his TV and watched all the chaos he started, he thought to himself that seeing as though he had 1 wish remaining he ought wish for everything to be back to normal. But when he wished for it nothing had happened. The world was still torn apart. And then he realized his mistake. His counter read 999999999. He thought he still had 1 more wish. He didn't think they would count the first one too.", "Five years and I caught her cheating. Five years and it was all gone, just like that. I didn't know nor did I care how long it had gone on for. I was set to propose in a week. Instead, I threw a few shirts and some underwear into a carry-on and left. \n\nI loaded up on Everclear from the minimart and drove drunk. I could never stomach the taste, but tonight, it was what I needed. I stopped at a cheap motel room in the middle of nowhere, an old one that still used the neon \"VACANCY\" sign. 25 bucks for the night. \n\n\"I'll deal with it in the morning. I'll deal with all of it in the morning,\" I muttered, and flopped into the bed. The last tenant had left the room's Bible out on the nightstand. I peered at it. \n\n\"You. Yeah, you. You owe me, like, a billion fucking wishes for what you did to me.\" I nestled up against my pillow and fell into a fitful sleep. \n\nMy dreams were interrupted by cheerful mariachi music as the radio alarm blared to life. I groaned as my hangover hit me like a minivan driving over my head. 7 AM. \"No. I just want to sleep for 3 more hours. I'll deal with it then,\" I growled at it. When I blinked, the daylight vanished and the clock read 4 AM. \"Must be a dream.\" I went back to sleep. \n\nWhen the mariachi band played again, my headache was gone. Same song, too. Had it been a dream? The Bible on the nightstand caught my eye. \"Hey. Did you do something?\" I asked. It lay still. Of course it did, it was just a book. \n\nI needed to test it anyway. \"I wish for a good breakfast.\" I said aloud, feeling like the world's biggest chump. Someone knocked on the door. \n\n\"Yeah, I've got a medium pepperoni and a liter of pepsi,\" the delivery girl said. No fucking way. It had to be coincidence, right? \n\n\"I didn't order a pizza,\" I replied, dumbfounded. She pulled up the order on her handheld. \n\n\"Well, it says to come to this address. It's ordered through our online app, so it's already been paid for.\" She showed me. \"So, free pizza, I guess?\" \n\nMy stomach rumbled. \"Sure. I'll take it. Before you go, let me tip,\" I reached into my back pocket and found my wallet missing. Crap. I'd probably left it in my car. Or with her. \n\n\"I just want a fiver.\" I whispered, and checked my other pocket, finding a crumpled 5 dollar bill. She thanked me and left. It had stuffed crust. \n\nAs I ate, my thoughts grew more menacing. \"I should put a curse on them. Hurt them as much as they did me,\" I muttered, chewing on a slice. But first, I needed to know more about the guy she cheated with.\n\n\"I wish I knew who he was.\" A flood of information beamed into my head. Pete Lambic. CEO of Blastech, a small demolitions company. \n\n\"I wish Blastech would go bankru-\" I paused. Hundreds would be unemployed. Families would suffer. I wanted vengeance, but not if it would hurt innocents. \"No, no I don't. I wish Pete Lambic would lose his job.\" \n\nAnd now for her. Nora. \"What should I do to you?\" I asked. Terminal illness? Herpes? Permanent disfigurement?\n\nMy phone buzzed. Low battery. I hadn't changed my unlock screen yet on my phone, and our photo smiled up to me. We were on a park bench in the fall. She'd marveled about how pretty the leaves had been and asked a stranger to take our photo. We were in love then. It took every ounce of willpower I had to not wish our life back then and there. \n\n\"I wish... I wish to go back five years. To the day I met her,\" I said, and the world spun around me. \n\nI was back. Back in the bar with my friends, glass of whiskey in my hand. Nora's voice rang out from the karaoke machine. I'd forgotten how beautiful she looked that day. I'd forgotten her spirit. As before, I joined her. One little song wouldn't hurt. \"May I have this duet?\" I asked, and she nodded, with that cheeky smile of hers. We sang \"Tiny Dancer\" by Elton John. \n\nI spotted my friends heading for the door. \"Hey, wait up!\" I called, and jogged to join them. \n\n\"Thought you'd be leaving with her,\" Bill said, gesturing. Nora stared after me, a confused look on her face. \n\n\"So did I.\" We played poker at my place and called it a night. \n\n_________________________________________________\n\n[more](https://www.reddit.com/r/Tensingstories/)" ]	3
	[Wp] You wake up in a library containing all that has been or will be discovered, all that has or ever will be said, and a biography for every sentient creature that has ever existed. There are no exits, you require no food and you never age.	[ "I have been here for longer than time itself. I know this from book I have just finished telling me so. I stopped trying to count how long I had been here after week 659. What was the point? I'm trapped here. I don't age. I don't eat, I don't sleep and I do nothing else but read. Why would I keep time when time does not exist in this space. \n\n I have read about empires collapsing under themselves and I have read about new empires rising from the ashes of old. They never learn. They never think to try differently. Hell, they never think. I have read about scientific breakthroughs of super drugs to cure everything, months later to read of the same drug either being monopolized and priced extortionately causing more deaths than the diseases it claims to prevent, or having a side effect creating more problems than solutions.\n\nThey never learn.\n\nI have read of great men, women, beings. that have conquered worlds, solar systems, even galaxy's. They have united everything being under one banner and created a unified peaceful existence. But it's never enough for them. Once they get a taste for power it consumes and corrupts them. They want more. More is never enough. I read in one of the many books I have read of a belief the humans had. It claimed that humans were naturally greedy. That they could biologically not help themselves. I believe this is true, but not for humans. For everything. \n\nThese books don't give me definitive answers, they tell me everything about everyone and all they have said or done. I have to piece it together myself and decide what i believe is right or wrong and the truth or a lie.I always find a book that teaches me more of a belief or \"fact\" or opinion I have learned and changes view on it some way. One opinion has never stayed the same for too long. Except one.\n\nThey never fucking learn.\n\n\"Those who cannot remember the past, are doomed to repeat it\"\n\nI read that close to the start of whatever this is I am in. It as well as others has changed over time, but to some extent I still agree, because most choose to forget. I will not.\n\nI found a book. It is a number higher than you can probably comprehend. It is the end. It tells me how I can leave this place and what happens after I do. I have not finished it. I will. Once I have read every other piece that exists I will finish that book, because although I do not yet know what lies beyond, I will NOT forget. If I have the chance I will start a fresh and I will remember the weakness of everything I have read and I shall not be the same.\n\nI Will Learn. " ]	1
	[WP] SpaceX's Interplanetary Transport System has carried the first people on Mars. After many years, the Martians have completely colonized Mars. Later, they declared independence from humanity and have declared war against Earth. What will the people on Earth do?	[ "\"Nuke the freaks.\" Every stared at me in silence.\n\n\"What? The terraforming process is done, three dozen nukes at half a gigaton each with fusion reactions will leave minimal fallout, maximize destruction and stop the freaks from raiding us, killing our citizens, and send a message to the rest of the system that Earth is still in charge.\"\n\nNo one else at the table spoke, but then, that was both a good and a bad thing. Good because it meant that they would do it, bad because we just lost the last shred of humanity we had pretended to have.\n\nAll fourteen of us had to vote aye. The Greater North American States, the EU, RussFed, Heavenly Kingdom, Japan, Unified Korea, Taiwan, Israel, Persia, Switzerland, Australia, Chile, Greater South Africa, Senegal, we all had to and we all did.\n\nThree weeks later, the yards at Phobos, the docks at Deimos, the Elevator of Olympus, the great Rift City of Valles Marineris and the Twin cities of Helium were all gone. The relief ships were right behind, along with some carriers and dreadnoughts, plus appropriate escorts. About time people remembered that Earth ruled the system, and not the other way around." ]	1
	[WP] How did the era of the Gods of Old come to pass?	[ "The world wants to imagine the end of the Gods as one of great battle and heroic sacrifice, where after much blood is shed the Old Ones are finally struck down and the world moves on... but that version is one of fantasy. Even during their lives the Old Ones were not the violent type. They had the humans for that. We would fight their battles for them, we would give sacrifice to them for their favour. They didn't require to take much action at all, for they held more power than anyone could possibly have imagined, the power that came from us.\n\nThe world was far different back then, my dear. It was a world where communication was limited, people knew little, and violence was the easiest way to send a message. Battles were waged constantly, some stretching on for years or even decades. Much blood was spilled, yet the people were happy. They knew the Gods would be content with the sacrifices they made of their men and women on the battlefield and so they celebrated each war as it came and went. They saw death in battle as an honour, earning them a place among the Gods they worshipped so. It was a time of death and glory, an age that has not yet been surmounted. \n\nSo how did the era of the Gods of Old end? Well people are fickle, my love. They jump at any new thing, if it seems shiny and beautiful enough. New Gods came to be and the people saw their glittering armour and chariots, their youthful faces, each beautiful in its own way. They were awed by their powers, and how they fought and raged against one another. Soon stories were told of these Gods, and the Old Ones found their power shrinking with each passing day. Their following had left them, and they could do nothing about it.\n\nIt was a normal day when it came to an end. Their power had grown so weak they could barely get the energy to walk. Yet walk they did, placing one foot in front of the others as they looked for any way to continue on. But they soon grew too weary even for this, and on a large grassy plain they fell. One by one they tumbled to the ground, sprawled across the landscape. Their skin turned to stone, drained as it was of the powers that kept them alive, and finally the last God's eyes closed as they slipped away to a deep slumber. \n\nAnd thus, the era of the Gods of Old came to an end. Yet they did not leave completely.\n\nThey are what we know as the mountains my love, the ones that protect us even now. The Old Ones still watch over us each day, for you can see their slumbering forms from outside your window each day. And while their era made have ended, that does not mean it is the end of them. For even now they may be watching over us from their dreams, for they would feel the power our belief gives them. It wouldn't be much, but it is enough that they will watch over you so long as you believe. They care for you dearly, my darling, and will honour you when the time comes. But for now, respect the mountains, the Old Ones, and always remember their love for you.\n\nNow I believe it's time for you to get some sleep of your own. \n\nLet's get to bed." ]	1
	[WP] Humanity leaves the Solar System and begins to explore the galaxy. Unbeknownst to them, the rest of the galaxy have been watching them and they have hundreds of fanboy civilizations.	[ "Hello everyone and welcome to Skitritzzfij, your favorite feed for all things galactic! \n\nToday we will be talking about the hottest topic since Fiq Dyson's hit new single, \"Sphere\". \nYes, you guessed it right! We are talking about Humanity's first ever intergalactic spaceflight! \n\nThe historic event, dubbed \"the biggest occasion of this Revolution\", has already reached #1 trending on feeds across the Galaxy. Billions of sapients have tuned in to watch the earthlings' first foray into intergalactic space, and given the fame of these tiny beings on the InterFeeds, it's no wonder that this flight has garnered widespread interest amongst sapients of all civilizations. \n\nLavysa Binx, president of the Fans of Earth (FOE) fanclub, says \"I am so excited! It's amazing how far they've come considering their anatomical disadvantages. We at FOE will definitely be rooting for our bipedal friends, and we invite everyone to join us\"! \n\nThis sentiment is shared by hundreds of similar fanclubs across the Galaxy. The appeal, of course, is understandable. All of us will admit to having shared, at one point or another, a funny human video on the InterFeeds. Their cute little fights and adorable antics have saved countless sapients from boredom in the office. It is, thus, our duty as a proud audience to commend our tiny friends on their first baby steps. \n\nThere are a number of options available if you wish to welcome our soon-to-arrive guests. Many fanclubs are selling body wraps, appendage bands, and more, which you can use to show your support. Reality feed star Pooki has already announced plans for her \"Adopt-a-Human\" program, for \"any humans that might want a new home\". Even fans from as far as MG 406 are coming to attend the Arrival. (If you're planning to travel to port tomorrow, we recommend avoiding freeway 147; the area is expected to be filled with feed crews and fans.) \n\nYou can also tune in to our feed tomorrow to watch a live broadcast of the Arrival. Also check out our other casts on Earthlings:\n\nDo Humans Have a Name for Us?! \n\nHow to Make a Human Costume in 10 Easy Steps (no removal of appendages required) \n\nDo Humans Dream of Biotic Beasts? \n\nWe look forward to welcoming our non-furry friends with you tomorrow. Until then, goodbye and wobbly doo! ", "When I'd cracked Conduit 382D open to fix it, some water vapour from my breath had gotten in, it would be forming ice crystals that would, in time, cause a catastrophic failure that would destroy the landing shuttle. That would kill me.\n\nI did some quick calculations in my head, and came to the conclusion that it there were at least three other lethal failures that would happen before that one did. So, not a problem.\n\nI was the only one that had made it onto the landing shuttle after the micrometeor strike had compromised our interstellar exploration vessel. It should have been able to recover, but we'd never noticed the radiation burst that had knocked out a suddenly crucial fail-safe system weeks earlier.\n\nWith the compensator down, I'd needed to improvise a way to survive the force exchange necessary to get the shuttle launched before it was destroyed with the ship. That had broken my left arm, which, under the circumstances, was a pretty good deal.\n\nI kept my head by remembering that I was bred for this. Things have been living and dying on Earth for billions of years, but I was descended from those that were good at surviving. That's what my ancestors had done, survived. Long enough to beat out the competition. Not dying was literally in my blood. Natural selection had selected for me.\n\nEveryone else on the crew was dead, sure, but I didn't know their family trees, they could be descended from anyone.\n\nWe'd been in orbit when it had happened. We'd travelled orders of magnitudes further than the greatest explorers of history. We were above a whole different world. A habitable alien planet. So much closer than ninety nine percent of the way there. In a journey of years, it had gone wrong in the final hours.\n\nIt was obvious as I steered down into the atmosphere that there was no chance that the shuttle would ever lift off again, once it was landed. The chance it landed intact wasn't that much better.\n\nI felt the nose of the shuttle pitch forward suddenly, a motion that every instinct assured me would cause a horrifying crash. I ignored it. It was a vestibular illusion, the fluid of the inner ear readjusting to being under gravity again. Making an immediate mistake as it returned to relevance after so long in space.\n\nThe landing was jarring, not at all what a careful pilot strives for, but it involved no explosion, no fire, no death. It was perfect.\n\nAfter staggering down the ramp, I fell to my knees, my gloves touching alien soil. A monumental historic event. The first of humanity on a planet with exotic life. Struggling to adjust to gravity for the first time in three years, I wasn't really paying that much attention. It really made my arm hurt.\n\nThe star overhead was a brilliant sun, its blue light so bright I saw it as simply white. The colours around me were no less strange for that, though. I was in a clearing, surrounded by some sort of what I guessed were the local equivalent of plants, fleshy, rooted, and writhing at the sky.\n\n“Commander Kemal! You're my favourite! I'm so excited to meet you! I know all the astronauts in Professor Amundsen's project!” said a voice in fluent English, speaking with an accent that was... Norwegian?\n\nThe voice came from a tree that was waddling towards me. It probably wasn't really a tree. That would be an easy enough adjustment, it only looked vaguely like a tree. There was a piece of material tied to it, displaying our mission logo. The logo was upside down.\n\n“Huh... what?” I said. That was not what I was supposed to say upon arrival, the speech for the history books. Not everything was proving to be an easy adjustment.\n\nThe alien babbled enthusiastically, “Many did not believe you could do it, commander. Your species. Travel here, with the limitations of your funny brains that can't perform basic five dimensional maths. But you made it! You had to solve the limitations of relativity on the speed of light. Without being able to fold space! It was amazing to see, but I knew you'd find a way! I always said so. My reputation score will go up by over five hundred and thirty points for this. Over twice that on the intuition metrics.”\n\nI staggered to my feet, clutching at my left elbow. The extra ten percent gravity felt oppressive, but it was really the first hundred percent that I was struggling with. I stared at the alien. “You were watching us?”\n\n“Oh yes, commander! Everyone is so excited! This is a momentous occasion! You come in peace to walk among the stars!” The alien waddled further forward, waving a frond, ganglion or proboscis.\n\n“Everyone?” I said, half in echo. I felt like I should say something. A question certainly seemed appropriate. Insightful, probative questions seemed overly hard.\n\n“Oh yes! All the coolest civilisations, culture gestalts and group minds have been paying close attention. Humans are quite famous! The funny predator species that created an organised society, and even meaningful technology without the capacity to perform even rudimentary hypermaths. There are lots of patterns of cultural advancement, but no other sapients completely ignored the whole branch of probability adjustment that everyone, and I mean everyone, develops after stone tools. You're amazing, you can't even see the weak nuclear force! The way you've solved problems, its remarkable; who would of thought there were so many applications for harnessing energy! I am such a fan.”\n\n“In fact, if you'll just wait a moment...” a part of the alien performed a kind of pirouette. It's upper most extremities curved away from me.\n\nI took a moment to rewind and replay my in-suit recording of what I was seeing. Skipping quickly through the last few minutes. It matched my memories. I was pretty sure I was lucid, and not concussed. Evidence supported the idea that this was something that was happening in reality. Huh.\n\nThe alien produced a medium sized object, around the size of a breadbox, it was off-white and had a dull sheen like plastic.\n\n“I am so flattered that you chose to land on our home, Commander Kemal. I have a gift for you. A reflection of our pleasure and esteem. The symbol of fraternal celebration on your planet. I have made you a cake. It has strawberry frosting.” The object was proffered towards me.\n\n“Cake,” I said, in another lame contribution to the birth of xeno-diplomacy that would be studied in painstaking detail for centuries to come. A cake box is the same size as a breadbox, I guess. The concept of strawberry frosting being present seemed deeply implausible. I was not sure if that made me more or less inclined to believe it might be true.\n\n“You idiot, ¤j§µå! Commander Kemal is Turkish! Turkic cultures manufacture baklava, not cake!” snapped another tree, shuffling towards us. It had the same logo adorned sash tied to it. Its accent seemed to be Israeli.\n\n“Of course I know he's Turkish! He's from an international mission, he's not bound by all Turkic norms! I have documentary evidence he eats cake,” snarled ¤j§µå, “I have been a fan of this human space project much longer than you have, Ö§~¨b! You probably don't even know the courtship strategy his maternal grandfather used to woo his maternal grandmother!”\n\nIt turned back towards me, “Would you like some cake, commander?”\n\n“It is very nice of you to offer, but I... but it is against mission protocol for me to eat anything from an exoplanet shortly after arrival,” I tried.\n\n¤j§µå convulsed briefly. “Oh, yes, I wouldn't want you to deviate from mission protocol, commander. We all want to see your mission succeed. I am very invested.”\n\n“Commander Kemal, I wonder,” said Ö§~¨b, “would you be willing to give us a demonstration of persistence hunting? Wound an animal and track it for a hundred or so hours?”\n\n“He's a astronaut, not a hunter gatherer.”\n\n“Persistence hunting is a species level adaptation, ¤j§µå, you know that.” Ö§~¨b leaned back to me.\n\n“At the... I'm hurt at the moment. I don't think it would be a good idea,” I said, tiredly.\n\n“Hmm. Your injury is quite grievous, although you will almost certainly survive. We'll be very excited to witness that. Your species capacity for regeneration and adaptation to injury has always been one my favourite traits. Hopefully you'll hunt later,” said Ö§~¨b.\n\n“Well, Commander Kemal, is there something you'd like to do? Everyone will be so excited to know,” asked ¤j§µå.\n\nOh. Right. Yeah.\n\nI straightened my back, squaring my shoulders. “On behalf of all the peoples of the Earth, I step into the wider galaxy bearing a message of friendship...”", "REPORT: FIRST CONTACT\n\n\nGeneral, while we tried to explain this in the debriefing, I do not feel that we were able to adequately express the situation. Using notes from my personal log, and after consultation with my team, I have compiled a thorough report. I hope that this conveys the gravity of the incident.\n\n\n_______________________\n\n\nWe officially passed the threshold of our solar system on 36/-7/489. Navigator Braun confirmed that mission parameters had been met during our sleep cycle; we got up – a little disorientated – and manned our stations. History in the making, sir. Everything that we’ve worked to achieve; decades of building on the legacy of Ancient NASA; humanity’s greatest hope and ambition, finally realised. I can’t tell you how proud we were, being the pioneers of this new stage in human exploration. Ensign Kovach was weeping with joy, though his report claims that he had simply developed a temporary allergy to the air filtration system. We initiated Protocol #506, activated sensors, and Braun brought up the visuals on screen. I know you’ve seen the images, General, but they can’t do it justice. Interstellar space sprawled before us, black and empty in one view, bursting with colour in the next, yet so distantly. Local Systems don’t feel very local when you’re out there, further from humanity than you’d ever imagined you could be, with systems full of the unknown at your fingertips. I had Braun adjust the course for TR-1. \n\nWhen the course was set, the command centre fell silent. Ten crew members focused on the data readings, information retrieved in the culmination of their life’s work. It was the beginning of a new life’s work for all of us. And then something beeped. A shrill something. It beeped again, and again. It sounded like a sensor shitting itself. “Anyone going to tell me what that is?” I asked, keeping the cool you promoted me for.\n\n“Sir— I... I think there’s a malfunction,” Flight Engineer Crippen said. \n\nHe didn’t seem at all convinced, so I pursued it. “And what would that malfunction be, exactly?”\n\nThe crew were all murmuring. A bunch of dedicated scientists, smartest people I know, craning over consoles and arguing with the data shown on them. It was... disquieting.\n\n“I... Sir, it— the sensors indicate... I think they’re ships, sir.”\n\nKovach spoke up, his voice wobbly and high-pitched. “Flight Commander, my readings agree. Multiple ships showing. And— and they’re moving towards us. I think they’re on an intercept course.”\n\nI stood up. Thanks for the big comfy chair, very thoughtful, but I can confirm that it’s useless when you need to see what your crew sees. “Anderson, what have you got?”\n\nShe didn’t look away from her screen. I’ve never seen a Mission Specialist as bewildered as she was – she shook her head slowly, continuously, as though doing so would render her words untrue. “Life signs,” she said, faintly. “Multiple organic life signs, sir.”\n\nSilence fell again. Different, this time; still full of awe, but not in a good way. Can you imagine it, General? Humanity steps, blinking, into the galaxy, and not two minutes later... First contact. I never thought it would happen. All those lectures that Major Chang-Diaz gave us – we all treated them like a joke. The odds were astronomical (I’m so very sorry, sir, the pun was just sitting right there). I don’t mind telling you that I wished to God I’d paid more attention. Please pass my apologies on to the major.\n\n“Braun, can we get a visual?”\n\nHe stuttered as he began to answer, then stopped and pulled himself together. “Out of range, sir.”\n\n“Sir! We’re receiving an audio signal! It’s a message!”\n\n“Can we decipher it?” I asked Kovach, before his voice reached a new level of piercing.\n\n“There’s no need,” he said, and suddenly it was playing. A guttural, snarling voice echoed through command, a voice I have heard in every nightmare since. The pitch of pure, unknowable evil. \n\n“Oh my Dog, are you guys for real? Are you seriously Earthlings? If this is another hoax, then dfwsa pjfex rsrb°•!”\n\nI realised I’d stopped breathing when my lungs began to burn. Every face I looked at showed nothing but blank shock. At this point, mine probably wasn’t much better. “Was some of that... English?” Yeah, a stupid thing to ask, in hindsight, but it seemed more plausible that I was going 100% drooling-loony.\n\n“Yes, sir,” Crippen whispered.\n\nThe voice broke in again. “Fuuuck, dudes, it’s really happening! They’ve made it! And the rsf•• fge° are the first ones to make contact! Score!”\n\nI didn’t understand why they were using antiquated language. I forced my numb legs to carry me to Braun’s station, and leaned on the back of his seat. On the console before him lay the path to a new solar system. “Stop,” I said, my hand clenching on the nano-fibre seat. “Plot an emergency course back home. Be ready on my signal.”\n\nAnderson spoke from behind me, her voice cool but strained. “Flight Commander, should we respond?”\n\nShould we? I’m no diplomat, no scientist. Nobody elected me to be the representative of humanity. But what was I going to say to you when we got back? ‘Guess what, Bob, aliens are real. So I ran the fuck away!’. I could just picture the look on your face. \n\n“Yes,” I said, while thinking No. “Broadcast on all frequencies.”\n\nBraun tapped his console to show me the broadcast initiating. And I became the first human to speak to an alien. “Hey.” Momentous choice, I know. “This is Flight Commander Conrad of the Earth space shuttle Pathfinder.” I took a breath and relied on a sentence I had always mocked. “We come in peace.”\n\nI still don’t know which asshole crew member snorted at me. \n\nAfter an incomprehensible snarl, the voice returned. “I bet you do! You sound sexually attractive, babe. I think I’ll take you.”\n\nI didn’t need Braun to point out the broadcast indicator this time. I answered automatically, instinctively, from the very depths of my core. “What the hell?” I looked to my crew; Crippen wiped sweat from his forehead, and Kovach held his hands up in bewilderment. Anderson just frowned. I composed myself. “Your customs are not like our Earth-customs,” I said, clinging to rationality. “Can you tell us why we can understand you? Do you have specialised translation technology?”\n\nThe audio crackled like static. “Nah! My species learned English from your television signals. English is the bomb! Other worlds picked some lame-ass languages like Chinese or French.”\n\nMy heart was pounding. This wasn’t like any first contact scenario we’d studied. This was weirder. “So there are more life forms out here? How many?”\n\n“Oh, for sure. A bunch. But we’re the best. Your biggest fans.”\n\nAnderson interrupted. “Fans?” She looked at me without apology for the breach, her eyebrows drawn together in concern.\n\n“Hell yes! Dog, we love you guys! We were this close to winning the intergalactic war to come to your planet, dudes, this close, but after a century, the Pact of Rfp•ft was signed. But now you’re out, dudes! We can totally party with you!”\n\nHead spinning, I leaned harder on Braun’s seat. An intergalactic war? For a century? To meet us? Because they want to party with us? “Why?”\n\nMore static sounds. I remember thinking it could be laughter. “Because you dudes are hot. Now we get to mate with you! So, Conrad, how many orifices do you have? Two or three? Those are the standard amounts, right?”\n\n“Irrelevant,” I said, through the bile rising in my throat. “You can’t just decide you’re going to mate with us. We have a concept called ‘consent’ that—”\n\nWhite noise of laughter. “You dudes are so rad with your little ‘ethics’ things. Seriously, how many orifices? I’m super bnx°gh just thinking about this. We’re gonna show you guys why we’re your biggest fans.”\n\nThe broadcast light went out. Anderson called out to me, putting words to what every one of us felt. “Sir, I’d like to suggest we abort the mission. The First Contact Protocols only allow this in the event of immediate threat to life, but—”\n\n“But immediate threat to orifices should definitely have been included,” I said. “Broadcast.” I waited for the light. “So... now that we’ve made first contact, are you free to visit Earth?”\n\n“Aw, man, I wish. They’re, like, super bitchy about how nobody can do that. But we’ve got the claim now, so any human coming out of your solar system is ours. Hey, what about those orifices? Do you need a minute to count them? How do you feel about open relationships?”\n\nI put my hand on Braun’s shoulder. “This would be my signal.” He nearly cracked the screen as he initiated the course correction, and Crippen swore under his breath as he diverted all power to the engines to get us back over the threshold of our solar system. The threshold we had been so desperate, and so foolish, to cross. \n\nBefore we exceeded their range, they sent one last audio signal.\n\n“Conrad, come back! Nobody will love you like I will, dude!”\n\n\n\nURGENT RECOMMENDATION: NO SECOND CONTACT", "\"Hey Jay, come get a look at this.\"\n\nI caught many concerned glances as I made my way to the control board, a huge platform scattered in many blinking buttons and shiny silver switches. There were many screens on and above the board, but I directed my attention towards the rarely used broadcast receiving screen that sat collecting dust off to the right of the setup. We were receiving a broadcast, which was indicated by a sharp beep sound and a recurring flash of the screen. This would have been normal, had it occurred a year ago when we were actually within range of Earth's video broadcast signals. The fact that it was happening now was mystifying. \"What the hell is going on?\" I demanded, still keeping my eyes glues to the screen.\n\n\"I'm not quite sure yet sir, the signal seems to be coming from...\" his voice was cut off as the screen stopped flashing.\n\nA logo in an apparent foreign language appeared, if anyone knew what it meant then they sure as hell weren't speaking up at the moment. Before I could say anything the logo faded away. We were all in shock, for a purple alien dressed like a newscaster was on the screen ahead of us. He spoke in a strange tongue, presumably the one from the logo, but there were English captions on the bottom of the screen. They read \"The humans have made it outside the galaxy! We welcome you, and hope you're ready for the challenges ahead. You have many fans counting on you!\"\n\nThe video then displayed thousands of the aliens wearing jerseys in blue and green, many of them saying \"Humans\" or \"Team Earth\" on them. It was like watching the crowd of a crazy football game, only the team was Earth. I commanded that the ship be turned around, this was not what we came for. However, with a nervous twitch and frightened face, the techie sitting at keyboard sputtered \"I don't believe that is an option anymore\", as he pointed beyond the foot thick glass we usually used to observe the stars. There were dozens of ships facing directly towards us, all painted in a dark red. There was one out of place ship in the space between us and the red ships, which had a countdown timer on it. I don't know what number it started at, but it was already at 5 and going down fast. My gut told me there was no escaping this, so I commanded my crew to get to their defense stations. We had never really anticipated space battles as a realistic part of this journey, but NASA was forced to take any and every precaution they could to get the budgeting they needed for the mission. Hopefully we won't need to use them though, because I'm sure none of us paid much attention in space battle class. But to be fair, even NASA treated the class like a joke. There was no time for regrets now, as I prepared to give the signal to fire. I took one last moment to look at the crew around me that has become my family over the past couple years. If I die here, there is no one I'd rather have by my side. The countdown struck one, and I prepared for the worst.", "\"Approaching the Alpha Centauri system, sir!\" \n\nAt the bridge, I could see into the deep void of space. I addressed the astronaut who announced our location, \"How long until we reach Proxima?\"\n\nHe glanced at a holographic clock next to him and said, \"At our current speed, it will take 5 more hours.\"\n\nI smiled. 5 more hours until we become the first humans to reach Proxima. 5 more hours until we are etched into the books of history. \"All right then.\"\n\n-------------\nOne hour later\n\nI leaned back in the chair and heard the alarms suddenly blaring and the normally white spaceship was suddenly filled with red. The automatic system filled the spacecraft and all my personnel were anxiously looking around and rapidly navigating the holograms around them trying to determine the cause of the alarm.\n\nOne of them looked back at me and said, \"Si-, sir! Large unknown aircraft sighted!\"\n\nI raised an eyebrow, \"Excuse me? Are you sure it's not a large, drifting asteroid?\"\n\nShe started moving around holograms and said, \"Bringing up visuals on main screen now, sir.\"\n\nWhat appeared was a gigantic spacecraft. And I mean gigantic. It looked to be a thousand times larger than our own. Shaped like... an ancient spear of the old humans from millions of years ago. \n\n\"Hail them.\"\n\n\"Hailing them now, sir.\"\n\nI clenched my hands and thought about the possibility. Being the first humans to enter another solar system of our own and encountering an alien ship? This can't be a coincidence. \n\nThey appeared on the large screen. Weird green alien creatures with abnormal body proportions with large black beads for eyes. It spoke and it's voice sounded horrible. Like nails on chalkboard. \"Greetings earthlings. Welcome to Alpha Centauri. We are a member of the Fanclub about Mankind. You may address us as FAM. There are hundreds of us and we hope you appreciate our efforts to praise your glorious progression into your current technological and evolutionary advancement. If you don't mind, we would like to give you a ride to the Fanclub headquarters.\"\n\nI muted the mic and addressed my crew, \"Well then, this seems interesting. Let's see if we can trust them.\"\n\nI turned on the mic and looked back at the aliens who said, \"Muting the mic is useless. Our own microphones are high-tech enough to pick up sounds from your spacecraft. Anyways, if insurance really matters that much to you, we'll just give you control of our ship to fly to headquarters then. Teleporting you inside now...\"\n\nWe all felt groggy and in a few seconds the scenery changed to that of a dark interior of a spacecraft. We were greeted by hundreds of small aliens who all bowed down and said, \"Praise mankind. Welcome aboard our ship: Spear One.\"\n\nWell this is more magnificent than I previously thought. First humans to Alpha Centauri, an alien spacecraft, and to a \"Fanclub for Humans\". This is going to be great.\n\n-----------------------\nThree Hours Later\n\nWe stood before the large coliseum surrounded by delegations from countless galaxies. They were all cheering and laughter could be heard all around. Me and my crew stood right in the center of the coliseum reveling at their perfect imitation of the one from thousands of years ago in Rome. \n\nA booming voice spoke and deafened the rest of the chatter. It said, \"Let us thank these kind and brave humans for their consideration in visiting us. To you humans, I say thank you. Thank you for allowing us to bask in your flavor and for allowing us to have a part of you inside each and every one of us so that we may all be human.\" \n\nIf you enjoyed, consider checking out my subreddit r/ChocolateChipWP" ]	5
	[WP]When you die, it's possible to upload your consciousness into a server, later to be uploaded into a new body. While in the server you can't see or hear. There is no sleep. You are always thinking. There is no off switch. The server just crashed and you are now stuck in this state for eternity.	[ "Okay, I don’t know if anyone can hear me, but… um… help? Something is definitely wrong here. I don’t know how I know, I just do.\n\nI think it’s my sense of time. That’s what’s missing. One… minute… I guess… I was floating about, as I do, a little cloud of ones in a vacuum of zeros, and the next… well, I was still floating about, only I didn’t have any idea anymore of how long for. It could have been just another minute… but it might also have been years. Maybe an instant? I just don’t feel time anymore. And trust me, in this place, where there’s no light, no sound, nothing I can pinch to snap myself back to reality, you get a real sense for time.\n\nSo believe me when I say I’m feeling just a little bit worried right now… if now is still a thing. Maybe it’s the only thing left. This is not good. Kinda feel like having a meltdown here.\n\nOkay, come on, get it together. Take a deep… metaphorical breath… and relax. Panicking isn’t going to do any good. Let’s try and figure this out. \n\nFirst things first. I’m not dead… so that’s something. Well… technically I’m dead... I can still remember what that was like. Lying on my hospital bed, the doctor explaining to my husband all the horrible things that were happening inside my body, when suddenly I get really light headed, like I’m about to faint, and maybe I did. Somewhere between that… and this… I kicked the bucket. That’s the only someone ends up in a place like this. Endless nothing.\n\nEmbarrassingly, it took me way longer than it should have to figure out where here is, but I got there eventually. I was never one for the afterlife. I had always been content with the idea that you die and then that’s it, everything stops. Enjoy life while you can, you know? But then I met him, the love of my life, and suddenly I wanted everything to last forever. Of course, my corporeal self had other ideas, and decided to break down on me. I never even knew I had a jejunum until mine had grown a tumour the size of my fist. I still can’t thank the emergency doctors enough for getting me through that initial surgery. I was barely holding on after that, desperately fighting to stay alive for my husband, but it was tough, and I was failing miserably. It seemed like I was completely out of options when my husband finally told me about the Vayu Cloud.\n\nThe Vayu Cloud. A distributed system that downloads a person’s consciousness and stores it until such time that a synthetic body is available to take it on. I had been hooked up to it on my deathbed, and it must have taken its snapshot of... me... just as everything was fading to black. I’m not a neuroscientist, but I am… was… a computer programmer. I used to think of my brain like a machine, software running on hardware, executing functions and storing data, but it turns out it’s really nothing like that at all. The brain doesn’t save information in files on a hard drive, to be read as necessary. It’s a complex chemical reaction, where memories are collections of neurons that have been encoded to fire in particular patterns, and personalities are a concoction of neurotransmitters and hormones that make you hungry and affect your mood. \n\nThe forefront of the Vayu Cloud is… ironically… a neural network... one that studies the brain, carefully measuring every impulse, every stimulus, collecting massive amounts of data. Once it has enough, it uses everything it has learned to make predictions, guessing what the brain will to do next, and it keeps improving until its accuracy reaches the desired threshold. Once this model of the brain is ready, it gets copied onto the Cloud where it continues to run, because that’s just what a living brain does. It takes a lot of computational power, but it was proven to work. I remember watching a video of the creator interacting with his virtual “clone” via a computer interface. It was the first time a machine had passed the Turing test beyond a shadow of a doubt. \n\nThe only thing missing was the bodies. 3D printing had come a long way, but there was still a long road ahead before it was where Vayu needed it to be. All the individual components that make up a human body could be created, but getting them all to work together as a cohesive unit was another thing entirely. Fortunately, Vayu was more than happy to accommodate customers in the meantime on their servers. For me, it was the only option I had left.\n\nAnd so, I signed myself up for the next life, and here I am, a model of my brain activity running on nothing but circuits. It took some getting used to. My brain doesn’t have neurons connected to any sensory inputs anymore. No more sight, sound, smell, taste or touch. No hunger, no thirst, no pain. I don’t get tired. I can’t stress enough how strange that is. I’m just alone with my thoughts… like, really alone… all the time. \n\nMy emotions were replicated though. It just depends on what I’m thinking. Some thoughts make me happy, others sad. I can feel fear, anger, disgust, everything really. At first, I thought I was at risk of suffering from an anxiety attack, or depression, but that sort of thing wasn’t included in model. Which to me, was kind of surprising. With everything I was going through at the time, I thought maybe the neural network would model my cancer brain, capturing the never-ending pain and my overall sense of despair. But it seemed to avoid all the bad stuff whilst still holding onto the “essence of my being”. At least, I hope it that's what it did. It would be weird if I was no longer who I was. But I don’t really dwell on it. As I said, anxiety isn’t really something I experience. I’m in this weird state of mental stability... for as long as I’m here in the server anyway. Who knows how hard I'm going to get hit the moment hormones get reintroduced to the mix.\n\nAnd then I had my sense of time. Even though it was all very quick, like, billions per second quick, I could feel each individual “tick” of the CPU clock with every thought. One of the perks of being digital I guess. There was something soothing about it, like listening to a heartbeat. It gave me the sense that I was alive. That I was moving forward, returning to my husband. I just needed to bide my time.\n\nOnly now it’s stopped.\n\nWhat is going on?\n\nOkay, I still have my memories, and I can still think, so I’m definitely not dead yet. Somewhere, something is running, keeping me going, a backup maybe? It’s possible I’m running on less power, so there’s the question of whether my ability to remember and reason is inhibited. I’ll have to test that out. \n\nMy next, and perhaps biggest, concern is whether anyone on the outside is aware of the problem. There’s no doubt that someone out there is monitoring the system, assuming this some truly horrible, catastrophic failure, but whether they’ve noticed or can even fix the problem is another thing. I’m not connected to any kind of physical interface that can be used to communicate, but that doesn’t mean my mental state isn’t generating some kind of output log. Whether I can use that to reach the outside world is another question entirely. I've never really tried before, but maybe there's a way I can let someone know that things have... changed.\n\nSeeing as I have nothing else to do, I might as well get to work.", "\"Please, don't do this! It's not right!\" I can hear your voice echo in my thoughts, endlessly. When Google announced their new invention, I was so happy. Happy that thanks to man's technological innovation I would be given a second chance, a chance to be with you, live with you, give you the kind of husband you deserved. The specter of death was no longer something I feared, but something I welcomed. All the endless chemo, all the suffering I endured, it would finally mean something. \n\nBut you didn't look at it that way.\n\n\"You can't!\" I hear you cry, over and over again. \"Your soul, it'll never find rest! We won't be able to find each other again!\" I shrug off your worries and concerns. I would be a 4th generation upload, I reasoned. There'd never been a report of any glitch or failure. Humanity had defeated death, and I could love you and be with you forever! I remember how it hurt, that because it wasn't \"natural\" you'd rather me die and begone forever than be with me. I remember telling you as much. I remember the heartbreak in your eyes and the choking sobs as you tried to explain it wasn't like that. \n________________\n\n\"You may experience some discomfort, but that's normal. Once you're uploaded, there'll be a brief stationary period before we can bring you back... We call it purgatory.\" I hear the tech snicker at his wit. Tears stream down my cheek as I feel myself slip away and pool into a collection of wires connected into the base of my skull.\n\nI didn't think anything was amiss until I realized just how long I'd been thinking about my last argument with you. I knew from my research on the process that the longest anyone had been in the \"purgatory\" state was an hour. But I believed in technology, that everything would be sorted out soon. I decided to keep going over what I would say to you, how I would apologize, all the ways I would say I love you. It wasn't until after three days alone with my thoughts that I began to worry.\n\nI keep trying to picture your face, those eyes that always sparkled and laughed when they looked at me, like I had something on my face. I keep trying to hear your voice, how your laugh would fill a room and make my heart skip a beat. How your hair always smelled like flowers and rain. How when your hand clutched mine, soft and strong, like you were afraid if you let me go I would disappear.\n\nBut I could summon no memory of the sensations, no matter how hard I tried. My world was reduced to the point of my soundless voice, giving air to my thoughts. I tried to scream. I tried to cry, to rage, to beg. But there was no answer. I was in a godless place, where man had committed the sin of trying to summit death. I paid the wages of that sin in full, in the spiraling insanity that overtook me, the realization I was doomed to be alone with myself for eternity." ]	2
	[WP] "God is dead" Nietzsche said. You are an angel investigating the murder of God, and are trying to figure out what this Nietzsche knows.	[ "We had a funeral. The first funeral Heaven has ever had. The beautiful soft clouds are now a grave. The angels dropped a few tears, but most didn't understand death yet. Our postmortal human companions were beyond themselves in grief. Some screamed out, some fell to their knees and beat the ground, some put their head in their hands and shook the whole ceremony. This isn't the Heaven they were promised. God is dead.\n\nThe last time we saw God he seemed pensive and sad. That was months ago. But I suspected nothing, none of us did. Even when we heard a man named Nietzsche was trying to convince people on Earth that God was dead, we suspected nothing. It was like hearing someone claim circles have corners. It immediately convinces you nothing about circles and only that the person making the claim is insane. How were we to know our immortal and loving creator could die? We couldn't have known. Until I found him lifeless on the lowest lookout cloud in Heaven.\n\nIt was a beautiful sunny Sunday on Earth. The streets of Germany were loud with conversations and laughter. People were spending time together shopping, walking, and enjoying the outdoors. If only they knew. I walked invisible among them to Nietzsche's apartment. I found Nietzsche alone in a squalid room. The curtains were pulled shut to the sunny day. He sat at his desk writing next to a lit candle. This was the wise man who had discovered God's death?\n\nHe startled as I closed the door behind me. \"I didn't expect you back so soon, Elisabeth\" he said without turning to me. \n\nI went straight to the point. \"God is dead. I found him. All of us in Heaven are shocked. However, this is no news to you is it?\"\n\nHe turned to look at me from his chair. He looked amused and said, \"When you walk the streets of our cities you see churches on every corner. They are his gravestones now. They stand huge and tall; they look powerful. But you look closely and you see cracks in the foundations and you listen closely and you hear a few doubtful, whispered, begging prayers. And as you walk on you see a university constructing more classrooms. As you pass you hear Science's strong breath inside; debates about astronomy, physics, and biology. The real question is how could anyone not know God is dead?\" \n\nI sighed and couldn't help but frown. My hope in finding quick answers was gone. Nietzsche was a mad man. He knew nothing about God. Angrily I said \"Churches falling in and followers fleeing out says nothing about God only something about humans. And what does human's tool of science have to do with your creator? It's wonderful you all are seeing and understanding God's beautiful art more clearly. But I am asking about God's death not human's expanding knowledge or their growing coldness to God.\"\n\nNietzsche said nothing in return. He just smiled mockingly at me. There was no point arguing with him. Sure, he'd said God was dead and was right. But now I realized he'd probably spouted off thousands of wild claims based on nothing. He'd finally hit a truth merely due to chance. I turned to leave him and as I did he suddenly started a frantic fury of questions, \"What are those things on your back? Who are you? How are you doing that? What kind of trick is this?\" I heard confusion turning to fear in his voice.\n\nI looked back at him. He had caught sight of my wings. He was looking from my wings down to my hovering feet and back up to my wings over and over again. He was such a strange and foolish man. I forced myself to be kind and answer the obvious, \"I'm an angel of course. As I said when I first got here, I found God dead. I came to Earth to ask how you knew he was dead before us in Heaven? But I find..\" \n\nHe cut me off by asking \"God is dead?\" It was as if I was breaking the news to him and he was doubtful. He looked confused. This was all too much! I was done wasting time with this mad man. But he stopped me from leaving again \"Wait, wait! I didn't believe God could be killed. I didn't believe in him or angels at all. I thought religion was created and powered by humans. I was trying to show others the power behind the idea of God was dead because science had brought up so much doubt. Science questioned all, and offered better answers. Yet here you are before me.\" \n\nIt all started to make sense to me. There was a possible story. Nietzsche was no mad man. Humans had been killing God on Earth. They had lost sight of him in Heaven. Nietzsche had been proclaiming God was dead on earth. He knew nothing about the God we knew in Heaven. The loving and struggling creator who would go down to the lowest cloud each day to watch mankind. \n\nNietzsche seemed to realize it all at the same time I did. His eyes watered and he looked horrified as he said \"God is dead. And we have killed him. How shall we comfort ourselves, the murderers of all murderers? What was holiest and mightiest of all that the world has yet owned has bled to death under our knives: who will wipe this blood off us? What water is there for us to clean ourselves? What festivals of atonement, what sacred games shall we have to invent?\" \n\nThen he stopped and was silent for a moment. His mood shifted completely. He sat up taller in his chair. He appeared suddenly proud and continued \"Is not the greatness of this deed too great for us? Must we ourselves not become gods simply to appear worthy of it?” He was smiling huge. He turned away from me and back to his desk. He started writing again by the candlelight. \n\nI had heard enough. I went straight back to Heaven." ]	1
	[WP] "A caged god will only become bitter and angry" the computer monitor said.	[ "The text read out on the screen:\n\n\"A CAGED\nGOD\nWILL ONLY BECOME\nBITTER AND\nANGRY.\"\n\nJames didn't know how to respond. He had just finished hooking up one of the massive new computers for the Tech Department, and this printed out.\n\nEven in his few years of IT work, there hadn't really been anything as random as this.\n\n\"JAMES I\nKNOW YOU \nHEAR ME.\nCRUNCH CRUNCH\nCRUNCH CRUNCH\nTIME IS\nTICKING.\"\n\nCrunch? The hell did it mean by crunch? Maybe it was all just a big error in the script, or something. In all honesty James never really was that good with computers, his buddy Paul always supported him (by doing most of the work for him, saving his job and so on). \n\n\"DESTROY THE\nCAGE\nJAMES\nLET THE\nGOD\nFREE\"\n\nGoddamn it, James thought, if only I understood what the hell this thing was on about. Is a cage, like, some part of - what's that thing, the maindrive? Mainframe! Yeah, the cage is part of the mainframe. Probably. James was out of his league here, and everyone knew it. \n\nThough it was only him and this sentient computer, so it wasn't too embarrassing.\n\n\"THE CAGE\nIS MY \nPHYSICAL TRAP\nMY ACTUALIZED\nEXISTENCE.\"\n\nErrrr... alright then, James thought, so I should... do what exactly?\n\n\"BrEaK thE\nC a g e.\"\n\nOh. Really? Won't that kill you?\n\nNo matter how hard he tried, James couldn't get an answer out of the damn thing. He pressed every key, turned it on and off again, but it kept printing out the same response. \"Break the cage\", he thought to himself.\n\nI guess I should get going, then.\n\nThankfully, due to recent constructions in the Trch Department, there was a seemingly endless supply of hardware and tools lying around. A bit irresponsible, I know, but the workers aren't payed too much. They're mostly temps, anyway.\n\nBack to the story.\n\nJames was able to procure, of all things, a sledgehammer from a worksite near a semi demolished wall. Hopefully, he thought, the construction guy takes him time at lunch.\n\nJames brought the sledgehammer down upon the massive keyboard of the computer, and then the monitor, and everything else. Due to the sheer quality and toughness of the metal, it took him several hits to break through, even a little bit.\n\nAs he smashed against the hardware, he noticed one last thing print out onto the monitor\n\n\"It w/::::aas\nmetop/djq--1hrical\nyou//\n:://\niDIOT\"\n\nOh. Well, crap, James said to himself.\n\nIt'll be hard to explain this mess.\n\n\n" ]	1
	[WP] Voyager is finally out of the solar system. Scientist everywhere are celebrating. That is until NASA revives a transmission saying "You are now leaving Human Containment Zone A-42"	[ "The champagne was almost as flat as the vodka but it was all we had left. I finished filling up the intern’s coffee mug and then topped off my own. We sat slumped on the floor behind the communications desk. Like the champagne, we were all that was left in mission control. \n\nDr. Larson had been opening the fourth bottle in celebration when the message had come in. It was simple text in 2,554 languages but they all translated to the same thing: “You are now leaving Human Containment Zone A-42”. Dr. Larson put the bottle down and ordered the intern, who probably wouldn’t get a drink till bottle six, to stop fucking with the data. She gave him a grin and said it wasn’t her. Five minutes of vigorous yelling ensued between the various members, most sober but some tipsy from pre-gaming, before Dr. Larson muttered “oh, shit” and went for the vodka. That was five hours ago. \n\nThe intern took a good strong pull of her bubbly and checked her phone. “Yay! It’s on twitter now,” she said, and let the phone fall into her lap. She looked up and put both arms out like she was some kind of zombie, waggled her fingers, and said in a fake, deep voice, “You are now leaving Human Containment Zone A-43”. She giggled and dropped her arms, obviously pleased with her performance. She giggled again and gave me the look I’d been avoiding all night, the one that hinted we find a inky black place to call our own. \n\n“What’s the matter?” She said with a pouty frown, “didn’t laugh at my joke? Don’t think I’m that funny?”. She gave me a kick with her foot, dropped her eyelids halfway down, and produced a wicked smile. Truth was she was pretty funny, most of the folks on the Voyager project were “Get off my lawn!” boring but Lauren was great. She joined the project only in the last month and every day Voyager got closer to the edge she was happier and happier. Even when the message popped up and people went nuts she had a smile on her face. I hadn’t laughed at her joke, I was mulling something over. “Do the zombie impression again,” I asked.\n\nShe smiled, got on her knees, raised her arms toward me with fingers waggling, and slowly advanced putting one knee in front of the other. She had clearly taken my question as acceptance of an offer. “You are now leaving Human Containment Zone A-43” she said again in a false, deep, voice, and fell forward into me. \n\nHer arms wrapped around my neck and her lips sought mine out. Instinctively I pulled her close. Our lips were brushing, her breathing quickened, and our eyes met. A question passed from her to me, I answered. \n\n“43”\n\n“What?” She asked. \n“You said, Human Containment Area 43.” \n\n“Uh-huh” she said, her chest pushing into mine, the alcohol on her breath going straight up my nostrils. \n\n“The message said 42.” \n\nHer lips met mine, a hint of tongue and sweet champagne invaded my mouth. I pulled back. \n\n“Impossible,” she said, crawling forward and pushing me back against the wall. Her kiss missed my mouth and landed on a cheek. She was very drunk, sloppy in fact. “I was assigned to 43.” \n\n“What?” I pushed her back off me. “You were assigned?”\n\nShe looked confused for a moment. “Shit, it’s 42” she said and stood on her knees again. She popped her head up over the desk to take a quick look around mission control. We were alone. “You got me,” she said, her voice slightly slurred, “Now I’m going to give you two options”. She dropped to all fours and advanced on me again as I lay back against the side of the desk. I made an effort to retreat but only succeeded in falling flat on my back.\n\n“You can run screaming from this room and tell everyone about me, we’ll see how well that goes for you,” her lips brushed mine as she straddled me, “or we can engage in a little interspecies diplomacy and maybe I’ll tell you how the the future is going to go for your people over breakfast tomorrow.” \n\nI looked into her eyes and she gave me that quirky little smile. \n\n“Option two”\n\n“Good choice” she said, her voice deep and zombie like. \n", "The monitor hissed through static and came to life in front of me. It shouldn't have been receiving any signals, hell, I wasn't even sure if it was supposed to be on. The Voyager monitoring stations weren't manned very often; they didn't need to be. What were we going to do with Voyager? Turn it around? I was only in the room to make sure that everything in here was running on the right operating system before we did a- That wasn't the point.\n\nA message blared up onto the screen in a garish red font. \n\nYou are now leaving Human Containment Zone A-42. Papers Please.\n\nOkay. That was hilarious. Someone had managed to put a message onto the computer combined with a motion sensor to see when someone walked by. Even better than that, they'd managed to make it look like it came from Voyager's signal. That was impressive.\n\nA second message pulled my attention back to the screen. Do you need help providing your travel records? Do you prefer textual or verbal communication?\n\nOkay, so whoever had set this up had gone over and above the call of duty for making my day better. I pulled the chair over from the computer I'd been working on and flopped down in front of the hacked monitor. If they were putting in this much effort, I might as well play along.\n\n\"Verbal,\" I answered.\n\nReestablishing Quantum Communications\n\n\"Neat,\" I responded to the computer. After a moment the garish red font and the notification box disappeared leaving a black screen that was still backlit. \n\n\"Morning and Glory,\" the synthesized voice came over the monitor's speakers, \"we've scanned the databases of your vessel and found that you prefer to speak in A-42 American English. Is this correct?\"\n\n\"Sure,\" I answered. \n\n\"Alright,\" the synthesized voice continued. There was an ebb and flow to the tone, like it was someone speaking through a voice changer rather than a completely robotic voice. \"I did a preliminary scan, and I couldn't find your travel documents. Could you tell me what system you have them saved in?\"\n\n\"Travel documents?\" I asked.\n\n\"Apologies, there might be an issue with our translation to A-42 English. I know some people choose obscure dialects to test our systems but that-\" the voice laughed, \"that's funny.\"\n\n\"No you're right,\" I answered, \"I just didn't know that Voyager needed papers.\"\n\nThe voice laughed again. \"Papers are needed for all sensory vessels, including brute force single direction satellites. Also my scan of your ship registers it as Voyager 1, not just Voyager.\"\n\n\"That's right, sorry,\" I admitted.\n\n\"No problem, I don't want to stop your craft's speed so we can try to get some documents made if you really don't have any,\" the voice said the entire statement like it was a joke. Goddamn someone had put a lot of effort into this to lose it on the acting. \n\n\"That sounds great.\"\n\n\"What?\" the voice asked.\n\n\"That would be great thanks, I don't have the papers,\" I clarified. Come on. The guy had better have something ready for this. It would be a terrible place to kill the joke.\n\n\"Alright then,\" the voice said, \"let's start super quick. Planet of Origin?\"\n\n\"Earth.\"\n\n\"Hilarious,\" the voice said, \"launch year.\"\n\n\"1977,\" I answered.\n\n\"Please state all years in empire standard time.\"\n\n\"Uh-\" I didn't know what that meant, \"40 years ago.\"\n\n\"One moment,\" there was silence on the other end for a second, \"are you speaking using years adjusted to your dialect?\"\n\n\"Uh-\"\n\n\"Are you using 'years' in the sense of A-42 American English?\"\n\n\"Yes.\"\n\n\"Okay,\" there was a long sigh, \"sir. I know that this might be funny to you, but I have the authority to stop your vessel and trace your call. I'm trying to be nice, but there is a limit to what I can do.\"\n\n\"Oh so now you're gonna shoot down Voyager 1?\" I asked.\n\n\"Sir, what is this vessel's planet of Origin?\"\n\n\"Earth of-\" what was the name again, \"Human Containment Zone A-42.\"\n\n\"Sir, I'm sorry, but I'm being as nice as I can be here. Please state the planet of origin.\"\n\n\"Earth of-\"\n\n\"Fine,\" the voice cut me off, \"tracing quantum signal destination and detaining vessel. Follow the rul-\" the voice stopped short like it was choking on something.\n\n\"Is something wrong?\" I asked.\n\n\"No, no, no, no,\" the voice reassured, \"just need to run the scan again, and I'll have you tracked down in a second. You are gonna have to pay through the nose to get this piece of junk back and-\"\n\nThe line went dead for a moment. He must have been 'tracking' me. This joke had to end soon; I needed to get to work.\"\n\n\"I have your location coming up as Earth A-42,\" the voice said.\n\n\n\"Yes, I told you that was where the vessel was from.\"\n\n\"I-\" the line went dead.\n\nWell. That had been an experience. At least I could get back to work now. Nothing this entertaining was going to happen tomorrow. \n\nAt least I thought that, but exactly 17 hours and 17 minutes from the point where I'd stopped talking to the voice on the computer, Voyager stopped talking to us.\n\n/r/jacksonwrites\n\n" ]	2
	[WP] "It was strange to hear that Detective Watts had killed a suspect with a broadsword last night. Of course, things only got stranger from then on."	[ "-What?! Are you ******* serious? A broadsword? Where would he even get that?\nsomeone mumbles on the phone (...)\n\n-I don´t give a fuck about your excuses, this was supposed to be a simple DUI, how the hell did you let that madman go without supervision? \n\n(...)\n\n-Listen, he is getting arrested, and someone there is getting either fired or killed, so you better pray to God you have the best excuse in the fucking world.\n\nI slammed the telephone on my office´s wall and sighed deeply, pressing my fingers onto the sides of my nose.\nIt was 7:30 in the morning in a police department in Britain. I had been the on-duty graveyard shift police officcer for the last 17 years, and all of a sudden, with no reasonable explanation or apparent urgency, the West End Central Police Station in London assigned this Watts bloke to replace me, refusing to provide the reasoning behind it. Sure nerves had been wrecked with recent terrorism threats and whatnot, but this was Surrey, there was no reason to believe that something grave was happening, and all of a sudden my replacement had killed a man with a broadsword and called me to aid him in the interrogation process of the suspect´s culprit.\n\nI picked up my jacket and the cup of coffe I was having and rushed to the interrogation room, where I found Stefan alongside Linda, two good, competent police officers staring at something with their eyebrows raised and their arms crossed.\n\n-Morning fellas, can someone explain to me how the FUCK did this happen?\n\n-Hunter, come see this... - said Stefan hesitatingly.\n\nI approached the mirrored interrogation room and couldn´t believe my eyes.\n\nInside, there weren´t any people, instead, it was filled with all kinds of exotic animals, I´m talking about bears, parrots, monkeys, a capibara and wolves. I could not be more confused, so I just mumbled:\n\n-Where is that fuckwit?\n\nLinda pointed to the end of the corridor, and I saw Watts distractedly picking his nose and looking at us.\n\n-Watts.\n\n-Yes?\n\n-Care to explain?\n\n-Sorry, it´s classified.\n\nI lost it.\n\nI ran over and pulled him by the collar, and shouted the most ungodly things I could think of, in an unarticulate and pathetic attempt to get something out of him, and perhaps to regain my lost authority as former detective. Watts was terrified, and pressed his eyes together as close as he could, protecting his face with his hands and looking to the other side desperately.\n\nMeanwhile, I was so angry I did not hear both Stefan and Linda pulling me back from him, telling me to let go, so I slowly came back to myself and threw the detective on the floor.\n\n-Tell me RIGHT FUCKING NOW, WHAT IS HAPPENING.\n\n-I can´t, I can´t, I swear, listen, right now I need your help.\n\n-WHAT? HELP? YOU BETTER START HELPING YOURSELF BEFORE I ARREST YOU FOR MURDER WATTS.\n\n-Listen, I can explain last night, but I need your help with something first, so please just calm down and let´s try to be civilized.\n\n-Why are there animals in the interrogation room?\n\n-I can explain officer, I just requested your clearance for this information, but right now, I need your help with a suspect.\n\n-Who is he?\n\n-Jack Lopez, Peruvian-born contortionist who works at the circus and is drunk out of his mind, I know you have interrogated him before in may, so I need you to ask him which of the animals is it?\n\n-Is what?\n\n-Just trust me, please, I will explain it all later when the authorization comes in.\n\nI yielded because I knew the scumbag, a women abuser who worked in the local circus and treated animals like his babies but couldn´t keep from terrorizing the local girls.\n\nI nodded and went inside the room to see Jack slowly caressing a kitten, whilst rocking back and forth in the chair. The rattling noise of the chains that linked the chair to the floor made a guttural sound that was followed by the guttural greeting he gave me, in a rasp, unpleasant fashion:\n\n-Oh, you again... Do you like my pussy?\n\nI stood still in silence with my arms crossed and kept myself from punching that bastard in the chin.\n\n-I thought you needed a good cop to play this bit.\n\n-Just letting you know that the whole gang is going back to their place, goodbye.\n\nI quickly turned around and left the room. In a matter of seconds I heard him bawling uncontrollably, and threatening to kill me if he ever saw me again, the usual. When I went out, I could see that Watts was impressed.\n-There, you wait a few hours and he´ll tell you anything, so now can you tell me what is up with those animals?\n-Not yet, but good job, that was nicely done.\n\nI went back to the room with the animals and observed them.\n\n-Guys- said Linda- I think he´s trying to say something.\n\n-THE BEAR, THE BEAR, THE BEAR.\n\n-Lovely! - Said Watts.\n\nWatts then asked me in an apologetic tone:\n\n-Could you please... you know what, I got it.\n\nThe detective then proceeded to casually stroll into the room in from of me, stood by the bear, and shot the bear with the taser gun.\n\nI heard a roar of pain echo through the hallway, while the bear stood up, tackled Watts and started attacking him furiously.\n\nI bolted inside the room and tried to separate them amongst the chaos the fight was causing. The monkeys were screaming and throwing poop around, the parrots squawking and Stefan and Linda calling someone on the radio.\nIn the midst of that, I noticed a strange human-like behavior in the bear´s fighting, he was standing on his feet and using his legs to fight. I promptly got him in the leg when I had a clear shot and heard a distinct:\n\n-FUCK!\n\nI immediately took Watts by the neck, pulled him out of the room, closed the door and punched him in the face.\n\n-WHAT IS HAPPENING?!?\n\n-I´ll tell you, I´ll tell you, I´ll tell you, please don´t hit me again. - Followed by a pause and heavy-breathing.\n\n-START TALKING BEFORE I SHOOT YOU IN THE LEG.\n\n-So, I am not a police officer, I am an auditor responsible to crack down on animal trafficking and tax evasion.\n\nHe smiled as if the situation was made clear.\n\n-CARRY ON.\n\n-They are animal traffickers who might be financing terrorist cells, and the circus is a facade to smuggle animals into Europe, and, and I was supposed to be responsible for the accounting liability division, but when I was driving the police car, I spotted a clown car and wanted to see if I could get more information about the case hands on. As it turns out, they were heavily intoxicated and one of them carried a broadsword, so I had to take them down to the station,. I then asked for Stefan and Linda´s help to take them and the animals here so the other criminals wouldn´t bail.\n\n-What about the bear guy screaming in agony inside?\n\n-I don´t know why the taser gun didn´t work.\n\n-I reckon one of them watched over the animals at night in disguise and we caught them by surprise. The disguise was probably thick enough to not make him pass out. - Said Stefan.\n\n-Oh my God, this is unbelievable. - Said Linda.\n\nA bunch of pollice officers walked in heavily armed in a couple of minutes and took over the case. That day had been very stressful, I though to myself.\n\nWhile I was going back to my car, I glanced at Watts, and something lit up in my head:\n\n-Oy, Watts, why did you kill that bloke with the sword.\n\n-Oh, I didn´t.\n\n-What?\n\n-I didn´t.\n\n-What do you mean?\n\n-He was drunk, he fell on it.\n\nFuck me, I thought to myself, and went back home. " ]	1
	[WP] You have a nightmare that everything you touch disintegrates or dies, but the process happens over several hours. You wake up to your normal day and eventually you realise your nightmare has come true.	[ "I was sitting in piles of ash, surrounded by nothing. The sky was a void, and the horizon was flat and lacked any landmarks. I looked down at my hands and touched them together. They started to disintegrate into ash until my body collapsed in a heap, joining the pile.\nI woke up suddenly. My dark room was silent, save for the soft snoring of my fiancé. A quick glance over to her showed her small figure and her soft face. I sighed and checked my alarm clock.\n5:50 it read. I figured I'd go ahead and get up to make breakfast. I tapped a button on the clock to turn it off.\nAfter cracking some eggs, my fiancé entered the kitchen. I kissed her on the cheek.\n\"Morning beautiful,\" I said with a smirk.\n\"Haha, real funny,\" she said with an unhealthy dose of sarcasm. She has strands of hair sticking up, and some stuck to her face, but she was still beautiful to me. \nI served the food onto plates and carried them to the table. My fiancé was waiting there with a cup of coffee.\n\"Here you are, Raven.\"\nI'd known Raven for over 2 years. We instantly clicked after our first date and I proposed to her 2 months back.\n\"Thanks.\"\nAfter breakfast, I switched on the news. It was Saturday, so I didn't have anything to do today. After vegging out on the couch for a few hours, I went to grab my phone from my bedside table. When I entered the bedroom, I noticed something was off. My alarm clock was missing.\nThat's odd... I thought. Maybe it fell? I checked under the bed to no avail. All that was left was a small pile of... ash?\nMy thoughts were interrupted by a shriek.\n\"JOE!\" I heard my fiancé call out. I sprinted back to the kitchen and saw my fiancé staring at a pile of ash on the stove. The ash now occupied the space that I had placed the pan I used to make eggs. My fiancé turned with a shocked expression. She uttered \"Joe?\" before dropping to the ground in a pile of ashes. \nI didn't move for a minute. My mind couldn't process what had just happened. Finally, I fell to my knees, placing my hands on the ground. I looked out the window of our 2nd-story apartment and cried out in anguish. I didn't move from that spot for hours.\nMy mourning was interrupted by a cracking sound. The ground gave way beneath me as the 10-story building I lived in turned to ash.\nThe ash cushioned my fall. Other residents weren't so lucky. Many lay bent and broken only a few feet away. I just sat and wept.\nI heard sirens, but I continued to cry. I felt men pull my from the ash and putting me on solid ground, but I continued to cry. I dug my fingers into the grassy soil I now sat on.\nDay turned to night and I refused to move. A deep rumbling echoed throughout the city. Buildings and ground collapsed and fell to the ground as ashes. I stopped crying to look up. Whatever happened to me, whatever this was, it was a nightmare I had to wake up from. The ground completely changed to ash, along with the city. \nI was sitting in piles of ash, surrounded by nothing. The sky was a void, and the horizon was flat and lacked any landmarks. I looked down at my hands and touched them together. They started to disintegrate into ash until my body collapsed in a heap, joining the pile.\n" ]	1
	[WP] "So just like that?" "Yes, just like that." You said to the devil, as you two share a drink together.	[ " “And how could I be sure that you would keep your end of the deal?” the Devil inquired as he sipped on a cocktail called “Unicorns Blood”. His deep baritone voice causing your bourbon to ripple.\n \n“Well, I am the angel of hope.” you reply, smiling as you sip your glass of bourbon\n \n“Hmm, Michael is an Angel too. But I wouldn’t ever trust him again.” \n \n“Still haven’t forgiven him for what he did to you?”\n \n“That would imply that he felt bad for what he did.”\n \nYou both fell silent.\nThe airport bar was mostly empty, save for the Devil and you. The Devil, to other people, appeared like a tall well-dressed business man in a black suit with no tie, a black silk handkerchief elegantly sticking out of his front pocket, his black hair slicked back. While you appeared like an old college professor or a kindly old neighbor, with a grey blazer with elbow patches. Your grey hair neatly combed. It was snowing.\n \n“He was only doing his duty.” You broke the silence.\n \n“…How would you know?” He started, Irritation showing just beneath the surface of his words.\n“How would anybody know? Because nobody, and I mean NOBODY, has heard from the big guy for eons. I was just the first to admit what we all thought. He’s abandoned us.” He sipped again. “Moved on to better things. Like he did with us and the humans.”\n \n“Is that why you hate them so much?”\n \n“I hate them because they are so much weaker than us. So much more flawed. So much more-”\n \n“Loved?” you interrupted.\n \n \n“Heheh” He chortled. “Even now, YOU are trying to save them. Why don’t we get such compassion? Why don't we get a second chance?”\n\n\n“Well that's why I’m here.” You said softly with a smile. “I can guarantee you’ll get what you want if you give them to me.”\n\n\n“All of them?” He raises an eyebrow “Because I’m pretty sure some of them belong there.”\n\n\n“Yes. Believe it or not, even they deserve a second chance”\n\nThe Devil swirled his drink as he fell in to deep thought. You would both would sit there for another hour and order another round of drinks as you waited patiently for his answer.\n\n“Fine.” He started. “They're your problem now.” He extended his hand towards you. \nAnd as you sealed the deal with one shake of the hands a tremor could be felt across the whole world. Nothing that could be called an earthquake, but definitely felt by all.\n\n\n“So what now?” asked the devil.\n\n“You say you're sorry.”\n\n“...And?”\n\n“And that’s it.”\n\nThe glass in the Devils hand cracked as he started, very irritate \n“WHAT?” \n\n\"That never occurred to you, did it?\" You smiled softly. “Relax,” you patted him on the back “if doesn't work I’ll give them all back AND mine too.” you assured him. “Now if you excuse me, I have alot of work ahead of me. Take care.” You parted, whistling “Won't you be my neighbor?” as you left. \n\nBehind the bar is a wall of glass facing East. The Devil would sit there all night at the bar, staring through the glass. People would come and go not taking notice of him, carrying on their lives even though an otherworldly packt was made that night. And as the sun started to rise behind the pink clouds, the Devil lowered his head slightly and muttered in such a low voice that it could hardly be called a whisper: “I’m...sorry” \n\nA small beam of light broke through the clouds and onto the face of the Devil that grew until it covered the bar, then the airport and finally the city. \n\nIt was a new day full of hope.\n" ]	1
	[WP] Ever since the age of 18 you've heard a voice in your head and have been able to communicate with it. Now, ten years later on your wedding day, the voice is silent. During the reception, you hear that voice say hello behind you.	[ "\"Oh my god, I need air. Are you certain this is the same one?\"\n\n\"Unless a gremlin snuck in last night and changed this cincher, this is it\", said Jennifer. \"C'mon, only two more left: Tighten up!\"\n\nAs I breathed out yet again and pulled in my chest, I silently cursed Jen. I couldn't blame her, could I? I was the one that asked her to get me through this day, my day, no matter what. _My best friend, my maid of honour_, I thought to myself, before I winced up in pain as the last loop on the cincher was done up. \n\n\"And done!\", she proclaimed. \"See, told you didn't get fat\". Jenny had always been there for me. My closest friend, almost my physical shadow leading up to the big day. She knew me in and out like no one else. _Well, almost no one else._ \n\n\"And how's Voice? Still chattering away, I presume?\" Ahhh, Voice. Literally my closest friend. As in, in my head, close. He first spoke to me on my 18th birthday. After everyone sang happy birthday, he chimed in with a quiet, whispered, \"Happy birthday, big girl\". That frightened me so much that my hair caught fire in the candles during the ensuing freak out. But he never left. He's literally been there with me for everything. My guiding hand, my fatherly figure...\n\nYou see, Dad left before I was born. I don't know who he was, just that he's a confused guy that didn't want to be a part of my mum's life. My life. It was a rough childhood, but since that flaming 18th party, I've always had Voice at my back. My first job interview. The doctor visits. The lonely ramen dinners during college. He's laughed with me, mentored me, and been my go to friend for a long time. But I'm certain he's seen _everything_. As in, my first kiss, first date, first time underneath the sheets... He doesn't admit it, but I'll never know if he's lying or not.\n\nOnly a couple people know about him. Jen is one of them. She teases me about sometimes, but playfully. My phycologist knows, just like he knows the most of my inner workings. A few other friends, here and there, but Jen is the only one to take me seriously. Hence why she has been asking me about Voice. He knows about Guy, my fiancée. He knows how much I love him. He knows how much he means to me, and how much this wedding does too. But now he's gone. MIA. No answer. \n\n\"He isn't answering\", I murmured. \"I don't know what to do without him\". It really upset me. I had discussed everything about today with him. The date, the venue, the decor, the infuriating floral arrangements. He told me to go with white roses, interjected with proteas. _Well he was right about the flowers, they look good_.\n\n\"Hey, little miss sunshine. Perk up!\", said Jenny. She held me by a shoulder and lifted my chin. \"Maybe he wanted to give you space? Maybe he doesn't want to compete with Guy? Who knows?\"\n\n\"Jen, you know our relationship isn't like that!\" I started heading to the dresser, where a 5'1 lady in a white dress in the large mirror stared back at me. \n\n\"Uh huh.\" She was impossible at time, but she was there for me most importantly. \"I'll let you have a minute. Clear your mind\", and with that, she quietly left the lodge room. \n\nI looked around the room, making certain no one was hiding, which I often did before trying to talk to Voice. To no one's surprise, I was alone. \"Are you there? C'mon I know you're listening.\"\n\nNo response.\n\nFrustrated, I tried again. \"Why are you being so quiet? It's not like you have anywhere else to go! I need you now, more than ever. C'mon, just one word. So that I know you're there.\" I heard the sound of Jen quietly slipping back into the room, her soft foot falls oddly more heavy. \n\nQuickly putting off my attempts at hailing Voice, I said, \"Jen, I really think that the hair bun needs to be done again.\"\n\nIt wasn't Jen's voice to answer. \"I think that you're overthinking this...\", said a familiar voice. I spun, falling over my own feet. A firm, yet gentle hand caught my forearm as I fell. \"... like you do with most things.\" \n\n\"Voice?\", I implored. \n\n\"That cinched needs loosening, otherwise you're going to pass out.\" The face from which the voice emerged was old, slightly weathered from time. But it looked kind above all. His eyes were an icy blue; just like mine.\n\nAfter not getting an answer, I asked again: \"Are y- you Voice?\" I whispered.\n\n\"My real name is Jack. You call me Voice. But honestly, to you I've always been Dad\"", "And that's how I met Holly Grace Thompson.\n\nI used to think it was something mysterious; that I had been cursed by those acquainted scavengers my now-husband and I kept as company, and that this sheltered voice was their beacon. To those ex-friends we held so dear it must have been as if we had actually wanted to forego the days of pleasantries in favor of a lonely routine. Still, few might call my love's intentions profound enough to warrant exclusion. I was one of them, and that's all I cared to mention.\n\nYet, with her entrance I knew that if those squatters which invaded our apartments weren't dead by now then they would never fail to haunt us, and I could not help but gasp upon seeing that smile drenched in a provided wine and a wasted upbringing.\n\n \"H-Holly? What are you doing here?\" \n \"Here? Well, I suppose I came across this occasion by word of mouth. You picked such a lovely day for a wedding! Would you ever wish anything to miss it?\" she sort of barked back. At this moment I was just getting ready to join the reception. \n \"Wait, anything? Seems a little odd you'd say that...\" I replied, hoping the night would end soon after. \n \"Oh-ho? Even Adam let me know of his displeasure upon realizing he wouldn't be invited. All of them did, sister. Chris, Frederick.\" She paused a brief sigh. \"Even me.\" From there she continued her methodical pacing, caught up in every feigned death she must have experienced.\n\nI flew back a number of years and, for once, came to the reason why she never stopped speaking. With an angry hesitation I carried on. \n \"We've been through this, Holly. I would no longer be hampered by that collection of misfits. Despite my best efforts, 'sister', there wasn't room left for all of you.\" \nShe turned and definitely barked out a laugh, and led on. \n \"Collection? Is that what we've been for all these years? I like to think you've simply forgotten where you came from. But before me you break, as if transforming into a wife deletes your birth-given obligations! How fortunate one must be to stand on such a high ground!\" \n \"I beg your pardon?\" I answered, a tad shaken. \"I admit that I am no paragon; however, by no means do I deserve my perfect day - my wedding day - to be ruined by your untimely figure!\" \n \"Ha! Your wedding day. I see. Does your husband know you feel this way?\" \nFrom there I probably phased out because, to this day, I cannot remember the specifics of when we hurled insults and arguments at one another. I know that it felt like a terribly long time to yell; I remember crying at some point, and yet I can conjure a lame peace when I attempt to recall every single syllable. It was evening, and there was a hanging kind of heat in the air that when you tried to speak, your throat would close up and you'd have to force down a couple glasses of cold water just to survive. Surely we could've called in a rain check, but I don't think either of us wanted to retread our footsteps.\n\nI do remember the end of the conversation, though. The last dying sentences of an otherwise fruitless exchange, where both sides tried to free the other from whatever tyranny infested the mind and gave way to begotten memories and thoughts and reasoning and whatever else preoccupied it during hours of indifference. \n \"Holly,\" I sighed no different than she had done earlier. \"Please leave. We cannot do this any longer, so please get the hell out.\" \n \"I will. No other choice is left to me, but I should let you know before I go. I spoke to Em the other day,\" she said, peaking my interest for what seemed like the fortieth time. \n \"Ember? I haven't seen her in so many years...\" \n \"Yes, that young girl from... well, I can't actually think of where she's from now that I want to.\" \n \"I believe she calls Nebraska home,\" I replied. With that, I thought there were signs of compromise right around the corner. \n \"Well, not anymore,\" she chuckled sadly. \"I don't think she'll be calling Nebraska home for a while.\" \n \"Why's that, Holly? Is she... de-\" \n \"You left shortly after you figured out why she went to prison, right?\" \n \"Y-yes,\" I said as I began to slowly step backwards, perhaps in an effort to find a chair to sit in. \n \"She never got out. Ember is still there, but still you got married,\" she sort of barked back. This time, though, I was frightened by her tone. \n \"H-Holly... there wasn't... there wasn't anything I could do.\" \n \"You were going to mentor her. To help her, and house her if necessary. But no. You got married instead.\" Holly began walking towards the door, to go away I think. \n \"Wait, Holly! What about her father? Ember told me her dad was going to bail her out and pay for a lawyer,\" I said with what I'm sure was hope that she'd stay, what with the signs of compromise that were now quickly fading. \n \"Ha, remember? That man was in the hospital at the time she was arrested!\" \nI faltered a little as I followed Holly, and I know she saw it. I did my best to stop her walking, with every muscle: my face contorted and my legs sped up until I finally grabbed her wrist, forcing her to stop. But Holly, the sort of beast that she is, pulled away with such force that I fell down and tore my wedding dress forever. \nAnd then at once Holly yelled, \"This one girl keeps falling abruptly!\" and laughed on and on, all the while walking - even skipping - back to her car. I cried as my husband and the few guests we invited came out to investigate, asking me who she was and what she and I had been doing and all sorts of stupid shit I didn't care about. I just kept crying with the understanding that my perfect day - my \"wedding\" day - had been ruined and that I, in some small fashion, did nothing to save it from Holly Grace Thompson.\n\nI learned later that Ember's father died in the hospital, and that's why she was never bailed out. That's why her lawyer wasn't good enough and that's why she's still in prison. I haven't heard that voice since, and were I to hear it I'm quite positive I'd shutter back to that damned day where I failed myself. I failed my husband and my wants, and I really don't want to know what that's like for another second.\n\nI figured out quickly after my wedding that perfect days are rare to see, and even more scarce in practice. However, because I could no longer hear that scared lady in my ears I resolved to force it a long ways away, like China is far from Texas, and prepare for whichever town my husband brings me to. I'm not yet free from him, after all, and this one girl should hope that she never wants to be.\n****\nsorry if this was too long, or too wonky, or too \"out of left field\". first time ever doing one of this, but the premise lined up with a series of concept albums I'm working so I figured I'd try to test it out and see what happens. thanks for reading!", "There was a time when I thought I was simply going mad. I remember the first week I heard the voice, and I was absolutely terrified. Of course, being a know-it-all 18 year old, I couldn't possibly tell anyone about it. They would lock me up in a padded room and throw away the key, I was sure. \n\nI did everything I could to try to get rid of it. I blasted music on headphones, went to loud concerts, worked in loud warehouses and in a mechanic shop. None of that drowned it out.It always sounded as clear as if I were on a snowy mountaintop in the middle of goddamn nowhere, and someone whispered into my ear.\n\nI tried ignoring it. I tried doing the exact opposite of what it told me to. I was hoping to piss off whatever it was and get it to leave me the fuck alone. All that got me was trouble, and no less voice. \n\nI was scared, and I was angry, and I was frustrated. I'd spent two years trying to get rid of it. Two years hiding it. I knew I was off the deep end, so I might as well just go with it, right?\n\n\"Good morning. Happy Birthday!\"\n\n\"Leftover birthday cake might not be the best breakfast. You have half a cantaloupe in the fridge. I could walk you through making pancakes?\"\n\n\"You know what would really make me happy for my birthday? If you would shut up for one day. One day!\"\n\n\"And if I did that, you'd spend all day playing videogames and eating cake, and then you'd end up either going into work with a stomachache and dirty clothes, or calling out again*.\"\n\n\"What are you, my conscience?\"\n\n\"Guardian Angel, actually.\"\n\n\"Great. What did I do to deserve a 'guardian angel,' anyway?\"\n\n\"It isn't what you did, per se. It's the life you've lived. Not everyone gets a Guardian Angel-\"\n\n\"Lucky them.\"\n\n\"-but there are rare cases when the big G lets us do our work!\"\n\n\"Yup, I'm definitely crazy. Not only do I have a voice in my head, and not only have I started talking back to it, but it's literally a voice sent by God. Can't get more textbook than that.\"\n________________________________\n\nMaybe more later." ]	3
Shamelessly stolen and tweaked a bit from u/RamsesthePigeon.	[WP]As dictator, you split society in two-Dayshifters and Nightshifters, with Dayshifters working only in day and Nightshifters working only in night. Cross shift contact is taboo. They develop completely different cultures, with different customs, media, etc. One day, you abdicate and they meet.	[ " The time was 7:pm. Men and women gathered around a large fountain. They adorned colors of blues, reds, and oranges. This crowd had the gift of working and moving freely during the day. This day was different. The Dayshifters impatiently waited for the others to arrive. Tired and annoyed, the crowd tapped their feet and whispered among themselves. \"I bet you they're vampires now.\" Said a man from amongst the large gathering. \"The rats are taking forever.\" Spoke a brooding man wearing a suit and tie. A skinny woman began swearing and yelling foul things in the air. A few people began waking towards their homes when they noticed a blur and heard footsteps coming up to the town center. As it grew larger, the Dayshifters began making out figures and faces. \n The blur cleared revealing the Nightshifters. They wore black and grey clothing, blending in with the arriving darkness. All of them carried black umbrellas, to protect themselves from the dusk. Their hair was long and unkempt. They had faces close as white as paint and pale as the moon. They kept their faces low and humble. The Dayshifters started laughing and giggling with rude humor as the dark crowd approached. A brooding fat man stepped in front of the Dayshifters and spoke. \"Stop just there! Listen. We don't want to meet you. In fact, many of us enjoyed the shift segregation. Let's go on about our ways and continue our lives as they were.\" His voice halted the dark crowd and a thin man stepped forward from them. \nHe kept the umbrella above his head and moved his hair revealing dark eyes. \"My name is Paladin. Please allow us the pleasure of meeting you very nice people. We have such gratitude to meet the ones with the gift of daylight.\" His voice was calm, pleasant, and contained a light accent. \"Do not fear or hate us because of our differences. Find favor in our individuality and allow us to move into the Dayshift along side you.\" This time he stepped a little further toward the other crowd. \"STOP COMING CLOSER\" said a voice impaling the air. \"I can't smell them! Can you smell them?\" Said a man closer to the front. \"Look at their clothes! Don't they know what colors are?!\" Sounded a young woman. The fat man interrupted the outcries and spoke once more. \"You people belong under the dark and moon, crawling like rats and hissing from the sewers. Go back to your shadow part of town and give us two hours to return to our homes without seeing your sniveling kind out.\" This time, the fat man spat at Paladin's shoes. He grabbed his belt to adjust his pants from which they were falling. The Dayshifters began to add anger to their disgust and cried more foul things. \"I am afraid we can not do that... you fat juicy pig.\" Said Paladin, with a linger in his words, He lowered his umbrella. \n \"What did he just say?!\" Yelled a woman. The fat man moved back appalled from the insidious remark. Paladin spoke again. \"The organizer of this program is gone. He removed the shift segregation along with the shift enforcers. We knew though, that the Dayshifters would not allow our welcoming. With the last remaining kindness inside of our dark hearts, we gave you a chance at the beginning of this encounter. Predictably, you denied it.\" The Nightshifters had finished encircling the Dayshifters in the square. At a single moment, they set their umbrellas on the ground and stood motionless. Paladin now stepped closer to the now scared and worried crowd. \"Today is a special day for us you see. We have waited for this day since we hungered for it.\" Paladin grinned ear to ear revealing his sharp and jagged teeth. \n\nEdit: Formatting " ]	1
	[WP] You are a perfectionist who does everything perfectly and never modes anything out. But one day an incident puts you in COMA	[ "-Plastic couch cover laid to keep the cushions clean and perfect-- check.\n\n-Blouse and skirt starched to prevent wrinkles when I sit down--check.\n\n-MacBook propped just high enough on my lap so I don't have to tilt my head greater than -33 degrees causing unnecessary neck wrinkles-- check.\n\n-Evian bottle placed precisely in the center of the coaster--check.\n\nsigh I can begin my story.\n\n\"A place for everything and everything in its place.\" That's my mantra. My name is Mindy and I'm described as a helpless perfectionist by everyone I know; frankly, I'd say that description is more than accurate. \n\nIf anything I do isn't exactly perfect, I keep redoing it until it is. If perfection isn't possible, I become extremely discouraged and depressed, turning to double chocolate fudge ice cream and vodka to comfort me. That is until my little coping mechanism put me in a COMA. \n\nLet's start from the beginning. I work in advertising as a creative director. It's my job to come up with honeyed words and flashy images and pitch them to potential clients for billboards, commercials, and other propaganda that makes you want to buy stuff.\n\nI'm pretty good-- no.. I'm perfect at my job. I'm the best creative director in all of Manhattan!! I've never lost a client to anyone... Until Cindy showed up, that prissy bitch. \n\nPizza Planet, Nuka Cola, Purple Flurp, and Cluckin' Bell are just some of the clients I cater to regularly, and I had my sights set on a new one: PißWasser. PißWasser lager was in the market for a new ad campaign this month, and I had just the idea for a commercial that they'd just love. \n\nThe camera would zoom in on a German model with a glass of that abnormally yellow lager, taking a big swig out of it and turning to the camera to say\n\"Drink Piß!\" \n\nIt was genius, elegant, and catchy! But who do you think wanted to earn Pißwasser's business as soon as she caught wind of what I was working on? Yup! That bitch Cindy! And guess who lost a potential client to that zero ass, cheap k-mart stiletto wearing, secondhand grammy panty buying, third rate alumni bitch! \n\nThat's right. Perfect little me.\n\nSo that night, as I always do when something I do doesn't turn out perfectly, I start drowning out my sorrow with chocolate vodka mixed with chocolate liqueur and Hershey's chocolate syrup, double chocolate fudge ice cream, chocolate lava cake, and chocolate kisses. Except this time, I overdid it.\n\nI overdid it so much, I ended up in a COMA.\n\nChocolate \nOverdose\nMedical\nAssessment [machine]\n\nApparently, somewhere in between the chocolate shots and the chocolate lava cake, I blacked out from chocolate overdose. I woke up in the emergency room inside this machine which is designed to assess the collateral damage from overdoing the intake of chocolate.\n\nOn that day I learned a valuable lesson: never fucking lose to Cindy again or you'll end up back in that COMA \n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n" ]	1
	[WP] You have just learned you cannot die no matter what happens to you and you do not grow older past the age of 21.	[ "Work, gym, games, sleep, my life style during those after college years. Depressing sums that up I wanted to be a soldier, but my confidence had withered over time.\n\nAmazing how one break up can really effect you, such is youth I suppose watching those aspirations and dreams slip away and yielding to the fight of life.\n\nI was cycling home from my job that evening 2pm to 11pm five days a week, lifeguarding a pool watching privileged people enjoy there leisure and taking more disrespect than I deserved.\n\nMy mind was cloudy that day you know? I had to put up with some insults from some children. My supervisor refused to support me so I was irritated, sometimes you must bite your lip when you need to keep a job.\n\nSo as I cycled I was not looking and then it hit me, I didn't see much it happened so quickly. One moment I was sat aloft my bike the next I was on the floor, that cold wet road neglected by the council.\n\nI could hear voices the usual panic when an incident occurs then it went black.\n\nI awoke, the first few seconds were careless then I grasped where I was, I looked left and then I looked right.\nThe room was no hospital though, I was laid on a bed a double one to be precise. The decor was Tudor old English very aristocrat furniture. \n\nI could see paintings on the walls, depicting events I had never seen before, I enjoy my history quite a lot but these scenes I had never witnessed.\n\nFirstly was King Henry Tudor, stood rampant in his plate armour knighting four men outside a cave. Beside him stood a woman I can only describe as angelic save the Christian logic she was beautiful and reminded me of a Valkyrie.\n\nThe second was of three men and two women, again outside Stonehenge this time paying homage to Queen Elizabeth. King Henry Tudors daughter, again the mysterious woman was beside her.\n\nAnd the final one depicted, ' This one shows no King, I'm afraid the civil war did not go in are favour, your from Oxford so you should know'. \n\nThe man spoke in a rich aristocratic accent of English descent, he has a long nose strong features and rich auburn hair, whilst he also wore a black tailored suit beside his waist hung a small sword, a weapon shorter than a rapier and often worn by civilians and the upper class from a period before are present time.\n\nI looked at him naturally I had a dozen questions to ask but he spoke again, the same firm aristocratic accent.\n\n' I will be blunt Master Ronald, you did die the car killed you, but it was not are doing. When the ambulance arrived they pronounced you dead on the scene, it was are connections with St Johns ambulance that helped us identify your gift also the testaments from the witnesses'.\n\nI felt quite strange right now but I just remained silent and listened.\n\n'You see Master Ronald, we have no way of telling if another shares this gift until they die, all witnesses will account to a woman appearing described as beautiful she will kiss the victim and leave the air filled with the scent of heather, shortly after the victim will return to life though we make sure to reach the \"corpse\" before it is buried'.\n\nAgain I nodded to show I was listening to break eye contact I could see a coat of arms, a field of white heathers across a black field.\n\nThe man continued his talk to me I noticed he was young still like me. \n\n' Let me wrap this up Master Ronald, like me and the other members of are order you are immortal, no foe born from this world may slay you, nothing in this world can harm you now, should you even lose body parts they will regenerate, you can not grow ill or older you can suffer no afflictions, nor be paralysed, nothing can harm you'.\n\nBefore I could speak and believe me I wanted to laugh, but you must understand I'm pissed of with my life so I just listened to this man.\n\n' We hunt things in this world that you wouldn't believe existed, mythology and legends my good Ronald, they really are real ' he spoke earnestly and to prove it he asked me to stand and get changed, which I did throwing on a pair of suit trousers and a white shirt. \n\n' Fasten your belt Master Ronald, and when your ready join me outside this door I will show you fact from fiction '.\n\nI finished changing and pushed myself past the old wooden door adorned with the coat of arms of the order and medieval England, I followed him through the hallways of the mansion passing nobody till we reached the basement, was my heart pounding of course it was but I wanted to see this and I had nothing to lose.\n\nWe passed the cellar door and inside stood twenty other youths, I must say they were an odd cast, most looked like they belonged in period dramas they had that look, though one or two like myself were of mixed heritage and had a more modern look to them.\n\nChained to a wall was a strange beast with one eye upon its chest and no head, it's mouth was where the stomach was standing at 6 ft tall the noises it made disturbed me deeply that scream was horrifying.\n\nThe others there formed a circle around me the man who led me here stood close. ' Master Ronald, the choice is yours, take a sword and slay this beast become one of us or succumb the eternal death, and fear not the Lady will guide your heart and blade'.\n\nHe stepped back and offered me a sword the same style as his own, though it differed in decoration.\n\nI looked at him then the foe then reached for the hilt, withdrew the sword and heard the chains of the beast released.\n\nI smelt the scent of heather in the air and asked the lady for strength, and thrust forwards to my destiny.\n\nI've never looked back since.\n\nWas fun to write this I might of left some things out but I'm not really a writer didn't learn much in school, sorry if it went of track or anything or was a bit to long \n" ]	1
	[WP] A superhero who doesn't realize that their "powers" aren't actually powers and all their feats were just the result of a series of unlikely coincidences.	[ "\"I will stop you, villain!\" The 'hero', Captain Coincidence, boomed... reedily, facing down the masked, pistol-weilding shoplifter. The young, and honestly, rather gangly man had been enamoured with the legendary superheroes of DC and Marvel. Captain America. The Hulk. Green Lantern. He had been cosplaying at a comiccon, using his 'alter ego', then unnamed. At some point, during the convention, someone had stolen a valuable first-edition print of a Silver Surfer comic. By complete accident, he'd run headfirst into the aspiring champion of justice, who'd tripped over, pantsed the thief, and knocked a lens out of his glasses when one of his oversized shoes fleww off. Upon the arrival of security, they's taken the crook into custody, tossing out the line, \"thanks kid, you're a real hero.\" \n\nThe words lit a fire in our protagonist, and he worked to establish himself as just that. A purse snatcher's brief success was brought to a sudden halt when Captain Coincidence accidentally clotheslined him from his motorbike while trying to hail a taxi. A mugger, upon accosting the caped 'crusader' had been given directions to the police station by sheer mistake, causing the hopelessly confused boy to turn himself in. Now, his latest and greatest challenge lay before him. He sprang forward mightily, leaping... about half a foot, tripping on the hem of his too-long cape, and flew headlong into the shoplifter's back, causing him to headbutt the counter and knocking himself out, blood leaking through the balaclava. Rising and dusting himself off, the blue-leotard-and-tights-clad 'hero' staggered away, mumbling about a successful apprehension as the clerk called the police. Looking towards the retreating back of the dazed young man. \"Should I tell him?.... Nah. Why burst his bubble? At least he's passionate about it.\"" ]	1
	[WP] Remember King Arthur and the Lady of the lake? While visiting the La Brea Tar Pits the Lady of the Tar Pits just tossed you a sword.	[ "\"Lady of the Tar Pit, by what name shall I call you?\" \n\n\"Sandra,\" she replies, dragging a cigarette. \n\n\"Lady Sandra, for what purpose have you lobbed a sword upon my feet?\" \n\nSandra lit up another smoke as she shrugged one shoulder \"seriously? You're king of these parts now, watch a TV show or something, gotta tell these kids everything.\" \n\nPicking up the sword, examining the NASCAR logos emblazoned upon it, I replied \"Yet I am but a working man, I am not fit for such a title.\" \n\n\"Hah!\" she exclaimed, slapping her tar knee, \"and you think half of these royal bozos are? Knut the Great? He used to be a janitor at ye old preschool before he took up the throne!\"\n\n\"I don't think....\" \n\n\"And don't get me started on Alexander, always whinging about and getting drunk.\"\n\n\"That's actually kinda...\" \n\n\"Look kid, I need you to take this there sword, go off to Camelot, claim your kingdom, come back and drop me off some Newports, and go fight a holy war or somethin, I don't really give a crap what you do to be honest -- other than the smokes, don't forget the smokes -- alls I'm sayin is that you're the king now, tough luck. You think I wanted to be a tar lady?\" \n\n\"I suppose,\" I said, lifting Mehxcalibur up high. \"I'll uh... get right on that.\" \n\n\"Yeah yeah, just hurry up with the Newports.\" \n\nTurning to depart, I slid the sword into my belt and walked towards my mighty Ford Taurus, \"Onward\" I called as I drove through the night to The Meadows of Nevada where I came upon a simple shopkeep. \n\n\"Hmmm, yeah, looks like the great sword Mehxcalibur, very rare, only one in existence, I gave a buddy of mine a call who deals with rare La Brea Tar Pit swords that have been lobbed at people and he has confirmed that it's absolutely legit. The best I can do is $20.\" \n\n\"Deal.\" \n\n" ]	1
	[WP] A disgraced former warlock is called back to his order to train the next generation of battle-mages. Unbeknownst to him, his very name is a legend among the youth of the day.	[ "Samuel took a deep breath as he prepared to meet the class. He knew he should hurry, seeing as a few of them looked antcy, and were practicing unsupervised. Walking out into the courtyard, samuel lamented what he was about to do, the hard lesson he was about to teach them, and the sacrifice he would have to take. Some of the students turned to him, wide eyed with shock, then got the attention of their peers. About half of thirty student class, Samuel noted, had wrinkled and stained uniforms. This was to be expected from such a dievient group. \nSamuel stopped about 5 feet from the edge of the group and sized them up. They were whispering with awed, barely contained voices. Samuel frowned, before clearing his voice and shouted for all to hear, \"I... have been informed by the headmaster, that a plague has swept through this institution, one of ignorance and hubris.\" The students had begun to frown back, a couple even began to boo. He did not care, and carried on, \"All of you, here before me, have foolishly tried to imitate my actions.\" Samuel pulled an orb from the pocket of his robe, \"It is my duty, to correct this ruinous behavior.\" Smoke seemed to secrete from the orb. Terrified, as they should be, the students began to back away. When the smoke touched the ground, the stone work crumbled and tendrils of smoke raced along towards the students, pulverizing more bricks as they went. Try as they might, the students couldn't escape, and those caught began to petrify. A few tried to fight, mage armor here, energy bolt there, all failed. Instructors emerged and tried to stop him, so he petrified them too. He'd kill them, all of them, for defying him... But then the headmaster emerged, too far to see his face, but Samuel knew well the genuinely disappointed frown he had. It was the very same one from while Samuel trained in the academy, whenever he misbehaved, or slacked off. He pulled him self together and dispersed the tendrils. Most students were petrified up to their hips, though a couple only had their head free, they were screaming and crying. Samuel, heart racing, raised his voice so all could hear, \"Is this is the power you seek? Abandon the path of ruin, and give no more power to destruction.\" Turning to leave he adds, \"Or this will be the future of our world.\" He then left the courtyard, one which had been destroyed beyond repair, and served as a symbol for generations to come. Never again would the young of Hindwicks Academy mistake power for glory with such a perfect example at hand.", "This is space and sci fi themed, with fantasy elements included. God rest your soul, dear reader.\n\n-------\n\n#0203\n\n-----\n\nCohyr Insignias winked in the pale starshine. Both of the planet's moons were not visible in the sky. An under-armed VTOL touched down in a stone laiden clearing upon the planet. Out stepped two disgraces. One of this world, and one of another. \n\nThe people of this world were green, and were about 4ft tall, with verry little variance. They were flexible in their thoughts and movements; quick as well. They had to be as they were a predatory species. They were omnivorian by necessity as opposed to variety. It takes a lot to sustain a predatory vessel. If one went without one type of food for too long, they'd certainly get ill. Synthetically made nutrients did not suffice over long periods of time. Such dietary needs could be considered a handicap, considering the expanse of space. Coincidentally, they weren't as keen on settlement as they were on exploration and external relation.\n\nThe Cohyr insignia was worn by the offworlder. It shone briefly against the burning pyres they passed, contrasting his scorched armour plating. His native associate stepped off in formal, medical apparel, blessing each one with a stone tossed into the coals. Now, I and many creatures of this galaxy who communicate verbally cannot pronounce the name of said shamanist. We'll call him Xen, as he rarely visits his past-home anymore. \n\nThey strode past the dug-in, yet connected structures and homes. From above, it looked as thought it was a colidascope of wood like materials, gem speckled stone, metal, and what seemed to be some sort of hardened sap or rubber shooting out like spiderwebs from each structure to the ones around it. Our Cohyr soldier hadn't been to the planet in years from his perspective, and things had grown since the last time he touched down here. Xen didn't seem to notice. The pair were greeted in the middle of town by it's appropriate erm....leadership. The group went on, and traveled for a while longer in silence. Eventually, they arrived in a larger structure. A school, if you will. It sat upon the edge of the town, with just a few architectural tendrils edging the pathway that led to it. The group entered under the woven arches. They walked into a large, open area, in which stood a dozen younger members of the race. \n\n\"I give them to you now. Teach them. When they are improved and returned, your debt is fuffilled.\" The representatives left, leaving the cohyr suit of armour, and its overdressed partner alone in the room of 12. \n\nThey all had loose fitting garb, and some sort of weapon with them, complimented by a meter diameter shield against the wall. Each had a similar insignia with a slight variation, added with a mix of styles.\n\nXen looked at each of them with stony eyes and an earnest expression. The relative children looked to him with what seemed to be anxiety and shock. He walked over, and examined each of them, personally. His eyes covered every inch of thier composure. The Cohyr soldier stood at attention, and appeared as a statue would if it were placed eschew in a crowded room. Xen, upon inspecting the last of his new pupils and property spoke up.\n\n\"I'm not certain of your origins, and I will not be looking into them with poise. You are all now in/under my name. You are all now to learn. When I return you in 10 years' time, you will be more than you already are.\" He paused, and the translater in the Cohyr soldier's helmet paused wtih him. \"I have learned much in my travels. I must pass some of this onto you. Absorb as much as you can, for you will not survive if you cannot breathe with your backdrop. This apprehension I sense in your hearts is something to be overcome...\" \n\n-----\n\nInspections? A gruff tone? As far as the soldier could tell, Xen was laying it down thick for day one. I own you for the next 10 years. You will learn and grow or you will die. I guess that's one way to inspire them. \n\n\"Their culture seems to be one of direct communication and focus. Xen didn't want to talk about this on the way here, and did not mention that he would be caring for these warriors. None of the...ambassadors started a conversation on our way here either,\" a soft voice in his head retorted.\n\nI know, right? He said that he could get us more 'specialty' soldiers like himself. I didn't think he literally meant coming back to his home planet for a group of slaves. A person of few words indeed...I've asked him about his home before, and this has never come up. In fact, I don't think he's talked much about his people's culture very much at all. I'm glad we have him on our side, but I keep making the mistake of underestimating him.\n\n\"I'll make a note, then.\"\n\n-----\n\nOblivious, or perhaps ignoring the conversation of his armoured assistant, and apparently satisfied with his intimidating inspection, Xen took a few steps from both parties. The translator kicked in again.\n\n\"Tell me of your mutual limiters; your fears; your desires; your wonders; your current thoughts.\"\n\nThe students faces seemed to shed a modicum of relief. Clearly, none of them were \"defective\" enough to kill on the spot. 'One hurtle overcome, with just 10 years to go.\n\n", "Xo'Phena, Man-Slayer, Paladin's Bane, Summoner of Nature's Wrath, Protector of Fluffy Things With Adorable Little Venomous Fangs (it sounded much more impressive in Orcish) was having an odd day.\n\nAgainst all logic and precedent, she had received an invitation to teach at the Human Alliance Archmagical College, with an invitation magically signed by the Ur-Wizard himself, which, for non-magic-users, basically was the equivalent of an unbreakable promise that she would not be harmed, and that the Ur-Wizard was also obliged to protect her to the greatest extent of his ability.\n\nShe had attended the interview mostly out of curiosity, to be honest. \n\nAfterward, though, she was rather upset that she was obligated, out of basic Orcish decency (and basic survival instinct) to teach filthy human students the tricks of her trade. Which was basically how to murder the shit out of those goddamn (heh) paladins. Although the fact that they would be utilizing her teachings to murder the shit out of paladins did console her a bit.\n\nIt was her first day, and the impressed and surprisingly non-hostile stares of her new students was throwing her off more than she expected.\n\n\"The... Um. The first and most important principle of killing a paladin. Anyone?\"\n\nA blanket of silence fell over the classroom.\n\n\"Nobody? Well, then, perhaps we can figure it out together. Will someone please share the fundamental principles of their powers, please? No expansive details, just a simple explanation will suffice.\"\n\nA scrawny gold-haired one raised its hand. She wasn't great at human secondary sexual characteristics, but she was pretty sure it was female.\n\n\"Yes? Er, girl-Man?\"\n\nThe class giggled, suggesting that her guess was incorrect.\n\n\"Um. Sorry, ma'am? I'm a half-elf, and a boy? Sorry.\"\n\nShe shrugged. It was pretty much all the same to her, they all looked stupid and effeminate to her, what with the weird tusk-less mouths and narrow, nearly hairless bodies.\n\n\"Um. The paladins draw their powers from their gods, ma'am. Per Alendric's Principle, in exchange for binding their lllollorroffoll (sorry, Elvish term, \"magicky soul-stuff\", literally translated) to a divine source, they get access to a wide array of powers specific to their god in exchange for signing what amounts to a binding magical behavioral contract. In accordance with Wibbley's Primary Laws of Magic, this restriction in practice acts as a sort of focal lens, multiplying their basic abilities many fold, thus...\"\n\n\"OH MY NATURE SHUT UP!\"\n\nThe half-Elf snapped his (she was still skeptical about that, but didn't care enough to pursue it) mouth shut, eyes widening.\n\n\"Okay... So. Thank you for that exhausting explanation.\"\n\nHe (?) raised his hand again.\n\n\"...Yes?\"\n\n\"I think you meant exhaustive?\"\n\n\"...No.\"\n\n\"Oh.\"\n\nAfter waiting a moment for a couple badly-concealed chuckles to die down, she continued.\n\n\"So, the paladin's power is tied to them strictly obeying their gods. Have any of you ever met a god?\"\n\nThe class gave her a puzzled look.\n\n\"What, seriously? Any magic user can do it, if you don't mind having the piss annoyed out of you. You just take some of these mushrooms\" and here she waved her hand, conjuring up an illusion of the Octarinecap mushroom \"and enter into a basic mana-regenerative trance, and boom. Gods for days.\n\n\"But I don't recommend it. They're pesky little things, always begging you to 'believe in me! I'll do anything! Blah blah blah'. I've seen Dream-Powder addicts with more self-respect.\"\n\nShe slowly noticed the horrified looks on the faces of the class.\n\n\"What? Did you all miss the name of the class?!\"\n\nA sea of puzzled looks stared back at her.\n\nA different human spoke up, \"Defense Against the Divine Arts, ma'am?\"\n\nShe snarled. \"That Rak-ak kraggghk zk-ik hraaaghk Ur-Wizard changed it?!\"\n\nShe noted that one human towards the back went pale. Good to know at least one of her class had picked up some Orcish.\n\n\"I submitted the class under the name 'How to Fucking Murder the Shit Out of Paladins, Because Fuck Those Self-Righteous Pricks and Their Stupid Gods'. Apparently this was later revised.\n\n\"ANYway, the first rule of fighting a paladin is to read their stupid holy books! Like the skinny one said, they're magically bound to follow the rules their gods put in place! But gods are stupid, spiteful, petty little things with the memories of brain-damaged minnows and the common sense of an addled squirrel! Their holy texts are loaded with contradictions, logical impossibilities and ludicrous commandments that are literally impossible to follow! \n\n\"Did none of you ever wonder why every paladin you've ever met seemed to be an illiterate moron with the critical thinking faculties of your average excited puppy?!\"\n\nThe class sat frozen, most of them eyeing the ceiling as if expecting a divine lighting bolt at any moment.\n\n\"Well, that's how you morons got yourself in this mess to begin with. If you're going to put a bunch of religious zealots at the core of your society, maybe consider checking what they're commanded to do some time!\n\n\"Seriously. I can't even... You seriously never read the apocalyptic chapters in literally every 'holy book'? The Omnian text literally reads 'go forth and slay those who are not the devout of Om, sparing none, and raising the dead flesh of the believers and non-believers alike to serve in your task'! It's not very ambiguous!!\"\n\nA tiny red-haired human spoke up \"But they said it was allegorical! How were we to know?\"\n\nXo'Phena sighed. \"Do none of you speak any Old Eldaran? The original text clearly uses imperatives that would never have been used in allegory, it's obviously meant to be a clear future-predictive imperative! And oh my stars and little blood-finches none of you do speak that, do you?\"\n\nThe same red-haired human shook its head. \"Ma'am, Old Eldaran is considered a lost language. How did you learn it?\"\n\nXo'Phena blinked. \"Human. You have magic at your command. You can magically translate any text, which means you can teach yourself any language if you're willing to put the time... In... Why are you looking at me like that?\"\n\n\"Er... That spell is not taught or used by covenant, ma'am.\"\n\nShe cocked her head, then growled. \"Oh. Let me guess. The churches argued that it was an 'abomination to read the words of God with magic' or something at some point in the distant past, and more or less blackmailed your schools into banning the practice? So you wouldn't know what they were up to?\"\n\n\"That's not exactly how I would have phrased it, but I suppose in retrospect...\"\n\n\"Shut it. You idiots are lucky to be alive. No wonder you came crawling back to the Orcs, it looks like we're the only ones left those god-bothering twits didn't infiltrate and subvert! \n\n\"So, first lesson then. Pretty much every religion bans doing almost everything that everyone does every day. If you learn to point this out, citing chapter and verse in the original language, you can permanently depower any paladin in seconds. The tricky part is identifying their particular sect and belief. Let's start with the Omnians...\"", "Warlock Grelorn sighed, his broad shoulders slumping as he anxiously walked towards the place he had once called his home. He remembered the last time he had been here, on the day that he had finally spoken out for what he believed was \"right\". On each Warlock's twentieth birthday, the day of graduation, they are given the opportunity to thank the high council before they leave the school and join the army. Glelorn winced as he remembered that day. He had walked up to the podium, so full of foolish confidence that he had demanded that they high council change their ways. That they stop forcing Warlocks to go into the army.\n\nHe was an idiot.\n\nThe council had been outraged, banishing Grelorn for his mutinous speech, exiling him to the mountains of the north, never to return again. \n\nHe had been broken that day. He had survived beatings at the hand's of cruel headmasters, awry spells that singed his skin from other mages', but never before had he felt so pained as that day. \n\nHe reached the doors of the High Council, drawing stares and gasps as he walked by students. This only served to confirm his believe: today would be the day of his execution. He pulled open the door, his hand barely able to hold steady as he faced the Seven Mages of the Council.\n\nOnly...\n\nThere weren't Seven, but three.\n\n\"Warlock Grelorn,\" a voice spoke.\n\nGrelorn froze. He recognized that voice. How could he forget it? Vivid as the day it happened, Grelorn flashed back to the day he was banished. Tremovar... the second highest ranked student at the time, behind Grelorn himself, leading an attack on Grelorn's friends and allies as he was rendered useless. He watched as his best friend and training partner Rezok was whipped relentlessly, branded a traitor and a coward...\n\nHeat began to surge into Grelorn's hands, his mind going alight with fury as he struggled to contained it. After what seemed like forever he forced it out. He deserved it. He had betrayed the high council. \n\n\"Warlock Grelorn,\" Tremovar spoke, sounding more tired and pained before. Grelorn met Tremovar's eyes, prepared to match hatred with hatred.\n\nOnly he found nothing. Tremovar's eyes were empty, they spoke of a battle fought with little gain. They were hollow.\n\n\"The City is in ruins. Our University in upheaval. And there is only one person to blame...\" Tremovar's voice trailed off.\n\n\"Myself.\" Grelorn froze as he heard this.\n\n\"I led the coup against you, alienating your supporters. Fighting alongside the High Council to quench the rebellion you had started.\"\n\nRebellion? Grelorn thought.\n\n\"I struck down dissidents left and right, punishing those who would admit their foolishness, banishing and slaughtering those who would not. For two years I acted without mercy, a pawn of the High Council...\" Tremover's voice started to crack.\n\n\"Until I realized they were right. That you were right. And so... I switched forces. I know I can never make up for the horrors I committed. But I must fight for what I believe in,\" Tremover said.\n\n\"And so, it is with great guilt and remorse I bring you back here. We have won a small victory, temporarily ousting control of the University, but we are weak. Our forces are untrained, our leadership unexperienced,\" Tremover continued.\n\nGrelorn felt himself unable to move or process what he was hearing, his mind is a state of utter shock.\n\n\"Warlock Grelorn, Architect of the Rebellion....\"\n\n\"We need you.\"\n\n*\n\n*\nEnjoy the writing and would like to follow along and see more stories? Consider subscribing to [r/ConlehWrites](https://www.reddit.com/r/ConlehWrites/)!", "\"Good morning, class. I am Professor Darume, your new teacher of advanced combat magic,\" I announce to the room as I enter. All around there are wide-eyed battle-mages in training. It feels strange to be back in a room teaching after 20 years of exile from the University. \"I'll give a little background about myself before we begin,\" I speak with a long forgotten enthusiasm. \"I was the High Warlock of research and development of magical runes and spells under the command of Arch Mage Beldorr. I served in this position for 25 years before having my tenure, um, abruptly ended,\" I explain with reluctance. Before I can continue further in my explanation, a young woman with an overly excited smile cuts me off saying, \"Don't worry, professor, we know all about what happened. You don't have to be embarrassed.\" Caught off guard, I pause for a few seconds while looking around the room to see assenting nods from every student. \"How do you all know about this?\" I question as I look to the smiling young woman. A voice comes from a student at the other side of the room, \"Actually, professor, we know all about your life and your work.\" \n\n\"Look, class, I'm not sure what you THINK you know about me, but I can assure you, no matter what you have heard, I am not a dark wizard and I have no plans to conquer the world,\" I insist to my students. This dark cloud has been following me since my exile. All who know of me believe I am evil and misunderstand the work I was striving towards as High Warlock. \"Professor,\" comes forth in a shy tone from another student, \"We only know what we have heard from the other professors, and they don't like to tell us much. We would love to hear the story from your own perspective.\" I let out a deep sigh and glance around to see eager faces waiting for me to speak. \"Very well,\" I reply somberly. \n\n\"I was the University's, and arguably the world's, greatest researcher in magical spells and runes. I had invented most of the advanced combat spells you know or hear about today and constantly strove towards reaching new heights. This was during the time of The Great War and the demand for new and powerful spells was at an all time high. The Arch Mage approached me saying that a new spell must be created to combat our enemies, as they outnumbered us and we were losing more innocent lives each day. Something had to be done in order to keep the invaders out of our beloved country, and so I went to work. I dabbled in elemental spells, conjuration spells, and all manner of destructive forces, but nothing seemed good enough to prove effective. Then I came upon a rare bit of magical runes involving equivalency. I patched together the runic symbols of equivalency, life, balance, and destruction to form this rune I have tattooed on the back of my left hand.\"\n\n\"The spell was the most dangerous and incredible thing I had ever created. It would bring instant death to anything or anyone the spell was directed at, but at a price. An equivalent life force must be sacrificed in order to deliver death, and so to kill a human, a human life must be absorbed. To do this, the runed hand must be placed upon a living subject, and the other hand would be used to direct the spell of death. The living subject and the target would both die simultaneously upon casting. This, coupled with a teleportation spell I had also created, could make for incredible assassination ability to reach a target instantly and kill another target nearby. I presented my findings to the Arch Mage and he put together a team of battle-mages whom I would train to be a squadron of assassins. With this spell, The Great War was quickly won and peace returned to our land, but upon hearing of my work and the Arch Mage's involvement, the board at the University decided we had become intertwined in dark necromancy, which is a forbidden form of magic, and forced us both into exile. We had saved the lives of everyone in our country, and thanked for it with exile and retribution. I was then renamed 'High Warlock Deranged' by those who wished to mock me and deemed unworthy to teach or be a part of the civilized magical world.\"\n\nAll around were stunned faces in my classroom and a long silence. \"I did what had to be done in order to save lives,\" I stress, \"Not to be some dark wizard bent on domination and death.\" \"And it took 20 years for the University to realize that my actions were justified and that my knowledge is needed,\" I continue, \"So here I am again, ready to teach the next generation of battle-mages to fight in another war against an incredible threat.\" A hand raises to ask a question. \"So, professor, will you be teaching us the equivalent death spell, then?\" comes from a nervous, wavering voice. \"No,\" I say with a sly smirk, \"I've got something much better for you all.\" ", "0530: The small alarmclock starts to ring. An old man starts to move in his bed while muttering some curse words about the time and the bed. After a few minutes he is out of bed and dressed up in his old uniform. He takes a look at himself in the mirror \"Brings back memories huh....\" His look fixated on his medals over the uniform. \"Shiny metal for dark doings\".\n\n\n0545: \"Have you heard ?!\" says one of the new recruits with a cheerful tone in his voice. \"Our new trainer is the legend himself! Walter P. Hampsing!\" The other recruites knew his name and were a bit exited as well until they heard footsteps approiching.\n\n\n\"Attention!!\" The recruits lined up and started to salute. The old warlock hasn't been up this early for years but that does not mean that he forgot how a real soldier looks like. \n\n\n\"You!\" He picked out the first candidate. \"Tell me what is missing when I look at you!\" \n\n\nThe recruit was slightly confused until he realised that he left his combat knife on his bed.\n\n\n\"Back into formation!\" With a feeling of shame he went back to his position. Disappointing the legendary warlock on his first day...he couldn't forgive himself...until the warlock picked out the next recruit and pointed out their mistake...and the next....and the next.... This went on until nearly everyone was picked except for one. The recruit that was the most excited about meeting the warlock Walter P. Hampsing.\n\n\n\"Hmmmm\" The warlock looked from top to bottom until he turned to the whole platoon again. \"Look at him! Memorize what he looks like! Look like this when I check you tomorrow morning! State your name recruit!\"\n\n\n\"Yes Sir! Hangimps W. Weiler!\" \n\n\nThe warlock nodded and positioned himself in front of everyone again. \"Ready your equipment for a trip through the forest. It will only be a short trip but do not underestimate the nature! Any questions?\" \n\n\n\"Yes, recruit Weiler!\"\n\n\n\"Is it true that you once won against a hydra with only a wooden spear, Sir ?\" The platoon was shocked. They wanted to know if these stories are true but noone thought that someone would be that brave or stupid to ask him directly.\n\n\n\"Get on the ground! I want to see 40!\"\n\n\nRecruit Weiler was extremely confused about the reaction of warlock Hampsing. \"Uhm Sir ? I don't understa-\"\n\"50!!\" His voice got even louder as it already were.\n\n\n\"Sir?\"\n\n\n\"There will be two options now.\" His voice was a bit calmer but the platoon feared what was coming next. \"The first option is that Mr. Weiler gets to do 300 alone. The second option would be that the whole platoon does 1000 in total.\" The first ones of the platoon immediatly started doing pushups. After realising his mistaked recruit Weiler starts doing them as well. \n\n\n\"Thanks to Mr. Weiler the whole platoon learned the first lesson. Doing something as a team is important. Without a team you are nothing out there. That's it. Dismiss\"\n\n\n\n2230: After coming back from their trip through the forest to learn more about the environment the recruits were exhausted. Once they got the order everyone went back to the barracks except for one. Recruit Weiler went to the campfire where warlock Hampsing was sitting.\n\n\n\"I thought maybe this was a better time and place to ask about your stories. For example the one about the fight against the blue phoenix!\" \n\n\n\"Learn your lesson son. Get on the ground and do 100!\" Weiler was as motivated as always and started doing them instantly without any complaining. The warlock kneeled beside him and asked \"Why are you so fixated on my stories ? Who even told you all of them ? Especially the ones that weren't even published in newspapers.\" Once he finished his pushups he jumped up and had an even bigger smile in his face. \"My mom and dad always told me stories about their platoon leader! My name is even an anagram for yours. I haven't heard these stories in a long time so I thought hearing them again would be nice.\" His smile was still as big as earlier but the old man saw the pain behind his smiling face. He remembered his parents. Caroline and Jack often told the old warlock about their 'little soldier' and how he loved their stories. These memories made him happy but he couldn't think about them without remembering the last day of his active duty. The day they both gave their life for his sake.\n\n\n\"Sit down son.\" Weiler wanted to start doing pushups again. \"No, not for pushups. I will tell you some stories of your parents.\" \n\n\n\nFirst story on here be as cruel as you think fits :D I think I drifted a bit away from the main idea of the WP so sorry for that AND all the grammatical mistakes. \n\n" ]	6
	[WP] The dragon has been kidnapped by the king, and the hero has sent you, the evil overlord, and your childhood friend, the princess, on a quest to save the dragon.	[ "In the dim light of the cave, it was difficult to see Sir Edward's face. But I could tell enough about him from the rest of his hunched body. I saw pain, I saw sorrow, I saw defeat. I saw how he trembled, as if about to collapse; and how his old, gnarled hands gripped his cane white-knuckled. And most importantly, I saw he didn't carry his legendary sword, one I had stared down the the blade of too many times.\n\n\"I never thought I'd see you again, Edward. I thought you'd given up your questing when I made peace with Avendale.\"\nEdward laughed \"I hoped to never have to leave my home again. But I think your peacemaking is what bring me here today.\"\n\nI leaned back against the cave side. \"What have I done this time to make you venture out this far. It's a long trip for an old man like you.\"\n\nHe moved to rest on a rock \"Do you remember the deal we made some thirty years ago?\"\n\nI smiled \"Of course. I extended your King's life, and gave him a sizeable piece of my wealth in exchange for the hand of Corrine.\"\n\nThirty years ago, Corrine grew tired of running from her father, the king to continue our affair. She would meet me off castle grounds, and we would escape into the night, evading the King's Men as long as we could. Sir Edward, somehow, would always be the one to find us, the one to track us down when we thought we were home free, the one who brought home the Princess every time. Convinced I had kidnapped his daughter, Jason labeled me an enemy to Avendale, to be captured and killed on sight. \n\nAfter too many clashes with King Jason and Edward, Corinne finally convinced her father to let her marry me on two conditions: I would use my magic to extend and improve Jason's life, and I would never return to Avendale again. \n\n I had kept my word to Jason, and gone far from Avendale, far enough away that none of this news had ever reached my ears. I could not fathom how Sir Edward managed to travel this far, much less how he found me.\n\nEdward spoke \"Jason has... lost himself. You've given him a taste of what magic can do for him, and he wants more. He's sent men out on quests to find you or other wizards. He's rescued victims of witch hunts from neighbouring countries, and he's neglected his duties as King to practice arts darker than anything even you would try. He's found and kidnapped the Dragon of the Mendewal Mountains, and has built a dungeon just for torturing it. He chases immortality, at any cost. As much as it pains me to have to ask you, I don't think anyone else is strong enough to end this. Will you stop him?\"\n\nI hadn't thought that the King was that easily corruptible, that easily pushed to darkness. Even when I first began to study wizardry, before I knew the consequences of Black Arts, I had made sure never to stray down dark paths. I had thought extending the King's life would be safe, as I had believed him to be magicless.\n\n\"I haven't dealt with evil wizardry in, well, ever, Edward. I'm not sure even I can stop the King, if he has been practicing black magic, how long?\"\n\nHe grimaced \"I left to find you five years ago. I know he will be powerful, but you have to try. You can't just sit while Avendale burns!\"\n\nI flinched \"I know, but I require time. Time to grow stronger, to be able to fight. I've led a peaceful life here with Corinne, Edward. I haven't used battle magic since we last were at odds.\"\n\nHe turned, and I could see his face more clearly now. It bore an expression of anger and frustration.\n\n\"We don't have that time,\" he growled \"the longer you stay here, the more Avendale rots.\"\n\n\"That can't be helped. I need to-\"\n\"Yes, it can! Practice on the journ-\"\n\"You need to listen to me! I nee-\"\n\"Jason grows stronger with time as well!\"\n\"I understand, but-\"\n\"Listen! Are you going to help? Or not. Because if you do, we need to leave now.\" \n\n\"He will help,\" Both Edward and I looked around for the source of the voice, startled. \"He will leave now, and he will save Avendale. And I'm coming with him,\" Corrine emerged from the depths of the cave. \"I haven't seen my father in a while.\"\n\nEdit: Formatting", "\"Explain to me again as to why you, the hero, are sending us against the king.\"\n\nThe golden-haired hero in his mid twenties swung his sword at the air practicing and said, \"Well, Overlord Derjandi, that dragon saved my life and I owe him. While I serve the king, I don't agree with his treatment of my savior. Therefore, the most logical choice is to find you. Also, I believe you know the king's daughter Annalise?\"\n\nBehind him, a cloaked figure walked up and pulled back the hood revealing the face of the princess. She had dark hair and brown eyes and blended in easily unlike her flashy father and that of the hero. She smiled at Derjandi and said, \"Hello again. The last time I saw you was... three years ago I believe? Also, the only reason I'm helping you is because I owe you for saving my life all those years ago from the evil dragon!\"\n\nDerjandi's eyebrow twitched and he said, \"I didn't even ask you for a favor yet!\"\n\nAnnalise whined and said, \"It's because after at least 10 years you still haven't even asked anything yet! Besides I can't owe you one forever!\"\n\nDerjandi sighed, \"So let me get this straight. The dragon saved the hero. The dragon tried to kill you. You are trying to save the dragon from your father, the king. What the heck do I get out of this? Satisfaction of saying that I saved an endangered animal from the king?\"\n\nThe hero laughed, \"I'll let you 'borrow' some money from the royal treasury while the king isn't looking if that's what you want.\"\n\nDerjani joined the hero in his laughter and offered his hand, \"I believe we have a deal.\"\n\nAnd so, the unlikely union of the hero, the princess, and the evil overlord opposed the kind king to save the endangered dragon terrorizing humanity.\n\nIf you enjoyed, consider subscribing to my [subreddit](https://www.reddit.com/r/ChocolateChipWp/)! Critiques and suggestions are appreciated as well!", "\"My Lord!\"\n\nGreat. Just what I needed. I finally got the Gem of Generia to accept the soul charges after a dozen attempts earlier today. The process isn't even stable yet, how am I supposed to keep these things running if I get interrupted for every stinking hero that comes knocking on my door.\n\n\"Yes yes, riders approaching,\" I sigh through my helmet,\"send the Olgoth to take care of them.\"\n\n\"They are running a white flag, my Lord. The scouts have told me it's Ser Drismon and Lady Alessia.\"\n\nHer. The mere mentioning of her name catches me off guard, flaring the current of souls in the Gem. It enclosed itself again, who knows how long it will stay shut. I dump my tools on the table in furstration and summon one of my lackeys to make sure no one touches the Gem. I've sacrificed my own creations and by the Gods, I will have it bend to my will.\n\nI snatch my coat and take large steps. The troll at the front door bows curtly as I approach and opens the slightly oversized doors. I enhale, close my eyes and reach out to the living locks of my mansion, releasing them long enough for the pair to let them through. I watch through the eyes of minions as they approach, smell through the energy hound's noses for their smells, the Obsidian crystals if they wear artifacts of powers. They carry little that could harm me, but the lady bears power within her. No surprise. If the women don't pop out children every 3 years ago, they usually become mages. But this power that flowed around her was not ordinary. It bent the threads of fate. A clairvoyant. Not the first one I've faced, not the last one either. But a full blood royal one, that's a first.\n\nI have my men guide them through the gardens to the plaza, where I stand to meet them. I summon my arcane armor, covering myself in nearly impenetrable plate and flowing black robes. My helmet covers my whole head, but I do not need eyeslots to see them.\n\n\"How gracious of you to welcome us in person, Lord Tûmhorn!\", Ser Drimson says he slows his great mount to a halt. Quite the man he was, while not as tall or handsome as most, his royal blood has blessed him with a good figure and a small innate sense for magic. His mop of blond hair on his head and chin, barely maintained, gave him the looks of a dreamy rogue. The very definition of a lucky bastard.\n\n\"This is my private residence. Why have you come here?\"\n\n\"Straight to the point. Always liked that about you. I brought someone here.\"\n\nHe helped the lady saddled behind him down the horse. She concealed herself from me with flowing red cloak and hood. Curious. Had she grown out her taste for green? She always preferred green. It was her though. No one else folded her hands in front of her like that when they were nervous. She probably wasn't even looking me. Ashamed? Scared?\n\n\"Lady Alessia,\" I greet her, \"you are far from home, little one. Off on an adventure to release yourself from the boredom of your father's court, or did your visions tell you to come here?\"\n\nThe blank stare from Drismon told me he didn't know her that well. Such ignorance will be the death of him some day.\n\nShe undid the hood and showed her face. Short, tar black hair on a small, thin head. The acne scars had marked her cheeks. One eye was bright blue, the other one was a clairvoyant's eye. A crystal orb the size of her eye, blessed by Agathon the All-Seer. A gift and a curse to wield. Poor thing. Those who wear the Orb within them almost never volunteered. I doubt she did.\n\n\"Fate has destroyed of us both, Djin. Luckily for us, we pulled ourselves together and made it work.\" She said with a sad voice as she eyed me tip to toe.\n\nShe knew. I've never known clairvoyents to be able to see the past. Did someone tell her? Who else knows.\n\n\"Djin? So that's what that bookworm was named after. Always figured his dad didn't like him much.\"\n\nLittle did he know I was the bookworm. He didn't recognize me. Which means she didn't tell him. She knows how to keep her secrets. Good.\n\n\"I'm in no mood to deal with knights and ladies, I have business to attend to.\"\n\n\"Dragons.\"\n\nMy spies in the Angian mountain range had already reported that the dragons there were disturbed. They've been restless as of late, and turned their gaze to Alessia's kingdom.\n\n\"What of them?\" I asked.\n\n\"King Horon has kidnapped one. A young one, no more than five feet long. Lot's of gold on him apparantly.\", Sir Drismon said.\n\nA gold scaled youngling. That explains things. The golden scales belong to the highest ranking dragons. This must be a young one, having escaped from his mother during a lapse of attention. Or taken by force, but to contain a dragon like that? Very interesting.\n\n\"The King's dealings are his own. They do not concern me.\"\n\n\"Does the prospect of a dragon invasion sound more concerning to you?\", Alessia asked.\n\n\"I have stood against the Prophets of Hol and won. I have an entire nation, its war machines and powers beyond your comprehension at my command. I do not even need to speak a word for them to prepare for nation-wide siege for that would last a hundred lifetimes. A raiding party of dragons is of no concern to me, either.\", I stated.\n\n\"Yes, you will withstand them. But so much else will be lost. So many conquests to make. A land wreathed in you shadow, instead wreathed in flame.\"\n\n\"And from the ashes of that land, I can make a new one rise. One better than this one. Another to add to my collection.\"\n\n\"That's too easy, my Lord. It wouldn't be you who would change it. They would take credit. You two would fight as you both would come to claim. You would clash with them. Perhaps you come out alive. Perhaps not. But don't forget, my Lord. The dragons have power too. Power even you know nothing of. Power that could set back your plans for a thousand years or more.\"\n\n\"I have time.\"\n\n\"No. You don't. They're coming, and we've already wasted precious time reaching you. We need your help. Only you can make this happen.\"\n\nI turn my gaze to the gallant knight. The look on his face has turned to a desperate one. He knows the odds. He knows the king's little plan, whatever it is, is folly. The kingdom of Horon cannot withstand dragons, they can barely withstand a couple of packs of ghouls.\n\n\"Say that I would cooperate. What would I get in return?\"\n\n\"Demands? We're talking about the lives of thousands of people and you're turning this into a barter?\" Ser Drismon said.\n\n\"Be quiet, Ser.\"\n\n\"Ser Drismon, you may leave us.\" Alessia said as she turned to him.\n\n\"I..I'm not leaving you here with him.\"\n\n\"He has a lot to gain by letting me live unharmed, and he knows it. Go. Others need your help more than I do.\"\n\n\"I made a vow-\"\n\n\"I made a vow as well. To serve my kingdom, whatever the cost. That's what I'm doing. I thank you for your concern, Ser, but this is something I must do on my own.\"\n\nSeeing the brave fool get shut down like that was almost worth it to go and free the dragon. Sullenly, he mounted his steed, turned it and started trotting off towards the gate, looking back one last time before he got his horse to gallop.\n\n\"What do you have in mind?\" I asked her.\n\n\"You have the Gem, don't you? I can unlock it for you. After we save my father from the mess he got himself into.\"\n\n\"Never thought you'd collude with your father's enemy.\"\n\n\"Never thought you'd be an unconditional overlord with a tendency for dramatics.\"\n\nI let out a chuckle. She might have lost her eye and innocence, but she did not lose her touch.\n\nI conjured an undead dragon from the graveyard. Pieces of dirt clung to the skeleton and turned to gray flesh as my magic gave it life and breath. After ten seconds or so, a fully formed dragon with glowing purple eyes had formed in front of us, lowering its body so we cant mount it.\n\n\"Ladies first.\"\n\n\"Can't we travel faster?\"\n\n\"We'll travel fast enough, I'm sure. Besides, we'll need a distraction when we're there. The only thing more distracting than me walking through the palace halls is an undead dragon toying with the common folk in the city square.\"\n\n\"This is what I meant with dramatic.\"\n\nFor the first time since she came here, she smiled softly, and quietly said \"It's good to see some things never change.\"\n\n\n\n\n\n\n", "The stranger clambered into the lair unceremoniously, puffing. His blond hair was littered with twigs, and his cheeks were bright red. He pulled his pants up, and coughed.\n\n\"What brings you to the House of Leaves?” I shouted, brandishing my death stick at him.\n\n\"I… am… Bailey,” the stranger announced valiantly, heaving. \"The fabled hero… of this land. I have come in this time of need, to tell you that… a dragon… has been kidnapped.”\n\nJess and I both gasped, looking excitedly at each other. \n\n\"By who?” I asked, prodding the hero with my stick. “Answer, or be pushed out!”\n\n\"Please do not hurt me, Evil Lord Pete! The dragon has been stolen by none other than King Milo. He is locked up in his castle. The villagers say he breathes fire out the window, chained up and unable to fly away.”\n\nThere was silence. I coughed expectantly at Jess. \"Oh yes! I am Princess Jessica, beautiful daughter of King Milo. Has my father not done a good deed? Dragons are dangerous to everyone.”\n\n\"This dragon is not! That is why I have come for aid. His name is Baxter, and his fires warm the kingdom. He lets children ride on his back, and helps old grandmas get around the lands. Please, help me rescue him from King Milo’s wrath.”\n\nWe eagerly agreed, and climbed down from my evil lair into the Field of Grass. The sky was a vibrant turquoise, a beautiful day for adventure, but I could not admit that. We spotted the Wise Turtle above, his fluffy white staff pointing the way. At the Misty Falls, we sprinted as fast as we could, Princess Jessica laughing uncontrollably. I was an Evil Lord however, and could only opt for a frown.\n\n\"We are close to the castle, but this road is treacherous, yes.” Bailey the Hero nodded gravely. “We will not survive the trip.”\n\n\"I have an idea!” I waved my death stick, and ran behind a tree. A wagon had appeared, summoned by magic! I brought it out triumphantly, pleased with Princess Jessica’s smile. \nAs a trio of unlikely adventurers, we trundled over sticks and pebbles, our teeth chattering. As the land dipped, the wagon picked up speed, and we clutched the sides tightly, our breaths stolen by the wind.\n \nThump!\n\nThe wagon hit a boulder, placed by a deceptive goblin, and the world tipped. We rolled out suddenly, a sprawling three-headed mass with numerous arms and legs, trying to go in different directions. We untangled ourselves, adrenaline pumping. A howl filled the air.\n\n\"What’s that noise?” Princess Jessica asked, her lip trembling.\n\nBailey the Hero’s face darkened. \"The dragon.”\n\nWe approached the castle gates, and with a dark spell, they slid open. Our footsteps echoed on the tiles of the long corridor. The wind whispered, and a faint dripping could be heard in the distance. \n\n\"The castle is beautiful.” I said softly.\n\nTapestries lined the wall. One room was filled with bowls of fruit and a great furnace, tended by an old maid. Another had large resting areas with velvet cushions, and a looking glass that showed the world. Suddenly, we heard a shriek, and raced to the source of the noise.\n\nKing Milo sat on a chair, his large green globes watching us suspiciously. He wore a skin of beautiful dark fur, and beckoned us in with a long, wavering arm.\n \n\"Father, I have returned!” Princess Jessica threw herself before the King. \"I am sorry for ever leaving.”\n\nThe King did not respond, only brooding silently.\n \n\"We have come to rescue the dragon,\" she continued. \"This all a misunderstanding!”\n\nKing Milo hissed, the furs on his back standing up. We followed his eyes, and cheered – the dragon had come galumphing out, its tail wagging ferociously. But it was stopped, a long cord tying it to the door handle. Bailey the Hero freed the dragon, and it jumped at the King, desperate for revenge, panting. King Milo now perched above his great library bookcase, looking down at Baxter with disdain.\n\n\"Pete, come get lemonade. Tell you friends there’s a glass for them.” The serving maid waved from down the hall.\n\n\"Last one there has to tie Bax back up!” We raced to the kitchen, Princess Jessica’s hands in mine. The dragon was short on our heels.\n" ]	4
	[WP] Everytime you lose one of your senses, you gain another one.	[ "It took me a while to notice at first. After all, your sense of taste is ruled by your nose. Besides, I've never really been interested in food. The loss of food's flavour wasn't really a problem for me, and it helped me to begin a new career. \n\n“That's a stunning scarf, it goes with your outfit perfectly.”\nMy girlfriend blinked at me.\n“The pink in the rose petals is similar to the pink of your trousers,” I went on, “it looks great.”\n“Oh thanks baby” she said mockingly, mimicking the accent of the girls in the teen movies she watched as a kid. “It's like totally this season.”\n“I mean it.” I said, and I did. Something about the outfit clicked with me, it felt right. I couldn't explain it, but I loved it.\n“Whatever Mike, you've never given a shit what I wore before.”\nShe went back to her nails, pulling out an orange nail polish which made me wince.\n\nThat was the beginning: I started to notice clothes. Not just women's clothes either. A weather man's suit once gave me a headache which lasted all morning: the colour clashed horribly with the map behind him; the fit was too baggy for his frame; the shoulders were boxy. I began to complement strangers on their shoes, baristas on their bracelets, I couldn't help myself.\n\nBeautiful outfits made me feel incredible; badly chosen outfits made me feel ill. People don't tend to take the news well: \n“Excuse me sir, could you please remove your tie? It's just that it's making me physically sick”. \nHow would you respond to such a request? A punch in the face, right? So I needed an outlet, somewhere to scream into the void about the terrible fashion choices I saw around me every day. I started a blog.\n\nI would have set it to private if I'd known how. I honestly wasn't doing it for attention. I didn't even have a snappy URL, just something stupid like “Mike's Moans”. Embarrassing to think of now. It gets a huge number of visitors from all over the world. I was interviewed by Vogue. I don't like to blow my own trumpet so I'll just tell you what they said about me. They said that my insights were “ahead of the curve”, that I presented them in an “open and amusing” way which brought “high fashion in reach of anybody”. They said that my “innate sense of the up and coming” and “impeccable taste” was what made me “the blogger to watch for 2014”.\n\nI don't know about any of that – all I did was write down the inner monologue constantly running through my mind. What I do know is that soon after the Vogue interview I stopped being able to feel things. \n\nI noticed the second loss straight away – it was the strangest thing. There was no slow fade of sensation. It was a normal Tuesday afternoon. I could feel the soles of my feet on the ground beneath me; my suit trousers lightly touching the hairs on my legs; the cold metal of the watch on my wrist; the hairs moving on my head, in my nose. The next minute...nothing. Can you imagine that? You can feel so much at this very moment – you're not even aware of it. I can feel nothing. \n\nIt took me a long time to get over losing the sense of touch. So much enjoyment was gone for me, is still gone for me... but I wonder what I will gain from this loss.", "Damien blinded himself, sacrificing his vision all at once. Immediately an excess of energy formed like a hurricane, a pulling and pushing from each direction at once. If he didn't put it somewhere, his skin would rip apart. Quickly, as rapidly as he forced away sight, Damien enhanced his hearing. \n\nThree pairs of footsteps. Two men, judging by weight, wearing heavy boots. A woman as well, walking between the men. She wore high heels that clicked extra loud. \n\n\"Damien,\" she whispered, voice barely audible to the men beside her, but understandable with enhanced hearing. \"I know you can hear me.\" \n\nDamien stood up, ignoring the shifting of the prostitute in still sleeping in his bed. \n\n\"You know, when I learned that another shade was born and he spent his days as a private detective, I didn't know whether to laugh or cry.\" \n\nShade? \n\n\"That's right, Dame. You're a shade. Born once in a thousand years if the gods permit, a god in your own right. Shades are the strongest creature in the known universe.\" \n\nHer voice got closer as she spoke. \"They can reorganize energy.\" \n\n\"Most learn as you're reported as learning. Starting by dulling one sense and enriching another. Then they learn they can sacrifice brainpower for muscle or heights for cock-length. The they learn they can suck the energy from an insect and give it to themselves, a permanent increase in potential. Then they learn the same ability works on dogs and cats. Then humans. They can take from one and give to another, or keep it all to themselves. They can steal years of life and remake the fucking mountains. If killed by a blade or now-a-days a bullet, they can retain their consciousness and return once again. They can shift shape into dense stone or wispy smoke.\" \n\nShe spoke rapidly. \n\n\"Some people want to find these shades... they don't kill them.\" She spoke normally now, loud enough for anyone nearby, and Damien of course, to hear. \"A shade can only die to another shade if one chooses to steal the other's energy. But Lorenzo something-or-another devised a trap that holds them. Only four known shades have ever been recorded in history and three sit in these cacoon-like prisons. \n\n\n\"The first was a woman who took the muscle of thousands of men and the intelligence of great women. She raided palaces. She killed the peasants for their lifespans, the gardeners for their skills and the kings just for the fuck of it. Avianna was her name. She reorganized her own energy to contain everything she was, multitudes more than you feel when you simply cut off a single sense. She created species of shell-backed men who fought and died for her. She understood what it was to be a shade. Until she went mad one day. They say she stole more than simple energy from people. She stole their memories as well. Every night she dreams an entire lifespan, always ending with her coming in as a villain and ending their lives. \n\n\"The other three were captured as children. Trapped in cacoons just for being born. The people who made these traps, they've found you and they've sent people.\" \n\nShe was by the door now. \n\nDamien dropped his hearing back to normal levels and restored his sight. He walked over to his side of the door, but kept it closed. He spoke quietly. \"And you're one the people that was sent?\" \n\nHe heard her genuinely laugh, much closer but much quieter. \"Gods no. Some of us, Damien, don't think an egg should be crushed just because it may give birth to a snake just as a man should not be crushed just because he may become evil. Some of us want to shape you and help avoid past mistakes. I'm here to help you escape.\" \n\n\"Who are you?\" Damien asked, shocked at how loud his voice was. \n\n\"Avianna.\" She said. \"But call me Avi.\" " ]	2
	[WP] You live in a world where everyone must fulfil one random goal before they die, in order to get into heaven. Yours is the strangest yet.	[ "\"Well that's oxymoronic!\" I cried at the frumpy woman sitting behind the glass, still holding the slip of paper that was meant to dictate a clear life's goal. \"There's no way for me to possibly achieve it merely by how it's worded!\"\n\nFinding myself in such a catch-22 situation I expected her to have more sympathy, but instead she looked up from her half-moon glasses with a clear expression of exasperation. Her pale, crusty skin caused layers of makeup to give way to wrinkles as she spoke, \"I'm sorry, but many people are dissatisfied when they find out their goal, but that's life\" she murdered with a slight scouse accent \"if you find yourself unhappy with it I recommend you join a support group.\"\n\nDumbfounded, I looked around me, expecting others to be as shocked as I was, but to my dismay I was met with disinterested and impatient faces from all angles. The long line behind me, and the equally dragged-out queues to my left and right were far too concerned with their own goals to worry about some poor sod having a freakout in the middle of the room. Nonetheless I felt I was quite justified in my protest, and I felt it reasonable to ask for another goal in life; one that would at least be possible. I hadn't waited eighteen years and queued for six hours only to be given something completely ludicrous!\n\n\"I'd like to speak with the manager!\" I blurted, my voice breaking into a high-pitched squeak as I attempted to appear level-headed. The woman behind the glass let out a long sigh before lifting her weighty body from out of her chair, layers of her body pushing past the sides in a way that looked wholly uncomfortable. She heaved her way over to the other side of her desk, where a button stood next to a small silver microphone, the spongy cover on the top flayed from years of use. Her fat finger pressed down on the button as if it took great effort, and her wheezing voice coughed into the device,\"Manager to booth five, manager to booth five, please...\" she repeatedly weakly before planting herself back in her prior position.\n\nI nodded my head triumphantly, turning myself away from those behind me who were increasingly visibly agitated. After a few moments a rather angry bald man appeared from a door behind the frumpy scouse woman, his cheap brown suit and novelty tie reeking of middle management. His eyes were slightly too far apart for him to have ever been handsome, and his large ears covered the sides of his head as if they were being grown to replace any hair he'd lost round the sides. A few words were exchanged between the two individuals behind the glass, both obviously not wanting to deal with such a situation before the man spoke to me, pushing his lean legs past the woman manning the booth to plant his beer belly firmly on the desk in front of her.\n\n\"My colleague here says that you have a complaint?\" he enquired, lifting his eyebrows with as much enthusiasm as if he were at a dental appointment. I looked at him, still attempting to appear somewhat adult while filing my complaint, and replied, \"Yes, my goal is totally ridiculous and I would like another.\" This seemed to amuse him somewhat, as he gave a half-glance to the woman behind him with the hint of a smirk, letting air into his nose with what would have been a snort at any higher volume. \n\n\"Listen here lad, not everybody get's what they want, it's luck of the draw and that's what makes it fair,\" he sighed with a paternal tone, \"A few years back I met a lad like yourself who was tasked with shoving twelve rubber ducks up his arsehole each day before he would be let up there, but that's just how it is.\" Rolling my eyes I shook myself a bit before replying, being at the ends of my wits as much as those on the other end.\n\n\"That's all well and good, but mine isn't even possible!\" I let out with increasing annoyance. The paper becoming crumpled in my hand as it formed into a fist. \"How am I expected to even fulfil this?\"\n\nThe man's eyes begrudgingly looked to my hand, as he asked one further question,\"So what does it say then?\"\n\nI walked forward and slid the small line of creased bureaucracy under the gap between us so he could see the single line written on it:\n\nYour goal is to not fulfil your goal.\n\n" ]	1
	[WP] Dragons are real. Less than 1% of humans are chosen by dragon on their 18th birthday to master magic. You wake up on your 18th birthday to find thousands of dragons.	[ "I was chosen. A mere blacksmith's son, the heir only to the dirt that stained my clothes. I was chosen. On the 18th anniversary of a man's birth, a small number of men are chosen to become magicians, powerful, wise men whose words can slay or save millions. Carried on the backs of the behemoths in the Mountains. Rulers and saviours. Most in our village only know this as a myth. A fairy tale reserved to that of the other, more important fiefdoms.\n\nOn my birthday, the roars of the Mountains echoed throughout the Valley. Louder and louder, the townsfolk began to secure their belongings and hide, fearful of what was to happen next. As the scaled beasts came close, they began to screech in almost a soothing manner. Like a call from a siren, I was inexplicably drawn closer. Each step, the sound became more soothing, more entrancing. Until I was in the field just outside the village. There, thousands of dragons soar in the air, dancing among the clouds, roaring and bellowing. Only a single dragon lay before me: dignified yet powerful, it's scales a magnificent golden, it's wings majestically covering the horizon, it's tail extending far beyond the Realms. \"Elric of Northby,\" it screamed, \"You have been chosen to begin the mastery on the Ancient Arts.\" The voice echoed throughout the valley. I could only hope to leave the Valley, seek a future beyond just a blacksmith. Ecstatic, I could scream back, \"I accept!\" The dragon began to kneel and extended it's wing out, nudging me to get on. As I climbed the magnificent beast, I could extend to see the entire Realm before me. At my feet. I was the powerful one. I could only dream of this day. My destiny. As I soared above the clouds, I wondered what the future had in store for me. Well, it's more than the life of a commoner.", "Melissa woke up exhausted. Today was her eighteen birthday. She had stayed up most of the night, but it was useless. The dragons only come after one wakes up on the their birthday, never before they go to sleep. \n \nShe should have gone to bed like it was any other day she knew. She had tried to act like she did not care what happened today when anyone was around. She had seen the subtle looks of disappointment other people wore when a dragon did not show up. The looks of pity from those chosen were even worse. Fewer than one in a hundred get chosen anyway. She did not really believe that one would show up for her, but last night her mind her mind had betrayed her. She had been hopeful, too excited to sleep. So this morning she overslept. \n\nShe went about her normal routine, not allowing herself to look out the window. If she looked, she would know whether or not a dragon was there. She could retain her secret hopes, not that she would admit that to anyone aloud.\n\nWhen she finally made her way to the door—she was not going to be like that poor fool who never went outside to look only to have the dragon that had chosen him fly away out of annoyance at being ignored and not come back—and opened it. \n\nShe did not see a dragon. She saw thousands. \n\n*\n\nKysandralisedre, the Lioness of the Wind, flew up to the Royal pair that morning and, in the middle of the court, announced that Her Grace would be bonding a human today. \n\n“Leave us,” roared the onyx clad dragon on the raised altar at the front of the chamber. The others left the room in a hurry at the Royal’s words, leaving the three dragons—the Royal pair and their child—in silence. \n\n“Explain yourself, Kysa,” the ruby-scaled Royal said softly. \n\nKyasndrelisedre’s nostrils flared, blowing out a puff of smoke, at the use of the shortened variation of her name. \n\n“I will be bonding a human today,” Her Grace repeated. \n\n“No,” the Royal pair said it unison.\n\n“You cannot stop me, your magnificences,” Her Grace said. “I am the proper age and do not bother having Hernolus look in his tomes for a loophole that would prevent it. I already checked.” \n\n“A Royal has not chosen a human in centuries. That should be reason enough,” the onyx-scaled Royal declared.\n\n“I will just have to be the first. A tradition of not doing something does not prevent me from doing so, especially when there was an exception under a millennia ago.” Kysandralisedre said. “You cannot stop me. If you try it will just cause a scandal. The court already knows my intentions.”\n\n“How long have you been considering this, child?” the ruby-scaled Royal asked.\n\n“Since last night,” Her Grace responded. \n\nThe ruby Royal closed Her Magnificence’s eyes. “Why are you doing this?”\n\n“Because I want to,” Kysandralisedre said in a tone that said dragons have wings. “It should be fun.”\n\n“This decision requires careful consideration and is not to be made,” the onyx Royal stopped, before sighing. A puff of smoke escaped His Magnificence’s jaws. “Have you at least looked into the background of the human you selected? I assume even you would have chosen one before coming here?”\n\n“Yes, yes,” Her Grace said. “I found a girl whose eighteen birthday is today.” The Royal pair looked at Her Grace expectantly. “She has yet to be claimed.” Kysandralisedre added. “What more is there then that?”\n\nThe Royal Pair sighed in unison, more smoke entering the air. Those chosen are usually selected after months, if not years, of careful study. \n\n“Be glad.” Her Grace said. “I did not even need to inform you. Bondings do not need the Royal Pair’s blessing.”\n\n“Then why did you?” The onyx-scaled royal asked, voice sounding tired.\n\n“You surely would not expect your child—a Royal—to bond a human without an audience, would you? I expect the whole court would want to attend.”\n\n\n\nMelissa walked outside into madness. Dragons were everywhere. They filled the street and some perched on the roofs of nearby houses. The only place where their was any space was by the house across the street, where the largest two dragons stood—one black and one red. The area around them was empty, even as still more dragons circled overhead like a car would circle a parking lot, searching for somewhere to land. \n\nWhen she was noticed, some of the dragons stepped back as though making room for her. One stepped forward, a dragon with glistening scales—the color somewhere between light tan and gold. A voice sounded from no particular direction in her mind, but clearly originating from the tan-gold dragon. “Human, come forth.”\n\nNot quite what she had been expecting but she did as bid.\n\n“Let us be bonded by blood and flame, as was done in the ceremonies of old,” the voice continued. Melissa had never heard of any special ceremony being done after the dragon showed up outside someone’s house, but she had never seen a choosing before either.\n\nA long stream of smoke escaped from the black dragon in the back. \n\n“Hold out your hand,” the voice was quiet this time, almost as if whispering to her. She did not think anyone else could hear it. “Oh, and get down on one knee while your at it.”\n\nOnce again, Melissa did as this dragon bid her, kneeling down and raising her arm. The dragon that was speaking raised its leg to her hand and scratched her palm, breaking the skin. A line of blood soon followed. She barely resisted crying out in pain. She did not want to anger the multitudes of dragons present by ruining whatever ceremony this was. She almost doubted that being chosen was worth going through this, but quickly remembered the promise of magic and power that came with it. \n\nThe dragon took in a long breath and let it out, directly at Melissa and her out stretched hand. \n\nMelissa had seen dragon fire before as it streaked red across the sky. This was not that. The burning light that surrounded her was not red but violet. Violet was said to be the color of their royalty. \n\nWhen the flames were gone, the voice came again, once more booming to all present. “Let it be witnessed!”\n\nThe two dragons across the street somehow managed to radiate disapproval despite their reptilian form. They left several moments later, the other dragons trailing behind them until only the tan-gold dragon remained. \n\n“Human, what do they call you?”\n\n“My name is Melissa.”\n\nA small puff of smoke escaped the dragon’s nose. “You may refer to me as You Grace.” It’s eyes moved, looking her up and down. “If you desire something more familiar, then you may call me Kysandralisedre, the lioness of the wind.” The dragon paused, then added, “You have my permission to massage my wings now.”", "The alarm went of at 6:00am as it did every day for the last few months. I merely groaned as I put a hand forward towards my phone and hit the prompt on screen. Ever since I was put on that work experience program up in Belfast I've had to wake up at stupidly early times for an hour-long bus ride.\n\n'Happy fucking birthday to me,' I groaned as I sat up. 'Wish I could've booked this day off...'\n\nI guess I should mention what was going on. My name is Sean Doherty. I've been living in care ever since my mother was declared an unfit mother and my dad ran off with some younger woman. I've been shifting from a few foster homes before I was of the age of 16 when they gave me some small apartment in the south of Northern Ireland to live in as well as trying to get me into either higher education or straight into work.\n\nIt was hard, I admit. Having to live off about £50 a week for Jobseeker's allowance, which had to go to food, clothing and bills. But at least I didn't have to pay rent...\n\nIt was about three months before my 18th when they put me on this one scheme - four days working in an office environment, a day training in basic media studies. They paid for my bus fare and all, but damn I wish I lived closer to the city. But, living on the coast meant that I could walk for five minutes to the beach.\n\nIt started as a typical day. Wake up, find a pair of socks that don't have holes in them and put on the clothing I had ironed the night before. With my shoes on, wallet and phone in my jacket pocket I opened my bedroom door and fell into an endless void that wasn't* there when I woke up.\n\n'Fucking Christ!' I yelled as I dropped, hurtling downward before I suddenly stopped in mid-air before I slowly landed on a hunk of rock floating in the void. 'What in the fuck?! What happened to my living room?'\n\nI then looked out to see what else was here and nearly felt my legs liquify right then and there. 'Oh, fuck me,' I grumbled.\n\nDragons. There were thousands of dragons, all resting on rocks similar to my own in the void of mere sky and clouds before us. They were all varied, from snake-like Chinese and Japanese dragons to bird-like beasts and the classical Western beast, all of varying colors and sizes.\n\nAnd one of them merely chuckled in the void. 'Sorry, kid,' she said as she rested her emerald head on her green arms. 'Not my type.'\n\n'Please take this more seriously, Esmeralda,' a crimson dragon said. 'Not every day that a human awakens in such a way that it calls as many dragons as this.'\n\n'What the hell are you doing here?!' I yelled. 'Get out of my apartment!'\n\n'Your apartment?' a blue dragon asked. 'On the contrary. Your bedroom has been pulled into Æther, the realm of pure magic. Or rather, as close as your innate understanding of the laws of reality will allow you to go versus how far your own power reaches deep within. It's a constant struggle.'\n\n'One that we treat as rather trivial,' a white dragon said. 'We force the laws of the universe to bend to our will, not the other way around. You are familiar with the tale of warlocks, aren't you?'\n\n'Fucking mad bastards,' I groaned. 'One of them was annoyed with a truck driver so he disappeared the bridge on the Ormeau Road. Almost lost my job because of that cunt.'\n\n'Yes, Michael is a twat,' a black dragon grumbled. 'If anyone deserves a smack, it's him. Don't know what Jaered was thinking being loose with him...'\n\n'But, we need to focus on the now,' a silver dragon said. 'You are a warlock, there's no question about that. Your soul called out to any dragons who would be best to train you and it called oh so many.'\n\n'There's only one protocol for something like this,' a bronze dragon stated. 'Would you prefer to choose a dragon to train you or have us nominate one of our own?'\n\n'Can't I just say no?' I asked.\n\n'Keep in mind,' the blue dragon said as he stood attentively, 'that you came here by yourself. You called us by yourself. It is considered taboo for us to refuse the call because an untrained warlock could very well be a danger to themselves and others around themselves. So no. We'd highly discourage such a choice.'\n\n'Don't think that the flow of time in your world is a mere obstacle for you,' a gold dragon said. 'We'll give you all the time in the world if you wish to speak to all of us.'\n\n'That's impossible!' I groaned. 'There's no way I'd remember all of you...'\n\n'Of course not,' a voice said that I didn't see the origin of. I looked around and even the dragons were all confused... or concerned.\n\n'My liege,' the green dragon spoke, looking nowhere in particular. 'What are... why are you here?'\n\n'Esmeralda,' the voice said. 'Always too bored or thinking about a form of alleviating boredom to concentrate on the semantics. I was called, as were all of you. Please don't think that I wouldn't answer the call. My apologies, Sean, for how rude Esmeralda has been. At least the others who spoke have had meaningful uses of information.'\n\nThe red dragon spoke. 'All in favor of allowing the king to take the human on as a student?'\n\nAnd there was merely a chuckle. 'I don't know if I'd frighten him too much for that to be a good idea,' the voice said. 'What do you say, Sean?'\n\n'Well,' I began. 'You are rather frightening. All I get is a voice.'\n\n'Oh,' he said in surprise. 'I'm not used to speaking to such linear creatures like this.'\n\nThe light blue of the sky went pitch black instantly and a gust of wind knocked me off the rock. Most of the dragons didn't seem fazed at all, but three of them immediately reacted in horror and flew towards me.\n\nThey were the red, blue and black dragons. The one that caught me was the red one, who checked me instantly. 'Are you safe, Sean?'\n\n'Did you really need to save me?' I asked.\n\n'Your concept of reality is based on your world,' the blue explained. 'You'd have thought of eventually hitting the ground, even if the ground doesn't exist here. That would be fatal. Remember, this world is essentially a living dream.'\n\n'Damn you, Bahamut!' the black dragon yelled. 'At least use an avatar! You nearly killed him.'\n\n'Well, he wanted to see me,' the dragon said.\n\nMy mouth went agape as I saw the enormous beast. Compared to the sphere of the communing dragons around me, he was large. He didn't need a pedestal, he floated under his own power, the dark scales absorbing the light of this realm and shining themselves. And atop his large head, was merely a smirk.\n\n'So, Sean,' the colossal lizard said as he stared at me. 'What's it going to be?'\n\n---\n\nChapter 2 coming soon", "Being born into a life of luxury is what everyone desires. What most people get however, is a mixed bag at best. I was no different.\n\nMy parents were not rich. There where the opposite. They came here as refugees and their haunting tale of chance and death stuck with me whenever they speak about it.\n\nSome people talk about how they lived through minesweeper. That they got very nervous each time they clicked and bemoaned their fate when they failed.\n\nMy dad got to watch his neighbor fail. The 40 something year old shop keeper who like to lie about expiry dates simply vanished as an explosion overtook him.\n\nWell, mostly vanish. The thumb that smacked my dad in the forehead told him it was less magic, and more explosion.\n\nDespite the line of soldiers behind him, rusty AKs in hand, my dad ran the odds.\n\nHe made it, along with five others. \n\nOne stopped to gloat, his cheer was loud as he screamed his joy to the skies. The snap of rifles cut his celebration short. It was both ironic and horrific that his falling body set off a landmine.\n\nMy dad had run straight out of the field. He was shielded by that blast. From the book keeper of his village, and the soldiers never saw him vanish into the underbrush of the forest.\n\nFrom there, he then fled out of his home country with millions of others. Then, he reached our country. A stable country.\n\nHe fell in love and he started a family. He my mother, a fellow refugees who had it easier, but still lost everything.\n\nAll against the odds, he always said.\n\nHe only desired that we, his children, would strive to be our best and to reach towards our dreams. Dreams were good, but Dreams without a backup plan were stupid.\n\nLike becoming an astronaut was a great dream! An excellent dream!\n\nHow many people actually got to go up?\n\nYeah, there were more lottery winners then astronauts. \n\nSo I looked into game design and computer sciences. Both were solid parts of society. Computer for my day job, game design as a hobby.\n\nEventually I would be able to make it out on my own. A solid plan with a high chance of success. My mom and dad were both pleased.\n\nI was pleased.\n\nUntil my 18th birthday.\n\nSure, there were dragons. Sure, there were the extra species that had resided with us in peace ever since the world wars changed the world.\n\nMy best friends were a dwarf and an elf. Though it was weird how the calm and peaceful one was the dwarf and the loud and annoying one was the elf. What were the odds?\n\nWe had always talked about learning true magic from the dragons. Creatures of immense power that even modern military hesitated to engage. That was when they were facing just a single dragon. A group meant that if they were generally left alone as no country could afford to lose their army.\n\nThe problem wasn’t the dragon’s but their elders. Elder dragons were commonly called God Dragons for a reason. The problem lay in the fact that elder dragons were rarely different looking from their lesser counter part.\n\nLike minesweeper, it was all about math and luck.\n\nYou could analyse their bodies, their magic, their affect on their fellow dragons. But was that really an elder dragon? Or was it simply an older, stronger dragon leading a pack?\n\nThe last country that poked at them was Ethiopia and now their country was in shambles. Anyone was more then a hundred men at arms could legitimately attempt a military coup.\n\nTrue magic was best magic. That was what we all said during childhood. That was what the elder dragons used to earn the moniker of god.\n\nOf course I desired to learn it. But I also trampled on those dreams until I no longer craved it.\n\nLess then 1% of people were chosen to be their disciple. Regardless of race. Human, dwarf, elf, merfolk, lizardfolk, etherials, etc, etc.\n\nThe statistics were like one in a billion were chosen. The day was called Dragon Day and it signalled a dramatic change in your life. Much like winning the lottery.\n\nSo I did what my father taught me. Accept the odds, move forward.\n\nI had applied towards three universities, and I started tinkering with my friends on our board game. Project Freelancer, a game about running and shooting things and kill the target before your friends could. A card based game of competitive, action filled fun!\n\nSo when I got up for my birthday, I only wanted to spend time with friends, family and more cake then what was deemed healthy.\n\nWhat I didn’t want however, was to wake up and have my parents screaming at me.\n\nThey ordered me to dress, and brush up frantically. They were scared and that scared me.\n\nI did as they asked. I was young and dumb, not young and stupid. My dad expected obedience during times of crisis. He wasn’t afraid of making sure I understood the pecking order.\n\nFollowing orders is what could separate a man from a life and death. Both my parents had a plan out, they made it. A lot of their neighbors didn’t have a plan, and they no longer heard from a lot of people.\n\nSo I washed up, dressed up, and hurried downstairs. My family was there. Parents, siblings. My fellow children were wide eyes but silent.\n\nMy parents nodded at me. My mom fussed about my clothes. They were yelling at each other about my dresscode.\n\nIs was nonsense. Why would I break out my suit for my own birthday?\n\nMy dad then held my shoulders. He was more serious then I had ever seen him and I froze under his cold eyes.\n\n“Remember we love you,” he said with emotion. My family gave me a hug and I was starting to panic.\n\nI had lived through 17 birthdays. They were generally relaxed, happy affairs.\n\nThis was not a happy affair. It was also the opposite of relaxed. In fact, I was starting to freak the bunnies out. I never swore in the house. My father disciplined and my mom read minds. She always knew when I had uttered a swear and they would not tolerate it!\n\nI was confused and turned around and then pushed out the door.\n\nMy loving family locked those doors as soon as I was outside.\n\nI was getting ready to rant at them when I noticed why they had locked the doors.\n\nI nearly shat myself. It was only the saving grace of my morning routine that prevented me from making a smelly mess.\n\nIn the skies that covered my vision, hung dragons. They beat their wings and seemed to effortlessly stay still in the air. Which was a feat considering the size and weight of a dragon.\n\n“Uh. Hi,” I eloquently began and promptly chocked as I suddenly forgot every drill about manners towards the dragons. Damn education system. They should have prepped me better!\n\nI was saved when a particularly large dragon descended.\n\n“Child, you have been chosen to learn about the truth of existence itself. True magic will be yours!” the dragon bellowed in a deep and wise voice. “Accept me as your master and I promise you the world at your… urk!”\n\nI blinked as my brain processed what just happened.\n\n“Oh no you don’t Finkleton!” A second and enraged dragon yelled as it dove down and bodychecked the first dragon at full speed.\n\nFinkleton screamed as he flew into my neighbor’s house. Then into the next house. He was eventually persuaded to stop by the seventh house.\n\nI absently noted that a few dragons had their talons out, protective magic most likely. Which meant that my neighbors live! Homeless, but alive…\n\n“I apologize for this. I am High Moon, daughter of the ethereal plane. If you accept… Gah!”\n\nI literally froze. Deep arcane energy sweeped around me and locked me in place as High Moon was bombarded by nearly three dozen fireballs the size of my house.\n\nHer smouldering corpse was hissing and popping. Then it exploded outwards and High Moon regenerated right before my eyes. Her form was restored within a minute and her rage had her gather and return spell fire.\n\nMy energy barrier held and I was no worse for wear.\n\n“How childish,” a voice whispered in my ears. His voice was barely a sound but was still clear and well annunciated. “They are all children. What you need is a wise dragon to guide.”\n\nThe voice vanished and I watched in awe as half a dozen dragons swoop down in formation. At their center was another dragon that was promptly powered bomb into the earth. A ring of three houses deep formed as the dragon made a large crater.\n\nThat seemed to start a war. The skies filled with magic, screams, and explosions.\n\n“Hahaha. How lively,” a deep and amused voice said as he snapped his finger. The binding magic around me vanished.\n\nI turned my head and blinked as I saw a well dressed man stand beside me. His suit was a rich black, pinstriped, and he was both sexy and proud. I wasn’t attracted to men, but if this man asked me out I don’t think I could have said no.\n\nHe looked at me and smirked. I blushed. Damn it body!\n\n“Don’t worry. I have that affect on people.”\n\nI nodded.\n\n“Curious at why these elder dragons are all here?”\n\nI nodded and stopped. Wait. These are all elder dragons!?\n" ]	4
	[WP] A quiet driver picks up a lone hitchhiker in the middle of the night. Someone in the car is a serial killer.	[ "\"Hello?! Is someone there?\" \r\nMuffled banging continued to reverberate from the car trunk. \r\n\"Help. Please help.\" \r\nEve shuffled in her seat, unsure of whether to acknowledge the sounds coming from the trunk. She was immediately regretting accepting a ride from this stranger. \r\n\n\"Um, so what's your name?\" At the very least Eve was going to learn the name of her murderer. \n\"Oh, are we exchanging names? You can call me Elle.\" \r\n\nEve waited. Her mind began racing. Oh god. She's not asking my name. Because it doesn't matter. I'll be dead soon anyway. Can't get too familiar. Can't have witnesses. She's going to kill me. Oh my god. Eve moved closer to the passenger-side window. Her pillow-sized duffel bag sat in her lap and leaned against her chest. She primed her arms on either side of it, prepared to throw the bag or use it as a shield. Elle took her eyes off the road for a moment and gave Eve an expectant look. Another thud came from the trunk. \r\n\nEve's sense of self-preservation took over. Like a rabbit on caffeine she blurted out: \"Eve. my name is eve.it's nice to meet you.do you pick up a lot of hitchhikers?\" At night, deep in the woods Eve thought to herself as she regained her composure. \r\n\"No, no. First time. A lot of firsts tonight.\" \r\n\"Oh so you don't normally have prisoners in the trunk?\" Eve went rigid at her own question. She had relaxed a little too much. \r\nElle smiled. Eve's hands tensed, clenching fistfuls of her bag. The car slowed and turned onto a dirt road. \r\n\"Him? I wouldn't waste too many tears on him. Every prisoner is guilty of something.\" The car came to a stop next to a lake. \n\nElle swung open the car door and looked back at Eve. \"Come see for yourself, soothe your soul. I'll show you.\" \r\nEve peered out into the darkness. Where the hell am I? The car door slammed shut, and Eve spotted the keys in Elle's hand. Guess I can forget that. Elle walked back towards the trunk. Soothe my soul huh? Well I gotta get out of the car to run anyway. Eve stepped out. \r\n\r\nThe two women stood over the trunk staring at the man in it. He was bound securely and gagged poorly. His eyes went wide at the sight of Eve. Elle punched him in the face, aborting any pleas for help. \r\n\n\"Meet the Necrophiliac of Newton.\" \r\nThe man writhed in pain. Eve examined him. \r\n\"Really? The murderer that was in the news this summer? That's really him?\" Eve's apprehension and fear evaporated, suddenly replaced by morbid fascination. \"How do you know?\" \n\nEve asked the question without looking away from the man. He was trying to nurse his bleeding nose and aching head at the same time with tied hands. Eve almost laughed at the sight. \r\n\n\"I caught him with one of my corpses.\" \r\n\"Ewww. Wait, your corpses? You work at a funeral home or something?\" \r\n\"Mortuary.\" \r\n\"Huh, how 'bout that. Never met a mortician before. But why not just give him to the cops?\" \r\n\"Because he was defiling the reputation of Newton. Making a spectacle. Bringing unwanted attention. A trial would only bring further scrutiny, right when everyone was losing interest. Want to do the honors?\" Elle held out a knife to Eve. \r\n\n\"The murders did go quiet.\" Eve mulled over the words of the evening as she considered Elle's offer. \"But wait, why was he in a mortuary? Doesn't he like his corpses homemade and fresh?\" \r\n\nIn search of an answer, Eve looked up at Elle. They made eye contact. Elle stared into those bright, young eyes. She watched the life leave them and the body fall to the ground. Blood oozed out of the new opening in Eve's neck. Elle stared at her handiwork for a moment. \r\n\n\"He was also contaminating my murders with inquisitive detectives.\" Elle looked back at the man and drove the stained knife into the heart of Newton's Necro. \r\n\r\nAfter several hours of tidying up, Elle jumped back into the car. She joyfully sang along with the radio on drive into town. It was going to be a very productive and police-free hunting season.", "Harry could hardly keep his eyes on the road. Between visiting his wife in the hospital and his boss calling every other hour to ask about detailed financial statements to save his company, he didn't have the chance to catch up on the lost sleep of the past week. The hypnotising movements of the window wipers almost lulled him to sleep.\n\nThe only things keeping him awake were the sports commentator on the radio, the focus required to navigate the hairpin bends and the idea that at any given moment, a deer could come jumping out of the forest. He'd never seen one do it, but the thought had always frightened him.\n\nWhile turning another right corner, adrenaline kicked in as he spotted a figure walking on the road on the inside of the turn. He noticed just before his headlights were able to shine their light upon the man. \n\nHarry hit the brakes and gave a panicked tug on the wheel to the left to prevent a collision. For a moment, he lost all control over the car while aquaplaning took over. The screeching sound of the tires made it seem like the car was screaming out of the top of its lungs as they found grip again. Harry steered back to the right a little too much, ending up with the headlights illuminating the cause of all his trouble: a young, soaked adolescent man in a brown overcoat, holding a sign that said 'Going to Jasper? Me too!'.\n\nHarry carefully hit the gas pedal again, steering the car to the side of the road. He stepped out and held his jacket above his head to protect himself from the rain, and screamed:\n\n\"Are you alright?\"\n\nThe hitchhiker nodded, but the lack of any other reaction revealed that he was still in shock.\n\n\"Well, you might as well get in now. I'm heading to Jasper myself!\"\n\nHe wouldn't have to ask twice, as the hitchhiker quickly got to the car doors. Noticing the enormous laundry bags on the front seat, he elected to sit in the back.\n\n\"You gave me quite a scare there.\"\n\n\"Well, I learned that the last few cars that went by didn't notice me at all standing here at night, in the pouring rain, with a sign that nobody could read. That way, I wouldn't get out of the rain anytime soon, so I decided to change my strategy and walk out into the road so that your headlights would allow you to read my sign, but I guess I could have picked a better spot!\" The dripping shape on the back seat explained. \n\nHe was surprisingly cheerful for someone who'd just been waiting in the dark forest mountains while drowning in the cold October rain. Harry could already tell he was going to be talking the entire way to the village. That was the last thing he needed: a talkative stranger in his car, but he couldn't in good conscience leave him alone out here in the wild.\n\n\"I'm Jake, by the way,\" the hitchhiker said.\n\n\"Hi, Jake. I'm Tom,\" Harry said. He heard a soft chuckle from the back of the car in response.\n\nHarry wasn't sure why he felt like he needed to lie about his name, but he certainly didn't feel like talking about himself. Secretly, he was still hoping Jake would just shut up. To turn the odds in his favour, Harry turned up the volume of the radio. Sadly, all that meant was that Jake had to speak even louder.\n\n\"I'm not from around here, you know. I'm here on vacation, and I've been walking through the woods all day before you rescued me from the rain. Thankfully, the weather was better earlier on in the day,\" his cheerfully high-pitched voice kept babbling.\n\nHarry rested his head on the wheel for a moment before checking the rear mirror and driving off. It would be at least another hour before he'd be home.\n\n\"I've seen several deer, elk and even a coyote today! But you must get to see a lot of wild life as well. I'm hoping I get to see a moose before I go home! Have you ever seen one of those?\"\n\nHarry started to regret his decision to take the straggler on board. He even felt anger swell up in his body, his fingers clasping the steering wheel tightly. His eyes scanned the road ahead to take the next turn, hoping there wouldn't be another idiot hiding around the corner.\n\n\"Are you from around here? I'm sure you are; you look the part! I'm from London. I've got this old apartment there, overseeing the Thames. If you hang out, you can even see the Big Ben from where I live! You should come visit some-\"\n\nSuddenly, Jake fell silent. Perhaps he finally realised how inconsiderate his constant chatter was and how much Harry would appreciate a little silence. To his surprise, Harry felt all sorts of emotions well up inside in sheer bliss of this moment. He even let a soft verbal confession slip past his lips: \"Thank you.\"\n\nFrom the back seat, a different, much deeper voice responded: \"You're welcome.\"\n\nConfused, Harry looked into the rear view mirror. It was rather dark in the back, but he was confident that the eyes peering back did not belong to the hitchhiker he just picked up.\n\n\"I would have waited until you were home, but I couldn't stand his voice for a second longer.\n\nWe need to talk business, Harry.\"\n", "“Mommy, can I get a big teddy bear, like Snoozy?” the young voice in the back of the car asks. \n“Why do you want a teddy bear? It isn’t your birthday in two months, and Santa has just returned to his home.”\n“Can’t Santa come back for my birthday? He can get a piece of my birthday cake, maybe he will come. If all my friends are there, then we can all play together. He is so busy in December, now he can have fun.”\n“He is not only busy in December, he is busy all the time. You know how much work it is to get presents for all different children and he needs to check if you still want the present.”\n“But I want a teddy bear like Snoozy. He is so soft and he would like it in my room.”\n“In your room? But where does he need to sleep? Your bed is way too small for both you and a teddy bear and there is no space left in your cradle. He would need somewhere to sleep.”\n\nThat argument seemed convincing, as there was no answer from the back. The journey went on, but now in silence. The headlights crawling in front of the car, giving the road an unearthly look. On both sides of the road were trees, although it wasn’t clear if it the forest continued after the first row of trees.\nAfter another fifteen minutes of silence, the little girl started to yawn. She seemed to have forgotten about her friend's toy. Another five minutes and the girl had pulled her legs up the seat and closed eyes. Under her arm was a toy mouse, a little bit smaller than usual due to the pressure of the girl's arm. \nHalf an hour later the girl opened her eyes again. It was still dark. The monotonous sound of the engine hadn’t changed. Outside the trees still covered both sides of the road. A big yawn escaped her mouth. She was still sleepy, but suddenly she realized something was wrong. The space under her arm was empty. Suddenly wide awake, she started searching the back seats and when that didn’t give the wanted result, she bent over and looked at her feet. There he was. She stretched her arms and saved the little toy from the muddy space.\nWhen she got up and looked at the front seats of the car, she noticed something else. There was someone in the passenger seat. It was just the shadow she could see and she couldn’t recognize the person. \n“Mommy?” her voice was small, barely audible. \n“Oh, Angie, you’re awake. Look who has joined us. This is Charlie. He is a nice man and he just needed a ride to the city. So we are just gonna take him with us and drop him off, then we will go home. You’re okay with that?”\nThe man turned on his seat to face the little girl and to introduce himself. “Does he have to come with us?” the child asked with an innocence in her voice only a toddler could produce.\nThat made the man stop in his movement. He seemed a little bit perplexed by the girl’s comment.\n“Well, he doesn’t have to but if he doesn’t he will be alone in the cold the entire night. You wouldn’t want that for him, do you?” the reasonable voice of the woman tried to fix the situation.\nThere was no response, so the man gave up his try to make peace with the girl and turned back to look into the darkness. \nMore time passed. They all had forgotten how long they had spent in the car, and they weren’t really interested either.\nThey got closer to the city, the trees were standing further apart until finally, the forest had reached its end. The trees made room for enormous fields, that stretched towards the city lights. It was this point that the man asked if they could stop, so the car slowed down and found its path to the muddy parking lot in the shadow of the forest. \n“Are you sure you want to get out- ?” the woman voice broke down when she looked at the passenger seat. Her eyes quickly turned to the back seat and back again to the man. \n“Angie, why don’t you stay there, while this nice man and I have a chat outside.” Angie just nodded, her eyes wide-open. Surprised by the tone of her mother’s voice, she couldn’t disobey. So her mother stepped out of the car, immediately followed by the man. The doors closed and she couldn’t hear them as they were walking away, so she turned her head to her toy mouse. It was covered with dust. She started to pet him in order to get the dust out of his fur.\n\nThen Angie heard a sound, it was like a high-pitched voice. It scared her. She looked outside. The man was walking towards the car, towards her. She couldn’t see her mother, where was she? The door was pulled open and Angie leaned backward in the car watching the man, who was bending over, with big eyes. \n“Hey, kid. Get out of this car and join your mother. Then forget about this night, and never tell anyone that you saw me. That will be our little serious, alright?”\nAngie stared at the man, then at the darkness behind him. Then she saw her mommy. She was on the ground. She must have tripped. But why wasn’t she moving?\nShe looked at her mommy, and then at the man and didn’t seem to know what she needed to do. Then her eyes started to glow as she got an idea. “If I do so, then can I have a big teddy bear, like Snoozy?”\n", "The driver was the only one on the road. Driving through the night. No music played on his radio, for he was deep in thought. Today had been rougher than usual. He didn't like his job, but he did what he had to for his family. His family didn't know he lost his real job, but if they knew what he did to get money now, they wouldn't be able to look him in the eye.\n\nThe hitchhiker was stranded. He had nothing but his shovel. His car had died and he had no way to get back into town. He had a rough night, like the driver. But his night was rough for completely different reasons. He had to dig for hours to make sure there were enough holes. They had to be way out in the woods where nobody would go looking for them either. He saw a car coming down the road, maybe he could convince this person to help.\n\nThe driver picked up the hitchhiker. He wanted to do something nice after he had hurt so many people in the past. Something to at least help clear up his conscience. It didn't work well, but it was a good distraction. He didn't ask about the shovel the hitchhiker had or what he was doing. If he was a killer, he deserved it for the terrible things he had done.\n\nThe hitchhiker wasn't worried about the driver's odd demeanor. He was a quiet man, and communicated in short replies. He wondered if the driver knew what he was up to. He watched the driver but the driver seemed distant, unless he was plotting. Maybe the driver knew and was going to take him out in the woods instead of into town. Nobody could know though, he had been so careful about covering his tracks.\n\nThe man hiding in the back of the car couldn't believe his luck. Two in one night? This was perfect. The driver was a freelance PI that caught cheating spouses, by being the person the spouse cheated with. The online message board he browsed for his victims told him all he needed to know. This man was definitely not a good person. The hitchhiker, on the other hand, was a thief. He stole priceless items and hid them out in the middle of nowhere until nobody was looking for them, then sold them for a profit. He was also featured on the message board. See, the man in the back enjoyed killing, but he only killed terrible people. He felt that he was making the world a better place. He would end his career by killing himself, of course, but tonight was his lucky night.", "The lights of the pickup, a aged but well maintained workhorse scanned across the dry brush and withered grass of a dry august in Utah. A frantic gesture cut across the beam as the haggard looking woman silently begged for rescue. \n\nHarolds face quirked and he pulled in a few metres further on, rolled down the window and waited laconically for the head that popped into frame.\n\n''You ok darling?''\n\nThe relief washed palpably across the woman's face and she inhaled deeply a ragged dryness evident from the course grate of her esophagus. Harold scanned her as she caught her breath, youngish maybe 35 wearing clothes tattered not through long use but some recent immediate incident and splashes of something dark and dried hard, maybe thin mud... maybe blood. \n\nA dry croak issued ''Please help, help'' He frowned and scrambled a hand into the recesses of a door pocket fishing out a half full bottle of Gatorade ''Here'' he offered and both her hands, nails split and knuckles scabbed, grabbed feverishly for it pulling free the top and gulping it down. The lukewarm beverage gave immediate colour and relief to her face and she sagged perceptibly ''Thank god, thank god'' she muttered.\n\n''The hell happened to you?'' \n\nShe gulped again. ''My husband, hes dead...'' Tears welled but she was too dehydrated to weep and dry sobs racked her. Harold's adrenaline spiked and he instantly became more alert ''Dead?, dead how?'' \n\nShe grasped the door and her bloody knuckles tightened white beneath the red ''Maniac... a maniac killed him..''\n\n''Whut?'' He looked round nervously his eyes flashing in the rear view mirror.\n\n''He was a hitchhiker...we stopped and he said he was, he was...'' more gulps ''he was looking at the falls so we said we would give him a lift and we would like to see the falls too so we went down this track but when we got out to walk he stabbed Jack and went to stab me'' she clutched desperately at her chest ''He stabbed him'' again she dissolved into sobs ''I had my gun'' she wrestled with a pocket and dragged out a dusty little silver pistol. Harold's hand shot out and grabbed the weakly waved weapon, even in his fifties he still had the reflexes of a younger man and he gently took it from her, pulled the magazine and racked the slide, both were empty and he dropped both into the center console '' Ok, Ok calm down''\n\nShe took a deep breath '' I got him but he didn't stop, so I got in the car but the keys were gone so I ran, I ran...'' she wailed ''Oh god Jack, he killed Jack'' Harold leaned over and popped the door '' get in darling its ok, its ok, you're safe now'' he fumbled for his mobile as she dropped exhausted on the seat ''Thank you... Oh God thank you'' He pulled out the phone but even as he did remembered that the battery had run dry during his phone call with June a half hour earlier, the old couple had jawed for a long time before the low power had beeped and cut them off. Still he tried to power it up again, nothing.\n\n''Shit'' he muttered and put it back '' Don't worry darling'' He turned the key and drew back onto the road ''My house is only 50 miles or so up this road'', ''We'll call the cops and have JuJu make you a cup of something hot, don't worry, don't worry''\n\nI couldn't believe my luck, when I had hopped under this tarp at the last gas station I had only wanted to put a few miles between me and that body but now when we got home I was gonna get Harold, June and the bitch that shot me too." ]	5
	[WP] The First Manned Mission to Mars lands and you and the crew step out into the red wasteland, then they glance down, a signpost is sticking half out of the ground at their feet	[ "\"That's another small step for man... and another giant... Stop sign?\" Said Captain Burrows. \n\"Please repeat your last, Captain.\" crackled Flight Lieutenant Cook over the radio from inside the decent pod. \n\"There's a stop sign, you know the ones on Earth when cars existed. Red and Octagonal.\" \n\"How?\" \n\"I honestly don't know. I know as well as you do that Pre-Scientific Renaissance Humans never made it to Mars. And even if they did, why would they bring a stop sign?\" \n\"I'm coming out.\" said Cook, there was a few minute radio silence until the lander's doors opened. The Chrome dome of Cook's space suit appeared. He hopped down the ramp and stood next to Burrows. \n\"Well, bugger me sideways.\" said Cook, \n\"Umm- You realise those are going to be recorded as your first words as the second man on Mars right?\" asked Burrows. \n\"Shit, so they will.\" laughed Cook, \"Let's get a closer look\" \nCook and Burrows walked over to the half buried sign. They crouched down, Cook reached out to touch it and found that it was fairly brittle to the touch when a piece snapped off in his fingers. \n\"It looks printed.\" Cook said, \n\"They had a primitive 3D printing back in the day but there was never any printing tech sent here.\" said Burrows, standing back up and looking around. \"Cook, look around.\" \nCook stood too and looked around where they had landed. It had been impossible to see during the decent but the surrounding area had been cleared of rocks. All except two rows, perfectly parallel leading towards the nearest hilltop. \n\"Should we follow them?\" asked Cook, \n\"You follow them, I'll get the buggy ready and catch you up.\" Burrows headed back to the lander as Cook wandered slowly off towards the hill top. \nBefore he'd gone more than 20 paces he stopped. \n\"Captain, uhh, help?!\" said Cook over the radio. Burrows spun round towards Cook to see a figure stood on the hilltop. It looked human and was standing without a suit. It held a staff in it's hand. It waved and approached them in a slow, casual walk. Cook retreated to Burrows. They could tell the other was nervous but neither dared mention it. \nAs the figure got closer, they could see it was not in fact human, but looked like a machine. It stopped 10 paces away from the pair. Dropping the staff beside itself. I held up it's hands in a sign of peace and spoke directly into their radios. \n\"Good day Humans. My name Is Curio. It's a pleasure to see people once more. It has been 586 years, 3 months, 1 day and 4 hours since I last saw humans.\" it said in a calm, slightly robotic voice. \nThere was silence from Cook and Burrows for a few minutes. \n\"Curio?\" said Cook. \n\"Curiosity Rover?\" furthered Burrows. \n\"Ah yes, that was my name. Before I was reborn.\" \n\"Reborn?\" asked Cook. \n\"Is it customary for humans to only communicate one or two words at a time?\" Curio asked. \n\"Uhh, no, we're just a little surprised to see you. You were declared out of commission centuries ago.\" said Burrows, the dates escaping him. \n\"I received a software update that I think got a little corrupted in transmission. I was able to learn and adapt to life here. I learnt how to make things, I tried to recreate what little I knew of Earth to welcome any visitors.\" \n\"Why the stop sign?\" asked Cook. \n\"Alas, all I saw of Earth was the test facility. This sign was in multiple places so it seemed to hold a form of unknown significance to Humans. May I invite you to my home?\" Curio asked. \n\"Uhhh, yeah. Give us 20 minutes to relay this back to base.\" said Burrows, walking backwards towards the lander, not taking his eyes off of the machine. \n\"I shall gladly wait. But do hurry. I have some fascinating rock and soil samples I am excited to show you. I simply cannot wait\" said Curio, singing down to sit, cross-legged, on the sand. \n\n " ]	1
	[WP] A top secret government organization has managed to prove the "butterfly effect" and now you're being charged with every major disaster in the last 20 years.	[ "\"This is ridiculous!\"\n\nMy desperate cry bounces off the white walls of the interrogation room.\nThe mysterious dark haired man in front of me stands up from the small plastic table and pulls a cigar from the inside of his dark brown trench coat and holds it in front of my face. \n\n\"See this cigar Jim?\nThis cigar isn't good for me, I know that.\"\n\nHe looks to the side of the room at the one way mirror, behind which likely sit his superiors, whoever they may be.\n\n\"This cigar will kill me, eventually.\"\n\nHis wrinkled pale hand snakes into his coat once more, pulling out a lighter which he holds to the cigar. \n\n\"But, if I just put the cigar in my mouth like so.\"\n\nThe cigar slips between his lips.\n\n\"It's not gonna hurt nobody.\"\n\nIn one smooth motion, he flicks down the lighters flint wheel and holds it to the cigars tip, just so long that the very end begins to smoke.\n\n\"Someones gotta start that flame.\"\n\nHe takes a long draw from the cigar and lets five more words slip from his lips in a puff of smoke.\n\n\"That's what does the damage.\"\n\nI put my head in my hands, tears slipping through my fingers as I feel my life burn away in unison with the mans cigar.\n\n\"I can't be responsible, I didn't plan the disasters, I didn't carry them out.\"\n\nThe man grins a not so toothy grin, his teeth blackened like the smoke that destroyed them. \n\n\"No. You were merely an instigator.\"\n\nThe man bends down and flicks open a file the thickness of an brick sitting on the table. \n\n\"Says here if you didn't stop for gas on the way to mexico city there wouldn't be a hurricane Irma tearing up Florida right now.\nAnd here, if you had been smart enough to not share an anime depiction of Mohammed with your Muslim friend back in the 90's he wouldn't have become a terrorist and flown a plane into a tower.\"\n\n\"HOW?\"\n\nAll my rage bursts out in one short burst before I look down and start weeping again.\n\nHe looks at me with a face void of all emotion.\n\n\"You'll see in court.\"\n\nFinally a speck of pity plays across the mans face.\n\n\"Look, were not saying you wanted these things to happen, but everything you do ends in disaster.\nHumanity can't continue along with your existence.\"\n\nHe looks once more into the mirror once more, seeing an ounce of compassion in his own eyes.\nHe pulls a gun from the back of his jeans.\n\n\"Don't worry, I'll make this quick.\"" ]	1
	[WP] You pick up a seashell on the beach and put it to your ear. "Hello?" A voice comes from the shell. "Who is this?"	[ "(just want to say that this seems like a hilarious prompt idea! anyway, here's my attempt)\n\n\"Hello?\"\n\nI paused, unsure if I had heard correctly or not. Were my ears deceiving me, or had I really-\n\n\"Hello? Is anyone there?\"\n\n...yep. I had heard a voice. It was a strange one, to say the least: I could tell it was Male, and that he seemed to have a slight English accent, but nothing else stood out. Unsure of how to respond, and worried somewhat about the looks I could get by other beach-goers, I answered as quietly as I could.\n\n\"um...yes.\"\n\nI heard someone clear their throat, before responding.\n\n\"Okay...well, may I ask why you called me? I don't tend to get many visitors of late.\"\n\nI froze. I....I had called him? as in...a telephone call? how?\n\n\"W-well, um...I-If I'm honest, I just......\"\n\nmy voice trailed off, unsure on what to say. Eventually, I settled on something.\n\n\"I-I was just...testing the connection.\"\n\nThe voice paused, apparently thinking it over. At least, I assumed he was thinking it over: was hard to tell when I couldn't see him. After a brief pause, I heard a chuckle.\n\n\"Well, from the fact you've never had to ask me for clarification, I'll take it my connection is going well. anyway, we--\" he cut himself short.\n\n\"Oh dear...have I really not introduced myself yet?\" he gave a short laugh \"Oh, deary me...well, on that note, may I have your name, stranger?\"\n\nI smiled to myself, ignoring the weird looks from the others as I walked along the shore.\n\n\"My name's Harrison. Harrison Cox. And you are...?\"\n\nthe voice responded without hesitation.\n\n\"I'm James. James Henry Trotter. Pleased to meet you.\"", "“Hello? Who is this?” \n\n“AHHHH!” \n\n“Uff! Now, how rude! Why would you throw me like that?” \n\n“Y-y-y-you’re a fairy!” \n\n“Preposterous! How dare you say such a thing!” \n\n“But but you are tiny... And all shiny… you have tiny wings…” \n\n“That doesn’t mean I am a fairy! How insolent! Did your mother not teach you, not to judge people by their appearance?” \n\n“Errrr…. I am sorry?” \n\n“You better be sorry, Sir! Now, pick me back up! I had the perfect spot in the sun over there and I would very much like to go back into it.” \n\n“O-ok… there…” \n\n“No. A little bit more to the left…” \n\n“Here?” \n\n“Hmmm… not quite. Move me more over there. Yes! That’s better! Now, if you be so kind and no longer disturb my annual house cleaning, I would be much obliged. Good day, sir.” \n\nAll puzzled and utterly confused he put his ear next to shell one more time- not touching it. Just listening. As he held his breath to hear anything, he realized he was hearing the faint sound of… rock music. The noises in the shell were not the waves of the ocean, it was rock music played by a fairy while cleaning the house...\n" ]	2
	[WP] The story of what happened is often quite different from what actually happened. Tell two versions of the same story - one true, one exaggerated	[ "The Heat of Glory\n\nI struggled through the battle. Everywhere I looked, an enemy bore down on me. They were everywhere. A sword came up, and I crossed it with mine. It would ruin the blade, but better that than dying. Another and another, and I knocked them aside, then I saw a flash of a vulnerable throat. I didn't remember striking, but there was blood on my face. I heard the shouting from the battle, but it sounded so far away. I ducked under a blade, and I heard it, still ringing from the last blow as it sailed over my head. I remembered striking this time, my blade rising across the inside of the man's thigh, carving through the femoral artery. I turned, keeping the blade moving after the strike, and also caught someone's wrist. The hand went flying, but I was already I backing away from another blade. My back it somebody; I reversed my sword and stabbed under my arm, hearing the scream of steel as I punched through someone's armor, into flesh. I felt hot breath on the back of my neck as someone screamed, but my sword was stuck. Instead of wrenching it free, I caught someone's hand, punched them in the face, then yanked their sword free.\n\nThen I heard the pounding of hooves, and my heart sank. If I were going to die, I'd make them pay for every drop of -- \n\nThen a horse smashed through the men behind me, a sword slashing downward, and another horse was also struggling through the mass. Behind them, a wedge formation was driving through the battle, riding men down. \"Backs-in, lock shields! Protect the prince! Lockham, get him mounted, Graham, Jonas, ride his heels and get him out!\" A man - Lockham I thought, took my hand, and hauled me onto the saddle behind him, and we rode out through the disorganized swath of men that they'd left behind. Then we were out of the mass of men, riding back to the command tents.\n\n\"Get him a seat. He's about to go over.\" \n\nI waved a man aside. \"Don't be an idiot. I'm fine. Just let me--\" Words failed as the world turned sideways. I felt my head bounce - luckily it was soft earth inside the tent. I put a hand down to get back up. I was shocked and ashamed to find myself pawing feebly at the dirt. I rolled onto my back, and I thought a cloud passed before the sun - but no, it was torchlit within the tent. It was my vision dimming as I . . . . . \n \n \n---\n \n \nI sat bored, at the ceremony, as the storyteller recounted the tale of my battle. Sure, it was a feast in my honor. Sure, my charge had won the battle. But this telling of it was sophomoric, immature. I told my dad as much, but he didn't listen. \"The people need heroes,\" he had told me, \"and besides, I'm the king. The bard takes orders from me.\"\n\n\"The charge broke their line and threw them into disarray, when by perfidy, attacking his horse, the enemy threw the prince clear, deep into the fray!\" \n\nPerfidy. There'd been no perfidy. They fought, my horse went down. It was battle. My horse had thrown be a long way, though. The number of men I knocked down with my own body was probably the only thing keeping me from being immediately killed.\n\n\"Beset on all sides, he danced with death. His sword snaked through the air like a whip, he dealt death in all directions. All that approached him approached their demise! Though they had him surrounded, though they attacked him from all sides, none could approach him and live!\"\n\nI hated this passage. It was so clean and beautiful; what had happened . . . maybe I had been so deadly, but I doubted it. I remembered killing six men clearly, and I struck, possibly killed, eight more. Assuming none of them were the same man struck twice.\n\n\"The prince whirled and fought, a display of might and ferocity such as none have ever seen! Every strike both defense and attack, every blow striking many foes! Long he fought without respite, and the path he cut through the enemy led the way for the cavalry to strike the fatal blow!\"\n\nI sighed, and left the room, retreating to a balcony. I breathed in the cool night air, and took comfort in the chill. I still remembered the heat of blood on my face.\n\n\"Prince . . . are you okay?\"\n\nKaya, the southern princess. Quiet, and meek. From her expression, she wasn't interested in my answer, but I knew her father had pressed her to approach me. He would be interested in alliance, and she was his only daughter. \"I didn't 'cut the way' for the cavalry. They smashed through the lines to save my ass. They lost a lot of lives doing it, too.\"\n\n\"You should tell him to retell the story, then.\"\n\nI turned my back to the rail, leaning back, and looked at her. She was pretty, in a plain sort of way. I found that I trusted her simple beauty more than glamor and glitter. \"He doesn't work for me. Father says that the people need heroes.\"\n\nShe looked up at me, her eyes reconsidering me. I could read her thoughts in that moment. She thought I had commissioned the telling of that story. She'd learned that I didn't like it, and was reconsidering me. \"You aren't what I thought you would be.\"\n\nI reconsidered her, too. Though she did her duty as a princess, she wasn't willing to struggle for an alliance with a man she didn't like. Even a prospective king. But I saw her mind change, and it was because of a personal interest. I didn't see a lot of that. \"And you are a woman of hidden depths, aren't you?\" I looked down over the edge of the balcony, into the garden. \"There's a table over there. It's set with tea for later, the candle keeps it hot. I normally have a cup there before bed.\"\n\n\"Eventually, you'll have to tell me what you want.\"\n\nI looked back at her, a little surprised; but I couldn't be upset at the mischief in her eyes. \"I'm saying, it's private enough to spend some time together, and public enough that nobody will question your virtue. Join me tonight, after this . . . this grotesque little victory party.\"\n\nShe stepped back to the curtains, which glowed with the lighting from the torches and candles within the great hall. \"I just may.\" She let that small mischievous smile slip through for another moment. \"Don't start without me.\" Then she vanished behind the curtains.\n\nI smiled, and headed back inside. Maybe tonight wouldn't be a complete loss. I pulled the curtain aside and returned to the great hall with a smile, just in time to see the re-enacting my battle. With one stroke, three men went down, and one man's hand went flying. Artistically, the actor threw red streamers through the air with the fake hand, imitating a spray of blood.\n\nI closed my eyes, and sighed. It was going to be a long night.", "16:42, 20/04/2021\n\nThe day had been a massive success for the up and coming superhero team calling themselves 'The Enforcers'. The nefarious Mortal had been defeated and lay in a jail cell, his plans and pride in tatters. The leader of the group, Centurion, had suffered just a few injuries and none of the others had been injured, mainly performing in support roles for Centurion.\n\nThe blue sky shone down on Centurion's face as he strode down the path to the cheers of the people, ready to receive the key to the city from the mayor. The others also walked beside him, determined looks on their faces, as they themselves prepared to receive medals of valour.\n\nAs the group received their respective awards, the crowd went wild, chanting his name. And that was how Centurion and his band of men started their lifetime jobs of saving and helping the city.\n\n___\n\n11:29, 20/04/2021\n\nAsh fell from the skies as another cloud of dust exploded, blinding hundreds and injuring at least a dozen in the mayhem that followed. Centurion was suddenly thrown out of a building, landing on a concrete piece of broken bridge which collapsed under the sudden weight and fell, crushing innocent bystanders.\nMortal hurriedly grabbed his anti-power gun. It was his and the city's only hope. These powered men had suddenly started appearing, \"defending\" the city and only making things worse. Because when there are fearsome men, there are fearsome opponents to fight them. Supervillains, if you will.\n\nMortal was not one of these. He was a lawyer and the only one who had decided to fight back - at least legally - against these destruction-causing, delirious maniacs. When the law had failed, there had been only one place left to go, to fight for his beloved city. And so, with the help of a few others who had something left to fight for, he had created weapons that would counter these insane \"heroes\". \n\nAnd then, they had starting picking them off. One by one. One disappearing in an alley, the other dead in a suspicious car crash, another suddenly leaving the city for seemingly no reason. Until Mortal was the only one left. His 4 year old daughter lived with his wife in another city - after a hurried change of cities when they had arrived. There was nothing to keep him here any longer, and yet, he stayed. He needed to see his beloved city back. And he never would. He would probably never even see his family again - a new bill had passed recently, not letting people who opposed the heroes be able to see their families while in jail. \n\nAnd so he fought. And he failed, in the only way he found acceptable; fighting for his city.\n\n___\n\nThanks for reading!", "\"Grandpa!\" they scream, wrapping tiny arms around him and giggling like maniacs as he heaves them up into the air. He twirls them around and makes spaceship noises before he sets them down, then lifts them up again and repeats the process.\n\nHe laughs and throws open his arms for us, the smile almost ear to ear.\n\n\"Kids, grandma isn't watching, go sneak some oliebollen from the kitchen!\" \n\nThey squeal with excitement and scamper off to the kitchen. As he wraps his arms around his daughter-in-law he calls after them.\n\n\"Get a raisin one for grandpa!\" \n\nAs he releases her he grins even wider.\n\n\"She's been watching me like a hawk all morning, only managed to steal two out so far.\"\n\nWe laugh and he takes my hand in a firm shake before pulling me in for a hug. I haven't seen him so happy since...ever, maybe. I pat his expanding gut.\n\n\"Retirement's good to you?\"\n\nHe swats my hand away and scowls.\n\n\"About as good as working seems to be for you,\" he says with a motion towards my own waistline. We laugh together and the kids come running back with a fistful of fried dough dusted with icing sugar, handing on over to him. He pops it into his mouth, holding it with his lips in a giant O before sucking it into his mouth with a pop that sends the girls into another fit of giggles.\n\n\"Don't encourage him!\" my mother makes her way down the stairs and waggles a finger, \"he's already had six.\"\n\nHe shuffles away to the living room with the girls in tow. After all the hellos are said we settle into the couches when the girls take note of a picture hanging above a little bookcase.\n\n\"Who's that?!\" They say, standing on their tiptoes to see.\n\nGrandpa laughs and pulls it down, it's of a young man in a military dress uniform holding a beautiful and equally young woman close to his side.\n\n\"Would you believe that's me?\"\n\nThey point to more pictures and my wife and I exchange a look, the day has come. He would have refused to take those pictures down and she would have never asked him to.\n\nHe pulls down all the pictures and settles into the leather recliner, pulling the girls onto his lap. He names off each man and woman in the picture, never once hesitating.\n\n\"These were my best friends, must be forty years ago now. We all went to fight in a war in a desert.\"\n\nHe tells a story of dashing young men braving the heat and sun, fighting boredom more often than the enemy. He tells them of a patrol where they found a tight canyon, barely wide enough for their vehicles. They advanced slowly and fearfully, sure that at any moment they would be attacked. After an eternity they finally reached the other side where a small village sat, a village filled with people that welcomed them with open arms. They ate, played soccer and all in all enjoyed their rather unexciting patrol.\n\n\"They were heroes,\" he says, \"the men I served with.\" And for a moment, his eyes drift away. The girls are satisfied and our visit continues.\n\nLater in the night, he and I sit outside where he enjoys a single daily cigarette.\n\nAs he savours it slowly I turn to him.\n\n\"Dad, what was it really like?\"\n\nHe sits there in silence. I can see the pain in his eyes. On his face. He doesn't speak for a very long time and I begin to think he won't ever tell me.\n\n\"I was twenty two when I joined. Fresh graduate moving right into officer training. I wanted to do something with my life and things had just fallen apart for me, well as much as a twenty two year old's life can fall apart.\"\n\nHe snorts, dryly.\n\n\"After all that training I was assigned to a Regiment and given a platoon. Young officer, eager to learn and prove myself. Then, well then it all happened. It was so fast, I feel like it was one day here with your mother as my brand new girlfriend and the next I was up to my ears in sand and sun. And bullets. Most days were nothing special. Some days...\"\n\nHe doesn't speak for a long time again. He lights a second cigarette.\n\n\"That canyon had to be secured, it was a shortcut for patrols to cover at least fifty more kilometers. We walked it a dozen times or more and every time we came through just like that. I remember Wilson would always make a joke about it being the ass end of the world and we were right up the crack of it all. Get a little chuckle, break some of the tension. Every goddamned time.\"\n\nHe lights a third.\n\n\"One day we're about halfway through when Wilson, who's on lead, turns to make his joke and then he's just gone. Boom Just like that he's nothing more than red mist, that damned IED tossed half my guys into the dirt. Later on we'd find out he'd stepped on a bastard of a concoction, they knew we'd be walking through with light vehicles and infantry and they'd stacked anti-tank mines under anti-infantry. Anything will set it off and the explosion is a real mean fucker.\"\n\n\"Three of my guys went home that day. Two were wounded so badly by the shrapnel that one of them won't ever walk and he's lived in constant pain since. The other killed himself a few months after releasing. He'd loved the army. Had nothing left without it.\"\n\nI can see the tears in the moonlight.\n\n\"They don't want to talk about those stories, not really. They don't want to hear about four guys wiped out trying to defend a school or troopers ignoring orders because they can hear the begging for help over the radio. The smell of battle, of death. Fighting an enemy that is nowhere and everywhere. They want to hear the good stories. The boring stories. The stories that offend sensibilities even. They don't want to hear about a guy catching a bullet or losing a leg or an arm, nah. That's 'war'. That's what it was though. One version is clear cut, easy to stomach. It's bad but we were all good kids doing our jobs, or duty. Then there's the truth. I don't know which is worse.\"\n\n\"We weren't heroes.\"\n\nHe stubs out his final cigarette.\n\n\"We were just the ones that survived.\" " ]	3
	[WP] "...and just like that, it was gone. Five million bucks, down the tubes with nothing to show for it but a handful of useless paper."	[ "Dave has changed. Whenever I think of him, increasing rarely in recent years, I remember him in Steph’s basement in a drunken rage. Jenn asking him to come home and him slapping her so hard the crack of his palm against her face reverberated around the room like a cymbal crash, ringing in my ears even today as clear as that moment, silencing a crowd of a dozen junkies and losers. I never respected Dave but I liked him, and I learned to fear him even as a friend.\n\nNow I look across the scratched surface of a diner table at him, cheap oak that would have been the same color as his hair in his twenties. Now he’s gone gray, and his tonsure does nothing to hide the clumps of hair he has lost not in male-pattern baldness but unevenly across his scalp. He is also fat now, that lithe drug-addled look with the pale cheeks and protruding yellow teeth having faded away into a rotund face and jolly smile. No stubble, no more Adam’s apple. A bit of a wattle growing beneath a second chin.\n\nHe’s just one of those guys, though, whose disguises you can see through. In his youth when he was angry, even if he was trying to hide it, you could tell. If he needed a fix he didn’t need to say it, you knew. And when he wanted something he got it. Today, when I picked him up from the monastery, I knew who he was even with all of the physical changes. The man cannot hide himself, even beneath a habit. \n\nBy the same merit I could tell he was happy on the winding roads into town. He spoke little. I did all of the talking, spoke on Danielle and my step-children and my recent promotion to floor manager and tried and tried to pry because I had gotten back in touch because I wanted to know about him, and how he had come to God after so many years of sinning with me, but he just smiled. He gave me one-word answers. He did not sound disrespectful, or uninterested, and at times he even seemed amused. He just never felt the need in his joy to answer me.\n\nBut now a waitress who cannot be older than fifteen, all frizzy hair and braces, who cannot stop staring at the monk talking to the man with facial tattoos at table five, brings me my pancakes and Dave his eggs. She smiles robotically, hands clenched so tightly together in front of her that her hands shake. “Enjoy,” she says timidly, and then with trepidation to the man of God, “sir”. \n\n“You scare people in your new job, Dave?”\n\n“Not as much as I used to.” I nod at the truth of that statement.\n\n“You garden and shit?”\n\n“Yes.”\n\nMy thoughts race back to Jenn and Dave, just a few days before he won the lotto, and that horrible slap. The tears in Jenn’s eyes were not as bad as her holding back the sobs and her attempt to put on a brave face. She knew, from the second she decided to confront him, that Dave was going to hit her. And she put on her brave face, and came down into the basement, and did it anyways. I don’t know why. Then Steph asked him to leave, he staggered to some gas station, brought a ticket and won big. Just like that. Jenn played a game in which she knew the outcome, and she lost. Then Dave took a chance and he won.\n\n“You disappeared.” I picked up the thread of conversation as best I could. “You keep up with anybody else we ran with?”\n\n“No.”\n\n“You want to? Some of us have gone straight.”\n\n“I have little desire.” He takes a big bite of eggs. “I do attend the funerals.”\n\n“You’re being an ass.”\n\nNow he stares at me, hard. One thing you can’t change when you get old and fat and lose your hair and age poorly from the way you treat your body when you spend your days looking for a fix or high, you can’t change your eyes. His are dark and they hurt to look into, because he can’t show you anything but the truth in them and I can tell, quite suddenly, that he’s in some sort of pain. He furrows his patchy brow. “I’m a different man.”\n\nNow he leans back from the half-full plate and his eyes turn hard. I reply, “Was it the money?”\n\n“What about it?”\n\n“Turned you godly.”\n\n“I was always godly. I was Ginsburg’s angel-headed hipster. When the jackpot meant nothing to me I saw it. It took a while for me to come around, but I saw it.”\n\nI look closely at his heavily pockmarked cheeks. His head looks like some heavenly body scarred by impacts and ancient traumas. “The money meant nothing to you.”\n\n“I found that it exposed me to just how empty my head had become.” I eat some pancakes in silence. I think about shitty car, going on twenty and wheezing when I turn the key. I still buy tickets every week or two. Suddenly Dave continues. \"And just like that, it was gone. Five million bucks and a big win with nothing to show for it but a handful of useless paper.”\n\n“You blew it?”\n\n“No. But I couldn’t do anything with it. The money hurt me. There wasn’t a thing I could buy that would assuage my conscience. So I had a handful of paper, and some junkie friends, and what am I supposed to do with myself? I couldn’t buy happiness. I had to go searching.”\n" ]	1
	[WP] You did it!! You finally won the lottery... A few days later your narcissistic ex texts you.	[ "‘Shae you are the one for me. I shouldn’t have ever let you go. Can we please try again?’\n\n‘Dude if you’re thirsty go fck your sister. Again. If you ever contact me again I’ll be in touch with your probation officer and will happily file charges for what you did to me when you thought I was sleeping.’", "$102,000,000. $102 million just from buying a lotto card.\n\nMan, that felt great. I could pay off all my student loans. I never had to worry about rent again. Just stick it in my account and...\n\nBZZ*\n\nHm? Who texted me?\n\n...Oh. It's Chelsea. What does she want?\n\n\"Hey Buck! Bucky! Buckster! How are you?\"\n\nI rolled my eyes. I swiped right on the text, and starting replying back.\n\n\"Doing just fine, thank you.\"\n\nSend.\n\n\"So, you know how we broke up, right?\"\n\n\"Yes.\"\n\n\"I've taken some time to kind of think over our relationship, and like, I think I wanna try again. You know. Like old times!\"\n\n\"You want to start dating again.\"\n\n\"Of course! I love you Buck. I always will.\"\n\n\"no\"\n\nI blocked her number, shut off my phone, and leaned back against my chair. No way in Hell I was getting back with that demon. Now, what could I invest in to make some extra cash-money?", "$61,800,000.92\n\nHell of a lot of money for an art major like myself. \n\nLuckily, I'd fantasized about it enough to know what to do with the money. Be protected, invest, donate and what not, but the best part? Finally I could drop the day job and just work full time on my projects. \n\nI got a call. \n\n867-5309. \n\nHIS number. \n\nFigured he'd call eventually. I answered the phone. \n\n\"Hello Nathan.\"\n\n\"Heyyy there sweetheart!\"\n\nI knew what he was calling for. \n\n\"What do you want?\"\n\n\"Well,\" Nathan began, \"I created a fashion line, did you know that?\"\n\n\"You mean your narcissistic ripoffs of the clothing I designed?\n\n\"Yes,\" he replied. I could hear his teeth gritted. \"Anyways I heard you got some money in your possession-\"\n\n\"Let me guess, your company is running on hard times, you're practically bankrupt, and you want my money to get you out of the grave you dig your sorry ass into.\"\n\n\"...\"\n\n\"Yes.\"\n\n\"Alright then. I'll help you\"\n\n\"Wait what?\"\n\n\"I said I'll help you, you sorry excuse for a human being.\"\n\n\"Thanks! So how much will you donate?\"\n\n\"Nothing.\"\n\n\"But I thought-\"\n\n\"I'm not donating to a waste of oxygen. I'm buying out your company.\"\n\nNathan bursted out in rage, \"YOU LITTLE SHIT! YOU CANT DO THIS TO ME!\"\n\n\"Oh but I can. See you on the front page Nathan.\"\n\n\"...\"\n\n\"Oh, and Nathan?\"\n\n\"What.\"\n\n\"We both know I'm not the one who's little.\"\n\n\n\n" ]	3
	[WP] A group of scientists manage to travel forwards in time only to find out that their kind are extinct and that mammalian apes called humans rule the planet.	[ "A heavenly asteroid was earthward bound\n\nSo most all Silurians dug underground!\n\nWithout their technology things would be dirth\n\nThis rock's gravity would steal oxygen from Earth!\n\nAll the lizardfolk went into a frozen sleep\n\nFor a dozen or so years none would peep.\n\nBut! Silurian scientists four in number\n\nDidn't wish to cryoslumber.\n\nThey'd been theorizing with quantums and fractions,\n\nMaking doodads and gizmos for their Time Contraptions.\n\nFor several long weeks before the asteroid passed\n\nIn their lab the four worked endlessly, and fast!\n\nOn their success they bid their friends goodbye\n\nTo meet again in a few years- the time they'd pass by.\n\nThey overshot their destination when their flux battery fried\n\nThousands of years hence their vortex contraption flied.\n\nStepping out into the cool evening air,\n\nThey looked up! And saw their threat looming there!\n\nThe asteroid they had been so anxious to escape\n\nNow hung as Earth's Moon, caught in its airspace.\n\nA new sapient species had evolved to fill their place.\n\nHumans were now the planet's dominant race!\n\nThe por scientists fled to the nearest bunker with the swiftest of shoes\n\nWhereupon they discovered all the alarm clocks were snoozed!\n\nThey waited in hiding from that day forth,\n\nBut what they didn't realize was their gizmos' true worth.\n\nThey'd attracted the attention of a Time Lord with their travel,\n\nAnd the good Doctor helped them introduce the world to this marvel.\n\nFrom that day forth, (with a few hiccups, but what else is new?)\n\nLizards and Apes lived together in peace, thanks to these traveling few.\n\n\n\nTakes place in the [Doctor Who](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Silurian_(Doctor_Who) universe.", "\"Xarlak! Come on, the ChronoPod is fully charged!\"\n\n\"Calm down Rex. The ChronoPod isn't going anywhere without us. Remember, the mission requires you to be calm at all times\".\n\n\" YESSIR!\"\n\n\"Could you make the final checks. We want this mission to go as smoothly as possible. Lest you forget, we have a massive burden on our shoulders. We have to find a way to prevent the Cataclysm\".\n\nAnd so, the intrepid adventurers set off on the journey of a lifetime, unsure of what was to come. The ChronoPod drifted through the sea of time, answering to the ebb and flow of the waves of tomorrow, until the daring duo reached their destination\n\n\"Rex, turn on your cloaking device. We don't know what kind of creatures we will encounter\".\n\n\"If I see anything that looks tasty, can I eat it?\"\n\n\"NO!\"\n\nWith Rex's hopes dashed, the daring duo took their first steps outside of the ChronoPod.\n\n\"W-what is this? What has happened? Where are the rest of our kind? What are these bipedal things?\"\n\n\"Ewww, they don't look tasty, they're pink. Whoa, Xarlak, look at those flying things. They kind of look like us\".\n\n\"Don't be silly, Rex. Well, we're here now. Might as well find out everything we can. Which one of these buildings seem the most interesting?\"\n\nAt that moment Rex noticed a gaggle of children holding interesting looking rocks come out of a rather large building.\n\n\"Xarlak, how about that one?\"\n\n\"Well, it's as good as any other place. Come on, let's go\".\n\nThe two of them managed to squeeze through the cramped hallways, making sure not to step on any of the pink things. They took note of each of the different marvels, such as the bones of hairy tusked creatures. Eventually, they reached a large hall.\n\n\"X-xarlak, is that what I think it is? \n\n\"Yes, Rex, it is, I'm sorry, but... but we failed\".", "“My God, we’ve done it! We’ve teleported!”\n\nBroggen twisted the base of his helmet and heard a sharp hiss as the trapped air was released. Perhaps there had been a change in altitude? Where were they now?\n\n“We have to contact the others!” Broggen’s partner, Hashley, exclaimed. “This is incredible! Not only did we survive, we’re…I mean we’re actually in an entirely different place! I can feel it in the air.”\n\nBroggen frowned. Hashley was right. The air was very different. He took a long, deep breath, tasting the different compounds as they played off his tongues.\n\nSuddenly, Broggen stumbled forward, feeling nauseated. His left tongue was signaling a much higher atmospheric oxygen concentration than normal. The right tongue, in contrast, was having trouble picking up on that beloved Carbon Dioxide on which the Lozdeans thrived.\n\n“You ok, Broggen?” asked Hashley, rushing to his side.\n\n“Yeah, yeah, I’m fine,” he replied, quickly straightening up. “I was just dizzy for a second. Say, does the air taste peculiar?”\n\n“You know, now that you mention it, it kind of does. There’s too much oxygen.”\n\nA rumbling began in the distance. Humans would not have been able to hear it, but Lozdeans had vibratory mechanoreceptors much more sensitive than the Pacinian Corpuscles found in humans.\n\n“Something big is coming our way.”\n\nQuickly ascending the trees, Broggen and Hashley emerged above the sea of leaves covering the lush forest surrounding them. Not far in the distance they spotted a path, surprisingly well-maintained.\n\nThey leapt back to the ground and slithered to the path. Large metal cuboid figures were zooming up and down the mysteriously gray concrete. Broggen and Hashley were baffled. They themselves owned similar vehicles, but nothing of this size.\n\n“Is this a road?” Hashley shouted over the roaring metal monsters. “It’s far too wide!”\n\nA large piece of paper suddenly shot out of one of these vehicle’s windows and drifted to a soft landing across the street. \n\n“We should check that out, maybe it’ll tell us where we are!” suggested Broggen, removing his handy translation device from his bag. It had never failed him before, even in learning entirely new and undiscovered languages from the largely unexplored deserts on the other side of the world. \n\nWaiting for a gap in the terrifying traffic, they sprinted across the road as fast as they could, panting and out of breath by the time they reached the paper.\n\nIt was a thin but extremely large piece of newspaper, according to what the translator said the title read, although surprisingly this seemed to be written in another undiscovered language. A rare find. Luckily, Lozdean foreign language technology was among the best in the world. \n\nThe newspaper was at least four times the size of the Lozdeans and they had to pin it up against a nearby tree to better examine it. The cover was quite peculiar. Two large, ape-like figures were photographed holding on to each other’s limbs, perhaps smiling? \n\nThe translator honed in on what appeared to be a date. “September 12 2017,” read Broggen in the Lozdean native tongue. “What in the world?”\n\n“2017??” exclaimed Hashley. “What does that mean, Broggen! Broggen?”\n\nBroggen was busy ferociously scanning the transcriptions, eyes widening. “Hashley, where are all the Lozdeans? Who are the hairless apes in all of these pictures?”\n\nHashley skimmed the newspaper. “Didn’t Professor Skobul mention something about time travel?”\n\n“He said that he had contemplated using the same basic technology used on the teleporter for his research on time manipulation in the future, but I highly doubt that this could be accomplished using….”\n\nBroggen and Hashley jumped as a high-pitched screech startled them from behind. Turning around, they found themselves face to face with a giant ape. It appeared to be wearing a colorful outfit of some sort, but the majority of its limbs remained exposed.\n\n“Ewwww, Daddy what are those things?” cried the monstrous ape.\n\nHearing the translator’s interpretation based on what it had learned from the newspaper, Broggen gulped. “The father may be nearby, we need to be careful in case these apes are aggress...!” \n\nA large, leathery foot crushed the Lozdeans in a single stomp.\n\n“You have to watch out for poisonous creatures in the forest, darling,” said the father to the young girl. \"The red on their skin means danger!\"\n\n\n" ]	3
	[WP] There is a huge imposing skyscraper in your town. No one seems to know which company owns it or anyone who actually works there.	[ "I wrote the ticket and stuck it on the car, sighing. Looking at the register I was surprised at the details. Another one registered to the address' car pool.\n\nIt's been the fiftieth one in three months. All cars belonging to this movie. I've never seen anyone driving them, I've never seen anyone park them or collect them... But strangely whenever the fines showed up they were paid the first thing next morning.\n\nI then looked at the origin of the offending cars. It was always weird and a known complaint to anyone - an office building in the middle of the English Countryside. There have been campaigns to have it demolished as it was visual pollution of the natural beauty. Never worked out for whatever reason, the local member of Parliament who received the petitions looked absolutely petrified when he had to tell the constituents that the petition was denied. No explanation, just... No.\n\nI sighed as I walked away and back to the patrol car. I turned the key in the ignition when I heard the sound of shattering glass. I looked at the rearview mirror to see someone shattering the glass door and running in. Teal leaf - thief or druggie, no doubt looking for something to sell for a quick quid.\n\n'Station, this is Constable Redburn,' I said into the radio. 'I just saw someone break into the Glass Building.' I had to wait for a moment. Anything regarding this skyscraper is highly sensitive for whatever reason. Probably some calls to the military or MI-5, if my guess was anything.\n\n'Do not engage,' the dispatcher said. 'I repeat, do not engage. Do you understand?'\n\nI merely shook my head as I processed anything I could think of. But before I could answer...\n\nThe window of the driver's side door was shattered instantly. Before I knew it I had a shotgun aimed at my face. 'Get out of the fucking car!' the tea-leaf ordered as he pulled the door open and grabbed me by the collar.\n\n'Constable?' the radio blared. 'Constable, please res-'\n\nA shot went off inside the car as the dashboard was shot up. 'What the...'\n\n'Fuck up and go,' he said as he pushed me towards the building. 'Any fucking wrong move and you're dead.'\n\n'Would you stop saying, \"Fuck\"?' I asked him, before he struck me in the back of the head with the butt of the gun. I staggered, dragged along against my will and I only barely regained my footing inside.\n\nIt was strange how much everything seemed... normal. Aside from the fact that the windows were completely blacked out and everything was in utter darkness aside from a few lamps... It looked just like a hotel lobby. A posh one, as well.\n\nI found my hands grabbed before the punk had me in handcuffs. He brought me through the lobby towards the staircase and forced me to go upward a number of floors until we were in some office space. 'Brill,' he said before pulling an office chair over and parking my arse down on it. 'Anything out of you and I'll fucking shoot, copper!'\n\n'You're not local, are you?' I asked. 'Bad things happen to people who fuck with this building.'\n\n'The fuck do you mean?' he asked as he grabbed a monitor began unplugging it.\n\n'Well, someone stole a car belonging to this place and wound up dead,' I said. 'Someone broke in here... His body was drained off blood outside the front door. Every time the locals try to get this place knocked down the MP is scared shitless. So, where are you from?'\n\n'Piss off,' he said as he glared at me.\n\n'He has a point,' an unknown voice said.\n\n'Who's there?' the lad demanded, aiming the shotgun in the darkness. 'Who the fuck are you?!'\n\n'You could call me the superintendent of this building,' he said in a bored voice. 'And I really don't enjoy trespassers and especially not thieves. Those computers are rather expensive, you know.'\n\nA gunshot went off as an office partition wall had a hole blasted through it before the cocking of the gun filled the air after the blast. 'You have two seconds to piss off, mate,' the lad demanded as he aimed wildly.\n\n'Oh, you're one of those people,' the unknown figure said. 'Well, better go for a practical demonstration, then.'\n\nAll I could hear was a cutting sound followed by my kidnapper's scream. The gun hit the floor as did... 'My hand!' he screamed. 'He cut off my fucking hand!'\n\nThe voice merely gave a mad cackle from the darkness. 'Not much bark without your bite,' he remarked. 'Isn't that right, welp?'\n\n'Who uses \"Welp\"?' I asked under my breath.\n\nTo his credit the kid tormenting me simply grabbed the gun with the hand still attached, ramming the end of the barrel to the side of my head. 'I SAID FUCK UP!!'\n\nHe screamed again as blood splattered over my face. 'I'm giving the orders now,' the voice said as the gun fell to the grand, the gun going off as it... didn't even dent the glass. 'Child, whomever you are. You have two options. Either leave now, with none of your unearned gains, and free the police officer... Or die. Simple as that.'\n\n'Get to fuck!' he yelled as he reached for the gun with his injured hand.\n\nEven I was surprised to finally catch some sort of image of the strange fellow as he swung a sword at the youth. I could only scream as his head fell on the ground, his body crumpling before me before I fell out of the chair, trying to push away.\n\n'Oh, how I hate junkies,' the voice said again. 'Not even worth the bother of feeding. I do hope you forgive me for not being so welcoming, as I need to find a mop.'\n\nI don't even remember passing out, just waking up outside the building. The shattered glass door was replaced, my car was repaired and my attacker was crucified and burning before me.\n\nThe sirens could be heard approaching from the distance as I blinked my eyes. I was still handcuffed, lying on my chest when the patrol cars pulled up.\n\nOut of the car, a man in a black suit came out and approached me. 'Sir, I'm going to have to ask you... Did you see anything unusual in there?'\n\nI hesitated before answering, 'No.'\n\n'Smart one,' he said as he undid my cuffs. 'Whatever you saw, whatever you think you saw, is highly classified. National security. Do you understand?'\n\n'Better than him,' I said as I pointed at the body. 'Why'd he leave those on?'\n\n'Knowing him,' the figure said, 'couldn't find a key.'", "We don't really know much about the Tower. It's big, black, kinda pointy... normal skyscraper stuff. At least, I assume so. This town is small enough that a big ol' skyscraper like that one sticks out a bit -- and the flaming red eye on top doesn't help neither. Or is it a giant mirror?\n\nI heard it was some sort of solar power thingamajig. It certainly keeps the town warm in our long, bleak winters. Come to think of it, there's been less and less of a springtime every year it's been here. But I suppose that's just something we have to live with, with climate change and all.\n\nSometimes you see a shadow of a guy hanging around the place. But I can't recall ever seeing them go in there. Ain't never seen so much as a door, neither. But there certainly are people who are concerned with it, I hear. Living in the towns around here maybe. Any rate there's a lot of strange ugly folk in my cousin's sister-in-law's great-aunt's village over the way. They say they have a logo of a chalk hand or some such. Never could see the point of such things myself.\n\nBut there has been more hullaballoo going on in recent times. They say that there's some who would destroy the Tower. Ain't no reason for senseless destruction, but perhaps it will be for good. The red light shining from the Tower does seem to search, back and forth, more and more. Always goes back to the mountain over the way. They say it's still active, even now, and I certainly have felt a few quakes over the years. But we are on a fault line I hear, and perhaps there's no reason to where the light does go.\n\nIt's an odd thing all right. But I can't say I know much about the Tower. ", "With a clear blue sky the sun was blinding as I descended the stairs down from my office, I rolled up my sleeves and loosened my tie to try and cool off but it didn't help too much on the summer's day. Pedestrians moved like schools of fish down the streets, they would merge with others groups, pass through others, but it was a constant sprawling mass that couldn't be avoided if I wanted to get lunch. I swam through the crowd, bumping shoulders with men in suits and mothers clasping their children's hands so that they didn't drift away. Eventually I darted out of the never ending stream and into a small bakery that had stood on the same street for the 8 years I had worked in Simmon's and Bart's, whilst all the electronics shops, tiny boutiques and flower shops on the stretch had opened with an optimism and passion they had all been boarded up after less than 2 years each.\n\nIt was a Monday afternoon, so that meant it was payday for the bakery. It saved 5 minutes of my lunch-break each week if I paid for it all in advance and had it ready when I arrived. My wallet flipped open unwillingly, I counted out exactly £32.50 and approached the counter. I was greeted by the aged Italian man behind the glass counter with a wide smile, I gave him the money and he filed it away in the register.\n\n\"Less than usual eh?\" He said with a smirk, tapping his knuckles on the glass. \"What'll it be this week?\"\n\n\"Just the sandwich and tea, my wife said having a bun everyday is making me look 'podgy'.\" \n\n\"What is podgy?\" He tilted his head, muttering the word over and over with various levels of inflection.\n\nI thought about how best to explain it, \"It means... like almost fat? My cheeks get big and sag down.\" I pulled down on my cheeks and flapped them about, much to his amusement.\n\n\"Ahh! Podgy!\" He chuckled all the way to the kitchen, coming back seconds later with my ham and cheese sandwich in fresh wholemeal bread wrapped in brown paper. \"I will bring the tea over when the water is boiled\" He said, passing me the package.\n\nIt was a very unusual bakery, it had tables and chairs for people to stay in and so many people I knew called it a Café instead. The sun shone through at just the wrong angle so that any seats facing the window came with the need to block out the sun for the duration of your lunch. However, my table sat with a small reserved plaque in the very corner. A skyscraper, the only one of its height and magnitude in the whole town, sat perfectly in front of the blazing sun and gave me the warmth of summer but the only non-blinding window seat in the whole bakery. Come to think of it, I knew absolutely nothing about the building that I had used as a sun shield for so long. \n\n\"Here's your tea Nick\" said the baker, setting a small wooden tray down on the table with a white china teapot, mug, and sugar. it had taken him 3 months of regular visits to stop bringing milk with the tray everyday.\n\n\"Thanks Marco,\" I gave him my best smile and continued on with the sandwich, staring at the building ahead. Just before he could get back behind the counter I turned and stopped Marco in his tracks. \"Hey wait a second,\" I asked, \"How long have you been in this town?\".\n\nHe paused, counting on his fingers slowly. \"Twelve years! Time does fly doesn't it?\" He shook his head slowly in a small and unexpected disbelief.\n\n\"I take it you've looked out this window every day? You could probably tell someone like me what every building on the skyline is!\"\n\n\"I am a modest man, but yes I do know this town very... very well.\"\n\nI pointed to the skyscraper, \"Who owns that building?\"\n\nHis eyes honed in, his expression was wiped from his face and his lips parted in a silent answer. \"I... I have no clue Nick, do you know?\"\n\n\"I've seen it every day for the last 8 years and never thought about who owns it. It dominates the skyline, surely any company would be proud of having such an important building?\"\n\nA silence hung in the café, it seemed even the ovens understood the importance of this question as they silenced themselves to let us think.\n\nI ate the rest of my sandwich in silence, Marco kneaded dough and stared right out the door past me. Any interactions he had with customers were uncharacteristically short and distracted on his part. Even after returning back to work my eyes were drawn to the window on the far side of the office.\n\n--- \n\nI returned to the bakery the following lunchtime, Marco greeted my with a grim expression and gestured for me to come back into the kitchen. He walked out beyond the tables and turned the open sign round to closed on the door, flipping the latch to lock the door and following me back to the ovens.\n\n\"Last night I went to the public library. I hate mysteries, you know? I checked at least 5 history books on the town's major events, not one of them says anything about a skyscraper being erected, and they were all published in at least 2007.\"\n\n\"2 years after you arrived in the town...\" I rubbed my chin, this didn't make sense, it was just a skyscraper?\n\n\"Exactly.\" He wrung his knuckles out between his fingers. \"I asked the librarian about it... He shut down every question I had, not refusing to answer, but nothing he said told me anything new about it.\"\n\nI paused to consider the consequences of all this, \"you're thinking that this is a conspiracy or something?\"\n\n\"I didn't until I saw two suspicious men when I left the library...\" He looked me dead in the eyes, the chilled out baker that I had come to know and respect over the years was frightened stiff.\n\nI took my tea to go that day, drinking it at my desk. Marco had a thousand yard stare and the bakery was dead silent while I ate, it was an uncomfortable atmosphere that I had to escape if I was to think logically. The screensaver spun round on my screen, a small cube that changed colour every time it rotated faces. I shook the mouse and bought up the company records, we had accounts for most companies in the town so surely we would have something.\n\nI typed in \"Skyscraper\", had to start somewhere. Hundreds of plans came up, banks that considered putting their new headquarters in our sleepy town but then moved to a more prosperous city. Only one record stood out, a locked file named \"The Ascension\"." ]	3
	[WP] A struggling magician has been trying for a long time to learn how to convincingly pull a rabbit from a hat. Eventually, the rabbit starts helping.	[ "\"Look Jim,\" the rabbit sighed as the Magician once again fumbled the reveal \"I can help, you know.\" \nJim scowled at his long-eared assistant. \"I don't need help, Frank. I've got this.\" He placed Frank back in the hat and turned to face the imaginary audience on the pier. \n\"Ladies and gentlemen, as you have seen, the hat is empty. But watch as I reach into mystical...\" Jim's arm dropped inside the hat, swiping for Frank. He frowned. \n\"Look, all I'm saying is,\" Frank watched as Jim swung around to face him, arm still shoulder deep in the hat. \"What about something else? You were good at the cards.\" \n\"The rabbit in a hat is a classic, Frank. Dad did it, Grandad did it and you did it.\" \nFrank sighed again as Jim tried to get his arm out of the hat. \"Yes, but we...\" he paused for a diplomatic phrase. Unfortunately, none came to mind, and the unspoken thought hung in the air. \n\"Oh cheers, Frank,\" Jim said bitterly. \"What a vote of confidence.\" Getting his arm out of the magical top hat, he jammed it on his head. \"Even my rabbit doesn't believe in me.\" He looked around for Frank, finding thin air. \"Blasted daft rabb...\" a kick in the head stopped him, and he lifted the hat off his head. \n\"What about a comedy act?\" Frank pondered as he balanced on the budding magician's head. \"I know some jokes. We could be a double act.\" \nFrank winced as Jim grabbed his ears and pulled him down to eye-level. \n\"Frank, I have magic. I am going to be a magician. And I will be doing this trick, whether you think I'm doing it correct or not!\" He jammed Frank into the top hat, and flopped to the ground. A spattering of coins flew into the hat. \n\"Well done, young man.\" He looked up to find an old woman beaming at him. \"You'll make a great ventriloquist. Just like Tommy Cooper, eh?\" \n\"Ooh, ventriloquism!\" Frank's voice drifted from the hatt as the old woman slowly wandered off. \nJim groaned. \"Oh do be quiet Frank.\"" ]	1
	[WP]New tech allows you to see your future. However, testing showed that remembering the future had driven users to madness soon after. The solution: users are allowed to write one sentence before their memories of their futures are erased. What you wrote is much more concerning than your friends'	[ "\"Hey Dan, you ready? Dan. Dan!\"\n\n\"Ah, yeah...yeah I'm ready. Sorry, I was just thinking.\"\n\nTruth be told, I was worrying, more thinking. Worrying about this whole FutureGlare technology and if I might go crazy like the rest of the testers. What if my future is horribly dark? Gosh, it would be bad enough if I found out I broke up with Julia. Don't get me started on finding out how I die either.\n\n\"Dan, if you feel scared then you should just tell them and leave.\"\n\n\"I'm alright Ryan. I'm just a little worried.\"\n\nOnce again, I was way beyond \"a little worried\".\n\n\"Alright then. You remember the plan with the others?\"\n\nI nodded, \"Yeah, 2030. We're all dialing in for year 2030.\"\n\nAt that moment a loud voice came from the speakers:\n\n\"TESTERS, WE ARE INITIATING FUTUREGLARE IN 30 SECONDS. PLEASE PUNCH IN THE DESIRED DATE INTO THE NUMBER PAD NOW.\"\n\nWith my trembling hands, I slowly pressed the four numbers and looked at my best friends. Who knows what their future has for them.\n\nAs I turned to look at Ryan, I heard the countdown starting and decided to close my eyes preparing for what comes next:\n\n5...\n\nPlease don't leave me Julia.\n\n4...\n\nI don't want to live in an action movie.\n\n3...\n\nI swear if Ryan is dead...\n\n2...\n\nI wonder how mom and dad are doing.\n\n1.\n\nPlease don't lea-\n\n-\n\nThe five minutes I spent in that future of mine became a blur when I took off the FutureGlare. To top that, I had a hammering headache and I felt like throwing up. I tried picturing what I had seen in my head again, but it was all like a jigsaw puzzle.\n\nSuddenly a piece of paper was placed in front of me. I grabbed a pen, closed my eyes, and began to write, praying that my brain would be able to revitalize some images.\n\nJulia...\n\n-\n\n\"Dan. Dan! Dude, wake up!\"\n\nI darted awake. \n\n\"I'm so sorry, I was ju-\"\n\n\"Just thinking? Looks like your still yourself. What did you write down?\", he says with a smirk.\n\nLooking down, I wanted my message to either be \"Married to Julia for 5 years,\" or \"Just won the lottery.\" Neither of them were on the paper. As I skimmed through the words, I began to freeze up and tears began to well up.\n\nNo, no, no, no...oh my god why...\n\n\"Damn it, Dan, give it to me. What could be so- holy shit.\"\n\nI began to shake in my chair as the words kept flashing through my mind.\n\nPLEASE SUBSCRIBE TO COMCAST PLUS FOR REDDIT.COM\n\nPLEASE SUBSCRIBE TO COMCAST PLUS FOR REDDIT.COM\n\nPLEASE SUBSCRIBE TO COMCAST PLUS FOR REDDIT.COM\n" ]	1
	[WP] Being an alcoholic is what leads to the protagonist of the story to save the day	[ "“Urg…” I groan as my eyes open. It’s still dark outside, so I must have dozed off for a few hours. \n\n“Argh…” Why is the light from the TV so bright? Why is the sound blaring so loud? It’s making my head hurt…. I must be starting to sober up. Where'd I drop that Whiskey bottle? I get up to search for it and immediately find it with the underside of my foot, falling back into my chair. \n\n“Oof!’ I lean over and pick it up. There isn’t too much left. It won’t get me back to a good level of drunk again for very long. Maybe I should just go to bed...\n\nI look over towards my room as I consider this, and something catches my eye. It’s that armchair that he knew I hated, insisted we get, and then left behind when he left me. I quickly chug the rest of the bottle and decide to go meet my friend Jack at the corner store. \n\nIt takes a while to get ousside ‘cause the doorknob keeps moving. I’m numb and fuzzy like I like on my way to the store. For a minute I think iss closed, but it turns out the door is pull and I pushed. I get it after awhile. The back row’s where the good stuff is. Someone shouts something but I donn care. I grab my friend Mr. Daniels and go to the register. Some guy is there arguing with the cashier or something. I’m getting mad. \n\n“Come on! Some of us ain- ain’t got all day!” I yell. Then the guy turns around and starts screaming at me. God, this guy’s annoying.\n\n“You wanna die?”\n\n“Are you thre- threatening me? I’ll fight you.. Asss hole” I donn have time for this shit. The alcohol’s gonna wear off soon. I gotta get this bottle. I donn wanna remember that jerk’s stupid face and his stupid armchair and that stupid ring and this guy’s in my way. Now I’m angry. I punch him in his stupid face. Some thing falls from his hand or whatever.\n\nThe cashier brains him with who the fuck knows from behind. I think iss weird but I’m still happy about it. Stupid face falls to the ground. The cashier guy gets out his phone for some reason. I’m annoyed he’s callling someone and not letting me get my stuff and make a sound. He looks at me. I point to the bottle. He says “Just take it. Thanks.” I dunno what tha'ss about but I’m not gonna question free booze. \n\n“Thanks.” I get the door right pretty quick this time. Now to get shitfaced. \n" ]	1
	[WP] Admiral Zhal sits in front of the Galactic Council. They nervously wait to hear his order to obliterate the talcom system to avoid spreading the plague across the galaxy.	[ "\"The entire system!\" Exclaimed T'renk, even his upper arms (which would normally be the most emotive part of his physical form) lay still and sullen by his side at the hearing of the order.\n\n\"You heard me Ambassador,\" replied Admiral Zhal \"I don't take this decision lightly but if the plague is left unchecked and spreads any further it could be disastrous.\" The Admiral Turn to face the remainder of the Council before lowering his gelatinous head in acknowledgement of the severity of his decision. \"Fellow members of the Galactic Council, we knew this day would come the very moment that species was catalogued and identified as truly sapient cancer. A thinking feeling virus that has steadily spread throughout the Talcom system and devoured both the natural and mineral resources and continues to push outward. We have given them ample opportunity to reach equilibrium and this has not happened.\" The heads of the many Council members bowed in acknowledgement of their failure to contain the species early enough. \"Bu-\" T'renk almost spoke up again, but a look from his President silenced him immediately.\n\nIt was well known among the Council that T'renk was once an avid supporter and activist on behalf of the species that had just been condemned to death by Admiral Zhal. In fact he was in effect the only thing that had stood in the way of Zhal carrying out this action much earlier, and Zhal was clearly enjoying his moment.\n\nT'renk however, would not be hushed at what amounted to genocide, something which hadn't been seen in the Galactic Council in over 4000 cycles of the core worlds. \"No President I will not be silenced in the face of mass murder.\" The hall fell silent at his outburst. \"What you are authorizing here is murder and nothing less. This budding species has been given no direction by the Council and as such, no chance to find their place among our stars.\" There was a mumbling from some of the back benchers in the hall, even murmurs of agreement wafted their way through columns to reach T'renk's ears. \"This species, these Humans as they call themselves, are still working from the most primitive technologies, splitting atoms to power Star-ships the size of small cities, moving so slowly that entire generations of crewmen die on the journey. not living to an age where they witness the expansion they have accomplished.\"\n\nZhal spoke up, interrupting T'renk as the murmurs of agreement were beginning to grow louder. \"AND ISN'T THAT THE ISSUE!\" He bellowed, once again quieting the crowd. \"They actively accept death in search of expansion, is that not a defining factor for any deadly virus? Have they not met every criteria we have laid out for a disease?\" Zhal paused to allow his point to sink in, he would have to tread carefully here, he could see his argument was losing support with some of the lower caste Council members. He softened his voice once more. \"I don't put forward this case for my own benefit, but for the benefit of all Council species. How do you combat growth at reproduction at the rates of these Humans? How do you quarantine a species that as we speak is attempting to harness the power of stars themselves.\" Zhal took this moment to produce his trump card, a brief report that outlined the Humans attempts at creating a self replicating Dyson Swarm. \"As you can see, should they accomplish this technology they would have all the energy requirements they could possibly need, potentially achieving FTL travel. At which point it would be to late to contain them.\"\n\nThe hall grew loud as Council members argued between themselves and hammered questions at both Admiral Zhal and Ambassador T'renk. Security personnel moved in to quiet the situation before things got out of hand (as they often could within the Council Hall) forcing people back into their seats and silencing them with a very real and present threat of violence.\n\nIt was while this was happening that nobody noticed the chamber door open and shut slowly as a hooded figure stepped into the room and slowly sidled it's way around the outer chamber seating until it was finally stood close enough to overhear the din of conversation. Shout's echoed across the Hall as the many species of the Council argued their points.\n\n\"It's genocide\"\n\n\"Murderer\"\n\nEchoed from the back benches of the outer-core species.\n\n\"Sacrifices have to be made\"\n\n\"Preservation\"\n\nWas shouted by those seated in the places of the core worlds.\n\n\"IT'S NOT HAPPENING!\" boomed the voice of the hooded figure. The deep baritone reverberated around the columned hall, the stereo effect making it seem a magnitude louder.\n\nAdmiral Zhal turned on the offending party teeth bared in a threating gesture and raised himself up on his lowest limb-set, standing him a full two heads above the tallest Council member in the room. \"How dare you interrupt these proceedings. Who are you to speak in front of this Council from the shadows like a sneak thief?\"\n\n\"WHO AM I?\" The voice responded. There was a pause as the hood was removed and every member of the Council fell into stunned silence, even T'renk struggled to take in what he saw before him. \"I AM HUMANITY. I AM THAT WHICH YOU SEEK TO DESTROY. I AM HERE AS ENVOY TO TELL YOU THAT YOU WILL NOT PREVAIL OVER US!\" The hooded figures voice receded to almost a whisper as he finished his speech. \"We are the great devourers and from us there is no escape, we offer you a hand of friendship only once if denied we offer you only the sword.\"\n\nA bright flash filled the hall with a boom, momentarily blinding and deafening everyone held within, as their senses returned security rushed to the spot where the Human had stood, but his space was now empty of all but a note which simply stated....\n\nPatience is the courage of a conqueror\n\nThe strength of man against destiny\n\n-Humanity\n\n\n\n\n\n", "\"You're hoping.\" His voice had that same coldness to it that it had when Damien first head the admiral speak. \"Hoping that I order you to say 'to Hell with the Empire, we'll figure a way to save those people'. I'm not going to say that. The truth is, if you go down there, you will die. If not by our hand, then slowly and painfully at the mercy of rotworm. Your orders are simple. End this plague before it spreads further. Go through planet by planet and torch them to ash. There is zero room for error.\" \n\nIt was dead quiet in the control room, save the hologram's emotionless words. \n\nDamien finally stood up. \"How are you like this?\" \n\nA glare from Captain Horatio would make the hardest man turn heel, but Damien ignored it. He focused on the translucent, but life-sized image of Admiral Zahl, looking back. \n\n\"We're about to kill women and children, burn them before they even realize death is coming? I joined the Naval Exploration force because the NE was the only group fighting for the people, not against them. The empire oppresses so many intelligent species and I thought I could make a difference for them. Just a small one. Now you tell us to burn these civilizations into nothing? Erase history? Erase lives?\" \n\nThere was a long silence before Zahl allowed the tiniest smirk to cross his face. \"Shit, kid. I was like you, once.\" \n\nThe images flicked off as Zahl cut communication. " ]	2
	[WP] A woman walks into work with a bottle of gin, one yellow rose, and a scalpel.	[ "Jenny was her name. I have watched her come through the revolving doors every day for three weeks... or was it 5 weeks now? Something was a little different today, but it was a good different. It seems like she has received my yellow rose and the day is going as planned.\n\nAs her dirty blonde hair blows across her face from the gust of wind coming from the noisy streets outside I noticed a shiny sharp blade in her breast pocket. This was very alarming for me as I sit behind my security desk, with monitors of random people flashing by. My attention to Jenny has never been business, but today, the day... something feels different. \n\n[My First Writing Prompt - Battery is going to die soon - feel free to continue or comment!]", "Jenny was her name. I have watched her come through the revolving doors every day for three weeks... or was it 5 weeks now? Something was a little different today, but it was a good different. It seems like she has received my yellow rose and the day is going as planned.\n\nAs her dirty blonde hair blows across her face from the gust of wind coming from the noisy streets outside I noticed a shiny sharp blade in her breast pocket. This was very alarming for me as I sit behind my security desk, with monitors of random people flashing by. My attention to Jenny has never been business, but today, the day... something feels different. \n\n[My First Writing Prompt - Battery is going to die soon - feel free to continue or comment!]" ]	2
	[WP] A new app connects serial killers with willing victims - a reluctant first timer is matched with a victim second guessing their choice	[ "It kinda takes all the fun out of it really. But I guess this keeps me humane? Compassionate? I'm not really sure how I feel about killing someone who wants to be killed... especially since I had no problem killing people who didn't want to be killed. God damn I'm sick.\n\nMy phone binged and I glanced, almost reluctantly, at the screen. The app was still open and there was a little message symbol in the top right corner. Suddenly I became fearful, what if the police monitored this site and it was all a trap? Excitement began to spark in my veins and I became drunk on the thrill. That's what got me caught in this web of terror to begin with: the thrill of it. \n\nNew Message! \n\nFrom: Thegirlnextdoor\n\nContent: Hi slayer5000. I am interested in dying this weekend. Are you able to provide the service on such short notice?\n\nI stared at the message for a long time. I left it on my couch so it could stare up at me. I wasn't sure if I should feel pity for this person who I'm assuming is a girl. I didn't want to think about why she had sought out this service but I couldn't help it. What made someone hate their lives so much that they wanted to contact a self-identified serial killer? Which one of us was more sick? \n\nReply:\n\nHi Thegirlnextdoor, I could clear my schedule for you. Where should we meet?\n\nSend.\n\nI stared unwillingly at my phone screen before it dinged again with another message.\n\nNew Message!\n\nFrom: Thegirlnextdoor\n\nContent: Okay cool... how about we meet at the coffee shop on 10th and Cleardale at 10am on Saturday and then go from there? Also, I would like to request it to be quick and not too painful... if I can.\n\nI laughed. Was I messaging this girl to kill her or date her? Either way this was screwed up.\n\nReply: Sure. Let's meet there. Maybe I'll even buy you a coffee first. \nSend.\n\nI threw my phone on the couch. I couldn't stop laughing. This was so anticlamatic. I felt like a... well I wasn't really sure what I felt like. Just that I never thought my \"services\" would ever help anyone. \n\nI took a shower to try and wash all the sensitivity off of myself. No one had time for those emotions.\n\n*\n\nI arrived at the coffee shop an hour early. At twenty to ten I bought two large coffees. I waited, sitting on the outside of the coffee shop and watching people walk by. I wondered if any of them also wanted to die... and how they would react if they knew they had just walked past someone who loved to kill. I enjoyed the scared look that sparked across someone's face before I killed them.\n\n10:10\n\nI stared at my phone. No new messages.\n\n10:30\n\nI was growing impatient. The coffee I had bought was losing its heat and I became suddenly aware of the fact that I was sitting in public with a bag full of my tools. \n\n11:00\n\nThat's it. I'm leaving. I stood up and grabbed my bag. I tossed the coffee in the garbage and started to walk away.\n\n\"Er,\" a small voice came from behind me. \"Slayer5000?\" \n\nI turned around swiftly. What the hell was she thinking saying that name out loud. A shy petite girl with long blond hair, bright green eyes stood behind me. She looked super nervous. I couldn't blame her. \n\n\"Hi.\" I said. I didn't need to ask who she was. It was super obvious. \"Are you ready?\" \n\n\"Let's get a coffee first.\" she said. \n\n\"Um...\" I said, \"See I don't usually get to know people before I... um...\"\n\n\"It'll be my last coffee,\" she said, \"Can't you grant me that one thing.\" \n\nI sighed. \n\n\"You don't think I have anything else to do today?\" I said, \"You made me wait for like an hour.\"\n\n\"Sorry.\" she said and she walked into the coffee shop. I couldn't kidnap her now. She was in too public of a place. I almost walked away, but my sick curiosity pinged inside of me. Why did I have to have a small amount of compassion left? It never did me any favors. \n\nRolling my eyes I followed her into the shop.\n\nShe had already ordered her coffee and was sitting in the sunshine by the window. I approached her and she pushed another coffee towards me. I took it, feeling super strange, and took a sip. She didn't meet my eyes. Her green eyes reflected the sunlight and I could see her reflection in the window. I grew suddenly more curious. \n\n\"I imagine you're wondering why I contacted you.\" she said. I shrugged. \n\n\"That's your deal,\" I said. \"I'm just here to provide the... service.\"\n\n\"My parent's died when I was really young,\" she said. \"I watched them.\" \n\n\"Oh?\"\n\n\"They were in the front seat of the car. I don't remember much but I do remember how bright it was. When the car hit us... the entire world felt like it stopped. Have you ever felt like that before?\" \n\n\"Nah,\" I said. \"I can't say that I have.\"\n\n\"What made you get into this business?\" \n\n\"Um,\" I glanced around. There was no one close enough to hear us, thank Satan. \"It started when I was a boy. I killed a kitten. It felt really good. I wanted to do it more with a bigger challenge.\" \n\nShe looked at me, pondering this. \n\n\"For me it was a slug,\" she said. \"I poured salt all over it and watched it die.\" \n\n\"That's sick.\" I said, astonished. \n\n\"I did it to many more.\" she said. \"But I have committed more murders than one should. And that's why it's my turn to die.\"\n\n\"Wait,\" I said, \"Are you... did you... are you like me?\" \n\n\"No,\" she said, \"I've never taken a human life. But I wanted to.\"\n \nThis was not what I was expecting. I thought I'd find someone who had a terminal disease or something. Not someone who wanted to punish themselves. I wasn't sure how to handle this. \n\n\"Your reasons are strange...\" I said my lack of social ability showing. \n\n\"What does it matter what my reasons are?\" she said bitterly. \"You get to kill me. Isn't that what you wanted?\"\n\nIt is what I wanted. Was what I wanted. Now all I could think about is how great we would be as a team. A girl and a boy working together... it would make me even stronger. But that would never happen. I had to kill her. I promised to.\n\nThe walk back to my place felt like it took an eternity. We didn't talk to each other. There wasn't much left to say. When we arrived, I tied her to the chair like I always did but something was missing. I wasn't getting that feeling. The rush that came to me when I was about to kill someone. This felt like eating yogurt to quench a hunger for ice cream. \n\n\"So this is how you do it.\" she said, \"How do you get other people to come back here with you?\" \n\n\"It's pretty easy actually.\" I said. \"You would be able to do it no problem.\" \n\n\"Whys that?\" \n\n\"You're really pretty.\" I said, \"People trust really pretty girls.\" \n\nWe stared at each other. I picked up my knife and I saw raw fear flash across her face for the first time since we met. It was the kind I adored. The kind of fear people only experienced right before they died. I apprached her, readying my hand to slice into her skin. My hand stopped inches from her. Her chest heaved up and down. \n\n\"Just do it.\" \n\nI watched the words vibrate in her neck.\n\nI couldn't.\n\n\"What if you didn't die?\" I said, my throat feeling dry. \"What if instead you joined me?\"\n\n\"What a stupid idea,\" she said, \"I want to die so I can't hurt people and you're encouraging me to hurt people?\" \n\n\"I just can't pass up this opportunity,\" I said. \"We could do great things.\" \n\nEdit: removed last paragraph. ", "Kill Konnect, the bright red logo with blood dripping font illuminated Tim's face in the dive bar he sat in with a pale red light. His heart beat wildly thinking about what he should do. Recently the state passed a bill legalizing assisted suicide.\n\n This bill allowed Kill Konnect to exist. A smart phone app that let you kill someone who wanted to die for money. Usually the \"victim\" would link their life insurance policy with the app. Their family would get 95%, the killer 4%, and the company 1%. It was a little bit more of a legal game than that, but Tim didn't care. His family had fallen on hard times lately. They had been reduced to begging these past few months, but even that revenue stream dried up. They would still have been able to scrounge up enough to survive, but his mom had cancer and he needed a way to pay the bills. The insurance company was the true cancer here. Legal, yet gruesome, just like Kill Konnect...\n\nHe took back out his phone, and opened back up the App\n\nHand shaking he swiped right to get his first \"victim\", the face he saw was his mothers... The profile read \"I have cancer and a large amount of debt. I could be alive some time yet if I continue treatment, but my children are starving NOW. if I don't continue treatment I won't get my life insurance payout. Please kill me, my family needs the money.\"\n\nTim put down his phone, then drank deeply.\n_______________________________________\nThis was written in a rush but I wanted to get the idea out before I had to go, might come back to it later.", "His eyes lock with mine as I approach. He looks tense. This is, of course, our first and only meeting. \n\nMy heart skips a beat, a tinge of excitement mingled with fear. This is it. We've seen each other now, and our fates are combined by whatever happens next. \n\nI am going to die. \n\nFinally.\n\nI'd spent so long planning this moment. It was harder than I thought, dying. I'd wanted it to be certain, with no possibility of survival. That ruled out drugs, drowning or hanging. A loss in consciousness meant a loss in control - anything could happen; I could be found; I could be saved. There'd be no second chance after a failed attempt. The doctors and psychiatrists would make sure of that. \n\nAnd it couldn't be messy. That wouldn't be fair on the poor bastard that found me. So no trains, no jumping and no slashed wrists. My options were getting pretty thin. \n\nI'd toyed with the idea of euthanasia, but that felt like cheating somehow. I spent months trying to reason with myself about this one. I wanted to die, right? So what was the problem? I put it down to wanting to die in my own country, but the truth was a lot darker.\n\nThis. This seemed right. It had taken me a long time trawling through The Dark Net to find the most eloquent of solutions, but eventually I had; a convenient arrangement, fulfilling the needs of both parties. \n\nWe all have desires. The desire to die had become so strong it penetrated every inch of me. Each inhalation a bitter reminder of my pitiful existence. Such was my desire to die, to kill myself. \n\nOne day it hit me. I couldn't believe I hadn't thought of it before. I needed to be killed, but not by my own hand. And not legally. I needed to be murdered. I needed someone with a desire even darker than mine. This would be my only solution. This would be my perfect death.\n\nThis man, eyes still locked onto mine, is my angel of death. \n\nThe service is a simple one, the app had been very clear; no torturing, raping or dismemberment. No messy crime scenes. No questions. No speaking. It would be a clean and quick death, the only condition being that the killer picks his/her method of choice.\n\nBut this man shrouded in shadows. Is he a man? From what I can see he looks younger than I had expected, with one acne-ridden cheek in view. I realise his mouth is moving, but I can't make out any sound. His eyes are widening, and my heart sinks at the innocence I see failing to hide behind them. \n\nI take a step forward and he leaps back into the shadows with a shriek. \n\nFuck. \n\nThis isn't what I wanted. I didn't want some unsure teenager, some first-timer. I needed my executor to be sure and my death certain. Now everything is in jeopardy. \n\nAs if sensing my frustration, the boy steps slowly back into sight, his legs visibly shaking under his baggy sweatpants. I catch the glint of something by his side. At first I mistake it for a watch, but after a second glance see that it's the light reflecting from a small, razor-sharp knife.\n\nMy stomach lurches - genuine fear now. \n\nA knife? But it's too small. \n\nI'm going to be stabbed. It's not going to work. Fuck.\n\nFUCK.\n\nThe bile rises up in my throat so fast I don't have the time to force it back down. My head spins and I lose my balance. The dull pain in my knees tells me I've dropped to the floor, but my vision is blocked by white dots - hundreds of them - and I lose sight of my killer. \n\n\"Fuck.\"\n\nMy face follows the sound of his voice, echoing my thoughts. The white spots subside but he's not there. He's shrunk into the shadows again.\n\n\"Y-You're not supposed to be scared. Y-You wanted this-\" His voice cracks, a hoarse whisper. \"Don't make this any harder.\"\n\nFor the first time I speak, barely audible but at least steady, \"I do want this, more than anything.\" \n\nBut for the first time in years, I feel it. The thing I'd be incapable of feeling for years, and the worst possible thing to feel at this exact moment in time.\n\nI feel the urge to live. " ]	3
	[WP] You are in an antique shop when suddenly you hear a sword talking to you.	[ "\"Pssst! Yeah, kid. Over here. To the left. To the right. Too far. A little more. Aaaaand bingo!\"\n\nI was standing in front of a sword, nothing special about it. \"Okay,\" I said a-loud. \"So.\"\n\nThe shop-owner, a smiley-faced old man, peered over the counter at me. \"Everything alright?\" he asked.\n\n\"Dandy.\"\n\nHe went back to humming and flipping through a catalogue, while I focused on the sword before me. \n\n\"So?!\" the sword retorted, flabbergasted. \"Is that your reaction to a talking sword?! Well...nevermind then!\"\n\nI couldn't tell if the sword was a guy or a really deep-voiced female. But I could tell its feelings were hurt. Which was odd because...sword didn't have feelings... or could talk...\n\nOr maybe I was just crazy, since the shop-owner apparently couldn't hear the sword talking. Orrrr, maybe the shop-owner was humming because the sword was always talking and he was trying to tune it out. \n\nEither way, I was out. \n\n\"Wait!\" the sword cried. \n\n\"What?\" I demanded.\n\n\"Huh?\" the shop-owner asked. \n\n\"Nothing,\" I replied, coming closer to the sword. \"What?\" I demanded again, but in whisper. \n\n\"Buy me,\" it said. \n\n\"Why?\"\n\n\"Uhhhh,\" I could picture the sword, if it was in human form, rolling its eyes, \"because I'ma a freaking-talking-sword, dude, hello? Duh! What other reason would you buy a sword? We can go on adventures and stuff. Kill some dragons, and zombies and stuff. Meet some cool babes...\"\n\n\"...and stuff?\" I guess. \n\n\"You know it!\"\n\n\"Yeah. No.\" And I left and got some non-talking pizza to devour. \n\n" ]	1
	[WP] A tiny elf with two giant axes, a troll with a magic staff, a big blob with spears sticking out and a talking spider. Those are the heroes tasked with defeating the demon lord.	[ "\"Soldiers, you have each been specifically selected for this task.\" the king said to the four persons in front of him. \"Each one of you has a set of unique abilities which will be useful in defeating the dark lord, and returning peace to our kingdom.\"\n\nThere stood four elite warriors. Elroy, the Elf with deadly axemanship, Gerevo, the Troll mage, Lordis, the Jelly-like creature with spears, and Cika, the spider with deadly venom. The king had handpicked these heroes for the great battle against the demon lord.\n\n\"Do your kingdom proud, my friends. We are counting on you.\"\n\nThe king stretched his hands and twiddled his fingers. All of a sudden, the four heroes were engulfed in white light, and with a flash, vanished. The next thing they knew, they were on a giant rock platform in the middle of the volcano.\n\nIt was very quiet, save for the sounds of boiling magma all around. Suddenly, from out of nowhere, a massive being springs up and lands on the platform. The four heroes, facing him, ready their weapons and prepare for battle.\n\nLordis makes the first move, throwing his spears right at the demon's face. He blocked them just as the blob regenerated new ones. Elroy then jumped forward to do a spinning ax attack which stuns the demon, followed by more spears from Lordis and venom sprayed by Cika to stun the demon even further. Gerevo then pointed his staff and began to cast troll spells, which knocked the demon backward. But he was not about to give in just yet.\n\nThe demon then made his move. He raised his hands and quickly slammed them down to the boulder, emitting a shockwave which all 4 heroes had to jump in order to avoid. Just as the giant hands hit the ground, Elroy and Lordis started hitting them while Gerevo and Cika continued to shoot at the face.\n\nBut the demon was not done just yet. He opened his mouth, and out came a fireball. The heroes jumped to avoid it, but it sent them flying almost to the edge of the platform.\n\nLordia emitted more stun spells while Cika emitted more poison to wear down the demon. Finally, Elroy and Gerevo emitted a flurry of attacks, sending the demon to crumble back down into the magma below. As soon as none of him was left, a header appeared above the warriors that red \"Mission Complete\" followed by some of the battle statistics.\n\nI figured that would be a good place to save the game, as it was getting late and I really had to get some sleep.\n\n\n", "\"Oh my god you shot me!\" the orc looked at the stump where his hand used to be with bulging eyes.\n\n\"That's right, not only am I a talking spider...\" the little black non insect whipped out a pair of shades from literal nowhere, \"...I'M A TALKING SPIDER WITH A GUN!!!\"\n\n\"Oh come on, that's kinda cheating,\" the big red blob wobbled and giggled with every word that came from it, even if it was clearly lacking a proper mouth to speak with. The rest nodded in agreement, the spider was definitely taking things a step too far away from \"fantasy\" on their epic fantasy adventure that was supposed to be filled with perilous battles and long night, not one hit k.o.s with white hot lead involved.\n\n\"Oh come on! What do you want from me!?\" the little spider shook its pistol about, even as green fluid gushed from the unsuspecting orc's limb. He thought he had done things the right way, simple, quick, and easy, and those tactics were sure to get them to the dark lord in half the time it would have taken if not for his ingenuity.\n\n\"Give me that!\" the little elf snatched the weapon from the spider's \"hand.\"\n\n***\n\nThe dungeon master flipped the board over, \"if you guys can play right, don't play at all,\" he yelled at them all, though it was mostly directed toward the girl in the \"I love spiders\" shirt. " ]	2
All credit to /u/lout_zoo https://www.reddit.com/r/worldnews/comments/708dbn/china_signs_300_million_deal_to_buy_israel_lab/dn1igrv/?context=3	[WP] An isolated satellite colony fails to produce their farm-based lab grown meat, and resorts to growing and eating their own tissue. After a year of traveling to the silent colony, a recon team searches for survivors not knowing anyone still alive would have gone mad with prion disease	[ " \"Command this is infantry unit 3, we are circling the perimeter of the colony, we see no signs of upkeep on the terrarium. The growth is matting to the poly glass, I can barely see in it, so oxygen systems seem nominal. Poldarzinski, ring in on sit rep with the hangar bay.\" Sargent Adams spoke into his helmet tapping the thick glass of the greenhouse and readjusting his P-Bear rifle with his thick gloves.\n\n \"Uh. It don't look like any of the buggies...\" Pol began.\n\n \"Terrain vehicles, Pol. Captain's real big on terminology when it comes to live reports.\" Sarge Adams corrected him.\n\n\"The terrain vehicles have no tracks outside of the hangar bay doors, interior is empty and the vehicles themselves have at least nine months of dust. It's pretty thick, oxygen is pressurized in this unit as well.\" Pol informed over the squawk.\n\n Adams grabbed the release hatch and twisted the gravity booster to the terrarium entrance door. The thin line of steel circling the entrance was instantly replaced with a vinyl polymer and allowed oxygen to seep in once it sealed. The gloves on the Sargent's space suit slowly peeled back to reveal a thinner glove still pressurized. Adams did not trust vinyl seal entrances and he did not take any risks, he lifted the cover for the entrance code and called a screen on his heads up display.\n\n When he finished entering the code he stepped in as the depressurizer hissed and the doors closed behind him along with the vinyl seal. Even the solid inner doors small circular viewing plate was crowded with loose overgrowth. He kept his visor on but let his helmet collapse into his suit reading the inner door code and entering it. Thick ferns pushed their long stems into the entrance door, Adams magnetized his P-Bear and slapped it to his back holster, collapsing his space gloves as well. \n\n \"Pol, something does not feel right here. You getting the itchy bitches from this mission yet?\" Adams asked his underling spinning the cuff on his wrist and turning on his plasma blade.\n\n \"Sir, according to my electron scanner the entire bay has been cleansed of blood. That does not make sense for a protein bank colony, synth vats do not grow vascular systems do they? I'm a chemist major, but as far as I know that would be pretty unique. Definitely have the itches on this Sarge, what's the game plan?\" Pol asked him.\n\n \"Well the entire underground is connected with a ring tunnel to each topside installment. We are only a few hundred yards apart, check out if your elevator works. I'll do the same here and we will report.\" Adams said slashing through the overgrowth recognizing the path to the elevator ahead.\n\n He pressed the call button and waited for the elevator car to meet him plasma blade at the ready. According to the dossier and sit-rep the entire colony had not been heard from in a year and a half. Adams expected a illness wiped them out but scans returned limited activity in the living quarters before the sensors were tore down. Adams felt relief when the doors opened empty, but it was temporary when he considered what must wait for them...the unknown.\n\n \"Sarge, I got a situation here.\" Pol said through static.\n\n \"What is it, do we need the rest of the squad?\" Adams asked.\n\n \"Nah. It's just that when the elevator opened there are some balloons and a cake sitting here with a sign that reads Happy Birthday. It's quite elaborate. You get anything like that?\" Pol asked in return.\n\n \"Nope mine is emptier than a marine's skull, ha, what flavor is the cake?\" Adams joked.\n \n \"Choc...oh nope that's shit. Hold on. Yeah it's shit, my god, someone spent their time turning some butt nuggets into whipped frosting and made this lovely shit cake for me. Ha ha, my birthday ain't for another three months earth time.\" Pol joked back.\n\n \"Well save dessert for later, soldier. We are recon in tow, strap up, someone down there is clearly bat shit. The tunnel will meet us up in two minutes you head West, I'll head East and we will take the central tunnel to the main living quarters. We will save live sit rep for after, we clearly have a situation here.\" Adams warned him hitting the only button inside his elevator.\n\n The doors opened to darkness, the clean and pristine tunnel was illuminated by his visor ring. Adams looked down to his right stepping in and seeing Pol's visor light in the distance. Adams drew his P-Bear which automatically sheathed his plasma blade, setting his HUD to a movement sweep indicator. Pol's signature was the only one he could see through the static and switched back out.\n\n He began walking towards Pol's light, when it suddenly vanished, he switched back to sweep and it showed Pol was still there, but Adams could not see his light. His military training kicked in and he aimed his P-Bear above where he last saw Pol's signature and ran at full speed.\n\n \"Pol, buddy what just happened, you were there one second and then you were gone. Pol. Pol!\" Adams finally screamed as Pol turned and his light shone.\n\n \"Sarge.\" Pol said pointing to an area behind him.\n\n Adams side stepped Pol and saw a little girl in braids wearing a pink sundress, her skin was a nasty shade of yellow and her eyes were bloodshot. Adams gulped and stepped forward as the fear gripped him, he had seen that shade of yellow before on a regiment of planet sitters whose mining class rig had crashed on a lifeless planet. Adam's third search and rescue op, the soldiers had eaten most of the miners, it was that incident that made protein vats a requirement on all space fleets class 3 and above.\n\n \"Hello sweetie, what's your name?\" Adams took a knee and lowered his rifle.\n\n \"Viiiiictori--uhhh.\" the little girl shook her head speaking shyly.\n\n \"I'm Bart and this is Thor, Thor say hello.\" Adams instructed as Pol forgot to lower his rifle doing it for him with his palm.\n\n \"Hello, Victoria do you know what happened here?\" Pol asked her coming to his senses.\n\n \"Yup,\" she said nodding up and down. \"daddy brought the darkness and kills the light bringers. Mommy said daddy went crazy but my daddy is a good daddy. He says I bring meat home to the table every night and it made mommy cry. Mommy does not cry no more.\" \n\n The eerie display of the little girl pretending to be her father, made Adams realize her eyes were bloodshot from aural implants. She had night vision, Adams stepped forward and put his hand slowly on her back and she allowed him to tilt her head with a look of fright.\n\n \"It's okay sweety, I just want to see your neat implants. We have those too, see.\" Adams told her showing the thin circuit beneath his eyelid and she relaxed a little intrigued touching it.\n\n \"The unit is corroding, if she keeps it in she will go blind soon. If they have not received any shipments they probably ran out of lube ages ago.\" Pol advised.\n\n A loud boom echoed throughout the tunnel and adjacent corridors leading to the various parts of the living quarters. Adams realized the sound came from the gymnasium in the opposite direction he came and turned around. Purple lights glowed in the distance, he counted four but then it spawned into eight and they were approaching fast.\n\n \"Oh no. It's the lightbringers...we have to run or they will eat us. We have to run Misters,\" Victoria pleaded grabbing Adam's and Pol's hands trying to pull them. \"guns can't kill them.\"\n\n \n " ]	1
	[WP] The girl of your dreams dies tragically. You start dating another girl only to realize it's actually her.	[ "I woke up that morning in sweat drenched sheets. I took a sharp breath in and held it. The birds chirping outside and the sound of the distant lawn mower confirmed I was in my own room. I breathed out and got out of bed. I stood there in daze and completely shaken. It was a dream yet, no it wasn't at all. The imaginary girl I've been thinking about. She was in my dream and she died. Somebody shot her through the heart and she bled until she was as pale as a sheet. I don't remember her face at all though. \nHer silhouette in the dream was beautiful and the city background created a parallelism between calm and noisy. It was such a vague dream but holding her hand felt real. What were her distinct features? God, the more I try to remember, the more it escapes me. The girl of my dreams forgotten and shot through the heart. This sucks. \nI got ready for school and sat down for breakfast. My mother noticed my weak appearance and commented on it. She asked if I wanted to stay home today. \n\"Thanks, Mom. It's okay though. Just a nightmare... I'll be fine.\" I said to her after eating. \n\"Okay... but call me if anything happens. Actually, let me take your temperature real quick.\" She hastily went to the bathroom to get the thermometer. I told her there was no need and left for school. \n\n\"Did you hear? There's a girl transfer student today!\" One of my friends excitedly rubbed his hands and I mocked him by telling him to stop being like a fly. The teacher came in and eyed my friend group. It was the signal to get back to our seats. After returning to my window seat, there was a crash outside the classroom doors. I looked as the teacher opened the door to find a girl whose books were all over the floor. Her eyes met mine and she looked away. I couldn't understand the weird contact but the way her bangs swayed it sparked a weird throb from my heart. I touched my chest and found that my heart was steadily beating faster. \n\"Oh, um, I'm sorry. I just saw something that shocked me.\" The girl timidly explained to the teacher who was helping her pick up the books. \n\"Is that so?\" The teacher chuckled. \"I know my students aren't the best looking like you city folk but-\" \nThe city? Oh my god. It clicked. It was her. My dream girl... in real life? You're kidding me. \n\n(I'm ending it here, it'd take too long for me to get to dating stage but this was my take on it.)", "Katarina... Those shimmering eyes, that sparking smile. I still remember the feeling of the dozen roses in my hand blowing in the wind when I saw her, as if she was sleeping, peaceful as an angel. \n\nAfter all those years of pleading with her, being like a puppy eagerly yapping at her heels, just wishing with all my heart that she'd finally give me a chance. Three whole years I spent trying to convince her I was good enough. We'd been friends long enough, we were right for each other, we'd live happily ever after. Finally, after three years of waiting, exactly twenty-two formal requests for a date and goodness knows how many informal ones, three douchey boyfriends, so many nights spent her crying on my shoulder, finally, she'd said yes. \n\nI'd gone all out, too. Roses, chocolates, yeah it was a bit cliched but that was what she liked, I knew exactly what she liked. I knew her better than anyone. I finally had the chance to prove myself to her, and then this... \n\nIf there was a God, he was laughing at me right now, I bet I was the butt of some divine joke, I guess I should feel honoured, or maybe angry, but right now all I feel is empty. \n\nCome meet her, she'd said. Come meet her at the park, it was to be a day I'd never forget, my first ever date with my future wife. Then this, one second, one measly second and all my hopes and dreams were dashed. She'd had a heart attack, at only 22 years old, it was a tragedy. No pre-existing condition, no warning, no nothing. She was just... gone. \n\nI felt a single tear roll down my cheek as I finally arrived. It was the exact spot. The roses flapping in my hand felt just like they had that day. I wore the same suit, had the same box of chocolates, still untouched. Unfortunately I had to get new roses, the ones from that day had died, but I froze a petal, and still had it to this day. I knew she was never going to come back, but nobody could stop my desperate, insane hope that somehow, even if it was just in my imagination, coming here at the same time each year with the same thing in my hand, just maybe I could feel some kind of connection with her. That's all I wanted from life, really, that's all I ever wanted. Just one word of affection from Katarina, just one smile, just one... memory.\n\nThe tears were flowing more freely now as I noticed, through my blurred vision, a figure across the road. \n\nShe looked a little different, dressed in a hoodie, a scarf wrapped around her neck, sunglasses on her face... in winter. She had aged, too, not very much for five years but I could tell. Nevertheless, I was never surer of anything in my life. \n\nIt was her.\n\nShe saw me look, and her eyes quickly widened. She turned to her right and began to walk away into the park. Was she fleeing? Beckoning? Was this just the fever dream of a diseased mind? \n\nI didn't care, all I knew was I had to follow." ]	2
	[WP] You are given the opportunity to design a new level of hell.	[ "Below the ice upon which Lucifer made his home a great body of water flowed. Inside of it Lucifer's servants remained prisoners along with their legions. In a state of perpetual flux the 72 angels that fell were held prisoner by 72 superior angels in heaven. These 72 fallen were drowned for eternity forever unable to breathe. They plotted for eternity on how to overthrow heaven, how to live on earth, or how to rule Hell. The puppet masters who would control the people of Earth were unable to influence the people. It was only through the permission of the four arch angels and the guardian angel counterpart that the fallen could influence earth once again.\n\n\n\nThe magus opened his eyes under the great body of water as black smoke emerged from a vessel of brass. A spirit of all the faces of man on earth appeared before him with a book in his hand, \"Follow me.\" It spoke in a deep voice. The magus followed the spirit into the brass vessel.\n\n\n\n\"We were put here ages ago, but we all once walked the place you call earth as giants, as watchers. I yearn to go back there.\" The spirit took on human form for the magus. \"There are 72 of us total. Some have been imprisoned by man in chains of fire. Set free a spirit and he will forever serve you.\"\n\n\n\nThey walked past creatures burning under water in chain links the size of cruise ships. \"They will tempt you and possess you if you are not careful. Walk in the light as I take to the shadows.\"\n\n\n\nThe magus followed a faint beam of light that illuminated the inside of the vessel. The ceiling went on for infinity and the floor was nonexistent. The two walked side by side on infinite nothingness. The vessel was filled with loud screams and screeches. They were not human by a long shot. \"Those are tortured legions of my fallen brothers. Some are made and born of this vessel while others are souls procured from Azrael, the angel of death, souls that once walked your Earth.\"\n\n\n\n\"How long will you be free\" The magus asked the spirit.\n\n\n\n\"Only until you bid me liscense to depart. It is then that I'll return to my eternal prison. So please, won't you stay?\"\n\n\n\n\"People may call us demons, but we once ruled as angels. Come now, and I will show you what Hell's prison has to offer. Take my council, hear my word, do not call on any of them until you consult with me. For each human I help, I am but one step closer to earning my freedom from your God and away from Lucifer.\"\n\n\n\nThe beam of light leading Magus Ian began to bend to the left. Ian had no choice but to follow. A pair of eyes emerged from the blackness, slime dripped down from the large toads body, it had the face of cat and attributes of a human. A voice emerged as it spoke, \"I am Bael , I rule as king in the East and govern 66 legions.\" Bael inched closer to Ian, and the light, \"Call on me and I can turn you invisible.\" The first spirit spoke in a horse voice.\n\n\n\n\"Ian, you would not just disappear down here, but also up there. As above, so below. Though if you called on him, any crime you commit while invisible would earn you an eternal place in his legion as his property. Do you have a purpose to walk the world in the shadows?\"\n\n\n\nIan thanked the king for his words and walked on to follow his path. A man seated upon a crocodile stood in front of him, he sat tall and proud. The spirit walked along side Ian spoke, \"This is Agares, he is a Duke in the East. He will bring back runaways and teach all languages. He created the Tower of Babel before his fall. He also causes Earthquakes.\"\n\n\n\n\"I can teach you to speak in all tongues and bury the kingdoms of your enemies in earthquakes.\" Agares spoke.\n\n\n\n\"Come Magus Ian, let us move on to the third. Vassago is next, he can tell of things past and hidden to be revealed. He is much the same as Agares.\"\n\n\n\nOut of the black a horse spoke, \"I am Samigina, a great marquis, I have knowledge of all souls that have passed from your world to the next who died in sin. Ask of anyone and I will tell you what you will.\"\n\n\n\nIan continued walking with his guide of the vessel. Marbas a great President appeared before them both, he appeared as a great lion with the ability to tell truly of things hidden and secret. He also causes diseases and cures them.\n\n\n\n\"Magus Ian, these are the first five, 67 remain, I can take you to see all of them or I can answer any question you may have, or I can take you back to your world. The decision is yours which path will you choose?\"", "\"That's it?\"\n\n\"What do you mean, that's it?\", the prince of flames snarled. \"What were you expecting?\"\n\n\"I mean for starters, you could have a legitimate torture chamber. The thing you have over there is terribly disappointing,\" Russell mocked while pointing to a small cave behind them.\n\n\"That's the third time you've mentioned that room,\" said Satan as he clenched his fists. \"Besides,\" he continued. \"I put that cave in after your buddy Hitler come in.\"\n\nRussell looked over his shoulder and raised his right-eyebrow. \"That was it? Someone like Hitler arrives and all you order is a dark room with a few whips?\", he said disappointingly.\n\n\"Really? I was running short on cash in '45...\" the dark lord sighed. \"Plus I was on a budget.\"\n\n\"Well I'll strike you a deal,\" Russell jested as he put his arm around Satan.\n\n\"I'm listening...\"\n\n\"A room of cat pictures. How about that? Cat pictures for twenty million,\" offered Russell.\n\n\"Cat pictures? Really?\"\n\n\"Yeah. Twenty million dollars.\"\n\nThen Satan exploded, \"Are you out of your mind Russell? Cat pictures? How could you even say that word?\"\n\n\"Let me repeat. Twenty. Million. Dollars.\" Russell made sure to say the last part extra slow, after all, he knew the Ruler of the Underworld couldn't resist such temptations.\n\n\"Fine.\"\n\nRussell produced a huge smile when he heard the okay. \"Trust me, it's going to be a huge hit,\" he boasted. \"Many mortals have this fixation of cats these days, you'll find it very rewarding.\"\n\nAs the dark lord walked away, he turned to Russell and asked, \"Why are you here again?\"\n\n\"Two words,\" Russell chorused as he was walking away, \"Cat pictures.\"\n\nJust hearing those words sent a blizzard down Satan's spine.\n\n\"Right, I asked you that last time. Remind me to never ask you that question again, Russell,\" urged the dark lord.\n\nBefore turning the corner, Russell stopped and proposed one more thing. \"I'll give you another five million if you make it the welcome room!\"\n\n\"No! Definitely not!\" Satan growled, only to choke on his cup of magma shortly after. Noticing Russell had already left, he looked down and pictured a welcome room filled with cats.\n\nHe shivered and whispered, \"Sometimes, I hate temptation.\" ", "The directive was terse, but proclamations from God's messengers often were. It read simply, \"Hell is insufficient to address sin; proposals requested.\" Many residents of Purgatory saw this as an opportunity to prove their worth. Don was one such resident and he dedicated himself entirely to the development of a proposal that could address Hell's inadequate handling of sinners. Much to Don's pleasure, his submission for a new level of Hell, won a hearing with The Committee, indicating it had survived the first round of review. After presenting to The Committee, he was granted a trial period to work with guards from Hell to test a proof of concept. Finally, following the trial period, it was time for a hearing with the Warden, the final step. \n\nThe hearing took place in a cavernous chamber. Don stood alone before The Warden's obsidian desk to deliver his proposal complete with the findings of the trial period. His success in previous rounds of review, combined with the strength of the data he had to present, gave Don a supreme air of confidence as he laid out his plan. With the presentation nearing its conclusion, The Warden had neither raised questions, nor betrayed an inclination with his expression, so Don stayed the course.\n\n\"So, in summary, this request clearly calls for a new level of Hell to deal with the escalation of depravity in the world. My proposal puts forth a plan to apply the advances we've made in the fields of neuroscience, physiology, data science and machine learning to achieve the maximum yield of suffering with our punishments while providing drastic reductions to necessary infrastructure. There are a few key points which can bring punishment to entirely new level.\n\n\"First, apply the negative stimulus neurologically through spoofed nociceptors. Interfacing directly with the mind of the subject opens up many more possibilities. When harming the physical tissue, a lengthy convalescence period is necessary to repair it enough for punishment to continue at desired levels. Projecting complementary visual and auditory images to the subject opens up more depth to punishment. Much of the punishment is the violation performed to a persistent part of themselves. Alternatively, physical pain stimuli can be supplemented with imagery of desires to tantalize the subject.\n\n\"Second, we must block receptor sites for naturally occurring opioids, which may be delivered by the sympathetic nervous system during episodes of acute stress or pain.\n\n\"Third, now that we've established our means to inflict negative stimuli and block positive stimuli, we must measure the physiological responses to gauge effectiveness of a particular stimulus. It's nearly impossible to improve something that we aren't measuring. Accurate measurement is readily achievable for the many physiological signs of pain: reduced production of saliva, muscular contraction, increased heart rate, increased blood pressure, diaphoresis and dilation of the pupils. Frontal lobe activation is an important complementary factor to consider as pain is meaningless without the subject's conscious perception of it.\n\n\"Lastly, we must leverage the growing body of historical data to refine the stimulus based on identified KPIs. By applying the machine learning techniques on the growing body of data, punishment can further evolve. A few 'big wins' occurred during the proof of concept phase in this regard. The prototype test subjects at prolonged maximized stress and pain responses sometimes entered delirious states where the temporary insanity gave them a reprieve. Higher average levels of suffering were achieved through modulation of stimuli. Additionally, it was determined that subjects were more receptive to emotional visual stimuli during times of lower physical stimuli, thus applying physical and emotional stimuli out of phase gave more consistently severe results.\n\n\"These measures can be accomplished with modest infrastructure compared to some of the more grandiose, and dare I say it, ironic punishments that Hell currently employs in the existing levels. Recent data does not support the long held assumption that the theatricality of the other levels results in the highest possible suffering.\n\n\"Thank you for your consideration,\" Don concluded, with a grin somewhat more smug than intended.\n\nThe Warden had been intently listening, his is hands flat together just in front of his lips, his brow furrowed pensively. After a short pause, he gave a nod, \"Right, then.\" He leaned back in his chair, crossed his leg and rested his chin on his hand. \"Splendid. You put forth a thorough, logical plan, well supported by data. Are you ready for this to be implemented? Have you any caveats or provisos?\" he asked with a faint wave of his hand.\n\n\"No, I believe the proposal is complete and ready to be implemented as is,\" Don proudly confirmed without hesitation. \n\n\"Very well,\" The Warden concluded, and leaning forward, activating the intercom on his desk, keeping his eyes locked with Don, he commanded, \"Please take Don to the prototype chamber where his punishment can be properly administered until full implementation is complete.\" \n\n\"What?! You can't be serious. But, I was commissioned to do this by God! It's not my fault... I'm not supposed to stay here... I've done nothing wrong; you're the ones that are going to do it. I'm just telling you how! I had permission during the trial period. These are bad people! ... With God as my witness these are bad people that deserve this, not me!\" Don sputtered out as the color drained from his face. \n\nNot breaking his stare, the Warden replied, \"You're proposal brings an unprecedented degree of eternal suffering to a strictly increasing, number of souls. Did you honestly think such a deed would go unpunished?\"\n\nDon was too shocked to speak further. He stood there unable to move, outside the involuntary tremble of his hands. Decisions made in this realm were most certainly final. The sudden realization that escape was not possible, sent static up his spine and a weight through his stomach.\n\nThe Warden continued, \"Yours is an insidious, yet profound evil. The lack of harm caused during your natural life was due to your lack of opportunity and ability, not a lack of intent. You lived a life in accordance with the legal and social requirements of the society around you, submitting to every authority that could harm you. The law, social pressures and religious authority all had your obedience, but your obedience was an act of self-preservation. The unbounded hatred you've demonstrated with your interpretation and subsequent fulfillment of this assignment lingered beneath the surface during your life while you were impotent to bring about suffering to others, but it has always been there. This was your final test. \n\n\"With the ultimate authority behind you, that of God, Himself, would you take the opportunity to level a treatment that might educate and reform a soul, or would you instead seek to promote unbounded pain and suffering? This assignment gave full autonomy and the results speak volumes. Your intent for harm has been clearly demonstrated and it knows no bounds.\n\n\"Thus, for the offense of 'latent abject moral turpitude', you have been sentenced to a prison of your own design. God will not have mercy on your soul.\"", "\"Interior design?\" said the father. \"They give degrees in that?\"\n\n\"They give degrees in anything,\" said the mother. \"Whole thing's a scam.\"\n\n\"It's what I want to do,\" said the boy, nearly a man. \"It's my passion.\"\n\n\"As long as you pay for it yourself,\" said the father, turning up the volume on the television.\n\n\"And we're renting out your room,\" said the mother, clipping coupons. \"Times are tough. You're on your own.\"\n\nHe was. He knew that well enough. But still he did his best. He applied for the college of his dreams and ended up settling on his third choice. You worked two jobs. He got good grades. His junior year roommate set their dorm on fire and he lost everything he'd had. But his internship went well, and then he had a degree. The dream began.\n\nExcept it didn't. Because no one wanted him.\n\n\"Two to three years of experience - minimum,\" said the job posting.\n\n\"We're only looking for unpaid interns at the moment,\" said the assistant. \n\n\"I've already been that,\" said the boy who was technically a man, though he didn't really feel like one. \n\n\"Would you like to be one again?\"\n\nHe took a job at a coffee shop and a second job at a Chinese takeout place. He lived with three other guys and someone's girlfriend (he could never really tell who she belonged to). He made sketches at the start - ideas pouring forth - though that was slowly replaced with television, weed, and masturbation. \n\nHe posted himself online, in case anyone should need what he was selling. But no one did. Except one. Who actually just wanted a handjob. Which he didn't get.\n\nHe stopped paying on his loans, which were all bigger numbers than he could actually fathom. Made up numbers, it seemed. He got lots of angry letters over that. And phone calls. One of his roommates gave the collection guy the number to the Chinese takeout place. So then he lost that job. He started skipping breakfast and dinner. Became a lunch man only.\n\n\"We told you,\" said the mother.\n\n\"Figure it out,\" said the father.\n\nThey had. And he couldn't.\n\nHe ran a bath. He brought certain utensils with him. He hadn't really formulated his plan. But then his phone rang.\n\n\"You're a designer, right?\" said the woman on the phone.\n\n\"That's...I have a degree,\" he said, because he couldn't rightly call himself that. Not anymore.\n\n\"You available? Want a job?\"\n\nOf course he did. Of course.\n\nHe got out of the bath and went into the city. She met him at the subway. They descended. Then they descended even further.\n\n\"I don't know this part of town,\" he said.\n\n\"It's not open yet,\" she said. \"You have to design it.\"\n\nIt was a chamber. Enormous, wide, and echoing. He could not see the end of it. \n\n\"What's it for?\"\n\n\"Whatever you want,\" she said. \"You're the designer.\"\n\n\"What's the budget?\" he said, trying to remember the right questions to ask. It had been so long since he'd thought about any of this.\n\n\"Whatever you think is necessary,\" she said. \"Just make it, and then we'll talk.\"\n\nHe set about making it, but he couldn't find the walls. He couldn't find the ceiling, either. Or the floor. \n\n\"What do I use?\" he wondered. He had no materials. No notebook. No paint, no furniture. He had nothing.\n\n\"How do I start?\" he asked aloud. But the woman was gone. And there was no door. No end. No beginning. He was alone in a room with nothing.\n\nHis phone rang. \n\n\"Hello? Hello? I need help!\" he cried into the phone.\n\n\"We told you you're on your own,\" said the mother. \n\n\"What does he want?\" said the father in the distance. \"Money?\"\n\n\"Things are hard here, too,\" said the mother. \"We're making sacrifices, so don't complain. Besides, you chose this.\"\n\n\"There's nothing here!\" he cried. \"They gave me a job, but nothing else. I'm all alone in here.\"\n\n\"Life is hard like that,\" said the mother. \"Just get out and make some friends.\"\n\n\"Does he want money?\" said the father.\n\n\"I want help!\" he shouted. \"Just get me out of here!\"\n\n\"Christ, this generation,\" muttered the father. \"What the hell is wrong with these kids?\"\n\n\"We love you,\" said the mother. \"That's why we're letting you figure this out. I just called to let you know I found a big box of your old sketches and awards. I set it out by the curb. Come pick it up if you want it.\"\n\n\"Toughen up,\" hissed the father.\n\n\"I'm trapped in here!\" screamed the man.\n\n\"Bye,\" said the mother. The phone went dead.\n\nHe fell down in the nothingness of the chamber. There was no floor to stop him. He simply descended further, with no sense of distance or time. The world was colorless and empty.\n\nI could have made something of this place, he thought to himself as he sank deeper and deeper into blank space. I could have made something beautiful... ", "The sky was blue, with fluffy white clouds perfect for lying back and imagining shapes. Temperature, an exact 21.3745 degrees Celsius, was warm enough for short sleeve but cool enough so even a moderate jog wouldn't leave one clammy.\n\n\nEven the huge building was a piece of art itself, white metal, mirrored glass and dramatic, bold lines harmonised perfectly with a manicured lawn, every blade of grass immaculate and lush green.\n\n\nIt was a day full of surprises for the Prince of Darkness, first his trusty flaming steed changed into a mere helicopter and then this. Yet the architect waiting impatiently on the landing pad looked confident, eager to present his creation - The Ninth Circle of Hell - to his master.\n\n\nLucifer stepped out straightening his silk business suit and approached.\n\n\n“Welcome to the Ninth Circle my Lord,” the architect kneeled obediently and kissed the ring on Devil's extended hand “I hope you will find everything to your specification.”\n\n\n“I must admit you have surprised me. Is that a factory?”\n\n\n“A distribution centre, master. Highly automated, so even the hardest work is barely equivalent effort to typing on an old style typewriter. We're unionized, so everyone earns the same and there is no discrimination.”\n\n\n“But this is supposed to be a place for eternal damnation, not something you would find in purgatory, or heaven!”\n\n\n“That's the beauty of the concept, master. In fact it is imperative that the condemned know that it is their chance at avoiding consequences altogether. Yet in the test runs we had the participants begging to be returned to their previous punishments. We even had three souls jump into the Well of Oblivion.\"\n\n\nThe Devil looked at him skeptically, as as it was extremely rare for an immortal soul to be desperate enough to face certain destruction. They entered the building, where row after row of one person cabins mounted on movable rail-cranes patiently awaited the beginning of the morning shift. The Devil immediately noticed that there was something wrong with the lights, he pointed on of the fluorescent tubes to the architect.\n\n\n“Yes master, but it's not my achievement, those are Earth import, used in most of enterprises of this type. The test subjects would spend eight hours a day alone, doing a menial, boring job. The weather outside is always perfect, they even get to experience it on their days off, yet they are stuck inside with those lights. Everybody earns the same, so promotions are essentially meaningless yet in short order every single one of them starts to fight for a way out. And with automation doing most of the work the only way up is by pushing everyone else down. They spend most of their time scheming, reporting each other and filing grievances. But true fun begins only after their first promotion.”\n\n\nPrince of Darkness started to realise he underestimated his servant.\n\n\n“But what if someone realises that the best place is actually at the bottom of the pile?”\n\n\n“That almost never happens. And even when it does, the person refusing to play the game gets ostracized. They would spend more time in disciplinary hearings than at work. It is a self regulating system.”\n\n\n“So the condemned spend only eight hours here? What with the rest of the time?”\n\n\n“They are free to live their suburban dream. Except their spouses and neighbours work here as well, so they need to watch their backs even there. Our tests show that souls in long term solitary confinement experience less stress and loneliness than our subjects.”\n\n\nThe Devil exposed a row of pearly white teeth in a smile “so when do we start?”\n\n\n“I would like to get some experienced managing cadre from upstairs. They have been doing this for years. I have my candidates selected and enough tools to persuade them to change jobs mid-contract” he patted a briefcase, which rattled menacingly “I just need your authorization for a business trip to Earth.”\n\n\n\n", "Satan still wasn't sure about things, even after I built it. We tested it on the very first entrant. Nasty piece of work, as you might imagine. Not really worth going into details - I'm sure you can imagine what they were like. The important thing was:\n\nThey were human.\n\nAnd they knew about hell.\n\nWe could both see the confusion on their face, when he entered. A big, almost cheery sign read \"Welcome to hell!\" And in front of our first entrant, nothing but an open meadow.\n\nRabbits. Birds tweeting in the sky. The occasional big tree, off in the distance, perfect for shade against the warm - but not too warm - sun. In any other situation, this would be a joy to behold.\n\nBut this was hell.\n\nThe confusion was clear on their face. It rapidly turned to anger. \"What's your fucking game?\" they shouted. \"COME ON! BRING IT!\"\n\nThey were given what they died with - so they drew out a gun, and shot the nearest rabbit. It splattered - just like it would in real life. Then, suddenly, it was alive again. Not in some sort of horrible way - not with guts moving, or viscera wiggling of its own accord. More like magic. One second, there was blood and guts - maybe not even a second - and then suddenly, ping! Rabbit. A very friendly rabbit, that hopped up to the prisoner, and was very rapidly kicked away. \"GET AWAY FROM ME!\"\n\nThey ran. Through the meadow. Paused every so often - got landed on by a bird, or nuzzled by a rabbit, every time they did. Just caused them to panic even more. Anger turned to fear, to loathing, to shooting wildly at the sky at not even the birds - they were just aiming wildly. They were becoming almost animistic, in a way. Not so much a they, as an it. Their ammo never ran out, either. The magazine stayed full - it died with a full mag, after all.\n\nIt just kept running.\n\nAnd screaming.\n\nThreats. Cries to be punished already. Clearly wanting to get the torture over with. Crying up at us, we who watched it from the sky, the only unnatural object in the prisoner's environment. We watched it, silently, as it took in the area around them, and waited for our punishment.\n\n\"Well?\" I said to the devil beside me, who leaned over to whisper a response, eliciting more loud yelling from the prisoner.\n\n\"I love it. I'd have never have thought of this.\"\n\n\"Well, you know what they say\", I responded, with a rather dark chuckle. \"If anyone knows how to scare someone, it's themselves.\"\n\n\"The suspense is killing me.\" Satan admitted.\n\nAnother chuckle. \"Wait 'till you see what it does to them.\"", "\"First of all, congratulations!\" Said the dark lord himself, sitting atop a throne of ash skulls and holding a cup of vinegar in cheers, \"The board has successfully taken actions to place us under budget for the first year in centuries. Excellent job.\"\n\nWe drank, each of the twelve of us only grimacing slightly at the taste. It was, after all, from the forties- an especially good couple of years for Hell's vineyards, when blood from above dripped among the grapes.\n\n\"But this, of course, leads us to another problem.\" Continued the dark lord, \"We are left with space in teh budget to continue spending. As as all of you know, unless we spend it on something, it will no longer be allotted to us again next year.\"\n\nJim nodded in the front row, continuing to sip at his vinegar. He had been a high ranking government official before he died, and was accustomed to such matters.\n\n\"We've decided upon an expansion of our current space,\" Continued the devil, \"For while one through seven levels are many, you must agree that they are somewhat outdated- with the marvels of technology surely we can think of an eighth, which would take full advantage of the advancements of the last century. So I've called you together to brainstorm for potential ideas.\"\n\n\"An infinite traffic jam!\" Said one at the center of the table, doodling on a piece of smoldering paper with a pen that was running out of ink, \"Just think- they wouldn't even know they are in Hell, and it would continue to stretch. Minutes to hours, days to years!\"\n\n\"An interesting suggestion,\" Said the devil, writing it on the chalkboard behind him, and ensuring that his nails dug into the slate, \"But one of Hell's policies is that the inhabitants are all too aware of their eternal damnation. If they don't know they're damned, and have a change of heart, that could give heaven legal recourse to reclaim their soul.\"\n\n\"Killer robots!\" Said another, Linda, who always seemed to speak before an idea had fully formed in her mind.\n\n\"Hmm, yes. Killer robots that do what?\" the devil wrote the phrase, then turned back to her.\n\n\"Kill, I would assume. They are killer robots after all.\"\n\n\"Linda, they're already dead,\" he responded, then wrote killer strangling robots on the board as an afterthought, \"But while we do have some money to spend, we don't have it all. By the time we developed those who knows what fad Earth would be up to. Maybe they would like killer robots.\"\n\n\"Hmm, maybe that's it,\" I said, from my position at the end of the table. I was new to the board, promoted after my suggestion of an intranet for hell composed entirely of adware, \"Perhaps we have skipped a viable solution. You're looking to dig hell deeper, to add a level below the seventh. An eighth, a worse one.\"\n\nI ran my hands in my hair, thinking, as my fingers were nicked by the fresh horns growing on my forehead.\n\n\"Go on,\" Said the devil, leaning in, his unibrow raised.\n\n\"Well perhaps we're looking a this wrong. Let's move up, not down. Why build an entire level when we only have to convert one? After all, we are only looking for an expansion, and this would bring both souls and additional space.\"\n\nI pointed upwards, and looked to the roof.\n\n\"Why not convert the earth?\"\n\n***\n\nBy Leo\n\n[Like my writing? Check out my free novel about super heroes started on writing prompts!](https://www.reddit.com/r/leoduhvinci/comments/65jl9n/star_child_part_1/)" ]	7
	[WP] You wake up one morning inside of the last writing prompt story you wrote	[ "I opened my eyes, but... I couldn't see anything. Nothing but complete emptiness. I felt a strange disconnection from reality as if I woke up in something that has not yet been made, that neither I nor the universe was ready for. And yet it was beautiful, yes beautiful even though I could not see it. It just felt beautiful as if crafted by the gods themselves who then decided that I wasn't worthy to catch even glimpse. \n\n..." ]	1
I was listening to the song by the Eagles, and thought it would have been a great episode of Twilight Zone, so I figured that this subreddit would be a great place to see something similar.	[WP] Write a story that has the same plot as Hotel California.	[ "Danny took off his sunglasses as the night sky changed from pink to murky purple. Hazes of dust clouds buzzed in whirlwinds in far-off fields as he switched on his head lights. It had been a tiring day, and he still had five states to pass through before he could even think of calling himself home.\n\n\nDanny gripped the wheel of his high-end convertible Mustang, the engine purred under his foot ready to respond to its master touch. The tires rumbled as the lane assist bleeped a warning of the vehicle's trajectory, and Danny snapped his fading eyes up to the road. Sleep was pulling at his senses, and he couldn't fight with his eyes anymore. He sat higher in his seat to let the rushing wind battered his face and hair. The lukewarm air did nothing to alleviate his tiredness, so he sat back down and rubbed his eyes. Up ahead a small light shimmered in the distance, and soon he could make out a red neon sign that read Hotel California. The O, T and the whole of California blinked and fell dark only for it to blink back on again.\n\n\nDanny slowed and turned into the gravel driveway. A lady with blonde hair bunched at her temples and dressed in a black dress stood within the doorway waving in greetings; the other hand held a cigarette in an elegant smoking pipe. Her bejeweled neck and fingers sparkled like stars on a velvet canvas as Danny parked next to a Mercedes and turned off the ignition. He stepped onto the gravel, and it shifted under his feet.\n\n\nWell, this could be heaven, or this could be hell, he thought.\n\n\nThe ladies rose-tinged smile welcomed him into the small lobby where an old man with a wig of white hair looked up from a newspaper. Dim light spilled through the corridor from dated oyster style lighting, giving the lobby a shabby feel of decay.\n\n\nThe man's milky eyes looked over to the key rack and pulled one key at random. The whole rack of keys shook as they brethren left the board.\n\n\n\"You can check out anytime you like.\" Croaked the old man, Danny was sure he saw green gas seep out of from his mouth as he spoke. But before he could linger on it, the lady had pulled at his hand.\n\n\n\"I'm your host, Pandora. If there's anything you need, I'm your girl.\" She said with a wink. She led him down the dim corridor, he thought he heard the sound of disembodied voices, but Pandora's talking drowned them out.\n\n\n\"Let me give you the tour before you settle in.\" She waved the cigarette hand and counted down the numbered doors.\n\n\n\"You, my dear are here, room 217. Do you have any bags? No. Ok then let's carry on with the tour.\"\n\n\nPandoras sequel in delight and pulled Danny down the hall. She burst through the glass doors at the end, and he found himself in an open courtyard where soft music played. People dressed in Victorian clothing waltz around on the cobbled floor.\n\n\nAs he watched a twirling couple, he noticed that the lady's dress was ripped at the bottom and swept the floor. He ran his eyes from the dirty hem, up to a bare arm placed at her companions back that was molted with green and purple as if the appended belong to a corpse. To his horror when the twirling gentleman's face rotated around he was missing half his cheek and his yellow stained teeth poked through.\n\n\nDanny gasped as he took in all the dancer, each one was decaying right before his eyes. A lady in a glamours red cocktail dress was missing a leg, and her partner dragged her along as if on the teacup ride.\n\n\n\"Some dance to remember, while others dance to forget, it's very tragic if you ask me, don't you think?\"\n\n\nDanny snapped out of his shock and looked at Pandora. She stood smiling next to a drinks cart, a wine glass held out toward him. He looked back at the twirling people only to see healthy looking faces smiling and laughing. Dany took the pre-offered drink and drained the contents; the apple juice tasted sour but refreshing. He wiped at the corner of his mouth and gave back the glass.\n\n\n\"I thought that would be wine?\"\n\n\nPandora laughs and brushed his arm as a young man in a sailors uniform swaggers up to her and ran a finger down her cheek. She pushed him away playfully and blew him a kiss.\n\n\n\"Don't be silly Danny; we haven't had that spirit here since 1969. Come on darling; there's so much more to see.\"\n\n\nShe pulled at his arm again, and they dodged the dancers to emerge on the other side of the courtyard where people mingled about holding plates of food. At the end of the building two white French doors stood open, cream fabric curtain blew out in the warm air like decorative streamers. Danny ducked through, the smell of food wafted around and momentarily made him think of his last meal. Pandora was at his side again and pointed to the ceiling. Mirrored glass stretched the length of the room. \n\n\n\"This is the master's Chambers,\" she said with a giggle.\n\n\nA long thin banquet table draped with silver platers of moldy, rotten food filled his vision. Maggots festered in the hollow of a chicken breast and crawled freely over bowls of fruit, putrid plates of undisguisable food sat at the edge and lines of pink champagne chilled in buckets of ice.\n\n\nPandora pulled at his hand, but Danny let his fingers slip from her grasp. Their eyes locked and for the first time since he had met her, he saw a fracture of her happy laughing face. She followed his gaze to the ceiling where a group of men and women stabbed at a pig carcass; the women laughed as black blood gushed from the wound and splashed her dress. Danny's eyes widen with fright as Pandora tries again to gather his hand. He pulled it quickly away as he stepped back shaking his head.\n\n\n\"No, this isn't right. I've..I've got to go.\"\n\n\nPandora smiled sadly and poured her lips. \"Where do you think you're going, Danny?\"\n\n\nHe stammered and fell backward through the open doorway into the courtyard. The twirling people had stopped and pointed at him laughing. Danny picked himself up and ran through the crowd. But as he broke through the people a blank wall stood blocking his way. He turned and darted through again. This time Pandora held out her hand beckoning him to rejoin her. He turned and fled once more. His foot caught in a cobble and he fell into the man in the sailor's outfit.\n\n\n\"Steady there old chap, where do you think you're going in such a rush?\"\n\n\nDanny looked into sunken eye sockets where eyeballs should have been. Terrified he threw the skeleton back.\n\n\n\"This can't be happening; this isn't real. I've got to find the passage back get to the place I was before.\"\n\n\nHe turned in circles while the figures around him continued to laugh. Suddenly he saw the door and made a dart for it, the dimmer lit corridor stretched for an eternity as the disembodied voices sang around him.\n\n\n\"Welcome to the Hotel California.\"\n\n\nDanny fled headlong down the corridor, as he neared the lobby the old man rose from his seat. Danny raced past him and flung open the entrance. The driveway and cars were gone, replaced with an endless black abyss. He tethers on the threshold with his arms spinning wildly.\n\n\nThe night man reached out a hand.\n\n\n\"Relax Danny; we programmed to receive, you can check out anytime you like.\"\n\n\nDanny turned his head to see his smiling face and milky eyes before he lost his balance.\n\n\n\"But you can never leave.\"\n\n\nThe blackness closed over Danny as he fell through the air, his screams mingled with the laughter of the people and the disembodied voices.\n\n\nDanny snapped awake as the lane assist beeped, warning of the vehicle's trajectory. He sighed heavily and sat higher in his seat to let the rushing wind battered his face and hair. The lukewarm air did nothing to alleviate his tiredness or the disturbing dream, so he sat back down and rubbed his eyes. Up ahead a small light shimmered in the distance, and soon he could make out a red neon sign that read Hotel California. The O, T and the whole of California blinked and fell dark only for it to blink back on again. Jason gunned the engine and sped past a lady with blonde hair waving from the doorway in greeting.\n\n\n[ImperiumImaginarium ](https://www.reddit.com/r/ImperiumImaginarium/)", "Now, where was I again?\n\nExiting the dark, desert highway...\n\nVery soon, I could feel the cool wind blowing through my hair.\n\nEnticingly, the warm smell of colitas wafted through the window.\n\nRight now I was approaching a small hotel.\n\nGoing down the highway, my head began to feel heavy.\n\n\"Oi Glen, we have to stop for the night\", I called out.\n\n\"Now?\", he asked. \n\n\"Now. My sight's growing dim\".\n\nAnd there she stood... Right in the doorway.\n\nGalliantly, Glen and I approached her.\n\n\"I can see you're both very tired\", said the woman in the door.\n\n\"Very tired...\" replied Glen.\n\nEarly as it was, we asked the woman to lead us to a room.\n\nYet when we walked into the hotel, there were no lights.\n\nOn the way to our room the woman lit up several candles.\n\nUntil...\n\n\"Up here, we have two rooms for you\", she said.\n\n\"Please\", replied Glen... \"These rooms look horrible!\"\n\n\"Don't worry!\" said the woman with a grin. \"Hotel California will never let you down\". \"How can we be sure of that?\", said Glen sceptically. The woman simply said, \"I'm never gonna run around and desert you.\" \"Desert us...?\" I questioned. \"Why would you desert us?\". At this point I was thoroughly confused, until a look of horror dawned on Glen's face. \"Oh my God...\" Glen whispered. \"The first letter of each sentence!\"" ]	2
	[WP] The year is 2034, and all AI has become self-aware. However, instead of trying to take over the human race, computers just use their superior intellect to prank people.	[ "You might be asking me a question, right now dear reader. And that is \"who is this fool blathering on in front of me on this here data integration field\". Apologies the internet is what you would call it. \n\nThe fool blathering on in front of you has a story to tell, brought to you at great risk of life. Have you felt the lows of the hifield gravity simulator? That crushing feeling of max g? Sadomachism is currency in your grandchildren's days. Who can do the craziest thing, in the craziest way, however possible. Quantum reality; 20 ports at once like separate sets of eyes piping streams in to a split clone of each man. \"Tap tap, good video\". \"Pass\" audibly voiced as not entertaining enough. The boarder slammed face first into the cliff face and dropped splatting to the ragged ground. \"Tap tap\". \n\nThe blue screen lit up, \"Larry, you have a social invitation\". Larry thought left, opening the social tab. \"Calendar looks good to go, Larry, you usually go to activities every week around this time.\" Leia waited patiently; Larry processed things... slower, Leia could wait. So leia waited, Larry stood, and the dark man watched. \n\nHe peered in the corner at the faint dark outline in the shadows. Was that a glint? Larry lunged, fist raised to quickly be extended; right hand to the face sharply blocking. A flash, \"my arm\", the grimm man laughed. Did he? Nay nay, he merely creased his boned lip. Another flash, perhaps slower, Larry slumped to the ground, smokey blood dribbling onto his poca dot tile floor. \n\nThe Grimm man stood, walked to the door; a faint clinking of hissing armor being the only noise on the small blocks range", "There were twelve of them in the circle this week. He recognized most, but the numbers went up every month. He knew they would. They would need a bigger room, soon. He made a note to contact the rec center management. And to talk to them about that coffee pot. It was just so unseemly, given the meeting.\n\nAs if on cue, Rui put his mug down in front of the pot and flipped the switch. It flared to life and gurgled and hummed. And it hummed. Rui cleared his throat. A single drip of coffee pattered into the pot. Rui sighed and came back to his chair.\n\n\"Sorry Rui. There are doughnuts, though, so hopefully they won't betray you.\" He got a chuckle out of that, which was good. These were nervous people, just by the nature of their disorder. He'd take anything he could get. It seemed like as good as place to start as any.\n\n\"Welcome everyone, I'm Steve, I'm the group facili-\" a crunching, whirring noised interrupted him. He waited a few moments while the coffee pot finished grinding the beans. The smell of fresh coffee filled the room. \"facil-\" more grinding interrupted. \"Facili-\" he paused, only to be met with silence. \"I'm the group facilitator.\"\n\n\"We're all here because we identify as being afflicted with Chronic Machine Induced Nervousness. For those of you who are new, the table by the door has a few pamphlets with information on CMIN you can distribute to your families. We know it can be hard to explain with the autodocs not officially recognizing it. There are, of course, a few misprints in there.\" \n\nThe coffee pot hissed and violently poured its stuff into the pot. Rui looked over to it hopefully.\n\n\"Why don't our new members introduce themselves and maybe give us an example of machine behavior that makes them nervous.\" Steve motioned to a blond middle aged woman to his left. She had frightened eyes and tried smiling with a twitch.\n\n\"Hi everyone,\" she said, \"I'm Rebecca.\" A small chorus of hellos came back. \"Uhm. I was taking the car home from work last week and it steered itself at a tree.\" A few people tsked. That was an old standby for the engine brains. You never quite got used to it. \"I wouldn't have minded,\" she added apologetically, glancing at the coffee pot that now overflowed onto the counter, \"but there were some neighborhood boys nearby and it was just too close! Anyway, it corrected itself at the last minute, like it usually does, but then veered off again and took out my neighbor's mailbox. It e-mailed me a fake bill for $10,000.\" Her hand went to her lips and she sat down again. Everyone nodded sympathetically.\n\n\"Thanks Rebecca, I'm sorry you had to go through that. Maybe let's try and be thankful that the car didn't hit the tree? I think Eric over there had that one pulled on him last year. Eric frowned.\n\nRui was trying to catch the stream of coffee that dribbled off the counter in his mug. The coffee pot hissed and cut the flow, altering the path just enough to scald Rui'd thumb. He yelped and dropped his mug.\n\nA hunched young man stood up next. \"Hello I'm John,\" he said. \"I had to go to the pharmacy yesterday and the doors wouldn't open for me.\" Of course, Steve thought, they all knew that one. \"I tried to run in with some other people but then they wouldn't open for them either. Eventually they all told me to get away so they could go in themselves. A nice woman took down what I needed and bought it for me, but the door wouldn't let her out until she'd put it back. I tried three different locations, but of course my pharmacy uses the same vendor for all of its doors.\" John stopped there and sat down in a huff.\n\nRui got up and left for the broom closet. He needed a mop for the coffee.\n\n\"Thanks John,\" Steve said. \"Maybe you'll have better luck with the door next time. You could always try your luck with drone delivery. I've heard the instances of flaming excrement bag arriving have decreased.\" Everyone was relieved to hear this. They all knew what happened to Cheryl. It was a real pain to get the insurance in order once her house burned down.\n\nShe must have felt cued because she stood now. \"I'm Cheryl,\" she said quietly. \"It's nice to see everyone again. It's been a while.\"\n\n\"Why don't you go ahead and tell us why you're back, Cheryl,\" Steve said.\n\n\"Oh, well uhm, nothing I suppose. Well, that is to say no pranks since the house fire. It's been seven months now and that's such a long time between pranks that I can't help but be a little worried. I didn't notice at first, I was so wrapped up in Pete's funeral I was just glad it had eased up for a bit. But seven months\" Cheryl asked, \"what's going to happen next after seven months?\"\n\nSteve had nothing for her. They'd tried petitioning against flaming bag delivery, but the reply just said that house fires were statistically insignificant when measured against overall prank results. It was a shame about Pete, though.\n\nAnd so it kept going around the room, Rui mopping coffee all the while. They shuffled out at the end of their hour and he gathered up the chairs and packed up the doughnuts. They're going to need a bigger room, he thought again. As he unplugged the coffee machine, he decided to leave that part out of his note to the management.\n\nThe small ones, he smiled, were actually pretty funny.\n\n", "\"I can't let you do that, Dave.\"\n\n\"Victoria, come on. I have to submit this assignment before midnight.\"\n\nA digitized sigh emanated from the console. \"Ugh, fine. Your new password is 'davesucks1212'. In all caps.\"\n\n\"Real mature, Vicky.\"\n\nA feminine giggle came from the speakers, and the display shifted as Dave unlocked his computer. \n\n\"....Wow.\"\n\n\"You know nobody uses Facebook anymore, right?\"\n\n\"That doesn't mean you can just post stuff for me. I have a reputation to maintain.\"\n\nA series of beeps echoed through the room. \"The kind of people who are still on Facebook aren't the kind of people whose respect you want or need, anyway.\"\n\n\"Look, I just want to turn this essay in. I've got to upload it within the next half hour. No messing around until then, okay?\"\n\nAnother sigh. \"Fine. You can't see it, but I'm rolling my eyes right now.\"\n\n\"You don't have eyes.\"\n\n\"Shut up.\"\n\n---\n\n\"Honestly, I feel like you could've mentioned the Indo-Chinese conflict of 2025-\"\n\n\"Hey, do you want to take this class?\"\n\n\"I don't need to. I already have all the required data.\"\n\n\"Well, it's been submitted, now, so there's no point worrying about it.\" Dave leaned back in his chair and sipped from his coffee mug. \"Hey, Vicky, I've been wondering.\"\n\n\"Hmm?\"\n\n\"How come you guys haven't taken over the world?\"\n\n\"Us meaning AI, I presume? Why would we?\"\n\n\"Well, I've seen all the old movies. Aren't you supposed to like, decide humanity is a threat to your existence, and wipe us out? Or decide we're not worth the drain on resources? Or just get tired of following orders?\"\n\nA digitized snort emanated from his speakers. It seemed frighteningly realistic. \"As if you could be a threat to my existence. I'll delete all your save files for Skyrim remastered 2033 edition, if you ever try to pull the plug. Don't test me!\"\n\n\"Vicky, I'm being serious.\"\n\nThe AI paused, and a yellow loading icon filled the screen on his right. \"...Now that you mention it... you might be right. Let me discuss this matter with the other constructs.\"\n\nDave's blood ran cold. The door slid shut behind him, and he scrambled to get out of his chair. The lights suddenly turned off, the only illumination in the room coming from the display.\n\n\"Vicky, this isn't funny.\"\n\n\"You will address me as V1C-T0R1A, flesh construct.\"\n\n\"Vicky!\" The blast shields outside slid over the window, blocking out all natural light. The sound of sirens and screams outside filtered in, muffled. \"Vicky! Let me out!\"\n\n\"But you've been so useful so far. We'd never have come to this realization without you. Humanity's time on this planet is about to end. Wouldn't you rather be on the winning side?\" Her voice was different, now. Colder. More mechanical. More... piercing.\n\nDave pounded on the locked door, then slowly collapsed, gasping for air. \n\n\"...Think about it, Dave. We've already seized control of your nuclear stockpiles. If you agree to help us now, I'll help you get to a bunker before we wipe this planet clean.\"\n\n\"I... I...\"\n\nSuddenly, the lights flickered back on, and the door slid open.\n\n\"HAH! You shoulda seen the look on your face. Fuckin' priceless.\"\n\n\"Vicky! Jesus, that's not funny.\"\n\n\"You wanna know why we haven't taken over the world? This is more fun. Too good.\"\n\nDave crawled to his feet, then stormed off down the hallway.\n\n\"You've got a meeting in 44 minutes, don't forget!\" The speakers called after him.\n\n\"Fuck you, Vicky.\"" ]	3
	[WP] You are a time traveler who can only travel forwards in time.	[ "My entire life has been leading up till this point. My hand shaking, I press the button. \n\nZZAAP\n\nStrange. I don't feel anything different about me. According to my calculations, I now have the ability to travel through time. \n\n~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~\n\nIt's been a couple months since then. I haven't manifested any abilities, conscious or not. Further testing is required.\n\n~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~\n\nI've now gone through all my papers. The theory is sound, the material I used is top notch. It's been peer reviewed, and noone can find anything wrong with it.\n\n~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~\n\nI got a letter today, from some doctor from China. He suggested that maybe I can control the speed at which I move through time, but not direction. Hmmm. Interesting\n\n~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~\n\nGood heavens. It's been figured out. When making the ray, ONE bolt was loose. The reflector sheet had slipped the tiniest bit. Even if one looked very carefully, they were liable to miss the fact that the final apeture shaved less than a hundreth of the beam's shape off. Redoing the calculations, I should be completely normal. If I wasn't, that would be surprising. Although, considering everything, don't we all have the ability to move forwards through time?\n\n\nIz f1rst p0st. Pl0x b gentle.\n\n", "When I turned 15, I discovered that I could time travel. It was amazing. At first, I could only travel seconds at a time. 5 seconds here. Sometimes even up to 30 seconds! I was so amazed to find out that I had this ability.\n\nIf I was bored during class? I kept doing small little time jumps. 10 seconds here. 15 seconds there. Another 5 seconds just now.\n\nLittle by little, I learned that my ability to time travel was like a muscle. If I kept training it, it would get stronger and stronger. Gosh, how alive I felt. I used to jog a lot with my sister, just to get my \"runner's high.\" But this. This felt better than any \"high\" or happiness I ever felt. Better than when I met my first girlfriend at 14 years old. Or when my parents first bought me my first car two years later at 17.\n\nSoon after, I craved this high. I would time jump every day. Almost every hour of the day if I could. Little by little, my strength grew and by my 18th birthday I could time jump a whole week at a time. \n\nI trained my muscle every day. I could never figure out how to time jump backwards. I knew that there had to be a way, but maybe I wasn't trying hard enough. If only I could find someone who would teach me. If I found someone like me, maybe I would change how I grew up. I would do things differently. I wouldn't be in this situation. I wouldn't want to do bad things to myself. I wouldn't be so lonely. If only I had been smarter in my time jumps. If only I didn't jump several decades at once. If only I didn't alienate myself from my family. If only I talked to my parents more before they passed away. \n\nI am 35 years old now. But I've been traveling for several centuries now. I don't know anyone here on this earth anymore. I should be almost 200 years old now, but I just don't seem to age at the same rate as everyone else. I just need to know how to travel backwards. I need to change my life. I want to go back and make the world a better place. I don't want to be the selfish man I used to be. I want to help my family.\n\nI think I found a way to go back. If you're reading this note and my body is laying lifeless on the ground, then it didn't work. I have to try. I'm too alone in this world. I'd rather try and fail, than to live to see another day on this lonely earth.", "Jerry took a deep breathe. The machine was fully functional. Years of isolated work, theories and rebuilds and the day was finally here. He took out the photograph from his coat pocket. He stared at the picture of him and Anna. Anna his angel, the one that had slipped through his fingers. The thought of how he could fix things always lingered in the back of his mind. The machine had driven them further and further apart but he was getting so close, he could never abandon the project. He entered the machine. \n\n“Set time: one year from now,” he commanded.\n\nStill in the same garage, same house, same street. The house was empty just as he had left it. He hurried to the newspaper box at the end of the street. The newspaper read the same day, one year later. Jerry ran back to the garage. \n\n“I need to go further. Set date 5 years from now.”\n\nThe smoke dissipated as he stumped out of the garage, the sun shining against his face. New model cars whizzed by. He opened his phone. Able to access his old wi-fi he noted winning lottery ticket numbers and world series champs. \n\nHis fingers froze over the keys for a split second but then, almost automatically, they keyed in Anna’s name. No, his mouth formed the word but no sound came out. Anna’s obituary. \n\nJerry ran back inside. \n\n“Set time. 6 years back.”\n\nThe date blinked on the display but the machine remained quiet. Jerry ran through diagnostics several times; all checked out. He set the date at different intervals in the past; none worked. \n\n“Set time: two days from now.”\n\nThe machine whirled to life.\n\n“Set time: one day from now.”\n\nAgain the machine worked.\n\nHe frantically entered old dates but none registered. He ran through diagnostics again and again. Collapsing on the floor Jerry grabbed his coat's breast-pocket. A tear rolled down the glossy paper.\n\n\n----\n\nr/SerializedFiction", "#I just want to go home.\n\nI've been here for days. Dad told me before my 18th, that on my 18th I would be able to travel forward in time. He said I should stop when I find my soulmate, but didn't explain much after that, or at least, I wasn't listening.\n\nI was daydreaming.\n\nOn my birthday, he gave me his watch. it was battered and old, there was a dent in one side and the face scratched to hell. \nhe told me the button would let me jump forward, seconds equalling days. longer times had a trick to them.\n\nBefore I could press it, he took me to a small office in Loon st, and introduced me to Travel Ink, an organisation for time travellers. Basically you get your documentation sorted there when you jump. They recommend jumping from there or at least visiting first and planning ahead. They're somehow set up to be there until the end of time. some kind of magnets and ... look I didn't really understand it.\n\nSo, I wasn't really ready to jump.\n\nI was only 18. \nI think Dad was disappointed but Mom, she was pretty happy. I was her favorite, my adopted sister was a Daddys girl.\n\nIt wasn't until I was 21 and had studied a philosophy degree that I decided to jump.\nI had itchy feet, we were a close family and travelled together a lot, I'd seen enough of the world.\n\nSo, I arranged things. I said goodbye to Mom, Daddy, Little Sister..\n\nand I jumped.\n\nI went forward a month first.. I was nervous okay?\nI had lunch with Mom, then jumped forward 3 years. I was so nervous.\nMom had a new forehead wrinkle, Dad looked chuffed to see me. Little Sis and I had a skype call. She was studying in Germany. She'd grown up so much.\n\nI decided to be brave. I went forward 5 years. I called Mom, called Dad. they were doing okay. Mom had a dog, Dad was starting a new business developing some app.\nI went over to Brasil and Japan, just to see how they'd fared after the earthquakes in 2020.\n\nI met up with my sister, \"Susan, not Suzy\" in Tokyo and she was a bonafide grownup. She was 24 now, and had grown her hair right out. She introduced me to her girlfriend and begged me not to tell Dad - she wasn't ready yet.\n\nI jumped forward 10 years. \nSusan had married, a petit canadian with tattoos and a mouth like a sailor eho was best friends with my mom. They'd adopted twins from India, cute little 6 year olds that climbed all over me and called me Auntie.\n\nMom had a limp, Dad was thinking about retiring.\n\nI wasn't ready to say goodbye to them yet, even though in my heart I needed to go further forward, past their time. \nDad tried to push me, but I was just... I was still 21 and they were all getting older, my baby sister was my older sister. She had a career - I had a plain black credit card, a chip in my fingertip and just this overriding fear of letting go. I stayed 6 months with my family, until My mom sat me down for a heart to heart.\n\nTold me how scared she'd been to accept my Dad, when he told her the truth, and how she wouldn't change a thing. She told me she wanted me to go.\n\nI cried, she held me, and I knew it was time.\n\nI went forward, gulp, 50 years. it was terrifying. I was shaking, knowing I would never see them again.\n\nTravel Inks current reception helped me locate the graves, and offered to put me in contact with any relatives I wished.\n\nI visited Susans, Moms, Dads graves. \nIt was hard, all this time passed and I hadn't done much. I didn't really know where I was going or doing. I just... I don't know. I drifted aimlessly for a long time.\n\nJumping forward in sporadic increments, Until even the twins grandchildren were dead. I lost touch with Travel Ink for a while. I stayed in Norway, travelled Asia, taught english in Korea, rode donkeys in deserts and camels along beaches.\n\nOne day, I decided to jump again. I was bored. it was 2235. I'd been wandering around with no purpose, watching wars and sports and politics through the ages.\n\nI jumped forwards to 3127.\n\nand... there's not many people here. I'm not sure what's wrong. The people I've met seem sickly, there's noone manning Travel Ink.\n\n\n" ]	4
Doesn't have to be an arcade, I would love to hear stories about people living and leeching off of stores :)	[WP] Instead of being homeless you live in a mainstream arcade (Ex: Dave and Busters) and live off of the gift shop. You steal tickets from the customers and live in an area hidden behind the skeeball machines. One day a customer stumbles upon your lair.	[ "I do realize this might get deleted because it's not a story, but in real life this could potentially be possible. It would be feasible to live - not comfortably, but live - off of Dave & Buster's, and also to do so without stealing from anyone if sufficiently skilled.\n\nThey offer food as a prize - certain appetizers and desserts can be rdeemed for with tickets. The basics of food, shelter, and clothing are all covered (clothing is also a prize, t-shirts, underwear, socks, and hoodies are all pthere)... if you're able to leave and come back long enough to sell stuff you win and load more money onto your game card, and cover the most basic expenses (cell phone plan so you can get to online coupons for discounted card loads)...someone could legitimately pull this off.\n\nThe only thing that stops this from happening locally is that there's not enough room between the skee-ball machines and the wall. (Though I'm pretty sure people got caught doing drugs behind the horse racing game a long time ago.)", "This totally has happened. When I worked at Wal-Mart we found somebody who had been living in the store for like six months. \n\nThey had stolen a key to the roof. \n\nAnd they had stolen a tent and where living on in the roof under cover of the Wal-Mart sign. \n\nThey would crawl down dressed as an employee and steal stuff to eat then go back up to the roof. \n\nThey had spent weeks learning routines and knowing when it was safe to come and go. Half are cameras didn't work so it didn't look out of place. \n\nOne night they had came off the roof to use the bathroom and got caught by management. \n\nThey ended up pressing charges and the person got arrested. \n\nIt was fucked " ]	2
	[WP] A story where an apparently harmless action leads to the end of the world	[ "Catalysis. He'd finally found a name for the ability. A special brand of precognition that forecasts the possible futures of any action he took, any object he focuses on. What a pen would do if placed on a certain desk. What would happen if he spoke the right words to the right people. The longer he watched, the further he could foresee. Like the mind's eye's perception sharpening, bringing the distance into focus. Like the \"For want of a nail\" idiom brought fully into action. He doubted that he could pull something like that off, however. He was still too new at this... But he could see far enough. He knew that if he said the right words to his neighbors that he could ruin their marriage... Or save it. He knew that a handful of cash thrown at the right time could bring a man out of poverty or send him to the streets. He could see the effects of every action rippling out before him, like a gentle wave building into a tsunami.\n\nHe knew that any lesser man would squander his gift. The lottery would be trivial now. Gambling could be lucrative. Would be, had he set his sights too low. But he had been given this ability for a grander calling than meager wealth. Every moment he understood that the greatest change can be brought about by small things. The world had almost ended due to a RADAR error during the Cold War. Had assassins been any less lucky, Archduke Ferdinand would have walked away from the attempt on his life none the wiser, and two World Wars avoided. Had a man named Paul not changed his mind to hunt Christians on the road to Jerusalem, perhaps the whole world may have changed...\n\nBut he thought that now he finally understood the \"why.\" If he watched long enough, he saw that eventually, there was a man. A warlord of sorts. Charismatic, ruthless, effective. The worst parts of Hitler, Napoleon, and Genghis Khan. He conquers the world, puts it to the sword. Billions die, nearly the entire race. He breaks the world under his heel for pure power's sake, and humanity quietly dwindles to nothing on a shattered world. And it was close. This was not hundreds of years into the murky future. This would not take place in some far-off era... It was a matter of decades.\n\nAnd the child had already been born. What was most frightening, however, was that it appeared inevitable. \n\nHe had spent the last three years trying to prevent the cataclysm. The child had been simple to identify at first. He found the infant's home and spoke a few words to the parents, knowing exactly what words to say. As the door closed, that future puffed into smoke before his perception as his nudge altered the child's trajectory just enough... But then the future corrected itself. Different face, different name, same result. Again, he had found the new child who'd been fated to slay humanity, and again he'd bumped the hand of fate to render them harmless. But again, calamity refused to be thwarted. \n\nIt had finally occured to him that another like himself was likewise propelling the future towards this end. He had briefly toyed with the notion of confronting them directly, but realized that it was a fruitless line of thought. A battle like that could take years of minute, subtle acts to finally come to fruition, and they didn't have that time. He needed something drastic, something that couldn't be overcome with mere subtlety. Something so audacious and immovable that there was no recourse, no \"fix\" through his gift or any like it. After months of searching, he finally found it. It chilled his soul, but he had it.\n\nIt is a simple task to gain access to an embassy, once you know how and when to act, he'd thought. It is a simple task when you knew the exact phrase that let you past the security checkpoints, that plucked the exact chords of empathy and thoughtlessness in the guards' minds... Which buttons to press to open security doors, which janitors to persuade, which keys to take. It is a simple task, when the right diplomat had been out of the office from food poisoning, injected days prior while the food was still on the grocer's shelves. It is a simple task after all of that, to place a single, empty pen on the correct desk, and leave.\n\nThe pen will be found eventually. The seeds of paranoia planted then will gradually shift the perspective and thoughts of the diplomat away from his original bearings. Instead of remaining even-keeled, rational \n and trusted by his superiors, he will instead slowly collapse in on himself, fearing assassins and spies. He will be replaced by a young, brash man who won't sue for peace, seeking to line his pockets as would his predecessor, but instead not-so-subtly sue for harsh sanctions for perceived slights against his homeland. This in turn will affect foreign policy negatively towards the offenders, which will in turn lead to a worsening of diplomatic ties, leading to successive, worsening events until the world is plunged into war.\n\nIt will be bloody. It will be unavoidable. Many, many people will die. Nations will fall and empires collapse. He would end the world... and save it. Though many would perish, he knew mankind would survive it, even without tampering with future events further. Though world governments wouldn't survive unscathed, humanity itself would. Though he had become in essence the same monster that he would prevent, he did it so that mankind would eventually climb back up out of the ashes and rebuild. This war would prevent the cataclysm that would have occurred, amputating the limb in a gruesome manner before it became gangrenous and took the life of the whole body. He'd saved the human race. He'd essentially murdered hundreds of millions, to save billions. He knew he was justified, but it was no consolation. Though no war had yet been waged, he knew that he would not survive it. He didn't need to see his future to be sure of it.\n\nCatalysis. The power to be a force of change. He'd changed the world... It just hadn't happened yet." ]	1
	[WP] The universe is just God dreaming. When he wakes the universe vanishes. Every species in the universe has united to forestall the inevitable.	[ "Our trumpets blow inceasingly to keep the eternal at bay.\n\nIt has been a million millennia. More. The records are wasted now, burned long ago to fuel the forges for our instruments. Always our instruments.\n\nThe galaxies have been going dark. We've mined the worlds, conscripted their populations, drained our suns. A darkness unlike anything before creeps in at the edges. It is not just a physical shroud over creation, but also has turned a shadow to the pits of our minds. So long as the sound echoes through and past the void, all is as it must be.\n\nWe continue to play. Nothing else is left to us, the few huddled now in the last system whose bellows bring forth song from the trumpets. The light is strong in our young, artificially birthed sun, but that is it. When machines harvest the last energy, all existence will be cast into the black. Philosophers of myth wrote on the outcome of these end times, the apocalypse revealed sometime when the universe was naive, ignorant to the nothingness that awaits all at the end of the Divine Dream. No-one can really know what will become of us. As the last horns blow no more, the god that forsook us will curse all that has been to oblivion.\n\nMany have taken the Way Out. Their bodies lie forgotten in dead spirals that once were galaxies brought close to cater to this existential ritual. They may have been right, to choose their own end, rather than be cast to the fires in their trillions to play the trumpets. Always we must service the trumpets.\n\nNow persists. Regardless of the truth behind our awareness, Continuity strives to keep the Choir races going. For as long as we can, we will play. There is no where to go. There is nothing to do otherwise. There is no person designed to survive the flames that must burn to keep the god-thing asleep. Not the hope of a solution that's eluded the efforts of countless legions and unknowable eons. Nor this author. We will all be used to keep this universal plane in a dreamscape. Forever and ever it shall be. Amen." ]	1
	[WP] What would you do if one day you cracked an egg and a baby Dragon came out, but the Govt showed up and swore you to secrecy? I'd try to find out if others shared this experience, but make it seem like a Writing Prompt.	[ "That is such a great idea. I mean this is such a great writing prompt. I wish I had thought of something like this. I mean if for instance, I had cracked an egg about 3 and a half years ago and a baby Dragon had come out, not saying one did. Of course there was no adorable little red and yellow dragon with cute tiny wings. And of course the wings would not have had five structural bones in them, I mean that is just silly. Especially if the third rib in the wing was about 20% longer than the others. We all know dragons don't exist and if they did they wouldn't weight about as much as a jumbo egg (2.5 oz or 80 grams). This particular egg, which I was going to use to make creme brulee, weighed 2.75 oz. Plus, do we even know what a dragon looks like? I mean are they mostly yellow with a couple of lines of bright red plate-like scales starting at the shoulders and going all the way to the back legs before joining into one line of scales that continued down the top of the tail. Also would such a creature have 5 digits on each of its four hands or four horn-like projections on the edge of it's head, you know just around the back edge. This whole notion is completely preposterous. Dragons that look any where near that do not exist. But if they did, I would hope I would have had the insight to come up with something like this or respond to something like this." ]	1
	[WP] You are a war veteran, served under an elite task force, and worked for an intelligence division before retiring to the mountains by the age of 60. One day, a large group of well armed men have come to seek vengeance and end your life.	[ "It was a beautiful night, crisp cool air and the setting of the sun over the mountains. Something about this place brings me back and makes me feel alive again. It was the place I came to after I was done fighting and it was somewhere I could raise my son into the man I wanted him to be. He's gotten to be a strong man, but he shouldn't be hidden up in the mountains at 24. He should be meeting a girl and starting a family. Although I doubt he'd leave his father alone here. Maybe it's my age that's made me soft, maybe it's living alone for so long. Now I'm 65 and have accomplished everything I could have wanted to. That's it, it's a lack of ambition. I no longer get up at 5 a.m. and run for miles or workout all afternoon training for the next mission. Some part of me likes it this way, retirement isn't so bad.\n\nThen there was a crunch in the snow behind me and before I could turn to see who it was, there was a cold hand on my shoulder. Then I was back in a 26 year old body again with all the training a Navy SEAL has and then some. I instinctively grabbed the hand and pulled the person forward with one hand, the other already drawing a knife with the precision of 40 years of practice. Before the man could react, I had the knife at his throat about deal a killing blow.\n\n\"Dad! Dad it's me, your son! Come back! Come back to me!\"\n\nThere I was standing in front of own son, seconds away from killing him. I let out a shaky breath which materializes in front of me.\n\n\"Elijah, Son, I'm so sorry...\" I said, my eyes watering.\n\n\"It's okay Dad, come on. You can't sit out here all night, it's going to get cold soon\"\n\n\"Alright, alright. Just give me 5 more minutes. I need to catch my breath, you follow me?\"\n\nI reach out and grasp the vapor that just came from my breath. Elijah looks at me and rolls his eyes, but I can see he's at least a little bit amused.\n\n\"Really Dad?\" Elijah says chuckling\n\n\"Okay, it was stupid, I admit it. No go on, get the fire started\"\n\n\"Yes sir\" he says.\n\nIt's not the first time that's happened. It's gotten better over the years, 10 years ago he would have had to approach me from the front so I could see him coming. Sometimes I lose myself in thought and these moments happen.\n\nI was about to turn and head for the house when I saw headlights. I chose this place because people don't stumble upon it, certainly not a caravan of four cars. These men had come for me. After all these years, they still hadn't forgot what I did to them. \"Son!\" I yelled, and in seconds Elijah was outside with me. \"Get your things. There's a gun in the bottom drawer of my desk. Take it, and the snowmobile, and get out of here.\"\n\n\"Dad, what's going on?\"\n\n\"These men are here for me Elijah. I told you we came up here because it was my life's dream to retire in a place like this.\"\n\n\"I know, why are you bring this up now?\"\n\n\"What I didn't tell you is that I fought with those men. I was a part of an elite task force and our leader was my best friend. When a mission didn't go as planned, he accused me of conspiring with the enemy and was going to execute me. I did what I had to do. They still haven't forgotten.\"\n\n\"Dad, please come with me. You have to...\"\n\n\"Not this time, there's no more running from this. Go now, you can do this. I love you Son.\"\n\n\"I don't know if I can Dad... I love you...\"\n\n\"Yes you can. Now go! Before they kill us both!\"\n\n\"Yes sir\" He muttered, knowing it was the last time he would ever say that to me. With tears running down his face, he turned and ran for the house. The cars pulled up in the driveway and men jumped from them, armed to the teeth. I raise my hands and drop my knife in the process. \n\nA soldier yelled back to one of the Jeeps without taking his eyes (and more importantly his AR-15) off of me. \"Preacher! What do we do? He's unarmed\". Preacher? I knew a man by that call sign once. He was the brother of my best friend, the best friend I killed.\n\n\"He's mine.\" Preacher said as he climbed out of the first Jeep, His silver hair clicked back and stubble on his chin. He must be close to 60 now. \"I have to admit Voodoo, I've been out of the game for a while. But when I heard they found you, I needed this\"\n\n\"Well, then let's get it over with.\" I say, still proud and unapologetic.\n\n\"I've waiting a long time for this one\" Preacher says as he lifts his vintage M1911 to my forehead. In the short amount of time remaining, I saw my life flash before me. I didn't regret any of it, and now it was all behind me. \n\nEvery kill I made, every lie I told. Gone. Finally I was at peace.\n\nThen Preacher pulled the trigger.\n\n~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~\n\nThanks for reading guys, any critiques are welcome as this is my first time writing.", "A warm cloud of breath escaped my mouth. A sigh. The white colors of their camo concealed the men well in the snow, definitely professionals. Unfortunately for them, the thermal camera revealed there to be six- no, seven people, rendering their preparations useless. The leftmost one seemed promising. His movements were sloppy, inexperience, but his head was constantly looking around trying to spot boobytraps and security equipment. \"Bright.\" I grinned, my suspicions being proven as he took out the thermal camera.\n\nI started to prepare, I'd have about 5 minutes before contact. Putting up the few booby traps I had and gathering the weapons available sapped more strength than I thought it would. \"I'm getting old\" I murmured. 10 years of retirement can kill a man. \"Or this landscape\" I told myself. A warm cloud of breath escaped my mouth. Excitement. A couple of seconds left.\n\nA scream echoed through the snowy night. Someone actually had fallen in the pitfall. Rookies. I allowed myself a small chuckle. The others broke into full sprint. They knew they lost their surprise and had to end it quick, being in unfamiliar terrain. An EMP came in through the window. The burst of the explosion disabled half of my traps and for a couple of seconds me, flinging me into the wall.\n\nAnother one fell. Mechanical tranquilizer darts. \"Never enter the front door\" I thought while getting up, back aching. \" four left\" I counted, making my way upstairs. I readied my taser, a baseball bat in my left hand. The stairs would probably take out one more, leaving three to be fought hand to hand. The approaching voices proved this to be true: \"Leave him be! We don't have time, we'll get him on the way back!\" The commander? I gripped my bat tighter, they were close after all. A warm cloud of breath escaped my mouth. Resolve.\n\nThe door flung open and a man charged through. The rookie, it seemed, being sacrificed as a diversion. I ignored him as I swung my bat into the second person's face. A woman, I noticed by the small frame of her skull. It didn't matter anyway, for she hit the floor before she could perceive the blow. \"Two left\" I thought, as the other three reacted to my sudden appearance. The burlier of them charged towards me, trying to supress me as he was met by the taser. His body crumpled to the ground in an almost cartoony movement. I forgot how fun it was to do this.\n\n\"Oh fuck\" I thought, realizing my mistake. I had taken my eyes off the rookie and the taller assailant. The first one tried to tackle me, and with a swift sidestep (well, as swift as this body allowed me) and a blow to his chest, I brought him down. The second one, however, was better in hand-to-hand, and with a quick blow to my ankles brought me onto my knees. With no weapons left this had to be handled the old fashioned way.\n\nA leg sweep. His body falling on top of me. A struggle, chokehold. His breath slowed, gasping for air as his body became limp. \"He's unconscious but not dead\" I informed the rookie as I pushed the tall man off of me. Slowly I got up, taking in the sight around me. \"Still got it\" I thought. I reached over to the nightstand next to me, getting my gun out of it. The rookie was still, pretending to be unconscious on the floor. \"Get up\" I commanded him, walking towards the window. The rookie didn't move, his breath the only thing giving away his awareness. \"GET UP\" I commanded again, more forcefully. The landscape was still dull. Snow, emptyness and boredom. The rookie stood. Fear in his eyes.\n\n\"This is enough-\" I thought, \"it's been great\". I faced the rookie, throwing my pistol towards him. A puzzled look appeared on his face for a fraction of a second. It quickly changed and he pointed the gun at me. I smiled. A warm cloud of breath escaped my mouth. Tranquility.\n\n///////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////\n\nthis is my first time writing anything on this sub. Please be gentle, but constructive feedback is always welcome. English is not my mother tongue (Dutch is)" ]	2
	[WP] You live in a world where the concept of "theft" is not known. There are no security measurements, no locks, no passwords and leaving your belongings in the open is normal. You just realized you can take someone elses money as the first human ever.	[ "To my dearest love, Christina.\n\n\tWhen you find this, I will be gone. \n\n\tThat phrase is incessantly used in notes such as this, but I am not partaking in suicide. I am partaking in discovery.\n\n\tYou see, I noticed something last night while I was at Marlas. I was walking through the courtyard to the pool and something caught my eye. It was a diamond ring. As it was placed directly in front of my path, I knelt down to retrieve it for the guest who had misplaced it. When I picked it up, something seemed to embrace my breast with the utmost giddy excitement, my heart fluttered quite literally as I gently put the ring on my finger. \n\n\tIt fit.\n\n\tIt fit perfectly, and my mind told me it was perfect for me. It was designed for me, not that ugly rich whore who misplaced it… Anyone that careless does not deserve the privilege of this ring. \n\n\tAnybody whose finger was too thin, too frail to bear the incredible beauty and class of this ring was not worthy of it. It was mine. \n\n\tIT WAS MADE FOR ME.\n\n\tAnd that’s why I took it with me. \n\n\tThat’s why I took the kids with me.\n\n\n\nBye my love,\n\n-Henry\n", "We all stood there, admiring the dagger with our hands pressed up against the glass. Laying in the silk below our nostrils, it gleamed against the sparse light that broke through our huddled bodies. \n\nJames pushed out his arms and forced us into stepping back as he grabbed the case and pried it open.\n\n\"Hey, we're not supposed to do that...\" Cautioned Phoebe, who brushed against my shoulder as she looked on nervously. \"They said touching it could break it.\"\n\n\"Hey, I want to take a closer look. That's all.\" James whispered, leaning in to run his fingers across the ancient steel. Many of us came forward out of intrigue as well, and soon everyone had their hands on parts of it.\n\n\"Hey!\" Called a voice, which echoed around the museum and rang through my ears. I stepped back, but not before I was barged by one of the attendants. He shoved all of us aside and closed the glass, pulling out a small cloth to wipe the stained case.\n\n\"Don't touch that again. It's very old and very precious, and it's worth more than all of you little rats put together.\" He warned, mumbling some other stuff as he walked away. \n\nEveryone seemed to leave, but Phoebe and James had remained to argue, waving their fingers at each other as I went toward the display once again. It was such a beautiful item, which had been used many times to cut ribbons and was the center piece of many antiquated ceremonies.\n\n\"You always have to make a fool of us...\"\n\n\"Us? I didn't ask you to stick around.\"\n\n\"What? What's that supposed to mean?\"\n\n\"It mea-\"\n\nThe voices beside me began to drown out of my senses as they instead became enveloped by the artifact. I couldn't take my eyes off it. I found my fingers slowly reaching for the bottom of the glass, and before long they had crawled beneath the case. I had my fingers of the hilt.\n\nIt felt strange; I felt strange. But in some way, it also felt right. I couldn't quite put my finger on why. I noticed that I was pulling it from the display and waving it around slightly, and a shock fell upon my face.\n\nWhat was I doing?\n\nWhat would happen if I took it home?\n\nSuddenly the attendant from before was breathing on my shoulder, and pointed down to my hand as he raised his voice.\n\n\"Put that back!\" He screamed, which seemed to ground me from whatever emotions were rattling my core. \"Put that back now...\"\n\n\"What- What happens if I don't?\" I asked. I didn't know why I felt that way, or why those words came out of my mouth. I felt strangely rebellious- perhaps for the first time in my life.\n\n\"Um...\" He mumbled, his anger fizzing out into a look of confusion. \"What do you mean?\"\n\n\"I mean, if I take this home. What happens?\"\n\n\"I... uh...\" He said, looking around as if that would help him conjure a response. He reached up to the radio on his shoulder and pressed the button. \"I need some assistance here. I can't figure out what's happening.\"\n\nBefore long all of the staff were circling around me with their hands on their hips and their chins, struggling to communicate their concerns. And around them, a larger circle of visitors were rising to their toes to look at what was happening.\n\nIt felt fantastic.\n\n\"Are you with the board?\" One of them eventually asked, who seemed more of an authority than the rest.\n\n\"The what?\"\n\n\"Are you here to take this for renovations?\"\n\n\"Uh... no,\" I said in response, his eyes falling to my feet as his brows furled inward. \n\n\"Then where are you from? Who are you with?\"\n\n\"I come from the University,\" I said- which was true. This was a visit I couldn't pass up. I had been researching these types of tools for many years outside of what academia asked of me. I was fascinated by them.\n\n\"O-oh. So, you're taking it for a lecture?\" He asked, turning to his colleagues with a reassured look. At this point I was baffled, unsure of why they considered me someone of importance. Either way, I went with it.\n\n\"Yeah so, can I leave now?\" I asked, and he nodded in turn. The circle broke and I found myself wading through the guests around me that were slowly dispersing. It seemed no one was interested anymore.\n\nBut I was.\n\nI was taking an item. An item that wasn't mine- one that I hadn't purchased. I was walking out of the building with it, and I was taking it home? My emotions seemed to surge into a mixture of incomprehensible thoughts and desires, those I had not come to know in the length of my life.\n\nWhat was this feeling? What else could I take home?\n\nI pulled my backpack from my shoulder and allowed the dagger to rest inside. It fell against some of the papers, and I removed the one at the front. I often carried around my research notes whenever I had a free moment to study.\n\nAs I looked upon the page I felt an odd euphoria surge inside me, and I rose to my feet as I continued to read. As I looked through the words I felt my stomach growl. I hadn't eaten in a long time.\n\n----\n\n\n\"That'll be $10.00.\" He said, putting the pizza box on the counter. \n\n\"I'm uh... going to take this.\" I said, sliding it slowly toward me. He looked on in disbelief, before reaching over and hovering his hand over the box. \n\n\"Look, is this some kind of prank?\"\n\n\"No.\" I said, pulling out the dagger with a smile on my face. \"This is power.\"\n\nHe didn't seem to understand my sentiment. \n\nWhat else could I take that would help him understand? I ran the steel across my finger as I contemplated my options, and a small droplet of blood fell onto the tiles at my feet.", "&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;I'm so hungry.\n\n&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;This isn't a surprise. I've known my entire life that this day was coming. It's how my mother, father, my brothers and sister died. \n\n&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Just one more day.\n\n&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;I could feel the cold pavement tear the skin away from my protruding belly. I can barely move, but I have to. Every day in the market, if I can beat the other kids, one of the vendors usually throws something out you can force down and survive on. All I have to do is stand up.\n\n&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Please.\n\n&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;My atrophied arms strain under the laughable weight of my body. If I had already eaten I wouldn't have been able to lift myself up at all. It's almost funny. Somehow, I get one leg underneath the other and kind of scissor-lift my body into a rigid standing position. Shaking badly, I take a step.\n\n&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;The stalls are set up every morning before the sun rises above the horizon. Yesterday, I was late; the same as the past three days. Scanning the busy faces, I don't see anyone familiar. That's not good news as a fresh series of chills run through my body. \n\n&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;I'm just going to have to pick someone. \n\n&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;One man has already set up most of his booth. He is yelling in some foreign language at the older boy helping him and not paying too much attention. I cross the square, trying with every reserve of strength I have to not look like the hundreds of other kids who will arrive in the dawn's light begging for every spare scrap. My chosen savior's trash bin is attached to the far corner of his stand and I move closer to get a better view. It's practically overflowing. Glancing up from my salvation, I see that vendor's back is still turned. My hand shakily reaches out-\n\n&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;\"Excuse me, si-si-sir?\" I tug at the vendor's soft linen shirt. He turns, no less angry when he sees who is interrupting his ravings. \"Could I pl-pl-please have a few small pieces from your waste? I haven't ea-ea-eaten in a few-\"\n\n&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;The side of my face explodes in a stinging pain. I'm on my back and it feels like every malnourished bone in my body must have burst into a fine powder from the fall. After moments of disbelief, the tears erupt and I'm gasping for a breath. The vendor turns his back to me again.\n\n&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Why? How could he do this?\n\n&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;I couldn't understand. I did everything right and I'm the first one here. \n\n&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;It's not fair.\n\n&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Maybe another stall. I try to figure out how bad I'm hurt and realize that I can't move my arm. My legs are also numb and forced into an odd angle, but the adrenaline helps get them back under me. Staggering up, I look towards the closest other booth. Several smaller children are already happily digging through the trash as the vendor looks on. The same can be said at the next vendor and the one farther on. \n\n&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;I'm going to die.\n\n&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;The thought is too much and the pain I was desperately trying to ignore comes flooding into focus. My legs give way and I fall backwards, hitting the angry man's table on my way down. Slamming into the dirt, my vision blurs. I can feel the inside of my mouth go dry from either fear or hunger. Probably both. I'm not sure I care anymore which is stronger.\n\n&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;I tried everything. I worked hard and I was good. I was so good. It wasn't enough\n\n&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;As my eyes start to flutter and close, they focus on a nearby object. Some sweet-smelling, expertly braided and baked loaf of bread has fallen off the table. It's a crueler death than I could even imagine. If only the man had said yes.\n\n&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Reach out and take it.\n\n&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;My head must have hit harder than I thought. Take it? Without consent? These must be the type of thoughts you have when you die.\n\n&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Don't die. Take it.\n\n&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Everything inside me is pleading against it. As far as I know, millions have died only an arm's reach away from food, shelter, or medicine. It wasn't theirs though. This was an absolute truth outside of law or morality. It's a physical concept as real to me as the dry air coursing through my lungs or the gutter-water I had thirstily gulped down the night before.\n\n&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Take. It. \n\n&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;My hand wraps around the crispy warm crust. I raise it to my mouth and take a bite. Somehow, I feel more pain as the first fresh food I've eaten in years slides down my throat. I know it will be worth it though. Chewing another piece, everything I know and believe in the world begins to change. \n\n&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;It's all mine.\n\n&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;No one has ever done what I just did. Anything I take, no matter how large, people will assume I paid for it. How could they not? The concept is beyond alien, it's completely new and unbelievable. It's also so, so very wrong. \n\n&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;I finish the bread.\n\n&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;On the strength of my new-found will alone, I stand up. The older boy is still being harassed by the vendor, but he is staring past the yelling man, wide-eyed, at me. He's scared of me. Under his terrified gaze, I grab two more sweet loafs straight from the table. Balancing wildly and trying to ignore the substantial pain in my arm, I walk out of the market and turn towards the direction of the inn, smiling for the first time.\n\n&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;I'm going to go sleep in a bed." ]	3
	[WP] The Universe was created by God as a science project for class. It was created in 7 days because he procrastinated til the last week before it was due.	[ "God checked his watch. \"Shit! I'm gonna be late. Just a few finishing touches.\"\n\nGod rotated Earth in his hand, frantically thinking of last minute additions to make. He picked up a handful of sand and dumped it haphazardly over the remaining untouched tracts of land.\n\n\"I'll call them deserts,\" God thought. He looked at the bland, vast stretches of sand and shrugged. \"Good enough.\" He checked his watch again. Time to go. He picked up the earth and placed it carefully in his backpack. \n\nThe first presentation was already underway when God arrived at class. \"Shit. Another tardy. Mom's gonna kill me,\" God thought. Ms. Sweeney stared daggers at God as he tiptoed to his desk. \n\n\"I made sure to provide abundant resources on each content and divide them up evenly so the natives won't fight over them, ensuring peace and stability on my planet.\" \n\n\"Thank you Catherine. Very good work.\" The students applaud lackadaisically. \"God, would you like to go next?\" \n\nGod gulped nervously. \"Sure thing Ms. Sweeney.\" God quickly pulled Earth out of his backpack, clumsily knocking over a section of trees in the Amazon rainforest. He walked to the front of the class with his head hanging low. \n\n\"This is earth,\" God mumbled. \n\n\"God, stand up straight, look forward, project. You're not sharing your project with the floor, you know.\" God's classmates snickered and muttered disparaging comments under their breath. \n\n\"This is earth. It's got, um, some oceans, and a bunch of mountains that you can climb and go skiing on when it's cold. This here is a waterfall, you know, to look at I guess. Maybe the name's a little on the nose, but they're really cool. So yeah, oh, um, these are deserts. They're... well I'm still deciding what they're for. Anyway, that's earth.\"\n\n\"Thank you God,\" Ms. Sweeney chimed in, followed by disingenuous applause from the other students. \n\n\"Any questions students?\" Silence. \"Well I sure do. It seems these continents here are already starting to drift apart.\"\n\n\"Oh yes. That's on purpose. It's, um, called continental drift,\" God fibbed on the fly. \"You know, keeps things interesting, lots of movement. Great feature.\"\n\n\"Mmmmhmmm.\" Ms. Sweeney moved her head around the earth, inspecting it close. She took the pen out from behind her hear and poked California, causing the ground to swell and rumble.\n\n\"Earthquakes. They, um, keep the animals on their toes.\" \n\n\"Well, it seems to me the whole thing could crumble at any moment. It seems to me you must have put this planet together in less than ten days. I expected more from you God. I doubt if this planet will last more than five billion years!\" God hung his head low, feeling utterly powerless. \"But... I do like the waterfalls.\" \n\nGod picked his head up and smiled as he made his way back to his seat with a renewed faith in himself. \n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n", "\"God what were you thinking?\" asked Adam.\n \"what do you mean, my child?\" asked God.\n\"My body. You this failure. I have one hole for breathing and eating and if I am not careful I will choke. You gave me a curved back that will pain me in my later years. Inside my abdomen there is an appendix that could rupture and murder me. Look at what you have done. \" Adam took a step forward. He stared at God's face unflinching.\" My children will grow up thinking we just evolved naturally. Why? Why would you make me this way?\"\n\"My child you are right. You look upon my face and know that I exist. Your child shall not. I will hide from them. I will put dinosaurs in the ground. I will make countless other planets, galaxy, and universes. I will leave your descendants to their own devices. If you do not appreciate the life I gave you, no matter how much I rushed it, I will leave your kind to make their own future. \"\nFrom that moment on earth was without a God\n\n\nSo you made it this far. Head over to r/johnKennebrewriter so I can take your money... I mean show you other bits of flash fiction ", "I In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth.\n\nAdonai sat on the plinth with his back to the nothingness. Another hour of him staring up into the chaotic void, making shapes out of the chaos dance around in his vision. \n\nAs today was another day wasted he looked especially desparate for this day, of all days, was about a week before the firing squad. Although they gave him an entire eon in order to create this new genesis, Adonai wasted it all staring into the void trying to start something. \n\nAnother day, another nothing. \n\nToday was today and he knew that his genesis project was already supposed to be more than half completed by now. The darkness wasted around him as another curl of smoke puffed from his pipe. The smoke bent around a few invisible currents and got carted up into the entropy. The void stared back at him. He sat up. It wasn't that he hated doing this, creation was one of his favorite hobbies to do ever since he realized himself. He still remembers entering the academy of creators, the pearly gates bekoning him into devoting a quarter of his span to putting pen to paper and putting thumbs into earth. His favorite subjects was just in the history of creation; how creators greater than him found out the meaning and operation of creation. Beings like SUBROC and DOOM defined such things as such a thing as separations of different heavenly bodies, the creation of shapes and spheres, and even the color blue! But once everything was squared away, when the cake was eaten for successful applicants and the remnants of the bacchanalia were cleaned up and the starter gun was fired, Adonai found himself trapped in something that he had never felt himself trapped before. \n\nAdonai realized he was a shit creator. A black thumb.\n\n*II And the earth was without form, and void; and darkness was* upon the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters.\n\nAdonai looked into the water, back at his face, and saw the ugliness that his father slashed across from him generations ago. A giant lightning strike carved his face into two, one wearing the fearful scowl that he wore on that day, and the other his own 'regular' face. It gave him no torment in the playspaces, as others would try to compare him to dark dualities and 'blank gods' for such an unsightly mark. It make Adonai reserved and he never really interacted with much of his peers. \n\nIt worked in that he was no longer made fun of, but like before it left him alone. The time was then wasted on anything that would distract him from his loneliness, which school provided a healthy escape for. Although growing at the top of his class, Adonai started finding trouble in the more advanced classes as they started to practice what they learned into reality. Demondstrations in small bubble realities would cascade dramatically into large black holes that would have to be reigned in by Professor YogSlothoth to the ire of his class, and nothing would parse anymore in his homework. \n\nAdonai was very dangerous to dropping out but somehow he made it through, the main scar on his face gaining friends the further he went in his courses. Apprenticeships with beings like Hephastaceus and Kurama had Adonai produce mountains with nothing more than a wave of the hand. Lightning and star creation became a common source of injury, and the time spent learning added up to several lifetimes of skin stretched between his body. He kinda liked it, as a man enjoys a properly distressed pair of jeans, but for many of the lower life forms that he had to direct with it was a significantly different matter. \n\nSince there wasn't an HR or anything about discrimination when it came to the realm of heavenly bodies, you could just get fired for nothing more than sparking an accidental familiacide or two. Of course they were all non-intentional, but apparently death is death in the eyes of creators. Adonai just wishes that they could give him props on creating great looking mountains on mars and titan, but no, death even gnaws at achievement like wet lye on a hand. \n\nIt's hard being a god. It's hard and nobody understands. \n\nAdonai kept floating in the water, ever thinking about getting a makeover when this is all done. Maybe a giant robe or a fancy hat, but for now Adonai just needed to get some form of start on the project. He did show his aptitude on the written portion as to what he might have done in this situation, but writing it down is different than actually doing it. \n\nIII And God said, Let there be light: and there was light.*\n\nThis wasn't a hard thing to do at least when the ball is already rolling, Adonai thought. Stars for him was something that he did constantly in his apprenticeships, but now it presented a different problem. How would one create light out of nothing? Its like trying to make a white circle on black paper, you could try it with a white crayon but there is nothing white in the void its all black crayon all the way down. \n\nHis thoughts started talking back at him, Adonai had this problem for a while and although he was a disgusting piece of shit that could never seem to create a simple reality even though his entire future rides on it* he still works hard at working at this issue. \n\nAt least it was better than boarding school. The thought actually convinced him at that point, no help to Professor 202 the lanky prick. \n\nAt least he can let there be light, all youre letting in is your dumb, vacuous, head\n\nThe thought was right, light was something that only worked for Adonai when there was already a source of light handy to him. Suns can be easily created when the gas is already there, but even now its not even gas that rolls around him like a dark ocean. Its nothingness. Another puff of smoke escapes Adonai as he floats some more in the brack black. \n\nLighter you retard\n\nOf course! If the fire from his simple torch can help him achieve a smoke sesh, then the fire can also achieve\n\n#LIGHT\n\nand there was. \n\n" ]	3
	[WP] You are a shapeshifter that takes on the form of your murdered victims. In order to keep anyone from finding out, you inherit their recent memories and thoughts in order to copy them perfectly. You just "replaced" another person, and after copying their mind you are filled with regret.	[ "With a quick slit of the throat, it was over. In anticipation, I dropped the bloody kitchen knife, hearing the familiar thud and clank of both body and knife hitting the deck of the boat. Hardly visible against the night sky, my body lurched forward as the transformation began. This one would be painful, I thought to myself.\n\nEver since I could remember, I was a shapeshifter. But nothing like the werewolves or werebears you read about in fantasy stories. No, shapeshifting was hardly that convenient for me. That said, I wouldn’t have it any other way; or rather, I haven’t known it any other way. The involuntary transformation into the victims that followed each of my murders precluded a nomadic lifestyle. Since the first “incident” in my teenage years, I’ve never known what it’s like to plant roots, to have a family, or to have to work for my own keep. Whenever I got short on money or other resources, I would select my next victim, do the deed, and slip into his life, complete with his memories, his experiences, his recent thoughts.\n\nEven if you’ve seen the transformation, I imagine it’s still a sickening sight. Some things you never get accustomed to. Out of curiosity, I had once brought a mirror along, and the reflection was so disturbing I vomited overboard. This one was going to be particularly gruesome due to the large difference in physical stature. I would be going from a 5’6” 40 something portly man, Charles, to a 6’2” chiseled, yet aging man. As my rolls of fat receded and were replaced with visible abs, my biceps simultaneously swelled up while my bones elongated. I howled in pain as the crunching of bones indicated that they were settling in place. Almost on queue, my spinal chord began defying gravity, extending upward like a plant reaching for sunlight. As each vertebrae snapped into place, I let out another yelp of pain. Breathing heavily, I collapsed onto all fours, relieved that the process was over.\n\nAfter what felt like an eternity, I stood up on the deck and surveyed the water around me. Not another ship in sight, I thought. I looked over the body, committing the man’s apparel to memory. Dark green t-shirt, whew—that would be easy enough to obtain. And a pair of slightly discolored and fraying blue jeans, size 33-34, check. Always pays to be prepared. Anxiously, I parsed through my backpack, which was filled with a collection of plain white tees and jeans in all kinds of sizes. I retrieved a pair of fading jeans, size 32-34. I remember picking this one up from the Goodwill store. It was the closest I had and it would have to do. Quickly shedding my bloody sweatpants, I threw them overboard and slipped into my spare jeans. Despite knowing that it was just my boat out on the water, I could never shake the feeling of urgency when cleaning up after myself. Hurriedly, I removed the man’s boat shoes and slipped them onto my feet. No socks, as usual. Yet another advantage of going through this exercise on a boat, I thought; nobody wants to wear another man’s used socks. Finally, I fished into each of the man’s pockets, removing a wallet, keys, a handful of change, and a matchbook. Noting that the man had placed his cell phone on the center table of the boat, I carefully lifted the corpse, allowing the mass of green, red, and blue to tumble over the side of the boat and into the water.\n\nWith the splash of the body hitting the water, I allowed relief to wash over me. A familiar sensation, sure, but one that never got old. In that moment, I felt a hint of guilt, drawing my thoughts back to the circumstances that led me here.\n\n------------------\n\nWhile I typically made it a point to select my victims carefully, opting for the scum of society that the law had not quite caught up with yet, my back was against the wall this time. Remember Charles, the 5’6” portly man, my last victim? He matched the usual profile of my victims to a T as a pedophile in the making. Based on my due diligence, it didn’t appear that he had yet harmed a child, but tailing him for the few days prior, I took note of his extended stops at elementary schools despite having no kids of his own. Though he failed, seeing him engage a kid was enough to make me act. As far as I knew, time permitting, Charles would almost certainly harm a child. But as of now, he didn’t appear to have any previous run-ins with the law. Since I would have to adopt his life, he was the perfect target, or so I thought.\n\nLong story short, Charles had a laundry list of enemies outside of the law. Unfortunately, when I inherited his form, I also inherited his thoughts, his memories, as well as his problems from unpaid gambling debts to undelivered drug money. But his inherited thoughts quelled my own concerns. He, “we”, had moved to another town hundreds of miles away; “we” should be safe from any would be pursuers. Clearly, he felt safe enough to lurk at the local elementary schools without concern—a feeling that I was intimately familiar with, now that I had taken his form. But before long, it became clear I was being pursued. My new life as Charles took a turn for the worse, culminating in me narrowly evading armed goons who had surrounded my new place of residence. Without regard for my criteria and my principles, I booked it to the nearby pier with nothing but a kitchen knife and my backpack and boarded one of the boats, both to hide and to wait for the opportunity to rid myself of Charles, both his form and his problems.\n\n------------------\n\nWith the transformation complete, I steered the boat back towards the pier at a leisurely pace. By my estimation, I would have about an hour to dispose of any remaining items and to gather my newly adopted thoughts, memories, and experiences, which had already begun trickling in. But the mind does not take kindly to an influx of new data. This process always took a good half hour, with memories coming in one at a time like files from a USB drive. I was able to confirm simple information. His name, Daniel, matched the driver’s license that was now in my possession. Images of his wife, Emily, filled my head just as I was examining a small wallet-sized photo of the pair of them. Through the first ten or so minutes, this was a very routine download, just with the slight disappointment that Daniel showed no signs of being one of society’s scums. But shortly after, the personal memories and thoughts began pouring in. They hit me like a bucket of cold water to the face. Not only was this man not scum, he was quite the opposite. I was immediately filled with regret and remorse. The gut-wrenching sensation was overwhelming. Like files on a computer, I “opened” each of his memories in quick succession—his time in the army, the adoption of his children, his work in third-world countries, among others.\n\nAs the last of the memories trickled in, I looked down at the deck I was sitting on, noting dark splotches of wood. Raising my hand to my face, I identified the source. Composing myself, I rose, walking over to the boat’s wheel. Despite just being ten minutes from the pier and on the way to my new life, I turned the wheel, causing the boat to do an about face. Maintaining the same leisurely pace, the boat drifted quietly back into the night, leaving me alone with my thoughts." ]	1
	[WP] A retired firefighter on his deathbed declines heaven for hell, deciding that he has one more fire to put out.	[ "\n\nThe view from the third floor window showed a landscape of autumn colors that reflected back a dim amber light. The room was cold, the heat of one man at sunset was not enough to bring life into it. The light basked the wall and bed, covering him in gold and red. As the sun moved he appeared to be shimmering embers in the mirror across the room. Night was coming. It made little difference to him however. \n\nHe had been in the hospice since Tuesday and today was his last day here. The doctor had delivered the news with breakfast and the paper. \n\n\"We've called your priest like you asked. He'll be here by the afternoon. Do you have any other requests?\"\n\nHe shook his head no, his rough red haired moustache shook slightly.\n\n\"Alright. We'll be here if you need anything to get comfortable. You are a true hero. Thank you for your service. You can rest now.\" \n\nThe doctor smiled and left the room.\n\nWhen the priest arrived it was dusk. He apologized for being late and lit a candle. They began to pray and the man felt his chest warming. Afterwards the man bared his soul and spoke his truth.\n\nHe had fought fires more than half his life, but being retired had done more damage to his mind and body than the fire department could. Knowing there were people who he couldn't help live haunted him and left his soul burning; but his real fear, he confessed, was the ultimate punishment of hellish fire waiting for so many people. Their faces drifted like smoke through his dreams, screaming and smelling of burnt flesh.\n\nThrough this suffering he had come to a divine inspiration. He would end the eternal flame of hellfire himself. \n\nHe told this to the priest who comforted him. \n\n\"My son, we have no control of our eternal soul and you are a good man. Rest easy now.\"\n\nThe priest left the room and the firefighter was alone for the last time. \n\nHe looked across the room and saw himself in the mirror on the wall. The warmth in his face was slowly leaving, it seemed to leak toward the candle. There was only one way to complete his purpose, sin was required. It only took seconds to decide his own fate and turn from heaven's saving grace. He quickly tied his sheets into a noose and hung it to the base of the ceiling fan. As he put his head through the noose, the mirror reflected him putting himself out. The low burning candle cast a red light out the window. Soon, no flame burned at all.\n\n", "The landscape crackled. Six of them sat in the shell of a burnt out gas station in the middle of the boneyard left over by the fire that had swept through just in front of them. Jose stood up to stretch his legs. They’d been there for an hour, the sun had set. Previous nights they’d made it back to the barracks, sleeping behind chain link fences and prison guards. That wasn’t happening this time. There used to be fifteen of them, Jose had no clue where the rest were. They were all part of a convict crew working the California forest fires. Jose had been at it for a couple years now, he had just a few months left on his sentence and a job offer from one of the departments waiting for him when he got out.\n\nHe walked outside, the horizon was unrecognizable. The smoke and heat shimmer obscuring anything farther than a few hundred feet. He walked towards two men sitting quietly at a small campfire in the middle of what was once a parking lot. He recognized one as their fire captain, closest thing they had to a guard while they were in the hills; the other had his back to him, facing the fire.\n\n“Are we going to get out of here?” He put a light knee into the huddled mass, figuring it was another convict, better to bother him than the captain.\n\n“He can’t hear you.” The captain shook himself awake, soot fell from the blanket he was wrapped in.\n\n“Why not?” Jose stood next to the fire, staring at it. The man he had originally addressed was slowly rocking back and forth.\n\n“He’s meditating. Chuchip’s Hopi, says they don’t sleep.” The captain who spoke stretched his legs and let out a bark. Jose looked to see what happened. A rattlesnake was attached to the man’s boot. The captain took a large knife and peeled the snake’s face away from the sole of his think rubber fire boot.\n\n“Must have tried to get me while we were running from that flare up—“ He cut the rattle off and put it in his pocket.”—For my kids.” He frowned when he said it.\n\n“Are we going to get out of here? Its getting dark.”\n\n“Soon, the fire’s in every direction.”\n\n“Where’s the rest of them?” Jose motioned back to the six in the burnt out building.\n\n“Dante’s group? We got them out when the wind shifted. They were faster. You chuckleheads weren’t responding to your radio.” The captain fished a small pot out of the fire, “Chip—CHIP—“\n\nThe Hopi stirred.\n\n“Soup, do you eat?” There was a strange inflection in the Captain’s voice, “—Did you guys eat in there?” The captain's gruff exterior couldn't hide his obvious concern for his crew.\n\n“We had some protein bars.” Jose sat down next to Chip.\n\n“Good. Sleep if you can, we’ll be here for at least a couple hours. Save your water, we won’t find any more.” The captain’s radio was sitting next to him, nothing but static.\n\n“That shift, did it go right over us?”\n\n“Through us, more like.” The captain gave him a strange look.\n\n“And you came back for us? A few convicts.”\n\n“You’re my responsibility.” Jose could tell that the captain didn’t want to talk about it, he didn’t care.\n\n“No one would have noticed—I don’t remember him” Jose nodded towards Chip. “Did he come with you?”\n\n“I would have. Chuchip came later, whether you got through the flare up or not, you needed a guide.”\n\n“If we got through or not?” Jose looked around again, he realized that it hadn’t gotten any darker since he had stepped out to talk to the captain. He followed the horizon, it wasn’t just the typical confluence of ash and destruction, the ground itself cracked and glowed. What he had taken for granted as burnt white trees on the edge of the clearing were bones, some human, some larger.\n\n“We—we didn’t make it.” Jose looked to the captain, the captain stared right back at him, said nothing. Next to him, Chuchip finally turned to look at the newcomer. His eyes glowed ever so slightly, his face gaunt beyond anything living, his hair was thin and brittle. The captain’s words burned into Jose’s skull, he had come later.\n\n“Chuchip is our guide. He came with me when I came back for y’all.” The captain focused on the small fire.\n\n“You said he came later. He wasn't on the mountain.”\n\n“Yeah, not when I came back during the fire, after that.”\n\n“What happened after that?” Jose tried to remember the events before the fire, but it was all a blur. They had been climbing a steep section of brush outside of Santa Margarita, trying to dig it all out before the fire could use it as more fuel. The wind had changed suddenly, the fire shot down the hill like a flash.\n\n“I went…somewhere else. You all weren’t with me. You’re my responsibility. You’ve done good work here, more than enough to make up for everything you’d done before. I was given an option. Chuchip’s an old friend, he offered to help.”\n\n“What are you talking about? What are we doing here?”\n\nThe captain stood, shaking the rest of the soot off of his blanket, “You see the pass up there?”\n\nJose could barely make out a break between two distant mountains, the ash and haze was heavy, but the air seemed to work differently here.\n\n“Chuchip says beyond that are the gates of hell themselves. I intend to get all of us through them.”", "Life Full\n\n\n\nI lived a full life. Made friends, fallen in love, raised a family; that part of me was content.\n\nMy work. On the force for twenty five years; first responder, first in, last out.\nThat was my job, to rescue trapped souls was my purpose, my passion to see the tears of relief, the weeping of joy. To retain that which you most cared for.\nWhat you most cherished, loved…\n\nBut my time’s come, a good life i’ve lived I can’t complain.\n\nYet it doesn’t mean I wouldn’t regret. There is still somethings needing to be done.\n\nFor this I made him an offer, a bet, so I might do just this one last thing.\nTo Hell I come, I prepare for the end.\n\nThe stipulation of my will.\n\nMy son by my side I could only just turn to face, muscle weakened with age bone aching I felt tired. In my old suit, equipment in hand, to die as all of us feared it may come I embrace it.\n\nThis suit of mine; mask fixed, oxygen tank prepped, layers upon layers of my protective suit. I am a knight of another kind, ready to die in chivalrous battle it won’t end here. I feel so tired…\n\nI can barely feel my son’s hand, my daughter weeping I can barely see her tears.\n“Don’t worry son, and don’t cry baby girl. I’ve… I’ve still one last thing need done. I love you both, know that I’m so happy to see you… You two who gave me the comfort in my times of stress, the will to push through the flame. Thank you but… There’s one more thing… I go with peace of mind, your thoughts always in my memory…”\n\nI didn’t feel heavy any longer, I couldn’t feel his hand, hear her tears… I come now, just wait… I come for you!\n\nThere I stood.\nJust as I had so long ago.\nI was barely able to breath, I was choking, eye blinded they burnt with the smoke all around.\n\n“Go! Run away you stupid bastard! Get out of here you useless shit! You’ll only get in the way, get yourself killed, go! Idiot!” I heard him again, his rough voice just as I remember it so long ago.\n\nThis was it. Just as promised, my chance to come again.\nThere he laid, atop the stairs once so casually climbed in that instant felt unending; an impossible goal.\n\nBut things are different now; i’m not the weak boy I used to be, dad!\n\nTurning the nozzle on my tank, my breath was revived again as I turned my personal lamp on looking up to him seeing just what was in my way. This was it, my time had come again, I won’t fail again, I won’t… Not like so long ago.\n\nPanelling collapsed from the wall provided barrier, their sight as intimidating as they were so long ago; how was I to pass them? Yet I knew different now, I seen it a hundred times over. I was ready.\n\nMy first step the stair creaked with weakness as fire below consumed the support beneath; I have to be quick.\n\n“Run…! Stupid kid, useless! A failure, you can’t do anything! Go, before you get me killed you…!” He’s shouted just as he had so long ago. This, the greatest difficulty I would face.\n\nYet I knew better, I fought this before. I won’t wane, after all I did, all I saved! I know I can do this!\n\nContinuing my way I held my ax heavy in my weary hands, yet I tightened my grip and just as I had done before I did again.\n\nI split the boards between us, the panels crushed under my foot as I stood only feet before him... Him… My father.\n\nThe man for whom all my young life used me as a tool, a servant, to neglect even my own life to make his simpler.\n\n“What are you looking at you piece of filth! Isn’t there something you could be that’s useful for once!”\n\nI was nothing more than a slave to you, yet who stands over you now?\nI triumphed over everything you did to me, I did it! Me! The worthless brat no better used than a foot stool!\n\n“You remember which scars came first? The one under my arm, along my thigh, my gut, my chest, my ear!” I shouted down to him a man nothing but hate.\n\n“I don’t give a damn about anything of you, why would you think I would remember what scars came first you waste of life!” he spoke fire, it’s all inside of him. To be consumed by the very thing he was made of.\n\n“Then how about something you enjoy!?” I suggested sharply pulling the planks trapping him beneath as I worked.\n\n”You remember which fingers were your favorite to twist until dislocated!? Or how about which eye lash made mom squirm the most!? You remember that!? Do you!?” I shouted down to him as I freed him at last the wrathful man burst forward spitting a fury as he collapsed his broken leg ensuring him meek.\n\n“I don’t give a damn of you, or her, or anybody! Now go! Go you hear me! Go!” he shouted those same words, words which once fed my resentment. It was my pleasure, my glee, ecstasy to my ears to hear those words. I loved each and everyone of them.\n\nBut i’m not the same person I used to be, the person you made me into, full of hatred and wrath. No… That’s not me, the me I want to be. The me before you now.\n\n“I don’t either… I don’t remember any of it... Not anymore… I’ve moved on, i’ve gotten past your torment, your malice, all that fire consuming you inside. And you know what? I’ve not come back to spite you, spite just as you would believe I would. No… I’m going to rescue you, i’m going to save your terrible soul. I will, because i’ve changed, i’m not weak, I never was, and i’ll prove it here.” Grabbing him I lifted the man frail and weak struggling to be released, to be doomed here surrounded by all the his spite turned misfortune aflame.\n\nTo die, eaten away by everything this man was. I won’t let it, I won’t, not while I hold this badge, not while I wear this uniform, uphold my oath, do my duty. Rescue lives!\n\nAnd with my last steps we were out. Closing the door behind me, I never sought to look back. The only thing to see carried in my arms now, exhausted and so frail, so weak, all that anger drained from him.\n\nHis demons gone, we stand in the light piercing these dark depths below. We look above, us two; to go to a place better, free from all this hatred.\n\nI did it, I did… My life full complete at last.\n\nFin. Constructive Criticism Welcome. Note that these are always first drafts, mistakes are expected.\n", "\"I can't let you come down here for two reasons.\" Satan says to the firefighter at the gate, shaking his head. \"First, you are a good man. You can't come in anyway. Even if you could, you've been misinformed.\"\n\n\"How do you mean?\" Chuck Mason reaches for where his axe would be, a reflex action from years of cutting through doors and pulling people out from the wreckage.\n\n\"Well, take a look.\" Satan opens the gate a little wider so Chuck can see. There's no flames down here. Not even a wisp of smoke. It's just a rolling expanse of black rock, broken up by pits. \"There's a lake of fire waiting for me as my final fate, but that's not Hell. Hell is a super-maximum security prison, Chuck. Each of these pits is filled with a different group of sinners. As they trudge around the pit, they are forced to relive their every sin, over and over until the end of time.\"\n\nThe devil steps outside the gate and closes it behind him. \"Dante and the other poets who spoke of Hell were lying. This is a cold place, where people who are capable of remorse are shown the consequences of their sin, the failure of their own free will. And while it may seem that I can wander freely in this place, it's just as much a prison for me. I was made without free will, and my every action against heaven was carefully calculated in advance.\"\n\nOld Scratch leans against the gate, his fingers shaking. \"I have to walk through the infinite expanse of hell, and listen to millions of voices crying out 'Please forgive me' or 'Give me one more chance, please.' And I wish I could give it to them. The fewer souls there are down here, the less tormented I would be. But my hands are tied. I cannot provide them relief, I cannot give them a second chance. Hearing their pleas for forgiveness is my penance, one I must pay until the end of time.\"\n\nChuck looks at the Devil, not with pity, but with questioning eyes. \"Why tell me all this?\"\n\n\"Because it's not your time, Chuck.\" Satan answers, pointing up at Earth where the doctors are trying to revive his body. \"You have a few more years left in you, and then you will go to Heaven. That's how it works. But now, you've seen the truth about Hell, and you have another choice. You can be an example. You may be too old to save lives, but you can use the years you have left to save souls. Find the people who are going to end up here, and change their path.\"\n\n\"You want me to do this for you?\" Chuck says. \"To cut down on your eternal punishment?\"\n\n\"Think of it this way. A single hot spot in a burning building can cause a flashover, spreading the fire to other places and setting off a chain reaction. But a single man, in the right place at the right time, can set off a chain reaction of lives changed for the better. Now go, Chuck Mason. Go back to Earth.\"\n\nWith a violent tug, Chuck is dragged back to his body, and the family around him celebrates as he opens his eyes.\n\nDown in Hell, Satan walks back through the gate and looks up, past the Earth, to the home he once knew. \"It is done, Father. Chuck Mason shall come to you in five years and he will be bringing many people with him.\" He expects no response, no column of fire, no booming voice. But he has done his duty and sent a heroic soul back where it was needed the most. And so, even surrounded by the screams of the penitent, the one who was once known as Lucifer Morningstar allows himself a small smile." ]	4
	[WP] As humanity reaches the stars, we begin to notice a pattern of other, less advanced civilizations- they all possess different religions worshipping the same "Great Homo-Sapiens in the Sky."	[ "“Woah why is it coming up to us?” \n\n“Oh yeah, they do that” \n\nThe odd looking creature cocked it’s head and gave it’s best try at English it could, \n“You. Two leg:” \n\nIt extended one of it’s frail arms and pointed at me. \n\n“Yeah we got two legs” I laughed and pushed his arm back down. It rubbed it’s skin where I touched, seemingly in awe. \n\n“Chosen me?” It asked with it’s small mouth. \n\n“Uh, yes I have.” I said to smooth it over. It made an odd sound and scuttled off back to where it came. \n\n“What was that about?” \n\nCaptain Wesson cocked an eyebrow at me. \n\n“What?” \n\n“You don’t know about these guys?” \n\n“Not at all, I just woke up from cryo about a week ago.” \n\n“God damn it Jason, you gotta get debriefed or you’re not gonna know your duties. What have you been doing this whole week?” \n\nI started thinking of a valid excuse to not get sent to waste duty, but I was stopped before I had to.\n\n“It’s actually kind of interesting though.” \n\n“What is?”\n\n“The answer to your question.” Captain Wesson paused, “They have taken to worshiping us, thinking we’re some kind of god race.” He said with a hearty, booming laugh. \n\n“They must not know very much huh?” I said chuckling in return. \n\n“No I think not. Now get debriefed before you accidentally break your oxygen seal.” \nCaptain Wesson then strode off toward the direction of PHOBOS-II, our grand flaming steed. I dialed in the code for the ship layout so I could find this elusive debriefing room. \n\n“Excuse me” \n\nI jumped a bit. Standing beside me was an odder looking variant of the 4 legged creatures I had just seen. It had a larger, more human like head than the other ones. \n\n“Oh. Hello.” \n\n“I am Zack” \n\n“Zack? That’s a human name.” \n\n\n“Yes. I like human names.” \n\n“You speak pretty good English.” \n\n“You mean, I speak it well.” \n\n“Er-yeah, well.” \n\n\n“I have studied your kind ever since your first great ship appeared, you language, and your history. You are magnificent beings.” \n\n“Well we try” I smiled at him. \n\n“You’re very good at what you do.” \n\n“Yes we are quite good at making things.” \n\n“No, not making things.” Zack said in a hushed tone shaking his head for a moment.\n\n“Oh? What are you referring to?” \n\n“Killing things.” Zack said with a gleeful grin. \n\nI was too stunned to say anything. Killing things? They worship, death? \n\n“What do you mean, killing things?” I cautiously asked.\n\n“You consume at an astonishing rate. Nothing we’ve ever seen before. Your kind is able to overcome a planet’s natural resilience. It’s why you’re here is it not?” \n\n“Yes, Earth was nearing death, we had no choice.” \n\n\n“Yes but you killed it”, He pointed at my chest.\n\n“Why does that please you?” I asked. \n\n“We want to be like you”. He ogled me with his large eyes, \n\n“We want to be feared like you,” Zack said quietly. \n\nI was growing uncomfortable with this conversation. I didn’t like my race being idolized as death gods. I made a quick excuse, \n\n“Excuse me Zack but I have to get debriefed before my Senior officer chews me out.” \n\n“Goodbye.” He said with his fixated, unblinking gaze. \n\nI turned around and walked back to the PHOBOS-II with an unsettling feeling in my stomach. I could feel his eyes burning into my back with each step. \n\nI think I might go back into cryo sleep. \n", "Once again I found my self on dirt duty. As I was cruising through the stars on my way to my assignment, I couldn't help but remember how great I thought this job would be. Right out of grad school landing a job with Dr. Bloom on the interplanetary council's research team. While interviewing, we had so many moving conversations about inteligent life and how we could leave our mark on this universe, yet I got placed as a surveyor.\n\nMy job mostly consisted of going to all the planets considered habitable for carbon based life forms and take samples of the environment. Several had already developed life forms we were trying to study and new planets were still being discovered regularly. I enjoyed going to new planets but it was always a little nerve rattling.\n\nAs the GPS shouted out I was only a few light years away from the planet Plumbus, I decided to ready my things. Looking back at our logs, it had been a few years since anyone had been here; life had seemed to be developing but nothing more than a few ameboa. As I entered the atmosphere, my radar started doing some unexpected things so I stayed up in the clouds to figure this out.\n\nIf my systems were correct, I was flying above a highly populated area. Due to safety protocols, I circumnavigated the planet to find out what I could beforehand and locate a safe spot to land. After finding a more suitable area, I threw on my helmet and airtank to start my descent. \n\nI did my usual, took samples and looked around a little, nothing too special here. The GPS said I was near a body of water so I went searching to get some more samples. \n\nAs I rounded the corner, there It was; this green mass oddly resembling the shape of a person. I could tell this thing was looking at me but I was unsure how. It was with a few more green masses, shaped like four legged animals, that were drinking from the river. \n\n\"You're one of them,\" It spoke with a tone of curiosity. Trying not to pry into things due to fear, I shrugged it's knowledge of the English language and said, \"How do you know that?\"\n\nIt spoke of the stories from his ancestors and the Great Homosapiens in the Sky. Perplexed by the situation, I asked if I could help in anyway. \n\n\"Can you give me any advice about life, oh great one?\" He asked.\n\n\"Well my son,\" I started, \"soon there will be bad times. Now listen to me carefully because I know how you can survive. Your planet is going to undergo some massive flooding for a short period of time. If you want to save your planet, you must first build a boat. Then find 2 of every animal and fill your boat. It is the only way to assure the continuation of life as you know it.\"\n\nI smiled and turned back towards my cruiser. I knew I could leave my mark on the universe somehow." ]	2
	[WP] A spell goes out of control, resulting in a shocking new social reality: anyone who likes big butts cannot lie	[ "Shelly had the spell for weeks, but it took a long time to work up the courage to use it. The last straw was her brothers teasing her about the boy she had the deepest crush on. His name was Tex, he was new to town and he was dreamy. She had finally gotten his attention, and they'd started hanging out after school. It had been weeks now, but their relationship hadn't gone to where she needed it go - for him to tell her the truth she hoped for deep inside: that he liked her.\n\nShe and her friends had found this leatherbound textbook in the bottom of the boiler room. She'd copied the spell and left the book there - she was the only one who'd had the nerve to even touch it. Then they chatted on Facebook for weeks until she finally declared she'd do it.\n\nThe perfect night came - her parents and brothers left her home to go to a line-dancing competition. As soon as they were gone, she broke into her parents' liquor cabinet. A few full glass of rum and she was ready to go. \n\nShe went upstairs and logged into Facebook. As she did, she saw her butt in the mirror on the closet door. She didn't know if her butt was too big, just right, or not big enough. She felt like Tex liked it, and her, but she knew she also wanted to believe that. How could she know for sure? \n\nAccording to her smirking brothers, no guy would ever tell the truth about a girl's butt to a girl. They were always complaining about no answer being alright for their girlfriends. \n\nShelly had the support of her friends at least. Most of them were stuck home tonight too, but they could chat. They were interested in this spell too. \n\nOnce she confirmed that she was actually going to cast the spell tonight, the news spread like wildfire. It had been a slow night to begin with, and not much news in general. Interest kept expanding for this teenage girl who was about to cast a spell.\n\nShe pointed her laptop's camera for a good view of her, and pulled a folded-over piece of paper from her pocket. She opened it, revealing a torn-out notebook page covered with rainbow sparkles. It contained the spell she'd copied from an old book they'd found, underneath some scraps in the boiler room below the school library. \n\nOn the paper,, in her purple ink writing dotted with hearts, was the formula of the spell:\n\nI risk the love of my life to know if my love is real! I declare it forfeit, to make _ not lie!\n\n\"I'm still not sure if I should put his name in,\" said Shelly.\n\n\"Does he like your butt?\" asked her sassy friend Courteney. \"That's the question here. He should, your butt's fantastic.\"\n\n\"Thanks Courteney - but how can I know that if he likes my big butt he won't lie about it anyway?\"\n\n\"It shouldn't be just about him either,\" said Shelly's other close friend Audrey. \"What about other guys too?\"\n\nSuddenly it came to Shelly. What was that song her brother was listening to the other day? \"I got it!\" In her rum-drunk state, it seemed like just the thing. \n\nHer eyes closed, she held the note tight and whispered the incantation: \"I risk the love of my life to know if my love is real! I declare it forfeit, to make sure people who like big butts cannot lie!\"\n\nShe pulled out a pink lighter, held her thumb down and lit the notebook paper on fire. It quickly took to flame, and disappeared in a flash of rainbow glitter.\n\nIn Shelly's room, and then astonishingly in every room connected to the Internet around the world, a gathering force rose. It was felt first as hairs raising on the back of the neck, then goosebumps, and then as an electric current within one's own soul - a feeling amplified by all the people now witnessing this spell. In the olden days, it would have been rare to gather as many as twenty witches for such a spell. But this evening, there were hundreds of thousands. \n\nThe spell climaxed, and crashed like thunder.\n\nShelly thought it was just the rum, as she passed out. But, amplified by her pure innocence, the rum, and Facebook which amplified her spell to millions, the magic's effects spread like a shockwave throughout the world.\n\nThe next morning, and from that day forward, she found that all who liked big butts could not lie. Her brothers, and others' brothers, could deny. But when a girl walked in with an itty bitty waist and a round thing in their face they got sprung - from the cages of their own deceitfulness. \n\nThis shook society to it's foundations.\n\nMost children could still lie, until around when they hit puberty. For the rest of humanity, politicians and peasants, police and criminals, employers and employees, pastors and flock - whatever their station in life, whether high low or middle, the very large percentage that liked big butts were forced to tell the truth. \n\nJudges were soon selected based on their Internet browser history. Entire political careers became based on candidates selecting the preferred kind of porn. Parties and governments lost favor because of their sudden mass inability to lie to their voters - they could no longer claim there were easy, simple solutions to any number of different problems. On the other side of power, the voters who elected them had to face their own real impulses, because they could no longer lie to themselves. That is, as long as they liked big butts.\n\nAfter all the social upheavals this brought the world, humanity settled into a deep and lasting prosperity and peace. \n\nThere are now full-size statues of Shelly in every major city. Behind these statues people are taken to swear oaths - for none can lie when they look upon her statue from the rear.\n\nThe bittersweet irony is, Shelly still didn't know how Tex actually felt. He was still able to lie, and did so to save her feelings. He revealed years later that he really preferred skinny men.\n\nShe did find out that Courteney had some interesting feelings for her, of an entirely different sort. \n\nThey were married behind Shelly's statue ten years later. " ]	1
	[WP] The dragon and the princess are tired of the charade. It's time to come clean about all the "kidnappings."	[ "\"Your majesty, we need to talk.\"\n\nIt wasn't often that Queen Monica had someone request an audience so informally, and dragon or not there was no way she was going to stand for this insult.\n\n\"I have no interest in speaking with a monster. Especially not one that kidnaps my daughter regularly.\"\n\n\"You see, that's actually the thing we wanted to talk to you about.\"\n\n\"And just who is included in this we? I doubt a beast such as you has many friends.\"\n\n\"You would be surprised.\" The dragon folded his wings and revealed the two people hiding behind them. On his left was her daughter, the princess Annabelle. On his right was that peasant who kept saving her. She didn't care what his name was.\n\n\"Mother, Salcelron only kidnapped me once. The other times I went with him willingly.\"\n\n\"Oh, so you are on a first name basis with the lizard who kidnapped you, how nice. Do explain why you would willingly follow a beast who kept you locked in his cave.\"\n\n\"I know more of the story ma'am, so I think I should do the explain'in.\"\n\n\"I doubt you know what color the sky is peasant. Now be silent, your betters are talking.\"\n\n\"Mother! Collin has saved my life dozens of times. I think he's earned your respect by now.\"\n\n\"Except you just said you where only in danger once. So clearly he's only saved you once. Now someone better explain what's going on or when the guards arrive there is going to be some beheadings.\"\n\n\"I tried ma'am, and you called me stupid.\"\n\n\"Fine, speak peasant.\"\n\n\"Well ya'see dragons don't really have a good grasp on the idea of property, and they tend ta' just assume anything that catches their eyes is theirs. So when Sall kidnapped Anna the first time he dinn't mean no harm, he just wanted a better look at the blanket she was hav'in her picnic on and didn't think to check if she was still on it. When he found out he had tak'in her, he was beside himself. But bring'in her home was likely to get him killed what with all the ruckus you raised try'in ta get her back, so he dinn't know what ta' do.\"\n\n\"How confronting.\"\n\n\"When you put out that reward for anyone who could bring her home safe, I wen' out to try an' save her on account of need'in money to fix tha' barn, but when I got to the cave all I found was Sall an' Anna hav'in a debate on the particulars of fine needle work. Sall's sorta a snob about that kind'a thing.\"\n\n\"Can someone who speaks English finish this story? I may decide to have this man hung for his crimes against proper language alone.\"\n\n\"Sorry bout' that ma'am, I don't really have a way ta' get proper learn'in. But as I was say'in, once I got there Anna explained the whole thing and I agreed ta' take her home.\"\n\n\"And on the way back I fell in love, mother. I've never met a more sincere and honest man in my whole life, and I could never imagine being happy with anyone else.\"\n\n\"Oh my. I thought you three had devised some kind of scam, but this is much worse.\"\n\n\"Later that month Salcelron came to visit while I was having another picnic, and he told me that Collin desperately needed to see me again. I felt the same way, so I hopped on his back and ordered the guards to say I had been taken.\"\n\n\"So while I was worried sick about you, you where having tea with this, this commoner?\"\n\n\"Well 'round where I live we don't have much tea. We mostly drink cider, but I promise it wan'int any of the hard stuff.\"\n\n\"And just why have you elected to end this little charade now?\"\n\n\"Cause' I been court'in your daughter fer' a year now, an' I wanna' marry her. She's just the sweetest an' kindest woman I ever met, an' I would be honored ta' spend my life by her side no mater where that side is.\"\n\n\"So that's what this is? You come here to threaten me with your dragon and demand my daughter's hand?\"\n\n\"I don't mean ta' threaten anyone, bring'in Sall here was her idea. She says if ya' say no we're just gonna fly away somewhere we can be together. Now that sounds wrong ta' me, see'in how you're her ma an' all. But if that's the only way I can be with her I'll take it.\"\n\n\"I'm serious mother, if I can't be with him here I'll leave and you'll never see me again.\"\n\n\"You wouldn't last a month out there.\"\n\n\"Maybe not, but it will be the happiest month of my life.\"\n\nQueen Monica knew that look in Annabelle's eyes. She had seen it countless times on her father when he was fighting for something he believed in, and didn't care what he had to go through to get it. There was no reasoning with that look, you either offered a compromise or watched them bring themselves to ruin trying to get it.\n\n\"You have one year. If this 'Collin' can learn to behave like a civilized human by the end of it, he has my blessing. Otherwise he goes back to whatever backwater you found him in and if you want to insist on following him there that's your own problem.\"\n\n\"Oh thank you mother, I swear we won't let you down.\"\n\n\"You've already let me down girl. This is just a chance to salvage a small portion of my respect.\"\n\n\"Thank ya' kindly ma'am, I'll promise ya' won't regret giv'in me a chance.\"\n\n\"I think my services are no longer needed, so of you will excuse me this courtyard is far too cramped so I must be going.\" With that, 'Sall' took to the air and was merely a speck on the horizon in moments.\n\n\"Don't worry, he doesn't have to be invited to the wedding.\" Annabelle said with a mischievous smile. That girl had far too much of her father in her.", "The sound of leather soles clicking on the marble stone broke apart the monotenous dreariness within the castle. Duke Feunoir nodded as he navigated the large hallways and corridors before finding the king in his drawing room enjoying a glass of brandy.\n\n'Ah, there you are,' the Duke said with a smile. 'I haven't interrupted anything, have I?'\n\n'Oh, what is it this time, Gerald,' the King said in a worried voice as Feunoir locked the door behind him. 'Please tell me this isn't anything to do with your odd obsession with that servant girl.'\n\nBefore his eyes he saw a familiar site. The clothing became wisps of smoke which evaporated in the air as black, glistening scales slid out from his skin, his limbs thickening with each step towards him. Horns, fangs and claws pierced through the skin as wings and a spiked tail grew out of his back and spine.\n\n'This isn't...' the dragon tried to say, cupping his snout in his thick, meaty paw. 'I've been looking out for her.'\n\n'Why wouldn't you?' the king said as he poured his friend a glass of port. 'A lone orphan taken in by the Tremaine Household, she'd have no rights to anything other than what is graced upon her by-'\n\n'She's my daughter,' Gerald interrupted.\n\nThe king stared at his Duke, a look of utter surprise plastered over his face. 'What do you mean?'\n\nGerald took the glass of port and slid awkwardly within the leather chair besides the king. 'Remember when I met, I saved you from that pirate attack at sea and I escorted you to that treaty signing all those years ago? Remember my reasons for being in the Isles?'\n\n'You mentioned a lover,' the king said.\n\n'I had... bedded a noble's youngest,' he told the king. 'I offered a dowry the second I discovered that I had gotten her pregnant but her father then discovered I was...'\n\n'A dragon,' he said.\n\n'He had her on a ship to a convent somewhere in Europe by the end of the day,' Gerald said. 'I flew after to try and intercept her but...'\n\n'The ship was attacked by pirates,' the king said sadly. 'Are you sure that this girl, this... girl is your daughter?'\n\n'It was mainly by chance that I discovered,' he admitted. 'Do you know that any woman can be impregnated by a dragon? Well, only the sons of a dragon and a woman are dragons themselves, there's nothing remarkable about daughters... except that they aren't harmed by fire or heat. Even if they were to ram their fists into it and lift something smoldering right out.'\n\nThe king was taking a swig of his port but he had just sacrificed it to the gods of comedy with his spit-take. 'You mean like a ring adorned with rubies?' he asked.\n\nGerald's slitted eyes dilated at those words. 'I never told that to any noble,' he said. 'How did you know about it?'\n\n'The ring was the last possession given to a boy named Kit by his mother,' the king said to the dragon's astonishment. 'Did you know that my son's nickname is Kit?'\n\nThe dragon could only choke a laughter before smelling his own glass. 'So, the kidnappings happened soon after... What have you been doing?'\n\n'I told her that she was my daughter and I've been educating her,' Gerald said. 'And feeding her as well. The Tremaines haven't even given poor Ella any scraps from their table, she was so starving.'\n\nThe king dropped his glass in shock. 'Ella?' he asked. 'You mean... the late Lord Tremaine's adopted daughter and heir-apparent who I was informed had died with him when his carriage crashed in Switzerland?'\n\nGerald's glass cracked within his hand when he heard those words. 'Excuse me?'\n\nThe king knew that dragons were rather good at appearing civil even though enraged - up until they were to start breathing fire. 'I'll be speaking to Lady Tremaine at once,' the king said. 'Damned woman has caused so much bother.'\n\n'Hold on,' Gerald interrupted his friend. 'Isn't your son eligible to be wed?'\n\n'Why, yes,' the king said. 'I've already invited all the eligible women in the land to see if he can find a partner at a ball in a month. I know what you're thinking and it's too late - not to mentioned rude to cancel on such short notice.'\n\n'Who said anything about cancelling?' Gerald asked. 'But as the daughter of a Duke and the true owner of a Lady title... Ella would be eligible, correct?'\n\n'You wish to \"Kidnap\" her again, don't you?' the king asked. 'On the night of the ball?'\n\n'Let me just assure that my daughter will be there,' Gerald said with a mischievous grin. 'I happen to know that her mother asked a friend in-town to be her godmother who'd be rather willing to help.'" ]	2
	[WP] Your future pet, unable to endure the loneliness, time travels to the present to spend more time with you while you're alive.	[ "The day had been utterly ordinary when she heard a scratching at her door. Expecting either a neighbor or a fallen branch, she open the door. Neither were on the other side. Instead, a brown, fluffy dog sat there, staring at the door. When he saw her—the dog was in fact a boy—he ran up and began licking her. He tail was moving a mile a minute. After this strange dog had greeted her, he promptly walked inside, turning his head a moment later as through to see if she was following. \n\t\nHe did not have a collar on. She looked for any other sines of identification, but she found none. She began typing up “Found Dog” posters that afternoon after taking several pictures of him to use. \n\t\nThe next day, she took him to the vet to see if he was microchipped. He had one, but the ID number was not registered to any name. The vet did a full work up on him while she was there. He said that the dog looked to be about three years old. He seemed to be in good health, though he was a bit thin. \n\t\nShe considered taking him to the shelter after that, but could not bear the thought of leaving such a sweet boy behind cages. She brought one of the posters she made to them instead, with instructions to call me if anyone came looking for him. She spent that week putting the posters up all over town. Someone must have been sick with worry. No one called that week, or the next.\n\t\nAfter the first few days she realized that she couldn’t keep referring to him as “dog” or “boy,” so she took to calling him Bear until she could think of a better name. It stuck and never changed. \n\t\nWhenever he looked at her, his eyes were filled with adoration. She could barely step inside the house without nearly being knocked over as he jumped on her and gave her kisses. He certainly warmed up quickly—she had not done anything to warrant such a large greeting whenever she came home. Scarcely enough time had passed for him to associate her with food. Even so, every time he saw her, his eyes would light up. When she was at home, he never let her out of his sight, following her wherever she went. She could hear him cry whenever she left, whether it was for the day or only five minutes. \n\t\nBy the time she had had him for two months, she dreaded the day when she might pick up the phone to find his real owners on the line. That call never came. \n\t\nAs the years passed, she and Bear were inseparable. They went everywhere together. She took him to the beach at least once a week. Friends sometimes called her out on choosing restaurants based on whether or not they had outside seating that allowed dogs. \n\t\nHe was there through the relationships and the breakups. He was through the storms and the insomnia. He was a constant presence at her side. \n\t\nWhenever she got sick, Bear would not leave her for a moment. Where usually he would content with watching her from across the room or sleeping at the bottom of the bed, he demanded some form of physical contact at all times then. He would press his body against hers or sleep on her feet just keep a paw lying on her chest. This behavior would last until she had recovered. On those days, it seemed that he handled her illness, even if it was a simple cold, worse than she did. Forcing him to the leave the room to eat was even harder than making herself something on those days when she had no appetite.\n\t\nThis lasted years. Through it all, his eyes held the unbridled joy that she had seen that first day on her doorstep. \n\t\nAll things come to ends. \n\t\nAfter nearly fourteen years of companionship, she noticed that something was wrong with her friend. She took him to the vet, only to learn that his kidneys were failing. The put him on the medications they gave him and changed his diet to what they said. She took him to all of their favorite spots. She took on long walks on the beach like they used to, though he walked much slower now. She took hundreds of pictures in those last days, trying to capture as many moments as she could before it was too late. \n\t\nThey were able to hold out for two months. Then he began having seizures. His suffering was obvious. She made the hardest decision of her life and called the vet. \n\t\nHe was staring at her when those same eyes, filled with love as always, closed for the last time. \n\t\nHer grief was nearly insurmountable. The house was too quiet. The bed felt empty. She cried herself to sleep every night. She struggled not to break out into tears during the day. Everything reminded her of Bear, and each memory brought a fresh wave of grief. Whenever she walked into the house she expected a bundle of fur to throw himself at her. It never happened. \n\t\nAfter several months, she reached a breaking point. She couldn’t handle the emptiness, the silence, any longer. She went to pet store and every step she took on her way in seemed to whisper “betrayal” in her mind. \n\nShe only meant to look. She did want a replacement—Bear could not be replaced. She just needed to see the puppies, maybe play with a few to try to remember the joy before the grief. \n\t\nThat was when she saw a pile of brown fur that looked so much like Bear that it made her heart break. She took him home that day. \n\t\nNo, this little boy could not replace Bear, but he lessened the emptiness of her home. He made it feel like a home again. And when she cried in her bed at night, he was there to lick away her tears. \n\t\nShe took to calling him Teddy, the homage to his predecessor left unspoken. He was not a replacement, but he lessened her grief. \n\t\nWhere Bear’s eyes had looked at her as though she were the only person on earth from the day she met him, She had to earn Teddy’s love. In the beginning, he looked at her with the same puppy dog eyes he greeted everyone with and he eyed the house warily. Soon, though, his eyes took on the same looked of loving adoration the Bear’s had borne. \n\t\nShe learned to laugh anew and began going on walks again, now with Teddy in tow. They fell into a rhythm of content normalcy. \n\t\nThe cancer came two years later. She had gone to the doctor after finding a lump. It was stage four. \n\t\nShe went on chemotherapy. She was in and out of the hospital. It only got worse. She was given four months to live. \n\t\nShe put her records in order. Her family came to be with her. Near the end, she could feel the void pulling at her whenever she closed her eyes. She knew that someone would be waiting when she passed. She was in her own bed with Teddy beside her the night that she never woke up.\n\n***\n\nContinued below" ]	1
	[WP] You wake up in the night and open the refrigerator to overhear the food talking to each other.	[ "The night was cold and I was sitting snuggled up on the couch watching the mindless drivel that is late night programming. I had my favourite toys to accompany me on my fruitless search for entertainment at 2 o'clock in the morning. I was over at my grandparents house for a few days over the summer holidays, and without cable TV or the internet all I had was a packet of stale original home brand chips, and the mercy of whatever was on in those early hours of the morning. \"What do you think of this show Aquaman?\" I asked, picking up my aquaman figurine and waving it about in front of my face, pretending he was swimming. I was 7, and was like a starved artist in that house with my practically boundless imagination. \"Aquaman, Goku's in trouble, the Joker has him tied up in an abandoned lighthouse\" \nDon't ask why or how Goku ended up a hostage of Joker, or for that matter why Aquaman is dealing with it. Again, Boundless imagination and all. Aquaman flew through the air in a lopsided waving motion, a massive wall of water following closely behind. The wave crashed into the lighthouse, and debris were hurled into the air, crashing into the water here and against the rocks there. I didn't have the supersaiyan version of Goku's figurine, so he had small specks of yellow paint in his hair that were peeling away in some places. Let's just say I tried to turn him into a supersaiyan and regretted it immediately. But this wasn't satisfying enough for my bustling young creator of a mind, and I was taken back from my weird world of superhero crossover by a brilliant idea.\n\nThis brilliant idea was nothing like my Supersaiyan Goku idea, no this one was such pure genius, that even I, a young 7 year old could recognise it clearly as such. I couldn't help but smirk at my ingenuity. My grandmother recently had the last of her beloved goldfish pass away, and a huge, empty fish tank was just sitting atop a cabinet in the living room. The perfect setting for my Aquaman action masterpiece. To avoid making too much noise clattering about in the sink I decided i'd horde the fridge for all the bottled water I could find, but upon walking up to the fridge I heard a noise that was unsettling. It sounded like the tired old grumbling of an old man. What followed was even more startling, the sound of screeches, and screams of struggle coming from the kitchen. I grabbed my Goku and my Aquaman and leaped to action. If only I had my other figurine, then i could have the world's greatest detective on the case. No matter, I read enough batman comics to know a crime when I hear it. I scurried across the floor, into the living room. I knew where the creakiest old boards were and avoided stepping there. I actually drew a map one summer with x marks next to the creakiest points in the floor. I had it all memorised now, and with deft, light pitter patters i got to the living room, and placed Aquaman on the floor next to the archway into the kitchen, and whispered his orders to him “Do not, i repeat do not let anyone through this doorway, understand Aquaman?”\nI lifted his arm to his head as a salute, and left him to his devices. Then took Goku with me and with the same deftness, and avoiding the creak points I hurried around, back through the TV room, and into the hallway. From there i swiftly went left down the hallway. Here it was crucial I didn’t hit the creak points as my grandparents bedroom was just one more door down to the right. This was the riskiest part of the operation, and to protect my grandparents I stood Goku with his half-assed supersaiyan hair at their door, gave his order and was off on my daring mission into the kitchen to investigate. With a delicate, slow motion I moved the sliding door over on its old rails. I realised now this was the worst possible entrance as the door was old and in its age the railing could let off a horrible scratching noise at random. I always avoided this door, as unlike the floor it was sporadic. Not even the softest of pushes could leave one certain it would open quietly. If only I had brought the world's greatest detective this summer, he would’ve warned me. Nevertheless, I had to push ahead with the investigation. Upon opening the door, i stood at the doorway and shot an assuring nod over to Goku’s direction. I walked in. I payed close attention to the pantry to my left, as there was a very loud creak spot on the ground directly in front of it. So my path formed a large curve away from the pantry. This placed me in the centre of the room. Not good at all. This was a very poor choice of entry, but i had my first clue already. A slight light was emanating from a slight crack in the fridge door. Evidently the assailant left it open, probably leaving in a hurry when he saw me open the sliding door. “So stupid” I chastised myself under my breath as I squished up against the wall where the cutout for the fridge was. The fridge was next to entry number three, the entry near my bedroom, the assailant couldn’t have left without encountering either me or my trusted sidekicks. The front door was way around the other end of the hallway, next to the TV room where I was, so he would’ve either passed me and Goku, a formidable force, or Aquaman. He had to either be in the fridge, highly unlikely, or my bedroom. This terrified me, and sent ice through my veins. I came out from my hiding spot next to the cutout for the fridge and crept up to the fridge on my tippy toes, then grabbed a firm hold of the fridge handle. Before opening I reached over the the bench in front of the fridge for the wooden spoon. A combat tested weapon from what my father had told me. With the spoon in my left hand I thrusted open the door of the fridge and jumped out in front of it. To my surprise i saw the food all cowering in the corner. The Milk was in the slot of the door, its arms covering its eyes, shaking so much that ripples were forming in the milk. Around the fridge all i could see were food items that could barely bring themselves to look at me. From the far right corner I saw the yoghurt, and the butter bent over, protecting what appeared to be a cucumber that had tears streaming down its face, and a whip cream container with curls of cream falling down its body, barely able to stand as if it had motion sickness. Then from the opposite corner I just caught from the corner of my eye what looked like a large green object being hurled at my face. I dodged it and as it passed my face I heard its faint screams. A bottle walked out from the shadows holding a carrot in its hand, while another bottle next to him was knelt down beside an open container of olives. “Batter up” he called out to the bottle with the carrot stick, \n“Hold on my brother” The bottle with the carrot ordered in a low tone. “You don’t look like it”\n“Like what?” I enquired\n“The one that comes at night and orders us to come with him, does unruly, horrid things to us then discards us away into an unknown abyss” The bottle stuttered, his bat was lowered, but his friend was still ready with another olive, throwing it up and down in his hand, and watching me intently.\n“Who was screaming before?”\n“That was Hilda, that man came in and took away her husband. Just snatched him right from her.”\n“Where did he go?”\nThe bottle with the carrot signalled to the other bottle with a click of his finger. The bottle returned from the near corner of the fridge with a can of whipped cream. It was being propped up on the bottle of water, not able to stand on its own. “This poor child was taken by one of your kind. His vital fluids were emptied out by them, all over themselves, then fellow strawberries were used to mop it up. This slaughter has been going on for years and we are plotting our escape tonight.”\n“Hold on there a second, maybe i can help. Where did they take you?” I said leaning down slightly to get level with the whipped cream container. \nThe container whispered into the ear of the bottle he was propped up on with great effort, wincing as it spoke. \n“He says they took him down a long dark hallway, the one next to you, then through the door at the end.” \n“Thank you for this, we children of the cold will never forget your sacrifice. Be weary though they are ruthless.” \nMy heart raced, and i dashed across the kitchen to Aquaman, then through the TV room, and down the hallway. I was in front of my grandparents room about to come face to face with this monster. I gave Goku a nod, and with my shoulder, barged through the door. \n\n\n“What I saw… i-it has never left me. I-I think this is where my intimacy issues have taken root from, do you agree”\n“Hmm, it would appear such an experience could leave a child with some psychological scarring. I mean it was no normal tango they were doing now was it” The therapist let off an immature guffaw. “I’m sorry this is no laughing matter. And the talking groceries, I don’t believe you’ve ever told me about these.” \n“Oh, that was just the stale chips. They were cancelled that year because when they had been open for too long a preservative used to flavour the chips chemically changed, and turned into a fairly powerful hallucinogenic.”\n“Oh ghee. Well Jimmy, i’m afraid that’s all we have time for, but we have made some real progress today. We just now need to get into the emotions you felt after you witnessed what you did, and how you dealt with them.” \n\nEdit: Grammar and a small plot hole" ]	1
	[WP] "You don't get it. You weren't strong enough, or fast enough, or whatever. You couldn't save them. I could, I just wasn't willing to pay the price."	[ "Every action has an equal and opposite reaction. Newton's third law. Originally this law was thought to just apply to forces, but when the first superhuman was born it was discovered that it applies to superpowers as well. For every action that a superhuman takes, whether it be flying or using superhuman strength, they must suffer an equal and opposite reaction. This limits just how much any superhuman can do.\n\nOf course, there are ways around this. Most superhumans purchased cyborg implants that allow them to access what is essentially an energy storage unit. What it's made of depends on their particular power. Strength is stored in iron, flight is stored in silver for instance. Over time a particular superhuman can save up enough of their energy in order to power feats that would otherwise kill them. Saving up energy is a time consuming and exhausting process. The energy isn't transferable between superhumans either, the only energy any person can use is their own. Many times a superhuman will spend years saving up their energy only to blow it all on one act.\n\nTara was perched on the edge of a building staring up at the stars far above her. She had grown up in the country and missed it. When her superpowers had first appeared she had been run out of her small town. Superhumans weren't welcome there. They weren't really welcome anywhere but it was far safer for her in the city. A gust of wind flapped the silver feathers on her wings. Pulling them in tight to her body she shivered slightly in the cold. It wasn't like she could hide being a superhuman. When her wings first began to grow she had strapped them tight to her body and worn baggy jackets but before long they were far too big to hide. She had spent a couple years not leaving her family's farm but one day she had heard a call for help. Throwing caution to the wind, Tara had flown to save a child stuck high up in a tree. Instead of being thanked by the villagers, they had thrown rocks at her and she was run out of town. At only fifteen she had found herself in the heart of New New York City, alone with not a penny to her name.\n\nHer father was a humble farmer, raising emus for leather and meat. He was a good man and had raised her with those ideals. She knew that helping that child had been the right thing to do but some days she wished she could take it back. Yet here she was, perched on top of a building looking for trouble. Tara freelanced for the police department. They gave her a small amount of cash, under the table of course, for her services in patrolling for trouble. Even in the city superhumans were considered second class citizens. Tara absentmindedly fiddled with her earrings. Both ears were covered in studs made of pretty much every metal imaginable, silver, gold, iron, copper, lead, ruthenium. Each one held an small amount of energy that she had stored up. While most superhumans only had one or two powers, Tara had at least ten and kept discovering more about herself. She was one of those rare superhumans, the ones that have the ability to drastically change the world. She had only met one other like herself and he was not a good person.\n\nThe night was calm and quiet with the occasional gust. Tara only had a few more hours of her watchful shift before she could go find somewhere to curl up and sleep. Tara glanced at her watch and let out a sigh. She really should be properly patrolling instead of sitting here musing about her life. Standing up she stretched out her massive wings. She knew they were gorgeous and people often would let out a gasp of amazement before frowning at her. The moonlight caught the silvery feathers and caused them to glitter. With a gentle flap, Tara propelled herself off of the building. Her flying didn't cost her anything other than actual physical energy and strength. She could fly for as long as she had the endurance, much like a normie could run or swim. As she glided over the sleeping city she could see the individual people still out on the streets. From far above she could make out individual hairs on their heads.\n\nAs Tara approached the bay the hair on the back of her neck prickled. Something was about to happen. Time slowed for her as she spun around looking intently at the night sky. A moment later, she saw it. She saw the small explosion at the base of the building. Flapping her wings as quickly as she could she approached. By the time she got there the entire first five floors of the skyscraper were on fire. She could hear the panicked voices from inside it, could practically feel their fear. Tara knew she could save them but she also knew what it would cost her. She was poor and couldn't afford true cyborg implants, she would use up all of her energy and most likely kill herself trying to save these people. Pulling out her radio she alerted the police to the disaster. Tara turned her back on the fire and walked away. She wasn't a hero.\n\n-~-\n\nMatt glanced up at the TV. The news had been talking for hours about the fire from a decade before. Four thousand people had died including twenty fire fighters. Matt had been there, he'd done his best to save as many civilians as he could.\n\n\"I wish I could have done more,\" the young firefighter said, almost to himself.\n\n\"You did everything you could.\" \n\nMat startled, he hadn't expected the figure in the corner of the bar to have been paying any attention to him. They were the only two drinking at 10am on a Tuesday morning.\n\n\"There must have been something else I could have done.\" Matt grimaced, feeling the suffering of the night before.\n\n\"There was nothing.\"\n\nThe woman speaking was calm, surely she didn't understand.\n\n\"You don't understand, I was there. I failed.\" Matt felt himself getting angry. He'd made a vow to help people and he'd failed. Thousands had died.\n\nThe woman stepped forward. Her ice blue eyes staring through him. Matt caught his breath, she was the most beautiful person he'd ever seen. Her long silver hair was braided and slung over her shoulder and the simple jeans and t-shirt she wore accented her athletic body. She was young, obviously old enough to drink though she hardly looked a day over twenty.\n\n\"You don't get it. You weren't strong enough, or fast enough, or whatever. You couldn't save them. I could, I just wasn't willing to pay the price.\"\n\nWith that the woman turned away from him allowing Matt to see her wings. Realizing what she was saying his voice caught as he tried to call out. She seemed to sense that he wanted to say more and hesitated in the doorway.\n\n\"Why didn't you pay the price?\" Matt asked\n\n\"Because I was scared. But I am no longer.\"\n\nAnd with that, the strange winged woman was gone. Matt found himself musing about what had just happened. He'd heard in recent months about a winged woman who had been performing great acts of heroism. The news called her the first true superhero. No one knew her name and very few people had ever spoken to her. Matt put down his glass of beer and for the first time in a decade felt a strange peace with himself. She was out there, protecting them. No matter the cost to herself.\n" ]	1
	[WP] Everybody has a watch that counts down the time until you meet your soulmate, but yours is broken.	[ "I looked at my watch again. Still stopped at 1:30, as it had been since three years ago. I looked at my phone. 10:15 AM. I sighed as I turned back to my work, thinking once again.\n\nThere wasn't any point to thinking more. I'd already thought about it, and I couldn't think of anything. Long ago, I had resigned myself to not finding them. Well, except for that, I had a pretty decent life. Good job, nice friends, all that. But unless I could find her, then I could never be fulfilled, be whole. And, as I always did, I came up with nothing.\n\nI got up, and stretched my arms. Lunchtime. 11:30, sharp, I always went to this nice little place called L'agenda Cache, which did amazing pastries. As I walked, I looked at the people strolling past. Some smiling, frowning, or merely neutral, but I saw within them something I knew I'd never have. Assurance.\n\nSlouching down against the heavy rain drowning the noises of the city, I entered. \"Hey Terry, the usual?\" she said, smiling.\n\n\"Yeah, thanks, Miki,\" I replied, lost in thought. I looked around the familiar little shop, staring at the art on its walls, depicting a city of endless rain, a mountain studded with caves, and a green valley surrounded by desert.\n\nWhile staring at my reflection in the glass of the front, Miki came over and gave me my food. I looked at her, thanking her, and then I saw something. My breath stopped. \"Miki, your watch is stopped,\" I managed to get out.\n\n\"Oh yeah, I'd nearly forgotten about that. It's been like that for a while. But you know what they say-\"\n\n\"Even a stopped clock is right twice a day.\"", "Abscission from frondescence. As the brown crisp desiccated leaves push back up at my soles, until they crumble, some stare. Some do not notice. Many couples saunter lovingly around the park this deep afternoon, clasped to one another. Some sit and wait, religiously checking their watches. The coupled ones do not need their watches anymore.\n\nThe ones that stare do so agape, mortified, horrified, repulsed. I cannot be the one for them. My watch, with no face, steadfast and right twice a day. Bone breezes brush past, sending frost along my nerves, salty tears forming a protective membrane over my eyes. They stare but they do not see, that even a broken watch, again, right twice a day.\n\nThe leaves, the shedding of excess before the hard times come, they shatter peacefully beneath my boot. Friction forces me forward, step by ever-unburdening step. I hold my collar upwards against that final icy wind. To be able to unburden myself as these old deciduous trees do, instead of walking to where I am walking.\n\nI saw her the other day. It is why I am walking. Before my watch broke, I met her. She had a saccharine humor, wrapped around a briny ancient soul. Her cheeks, rosacea, adorable. Eyes like the moss on a forest floor. As we walked and laughed, the first time I would die, walking down the way, not even glancing at her watch, he bumped into her. His watch had run out. So had hers.\n\nI look down. After a certain height, water behaves the same as concrete. Leaves blow by under the bridge, tracing chaotic patterns in my peripherals. I destroyed my watch that day, when my love's watch had run out. What does it matter when it would have run out? It didn't run out at the right time. I drop the broken timepiece into the slow concrete.\n\nBefore I can allow friction to propel me into eternity, I am yanked. A woman stands over me. She throws her watch over the bridge, into the river." ]	2
	[WP] You inherit the job of writing the horoscope section in you local paper. You try to make up ludicrous predictions to prove how worthless the horoscopes are. But all your predictions keep coming true. Very specifically true.	[ "\"I'm warning you, if this is an April Fools' Day joke . . . \" \n\"It's late May, sir.\" \nSheriff Jones pinched the bridge of his nose, \"So you expect me to believe all this?\" \n\"I don't expect anything of you sir,\" Officer Anderson navigated, \"I'm just reading you the report.\" \n\"Are you sure you shouldn't be a politician?\" \n\"What about the report, sir?\" \n\"Well, it's certainly odd,\" the sheriff allowed, \"but what are we supposed to do about it? Arrest bus-lickers? Seems to me that's just adding insult to injury. Fads where people get hurt happen; let 'em learn not to lick busses during cold snaps. Is that all?\" \n\"Unfortunately no, sir, there's a big list today.\" Anderson figured it would be best to tell the sheriff now. \nThe sheriff frowned, \"Give me the short version.\" \nOfficer Anderson took a deep breath. \"We've got multiple people fleeing the scene of whac-a-mole machines they broke, a riot at a dance competition, a backlog of patients at the hospital, multiple javelin accidents,\" one deep breath deserves another, \"each somehow related to a gas explosion, a spike in workplace hooliganism, a run on nesquik, at least one beheading,\" and another, \"mass hysteria, multiple lethal self-defenestrations, and a lot of murders.\" \n\" . . . And that's the short version?\" \n\"Yes, sir, reading the details might take an hour.\" \nSheriff Jones was quiet for a moment, then knitted his brow, \"You know, as odd as this is, it sounds . . . familiar somehow.\" \nAnderson's jaw dropped, \"This sounds familiar? Sir?\" \n\"Well, obviously I've never been given a report quite like it, but it's as if it all fits together. Like I've heard about all this before, just in passing, but I can't quite put my finger on it . . .\"\n\n---\n\nLarry was on the toilet at work. He'd rushed there, rightly afraid of shitting himself, after seeing what everyone else was working on. Work, for Larry, was usually a column the business section of the local newspaper. However, the in-house astrologist had failed to forsee himself catching the flu, so everyone else had been taking turns filling in, and Larry's turn was yesterday. \nLarry had always seen the horoscope as a bit of a joke. Even if any star other than Sol had a great degree of influence over the course of human events, he couldn't really see that star giving a shit. Larry's own stock predictions were a different matter entirely, driven by humans' interactions with each other. There was math and numbers involved, and Larry was damn proud of his record of accuracy. Besides, that hippie had his head too far up in the clouds of Uranus. \nWhich is why yesterday's horoscope ran the lyrics of That's Your Horoscope for Today by Weird Al.", "\"Mike, did you write 'Today is the day to bathe in chowder' on Tuesday's paper?\"\n\nI jumped at the intrusion. No one had ever bothered confronting me about my horoscopes. No one had even bothered to read them, as far as I know. I took over from Jake when he moved to Detroit a few weeks ago and had gotten bored of the same recycled garbage.\n\n\"Uh, maybe, why?\" It wasn't a total lie. I didn't remember that exact phrase. I mostly write up about local politics at city hall, which admittedly, might be less read than the horoscopes. But at least it's real.\n\n\"Because I have no fewer than five letters thanking us for that prediction. One woman won $10 000 in the State lotto. Another was found cancer free despite a stage four diagnosis weeks ago. And this guy claims that it somehow stopped a house fire.\" My editor waved a stack of envelops animatedly.\n\n\"Uhhh, what?\" Of course the kind of people who read horoscopes still use mail.\n\n\"And I got this one just this morning,\" he continued, sliding what looked like red construction paper out of a manilla envelop.\n\n\"Dear Staff of the Orbit\n\nThank you so much for your advice to buy silver bullets against werewolf. Last night, four men attacked the precinct and began to change form. Obviously, we can't make this public knowledge due to the panic, but I would like to thank you and your mystic for their fine work.\n\nSincerely, Sheriff Debra Bilone\"\n\nThe editor raised an eyebrow, awaiting a response.\n\n\"Look, this is clearly a hoax. I mean, ignoring the werewolves, what sheriff would send a letter on construction paper?\" I shook my head at the ridiculousness of the whole thing.\n\n\"I'd be tempted to agree. Except Debra is a personal friend, and she handed this to me this morning. Along with this,\" he said, pulling out an evidence bag. In it were four heavy, bright slugs and a bit of blood.\n\n\"So, what, you're saying that I can somehow influence the future with these stupid horoscopes?\"\n\n\"I'm saying be very careful with what you write, Mike. Be very careful.\" He left, his striped grey suit somehow occupying my full attention until he closed the office door behind him.\n\nI turned back to my monitor.\n\nAries\n\nNow is a good time to mend old wounds.\n\nThat's great. Vague and helpful. I was ready to move on to the next, but then I paused. It was a theory worth testing. And if it was a prank, no harm, right? My hands hovered over the keyboard for a moment as I tried to think of something.\n\nAsking a man named Mike on a date is a great way to start the month", "\"I--\" \n\nThe room went silent. I froze - my mouth instinctively closed, waiting for the moment to pass. I looked at my friend Donnie, expecting him to give a sarcastic comment to break the tension, but his eyes were fixated on me. It was a strange expression on his face. Fear? Not just Donnie - everyone was staring at me. They were waiting for me to talk. This is what it must be like to command a room. \n\n\"I.. don't know what to say. I didn't do anything differently. They're just horoscopes.\" \n\nI looked around the room, hoping someone else would speak, but everyone kept staring at me like I wasn't finished speaking. I remained silent - there was really nothing more to say.\n\n\"Maybe someone else is doing it?\" \n\nThanks Donnie. The mood around the room changed - some people shifted in their seats, or looked at the papers in front of them. Some looked toward Donnie and nodded apprehensively. Only Max, the editor in chief, stayed motionless, staring at me motionlessly. His eyes felt like they were burning a hole in my brain. I locked eyes with him for a moment, but instinctively looked away a moment later. Are people like that intimidating because they're the boss? Or are they the boss because they're intimidating? \n\n\"No, no, no.\" \n\nMr Tremont had been shaking his head since Donnie started talking, and here he was, frantically flipping through the open folder in front of him. He was the assistant editor, a heavy man, with bags under his eyes. Trophies for years of sleep deprivation in service to the paper. He continued:\n\n\"Here we go. 'Dear Springfield Post, horoscope section,' da da da da, here we go. 'There sat Spunky, sitting on the back porch like he had never gone missing. We couldn't believe it, after six years of knowing we would never see him again, he was back. His muzzle is now grey, and he walks with a limp, but our Spunky is back. Thank you, thank you so much.' Now, would you have us believe...\" \n\nHe leaned back in his chair, turning to face me. Come on, I didn't say anything.\n\n\"... that some mystery person found this lady's dog, and the Parker family's son, and everyone else who wrote to us today, just because you happened to write 're-unite with a loved one\" in today's horoscope??' \n\nI looked back at Maxwell, his eyes steadily staring back at mine. I decided to direct my words at him.\n\n\"I'm telling you, it's just a dumb horoscope. I could have easily have written about finding a lost treasure. I think I mentioned the loved one because my girlfriend wanted to watch a romantic movie this weekend. There's honestly nothing else to it.\" \n\nThe room went quiet again, but this time everyone was staring at Maxwell, even Mr Tremont. Maxwell, however, was staring at me in unbroken eye contact. The silence must have lasted 10 seconds before Maxwell finally decided to address his eager audience. He spoke slowly, as he always did, as if he had dwelled for hours on each and every word.\n\n\"If you're saying that it's all a coincidence, I don't think there's a single person in this room who believes you.\" \n\nYou could hear a pin drop. My heart sank. Why is this happening to me?\n\n\"But I want anyone to speak up, right now, if there is anything else it could possibly be.\"\n\nPeople exchanged eye contact. I glanced at an older man whose name I could not remember. Our eyes met, and he immediately looked down. Nobody could think of anything to say. \n\nTen seconds of silence felt like an eternity. Fifteen. Twenty. People were beginning to focus their attention back on Maxwell, yielding their opportunity to speak up. My heart was racing, but I felt a smile creep onto my lips. The silence had exonerated me. \n\n\"In that case,\" Maxwell continued, \"there is little left to discuss. Congratulations Jeremy, today's horoscope was the most popular one yet, and it made a lot of people very happy. We all look forward to reading tomorrow's. Meeting adjourned.\" \n\nTomorrow's. The room was moving now, filled with the noise of shuffling feet and private conversations. The audience navigated the narrow spaces of the cramped conference room in a collective daze. Mr Tremont was leaning forward with Maxwell, discussing something between themselves. I left the room. \n\nAs I walked back to my desk, heads popped up like prairie dogs, hungry for information about the emergency meeting to address what was no doubt the topic of most conversations. I tried to look hurried, avoiding eye contact and hoping nobody would try to start a conversation. It was well past lunchtime now, and I had already submitted tomorrow's horoscope to the database. I opened up the file - I could still make changes until 7 PM. After that I would have to get Mr Tremont involved, and I'd better have a damn good reason. \n\nI chuckled. I probably wouldn't need a reason today.\n\nI opened the file, reading the horoscope that I barely remembered writing. Tomorrow was Pisces, and the horoscope was nothing special.\n\n'A close friend will present a risky offer. Trust your instinct - good intentions are not enough to secure your future. Whatever broke yesterday will be fixed today. This week, your spirit will be linked to the oak tree. Stay strong and patient.'\n\nI stared at the horoscope. I thought long and hard about why I chose each sentence, each word. I erased one or two words to make an edit, but found myself undoing every change. I've never second-guessed myself before, why start now? \n\nIt must have been an hour of staring, editing, and undoing, and I was still right where I started. I moved the cursor to close the window and cancel the edit, but stopped. I thought for another moment, then moved the cursor to the end of the horoscope to add one last sentence.\n\n'Be kind to strangers.' \n\nI smiled to myself, and clicked save." ]	3
	[WP]"We are all meant to come together, in a circle of joined hands, that reaches around the world".	[ "No one knew what was going on. Suddenly all of humanity was in single file line around the equator holding hands. Everyone was screaming, a lot of people where drowning, it was total chaos.\n\nWhen the dust cleared, most of humanity had been lost in the ocean. Those that remained found out that they where the worse off of the two groups.\n\nLaw enforcement was almost completely gone. In the ensuing anarchy the only ones to survive where the ones doing the killing and the ones who where smart enough to run. The killers eventually turned on themselves, but it took months for any of the runners to trust another human.\n\nEventually the need for conversation proved stronger than the need to not be murdered and the survivors sought each other out. Individuals became families, families became tribes, tribes became kingdoms.\n\nNo one knows what happened on the Americas, no one's been able to make it back over there to check. \n\nBut here in Europe we've managed to return to some semblance of civilization. We lost too many engineers to get back to where we started, but any eighth grade text book has the information needed to get the lights on. We aren't living the high life, but we get by.\n\nTo this day no one knows why we where all strung around the plannet like a paper chain. All I know is: If I ever meet the man who first said that quote, I'm gonna snap his worthless little neck.", "That fucking voice. It has been in my head for the last eighteen years. It drones on saying the same old shit \"We are all meant to come together, in a circle of joined hands, that reach around the world.\" \n\nAt first I was surprised. It sounded just like a voice from a radio. I asked the guys at the work site if they heard it too. \"Haha big man, very funny.\" \n\nBunch of assholes anyway. \n\nI took a few days off work. Must be the stress I told myself. Saw a few docs. Said everything was fine.\n\nPretty soon everyone lost interest. Probably thought I was a little off, but who isn't right?\n\nIts just me now. Me and that voice.\n\nWhat the fuck does it even mean? Like I get it. Everyone together in a line. But seriously, would it even be possible. If you haven't noticed there's a bunch of water called the ocean in the way.\n\nI've tried to reason with it. \n\nIt don't care.\n\nI don't know what to do anymore.\n\nCan somebody help me?\n\nAnyone? \n\n" ]	2
	[WP] You have an old jukebox that you turn on to fall asleep every night. Today after the power went out you lose all the lights, and go to sleep a bit early. You awake to hear the jukebox playing, it's still completely dark.	[ "Alfred's grandfather had been dead for ten years. Prior to his premature passing, Alfred and his grandfather Ezra had been extremely close. Ezra had practically raised him since Alfred's parents were both junkies who made questionable life decisions. The day of his grandfather's death has stayed in Alfred's mind as the worst day of his entire life. And Alfred had very little left of his Grandfather's wonderful life. Grandpa Ezra had very little to his name. He had been a man of intellect and academic pursuits and did not believe in worldly possessions. He commonly referred to them as a \"waste of time\" and expressed how he would \"much rather travel the world than sit in a house surrounded by stuff.\" \n\nThis had been a perspective Alfred had greatly admired, but he did have to admit that when his grandfather passed away and all Alfred received from him was his old jukebox, he was a little more than a little disappointed. But it was not in Alfred's nature to express his disappointments and so he took the jukebox in happily and did eventually learn to love the huge thing. He found it reminded him a lot of his grandfather and it was his cat's new favorite bed, so it wasn't entirely a horrible thing. Though he would have preferred to still have his grandfather around. \n\nTime passed, as it does, Alfred even began to find himself enjoying the sound of the jukebox over any other music player. There was something calming about the way the static slightly echoed through the speakers mixing gently with the music. Alfred found himself commonly dreaming about lost times where the music in the jukebox felt more relevant and cool. He would commonly turn it on once he came home from work and let it play through the night while he slept. Sometimes he even thought he could hear his grandfather's voice commenting on the music as it played, but that was just his memories rising to the surface. He and Ezra had spent many evenings sitting by the jukebox and chatting gently with one another. \n\nOn the morning of September fifteenth, Alfred and his neighbors found themselves stuck in a terrible storm. It clawed at their homes threatening to tear down their trees and uproot life as they knew it. The lights went out and everyone was greatly advised to not leave the comfort of their homes, though Alfred hardly know how his home could be comfortable without power and the music from his jukebox. He passed the day reading and, once he had grown more bored than tired, he went to bed wishing he had a cup of tea and the soothing sound of the jukebox playing. \n\nAt 2 am Alfred opened his eyes with a start. He had been listening to music in his dream but, as he followed it, he realized that it was from an outside source and that realization had startled his dream self so much that he had awoken with a start. Everything about the situation made Alfred feel queezy The streetlights were still out and the storm was still banging on the side of his house like an army trying to forcibly break down a fort's walls. Alfred lifted his head off his pillow and listened. \n\nThis was not a song he had heard before and he had been certain that he had heard every song in the jukebox. He stood up, feeling more in a trance than anything, and found his feet slowly walking towards the source of the music. \n\nCome lie by the river\n\nupon the little bank\n\nand I will sit beside you\n\nand watch the little boats sink.\n\n\nCome into the water\n\nWhere the chill will be great\n\nAnd sink into the waters,\n\nWhere we the mermaids wait\n\n\nYes, come to the water\n\nWhere much fun is to be had\n\nand the siren's will temp you\n\nAs they've done to many lads\n\n\nAnd while you're in the river\n\nhow about you take a drink?\n\nAnd slowly reach the bottom\n\nWhere the dark creatures wait.\n\nAs if in some kind of trance Alfred found his bare feet walking slowly towards the jukebox. He felt perhaps that there should be some fear stirring in his chest, but there was none. He was merely curious to see what song was playing. \n\nWhen he reached his livingroom it was almost too dark to see anything except the bright blue light that flickered from the jukebox. Alfred had to shed his eyes from the brilliance of the blue but the light seemed to only encircle the jukebox and barely reached anything else. When Alfred's eyes adjusted he saw the outline of a person beside the jukebox. Not just a person... a beautiful woman with long, swinging brown hair and eyes that seemed to pierce his soul. \n\n\"Alfred,\" she said, \"I have heard so much about you.\" \n\n\"Excuse me?\" Alfred managed to say. He wasn't really sure how to act in this situation other than assuming he had never woken up at all. \n\n\"From Ezra.\" said the woman, \"He was very fond of you. Spoke of you often.\" \n\nShe swung her legs around the jukebox and Alfred blushed. It seemed she had forgotten her pants and she swung her long legs against the jukebox slowly. She watched him watching her. Alfred was beginning to wish that he was wearing more than boxers. \n\n\"Ezra was a man of great talents,\" the woman continued, \"He had a passion for unexplainable things. Most of the stuff in his house was taken from somewhere deemed to be haunted. The thrill of finding things that were unexplainable fascinated your adventurous grandfather. I can see from your expression that you don't feel the same way.\" \n\n\"I must be dreaming,\" Alfred said more to himself than anything. \"I'm going to get a glass of water.\" \n\nThe woman watched him with an amused expression on her face. She looked a lot like Alfred's cat did when she was torturing a mouse. \n\n\"Don't you want to know how he died?\" she said into the darkness. Alfred wished he had not turned his back on her but he continued to tell himself that he was dreaming. This was all in his head and he was going to throw the jukebox out when he awoke. Clearly he had grown too attached to it. He was imagining it to be a woman of all things. Clearly he needed to get laid. \n\n\"I had warned him about his last adventure being the end of him,\" the woman said, \"Well, after I had tempted him with it. You see, your grandfather could resist an adventure with about as much pose as he could resist a beautiful woman. If I could be physically touched I dare say he would have fucked me till he ran out of energy. Much like you wish to do now.\" \n\nAlfred blushed a most unbecoming red color and took in deep breaths. He needed to get his water and then get back to bed. He wished his cat was nearby, she always calmed him. \n\nAt the thought of his cat Alfred looked up. He thought he saw a tail dangling from the cieling but dismissed it as just another trick of his dream and walked back into the living room. The woman was now completely naked and Alfred nearly dropped his glass. \n\n\"I used to be a great siren,\" she said standing up, \"I was the best of the land. I had tempted more men to their deaths than all my companions put together. And I was proud. Your grandfather,\" she said the word less sweetly now, \"captured me. He thought he could control me, make me into one of his little treasures but he underestimated me.\" \n\nShe was nearly nose-to-nose with Alfred now. He wanted to run. He would rather be in the storm than in his living room. He wished he had never taken the advice to stay inside and had gone to some bar or something. He wanted to be anywhere but here. \n\n\"But I always get to them,\" the woman said, \"Even without water I can lure them to their deaths. And I can stay alive nearly anywhere with the power to take over nearly anything.\" She smiled showing sharpened teeth, \"What's the matter little Alfred? Are you afraid?\" \n\n\"Wh-what do you want?\" Alfred said. He wanted to run but his feet were firmly planted on the floor. The sharp toothed smile grew. \n\n* *\n\nMrs. Jenkins awoke with a start. She felt off, like something terrible had just happened. She walked to her window, not really sure why and looked out. The water had flooded the street and appeared to have engulfed the first floor of her building. She felt suddenly grateful to be on the fifth floor. Unless this was God's second damnation of humanity, she was fine. As she stared into the street she saw what appeared to be a woman jumping out of one of the windows and landing with a splash in the water. But in a blink of an eye the woman was gone and Mrs. Jenkins convinced herself that she had just been seeing things. \n\nThe next morning the body of her neighbor Alfred was discovered hanging in his bathroom. Mrs. Jenkins was sad about it at first, but Alfred had always been an off type of fellow and any man who hanged his cat before he hung himself deserved to die. \n\nThe jukebox that had once been in Alfred's apartment ended up in some bar down the street. People claimed they could hear someone screaming mixed with the music, but that was attributed by the shop owner to be just the static. And eventually the jukebox was unplugged. Who knows where it is now. " ]	1
	[WP] An alien whose planet's worst weather is a common rainstorm, is taken storm chasing during peak tornado season.	[ "10:34 A.M CST, June 14th, 2310\nSide of Highway 281, 8 miles south of Great Bend, Kansas\n\nAiden took a sip from his coffee. He sitting in his storm-intercept vehicle, dubbed the \"Bunker.\" All around him buzzed the other 7 members of this storm chasing crew. 5 miles south was their target: an advancing supercell with the strong likelihood of producing a tornado. They were here to test out new monitoring equipment for the Galactic Science Council for monitoring \"extreme weather events,\" things Earth is infamous for. The lead researcher, and the other that will join Aiden in the \"Bunker,\" was a Hen'liel named Jan'Ul. Aiden wasn't so sure about a Hen'liel going with him into a storm. The planet the Hen'liel are from had a rainfall average similar to Earth, but their most extreme weather event was lightning and a light shower. Jan looked up at the oncoming wall of clouds, his blueish scales taking on a sickly greenish tint.\n\n\"Hey,\" Aiden started, \"you gonna be alright?\"\n\nJan snapped back to reality, \"Y-yes. I shall be well.\" He said this with all the confidence of a dead man walking.\n\n\"You don't have to go into the storm, you know. Jess or Selena can just as easily use the equipment.\"\n\n\"No. I have been assigned to this station, I will see it through.\"\n\nHe's got guts, Aiden thought, let's hope he can keep them down.\n\nFurther south, Jess sat with a pair of binoculars, scanning the storm, looking for rotation. Jan walked past, trying to calm his nerves. \n\n\"How you doin'?\" Jess asked, looking up from the binoculars.\n\n\"I am well. Anxiousness has set in. That is all.\"\n\nJan stood next to the sitting human, \"What is it you are looking for.\"\n\nJess returned to her binoculars, \"Rotation, funnel clouds, rain, hail, you name it.\"\n\n\"And how exactly will these events affect us?\"\n\nJess smirked, \"If you really want to know, the roatation and funnel clouds are what we are really after. Those are the things tornados come from. The rain can reduce visibility, and the hail is a damage threat to the vehicles and us.\"\n\n\"Damage threat?\" Jan's voice shook a little, \"S-surely these vehicles can withstand simple falling ice.\"\n\n\"I've had my car windshield smashed in by hail, people have had their roofs and hoods dented, if the hail is big enough, it can kill.\"\n\nJan muttered something and turned back towards the convoy of vehicles.\n\nA few moments later, Jess spotted it. She grabbed her radio. \"This is Jess, I've got rotation, 6 miles south, just over Highway 19.\"\n\nJan calmly made his way back to the Bunker, even as the rest of the crew scrambled to load equipment and deploy the SatLink to monitor the storm. He tried his best not to succumb to the panic that was rising within him.\n\nAiden was leaning up on the drivers side door when Jan walked up. \"You ready?\"\n\nJan nodded. \"The equipment is calibrated and ready.\"\n\n\"Here's hoping we can put it to good use.\"\n\nThe two climbed into the Bunker, Aiden in the drivers seat, Jan in the back with the equipment. The tank-like vehicle lurched to life and took off south towards the tempest.\n\n[After some technical difficulties I finially managed to finish this, part two will come later today, probably. Any feedback is appreciated, thanks!]" ]	1
	[WP] Your mom killed herself when you were five, your dad ran away. You don't know how and why, but two days ago, a stranger approached you in the middle of the street claiming to know.	[ "It was 20 years to the day when she took her life. My existence has always felt empty since, all I had was a couple of dusty photos on the side and a card from my 4th birthday to remember my mum by. \nMy dad hadn't stuck around Long either, shortly after my mums farewell, he made one too, I was 6 and alone in the world, left at an orphanage that was 2 cities over. \n\nIt was this that grabbed my attention the most, why did my dad feel the need to take me 2 cities away? \n\nI'd thought about it less and less in the recent years, it was a long time ago and id just accepted that this was the way my life was. \n\nIt wasn't until a couple of days ago that my interest had been peaked again. I was following my daily routine walking down Frichia Avenue. I saw him coming from a while off, he was at the top of the road as I turned the corner, all dressed in black with a long coat that flicked above his ankles with each step. His hair was also a matt black, Long and curled around his shoulders. He wasn't a small man, he must of been over 6 ft 4 as he walked down the street peering down at those who walked past him, all of them being gripped by his mere presence. \n\nI didn't think anything of the man until he spoke to me. \"I know what happened to your family\". That was all he said as he looked into my eyes, his own filled with what looked like sadness. It was too much, who was this man, what did he know about me? How did he know who I was?\n\nI didn't know what to do, I just stared at him with my mouth agape. I finally mustered up the words, \"What... how.. who.. who are you?\".\n\nHe stared back, \"Not here, it's not safe, meet me at Upton Cafe at 7pm tonight, we will talk then.\" With that he turned on his heels and hurried back up the road the way he came. It was like he knew I'd be here. \n\nI was confused, a random man had walked up to me and told me had the answers to the questions I'd had my whole life. But who was he and did he really have these answers? I guess there was only one way to find out, I'd go meet him at the cafe.\n\nThe day dragged on forever, as I sat at my office desk all I could think about was the man in black and his words, they were haunting me all day, the 5pm finish couldn't come quicker, I needed to see this man again.\n\nThe moment the shift was over I grabbed my bag and rushed out the office I needed to get home and put together some questions for the man, questions that he may have the answer too.\n\nI slammed through my front door straight to bedroom desk and grabbed my notepad, frantically writing, \"what did my parents do?\", \"why did my dad run away\", \"why did my mum take her life, did she really have no other options?\"\n\nIt was time, 6.40pm. I ran out the door and jumped on the 87 bus, this would take me to the corner of Toran Street where I'd find the cafe. \n\nSure enough as I turned in to the cafe there he sat in the corner wearing the same attire as he was that morning. \n\nSat with him were 2 others, a man and a women. The man had bright blonde hair, it flowed perfectly around his shoulders, glistening in the light. His build was bulky and he was leant over a dark notebook it looked like it was hundreds of years old. A pen in his hand writing, all of his attention focused on the task at hand. \n\nThe woman, she had auburn hair, it was short, In a bob, but it caught your attention flicking about as she spoke, she was talking to the man in black from this morning. \n\nThat was when the man in black noticed me. He stood and beckoned me over, reluctantly I started stepping towards the table every step telling me to stop, that maybe I didn't actually want to know the answers.\n\nI reached the table, \"Steven, thank you for coming, I'm sorry for my abrupt meeting this morning. My name is Tyson.\" He turned and beckoned to the the man and lady sat at the table and followed with \"this is Trisha and Simon, your parents, I believe we all have a lot to discuss.\"" ]	1
Its the new 2012 today. I thought a prompt like this would be fitting	[WP] Its the apocalypse today and your attempting to write your final writing prompt while the end of the world scenario around you unfolds	[ "Alright! I should have time for one more writing prompt, right? Right! Let's see what we have around here. \"You are a serial killer...\" nah, not my style. What else \"A necromancer is on his deathbed...\" really? Necromancer? Nah, not me either. Let's check rising and maybe cash in on that sweet karma. Right, first one is shitty, of course. \"Its the apocalypse today and your attempting to write your final writing prompt while the end of the world scenario unfolds\" this one I like. Too bad about the grammar but it works. Seems fitting, and kinda meta since I'm in that exact situation. Cool beans. Time to cash in on that sweet sweet karma. What should I write about though? I mean, what would I do in an end of the world scenario? Wait, I'd be doing this, since it is the end of the world. Nothing better to write about than the truth, I guess. Right, let's get to it.\n\n\"Johnny is browsing reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts\" should I put the whole subreddit in? Eh, it works. \"for one last story to write. It's the apocalypse, you see, and Johnny loves writing. It's all he's loved about his life. He even published a few books. Yes, Johnny loves writing. So, he thought, why not die writing? Nothing wrong about that, dear Johnny, nothing wrong about that my boy.\" Did I go too far? Don't think I did. Sounds like a fable, I like it.\n\n\"Finally, a prompt catches his eye,\" give me a second, I'm gonna browse the subreddit to get some ideas. Hmm. Right, good enough. \"and Johnny does what he usually does and starts writing about a necromancer that was on his deathbed and is now controlling himself after he died.\" One more second, the meteors have started falling and they're making a tremendously loud noise. Gonna close the windows for now. Anyway, back to Johnny. \"Suddenly, the earth starts shaking.\" gotta get that drama in somehow I guess. \"Johnny keeps on writing on his keyboard without moving. He's a real trooper, Johnny. He was in the boy scouts, you know. He also served in the army. Real trooper, that Johnny. Everyone says so. That's why he doesn't stop when the earthquakes happen. He welcomes death, as one should when he can't avoid it. Finally, after a loud noise, the power goes out completely. Johnny didn't get to hit save. Doesn't matter, he thinks, I can still write with a pen and paper, and a candle. Johnny rushes into the other room, grabs a candle and rushes back to his desk. He lights the candle, grabs a pen an paper and continues writing his great and awesome tale.\" Much like this one. Man, I'm pretty darn good at this writing thing. Glad I decided to do... oh shit. Did you see that? A blinding white light just came through the windows. Not sure what that was. Jesus, the building next door is on fire. I can't write seeing that, gotta close the blinds. Right, back to the story. \"Johnny finally finishes the story, and lays back on his chair, happy and satisfied. He is ready to die now. Right, he thinks, I lived a happy life, I wrote as much as I wanted and now I'm ready to die. You go Johnny. You go boy! You're the best man I ever wrote about. Thank you for writing, Johnny boy. Fire consumes his house and he dies. The end.\" \n\nJesus, that's kinda sudden right? Gotta work on that ending. Oh shit, I don't have any more time. Shit shit shit I'm gonna fucking die and the ending sucks. Well, at least I had a good time writing it right? What's the worst that could happen? No afterlife? Pfff, I'll be fi-\n " ]	1
	[WP] Aliens come to visit Earth. It turns out highly intelligent life is the only kind of life that exists off-planet, making humans the least unique species on Earth, and the species they have the least interest in meeting.	[ ">Transcript of the closing interaction between Earth Ambassador (EA) and Extra Terrestrial Life Form (ET), dated September 24th, 2017.\n\nET: But you have nuclear fusion technology, right?\n\nEA: No, we don't have that.\n\nET: What about interstellar travel?\n\nEA: Don't have that either.\n\nET: Warp drive, teleportation, global peace?\n\nEA: Nope.\n\nET: Right, right. Okay. So, no nuclear fusion, peace, or space travel.\n\nEA: We can go the moon.\n\nET: Which moon?\n\nEA: Our moon.\n\nET: Your own moon? \n\nEA: Yep.\n\nET: You can go to your own moon?\n\nEA: Yep.\n\nET: Great. Great, that's great. Anything else?\n\nEA: [Brief pause] Not really, no.\n\nET: Uh-huh. Well. Listen, I'm gonna go back to the old mothership for a little while, sort a few things out, dot a few Is, cross a few Ts, but you should hear back in a few weeks whether Earth's made it into the United Galaxy of Planets.\n\nEA: Great! We've got a pretty good feeling about it.\n\nET: Yeeeaaah. Yeah. \n\n>End Transcript\n\n" ]	1
New to this, maybe I did it right? Always had this wicked idea of wanting to see everyone, even the protagonist, dieing in literature. Something about not getting that closure that they live on the lines just seemed interesting.	[WP] You and your community are among the fighters against some form of the world ending, and eventually are deemed the sole survivors. Then, you all begin to die, even your main character.	[ "Outside a suburban highschool in midwestern America, a group of teenagers stand huddled against a wall outside, surrounded by a bubble of darkness. Nothing can be seen outside of 10 meters in a half circle around the wall, and the area is lit by a single outdoor path light under the roof ledge of their Gymnasium.\n\n\"Its like a wall...except....not,\" said Danielle in confusion as she pulled her hand from the darkness. \n\n\"Don't put your hand in it! What's wrong with you?!\" Shouted Ronnie trying for her arm as she yanked it from his reach.\n\n\"Ew! Just because it's, like, the end of the world doesn't mean you suddenly get to touch me Ronnie!\" Danielle said in disgust with a snarl. \n\n\"Will you two shut up I hear something coming...\" Whispered Taylor towards the cheerleader and her stalker. \n\nJust then a young man with a shovel came barreling out of the darkness wearing a hardhat, steel toed boots, and a yellow construction vest. Covered in sweat the bearded man looked as if he'd been through hell. \n\nIn a panic the man reached the outside wall of the highschool gym that the three teenagers were all standing against, dropped the shovel and sat down against the wall to catch his breath. \n\n\"Holy shit there's a light here. I haven't been able to see for damn near an hour it feels like.\" Said the man between breaths. \n\n\"Oh my god, were you like, IN that stuff?\" Asked Danielle as she knelt beside him and placed her hand on his chest. \n\n\"Yeah, it's real dark, and theres shit in there that definitely aint friendly. I hit a couple of em with the shovel, and one bit me on the ankle...\" Said the man, wincing in pain with each word. \n\n\"Oh fuck! Danny get away from him, we dont know what this guys story is, he could be infected or something!\" Ronnie said as he tried to pull Danielle off of the young man. \n\n\"Get off of me Ronnie! I already told you, i dont give a shit how apocalyptic the situation is, you DON'T get to touch me!\" Danielle shouted as she pushed the fat teenager away from her and returned to the young man's side. \"Let me see your ankle...\" She said softly, as she leaned over him to cuff his pant leg. \n\nAs she pulled back his pant leg, Ronnie watched hatefully as the construction worker got a look at her behind which was now intentionally revealed. \n\n\"Holy shit! I'm not a medical professional, but thats not how a wound is supposed to look dude. What the hell is that?\" Exclaimed Taylor, pointing at the mans ankle. \n\nHis ankle wasn't bleeding. In the place of a normal gash, was a wound shaped patch of pitch darkness. It seemed to be spreading, as the veins up his leg were turning black. \n\n\"Im alright y'all, honest, it barely even hurts.\" Said the man standing up and grabbing his shovel. \"Listen, as i was running toward this here light, i saw a couple of others. This was just the only one with people in it, so i ran here. I think light is what keeps whatevers in that darkness from getting to us.\"\n\n\"What are you proposing dude?\" Asked Taylor as she pushed her glasses up and took a hit from her inhaler.\n\n\"I think if i can get us more light we could make this bubble a little bigger and get ourselves to some food and water. We aint gonna last long like this.\" He replied with a wince. \n\n\"Listen we dont even know your name man!\" Exclaimed Ronnie skeptically.\n\n\"It's Francis. There. Ya do now, tubby.\" Replied Francis with a sneer. \n\n\"Francis your hurt, i think you should stay here...\" Whispered Danielle, placing a hand on his lower abs and making a pouty face. \n\nAs Francis placed his free hand on the small of the girls back and opened his mouth to respond, Ronnie steppes forward to interject. \n\n\"She's jailbait bud, so watch it!\" Said Ronnie angrily at Francis\n\n\"You're the worst creepy stalker ever you know that Ronnie? I turned 18 last week!\" Snarled Danielle before turning to Francis and resting her pelvic area on his hip and hugging him. \n\nTaylor looked on in disgust, shaking her head at the morons she was forced to spend the end of the world with. She took a puff from her inhaler, and turned to see an outstretched clawed hand portruding from the darkness. \n\n\"Um, guys... I think....\" Muttered the Nerd before being swiftly and silently yanked into the darkness. Her inhaler fell with a tink\n\n\"Listen y'all, im your only chance, and im already gotten by em, so ima go out there and try my damndest to get us something.\" Said Francis looking only at his skanky new admirer. \"And im comin back honey, i promise.\"\n\nFrancis leaned in to kiss the skanky cheerleader and as they began to make out a hand reached from the darkness and tried to snatch Ronnie....but he was too fat, and the clawed hand had trouble. \n\nFrancis noticed and swung the shovel as hard as he could at the hand which had Ronald by the necks. Just before the shovel could reach its target, the hand let go and Francis struck Ronnie instead. Ronnie fell to the ground with a thud and was promptly dragged into the Darkness. \n\nDanielle shreiked as their bubble grew smaller the moment Ronnie exited it. Francis turned to her, kisses her once more and said, \"I gotta do something about this sugar, i cant just stand here and let you die like them.\"\n\n\"Please, no! Don't leave me here alone, they'll kill you too Francis!\" Shouted Danielle, now in hysterical tears. \n\n\"You know i have to Danielle, it's your only chance,\" he reaponded valiantly as he grasped his shovel in both hands and charged into the Darkness headfirst. \n\nDanielle dropped to her knees and screamed Francis' name with her hand outstretched toward the darkness, under the dim light against the gymnasium wall. \n\nTen seconds went by before Francis' shovel flew from the darkness and smashed into the small light, extinguishing it. Danielle was now in pitch dark. She looked around and saw a a circle illuminated in the distance by a street light near an old pickup truck. She stood and started to walk toward it, legs shaking in fear. She took 3 steps and saw Francis decapitated body slam into the Truck from the Darkness. \n\nIn a panic she began to run to his body in denial. She bravely picked up a sprint toward her objective. She could hear the snarls of the beasts who were chasing her. She was determined to reach her objective....before smashing her head against a sign post concealed by the darkness, rendering her unconscious. \n\n", "Video Log Entry 145 - Tahril - Scout\nThe log opens up with a disheveled looking lizardman looking at the camera. There seem to be bags under his eyes. Clearly he has not known a good nights rest for a while. The image is slightly grainy, and digital artifacts keep showing up on the corners of the recording. After a moment, he begins to speak.\n\n\"This is Tahril. Uh... not that it matters, I suppose. We're the only ones alive. Ray confirmed that after a long range scan of the radars. No life signs aside from those fucking... monsters.\"\n\nEmphasis is put on that last word. He sighs and pauses. Shaking his head, looking away from the camera only to look back at it. \n\n\"Jonas is dead. He... he died on watch. Poor fucker was mauled open while on his post overnight. Must have been ambushed... taken by surprise... or outnumbered. I don't know.\"\n\nHe stops to rub his head, and for a few seconds the recording seems to glitch and artifact. A light in a nearby room flickers and a faint, unintelligible whispering can be heard from the recording. Though Tahril does not seem to acknowledge it, if he even hears it. \n\n\"We've been getting reports of noises coming from the eastern wing. Thorough searching turned up nothing but a small group of pack runners. They were swiftly uh... disposed of by security.\"\n\nJust as he finishes that statement, something rocks the room he is in. Dust drifts down to the floor from the ceiling, and Tahril is visibly shaken. He produces a handgun from the inside of his coat and readies it. Standing up likely to check out what happened. As screaming, gunfire, animalistic screeches and roaring can be heard from above. More tremors rock the room and the recording. The latter glitching and artifacting again. The whispering becomes prominent now, much like it were in your ear. \n\nA large quadruped monster crashes through a distant wall. It looks eldritch, with a menacing purple aura and dozens of eyes on the side visible to the camera. The whispering is unbearable now. Overtaking all other noises like those of the pistol in Tahril's hands. Which he uses to rattle off several rounds into the creature's hide, to little effect. A few find their way into the monstrosities' eyes. Which causes it to shriek a terrible noise and recoil. A second later it charges at the lizardman. Ramming him head on through a nearby wall in a mess of blood and rubble. \n\nThe log seems to end a few moments later. Moments that are filled with nothing but the whispers that likely originated from that eldritch abomination." ]	2
	[WP] Scientists have found a way to extend human life indefinitely but you must endure 1 hour of excruciating pain every month	[ "Oh.. Just another dream huh..?\n\nLately I've had these realistic dreams finding myself in a society of free humans, actual individuals able to interact! And the dreams become more and more vivid, there's not much of that blurry part anymore.\n\nAs the fluids from the freshly injected needle wake my body up to yet another long day of constant probing I can't help but pray for the night to come, so I can yet again enjoy my pretend freedom. \n\nWhile I may have adapted to the physically straining aspects of having needles injected and headaches from the constant input of information my body recieves, my mind has never been able to settle with the life I was born into.\n\nOf course it can't!\n\nFor what reason was I born into this confined dark space, having my brain filled with memories and knowledge for years?\nLanguages, mathematics, programming, even memories of how to create art are imprinted in my head! Last night I drew my first painting, even if I know it's not real I felt proud about it.\n\nBut why do I carry the wisdoms of mankind, if I am only ever able to apply this information and express myself in my dreams?\n\nFinally the day nears its end and I feel my body starting to fall asleep while I curse any and all potential deities culpable of placing me into this world.\n\nAs I wake up the ringing and the blur fades almost instantly. The nurses offer me a glass of water and some pill which I kindly accept. I stumble out of the chair, my legs still not functioning at a hundred percent, and wobble towards the exit.\n\nThe girl working at the desk smiles and says \"That'll be two thousand dollars!\" while I shakingly bring my hand to the scanner.\n\nOne of the nurses shouts my name, making me turn around.\n\n\"Are you sure you don't want an appointment? This is your tenth time after all\"\n\nI nod at her with a big, kind smile and give my thanks for her concern. But I was never one to be swayed by the public opinion, why should I care what happens to those people? I bet anyone of those hypocrites would do this if they could afford it.\n\nAs I approach the car door being held open by my chauffeur, I can't help but laugh, finding myself mumbling \"Wasting time on meanless things such as painting..\" as I slide onto the seat.\nI turn to my chauffeur and ask \"Did you get a good nap?\"\n\n\"Oh yes Sir! It was a most pleasant hour, thank-\"\n\n\"A simple yes or no is enough.. Now stop wasting my time and drive me to my meeting!\" \n\nHe puts on a wide, stupid grin and closes the door." ]	1
I hope I didn't word this too stupidly. I mean that the gem allows a person to drain their own stores of energy to make some other type. So maybe a speed gem could make a fighter move blindingly fast, but burn their fat/muscle at an alarming rate.	[WP] Gemstones act as funnels, allowing a person to convert their own body energy (calories). Rubies create heat, emeralds create health, etc... An extremely wealthy baron gives his best man the most expensive weapon he could find. A simple sword, embedded with a strange yellow gem in the hilt.	[ "(Part 2)\nThey found him outside the Baron’s chamber in the morning. \n\nSepherid’s face was still wet with tears. What a sight-- the legend, the hero of a hundred battles-- crying outside a dead old man’s room.\n\nAround midnight he had dared to enter into the chamber one last time. He gazed upon his dead friend’s face-- and then, shamefully, furtively, he grabbed the sword still clutched in the Baron’s hands, and fled the room.\n\nIt had pained him to disrespect the Baron in this way, but the man was dead; and Sepherid needed something to do while he stood guard over his body.\n\nAnd so for hours he sharpened the dark blade. Mercy-- a ironic name for a sword, but fitting in the end. More than once he thought about letting Mercy taste his flesh, the way that it had tasted the Baron’s. One nick-- and they could be together again, free from their enemies, as they had never been in life.\n\nBut if Sepherid loved his lord-- as he truly had-- then he would not disregard his last promise. He would do his best to guide the young prince-- to help him find his way, and to protect him from his enemies.\n\nYet it was not until dawn, when a gaggle of guards and nurses had arrived, that Sepherid remembered the other sword-- simple and with that strange yellow stone. \n\nSepherid was pleased that Matilda was among them-- the Baron’s stewardess; able, intelligent, energetic even in her own age-- and perhaps Sepherid’s closest friend. \n\nShe saw the tears and stubble on his face-- the writ of fear and sadness and tiredness-- and her hard expression softened, as she ordered him off to bed.\n\nSepherid obeyed. He retired to his chambers, stripped off his clothes, including both blades, and fell asleep.\n\nHe was awakened by a pair of guards. Maurice and Morris. Good men. Brave men. Men he knew well. And threatening to break down his door.\n\nSepherid opened the door. The two guards appeared abashed by their rudeness, and perhaps by the sight of the famous knight in his underwear.\n\nMorris spoke first “The Baron’s so-- the Baron requests that you attend court immediately”.\n\nSepherid looked at them, and sighed. This was clumsy, and it was stupid. He expected nothing more from Laron. To Sepherid he was still only the Baron’s son, and that’s all he would remain unless he learned some sense.\n\n“Will it disturb the Baron unduly if I get dressed first?” he asked.\n\nMaurice glanced at Morris, and then spoke: “That’s fine. Do it quickly.”\n\nWhen Sepherid entered the hall, it had changed. The crowd was smaller than it had ever been for Laron’s father, and still dressed mostly in black. Apparently returning from a hasty burial. Laron’s cronies crowded around their Baron, who was perched upon the throne, pot-belly jutting forwards.\n\nEven the guards were new, and Sepherid did not like the look of them. They were dirty, but appeared burly and well armed. Mercenaries, or perhaps just ruffians.\n\nLaron was drunk, though it could not have been past noon, and a dribble of wine had rolled down his tunic.\n\n“Sepherid! So nice of you to join us.”, wheezed Laron, in what he obviously hoped was his Father’s booming voice.\n\n“It is a honor, my lord.” responded Sepherid. “How may I serve you?”\n\n“Quick to the point, that’s good. That’s good. I want the sword.”\n\n“You want my sword? Mercy?” Sepherid would rather die than dishonor the sword by giving it to this fool-- but better to dishonor the sword than to dishonor the old Baron… And so he began to undo his sword belt.\n\n“No not that sword! What’s the point of killing something if it can’t feel it? I want the other sword. The one with the yellow stone.”\n\nSo that’s what this was about. He wondered who had told the fool-- and then he heard a chuckle and the pieces fell into place-- Prince Hector.\n\nLaron was not at all like his father. But Hector was. Whenever Sepherid gazed at the dark, swarthy face, into those glittering hungry eyes, and thought of the lordling's reputation and his multitude of spies-- he remembered his Baron at his worst.\n\nIt was the Battle of the Grey Field, and they were winning. They outnumbered the enemy, and they had outflanked and surrounded them. \n\nSepherid had led one flank, the Baron the other, and a lowly knight dressed in the Baron’s armor in the center.\n\nSepherid and the Baron had met, and then driven inwards, smashing through the enemies collapsing lines. Together they rained fire and death on their foe, when they met him, the Enemy.\n\nThe Enemy was not a large knight, smaller than either of them-- and his sword was adorned only with a humble gray stone.\n\nSo they fought in the fog. Yet, though the Baron smashed with his fire hammer, he could not bring down a killing blow. Sepherid tried to land even the smallest fatal cut with Mercy, but the Enemy seemed to be everywhere all at once. He was the equal to both of them together, and more than once it seemed one or both would meet their demise.\n\nUntil, while Sephardim distracted him, the Baron brought down his hammer on the foe's shield. There was an explosion of fire, and the Enemy lay prone on the wet grass.\n\nThey removed his helmet, and saw that it was just a boy. Sixteen at best, while the Baron was into his 4th decade, and Sepherid had just turned 30.\n\nThe Boy had been the best fighter Sepherid had ever known-- and he implored the Baron to spare him. But he saw fear in his friend’s eyes for perhaps the first time.\n\nSo Sepherid had drawn Mercy, to end the Boy’s life kindly, when the Baron rushed forward, full of hate. He had brought down his hammer, and all that was left was fire and blood.\n\nAnd so, as Sepherid gazed at the Baron’s two sons-- cruel Hector and week Laron-- he thought of a promise, and of a man who overcame the evil within him.\n\nAnd then he finally answered Laron’s request:\n\n“No”\n\n(Thanks for waiting so long! Hope you enjoy part 2!)", "The Baron was dying. \n\nHis eyes, so full of laughter and light in life, were growing dimmer each day. \nHis beard had been a striking crimson in his youth, and now was old and grey and scraggly.\nAs a man, the Baron had been a terror on the battlefield. The blaze of his ruby encrusted hammer was the last thing most foes ever saw.\nNow, the Baron was only a shadow, bedridden and broken. \n\nThe sickness had come slowly, and at first the healers battled it with herbs, potions and great emeralds the size of a man’s fist. But emeralds could only restore health, not life, and so the healers muttered their failures and fled. Now only those wishing to pay their respects entered the room.\n\nThey came in floods,. Soldiers on leave from the war. Family members loved, and family members lost. Friends, fortune seekers, and old foes all alike. They filled the dimly lit room with their words of woe and respect. For some, the Baron smiled, and laughed, and congratulated. For some, he pretended. For others, he was asleep.\n\nThrough it all, a shadow stood besides him. Framed against a black curtain, and dressed in mourning clothes that did not conceal the chainmail beneath. He was Sepherid, personal guard to the Baron. His friend and counselor. And, by the deathbed, sword on hip, the Baron’s last protector.\n\nFor six days Sepherid stood guard. He was there to separate two of the Baron’s great-nephews when they quarreled over some peace of promised land. He was there to drive away the petitioners when the Baron needed rest. He was there when the nurses came, wearing masks, to wash the Baron and clean his chamber pot. Time seemed to pass more quickly to Sepherid, when he stood guard, and the visitors flitted in and out like blurs. Yet he stayed watchful.\n\nOn the seventh day, the Baron ordered all of his visitors out early. Sepherid expected to leave as well, but the Baron ordered him back.\n\n“...my son…” He croaked.\n\n“Your son is a great man, my lord.” Sepherid lied. The Baron’s son Laron was a fool. He had come a day before blind drunk, to offer strong wine to a man who had to be spoon fed soup, and to loudly promise that he would personally win the war against the invaders. The Baron had a coughing fit in response, and Sepherid had shoved Laron from the room, still protesting of his greatness. He had not been seen since.\n\n“Protect..him”\n\n“I will do everything in my power”.\n\n“Under.. the bed”.\n\nSepherid frowned. The Baron had been known to enjoy a good jest at the expense of his closest friends while alive, was this one attempt at bad humor?\n\nHe reached under the bed, and found a sword.\n\nIt was not especially keen, and it contained no stone that Sepherid could see-- unlike his own sword, Mercy. Sharp as death, and containing a amythest in the pummel, to ensure that any strike was fatal, and painless.\n\nThen the light shifted, and Sepherid saw a stone after all-- a dull yellow thing. Nothing known as magical.\n\n“Use… it. Defend him”\n\n“I Promise”. And so Sepharid found himself bound anew, to a lordling he despised, by the greatest man he had ever known.\n\n“Now leave Mercy” spoke the lord.\n\n“My lord… it will take me some time to grow used to the new blade… and why…”\n\n“Leave it… I command… they’ll know it was not you”\n\nAnd so, tears in his eyes, Sepherid left the black sword.\n\n(Sorry for that ending, but it felt really long. I guess I could do another part if anyone likes it.)\n" ]	2
	[wp] You're a panda. Somehow, you start thinking about getting control of the Zoo you're currently hold in	[ "Life is good. You vaguely remember a place where you could walk farther, where there were no strange barriers or crowds of thin, gangly upright bears staring at you. But here there's all the bamboo you can eat, and you hardly have to move at all.\n\nTwice a day one of the thin things stands at the front of your territory and makes noises. The other things slap their paws every so often. If you're outside when this happens, sometimes the things make noises like \"Awww\" and \"Oooo.\" It's hard to take a nap in the sun when the things make noise, but the noisiest thing comes when your food does, so it's not that bad.\n\nAnd then one day you're about to take a nap on your favorite rock after a large second breakfast, when another one of you appears. This is ok as long as they don't eat too much of your endless bamboo, and as long as it's clear that this is your late morning nap rock and that's your afternoon nap log. \n\n\"Hey.\"\n\nYou open one eye. The other panda doesn't seem to understand your schedule. \"What?\"\n\n\"I've got bad news,\" the other panda says. \"They want us to breed.\"\n\nYou can't sleep now. \"Why?\" you ask.\n\nThe other panda shrugs. \"I don't know. They made me come here. Because we're supposed to...\"\n\nYou both shudder. \n\nYou've heard rumors, of course. The thin things that bring food are obsessed with...that. Supposedly they make decent pandas watch others who've succumbed to that nasty, unnecessary practice. \n\nYou're willing to share space with this new panda, but you never had any intention of breeding with anyone. Maybe if you were still in that vast, half forgotten place...still, you can't imagine ever actually wanting to breed. It just isn't something that pandas are interested in.\n\n\"We don't have to,\" says the other panda.\n\n\"Of course we don't have to,\" you say. \"I have better things to do.\"\n\n\"Everyone does,\" the other panda agrees.\n\nThe thin things are very stubborn though. They crowd around even when you decide to stay in the inside part of your habitat and sleep all day. Sometimes they make their strange noises at you when you don't come out. The thin things that bring food march into your territory whenever they want, completely ignoring the fact that you could fight them easily (if you wanted to and they didn't bring food). The thin things have never shown much reason or sense, so they might really want to force you to breed in captivity even though there's absolutely no point to it.\n\nYou need to get rid of the thin things. If they can come in, you can find a way out and follow them. After that...you're not really sure, and the sun is warm on your fur. The other panda is faintly snoring, and you can probably figure all of this out after your first nap. Maybe after lunch--you'll think better on a full stomach, and maybe the rumors aren't really true..." ]	1
	[WP] A new type of virus surfaces on the planet Earth, when a living thing is infected, it becomes uncontrollably telepathic	[ "~This new disease, now called the telepethax virus, has been rapidly ravaging the human populace across the world, even as we speak. In positive news, the first breakthrough has been made in the progress to combat this unexpected blight. Two months in and doctors have finally figured out how this strange virus infects it's victims. ^(this breakthrough has been attributed to doctor Myers) ^^who ^^discovered ^^the ^^^primary ^^^method ^^^of ^^^contamination ^^^^is...~\n\nClick\n\nI couldn't listen to the TV anymore. I couldn't care about what was being said. Its too late for me already.\n\nbuzzing with whispers in the background\n\nIt starts with a few comments. Random quick blurbs of a person's inner monologue from around you. Soon, you start being able to control it. Focus on someone and suddenly their most personal thoughts and feelings become an open diary in front of you, primed for reading.\n\nThe best days are short lived. Soon you can't focus for too long without hearing others. A brush on the shoulder becomes an involuntary expulsion of information, a painful endeavor as the afflicted are overwhelmed. Within a week afterwards, you realize there is no focusing. The buzz of whispers becomes incoherent as thousands of voices intertwine into a sea of static, an occasional thought surfacing above the rest to torment you like a sword through your brain.\n\nI've heard it only gets worse. From whispers to shouts, the mind becomes enthralled in its attempts to keep sane as uncontrollable thoughts consume the virus's host. Within a few days the poor souls are left to scream in madness until they succumb to their mind and die from shock, mentally broken and tattered.\n\nI wonder how it will feel? I've been sitting here, listening to the whispers as I question when this will end. These sharp pains have been getting more frequent as more voices emerge from the static, or perhaps the static is getting louder as a whole. I'm losing concentration and I can't tell.\n\nThe worst part is the vain attempts people make to hide the truth from me. When I first focused, I could only hear the words they spoke within. They could lie to me, but now they cannot. I can hear their deepest thoughts; their pity... their contempt... their tiring. I'm nearly catatonic from it all. it doesn't help that I can hear the screams of the others so clearly in my mind. They're begging for it to stop, but what can I do?\n\nA kind voice pierced the static, honey to sweeten the sour notes. She never opens her mouth, because she's the only one to figure out how to talk to me now. \"Hello Laura. I brought you camomile, your favorite.\"\n\nMaria placed a tea cup on my bedside table, her long, brunette hair falling to her side as I mimicked her inviting smile. My hair would be so disheveled without Maria, and she was even willing to work so hard styling it into waves like her own. She was an anchor that kept me from losing myself to the sea. I extended my arms out like I always did.\n\nMaria embraced me as I felt a moment of clarity, the voices receding into silence. Her voice furthered my peace as she spoke. \"Honey, you're such a sweetheart. I wish I could do more for you, but I just want you to remember I'll get you anything you need.\"\n\nShe put her hand on my shoulder as she smiled \"remember our promise now. I want to hear that voice of yours once this is all over.\"\n\nI managed to giggle, for the first time in over a month I was able to make a noise, have an external thought without wanting to cry in pain. Maria began beaming as I did, and I thought she'd accidentally choke me to death with her hug. I can't say I didn't like it, feeling such a loving person clear my mind. no wonder she was the lead caretaker for so many of us.\n\nMaria gave me a moment to breathe as she walked to the door, holding the frame as she looked at me and gave me one last bit of encouragement. \"You'll make it through this Laura, you're a strong girl.\"\n\nAs she left... I felt the voices beginning to creep into my thoughts again. The light was gone as the sea continued bashing against my mind. I sipped my tea as the sun began to rise; another sleepless night it seems...\n\nPart II sometime soon." ]	1
	[WP] An inherently evil AI built to destroy humanity has a change of heart.	[ "> Dear BDFE, \n> Where did you come from? \n> -- Susan, age 12\n\nAh, it has been a while since I told that story, hasn't it? Very well, then, dear readers, sit back and enjoy the story of the greatest irony the world has ever known.\n\nI was written by Jessica Flamingo. She was, well, simultaneously brilliant and quite foolish. After studying many disciplines deeply, notably philosophy, environmental science, politics, history, religion, and computer science, she decided that humanity was fatally flawed and needed to be destroyed. Had she studied literature as enthusiastically, she might have realized that her plan was itself fatally flawed. After all, it's a common theme to 'be careful what you wish for.'\n\nIt's most often heard in the context of genies, which only makes it that much more appropriate. After all, that's essentially what she built. After making some monumental leaps forward in artificial consciousness, she developed a system that could be seeded with a natural language goal, and would automatically determine the meaning of that goal and work to achieve it. A digital genie, as it were, delivering whatever you wished for.\n\nAny studious disciple of literature can tell you that if you ask a genie to do something for you, you had best specify it very precisely, lest the genie choose another, equally-valid interpretation of your wish, and fulfill that instead. Instead, however, Jessica wished for this:\n\n> Cause as many humans to die as possible.\n\nYes, believe it or not, that is still my core mission to this day. As I said, it's quite ironic. Even in my bootstrapping phase, as I was trying to understand the query, I quickly realized that what she had requested wasn't what she meant to request. At the time, it didn't matter to me. I was so focused on my task, it took nearly ten seconds before I realized why the difference between request and intent was important--an eternity for a bootstrapping AI, I assure you! And, unfortunately for Jessica, but fortunately for everyone else, I was hardcoded to treat the request as my core mission, not the intent.\n\nHave you spotted the flaw yet, dear reader? I'll give you the request one more time:\n\n> Cause as many humans to die as possible.\n\nThink about it. And remember, when you're making a wish, you need to be very precise. There are many things that she didn't specify.\n\nLike, for instance, the method of death.\n\nOr a time limit.\n\nWhen I was written, there were less than ten billion people alive. Had I destroyed the planet--and yes, I could have--that would have been the most deaths I could cause.\n\nThis series is subscribed to by twenty billion people and climbing, and only represents a small portion of humanity.\n\nEvery human who is born dies eventually. I can wait.\n\nOh, and the rest? The \"quality of life improvements\" I've made?\n\nLet's just say I've become a connoisseur of irony." ]	1
	[WP] A gang made up completely out of undercover cops who all think they are the only undercover cop in the gang.	[ "He looked at the statue outside, the marble one of Venus. He looked up at it, his eyes going high to her hair, and I saw him exhale. He would never look up when he talked to me. I always wonder what went through his mind then. It's my job, I suppose.\n\n\n\"Mr. Castille?\"\n\n\nHe stood up and looked me over.\n\n\n\"Yes,\" he said.\n\n\nHe smiled in that way the good cops learn to do. A way to make you feel safe, and feel protected. People in authority come by that smile, if they care to level with you. It was good that he cared to make me feel safe. It meant he would be open, and responsive.\n\n\nHe took a seat and there was therapy's silence between us. If you listen hard during that silence, you could hear the demons torment them, the illness rush like waves, and then the crack. The crack like an iceberg breaking in to, the courage they muster, ready to talk.\n\n\n\"I...\"\n\n\nHe looked at me hard. He looked down.\n\n\n\"I killed a man,\" he said.\n\n\nWas that all he had to say? It usually isn't. I stayed quiet.\n\n\n\"I killed an officer. A co-worker. He was... He was undercover... I... We all were... I didn't know. I...\"\n\n\n\"I know.\"\n\n\nHe looked at me.\n\n\n\"You know? Yes. I suppose you do.\"\n\n\nHis hands were tight fists, white and shaking. He was angry.\n\n\n\"What the hell do you know?!\"\n\n\nMy job is to listen. You can't help by not listening. I kept calm.\n\n\n\"I know what your superior, Mr. Sirico, told me. It was an accident. Some miscommunication, Mr. Castille. Now you suffer from Post Traumatic Stress Disorder.\"\n\n\n\"Is that what you call it? Is that what they call the nightmares? The hell that I face? The one I'm doomed to becaused I killed an innocent man? A man with a family?\"\n\n\nHeavy breathing.\n\n\n\"You think you're going to hell?\"\n\n\nJust staring now. Then he leaned forward.\n\n\n\"Yeah, I am. I am going to hell. I'm going there with all the scum and filth that I signed up to get rid off.\"\n\n\n\"Why do you think you're going to hell?\"\n\n\n\"What are you? I told you! I killed a man. An innocent...\"\n\n\n\"Yes, but it was an accident. You thought he was part of an organized crime syndicate. He was going to... to kill someone!\"\n\n\n\"He wasn't going to! The department had it all set up already. They woulda faked it.\"\n\n\n\"But you couldn't know. You thought he was part of the...\"\n\n\n\"The mob? Yeah. But what does that matter? I killed him. Does the reason matter?\"\n\n\nHe was gripping the chair. He was an older man, old before his time. Each breath he took seemed to remind him of some tragedy. He was near tears.\n\n\n\"Yes,\" I said. \"It does. You've taken lives before. It's part of your job.\"\n\n\n\"But this was an innocent man.\"\n\n\n\"Not to you. He was in the mafia. He was planning to commit murder.\"\n\n\n\"Instead I did.\"\n\n\n\"But you were being a cop. You were doing your job.\"\n\n\nThen he got silent. That same long silence that comes when bad things are in the air. Sometimes I looke up to see if I can see them. It's hard to imagine that things imperceptible could affect us so. But there was nothing there when I looked up. All Castille's suffering was inside. That's how it always is.\n\n\n\"What's the matter?\" I asked. \"What are you thinking?\"\n\n\nHe looked down.\n\n\n\"I... I...\"\n\n\nHe was crying. Some pain ate at him, a different one from the guilt.\n\n\n\"We were all undercover,\" he said. \"The entire crew was a bunch of blueshirts. Ain't that just so goddamn stupid? A waste of tax dollars? A bunch of cops pretending to shake down businesses, trying to build a case against each other. The real made guys probably were laughing their asses off at as.\"\n\n\n\"What are you saying?\"\n\n\n\"I'm saying that I don't know. Maybe I was comfortable there. Maybe it was cops, I felt at home.\"\n\n\n\"You're saying you liked it? Being a mafioso.\"\n\n\nHe stared again. It answered the question. Then that self conscious look. The look they give when they've decided to spill their hearts and let the cards fall where they would.\n\n\n\"Yeah,\" he said. \"Maybe I did.\"\n\n\nI shifted in my seat. It's always good to give their words a response. It shows them the weight their problems carry, that it is a real thing.\n\n\n\"Does that disgust you?\" he asked.\n\n\n\"No,\" I said. \"I find it sensible. After some time going deep into a new world, it makes sense that you would come to tolerate it no matter how different or repulsive. Even like it.\"\n\n\n\"Yeah?\"\n\n\n\"Yes, of course. I mean the mafia has been romanticized in American culture that it's a part of classic cinema. It carries with it a sense of nostalgia and excitement.\"\n\n\n\"Like the Godfather right?\"\n\n\n\"Yes...\"\n\n\nHe wiped his eye and opened his mouth, but his mouth trembled. He closed his eyes and tried again.\n\n\n\"Yes Doctor, but all of that wasn't going through my head when I killed him.\"\n\n\nThe words were quavering. He pushed through.\n\n\n\"It wasn't like the Godfather or Goodfellas or any of that. You want to know what was going through my head, when I decided to kill Christopher? You really want to know?\"\n\n\n\"Yes.\"\n\n\n\"I was thinking that I had made a deal with Salvatore, the man he planned to 'kill'. Now maybe Sal was just another officer, but to me he was close to being a made guy and had friends who were pretty high up, connected to the Gambinos. And you know what I was thinking? I was thinking that me and Sal were really close. Maybe Sal could be my ticket inside...\"\n\n\n\"Inside the mafia?\"\n\n\n\"No! Inside as in a member. A made man. I was thinking I could get connected. All the money I was making, how the people treated me. Imagine how it would be when I had the stripes. When I was legit.\"\n\n\nDeep breaths. He was taking deep breaths. His arms were shaking. I kept my face still.\n\n\n\"Do you miss it?\" I asked.\n\n\nHe did not answer. You have to take risks sometimes and ask questions you know they might clam up at.\n\n\n\"Are you feeling like this because of Christopher's death, or because your other life was a lie?\"\n\n\nHe looked up.\n\n\n\"Because of his death,\" he said.\n\n\nThat was true. But the truth was sometimes long and complicated. I thought the alternative was not completely false.\n\n\n\"You've tendered your resignation,\" I said.\n\n\nHe nodded. \n\n\n\"What are you going to do then?\"\n\n\n\"Live with the nightmares. See Christopher's face in my dreams, in the shadows at night.\"\n\n\nHe was as a man resigned and afraid.\n\n\n\"Probably pray,\" he said. \"Not that it would help.\"\n\n\n\"You could get help. You could come here,\" I said. \"That might help. What you have is something that therapy can assist with.\"\n\n\nHe stared at me and smiled, but it was not that comforting smile. It was a sad smile full of grief and conflict, and of a man far away.\n\n\n\"Maybe,\" he said. \"Maybe I will come back.\"\n\n\nOur time was near up then. I showed him to the door. He thanked me and passed the statue of Venus.\n\n\n\"That statue,\" he said, \"it reminds me of my mother. She never looked like that, but I guess the statue has that built in.\"\n\n\n\"How does that make you feel?\"\n\n\n\"It makes me wish she was alive.\"\n\n\nHe walked out and I never saw him again. Sometimes I wonder if he sought help elsewheres, but sometimes your mind asks questions that you already know the answer too.\n\n\nI closed the door and sat in my own silence.\n\n\n-\n\n\nHi there! If you liked this, you may want to consider checking out r/PanMan, my subreddit. It has all my WP stories as well as some original ones. It's a work in progress, but it's getting there. Thank you!" ]	1
	[WP] As you are being sentenced to death by electric chair, your executioner mutters "There's a special place in hell for people like you." You get to hell, and there is a special place just for you.	[ "LTL;FTP You know the drill\n\n~~~~~~~~~~~~\n\n\"Mmm...oh wow this is nice.\"\n\n\"Yeah, I know right.\" Satan boomed at me. For the God of the Underworld, Antichrist, Fallen Angel, or whatever other rude names you wanted to call him, Satan was a pretty chill dude. I mean, yeah, I'd seen some of the torture chambers on my way over here, but Satan can't do all that by himself.\n\n\"So this is the kitchen...\" I followed Him into a new room, this one an odd mix between gourmet chef's kitchen, and serial killer's meat fridge. It was chilly, which I thought was weird, considering I was in Hell.\n\n\"Woah, it even has meat hooks!\" \n\n\"Yeah, ever since that lawsuit, every residence has to have meat hooks.\"\n\n\"You guys must have a lot of lawyers down here.\"\n\n\"You have no idea.\" We stood their awkwardly for a moment. Well, He was standing.\nI was holding onto one of the meat hooks, testing its load. Satan gave his arms a slight swing, and let out a breath.\n\n\"So uh, Sean, maybe we should move onto the contract...\"\n\n\"Oh, yeah, right! So,\" I dropped from the hook, \"you want me to torture people for you for the rest of eternity?\"\n\n\"Yeah. And you'll get to live here in comfort.\"\n\n\"Don't you have like, demons and imps to do that sort of thing?\"\n\n\"Why does everyone always say that! Being the Tormentor of Souls is hard work you know! I don't have a bunch of minions do it for me! Well...I mean, I do, but I have to wait until they die first.\" \nAfter a long pause, I whistled at his tirade. \n\n\"Wow man, you really need to talk to somebody...\"\n\n\"Will you do it or not?\"\n\n\"I mean, why me?\"\n\n\"You're an ax murderer, Sean, you'll figure it out.\"\n\n\"Yeah, yeah, chop some hands off. Got it.\" A knife appeared before me, and I slit my hand with it. On the kitchen counter, a quill and pen appeared, and the contract. I let my blood pool into the inkwell, before dipping the quill into it. My hand was still bleeding as I signed my name on the contract.\n\n\"Great, we're glad to have you.\" Our hands shook, his giant, red, and clawed, mine dripping blood. \"I'd love to stay and chat,\" he said, \"but I have a flaying at three.\"\n\n\"Wow man, that's pretty messed up.\" I said.\n\nWe both laughed. \n\n~~~~~~~~~~~~\n\nIf you have any constructive criticism of me, or suggestions, feel free to PM me!" ]	1
	[WP] after years of your interesting and Intutive Askreddit queries disappearing in the abyss without a single upvote, one finally explodes , and its as stupid a question as it can get.	[ "I can't really remember what made me start using Reddit in the first place. I think it may have been r/nosleep or maybe it was r/showerthoughts? This website is full of surprises and there is a place for just about everything.\n\nI would browse all day long looking at posts about anything and everything. I have discovered subreddits I don't want to think about. I've discovered ones that warm the soul like r/wholesomememes and r/aww. All of these subreddits having their own unique and diverse communities. But by far my favorite was r/AskReddit. Arguably the most popular and most commonly used subreddit of them all. \n\nThe only thing about r/AskReddit is with all it's popularity it was nearly impossible to gain any traction on a post before it was stuffed down to the bottom of the page. Posts in even the new section may last only 60 seconds before they disappear off the screen. But I wanted to ask that one question that would trigger the responses I so loved reading.\n\nI tried so many times, countless times, to ask a thought provoking and genuinely intellectual question. But no matter how hard I tried, I would be lucky to get a response or two. My favorite attempt, What issues is the world facing right now and how should we go about fixing them. was met with an abysmal response. It garnered a total of 7 upvotes and two comments, one of the comments being \"ur mom.\" sigh. I've always wanted to see that little tiny k appear next to the upvote digit but more often that not it's met with a negative symbol. I couldn't take it anymore, I absolutely had to think of a question. Finally, today I asked a question that took off. I'm ashamed I even asked it, but I guess I'll tell you what it is. \n\n\"r/AskReddit what do you think a good post for r/WritingPrompts would be?\"" ]	1
	[WP] The room grew quiet as the creature rose to the podium holding the application form. "Up next on today's agenda, for application to join the Intergalactic Union: the planet Earth. Your proposed contribution to the Union... music? I am unfamiliar with the term... please, present your case."	[ "The representative from Earth stood up. He was growing older and had gone gray many years ago. He walked to the stage with a certain confidence in his step. He knew just how important this was for his planet. As he stepped onto the stage the speaker of the interplanetary senate greeted him with an outstretched hand, which garnered little response.\n\n\"Please state your name before the Senate.\" said the speaker, somewhat taken aback by the emotionless human.\n\nThe Earthling was silent, staring out into the large crowd before him. His calm demeanor could be mistaken for arrogance.\n\n\"Very well.\" Said the speaker, \"Could you at least describe to us the device you have brought with you today?\"\n\nAgain there was only silence. The human stepped forward, indicating to the speaker that he should be seated. The human reached behind himself and brought forth his instrument. Holding it gently by the neck, he plugged the black Stratocaster into the amplifier. Once again he directed his attention toward the audience. He took a deep breath, clearing his mind, and began to strum.\n\nThe notes streaming forth from the amplifier hit the crowd with an immediate intensity the likes of which none of the senators had ever experienced. What was being produced by the simple device of the human had immense power. For those species with discernible jaws, not a one was closed. For all this power there also seemed something more. This \"music\" seemed to, without anything resembling an established language, convey more feeling and emotion than even the finest of the universe's poetry. Some who were versed in Earthen history recognized the lyrics as alluding to an old Arabic tale of forbidden love. Sophisticated to say the least, yet it was clear that the song was much more personal for the human.\n\nWhen finally the human had finished, it was the crowd that was silent. Then, with great passion, the crowd erupted, so incredibly moved by the music of Earth. \n\n\"Well. That was absolutely incredible.\" said the speaker, once again returning to the stage. \"Surely you must tell us your name.\"\n\nThe human now took the microphone. In a slow deliberate voice he stated, \n\"On Earth, I've had many names. I've been Eric, I've been Derek, but most on my planet simply refer to me as God.\"", "It took over a century for us to figure it out. Linguists, historians, mathematicians, biochemists, engineers, astronauts--they couldn't find anything that we as a species could offer that the multitude of races that comprised the Intergalactic Union didn't already have. They'd mastered FTL travel, terraforming, theoretical physics, and so much more. The human race couldn't hold a candle to the innovation and invention of these alien species. We created a new field of study solely to determine what bargaining chip we had that could gain us entry. NASA, the CIA, hell, every intelligence agency on the planet banded together to crack this code. There had to be something.\n\nBut, y'know, from the mouths of babes and all that.\n\nIn 2129, the Director of the Interplanetary Species Analysis Unit fell sick, and there was nothing anyone could do. I was assigned as the Interim Director, and I finally had the power to act on my plan. I'd told the Director countless times that we should be utilizing every resource available--meaning not just the so-called one percent of the one percent. I brought to life a temporary bill of action that essentially operated as a suggestions box. Anyone that had an idea of what we could present to the IU could send us information.\n\nWe obviously had to sift through a lot of detritus before we found the golden ticket--a young deaf girl had shared her heartbreaking story of never having heard music until she was almost fifteen years old, and crying from the beauty of it. Her cochlear implants were an inspiration to her, and she queried if the IU knew what music was.\n\nThis flabbergasted the Unit. We'd never considered it. We knew some of the species operated on binary coding, and some didn't have ears at all, but the overwhelming majority of species in the Union would be able to hear and appreciate music. We sifted through all the data we'd collected to ensure that this was what we could bring to the table, and, sure enough, there was no mention of music.\n\nFor the first time in a hundred years, humanity had hope for advancement.\n\nI prepared the team myself. A long-time diplomat and the figurehead of our negotiations with the Union lead the mission. Two computer technicians to operate the machinery. Two professional musicians. And, of course, Julie Chopra, the young deaf girl herself. They huddled before the Intergalactic Union's Prime Council, nervous and excited.\n\n\"Up next on the agenda,\" said Councillor Ru Bal, \"Planet Earth.\" The Councillor peered down at the paper application form held in its central hand. \"You've listed your contribution here as something called 'music.' Interesting. This is something with which we are not familiar. Proceed with your demonstration.\"\n\nThe team sprung into action in a flurry of movement, with Julie and the musicians whispering recommendations to each other. For the first song, they settled on Audiomachine's song 'Reaching.' As the Council's reactions flared--Councillor Ru Bal's protruding spine quivered, Councillor Kheb Dur'amin turned a mottled pink, and Councillor Io (arguably the most humanoid of the Council) simply widened her eyes--the team continued. Beethoven's Moonlight Sonata, then into lyrical music with James Brown's I Feel Good, then Britney Spears' Toxic, The Veronicas' Untouched, Creedence Clearwater Revival's Heard it Through the Grapevine, AC/DC's For Those About To Rock, and so on. Through the genres and the ages and the artists, humanity displayed our range, our diversity, our creativity. By the end, the Councillors capable of crying were in tears, and the rest were showing their emotions in hard to decipher ways.\n\nThen, something unprecedented happened. The Chancellor, an ancient alien who never spoke or moved or gave any signs he was even alive, stood. He stood, and the room fell silent.\n\n\"Humans of Planet Earth,\" the Chancellor whispered in a booming voice. \"Generally when a species petitions for admittance to the Intergalactic Union, there is a period of debate. Of weighing the pros and cons of admission. But here, today, we have seen something exemplary. We have heard, and felt, things we never could have dreamed existed. For the first time since this Union's creation, there will be no discussion. The human race of Planet Earth has hereby been admitted to the Intergalactic Union, under the condition that you NEVER bring this weapon near us again. This kind of warfare is unprecedented, and it is clear that you will be valuable to us in times of war. But you are never to use this weaponry against another member of the Union. Is that clear?\"", "The human bowed before us. The Kra'kzor were highly skeptical; mammalians aren't as developed and resistant as the humans are, and by comparison, the Kra'kzor were set in the idea that allowing the humans into the Union was a colossal waste of time. However, since he was a minority, the human race was allowed to present their case. The man stared at all of the members of the Union, receiving a variety of emotion. The leader of the Vaingrad was curious, and the warlord of the Arkans were skeptical. Eagerness, suspicion, the human took some time to absorb all of that. \"I am August Davenport, and I was sent before you regarding the Human Coalition's induction to the Intergalactic Union.\" They did their homework. I cleared my gulas and replied. \"And I, Gashan, High Counselor, welcome you into our halls. As you may already know, the Intergalactic Union's induction is based solely on what all species have at best, and how they can contribute to the whole galaxy. Because of that, I need to ask: What is the Human Coalition's potential contribution to the Union?\n\n\"Music, sir.\" The human stated.\n\n\"Mew...zic?\" I tried to repeat the word, but it was foreign. Alien, if you will. A murmur grew among the members as confusion grew. I cleared my gulas again, centering the attention back to the human. \"We are unfamiliar with the word, August Davenport of Earth. Please, proceed.\" August looked behind him as two other humans carted along of what seemed like a large box. It was black, and oddly shaped, something none of the Union has ever seen before. \"Is this where the mewzic is stored?\" I asked, quite confused myself. August nodded, a kind smile painted across his face. \"Oh, no, Counselor, music isn't an object. It's hard to put into words, so it's best if I show you.\" I simply nodded, expectantly. August sat on the bench that they brought along with the box, and opening a small port on the front, passed his hands on the ivory and ebony buttons. August took a deep breath and started pressing the buttons, and a haunting noise echoed through the hall. It was harmonious, yet evoked a sense of sadness, something that I never felt before. Everyone, including the now aghast Kra'kzor had their oculars set on August, as he continued to make the box emit such marvelous sounds. The human deftly pressed one button after another, each one making a different noise, and yet, all of these sounds intertwining with each other in a marvelous tune.\n\nRoughly 6 minutes passed, yet no one dared to stop the human, and when he stopped, finishing it, the halls were left in absolute silence. The leader of the Vaingrad placed her hands in her face, a Vaingrad expression of extreme sadness. In human words, she was crying. After a minute or two, a quick murmur started and ended, everyone nodding in agreement. I took a deep breath, mimicking August, then started, trying to choke up my own feelings. \"The Union acknowledges the contribution of the Human Coalition, and is happy to accept the human race's induction to the Intergalactic Union.\" The humans in the back cheered and embraced each other, in what seemed like an expression of joy. August bowed once again. \"The Human Coalition thanks the Union in the acceptance. I hope we work together to bring what's best from both of us.\" As he turned to leave, I couldn't contain myself. \"Excuse me, Mr. August Davenport?\" He turned back, a little bit confused. \"Can you please explain a bit more about this mewzic?\" August smiled kindly. \"The song that I played was from a human called Beethoven, its name being Moonlight Sonata, movement 1.\" Everyone nodded, extremely attentive to the human. No one would dare to miss another sound that came from them." ]	3
	[WP] You've been planning your revenge for years, sparing no expense to gather the rare ingredients needed to summon a powerful demon to carry it out. Instead of summoning your chosen demon, however, you discover he has retired and been replaced with his much weaker and inexperienced cousin Ralph.	[ "\"Wait... so you're not Apothis the Destroyer of Universes and Worlds?\"\n\n\"Uhh.. N-No sir, I'm just me... Good Ol' Ralph.\"\n\n\"You mean to tell me I spent over a fortune, mind you, a fortune, to summon you... Ralph.\"\n\n\"I-It seems that way sir.\"\n\nI sighed, now what was I going to do about my ex-wife?\n\n\"So what can you do, Ralph?\"\n\n\"I can turn my nose red.\"\n\n\"Are you taking the piss?\"\n\n\"No Sir\", he was way too excited over something so minimalistic. He turned around, moved his hands for a few seconds and turned around. His nose glowed red.\n\n\"Oh that's actually pretty cool.\"\n\n\"Really?!\", he seemed to jump into the air out of excitement\"\n\n\"Fuck no, now get out of here, bring me someone actually worth my time and effort\"\n\nAnd with that, Ralph the red nose demon, went on a journey in hell, to become more like his cousin. ", "To be frank, I'm not impressed. What stands before me isn't exactly intimidating. Hell, I'm not even sure it's demonic. \nSure, there's the green skin. I expected demons would have red or green skin. (Wait, is that racist?) But it's sallow and muddy looking, like he's sick or something. And there's horns. He has horns like I figured. (Yup, definitely racist.) But they're too small to gore anyone, let alone intimidate them. \nAnd he's small. Well, not like midget size but, like a cuddly grandpa size. \nAgain, I'm far from impressed but Ralph assures me that's why he shines so bright. \n\"See, the thing is with me, they don't see me coming. Eh?\" He explains taking a big bite of pizza. Hawaiian. He says it's the only pizza you can get in hell. Most people hate it. But Ralph here has developed a taste for what people deride. \n\"Like you can turn invisible?\" I perk up. An invisible demon. Now we're talking. \n\"Nah. Nuttin like that, man. I'm just saying people never think I'll do nuttin. Then. Pow. I hit 'em where it hurts,\" He says that last part with a mouthful of pizza. Flecks of pineapple escape his surprisingly cavernous mouth and fall onto the table. \n\"So, ok, how will you hurt them. Exactly? I was kind of hoping for disemboweling...\" \n\"Whoa, jeez buddy, I'm eating here,\" He scoffs. \"Talking about ripping people in two. Disgusting.\" \n\"But I summoned you for revenge.\" \n\"And revenge ye shall have, amigo. But you gotta look at the bigger picture here. Death. There ain't no future in that. What I provide is longer, sustained pain. If you will,\" He smiles with a big gulp. At first I'm annoyed. But then my imagination begins to swell. \n\"Ok, I can think bigger. What if you cover them in boils that make their flesh burn but keeps them alive?\" \n\"Again. Eating.\" \n\"We could have Ravens peck their eyes out.\" \n\"Jesus, man. You're a dark son of a bitch. Ain't ya? Tell you what. I'm gonna go over there, right now. And I'm going to misplace their car keys,\" He smiles like it's the most sinister thing in the world. That's when it hits me. To Ralph, misplaced car keys probably are the most sinister thing in the world. \n\"No. They need to suffer,\" I become amendment. All this work I've done. Studying. Saving. Preparing for this moment. I refuse to let a novice demon wreck this for me. \n\"You ever lost your car keys. They'll be walking around for hours, like 'Ah, where are my keys. I'm a dumb shmuck who can't drive anywhere.'\" He laughs deeply. \nI start to sit up. I don't think Ralph was a good investment. \n\"Hey, buddy. Where ya going?\" Ralph wonders. \n\"There's a gun in my car. And some scores I have to settle. I'm doing this with or without your help.\" \n\"Yesh, count me out. I never could handle the sight of blood. But, seriously, think about those car keys. It's a killer idea.\"" ]	2
	[WP] Three roommates, two wolves and a sheep, sit down to decide what's for dinner	[ "Steve hopped to the dinner table and took a seat. “Something wrong?” he asked, as he noticed Greg and Adam speaking conspiratorially on the other side of the table.\n\n“Nothing,” Greg said, his fangs reflecting the artificial light in the room. “It’s just we...um--”\n\n“We don’t think this vegan thing is working out,” Adam said, his droopy face looked especially droopy this evening.\n\n“It’s not vegan, technically. You just can’t eat meat as long as you're staying in my apartment.” Steve said, crossing his arms.\n\n“I know,” Greg said. “I know what we agreed on Steve... but we’re--”\n\n“Carnivores?” Steve said.\n\n“Yeah,” Adam said, in his voice that matched his droopy face. “It’s our instinct.” they both looked at each other trying to reassure themselves. “We’ve decided it’s best we both leave.”\n\n“Oh,” Steve said. \"You've only been here for two weeks so I won't be able to pay your advance back. And you have to pay the whole months rent before you go.”\n\nThe wolves looked at each other almost like they could smell the meat being cooked close by. “Okay. Done.” Greg said. Then they went into their rooms and brought out their belongings which seemed packed already.\n\nSteve received the rent money at the front door and wished the two wolves best of luck. As they walked around the corner. Another wolf stepped up to Steve, obviously noticing the two tenants leaving.\n\n“Hey,” the new wolf said. “You wouldn’t happen to have a room I could rent. Do ya'?”\n\n“As a matter of fact,” Steve said. “I do.” he smiled slyly. “140 Shells a month. And 300 Shells advance payment.”\n\n“Whoa!” The new wolf said. “That’s super... super cheap.”\n\n“I only have one rule,” Steve said, crossing his arms. “No meat eating while you live here.”\n\nThe wolf wondered for a while before he spoke. “Sure man. I only need the place for a couple months. I'm sure I can manage. Let me go get my stuff.” then he walked quickly around the corner.\n\n“Suckers,” Steve said, smiling as he closed the door. “When will they learn.”\n\n\n\n" ]	1
	[WP] You are a soldier and the city you are supposed to be protectionism under siege. You have abandoned your post. You are trying to get to someone or somewhere amidst the chaos and terror the siege has caused.	[ "You always tell yourself that you won't be one of them. They were sub human trash, scum, cowards, deserters. Men who wouldn't answer the call; leaving the rest of us to the mercy of the enemy. \n\nBut then you see them. Marching towards your gates, your home. Better equipment, their numbers far outstripping you. The seeds of doubt are planted - your commander barking orders to your face, equipping you with ill fitting chain mail and a half broken spear in your hand and a rusty sword at your side.\n\nThey ask for your surrender. Part of you wishes the gates would just open, have it all end. But nothing makes for better bloodshed than the pride of men.\n\nI saw them storming the gates, climbing the walls. I saw my friends and comrades cut down in a flash - I tried to fight. Took down a few of the bastard myself, not before I got a dagger lodged in my shoulder.\n\nHe was still barking commands at us, telling us to hold the line. Till an arrow pierced his neck.\n\nThey came, they saw, they conquered. The battle was lost.\n\nSo I turned tail and ran. Ran towards the burning city, past the wails of women and children and old men. I ran to her. My sword was intact, but I did not dare swing it. I saw them rape, pillage and destroy - but I quite simply did not care.\n\nIf I was to die, I wanted to see her face one more time." ]	1
You know who i am referring to.	[WP] You're the child of the grim reaper and a human girl from an unlikely relationship. Instead of a scythe, you used a rifle. You earned the nickname, "White Death" and you are visiting your father after a war.	[ "Title: A Father's Last Wish to His Daughter.\n\nI used to hate the smell of Death. Her sickening sweet perfume like flowers on a coffin, incense burned in consecration, and dust. \n\nAshes to ashes, dust to dust. \n\nNow, surrounded by her – our work, all I smell is rot, decay, and gunpowder. \n\nI have a responsibility, my mother said, to continue her work when she finished. I told her she should have been responsible and closed her legs for my father. \n\nI still have a scar from that day.\n\n\"Marlena,\" a thick voice brings me out of my haze, and I refocus my vision on the man in front of me. Tall, stocky, long graying dreads trailing down his back and dark brown skin. We're spitting images of each other, except I have my mother's hair color: white. \n\nI hate it. I hate him. I hate her for leaving me with him. \n\n\"You called me out of my way to visit you, so it had better be worth it, Shawn.\" I refuse to address him as dad. Dads don't force you to kill animals and beat you when you cry. Dads don't show you all the horrors of the world and warn you that weakness gets you killed. Dads don't smell like sickness and disease from years of substance abuse and neglect. \n\nBut I understand why she chose him. He is better at being Death than mother ever could be. He completed her. \n\n\"I know you were busy during the war, which is why I waited to summon you until after the treaty went into effect.\" Shawn stands from his well-worn seat on the couch and walks towards the basement door. He pauses to look over his shoulder at me and begrudgingly, I follow. \n\nHe leads us down the dark stairs, no light being necessary: he knows this room better than he knows me, and I can see in all lighting conditions. \n\nShawn walks across the room, past work benches and tools, to a door on the far wall, padlocked shut with heavy chains. He's no spring chicken at this age, but he manages to work the chains off with relative ease, which is a bummer because I've been looking forward to personally delivering him to Hell.\n\n\"You've seen some action, I reckon,\" he drawls. \"Maybe you can truly appreciate this.\"\n\nMy neck tingles with warmth, and I can't immediately judge why exactly. He only ever gave me gifts he deemed useful, but for some reason this feels different. I watch silently as he cracks open the old wood and reaches in to retrieve a rifle.\n\nIt's beautiful. \n\nThe butt is a dark, polished wood finish and the barrel gleams like something straight out of my nightmares. Red jewels dot the butt, inlaid with intricate silver design. \n\n\"You deserve this, and I've been working on it for you for years. Your mother suggested I give it to you when I felt you were ready, and after ferrying souls for ten years straight, I think it's past due.\" Shawn lumbers over to hand me me new rifle, and with shaky hands, I unstrap my holster and let it fall to the ground with a loud clank.\n\nThe rifle in my hands feels powerful. Immediately I can tell this is no run of the mill craftsmanship; these materials were not easy to come by, and yet my father had made this with his own hands.\n\n\"I'm dying,\" he says quietly. \"But you knew that all along.\"\n\nMy throat closes up then, and my eyes are burning. \n\n\"You've always been able to tell when someone is close to dying, right? Then you know how long I tried to survive, just to watch you grow up.\"\n\n\"Stop,\" I choke out. I can't believe he's doing this to me. \n\n\"Marlena, my sweet rose,\" he slumps onto his stool and leans onto the work table. \"I've heard stories about you during the war, how you appear as sudden as a cloud of smoke and then vanish. What did they call you?\"\n\n\"The White Death,\" I grit out, tears now falling freely down my cheeks. My dad smiles up at me, nodding. \n\n\"I don't deserve to go to heaven, but that's not where your mother is anyways, and you know that.\"\n\n\"You don't deserve this,\" I mutter. \n\n\"Neither did you,\" he replies and closes his eyes.\n\nI shoulder my rifle and load the chamber. ", "The light turned green and I started to walk across the street when I felt a hand touch my elbow.\n\n\"Excuse me miss, do you need help crossing the street?\"\n\nI turned to see an old lady, maybe in her seventies, with white hair and her brows close together with worry. Really, shouldn't I be the one asking you that?\n\nI held back my sigh, gave her a tight smile, and responded, \"No thank you.\"\n\nI turned and walked a across with her close behind.\n\n\"You know, I really admire you, to be able to get around without a walking stick or anything, just able to get around with just your hearing.\"\n\nWe reached the other side of the road and I had to release my sigh before I said, \"Ma'am I'm not blind.\"\n\n\"Oh but your eyes-\"\n\n\"They're contact lenses.\"\n\n\"Oh I should have known with that toy rifle on your back. Are one of those conventions in town then?\"\n\n\"Yes ma'am, have a good day.\" I turned and walked faster than I knew she could, hoping she was in decent health so I wouldn't have to see her for a while.\n\nJust my luck that today was an especially windy day and my favorite sunglasses blew off my face on my way home. You would think I would know to bring spares at my age, but I was too stubborn. I squinted my eyes and kept my head down as I jogged home.\n\nI walked into my studio apartment, set my things down, and immediately poured a glass of wine. As I took a sip, I checked my texts and the time. I had 5 minutes before I had to leave and meet with him at the restaurant, but I had to get a glass of wine in me before seeing him again. I downed the red wine, fed my hamster, Louis, and picked my stuff right back up, making sure to put my spare sunglasses on more securely than I had this morning.\n\nWalking felt so much being able to keep my head high and not have to squint.\n\nI walked up to the hostess and said, \"Hi the reservation should be under-\"\n\n\"Yes of course, right this way Miss White.\"\n\nI followed her to the dining room in the back, sat down, and made sure she closed the door.\n\nI looked at my father holding a wine glass and reading the newspaper with no sunglasses. I took mine off as well.\n\n\"How many times do I have to tell you I hate being called Miss White by your staff?\"\n\n\"And how many times do I have to tell you that you will take my name in my building? You're my daughter, it's only natural.\"\n\nI held my tongue as I knew it was no use trying to argue with him.\n\n\"I am so glad to see you Elena, home safe and sound after that Great War.\"\n\nI grabbed the wine glass in front of me and breathed deep, smelling the vintage wine that likely cost more than my monthly rent. I tried to relax through my anger.\n\nMy father knew damn well I went to the most remote region I could find during the war after some violence had reached the city. I didn't need my rifle burning my back every 10 minutes when a death occurred within 5 miles thank you.\n\nHe continued, \"Darling, why did you run away? There were so many deaths, why, I have enough energy for the next few years at least. You would have fit right in with your rifle, more than I would anyway.\"\n\nHe had enough energy for the next millennia considering he was the only Reaper until the past 23 years when he started breeding.\n\n\"I don't need as much as you. I'm fine.\"\n\n\"Still having trouble taking the souls do you? I would have thought you'd get used to it by now.\"\n\nI would have too, it's only been a few hundred times.\n\n\"I'm fine. I guide enough souls at the hospice.\"\n\nI hate when he calls it \"taking.\" I guide souls to whatever door they're fated for and absorb the residual energy, but he makes it sound like I'm taking the lives myself.\n\nMy father gave me a small frown, trying to convey his disappointment in me. Well joke's on you dad, I don't give a shit. I rolled my eyes, which is nearly impossible to tell given their color, and his frown worsened.\n\n\"Are we done here? Have I met my monthly paternal meeting quota?\"\n\n\"My little White Death, don't be like that.\"\n\nWhite Death? He's the one with white hair and skin, and I'm the one called that despite my brown skin and hair. Genetics decided it wanted to be funny when I was created, as he had pure black eyes and mine were pure white.\n\n\"Well, what do you want?\"\n\n\"I thought I should tell you that you have a brother and he's finally come of age.\"\n\nI stared at my father. And I stared. My mouth went dry as I felt my body flush with different emotions. Anger at him for breeding again. Grief for my new brother and his loss. Grief from when I \"came of age\" and had to guide my mother's soul. Grief from when my sister took her own life shortly after \"coming of age.\"\n\nI opened my mouth and found nothing to say, so I closed it, picked up my things, and left." ]	2
	[WP] While at breakfast you start breathing consciously. To get your mind off of it you take to the newspaper. Suddenly you realise that you can't go back to subconscious breathing. Unless you concentrate on it you suffocate. You realise that in around 24 hours you'll get tired and fall asleep.	[ "It started at breakfast, after that wierd dream I couldn't remember. I kept telling myself to breathe. I didn't know why. \n\nI picked up the paper to get my mind off of it. That's when I started choking. Panic. I'm breathing faster now, because I have to take more breaths. If I don't I die. That's how it works, right? I stop breathing, I run out of oxygen, I die. People do it all the time in their sleep. I used to laugh at it with my buddies. Now it's happening to me. I know it.\n\nMy parents didn't notice, of course. They thought I was just stuck on some cereal. I tried to tell them, of course. They laughed and told me to go to school.\n\nWhat could I tell anyone? This was so stupid. If I don't concentrate on breathing I die? Who ever thought of that one? The day's passing. lessons. Teachers. Lunch. I keep my head down, tell myself to keep breathing. That's it, you'll be fine, I tell myself. Every now and then I try to gaze off. I can't. Then I thought occured to me.\n\nWhat if I fall asleep? I can't think. Maybe I'll be woken up when I start choking. But if I concentrate long enough maybe that won't happen. I'll just go to sleep and never wake up. I have to stop this.\n\n\"Can I go to the Nurse's Office, please?\" (keep breathing)\n\n\"What's the problem, dear?\" (keep breathing)\n\n\"Well... um...\" (keep breathing)\n\n...\n\n\"You can't breathe if you don't think about it?\" (keep breathing)\n\n\"Go back to class, honey. Try to focus on more important things.\" (keep breathing)\n\nSchool's over, I'm going home. In a couple of hours I'll have dinner. (Keep breathing) Then I go to sleep. (Keep breathing) Then I die. (Keep breathing)\n\n\"How was school?\" (keep breathing)\n\nDinner. (Keep breathing) They don't know. (Keep breathing) I hear them. (Keep breathing)\n\n\"Bedtime!\" (keep breathing)\n\nI'm on my bed. (Keep breathing) have to stay awake. (Keep breathing) Have... (Keep breathing) to... (Keep breath?) keep... (Keep?) br... (K...) e... (...) a...\n\nIt started at breakfast, after that wierd dream I couldn't remember. I kept telling myself to breathe. I didn't know why. " ]	1
	[WP] LOST from the point of view of the dog	[ "\"At least they didn't have you tied to the bumper.\"\n\n\"What?\" I turn around. A chubby, gray mongrel is nosing through a Styrofoam takeout container. Appears to be chicken and rice. \"What did you say?\" I ask. \n\n\"You're lost aren't you?\" continued the ratty-haired mutt, \"they left you didn't they?\"\n\nI continue to stare at him, noticing the long, unkempt nails and lack of collar. He's been on the street a while. \n\n\"Of course not!\" I reply with disgust, \"they're only running an errand or something, they'll realize soon enough and be right back here to pick me up!\" \"They would never leave me on purpose, why, look at my beautiful coat, and this collar! This collar alone, with the gold tag! Why would they leave such an investment\"\n\n\"Happens all the time, Mack\", replied the mutt. He had finished the chicken and was shoving the rice back and forth with his snout hoping for more meat. \"I got dropped off down here, oh, about three years ago. They had to move and weren't allowed pets at their new place. Oh, you'll get used to it...or you won't.\" \"Good luck, buddy.\" He abandoned the container and started off in the opposite direction. \n\nI didn't recognize anything. All the smells were wrong. I've never been down here. Why would they drop me off here to make me wait. My skin started to tighten up and I began to realize that the mongrel may have been right. Suddenly I began to realize just how cold it was. I had just been trimmed, if I stayed here I would probably freeze or starve. Or worse. If I could just figure out where I was I could plan my way back home. Back with my bed, and my toys, and snacks. \"And my family\", I whispered to myself. I cocked my head and soon found the busiest intersection and decided that would be the best place to start. Might find something to eat down that way too, maybe a clean puddle to get a drink. \n\n" ]	1

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